WebNovels

Chapter 9 - 24

He smashes Ruyi Jingu Bang across the head of a Griffin that lands right down in front of him. The impact blasts the dirt and grass past him as they remain where Oscar was taken by the Knight of Fear. The Griffin staggers from the impact, an almighty bang from the impact, cracking the bone skull armour for a head it has. The Griffin snarls with anger as it roars, jumping at him with its beak open and talons extended to slash at him. Sun brings the staff upwards and knocks the beast back with a boom.

The Griffin staggers back and he claps his hands together as he focuses his mind and forms three Via Sun forms before him that grab onto the wings of the Beast. The huge Griffin roars with rage as the three glowing gold aura forms of Sun hold the creature down, whilst Kassius rushes towards the monster. He jumps high in the air and drives both blades into its spine and slices clean through the thick black hide of the creature. It shrieks in agony as the thick plumes of jet black smoke pours out from the wounds it has inflicted.

With all his might, he runs and drags the swords through the shoulders of the Griffin, cutting both the wings and the front legs of the creature clean off. The Griffin collapses face first into the ground with a bang, and Kassius jumps off it, landing on his knee with his swords in his grasp. He looks around and he turns when he hears the rumbling of a Creep that tunnels towards it. It suddenly erupts right in front of him, launching soil and grass into the air. It immediately smashes its armoured head into his chest to knock him back.

The Creep bellows monstrously, sprinting towards both of them and Sun fires his Gun-Chucks at the beast over and over again, blowing segments of armour from its head, before he thrusts the staff forwards and stabbing it straight through the softer section of its head in order to kill it.

The Creep and the Griffin both slowly disintegrate away into a cloud of smoke and they both stand there, feeling utterly defeated.

"Goddamn it!" Kassius roars with rage as he punches a tree with his cybernetic fist. "We were right there!"

"There wasn't anything we could have done..." Sun sighs, he may feel the same anger that Kassius feels.

"What do we do?" Kassius questions...a query that will be difficult to answer.

"I don't know...but we need to find the others." Sun says.

"Got it...let's go." Kassius agrees, as they make their departure from the forest that Oscar was taken from.

Death

The black dragon soars across the night sky, its hissing shrieks travelling across the hilly landscape. Black shells plummet from its ebony scales, crashing into the ground, giving birth to fresh new Grimm. The Beowulves and Ursa roar as they land, attacking the surviving civilians in the streets with animosity fuelling their attacks. Creeps dig into the ground, popping up before civilians, mauling them with their massive jaws, running on bipedal legs. Qrow can only watch in horror as he witnesses a massive failure. The Knight of Death looks down as the Grimm flood the city like a plague, killing everything in their path. Neptune and Scarlet are both injured still, using their weapons while they still can as Thara attempts to start the car to get them out of there. Qrow's bad luck affecting them once more.

Death tightens his grip on Ferrum Arctus and he turns to face the Huntsman that he has defeated. "Your time has not come...but others have." Death states. "This is the beginning of your extinction, Qrow Branwen. Do not fight it, for it cannot be defeated. I will claim all souls eventually, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow...it could take years...but from this day onwards...your daughter will be my target even if she survives this night." Death explains. "Did you really think that I kill where I wish? When I wish?" He questions. "I am bound by my code, to kill when it is time for them to die. We have simply been playing you; keeping you occupied...the people here have become the chosen to die with Mistral. If it were that simple...you would all be dead." Death assures him.

Death approaches the edge of the road where they stand upon. His red eyes fixate on Ruby's.

"I won't let you." Qrow argues, standing back up with blood leaking from his mouth. Death stares straight at him.

"You can't stop me." Death states, dropping down from the road to attack them.

The Dragon soars straight over their heads, smashing a clock tower down above them, Ruby gasps when she sees the building collapsing above their heads. Winter looks up at it and she forms a glyph to block the collapse above Neptune and Scarlet. Scarlet is still wounded from having his hand broken by Death. Jaune presses his hand to his stomach, feeling the blood seeping out and dripping onto the floor. Ren and Nora vacate from the premises.

Ruby turns around to look at the rest of their team as the Clock Tower crumbles down in between them. "Ruby!" Yang screams, reaching out to her. But the tower collapses right between them, the blast nearly knocking her off her feet and sliding across the floor. Thara struggles to get the car moving, the battle has caused too much damage to it and the car is dead.

"It won't start!" Thara yells, bruised from the tricked civilians that attacked her under Fury's influence.

"We need to get them out!" Winter says, holding it up there as best as he can.

Scarlet can still walk, so he gets up and he puts his arm around Neptune, lifting him off the floor. Neptune screams in agony as they pull him to safety as Winter falls to one knee, trying to help keep the glyph there. As soon as Thara and the others are clear, she releases it, exhausted from having to use her semblance for so long. The massive pieces of rubble crash down onto the car, crushing it under the weight of the impact, completely flattening the car with shards of glass sliding across the floor along with flickering gold sparks bouncing on the floor.

The malfunctioning engine explodes, causing orange flames to bleed through the rubble that flattened it. Yang, Weiss and Blake clamber up the side of the destroyed tower to get to Ruby where she stands in the crossroads. Adam has vanished, but he was not under the tower when it collapsed. Yang runs to her sister and Weiss runs to hers as well. They both hug their siblings tightly; Yang nearly lifts her baby sister off the floor as she holds her.

"I thought I lost you!" Yang exclaims in a worried tone. Scarlet helps carry Neptune to safety but none of them notice the Black Nevermore diving down from the sky above them and landing right behind Scarlet, transforming into Death, wielding Ferrum Arctus in his hand. The impact is so powerful that they are all thrown onto the floor.

Neptune rolls onto the floor, blood leaking constantly from his legs and Scarlet gets back up, firing his Flintlock Pistol at Death once more, and having no effect. Death brings the black blade up with force and Scarlet wails in agony as the blade carves clean through his wrist that wields the pistol. Blood erupts from the stump and he shrieks out, unable to grab it with his broken hand. He staggers back and Neptune looks in horror.

"Scarlet!" Neptune screams, reaching out to him. Scarlet looks at him, the red hair moving from his eyes to reveal both. Suddenly the blade of Ferrum Arctus erupts through Scarlet's chest, pushing through the rib cage, scraping against his bones inside. he reaches up in complete agony as Death lifts him off the floor, blood pouring from his wounds. Ruby's eyes widen in horror as they witness Death completely murder their friend right in front of them. Death stares at them when Scarlet's body ceases to struggle, his arms falling back and nothing but blood leaking from his wound.

Death swings Ferrum Arctus to the side, the body of Scarlet still impaled on it and the body slides straight off the blade, smashing into the wall and laying there. Neptune can't stop looking; now he has lost another good friend to the monsters that have been a part of the Fall of Mistral. Death stares straight at Neptune, as he is also on his list as Scarlet was and Neptune screams in anger, pointing his Dust Powered Rifle at the Knight as he walks towards him with his Claymore in his hand.

The blue rounds impact the thick black armour plating but they are deflected off, like light against a mirror. The rounds burn straight into the floor as he walks towards Neptune. But Weiss darts in between them both and he forms a glyph in between them both. Death's blade slams down into the Glyph and he stares at it, he pushes straight down, cutting the glyph in half, causing it to become unstable. Death calmly grabs Weiss by the throat and he chokes her, holding her off the floor as he stares at Neptune, pointing Ferrum Arctus at his throat.

"Death comes for you all from tonight onwards." Death states, pulling his arm back to plunge the blade of his sword straight into Weiss' stomach. Death pushes the blade straight at her and Weiss gasps in pain, as the blade sinks straight into her stomach, blood pouring from her wound.

Her blue eyes widen in agony and she shrieks in agony. Team R.W.B.Y erupt into rage, sprinting straight at the Knight. Yang's eyes erupt into glowing red rage, and she jumps straight at Death, punching him in the side of the head. The impact from her metal hand hitting his head makes him stumble, he pushes Weiss from the blade, it did not kill her as it did to Scarlet, he plunged it through his chest instead of stomach, but it has fatally wounded her, blood pouring from her wound.

She lies on the floor as blood constantly pours from her injury, crying out in agony as she reaches to the man that she loves with all her heart. Neptune crawls over to her side, unable to use his legs from what Death did to him in Nevermore form. He pushes his hands against the wound, applying pressure...

It is not looking good.

So much blood.

The Ice Queen looks into his eyes with fearful tears leaking from them, but not for her sake, for his. Blood has completely covered his hands and he looks straight at her. "Weiss...hold on...you'll be okay..." He promises. Weiss coughs in his arms, blood leaking from her lips. Weiss sniffles as she looks at him.

"I'm sorry." She stammers as she looks at the blood all over the clothes that she is wearing. She still holds Myrtenaster tight as she lies on the floor.

"You have nothing to be sorry about, just keep your eyes on me." Neptune begs.

Death has had enough, no more playing games. He is showing them all what he can do, they all fight him at once but none of them have landed a blow since Yang punched him in the head. Death catches Yang by the throat and he smashes her straight into the ground, sending cracks across the ground.

He immediately slashes the blade of Ferrum Arctus across Blake's chest, sending her flying and tumbling into the floor, blood smudging across the floor as he wipes them out. Jaune swings Crocea Mors at Death but the Knight catches the blade with his armoured hand, and with one sharp movement...

The sword is pulled right from his hand and falling onto the floor across the street from him.

Death proceeds to kick the Arc boy in the chest as he smashes into the floor. Nora and Ren run at him with their weapons but he spins round, flexing out the Nevermore Wings to launch Fatal Feathers directly at them all, crippling them to the floor as it shreds down their aura. They roll across the floor in pain and Death continues to fight them. Sun and Kassius run into the battlefield and they see what Death has done.

Weiss is bleeding out...Yang has been wounded as well as Death stamps down on her chest, rupturing many organs inside of her, making her spit out blood. Kassius clenches his hands into fists when he sees that and something completely unbelievable happens. His eyes suddenly explode red with rage, like the Grimm, red mist trails from his eyes. He screams in anger, sprinting straight at Death. Lines crack through the skin on his face with burning embers trailing from the fissures.

He slashes both blades at him with massive force and the sudden attack has given him the upper hand against the Knight of Death as he staggers back, deep cuts in the armour from his attacks. Death brings Ferrum Arctus directly at Kassius but he ducks down to avoid the blade, so much rage has channelled across him that he is completely unpredictable to Death, moving fast and attacking hard.

But as Kassius tries to fight him, Death grabs him by the face, smashing him right down beside Yang, holding the black smoking blade tight in his hand. He goes to plunge it into his and her stomach but Sun goes to attack him. Death stares straight at him and swings the sword into his chest, launching him into the fountain. But when he goes to attack, Kassius is stood back up and he is carrying Yang to safety.

Ruby screams in anger from the loss of Scarlet and from him fatally injuring Weiss, she lunges straight at him. Jaune with her as well, holding Crocea Mors again after finding it on the floor. Death spins round and his wings grow from his cape, and as he turns, he batters his wings against them both, sending them flying through a building, down a cliff and onto the road beneath them, crashing down with force. Jaune groans in pain and Ruby is shell shocked.

Neptune holds his beloved Ice Queen tight, holding his hands against the wound to try and keep her safe. Death stands there; kicking Sun onto the floor when he tries to attack, but it has no effect. He stands there and looks straight at Weiss who is dying on the floor with Neptune in her arms. Death begins to walk towards her, behind them is the dead body of Scarlet David, blood has pooled out around his corpse.

Not far is the body of Sage by Haven which is on fire. The Dragon soars overhead, dropping more and more Grimm into the city. Neptune points his rifle at Death, shooting at him, but to no avail. Weiss stares at the Knight as he approaches and Winter attempts to go after him but he just swings his sword back at her, sending a sharp pulse of darkness that knocks her back. Qrow watches in terror from where Death left him stood upon as Death approaches her.

He holds Ferrum Arctus in his hand and points it at her throat. She has become incredibly weak, more blood leaking from her stab wound...

But something changes in Death; he stands there, turning his head slightly as if he heard something. And then he looks back at Weiss. He still points the blade at her throat, but to all of their surprise...he leaves her. He turns and walks away from them both.

Because he knows that there is something he must do. He disappears into a cloud of black smoke, vanishing before them. Neptune sighs with relief and they see a Crow flying up to them to help them. "We need to go." Qrow says, transforming back into his human form. He picks up Weiss, holding her in his arms, he rips his sleeve off and wraps it round her waist to hold the bleeding back as best as he can. Sun picks up the injured Blake and Winter helps Neptune back up to his feet, but they are all incredibly weak.

"What about Ruby and Jaune?" Nora questions.

"We are going there now!" Qrow replies, referencing the road that they are taking to get down to where they were launched by Death's wings.

Ruby

The taste of metallic, irony blood fills her mouth and her senses...

Her large silver eyes gaze out across the destroyed Kingdom of Mistral, the Academy of Haven in shatters from the huge battle that has torn this once great place apart.

Burning pain across her body where she has suffered immense pain from a fight she knew she could not win. Claret trickles down from a deep gash across the side of her forehead, bleeding down one of her eyes, partially blinding her vision with a reddish blur. Dizzy from shock, chunks of rubble surround her where she was thrown through the wall and tumbled down the hill and past different buildings.

Ruby sits upright, groaning with pain as she feels so light headed due to her concussion, and with her aura completely depleted she is in great danger. Her ears are ringing constantly from being stunned so severely, coughing up dust and even some splatters of blood into her hand. The roars and screeches of Nevermores echo above her head, grabbing and killing the civilians attempting to flee the city of Mistral.

Fires blaze across the city, the Grimm Dragon soars over the city as he breathes flames into the city. Plumes of smoke and fire plunge through the streets, consuming the civilians, hearing the sound of Beowulves ripping innocent civilians to shreds beneath her. Their screams burn through her ringing ears with terror, until she hears someone grunting with pain as well not far from where she is.

Ruby was not the only one who was thrown down there by their foe that is destroying them all in combat. Jaune stumbles, blood leaking from his side and staining his torn Pumpkin Pete's Hoodie that he wears all the time. Deep scratches and scuffs in his armour and in Crocea Mors as he approaches her, coughing as well. "Ruby!" He calls, squeezing his hand against the bloodied wound, claret stains his gauntleted hand, and he falls beside her as he tries to get her back to her feet. "Ruby!" He repeats, shaking her.

Ruby appears to be suffering from Shellshock; she cannot hear him or even acknowledge his presence at the moment. "Come on, Crater Face! Snap out of it!" He yells, and that seems to push her out from this state of shock that she is suffering from.

"J-Jaune..." Ruby weakly whispers, confused of what is happening due to her shock, coughing again from her pain that she suffers from. "W-Where's Yang?" Ruby questions through a trembling voice, staring at her close friend for assistance and fear for her big sister's safety. Jaune's blue eyes dart back up to the crater in the building where they were both launched by him. Smoke rising from where they were, no longer hearing the clattering of weapons and cracks of gunfire that once burst earlier.

"I don't know..." Jaune answers as he looks around, hearing something shuffling towards their location, the sounds of razor sharp claws scraping through the cobblestone beneath them. He scoops Ruby back up to her feet, her knees are shaking and she has a limp due to a deep gash in her ankle and in her side. She yelps from the sharp pain that just jolted through her body, it even feels like her arm could be broken, or at least cracked in some way.

The two of them jump from their skin, hearing the deafening screech of the Grimm Dragon that glides on over ahead, blasting flames from its jaws that burn more sections of the city to ashes, killing more and more innocent people and any surviving Huntsmen or Policemen. The huge black wings extend out, blocking out the lunar light from the fractured moon that hangs above the sky, watching their every move. It flies towards the main building in Haven Academy, slamming its huge sharp talons into the building and swinging its huge body around it to land on top. The Grimm Beast stretches its wings out and swings them back and forth, roaring immensely to the sky, breathing fire from its black scaly throat.

It is like the end times...

Jaune is not a fool...Haven and Mistral are both lost to them, the Grimm have invaded the city and are slaughtering everyone left and right around them. Ruby crouches down, or at least she struggles to, and grasps onto the massive body of Crescent Rose at her feet, some of the pain has been scraped off from the battle. Jaune grabs Ruby by her shoulders to get her attention, the shocked girl stares into his eyes fearfully. "Haven is finished! We have to go!" Jaune trembles, just as scared as his younger friend is, but she still wants to help stop them.

"We can't just – argh – leave them..." She argues, pressing her hand against her side and holding onto Crescent Rose to not collapse from pain. Jaune catches her, holding her up despite his own wound that he has suffered from during this long siege.

"They can handle themselves! But we need to get the hell out of here!" Jaune pushes, staring into her eyes to convince her. Reluctantly, she groans and nods her head to agree with him, coughing with pain still. Ruby watches as he takes point, jogging ahead when suddenly a Grimm Beowulf lunges out at him with a roar, slashing its claws at him. She gasps as she goes to attack, until a blast of wind knocks her onto her back.

A huge black Nevermore flew right in front of them, the downdraft of its massive wings knocked her over, and the Beowulf has pinned Jaune against the ground. It snaps its bony jaws at him over and over again, drooling onto his face as he presses his Claymore against its throat. He roars with rage, pushing the blade and scraping it through its jugular. Black smoke erupts from the beast's throat and it roars with pain, erupting and disintegrating into ashes around him, only just failing to kill him.

Jaune turns and stares at Ruby, seeing real fear in her eyes now. "Come on!" He calls.

Until suddenly...

An Obsidian Arrow shoots right past Jaune's face, and as if time just slowed down, he could see the arrow slowly passing right by his face as it travels towards Ruby's eye. The arrow shoots directly for Ruby, but she darts away with her semblance saving her life, a blast of petals saving her life. Jaune watches the arrow, seeing the obsidian arrow glistening against the sunlight, and then it vanishes into the petals, sliding across the floor. His eyes widen in grief when he sees the crimson colour of blood on the arrowhead.

His eyes turn when he sees Ruby stood there, stumbling around. Her head turns to face him, and Jaune nearly collapses from sorrow and anguish. He nearly drops Crocea Mors...

Her shoulder length black and red hair blows aside, revealing a flush of red that pours from her left eye socket, damaging her face badly. She stares at Jaune with her one eye, blood bleeding from her fresh wound that terrifies Jaune. His eyes bulge from his eyes. "Jaune?" She mutters in shock. Her body collapses to the ground, hitting the floor with her head. Jaune sprints to her side, holding her body in his arms.

"No!" Jaune cries out. "Ruby!" His cries of horror echo across Haven, across Mistral. Tears fall from his eyes. "No...Not again..." He begs, sniffling.

But then his eyes look up at where he saw the arrow come from.

He thought the arrow belonged to Cinder Fall, it was so similar...

Then he sees it stood there, and it haunts him...the same being that put them down there in the first place. The same being that has brought this Great Kingdom to its knees in practically one night.

It stands tall, formed from some sort of jet black armour plating and a long torn black cape made of smoke that flutters with the wind. It holds a Bow in its hand, and it shatters into tiny pieces, the chunks burn and transform into golden embers that are carried away in the wind as he stands there. The glowing red eyes in the sharp triangular helm glare directly into his large blue irises, seeing the tears of sorrow in his eyes.

Then the being speaks...

In a hideously demonic voice...

And it says only one phrase...

"An Eye For An Eye..."

Jaune

It's all over.

Mistral has fallen.

Haven Academy collapses from the fire that has consumed its wooden structure, plummeting down the two tower-like mountains that it once stood upon, and if there were still people inside...then may god rest their souls. The Grimm remain inside, like smoke spreading through the city, killing the Grimm. They failed...they have lost the two Relics...Weiss could be dead, Scarlet and Sage are dead and Lionheart is gone, along with Oscar and Ozpin.

Palpitations of breath echo through the woodlands outside of the destroyed city as the Grimm finish is off. Jaune runs as fast as he can with his wound still bleeding. He holds Ruby in his arms, her eye bleeding onto his black jumper and his armour. His eyes are wide as he runs, his mouth agape, looking at her unconscious body in his arms. She is still alive...barely...Death's arrow has caused serious damage to the gentle rose.

Jaune looks over his shoulder as he flees, seeing Death stood behind him with a horde of Grimm running behind him. Death points his sword straight at Jaune and the other three Knights form beside him, showing that they cannot die...at least not through the same methods as normal Grimm. The Grimm charge past the Knights, Beowulves howling as they charge after him. Crescent Rose was left behind at Mistral, blood drips from Ruby's hand that hangs down.

Jaune refuses to leave her, running as quick as he possibly can to keep her safe. A Beowulf leaps, smashing through a dying tree as Death walks with them, killing the plant life that they walk through, the creaking screams of Trees collapsing as he passes them.

Jaune runs, seeing a burning tree before him, meaning that Fury has been here. He puts his shoulder forward so then Ruby does not hit it. His shoulder smashes through the burning tree, burning wood exploding around him as he runs, crumbling down around him as he runs, and embers sitting on his shoulder. Smoke rises up from the tree as it collapses from its support being blown apart from him running into it. Jaune runs further and further with the Grimm behind him...he knows that they are behind him. He looks back at Ruby; there is so much blood...

Death continues to walk after them with the other three Knights. Fury is constantly tensing his hands into fists as he glares at them. While he runs, a spotlight shines upon him, his eyes look up to see a Bullhead hovering above him in the treeline with Red and Black colours painted upon it with golden accents also added to the metal plates. It is a Bullhead belonging to the Acolytes of Lien, following them.

The Grimm are starting to catch up with them, so Jaune knows he needs to try and lose them all somehow. He turns, seeing what looks like a cave. He runs into the woods, using the trees to obscure the vision of both the Acolytes of Lien and the Grimm. He runs into the cave, vanishing into the darkness, and he continues to run, seeing that the tunnel goes deep into the ground. He looks back, seeing the glow of red from their eyes as they chase after him.

The orange glow of Fury chases after them like a cloud of fire pluming behind them. He manages to get free from the cave as there is an exit, and the Grimm pile up against the thinner exit, throwing their bodies into it, cracking it as they impact it.

The Bullhead retreats when Nevermore begin to leave the remains of Mistral, scanning the forests for any survivors. Jaune stops for a couple of seconds, taking refuge behind a boulder and he sets her down, looking at her wound on her face. He stammers...he doesn't know what to do...But when he sits by her, he hears Fury roaring monstrously as he emerges from the cave, smashing it down. He looks down at her...and there is a way out of this.

He looks down at the beautiful girl and he sighs. "I'm gonna lure them off...don't you dare die on me." Jaune begs. He draws Crocea Mors, standing up with brave intentions as he runs out from the rock and stares at the Grimm. "Come on!" Jaune challenges, his shield held high as he gets their attention. Death, Fear, Loss and Fury stare straight at him with their weapons at the ready and Fear smirks at him, pointing his rotten finger right at him. The horde charge straight at Jaune and he begins to run from them, luring them away from the rock where he hid Ruby. He sprints away from them, a multitude of Grimm pursuing him, the quake of their charge following after him.

He runs and runs from them. Death stands there as the Grimm that they summoned have gone after Jaune, along with the other Knights. He stands there and he looks around, he is not foolish, he noticed that he was not holding Ruby. He clenches his hand into a fist as he looks at the rock where he left her, and he slowly walks towards where she lays, blood still leaking from her torn open eye.

He holds Ferrum Arctus tight and he points it straight at the rock and he charges black lightning across the blade. But then he hears voices getting closer, he turns and he snarls. He turns and vanishes from the scene, expecting Yang or someone to appear. But instead, there are Acolytes of Lien; they patrol through the woods, their rifles held high.

They are perilously close to Ruby.

Jaune sprints again, like he is caught in a time loop, but now he no longer holds Ruby, just Crocea Mors, risking his life to make sure that she is safe. He sprints as fast as he can, looking back to see the horde and Fury sprinting after him with rage. He continues on to try and lure them off. When he runs, he finds an old abandoned farm where a tree has collapsed from the Goliaths that marched through, crushing the buildings and the fences that once surrounded it. He sprints to the tree, vaulting over it and hiding behind the huge tree trunk. He sits there, resting his back against the bark as he sits there.

The Grimm are getting closer and closer.

He grabs the red sash on his hip that reminds him of his beloved Pyrrha Nikos, running his finger across the velvet as he looks at it with tearful eyes. I'll always be with you, Jaune.

He closes his eyes, hearing them getting closer. He exhales through his lips, hearing something getting near, heavy footfalls and the floor getting hotter. He opens his eyes in anger, standing up as Fury leaps straight at him with both axes raised. Jaune screams as he leaves the tree and the Grimm run over the Tree, trampling across the sash left behind, being buried under the soil as they charge after him.

He is outnumbered...

And alone...

Yang

Jaune's battle-cry echoes nearby and she stops, she is now back on her feet, battered and bruised after Death completely eviscerated them. He is as powerful as all of them, carrying nearly all of their skills with him except for Fear and Loss' mind manipulation capabilities. That is what makes him so lethal; he has the strength of Fury, the speed of Loss and the Intelligence of Fear. Yang stops when she hears him yelling and Kassius stops with her, his eyes have returned to their initial blue state. Whatever that freak-out of his was. "Was that Jaune?" She asks him. Kassius listens carefully...there is only silence now.

"I don't know..." He says.

"We need to find Ruby." Yang says, pushing through the brush. She has no idea about her condition, which will make it far more heart-wrenching for when she finds her beloved sister in the state that she is in right now. Bleeding into the soil by a rock. Yang proceeds forward and they both look up when they see the Bullhead patrolling the skies, examining the ground to find out where she is.

They stay low to avoid detection from the Acolytes as they look for her. Yang is in the same place that Jaune was in; the soil is torn up from where the Grimm charged through to get to Jaune, claws tearing up the soil as they ran. Kassius and Yang look at the soldiers as they approach the rock where she is hiding. Yang looks carefully, and from the point of view she can see from, she can see her hand there. She knows it is hers as well because of the slight catch of red from her outfit. Her eyes widen and she gasps. The soldiers somehow have not noticed her body on the floor yet, walking past the rock that Jaune hid her by.

Yang gets up and runs over to the rock, despite Kassius trying to stop her. She keeps her head low to avoid detection, she slides past the rock and she looks at her sister. Her heart sinks from horror when she sees the red blood all over her face and her missing eye from where Death shot her with his Bow and Arrow. She stammers in horror, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. Kassius runs up to her side and he stops...pausing in horror when he sees her body there with so much blood from her horrific injury. But he sees her breathing. "Yang...she's alive." He assures.

But Yang doesn't hear him.

She just looks at her baby sister on the floor who has been incredibly wounded and her eye begins to twitch, pure rage in her face as she begins to grit her white teeth together, clenching her hands into tight fists. She closes her eyes and when she opens them...

They are blood red.

The Captain of the Squad walks with his men, holding his rifle. He is the same Captain that was in the Bullhead with Cinder when they arrived at Mistral. "Spread out, when we find her, kill her." He orders to his men. They all stop when hearing her blood-fuelled rage as she howls from the rock where they are. The Captain stops and slowly looks over his shoulder at where her shrill came from. He wears black sunglasses over his eyes, looking at where she yelled.

Yang charges straight at them, her eyes glowing red and pure anger engraved on her face, Ember Celica primed and her fists clenched as she charges straight at the Mercenaries that are trying to kill her. "It's her sister!" A Mercenary yells.

"Shoot at her!" The Captain orders.

One of the Mercenaries turns to face her, firing his Assault Rifle at her, holding the trigger back as he unloads a magazine at her. The bullets race at her but her fury makes her aura completely deflect the bullets. Bullets smash into the trees and she pulls her arm back as she runs at the first Mercenary, punching him straight in the head with enough force to flip a car.

His neck snaps and he is thrown straight into the soil with force. Yang also fires the two shotgun bracers at her enemies as they all fire on her. Yang ducks down to avoid the shotgun of another soldier, upper cutting him with her fist and firing a blast from Ember Celica, blowing his head to smithereens. She continues to charge, shooting one in the chest as she punches him, running to the next batch.

She spins round as she avoids the swarm of bullets and as she turns, she powers up another blow, decking him so hard that it fractures his skull and kills him without even firing a round from Ember Celica. She punches down into the rifle of another mercenary, completely shattering the gun and then she shoots him in the head with one of the rockets, blowing his body up in a spray of red, some of it splattering against her outfit and face, turning her hair partially red.

She decimates the mercenaries and grabs the rifles of another soldier, bringing her fist round to smash him in the leg, breaking his leg and bringing the other round into his head, firing a shotgun blast as she does it. As she charges through and wipes out the Acolytes of Lien, she is constantly screaming with anger over what has happened to her baby sister.

The Captain readies his sword as she runs at him, two soldiers standing in between her and him. The two Soldiers fire their firearms at her and she continues to charge, punching one in the chest and the shotgun blast blows a hole in his chest. She grabs the other by the head with her metal hand and pulls him as she runs, crushing his head into a tree. She finally charges at the Captain, leaping into the air with a powerful battle-cry, pulling her arm back and smashing her fist right into his head.

The impact breaks his neck and she shakes with anger, dead Mercenaries around her. She tenses up, letting out another scream of rage.

Kassius remains by Ruby's side as Yang lets out her fury on the Mercs. He has removed the armoured sleeve that he wears over his human arm and he rips the sleeve of his jacket off to wrap across her wound to stop the bleeding.

He covers only one eye in case she wakes up but it is not enough for her to survive this, she needs medical attention. But it is better than leaving it open like that. He puts the armoured sleeve back and he checks her pulse, and he still feels a very faint pulse to her body.

Other Mercenaries emerge from the woods when they heard Yang going berserk on them. She sprints directly at the soldiers, knocking them all off their feet as she fights them. Kassius looks at her rage as she destroys them, and he has something similar that he has not told them about, when he cracked when seeing her get hurt. She fights and fights the soldiers...

But finally...

She manages to kill all of the Mercenaries. She stands there by the corpse of a Merc, she breathes slowly, closing her eyes, when they open, and her pretty big lilac eyes look around again as she turns to her sister on the floor. She sprints back to Ruby, sliding beside her and she picks her up, pushing her black and red hair aside and she shakes her to try and wake up. "Ruby..." Yang cries as she holds her sister.

"She's alive." Kassius assures. Yang gently strokes her finger against her cheek.

"Her eye..." She sniffles, her voice cracked and broken. Kassius walks over to her side and he holds her by her chin, turning her to look him in the eyes.

"She will live." He promises as he looks into her eyes. "But we have to get her to safety, to a village preferably."

"If there are any left that the Knights haven't destroyed..." Yang sniffles.

"Well, we'll have to wait and see. I'll carry her." He offers.

"No...I've got her." Yang says, holding her gently.

"No big sister should ever have to carry their dying little sister." Kassius states, holding his arms out to carry her. Yang bursts into tears and she gives Ruby to him, looking at her constantly as her body doesn't move. Her heart may still be beating...but it is horrible for her to see Ruby like that. All because of Death and his sadistic laws and his code that he follows so truly. Kassius holds her, he is stronger than Yang is and he walks with her to get her to safety.

No one knows what happened to Jaune.

Qrow

The rest of the team are together.

Qrow carries the dying Weiss Schnee in his arms, blood pouring from the wound she suffered from Death as she tries to save Neptune, only leading to her also being injured as well. Blake has also partially recovered from her own injury, running with them as they get out. The group is made up of: Qrow, Winter, Weiss, Ren, Nora, Neptune, Blake and Sun. With Sage and Scarlet dead, and Weiss and Ruby in critical conditions, the Knights of Grimm have well and truly branded their mark upon them all.

Weiss is crying out in agony from the searing hot torment that she suffers from, blood has now soaked into the sleeve of Qrow's white and grey dress shirt. Winter keeps her eyes on her little sister, making sure that she is alive still. Neptune is now being carried by Ren and Sun who hold him up by both arms, since his injuries have rendered him unable to walk completely. Blood still bleeds from the wounds in his legs.

Weiss cries out when there is a sudden jolt of pain across her body from the movement. At the moment, she is very lucky that Death's blade did not sink all the way through her and come out her back like it did to Scarlet. He only managed to push the top of the blade into her stomach, but even that is life threatening. "We need to keep moving!" Qrow hurries.

"Go where?" Sun questions as he carries his friend with the help of Ren. Nora looks around with nervous eyes, holding Magnhild tight in her grasp.

"There has to be a town that hasn't been hit. Towns have doctors, medication. Stuff that can help Weiss!" Qrow calls back to him. Blake runs, she has a makeshift bandage made from parts of Sun's shirt that is around her waist where Death cut her with his sword. She is still in pain but she can run. Blake holds Gambol Shroud in her hand along with its sheath, dual wielding them both.

Sun is blocking out the loss of most of his team until he can get everyone somewhere safe. Weiss stammers in pain as she looks up at the clear night sky, the endless constellations of stars above them.

"It's beautiful..." She whispers.

Qrow looks at her.

"What?" Qrow asks her. Weiss' eyes close slowly and she passes out in his arms, and that nearly gives Winter a heart-attack.

"Weiss?" Winter says with a fearful tone. Qrow places his finger to her neck to check for a pulse.

There is one...but it is becoming pretty faint. "She's alive; I think she just passed out from the pain. That's good." Qrow says to them all.

"How is that good?" Nora questions as she keeps up with them.

"Because her body won't be using up too much energy to stay awake, it gives us more time." Qrow says. "But we need to keep up the pace."

Sun and Neptune look back at Mistral; it was also their home for quite some time as well.

Now it is nothing more than another smoking ruin.

Claimed by the Darkness.

They failed.

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