//------------------------------// // Chapter 25: The Beast Of Balance VS The Monster of Spite // Story: Equestria’s White Fang // by Garnet Naturea //------------------------------// Penny looked to the warehouse district from her place near the highest point of the crystal stadium. She could sense it, her boyfriend was fighting hard, possibly for his life. And she knew it would not be for much longer. She stayed vigilant above the crowd near the entrance to the stadium. Many of the ponies had rushed over to the stadium to ask Shining Armor what was going on. Cadence managed to calm most of them down, but once the situation was explain by Neo through Pyrrha, it was decided that the warehouse distract was closed off until Adam and team RWBY arrive. While it calmed the ponies, it just left Penny with an intense feeling of dread. Right now her boyfriend, the first male to ever take a liking to her, was fighting against a megalomaniac that looked just like him. She knew he had enough problems with the random flashes of memories he has. She can’t even imagine what he is going through right now. And that was just a few moments ago, before a bright light shone from the area he was fighting. That light sent a feeling of safety and determination through the entire kingdom, and Cadence and Shining could tell the crystal heart was affected as well. While the ponies were confused about what the light was, those from Remnant knew all too well. There were only two sources the light could come from, and it was all but agreed on who it was. Penny barely glanced to her right as Qrow flew up and shifted next to her. The older huntsman was silent for a few moments, looking over the young ginger then the crowd beneath them. “You know you don’t need to stay here. I am sure Adam wouldn’t mind the backup.” He states, crossing his arms. Penny shook her head. “No. I know he is going to win. It’s just taking a little longer than expected is all. He’ll be back before we know it.” She mutters, mostly to herself Qrow realized. The man sighed and took a stiff swig from his flask. Sure he couldn’t get drunk anymore, but that didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy the burn. He looked to the area he knew Adam was fighting, raising a brow as some kind of dark sphere was erected, momentarily scaring the ponies, before it burst into silver flames and seemed to solidify into crystal. He frowned and looked to Penny, who was beginning to shake, clearly keeping herself in one spot. “Penny. Just go to him already. We both know you want to, and I know firsthand what it feels like. If you don’t go now, you’ll just be torturing yourself with constant thoughts of ‘what if.’” Qrow firmly states. Penny looks to him for a few moments, then to Pyrrha, Neo and Oscar who were helping with the ponies. She took a deep breath and jumped to the street below, taking off into a short jog. Qrow watched her run with a small smile, before turning his head to the sky, watching the small snowstorm raging outside of the barrier. Once again, that one memory popped into his head. He sighed, not trying to ignore it as it all came back to him again. ‘Summer. You and Penny are too much alike. I just hope she and Adam don’t meet the same fate as we did.’ ***** CLANG! Both Adam’s righted themselves again as they were sent sliding back from their attacks, Winger keeping a tight grip on his keyblades, while Taurus flexed his darkened claws, a growl escaping his mouth. Team RWBY were still slightly stunned. One second the duo are talking, the next they launch themselves faster than the girls could react. Shaking off their shock, the huntresses go to join in, only for Adam to raise his arm, blocking them. ”Don’t come closer. This is not your fight any longer.” he states, keeping his eyes locked on his dark counterpart. “Say what?! Adam this is still our fight!” Blake yells, about to walk over, only for Ruby to place a hand on her shoulder. The faunus looked to her younger leader in confusion. “Adam. Is that Adam what I think he is?” Ruby questions, getting a slightly unsure nod from her fellow silver eyed warrior. ”I think so. I think he is at least partially a Heartless.” Adam replies, confusing three of the four girls. Ruby just sighs. “Then that means our weapons would have no effect on him, right?” The girls look to their leader, then Adam in shock, seeing him nod. He frowns and crosses his blades as his dark counterpart tried to rip him to shreds again. Adam growled as he uncrossed his weapons and tried to slash at the former faunus. Taurus just blocked with his katana and jumped back. “Ruby we have to help him.” Blake states, surprising herself for a moment before Ruby shook her head and backed up. “We’d only get in the way. We may be able to kill Grimm, but we would have next to no change against a heartless on our own.” She replied. Her team look to one another, then to the fighting duo in worry, before listening to their leader and backing up to the nearby alleyway. Adam spared the quartet a glance and he saw they were in the alley, before smirking. ”Alright, now I can make sure you won’t be going after them!” Adam calls out, confusing everyone present. He took a breath and twirled his shorter keyblade, A Grimm Fate (AGF), and stabbed it into the ground. Instantly black magic began seeping into the area around the weapon, before quickly spreading out into a circle. ”Sealing Shadow Vortex!” The shadows on the ground quickly rose up around the duo, creating a shifting black and purple sphere of darkness. Adam took a breath and focused on his larger keyblade, Silver Resonance (SR), and felt the flames of his light burning brighter. ”Silver Crystallization!” To both Adam’s it just looked like the area suddenly gained light, showing an ever shifting floor of darkness with walls of silver fire on all sides. The those on the outside, the orb suddenly burst into silver flames, the huntresses backing up as the heat reached them, before the flames quickly were snuffed out, showing a dome of black, purple and silver crystal. One could barely make out the outline of the two men through the walls. Ruby rushed over to the dome and tapped it several times before punching it, wincing when she felt a knuckle crack. She frowned as she shook the pain away, looking at the still figure of her friend. “Great, now we can barely see what’s going on.” Weiss mutters. While she was outwardly annoyed, inside she was worried. She didn’t know why. Before becoming a member of team RWBY she wouldn’t have batted an eye at the prospect of faunus fighting one another, let alone Adam Taurus. But that was before, and now, Weiss could tell who was an animal and who was a faunus. Yang was silent as she looked over the large dome, unsure of what she was looking for to begin with. Maybe a weak point? Then what though. All she knew, was she still wanted to fight for some reason beyond herself. Blake just stayed back from her team, holding her hand before her chest with a worried expression, her ears pinned to her head. ‘Adam...’ ******* Taurus looked around the dome with an angered and annoyed expression before turning back to his opponent, growling as Winger stood back up at the ready. ”What is this?! What do you hope to gain by trapping us in here?” Taurus demands. ”It isn’t what I have to gain. It’s what I can’t stand to lose. I will not allow you to hurt Blake and the others. As a huntsman, its my duty to defend the innocent. With that being said...” Winger looked up with a flaring glare, his eyes filled with determination and more than a little anger, ”I guess you could say I am also going to be your comeuppance for all the sins you have committed in Remnant.” Taurus was merely silent and grabbed his katana in his left hand while flexed his right clawed hand, crouching down with a glare. Winger responded by crouching as well and held both of his weapons in a reverse grip. There was a few moments of silence save for the crackling of the flames around them, before in an instant, the duo rushed forwards to one another. Taurus rushed with an overhead slash, only for it to be blocked by Silver Resonance, earning an attempted punch from the guard of A Grimm Fate in the stomach. Rather than being sent back though, he jumped at the last moment, Winger missing his strike, but turning fast enough to block a claw strike. Taurus jumped back and raised his right arm, black energy traveling down the limb before condensing into several spear-like projectiles. Winger spun his two weapons before him, blocking all the bolts and sending a couple back, which Taurus blocked with his sword. Winger rushed forwards as Taurus was sheathing his sword and managed to get in a quick three hit combo on him before being forced to fall back as Taurus countered with several quick slashes from his sword. He then proceeded to run in circles around the silver-eyed faunus, several heartless afterimages behind him. Adam looked back and forth to the solid afterimages, frowning as he could barely keep track of them all. He counted ten at least. He dodged as one tried to run in and slash him, and tried to retaliate, only for a second one to block his weapon and punch him back. He continued to dodge, block and try to attack back, but his opponent was too fast. ’Damnit, I need more speed!’ In that instant, something happened that none could have expected. Adam felt as though something was activating, almost like when he was using Moonslice, but it was clearly different, an energy running through him from his very core. Outside the barrier, the members of team RWBY were all looking over the barrier, trying to find a way in, when Ruby suddenly stopped, an odd feeling running through her. “Ruby? What is it?” Weiss question, earning the others attention. Ruby was silent, but her face was contorted into a confused, yet concentrated frown. She closed her eyes, and something seemed to click. Without really meaning to, her eyes began to glow softly, as some small pebbles began to rise up an inch. “What the?” Yang mutters, as a large silver orb with a wispy top appears around her sister. Ruby looks to the dome again, and focuses her soul, her aura covering her from the feet up. ‘Adam.’ Adam Taurus was startled as he watched a red aura slowly covering his counterpart from head to toe. He shook his head and charged in as the aura covered his opponent completely, noting that his hair had changed from auburn and red to black with red highlights. Winger blinked as the sensation stopped and saw as his opponent and all of his afterimages charged at him at once, clearly choosing to try and overpower him. Without really registering it, he crouched down and jumped, and the impossible happened. As Adam jumped, some kind of red, black and grey energy that looked almost like cloth covered him to his head, and he spun away, almost like he was flying, red, black and silver flower petals being left in his wake. Taurus and his afterimages watched in shock as their strikes missed, two of them actually taking each other out on accident, and his opponent flew around before landing a little ways away, the energy disappearing to show his own shocked expression. Weiss and the others were worried for their team leader, but the young huntress payed them no mind as the looked at the barrier with wide eyes, somehow seeing clearly through it unlike a minute ago. And what she saw sent her mind reeling. ‘Did he just-’ ’-use Ruby’s Semblance?!’ Adam unintentionally finished Ruby’s thought, looking over himself before noticing some of his hair that was on the edge of his vision. He shook his head as he noticed his opponents had gotten over their own shock and were all charging him again. Without really meaning to, he once again turned into a burst of flower petals and appeared next to one of the afterimages, before disappearing in a burst again to attack a different one. (cuz why not use this) Adam Taurus couldn’t keep up as he watched him doppelgänger move so fast he looked like he was at multiple places at once, creating a storm of flower petals and death. Before he could even react, his afterimages were destroyed, the black mist burning into silver flames, and he was forced to block as he noticed his opponent above him, using his blades to act like a buzzsaw. He frowned as he was blocked and burst away, trying to attack his opponent from a different direction, managing a few blows before his opponent caught on and began to successfully defend himself with his sword and claws. Winger frowned and tried to burst forward, attempting to split himself like Ruby did in the Volume four trailer, but to his shock and Taurus surprise, he couldn’t split himself and ended up tackling the heartless faunus, catching them both off guard. ’Ok then, looks like I can’t use her Semblance to the same degree as Ruby herself.’ He thought to himself, dodging to the side as his opponent sent several large dark projectiles at him. ”I don’t know what you just did, but it won’t save you!” He roared, rushing in with both hands now covered in darkness, Usra-like claws covering his hands. Adam switched his keyblades around to a regular grip style and met his doppelgänger head on, SR’s greater reach proving effective against the madman of darkness, while AGF’s shorter stature aided him in defending himself. After going back and forth for about a minute, the duo jumped back from one another to catch their breaths. The silver-eyed faunus was looking only a little tired from the fight, subconsciously keeping a steady stream of magic to keep up the barrier is not easy. Luckily it didn’t take nearly as much magic as he expected when he realized that it was gaining energy from the crystal heart itself. But still, this was starting to weight on him. The scarred heartless was less than pleased. He was hurt, he could tell, and those keyblades provided a greater cutting power than he expected since they looked more like clubs than freaking swords! He growled as he held a small gash on his shoulder, the wound leaking darkness instead of blood. Winger looked around the area they were in, thinking of how to attack next, when he noticed some debris on the dark ground. Some of the destroyed area and a portion of a warehouse were brought into the dome as well, and he suddenly got an idea. ’Hmmm, I used Ruby’s semblance somehow. If I could use hers, could I use the others?’ He mentally questions, looking at some of the debris and seeing some metal beams and rebar and gets an idea. He closes his eyes as he opponent prepares to defend, and thinks of someone. Someone who’s semblance could work here. ‘Pyrrha.’ ***** At the stadium where the others were, Shining Armor just realized after way too long that the mare he was showing around was just some random vacationer and not the game inspector and was trying to do damage control. Meanwhile those from Remnant were just watching him flail hilariously. “You know, you would think he would have had a backup plan for something like this.” Oscar states, sipping his coffee. ”You have to admit though, this is kinda funny.” Neo responded, taking a bite of a crystal berry fritter. Qrow and Pyrrha were just quietly chuckling to themselves as they saw the prince panic. Though, Pyrrha frowned and looked to the warehouse district again, which Qrow noticed. “You shouldn’t be so worried. Penny and the others will be fine. They have the numbers to overpower that bastard faunus.” The red-eyed huntsman says. Pyrrha just sighs. “I know, but I can’t really help it. Penny is easily one of my best friends and Adam is a great guy as well. That’s not even mentioning Ruby and her team.” The young human replies, sighing to herself. Qrow nods and goes to talk again, only for Pyrrha to suddenly stiffen, her eyes wide and confused. “Pyrrha?” Oscar questions, earning the others attention. They watch as she turned to the district again, but doesn’t move, her aura and soul sphere slowly appearing around her. ‘Adam?’ ****** Taurus all but roared as he charged his opponent, attempting to take him down swiftly, even as a new red aura covers him again, his hair changing from black with red highlights to bright scarlet in a few moments. Winger smirked and backflipped away, before pointing his hand out, said appendage being covered in some kind of dark grey energy. Taurus barely had time to wonder what his counterpart was doing, before his instincts screamed at him to jump. He listened a second before a large steel beam was launched past him from behind. As soon as he landed he was forced to jump away as several pieces of rebar stabbed into where he was standing a second ago. He looked to his opponent, seeing various pieces of metal floating around him, including his own sword. Adam smirked as he thrust his hand forwards, the rebar flying through the air towards his opponent, forcing him to run while his opponent attempts to shoot him with his gun. A beam of steel between them stopped that plan in it’s tracks. With a swipe of his hand, the rebar was out of the ground and spinning towards Adam Taurus like a bunch of spinning blades. Adam stood his ground and deflected the rebar away, before rushing to his opponent. Winger lowered his hand in a chopping motion, controlling his sword into intersecting his opponents attempted slash, while he jumped forwards and swung his keyblades at his opponents exposed side, sending him to the ground for a moment before he righted himself. Adam winced to himself as he felt a new strain on his mind, trying to control all the floating pieces of metal was proving to be far more taxing than expected. He was already developing a headache, and he couldn’t focus on keeping all the metal floating. He clenched his hand and dropped all but his sword from his magnetic aura, alleviating the strain on his mind. He focused and rushed towards his still recovering opponent, forcing him to defend against his keyblades, while floating his sword behind him and slashing his back, forcing a roar of pain as he tried to defend against the blade, only to be beat by the keyblades. This went on for only a couple seconds before he jumped back and tried to blast Winger with his gun, the silver-eyed warriors katana spinning in front of him like a pinwheel and blocking the shots. He frowned and sheathed his sword, releasing the change in himself, his hair going back to normal as he rushed forwards again, his opponent growling and meeting him halfway, the duo going back and forth between attacking and defending. Both were beginning to feel the strain of their battle, but neither were willing to give an inch. ****** Ruby and her team were still trying to find some kind of weak point in the barrier blocking them from the duelling Adam’s, but after going around it half a dozen times and checking the top, they were beginning to think there was no way in. “He would trap himself in a barrier to keep us out.” Ruby mutters with a sigh, annoyed by her friends strategy, but she couldn’t really fault him. She’d probably do the same if she could. “I take it this would happen a lot if it could?” Weiss questions her friend, Ruby slowly nodding as she slid down the side of the building to the floor. After she got over her shock at seeing Adam use her Semblance, she seemed to lose sight as the crystals became clouded again. “Well what now? We can’t just leave in case your Adam gets hurt and needs backup, but we can’t just sit here!” Blake complains, kicking the barrier lightly in annoyance. The others sigh and go to talk, only for Blake’s ears to shift back, that one movement telling her team she hears something. “Someone’s coming. Fast.” She states, grabbing Gambol Shroud as her team grabs their own weapons. Ruby closes her eyes and tries to focus on her soul, her team stepping back as it becomes visible for a few second, before she opens her eyes with a smile and releases it. “We don’t have to worry. It’s a friend.” The hooded huntress states, putting away Cresent Rose. Her team looked to one another in confusion at how she could know that, but slowly followed her lead as the sound of footsteps slowly got louder. They weren’t prepared for a burst of electricity above the building with the sound of a dozen Nevermore's screeching in unison. Blake and Yang had to grab their hair as the static electricity in the air forced them up. They watched as a golden blur went past above them and slammed into the barrier with a shout of, “Chidori Drill!” The blur seemed to try and drill through the barrier, electrical arcs flying off it before it seemed to be repelled, and the girls can see the outline of a person inside of the mass of gold and green lightning. “Damnit.” The person said, before noticing the quartet below them and began to slowly hover down. Yang, Weiss and Blake reflexively grabbed their weapons while Ruby walked forwards with a small frown. “Yeah, I guess that didn’t work.” Ruby mutters, standing next to the mass of electricity, who sighs and begins to take proper form. The members of team RWBY dropped their jaws again as the mass solidified into a very familiar girl, Penny looking over the barrier with a frown, her fist still sparking sometimes. “He’s in there, isn’t he?” She questions Ruby, ignoring the stuttering huntresses behind her. Ruby nods. “He decided that this was personal and now we can’t get in. We can barely see.” Ruby says, watching the two blurs going back and forth within the barrier. Penny sighs and walks up to the barrier, feeling it with her hand and frowning. “P-P-P-P-Penny?!” Weiss finally manages to get out, causing the ginger to look at her and her friend for a moment before turning back to the barrier. “I think I can make it so we can see what’s going on at least.” Penny announced, snapping the trio out of their stunned states and confusing Ruby. “What do you have in mind Penny?” Ruby questions. Penny doesn't answer right away, but she takes a closer look at the barrier before taking a couple steps back. “This barrier appears to be made through a combination of dark magic, light magic, and crystal magic. While the first two are none-alterable, the latter is an easy alteration.” Penny states, confusing team RWBY before she brought her hands up and clapped them together, blue and green sparks flying out of them. Ruby’s eyes widen in understanding a moment before Penny placed her hands on the barrier, the blue electricity spreading from her spot quickly as the barrier slowly begins to lose the clouded look and becomes see-through. Penny smiles and nods to herself in satisfaction at a job well done, before noticing both Adam’s going back and forth for offence and defence. It only took her a moment to see a familiar scarf around the neck of one of the Adam’s to know who is who. “Adam!” Penny yelled in worry, seeing him fall back and deflect several dark projectiles. “He can’t hear me.” “Just because you made us be able to see what’s going on, that doesn’t mean he would be able to hear us, right?” Ruby questions, her friend nodding slowly. Penny frowned in worry and gripped her right wrist, or more accurately, a silver bracelet on her wrist. “Ahem!” Penny and Ruby turn to Weiss, Blake and Yang, the latter being the one to loudly clear their throat. “Can someone tell us what the hell is going on!? Who are you!?” Penny and Ruby look to one another, then to the girls before sighing. “It’s a long story, and right now is not the time to explain, so for now, just know this. I. Am. Penny. I am not a clone, I am not a illusion, and I am not a robot. Not anymore.” That didn’t help the girls curiosity and annoyance at all, but they relented and chose to look through the ‘window’ of the barrier Penny made, hoping the fight would be over soon so they could get some answers. Yang kept an eye on her though. ****** Winger growled to himself as he ran around his opponent, deflecting dark energy bolts when he needed to and launched his own shots from his keyblades. Took him a while to realize how to do it, but it was better late than never. He flipped around and blocked another heartless trying to slash him before slashing it into silver fire. He took a second to try and compose himself and catch his breath, his opponent doing the same as they stare each other down, silver reflecting blue and yellow. “Alright. I have had about enough of this.” Winger announced, gripping his keyblades so hard he was nearly bleeding. ”For once we agree on something. I believe its time we end you.” was the reply as Taurus crouched down, hand on his sword. Suddenly, his katana began to change from a deep blood read to a menacing black as Taurus focused all of his dark energy into his sword. Winger frowned as he could see what he was doing and figured this was the last strike he was going to be going against. He crouched as well after bringing his scarf to cover his mouth, allowing his eyes to glow brighter as the flames intensified as well as the black smoke coming off of his markings as he own weapons began to glow their respective colours. “Um, I think we may want to take cover.” Weiss points out to her friends as they see the duo crouching down. While Yang and Black shakily nod in agreement with the ex-heiress, Ruby and Penny remained where they were, worried expressions on their faces. ‘Adam. Please be careful. I know you can do this.’ Was Penny’s thoughts as she gripped her arm in worry. The duo stood still, the area around them seeming to become muted as they stared one another down, drowning everything else out. Their eyes reflected one another, each filled with their own desires and traits. For one, a thirst for revenge, anger, spite, and a desire to destroy all that oppose him on his path. For the other, a sense of duty, justice, determination, and a desire to protect all that he would call friend and family. The silver fire around them silently flickered, the shadow covered ground beneath them shifted and changed slowly, and neither noticed as they remained locked in their stare off. To the girls outside the barrier, it felt like eternity was passing by as they remained locked in their own spots and watched with baited breath at what was going on. A single drop of sweat went down the side of Penny’s head, sliding down to her chin before falling to the ground. The droplet hitting the ground was the silent signal as both faunus tensed and their pupils turned to slits. The ground beneath the both of them was crushed under their pressure as they both launched off their positions towards one another. Adam Taurus gripped his sword hard, brining it out of its sheath as the black energy around the blade caused it to grow in size. Adam Winger held his arms across from his body, slashing with both blades at once, his arms spreading out as he neared his opponent. Time slowed for the girls outside as they saw the duo rush towards one another. Reflexively, Ruby and Penny put their masks on while the others prepared to cover their eyes. Both men grew closer, and closer to one another before, in a flash and with a resounding and echoing CLANG, they were opposite each other, both with their blades extended with their backs to one another. Time seemed to freeze around them, the ground stopped shifting, the flames stopped burning, even the air itself seemed to pause as they both stood still. No one breathed. No one moved. Nothing was happening. Penny was wide eyed as she looked to her boyfriend, silently praying he was ok. Then they heard it. CRACKLE The girls jumped slightly when the loud sound of something breaking echoed through the area. They watched as a small crack appeared in the dome before them, before quickly spreading in a spider web pattern across the entire barrier. With a small burst of wind, the barrier shattered like ice, tiny shards of crystal raining down on everyone nearby. Even then, no one dared to move a muscle. The girls watched as the two men slowly straightened up, and Penny covered her mouth to quiet a gasp as she saw blood slowly covering the left side of her boyfriends face. His opponent seemed completely fine, a small grin on his face as he held his katana with one hand, before he finally exhaled. ”Lucky....shot.” was what was said as his sword suddenly, CRACK, snapped in half, the blade falling to the ground. PSSSHHT A wound suddenly burst from Adam Taurus shoulder, the wound spraying blood and darkness alike as he slowly fell to his knees, the darkness around him evaporating into nothing as he finally fell. He closed his eyes with a small grin as his blood slowly began to pool around him. The girls were wide eyed as they saw the now downed faunus, before turning to the one who was still standing. He was breathing heavily, gripping his weapons in shaking hands, his adrenaline beginning to wane, before he finally sighed, dropping his weapons as they disappeared in a flash of light and darkness, his own alterations disappearing, leaving him as he was before, only with blood covering half his face. The man was swaying on the spot, trying to catch his breath, so he wasn’t prepared for Penny when she suddenly jumped onto him with a cheer, taking the two of them to the ground. “You did it!” She cheered, nuzzling herself into the crook of his neck. Adam’s mind finally caught up with him and he smiled, slowly wrapping Penny into a hug with only a slight wince. Once again three fourths of team RWBY had their jaws on the ground at what they were seeing, the trio slowly turning to their leader, completely ignoring her mask as she smirked to the duo. She noticed her teams expressions and couldn’t help but giggle. “You’ll want to pick up those jaws. This is only the third weirdest thing I have seen since coming here.” Ruby states with a smile, walking over to her friends as her team tried to recompose themselves. She frowned as she saw Adam’s wound, a shallow cut from the centre of his forehead to the beginning of his temple. Without missing a beat, she grabbed Crescent Rose and her cloak and cut a strip of cloth from the bottom. “Here.” Penny nods in thanks and wraps the cloth around Adam’s head, wincing along with him as she tightened it. He took a breath and leaned against Penny, the human blushing from suddenly having Adam’s head on her chest, but she smiled and rubbed the area around his horns to relax him. “Wow. That is....strangely wholesome.” Weiss comments, still a little lost at what was going on. Her teammates nod as they slowly join up with their leader. Adam noticed the trio and groaned as he sat up, Penny supporting him with worry. “Hey, you girls ok?” he questions, only slightly surprising the trio. “Y-yeah, we’re ok. Whatever it was your eye did healed the smaller damage.” Weiss responds, pointing out the slightly scarred cuts on her arms. Yang nodded as she flexed her good arm, showing the scarred puncture wound. He nods with a small smile. “Glad to hear it. That’s....good?” Adam trailed off as his eyes widen suddenly. Everyone was confused, before they heard rapid footstep. Time slowed down again as the group turned around and saw Adam, on his feet, broken blade in hand, barely three feet from Blake. They didn’t have time, Blake’s eyes wide in shock as she saw him running at her with a deranged glare despite his own injuries. She couldn’t react, she was frozen, and reflexively closed her eyes. SHINK Blake’s mind couldn’t fully comprehend what happened. Once second, her ex in running at her with a broken sword, the next, she felt something lightly poking her chest. She slowly opened her eyes, and saw the blade of Wilt lightly poking her left breast. Every girl blinked a few times as their minds slowly began to process what just happened. Blake’s eyes slowly trailed up the blade, noting the blood dripping off it, and barely stopped herself from screaming. Wingers eyes were wide as he stared down his counterpart, the latter eyes matching his own as they were locked. Slowly, agonizingly, their eyes trailed downwards, and Winger found his breath catching in his throat. Everything snapped into focus for everyone as they all fully realized what they were seeing. Once Winger saw his counterpart up and running to Blake, he acted on reflex, shadow bursting towards Blake and standing before her a second before Taurus could reach her. And he was paying for it. Penny and Blake slowly covered their mouths as tears shone in their eyes, now aware of what just happened. Penny didn’t want to believe her eyes. She wanted to pinch herself and wake up back at the castle. She wanted to talk with Luna about a weird dream she just had. But she couldn’t, because this was real. Adam Winger stood slightly slouched, arms spread wide, the broken blade of Adam Taurus Wilt going clean through his chest, the White Fang terrorist keeping a firm grip on the blade with his right hand to the point he was cutting his own hand. No one moved again, no one could as they processed what just happened. And none of the girls wanted to accept it. Surprisingly, it was Adam Winger who recovered first, with a slight cough of blood mind you, but he then snarled at his counterpart and gripped the arm that was holding the blade. Taurus quickly regained his own function a second afterwards, looking up to his copycat and the mentally paling as he saw his younger self raise his free hand, dark magic appearing around it and forming into a dark green and black blade. In the next instant, Taurus fell back as he lost the feeling in his right arm. He reflexively looked at it to assess the damage, and then wished he didn’t. A small thud and splatter seemingly echoed through the area as Taurus right arm hit the ground, the limb cut off from the bicep down. Then the pain registered in his head. And he wished it didn’t. ”AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!” Taurus gripped the stump where his arm should be to try and stop it from bleeding, he mind going mad with pain. His counterpart wasn’t much better, coughing out a small mouthful of blood before going to a knee, hand gripping the wound in his chest. “ADAM!!!” Penny rushed to her boyfriend in tears, her breathing near hysterical as she processed what just happened. “Nonononono, fuck Adam I-your g-g-going to be ok- fuck that’s a lot of blood.” Penny stuttered, trying to reassure her boyfriend as much as herself, tears freely falling from her eyes now. Adam groaned and cough out another batch of blood before turning to his squirming opponent with an almost feral snarl. The sound made the girls jump as Adam got his feet under him. “Shit! Adam you need to stay still!” Blake yells, before seeing his eyes and nearly falling black. Gone were the silver eyes of safety. Now, his eyes shown only anger as his pupils narrowed into slits to the point one could barely see them, his snarl shaking the girls and Taurus to their cores as he took a step forwards. ”You....you can’t just stay dow-” he coughed up more blood, but he seemed to get the point across as his counterpart tried to back away. Tried. ”That’s it. I’m done playing around!” Winger growled and raised his arms, green dark magic appearing at his fingertips before he slowly began to move them into a circle, the magic energy staying in the air as he traced them through the air. Penny paled as she saw what he was doing. “No. ADAM ARE YOU CRAZY?! YOU CAN BARELY STAND, LET ALONE CAST THAT SPELL!” Penny screamed in fear. Her announcement stunned team RWBY for a moment. Ruby took a step forward, only for a certain blond to lift her by her hood. Yang grabbed Blake by the arm and turned to run, Weiss following suit with Penny in her clutches. “What the?! YANG LET ME GO!” The reaper struggled, her eyes never leaving her friend as his arm became perpendicular to the ground, before slamming together. “NO! ADAM!” Penny screamed as she couldn’t get Weiss to let go of her. ”Genesis ZERO!” From the area around Adam, ghostly purple and black figures rose up like a wave, the sheer number of them stunning the huntresses as Adam pointed his arms towards his wounded opponent. “Open, Portal of the demons wail.” His tone was almost monotone, but the undervote of rage made it all the worse as the ‘portal’ opened up. ”Go travellers of the void, I want you to consume that monsters memories. I want you to consume his essence, his soul, CONSUME HIS VERY EXISTENCE!” The spirit rose up and surrounded the downed and wounded faunus, who could only watch in horror as the swarm of distorted spirits came crashing down on him. Like expected, it felt like getting caught in a wave filled with seaweed as several ‘spirits’ latched onto him as the wave became a whirlpool. He tried to escape, struggling to get the monsters off of him. He reached out with his severed arm, and locked eyes with his counterpart. His eyes were the last and only thing he could see in the wave. They weren’t the silver eyes he saw before. Instead, all he saw was a sad blue. It was a face he had see before, back in the mines. Back when he tried to get extra rations. A face he last saw, before he got his brand. And then....darkness. Adam stood tall as he saw the orb of shifting darkness in the air slowly begin to shrink before blinking out of existence. He took a breath. That was it. The end of a monster. He didn’t feel good. He felt....tired. He closed his eyes and breathed out a small, bloody mist. He felt to his knees, he was so tired. He managed to land of his side as he fell, the blade in his chest shifting slightly. He was so tired. He saw as RWBY and Penny rushed to him, none of their eyes dry, but their voices were all just white noise. He took another breath, and closed his eyes. The last thing he saw, was Penny’s face, eyes red as tear rapidly fell from her eyes. She was shaking her head. He managed the tiniest of grins. ”ADAM!”