//------------------------------// // Chapter 63. // Story: Embrace of Light and Dark // by Knight of Crows //------------------------------// Cassiel POV (Key to All) I started things off by shooting her with Dark Firaga and throwing Nightfall as a shuriken behind it. She blew both away with a blast of her own flames before erupting pillars of flames below me and channeling a stream of ice and wind at me. I avoided the pillars, but she barely got me with the others. I airstepped towards Nightfall and pinned her down with Graviga, just when I got in reach to strike her, Grimm hands grabbed my legs and pulled me down before restraining me. She held her hand out, dark flames and lightning building up as she prepared to blast me again. "Your strength is without question, but this is the end." She said. "For you anyway." I changed both Exile and Nightfall into wingblades to slash away at her and all the hands holding me down. One of the blades struck the palm of the hand that she was going to attack with, causing it to blow up in both our faces. Being part Grimm herself if her appearance is anything to go by, she felt it more than I did as we were both knocked back. I changed Exile into a scythe as I readied a shotlock on her, just as she got back up, she was split in half, but fully regenerated a few seconds later. "The keyblade doesn't damage her permanently? Silver eyes then?" I thought as she prepared more spells. I tried to think back on what Maria said when we were dealing with the Apathy, but dodging and attacking at the same time while focusing on how loved ones make me feel and the desire to protect them isn't exactly easy. Another minute passed and I over jumped and hit the barrier while trying to avoid several shards of ice, she tried to take advantage of that by plunging several sets of Grimm claws into me. I released my Darkness and sent out a pulse that destroyed the incoming Grimm. After seeing this, her indifferent expression changed to a slightly surprised one. "Your eye, it used to be silver." Airship POV (Moments earlier) "What the Hell is that kid doing??!!" Qrow thought to himself as Cassiel trapped himself inside a dome with Salem after seeing everyone fly over him. "Does he intend to fight her on his own?" Ren asked as he drew his weapons. "He can't seriously mean to do that?! He had to have worn himself out after killing that giant Grimm!" Yang couldn't believe he would do that. "I haven't really talked to him much, but he probably feels like it has to be him." Jaune said. "Whatever the case, there's nothing we can do but watch. Hopefully he'll remember how to use his eye." Maria said as she turned the ship around. "But he shouldn't be fighting her alone!" Ruby said, worried for her friend. Just as he got close to attack Salem, he was stopped and restrained as she held her hand out, ready to kill him. "NO!!!" Blake screamed, Cassiel changed his weapons and stopped the attack, knocking both of them back. He recovered first and split Salem in two, but she regenerated, shocking everyone. "That did nothing to her?!" Weiss said, surprised to see Salem get back up from what would otherwise be a guaranteed kill. "How does he plan to stop her then?" Oscar asked. "Do you mind if I take over for a moment?" Ozpin asked him. "Oz?" Oscar caught everyone's attention and took a moment to think before giving him control. "He's come a long way, hasn't he?" He asked as he looked out the window. "What do you mean by that?" Nora asked him without taking her eyes off the fight. "I placed him in team RWBY in the hope that he would improve as a person. When James tried to recruit him, he refused to fight a war that wasn't his, even threatened us to keep his team out of it. Now, he's fighting tooth and nail against an adversary that's older than the known history of the world for his team." He explained as Cassiel released a pulse of Darkness and destroyed the incoming Grimm. Cassiel threw Nightfall over Salem before tapping into his new powers and shooting Salem's shoulder with an ice spike. She recoiled from the attack before shooting a powerful stream of wind and gravity at him, but he airstepped to his weapon, changed it to a twinblade, and threw it downward, impaling her foot. He changed Exile into a shuriken, throwing it down before airstepping to both, changing Exile into a twinblade upon retrieving it and swinging the back of both weapons upward, cutting off both of Salem's arms, then combining dark flames and dark lightning on each as he struck her relentlessly. "Weren't one of his eyes silver last time we saw him, or am I seeing things?" Ruby asked, prompting the others to look out as well. "His eye... It's-" Blake started. "Black, the sclera is a dark purple..." Yang finished, Ozpin looked at the sight, alarmed by what everyone is seeing. "That's not good..." He said ominously. "Wait, why is that eye so bad?" Jaune asked as he continued to watch. As Cassiel was about to plunge both weapons into Salem's chest, he was struck from behind by several Grimm claws. "Silver eyes have a counterpart. Silver eyes preserve life and only work around Grimm,-" "Those eyes do the opposite, right?" Maria asked. "The last person to have those eyes lived in a land of desolation, blindfolding himself to try to keep his uncontrollable power in check. It's fortunate Salem never found him." Ozpin explained. Cassiel stopped using his Darkness and trapped himself inside a multilayered barrier dome as he changed his weapons back into their original forms. Another dome appeared over himself and Salem as his weapons hovered over them, moving around the outside of it. After a few seconds, they both started shooting beams of Light and Dark at her from every direction as what looked like bone spikes were shooting up from the ground, impaling her repeatedly. "Jeez, he's brutal." Jaune commented. "Kid has to be to take down something as dangerous as that Grimm and go toe to toe with it's master right after." Qrow said as he continued to watch. "Brutality and efficiency are two different things, though in his case, they'd probably go hand in hand." Maria said as the barrage of attacks ended, smoke blocking the view of the enemy. Cassiel POV "Why do you fight for this world?" Salem asked as she shot several large shards of ice at me through the smoke. "I'm not fighting for Remnant!" I shot a stream of flames at the incoming ice, melting it before it could reach me. "You can have the world for all I care! But you're not hurting them!" I gestured to the airship as it finally landed and started dropping everyone off. "You're only delaying the inevitable." I was finally able to see her clearly. "Light and Darkness did nothing still? Does it really have to be silver eyes then?" "Time is not on your side, it has always been on mine." She said. "Funny you should say that." I don't really use time magic because of the drain, but this calls for it, and I'll have enough for one more for Thundaga. "Who wins? The immortal, or the one who can stop time?" "There is no magic or Semblance that can do that." She claimed. "STOPZA!!!" Everything within 90 feet came to a halt. Shotlocks don't work, Light and Darkness don't work, let's try this then! I activated my Semblance to make copies of the others nearby. Rather, more than two is too much of a drain now, but thankfully they can copy Semblances to an extent. I made a copy of Nora and shot it with Thundaga before sending it to pound away at Salem, then I made a copy of Weiss to do it's own thing. As the copies were crushing her, blowing her up, slashing at her repeatedly, or whatever, I took a moment with my scroll to find out what Salem meant about my eye. My eye was black like Salem's, but the sclera was a dark purple. "I don't want to know what that can do, not when the others are probably in range." I thought as I pulled back my Darkness until it was silver again. Now that I have a moment to try this without getting struck, burned, or whatever, I airstepped towards Salem and plunged both keyblades into her chest. Her heart floated out and I destroyed it, but her body didn't disappear, probably because of Stopza. If that doesn't work, then I'm using the eye. A few seconds later, Salem returned and blasted the copies and I away. "Now that's an interesting power, but I'm afraid that this... Is as far as you go." She restrained me with several Grimm hands before I could get back up and prepared to finish it. "You have to admit, I came very close to finishing you." I said as I tried to focus on how to use the eye. Raven. My master, the one who showed me a path to power and everything I have now. "No, unlike Summer Rose, you didn't manage any permanent damage." Naofumi. Reliable, straight forward, trustworthy, no better protector than him. "Though you're not an adversary I'll forget any time soon." Raphtalia. In two words, loyal, and just. She can quell his rage if necessary. "You are perhaps the strongest this world has to offer,-" Filo. Innocent, childish, reminds me a bit of my sister on her good days. "-but even the strongest fall." Ruby. Too pure hearted for any world, though perhaps it's because the world needs others like her. Her light shines bright even against my darkness. "Strength will not bring victory, yes?" I asked in an attempt to drag it out. Yang. The big sister of the group, knows how to get the edge off when she herself isn't worked up. Fun to be around. "You would be surprised how often dear old Ozpin was told that by myself or others serving me." She answered. Weiss. Heiress to a tainted family name, but the only one that can redeem it. She's come far from who she was months ago. "Hehehe. I said that to him when they tried to recruit me to fight you after the first attack on Vale." Blake. We understand each other, I love her, I want to be better for her, I can imagine a future with her. "And yet, here you are, about to die for a futile war that is not your own." I feel happy and safe around them. There's nowhere else I'd rather be, no one else I'd rather be with. Their lives mean everything to me. I would give everything for them. "You all made it my war when you hurt the people I loved." My left eye began to feel strange, so I closed it for a moment and focused on those thoughts and feelings. "If there's one thing humanity is good at, it's war, and it ends here!" I opened my eye, a blinding light poured out of it and while I didn't see it, I did feel the Grimm lose their grip and hear Salem screaming. Once the light died down, she was still screaming, she almost looked like she was crumbling as cracks were forming on her and pieces were falling apart. "Finally! Progress! Now to do it again." I tried to use the eye again, but I felt a spike of pain and it started to bleed. "Damnit! I thought we were done with that! Why didn't this happen at the farm? Did my use of Darkness affect it even when it's not in use? I can't cancel Stopza to get Ruby to help, and I'm almost out!" I tried to open the SR, but it only made my eye worse. "As the Cursebearer, source of thy power, I offer thee this gift of my own Light." "As the Cursebearer, source of thy power, I offer thee this gift of my own Light." "Grant me the power that Severed and Bound the Sea, the Earth, and Sky." "Grant me the power that Severed and Bound the Sea, the Earth, and Sky." "Allow me to Purge this Corruption that stands before me." "Allow me to Purge this Corruption that stands before me." "Bring forth the First Blade." "Bring forth the First Blade." "Bringer of the Dawn and Healer of Worlds." "Bringer of the Dawn and Healer of Worlds." "Bring forth the Sacred Blade of Origin!" "Bring forth the Sacred Blade of Origin!" Salem finally recovered, but was scarred to the point of hideous deformity even if she wasn't part Grimm. She looked on as a blade, no, some sort of keyblade began to form in my hands. It was a spectral blade, about as big as me. The hilt and the guard took the form of two keyblades crossing each other as what looked like a "web" of blades formed from the sides. Out from the top, a sword formed from between the keyblades. Before Salem could react I used my Semblance to make copies of Weiss and Blake to restrain her before impaling her through her chest and channelled all the magic I got from Cinder that I could into this attack. Shortly afterward, Stopza finally ended and she began to fade. "Death at last?" She asked. "Death, but not peace." Another twenty seconds or so passed before she finally faded and the weapon shattered with the dome. Everyone ran up to me, Ruby tried to tackle-hug me with her Semblance, but I collapsed onto my knees and she missed. "You idiot! Do you have any idea how reckless that-... What's happening?" Weiss asked. I looked down at my hands and saw they were seeping Darkness. I looked closer and saw they were fading. "I'm sorry, but I guess this is goodbye for now." I began trying to hold back the Darkness so I could have more time. "Wait, what do you mean this is 'goodbye'??!!" Yang asked, not understanding what I meant. "I don't have much time left-" "Don't say that! We can get you help!" Jaune said as he knelt down and started using his Semblance to heal me. "That's not going to do anything, this is the price I paid to kill an immortal. The price was Light, and now the Dark comes-" "Shut up you asshole!!" He interrupted as he kept trying. "Hehehahahaha!!! Congratulations, you're being promoted from meat shield to body guard. Now keep standing there and being my bullet sponge. Ruby?" I called out, she stepped in front of me. I looked up at everyone and saw nothing but heartbreak, Neo was covering her face with Roman's hat, but it was especially evident on Ruby's and Blake's faces. "Y-yeah?" Ruby's voice cracked as she knelt down. "Do you remember what I said after you woke up after The Fall?" I asked. "N-no, not really." "I'm not dying, I'm returning to Darkness." I recalled Nightfall and handed it to her. "Wha-why are you-" "Summer Rose, your mother, possessed a keyblade. It's in your blood, and she is in your heart, you should be the one to hold on to this for me. You'll also need it to find me and destroy my Heartless if by the off chance one appears." I interrupted and started to explain. "Stop talking like that!" Blake knelt down and wrapped her arms around me, holding me close to her as she struggled to keep herself from breaking down. I wrapped my free arm around her and ran it down her hair. "I can't-" "Take it, Ruby." I showed everyone the incomplete Heartless emblems. "If a creature forms here, it will be much more dangerous than Salem and that Grimm. The keyblade is the only true threat to a Heartless, and if one doesn't form, it will be the only way we'll see each other again anyway." I tried to hand Nightfall to Ruby, but she couldn't bring herself to take it. "What do you mean we'll see each other again?" Yang asked, barely keeping herself from breaking down as well. "The keyblade can open portals to other worlds, if Ruby takes it and opens a portal to Equestria, all she'll need to do is find a royal guard named Nevermore. She'll know what to do about me and Summer. As she once told me, 'may your heart be your guiding key'." The floodgates opened on Ruby as she finally took hold on Nightfall and clung to it. "It's not fair!! There has to be someway to stop this!!" Okay, Blake. Choking, not breathing. "No, but there is a way to undo this, once she figures out how to open the portal." I gestured to Ruby before pulling Blake's head closer to mine, our foreheads pressed against each other. "This is my promise that we'll see each other again." I pressed my lips against hers as I wrapped my other arm around her. After about ten seconds, I slowly pulled away to see how much my body has faded. It was almost gone. "Please??!! Don't go!! I love you!!! Please??!!" She shouted as she held onto me tighter until her hands went right through me. As horrible as it might sound, even from me, I stopped holding back the Darkness. I can't bring myself to see everyone like this, but I had two things left to say. "I love you more than anything. Team RWBY, you especially, are the reasons why I'll return." I told her softly before looking at Qrow. "Tell Ozpin and Ironwood I was right and that they can go fuck themselves! Fucking pricks!" That was all I was able to get out before my vision darkened and I couldn't hear anymore. ??? POV (location unknown) Where am I? Who am I? Why does my head hurt? Why are these animals looking at me that way? "He's awake?" I heard a soft, female(?) voice from the other side of the door. Are they referring to me?