Chapter 18: Aestas
She flew towards the top of the mesa, mindful of the elemental twister raging in close proximity. Once she reached her destination, she transformed back to her original body and landed next to her annoying godson. Her landing could have been a bit more graceful as she almost stumbled and fell, but she managed to catch herself before she embarrassed herself. She blamed her still recovering body for the uncharacteristic blunder, having been thawed out just prior left her stiff in some places.
"I was wondering when you'd wake up from your nap," the brat commented offhandedly and briefly turned to her to give a friendly smile. She clicked her tongue and joined him in overlooking the anomaly before them.
"Your drooling mutt took its time at freeing me," she replied irritably, swearing inwardly at the drool she could feel on her hair. "How did you know that breaking the ice would work?" She shook off the disturbing sensation and asked away, from what she remembered to what happened to Summer, there was no way of telling that they weren't frozen solid. His mutt could have easily shattered her when it toppled her over.
"I didn't," he shrugged simply in response.
"…" She stared at him in silent disbelief and rising frustration. The young Rose averted his gaze and adopted an innocent expression. After a few seconds she released a sigh and returned her attention to the raging storm before them. "Is she dead?"
"Not even close." Caryll's expression sobered up instantly and his mouth settled into a thin line. "I threw almost everything I had at her, but she just won't stay down. Whenever I think I have her, her Aura spikes up and fluctuates. I have no idea how she has so much of it, but coupled with her powers it practically makes her invincible." He winced with glowing silver eyes.
"It's her Semblance. She converts the pain she feels into Aura, the more intense agony she experiences, the stronger her Aura becomes." She and Summer figured out that much in their previous fight together, not that the knowledge helped that much. Her shaking hand reached for her sword, only to find it still missing. Glowering inwardly in frustration, she quickly altered the motion to rest her hand on her hip.
"Of course that masochist would have a Semblance like that, though it certainly explains her fluctuating Aura, pain is hardly a constant and level feeling," Caryll hummed to himself. "You do realize we can leave anytime we want to, right? This fight is nothing less than insanity," he glanced at her from the corner of his eyes.
"Her and I have a score to settle," she growled lowly and narrowed her eyes at the storm before them.
"And I'm just dying to find out what's so important about those flames," Caryll nodded, the fact that they'd need to get through Salem's lackey for that didn't need to be said.
"Glad to know we're on the same page," she huffed with a haughty smirk. Maybe they were both a little insane, but she couldn't care less at the moment. A moment later a vortex opened from Caryll's eye and deposited something she could recognize in her sleep.
"I've had a feeling you'd want this back, so I've picked it up for you," he commented offhandedly and tossed the sword to her without bothering to turn in her direction. She caught it and immediately placed the sheath where it belonged, a quick glance at the various Dust blades ready to be used left her humming in approval.
"Thank you." A small smile briefly replaced her near permanent frown at that. Interestingly enough, Raven found that the action didn't feel forced in any way. Their conversation however was halted when a disturbance in the Dust storm caught their attention. Golden light filtered through flames and steam before the volatile pillar was blown apart by an eruption of golden energy. The duo had to take a step back from the following shockwave before they could observe the remains of the ruined field. In what was just previously the eye of the storm stood the shaking form of Konan with a ruined golden dome of energy enveloping her. As if on cue, the construct crumbled to pieces like a castle of cards a moment later, not that the feverish Maiden paid much attention to that.
"This is what I'm talking about! So exhilarating, I- oh, look who decided to come back for round two," Konan began to say excitedly, only for her voice to lose its energy when she caught sight of her. If someone were to tell her that the woman before her was in a Dust storm just a moment before, she would either say that they were either lying or delusional. The mad blond simply didn't seem like she survived something of that magnitude with only minor injuries and torn clothing.
Raven silently glared at her from up above, she didn't trust her voice to speak what was on her mind.
"What's with the grim face and the brooding silence? I remember you were much more talkative during our last encounter, spouting nonsense about the weakness of my colleagues," Konan commented once she realized she wasn't going to speak up. She opened her arms invitingly and began walking in their direction, consequently a bridge of ice appeared under her feet as she crossed the charred chasm dividing them. "I wonder whatever happened to all that bravado? Did it maybe evaporate when your companion's blood splattered over the ground?" Anger bubbled up inside her alongside something else at those words and she sneered at the approaching blond.
"I'm going to make you regret ever getting involved-" Raven seethed, only for Konan to cut her off and wave dismissively with one of her hands.
"Oh please, nobody's fooled by you. Even from here, I can see you're shaking like a leaf in a hurricane, you want nothing more than to turn tail and flee for your life like a coward." Was she-? Her gaze snapped to her shaking fist. She quickly moved her other arm to get a hold on the unruly one. "I wonder, what are you hoping to accomplish by not doing so outright? Having been humiliated once is not enough for you? Or is this some misguided attempt to save face before the boy?" Konan questioned condescendingly, the action doing nothing to help her rising temper. "Whatever the case the result will be the same as last time, you can't hurt me. Going by your own incessant babbling, I'm much stronger than you could ever hope to be, compared to me you're just a pathetic eyesore only fit to feed the vultures," she taunted as she came to a halt not far from the edge of the crater. Those words finally did it and she snapped.
"Why you-!" An arm held her back as she made to move forward and draw her sword. Looking down at it and then to the side, she saw Caryll looking at her imploringly. She grit her teeth for a few seconds before begrudgingly taking a step back, the boy sent her a grateful nod and smile and turned to address their opponent.
"You're right, as things stand you may be the most powerful human in the entire world." Raven considered it briefly and found herself betrayed by her own thoughts, Ozpin lost most of his power and Salem wasn't human, meaning that the brat was probably right... "You're right that individually we aren't powerful compared to you. If our duel continued on as it did so far, you would have won without a doubt, the same is true if our situations were reversed." He briefly glanced at her pointedly. "But we're not alone, together we're more than just two weak Hunters condemned to die. Together we are strong, or at least way stronger than someone with only one-fourths of a borrowed power." The conviction filled declaration allowed Raven to somewhat cool her nerves, but it also gave birth to a feeling in the back of her head that irked her. Konan received the words with a frown and an annoyed scoff.
"I've heard all those threats before; they still sound just as empty as ever. Ah, fine then, intervene if you wish, but do make it interesting this time. Well as interesting as a phony Huntress at the end of their rope can." She lifted her sword before her and ran a glowing hand along its length. Consequently, the blade got imbued with a swirling violet and red aura. "Well then, for this final act with feeling!" She yelled and swung the massive blade horizontally in the direction of the mesa. A crescent beam of those intermixing colors left the moving blade and sped forwards until it made contact with the midsection of the hill. The hard sandstone did little to stop the powerful wave as it soared through the formation and diagonally cut off a chunk of the mesa.
The ground beneath their feet rumbled as the now unstable rock foundation shifted forwards with increasing speed. Raven and Caryll shared a nod between them and allowed the crumbling hillside to carry them downwards a way before switching to jumping between falling debris.
Once she felt her feet touching solid ground, Raven launched her sword at the waiting Maiden and immediately followed after it, mindful of the falling rocks around her. Her sword was easily deflected back by a timely block from Konan, but Raven caught the slowly spinning blade and rushed in to strike again.
She was however soon reminded of the difference between their strength when her strike was swatted aside by the massive magic imbued blade. She was barely fast enough to crouch below a wide horizontal swing, but she could already see Konan continuing with the motion and going for a full spin to come around again. Thinking quickly, Raven rolled onto her back and extended her legs to catch the flat side of the spinning blade, she then pushed with all her might and forced the blade upwards while springing to her feet. At first the action seemed to unbalance Konan, but it was quickly proven otherwise as she went with the motion before altering it into an overhead slash.
Knowing better than to confront a raging Maiden directly by now, Raven evaded the strike by briefly transforming into her corvid form and flying behind Konan. She returned to her normal form on the other side and used the opportunity to slash at her back multiple times before kicking her forwards.
The reason why she did so quickly became evident to Konan when she saw Caryll only a few meters away from her and still closing in with an arm extended in her direction. Her face contorted in defiance and the flames around her eyes flared brightly.
A violet blast wave burst from her position and blew everything away from her. Raven felt herself repelled away from the epicenter of the blast, she prepared herself to impact either the ground or one of the numerous pieces of debris lying around, but to her confusion neither has happened. She opened her eyes and found herself flying away from the raging Maiden. A confused glance around confirmed that she wasn't the only one experiencing this phenomenon; sand, rocks and boulders of all sizes gained a strange violet hue to them and were either flying in random directions or slowly floating upwards.
This was a gravity field.
Raven struggled to orient herself in the weightless environment as she flew away from the battle. With nothing to stop her momentum she was powerless to do anything until she left the affected area.
Or maybe not, she quickly drew her sword and opened one of her signature red portals. Momentum carried her inside and she found herself impacting a floating boulder on the other side. She immediately kicked off the rotating boulder to another as she heard the all too familiar whistling sound of a fireball flying in her direction. Her instincts proved their worth when the miniature planetoid exploded into a thousand pieces.
She took a moment to take hold of the situation and saw her godson being chased through the forming three dimensional maze by the flying Maiden. Caryll was forced to hop from boulder to boulder with the occasional firing of his gun to alter his trajectory in order to avoid Konan's attacks. Unlike both of them, she didn't have any problem moving in this environment due to the flames bursting from her feet propelling her forwards.
Growling lowly to herself in equal amounts of apprehension and annoyance, Raven made to intercept and draw the attention of their enemy. The easiest way to win this fight was by having the brat trap the Maiden, but he couldn't do that while he was constantly hounded by her. She placed a hand on the handle of her sword and an Aura powered kick sent her on an intercept course to the fast moving duo.
She landed on the exact same boulder Caryll just vacated a moment ago and launched an Iaido strike at the side of the caught off-guard Maiden. To her muted shock, her red blade shattered against Konan's side and left her defenseless against the blonde who turned her full attention to her. She made to fall back, but a hand clamped around her throat in the blink of an eye and hoisted her up in the air.
"Looks like you're still nothing more than an annoying failure, so butt out!" Konan declared with a twisted grin as ice crystals spurt from the hand holding her up. Her heart pounded harshly in her chest as she clawed at the hand holding her up.
Fortunately for her, something caught Konan's attention as she looked aside to see Caryll flying to intercept the both of them with an extended hand. Suddenly grinning, Konan waited until he got close enough before hurling her at the rapidly approaching boy. He was forced to phase through both of them before rematerializing on the other side, only for one of Konan's hands to grip his leg and hurl Caryll away too. With victorious glee, Konan looked in her direction and made to follow with lightning crackling in her hand.
Raven cursed under her breath once she noticed her pursuer and launched her sword forwards, it impacted the flat side of a large and mostly intact boulder. Once she caught up with it, she grabbed the embedded sword by the hilt and used it to pivot in place and deliver a brutal kick to the Maiden on her heels. The action sent Konan flying out of sight and allowed her to catch her breath for a few seconds.
She panted lightly and her heart beat faster than ever before. Those elemental attacks were a nightmare to deal with in their previous encounter, they were simply too destructive to simply block and too fast to effectively evade-
"Use the right Dust type to counter her magic! It's her weakness!" The brat called out as he moved between boulders. Apparently she wasn't as hard to read as she thought, or the brat simply knew well enough to tell what was on her mind, or maybe it was her nerves making her too jittery, all of those possibilities seemed just as likely to her-
She wasn't allowed any more reprieve it seemed, Konan rocketed towards her position with her glowing sword poised to skewer her and it was only thanks to her muscle memory from dealing with Summer's surprise attacks in their spars that allowed her to evade in time. The sword struck the surface of the small planetoid and sent up a screen of dust that momentarily blocked her vision. It was quickly dispersed when Konan emerged from it and thrust her lightning imbued hand in her direction.
Her sheath clicked as it finished cycling, her grip over the handle tightened and she drew her sword with blinding speed.
The Lightning Dust blade met the offending attack and held it back for a split second. The blade then detonated and caused the attack to activate prematurely in Konan's hand. The blond's arm was blown back as her attack backfired and Raven allowed her eyes to briefly soften in relief.
However, relief turned to shock when Konan used her momentum to spin in place and deliver a devastating backhand to her face. She was slammed into the hard surface of the boulder, rock cracked under the sheer force of the blow and she was forced to watch dazedly as her opponent lifted the glowing blade above her and swung it down to end her.
That is until a blinding projectile hit Konan in the side and sent her flying out of the hovering rock formation where she impacted the ground with an explosion of lightning accompanying her landing.
"Nice job keeping her still for that long. I almost thought she really had you there." The brat appeared in her vision and offered her a hand. She roughly took hold of the offered hand and pulled herself to her feet with a half-dazed grunt of exertion.
"You and me both." If that's what he believed she had intended, then she wouldn't disagree, her throat still felt sore after that encounter after all.
The maze of planetoids suddenly destabilized without the presence of the Maiden and began falling one by one. The brat placed a hand on her shoulder and warped them away outside of the reach of the rain of rocks. Upon landing, they could see Konan stagger to her feet, her clothing now missed another armor plate and a few patches of fabric.
"Those arrows of yours are quickly becoming annoying, you know that?" She coughed roughly into her hand before straightening her posture. "Well, I suppose we all have to adapt somehow, and now it's my turn. Come a bit closer and don't keep me waiting!" She raised her hands into the air and several tons of scorched sand started to swirl around her in response. In a few moments, the impromptu sandstorm grew tenfold in size and its shape changed to resemble that of a raging hurricane. The spiraling sand and heated glass hid her from view and acted as a barrier between them.
They regarded the obstacle silently for a few moments until the brat sagged his shoulders. "Could you take the lead from now on? My Aura is on its last legs and after going up against her for Gods know how long, my body isn't in a better shape either," Caryll looked at her apologetically.
"Then how are we supposed to deal with her?" Raven frowned. If they couldn't rely on the brat's ability to draw the Maiden in, then what could they do? Conventional methods were useless against that damned Semblance, she and Summer threw everything they had at her, but she just shrugged them off with only minor cuts and bruises to show for it.
"I could try capturing her again, that sandstorm is hardly a challenge for me to cross, but at this point it would be pointless. She would either erect that stupid barrier if she saw me approaching or use something else to keep me away," he shook his head dejectedly. "Fighting from range would also be pointless with the sand in the way and she would only let you get close enough to engage her… The way I see it, our only option is to just batter her Aura down until her body can't keep up," he shrugged with a weak smile. Raven would have normally berated him for such a narrowminded approach, but saw that he was simply at the end of his wits like she was, although…
"Maybe not, I have something that could work…" She allowed after a moment of thought, causing the brat to regard her curiously.
"What is it?"
"Something that could pierce her Aura." If circumventing her Aura didn't work, then they had to shatter it with a decisive blow.
"So, a final trump card of sorts that you didn't teach me before because…?" He asked semi-seriously in an effort to lighten the otherwise grim mood. She rolled her eyes at the attempt, everyone had their own secrets in their fighting style that they just didn't tell anyone, no matter what.
"I'll lose my Aura after using it, but executed properly it can overwhelm and cut straight through Aura," she explained. Technically, the skill she was referring to is entirely common knowledge, everyone channeled some Aura into their weapons to strengthen them, but only a handful actually used more than the bare minimum. If she just channeled all of hers into one strike, it would be practically unblockable.
"If you had this technique of yours before, why didn't you use it the last time?" Caryll looked at her confusedly.
"I did. It failed," she replied blandly, seeing the brat about to ask the obvious, she elaborated. "It was designed to work against Hunters with normal Auras, not against Maidens with abnormal ones." Her blade bounced right off of her wildly fluctuating Aura. It was equal amounts shocking and terrifying.
"And since we already did a number on her, you think it will work this time," he guessed her reasoning.
"I would like to lower her Aura as much as possible before attempting it again, but essentially yes. How is she looking right now?" She tried to keep her anxiousness from showing, honestly it was just a gamble from her part. The psycho survived a Dust storm, a supercharged version of that arrow Summer liked to use and whatever else the brat threw at her before her arrival. He nodded and looked in the direction of the Maiden.
"I can't tell, the storm is saturated with her Aura so I can't see inside," he reported with a wince. And there was another reason why they couldn't fight at range, firing blindly into a storm would be just an exercise in stupidity, Raven thought bitterly.
"How many of those arrows do you have left?" She asked tersely.
"Three. Maybe be enough to deplete her almost completely if all hit." Raven cursed under her breath, the chance of that happening in close quarters was less than negligible. At this rate she'll have to try- "-Wait, I have an idea! Take Zwei with you," he interrupted her thoughts and summoned his mutt from his dimension. The dog barked in greeting and wagged its tail at seeing them.
"Why would I take that drooling mutt of yours with me?" She eyed the small corgi skeptically.
"I'll go and prepare a surprise, meanwhile you keep the Maiden occupied and when you think she's vulnerable give the signal to Zwei. Trust me," he pleaded, the words causing Raven to pause.
Trust?
When was the last time she decided to blindly trust someone with her life? She closed her eyes with an exhausted sigh, the answer was last week and look where that had gotten her. Before that it was with Ozpin and it ended with similar consequences with her being almost killed by his lies. Then her own team, they saw fit to condemn her actions rather than question the circumstances she made them under. Her brother, her husband and her best friend didn't bother to question Ozpin besides some rehashed surface level answers they were fed years ago. Going back even further than that, even in her years growing up in the tribe she could tell that she couldn't trust anyone but herself, and not entirely for lack of trying either.
In the grand scheme of things, what she did last week was just the latest instance in a long line where she burned herself by trying to trust someone else.
…
…
Then what urged her to do it again despite everything? Her heart hadn't calmed down in the slightest, her hands started to shake whenever she wasn't doing something with them and even her mind was telling her that this was suicidal and yet something told her to do as he asked.
It was utterly confounding and it greatly troubled her.
…But maybe she could risk getting burned just one more time. She was a survivor after all, she would make it one way or the other.
"Fine, I'm counting on you, brat. Don't screw this up." She didn't know how her voice sounded so calm while her heart was doing its best to jump out of her chest.
The young Rose apparently noticed her contemplative state and let out a breath he was holding back. He nodded with a happy grin and joined by her side as they faced the raging storm. "Sure thing, Auntie," he snapped a mock salute and took Summer's bow in his hands. Zwei meanwhile jumped on her shoulder and gently bit down on her arm. Her eyes twitched at the disturbing feeling before she steeled herself.
"I'll go in first and then you can portal after me once I'm inside. Oh, and take this, be sure not to be anywhere near it when you use it though," he added as an afterthought and offered one of his knives to her. She took it wordlessly and looked it over, there was Fire and Water Dust in it alongside another familiar purple liquid. She nodded in thanks and he was gone in the next instant, they kept that unhinged lunatic waiting long enough as it is.
Raven watched as Caryll closed in on the wall of swirling sand before disappearing in it. She waited a couple of seconds before slashing at the air before her, creating one of her signature red portals in the process. Without a moment of hesitation, she stepped through it and emerged on the other side in the eye of the storm. Quickly taking a hold on the situation, she saw the Maiden with her back turned against her, currently busy hounding after the brat with a variety of elemental attacks. She made a snap decision to hurl the loaned knife at her, the brat needed to disappear and do his part without distractions.
Seeing her attack, Caryll committed to one last parting shot to keep the Maiden's attention on himself. The bullet whizzed past her head, but the distraction worked as the knife hit her in the side. Predictably, it fell to the ground seemingly uselessly and for a moment nothing happened, but then Konan's form was quickly enveloped in an expanding haze of purple steam. Now free to leave, Caryll turned to her and they shared a nod of acknowledgement before he disappeared in an intangible vortex.
Violent coughing from inside the steam captured her attention and Raven settled into a stance with a hand on her sword, their battlefield was relatively small and with their speed every second counted. The violent coughing continued on until a red fireball exploded outwards from the steam. The haze was dispersed by the shockwave and then burned away by the heat. In the center of it all stood Konan's harshly breathing form with her glowing sword planted in the ground.
While the concentrated Taijitu venom didn't do much damage against opponents with Aura, its effects were still noticeable. The red veins around Konan's previously calm and mirthful eyes were now in full display as the Maiden's eyes twitched in pain and irritation, all of it directed at her.
"Tch, looks like I'll have to take on the annoying eyesore first!" She complained loudly and charged at her with that oversized meat cleaver of hers in one hand and a lightning sphere in the other. Raven's eyes flickered between the two attacks as she prepared to hold her own. The sword came rushing at her first in a large diagonal swing. Knowing better than to block the fire magic enhanced strike, Raven opted to duck and move to the side a bit to avoid the soaring blade. For a moment the world slowed down, her heart pounded in her chest, her eyes locked on the hand holding the massive blade.
Then her sheath finished cycling with a barely audible click.
The pull of the trigger coupled with reflexes honed by years of combat propelled her red blade towards Konan's exposed weapon hand that was coursing with red energy. In the blink of an eye the quickdraw connected and magic met Dust in a violent reaction. Her blade shattered, the buster-sword was blown away from the duo, Konan's hand was similarly repulsed and caused the Maiden to stagger backwards momentarily.
Raven moved the handle back to her sheath with a grim expression as she moved to stand up herself. The momentary victory was just that, momentary. That was made clear when Konan recovered her footing and thrust that same arm in her direction with a twisted grin. This time miniature ice crystals covered her palm, likely intent on slowing her down, if not freeze her outright.
Another quickdraw with an Ice Dust blade ensured that didn't come to pass.
Once again the offending hand was blown back, but this time she knew what was to come. Raven ducked again, causing the spinning backhand to narrowly miss her and Zwei, and got into the blond's guard to push the Maiden's off-hand into her own chest.
Because how better to fight someone nearly invulnerable than to use their own strength against them.
The lightning sphere detonated and forced both parties away from each other, Konan was sent flying near the edge of the eye, while Raven was sent skidding a few meters backwards as well.
Her eyes fixated on the recovering madwoman, her sheath whirring quietly as it kept cycling between different blades, but before she could capitalize on her advantage, a bright light caught her attention in her peripheral vision. Snapping her head in that direction, she saw Konan's sword glow brightly as it was stuck in the ground only a few meters away. The blade then let go of its stored up energy and released it an eruption of magic that swept her off her feet.
She coughed roughly through the smoke and jumped to her feet with blade in hand. The mutt on her shoulder was miraculously resilient it seemed, because it fared the explosion without a single whine of complaint.
In fact, the corgi seemed quite excited. It was probably as insane as its owner-
Her line of thought was cut short when the fully recovered Maiden burst through the smoke separating them with her sword already swinging at her. Seeing that it wasn't imbued with any sort of magic for now, Raven brought up her own blade to block it. The two blades clashed with each other and with neither willing to budge, the duo entered a temporary stalemate.
"That actually hurt! Looks like failures can still learn a few tricks, what a pleasant surprise!" Konan laughed in excitement and pushed their blades closer to Raven's face. She briefly struggled to hold her own before realizing something.
If the psycho wanted a surprise, she could have one.
She detonated her blade with a subtle smirk. The small explosion forced the two fighters apart and upset their footing, just as she wanted. "Now!"
Right on command, the drooling corgi barked once and an intangible vortex opened from its eye. Raven briefly wondered what her annoying and insane godson had planned, but not even she could have predicted this.
Three intertwined blinding projectiles exited the portal and hit Konan squarely in the chest. The unprepared blond was carried through the swirling sandstorm by the three supercharged arrows and was slammed against several dune tops in small explosions of sand before she came to a halt near the violet firestorm dominating their landscape.
I emerged from Zwei's vortex right after the three special Stormlance Arrows and stowed Laminae on my back. Now that I ran out of the specialty arrows, there was no point in using it anymore. The whirling sand around us came to a halt without the influence of a Maiden and harmlessly fell to the ground.
"How is her Aura?" Raven asked as she got to her feet. I looked in the direction Konan was flung; she was already summoning another sandstorm around her. It seemed tiny in comparison against the backdrop of the violet firestorm, but the two anomalies contrasted beautifully with each other.
"Barely present, but quickly rising again. Are you ready finish this?" I asked rhetorically, we really wouldn't get any other chances to bring Konan's Aura this low after this. Echoing my thoughts, Raven grimly nodded in response.
"I'll give you a way inside and you can join me when you're ready," I told her without looking. She frowned at my words and made to argue.
"But your Aura-"
"I'll be fine. I have one more trick that could increase your chances," I cut her off with a shake of my head. I was running on fumes by this point, yes, and I could use Zwei to get a bit more, but this was necessary for the idea I had. "Trust me." I turned to Raven with what I hoped was a reassuring smile. She huffed with a shake of her head and settled into a stance with one hand on her sheathed sword. Taking that as a sign of approval, I blurred towards the raging sandstorm in the distance.
Upon entering the sandstorm, I was instantly transported to my Time-Space where I charged on without interruptions, that is unless you discount the small black thing I snatched up and stuffed under my cloak while running. I ran until I suddenly found myself in reality again in the eye of the storm.
It only took a few moments for my entry to be noticed and for Konan to turn her full attention on me, just on time to see my silver Aura shatter around me.
"Seems to me you overestimated yourself just a little. A shame, but I suppose all good things have to come to an end at one point," she let out a disappointed sigh, I was about to retort when she blurred from her spot and I felt her fingers clamp around my throat. "But at least now I don't have to worry about your slippery Semblance anymore," she said with a small, eerie smile as she hoisted me up into the air, leaving my feet dangling in the air. I struggled for air once again even as I saw small ice crystals grow on the hand holding me up.
Deciding that it was high time I enacted my last plan, lest I became a life-sized icicle, I removed the arm that was hidden under my cloak and lashed out at Konan with it. She of course effortlessly caught the speeding hand by the wrist, but failed to stop the annoying pest that was in my hand from flying onwards. It landed on her oversized sword that was momentarily planted in the sand beside us.
The Iratus hugged the blade for a brief moment as it took stock of its situation. The bug's unexpected appearance was apparently surprising enough for Konan to stare dumbfounded at it for a precious few moments.
Normally, Grimm wouldn't attack one of Salem's followers thanks to the protection they enjoyed, but these were anything but normal circumstances.
Salem didn't create the Grimm, they followed her commands, but for all her power Salem wasn't a god, she couldn't have absolute control over every single Grimm at any given moment. Moreover, Iratuses were much more used to getting their orders from their hive Queen.
This particular Iratus' Queen was killed, its connection to Salem was severed completely upon leaving Remnant. Having only just returned left it disoriented and without direction and with a light source brighter than anything it has ever seen before right in front of it, the lethal bug's vision went red and its mind resorted to its primal instincts.
Feed and multiply.
The Iratus launched itself at the arm holding my wrist and wrapped itself around it like a constrictor snake, all in the blink of an eye. A split second later the Grimm completely bypassed her Aura and penetrated her skin with its stinger and mandibles, earning a cry of surprise and pain from Konan.
The shock of the event went away as quick as it came and Konan's arm began emanating red energy in increasing quantities. She snarled as magical fire burst from her arm and burned the annoying pest away before it could replicate. She breathed heavily and her narrowed eyes locked with mine, the momentary distraction halted the spread of the ice for a bit, but now it receded completely, much to my surprise.
"For a one-use tool you're astonishingly persistent," she commented lowly as her eyes twitched in residual pain. She lifted her still burning arm and pointed it against my chest with a small fireball forming in her palm, "But it ends here!" I shut my eyes as I saw her thrusting her hand forwards.
I felt her palm softly impact my chest.
I cracked one eye open in morbid curiosity to see that her previously flaming arm has been extinguished, seemingly by itself, as it rested against my torso. A moment later it slackened and fell to Konan's side where it hung uselessly.
So, the venom worked against not just Semblances, but magic as well…
The crazed Summer Maiden gritted her teeth in frustration at the setback and channeled that red energy to her other arm instead. Time seemingly slowed to a crawl as I watched the energy travel down the length of her arm, creeping ever so closer to my neck, but it seemed like I had stalled her for long enough.
One of Raven's signature portals snapped into existence not far from us. Raven and Zwei emerged from it and blurred towards us, her eyes were locked on the arm holding me up and her hand was still on her sheathed sword. Zwei was resting on her shoulder with a similarly sharp gaze.
Konan noticed the duo even before they closed half the distance between us and her eyes gained a mad gleam to them. Her other arm was out of commission, which meant she couldn't pick up her sword to defend herself. But why do that when she had a perfectly good shield at hand?
The insane blond turned towards the approaching duo and moved me on front of her, her eyes found Raven's and daringly bore into them.
Raven forged on undeterred, her eyes glaring determinedly ahead. The distance shrunk even further until Raven's hand began drawing her brightly glowing sword, seemingly uncaring of the obstacle I presented. Then, just as her fingers squeezed the trigger on her sword, the pair disappeared in an intangible vortex.
Konan's expression morphed into one of shock as she lost sight of them, but she needn't look for longer than a split second as another one of Zwei's portals deposited them on our exposed flank.
Then the world returned to normal, Raven's sword raced from its sheath and cut straight through the arm holding me up. Konan let out a scream of agony as she stumbled back in shock at losing one of her arms, I fell to the ground and pried off the dead hand from my throat while gasping for air. Raven didn't stop in her attack and reversed her grip on the sword while twisting herself into Konan's guard.
The upper half of the glowing sword poked out of Konan's back, the blade itself entered through her lower stomach and likely pierced a few vital organs along the way. Raven muttered something incoherent under her breath, but judging from her disdained tone, it wasn't anything pleasant. The red blade lost its shine and Raven's Aura similarly shattered a moment later. She quickly twisted her sword for good measure before removing it and stepping away from Konan. The woman went stock-still and blood poured in droves from her gaping wounds. I let out a silent breath of relief and stared at the sky, it worked, no one can survive those wounds…
"W-what an exhilarating s-sensation." Konan's gurgled speech sent a jolt through both my and Raven's hearts and we turned to see the mortally injured Maiden sway in place. Her back was hunched slightly from the pain and her labored breathing. The wound on her stomach and her stump was covered in rapidly brightening golden Aura that stopped her condition from getting any worse, but with how much blood her clothes were stained with I didn't know how long that would last. Her intact arm still hung uselessly at her side, no doubt soon to be joined by her legs once the venom spread through her body. "I c-can feel myself f-fading, but I can't h-help but want m-more of it," she was forced to cough up blood between her attempts at laughter, leaving a generous amount of the red liquid dripping down her chin. Raven was before her in a flash with her sword already mid-swing, but she was repelled back as her strike made contact with Konan's hastily erected golden barrier. The flames around Konan's flickered in intensity as she tried exerting her power. "B-but I know that she w-would be disappointed if I d-didn't take you with me." Seeing that laughing was beyond her at the moment, she settled on a bloody smile as she regarded us. I scrambled to my feet and stood beside Raven with Attero gripped tightly in my hands. "S-so for that I w-won't give into my u-urges and instead end the b-both of you!" She disappeared from her position, her Aura enhanced movements were too fast for us to track with ours broken. Realizing that that without Aura, any one of her attacks could be lethal, I made the snap decision to dive at Raven as quickly as I could.
I made it in time to shove Raven slightly to the side, but not enough to completely push her out of harm's way as it turned out, Konan's foot hit my right arm and a part of Raven's chest. The force behind the brutal kick sent us flying several meters before we came to halt in the rough sand.
I gritted my teeth with shut eyes for several seconds, my right arm felt like it was on fire. Judging by the numerous cracking sounds I've heard, I was pretty sure most of the bones in my arm were broken, probably somewhere else too thanks to my landing.
"I m-must say, t-this day turned out m-much better than I e-expected." I opened my eyes to see Konan slowly stumbling in our direction. Her battered and broken visage alongside the violet firestorm right behind her made her look like someone coming straight out of hell.
Ignoring the intense pain, I frantically looked around for anything that could help. At this point she was a dead woman walking, ironically it was probably the intense agony of being impaled that kept her alive, but there is only so much Aura can do against extreme trauma, and with the venom coursing through her veins she was likely to drop dead at any second. That however didn't mean she was any less deadly than before.
"I've g-got to fight one of the m-most interesting individuals I've met in d-decades and even got to s-see a failure rise a-above and beyond my e-expectations." The sound of the sand shifting beneath Konan's boots was getting closer and closer.
Looking to my right, I saw Raven lying beside me with Zwei partially hidden under her, her eyes were open and she was glaring venomously at the approaching blond, but the blood trailing from her mouth and her arms clutching her chest made it obvious she wasn't capable of moving-
My thought processes stopped as my eyes darted back to Zwei.
"In f-fact, I can say t-that this was the g-greatest fight of my e-entire life, and I have you to t-thank you for it, Caryll R-Rose. Please, if you h-have any final r-requests, I'd be happy to hear t-them before I send a-all of us to the a-afterlife." Konan stopped a few meters away from us and struggled to keep her balance. Despite this, she still had enough measure of control to summon a large fireball in her hand that pulsed with unstable energy.
I won't let you kill Raven. I sat up with a wince and turned to face Konan.
"Burn." I flashed my eyes at the woman and the world went white for a moment. I then quickly sent a command to Zwei and rolled beside Raven. Konan blinked at the action and stared in momentary confusion as we disappeared in an intangible vortex of air. Her confusion was quickly replaced by horrified realization when she heard rumbling sounds coming from behind her. She turned around just in time to see a wall of violet flames surge forwards from the enormous nearby firestorm and cover the entire area.
The wave of fire washed over her momentarily before receding back to where it came from. Zwei brought us back a few seconds later just in time to see Konan's final moments. It was a testament to the power of her Semblance that her silhouette was still visible through the violet pyre that was consuming her form, though in this case this resilience was less than welcome if her shrill screaming was anything to go by. She thrashed around in place; golden energy could be seen filtering through the darkness as she desperately tried to cling to her life. Her efforts were all for naught however, she fell to her knees and her death throes came to an abrupt halt. The golden energy inside brightened and then it surged outwards, dispersing the violet flames before it shot upwards in the darkening sky until we couldn't see it.
This only took place in the span of a few moments, but I had no doubt it was the most agonizing death one could experience. Fitting for her in a way.
I exhaled loudly and stared at the sky with Raven doing likewise beside me, I hoped that whoever would become the next Summer Maiden would turn out better than the last.
But honestly, the bar isn't set very high