Drakiden Ruby:The Rewrite Chapter 8, a rwby fanfic

Drakiden Ruby: Into a dark Age

Important authors note

(Allen checks his body armor and cover)

Well guys important announcement: This story to be exact will be rewritten again.
(Hastily ducks away to be not burned by the fandoms flamethrower)

Yeah I know that I already did this but listen to my reasoning. Drakiden Ruby is something I started as a mindplay a couple of years ago. It´s an idea that just wouldn`t leave my head, that hold me hostage. I spent literal years thinking out new villains, enemies, twists and storylines. The only thing really stopping this story from becoming from a great concept to a great story was my abysmal writing skill. Now I said to myself that i´ll still try and my goal was to make this story something that I would want to read if I meet it as a stranger. And well I think I reached that standard with the last chapter. That however does not change that what i´ve written before is inconsistent horseshit. Today this day I have no idea why I thought crossing the Arc arc and the Transformation arc was a good idea. So yeah new rewrite. It´s name will be Drakiden Ruby into a dark age. And this will be it´s first chapter.

Another silver beam sliced through the ranks of the Grimm, eradicating thousands in mere moments. Beowolves, Ursa, Nevermores, they all fell without making a difference. They were nothing in comparison to the might of the Silver Eyes. The Grimm were destroyed with impunity, the stain they represented on the world of Remnant wiped away by the purity of the warrior before them.

While other warriors might have become disheartened by the seemingly endless ocean of black and white, but not this one. As any attempt of bringing low the single hero who fought, no slaughtered, the creatures of darkness failed. No amount of sheer numbers made a difference, all their hordes were for naught as not one came even close to the lone being.

Any monster that tried to engage her in close combat was annihilated, any type of projectile launched at her was vaporized upon making contact with the silver bubble shielding. The body of the maiden who marched through the bringers of calamity did so without fear, with all the craze and might other mortals might ascribe to that of a goddess.

And again, for the fourth time since the one-sided battle had begun, the lines of the Grimm shattered, the beasts driven away by the being who so generously gifted them with the fruits they normally spread. Terror. Fright. Fear.

As the foremost lines of the enemy fled, the ones behind them, driven insane by the mere sight of the light, fell upon this source of panic to tear it apart, only overtaken by said emotion themselves. Once the being set her sight on them, the same terror coursed through the hordes, and they too fled before the sheer blinding power.

And amidst this bloodbath, sat the one responsible.

Summer Xiao Long-Rose. Proud mother of Ruby Rose, equally proud adoptive mother of Yang Xiao Long, and proud wife of Taiyang Xiao Long. Undisputed regent of the Rose-Xiao Long household, who ruled her realm with a gentle, yet iron fist. The inventor of the Rose cookie, the unchallenged empress of all sweets in all the world. She was the champion of Remnant, the possible greatest hero of this era. The first person to achieve the rank of Grand Paladin since the founders in the long gone Age of Darkness. And right now, the bane of the Creatures of Grimm.

Hmm, what should kind of dinner should I give my babies once I return home? thought Remnant's mightiest huntress, observing the scene of devastation before her. She scratched one of her aching eyes. "By the twins, staring for such a long time really itches!"

She yawned a bit and discovered some Behemoths, who tried to bring order back into the formations of Grimm. Sighing tiredly, she hold up one of her arms, aimed at the elder Grimm in question, and snipped with two of her fingers. A silver lance shot out from the tip of her index finger, racing towards the Grimm. In the blink of an eye the beam eradicated them from existence, undoing the somewhat regrouped army of Grimm to make them once again fall into chaos.

Summer stood up and began walking casually towards the whole mess. An Eldritch Grimm, a Beowulf who had almost the size of a Goliath, rushed towards her. The sheer speed it moved with made it appear less as a Grimm, and more like a dark shadow, crushing inferior Grimm in the dozens whenever its paws meet the ground. In mere seconds it had traversed the distance between itself and Summer, dodging multiple beams of silver light with an almost unnatural flexibility.

The moment the beast reached the silver bubble, Summer's final defense, the Grand Paladin ripped her arm up. The ball of light burst open, and the deforming structure coiled itself around the Grimm, entrapping the beast within a prison.

"Impressive." mused Summer. "It didn't die when it made contact with my power. It has to be eons old." Slowly closing her left hand, she watched how the ball shrank at the same rate crushing the Grimm, which she decided to call a Powerwulf, into a paste of blood, vaporizing bones and flesh alike.

"It´s still – Huh!" she let out a surprised shriek when the ground on which she stood began to rumble and shake.

Out of pure instinct she jumped back, the Aura she applied to her feet and legs allowing her to propel herself over thirty meters into the air in less then a second. The wind pressed like a brick wall against her, and she heard multiple crack like sounds in her ears, but she paid no attention as she stared at the thing before her.

Where she stood only a moment ago, now rose a massive worm like Grimm. It's entire body was covered by white bone plates, and from what little she was able to glimpse of the thing's mouth, it had been filled by row after row of monstrous teeth.

While still in the air Summer realized her mistake: She was in the air. She couldn't dodge.

She barely managed to create a barrier of Aura and silver light to brace for the impact, and she just slammed into the earth when the titanic Grimm worm whipped around, and rammed itself against the human. Summer screamed as she felt how the sheer force of the attack pressed the oxygen out of her lungs. Her entire form exploded in light as she unleashed the full might of her eyes against it. A silver wall slammed in the monster in hyper speed, forcing it off the Paladin.

An ear shattering cry trembled the air, as the light swept over the worms exterior left side, freezing the hide and bone plates alike, but utterly failed to damage it further then that.

"It's no good, raw assaults with my eyes won't penetrate deep enough to destroy it. I have no time for something more sophisticated. I'll have to use my Aura!" was the conclusion to which the woman came. The question was if that would be enough, but she had no other option.

Ramming her hands together, she assembled an enormous amount of concentrated Aura, the sheer volume of energy sending sparkles and tremors through the air, as Summer's Aura became visible even to the naked eye. Thrusting her connected hands skywards, she hit the Grimm just as it began to descend on her again.

Summer winced when she punched right through the fatally weakened skin of the monster, plastering herself with blood and bones as her directed Aura tore a hole into it, just big enough for her to not be squashed as the worm's gargantuan form descended. A heart beat later the monster was carved apart by an attack so fast, it could only be seen as a flash of light.

And right between the two slowly dissolving halves stood Summer Rose, cape flattering and a shining scythe in her hands.

"You were pretty tough!" complimented Summer to the corpse, now chirpy. "It's quite a while since I had to use Heillbringer seriously. Isn't that right darling?"

While saying that she affectionately rubbed over the weapon, still glowing from the use of the runes scrawled on it's surface. "Last time was in our fight with Peach, wasn't it? Ah, that was a great fig-"

Whirling around she brought the legendary scythe up ready to block whatever attack. And it wasn't one second too late as a black arrow shattered against the blade and promptly exploded, covering the woman in a cloud of smoke and fire.

This moment Summer noticed multiple things. First and foremost, she had her mouth open when that projectile exploded, and now she had the bitter taste of ashes on her tongue. Also her favorite hunting cloak, which had been dirtied enough already, now had burn holes and black singes all over it. Next she wasn't sure if she had remembered to make enough reserve lunch for Tai and her two little angels back home. Well, luckily she did teach Yang how to cook, so they wouldn't starve, or worse yet face Tai's cooking (the very thought of which made her shudder). And the sun was so nice today. Until a couple of moments ago the big orange ball in the sky had been hidden by bad weather.

Oh, and someone stupid girl was shooting arrows at her.

Summer lowered her weapon to casually snatch a second arrow out of the air, negating the explosive tip the moment she touched it. Compared to her fight with the Grimm worm and that Powerwulf, these projectiles were almost painfully slow.

She could see how the archer, almost a kilometer away, notched the next arrow. She whistled, definitely impressed. Shooting so precisely without a scope over such a distance was pretty much impossible, especially with a bow. This meant that her opponent had either some pretty high-tech eye implants, or was an at least somewhat capable Aura master. She decided to give her a visit.

Summer knelt down to evade a third arrow (she had a pretty good firing rate admittedly) and channeled not Aura, but instead pure energy direct from her silver eyes. Leaping ahead, she practically flashed through the space between them, leaving behind what little remained of a once great Grimm horde, which threatened the entire kingdom just hours ago. To think that the authorities originally intended to destroy the horde through a joint effort of the Valesian and Atlesian armies, together with large amounts of huntsmen and huntresses. The idea alone made her snicker.

Accompanied with the powerful boom of her breaking the sound barrier, Summer appeared before the girl who had been firing arrows at her so impolitely.

"Did no one ever tell you not to throw sharp at people without their consent? You might hurt someone!" she chided the girl, while whipping away the arrow before her eyes.

The woman had ashen hair and golden eyes, she could be considered really pretty in fact. Her assailant's eyes widened in terror upon seeing the legendary hero standing directly before her, especially after watching the utter destruction of a Grimm horde deemed a kingdom class threat. Nevertheless, she reacted fast. Fire flashed in her right palm as she lashed out towards Summers face.

Somewhat bemused, the Champion of Mankind slightly tilted her head, evading the immature attack without putting in any particular effort. Raising her left hand, caught the oncoming sword following the flames, using two fingers to bend the blade which was racing towards her kidneys a second ago.

"That was a nice feint." commented Summer, flashing a bright smile and grabbing the arrow she sealed in an Aura bubble, taking the bomb out to finally allow it to detonate.

The blast of the point blank explosion threw the ashen haired woman a couple of meters through the air, her entire left side blackened and burned.

"And you can summon swords. That is fascinating!" Summer half squealed, continuing to beam her smile at the stranger as if nothing had happened. Stretching herself a bit, the Grand Paladin moved her arms behind her back and created an Aura barrier almost two meters in diameter, moments before a barrage of glass javelins slammed into it. "Say is that your semblance, or have you actually mastered some of the ancient arts?"

Summer frowned when the only answer she received were another volley of glass shards, followed by some more arrows. Sighing she simply waved her arm through the air to create an Aura enhanced shock wave, shattering her attacks.

"Can't she see that there is nothing she can do to hurt me?" she asked herself, watching the woman back away while continuing futilely launching blows at Summer. "Doesn't look like it. Huh. Guess I'll have to get a little rough on her then!"

Stomping on the ground, she released a wave of silver energy to destroy the arrows sticking up in the dirt around her, a bit annoyed that her opponent would think she wouldn't notice them. Time to teach her a lesson!

Her frame simply vanished, moving even faster than before. Appearing before the enemy, her right fist connected with the archer's solar plexus, while her other hand grabbed the victim's shoulders to prevent the woman from being blown away, forcing her to stand and take the full might behind the blow. Letting go Summer elbowed the stranger in the face, breaking her nose. The two consecutive, blows impacting in less than a second both stunned the woman and caused her to double over – directly into Summers knee.

"Are you ready to talk? We can continue if you want." No answer. "Oi! I didn't accidentally kill you, or made you bite your tongue off, did I?" Still no response.

The Grand Paladin groaned, her patience dropping.

"Hmm?" bowing down to the unmoving body of the huntress, Summer frowned a bit and poked her into the cheek.

"DIEEEEE!" she unexpectedly screamed, throwing off the act and clamping her hands around the Grand Paladins head, releasing enough heat to melt even iron.

"Now that was decently warm. I even felt it!" applauded Summer, a shield made out of white light laying around her head blocking any harm to her body. "But…" White light as well as the green cackles of hyper charged Aura circulated around Summers right fist.

"Not nearly as hot as my husband!" she drove her fist into the woman's abdomen, finally breaking her Aura and sinking almost her entire hand into her flesh.

Pulling her fists out, Summer took a step and watched her opponent vomit, plenty of blood mixed in with the bile. She collapsed again, but this time it was no act.

"You know." Summer knelt beside her again. "You're pretty unconvincing in your 'I'm dead' play. My daughters miles ahead of you in that aspect. So will you now tell me who you a-huh?"

The woman started to laugh. The blood in her mouth, as well as the destroyed teeth and tongue made it a gurgling, truly bone chilling sound.

"My name is Cinder. Cinder Fall!" And again she began her cackling mad laughter. "It'll be the absolute last thing you ever HEAR!"

And with these words she ripped her hands up, and countless black strings shot out of her arms, hands, and body. They hit Summer before she could react, she was too surprised to put up a defense.

The moment the dark strings touched her body, an extreme nausea ran throughout her entire being. She couldn't stop herself from stumbling, collapsing on her hands. Summer opened her mouth, but instead of words only vomit came out. She could feel something digging into her.

Something incredible vile inside her …, inside her body! It was interfering with her powe-!

Silver light circumvented Heillbringer as it bit through the many threads of Grimm matter, and carved itself into Cinder's right shoulder, simultaneously cutting Summer loose of a great deal of the Grimm Parasite, while simultaneously inflicting an almost certainly fatal wound on her opponent. Disconnected from over half of the entity, Summer was able to muster enough of her power to send a silver shock wave through her body, shattering the Grimm as if it were tainted glass.

Panting heavily, the Grand Paladin stared at her struck down foe. She couldn't remember the last time where she had been forced to summon the weapon by pure need.

A wave of sudden exhaustion hit her, and for the third time she sank on her knees. Summoning something like Heillbringer took a great toll on her body and soul. Legends (and Ozpin) claim it had been weapon of the Silver Eyed Goddess, crafted for her by the last Dragon King. Sounded ridiculous, but given Summer herself was a direct descendant of said Goddess, practically a Demigoddess in her own right, she had probably less trouble believing the tale than most other people.

All signs of carelessness were gone now, the warrior's overconfidence firmly banished. Summer grabbed the hilt of the scythe and sharply yanked on it, and with some difficulty she ripped the weapon out of the Cinder woman's collarbone.

Said person screamed when Summer grabbed the woman by her destroyed shoulder, and forced her to eye level.

"Who are you?" Summer yelled. "And what is your connection to Salem?" There was nothing but the Queen of the Grimm in this world that was powerful enough to block her powers. Her face and voice were deadly serious now. "Answer me!"

"Ha ha ha hah ha." Cinder laughed slowly, even through the pain of her broken teeth and mangled shoulder. "Ha ha ha, have ….. - you decided to look down? Or is that beneath you, oh hero of Remnant?"

Summer's eyes dipped to the ground, and what she saw froze the blood in her veins. They were standing on Something resembling an eye, a single humongous eye. Feeling an immense danger, she let go of Cinder and instead pointed her arm towards the ground, white energy leaving from her entire form to create a defensive bubble, similar to the one she used during the fight with the Grimm horde.

The next moments dozens – no hundreds of black tendrils shot out of whatever the thing was, and wrapped themselves around her sphere of energy along with the Cinder girl.

The tendrils smoked and splintered upon meeting the silver power, but weren't destroyed. Summer was pretty sure she could still make a getaway by destroying all these tentacles in one strike with her weapon, but in doing so she would open herself to attack as well. These things barely survived merely touching her barrier, there was no way they would be able to damage the barrier in any significant way. She would simply re-!

Before she could finish that thought, the eye thing opened below her feet, pulling down both her and the woman, who was now entirely subsumed in black tendrils. She tried to resist, Cinder didn't.

Tremors went through her protective ball, as she was completely submerged in the inky black that was the portal. The prior feeling of vile darkness returned tenfold, and it was almost enough to break Summer's concentration, and with it her barrier. Every sense of time, space and direction was lost as she was moved somewhere. She could feel herself leaving the region where she was prior, the place where she destroyed the kingdom threatening Grimm army. From there, she was taken somewhere else entirely.

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The bubble burst open the moment it left whatever dark realm it transported through. And through the dispersing pieces of what had once been a protective body lay Summer Rose. Sweat was running down her body in thick rivers, and she was breathing heavily, her breath coming in loud pants.

She looked around, and froze in terror. The sky, formerly so deep and blue, was now a sickening red. Surrounding her in every direction were lands completely bereft of any life, and instead looked as if they were covered in black, moving paint, so numerous were the Grimm. Even the horde from before seemed minuscule to these masses. The air itself entering Summer's lungs tasted so completely wrong. But that wasn't what frightened the Champion of Mankind.

Before her, situated on a purple throne, rested the bane of Faunus and Mankind. The ruler and goddess of the Grimm, the sworn enemy of both races.

Salem.

Summer moved at a speed which made a complete mockery of her previous fight with Cinder. Grasping the hilt of her weapon, she was upon Salem in an instant, swinging her scythe with such inhuman speed and strength, the aftershock alone shattered the ground she was traversing.

The moment the weapon should have impacted on the dark goddess's neck, something hit her in the gut and forced her back, causing her to narrowly miss her target. The dark mistress didn't even flinch. Glancing down, she saw the source to be something closely resembling a dark spear, originating from the ground. Jumping back, she barely avoided being impaled as it shot completely out into the air.

"Is that … a Grimm?" asked Summer to herself, staring at it with raw shock. Channeling energy, she tried to summon her Silver Eyes, but found herself unable to do so.

During her brief moment of distraction, the spear like Grimm bent around and shot at her once more, aiming it's sharp end towards her head. Flicking her wrist Summer, quickly slashed it apart with Heillbringer.

"Pathetic."

Whipping around to the speaker Summer saw that Salem had still not moved an inch from her ornate black throne. She instead had a grimace, not too dissimilar to Summer's when she had fought Cinder. It was the face of someone who was bemused over being challenged by a weak opponent, something so far beneath her in comparison that it would take nothing more than the lifting of one finger to crush the insolent being.

"Is that all you can do? I expected more." she told her, the voice alone sending fearful shudders throughout her entire body. "You aren't worthy of my presence. Begone!"

Lifting one of her palms towards the sky, something akin to a black mass appeared to flow from her palm. Summer quickly noticed the shapeless cloud was rapidly growing bigger and taking form!

Backing away, the Grand Paladin just so avoided what looked like an enormous black paw, even with her tremendous speed, barely dodging the blow. It pulverized the rock where she had previously stood, sending flecks of gravel flying into the air. The same moment hundreds, if not thousands, of Nevermore, varying from normal bird sized to being almost as big as airships, attacked her from all directions. At the same time, whatever that gargantuan paw had belonged to slowly formed over Salem.

Gripping her scythe with both hands, Summer began slicing through the endless cloud of avian Grimm descending on her, falling into an almost meditative dance of death as she cut down Grimm after Grimm. Concentrating on avoiding and attacking simultaneously, the Grand Paladin decimated row after row of the beasts, relying on nothing but her skill. All while trying to break through whatever force was blocking her from using the silver eyes.

She could sense the power were still there, still safely within her body. But it felt off, as if something was changing, or rather influencing, her greatest asset.

Without warning, something tore through the wall of Grimm and slammed into her chest, breaking at least four ribs when it connected. Her crumbling Aura was too weak to completely stop the force. Screaming at the pain, she stared helplessly at the enormous Grimm wolf which pinned her down under one of it's feet. Looking down on her, the beast opened it's mouth and a gigantic ball of yellow energy began gathering in its disgusting maw.

Acting on pure instinct, Summer managed to push through whatever was blocking her powers, collecting as much of it as she could. Just in time, as the hoover chose that moment to fire the ball of destructive energy down at her.

Silver met gold as the two forces collided, creating an almost fantastical show of lights and sparkles. For a moment neither attacker seemed to be able to overpower the other.

The next moment both beams dispersed, and Summer Xiao Long Rose, fortified by the protective might of the silver eyes, jumped direct through them, having freed herself from the paw and destroyed most of it in the process. She impacted against the skin of the beast and with a lighting fast slash from Heillbringer, cut right through the dark flesh, severely wounding the monster.

Stomping on it's divided face, Summer used the beast's shattered mask as a stabilizer while she swung her weapon again, sinking the ethereal blade into the monsters neck. Aiming her hand down, she shot a javelin of silver light at the monsters skull, easily penetrating the ruined head and pierced through it's brain, killing it instantly.

Launching herself off the collapsing Grimm, she raced towards Salem as fast as she could go, her body set ablaze with silver light. The barrier was strong enough to erase anything that dared stand in her way.

Three meters from her target she abruptly stopped, crashing against an invisible wall. Her power, the inner light that had shined through the devastated lands of this realm, deformed and retracted back until it was barely wrapped over her body. It was as if she had smacked against a wall of solid steel.

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha." The Grimm goddess she … she was laughing. In fact, she looked at her with an amused expression, despite the deaths of her pet and countless other Grimm.

"What's so funny?" demanded Summer, struggling to deploy her power once more. "Tell me so I may laugh as well!"

Suddenly the pressure which stopped her attack increased tenfold, and the demigoddess was almost forced her on her knees. Only ramming the base of Heillbringer into the ground supported her weight.

"You look exactly like her!" answered Salem bemusedly. "You resemble Tenshi so much, and yet you are so incredible weak."

Tenshi? Summer thought, causing the goddess to grin knowingly.

"You may know her as the silver eyed goddess." She laughed again, slowly rising from her throne. Walking towards the prisoner, she inspected Summer like a cat would inspect a mouse caught in a trap. "You are definitely of her lineage."

The dark being slowly caressed her face with her cold, dead fingers.

"Only those of her brood could ever wield that weapon." Her arm lowered to the glowing scythes grip, but she was seemingly unable to reach it. "Her presence on this thing is unmistakable. I could never forget the tool that brought me to the borders of destruction all these millennia ago."

Her clothing shifted and divided itself, showing a massive black line reaching from her right shoulder to her thighs. "No one was ever able to wound me as she did. No Dragon King, no mage or witch, nor even Drakid could ever do this to me. To this day I still feel the pain of Heillbringer's bite."

Summer screamed at her body to move, to cut down the terrifying woman who was so close. But her arms and legs refused to even budge.

"But in your hands is that grand weapon useless." Salem calmly stated, in a manner that made it clear she thought it was a fact. "You are less than a shadow of what Tenshi had been. You do not have her skill, strength, or might the Silver Eyed Goddess possessed. You have the remnants of the beast she was inside you, but so long as you cannot use them, you're nothing. Just another insect for me to smash."

Something wild reared it's ugly head within Summer, something she resisted for most of her life. It was rage. Primal, feral wrath called up by the fear inside of her. Not for her own life, but that she wouldn't see Yang and Ruby, the two gems of her existence, ever again. So this time, instead of repressing the rage Summer embraced it, welcoming the anger; using the newfound strength to break through whatever invisible chains were binding her in place.

The look of surprise on Salem's face filled Summer with joy as she suddenly moved, ripping her scythe up to gut the creature before her, inflicting a lethal injury. Salem tried to back away, pressing her hands on her belly trying to contain her spilling innards, but she was too slow. Another swipe of Heilbringer and the Queen of the Grimm was promptly decapitated.

Panting heavily, she stared at her foes body, the adrenaline and excitement still burning through the her vines. Had she- had she really don't it? She, she killed Salem! She di-!

Her euphoria was interrupted by slow clapping, seeming to originate from directly behind her.

"Congratulations!" mocked Salem, the real Salem. "You managed to take out one of my clones. I am truly impressed! You absolutely deserve the title of Grand Paladin!"

Pointing her hand towards her she snipped with her fingers and blasted the Paladin back with a sudden gust of wind. Instead of trying to fight the attack Summer allowed it to hit her, and take her away from the entity.

"When the Alphas and I fought against Tenshi and the founders escorting her, our battle devastated this realm. This once rich green land was transformed into a dead hell." Salem continued talking, her voice despite the increased distance between her and Summer as audible as if she stood directly before her. "Compared to these Grand Paladins you are nothing but a weak pretender."

Hearing these words the prior rage returned burning even fiercer and Summer fired a huge wave of silver energy towards the Grimm Queen only for her to divide it before it even met her, presumably the same technique she had used to stop her before.

"I AM A GRAND PALADIN!" roared Summer, while shooting similar attacks with similar results. She held large pride in that title given that she was the only human to achieve it since the age of the Drakid. Now hearing that she didn't held up to the standards of the founders of the grand Families, well it didn't do wonders to her.

"Oh really?" chuckled Salem and once again raised her hands, causing Summer to fall in a defensive stance in preparation for some kind attack. "Go get her Obedion!"

Summer sensed something immense approaching from behind her and, trusting her instincts, she jumped sideways in a frantic attempt to doge. But she was too slow, and the massive thing impacted against her back to send her flying. Gasping in pain, Summer reached out to her power in midair to fired a blind volley of blasts towards the assailant, hoping that would be sufficient to end it. In the meantime she channeled the silver eyes once again, trying to warp herself a safe distance away.

Then a wave of exhaustion hit her, originating from all the damage she had been hit with coupled with the overuse of her eyes. Her vision blurred for a moment. and sharp pain shot through her skull. It was a glaring notification that she wouldn't be able to keep this fight up for long.

It took a few seconds but her sight recovered to some degree, but the throbbing ache remained.

"My eyes are already shutting down?" Unconsciously she rubbed one of them. "This means I'll have to end this fight quickly. Finishing off the one that just hit me and then run for it."

The world around her returned but she only saw blurs, and something akin to a black fog blocked her vision to everything beyond her immediate surroundings. Using an ability as immensely powerful as the silver eyes came with a price. A mix of her strong Aura, Ozpin's magic and her bloodline that reached supposedly directly to the silver eyed goddess helped but with her aura broken and Oz's magic spent her lineage brought her only so far.

Concentrating on her ears she tried her best to locate any potential attack or new swarm of Grimm while jumping around in an effort to be less of an ideal target for her foes.

"I have no chance against Salem. Any further use of my silver eyes will probably hurt me more than her." The realization was easy and the course for her next actions was quickly made. "I may be no match for her but I now know where her hideout is located. If I make it back I can inform everyone. Qrow, Ozpin, Ironwood, Peach and maybe even Raven, together we'll definitively beat her!"

Her eyesight completely normalized itself only moments after her reaching that conclusion and Summer was free to stare at the Grimm who had managed to send her flying. She stared and stared and stared.

Summer Xiao Long Rose had fought many Grimm in her life, both in her time as a student at beacon and later as a full fledged leader of an elite hunter team. She had continued the fight against the Grimm even after she was lifted into the ranks of the Paladin.

She had exterminated legions of Ursa, Beowulf and creeps. She had cut down all kinds of serpentine Grimm, had crushed elder deathstalkers in the deserts of Vacuo, had cleansed entire mountains of seemingly endless flocks of Nevermore and Griffins. She had reclaimed the wastelands and ruins that were Mountain Glenn, eliminating any possibility of a similar disaster occurring to Vale. She had seen and killed all kinds of exceptional Grimm, from Dragons that disrupted the see travel to the human like sirens. She purged the Mistralian Mother hive of it's insecticidal beast slaying the queens and kings. She had discovered a race of parasitic Grimm that harvested humans for their Aura and semblances and used their bodies as breeding stocks. And within an hour she became the reason for said's Grimm races extinction.

She had been disgusted and repulsed by different Grimm force but since her days in Beacon she had never met one that could give her that feeling that was now pulsing through her body.

Fear.

Disbelieving her eyes she stared at the enormous being that stood before her like a mountain. The Grimm could almost be called humanoid but not in the sense that the Grimm goddess had been. His entire huge over eighty meter tall form was covered in a thick armor made out of white bones with nowhere being even a tiny bit of it's black flesh visible.

It had human like face only that it missed a nose and had instead of what human or faunus may have called mouth an in spike covered hole. His eyes were hollow except for a simple burning light that presented it's pupil. And where a human or faunus may have had hairs or bold skull skin it had almost a dozen horns each alone the height of a Goliath.

"You say that you are worthy of the title of Grand Paladin, huh?" sounded Salem dark voice through the air, seemingly originating from everywhere and nowhere simultaneously. "Allow me to introduce you to Obedion. He is quite a magnificent specimen isn't he?"

The Grimm titan began to move forward, every of his steps send tremors through the ground.

"He is one of the first Grimm ever created. So to say one of the first not unlike me in a sense." A sinister chuckle was audible. "Tenshi and her four companions, Eis Schnee `The Ice Queen, Jaune Arc `The Hero`, Hawk Branwen `The First of the Faunus` and that blasted King of Dragons. All of them were Grand Paladin and everyone of them was truly worthy of that title. They killed dozens of Obedions kind and the Arc and the Dragon King were even able to battle Drakid Alpha's on even ground. You can not even begin to compare to them. Now if you manage to beat Obedion I may consider fighting you myself."

With that the Empress of the Grimm stopped talking and the titan before her started moving again.

Reflexes, honed by decades of training took over and Summer herself moved, trying to further the distance between them in order to avoid being squashed like a fly. A thick cloud made of dust and shrapnel shot through the air and covered Summer in hundreds of mini projectiles as the enormous foot of the giant came down only centimeters from her.

Swinging her scythe the Paladin cut through the shock wave that was created by the impact and launched herself forward intending to half the entire foot of the creature using her natural speed as well as the devastating weapon she wielded to the full extent.

Heillbringer signaled a brilliant white flash as it connected with their foe and began to immediately to melt through it's bone structure bifurcating it's big toe. Suddenly the leg jerked away forcing Summer with her. Through the tip of her right eye she could see the huge shadow that was it's hand descend upon her.

Reacting quickly she ripped her weapon free, disconnecting the toe in the process and channeled her silver eyes. Holding the scythe like a spear into the sky she jumped only second's before being crushed. Flying good twenty meters through the air she smashed into the Grimm's leg not far below it's knee. Sliding down a couple of meters Summer managed to stop her descend by sinking her blade into the bone while waiting for her eyesight to recover again.

"There is now way for me to outrun that thing. I have to kill it!" A light sensation of sickness hit Summer as well as physical exhaustion. "Dammit I'm at my limit for my eyes! Any further use of the silver eyes will have worse and worse consequences! What should I do? How do I kill it?"

The world around her once again became clear allowing her to see the leg she was clinging on more clearly. It wasn't even as she thought first. Instead it was winkled in sudden heights and slight holes almost as if these were scares from prior battles. Staring up she could see how the being inspected it's hand see if it had succeeded in killing her. Grasping out to the nearest scar, Summer began to slowly climb up the giants legs.

"Think Summer, Think! How do you kill this thing?" She supposed that she might have been able to take it out if she wasn't worn out and had overused her eyes, but now she saw no way how to end this fight quickly.

"It looks faintly human, does that mean that it has human weak points as well?" she asked herself while advancing over it's kneecap.

Once again the leg shifted, throwing Summer almost of but she managed to narrowly avoid the fall by ramming her scythe into it's skin. Suddenly the large shadow of it's hand once again descended on her and Summer jumped, just like last time away, only to crash into it's other hand that raced down to intercept her mid jump.

Gasping in pain Summer came the realization. "It was moving so slow on purpose! It fooled me!" Right before she slammed into the ground, the huge hand coming down on her to smash her like a fly.

….

Pain. Pain filled Summers entire form. She was somewhat surprised to fell it however, having expected to die. Glancing down she saw that she was glowing. From head to toe, from her beautiful ruby red hair to her equally red boots she radiated a green light, with some green scripture drawn all over her skin.

"That is… Ozpin's magic?" Realized the champion of Mankind. Had the young and simultaneously ancient sorcerer really enchanted her clothing to this degree, that the protective wants on it survived such massive force?

Suddenly a new wave of power flooded her, ending all nausea and weakness inside her and even containing the throbbing ache that threatened to explode her skull.

"That is Post Mortem!" she thought in awe. A so called last chance spell, that temporarily neutralized all injuries, may they be physical or astral and put the affected back into his or her prime for a short time.

Realizing that this granted her only a couple of moments and that she was still in the process of being crushed by the Grimm she, not to dissimilar to situation she'd been in with the giant Grimm worm earlier, summoned a massive amount of silver eyed might and began to push the giant's hand back.

"Using so much of my eyes even with Post Mortem active, the backlash will be brutal!" The giant clearly increased his efforts to shove her into the ground but her was ever so more forced back. "And once the spell end's … I will most likely be rendered blind."

There was no bitterness in the thought, only bleak acknowledgment of the facts.

"And once I lose my eyesight with this thing still alive, I'll die!" Pictures of a certain tiny, red haired girl and a somewhat bigger blonde girl flashed through her head. "Ruby, Yang." She remembered the conversation she had with the two as well her promise to be back to her little girls ninth birthday.

She couldn't, wouldn't die here.

Packing Heillbringer with both hand she swung the weapon with her entire might against the white wall before her, cutting through bone, flesh and skin, coating herself in the dark blood of the Grimm. The heavy, pitch black liquid vaporized the moment it made contact with the silver energy surrounding Summer, not one stain reaching the descendant of the silver eyed goddess.

A screech of pain filled the air, load enough to rapture unprotected eardrums. The hand flinched back but it was to late. Four of five fingers, from the pinky finger to the index finger had been completely severed and through the fountains of dark blood flew the Grand Paladin, glowing as an intense white light intent on vanquishing all evil.

Rushing through the sky she crossed the distance between them in under a second, air and sound bending around her in ominous cracks as she channeled more and more power into her weapon lighting it up brilliantly, turning metal and iron into something astral silverlike. The very world around them seemed to groan and repent as the legendary item changed into it's actual form, a construct of mass destruction, that had been the Silver eyed goddess tool to best the Drakid Alpha's.

Walls of Nevermore and other avian Grimm rose up around them, and in the distance Summer could see that Salem was callously observing her fight from afar, now protected by an enormous dome made out of Grimm matter, growing as the Queen of Grimm hastily threw every Grimm in the Area between her and the devastating attack that she was about to unleash.

The titan Grimm itself tried to retreat, realizing what was about to happen but a new command of his mistress caused these actions to stop. Grabbing the holy now almost intangible scythe with both hands an earth shattering pulse of energy broke out of Summer form blasting through the thousands creatures, turning them into ash or banning them outright out of existence.

She herself did barely notice this as she screamed in agony that was unlike everything she had ever felt before. Even holding Heillbringer in it's astral form almost pulverized Summers arms, stuffing power into her till she felt she was about to explode. Every vine, every bone, every organ hurt as might that wasn't made for her burned through them causing damage and pain to the extent that only touching it almost destroyed her. She could not even begin to imagine how it may feel if she swung this piece of divine might or what it would do to her.

Well she guessed she was about to find out.

It was almost as if time itself had stopped as she slowly, oh so slowly, lifted Heillbringer up, every nerve, every muscle in her body screaming as they were torn by the unimaginable strength, which had once rested in the object but was now in the process of waking up.

Her vision tunneled as more and more of her body broke down aiming at the frozen giant before her. Pictures, images, scenes of her past brushed aside her. They showed her with a blond man, who was so strong and yet so kind and loving. With him were her two little angels laughing and having fun.

"Yang, Ruby, Tai…. I'm sorry. Looks like I won't be coming back after all..."

And she brought the weapon down.

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"AfrGHGF!" Was all that left her mouth, as she was no longer able to properly articulate.

She no longer felt anything on her hands, arms, feet and legs except this feeling. This soul shattering, mind tearing, driving into insanity feeling. It felt as if every nerve in her body had been laid bare for the merciless world to ravage. She no longer knew what this unpleasant sensation has been called.

She could no longer hear, where once had been her ears now was nothing but holes from which blood bubbled out, she could no see something as felt something rinsing down her wasted cheeks.

"SHE….." Even thinking brought her more and new types of agony. "I…. have…. To -" She had almost managed to grasp the thought but it slipped away again. "I … have…. To …. livE..." She had to what? And Why? What was that? Live? What meaning had that?

Pictures flared up each representing persons. A black haired man and one with golden hair. The man was in some black suit and beside him stood a woman (her maybe?) in a long dress as white as snow. She saw herself agreeing to something he said and the entire crowd before them cheered. She then saw the woman wreathing in pain and screaming while cursing the blond man beside her until moments later she was holding something fleshy and wrinkly in her hands, that was crying. The woman and the man were crying to put it did not seem to be because they were anymore in pain.

Suddenly the woman was with a similar but bigger and older thing and was singing both of them into sleep. These pictures brought relieve and ache to her, that she felt deep inside her as if something inside her was screaming up. It an entire new kind of pain. And unable to bear it she banned these pictures and scenes from her mind.

They were replaced by new ones. Strange and different ones. They felt foreign and alien as if these did not belong to her. She saw a woman identical in form but different exterior. Her hair, her entire entire even her skin was of a silverish color. She was in armor that seemed to equally exist and yet not be there. She wasn't alone, behind her was an enormous army, consisting of countless humans and faunus. Above her in the sky flew hundreds, if not thousands of Dragons, each more magnificent than the last but none managed to come even close to the one who accompanied the silver woman herself. The creature had golden scales that could rival the sun in their shine and once again that feeling returned to her chest, that longing.

There were others, a man with long dark hair, armed with two longish slender blades, one red as blood the other one white. There was a woman in blue with white hair that held a sword that looked as if it was made of blue crystals. And then there was blonde, blue eyed man who wielded nothing but a plain sword and shield and yet was marching with confidence.

These five were leading an army larger and bigger than anything the world had ever seen prior or after this event.

Who were these people? Who was she? Where was she? What had-?!

A new intense pain ripped her out of the questions as something stabbed her through the right shoulder.

"I….. you.. worthy…. Grand Paladin!" She could barely understand whoever was talking to her and trying to gave her only new pain.

Suddenly something hit her face.

"AJBWEUFWEFEFB!?" It… IT WAS DRILLING INTO HER HEAD!

Panic began to set in as she felt it and she began to trash around, attempting to stop the thing of what it was currently doing to her skull, but she couldn't use her limps.

"Stop resisting!" ordered something in a commanding voice. She did not hear someone saying that, the words just appeared in her brain. Something inside her was appalled by the very suggestion of just giving up, but another lance of unspeakable agony silenced that voice.

She had no time to wonder what that inner voice was or to whom it belonged as suddenly more words appeared inside her.

"I must say I'm quite impressed. To use that weapons astral form and to survive? That feat goes beyond the extraordinary! With that one strike you wiped out every Grimm in this entire region and, if you had concentrated it instead of just sending out a cleansing pulse you could've seriously injured me! The only other person to ever use that might was Tenshi and well she was quite literally a goddess so ..."

She could no longer concentrate it, her entire attention singled, directed at that one name.

"TenSHi!" She screamed up at the pain that speaking with her devastated mouth brought but she couldn't hold it back.

That… THAT. T.H.A.T. Name!

Memories were exploding though her filling her skull and vanquished all else even the pain she felt.

Power flew through her, restoring eyesight and the use of her limps. Her new vision pictured the image before in black and white, Dark and silver. She saw the Enemy before her a surprised, no shocked that face that slowly realized. Bringing up her hands she could see the broken bones and shattered fingers but that did not stop her of bringing forth her next move.

Before Salem could struck her down or order the parasite inside her to kill her she attacked.

A new Sun, not made out of gold but of brilliant silver flashed in existence, the massive glowing ball rapidly expanding and engulfing the entire scenery.

More and more memories flowed back into her mind, in such volumes that the sheer amount of it almost completely overwhelmed her. There were scenes of glorious and grand battles of the past, of two children whose names she did not know. It was confusing and much of the information was contradicting, but that did not matter to the being as she eradicated the last remnants of Grimm inside her.

She had a battle to fight. Who or what she was is entirely secondary to that. The being would have enough time to figure these things out after she had survived this battle

Standing up she moved slowly, harshly. Her body was broken to a point where even she could not fully repair it, at least not in such a short time spawn.

She came to these realizations within the first second of her launching her attack. At 1.5 seconds she had finished standing and began to fix what could be fixed. At 2.3 seconds the silver sun had reached it's maximum expansion, having a diameter of multiple miles.

At 2.9 seconds she noticed in fact that the entity she had forced back with her actions was still within her reach, inside the for it corroding silver light. Coming to the conclusion that drawing profit from it's own confusion the being decided that the best course of action would be to directly assault her before the silver sphere could collapse.

Recalling Heillbringer back into the physical plane she finished the last improvements to her form and launched her attack.

At 3.2 seconds she reached the Grimm creature who had distance itself multiple hundreds of meters in an attempt to escape her and the sphere.

Moving at meta sonic speeds the scythe itself wasn't visible to something as primitive as a human eye as it clashed dozens of times with the Grimm, ripping holes and cliffs through it.

At 3.9 seconds the Grimm had finished producing it's defensive weapon by creating a blade staff, while equally closing and melding her slashed apart constantly regenerating form.

At 4.5 seconds the rapidly collapsing hull of the silver sun reached the two combatants and – after clinging to them for a miniscule part of a moment leaving them behind.

Being now able to use her visual senses again she could now accurately asses how much damage she had done to Salem.

Her opponents clothing, along with most of her skin had been melted away by her first strike and her body was covered in cuts of varying severity.

Contemplating for a moment to launch an astral strike on her she quickly dismissed it and continued her relentless attack. She frowned at the ever present knacks and booms harassing her ears. She had been adjusted to fighting at such speeds but it seemed like this body was not. In fact this entire form despite feeling severely weaker than what she was used to.

Her foe however had seemingly no such problems as every wound she inflicted on it seemed to heal as fast as they came.

"No!" Realized she. "That is no regeneration! That's recreation!" Once again broke her scythe broke through her opponents defense and cut through her weapon into her chest. Not intending to allow the Grimm to regain her stance she engulfed her own had in silver light and threw a punch aiming at the face, however Salem manged to catch it using the tentacles that grew out of her shoulders, while simultaneously stabbing through her lower body using the two halves of the blade staff.

She was just able to limit the damage by destroying the improvised spears through once again calling fourth her silver eyes. Ripping her fist and her weapon free she jumped back, narrowly avoiding a ton of tentacles breaking out from all over Salem's body and started racing towards her.

Gripping Heillbringer with both hands she encased it into her might and swung it. The sheer air pressure created by it cut through the black tendrils and forced the abomination a couple feet back buying her enough time to do this.

For a second time on this day the world seemed to coil around the scythe as it began to phase into another plane, the dimension of deities and devils, drawing power that couldn't possible exist on Remnant as it's structure itself changed. But this time around the weapon did not shift alone. Instead whatever seemed to happen to it expanded to it's wearer too.

Tenshi Rose slowly opened her eyes again after instinctively closing them. She was one with Remnant and Remnant was one with her. Seeing Salem before her she could only laugh at it's comparatively sluggish movements, helpless attempts to somehow reach her.

Ignoring her the silver eyed goddess breathed in, taking in the essence of this time into her and it hit her like a Dragons warhammer. This world, this time it, it was so pure. Tears quelled up in her eyes. Sure there were certain evils among the humans and faunus, not to mention the existence of the Grimm.

But it was missing something certain, the presence of one specific source of evil that had been the bane of her time. The great evil, the destroyer and despoiler, the cancer of her existence were missing. There were none of them here. There. Were. No. Drakid!

Countless memories flooded her now clear mind. The genocide of the Dragon race. The Destruction of grand Kingdoms, Republics and empires of Man and Faunus. The deaths of her friends and companions. All those who had fallen in order to finally brings the Alphas down. A particular scene crossed her mind. She herself lying dying in the arms of her Tai-Long, her lover, partner and husband. They both were covered in wounds but these hadn't been what had sealed her fate. Her mind, no her soul had been critically damaged in her last fight with the Alpha Nathuellia before she had finally managed to seal her with the other alpha's finally away an a prison she and Merlin had crafted themselves.

With the alpha gone she could still

With the alpha gone the only thing she had to do was to erase this last stenches on Remnant and this world could finally find peace!

A sudden sensation shot through her and sent tremors through both the astral and physical plane. Shifting her attention back to Salem she could see that she also had begun to phase into the astral plane.

"Took you long enough to notice." thought Tenshi. That was of course relative given that in real time only a couple of Nanoseconds had passed. Raising her left hand a massive swirl of energy began to concentrate around it. "Sorry Salem but it seems like there are no Drakid around to safe you this time!"

Forcing her arm back into the real world she for a moment shattered the barrier between astral and real allowing a huge pulse originating from her arm to enter Remnant with predictable results. The released energy destroyed everything, mountains, cloud formation, the entire landscape was leveled. Whirlwinds made out of rocks, dust, and dirt rose to the sky as everything, truly everything, in the surrounding thirty miles or so was wiped out.

A sudden explosion of pain shot through Tenhi's new body as something collided with her. In the astral plane. Trying to turn around to see what was happening her body twisted in pain and began to convulse.

"I.- I can't move, what is happening?" New pain blossomed around her chest and she faintly shifted her head to see what it was.

A clawed hand shrouded in absolute darkness had impaled her straight through her heart. There was no blood or even any visible form of injury, but the famed silver eyed goddess had been hit lethally non the less.

Tenshi felt how her incorporeal became heavy darkness spreading from the claw through her entire body and she suddenly snapped back into the physical plane. In fact she was falling from her earlier position right down the massive crater, that she had created with her earlier attack.

Panic shot through her body as she plummeted towards the ground. She tried helplessly to call her silver eyes out but nothing happened.

In a last desperate attempt she moved what little Aura this form had recovered into her legs, steeling them for the impact, but it was of no use. A pained cry escaped Tenshi's lips as she landed, the force behind it cracking through her Aura and shattering most of her leg bones. But a new sensation broke her away from this agony. Right before her seemed reality to rend and tear as a person shrouded in black appeared.

In a desperate attempt to stop whatever there was coming, she raised her hands, of which only one responded. Looking aside Tenshi saw the reason for that and almost vomited. Her right arm was, for the lack of the better word, destroyed. It hadn't been able to withstand the force of the astral release.

Forcing her eyes away from what at one point may have resembled a limp she looked back at the figure who had by now fully materialized in all of her horrible glory. Completely clad in pitch black scales, wings and tail the almost fifteen foot tall creature slowly descended towards her.

"A Drakid! And it's completely unlike anything i've ever seen. I've never felt something like that, not even the Alphas compare. It almost feels like ….. me?! A twisted perverted version that of me…!?"

Feeling a minuscule part of her power return she fired a blast of silver energy at Drakid only for her to create a ball of black energy in one of her hands and to hurl that into her attack. The moment the orb met the stream of silver it expanded almost as if it was annulling, no infecting Tenshi's attack.

She just managed to throw herself aside and avoided being torn apart as the attack narrowly missed her main body mass and just grazed her severing what was left of her right arm in the process of.

Before Tenshi was able to suppress the pain the Drakid launched a second attack, a black spear, exactly the moment her attention had been diverted because of the loss of her arm remnants.

Now if Tenshi had been in her old form she may have been able to dodge, to fight but battered and exhausted from fighting she stood no chance. Seeing the lethal attack coming but knowing that she wouldn't be able to dodge she in a haste made one final decision. Earlier one the astral plane she had felt the presence of two of her companions that had somehow survived their brutal fights against the Alphas. Merlin. The supreme wizard felt different from when she had known him Eons ago, but he was still here as was her beloved husband Tai-Long. If there were two warriors that had the skills to at least fight something like an Alpha off but for that they needed a proper weapon to do so.

Assembling what little of her power was left she encased Heillbringer in silver light warping the holy weapon away to whoever of the two was closer. The Drakid were back and this world needed weapons capable of fighting them. This woman whose body she inhabited, she had offspring, who may in time be able to use the weapon. This meant that there was still hope for this Remnant to fight on if the Drakid were to return.

The lance impacted on Tenshi's chest just left to her heart impaling her lungs, cutting through her ribcage and nailing her to the ground. She opened her mouth to scream but nothing but blood came out. She felt how the curse burned through her veins. Her vision began to shimmer darkness surrounding her.

"It...is almost reminiscent of my first time." She managed to think. A large scaled Drakid beating her down having bested her after a narrow merciless battle. "I just doubt that there'll be a dragon in golden armor to save me this time, huh?"

Looking up she could see how a massive dark shadow descended on her and then everything went dark.

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Tears ran down her face as brought the mangled form of Tenshi's new host on the black altar.

"What are you going to do?" The question remained unanswered for a moment as she instead inspected her body a bit longer. Waiting another couple of moments she finally answered.

"I'm going to use her body to fully bring back the power of those of my children she had imprisoned." Was the answer.

Even Salem shuddered for a moment at hearing this. Hundreds of Drakid were in various stances all around them. All frozen in time and space by the silver eyed goddess for all of eternity.

Only, this imprisonment seemed to fall short. The power of the black eyes crept around them like some kind of nightmarish parasite eating at the barriers, infecting them as if they were rotten flesh. And yet until this point the silver light had refused to bulge no matter how much they had been withered with.

"How do you plan to break the seal?" asked Salem, annoyed. The queen of the Grimm and Goddess in her own right wasn't used to having to beg someone for answers. Under normal circumstances there were none who would have dared to withhold information from her and those who did often experienced the consequence of doing so.

But this was not the case as Salem had no illusions who would win a fight between them. That knowledge however angered her only more.

"Tenshi gave her life to seal them." answered the Drakid. "In order to destroy the seal we need more than just the power of my eyes. We need her blood and soul." Nodding towards Salem the battered Grimm Monarch acted.

Several vines made out of Grimm matter grew out of the black altar on which Tenshi's comatose Vessel was, and quickly penetrated her outer shell and began to rapidly suck out blood out of the body. Salem waited till she had extracted most of the liquid leaving just enough for the body to survive. With one swipe of her hand she extended the black ropes towards the one Drakid who had the most of her peers power circling around it. Upon reaching it the black power consumed the Grimm tentacles, instantly evaporating the rest of Tenshi's blood.

For a moment nothing happened. Salem was about to ask as suddenly a shudder, a sickening groan it seemed like, swept through the cave. The next second the sacred indestructible prison holding the uncontainable shattered, as if it was a construct made of cheap glass.

Salem herself couldn't help but feel slight discomfort as the creature before bawled over the ground. The monster attempted to stand up but it's legs and arms failed to support its weight. The wings were gruesomely mauled, and it's back was a single bloody mess.

"Mother!" the creature mewled helplessly. The words barely had left it's mouth and the black matter surrounding it surged, entering though mouth, ears, the destroyed nose and the endless open wounds all over it's body.

It lead out a scream that was a strange mix of agony and pleasured bliss, as it's mother reconstructed shattered bones, repairing annihilated organs and the partially missing spleen.

"You who is one of my first and most perfect of children, are born anew today!" The Drakid stood up and straightened it's, or rather her pose. "Be once again the horror that plagued the old world, the nightmare come true. Live again mighty Alpha Astrea!"

The darkness now flowed in massive waves around her, seemingly swallowing what little light was there. Wounds and scars alike disappeared as more and more of Astrea's crippled form was crafted anew. Only one scar, a massive burn over her heart, refused to vanish.

"Mother." said the Alpha, "What are your orders for me!?"

Her eyes wandered to the motionless body on the altar, and her mouth formed a vicious smile. "You have slain the bane of our race?"

"No she is still alive. I need her blood and soul in order to free your brothers and sisters." the Alpha answered, before turning around. "For your orders. Tenshi managed to transport Heillbringer away before I was able to stop her. Find it and bring it to me. Also the host that Tenshi chose for herself, find out if she has any offspring or relatives that may serve as vessels for her return. I am sure Salem and her pawns may be able to help you with that task."