Beta: ShadowMeister234

"So tell me, children. Are you ready for round two?"

Many things happened at once after those words. Yang lunged towards the Fountain of Life to push as much water into her bottle as she could, Emerald used her one good hand to fire two bullets at the monster, and Jaune deployed his shield.

It was all inconsequential to the being above them. Emerald's bullets bounced harmlessly off its body as it raised its wings and sent them crashing down. The ground below was torn to shreds and even the air itself seemed to buckle and bend under the force. Emerald and Yang were prepared for this and braced themselves to ride it out, but even though Emerald had told Jaune about this, nothing would have prepared him to experience it.

It felt like he had been punched with a rocket. His shield was ripped out of his hand, unsummoning itself a moment after, and Jaune was sent flying into the air. He tried to orient himself to the ground, but that was hard to do when the ground had been blown into a million pieces and thrown up into the air with him. It didn't matter anyway. His trajectory slammed him into the side of a building, about three floors up, with enough force that he broke right through it. The back of his head hit the floor as he somersaulted through the rest of the room. His rough landing finally came to an end when he smacked into the back wall.

Everything ached and with the way the world was spinning and his ears were ringing he was pretty sure he had a concussion. His aura had been up the entire time so it was a testament to just how hard he had been hit, but he couldn't afford to sit here and complain.

As he got back to his feet, he had to bite down the vomit that threatened to spew forth. Once that task was accomplished he stumbled his way to the opening he had come through. Luckily, the room he had been thrown in was completely empty, so there were no obstacles to get in his way.

The Jaune shaped hole in the wall was already repairing itself, but it was still plenty big enough to see out of. It wasn't a pretty sight. It looked like someone had set off a massive bomb and then kept coming back to do it again. The once smooth ground had been pounded into a coarse gravel, and since all those little pieces were trying to return to their original place, it was all constantly shifting like an artificial ocean. However, there was one area that had escaped destruction.

The Fountain of Life stood completely unscratched which was good since that was where Yang and Emerald were making their stand. Both were unloading their weapons into the flying monster, but they were just as ineffective as Emerald's original bullets had been. The angel replied by swinging her unbent wing in an arc. Jaune could practically see the air being sliced through as the shockwave traveled towards the girls.

They took cover behind the Fountain and while the attack cut a trench into the ground near them, the Fountain took the hit without gaining a single crack. An invincible barrier was good protection but it wasn't perfect especially against an enemy so strong. While they didn't take any direct damage from the attack, the wind pressure alone was enough to batter them a bit.

Jaune wanted to jump down there and help, but logic held him back. He'd be more than useless if he joined the battle like that. For one, he didn't have a ranged weapon to even attack the angel with, and even if he did have a gun, that strategy was proving worthless. To damage that monster they needed something stronger.

His hand rested on the pouch where he kept all of his chalk. An etch might be able to do it, but it would have to be big. The empty room he was in gave him the space, but it would take time. Time Emerald and Yang might not have. He had to force himself to discard that line of thinking. Hesitating would only cost time, so without looking back, he began work on his etch.

He trusted the girls would be able to hold out.

Emerald and Yang ducked behind the Fountain as the monster flapped its wings. An explosion went out in all directions. The Fountain held strong and protected those on the other side, but blonde and green hair still whipped backward as the ground around then blew apart launching little pieces of rock at them with speed that made it seem like a hailstorm of bullets. Aura tanked the damage, but it was an unpleasant experience that both of them wished they could avoid.

Sadly, that wasn't possible. Already, the angel had hovered over to their side of the Fountain with its wings raised. Quickly, they ran around the right edge of the Fountain, but that thing followed them every step of the way. When the wings came down, the girls were easily within the kill zone—or at least that's what the monster thought.

The target of the angel's attack was only an illusion cast by Emerald's semblance. The real ones had run around the left side of the Fountain putting the indestructible structure between them and the monster once again.

"These tricks of yours are interesting," the angel said after the fake Emerald and Yang were dispelled, "but it can't save you forever."

That was the sad truth. Emerald had never abused her semblance as much as she had in these last few minutes and it showed. Sweat was running down her forehead like a waterfall and her breathing was little more than harsh pants, but there wasn't any other way. Without her semblance, she and Yang would have already been killed five times over. Circling around the Fountain was only slightly better than being fish in a barrel, but leaving it would mean certain death.

There were no good options.

The monster hovered over the Fountain to the girls' side yet again. Emerald created an illusionary Yang and Emerald to run away, earning a brain splitting headache as she did, while the real ones made off in the other direction so they would be protected when the attack came.

It was a scenario that had already played out several times. The monster must have already figured out what Emerald was doing, yet it went for what it saw every time. It might just be cautious. Better to keep falling for the trick every time than let them get away if it turns out that this time they were real. After all, it didn't cost the angel anything to flap its wings, but Emerald wasn't going to last much longer.

"Are we really going to die right after finding Ruby's cure?" Yang growled as she fired two ineffective shotgun blasts at the monster who was on top of them again.

Emerald reached for her semblance, but she knew immediately that it wasn't going to work. What the monster saw was a pathetic representation of the girls that bared only the slightest resemblance. It wouldn't have tricked a toddler, and it definitely wouldn't trick the black-haired angel.

The fact the angel wasn't moving and Emerald had nearly passed out clued Yang in that something had gone wrong. She wrapped her arm around Emerald's torso and leaped over the Fountain as the monster made its attack. The explosion flew over Yang's head mere moments after she was able to duck behind the Fountain's walls.

"What are we going to do?" Yang questioned. Her heart was beating in her chest so hard that she could hear it through her ears.

Breathing heavily, Emerald pushed herself out of Yang's grip. "Jaune has a plan." She believed in him. He was too durable to have been killed in that initial attack, and since he wasn't down here fighting with them, he must have had something in the work. "We just need to survive until he's done."

"Assuming your boyfriend can do something, how do you suppose we survive until then?"

Emerald looked Yang in the face. "I have an idea but you're really not going to like it."

The angel was nearly back on their side. "I don't care what you do as long it works."

Emerald nodded, then with her hand still holding her weapon, she reached for Yang's hair and cut a huge section off. It had already been cut shorter back when the two of them fought at Junior's bar, but that had only been a grazing strike. This time Emerald had gone for the kill cutting the right side of her hair so far up that it ended above the shoulders.

Time froze. Even the angel seemed to stop moving as Yang's brain processed what had just happened. In total maybe a second passed between Emerald cutting her hair and her reaction, but to her it felt like years. Her eyes glowed redder than they ever had before and her hair burst into flames so hot that Emerald's aura started taking damage from just being next to her. Yang raised her fist ready to bury Emerald.

"Don't use that anger on me," Emerald calmly stated. "Use it on the thing keeping you from your sister."

Yang didn't think about it—she couldn't—her anger was her only guiding force, but Emerald's words did ring true somewhere deep inside her. She jumped into the air so fast that even the angel seemed surprised when its prey suddenly appeared in front of it.

Yang was furious. Her hair had been cut, her sister was in a coma, and everything in this damn city was trying to kill her. She was sick of it and was ready to finally vent her fury. Luckily, there was a winged monster that just so happened to be in perfect punching range.

With a punch fuelled by her rage and powered up by all the damage she had already taken from that monster, Yang smashed her fist into the angel's face, and for the first time, the monster couldn't brush it off.

Its head snapped backwards as the angel was blown away. As the angel tumbled out of the sky, it swung its wing sending a blade of wind at the girl who just attacked it. Yang probably would have been cut in half if Emerald hadn't shot the chain of her weapon so it wrapped around Yang's ankle and pulled her down. Yang landed gracefully on her feet. Blood rushing through her veins and knuckles hurting, but there was a sense of fulfillment and relief that she hadn't felt in a long time.

The angel did not have nearly as pleasant of a landing. Its back hit the ground kicking up a cloud of crumbled stone. "What naughty children," it said while staring at the cavern ceiling, "but some praise may be in order. A human hasn't been able to strike me since time long forgotten, but I'm afraid this farce must come to an end."

If Yang and Emerald thought the angel would stay down for long, they were sorely disappointed. Yang's punch hadn't bought them a victory or even a full minute. The angel was back up in just a few seconds. Its wings didn't move at all, it was just hoisted back into the air as if it were connected to strings, then instead of chasing the girls to the other side of the Fountain, the monster clasped its hands together and sang.

The vocals were indescribable. It was much more than just being in an unknown language. The sounds that emanated from the angel's mouth weren't things that could have been produced by humans, or even perhaps by any natural-born creature. Even if Emerald was to be wiped from existence at this very moment, she knew it would have been an honor to hear this. Not even Yang's anger could hold when faced with such a song.

However, none of that distracted from the very real threat the angel was conjuring. Its body and wings were surrounded in a white hue that was only getting harsher as the song continued, but the real issue was the swirling clouds circling high above the Fountain, and thus, the girls as well.

Obviously, there shouldn't have been any clouds below the ground and in a cavern, but they were also far too thick and puffy to ever look natural. It was like they had been crafted with a paintbrush. Beyond even that though, there was something within the clouds. A power that seemed ready to burst. It was already cracking the clouds with sunbeams so bright they were hard to look at.

"I don't like the look of that," Yang said.

Emerald didn't either, The angel wasn't playing anymore. Up until now it had just been lazily swinging its wings. This was an actual attack, one that took effort on the monster's part. Emerald bit the bottom of her lip. Whatever this spell was it was clearly going to come from above; no way to position the Fountain between them and the attack this time. She also highly doubted that they could run far enough away to avoid it. The angel had said it was putting an end to this and it meant it.

The song was reaching its conclusion. The power within the clouds crackled with an intensity that sounded like thunder and lightning.

Emerald searched desperately for a solution, and she found it right in front of her. She grabbed Yang's arm and pulled them towards the Fountain.

"What are we doing?" Yang asked.

"We're going for a swim." She threw herself into the Fountain with Yang diving in right behind her.

All sound cut out. Whatever was going on above the water's surface ceased to matter. Not that Emerald could even see where the water's surface was, or the Fountain's walls, or its floor. She was just floating in an endless light-blue void with Yang floating beside her. She wasn't having any trouble breathing either. The only way she could even tell that she was still submerged was when she tried to talk to Yang water rushed into her opened mouth. It tasted like sour wine and pretty quickly convinced Emerald to keep her lips shut.

Yang tried to gesture something, but whatever it was she was trying to communicate was lost to Emerald.

It didn't matter because a different form of communication cut its way through the water, and it was coming from everywhere. "Who encroaches in my domain?"

Emerald could feel the sound vibrating in her bones, and judging from Yang's expression, she was feeling the same. It was a voice that radiated power. If it was between having to face the angel up top or whatever was the owner of this voice, Emerald wasn't sure what she'd choose. At least, this entity wasn't trying to kill them…yet. It might get mad if they ignored its question, but neither of them could speak at the moment.

Fortunately, it appeared the voice didn't need to hear them speak. Unfortunately, the workaround for that was the feeling of an invisible hand rummaging around in her brain until it found what it was looking for and yanked it out.

"I see. The two of you would have died had you not come here, and one of you wishes to use my domain to relieve a wielder of the silver eyes. This presents a problem. My brother and I agreed to not interfere with the world once we left. However, since my brother's domain is still active, I will let this go. That said, I will not be pleased if you try to enter my domain again."

Suddenly, Emerald felt something pushing her up at incredible speed. It wasn't long before she and Yang were thrown from the Fountain and into the air. The world above the water had changed since the girls had last seen it. For one, the painted clouds and whatever power they contained were gone, but whatever attack they had avoided had struck the area so hard that the ground was sizzling. Even the self-repairing stones had called it quits and died, lying motionless as normal stone should.

When Emerald and Yang landed, they had to alternate which foot they were standing on or risk the molten ground burning through their aura and their shoes. That was the least of their worries, though, because the angel was still here, and it was right in front of them.

It looked down at them with some mild interest. "A risky strategy you kids went with, but you survived so perhaps you deserve even more praise than I originally believed. It's almost a shame that the dream will be so short-lived."

The angel raised its wings once more. There would be no escaping the explosion this time. The girls couldn't hope to retreat behind the Fountain in the time they had, and despite the brief break, Emerald was still in no condition to cast her semblance.

The wings reached their apex and were about to be brought down in a way that would reduce Yang and Emerald to a single bloody smear—except that didn't happen. It wasn't because the angel didn't try, it clearly was, but something was wrong. Its wings had locked up like a gear had gotten stuck. The angel strained and poured her strength into its wings, yet they wouldn't budge an inch.

What none of them could see was that between the angel's shoulder blades, where the wings were connected, an infection had begun to spread. It looked like rust as it expanded up the angel's wings and around its sides. It caught the angel's hair and turned the edges brown before it fell out completely.

The monster noticed the infection only when it climbed up and around its neck and cracked the skin. Blood as red as any humans' escaped the cracks and stained the body. "You defiant children." The angel's voice was still smooth and dignified, but now there was an edge to it. No longer had they just simply struck the monster; they had made it bleed.

There was no need for any further warning. Emerald and Yang were already running, but this time it wasn't to the other side of the Fountain. This was their chance at escape, and they were taking it. A sentiment only reinforced when Jaune, the only person who could have given them this chance, jumped down from his perch and joined the girls in their escape.

"And just where do you think you're going?" The angel still wasn't able to flap its wings, but there was more to them than that. The angel's wings were made up of hundreds of armor-like diamond-shaped plates and while some at the base had been infected and rendered useless, there were many that weren't. Without warning, the monster's wings burst apart creating a curtain of the shiny diamonds that hovered behind the angel like a volley of arrows ready to be unleashed. The intent was clear.

"Are you serious!" Yang screamed. They weren't out of the sizzling wasteland the monster had created with its last strike, so there was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Even if those plates only contained a fraction of the destructive power that the full wings had, there was more than enough of them to tear the trio apart in an instant.

"Emerald use your semblance," Jaune said in his panic.

"I can't," she replied in a hushed whisper. It was then that Jaune got his first good look at Emerald since he had been sent flying. Her face was flushed, her breathing was erratic and she was barely keeping up with Yang and him.

He looked at the angel and its curtain of metallic plates. They were all moving and rotating in harmony so their tips were pointing towards the trio. They had maybe a few seconds before they fired. Jaune bit the corners of his mouth as he returned his sights to Emerald who was starting to fall behind.

"If you can't use your semblance on your own then I'll help you." He placed his hand on Emerald's shoulder, activated his semblance, and pushed as much aura into her as he could. To Jaune, it felt like he was draining himself and he was getting tired from it. To Emerald, it felt like she was being filled with energy—overflowing even. It was quickly becoming too much. She needed to let it out.

Her semblance burst forth like never before. For the angel, it found its vision suddenly full of copies of Emerald, Jaune, and Yang scattering in every direction with the real ones lost in the chaos. The angel may have had hundreds of "feathers" at the ready, but now it had hundreds of targets. The projectiles desynced from one another as they each found their own target. Then with speed faster than their eyes could follow, they were set loose.

If the power of the full wings had been the equivalent of a massive bomb then the individual "feathers" were like an artillery barrage. They passed through the illusions and punched small craters into the ground.

Jaune really felt like he had been transported to an active war zone. Dust and stone were being thrown up all around him as head-sized metal plates with sharp edges flew above his head and close to his sides. He had yet to be hit, so either he was extremely lucky or Emerald's semblance really was working miracles. Speaking of Emerald, the poor girl was leaning against him so hard that he was practically dragging her. Her eyelids were halfway down her glassy eyes and drool was running down her chin as her semblance was pushed to its absolute limit.

Jaune was worried about her. She had already suffered through two of her fingers being torn off, and now she looked barely better than a drug overdose victim. She couldn't stop though. If she did, they would certainly die. "Just a little farther," Jaune said as he wiped some of the drool off her mouth. "You just have to keep it up for a little longer, and then you can rest. I'll find a way to deal with the rest myself, I promise."

Emerald only replied with a robotic nod as Jaune and Yang pushed themselves to make it through the final stretch. The plates continued to hammer the ground around them as once they landed they flew back to their master only to be sent out again. It was an endless assault, yet the trio managed to cross the wasteland and into the twisting roads of Cryphilictal. Jaune never thought he would be so relieved to be surrounded by Cryphilictal's stone architecture. It wasn't safe, but it was better and that was all they could ask for at the moment.

They only made it a little further in before Emerald officially passed out. Her semblance went with her and almost immediately the near-constant sound of explosions ceased as the angel searched for the people that were no longer there. It was eerily silent

Jaune heaved Emerald on to his back as he turned to face Yang. Sweat and dust-stained her clothes and her chest rose and fell with rapid succession as she tried to catch her breath. Jaune doubted he looked much better. "We need to get moving," he said. "The faster we get out of this city the better."

"You sure?" Yang said. "Wouldn't it be better to hold out in one of these buildings and wait it out for at least a little bit."

Jaune didn't think so. The angel might not have been able to flap its wings and destroy an entire city block like before, but he knew from seeing the column of light and lightning that had burst from those painted clouds that mass destruction was still well within its capabilities. Being crushed by the building they were sheltering in was a huge possibility. On the other hand, they had no idea where they were, and Cryphilictal's streets were as confusing and unhelpful as ever. They'd have to spend a lot of time just wandering around, and since their opponent could fly it wouldn't be difficult for it to notice them.

Having no good options seemed to be a trend in this city.

However, the decision never needed to be made because the angel had already made its next move. It flew high up into the air with its "feathers" trailing behind it like a geyser. Jaune and Yang pressed themselves up against a wall in hopes of not being noticed, but the monster wasn't even looking for them in the first place. Instead, it was focused on the upside-down tower. "To think such lowly children could put up such a struggle and escape me. It's a disgrace that can no longer be justified. The situation must be rectified regardless of the resolver."

A ball of blue fire formed in the monster's hand and was subsequently launched at the upside-down tower. Jaune and Yang watched it cut through the sky with a fiery trail before impacting the tower with enough force that an Atlas airship would have been put to shame.

When Jaune had struck the tower, it had shaken and gave the toll of a gong. It was the same now except on an entirely different level. The tower swung like a pendulum and the sound that blasted him off his feet before was now so loud that it felt like it could shake the entire continent. It was definitely loud enough to send tremors throughout the entire city, but the worst was yet to come because the tower's toll was greeted with a response. Thousands of howls and otherworldly growls rose to meet the tower's toll, and it was then that Jaune came to a terrifying conclusion. Cryphilictal had been asleep until now, but the angel had just woken it up.

It was honestly hard to keep track of everything that happened after that. The crystals that had forever cast a soft blue glow from the cavern's roof flipped to a dark red. A flock of massive worm creatures took off from the other side of the city and began swimming through the air. A fountain of what looked like black smog erupted close to where the cathedral on the lake was located. Some of the crystals on the ceiling grew legs and started crawling around like spiders. Something else fell from the cavern's roof and exploded next to the upside-down tower. From a building across the street, a set of pupilless-white eyes gazed through the barred window before disappearing back into the darkness. Something that looked and sounded like television static appeared in the wasteland by the Fountain, and finally, the living stone that made up the vast majority of the city began to shift. It wasn't just that the city was waking up, but it was also transforming. The entire place started crumbling away like it had all just been an elaborate sandcastle, and now the stones had decided to begin building anew.

"We need to get out of here, now!" Jaune said.

Yang wasn't about to disagree and they began their final sprint. The one good thing about the city crumbling around them was they no longer had to navigate the twisting streets. The city had felt so massive when traveling through it like that, but the distance didn't seem nearly so great now that they could make a straight shot to the ramp that would lead them up and out of Cryphilictal. A few buildings that had yet to completely crumble did get in their way, but since subtly was no longer a priority, Yang just punched right through them.

That wasn't to say they didn't face any obstacles because they certainly did. Mostly in the form of some of the city's residents trying to kill them. The first one was a humanoid creature that looked to be entirely made out of arms and hands with two bows and four quivers filled with arrows. Obviously, it attempted to shoot Yang and Jaune with those arrows. Yang dodged the first one completely, but Jaune had to manifest his shield to protect against the second while making sure Emerald didn't fall off his back. The worrying part was the arrow managed to pierce right through the entirety of his shield. Luckily, the arrow was caught halfway down its shaft, so the tip never reached Jaune, but that it was able to penetrate his sturdy shield at all was terrifying. Neither Jaune and Yang had a lot of aura left, but even if it had been filled to the top, he wasn't sure it'd be able to fully protect against an attack like that. Thankfully, the creature didn't pursue them as they ran past.

Their next foe wasn't nearly as accommodating.

Tick, tick, tick, tick tick.

Jaune felt his blood run cold as one of those bird-like creatures ran out in front of them clearly to block their path. Short sword, talon gauntlet, golden pocket watch. It was so similar to the one that had cost him his tooth back at the tower that it could have been the same one. It wasn't but that didn't make it any less dangerous.

"Be careful," Jaune told Yang as they both got into a fighting stance. "That watch around its neck lets it go back in time by one second."

"Then I'll just beat it down in that one second."

They weren't looking for a fight. They were looking to escape. A prolonged battle was only to their disadvantage. The angel had fallen out of sight with all the chaos, but they didn't doubt that it was still hunting them. Any delays would just increase their chance of being caught which was why Yang rushed forward. An engagement the creature was happy to meet her in.

Jaune stayed behind. With Emerald on his back, he'd be much slower and more of a liability than an asset. Plus, he didn't want to risk Emerald's safety. That might have seemed cruel to Yang, but she was strong. While Jaune had nearly lost his life to one of these creatures, Yang was fighting on its level even though she had already been through the wringer.

It was impressive, but Jaune couldn't just stand there and admire the skills of a Beacon Huntress. Fighting on even footing didn't guarantee a victory, and it certainly wouldn't give them the swift victory they needed.

Jaune squatted down with a piece of chalk. With the way the ground was shifting around him, in the same way it had been around the Fountain, it would be impossible to draw something on it, but he did have the top of his boot. It wasn't a lot of area to work with. The etch would have to be small and simple. The exact opposite of what he had done to the angel but with the same thought process. What would give him the most lift for his lien?

He gazed up to see Yang dodge a talon swipe—TOCK—only to catch it on her hip as the attack snapped back in time. He had warned Yang about that very thing, but he couldn't really blame her for still being caught off guard. That golden pocket watch was the most dangerous thing about their foe.

The first time around, Jaune had beaten the creature by destroying the watch which caused it to explode. The thought of doing that again was tempting, but the target was so small and constantly moving with the fight. Etches just weren't really capable of hitting those kinds of targets since the area of their effect had to be decided beforehand. He had gotten lucky that the angel had stayed still while waiting for Emerald and Yang to emerge from the Fountain. He never could have landed such a precise attack otherwise. In an ever-changing battle, he needed to aim for something a little easier to hit.

On the other side of the spectrum, Yang was only thinking about how she could quickly dispatch this creature. She blocked its sword with the back of her gauntlet and used her other one to punch the creature in the face. Its beak cracked and bent under her fist which was satisfying but a single TOCK from the watch returned it back to normal making the strike a moot point.

"I could really use some assistance," she yelled back at Jaune who for some reason was crouched and staring very intently at his shoe.

"Just keep it in place for a few seconds," he responded.

Yang rolled her eyes. Easy for him to say when he wasn't the one fighting. Still, Yang dug her feet in and changed to a more defensive stance. As long as she held her ground the creature wouldn't move from its current spot.

She deflected a thrust from its sword, then deflected it again when it snapped back to its previous position and aimed for her head. Sadly, that left her open to an attack from its talons which she couldn't quite bring her arm back around to block. Her aura crackled from the impact but managed to hold. That's when the ground beneath the creature froze, encasing the creature's feet in ice.

Yang didn't let the opportunity pass. Activating her semblance she sent a straight towards the creature's chest. Since it couldn't move to dodge, it tried blocking with its talons, but the force of Yang's punch was too great. The ice around its feet shattered as the creature was sent flying off into the distance. It wasn't a killing blow, but it had put enough distance between them that Jaune and her could continue their run to freedom.

"Do you think we'll be able to outrun it?" Yang asked.

"Considering it's already closed about half the distance, I'm going to go with no."

"Seriously?" Yang looked behind her only to confirm that Jaune was right. "Then what are we going to do?" She didn't think she had it in her to go another round, but it turned out they didn't have to do anything.

Their pursuer was abruptly taken care of when one of those sky worms swooped down and just ate the creature whole. It was so sudden that neither of them had a proper reaction. Their assailant was just no more, and the worm just flew back up into the sky apparently satisfied with the meal it had gotten.

"Well, that was lucky," Yang said.

"Good, after everything we've gone through we deserve it."

Their luck only continued as they passed a bunch of different creatures and irregularities but they seemed much more interested in attacking each other than they did the three humans running by.

They made it to the cavern's wall without another incident. The ramp leading to their escape wasn't morphing like the rest of the city so it was an easy climb up. The same couldn't be said about the guardhouse they had used as their temporary lodging. It was completely gone and that included all the stuff they had kept inside. Thankfully, they hadn't left anything that important behind, except maybe their spare food, so it wasn't a huge loss.

They continued their ascent without break, and as they did, Jaune could see the foundations for what the new form of Cryphilictal would look like. While the previous iteration had looked like it could have theoretically been built by normal means, this new imagining consisted of cubic towers and sharp inclines. It was like it was made by a child stacking up blocks at random, but where a child's tower had to obey the laws of physics and would collapse when the stack became too unbalanced, these structures remained stable no matter their impossible architectural design. Only the upside-down tower remained the same.

Jaune tore his eyes away from the city and fixed them on the staircase at the top of the ramp. The way out was within reach. Just a little farther and they would be free.

Sadly, it was not meant to be. An air slash flew above their heads and hit the cavern's wall right above the staircase. Rocks caved in and piled up at the staircase's opening completely filling it in. Their one route of escape had been closed off.

The angel hovered behind them with a smirk on its face. There were no longer any signs of the infection with its wings looking as pristine and deadly as ever. "Pitiful children, you did well. Better than I would have ever expected. You escape certain death a number of times but no more."

The angel raised its wings preparing to end them once and for all. There was nowhere to run or hide on the cavern's ramp. There was nothing they could do. They were going to be hit by the full force of the angel's wings, and they were going to die because of it.

"Why are you doing this!" Yang yelled, taking a step forward. "We didn't do anything to you."

"Silly child, I seek to kill you in the same way the clouds seek to pour water down on Remnant. It's part of our nature and there is no changing it."

"We'll see about that!" Quickly, Yang grabbed one of Emerald's weapons and used the blade to chop off the remaining parts of her hair that fell below her shoulders. Golden locks scattered to the ground as Yang watched her precious hair fall away. It would probably take years for it to regrow to its former length. Anger welled up inside her and while that alone didn't necessarily fuel her semblance it sure as hell made it easier to use it at its full potential.

Yang's eyes burned red, then faster than Jaune could hope to follow, she leaped into the air, pushing off the ground so hard that it left a crater. She fired her gantlets behind her to gather even more speed while she flew through the air, and when she was within range she pulled her fist back ready to deliver perhaps the most powerful blow of her entire life—and then the angel swatted her away with its wing like she was nothing more than a pesky bug.

Jaune heard more than saw Yang crash back down to Remnant. The crater that Yang had left with her boots easily tripled in size when she hit the ground. That was closely followed by a horrific snapping sound and an agonizing scream of pain.

When the dust cleared, Jaune saw Yang clutching her right arm that was bent in the wrong direction. Yellow shards of metal also stuck out from her arm and side since her gauntlet had literally exploded from the angel's attack.

"Did you really think the same trick would work twice?" The angel taunted before turning towards the last human standing.

Jaune took a step back and manifested his sword despite knowing he couldn't do anything with it. He was out of time and out of ideas, and the monster knew that as well.

"Goodbye, Ceaseless Knight." A red and black swirl opened up next to Yang and Jaune was wondering why the angel was using a different attack than just flapping its wings. He was even more surprised when a person dressed in red and wearing a Grimm mask walked out from the swirl. Apparently, he wasn't the only one, though, as the angel and even the person that had come from the swirl seemed surprised by the situation.

The red-dressed person looked at Yang, groaning on the ground, then briefly at Jaune before snapping their attention back to the angel. "What are you?" a feminine voice asked.

"I am a guardian of this city, Flightless Poacher. But, to think you would be arriving so soon. This is truly unexpected, but it matters not. You shall die all the same." It swiped its wing and sent an air slash at the new arrival.

The woman in the Grimm mask unsheathed her sword but recognized that blocking an attack like that wouldn't be a great idea. Instead, she jumped up into the air which normally wouldn't have helped, but she didn't just jump; she flew. The slash of air flew under her, tearing up the cavern wall but doing no other harm, as she hovered on the angel's level. The woman used her sword to send her own ranged slash although this one came with electricity attached.

The angel block with one of its wings and the attack didn't leave a scratch, but even though that was the case, the angel's face contorted with rage. A far cry of the sadistic elegance it had displayed so far. "Why do you have some of his power?" it practically growled.

The angel swept its wing around in a wild arc sending an air blast stronger and faster than any it had sent before. The woman dodged it expertly as she flew back down and landed in the crater next to Yang. The two women regarded each other for a moment before the black-haired one picked Yang up and slashed the air with her sword. A tear exactly the same as the one the woman had come through opened up.

"Don't even try!" the angel yelled as its bent right wing burst into its many plates and rained down on the two women. The one who created the portal quickly created a dome of ice and rocks to protect them, but it was scant defense against the bombardment. The "feathers" tore through the dome like it was paper and the woman was forced to abandon her portal and evade all the plates until she ended up next to Jaune.

"Are you one of Yang's friends?" the woman asked as she dropped the girl in question on the ground like a sack of flour which caused her to emit a very painful sounding whimper. Jaune could only manage a nod having no idea what was going on and feeling more than a little uncomfortable with the mask-wearing woman so close. "Then I suggest you do something to buy me time so I can make us a portal back to the tribe."

The conversation ended there as the woman flew off again to avoid the plates that had come back around to impale her. It was mostly a blur to Jaune as the woman weaved around and deflected the deadly projectiles with skills that few, if any, could hope to match, but it was far from perfect. With hundreds of attacks being thrown at her from all angles there was no way she could hope to avoid them all, and every time one of the plates grazed her it took a huge chunk of aura away and ever attack the woman threw back proved to be ineffective as the angel just blocked it with the wing it had kept whole.

It might have been better than what he, Yang and Emerald could have done, but it was still a losing battle, one that the woman couldn't disengage from. She had probably known that the moment those plates rained down on her which was why she had asked for a distraction. Unfortunately, that was something Jaune didn't think he could provide her.

The angel was completely focused on the mysterious woman which was good because it meant none of those plates were being sent his way to finish him and the girls off, but bad because it meant the angel didn't see them as anything worth worrying about.

Jaune needed to become a threat to be a distraction, but he didn't see any way he could possibly do that. The angel was in the air and he lacked a ranged option. Taking one of Emerald's guns would be worthless as normal bullets did nothing against the monster, and an etch wouldn't work since the angel was moving around too much. Besides if it did sit still for some reason, he was sure it would notice his drawing and obliterate him long before he could finish.

Jaune ground his teeth. This mysterious woman had brought them a miracle for another chance at escape, yet he wasn't strong enough to grasp it. The limitations of his etches were coming back to bite him in the worst way. He needed something that could hit the angel and be strong enough to force a reaction.

His left arm itched.

He looked down and saw the silver lines running from his elbow to his wrist. He had completely forgotten about the tattoos he had gained after destroying the binder compass. When he had first seen them, he had assumed they had been the reason he survived the encounter. Perhaps that was wrong. His awakened semblance might have been the sole reason for his survival, but if that was the case, what were these lines?

They definitely seemed to be responding to his will in some way. He didn't know what that meant or what they could do, but he would take anything he could get, and hadn't Alice said that despite what it seemed, Cryphilictal was still designed to help people like him. It wasn't like he had anything to lose by trying.

He held his left arm out towards the angel with his fist clenched. He watched the woman in the mask be sent into a tailspin after being clipped by one of the plates. She managed to recover but only barely. Whatever Jaune hoped to do it would have to be now. He brought his will forward and commanded the silver lines to strike the angel.

It was shockingly easy.

Sure, it felt like a red-hot wire being ripped from his arm, but what came from it was a silver spear of light identical, except in color, to the one the binder compass had shot him with. Jaune's was no different as it launched itself at the winged monster.

Obviously, the angel noticed the glowing projectile speeding towards it, but instead of shrugging it off or ignoring it, for the first time, the angel looked worried. The armor plates flying through the air froze as the angel put all her focus into blocking the spear with her wing. There was a clash as sparks flew from the angel's wing while the spear continued to try and penetrate the barrier.

Eventually, the spear failed in its task and broke apart into little silver orbs before dissipating completely, but it had not been an empty attack. The part of the wing the spear had struck was charred black and dented in a way that Jaune would have never thought possible.

If the angel was mad before, it was absolutely seething now. "You insignificant worm. How dare you defile my wings for a second time. You will pay for this. Even your forefathers will hear your screams."

All the armor plates suddenly shifted in Jaune's direction ready to smite him. It should have been a death sentence, but Jaune had already survived quite a few of those by now. While he couldn't dodge, he could do something much better because while firing that spear may have removed one of the silver lines on his arm, he counted seven remaining.

Quickly, he sent his arm into agony by firing two more, one right after the other. He wasn't surprised when he found he could control both the spears by just thinking about where he wanted them to go. Oddly, they could only turn at 45-degree and 90-degree angles, but that wasn't much of a problem. He sent them to either side of the angel which forced it to recall all its floating plates to reform its other wing and block both the spears. He probably could have hit the angel directly with a third, but his arm felt like he had shoved it into an oven for hours.

Besides, while all this had been going on, the woman in the Grimm mask had landed next to them and cut another portal into the air before grabbing Yang.

"Noooo!" the angel roared, batting the spears away. "No one escapes from me!"

"There's a first time for everything," Jaune mocked.

He followed the woman through the portal just as the world exploded behind him.

They popped out into a large tent which was pretty luxuriously decorated considering what it was. The woman in the Grimm masked tossed Yang onto a plush bed while she went to go talk to a girl with short hair that was watching them from the sidelines.

Jaune limped his way to Yang. "You okay?"

Yang kept a hold of her broken arm as she tried not to let the pain show. It wasn't very convincing. "It hurts like you wouldn't believe, so bad I feel like I'm going to pass out, but I'll live. The important thing is that we got it." She gestured to the water bottle shoved deep inside her pocket filled with water from the Fountain of Life. They had done it. "I can't believe we made it out."

Honestly, Jaune couldn't either, but now that the immediate threat had passed, he could feel the adrenaline abandoning his body and his wounds coming in to replace it. His head creaked, his legs felt like jelly, his left arm was on fire, and Emerald seemed to have gained a few hundred pounds while he had been carrying her. He couldn't just put her down though. As much as he was thankful for being saved, the fact was, he had no idea who this woman was or where they were. They might have only traded one danger for another.

"Do you know who that woman is?" Jaune asked.

Yang looked at the woman with an icy glare. "I might have an idea."

Before Jaune could ask anything else they were interrupted. "You want me to leave?" The short-haired girl said from the other side of the tent.

"Yes, or do you believe I am incapable of handling myself without your protection, Vernal?"

"No madam."

The girl took her leave from the tent. Once it was just them, the woman took off her mask and any further questions about Yang's relationship to her were no longer needed. The family traits were as clear as day; they could have been twins.

But even that wasn't the most striking observation because once she took off the mask all vestige of a person calm and in control disappeared. The woman underneath the mask was wide-eyed and shaking, almost on the verge of hyperventilating.

"What the fuck was that!" she demanded.

"Nice to see you too, Raven."

"Don't start with me. What the hell were you doing?"

"Why do you even care? It's not like you've ever cared about me before?" Yang bit back with venom on her tongue.

"I care because it almost got me killed!"

"Then why did you show up?"

Raven held a hand to her chest like she was offended. "I was doing you a kindness as your mother. I thought you would be a little more grateful."

Jaune knew he was caught between something he had no right to be in, but shying away wasn't an option. Unless he wanted this mother-daughter bonding to come to blows, he had to intervene. "Yang the mission." He stared at the water bottle.

Yang stared at it too and that seemed to calm her down at least a little. "I've spent so long looking for you and I have so much I want to tell you, but I don't give a damn about any of that right now. I need to get back to Ruby."

"I hope you're not planning on getting back to her too soon," Raven smirked. "It's a long way to Beacon from the Mistral wilderness."

Yang didn't seem too worried. "Uncle Qrow told me about your semblance. I know you can create a portal to him or dad for us."

"Why would I do that? I already helped you once and once was enough."

"Because if you don't my friends and I will be forced to hang around here while we heal." She held up her broken arm for added effect. "I don't think you'd be happy with us cramping your style."

"I could just force you to leave or even kill you," Raven threatened.

Yang's eyes narrowed. "Just try it."

The two glared at each other neither backing down for the longest time until Raven finally decided it wasn't worth the effort. "Fine," she swiftly cut open another portal, "get out of here before I change my mind."

Yang got off the bed and approached the red and black tear without a word and Jaune quickly followed in behind.

They stepped out into the Beacon infirmary. It was dark and quiet which was to be expected since the clock on the wall told the time at just a little after 3:00 A.M. Ruby lay motionless in her hospital bed, but she did not look well. Skinnier and paler than Yang had ever seen her. She rushed to her side bumping into something on the way and sending it crashing to the floor.

The noise startled Uncle Qrow who had been sleeping in a chair next to the wall. He reached for his weapon that wasn't by his side, fell off the chair in the process, caught himself, but still fell on his side when his hand slipped on the smooth floor.

"Yang! Where have you be—what happened to your arm!" Qrow was out of it which was understandable given this was the first time he had seen Yang in a week and she looked like she had just come back from hell. It didn't help that a strange shirtless kid was standing next to her who was carrying another kid on his back.

Where do you even begin with that?

Thankfully, Yang took direction before he could say anything. "Uncle Qrow, I promise I'll explain later, but right now you need to go get the doctor. I have a way to help Ruby."

Qrow wasn't sure he heard that right. How could Yang have a cure for Ruby? It didn't matter even if that wasn't true, Yang definitely needed someone to look at her arm. "Yeah, I'll go wake him." Qrow stumbled to the door, basically crashing into it before getting it open.

Yang sighed as she knelt down by her sister's side. "You're sure this water will help her?" Yang asked Jaune.

"Nothing is certain but I believe it will."

"Then I'll just have to believe too." She stood back up to look him in the eyes. "Thank you for everything. If it wasn't for you," tears were starting to form in her eyes, "I don't know what would have happened to her."

"You're welcome, but right now I need to get Emerald and me to a hospital." He looked to the girl resting on his back. "I'm worried about her."

"Wouldn't it be better to get her help here then?"

Jaune shook his head. "We aren't part of Beacon, and even if they did take care of us there'd be a lot of questions. Questions we can't really answer. It'd be better if we left before anyone else notices we're here."

"Are you sure you're going to be okay? You need a bullhead to get to Vale and none of the school ones are going to be running this early."

"Stuff like that isn't a problem. I just need to call Whitley and I'll even get to choose what color of bullhead I want."

"I guess that's true. Just be sure to stay safe. After everything that happened, it would be tragic for you to stub your toe and die now."

Jaune laughed. "I'll make it a priority. I'll make sure to contact you later. Make sure everything went alright."

"See you around."

Jaune exited the Beacon infirmary and navigated the unfamiliar Beacon halls and realized too late that he really should have asked Yang for directions, but before he got too lost he ran into a very unexpected person.

If Jaune was asked to describe Sulfur's appearance, it would be tired but satisfied. The two boys locked eyes for a moment before Sulfur straightened his back and smiled. All the weariness seemed to wash away from him the moment he did. "What do you know if it isn't Jaune and Emerald. What brings the two of you to Beacon?" He acted like it wasn't strange at all that Jaune was so clearly injured or that he was carrying Emerald.

"We were just here to deliver something to a friend. We're actually leaving right now." It was the most obvious deflection in the world, yet for some reason, Sulfur didn't call him out on it.

"I see. Well, if you keep going straight then take a right that will lead you outside."

"Thanks," Jaune said, but as he walked past Sulfur he noticed he was holding something in his hand. It was crumpled up and even seemed like he might be trying to hide it from him, but it was just a little too big to be entirely concealed but his hand. To Jaune, it looked like a black ribbon and worse it seemed to be stained with blood. In fact, now that Jaune really looked at Sulfur he realized he wasn't in pajamas or his school uniform. He was wearing the same combat attire he had been wearing when they met at Forever Fall. He even had his weapons at his sides.

"By the way, what are you doing up so late?" Jaune asked.

Sulfur turned back to face him and suddenly Jaune felt a profound wrongness in the way he was smiling. "Jaune, I didn't question you, so I would appreciate the same courtesy." The temperature in the room shifted. Jaune knew something was wrong, but he couldn't afford to get into any kind of confrontation at the moment, so he let it drop.

It probably wasn't something he needed to worry about anyway.

Emerald's eyes slowly opened having to adjust to the bright sunlight that was assaulting them. The place she was in was very white. If it wasn't for the soft cushion under her head and the pounding in her skull she might have believed she had died.

She wasn't, though, and that meant she must have been alive. Groggily she made the attempt to sit up. It took her a good couple of minutes but she managed to do it. By that time, she had come to realize she was in a hospital. She looked at her mangled hand to see tight bandages wrapped around her missing fingers.

"You're awake," Jaune said as Emerald swiveled her head to find him sitting in his own bed. His own bandages were wrapped around him like a mummy. He also had a comic book on his lap which he had obviously been reading.

"Does this mean we made it out of Cryphilictal?" She wasn't quite ready to believe it yet.

"Yeah we did—all of us did. I'll give you the finer details if you want, but we're finally safe."

Hearing those words was enough for Emerald to sink back down into her bed. It was finally over. "That's good to hear."

"Yeah, it is," Jaune repeated as he stared emptily at his bedsheets. "I owe you an apology," he said after a while.

"What for?"

"For everything. You didn't want to go to Cryphilictal at all and I forced you. You were right. I was just looking for a way to atone after what happened at Mt. Glenn and ran headfirst into a dangerous mission like a complete idiot and it almost got you—all of us—killed. I'm sorry."

Emerald's hand ached. "It's okay as long as you understand."

"It's not! You were the one that suffered the most. You lost your fingers and it's all my fault."

Jaune was being crushed by guilt. It was exactly the same as what happened after the breach. She couldn't let him go through this again even if it was somewhat deserved. "I might not have agreed with this plan in the beginning, but it worked out in the end and you can't argue with results. We survived and all things considered, Cryphilictal wasn't that bad."

Jaune smirked. "Even I know that's a lie. Cryphilictal was awful. We were only down there for a few hours and look what happened to us." Jaune motioned to the large scar on his side that was currently covered by bandages. "And what do we have to show for it: a bottle of water and a mask. Not exactly great treasure. Also, you weren't awake for this but turns out, the city was basically in hibernation while we were walking around. We got lucky and caught every break, yet we still barely managed to survive. If I hadn't been so stupid, none of this would have happened."

"You're right none of this would have happened if we didn't go to Cryphilictal. Ruby would have never gotten the help she needed and Yang would have gone insane. Yes, things could have gone better, but we're not talking about what could have happened, we're talking about what did. What did happen was you got Ruby her cure and we all got out alive, so stop acting like a depressed loser. It doesn't suit you at all."

Jaune couldn't help but crack a smile. "You really lay it on thick don't you?"

"Are you just now realizing this?"

"No, I've known it for a long time. It's what of the reasons…" Jaune paused before adopting a very serious look. "Actually, I have another confession to make."

Emerald raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"I…" another pause. "I have feelings for you. I don't know if it's love, but I know I definitely want to be more than friends. I know it's sudden and that this might not be the best time for it, but if I kept it in any longer I would regret it forever."

Emerald had to turn away less Jaune see how happy those words made her. It was completely unbefitting of her character. Instead, she responded with as steady of a voice as possible. "I'm glad to hear it because while I don't want you to be all gloomy, it's undeniable you put me through a lot. I was already going to make you pay me back for everything, but if you're going to act as my boyfriend you're going to have to work double as hard. So, you better be serious about this." The last sentence almost came out as pleading and she hated herself for it.

"I promise I am." Jaune smiled.

"Good."

Memories from the past, the other lonely girl

The angelic being was created to guard the maiden Salem. She was the strongest golem created for this purpose and thus resided on the second-highest floor where only Salem's chamber lay above.

Many knights and heroes came to Salem's rescues, but the angel met none. They were all cut down long before reaching her level. She had on many occasions tried to talk and even befriend Salem but was rejected every time. Salem wanted freedom and she saw the angel as the one keeping it locked away from her. What Salem did not know was that the angel was just as much a prisoner of this tower as her. She did not wish to keep Salem captive nor did she wish to kill any human that came to rescue her, but it did not matter what she wished for. Choice was a power granted by the Gods to humans alone. She was created to guard Salem and so guard Salem she must.

Thus the angel waited and waited. Until one day a human finally climbed all the way to her floor.

"Have you come for Salem?"

"I have. Shall you stand in my way?"

"I shall for I must, but if you take your leave you may be spared my judgment."

"That I cannot do."

The battle was vicious and went on from sunset to sunrise, but at the end of it all the angel laid defeated. One of her precious wings snapped, never to recover. The one thing she had been created for she had failed, but it did not fill her with sadness. Instead, it filled her with hope that things could be different.

The hero Ozma came back down to her level with the maiden Salem in tow. "Dear Hero, shall you hear my request and take me with you. I too wish to escape my confines, be them physical or contractual. Shall you be so kind as to grant me a new beginning?

Ozma looked down at her considering his options, but slowly he reached out his hand only for Salem to pull it back in. "Do not believe this devil. It has kept me in this tower for my entire life and now it seeks to trick you so it can retain its hold on me."

Ozma did not fight the words of his princess and thus the two left the angel alone in the tower.

Much time went by and although there was still a lonely girl trapped in the tower no knights nor heroes came to free her as so many had done for Salem. The tower decayed and the world forgot of its existence, yet the angel remained hoping that one day things might be different.

That day did arrive but it was not humans that offered her a way out. It was a place. A place that reached out to her with a new contract. To become its guardian. The lonely girl accepted because there was no real choice. That was only bestowed to humans.

So, the angel with the broken wing exchanged imprisonment within a tower to imprisonment within a city.

A city known as Cryphilictal.

An: This concludes the Cryphilictal arc. It has been a very long journey but a rewarding one that I hoped you all have enjoyed. Looking at my story outline in terms of arcs this is the halfway point in the story, but since this arc is the longest by far, I suspect we're probably closer to 65% done possibly even 70%.

As for why this chapter took the better part of two months to come out, there are two main reasons. I got a full-time marketing internship this summer, so if anyone is in the Kansas City area and looking to strike a deal with Dunkin Donuts, let me know. Obviously, that cut into my writing time, but the other reason is that most of the fight with the angel was rewritten. In my outline I just had the characters get to the Fountain where they fight the angel until she eventually rings the tower, then Raven comes in to save them after the exit is collapsed. The problem was I never planned out exactly how that fight was going to happen only that there was one.

The first draft was basically a cat-and-mouse game through the city between the two groups, but for that to happen and to keep the angel as strong as I made it seem, I had to keep letting Jaune and friends get away because the angel was letting them go or constantly making critical mistakes for some inexplicable reason. (And I do mean inexplicable because I never came up with one.) About halfway through I was pretty disgusted by it. I still thought about finishing it out since it would have meant that the chapter got to come out earlier, but as I pushed forward I realized that if I posted a chapter of that quality, especially the finale of the arc, I would never forgive myself.

I'm still not completely happy with how the fight ended up, but it's miles ahead of where it was, and I feel keeps with how I set everything up in terms of power and personality. You can all let me know what you think in the reviews. I'm definitely excited to read them.

Finally, a note on Blake's fate. There seems to be very split opinions on the ending of the last chapter as I knew there would be. Doing something like that to a main character will always be controversial (a few even dropped this story specifically because of it), and while I definitely don't regret this decision, I think I made a mistake by including it at the end of the last chapter instead of at the start or in the middle of this one. A lot of reviewers criticized the scene for being unnecessary, and being placed where it was, I understand where they're coming from and even agree with them. The scene lacked payoff. Payoff that is only being hinted at in this chapter and won't take full root for a little while longer. I think it was even further compounded by the fact that probably no one realized just how close the arc was to its conclusion which is completely fair because without Raven to teleport the characters around, taking them from the center of Cryphilictal all the way back to Beacon in one chapter sounds completely insane. Obviously, I don't want to speak too much about my plans for the future, but let's just say the princess of Menagerie will not be so easily forgotten.