3rd POV:
Medusa was relaxing in her dorm room, reading a book and having a cup of coffee beside her. She returned earlier then usual from supervising team JNPR in their mission, now all she had to do was to wait for Duncan to return from his mission
At that moment her phone started to ring. Unlike the others who had scrolls, Duncan and Medusa chose to keep their phones from their world, too much hassle. Now when she looked at the notification she received her eyes widened. Quickly putting her book aside, she materialised her servant outfit and made a run for it towards the bullhead.
There she was met with team JNPR who was going in the same direction.
Pyrrha: "Proff. Medusa? What's the hurry?"
Medusa: "Emergency. Grimms have invaded a nearby city, team RWBY and Duncan are there too keep them busy until we arrive."
Suddenly the earth started to shake.
Jaune: "Huh?! GUYS WHAT'S GOING ON?!"
Nora: "THE BETTER QUESTION IS WHAT IS THAT?!"
Everyone looked where Nora was pointing and saw a giant blast of red energy going towards the still visible shattered moon.
*BOOM*
All of them covered their eyes when a bright light almost blinded them. As the light faded they could finally see, horror was written on the faces of some when they saw...
... another hole in the moon...
Ren: "T-t-this... has to be... a nightmare..."
He was answered by a deafening roar in the distance.
???: "RRRRRUUUUUAAAAGGGGGGGHHHJHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."
Seeing this Medusa took the lead, having a vague idea of who the roar belonged to.
Medusa: "C-come on, let's get a move on."
Meanwhile.
Back with Team RWBY and the Grimm invasion.
They couldn't believe what stood before them. A leather clad skeleton bathed in flames and with horns, for them The Devil stood before them.
Yet to their horror the blazing skull individual only let out another roar as he charged a blast between his horns.
Kicking the ground and taking his position the blazing skull beast aimed towards the still visible shattered moon.
???: "Get... the hell... out of my HEAD!"
A bright light blinded every living being in the vecinity, the ground melted under the feet of the blazing skull beast and shockwaves were created from releasing the blast.
As the light faded they could see the damage that the blast created, some Grimms were obliterated out of existence, yet the most disturbing thing was the moon who had another hole in it.
Yang: "W-w-we need to get the hell out of here. RIGHT NOW!"
Not waiting any longer the team quickly lifted themselvs from the ground and started to run, yet, some grunts made them stop.
Looking back they could see the blazing skull figure giving himself one powerful punch right in the middle of his skull.
They heard a loud crack from the skull, as the figure grabbed his horns and ripped them off.
The figure bursted in another pillar of flames and from there emerged another kind of beast. He wore a black body suit, his skull adorned by spikes in form of a crown and a pair of Devil horns.
The blazing skull figure only turned around towards team RWBY, his aura was calm yet fearsome, demanding respect with every breath, like a king. Unlike the previous form who looked nothing more like an animal who would lash out at any sign of hostility.
???: "Sorry for that, you kids just stay put... i will finish this in an instant."
Ruby: "P-proff... Duncan...?"
Duncan: "The one and only."
Duncan took a good look around him and saw the Grimms mantaining their distance. He was drawing power from Hell Dimension now, this would be only a warm up.
Duncan: 'Hey Z, is it safe?'
Zarathos: 'Yeah... that last blast cleared all the remnants of that Hollow's power.'
Duncan let out a chuckle, he extended his hands ingulfing them in flames, letting out another howl, another Ghost Riders appeared alongside him yet they were in the King form of Duncan. He created clones out of hellfire.
Duncan: "As an old friend from Tokyo says...No blood! No bone! No ash!... None shall remain when i'm done with you!"
Meanwhile.
Medusa suddenly jolted from her seat, she felt Duncan's magic returning to normal, yet as normal for him was.
Their bullhead came to a stop, opening the door they saw an army of clones hunting the Grimms.
Ren: "W-what's going on?"
Of course Medusa had to think of a way to explain things without saying too much.
Medusa: "That's Duncan, or better said his semmblance."
Pyrrha: "You are saying, that Proff. Duncan was that creature from the dance night? He looks... different..."
Medusa: "But of course, he developed it to a point where he's power stands in another plane of existence."
As they dropped from the bullhead, one of the Ghost Riders turned their skull towards Medusa, he then made his way towards her. That was the original Duncan.
Duncan: "... soooo... sorry for making you worry?"
Medusa: "We will talk later, but now... what is this?"
Duncan: "A trick i learned a while back, clones, but they are not as strong as the original, they go kamikaze the moment they are fatally wounded."
They all looked around and saw that most of the Grimms eliminated, well most because some of the clones started to play football using some behemoth like Grimms as a ball, in one place we could see a clone lifting a giant elephant Grimm with one arm before throwing it towards another clone who had a bat made of hellfire, as the Grimm got close enought the clone hit it with the bat launching it in the orbit.
Duncan: "Yeahhhh.... everything seems fine..."
Medusa: "Also is that your...?"
Duncan looked where Medusa was looking and saw another hole in the moon.
Duncan: "I needed to get rid of some chaotic energy, now i'm back connected to the Hell Dimension, so it's all good."
Medusa: "That is good, now i believe we need to return to Beacon, all of the Grimm are already gone."
Duncan took a look around and saw most of the students already going back in their bullheads, thanks to Medusa saying that THIS is Duncan's semblance in a more destructive fashion, questioning was out of the way.
Duncan changed back into his human form as he started to make his way towards a bullhead. His phone started to ring making him stop in his tracks.
He looked at the name displayed and sighed expecting some sort of news from his caller.
Duncan: "So, Gabriel? What you got?"
...
Gabriel: "Summer Rose... she is not here... that leaves two options, either she is alive or someone strong enough to took out her soul from the road into afterlife."
Duncan: "Most likely she is alive, there are no such beings in the world of Remnant."
Gabriel: "Then all you have to do is to find her... good luck."
And so the call ended, Duncan didn't looked either sad nor happy, but if Summer is alive... where is she?
Duncan: "Yare, yare..."
Zarathos: '... daze.'
TIMESKIP
Duncan's POV:
Well at least we got some good news... sort of.
Zarathos: 'It is indeed troubleling to say the least, searching for Summer that is...'
Anyway i revved up the engine in order to gain more speed, my current location? Some sort of forest... close to the island of Patch, i told her that we are gonna have a talk and we gonna have one. After all this years she turns out to be just a deadbeat mother.
Huh... okay...
I revved up the engine once more letting flames to consume the bike and there it stood the Hell verion of it.
Gaining even more speed i found myself in front of some camp? Yes... this is the Branwen tribe... it reeks of sin, showers and bathes in it.
Zarathos: 'The scent... it makes me... HUNGRRYYYYYYY!'
I inhaled and exhaled trying to get a hold of myself. I'm here to talk not to cause chaos... well not yet anyway.
I dismounted the bike and started to make my way towards the gates, but from the bushes emerged some tribe members.
Duncan: "I'm here to speak with Raven, let me through and you will live."
They just laughed among themselves... idiots.
The first one that got too close i grabbed him by the neck and threw him over the gates, good, looks like now they took my threat seriously.
But before i could make another move, someone stepped forward, looks like she is higher in the hierarchy in this place.
Zarathos: 'Does that even exist in this dump? Asking for a friend.'
No clue, but let's see what they got to say.
???: "You must be very brave or very stupid to come to us like this, the only way to get out of here is in a body bag."
Zarathos: 'Is... she serious...?'
Duncan: *sigh* "Just... tell Raven that the Mad Wolf is waiting..."
???: "You are in no position to make demands, get him boys! And take that bike for spare parts
...
Duncan/Zarathos: "Did someone say... DEATH!"
I wasted no time and dashed towards her followed by a spartan kick that launched her through the gates.
Nobody... touches... the... BIKE!
Zarathos: 'I just customized it... the nerve of some people!'
Good, looks like they are on alert, let's get this show on the road. Fuck diplomacy! They surrounded me. heh.
...
???: "HALT! That is enough!"
And the deadbeat shows herself, this time without the mask.
At her command all the tribesman put their weapons down.
Zarathos: 'Partner... she reeks of magic... akin to Amber's.'
Meaning she is a Maiden?
Zarathos: 'Pffft! She is anything but a maiden!'
Well i'll be damned, who knew that the Mad Angel can throw shades?
Raven: "Duncan... it's good to see you again."
Duncan: "I wish i could say the same Raven, so this is it? Huh? Your home away from home?"
The girl that i kicked through the gates started to lift herself from the ground having a scornful gaze.
???: "Y-y-you... are not welcomed... here."
Duncan: "Pity, i was starting to enjoy the atmosphere."
Raven: "Vernal, that is enough, he is someone that you don't want to anger, Duncan and i will discuss in my tent."
The one known as Vernal, begrudginly obeyed. I followed Raven until we reached a tent bigger then the rest as we entered we sat at a table in the middle of the... room? Hard to tell.
Raven: "Tea?"
Duncan: "... sure, why not?"
As she started pouring the tea in the cups i could see her hands trembling, it seems that i left a strong impression back in the train.
Raven: "After... a-all these years, why return?"
Duncan: "Who knows, after... Hell... i wanted to see some old friends only to find everything in ruin... guess we are both dissapointed."
Raven: "So what now, act as a teacher for Ozpin? This won't end well, he can't even defeat HER! After all this time he still can't do anything but buy time until she arrives."
Oh poor Raven... Salem is the least of our worries, but i will stay quiet for now.
Duncan: "Hehe, let him buy time, Salem will get her penance by my hands, now let's leave those aside... how's the family? Heard you and Tay have a daughter... Yang to be more precise."
...
She chose to silence as her answer.
Duncan: "I heard about you abandoning her... what's all this about? This isn't like you."
Raven: "... i made the choice so stay with my true family, this is my place."
Duncan: "So this is it?! Huh! This place filled with murderers and thieves is what you call family? This IS YOUR DAUGHTER! And you left her just like that!?"
Raven: "You have no right to judge me after missing for all these years! You don't understand what is like to be a parent!"
Duncan: "Maybe in your case since you haven't been around for your own daughter, but i will rather die than abandon my own daughters like a coward."
Raven: "Wait? Are you saying that you--"
Duncan: "Yes, i'm a father of quite a few daughters back home, and i plan on being by their side until by body turns to ashes. So don't go saying that i don't understand just like that... you have no idea what i've been through while i was away..."
Ugh. This was a waste of time. I left her while she had her head down shame.
Passing by the tribesman who looked ready for battle, i glared at them with hellish red eyes making them back down.
Arriving at my bike i hopped on and turned on the engine. I started to ride back to Beacon, as far away as i can from this place.
Zarathos: 'Partner, i think i need not to say it, but, she killed the Spring Maiden.'
Another sin to the pile, great... This day can't get any worse.
???: "... Rider."
Huh?!
Zarathos: 'Huh?!'
The voice made me bull the brakes, making me fly from the seat of the bike and falling into the ground. I slowly lifted myself from the ground... that hurt.
That... voice... it feels familiar.
Looking around i tried to see if anyone is around, but... nothing.
But i don't need eyes to sense their pressence. And i cannot tell if it's angelic... or tainted...
???: "There's nowhere you can hide Rider."
No... no... no... I-i'm really losing it now?!
Zarathos: 'No... partner... i can hear her too... but she sounds... empty... dead...'
???: "Here you are... pretending to be everything you are not..."
I tried to cover my ears to silence her, she is just inside my head! Snap out of it! Vengeance killed her years ago! SO WHY NOW?!
???: "... teacher... husband... father... But there's one unavoidable truth you will never escape. You will always be... a monster..."
At last she showed herself...
...i know that i cannot save everyone but... knowing i couldn't save YOU... shattered by soul...
...
...
...
...
... Laila...
Zarathos: '... Sister...? That scent... belongs to necromancy...'
I tried to use my "eyes" to see if it's an illusion of some sorts, but what Zarathos said it is true... she is there... before us...
Laila: "Your end is near... of the both of you... brother."
And just like that in a flash she disappeared leaving only a trail of silver feathers...
This chapter's meme: