The Onyx Phantom
The white haired, privileged boy waltzes through the halls of his home. Hands crossed behind his back as he walks, passing by staff members who serve them. His mother still drinking in the garden over the potential loss of her two daughters after what happened at Mistral. But when he walks, he pauses in his tracks when he approaches a room. There is a gentle tune of a musical box style object inside the room. It sounds like twinkle, twinkle little star. He peers inside and sees who is inside.
The dark armoured person looks down at a necklace which is open, allowing this beautiful tune to play to her. The black hood conceals her identity, but tears have formed in her glowing orange eyes as she sits there, looking down at the necklace. There is a photograph of a man inside, but before Whitley can get close enough to see what it is. She slams the necklace shut, the tune coming to a close. On the table is the mouth guard and she puts it back on, her breath emerging from the voice changer. She immediately puts the necklace on around her neck once more and stands up to face the boy. It's the Onyx Phantom, and he feels incredibly threatened by her presence. Tears still dripping from her eyes, rolling down her cheeks and Whitley feels like she may need help. "Are you okay?" Whitley asks her. As always, she says absolutely nothing, she just looks away and walks straight past him, her fist clenched with fury now in her eyes. While Whitley stands there, he hears the heavy footfalls of metal boots. His eyes turn when he sees the tall, terrifying, metal chassis of Death as he walks down the hallways with the Onyx Phantom. His red eyes stare straight at him and Death creates a scoff as he walks on, leaving him behind as a black portal forms before him, opening it and they both enter it, the portal closes behind them both.
And they vanished.
Without a trace.
Whitley remains where he saw her, and the piano is beside her. The tune of the necklace still echoing in his mind as he thinks about it.
Whoever the Onyx Phantom is...
She has lost someone very dear to her.
And seeks vengeance.
The portal opens in Salem's Sanctuary, the Knight of Death walking past her. Cinder is sat at the table with Mercury and Emerald by both of her shoulders. She looks down at the thick table top before her, her eyes barely open as she looks away from Loss who is stood in the corner with her Bow in her hand. Her blue eyes glowing bright. Fury and Fear are elsewhere. Salem stands up from her throne as she sees Death enter with the Onyx Phantom. Hazel stands inside with Tyrian. Tyrian has bloodied knuckles and faint stains of blood on his blades, a smirk on his face and a couple scratches on his face. Ruby didn't let him torture her without a fight. But it seems like he won...god knows what he did to her. The Onyx Phantom stands there and Death walks towards Salem as she approaches him. "Our collaborators are doing their jobs?" Salem requests, stopping in front of the Knight of Death. Death nods as he presses the blade of Ferrum Arctus into the floor.
"Yes. Jacques Schnee is using his funds to help Doctor Merlot and the Acolytes of Lien, along with taking control of Atlas. Their Headmaster is currently in a prison." Death reports to her, and that is why he was there.
"Did you get any information of the whereabouts of the girl's friends?" Salem asks. Death looks at the Onyx Phantom and she walks towards Salem, placing a device down on the floor. It shows a map of Remnant, holographically projected from its metallic body as it sits on the floor. The holographic projection of remnant flashes a red beacon on the desert location that they have just teleported to. Somehow somebody at Atlas is getting information from them, perhaps there is a spy amongst Raven's group that is feeding information over to Atlas. A menacing smirk forms on her face as she stands there, her eyes glow bright red when she sees the location. She then looks at Hazel and Cinder. "Hazel, Cinder, Mercury and Emerald. Find them and take care of them." Salem orders. Hazel looks at Cinder and she looks at him. She stands up from her seat and nods to Salem. Loss waves her hand to create a black portal, the Knight Portal. An ability that they all share. The darkness swirls before the four of them. Emerald picks up her weapons, swinging them around by the chains as she walks and Mercury cracks his neck to get back into the fight. Cinder walks over and Hazel just walks up to the portal, stepping in first.
The Onyx Phantom watches as they enter and her eyes narrow as she watches.
But now the four people who are potentially friends to the two prisoners are now gone.
Which is not good for Ruby and Oscar.
Yang
The desert outside of Mistral is hot, but is nothing in comparison to Vacuo. Mirages ripple before them as they take their first steps from the red portal that they exit. Yang's boots sink through the sun-baked sand. Lizards scuttle across the desert floor. Yang's eyes look around the area and she turns to Kassius who is beside her. His Stetson protects his eyes from the harsh glow from the sun in the sky. Sun himself walks over and he stretches his arms. "Oh how I miss the hot air!" He jokingly says, holding Ruyi Jingu Bang, still holding up the side of who he is to hide the pain that he is suffering from. When they look around the desert, they all hear Nora emerging just as the portal collapses.
"...return." She finishes, and she looks confused since they clearly did not hear the end of her sentence on the other side of the portal.
"Was there a problem going through forwards?" Sun asks curiously.
"Is there a problem with minding your own business?" Ren asks rather sharply. Sun immediately apologises.
"Fair enough." He agrees with his hands held above his head. They all look around and Blake squints her eyes to see if there is anything out here.
"I dunno about you...but I can't see any village nearby." Blake says to them all. Qrow walks past them and he starts to make his way up one of the dunes. He holds his sword on his shoulder as he walks, and his movement urges Winter and Yang to follow him. The Schnee Woman does feel out of place, being in a desert, and she is already starting to sweat from the hot air. Far more extreme than anything they experience back at Atlas or even Mistral.
"She sent the portal to the closest and safest area of entry. Remember, the White Fang are on edge." Qrow points out as he makes his way up the dune. He stands tall, his tattered red cape blowing in the warm wind as he looks out, and not far is the location that they were speaking of. Winter exhales as she looks at it, Yang with her as well when she catches up.
"Is that the place?" Winter asks. Yang reaches into her jacket, before she left Taiyang to find Ruby, she did pack some essentials. Most have been lost, along with Bumblebee which is probably still stuck there with Kassius' motorcycle. But she did bring some binoculars with her. She fits them before her eyes to look around and she mumbles to herself as she looks around. She is checking for anything, mostly any signs of life or if the Grimm have already destroyed this place. However, the buildings are scatheless and there are White Fang soldiers patrolling the catwalks with Designated Marksman Rifles ready in their hands, still wearing the Grimm-Styled Masks. Yang lowers the Binoculars after her little analysis of the town.
"It's intact." Yang tells them both. Winter and Qrow look at her when she reports it.
"Are the White Fang still there?" Winter asks.
"Yep." Yang answers. "Still walking around like nothing is happening. We are here in time." She says.
Until there is a distant boom upon the town. The three of them sharply turn when they hear it, and Yang lifts the Binoculars back up to see what made that sound. Something attacked one of the entrances and the alarms are going off, the soldiers are heading to where it came from. Could be Grimm, but it could also be the Acolytes of Lien. "Jinxed it." Yang huffs as she puts the Binoculars back in her breast pocket. Yang turns to Blake, Sun, Nora, Ren and Kassius who are down there. "It's just started getting attacked, come on!" Yang calls as she jumps off the dune, sliding down it before Qrow or Winter do. Nora leaps past them with enthusiastic energy in her body as she slides down behind the blonde.
"Yippee!" She squeaks, zooming down the and. Winter looks at Qrow with a surprised expression as the younger ones dart past them.
"Are they always like this?" Winter asks. Qrow sighs.
"Pretty much." Qrow answers. Qrow takes a step back and then he follows them, sliding down the dunes and finally Winter goes with them. The team arrive together at the base of the Dunes, and they begin their approach on the town. There are soldiers at the gate, holding their weapons up when they see them coming. One shouts at them.
"Stay back!" The White Fang Member yells, and Yang stops first with Blake beside her.
"We're not here to fight!" Blake shouts back to try and gain their trust.
"You're gonna wake them up!" He says.
And on cue, suddenly a massive pincer erupts from the sand, grabbing the soldier and throwing him across the sky. He screams in terror as he flies into the sky and crashes onto the ground with force. The soldier is dragged into the sand, screaming in terror as he is consumed by the sand. Yang and Blake at the sand nervously as they feel deep vibrations moving around from underneath them. A pincer bursts from the sand, snapping at her and another at Blake. That's when the sand erupts like a mine has exploded from underneath them. Blake and Yang retreat when they see the huge arched barbed tail rising from the sand, the beast emerging with eight sharp feet. Armoured bone exoskeleton armour around its body. Ten glowing red eyes fixing with them as its sharp feet stab into the soil as it turns around to face them with a loud roar, snapping the pincers at them. The stinger glows bright gold, aimed straight at them. A Deathstalker, and it's a big one. Along with it, two more rise from the sand, jumping out with their weapons at the ready. Qrow groans. "We just had to jinx it, didn't we" He sighs.
The Greater Deathstalker roars at them, its mandibles flaring out at them all. "Let's kick it's butt!" Yang cheers as she fires Ember Celica straight at the huge Grimm Scorpion. The Deathstalker shields its eyes with the armoured pincers, causing the explosive shells to explode against them, dealing little damage. The Deathstalker slashes its pincers straight at Yang, Blake, Sun and Kassius. Kassius ducks down from the Pincer as it lunges at him. Blake pulls her Katana from the sheath holds the scabbard, duel wielding them to attack the Deathstalker with Sun with his staff. He jumps in the air and smashes it across the pincer to make it stagger. Ren and Nora both decide to challenge the other Deathstalker, charging straight at it with their weapons. Nora smashes Magnhild across its face and Ren runs up one of the sand dunes, firing Stormflower at its armour. The green rounds bounce off the armour plating and it hisses in annoyance, slamming its massive arms into the sand at Nora. Nora leaps into the air as the sand spews into the air beneath her. But she goes to smash Magnhild into the Deathstalker's head. The Deathstalker roars, spinning round with its tail and smashing it straight into her chest. Nora screams as she zooms straight past Ren and vanishes into one of the sand dunes with a muffled thumb. Ren turns and all he sees is her thumb up.
"I'm - Okay!" She slowly assures. Ren sighs with the roll of his eyes, turning his attention to the huge Deathstalker behind him. Qrow and Winter begin their fight against their Deathstalker. Qrow drops down to one knee to avoid the pincer as it goes to grab him, slashing his huge sword across the underbelly of the beast. The Deathstalker cries out, backing up to look for him. Winter forms a Glyph under her toes and she uses it to launch her body into the air to attack the beast. She floats into the sky and she lands on one of the tall dunes. The Deathstalker roars, grabbing Qrow by his ankle with its pincer, throwing him on the floor. Qrow rolls aside to avoid the massive golden stinger as it slams it down into the sand where he was. The Deathstalker does this over and over again to try and impale him. But when it lunges at him again, Winter launches a powerful ring of icicles straight into its face. The Deathstalker cries out, stumbling back from the impact.
The White Fang all turn, realising the attackers have been attracted to the battle over here. The three Deathstalkers were the attackers and now they were brought here by the vibrations in the sand. The soldiers run to their aid, firing rifles straight at the huge scorpion that is attacking Winter and Qrow. The Deathstalker spins round with a roar as it starts to attack the soldiers. One attempts to retreat but the Deathstalker plunges the stinger straight into the soldier's back, protruding out his chest as it catches him. The soldier splutters in agony as it pulls him into the air, and with force, smashes him head-first into the sand behind it, his legs sticking out from the sand. The Deathstalker continues to be distracted by the other soldiers, roaring at them. During their attack, Blake shoots her pistol into the eye of their Deathstalker as Sun uses his semblance to give her a boost, launching her into the air. The Deathstalker looks up at her and roars, thrusting the stinger straight at her with force. She performs a back-flip as she rises further and further into the sky, the sun blinding the Scorpion as it looks for her. Kassius leaps at the Deathstalker, slashing his swords across its face, cutting deep gashes into the armour. Black smoke leaks from its wound and it groans in pain. But that pain turns to anger, grabbing Kassius with both Pincers and pinning him against what looks like an ancient pillar of some kind. The pillar cracks from the impact, Kassius strains to get free from its grasp. The Deathstalker snarls as it keeps him pinned there.
Nora launches a grenade straight at her Deathstalker as it charges straight at her. The Deathstalker catches her with its pincer, pinning her into the floor with force, the pincers puncturing the sandy floor. Magnhild slides from her fingertips and she makes an auditory groan of frustration as it is too far from her reach. Her cyan eyes stare straight at the glowing gold stinger as it rises up to stab straight into her face. Her eyes widen as it rears back to attack. Until Stormflower glides across the air, spinning round and the curved bayonets slice straight through the soft membrane amongst the armour plates. The stinger is sliced and hangs by a thread, causing the Deathstalker to cry out in excruciating agony. The Deathstalker turns as it follows Stormflower, like a boomerang, returns into Ren's hand. Ren glares at the huge arachnid and it bellows at him, rushing at him with the snap of its pincers. Ren jumps from the sand dune, sliding past the monster. He lands behind it and he takes cover behind a rock. The Deathstalker looks over it but Nora smashes her Hammer into one of its legs, snapping it in half. The beast screeches in pain, turning to her and smashing its pincer at her. She lands on the sand and it turns to try and get Ren again, bashing the stinger into the sand in between his legs, causing his eyes to widen from how close it was. "Leave me alone!" Ren yells as he shoots it up the jaw. Black blood starts to pour over him and he makes a scream of disgust as he is completely covered in the stuff.
"Get away from my boyfriend!" Nora shrieks as she runs at the beast from behind, jumping and grabbing its tail, pushing it just enough to make it fall on its face. Qrow slashes the blade of his sword straight across the arm of the Deathstalker he has been fighting with the White Fang soldiers. The Deathstalker seethes at him and smashes the pincer at him. Winter provides support from above with her glyphs, like artillery. The Deathstalker snatches a White Fang Militant by his ankle, causing him to scream in terror as it drags him closer. The Deathstalker bawls, brutally stabbing its stinger into the chest of the soldier twice, so hard actually that it blasts the sand away from beneath him and makes the ground shake from each impact. The Deathstalker grabs him and throws him over its armoured body, a girlish scream echoing as he is thrown over the dune, never to be seen again. A look of complete bewilderment is on Qrow's face from how unnecessarily brutish that kill was. The Deathstalkers ten eyes lock onto the Branwen and it charges straight at him. Qrow transforms into his bird form, darting past it and returning to human form on the other side, causing it to run into the Sand Dune. The Deathstalker turns around and runs at Qrow again, so fast that Qrow has to drop to the floor, lifting his sword up to block the stinger as it comes down with force. His eyes widen from amazement that the stinger did not break the sword and he chuckles. The Deathstalker snarls as it rips the stinger back up, moving backwards, beneath Winter. Winter takes an opportunity and she jumps onto its back, splitting her Butterfly Sword in two, spinning them both though her fingers to be pointed downwards and she drives them both into the gap between two plates. The Deathstalker shrieks in pain, reaching for her and waltzing around as it tries to attack her.
Blake soars towards the Greater Deathstalker, hooking her Chained Scythe into the side of its head and yanking it back as she lands, pulling it away from Kassius, releasing him to the warm sand again. As the Deathstalker is pulled by Blake, it is pulled into the fists of both Sun and Yang, hitting it square in the face, making the shockwave ripple through its huge body. The Deathstalker grunts, and Sun smirks at it as it stands there. Kassius looks at his swords on the floor and then at a small piece of rock that hangs above the Deathstalker. He has come up with a plan. He turns to Sun. "Sun! My swords!" He shouts as he starts to run up the cliff face to get a good running jump. Sun sprints to Lash Equinox on the floor, avoiding the sharp feet of the Death Stalker as it staggers around. The sharp pronged feet sink into the sand like swords as it moves around. But finally, Sun grabs them both and he sees Kassius running to the edge, leaping off it.
"Kassius! Catch!" Sun yells, throwing them both towards him. Kassius floats across the air, reaching out with both hands to the hilts as they spin towards him. He grabs one, and then the other. He spins them both through his fingers and slams the hilts together. The lock together and they transform, the crossguard folding into the metal and the blades extend outwards. He grabs it by the middle, spinning it through his fingers in Spear-Staff form and he drives it through the skull of the Scorpion. The Scorpion howls with throes of distress, its pincers held high as Kassius pushes the blade of Lash Equinox Combined further into the head with a vicious twist. The twist kills the Deathstalker, its body falling limp to the floor with a heavy thump. The body begins to evaporate into smoke after being killed, smoke billowing up into a tower. Kassius smirks to them.
"Hell yeah." Kassius sneers. Yang rolls her eyes with a smile as he steps off the Deathstalker.
One down, two to go.
The sharp spike like feet of the other Deathstalker stamp down, the other White Fang Soldiers backing up from the huge Scorpion as it tries to kill them. The Scorpion flexes its tail back as it spins round, smashing a soldier straight in the face. Qrow's Sword folds down and the firearm sticks out, firing a blast of ammunition into the flank of the monster and it roars in pain. Winter is still riding the Deathstalker with the two swords wedged in between two plates of bone like armour, the blades scraping against them. She is trying to keep the Scorpion still so then Qrow can help take it down. She forms a Glyph as she holds on, creating her Summoned Beowulf that runs right at the monster. The Beowulf shines bright white, driving its claws into the exoskeleton, hacking the claws against the armour to do more damage. The claws scrape and scar the armour, but is does very little to the Deathstalker. She sighs, ripping her swords from the back of the Scorpion, jumping into the air and swinging her swords straight across the tail, cutting the barb off in one movement. The Deathstalker cries out, the golden barb crashing to the floor with force, the end of the tail twitching like the head of a snake. The Deathstalker grabs a soldier with its pincers and it clamours its roar, twisting the body of the screaming soldier and ripping him in half, blood spilling all over the sand. Winter nods at Qrow and she forms a glyph for him. He takes the chance, sprinting towards it with his Sword in hand, leaping onto the Glyph. She throws Qrow towards the Deathstalker and he clicks the trigger. The clockwork in his sword spins and groans to life, the pieces of metal shifting and twisting, transforming into Scythe form, gritting his teeth as he flies towards the Scorpion. The Deathstalker looks right at Qrow as he brings the Scythe down as he moves, and the Scythe slices clean through and Qrow lands behind it with his head lowered, exhausted. He turns round to the still Deathstalker, and then the body seeps into two carved clean halves that slump to the sand with a heavy thump.
Not all of the soldiers are dead, it only managed to kill three of the six that came to help. Qrow looks at Winter and she smirks, jumping down from the pillar she was stood upon. There are many ancient pillars around the sandy area and she walks up to Qrow, and uncharacteristically gives him a high five. "That's how proper huntsmen do it." Winter pants, wiping the sweat from her brow. Qrow chuckles.
"Damn right." He laughs.
Nora and Ren flee from the berserk Deathstalker that is pursuing them, effortlessly moving across the dunes as it pursues Nora, slicing the pincer through the sand. Ren jumps over a rock, and lands on another rock, shooting his two green pistols at the Deathstalker as it charges towards them. He is covered in an oily black substance, the blood of a Grimm, from when he attacked its mouth. The same stuff is leaking from its head as it runs after them, creating a trail as it runs towards him. Nora stands in front of him with a big smirk as it roars. "Eat this!" She shouts, firing her grenade launcher, and a glowing pink grenade darts right for the mouth of the bellowing Deathstalker. The grenade lands cleanly in the mouth of the Scorpion, swallowing it hole. The grenade explodes inside of its mouth, and like a cartoon, the whole beast completely pops like a balloon, chunks of bone armour plates flying into the air and a cloud of black blood expanding from the explosion. It completely covers the two of them and bits of Deathstalker fall onto the sand around them. Ren catches her as she falls over, gagging from the horrible stuff on her body. She opens her bright eyes and looks into his pale pink eyes, both covered in the horrible liquid. "We never get the easy route do we?" She giggles. Ren chuckles as he holds her.
"Easy's no fun anyway." He says to her, pressing his forehead to hers. Before they are able to kiss, they both turn to see everyone looking at them, Yang with her hands clenched and near her mouth, like she is about to explode with excitement. But the two just stand up, acting like nothing is going on.
"Hey guys!" Nora squeaks with an enthusiastic salute.
"Oh come on!" Yang groans. "Just kiss! Please!" Yang begs.
"Like this?" Nora scoffs as she gestures to the blood over her body.
"Yeah...not really fashionable." Ren groans as he flicks bits of Deathstalker from his shoulder with a repulsed look on his face.
"Wait...so does that mean you guys are together-together?" Blake asks as she stands next to Yang, crossing her arms. Nora and Ren's eyes both bulge open and they both equally start stammering out rubbish.
"Oh no! We're not...together...together...you know..." She mumbles.
Blake and Yang both share the same expression with their arms crossed and with a smirk on their faces, they are not as blind as other people are to things like these. Nora sighs, her arms falling forward.
"Okay fine! Yeah...we are." She nervously says as she scratches the back of her neck.
Yang throws her fist into the air. "Yes! I knew it!" She cheers, performing a cute little dance beside her partner who looks at her like she is a lunatic. Ren puts his arm round her shoulders and she leans her head against his shoulder.
"Good thing Jaune weren't here, he hates Scorpions." Nora giggles.
"Wherever he is." Ren sighs. They are worried about him, but they also know that he can manage himself, but as Ren said...wherever he is. They both stand there, and Ren notices the look on Kassius and Sun's faces as they look at something. At first Ren thinks it is something on him, but then he realises that it is something he is stood on.
"Ren...what is that?" Kassius questions. Nora and Ren both step off the thing that they are looking at, and a gasp emerges from Nora's lungs when she sees what they were stood on.
It is the head of an ancient sandstone statue that has been toppled over and buried in the sand. The face sticks out from the sand, the sun baking its body. Kassius walks towards it with Sun and they both crouch down beside it. Qrow walks up to them, it is much older than Mountain Glenn or Oniyuri...much, much older. They can tell from the weathering, but it was never believed that there were civilisations as strong as the new one since before the war. That was centuries, but this looks like it is thousands of years old. And now it makes sense, the old pillars sticking out of the ground like an old bone. They are also from the same time zone, probably. Kassius looks up at Qrow. "What is this thing?" He asks.
"I don't know...I've never seen anything like this that is this old before." Qrow explains. They examine in, wiping the dust off something and amazement strikes them. There are ancient hieroglyphics engraved on the cheekbone of the statue, ones that no one has ever seen before. The Deathstalker battle has uncovered something buried in the sand for so long that it has been long forgotten.
Before they can theorise anything, a voice emerges from the top of one of the untouched Sand Dunes. "They were called the Arkhoni." He speaks, a very strong and wise voice, almost Atlesian from how formal it sounds. But it also sounds metallic and computerised, but with emotion. Everyone looks in the direction they hear the voice and there is a mysterious man stood atop the dune, wearing a long tanned, sand covered and weathered, poncho around his body. Two glowing blue eyes look down at them and they can see what looks like metal legs and arms hidden inside of the poncho as the thing looks down at them. He then turns and retreats from the scene. Yang gasps.
"Wait!" Yang begs.
This could be the one that they are looking for...
...The Architect.
Not far from where they are...
Someone emerges from a sandstorm that approaches. A piece of the Deathstalker that exploded has landed here. The black blood drenching the grains of sand. A boot presses down into the sand and a large muscular hand grabs the plate, looking at it. He wears a bandanna around his mouth against the sand and he takes it off. His hazel eyes squint to look across the desert. He can see Yang and the others pursuing the strange metal poncho wearer across the sandy ground. He grits his teeth, releasing the clue, letting it fall onto the floor. Hazel turns to Cinder who stands beside him, sand stuffed in her black hair and on her face. She also wears a poncho over her black dress, as does everyone else, to survive the extremes that this place harbours. Mercury and Emerald stand on the dune, watching her run. "That's her." Emerald confirms when she sees Yang running and Hazel creates a deep growl as he reaches into his poncho, holding what looks like a the same knife that he murdered Sun's mother with, a huge jagged blade.
He tightens his grip and starts walking forward, Cinder with him and her Obsidian Blades in her hands.
They've found them.