Chương 73: Chapter 67: The Battle of Haven (Part 3)

The deep, subterranean shaft beneath Haven Academy was draped in heavy silence, broken only by the mechanical hum of the descending elevator platform. Cinder Fall stood near the edge, her amber eye fixed on the young bandit beside her.

"Are you nervous, girl?" Cinder purred, a patronizing smirk playing on her lips.

"The first Maiden in... why, I'm not sure anyone knows how many years... is about to open a vault. I would say it's quite an exciting time. Don't you feel honored?"

"No, I'm not concerned with any of this," Vernal didn't even look at her. She kept her gaze fixed on the dark cavern walls sliding past them.

"All I care about is my tribe. My family. This is a burden, not an honor."

"Heh." Cinder chuckled, glancing back at the masked bandit leader standing behind them.

"You've conditioned her quite well, Raven." The platform finally reached the bottom, slowing to a gentle halt. The heavy metal gate protecting the inner sanctum lowered into the ground with a grinding thud, revealing the vault beneath Haven Academy. It was a breathtaking, massive cavern. At its center stood a colossal, ancient tree, its sprawling branches adorned with glowing, vibrant orange leaves and flowers that illuminated the cavern in a warm, ethereal twilight.

Cinder stepped off the platform, her eyes sweeping across the mystical chamber.

"Hm, it's certainly grander than Beacon's. I wonder what the extra effort was for."

"Can we please not linger?" Raven asked coldly.

"After you," Cinder gestured with mock politeness. Vernal stepped forward first, followed closely by Cinder. Raven trailed behind, silently pulling her bone-white Grimm mask back over her face. As they walked toward the massive, ornate Relic chamber door nestled within the roots of the tree, the vault reacted to their presence. A magical symbol etched into the stone ground suddenly flared with bright, golden light.

A ring enclosed around it, and similar circles illuminated a path leading directly to the massive wooden doors. Above them, the flowers of the great tree glowed brighter, and delicate, luminescent petals began to drift gently down through the cavern air. One of the glowing petals drifted into Vernal's outstretched hand.

"Having fun?" Cinder mocked. Vernal turned, glaring sharply at the Fall Maiden as the petal dissolved into sparkling particles against her glove.

"Vernal, stay focused," Raven commanded.

"Oh, come now, Raven, let her enjoy this," Cinder said, her voice dripping with venomous sweetness.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

"How does this work?" Vernal asked, turning back to the glowing door.

"Once the Spring Maiden places her hand on the door, it will open," Cinder instructed, her amber eye narrowing.

"For you, and only you. Then I will walk into the vault, and retrieve the Relic. No one else. Is that clear?"

"Yes," Vernal answered.

"It doesn't matter to us," Raven stated, her hand resting near her hip.

"Let's get this over with."

"Alright then," Cinder smiled.

"Vernal, when you're ready." Vernal took a slow breath and approached the massive doors. Behind them, Raven's hand slowly reached for the hilt of Omen, her thumb resting on the release mechanism. But she stopped short as Cinder spoke again.

"You know, I've heard so many stories about you, Raven," Cinder mused, her tone shifting into something dark and lethal.

"They say you're a cunning leader. That you're strong. That you're clever." Vernal raised her hand, her fingertips hovering inches from the magical seal. Cinder glanced back at the masked bandit.

"It's a shame that they're wrong." Without warning, Cinder whipped her hand around, unleashing a concentrated, super-chilled projectile of Ice Dust directly at the bandit leader.

"VERNAL!!" Raven shouted. Raven reached out, but the ice projectile struck her squarely in the chest, violently encasing her entire body in a thick, unbreakable block of solid frost. Vernal spun around on her heel, drawing her twin crescent blades. But before she could even take a step, her body violently jolted. A sickening, wet puncture echoed through the vault. Vernal gasped, looking down in absolute horror. Bursting from the sleeve of Cinder's dress was a monstrous, elongated Grimm arm.

That creature had extended with blinding speed, its jagged, bone-white claws piercing straight through Vernal's torso. Cinder looked from the frozen Raven back to the bleeding girl impaled on the Grimm limb.

"It's nothing personal, dear," Cinder whispered, taking a slow step toward her.

"You're just not worthy of such power." Cinder drew completely level with the dying girl, a cruel smile stretching across her face.

"But I am." Cinder twisted the Grimm arm. The motion tore through Vernal's insides, and the young bandit let out a bloodcurdling scream of pure agony. Cinder callously discarded her, throwing Vernal to the cold stone floor, where she struggled vainly to pull herself away, leaving a trail of blood. Behind them, the ice coating Raven began to web with deep, heavy cracks.

"So I will take..." Cinder whispered, looking down at her Grimm arm, waiting for the magical transfer to begin.

"... what is mine." On the floor, Vernal's struggles rapidly weakened. Her breathing slowed to a ragged halt, her grip on her weapons loosening until she lay completely still. Cinder smirked, waiting for the surge of Spring magic. But the cavern remained completely silent. Cinder's smile faltered. She looked at her hand, genuine confusion morphing into sudden panic.

"Wha... what is this? Where's the power?!" CRASH! The deafening sound of shattering ice exploded behind her. Cinder spun around. Raven Branwen had broken completely free from her frozen prison. A vibrant, blindingly bright blue-and-green Aura flared around the bandit's body, humming with ancient, overwhelming power.

"You won't find it," Raven declared, her voice echoing with commanding authority.

"Because Vernal isn't the Spring Maiden!" Raven reached up, pulling the Grimm mask from her face and dropping it to the floor.

"I am!!" Raven opened her eyes. The telltale, unmistakable magical flames of a Maiden roared to life, trailing from the corners of her crimson eyes like burning emeralds. Cinder Fall stared in absolute shock, her gaze darting to the motionless body of Vernal on the floor.

"Vernal was a decoy the whole time," Cinder realized, her amber eye narrowing as she turned her furious attention back to Raven.

"The last Spring Maiden must've trusted you a great deal before she died. I bet that was a mistake..." Raven let out a furious growl. She drew Omen with a metallic shriek, the long blade locking into place. With a concussive boom of displaced air, the two Maidens launched themselves at each other.

Far above the subterranean vault, the night air of Haven Academy's courtyard was filled with the deafening sounds of a full-scale uprising. The radicalized White Fang soldiers, realizing they were completely surrounded, desperately drew their weapons and opened fire on the descending Mistral Police airships. But the Menagerie militia gave them no ground. Sun Wukong was a golden blur of kinetic energy. He leaped off the stone archways, twirling Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang in its extended staff form.

He vault-kicked a soldier in the chest, landed flawlessly on another's shoulders, and unleashed a rapid volley of shotgun blasts to scatter the extremists. Nearby, a burly Faunus with a wooden club clashed heavily with a White Fang lieutenant. Ilia Amitola darted through the shadows, her skin shifting colors rapidly as she lashed out with Lightning Lash, disarming two soldiers in a single, electrified crack of her whip.

High above, a Mistral Police airship locked its blinding searchlight onto a trio of retreating White Fang members.

"Cease fire, immediately!" the Mistral Policeman's voice boomed over the P. A. system. The three extremists tried to bolt toward the academy walls, but their path was instantly cut off by a combined phalanx of Menagerie Faunus and heavily armed Mistral officers, led directly by Ilia. Outnumbered and outgunned, two of the White Fang soldiers immediately dropped their rifles, raising their hands in surrender. The last soldier, blinded by fanaticism, raised his rifle to fire. CRACK!

Lightning Lash wrapped tightly around the barrel, ripping the weapon violently from his grasp. Ilia lunged forward, tackling the man to the ground and swiftly restraining his arms behind his back. A female rabbit Faunus in the militia looked down at Ilia, offering a warm, genuine smile.

"Thank you." Ilia caught her breath, looked at the Faunus, and offered a soft, redeeming nod in return. Elsewhere in the courtyard, Blake Belladonna stood tall and unyielding over the kneeling form of Adam Taurus. Adam slowly pushed himself up from the dirt, his clothes covered in dust, his pride entirely shattered. His breathing was ragged, his hands shaking with unadulterated fury. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"I'm going to make you regret ever coming back..." Adam seethed, his voice trembling with manic rage.

"More police are on their way, Adam," Blake stated calmly, entirely unfazed by his threats.

"Huntsmen too." Adam let out a dark, evil chuckle, wiping dirt from his mask.

"Still too afraid to face me on your own."

"I'm here for Haven," Blake replied, her amber eyes steel.

"Not you." Enraged by his utter irrelevance to her, Adam reached across his body with his left hand, drawing Wilt from Blush in a smooth, lethal motion. He pointed the crimson blade directly at Blake's heart. In response, Blake fluidly drew Gambol Shroud, dropping into a defensive stance.

"Heh, you are still afraid," Adam mocked.

"And you should be. I've made powerful friends while you've been away."

"Oh yeah?" Adam flinched, glancing to his left. Sun Wukong sauntered up beside Blake, resting his heavy staff casually across his shoulders, a confident, mocking grin on his face.

"Where?" Sun asked, looking around the courtyard with exaggerated confusion. Adam glared at the monkey Faunus, shifting the tip of Wilt toward him.

"Tell me, does Blake make all of her classmates fight for her?"

"Nah, it's a volunteer gig," Sun shrugged easily.

"I'm just sayin', for someone who claims to have such great friends, there doesn't seem to be a lot of people here willing to fight for you." Adam's jaw tightened. He looked around the perimeter. Everywhere he looked, his loyalists were throwing down their weapons, kneeling in the dirt, surrendering to the overwhelming numbers of the militia Blake had brought. A police searchlight suddenly snapped onto him, bathing him in harsh, unforgiving light.

"You can try and make me regret coming here, Adam," Blake said, her voice rising above the din of the sirens.

"But honestly... I've got more important things to deal with." Adam let out a feral, frustrated scream. He lunged forward, swinging Wilt in a vicious horizontal arc aimed at Sun's neck. Sun didn't blink. He shifted his weapon into its shotgun-nunchuck form, parrying the crimson blade with a shower of sparks. Adam pivoted, unleashing a flurry of strikes at Blake, who effortlessly deflected them with Gambol Shroud.

Sensing his opening, Sun stepped into Adam's guard, delivering a punishing kick to the extremist's chest that sent Adam tumbling backward into the dirt. Realizing he could not win this fight, Adam scrambled to his feet. He turned and bolted, sprinting desperately toward the dense tree line at the edge of the courtyard.

"Hey!" Sun yelled, spinning his nunchucks and breaking into a sprint to chase him down.

"Sun, wait!" Blake called out. Sun skidded to a halt, looking back at her in disbelief.

"But he's getting away! We could take him!"

"No, we can't. He wants to lure us away so he can pick us off in the woods. We need to protect the school and the people here," Blake sheathed her katana with a quiet, definitive click.

"Besides..." She watched the shadows swallow Adam Taurus, a profound sense of closure washing over her.

"Now he can see what it feels like to run away." Blake turned back to her partner, a warm, genuine smile breaking across her face.

"Thank you."

"Eh, we all need help sometimes," Sun smiled back, rubbing the back of his neck. His ears twitched as the sounds of violent explosions and shattering stone echoed from Haven's Grand Hall. Through the massive, broken front doors, he could see the chaotic flashes of Dust and Aura as their friends fought desperately against the inner circle.

"I think there's a few people who could use yours," Sun pointed out. Sun readied his weapon, about to went back the group of Menagerie Faunus and Mistral Police to help rounding up the remaining White Fang soldiers. But Blake gently caught his arm before he could leave.

"Be careful," Blake said softly. Sun offered her his signature, cocky grin.

"No promises." Sun sprinted off. Blake smiled at his remark, drew Gambol Shroud once more, and ran to save her team.

Beneath the earth, the vault was tearing itself apart. Raven and Cinder moved as blinding blurs of magic and steel, their weapons striking against each other in a chaotic, deafening flurry of vicious sword strikes. The Spring and Fall magics violently collided, sending massive shockwaves rippling through the cavern. Raven swung Omen with devastating precision. Cinder raised her conjured obsidian sword to block, but Raven channeled her Aura perfectly. The concussive strike shattered Cinder's weapon entirely.

A massive shard of the broken glass spun wildly, slicing deeply into the flesh of Cinder's Grimm arm. Cinder hissed, stumbling backward and clutching the monstrous limb in pain.

"Aura can't protect your left arm," Raven taunted, her eyes burning with green fire as she leveled her blade.

"It's Grimm." Cinder ripped the shard of glass out of that creature, tossing it to the ground.

"You turned yourself into a monster just for power," Raven sneered, her voice laced with deep, unwavering disgust.

"Look who's talking..." Cinder snarled, conjuring a pair of blazing, superheated scimitars in her hands. The two Maidens charged again. Raven fluidly engaged the rotational chamber on her scabbard, quickly switching between various colored Dust blades to perfectly counter Cinder's relentless, shifting weapon constructs. As the battle reached a fever pitch, Cinder unleashed a massive torrent of fire, coalescing the flames into a colossal, fifty-foot flaming broadsword. Raven didn't flinch.

She raised her hand, her Spring magic instantly freezing the moisture in the air to forge a massive, equally towering sword of solid ice. The two gigantic weapons clashed in the center of the vault. BOOM! The resulting shockwave was apocalyptic. The thermal expansion and magical backlash sent a localized earthquake tearing through the subterranean cavern. The sheer kinetic force traveled straight up the bedrock, shaking the very foundations of Haven Academy above ground.

Deep within the vault, the ceiling began to splinter. Giant, razor-sharp stalactites broke free from the rock ceiling, plummeting like meteors toward the Maidens. Both women abandoned their giant weapons, leaping backward to dodge the falling stone. As Raven rolled to her feet, preparing for her next strike, the thick dust cloud parted. Cinder's Grimm arm had elongated through the debris with terrifying speed.

It wrapped its massive, unnatural fingers tightly around Raven's throat, lifting the bandit leader off her feet. As the Grimm arm squeezed, attempting to slowly drain her Aura, Raven simply smirked. She thrust her palm forward, sending a concentrated blast of frost directly at Cinder's boots, freezing the Fall Maiden's feet entirely to the stone floor just as a massive cluster of boulders rained down directly above Cinder's head. Raven broke the chokehold, doing a massive, Aura-enhanced backflip into the air.

She landed flawlessly on the flat top of one of the falling stalactites as it plummeted toward the ground. Looking down, Raven saw the boulders shatter into molten slag. Cinder had survived the cave-in, using a concentrated jet of fire from her hands and feet to blast herself free and fly directly up toward Raven. The two Maidens clashed mid-air, fighting a blindingly fast, gravity-defying duel as they hopped between the plummeting debris of the cavern ceiling.

Eventually, the massive stones slammed into the ground, completely obliterating the serene landscape of the vault. Both Maidens hit the floorboards, sliding backward. They fell to their knees. Both women were panting heavily in absolute exhaustion, their bodies covered in soot and minor cuts. Their Auras shimmered and flickered dangerously, pushed to the absolute breaking point. Raven gripped Omen tightly, forcing herself back up onto her feet.

"Had enough yet?" Cinder bared her teeth, staggering to a stand.

"Shut up!" The battle resumed, a brutal, exhausting brawl of pure attrition. Cinder unleashed waves of superheated fire, but Raven's footwork and tactical brilliance shone through. Raven ducked beneath a sweeping blast, parried a vicious thrust from Cinder's Grimm arm, and delivered a punishing, Aura-laced kick squarely to Cinder's ribs. Cinder wheezed, stumbling backward. Raven pressed the advantage, her blade a flurry of lethal, disciplined strikes that backed the Fall Maiden into a corner near the elevator pad.

Raven had the upper hand. Cinder was bleeding, her magic faltering, her breathing ragged. Raven raised her sword for the killing blow. The sound of someone landing echoed through the crumbling vault. At the platform, Yang landed in a three-point pose. She stood back up and ran into the vault Raven's eyes darted past Cinder. Stepping off the elevator platform, battered, bruised, and panting for breath, was Yang Xiao Long.

"Mom...?" Yang gasped, staring in sheer disbelief at the burning magical flames trailing from her mother's eyes. Both Maidens froze. Cinder Fall looked at the blonde girl. She recognized the gauntlets, the hair, the face. She saw the sudden, terrifying flash of profound, paralyzing fear cross Raven Branwen's face.

"Ah... I see now," A cruel, opportunistic smile stretched across Cinder's scarred features. Cinder completely ignored Raven. She turned her body, aiming her palms directly at the exhausted, vulnerable teenager. Drawing upon the absolute last dregs of her Fall magic, Cinder fired a massive, lethal beam of superheated fire point-blank at Yang. Yang's eyes widened. She raised her arms, but her Aura was depleted from fighting Mercury. She couldn't survive the hit.

In a fraction of a second, the cold, pragmatic bandit leader died. The mother took over. Raven abandoned her offensive momentum entirely. She lunged forward, her Semblance tearing a massive portal in the fabric of space. She threw herself entirely through the rift, reappearing directly in front of Yang. Raven didn't raise her sword. She spread her arms wide, shielding her daughter with her own body. The superheated blast struck Raven perfectly in the back. SHATTER.

Raven's Aura broke with the sound of shattering glass. The sheer concussive and thermal force of the blast drove her to her knees, agonizing burns searing across her back. She cried out, collapsing onto the stone floor, her body smoking and trembling as the Maiden flames vanished from her eyes.

"NO!!" Yang screamed in sheer terror, dropping to her knees beside her. With Raven's Aura broken and her body weakened from the ultimate sacrifice, Cinder didn't hesitate. She lunged forward with terrifying speed, entirely bypassing Yang. Cinder drove the monstrous, heavy weight of her Grimm left arm directly into Raven's chest, violently pinning the wounded bandit leader flat against the floor of the vault. The unnatural strength of that creature completely neutralized Raven's swordsmanship, locking her down.

"I changed my mind about you, Raven," Cinder said, grinning.

"You really are a cunning, clever leader." While holding the gasping Raven down with her left arm, Cinder raised her human right arm.

"But you ran out of luck." She activated the special white glove strapped to her hand. The exact same artifact she had used to steal Amber's power years ago. The mechanical components on the glove clicked. From the center of Cinder's palm, the Beetle Grimm emerged. That creature chattered its mandibles. It lunged forward, spitting out a thick, viscous web of black, inky strands that attached violently to Raven's face, locking into a terrifying, familiar geometric pattern. Raven looked up in absolute horror.

"AAAGH!!!" She opened her mouth, letting out a bloodcurdling scream of pure agony. Her one free eye blazed with brilliant green light. A final, massive blast of wind erupted from Raven's body as the Spring Maiden's power was forcibly ripped from her soul. The brilliant, glowing magic faded into the inky strands, traveling rapidly up through the hideous bug, into the white glove, and funneling directly into Cinder's body.

Cinder threw her head back, her own victorious amber eyes lighting up with blinding, chaotic power. A massive shower of green and orange sparks exploded around her, and a complex, magical black-and-red circle violently burned into the stone floor beneath them.

"STOOOP!!" Yang screamed, desperately trying to pull the Grimm arm off her mother. But the sheer, explosive concussive blast of the Spring Maiden's magic fully transferring into Cinder created a massive shockwave. Yang was violently thrown backward, crashing hard against the cavern wall and slumping to the floor. Raven's eyes rolled back into her head. Her body went completely limp, and she fell unconscious on the cold stone.

The Beetle Grimm clicked its mandibles, retracting the black web from her face before slithering back inside the mechanical housing of Cinder's white glove. Cinder released her Grimm arm, allowing the broken, powerless bandit leader to fall fully to the floor. Cinder stood up.

"Nngghh!!" She closed her eyes, her entire body trembling violently as the new power flowed through her veins. At first, the sensation was sheer, tearing agony. The Fall and Spring magics violently rejected each other, battling for dominance within her soul. Cinder gritted her teeth, dropping to one knee as her body threatened to tear itself apart from the metaphysical strain. But she endured it. Her relentless, sociopathic will crushed the resisting magic.

The pain faded, replaced by an intoxicating, weightless euphoria. Cinder stood tall, flames roaring from one hand while a freezing, violent gale of wind swirled around the other. She felt invincible. She felt like a god. She housed the power of two Maidens within a single body. A weak, pained groan echoed in the cavern. Yang Xiao Long pushed herself up from the rubble. She dragged her battered body across the floor, collapsing beside her unconscious mother.

"Mom... Mom, wake up. Please..." Yang pleaded, her voice cracking with tears as she desperately shook Raven's shoulders, to no avail. Cinder looked down at the pathetic scene, a dark, sadistic chuckle echoing in the vault.

"How beautifully tragic," Cinder mocked, her voice echoing with dual resonance.

"The great Raven Branwen, reduced to nothing, all because she couldn't cut the final string. And you, little dragon... you got a front-row seat to watch your mother lose everything to save you." Yang glared up at her, her violet eyes burning with absolute, unadulterated hatred.

"I'm gonna tear you apart."

"You're welcome to try," Cinder smiled, turning her back on them to face the massive, sealed Relic door.

"But I have a prize to collect." Cinder took a step toward the door. Suddenly, the entire cavern violently heaved. It wasn't the aftermath of their magic. This was structural. The massive, bedrock ceiling above them groaned with terrifying intensity. CRACK! A chunk of the ceiling the size of a small house broke free, plummeting directly downward. It crashed with apocalyptic force, completely destroying the pathway and entirely burying the Relic door beneath hundreds of tons of impenetrable, jagged rubble.

Cinder stumbled back, throwing her arms up to shield her face from the choking dust. The vault was actively collapsing. Something absolutely massive was tearing the academy apart from the surface.

"What is happening up there?!" Cinder scowled, deeply annoyed by the sudden interruption. She looked at the buried Relic door, then up at the violently shaking ceiling, which was threatening to bury them all alive.

"No matter," Cinder declared, her dual-toned voice rising above the roar of the collapsing earth.

"Salem can dig this out herself. I have what I came for." She didn't even cast a second glance at Yang or the unconscious Raven. They were entirely beneath her notice now.

"Well then," Cinder ignited her boots with superheated fire.

"Goodbye... forever." She blasted her way directly up the elevator shaft, fleeing to the surface and leaving Yang alone in the crumbling darkness.

"Mom!" Yang cried out, shielding Raven's body with her own as the relentless shower of rocks continued to fall. The Great Vault of Haven burying itself in the deep.