Ep. 26 - Singles, Getting Rid of Enemies, Visible Confusion

The next day, I woke up late. I found the room half destroyed. I couldn't seem to remember what happened off the top of my head, so I went through my memory quickly.

"What… the fuck."

'Note to self number one: Aura is amazing. Note to self number two: never put a drunk Yang and a drunk Weiss together, unless the next day is a weekend. Note to self number three: shit I'm late for the first day of singles.'

I got up quickly, while making sure not to wake up Yang and Weiss. I left a note saying: "Love you, got a match to win and a few pests to eliminate. Might be late tonight. Don't wait for me awake."

It is kind of cold, but I wanted them to sleep enough. My memory was 'interesting' and that's putting it lightly. It is also true that as soon as I finish my match, I will get rid of Cinder, her gang, and Salem. If I find them there, I might also eliminate her other pawns. 'Missing a single, uninteresting match is not a big deal for them, I hope. Oh, I am so getting an earful tomorrow.'

I exited the room making less noise possible. When I closed the door I finally checked the time. 'Shit! I needed to be there five minutes ago. I don't know why, my under-armor was not in the room but in the living room. I ran to it and started putting it on. I don't know why I didn't trasmat it directly. Must be the shock from my memories.

I just barely put on my lower section and started putting on the torso section before trasmating directly into the arena.

Thing is… trasmating while distracted is, apparently, a bad idea. I materialised above the protective shield on top of the place, so I stomped it and broke the protective layer, then fell to the ground.

"Shit! I'm late. Sorry!" there was silence. Like, complete silence. Thinking back on it, nothing I did made the least bit of sense.

I activated my armor and acted as if nothing happened.

"Peter… Can you tell me what just happened? I think my morning coffee had something strange in it."

"Let me drink some of it then. It appears that Mr. Tula appeared on top of the protective layer, which should have been tough enough to resist a Nevermore's attacks for a few minutes, and stomped on it, breaking it. Then fell into the arena and acted as if nothing happened… This is style right here, ladies and gentlemen!"

I ignored Oobleck and Port as they discussed my entrance and got in line with the other students. I saw Pyrrha, who was still a little short of breath. 'She must have arrived a little while ago. She's incredible, coming here without trasmating should take a few minutes since the chalet is closer to the coast side of the forest. She must have used her sparrow. Note to self four: never bring booze out if I have something important to do the next morning.'

Anyway, after a few minutes of general uproar and confused faces due to me breaking such a strong barrier with my foot, the first match started. 'I kinda expected it, but they seriously never learned not to mess with fire?' is all I could think of as the display showed my handsome face and Mercury. The rest of the match ups were not decided yet.

We got into position and he asked: "Why were you late? Couldn't sleep last night?"

It was obviously mockery but it was true, so I smiled. "You got it. I sure had a great night!"

"Pfft!" And he's holding in his laughter. 'Good thing that Weiss and Yang aren't here, otherwise I would be dead by now.'

"Ahem! Mr. Tula, this is live in all of Remnant. Keep the details to yourself." said Port through the mike channel.

I raised my hand towards him. "Sorry. Had to do it! Mercury just set the stage for me, I couldn't not use the opportunity."

At any rate, the countdown started and I took a hand-to-hand stance. Now everyone was curious about the fight since I had used guns until now.

When the countdown finished, the public heard a loud bang. Me and Mercury started blocking and responding with kicks and punches immediately.

I think we might have gone too fast for the general public to follow since Oobleck said something about slowing down the replay.

Mercury had a smile on his face. Either because the fight was entertaining or because of their plan.

He sent a bullet-kick to my stomach. I didn't even bother stopping it as I took his outstretched leg and started Hulk-smashing him left and right. I didn't want it to end so quickly, so I threw him towards the edge of the arena.

"Hey Mercury, mind if I make this more interesting?"

"Sure, go ahead."

I set a 'Well of Radiance' in the middle of the arena.

"So what does that do?" He asked, pointing at the well.

"Nothing in reality, it just makes the ground shine and it's flashy. I asked if I could make this more interesting, not bring it up a notch."

He shrugged and darted towards me.

With the well set up, I wasn't worried too much about Emerald's semblance. 'This should theoretically protect me from hallucinations.'

I countered his kick and went for a leg sweep. He pivoted on his hands and jumped back. He started sending air blasts, but I stayed rooted in place.

With the next exchange, I started coating my body in Arc energy, shocking him at every hit.

"Quite shocking! Decided to stop playing nice? You hurt my poor heart!"

You know, I just can't help but want to spare the guy.

"Oh, should I warm up to you?" as I said that I switched from Arc to Solar.

"Hm… Nah, I prefer more temperate climates."

"Pfft! You're great!" 'Yang would probably start cracking jokes with him. If only he wasn't a pawn for Cinder and Salem. Guess I'll just arrest him. Emerald and Cinder though? Dead, very dead. Cinder is sexy that's for sure, but that won't save her from a bullet in her heart. I just don't care enough about Emerald, so she's dead.'

I stopped coating my body and went in for the elimination. Mercury was still within the bounds of the 'Well of Radiance', so I blinked behind him and held him in a chokehold. I flexed my metallic muscles, so I was pressing on his throat quite hard. He started stomping my foot with air blasts and bullets, but I didn't budge. His aura levels were decreasing second after second, until he was in the red, eliminated.

As I was declared the victor, I felt something. As if a certain green haired girl was trying to influence my senses. The well worked as I intended, preventing me from falling for the illusion. I don't know how I would react, but I could probably leave moving my body to a secondary thought process. Since the second thought process wouldn't be the one under the effect of the semblance, it should have worked just fine, but it's better be safe. I looked towards Emerald in the stands and glared at her. She seemed scared and was probably sweating bullets.

On a side note, Mercury was getting up on his feet and coming to me for a handshake, so I went to him with a serious face and… shook his hand, what else?

He totally expected to be attacked, so his brain short circuited.

"Hey, are you okay?" I waved my hands in front of his face. Seeing no response I smiled at him. "Hey, medics! I think he's got a concussion or something!" I left while the 'medics' apprehended him. They were Ironwood's people, ready to catch the guy when I gave the signal. And I just did, if that wasn't already clear.

For his teammates, which were going to soon be not so alive, he would be confined in the infirmary for a check-up.

I looked for my friends and didn't find anyone. Since there was some time until the next match, I searched for Cinder and Emerald.

I started whistling "Mirror Mirror", though it came out pretty bad. It ended up coming out as a very creepy, horror movie-like whistle. 'It strangely fits. I am hunting down those two, so I am kinda like those psychopaths with hatchets smeared in blood.'

Snapping out of my stupid thoughts, I went towards the area in which I saw Emerald. I saw her and Cinder walk briskly towards the infirmary, so I started up my cloaking device and followed them. When they arrived at the infirmary, they acted like nothing was up.

"Hey, how is our teammate? Can we see him now?" asked Emerald to the 'doctor'.

"Sorry, we are still checking up on him. In another hour, he should be able to leave. That is unless we find something wrong."

"I see, but can't you make the process faster?" said the crazy bitch Cinder. She was purring for fucks sake! 'How does that even make sense?! Does she just want to seduce the doctor to knock him out and take Mercury? Wouldn't it be suspicious as fuck? Ah, I don't care.'

I took out my Hand Cannon and used the 'Devouring' bullets from 'Thorn', along with piercing bullets, to plant a bullet in Emerald's head. I disabled my cloaking and shot another two bullets at the dead body, just to make sure. Cinder looked shocked and scared. A normal bullet should have been useless due to aura.

I looked at her and said: "I know it won't make any sense to you, but this is for what you did to Pyrrha." and I shot both of her knees, "This is for siding with Salem." and I shot her ankles, right about where she had hit Pyrrha in canon, "And THIS is for my friends' peace." and I shot her heart. I emptied my clip, destroying her chest. "This will make you stay dead."

The 'doctor' was vomiting his soul out. 'Can't really blame him, this is pretty gruesome. Though, come on man. You're a soldier God damn it. Keep your composure in public and freak out in private. He's making me feel like a monster right now.'

I looked at him and said: "You know you are not allowed to talk about what you saw, right? Ironwood might trial you for treason or something, but I will kill you, so keep it in mind. Good day, I have some more people to get rid of."

I trasmated to my ship and asked MoonRay to find the highest concentrations of darkness and death laws in this world. Salem should be at the top of the results.

"I found 7 results based on Salem's supposed strength."

"Display them on the map. I might get rid of the targets after Salem."

I found that several results were in Mistral, the lowest in the results list should be the wyvern close to Vale. There are a couple of results in the far North. I guess that is Salem. The other one might be the 'Land of Darkness' itself. If it is an antithesis to the 'Domain of Light', it should have the purest form of laws related to darkness and death.

"Let's head to the North. I need to get Salem before she gets wind of Cinder's death."

"Roger. We will get there in ten seconds going at the maximum speed in the atmosphere."

In those ten seconds, I readied the weapons systems.

When we arrived, I could see some pools of black liquid. Some Grimm were coming out of them. 'I think these pools act as a core for the 'Land of Darkness', that's why they came up as a single result. Must be connected by underground streams.'

I fixed my sights on Salem's castle, before bombarding it with everything I've got on board. Missiles, lasers, high-caliber bullets, anti-matter bombs. Everything rained on the 'Evernight Castle'. When I was done, only some rubble that got blasted away at the beginning remained, along with a tall cloud of black smoke, filled with static bolts of electricity. This scene was honestly quite beautiful, but it also created a problem: my scanners were not able to penetrate that cloud of smoke. There was too much interference due to the bombs I dropped. Space was completely fucked for a second there.

The smoke wasn't going to clear away anytime soon, so I tried zipping through it with my ship. That ended up working and the view cleared up. I saw nothing. There was just an enormous puddle of black liquid. I trasmated to the ground donning my armor and the 'Super Good Advice' HMG, just in case I needed to blast something to smithereens. I moved towards the dark lake and what I saw there didn't amuse me. I saw red eyes. Thousands, millions of red eyes. They were all congregating in one spot in the middle of the lake. 'I don't like this one bit.'

From there, a blob of liquid started rising, taking a humanoid shape, then started forming some features and details, slowly forming Salem's body back.

"So this is how your immortality works? As long as there are Grimm in the world you'll be unkillable? Or is it the 'Land of Darkness' itself that keeps you from dying? Well, it doesn't really matter. From what I've seen, your soul should still be vulnerable."

"And? What can a child like you do? Think you can defeat me after Ozma's preachings? Hah, don't think I won't kill you. You destroyed my castle, so I will destroy your body."

"Oh, Salem. You poor girl. Seriously? You seriously think I'm here because of Ozpin? Hell no! I am here because you can't kill me, while I have a way to kill you. Well, seal, but it's the same thing really."

I started firing at her legs, making them explode in a puff of blood. It was black, not red. "Disgusting. What actually have you become? A Grimm? No, you have a soul. A human? Definitely not, I just saw your body get recreated by millions of Grimm. You're a monster. You became a monstrosity that I can't even describe, so just let me kill you. It'll do you and the world more good than Ozma could ever do."

I saw tears dripping to the ground beneath her.

"Kill me. Kill me before she regains control of my body!"

'Ok… What the actual fuck?'

"Who are you? Who is she?"

"Just kill me! She's been controlling me for thousands of years! I can't go on any-"

A second voice came, from the 'Land of Darkness' itself.

"Child, I didn't expect you to shock her to this degree. She freed herself from my influence for a short while, so don't think for a second you've won."

'Wait… this place has a consciousness? Then it must have gained control of Salem's body when she tried to drown herself. If I seal Salem's soul, I will just give complete control to this second consciousness. It will be even worse. I need to get rid of this entire land. I need time to think.'

"Child this, child that… You're talking to a Godslayer. You think I can't destroy you? Dream on!"

'Ok, setting up a ritual won't work. It needs time and probably won't do much.'

"You insolent fool! What can a mortal like you do?! Nothing! I will destroy the creatures of light that oppose me and take control of those that remain!"

'Fuck! This is getting weirder by the second. If a ritual won't work I can try operating the laws. Maybe if I use the Light along with the law of light that can purify this land. Problem is, I need to reach the core of this place to even try. What would even happen to me?'

"Time is up, child." Salem suddenly said.

'I can try on Salem. If my idea actually works, I should be able to do it.'

I hit her head with the stock of my weapon, then placed my hand on her head. I started infusing Light into her body. Soon enough she started writhing on the ground, making some inhuman sounds. When I added the law of light to the mix, Salem vomited black goo. It was like that scene from the parody of 'Paranormal'. What was the name? 'Scary Movie'? 'Ghost Movie' maybe?

Anyway, Salem started vomiting this black goo. I just knew that that was the cause of her change. I coated my other hand with Solar energy and Light, then touched the thing. It started emitting a scream before dissipating into particles like a Grimm. Salem in the meanwhile was still writhing on the ground, occasionally vomiting some black goo. Grimm tried attacking me, but my armor stopped all attacks, while some occasional rounds from my HMG took care of the most annoying ones. It took an entire hour to actually 'purify' Salem. 'At least I think she was purified. She stopped moving around and the vomiting stopped more than half an hour ago'

"Well done, mortal. You have destroyed one of my offshoots. But don't think that I'm done. Oh no, I am just getting started. You will soon face despair and drown in the screams of the innocent!"

"Woah there! Creepy much? And I never for one second thought that you were done. For now, I'll stop with taking Salem back with me. You will see what I am capable of another time."

I trasmated to the ship's holding cell, laid Salem down, and started treating her legs while MoonRay flew back to Beacon. I didn't care about Ozpin's privacy or position, so I flew directly in front of his office window, then trasmatted inside with Salem.

"Hey Ozpin. Mind taking your ex from my arms?! Oh, you guys are all here! Perfect, listen to this." I saw Ozpin talking with Ironwood, Glynda, Qrow, and Winter was there as well. I think I missed something because she was standing abnormally close to Qrow. Anyway, I told them what happened in the 'Land of Darkness'. The result was a very serious Ozpin.

"Are you sure of what you said? The place itself has a consciousness and can 'infect' people?"

"That's what I said. Salem was infected. I think I purified her, but it's better if she stays in the holding cell in my ship, just in case she goes crazy once again."

"This… Changes things. Kid, do you have an idea?" asked Qrow

"I do. If I can reach the core inside the 'Land of Darkness', if it even has one, I should be able to purify it the same way I did with Salem. The problem is that I might have to dive into the pools of Grimm. If we are lucky, then the core will be located above the ground. Maybe a shrine or a mountain, something big and black. That sounded wrong, but the core should corrupt everything around it and should be pretty big, therefore big and black-ish."

"Stop, stop, stop! You want to dive in those pools?! You're kidding right?!"

"No Qrow, I am not kidding! That thing is pissed and it probably holds a certain degree of control over the Grimm all over Remnant. I believe you understand what that means."

"Total annihilation. We can't afford to face more than five Grimm invasions at once, I shudder just imagining if all Grimm attacked at once." said Ironwood.

"The kid is right. Argh! It hurts!" we suddenly heard. Turning my head, I saw that Salem woke up. "As I was saying, the kid here is right. You need to get rid of the core, otherwise we are all dead within a week."

"Thank you for your input, I know already. How are you feeling? Want to kill us all? Thoughts about destroying the hope of humanity? Extreme onee-san vibes?"

"What's with the last one. No, never felt better since I tried drowning in that pool. I am serious though. You are right in saying it has control over every single Grimm in the world. The 'Land of Darkness' is like one giant Grimm. Contrary to other Grimm though, it won't die unless you destroy or purify its core. The second option would be best." She said.

'So the only real option is purifying the core. Though, a giant Grimm in the form of a con- Wait!'

"Wait a moment. Wait. A. Moment! I've seen something similar to the 'Land of Darkness' during my vacation. On another planet there is what I thought was a continent. I later found that it was living! It must be something similar." that attracted a lot of attention. I, on the other hand, started thinking.

'That thing. It might be the key to destroying the core without having to die in the pools of Grimm.'

"How long can you postpone the tournament?"

"What does the tour-"

"Answer. My. Question. Ironwood!"

He sighed. "The maximum we can do is a couple of days using the disappearance of the infiltrators as an excuse. We launch an inspection and drag on the bureaucratic stuff. What do you have in mind?"

"I will go to the planet I talked about. I will study the thing there. Hopefully find something useful. I need you to keep as many hands free for a possible Grimm Invasion. If it actually happens, forget Mistral and Vacuo. They are undefendable. Concentrate the forces in Vale. Atlas should have enough manpower to at least bide their time." I started heading towards the window. "Winter, tell Weiss I'm going out on some business. You guys should start preparing. And postpone the tournament." then I trasmated back to the ship.

Back in Ozpin's office, Salem stared at the group as they got busy.

"So… Am I to stay here and look at you work or what?"