The moment Mahoraga was summoned, everyone in the vicinity froze in shock, completely unsure of what they were looking at, and for those few precious seconds, every pair of eyes was drawn toward the massive white Shikigami standing behind Tsutsumi, so focused on the strange creature that almost no one noticed what happened to its summoner. Tsutsumi was already moving, his body dropping backward into the darkness beneath his feet as he disappeared into the shadow at the exact moment Mahoraga finished materializing.
The entire movement happened within roughly 0.1 seconds.
Tsutsumi had no intention of staying around to control Mahoraga because, quite simply, he couldn't.
He had not subjugated the Shikigami. That meant he had absolutely no control over it.
Normally, the moment Mahoraga was summoned, the closest living target would immediately become its priority, with the summoner usually being the first person it would attack simply because they were standing closest to it.
Tsutsumi had already accounted for that. By diving into his shadow and slipping into another space before Mahoraga fully manifested, he had effectively removed himself from the battlefield for that brief moment.
Which left the closest target to Mahoraga as someone else.
The Shikigami slowly turned its head toward the masked Rider standing nearby.
Wiseman's eyes widened beneath his orange gemstone-like mask.
"...What?"
Mahoraga lowered its body. Then it charged.
"Everyone, get back!" Wiseman shouted as he immediately raised his hand toward the approaching Shikigami, placing the ring on his hand against his Driver.
His other hand thrust forward.
Chain! Now!
Multiple magic circles suddenly appeared around Mahoraga, and from each one, thick metal chains shot outward and wrapped tightly around its arms, legs, and torso. The chains pulled in opposite directions, attempting to restrain the Shikigami before it could reach Wiseman.
The Huntsmen and Huntresses nearby immediately began backing away, some raising their weapons while others simply stared at the creature trapped in the magical bindings.
Then...
CLUNK!
The enormous wheel above Mahoraga's head rotated once. The sound echoed across the battlefield like the ringing of a massive bell.
Mahoraga flexed its body. The chains immediately began to strain. Then they shattered.
The broken pieces of metal flew in every direction as Mahoraga tore itself free through sheer physical strength. Before Wiseman could react, the Shikigami raised its right arm, the massive Sword of Extermination attached directly to its right hand.
It swung downward. Wiseman barely managed to step backward. The blade missed him by inches and slammed into the ground.
The impact tore a massive scar through the battlefield, splitting the ground and sending chunks of stone flying through the air. Several nearby Huntsmen were forced to throw themselves aside as the shockwave rolled across the area.
"Move!" someone shouted.
Mahoraga pulled its blade free and immediately charged again. There was no hesitation.
Nor strategy; it didn't distinguish between friend and enemy. Anyone who appeared in front of it was simply another target.
Qrow immediately understood what was happening.
"Dammit!"
He tightened his grip around Ruby and jumped backward, putting as much distance between himself and the Shikigami as he could.
Under normal circumstances, he would have been more than willing to turn around and settle things with Tsutsumi after what happened to Ruby, but there was no point in thinking about that now.
Ruby was badly injured. Her eyes were bleeding, and she was barely conscious in his arms. Getting her somewhere safe had become his only priority.
"Hang on, Rubes," Qrow muttered as he jumped across the ruined ground. "We're getting you out of here."
The Shikigami lowered its body and charged. Qrow glanced over his shoulder.
"You've got to be kidding me."
Mahoraga was already closing the distance.
Its footsteps shook the ground beneath them, and the massive blade dragged slightly across the pavement as it accelerated.
Qrow pushed himself harder.
He couldn't fight properly while carrying Ruby, and even if he could, there was no guarantee that he could stop whatever the hell this thing was.
Just as Mahoraga raised its blade. Purple energy suddenly wrapped around its entire body. The Shikigami stopped mid-stride.
Glynda stood several meters away with both hands raised, her teeth clenched as she poured everything she had into her Semblance.
"Keep moving!" she shouted toward Qrow.
Qrow didn't need to be told twice. He jumped away with Ruby as Glynda increased the pressure.
The pavement around Mahoraga cracked as its body was forcibly pushed downward by the telekinetic force.
"Stay... down!"
For several seconds, Mahoraga actually struggled.
Glynda's eyes narrowed as she poured even more Aura into her Semblance, trying to keep the creature pinned in place.
"Come on..." Her arms began to tremble. "This thing is stronger than it looks."
Mahoraga slowly raised its head. The wheel above it turned.
CLUNK!
Mahoraga suddenly moved.
Glynda's eyes widened.
"No..."
The purple energy surrounding its body broke apart as if it were nothing more than glass. The backlash hit Glynda immediately.
"Ahhhh!"
She was thrown backward by the force of her own broken Semblance, crashing through the wall of a nearby building and disappearing behind a cloud of dust.
"Glynda!" Someone shouted.
Mahoraga had already turned toward the other Huntsmen.
Wiseman stepped forward again.
Chain! Now!
Magic circles appeared around Mahoraga once more. The same metal chains shot out and wrapped around its body.
But this time, the result was different. Mahoraga didn't even stop. The chains snapped almost immediately.
"What?!" Wiseman's eyes widened.
He had expected the Shikigami to break them eventually, but not this quickly.
"Impossible..."
Mahoraga swung its blade toward him. Wiseman immediately threw his hand forward.
Barrier! Now!
A large magical barrier appeared between them just in time. The Sword of Extermination struck the barrier.
The barrier shook violently. Wiseman was pushed backward several steps, his boots scraping against the ground as he struggled to maintain the spell.
"Hold!"
The barrier cracked as Mahoraga swung the blade again.
Wiseman's expression changed.
"Hold!"
Another crack appeared.
Then another.
Mahoraga pushed harder.
Before the barrier could completely collapse, a barrage of Dust rounds suddenly flew across the battlefield.
Fire, ice, lightning, and wind struck Mahoraga from multiple directions. The Shikigami raised both arms, shielding its face as the elemental attacks exploded against its body.
"Keep firing!!"
"Hold nothing back!!"
Their confidence returned almost immediately. For the first time since Mahoraga had appeared, they had something that looked like an advantage.
The Huntsmen continued firing.
Fire rounds exploded against its chest. Ice spread across its arms. Lightning crackled over its body. Wind blasts pushed against its legs. Mahoraga stood in the center of the barrage, taking attack after attack without moving.
Then the wheel turned.
CLUNK! CLUNK!
Mahoraga lowered its arms. The Dust attacks struck its body directly.
Yet nothing happened.
The flames simply burned across its skin without leaving a mark. The ice shattered against its body. Lightning passed across its muscles without slowing it down.
The confidence of the Huntsmen disappeared almost instantly.
"Keep firing!"
"Don't stop!"
But it was already too late.
Mahoraga charged once more. The massive Shikigami crossed the distance between them in an instant, ignoring the continuing barrage as though the attacks weren't even worth acknowledging anymore.
One Huntsman barely had time to raise his weapon. The Sword of Extermination thrust forward. The blade pierced through him and lifted him completely off the ground.
"AHHHH!"
Mahoraga pulled the sword back and threw him aside. The Huntsman crashed into the ground several meters away. The others immediately backed away in panic.
"What the hell is that thing?!"
"Fall back!"
"Don't let it get close!"
Mahoraga didn't care. It simply turned toward the next closest target.
Wiseman stepped between it and the retreating Huntsmen.
His expression had become much more serious. He raised both hands. The magical energy around him intensified. But before he could cast another spell, Winter stepped forward.
"Get out of the way!"
Glyphs appeared beneath her feet.
She rapidly summoned several Grimm made entirely from ice and Dust, including Nevermores, Beowolves, and Boarbatusks.
The summoned creatures immediately charged Mahoraga from every direction.
The Nevermores dove from above. The Beowolves rushed toward its legs. The Boarbatusks charged headfirst.
The first Nevermore reached it. The Sword of Extermination cut straight through its body, destroying the frozen Grimm in a single motion.
A Beowolf lunged from the side. Mahoraga grabbed it by the throat and threw it into another summoned Grimm, shattering both of them against the ground.
A Boarbatusk rolled toward it. Mahoraga simply stepped aside and brought its blade down.
The creature split apart into chunks of ice and Dust.
Winter's eyes widened.
"They're not slowing it down at all..."
Mahoraga continued forward. The summoned Grimm were barely an obstacle. Their bodies were made from ice and Dust, and after adapting to the elemental attacks used against it, Mahoraga had no difficulty destroying them one after another.
It cut through them with the same effortless motion one might use to cut through tall grass. And with every step it took, the Shikigami moved closer toward the remaining Huntsmen.
Dupe! Now!
Three magic circles suddenly appeared around Mahoraga, their glowing rings cutting through the darkness as three identical figures rose from them one after another. Within seconds, four Wiseman stood surrounding the Shinigami, each one immediately reaching toward their Driver as they prepared their next spell without giving Mahoraga even a moment to recover.
The four Riders quickly placed another ring onto their hands and pressed it against their Drivers.
Special! Now!
All four of them raised their hands at once, and the magic circles around their palms erupted with flames, four streams of fire surging toward Mahoraga from every direction. The combined flames collided against the Shinigami's body, filling the battlefield with a tremendous explosion of heat and light that briefly illuminated the dark night surrounding Beacon.
For a moment, Mahoraga disappeared completely behind the flames.
The surrounding Huntsmen and soldiers stopped firing, watching the burning mass with desperate hope that perhaps, just maybe, the attack had finally managed to bring the monster down.
CLUNK!
The wheel above Mahoraga's head turned.
The flames surrounding its body suddenly began to fade as Mahoraga stepped forward through them. The Shinigami had gone from struggling against the flames to simply walking through them. Its body was still smoking, but the burns that had covered its white flesh were already disappearing.
One of the Wisemen froze.
Mahoraga's gaze locked onto him. The Shinigami suddenly lunged forward.
"Wait!"
The Sword of Extermination came down. The clone barely had enough time to raise his arms before the massive blade cleaved through him, cutting him apart and causing the entire clone to disappear in a burst of magical energy.
Explosion! Now!
Another Wiseman immediately thrust his hand forward.
A magic circle appeared directly beside Mahoraga's body before erupting into a point-blank explosion. The blast swallowed the Shinigami completely.
The Wiseman didn't even wait to see the result before stepping backward.
The smoke began to clear. Mahoraga was still standing. The Shinigami slowly turned its head toward him.
Mahoraga swung its blade. The Wiseman tried to move, but the Sword of Extermination passed through him before he could fully escape. The clone split apart and vanished.
At that moment, the commotion finally attracted the attention of the Atlesian Knights surrounding the area.
Their weapons immediately turned toward Mahoraga.
Dozens of weapons opened fire. Bullets tore through the air and slammed into Mahoraga's body. The Shinigami didn't even bother looking at them. The rounds struck its body, bounced off, and scattered across the ground.
Mahoraga had already experienced attacks like these. The wheel above its head turned slightly.
The Atlesian Knights unknowingly gave Mahoraga another opportunity to become even more resistant to the weapons being used against it.
Then the Grimm broke through. A group of Beowolves and Creeps rushed through the opening in the defensive line, followed by larger Grimm that immediately charged into the battlefield.
The soldiers suddenly found themselves fighting on two fronts.
"Grimm incoming!"
"Don't let them through!"
"Keep that thing away from us!"
Mahoraga didn't care about any of them.
It simply moved. The Sword of Extermination swung through the battlefield, cutting down anything that happened to stand in its path. A Beowolf was split apart. An Atlesian Knight was sliced through its armor. A Grimm lunging from behind was struck by the back of the blade and sent flying into a ruined wall.
The battlefield became even more chaotic.
For once, the usual enemies of Vale found themselves fighting toward the same target. Grimm attacked Mahoraga. Atlesian Knights fired on Mahoraga. Huntsmen and Huntresses attacked Mahoraga. Soldiers fired alongside them. Even Wiseman's remaining clones continued throwing everything they had at the Shinigami.
For a few brief moments, the battlefield almost looked united. Not because they had suddenly become allies. They simply had a common enemy that was dangerous enough to make their differences irrelevant.
"Don't stop!"
"Hit it from the sides!"
"Keep it busy!"
"Someone get behind it!"
Mahoraga continued walking through the combined assault.
The sheer number of attacks began to pile up around it, explosions filling the air as Dust rounds, bullets, magic, and weapons struck from every direction.
Mahoraga was buried beneath the attacks. Then it stepped out.
Wiseman's expression became increasingly tense.
"This isn't working..." He clenched his fist. "Then we'll have to hit it harder."
He pulled another ring toward his Driver.
Yes!
The Driver responded.
Kick Strike! Now!
A magical circle appeared beneath Wiseman's feet as powerful energy gathered around his body. He stepped forward and launched himself into the air, his entire body becoming surrounded by magical energy as he aimed himself directly at Mahoraga.
"Now!"
The remaining Huntsmen unleashed everything they had at the same time. The Atlesian Knights fired another barrage. Soldiers emptied their magazines. Huntsmen attacked with their weapons. Dust explosions erupted across Mahoraga's body. The remaining Wiseman clones fired their magic from different angles. Even several Grimm rushed toward the Shinigami, adding their own attacks to the growing storm.
And through all of it, Wiseman came down from above.
"RAAAAH!"
His Rider Kick struck Mahoraga directly in the chest. The combined impact created a massive explosion that shook the surrounding buildings.
For a moment, Mahoraga disappeared inside the blast. Wiseman landed several meters away and immediately turned toward the smoke.
The battlefield became strangely quiet.
Everyone watched. Even the Grimm seemed to pause.
Then the smoke began to clear.
Mahoraga stood in the center of the crater.
Its body was damaged. But it was still standing.
Wiseman's expression slowly fell.
"No..."
The wheel above Mahoraga's head turned again.
CLUNK!
The sound carried across the battlefield.
Mahoraga suddenly disappeared from everyone's vision. Wiseman's instincts screamed at him to react, but Mahoraga was already standing directly in front of him.
The Sword of Extermination thrust forward. Wiseman tried to raise a magical barrier. The blade pierced straight through the barrier and his body. The impact forced the air from his lungs as the sword passed through him, blood spilling from the wound as his arms slowly dropped to his sides.
Wiseman stared down at the massive blade buried through his body.
His fingers trembled. He tried to move; he tried to use his magic.
Mahoraga slowly pulled the Sword of Extermination back. Wiseman's body fell forward, his strength finally leaving him as he collapsed onto the ground.
...
In the ruined city of Vale, Tsutsumi walked toward the remains of Beacon Academy in the distance, his expression cold and detached as he moved through the streets that had once been filled with people.
The city was almost unrecognizable now.
Buildings had been damaged or completely destroyed, vehicles were abandoned in the streets, and smoke still drifted through the air from the fighting that had taken place only moments ago. Grimm wandered through the ruins while the remaining soldiers and Huntsmen struggled to contain them, but Tsutsumi barely paid any attention to what was happening around him.
His attention was somewhere else.
He was currently wearing the form of W Xtreme, with the Gaia Library allowing him to access and analyze the information contained within this world's history.
And the more information he found, the more disappointed he became.
Because all of this...
It was fake.
Not completely fake, of course. The suffering was real. The people who had died were real. The destruction around him was real.
But the reason behind it all?
That was what disappointed him. This endless war against the Grimm. The conflict between humans and Faunus. The various fairy tales that had been passed down through generations, telling stories of ancient heroes, monsters, and mysterious figures that most people had long since forgotten.
All of it eventually led back to the same two people.
Ozpin, or, more accurately, Ozma. And his corrupted former wife, Salem, the woman who had become the Queen of the Grimm.
The longer Tsutsumi looked through the information stored within the Gaia Library, the more ridiculous the entire situation became.
A disagreement between two people had grown into a conflict that had consumed an entire world.
Their personal hatred had become humanity's hatred. Their personal struggle had become everyone's struggle. Their family problem had somehow turned into a war that countless innocent people had been forced to inherit.
"All of this..." Tsutsumi stopped walking. He looked toward the distant remains of Beacon Academy. "...For that?"
He was tired; he could at least accept the conflict between the two of them that had dragged out for so long... He could try to give Ozma the benefit of the doubt... But he could never forgive Ozma for what he had done to Pyrrha.
He was tired of seeing people suffer because of problems that should have ended long before they were ever born. Tired of watching people fight wars without even understanding how those wars had started.
And most of all, tired of seeing the same tragedy repeated over and over again.
Tsutsumi slowly raised his right hand.
"Nine Ropes."
His cold voice echoed through the empty streets. His body began to move. Every movement was deliberate, precise, and controlled, following the motions of the Solo Forbidden Area as cursed energy began gathering around him.
"Polarized Light."
His foot slid across the broken pavement. Cursed Energy condensed around his body, growing denser with every movement as the air around him began to distort from the pressure.
"Crow and Declaration."
Two massive spheres appeared behind him. One red, the other blue.
They hovered several meters behind Tsutsumi, slowly rotating as he continued the dance, their immense power causing the air around him to distort.
"Between Front and Back."
The technique had already reached an output of 120%, but the additional power provided by the chanting pushed it even further, reaching 150%.
The red and blue spheres began moving toward each other. The moment they touched, the space between them seemed to distort.
The two opposing forces merged into something entirely different, forming a brilliant purple sphere that hovered directly in front of Tsutsumi.
The surrounding streets were illuminated by the growing glow.
Tsutsumi raised his right hand. For a moment, he simply stared toward Beacon. There were still people there. People who had chosen different sides in a conflict that had consumed the Kingdom.
But he didn't care anymore. As far as he was concerned, the entire system had already failed.
"Hollow Purple."
The purple sphere shot forward.
It tore through the ruined streets in a straight line, swallowing everything directly in its path as it raced toward Beacon. The immense attack continued forward without slowing, passing through the remains of buildings and scattering debris into the air before reaching the ruined academy.
Then the light consumed Beacon.
A tremendous explosion erupted across the ruins, engulfing the remaining structure and sending a shockwave through the surrounding area.
For several seconds, the entire horizon was illuminated by purple light.
Tsutsumi simply stood where he was, watching the destruction from a distance.
"...What a waste."
And with those words, he turned away from Beacon and continued walking through the ruined city.