"The Catalyst" : A Yang Xiao Long AU! #RWBYWATTYS

Vol.3 / Chapter 11 : "Increase"

The next chapter will be the last before the epilogue

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Rei quickly ducked, bringing his leg to Cinder's side and then quickly following up with a shield to her face. She was sent flying, however she landed gracefully.

"Your strikes are.... rather powerful for a mere rank 70." Cinder said, contemplating his strength.

"Perhaps my information was.... inaccurate." Cinder finished, thinking that she'd have to punish someone for their miscalculation.

"Your information isn't wrong." Rei said loudly.

"I still am a rank 77 huntsman." Rei said, charging forward.

Cinder laughed while dodging his slashes, smiling to herself as she did so.

"You actually think that, with your current power, you could possibly defeat me?" Cinder taunted, quickly kicking at Rei's head, knocking the poor male to the ground. She then pulled her bow from it's place on her back, readying an arrow and pointing the tip at Rei's head.

"Any last words?" Cinder asked. She pulled her arm back, ready to let the arrow loose. Winter was suddenly in front of her, her smaller blade attempting a slash at Cinder's face. Cinder quickly bent backward, firing the arrow at Winter. The projectile found itself in her right leg, penetrating the top of the thigh. She fell forward slightly, plunging her larger sword into the ground as a cane.

"Just one word after this:" Rei responded to CInder's earlier taunt.

"Dragonification." Rei said, the black scales and wings suddenly growing. His eyes took on the blood red that insinuated fear, shocking Cinder and Winter alike.

"Th-This can't be...." Winter breathed.

"He's far more powerful than I originally thought, but even so this is only the power of a rank 96 huntsman." Cinder said calmly.

"Open your eyes, young lady." A deep male voice said behind her. She quickly turned around, surprised.

"Even you can clearly see that his power is still growing." Popsin said, his eyes staring solemnly at Rei. Cinder suddenly dashed towards him, only to have an earthen wall built in front of her.

"I will defeat you in place of Master Rei." Popsin said suddenly on top of the wall. He brought his right arm upwards, then slammed his fist into the enormous wall. The wall broke on impact, causing it to break and fall right on top of Cinder.

---

Yang could see the battle ahead of them, her lilac eyes attempting to find Rei in the cluster of death that they were having.

She suddenly spotted a large, black pillar of energy being shot upwards, willing her father to fly the jet faster.

"There." She said, pointing at the pillar of energy. She could see out of the corner of her eye that he nodded.

"RIght at the center of attention as always. Just like your mother, I suppose." Tai joked, opening the hatch to allow Yang to jump out. They were almost above them now, but Yang needed to grab something else. She got out of her seat and turned around, instantly finding the box that held her namesake. She opened it, finding her old gauntlets Ember Celica. She placed three fingers on them, feeling the familiar texture. She sighed, pulling the two of them out. Underneath the gauntlets was a metal arm, the last thing that she needed.

"Let's go." Yang said to herself, attaching the metallic arm to the lump of flesh and bone where her right arm used to be.

---

Popsin suddenly landed a devastating blow to Cinder's lower ribcage, following up with a quick kick that sent her flying. The pillar of energy Rei had created as soon as his power had grown past rank 98 broke violently behind him. He quickly turned around as Rei suddenly dashed behind him, his dragonic armor aiding in landing a strike to Cinder's face that sent her flying.

"So..... fast." Popsin breathed as he stood there, shocked at Rei's sudden increase. Rei quickly took control of the battle, landing several powerful strikes to CInder's ribcage and face. Rei then knocked Cinder up with an uppercut, using the newly formed tail to grab her by the ankle and violently slamming her into the ground. Stunned by his sudden assault, Cinder was motionless as Rei jumped into the air above her, charging a blast of black flames.

"Has his semblance evolved again?" Popsin asked, turning around and moving to help the Atlisan Forces. The Faunus movement, the "White Fang", had stormed onto the battlefield and seemed to be helping the humans to win the war. Popsin quickly struck out, killing several Grimm easily.

"Master Rei, I wish you good luck."

---

Rei landed on the ground, is knuckles clenching with anger as Cinder slowly stood up from the blast. Blood trickled from a wound above her eyes, but other than that she was unscaved. Not even a speck of dirt was on her flame-like dress. She laughed sinisterly.

"To think, a mere human other than Popsin or Elliot could push me this far." Cinder said, as ie not believing that she was injured. Rei scoffed before he quickly dashed forward again, catching her neck with his tail and holding her up. He was choking her, having grown sick and tired of hearing her voice. She struggled with this action, attempting to use her hands to pull his tail off. She gave her neck space, gasping for air.

"You.... you really think this is over?" Cinder said, laughing despite the lack of air.

"Why do you think we attempted to steal your powers twice? Where do you think your powers went?" Cinder asked, ripping his tail from her neck and freeing herself.

"No, we used that power to revive Nemesis." Cinder said, pointing upwards. As soon as she did, the a dark shadow loomed above the battlefield.

Nemesis, the dragon that had attacked Beacon and was defeated by Ruby, roared at Rei. Rei took several steps back, shocked to see the beast flying again.

"This is over." Cinder said, the dragon firing a very large blast of flames at Rei. He was about to be hit when someone landed in front of him, redirecting the blast with a punch of her own.

"Yang!?" Rei exclaimed.

"How's it goin'?" Yang casually responded, flashing him one of her signature smiles. Her eyes were the normal Lilac, but even then Rei could sense her rise in power.

"I see we've got another dragon problem." Yang said as the dragon rose into the air. Rei was about to respond when Cinder began laughing.

"You just don't get it, do you!? When I said this was over..." Cinder began. She suddenly began charging a black sphere in her hands, her eyes turning black but also turning her pupils red.

"I meant that you were all dead no matter what!" Cinder shouted. Rei looked around them as the Grimm were transformed into dust, the dust soon being absorbed into the sphere.

"What's she doing?" Yang asked.

"She is absorbing their power." Popsin said, appearing near them again. "If we include the massive amount of Grimm that are fighting, her power will soon rise above a rank 150." Popsin breathed.

"When she does, there will be nothing we can do to stop her."

"Maybe the three of you won't be able to stop her," a female voice said behind them.

"But we can. And we will." Summer Rose said, walking past them. Qrow, Elliot, and Crystal all walked behind her, following her. Yang was suddenly tapped on the shoulder.

"Hello, my daughter." Raven Branwen said before following suit.

"They're actually..... Going to try?" Rei said, watching in disbelief.

"We will too." Yang said, pulling him forward.

"I envy the youth. So energetic." Popsin said as he too followed.

"That's right, come to me. Come to your death." Cinder's voice echoed from her position.

"I will kill you all."