Five days of fruitless searching across Vale had driven the Reincarnator to the brink. His silver-streaked hair was mussed, and his eyes, usually cold and calculating, were now wide with a frantic madness.
Ruby Rose, who had only offered a sympathetic look, became the lightning rod for his frustration.
"Useless! Useless!" he snarled, his voice cracking. He seized the small girl by the scruff of her cloak, his grip like iron. With a vicious grunt, he hurled her across the room. She slammed into a far wall, the air driven from her lungs in a choked gasp before she scrambled away.
"Get out of my sight!" he bellowed, chest heaving.
Ruby fled, the door clicking shut behind her. The Reincarnator stood alone, trembling with rage.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion ripped through the otherwise silent afternoon, followed by a brilliant orange flare visible through the window.
"What!?"
His rage immediately curdled into suspicion. He vanished, his body flickering out of existence as he initiated an Instant Teleportation to the source of the blast.
He materialized in a soot-stained alleyway. Standing amidst the smoke, a slender figure in maid attire—Killer—held an empty, dented gas canister.
"You!" he spat, recognizing the time-manipulating pest from his constant harassment.
Killer giggled, a high-pitched, infuriating sound. "Oops! Gas leak, I promise." She winked, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
The Reincarnator's katana, Muramasa's Edge, screamed free of its sheath. He moved instantly, activating his skill, Crimson Slash of the Forgotten, a blur of red-tinged motion aimed for her neck.
Clang!
The slash hung in the air a hair's breadth from Killer's skin. Time had stopped.
Killer, still giggling internally, felt the slowest possible drag of the Reincarnator's movement.
"Tsk" she thought, annoyed. His control over causality was stronger than most. Even in her frozen time, his body was inching forward. She snapped her fingers and performed a swift, non-linear Teleportation.
When time resumed, the Reincarnator's sword met only air.
"She escaped again!" he screamed, slamming his fist against the brick wall, causing the mortar to crumble.
He didn't register the flash of silver until it was too late. A small, ornate pocket watchMurder's weapon spun through the air and struck him squarely on the forehead. The world instantly seized, the air around him crystallizing. He was frozen in a time, a statue of pure fury.
"Heh. Now!" Murder's voice was sharp, cutting through the silence.
Then i raised my hand, the air thick with latent mana. The chant for my Reality Marble began, solemn and powerful.
"Tinged in bloody sin, one yet budding in the deep dim, flooding field of ghostly flowers... come what may for any price of pay, there will be still no way to turning back the hours. Lifted to the present altitude upon the peasant dralf of past defeats..."
As the final word resonated, a complex, silver-edged magic circle blossomed beneath me.
"Budding Field of Ghostly Flowers!"
The street shattered. The gritty world of Vale was instantly replaced by an ethereal plane: a vast, infinite field of white, ghostly-glowing Spider Lilies, their petals tinged with crimson at the tips. The air was silent, heavy, and mine.
"Such a beautiful view," Insanity whispered, appearing beside me, her eyes shining with manic delight.
[Playing: Nights of Nights] - The music, a thumping, aggressive electronica, began to play from seemingly nowhere.
"This is our chance! Go now!" Murder commanded.
The frozen Reincarnator, within the boundaries of my Reality Marble, began to move again—albeit still sluggishly, resisting the field's influence.
"Lightspeed 'C. Ricochet'!" I shouted, throwing a single silver knife. It shot out, a blinding streak, then sharply changed direction mid-air, a perfect trick shot aimed for his knee.
"Maid Secret Skill: 'Killing Doll'!" Insanity followed, cackling as dozens of razor-sharp knives materialized around her, ready to fly.
"Illusory Sign: 'Jack the Ludo'!" Murder joined the fray, the air around her distorting as bullets, seemingly made of solid shadow, formed and tracked the target.
"Don't give him a chance to rest! Spam your Spell Cards!" Murder yelled, already casting again. "Maid Secret Skill: 'Killing Doll'!" Her knives flew, not in a straight line, but dancing through the ghostly flowers, hitting the Reincarnator from every conceivable angle.
"Damn!" he roared. Hit by multiple knives and bullets, he bled black in my ghostly field.
"Instant Teleportation!"
He vanished, instantly reappearing behind Horror.
Snap!
A shot rang out, hitting his arm.
"Leave them alone!" A woman in a red-hooded cloak, perched impossibly high on a spectral tree branch, shouted down. It was Ruby Rose, back and ready to fight.
"What!? Why you—" he snarled, turning his attention to the girl.
That was all the opening I needed. I instantly materialized behind him, my silver knife aimed for a lethal backstab. He wasn't a true fool, however. He twisted, grabbing my wrist mid-thrust and violently slamming me into the ground of ghostly flowers.
"Lightspeed 'C. Ricochet'!" Killer, having rejoined the fight, ran at him, engaging in brutal close-quarters combat.
"You're fast, but those designs give you no battlefield advantage, what so ever. " she smirked, dodging a wild, frantic swing. As she danced away, a small magic circle appeared beneath his feet and exploded in a flash of temporal energy.
"You bastard!" he screamed, staggered.
"That person... is you! Hahaha!" Killer mocked, referencing the circular nature of the spell.
He spun to counter-attack, but a massive shadow fell over him. Horror, silent and terrifying, appeared from the bloom, her massive axe arcing down with impossible speed and accuracy, burying itself deep into his chest.
His scream was cut short as I rose, my clothes clean again, and spoke the final words.
"Goodbye."
"Wound Sign: 'Inscribed Red Soul'!"
The Reality Marble resonated with the final Spell Card. The Reincarnator's body, already weakened and cleaved, instantly atomized, ripped apart on a molecular level by the sheer force of inscribed time. A crimson rain of blood pattered down onto the white, ghostly flowers.
I turned elegantly toward my clones and Ruby. A subtle ripple of displaced time later, my clothes were perfectly pristine once more.
[Quest Completed: Defeat the Reincarnator]
Rewards Given:
*Patchouli Book
*Marisa Hakkero
[Progress: 45.5% -> 47.9%]
[Mission Completed]
[New World Found. Transporting User on her command.]
"Alright, time to finish up some business." I extended my hands, and the rewards an ancient leather-bound tome and a miniature wooden box with yin and yang materialized in my grasp.
"Good." I pulled them into my Inventory with a faint, silvery shimmer. "Good work, everyone." I offered a small, rare smile.
"Eh, it's alright. I mean, we did plan this, and don't forget who got all the Guy distracted," Killer said, adjusting her cap.
"Well, it's nice working with you, Boss, but we gotta be going," Horror rumbled, already fading.
"Very well. I can summon you anytime. Goodbye."
Insanity suddenly jumped toward me, wrapping me in a tight, ecstatic hug that nearly knocked me over. "Make sure to summon me first, oki~" she chirped into my ear, before letting go.
"Of course," I said, standing up and dusting myself off, though no dust remained.
"Goodbye, 'Original'," Murder stated, a ghost of respect in her voice, before the four of them vanished completely, the Reality Marble dissolving around them, returning us to the soot-stained Vale alleyway.
"H-hello? Heh heh." Ruby Rose, eyes wide and nervous, stepped out from a nearby alcove.
"Oh, it's you…" I regarded her with a neutral expression. "I guess being pulled into that time-blocked Reality Marble was enough to break whatever was controlling you."
"W-what about my friends and sister? Are they still under control?" she asked, clutching her crescent-rose scythe.
"No. He's dead now, so everything is back to normal."
Relief washed over her face. "Miss... thank you for saving us." She gave a small, utterly adorable bow.
So cute, I thought, a rare feeling stirring in my chest. I made a decision.
"Will you join me?" I asked simply.
"Eh!?"
"Will you join me?" I repeated, folding my arms.
"Eh, eh, eh, eh!?" she stammered, before I abruptly grabbed her wrist.
"I won't force you if you don't—" I began, only to be cut off.
"No need! I will come with you but… I want cookies!"
A genuine smile, not a clone's, touched my lips. "Done."
"Then let me bring you back to Vale." I grabbed her shoulder and Teleported us straight to the gates of Beacon Academy.
Beacon Academy - Courtyard
"Where is Ruby!?" Yang Xiao Long demanded, pacing furiously in Professor Ozpin's office.
"Do not worry, Miss Xiao Long. I have already dispatched people to find Miss Rose," Ozpin said calmly, sipping his hot chocolate.
"Hello, Yang!" a familiar, high-pitched voice rang out from the courtyard.
"Ruby!?" Yang shouted, bolting from the office and running toward her sister, wrapping her in a bone-crushing hug.
"Too tight!" Ruby wheezed, which made Yang chuckle and loosen her grip.
"And who's this?" Yang asked, finally noticing the maid standing beside her sister.
Ruby, high on adrenaline and relief, launched into an explanation at light speed. "This is Miss Sakuya Izayoi! She defeated a guy who was controlling us and I woke up in a field of flowers and saw them fighting the guy and the guy appeared behind her and I sniped the guy and saved her then she asked me to join her which I agreed, and now I am here to say goodbye!" She finished, panting heavily.
"Calm down, Miss. Say that again, but less fast," Yang urged, baffled.
Ruby repeated the tale, slightly slower.
Yang stared at me, her lilac eyes serious.
"Okay. Let me get this straight. You're from another world, and now you're recruiting my sister."
"Yes," I confirmed simply.
"I will allow it, but." She grabbed my shoulder, her aura flaring faintly. Her eyes were hard and unwavering. "If she gets hurt, or anything happens to her, I will hunt you down. No matter where, no matter when. I will get you."
"Understood." I met her gaze evenly.
Yang's serious demeanor broke. She slapped my back with a hearty laugh.
"Well, that's all for me then! Take care of her, sakuya."
"Are you ready?" I asked Ruby.
"Yep! I have packed everything I need!" she said, gesturing to a small, overstuffed backpack.
"Well then. Let's go."
"oh wait Zwei i forgot him." She said before running away to get her dog while yang is just smirking.