RWBY: Silver Eyes on the Mountains

Through the Smoke

"Ow! Lady Sen'otome! I'm fine!" Ruby snapped as the Shujenga put in stitches and bandages on her injured arm.

"Hush, child! This is delicate work!" Sen'otome snapped back as she continued applying the stitches.

"Ruby, she's starting with you first. Dad's still waiting for his turn." Yang chipped in, her arms crossed.

"I'm not that severely injured! OW!" Ruby snapped back, before crying out in pain from the needle.

"Easy now, Miss Ruby. I am nearly finished with the stitches. After that, it will be a simple matter of the bandages." Sen'otome explained as she continued her work.

Ruby grit her teeth and grumbled as the work was done. She and Taiyang lay in a makeshift medical center in one of the rooms in the mansion. Several other random soldiers and townsfolk lay in other beds as Azura's men tended to them. Yang and Kenshi stood by as they worked. However, everyone stood at attention as Azura walked in, which got a deep sigh and shake of the head from the samurai lord.

"I see you got yourselves into trouble again. Well, at least something good came out of it this time." Azura said as he sat down at Ruby and Taiyang's bedsides. "Well done, you two."

"Thank you. OW!!" Ruby said with a smile, before yelping in pain. "Can you stop that!?"

"I am done with the stitches, Lady Ruby. Now for the bandages." Sen'otome told her as she finished the stitching, then began to grab a roll of bandages.

"We took care of the bird and its nest. But now we still have that mine and the cult. I don't even know where they went after we kicked their butts. They just got up and disappeared. The quarters we found them in were empty." Kenshi explained, perturbed by what clearly had been occupying his mind for ages.

"We will need to send scouts to try to pick up the trail. Until then, we need to keep our eyes peeled and our ears to the ground for any signs of them." Azura replied, deep in thought.

"Wait, you're talking about the Firewalker cults?" Ruby asked.

"Those were the weirdos in the mine the first time Ruby." Yang explained.

"I thought Mom and Dad made them up to scare me into going to sleep." Ruby said with a huff, before glaring at her dad.

"That was your assumption, Ruby. They're very real-OUCH!" Taiyang replied as he tried to get up only to flinch in pain.

"You two are on strict bed rest. And it is my duty, as given by Lord Azura, to make sure you carry it out." Sen'otome sternly said as she began to bandage Ruby up.

"Just when I finally get to do something, it's taken away…" Ruby grumbled.

Sen'otome glared sternly at Ruby at that as she tightened up a bandage. "OW!" Ruby yelped in pain.

"I can't even begin to imagine why the cult are so numerous now. They always have been a thing, sure, but to see multiple groupings like this active? I've never seen that in my lifetime." Taiyang explained, 

"Whatever they're up to, it can't be good for us. We need to take them out quickly so that we can focus on the Golden Nobles." Kenshi noted, beginning to contemplate a plan.

"With their love of fire and shiny things, you'd think it'd be easy to spot them." Yang said.

"... Wait… could that be what I saw?" Ruby thought aloud, which immediately caused everyone to look at her.

"What did you see, Lady Ruby?" Azura asked, raising an eyebrow.

Ruby sighed, fearing it may make her look crazy, or worse, even more foolish for getting grabbed by the Xianyiang. But, with everyone's attention on her, she took a deep breath.

"I saw something peculiar during my flight to the nest…" Ruby began to say.

Flashback: The Previous Day, in the Clutches of the Xianyiang

"Let go of me you, giant wind chicken!!" Ruby shrieked as she struggled against the taloned grip of the Grimm.

Try as she might thrash or struggle; the unholy might of the great Grimm would not budge. She then, as she struggled, looked down and her eyes widened in horror. The ground quickly became increasingly distant as the bracing mountain air hit her like a frigid fist. Canyons, grasslands, trees, and villages soon became minor points as it flew higher and higher. It was as if she was looking at a map. But something caught her eye.

Near where she saw the rising dust plume coming from what she presumed to be the Golden Noble's Mine, she swore she saw smoke. A thick, billowing pyre of white smoke with great wisps of grey swirling in the wind. Focusing her eyes, she saw what appeared to be the glow of great fires. However, before she could get a further look, her eyes were forced to the sky as the Grimm went into a vertical climb.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" Ruby shrieked in terror as she was forced to continue her rollercoaster of demonstrable dread.

End of Flashback

"I'm sorry I didn't get a better look." Ruby sheepishly said as Sen'otome finally finished with her bandages.

Azura smiled. "That was more than good enough, Lady Ruby. You have given us an avenue of investigation to look into." He told her, gently patting her on the head.

Ruby blushed at such a gesture, alongside a small smile. However, she soon heard Balam ruin the moment with commentary from her subconscious.

'Now is not the time to be flirting with thine mate, milady. Thou must focus on recovery.' Balam teasingly told her.

'Let me have one moment!!!' Ruby shrieked into the recesses of her mind.

"What direction from the mine would you say the source of this smoke and fire came from?" Kenshi asked.

Ruby sat there and thought for a moment, before speaking up. "Northeast. As the crow flies." She explained.

Immediately, Azura looked at his brother. "Kenshi, begin looking into that immediately." He ordered.

"On it." Kenshi replied as he rushed out of the room.

"Mind if I help? I got a bone to pick with them." Yang asked, punching her fists together.

"Be my guest, Lady Yang. I will begin formulating a strategy for the next stage, under the assumption of your success." Azura told her.

"Azura! I don't think you'll have to worry about that!" Kenshi called from outside.

Azura smiled. "Remember what Father and Sensei both always told us, Ken. One must prepare for every eventuality." He playfully replied.

"Well, you might want to see this if you want to prepare then!!" Kenshi answered.

Raising an eyebrow, Azura got up and went to look outside, Yang following close behind. As they walked out of the manor, they saw many of the villagers standing around, looking in a singular direction towards the peak. The two turned in the same direction as they were. Before them, arching high into the sky, was a great pillar of gouging fire, ascending before darkening into thick black smoke. Kenshi, among the crowd, turned to look at them.

"So, what have you prepared for this eventuality, brother?" Kenshi asked, the normal playfulness noticeably absent from his tone. It filled Azura with dread to hear his brother ask that in all seriousness.

"By the gods…" Azura muttered in disbelief.

"Whatever they are doing, this has to be stopped. They could light the mountain on fire. It could spread to others too." Yang said with horror clinging to her voice.

"I am going with you two this time. We need to take care of this right away." Azura told them sternly.

"May I suggest a maneuver from Ms. Rose's playbook at this moment?" Kenshi offered.

Azura nodded. "You may, Kenshi." He told his twin brother.

"Have one of our officers form up the men, and us three go ahead to scout out and potentially engage?" Kenshi explained cautiously.

Azura nodded. "That will do nicely. I will send one of our officers right away and take point on our scouting trip." He told his brother, soon leaving to give out the order.

"Has hell frozen over?" Yang asked, shocked their leader agreed to such a plan.

"I… believe it might have…" Kenshi replied in stunned disbelief.

As the stunned pair were left to grab their weapons, Azura marched his way to the nearest barracks. After a few minutes of basic instruction to inform the officer of the plan, he then returned to the manor to grab his own weapons. Armor, unfortunately, would have to be left behind for the three of them. The unspoken agreement that there simply was no time.

"Are we all ready?" Kenshi asked, hefting his solid aura sword over his shoulder.

Azura nodded. "I am." He replied, slinging his quiver and bow onto his back as he had his blades at his hip.

"Let's do this!" Yang cried out, punching the air. Only for it to activate her aura gauntlets and send a fireball arcing into the sky. "... Okay, I forgot it could do that."

"... Please take care to not do it again, Lady Yang. This is a stealth operation, after all." Azura sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Just think, brother. You can get your own solid aura weapon this time. They're all the rage these days." Kenshi said with a smile as he began to walk out of the village.

"I quite like my ancestral weapons, thank you very much." Azura replied, rolling his eyes.

The three then began the trek towards the ever-rising pillar of fire. Dodging flare up fires in the dry grass and shrubs; they were forced to trek up ancient livestock trails mostly overgrown. Azura drew his ōdachi and began to carve a path for them to walk through. Yet as he did, he noticed tracks in the dusty trail. Tracks made by humans. 

"Fresh tracks. We're going the right way…" Azura told the other two.

"Last time we fought them, there were a lot of them." Kenshi explained.

"Then we'll have to go under the assumption that that will also be the case this time." Azura replied, kneeling to look at the tracks in more detail. "I count… six different treads amongst the tracks."

"We might want to cover our faces. To try to deal with the smoke." Yang chipped in, pulling out several sets of handkerchiefs. "Like you said. We should be prepared for anything."

Azura smiled a bit. "Excellent forethought, Lady Yang." He replied, taking a set from her.

"You know you don't have to call me 'Lady Yang' every time, right?" Yang stated as she handed one to Kenshi, before putting on the remaining set.

"I know. It is simply a matter of respect." Azura replied before putting his set on.

"Be glad Mother isn't here. She'd want you to pick between the sisters so she could get grandbabies." Kenshi chuckled, only to get a death glare from Azura.

"Do not even start on that, Kenshi…" Azura warned him.

"Is she really that bad?" Yang asked as she finished tying the handkerchief behind her head.

"Yes." The twins said simultaneously as they finished tying behind their heads.

With that, the trio continued their trek. After taking the trails as far as they could, they then were forced to climb up a sheer rock wall. To the brothers' annoyance, Yang scampered up it with the ease of a monkey. They were forced to take a more brute force approach as they lurched up it more akin to a great ape. Once they had arrived at its peak, they crouched behind a bluff, peaking over. To their shock, it was greater than they expected.

Logs, bodies, and charcoal were piled in great heaps and lit ablaze as dozens, nay, hundreds of cultists in tattered blackened robes marched into a great tunnel. Some bore weapons, some carried great burning totems, and some pushed great carts into the tunnel. Upon further inspection, they saw the unmistakable bright glimmer of gold in the carts. At the entrance of the tunnel were four monstrously muscular guards, each of them wielding a solid aura weapon of equally immense size.

"This is quite the step up from the last group we fought…" Yang muttered.

"This may be more difficult than expected. We will need to infiltrate to better scout things out." Azura muttered, adopting a thinking pose.

"I have an idea." Kenshi said, looking down at the bluff at some bushes to hide in.

Sliding down the bluff, he was amazed that none of them noticed. However, as he moved into the bushes to take a closer look, he saw that many of them had their vision impaired by their hoods, and many more were too busy looking at the fires blazing to notice. He soon saw three of the cultists observing one of the more distant bonfires, just close enough to the bushes for him to get close. He smiled and snuck up behind them.

Channeling aura into his hand, he concentrated it into his Semblance. He soon made a far smaller, though still quite large, version of his sentinel's hand and arm. Lurching from the bushes like a striking viper, the hand grabbed the three, before pulling them into the bushes. Then Kenshi, before they could react and scream, slit their throats with a tanto dagger. By the time Yang and Azura made it down to him, he had stripped the bodies of their robes.

"These should help us get in." Kenshi whispered as he handed them the blackened, coarse robes.

"We should ditch the bodies somewhere where they won't be found to avoid suspicion…" Azura noted, looking around.

"I have an idea. How good are you two at throwing things?" Yang whispered.

The two raised their eyebrows at that. Yang then pointed to the bonfire that distracted the recently slain cultists. Immediately noticing what Yang was thinking, the two Bushi nodded. One by one, the bodies were chucked into the bonfire, catching alight in oily flames with the rest of the bodies in the burning stack. Then after putting on the robes, they snuck through the bushes close enough to join the great throngs entering the mountain.

"What do you think they could be doing?" Yang whispered as they walked among the great robed throngs.

"I do not know. However, I feel as though we are about to find out…" Azura whispered in reply.

"It kind of reminds me of the worship festivals back home. Just toastier and creepier." Kenshi muttered as he looked around. Many carvings and soot paintings of great scenes adorned the tunnel as they passed.

"I remember Mom once speaking about them. The Smoke Walkers." Yang whispered as she observed the ever-increasing murals and paintings as they walked in the tunnel, illuminated increasingly by burning firelight.

"The who with the what now?" Kenshi asked, confused by the name.

"Long ago, ancient warriors defied their lords. They refused to confess or repent for their sins, so they were forced to walk The Way of Smoke. A great tunnel of fire and pitch-black smoke on all sides. If they believed so fervently they were right, then they would be able to pass the judgement of the Fire Gods unscathed." Yang explained, making sure to keep her voice down and covered.

"That is barbaric madness." Kenshi replied, frowning.

"But, in a strange way, it does make sense." Azura replied contemplatively.

"The warriors entered, determined to prove themselves right. But when they exited the other side, their bodies were shriveled, as if they had been put through a smoker. They were still alive but marked by the gods' clear displeasure. For their undeniable marks of their sins, they were banished. Never to be seen again. But many since then have worshipped these figures. Especially after the Golden Nobles showed up. Mom said something about them being viewed as local figures of defiance." Yang continued.

"There's no way that could be real…" Kenshi said doubtfully.

"I am not so certain of that, brother. After all, we have seen many strange things in our travels, even before coming here…" Azura replied, adopting a thinking pose as he contemplated this.

"Since then, people have spoken of great, smoke-warped warriors who wander the lands. I never put much stock in it. Though clearly these guys have…" Yang said.

"Regardless, we need to do something about these people." Kenshi reminded the two.

"How? There's so many?" Yang asked.

"A classic method used in the founding of Mistral. Hit and run tactics. That or leading them into a spot where we can force them into a series of one-on-one battles." Azura explained.

"I think we don't have time for that, brother. Look." Kenshi said, nudging him to look forward.

Both Yang and Azura did so. The great throngs of people finally filed into a great cavern, lit in a ring by multiple gargantuan bonfires. The air was thick with smoke and fire, sweltering in its heat. A set of stone stairs led to a great flat platform, meticulously crafted by zealous masons, which led to several more bonfires upon it spewing pillars of fire. At its center were robed priests, emblazoned with imagery of fire and death, with relic standards blazing brightly. Yet curiously most of all were a set of three figures on stone thrones. Each covered in furs, feathers, and broken pieces of armor, worn like a trophy cloak over their shadow wreathed frames.

"... I think we found their congregation." Kenshi muttered as they soon came to a stop.

"This… could be more difficult than we thought. We should retreat for now and come back with reinforcements…" Azura whispered.

"How do we get back to the troops? We are boxed in." Yang muttered, motioning to the ever piling in throngs behind them.

"Look around for a way to distract them so that we can get away…" Azura whispered only to be cut off.

"Brothers and Sisters of the Flame and Smoke! Children of the true warriors! It pleases me to see so many of you make it upon this grand occasion!" The booming voice of a robed woman echoed through the titanic cavern.

"You were saying?" Kenshi muttered.

"Well, there goes that option…" Azura muttered in frustration.

The woman who spoke then removed her hood to reveal a face covered in fire themed tattoos. The congregation then let out roars of approval before she raised her hand to silence them.

"We gather here today to signal a new era of resistance to the foreign invaders! To crush to heathens of gold and the traitors of Patch! To purge these peaks in searing, purifying flame!" She cried out.

"Through the smoke! Through the smoke!" They began to chant, before she then raised her hand to silence them.

"But you have been gathered to witness something that has not been attempted in many moons. Today, we will breed a new generation of the great warriors! By The Way of Smoke!" She proclaimed, which caused the entire room to a frenzied cheer.

"Impossible." Yang muttered.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" Kenshi muttered.

"Anyone who is brave enough, with enough conviction, may step forward now to take this trial!" She proclaimed.

Soon many men and women stepped forward as behind the platform the rest of the cavern began to light up in fire and smoke. Revealing a long, wide tunnel with blazing fire and blackening smoke. As the figures on the thrones watched.

"We can't let this happen. We have to stop this." Yang frantically whispered.

"Why not? If they want to kill themselves, I say let them." Kenshi muttered.

Yang then immediately grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him to look at her. "And what if they succeed?" Yang growled firmly.

"Yang is right. We need to stop this now, just in case." Azura replied worriedly.

"Step aside, boys. I got this." Yang said with a smirk before cocking her aura gauntlets back.

"Yang, I don't think that's a f\good-" Azura began to say only to be cut off.

"YAAAANNNG!!! XIIAAAAOOOO-LLLOOOONNNGGGG!!!!!" Yang cried out before firing her gauntlets behind her.

With the explosive force of the fireballs, Yang jumped right before the blast hit her and soon propelled her into the sky. This stunned the vast congregation as they saw a golden warrior flying through the sky on plumes of fire. Before anyone could reach, Yang then punched behind her again, sending her rocketing towards the priestess. Then, with a great crash and a plume of dust and rent rock, Yang stood up over the crumbled, broken body of the priestess.

"Party times over, people! Today, you're going back on clean air!" Yang proclaimed.

"What is she doing!?" Azura asked in disbelief.

"And you were angry at Ruby this whole time?" Kenshi asked as he pulled his sword out from under his robes.

"Apparently, this is where she gets it from…" Azura replied before becoming coated in lightning as he rushed in, dashing through the crowd with a sonic boom whipping behind him.

"And he calls me a showoff…" Kenshi mutters.

Soon, the sonic boom of Azura's movements rippled through the crowd, blowing robes up as the crowd tried to keep themselves covered. Soon, Azura appeared next to Yang in a flash of lightning as another sonic boom rippled through the air in his wake. Drawing his katana and wakizashi, Azura stood at Yang's side as they prepared for battle.

"You are insane, you know that!?" Azura told her in disbelief.

"Sometimes, you have to fight fire with fire!" Yang replied chipperly.

"This is not what that means and you know it!" Azura replied, charging his blades with electricity.

"So, you wish to fight fire with fire, then?" A raspy, billowing voice came from behind them.

The three turned to see the shadowed, trophy-bound figures rise to their feet. Despite Kenshi and Azura's own great height, these figures stood a full head and shoulders above them. Grabbing their trophy cloaks, they soon threw them off to reveal wide frames, scorched and shriveled by what appeared to be extreme heat. Their skin an unnatural greyish black, and eye sockets remaining as blackened holes. Said papery, almost parchment-like skin bore many tattoos, almost like a painstaking saga imprinted into it. They each then grabbed a weapon made of ashen, glowing aura. A great ax, a sword, and a warhammer, each as tall as the figure wielding it.

"So, the legends were true…" Yang muttered in horror.

"How are they alive…?" Kenshi asked in horrified disbelief.

"The gods have forbidden us to die. The gates to the underworld shut to us. But they aren't shut to you." The central figure, the one wielding the warhammer proclaimed.

"We will see about that! No one is truly unkillable!" Azura replied, readying his blades.

"How naive you are." The warhammer wielder answered.

"Begin the Way of Smoke!" The Ax wielder roared, causing a massive wave of cultists to surge forward.

Before they could react, Azura seemed to disappear in a flash of light and a sonic boom. The trail of electricity was all that could be seen as, with each boom of thunder, a cultist was cut down. Yang could not even see Azura moving. All she could see was the trail of lightning briefly before Azura appeared in a flash to cut down a cultist with one or both of his blades.

"How is he moving so fast…? Is this his Semblance at work…?" Yang asked in disbelief.

"Not this time, Yang. Azura is using a signature fundamental technique from our clan's greatest swordsmanship-based fighting style." Kenshi replied with a smirk as the two watched with the three mummified figures as the cultists were mowed down at shocking speeds.

Yang looked at Kenshi in shock. "That's a 'fundamental' technique!?" She demanded, unable to believe such a thing.

"Yes. The highest level of the three fundamental speed techniques of our clan's strongest Kenjutsu style, the Thunder Soul Style." Kenshi explained, turning to face the cursed mummies.

"Thunder Soul…?" Yang asked in amazement as she too turned to look at the walking corpses.

"Yes. Specifically, the mastered version of its highest-level technique for supplementing movement. The Divine Speed technique." Kenshi explained as the one of the priests spoke up.

"What manner of magic is this!?" The priest asked in disbelief.

"Their foreign magic matters not! Brandish arms and attack! For the glory of our lords!!" Another priests roared, pulling out a flaming mace and began brandishing it in both hands.

Before said priest could even take a step, Azura appeared in front of him with a sonic boom. The priest's eyes widened in shock as his robe whipped from the wind pressure while Azura was crouched, his katana in its sheath as one hand was holding the scabbard while the other held the hilt. Azura's eyes sparked with electrified Aura as he used the thumb of his sheath hand to push against the guard of the blade just enough to push it slightly out.

"Thunder Soul Style…" Azura said as he gripped the hilt of his blade.

"Damn y-" The Priest began to say only to be cut off as the blade was quickly drawn from the sheath in a flash of lightning, slashing him from his groin to the top of his skull.

"Cleaving Thunder!" Azura called out as the priest found himself gurgling as he was cut in half in a shower of blood.

"This warrior is swift. He moves like a bolt from the heavens…" The mummy with the warhammer said, observing Azura with interest.

"Do not lose sight of victory, brother." The ax-wielding mummy warned.

Nodding, the mummy with the warhammer stepped forward. "Warrior of Thunder! If you seek a true challenge, then step forward and face me!" He called out.

Azura stopped in his tracks, turning to look at the living corpse. "If it is a challenge you wish, then it will be a challenge you get!" Azura called back, readying his blade.

Kenshi then stepped forward. "I'll take the one with the sword!" He added, hefting his blade to have it at the ready.

"You think that pig sticker shall save you from my blade? Very well." The sword-wielding mummy replied, forcibly curling his charred and papery lips into a crooked smile.

Yang gave a feral grin at that. "Looks like it's you and me, axe boy." She replied, gauntlets at the ready as she looked at the last of the three.

The ax-wielding mummy merely scoffed, and instead of verbally accepting her challenge merely swung the ax at her. Forcing Yang to duck as it came in a wide sweep, nearly taking her head off. Cocking back her fist, Yang punched the mummy with all her strength, the force of her blow smashing him through a cave wall. Leaping forward, Yang took off in pursuit of her opponent.

Rushing forward in a flash of lightning, Azura appeared before the warhammer-wielding mummy. Before the mummy could react, Azura lashed out with a lightning-infused kick that smashed him through a wall opposite to the hole Yang made with her opponent. In another flash of lightning, Azura disappeared to pursue his foe. This left Kenshi alone with the sword-wielding mummy.

"What's the matter little man? Not getting the point!" The sword-wielding mummy asked before swinging the sword at blinding speed.

Kenshi easily blocked the swing with his own solid aura blade. "Nice pun, but no! I was just waiting for us to be alone so I could go all out!" He replied before pushing against the blade to throw the mummy backwards a bit.

Kenshi swung his blade to slash at the mummy, his opponent bringing his own massive blade up to block as the surprising force made him struggle for a moment. Spinning with the force of his momentum, Kenshi channeled Aura into his sword to produce a silver-colored flame. Continuing to spin with the momentum of his swing Kenshi moved into strike.

"Thunder Beast Style…" Kenshi said as he brought the blade to bear, slashing straight into the mummy's body with force that shook the cavern before the flames exploded from the sword's edge. "Burning Thunderclap!"

Once the smoke and dust caused by the attack dissipated, Kenshi looked on in utter shock and horror. Despite the attack landing, and hitting it with its full force, simply a light scratch was left upon its emaciated frame. Not a single hint of heat or burning was left upon it.

"Nice lightshow, boy." The mummy chuckled.

"This… is definitely not good…" Kenshi muttered in shock.

Meanwhile: With Yang

"Not so tough, huh big guy?" Yang asked through the dust of the destroyed wall as she walked inside the gaping maw she just created.

However, Yang found herself being forced to dodge as her foe's ax came swinging out from the cloud of dust. Though it missed her, she found her hair nicked by the blade, strands of severed hair falling to the ground. Gritting her teeth in fury, Yang's eyes turned red as her hair burned like golden fire.

"You… BASTARD!!!" Yang roared, her gauntlets becoming ablaze with golden flames as she rushed in.

Yang unleashed a burning right cross to his jaw that exploded on contact, followed up with a straight left to his chest where his heart would be that also exploded. She then lashed out with a right straight to his left pectoral that also exploded on contact before ending her combo with a fiery left uppercut to his stomach that exploded as well. Panting in anger, Yang smirked in satisfaction as the smoke wisped through the tunnel. As she stepped in, she looked around to see it was some form of a food cellar. With various grains, tubers and game carcasses hanging in a somewhat cool room.

"How do you like that fire in your belly!?" Yang roared. But she then saw movement again in the tunnel. "You have got to be kidding me…"

Slowly she saw the shriveled warrior rise again. While she had put several tears and dents in his skin, it appeared to do little to slow him down. At that point, blackened gums appeared as he pulled back his lips in a smile, before grabbing his ax again. Then he surged forwards towards Yang, his axe at the ready to strike. Yang was forced to raise her gauntlets over her head to block the swing, the force behind it nearly bringing her to her knees.

"What the hell are you!?" Yang asked in disbelief.

"You already know, young one. Unlike your foolish foreigners." He growled in response, coming out more like a beast than a man.

Pushing with all her might, Yang forced him back. The mummy stumbled a bit before swinging his ax horizontally, forcing Yang to jump over it. She turned her body in midair to be parallel to the blade as the blade of the ax missed her and her hair by a mere millimeter. Placing her hand on the side of the ax blade, she sprang off it to swing her leg around and kick him in the face. Stumbling back, the mummy barely seemed affected by the blow.

Rushing in, Yang unloaded punch after punch into him, putting all her strength and force behind her blows. Though he kept stumbling back, her foe seemed unbothered by her attacks. Seeing no choice, she lashed out with a roundhouse kick that pushed him back but did little to actually hurt him as she panted in exertion.

"Accept it, girl. You claim to wield fire. All you are is a flash in the pan." The mummy growled as he dragged the head of his aura ax along the ground as he walked towards her.

"I'll show you a flash in the pan!" Yang roared in frustration, using the fireballs from her gauntlets to launch herself at him as she drop-kicked him as hard as she could in the face.

The force of the kick launched him backwards, sending him flying. While he seemed unhurt, he slammed his ax blade-first into the ground to try to slow his momentum. All with a sneer on his face.

"Don't! You get it, woman!? You can't hurt me!" He taunted.

However, his taunt left him momentarily off balance as Yang hit him with a punch and fireball combo to the face. The sudden force caused him to lose his grip on his ax and sent him flying through the wall. A rush of frigid air came out, catching Yang off guard. When the dust cleared, she saw stacks of giant ice blocks before her.

"An ice cellar?" Yang muttered in confusion.

"AAAAAAARRRRRGH!!!" The mummy's voice screamed in agony from within the ice cellar as it scrambled to try to get up.

"Wait a minute… What's the opposite of fire…? Ice and cold!" Yang muttered in revelation. As she realized it was now or never.

Launching herself forward with another blast of fireballs, Yang launched herself into the mummy as it tried to climb out of the ice cellar. Tackling it to the ground, Yang began punching the mummy as it tried desperately to get her off while the cold continued to affect it. However, rather suddenly, Yang saw him finally stop struggling, slumping down into the ice below him. The last bits of heat radiating off its undead frame leaving it. Yang panted heavily and slowly got off, forced to rest a hand on a wall to catch her breath. All before hearing a roar of pain coming from the central cavern. Distinctly sounding like Azura.

"Azura! Azura, I'm on my way!" Yang yelled before rushing back from whence she came.