Prelude: Sins
The doors broke down as Beowulves charged forth into the central hall of the manor. Already having torn through the corridor that lead to the main gate. The room was burning, the fire having spread quickly from its origin point somewhere in the eastern wing.
Asparagus grasped his katana named Feral Fire and pulled it from its sheath whilst slowly descending the staircase leading to the first floor. The manor which had been his home for decades, his ancestors home and the home of his children was now about to be turnt into ruins. Generations of work laid to waste by an enemy whose origin was uncertain.
He desired nothing more than to just lay down his sword and give in to death, to follow his dear Amber. But he also knew that if he didn't hold the stair long enough, Forest, Lavender and the rest wouldn't make it out of the manor alive.
The first of the Beowulves had now reached the staircase with several others following closely behind, Asparagus started sprinting and raised the sword to his side. In a swift stroke he decapitated the Beowulf in front of him as its blackish red blood sprayed unto his chest and face. He heard the screams of some of the servants in the neighbouring rooms being slain and consumed by the creatures of darkness. He however shove the screams of agony into the back of his mind as he retained focus on the goal at hand. Besides, he wouldn't be able to help them in time.
It was a long time since he had attended Beacon with the hopes of becoming a huntsman. Back when he and Amber had only been partners.
It had been even longer since he fell from that Place, the world that he couldn't really remember and the parents that where now only shadows in his memory but still felt a distant love towards. Most of the memories from before he had already lost by the time he arrived here and realistically the people from that place were most likely dead by now considering his own age.
The Beowulves following the first one had now managed to reach the stairs. The closest one standing upon its hind legs, moving its left paw with claws extended for an attack.
The Beowulf had only begun its strike when the arm was severed from its body, it screamed in pain as dark blackish blood started flowing from the gaping hole that had been opened. However its screams didn't last long as it was soon decapitated in a similar manner to the first.
The second one had used this oppurtunity to try and strike Asparagus from his right but the claw found nothing as Asparagus had sprung into the air. Despite his old age he was still able to move rather well and as gravity pulled him back down he moved Feral Fire downward with both his hands, cleaving the Beowulves head across the middle making it dissolve almost instantaneously.
Adrenaline pumped through Asparagus as he kept the tide of Beowulves at bay for almost half an hour, this was nowhere close to exhausting him despite having lost a good portion of strenght with age. The chokepoint that was the staircase prevented any of the Beowulves from coming more than one at a time, however Asparagus had slowly been pushed backward to avoid attacks and had now almost reached the second floor again.
Suddenly the floor seemed to begin shaking slightly and a rumbling noise broke through the Beowulves growls. Asparagus who had just slain another one of them moved his gaze towards the sea of Grimm bodies pushing in from the hallway. At the back was a body that stood above the rest and was shoving aside Beowulves or straight up ran them over. A loud roar filled the room.
It was a Borbatusk Alpha, not like one of those used for live practice at Beacon but one of the full grown wild Borbatusk. It was almost twice the size of a Beowulf and it charged straight towards the stair and Asparagus.
Asparagus realized that he couldn't beat that thing when it was charging turned around, and sprinted up to the second floor. During his sprint he focused his aura on the blade of Feral Fire, encasing it in his soul and causing the dust woven with such care into its magnificent and ancient steel to resonate.
His feet moved swiftly and he turned around with such speed that he slided backwards a small distance before fully stopping.
Feral Fire was held backwards with the broad side turning up and the energies gathering made it drag away from his body. Flames started appearing across the blood red blade and swirled outwards, growing ever stronger as he poured more and more aura into it.
The Alpha was now halfway up the stairs and showed no intent of stopping, it would be upon him in seconds. The sword now burst into flames flooding outwards and with all his might Asparagus swung it towards the stair screaming.
From his sword flames shot out in the form of a crescent made out of pure aura and dust. The Alpha had no means to escape the blast as it cut straight through it, splicing it in half. The two halves of it continuing forward from the momentum, barely missing Asparagus on his sides. Following up on the scream he now charged, the sword once more held backwards.
With unrivaled speed he charged down the stairs slaying beowulfes as they charged him. Arms, legs and heads rained down as he passed, cutting a swath through the hordes of the black swarm covering the staircase and the ground floor.
Now standing in the center of the first floor, burning sword held behind him like before. His heart was filled with determination as the Beowulves encircled him, growling and baring their fangs, claws extended. One by one they started to charge him however now he kept his speed up, slaying them one by one. The flames cut through their bodies with ease and lit up the area surrounding him. Their blackish red blood flooding the floor before slowly starting to dissolve into small black fragments until nothing remained. His aura flaring with every strike that hit him, showering the room in a mix of green, black and the orange red.
There seemed to be no end to them but Asparagus didn't care, he would take enough of them with him to the grave to allow any of his surviving family to escape, he hoped that they had managed to get out of the house by now but he couldn't be sure. That didn't really matter though as the more he slayed the greater the chance they had of escaping, and both Forest and Lavender had the combat skill to defend the rest.
Thinking about Forest saddened him, realizing that he wouldn't get to see more of his sons life but he was yet thankful to the gods that they had atleast allowed him the time to watch as he grew into the man he was. Atleast he hoped that Forest could recover Feral Fire later and would atleast try to ensure that it survived the battle. The sword had been with the family for over a century, the founder of the house's wife having forged the sword for her husband when he originally cleared the surroundings of Grimm to build this manor. Feral Fire was the last of a collection of several swords that had been held by his family. Most others being lost when huntsmen or family members had fallen throughout the years. Crafted utilizing a certain method of dust infusion that was of no harm to the sword's quality whilst also keeping it sharp and allowing its user to create flames by surging their aura into it.
The region back then had been a large nest for the creatures threatening the surrounding villages before being cleared at the hands of his family and a group of local farmers. Asparagus found it a fitting but also ironic end, to see their old lands being overrun by the creatures they had driven away taking it. Although back then his family had still held the noble goal of helping people.
Since the battle of The Breached Hills, the head of the house was presumed dead together with most of the senior family members responsible for the war and their army.
This essentially meant that even if he managed to repel this attack by the Grimm on the manor, the war was lost and the house was in ruins. It would become another footnote in history talking about how greed and hubris lead to the downfall of yet another people and family in this gods forsaken world. The thought saddened him but he didn't have the luxury of thinking more about it, yet he did want to know who were responsible for the attack on the manor that had essentially come without any warning. He severly doubted that the man in charge of the opposing forces would go so low as to murder children but the possibility still existed.
Another Alpha had appeared and was now charging towards him along with Beowulves at its sides. Looking around himself frantically there was no way out, the black mass of beowulves surrounded him on all sides and just killing the ones that assaulted him took most of his concentration. Eventually he spotted a door to his left, if he cut his way through he might be able to push through the horde and get out of there. But nothing guaranteed that the rest of the family had gotten out yet and as long as he stayed the Grimm were occupied.
It didn't take much for him to make up his mind, he charged to his right slaying a dosen Grimm which cleared a small space around him. He started charging up Feral fire once more. The flames where growing and then his world spun.
He was shoved against the wall by the Alpha, its tusks cutting through his aura and causing a huge dent in his side where the blood was now flowing freely.
The Alpha backed up preparing to charge him again as his body slumped to the ground, his head concussed and vision blurred.
"Father!" A young man's voice shouted from the second floor to Asparagus horror.
He couldn't move his head or even speak from the pain but he did everything he could trying to turn around and yell at Forest to run but to no avail.
The Grimm around him sensing the negative emotions and despair from the young man quickly lost interest in the dying old man and charged up the stairs for their new and more interesting prey. He heard Forest running, probably realizing that Asparagus wouldn't rise up again, atleast it had prevented him from being eaten alive and he hoped the boy would make it out alive.
Strangely enough he felt that he didn't care all that much anymore. As he felt life trickling out of him he lacked the emotion to damn whoever lay behind this. He knew Forest was resourceful and would probably get out alive considering he had made it into the central hall in the first place despite everything on the second floor being barricaded.
What hurt the most was realizing how low the family had sunken. It was fair even, despite it making little sense that their family would find themselves punished for their sins by extermination. He had been against it from the beginning but he had pulled through for them, for the family and he was still proud of his loyalty. To others it might be questionable and even outright evil but in the end, that was what Amber would have wanted.
"Amber, we'll finally meet again"