There was no escaping the screams, even as Arthred woke screaming his own lungs out. Just in time to catch a beowolf trying to turn him into a meal. Instinct, reflexes and experience instantly kicked in, his left hand in its clawed gauntlet catching the monstrous mutt's throat and his right hand catching the lower jaw. Arthred's scream faded into a snarl as he savagely twisted his hand throttling the Grimm, snapping its neck. The beowolf fell limp and silent to Arthred's side as the young man immediately tapped into darker senses looking to see if there were any other Grimm looking for a meal, all while stealing his negative emotions deep within along with the endless chorus that was his nightmares. He was enough of a beacon to the things without actively ringing the dinner bell.
Luck was on his side for the time being, as the nearby monstrous presences were being drawn towards his destination. It seemed that the beowolf had been alone on its own track.
"Right then. Hello breakfast." He muttered with dark amusement. With no nearby threats, Arthred knelt besides the already dissipating Grimm and stabbed his gauntlet's claws into it, after which he directed a controlled burst of his aura into the corpse of the soulless monster, filling the black void of the thing's existence and binding it in a physical state for a time.
With the threat of his breakfast disappearing into thin air dealt with, Arthred walked over to where his bike, which was essentially a heavily armored and armed mobile battering ram fondly named Nemesis, had fallen after his exhaustion had hit him like a truck and made him pass out.
"Business as usual..." He muttered as he hauled the metal beast off its side and hit the switch that controlled the stand mechanism and opened up the storage compartment for his weapon, a massive greatsword named Bliztscream. With a the same practiced ease as breathing, Arthred carved up his meal and returned his weapon to its storage in Nemesis. Tearing into the his breakfast, the dark fighter looked in the direction the other Grimm were heading. Judging from the increasing amount he could sense, Arthred had to be getting close. His scars, notably the only visible ones, diagonal triple claw marks down the left side of his face, itched uncomfortably from the prospect of going towards the monsters' destination.
Pulling the hood of his old patchwork armored trench coat over his the wild mane of storm gray hair, Arthred shook his head. The weather was overcast, but hardly anything worth the hood for a normal person, but it suited Athred.
According to the one he was here for, Arthred would not have too much trouble from the Grimm and more than likely, the thing he was looking for would find him, making his search of the ruins that much faster. She had been quite certain, and given what little he knew, Arthred wasn't about to question her. Yet, he was all too familiar with things going wrong real quick, and of course there was his past experience.
"Alright, just gotta make sure I don't kill the thing I was sent to grab. What could possibly go wrong?" He was certainly in the habit of talking to himself, but he was far from alone and fortunately the Other was not interested, for the moment. Arthred finished up his meal and mounted up, revving Nemesis' engine.
With its unearthly howl, Nemesis tore its way towards the ruins of Beacon.
XXX
Cans, casings, shards rattled and clinked in a maddened symphony of chaos, beneath it Glynda Goodwitch could hear the bone rattle, its rattle, her rattle, of the monster that hunted her.
"Shikashikashika-"
With every rapid pulse of her frantically beating heart, the scratches, bruises and the gash on her left side throbbed. But Glynda didn't dare use her aura to heal herself, she could afford to, the thing that hunted her would punish even the slightest misstep. Leaning against a half-collapsed pillar, Glynda desperately tried to quiet her breathing. It wasn't to hide, there was no point. It, no, she was already nearly on top of the injured and exhausted huntress.
Before encountering her, Glynda had certainly believed in many things. But ghosts had not been among them. Now, she wasn't so sure.
"Don't look at meeeeeeee." The twisted taunting warning came from the darkened shadows to Glynda's left. The huntress had less than a second to throw herself out of the way as a mass of various weapon shards, mecha pieces and various other metal debris slammed into where Glynda had been attempting to catch her breath. There was a flap of leathery wings and an eager hiss. The huntress threw up her riding crop, focusing her telekinesis in a net around her. It was barely enough to stop the scrap metal javelin mere inches from her chest. The effort took more from her than she wanted, but it was a display that was clearly more than the Gorgon had anticipated. Almost as though it had a will of its own, the scrap metal mockery flew back to its twisted owner, Glynda caught a glimpse of a red bat-like wing and a flash of the red and green eyes of the Weeping Gorgon as it pulled back into the ruins.
It wouldn't be long before she returned though and her attacks had been becoming more frequent and ferocious. It seemed as though the Gorgon was getting impatient. Though at this point, it was only a matter of time before Glynda made the one fatal error. There was no telling what state her hunter was in, but the huntress knew for a fact that she was running out of time.
The Gorgon had to be dealt with. The way in which she had wiped out other hunters had proven she was too dangerous a monster to live. Glynda only hoped that her warning had been received.
XXX
Arthred had left Nemesis behind near the outskirts. He hadn't built the bike to be subtle after all, and again, he was going into the heart of a Grimm infestation, distracted as they might be with whatever it was the monsters searched for.
Making his way into Beacon had been easy enough at first, but then Arthred had run into a slight hiccup.
"Care to explain what you're doing here? You're far too confident to be a mere scavenger." An old looking short portly man in a well tailored burgundy suit armed with an fashioned blunderbuss with an axe-head on the butt of the weapon challenged Arthred, and he wasn't alone.
Arthred had Bliztscream at the ready, though he hadn't drawn his blade yet. "I could ask the same. Aren't the elderly meant to go first?" This encounter was a waste of time, but the only option besides it was to fall back and come back later, which Arthred did not have the patience for.
"I believe the term you want is respect your elders, boy."
It also didn't help that Arthred wasn't fond of talking. "Then with no respect, you first."
"I have a gun."
"And fancy mustache to go with it. I'm sure the Grimm all around us will love to come for a closer look when you ring that dinner bell."
"Well aren't you a-"
"Pete." A blond man, appearing about maybe his thirties, dressed in a brown vest over a shirt and brown cargo shorts. Judging by the only armor he wore being on a metal spaulder and a leather vambrace all on his right arm, the guy appeared to be a confident brawler of some sort. "We could honestly use some help, and I'm willing to bet he could use some too. Whatever attacked Glynda's group has to still be around."
"Taiyang has a point Pete." Arthred nearly lashed out at the sudden appearance of the third member of the hunters. A tall, even by Arthred's measure, thin man wearing a long brown gray coat, with a buttoned safari shirt underneath with an oversized backpack. "Still, it would be best if you explained what you're doing here alone, young man."
Arthred eyed the huntsmen, if a fight broke out, his odds were bad saying the least. For now it was better to take Taiyang's offer. So only the truth, to an extent would do. "I was sent to retrieve something in the ruins. I'm guessing you lot are here for a similar reason?"
"Strange that a request wasn't sent to huntsmen." Mustache commented. Arthred gestured around in response.
"Considering what happened here at the place for training hunters, not really."
Taiyang interceded before Mustache could retort. "You might have a point, but this really isn't the best time for any of us to get into a argument right now." He held a hand out to Arthred. "As you might have guessed, I'm Taiyang Shal Long. The man with the fancy mustache you pointed out is Professor Peter Port. And the guy with the glasses is Professor Bartholomew Oobleck."
"Doctor!" Oobleck interjected.
"Sorry."
"Quilldrake, Arthred Quilldrake." His hood shifted as he looked at Taiyang, who suddenly looked surprised.
"Nice to meet you... Huh, didn't realize you had silver eyes."
"Hmm, Quilldrake, I remember that name somewhere..." Oobleck murmured to himself.
Arthred raised his eyebrows in surprise. That comment came out of nowhere. "And that's relevant how?"
Realizing that Arthred wasn't the handshaking type, Taiyang took it back and scratched his head awkwardly. "Sorry, its just rather rare and it reminded me of one of my daughters." Meanwhile Oobleck didn't go into detail concerning his own comment.
Arthred blinked, Taiyang did not strike him as a father.
"And I still think you should have brought your dog, like Ruby did in Mountain Glenn. It would make finding Glynda much easier." Oobleck stated. He unintentionally revealed what the hunters were doing here in the process.
With a shake of his head, Taiyang groaned. "I already told you, Bart. I already talked to Ruby about that, and I am not getting into another explanation here!"
Not interested in wasting time, Arthred started to move past them.
"What are you doing, young man?" Port asked, shifting his gun.
"Moving along, I never said no to your friend's suggestion." For now it would work, preferably to the point where they found this Glynda person before they found his target. Things would get interesting after that. "Or do you want to wait for the person you're here for to save themselves?"
"You're not much of a people person are you." Taiyang commented as they began to move into the ruins.
"You're people, you tell me." Arthred answered, he could sense a small group of Grimm drawing close and drew Bliztscream, resting the greatsword on his right shoulder.
Thankfully the Grimm were more than enough of a distraction to end that conversation and from there on he only had to worry about the cringe worthy times where Port nearly started telling stories about himself, though thankfully both Taiyang and Oobleck stopped him. It was strange, being around people, especially people who actually treated him normal, almost to the point where Arthred caught himself almost lowering his guard around the huntsmen. Hell, he even cracked genuine smile when Port jumped at seeing a mouse.
Yet that feeling quickly dissipated with more speed than dying light with an unusual discovery. It was near a former dormitory when Arthred was knocked through a broken window by an ursa's swipe he'd misjudged. Pushing himself off the floor, Arthred quickly readied to go back on the offense, yet instead, the ursa almost seemed to attempt to flee the area. At least before getting hamstrung by Port's ax.
Curious as to why the Grimm apparently tried to flee Arthred glanced around, and immediately stopped to read what was carved into the walls of the room.
DON'T LOOK! WHAT AM- WHA I... DON'T LOOK. The walls of the room were carved with further words like that.
"You alright, Arthred?" Taiyang came to check on him. "That looked like ahhhh...okay..." He trailed off as he saw the room, even as dimly lit by the overcast sky as it was. "That is definitely new. Peter, Bart, you guys might want to take a look at this."
Arthred looked around, it looked as though the room had been made into a home, a nest, a roost, something along those lines. There was a stained mattress on the floor surrounded in a ring of scrap metal, with several round objects lying on it and a shattered mirror lying where it had been thrown.
"Do you think a survivor was hiding here?"
"If so, they were clearly... disturbed to say the least."
Arthred twitched as he began to feel a strange new somewhat muted Grimm presence a distance away, all while going through a few facts. The ursa had been trying to flee this place, but why? There was only one thing that Arthred knew the Grimm would fear and he also new that that monster was, for moment, not interested in coming out to play. So that begged the question, what else was there to frighten the Grimm? While these thoughts were going through his mind, Arthred felt his boot hit something like a heavy ball. Glancing at what he hit, Arthred stopped.
"Whoever they are they left 'disturbed' behind a while back." He said, picking up the somewhat gnawed and decayed head he'd just kicked. There wasn't much left that could identify the former owner, aside from the blonde mop of hair that remained, almost as though it had been brushed and maintained. Looking back at the bed, which he now recognized the stains as blood, the other round objects were skulls as well... and as he took a moment to note, all of them were blondes.
"By the gods..." Port muttered.
"We need to find Glynda now." Taiyangs voice was filled with worry and unease was clear on the faces of him and his companions, their good humor was now all but gone.
There was an inhuman shriek in the distance, from the direction that Arthred sensed the strange Grimm. Dropping the head, Arthred and the others ran towards it, certain that the person they were looking for was the cause of the disturbance.
They came at last to a darkened, ruined dance hall. Under the darkening clouds they heard a woman scream in pain.
Arthred grimaced as he felt the darkness shift a little behind the wall of numbness that he was shielding himself with. The chorus that haunted him got a little louder as that scream joined it. Without thinking, simply determined to prevent further screams joining the chorus, Arthred put on an extra burst of speed and charged through a window into the building.
At the center of the dance hall, a badly injured blonde woman lay on the ground, while a black humanoid form with great dragon wings and a ponytail of red hair that morphed into a black rattlesnake tail had a scrap iron spear poised for the kill. Bliztscream let out a light shriek as it swung towards the monster. The thing reacted blocking the blow with a round shield of melded metal, yet the weight of Bliztscream's swing forced the Grimm-creature away from its victim. Arthred had to avoid landing on the person he'd just saved, which gave the unknown monster a chance to retreat with an enraged howl. As it fled, Arthred glimpsed its two pairs of eyes, the hate filled red and the horrified weeping green.
"DON'T LOOK AT ME!" It screamed in a surprisingly female voice.
"Glynda!" Dr. Oobleck appeared at the badly wounded woman's side. "Peter, Taiyang, make sure we're safe!"
"What in the name of the gods was that?" Port exclaimed.
Arthred found himself blinking away his aroused bloodlust in surprise. "Wait, you've never seen anything like that, Port?"
The elder huntsman looked shaken, for the first time the mask of confidence had fallen away. "There's never been such an abomination in existence."
That statement settled the last of Arthred's uncertainty concerning what he was looking for. "Guess that's one hard part down." He whispered quietly. From here on, things would only go downhill. The one who had sent him had been right, he would know what he was looking for, something that belonged with the memories that were not his own.
"The...only way we'll be...safe. Is when that- ah- monster...is dead." Glynda gasped. "What are... you doing... here..gah?!
"Easy there, it's going to be a trip to get you out past all the Grimm like this." Oobleck quickly found a first aid kit in his oversized backpack and was tending to her wounds.
The creature hadn't gone far, Arthred could feel it close by, he kept his eyes peeled, moving away from the other hunters. The monster had chosen to flee rather than fight when it encountered more than just its prey, so Arthred was more than willing to bet that it was an ambush predator that liked to pick off its targets. If he could lure it away...
Meanwhile, Glynda explained to the others that the message she'd sent, hadn't been a call for help, but a warning. "That thing... she should not be... She killed everyone else in my group... when we..."
"It's alright, we've got you, we're gonna get you out." Taiyang said moving closer to Arthred. "Arthred, now would be a very good time to let us know what it is you're looking for so we can get it and get out of here."
"What?" Arthred hadn't expected Taiyang to stick around once they'd found the person they had been looking for. If anything he had been think of how to slip away. In fact Arthred was startled enough by Taiyang that he lost track of the monster. "I found it just now but..."
There was another inhuman shriek as the monster returned. A circular object spun through the air at a lethal speed, slashing through a hanging chandelier above and sending the broken light falling down towards Oobleck and Glynda. The Doctor managed to get both himself and Glynda out of harm's way, but the creature wasn't done yet. Clearly its patience had run out as it rushed out from its hiding place. The creature's wings flashed dark red from the shadows and its spear flew through the air towards Oobleck while the beast leapt at Taiyang. Arthred swung his blade at the creature's leaping form, but he felt Bliztscream being shoved away from the monster by an invisible force, causing him to miss. However Taiyang was able to handle himself even as the monster shrieked its strange cry, "You looked at me!" and slashed at him with its claws and buffeted him with its wings.
The huntsman weathered the creature's assault and fell back as the monster's spear flew back to its hand at the almost perfect moment to block Arthred's overhand strike. The monster turned its four eyes on Arthred, allowing him to full see the creature in its, or rather, her full horrifying visage.
The creature's torso was covered in a low v neck breastplate bone armor. Just above the v of the armor, where the creature's heart would have been had she been human was piece of bone jutting out like a broken arrow. Strange high-heeled clawed feet that were a twisted fusion of human and dragon with further bony growths jutting out like greaves reached up her legs. Her arms were covered with pieces of scrap metal armor. For a Grimm, her mask was particularly haunting, the red weeping liquid that came from the pair of green eyes while the red pair were filled to the brim with hate filled madness.
Within Arthred's mind, the Other stirred. "Ah, an interesting Grimmspawn variant..." He referred to the name of the monsters within one of the nightmares he tormented Arthred with.
Again the invisible force tugged at Bliztscream, breaking the lock between Arthred's weapon and the Grimmspawn's, allowing the creature to use her wings to flip over the hooded swordsman, avoiding Taiyang's attempt to hit her from behind. As the Grimmspawn landed, Arthred spun, dismissing the urge to strike at the creature's exposed limbs. A good thing, as the Grimmspawn made a motion as though she was tugging at something, which was quickly followed by a surprised cry of pain from Port. Instinct kicked in and Arthred and caught the vicious spinning scrap iron shield with his gauntlet, leaving his back apparently wide open wide open. A fact he was banking on which his quarry couldn't possibly resist.
"Miss Nikos?!" The Grimmspawn let out a pained and hate filled shriek at the name that Oobleck gasped and retreated back up a set of stairs that led to a platform overlooking the dancefloor. Using her power, her semblance Arthred now realized, she ripped her shield from the swordman's grasp. He grit his teeth and silently cursed Oobleck for driving 'Nikos' away. If Arthred's risk had worked, than the Grimmspawn might have been incapacitated.
"Nononono. No. NO!" She shrieked in anger and despair, dark red aura flickering wildly around her body. All around the humans, various metal objects shuddered, rocked and even lifted from the ground. Arthred felt the Grimmspawn's semblance tugging at Bliztscream and the few metal portions of his armor, such as his shoulder patrons, his gauntlet, bracers and greaves. This time though, the tugging was noticeable weaker and random.
Arthred couldn't help but sympathize with the Grimmspawn a little. She was a twisted mockery, cursed with power she could not understand and worse still, she was aware of it to some extent. Such dark pain was beginning to attract the attention of the proper Grimm, Arthred was starting to add to the dinner bell himself, as the mental wall he had put up was weakening rapidly. Even if there were thing monsters feared, the prospect of food almost always won out sooner or later.
"That Gorgon, isn't her… She has to be destroyed." Glynda managed, trying to stand failing, only able to stand with Port's assistance. Port himself was clutching at a bloodstain on his right side, where the shield must have slashed him when the Gorgon had recalled the scrap shield the first time.
"Go, I've got this." Arthred said. If they got out now then…
"Pete, get Glynda to the ship, I'll stay and handle this." Taiyang stepped forward stretching his arms.
"I said-" Arthred started to growl, clenching his free hand.
"We heard you, young man." Oobleck stated, cutting Arthred off. "However we have a duty as huntsmen here. You should fall back with Peter."
Arthred was barely able to keep his curses silent. The last thing he needed now was the hunters interfering. Yet, letting out a short frustrated breath, Arthred adjusted to this predicament. There was no way to avoid it now, so he started to unlock the barriers in his mind, as there was no longer any point in holding back and he also needed to start ringing the dinner bell properly. "Not a chance. Especially not when my is right in front of me." His eyes rested on the Gorgon where she was recovering on her perch.
She noticed the injured hunters attempting to retreat. "NO! He's mine!" The Gorgon shrieked spreading her red wings. Metal rose around her and with a flap of her wings, the Grimmspawn attacked, the metal rushing forward like a deadly rain of nevermore feathers while she launched herself towards her quarry. As she did so, various remaining lights in the hall flickered to dim and broken life, as the creature's semblance must have accidentally activated a power switch close by. Yet, the Gorgon had underestimated her opponents.
Arthred slashed Bliztscream before him, knocking away a good amount of the metal projectiles, while Oobleck knocked away the remaining threatening ones and Taiyang intercepted the beast. The Gorgon screamed in once again, "Don't look-!" and was cut off as Taiyang's fist slammed into her shield, knocking her back and giving Port and Goodwitch time to get out. Where she landed, Oobleck kept up the pressure with several hit and runs attacks, hitting the Grimmspawn at multiple angles with his insane speed. But the Gorgon managed to withstand them, showing a surprising amount of skill and human combat tactics. Arthred charged in with Bliztscream coming down in a heavy overhead swing. The monster tried to block with her, but the sword was far heavier than Oobleck's thermos and crunched into the scrap iron beneath it. The Gorgon managed to recognize her mistake and angled her shield to reduce the damage as much as she could. Instead of biting into the shield and mangling her arm, Bliztscream sheared off a chunk of metal and kept going and crashed into the floor, sending up a cloud of dust and a brutal jolt up Arthred's arm and charging up the weapon from the force of the impact. Guided by experience and the siren song of his bloodlust, Arthred was already moving with the momentum of his attack though and spun forward counter-clockwise, bringing his closed gauntlet slamming into the Gorgon's face with a ferocious backhand blow. The Grimmspawn used her semblance to lessen the blow, and it was enough to allow her to evade Arthred's slashing follow ups as the swordsman whirled around in a storm of blade and savagery.
Arthred snarled, the Gorgon's semblance wasn't just irritating, but what mind the creature had knew how to use it too. Most of his attacks had missed, though the kinetic force of the abuse he put his weapon through was adding up.
The fight progressed further and more and more turned against the Gorgon, when she fell back from Arthred's assaults, which were so wild and savage they prevented his allies from helping his attacks, she was vulnerable to the combined teamwork of Oobleck, who'd strike fast and quick, occupying her and Taiyang who got some powerful hits in. Even with her martial skills, semblance and inhuman attributes, the Grimmspawn was soon backed into a corner, during which a weakness in the creature manifested. The longer they fought, the more aggressive, erratic and desperate she became, all the while she screamed, hissed, almost to the point sounding like she was pleading, not to be looked at. One such attack left her all but completely defenseless. She lunged at Taiyang slashing wildly, not even noticing as Arthred closed in and swung Bliztscream. Mid-swing Arthred realized he'd managed to blindside the Gorgon and his swing would kill her in her weakened state. He barely managed to tilt his arm so that the flat of Bliztscream's blade struck her in the chest. Her red aura briefly flared, and broke and Arthred heard more than a few things go crunch as she went hurtling across the room. She skidded to a stop on her side with one of her wings obviously broken. Despite the damage that had been inflicted, the Gorgon still held onto her spear and used it to try to force herself to her feet, coughing and gasping. She almost succeeded, but one of her legs was bent at an odd angle, making her drop to her knees. Even if 'Nikos' refused to accept it, she was done, and everyone knew it.
Arthred could feel the nearby Grimm starting to swarm and draw near. But not fast enough to stop Oobleck and Taiyang from finishing off the Gorgon. If Arthred was going to act, had to be now. Though Bliztscream wasn't fully charged, it had enough to get a few shots out. He raised his sword, activating it's thunderclap form. Taiyang moved to finish off the Grimmspawn. Under his breath, in an old and dark tongue, he uttered the beginning a black prayer.
"Only in death is there true peace, in this truth I find despair."
She looked up at her executioner, an unknowable mix of emotions twisting on the face beneath the monstrous mask. Her armor was cracked and the bone point over her heart seemed to protrude more obvious than ever. She gasped a pitiful attempt at a hiss. "Don't-"
As Taiyang readied his blow, Arthred raised Bliztscream, the blade splitting down the middle and electricity crackling down its length, the groan of condensed and charging energy rising from the unstable lightning dust crystal that powered the weapon. He aimed, and squeezed the trigger.
Oobleck realized what Arthred was doing. "Taiyang!" He shouted in warning, less than a second before Bliztscream roared, its railgun blasting out a warning shot that shrieked past Taiyang and the Gorgon, leaving a smoking hole in the wall beyond. Arthred allowed the recoil to slam Bliztscream around towards the ground while the blast of air from the gun blew back his hood and tugged at his mess of storm gray hair.
Astonished by his sudden betrayal, Taiyang and Oobleck looked at him, speechless, so Arthred cut to the chase. "Go now, the one who sent me, she needs that, alive." The noise of Bliztscream had perked the investigating Grimm, now they were properly on their way.
"What? Who would….?" Taiyang stammered. Oobleck's eyes narrowed behind his glasses as he figured out whom Arthred served.
"She… Salem." The air grew heavy, cold and dark at the witch's name. Arthred nodded, keeping track of the approaching Grimm, waiting on the hunters' next move.
Oobleck's eyes darted at the injured Gorgon, the only warning Arthred had before the huntsmen dashed at the Grimmspawn. Yet the dark swordsman had expected as much. He charged and fired Bliztscream behind him, this time letting the recoil blast him forward.
Jolts of electricity from Bliztscream's dust crystal zapped Arthred, but he felt no pain as his semblance, Battery absorbed it. With Battery, Arthred could manipulate electricity in contact with his body at will and use it in many ways. In this instance he increased charge he absorbed and invested it to boost his reflexes and reaction time.
He swung wide, switching Bliztscream back to its default mode, aiming in the area above the downed Grimmspawn. She flinched as the blade soared just over her head, forcing Oobleck back while Arthred spun and skidded to a halt, facing his enemies.
"From despair I learn to harden my heart, so I may crush the hearts of my foes and embrace hate."
Arthred narrowed his eyes as Taiyang hesitantly took a stance against him. In his mind, Arthred use the first of his curses to try to predict what moves Taiyang and Oobleck might use against him. All the while, his senses ticked down as small pieces of debris started to shake and rattle. Five… Four… Arthred smiled bitterly. "Time's up."
All around the four, a horde of Grimm smashed through shattered windows, broke through cracked walls, pour into the hall in a black tide of ravenous white teeth and hateful red eyes. It was a scene Arthred was all too intimately familiar with.
Multiple beowolves leaped at the dark swordsman from behind, drawn by his well of negativity that had lured them. Bliztscream scream carved through the neck of two and bit deep into the chest of another, which was knocked into a fourth by the blade's momentum as Arthred swung his weapon around and kept the power going into his charge.
The Grimm continued in, engaging both Oobleck and Taiyang and ignoring the injured Gorgon, was knocked aside in the onrush of monsters.
In a straight fight against the huntsmen, Arthred had no chance. They'd outnumbered him two to one and though the Grimm now negated that advantage, it was far from a fair fight or better, an unfair fight in Arthred's favor. It only really put a wild card into play. Yet it was better than nothing, and ensured that the hunters couldn't focus solely on him, even as he couldn't return the favor.
Another factor against Arthred was the hunters had years of training and experience under their belts. That point was made abundantly clear when Taiyang, while fending off an ursa, avoided Arthred's attack and countered. Only Arthred's memory of Taiyang's moves allowed him to avoid the worst of it, only taking a few glancing blows. They still felt like hits from a sledgehammer, even through Arthred's aura.
Dispatching his attackers, Taiyang pushed his advantage against Arthred, closing the distance and sending in a barrage of punches and kicks that kept the dark fighter unable to recover, ending when Bliztscream was sent flying from his hand and Taiyang's knuckle crashed into his jaw, splitting his lip and making stars dance across Arthred's vision.
As he tasted iron in his mouth, a detail popped into Arthred's dazed mind. Taiyang's attacks had not been lethal, it was almost as if the huntsman was aiming to knock him out. And if he took another combo like that, Taiyang would succeed.
That would have been the case had a beowolf not crashed into Arthred, knocking away from Taiyang while it tried to turn him into dinner.
"In hatred I curse this world, spitting upon those that made it and gaining the strength to break the bodies of my foes and become terror."
Across his chest, back and right arm, Arthred's skin crawled and burned as the second of his curses activated and the taint and its power spread through his body and blood, sending a rush of euphoria through the Proto-berserker's body.
The time it took to get back on his feet while ripping the monster's throat out allowed Arthred to blink away the swimming stars and meet Taiyangs next attack with something the hunter never expected. One of his own moves. Going entirely off his accursed photogenic memory, Arthred replicated a move Taiyang had used during their search of the ruins, throwing his attacker over his back, using their momentum to slam them into the ground and following it up immediately with a finishing strike.
"Wha-oomph!" Though at best all Arthred could pull off was a shadow, as he had neither the practice nor the muscle memory, the sheer shock for Taiyang having one of his own moves used against him out of nowhere made the it work as far as slamming him into the ground was concerned, though the hunter recovered as Arthred's claws bit into the floor where his head had been a mere moment before. Arthred briefly considered pushing his luck and trying to follow it up with further moves he'd seen. However seeing how fast the hunter had recovered, forced the dark fighter to acknowledge that he needed Bliztscream charged as much as he could in the chaos.
Another factor introduced itself as something slammed into the back of Arthred's head, sending sparks flaring across his vision once more and staggering him. He lashed out blindly with his clawed gauntlet, catching sight of Oobleck avoiding it with ease. More Grimm prevented the Doctor from ending the fight. Arthred's enhanced reaction speed allowed him to evade and get back to his sword while his aura recovered and repaired the damage. Angry with himself for tunneling on Taiyang, Arthred slammed Bliztscream against the floor with a roar of rage, getting the weapon's charge back up to over thirty percent, nowhere near enough.
Once again he and Taiyang found themselves engaged, this time though it was a proper fight, as Arthred focused on abusing the range Bliztscream's blade gave him over Taiyang's fists. This engagement ended when Arthred felt a Beowulf launch itself towards his back. Arthred charged Taiyang, dropping to his knees in a skid as the brawler fell for his feint, skidding by and spinning around, slashing at the beasts that had been approaching the hunter from behind while the hunter was suddenly introduced to the other attacking monster. Whirling to face his enemy, he saw the beowolf getting to its feet after being sidestepped by Taiyang, putting it between him and Arthred. The dark fighter couldn't suppress a savage grin as he charged and ran the monster through, trying to hit Taiyang at the same time.
"Woah!" The brawler fell back, startled but unharmed, forcing the dark fighter to adapt. Giving Bliztscream a twist to end the mortally wounded beowolf, Arthred swung the beast's dissolving corpse at the living members of it's kind as a massive morbid war hammer. In all honesty, Arthred couldn't help but smile madly as he beat more than a few Grimm to death with the beowolf's corpse.
Yet all good things are fleeting. An alpha ursa charged Arthred. He met the Grimm's swipe with a swing of his own, the beowolf's corpse finally succumbing to the abuse and falling to pieces of dissipating meat. Both Arthred and the ursa staggered back, but he recovered before the monster and swung again. Bliztscream hewing the beast's arm in half. With another swing, the alpha's neck followed suit.
Immediately after, once more Arthred found himself engaged against Oobleck. He managed to fend off enough of the Doctor's attacks to charge Bliztscream up past three fourths of its charge, but the huntsman broke though his attacks and slammed his weapon into Arthred's chest, knocking the wind out of his lungs and forcing him to his knees. Oobleck followed up with a blow to Arthred's head that sent him rolling, slamming into a wall. In the process be lost his grip on Bliztscream once again.
"As terror, I accept the inevitable, freeing myself from the lie of hope, and so shatter the minds of all who cling to such delusions."
Darkness crept into Arthred's vision while his newly acquired welts and bruises throbbed across his body as his aura healed them. Before he could recover, the Grimm were on him. Fangs dug past his bracers and into his wrist and gnawed and tugged at his ankles while claws bit into his chest as the monsters tried to tear him apart. The darkness at the edge of his vision and the monsters holding him down triggered one of Arthred's worst memories. His eyes went wide and his breath became shallow as he felt panic swell within him and remembered the feeling of hands clasping his throat and suffocating any scream that might attempt to escape.
"Mother." He gasped, a tear slipping from his eye.
Dangerously quiet as the wind dying before the storm, the Other spoke with the angry promise of violent destruction. "Vessel, do I have to clean up your mess?"
The hellish images from the tomb vanished, the hands strangling his throat vanished back into the past and Arthred's panic was stilled by the Other's irritation, his heart squeezed by the terror that was promised if the Other was forced to take matters into his own hands.
The claws and fangs had already made it through his aura and craved new scars into his limbs and torso as Arthred used his might to slam the head of the beowolf biting his left arm against the cracked wall. The intact lights Arthred was able to spot flickered from the impact and there was the light crumbling crash of a portion of the wall. The Grimm fell away and with an enraged growl, Arthred braced him himself to bring forth the worst of his curses, also head butting another beowolf that missed taking a chunk out of his neck. However there was an electric snap and crackle from where he had introduced the beowolf's head to the wall. Through the Grimm clawing him, Arthred spotted Taiyang and Oobleck fighting frantically, as though they were trying to save him.
His eyes widened with confusion, Arthred changed tactics, instead opting for a more risky plan. He slammed his gauntlet into the hole in the wall, digging the claws in blindly towards the source of the one sound besides snarls and battle. He found it not a moment too soon, tugging at the wires recklessly as the the Grimm he headbutted came for another go.
The lights in the room died as Arthred's semblance gulped up every last shred of electricity left in the building. The Grimm unfortunate to have fangs or claws embedded in the dark fighter's flesh were nothing but ashes as Arthred multiplied the charge he absorbed as many times as he could, supercharging everything and surpassing his max capacity. The beowolf going for Arthred's neck was knocked back with a stronger headbutt reinforced by his fully recovered aura. With his speed, reactions and reflexes charged up, Arthred was on his feet and had his claws in the Grimm's throat before the force of the headbutt had dissipated. With his feeding off the energy of his Semblance, the taint spread and enhanced Arthred's strength, it only took as twist of his wrist to rip the Grimm's head off almost entirely. There was little need to watch concern himself with the Grimm behind him, as the surplus electricity from his semblance blasted out of his back in large electric tendrils as though he had wings of electric lightning. Now, as the pain from his injuries was starting to subside as they healed, Arthred was intent on letting the monster he was out.
Now his speed matched Oobleck's, hell the Doctor even appeared to be slower now, the overcharged fighter's boots skid across the floor as he sped to reclaim Bliztscream. The moment the blade was in his hands, Arthred flooded the weapon with power, fully charging it, allowing him to activate the blade's thunderstrike form. Light flared angrily from the unstable crystal as Bliztscream's high frequency vibration form activated.
"For there is no escape, no salvation, no safety. In the name of the storms of Earth, Water and Air, I shall earn my place in the afterend."
The light screams of Bliztscream, that came from two small grooves on both sides of the blade, before were nothing compared to the fully charged blade's shriek. It spun in utter carnage, slicing through flesh, bone and floor like a burning blade through butter. Arthred had to consciously tighten his grip to avoid losing his sword again as it all but flew through Grimm in its screaming havoc. Barely any time passed before Arthred had butchered the Grimm between him and the hunters.
Now Arthred felt truly conflicted. Before, he'd been able to ignore his doubts, the knowledge that what he was doing was unjustifiable in any light save the most evil. He was already damned and there was no escaping the inevitable tide of Grimm and screams for anyone. However, now he was facing two good men, people who had fought beside him however briefly, who had even been trying to save him. Arthred couldn't understand, it was all but impossible for him to be worth anything to anyone but the Other. But there they were.
That conflict, stopped Arthred from completely going berserk, from bungee jumping into the ocean of maddened bloodlust and havoc. His one refuge where he felt unbroken. Where he could revel in tearing apart the monsters that had played such a role in making him the monster he was.
But he still needed the Gorgon alive, he had to succeed in Salem's task. Arthred knew the one he was seeking had gone to the witch. He had to be with her. She, the first person he had come across after emerging from hell.
Oobleck attacked during Arthred's moment of hesitation, but to the fully charged proto-berserker, the Doctor now appeared far slower, and the crimson glow of the tribal-like marks of the taint spreading across his face.
The Proto-berserker caught the brawler's punch. Even with the power of the taint, the punch was strong enough to send a painful shockwave up Arthred's arm, a pain which he returned in full by shocking Taiyang and nailing him in the chest with the flat of Bliztscream's blade. Winded, Taiyang broke free and fell back.
"Thus the evil that was once vanquished shall rise anew. And Terror shall consume, feed and dwell upon the earth."
Hearing something behind him Arthred spun and slashed a flaming rock out the air. Oobleck hit more projectiles towards the Proto-berserker. Scowling and dealing with the ranged attacks Arthred switched Bliztscream back to its thunderclap form, returning two shots before using the railgun to blast himself at the Doctor. Oobleck seemed to realize he couldn't hope to keep distance between himself and Arthred, avoiding the Proto-berserker's landing strike and countering with a flurry of blows. Arthred opted to let them hit and returned one of his own. Oobleck dodged but his footing was weakened by a stray rock, giving Arthred an opening for a single moment. He abused it, bringing his sword screaming down in an overhead slash that Oobleck was forced to block with his weapon. If Bliztscream hadn't been full charged, the Doctor would have been fine, only his weapon would have suffered major damage from the greatsword's weight. Unfortunately for Oobleck, Bliztscream was fully operational, and because of that, Arthred had made sure to make his strike as shallow as he could. The blade slashed completely through Oobleck's thermos, cutting it in half and cutting in down across Oobleck's chest. It was enough to penetrate his aura, shortening his tie as blood welled from the wound, dying his white and light brown with crimson. Though the cut itself was shallow, an electric jolt zapped Oobleck into a wall.
"Bart!" Taiyang screamed. The brawler raced past Arthred, avoiding the area affected by his electric discharge and ignoring the Proto-berserker and going to the aid of his downed friend.
The fact that Taiyang had completely discarded a golden opportunity utterly stunned Arthred. He couldn't fathom it, there so much he couldn't understand. As he stood there, dazed, a sound drew him back to reality.
"Shikashikashaikashika-"
A certain presence reappeared close by, drawing Arthred back to reality. There was the sound of metal slamming off something violently behind the Proto-berserker. He whirled to face the reemerged threat, slashing Bliztscream through the spinning scrap metal shield, cutting it in half. From the shadows of a nearby pillar, the Weeping Gorgon launched herself in a staggering charge at Taiyang, catching him unaware.
"Don't look! You're mine. Mine alone!" She shrieked desperately. Her jagged scrap spear was poised to take Taiyang's head.
"Clever girl." Arthred growled.
If Salem hadn't stated she wanted the Gorgon alive, Arthred could have easily ended the monster's suffering and he almost did. He was envious of the Gorgon that she had the chance to know the mercy of oblivion.
He made his choice, his way. Though her attack was abrupt, the Grimmspawn was still heavily slowed by her injuries, meanwhile, though slowly losing power, Arthred was still overcharged. It also help that there were no Grimm between himself and his target, though the second wave was coming. Changing his grip on Bliztscream, Arthred caught the Gorgon's spear in his hand and slammed his sword's hilt into her chest, hitting her around the same spot where he'd heard the crunch before. The Grimmspawn coughed out a blood-like black liquid. Though her aura had recovered, it was clear that it was only enough for her to move as it broke easily and she was knocked across the hall. Her spear remained in his grip, and with a surge of might, he broke the scrap iron weapon.
Taiyang let out a relieved sigh as the the shards fell to the ground. "I'm glad a trusted my gut on you."
The hunter's statement caught both Arthred and Oobleck entirely by surprise.
"What?! Tai, did really just-" Arthred tuned out whatever else Oobleck said to Taiyang as he noticed the Gorgon wasn't done. From where she had landed, the Grimmspawn futilely attempted to push herself back up, refusing to give up.
"Tsk" Arthred reflected on his earlier statement on the monster. "Not clever enough to live." He closed the distance between himself and his target, drawing the electric power out of Bliztscream and channeling the remaining surplus charge into his left arm. Wild sparks of pale electric blue lightning lashed out from his gauntlet, casting twisted shadows that threatened to play on Arthred nightmares.
"Shik-" The Gorgon's tail rattled weakly as with shaking arms she tried to get on her knees. "Do-AAHHHH!" Her hiss became a shriek as Arthred blasted her with lightning powerful enough to knock the strongest man unconscious.
"Shut up and stay down. Shutupshutupshutup shut up!" Arthred screamed at the shrieking creature, her scream was far too human, hitting her again with a stronger lightning as she still remain conscious. He half screaming at her and half at the reinvigorated chorus in his head, growing ever louder as a new scream joined their ranks.
"Arthred!" Taiyang's voice cut through the growing screams in the Proto-berserker's head. Through his panicked breathing he cut off the lightning, the stench of burnt flesh mixed with the smell of excited ozone and the Gorgon now lay silent and motionless.
"Shit!" Arthred cursed, discharging the last of the excess energy and stabbing Bliztscream into the ground. He dropped down on one knee, checking on the Grimmspawn. " Breath, breath, breath damn you." Once again he was cursing both the creature and himself as he tried to get his panicked breathing back on. She had to be alive Arthred told himself, the only thing Salem had said concerning the creature is that she wanted it alive. The witch hadn't said that the creature had to be unharmed.
The Gorgon didn't show any signs of disintegrating like other vanquished Grimm. Smoke was coming off her body, but it was from the lightning. Arthred rolled the Grimmspawn over. A small puddle of black blood had formed from the drips from her mouth. On her mask were a pair of scorched lines across her left most eye sockets. There were further electric scorch marks across the white bone portions with varying degrees of severity. But there was movement, slight but there, the Gorgon's chest moved in shallow bit steady breaths.
Behind him, Arthred noticed Taiyang had approached him. The hunter had not taken a fighting stance but was instead just standing there, looking at the Proto-berserker. Arthred stood up and retrieved Bliztscream, ready to get back into the fight.
Taiyang simply looked at him with sad eyes. "It's not too late Arthred, no one is forcing you down this road."
Arthred's eyes widened. "What?" He said incredulously. The man had stopped him from accidentally killing the Weeping Gorgon, what the hell was Taiyang playing at? This had to be some strange trick or something… It had to be. "What the…. Are you?" Arthred raised Bliztscream, its point aimed at the hunter.
Taiyang however kept looking at him with those calm sad eyes. "You could have let that monster kill us and Glynda, you could have shot me instead of that warning. Heck, you could have easily killed Bart. You are not an evil person Arthred."
"You have no idea what I am….." Arthred hissed half-heartedly. Taiyang was right though, he could have done all those things, yet he had not. Deep in the crypt of Arthred's mind, his conscience found its voice weak and desperate, but still there. It begged him to listen, that there had to be another way and go with the hunters. The foolish naive part of him seemed to think there was hope. That he could live a normal life and be freed from his curses. Bliztscream felt heavy in his hands as Arthred's will faltered.
"I may not know you, but going by what I see, I at the very least see someone who needs help." Looking at Taiyang's eyes, in the sadness the Proto-berserker saw a weariness, like that of an old man who had seen a similar story play out before. "End that creature's misery. Please, let me, let us help you."
Arthred didn't know what to do. His shaking sword arm dropped and Bliztscream's point hit the floor. The Proto-berserker blinked away tears attempting to form in his eyes as he pulled his hood back up to cover his face, even as the marks of the taint across the right side of his face still cast their bloody glow. He asked a simple question barely louder than a quavering whisper. "Why?" It was the only word he could utter, but it was tied to some painful questions. Why do this after he had betrayed them? Why risk so much believing in him? Why was Taiyang trying so hard to save something like him? Why him? Why now?
Taiyang answered without hesitating, as though it was completely natural. "Why wouldn't I? Everyone should do everything they can to save those in trouble. I couldn't call myself a hunter or a father if I didn't at least try." He held up a hand to Arthred.
The Proto-berserker stood motionless, as conflicting washed over him. His conscience pleading that it didn't have to be too late. The Other radiating amusement at the situation and Taiyang's naivete. Envy that the monster he had come for was guaranteed oblivion while he was damned. Despair that no matter what he did, he could never escape the Other or the hell that was waiting.
A choked gasping sob escaped Arthred's mouth before it warped and turned into bitter broken laughter. He gripped his head with his left hand, in a futile attempt at holding his broken sport within, but it was to no avail. It was the same laugh had escaped him every time he'd broken in the depths, and every time the Other had painful put him back together. All around them Arthred could feel Grimm closing in. Big, small, massive. Numbers beyond counting. A relentless hunger that could never be sated. It was only a matter of time before the ravenous flood of teeth and claws broke into each of the gilded cages called kingdoms. Just like his home. And just like his home, there would be nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.
This time though, the Other didn't have to intervene, as Arthred pulled back from the ocean of madness and choked off the laugh with a warped sob, dropping his hand f4om his face, the claws of his gauntlet red from the cuts they'd inflicted. "You're too many godsdamned years too late." Arthred spat, his voice was filled with self-loathing, pain, hate and despair as he silenced his conscience once more and shoved it back down. He honestly didn't know how long he had spent trapped beneath the earth, never seeing the light of day or the glow of the moon. Grabbing at the necklace of trophies, teeth, claws, horn and weapon fragments, that he kept hidden almost all the time, Arthred retrieved a small whistle inscribed with an eye symbol.
Dismayed horror and saddened determination clear on his face, Taiyang lowered his outstretched hand, and made ready to attempt to fight the Proto-berserker, but Arthred forced the power of his silver eyes to flare threatening. The huntsman froze as the silver light mixed with the red glow of the taint to create an ominous blood moon color. The Proto-berserker didn't unleash the power, not yet. All around, dust and rubble began to quake and fall as the Grimm nearby began stampede towards the hall.
"Run" Arthred hissed, bringing the grimmbone whistle to his lips and raising Bliztscream up, charging it up for a single shot. Run, and save those who are worth saving, he said silently. Too late Taiyang realized what Arthred was doing and shook off the caution of facing the power of the silver eyes, but as he managed a single step the Proto-berserker blew the whistle and fired his railgun at a weakened portion of the roof, blasting a hole and making it collapse. It made a wall of rubble between the two monsters and the hunters. It wouldn't take long for Taiyang to get through, but time was something that was running out all too fast. Meanwhile, the whistle in Arthred's hand shattered, its singular use expended. Through a hole, Arthred spotted Oobleck frantically grabbing Taiyang's shoulder, even as the blonde brawler still hesitated to leave.
"Run damn you!" Arthred shouted at the hunters before turning away, in part to hide the single tear trailing down his face. If they ran, they would likely live as the Grimm were coming for him. Sheathing Bliztscream, Arthred picked up the unconscious Grimmspawn. Amidst the approaching roars of the frenzied Grimm, he could hear the approaching howl of Nemesis as the geist bound to the bike followed the whistle's call. Grabbing a remaining intact curtain, the Proto-berserker wrapped up the Grimmspawn, as he felt sympathy enough to at least allow the creature some measure of cover.
With Nemesis' arrival, Arthred utter the last words of the black prayer and secured the Gorgon and made his escape.
"For when the last fall so shall the promise to Albion at last be fulfilled. So shall it be."
XXX
As the image faded from the seer's fishbowl of a head, Salem rose to her feet and went to one of the windows with here great hall that overlooked her domain. She allowed herself a moment. Ironic that a man with a name such as Lionheart was such a gutless coward. She already had a perfect idea of how she would dispose of the parasite. Her dear Ozpin had clearly not lost his eye for making the worst choices. She smiled for yet another opening Ozpin had given her through his countless mistakes. That smile disappeared though as she remembered the oldest and greatest of them.
Even after untold millennia…. With but a blink of her eyes, Salem pushed that thought and the memories and feelings attached to it back to whence it had come. Lately that particular nuisance had been more active as of late. The witch was certain that it was linked to the bargain she had struck with Summer Rose. Learning of Ruby Rose had been at of little interest at first, but from Emerald description Salem had noticed something strange. That the girl had survived Salem's gift was of little surprise or interest. What was interesting however, was the fact that the child Emerald described has sounded so naive and innocent, almost as though she had never suffered a nightmare or loss. It was strange, for even if the seed Salem had planted to save the girl had completely been absorbed, the girl should not been so purehearted. And Tyrian had stated as much, between cursing the girl of course.
The seer upon the table signaled there were arrivals entering her home. Salem set aside the subject of Ruby Rose for the time, she already had a few ideas in mind. Now she focused on another project, an experiment if anything. Looking back to the Grimm's head, Salem summoned the images of her guests. The first two were hardly surprising for Salem, as the task she had given them had been quite simple, especially compared the the third arrival.
"Show Arthred in." Salem commanded. A few minutes later, the doors to the meeting hall opened, and the hooded boy strode in, carrying a limp form under his right arm like a full sack. His silver eyes glanced across the room before focusing on Salem.
"Place it on the table." She said, moving up towards the boy. Arthred silently put his charge on the table, not unkindly and stepped back.
"I've brought her as you requested."
Salem brushed aside the ragged curtain covering the creature. It was clear that the creature was a she. In fact, she was one of the most beautiful Grimm Salem had seen. Were it not for the Grimm aspects upon the creature, Salem had little doubt she would have been a beautiful woman. It was remarkable how much the creature had taken the form of her "mother" Pyrrha Nikos. Though when Salem came across the injuries of the creature the witch scowled and glanced at Athred.
"You requested her alive and intact, I made necessary adjustments." He stated in his defense, rubbing his weary eyes.
"So I saw." Salem saw she would have to be more specific with her orders with this boy, but he had passed her test, though there were some concerns. Continuing her examination of the Weeping Gorgon, the witch questioned the boy. "Tell me, why did you allow those hunters to live?"
Arthred hesitated, searching for an answer. "I... They, they helped me and I had them beaten with more Grimm closing in. They were not a threat."
"Then, but in allowing them to live you let them prepare for the next fight."
"And in the next fight I will be far less merciful." He stated in a somber tone.
Salem saw that Arthred appeared to share Hazel's distaste for unnecessary violence, yet his fighting style indicated quite the opposite. To this she changed the subject, as his fighting and the markings she had spotted were almost the exact same as those of Albion's lost berserkers and going by how his weapon had been made and his overall lack of fear, a berserker of terror.
"Who was it that taught you how to fight? The methods and power you used are all but forgotten by most."
Arthred appeared uncomfortable at the question. "My… master." At the dark fighter's attempt of ending the answer there Salem returned her gaze to him with dangerously narrowed eyes. Arthred swallowed and then uttered the name of his master. "...Vlad."
The room darkened and the air within all but stilled. Satisfied that the Gorgon was not in danger, Salem turned her complete attention towards the boy. "So, you wield Heavenmourne… Arthred kindly inform Vlad I wish to speak with him."
The boy looked panicked for a moment before doubling over in pain as his crimson aura suddenly flared unnaturally. He fell to his knees and let out a gagged cry of pain before slumping over, and vanishing from Salem's sight as a loud and violent thunderclap sounded overhead. There was the sound of wind ripping past the windows to the hall as the glass struggled to hold the elements at bay.
"It's been least a millennia now, hasn't it, Asylum?" Arthred's voice was now twisted and warped as though a thunderstorm was using him to speak.
Salem turned to where the boy was staring out the window into the storm that had appeared. The name that he had used brought up unpleasant emotions and memories for her. "Longer, Vlad. That name is dead, don't use it again."
"Don't play with me A- Salem. I forgot you had bad memories with that name." Vlad corrected himself mockingly, not even bothering to turn to face her. "I've had so much time with Gilgamesh that even if I didn't know your handiwork." As he spoke Vlad turned, gripping the air as he summoned Heavenmourne a massive hand and a half endsinger sword with blood crimson runes carved into the bleach white grimbone blade so long that its point impaled itself into the floor while the top of the sword's grip was level with the "boy's" chin. "I really don't care what you think of Boudica or Attila, but don't insult me."
Salem cursed herself for that oversight. The three endsingers of the gods were unique in that they trapped the souls of their victims and wielders with the monsters within. Undoubtedly the other two were very aware of her involvement in their downfall. Aware that she wasn't safe, but confident nonetheless, Salem tested the waters. At the very least, Vlad was the most reasoning of the three.
"Then I'll cut to the heart of the matter. Your vessel, he shows promise yet his performance at the ruins was rather odd. Would you care to share some light on that?"
"A side effect of an indulgence of mine in putting him back together again, nothing more, though I will be addressing his screw ups the next time he sleeps."
"He seems to be rather incomplete, especially compare to your legacy."
"If by 'my legacy' you mean the berserkers, then yes, he is certainly among the weakest of them, but I couldn't really afford to be picky when I salvaged him, and no other options have arisen yet. As for his completion, I know hold a key, and I know your price." His tone of voice became irritated and Salem could tell that Vlad had no intention of submitting himself to her will. That left the question of the boy as well as how he thought to complete him.
"I see. What do you intend, Vlad?"
The being looked at her properly, allowing the witch to see his vessel's face. His silver eyes were now dyed with red, like a pair of blood moons. His pupils changed to look like three armed hurricanes . Across his scared face, the crimson marks of the taint had spread, with black veins creeping out beneath them. "For the moment, figuring out how to get this or another body to become a proper vessel. If you're worried about me holding a grudge, don't. I've had plenty of time to cope, and of course there is the benefit of hindsight."
Salem raised an eyebrow at Vlad. The Albionea God of Terror had never been the forgiving type, even when he had been bloated and complacent at the time of the rise of the Khans. "You've changed, Vlad."
"It would be strange if I did not after all this time trapped and used. However, as for grudges, you merely have the benefit of not being my priority." Vlad shrugged and looked at Heavenmourne with mixture of amusement and animosity before returning the weapon to its dimensional sheath. "That and I will admit that it's been an interesting and sometimes entertaining, even if this situation has long since gotten old."
This peaked Salem's interest. Despite his knowledge of her involvement in his and the other Albionea gods' downfall, she wasn't his priority? Vlad grinned as though sensing Salem's confusion.
"You really didn't know." He laughed, the thunder of the storm summoned by his presence crackling with him. "Albion endures."
Any anger Salem felt was immediately brushed aside by Vlad's revelation. "What? How is that possible?"
"You of all remaining people should know that damned city nor its inhabitants are so easy to destroy. Not to mention myself and my two... companions were distracted by our hunger after a millenia without flesh." Vlad referred to the other two with distaste. It was useful for Salem to know that there was still no love lost between the three gods. "Now that I've told you something interesting, care to return the favor? Tell me, what has become of your dear beloved Ozymandias in this age? It was rather strange his curse allowed him to die so easily."
Salem composed herself once more. "The traitor goes by a different name now and endures a different sort of immortality." She didn't say anymore on the subject, instead steering the conversation back to the main subject. "Am I wrong in assuming I may use Arthred?"
Vlad snorted, one of the scars on his face began to leak blood, a sign of the god's power slowly starting to tear Arthred's body apart. "The only thing I care about is making sure he keeps himself alive, I don't care what he does with what little power he can use. Use him as you see fit." He brushed the bleeding scars and looked at the blood. "It seems time is running short on this reunion. Before I go, though, there is something you should know." Vlad's eyes narrowed. "I may have invested some effort into him, but Arthred is disposable."
Salem eyes met the god's. "Should I take that as a threat, or a promise?"
Vlad smirked. "Merely a fact. But if you want a promise, giving me cause to discard the boy guarantees you my complete attention, one way or another, Salem."
In other words, if she did anything to harm or bind Vlad through the boy, the dragon would be after her. Simple enough, however Salem wanted an assurance "Do I have your word that you'll do nothing to impede me otherwise, Vlad?"
"Such skeptical times we live in…" Vlad changed to an old tongue, near as old as the world itself. "I swear I shall do nothing to impede you so long as you do naught to me, Salem." He switched back to the common tongue. "Now give me Ozymandias' new name."
For a brief instant, Salem considered doing no such thing. She remembered how long it had taken Ozymandias to die the first time, if Vlad found him even Hazel would be horrified by what that dragon would do. But then everything else he had done, whether in the name of peace, man, or survival smothered that idea.
"Ozpin."
Arthred's aura flared once again as Vlad returned control to the boy with a cruel chuckle. Arthred stumbled and caught himself on the table, blood dripping onto its dark surface as the boy's aura repaired the damage Vlad's presence had caused. Outside the violent weather began to weaken and dissipate as the storm's source had vanished.
Salem walked over to her throne and retrieved a small chest. The talk with Vlad had proved far more enlightening than she had expected, That Albion endured had been quite the shock, but there was little to be done as the island was still contained within the Cursed Storm, and would be until the true return of the. More so, however observant Vlad was, there was something that had escaped him. The endsingers of the three could not be wielded by anyone. If they were weak, the weapon's power would consume them the second they attempted to wield it. The original endsingers also caused a sort of spiritual meld between the monsters within and the wielders, meaning that through the blade, Vlad was making his vessel like the Khans that had wielded it. That, and Arthred had convinced her to allow him a favor, in the form of binding a geist to his bike and allowing him a method of calling it once. And to say nothing of the potential of having her own silver eyed warrior, particularly one touched by the taint. Those factors sealed her choice. Salem turned to the boy.
"You heard what Vlad said, yes?"
The boy met her gaze. "Yes." He said heavily.
"And you understand that there is no turning back on this road?" While Salem would have happily bound him to her without consent, it was not her way to force or coerce people into her service. Not even Lionheart, who like all before, had come to her. No, that was very much Ozpin's specialty.
There was a moment of hesitation and his eyes drifted downward before returning to Salem's and Arthred answered quietly. "Yes."
Salem opened the chest and took the foremost of the nine objects within and put the chest down on the table. She stood before the boy. "Then kneel."
Silently, the Proto-berserker knelt. Salem offered up the object she had taken in the palm of her cold white hand. A simple ring of enchanted grimmbone, a little innocent thing, plain and unadorned save for inscriptions in a cursed and heretical tongue and her mark. "All you need do is take it. Do so, and once your service is done, I shall grant you your greatest wish."
Lowering his head, his hood hiding most of his face, as though considering, Arthred removed the glove on his right hand, revealing the pale flesh marked with red almost tribal markings that spread up his arm from the other ring on his ring finger. Part of Heavenmourne, it marked the wielder being bound to the weapon and vice versa. In a whisper, filled with a dreadful hope, Arthred spoke his wish and took the ring.
Salem considered it. It was no simple thing that the boy asked considering his situation, and honestly she had expected him to wish for something else, or rather for a certain someone else. "Serve me well, and you shall have it." Was all Salem said.
In answer, Arthred raised the ring to his fingers, opting to place it on his index finger. "What's one more curse."
As it slipped into place, the ring shrank so it could not be removed. Arthred twinged in pain as the enchantment dug into his nervous system.
"Think of it what you will, Arthred. Now rise, my knight, the first of my Naz'Grimm." That title Salem took from the the nine lieutenants of the three Khans of Albion. Their legacy would be all the more destructive, even without the power of Albion's taint or true berserkers, because the kingdom's had chosen to forget their fears. Her nine would serve as commanders, warriors and assassins to aid her inner circle and counter what hunters would remain in the coming war. As for the rings, they gave little more than a measure of domination over some Grimm, would make the monsters see the nine as their own. They also ensured that if, for whatever reason, any of the nine decided to betray her, they would be entirely at her whim.
Salem turned as Arthred rose to his feet, a look of astonishment clear on his face. "First, I don't- what?"
From what she had witnessed at Beacon and now knowing of Vlad's involvement, Salem knew exactly how to use the boy. The hunters had likely been among the first to treat Arthred well in years, though she was aware of one other. This was both a weakness and an undeniable advantage for her to gain his loyalty. As for the other she was aware of, Salem would have little trouble in keeping Arthred and the person he was truly here for separate for the time. Of course, that alone wasn't why she was making him leader. Arthred had shown, rough as it was, an understanding of tactics and strategy. How much of that was due to Vlad's influence, she could not say, but she did know that it would grow, though only with some guidance.
"I see far more than Vlad would have you believe, and in you I see more than simply his vessel." Salem picked up the chest of rings and gestured to the seer where it lay. "Bring them in." Of the nine, Arthred had brought one, and Salem had sent another two on tasks of their own to invite the remaining candidates to her. To Arthred she said. " Come, you've met one of the nine in the Gorgon, it's time you met Grimmrock, Last Son of Mesozoiclan and Harlequin Moriarty."
Arthred cast an uncertain glance at the Gorgon on the table before following after Salem to meet those he would command. "Yes, my Lord."
XXX
Bonus bit as I did promise Grimmonic corruption.
To music that only she could hear, Obsidian danced with a string-less puppet dragging the limp thing along with her steps. She imagined it being the new boy that her lovely twin sister had met. The blonde was nice and all, but he was already breaking in small ways. It wasn't much fun to imagine breaking something that was already broken. That was certainly one more thing she could hate Cinder Fall for.
Bored, Obsidian let the puppet fall to the floor, dissolving into nothingness. That was yet that Obsidian hated about the prison she had known all her life. Almost nothing was truly her's. She had no toys, no clothes, no room, no form of her own. Not even her emotions were entirely her own. It made sense, in a very aggravating way. All she had were hand-me-downs from her sister, that was almost all she was for now. That was her curse.
Obsidian barely went anywhere before she came upon the barriers of her prison. Beyond she could see a whirling swirl of emotions and sights, all floating through a serine forest in the form of clouds of rose petals. Truly this was the cruelest of prisons, being able to witness the entirety of her life through the eyes and actions of another. All for the crime of being created. It was enough to drive Obisidian mad, hell, she wasn't sure if she was still sane or if she had ever been sane. It wasn't like she could ask anyone. Not even her dear loved sister knew she even existed!
With hands she could not call her own, Obsidian clawed at the invisible barrier. An exercise in futility of course, but she had little else to attack, maim or otherwise lash out at. It didn't take long before she stopped, bored with the act and longing for the days when she would truly feel the air, water and blood on her skin, tasting the lips or blood or both of another. With a cry of maddened or natural frustration, no way to be sure after all, Obsidian turned away and decided to take a look at what she would look like if she ever escaped. By her will a mirror from one of her sister's memories appeared before her. Her physical form was simple enough, the pale white skin, the black hair with dark red at the tips. The only real differences that marked Obsidian from her sister were her eyes, crimson staining into the silver, cold malice where her sister's eyes were warm kind and sickeningly sweet, and the black veins that spread across her body. As for the clothes, Obsidian always had trouble figuring it out. By far the easiest was the cloak, but she always had trouble figuring out the exact details. The red was always difficult, in some places the pure red was stained darker and in others chaotic lines of black clawed their way across the fabric. As for the rest of her outfit, well… She knew she wanted something different yet elegant, that cut out at least three people her sister knew. Yet when she tried the outfits similar to little miss princess perfect, saying nothing that they were tight around the chest, they never worked. None of them really did. Once again, Obsidian found herself going for the dress her sister had worn at the dance, though again she fussed over….
The mental world beyond her prison shuddered and quaked, a sign that her sister was having yet another nightmare.
"Oh what pile of crap are you going to drop on me now, oh loving Rose?!" Obsidian howled pointlessly to the dark "sky" above. No matter how bad her sister's nightmares were, Obsidian was going to get the worst of it, that was another part of the curse. Her lovely precious sister got all the love and protection, meanwhile the worst of the bad was swept away to Obsidian to deal with. All the terror, the anger, the anguish, the loneliness, the lust for blood or otherwise, all of that was for her and her alone. No one, not even her mother, not the one her sister remembered, cared or knew of her.
"What will it be this time? Mommy leaving us? Your friends leaving you? Cinder taking more? The Grimm? That girl's death?" Obsidian shouted as her power began to leak out. "I hate it! I hate this! I hate you! I hate it all! I hate it I hate it I hate it!" She raged as the storm and the horrors within came closer. All the while dark and cruel vines grew around her with sharp, jagged and twisted thorns. She wasn't worried, if anything those thorns were the closest thing to what she was that she was every going to get, trapped within her sister's mind, heart and soul.
Bracing for the inevitable, with tears running down her face, Obsidian whispered. "You'd best hope I never find a way out….." She could only imagine the nightmares she'd make Ruby suffer. And such a time could not come soon enough.