Chapter Five: Siege

The firelight flickered on the two sides, and Rin could not help but feel the overwhelming odds they faced. She could feel the villagers fear, like a palpable cloud hanging over them as they hid behind the parapets, guns trained on the sea of foes. Her new, heavily armed companions seemed calmer than most, but she could still see the excessively tight grip the gold one had on her sword. On her other side, Oberon was silent and motionless, but something in his stance spoke of restrained excitement. That made her almost as nervous as the others' fear. It felt like an eternity that the two sides stood in silence. She wondered which side would break first. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Oberon raise his blade, its blade wreathed in a black glow. Chuckling to himself, he slowly extended his blade as far left as he could, then whipped it across, causing a wave of blackness to flow forth, traveling across the battlefield faster than its targets could react, and the enemy vanguard dissolved into a screaming, panicking mass of confusion and pain. Those not killed instantly were spattered with the blood and viscera of their fallen comrades, and many suddenly found themselves missing a limb or two, writhing on the ground in pain. Oberon began to laugh out loud. It was a deep, rumbling laugh, full of glee and bloodlust, and Rin was suddenly very glad that he was on their side.

Raising his sword again, Oberon charged, throwing himself into the enemy ranks. Corona seemed unsurprised by his action, retreating to cover the gate. Rin hesitated, unsure which way to go, but eventually decided to join Corona in the rear.

Oberon may not have been the most articulate or sociable person, but on the field of battle, he was an artist. He spun with the grace of a dancer, switching from a one-handed to a two-handed grip and back with the ease of years of practice. Dodging, twisting, disappearing and reappearing, he was a force of nature, a whirlwind of death and destruction, bodies and severed limbs piling up around him. All alone, he held back the center of the army, forcing the wings to swing wide to avoid him.

Rin realized, then, that he had deliberately divided the army to create simpler fights for her and Corona to fight. She reached into the pouches on her belt, drawing out a handful of needles. As the enemies approached, she picked her targets and let fly. With unerring accuracy, her needles finding exposed joints and throats, toppling her foes. As they raised their own weapons in response, she took a deep breath, and suddenly her enemies were below her, and she was falling fast. She dropped down, landing heavily on the chest of her nearest enemy. Shifting gravity laterally, she bounced to her next target, gripping them by the chin and back of their head, twisting violently. With a sickening snap, the white faced individual dropped to the ground. Switching gravity again, she found herself plummeting into the open sky. Retrieving more needles, she looked up at the ground throwing them up, at which point gravity reasserted itself and the needles rained down on her foes. Dropping back to the ground, she jumped into the crowd, striking and blocking as she went, holding back the tide of enemies.


Corona stood on the other side, holding up her shield. She could feel the impact if bullets on her shield and armor, bouncing off with little damage. Raising her sword, she fired staccato bursts, tearing through flesh and clothing. As they closed in, she braced herself, feeling the impact as the sea of humanity crashed into her. She began to slide backwards, boots digging into the ground. Tensing the muscles in her legs, she pushed back, breaking their momentum. She jabbed her sword forward, stabbing deep into enemy flesh. The narrowness of the gate limited the attackers, and she held firm. Perhaps she was not as fancy as Rin, perhaps she could not match Oberon's pure destructive power, but she could hold the line. Another wave surged forward, and she held the line. A hail of bullets peppered her armor and shield, and she held the line. They struck at her with blades and with hammers, and she held the line. It felt like hours of this unending surge, but it was only half an hour before a sudden cry pulled her attention up to the walls. There she saw the enemies swarming over the walls, the defenders falling like flies. Realizing the wall was lost, she pushed through the charging enemies, keeping low, using her shield as a ram. Finding Rin amongst the chaos, she saw that she was struggling to fight a larger opponent. Corona stabbed her sword through the man's throat, then held out her hand to Rin.

"We need to retreat."

"What about Oberon?" Rin asked.

"He'll have noticed it before I did. Come on."

Rin nodded, and followed Corona as she retreated. She could feel her aura weakening, taxed by the fighting. She was strong, but this was out of her league. Corona, however seemed strong and almost unaffected, even though she took many more hits than she did. She had to say, she was impressed by the blonde woman, and even though they were surrounded by foes, the gauntleted hand that pulled her along made her feel somehow safe. They made their way to the temple, dodging and weaving through the horde of enemies. As they reached the temple, they saw the last few villagers making their way into the tunnel. Corona and Rin followed, pushing in behind them. Looking back, Rin saw the enemy closing in, nearing the entrance to the tunnel. Just as they made it inside, she saw a long, thin object shoot toward her. She tried to react, but exhaustion slowed her movements and suddenly she felt a burning pain in her side as the object, a crossbow bolt dug into her abdomen, cracking through her depleted aura. She gasped with pain, and would have fallen but for the golden arms surrounding her, lifting her up.

"What do we do now?" she cried, gritting her teeth against the pain. "They're going to follow us!"

"Not if we seal the tunnel," Corona retorted.

How are we gonna do that, exactly?" the world was starting to go dark at the edges.

"Collapse the roof."

"How?" the blackness was creeping inward, obscuring her sight.

Corona stared at her, and Rin wondered what was going on behind that helmet. Handing Rin to one of the villagers she turned back, beginning to glow with golden light,and just before the darkness consumed Rin's sight, she thought she saw two golden figures appear at Corona's side.


Later, Rin woke to find herself covered in blankets, and looking around she recognized the inside of a tent. She attempted to get up, but felt a stab of pain in her stomach. Looking down, she saw that someone had removed her jumpsuit, and that her abdomen had been wrapped in bandages. Her tattoos covered her torso, flowed over her shoulders, and ran down her arms. Finding a loose pair of pants and a shirt lying folded next to her, she slipped into them, careful not to aggravate her wound. As she put it on, she found that the shirt had a surprisingly comforting smell to it, and one which was strangely familiar. Looking down at her chest, she saw a familiar set of scarlet wings. Realizing just whose shirt this was, she blushed slightly, but with a gentle smile, she made her way out of the tent. As she did, she found herself in a large campsite in the woods. All around her, she could see her fellow villagers speaking in hushed whispers, huddled around red dust crystals to keep warm without having to make fires, which would most certainly draw unwanted attention. Nearer to her tent, she saw three figures speaking, her grandfather and the two strangers who had protected her people. She noted that while Corona had removed her helm, Oberon's mask stayed firmly in place.

As she approached, two heads swiveled to face her, Oberon still looking off into the distance. "Rin," Corona said, letting out a relieved sigh. "You're up."

"Ha," Rin laughed, then winced as that only exacerbated the pain. "Takes more than that to keep me down."

Corona smiled. "So it would seem." She made room for Rin to sit, then turned back to a map that was sitting on the ground between them. "As I was telling your grandfather, it will be a few days before we can make it back to any sizable towns. While we doubt the bandits will follow us, but there's still a lot of things to be wary of out here, not least of which are the Grimm. That being the case, we will stay with you until you reach a safe haven."

"And then?" Rin asked.

"Then, we go home"

Rin looked at her grandfather, then back at Corona, biting her lip in thought. "Those people, they weren't actually bandits, were they?"

Corona looked to Oberon, who shrugged, then locked eyes with Rin once more. "No, no they weren't."

"And the attack on our village wasn't random, was it?"

"No."

"This is all part of something big, isn't it?"

"Most likely."

Rin sighed, closing her eyes. When she opened them again, they were filled with steely resolve. "Then I'm coming with you."

Corona seemed taken aback. "But, what about your people?"

"Like you said, we stay until they're safe, but after this, after what happened here, I can't just go back to living the kind of life I did before. I've seen what this world can be like, and I can't just go back to pretending like nothing is wrong."

Corona opened her mouth to protest, but a silver hand on her shoulder held her back. Oberon looked to the elder, "What say you? She is your granddaughter."

Her grandfather looked down, his brow furrowed. Sighing, he looked back up, resigned. "I would rather she was safe, but she is her father's daughter. If she feels that this is what she must do, then I will not stop her."

Rin smiled, hugging her grandfather. "Don't worry, grandfather, I'll make you proud."

"Proud is good, but I'd settle for you making it back to me in one piece."


One week later

Rin found herself in a dark room, a corridor with only one door. Between her and that door stood a woman in red clothing, wearing an intricate Grimm mask. Beside her Corona knelt, addressing the woman. "-that is my report. I regret to say, that due to the destruction of the village, we were not able to retrieve whatever it was that you wanted from the temple."

"Unfortunate," the masked woman replied. "However, you protected the villagers as I asked, and we have a new recruit. Overall, I would call your mission a success. Show Ms. Shiromori to one of the rooms, then show her to the forge. If she's going to work for us, she's going to need some better equipment."

"Yes, ma'am." Corona stood up, then offered her hand to Rin. "Follow me."

With that the two left the room, leaving the masked woman alone with Oberon. Looking up at the taller man, she removed her mask, a smile playing on her lips. "I see that you managed to complete your objective, and without even having to resort to violence. Well done."

"The tapestry wished to come with us, of her own accord. Who was I to say no?"

"Then she does, indeed, have them."

"Yes, I saw her tattoos myself."

"Good. She will be of great use in the war to come." Oberon nodded, striding past the woman. Just as he passed her, she held out her arm, dropping a small object into his hand. "Make sure she gets that won't you?" Oberon held the object up to examine it. It was a red chess piece. The bishop.