The Entire Arena was silent, the crowed just stared at the remains of what they thought was a student but was now clearly anything but. The screens in the arena went red showing a Queen chess piece, "This is not a tragedy. This was not an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children, to men who claim to be our guardians, but are, in reality, nothing more than men." Cinders voice rings throughout vale and across every broadcast, "Our Academies' Headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control both. They cling to this power in the name of peace, and yet, what do we have here? One nation's attempt at a synthetic army, mercilessly torn apart by another's star pupil. What need would Atlas have for a soldier disguised as an innocent little girl? I don't think the Grimm can tell the difference." Ironwood stormed out of the arena to the broadcast booth, Corius sent out orders to the Vale Garrison to begin deploying, preparing for an attack. While he simultaneously pushed his mind into the Colosseums systems. The screens began to flicker as Corius forced more and more of his mental might down upon this new virus, it seemed to learn at every corner but it was no match for his cogitators and he soon had it eliminated, cutting off cinders voice. But the damage was done, the crowd was in an uproar, and then the worst situation was realised "Alert. Incoming Grimm attack. Threat level: 10, Please seek shelter in a calm and orderly manner" the automated voice announced. The Crowd panicked and started to run to the airships.
In Vale, the large garrison of Skitarii marched forth from the Manufactorum, spreading out through the streets they started to direct civilians into the cordon they were creating. Dunecrawlers stalked forward weapons primed and then the first contact was initiated with the Grimm, the Neutron lasers and eradication beamers firing into the dense hoard. The Grimm slaughtered everyone in sight that was too slow to escape, while the skitarii and now Atlas knights moved forward trying to stem the tide.
Corius rushed through the crowd, people moving out of his way quickly, he then ran into Alfie and his squad carrying a distraught Lilly and escorting Carmine and Rusty. "to the Olympus now, we need to get them out of here" he ordered the Skitarii, the now large group fled to the dock, arriving they saw bullheads dropping Grimm from the holds. Enraged at the sight of both Grimm and White fang Corius ordered the skitarii into a firing line, they pummelled the Grimm with withering fire, dropping the creatures faster than the White Fang could drop them off, with that threat out of the way the skitarii turned their attention to the White Fang, who with now protection of cover where annihilated. "Alpha-Primus, I entrust my daughters' protection to you now, get these three to safety" Carmine spoke up then, fear evident on her face, "where are you going?" Corius turned his Blue eyes to her and then they switched to a blood red as he activated his combat protocols, "I'm going to defend this city and crush the White Fang" and he was off stomping into the fray as more Grimm appeared. Rick stared in horror at the sight of Vale, he had just arrived back a vale after unloading the villagers at Reliquiae. "get me Corius, I need to know what's going on" he ordered. "it's no use sir, all communications are being jammed." One of the crew responded, "Fine, Gunners, support he Ground units, Magos Charles prepare the Invictus, we march for war." The Mechanicus Airship moved over the city, its underside mounted guns opened fire, cutting into the Grimm, it was then a large blast scored the side of the ship. Down on the street three of the new type of Goliath Grimm where aiming at the Ship. The Armour held as the ship maneuvered out of the line of fire while the Invictus was prepared for battle, while its guns blazed away at the Grimm below supporting the assault of the Skitarii on the ground. Rick was plugged in to the knight, and the ship lowered to just above the buildings as the ramp lowered, Invictus strode forwards and then plunged off the edge of the ramp, crushing one off the Goliaths under foot. Reacting quickly Rick fired a barrage at the nearest Goliath cracking its armour, which he then drove his chainsword through, the third then fired its own blast at him, sending the knight stumbling. Rick recovered and before it could fire again he was upon the Grimm chainsword revving, he swung and the teeth found purchase in its armour allowing him to remove its head, inside the pilot's seat rick was panting already, "well my friend lets go find some more beasties to take down" and the Invictus blew its war horn in response. Corius watched with satisfaction as the Olympus powered off away from Vale, its armaments making short work of any airborne threats. He focused his attention on the fight at hand, he could see in the distance one of Atlas' ships firing on the other, as a third plummeted to the ground smoke and fire billowing from its engines. He was pulled from his observations by the growling of more Grimm, "be gone you foul creatures" he said as his Eradication ray burned through the pack. Corius watched as Ironwood gave some sort of inspiring speech to the young huntsmen and then took off in a bullhead, it was as he watched it pull away that he realised what was happening, one of the Atlas airships had started firing on another. He watched as the attacking airship sent the other to the ground taking a third with it, his own airship turned to engage the new threat and he watched with satisfaction as it moved into knife fighting range to punish the traitorous crew. Corius chased after the students, I seemed that they had similar destinations in mind, so it was to their shock that Corius bordered the same bullhead as them. "Mister Gage, what are you doing here?" Questioned Ruby, "my forces are fighting in Vale, I intend to teach those responsible for this a lesson" the ramp closed and the bullhead took off heading for the city. As the bullhead soared over the city Corius opened the ramp and surveyed the battlefield below, it was chaos, Grimm swamped the city chasing civilians through the streets while others fought his skitarii and the Atlesian knights, in the distance he could see the Invictus carving a swath through the hoard as the skitarii moved around it.
The bullhead landed briefly allowing Corius to exit and then it was off again taking the students to beacon. As he moved through the city he linked up with several squads of Skitarii and Dunecrawlers, as they moved they cleared out any Grimm they could find and managed to rescue a few groups of civilians who were now protected by the force of cyborg soldiers. The force moved further into the city to regroup with the main garrison so Corius could start to organise the defence more effectively. They had just entered an open square when the Atlas knights turned on them, a few skitarii falling to their fire before they were eliminated by the remaining force, "Atlas has betrayed us, terminate them all" Corius ordered as more knights entered the square.
What was a running gun battle turned into a last defence, with the Skitarii and Dunecrawlers encircling the civilians and holding back the combined might of the Atlas robots and the Grimm. "Invictus Strider this is Corius Gage, requesting reinforcements to my position" Corius transmitted over the Noosphere, even as more skitarii fell. Corius spied a bullhead with White fang markings, he marked it and the lone Icarus array equipped dunecrawler fired its devastating weapons at the craft, tearing it in two pieces, before it refocused its attention to the nevermores' in the sky. The force was starting to be overwhelmed when one of the buildings collapsed as the Invictus forced its way through, followed by fresh skitarii forces. "you are a welcome sight to my optics Rick" Corius said as the Knight laid waste to the Grimm surrounding the square. "You're welcome Corius, we have an Evac zone established behind the lines, we'll take the people there and then we can finish this fight" Rick said out the Vox caster, the skitarii then started leading the civilians through the rubble of the buildings to the safe zone. The two Airships continued to brawl in the skies above Vale, however the Mechanicus ship was coming of better in the engagement, thanks in part to its improved armour and the instillation of broad sides. The ship, christened The Lilly, swung its port side around the rear of the Atlas ship and sent a full salvo into its engines, destroying enough to leave it dead in the 'water', now The Lilly moved alongside the ship to begin boarding actions. The Skitarii Marines rushed onto the Atlas ship and to their surprise they found no resistance, no crew fighting them or even a marine contingent. As the squads moved further into the ship they found the crew, all of them slaughtered, some still in their beds. The Princeps in charge of the boarding force entered the Bridge and immediately came under fire from a group of White Fang. The princeps retreated out the door before ordering "krak grenades, centre room" in response three Skitarii moved forward, two pulled out grenades while the third readied his arc rifle, the princeps started a noosphere countdown and when it hit zero the first skitarii laid down fire while the other two threw two krak grenades into the room. After two distinct booms, the squad rushed into the room and found it newly decorated with the blood of the Faunus. "Lilly, the is Princeps SM-01, we have control of the ship".
Corius Dodged a golden stinger as he parried the claws of an Ursa while another Mechadendrite stabbed through a creep that tried to sneak up on him. A hundred metres away rumbled the foot falls of the Invictus Strider as Rick fought off yet more of the mutant Goliaths with the large corpses of several others around him. Intermixed with them were the Skitarii and even a few of the Huntsmen that had come for the festival, though it was clear that the inexhaustible might of the Mechanicus was faring better than the singular effort of the huntsmen. Corius was pressed hard, the Grimm while weaker than some foes he had faced in his many years, while they were numerous what made it difficult was the lack of corpses to build into any sort of makeshift wall, the smaller Grimm just disappeared, leaving the Skitarii and Huntsmen exposed, which limited how far they could expand the front line into vale proper. "Lilly this is Corius, ordering bombardment in Grid 4324 3821, sustained fire 5 minutes," a few seconds after that order the Lilly moved into position over Corius and unleashed its powerful underside mounted weapons into the hoard, and it forced the Grimm back. "we cannot keep fighting like this" came Ricks voice over the Vox net, "I Know, Vale is lost we must evacuate and we will return later to reclaim it." Corius answered. "I shall, give the order" Corius linked himself to Vales city wide speakers, "This is Corius Gage of the Mechanicus, I am effectively immediately ordering the Full evacuation of Vale, the City is lost, any Civilians remaining head to the Skitarii Front lines if you can and you will be evacuated to Reliquiae for safety." Despite the Urgency required the civilian population of vale slowly trickled in, escorted by squads of Skitarii sent out to find survivors and bring them back for evacuation. The Lilly and the captured atlas airship had moved overhead to begin taking on evacuees while Corius and Rick maintained the Ground forces defence. It was as one of the last squads returned with survivors that Rick took a hit from a bio weapon, Corius focused in on where the shot came from and what he saw shocked him, it was huge, the size of a Knight and it even looked like one, with two arm like appendages, one holding a bone like cannon and the other a bone sword. Studying the creature Corius realised what it was, it was the Grimm's attempt at making a Knight. Rick recovered from the shot quickly, and he almost froze when he saw his opponent, it was Knight like Grimm, "how have they got something like that?" he asked himself, and he felt the familiar warmth of the battle cannon firing. The Shots hit the creature dead centre, and to Ricks horror it even had a fake Ion shield. Rick charged the beast, war horn blaring as he ran, the beast roared in return, meeting him in a charge of its own. Their Blades clashed and the superior reaper chainsword won as it dug into the bone sword of the Grimm, it retaliated with a few shots from its cannon, forcing rick to back pedal with the impacts. "Corius, what is this Thing" he asked frantically over the Vox, "I am unsure, it seems to be a poor attempt at copying the Omnissiah blessed Knight, I recommend immediate termination" Rick laughed at that "well I wasn't going to just let it escape" Rick answered moving back into the fight, chainsword revving. The Next shot from the Grimm overloaded the Ion shield and tore away some of the Invictus' armour, "I will not let this end here" Rick growled out through the sensory pain, his body glowed white with his aura, before it extended out into the Knight.
Corius watched as the Grimm-Knight shot tore into the Invictus and overloaded the Ion shields and removed several plates of armour. It was a shock when the cockpit glowed silver for a moment before the entire Knight was enveloped in a Silver coat of armour. Rick panted hard inside the knight, he could feel his aura and his semblance all over his knight, it even started to repair the armour. He looked to the Grimm-knight and smirked when he saw it hesitate, and he charged, the Chainsword being coated in his semblance he thrust it forward into the Grimm, piercing it through the head. The Grimm collapsed and faded away as Ricks semblance faded, leaving the Knight behind to continue the fight. The Two Airships rose into the sky after loading up both the rescued civilians and the remains of the Skitarii forces, along with the Knight. As they flew over the city they continued to fire down upon any pockets of Grimm they could see. Corius watched from the Bridge of the Lilly as Vale burned, the world had just received a wakeup call, either stand together of Fall one by one as Corius had no doubt the negative emotions caused by this event will spread to every kingdom. "Make for Reliquiae, we have much to do" Corius ordered and both Airships fired up their engines and made for the Dragon continent, both holding the last remnants of Vale in their holds.
The Atmosphere in the Airships was tense, the civilian's morning all the lost friends and family, Hunters grieving for fallen comrades. Rick watched as all these emotions moved through the large crowd, "we will recover from this" came Corius voice beside him, "I don't know Corius, losing a village is one thing but a Kingdom, that hasn't happened in a long, long time" Rick said watching as a child was embraced by his parents. "Humanity always survives, no matter the odds, and that is what makes us the superior being." Corius said as he pumped his voice into the Vox casters. "Citizens of Vale" the crowds in both ships stilled, "the world has suffered a tragic loss this day, and although we grieve now I can assure you that Mechanicus will retake Vale within year" the crowd roared in approval, "and I will personally lead the Hunt for the ones responsible for this travesty and they will face punishment the Mechanicus way." Corius left the Hold to the sound of roaring approval.
The rescued Civilians and weary hunters stepped out of the Airships and into the seemingly under populated city. "For all peoples arriving from Vale, accommodation will be provided to all, sizing will vary on size of familial group", boomed a voice over the parade ground. Slowly but surely the people received their shelter and were given rations to start their new lives for the time being, it was just as some of the more inquisitive souls had started to explore when an announcement was broadcast over the budding city, "Incoming Grimm Hoard, all civilians return to your homes, deploying Void shields, activating Gun servitors" the message repeated as the cities wall mounted gun servitors came to life, the void shield fading into existence over the city. The few brave souls who watched from their windows all saw the magnificent light show of impacts against the shield, and 30 minutes later the same mechanical voice announced "Grimm threat eliminated, civilians may go about normal business." By the end of the day many vale citizens had decided to make Reliquiae their new home.
A/N : i dont own 40k or RWBY. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, in regards to the slowed down updates, i recently restarted work after having two months off so i have a lot less time to work on this story, but for now i will continue to work on it when i can.