Sorry that the last chapter was short. I have seen in the reviews a few things about the Silver Eyed Warrior power. It will not show up. The one time it was activated so far was under the emotional stress of a very good friend dying before her. So far and so forth this story has and will not create the same level of stress and need for them to activate. Even if she was to use them, they are so uncontrolled that it would level EVERYONE because of their current weakened strength. if this chapter is lackluster, it is because my drive to write went somewhere for a time and I am trying to get it back.
FloriteFlower - I am trying, but I can not think of any more humorous situations to go on. Input your ideas, please.
It may be unclear to the scale of The Barron. Yang stands at just under its waist in height. The arms are about as think as Weiss and the legs are similar. The broadest point in the chest is like a car hood, but twice as long.
"How? How did it just..." Weiss' words trailed off as she dropped to her knees. She had put everything she had into stabilizing and powering that attack, and Soren was in a similar boat. The Barron turned to look at the ones who had managed to cause him true damage, and charged for them. Weiss tried to move out of the way but the creature was closing in. It raised its mace and prepared to finish her.
"NOO!" In a boom of rose petals, Ruby appeared and swung Crescent Rose with as much strength as she could muster. Using another large chunk of her surplus aura she slammed the mace into the ground and used the upward force to deliver a large slash across the Grimm's cheek. Seeing an opening, Soren burst forward like a comet into its chest. Yorm cut a large slice down the tender flesh that had been recently healed. They were holding it back and giving Ruby a chance to help Weiss.
"Ruby?" Weiss stumbled as she walked forward and Ruby caught her hand, channeling the rest of the surplus into her partner. Weiss felt reinvigorated to almost full strength. "I'm not gonna let a teammate die. Come on." Ruby ran regularly back into the fight with Weiss following. She jumped forward and swung her scythe into the tender spot on its chest. It buried about two thirds of the way in before stopping. Ruby let the blade extend before firing and ripping it out through force. It was about to gain it's revenge on her when Yang came flying from where she tumbled too, riding the shotgun blasts from here gauntlets. "Miss me!?"
She clamored on its head before unloading the rest of her clip and dancing around the grabs that were made for her. Once she was empty she jumped off and landed on the ground. Soren took back to the charge, slinging arcs of flame with whatever he had left in him. The Barron was attacking wildly around at the moving targets. Once it realized this wasn't an efficient strategy it stopped and focused. While the Grimm could not posses a semblance because of their lack of a soul, they were still creatures born from the hatred and negative emotions of mankind.
To anyone who knew how to sense the void of Grimm, they would have felt the field of it expand around the Barron and thicken. A burst off negative feelings flew off of him and stunned the group. They all felt as if someone near had died and they were grieving, and angry as well. It only lasted a few moments but it gave time for him to land a strike on Ruby. She flew off towards a line of trees with a new gash scored on her shoulder. She didn't get up.
"You monster!" Yang burst into light, hair blazing in a color close to white. Nobody hurt her sister like that and got away with it. The problem of her unloaded gauntlets slipped her mind as she charged, clenching her fists hard enough that her nails cut her palms. She jumped upwards and punched it in the chest. Even without her shotgun blasts, The Barron still felt the impact. It swung the mace of bone at her again and again, but she weaved around it in her brawling stance. Blake watched as the Grimm's movements became slower, more calculated. Yang thought it was just tiring, but it was something different.
"Slowing down already huh!?" Yang ducked under another swing and gave a good punch in the knee that amounted to a solid charlie-horse. Suddenly the bright red orbs that were its eyes flashed as its body stopped moving. Blonde and black stalemated each other. Then the mace slipped out of The Barron's hand and clattered onto the cold earth. It shifted and adopted a fighting stance. "Wha...?" Yang was confused and she let her guard drop. Blake saw it coming before she did, and tried to warn her partner. "Yang, duck!"
Yang came back into focus a second to late. She didn't have time to move so she braced herself for the impact. A crude mimic of a proper punch battered Yang into the trees. Two down, four weakened to go. It charged the remaining fighters.
"Ohhhh, my head.'
Yang was lying face down on the ground, moaning quietly in pain. On her unscheduled trip she had bashed her head on a large branch. The impact banged her into a front flip that smashed her into the ground. Her nose was probably broken and a lump was forming on the back of her head. The mere sharpness of the pain brought her out of her stupor. She pushed herself up, wincing at the pain behind her eyes. At least she could see. Yang had heard somewhere that a hard enough hit to the back of your head could bruise whatever controlled sight.
She was on her feet and feeling worse for it. Yang realized that she would be no good for a fight, so she staggered off in search of Ruby. She would protect her sister.
Blake was putting everything she had into trying to overwhelm the enemy. She launched shades at The Barron, but the techniques that it learned allowed it to weave around them. It wasn't long before she was on the defensive, Weiss helping to keep the tide of battle even. With her back to full strength, she was a valuable player. Yorm refused defense. He seemed to be the only one that The Barron couldn't get a beat on. A flurry of cuts draped over the Grimm's body. While he didn't show it, the continued use of his semblance was draining him. The cut in his side didn't help either. Soren helped how he could, swinging his weapon without his fire. He had to save energy in case of emergency.
"Make a launching glyph." Weiss complied, summoning one at an angle towards the Grimm. Blake jumped onto the glyph and boosted forward, impaling it in the breast muscle. It ignored her and instead grazed Yorm with a punch before he could slip into the shadow state. He fell to the ground, but he was on his feet running a second later. They locked eyes and Yorm pointed at Weiss, making a curve and upwards pull with his hand. Blake just barely understood. She ran to relay the message.
"Create a bend of glyphs, he needs to go fast. Make sure the last one is a launcher." Weiss didn't know why, but she created them. The somewhat large number took a portion of her aura to keep made. Twenty glyphs spring ip in a spiral, going inwards to the Barron. Yorm saw this and ran for the start. Weiss took a moment to piece it together, but saw the picture only a second into his run. "Now how is it you expect to pull that off." She mumbled under her breath.
Yorm ran along the glowing path made for him. He could feel the air whipping past him as he approached the jump. He let his form deteriorate gradually. Smoke flagged off of him as he ran. He was nearly transparent as he hit the launcher. He was put up into an arc. He dissipated entirely as he crashed into the chest of The Barron, swiping with his sword. He appeared on the ground behind it, breathing heavily.
Nothing happened at first, but a line of eldritch blood appeared on The Barron's chest. Yorm had scored a deep cut. Not deep enough though. The Barron regained itself in an instant and charged after Yorm. He was disoriented from the jump, having to hold parts of himself together while letting others fall away. The sight of The Barron got him moving, but not enough. The Barron threw a punch, but it was stopped dead by a glyph. It took a visible strain on Weiss. A second punch was thrown and the glyph flickered. "Move you imbecile!" She yelled. Yorm flickered out of the way just as a fist hit where his position was.
Yang had wandered for a few moments, hearing the fight going on but not turning her head. She knew that if she did she would be forced to go back in. Instead she opted to focus on finding her sister. A line of blood trickled off and Yang followed it, already fearing the worst. Ruby was found laying against a tree with her eyes closed and Crescent Rose at her side. Yang's heart skipped a beat before Ruby gasped and gripped the gash in her shoulder tighter. She was alive.
"Ruby! You're okay." Ruby opened her eyes, meekly waiving at her sister. Then her eyes widened. 'Yang, what happened to your face?" Her nose throbbed, reminding her of its state. "Minor complications. How is your shoulder?"
"It hurts, like really bad." She winced again. Yang tried to help. "Here, let me see." She pulled Ruby's hand away from the wound, revealing that it was still bleeding heavily. It needed bandaged and cleaned, maybe stitched. 'I'm one for three. Eh, not bad.'
"I got an idea." Yang took off the scarf that she always wore, rapping it around the arm to the discomfort of Ruby. It had to be tight so that the blood would stop. Her sister bit back a yell in pain. Pain was something that could be fixed. Hopefully she remembered what that plant Blake got looked like. She looked around until settling onto a green leafy root. She pulled it and tested it herself first. Same taste, and same effect. The throbbing in her head died a little. "Here, chew on this." Ruby grabbed it and did as she was asked, thankful for how fast it acted. "Think you can still fight?"
Ruby moved her right arm and winced, it wouldn't be very good in a fight. Thankfully she was left handed. "I'll work with it." Ruby said, pushing herself up off the ground with her scythe. She had practiced using her weapon one handed before, but it wasn't easy. Yang smiled. Then she noticed that her weapon was unloaded. She only had black dust rounds left. Not good for speed or maximum damage, but it was better than nothing. She reloaded and ran towards the clearing, her sister following close behind.
Weiss bounded around The Barron on her glyphs, causing a distraction for Blake. She had another quick plan, but Ruby was the better one at that. Blake gave herself a jump boost with herself and landed on The Barron's neck. Four in total added up after the clones were summoned. Two of each grabbed a horn and yanked. The head followed the direction yanked as if it was hair. Weiss took advantage and whipped a small line of fire at one of its legs. Her red dust chamber was empty now, along with her ice. Yorm weaved through, slinging his blade and dagger at the legs. Soren yelled from the back to warn his son that Blake had been shook loose. He bolted out of the way just as he was about to be kicked. A random slug of black dust. "There's... a few more where that came from!"
Yang and Ruby ran back into the clearing. Blake clearly noticed that Ruby was favoring her right arm, neglecting to use it at all. The Barron noticed them and shifted his attention. The caped girl took a wild swing with Crescent Rose, but it was caught and thrown away from the fight. Yang came to cover her sister and ended up being the only thing standing between them. A ball of fire washed over the back of the Grimm for a moment, but it was ignored in favor of putting these two out of commission again.
He took a swipe at Yang that was more controlled than usually seen by Grimm. She was caught in her shoulder blade by one of the claws. Yang fell to the ground and Ruby tried to get her out of the way. Her aura was too low and she couldn't muster the power to pull both herself and her sister into the speed semblance. They were batted away and landed a few feet out, struggling to get back to their feet.
The Barron stepped towards the fallen sisters, intent on ending them. A burning tug wrapped itself around his body a few times. It held him fast. Soren was using his reserves of power to bind the Grimm from reaching them. Yorm saw this and moved to help. Just as he reached their location The Barron ripped free of its bonds. A shadow shrouded over them, seeping from Yorm's body. The last thing the two heard before the world bent around them was 'hold on'.
It was a kaleidoscope of darkness for a few seconds before they appeared a stones throw past the edge of the clearing. Yang and Ruby were both unprepared and had no time to guard their being. They both felt a sense of void for a few time before Yorm spoke. "It goes away. Now stay here." Neither had time to protest before he had warped out of the area.
He jumped back into the fight quick, ignoring the pain and exhaustion taking over. That gash he had was definitely bleeding more. He pushed himself once again, using his form to drift along and let the sword come back into existence for a strike. He had to stop soon after before he became to disoriented to fight. Weiss came running forward and plunged Myrtenaster into the knee joint of the Grimm, letting loose a large electrical discharge that nearly emptied her chamber. Normally she wasn't up to such barbaric attacks, but she was running out of options fast.
The attack was good. It damaged some major muscle fibers as well as incapacitated it with the shock. Unfortunately the collapsing of The Barron brought the rapier with it, pulling Weiss to the ground and making her an easy target. The pain that the Grimm was experiencing was put off in the prospect of a good attack. Weiss barely managed to pull the blade free and roll out of the way as the large fist crashed into the ground. She felt the dirt tremble.
Soren took a rip out of the wrist with his SawCleaver. The arm recoiled and threw him back. He landed hard on his back, breathing heavily. He needed his fire, but his aura was dangerously low. Any he had left was going towards making sure his attacks hit hard enough to deal damage. Soren pushed himself up, fueled only by the need to protect his town and family. A small surge of aura went to up to his side, but he didn't look.
The spike in energy was Blake stretching her semblance as far as it would go. A total of twelve clones were lined up, six on either side of the original. They surged forward as one with what could have been a cry of defiance or pain exploding from Blake's throat. He aura was on a one way trip into the ground. They reached The Barron like a wave, crashing into him and slashing like a storm of Gambol Shrouds. It overwhelmed him, there were too many targets to hit. Each time he had singled on one, three more were attacking another part of him.
The giants fists crashed into the ground with such ferocity that the nearest clones were thrown back. The original Blake was with the group so they all dispersed on impact. She stayed down, not having enough aura to get up. The Grimm roared, beating it's chest with the sound of a war drum. Yorm launched himself at the beasts face, but was caught by an incredibly fast and devastating punch that hit him directly. By the time he managed to activate his semblance, it was damage control. He didn't hit any trees but he thudded into the earth hard. The Barron roared again in challenge; Weiss accepted.
She used a few glyphs to serpentine launch towards her opponent. It didn't work and she was batted into the ground at high speeds. In the clamber her own weapon had pierced her forearm. She was disappointed in herself. How did she let that happen, and why was he suddenly so much faster?
"He was holding back." Weiss thought aloud as she was on the ground looking up. The Barron's furious face came into view, and she stiffened.
'Got to get out.' She thought. Weiss pulled out Myrtenaster with a cry of pain and a wet squelching sound. A glyph moved her out of the current line of danger and she landed on her feet, arm draping limp on her side. She had no choice but to fight at a distance. If Weiss got to close then she was surely done. A game of cat and mouse with the remnants of her lightning dust began.
To the side of the fight, Soren stood like a rock after seeing his son get launched out of the fight. That was a hard hit. Sparks of fire and... something else flared on his being. He didn't even feel the pulling of aura from a deeper place, nor did he question the movements that his body undertook. He held out his index and middle finger like a spike on each hand, waving his arms like he was directing current. Energy around him felt displaced and angry, and Soren felt that he was the catalyst. The power crashed into him and with one arm he directed it. A bright blue bolt of lightning crashed into The Barron just as it was about to end Weiss. The beast stood stunned and Weiss looked back, slack jawed. "H-how did you..."
"Get my son, get your team, and then we run. I can hold this one until then." Soren said, a deadly edge to his voice despite his body crying for stop so much that it felt numb. "Y-you'll die!" Weiss yelled at him. His voice rose into a yell of his own.
"I'll be fine, now go!" Weiss gulped and nodded, running off to where Yorm must have landed. Soren locked eyes with The Barron, grinning wickedly. "I won't be a martyr." Lightning flared up his body, pulling from his very soul after draining his aura. The last ditch fight had begun.
I hope you all enjoyed the longer chapter. It was the least I could do after such a long break. Directly after this I will be working on a chapter for Antics of Beacon. Now ya'll have a good day now, y'hear.