Chapter 24 – Hold the Academy
Winter
Time is drastically running out for Beacon, and they can hear the war that is beginning against the Creatures of Grimm beneath them. But the roars and the gunfire and explosions are just getting fainter and fainter the further away the Shadow of Broken Promises gets from the Academy. So, Winter and Eryka are both moving as fast as they possibly can, running down the hallways with their sleeves pushed up, ready to fight with their hands. Something they are going to need to do right about now.
They both slow down with widened eyes as a bunch of Stockholm Troopers sprint down the hallway and raise their fists, glaring right into their eyes with their fists held up. They stand in the tight hallway, waiting for them to make their move. Winter and Eryka look at each other and they both nod, knowing what to do. They may have no weapons, but they have both trained in the arts of war with their knuckles and legs. The body is still the greatest weapon of them all, because it is always with you.
The soldiers stand tall and their helmets fold over their heads, disguising their voices with the distorters built into the auditory speakers. They clench their armoured fists, they could almost certainly beat them down, but it all depends on their skill. Winter and Eryka look at each other and they both nod their heads with smirks. "Well, this isn't fair…for them." She says, and the squad of Stockholm Troopers charge forward and one of them swings his fist with all his might, but as the two Huntresses charge forward, they display their superior skills. Eryka ducks under her foe's swing and punches him in his gut, causing him to stagger. It is clear that these soldiers did not have time to grab weapons, but that does not mean there will be any reinforcements without weapons coming as well. The soldier hunches forward from the impact of her fist to his chest, and she swings her leg round and slams the back of her heel into the side of his head.
As Eryka spins round in the tight corridor, Winter ducks down as well, just missing her leg, then she runs forward and jumps up, pressing her foot against the wall to jump higher, and as she comes down, she punches another soldier across the face, knocking him down to the ground. She slides across the metal floor and swipes her arm under the leg of the other, knocking him over beside his friend. She punches down into his helmet with all her might, cracking the glowing red visors that construct his helmet.
These soldiers are only the standard ranked infantrymen and even then, they are still quite tough for even skilled Huntresses to combat. They are named Raven Talons, and they fight with vicious precision. One of them grabs Winter by her white hair and swings her round, slamming her face into the wall with force. His voice distorted by the helmet, he growls as he forces her head into the white painted wall. Winter presses her hands against the wall, gritting her teeth in anger as she pushes her head away, feeling the metal plated hand of the soldier squeezing the back of her head. She slowly turns her head with anger, slamming her elbow into the mouth piece and cracking the fixed oxygen mask, meaning these guys must be used to fighting in hazardous locations as well. The black smoke shimmers across his body from underneath the armour, but as Winter swings her fist at his head he ducks down and punches her in the chest.
She slides across the floor and the soldier dashes towards her in a cloud of black smoke for a few seconds, just like how Ruby does but instead of petals it is some form of artificial smog. The Raven Talon swings his fist right at her face, but she leans back at a total ninety degrees, her white hair falling behind her head as she kneels there, and the soldier moves past her. He swings again but she blocks his attack with her forearm, then jumps up and wraps her legs around his head, rolling downwards and throwing him towards another who came charging towards her, knocking him onto the floor as well. The armour scrapes across the floor and as soon as he goes to get up, she kicks him against his face extremely hard, cracking the visor and he grunts, rolling across the floor.
Eryka roars as she repeatedly punches a soldier in his sternum, throwing up to six well placed shots with her bare knuckles into his ribs. The Stockholm Trooper staggers back, when suddenly a sharp blade extends from his forearm, staring her down as he paces back and forth. She scoffs, cracking her neck at the unprofessional tenacity of the soldier to bring a blade to a fistfight. "Well that's just cheating, asshole!" Eryka yells, and the soldier yells with his voice distorted with a metallic tone. He swings straight at her face and the blade crackles with electricity coursing across the blade. The blade growls as it swings right past her, and she pushes him aside, punching him in the side of the head, before swiping her leg across his. He falls to the ground and before making a fatal mistake he thrusts upwards to try and stab her in the leg.
Eryka jumps up in the air and presses her legs against the wall, boosting down towards another soldier, punching him in the face and performing a perfect backflip that sends her boot clattering up his jaw. The impact throws him back and he staggers away from her, before dashing forward and punching her in the face. She lands in the arms of the soldier with the blade, seeing the crackling blade moving towards her throat but she grabs onto the Raven Talon's forearm, holding him back. Her sapphire eyes dance over to Winter, seeing her battling against three of the soldiers.
She ducks down from one of their fists as it caves into the wall and rips out the cables that damage the lights around them, causing them to flicker more. She then grabs the soldier by the face and pushes him away from her, before jumping in the air, flipping forward and slamming her foot downwards onto the top of the soldier's head. He grunts, falling flat onto the floor, but he slowly begins to get back up, she gasps, catching the fist of another soldier in one hand and grabbing onto his whole forearm with the other. She twists his arm round and creates a popping sound inside of his arm, and he yells in anger and pain, and she throws him down to the floor after tripping him with her slender leg.
"Winter!" Eryka calls out, before grunting in pain as the Raven Talon that threw her punches her in the stomach over and over again, leaving nasty bruises on her underneath her shirt. She spits into his visor but takes a punch to the cheek, causing her to spit out blood. Her aura cannot withstand this level of combat for long because of how thin it is, meaning Winter is the one that can last the longest against these guys when it comes down to hand to hand. However, Eryka has learned how to take a hit without needing her Aura to protect her, and she has also learned how to fight dirty and with unpredictability.
Winter reaches her hand out, and the soldier with the fists suddenly sees a glyph form around his arms and he gasps, as Winter grits her teeth and sends a shockwave of energy into his body that throws him across the hallway, sliding to a stop. The shocked soldier stares at his friend, giving Eryka the chance to throw her head back into his helmet, then swing her arm round, knocking him back. Winter returns back to her partner's back, standing back to back as the Stockholm Troopers get back up. They lift their fists and the soldier with the blade extended paces back and forth, the electricity still crackling away. "We don't have time for this." Winter tells her, knowing they have thirty minutes until Killian sends the Shadow of Broken Promises through a portal to gods know where.
"Then we need to show these thugs whose boss." She says and Winter smirks, glancing back at her.
"I like the way you think." Winter says to her.
"That the only thing?" She flirtatiously inquires.
"Make it out of here alive? Ask me that again." She says, then the soldiers charge forward, and they swing as well. Eryka slides under the legs of the soldier with the blade and she jumps up onto his back, pulling him back by his face. Whereas Winter pushes the punch from one of the soldiers aside and returns the blow with one of her own. She jumps and does a dropkick into the Raven Talon's chest, knocking him down to the floor with force. He grunts as he crashes to the floor, but yet again rises back up, swinging his fists repeatedly at her. She backs up and pushes him into another solider.
Eryka pushes her feet against the spine of the Raven Talon, making him stagger forward before she picks up a fire extinguisher and throws it straight at his face. He grunts, staggering back as she runs at him. She tackles him down to the floor, but he vanishes into a cloud of smoke, appearing behind her and pushing the blade down towards her. She gasps, rolling out of the way and crashing against the wall. She gets up fast, taking a punch to the face by another soldier, spitting blood into his visor to partially blind him. She swings round and smashes her hand into the side of his head with great force, making the Raven Talon fall to the floor but just like the others he refuses to stay down.
Winter on the other hand grabs a Talon by the head and throws her knee upwards into his visor, already cracked this shatters it and sends him falling to the floor, only for her to kick his head like a football, knocking one of them out finally. She staggers, both of them getting exhausted from the constant fighting, needing some time to recover, but they don't have time, and are still standing. Meaning the fight is not over yet, and Winter moves towards another soldier that rushes her and goes to punch her in the face, only for the elder Schnee Sibling to jump up and spiral down and punch him in the head, also falling to the floor in the process. A Raven Talon suddenly gets up and roars as he blasts towards her in a cloud of smoke, grabbing Winter by the throat and dragging her across the floor before smashing her against the ground repeatedly.
"Get off her, asshole!" Eryka yells, as she takes the fire extinguisher she threw earlier and swings it against the side of his head with all her might. The metallic bang from the impact pushes him off the Specialist and Eryka ducks down from the next punch and brings the cannister upwards with both speed and force, throwing him up in the air. As he comes down, she smashes it downwards into the centre of the helmet, knocking this one out as well. She gasps, turning and throwing the extinguisher yet again towards the bladed Talon, but he cuts it clean in half, spraying ice-cold carbon dioxide everywhere. He sprints towards Eryka and thrusts the blade towards her and she catches it in her hands, using her aura to block the electricity, but before it could be broken, Winter jumps up and quickly finds the power source. She punches into it and rips the cables out, stopping the electricity from flowing any further.
Eryka grits her teeth together in pain as the blade cuts into her skin and flesh, causing blood to pour from the wounds and down the blade. But the soldier holds her there and viciously elbows Winter in the nose, giving her a nosebleed as she falls to the floor. The Raven Talon roars with fury, swinging round and throwing Eryka across the hallway. Winter smiles, casting another Glyph while on the floor as the Talon walks towards her to kill her. The glyph forms ahead of Eryka's flight path and she presses her feet against it, abruptly being shot forward by the ability inside of it. She soars through the air and arches her fist back, and swings it forward with full force, punching the Talon in the head so hard it dents the metal and shatters his glowing red visor, knocking him to the ground and leaving him unconscious. Eryka tumbles past him and groans, looking at her slashed open hands but her thin aura is starting to do the necessary repairs.
Winter rubs the blood from her nose, panting in exhaustion before spitting some of the blood from her mouth. Now there are only three of the Raven Talons left, and they are looking just as fatigued as they are. But they do not even seem afraid like most enemies would at this point, they just seem like they are emotionless robots now. Whatever Killian and the rest of the Black Gallows have fed into these prisoner's minds…it has taken full control. But simply following orders should not have to be a killable offence unless left with no other option.
Winter glances at Eryka and she looks at her, both battered and bruised, but still standing. "You good?" Eryka inquires.
"Been…and looked…better." She admits with a chuckle as some blood trickles from her nose.
"Just another day in the office." Eryka replies.
"Yep!" Winter agrees, before she ducks down from the punch of the soldier that swings right at head again. Eryka rushes forward and grabs one of the soldiers by his collar piece, punching his face three times before kicking him in the chest to knock him back. He staggers back and presses his hand against the wall, before charging forward and grabbing Eryka and slamming her up against the wall, throwing punches into her side a couple times. She grunts before kicking upwards into his crotch, creating a high-pitched squeal from the soldier. And Eryka finishes him off with a jump in the air, sending her boot down the top of his head, his face bouncing off the floor, knocking him out.
Eryka coughs, winded on the ground from landing on her back like that.
Winter on the other hand is still up and fighting, taking a punch to the cheek from one of the two she is fighting. As he swings at her again, she casts a glyph under her feet, sliding across the floor and swiping him off his feet. She jumps up and tackles the other onto the floor as she uses the same Glyph to blast her body towards him. As she grabs onto him, they both slide across the floor, and she stands on his chest, before kicking him in the side of the head with all her strength in her body. She staggers back and presses her back against the wall, panting with ragged breaths, seeing the last one getting back up, running over the unconscious bodies of his allies.
Winter blocks his punch with her forearm and then counters with a harder punch right to the side of his head, making him stagger back. She punches him again, and again, and again, before finally hitting him hard enough to knock him out, causing him to fall to the ground.
And Winter does the same, groaning as she pushes her hands against the floor, slowly getting back up, pressing her knee against the ground as she gets back up. She flicks her white hair over her eye and she sighs with relief now that they finally can recover from that fight. She presses her hand to her aching stomach where she got hit multiple times. She walks over to Eryka who has finally caught her breath again, breathing normally. She crouches down and helps her back to her feet. "Y'know…when I said we were gonna get to know each other…I imagined more drinks." Eryka admits as she gets up, both of them exhausted.
"Like I said…after this is over…I'll buy you one." She assures, smirking to her as they walk towards the Armoury. They both walk inside and see a man stood there, not looking in their direction and not wearing his helmet. He somehow did not hear all the commotion or simply thinks that they won the fight and are on their way back. As he stands there, checking over the rectory, Dulcis is in his cage. He double takes when he sees Eryka and is about to screech with his wings out with happiness. Until Eryka holds her finger up to her lip and gently shushes the bird. The Eagle looks at her with confusion, then looks at the soldier.
All Eryka has to do is take her hand and press her thumb against her four digits and open her hand a few times – telling him to scream. The Eagle looks at her and for a second looks like he smirks, then Dulcis looks at the man and does exactly that. He suddenly starts shrieking extremely loudly, causing the guard to jolt as he stares at the angry eagle that yells at him. He opens his wings inside of the cage as he squawks. The Guard grits his teeth, staring at the Eagle. "I swear to god, if you don't shut the hell up, I promise you I will clip your wings." He threatens, but Dulcis doesn't listen, he just keeps screaming at him. "That's it!" He yells, until suddenly Eryka's hand smashes his head into the lockers with full force, causing them to rock in the process, and knocking him out immediately. She stands above the guard and scowls at him.
"Don't ever threaten my baby." Eryka snarls, walking away from his body and to the cage, trying to open it. "Don't worry, honey…I'll get you out." Eryka assures, but the whistle from Winter gets her to turn. She throws a key to her, and Eryka catches it, and it fits into the lock. "Thanks." She pants, flustered with worry for her Eagle. She lets him walk onto her arm and she checks his feathers and his wings.
"What're you doing?" Winter asks her.
"Checking that they didn't break his wings…no…no damage." She sighs with relief, holding her beloved bird close, kissing the top of his head affectionately. The Eagle closes his eyes in her embrace, something that surprises Eryka. She might not know about birds as much as Eryka, but she knows a few things.
"I didn't know Eagles cared for their owners like that." She says to her.
"Most don't, but Altum Eagles are different. These guys are way smarter and tend to travel in pairs for life. He sees me as his mother, you see. I imprinted on him, and for some reasons with Altum Eagles that is the best way to raise them. They need to trust you with all their heart. They tend to pair off with a mate for life…but trained the right way…and they will never leave their owner's side." She explains with a smile, seeing her bow and pouch of dead mice on the table where she would feed him.
Eryka scoffs, seeing the Eagle now staring at the bag. "But…he does love me for food as well. Don't you, big baby?" Eryka coos as she tickles the top of his head, making him wiggle on her arm with excitement. Winter smiles, looking around as she searches for their weapons. She opens the lockers one at a time, finding some rifles, a pair of green sickles…and finally! Her sword, hidden inside of one of the lockers with her belt of dust shells. She sighs with relief, picking it up and loading one of the fire shells inside the hilt. Unlike Weiss' revolving chamber, she can only fit a single shell into the hilt, however it works for her.
Eryka feeds Dulcis one of her dead rats she bought for him, and he swallows it whole, then looks up at her. She sighs, rolling her blue eyes and picking it up. "Just because I was worried about you." She says, throwing it to him, and he catches it in his sharp beak, swallowing it whole. "Fatty." She giggles as she picks up her bow that was leant against the side of the cage and finding her shells of telescopic arrows and attaching them back to the belt. She hangs her bow over her shoulders and Dulcis stands on her shoulder as she returns back to Winter's side.
"Alright…what's the plan, Wints?" She asks her curiously, and Winter smiles to her pet name. Like it or not, Eryka is beginning to grow on Winter…like a tumour.
"We need to get to the hanger, steal a ship and get down there. We have around fifteen minutes. Those goons didn't help our escape plan much." She states with a chuckle, and Eryka nods her head.
"I can find a ship and take it." She tells her.
"Alright, I'll handle the doors." Winter states, since the Hanger Bay doors have massive armoured doors that close to prevent enemies from boarding. Eryka however looks at her with confusion.
"How? The controls will be heavily guarded. I know you're a badass and all…but these guys don't screw around." She states.
"I'm not going for the controls." Winter tells her as her aura repairs her wounds and returns to full strength.
"Huh?" Eryka questions.
Winter opens her palm, forming a small glyph. "I've got a plan."
Pyrrha
The Praetorian Knight stares into their souls, almost collectively as it slowly walks towards the centre of the Academy where the circle of Huntsmen and Huntresses are defending it. Ironwood draws his Revolver and Glynda nods to him, and they both charge towards the Grimm at full speed. At their side are other elite warriors: Pyrrha Nikos, Jaymes Ickford, Professor Port, Doctor Oobleck and Yatsuhashi. Everyone else are holding the centre of the school with the weapons that were provided by the Atlesians after scavenging the wreckages of the ships that crashed after the Battle of Beacon.
From massive Mortar Cannons to brawling Machine Guns deployed and a Prototype Gauss Cannon, they are using the very best technology money can buy. Sun and Velvet both share a Mortar Cannon, loading a shell into it and turning the crank. Sun aims down the sights before firing it into the sky. The shell whistles above their heads and as it begins to fall, the roar suddenly silences with a pop, exploding in the air and raining smaller projectiles into the battlefield. The Grimm explode into tiny pieces beneath the raining hellfire, whilst thousands of fresh and superheated fire dust crystal bullets come spraying across the courtyard. Beowulves and Creeps feel their flesh be torn apart by the storm of bullets unleashed upon them.
A bullet bounces off the shoulder of the Praetorian Knight and it does not even flinch, it just stares at Ironwood who sprints at him. He moves incredibly fast, like a speeding car on the motorway and he jumps up in the air. He channels dust through his cybernetic arm and the Praetorian Knight readies itself as it backs up, spinning its Sceptre through the puddle on the ground, spraying molecules across the cobblestone. Ironwood pounds his fist down into the ground, blasting a powerful shockwave that knocks all the Grimm back. Ironwood glares at the monster and he fires his pistol at it repeatedly, but the Praetorian Knight spins its Sceptre through the floating metal and cobble fingers, cutting the bullets down before they can even reach its body. It immediately rushes forward and kicks him straight in the chest, knocking him backwards but as he tumbles, he lands back onto his feet, firing a shot that hits the Knight in the head. It recoils back and snarls, the armour hovering over the dark red energy inside of its skull.
The Praetorian Knight sprints towards the Headmaster of Atlas Academy and jumps up into the air, holding the Sceptre over its head and stabbing it down into the ground, creating a powerful red pulse of energy that blows him off his feet. But as he floats in the air, he spins and lands back on his feet, sprinting back at the titan. He slides underneath its legs as it stabs the sceptre downwards at where his head was, and he fires the gun into the floating pieces of metal and it snarls, turning to face him. He swings the sceptre's blunt end towards his head, but he catches it with his cybernetic hand, staring into its demented eyes, before pushing it aside and jumping towards its face, punching it straight in the forehead.
Pyrrha charges with full speed as a Mortar crashes fire down close to her, and she slides across the torn courtyard, throwing Akoúo towards a jumping Beowulf to knock it out of the sky. As she slides up to it the bullets from the machine guns firing at the epicentre shred straight through its flesh, killing it instantly. She pulls Akoúo back to her hand, and she also turns to see Ghira in the battlefield. He roars as he extends his Panther Claws through his hands and he jumps towards a Beowulf and digs them into its throat, slashing its head from its shoulders before rolling across the floor and slashing a Creep across its face, fighting alongside some other Huntsmen who agreed to help him. Fox and Russel in fact.
Pyrrha gasps, coming back to the world at large as she raises her shield and stops the Creep that just erupted through the ground and landed right behind her. It bites down onto her shield and tries to pull it from her hand, so instead with her Polarity, she launches it off, then as she extends Milo into its Spear Form, she pulls it back. The Creep roars with anger before silenced by the spearhead that punctures through its head and kills it instantly. It crumbles to dust in her hand and she holds Akoúo in her hand, looking around as she sees everyone fighting together.
Glynda jumps down and blasts a collection of purple energised shockwaves towards the Grimm, knocking them all down with force. She slides underneath the claws of an Ursa Major which roars at her, snarling as it runs around and goes to jump and crush her. She channels her arcane power and then thrusts her crop forward with gritted teeth, blasting not only the purple shell but also a collection of shards of rubble. The rubble stabs through its body and she rolls out of the way as it crashes to the ground before fading away. Glynda's green eyes widen as she hears the roars of the Goliaths getting nearer, seeing them toppling over the buildings in the Destroyed Districts of Vale, their trumpeting howls echo for miles as they approach. But there are other monsters incoming as well. She narrows her eyes and pushes her glasses back up her nose as she stares the incoming monsters down, casting a spell of her semblance into the sky, forming a small storm that sends strikes of lightning forged from dust down into the charging Grimm. Beowulves and Boarbatusks roar in pain as they get struck by the forks of superheated light, killed quite swiftly too. She then rotates her Crop round and launches glowing purple spikes of energy towards the charging Grimm, killing them as they approach.
She stands tall as her cape blows in the wind, looking at Pyrrha and giving her a nod. She walks further to the attacking Grimm and Pyrrha narrows her eyes. She thrusts herself forward and jumps in the air, spinning gracefully before launching her shield towards the Grimm once more. It bounces off the head of a Charger, stunning it for a second until she slides across the floor and slices her Xiphos through its legs, and then catches her shield, slamming it down into the back of its head. The Beast collapses and fades away into ashes, more mortar fire comes crashing down into the battlefield. "Look out, Pyrrha or you'll get your hair singed." Yang warns, and Pyrrha catches on, turning to see Yang on the Battlefield now, in what appears to be an Atlesian Paladin. One that was not in the battle luckily, and it has what appear to be flame throwers.
She blasts the fire from the cannons into the monsters that attack, setting them all alight on napalm and the thick black smoke rises into the air as they cook away. The Beowulves cry out as they fade away, and Yang looks down at Pyrrha. "Go on, P-Money! I got this!" She assures as she continues to unleash her fury, laughing almost maniacally as she kills the Grimm one by one. Ruby on the other hand is up on the tower with her Sniper Rifle, picking Grimm off one at a time. She has a clear line of sight up here, taking each of them out with terrific precision. She fires at hits an Ursa right through the eye, managing to kill it quite literally – instantly.
She cheers with happiness, jumping up and thrusting her fist in the air. "Ruby!" Weiss yells on the mic.
"Sorry." She replies.
Jaune watches the battle as he walks across the Defence Point where most of the fighters are right now. To be called in when needed, and until then will be using the weapons provided by the Kingdom of Atlas. For once are helping a great deal. Sage picks up his sword and kisses Scarlet lovingly before he charges out. Scarlet jumps up onto the Gauss Cannon and he aims down the sights, charging up a shot as he aims at a Beringel that battles against Yatsuhashi. The shell fires, ejecting out from the side, and the powerful bolt of energy shoots across the terrain, puncturing clean through the armour of the Beringel and killing it in a single shot. Yatsuhashi turns to Scarlet who salutes him, so Yatsuhashi raises his sword in the air.
The huge Warrior turns around and stares at the charging Beowulves and grips his sword tight, roaring as he swings round and slashes across the chest of the Alpha Beowulf that lead its pack, cutting it clean in half. He then catches another by the throat and lifts the beast off the floor before stabbing his sword downwards in between the shoulder blades of the third Beowulf, killing it instantly. Yatsuhashi roars with brutish fury as he rips its head from its shoulders with ease and drops its decaying body to the ground. He gasps when he sees Ironwood tumbling past him and then seeing the massive Praetorian Knight jumping down towards him to stab him in the heart with the Sceptre. It nearly does, until Yatsuhashi stops the tip of the Sceptre, scraping across the curved metal and then slashing it upwards across the face of the monster, knocking back, actually sending it flying. It falls towards the ground but flips through the air and sticks the landing, rising back up as it stares at the two of them.
"This thing is really pissing me off." Ironwood growls as he clenches his fist, loading some fire dust into his knuckles.
"Want some help, General?" Yatsuhashi asks him as he holds his sword behind him, glaring the Knight down. Ironwood cracks his neck and smiles, because he has not had a good fight like this for a long time.
"Would be a pleasure, Mr Daichi." Ironwood assures with a smirk, as the Praetorian Knight sprints towards them again, and they both charge towards it. Ironwood looks at Yatsuhashi and the large student already has a plan, he grabs onto Ironwood and swings him round as he charges his fist up. He throws the General towards the Praetorian Knight and Ironwood roars, sending a powerful hook right under its jaw, the shockwave rippling its body and blowing it back. It crashes to the ground and this time Ironwood lands on his feet, aiming his pistol at it as it rises back up. It spins the Sceptre through its fingers and aims it at them before darting towards them.
Pyrrha sees them fighting against the Praetorian Knight and she grits her teeth, turning to see her Mother and Father fighting back to back. Just like Ghira and Kali who has also appeared on the battlefield. She slashes the Grimm up with a pair of electrified daggers, jumping and rolling across the back of the Beowulf before slitting its throat. Ghira punches a Beringel in the head before tackling it to the ground, crushing its head with his huge hands. Pyrrha's parents on the other hand have adopted the age-old Spartan Strategy, shields held up and using their spears to stab the Grimm that charge towards them. Juno smashes the shield across the face of the Boarbatusk that spins towards them, and as it slides across the floor on its back, she stabs down into its belly to kill it. Whereas her beloved husband takes his sword and swings it downwards, across the face of the Beowulf which attacks him. He then headbutts the other that attacks him. As it staggers back, he pushes forward and plunges his Xiphos into its chest, killing it instantly.
He draws his collapsible Spear on his belt and he extends it, the spearhead opening up and then he aims as a Nevermore shrieks as it flies straight towards them, about to launch Fatal Feathers. He roars, launching the spear towards it and it stabs straight through its heart. It swings the wings before falling to the ground with a world-shaking thud. The sharp feathers fall towards them and he turns to his wife. "Shield up!" He yells, they both hunker down and raise the shields above their heads, allowing the huge feathers to slide off their metal casings. The feathers land around them and her father sees the Spear in the ground where the Giant Nevermore crashed, the smoke fading away to reveal it. He pulls it from the ground and stabs it right through the head of another Beowulf that goes for the kill. The spear erupts out the other side of its head, killing it instantly as he rips it out, fading into smoke.
They have been fighting for years, like Ironwood they have probably missed having a good fight like this.
Pyrrha smiles and turns back to the Grimm behind her. She sees Jaymes fighting against a Deathstalker and she narrows her eyes, sprinting to his aid. He forms his lightning lassos, wrapping one of them around the pincers, swinging round and landing on its head. The Deathstalker roars as it moves around, trying to grab him. It goes to plunge the stinger down into his head, but she saves him, throwing her shield towards the stinger, causing it to stagger, He turns and sees her running to his aid, and he nods, jumping off its face and landing down before its four eyes. It roars at him as it slams the stinger down at him again, but he rolls backwards to avoid it, his lasso of energy pulling his tomahawk back into his hand. He holds them tight with gritted teeth, his purple hair crackling with his semblance in better control than it was before.
Pyrrha zooms forward and she uses her shield to deflect the incoming pincer, batting it aside and slashing her Xiphos form for Milo across its eye, causing it to roar in pain. It stumbles around a little as the deep cut blinds the one eye that she managed to hit with the blade of her sword. It snarls at her viciously, but then Jaymes looks at something that is very plausible, the stinger can be restrained by his lassos. "Pyrrha! Up!" Jaymes yells, remembering what he heard Jaune say during their fight against Team B.R.N.Z during the Vytal Festival. Pyrrha nods her head and she hold her shield above her head for him, and then blasting him up into the air.
He spins through the air and throws his tomahawk towards the arching tail of the Deathstalker, then attaching himself to it with his electrified lasso. He lands down and with all his might he yanks the tail downwards, splitting some of the armoured plates that surround the limb. He holds it down and the creature roars with anger, held in his grasp like this. It writhes around, trying to break free, then Pyrrha jumps up in the air and extends Milo into its spear form, throwing it down into the top of its head. Not plunging deep enough she turns to Jaymes. "Do it!" She says, and he is smart enough to know what she means.
Metal conducts electricity.
He extends his other arm and blasts purple and red lighting from his palm and connects it to the point of conduction, blasting it straight into the overgrown scorpion. It roars in pain as it cooks from the electricity that burns it alive from the inside out. Eventually it dies, burning and crumbling away. Jaymes and Pyrrha both pull their launched weapons back to their hands and they look at each other. "Good work." Pyrrha compliments with the nod her head.
"You too." He replies with a smile.
Across the battlefield, a swirling bellow of fire blasts towards the Creatures of Grimm, and as the impacts of each strike kill the creatures, he slides across the ground and presses his hand to his hat on his green hair. He turns and spins his thermos through his fingers to deflect the attacks from a Beowulf that jumps towards him. Oobleck backs up from each of the attacks, not even looking that phased. But then he charges the flames up and blasts the Beowulf into an Ash-Wulf. It stands there for a second like a cartoon character before crumbling to dust and he grins. He spins his thermos round and smashes it across the face of a Beowulf behind him, killing it instantly. Port suddenly comes in, cheering with what actually sounds like joy as he beheads a Beowulf with his axe and then blasts a Creep with a single shot.
During the whole battle, Jaune's eyes widen as he looks ahead, seeing the buildings being toppled over and something begins to emerge from the darkness. The Praetorian Knight slams its Sceptre down into the ground twice…again. And the echo rumbles across the battlefield, revealing the monsters.
A Sphinx glides across the destruction and lands onto the battlefield, roaring as the Manticores also glide round to attack.
But something else emerges before the Goliaths do.
And Ren's eyes widen with horror, and so do Nora's.
"Oh no…"
Two massive creatures trot out from the thick black smog, glowing red eyes and deep snarls, long humanoid arms dragging across the ground on their bodies and the four hooves of a Horse of some kind. One of them however has a humanoid slumped over the side of the horse with no head on its shoulders, looking like it is dead, but the Horse viciously snarls at them. It snaps its jaws together as it stands there, and the second is covered with bony plates of armour. And like the other the Horse stands tall, but the slumped down Imp rises up. This second one has razor sharp Sabred teeth and curved Ram Horns on its head. The Horse also has a pair of sabre teeth.
The Imp lets out a nightmarish howl, and Ren names the two beasts.
"Nuckelavee…"
The Headless Horseman and the Sabred Rider both roar as the Horses rear back and howl, before charging into the battlefield with full force, riding right past the Praetorian Knight, and the Goliaths have entered the Academy, roaring as well with the creatures continuing to unleash wave after wave.
They do not have the strength or ammo to keep this up.
They need backup.
Killian
He watches from the security feeds from Vale inside of the bridge, his hands behind his back. He does not smirk though, because he takes absolutely no joy in this. But as he stands there, he raises a brow when he sees a distress signal from one of his men. "Report." He demands, so the soldier does as his commander demanded.
"The prisoners have escaped…" The soldier reports and Killian's eyes widen, and he suddenly turns.
"WHAT?" He bellows, yelling so loud he begins to breathe raggedly, falling to one knee as he wheezes, grabbing the handle and pressing the button to send the medical dust into his lungs to repair the damage. His breathing quickly returns back to normal and the pain subsides, and the soldier continues to explain.
"They got out, I don't know how. We tried to stop them, but they beat us. They are trying to escape through the hanger." The soldier reports, and Killian stands up.
"Send everyone to the Hanger, to stop them." Killian demands with a snarl in his voice.
"E-Everyone, sir?" The operative asks.
"EVERYONE!" He roars again, and everyone does as he commands, rushing off to stop them. He then grabs his throat again, his breathing still continuing to get worse, feeling his chest collapsing in on itself.
He glares with anger…and fear.
"I will not fail."
Eryka
The largest of the Black Smog Army have arrived at Beacon, there is no cause for delay.
The elevator dings as it reaches the Hanger Level, and the two Huntresses sprint out into the huge room, looking around at the many ships to choose from. Winter looks at Eryka and points at her as she holds her sword in her hands. "Tell me when you're ready." Winter orders as she stares at the doors, exhaling a shaky breath as she looks around before jumping down. Eryka runs across the bridge towards the many ships she needs to find. By one of the ships is a pilot and she takes her bow and swings it straight across his head, knocking him out. Dulcis glides across the hanger above her head, watching her every move as she moves towards a chosen Airship.
She knows which one she needs to take, because there was that file that they read back in Killian's office. It had one of those Syringes for medical usage that boosts people's aura when they are at critical levels. What Winter is about to do will drain her aura as fast as the alcohol poured into a raging alcoholic's body. Eryka slides down one of the ships, and that was a military one, not Medical like she needs.
Winter stands before the doors and she exhales softly, holding her sword in her hands as she stands tall, waiting for Eryka to give her the signal that she needs to begin her plan. Eryka sets her eyes on the Medical Ship, but there are two guards with rifles. She draws one of her telescopic arrows and fires it straight into the leg of one of the Raven Talon Soldiers, bringing him down to the ground with a grunt. Eryka jumps across the crates one at a time as the soldier starts firing at her, she jumps and spins through the air, launching an arrow that lodges right into the barrel of the rifle. She then lands and squeezes the button on her bow, sending a powerful charge of electricity into the rifle and detonating the dust inside the magazine.
The explosion throws the soldier against the ship and he bounces into it, and she slides across the ground and punches him straight in the face. Dulcis suddenly dives down and grabs onto the shoulders of the guy who she shot in the leg since he was reaching for his pistol. He then carries him over some wastage and drops him into it, specifically so then he can smell bad. Eryka smiles to her bird and he continues to circle around. Eryka clambers into the ship and she sits down, looking around at the controls. "Okay…done this before…just use the sticks." Eryka mumbles to herself. She presses her fingers to her earpiece connected via Scroll to Winter's. "I'm ready!"
Winter breathes slowly, closing her eyes. "Grandfather give me strength." She mutters to herself as she draws her sword, sliding her finger down the blade, twirling round and bringing the blade down to the ground, forming two Glyphs. One beneath her, and a massive one before her. She grits her teeth as she forms the massive entity of white light as Eryka takes off, and it reveals itself to them all. It is a huge Creature of Grimm that has somewhat humanoid features but also has a pair of huge Taurus Horns on its head and lets out a monstrous roar. It takes its huge muscular arms and thrusts the fingers into the doors, pushing them open as it roars, and so does Winter, screaming as she holds it open with her own strength. The metal gears strain as she forces it open.
Winter holds it for as long as she can as Eryka lifts off and flies towards the exit…not smoothly either. It has been quite a long time since she last flew an aircraft, so it is a bit wobbly. "Whoa…" She stammers as she flies out of the ship, and then Dulcis glides down towards Winter and grabs her by her shoulders as she yells with fury. As soon as Winter is pulled from the ground to get back to the ship, the massive Summoned Minotaur fades away into thin air and the doors begin to slam shut.
Dulcis and Winter just make it through as the doors slam shut and lock together.
The bird flies towards the Wasp that Eryka stole and the rear door opens up. Dulcis releases Winter and she rolls across the floor and the bird lands onto a box as the door closes. She lays there unconscious, her aura totally drained from her body. Eryka sets the Wasp to Auto-Pilot and she runs over to Winter's side, kneeling down next to her, gently tapping her cheek. "Winter? C'mon, Winter talk to me." She demands as she shakes her, but she doesn't wake up. But then she has an epiphany, looking around for the syringe. "The shot…the Shot!"
As Eryka begins to search for the syringe with the aura amplification properties, the eagle hops down and walks over to Winter's side, looking at her and gently nudging her with his beak, trying to wake her. But she is still out of it right now. "There!" Eryka cheers, finding her desire and holding the syringe of the stuff. She runs back to Winter's side and she holds the syringe, checking for no air bubbles in the drug, squirting it to make sure it works.
She finds a vein and holds the needle against the vein. "This better work." She says, since they need her down there. She plunges the needle into her arm and injects the drug into her system. And it works immediately, her aura begins to glow, and she gasps back to life, holding Eryka's hand tight. She then looks at her other hand.
It slowly opens…
…forming a Glyph.
Neptune
The Praetorian Knight is winning.
The Grimm are attacking in full force now, to the point where the plan to hold them off the original way is proving to be impossible. They are running out of ammunition too fast right now. Ruby has had to arrive back down on the ground, spinning her scythe through her fingers, slashing them repeatedly with every hit, but as she fights a Beowulf suddenly knocks her over and bites at her face over and over. She yells in anger, pushing the barrel of her sniper rifle into its snapping jaws and pulling the trigger, blowing its head apart.
Whereas Yang in the Paladin is unleashing everything, blasting all the flames and firing missiles from her pod built into the shoulder of the suit. The small missiles explode upon impact, dealing immense damage to the Grimm Numbers, but as she battles against them, she is suddenly ripped out from the cockpit by the long extending arm of the Sabred Rider, pulling her out and swinging round, throwing her across the courtyard.
She yells as the Grimm begin to swarm her, but she fires a missile at them to free herself, punching all them that try and attack her. Nora shrieks as she fights beside Ren who slashes them with Stormflower, jumping in the air as he plunges the curved blade into the top of the creature's head. The Beowulf roars in pain as it collapses to the ground and fades away into smoke whilst Nora smashes the Charger with her hammer then fires Grenades from it as she changes its form.
Ironwood keeps firing his Revolver with Glynda at his side, firing at every single one of the Grimm that starts to smash through the lines. The Goliaths roar as they smash through the colonnades with their huge bony tusks, trumpeting constantly. Weiss slashes Myrtenaster at every single Grimm that attacks, standing beside Neptune who has been using his Dead-Eye Semblance constantly to nail these attacking Grimm. Sun strikes fast and hard against them, ducking down when Blake says so, slashing round and killing the Grimm constantly.
Jaune roars as he smashes the shield into the faces of the Grimm, fighting alongside Pyrrha, Anaximander and Juno, using the Phalanx Method against the Grimm but even that is not working against the sheer number of them that keep attacking. Ghira and Kali both yell as they battle against them as they keep charging. Jaune grunts as a Boarbatusk suddenly breaks through and knocks him into the swarm and they attack him. "Jaune!" Pyrrha shrieks as some of them bite against him, trying to shred his aura down.
Neptune also gets hit, grabbed by a Beowulf that pulls him in and he fires at them repeatedly, despite Jaymes also slashing his tomahawks at them as hard as he can with Peony at his side. "Neptune!" Weiss shrieks as she reaches out for him as he slashes at them with his rifle. He holds one of the Grimm back and the swarm all jump towards Sage. He swings the massive sword and slices a bunch of them in half, but they still manage to topple the huge warrior to the ground, trying to tear him apart.
"There's too many of them!" Coco yells as she holds the trigger of her Chaingun down constantly, cutting as many of the Grimm down as she can.
Neptune holds his rifle up, and the Beowulf bites down onto it viciously, growling as it bites at him over and over again. He screams with distress.
This is what the end looks like.
Ironwood fires his pistol, when suddenly a ship crashes down and explodes into the side of one of the Goliaths, leaving a huge hole in the side of it. It roars in agony as it collapses, the fireball wrapping around it and collapsing down onto one of the buildings. They all stare at the impact with disbelief, when suddenly the Grimm are totally annihilated by flames that roar overhead and totally ignore the rest of them. The one attacking Neptune dies and he gasps, seeing it flying overhead.
Huge wings of fire and a call that they all recognise as he burns the army of Grimm down and the Praetorian Knight stops as the bird returns to sender.
The flames extinguish, and she catches the arrow and Dulcis lands on her forearm. She smirks as she steps off where they landed, holding her bow in one hand with Winter beside her. Eryka stands there with a smirk on her face and they all stare with awe-struck smiles on their faces. Neptune grins with joy, seeing his heroic big sister arriving at the perfect moment. The Praetorian Knight stares at them with the two Nuckelavees stood behind him, snarling viciously.
Winter draws a new arrow and Dulcis takes off. "Sorry we're late." Eryka tells them, and Winter spins her sword through her fingers as a hundred Grimm charge towards them. She forms her glyph and summons the Minotaur once more, still pumped on the drug Eryka gave her, it forms, and she does not even break a sweat. The Minotaur jumps towards them with a powerful roar, its fists held above its head, slamming them down into the Grimm.
Decimating the group.
The Praetorian Knight tightens its grip on the Sceptre, then spins it round. "If that is how it is…" He states, pointing the Sceptre ahead and the rest of the Black Smog attack, lead by the Forsaken Striders.
Author Note - Oh I have been waiting to do this battle for so long. Eryka and Winter finally getting freed from the Black Gallows and arriving like that...inspired by Thor in Infinity War obviously. But I wanted to do my own twist for RWBY and Eclipse. I hope you were smiling like I was when she arrived and Winter unleashed the Minotaur.
Shout-Out to RelentlessCrusader for his help in naming the ranks of the Black Gallows. The Raven Talons are the weakest rank of Stockholm Trooper too, and we came up with a whole tonne of cool ideas. If you wanna join the Discord Server I set up, PM me and I will send you the code.
That fist fight at the start was so fun to write as well, might be the best one I think I have ever written personally. I was really happy with how it turned out.
Please review, follow and favourite! If you haven't already, please check out Knights of Grimm if you like my writing.
Stay tuned for the next chapter - The Forsaken Striders
Double Nuckelavee Battle everyone XD
- Matt