It has been too long my faithful readers! First I leave you with a cliffhanger, then I don't update because I'm on Holiday! Anyway, I'm back now and some serious shit is about to go down. First though, review response time. Gamelover41592; and you'll see soon. Guest; glad you liked it, and why should you be worried? No one is going to die are they? (Mwahahahaha) Thaqif; well, it's obvious they're evil to us because as a reader, we know that. To Ironwood and pretty much everyone else, their evil deeds were unknown. And OutlastTheDark; they're like Stormtroopers, only slightly more accurate. Man, you really don't like War Dogs do you? Now, on with the show!
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Chapter 25- Coup D'etat
"Ironwood! Get down!"
The order needed only to be obeyed once, made apparent as Ironwood leapt to the right before Ozpin could even finish the order. As soon as the General leapt, the Soldiers before them began to fire immediately, turning the surrounding furniture into nothing more then tattered cloth, clumps of stuffing and wooden chips. Qrow and Ozpin also ducked for cover, Qrow flipping a table over as he hid behind it, dipping his head low as a bullet passed through where it had been just seconds ago.
The Lieutenant gave a silent signal to cease fire, before signalling for the troops to fan out. Ozpin laid on the ground, waiting for the time to strike. As the feet of one of the Soldiers came into view, he swung out with his cane, sweeping the Soldier off his feet with an audible yelp. Before the others could react, he swung out with his cane again, knocking two more to the ground. The other Soldiers quickly recovered from the shock, quickly priming their weapons. Ozpin dodged the bullet fire from the Soldiers, quickly taking cover alongside Qrow who was currently fiddling with a bottle of Whisky.
"Really Qrow?" Ozpin murmured, watching as Qrow quickly undid the cork. "Now is not the time to be drinking."
"It's not what you think..." Qrow replied, winking slyly as he poured more alcoholic beverages into the bottle before placing the cork back on. "Watch this."
He quickly rose up from his position, throwing the strange mixture at the centre of the group. Before anyone could properly react, Qrow aimed the hilt of his Sword at the bottle, quickly firing the concealed Pistol housed within. The bullet contacted the bottle immediately, shattering the bottle and igniting the contents. The now ignited alcohol quickly doused down on the Soldiers, who quickly began to scream as they ran around like headless chickens, some even going as far as to jump out of the window.
"Put that shit out! Quickly!" the Lieutenant barked, pointing to the Soldiers who had been fortunate enough to not be doused by the flames, which now threatened to ignite the rest of the office.
Qrow was just as eager to respond, quickly grabbing a nearby Fire Extinguisher, quickly snuffing out the flames whilst also spraying a large quantity at the Soldiers, who sputtered and grunted in annoyance as they were temporarily blinded. As soon as the Fire Extinguisher was spent, he quickly began to swing it around like a club, knocking any Soldier who was foolish enough to get too close down on the ground.
As the temporary smoke screen granted by the Extinguisher began to fade away, Qrow was soon stood atop a small pile of Soldiers, panting heavily as he turned to the last three, two standard Soldiers and the Lieutenant, who staggered back in shock at the sight before them.
"If I were you..." Qrow stammered, pausing as he pointed the Fire Extinguisher at the remaining Soldiers. "...I would start running now."
The two Soldiers didn't need telling twice, as they quickly dropped their weapons and sprinted for their very lives, leaving the Lieutenant alone as he watched in complete shock at his retreating forces.
"Now those guys were the smart ones..." Qrow grunted, dropping the Fire Extinguisher as he began to unsheathe his Sword.
The Lieutenant quickly primed his Shotgun and aimed it at the Huntsman head, his finger applying pressure on the trigger before Qrow could even defend himself. A shot then rang out the room as the Lieutenant staggered back, before dropping to the floor dead, a bullet hole in the side of his head. Qrow quickly spun to his right, where Ironwood stood with his Pistol drawn, the barrel smoking.
"I had that under control..." Qrow muttered under his breath, relinquishing his grip on his Sword as it slid down the sheath again.
"Ozpin, are you okay?" Ironwood asked, ignoring the Huntsman's complaints as he holstered his Pistol once again.
"Yes, I'm quite all right..." Ozpin replied as he slowly brought himself out of Qrow's cover, brushing some debris off of his shoulders. "It seems that Monarch couldn't be trusted after all."
"I can't believe this..." Ironwood murmured, pinching the bridge of his nose as he shook his head in shame. "I've fought along these people. Hell, I even taught some them."
"They fooled us all Ironwood." Ozpin reassured, placing a hand on Ironwood's shoulder in an attempt to knock him out of his current state. "What matters now is that we ensure their betrayal doesn't cost any more lives."
"Guys, we got ourselves a situation that's escalating a little too quickly for my liking!" Qrow suddenly shouted, pointing out of the window.
Both Headmasters quickly strode to where the Huntsman was looking and followed his gaze. In the sky, multiple Atlesian Warships were scrambling in a rushed attempt to mobilise a strong enough defence, nearly crashing into one another as they attempted to form up. Ironwood was the first to recover, quickly grabbing the nearby radio and activating it.
"Commander, this is General Ironwood! What the hell are you doing out there?!" Ironwood quickly demanded, watching as the Warships continued to move. He recognised what the Warships were attempting, trying to set up an aerial blockade. But why?
"General! Our scans are picking up something big on the radar! Like...real big!" the panicked voice of the Commander eventually crackling through.
"What do you mean?!" Ironwood demanded, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
Before anyone could respond, a loud noise, similar to a foghorn, suddenly echoed across Vale. All turned to the direction of the noise, where a large storm was quickly brewing, shrouding the landscape with cloud and fog. The same noise echoed again, this time louder as a large silhouette began to take shape. Soon more notable features began to take shape, revealing a large ship unlike anything they had seen before began to emerge. At the prow of the ship, a large cannon of some form was hidden, which was now beginning to crackle with red energy.
"Oh God!" the Commanders voice broke through, renewed with sudden panic as the Warships quickly began to scatter. "Evasive action! Evasive act-"
The voice was drowned out as the larger ship fired the cannon, a beam of crackling red energy emerging as it shot towards the cluster of Warships with remarkable speed. It cleaved through five of the Warships, causing two of them to explode immediately as their fuel cells were ruptured, whilst the other three crashed to the earth, flattening more buildings under their combined weight.
The surviving ships either began to withdraw for their own safety or began to fire their weapons on the large ship, the rounds rebounding off the ships superior shields whilst it returned fire. They were soon drawn to the sound of more buildings crashing down as the ships of the Monarch Defence Comity began to open fire on the streets, quickly bringing down more buildings.
"We have incoming!" Qrow suddenly shouted, pointing to the courtyard.
Ozpin and Ironwood followed the length of Qrow's finger, and saw the unmistakable forms of Bullheads speeding towards them, adorned with the emblem of the Monarch Defence Comity. As the Bullheads hovered over the Courtyard, the side doors opened, revealing throngs of troops who quickly descended down to the ground with the aid of wires, removing the wires as they began to shoot at anything not their own.
"Ozpin...what the hell are those?" Ironwood demanded, pointing to a much larger Bullhead.
Ozpin turned to where the General was pointing and froze. Inside the Bullhead were multiple large creatures of metal, their heads either in the shape of growling Dogs or Secretary Birds. One of the ones at front quickly peeped its head out of the door, looking at the ground below before raising its crude weapon and letting out what was presumably a war cry. It was followed by a cacophony of other cries as the metal monstrosities began to jump out of the Bullhead, causing the concrete floor to cave in when they landed.
"I don't believe it..." Ozpin murmured in shock, backing away from the window slowly.
"I think we got Grimm guys! At least...I think they are..." Qrow quickly alerted, his eyes narrowed in confusion.
In another Bullhead, a large mass of shadow like creatures were pouring out, landing on the ground with lethal grace. Some looked like men wielding shadowy swords, others were short and stubby and armed with maces whilst others were like Beowolves, only with stubbed snouts and longer arms and legs. The creatures let out noises that sounded like a mix of what they represented and a high pitched hissing noise that seemed to echo across the grounds.
"They're all over the place..." Ironwood stammered, backing away from the window as he once again attempted to contact an authority figure in the City.
"Not everywhere, look!" Qrow shouted, pointing to the far side of the office. On the other side of the school grounds, Atlesian forces that hadn't already been cut down were quickly beginning to establish a checkpoint, already piling up non-essentials to form a blockade.
"The Beacon courtyard is one of the designated evacuation points in case Vale comes under attack..." Ozpin stated, turning to face Qrow and Ironwood as he spoke. "The enemy has overrun the main entrance, the civilians will be running into a meat grinder if they attempt to go through there."
"What do you want us to do then?" Qrow asked, shrugging his shoulders as he looked at the Headmaster expectantly.
"Ironwood, get your men in the City to form a safe path to that destination! We need to avoid civilian casualties as much as possible!" Ozpin ordered, earning a nod from the General as he turned to relay the orders to anyone who could hear. "Qrow, help the Soldiers already at the checkpoint. It's vital we hold that position until evacuations are well under way."
"You got it, what about you?" Qrow asked, quickly drawing his Sword as he turned to leave the lounge.
In response, Ozpin clasped his hands behind his back as he gazed out at the gathering Army down below. He knew why they were here, and he would not let them have it.
"Someone needs to defend the Maiden, or all will be lost." Ozpin simply replied, earning small nods of recognition from Qrow and Ironwood in response.
The two quickly left the room as Ozpin stared out the window one last time before attending to his duty.
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Yang braced herself as the room she and the Hero stood in shook violently, dust trickling down from the roof as something impacted the building. She turned to Rex, who was whining loudly with his tail between his legs. Every single time she had seen Rex, he had been steadfast and brave, so seeing him in this state was concerning to say the least. She turned to face the Hero, hoping that at least he was in a better state. Her hopes were quelled however, as she saw the Hero simply standing as stiff as a statue, his grip on his Sword slowly weakening.
"John? John?!" Yang quickly shouted, knocking the Hero out of his semi-trance state as he turned to face her, his eyes wide. "We have to go, before this building comes down on top of us!"
"He...he can't be here...he's just a legend..." the Hero murmured back in response, still in shock at the revelation that Jack of Blades was not only real, but alive and well.
"That doesn't matter!" Yang retorted, grabbing the Hero by the wrist as she squeezed it hard. "What matters is that we stop him before it's too late!"
The Hero still appeared to be in shock, his eyes not meeting her own. She tried to shake him out of it again, but he only seemed to go deeper into his denial. With an annoyed groan, she quickly slapped him around the face, causing him to stagger back as he locked at her once again in shock.
"For god's sake John, you're a Hero!" Yang shouted somewhat angrily, which appeared to have the required affect on the Hero. "You said so yourself! So it's time you started acting like one!"
The Hero closed his eyes, shaking his head as he tried to wrap his mind around what he had just uncovered. Then, his grip on his Sword tightened once again as he opened his eyes, which were filled with renewed determination.
"Right… let's go." the Hero stated, earning a reaffirming nod from Yang.
Rex also seemed to have been swayed from his stupor, barking loudly as he followed the two out of the building and into the streets. The chaos was worse then Yang had imagined, with flames burning brightly as smoke was quickly clogging up the sky, turning it a foreboding red. Bodies of civilians and Atlesian Soldiers also littered the streets, the largest quantity of them littering the main road.
"Oh my god..." Yang murmured as she observed the unwanted destruction, making sure to keep an eye out for any of his team just in case.
If she was lucky, they would be fighting at this very moment, either regrouping with other Students or helping civilians. If not, then at least she could lay her mind to rest knowing what had become of them. As Yang stepped over the severed limb of a Faunus, she quickly heard a faint growl behind her. Turning, she was quickly met by the sight of a large shadow like creature, its red eyes glaring into her.
The creature looked like a Beowolf, yet it clearly wasn't. Its snout was stunted, giving it a more human like appearance, and it seemed as though its jaw could stretch out unnaturally. Its arms and legs were also longer, each finger ending in an elongated hooked claw. The creature growled once again as it let out a roar that sounded like a mix between some animal and a shrill shriek.
Yang staggered back, nearly tripping over one of the many carcasses as the creature pounced at her, arms outstretched to latch onto her. Yang responded with a blast from Ember Celica, knocking the creature back a great distance. She waited for the creature to disintegrate, but only recoiled in horror when the creature simply got up and shook its head, its eyes once again glaring into her.
"John...what the hell is this thing?" Yang asked, turning around to meet the Hero, only to see that Rex was the only one with her. "John?"
Rex simply whined in response as he attempted to look for his Master, who seemed to have evaded him as well. The shadowy creature roared again as it sprinted forward on all fours, black saliva dripping from its fanged mouth. Yang braced herself once again, ready to fire yet another round into the creature. Suddenly, a shot rang out as something hit the creatures side, causing it to be flung towards the wall with a loud thud, where it let out one last roar before dispersing into shadow, dead. Yang turned to the direction of the shot, and felt her heart skip a beat at who she saw.
"Ruby!" Yang shouted, quickly rushing towards her sister and locking her arms around her in a vice like grip.
"Yang...can't...breath..." Ruby managed to sputter out as Yang's grip on her increased. Eventually, Yang relented, letting go of her sister as she looked around, letting out a sigh of relief upon spotting Blake and Weiss. "Yang, what are you doing here? Blake said you'd gone back to the school!"
"There's no time to explain, where are you headed?" Yang quickly asked, looking to the rest of her team.
"Beacon's become an evacuation point for the City, but it's being overrun." Blake explained, pointing towards Beacon which was slowly being swarmed by Bullheads. "We're headed there to help clear the grounds, are you coming?"
Yang wanted to say yes, but her mind immediately went to John's disappearance. He must have gone into the City when her back was turned, and if he left Rex behind as well, he didn't want anyone knowing. She turned to face her friends and solemnly shook her head, causing her team to look at her in complete confusion.
"There's something I've got to do first..." was all she said as she turned tail and ran back into the City, Rex behind her as the rest of her team attempted to call her back.
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"Keep pushing! We got this!" the Atlesian Commander shouted, firing a round from his Rifle at a charging Cultist Soldier, who grunted in pain as he fell to the ground dead.
The other Soldiers responded in kind, firing their weapons in an attempt to drive back the Cultist forces. They were defending what was without a doubt the oldest and therefore weakest gate in Vale, and they were doing surprisingly well. Many civilians had gathered here, awaiting an evacuation transport to arrive and deliver them safely out of Vale. And according to the last transmission, that was relatively soon.
"Keep it up!" the Commander bellowed in an attempt to boost morale. "Transport is almost here! Just a little-"
"Sir! Listen!" a Soldier suddenly shouted, gesturing towards the gate.
The Commander slowly listened as he heard what sounded like thumping on the gate, which was beginning to groan loudly as some unknown weight was applied against it.
"Keep that door up!" the Commander shouted, gesturing to the door as two Soldiers rushed forward, quickly leaning against the door in an attempt to counter balance it.
"It won't hold!" one of the Soldiers panicked, pushing his shoulder against the door.
"It's about to break!" the other shrieked, her back leaned against the door.
Suddenly, both screamed in fear and pain as the gate finally gave way, quickly crushing them. As the dust began to clear, lanky figures began to surge through the opening, cutting down anyone who got in their way. The Commander began to fire his Rifle at the forms, who crumpled as they were fired upon. He continued firing until his clip ran dry, cursing loudly as he fumbled for a new ammo clip. He was quickly tackled to the ground, causing him to drop both the Rifle and the ammo as something pushed down on him. He looked up at his attacker, and quickly froze as he stared into the lifeless blue eyes gazing from a face devoid of flesh, a sinister hiss escaping their rotting mouth.
Before the Commander could even scream, the Hollow Man began to slash at his crumpled body with its rusted blades, quickly butchering him in a matter of seconds. More Hollow Men began to surge through at their own pace, the street becoming littered with so many dead that some tripped over the corpses as they moved in for the next kill.
By the time the transport got there, no one was left alive to save.
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Jack chuckled humourlessly to himself as he watched the devastation before him. The Cult of Blades was running rampant within the streets, aided by the War Dogs, Dreadwings and Shadows. The Hollow Men had finally joined them too, and it was only a matter of time before the Grimm sensed the fear in the City and joined in on the slaughter. All in all, everything was going according to plan.
"Master, our ships have surrounded the CCTS tower, should we proceed to destroy it Sir?"
Jack turned to face the Overseer, who stood expectantly as he awaited orders, alongside the rest of the Inner Circle. All five of them were watching the devastation from the roof of one of the as of yet undamaged buildings, watching as the sky turned red as blood and fires lit the streets.
"No, I want them to watch..." Jack simply replied, turning to face the sky, where a small tempest was beginning to brew. "I don't wan them to miss this part..."
Before the Overseer could enquire further, Jack held out his hand to the sky and began to channel red lightning into the tempest, the raw power radiating off the arc of energy even the Overseer and his Inner Circle were forced back. As the arc hit the centre of the tempest, it began to twist and turn in on itself, causing it to grow in width and power as it soon became a maelstrom. With his hand still outstretched, he raised his other hand until they were both back to back, a streak of light suddenly splitting through the storm. He then began to pull his hands apart, the others watching as the line of light slowly began to split apart, revealing a mass of shadow on the other end.
Black meteors quickly fell from the hole, landing on the ground in pools of shadow that clung to the streets like a spider to a web. From the pools, more Shadows began to swarm out, quickly overcoming any obstacle in their way. Jack watched with mild interest at the sight before him, before reverting his gaze back to the gap in the sky.
"Master? If I may enquire..." the Overseer asked, leaning forward as Jack simply ignored him. When Jack did not reply, the Overseer stepped forward again. "My Lord, are you-"
He was interrupted by a shrill shriek that seemed to echo across the entirety of Vale, nearly rupturing his eardrums. He shook his head as he regained his sense, and looked up to the vortex, where he heard the unmistakable sound of wings beating.
From the vortex, a massive creature suddenly emerged, its large wings flapping slowly as it entered reality. The creature was large, larger then anything her had ever seen before. It was covered black scales which glinted in the light, and had steel grey armour covering its horned head and chin, as well as its neck, back, chest, thighs and forearms. Its wings from a distance looked as though they were split into two, giving off the appearance of a butterfly, though closer inspection showed they were in fact fused together. Its tail ended with a large mace like appendage, which quickly brought a building down as it sped towards them.
In all his years, he'd never thought he'd see such a sight, but here it was clear as day. His Master had summoned a Dragon.
The Dragon quickly landed on the rooftop they stood upon, roaring once again, though this time it sounded more like the traditional dragon roar rather than the shrill shriek he had heard earlier. Jack strode towards the Dragon, which lowered its head and began to purr loudly as Jack gently stroked its snout.
"Amicum, ego desiderari carissimi." Jack whispered softly, continuing to stroke the Dragon head. The Dragon let out a soft roar in response, before continuing its purring. "Mox deliciss Primum opus habemus. Find lapsum Virgo ostende mihi ubi est!"
The Dragon raised its head, letting out a faint growl as it sniffed the air. It then let out another roar as it charged forward and leapt into the air, making a beeline for Beacon. Jack chuckled in amusement as he turned to face the Inner Circle, his Sword drawn.
"Come, we have work to do." was all he said as he then proceeded to drop down off the edge and onto the streets below.
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Well, you thought shit went down last chapter...yeah, now shit has officially gone down. Liked it? Feel free to leave a review and constructive criticism is welcomed. Any questions? Either leave in your review or PM me.
Raging Archon out.