Chapter 23: Church
A few hours earlier
From his vantage point on top of the plaza, Adam Taurus looked over the burning city, satisfied with his work.
For now.
"Commander." His aide called out. Adam put down his binoculars and slipped on his mask, which lay on the ledge before him. "Commissar Petrenko Zheeliyony wishes to speak with you."
"Send him up." His aide scurried off, and within a few minutes she returned with the Commissar, who sank to one knee before Adam.
"My Lord. Fear and anarchy reign supreme. The Grimm run amok, and the defending forces have been splintered. Beacon has also fallen. The day is yours, Sir." He rasped. Adam nodded, and motioned at Zheeliyony to rise.
"Well done, Commissar Zheeliyony. I commanded, and you did not disappoint. But now, I have another task for you." Momentarily, Adam saw shock appear on the Commissar's face, quickly replaced with a stoic expression.
"I am but a servant of Faunus kind." He intoned dutifully.
"I have been summoned to Menagerie, by Supreme Leader Sienna. I shall no longer be able to oversee our continued operations in Vale."
"Continued operations, my Lord?"
"Just as Mountain Glenn sheltered us until we were strong enough to strike against Vale, I believe the ashes of this city could prove to be a valuable base of operations, a haven to seek refuge in should we ever need to retreat. After all, who would go poking about a dead city, infested with Grimm?"
"Yes, my Lord. But what does this have to do with me?"
"I require you to lay the foundations of our new base. You shall have two rifle companies; a support company and I'll even give you a few Paladins." Adam couldn't help but smirk when he saw the Commissar tremble slightly.
"Your will shall be carried out, my Lord." The Commissar took Adam's extended hand in his own, scaly ones and bent over, pressing his chapped lips to Adam's knuckle. Adam sighed and withdrew his hand.
"Do not fail me, Zheeliyony." Adam commanded, before turning back to his vantage point.
"Never, my Lord." The Commissar whispered. His heart raced with excitement, intermixed with traces of doubt and fear. Taking a deep breath, he raised his scaled hand once more. On his right index finger, against the green scales, a thin gold ring shone. Staring at the engraved calligraphy upon the ring, Zheeliyony felt his confidence return.
"Everything I do is for the Faunus." He said, before the shining white light engulfed his vision.
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Herman didn't know when the screaming stopped. When the blinding light finally cleared, he found himself on the very same rooftop, with Heidi, Beckendorf, Oliva, Lauton, and one other Atlesian soldier. The only difference was that all the Grimm were gone and the sky was overcast, indicating that they had been lying there for quite a while.
Wearily, he blinked a few times, trying to get the screaming out of his mind. He was certain that a girl had been crying out that night. Perhaps it was another ghost from the past.
He shook his head at the thought, before stretching out to grab Nihil, which lay whirring softly by his side. The teeth tracks scraped across the rough floor, sending little chunks flying everywhere. Switching the tracks off, he looked round at his companions, who were only beginning to recover.
"Ughhh...what just happened?" Heidi asked, gingerly rubbing her head. She looked at Herman, who just shrugged.
"Did you hear some girl crying out?" Beckendorf was the next to awaken.
"Whatever happened, we've got to get back to the airfield." Lauton ordered, Oliva and the other Atlesian soldier standing morose by his side. Herman pulled Beckendorf up, and then Heidi, before heading down to the streets.
An unnatural silence reigned over the cratered streets and burnt-out buildings, a stark contrast to the chaos of last night. The previously fortified plaza junction was little more than a mess of sandbags and barbed wire, with broken weaponry littered everywhere, their hapless owners strewn about. The tank had been overturned, its frontal hull punctured. A few Grimm snuffled about the wreckage but took no notice of the party.
"Look at all this...will there even be an airfield to return to?" Beckendorf muttered as they headed down a narrow side alley. Oliva and Lauton along with the remaining Atlesian took the front, Beckendorf and Herman the rear. Heidi was in the center, bow readied at airborne threats.
A dark shadow swept over them.
"Shit! Into the building', quick!" Oliva kicked open the fire escape, motioning at the rest to rush in. A Nevermore had just sighted them, but it was unable to get at them, because the two apartment blocks had been built closely together. It squawked in frustration and clawed at them through the gap between the two buildings.
Before it could attract any more Grimm to their location, the crew rushed in, Oliva entering last. He motioned to keep moving. Captain Lauton and Herman advanced down the hallway weapons ready. Outside they could hear gunfire, punctuated by beeping.
"That's got to be our robots. Stay low, we can't afford a gunfight right now." The captain ordered, and all did as he bid. They crouched past a few windows, before finally entering the shattered reception. From the looks of it, this place had certainly been packed on the night of the attack. Still, Herman pinched his nose and moved on, trying to ignore the thick swarms of flies buzzing about, not to mention the smell.
Death had become no stranger to him, but his heart still froze when his eyes settled upon woman's body, lying atop a tiny pink carrier of sorts. In her clenched fist she held a broken rattler, the little beads within spilling out. Drawing his breath, he increased his pace. The gunshots seemed to get louder with ever step taken.
Suddenly, as they exited the lobby and entered the open street, the gunshots ended.
Herman peeked around a green convertible, only to stare right at an Atlesian robot. Its red light glowed intensely as it dragged itself along on one arm, dragging the rest of its destroyed body towards him, dribbling colorless fluids behind it. Before it could shuffle an inch forward, a Beowulf seized the robot in its mighty jaws, viciously swinging its head back and forth, like a dog would do to a toy. Metal crunched and circuits burnt out, prompting the Beowulf to hurl the robot at a wall with one last swing. It growled and sniffed at the air, and Herman tried not to succumb to the chills running down his spine.
During this little display the rest of the group had managed to keep their emotions in check and shuffle up the street. However, Oliva's large frame was not easily concealed, and the sun happened to shine through the clouds. The metal straps of his ammo-pack glinted, and Herman saw the Beowulf perk up. It scraped its feet, ready to pounce. Herman felt icy fingers grip his heart. If it noticed them, no doubt it would attract more to their position.
Suddenly, it halted, and Herman could feel its eyes drilling right past his little hiding spot and into him. He unsheathed Nihil, keeping his finger on the switch.
It howled and leapt atop the convertible, crushing the vehicle beneath its weight. Herman rolled to the left, barely missing its swing, and as he drove the now buzzing Nihil into the beast, he noticed many more Grimm down the street, of many different kinds. And they certainly saw him.
Just as he thought the situation couldn't get any worse, the ground began to shake. It was periodic, with regular intervals every five seconds. The intensity of the shaking grew with each minute, and the Grimm at the very end of the street had frozen momentarily. At the very end of the street, a massive, shaggy beast turned the corner. It was as high as the four-story apartment they had exited, and it sported a trunk and a pair of tusks accompanying its spiked bone armor. It raised its trunk and began to trumpet.
The Grimm let out a collective roar and began to charge down the street, easily mantling vehicles, fallen lamp posts, rubble and whatnot. The massive tusker was deceptively fast; in the second it took for Herman to switch Nihil to its LMG form and slam in a box of incendiary rounds, it had already reached halfway to his position. The Goliath's massive pillar of a foot landed on a double-decker bus, and completely flattened it.
"RUN!" Pedaling backwards, Herman raked the street with Nihil, riddling the closest Grimm with Dust Rounds. The smaller ones took half a dozen before falling, while Herman had to expend half his ammunition on the larger ones. A few arrows whistled into their ranks, detonating deep within the dark tide, and a few grenade shells also blasted massive holes in the advancing tide. Yet these were only momentary; for every one that fell, ten more crawled out from within buildings, or leapt down from above, or entered the massive stampede through side alleys. Above, Herman could see the dark shapes of Nevermore and Gryphons.
Herman slashed at a few Creeps which landed next to him before turning tail and running along with the rest.
"Where the hell do we go now!" Heidi cried out, but not before a Grimm landed right in front of her. Without hesitation, she buried Gratia Venti into the Beowulf's chest and jerked the blades upwards, carving through the beast's hairy chest and throat.
"Jus' keeps runnin '!" Oliva bellowed, turning around to fire at the tide of Grimm.
They rushed through a crowded traffic junction, where even more Grimm were snuffling about the crashed vehicles. Raising their heads to look at the newcomers, they were caught off guard by the massive stampede, allowing the group to easily rush past them. In the distance, Herman could just make out a single tall spire. As they got closer, however, their hopes of escape were dashed.
The path ahead was blocked by two-or Oum knew how many- collapsed buildings. They had fallen in such a manner that neither was completely on the ground; instead, both had fallen towards each other and intercepted each other's collapse, forming a sort of upside-down V. A massive transport Bullhead lay lodged in the midst of the wreckage, its massive bulk teetering about in the epicenter of the rubble. The spire towered over the rubble, gleaming white and seemingly untouched amidst the destruction
They slowed to a halt, unable to accept the sight that lay before them. The stampede itself had generated a massive shaking, one which grew larger with every passing moment.
Taking a deep breath, Beckendorf was the first to turn around, weapon raised.
"It's over. But I'm not going down that easy."
He spoke for all of them. They all turned around to face the advancing horde. Lauton slammed in a fresh mag. Oliva readied his launcher. The Atlseian soldier pressed his weapon to his shoulder. Heidi nocked her last five arrows. Herman raised Nihil.
"To the last man, and the last round." Jack Lauton called out, resignated but firm.
They opened fire, mowing down countless Grimm. Yet their bullets didn't seem to affect the central Goliath, and Oliva's grenades seemed to irritate it.
The horde was getting very close.
Herman switched Nihil to its chainsword form, revving up the weapon. Heidi split Gratia Venti into its two-bladed form. Beckendorf, out of ammunition, hefted his assault rifle like a club. Oliva drew a serrated knife out of a sheath on his hip, while Lauton and the Atlesian fixed bayonets to their rifles.
The beasts at the very forefront howled in victory and leapt forth.
Herman suddenly felt as if the temperature had risen.
'You're gonna die, and that's the last thing you think about? The weather? What are you, the Atlesians?'
A sudden golden steam of flame poured out from above them, dousing the Grimm in flame. The victorious roars of the beasts became pained howls, and the entire group leapt back as the jet-no, jets-of golden-red flame bathed the horde. Something small and circular went soaring through the air, and landed right in the midst, atop the Goliath.
The resulting explosion shook Herman's entire perception. He could only watch as the beasts floundered about in the inferno. Sweat trickled down his face as he stepped out of the of one such beast, clawing at its burning body.
In the midst of the fire, the Goliath, now engulfed in flames, charged right at them. It trumpeted in pain and agony as it charged, and Herman rolled out of the way as it went charging past him.
It smashed right into the rubble, sending its tusks all the way into the masonry. Now locked in place, it could only trumpet as the fire consumed its body. The massive shaggy beast thrashed about intensely, causing cracks to appear and rubble to be dislodged from the fallen buildings. One large piece of concrete was shuffled out of position, and everyone watched as it landed right on the Goliath's head with a crunch, ending its struggle.
As for the rest of the tide, they had either been completely engulfed in the fire or had literally turned tail and run. The rest of the airborne Grimm swirled round in the air, kept at bay by the ever-growing flame. The group looked upwards, mystified by their savior.
The rear hatch of the Bullhead had opened up, and they could make out three figures. Suddenly, one leapt down from above, and glided downwards, the sun reflecting off his dove-white wings. As he got closer, they could see that he wore a studded vest of toughened leather upon a pure-white cloak, embroidered in gold. He wielded dual submachine guns, each with a dual pair of gracefully curved bayonets attached.
He landed in the midst of them, leaving everybody dumbfounded. Despite his gentle gait and graceful movements, his face, which once upon a time could be called cherubic, was as worn and rough as a brick. Herman could see that the back of his robe had deep slits, to allow his wings to sprout through.
"Greetings, brothers and sister." he said, his soft voice nothing like his physique and face. Lauton raised his hand, kneeling as he did so. Oliva and the Atlesian soldier did the same, leaving Herman to look at Heidi and Beckendorf, who were still standing. They seemed to be as bewildered as he was.
"Come quickly, for the beasts shall return."
Six ropes landed in the ground next to them, and they looked up to see the other two figures attaching pitons and tackle.
"I shall see you up there." and just like that, the priest flew upwards. Wordlessly, they grabbed onto the ropes and secured them round their waists.
They were slowly pulled up the side of the wrecked buildings, each jerk sending a jolt up Herman's stomach. Halfway through, he began to scrape against the side of the building.
Oh well, at least the view from up here was alright.
Finally, they were pulled aboard the crashed Bullhead, where the winged priest stood, along with another monk, who wore a masked hood. She, or he wore a silvery-white carapace atop amethyst-colored robes, which culminated in a series of pleats around his/her ankles. In her left hand he (Herman decided upon calling the monk a 'he' for now) grasped a long thin pole, with a spade-like blade on one end and a smaller, crescent-like blade on the other end. Along its purple shaft, Herman could see a golden-plated trigger mechanism.
But the most imposing figure in the darkened Bullhead was the knight, clad in golden plate and chainmail the color of ebony. Beneath his gleaming armor he wore black robes, and in his hands was the instrument of their salvation; a golden, quad-barreled flamethrower, fashioned in the shape of a dragon's head. The Knight put away his mighty weapon and grasped his great helm, twisting it left, then right, before releasing it with a slight whoosh of air.
"Greetings, friends. I am Father Solarus, head priest of the Church of Saint Oum." His (kindly?) smile exposed a row of gleaming teeth, in stark contrast against his dark skin.
Once more Lauton, Oliva and the Atlesian dropped to their knees, and this time Herman couldn't help it. He too dropped to his knees and motioned at his friends to do the same. The Father let out a chuckle.
"Rise, my children. I know you must be very tired after running for so long. Come with me to the church, so we may rest together." Then, he extended his golden gauntlet in a reassuring gesture.
"You are safe now."