Hope you enjoy more of this story as it approaches the final conclusion. God knows I am! Read, review and enjoy!
Chapter 29
Over the next hour, the entire Retribution Force (a name given by Port for the fleet and seemed to stick) unloaded its troops into Forever Falls. About a thousand troops from all four Kingdoms (mostly Atlas), twice as many androids, and over twenty Hunter teams were assembled for the main attack, with more in reserve… all to put down about one hundred rogue Hunters. Not just any Hunters though, and they had an army of unknown capability at the ready, as well as a Fortress that none present had set foot in save one.
Summer saw the black walls of the Reaper Headquarters through the dead branches. Glenda followed her stare just behind her. All around her, squads of soldiers in armour wielding Dust-powered rifles patrolled the forest alongside them. With the original plan out the window, Summer promptly ignored Port's warning to stay back, instead deploying in the first wave of humans, just after the skirmishing AK-130s were sent. There was about a kilometre and a half of forest in their way, which was roughly the boundary of this gravitational field. Weirdly, the effect only seemed to be in the air. All troops reported that they felt completely uninhibited and Summer was inclined to agree. Just above the treetops seemed to be the limit of the field.
"Well this was easy," one of the soldiers commented, "I didn't think they'd let us land,"
Summer nodded but said nothing. She was not about to let her guard down even for a second, not against these people.
"Alright, people, let's pick up the pace," the sergeant shouted, "The AK's are already half a click out from the base of the fortress and report no contacts. So, if none of you ladies want to clean the mess hall tonight, I suggest you catch up with them now," the troops sped up, Summer and Glenda easily matching their pace. The forest was tough going but a minute of jogging yielded no problems. It was then that, almost in perfect synchrony, the soldiers and the accompanying Huntresses slowed to a halt.
"What the hell is that…?" one of the men asked nervously. They all looked around to make sure it wasn't just them. There was an overwhelming sense of dread permeating through the ranks. The air seemed to drop below freezing even though no change could be seen. Every person present felt an unholy chill running down their spine, like some cold-blooded killer was caressing their finger down their back.
That isn't far from the truth, every head snapped around in shock as they heard the same whisper in their head, "What's going on?" one of them shouted. They were all starting to panic now and even Summer was feeling anxious, "Who was that?"
"They're here," a voice that sounded as terrifying as the one in their heads cut through the fog of fear. Logan stepped out of nowhere to the Huntress's side, "Lilith is sending them out like cannon fodder,"
"What do you mean?" Summer asked before blinking, "Hang on, what are you doing here? I thought you might sit this one out?"
Logan snorted, "Hardly, I may not feel the same way you do but I have my own reasons to watch each and every Reaper die," Summer could feel the aura of murderous intent around him… wait, that wasn't just a figure of speech.
"How are you doing that?" she asked.
"It's a side effect of the Aberrations. A reverse of how the Grimm hunt. If enough humans get together, monsters are drawn to the mass of negative emotion. With Aberrations, if enough of us are gathered, we can project all our hate and anger onto an enemy," he seemed to restrain himself for now for her benefit as the feeling coming from him disappeared, "It's a terror weapon like no other. Entire villages used to devolve into fearful children at the attack of three or four Aberrations, though a gathering like that hasn't happened in decades,"
"So if we can feel it here, can you tell how many are coming?"
"Not precisely, nor can I say where they are, only that they are very close. But I can tell you this: you didn't bring near enough men,"
The troops were getting more and more agitated. From the harsh words the sergeant was shouting, moral was already at breaking point. These were Atlesian soldiers. They didn't flinch in the face of danger or death, and yet this hateful aura was getting to them.
"Stay together," their leader shouted, but one had already broken ranks and bolted to the left, "Dammit Jones, get back here," he cursed, "can one of you Huntresses get him back?"
Summer nodded and took off after the deserter. She knew the man would be facing severe punishment once this was over but for now, every man was needed, even cowards. Summer could easily follow the footprints in the snow. The dead trees were particularly thick in this area. Summer was worried that she might lose him since she couldn't hear any noise ahead.
That worry was taken away when she tripped over his corpse. Summer fell, the blood seeping into her leggings which was far from comfortable. What was worse was the dead stare the man gave her. His face was frozen in a visage of terror and the fear was starting to get to her too. Get up, she thought to herself, Get up, focus and act. She did just that. Instead of panicking, she lifted herself up. She cleared her mind and looked at the murder scene. He was dead, that much was obvious. The long line cutting open his belly ruled out any possibility of an accident and the blood was still flowing out of the wound at an alarming rate, meaning he must have died only a few seconds ago- Wait, seconds?!
She spun around, twisting her body enough to dodge the spear thrust coming right behind her. Her attacker was quick but so was she. The pale-skinned assailant stumbled forward as she side-stepped him but he brought the shaft of the spear back to block her counter attack. But at this range, her slightly shorter halberd was a sure victory. It wasn't long before the man was unarmed, his weapon caught on the axe head and sent tumbling into the snow. Now Summer looked into his eyes: black and dead, staring at her with no emotion. She didn't need to be a genius to know what it was. Her grip tightened on Moonshard. Now what? The answer was obvious: kill him, but he was unarmed. A snapped twig distracted her for a moment. The Aberration lunged for her weapon, but he clearly didn't realise that she knew the danger almost as soon as he did it. No pity for you now. Where once she may have hesitated to take a life, even one without a soul, now there was only one action in mind. She drew back the halberd and the Grimm off-balanced himself, before she thrust forward, digging deep into his chest. The man didn't seem to react, just looking at her until what little light left his eyes.
All of a sudden, he gave out, falling and inadvertently nearly taking the halberd out of the Huntress's hands. "Summer," she heard Logan call from nearby. He burst out of the clearing she had come from, "You killed one of them," he said even before he saw the dead bodies around her.
"They killed the straggler," she pointed at the fallen soldier, "They must be hidden in the forest to take us out one by one. That's why they wanted us to land,"
Logan nodded, "Here the Aberrations have the advantage. In cramped corridors there would be no room to exercise their terror tactics. The forest provides ample opportunity to divide and conquer,"
"How astute," a voice familiar to both of them echoed from the trees, "It seems that our tactics are quite transparent,"
"Eve," Summer gritted her teeth as she searched for the source of the voice, "Get out here and fight,"
"Aww, how cute," the voice laughed, "The child thinks that she could beat me. Still, I've been told someone wants to kill you personally, so me only feud is for the freed slave beside you,"
For such an insult, Logan showed remarkable restraint. He instead smiled, "So this shall be round two? I wonder how many meat shields you will hide behind this time?"
Instead of replying, two shadows sprang out of cover to attack the Aberration but Logan already had his oversized glaive out and sliced both in one swing. He stumbled slightly as the slaved human Grimm collapsed, clutching his head in their agony. "You ok?" Summer had her own weapon at the ready.
"I can handle this," the Aberration said with an emotionless grin, "But you need to get back to those soldiers because without guidance they are all dead, then who will take that Fortress?"
"You could take them alone?"
"I've had worse odds," Logan straightened up and readied the now bloodied glaive- Crimson Woe was certainly living up to its nickname, "Now get out of here and finish what you came here to do,"
Summer nodded. She didn't exactly like the idea of leaving him alone, even if he was an ally in the loosest sense of the word, but Logan was by far the least of her problems as he just pointed out. She ran back to the column of soldiers before any other attack could be made on her.
"Now," Logan lowered the glaive, though still readied for a strike at a moment's notice, "since there is no chance of collateral damage, time to get serious," the light around the oldest Aberration looked to an outsider as if it were being drained from the very world. The white mask of the Grimm encased Logan's head like a helmet, his own being far more evolved than any living Aberration. A pair of horn-like spines protruded from just above his forehead and there were a multitude of red cracks lining it from ear to ear giving the horrifying visage of a smile, albeit, one that looked like it was stitched over the lips, then ripped open. Indeed, if death had a face in this world, Logan was currently wearing it. Eve must have sensed the danger because three more Aberrations, more powerful than the others came to attack. Logan merely looked on as the swung and stabbed with their respective weapons.
Yet none connected. No matter the force that they attacked with or how well-placed the strikes were, the Aberrations did not put a single scratch on him, "What is the meaning of this?" Eve screamed in outrage, though no amount of indignation seemed to be able to flush her out of her hiding spot, "Why are you not dead?"
"This fight was over the moment you set our battleground as a deserted forest away from anyone. It gave me free reign to show off my semblance with the guarantee that no one will live to speak of it," Logan waved his hand and the Aberrations around him flew back as if hit by a cannonball all at once, "If you want to kill me, you are going to have to do it yourself,"
The shadows behind Logan began to congeal and from them, a human body emerged silently. Sai in hand, Eve used her shadow-stepping semblance to get behind Logan and prepared to strike the unaware target. But somehow, some detail gave her away- was it a misstep in the snow, her almost unperceivable intake of breath or some other impossible giveaway that let Logan know exactly where she was? He spun and slapped aside the blade centimetres from his heart. Eve went to attack again but this time, her blade stopped and it wasn't his body that blocked her, "What-?"
"'Domination' is what I called my semblance: the ability to completely override someone's will using my telepathic link. I am the only Aberration able to extend that link to non-Grimm, fully-sentient beings. Of course, keeping you and those three Aberrations paralyzed is almost my limit but I don't need to keep you there for long," Logan grabbed her by the neck and forced her onto her knees.
In a panic, Eve screamed out for the four remaining Aberrations she had brought with her. They emerged and stared Logan down with dead eyes. He looked at each in turn, observing the various quirks in their features. One was short with lanky arms, another had an almost freakishly large nose, another bore a nasty scar on her right hand. He didn't know their stories but he knew how they all started: poor Faunas, ordinary people just trying to live. He briefly wondered how the Reapers had "acquired" them. Of course, he also knew how their stories were going to end, "I'm know it means little but I'm sorry it turned out this way," Logan said with the first shred of genuine emotion he had felt since he became what he was now; sorrow.
He briefly let go of Eve and struck out at the first and second before anyone registered that he had moved. Blood flew metres across and stained the snow. The third soon followed suit. Only one was fast enough to draw his cleaver-shaped sword but Logan's glaive flashed across his throat before he could bring up a guard. Once all four were dealt with, he returned to Eve, still kneeling against her will. He had to respect that she still didn't break, looking at him with the defiance he had come to expect of the Reapers. Even now, he could sense her trying to activate her AM, "To be honest, I expected more of a fight from you, but I have no intention seeing what your Ashes Module lets you do," Eve's hand began to move on its own, the sai now coming perilously close to her throat, "You forced me to kill the only beings in the world that I call kin. You are lucky I would gain no joy from dragging out your death,"
Eve screamed curses at him one last time before he silenced her by her own hand.
(Minutes later)
Summer returned to the squad and Glenda as fast as she could. Glenda was standing guard, crop at the ready while the soldiers were forming a defensive circle around her. Summer noticed immediately the sergeant was gone along with two or three others and the blood-stained snow around them informed her why. "How many?" Summer demanded.
"We don't know, ma'am," the nearest man said, "But they are popping up against every squad in the forest,"
Summer joined the circle quickly, scanning for target like the rest, "Any word from Port?"
"He says to keep position and only retreat when the AK's are pulled back," Glenda replied clinically.
"How long?"
"Minutes at least,"
Summer nodded. Already, she was noticing the shadows that she now knew were Aberrations, "Contact," she shouted. To their credit, the Atlesian soldiers reacted immediately, most bringing their guns around and firing off a volley while the others remained on watch. None hit though, the bullets flying off into the misty air or exploding in the tree trunks. One figure jumped into clear view and charged, but the ground in front of it exploded as Glenda moved into action. The Grimm flew back from the force and was put down before it could get up by more gunfire. Another burst from cover in a sneak attack but Summer launched a well-placed explosive bolt into his chest. The fight continued like this for what felt like forever but could not have been more and a minute. The Aberrations circled their little defence like vultures, though all attempts to swoop in were met with disciplined precision. Even in the relentless concentration needed to keep one step ahead of the enemy, Summer could not help but admire the iconic tenacity of the people of Atlas. This wasn't the reckless bravery of Vacuo, not the heated ferocity of Mistral nor the extravagant skill of Vale. This was cool, drilled pragmatism commonplace from a life born in the Northern Kingdom.
Soon the open clearing around them became a body-littered battleground. The bodies themselves, like common Grimm, were dissolving, but at a much slower pace. Whether this was an upgrade for all human Grimm or a downgrade from the first generations of Aberrations, Summer didn't care to ask. All that mattered was that they bleed like humans and the snow underneath them was becoming sloshy and unstable. One soldier moved back into the circle to reload but slipped. His comrade next to him made the mistake of turning to check on him. The Aberrations saw the opening and rushed their line with renewed vigour. Summer shot bolt after bolt but knew already, the line wasn't going to hold. Robots be damned, they needed to move now!
"Back," she ordered with a natural air of authority and they all followed, even Glenda, who covered their retreat but not before one of the Grimm caught the fallen soldier and tore a knife across his chest in a deep wound. Summer wouldn't forget the scream. Unlike the first soldier, this man didn't have the mercy of a quiet or quick death as, once the Aberration confirmed the wound was fatal, left him to bleed out and resumed the pursuit of the squad.
"Here they come," the soldier- now awarded a battlefield promotion to sergeant since he was the one talking the most- said.
"We noticed," Glenda glared at the Aberrations following them. They moved more like a pack of Beowolves than humans, moving on all fours and never looking away like starving beasts. They looked feral. Summer was only making the assumption, but it seemed that these Reaper-born Aberrations were different from what Logan described. Instead of fleeing to safety, they hunted like any other Creature of Grimm in the absence of external command.
There were over ten of the following now, three more than their own party. "Where's your tall, scary friend?" the sergeant asked her. She assumed he meant Logan.
"Don't know, but I wouldn't hold out on the hope he will help. Where are those damned droids though?"
As if to answer her prayers, one metallic soldier marched through the treeline behind the Aberrations. The human Grimm turned around in shock right before six more AK's stepped into sight. At some unspoken command, all seven raised their guns and fired, tearing apart the three Grimm closest to them. The more obvious threat now behind them, the enemy quickly about-faced and sprinted. Some swiped at the Knight's as the passed but all retreated past them in a flash before any other shots could be fired.
"That was convenient," Glenda cracked a smile now that the danger had passed but didn't let her guard down.
"Time to move," Summer lowered Moonshard, "If the entire forest is like this then we need to get back to Port and re-evaluate our plan,"
(Wilhelm's Wrath)
Summer's situation in the forest had been one of the more fortunate encounters with the Aberration threat. In the first few hours of the fighting, at least seventeen reported contacts with Aberrations were confirmed all over the battle line, most with heavy casualties, though the Grimm suffered almost as many as the Retribution Force. The Reapers' slaves, however, seemed to have no end and hounded the retreating squads right back to the edge of the gravity boundary where the humans maintained air superiority. So far there was no contact with the Reapers themselves, though they may have engaged one of the several squads that had been wiped out to a man.
Port's actions could not be held against him. The situation was nothing like any had seen. The Aberrations had the speed and strength of Huntsman, and the ferocity and pack mentality of Grimm. The result was horrifying for the moral of the soldiers. Still, he never wavered from his position at the command map, studying troop movements as they were reported and issuing orders to minimize losses. The first attack had been an expeditionary one, he knew that before he had done so, but such a result was beyond his bleakest expectations. The total casualties numbered some two hundred men, six of which were Hunters. Of the two hundred, one hundred and sixty would never fight again, if they lived, while all Hunter casualties were fatal, a result of not running.
"Report from Winter Company," an intermediary said, "Lieutenant Reisen had been killed in action to sniper fire. The bullet penetrated his Aura from a point somewhere near the Fortress,"
"Cyclopes," Port nodded, recognising the handiwork of the Reaper Summer had described: impossibly long range and a one-shot kill. The news was grave. The Aberrations were impossible to track like normal Grimm. They owned that forest and the more they tried to push, the more it cost them. But the more they stayed here, the longer the Reapers had to create more artificial Grimm.
"What is the status?" Port's musing was interrupted by a young man's voice from behind him, and he noticed the grey-haired boy from Summer's team strode in as if he was the picture of health, even though the discolouration on his face said otherwise.
"Ozpin, was it?" Port turned back to the map, "If you must know, the situation is far from ideal. Our enemy has soldiers that we cannot properly track and have taken out greatest advantage away. We can gain the upper hand through attrition but I doubt our moral will last long if we take that route,"
"May I?" Ozpin gestured towards the holographic map. Port, seeing no harm in letting the boy take in the scene, nodded. The O of GOST stared intently at the map for a minute. He synched his Scroll with the information there and read each detail thoroughly. Finally, he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his thumb before saying, "You are searching for Grimm signatures," as if the answer to their problem were obvious.
"Your point, boy?" Port found Ozpin's tone slightly annoying as he sounded like Port was making some amateur mistake.
Of course, Ozpin knew it was by no means an amateur mistake. Port was simply a veteran Huntsman who saw the Aberrations as simply other Grimm and that was precisely the problem, "From what I can tell, the Aberrations cannot be tracked using their lack of a soul,"
"Of course they can, boy," Port said condescendingly, "the Grimm have been hunted that way for years-"
"Aberrations have Aura, meaning they appear to have a soul," Ozpin held out his Scroll, showing the radar of the map. Where the map would normally be lit up if searching for regular Grimm, the screen was only showing hazy afterimages, "At best they are partially concealed, if not completely invisible to us,"
"What are you suggesting then?" Port asked. As much as he didn't like being wrong, the boy was making sense.
"Set all forms of tracking to targets with Aura. Then we may have a better picture," Ozpin now turned to the troops movements, "Wait, do AK-130s have sensors like radar?"
"The ones supplied by Atlas do,"
"I suggest assigning several to each group and divert all their power to tracking Aura,"
"Mobile radar," Port was beginning to understand. It was radical, it was reckless… it was brilliant. "Such a solution would allow us to move safely right to the Fortress walls at the cost of some of our androids,"
"As safe as we can be in enemy territory and I think you would agree a loss of a few hundred fighting soldiers would be an acceptable exchange for this knowledge,"
"It seems you have some talent, my boy," Port bowed his head in respect for the student's action, "That will take you far,"
"Let's see if it works first," Ozpin looked at the map as the markers for Grimm targets began to form.
"How's it going down there?" now it was time for the loudmouth of GOST to make an appearance and his volume and attitude provoked a far less positive response from the leading Huntsman.
"There have been setbacks on the front if you mean the fight in general, Mr Xiao Long. If you are asking about your teammates, they have returned to the regrouping site with several casualties but have reported to be mostly unharmed,"
"Good," Tristan smiled, "Now we just need to hit them where it hurts, so long as these Grimm-"
"They're retreating," Ozpin's softly-spoken words nonetheless cut off his teammate and actually silenced most of the people present.
"What do you mean, my boy?" Port asked.
"I mean exactly that; the Aberrations are retreating to the Fortress," a crowd formed around the table to see if what Ozpin said was true. Sure enough, the newly formed signatures of clusters of Aberrations were indeed making their way back to the mountain from which they came. Even the nearest targets were falling back at phenomenal speed, "What are they doing?" the boy in glasses asked to no one in particular.
"I don't know," Port stroked his moustache in contemplation, "It seems today is full of surprises,"
(Meanwhile)
In the shadowed alcove of the Gathering in the Reaper Headquarters, a lonely man sat on a stool, leaning over an old looking wooden table. He ignored the brightly lit circle of chairs in the centre and instead created his own little resting place in a shadowy corner, lit only by a gas lamp. In his hands was a deck of cards. At random, he would flip several over onto the table then, just as random, would take them up and shuffle them back into the deck. The place was empty save for him and his movements with the cards.
At least until a faint shadow, lighter than the rest, drifted closer to him. In what little light could be used, the shadow became a woman in purple "It's been a long time, Eric,"
The strongest Reaper's posture slumped even further at the shadow's voice, "Indeed it has," Vulcan whispered, "Welcome back into my life, Oracle,"
I've been waiting for so long to bring Oracle back! She adds to the mystery.
Comments and criticisms are appreciated as always. Thank you :)
