Chapter 9
Behold a Pale Horse
=MORGANA=
The last day was a long one. Mikael's mind seemed to be sobering up from it's madness. He was speaking clear for the first time, he stopped screaming and fighting his restraints at least. Now he was agitated. He was jittery and sweating.
"Mikael, calm down." Morgana said.
"You've got me tied up, you've kept me here a couple days now." Mikael said. "I can't remain calm."
"Why not?" Morgana asked. "You're safe with us."
"You're not safe with me." Mikael said.
"We can handle your semblence." Arthur said.
"It's not my semblence you need to fear, it's him." Mikael said.
"Shadow Man?" Arthur asked. "We tangled with his folk before."
"There is more than just cultists in the trees. They are worldwide." Mikael said. "Grimm cults, hundreds of them."
"How come nobody knows about them?" Gabriel asked.
"Because secret societies excel at remaining a secret." Mikael said. "Listen you are out of time."
"No we're not." Morgana said. "Calm down."
"Any minute now they are going to storm this warehouse. I kept on the move for a reason." Mikael said.
They all glanced around. Wind battered against the metal walls. It was dark out. Shadows seemed to peak around the corners. Gabriel started laughing.
"That's great." Gabriel said.
"We forfeited the tournament for this." Lancel said. Tor through his hands in the air.
"Guys calm down." Arthur said. "The tournament is going fine without us."
"Anyone know who's fighting?" Gabriel asked.
"I got it on my scroll. Pyrrha Nikos and some atlas girl." Lancel said.
"I'm missing Pyrrha Nikos?" Gabriel asked.
"Yeah?" Lancel asked. "Why do you care?"
"She's hot. Duh!" Gabriel replied.
"Good to know your priorities are clear." Lancel replied.
"Nice to know your paying attention." Mikael said. "But we have company."
They turned to see a dozen men standing outside the open doorway. They were wearing skull masks. All of them were carrying crude knives. They stood in silence, crooking their heads in strange and animalistic manners.
"Oh no." Lyra said raising Maibaum.
They all readied their weapons. Gabriel readied a bolt in Galatine. Lancel bolted back Arondight, Toreth readied Pelendan over his head. Arthur drew Calesvol and the blade expanded outward. The cultists charged.
"Get me out of these binds!" Mikael shouted.
Morgana ran over and sliced them with her blade. He hopped to his feet. She pointed to his weapons and he ran to them. They charged. Bolts and bullets flew into the crowd of cultists dropping a couple but more poured in.
They closed the distance and entered the melee. Galatine swung down into a glaive, colliding with a charging cultist. Calesvol took a couple cultists out in a single swing. Mikael dove into battle with his claws and began swiping at the enemy. The amount of cultists pouring in was dizzying. Morgana shot black bolts into the crowd but there were so many of them.
"Alright, where did they get all these goons?" Gabriel asked knocking down his umpteenth armed cultist. "Crazy's r us? The insane factory?"
"I don't know, Lyra can you get a hold of the police yet?" Lancel asked.
"Busy, why is the emergency number busy?" Lyra asked. "I keep dialing but they aren't picking up, what could possibly keep the police this busy?"
Their answer came pretty fast. A loud siren suddenly sounded out from the distance. They froze, the cultists simply looked up at the sky and made strange yipping sounds. The group backed up from their attackers and readied their weapon. Morgana felt her had shaking. Grimm attack, cultists attacking, no help coming. This wasn't good. Maybe this was time to stop holding back. Let go, unleash everything. She always was afraid of that.
"Everyone stand back, I'm going to make us an opening and we're going to run for it." Morgana said. The others looked at her.
"What are you going to do?" Mikael asked.
"No holding back." Morgana muttered, staring at her feet. She took a deep breath and steadied herself. She had a few new moves she was waiting to try out. Special dust crystals from the Grey Dust Company. Courtesy of Ash when he wasn't being a prick. She had it ground into a powdered form for raw application.
She took a step forward, a couple flicks and a few bolts flew out colliding with the ground creating a slick of black ice. She switch dust and flicked again. A thundercloud formed over it. The cultists charged, sliding all over the ice. There was a loud bang from the thundercloud and they all dropped to the ground. She whipped another dust bolt and a cloud exploded out filling the warehouse with fog.
"Run!" She shouted. She charged forward, now reaching the ice and sliding along it. She reached the exit and ran outside. Mikael and Arthur were the first out. They were coughing from the fog.
"What kind of dust was that?" Arthur asked.
"I didn't really ask, Ash gave it to me for the tournament and I never got around to use it." She said. "Are you guys okay? Where is Lyra and the others?"
"They'll be coming out soon." Morgana said. "I hope."
"They'll be busy." A voice called out, deep, booming and growling as he spoke. A man with black robes and an antlered skull mask. "I have waited for this moment for most of my life."
"I take it you are Shadow Man." Arthur said, he raised Calesvol.
"I am called that." He said. "I am here for the annointed."
"I think he means me." Mikael said.
"The sleeper shall awaken." He said. "Tonight. The day of the annointed."
"I'm flattered really." Mikael said. "I'm leaving."
"You will not escape again." Shadow Man said. He drew a long crystaline sword, it's blade was warped and curved in a wave style. He flicked it and it began to glow faintly.
"Is that a dust sword?" Arthur asked.
"The sleeper must awaken." He said. He began his approach, slow and confident. Blade low to the ground. Arthur charged. He swung down, Shadow Man's blade swung up and collided with Calesvol, there was a bright flash and Arthur went flying.
"What's one more cut." Mikael said. "Morgy, knock him around a bit."
"Right!" Morgana said. She whipped a dozen new bolts his way, they collided with the dust sword, which seemed to just absorb the energy. Mikael charged and swung. Shadow Man whipped his blade and her bolts flew back her way. His sword followed through and sliced Mikael's chest. He staggered back.
Shadow Man raised his blade into the air. "The sleeper shall awaken!" He shouted. There was a steady rumbling.
"I don't like the sound of that?" Arthur said, climbing to his feet.
The peak of a nearby mountain exploded, a massive beast tore from the mountain peak and it's wings flapped menacingly. It flew for the city. Morgana stepped back and nearly toppled over in surprise. The others came charging out of the warehouse.
"Is that a..." Gabriel mumbled.
"Dragon?" Lyra squeaked. "Dragon!"
"What do we do? It's flying our way!" Lancel shouted.
"I say we run." Mikael said.
"I agree." Arthur said. "We can't fight that thing."
Shadow Man held his blade to the sky. He was laughing hysterically. They glanced at each other and readied their weapons. Shadow Man turned a bowed. He swung his sword and tore what appeared to be a rift in reality itself. A black portal opened and he climbed inside. The portal closed behind him.
A dozen beowolves charged their way. Morgana forgot about the grimm attack in all this. They charged. The fight was over before it started, with the seven of them it was short work. The Grimm Dragon turned and flew off in a different direction.
"It's not heading for us." Lancel said. "Phew!"
"It's heading for the school!" Lyra squeaked.
"C'mon, we have to get over there!" Arthur said.
Morgana's scroll began to beep. She checked the caller ID. Ash. She answered it.
=ASH=
Ash and Calico stood outside the restaraunt. They could hear screaming inside. Blood trails led inside. Ash took a deep breath and shook his head slightly. The smell was horrific. He felt like he was going to puke. This was a mess. The whole city was falling apart around them. He's never seen a grimm attack this bad, the Breach was nothing compared to this. Airships were falling out of the sky.
"Alright, we're in position." Rojo said through Ash's scroll.
"Let's move in!" Calico said.
"We should wait for backup." Ash said.
"We might never get another shot." Calico said.
"Fine." Ash said.
They stormed in, Ash tripped over a body. He tripped and fell in a pool of blood. He rolled over to see a familiar face. A tiger faunus, Chakor. His head was a bleeding mess. His eyes were lifeless. No longer menacing. Ash felt himself mumble a few curse words. His heart was pounding, he felt sweat forming. What did they just walk into? Ash stumbled to his feet. He raised his weapon and they continued their search. They entered the main room to see a massacre. Dead white fang members everywhere, a few dead huntsmen, the rest of team ECRW. Standing in the middle of the room was Victor, who had Edward kneeling before him. Victor was carrying his kanabo shotgun.
"Let him go Victor." Calico said.
"Run!" Edward shouted.
Victor swung faster than Ash could see. The blow collided with the side of Edward's head, blood splattered everywhere and he dropped to the ground. Ash opened fire, so did everyone. Harpoons and bullets were flying. Victor blocked it with his aura and dove behind the counter. He charged. Ash jumped in the way and swung his mace, Edward caught it and swung into Ash's chest. Ash felt his aura deplete from a single strike. He flew into the opposing wall. He left an indent.
Ash spat up blood. His insides were burning in pain. His vision was distorting. He could barely move. How was this possible? He just started to spasm on the ground. His breathing became laboured. His senses were overloading. He began to retch. He rolled onto his side and shrivelled. He watched as team CRCL battled against the assassin. All he could do was watch.