The initial landings of the initiation trials were a disaster, already the number of casualties had likely reached over sixty candidates over the first three hours if the number of crashed Bullheads were any indication, though Yang hoped she had overestimated as she brooded keeping quiet at the edge of the fire that she had made illuminating the web infested cave her group has taken shelter in. Her and Blake were lucky having found a cavern to rest and tend their wounds and plan their next steps, and no Grimm had assaulted them thus far save for the small colony of Arachnid Grimm that inhabited the cavern initially. Better still was their luck as they were not the last seeking shelter as more wondered inside over time, now there were ten of them huddled around the fire. Most of them seemed little worse for where but one currently had bandages over his stomach that bled an unhealthy red; Yang was impressed he hadn't passed out yet.
"We can't push north like this, there's hundreds of Grimm between us and the ruins, we should go back."
"I'm with Cardin, better to flunk out then die." Replied Russel who looked exhausted beyond measure.
"If you go back empty handed your dead anyway." Remarked Blake.
"How do you know? We just have to get threw the barrier fences and we're golden."
"They are not going to be deactivated for another day, You'll be dead before then." Remarked Blake
"What would you know! We can make it." Argued Cardin
"She has a point you won't survive in the jungle for two hours on your own let alone a day, we should stay here until the barrier opens then go." Replied a wolf Faunus who introduced herself as Lizzie, her ears were down to her head as she continued to inspect the wounded student. She had likely come to the same conclusion Yang had.
"Oh shut it you animal, You probably want us to be found, I'm sure those Wolf Ears make you nice eye candy for Grimm."
"Say that again you racist fuck, I'll gladly gut and feed you to them!"
"Stop it." Barely a whisper
"I'd like to see you try!" Cardin went for his Hammer and the others reacted.
"Hey cmon we got enough to worry about with the Grimm, we don't need you two." Cardin swatted the interloper away.
"Back off!" The argument was escalating, others were going for their weapons.
"Stop." She tried again louder.
"You know people like you are what's wrong with the world! I'm done getting pushed around!" The Wolf Faunus raised her gun blade at Cardin and let out a Feral Growl.
"STOP!" Yang roared shooting up eyes red and emitting an aura of displeasure so intense the fire seemed burst in intensity with her rage and many went to their weapons out of instinct to survive. Everyone took a step back and one who hung at the far edge of the cave slunked into the shadows like vermin, the argument and immediate fight replaced by a compulsion to not piss off the Burning Blond. She now had their complete and undivided attention. Cardin looked like he was about to rebuke her before faltering at the last moment his courage giving way to Yang's wrathful glare.
"If you keep this up your negativity will attract the Grimm and we'll be dead for sure. Cardin you won't make it a mile on your own and like Lizzie said the gates are closed. Our best chance is to stay here and wait for an opening to break threw the Grimm or for the gates to open and make our way there. But we can only do that if we work together. So are you all done bitching or do I have to beat the shit out of you to get you to behave?" They hesitated, Cardin tried his best to stand his ground but it felt like he was a puppy trying to stand up to a full grown Wolf. He relented first and put down the hammer trying his best to avoid Yang's gaze, Lizzie held a little longer but a loud grown from her partner forced her to relent. Yang knew none of them would survive on their own.
"Blake." Her partner perked up from her spot.
"I need you to scout around see if you can find a way north and make sure the Grimm didn't catch our scent from this, take someone with you."
"I'm better off sneaking alone. They will just slow me down."
"Not with this many Grimm around." Blake looked like she wanted to argue the point but the look Yang gave her stopped her.
"I pick who goes with me, I won't wait for them if they slow me down." Yang met her partner's eyes and nodded.
"Deal, who are you thinking?" Blake nodded to the direction of another aspirant. They could tell he was human, secluded as he was in the shadows of the cavern. His armor consisted of a simple chest piece of leather and and various pads of leather across his joints. Twin daggers with the faint tell tale glow of fire dust casings in the hilt hung at his side and he played with a metal pendant hanging from his neck as he muttered to himself. The symbol hurt Yang's eyes to look at.
"Doesn't seem to be all there, you sure you want him to go with you?"
"His armor is light, he's sticking out of everyone's view and he's placed himself conveniently out of sight of anyone coming into the cave; he knows how to hide."
"Good eye. Still something about him rubs me the wrong way."
"Then it's a good thing you'll have me keeping an eye on him." Blake was dead set on this and Yang had no reason to doubt her intentions.
"Try to give him a chance before you leave them to the wolves." Yang spoke in jest along with her signature smile. Blake rolled her eyes as she stood up.
"I… will try, though speaking of wolves." She flicked her eyes to Lizzie and her wounded partner.
"I'll handle it. You just focus on making sure the Grimm don't catch our scent."
"What do you mean by handle it?" Yang stayed silent.
"I see." Silence speaks volumes.
"There is a chance he can come with."
"I'm not going to judge you for doing what needs to be done. Gods know I've done some terrible shit before I came here." Blake didn't elaborate and Yang decided not to push the issue as they were wasting time. Blake left her then and went to the shadowed aspirant, Yang thought about listening in, but decided against it; Blake could take care of herself. She walked toward Lizzie who was currently trying to comfort her partner with her hands over the bloodied bandages of his ruined stomach.
"Stop moving Garnet, if you don't stay still I can't get you to regenerate."
"It hurts." That was all he was able to wearily groan out before he started hacking up blood and causing it to spill to the cave floor.
"Shit!" The Wolf Faunus was about to move from her position to turn him over. Yang beat her to it grabbing his shoulders and gently putting him to his side to stop him from drowning in his own vitae.
"How bad is he?"
"Ursa clawed up his stomach, he'd be dead if not for his aura, I've been healing him with my semblance. So he should be fine." Her breath was heavy, weary.
"Your semblance is healing?"
"Regeneration, Though its slow going given the damage, not to mention painful."
"Have you ever fixed anything this severe?" Asked Yang.
"No, but he'll be fine." She sounded like she was trying to convince both of them and Yang's eyes told her she looked on the verge of a breakdown from stress and exhaustion, her semblance must be taxing to use. Yang handed Lizzie her canteen of water, which she gave back after a few sips.
"Thanks, look I can save him but it's not something I can rush, especially since I can't see what I'm doing without him bleeding out."
"Can you speed things up?" Lizzie shook her head
"No, think of it like muscle regrowing, cuts knitting themselves back together or in this case rebuilding his stomach and part of his liver completely from scratch I can't rush the process without the risk of making a mistake."
"Which runs the risk of killing him down the line..." Yang finished and the medic nodded in confirmation.
"Alright I'll leave you to it, but you need to get him ready to move at a moments notice." Yang got up and left the healer to her work, hoping she would succeed, they would need to move soon, sooner then they thought.
Blade of Terra.
"Reaching Mandeville Point in two minutes. All crew to stations and prepare for reentry into real space." The Blade of Terra's bridge windows were closed, red light bathed the room crimson as mortals manned their stations alongside started bearing the white and gold of the eleventh legion.
"Is the fleet prepared?" Solan asked Judis
"The Golden Drake and Sword of Reason report their crews battle ready. Captain Bolvar seemed enthusiastic of the coming battle." The made the old legion are laugh
"The boy still dreams of glory, let's hope he doesn't bite off more then he can chew."
"Reentering real space now. Brace, Brace." Shouted the dead drone of a servitor over the ships internal Vox.
"Reality shoved itself back into place as they felt the ship plummet out of unreality, the laws of space and time reasserting their dominance as the ships windows opened, allowing the dark sky of the void into view. A large orb of green and erupting gold was seen in the distance and several orbs of light burst in the void; coming closer.
"Sensory officer report."
"Reading three vessels my lord, two don't have any registered Imperial markings, third is… the third is is Sixteenth Legion Hellbringer class, The Void Wolf." The sensory officer stated with no lack of shock.
"I didn't expect legion assets here." Remarked Judis.
"We can question it later, have all ships converge and assist the Void Wolf. Vox Officer try and open a channel." The legion's vessels wasted no time, their engines burning hot at full impulse toward the retreating ship, which was firing back at its pursuers with what weapons it had. The Golden Drake fired first with its bombardment cannon, sending a magma bomb flying toward the cluster of vessels. It slammed into the leading xenos ship crashing into it rear section and causing a cascade of explosions from the ramshackle engines of the Ork craft crippling its maneuverability; yet surprisingly the craft was still intact.
"Golden Drake make a pass on the second ship to finish it off. Sword of Reason alter your heading to get behind the leading ship to cripple its engines but watch your targets we'll be putting ourselves between the Orks and Void Wolf." Ordered Solan as he observed the battle from his command throne.
The Golden Drake altered away from the rest of the fleet first, its bombardment cannon firing again into the xenos ship's exposed rear. Yet its mark was off and the round passed the ship harmlessly detonating in the void. The ship fired back with the void Wolf entering range as projectiles fired from hundreds of makeshift gun ports across its hull but the sheer inaccuracy of the xenos lead to dozens of impacts harmlessly hitting the Drake's void shields. It roared back at its displeasure macro batteries firing ripping chunks and pieces of armor off the primitive vessel and starting a chain reaction as the ship burst apart in explosive fire. Meanwhile the Sword of reason dashed forward hoping to get behind the ork ship to its exposed rear. It almost maneuvered in time as a burst of power erupted from the Xenos hulk driving its engines forward lessening the distance to its prey despite the return fire which might as well be pebbles thrown in the face of a raging Bull.
"The lead ship is gaining, the Void Wolf is heavily damaged if it gets rammed from behind it could destroy the ship."
"Sword of Reason I need those engines crippled now!" Barked Solan with a reply coming from the vox.
"Firing solution found will be in range in ten seconds."
"The ship doesn't have that long, Judis order the engines all ahead full and warn the crew to brace and I want every weapon we can firing at that ship Navigator put us on a collision course." Judis looked surprised fathoming but not believing Solan's plan.
"My lord I don't believe that's."
"Do it Ship Master or I will find someone else who will!" Solan gave no room for argument bridge crew had already begun preparations when Judis activated the ships Vox."
"All crew brace for impact, Repeat all crew Brace for Impact." The Blade of Terra soared with increased speed like a comet with its crew barely managing to keep course with the Ork Vessel with every weapon it could firing some even finding their mark despite the constantly moving target. It was reckless, it was foolish and it's commander was perhaps arrogant to think it would work… but it did. It wasn't the perfect hit but the Blade of Terra slammed into the ships back just in time to force the ship to alter its heading before slipping from its grasp no longer chasing its wounded prey and bathing the front port section of the ship in engine fire with thousands burning from the sudden increase in heat after the void shields fell. The xenos showed their rage in retaliation as they fired with macro shells, rockets and other ramshackle ammo slamming into the ship's hull.
"Breaches on decks three, twenty and twenty eight port side, sealing off sections."
"Tech marines report shields will be reactivated in three second."
"Casualty reports indicate an estimated twelve thousand dead thus far." The crew reports kept pilling in.
"Activate all targeting cogitators and open fire, I want that thing blasted out of the void!" They returned fire trading blow for blow with chunks of scraps and a few greenskins being spat out into the void, a Magma Bomb flew past the ship and into the monstrous idol that made up the xenos ship's prow
The Golden Drake entered the fray with the rest of the fleet with both vessels unleashing their deadly payloads in unison. Macroblasts tore into its thick hide ripping out chunks of the vessel and airing out its decks to the void but it kept firing despite this. Just then a bright glow of a las battery slammed into the vessel straight threw it and sending it adrift in the void, it's weapons going silent from lack of power. The legion finished it off not long after
"Incoming message, it's the Void Wolf." Shouted the vox officer.
"Second Legion vessel, this is captain Vandros Darkblood of the seventeenth company Luna Wolves, who do I have the privilege to speak with?"
"I am legion Master Solan of the eleventh legion, can you activate a visual feed to your ship I would rather see who I am addressing."
"One moment." The Voxwent silent and moments later a visual feed crackled and sparked to life. The Void Wolf's bridge was in rough shape. The feed was barely active, rents could be seen in the metal of the decks, crew scurried to put out small fires and various consoles and deck paneling had been dislodged or exploded from the walls in waves of sparks. Vandros stood, a figure of might in his armor despite this and his armor bloodied with several cracks and the power sword at his side was red with blood. His face was a mirror of the sixteenth primarch save for the red of a bionic eye and the fresh wound across his lower jaw.
"Do you read us?"
"We read you captain. What is the situation?"
"We were passing threw the system when word of the greenskins invasion came. Currently the majority of the sixteenth and seventeenth companies were deployed on planet under command of captain Thanan. Currently there were nine enemy ships of various size in orbit.
"How many astartes do you have deployed in planet?" Vandros looked away from the view screen to someone Solon couldn't see before a hololith projection of the planet showed.
"Both companies combined number just over three thousand astartes I am sending you all tactical data we have, currently the bulk of our forces were deployed to the southern continent here." The display highlighted an area near a patch of mountains miles away from the main capital city marked as the city of Kyran.
"Why deploy there, surely your forces are better spent defending the civilians in the capital then holding a patch of earth."
"This area holds underground shelters from before the planet entered compliance, we thought it best to evacuate as much of the civilian population there as possible to focus our defense. It's likely they will need reinforcements soon." Solan nodded
"What of your ship, can you fight?"
"Orks boarded our Vessels and destroyed many of our systems, our shields are disabled and the hull can't take much more, best we can provide is limited fire support with our las batteries at long range.
"You should disengage, we can handle the remaining ork vessels." Vandros' face gave a grimace as he shook his head.
"I'd rather remain, the enemy outnumbers you in the void, let us offer you what assistance we can, I refuse to leave my men on the rock." Vandros's plea sounded more like a demand but Solan didn't show any reaction to it.
"I'd not recommend that course captain, but I doubt you'll listen to reason. Very well but you will follow my commands for now."
"That is reasonable, you hold the larger force. I'll begin what repairs I can. We will await your word." The feed cut out then removing the chaotic visual from Solan's sight.
"Golden Drake do you read me?"
"We hear you old man. I take if you have a plan?"
"How long would you need to get the Void Wolf in position for orbital drop?" Solan could feel Bolvar's smile from here.
"However long you can give me."
Trial Grounds
Blake Moved through the forest with the swiftness of a shade with one eye on her surroundings and another on the man who accompanied her. This was not out of any concern, he could pass threw the trees like a ghost and seemed to handle himself; but she wasn't stupid enough to take her eye of him. Their patrol went by quietly, perhaps too quietly, they spotted no Grimm which was odd to say the least. She expected at least some Grimm to be attracted to the cave from their groups little outburst, but she hadn't seen so much as a single Beowulf. With that in mind she spotted hoping between the trees and went upward, climbing the tree with the grace of a cat as old training learned in the hidden war temples of the Fang kicked in. Her muscles burned against gravity as she climbed and she was greeted by the serene sight of a forest; but it was skin deep. Her eyes immediately spotting the roiling sea of black and bone moving beneath the trees like water. Beowulf's, Ursa, Taigu and even Grimm she had never seen before. Hunched bipedal monsters with with jackal like skulls and arms that turned to hooked blades.
"Do you see anything?" Blake turned down and quickly gestured her comrade to be silent, thankfully the Grimm were out of earshot. They were still moving north but it wasn't as a horde, this seemed organized. She looked down to where the initiate waited and had to stop herself from frowning at the amulet wrapped around his neck it's shape was one she was all too familiar with.
"Their moving north, looks like we managed to pass them without notice."
"Thank the lord of Ravens. Perhaps we should inform the group about this, no use risking our necks longer then we have to." Blake frowned catching the quiet prayer.
"We need to scout a bit more, make sure no Grimm are heading this way."
"But surely the horde is fleeing north is a good sign, we should double back or perhaps shift our efforts toward food. I'm sure the others would appreciate your efforts." Blake resisted the urge to plunge Gambol Shroud into his mouth and was about to retort when a loud whoosh erupted. Flashing crimson lights bathed the evening sky with the brightness of miniature red suns rising and falling erupting the southern forest in flame.
"Flares? I didn't think anyone survived?"
"Well they're dead now. Idiots." She eyed the Grimm horde which was now turning back south making any path to the border fences impossible and their camp was now at risk.
"We need to get back before… look out!" She jumped onto his branch knocking him to the floor as the white and black serpent that was about to bite him struck. She caught its neck around her hand crushing its head as it evaporated in a cloud of smoke and used her other hand to toss Gambol shroud its ribbon unwrapping from her wrist and around the torso of the Ravanite and with practiced precision hoisted him up.
"After he was back on the tree she quickly started to reward her weapon around her arm but the Ravanite caught her tattoo before she finished.
"Your a follower of the raven! I thought I was the only one." She stopped wrapping; he shouldn't have seen that.
"Would you mind lowering your voice, it's not something I want the whole forest to know."
"Ah don't want to the nonbelievers to know your after them right? I get it you must be one of the others master Terox spoke of."
"forgive me the lodge masters tend to keep the identities of other lodges secret. Your from?" Her demeanor changed relief at finding another Ravanite being evident.
"Oh forgive me I'm Orpheus from the path of nine winds; I can see why your masters sent you, have you seen others?
"No, we should get moving and can discuss finding them later. I don't want to be caught with the Grimm. You can lead the way back, let you take the credit for saving my life. It would Ingratiate you with my partner
"Your catspaw I take it? I'll take you up on that." It was in that moment Blake realized this man was a complete fool. No sooner did he turn around did Blake already have the blade of Gambol Shroud slicing his throat and he chocked and died before he hit the ground. She then decided that after initiation she would have to look at getting rid of her tattoos; all four of them.
Beacon Academy headmaster's Tower.
"The horde is turning southward. The gates report seeing some flares go up in the southern forests."
"Your men are mistaken Merex, I'm not detecting any transmitters in the southern forest." Replayed Goodwitch, Ozpin looked at the turning horde with disinterest.
"What transponders are still active?" Glynda clicked a few buttons on her school and the screen shifted to show both the horde and the remaining student transponders. One of which kept popping in and out; much to Ozpin's annoyance.
"It's Miss Rose's semblance at her top speed the signal from the transmitter goes in and out." She explained
"I'll have to inform James to upgrade our equipment then. Hmm I believe I've answered the question of the flares though."
"What do you mean sir?" Ozpin pointed at the screen
"She's moving threw the southern forests. If I were to guess she planted flares likely created by her new partner, Weiss Schnee. These flares were meant to distract the horde and it appears to have worked, she can now make her way to the ruins with impunity."
"The horde will be too busy searching the southern forest for survivors and kill her competition to catch her at the ruins. Pretty ruthless." Observed Merex.
"It doesn't look like all the Grimm are heading south. A small horde has broken off to engage with Arc's group. They'll be dead within the hour." Remarked Glynda.
"Come now Glynda haven't I told you to not jump to conclusions. Just look at whose path their in." Ozpin exclaimed.
Trial Grounds.
It was official, Jaune was in hell. Screams and roars echoed around him as Grimm and II ate alike fought and died. Their numbers dwindled as more and more packs of Grimm arrived till he and five others remained surrounded by a score of initiates who were not so lucky. He parried the next blow from a Beowulf and drove his sword threw its mouth before turning his body to barely block the blow of another, tired muscles screaming at the impact. Constant fighting was taking its toll and soon he had no doubt he would join the dead if he didn't run; but he couldn't yet. He slammed his shield into the Beowulf's head staggering it before striking a decapitating blow; he never hit home.
"Behind you! Pyrrha screamed too late as he felt shooting pain threw his back as a Beowulf pounced claws scratching and rending armor and into flesh. His head spun he hit the ground, ears rang and could barely make out the calls of his name and the pain erupting from his back occupying his senses. In his delirium he looked for his sword which had flown from his grasp in the confusion laying just behind an advancing Grimm; the one he failed to kill. He could make out a shadow of something above him it's arm poised for a final, fatal strike. He closed his eyes surrendering to fate.
The Ursa screamed, as its torso became impaled by a spear of brass and red, Jaune felt a large weight fly off him, his senses sharpened and he opened his eyes in time to see a Beowulf's jaw maimed by a flying shield. He looked to his sword which lay within arms reach, he could have sworn it was farther away. A rush of adrenaline pushed him forward grasping his blade as the wounded Beowulf lashed out with its claws frantically grasping the blade and plunging it into the beast's chest cavity. It limped and died dissipating into the wind as Jaune felt arms grasp him from behind dragging him away.
"Pyrrha…" Jaune asked his voice horse as his partner shushed him
"Hang on you'll be fine, just give your aura time to heal." Maybe he should have told her he hadn't unlocked his yet. She continued to drag him away from the advancing Grimm while the others of their group gave covering fire. Their were six of them now not counting Pyrrha and himself, but the Grimm horde vastly outnumbered them. He pushed himself to his feet, if we was going to die he might as well do it standing; like his grandfather would. He took a moment to look at the others, Pyrrha, stood beside him but the rest… he didn't even know their names, didn't get the chance to.
"We need to fall back, their's many." Shouted one man holding two bladed pistols and had a streak of pink hair.
"Oh come on Ren we got this!" Shouted another a ginger woman wielding a hammer and smiling like she was mad. Jaune felt the deep gashes in his back burn in the sun as he picked up his blade, his shield was lost somewhere in the clearing.
"No point in running, there is enough that they'd over take us. If anyone's religious I'd start praying." He meant it as a joke but he didn't even crack a smile. The horde had gathered now too many to count but they easily outnumbered the eight of them. hundreds of red eyes in dark bodies that blended together like a large beast with a thousand hungry maws. they pounced as one hungry for their souls and their lives and the last thing Jaune felt as they overran his vision was a gust of wind.
AU: Okay so firstly happy holidays as its officially December and as an early Xmas gift here is the next chapter. So firstly I want to say i never expected this story to gain as much attention as it did which is a pleasant surprise so thank you all and I hope you all continue to enjoy the story, this will be the last chapter of the year initially It was going to be longer but since I likely wont have much time to write for the rest of the year and I had to delay publishing this one due to a death in my family. I decided to divide this chapter into two parts as I wanted to get something out for you guys. Also volume 8 is out and it has me on edge, I wonder which of the cast will die cause that feels likely. I have a theory on how it might end based on the intro. Mainly that Ruby and some others may enter the pool of creation and become immortal but thats just a theory with very little factual evidence to back it up. But we will see where it goes, anyway happy holidays and happy New Year I will see you all again.