Frontier Chapter 12: The Battle for Mountain Glenn
"The Grimm retreated?" Jadis couldn't wrap his head around it, the Grimm never ran away. They would only attack until they were dead or too exhausted to continue. For the past week, they had relentlessly attacked, leaving thousands dead from exhaustion or wounds.
The soldier who brought the message had a hopeful smile, "Do you know what this means?"
"It's nothing good." Jadis told the soldier, "Get any men who can fight, I suggest that we prepare to fall back to the citadel."
"Sir?"
"We saw a couple of Goliaths on their way, if they get too close they'll be able to destroy the gate..or even the wall itself."
"But the Grimm, they retreated!" The soldier frowned, "We've won!"
"No." Jadis turned to face the soldier, "The Grimm have never retreated before, this is something new." He narrowed his eyes, "I don't want to be left flat-footed, now, get any men who can fight, I suggest that we prepare to fall back to the citadel."
Jaune sighed and stared out the window next to his spot. The infirmary was still filled with soldiers, though the ones who could walk had been moved elsewhere. Outside the window he could see thousands of soldiers moving toward the citadel and taking positions on its walls, these were the same soldiers who had been on the outer wall. The claw marks and broken armor gave them away.
From the corner of his eye, Jaune saw Blake walk into the infirmary. He smiled as she made his way toward him, "What's going on?"
"The Grimm retreated." She watched as Jaune went pale, "The higher-ups are using this chance to fall back to the citadel."
Jaune frowned and turned his gaze back toward the fortifications, "I should be out there."
"I'm not sure if-"
"You're looking better." A familiar voice spoke. When Jaune turned to see who it was he grimaced.
It was Tai Yang.
"I see that the healing dust has more or less done its job." Tai Yang smiled, "Give it another hour or two and you'll be as good as new."
"Send me back out there, I can help take out some of the Grimm!" Jaune protested.
"Even if you were finished healing, it wouldn't be necessary." The entire infirmary grew quiet and Tai turned to face them, "The Grimm have retreated into the forest," he ignored the gasps of shock and continued forward, "We have chosen to use this chance to shore up the defenses here and fall back to the citadel. We don't know what to expect, so get some rest and prepare for a fight!"
With a nod to Jaune and Blake, he left the room.
Over the next couple hours, the thousands of soldiers who were present dug ditches, set up wooden spikes, prepared catapults, and got ready for battle. Where the citadel was once a simple fortification is was now surrounded by enough fortifications to make it last through a siege against any army that would dare come against it.
The Grimm were not like regular humans, they wouldn't retreat, they would only continue their assault until their enemy had been annihilated or until they were all killed.
Jaune, Ren, and Nora found themselves on the wall closest to the outer wall. The entire army stood still waiting for the chaos to begin, it was only a matter of time.
The entire garrison jumped at the sound of an explosion near a pile of rocks, Jaune immediately recognized it. That was the tunnel where they had come through, the same one they had destroyed.
Before anyone could react a Death Stalker slammed through the reopened tunnel, followed by scores of Ursa, Beowolfs, and many more.
"Archers at the ready!" Qrow hollered over the incoming growls.
Archers drew back on their bows and aimed at the countless Grimm.
"Loose!"
Scores of arrows left their fortifications and arced over the open field before slamming into the herd. Explosions and fires roared to life from dust tipped arrows.
"Prepare another volley!"
A massive quake shook the entire garrison and the citadel itself. Jaune turned his gaze to the wall just in time to see the gate collapse into nothing but splinters.
Six goliaths charged toward the hole in the wall, followed by the endless wave that had chipped away at the garrison for the past week.
The citadel was now caught between the hammer and anvil.
Jaune saw the Ursa and Beowolfs close in toward the wall, he turned toward Phyrra, Ren, and Nora. He drew his sword and grimaced.
The citadel was engulfed in chaos.
The sounds of fighting, screams, and clashing steel filled the air. Jaune himself cut a Beowolf off from the wall and kicked him back down. The Death Stalker was unable to advance thanks to the wooden stakes, the Goliaths didn't care and continued to push on.
That's when Jaune saw her.
On the back of one of the Goliaths stood a woman as pale as the moon, with blood-red eyes and dark veins dancing around her skin. It had to be her, it had to be Salem.
Behind her stood a smirking Cinder, who's amber eyes met Jaune's in defiant overconfidence.
"I see her!" Jaune turned toward Phyrra and pointed at the approaching goliaths. I see Cinder and Salem!"
Before Phyrra could respond a volley of firebolts slammed into the wall, cracks began to form and the stone beneath them collapsed. A hole had formed in the wall.
Screaming filled the air.
Smoke began to rise, and fires roared. The pathetic defenses humanity had set up had been swept aside with little effort. From her position, Salem narrowed her gaze and willed the Grimm to focus on particular parts of the citadel.
"My queen." Cinder bowed her head, "May I enter the battle?"
Salem waved her hand dismissively, "take the white fang, overwhelm them from the inside out."
"Yes, Mistress."
"Jaune watch out!"
The blonde was thrown out of the way from an ursa's swing.
The redhead blocked the attack with her shield and sent her spear into the gut of the beast. With several more attacks, the Ursa turned to dust, only to be replaced with two more.
"We have to hold them here!" Jaune yelled out as he cut the stomach of a massive Beowolf, "If we can't hold the interior of the Citadel, the walls won't matter!"
"Keep focus, Jaune!" Phyrra urged the blonde while subduing her enemy, "Keep your head in the here and now!"
Jaune was thrown to one knee by the strike of an Ursa, he slashed at the ankles of his enemy but was thrown on his back by a charging Beowolf.
He could see Phyrra struggling to defend against a group of baby nevermore, behind her the massive Death Stalker was charging toward the hole in the wall.
He grits his teeth as the monster above him snarled, but was surprised when the beast whimpered in pain and turned to dust.
"This is exactly why I didn't want you to be here kid!" Jaune followed the voice and smiled when he saw Coco standing above him. She pulled the spear out of the Grimm and smiled as it turned to dust.
"Get into the inner sanctum, we'll hold here." As she said this, three other huntsmen arrived at her side. Fox nodded at Jaune and Phyrra as they made their way toward the inner sanctum.
Nora slammed an Ursa back down to the ground. Behind her, Ren cut the arms off a Beowolf and kicked it off the wall.
Both of them gasped for air, sweat dripped down their face and they glanced around for their next opponent.
The entire garrison was surprised when a familiar woman landed between them. Her amber eyes shined with anticipation as she shot fireballs out of her palms toward the two.
Nora ducked beneath the attack and Ren answered with a sidestep and a swing from his dagger.
Cinder took a step back, parried his swing, and punched the ninja.
On her other side, Nora prepared to swing her Warhammer but was stopped when her leg gave out from a kick to the back of her knee.
She turned and frowned, "Adam."
The Faunus smirked and readied his weapon.
Nora readied her war hammer and waited for the Faunus to make the first move.
"I've got this, focus on the Grimm."
Nora watched as Commander Jadis rushed forward and clashed against Adam. It was clear from the many strikes Adam was making that he was more agile, however, the well made armor afforded Jadis time.
Nora turned back to the wall just in time to throw a Grimm back down the wall.
Meanwhile, Ren parried a strike by Cinder and flipped backward, barely dodging a firebolt. When he landed on his feet he could hear a scream behind him, a soldier was dragged off the wall.
"I'll admit, you're doing better than I thought you'd do." Cinder smirked and held her palm out.
From below Ren, a sinister howling erupted, and just when Ren noticed the heat rising a hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him backward. After the howling erupted in an explosion Qrow glanced at the Ninja and pushed forward, his sword clashing against Cinders.
"White Fang?!"
One of the Faunus jumped down from the wall and toward Jaune, before they could land a dagger pierced their chest and they fell to the ground. Blake landed next to the corpse of her former comrade, she stared at it for a moment before retrieving her blade and turning back toward Jaune and Pyrrha, "We need to get into the compound, follow me."
The trio fought through the chaos, it felt as if they were wading through waist-deep water until they entered the compound. Inside was just as chaotic, a Grimm had managed to get inside and several soldiers were currently bleeding out while the Grimm disintegrated from its wounds.
"We need to get to Tai!" Pyrrha told them, "We won't survive unless we fall back into the tunnels!"
"Tunnels?" Jaune asked.
They continued through the stairwell to the top of the compound, where Tai Yang was most likely to be. On the way, Pyrrha explained her earlier statement, "The compound was built over a tunnel leading into Vale, if we can fall back into the tunnels, we have a chance to survive."
When they reached the top they all froze.
There was a massive hole in the wall, Qrow laid on the ground unconscious in a pile of rubble. Tai was in the middle of a struggle against Cinder, who had a cut on her cheek and was taking rapid breaths.
With every blocked or dodged strike, Cinder got slowed and Tai increased in his speed.
Cinder dropped to the floor and kicked Tai's legs out from under him, when she pounced to try and stab him he grabbed her arms and kicked her gut, sending her out the window.
Tai got to his feet and turned his attention to Qrow, several burn marks were on his chest. With a sigh, he made his way over to his desk and pulled out a flare gun. He looked at Pyrrha, "I guess you have the same idea as I do."
Before Phyrra could respond, Tai shot a flare up into the sky. The green smoke immediately grabbed the attention of the surviving soldiers and calls to retreat.
Jaune made his way beside Tai and stared out at the battlefield. It had all happened so quickly, where thousands once stood only hundreds retreated. Many soldiers had been torn to shreds, the soldiers outside of the walls had been run over.
"Let's go," Tai called over to the group.
They made their way into the basement of the compound. There they were joined by Ren, Nora, CFVY, and a bleeding Jadis, his helmet having been lost
"Glad to see that you're doing well," Coco said to Jaune.
"It's thanks to you," Jaune responded.
Tai turned toward his comrade, "Qrow, take the kids and team CFVY, we'll cover you."
A rumbling shook the entire compound and from the stairway came out three individuals. Cinder, anger clear in her burning eyes. Adam, bruised and battered from his battle against Jadis, and Salem a triumphant smirk on her face.
"Tai…"
Beside the blonde, Jadis unsheathed his Longsword, "Qrow, we'll hold them as long as possible. Go!"
"But…"
Tai glanced over his shoulder, "GO!"
Neither of them watched as the group descended into the tunnel, their gaze was on Salem and her goons.
"You must realize how futile it is to resist." Salem smirked, "If you surrender-"
"Don't you think we would have surrendered by now if we wanted to?" Jadis narrowed his eyes, "Humanity will fight to our last breath!"
"Oh?" Salem responded, "Cinder, put that to the test."
In the blink of an eye, Cinder closed the distance between her and Tai. She swung her short swords at the blonde, who parried her attack, spun behind her, and landed a hit against the back of her skull.
Cinder stumbled forward and turned around, blood dripping to the floor, "Lucky hit."
Meanwhile, Jadis and Adam parried each other's strikes, unable to land a solid strike.
Salem watched the two fights with interest but narrowed her eyes at the slow swings of Adam Taurus.
Tai blocked a swing from Cinder and countered with his own, the attack had so much strength behind it that when he brought down the overhead strike Cinder lost her hold on her weapon and dropped it.
Salem frowned, "Adam, stop toying around, finish him."
Jadis noticed Adam glance toward the witch and lunged forward with a stab.
The Faunus grabbed the blade in his hand and sent it in a downward strike toward the Vale Knight's shoulder.
With a second strike, Jadis fell to the ground, limp.
Tai charged at Cinder but jumped backward to avoid an explosion. He yelled in pain, Adam stabbed his katana into the Huntsman's back.
He stared down at the blade and took a deep breath before looking up at Cinder before falling to his knees.
"Poor human, he was such a powerful fighter." Salem slowly made her way over to the bleeding out Huntsman, "He would have made such a good ally."
The witch kneeled and stared into Tai's eyes, "I feel obligated to know, what are the last words of the infamous Tai Yang?"
The blonde pulled out a dagger, and stabbed Salem's chest, "That's for Summer," He then spat in her face, "And that's for Ruby."
Salem stood up and held out her hand, magic circulating in her palm "Farewell."
The battle of mountain Glenn would be one of the worst losses for Vale in its entire history, it would see the loss of tens of thousands of soldiers as well as countless huntsmen, Commander Jadis, and most importantly, Tai Yang.
A/N: thanks for reading this so far! This is the end of Act 1 of Frontier. For now, I'll be taking a break but plan to return sometime soon, have a great day and stay safe!