Here we are at Chapter 129. Let's see how the others are doing down in Mantle as things heat up. I do not own RWBT. They belong to roosterteeth. I only own my OCs. Here's chapter 129. Enjoy.


Chapter 129: A Heavy Toll

Down in Mantle, Porphyrius and Lloyd stand face-to-face with Kamir'ahk, and prepare for what will most likely be the toughest fight of their lives.

Kamir'ahk draws his sword as he approaches, "Now, I'm only going to ask you once. Where... is... Khazhak?"

"You really think we'd tell you?" Lloyd stands defiantly.

"I don't care about you fools. I only want my brother," Kamir'ahk replies.

"Well, sorry to break it to you, but we have a different opinion on that. You almost killed OUR brother, Khazhak. Don't think you're getting off the hook without a scratch for that," Porphyrius aims his rifles at him.

"Pathetic fools," Nidhogg notes.

Kamir'ahk smirks, "Fine, just be sure to entertain me," and then rushes at them.

Porphyrius fires off his rifles while Lloyd smashes his steel fist into the ground, sending out steel spikes surging towards him. Kamir'ahk twirls his blade around to block the shots and then spins around and swings his sword to break through the steel spikes. Lloyd runs at him, making a right claw swing that Kamir'ahk parries with his sword, followed by blocking two more strikes from Lloyd. Porphyrius runs around the side, switching his weapon into its brawler form. At one point, Lloyd throws a left cross at him, but Kamir'ahk catches it in his dragon claws. He throws Lloyd into a nearby building, and then blocks a punch from Porphyrius, though he slides back a bit from Porphyrius' semblance. Porphyrius uses his semblance and switches his weapons back around, firing off a few gravity shots at Kamir'ahk. Kamir'ahk jumps around and evades the shots, and then swings his sword down to slice through a car that gets thrown at him by Lloyd. Lloyd and Porphyrius charge together and attack Kamir'ahk. Lloyd goes low at his legs with his claws, while Porphyrius jumps and spins over him while firing off his rifles. Kamir'ahk uses his blade to block the shots while stepping back to evade Lloyd's claws. Porphyrius lands behind him and rushes at him again. They each try to make one strike after another with their weapons, but each time, Kamir'ahk manages to block them with his sword, or narrowly evade them. All the while, he still has that sadistic smirk on his face.

Kamir'ahk charges his semblance into his sword and stabs it into the ground, sending out a plume of dark energy. Lloyd and Porphyrius jump back, lest they have their strength drained from his semblance. Kamir'ahk runs at Lloyd and swings his sword down on him, but Lloyd catches it in his claws.

"Why side with Salem? Why try to kill Khazhak?!" Lloyd pushes against his sword.

"You fool. I'm doing this because Khazhak means so much to me," Kamir'ahk replies, smirking.

"That's gotta be the biggest lie I've ever heard," Lloyd retorts.

"I am the liar? Are you not a lie incarnate, machine doll?" Kamir'ahk retorts, making Lloyd widen his eyes.

He then throws an uppercut into Lloyd's chest, knocking him up, and then grabs him and slams him into the ground. Porphyrius comes in from the rear, swinging his blades around. Kamir'ahk moves his blade back to block the strike and then back-kicks him away. He tries to slash at Lloyd, but Lloyd uses his semblance to block the strike, and then fires off a shot at Kamir'ahk's right leg. This makes Kamir'ahk fall onto one knee, and then Lloyd kicks him in the chest to get him back. Porphyrius uses his semblance on Kamir'ahk, trying to force him onto the ground. He manages to get him onto one knee, but Kamir'ahk fights back. Lloyd comes and and throws a drill strike at Kamir'ahk's face, but Kamir'ahk manages to catch his arm in his dragon claws. He keeps the drilling claws just off of his face, but then uses his semblance to start draining away Lloyd's strength. Porphyrius sees this and lets off his semblance in order to fire off his rifles at Kamir'ahk's back. Kamir'ahk blocks the bullets with his sword, and then throws Lloyd at Porphyrius. Porphyrius catches him, but the pair get knocked into a nearby truck.

"You know, I'm getting bored here," Kamir'ahk notes as he turns to face them.

Lloyd and Porphyrius get back on their feet, "We have to do something about him and fast. We still need to find Yang and the others," Lloyd notes.

"The question is: how do we do that?" Porphyrius replies.

"Oh, I think your little friends left the city. Last I saw them, they were heading further east. Of course, I can't say they'll make it back alive. But don't worry... you won't be alive to see them," Kamir'ahk charges up his semblance into his sword. "DECAYED DEATH DRAGON SLASH!" he swings his blade, sending out an arc of dark energy at them.

Porhyrius grabs Lloyd and uses his gravity boosters to launch them over the technique, which then destroys the building behind them. They land on their feet and Lloyd smashes his fist into the ground, sending out another surge of steel spikes at Kamir'ahk. Kamir'hk looks bored before he destroys the spikes like he did last time. However, this was just a smoke screen to block his vision and keep his focus off of Porphyrius. Purple flames erupting from his eyepatch, Porphyrius uses his semblance to lift a few pieces of the destroyed building, one at a time, and then sends them flying at Kamir'ahk. Kamir'ahk slices through each of them with his sword, but when he cuts through one piece, Lloyd is right behind it and throws another drill punch at Kamir'ahk. Kamir'ahk blocks with his dragon arm, his scales holding up against Lloyd's drill claws. Kamir'ahk tries to take him down with his sword, but Porphyrius comes in with his gauntlets in their brawler form and throws a gravity-enhanced left punch at him. Kamir'ahk swings his blade down and clashes with his punch, the trio now pushing against each other. Porphyrius and Lloyd together begin to push Kamir'ahk back, his feet slowly sliding along the ground. However, Kamir'ahk's eyes glow black for a moment before he knocks back Lloyd's attack. He grabs Lloyd's arm, head-butts Porphyrius in the face, and then swings Lloyd into Porhyrius, sending them flying back.

Kamir'ahk growls a little bit, "I'm tired of wasting my time with you," and then charges right at them.

Porphyrius and Lloyd get back up and fire off their weapons, but Kamir'ahk twirls his sword around and blocks them all. When he gets close, he throws a right punch that Lloyd meets with one of his steel fists. The two fists collide, but Lloyd somehow manages to hold his ground. Porphyrius throws an uppercut with one of his gauntlets, smashing Kamir'ahk into the air. However, Kamir'ahk charges his semblance into his dragon arm and then fires off a dark shot of energy at Lloyd. The shot hits Lloyd, and he falls onto one knee as his strength leaves him. Kamir'ahk falls down and swings his sword at Porphyrius. Porphyrius throws another punch at Kamir'ahk and the two attacks collide. However, Porphyrius gets knocked back from the shockwave. Kamir'ahk turns his attention back to Lloyd, just as he gets back on his feet. Kamir'ahk makes a series of swings at Lloyd, who tries to block them with his claws. He steps back with each consecutive blow. At one point, Kamir'ahk finds an opening and swings his dragon claws around at Lloyd's face, striking across from it. Lloyd screams from the blow and falls onto the ground as his semblance gets low. Porphyrius gets back up and sees this. When he looks at Lloyd, he sees part of his face missing... and sees the metal within, including the cybernetic eye.

"Lloyd," Porphyrius gasps.

"Like I said, nothing more than an empty, machine doll," Kamir'ahk gets ready to deal the finishing blow.

Porphyrius roars as purple flames erupt from his eyepatch again and his semblance goes into overdrive as he aims his rifles at him.

"Dark Void Collapse!" he fires off a huge blast of gravity at Kamir'ahk. The attack hits him dead on and sends him crashing into a nearby building. Using this chance, Porphyrius helps Lloyd up. "Come on, now's our chance," he gets Lloyd onto one of their hover-boards and kicks it into high gear, getting them out of there.

A moment later, Kamir'ahk breaks out of the rubble of the damaged building. He looks around, seeing the pair gone. Just as he's about to go after them, he feels something strange from afar and looks up at Atlas.

Kamir'ahk smirks, "So, that's it huh. There you are... Khazhak,"

In another part of Mantle, Porphyrius gets Lloyd inside an abandoned building and lays him down on a nearby couch. After that, he checks outside to make sure that they aren't being followed. After that, he checks in on Lloyd.

"Lloyd, are you alright," he checks on his friend.

Lloyd groans and opens his eyes, "I... I'm okay," he then notices the change in his appearance. "So, the monster is now out, huh,"

"Take it easy, Lloyd. You need to rest. I'll get you back to the crater where you can rest," Porphyrius prepares to carry Lloyd again, but Lloyd stops him.

"No, we have to find Yang and the others. You heard what Kamir'ahk said. He said that they went east, outside of the city. They need our help," Lloyd grunts in pain as he holds his chest.

"Lloyd, you're in no condition to go anywhere right now," Porphyrius tries to stop him.

Lloyd manages to stand up, "NO! We don't have time to argue about this. They need our help, and they need it now,"

"Lloyd, your aura is low. Out there in that cold, and who knows what might happen," Porphyrius argues.

Lloyd chuckles, "You forget, Porphyrius. I'm not a human. I'm a cyborg. The cold won't affect me like it will you. I'll be fine. We have to go... now," Lloyd slowly stands up with Porphyrius' aid.

Porphyrius sighs, "You're just as stubborn as Khazhak is, you know that," he concedes and gets Lloyd to lean on him as they head outside.

Lloyd chuckles, "Heh-heh-heh, like you're one to talk,"

They get onto one hover-board and head east, with Porphyrius controlling it, and Lloyd behind him, leaning against him. Because of his state, Porphyrius has to take it slower than normal, but they're still making better progress than they would if they tried walking. After a short while, they finally make it outside the city and head out into the tundra, going further east.

"Sorry for the extra baggage, Porphyrius," Lloyd says.

"Don't worry about. Besides, you're not as heavy as like that one time when you stuffed your face at Beacon when they were having a lunch special one time. After that, you fell asleep and Khazhak and I had to drag your ass back to our dorm room. That was much worse than this," Porphyrius tries to lighten the mood with some jokes.

Lloyd chuckles, "Heh-heh-heh, what can I say? I'm a whole barrel of joy," he smiles, but soon that smile fades as he focuses back on his damaged face. "I bet if Azula saw me right now, she'd probably freak out and be scared of me,"

"Don't be stupid. You already told her that you're a cyborg, so she knows what's under that thick, metal skull of yours. Then, of course, there's the time when you saved her from that crazy stalker of hers. If anything, I'd think she'd freak out only in the way where she'd be worried about you and trying to nurse you back to health. You don't give yourself enough credit," Porphyrius replies.

"I thought you said I was a crazy idiot," Lloyd replies.

"Oh, you are. Definitely. But, that's just one part of you. Besides, we're all crazy in one way or another. I'm not one to talk," Porphyrius says.

"You know... I still think about it from time to time. My being a cyborg. I know there's no chance that I'll ever get my old body back, and this one certainly has it's uses, but still... Sometimes I doubt that I'm even human," Lloyd laments.

"And what is a human exactly?" Porphyrius asks. Lloyd looks at him in confusion. "Is it based on genetics? How we are born? Where we come from? I don't think so, and I'm only half-human. Lloyd, you may be crazy, an idiot sometimes, a glutton, your jokes are horrible, you get on my nerves more times than I care to count-,"

"Gee, thanks for the pep talk," Lloyd rolls his eyes.

"-But, in my opinion, you're more human than just about every other person that I've met," Porphyrius finishes, surprising Lloyd with the compliment, though he smiles either way.

Meanwhile, up in Atlas, Weiss knocks on the door to her family's manor. The one to greet them is Whitley, who isn't pleased to see them.

"Oh, it's you. You picked a fine time to-," Whitley begins before Khazhak sucker punches him in the face, sending him flying back into the main hall.

"Oh, shut up. We're coming in. Don't mind us," Khazhak leads the group inside as he carries Nora's hammer while Blake carries the unconscious Nora.

Whitley holds his jaw as he slowly stands up, "Things are bad enough after what you people did to Father. Now, you want us to harbor fugitives too? Our family has a reputation," he crosses his arms.

Khazhak has already lost his patience with him and grabs him by his shirt collar, hoisting him off his feet, scaring Whitley.

"People are either dead or DYING, there is an army of Grimm outside the kingdom, and the only thing you're worried about is your reputation?! News flash, kid, no one gives a damn about your family's reputation anymore. Not when they have their very lives to think about. Your father killed my brother's parents years ago, and he helped Arthur Watts to tear this kingdom apart from the inside just so he could cheat his way into the council. Your sisters are trying to save Atlas, because that is more important than your family's damn reputation, a reputation that your father dragged through the mud with his greed. So, get over yourself, and try for once in your life to think about what's TRULY important," Khazhak then drops Whitley onto his butt.

Whitely gets back up and Khazhak is about to say something again before Ruby intervenes.

"Look, our friend is hurt. We just need a place to lie low for a little while so she can rest, and then we'll leave," Ruby gets in between them.

"And why would I-," Whitley begins.

Ruby stops him, "Look, either you deal with me and my idea, or you can deal with him," she points a thumb back at Khazhak, who eyes him like a predator eyeing lunch as he cracks his knuckles.

Not wanting to get punched again, Whitley concedes, "Fine. But, just what am I supposed to do?"

Weiss points up the stairs, "Go to your room," she tells him and he leaves with a heavy sigh.

"To think there are still some humans that focus on unimportant ideals when things are as they are right now," Bahamut notes.

"Come with me," Weiss leads Edom, who carries Nora, along with May as they take Nora to a room to tend to her wounds, leaving just Blake, Ruby, and Khazhak.

Khazhak and Blake notice Ruby looking out the front door, "Ruby, is everything alright?" Blake asks.

Ruby sighs, "I hope everyone's okay,"

"If you're worried about Yang, then now might be a good time to try calling her," Khazhak suggests.

"But that's the thing," Ruby turns to them. "I did," she shows them her scroll, showing Yang's image with an outgoing call, but no answer.

Khazhak takes out his scroll and tries to call Porphyrius... but he gets the same result. This only makes the group more worried as they look out the front door and into the sky.

Meanwhile, Weiss and May have Nora in Weiss' old bed as they tend to her wounds while Edom waits outside the room. After a few minutes, May comes out.

Edom turns to her, "How is she?"

May sighs, "We've done what we can. Nora's bandaged up, but she'll need some rest. Still, bandages and some medicine alone may not be enough. She really put herself through the wringer back there," May then walks off.

Edom walks inside as Weiss sits next to Nora, who now has most of her body wrapped up in bandages, with Weiss watching over her forlornly.

Edom stands next to her and places a hand on her shoulder, "Is everything okay?"

"Nora's okay for now... I guess. I just... she's really bad right now. This is about all I can do," Weiss laments.

Edom helps Weiss onto her feet and wipes a stray tear from her eye, "Without you, she'd be in way worse shape right now. All we can do is give it our best, whether it's with fighting, or with tending to one's injuries. We just have to keep going and not give up. Something I know you're capable of all too well," Edom kisses here forehead, and she smiles, even if only a little bit.

Weiss then looks outside her window, "I hope the others are okay. Seeing that Grimm out there, just... waiting. The shields of Atlas are still up, but Mantle is practically defenseless. And even those shields won't hold up against a Grimm horde that size for long. Still, what are they waiting for?"

Edom looks out with her, "I don't know. I'm sure it can't be good, but..."

Weiss turns to him, "But?"

"But, I know that whatever may come, we must not give up. Otherwise..." he looks back at Nora. "Everything we've been through will have been for nothing,"

"You're right. We have people we have to protect. Friends, family..." Weiss trails off.

Her words give Edom an idea, "Family," he mutters.

"Edom?" Weiss asks.

Edom pulls out his scroll, "I might have an idea of one person who can help us,"

Back with Lloyd and Porphyrius, they continue their trek through the tundra.

Porphyrius glances back at Lloyd, "How are you holding up there, Lloyd?"

"I'm still alive. What about you? You getting the shivers yet?" Lloyd replies.

Porphyrius looks back ahead, "I'll be fine. I was from Mantle, remember, like you. You and I are used to this weather. Besides, I can hardly worry about the cold when Yang and the others might be out there. We don't know what happened to them yet?"

"I'm sure they're okay. After all, this is Yang we're talking about here," Lloyd tries to ease his worries.

Porphyrius sighs, "I know, it's just... Things tend to get worse... before they get better,"

They continue moving through the tundra on Porphyrius' hover-board, not noticing that a distance away... the ground begins to crack open...


And that's the chapter. Lloyd and Porphyrius barely manage to survive a battle with Kamir'ahk, though not unscathed. Meanwhile, Khazhak and his allies take refuge at Weiss' old manor to tend to Nora. However, it seems something is lurking beneath the ice, and it doesn't look good. Will Porphyrius and Lloyd find Yang's group. Will Khazhak's group be able to help Nora? Until then, please Read and Review.