Main theme: Metro Exodus rap by Jt Music, featuring Andrea Storm Kaden
Arc Theme: Through The Valley by Shawn James (The Last Of Us 2 trailer edition)
Theme: Replicate from the Destiny 2: Beyond Light soundtrack
Scout reports have confirmed recent suspicions about the Sleeping City's current residents: The traitors known as the Choir of Silver are falling apart. Their order are currently in the middle of a civil war, and the warlords of the group are most likely either scrambling to gain and maintain power for themselves, or are simply indulging themselves in the slaughter.
From what our scouts have reported, it seems that the one known as Ruby Rose, the Grimm Reaper- One of the Hunters Triad that we have been warned so much about- Is responsible for this split. If the Grimm Reaper is here, then we must assume that the King of Kings and the God Killer are within the city as well.
To that ends, I suggest that we leave the Sleeping City alone, and allow the Hunters Triad to deal with these traitors themselves. Despite the possible use of the old human city as a staging ground and headquarters for our troops, our own forces are not prepared to enter a protracted siege over the Sleeping City. And with the presence of the Hunters Triad within the city, the warring Choir of Silver factions, as well as the approaching Sky-Mantle forces from Vale, there is no point in drawing out a battle for the scraps of an old realm. Not with our plans in Mistral coming to fruition.
And besides, if the Hunters are able to divide the Choir of Silver into the wild, then we can take our time in picking off the survivors.
Discarded written message between high commanders of the Ascendant Courts forces in Vale, intentionally left behind by said commanders
Below her, the Sleeping City was burning all over again.
In the streets and buildings, above, below, and in the middle, the forces of the Choir of Silver were collapsing in on themselves, killing each other by gun and axe and blade, spilling black blood into the streets as the air was choked by ask and smoke, from Grimm and fire alike. Orange lights began to glow around the broken skyscrapers and shattered buildings, before the old foundations finally began to give way and collapse into the fields of fire below as the Choir's civil war continued to grow and grow, divided between those that believed in that little brat's speech, and those that remained faithfully loyal to Templar's cause.
And Tock was looking over it all, impressed by the little girl and the destruction that she had caused.
Standing atop her personal Carrier Grimm, hovering in the air as the carnage below continued to grow, she looked over the madness of the Sleeping City, and couldn't help but feel proud of that little girl that Templar had dragged into the cathedral with him. She had always found her fellow Techion to be incredibly annoying, what with his delusions of religious grandeur, so it was nice to see him get taken down a peg every now and then.
Definitely a much needed catharsis, after what happened in the coliseum. It really did help.
She cracked her partly repaired head (Still missing the jaw) Left to right, and then looked downwards. On the ground below, the one on the Silver Court that called himself Ares was busying himself giddily in the growing battle, sending out plumes of fire from his hands into the rebelling crowds of Grimm before him, not bothering to distinguish between who were loyalists, and who were separatists, laughing all the way as he culled entire crowds of warring Grimm all on his own.
Tock liked him. Maybe she should invite him to join her Undertakers when she reformed them. He would be a much better fit than her previous crew, and she doubted that Templar would have much use for him soon. Or Ares would have much use of Templar, for that matter.
{BZZZ BZZZ}
Ah, speaking of which.
Tock opened her communications once more, and the raging voice of Templar filled her audio receptors once more as he yelled to her, "Tock! I know that you're out there! Help our loyalists to regain order in our forces, and find Hephaestus! I want his head on a stick for even daring to disobey his High Priest!"
Tock gave off a guffaw, and pointed to the ground, "Might wanna git a leash on Ares before ya do anythin', Templar. Ol' boy's running rampant downstairs. Killin' everyone he sees. Guess he got bored of waitin' for a fight, 'n' just decided to make one fer 'imself."
"Dammit!" Templar seethed, "Augh, I'll handle that! Your orders remain the same! Recover our forces, sort our loyalists from these traitors, and execute them! I will not allow them to jeopardise our grand crusade- Our new world order!"
Another amused laugh, "Alright, fine. If it gets me back into killin' things, then I'm not goin' ta complain. But what 'bout the original plan? We still-"
"The plan remains the same."
"You serious, mate?"
"Excruciatingly. We will recover our forces, signal our people in Vale, and commence our war! I will not allow anyone to deny me my rightful world! Not Summer Rose's bastard offspring! Not Hephaestus! NOBODY!"
And with that, he ended their call.
Riveting conversation, as always.
Oh well, if it got her back to killing, then who was she to complain?
Like she said, she needed something to take her mind off of her previous failure, and those two little runts that had done her in before as well.
And so, she flexed her arms, pulled her cutlasses from her back once more, and then readied to jump down into the fray below, crouching down and-
Wait.
What was that in the distance?
Were those...
Dragons?
A flurry of rounds and missiles shot out from the air and into the remaining air force that surrounded the central cathedral of the Sleeping City, bringing down Vetols and Carriers alike as down below, the ground cracked open and split apart, bringing forth looming Drakes and swarms of Amphipteres as they scattered the Grimm below and brought low so many of their number, kiddie Hunters riding on their backs and firing with abandon into the crowds of Grimm, whilst up above, Dragons and Wyverns flooded the air and brought low any flying Grimm in their way, anti-air gunnery flying through the sky towards them as the head Dragon let out a roar, and revealed its two riders to her.
Being the little white dressed girl and the armoured boy that had escaped from the coliseum earlier.
If Tock could smile viciously, she would. To slaughter those below would surely one hell of a party, but to kill the two little brats that had ruined her fun earlier?
Oh, it would be a treat!
{BANG}
"And again!"
{BANG}
"And again!"
{BANG}
"And again!"
{BANG}
"That's four down for the count!"
"Great shot Razor, but don't get cocky!" DJ yelled out aboard his Drake dragon as it crawled across the ground and took a bite out of a Juggernaut Grimm, flinging its head to the side and throwing the corpse into a crowd of Grimm as on its back, DJ fired his guns into the warring hordes of blackened soldiers and monsters as a Long-Shot crawled high up on the wall of a nearby shattered building and aimed its sights down onto him-
"ROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!"
{CRUNCH}
-Only for a Wyvern Dragon to bounce by and clamped its jaws down on the Grimm, splitting it in half in a splash of black gore, and let the bisected Grimm fall to the floor as Skipjack clung to its back, sending beams of energy out from his claws as he happily cheered and whooped whilst gunning down Grimm after Grimm.
"THIS! IS! AWESOME!" Skipjack yelled out as his Wyvern jumped high into the air, thanks to its wings, and bit into the engines of a Carrier Grimm, letting the oversized gunship spin out of control and into the ground as the Dragons and first years scattered from the resulting-
{KA-BOOM}
Before them, the central cathedral- A tall, imposing tower coloured in a faded blue, beige, and yellow, with a hasty coating of silver paint messily added to several patches of the building, and was surrounded by several smaller, squatter towers with square anti-air cannons on top of them- Shuddered and shook from the explosion, one of the smaller towers surrounding it falling to the side as the Carrier smashed into the bottom of it, tilting to the side and-
{CRASH}
-Smashing into the side of the cathedral, kicking up smoke and fire as it tore open a giant hole in the metal and stone of the cathedral's foundations, allowing more Choir of Silver Grimm to flood out and into the battlefield below.
But, as the three headed Thunderstorm Dragon (Oh my god, those two actually found a legendary and almost mythical dragon what the hell that was amazing!) Soared down and breathed out a triad of fire into the crowds of Grimm below, DJ saw the hole in the cathedral for what it was, and yelled out, "We've got an entrance into the cathedral!" as a swarm of tiny Amphiptere Dragons swarmed a pair of Clerics nearby, tearing them to bloody pieces, DJ pushed by atop his Drake, and tapped into his internal communications to the higher ups in High Command, "Jaune, tell Melanie that we're going to push through the Grimm and into that new entryway up ahead! With any luck, we'll be able to find Ruby before-"
{FWOOSH}
{KA-BOOM}
A plume of violent fire flew by DJ's head, drawing his attention to their newest opponent. Up ahead, a malformed and mutilated Scion Grimm, with an opened chest burning like a furnace, burnt skin, armour, cloth, and fire dust crystals poking out of him, and a glowing orange cross in the middle of his burnt helmet, stood before them like a devil straight out of hell, his body covered in wet and dried blood as he dropped an emptied cooler box onto the ground, and lifted a-
Is that an eyeball in its hands?
Indeed, the Grimm had a bloody human (Or Faunus) Eyeball tweezed between its smoking fingers, and crushed it into gunk, before smashing it against the vents of its neck, and groaning (Or more accurately, moaning) As the blood and gore of the broken eye wept into its vents, the Grimm tilted its head back and it let out a gurgled laugh, before tilting its helmeted head up to look at the first years and dragons before it, and spread its arms out wide as it called out, "Ah, like sweet treats, they are! Ahahahahahahahahahaha! This slaughter... This war... It is like heaven on Remnant!"
"What the fuck are you?!" nearby, Mixer, now disembarked from his Drake, yelled out as the cannons on his back sang with a loud pair of bangs, and shone with bright purple lights as twin beams of energy shot out and towards the monstrous Grimm, only for-
{FWOOSH}
-A wall of fire to arise in front of the Grimm and absorb the blow, reflecting it back towards the Techion, only for his Drake to scoop him out of the way before it hit him, sparing him from am assuredly painful death.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHA! The name's Ares, the God of War!" the Grimm called out to them as its fire shield dissipated, cackling madly as red blood and black smoke and ash flowed from the vents in its neck, flames dancing across his body and singing his fur coat as he cracked his blood soaked neck, and went, "I heard that you children of Vale are mighty warriors! Survivors and victors of the Initiation Massacre!"
He flexed his claws, and created a circle of flames around him, like a demon summoning hellfire from the depths of the underworld.
"Prove to me that you are worth my time, because if you are not, then I will eat your eyes like candy!"
"...Alright then, fine," DJ looked to his fellows and peers, "This guy wants a fight?"
Their weapons primed, and their steeds roared.
"Let's give him one."
Nearby, Yang jumped off of her dragon and landed on the ground, hair ablaze, eyes and cybernetic glowing patterns across her body shining a crimson hue.
She stared down the Grimm and cracked her neck, pounding her fists together as she let out a bitter laugh.
"Truer words have never been spoken."
Their Dragon twirled in the sky as Melanie shot out another ball of blue fire from her hands into a Vetol that was passing by them, the fragile fighter breaking apart at the impact of the blast, and spiralling down to the ground below, a trail of black smoke trailing behind it as it crashing into one of the shattered buildings in an orange and red explosion of light.
Now being boosted by Jaune's massive reserves of aura, Melanie's energy attacks were more powerful than ever, her skin not only healing itself underneath a blanket of his aura, but also negating the harmful effects of her own semblance, allowing her to use the flames of her semblance without causing anymore damage to her arms as they slowly began to heal themselves.
Her fingers involuntarily twitched, and she released another supercharged fireball into yet another Vetol, watching it crash into the ground below as their Dragon twirled in the air to avoid-
{CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM}
-Twin streaks of yellow anti-air fire from hitting them.
The towers around the cathedral continued to spit AA rounds into the air with abandon, spreading out the Dragons in the air as the remaining air force of the Choir of Silver did their best to repel the attacking first years and dragon horde, the sky filling with red and blue and yellow and orange lights and flashes as the first years and the Choir of Silver battled with each other, the former slowly overtaking the latter as the two sides as the Choir continued to consume and destroy itself down below.
Three sides were fighting this battle, and it was the first years who were winning.
Another string of anti-air fire tore through the air, scattering the dragons around it as Melanie called out to Jaune, "Those AA guns are going to keep tearing into us unless we take them out!" and their Dragon flung itself to the side as it clamped its talons around another flailing Vetol, swinging it around in the air, before tossing it down into a nearby dilapidated skyscraper as the dragon roared in victory.
"Then let's take them out!" Jaune pointed out the obvious as he kept one hand connected to Melanie, and the other one singlehandedly holding his ML-15A carbine rifle and firing it off at the Grimm ships around them, his aura like white fire as it flowed in Melanie's own aura, dancing across her arms as patches of skin began to heal over, nerves and muscles threading together like strings in cloth, blood leaking out and painting her arms a rusty red as they continued to repair themselves.
"Yeah?" Melanie yelled back to him as their Dragon soared past another spat of ground fire, and charged through a column of smoke to roll around a passing Carrier as she continued on, "Well how do we do that, then?!"
Then, he tapped the side of his helmet, was silent for a moment, before calling out, "Melanie! DJ just commed me, but the transmission cut out before he could finish! He and his guys have made a hole in the side of the cathedral, and he's planning on busting through the Choir's remaining forces and storm the building!"
Melanie chuckled, "Suppose that negates that plan!"
"Agreed!" Jaune yelled out, "Right then! Tell him that we'll be down there in-"
[BWEEP BWEEP BWEEEEEEEEEEP] Eri chirped out in a panic from Jaune's back, just as-
{RATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA}
-A storm of bullets began to rain down onto them from behind, red streams of light whizzing past them as Jaune and Melanie looked behind themselves to see-
"THERE YER ARE, YER LITTLE BRATS!"
-That psychotic Techion from before chasing after them atop of a Carrier Grimm, giant cannon in one of her four hands and spraying bolt after bolt after them as her arm blades shone violently, the cutlasses in the hands of her lower arms burning with fire as blood, oil, and Black Ether dripped out of her missing jawline and broken helmet as the Carrier beneath her continued to spit hot red fire at them.
"There she is!" Melanie cried out as their Dragon swerved around the red hot death that the Carrier behind it was spitting at them, "And it looks like she's out for blood!"
"Well, it's like you said, then!" she could sense Jaune smiling underneath his helmet as he aimed his ML-15A at the Techion behind them, "Let's paint the walls red with hers!"
Melanie smiled, "Now that's a plan if I've ever heard one!"
Their Dragon roared in agreement, and with that, they were off, diving downwards and towards the rows of broken and tilted skyscrapers of the Sleeping City, the Techion's carrier following closely behind as it continued to hound on them, firing reddened blast after blast at them as the Dragon swerved around the broken buildings that populated the once moving city, explosions shattering the world around them as the dragon folded its wings into itself-
"Wait wait wait, hey, what are you-"
-And flung itself through a thin gap in one of the buildings-
"-What are you doing HOLY SHIT!"
-Threading the needle as it rolled its body through the hole in the building, a storm of dust rising up from the wind left in its wake as the Dragon flew towards the light at the end of the gap in the building-
{FWOOSH}
-And shot out of the other end of the building like a missile, unfolding itself outwards and flapping its wings in the air as a massive cloud of dust as the Carrier behind them-
{SLAM}
{CRASH}
-Simply crashed into the building that the dragon had flown through, impacting into the cracked surface of the building, and charging through like a raging bull, before-
{KA-BOOM}
-Smashing through the other side of the building in a giant explosion of rubble and fire, the Techion still clinging to the top of the Grimm ship as it continued to chase them down like a predator after its prey, continuing to spill hot death into the air around them as the Dragon continued to swerve and twirl through the winding air, swooping downwards and flying just a few feet above the shattered and cracked ground below as-
{RATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA}
{KA-BOOM KA-BOOM KA-BOOM KA-BOOM KA-BOOM KA-BOOM KA-BOOM KA-BOOM}
-Explosions continued to trail behind them, filling the ground with fire and smoke as the Dragon swerved hard to the left, around a junction in the street as its wings drew up clouds of dirt from the ground below, the Carrier always following closely behind as-
{BANG BANG BANG BANG}
-Jaune continued to fire his ML-15A at the Grimm ship-
{CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM}
-And Melanie threw out ball after ball of blue fire at the Techion on the top of the ship, the Carrier keeping pace with them all of the way as the two of them got the Dragon to pull itself up into the air once more and into a barrel roll, flying right over the Techion and her ship as-
Melanie remembered a trick that she had learnt around the Grimm Tidings when she had unlocked her semblance and fought against the Brother of Darkness.
-Its female rider forged the energies of her semblance into a long whip, lashing out at the Techion as she sliced through the blue fire with her own burning cutlasses, Melanie lashing at her again and tearing open a gash in the ship, black smoke trailing outwards from the ship's wound as the dragon rounded to behind the Carrier, and Melanie-
{CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM}
-Unleashed fireball after fireball at the Carrier's engines, breaking several of them, though the Grimm ship was swinging from side to side and evading their blasts as the Techion continued to fire her cannon at their Dragon, yellow streams of light flying past them as Melanie and Jaune continued to fire back their own volleys of bullets and blasts at the Carrier, caved in buildings and tilting skyscrapers flying by all around them as the Carrier slinked back to behind the Dragon and its riders, and-
{RATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA}
-Continued its chase of the Dragon, throwing round after red round at them as the Dragon continued to swerve and twirl in the air to avoid the blasts that the Techion's ship was sending to them, the world around them colouring into a red blur as bullets continued to fly past them, the wind bellowing through Melanie's hair as her hands continued to heal themselves under Jaune's aura, and yet also glowed with blue light and fire as she growled in frustration.
"Dammit, we're not getting anywhere like this!" Melanie cried out as she threw out another fireball at the pursuing Techion, "We need to take her out, now! Then we can find Ruby and deal with the Choir!"
"Yeah, well we'll need a better plan than this!" Jaune called out to her as he continued to fire his ML-15A at the Carrier behind them, "Because if we keep this chase up any longer, then we'll be leaving Ruby and everyone else down on the ground to die!"
[BWEEP BEEP BEEP BOOP]
Jaune turned his helmet to the drone attached to his back, "What?! Eri, what are you talking about!?"
[BWEEP BEEP]
"What do you mean?!"
Without a shred of hesitance, Eri disconnected herself from Jaune's back-
"ERI!"
-And allowed the winds to pull her away from the both of them, sending her spiralling down towards the ground below.
"What the hell!? Where is she going!?" Melanie cried out as the dragon turned to the side to avoid another hail of bullets from the Carrier behind them, "Jaune, where is she going!?"
"I don't know!"
"But what did she say to you?!" Melanie shouted over the howling winds and screaming bullets and blasts, "Jaune, what did she say to you!?"
There was a long moment of hesitation from him, before he finally answered.
"She just said, 'Trust me'!"
Another slice of Wither and Blossom, and the Disciple before her joined its fellows down on the floor, in the smoky hallways that were painted black with smoking, fading blood and gore. Grimm carcasses were strewn across the rusted and battered corridors as fire licked at the cloth and fabrics placed on the walls and draped across the floor like red carpets, colouring the darkening hallways a glowing orange as what was left of Templar's loyalists within the cathedral gathered by the dozens, if not the hundreds, and divided themselves between the separatists outside, and the rogues inside.
Ruby's attempts at creating a division within this... Cult, had been successful, it seemed.
Now, all that was left was to reap the rewards.
Ruby charged forwards once more in a flutter of rose petal, and reformed behind a pair of Barons, letting her blades slice through their necks as Attis telekinetically picked them up with his gravity dust machines, and threw them into a gathering crowd of Disciples with enough force to either kill or disable them. One of the Disciples was able to roll out of the way and charge Ruby, shifting its gun into a sword and swinging it down at the red themed girl, cracking against the ground before bringing it up to block a blow from Ruby's sword, and then swinging it back at her as she burst into petals and reformed behind it-
{STAB STAB}
-And then stabbed it in the back with her swords, before ripping them out, letting the Grimm corpse collapse to the ground, and then severing the hands of another pair of incoming Disciples before kicking them back into an approaching Baron, the larger, horned Grimm raising its cannon and sending a volley of fire towards her, before she jumped out of the way of the flames and-
{STAB}
-Ran her blades through the Grimm's head, turning it into a bloody black paste of fading gore and bone as she threw herself off of the corpse and aimed her Silver Bloom blade-gun bracelets down the corridor at an approaching Cleric and-
{BANG BANG BANG BANG}
-Letting the guns roar with silver flashes as the rounds stretched down the hallways and into the head of the Cleric, popping its head and dropping the Grimm to the floor.
Ruby was momentarily stunned by the loud bangs that ran through the hallways, her ears ringing as her aura healed her eardrums, only for her to look ahead of herself and-
It was those Grimm from before, back in the tunnels before she was captured- One being a floating wraith-like Grimm draped in a black cloak, with a single black tendril instead of a pair of legs, long arms and claws, glowing red patterns covering it like tattoos, and a blank bone-white faceplate with a single red eye in the middle. The other Grimm being that spider-droid like Grimm with ten legs, a half-flattened sphere, and a dozen robotic red eyes encircling its entire body- She didn't know if they were the same Grimm specifically, or just of the same variant of Grimm, but at the moment, she didn't care.
They were in her way.
If she wanted to get to Templar, and get his list of Grimm cells within Vale, then she'd have to go through them.
The wraith-like Grimm screeched at them, and the spider-droid Grimm charged forward, its front two arms raised in attack as it brought them down onto Ruby, the girl jumping out of the way as the Grimm disintegrated into a hundred tiny spider-bots and swarmed the floor, walls, and ceiling, before jumping down and-
"AUGH, GET OFF ME!"
-Began to jump onto and crawl all over Ruby, swarming over her body and beginning to dig into her arms and legs, intent on burrowing underneath her skin and into her bones, before-
{BURST}
-Ruby burst into rose petals once more and shook the spider-bots off, shooting the Grimm droids on the ground with abandon, before-
"RAUGH!"
-The wraith-like Grimm grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up, the girl struggling against its grip and stabbing her arm blades into the Grimm's arm, but it didn't change anything as the Grimm's faceplate opened like a pair of mandibles, revealing a glowing blood red void underneath as it began to leech outwards and suck her aura away in a red stream of sticky light, eating away at her soul, this time intending to kill her as her eye grew dim and her limbs went limp, until-
"Get away from her, apostate!"
-Attis jumped in, reaching a metal hand out and crushing the wraith-like Grimm head in his grip, splattering black blood and gore over the walls and Ruby as the corpse let go of the girl, dropping her to the ground as the aura that it had consumed began to violently ripple and burst within itself, expanding outwards like a balloon, before the Techion Grimm threw the corpse into the hallway of swarming spider-bots, and then shielding Ruby with his body as the corpse-
{KA-BOOM}
-Exploded in a burst of red and blue light, commingling into a purple fire that consumed every single spider-bot Grimm in the hallway, singing Attis' fur cloak and fabrics, and burning his armour, whilst the corridor behind them was shattered and broken, stone and wood cracking and burning as the roof collapsed and the walls gave way, purple fire fading into orange as the insides of the cathedral began to burn from the inside out.
Ruby looked up to Attis in disbelief. A Grimm had... A Grimm had actually saved her. It took her a few moments to finally come up with a response, "Huh... Um, t-thanks," and there was that nervous stutter from before.
"Of course, my goddess," Attis said as he let her get up onto her own two feet, "Your protection is all that I wish for, and I am happy to provide it."
It wasn't the worshipping that got her this time.
It was that feeling that others felt around her.
That need to protect her, as if she couldn't fight for herself.
It was the same with Attis, it was the same with Yang, and it was the same with Melanie.
Ruby wasn't ignorant of herself. She knew why they felt this way about her. She hadn't exactly been doing them or herself any favours in trying to dissuade their notion of her. Yang saw her as a vulnerable little sister (Especially after what happened with Iris), And Melanie saw her as the same, what with everything that happened to Miltia, and then with RSBL. Attis, meanwhile, saw her as a god, of all things, and felt the need to protect his deity from that which might harm her, especially after she tricked him into freeing her by proclaiming herself as his god, so she really hadn't been doing herself any favours in that aspect.
All of them had good reasons to want to protect her, and she knew that she had given them those reasons on a silver platter by just- By just being as weak as she always had been.
But she still hated it.
It was time that she changed. That she became better. That she learnt how to protect himself.
This would be where she started.
Nearby, a Disciple dug itself out of the smoking rubble, its skin bubbling and burning underneath the heat, its silver cloak singed and on fire as it panicked and threw it off of himself.
In a flash, Ruby was in front of it, and pointing her swords at its neck, "You want to live? Tell me where to find Templar."
"In effigy chamber," the Disciple croaked out, "Having his way with his beloved scrap metal toy."
She turned to Attis, "You know where that is?"
"He never trusted me with the information of where it was."
"Rightfully so," the Disciple quietly chuckled.
"Do you know where this 'Effigy chamber' is?" Ruby asked.
"Downstairs," the Disciple answered, "Big chamber with sliding doors. Templar has his most loyal followers guarding it."
"We'll worry about that," Ruby replied, before tilting her head to the side, "You know, you're awfully compliant for a Grimm."
"Hey..."
"Not you, Attis."
The Disciple hmphed, "You've got a sword to my neck. What else am I supposed to be if not compliant?"
Ruby's eyes narrowed, but sighed. She didn't have time to dawdle. They were surely running on a time limit, and Templar still had to be stopped.
Another problem for another day.
She gestured her swords to the side, "Go on then. Get."
The Disciple got up onto its feet, and slinked off through the orange and golden lit hallway, the flames kept alive by the occasional zephyr of air.
…
Yeah, another problem for another day.
Ruby looked at Attis, and nodded, "Let's get going."
And with that, they were off once more.
Nearby, the Disciple tilted its head to the side as it watched the girl and the Grimm cyborg sprint down the burning hallways of the broken and breaking cathedral, its single eye narrowed in curiosity as it watched the pair run towards this final confrontation.
Towards the Choir of Silver's end.
Such a foolish girl. Truly, truly foolish.
Perhaps he should teach her about how the world truly worked.
He always did fancy himself a teacher, after all.
But that was a prospect for another day.
For now, he had to make his escape.
He removed himself from his perch on the hallway corner, and began his own sprint towards the exit of the cathedral. No down that Hephaestus- Or the Tinkerer, or whatever he called himself- Had already escaped with the Pilgrim's Flight, and from what he could already tell, half of the entire Choir was dead, with the rest either scattering into the wilds of the Sleeping City and beyond, or performing a suicidal, and frankly pointless, final stand against whomever was attacking them outside.
He prayed to whatever god was listening that he wouldn't be one of them.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ares loudly guffawed as he unleashed a burst of flame into the gathering first years and Dragons, a swarm of Amphiptere Dragons were incinerated in the fires as the first years pushed through, their aura negating the heat of the flames as they continued their assault, "This is what I wanted!" the Grimm cried out as he released a wave of fire into the first years, the Hunters in training tanking through the blows as he laughed even more, "Battle! Conflict! War! THIS IS WHAT I WANT! THIS IS WHAT I AM!"
"WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP!?" Yang cried out as she charged at the raging, burning Grimm before her, Ember Celica remakes primed and ready as-
"Yang!
"Where're you going!?"
-Her teammates of Team RXOR, Omega and Rancor, chased after her, guns and cannons aiming and blazing at the pretender god before them as he burned the ground around him with a ring of fire, the Grimm swinging his cutlasses through the air and unleashing strings and waves of fire through the air and into its allies and enemies alike, Grimm being cut down and turning to smoke and ash as they were felled, and the first years, protected by their Dragons and aura, continued to dodge and weave their way around their opponent before them as Yang used her Ember Celica remakes to propel herself to the side, her purple tinted sunglasses shielding her eyes from the heat, and her pigtails fluttering in the wind as she quickly avoided a burst of fire from the Ares, the heat from the mad Grimm bombarding her with fresh aura blows and burns, so much so that-
[BEEP BEEP BEEP]
-Her cybernetic spine and nervous system began to short circuit underneath the intense heat.
Seriously, how hot was this thing burning?!
Yang growled as she felt her arms and legs begin to lag behind her, and she forced herself to jump backwards and out of the worst of the heat, and into the awaiting arms of Rancor, his juggernaut armour hard and singed against her back as he said to her, "What the hell was that, Yang?! You can't just run out like that! How're we suppose to make sure that you don't get hurt when you go off and almost get yourself killed like that?!"
"You know, I don't need you to coddle me so much!" Yang protested as she wormed her way out of Rancor's grip, "I can fight my own battles, you know!"
"Ah, less yammering, more blasting, you two!" Razor called out nearby as he and Omega continued to pour bullets and blasts into the false god that was Ares, whom had summoned a dome of fire to smother himself with, before throwing his hands out and letting the dome of fire expand outwards into a wall of flame, burning and consuming-
{FWOOSH}
"AUGH!"
-And washing over the first years and dragons, smothering them with searing heat, burning and marking them, smoke pouring off of the first years as their aura slowly began to heal them, as nearby, Jolie ran forwards, took in a deep breath and then let out a ear-deafening scream, waves of sound made physical as her semblance kicked in, the waves of noise slamming into the Grimm as it was forced back, only for the burning monster to tank the blow, roar with laughter at the attempt to kill him, summon a ball of fire around itself, and then-
{CHOOM}
-Shoot it forwards, right into Jolie.
{BOOM}
The girl screamed as the ball of fire exploded against her, and sent her flying backwards. It wasn't a strong enough blow to kill her- Most likely intentional. This Grimm seemed like the type to drag on a fight just for the hell of it- But it was enough to shatter her aura, burn her clothing and skin, possibly down to the fat layers, and send her down to the ground nearby. She would live, but not without serious scarring across the front of her body.
Up ahead, the Thunderstorm Dragon flew down, roared, and then open all three of its mouths.
Ares just looked up, held its arms out, and yelled, "You- A simple minded beast!- Believe that you can kill the likes of me?! A GOD AMONGST GRIMM!? THE PERSONIFICATION OF WAR ITSELF!?"
Fire emerged from the Thunderstorm's three heads, and it roared once more.
"Well then..."
Ares laughed once more.
"SHOW ME YOU HAVE THE STRENGTH TO SEE YOUR INTENTIONS THROUGH!"
Three jet streams of fire erupted from the mouths of the Thunderstorm, and-
{KA-BOOM}
-Directly impacted with the false god, smothering him in a thick cloud of flame that looked more like a miniature sun than just an ordinary fireball. The first years and Dragons had to look away and shield their eyes as the Grimm was consumed and eradicated by the flames, burnt to a crisp as the fires shed his flesh down to the bone and left him as nothing more than ash and nothingness amidst a torrent of flame.
Yang just smiled at the sight.
They got him.
They actually got-
The fires began to remould itself.
…No...
It began to congeal into a new shape, growing and changing around what should have been a dead Grimm.
No no no no no.
The Grimm was still alive. The flames around him has been absorbed by his power- His semblance- And had turned him into a raging inferno, a devil wrapped in hell flame, burning everything around it into a crisp.
The infernal devil that was Ares, God of War, narrowed its eye on the first years in front of it, and let out a screeching, earth-shattering roar.
Nearby, Eri finished her journey through the fires and flames of battle, weaving her way through the waning dogfight in the air, and found herself above one of the anti-air towers that were continuously firing shells into the air.
Step one of her totally awesome and practical plan was complete. Now, it was on to step two: Seize control of the anti-air gun.
Checking the progress that her internal subroutines had been making on the spoof-key needed to break through the jamming field around the Sleeping City- Spoof-Key progress: 87%- She found the hatch to the top of the anti-air gun's control room.
As soon as she opened it up, the two Disciples within fired at her.
Quickly sending in two bolts of electricity, the Disciples dropped dead, allowing her to zoom in, take the controls, and assume command of the AA guns.
Step two was complete. Now onto step three: Clear all of the other AA guns on this side of the cathedral.
Rotating the cannon to the side, she spotted three other anti-air towers to her right. Turning her new toy to face them, she pulled down on the trigger, and-
{CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM}
-Let loose twin streams of yellow fire into the towers, each one-
{KA-BOOM}
{KA-BOOM}
{KA-BOOM}
-Exploding in a satisfying ball of smoke and flame, and collapsing into rubble on the ground.
Swinging the cannon around once more, she spotted two more AA guns to her left, and-
{CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM}
-Repeated the process on them.
{KA-BOOM}
{KA-BOOM}
Every other tower on this side of the cathedral were all gone, left as smoking piles of rubble on the ground below.
Step three was complete. Now, it was time for-
Down below, a fireball congealed and reshaped itself around a monstrous mutant of a Grimm.
Time for step three point five, it seemed.
Ares, the God of War, took a step forwards, his flesh bubbling and then healing itself all over again as he marched forwards, breaths shallow and jagged, sounding like nails against chalkboards as he- It- Roared and screamed in pain and joy.
It sounded like it was in hell, and yet in ecstasy at the same time.
The first years stepped backwards, as did their steeds, the sheer heat being given off by the Grimm melting the ground underneath it and burning away their aura in waves and slashes of knife-like hot air against their skin. The Grimm continued to step forwards, its insides churning like a volcano, dripping magma-like blood and gore onto the floor, twitching uncontrollably as it moved, laughing madly and continuously as it inched closer and closer.
"IS THAT ALL!?" the mad Grimm called out, flames bellowing around it as the world was scorched black around it, its cutlasses melting underneath the heat, "IS THAT ALL THE STRENGTH THAT YOU CAN MUSTER!
"I AM WAR PERSONIFIED!
"I AM CONFLICT IN ALL ITS MAJESTY!
"I AM GRIMM, IN ITS PUREST FORM!
"MY VOICE IS BATTLE!
"MY HOME IS SLAUGHTER!
"AND FOR AS LONG AS THERE IS WAR, I SHALL SURVIVE!
"FOR AS LONG AS THERE IS CONFLICT AND BATTLE, I SHALL KNOW LIFE!
"AS LONG AS THERE IS WAR, I SHALL BE IMMORTAL!
"WHO ARE YOU- MERE CHILDREN PLAYING AT GODS!- TO DEFY ME-"
{CHOOM}
A twin stream of yellow light slammed into the side of the burning Grimm, and shredded the side of its body into pieces.
And yet Ares did not die.
The mad thing playing at god screamed in anger at the unwanted pain, and turned to the anti-air tower that had attacked it, raising a ball of fire to attack whomever was now controlling the cannon, before-
{BANG}
-A bullet slammed into the thickened skin and armour on its shoulder, and embedded itself into the Grimm.
"Kill that fucking thing," ordered Razor as the first years raised their weapons, aimed, and opened fire.
{BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG}
{RATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA}
{SHOOM SHOOM SHOOM SHOOM SHOOM SHOOM SHOOM SHOOM}
{CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM}
Bullets and blasts slammed into Ares, ripping the Grimm apart piece by piece as lances and flashes of light broke the god pretender down to the bare bloody skeleton. Ares tried to deflect the torrent of attacks against it by summoning a wall of fire before it-
{CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM}
-But was stopped by the cannon atop the anti-air tower, ripping the tough Scion Grimm apart even more, flaying it alive and cutting apart ribbons of blackened, toughened meat and essence from the monster as it continued to break down into a shattered, still living mess.
Soon, its fires fading and withering into nothingness as the air began to finally cool, the floors around it steaming and smoking from the old heats that it once generated as ash flickered from its living corpse like remnants of the power that it once held within itself.
Ares collapsed to the floor, now reduced to a ruined skeleton of a creature, stray bits of flesh still clinging to its dripping corpse as a cocktail of crimson red and smoking black blood pooled at its feet, its internal organs continuously churning and working to keep the pretender god alive as it tried to pull itself off of its knees and back onto its feet.
From its neck, six rivers of blood and fire leaked out of the broken, mangled necks, and the horrid, ruined thing that was more of a corpse than a real thing, finally choked out a response to this transgression against itself.
"N-No... I... I am war," the creature pretending to be a god stuttered as it crawled back onto its feet, "I... I AM CONFLICT! I AM BATTLE PERSONIFIED!"
It coughed, and then fell back onto its knees, crawling across the ground as it continued its bad rant.
"In... In battle... I am IMMORTAL! INDESTRUCTIBLE! UNSTOPPABLE!"
It reached a skeletal hand forwards, and conjured a weak ball of fire into being.
"I... Cannot... Die...
"I... WILL NOT-"
{SLAM}
{CRUNCH}
{SQUELCH}
"Die."
The Grimm looked down at the hand that had punched through its heart, and then up at the girl that had done the deed.
Yang Xiao Long, having pushed all of her aura into her arm, pulled Ares' burning heart out of its chest, and crushed it within her hand.
The creature gave off one last gurgle, reaching out a hand to try and kill her once more, only for it to fall limp, as the self-proclaimed personification of war fell to the ground, and faded away into ash, and then nothing.
As it showed, even gods can die.
Nearby, the anti-air tower turned its cannon away from the ground, and up into the air.
The Dragon flew above the carrier, and Melanie and the Techion came to blows once more as their blades of fire clashed and flared against one another, the cyborg growling with rage as its cannon flared to light once more, yellow strings of light stretching outwards towards them as their battle in the sky continued, Jaune and Melanie trading blows with the Techion atop their dragon as they swerved and weaved through the sky and the ruins of the Sleeping City, trailing dust and smoke and fire behind them as their battle continued on, colouring the sky red, yellow, and blue as they flew.
Another shout of defiance from the Techion sailed through the air, audible against the howling winds and waning screams of battle above and below, and the Carrier that it road on answered this call as it raised its many guns to the Dragon, and-
{RATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA}
-Rained fire onto the first years' Dragon once more, the feathered beast twirling through the air as the Techion laughed and roared in her supposed triumph against them.
"Yer really think that yer can take me on!?" the Techion yelled out to them as she continued to fire upon them, adding to the blasts from the Carrier as Jaune and Melanie's Dragon continued to weave through the needles of light like a thread through silky cloth, "Do yer even know who I am!?"
"Don't know! Don't care!" Melanie called back as she unleashed a trio of blue blasts of light into the Carrier, each one landing with a satisfying-
{BOOM BOOM BOOM}
-As the Dragon beneath her continued to fly through the sky, its wings swinging from left to right, up to down to up all over again, swirling through the air with finesse and majesty, as compared to the ugly flight of the Grimm carrier behind them.
"YOU FUCKIN' DARE!" the Techion screeched back as she continued to blare her cannon at them, splitting the sky apart with each lance of yellow and red light as her Carrier continued to chase after them, "The name's Tock, ya little brats! Remember it, 'cause it's going to be the last words that you ever hear!"
"Yeah, sure thing, psycho!" it was Jaune who's voice echoed outwards this time, as he continued to empty his ML-15A into 'Tock' and her ship, until it ran dry of ammo, and forced him to swap it out for one of his pistols as he then called out to her, "What about your boss!? That 'Templar' guy!?"
"Templar?! 'The fuck should I care 'bout Templar!?" Tock screeched out as they flew between a pair of shattered towers that had collided into each other, weaving underneath a ruined bridge across a low road, continuing their battle with each other as she continued, "Deluded fucker thinks that he's a god, and yer want ta waste ya time with 'im!?"
"Templar thinks himself a god?!"
Melanie smiled.
"He won't be the first I've killed!"
"What makes yer think that I'm gonna give yer the chance?!"
{BANG BANG BANG}
A trio of shots landed against the dragon, one in its wing, and the other two in its body, sending the Dragon spinning out of control and twirling in the air as Jaune-
"Ah, shit!"
-Refocused himself into pushing all of his aura into the Dragon, allowing it to heal itself and turn to face Tock's Carrier, only to see-
"Oh no..."
-The Grimm ship bearing down on them, guns raised and pointed straight at them.
Tock growled, and they could tell that underneath all of that metal, she was surely smiling.
Smiling at her newest kill.
"Goodbye, yer little pieces of-"
{CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM}
Yellow streaks of light ripped through the air, and struck the side of Tock's Carrier, ripping it apart with a fiery-
{KA-BOOM}
-And sending the remains plummeting to the ground beneath them, a smoky trail left in its wake as it, and the Techion, fell like stones to the ruined metal world below.
Melanie looked at Jaune, and Jaune looked at Melanie.
"Was that... Was that Eri?"
Jaune paused for a moment, and then, once a message bounced into his helmet, he laughed.
"Yes... Yes it was."
Tock growled as she pushed a fading piece of wreckage off of her, and clawed her way out of the smoking ruins of her old ship, and onto the scorched black ground below. Her body was a mangled mess, dripping red blood, oil, and Black Ether onto the ground below as she moved, ruined by heat and the impact. Her ship had done a good enough job of protecting her from the crash, but not good enough as she crawled across the ground, her legs gone, replaced by loose wires and shards of metal, and her arms had been shot and twisted in unrecognisable stumps.
Worthless thing, that Grimm was. If it couldn't even keep her safe, then what the hell was the point of it?
Something thudded against the ground nearby, and a shrill cry sounded out, but Tock didn't care as she continued to pull herself across the ground, looking for something- Anything- That could get her out of this city. To hell with Templar, and to hell with his Choir. The former was a deluded narcissist, and the latter was dead or dying. She'd get out of here. She'd make her escape out of this dead city. She'd repair herself. And then- And then!- She would find out where those two brats were sleeping in Beacon, and skin them both-
The thudding against the ground grew closer behind her, and she turned herself around to see what the hell was approaching her, and-
It was the Dragon.
The brats' Dragon.
The Dragon that she had once taken as her own.
The Dragon she had tortured, and turned into a weapon for her own amusement.
And now, it was the Dragon that was staring her down, its riders atop its hide as the beast looked down on her with angry, vengeance fuelled eyes.
"Oh..."
Tock raised her arms in surrender-
"Oh please-"
-But it was the last thing that she would ever be able to do as the Dragon roared, threw its head down, opened its beaked jaw, and-
{CHOMP}
{CRUNCH}
{SPLATTER}
-Bit its old captor in half, black and red liquids spilling out from the metal and organic body as the Dragon released its grip on the two halves, and let them clatter against the ground.
And that was the final end of Tock, former member of the Court of Salem, and the slayer of silver eyes.
(Above them, Jaune and Melanie looked down upon their former captor's corpse, and let out a shared sigh of satisfaction at her death.
"Burn in hell, you psycho."
Their eyes narrowed.
"It's what you deserve.")
"Ares, answer me!" Templar called out into his communications as he and Adonai protected their hunched effigy within their chambers, "Dammit Ares, respond now!"
No answer from Ares.
"Tock, report!"
No answer from her, either.
"Hephaestus!?"
And yet again, he was met with silence.
Outside, the fighting grew louder and louder, reaching the other side of the door to the chamber that they stood in like sentries to their charge, as the icy cold Adonai approached Templar, holding her hand out for effect as she then said, "My Priest... I think... I think that the others might be dead."
"Impossible!" Templar began to retort, "They are my Silver Court! They have been blessed with my divine will! My divine providence as speaker for the silver eyes! They cannot die! My will does not allow them to die!"
"My priest," Adonia began as calmly as she could muster, "I believe that we must face the facts: Our entire Choir has just turned in on itself. Most of our forces are dead, and the rest must've followed the way of Hephaestus' treachery and abandoned us to-"
Templar pressed his sword against her neck, "Choose your next words very carefully, Adonai. You know how I feel about insubordination."
Outside, the sounds of battle ceased, and the door to the effigy chamber was overcome by a subtle purple glow, which went unnoticed to the two conversing Silver Court members within.
Adonai put her hands up in surrender, as she then slowly said, "My priest... I believe that the time has come to activate our agents within the city of Vale."
"NO! Not without my crusaders! Not whilst there is still chaos, disunity, and dissent within my Choir!"
"My priest, most of our crusaders are either dead or scattered! We have no army for which to wage an effective war! If we wish to survive, then we must sow as much chaos within Vale as we possibly can, and rework our strategy! Present ourselves as the saviours of Vale in times of chaos, and rebuild our powerbase from the ground up!"
"Subvert the wills of the people, and use them to rebuild our armies once more?"
"Many will flock to our banner if we guise it as one of friendship, and not one of hidden conquest."
Templar paused for a few moments, then retracted his sword from her neck, and looked downwards to the ground, "Hm, a good plan... Glad I thought of it."
Adonai raised her hand to say something, before lowering it with a sigh, "Of course, my priest..."
A crack of his neck later, and Templar raised his comms once again, "Let us begin preparations to leave this place. It is time to show the people of Vale the true might of the-"
{RRRRRIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPPP}
The door to the effigy chamber was ripped out of the wall, off of its motors and hinges-
{TOSS}
{CRASH}
{CLATTER}
-And thrown across the room, crashing against the other side of the wall, leaving a sizeable dent in the metal surface, before cluttering against the ground, and falling still.
"Going somewhere, Templar?"
In the entryway to the effigy chamber, stood Ruby and Attis, the both of them covered in smoking Grimm blood, and the both of them staring down Templar and Adonai with eager, angry eyes.
"You aren't going anywhere."
Reviewer response time:
Richy1991: Wait, 'Jeanne'? I knew it, Jaune was a reverse trap this entire time! But jokes aside, thanks for the kind review. Trust me, Ruby's going to be having a lot of hopefully good character development in the future to come...
avatarlopes: Can I just say that I love your long reviews! I live for them! Wish more people would leave them, though. That would be real nice...
rarrarshark: No problem! Thanks for reviewing it!
Guest: Commissar Ruby: "Heretic filth must be purged!" {BOLTER FIRE IMPACTING WITH THE SKULLS OF SCREAMING HERETICS}
Atypewritertest: Thanks you very much! I have to be honest with you, it's a challenge to keep things internally consistent with all of the details that I've fitted into this thing, especially with all of the characters! Thank goodness this is an 'Anyone can die' story, which is really going be in effect in the future! Like, seriously, you haven't seen anything yet!
Two more chapters to go~
Two more chapters to go~
Then I can finally put this arc to rest~
Two more chapters to go~
In all seriousness, thank you all so much for keeping up with this arc and liking it so much! I have to admit, this arc hasn't been my best in terms of writing, but don't worry, next arc is going to be a proper banger, I'll give you that!
And, as I always say, stay safe, stay healthy, and I shall see you all next time!
Titanmaster117 out!