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RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth, Salt and Sanctuary belongs to SKA studios.
Chapter 37: The Reanimate
Spectre had grown bored. Waiting for the sun to rise and hoping Hades was nocturnal was a less than ideal plan. However, it was better than no plan. He lit a torch and began reading through the tomes Ruby and Weiss had found. Reanimation and the notes inside it were fascinating. He was able to discern that the experiment they were working on was creating and controlling an unkillable Grimm. The question still remained as to why? He did chuckle at the title they had given their experiments. A Reanimate, they were called.
The Saltborn stood up and stretched his back. The girls were still fast asleep. Spectre decided to let them sleep and walked down the tunnel. He came back to the fork. The Saltborn looked up the other direction and decided to explore it while they waited for the sun to rise.
The left tunnel wasn't much better than the first. The back of the tunnel had fewer corpses, but it still had a solid wall at the back. It wasn't as cracked as the other was. Spectre walked up to it. There was no noise, and it was suitably damp. He looked around the edges of the wall. On the ceiling he saw an interesting sight. A massive chain that connected to the top of the wall at two places.
Spectre shrugged it off and returned to the tunnel where he left Ruby and Weiss. The two girls were starting to stir as he walked in. A skull crunched under his boot. The girls shot up at the sudden noise.
"Sorry." Spectre apologized.
The girls said nothing as they stood and readied themselves as much as they could. Spectre examined the back wall of the cave. There were indeed two massive hooks on the wall, right where the chains would have connected, but the chains were gone.
"I think I found the city's freshwater." Spectre stated.
"What?" Weiss asked.
"I think there's an underground river that's blocked off by these walls. At the entrance to this tunnel are two decently large winches, one of which was broken." Spectre answered.
"You think they raised and lowered the walls?" Ruby asked.
"Most likely." Spectre replied. "We should try and leave. I believe the sun is up."
Ruby nodded and the three quietly walked back to the entrance of the cave. The sun was indeed high in the sky. The ruin was looking relatively unchanged. The main difference was the giant black monster patrolling the streets. Spectre pulled the girls back into the shadows as the beast passed over the canal.
"I don't think it's nocturnal." Weiss grumbled.
"Brilliant." snarked Spectre.
"What now?" Ruby asked.
"No idea." Spectre admitted. "That thing is no natural Grimm, that's for sure."
"What is it?" Weiss asked.
"Hades." Ruby stated.
"Probably." Spectre said. "The notes in Reanimation talked about some sort of reanimation project. I think Aurum was destroyed by people trying to reanimate Grimm."
"If this is one of those reanimations, they succeeded." Weiss said.
"Yep." Spectre replied. "And we need a way to escape it. Anyone got an idea?"
"One of its eyes was different." Weiss remarked.
"Think it's a weak spot?" Spectre queried.
"I have no idea. It might be?" Weiss replied, uncertain.
"It's better than nothing." Ruby interjected. "I'll take to the upper levels of the buildings. If I can get a clean sight, I can take a clean shot. Spectre, Weiss, you two keep it distracted. If nothing else, try and figure out its make-up."
"Its make-up?" Spectre questioned.
"We don't know much about this thing. We know it's big and has three eyes. That's it." Weiss said.
"Right." Spectre said. "We should still have backup plans. Behind those walls at the back is the river. If we can't kill it with Ruby's clean shot, we might be able to sweep it out to sea."
"How would you open that floodgate?" Ruby asked, gesturing back up the cave they had camped in.
"I won't. That one is shot to hell. However, there is an identical floodgate up the other side, its chains are still intact. I think I can winch it up and release the water. Of course, if worse comes to worse, I could just blow them up." Spectre replied.
Weiss sighed and tossed him a dust crystal. "You'll need an explosive to do that. Besides, slow release would be too slow if you want to wash it out to sea."
Spectre smiled and nodded.
"What if both of these fail?" Weiss asked. "A plan C wouldn't be too bad of an idea."
The trio fell into a short silence. Spectre broke.
"If all else fails, run like the wind and hope for the best?" Spectre suggested.
"Let's leave that as plan z." Ruby said.
"I don't think we have a good plan c." Spectre said.
"Wing it then?" Weiss asked with a sigh.
"Probably." Ruby replied.
"Fine, let's just hope one of our first two plans work." Weiss said.
"Whether they work, or not, do not let that thing kill me." Spectre said. "I'd hate to see what a Salt empowered; human created Grimm could do."
The girls nodded before the trio left the tunnel and split up. Despite being a decently large Grimm, Hades was stealthy. Surprisingly so. Spectre crept along streets, ducking through alleys and streets. He stayed out of sight as much as Hades did. Every so often, Spectre would glance up to the roof tops. Ruby would leap from one to another.
He chuckled as he ducked into another alley. Emerging on the other side, Spectre saw it. Hades was massive. In the daylight, Spectre could see that it was larger than they had at first though. The head of the beast stood twenty feet off the ground. Its head was incredibly reminiscent of a Beowolf. He could see the massive teeth in its maw. Oddly enough, the odd colored eye was easily explained. The right side of the monster's head had a strange metallic contraption attached to it. Spectre could see different tubes and attachments that ran around the side of the beast's head. Its eye was a glowing porthole of color.
The monster's torso was oddly humanoid, just very broad. The arms that extended from the torso were less human. There were three strange ridges on each of the monster's shoulders. The arms themselves more closely resembled the forelimbs of a Beowolf, except they had the taloned feet of a Nevermore at the end. It certainly helped explain Ruby's description of the claw marks in the courtyard she found, though it would be more apt to call them talon marks. More interestingly, however, was the beast's lower body. Instead of legs, it slithered along the ground. Its lower body was a snake's tail. A massively thick one too. It certainly left Spectre wondering how it could be so silent. A massive weight like that sliding across the ground should have created lots of noise.
The monster turned away from the Saltborn, and Spectre was able to get a sight of the monster's back. It had some sort of leathery extension from its shoulder blades. Almost like it had an extra layer of armor. An odd sight to be sure.
The Saltborn looked back to the top of the buildings. He could barely make out Ruby on the roof of one of the smaller buildings. He nodded. Whether she could see him or not didn't matter, she just needed a clear shot. Spectre took a deep breath, unholstered his flintlock and stepped into the street. He aimed and fired the pistol at the beast.
The loud crack and subsequent impact of the bullet certainly drew Hades' attention. The massive Grimm turned towards the Saltborn. Spectre fired again. The monster's yellow eye turned red. Hades roared and began charging the Saltborn. Spectre turned and ran. He could hear the constant blasts from Ruby's sniper. He chanced a glance back at the monster. Every few seconds, it's head would jerk to the side, but the bullets did little to hinder the monster's progress.
Spectre growled and dove into an alley. The monster charged past, completely ignoring the Saltborn. Spectre quickly climbed the alley to the top of the walls. The arcane circles of the Shadowflip brand allowed him to ascend rapidly. He reached the roof of the ruined building in short order. He watched as Hades' attention was focused on Ruby.
The small reaper had to use her semblance to jump to the next building. Hades slammed through the ruined building. It collapsed into a pile of rubble on the back of the monster's snake-like lower body. Hades recovered quickly and turned on the reaper. It roared and charged once more. It pulled itself along the ruined streets of the city with its claws, giving itself an impressive speed boost. Spectre began firing his flintlock at the monster. Each bullet was pathetically ineffective; however, it did provide enough of a distraction for Ruby to escape. She landed on the roof Spectre was firing from.
"Nothing's working!" She exclaimed as Hades turned its gaze on them.
"I noticed." Spectre said, willing the Salt to fuel his next shot.
Hades was rapidly closing in on their building when an impressive explosion blasted the monster into another building. The flames burned for a bit, putting out thick black smoke. An uneasy quiet settled over the city.
"Weiss?" Spectre asked rhetorically.
"WOO! GO WEISS!" Ruby cheered.
Spectre could see his white garbed teammate waving from a building across the way. He waved back. A furious growl drew their attention. The flames were completely smothered. A thick, viscous black liquid was flowing down the street. Hades rose from the rubble and turned its baleful glare on them. His mechanical eye had turned green. They could see the side of its head where the fireball had hit. It was burned and bloodied, but the wound was shrinking. Black tendrils were wrapping the wound and stopping the bleeding. It took mere seconds, but Hades' head was whole in short order.
The three of them despaired as they realized the full extent of the situation they now found themselves in.
"Reconstitution: success." Spectre said.
"GET DOWN!" Ruby commanded, tackling the Saltborn.
The two fell to the street below. One of Hades' talons swept through the building. The top of the building was thrown through the block. Ruby landed on top of Spectre. The impact snapped dazed the Saltborn. Ruby helped him up and pulled him along. Hades was tearing after them. While they ran, Spectre sloppily drank from his flask of fire.
The dizziness from his head slam hitting the ground faded and he was brought back to full alertness. Another fireball slammed into the back of the monster. Hades fell to the ground. Spectre and Ruby slid into the canal. Spectre peeked over the edge and saw a most surprising sight. The odd leathery back unfolded into two massive leathery wings.
The ridges on Hades' shoulders made much more sense now. They were simply the claws at the end of the wing that held them in place. Hades turned in the direction the fireball had come from. Another one flew through the air. One of Hades' bat-like wings stretched in front of its body and intercepted the blast.
"What do we do now?" Ruby asked, worry flitting across her features.
"Well… sweeping him out to sea just got a lot harder…" Spectre said glancing towards the tunnel they had hid in the night before.
"What are you thinking?" Ruby questioned.
"Do you think you and Weiss could ground him in the canal?" Spectre asked.
"No, but we can certainly try." Ruby replied with wavering confidence.
"Blast… can you outrun a raging river?" Spectre questioned.
"Yes." Ruby answered.
"Perfect." Spectre replied, pressing the dust crystal Weiss had given him earlier. "Bring Weiss to me. She and I will ground him in the canal. Then you head into the tunnel, blast open the floodgate and run."
"How will that help?" Ruby questioned.
"You think we can short circuit that module?" Spectre asked with a smirk.
Ruby looked towards the metal side of Hades head. She grinned and nodded. She pocketed the crystal and began running towards where she hoped Weiss was. Spectre climbed out of the canal and drew both his weapons. He breathed deeply to calm himself and aimed the Mosaic Culverin at the giant Grimm. By his command, Salt began pooling around the barrel of the gun. Spectre began running towards the beast.
He aimed and fired. The Salt enhanced shot exploded from his gun with such a force that Spectre was actually thrown back slightly. The glowing white shot pierced right through the monster's hide. Hades roared in pain as the Salt powered bullet tore through the monster. Hades turned on Spectre. The Saltborn smirked.
"COME AND GET SOME YOU OVERGROWN NOODLE!" Spectre challenged.
Hades roared and began flapping its wings. The Grimm rose into the sky and began following The Saltborn. Spectre ducked and weaved through alleys and streets. Occasionally firing Salt powered bullets to keep the monster's attention on him.
Weiss was relieved that the monster's attention was no longer on her. The fact the three dust fireballs she had used barely did anything worried her. If something like that were to be unleashed, Remnant would not survive. Especially with Azredak still being a problem. The fact that those three fireballs were all the fire dust she had left, minus the crystal she gave Spectre, was also worrying.
A red blur came to a stop next to her.
"RUBY!?" Weiss asked.
"Yep." Ruby said. "Hang on!"
Ruby picked Weiss up, bridal style, and ran towards the canal.
"What's going on!?" Weiss asked when they reached the main canal.
"Spectre is trying to keep its attention. We need to ground it in the canal. Don't use any lightning dust." Ruby hurriedly commanded. "I'm going to open the flood gates, and we're going to try and short circuit the monster. Call me when it's been grounded."
Before Weiss could say anything, Ruby ran off towards the tunnel at the end of the canal.
"What?" Weiss said.
"OUT OF THE WAY!" Spectre yelled running past her.
Weiss rolled to the side as Spectre ran past. A giant talon swept through the place she had just been standing and gouged out some of the cobblestone street. A red arcane circle faded from existence.
"We're all crazy." muttered Weiss as she loaded up the ice dust in Myrtenaster.
The heiress hurried towards the canal. She made sure to stay out of sight. She saw several buildings along the canal streets that were relatively solid. She entered one and smiled when she saw the staircase was still mostly intact. Quite rotted, but there. She quickly began climbing.
Spectre had to constantly use the Dart brand to stay ahead of Hades. The monster roared and slashed it talons through the street again. Spectre gulped as the attack barely missed him.
"SPECTRE, LEAD IT OVER THE CANAL!" Weiss yelled.
Spectre looked towards the source of the voice. He could barely make out Weiss over the buildings. She appeared to be on top of one. He presumed she was near the canal. He quickly began running towards what had once been the city's primary water source. Spectre sprinted and Dart branded towards the canal. Hades was following closely behind and slowly gaining on him.
Spectre leapt into the canal and continued sprinting towards Weiss. The heiress watched as Hades flew directly over the canal. She readied her rapier, and swung it at the massive Grimm, expelling the power of the ice dust as she did so. Hades flew by as the ice dust coated the monster's side. The dust instantly hardened into large crystals of ice upon contact with Hades. She idly heard a Spectre utter a loud curse.
Weiss's aim had been true enough to freeze one of the monster's wings. She called Ruby as Hades lost the balance of its left wing. It pitched to one side and fell into the canal. The impact sent out a large cloud of white dust. Weiss wondered why it was white for a brief second, before noting how familiar it looked. She gasped in horror as she realized what had happened.
Ruby used her semblance to dash through the canal. She idly noticed the puddles of water as she ran. The broken grate over by the river tunnel quickly came into view. Ruby hurried through and ran up the side they had slept in over the night. It took a conscious effort to ignore the corpses, but she ran to the back wall.
Truthfully, she didn't need the fire dust crystal Spectre had given her, she had a few still on her. She came to the wall. She found the largest crack and pressed the dust crystal into it. She withdrew a small earth crystal and activated it. A dome of rock ensconced the fire crystal into the wall. Now, she had to wait. Her scroll rang and she smiled.
Ruby sent a quick pulse of aura through the rock and into the fire dust crystal. She turned and, with the help of her aura, sprinted from the cavern. The aura pulse was enough for the crystal to unleash all the energy. The fire crystal released its energy, however, seeing as it had been encased in the rock, it had nowhere to go. The pressure began to build rapidly until a hole was blasted through the wall, into the waters behind it and out through the dome Ruby had made to contain the blast.
The ancient floodgate cracked from the boom before it burst and crumbled from the weight of the water behind it. For the first time in centuries, the city of Aurum had clean water.
She made it out of the tunnel and onto the street as a massive wave of water burst forth from the cave. She continued running towards where she saw the massive body of the giant Grimm. A white dust was flowing into Hades' form. The Salt was flowing into Hades' form.
"Crap!" Ruby uttered as she ran towards them.
She reached the monster just before the massive wave crashed into it and covered it. She couldn't see Spectre. She did see the look of horror on Weiss's face. That look turned to one of determination as Hades began to rise from the water. Weiss spun the dust chamber on her sword and stabbed the blade towards Hades. A massive bolt of lightning rushed through the air towards Hades.
The lightning bolt hit its target. The mechanical side of Hades' head proved to be the perfect conductor as the electricity surged through it and into the canal. Hades roared in pain. That roar was interrupted by the periodic spasming of its body as thousands of volts of electricity flowed through it.
Weiss ran back towards the ground floor. She came to a stop next to Ruby. She smiled as the water began to recede. Spectre was climbing the side of the monster's head. Hades hadn't recovered. He didn't even roar in pain as Spectre slammed his blade into one of the monster's eyes. A burst of white signified the Salt leaving the giant Grimm. Spectre breathed deeply as the Salt returned to him. He jumped into the half-filled canal and swam to the girls.
He turned and looked into the canal. Hades' mechanical eye had turned black. The massive Grimm spazzed a few more times. Spectre chuckled weakly before turning to Weiss.
"Next time, could you make sure I haven't tripped on a bucket when you drop a Grimm on me?" Spectre requested.
"You tripped on a bucket?" Weiss asked.
"Yeah. I kept watching the beast. Tripped on a bucket right as Weiss froze it's wing." Spectre grumbled. "Lucky bastard slammed its talon through me right as it landed."
"Ouch." Weiss chuckled.
Ruby jumped down into the canal. She climbed onto the dead Grimm. She climbed over to begin examining the monster's mechanical enhancements. They didn't make much sense.
"Hey Spectre!" Ruby called. "What is this thing?"
"I have no idea." Spectre replied. "I think it's the experiment the notes in Reanimation are referring to."
Ruby nodded and continued looking around Hades' head. She found something rather interesting. A small golden plate on the side of the Grimm's head. She pulled it off and looked at it. She couldn't understand it. She did recognize one word.
The plaque said Azredak Scriptor Damnationem.
"Spectre. You might want to see this." Ruby said as she exited the canal.
Ruby handed the small plate to Spectre. He read it and his eyes widened.
"What's it say?" Weiss asked, taking the small plaque.
"Azredak's Damnation." Spectre replied, looking back at Hades. "There's something bigger a foot. Ruby, I think we should see about exploring the manor you found these tomes at."
"Follow me." Ruby said as she led the trio back to her original find.
"What happened in this city?" Spectre muttered with one last glance at Hades.
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Data Log BoS 037
Thank you to all who read this, your feedback is much appreciated. Feel free to leave ideas and recommendations for the future.
Goodbye viewer; Fare thee well.
End Log S.T.K.