Chapter 30: War Part 1
Disclaimer: I do not in any way or form own Gate: Thus the JSDF Fought There or RWBY. They belong to their respective owners, Takumi Yanai and RoosterTeeth Animations respectively.
A/N: Right. Forgot about Yao. She'll show up. Also, I added a small section to the previous chapter involving Sedge, Vela, and Arta (because I forgot about them as well). Nothing major.
Awaken, my child.
The slumbering beast growled, waking up. It was disoriented, with few, fleeting memories of the recent past. For a moment, it could not even remember what it was, but this memory came back to it very quickly.
It was the apex predator, dominant to all but gods.
Your instincts are still sharp. Good.
It growled again, louder, as the voice in its head spoke again. The voice was new. Opening its eyes, the creature attempted to locate the pest that spoke in its head.
The first thing that it noticed was how different everything looked. The once-vibrant hues of the forest and air were now dull and grey. Most of the landscape seemed more muted than before, boring and irrelevant.
There were a few spots of color, however. The three tiny mortals standing nearby were brighter than the environment. One was only a little more interesting than the ground, but the other two caught its attention. Almost glowing purple, it realized that it could almost taste their delicious fear.
Delicious?
I see that you've discovered your new abilities.
It roared, fury and confusion melding into a booming wave that shook the trees. Below its bulk, the two blips of purple flared, and the beast found itself drawn to them. Almost instinctively, it slashed at them with a claw, large enough to rip them apart, along with a good section of the very ground they stood on.
The strike never quite connected. The third insect, the one with just the barest hint of purple, was in the way. Her limb was a shade of pitch black, far darker and more sinister than the grey of the lands.
And yet more reassuring.
It was then that it noticed its own scaly arm. Its right arm, a tree trunk-sized limb of muscle and scales, rippled with the strange shadow that its new sight could see. On that arm there was also armor, white and resilient. Its left arm, however, did not.
Unfortunately, the process was interrupted. While that would have been ideal, it seems that this might just work after all.
Such clarity of thought was unfamiliar to the creature. Its thought processes were much simpler before. Kill things, eat them, and take care of its eggs and young. Then its master had come and told it what to do. It did not mind - its young were safe under her guidance, and food was aplenty.
I am your master now.
The creature could not speak. Its vocal cords were not built for mimicking the intricacies of human words. Yet it could understand the meaning behind this new language and knew what the mysterious voice in its head was talking about.
It did not mind having a new master. But who did it now serve?
My name is Salem, but I feel that this means little to you. I am the Grimm queen, and you are my newest creation.
It was not. It had already existed for hundreds of years, and watched human empires rise and fall. No matter how powerful they thought they were, they were no match for the apex predator of the skies. And never in its long life had the creature ever seen or heard of the Grimm.
Not directly. Before I came upon you, you were just a mindless beast. Powerful, but without purpose. Now I grant you this. You have already begun exploring your new abilities.
Abilities?
Beyond its new sight, helpful in hunting prey, the creature reached into itself with clarity of thought that it had never known, and learned more about itself. It was no longer a single creature, but two separate entities, hastily joined.
The process was interrupted. Still, that may be for the better. I'd hate to see such ferocity be simply erased.
Each half individually brought it powerful abilities. But it was now both a Flame Dragon and a Creature of Grimm. It's strength was unmatched.
The Flame Dragon was once the apex predator on all of Falmart. It awoke only once every hundred years, but during this time, it had hunted freely. Over the centuries, it had come to be known as a symbol of calamity throughout the region. It was the master of the sky, and no mortal could oppose it.
The Creatures of Grimm were an endless tide. They had known many names - demons, monsters, shadows - but that did not change their nature. Of destruction and death. They had a variety of forms, each designed to kill humanity and wipe them from existence.
And now the two became one. Interrupted as the process might be, the resulting creature, an amalgamation of different predators from different worlds.
It took stock of its new abilities. Increased speed and agility. Emotion sensitivity. Greatly improved regeneration. Limited telepathy. And the ability to create destruction.
It shook its massive body, spraying black droplets around the area. Each fell to the ground, swiftly consolidating into twisted forms. Wolves, bears, scorpions, and more, each with their own white bone armor and glowing red eyes.
An army... But first, there is something else you must do. Look down. Touch the Apostle.
It did as it was ordered. Its gaze landed on the tiny body underneath it, which had thus far managed to avoid its notice. It was dull gray, blending into the land.
Recognize her?
It was very familiar... Focusing its efforts, it realized that the unconscious body belonged to its old master. The unkillable half-dragon. And, as expected, it was still alive. Injured, but past experiences taught that it would heal, no matter what.
Touch her.
Reaching down its shadowed claw, the creature placed it over the body. It was not familiar with its new strength and almost crushed the body into the ground. Black ooze began seeping down, covering the old master's body.
She woke up, screaming and struggling. It was futile, with her body broken and the sheer weight of a dragon claw pinning her down.
It felt something. It did not know what the black tar had done to the old master, but the new master was pleased.
Good. I have what I need. Now, look around.
Tossing the old master aside, it obeyed the command, and took to the skies, looking over the landscape. And it saw a sea of color. Reds, yellows, blues, and purples that each represented a mortal life. Prey.
It seems that they've come to kill you.
Let them come. The creature roared its challenge into the sky, a bellowing roar that could be heard for miles around. It watched in satisfaction as purple began overwhelming the sea of colors.
It is time.
It is time.
"Yao Ha Dushi, explain yourself," the imposing presence of the Dushi Clan's elders glared at the dark elf. They were visibly displeased, which Yao decided was not surprising.
"Elders, I was doing what I had to. I-" Yao's protests were interrupted by the elders.
"You made a deal with the devil itself!
"At least now the clan is safe!"
"Safe? Tell me, Yao, did these outlanders promise to leave our forest intact?" the elders asked. Yao hesitated. "Did they even kill the dragon? Or did they throw you aside the moment they got what they needed, and you just GAVE IT TO THEM!"
Yao recoiled. She had never seen her elders so angry before, and more importantly, they were right. The very moment that the witch and her followers had seen the dragon, they had moved to attack it, saving her only as an afterthought. Yao had just watched as the dragon was brought to submission within minutes, yet spared as it lay defeated.
Yao understood the reason for the elders' rage. "I... Yes, elders, I was fooled. In my desperation to slay the beast, I was tricked by a false promise from the devil. They promised to destroy the dragon and end our fear, but-"
"Did they? Or did they just want it for themselves?"
Yao thought back to her meeting with the witch, and the Stanger Seer. She could not argue with her elders. "I was just trying to save the clan," she said weakly.
"And you may have just doomed us all," the elders replied, merciless. "You mentioned a corruption spreading to the dragon. A demon dragon is the last thing we want. As such, this is your new order: find out if this demon dragon lives. If it does, find the 'Men in White' and make sure that they kill it."
Yao nodded.
"Good. This time, make sure that you do not even think about accepting any other offer of help. Make sure that only the 'Men in White' know of this, and make sure that they march out and slay it. Understood?"
"Yes, elders."
"You are dismissed. Leave at once, and do not return until it is done."
With that, the elders were silent, leaving Yao to register that she had essentially been banished from the clan that she had sacrificed so much for.
What else could go wrong?
Everything was going wrong.
Winter was currently being swamped by news - mostly bad - in the hastily established forward command post.
They were too late, which was mostly expected. The majority of the forces remaining in Falmart were gathered around the forest where Qrow had last seen the dragon and the Seer. It was less than the original number they had sent through the Gate, but they were still a good number, and took quite some time to mobilize. Winter had given them no more than a week - enough to prepare everything, and plenty of time for their local allies to join them. She had hoped that they would get there in time.
Winter was wrong.
But a dragon they could handle; after all, they already have. A levitation-class Grimm, maybe they could kill.
But a half-Grimm dragon hybrid was far beyond her expectations, and it brought with it too many issues. Its unknown combat abilities, intelligence, and purpose could not be accounted for. Not to mention its appearance. If a hundred-meter biological dragon had managed to instill eternal fear into the population of Falmart, the current monster before them made it a hundred times worse.
It still held the general shape of a flame dragon. But now, the dark Grimm corruption was visible. The signature black substance that the Creatures of Grimm were made of now covered its terrible visage, adorned with the equally recognizable bleached white bone plates. This corruption spread down its neck, partially fading off as it got closer to the immense body of the dragon. The left half of the dragon was more or less untouched, but the right was showing the effects of the Seer. The deadly left claw was shrouded in darkness, tipped with sharpened bone the length of a man. Its right wing also had this aspect - black membrane, white bones, and constantly dripping tar.
It had flown high into the air and roared its challenge to the gathered armies, sending out an almost physical shockwave that struck fear into even Huntsmen. The morale of the soldiers unfamiliar with the Grimm crumbled almost instantly.
The black tar-like substance continued falling to the ground. Each landed around the forest, failing to splatter. The blobs held together, forming hundreds of puddles on the ground. The grass around these pools withered away almost immediately, and from within, dark creatures clawed their way out.
Man-shaped wolves. Birds with metallic feathers. Scorpions that were larger than houses. Spinning boars of death.
To the Atlesians, they were a familiar, yet dreaded foe. To the people of Falmart, they were demons.
Winter was not confident in her own forces of kill, or even suppress, a threat of this magnitude. That roar had thrown her less-experienced forces into disarray, and that made them easy targets for the lesser Grimm that had spawned and were indiscriminately slaughtering her men.
As the acting general and unofficial commander of all available forces, Winter had too many things to worry about and not enough ways to handle it. In addition to their inexperience with Grimm and their primitive fighting strategy, the local forces lacked communications, making them difficult to coordinate. Winter sighed. Perhaps their assistance was not worth the trouble.
"All forces, focus fire on the dragon. Destroy it," Winter ordered. She deliberately kept her voice calm and focused, providing a source for the soldiers to rally around.
Her forces did as commanded, unleashing a massive wave of missiles, Dust, and bullets at the airborne Grimm dragon and the lesser flying Grimm that had spawned around it. Under the wall of concentrated fire, the flying Grimm were completely annihilated into black smoke, and the bulk of the assault struck the dragon head-on.
It roared in pain, massive explosions erupting as volatile Dust struck its body. Despite its size, the dragon staggered, injured. Its wings torn to shreds, it fell like a meteor, slamming down and crushing anything unfortunate enough to be under it.
A cheer went up, but a live feed from a scouting drone overhead showed movement in the area where the dragon had fallen.
Winter's lips were pressed tight as she watched. It was an impressive opening attack, but now their Dust supplies were almost gone, and the dragon, while injured, was not defeated yet. Without the full might of the Atlesian Army, she doubted that they could truly destroy this enemy.
But failure meant that they would all die anyway. They had to push on.
"Commander, I have a weapon that might just be able to kill this dragon," Clover, leader of the Ace Ops, said, running through the chaotic command post to reach Winter.
Leaving the command of the troops to her lieutenants, Winter turned to face the leader of the Ace Ops. "What is it?" she demanded.
"It's... hard to explain. A combination of our technology, Dust, and, well, some kind of 'Holy Relic'. It can theoretically destroy any creature of evil in its blast radius. You know, including Grimm."
A Holy Relic. If things were not so dire, Winter would have thrown the idea out. As it were, they had nothing to lose. "What's the drawback?"
"Well, time, of course. It'll take about 15 minutes or so to charge up," Clover said, then hesitated.
"But..."
"But I need power to charge it. I need aura, a lot of it. And no, no weird things needed. Just need maybe ten Huntsmen to touch it."
"And it'll drain their souls."
Clover nearly choked, "What? No! It'll drain just their aura, no lethal damage. But they'll be greatly weakened."
"Schnee! The dragon!" Qrow called out, interrupting her discussion with Clover.
Winter gave Clover's plan a thought. "Find Rory. Do it," she ordered and turned back to the screens. The drone had zoomed in on an area near the downed dragon, where the air seemed to be distorting. Slowly, a portal began to form. It was still small, a black tear in the fabric of the universe.
"Keep things running here, Winter. I'm going in," Qrow said. Before anyone could object, he was gone, a single black feather floating to the ground.
The portal grew, lengthening until it was large enough for a single man to pass through. At this size, it stopped.
"Something is coming through," a technician reported.
"That's impossible," another rebuked, "The portal is extremely unstable. Anything that tried to pass through would be ripped apart."
"Stop arguing," Winter commanded. Noticing something beside the portal, she pointed at it and said, "Zoom in on that."
As ordered, the image enlarged, focusing on the crumpled female body that Winter had noticed. She was definitely injured, massive cuts still bleeding all over her body. The most striking things were the leathery wings on her back, crushed and torn but still recognizable.
"Isn't that the Apostle? Giselle? I thought she could control the dragon?" a technician commented.
"How did she get here?"
"Didn't Mr. Xiao Long mention that she left Hardy's shrine? This must be where she came," a third deduced.
Unfortunately for her, Winter had no time to play detective. Giselle would have to be dealt with later. Turning back to the battle, she looked over the status of her forces.
The majority of the soldiers, Atlesian Paladins and Knights, the Rose Knights and the armies of Falmart had engaged the Grimm. Clover and the Ace Ops had found Rory, and were working together to battle the dragon. Team RWBY and Tai had engaged Cinder and her followers.
Things were actually going fine. After the initial shock, her forces had rallied. They held the line against the Grimm, fighting fiercely for the sake of the world itself. Assuming that Clover's weapon worked and that the Grimm had no other nasty surprises, they might just win.
"Ms. Schnee! The portal!"
The commander of the Atlesian forces glanced at the screen that the technician was pointing to, where a blurry hand reached through the portal. It seemed human, but bleached white and blood red. The latter was already receding, the tears in the pale skin stitching themselves together rapidly.
"You!" Winter barked, snapping the technician out of his shock, "Zoom!"
The screen flickered and zoomed. Another hand, now clearer, reached through. The two hands grabbed hold of the ethereal edge of the portal and, ignorant of the damage it caused, pulled. Slowly, a face took shape through the portal, teeth gritted in pain and determination. Bone white skin, peeling off from the instability of the portal and regenerating just as quickly. A pair of baneful red eyes.
She raised her head to the sky, staring directly at the drone flying a hundred meters over the chaos of the battlefield around her. The image of her face - almost fully healed - filled the screen. A second later, something impacted the drone, and the feed dissolved into static.
Salem, the queen of the Grimm, stepped through the portal and into Falmart.
A/N: Somehow, I managed to delay the final battle by another chapter. It was supposed to chapter 29, originally. There'll be violence next chapter, promise. Especially involving a certain prince.