So many thoughts, so many emotions.
All Gone.
Now it's just me that remains. The nameless darkness that was once suckled upon for strength.
I aM fReE. tHeRe'S nOtHiNg tO sToP mE.
Neo held Roman's bowler hat in her hands. The sequence of her partner in crime parading his success before being swallowed whole replaying in her mind as she cradled the prized possession.
It had all started so well, but now, her boss was dead.
What was she to do if not take revenge?
Who should she target first?
Adam was nothing more than a burnt corpse.
She saw Grievous get his head crushed in.
Who knows where the hell Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury are?
For all she knew everyone who was in some way responsible was dead.
The she heard a familiar metallic scraping.
She almost smiled at the thought of revenge, but she put on a poker face. She was going to lull Grievous into a false sense of security, then stab him clean through the eyes.
She raised her parosal and walked towards the source of the noise. She found a familiar being hunched over a dissipating Grimm. She got close to him and tapped his shoulder.
The moment he turned to her she stabbed the weapon deep into his eye.
He barely flinched before she felt the end of her blade clash against the metal of his skull.
It couldn't have been that easy?
Grievous has racked up an unimaginable body count; And she just brought him down with one clean stab.
She watched as he remained still, small lined of mist leaving the holes where his eyes were. He didn't so much as twitch as she grabbed the end of the parosal and pulled it out.
There was little resistance as she removed the blade from his head.
She huffed before turning her back to him and walking away.
She made it several paces before a metallic chuckle began. A dark chill ran up her spine as she turned back to him.
He was still hunched over, same as ever. Yet his eyes, eyes normally red with fury and hatred, were just an empty void. There wasn't even evidence that she had stabbed him clean through the eye.
Now that she was actually looking at him, there was a lot more to him. His head was warped and torn from the force of both Nikos' and Goodwitch's semblances. His cape and body were burnt up and scarred black. Little of the pristine white was visible through all the 'wounds' covering his body.
He looked so much like the Grimm.
What a pest. Through the eye? Does she know who she's dealing with?
All he was doing was watching as these... Goliaths turned to mist after he tore their flesh from their skulls. Then she has the audacity to stab him in the eye.
Might as well teach her a lesson.
He primed his legs and rushed towards her with immense speed. His claws ready to take her head off.
She shattered into glass shards upon impact.
He barely acknowledged this as he turned the very ground beneath him into rubble.
He glanced around in an attempt to find her. Only finding the shards left over from her semblance.
The little coward ran from him: after having the audacity to stab him.
There was little celebration to be held as the people of Vale slowly began to rebuild. There was still many places rife with violence and both the Vale military and Hunters were stressed to solve these issues as quickly as possible.
Team RWBY/NPR were constantly being pulled from one place to another as part of all this.
There present situation just being icing on the massive cake of issues that Vale has to contend with.
Grievous is missing from the courtyard.
And there's a trail of bodies from here too the tower and even past that.
The horrifying reality that Grievous still wasn't dead was a nightmare to all.
So long as he still lives; the body count will rise.
He was following the creatures of darkness. They were the most fun prey to kill. Always moving in swarms and in great variety. The numbers that they presented were the only threat they demonstrated to him.
If only he could take something from them as trophies.
That's besides the point. They also presented a great annoyance in the form of their queen. Some being that the warrior hailed as true loyalty.
She was nothing but a pest to him.
Her constant warnings of retaliation were little more than thin threats. She had made the warrior far to effective and now he shall reap the benefits of it all.
He had no fear of the ghost either. The constant little whispers that he could manifest paled in comparison to the short blaze that was the warrior's psyche.
Didn't stop him from devouring the warrior whole while the ghost just watched. He made himself known when the queen was at her weakest, and he stole right from her.
For he is the hunter; the walking calamity that shall kill all in his wake.
The trail slowly turned from dead Hunters and White Fang too the slaughtered Grimm around Vale.
Grievous was never one to move in a straight line. It was always stalking and doubling back with hints of terror tactics. To be so blunt was not his style of battle.
Perhaps the attempt at killing him had damaged his brain? He was acting more like an animal rather than a the terrifying machine he usually is.
There was little hesitation in the group as they followed after the destruction caused by the damaged machine.
They were following him. Oh, how much easier did it make his hunts.
When the prey comes to him.
He had only four blades left from the man that the Warrior called 'Rat'. It was almost disastrous that the warrior wished to kill the man. Perhaps he could kidnap him and force the man to repair the warrior's failing body.
He had yet to stop moving since he had risen. Since his body was painted by black soot and his head was almost crushed by two semblances.
The body was mangled and torn. Most of the movement in its limbs were gone. All that remained was the essence of darkness sealed within the metal framework of his body.
He was already a dead man walking when the queen built the warrior off the host's corpse. He may as well just keep moving onwards until he fell apart.
Might as well make his death memorable.
There was a tension in the air when they found her. The ice cream coloured girl was terrified out of her mind while she clutched her face.
Yang was the first to approach her, her stance incredibly cautious.
Neo lifted her head and the two teams were left in shock and the large scar on her face. Four claw marks ran from the right of her forehead, missing her eyes but catching a bit of her nose, and ending just short of the left of her chin. Blood was slowly flowing from the wound as Neo kept one hand on her face.
It was a horrid sight, yet it was also a sign of just who they were facing. Only Grievous could leave such a mark on someone.
They were on the right path, even if that path let right into hell.
It was a horrible sight, the war path carved out of the Beacon grounds by Grievous has let to the Emerald Forest.
Several of the remaining ships in the Atlas fleet around Beacon were preparing to follow after him with guns blazing. The Grimm left on the grounds were far to small for their power, leaving soldiers and hunters to clear out the remaining infestation.
There was a strange development in the assault; the discovery of Neo and her news on Grievous.
In her own sort of words; Grievous is no longer the issue. A walking nightmare has taken his place.
She described him as a Grimm forged machine. The burns and internal mechanisms of his body had given him a nightmarish new color. His eyes were now blank voids with no light within them.
The most important detail was without a doubt the damages present.
His body is failing. The metal was warped and melted. He was little more than a puppet moving ruggedly.
It will be a good hunt.
There was a gathering in the sky. The air was tense and the birds were flying wildly. A swarm of metallic ships blanked out much of the sky.
A rain of fire and brimstone met the forest. So many of the Grimm which had fled Beacon were fleeing once more as the wave of destruction cleansed them away. The volatile mixtures of dust used in the explosives seeping into the Grimm and destroying their bodies.
His speed was far to much for such careless destruction to hit him.
He will need a ride to deal with these nuisances though.
The crew aboard one of the corvettes reported little resistance as they rained fire upon the Grimm with the Emerald forest.
Then one of their scanners picked up something approached quickly.
They could barely react to it before a Nevermore broke through the outer hull. Destruction spread through the ship as a figure ran through with blades drawn.
Flashes of light were all that could be seen before the figure tore through the ship.
And jumped to the next one.
It was exhilarating.
The feeling of slicing through such massive machines of war. His blades would only last for so much longer, but he'll use up everything they have while he destroys all in his path.
The prey attacked him with the foolish notion that he was to be hunted. Their arrogance of who would be the hunter, and who would be hunted, shall be their ultimate undoing.
Even if he has to break his body more and more ti prove it.
It was hard to tell if the assault was a success or a failure.
The fire power of the Atlas fleet had leveled the entire Emerald Forest. Some of the ships had been destroyed, yet the Grimm were destroyed to the last.
The fleet returned with fire and battle scars.
Yet no one could predict the beast hanging on the edge of one of the ships.
It dropped down with little warning. his blades having been snapped into shives so there was little range to his movements. Only a short whirlwind of blades could be seen before their silhouette could be seen.
The hellish figure stained ashen black.
The Nightmare was here now.
One more chapter, then we're done. I can officially say that I completed a fic that wasn't just a One-shot or ran out of steam. I thank you all for your dedication and enjoyment of the story.