Hello everyone! How are you doing? I hope you are all fine!
Chapter 136 is here and as always I hope you will enjoy it.
Thank you once more for following/ favoring/ reading the story. You are all amazing and I deeply appreciate it!
See you next week in chapter 137. Until then, be well and have fun!
That abhorrent feeling, like she was being submerged in heavy oil. The murky smell of darkness engulfed her. Empty, void silence filled her vision. A sense of isolation from the world- she felt as if she was the last person on Remnant. She remembered that- the loss of her own senses.
It had been months since the nightmares of her being drowned in the murky depths had begun. Alizar's spell had ensnared Ruby's very soul to its rotten, wicked chains- a prison of malice she struggled to live in.
After their escape from Grimmwater, she had started to develop a tiny bit of resistance to her fervent dreams. The haunting feeling that eerie shadow cast upon her had lessened too. Now she dreamed of Morkvind and its accursed, polluted prison in the underground cave as well.
But, no matter what, the sickness the smell of the ocean brought her was a disgusting feeling. She had faked overwork to not visit her father and Zwei at Patch and force them to come to Vale to see her instead.
The mere idea of crossing the ocean, even if it was the crystalline, pure waters of Patch, nauseated her. She could barely stare at the ocean for more than a few seconds before seeing dark pits open and tentacles-
She forced her imagination to stop conjuring even more decrepit alien images. She had seen enough monsters for one lifetime and more. Only one thing was of importance; she had to delve deeper into the abyss.
Focus, Ruby. Focus. Everything, ah… she grabbed her head and tried to calm her throbbing headache. We came so far. Everyone is fighting so hard for me to be here! Calm down; you have done worse! Probably…
A faint laughter echoed inside the abhorrent darkness. A faint glimmer of shining red vanished in the shadows beyond. She tried to move- her fingers waved through a gelatinous, thick substance. It was disgusting.
Am I being consumed by the world's creepiest pudding? She let a small laugh at her own stupid sense of humor. She tried to move- it was hard and taxing, but she realized she could at least properly walk through.
There was no ground to stand on- she was practically hovering in goo. A feeling of utter disgust passed through her. The air around her was foul and smelled of death. Why can I breathe in here, come to think of it?
She had been prepared to use her mask, but there had been no need to do so. The slimy, gelatinous substance pouring out from Avyssos' core had some sort of wicked ability to sustain her breathing as well. How?
Ruby tried to rub her chin- and froze. She had been feeling weird since the moment she stepped inside the pudding. She had been feeling her own head heavy and her limbs thick and sore like she was submerged.
Her strange breathing, unencumbered by the thick tar that engulfed her, was another indication of the terrifying situation. Same was with her fading consciousness and pulsing stomach- was she hungry? Why?
But none of these mattered right now. Ruby had tried to rub her chin. It was a habit she had broken into when trying to think. She had tried to rub her chin- and her fingers had touched a slimy, alien tendril instead.
Wha? Her mind started to awaken. The deep slumber she had fallen in was halted. She touched her face- and met with a hard substance that reminded her of a Grimm bone mask way too much for comfort.
What is- what is this? Trembling in shock, she trailed the mask down to her mouth. She felt every single inch of the plating's hardness- and felt her heart sink with every second touching it. But then, it became worse.
Her mouth was not there- only a small line could be traced. She put her finger into the opening and felt it being pinched by sharp, needle-like teeth. She gasped in horror- and a dozen tendrils moved from her chin.
They wrapped around her wrist, coiling and pulsing. She grabbed them with her other hand. She felt her fingers. They were not her usual deft and nimble ones. Rather, they were short, thick and covered in-
The tendrils squeezed her wrist, trying to pull her fist inside her own- am I trying to eat myself?
The goo convulsed and shook, but didn't otherwise react to her. She had to do something right now- there was no place to slam her head on and no surface to get a foothold of. There was no one here to help her.
A feeling of wet, polluted tar climbed up her ankles. Her mind was one tiny little step away from breaking into a frenzied madness. It wasn't that she couldn't understand what was happening; it was the opposite.
She was transforming into a Grimm! And she was trying to eat herself!
Ruby squeezed her tentacles harder. They responded in kind- they were a part of her, so they struggled back. She jerked her head backwards. A disgusting sound and the sense of immense pain erupted in her hand.
She had dislocated her wrist. Even possibly cut it off. Ruby broke into a mad, unearthly cry of pain- she didn't even recognize her own voice! A sense of dread was mixed with her agony and she screamed out loud.
She had lost. She had been turned into a monster.
She had lost. She had cut off her hand.
She had lost. She didn't even remember why she was here in the first place.
She had lost. She didn't even know what she was trying to win in the first place.
She had lost. She was sad, and hurt and lonely and hungry.
She had lost. And soon, her friends would join her.
She had lost. Her hand trailed to her belt, eager to find a way out of this.
She had lost. All that remained was to end this right here and right now.
Avyssos stared at the girl that was standing paralyzed in the middle of the goo. The magical energy pouring out from its essence had managed to overwhelm her completely, corroding her mind to an absolute mess.
To be honest, it was shocked when it suddenly felt her presence in such close proximity. It was its big mistake to underestimate how effective Ren's semblance was in hiding her from its senses. She would pay for it.
Oh yes she would pay. Its hungry myriad eyes gleefully observed the tar that tormented her mind. It knew exactly the nightmares she had been having all these months- and had decided to add a few ones in the mix.
At the moment, her aura was slowly being devoured along with Ruby's mind. As soon as her tender flesh had turned into a pulp, it would break its spell and feast on her with all its might. Pity she would be too numb to feel any pain- one of the drawbacks of its ancient illusion spells.
The sounds of combat coming from the huntsmen' location was slowing down as well. They were putting up an impressive fight, indeed, but in the end they were only weak, pitiful, flesh and blood mortals with zero-
The feeling of its spell being broken forced Avyssos to shift its gaze from the messy and desperate battlefield, back to Ruby Rose. As it did, it met her gaze- a pair of mighty silver orbs shining in mighty determination.
"How?" its confusion was so great that it even slipped out its thoughts. It regretted it- it had spent way too much time mimicking Jaune Arc it would seem. It quickly tried to assault Ruby's mind; it had to find what-
"Don't bother" a small vial rolled on the ground, covered in slime and dark goo. It was empty, but the elder beast could notice traces of the shining blue liquid that once filled its interior. She drank Azure's potion?
"I don't know where you are" Ruby stared at her fingers, happy to see her usual skin color back, despite her lack of aura. Her body ached and her joints felt as if they had been infused with corrosive acid.
Despite that, she was still alive- and still looked like herself, from the looks of it. She made sure the last remaining vial of the liquid was still in the belt "but I know you can hear me. So, spare me the mind games."
"You were consumed!" it roared, fury evident in the face of the girl's defiance. "Doesn't matter" she smiled and licked a line of blue liquid from her chin "grimmified or not, I am still Ruby Rose the huntress."
She bent her knees and assumed combat stance, gulping down the bile rising from the abhorrent taste the concoction had. She hoped it would not cause her any problems, at least until she could find that monster's hiding place and chop its dastardly hide to Grimm pieces.
Surrounded by the vile tar, Ruby swirled Crescent Rose and started her attack, hacking at any single inch of Grimm energy that stood between her and the stellar throne where this monster was seated at- hopefully.
-o—
Black goo splattered on her face. It burned her skin and filled her pores in a caustic, dizzying miasma. Trails of slimy pudding ran down inside her mouth. She licked them and spit it out- it tasted like salty, wet filth.
Crescent Rose spun and cut open a path. Ruby rushed through and did a U-turn to avoid the caustic wave assaulting her. The goo contorted and pulsed, attacking from each side- she whirled her scythe to defend.
Ruby burst forward, teleporting a couple meters before being ensnared once more. She kicked the dripping ground and rolled on her back to avoid a pack of protruding dark tentacles that formed beneath her legs.
The appendages swirled and followed her movement- she blasted them off with a couple fire-powered dust shots. The reaper landed on top of the slimy texture and ran forward again. I am advancing! Somehow, I-
A sudden swirl from behind forced her to spin on her left leg and severe a form that had started appearing behind her. She stared at the throne, pulsing and radiating darkness. Almost there! I am so freaking close!
As if it had read her thoughts, the mass suddenly started to violently throb towards her. Large pieces of tar amassed and followed the girl's movement, reaching out like hungry predators going after their prey.
The attacks suddenly became more violent, more aggressive. Her feet danced on top of the bile, her scythe whirled like a maelstrom of steel.
Bits and pieces were severed, hits found home and her flesh was being pounded heavily like she was inside a mob being punched to oblivion. A choir of gasps left her lips, but she kept on advancing through the mud.
She couldn't see or hear Lumia, Ren or Nora, but she knew they were out there, fighting against the darkness with all their might. Blake, Yang and Weiss too. Velvet, Alex, Albus… everyone was fighting. She would-
Ruby channeled her power and rushed forward, using her scythe as an anchor to grab and move from. She wouldn't stop until her last breath! She would put an end to this- she would stop her nightmares with her own hands; she had enough causing trouble to everyone else!
With a decisive charge, Ruby burst through the tar and flopped on the throne. Her body collided with the thick, wet alien stairs, leaving a slimy trail of sludge behind her as she trailed down to the ground.
Crescent Rose whirled again and Ruby stopped her fall. The sharp blade skidded on the dark stone and halted her drop. She quickly reached out and managed to jump on the solid, dripping surface of black alien rock.
The air around her pulsed and whistled. The mass of gelatinous tar was slowly expanding- it was a mere couple meters away from her face and coming closer to her, expanding towards, well, everywhere.
She turned her gaze to the throne. The pulsing miasma of yellow-green fluorescence radiated around the pitch-black soapstone. A dreadful and abhorrent feeling overwhelmed her senses, but- her eyes opened wide.
Besides the powerful surge of primordial energy, there was nothing up there. A chilling wind smacked her hair and face. The abysmal luminous pollen gave substance to decrepit forms that flowed away, cackling at her in many familiar and long-forgotten voices from beyond the grave.
Ruby swung her weapon and dispersed them, but nothing happened. A sense of isolation suddenly rushed her mind and crept inside her heart.
Where is it? Where is its body? It was supposed to be pulsing from the throne! Her body trembled in shock. She was supposed to find its main core and kill it! She was supposed to- but she had been mistaken.
Laughter erupted from the world around her. The freezing wind soared and attacked her, howling in abysmal might and bringing the darkest wishes of the Elder spawn of abyss with it. Daemonic screeching hit her.
Ruby pressed her body closer to the wet surface, trying to protect her flesh from the cold. The cackling wails pierced her ears- Avyssos was laughing at her helplessness, enjoying her desperate, futile resistance.
She could easily picture it. It was a massive, gelatinous Grimm that was biding its time as it enjoyed watching at them squirm in agony with its numerous, bone-covered ferocious eyes dripping wet amorphous flesh.
It enjoyed taking in her fear of failure, watching over her from the alien, unnamable abyss it was hidden in. Its grasping tendrils always one step away from snatching her, its wicked mind always next to her own, as if-
Ruby turned around on her back, doing her best to not allow her body to stand out from the jagged stairs. Her silver orbs pulsed in shock and astonishment as she looked up in the sky- towards the pulsing void. The abhorrent wicked stars shone brightly with an unearthly, deep malice.
As if it's always observing me, from a world beyond our own. The silver-eyed girl reached out to her pockets and quickly tossed a small pill to her mouth, her crunching sounds being lost in the menacing cold wind.
-o—
Pain wracked Ruby's body. Unlike everything she had been feeling up to that point, this was a familiar sense, coming from deep inside her body. Like almost everyone in her group she hated using aura-enhancing pills.
They had been developed by field scientists in Vacuo and Vale during the war in an attempt to mimic Jaune's semblance for wide use. As she felt her guts throbbing in pain, she remembered how inferior they were to her boyfriend's warm and gentle ability. She gritted her teeth.
I am putting way too many unknown variables in this she remembered the bluish liquid she had drunk from Azure's vial. Her chest heaved up and down, trying to ease the pain. At least, they are effective as hell!
The side effects included extreme pain and other stuff; Weiss had once said 'it feels like something is squeezing your soul dry to produce more juice than you can possibly do. I feel sick for hours after taking them.'
Truly collapsing for hours, or even days, was a natural occurrence for those using the pills. No mortal body was used to performing beyond its limit and Ruby was no exception, despite her sturdy nature.
Heat swelled inside her body. Her mind jolted up again. Her nerves and muscles geared up. Her very core started overcharging. She felt sick- and powerful. As usual, the feeling is so damn addictive! Ruby stood up.
She stared up to the sky; where the malicious stars were staring down in their abhorrent splendor. Ruby activated her semblance- and burst at the top of the throne in speed impossible even for her own standards.
All of a sudden, the massive dark cloud stopped its attack. The luminous pollen shone in malicious shades of red and black. The harsh wind blew with the intensity of a roaring hurricane upon her. The stars moved.
Ruby smirked. I was right; that's where you have been hiding all along. She bent her knees as the furious gaze of the heavens turned towards her- and shot towards the aurora-colored void with all her might.
Moving like a rising meteor, Ruby used continuous gravity shots from Crescent Rose to augment her already incredible speed. Using slower intervals to increase her velocity, she pulled the impossible feat of not slowing down. Gravity didn't work in the void- and she loved it.
A furious swirl of energy howled at her. The cacophonous roar reached her friends and forced Nora to her knees, as Lumia continued to fight against the now retreating wave of darkness. The stars tried to move away, while dark tendrils of energy lashed out at her from all directions.
Powered-up Ruby Rose was too fast for any Grimm- in this world, or any other they might be. She covered the distance in seconds, grinning as the immense heat made her nerves fry in agony. It didn't matter.
Compared to what she was going to do to that bastard, that pain was nothing. Ruby pushed her ability to beyond the breaking of its limits, reached the howling stars- and grabbed the heavens with her left hand.
Her fingers squeezed something soft and gelatinous. It was throbbing in anger, like a furious heart pumping in anxiety. It was slippery and thick, so the brunette soon lost her hold and started falling towards the void.
Wasting no time, Ruby spun mid-air and attacked the surface with her scythe. The sharp blade found home and dug a wide tear in the sky, opening to a fully grown vertical wound as she skidded down across it.
What was revealed before her eyes was a throbbing black miasma akin to a pulsing heart. It oozed so much filth and bile that she momentarily averted her eyes, until her descent was abruptly stopped.
The outer crust of this thing was a gelatinous membrane that had taken the form of the alien stars- it was a fake void; a fake abyss. And she had created a tear in it and was now hanging from its edge, grabbing her-
The screech came a little too early, but lacked nothing in intensity. It hit her like a bomb, searing her defenseless face, eyes and ears. She didn't even know that something could produce a sound of that magnitude.
Lumia, Nora and Ren fell on the ground. That was inhuman; no, nothing in existence should be able to produce such a thing. It was so alien to the laws of nature their minds couldn't even properly register its form.
It was a scream of both pain and joy, both agony and pleasure. A howl of terror and excitement. A screech of impending doom and fleeting melancholy. A terrifying yet overwhelmingly soothing melody of pipes.
Dark blood oozed out of the cut, showing her face. Ruby managed at the last moment to avert her eyes and mouth from the vile bath. A dreadful sense of filth and malice covered her, forcing the reaper to let out a gasp of horror as Avyssos' blood showered her from head to toe.
There was no time to be afraid. Ruby gripped her scythe even tighter, her fingers slightly slipping on the sludge. She took out the last vial and opened it before she threw the anti-Grimm concoction inside the tear.
Quickly after that, she took off her belt with all the remaining dust vials and threw it inside as well. The stress from that entire attempt put a huge strain on her muscles and she felt her wrist ache in flaring pain.
A huge shockwave made the sky pulse and the stars throb. She lost her hold and started falling- but not before she had a chance to let a parting shot inside the wound, igniting the dust in a colossal explosion.
-o—
The screeches stopped and the howling ceased. The dark waves of vile tendrils of energy froze as if they had been hit with a stun gun. Lumia raised her eyes, seeing Ren and Nora trying to get on their feet. What-
A final cry. A panicked, abysmal cry of pain; the dying desperation of an entity that had come so close to transcending death itself hit them with such intensity that their bodies started to collapse.
Lumia knelt and looked above. The throne was crumbling in pieces of fluorescent soapstone. The court was getting tarnished. The sky- she gasped in awe. The void was becoming torn apart with thick black lines akin to a mosaic that was splitting the heavens like a colossal knife.
A smelly, sickening green-black ichor dripped from every single wound. The sky, the void, was bleeding. The alien stars were dying, their Grimm blood falling upon the collapsing throne like it did in the temple before.
There were no Carriers. The Piper's massive form was slowly vanishing in the murky distance, returning to its true master. The malice was slowly falling on the ground; pouring down upon their mortal bodies.
And, in the middle of all these, her emerald-green eyes saw a small red figure falling down. Her slumbering, tormented mind awoke from its pain. Ruby was falling- to her demise. Lumia charged, spending no time to think about the lack of foothold or the increasingly pouring filth.
-o—
Her senses failed her. She had seen inside the void; she had seen the true form of abyss for the second time in her life. Her brain was numb. Her eyes were burning in the revelation of Avyssos' abhorrent image.
Her ears were devastated. The Elder Spawn's dying screech was so evil and had hit her with such intensity, she wasn't even sure she would be able to hear again. She was falling- and couldn't even hear the wind.
This is not the end! A malicious voice echoed in her mind, struggling to keep up with her. She recognized its wicked nature and its monstrous similarities to her boyfriend's. She didn't even want to acknowledge it.
It is; you lost. The voice growled, but it was so weak now. Vanish into the darkness you are so proud of; never be seen again in this world or another. It replied with another hiss, this time a little more sinister.
As you desire, Ruby Rose. It howled again, even more weakly now. As you desire. I will vanish into the darkness of this world- and I shall be waiting for you. Ruby's heart skipped a beat. I… shall… wait…
The voice trailed off into nothingness, its final threat fading away but still lingering into Ruby's mind as she fell into the void.
I will wait… for the day darkness claims you… I will be there.