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Chapter 40: Crescendo
Ether and Olivine were already down, Olivine having expended the last of Buster Bravo's firepower tearing several burning gouges into the flesh and bone of the Steed as it continued its' rampage through the streets of New Vale, smashing through buildings with ease. Ether had attempted to climb onto the Grimm's back only to struck by its' tail and sent hurtling into a car, the Dust on his person setting it alight; Olivine had pulled him from the burning wreckage and the two of them had hung back as the remaining half of Team NEON struggled to slow their quarry down by any means necessary.
"Heely I'm going high!" Nyanza called out, currently they were inside one of the hive complexes that the Steed had smashed through the exterior wall off, the throne mounted on the beasts' back almost scraping against the ceiling of the ground floor level. The throne or rather what sat in it was the felines' target, the idea that this battle could be ended with one decisive strike was too promising to be ignored and Nyanza pushed his severely depleted Aura and Semblance to their limits as he made his move; he leapt onto the roof of a glass bus shelter and used it as a springboard a fraction of a second before the Steed's tail ploughed through it the leap of faith carried him towards a third floor balcony which he managed to grip onto single handed as the Steed drew level with it, readying one of his over-long pistols in his free hand he took aim and fired at the dark shape hunched upon the throne growing from the monsters' spine. The Grimm deflected the shot with a casual swing of the broadsword it clutched in one of its' clawed hands, seeing the thing which seemed to resemble a Beowolf glower at it him with far too much intelligence behind its' gaze Nyanza tried to aim again despite dangling several stories in the air suspended by one hand; before he could do so he heard Helios call out to him
"GET DOWN!" without pausing to question it Nyanza simply let go, hitting the ground in a crouch and rolling aside just as the first pieces of the balcony impacted against the ground, ripped from the wall by the Steed's mace like tail as the Grimm turned. A moment later Helios reached him
"Nyanza there's an Alpha on that things back I think-" Helios never had chance to warn him, Nyanza saw his partners' mouth open and hands shoot out in a desperate attempt to pull him out of the way; then his entire consciousness was consumed in pain as the Steed's tail struck him, before Nyanza could process what had happened he was no longer in the street but laying face down in a pile of debris. He forced himself to his feet forcing the ringing in his ears and waves of agony washing over him aside and coughing up a mouthful of blood as he did so, casting his eyes around he saw that he'd been knocked into what looked like a bookshop across the street from where he'd been standing, having crashed through the window and several shelves before coming to a stop. Limping and dragging himself towards the makeshift exit his crash had made for him Nyanza caught sight of his reflection in some of the remaining shards of glass, robbing him of any lingering hopes that he had even some of his Aura left; his right arm was hanging limp and in truth it was the only part of his body not in pain by virtue of the fact he couldn't feel it at all, blood was soaking through his clothes in several places and his face was covered in a litany of minor lacerations. Nyanza ignored all of this of leapt back out into the street forcing his battered body to comply and run in the direction that the Steed had been moving, eventually coming to a halt as he followed the trail of destruction and rounded a corner; his jaw hanging open at what he saw. The surface of the road bore cracks and gouges where the Steed had been brought to an abrupt halt. Helios had somehow managed to climb onto the Grimm's back and was now facing off with the Alpha Beowolf which had been sitting upon its' throne in single combat, the brief glimmer of hope left Nyanza swiftly as he saw his partner's black Aura flickering around him with each exchange of blows; Helios was losing. Whatever condensed Grimm carapace Phobos's sword was made of was proving sturdy enough to block and parry the armoured Huntsman's Aura fuelled slashes. As their blades clashed together between them and the Alpha bore down on him Helios instinctively sidestepped, allowing the attack to roll of of him and Phobos to stagger forwards as he followed up with a heavy handed swipe with the edge of his shield; he was utterly unprepared for the Grimm's display of skill when the Alpha ducked under the attack and swept his legs out from under him, barely managing to roll aside before Phobos's broadsword pierced through the space he'd occupied; from then the Alpha fought without weapons, giving in to instinctive savagery as it leapt at the Hunter. Helios held his ground as best he could, the blade of Olympus Enforcer scoring several deep grooves in the bony carapace protecting Phobos's chest and skull. Eventually he reached his limits as he used his shield to force the Grimm back as its' clawed forelimb struck out in something akin to a right hook, his Aura broke and felt the burning sting of a claw tearing through the flesh of his cheek; the next thing he felt was a strike to the stomach which knocked the wind out of him and sent him sailing through the air.
"HELIOS!" Nyanza watched his partner collide with a wall as he was knocked from the Steed's back, falling roughly two stories to the ground with a jarring clang of armour. The Grimm that he had duelled withdrew its' blade from the Steed's armour and stalked back to its' throne, reawakening the dormant juggernaut which continued on, its' footfalls shaking their surroundings. Nyanza paid the Grimm no mind as he reached Helios who lay face down and unmoving, rolling him over he saw that mercifully his golden armour though scuffed, dented and caked with dust and filth, had not been pierced by Phobos's claws. His face was another matter, a single jagged slash had been torn from just above his top lip trailing along his cheek bone to the space between his right ear and temple; blood from the wound spilling over his face
"We need to pursue that Grimm….it's not like the others" Helios growled, confirming that he was still conscious, promptly forcing himself into a sitting position and applying pressure to his face
"I can't fight any more" Nyanza admitted with a shake of his head and a gesture to his limp arm "I've got no Aura neither have you. We need to go back to Ollie and Ether"
"Nyanza that Grimm-"
"I know I saw!" the feline cried "Let me think for a second" eventually Nyanza withdrew his Scroll which had, in a seemingly final, display of good fortune remained undamaged and fell back on something that had been a staple of his life on Patch before Halo Academy.
When taking a beating he called Felix for help.
Specialist Commander Chiffon, first mate aboard the Atlesian warship Gespenst and long time friend to his captain Gangrel Slate ever since the two of them had been part of the same batch of Hunters to go through the extensive additional training required before acceptance into the ranks of the specialist division, had been prepared to deal with a great many things upon being told that the ship he served on would be taking part in a covert mission within the borders of an allied Kingdom. He had not however been prepared to be given full command of the ship during a large scale Grimm incursion only to then receive a message from a kidnapped scientist and CEO informing him that there was an Atlesian special operative in urgent need of medical attention as well as two of the Kingdoms' high priority targets at her location. His suspension of disbelief had been further tested when soon after he had received word from a retired Vale Hunter who somehow had the required security clearance to contact the head of Atlesian black ops personal warship and inform him that he had a third member of the group of targets in his custody and would be coming aboard.
Chiffon was currently making his way through the medical bay of the Gespenst which was surprisingly empty, a sign that the Atlesian fighters were indeed still as superior to their counterparts made in Vale as always; in truth the was only able to to leave to command bridge due to the fact that the battle above the breach in the exclusion zone was beginning to wind down after New Vale had deployed whatever it was that had levelled a sizeable area of the ruins.
"At ease" he grunted to the pair of guards that snapped to attention as he passed them, stepping out of the main medical bay and what could be considered both an intensive care unit and a long term patients ward, the crew called it 'The coma wing' the far wall of the otherwise pristine white room was taken up by eight foot tall tubes mounted vertically on plinths that incorporated several consoles and readouts, the tubes when in used were filled with breathing apparatus and a translucent blue cocktail of painkillers, sedatives and Aura stimulants which were constantly being recycled. Currently only one of the tubes was in use, almost the entirety of the medical staff crowded around and ensuring that Special Operative Kafsi Asteri continued to cling to life despite her grievous wounds
"My Oum you can see her damn heart!"
"She's gonna make it damn it!"
"Her left lung is almost cut in half, she's losing too much blood"
"Give me more Aura stim, we just have to keep her stable until we can get her to Atlas" Chiffon turned away, he knew from experience that the chief medical officer of the Gespenst would accept nothing less than a success; there was something of a saying on the ship 'You die in the field or you live forever' instead he turned his attention to someone who by rights should have been in the main medical bay being checked over for the effects of her clear malnourishment and trauma, Antonia Arc
"Miss Arc" he murmured as he approached not entirely sure of what he wanted to say, eventually settling on "You don't need to be here, we can find you an available quarters"
"No" she snapped, clearly harsher than she had intended if her expression was anything to go by "No more cabins. I need to be doing something useful, I need to be fixing this" she indicated towards the injured specialist and Chiffon realised that her hands were both trembling and holding onto something, a pen and notepad which she had been using to sketch out rough schematics for what looked like a cybernetic arm.
"Miss Arc" Chiffon tried to sound warm and understanding "You can't be here. I'm going to have to ask you to head back into the main Med bay at least….I can at least get you something for the shakes"
"I….just a coffee please" Antonia mumbled, fists clenching seemingly in anger at herself
"Can do" he turned and gently led her back through the main Med bay and out into one of the corridors of the ship where he noticed that she winced at her harsh lighting, privately noting that her quarters for the return flight to Atlas be dimmed. On the way to the ships mess hall Chiffon heard footsteps approaching from the opposite direction, followed by Antonia's gasp
"Qrow!" she moved faster than the specialist would have thought possible, rushing forward and throwing her arms around the approaching Hunters' neck
"Toni….good to see you're safe" Qrow murmured wearily before turning to Chiffon "I had the crew put the prisoners in separate cells when I brought their leader aboard. I know where to pick up the fourth member but it'll have to wait until the breaches are sealed….Oh and I had the little one's Aura dampening collar taken off, his Semblance let him regrow his arms; it was cruel to just leave him like that"
"You ordered the crew?" Chiffon raised an eyebrow at that
"I knew Slate when he was Beacon student and General Schnee and I go way back" he explained with a small smirk. Chiffon let the issue go and decided that his presence would be best served on the bridge now that he had confirmation that Antonia Arc and the Shadow Cadre had been brought safely aboard
"Understood. The Captain is currently leading a strike team in the field, I'll make him aware of your presence. In the meantime I'll be overseeing cleaning up whatever Grimm are left after that….in fact what was that thing, some kind of experimental mortar?"
"You don't want to know" Qrow chuckled darkly, as the first mate shrugged and set off towards the bridge Qrow turned to Antonia, suddenly looking his age as he visibly sagged forwards
"Eagle's out there" his voice was barely above a whisper "Her and my great nephew were trying to fight the Shark Faunus-"
"Carcharodon, oh my Oum is she okay?" Antonia demanded "Qrow! Is Eagle okay?"
"She's fine" Qrow nodded before making an admission "But Toni I made a mistake….she knows"
Felix had soon caught up with Eagle though his partner had originally ignored him and seemed determined to make her way back into the thick of the fighting on foot, a position that had thankfully changed when Felix pointed out that they still needed to find Arctus and Diamond and that would happen sooner if Eagle were in the car with him. The drive was filled by a tense silence between them caused by apprehension towards what would greet them combined with Eagle's current emotional state, a silence that was abruptly ended by a Scroll call from an almost hysterical Nyanza; Felix had managed to calm his long time friend down enough for him to explain that there was a single, highly dangerous Grimm stampeding through the city which Team NEON had failed to eliminate.
"Get in!" Felix hollered from the open window of the Killer-Bee as the muscle car skidded around a corner, finally bringing them to Arctus and Diamond's location; a black mist trailing from the blade of Lex Talionis implying that they had dispatched a creature of Grimm only moments ago
"What's happening?" Arctus asked as the two of them swiftly climbed into the back seat
"Team NEON need assistance" Eagle answered bluntly, her tone enough to make Arctus and Diamond look between their team-mates with questioning glances; only to be flung back into their seats as Felix floored the accelerator and pushed the Killer-Bee to its' limits
"Hang on" he warned them before activating the high output Dust booster, the g-force pushing the four teens even further into their seats while flames spewed from the exhaust
"Dude slow down!" Diamond insisted
"They need back up"
"You're gonna lose control!" the argument was rendered moot as with an explosion of rubble and twisted steel the Steed burst into view, roaring and thrashing its' head in triumph as it tore through yet another building before turning towards the oncoming vehicle and charging
"ARCTUS WE NEED A GLYPH!" Felix bellowed; the Bear Faunus complied and hastily threw up a Glyph, angled forwards to act as a ramp as he knew he had no hope of stopping the oncoming monster.
"We're not gonna make it!" Eagle warned them
"Bail out!" Diamond offered as she prepared to break a window a moment before they hit the improvised ramp almost immediately followed by the horns of the Steed shattered its' surface into countless glowing fragments. The interior of the Killer-Bee was filled with panicked screams as momentum carried the car over the body of the Grimm, flipping over in mid air as it sailed towards the nearest tower complex; crashing through several third story windows and rolling several times as it tore through rooms, eventually coming to a stop on its' roof
"Stop that Grimm!" Felix spat, the sound of footsteps and shattered glass crunching underfoot informing him that Arctus and Diamond had managed to free themselves of the wreckage;
"Eagle! Eagle are you okay!" Felix dragged himself out of the drivers' side window and promptly leapt over the remains of his car, tearing the passenger side door with Aura fuelled strength
"Eagle, Eagle are-"
"I'm okay" she assured him as she crawled to safety and gestured to Sentinel, the damaged yet still functional droid had protected her from the crash in shield mode; though she still sported a small gash on her her forehead which her Aura was quickly stitching shut
"Oh thank Oum" his relief was cut short by a furious roar from the Grimm outside followed by several gunshots
"Damn it" he growled before crouching down and clambering into the wreckage, prising the glove compartment open and withdrawing several magazines of ammunition, pausing when he found the single remaining clip of Nano-bomb rounds that his Aunts Penny and Ruby had given him before his departure from Patch
"Now we're talking" he grinned to himself as he drew his weapons and reloaded before joining Eagle in sprinting towards the gash that their entry had torn into the side of the building. Below them Arctus was flipping from Glyph to Glyph while hurling Glyphs imbued with various kinds of Dust into every available part of the Steed while avoiding its' thrashing tail and complaining loudly about how much easier this would be if he still had a plasma weapon. Diamond was using her Semblance to try and find a safe vantage point, so far every shot she'd taken had been blocked by the bony skull of the monster; then Felix's eyes widened as he realised exactly what she was sniping at and a plan began to piece itself together rapidly in his mind as he took in the sight of the web of what seemed to be nerves extending from the throne into the monster itself
"Eagle can Sentinel still fire?"
"He should be able to-"
"Then come on!" with that the Lion Faunus leapt to the ground and rushed towards the Steed whilst calling out to his team
"Eagle light it up with everything you've got! Arctus, Diamond fall back!"
"Got it!" the moment that her friends were clear the armoured Huntress planted her shield into the ground and allowed Sentinel to unfold
"Doot da doot!"
"Get 'em!" the droids' singular expressive optic narrowed as it aimed and opened a hailstorm of bullets, ripping into the already injured flank of the Steed; in response the Grimm turned to face them and prepared to charge, the whole time Felix drew closer towards it
"Arctus, Glyph!" a moment later a glowing platform appeared between himself and the rapidly approaching monstrosity
"What the hell is he doing!" Arctus demanded as he watched his cousin narrowly avoid being crushed as he leapt onto the Steeds' bony skull, the Lion Faunus made his way onto its' back and rolled under a wild slash from the Grimm sitting upon the throne on the Steeds' back. As the smaller Grimm rose to its' feet and the Steed came skidding to a halt Diamond seemed to make the connection
"The smaller one is controlling it, that's what that throne is for. He's gonna take it out!" her theory was proven correct as Felix raised Hack and Slash in their machine gun pistols and opened fire on the throne itself, peppering its surface with Nano-bomb rounds which each deployed a swarm of burrowing nanobots carrying minute explosives
"Let me give him a hand with that" Arctus chuckled as he withdrew the last of his Fire Dust crystals and crushed them before summoning a Nevermore and imbuing the construct with the Dust until its' colour shifted to a deep scarlet
"Felix, heads up!" he called out as the Nevermore flew towards the throne, his cousin had clearly heard him as he sheathed his weapons and prepared his Semblance, entire body glowing with the golden light of his Aura. The burning Nevermore struck the throne, detonating the Nano-bombs in a deafening blast that tore the entire forequarters of the Steed asunder; forcing Arctus to raise a Glyph almost as wide as the street as its' horned skull was propelled towards them, the Glyph and skull shattering as they collided against each other and sending Arctus staggering back several paces
"Look!" Eagle pointed to the explosion which seemed to be frozen in time for a moment before the heat and flames were absorbed by Felix's Semblance; a golden beacon slowly approaching through the black mist and falling dust and debris
"Well I feel pretty damn good right now" Felix chuckled as he strode into view, his entire body glowing with absorbed power. His smile quickly faded as he caught sight of the change in his friends' expressions, then he heard movement behind him and was stunned to see that the sword wielding Alpha Beowolf still lived despite its' bony carapace being reduced to a lattice of fractures and was stalking towards him, weapon at the ready; his shock increased by orders of magnitude when the Grimm proceeded to render Team FADE's collective knowledge of the monsters invalid by speaking
"I am Phobos. I know you….You did this" the Alpha gestured to its' armoured carapace where Felix could see what appeared to be healed gouges, gouges that correlated with the damage his own swords inflicted
"What the hell" he mouthed out. Phobos stepped closer and raised its' broadsword with a challenge
"Today, vengeance. Today, you die"
"Felix-" the Lion Faunus raised his hand and cut off his team
"I've got this" with that he began to channel the thermal energy he'd robbed from the explosion; flesh taking on the appearance of molten rock with several criss crossing lines of magma coursing over his arms, hair and furred tail appearing to become masses of golden flames while blazing light shone from his eyes. Felix entered his Balrog state and prepared to cut loose in a way he would never consider against a living opponent. With matching feral roars the Grimm and the Hunter charged at each other and the street shook with the impact of their first blows.
Ruby had decided against taking part in the centenary celebrations, the event was also being used to mark twenty years since the defeat of Salem; such things always made her uncomfortable as her own involvement in the battle and celebrity status amongst anyone with even a passing interest in the Hunter community would inevitably see her swarmed by fans causing the ghost of her childhood awkwardness to resurface. There was also the matter of how many lives had been sacrificed for the victories being celebrated; the nightmares were far less frequent now but Ruby still had the names of the fallen tattooed on her arm; Pyrrha, Jaune, Perdu, Fox, Neo and Oscar among others. Instead Ruby had taken the ferry to Patch where she gave a speech to students who were preparing to head to Halo or one of the other Kingdoms' Hunter academies the following semester, this had been followed by a demonstration in the form of a sparring match between herself and Yang with Taiyang acting as referee. When school ended for the day she'd stayed on the island and caught up with her family, joined by Blake when she returned home from work, the four of them were considering heading to Miltia's bar when Ruby received a message from Penny; her expression darkening when she realised that it was from her wife's own internal communication system rather than her Scroll. An SOS.
"What's going on?" Ruby demanded as she skidded to a halt at the docks to find several police officers cordoning them off while Sun oversaw, behind her she could hear the engines of the Bumblebee and Fairy Blue meaning that Blake and Yang had caught up after she had sped off on foot.
"Grimm attack….like before" Sun answered, his tone and expression far removed from his usual cheery self; Ruby understood why, Sage Ayana of Team SSSN had sacrificed himself in the Battle of Beacon "Some of the ships might bring refugees over but other than that orders are to lock down"
"What about the refugee ships?" Yang asked as she deployed Ember Celica and reached for the heavy weapons attachment slung over her back "If they're making a return trip to pick up more people then we'll head over"
"I don't think-" Ruby stepped into Sun's personal space and glowered, her eyes seeming to glow as she did so
"Penny is in New Vale. She has the twins with her"
"Oh my Oum….Ruby I'm sorry" Sun hung his head while Ruby merely stepped back
"Just get out of my way. Blake, Yang you'll have to catch up" she paid no mind to their objections and focused herself to the extent that everything around her seemed to fade into a droning in the background; she prepared to do something that taken her more than a decade to learn, only mastering the technique during a mission to a settlement outside of Vaccuo populated by members of a religious sect. Contrails of silver light streamed from beneath her eyelids as she rushed forwards, triggering both her Semblance and the powers of the Silver Eyed Warrior in unison leaving her friends and family stood in shock and awe when she surged upwards rather than forwards. It took a lot of power and focus but Ruby Rose had learned to fly.
"Hold on I'm coming" she whispered to herself as she shot through the air at blinding speeds, wind howling in her ears and a trail of silver light and glowing rose petals in her wake. She reached the city itself in minutes but refused to slow herself as she weaved around the capitals' colossal structures and the web of bridges and monorails between them, eventually finding the location of Penny's distress signal; almost falling due to losing her focus as the sight below seemed to squeeze her heart in a vice. The Pearl was utterly decimated, missing its' entire cockpit, primary weapons array and a wing but what horrified her more was the sight of Penny struggling to hold the line against a tide of Grimm drawn to her desperation, slowly being forced back against the remains of the craft inch by inch, her emerald green Aura flickering around her with each blow. Penny's blades relieved a King-Taijitu of both of its' heads in quick succession before rending a pair of Beringrel apart only to leapt upon by a pack of Creeps which began to claw at her
"Not again, never again" Ruby gasped before diving down into the fray before letting out a single scream of rage "GET AWAY FROM HER!" everything went white, her ears filled with ringing that drowned out the sound of the creatures of Grimm being simply unmade as Ruby unleashed every ounce of power she had in a single wave; falling to her knees as her vision returned to her, albeit blurry
"Penny!" she forced herself back to her feet, paying little mind to her surroundings as she rushed to where Penny was struggling to rise. The copper haired android was clearly suffering considerable damage; her clothes were ripped in several places, the synthetic skin beneath it torn revealing mechanical components which spat sparks in protest to their mistreatment
"I still function" Penny assured her before collapsing backwards and slumping against the remains of the Pearl, revealing a truly horrific wound to her face beneath which the glistening metal of her cranium and workings of her left eye were visible. Ruby rushed over, still panting for breath as she unfastened her cape, promptly wrapping the ragged and torn and fading garment which had become her signature around Penny's shoulders and planting a kiss against her forehead before pulling the hood up to hid the damage
"Where are the twins?"
"Safe" Penny answered, her voice sounding somewhat digital as she tapped against the remains of the Pearl, implying that some of the inner workings of her throat had been damaged. Ruby moved towards where the partition between the rear and cockpit of the craft had been welded shut and deployed Crescent Rose, her scythe tearing the metal away with ease revealing Tai-Jaune and Summer-Pyrrha huddled in a corner together, tears streaming down their faces
"It's okay" Ruby assured them as she rushed over, Penny limping after her "It's okay we're here, everyone is okay I promise" the two mothers scooped the twins up into their arms and held them close, overcome with countless emotions until the sound of something landing outside sent a chill through them.
"Griffin, must have slipped through" Penny informed Ruby who hadn't yet turned to face the Grimm which was stalking towards the Pearl, Ruby deposited Tai-Jaune allowing both of the twins to hide behind Penny, staring at the approaching monster in terror as its' talons clanged against the crafts' interior
"Stay behind Penny" she warned them before turning towards the Grimm and raising her scythe only to stagger, still drained from her flight and the wave of power she'd unleashed upon landing; the Grimm instinctively lunged upon seeing the sign of weakness only to be reduced to nothingness as something that defied all logic happened; the interior of the Pearl was filled with blinding light and the high pitched voices of two children screaming in unison
"LEAVE OUR MUM ALONE!" the light faded as rapidly leaving Ruby and Penny in stunned silence, staring with wide eyes at their children who had slumped backwards into Penny's arms unconscious
"They….they just" Ruby struggled to find words, Penny looked up at her and smiled as best as the damage to her face would allow
"They're like you. Our children are sensational Ruby"
Arctus, Eagle and Diamond were forced to stand back and watch the battle unfolding as the intense heat being given off by Felix's Balrog state was almost unbearable to even their Aura enhanced durability, the Lion Faunus reduced the ground around him to a near molten state; Phobos however seemed to suffer from no such difficulties, being far stronger than even the average Alpha; the Grimm just would not die. What should have been a simple matter of Felix grabbing Phobos and removing its' skull with brute force alone had quickly developed into a prolonged fight as the Grimm ducked and weaved around attacks, taking any gaps in Felix's guard as an opportunity to attack
"How long can Felix keep this up?" Eagle asked nervously as she watched her partner deliver an earth shattering overhand which Phobos rolled away from, leaving Felix's arm buried to the elbow in the ground only to be ripped free with ease when he lunged forwards grabbing the Grimm by the scruff of the neck and landing a solid punch to its' chest
"I've never seen him keep going for this long" Arctus answered, his concern evident even as the car the Phobos had been hurled into exploded, a dark shape emerging from the flames confirming that the Alpha was still far from defeated
"Die!" Phobos howled, rushing forward with its' bone sword raised; Felix with an equally fierce roar lunged and landed a punch that lifted the Grimm into the air with enough force to send it crashing through a window several stories above the ground, then without warning Felix's body returned to its' natural state and he staggered forwards gasping for breath
"It's not dead" Diamond warned her team, being proven correct when Phobos burst from the tower block it had been launched into, its' bony carapace cracked and chipped in several places but still standing
"Felix get back!" Arctus warned, though his cousin was clearly too drained to act. The Bear Faunus knew that he had almost no Aura left of his own but readied Gefroren-Erbe regardless, deciding the being over six feet tall and muscular while wielding a sword would just have to be enough though before he could act he saw Diamond streaking towards where Felix stood, positioning herself between him and the Grimm stalking towards him
"Come on!" with that both Arctus on Eagle charged into the fray with swords drawn just as Diamond and Phobos reached each other and the silver haired sniper took a low slash at the Alpha's legs. Arctus's eyes widened in terror as he watched Phobos leap over the attack, clawed feet connecting with Diamond's chest and pinning her to the ground while the Grimm raised its' sword high
"No!" with a single frantic word Arctus gathered the entirety of his remaining Aura into a single Glyph positioned over his forearm like a shield and barrelled into Phobos before it could strike, hurling it back several meters before it buried the tip of its' sword into the ground, tearing a gouge as it stopped itself and returned to its' feet while Arctus's Aura flickered around him before finally fading in its' entirety
"Thanks" Diamond breathed out as Arctus helped her to her feet before turning to Felix "You okay Dude?"
"Can't breathe" he gasped out, clearly in extreme discomfort "Give me a minute"
"We don't have a minute!" Arctus warned as Phobos charged towards them with a howl of rage, eyes seeming to glow even brighter in the darkness
"Felix stay back, we've got this!" Eagle shouted as she stepped forwards, swinging her shield into the Grimms' snout and knocking it aside, Phobos allowed itself to roll with the attack countering with a furious slash that Eagle managed to block but was still forced back by, at which point Arctus and Diamond leapt into action, the Grimm's bone sword clashing against their weapons with speed and ferocity that rivalled that of a trained Hunter. A berserk downward slash from Phobos forced Diamond to block with her glaive held overhead, almost buckling her knees with the impact, the Grimm pressed the advantage by kicking her in the stomach with enough force to send her tumbling to the ground only for Arctus to rush in, their blades meeting between them. The Bear Faunus managed to stand his ground for a few seconds but without Aura it was a hopeless endeavour, Phobos knocked his blade aside and swung; Arctus was numb and cold for a brief moment before the realisation that he'd been wounded hit him and his entire world seemed to become consumed by pain as he collapsed backwards, his last clear memory was that of Diamond's scream of anguish
"NO!" Eagle watched as Arctus fell, the white of his clothes darkening as blood poured from a slash reaching from his right hip almost to his left shoulder. Diamond's scream snapped her back into focus and she charged back towards the battle just as the sniper tackled Phobos, arms locking around the Grimm's waist in attempt to drag it to the ground, Phobos responded with a devastating strike to the face that sent her staggering back dazed and unable to defend herself as the Grimm prepared to swing its' sword at her neck. Mercifully Eagle reached them in time to tackle Diamond to the ground and allow the blade to hit nothing but air
"STAY DOWN!" Felix's voice called out to Eagle the moment she tried to rise, followed by the sound of something flying through the air above her and an agonised howl. Pulling both herself and Diamond out of the way she saw Phobos staggering back with one of Felix's sword buried almost to the hilt between its' left shoulder and collarbone, the blade bursting from the bony carapace of its' back. Felix himself rushed forwards and grabbed the handle of the weapon, bringing the chainsaw blades of Hack and Slash screeching to life and tearing a scream of pain from Phobos as the blade buried in its' flesh was pulled up and out, tearing the Alpha's shoulder apart and leaving its' left arm hanging limp. Felix gave no quarter and fought furiously, this time eschewing Semblance fuelled might in favour of skills honed over years of training alongside Yang; each time Phobos managed to block one of his swords with its' own Felix followed up with a knee to the ribs or elbow to the snout. Refusing to be defeated Phobos ducked under Felix's next attack, a scissor like movement that would have claimed the Alpha's head; forcing its' ruined arm to move Phobos sprung forwards and wrapped the claws of its' left hand around the back of Felix's skull and made to skewer the Hunter with the bone sword held in its' right. Phobos's mind exploded into pain as it felt its' right hand leave its' body, the sound of chainsaw blades rending bone apart ringing in its' ears while a glance downwards revealed that Felix's sword had torn through the Grimm's wrist from below and continued upwards, breaking the blade of its' weapon as they collided
"Die!" Phobos spat before slamming its' snout against the bridge of Felix's nose and being rewarded with a satisfying crunch, rearing back again the Alpha closed its' jaws around the Faunus's skull and began to crush, Felix dropped the sword in his left hand and tried to grab Phobos's jaws and force them apart; unable to see he was unaware of the fact that his Aura was rippling around him in golden waves but he could nonetheless sense that he needed to end this in one decisive strike.
He thrust the sword still in his hand upwards. He was instantly rewarded by the slackening of Phobos's grip and he stepped back to see his sword piercing the Alpha's throat and protruding from the base of its' neck. Phobos collapsed to its' knees and let out several sickening, gargling coughs before uttering its' final chilling words
"I'm coming home mother" with that the light left the Grimm's eyes and its' body began to dissipate. Felix wasted no time celebrating his victory, not even stopping to retrieve his swords before running to where Arctus lay and crouching beside Eagle who was helping Diamond apply pressure to the wound
"How bad is it?" his voice wavered as he asked
"Bad" she answered simply, her own fear plain as Arctus's blood seeped between her fingers
"Don't you dare die on me big guy" Diamond choked back sobs as she applied pressure with one hand while cradling his head with the other "I love you you dumb-ass so stay with me….please, please don't die"
"We to get him to a hospital" Felix stated, fumbling for his Scroll and praying to any deity that was listening that help would arrive on time. Before he could fish the device from his pockets an answer came in the sound of a dull booming sound that preceded a bust of acrid dark smog; a phenomenon Felix knew the cause of
"Uncle Gang" he croaked out. The hulking Bear Faunus took one look at the scene he'd arrived at, amber eyes widening in horror before speaking into a comms headset
"Team, area is secure but we need medical evac right now! Chiffon, Chiffon do you copy? I want a Bull-Head on my location in the next thirty seconds!" Felix had no way of knowing what responses Gangrel had received only that he was making his way over to them
"Uncle Gang I'm sorry, I didn't, I couldn't-"
"You've all done more than we had any right to ask" Arctus's father murmured before crouching down and lifting his son from the ground with ease
"I'm not leaving him" Diamond stated bluntly her teary eyes defiant, Gangrel merely nodded before speaking to Arctus, hoping that he was still conscious enough to hear him
"Come on kid, hang in there. You're gonna be okay"
Authors Notes:
And that is the final chapter of the breach, next chapter is where we wrap up loose ends and finish up the first year.
I hope the first large scale battle of this story lived up to expectations.
So let's summarise:
I realise I have a habit of starting mid-way through a battle (e.g. Ether and Olivine already being down) or cutting away and coming back.
Nyanza didn't know what Phobos was he just had a gut instinct that taking out the rider/pilot would be easier and just as effective as stopping the Steed itself.
Nyanza's luck had to run out eventually and I think getting slapped across the street and through a store counts.
Note that whenever Phobos leaves the throne the Steed stops moving.
And Helios's record of nothing being able to land a hit on his pretty face is broken.
Felix used to get into a lot of fights on Patch remember, a lot of the time he was standing up for Nyanza; Nyanza probably looks up to Felix a fair bit and if put under enough pressure will default to calling him for help.
Probably not the best chapter to introduce a new character, notice that I didn't actually give Chiffon a physical description though; we are gonna see more of him, Arctus still has to do the Hunter equivalent of community service for pulling a gun on Kafsi.
Just a casual reminder that New Vale are pushing the Grimm back, between Nora wiping out their reinforcements before they could leave the exclusion zone, the massive aerial presence, the preprepared shelters and fallback zone and Hunters on the ground the breach wasn't as bad as it could have been despite multiple smaller breaches happening at once.
Kafsi is still alive, she's utterly fucked but she's still alive; also I wasn't planning on making the CMO of the Gespenst a character but as I was writing the scene I was thinking of Ratchet from Transformers so I might have to introduce them.
I am no expert in PTSD by any stretch but I think Antonia developing claustrophobia after being held prisoner and kept confined to a cabin for so long is more than reasonable.
She's also probably far too proud to admit it and will try and keep herself to busy to acknowledge her problems instead (Like drawing up designs for Kafsi's prosthetic the moment she got onto the ship)
So the Shadow Cadre is gonna be held on Gangrel's ship….remember how Raffia stabbed Arctus in Vol.1, Gang remembers.
I love the idea that Atlas has the best tech but the idea of doing what New Vale did with Nora is something that just wouldn't occur to their strategists.
Oh that conversation is gonna be fun.
Team FADE reunited, I was planning on that happening at the end of the last chapter but I didn't want to detract from that final scene.
Okay so the Killer-Bee is a write off, that being said if Arctus hadn't gotten that Glyph up in time the car would have crushed with Team FADE still inside.
The Nano-bomb rounds from initiation, I swear I didn't forget about them, I've been planning on Felix having one clip left for the first year finale since I started the story.
Yeah Arctus's Plasma gun could have fixed this problem a lot easier.
Felix's plan was simple but effective, take out the throne and Phobos can't control the Steed; it's like a car with no steering wheel, Arctus knew he'd find a use for his Fire Dust summons.
When Phobos was revealed to still be alive I was thinking Freiza after the Spirit Bomb in DBZ.
Remember that Phobos met Team FADE prior to being Phobos.
Thinking about it festivals celebrating the end of the wars are probably great for everyone except the Hunters who fought in them and watched their friends die, Ruby probably isn't alone in that regard.
Okay seriously, imagine the students at Signal's reaction to getting to see their teacher fight THE Ruby Rose.
Okay "Our Happy Ever After" is set ten years after The Downward Spiral and ten years before this story and Ruby couldn't fly then, so this is a relatively new development (Also remember when Penny made a comment about 'Unless someone else can fly' that was foreshadowing for this)
And you can imagine that a decent percentage of the Grimm that were still in the city were just dealt with by Ruby.
"I still function" yes Penny quoted Megatron.
Bet you weren't expecting that.
I try to balance to OP factor of Felix's Balrog state by having it be all power and no finesse, taking a lot of power combined with the fact he's effectively fighting alone whenever he uses it because its' actually kinda dangerous for his allies to be near him (Hence him turning it off the second Eagle grabbed him when he was about to beat the crap out of Torchwick)
Of course Arctus used the last of his Aura to save Diamond.
Eagle casually backhanding Grimm across the face with a shield is a wonderful mental image.
Oh dear, big guy down! I repeat big guy down!
Felix is not playing now.
Felix getting his nose broken is becoming a running gag.
Phobos's last words….they won't get a full pay off until third year but be afraid, be very afraid.
Diamond said it back.
Teleporter Ex Machina.
Thank you to SumoSnipe, Araniladin, FleetOfWarships, Arkanes Shippou, ShadowAlex2000 and FluffyFirefly for their reviews on the last chapter (Also I know some of you had trouble reading it due to the FF Net having technical difficulties for a good chunk of the weekend)
Yeah I dinged the Bee….think it's a little bit more than dinged now.
It had to be FADE that faced the Steed and Phobos, the thing with Ruby is that she is essentially a massive anti Grimm weapon; putting her against the main threat removes the tension.
I feel like Qrow and Toni could go either way, I mean they could both end up hating each other but they could possibly come to some sort of understanding.
Hope you've got that silver platter ready.
The Molly Weasley moment was promised and it was delivered.
Yeah Helios was raised and honour glory and martial pride (I'm also planning on introducing some other members of the Nikosi in the second year arc, like his Mother and Sister)
I want Eagle and Qrow's reconciliation to be a plot point over second year, also I think it's not so much the reveal that she's pissed off at as how many people knew and chose not to tell her.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.