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Chapter 162: Endgame
"Come children….I've been expecting you"
Salem's voice hung in the air and reverberating unnaturally from the walls of her cavernous throne room, each echo shifting in pitch and twisting the air pressure around her; leaving Team FADE with beads of cold sweat running down each of their brows as they regarded the Queen of the Grimm in her new armoured form as she in turn stared back at them, hefting her monstrous great-sword in a single clawed and armoured hand and silently radiating waves of simple, raw crushing dread and malevolence that even eclipsed their previous experience with the corrupted Witch, avatar of the Grimm Hive-Mind and manifestation of destruction. Team FADE were in the presence of evil itself and each of them felt a chill in the air despite the steadily rising magma below whose flickering light gave their surrounding an ominous and ever-shifting glow; a single moment stretched out for an impossible amount of time, Salem and the Hunters locking eyes as the tension between them built into a crescendo that erupted as Felix did the only thing he could.
He charged.
The Lion Faunus let out a wordless yell as he crossed the distance between them, rushing out onto the bridge made of Grimm-flesh that Salem stood in the centre of, zigzagging and weaving across its' broad surface in an effort to hide his angle of attack before leaping onto the outer railings and springing through the air, sailing towards Salem in a wide arc with his golden Aura shimmering and blazing around him and Hack and Slash held at the ready as he prepared to deliver a decisive blow yet before he could do so Salem simply vanished in a blur of motion and darkness; Felix's eyes widened in sudden fright as she appeared in front of him, leaping into the air herself to meet the challenge head on with her monstrous sword held at the ready. The sword thrust forward and Felix knew that he would be unable to halt himself, his own momentum made unstoppable by his Semblance would carry him face first onto the tip of Salem's blade and there was nothing he could do to prevent it.
Yet he was not alone.
At the last possible moment, with Salem's living weapon a mere fraction of an inch from his skull the familiar sight of a Glyph manifesting in front of Felix allowed him to breath a sigh of relief, its' ebony surface infused with Gravity Dust could not halt the Lion Faunus yet it could redirect his momentum and as he collided with it he ricocheted backwards less than a second before Salem's sword tore through the Glyph; the two combatants returning to the surface of the bridge and landing in crouches with Felix skidding and sliding backwards, his heart hammering in his chest whilst Salem landed gracefully and continued to twirl her sword as she rose to her feet; hateful eyes continuing to bore into the Hunters from above the edge of the snarling and armoured mask that covered the lower half of her face. Then Arctus stepped in front of his stunned and winded cousin and joined the battle in earnest, Glyphs spanning the entire width of the bridge and spanning out into the chasm above it whilst layering atop one another to create a half sphere that completely kept Team FADE from Salem's view and from there, with a roar of exertion and almighty effort that left him swaying on his feet Arctus unleashing a summoned Grimm construct from each and every one of his Glyphs in perfect tandem. The force that the Bear Faunus unleashed upon Salem was simply indescribable, the Glyphs closest to the ground conjured a tide of Beowolves and Ursas that thundered across the bridge in an effort to repay Salem's own efforts to stop Team FADE and bury her beneath a sea of teeth and claws whilst those Glyphs above and to the sides produced dozens upon dozens of Nevermore, each of which flocked around the Queen of the Grimm and fired their jagged quills at her.
Yet Salem was power incarnate.
"FOOLISH CHILDREN!" her voice boomed and thundered from the centre of the crushing press of faintly glowing constructs that had engulfed her before a profound, abyssal darkness began to emanate from the gaps and seemed to drain and absorb the light from its' surroundings before it exploded outwards, a dome of roiling void-black clouds that writhed and twisted like a living thing that were wreathed in crimson lightning rushed out to consume Arctus's construct and as the afterglow of the attack subsided Salem could be seen, entirely unmoved by the Faunus's attack and as she raised her sword and pointed at the Hunters that opposed her Arctus felt a sudden plummeting feeling in his stomach; a wave of pure dread washing over him before the carapace-like ground between them began to erupt outwards into spikes and jagged shards of bone that rushed ever closer until Arctus was forced to enclose himself in layers of Glyphs to protect himself from the assault.
Then Diamond charged into battle.
Salem's spikes and blades retracted into the ground which returned to its' previous smooth, chitinous finish as the Queen of the Grimm dismissed them with a lazy gesture yet before they could fully recede the silver-haired sniper was on the move, leaping from one spire of sharpened bone to the next in a dizzying display of athleticism whilst at the same time she unleashed a volley of gunfire, each leap forward allowing her to line up a shot from another angle with expert precision and each shot being a different manner of Dust Round that ripped into where Salem stood. The armoured Witch proved herself equal to this onslaught however; the cataclysm of warping gravity and magnetic fields, flames, lightning, blossoming ice crystals and jagged masses of hard-light that engulfed Salem as Diamond opened fire doing little, if anything to harm her; the outline of her armoured form seeming to blur and bleed into the space around it as she bent the flow of time around herself to her will and simply evaded and batted aside the majority of the attacks before shattering the expanding mass of hard-light with a blow that had been accelerated to an incredible velocity. Eventually Diamond ran out of spears of bone to leap between and landed on the railings of the bridge, her weapon shifting into its' glaive form in her hand and Arctus's yelled warnings from behind her ringing in her ears as she, like Felix before her realised that there was nothing else left to do and simply charged forwards to meet Salem head on; sprinting across railings until she was almost level with Salem who remained statuesque and unnervingly calm before leaping diagonally across the bridge in attempt to slash at her enemy. She was brought skidding to a halt and landed in a crouch as Salem finally moved, blindingly fast and robbing Diamond's momentum with ease as she blocked with her sword and held the young woman at bay, the joints in Diamond's cybernetic left arm creaking with the sudden strain.
"Hunters, predictable as always" Salem sighed, bored and almost disappointed as she ripped her sword away from Diamond's weapon, throwing her off balance with the same motion before preparing to bring it down for a killing strike; Diamond's eyes widened and she brought her glaive overhead as she scrabbled into a crouch as she prepared to attempt to block or deflect the incoming blow, knowing that it was all-but hopeless. Then suddenly she was flung backwards and out of the path of Salem's sword, her stunned confusion vanishing a moment later as an avian shriek filled the air and answered her questions.
Eagle had come to her aid.
The armoured and freckled blonde had taken to the air with the use of her Semblance and swooped under the bridge to avoid Salem's gaze before flying through the gaps in the railing and returning to her true form for just long enough to tackle Diamond aside before returning to her avian form once again; taking advantage of the opening that her friend had created Diamond bolted and fell back to where Team FADE were stood at the edge of the bridge, realising that she was able to do so without incident because of Salem's preoccupation with Eagle who weaved between a flurry of spikes, lashing tendrils and grasping, snapping limbs that grew from the outer edges of the bridge as Eagle continued to soar around it before finally making her way back to Team FADE herself; once again returning to her true form and unsheathing her black-bladed sword to cut through the incoming attacks with Felix, Arctus and Diamond coming to her a moment later; prompting Salem to halt her attack and regard the Hunters in silence once again.
"It ends here Salem!" Felix called out, his voice a furious roar over the sound of his weapons whirring blade.
"Of course it ends here child, what ever did you think this was all in aid of?" Salem retorted, her tone scathing and yet clearly amused at the efforts of the Hunters to stop her, evolved as she was she was still the essence of the Grimm itself and their fear and the slow death of their dwindling hope only fed her appetite for destruction.
"Remnant ends here" she continued "And it's only fitting that there are Hunters here to watch, powerless until the very end when my creation burrows its' way down into the core of Remnant so that I can eat the molten heart of your world and bring it crashing in on itself" hearing the Queen of the Grimm speak each of Team FADE shared horrified looks before casting fearful and disgusted glances over the edge of the bridge to where the enormous Grimm Drill resided, it's body constantly knitting itself back together as it was scorched by the magma that filled the chasm below and even at its' tortuously slow pace it was clear to see that the thing was still hard at work, chewing through the crust and mantle of Remnant. Realising that the fate of their world and everyone who lived or ever would live on it was truly in their hands alone Team FADE shared one final look before Felix squared his shoulders and called out to Salem again.
"No!"he said simply, voice rising and becoming more confident with each syllable "Not here and not today! I might not be some Silver Eyed Warrior destined to save the world, I'm just a kid from Patch with some really good friends….But we're here and Remnant is counting on us even if they don't know it, so we're the ones that are gonna find a way to stop you, whatever it takes!"
Salem's laugher echoed off the walls.
"Most impressive, a smaller more honest soul….Ruby Rose would be so proud of you" she taunted "I spent so long playing the role of grand architect, sending others to complete my goals rather than seizing victory myself and frankly it's a shame….I wish I'd heard more heroic speeches before I ended this world, it would have made it all the more entertaining"
With that Salem charged and the battle truly began.
Team NEON once again found themselves beset by Grimm as the Spawning Pit deep within the bowels of Salem's fortress responded to their presence by unleashing masses of half-formed, starving and rabid monsters upon them.
"Nyanza, fall back and cover Ether!" Helios barked out and the bushy-tailed Feline Faunus did as he was instructed, keen eyes scanning his surroundings as he went, ahead of was the corroded, blasted and desolate shores of Salem's Spawning Pit itself, its' surface roiling and shifting as it released yet another Creature of Grimm which Helios and Olivine rushed towards and engaged, the thing resembled an Ursa but was emaciated in appearance with open cavities that dripped viscous black liquid in place of the masses of muscles and armour that it should have possessed. To the sides Nyanza could see nothing of any value, his vision not piercing the darkness as much as he might have hoped whilst above him he could see the hole that the four of the had arrived through, a shredded and cancerous mass of mutated Grimm tissue comprised of rippling flesh that had been halted in the midst of dozens of simultaneous transformations, leaving limp appendages and slack jaws remaining as the corridor they had destroyed with Fracture was kept from fading away by its' connection to the rest of fortress; Nyanza could only hope that the compound would continue to spread further through the place and cause Salem more problems.
In truth he was looking anywhere but at Ether.
"We're gonna get out of here man, you're gonna be fine" he tried to sound reassuring but his voice betrayed him as it cracked and wavered, they had managed to stem the bleeding as much as possible with Ice Dust between attacks but Ether was still deathly pale, weak and dizzy after the blood loss and remained on the ground, unable to feel his legs after the wounds he had received in the destroyed corridor above.
"Don't lie to me man….it's not looking good for us right now" Ether replied in a hoarse whisper, the weakness of his voice worrying Nyanza even further yet the Faunus was forced to remain silent as something else demanded his attention.
Movement above them.
"Shit!" he exclaimed as he realised that the Grimm emerging from the shores of the Spawning Pit closest to them had been nothing more than a distraction, hence their half-made appearances. The true threat must have been and created on the other side of the Spawning Pit and sent around to flank them as, looking up with eyes widened in shock Nyanza could see hundreds of Grimm scuttling across the destroyed roof of the chamber, Spider-Monkeys small but ferocious monsters that attacked in endless droves, each of them being roughly the size of a small child and possessed of snapping jaws and nine lightning fast limbs, four arms, four legs and a tail.
"You're not gonna be able to shoot them all before they get here" Ether noted as he saw what his team-mate was staring at and realised with a sense of finality that the Spider-Monkeys were planning to swarm across the roof and down the wall behind Team NEON to attack them from behind, pinning Nyanza, Olivine and Helios between themselves and the Spawning Pit and claiming Ether as their first, easy kill as in his current condition he was unable to run, fight or even escape the blast of his Dust crystal picks.
Nyanza however had other ideas.
"Give me your Dust crystal picks, as many of them as you've got!" he ordered insistently, eyes already beginning to glow as if lit from behind as he readied his Semblance; Ether scrabbled to comply as best as he could, throwing aside the mangled remains of Ghost Reverie to rummage through all of his pockets and produce several dozen of the small items, almost every possible variation of Dust represented between them.
"This should be enough" Nyanza noted, a faint glimmer of his former cockiness rising to the surface as he scooped up the Dust picks and braced himself, muscles coiled and his Aura flowing through them as he watched the Grimm that rapidly drew close; the streams of Grimm amassing into a single swarm intended to wash over them and then, at the final possible moment Nyanza hurled the Dust crystals into the oncoming Grimm before drawing his pistols and firing.
The result was cataclysmic.
Hundred of Grimm were simply consumed and unmade in an elemental storm that made the air itself tremble as rain, hail and ash fell down upon Ether and Nyanza, the Feline Faunus remaining rooted to the spot and keeping his pistols trained and the fading cloud of darkness that the Grimm had been reduced to, unwilling to take any chances. His vigilance was rewarded when a lone Spider-Monkey came shrieking out the darkness with its' fangs bared and clawed limbs at the ready, only to meet its' end as Milo, in its' spear form impaled it through the skull.
"We need a plan" Helios noted as he and Olivine rejoined them, the latest Grimm to attack them head on having been halted "We came here to destroy the Spawning Pit"
"But we don't have the Fracture" Olivine answered solemnly
"There are other ways" Helios countered only for Nyanza to interject
"Yeah but they all involve unleashing one last, giant Grimm….look Heely I know we're all gonna die here, but just throwing a makeshift Dust bomb into that Pit is us being the ones to throw everyone's lives away, they can't fight whatever that pit spits out on top of everything else" the fact that 'everything else' currently included Salem herself did not need to be stated and Helios screwed his eyes shut, desperate to form a solution before the next wave of Grimm came.
A few moments later he opened his vibrant green eyes and stared directly up.
"I have a plan" he stated eventually "But I'm not sure you're going to like it"
Team GORE continued to be beset by the Grimm that had emerged from Salem's fortress in their hundreds with the intent to kill them; the three of them having landed in the midst of the dozens of Gargoyles that filled the twisted and crushed remains of the open deck of the Nemesis Kharybdis and then steadily pushed out so that each of the three Faunus warriors had room to manoeuvre without risk of hitting their team-mates whilst still being able to aid each other when needed, the air was filled with the smoke and mist of disintegrating monsters as the trio proving their abilities as some of the most efficient Grimm killers of their generation.
Onyx, as always fought like a rampaging juggernaut and even now, with his Semblance still unable to be used again so soon after the last blast he waded through the Gargoyles like a force of nature made flesh. He held Jotun Fang in its' artillery piece mode, under-slung and firing from the hip as half a dozen lumbering Grimm charged at him only to be destroyed as explosive shells ripped into their thick, leathery and armoured hides before detonating; the victory was short lived however as the sky above him was split by the sound of fierce, primal roars and a further trio of Gargoyles descended on him like falling comets. Onyx answered with a roar of his own as he shifted its' weapon into its' close combat mode and swinging, the massive double-bladed battleaxe ripped into the skull of the first Gargoyle as it dove at him and the beast perished as its' head was split in two; Onyx was forced back a step by the impact but with a guttural snarl he lashed out again with a vicious backhanded swipe that cleaved through the gut of a second Gargoyle before he lunged forward to meet the oncoming attack of the third Grimm and drove his own skull into its' armoured mask of a face, its' fangs cutting into him despite his Aura even as the headbutt sent it reeling back. Onyx readied his axe again and he and the Gargoyle circled around each other, searching for an opening.
Until an attack came from elsewhere.
The Puma Faunus saw the throwing knives embed themselves in the Grimm's flank and shoulder and promptly shielded his eyes before the Gargoyle could be set ablaze, its' body burning from within before it finally perished. Under normal circumstances having his kill stolen in such a way might irk him, as it was there were more than enough Gargoyles to spare and so Onyx simply nodded in thanks to Hellion before he sought out a fresh opponent and the two of them continued with the battle.
Hellion, whilst lacking the simple brute strength of Onyx was no less of a destructive force upon the battlefield, agile cunning and utterly ruthless the lithe and slender Dragonfly Faunus slipped between the ranks of the Gargoyle Grimm and cut them down by the score. Flames from her and Onyx's entrance to battle still raged around them, along with smoke billowing out from the innards of the Nemesis Kharybdis where Grimm had stumbled upon the traps that they had set to defend their home from these invaders that defiled it; as a Gargoyle leapt on her Hellion promptly seized its' arm and used its' own weight and momentum to hurl the thing into the flames, slipping a blade into where a mans' liver would be and holding the Grimm in the fire until the Dust crystal became visibly unstable before hefting the Grimm overhead and throwing into a crowd of its' fellow monsters where the crystal promptly exploded and sent lightning bolts ripping through them. She was not finished however, several of the Gargoyles had survived and Hellion drew a pair of simple, unadorned knives and charged into the fray; the Grimm charged at her only for a shriek to fill the air as Marauder swooped low and plucked the eyes out of the nearest monster before soaring out of reach, stunning the Grimm for just long enough for Hellion to close the distance and drag her blades through each of their throats. Pausing for a moment she cast her eyes around before turning back to Onyx who had cleaved yet another monster in half and asking
"Where's Car?"
Carcharodon had broken away from his friends the moment he had heard explosions within the depths of the Nemesis Kharybdis, the Shark Faunus was the leader of his people and the Captain of this ship and he would not see his home sullied by these beasts' presence any longer. At that moment a pair of Gargoyles prowled, dragging their knuckles as they walked through unlit corridors that led to the kitchens and mess hall that was slowly beginning to feel more like an oversized family dining room; the monsters limited intelligence informed them that they should be mindful of more blinking lights, objects balanced precariously on doors and strange wires like those that had claimed many of their fellow Grimm that had followed them into the ship.
Nothing could have prepared them for a living shadow rising up from the ground behind them however.
"Get off of my ship" at the sound of Carcharodon's rasping voice the two Gargoyles turned around just in time for the first of them to torn apart by the Red Waves and as they second leaped at the gaunt, grey-fleshed and tattooed Hunter Carcharodon simply weaved under the blow and activated his Semblance again; travelling through the Nemesis Kharybdis and reappearing at the head of what remained of the prow, balancing on the wall of ice that Arctus had created as a barrier and holding Gargoyle aloft before ripping its arms and wings away and hurling it over the edge to its' death.
Yet as he looked over the prow of the ship Carcharodon saw that the battle was far from over.
More Grimm were coming, the Gargoyles had only been the first wave of the legions of monsters Salem had at her disposal and as the Shark Faunus peered down he saw droves of other, lesser Grimm swarming around the Nemesis Kharybdis and piling atop each other to form a living tide of fangs, claws and horror given form that would surely, eventually spill over onto the deck.
The sound of Onyx's axe ripping through the air brought Carcharodon to his senses and he turned to see that the Puma Faunus had halted a Gargoyle that had been swooping towards him; both Onyx and Hellion made their way to their leader and saw what the Shark Faunus had, silence hanging heavy in the air for a moment before Onyx spoke up.
"We could take Team CLIR's Bull-Head, fall back and rescue the others if they-"
"No" Carcharodon answered bluntly
"I don't want to leave Eagle….I don't want to leave any of them" Hellion added, jade green eyes nervous "But they're going to be able to climb up here and we have nowhere to fall back to"
"Then we don't fall back" Carcharodon said bluntly, remaining silent for a moment before raising a hand to the crown of his people, the masked helm covering his face as he added "My first order, my very first order when my sister fell and I took command was a retreat, my first act as a leader was for us to run and hide and abandon our ships and our people….Never again. We stay, we fight to the end and we save the Hunters; they have earned our loyalty and they will have it" Onyx and Hellion shared a glance before they met Carcharodon's gaze and nodded in silence, the three of them wearing weak smiles as they readied their weapons and prepared for the next wave of Grimm.
Team FADE continued to fight against Salem, though now that the Queen of the Grimm had decided to fight in earnest it had become painfully clear once again to the Hunters that she operated on entirely different level to what they were trained and prepared for; fighting them as she had before below New Vale with all the inhuman speed of the Wizard whose corrupted powers she wielded, the monstrous ferocity of the Grimm and the skill of a veteran Hunter yet now it seemed magnified somehow and it was all the four of them could do to keep her at bay.
"Get clear!" Arctus bellowed in warning as he unleashed a pair of summoned Grimm in quick succession which stampeded directly towards Salem, the first of which was the ubiquitous Minotaur Grimm that had been one of Team FADE's first major victories and had served him well ever since and close behind it was a rampaging Goliath that glowed a fiery red due to the Dust that had been infused into its' being; the Bear Faunus's plan was a simple one that involved the Minotaur construct acting as a momentary distraction that would allow the second construct to draw close and detonate yet Salem countered his strategy with seemingly no effort at all, halting the wild charge of the Minotaur with a single armoured and taloned hand before lifting it off of the ground and driving her sword through its' chest to destroy it in a shower of glowing fragments whilst the Goliath construct never reached her at all, Salem countering by summoning massive bone spears down from the roof to skewer the incorporeal thing in several places.
Causing it to explode.
Arctus readied Grimmiger-Henker in its' laser cannon mode and opened fire blindly into the flames, knowing better than to assume that Salem had been halted and being proven correct when a midnight black blur of motion came racing towards him faster than he could properly react and certainly faster than the transformation mechanism of his weapon could convert into its' sword form so that he could attempt to parry.
He was spared a swift and bloody end as a golden meteor streaked passed him.
Felix had not yet entered his Balrog state or the more powerful, ultimate form that the Aura regulator stored in his cybernetic tail allowed him to attain yet as he knew instinctively that it would be needed for some decisive moment that was yet to come; however his Semblance made him an unstoppable force even without his Balrog state and as freely as Salem's powers allowed her to defy the laws of nature she could still not halt his momentum as he struck her with enough force to send her sailing back through the air. Salem landed on her feet with the tip of her sword cutting a thin gouge into the ground beneath her as she slid to a stop and the smallest of cracks visible in the breastplate of her suit of armour, it was almost nothing at all and yet it was proof that Salem could be damaged and affected by their blows and with that in mind Felix pressed what little advantage he had and charged forwards with Eagle rushing out after her partner and the two of them falling upon the Queen of the Grimm in a whirlwind of blades.
Diamond watched the situation unfold and quickly formed a plan of her own.
Even now she could see that no matter how devastating the barrage of attacks Eagle and Felix unleashed was Salem would be able to overcome it, blows that would have torn any Creature of Grimm apart were being simply deflected and blocked and Arctus was struggling to catch his breath, the Bear Faunus's Aura flickering faintly around him as he struggled with the strain of unleashing so many Grimm constructs in such a short space of time; Diamond's gaze then moved to the bone spears that had destroyed the Goliath he had summoned and a moment later she was in motion.
"Big Guy I might need you catch me" she gave her fiance the warning and then continued onwards, her trust in him absolute and unquestioning as she leapt onto the first of the bone spikes and began quickly scaling its' surface with the use of her Semblance until she hand taken up a vantage point and readied Lex Talionis in its' sniper rifle form.
Salem had been able to deflect her previous salvo with ease, the difference now was that she was distracted and Diamond could only hope that it would make a difference as she lined up a shot and fired an armour piercing round directly at the crack Felix had managed to make in her armour. The shot found its' mark and the dull crack of her weapon firing echoed throughout the cavernous chamber as Salem was forced back a single step by the attack before glancing up at Diamond who in turn saw that the crack in her armour had been expanded, though it was still far from enough to be considered any kind of victory. Felix and Eagle made to rush into combat again but Salem dismissed them both, lashing out with her empty hand and unleashing a wave of pure concussive force before returning her focus to Diamond and simply throwing her sword.
Diamond had leapt on instinct the moment she saw Salem's arm move.
The space behind where she had stood exploded into fragments of bone as the monstrous broad-sword shattered the bone-spike at the point where it emerged from the roof of the cavern and Diamond allowed herself a breath of belief as she felt one of Arctus's Glyphs form beneath her, though it soon became apparent that the Queen of Grimm was not finished with her as she realised that both the sword and bone fragments were hovering in mid-air as though time had ceased to affect them.
Then Salem emerged, a blur of motion as she simply appeared in mid-air and retrieved her sword before flashing forwards and colliding with Diamond to send her flying from the Glyph with the air knocked from her lungs, yet as she hurtled downwards she saw another Glyph forming and quickly rotated her body mid-fall and activated her Semblance whilst shifting her weapon into its' glaive form. She stood, inverted on this new Glyph for less than a second before Salem was on her again and Diamond's hasty attempt to block her slash did nothing to stop the force of the blow sending her flying from the Glyph only for Arctus to conjure yet another to break her fall.
And then the chase was on.
Diamond leapt, vaulted and flipped from one platform of Arctus's creation to the next with Salem always half a step behind her and the two of them exchanging blows at frightening speed yet it soon became clear to the sniper that Salem was merely toying with her; her Aura was beginning to flicker around her with the strain of absorbing the tremendous force her adversary so causally unleashed and she had no doubt that the moment her Aura broke she would be sent toppling into the magma below and instead she realised that she needed to form another plan. Quickly she shifted her weapon into its' rifle form once again and loaded a Gravity Dust round and as she landed on the next Glyph she repurposed a technique that had been made famous by Ruby Rose herself, aiming the barrel of her weapon at the artificial ground beneath her and firing. The Glyph shattered and as Salem appeared Diamond ducked under her decapitating slash to drive the shoulder of her cybernetic limb into the armoured Witch's gut and tackle her backwards, sending them both toppling towards the magma.
Salem was not so easily killed however.
The two of them grappled as they fell and eventually Salem, bending the laws of physics in ways Diamond could never hope to used the Huntresses' body as as springboard as she planted both feet on Diamond's chest and simply kicked. Salem hurtled towards the outer wall of her chambers whilst Diamond was sent crashing through the barrier at the edge of the bridge the battle had begun on, skidding to a halt before she could smash through the barrier at the other side
"DIAMOND MOVE!" she was unsure which of her team-mates had screamed a warning to her yet it was soon a moot point as Eagle once again saved her with a quick thinking use of her Semblance to tackle Diamond away a fraction of a second before the space she had occupied exploded, Salem having sent herself hurtling like a cannonball back onto the bridge and the blade of her sword having torn through the ground where Diamond had lain.
"Did you really think I could be stopped with such cheap tricks?" the Queen of Grimm demanded in a furious bellow. The was no answer from Team FADE as the four of them struggled to get their bearings, Arctus's Aura still flickering with exertion but showing no signs of breaking whilst Felix and Eagle's muscles burned and ached with the effort of going toe to toe with Salem herself yet it was Diamond who spoke first, her voice fearful as she broke the silence
"Guys…." she trailed off and her friends turned and saw what had her so concerned, realising with sudden fear that Diamond's Aura had finally broken and had visibly shattered around her in a burst of quickly fading light; rendering her a mere mortal as the four of them attempted to battle a monster with the powers of a God.
"Okay" Felix nodded, readying his swords again and refusing to admit defeat "We need a new plan"
Team NEON gathered behind Helios, Ether scooped up in Olivine's gauntleted fists and made as comfortable as possible with a fresh layer of Ice Dust applied to his wounds to seal them and stem the bleeding as much as possible until they could get their fallen friend to a medic. The golden armoured redhead stood at the very edge of the Spawning Pit they had come to destroy; the desolate and corroded ground crumbling slightly and shifting beneath his booted feet and sending a small amount debris down into the viscous, bottomless abyss of nightmarish and protean Grimm tissue, causing each of Team NEON to wait with baited breath in case the Pit unleashed a fresh wave of horrors on them, when the monsters didn't come Olivine turned to Helios and spoke, the armoured mouth-plate that protected her face retracting back into the heavy goggles that covered her eyes as she did so
"Are you sure about this?"
"No….But I don't see another way forward" Helios admitted, bracing himself and taking a deep, slow breath to steady himself before adding "And I have you here with me, Nyanza are you ready?"
"As I'll ever be" the Faunus answered, shifting his weight anxiously as he stood in position at his partners' right hand.
"Good, I think we're going to need all the luck you can give us" with that the two of them prepared themselves, their Auras visibly manifesting around them as they focused all of their remaining strength and willpower into their Semblances; Nyanza's eyes glowed brighter than they ever had before and pierced even the impenetrable and abyssal darkness around them whilst Helios was entirely engulfed in darkness of his own creation, his entire body appearing to become the event horizon as he controlled unspeakable forces and even light was was pulled towards him and then in perfect tandem, the pair unleashed their Semblances and prepared to destroy the Spawning Pit.
By collapsing the fortress into it.
It was the only plan Helios could think of that had any chance of working with their limited resources, destroy the Spawning Pit and whatever final, horrific Creature of Grimm it produced in a single devastating blow and as the armoured warrior focusing his gravity warping Semblance on a point above the centre of the pit, far from where the roof had already been destroyed by their own entry the hardened, yet still living surface began to crack and then tear.
"It's working!" Olivine called out, her voice lost beneath the cacophony that filled the vast chamber and reverberated from its' walls a moment later as a vast chunk of the ceiling and the floor of the fortress above it came crashing down, a slab of hardened Grimm tissue, bone and bedrock was flung into the Spawning Pit with the truly absurd forces acting on it propelling it downwards at incredible speed. With his plan in motion Helios redoubled his efforts, blood trickling from his nose and its' coppery taste filling his mouth as he pushed himself further than he ever had before, reaching out further with his Semblance and dragging chunks of the walls, floors and ceiling several floors above him and ripping pieces of Salem's fortress through itself to send vast chunks of its' monstrous form crashing down into the Spawning Pit like meteors, ripping through its' roiling surface without resistance.
Yet, just as it seemed that victory was in their grasp Olivine called out to her friends again, this time in warning.
"WE'VE GOT MOVEMENT!" the inevitable was happening and even as it was crushed and town asunder by the fortress itself being used against it the Spawning Pit was beginning to retaliate, movement beneath its' surface preceding something beginning to rise from it whilst at the same time still being formed from the same primordial ooze that it rose from, giving it the appearance of tearing itself free. The thing was huge, that much was clear even as the thing formed; its' appearance was largely saurian, and jaws large enough to swallow all of Team NEON whole opened wide to let out a primal scream as part of the roof collapsed and fell upon the thing, its' body was without any of the Grimm's usual bone coloured carapace armour which only made its' fiery red eyes seem to glow all the brighter as they honed in on the Hunters and as she felt the shaking of the ground caused by Helios's onslaught be added to by this freshly spawned horrors' first step towards them Olivine realised that she knew what she had to do.
"I'm sorry Ether" her voice cracked as she passed her partner and long term boyfriend into Nyanza's arms "All these years together and it still wasn't enough time….I'm sorry" with that she bolted forwards, Buster Bravo's ranged mode was still unusable yet the fact remained that she was the only one capable of bringing down this Grimm and allowing the plan to continue; which meant she'd have deal with it at close range.
"Heely?" Nyanza broke his partners' concentration for only a moment to allow Helios to see what was happening, or more accurately what Olivine intended to do.
"We need to….But…." Nyanza trailed off, his concerns obvious; it seemed that Olivine's sacrifice was a necessary one and it was plain to see that the giant Grimm needed to be halted before it could halt their plans yet the idea of allowing Olivine to simply throw her life away whilst they stood and watched was one that none of Team NEON could stomach.
"I hope you're still feeling lucky" Helios growled "Because we've got better chances if we're together….and if we go then we all go together" with that both he and Nyanza, the Faunus still carrying Ether shot forwards and raced after Olivine; the fortress was beginning to freely collapse under its' own weight now and Helios could relax his Semblance for a moment, as such when he saw Olivine used the thrusters mounted in her giant gauntlets to fling herself in the air and directly into the waiting maw of the Grimm Helios carried both Nyanza and Ether, muscles burning and screaming in protest even as his Aura fuelled them and leapt after her with the reduced gravity he enacted allowing him to sail through the air in a steep arc that would send them down the Grimm's gullet along with Ether.
Just in time to see her overcharging her weapons.
"She's gonna kill herself!" Ether yelled, forcing himself to speak despite the pain of his injuries and the haziness of the world around him and he was right; Olivine's gauntlets were beginning to glow with intense heat that caused her Aura to flicker around her as she overcharged every component of them that she feasibly could, hoping that the resulting explosion would kill the Grimm whilst knowing that it would certainly cost her both of her arms if not her life; Helios however had other plans.
"Nyanza, shoot the fastenings!" his partner frantically complied and readied both of his pistols and channelled every bit of good fortune still at his disposal into a pair of shots that raced towards Olivine and shattered the fastening that held her weapons to the mechanical exoskeleton around her arms. The overcharged gauntlets went rocketing forwards and into the Grimm's throat before travelling downwards, propelled by the thrusters Olivine used to move and deliver superhuman blows whilst the Huntress herself looked around in confusion for a moment before Helios tackled her onto the surface of the Grimm's tongue and gathered all of Team NEON under his shield as best he could as he re-engaged his Semblance.
"TAKE COVER!" he yelled, his voice hoarse and ragged as he forced every ounce of his remaining strength into his next action. The air was filled with sound of shattering stone and explosions as entire floors of the fortress came crashing down onto the enormous Saurian Grimm, sending it toppling forwards and its' gut dipping below the surface of the Spawning Pit just as Olivine's weapons, which the monster had swallowed exploded in a supernova of light and destruction.
And then there was darkness and silence.
Helios was unsure how long he was unconscious for, his first coherent thought when he regained consciousness was that he was trapped, a thought that he acted on by forcing a slab of debris off of his body which he realised was far more difficult than it should have been.
Meaning that his Aura had failed and he was defenceless.
Eventually he clawed himself free of the rubble and found Milo and Akuo lying close by, both damaged and unusable yet repairable and quickly sheathed them on his back only to wince in pain as he attempted to stand. Looking down he soon saw the reason for his discomfort, his armour was crumpled and collapsed in several places and blood ran between the individual plates, staining its' shining golden surface where it had been forced into his chest; Helios refused to focus on that however, he could still stand and still move, he was still alive and the pain only served to prove and with that thought in mind he cast his eyes around.
The sight that greeted him was pure devastation.
He had found himself outside of Salem's fortress and on the blasted and barren shores of the island it stood upon, simply by virtue of the fact that one entire side of the fortress had ceased to exist; Team NEON's final gambit having destroyed a vast portion of Salem's defences along with her Spawning Pit. They had been successful and the vast chunks and slabs of debris that littered the ground and formed small mountains of Grimm-rubble served as proof; the destroyed Grimm matter was fading away, albeit slowly and Helios allowed himself a moment of satisfaction as he saw one of the many jaws that had formed from the corridor walls to attack his team disintegrate into nothingness before a far more important thought demanded his attention.
His friends were here somewhere and he had no intention of simply standing back and waiting for the smoke to clear so that he could find them; he swayed precariously as he trudged forwards, vision blurring, his entire body weak and in utter agony whilst blood bubbled up from between his lips yet he would not be stopped.
"ETHER! OLLIE!" he called out as flung a chunk of debris away in the desperate hope of finding his friends beneath it "NYANZA!" he staggered and almost collapsed from pain and exhaustion but quickly dragged himself back to his feet and carried on.
Broken Aura, injured and with damaged armour and weapons or not, his war was not over until his friends, all of them were safe.
Team GORE were fighting a losing battle, yet they refused to be overwhelmed.
"COME THEN YOU BASTARDS! COME AND MEET DEATH!" Onyx roared as he brought his axe swinging downwards like some enormous bladed pendulum, the weapon sweeping through more than a dozen Grimm in a single motion as the hulking Puma Faunus leaned over the mangled remains of the prow of the Nemesis Kharybdis that the monsters had begun to scale, rushing and scuttling over one another in an animal frenzy to reach the three Hunters that held the line against a tide of nightmares made flesh.
"We can't hold them for much longer!" Hellion noted as she hurled a pair of throwing knives tipped with Gravity Dust crystals into the armoured carapaces of a pair of Deathstalkers, the Dust detonating with the impacts and propelling the blades downwards like tiny missiles; each knife tore through the body of the first monster it struck and continued downwards to cut a bloody swathe through the oncoming Grimm yet more rushed into the empty spaces to replace them like a rushing tide. The Dragonfly Faunus's point was proven as she reached for another pair of knives only to find the first pair of hidden pockets within her clothes empty and then the second, she was running out of blades to hurl at their enemies and in the time it took her to find another pair of weapons a lone Beowolf had bounded upwards, along the backs of its' fellow monsters to pounce over the twisted railings and leap towards her; only for it to be unceremoniously ripped in half by Onyx
"Agreed" the Puma Faunus noted before driving his shoulder into the Grimm that had begun to claw their way aboard in the brief moment he had been distracted and then swiftly turn his attention to other places that the Grimm were dangerously close to breaching their defences.
In doing so he saw Carcharodon hard at work below.
The Shark Faunus had used his Semblance to move to the lower decks and his liquid, protean form partially emerging from the vast wall of ice that Arctus had used to seal breaches in the hull that the Grimm were now scaling, the Red Waves emerging like the dorsal fins of some oceanic predator to cleave through limbs, torsos and skulls and send the fading and eviscerating remains toppling down into more of the monsters or else Carcharodon simply reached through the ice and threw whatever unstable fragments of Dust he could find into the mass of horrors, unleashing elemental devastation upon them all whilst taking care not to destroy the ice wall in the process lest the Grimm enter the ship through the many tears in its' hull and attack team GORE from all angles.
Then the entire battle seemed to halt as a massive explosion shook the air.
The tide of Grimm halted, multiple snarls and chittering clicks of confusion spilling from them as Hellion and Onyx looked on in stunned silence, barely registering Carcharodon emerging from the surface of the deck between them and making to speak only to fall silent, his fang-filled mouth hanging open at the sight that greeted him; that of Salem's fortress being torn apart from the inside, one entire wall of the massive, living structure first sagging and dipping as though some immeasurable weight had been placed on it or it were being pulled from within and then finally exploding outwards in a vast firestorm that sent chunks of dense, solidified Grimm tissue the size of houses hurtling through the air. Carcharodon looked at the destruction and knew that the Grimm would not be distracted for long, worse still he could already see several members of the sea of monsters that had been attacking them breaking off of their current target to go and investigate this new development; the Shark Faunus realised that he had to act quickly.
"Onyx!" he called "Can you fly Team CLIR's Bull-Head?"
"It's not exactly the same as our old one but I should be able to" the Puma Faunus answered him.
"Then take it and go!" he roared "Find any survivors from that blast and bring them back! We'll hold the line!"
"Aye Captain!" Onyx nodded before a devilish grin crossed his face "But before I go….I've wondered what these do to my Semblance!" with that he answered Carcharodon's unspoken question and produced a small but not insignificant crystal whose teal surface shimmered in the light, Hard-Light Dust. Onyx placed the crystal and, for the second time in the course of the battle unleashing his sonic-roar Semblance only this time it was transformed into something even more destructive; a beam of crackling and coruscating light spewed from the hulking mans' mouth and tore through the Grimm in droves to thin their numbers down considerably; it was as if, for a brief moment Onyx had harnessed all the destructive powers of a warship.
And then it flickered out of existence and Onyx turned and ran for the Bull-Head, leaving Carcharodon and Hellion to fend off the dozens, if not hundreds of Grimm that remained.
"Here they come" Hellion murmured whilst drawing a pair of simple, unadorned knives and Carcharodon noted with some concern that her Aura flickered around her as she spoke, taxed and drained after all that they had endured so far. The Shark Faunus had no time to reply as the first of the remaining Grimm were upon them in the next instant, a troupe of snarling and enraged Beringrel whose vast paws crushed the railing around the edge of the deck as they leapt and dragged themselves aboard and immediately attacked the two Faunus.
"Then let's give them what they came for" Carcharodon rasped out before leaping into the fray, rushing passed two of the simian beasts and ripped into flanks and guts with the blades mounted on his forearms before spinning and delivering a punishing spinning kick to the skull of a third; beginning what promised to be a truly relentless barrage of attacks.
And then a blow came from behind him.
He hadn't heard the Deathstalker scurry onto the open deck until the clacking of its' pincers alerted him and he whirled around with blinding speed to black a stabbing attack from its' stinger with the flat edge of the Red Waves, he slid back under the force and his Aura rippled around him after being drained by the extensive use of his Semblance; the Deathstalker readied its' pincers for a follow up attack and the Beringrel that he had kicked aside thundered towards him, letting out guttural snarls and grunts as it leapt and reared back an enormous fist for a crushing blow.
Only to be tackled out of the air.
Carcharodon's midnight black eyes widened as Hellion smashed the Grimm aside, her Aura flickering and failing around her as the two of them rolled towards the edge of the deck and her knives fell from her grasp.
Time slowed to a crawl as he watched the Dragonfly Faunus rise to her feet, panting and exhausted whilst he tried to throw the Deathstalker off of him; Hellion leapt for her knives and managed to recover one of them before the Beringrel leapt at her again yet she was tiring and the Grimm had her backed against the edge of the remains of the prow, Hellion stabbed and slashed at the thing until the inevitable happened and Carcharodon was forced to watch in powerless horror.
Another Grimm clambered onto the deck behind Hellion and attacked her from behind.
Her Aura flickered and as the last vestiges of her power began to fade away Carcharodon saw Hellion's eyes change to the milky, glowing white of her Semblance as though she intended to summon Marauder to put out the eyes of one of her attackers but it was too late. The Beringrel launched an earth-shaking blow and Hellion's Aura shattered and her now unprotected body crumpled as it was flung backwards, sailing over the edge of the Nemesis Kharybdis and the Grimm that attempted to board it before falling out of view and down onto the shore below.
"NO!" Carcharodon's scream seemed to halt the battle again before the Shark Faunus used his Semblance to sink into the ground, erupting upwards and ripping both of the Grimm that had caused Hellion's death in half vertically and lashing out at every monster that dared to draw near him, Aura flickering around him as he prepared to make his final stand.
One lone warrior against a tide of Grimm.
Team FADE continued to do battle against Salem, taking what victories they could in small and piecemeal increments even if the truth of the matter was that their greatest victory was simply surviving for as long as they had.
"Felix get back!" Arctus yelled, giving the Lion Faunus a moment of warning as a glowing red Glyph appeared between him and the Queen of the Grimm; the two of them had been locked in combat until a crushing overhand blow had sent him to his knees and with the momentary distraction in place he rolled aside and leapt to his feet again, absorbing a little of the heat from the blast when Arctus's Fire Dust infused Glyph detonated and wreathed Salem in flames which she promptly waded through without harm.
"Abysmal" she chuckled, the word dripping with sneering contempt as she prepared her next assault. Felix sprung forwards and Salem rushed out to meet him, moving at impossible speeds as the Lion Faunus threw himself into a reckless barrage of attacks; Salem moved so fast that she seemed to be in several places at once and her after-image seemed to still be blocking and parrying each of Felix's attacks as she unleashed her own counter-attacks. An attempt to bring both of his chainsaw-bladed swords down on the shoulders of the Queen of the Grimm was blocked as she held her own sword overhead and drove her free hand into Felix's chest, forcing the air from his lungs and leaving his Aura rippling around him; in return he carried the momentum of the blow into a spin and delivered a backhanded blow with his left and a brutal overhand blow with his right that would have cleaved a lesser opponent in two only for both of this attacks to be redirected as Salem parried with her monstrous and oversized blade, flinging Felix off balance and toppling to the ground.
"And now you-" Salem was cut off as Eagle swooped over Felix and returned to her human form for just long enough to drive her sword into the cracked breastplate of her armour, performing another of the hit and run attacks that she had been undertaking as Team FADE fought to wear Salem down as best they could, her armour did not seem to be regenerating itself and Felix had been determined that they should use that to their advantage.
Salem's response was so fast that even Eagle couldn't hope to avoid it by returning to her avian form and sparks could be seen spraying from the metallic surface of her armour as a gash was cut into her own breastplate before she once again vanished and was replaced b a bird of prey which promptly flew out of her reach. Salem merely turned her attention towards Felix once again and both the Queen of the Grimm and the Lion Faunus locked blades with Felix being forced back each time their weapons met until the familiar low and steadily building whine of a laser cannon being primed and readied filled the air and he promptly flung himself backwards and down, coming to a halt in a crouch with his blades at the ready.
Just as Arctus opened fire.
The Bear Faunus unleashed a salvo that, like many of the teams' previous attacks would have been decisive in any other battle but against the Witch herself seemed to do nothing at all; bolts of light streaked across the bridge and Salem weaved around each of them in turn, her body no more than an indistinct blur of shadows and movement.
Then the entire chamber that her throne room was a part of trembled and the bridge they fought on, suspended by thick ropey tendons of Grimm tissue swayed in the air just enough for Salem to stagger a single step, from there Arctus continued firing with renewed fervour, the scent of burning metal filling his nostrils as components of his weapon grew dangerously close to overheating yet the small chunks of Salem's armour that were being chipped and broken away as the cracks they had made were extended seemed far more important.
The Queen of Grimm did not tolerate the assault for long however.
"ENOUGH!" she roared as she slammed her sword into the ground and used its' wide blade as a shield to absorb the laser-fire she was subjected to; Arctus ceased fire yet Salem's expression remained no less furious and her eyes continued to blaze with arcane light as the armoured mask she wore seemed to twist into an even more murderous snarl, the explosion that had rocked the chamber still echoing from its' walls and after steadying himself Felix couldn't help but smirk as he addressed the Witch.
"I think you just lost your spawning Pit"
"You think you achieved something child?" Salem demanded, tone more gentle than her furious demeanour should have allowed "I don't need the Grimm, I am beyond them now, my goals and my plans are beyond them and beyond you" she merely braced herself, as if she expected the fight to begin anew; being caught off-guard as she saw that the blonde Faunus that had led the attack against her merely continued to smile as he gestured to the magma-filled chasm below, or more accurately the Grimm Drill that still resided in it
"You need that one" Salem's eyes widened a fraction and Felix called out to his team "You guys ready? NOW!"
Team FADE had a plan.
Diamond had been the first to note that stopping Salem herself wasn't the only facet to stopping Salem's plans and the snipe had been determined to contribute to the ongoing battle despite her Aura being entirely depleted; with that in mind she had informed her team-mates, between exchanges with their adversary of what she intended and then began climbing one of the four thick cords of muscle that held the bridge in the air, cutting into it slowly but diligently with the blade of her glaive. Eagle had taken another of the masses of muscle, using her avian form to fly up the point where it met the roof and cut into it, flying down to attack Salem periodically so that the Queen of the Grimm didn't become suspicious about her absence. Arctus, whilst helping Felix where he could had been focusing his attention on creating the strongest and most durable of his saw-blade Glyphs that he possibly could and now he held it against the point where the mass of muscle and sinew joined the bridge; leaving Felix with the task of destroying the fourth and final connection point.
Salem realised what they intended and charged.
Felix had no intention of allowing her to stop them and channelled as much of his Semblance as he dared into his movements, stopping just short of entering his Balrog State as he charged forwards and drove his shoulder into Salem's chest and once again proving that she was not entirely immune to the laws of physics; she was flung backwards and as Arctus, Eagle and Diamond all prepared to make the final cuts he hurled one of his twin chainsaw-swords towards the final mass of muscle and tore through it.
Sending the bridge hurtling downwards with Team FADE still on it.
The impact was tremendous and rattled Felix's nerves for a moment yet he quickly came to his senses and realised that apart from general aches and pains and the fact that he had lost one of his swords he was alive and well; Eagle landed beside him, returning to her human form and panting for breath as she held out a fist which Felix bumped with his own. Arctus and Diamond joined them later, the sniper clinging to the Bear Faunus who had created a Glyph to levitate them both to safety even as his Aura flickered around him after being drained almost to the point of failure. They had survived and most importantly of all, the Grimm Drill had finally stopped moving, the bridge had landed directly on it and its' monstrous form was now keeping them falling into the magma below whilst the force of the collision having damaged something vital within it.
"Dude" Diamond breathed out, voice barely more than a whisper "I can't believe that worked...we actually did-" she was cut off and their victory was cut short as something collided with the bridge and threatened to tip it over, sending them down into the molten rock beneath them though they were spared that fate by Felix who quickly tackled the bridge in such a way that it remained in place.
Then Salem strode into view.
The Queen of the Grimm was murderous, her ghost-white hair hovered in the air and trailed behind her, flailing wildly in some wind that affected it alone; her faceplate had been removed to reveal that her own face was, whilst more human somehow even more hateful and her armour, whilst intact was covered with a lattice of cracks and fissures where miniscule fragments had been chipped away and as she held her behemoth sword at the ready, hefting it from over her shoulder Felix saw her shoulders sag, if only a fraction.
She was tiring.
Their ongoing battle, the effort of controlling the hordes of Grimm and other defences that they had encountered before her along with the massive Grimm Drill that the bridge now rested upon, the massive expenditure that using the Wizard's power as she had must have been all combined with whatever fight she had endured before Team FADE arrived had begun to take their toll and it was clear that the Queen of the Grimm wasn't quite as invincible as she seemed.
"You will die for this" Salem's voice warped and distorted as she issued the threat yet Felix merely braced himself and readied his remaining sword as he took in a slow breath to steady himself; his golden Aura beginning to blaze around him as he absorbed the heat of the magma below, it wouldn't make him invincible but it tipped the scales ever so slightly and Felix allowed himself to hope.
He could win this, there was a chance after all.
Author's Notes:
So….how's everyone feeling?
I see saw torches being lit and pitchforks being sharpened and all I can say in my defence is just wait a couple chapters for me okay?
Next chapter is gonna be the grand finale of this story and what a finale it is gonna be, then we've got the denouement and the epilogue.
Also, according to Ao3 this is the third largest story in the RWBY Fandom….so you'll excuse me if I flex my bragging rights a little and point out that, considering that this is the third part of a series and that I update weekly, along with my other stories; I'm actually one of the most prolific and consistent writers here.
But anyway, let's summarise shall we?:
It's not often I start a chapter with the cliffhanger line from the previous chapter, but when I do I use it to great effect.
So Salem just appearing in front of Fluffy like that was the first sign of something I was worried about writing this chapter, Salem is so far above everyone else in terms of power at this point and fights on a DBZ level; it makes writing her fights difficult and this is THE fight.
Arctus can't stop Felix, but he can use Gravity Dust and a flat surface to turn him into a pinball.
That was an absolute show-stopper of a cinematic move from Arctus and it did precisely dick.
Yeah, Salem still has control over her surroundings, but she doesn't have any connection to any other Grimm anywhere else; which will become important later.
Diamond with the follow up move, which again looked great in my head.
Eagle was definitely the support roll this chapter.
"Of course it ends here child, what ever did you think this was all in aid of?"….And that's how we deal with hero speeches, besides it was a chance for Team FADE to actually hear the specifics of Salem's plan.
Although it's the final battle, I feel like I'd be slacking if I didn't give Felix a hero speech here; so I made a point of highlighting that he isn't some super-powered living legend with destiny-fuelled plot-armour…..If anything, he's a smaller more honest soul.
"I wish I'd heard more heroic speeches before I ended this world, it would have made it all the more entertaining" I want you to know that I heard DBZ Abridged Freiza while writing this, you know exactly which scene.
Okay I'll be honest this Team NEON scene was kinda filler but it felt necessary, if I'd gone straight to the blowing up the Spawning Pit it would have felt rushed and too much in one go.
Yeah Ether is not looking good right now.
Spider-Monkeys are something I used in Downward Spiral but never really had much use for them in FADE.
I just realised as I proof-read and did these notes how many times I used the "Every Dust at once" move in this chapter.
Of course Helios killed the last one with a spear to the head.
Nyanza makes a fair point, the upside of Fracture is that is neutralizes a Spawning Pit without unleashing a giant monster, they lost the Fracture which means they needed to stop whatever the Pit unleashed or Salem would have a new toy to kill Team FADE with.
The Team GORE stuff is like Team NEON's scenes in that if I'd crammed it all into one scene it would have been too much at once so the first half is left looking like padding.
Yes Onyx headbutted a Gargoyle, enjoy that image.
Okay Hellion's take-down using a fire and a Dust Crystal to turn a Grimm into a grenade was just nasty.
Marauder is still here, just spending most of the battle out of reach of the Grimm.
Objects balanced precariously on doors….So some of the traps were straight up Wile. E Coyote nonsense.
Carcharodon getting a bad-ass entrance yet again.
Grimm piling up on top of each other….why yes I have recently consumed media relating to zombies, why do you ask?
I want to make it clear, Onyx was not running away; he was making a smart tactical decision. Team GORE are supposed to be covering the way out, if they get overrun everyone is trapped.
But yay for Carcharodon coming full circle though.
I actually re-read all of Salem's fight scenes, especially the one under New Vale just to make sure Salem is consistent in how overpowered she is.
Arctus had to use the Minotaur, it's been one of his signature moves for literal years.
RWBY is a show about teamwork and found family and I feel like I honoured that properly here because literally the only thing keeping Team FADE alive was there ability to cover each other.
Felix is definitely holding Balrog state in his back pocket for something.
Salem's armour can be broken.
In my head the mid-air skirmish between Diamond and Salem was one of the most cinematic moments of this chapter and I'm not sure if I conveyed it properly.
Yes Diamond was prepared to make a suicidal last ditch attack there if Arctus couldn't catch her….and yes she was gonna use one of Ruby's signature move to do it.
So Diamond has no Aura, she's effectively a sitting duck in Salem decides to target her now.
Yep, that was Helios's final gambit; Team NEON were prepared to sacrifice themselves by burying themselves under the remains of Salem's fortress.
Of course it tried to form a giant monster Grimm, it would be too easy otherwise and that wouldn't be any fun would it?
Yep Ollie was gonna go for another heroic sacrifice….But come on, Team NEON aren't going out like that.
And that ladies and gents was how you write a set-piece.
So Helios has an empty Aura tank, he's injured and his weapons are busted; note that down for next chapter.
So….Where are Ether, Olivine and Nyanza and what condition will they be in when Helios finds them.
Yep, Team GORE vs The Grimm was definitely based on various pieces of zombie media.
You know it's gonna be bad when someone starts running out of ammo.
I had to make the explosion something that impacted the other fights going on around the island because there's no way that people didn't notice it.
Okay so, Helios and/or Team NEON have Grimm inbound but Onyx is on the way to evacuate them.
Sonic Roar Semblance + Hard-Light Dust = Kamehameha.
Even Car is struggling at this point, just due to how long the fight has been going on.
So…..Hellion is gone….Now listen to me, listen to me….Put the pitchforks down; you know by now that I foreshadow things and I have a plan, trust me.
So y'know that after-image move Adam pulled against Yang in Vol.6….Salem makes him look like an amateur.
Death by a thousand cuts only works if you don't get cut up first.
Also Eagle is fine, she just needed to take a hit at some point otherwise she'd be getting out of this Scott free and we can't have that.
"I think you just lost your spawning Pit" her last Spawning Pit, literally the only place she could go to recover if she loses this fight….and her armour is cracking.
And this, my dear readers is why Team FADE are collectively those mother-fuckers; special mention to Diamond for trying that even with no Aura.
R.I.P to one of Felix's swords.
So, they've stopped the Grimm Drill that Salem turned her personal Spawning Pit into and Team NEON destroyed the main Spawning Pit, she literally has no resources now.
And yes, she's starting to tire; she's been throwing magic and Grimm matter around for several chapters as well as fighting in person, her arm is a mess under that armour as well….But she's not beaten yet.
All I'm gonna say is, remember she still has that "Heart of Darkness" that solid slab of fossilised Grimm that Pantheon gave her and remember how Oscar in the other timeline beat his Salem.
Thank you to SumoSnipe Bakerrtx01, Funlander and MajorBrony95 for their reviews on the last chapter.
Excellent use of the RvB quote, although I feel like it's equally applicable for this chapter.
Oh the final battle is definitely upon us, I hope you're enjoying it.
Yeah, Iris went out like a champ.
I have ideas for another story in this universe, but I also have other story ideas as well so we'll see what happens.
Chernobog just made sense.
I had a Mantis Grimm in Downward Spiral called the Disemboweller….I don't have a Locust Grimm though, there was Null the Locust Faunus in the last Volume.
Regarding your off colour comments, I'm glad you recognised that what you said was offensive. I'm a straight man so it's not my place to accept apologies for what you said but what I will say is that recognising your mistakes is the first important step, know better, do better, be better.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review