Chapter 87
The flying Grimm released from the Monstra moved ahead of most of the other Grimm. Unlike the ground, it wasn't so easy to kill the Grimm that are hundreds of meters in the air. Being more or less untouchable from those on the ground. As such, they flew unperturbed by any form of resistance.
"Hya!" Or at the very least, they assumed there was no resistance. Because from below, riding a creature that could have been mistaken for a colorful Griffon, is a Hippogriff flown by Astolfo himself. Who had summoned his spear and immediately began attacking the Grimm by making nice holes in them.
"Oh man. This is so much fun!" Astolfo said as he stabbed through a Griffon. "I'm king of the sky!"
"Scra!" Astolfo's Hippogriff then roared in protest while biting down on a Manticore's side and tore a bit of it off, making the Grimm shriek.
"Fine, fine." Astolfo said while finishing off the Manticore with his weapon. "You're the King of the Sky." The Hippogriff puffed in pride. Chuckling, Astolfo then heard a loud shriek coming from below. "Hu-woah!" Pulling the reins, Astolfo had the Hippogriff move forward and just in time. Because a massive Nevermore the size of a three story house spread its massive wings and screeched at Astolfo.
"My. What a big pigeon." Astolfo said without a hint of malice. His Hippogriff gave the equivalent of a bird laugh which the Nevermore noticed.
"SHRAAA!" Flying higher, the Nevermore then prepared to strike down while also giving a command. From behind and the sides in all directions, countless Grimm then flew directly at Astolfo and Hippogriff. The Nevermore swooping down with the intent of having all the Grimm come at Astolfo on all sides and rip apart the boy and his silly animal.
Talans, beaks, and whatever appendage the Grimm in the air had now aimed themselves at Astolfo who knew he and Hippogriff were surrounded. In spite of the danger, Astolfo just giggled. "Well, this is nice and all, but…." Astolfo lightly kicked the sides of Hippogriff. "You know what to do boy, don't you?"
Nodding, with a cry Hippogriff then flew directly at the Nevermore. The latter assumed the boy and his pet gave in as they were heading right at it. Well, this should be easy then. Opening its beak, the Nevermore prepared to devour them whole and whatever remains it didn't eat, it would spit them out for the other Grimm to enjoy.
"And…Now!" Astolfo shouted with Hippogriff glad to obey. Because in mere moments, before the two were devoured, Hippogriff and Astolfo instantly vanished.
"?!" Leaving the Nevermore and all the other Grimm to only look surprised and then crash into one another. Their bodies smashing against one another, with bone armor cracking and some of them gaining busted wings that could no longer fly. Immediately many fell down towards the ground below while the remainder flew off in different directions.
"Wa-hoo!" All while Astolfo and Hippogriff reappeared elsewhere looking as fine as ever. Hippogriff's ability to teleport in between the Reverse Side being quite useful. 'Though,' Astolfo then thought as he summoned his weapon again to slay more Grimm. 'This world doesn't even have a Reverse Side, so then where do we go?' If anything, Hippogriff shouldn't have teleported at all. Then again, Astolfo and the other Servants being here so long without a Master or Holy Grail to sustain them shouldn't have been possible either. As such, Astolfo promptly ignored any tough questions and continued his slaying.
His only regret being Sieg couldn't be here to help out and join him. But knew that his transformation into Fafnir wasn't something he could utilize for long periods of time. Last thing anybody wanted was for Sieg to be up here fighting, only for the transformation to wear off with Sieg then falling down and going splat on the ground.
"Still would have been fun though." Astolfo pouted. Though any more thoughts on the matter vanished when the paladin then heard an explosion somewhere to his left. Looking at the general direction of the source, Astolfo saw the Storm Border blowing up any Grimm that came right at them. Whether it's from the Storm Borders own offensive capability or from Shirou himself shooting down the Grimm in rapid movement.
Smiling, Astolfo then decided to head on over and see if he could help out a little. Whistling, Hippogriff obeyed and flew towards the Storm Border to act as back-up for the Chaldean crew. While taking down a few Grimm as Astolfo headed on over, the pink-haired Paladin looked below to see another wave of Grimm coming up through another section of the Emerald Forest. Instead of feeling worried though, Astolfo just came to the belief that someone will deal with them in due time and focused back on the Storm Border.
"And charge!" Astolfo giggled as Hippogriff then sped up and busted through countless Grimm that got in their way.
Meanwhile, the next wave of Grimm were already on their way. Unlike the first two waves, there didn't seem to be any Servants dealing with them. It made sense, seeing as how while powerful, there are only a set amount of Servants here in this school. If anything, it was impossible for them to be everywhere at once. As such, almost nothing got in their way aside from the usual trees and shrubbery.
One of the Alpha's in the group, a hybrid Chimera that led this next wave paid attention. While it sensed nobody, that didn't mean the Grimm believed it and its brethren were just home free. Considering how the first two waves were attacked by a preemptive strike, the Alpha assumed this wave charging may face an obstacle sooner or later.
No sooner did it think this, suddenly, one pack of Grimm ran over something that then went click.
Boom!
A Dust bomb that went off. While the Grimm continued on, more Dust bombs could be heard and seen going off all over. The Alpha noticed some Grimm either dying or forced away from the explosion only to be trampled on by the Grimm. It would seem that the humans here had set traps down.
Clever.
But it wouldn't be enough. Even as more traps went off, from explosions to thin steel wires cutting off legs and even Gravity mines that pinned Grimm down, it wouldn't be enough. There were just too many Grimm for all the traps to just deal with. Thinning their numbers, sure. But the Alpha Chimera knew many would still remain.
It's snakehead grabbing a Beowolf and tossing it ahead where a trap skewered the Beowolf and allowed the Grimm Chimera to avoid the trap. It used more such tricks to get past any traps set in its general directions and felt confident this next wave of Grimm would come through where the other two failed.
Momentarily, it then sensed multiple negative emotions, small ones such as fear, suddenly appear up ahead. Humans and faunus.
With all three heads roaring, the Grimm Chimera commanded all the other Grimm to spread themselves out. They would kill the humans up ahead and move on. Though it suspected it wouldn't be without a fight.
"And get them!" As predicted, from the trees one can see many humans popping out. Huntsmen and Huntresses in this case. Some young, some old, all wielding their usual weapons. Swords, axes, guns, missile launchers, hybrid weapons and the like. These being the ones who set and prepared all these traps days prior the Grimm even arrived here.
Of course they knew that setting up traps, even a lot like the ones they set up before, would never be enough to deal with them all. As such, the Huntsmen and Huntresses would have to face them personally.
"Man, these ones are ugly." With Coco getting a good look at the incoming Grimm. Primarily, the hybrids which made her snort. "I know Grimm don't have aesthetics, but this is a little much."
"Then what will you do?" Fox, Coco's partner, merely asked.
"Hehe." Coco then flipped a switch on her handbag and in just a few mere seconds, it became a gatling gun. With a wild grin, Coco then faced the incoming Grimm and said, "Make some holes." Using her Semblance at its fullest, Coco mercilessly fired her Dust bullets straight at the coming Grimm.
"!" The Grimm Chimera, realizing the threat, jumped to the side.
"Graaa!" Those behind it weren't as fortunate. Instead being riddled with holes and blown apart all while Coco laughed. Slowly turning her weapon against any Grimm that dared come against her.
"Tch." Behind her was Cardin, who lifted his mace and said, "Like I'm letting you get one over me! Come on!" Cardin then ran ahead followed by others, including his team. All of them lifted their weapons and prepared to use their past-week training on the Grimm as target practice. "Hah!" Cardin jumped up and smashed his mace down on a hybrid Grimm giant's foot, crushing it apart with the beast howling in pain.
"Yahoo!" Other Huntsmen joined in the fray. While outnumbered, they held the skill to challenge these monsters without holding back. From expertly cutting apart the Grimm's claws, to utilizing minimum movement while shooting without wasting a single bullet. Their training and spar with EMIYA not being put to waste.
"Ahaaha!" Not that it was just the students joining in. Cutting down a Mantis Grimm's head in two, Peter Port bellowed while firing lugs of metal at some Grimm towards his left. Laughing in the face of danger. "My, my, my. New Grimm Hybrids. It seems my story telling will get a new chapter which I must spread!" Port then turned to see a camera on a tree. "Best to show my good side."
A Major Ursa tumbled towards Peter in belief it could rip his face off. Fire consumed it instead and it burnt away into ashes. The cause, Doctor Oobleck who twirled his former coffee mug now turned flamethrower. "Come now Peter." Oobleck spoke as he then leapt up and smacked the blunt end of his weapon against a Beowolf's snout, breaking it on impact. "If anything, what we learn here will go into history instead. That's what the cameras around here will record."
It was then a Sandworm burst out and crushed a few trees, including a few with cameras.
"...well, the cameras that aren't busted." Oobleck winced.
A howl comes and from a group of Grimm, crawling out is some hybrid lizard Grimm with a stinger as sharp as a Death Stalker. Raising it to stab Oobleck in the chest.
"Oh no you don't!" Instead, Tai Xiao Long came out and lifted his fist. One that he then threw at the creature's face so hard, it's head exploded. Its splattered remains hitting the ground and even some of the warriors who looked a little grossed out. Especially since the hybrids did leave behind corpses compared to normal Grimm.
"Ugh." With Tai himself looking at how he was covered in what was tainted blood. "Maybe I should have just knocked it out."
"Then why didn't you?" Oobleck asked as he burned a group of Creeps while nearby, Velvet pinned down a giant Goliath with her reproduced Penny weapons while her partner, Yatsuhashi Daichi, jumped up and stabbed his sword through its skull.
"Because," Tai responded while jumping to the side to avoid a Beowolf stabbing him, then grabbed it's elbow and snapped it like a twig. Followed by him twisting its neck into a 180 degree angle. "I didn't think it was so weak."
During his time on Patch, when it had been taken over by the Gorgon's, Tai challenged the woman Medusa multiple times who proved herself to be his superior. As such, Tai ended up getting accustomed to facing someone of her level of strength. Strength that a good chunk of these Grimm did not possess.
If anything, the Huntsmen and students here were doing quite well in facing off against the Grimm here. Cutting them off from any paths towards Beacon, with those that slipped by immediately getting caught in a set traps. Still, that didn't mean this status quo would last forever.
"Raugh!" The Grimm Chimera, realizing this, gave out a roar that was heard by the Grimm. Its snake tail hissed and the Grimm, the Creeps in general, obeyed and immediately went digging underground. Quickly they pushed back dirt and traveled down while the surface Grimm began coordinating more to handle the Huntsmen that opposed them.
Giving more commands, the Grimm Chimera then stomped onto the ground and roared where the Creeps began bursting out of the ground where the Huntsmen and students were at, catching them by surprise. The Alpha attempted to cause discord and ensure the humans and faunus couldn't work together properly to take them down one by one. Of course, it couldn't just let its minions do the dirty work.
Eyeing Tai, who the Grimm Chimera considered the current biggest threat, it immediately ran at him. Tai, noticing this, got into a pose and then leapt at the Chimera, knowing it would be best to take out the Alpha.
"Haaa!" Tai then threw a punch directly at the lion ahead where the two then collided.
"Graaa!" To Tai's surprise though, unlike before the Grimm Chimera's head didn't cave in and explode like what he did before. Instead, the lion head held steady and while it felt the blow, it withstood it. The goat head then lunged with it's mouth open wide.
"Crap!" Tai instantly leapt off before he could get bitten, though this just caused the Grimm Chimera to try and stomp him with its feet, bite at him, or lunge with its snake head. Tai dodged these while shouting, "Guys. A little help!"
"Sorry Mr. Xiao Long." Oobleck shouted as he jumped over a King Taijitu and slammed the end of his weapon through its eye. "But we're a little busy right now."
"Yeah old man!" Ever so rude, Cardin replied with a bad attitude while cracking the skull of a Beowolf while Russel slashed a small Nevermore's wings off. "Deal with it yourself."
"Tch. Not that old kid." Tai muttered as he backflipped to avoid the lion head trying to slam against him. Then ducked just before the snake tail tried to tear his head off from his body. It seemed this hybrid was smart, very smart. Not to mention durable.
Tai was then forced to dodge a Boarbatusk that tried to spin-dash him into the nearest tree. 'Doesn't help that it has buddies all over too.'
A quick glance at his surrounding area also showed the Grimm were slowly working together themselves. Aiming at those who were only good at long-range while putting the more durable Grimm against the close-range fighters. Tai gave another look at the Grimm Chimera and saw how while the goat and lion head focused on him, the snake head seemed to be hissing out orders. It seems having three heads helped out immensely with this one.
Best to deal with that, and quickly. Cracking his knuckles, Tai then decided to get closer to the hybrid and ran right at it while yelling.
With a prideful roar, the Grimm Chimera twisted itself where the snake head came right at Tai with fangs open wide. Tai slid down beneath it and avoided the deadly fangs, then got back on his feet and leapt onto the Grimm Chimera's back. The Grimm of course didn't like that and moved up and down, side to side, trying to get Tai off it while commanding some nearby Nevermores to come down and deal with Tai.
Not wanting to deal with the small Nevermores and the Grimm Chimera trying to knock him off, Tai decided to use a new strategy. Without further ado, Tai then took something from behind himself. A Dust Crystal.
With a chuckle, after doing his best to balance himself on the Grimm, Tai lifted the shard and then drove it down onto the Grimm Chimera's back. It was then the dust crystal, the electric dust crystal to be specific, went off.
"Graaa!" All three heads felt the surge of electricity going through their unnatural biology. Their muscles spasming and made them freeze up before collapsing down onto the ground.
"Perfect." Tai said as he then used this brief time to kill the small Nevermores. Once he punched them to death, Tai then refocused back onto the Grimm Chimera, knowing that the electric dust crystal won't keep it down for long. Tai then went right towards the goat head which saw him and growled, its mouth opening to bellow out in an attempt to call for reinforcements.
That would prove to be a mistake, as Tai took out more dust crystals. A mix of both fire dust and earth dust. With a grin, Tai then yelled out, "Here's some medicine!" Tai threw down the crystals into the Grimm's throat, something the goat head realized as it shut its mouth with red eyes widening.
It's throat bulged.
"Frr-ggg-grrr-!" The Grimm Chimera buckled, especially the goat head as it seemed to be trying its best to keep its mouth shut. Smoke was coming out of its lips while its eyes seemed to dark back and forth. Then, when it looked like it would be alright, it's head exploded with pieces of rock, covered in Grimm blood, and fire burst forth.
"Raaugh!"
"Hssssss!"
Both heads roared and hissed respectively in agony. Even if the heads were all separated to a degree with each having their own thoughts, having one of them being blown up didn't mean they wouldn't feel anything. As such, they reacted like any creature in pain and shrieked.
"And I'm out of here!" Tai said as he then jumped off while the Grimm Chimera buckled down onto the ground. The other Grimm, while still cooperating, were now no longer receiving any standing orders and their tactics were slowly being adapted by the Huntsmen.
"Alright then!" Tai then called out to Oobleck and those free at the moment. "Anybody good at killing this thing?"
"Of course my good boy." Peter chuckled. Then running rapidly towards the Grimm Chimera, contrary to his porty appearance. "Why, let me take a good crack at it." A whirring sound is then heard, with Coco aiming her weapon at the Grimm Chimera.
"I'm game as well." A few others also heard the call and in an instant, everyone not engaged with a Grimm struck at the weakened hybrid by shooting dust, bullets, or just running at it and stabbing it through its hide. Either way, the Grimm Chimera felt the assault on its already weakened body and attempted to escape.
"I think not, beast!" Port wasn't having any of that. With a boisterous laugh, Port leapt up high in the air, his weapon raised with the sharp end of his ax shining, then gravity took hold and Port slammed his ax down and through the snake's body, killing it.
"Grah!"
"And then there was one!" Oobleck cried out as now only the lion head remained. One that happened to be very unhappy at having lost two of its three heads. The agony it was in also didn't help, causing it to open its mouth and roar at them all. Angry red eyes spotted Tai, and then tried to attack by rushing at him.
From the sky however, coming down in front of Tai, is none other than Glynda Goodwitch who raised her crop and swatted it in the direction the Grimm Chimera is coming from. The Grimm Chimera suddenly felt itself being lifted into the air upon meters away from pouncing on Tai. Blinking, it then saw Glynda looking right at it.
Click.
"And, fire!" With Coco and those with guns and bullets firing straight at the Grimm Chimera. The hybrid howled as the bullets slowly began riddling it with holes all over. Disgusting blood and ruined flesh falling off while smoke left its body.
After around thirty seconds, the hybrid soon stopped moving while the remaining of the Grimm substance infused within it left the body. Leaving only but a mangled corpse with holes all over with flesh flapping about and blood spilling onto the ground.
"Ugh." Tai gurgled with others feeling the same. "I'm used to corpses…disappearing."
"Yes…this is…quite disturbing." Oobleck agreed while feeling nauseous.
"Ugh." A few like Cardin ended up throwing up at the sight. Not everyday one sees what happens when you mutilate a monster. The Grimm might be a pain, but at least one didn't see such disgusting things unless it was from some kind of gore movie shown to the public.
"At least we got rid of that one." With that Alpha gone, Tai noticed the Grimm still around have just lost any ability to strategize. As such, while there were still plenty around, they weren't as threatening as they could have been had the Grimm Chimera stuck around to continue giving orders. Still, that didn't mean they could be ignored either. As Tai prepared to deal with the ones here trying to get to Beacon, Tai looked at Glynda and asked, "If you're here, then how are the others doing?" Tai referred mainly to his daughters.
Adjusting her glasses, Glynda said, "Do not worry Tai." She gave him a comforting smile. "The Grimm haven't made it to their area yet. Though, even if they did," Glynda swatted a couple of Beowolfs into the trees when they tried rushing her. "Do you think they'll be so quick to fall?"
"Heh. Not even." Tai chuckled as he then cracked his knuckles. Ready to continue fighting until Salem could be dealt with. Making him wonder, as Tai busted the kneecap of a Major Ursa, just who will deal with Salem herself and whatever lackeys she had on hand?
Tai then shrugged. 'Well, not like it has anything to do with me?' He was busy enough already helping out. Plus, the more Grimm he killed, that meant the less Grimm his daughters had to fight. I mean, yeah they'll still have to fight, with Tai understanding he can't kill all these Grimm. But hey, as a father, he'll do his best to ensure his daughters don't face as much trouble as they should.
A roar then came with Tai twisting himself and giving a good kick towards a giant Grimm wolf hybrid. Seems Salem also merged some of the Grimm substances towards regular animals. Before Tai could contemplate such a thing any further, it was then Tai heard a loud explosion coming from above. Giving a quick look, Tai then saw none other than the stolen Atlasian ship, the new Argo as it's called, overhead and firing lots of missiles at many flying Grimm.
Unlike the Monstra, the Grimm that could fly were much faster than it with more now making their way towards Beacon. It was to be expected, and thankfully, the new Argo had a lot of weapons and munitions to deal with it. But Tai bet that sooner or later, many of the fliers will get past the ships targeting system and soon make their way onto Beacon's school ground followed by those on the ground. At the very least there were plenty of Huntsmen and Huntresses for that.
Even better, it seems something was finally about to happen to deal with Salem. Seeing as how Tai saw two lights heading right towards the Monstra.
"Ugh. That thing looks way more ugly than I thought." Floating in the air on Manna, while easily shooting down the vile Grimm and hybrids that tried getting close to her, Ishtar glared in disgust at the mobile Grimm fortress.
"It also smells a bit." Ereshkigal held her nose.
The two Goddesses had flown close to the Monstra. Unlike with Chaldea and Astolfo, they could get a much closer distance than them. Helped that Ereshkigal, due to the circumstances of her worship, has gained abilities close to the God of Darkness. As such, most of the Grimm actually avoided them in general because Ereshkigal commanded it. The ones that attacked, only doing so because she noticed.
Still, they had a job to do and may as well do it.
"Alright then," Ereshkigal focused a bit and looked at the Monstra. "Let's see if we can do some damage on the inside." Then, a brief flash of light washed over her and Ereshkigal. In a moment, the two then vanished.
"What?" Salem then felt an awe of power inside the Monstra. Power that felt all too similar which made her snarl. She then turned where behind her seat of power, were two women who held a color scheme and horns like her hated enemies. "You." Salem hissed.
"Wow." Instead of looking worried, Ishtar just smirked. "What are you, some kind of pale doll. A little to goth if you ask me." And as a Goddess of Beauty, Ishtar disapproved.
"Ugh." Ereshkigal just frowned at Salem. "I can't believe someone like you attained immortality. Why do deities always think immortality is the best punishment? It's ridiculous!" It only serves to make the cursed one do horrible actions to get rid of it or take advantage of it. Maybe both. And considering how Ereshkigal has met a lot of people in the underworld who died by her and her Grimm, safe to say Salem did quite the amount of atrocities to rid her curse.
Salem didn't seem very happy at their tone. "You dare mock me. False Goddesses."
"False?" Now Ishtar looked offended. "I admit, we're not the actual Brothers in truth." The first hint being their gender. "But from where we're from, we are Goddesses. And a lot better than the Brothers might I add."
"Hah!" With a mock laughter, Salem then scowled. "Oh, I won't deny you might be better than those two lizards. But no deity is innocent." Salem then recalled some conversations she had with Avenger. "If I recall, did you not cause destruction in Uruk simply because one man rejected your advances?" Ishtar scowled. Salem then looked at Ereshkigal. "And last I checked, didn't you attack the Masters of Chaldea when they wouldn't 'praise you', did you not?" Ereshkigal flinched. Salem smirked.
In the end, no matter how much good aid these two did, Salem could see past that and saw two Gods who weren't as 'good' as they assumed themselves to be. If anything, they were equally capable of atrocities and had done so before. Only just now not doing so at this point in time. If anything, they could probably do such crimes were they pushed to do so. Of course, some crimes weren't just killing. But also inaction.
"I doubt you came here to kill me." Salem then continued speaking while smiling. "I admit, while I doubt you're as powerful as those two lizards, the magic energy you give off is quite incredible. So incredible, that you probably could have destroyed my army and forces before I even got here. In fact, before I even started coming here." Neither of the two said anything, proving Salem right.
Maybe during the early stages the two couldn't have done anything, seeing as how they were still being accustomed to this world. But after months of gaining strength in belief and even new abilities, they continued to do nothing. Merely sat and observed Vacuo but nowhere else.
Even when Salem caused destruction elsewhere, despite undoubtedly knowing it would cause discord and death. Why, Salem coming toward Beacon caused the towns and people in the way to be ripped apart or stomped to death. All while in Vacuo, knowing of these wicked actions, these two Goddesses just continued on their day all while they. Did. Nothing.
"Some benevolent Gods you are." Salem insulted, with Ishtar placing one hand on her hip while narrowing her eyes, though stayed silent. Ereshkigal is just as quiet as her sister. After a bit, Ishtar then spoke up.
"...yeah. I suppose you aren't all wrong." It stung, and it pissed Ishtar off, but she can't deny the words Salem spoke as mere accusations. Especially since they were all true. "I won't deny it. While we aren't causing world-wide genocide, there's no denying us not doing anything to you has caused people to die."
And Ishtar is well aware she and Ereshkigal could have done something. They could have done it when they first knew about Salem, or when the man Qrow asked for their assistance. Both Goddess however did nothing, even as Salem had Argus crippled, Mistral being under siege, and of course Salem gathering her forces and traveling while killing so many. Had they been with Chaldea and ordered by the Masters, they could have stopped Salem under their command. Here, they didn't. Not that them not being ordered can be used as an excuse, something both acknowledge.
With Salem all too eager to point such faults out. "I doubt you're here to just kill me either. Or destroy my pet."
"Indeed." Ereshkigal sighed, but spoke the truth. "In all honesty, even if we did have the power to kill you, we wouldn't."
"We're letting the others take that opportunity." Ishtar added, referring to the humans, Servants, and Chaldea.
"Even when so many will die?" Because people will die. "My. How 'kind' of you. Wanting to let the others have their glory, all while keeping your own hands clean."
"Oh shut up." Ishtar then bluntly said, silencing Salem. "Look, I'm not going to say any excuses for Ereshkigal and I about what we've been doing. And if some people want to hate us for our actions, then sure, why not. Not like everything we've done here has been under the kindness of our heart." Heck, getting worshiped was definitely a selfish part, Ishtar won't deny that. Yet that doesn't suddenly mean Salem could take the moral ground, if she had any morals in the first place.
Something Ereshkigal made mention of, saying, "While you were punished harshly, that also leads to no excuse on everything you've done up until now." The murders. The hunting of silver eyes. Oh yes, Ereshkigal knew much due to speaking with those who were dead. Said people then gave quite the list of crimes Salem has done, just so she could die.
"To think, you'd sooner kill everyone not because you think they deserve it, but because if you want to die, you wish to drag everyone else with you." If anything, Ereshkigal can see as plain as day that Salem was a scorned woman.
Were she suddenly given the choice of being allowed to die, or being allowed to die while cursing people, she'd choose the second instantly. Because years of fuming in her own hatred has turned her into a bitter being that wanted to die, but only when everyone else perished with her just so they could taste her pain. No matter if they deserved it or not.
At this, Salem growled. Normally, she kept her calm, especially to those working under her. But seeing as how it was just her and two beings belonging to a race she despised, her mask slipped off. Not that she cared, where Salem then uttered, "So then what will you do? Other than stare and do nothing." Just like the God of Light did.
"Oh. Simple really." It was then Ishtar grinned. "We won't kill you, or even attack you personally. But…" Ereshkigal spoke up after.
Adding, "Gods can also help from time to time. Sister."
Ishtar chuckled as she lifted her hand. "Of course." Then, she snapped her fingers. All while adding on and saying with satisfaction, "Come on out Bull of Heaven, Gugalanna." A flash of light came and suddenly, standing before everyone in the room was a massive bull that gave off a feeling of divinity and intimidation. Looking golden and having a muscular build with horns that looked quite sharp.
It's presence and aura so mighty, that it took a second for Salem to realize she actually took a step back out of…fear?
"Ah, I can't blame you." Ereshkigal rolled her eyes, knowing this is the part where her sister bragged. "I mean, Gugalanna here is so big and strong. Sure nowhere near his full prime, but ohhhh, you're in trouble now. Isn't that right Gugalanna?" The Bull of Heaven snorted, though crouched a little to let Ishtar snuggle him a bit. She then faced Salem again and said, "Because you get to have some fun in here, won't you."
Ereshkigal rolled her eyes but smiled. Snapping her own fingers, a purple portal opened up. "Come on sis, let's let Gugalanna have his fun on his own."
"Right." One last pat and Ishtar then went away all while saying, "Have fun Salem. We have other business to attend to." Then, like so, the portal closed.
"GRUAAAGHHHH!" With the Bull of Heaven then roaring soon after. Immediately Salem raised her hands, ready to unleash her full might on this powerful being.
SLAM!
Only for the beast to slam its front hooves onto the ground and make it crack. It shattered no sooner after which dropped Gugalanna down below into the lower mouth of Monstra itself.
"Grrr." Where many Grimm happened to be at. Mainly flying Grimm that would eventually be released when Monstra opened its mouth to let them fly out. Now finding what the Grimm at first believed to be a prey to feast on.
"GUAGH!" Only for the more smarter Grimm and hybrids to realize it was they that were the prey with Gugalanna rampaging towards them. It would be a slaughter.
May as well show how Tai and some of the others like Beacon's staff are doing. Their doing great. Helps that many of their students learned from EMIYA, who while far from the worlds greatest swordsman, is still more than capable of training Beacon's students. Add all that together, and you get a strong force.
Plus, while Ereshkigal and Ishtar won't help (since that end the story way to fast), they decided to have Gugalanna play around. And he's going to turn many of the Grimm inside into paste. Until Next Time.