I know I promised to post early this week, but I felt it was important to call even more attention on the war in Ukraine that started this Thursday, so get an extra large chapter instead. I hope it isn't too subtle x).
And please do support Ukraine, they need every little bit of help they can get.
Neo and RWBY made their way towards the tribe that was suspected to have Mercury and Tyrian hiding in, trailing through the hot desert. RWBY hadn't expected them to be so far away since Neo had said they were currently nearby to trade with the city, but apparently nearby simply meant within a few hours on foot.
"Are you sure they'll be there?" asked Yang, "It would suck to do all of this for nothing."
"Yes," added Weiss, "The heat is terrible for my skin."
"Come on guys," said Ruby, "Neo said we were going there to check in the first place, you knew that when you accepted to come along."
"We didn't know it would be so far away," noted Weiss.
Weiss and Yang were already clearly exhausted by the heat, cause of their nagging, while Ruby wasn't faring much better. The only ones that seemed relatively unbothered by it were Neo, safely in the shadow provided by her parasol, and Blake, who didn't seem to have any problem walking under the sun.
"How do you manage to be fine with this heat?" moaned Yang.
"I'm a cat faunus," simply answered Blake.
"What?"
"Cats are desert animals," explained Weiss, "Despite their fur, they can tolerate heat pretty well and survive only on the water from the body of their prey."
"Faunus gain some advantages of their animal counterparts," added Blake, "Cat faunus are pretty heat tolerant as a result."
"Cheater," muttered Yang.
Finally, they reached the small oasis the tribe had settled next to, and Weiss, Yang and Ruby were able to find shade to rest under. Neo took the opportunity to go explore on her own, promising Ruby she'd call if she was ever in danger, but explaining that Tyrian and Mercury might still think she was on their side and that it was better if she tried baiting them out first.
She went from tent to tent, showing pictures of the two criminals she was here to kill while looking as if she was a lost lone woman searching for her friends, trying to garner enough sympathy from the locals for them to help her.
When she came back to the spot she had left RWBY in a couple hours later, it was empty handed, as she had found no signs of either Mercury or Tyrian within the rather large camp. That didn't mean they couldn't be there, as the camp was too large for her to search every nook and cranny without looking insanely suspicious, but it would be weird that absolutely no one helped her if they had been.
"No luck?" asked Ruby, earning a shake from Neo.
"I didn't hear anything suspicious," said Blake, "But I wonder what are those markings on their wrists?"
Neo gave her a curious glance, as she hadn't noticed any marking at all.
"Yes, I noticed those as well," added Weiss, "nearly everyone has some kind of crown marked on their wrists."
Neo frowned. She remembered from her lessons that tribal tattoos weren't uncommon among the different tribes scouring the desert, but those were mostly ceremonial, not things that people would wear in their everyday lives, and it was a practice that was slowly dying out in the first place.
She decided to call Rumpole, just to be sure. The teacher soon answered, and Neo signed Blake to explain what she saw.
"They all have this mark?" asked Rumpole with disbelief, "Are you sure?"
"Certain," answered Weiss.
"This can't be…"
"What do you mean?" asked Blake.
"We had troubles with two people that had this mark while you were in Atlas," explained Rumpole, "They claimed it served to prove their lineage to the old Kings of Vacuo, and they tried to take the city by force at the time, only to be repelled."
"So they're all part of that group?" asked Yang.
"No, we arrested all of them at the time, and even then only the two leaders of that group had the mark," said Rumpole, "But that an entire tribe has it… this doesn't make sense."
"Why?" asked Ruby.
"This… is a delicate subject," explained Rumpole, "The lineage of the old Kings is untraceable for a reason. It was made untraceable after the fall of the monarchy."
"You mean they were…" started Blake.
"Wiped out, yes," answered Rumpole, "unofficially. It's not something we'd record in our history books, but after the King tried to keep his power over the country, the Headmaster at the time, Theodore's predecessor, stopped it and the council called for the secret execution of the entire family. It was something that was nipped in the bud, so nobody knows the King was forcefully put out of power, not even Ozpin."
"But if an entire tribe has the mark that's supposed to prove their lineage to the King…" started Weiss.
"It's likely they were the tribe the old King came from," finished Rumpole, "Maybe someone close to the family managed to escape and bring the news back, and they all marked themselves as a sign of loyalty to the crown."
"What does it mean?" asked Yang.
"It means that none of them are likely to help us," explained Rumpole, "And if Mercury and Tyrian truly are hiding here, then they might even have the entire tribe on their side."
"Why can't we just fight all together against Salem," muttered Ruby as she stepped slightly away from the group.
"Anyway," said Rumpole, turning towards Neo, "Taking out Tyrian and Mercury, or at least forcing out of this tribe, must remain our priority. I trust you have an idea?"
Neo nodded, a grin creeping up on her face, unbeknownst to WBY as they were fixated on Rumpole, but not unnoticed by Ruby.
"Do what you need to do," said Rumpole, "I trust in your judgment."
She ended the call with that, and Weiss, Blake and Yang turned towards Neo.
"What kind of plan do you have?" asked Weiss, suspicious.
" I'll wait for the night, then force them outside. We'll get them once their out in the open," typed Neo on her scroll, showing it the team.
"That looks like a good idea," said Yang.
"Agreed," said Blake, thinking Neo was talking about using herself as bait once again.
Seeing nobody was arguing against her, Neo left once again to try and get Mercury and Tyrian out before the night, along with getting a better look at the whole camp.
Ruby, on the other hand, promised herself to follow her as soon as night fell.
Mercury almost burst out of the tent he was hiding in when he saw Neo outside. No matter how creepy the mute was, she was definitely leagues better than the madman he was stuck with.
Speaking of, said madman grabbed his jacket and stopped him from leaving the tent.
"No going outside," teased Tyrian with a cackle.
"Seriously? That's Neo, she our ally," said Mercury.
"Is she now?" asked Tyrian.
"What do you mean is she?" asked back Mercury, "She's literally been on our side since day one in Vale."
"That is what you believe, indeed," said Tyrian, his voice sounding even more crazed and condescending at the same time, "But is that the truth?"
"What are you on?" asked Mercury, "How are you managing to be even crazier than usual?"
Tyrian's incessant cackle was all the answer he got, but the firm grip on his jacket kept Mercury within the tent.
"This is stupid," mumbled Mercury.
"Wait, and you'll see," cryptically answered Tyrian, annoying Mercury even more.
"Fuck you."
Time passed, and Mercury was, as usual, slowly being driven insane by Tyrian's presence next to him, until night finally fell.
"I'm off," he said, getting up from the ground, "I can't take it anymore."
"Stay," said Tyrian, "We can't be found out yet."
"No," said Mercury, "I've had enough. I've had to deal with your crazy mind for months! I need silence, and if I happen to find Neo then I'll check for myself if she's on our side or not."
He burst out, and Tyrian sighed before standing up as well and following him, a grin forming on his face.
"As you wish."
Ruby silently followed Neo as she was making her way between the tents. The night was cold, much to her annoyance, but she had to fully focus on Neo or she risked losing her. In fact, she lost her a couple times, because Neo was making extensive use of her semblance to not be noticed by anyone from the tribe while speeding as fast as she could through the camp.
She would stop at times, allowing Ruby to catch up to her a bit, but would always go right back to running afterwards, leaving her no time to check what she had been doing.
Ruby didn't know what Neo's plan was, but she was certain that it wasn't something she'd agree with at all, not after seeing that grin she showed to Rumpole when they talked.
She found her answer as they had made their way halfway through the camp, as she heard screams in the distance. Turning back, she saw smoke rise as the night was being lit up red near where Neo had started.
Flames. It was burning, the camp was burning!
Ruby made full use of her semblance and caught up to Neo as she was kneeled down next to a tent, her parasol glowing red from fire Dust.
"Neo stop! What are you doing?!" shouted Ruby, causing Neo to interrupt what she was doing and look up.
Neo stood up and smirked after a resigned sigh, making Ruby feel like she was telling her to guess.
"You're… you're smoking them out," realized Ruby, earning a small applaud from Neo, "I can't let you do that."
Neo rolled her eyes and sent a small flame with her parasol towards the tent, making it catch fire. Ruby used her semblance next to it, the large gust of wind blowing the still small flame off before it could grow.
"Why are you doing this?" asked Ruby, "You're going to kill innocents when you don't even know if Mercury and Tyrian are here!"
Neo gave another eye-roll and prepared herself to fight, changing her canopy to one that shone light blue.
"I don't want to fight you," said Ruby before preparing herself as well, unfolding her scythe, "But I won't let you hurt innocent people."
Neo dashed in, quickly sliding under Ruby's guard and smacking her chin with Hush, while Ruby spun on her leg and slashed Neo's leg.
- 18 AP
- 33 AP
Neo followed by freezing the ground around them and causing icicle spikes to burst up, stabbing Ruby's legs as she tried to move.
- 23 AP
Ruby tried to dash behind Neo with her semblance, but miscalculated Neo's position because of her illusions, allowing Neo to catch her petals with her opened parasol and throw her off course, right back into the spikes she had created.
- 22 AP
With a slight observation from the corner of her eye, Neo noticed Ruby was already down to 33 AP, while she was still at 77, a fairly good situation for her. She let Hush rest on her shoulder, looking down at Ruby with a smirk.
Then, someone jumped in and drop-kicked Ruby while she was down.
- 23 AP
"You okay?" asked Mercury to Neo, who decided to go along with it and look at him with contempt, as if he had just interrupted while she was having her fun.
Mercury wanted to add something, but Ruby attacked him, her scythe hitting him in the back. Not as clean of a cut as Ruby might have wanted because of Mercury's reaction, but it was still a decent hit nonetheless.
- 30 AP
Mercury turned back to focus on Ruby, launching a few kicks that she quickly dodged aside before coming back to slash with her scythe again.
- 33 AP
"A little help?" called Mercury, who grinned when he felt Neo approach them.
His grin fell completely when Neo stabbed him in the back, then followed by kneeing him in the guts and breaking the last of his aura.
- 26 AP
- 6 AP
- 6 HP
Mercury feel to his knees as his breath was cut off from Neo's strike, still looking in disbelief as Neo slowly unsheathed her blade.
"No," said Ruby, "We'll bring him in custody, no need to kill."
"I'm sorry girls," said a third voice nearby with a cackle, "I'm afraid I can't let you do that."
Tyrian dropped next to Mercury and grabbed him, causing Neo and Ruby to go on guard again, which made him chuckle.
"As fun as this might have been, I'm not here to fight, yet," said Tyrian, "Besides, you might want to be quick… it's starting."
He left the scene, and neither Neo nor Ruby tried to stop him as their attention turned back towards the raging fire that was slowly devouring the camp. There, as many of the tribesmen were trying to put out the fire, one was standing tall and shouting.
"Brothers! Sisters! The fiends in Vacuo's council struck once again!" they were saying, "Not content to have murdered our rightful king and his family, they have now decided to wipe out every single remain of his tribe! It is time to rise up and retake what was rightfully ours!"
Neo grabbed her scroll and tried to call Rumpole, but there was no signal. The relay points that brought the network to this place must have been taken down, either by her fire or something else.
Ruby and Neo shared an understanding look. They would fight later, for now, they needed to go back to Vacuo to warn the population, if it wasn't too late already.
Grabbing the rest of Ruby's team, the travel back to Vacuo through the chilly night was a lot less exhausting, allowing them to move at a faster pace while Ruby and Neo were recuperating their aura.
As they arrived, they realized that the grimm were already attacking the city, mostly burrowers rising out of the ground, but they could only see a single side of it for now.
Rumpole called as soon as Neo got in range of the CCT, looking mostly fine but having a slightly ragged breath.
"What happened on your side?" she asked.
"The tribe is rising up against Vacuo," said Ruby, "We fought Mercury but Tyrian saved him."
"They're not the priority anymore," said Rumpole, "The grimm started attacking several hours ago, about at the same time we lost your signal."
"We're just outside the city," explained Ruby, "Do you need our help anywhere?"
"Yes, we're evacuating everyone to Shade," said Rumpole, "The inner city wasn't a problem, but we're afraid some of the people near the outskirts couldn't make it out in time. Since you're entering the city, check if there are any survivors and try to bring them to Shade."
"Will do," said Ruby as she shut off the call.
"You heard her guys," said Ruby, "You're with us Neo?"
Neo nodded, but added that she will leave most of the grimm to them and focus on finding survivors, because she wanted to keep as much Dust as possible in case larger threats come by.
"That works," agreed Ruby, "Now let's go."
The team reached Vacuo rapidly, taking care of the grimm bursting out of the ground around them while Neo entered buildings to check for survivors. Slowly, they reached the center of the city, with a group of ever growing civilians they had to protect.
As they approached Shade, they noticed makeshift barricades had been built, closing off the road and making it easier to defend against the grimm, while they were soon joined by a team they hadn't seen in a long time.
"Sun!" said Blake, recognizing the leader, "Why are you here?"
"Well, me and my team joined Shade after the whole mess with Haven," explained Sun, "Rumpole asked us to come find you and make sure you reach the school safely."
"Do you know what happened to the Atlesian refugees?" asked Ruby.
"They're being escorted to the school right now from what I've heard," answered Sun, "Apparently the people were vehemently against at first, but once the grimm reached the barricades they agreed to it."
"Is there anywhere else where we should be looking for survivors?" asked Yang.
"I don't know," said Sun, I guess you can ask Rumpole when we reach the school.
"Why Rumpole?" asked Weiss, "Why not Theodore?"
"Ah, that's an easy answer," said Neptune, "That's because he's too busy fighting on the frontlines. Theodore would never back down from a fight."
"He did always try to fight the students," noted Sun.
"Anyway, we should probably get to Rumpole," said Ruby, "She probably knows more about what's happening than us, and we'll have a better chance at stopping this if we directly stop Salem."
"I'll show you the way," said Sun.
They brought the civilians to the school with little issue, and found Rumpole micromanaging Vacuo's defenses. The sight of the petite woman barking orders left and right would have been hilarious if not for the severity of the situation they were in.
"Good, you're here!" said Rumpole as she noticed them walk in, "You four are amongst the best Huntresses we have, so I need you to go help Theodore. As much of a fighter he is, he's getting old and we can't allow the Headmaster to fall at such a vital time. Neo, you stay here, I have something else for you."
"We don't get a choice?" asked Weiss.
"You want to help?" asked back Rumpole, "Then do what I ask, that's the best you can do in our current circumstances. We didn't hear anything about Salem or her pawns, plus we have to remember that the tribe you went to might attack on top of the grimm, so we have to clear out as much as we can before a second or third wave attacks."
"We'll help," said Ruby, "You're fine whatever we do right?"
"All I ask for is for you to protect Theodore in my stead," said Rumpole, "From the grimm, but also from himself. I'll send your friends next to you as soon as they arrive."
"Thanks," said Ruby, "Come on guys."
Team RWBY left just as quickly as they came in, leaving Neo alone. With a wave of her hand, Rumpole dismissed the people nearby, leaving the two of them truly alone in the room.
"If this is truly Salem's final attack, then we need everything we can get," she said, "I've already sent the Summer maiden to open the vault, I need you to go there and protect her, just in case."
Then, she opened the drawer and took out a lamp, the Relic of Knowledge.
"I've asked Glynda to give me the Relic just in case something like this were to happen," she explained, "I need you to go down in disguise, and put this Relic inside the vault after you take our the Relic of Destruction."
"Then," she added, "Once the door is closed once again, You'll kill the Summer maiden without revealing your face so you don't end up being the last one in her thoughts."
"It's not a perfect plan, but should we end up failing here, we must do everything we can to ensure Salem cannot gather the four Relics, delay her as much as we can."
Neo shuddered, understanding that this plan was in case they all died there, and that she wasn't to take the Summer maiden power for herself because she'd be part of the ones Salem would either kill or capture should she win this battle.
She nodded. This was as clear-cut a job as it got.
RWBY quickly arrived to the barricade Theodore was holding, noticing there seemed to be more grimm here than at the barricade they came from. There, they found Theodore fighting, punching the grimm, sometimes blasting them, sometimes freezing them, and other time simply grabbing their heads and crushing their skulls.
The people around helped as much as they could, and Ruby noticed many of them looked like civilians that were fighting for the first time with an Atlesian gun.
Her team jumped into the fray and cleared enough grimm to give them some time to talk to Theodore.
"Are you alright?" asked Yang.
"Couldn't be better!" said Theodore, "I haven't had such a fight in ages."
"Why do these people look like civilians?" asked Ruby.
"Because they are," answered Theodore
"What?" shrieked Weiss.
"We're distributing weapons to everyone," added Theodore.
"But they're not trained to fight!" argued Ruby.
"Maybe, but if they don't fight, they will die," said Theodore, "So we give them whatever guns we have, along with the Atlesian reserves the refugees sold us in exchange for better supplies when they first arrived here. I'm not forcing anybody that doesn't want it to fight, but they know that if they don't, the grimm will kill them all."
"This is wrong," muttered Blake.
"Tell that to the grimm," growled Theodore as he smashed another Beowolf trying to jump over the barricade.
The ground then rumbled, and a large worm grimm rose from the ground before launching itself down at them. It surprised RWBY, who had never met that kind of monster before, but not Theodore, who punched the ground with his two fists and created an earth fist that punched the large creature away from them, giving time for RWBY to get ahold of themselves.
"We'll talk about this later," said Ruby, "Weiss, summon something to keep it from smashing down on the rest of the defenders. Blake, Yang, the three of us will attack from above and take it down!"
Weiss summoned her Arma Gigas, the big knight armor that had been possessed by a grimm. As the worm tried to smash itself down again, her summon used its sword to block and push it back once again, while Ruby, Blake and Yang climbed on the buildings nearby to gain height.
"Blake, Yang, now!" shouted Ruby as she turned her scythe into rifle mode and loaded fire Dust rounds.
Blake launched her blade to lodge itself into the house across of where she was while Yang jumped on the grimm and tried to punch its maw open. Whenever it would move too much and make Yang lose balance, Blake would swoop in to catch her and swing back up with her ribbon.
Ruby, in the meantime, tried to aim for the beast's throat, wanting to shoot her fire Dust rounds directly in its insides. As Yang kept fighting, and at a moment when Weiss had sent the creature flying back up, there was an opening, and Ruby shot.
She unloaded her entire cartridge inside the grimm, causing explosion after explosion inside it. Yet, by the time it fell back down it was still alive, just barely.
Ruby was out of shots though, so she wasn't sure how to deal the finishing blow without using her eyes, which would exhaust her too much for the attrition war they were just starting to fight.
"Good job kid, let me take it from there," shouted Theodore.
Team RWBY saw the old headmaster power use gauntlets with gravity Dust, sending himself flying high up above the worm, before he activated them once again, falling down with force on the creature, pinning it to the ground and nearly snapping it in two from the strength of the hit. Then, his gauntlets suddenly glew blue and icicle spears formed out of his fists and pierced the pinned grimm, finishing it off.
They didn't have time to celebrate the grimm dissolving before them though, as another wave rushed in just after, followed by something they hadn't expected to come out and fight.
Team RWBY jumped down next to Theodore, who stepped forward.
"Time for the big one."
On next week, what was happening at Salem headquarters before that.
To be continued on March 5th
Name : Neo Politan
Age : 18
Level : 21 (43%)
Class : Illusionist [You add both your Intelligence and Dexterity modifiers to your AC and to Dexterity or Intelligence based attacks as long as you can still cast illusions]
Path : Me, myself and I [You live for yourself first and foremost, no matter what pain you might cause others]
Destiny : All for one [Everyone can die, if it means you get to survive]
Title : The Gamer
HP : 11/11
AP : 110/110
STR : 12
CON : 11
DEX : 20
INT : 23
WIS : 13
CHA : 17
Semblance : The Gamer
Status effects :
Gamer's body [Your body follows game-like mechanics. You can restore 1/4th of your total HP (rounded down) by resting 15 minutes. You can only die if your HP reach 0 and you fail your last breath]
Child of Remnant [You are from Remnant and follow different rules than other worlds. Your HP is always equal to your constitution and any bonuses that would normally improve it are transferred to your aura]
Words that shouldn't be said [Your last words almost caused you to lose your life. You cannot talk until you overcome your trauma]
Defenses:
AC : 29(34)
For : 22
Ref : 28
Will : 25