Hello everyone! How are you? I hope you are all doing fine!
Chapter 62 is up! I hope you enjoy it!
Thanks one more time for following/ favoring/ simply reading the story. I will see you all next week!
The loud scream echoing from inside the Mausoleum sounded like music to Gray's ears. He raised his cowl and stared at his men who were slowly walking, all three having drawn their weapons already.
Having near-perfect visibility, moving inside the main hall was a piece of cake. Spotting their targets was also pretty easy; Carmel was fuming and growling as loud as a charging Boarbatusk.
He signaled the others to stay put, as they reached the burial chamber and hid just behind the open doorframe. He wanted to get her, that was true, but enjoying her desperation was a treat on its own as well.
"When was the last time we received a report from the tomb, Wenge?" her voice was rasp and hard, probably strained from screaming. "Three weeks ago, Ms. Carmel" he replied, making Fenris grin.
"I" she put as much emphasis behind her words as possible "want you to tell me there is no way the report would be tampered or that your men lied to us! PROMISE ME!" she screamed, making his men flinch.
"Sophia" Wenge replied "please come down; you are going hysterical!" A loud metal sound was immediately heard, as Carmel kicked one of the barrels "DAMN IT! WHY DOES LUCK LOVE SCREWING WITH ME?"
"Do you think Gray's men released it?" he asked, trying his best to turn this into a productive conversation. "How would they do that? This thing needs at least six barrels and a sacrifice to be awakened!"
"I believe I have the answer to this" Fenris' men stepped in, pointing their guns towards the two humans. "WEAPONS DOWN AND HANDS IN THE AIR!" they told them, forcing them to begrudgingly comply.
The wolf faunus gently walked in, relishing the expression of fear and hatred on the Atlesian's face. "You!" Carmel spat. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Sophia Carmel. I take it this gentleman is?"
"Why would I even bother tell you my name?" Wenge replied. "Ah, I don't care; I just wanted to be civil. Well, anyway, before I leave you to my men's tender graces, there was one thing I wanted to ask."
"I will not dignify you with any response" Sophia seethed. "Oh, I think my question is of some interest to you as well; how did you convince Dahlias to work with you?" Fenris asked, making the woman flinch.
"What? What do you mean? Dahlias had been a member of the circle for quite a few years already! I had nothing to do-" "Yes, I know that" he cut her off, narrowing his eyes.
"But it seems to me you are not aware of his true nature, if you don't get the point of my question, Ms. Carmel." Almond-shaped eyes slightly opened in confusion, making the taller man grin.
"I think we have some time, so let me tell you a story before you give me your answer" he walked to the front, besides his men, without giving Wenge or Sophia the chance to interrupt him.
"It was about 15 years ago, I think, in the faunus volunteer hospital in Mantle. There was a young human doctor there, going by the name of Dahlias, acting as the emergency doctor of the facility."
Sophia's eyes narrowed as he continued "he was an orphan with no relatives, but that didn't bother him. In fact, it helped him pull the worst shifts in the hospital without any problem.
In addition, he had no friends; he was shunned by the humans for being around faunus and hated by the faunus for being human. Needless to say, he lived a very boring life, centered on his work. Until one day…"
Sophia could swear she felt a slight fondness on his voice for a moment "… one day, two Specialists brought him a top-secret patient; a wolf faunus, accused of performing a series of ritualistic murders. He was on the verge of dying and had to be treated in order to be interrogated."
Sophia gasped "that was you" she blurted, making a smile grow on his lips "he saved my life without a second thought, as if I were a normal patient. I stayed under his care for three months to get better and…"
"And?" the caramel-colored woman was now really curious "we grew to be friends; Dahlias talked to me at his spare time and I told him stories of my life and of places that I had been for my pilgrimage."
"You- what?" That was Wenge. "Pilgrimage of what?" The wolf-man's feral green eyes shone "of this" he pulled his Ursa talisman out of his robe, effectively freezing the blood in both human's veins.
"This is…" the woman whispered "before you ask, it is not Dahlias'. It was mine and I lent it to him for as long as he interacted with all of you people. I just took it back when he didn't need it."
He licked his lips in delight, savoring their visible confusion "back on track, I am sure you know of the fire, courtesy of the White Fang, with the gentle support of the SDC that claimed all lives in the hospital" he narrowed his eyes "including the two Specialists watching over me."
Carmel gasped "with their death, nobody even knew you were there and the higher-ups suspected you were dead; nobody would look for you. You were lucky."
He opened his palms in mock conceding "Dahlias and I were the sole survivors and we both were unregistered since the hospital was not keeping any employees' files for volunteers. The will of the Gods, one could say.
To not keep you hanging that much, we became partners; he taught me anything I know about human and faunus anatomy and I taught him everything he knew about magic and the cult of the Old Ways."
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration hit the woman "he was acting in your stead; that was why you knew everything about the cult and this place! Dahlias had been working for you since he joined the circle!"
"Exactly" he replied in satisfaction "I am glad to see you are as sharp as I thought you to be." "Wait a second" Wenge shouted "if you two were partners, why did you kill him? Why did you do this to your friend?"
For the first time since they started talk, Fenris' eyes narrowed and he took a serious expression. "Oh, I will tell you, but first I want to take my time and explain to you two exactly how bad you situation is."
"What? Why would you even bother doing that?" Wenge asked again. Fenris smiled and licked his lips "for pleasure, my dear, stupid human" he replied, savoring once more their horrified reaction.
"You see, I want to see your expression when you realize how foolish your actions were and how much on the palm of my hand you have been dancing all along- your despair will be the utmost pleasure."
-o—
Ilia and Blake tiptoed through the large open door- a pair of heavy stone slabs, kept on the walls by a series of golden hinges. There was very little light, coming from the outside, but it mattered little to them.
They walked a short, yet wide, corridor, filled with primitive-looking carvings and wall paintings. Despite their lack of technique and their unquestionably old age, though, the themes were simple enough.
The Lizard-headed Grimm was depicted in all its greatness, standing on top of the temple, surrounded by offerings of gold, animals and- they shut each other's mouth to stifle a gasp of horror- humans and faunus.
The ones offering the tributes horrified them almost as much; they all wore long leather robes with tribal patterns and thick hides, possibly for the extreme cold, and adorned them with religious pendants.
The problem, however, was not that. It was the fact that even under the low light and the amateurish design, the cat-girl could easily see all the images depicting the Grimm's followers had animal features!
"You were right…" Ilia whispered at her friend. "They were faunus who built this place… and they worshiped… this!" the yellow-eyed girl close her eyes and hung her head.
She didn't want to believe it. She didn't want to accept it! Her people, her fellow faunus… worshipped an Eldergrimm! Even worse; they- they offered living beings to be devoured by it!
"I wished I was wrong… I prayed I was wrong…" she touched the wall to overcome the wave of dizziness that hit her. "Blake…" her friend stood next to her and touched her back.
"Even after the White Fang … I thought that we- the faunus would never do something that horrible. I wished that Gray and Cherry were the odd ones, but… this is just… shameful doesn't begin to describe it."
She pointed towards the cold stone. "Are there my ancestors depicted in this? Or yours? Or Sun's? Are there Velvet's or Alex's? Or maybe all of them?"
"Blake…" Before Ilia could even form a cohesive answer on her mind, though, the black-haired beauty took a couple deep breaths.
"I can't believe that at some point I nearly hit Weiss for something as stupid as human or faunus superiority" she chuckled bitterly and stared at the maroon-haired girl "what a child was I being back then."
"You just wanted the best for us- nobody can blame you for that. And I am sure Weiss doesn't at least" she blurted. Blake shook her head "we must move- I wasted us enough time here" she forced herself.
Ilia nodded and they moved through the corridor into the main hall. The carvings and paintings continued there, some of them a little more elaborate than the previous ones.
The room was large and square, with two sets of pillars supporting the ceiling. In the middle, a large statue of the Lizard headed Grimm stood, the sculptor showing it as if bound by chains inside a half-closed coffin.
Just below it, there was a massive altar, with another carved image on its base; albeit this one being created by someone considerably more skilled than any other inside this place.
It showed two scenes; one where armed humans were shown to hunt down and kill faunus and another one where the faunus were praying around the temple, along a field of the same humans' corpses.
So, they were hunted down by humans to the point of reaching out to Grimm for help Blake's eyes opened wide. But… it makes no sense; this thing is supposed to be sleeping. How did it protect them from enemies?
"Blake" Ilia's whisper made her turn around and stare towards the back of the room where her friend seemed to have found something.
There were a few openings on the room's left and right, leading to the rest of the building, but the most interesting part was a smaller one behind the monstrous statue that was slightly illuminated.
"There is a small staircase leading down" the chameleon faunus told her as she walked next to her. They exchanged a stare and descended the stairs, their backs on the wall and their steps as light as feathers.
When they reached the end, the small illumination showed an open door, inside from which both of them could hear voices. "-your despair will be my utmost pleasure." They immediately recognized Fenris' one.
"You sick bastard!" That was Carmel! Blake and Ilia stood just beside the doorframe, taking a small peek at the scene inside.
Their eyes opened wide, seeing Fenris and three more faunus holding Wenge Knight and Sophia Carmel at gunpoint, in front of a trashed and emptied sarcophagus!
No, were we too late? And where are Ruby and Weiss? Blake thought, as Gray started speaking again. "Now, you are not one to talk, Ms. Carmel. The only thing that you care for is Alginos, isn't it?" He smiled.
"Where is Alginos? How did you free it?" Sophia asked, making Blake and Ilia's hearts momentarily stop. The rest of the faunus kept steady and didn't even flinch before the wolf-man replied.
"I didn't free it. Alginos never left this place at all, Ms." he cackled. His henchmen laughed heartily, clearly enjoying the confused expression she took. Unknowingly to them, Blake and Ilia had the exact same one.
"Then where is-" "It is dead. I fed it to the Morkvind." And that was it. He said it so calmly, so easily, stated it as if the Eldergrimm was a fish being fed to a shark. Needless to say, everyone stared at him in shock.
"You are messing with me aren't you?" Sophia gulped. There was no way she was going to accept this. There was no way this had truly happened! There was NO WAY AN AVERAGE GRIMM COULD EVER-
"Alginos' nature was unstable to begin with" the terrorist explained, his face totally serious. "When Salem sealed it, it was nearly dead. The only thing keeping it stable was her ancient power."
She groaned. "Lies! My men would-" "They only traced its presence which was due to the massive pool of dark energy it had been reduced to as Salem's power faded away. Of course, you had no way to know, since you were too cautious to open the coffin yourself" he smirked.
"But I am not like you- I could feel the mausoleum's lack of energy. I had no way to know, but I sensed something was amiss. Alginos was no more; the only thing left of it was a vast amount of eldritch power."
He continued, ignoring the painful gaze the woman sent him "and then, a miracle happened. A few weeks ago I found a Grimm, powerful and old enough to brave the mausoleum with a little guidance on my part.
But what I expected was simply to see it claim the area for itself; Aegis was already under its control for eons and I wanted to see it claim this place too- I would never had expected to see it tear the coffin apart and feast on the Eldergrimm's remains. That was… marvelous at least."
Sophia felt her legs give away. This- this was the entity she had based her plan on? This was the main piece in her chess board? The major player she would use to subdue the entire nation of Atlas? Nothing?
She nearly crashed down, when Wenge ran to her side and supported her, glaring at the older man. "Now this is an expression I simply can't get enough of" his eyes were gleaming as he appraised them.
"YOU SICK BASTARD! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO HER?" The three faunus walked to them and hit Wenge on the head with the rifle's butt.
"Shut up, filthy human!" they stood towering over Sophia, looking at her with satisfied smirks on their faces.
"To answer the question, I killed Dahlias because he lied to me; he hid the fact that he told Sophia of the mausoleum and the tomb" Gray said.
"So, my question is simple; how did you convince him to betray me? Did you sleep with him? Did you bribe him? Did you torture him? Or was it something else? I am both sad and impressed of the outcome."
Sophia raised her chin. Tears ran down her eyes as she saw Wenge on the floor, holding his head. "Who gives you the right to talk to me like you know anything about me? You KNOW NOTHING OF ME!"
"Silence you bitch!" a faunus tried to hit Sophia, but stopped. Her gaze fell on them, engulfing them in a pleasant euphoria. Her shining almond eyes became their world; nothing else mattered to them anymore.
"Kill that asshole!" without hesitation, the three men turned towards their previous leader. Behind the door, Blake nodded towards Ilia to get ready- as soon as one side emerged victorious, they would act.
-o—
Fenris jumped to the right, avoiding the hail of bullets. One of the men jumped towards him, using his rifle as a makeshift club to bludgeon him with. He rolled forward and ducked behind the coffin's remains to avoid the gunfire coming from the other two.
"Where is your superiority now, you bastard!?" Carmel screamed. He licked his lips as he felt the men coming closer. I must have hit a nerve somehow, huh? Well that makes things even more fascinating!
For the first time since they had come to this forsaken land, Gray used his aura and pumped his semblance. Power swelled through his body. He felt his muscles grow and fill, as thick gray fur covered his arms.
That should be enough for those three his claws grew longer and his canines got sharper. He exhaled deeply as his former subordinates got to him and raised their weapons to shoot.
Their leader, however, was fast. He grabbed the closest one, twisted the weapon off his hands and put his body in front of him the moment the others opened fire. "NO! WAIT! NOOOOOO!"
The man's life ended almost immediately, as his comrades' guns didn't stop soon enough and filled his body with smoking bullet holes. Then, Gray threw him on the second and jumped at the third.
The faunus was strong and armed, but at this form there was no way for Fenris to lose. He jumped at his left side and sliced his abdomen with his claws, forcing the man to stumble.
Before he could retreat, the ferocious wolf man grabbed his jaw and sliced his throat open, making sure to snap his neck as well. The bloody corpse fell down with a sickening thud.
"Protect me!" Sophia screamed at her only remaining vassal, as Fenris ran towards her with immense speed. The poor man barely managed to ran between them-only to die both to Gray's claws and Sophia's gun.
The two of them stared at each other, Fenris with his back to the door and Carmel with her handgun aiming at him. "So, that's the answer; you have the ability to brainwash people" he said.
The woman narrowed her beautiful eyes "how does it feel; knowing that you killed your friend for no reason?" she stared at the blood that dripped down his claws "but I take it you are used to such things."
"Like any of you two have the right to talk" a soft, firm voice replied as Blake blinked at the man's back, Nightfall's blade pointed at his neck.
At the exact same moment, Ilia appeared just behind Carmel. One quick slap threw the gun off her hand and another one wrapped it around her chest "don't even talk- we are tired of listening to you" she threatened.
"Blake and Ilia… persistent like cockroaches" Fenris commented. "Save it for someone who cares about your opinion" the yellow-eyed beauty replied, being cautious to not make eye contact with Sophia.
"You are both horrible criminals; you shall be properly trialed in Atlas. It is over for you." "Heh; I am looking forward to it. If you can pull it that is" Gray smiled, seeming to enjoy every single moment of this.
Sophia on the other hand trembled in anger. "What gives you the right to judge me, you hypoc-" she stopped, feeling Ilia's grip tighten. "Say one more word to her and I will knock you out" she hissed.
And then, the weapon released her. It all happened in a single moment- all three faunus in the room fell down, gasping and panting, as if they had been overwhelmed by exhaustion all of a sudden.
Sophia didn't even get confused. She knew exactly what had happened, even before she saw Wenge standing up, his body tremble and shake from the overuse of his power.
"Ms. Carmel… Sophia" he smiled at her "I am sorry for everything I have done to your family- I really wish I could take it all back." Blake used her sword to stand, but her movements were slow and tired.
"Go!" the dark-skinned man told his boss. "Get out of here; somewhere safe where you can lay low for a while!" She stared at him only for a single moment before turning her head.
"It has been a pleasure, Mr. Knight" she told him, before she ran out of the room and up the staircase, trying her best to fight the sadness that filled her heart.
She ignored the fighting sounds that came from below and rushed out in the main room. She passed Alginos' statue and made a straight line for the corridor-
Sophia gasped. A girl was standing there, blocking her escape route, next to three knocked out members of the Blood Moon. She wore a white-red winter military uniform and held a thin, elegant rapier.
Her hair was tied up, its pure platinum-white color being a perfect match for her alabaster skin. She was missing her left eye. Along with her outfit and ethereal image, she looked like a ghost.
To her, it was a ghost; a vengeful, one-eyed ghost that crawled out from its grave to haunt her. "Schnee" she hissed, sweat running down her forehead "what are you doing here?"
Weiss touched her neck with her left palm, making sure Sophia could see Kendrick's scarf. "I am here to deliver your comeuppance, you murderous fiend." She pointed Myrtenaster at her "get ready, Carmel."