Hello everyone! How are you doing? I hope you are all doing fine!
Chapter 80 is here and as always I hope you enjoy it.
This arc has a slower progress than I intended it to, but I hope its second part will make up for it. I only recently realized how tough it is for someone to properly put their ideas on paper AND make them a continuously interesting story; it's much tougher than I expected it to and even now I am not sure I am succeeding :P
Anyway, sorry for my babbling. Thanks a lot for keeping up either by following favoring or just reading the story. You all are the best!
See you next week with Chapter 81. Until then, be well and have fun!
Blake gulped. The creature moved slowly, but the presence it exerted was another story. She looked back, the corner of her left eye fixed on the monster, to see what her teammates were doing.
Sure enough, not wasting any time, team RWBY had packed their stuff and, their weapons at hand, they were ready to move. She stared at her partner who had an unconscious Vivian draped over her shoulder.
She wouldn't calm down the blonde pointed at Blake, shaking her shoulders to emphasize her point. The girl acknowledged that with a quick nod, turning her full attention back to the Grimm.
Behind Yang, Ruby and Weiss stood. They both gripped their weapons hard- Ruby had chosen to wield Thorn as it was far more subtle than Crescent Rose- and waited for Blake's signal to move out.
Back to the hall, the slow-moving figure continued its advance to the center of the area, where the large monolith stood. While moving, it stopped on occasion, its hood shifting around as if trying to find them; it was a good thing all of them were staying calm and collected.
Should we dismiss subtlety and try outrunning it? No; we don't know what it can do. She turned to her teammates and showed them the floor, making a fluid horizontal motion with her hand.
"How am I supposed to do that with her?" Yang whispered furiously. Weiss stepped next to her and, without answering, touched the small, unconscious woman, her arms shining with energy.
A series of runes activated, making the two sisters and the faunus open their eyes in astonishment, as the runes covered the woman's body and, without any help from dust, Yang felt her weight diminish at once.
"I will explain later" the alabaster girl whispered and everyone agreed; there was no issue of trust and no reason to discuss this here. They all stowed away their weapons; fighting would be postponed for a while.
Blake, eyes fixed on the Grand Mother and back turned, flailed her hand behind her back to urge them move quickly and Ruby tilted her head to tell the couple to go first.
Weiss crawled on the floor and slowly moved outside, followed by Yang who was crawling even deeper to try and balance the body she held, tightly strapped on her back with a double- tied thick rope.
It was a testament to the woman's physical prowess that she managed to perform that. Even with her weight reduced, the size of Vivian's body was troubling and crawling so deeply strained her toned muscles a lot.
I am so beating the crap out of her if she doesn't thank me later. Damn it; I know Rubes and Blake don't want to fight an unknown enemy but I want to punch the living daylights out of this flabby hood so much!
Blake stared down, as her partner crawled the distance to the corner on their left just behind Weiss' petite form, the higher ground and the paved balcony-corridor offering protection from the hooded monster.
Said monstrosity had almost reached the monolith; the malicious aura had stopped spreading for now and the faunus' eyes narrowed before she looked back and signed for Ruby to wait.
The hood had now turned its attention to the pitch-black slab of rock. A slight gesture of affection made by the thick arm made the girl shiver in disgust, as the marred fingers slowly ran up the stone surface.
And then…
"I see you… humans. Mother sees all. Mother- knows all… "
The words were definitely of the common language spoken in Remnant but the deep, guttural and absolutely inhuman pronunciation gave all girls the impression of someone who hadn't spoken it for eons.
Yang saw Weiss stiffen all of a sudden. Her legs trembled. The voice… was familiar. It was more womanly, less prideful and had a creepy tinge of childishness, but it reminded her of Avyssos' speech patterns!
"Baby" she whispered. "Are you ok?" "Yes" the reply came. "I just got a little-" "WEISS! YANG! JUMP AWAY!"
Blake's scream came too late. A pulse of green light hit the balcony at the point where the couple was, erasing the silence with a massive and cacophonous explosion as it broke the marble floor with ease.
Weiss used her glyphs to maneuver, creating two stepping platforms for them, allowing them to safely reach the ground on top of piles of crashed wood and shattered pieces of marble. At once, they drew their weapons and Yang let Vivian's body down behind her.
A few meters away, the figure turned its still-concealed head to them. Blake and Ruby both drew weapons, ready to jump on the creature as soon as the Freezerburn pair would draw its attention.
The human skull on top of the bone-crafted staff shone, eyes gleaming a sick green. Weiss crossed her weapons, ready to create a shield for them and Yang cracked her fists to prepare for their counterattack.
The green pulse flared once more- and this time, it blew up the balcony where Ruby and Blake were. There was no indication, no swing of the hood. The pulse simply flew to them as if it knew where they were.
As the ground collapsed below them, Ruby burst in petals and hugged Blake. She jumped, stepped on a large slab of marble and propelled to the back, stopping her burst on top of a falling column.
As soon as they materialized, Blake's sword wires entangled the piece of stone and allowed them to maneuver on it, now facing to the other side of the wall.
Just before they reached the ground, Ruby burst once more and used the power from her movement to hurl the column to the monster.
Her friend unclasped the blade and let her hurl it, before it threw it back at Yang in order to jump away from the upcoming collision. Said collision never happened, however, much to the team's dismay.
As soon as the Blake-Ruby tornado stepped down next to their friends, the column got vaporized by the same green pulse, again without any movement or indication from the Grimm's part.
"Weak" the voice said, grinding their gears even more. Ruby took one step forward and drew Crescent Rose. "Get ready for battle; I am tired of this stupid game of tag with those pieces of crap."
Everyone nodded in determination. It was the first time they would face an Elder while being fully rested and prepared and they were more than eager for it- they had quite the score to settle after all.
While being very subtle about it, the girls had been expecting this chance since that accursed day in Yugure Village. A significant pile of losses, as the council had said, had only increased their frustration.
"GO!" The sound of weapons being cocked filled the main hall of the museum and the silent night bustled with RWBY's battle cry as Yang and Blake charged their opponent with unrestrained ferocity.
-O—
As the huntresses faced the Grand Mother, a small group of people had just managed to reach the northern part of the docks, about one km away from the battleground the museum had turned into.
They had safely tucked away their considerably large boat and at once started to move. Three men, dressed in leather pieces of armor, quickly unloaded three large steel cages, straining under their mass.
"Careful now- we don't want to damage anything, especially when it has been such a pain to capture them" Fowler's voice commanded as he stepped out from the vehicle, lab coat over a red tactical suit.
"Yes Sir" the three men replied and the tall overseer turned his gaze to meet the other group his small midnight expedition was composed of.
Three people were sitting on the deck besides the cages. Their bodies, no matter how they once might have looked, now were filled in scars, wrinkles and freshly-made cuts all over their skin and nails.
Their eyes were open wide and bulging, mouths dried to the point of hardly talking. Large masses of charred tissue had formed under their eyelids.
Their clothes had been swapped for large, thick robes draped over their bodies. A device that consisted of a large ebony circlet with a series of indicators and buttons was placed around their foreheads.
"Come; wet your throats a little" in front of them Cherry knelt. She wore a pair of deep blue jeans with a white t-shirt above and a long brown overcoat with matching boots and belt.
Mandragora was neatly placed at her back; her cherry-colored tresses were falling all over it. Her leviathan pendant swung from her neck as she gave the pitiful men a small cup of water from her own flask.
"What do you think you are doing over there?" his harsh voice asked. "Help them unload the cages instead of pampering the subjects- you are not here to make charity."
She didn't reply until she saw the men gulp down the water. "Since when is treating your captives with respect considered charity? Are you deranged to the point where you can't even provide them the basics?"
"Mind your own business" he spat and turned his back at her. "Are the cages ready?" she heard him shout while she rolled her eyes, staring at the museum at the other side of the docks.
The faint sound of gunshots and explosions reached her ears. Team RWBY was fighting someone in there; possibly some Grimm since she doubted Vivian could put up a decent fight against them.
She closed her eyes and fiddled with her pendant. This is where I should be right now; not here, doing… this she remarked in disgust. She took a series of small breaths to calm her mind.
A small sound from next to her made the young woman open her eyes to look; one of the men had dropped the cup. He instinctively shriveled away, staring at her in horror.
She just nodded and picked it up, refilling it with water and giving it back to him, ignoring his confusion at her gesture. What sort of treatment are they giving them to be that effing scared, for God's sake?
She looked away at the three lab hands that were now getting their weapons ready as the cages had been properly placed. Master… why? She let her mind drift away for a while. There is no honor in this.
"Get ready! It's your time to shine, lass" Fowler glared at her before he turned to his assistants "And get the test subjects ready as well; the elixir should kick in about now and we don't want to miss that!"
As the brutes forced the poor men to get off the boat, she slowly and steadily walked to the cages. Her left arm still fiddled with her talisman. It was the only thing that brought her mind solace at this moment.
Unknowingly to her, all eyes were now fixed on her feminine figure; they had never seen her casting spells before and even the mere fact of her capturing Grimm like this had filled the entire facility in curiosity.
"Like the gentle evening breeze I call you to dance,
Like puppets on a string, as my voice commands"
There was a flash of green light that lasted for a mere fleeting moment. Then, all of a sudden, the cage doors blew up from the inside and got thrown away, skidding on the wooden planks with a deep metal sound.
Perfectly synchronized, three Scarecrow-shaped Gargoyles stepped out. Fowler and his men raised their weapons, but didn't shoot yet. Waiting for Cherry to act was the plan to begin with.
The woman stepped forward and stood next to the closest one. Its eyes gleamed at her, but deep inside the red irises she could see a tiny green hue; not that she needed to confirm it of course. She had absolute faith in her abilities and the powers her God had blessed her with.
I can't believe I am using my powers for this… she nodded and at once Gargoyle cut its own chest open with a swift motion. Unlike the normal sign of it vaporize, however, green miasma poured out of the wound.
"What?" one of the men screamed, but Fowler glared at him to shut up. Cherry stretched her arm out and dipped her slender finger inside the open wound, the Grimm blood burning her skin at once.
My Lord; God of Darkness, Creator of Magic. She pulled her finger, now dripping with black blood, out and at once the miasma started closing the wound. Please have mercy on my soul. Tears ran down her eyes.
In front of the men's shocked eyes, she knelt, lowered her shirt and quickly drew a small claw mark with the Grimm blood, the poisonous substance immediately charring her fair skin black.
For I have tainted your divine gift and offered it to serve the sin of human greed. She stood up, regained her composure and turned back at them, three sets of sinister red eyes dutifully standing behind her.
"I have paralyzed them" she said, fighting back the disgust that climbed up her throat at her own words "but even with my powers I can't even come close to commanding them. What are you going to do, Fowler?"
The man grinned, revealing a mouth full of missing teeth as he pointed to his assistants "I am going to show you the power of science, priestess of the Dark" he replied, eyes shining with an unearthly blue tinge.
-O—
Same time, Vale City Cemetery
"Licensed Huntsman Erik Rust; he is with us" Velvet showed her badge to the police officers who stood guard in front of the large iron gate. A quick, silent nod was the only response the three huntsmen received.
They passed through the gate into the vast, cypress-covered area that was separated from the rest of the downtown district with a tall stone fence. "Those guys looked really angry" Erik remarked after a while.
"For us huntsmen, death is part of the business" Jaune told him "but for them, losing two colleagues to a corpse-eating lunatic is a very hard to accept issue."
Velvet scoffed "death is never easy to accept Jaune; you know that as well." Her voice had turned to the flat, professional tone it usually had.
Clear blue eyes closed for a moment "yeah, sorry. What I meant is that there is a difference between dying in battle, protecting your ideals and the ones you love and being killed by a random guy who eats corpses."
"That's how we see it. I am sure most policemen will tell you those men upheld the honor of the police force and died protecting the peace of New Vale City. It's a matter of perspective, if you think about it a little."
"Yeah, of course" the blonde man rubbed his nape in a very Ruby-like fashion "I am not trying to demean them; I just want to say how sad it is for people to die this way for simply doing their job, that's all."
"Relax; I know" the two boys' banter kept for a few minutes behind the bunny-girl's back, as the trio moved up the tree-covered path to the opening where the crime scene was, illuminated by a few police lamps.
Vale organized their graves in small groups, in chronological order. In every group, usually stated in such openings, were about a hundred or more graves, guarded by two human-tall knight statues and surrounded by cypress trees.
They passed by a few graves while respectfully avoiding stepping on the muddy stones. Their destination was where most police lights were; the center of the burial group, surrounded by yellow police tape.
Three officers were inside the scene and six more stood guard around it. Velvet and Jaune took out their badges "Detective Scarlatina and Jr. Detective Arc. We have been summoned to examine the scene."
The officer nodded "we have been expecting you Detective. As per your request, we didn't touch anything save for taking notes of the scene." He then turned his eyes to the brown-haired boy standing behind them.
"I am just a huntsman escort" Erik smiled and raised his arms in a good-mannered fashion "I won't deal with the scene, I will just wait until they are done" he explained, earning the policeman's approval.
The man raised the tape and the pair stepped in. "We will be back in a while, ok?" Velvet turned at her boyfriend. "Do your job and don't mind me" he winked at her, earning a small cute smile.
Half-eaten pieces of flesh and torn scraps of cloth mingled over a pool of blood that was slowly spreading from the poor men's remains. Both of them wore rubber gloves and carefully moved to avoid the remains.
The bodies themselves were seriously messed as well. Huge bite marks were noticeable on their necks and limbs, despite the messy splatters the blood had created on their flesh and clothes.
"Did they bite them to death?" Jaune's shocked voice asked the three men standing over them. "It seems so, Sir. Of course, until the autopsy is performed we can't be sure, but they made quite a mess."
The blonde exhaled deeply. "Their limbs are dislocated and the blood has been spread far away" he pointed at the nearby graves that were splattered in blood as well "as if they bit and then shook violently."
"That sounds more like-" "Wild animal or Grimm, yes" Jaune replied, his face filled in sadness for the two men and sympathy for their families and colleagues.
How many times during the War had he stayed awake over his scroll, hoping the night would pass without the scroll ringing and an unknown voice would tell him that someone he dearly loved had been killed in battle?
He had lived that experience- and the even worse one of that fear turn into reality- quite a few times and wouldn't wish it even for his sworn enemies. "What sort of person could do this to someone?" he asked.
"Interesting question" Velvet, back now turned at him, replied. Her voice was now totally flat and emotionless. She turned around and showed him a blood-covered gun she had just picked up.
"Vale service revolver" she said. "There are two of them, both tossed on the ground. I checked a little and saw there are a few bullets missing aren't they?" the brunette asked the officers.
"It appears they managed to shoot five times before they were killed" the reply came way too quickly; those men were really trying to be as professional as possible despite the situation. "I see…" she told them.
Jaune stood up and walked to her. "Detective" he said, earning a full eye-roll from the girl "maybe we should start thinking the possibility of being a Grimm instead of a human that ate those people."
Brown eyes narrowed as Jaune continued his explanation "they were so brutally killed; nobody could do that to humans unless they had a very primal semblance. Even if they want, people can't kill others like this."
Velvet nodded "and the number of unregistered semblance users who are skilled enough to take down two armed officers while they had the chance to shoot at them is ridiculously low…" she trailed off.
"But what sort of Grimm kills its prey and then manages to hide in the middle of Vale without anyone notice?" she asked her partner. "I have seen quite a lot of things, Velv" he replied with a sincere smile.
Then, all of a sudden, Velvet froze. Like a sudden epiphany, her jumbled thoughts one-by-one were set straight. She blinked a couple times and then stared at the pieces of evidence in her hand.
There is enough time… she was going crazy
The motive is obvious… she couldn't be possibly believing that
The pattern suits… why was she still working on that stupid idea her head had conjured yesterday while sorting out the dates?
And Ruby… Ruby felt something… Right. It wasn't her. She just wanted to fulfill her promise to her friend. That was all it is, right? RIGHT?
"I will be back in a moment!" she said to her friend and ran to Erik, almost taking the police tape with her. The officers sent her a mix of stares, but the boy jumped at once next to her.
"Is everything all right, honey?" "I want you to do something for me" she gulped heavily. "Do you remember what we discussed in the car after we left the house?" her eyes locked at his; she was ready to cry.
Erik's glare hardened and he gave her a quick nod of approval. "What do you want me to do?" he asked her without any hesitation "Something really stupid" she replied, allowing him to wipe her tears away.