Hello everyone! How are you doing? I hope you are all doing fine!
Chapter 91 is here. As always, I hope you enjoy it.
Again, thank you so much for following/ favoring/ reading the story. You all are the best!
See you next week in Chapter 92. Until then, have fun and be well!
"In other words, you got attacked from the thing posing as the cleaner and ran down to the second floor" Erik asked Lumia as they ran down the staircase to the first floor.
"I met three more down here and had the chance to see that my ability is pretty useful; their transformed bodies come at a price, it seems" the girl replied "except for the really powerful ones like my clone. They are most likely closer to the original one, if Weiss' description is accurate."
Lumia stopped by the wall and checked around on the first floor. Blood, huge trails of slaughter and destruction and torn-apart chairs decorated the hallway. "Grab your weapons from my backpack" she told him.
Erik nodded, checked the staircase behind them and, after making sure nothing visible was after them, opened the girl's bag and took out two oversized, mechanical tonfas with small rifles built in their tips.
They were made of shining red metal and had visible black decorations depicting an owl sitting on a branch. It felt really good to hold Cross and Bell again despite having parted with them only for a short time.
"I was happy when your telepathy reached me, but got so scared when I realized something was posing as me and talking to you" they moved to the hallway and made a small round to secure the perimeter.
"We were so lucky" Erik agreed "this thing could replicate you to almost every single detail. I think I would have died back then if not my ability."
He then moved to the staircase again "wait" Lumia stopped him and he turned around to stare at the girl, pointing to the upper floor. "There is a possibility their archives are here; I want to take a look at them."
The boy narrowed his eyes "there is an eldritch abomination born of my worst fears' marriage with Ruby's and Albus' above us. And you tell me you want to take a look at the archive? We have to go down before it-"
"I think Jaune is being kept alive here and I may be able to find him if I am able to link in my laptop even for a single minute. I tried using my scroll, but it doesn't function at all at the moment" she cut him off.
His eyes opened wide and he stared at the blood-splattered ceiling. He closed his eyes. Was he hearing a slithering sound from above or was it his imagination? "You are the leader" he surrendered to the girl.
She nodded and they moved towards the corridor on the left, passing by a broken sign that read 'AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY- SAMPLE STORAGE AND DATA ANALYSIS LABORATORIES'.
"This is going way too smoothly, taking into consideration what just happened above" the boy commented as they kept checking the doors for the archive "this place should be crawling with Grimm already."
A sudden thought passed by his mind "you don't think they- I mean, is there a chance they left this place and infiltrated the city?" he voiced his concern to his partner.
"In all honesty, I do not know" she lowered her shoulders "but what I do know is that those things can't spawn endlessly; otherwise the city would have already been overrun by eldritch abominations."
They checked another room; it was destroyed, devoid of life and full of blood trails and skeletal remains. Just like the previous three had been.
"So, it's safe to assume they must meet some requirements before they can make new ones. Or at least I hope they do" she finished her reply with a bit of hope; it was the only thing they could lean on right now.
Both humans stared at each other for a brief second. The image that played through their minds during that moment was the same; a huge and powerful horde of eldritch spawns of Avyssos dressed as humans walking the streets of Vale while their kin slithered through the sewers waiting the sign to emerge and massacre the hapless residents.
"I have never hoped for you to be right as much as I do now, Lu" Erik stated with a face as pale as a ghost's. "So do I" Lumia's heart was as heavy as a ton of rocks as she opened another door and peeked inside.
The room was fairly dark, with the two sole windows closed shut and their curtains being pulled. Three extensive benches spread across its length, each one supporting about half a dozen computers.
The floor was rather clean, except for the pile of dust lying on top of the blue tiles. A series of open cupboards and shelves stood on the wall. A quick glance revealed they seemed to be empty, leaves violently torn.
Wordlessly, they stepped inside and shut the door behind them after they made sure to check nothing atrocious was following them. "That is good" Lumia took her laptop out and placed in on a dusty bench.
"What is?" her partner stood by the door, ready to alert her as soon as anything suspicious reached his ears. "The room is at a remarkably well kept condition; I may be able to hack the security camera system."
"Lu, I am sure that I saw at least 3-4 destroyed cameras while we were searching" he informed her, visibly confused "why would they let them be as a matter of fact?" he added, seeing her turn on one computer.
"As far as I can understand them, those Grimm gain the knowledge, the appearance and the abilities of the ones they devour. This is how they have managed to pass by unnoticed so far" Lumia replied.
"On the other hand, it also means they are unable to comprehend any topic their victims lack knowledge of" she plugged in her USB drive and connected her laptop, starting the hacking programs.
"That is" she bit her lip and typed a couple commands "that even if the security guards taught them how the cameras work, nobody save for the technician would know how to delete recorded data archives."
"Oh, that would explain why this room is left undamaged; they thought that as long as there was no power, the PCs can't be used." Erik smiled at her antics, noticing the portable battery Lumia had pulled out.
"Bingo" she typed another pair of commands and turned around to wink at the boy "all that remains is to see if my programs are faster than the monsters looking for us."
"So if I am right, you are trying to see what happened in the hospital before the cameras were destroyed, aren't you?" the brown-haired man asked again "and maybe see what happened to Jaune."
"Exactly" she replied, getting up "but be prepared, will you? No matter what we see, I guarantee that it is going to be a really unpleasant sight my friend."
-o—
It was a cold December morning. He remembered it well. He had spent the previous night hugging his girlfriend during the flight from Mistral; it was a blessing holding her in his arms again.
They had landed in the main airport. How much he had missed seeing the morning sun set Vale's rooftops ablaze. How much he had missed breathing in the freezing wind; even the ever stern Glynda was smiling.
She had insisted they take him to the clinic at once. His friends had all agreed with her. He could still remember the smiling, determined looks on their faces as they accompanied him to Riverside. They had stopped mid-way to get coffee and tease his girlfriend about her atrocious drink.
Dr. Van Ochre was a pleasant and kind man. He had talked to him in a very open-minded way. "Don't worry" he had said "even if something was to happen, there are many huntsmen around here to protect us."
His assistant, a good-looking tall girl with red hair and scarlet nails had laughed at his words "if something can deal with three elite teams of SHU, then we are probably done" she had a cute laugh; childlike and optimistic like Ruby's.
Irony and Fate were both cruel bitches, of course. These were the last words he heard from the good doctor and the optimistic woman.
The next thing he remembered, he was tied up on the examination bed, black tendrils holding his weakened body in place and sealing his mouth as the doctor's lifeless body bled on the floor.
He remembered wanting to scream. He HAD to scream. He HAD to tell them of the monstrosity that had fooled them and was now mutating in front of him, its bubbly, teeth-filled and mouth-covered flesh reforming to mimic the poor doctor's appearance.
"I fooled no one" it had directly said to his mind with a twisted version of the man's voice, dripping in malice. "As I said; I promise I won't have you hurt anyone, Mr. Arc. And I fully intend to honor our contract."
What are you in, high school? He was equally terrified and worried. If this monster was intending to move around the contract, then-
"Nobody is safe; exactly Mr. Arc. But rest assured" it lashed out a pair of dripping tendrils and started to feast in the corpse in front of them in the hungriest, most repulsive manner Jaune had ever seen in his life.
"I will consider the favor I asked of you, fulfilled" The girl's corpse had been horribly mauled and now, the monster was dipping it in the black, disgusting goo, causing it to- he couldn't even look, so he shut his eyes.
He could only hear the sound of footsteps as something left the room. In his daze, he had thought he heard his own voice talk from far away.
Jaune broke his meditation and blinked a couple times. He looked around him and met the same thing he had always been seeing since Avyssos dragged him down here; cold, grey stone and a barred door.
Meditating was the only thing he could do to keep his thoughts in check and his sanity just a little intact, so thinking of the atrocities during it was, as Ren would tell him, pointless and an indication of a lax mind.
On the other hand, Ren would congratulate me about keeping myself together he thought before he started the regular workout he did to make his skeletal figure retain as much form as possible.
Come to think of it, how long have I been here? He had lost track of time completely while being imprisoned. He combed his wild, messy hair back and scratched his unruly beard. Quite long, I would guess.
He stared at the empty plate and glass at the edge of the cell next to the bars and sighed. He had realized from the beginning that they fed him the absolute minimum for him to stay alive, but realization didn't fill his stomach or made him even better, it only raised one question.
Why are they even keeping me alive, to begin with? What could they possibly want from me? He tried to do his push-ups. He tried to do more than three before collapsing from exhaustion, that is.
He knew nothing of them- those spawns of the thing that had inhabited his mind and he, willingly had brought inside Vale and assisted to get a human disguise; mingle with the citizens, with possibly his friends…
If he wasn't trying so hard to avoid any negative thoughts in this place infested by Grimm, he would be very angry and worried right now. His meditation and meager training helped maintain his hope, at least.
The only time he came one step away from breaking was when that accursed nurse had come, transforming one after another to twisted parodies of his loved people; Pyrrha, family, friends, Nora, Ren, Ruby…
He had deduced that it must have been a special ability of hers since all the other spawns maintained one particular form; the form of the poor souls whose flesh they had devoured. He shivered, but remained calm.
They seemed to be unable to manifest aura as well; one had bled this foul goo when he threw a rock at its face. They could, though, copy all abilities they knew of- he remembered 'Pyrrha' casually bend the bars.
So, in other words, he could only wait. Wait, and hope his friends would manage to unveil the monsters' cover and purge them once and for all. That hope was the sole thing he had going for him right now.
He stood up, rubbing of his sweat with his blanket. A small barrel full of water was waiting for him, but he decided to meditate a little more and then take the filthy parody of a bath he was being provided with.
Before he could sit down, however, something happened. For the first time during his long imprisonment, Jaune Arc heard a new sound; the distinct sound of combat from the corridor on his left.
And then, the smell of ozone filled his nostrils, bringing the name of his teammate and friend in mind, shattering all self-control and forcing him to muster as much willpower as possible to not scream out loudly.
"Nora?"
-o—
The man tried his best to run, despite being in obvious pain. The tendril lashed out and grabbed his waist, dragged him behind- and slaughtered him in the most brutal and horrifying manner ever conceived.
Erik turned away from the video and buried his face in his arms. Lumia's program had managed to provide her with the security records and she managed to quickly find the right date; December 29th, 85, 02: 43 AM.
They were frustrated to see the doctor's office had no security cameras but as soon as they reached the timestamp, they had a full-on view on one of the most horrifying, inhuman massacres they had ever seen.
It wasn't the number of dead. It wasn't their pleading stances and the disgusting fact they had all been civilians and unable to even try fight back this thing. It wasn't even the horrible way it ended their lives.
What made the two huntsmen shiver in horror was the unfathomable and terrifying intelligence and efficiency Avyssos showed in killing the residents; its coordinated movements chilled them to the bone.
It had waited to attack after the night shift started, making sure that no one was going to visit. It first ate all the guards and formed spawns out of their corpses, taking its time to let them take their shape.
It then sent them all to patrol the perimeter and ensure nobody was out of the clinic's facilities. Immediately, it moved to the nurses' office and massacred everyone to cut off any chance of calling for help.
Afterwards, it killed the staff one-by-one, careful to leave enough time in between for the spawns to form and take their places. And then, only when it was totally sure it had all spawns in place it went for the others.
Lumia stopped the video and hung her head. She had been desperately trying to not think about it, she had been trying to bury it deep inside since the moment she realized how those spawns were being created.
But, the images they both had seen in that three-month old video were more than enough to confirm her worst fears. Their friend, Jaune, had been killed and replaced by a Grimm spawn of Avyssos.
"Ah…ahhhh" it had happened in bright daylight, in a hospital office no more than six meters away from them- away from fourteen legendary huntsmen who failed to notice a thing.
The very same huntsmen who walked along a Grimm out of the front door and left behind them an entire hospital to be slaughtered in the worst manner possible. "What- what have we done?" she whimpered.
"We- we brought this thing here… and Jaune… Jaune is… everyone is... damn it!" she slammed her fist on the desk, making the laptop bounce from the force.
"We are responsible for so many losses" Erik said "but Jaune's not one of them; didn't you say they had a record of his check-ups that goes far beyond our knowledge of his visits?" he asked his partner.
"And who tells us they are not referring to the spawn?" she asked back, trying to wipe her tears off. "And who tells us they are referring to it?" as always, he countered her argument with his simple-minded logic.
"I swear, that sort of thinking is-" "Exactly what we need now, Lu. Trust me, I feel as bad as you do but this is barely the time to mourn, gripe or moan" he pointed his thumb towards the closed yet unlocked door.
"I already try my best to suppress the anxiety I felt when you burst out in anger, possibly alerting all Grimmspawn in the building about where to find us, partner" he calmly stated, making her avert her gaze.
"You are right" she typed a couple commands and started transferring the video files inside both her stick and her laptop. "Let's get out of this place for real; we find the others, look for Jaune and be on our way."
"Whether we find him or not?" Erik asked her. "Whether we find him or not, yes" she replied, heavily dejected. Before Erik could even comment on that, however, a loud, slithering sound was heard from above them.
"Um, Lu?" he rose Cross and Bell, pointing their barrels upwards to the ceiling above their heads. The slithering sounded again. "How much do we want those files?" he asked her, trying to sound as calm as possible.
"Less than our lives" she unplugged the laptop, quickly put in inside her backpack and drew her sword. Buster Orion's black blade stood up and the weapon shone a dim light around from its shining green handle.
They both held their breath for a few seconds. Deep silence engulfed them. The slithering sounds had stopped and only the girl's sword hilt showed any indication of their existence here.
"Let's move to the door" she whispered. Erik didn't reply with words, but with actions, taking a couple near-silent steps to the back. Then, he stopped in order to see if there was a response. If not, then-
The heavy, slithering sound from above was heard again for a couple seconds and then stopped. Lumia took one step towards her partner. It followed suit, slithering for a single second and then stopping.
"Is it trying to match up to our movement?" Erik gulped. "I think it is…" Lumia let out a bitter smile "seizing us. Like the way a cat toys with its prey. It's waiting for a chance- and terrorizing us while at that."
The boy sighed "well, it's being effective. I am starting to think we may not escape this unscathed, Lu. Not only it has the upper ground, it also can attack faster than we do unless we get a lucky shot in its vitals."
They took a couple more steps towards the exit. As expected, the thick and wet noise of the heavy tendrils followed them. "Does it even have any vitals to begin with? We practically know nothing about it" she said.
Erik walked again and reached the wall, just next to the door. He was sure of it, he had enough time to notice the easiest way to the exit the time his partner had spent working on the data. He just needed a little luck- he knew as soon as he touched the door Lumia would follow suit.
It the sword hilt's light, he saw her chin nodding in approval. He turned his torso around to grab the handle. And he came face to face with a huge, hungry maw, full of jagged teeth.
The girl was faster than the voracious Grimm, however. A quick slash of her large blade cut it in half, evaporating the teeth. "We have to-" the wall was torn down, revealing dark cuts on its surface.
And a dozen of sinister, gleaming eyes hungrily staring at the huntsmen from the deep dark.
"We are trapped!" Erik shouted. The slithering, heavy sound came from above again and this time was followed by a loud crack. The opening in the walls opened wider and gnarling jaws were revealed from within.
The ceiling cracked once more. Erik shot at the mass covering the door, but his bullets got absorbed inside the bottomless void. His partner did not follow, but looked around instead, trying to find a way out.
The walls had all but vanished, replaced by a black abyss full of gnarling teeth and hateful eyes. She thought she saw the outlines of thick, black tentacles slither by the gaping maws.
The ceiling has almost caved in, the sound of concrete cracking and tiles breaking made evident that something truly massive was trying to burst through. She held her breath. If five out of six options are out, then-
"The floor!" they both screamed at the same time, attacking the tiles with as much force as possible. The hungry darkness closed around and tried to trap them inside its deadly mass.
The ceiling broke, revealing the amorphous body of the Grimm that had attacked them before. Its eyes stared down as a series of wet dripping appendages rushed to attack them at once.
And then, Lumia and Erik unleashed all the fire dust they could grab at a moment's notice, making a huge explosion. It broke the floor and shook the entire hospital, making the Grimm shriek horrendously in pain.
The two huntsmen had their auras broken at once and braced for the upcoming impact. To their surprise- and horror- instead of solid ground they found another wide crater on the floor below them as they fell.
Hopelessly falling through the ground floor, Lumia and Erik followed the same path as Nora and Ren previously did, desperately struggling to get a hold of the walls around them before they vanished inside the pit.