Hello everyone! How are you doing? I hope you are all doing fine!
I am proud to say that, despite the excruciating heat, chapter 115 is here. As always, I hope you enjoy it!
Thanks a lot once more for keeping up with the story so far, by favoring/ following/ simply reading. You are all awesome!
See you again next week in chapter 116, unless heat prevents me from writing. Until then, be well and have fun!
As expected, Bistre found Cherry in the observatory's map room. It was a spacious office-style area, full of modern constellation maps and one large desk in its middle, flanked by shelves full of scientific books.
"…the fourth night the ship will sail, before the morning winds prevail. The sorrow we shall bury deep, under The Arctic Star we sleep…"
The fox faunus had changed to a black floral-patterned kimono and boots, sitting comfortably on a chair. A small dust lamp provided light to the girl who was immersed in reading a brand new book, her melodic voice humming verses of poems about the stars and the deep blue sea.
"Master" she tenderly closed the book and humbly crossed her palms in anticipation of the man's response. Instead of replying, he walked to her and took a look at the shiny thin book that now rested on the table.
'Beyond the Atlesian Stars; Twenty poems of the Night at Sea'
"You are reading poetry again" he mentioned emotionlessly as a matter of fact to the girl. "It is too early to perform the Daily Rites, Master" she firmly replied "so I decided to read a new book I got from downtown."
His eyes narrowed. "These poems are written by Aurelius Cavendish, an old faunus sailor and astronomer. They are very interesting and reciting them helps me practice my tongue for chanting and casting spells."
"I see" he didn't even bother to hide his lack of interest, so the faunus girl took it as a cue to hide the book away; her Master always acted like this when he had important and pressing matters to discuss with her.
"I am sorry Master; I got carried away" she hid her enthusiasm and took a more serious expression at the man who stared at her. "It seems that Velvet Scarlatina has replaced Ruby Rose in her team for this mission."
"I see" she replied, only to show that he had her full attention. "They are led by Blake Belladonna and are using the underground rail system to try reaching this place without being attacked by Ghouls and Husks."
"If that's the case then-" "I haven't finished yet." "I am sorry, Master!" she bowed in an apologetic manner.
"They took a railway bus to move at high speed but were forced to abandon it when they found the train I put the surveillance barrier in. Normally, they would reach Dawn Bridge Station in two or three hours."
There was no reply from the girl; only a nod. "You may speak now" he told her without breaking his emotionless, mellow manner. "If they do that, they intend to cross Dawn Bridge to climb the wooded hill."
"It can't be a coincidence; they understood that the observatory is the dome barrier's focal point. I will give them that they are quite sharp for a group of naïve idealists" Bistre commented, not hiding his contempt.
"They are quite capable, I saw that firsthand" she commented, her own voice laced with sympathy. Woodrock shot her an angry glare and she took one step to the back "this is why I took a few precautions" he said.
"Master…" she tried to ask, but her eyes opened wide in shock when he revealed two objects from within his robe. One was the ceremonial knife he had used to absorb the blessing of the Grand Mother from her.
The other one, however, was a pitch-black crystal that shone in a green, eldritch hue and radiated pure malice. By the magical energy that was pulsing from it, she understood it had been recently used.
"You invoked the Nameless One… Master…" "Is that an expression of defiance I feel?" he raised his voice just a little, but it was enough for her to break from the shock and furiously shake her head in refusal.
"I would never think of defying your teachings, Master!" she took one step forward and clutched her talisman. "I deeply apologize if my words made it seem like I did!" she bowed her head in a show of respect.
"There is something that weighs heavily in your heart, however…" his tone mellowed again. "Speak" he commanded her. Cherry gulped and steeled herself, fingers instinctively clutching her talisman.
"I want a chance to fight them, Master" she admitted. He didn't reply. He kept staring at her with the same piercing stare, urging her to keep talking. She pumped up her shoulders and continued.
"They are honorable, proud warriors who can understand what is like to put your life in the line for your beliefs; I want to be the one to take them on. I want to give them the fair, honest fight they deserve."
Bistre didn't reply even if his very being writhed in disgust when the girl used the words 'honest' and 'fair'. He never realized why Silk acted the way he did back in his time and hated the fact he had passed it down to this otherwise perfect, powerful blade he had sharpened for him.
Normally, he would refute her request. There was no reason for him to sacrifice his weapon for the sake of a naïve, foolish ideal. However, this time it was different; he actually needed Cherry away from here.
Wasn't this the very reason he had brought the knife with him to begin with? You are so predictable, my little acolyte. A small, honest-looking smile appeared on his face.
"If this is what your heart desires, then so be it" he replied, making her eyes open wide. "Go to Dawn Bridge; if they are as mighty as you consider them to be, you will be able to fight them right there" he said.
"However, I will not tolerate any sort of misbehavior; either you stop them there" he showed her the knife, clouded in a malicious aura "or you buy me enough time to properly awaken Nyctos, understood?"
A large, rare smile of appreciation formed on her face "Master… thank you" she knelt and took her knife "I will not waste this opportunity you gave me. I swear in my blood, soul and the name you gave me."
For the very first time since he entered the room, his lips curved in an honest, wide smile, unnoticeable by the devoted, bowing faunus. I am sure you will, little fox; exactly as I intend you to.
-o—
Less than an hour had passed since team BLWS had left the rusty train full of death and decay behind them to delve into the deep, dark tunnel and make their way towards Dawn Bridge Station on foot.
The wreck stood still, a monument of the horrible slaughter it had been a witness of. With the huntresses gone, darkness once more consumed it. All signs of life left, following the girls' lights away from the iron cask.
All that remained to resemble any sort of existence was a thin eldritch metal plate. Its runes shone with the same abhorrent power- until they were snuffed out by a surge of energy.
A ritual circle appeared around the plate. Glyphs, like the ones Weiss' semblance used, formed on its perimeter. They glowed with a mighty green hue as their magic flared to life and shadows sprouted out of it.
The pitch-black forms quickly filled the interior, hungrily searching for a source of energy that would help the summoning. They devoured the plate at once, but it barely sufficed. They needed power; a lot of power.
So, they absorbed everything in their surroundings; all the corpses, skin bones and tissue altogether. Due to the dome's effect, most of their energy had already been absorbed, but their large number was enough.
The shadows returned to the circle, using the magical energy to finalize the summoning. The glyphs coalesced and swirled with a sickening and pulsing light. A large column of dark smoke rose, opening the final gate.
From inside the pit, a single entity climbed through. A single being that was made of the deepest, most malicious darkness, rose from Bistre's summoning circle.
It was created hundreds, maybe thousands of years ago. When humans could barely compete with its kin without the help of magic, it already was an old being. Or at least, that's what its annihilated mind thought.
It knew it was a Grimm. It knew it was formed from black sorcery eons ago, when radical cultists performed a wicked ritual and sacrificed their whole cult in order to try and create an Eldergrimm- and failing at that.
Their result was it. It had no name; the humans who sealed it away had no name to give it, so it was called The Nameless One. A true monster; a monster without a name, was created by human madness given form.
It had stayed inside its own prison for centuries, until Bistre Woodrock scoured Remnant and managed to unearth it, deep inside a Vacuan Oasis. He released it from its slumber- and bounded it to his will.
With its mind shattered from its imperfect creation and its spirit torn to the point of barely keeping it sane, it didn't even try to resist the man's binding ritual. It was simply there; whatever that meant for it.
All it cared was to move when needed. Moving meant his contractor had prey for it to kill. Killing its prey meant it could devour it and feast on their tender flesh and warm blood. It didn't know why, but it liked it.
Was its Grimm nature that compelled it to do so? Was its master's will? Was it just an instinct of survival? Or was it some sort of twisted joy in seeing human pain? It had no idea- and it didn't care at all.
All it cared was to kill everything in its path and feel their flesh getting mangled between its fingers as it crushed its victims' spirit while they gazed in horror at their imminent doom. It was all it craved for.
So, it raised its head and stared at the tunnel, towards the direction the smell of living beings was the strongest. Wasting no moment, it rushed forward towards them, leaving darkness to consume the cab behind it.
-o—
Yang was the first one to notice the strange presence. All of a sudden, she stopped walking and turned around, eyes fixed behind her team. "Is there something wrong?" Blake followed her partner's gaze.
"Yeah" she replied in a rare display of total seriousness. "Something is coming to us from behind" her orbs opened wide in horror "something creepy." The others exchanged a confused and anxious look.
"I see nothing" Velvet took a couple steps to their back "neither can I hear anything; how did you sense it in this pitch-black darkness?" she asked, not even trying to question the validity of Yang's words.
The tall girl raised her left palm and rubbed it "I just… feel it" she said, the words barely coming out of her mouth. "Dunno why; it scares me as much as the thing I sense coming, to be honest" she added to her reply.
Blake was the second to understand the presence and the first one who actually heard something; a sound akin to a deep, voiceless moaning reached her sensitive ears, getting magnified by the tunnel's echoing.
"Get in position!" was the only thing she managed to shout, before an air wave hit them. It was strong enough to force them cover their eyes and faces, but not to push them back or knock them down at least.
It then stopped, leaving the four girls behind to stare at the pitch black tunnel behind them, trying to illuminate as far as they could with their lamps. They could only see the same thing as before; rails and stones.
There was no sound coming from the dark open path; the moaning Blake had heard before had stopped. The only things coming to them were the sounds of their own breaths and their rapid-beating hearts.
Suddenly, their lights flickered. They held their breaths as the presence Yang had felt became strong enough for all to detect; a void entity that made the air turn stale and corrupted the earth just by walking on it.
Their lamps got snuffed out; and then shone again. And then, they shut.
As if being attuned to the strange presence, their sole sources of lights burst into a mad flickering, the momentary shadows they cast on their wild dance stretching the huntresses' nerves in anticipation.
Yet, they stood still; Yang in front, Velvet next to her and the other two girls a few meters behind, guns armed and ready to attack. The blonde gritted her teeth to suppress the itching in her left arm. Thankfully, she saw no eye resurface, so she had one less thing to worry about for now.
Lights opened- a large shadow vanished before Blake and Velvet could see its form. Weiss was sure she felt a wisp of magical energy activate.
The manic dance of flickering white and pitch-black continued for a few more minutes, the huntresses trying their best to not let it get to their nerves. The absolute, deathly silence didn't help the situation either.
And then, the lights died. Without prior notice, a loud bang was sound that made their torches and lamps shatter like they were smashed with an axe. Darkness engulfed them, encasing their bodies in a black coffin.
Blake reached out for her weapon- "Wait!" she heard her replica shout. Her heart stopped for a moment and she felt her breath leaving her as the image of two powerful hands grabbing her neck overwhelmed her.
"Flares!" she desperately commanded and grabbed one from her belt. Wasting no time, she lit it and threw it high allowing its powerful red hue to shed light around- she felt her body freeze in terror at once.
A Grimm stood just a couple steps away from her, its humanoid body being dyed red by the flare. Its very presence was weak and its form barely taller than her, its thin build making it seem deceptively smaller.
Its face was completely covered in an ancient-looking bone mask. Black splashes disrupted the washed-away white plating, making it seem like it wore a twisted harlequin's disguise. Tiny little red eyes stared at her in abhorrent hunger from between the mask's openings.
It stood on top of long, thin legs and had a dark, equally thin torso. Its right clawed arm was long and thin, a bone circlet covering its wrist and its elbow. Its left one was a totally different story, however.
The hand was disproportionally massive with a huge palm and five long fingers, all covered in dozens of short tendrils that looked like long hair strands. The monster had it currently resting on its chest, looking as if it was grabbing something invisible with it.
Its entire form was covered in torn and semi-decayed pieces of papyrus with barely visible carvings and runes etched on them. They were torn apart, hanging like rotten flesh from its form, swaying in the red light.
An iron collar with a short, broken chain was on its neck, green glyphs sizzling in eldritch power and energy. It tilted its head to the right; its silent mannerism and lack of presence chilled Blake to the very core.
And then, her feline yellow eyes fell on the three figures lying down on the ground; Velvet and Weiss had collapsed on spot, forms twisting and writhing in pain as they were trying to stand up next to the monster.
In front of the cat girl, kneeling in all fours and trying to withstand the extreme agony, was Yang. Her chest was heavily panting up and down, as she struggled to raise her body. Why is Yang there? She should have-
"Don't you understand why?" her replica's voice, condescending and arrogant as ever, asked her as the Grimm kept gazing at her. It was only then that she noticed the blood dripping down from her partner's belly.
"Because she took a hit to the chest to protect you, you failure of a leader" it told her, making Blake's mind collapse like a house of cards.
-o—
"What matters to you the most? What would you give your life for?"
Sun had once asked her, after they had spent the night together back at home. It was one of the very first enjoyable memories she had after his recovery. The beginning of her struggles to return to her normal self.
"You do" she had kissed him and purred in his lap. "You and my family first; and our friends after that" she had admitted with a bit of shame.
"I am being put above Ruby, Weiss and Yang? Is that your way of asking me to marry you?" he had joked, making her grumble in displeasure.
"Don't be an idiot. They are my family as much as mom and dad. Don't even joke about such things!" she had tried to argue. "This is why you are so eager to return to action, isn't it?" he had earnestly asked her.
"Yes" she had nuzzled at his nape even more, barely whispering now. "I would never forgive myself if anything happened to them because of me. That's why I have to go back out there and stand with them again."
Time seemed to freeze. The monster lowered its head over her and its monstrous arm twitched. "You are dead" she moved under its belly in speed that would impress even Ruby and sliced its abdomen. "Idiot!"
Or at least she tried to, ignoring the wicked mirage and its complaining. A quick, deep cut would be enough to kill this thing off with as little as possible time spent- wait, that was an amateurish move by all means.
The creature's right arm touched her leg. So messed up her mind was that she subconsciously held her semblance back; she didn't want to see, hear or feel this arrogant bitch at the moment. Another mistake.
Blake was shot at the wall, her aura shaking violently by the might of the collision. "No…" Velvet tried her best to raise her hands and use her semblance to take a shot at the thing. Weiss crawled to Yang's side.
"This will hurt…" she formed a circle with her fingers and placed them at her lover's chest. "It already does" Yang stared at the wound, pulsing violently and dripping blood. Weiss' eyes narrowed in determination.
"AH!" With one flick of her fingers, she seared her fiancée's wound. The pain was so great, the lilac-eyed woman failed to hold back a gasp of pain. Unfortunately for them, this drew the Grimm's attention at them.
Before anyone could even think to move, the disproportional hand rose and its long fingers moved, like a puppeteer commanding a marionette.
One by one, Velvet, Weiss and Yang let out an almost inaudible, gasped sound of agony, as if someone had violently kicked the air out of their lungs. Then, they fell down unconscious in front of the terrifying beast.
Pain wracked Blake's chest. Tears ran down her cheeks. She forced her body to stand. A single flicker from the monster's finger sent her away again. She didn't even have the clarity to use her clones and dodge it.
The creature then slowly walked towards the cat girl, left arm always stretched in the same manner as it moved. Her mind a mess and her eyes stinging from crying, Blake tried to stand up but collapsed.
"So this is the end" she could hear the haughty voice, even though she would be able to feel it being more cordial were she able to focus at the moment. "You failed and all of them will die, exactly as you feared."
Her lack of answering back indicated how heavy her conscience and mind were. The Grimm's slow movement was excruciating. How did all these happen? She asked, despite already knowing the answer to that.
It was her fault.
She had chosen to take the underground path, a path with no places to hide or flee, under the pretense of being faster, in order to show to her friends she could be a good leader.
It was her fault.
She had commanded them to waste time in searching that stupid train, thinking it was a good idea to gain information, ignoring the stroke of luck they were having and leaving them exposed in here for longer.
It was her fault.
What sort of faunus fails to detect an enemy in low-light? It was Yang who sensed the monster. It was Yang who threw her body to protect Blake. She had done nothing but sit by; she hadn't even watched.
It was her fault, for being a useless, emotional failure that can't even at this moment find a way out. Ruby would find a solution with her crazy ideas, for sure! Glynda wouldn't even let her team reach that state!
But, unlike her, they were leaders. Warriors. They knew what to do and how; they were not scared little kittens who tried to play big. If she could find a way to save her family and take it down with her at least.
"There is something you can do" the voice commented. Time seemed to stop; the monster looked like it moved through thick water. "What do you mean?" she asked her clone, now standing next to her.
The wicked replica grinned at her and gently pressed its fingers on the cat faunus' chest. "Admit you can't do a thing" it told her "and let one who is far more capable handle this" it showed itself, pressing the same fingers on its own body to indicate what it meant.
There were no proud chanting, flashes of light or brilliant energy pulses. Blake's body just stood up, the carved dagger she had taken from the underground stellar temple in Cornfield miraculously at her right hand.
The advancing terror stopped to look at the faunus again. Its frail mind couldn't exactly understand why, but something seemed to be amiss with that particular prey right now. It stared at her- and she grinned.
"Honestly" 'Blake' commented "I didn't expect her to agree that fast in giving me the reins" a pair of pulsing purple eyes glared at the Grimm from Blake's sockets.
"It's been ages since I last met you, Nameless One" the replica flipped a mirror-like purple dagger with a quick, spinning motion "I am dying to kill you once and for all, you wicked abomination."