Hello everyone! How are you doing? I hope you are all doing fine.
Chapter 116 is here and as always, I wish you enjoy it!
I have an announcement to make. Chapters 117 and 118 will be normally uploaded on time, but I am taking a week off for vacation on the first week of September. As of this, chapter 119 will be uploaded on Wednesday September 8th instead of 1st, unless I manage to somehow finish it before the end of August.
Thanks a lot for your understanding and your continuous support of the series, by following/ favoring/ just reading. You are all awesome!
See you next week in chapter 117. Until then, be well and have fun!
A few hours- possibly- ago
Ren's calm nature allowed him to activate his semblance a mere couple seconds after the monster grabbed him. Staying collected and careful, he observed the flying terror's confusion at his sudden disappearance, as his ability now was able to hamper even his enemies' sensation of vision for a few seconds.
He knew that it still held him, but for Grimm who were used to tracking others' emotions it should be an extremely puzzling sensation to hold a creature in your arms, but being otherwise unable to perceive it at all.
"REN!" taking short breaths, he kept his concentration and focused his gaze on Nora, while his captor hovered mid-air, trying to figure out why he had vanished all of a sudden from its senses.
Its claws run over his body, trying to feel his presence, but he didn't budge. Pain was nothing more than an indication we has still alive and fighting, after all. Carefully, he freed his right hand from its grasp.
As he felt his fingers touch his belt, he broke into a thin smile. Nora had bitten her captor's hand, forcing it to flop back and stop its ascension to ease its pain. He had to make haste, though, before it took off again.
With calculated movements and ignoring the pain he felt from the Grimm squeezing him, Ren raised both guns. He had armed one with lightning dust and the other with ice. Quickly, he pulled both triggers.
His concealing aura broke and the winged predator lowered its head as a blast of ice filled its mouth. The shock from his attack made it loose its grip, letting the man grab its arm and jump on its undefended back.
Before it managed to react, Ren blew off its neck, obliterating the large monstrosity. As he started to fall he happily saw Nora, powered up by his lightning shot, smash her own enemy with a swing from Magnhild.
Soon enough she found herself following her husband to falling through the miasmatic air and the eldritch green fog. When I told Ren I wanted to try sky-diving, this was definitely not what I had in mind she groaned.
However, her discomfort was one thing. She turned around and shot up with her weapon, propelling her body downwards to catch up to Ren's. Getting separated was another issue- an unacceptable one at that.
She saw him falling with an eased smile on his face, taking his time to check around their location as soon as he realized she is safe. Just how high is this place? Are we falling from a plane or something? Or-
As soon as he thought that, he saw his wife's turquoise eyes open wide. "ROCK!" she shouted, warning him just in time for the magenta-eyed boy to turn and use his guns' wires to grab from the surrounding walls.
Or at least that's what would have happened were the walls still there like they should. His wires found no place to get attached to, making the boy suffer a powerful and painful slam on the hard granite.
"REN!" Nora made a much better landing next to him, heartbeat rising as she saw his aura tremble from the sudden impact. Her husband's low aura reserves had always been one of her major concerns about him.
"Ahhh" stoic, despite the immense pain, he let her help him back to his feet. "How do you feel?" she asked him. He took a couple quick breaths and closed his eyes to focus "it hurts, but I still have aura left" he said.
"Ok" she pumped her shoulders up and down before they both tried to check their surroundings. They saw nothing but thin, green mist and an eldritch, prismatic light blocking their vision.
The ever-present cacophonous chirping had intensified. Ren looked at their feet. They were standing on a black granite surface, wet due to a thin layer of water covering it. He failed to see how widely it spread.
"Somehow I get the feeling we shouldn't just go for a stroll" Nora told him. "Is the monstrous fog that makes you think that or the sound that could put Jaune's bathroom singing to shame?" Ren commented.
Nora crossed her arms "just once, I wish you showed that half-serious and half-teasing side or yours in front of others" she complained. "You know it's not happening" he smiled at her, earning a playful elbow jab.
She walked to the end of their line of sight and carefully stretched out her hammer, trying to find solid ground. The thudding of metal hitting stone reached their ears at once. "Looks safe" she announced.
"Just take it slowly and carefully" Ren warned her. Nora grinned before she started moving forward, with him just behind her, stopping every two steps to check for obstacles or lack of pavement ahead of them.
"I don't like waking around blindly like this, Renny" she commented. "I agree; but staying still back there is not safer by any means. At least we can now get somewhere" he replied. "Whatever that means" she joked.
They spent some time trying to find a way out of their predicament. Fog and mist gradually became thinner after some hour, but they still could see no concrete images; only a gray-black motif barely visible behind it.
That was until Nora stopped all of a sudden, making Ren freeze as well. He tried to ask her, but the image that played in front of their very eyes made him change his mind.
Like a twisted symphony conducted by an otherworldly, genius artist, the alien melody slowly died, its stopping rhythm masterfully assisting the vanishing of the misty veil that had been obscuring their vision.
To Ren and Nora, it felt as if they were observing the unveiling of an art piece; a living painting created by the wicked god residing in this place, crafted for their sake and revealed only to their eyes.
As for what the image was; it was a vast sandy beach, raked by the cool night wind. The ocean formed low waves that gave the whole scene a picturesque, majestic touch. They recognized it; how couldn't they?
In the middle of the beach, one familiar figure dressed in a long white cloak with the cowl thrown back so that the wind could caress his short blonde hair. Younger Jaune Arc stared at the dark sea and sky of Vacuo.
Nora took one step ahead, but Ren stopped her. She turned around and stared at him in sadness, but he shook his head and pointed at a second figure that had appeared besides Jaune; his self, from three years ago.
"Hey Ren" his voice was unusually sad and timid. The magenta-eyed boy knew exactly why, of course, even before his former self made the question. "What happened and Ruby is so sad?" he asked, calm as ever.
Jaune shook his shoulders "I managed to mess up once more. Worst of all, I have no idea what I did or how I did it, so I don't know what to say in order to apologize to her" he explained, staring at his best friend.
"I will take an educated guess and say she confessed to you" Ren said, carefully eying his leader. "You got me there" Jaune let out a weak and bitter laugh. "I had seen it coming; or not, actually" he admitted.
"I don't understand" the black-haired man asked. "You like her as well, don't you?" "I do, yes" Jaune replied. "This is why I told her I need time to sort out my feelings; I don't want her to be a replacement to Pyrrha."
"You didn't word it like this, did you?" Ren raised an eyebrow. "More or less" Jaune stopped "you don't think she became jealous, do you?" his eyes opened wide in shock. "No idea; but I know one who can tell us."
The image started to fade away, as if being erased with a masterful and elegant series of paintbrush strokes. "So that's why you had both come to me back then for advice; I remember giving him an earful" Nora said.
"Yeah" Ren rubbed the back of his neck "you said something along the lines of 'there is stupidity; there is density; and there is Arc! What made you think bringing Pyrrha up in Ruby's confession was a good idea?" he recited from memory, earning a fierce nod of approval from his wife.
Before she could respond, however, another scene was unveiled before them. A younger Nora, with shorter hair and tugged inside a traditional Vacuan cloak in a ridiculously bright pink color, entered a large, isolated tent on the base of a sand hill.
Inside the tent was a series of extended benches. Lots of armored cases were spread on top of them. In the middle, wearing a lab coat as she worked on some dust under the blessing of a large fan stood Weiss.
"Hey" she turned around. Her hair was cut short, reminding the boyish style Ruby had, to help the Atlesian girl withstand the desert heat. Nora saw her younger self get closer to the pale girl, staring at her work.
"Hey Ice Queen" she jabbed. "What are you doing?" Weiss snarled and rolled her eyes "refining dust crystals. I lack SDC's equipment, but I can still improve its quality enough to save a 10% of our camp's daily costs."
"Isn't that dangerous though?" she asked in shock. The snow girl shook her shoulders "this is why I am using such an isolated tent and making sure every crystal I am not working on is safe" she pointed around her.
"Oh" Nora knew from the image's expression that she wasn't convinced at all. "Anyway" Weiss rubbed her nose to conceal a yawn "why are you here Nora? I don't think it is to pay me a visit while I am working."
"Actually" the image said "it is exactly that" current Nora smiled at the scene completing its wordplay. "I came here to thank you for saving my ass yesterday when I messed up with the Deathstalker" she explained.
"Oh" taken aback and with a slight blush in her pale cheeks, Weiss took a bottle of cool apple soda the girl offered her. "There is no need for a gesture like this between us." "No, but I want to" she took out a beer.
Weiss opened her drink, enjoyed the sizzling feeling in her dried throat and then sealed the small dust crystal back in its case before she joined Nora "guess I can't turn you down then" she smiled at the ginger girl.
"One of my fondest memories of war" Nora said Ren. "I remember you saying that" he replied. "We spent the whole day talking about usual stuff… romance, dates… opinions on music…" she fondly murmured.
"I hadn't realized until then how much I'd missed my talks with Pyrrha. Weiss resembles her in many things and, as it came to be, needed to talk to someone who wasn't Ruby as well. It was… so much fun."
"It was, wasn't it?" Nora's fond smile and Ren's expression immediately faded as the scene vanished once more, like being erased with a mighty stroke. Unlike before however, young Weiss was left behind with them.
"Oh no" Nora swung Magnhild "I have seen enough of your tricks for a whole life, pal. I am not even trying to talk to you." Equally conscious, yet much more discreet, Ren armed his own weapons just behind her.
"Calm down" 'Weiss' raised her elegant arms in defense "I am not here to fight you at all. My job is to escort you to the inner temple" as she spoke, Ren noticed the daemonic chirping of alien pipes had returned.
"Sorry" she clenched her fingers around her weapon "I don't trust any being that tries to talk to me by using my friends' forms; dead or alive."
"Ah, my apologies" she replied "I only took this one form to make you feel more comfortable; according to your memories, she is the most compatible one to me among your interesting little group of friends."
"You are not helping your position, pal" Nora took one step forward. Ren raised Stormflower and took aim at the figure. "As she said, there is no reason to trust anything you tell us" he cocked the triggers at it.
'Weiss' gaze lowered. "Still the same primitive beings… are you being serious in trying to threaten me like this?" she raised her hand, opening her palm wide- and revealing a large, dark, shadowy hole in its middle.
"You-" before Nora could finish the creature put its palm on top of its mouth, the elegant pink lips covering the dark spot. After that, it blew gently, like a musician that was trying to play a disgusting-looking flute.
The movements were as elegant, poised and beautiful as Weiss'. The sound that came from them was not.
A magnified, powerful wave of the demonic, alien chirping blasted both humans head on. They stumbled, mustering all their power to not fall on their knees, as immense surges of pain pulsed through their bodies.
What this abhorrent melody was? They couldn't understand. It was the first time they had experienced something like it. It was not the power of the sound waves on its own- it was a totally different issue with it.
This cacophonous piping brought not only a terrifying lullaby, but also images. The sound brought revelations, history and memories. An almost euphoric, painful yet uplifting, sensation covered their minds.
In a brief moment, the cult's existence and ways of life were revealed to the couple. Like what Caretaker was doing to Ruby, the purpose and the methods of the cults of The Old Way was shown to Ren and Nora, imbuing them with knowledge- and preparing them to be sacrificed.
Unlike the other monster, however, this one had been extremely brutal. All the information Ruby had acquired by talking, this creature had forcibly shoved into Ren and Nora's minds in one single second.
They screamed in agony as one image after another filled their brain. A quick pulse of high-pitched sound dropped them on their knees. They swayed and stumbled, trying to get up, but the pressure was too high.
As they collapsed in spasms, their nerves in shock from the abominable melody, 'Weiss' removed her palm, a thin line of black blood dropping down her tender lips. "I demand your trust, not requesting it, mortals."
"Fuck off" Nora stood up, body trembling, using her hammer as a lever. "I am with her at this" Ren tried his best to wipe off the blood from his nose and ears before standing next to her.
"You don't understand yet…" "We do" Ren cut the monster off. "We do understand that you need us alive for your ritual; which means" before he could finish, the sound of Magnhild's rocket launching reached him.
The blast made 'Weiss' explode. A shockwave pulsed through the room, clearing off the mirage, allowing both huntsmen to take a good look at their surroundings; a vast, dark room with cyclopean columns and wet, dark floor. Very thin fog and eldritch lights permeated the atmosphere.
In front of them, occupying the whole north side was a towering gate. It was the only thing they had seen since entering the temple to be made of something else than the same dark granite with the wet green hue.
More especially, it was made of white, alien-looking gold. Carvings of marine creatures in various shapes and sizes were etched on each of its leaves. In its middle was a rough depiction of Avyssos monstrous form, made of some kind of otherworldly, precious shining red gemstone.
Supporting it was a huge granite arch. Its whole form was ornamental, designed to depict a series of hideous trumpets and pipes, made of flesh and carrying dozens of disgusting monstrous eyes on them.
The daemonic music rose. In fact, it had reached such high a pitch they had not heard from it so far, even when 'Weiss' had bombarded them a minute ago. It made them uneasy and they walked closer to each other.
Speaking of the monster posing as their friend, Nora caught a glimpse of it crawling in front of the golden gate. She noted that with every motion its body made, all the ornamental fleshy pipes moved along.
As if they were… part of it. She lowly barfed to hide her disgust and not let the rising filth from her stomach get a hold of her. Ren sent a small surge of his semblance towards his wife, pleased to see her relax a bit.
The monster rose. "You" it stared at them in hatred, unable to conceal its malice anymore "are not worthy of being a sacrifice!" it growled and hissed, as its form collapsed.
Dark goo burst out from the petite body, completely engulfing Weiss' lithe form in a swirl of black miasma. The pipes rose in accordance to its movement and the chirping sound blasted them with its alien intensity.
A cloud of pitch-black energy consumed the human form. From it, burst out a hideous creature whose form defied all sort of logic; exactly as its fellow monsters did.
A massive sack of black Grimm flesh stood before them, as tall as a bus. Mouths and teeth formed in its head, and serpentine torso, jagging and gnarling at them. Dozens of sinister red teeth pulsed from its body.
Spikes, horns and bone plates covered parts of its head and belly. Two pairs of tentacles dripped filthy ooze down from its massive figure, as if they were trying to reform from their previous state into the original.
Its most notable characteristic, however, was a series of short glistering white bones that sprouted from its head, back and side. They were all covered in the black sludge, bits of protoplasmic flesh sticking on them, forming distinct pipe-like appendages.
"Is this some sort of twisted musician's fantasy?" Nora blurted. "Abyss only needs the primordial sound to reach it" the monster replied, in a twisted form of voice that seemed to come both from its pipes and mouths.
"Humans think they discovered music. They think they were the ones to first use the power of sound for their own causes" it shook and its form dripped filth on the floor. "But sound existed before your arrogant species. The primordial melody, untamed by your filthy hands."
They took a couple steps on the back, anticipating its attack. As long as they were ready to intercept its piping with their weapons, they should have been fine. Or at least that's what they both hoped at the moment.
The serpentine form rose, towering over them. Only now they both did realize how wrong this creature was. How asymmetrical and misplaced the horns, mouths, eyes and tendrils were on its long, fleshy mass.
The only thing acting as a center of symmetry for this abomination was the series of pipes running down its spine. The demonic sound reached a new height, sending now waves of sheer anxiety down their bodies.
"Feeble beings that cower before the melody of my God are not worthy to attend His awakening."
"That is not for you to decide" the sudden intrusion came not from the humans, but from a voice that suddenly pulsed from behind the golden gate. It was easily heard above the chirping despite its low intensity.
"Retreat, Piper" the voice horrified both humans. Its calm nature came in full antithesis with the weight it carried. They stared at each other in full realization; it resembled Jaune's voice way too much for comfort.
The monster, on the other hand, didn't move. The sound rose to a new high pitch and then- vanished.
All of a sudden, the gate disappeared before them, as it had never been there to begin with. The Piper, as this monstrous Grimm lump of flesh was being called, vanished along as well, leaving no trace behind it.
Along with them, the otherworldly chirping was lost too. Only calm, still ambience from their breaths and the flapping of winds at the back of their awareness accompanied the returning green fog and alien lights.
Nora turned around to see her husband with her mouth agape in shock. She thought she had been prepared for everything weird from what she had seen so far, but once more those monsters managed to get her.
From the looks of it, Ren had the same confused expression, staring at the now void room with the tall dark columns and the massive arches through which prismatic green lights pulsed. She only asked one thing.
"What the fuck did just happen?"