Hello everyone! How are you doing? I hope you are all doing fine!
Chapter 121 is here and as usual I hope you enjoy it.
Thanks once more for following/ favoring/ reading the story so far! You all rock!
See you again next week in chapter 122. Until then be well and have fun!
Her vision was blurry. Her eyes were teary and sore. Her throat was in so much pain, she wanted to rip it out of her body. Her tongue stung and her mouth was parched. Her insides were burning and her muscles failing her.
Even with her blurry mind, all proper functions slowly leaving her, Cherry had the clarity to at least understand what had happened. They gassed me! She tried to push with all her might, but her semblance failed her too.
Gravitation doesn't affect gases, which spread around to cover as much of the area given to them, as much it does for solid or liquid. She fell on the paved road, desperately trying to stand up.
To think that they would use the same trick as Azure. She coughed while trying to stand up. She collapsed on the hard asphalt again. We only faced each other twice and they found my weakness; should be expected...
A small part of her mind tried to ease her fear. Losing to Yang didn't sound that bad, it said. She will treat you honorably and with care; heck, you may even escape execution. You did your best, didn't you? Leave it all to-
She blocked the traitorous thoughts away. No! She stopped trying to stand and instead focused on calming down. Shame on me for even considering this thing. She grabbed her talisman and prayed for forgiveness.
If I lose here, who will support Master Woodrock in his quest to revive the Elders? She heard her enemies talk; probably waiting for her to stop any movement. Who will be left to stand between him and his enemies?
She took small breaths. The pain had almost numbed her, but she didn't care right now. All she had to do was focus. If I lose, who will carry out the wish of Master Silk to see our temple revived and our religion restored?
And all these dead people; who will make sure their souls are properly sent to the afterlife after Nyctos consumes all of their bodies? Who will make sure they are properly honored and praised in the underworld?
Master Woodrock said so. Isn't that why I was born?
Isn't that why the God of Darkness gave his blessing to an insignificant and unwanted orphan? Isn't that why I was raised in the temple? Master Silk trained me so hard for this very moment. Slowly, she moved her arm.
This is my life, my sacred duty. Her hands grabbed the ceremonial knife's handle. Besides, after they have showed me their resolve, it would be a great dishonor to not rise up to match it. They have more than earned it.
She hesitated for a moment. Blood dripped out of her ears and nose. Her eyes were sore. Lord of Night; forgive me for invoking your adversary's blessing right in the middle of your domain in my time of need.
I know the sacrilege I am committing. Her fingers twisted the blade and pointed in towards her stomach. I know I am worthless to be counted as a member of your cult after this. She hoped she was numb enough to do it.
But I, no matter what happens to me from now on, will not cower. I never did and I never will. Even the moment your ever-present fury casts me into oblivion, I still remain your eternal, faithful and proud servant.
-o-
The sound of a weapon falling on the ground made all of team BLWS turn around their heads. "That didn't sound like her naginata; it was too light a sound" Velvet commented in worry. "Stay still and watch out!" Blake said.
Yang heard her leader say it, but she didn't obey. Not that she wanted to, but her very being shook in a mix of anticipation and dread. Her body was feeling goosebumps and her hair stood on edge. Her left hand burned her.
There was no need to look; she knew the blasphemous eye had returned and was bulging like crazy in the top of her left palm. She could feel it try to burst out of her flesh, tearing her skin in a sickening sense of euphoria.
As for why it reacted now, she could feel it. Cherry had done something. And that something was resonating with the parasite-or whatever the hell this thing was- that infested her left hand, making it throb like crazy.
She rubbed her palm, but the pain didn't stop. Instead- what the eff? Her head, more importantly her eyes, started to pulse as well. She took one step back and kept her breath steady to not lose focus on their enemy.
And then she saw her. For various reasons too scary to contemplate at the moment, Yang managed to see through the gas cloud as easily as if it was a pool of clear water. And what she saw had her stifle a profound curse.
Cherry walked, undisturbed by the gas, out of the cloud. Her body pulsed in black-green energy, swelling like a blazing beacon. She stopped and the brawler could hear the other three react the same way she had- cursing.
The fox girl's peachy skin was full of deep black lines that were turning a sickening green in their edges. They were exactly like the ones Jaune had, only more in number and quite more painful-looking than his.
Her head was wet in fresh blood, dripping from two curved horns that had burst out of her forehead, white and gleaming. The same white and glistening color could be found in the oversized ribcage that enveloped her chest and belly. White plating with dark highlights covered her arms.
Blake gulped. At this point, she had been expecting a witty retort from a haughty afterimage hiding in the shadows, but nothing came. Had her mind collapsed from the shock of seeing the honorable maiden like this?
"She looks like a faunized version of the Grand Mother" Yang exclaimed. "I don't believe what I am seeing" Weiss moved next to her, swords poised up ready to intercept "what did you do to yourself, Itazura?" she asked.
"This is not over yet" Cherry replied calmly. "I have to force every ounce of my power to meet you with the respect and determination you deserve Ms. Schnee." She whirled her Naginata and Weiss felt the air grow heavy.
And then a scream pierced their ears. An abominable eerie, bloodcurdling scream echoed in the open valley, passing through the cables, soaring in the stale, dead atmosphere and tormenting their skulls like a jackhammer.
"What is it now?" half-angry and half in pain, Yang stared upwards to the sky. "What is this?" the voice raising the question wasn't her own, it was Velvet's.
The swirling, massive dome filled in sinister images. Forms made of pure white smoke burst out from the dark mist, screeching with primal howls that belonged to the first days of creation, before humanity came to be.
Their bodies were thin and skeletal, with long arms and claws reminiscing of the Ghouls' only significantly taller. Their faces were covered in masks that only allowed their long, sharp canines and crimson eyes to be seen.
Each one of the forms looked as if it danced above the sky, bursting out of the dome with its angry, howling and then quickly being absorbed back into the dark mist as if it needed to replenish its energy in order to return.
"How many are they?" Yang, horrified as much as mesmerized, asked. "At least a dozen Moroas are absorbed into the dome" Cherry, her stance firm yet weary of the presences flying above them, replied to her.
"If you know what they are, I take it they are Grimm?" Blake, still feeling quite uncomfortable by the lack of the presence and bewildered at why she felt like this, asked the cultist. She firmly nodded.
"They are direct spawns of Nyctos, formed by a procedure much different than the one Ghouls and Husks are created from. Consider them a species of powerful Grimm, a cut above your run-of-the-mill ones" she explained.
She then stared at her fingers, still pulsing with the same black-green aura "I guess I made them all really angry by invoking Grand Mother's power in the middle of Lord Nyctos' domain" she regretfully commented.
"Is that your plan?" Velvet snapped at the cherry-haired woman "to keep us here until Nyctos' servants are angered enough to kill us?" an automatic rifle formed in her hand, but Cherry shook her head in denial.
"We are not going to be attacked by them, or by Lord Nyctos, as long as the pillar behind us is pulsing" she pointed at Antares Observatory. Blake's eyes narrowed and she took one step forward "what do you mean?"
"Lord Nyctos and the Moroas are being kept inside the dome in their mist forms with the power of Master Woodrock's bounded field until he has finished his preparations for the awakening ritual" Cherry answered her fellow faunus "the pillar feeds them energy, but also keeps them in place."
Four sets of eyes opened wide in revelation. "This is why we couldn't feel Nyctos' presence anywhere except for when we passed through the mist! You guys have it trapped around us so it can't interfere with your plans!"
Once more, the cultist nodded at Weiss. "We revere our Gods, but have no way or will to control them, like Azure and Sophia stupidly tried to. As long as Nyctos set its sights on Vale, our course of action was decided."
"I will say it only once; out of our way, Cherry" Yang's voice cut them off. "Absolutely out of the question" the firm reply came. "As I am right now, I can hold you in place until Master Woodrock can finish the preparations."
"Get her!" without any warning or desire to talk it out any longer, Blake gave the sign to attack. Of course, this was something Cherry had been expecting to happen at any given moment.
Even as the huntresses jumped into formation, she had already attacked. Channeling power through her talisman to augment her semblance, the fox girl shot forward with impossible speed, aiming for their slowest one.
Weiss had no time to react, as the naginata's sharp end shot at her in an ironic mimicry of her own Lightning Stinger attack. "NO!" courtesy of using her sharp instincts, Yang jumped between her lover and the attack.
She grabbed Mandragora's tip with both arms, legs firmly trying to absorb the power of the sudden attack. Her left hand itched as the sharp weapon dug into her aura. Her thighs almost gave out, muscles trembling in strain.
Losing no time, Cherry's palm slammed at the blonde's chest, unleashing a powerful repelling blast. The brawler gasped in pain, as her body flew to the back and crashed on her fiancée. Both girls flew away, landed on the asphalt and rolled a couple more meters, auras shaking in extreme pain.
"Cover me!" Blake commanded Velvet and the faunus complied, shooting a hail of bullets at the enemy. The cultist made a horizontal cut with her weapon, forming a series of waves that repelled the projectiles with ease.
But that left her wide open for Blake, who jumped at her unguarded left side and sliced at her throat. Cherry spun. Her shoulder bone plates deflected Nightfall's cut and she followed to attack with her own weapon.
The green polearm came for her, but the cat woman activated her ability and jumped to the side- or at least that was what she intended to do. The faunus' semblance never activated. No clone absorbed the hit for her.
A pair of purple eyes stared at her as she formed her clone. Her heart did skip a beat. For a moment she saw the blade coming- and was too scared to avoid it. She broke her concentration and the hit found her shoulder.
"AAAAH!" a scream of pain froze team BLWS' veins, as a graviton-powered Mandragora cut through Blake's aura and flesh. The force behind the hit unleashed, pummeling down the seasoned huntress and creating a small crater around her body.
"Now you've done it!" Yang landed behind Cherry and punched at her. A quick thrust to the back with her naginata's handle was enough to repel the brawler's strike. Yang ignored it and threw a left hook at the fox girl.
Cherry spun to face her enemy and sent another graviton wave towards her- the moment her fist collided with the cultist's ability, Yang saw it being enveloped in an eldritch green light, like she had used alien dust.
The strangest thing, however, was that her punch was not pushed away. It slammed on the wave and the green thing vanished, taking the repelling blast's might away with it. Cherry's fox eyes opened wide in astonishment.
Yang was equally shocked, but she also was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. She quickly stepped forward into her opponent's guard and punched the woman with her right arm. The counter was immediate.
The faunus whirled her blade like a pinwheel and performed a couple slices at her abdomen. Yang used her metal arm to deflect them and kicked Cherry's calf. The fox girl shot another gravity wave at her.
The brawler was pushed back, but almost immediately the green energy pulsed from her left palm again. She raised it in defense, and the powerful repelling blast was absorbed again. She stepped forward and charged.
"Please help Yang!" Weiss, standing a few meters away, asked of Velvet. "I will take Blake away from her" she pointed at the cat girl who was still on the ground, despite her visibly conscious state. The brunette nodded.
She dispelled the rifle and conjured Nightfall, before she rushed at Cherry, eager to take advantage of Yang's assault. The fox girl thrust back with her weapon's handle and a blast of gravity threw her away.
Unfurling Nightfall's blade, Velvet shot at Yang. The blonde grabbed it and pulled the bunny faunus towards her. Cherry thrust at Yang, but Velvet had already arrived and blocked the naginata with her replicated katana.
Yang reached out and grabbed Cherry's left arm. Velvet dived under the oversized weapon and cut at the cultist's stomach- "Cower!" The voice was deep and, despite coming from her mouth, carried an authority and power Cherry had never displayed, even when facing the Grand Mother.
Velvet collapsed, before her blade could touch the fox faunus. She felt as if her brain was on fire. The shrine maiden's powerful presence made her body tremble in shock. "Oh no girl, you don't!" Yang punched the woman.
The presence calmed down and Velvet jumped up, recreating Nightfall at her hands. For a split second, she thought she saw a green pulse fading from Yang's left fist. Then she stared at Cherry, still standing next to Blake.
The maiden whirled her weapon a couple times. Her feral green eyes fell on Yang's left arm and the powerful anti-magic properties it had just now demonstrated. What on earth is it- she finally saw the eye, only for a mere fragment of a second, before it faded away back into the woman's skin.
"So that's how it is" she murmured as Velvet and Yang jumped at her once more. In that case, magic is going to be useless against them. Better use it as a fuel for my aura. She opened her stance and got ready.
"Left-right!" Yang jumped to the left and Velvet made a diagonal dive to the right. They spun and attacked in perfect sync, the bunny girl forcefully accelerating her own breathing to match Blake's usual nimbleness.
Mandragora's tip touched Yang's metal fist from below. Using it as a pivot, the cherry-haired woman back stepped and allowed Velvet's attack to hit the protruding armored ribcage, barely scraping her aura.
Gaining momentum, Cherry grabbed Yang's nape and shot her with a no-distance gravity blast on Velvet. The bunny girl rolled on the asphalt and managed to avoid the blonde.
Said blonde shot a couple missiles on the cultist and used their kinetic force to maneuver and properly land. The projectiles were effortlessly deflected and Yang grumbled- until she saw ice burst beneath Cherry.
The woman's horned head turned around, as Weiss made her move and a flower of ice formed beneath her. Is she trying to take me along with her friend? She tried to blast it away, but Velvet and Yang jumped at her again.
As soon as they engaged, the glyphs shattered, revealing a path of pure white sigils. Moving fast and dexterously, Weiss skated between the three women and grabbed Blake's body before she was catapulted into safety.
They landed on the pavement, a good dozen meters away from the battle that was intensifying. Weiss sent a worried glance behind her; she could see Velvet and Yang struggle, while that fox monster barely strained.
She looked at Blake. The wound in her shoulder was not as deep as she feared it would. Her aura must have absorbed most of the attack. Weiss gently shook her leader's other shoulder. "Blake, can you hear me?"
There was no reply; only a void, emotionless expression. Her body was as stiff as a board. A sound of pain came from behind as Cherry had punched Yang in the knee. "Blake, please get up! We need you!" she begged.
"You don't" the whimpering, weak voice made Weiss' heart freeze. "You have no need for me. Go help them" she added. "What?" Weiss hissed. "I am not discussing it; go help them. It will be better without me, Weiss."
"You, little-" another gasp of pain, this time from Velvet, came "I am tired of failing you again and again" Blake didn't even try to move. "I am tired of being the weak, pathetic person who can't do a thing on her own. I am so tired of failing you guys again and again! I am tired of being a liability!"
Blake could barely contain her tears "all the plans I thought of failed, my body doesn't even listen to me anymore! I haven't helped anyone and I even managed to mess up my semblance! Just let me die already, Weiss!"
"YOU UTTER, STUPID, SENSELESS MORON!" Weiss grabbed Blake from the hem of her shirt. "Enough with this shit! I've known you for six years! We have fought together, bled next to each other, smiled at each other while crying over mutual losses! We have struggled along each other for years!"
She pressed her head closer to Blake's. Her heterochromatic cyan eyes were blazing with anger "we have been risking our lives from the very beginning against impossible odds! And all we ever had was each other!"
Yellow stared at blue. She could barely recollect when the last time Weiss had spoken to her like this was. "And now, of all times, when faced with that monster of a woman, you decide to go all negative on me? Why?" "Because I can't do it anymore... I am so- so tired... I... keep failing you... I can't even use my semblance."
Blake wanted to go on, but something stopped her. She felt was sudden warmth on her left cheek. Her eyes opened wide in shock. Weiss, of all people, had slapped her cheek.
"You refuse to help? You are fine with letting us all die in here? For what reason? Just because, even after all these things we have experienced and lived through, that stupid brain of yours stupidly refuses to even consider the possibility that you are a precious and valuable member of the team instead of the utter piece of trash you stupidly think you are?" Her eyes were dripping in anger, wet and teary. "Fine."
Weiss threw Blake on the ground and turned her back to her. "You know what, you are right" she trembled in sadness. "I need Blake, not you. You are not the person I have always been proud to call my friend."
Before she had a chance to reply Blake saw Weiss skate away and jump into combat, leaving a powerful unladylike scream as if she wanted to let out all her anger against their enemy.
And all the faunus could do, was watch the half-frozen and half-burning snowflake sewn in her friend's back move away, leaving her behind to drown in her self-pity. It hurt her much more than her slapped cheek.
Far behind her, the shadows whirled and a purple-eyed figure emerged, a haughty smile etched on her thin, feline lips.