Hello everyone! How are you doing? I hope you are all fine!
Chapter 128 is here and as always I hope you enjoy it!
Thanks again for following/ favoring/ reading the story so far. You are all truly the best!
See you all next week in chapter 129. Until then, be well and have fun!
Ruby's eyes shone in awe. Her silver orbs stared at the manifested and utterly alien cosmos given form, trying to register the fact that a Grimm stood before her without standing before her. She rubbed her face.
Ren and Nora stared around. The stars had finished pulsing and now were standing still in the makeshift space, shining the outlines of the monstrous entity that hovered between realities before their very eyes.
Lumia slightly turned her back and looked at the other Grimm residents of this place. The Piper stood still, slowly playing an eerie tune that had zero similarities to the pandemonium they had been listening to so far.
The Carriers, as numerous as ever, gently swayed their hands in a mock prayer. The behavior was so utterly human the ex-maiden felt shivers running down her spine. She had never seen Grimm act like this before.
What an unprecedented behavioral pattern; the more we learn about all this, the less it seems we knew so far of Grimm and their alien way of thinking.
"Last vessel of Osma's power, Lumia Starlight" the hidden monstrosity drew her attention. The voice was akin to Jaune's, but at the same time so fundamentally different, like it lacked the proper organs to use it.
"Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie; keepers of the Sword of Destruction" they both glared at the empty, occupied throne. Listening to a Grimm talk in their beloved friend's voice was more than just unnerving the couple.
Yet nobody in this place was more infuriated by its way of speaking than Ruby. "Former Child of Light; former bearer of God's blessing, Ruby Rose" it addressed her as well. She clenched her teeth to not scream.
"I welcome you to my Court of Stars; Avyssos' sacrificial chamber. It is my pleasure to have you witnesses of its splendor, honored sacrifices" it said, dragging the last words a little longer as if it was chanting them.
Ruby took a deep breath. The time had come; to face her mistake and biggest regret. She narrowed her eyes at the formless being, the alien abomination that had been posing as her boyfriend for weeks.
"You bast-" the red-caped girl raised her hand, stopping Nora before she could continue her verbal assault. "Leave this to me, guys" she steeled her mind and walked forward, adrenaline pumping her veins with every single step she took. She tried her best to remain calm.
"We came here to face and stop you; I am sure you are aware of that already" she announced. A mighty chirping from the Carriers at her blasphemous words had her teammates turn around in visible worry.
"Indeed; your naïve way of thinking was easy to understand from the very first moment" it replied in a powerful, yet straightforward and calm voice. Somehow, it didn't chill her bones as much as she feared to.
"You have traversed my temple, familiarized with my servants and entered my court. You dived in the primordial sea and faced the Proto-Leviathan. You fought off the Deep Ones and escaped them; you even discovered something I didn't knew it existed to begin with."
Ruby stood still, her eyes hard like steel. "Inside this ancient temple, all the mysteries of my worship are kept alive. With every step you took, you immersed yourselves even deeper in it; you became part of them.
The Caretaker told you, didn't he? The more you deal with us, the more you learn of our world- and the better sacrifice you become. That was the point of this temple after all; the proper nurturing of the sacrifices."
Lumia narrowed her eyes. Nora held her breath. Ren let out a little of his semblance to calm them. Ruby simply stood in front of the throne, eyes glued on where the voice seemed to come from.
"And now, before my throne, in the middle of my court, you still believe you have a chance to fight me? HOW?" Its roar shook the very air that permeated the room, making Ruby's cape and hair flutter to her back.
"You stand before someone you barely understand, inside a temple of a religion that was old before you even existed as an idea! Your pitiful weapons look like toys and you have lost all your magical powers!
You are so blind to this world's truth that you couldn't realize my true nature while you slept by me. You all talked to me, encouraged me as if I was one of you. That's how blind you were, full of human arrogance!
And now, just because you walked for a day inside my domain, because I allowed you to exist inside my temple, you got the impression that you insignificant worms have a chance against me? How conceited you are!"
Ren channeled even more of his aura, feeling Lumia tremble and seeing Nora whimper in fear. Ruby… just stood there, waiting for the Grimm to finish its delegation. The boy couldn't help but admire her courage.
"Tell me, insect, how will you defeat a being that far surpasses your very existence? How will you purge all the nightmares my form has brought to you? Will you throw that man-made vial on my face? Or will you slam me on the head with the book Octavios hid for you to retrieve?"
The platform shook. "All that's left to you is pray for divine intervention to suddenly make you knowledgeable enough to cast the spell included in the accursed tome- even then, you couldn't trap me for it to work!"
The three huntsmen standing in the back shivered as a swirl of green mist assaulted Ruby. It roared, every word resembling Jaune's speech even less "the only thing you have achieved with your arrogance is to anger me!"
The brunette heard every word. She felt every line coming out of the powerful mist hit her like a cursed whip. She knew that many things it spat at her were true; she had been tricked so many times by this thing it was almost comical to think she could outsmart it all of a sudden.
She also had come here fully aware it could read her thoughts at a good level. It had done so with Weiss and Erik and Nora so far. But, she didn't care; if it could read some of her thoughts, it was fine.
The night before the mission
"It can read only surface thoughts?" Ruby stared at her partner through the monitor, its blue light cutting off the darkness of her room. "I thought a lot about this and it seems plausible, yes" Weiss replied.
"When fighting them, Nora said it perfectly copied Pyrrha's abilities; Erik mentioned it could sense his thoughts to copy Lumia. At the same time, it couldn't tell their moves or predict their attacks. Erik was even able to conceal Lumia from it with his semblance" she explained.
"So, that's why you called me; to tell me that as long as I can control my thoughts it shouldn't be able to read them" Ruby said. "You can also try and think something relevant- like baiting it away from other thoughts."
"Why not tell the others though?" she asked. "Because as much as I'd like to, if more of you know it, the chances of Avyssos reading their minds and finding out about it increase" Weiss replied.
"Why me then? Wouldn't Ren be the optimal choice?" Weiss sighed "he would but, you are the one in most danger. You are the one who needs the most to end this and the one who will push herself to said end."
Ruby stared at the screen with her mouth wide open. "Yang told you that; didn't she?" "Yes, but if you think that Blake, Jaune or I haven't seen how mentally drained you are, you are worse than we thought."
"Weiss, I-" "Stop it. I wanted to give you an earful, but your big stupid oaf of a sister convinced me not to. She said something along the lines of 'she has to do it herself or she'll never get over it' so I decided to let you be."
Ruby smiled, warmth spreading over her red cheeks "I love both of you so damn much" she giggled. "Don't be silly" Weiss hurried to change the subject "there is another thing I want to discuss with you about it."
The green miasma filled her vision. Its roars, mighty and primal as they were, didn't faze her at all. Her mind, for the first time since she entered that accursed, alien temple, went to the conversation with her partner.
"I knew it..." she whispered. "I felt it since the very moment we stepped in here, that something was amiss. Weiss is truly a genius" she declared. Vile green miasma tightened around her skin, but she didn't react.
The Carriers stood still in their predatory stances, praying up in the sky. Piper continued its haunting melody. Her teammates stared at her in shock, weapons ready to hit anything that might try harming the girl.
"I could feel it" Ruby whispered. She knew it didn't matter, as it could easily hear her or listen to her surface thoughts. "I could feel Avyssos' power in Alizar's spell, even if I didn't know what it was back then."
She closed her eyes, trying to ease her anxiety as she recollected all the images and experiences the boy had plagued her with.
"It feels like you are swimming, no, drowning in a decrepit ocean... as if the sea is trying to eat you. You try your best to fight it, but at the same time you know you are one pull away from a fate worse than death.
Every dream is vivid and nauseating, plaguing your mind and heart with a curse; even when you are awake, you can't completely understand what is real and what isn't. The only thing filling your mind is the sense of drowning in a deep ocean... being choked to death by darkness itself.
She grabbed her right elbow with her left hand. Her gloves let small red blemishes on her fair skin "all that time, you feel a presence...a being that watches you from afar, so alien... so horrible... it calls out to you...
When I was in Grimmwater it became worse. I saw firsthand the terrors it unleashed, the taint its mere presence put in the whole region... the nightmares... I still remember trying to sleep in a graveyard."
The mist subsided. The power surging from it stood still. Had she piqued its curiosity or was it simply entertaining itself by listening to her? She did not care either way.
"During all these, I could feel its presence. Even if I didn't face Avyssos like Weiss, I could sense it moving through every house and every tree. I could hear it crawling in the shadows; I could see it stare from every corner. I could feel it pouring down from the mist surrounding the air."
She narrowed her eyes "I could hear it talk to me in my sleep." Ruby took a deep breath again "its presence was poison to the world itself; just by existing it was contagious enough to invoke my worst fears."
She turned her head and stared at her friends, standing behind her "and that is something I don't sense from you" she concluded, turning her gaze back towards the miasma-covered throne of alien stars.
"You are oversimplifying things, foolish huntress... don't talk as if you have even the slightest chance of understanding Avyssos' primordial might; you diminish yourself in the eyes of the Elders" it threatened.
"You dare say that in front of my very court, my holy chamber, you don't fear me? Your pretentious nature isn't even amusing- it's an insult."
Ruby put her left palm on her chest "of course I am afraid of you; I'd have to be an idiot to not feel fear after all the things we faced in here. But..." she licked her lips and let a determined smile appear of her face.
"I fear your nature. I fear what this place is and all the dangers that have been lurking in its shadows. I fear the unknown creatures roaming in the dark corners of the temple- I don't fear you at all" she announced.
"Avyssos' mere existence made me fear of the world's survival. You just make me furious." Ruby's smile vanished "you are not Avyssos, not even close; you are a cheap knockoff- just a powerful Grimm I have to kill in order to even slightly atone for failing to stop you in time, you monster."
"You!" the cosmos shone in power. The stars gleamed and their cold, alien gaze fell upon the humans who stood helpless in their gaze. Lumia ran to Ruby, the Ren-Valkyrie couple following just behind her.
The platform shook, making Nora stumble and stay in place thanks to her husband's help. The ex-maiden jumped and landed next to her leader the moment the green fog retreated, swirling and gathering in the staircase, pulsing and throbbing with chaotic fury.
"You are even more of a fool than I expected you to be!" Magical energy pulsed, making the throne shine in eldritch lights; the cosmos twisted, forming alien reflections and outlines of a mighty abomination.
"Even your reactions betray your nature" Ruby pressed on, despite the shocked look in her teammates' faces "Avyssos was cut off from the world and had no emotions other than its primordial hunger for human souls."
She took one firm step forward "you recreated a temple to mimic the Old Ways... you used Riverside Clinic as a field test... you even bid your time as weeks passed... you can feel anger and hatred at me and my words! You have been influenced by human desires, tainted by them!"
Unable to contain her rising emotions any more, she turned around and stared at the endless hordes of Carriers who now flanked the Piper's huge bulk.
They still were dancing under its eerie tune that scared her more than the creature lurking before her "all these happened, while you could have easily fled to Grimmwater to perform the so-called ritual of yours."
"What are you talking about?" Nora was quite confused. "It is not trying to awaken the sealed Avyssos inside Grimmwater!" Ruby's voice echoed through the alien world "it's trying to replace Avyssos with itself!"
There was no respond or reaction save for Nora's wide-eye stare, Ren's raised eyebrows and Lumia's clenched fists. The Piper continued its play and the mesmerized Carriers flew by it like a swarm of demonic flies.
The monster, whose outlines were still the only thing the humans could perceive about it, throbbed. The alien stars shone "you used what little you managed to salvage from Red's notes exceptionally well" it said.
"But you succeeded in nothing" its voice lowered even more, barely audible despite the fact they were somehow able to hear it as clearly and as powerfully as if it shouted above the abhorrent chirping pipes.
"I told you already- stare too back in the abyss and it will turn to stare at you; you can do nothing with that information except for being an even more suitable offering" it cackled in an abysmally humane mannerism.
"Ruby; what are we-" "In accordance to the Old Ways, I demand!" her voice rose high, higher than she had even shouted in her life, fueled by her anger, fear and hatred to the abominable lurker of the shadow sky.
"As the honorable sacrifice to the Elders, I demand the ritual to be fully conducted by the Lord of this Temple and Ruler of the Court of Stars! I ask thee, feast on my flesh and soul till my last drop of blood!" she said.
"I demand my worth to be measured by the strength of my arms and my will, by the God residing in this world! I will prove my worth to the Elders by showing you the power of my very soul!" Ruby finished her lines.
And then, all of a sudden, the chirping stopped. The Piper's bulky form shook, sending flocks of Carriers to fly away, screeching and diving up and down in circles formed by their own mists as they moved in the sky.
One after another, the stars started to dim. The Carrier flocks dove down in a fully synchronized movement and then vanished into thin air, moving away from the court as if they never were there to begin with.
"As Guardian of The Abyssal Gate, I honor the demands of the chosen sacrifice" the Piper announced. "I bestow upon thee the honor of being devoured by the Abyssal Offspring to awaken the domain of reckoning."
"Yeah, that doesn't sound ominous at all" Nora commented. "Were you planning this all along, Ruby?" Ren asked. "Not from the beginning, mind you. I didn't expect to find this place here, after all" she replied.
"But you knew of the Old Ways" Lumia, staring as the stars started to fade in the horizon, asked in wonder. "I am not studious as Blake or a genius like Weiss" she replied "but I know an opportunity when I see it" she tapped at her belt, where the cover of Octavios' book was visible.
"So, Octavios wrote about the rituals inside the book... the very first thing I am doing after I kill you is tear Caretaker's soul to shreds and then remake it again!" the cosmos screamed in mighty, abysmal fury.
Ruby unclasped Crescent Rose and stood to the team's back, taking her sniper position. Lumia stood in the front next to Nora and Ren in the mid acting as the support "come here, you monster; time to end this!"
"You pitiful, arrogant being!" the throne suddenly shook. The staircase cracked as if it was made of glass. Thick, heavy cuts marred its surface and pieces of the strange luminous metal fell in the void abyss below.
"You believe that you have accomplished anything, because you read the scripts?" The platform trembled in power. A luminous fluorescence rose engulfing the throne, highlighting its disgusting mass even more.
"You believe that just because I am not the first Avyssos that was born from the God of Darkness, this is enough for you to stand as my equal? Do you think, even for a mere moment, you are enough to face me?"
The walls shook. The fluorescence pulsed- and grew. The first pulse was enough to fill the whole throne, dying the invisible monstrosity in its eerie, horrible green fog. "Your insolence will seal your fate, Ruby Rose."
"Keep steady" Ruby ignored its taunts, despite her heart skipping a couple beats. "It's not there are many places to go to right now" Nora replied.
Another pulse and the monstrosity grew. One after another, the stars in the sky vanished, their dying lights revealing the protoplasmic black goo that formed Avyssos' body, now expanding enough to cover the stairs.
It was the epitome of an abomination; a mass of writhing, pulsing black tentacles, covered in greenish-black ichor. It spread out of the throne, its presence dwarfing the huntsmen and its weight cracking the stairs.
Each appendage flailed as if it had life on its own. They all were filled in dozens of sinister-looking red eyes and pieces of gleaming white plates. Drooling mouths filled with huge jagged teeth hungrily opened at them.
There seemed to be no center of focal point- or it was well concealed from their eyes. Eldritch miasma spread like an alien cloud from the form, mimicking the breath of an abhorrent dragon. Lumia groaned.
"Rejoice, Ruby!" the voice, despite the abhorrent torrent of black flesh, red eyes and white teeth it came from, still mimicked Jaune's to its utmost level "your wish to be sacrificed by me shall finally be granted!"
The tentacles spread, filling their vision like a tidal wave of black, deathly flesh and bone. "And I shall make you regret playing smart against beings that surpass your feeble existence, little arrogant human" it added in glee.
"I will make sure to leave you for last" that reminded her a bit of Alizar. "You will experience death so many times you will scatter in pieces before you realize you are lost." Ruby's gaze darkened at the vile words.
"I will make you curse and swear at everything you love; I will have you utter the most blasphemous, abominable and unnamable words that ever appeared in the face of earth." Ren stifled a few of them himself.
"And, until the very end, I will speak into your brain with the same voice of the man you love; I will make you wish you die so that you will never have to hear that boy's voice again!" the force of its roar raked the air.
The platform shook once more as the shockwave hit them. They stayed in place, hands clasping their weapons and eyes focused on the alien being that swarmed the extremely little ground they had left to fight on.
Ruby took one deep breath and smiled, her silver eyes shining in fierce and undimmed determination. "Let's go guys! Today we end this thing once and for all!" she screamed, as she raised her rifle to shoot at it.