Hello again, everyone! How are you doing? I hope you are all fine!
Chapter 132 is here and as always, I hope you enjoy it!
Thanks again, for following/ favoring/ reading the story so far! 2021 is almost over, and you are all as awesome as ever!
On that note, next week chapter 133 will be normally uploaded on December 22nd, but I will take a week off between Christmas and New Year's to visit my family, so 134 will be uploaded on January 5th instead of December 29th.
And that's all I had to say. See you all next week! Until then, be well and have fun!
Hunger and thirst. Madness and pain. The man's spell and his hateful eyes had traumatized it. It had taken months to form a cohesive mind and the man had burned all its efforts with that accursed spell of his.
Not only that, after it broke free he had trapped it again with his cold, disgusting silver eyes. And after that, this woman had burned its body with that burning liquid. Its soul had been torn, its mind obliterated.
Hatred and hunger were all left. It hated humans. It hated the man with the silver eyes- so it took its time and ate him alive while flying away from the burning cage. His screams of pain and his pointless flailing as it slowly bit off his limbs one by one and flayed his flesh were delicious.
His brain and heart felt wonderful to absorb. As it let his half-devoured remains fall to the ground, it hovered even higher. It needed to feed; it had to eat more. More delicious things- more humans!
Its instincts knew it had great power in its body. Magic seeped out of every pore, surrounding it in the miasmatic black cloud. It could feel it; it could feel humans nearby. It could feel his kin, feasting on them.
Its hastily formed eyes fell on a sea of lights. Sounds of combat and screams of pain muddled with growls, hisses and explosions reached it.
Its nose picked up its prey. Many insignificant critters and quite a few sources of magical energy; it smelled at least a couple dozens and three of them were even banded together! Its hunger rapidly grew.
With one mighty flap of its wings, the empty shell of an Eldergrimm sped towards the Shadow Border, unleashing all its magic. It turned into a dark cloud and engulfed the wall like a furious, feral hurricane.
-o—
Glynda animated three sets of projectiles and slammed them on the towering Husk that had just punched the wall. She twisted the earth around it and encased the monstrosity in a cage of earth. "Now!"
Sun's clones ran towards the immobilized monster, carrying a huge water tank with them. Ignoring the attacks from surrounding Ghouls, they climbed and emptied the tank on the paralyzed hulk.
Immediately after that, Neptune landed on the Husk's feet and hit the Grimm with a massive lightning attack. The sizzling sound was followed by the horrendous stench of burnt flesh as the Husk started to pop in a disgusting manner, all the bodies it carried with burning into a crisp.
She acknowledged the two huntsmen with a nod of her eyes. Despite their minor victory, the situation was bad. The wall had been breached and Ghouls were pouring in numbers, briefly held back by the SHU.
Night was still high. She checked her watch. Cypress reinforcements were about to arrive at dawn- one day earlier than she had informed anyone of- but there was still too much time remaining until then.
She picked up her scroll "this is Goodwitch! Retreat to the second line of defense! Erect the emergency barricades and move all surveillance to nearby block of flats! Artillery team; bombard the Border to cover our retreat!" Her scroll beeped. "Affirmative! Moving to Border's second section!"
At once heavy artillery shots started showering the back lines of the Grimm, blowing up pieces of Ghouls. Those reanimating pests… she turned at Sun and Neptune. "Move south and help them retreat."
"What about you, Madam?" the blue-haired boy asked. "I am going to activate the signal flares" she pointed at a nearby block of flats that had been evacuated. "The nearby watchtower team hasn't reported yet."
"Be careful, Professor" Sun politely warned her, making a smile form on her face as she walked away with her back turned. A flick of her crop squashed a few more lurking Ghouls under a large piece of concrete.
Another flick and Glynda used the piece as a makeshift elevator to rise up to the roof. She reached the area, took a few moments to make sure there were no enemies around, and jumped down on the rooftop.
Her eyes narrowed. The hastily made outpost was there, true, but the huntsmen manning it were not. Of course the amount of blood and gore thrown left and right on top of bullet holes and broken weapons didn't leave much to the imagination about their fate.
In that case… Glynda carefully walked towards the massacre scene why didn't we hear anything? And where are their bodies- or their killers?
She carefully inspected the whole rooftop. The door leading inside the building was intact. She looked to the north; General Nile and his men were faring excellently holding their own part of the Border.
She looked up in the night sky- the Moroas still made circles above the battlefield, ready to dive and feast on anyone foolish or unlucky enough to stay away from the defenses. Most turrets had been emptied by now.
Her eyes fell back on the slaughter site. This makes no sense- what has happened here and how did we miss it? She carefully trekked around the scene. A series of small bloodied footprints finally came into view.
So it was Ghouls, after all; how did they end up here? She followed the footprints, something considerably hard in the dim light of her torch, till the edge of the rooftop- the very same point she had ascended from.
Her mind connected the dots; the Ghouls she had squished under the concrete had killed the men up here. Cursing silently, she still felt something was amiss as she kept searching. Where did the bodies go?
Her fingers scoured around the outpost, finding nothing but broken cases and equipment and- she stopped when she picked up something from the ground. It was the remains of a torn-up canvas binding set.
Canvas binding sets were used to wrap corpses in the battlefield for the dead to be either burned or buried later. The SHU had a standard tactic to use them on front line casualties with little ice dust for preservation.
The bindings were cold- they had been used. The team stationed here must have had a casualty in the first attack. But then- Glynda's eyes opened wide in shock as a piece of information rose from the very dark and morbid charnel depths of her exhausted, overworked brain.
"That Nyctos thing has the ability to reanimate corpses. No, I am not by any means joking; it transformed all the humans it killed into Ghouls in front of our eyes!" Ruby's field report flashed in front of her mind.
What if- she stared up to the sky- what if those flying vampire Grimm had the same ability? She picked up her scroll "Emergency! This is code 112! Do you copy? I repeat-" "Loud and clear!" General Nile replied.
"This is Glynda Goodwitch to all teams and soldiers! The enemy Grimm may have the ability to transform dead bodies into Ghouls! Perform at once emergency cremation to all-"
Her scroll died and the signal faded into nothingness. Glynda's body felt a primordial chill running down her spine. A humongous flap of wings echoed in the night sky above her, howling like a cursed apocalypse.
She barely managed to run towards the door before Nyctos' dark cloud engulfed the entire block, trapping the SHU teams into a charnel coffin.
-o—
Quite some time earlier
"I should have shot you before" Velvet sighed, her face pale from the agony and exhaustion. Cherry nodded "I told you I am going to help Nyctos and you. I don't think I lied at any point" she serenely stated.
Weiss' eyebrows opened in anger "she is more or less right" Blake cut them off, tying up her damaged palms "if any of you three didn't see that coming, you only have yourselves to blame for it" she underlined.
Yang sighed and rubbed her head, her metal arm still holding the pink haired maiden on the wall. "Don't misunderstand. She is still a criminal and will be trialed - but she isn't our top priority right now" Blake said.
"I agree" the alabaster girl commented "what are we going to do with Nyctos?" Blake finished her emergency bandaging "Yang and Velvet; I see that you can both move normally. I want you to go east at once."
"East?" lilac orbs narrowed in confusion "why would we go opposite of the battle?" Her partner acknowledged the question but didn't reply for a few moments, instinctively reaching out for an empty aroma vial.
"Now that all Ghouls have left this place I want you to salvage a vehicle- those left in the garages should be good to go. Take Cherry and Velvet with you and try to meet with the Cypress Outpost's reinforcements.
Now that Nyctos is awake, even in this weakened state, it is possible that communications will be jammed. They have to be informed as fast as possible about what has transpired in the area so far."
"Wait, that is way too far- they are supposed to arrive after tomorrow" Velvet objected. "No; that is what Glynda wanted us to think. I bet she did that in case any of us had their thoughts read by Avyssos or Bistre."
Seeing the confused faces of her teammates and feeling time passing by quite faster than she wanted to, Blake groaned in displeasure.
"There is no way Albus would ever include information about the kind of weapons Cypress would bring with it. Yet he did so- he specifically mentioned the mobile heavy cannons to Lumia. Needlessly so" she said.
"Those cannons are of Atlasian built. They are designed to operate on top of portable railway platforms- they can't be moved unless…" Weiss suddenly realized what her leader was saying. Blake smiled at her.
"Unless they use the old military railway system that cuts off the route directly from Cypress to Vale, bypassing all the obstacles and allowing them to move exceptionally fast in emergencies" she explained.
"If we are talking about Albus, and knowing how well-trained Ren and Nora's units are, I expect them to have reached Vale by the morning" the faunus finalized her thoughts. "Do you know where the station is?"
"Yes" Velvet affirmed "it was part of the emergency evacuation plans in police training." Yang clicked her tongue "so you are asking me to leave you two back and go play informant? I don't like this Blakey."
She tightened her grip on Cherry but stared at her partner "Velvet can take Cherry and we three can go after Nyctos." "Velvet can't drive with her hand like this- or defend against stray Grimm" the cat girl replied.
"In that case, maybe-" Weiss grabbed the hem of her lover's jacket and pulled her towards her, glaring at the blonde "do you think we don't want you out there with us, you moron? Or do you think it was an easy choice for Blake to make? Are you trying to make her feel even worse?"
Yang blinked, her eyes daring between Weiss' angry face and Blake who was trying her best to appear calm. Velvet was staring at them in a tight and reserved manner while Cherry had averted her gaze in respect.
"Tch… staring at me like that is so damn unfair" Yang whispered before she grabbed Cherry and tossed her over her shoulder, earning a much confused yelp from the fox girl "you better not make me regret this."
"We won't" was the last thing Yang heard as she followed Velvet down the staircase, trying her best to ease the anxiety swelling in her heart.
"Thanks" Blake said "I know it must have been hard for you to send her off like that as well." Weiss tied her hair back with the help of a needle "let's leave pleasantries for later, captain" she smiled reassuringly.
Present time
The buzzing sound of the Queen Lancer echoed above the empty city ruins as Blake and Weiss flew over the desolate land towards New Vale and the Shadow Border.
Even from their position, they could see the explosions and hear the sound of combat, the hungry growls and the pained screams of their fellow huntsmen. They could also see the flock of Moroas hovering above the landscape like oversized cataclysmic nightmarish vultures.
"Ok, now here's the plan- and you are not going to like it. I want you to fly me towards the border so I can go after Nyctos with Sun, Neptune and Glynda." She took one deep breath "as for you…" she murmured.
"As for me… what is it?" Weiss asked her. "I want you to assist the city defenses- more accurately, take on the Moroas that are flying over the place." A pair of cyan eyes opened wide in shock, making her flinch.
"I appreciate the vote of confidence, but there are a lot of them flying around, even for me" she told her. "I know- but I am asking you to do it because no one else can; we have to relieve the front line somehow."
The alabaster woman stared across the dark night sky. The monstrous skeletal winged Grimm hovered above the battlefield, observing the massive, miasmatic fog cloud that had appeared a few minutes before.
The situation was rather problematic and if she wanted to be honest, without proper night vision she wouldn't be of much assistance inside there- not to mention the vampires could dive in and feast on every unlucky fellow who had gone astray and couldn't defend at any time.
"I swear you are trying to get both of us killed" she reached out to her pocket and picked up the remaining vials "with the ones you have left, it should be a total of four. Don't waste them" she warned the faunus.
"I won't. And thanks- you have been a tremendous help all along in this whole situation" she smiled at Weiss. "Don't die; Yang will kill me" the cat girl added. "The same goes for you- you have so much to live for."
The Queen sped up and Weiss made a diagonal path to the left of the Moroas, making sure to draw their attention as much as possible. As soon as she did, she dived and halted, allowing Blake to jump down.
"Good luck, Blake! Get them out alive!" the cat faunus waved at her "I will do my best; good luck to you as well- fall back any time you feel you can't go on!"
"No promises!" Weiss gave a forced laugh as she flew up towards the nearest Moroas. The cat girl clutched her chest, drew Nightfall and then entered the cloud, the weight of her choices hanging over her heart.
-o—
As the buzzing sound filled her ears, Weiss took rasped, forced breaths to calm her mind. Crown rested on her belt, while she held Myrtenaster with her right hand. Her left hand was free to form glyphs at will.
She checked her dust reserves; adding the generous amount of ice dust Ruby had sewn on her clothes meant she had more than enough to go at them for a while. She quickly made sure to fully stock her canisters.
So many things happened in so little time. She made circles with her left hand to be sure her fingers were in top shape. Her back hurt as if she had been shot- which was not that far off the truth. That magic blast…
She stretched out her stiff muscles, careful to not lose balance. Yang's intervention saved me again- I may have been seriously damaged had she not absorbed the impact. She stared at her engagement ring.
Ok Schnee; calm down she instructed herself. Your fiancée is crossing a hellish landscape with two wounded people. Blake is facing off a Grimm made of your worst nightmares and let's not even get started on Ruby.
Four Moroas appeared in her path. They turned around, drawn to the buzzing sound. This is just another tough mission- one Blake entrusted you with! She focused on the Queen and commanded her to speed up.
As expected, the Moroas split and tried to intercept her attack, coming at her from each side. Unfortunately for them, she was no stranger to aerial combat. The Queen flew to the right side, charging two of them.
The left ones dove, hungrily going after her unprotected rear- or so she wanted them to think. She formed a powerful fire glyph in her left hand and snapped her fingers a few seconds before the Lancer Queen dived.
The result was a pleasure to her eyes. A searing wave hit her pursuers head-on, their cries of pain as their flesh was singed sounding like a superb aria to her ears. The other two enemies missed her due to the change in altitude, allowing the Queen to make a U-turn to face-
Weiss' victory was short-lived. Despite being hit by the flaming wave, the two Moroas were still alive and had already joined their kin in going after her. Large burn marks and pieces of charcoal bone plating were visible on them. At least, my dust attack doesn't seem to let them heal.
She quickly formed another set of glyphs and shot Myrtenaster forward to create a wall of air. The four enemies slammed at the barrier, letting her get some much desired distance from them. Persistent beasts!
All of a sudden, fog surrounded her. What?! Unable to even register it, a fifth one had ambushed her while she was escaping. The fog formed back into a Moroa and slammed her down on the Queen's back.
Myrtenaster fell away from her and rolled on her summons' head. The Grimm pinned her with its skeletal arms and lashed out to bite Weiss' neck. She raised her arm and its jaws closed around her vambrace. She kicked it, but the powerful monster didn't even flinch.
Intense pair filled her mind as the winged predator pressed her lithe form down, while ferociously biting her arm. She felt the metal closing around her petite bones and its claws digging into her soft flesh.
Instinctively, she reached out to her weapon. She tried to form the rune for levitation, but her mind was too preoccupied with survival. She felt its hot saliva running down her arm onto her head.
She could hear howls and growls from the other four getting closer. Its pressure intensified. The hateful eyes burned in hunger for her warm flesh. Its mouth pressed even more tightly and the metal cracked.
Horror filled her heart when she realized it wanted to kill and eat her before its brethren interrupted to join the feast. She kicked its thin stomach- nothing happened. She tried to focus- she had to try more…
Suddenly, she felt her sword hilt touch her fingers. Aware of what sort of dust canister it was, she raised Myrtenaster, pierced the monster's stomach and released as much air dust as she could inside the Grimm.
The Moroa howled in agony as parts of its stomach started to burst. Its mouth opened wide and it let out a cacophonous shriek that filled the alabaster huntress in dark, caustic blood. It started to spasm-
She skewered its head and kicked the dying horror off the Queen. Then, she commanded the Lancer to dash away before she instinctively made a 180-degree turn and unleashed three cold waves towards her back.
The waves hit the Moroas and finally managed to annihilate the ones she had blasted with fire before. The other two were shot backwards and got forced to flap their wings at high speed to keep hunting her.
Damn their toughness! She stared at her pursuers, her aggravation only rising. If I need consecutive attacks of this level to bring them down, I may as well have a lot less dust resources than I originally thought I did!
A shriek pierced the sky, bringing her out of her thoughts. It came from her two pursuers and was much lower than the screams they- another shriek came from beyond her. And then a few more accompanied it.
Her eyes opened wide and all color was drained from her face. She saw at least half a dozen more rising up from the fog cloud and flying at her while shrieking to communicate and coordinate their movements.
And I was just thinking it was going too smoothly. Weiss didn't want to give them any option to surround her, so she commanded the Queen to fly high and diagonally away from the mass of enemies.
It's not that flying away from the city will provide much of a help, but at least I can use the surrounding forests to hide. As she was forming the plan in her mind, though, she felt a sudden tug at the back of her head.
At first, she felt her blood freeze. Fortunately for her, a familiar voice made all fear go away as it spoke directly to her mind 'Weiss! Is that you, making all those fireworks above the Shadow Border?'
'Erik?!' her surprise was inevitably hard to conceal. She maintained her speed and tried to fly a route away from the screeching monstrosities behind her. 'Where are you?' she asked him, trying to hide her anxiety.
'I am in the north part of the Border; I was patrolling with a few more huntsmen when the attack came so we are supporting General Nile's defense line. One of the guys has a telescoping semblance and saw you.'
His tone betrayed his worry. She spared a look behind her; she could easily understand why. The monsters were gaining up on her and they had even started making hunting pack formations to cut her escape off.
'I don't know what sort of stupid things you guys are thinking; I talked to Velvet a few minutes ago via scroll and she told me your plan. Fly north towards us; I have three teams ready to take down those Grimm.'
For a moment, she hesitated. She remembered that her role was to try taking them away so they wouldn't press the wall's defenses. But then, her mind drifted to her own parting words towards Blake.
"You have so much to live for."
She stared at her ring and let a sigh of relief. 'Give me your position and get ready; this is going to be a truly bloody battle.' She heard the man's satisfied laugh in her mind and sped up north towards the Border.