Hello everyone! How are you doing? I hope you are all fine!
As I said last week, chapter 133 is here. It's the last chapter for 2021 so I hope you will enjoy it!
On that note, thank you very much; all of you. Thank you for supporting the story up to this point, by following, favoring, reading and/or commenting on it. You are all amazing and I deeply appreciate the love you have shown for this story so far!
Aand, that's it. I wish you all Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. I will see you all with chapter 134 on January 5th. Until then, be well and have fun!
A dark wave of primordial shining flesh, clad in myriad sinister-looking eyes, filled their vision. The platform trembled under the wicked stars' gaze. Dozens of dripping tentacles shot at team RRSN from the throne.
Nora stepped heavily on the ground and swung Magnhild with all her might; she slammed as many appendages as she could, pushing them back with the ferocious might of a furious berserker. After a few tense moments, she stowed the weapon away, replacing it with her war axe.
Lumia, standing next to her, used her great sword to slice at the fleshy weapons. Large cuts spilled thick black blood that poured down to the ground like polluted tar. She had to adjust her footing to not slip on it.
A few steps behind Ren provided cover fire. His twin pistols peppered the flopping tentacles with all the bullets he could shoot, but much to his dismay the effect was dismal. The non-powered bullets stuck on the dark flesh like pieces of undiluted paint, failing to cause any real harm.
Ruby's shots, on the other hand, were really finding home. Her higher caliber and the dust-powered nature of her rounds pushed away every piece of flesh they hit, creating large gaping holes on their surface.
"Switch formation! Ren, assist Nora!" Ruby unfurled Crescent Rose and jumped next to Lumia. She swung the heavy scythe diagonally, cutting off a couple more tendrils that had reached too close to the ex-maiden.
The taller woman responded with a series of defensive slices to cover a larger area than before. She failed to inflict any amount of wounds, but the mere power of her swings was enough to repel the tentacle threat.
Nora and Ren fared even better. They moved in perfect sync, swinging and attacking around each other's weak spots as their weapons cut off large pieces of nasty, bloody flesh refusing to give Avyssos any space.
"Pathetic!" Jaune's voice echoed in the abyssal void, as the alien stars pulsed and the primordial sack of flesh sitting on the throne expanded even more, reaching out like a protoplasmic sack of raw, sinister malice.
The miasma covering its body throbbed out like pollen and a huge slam made the ground shake. Dripping with nasty tar, few more dozens of bloating tendrils slithered around the sack emitting a disgusting sound.
And all these happened while the assault kept on. Ruby's scythe furled and unfurled, forming cascades of deadly steel around her to keep the tendrils at bay "we are at a stalemate!" she announced to her team.
Lumia groaned in shock; a tendril passed through her defenses and got wrapped around her thighs. She grabbed it with her left hand and put as much power as she could into squeezing it, forcing it to release her.
"I totally agree with that" she pointed at the Ren-Valkyrie couple that still moved around, slowly yet steadily gaining ground against the dark wave of flesh. "We have to force it in defense and gain momentum."
The brunette jumped, stepped on a flailing piece of thick flesh and then landed back to her friend's side "I'll go" she took a deep breath "Nora; Ren! Cover me!" she screamed. "What?" Nora chopped another tendril.
"I am attacking it! Focus on drawing them away from my path!" a slight dislike permeated her voice, as she didn't really want to be screaming out her plans in front of her enemy. But beggars couldn't be choosers.
Lumia sliced on their right, forming a path towards Nora and Ren. Ruby was ready for that and jumped right in between them. The second and even more powerful onslaught fell upon them, drowning their sight into a sea of black putrid tentacles, adorned with myriad sinister red dots.
Quickly, Lumia and Nora picked one earth and one lightning dust shard respectively- and pierced their shoulders with them. Lumia silently bore with the pain, feeling her skin harden and pulse. She gave Ruby a vial.
"You will need it more than me" she said under rasped breaths. Azure's concoction shook inside the durable case, as Ruby stowed it on her belt and took a couple steps back.
"I am ready!" Ren nodded- and tossed a pill in his mouth, the sound of him chewing it filling Nora in worry. She hated when he used those aura-enhancing pills; it felt so wrong seeing him stoically suffer like this.
Yet, she couldn't deny it; Ren's enhanced semblance truly shone in such cases and without Jaune around, there was no better alternative. Eager to unleash all her pent-up anger at once, she activated her semblance.
Slowly, ignoring the mass of appendages hiding the heavens from their sight, the boy touched Ruby's head. A sensation akin to being doused in cold water ran down the girl's spine. She breathed out- and run ahead.
As she got closer to the moving wall of flesh, its cataclysmic proportions truly filled her heart in awe. There was no fear, mostly due to Ren, but she couldn't stop feeling the sheer difference in size with their enemy.
A pillar of lightning erupted from the ground. Nora, doused in sparkling thunder, raised her own weapon. The powerful silver green axe- the ideal conductor for her increased powers- was named Thunderstorm.
In it was stored lightning dust and it was designed to be able to both channel and shoot it at close distances. Ruby had designed it after the legendary Stormbringer, the axe of a Mythical North Land's God of Thunder.
The wall got closer- it was taking its time, making sure to surround the humans in all directions. She didn't break her run- she had to trust her companions. Even if her heart skipped a few beats, she had to endure.
The monstrous eyes glared at her. She felt her breath stop and her hair stand on edge. But she kept running, Crescent Rose always ready to be used at any appendage that would come too close to her for comfort.
Even so, the slithering tentacles ignored her they towered over her tiny form and lashed forward, shooting like cannonballs towards her friends who stood a few meters behind her. Don't look back! Trust them!
Ruby's eyes saw only darkness. Caustic tar dripped on her body, sizzling with the devouring hunger of penetrating acid. She suppressed her urge to scream. Her boots splashed on the pools forming by the black rain.
She stared above- tens of dozens of eyes filled her vision, glaring at the world itself from tiny little openings on the long, thick tentacles. The monstrous cylinders arched over her, like a malicious net of haystacks.
Horror and fear gripped her soul, but she refused to let them take root. She spared a glance behind- the overwhelming wave had separated her from her friends. She wanted to hear the sounds of them battling, but…
She should take advantage of Ren's semblance cutting her off the world completely before the boy put himself in risk for her sake. She turned back, looking at the wall. Thin layers of green pollen miasma covered it.
The flesh was so thick and so black… there were no eyes glaring at her or teeth forming to try and bite into her flesh like she had been used to.
Only a mass of protoplasmic flesh spread in front of her- a body of both unknown and sinister properties, without any indication to its structure or its nature. There were no visible openings for her to try and use.
She bit her lips and stood for a second. Her eyes saw the wall shake in a pulsing motif. The pollen spread even further around her. The arching tentacle storm moved further out, dripping even more tar on her head.
Getting cold feet already? Weiss faced something even worse than this!
Ruby chastised her own self for allowing fear to get her even under the support of Ren's semblance. She swapped Crescent Rose for Thorn and took one deep breath.
Carefully and bravely, Ruby strode into the bulging wall of monstrous flesh, hoping she hadn't just done the biggest mistake of her extensive hunting career.
-o—
"AAAAARGGGG!" Nora's primal cry accompanied a mighty swing of her axe. The closest tentacle was split in half, the thunder-enhanced blade cutting if off like butter. It fell down, still flailing around like a dying fish.
A smell like ozone followed her attack and a series of sparks showered the surrounding fleshy appendages, making them shake backwards in a macabre show of self-preservation. She slammed the ground in fury.
Next to her, Lumia kept slashing. The earth dust had been completely wrapped around her torso and legs, allowing the former maiden to skip all thoughts about defending and focus purely on chopping tendrils off.
Any attack she deemed not threatening for her mobility crashed on the spiked crust covering her, leaving slimy black trails from stab wounds and holes her armor opened on the enemies. Caustic tar ran over her.
Behind them, Ren stood still. His mind was heavily preoccupied with suppressing the drug's side effects while maintaining Ruby's cover from the primordial. The only other thing he could do was observe the field.
His magenta-colored eyes saw the massive wall; no, at this point it had been turned into a literal cloud of moving flesh. It formed a cage above their heads, slowly closing them in while they were busy fighting.
The sinister stars glared at the silent boy; for a few seconds he swore he had felt them throbbing and pulsing at him like they were alive. The next moment they were covered by the swarm of thick fleshy threads.
He felt no fear, even as the sky was blacking out. He felt no fear, even as the vile black goo dripped down from the slimy tendrils onto his face. He felt no fear, even as myriads of hungry eyes stared at his tiny form.
He couldn't feel fear. Ruby was out there, somehow fighting to reach that monstrosity's core. His enhanced semblance allowed him to keep her unseen and undetected from the Grimm, even while walking by it.
It wasn't that powerful normally, but in combination with the drug and the ruckus Nora and Lumia made, he could create a nearly invisible and untraceable state- at least for as long as his mind could bear with it.
So, even as the tendrils curved high above them and plowed towards the earth, he kept calm and collected. His mind was keeping Ruby alive and his companions would hopefully manage to do the same for him.
The rumbling sound shook the small platform. Moving in circles to cut down any tendril lashing out to Ren and them, Lumia and Nora hadn't managed to deal with the arching tentacles passing above their heads.
As the ground moved, however, and the sound of cracking filled their ears, they were forced to acknowledge the pitch-dark blackness that had surrounded them. They stared at each other, dripping in grime.
A large cage of flesh had formed around them. It was dark, made of a pulsing mass of intertwined tentacles, filled in sinister red eyes. A loud gnashing sound was heard and dozens of monstrous mouths formed in the disgusting walls, full of jagged teeth and dripping in thick saliva.
With a sudden violent twist, the platform broke with a mighty cracking sound. They almost fell down, jumping in opposite places to form a pair of defensive lines surrounding Ren. They were trapped- literally caged.
A wave of nausea filled the girls' hearts. Now that Ren had focused his attention solely on Ruby, his calming aura had subsided. Their resolve was the only defense they had against the throbbing cage of horrors.
Miasma breathed out of the eyes and the open mouths. The same thin yellow pollen substance they had seen cover the throne sprouted and hovered in eerily alien ways, shimmering in prismatic light fluorescence.
It swirled, despite the apparent lack of air, forming shapes and images. The sheer spectacle was hauntingly beautiful in such an abhorrent and twisted way the two huntresses briefly forgot about their current state.
The shapes were moving, like yellow twisted ghosts made of a cloud of memories. It was one of the weirdest things one would expect to view while trapped inside a cage made of an Elder monster's very own flesh.
Yet, the ethereal movement of the phantoms was so enticing, so utterly and hauntingly lacking of menace, they didn't react. Even when the thin outlines got brighter and the forms started to solidify, they stood still.
Ren watched over this from his own position. His voice came out, his brain taxed from the sheer energy he used to maintain his composure.
His eyes opened wide and his heart stopped for a brief moment as his gaze fell on the cloud approaching Nora. A gentle, smiling face very much like his wife's reached out to touch the mesmerized ginger head.
He hesitated, only for a second. And that was when another cloud fell on him from behind. His breath stopped and his mind got assaulted, as he clearly and horribly felt his mother's hands clench around his throat.
-o—
Lumia's eyes were open wide- she knew it was wrong. She knew this was nothing more than a twisted nightmare forged by Avyssos to toy with her before it decided to voraciously devour her flesh and soul.
Yet… how can a mere image evoke such a feeling inside me?
She stared at the plasmatic figure that emerged from the alien pollen. A short boy, no older than 18, with long olive-colored tresses and a pair of pure green eyes that perfectly matched his dark skin, walked to her.
Of course the image was still formed of protoplasmic yellow-green dust that twisted and whirled under the effect of the haunting fluorescence. The sole reason she knew exactly how the boy looked was because she-
"Olivos" she whispered, each letter of the boy's name piercing deeply into her heart. "Lumia" he- no, it- said. "Long time no see, Lu. I can see you are doing fine" it calmly stated as if they were not trapped like rats.
To be fair, the one trapped was her. That protoplasmic creation formed to represent her lost friend was safe in the clutches of its creator. "Do you think such an obvious ploy will work on me?" she asked in agony.
"If it doesn't then why are you in so much pain staring at me?" he asked back, raising his upper lip the same way she had seen the boy do so many times in their life together in Atlas dorm. "Don't bother replying."
She took one step back. "I know why my memory brings so much pain to you- it is because you couldn't bother rising that damn piece of white fabric; right?" her breath got caught in her chest. Her head throbbed.
"I was… 16" she replied. Rain poured down on her head- was it blood? No; it was the same icy rain she had mixed in with her tears back in the academy the day she saw her friends getting sealed in cold coffins.
"So was I" the boy stepped forward "and I lost everything. All I asked, all you had to do was go inside the damn tent and raise that fucking fabric… but you couldn't even do that." His eyes contorted in anger.
"I am sorry…" Lumia took another step to the back. "I couldn't bear to see you dead! I-" "You let a total stranger perform my funeral rites!" he screamed. She flinched. "You weren't there to say farewell to me!"
"SHUT UP!" Lumia roared. "Do you think I was ready to say farewell?" A string of blood dripped down her eyes, mixing with the pouring vile rain falling on her. "Do you think you guys meant nothing to me?"
She clenched her chest, unable to bear her pain any longer. "I am not like the brave friends I made! I am not Velvet or Weiss! I can't go on like this! Even now, after all those years, I am not ready to see you off!"
His face returned to its previous state. Was she at her normal state, the ex-maiden would have noticed his form slowly fading away- but letting out all her suppressed feelings was something new for Lumia to control.
"I didn't want to verify your death! I didn't want to attend your funeral! I didn't want to stop by and send you flowers!" she raised her head, the red string of blood clotting on her chin. She ignored it completely.
"I refuse to accept I will never see any of you again!" she admitted. His teeth formed a sinister smile- a wolf-like smile full of jagged teeth that sent shivers all over her body. "It's fine; you are seeing them sooner-"
A hand was placed in Lumia's shoulder, making her turn around with a combat ready stance- only for her to come face to face with Ren. His eyes were half-shut and huge scars had formed on his forehead, but he had a glare of fierce determination in his eyes.
Behind him, a cloud of fluorescent pollen was slowly fading away. "I am not as perceptive as to know what you are seeing" he struggled to talk, pouring a small part of his aura inside her "but we need you with us."
She blinked. Ren was in a really bad shape- wait, did he just use his aura on me? She looked around at Nora. The ginger was standing in front of another miasmatic pollen cloud that was slowly vanishing in thin air.
"Farewell, mother" she said in a rare display of her serious, angry voice "wherever in Remnant you may be right now, I hope you are living your life the best way you can" she curled her fist and clutched her axe.
The ex-maiden turned and glared once more towards- the image slowly started to subside. Her heartbeat was significantly slower and- wait, is that blood running over my face? What the heck was I doing back then?
Nora's footsteps reached her as the redhead grabbed her husband in her arms. His empty stare and ragged breathing sounded a mighty and urgent alarm in the tall woman's might, pushing the pollen to fade in nothingness, glaring at the huntress as it vanished back into the dark.
"What the dust was I doing!? Ren; are you ok?" she knelt next to the couple, staring around to see for any enemy attacks. The heavy, thick tar has started to swamp around them and she felt a sweet smell rise.
The ground shook and the earth rumbled. The tendrils started to move, forming circles around them. To Lumia, they seemed like coiling snakes that had climbed out of hell, closing in as the cage was slowly shrinking.
Growls and hisses left the disgusting jaws. The sinister eyes filled their vision. Lumia could even sense their hunger now. She grabbed her sword and stood up. It is my time to protect them as much as I can!
"I am… fine… I just… have to…" he felt his brain flaring in agony. He still had to focus. He still had to keep focusing- so many things were being bet on his endurance; how much he hated his lack of mental stamina!
Nora gritted her teeth and kissed his cheek. "You've done more than enough Ren…" she whispered in his ear. "It's time to rest now." "Ruby… depends on me…" he replied.
"Ruby wants to see you when she is back and not greet your corpse!" she raised her voice only a little. "Imagine how she would feel if you die because of her!" She gulped- and knocked him down gently with a tap.
Lumia stared at the ginger with wide eyes. Nora let Ren down and took her axe, standing in front of him. The fleshy appendages swarmed even closer, now a few good meters away from them.
The atmosphere was becoming toxic. They were getting more and more drenched in the vile tar with every passing minute. The world had been snuffed out; no eerie stars, no alien sky. No fleshy dark walls and lights.
It was only them, standing on a shaking circular platform against a mass of terror taking the form of dripping protoplasmic tentacles, abhorrent primal eyes and hungry, grinning mouths fuming out fluorescent pollen.
The tendrils towered and kept circling around. They were taking their time; possibly to aggravate and break their spirit. "No matter what, I want you to know it has been my pleasure, Nora" Lumia admitted.
"Heh, likewise" the ginger replied. "Even though, I would like to take you and Yang out to a batting cage someday. So, let's make this a last stand, but not a final one" she brandished Thunderstorm in her hand.
"The only thing we can do now is fight; and believe in Ruby's ability to do the impossible" Lumia wiped some goo off her face. "Well, there are worse bets to make out there; I will take it" Nora grinned.