Hello Everyone! How are you doing? I hope you are all doing fine!
Chapter 156 is here and, as always, I hope you enjoy it!
Thanks a lot to all of you once more for following/ favoring/ reading the story so far. You are awesome and I won't stop telling you that.
See you all on July 11th with chapter 157. Until then, be well and have fun!
The massive shadow remained in position for quite some time. Its dark shape covered the annihilated ruins, shedding darkness over the ash-filled stones and rubble-centered craters where the mansion once was.
After a short delay that felt to her like it lasted for ages, Weiss' eyes saw the dim, cloudy haze return and the miniscule rays of the missing sun caress her skin. It hurt her as if someone had poured alcohol on it.
"It's clear" she turned and stared at the blonde boy whose scarred jaw had definitely seen better days. He raised his bandaged hands and showed her the radio he had been trying to use "no reply from them."
"It's Sun and Blake we are talking about; they wouldn't be done in that easily" she exclaimed. "I agree" the short reply came, indicating that Jaune was still in pain. "We are almost out of painkillers" she told him.
"Alcohol and bandages were overused too" he pointed at the girl's legs, covered in disinfected cuts and wounds. A large bump had formed on her head where a rock had slammed her, but she was sure the cause of this throbbing, unearthly headache was something entirely different.
"What are we going to do?" she could feel the curse fester in her skin. That Robert guy had completely sealed off her powers in the simplest, most inhuman way conceived; by acting as bait for them to attack.
"What do you mean?" Jaune replied. His own aura had been sealed too. His situation was as bad as hers, if one considered that he wasn't in as good a shape as Weiss. Is this how Nora and Ren feel? That's… horrible.
"We have to find Blake and Sun and continue our mission" she painfully explained. "Then that's what we are going to do" he stated as a matter of fact. The ex-heiress' mismatched cyan eyes blinked in confusion.
"You realize we aren't in any shape to be fighting such monstrosities, right?" she asked. "You have your sword skills and your physical might, but without my aura helping me, I am practically a harmless ballerina."
He stood up, taking in the pile of debris that had collapsed over their hiding place. They were not far away from the explosion's center but in their haste to escape the shockwave they had blindly ran away in fear.
Therefore, they had truly no idea where they were at this point. Jaune's first thought was to call out Weiss for being stupid enough to think that her aura was the only thing she had going for her but changed his mind.
"Then, do you wish to stay here praying for them to find us before the warthog faunus or one of the Grimm that attacked us do?" he decided to appeal to his friend's well-known tendency to being practical.
Weiss didn't reply for a couple minutes. Her mind travelled to the dark, endless vistas they had been so frequently visiting those part months. Hot ash caressed her thighs where she was sitting; her back was seared.
I really was way too optimistic not wearing stronger heat resistance pad or clothes. This is going to bite me in the butt later. She dusted off her skirt, thinking this was the kind of dirty joke Yang would normally make.
I hope you and your dolt of a sister are both doing well. Not that I am in any position to worry about others, but still… She sighed and looked at Jaune "you are right about that; we should try finding Blake and Sun."
The boy helped her up "any guesses to where they would go under the circumstances?" Weiss picked up her backpack "considering the town hall is out of the question, any major landmark would work for Blake."
Jaune raised an eyebrow but immediately realized what the pale girl's thought went to "like the monoliths?" he asked. "Like the monoliths" she nodded. "Blake would try to investigate them while searching, too."
After checking her equipment, the woman moved to the nearby wall. A huge mass of rubble was piled over the crashed building. If not for the house having been so sturdy both of them would have been squashed.
She tilted her head to check at the small tunnel she and Jaune had been thoroughly opening the past hour since they had found refuge in here. It looked sturdy and wide enough for them to crawl through.
She made a motion to kneel, but then remembered something really important. "You go first" she ushered Jaune in, hoping he wouldn't notice her face having turned a bright scarlet red in embarrassment.
"If you exclude the overbearing heat, this place looks as if it has been covered in snow" the boy slightly coughed after helping Weiss out of the tunnel. Still weary of the Grimm, they quickly hid behind a house.
Rubble and scattered pieces of stone were thrashed all over the narrow alleys. Visible damage had been done to the nearby buildings, but thick gray dust had already started to cover everything below an ash carpet.
Weiss' head throbbed as she tried to take in her surroundings. "We can always climb up a roof and try figuring which way the house is" Jaune continued talking. She clicked her tongue, falling deeply into thinking.
On one hand, the place is way too dangerous for us to blindly trek in. A rush of heat forced her to exhale. On the other hand, there's always a chance that Blake and Sun barely survived and are in need of help.
Weiss looked at Jaune. She didn't have to ask him to know the kind and gentle boy was thinking the exact same thing. "We can't ignore the possibility" he replied to the white girl, having noticed the issue as well.
She nodded and wordlessly took out a long white cloak from her travel backpack. She draped it over her shoulders and waited till her current partner mimicked her with his own brown one. They were not helping them blend in the gray field but they should keep the pouring ash away.
"Let's go" they started moving towards the tallest nearby building, both leaving thin, shallow footprints in the ashen ground.
-o—
"I can't believe it…" Blake's voice whispered, elaborately hidden in the shadows of an overturned wooden cart. "How did we fail like this?" she asked the blonde boy she shared the overheated hiding place with.
"We didn't expect to be bombarded, I guess" Sun's arm cleared away the ashes. "And if we did, I sure wouldn't anticipate a winged Grimm with six hands almost as big as the Wyvern to appear out of thin air."
"Mmm" she whimpered. Her mind was doing its best to keep calm and collected. Despair licked Blake's mental shields every passing moment, her desperation to keep Grimm away the only thing holding it back.
"Grimmwater, Gloomharrow, Cornfield, Vale and now this. It's the fifth time in a row we have found ourselves overwhelmed. And this time, it wasn't supposed to happen. I was supposed to be prepared, damn it!"
Sun hugged his future wife, trying to calm her down. After surviving the winged abomination's onslaught, they had tried really hard to secure a hiding spot. Attracting negativity right now would negate their efforts.
Not to mention that Sun hated seeing Blake crack apart more than any other thing. "Your preparations weren't in vain" he tenderly told her. "I am sure that Theodore's forces are scouring the village as we speak."
"Scouring the village in Remnant, you mean" she nuzzled in his lap. "We are as good as missing for the people of Shade. I have no way to tell them that a portal to another dimension absorbed us in" she replied.
"We have no way to know if and when they will find us. Not to mention that we haven't found anything concrete about this place or how to defeat the Mad King! How can we set our sealing ritual ready when we don't even know where his tomb is! We couldn't even fight its subject!"
"I don't think that a Grimm powerful enough to resist dust-powered artillery fire, anti-Elder bullets and can teleport at will counts as a mere subject, Blake" he rubbed her hair. "Doesn't matter" she countered.
"These are our enemies, Sun. They have been overpowering us every single time we face them. I thought the anti-Elder bullets and our level of experience would be enough, but I was naïve! I never expected an enemy with such magical skill or that we would be ambushed like that!"
"You can't be ready for everything" he stated "your masks and radios helped us perform even under the immense heat. Your orders and the way we went extremely carefully could improve, but still-"
"If I ever get a chance to improve them" she cut him off. "Jaune and Weiss are somewhere out there, possibly wounded. And I have no way to find them. They could as well as be- mmmfff"
Sun interrupted his girlfriend's spiraling by pressing his lips on hers. He gave her a gentle, sweet kiss and then broke it, eyes narrowed at her in a rare display of seriousness "you are losing yourself again; stop it."
Yellow eyes shone in the dark, blinking in a mixture of shock and sorrow as Blake moved her fingers to her chest. She was hyperventilating- and she hadn't even realized it. She quickly sniffed a fresh lavender vial.
"Have I ever aid how much I love you?" she hugged him tightly. "A few times, yes" he smiled at her. "Do you feel better now?" he asked and she nodded. "Calm enough to think of our situation" she assured him.
"More or less, the plan remains the same" Blake broke their hug and sniffed a bit more of the aroma to focus. "We have to find if the Mad King is sealed in the village and ensure it remains that way if it does."
"We just have to find Jaune and Weiss while doing so" Sun commented, receiving another nod. "Tactically speaking, we should aim for a major landmark. I am sure Weiss would think the same thing" she exclaimed.
"The monoliths would be a safe bet" the monkey faunus pondered. "My thoughts exactly" Blake smiled at him "and, logically speaking, we should try for the closest one first" she added "the south most one."
They swiftly moved from their hiding place, turning the cart a little in order to escape its tight cover. A long street covered in ash and flanked by tall, ominous buildings welcomed the couple.
With extreme speed, Sun climbed up the nearest house and reached its tiled rooftop. Making sure to hide as well as possible, he then jumped at his girlfriend's feet leaving no sound as he landed next to her.
"It's straight up ahead, no more than an hour of walking" he explained. "The streets are a bit narrow and, well, monotonous, so we may have to double-check after some time." Blake nodded in approval "let's go."
The motif was the same unnerving one as they slowly and steadily kept advancing through the cloudy terrain. The dark houses that stood in an unexpectedly tight formation back in Clayhorn were now considerably taller giving the huntsmen a sense of inferiority as they moved by them.
Blake held Eidolon n her hands. There was no connection. She clicked her tongue. Whatever was happening, it didn't allow her magic sword to function- and it was very weird. Why was only her sword affected?
"I have a theory" she finally said, no, whispered. Sun withdrew his head from the corner he was scouting out and looked at her. "I think this is the true Clayhorn Village. The one we visited was a cover for this one."
They moved past the corner and turned right, before crawling below an old wooden fence to cut through. "Why do you think that?" he asked.
They stood up and she immediately pointed at a nearby house's front porch. Its small roof was supported by two pillars that were sculpted in stone, formed to resemble a rising mass of intertwined clawed arms.
She then pointed at a window on the other side of the road. Its panels made a tall arch that was crafted to resemble the maw of a Ravager. As Sun realized what Blake was showing him, he sighed in visible disgust.
"The Town Hall's Enchanted ceiling, Gnastaur's statue in the manor's garden and so many decorations I noticed as we made our way here. It is quite crude and distasteful, but this place is definitely man-made and had a Grimm worshipping culture, just like Gloomharrow did" she said.
She actually had the time to look out for details… that's so like Blake. "We haven't seen any human around, save for the mercenaries' bodies and traces of combat. There are very few Grimm too" he responded.
"Exactly" they climbed inside a back alley again and then cut through a small pond, filled in thick layers of gray dust. "This place looks like it has not been used for ages- possibly since Salem sealed the Mad King."
"So, what; you mean that after the loss of their guardian deity, people just straight up left?" Sun asked her, helping Blake jump down a wall.
"There is no reason to keep worshipping a God that can't help you any more, is it?" Blake asked him. "That's not how faith works" the blonde countered. "That's how pacts work, though" she countered back.
"Don't you remember what Weiss read in Red's notes? Lots of people travelled the sands of Vacuo to provide the Mad King with offerings. It quite possibly never interacted with them, just giving away pieces of its monstrous knowledge and power through its Vassal Grimm" she added.
"That sounds uncomfortably humane" he replied, standing for a mere moment to look at her. "I wouldn't put it past such an advanced being with powers and vast knowledge from its pilgrims" she commented.
"Do you remember? Glastaur's statue read 'Hierophant.' It is an old word for priests of some deity. In order to be priests, something has established a structural worship, just like Avyssos in Grimmwater."
"Avyssos' priests were local humans, according to Weiss" he objected. "And you were the one who said that Alginos' and the Grand Mother's cults were also based on the local human communities, Blake."
"That is true" they reached an empty plaza. Immediately, they ran back changing direction to hide into the narrow streets. Blake led them into making a U-turn in order to avoid being out in the open as they moved.
"We are closer now, just a few blocks away from the monolith" the cat girl said. "As for what you mentioned, let me remind you Sun that Red spoke of a twisted Elder, reigning over monsters shunned by both men and Grimm alike. That by itself speaks of gradual spiritual degradation."
Both of them ran below an ornate balcony, designed to remind a nest of winged beings, disproportionally created over the stone branches they sat upon. "I prefer to keep things simple, honestly" Sun exclaimed.
"You always did" Blake sighed. "What I mean is this; we have the way to fight them and the will to do so. Overthinking things and creating an image of impossible ends in your mind isn't a sound thing to do, Blake."
As the boy finished his reply, the shadow of the first great monolith was cast upon them. The towering form was now close enough for them to truly realize its impossible size, dwarfing all the nearby village buildings.
"It's actually just outside the village borders" Blake mentioned, seeing the structure partially covered by the dense wall of ashen clouds. "That means no more cover for the next two hundred meters or so" Sun said.
"Follow me" Blake slightly bent forward and, after taking a considerably long time to check her surroundings, dashed under the hazy clouds and jumped forward, skidding on the terrain till her legs stepped on rock.
A bit less dexterously, Sun reached her seconds later. Covered in a thin layer of sweat, he used the dark stone to halt his run. Instinctively, he retracted his fingers as if he had been shocked by the abysmal granite.
"It's definitely imposing" he said, looking up to the sky. Its top was fully concealed by the clouds, being severely thicker in the area surrounding the village, but even without seeing it he was impressed by its size.
"Rather simplistic, to be fair" Blake started making wide circles around its perimeter. There was no trace of Weiss or Jaune having passed by.
"It's a towering monolith, definitely crafted by intelligent hands, but at the same time surprisingly primitive. If this Mad King was smart enough to form a cult of its own, making these seems like a waste" Sun said.
"Maybe to instill fear? Just like Menagerie's primitive residents made a series of totems in order to scare foreigners away from their land. If the cult wanted to show the grandeur of Charon, they could…"
Her voice trailed off. The more she replied to Sun, the less she actually believed what she was saying. Truly, landmarks were not unheard of in ancient civilizations, but this massive pillar was simply too excessive.
"If we don't brush them off as idiots, then-"
A violent surge of energy shook the sky. The monolith pulsed in power, rock glowing with malevolent energy. Blake and Sun jumped away, just in time to see a scarlet red shockwave dying the clouds a deep crimson just where the towering landmark's top should exist. Silence followed.
As if answering to its call, red pulses appeared in the clouds far away. They were concealed in the excessively thick barrier of ashen mist, but were bright and powerful enough to briefly illuminate the horizon.
Just for a moment, Blake's sensitive eyes figured outlines. Her yellow orbs opened wide in astonishment, as the shockwaves fell on triangular and rectangular surfaces- way too well-shaped to be a work of nature.
As the sixth pulse slowly vanished into the haze, solidifying Blake's hypothesis that the monoliths had a more important role to play than being simple landmarks, she turned to look at her boyfriend.
"There is something beyond the clouds, in the villages' borders" she did attempt to sound as professional as she could, despite fear threatening to choke her parched throat. "Some sort of building or large facility."
"Seriously?" the monkey faunus tried his best to notice what his fiancée was telling him, but to no avail. "Don't waste your time. Even I was only able to notice it for a moment" she explained.
"Any ideas about it?" he asked her. "Well…" Blake crossed her arms and tapped her fingers on her elbow "it is exceptionally well-hidden in such a thick cloud that we only accidentally saw it. It could belong to…"
Her voice trailed off a bit as realization hit her "some kind of overseer or even a local authority." Sun blinked and then realized what she was insinuating "such as the leader of an ancient cult or civilization" he said.
"That's only a guess" the yellow-eyed girl replied "it could be a forsaken temple or even a high priest's mansion. But it is a clue for now at least."
"What about Jaune and Weiss? For all we know they could come here or-" the cat girl raised her index finger and walked away, kneeling just before the great monolith's massive shadow.
Despite its earlier surge, it looks deceptively calm now. I could so easily pass it for a high-profile monument. She took out a piece of paper and drew an image in it. Then, she folded and hanged it on the black rock.
"There, all set" she whispered. "Let's go Sun; no time to sit here" she gently tapped the boy's shoulder and took her weapon out as they both stepped into the thick cloud, throwing a few last glances behind them.
That lasted only a couple minutes. For, as soon as the cloud became thinner enough for them to properly see, they became unable to avert their gaze from the spectacle spreading before their awestruck eyes.
Towering before them, a massive castle spread up the slope, climbing towards the peak. It was made of dark stone and sat in the middle of the hexagon formed by the six monoliths, engulfed in the clouds.
Dozens of little torches shone through the windows or upon the walls, breaking through the gray clouds in a mysterious, almost mystifying way. Thick layers of gray ash made it look as if it was covered in snow.
In the dim light, the two faunus could see an incredible amount of tall towers and spires spreading between two layers of reinforced walls. A towering gate stood before them, at the end of a massive stone bridge.
A peculiar pedestal was raised in the middle of the bridge. It was the kind of thing one would place a statue atop, but stood now empty and devoid of its fated effigy. That sort of inconsistency troubled Blake, even though she couldn't pinpoint the reason behind her annoyance.
"Look at that" she heard Sun whisper and followed his gaze to the sky- wait, the sky? Her eyes opened in shock and awe once more as she saw a clear night sky spread above them, undeterred by the dark clouds.
The stars were anything but beautiful. A strange, alien power shone via the mystique vista. It shone with immense energy, resonating with the colossal monoliths and spires in ways no stars should ever do.
Blake was no expert in magic of mystical secrets, but even her common unprofessional sense could scrape an idea about what was happening.
A magical ritual was underway- and she was sure she didn't want to see it complete.