Hello Everyone! How are you doing? I hope you are all fine.
Chapter 160 is here and as always, I hope you enjoy it!
Thank you again for following/ favoring/ keeping up with the story so far! You are all awesome!
See you all on the 1st of September with chapter 161. Until then, be well and have fun!
"Damn!" his cursing was as fast as the sound of bones cracking under the weight of his boot. Sun withdrew his foot and stared in sadness at the now half-broken skull, previously covered under the pile of ashes.
Standing at the edge of the bridge, looking down at the mist-covered pit surrounding the slope, Blake groaned and turned around to look at him. "Stop defiling the dead; especially in a place like this!" she hissed.
"I'm sorry" he apologized both to his girlfriend and to the soul of the person whose corpse he had just destroyed "they are all so covered in ash, I can barely see what is rock and what is bone" he explained.
They had barely reached the middle of the bridge when they realized the numerous ancient skeletons that were lying down on its jagged and cracked surface. Sun had picked up rusty weapons at some point too.
Three arches were built on top of the bridge, tall enough to act as gates or guard posts. They had passed through the first one and were nearing the second, noticing corpses were amassed under them. Considering the bridge is wide enough for a small army to pass, that would mean…
"This is an ancient battlefield, isn't it?" the boy asked in a calm tone. A barely visible smirk of acknowledgement was the reply she gave "I think so too. Someone mustered an army and charged this castle" she said.
"With those things roaming around and possibly their King sleeping in" Sun was flabbergasted. "I didn't say they were successful. The piles of corpses and the good state of the walls would indicate otherwise, Sun."
The atmosphere was almost mystifying; the half-covered castle of ashes spread across the slope silent as death. Its old walls and dozens of outer buildings reached to places they couldn't see covered by gray clouds.
Yet the pulsing stars from above and the few lights emanating from the buildings showed the presence of life- or something much worse. It was far more unsettling than it being completely abandoned.
The second arch's shadow was cast upon them after they took a couple more steps, being extremely careful to not harass the resting corpses any more. Signs of combat and piles of bones were thrashed around in its vicinity, making it an extremely harder task than before.
"I hope Weiss will understand the meaning of my message and avoid this particular path" Blake whispered, tiptoeing around a fallen soldier.
"Come to think of it, why did you do this? Wouldn't it have been better to let them follow through?" he asked her. "I have a really bad feeling about this main gate where so many people died. I want to check, but-"
"You want to let them come through a different path, got it." Blake's hand rubbed the dust off a nearby corpse, noticing a thin piece of dark metal covering its left arm. "It's risky, I know, but I have a knot in my-"
"Hey, Sun" she cut off her own line "give me a hand with this." The boy took a few moments to reach her and immediately knelt, helping the cat faunus taking off the item- a shield- without damaging the skeleton.
It was made of iron and, despite the scratches and rust covering it, in a relatively good shape. Blake blew and wiped off the dust covering it and came face to face with a sigil; exactly what she wanted to find.
It resembled a large, bulging eye. It was coiled in thin tendrils of black and red paint, barely noticeable after all those eons that had passed by; if time worked as normal in this forsaken land of the Mad King's world.
"Hey" the monkey boy rubbed his shoulder in discomfort "doesn't that look like Yang's mark?" "More than I would be comfortable with" Blake responded in a mix of fear and anger.
To be carved onto a shield… this guy was a cultist yet a soldier? Did the Elder worship reach the point of summoning human armies under their command? They even waged all-out assaults against each other?
She took a good look at the sword she had in her belt. Eidolon was still under the effect of whatever sealing spell permeated this place. I guess I am not one to talk using a sentient blade forged by… sacrifices.
She stood up and took a good look around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary; whatever that would mean in this place.
The ambient silence was both soothing and unnerving. The wild slope, as harsh and untamed as the castle occupying it gently slept under the dark mist, before the alien stars in the abhorrent skies above.
They moved forward, leaving the unnerving discovery behind. "Soldiers that bear the emblem of Grand Mother are lying dead before the gates of The Mad King's castle" Blake pondered "people sent to their deaths."
"How's that different from what Humans or Faunus do?" Sun asked. "It isn't" she replied "and that makes it even worse. I knew they were an organized pantheon. I just didn't expect such a level of influence, Sun."
They trekked through the ashen ground, seeing the dark walls quite in a closer distance. The massive gate was no more than twenty meters far from them, the third and smallest arch slowly nearing as they walked.
It was rather unique in comparison to the other two. The pillars acting as its support were thicker and far more detailed. Carvings of several winged horrors were depicted across their ascending cylindrical forms.
Its top was rather bizarre too. It was wider and thicker than normal and had a picturesque mosaic showing hieroglyphs and weapons beautiful enough to make Ruby drool if she would ever lay her eyes upon them.
"That seems more than a podium rather than an arch" Sun exclaimed. In a fit of surprise at his comment, Blake stood still for a moment and let her eyes travel across it. Truly, her future husband had a good point.
"There are words carved on its middle; between the crossing axes" she pointed towards the place she wanted Sun to light. He eagerly complied with her request and Blake was soon able to discern a single phrase.
"Alastor, the Chariot" she read out loudly enough for him to listen. "It truly was a podium; help me up" she asked and jumped up. With not as much as a response, he let her step on his left hand and shot her up.
Nightfall's blade acted like a whip and Blake was soon standing tall on top of the podium, observing the castle from a better point of view.
The walls were as sturdy and thick as they seemed from far away. The front gate was open, much to her concern, and a red light poured out from its interior. The remaining part of the bridge was much smoother, the ashes being undisturbed by any skeletal remain or sign of battle.
They never got past the third arch? She looked around in deep concern. The top of the podium was clean, if one didn't count the gray dust. In fact, it was way too clean. If there had been a statue here before, then-
Where the heck are the rocks and stones that remained? She used her gloves to hastily dust off the flat surface. There was nothing here, not a single speck of rock had remained attached to the podium.
Blake was not a mason or a sculptor, but the idea of destroying or even moving a statue without leaving any traces of it behind sounded rather impossible in her head. Not to mention, quite pointless a thing to do.
"There's something off" she told her boyfriend as she landed next to his feet. "I can't exactly tell what, but there is something nagging me."
"I was thinking the same thing" Sun replied. "Say… did you notice that podium mentioned The Chariot?" he asked, earning a confirmative nod in response. "Didn't that Gnastaur statue have the Hierophant title?"
"Wait…" Blake was taken aback. "Tarot cards?" "Mom is a bit of a freak with superstitions" Sun said as they advanced towards the gate. "Did you know that tarot originates in Vacuo?" he asked the surprised girl.
She sent a few curious looks to the back, as if she expected something to have changed. The Hierophant was a powerful Grimm that chased us out of the Village Hall. Could that Chariot be? She shook her head.
A statue is missing… for no apparent reason and without any trails left behind. She looked up. A sudden attack came on us from… the sky? A pair of yellow eyes opened wide, as her mind conjured an extremely unpleasant image.
"Let's hurry" she abruptly picked up her pace. "I have a really, really bad feeling about this and actually feel happy about asking Weiss and Jaune to take another road."
Confused at her choice of words, but trusting Blake's hypersensitive instincts, Sun nodded and ran after her, their silhouettes slowly getting dwarfed by the tall castle gate, as the eerie red light welcomed them in.
-o—
"I for sure didn't expect that" Yang exclaimed, standing in awe at the magnificently haunting castle spreading below and above her as she stood at the edge of a balcony on top of one of its numerous towers.
The mist poured thick ash on top of her hat, forcing her to tip it off. A mighty heat scorched her skin, forcing her to realize just how sweaty she had become. She looked up at the alien stars and sighed in anger.
Where am I? Is this the Netherworld? She stopped for a moment. What was the Netherworld and how did she know that word? Her gaze fell on the set of eyes she knew were watching at her through her clothes.
"So, it's called the Netherworld" she stared at the mist surrounding- and her sight fell upon the massive monoliths that formed a colossal hexagon around the castle's perimeter sizzling with alien scarlet power.
"A pit of black molten rock" Yang looked at the dark volcanic stone the whole castle was made of, shining like well-polished granite "that is surrounded by six red monoliths; Mad King Tephrus' seat of power."
She leaned forward and peeked down. There was a conical rooftop a good twenty meters below her, but the walls seemed way too slippery for her to try climb down. Well, climbing is overrated in any way.
Half a minute and two shots from Ember Celica later, her feet slammed on the roof, immediately opening to halt her skidding on the tilted, ash covered tiles. She saw a small circular window and shot herself at it.
Leaning on her metal arm, she put all her body weight on her legs. Her boots were thankfully designed for hiking and were helping maintain her balance as she used her left hand to try opening the small window.
That attempt was easier said than done, to be honest, since the lack of glass was substituted for a set of old and rusty yet sturdy iron bars that stood between her and the room inside. She groaned as she tried to put a bit more power in her grip without losing her secured foothold.
Controlling her breathing and posture, she opted for continuous and fervent pushes and twitches in the opposite directions instead of brute and senseless attempts to plow the bars down. Her hand itched, but-
All of a sudden, she felt the bars move. Applying more pressure, Yang pushed the weak side in, being extra careful to not let drop on the floor as she did. With a quick and dulled snap, the rusty metal was broken.
A few minutes later, Yang jumped inside the dimly lit room and landed in as much silence as she could- not much- holding the remains of the metal bars in her hand. Carefully, she placed it on the stone cold floor.
The place she had landed into was nothing more than an old chamber, now devoid of any presence. There were a few pictures on the walls, barely noticeable by her limited vision. Quickly, she opened her lamp.
The pictures were old; she was no historian, but the primitive nature of the depicted images and the almost decrepit state of the wooden plank they had been drawn upon left no room for mistakes.
It was the theme of the pictures that drew most of the girl's attention, however. A mass of humans was shown to be gathered around a small and quite badly drawn coffin- or was it an egg? It was hard to tell.
The image was showing a glowing array of runes powering up a thick set of hooks. She bent forward a bit to try and discern a tad better. As she was suspecting, the hooks were digging into the egg's exterior.
The humans seemed to be somehow operating the chains and hooks, if her vision was any indication. She noticed, in one corner, that another group of characters was seated, no, tied, next to a group of robed ones.
Another team was being instructed by the robed guys to attach hooks and spikes on chains. They seemed to be taking the captives and-
Yang decided it was a great idea to stop the history lessons and flee the room, for the rest of the picture was a serious threat to her sanity. She turned the lamp away, hoping to bury the images in the deepest pit of her mind. There was a limit to what she could stomach right now.
An open door and a circular staircase was her sole way out. The blonde carefully moved down the stone stairs hoping the tower was connected to the main halls; or wherever she could find a path back to Remnant.
If she could find Maize Goldenrod and kick his ass while doing so, she'd be extra happy, but her first priority now was finding Ruby and regroup with the others. She had missed seeing them, despite not having been-
As she reached the end of the staircase, the girl realized she had lost any track of time. How long had it been since Ruby and she had stepped in that goddamned place? Maybe the others were looking for them?
The light fell on a long corridor. It had a tall ceiling, with only a few rays of light reaching its sky. She didn't have enough vision to see where it ended, but her lilac orbs were able to notice a large door far on her left.
Holding her breath, she tiptoed towards the opening. It was big enough for three humans to walk side by side- or something considerably and dangerously bigger, that is. She gulped, her pulse rising with each step.
The leaves were made of wood and had long rotten away, leaving only a hull of rusty iron dusting on the floor behind them. She moved next to the opening and carefully tried to peek inside as discreetly as possible.
She could only see the outlines of a circular rock being reflected on her light, though. She growled in the inside, as her instincts were telling her what she was thinking was a definitely bad idea. Still…
I can't exactly walk away, can I? There might be a clue in here. Bracing her heart, Yang stepped inside. Her nostrils greeted a sickening, sweet smell that made her narrow her eyes in confusion; the smell of blood.
And it smells slightly fresh; what the hell? She moved towards the dark stone, seeing now drops of scarlet liquid splattered all over its surface. Is it some sacrificial altar or- Her feet kicked something on the floor.
Fuck! A heavy metal sound echoed in the empty room, pulsing through the corridors and down to whatever eon-crept horrors awaited for her.
She lowered her lamp. The aforementioned article was a long, thick chain. It was slightly rusty unlike everything else she had come across in here, but was broken in pieces. One of its parts sported a heavy hook-
All of a sudden, her eyes opened wide. She turned her lamp towards the stone whose oval shape had suddenly begun resembling more of a huge egg than a piece of unmoving rock. She quickly moved to its back.
Her feet stepped on something hard and brittle, like glass shards. She had no desire to look what it was. The huge gaping hole on the black egg's shell and the myriad cracks branching across it were enough. On the base of the monstrous egg, one phrase was visible before her gaze.
Ichor, the Hanged
Blood splatters were gleaming on its surface. She raised her light in an attempt to get a better look, just in time for a drop of blood to fall on the floor just before her eyes. Holding her breath, Yang raised her eyes.
Dozens of thick metal chains were hanging down from the ceiling above the cracked egg. They ended or brutal meat hooks that much to her disgust were currently occupied by viciously butchered human corpses.
She could see their faces… her eyes pulsed in power. She could see the faces- staring at her! They were there, spirits slowly and painfully fading away in mortified horror and endless agony, bleeding to dark oblivion.
She saw normal people, wearing simple clothes, staring at her in deep sorrow. She saw armed warriors, possibly mercenaries, whose corpses were currently hanging above her, ritually carved and placed on hooks.
They were all looking at her. Their eyes pleaded her to help them. How could she? They had already been killed days, maybe weeks before she found them. What could she do for them? Kill… a voice startled her.
Were they speaking? She stood there, mouth agape. Were they trying to talk to her? Kill… Should she actually listen to them? Could she not to? It's eating us… kill it! The hissing voices coalesced in a low murmur.
Something's eating them? She stared at the dripping slaughterhouse just above her. She then looked at the bloodied egg before her. Ichor does sound like a Grimm name. Could someone be feeding them to?
A loud growl came from above her. Yang's face turned pale and her skin crawled in terror as the growl was succeeded by heavy breathing.
Few chains moved in the distance, their rattling sounding in her ears like the thundering bells of apocalypse. Two impaled corpses swung in the dark, their empty gazes warning her of mortifying impending doom.
Are you serious? She clenched her fists, while moving around the egg in order to use it as cover if necessary. This is some B-rated horror game shit! She moved her lamp to her left hand, leaving her metal one free.
The sound of something dripping on the floor was barely heard behind the rattling of more chains. Corpses swung more violently, heralding the arrival of a newborn terror she had no desire to face at her state.
Her eyes looked at the door; it was a good jump, if she were to employ her bracers. A chain fell on the floor not far away from her; its clanking rattle was accompanied by the loud splash of flesh on the hard floor.
She cocked Ember Celica and got ready. The moment another chain-
The rattle came from behind her. Yang spun on her left foot and threw her lamp on the creature will all her might. Not waiting to see whether she had hit it or not, she shot with her weapon and jumped far away.
A loud crashing sound indicated the fate of her lamp. The very same moment a long, slippery tail made of black flesh grabbed her mid-air and slammed her on the floor before she managed to leave the room.
"OOOOO!" a mighty, thunderous roar overwhelmed her ears, drowning her screams of pain. She was thrown down next to the burning remains of her lamp. Chains swung in maleficent, cacophonous pandemonium.
In the dim light of her dying torch, Yang saw the creature. It- it was one of the most horrible beings her eyes had ever laid gaze upon, making her remember of Weiss' words about Mad King's twisted abominations.
Its body was long and serpentine. There were no legs, only its slithering form made of thick black skin ending in a muscular tail. White plating and red-stained spikes covered its back up towards the bulging torso.
Its torso… Yang held her breath. The serpentine form was abruptly and disgustingly transforming to a humane muscular body covered by a pair of plates on the chest. Long arms, thick as trunks, protruded from its sides, ending in webbed fingers full of spikes and tiny little white plates.
As for its head… there was nothing to resemble a face. On top of the torso was a single neck, long as a crocodile's, ending in an even longer mouth that seemed to occupy most of the creature's head area.
Half a dozen tiny red dots were spread on each side of a thin bone line that ran across what could pass as the top of its skull. The monstrous visage tilted sideways and the hungry eyes blinked at the trespasser.
And then, a humongous mouth opened wide, revealing a long reptilian tongue dripping saliva and smelling of death and rotting flesh. It licked its long, thin teeth and screamed out loudly before pouncing on her, its cry of hunger covering the blasphemous rattle of swaying iron chains.