Hello Everyone! How are you doing? I hope you are all fine!

Chapter 165 is here and as always I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you, once more yes, so much for your continuous support of the series, by following/ favoring/ reading the story. You all are amazing.

See you all on the 21st with chapter 166. Until then, be well and have fun!

She raised her head. It was throbbing violently and shaking in a surge of extreme agony, but Ruby managed to focus. The monstrous priest that stood in front of her snorted, blowing red hot air towards her direction.

Ruby whirled Crescent Rose and lowered her stance. The crying choir of petrified abysmal voices cut through her flesh like sharp knives. Her aura still worked, but the pain was more than enough to evoke a gasp.

Yet, her enemies stood still. Gnastaur showed no intention of attacking her yet and the malformed statues were more focused on their creepy singing than dealing with the red colored invader. It suited her fine.

She stretched her left leg- the angel in her right moved. Its head made a horrifying 180-degree rotation and stopped looking at her. Its arms and legs followed suit, leaving the rest of the body twisted like a powerfully squeezed towel; a runic-grafted towel that dripped wet stone blood.

Did it react to my movement? Ruby's eyebrow rose. She licked her lips and carefully placed her scythe to an attacking stance, ready to strike the moment her enemy would come within striking distance.

Another one of the angels moved. In a disgusting sound of bone and stone rubbing on each other, its long arms stretched out and opened wide, as if waiting for the huntress to charge straight at their claws.

Uh-huh. She slowly shifted her center of gravity to her left. The third angel lowered its monstrous head, opened its jaws and raised its huge bat wings. The wide open mouth dripped in liquid stone. The mournful choir that echoed through its missing vocal chords was bone-chilling.

So they do react to my movements. She turned her gaze to Gnastaur. It was standing still, its horned skull slightly raised towards the altar. Was it praying? It sure looked like it. Nonetheless, it was ignoring her.

I wonder; how fast are they? Without giving any prior notice, Ruby took burst into petals. Deciding it was too soon to charge at the abhorrent priest, she instead made a feint and attacked the closest of the angels.

Through the tunnel of petals she left behind, her silver eyes saw the monstrous angelic visages move at an incredible speed. They opened their jaws and opened their formation trying to trap the brunette girl.

Reacting or not to her, they were not fast enough for her. Ruby easily dived through their formation and materialized behind the third one's back.

They all twisted their heads towards her in a 180-turn. The angelic choir suddenly lowered and turned into a hushed tone, akin to static noise in the back of her head. Eager to capitalize on that, she swung her scythe-

"Why did you let me die?" a clear, pained voice left the petrified angel's gaping mouth and froze the silver-eyed girl's blood in her veins.

It was a human's voice- the last thing she would expect to come out of a Grimm abomination like the one facing her. It belonged to a woman, if her assaulted senses weren't betraying her. She sounded young, too.

Was that an attack? She burst a couple times, happy to see the angels getting thrown into disarray trying to follow her. She found an opening at the fourth one's back and landed, wasting no time in taking off its-

"Why didn't you save me, Ruby Rose?" this one's voice came out as a loud gasp as if someone-most likely an elder man- was talking through thick liquid.

Ruby jumped away, trying to contain her growing emotions of anger and distress. She knew very well what that sound was. She had heard such noises in the pirate assault of Southern Vacuo during the War. It was the dying cries of someone being drowned in their very own blood.

"You are a hero; you were supposed to save people!" the voice slowly faded in the dark, echoing her own dismal thoughts as it boomed right through her skull. I never wanted to be one… I just wanted to help!

"The monsters got into my house…" a desperate woman's voice left the closest angel's mouth, echoing right behind Ruby's back. Hypertension fully pouring in her back, she turned around and sliced at the monster.

She only saw the outlines of the statue flying away, if she could call that wicked parody of movement a flight to begin with. "We hid inside the lockers… we hoped for someone, for you, to come and help us…"

She knew what they were getting at. She herself was no stranger to ominous worries. Something was amiss about the angels though. Their words carried a lingering anxiety that was trying to creep up her soul.

"When the monsters got in; when they tore my husband to shreds, I still hoped you would come to help us- I still hoped the hero of Vale would come to save us from the Spawn" she stifled a gasp at the name.

"We needed you…" She whirled Crescent Rose to keep the attackers at bay. She had no idea whether they were closing in, but their voices had definitely grown fierce and haunting.

"We waited for you…" a knot formed in her throat. The voice was way too childish for her tastes "… to save daddy; he never came back from the hospital. We went to find him that night…" No, nonononono.

"We longed for your help; to see your light cutting through the mass of teeth and claws…" she almost heard sounds of eating. Flesh was cut to ribbons. Bones were being chewed on. Blood dripped down her neck.

She reflexively reached to her nape. It was dry. "But you were not there Ruby" the voices cut though the darkness. Her vision had turned blurry.

"WHY WEREN'T YOU THERE?" the voices suddenly and abruptly pitched to an impossibly high tone, raking her mind and startling her frayed nerves. She held her head with her right hand, trying her best to hold her weapon at her left. Her eyes hurt and she was forced to shut them.

The screeching continued the moment she opened them again. Ruby's heart made a double-take as she saw the weeping angels having moved closer to her than she was comfortable with.

Their faces had been tilted in various positions, as they were observing her. Their hands were still stretched out like thin wires, forming a grotesque cage that tried to trap her in- a cage made of her own guilt.

Ruby made a couple protective gestures, using Crescent Rose as a rod to deflect the upcoming attacks- but none came. The angels simply stood before her, wailing and screeching in human voices- dying voices.

"You failed us!" the woman roared in her face. Ruby punched her and closed her eyes, hoping she would fade away. "You failed Vale!" a deep voice belonging to an elder man slammed her from behind.

"You left us!" a man screamed. She tried to resist the urge to run; her mind was jumbling and struggling. She normally didn't fall for mental attacks like this, but… this was intense on a different level. This…

"You let the monsters eat us!" this was the truth. Ruby knelt down, in the middle of the demented, twisted angelic cage. They were monsters, they were Grimm alright. They wanted to wear her down and kill her.

They were telling the truth. She had, honestly and genuinely, failed. She had failed- and they were using it against her. She had to get up; she HAD to fight them. She was a sinner, yes, but she had to survive this or-

"I am dying too; and you aren't doing anything to help." Ruby's weapon fell to the ground. All locks and defenses she had built around her heart broke apart. All the pain she had been holding back came out at once.

Yang's voice was too real, even knowing the monster was just messing with her mind. It hit too close to home, to the point she couldn't resist any more. She tried to fight it- the voice hurt her so much.

Guilt overwhelmed Ruby. The dead voices of Vale slashed at her heart like dozens of tiny little knives, but Yang's lamenting cries hit her like a pointy spear through the chest. She couldn't take it anymore.

And why should she? She had suffered enough already; she had caused so much pain to others, she had brought so much destruction upon the city of Vale with helping Avyssos enter. She practically was the one who had killed all these people in Riverside! She had killed them herself!

Ruby broke down crying. Tears left her face as her hand reached out for her scythe. She had to fight- for the sake of those who couldn't. But her weapon was so heavy- as if it was mimicking the weight in her chest.

The huntress' sobbing and crying was drowned by the weeping of the malformed entities. As she knelt and reached out with her hand, the horrible entities raised their wings and screamed in malicious triumph.

Their prey was down and now the only thing they had to do was wait for the Mad King to feast upon her hapless soul. They screeched with all their might, eager to hasten their Lord's vile reincarnation.

In the middle of the room, Gnastaur was chanting before the dark and mystifying altar. It paid no heed to the scene that was happening right behind it, its mind completely focused on the long-anticipated ritual.

It had been ages since the Black Witch had decimated Charon's court, leaving Gnastaur and Blekklat as its sole survivors. The monstrous figure still remembered that day, as it waved its runes in grim devotion.

It could still hear the lament of its fallen retainers. Unlike that human warrior that was crying behind it, however, the Hierophant drew power from its loss. Their suffering, their agony, was all the power it needed.

Humans are such a weak species, it thought for a split moment as the mystical glow from its bright red runes shone on its shining white mask.

-o—

Another blast raked the balcony. The concentrated magical power from Maize's staff seared the ancient stones, engulfing the platform in fiery, devastating power. Only one space was spared, protected by green fog.

The eldritch miasma pouring out of Yang's body absorbed the blast. She paid no mind to the searing magical energy, as the voracious eyes she was hosting on her flesh opened wide and hungrily devoured its power.

She felt disgusted and elevated. She knew disgust was her own feeling and the elation came from the abominable satisfaction that thing felt. A pang of regret threatened to appear, but she quickly pushed it away.

I have to end this fight quickly, before it feeds too much and it becomes harder to contain. She rushed forward and jumped at her enemy, using her metal arm to punch at his face with all her might.

Goldenrod didn't flee. He raised his staff and slammed its head on the ground. A malicious wave of nauseating energy sprouted from the dark stone and rose, forming a moving wall of dark flesh and jagged bones.

Her punch found it head-on and she felt the flesh getting pounded at her fingers. Immediately, she reached out and threw two quick jabs with her possessed hand, malicious aura pulsing violently with each hit.

The fog eagerly devoured large bits of magical flesh, but the amount of mass forming the wall was too big for her attacks to burst through with enough speed. An array of black missiles shot over the barrier at her.

Yang raised her left leg and kicked at the wall, combining it with a shot from Ember Celica to propel away. She skidded on the floor and made a spectacular whirling tumble, landing on her feet away from the blasts.

The wall subsided, revealing her adversary's form holding the glowing staff in his skilled hands. She grumbled in annoyance- a sentiment the Grimm eyes shared with her.

She focused her lilac eyes on the glowing piece of enchanted wood and metal. Now that she could think more clearly, the aura emanating from its body was somewhat strange, even for a magic item of an old era.

It was wreathed in a mysterious aura that reminded her way too much of that accursed cavern of her nightmares. Malice, no, agony and pain surrounded the aforementioned weapon like a supernatural sheathe.

Its runes fed from that very malice and agony, glowing in power just as the visage festering in her body fed on her own dark emotions and her magical power- her aura. They lacked the same intellect, but she could see a similar pattern of sorts connecting the two cases, if only a little.

"Is that staff cursed?" she blurted out. Again, Maize didn't react more than giving her a nod of confirmation.

"The four relics forged by Gods themselves weren't the only magical items this world has seen" the man replied in a rather explanatory tone resembling a professor for the first time since Yang had met him.

"Since the very old times, mages and clergy have been trying to mimic the creations of Gods, forging items with pure magical power sealed in their core- items that would allow one to utilize powerful abilities."

To his credit, he didn't even give Yang one step of free space while he was talking to her. The girl grumbled, but didn't try to disrupt his talk.

"Usual practices required special materials and the use of specific time, place and components to forge it" his gaze fell on the pulsing weapon on his hands.

"Of course, like it always happens, there were those daring -or foolish- enough to try less conservative methods, such as this one" he raised it a bit to emphasize his words.

"Charon's Joy; a staff created by four priestesses who were offered to the Mad King from their families as a token of faith. Legend says they spent four weeks torturing each other while forging the staff, imbuing it with their agony, malice and very souls until they fell dead before it."

"What the fuck?" lilac eyes blinked. She wasn't angry; she was so damn shocked at the moment, she couldn't even become angry at the man's despicably vile words. "This is just a fairy tale to scare children, right?"

"The staff exists" he shook his shoulders. "And, as you have already felt in your skin, its power is very real. Legends are more often than we can admit, history told by the common folk, after all" he stated out loudly.

Yang's body shook. Her muscles trembled. Her mouth remained agape in a mix of shock and anger. Why was she so mad? She already knew of human sacrifice being a part of the Elder Cults. Both Cherry and Weiss had confirmed it from various different sources.

If so, then why was she so mad all of a sudden? She had seen worse; she had fought against worse. It made no sense. It was a story of old; it could even be a stupid boogeyman tale. It had nothing to do with her.

An image of her, Ruby, Weiss and Blake clothed in ruined robes flashed in her mind. They were holding long, curved knives. They used them on each other. They were smiling, laughing even. Weiss was chanting in a macabre delirium; her ethereal voice brought chills down Yang's spine.

She smelled Blake's blood. She heard Weiss' moans getting deeper. She tasted Ruby's flesh. It was delicious-

"What the hell!" the brawler reached out at the last moment. Her left arm absorbed all of the magical power resonating in the air. A surge of pleasure overwhelmed her, before she could feel the disgust fade off.

She saw Maize tare at her in concern. It was his doing, wasn't it? A deep breath rocked her chest and brought some much needed air inside her lungs; why was it so hard to breathe? "You crossed the line, bastard!"

"If you can't take an attack of that level, you stand no chance against the Mad King" Maize glared even fiercer. "I do wonder what you saw to disturb you so much, but that is-" "Shut your fucking mouth, asshole."

She spat away. The taste of Ruby's tender, raw chewy flesh still lingered on her tongue. That was the last straw. "I give up" she lowered her hat.

A glow of approval filled Maize's eyes. "I give up trying to reason with any of you guys; you are all crazy." His expression immediately turned to concern as she raised her head and looked him in the face.

Her features were marred by anger. Large black circles surrounded her eyes that had turned into a deep red color. It wasn't her usual red, however. The pupils had dilated, completely absorbing the irises and giving her an image of an inhuman predator. They were Grimm eyes.

She raised and looked at her left arm. It was calm and satisfied. A loud snort left her throat. She could feel the Grand Mother's magic filling up her body like a powerful drug. She had finally given in to her fury.

Not yet… Yang breathed heavily, trying to ease her mind. There is still time. She bent her knees and balled her fists. But first, I am going to end this guy. Maize armed his staff again and Yang charged forward.

A wave of black, polished spikes appeared out of the ground. Maize's command sent them upon the huntress to impale her body as she ran. Even if she managed to dodge, she had to flee away-

Yang activated her semblance. A powerful green hue engulfed her body in a violent eruption of energy. The scholar saw the same mist as before oozing out of the woman, settling around her like a maleficent armor.

Shapes and forms were conjured in the mist. He saw teeth and eyes of all shapes and sizes. They swirled around Yang and jumped away as the attack reached her, reaching out as if they were tendrils of energy.

They opened wide and chomped at the spikes with ease. She didn't bat an eye and simply kept running. Goldenrod shot a blast on the floor and formed the same wall of flesh as before to buy himself some time.

The woman's eyes shone in power. Her semblance, augmented by the Grand Mother's curse, fueled her muscles to inhuman levels. She felt her lungs and limbs on fire. She could see forms in the dark watching her. She punched the wall with her left fist and split it in half with ease.

Yang stood before Maize. Green flames were dancing around her and devoured all of the magical remains of the fleshy barrier. Eyes moved and then vanished, reforming to maws and teeth. She panted heavily.

The man made a rapid motion with his arm, trying to gather power and deliver another blast. It was pointless and he knew it. The girl towered over Maize, despite being shorter than him, wreathed in eldritch fire.

The blast didn't even reach her. Wisps of green energy slammed at the man and threw the cursed staff off his fingers. He tried to grab it, but a quick kick from Yang threw him on the granite-paved floor.

Fierce red eyes like a predator that had caught their prey narrowed at him. Maws gnarled at the prospect of feasting on his life force. He could practically see them drooling over his flesh and soul. He tried to get up.

Yang punched him in the face, throwing him down again. Her fist then smashed his chest, evoking a sharp cry of pain from the man. "Down" she whispered, in a mix of fury and disgust "it's safer for you this way."

Before he could ask what she meant, Yang reached out and took a vial of shining blue liquid. Her hands trembled and Maize was sure he could see the hungry jaws snap and bite in disdain as the smell of lavender spread around. Is that Azure's concoction? Did they take it from him?

"Well, bottoms up" she curled her left fist. For a couple moments, the professor swore he saw her normal hand trying to move against her will. The green flames intensified and her expression grew frustrated.

What would normally be a hilarious situation was unveiling before his eyes as a desperate struggle. Xiao Long was trying to pour that liquid over the unholy marks carved on her left arm- much to their refusal.

He could help her. He could definitely help her; or he could take the surreal chance presented to him. He didn't even need to think twice about it. As Yang was too preoccupied with her struggling, he got up.

"Fuck you" the whisper was faint, but full of disgust. Yang spun around and grabbed his neck with her left hand, digging her considerably hard claws in his flesh to the point his aura started to crack under them.

Taken by surprise, he tried to fight back but her hold was inhumanly strong. He felt his aura leave his body along with his breath as the evil claws slowly and steadily crashed his windpipe with terrifying ease.

She didn't even look at him; she had averted her gaze and stared at her metal fist. Maize couldn't scream; he couldn't even speak. He wanted to ask her. He wanted to ask her what she was feeling at the moment.

"Got you" another whisper and the brawler's metal fingers moved. A tinge of fluorescent blue and the scent of lavender filled his nostrils. She emptied the vial on the possessed arm, splashing him in the face.

Air filled his lungs again as the girl released him. His legs gave in from the exhaustion and Maize Goldenrod collapsed on the ground right beneath Yang, accompanied by her stifled gasps of mortified agony.