Chapter 43 – Spinescorcher

Blake

The battle had begun…

Grimm one by one sprinted across the black sand towards the Faunus and Humans who stood their ground. The Reformed White Fang aimed their rifles and other firearms forward whilst everyone else readied their weapons. The Grimm grew closer and closer, then they all opened fire on them.

The Huntsmen and Huntresses charged forward with the other warriors who held melee weapons.

Bullets fired overhead as she sprinted towards the Grimm, able to hear the sound of their approach. A Beowulf jumped towards her and swiped its claws, but she slid underneath it and threw Gambol Shroud, wrapping the ribbon around its throat and yanking it backwards. It staggered towards her and she slashed straight through its throat, killing it instantly as the head bounced across the floor. Her ear perked up, and it was like she could see the sound from how clear it was, as a Sabyr rushed towards her.

It jumped at her and opened its jaws wide to clamp down on her skull, only for her to spin around and drive the long sharp blade of her Katana through the roof of its mouth. The beast fell limp, and she kicked it from her blade. Blake transformed Gambol Shroud into its pistol form and she sprinted across the battlefield as soldiers fought around her. They fired their machine guns at the Grimm who lunged towards them, one of them knocking a man to the ground. He grunted in pain and crawled across the ground as the Beowulf opened its black jaws, drooling saliva everywhere.

Blake sensed his fear through his aura, and she sprinted behind it, slicing across its arm and jumping upwards, cutting clean through the middle. Blake landed, leaving a shadow to be hit by the fireball of a Manticore which landed before her. She flipped through the air, firing her pistol at the creature. It growled and roared as the bullet merely hit the armour plating, irritating it. The Manticore splayed its wings outwards before it jumped off the ground and flew directly towards Blake.

She slid across the floor, driving the blade of her sword upwards and cutting through the stomach. It crashed into the ground with significant force, only narrowly missing the soldier. Black blood was leaking from its slit gut, rage was in its burning eyes. It blasted another fireball at her but she rolled out of the way then threw Gambol Shroud forward, the hooked blade stabbed into the shoulder of the creature and she swung towards it, kicking it in the face with both feet, before flipping through the air and ramming the sword downwards, right through the eye socket.

The Manticore roared in pain before collapsing to the floor and dying from the fatal wound. Blake stood before the White Fang soldier and she helped him back up, and he swiftly shot at an Apathy which was about to screech at them, nailing it in the head. Blake smiled and patted the soldier on his shoulder. "Keep it up!" Blake said, before sprinting back into the fight, giving him the motivation he needed to keep fighting.

Yang clenched her fists as the Grimm charged toward her, and she cracked her neck to the side, before blasting off the ground and pulling her cybernetic arm all the way back. Yang roared with rage and punched through the skull of a Beowulf, killing it instantly as the shotgun fired through the head. Yang rolled across the black sand and jumped off the floor, upper-cutting an Ursa with one hard and perfect motion. The huge Ursine Grimm crashed across the ground, snarling viciously before it stood tall and sprinted towards her on all fours. It swiped its huge paw at her suddenly, but Yang caught the paw with her metal arm and twisted it, snapping the bone inside and pulling it downwards.

She punched it up the jaw and fired the gun built into her gauntlet, blowing the top of its head open, spraying Black Blood through the air. As the Ursa toppled onto her back, she rolled aside as a Creep charged behind her, jumping and smashing its head down into the ground where she was just stood. Yang punched it in the side of the face, then grabbed it by the tail and swung it over her head and smashed it against the rocks before tossing it effortlessly ahead.

Suddenly, the fist of a Beringel collided into Yang's side. The enormous fist of the Grimm Ape sent her flying, causing her to tumble across the sand. She stared ahead at the beast as it pounded its fists against its chest, but she quickly realised this was similar to a variant she had seen before. It had spines of that purple crystal matter that covered the landscape here, just like the Yetis they fought in the Atlesian Wildlands.

"Well… hopefully you stay dead, unlike your snow cousins." Yang chuckled, cocking Ember Celica and raising her fists. The Spiked Beringel roared, reaching to its back and ripping one of the large spines of crystal from its back, making it grunt from the vicious action. It suddenly launched the spike like a javelin at Yang, but she jumped and flipped through the air, narrowly avoiding the incoming spike. She charged at the Beringel and punched it across the face, before ducking underneath its fist as it swung at her in return.

The Beringel bellowed in hatred, smashing its fists down into the floor at Yang, but she rolled in the opposite direction, firing Ember Celica repeatedly at it. The Beringel hardly reacted as the shell fragments just sunk into the thick black flesh or bounced off the armour on its shoulders. The Beringel roared and sprinted on all fours at her, grabbing Yang by the chest and throwing her against the floor. Yang bounced off the sand but rolled aside as the creature buried its fist into the ground where her head was moments ago.

She shot back upwards, landing on her feet, and roundhouse kicking the creature across the jaw. She thrusted forward and slammed both fists into the Beringel's ribs, crashing it against the wall. She threw three punches into its gut and ducked under its swing, catching the arm and combining both a punch and shot with her cybernetic arm, snapping the elbow of the beast. It roared in agony, then suddenly kicked her in the chest and it ripped another spike from its back and launched it at her.

Yang raised her hand, and she caught the spike, being pushed across the sand with it, before tossing it into the air and punching it, blasting the spike straight through the shoulder of the beast. The Beringel roared in fury as the spike pinned it against the wall, looking up as Yang blasted high in the air and dove towards it. She roared and punched it in the face so hard that the plates of bony armour broke off, and the spike which had pinned it to the wall remained, but ripped the broken arm clean off.

The Beringel howled in agony, but still continued to fight her, swinging its fist whilst large quantities of thick black blood oozed from its shoulder. Yang punched it in the arm and as it fell to the ground, she twisted around slammed her metal fist downwards into the beast's face, burying it into the sand. Finally killing the beast, panting over its body as it crumbled away. She wiped the sweat from her brow and sprinted back into the fight.

Weiss stabbed Myrtenaster into the ground, creating protective barriers for the Reformed White Fang as a Sphinx landed and blasted a beam of fire from its jaws at them. The fire rippled around the Schnee Glyphs, but could not harm the brave soldiers who continued to fire on the beast. Its eyes glared at Weiss, who aimed her sword at it and absorbed the flames into her glyphs, shooting fireballs directly back at the Sphinx. They exploded into its body, making it recoil back, and she shot forward across her line of glyphs that she conjured. Weiss blasted up into the air and stabbed the ground, sprouting sharp spikes of ice into the front legs of the creature.

It roared in immense pain before its long serpentine tail lunged towards her, but she deflected the creature by slashing it across the face with Myrtenaster. The Sphinx jumped into the air, its large wings opening and it roared, blasting multiple fireballs towards her from above. Weiss sprinted as fast as she could, dodging and rolling away from incoming fireballs as it hailed them down on her. Bullets fired up towards the creature, making it recoil and turn its gaze to the warriors beneath it.

One of them aimed her rocket launcher at the creature and fired, only to miss as the Sphinx dashed to the left and suddenly crashed before them. The impact knocked the soldiers off their feet, and the long tail slithered down and bit into the torso of the soldier who fired that rocket. She screamed in agony as it shook her around and tossed her against one of the rocks. Weiss blasted past it from behind and slashed its heels, making the beast yelp and spin around.

It swung the tail at her, but she slid on her knees to avoid the enormous tail. The Sphinx opened its wings and flew into the air once more, blasting fire down at Weiss. She ran towards the flames, confusing the creature as she easily got out of its path. She formed a collection of glyphs and she jumped, bouncing off each of them before throwing herself up behind the wings. She yelled and thrusted her sword forward, freezing the wings solid with icy cold frost, and that caused the beast to come crashing down.

The wings shattered like glass, making the Sphinx screech in agony as it got back up. Weiss landed, and she sprinted at the creature, repeatedly stabbing it in the chest, before she jumped onto its shoulder and slashed across its jaw. The bottom jaw dangled from sinewy flesh but the tail rushed around the body of the Sphinx with jaws wide open, but Weiss rammed the pointed blade of her sword into the mouth. It silenced the tail, and now all she had to finish was the giant beast itself.

It tried to blast a fireball at her, but the amount of black blood pooling from its throat was immediately extinguishing the flames before they could escape it. She launched upwards from a large glyph and drove her sword through the beast's throat, knocking it backwards and pushing the sword all the way through.

Weiss panted, both hands atop the sword. Then she turned to see that woman who was attacked was now dead.

I wasn't fast enough… damn it…

Her eyes turned to the Lake of Tar behind their forces, noticing it was rippling, meaning that more were coming. "We've got company!" She yelled as loud as she could.

Nora and Ren both turned to see the Grimm clamber from the tar towards them, roaring viciously. The Norse Huntress spun Stormur Skeggox through her fingers and her eyes lit up pink as lightning coursed through her veins. She sprinted towards the beasts and effortlessly cut the head off the shoulders of an Apathy before it could screech. The Boarbatusk shrieked and shot forward. As she turned, she launched Magni into its head, breaking its roll and causing it to tumble onto its back, giving her a perfect shot with the axe. She drove the blade of Stormur Skeggox into its gut, killing the beast easily.

Ren charged across the rocky terrain. Weiss saw he was going for the jump, and she immediately cast glyphs for him to jump across. They formed, and he immediately ran across the glowing white signs, firing Stormflower down into the Grimm beneath him, and jumping towards a Cenitaur, driving the blades of Stormflower into its back. The monster roared with rage as it staggered around, slashing its arms around wildly as it tried to get him off. He fired into the flesh until it turned in its own exoskeleton, spitting searing hot venom at him.

He flipped away from the creature and landed, firing his pistols at it whilst the hands of Apathy reached up from the tar and grabbed onto his leg. "No!" Ren screamed as they tried to drag him into the pit. Nora turned, eyes wide, as she heard him scream.

"REN!" Nora yelled, before pulling a lightning dust crystal from her pocket and crushing it in her hand, lighting her scars and veins pink and covering her body in crackling electricity. She roared with rage, channelling all of that power into the tip of Stormur Skeggox's axe, and fired a thick beam of pink energy forward. She yelled constantly, carving through the Grimm and cutting the Cenitaur clean in half. She sprinted past the disintegrating Grimm and held onto Ren's hand as the Apathy pulled him towards the tar.

She pulled as hard as she could and got him free from their grasp. The Apathy emerged from the surface of the lake, and they shrieked, bringing soldiers to their knees. Nora pressed her hands against her head, and so did Ren. She turned to see an Apathy grab a soldier by the head and drag him across the floor, plunging its long claws into his eyes and mouth. He shrieked in indescribable agony until it crushed his brain.

More Apathy were emerging from the lake, shrieking to the sky alongside more and more Grimm. They were surrounded on all sides by Grimm, but Nora touched her pregnant bump and gritted her teeth. She stood up as the Apathy turned to face her, and she threw Stormur Skeggox, sending it spinning around her and beheading the Apathy that tried to break them. She looked ahead as she saw Weiss jumping high in the air, forming multiple glyphs and raining hellfire upon the Apathy to keep them back.

Nora helped Ren get back up, but they could see the tar rippling more and more.

Something big was about to come out of that tar.

Oscar sprinted across the battlefield, and he extended Thunderous Deception, and the long chained hammer shot high in the air and he swung it downwards, crushing the skull of a Beowulf underneath the head of the hammer. Black blood splattered across the sand and he spun the Long Memory through his fingers as more and more Grimm approached. He could feel the magical powers of Ozma flowing in his veins more than before, and he even could visualise spells he had never used.

Good old muscle memory from past lives… heh…

He closed his eyes as green magical energy coursed around his body as a pack of Beowulves sprinted towards him, and he held his hand out, shattering the dimension in front of him, and blasting shards of magical matter towards them, slicing the Grimm into ribbons. He looked at his hand and chuckled. "Whoa…" But he had to stop when he saw the crystals explode and a tornado of black smoke whipped up, forming into a massive Geist. The giant spectre snarled faintly as it levitated a chunk of purple crystal and wielded it like a blade.

"Ooooh shit…" Oscar gasped as the Geist stared down at him, and it immediately stabbed the ground where he was standing with the sharp crystal. The truck length crystal plunged deep into the ground, and the shock wave of the impact blew Oscar across the ground, and he used the chains of Thunderous Deception to wrap around one of the other crystals to stop himself from tumbling too far.

He swung around the crystal and used the momentum to throw himself towards the Geist. He swung the hammer downwards into one of its arms, smashing the arm to pieces. Oscar landed but suddenly was struck in the side by one of the chunks of rock being slingshot by the gravitational power of the Geist. He tumbled across the floor and immediately rolled aside as the Geist swung the crystal arm downwards towards him, tearing open the ground.

The ground broke apart around Oscar but he jumped across the collapsing chunks of rock as the Geist transformed into a cyclone of rock, crystal and smoke, flying over the collapsing ground as Grimm plummeted into the pit. Oscar leapt and rolled across the sand as the Geist slammed into the ground, reconstructing its form, the singular eye glowing as it stared down at him. Oscar spun the Long Memory through his fingers and he smashed through the arm again, breaking it apart, then he rushed forward and wrapped the chain around the crystal. It swung at him, but he jumped, riding the momentum as it threw him into the air.

He launched Thunderous Deception towards the head of the Geist, making it wrap around the face, and he yanked it from the body as hard as he could. The Geist flew out from its armoured body and howled, watching as the body collapsed to the ground behind it. The Geist attempted to flee but the chained hammer wrapped around its body and Oscar pulled it suddenly towards him.

It shrieked as he thrusted the Long Memory straight through its face, killing it instantly. He spun the cane through his fingers and smiled. "You've improved." Ozpin complimented.

"Thanks."

Across the battlefield, the Reformed White Fang battled together against the attacking Grimm with their brothers and sisters. Ilia rolled across the back of an Abductor as it blasted a bolt of black and red energy from its clawed hand. The ground exploded where the projectile landed before it slashed around at her, sinisterly snarling.

Ilia kept the creature in her sights, knowing that the second she would look away, it would erase itself from her memories. The Abductor lunged for her, but she slid underneath it and drove Lightning Lash through its back, electrocuting it from the inside out. It roared with agony as it burned through the flesh and bone. She then wrapped it around the creature's throat and slammed the creepy Grimm against the ground so hard it finished it off. She rolled aside just as a Boarbatusk rolled towards her, landing in front of her. It scraped its hoof across the ground, grunting and growling at her before charging once again.

She jumped and kicked the pig in the side of the head before slashing her electrified whip across the side of its body, and slashed downwards, sending an arc of lightning against its body, cutting it clean in half. Beside her were Ghira, Kali, and Sienna, all fighting as one. Ghira roared as he grabbed another Abductor by the throat and slammed it against the ground so hard it paralysed the creature and he stamped on its skull. He rolled aside as a Centinel spat acid his way, but he charged towards it and grabbed it by the pincers, ripping them out and driving them up its head.

As it collapsed he growled savagely, claws extended from his fingers and he slashed a Beowulf across the face and punched through his stomach. Black blood covered his hand, and he finished the beast by digging his fingers into its shoulder and torso, and pulling it apart. Blood splattered over the side of his face as he stood there, gritting his teeth.

Kali jumped onto the back of an Ursa Major and drove both her blades into the throat of the beast, slicing away from each other and opening the neck wide. It choked in agony as it collapsed to the ground, allowing her to backflip away from the creature and land on both feet. She turned and threw one of her blades into the face of a Razor Wing, knocking it out of the sky. She rolled aside as the creature crashed into the sand nearby, cutting through the heel of a Beowulf and as it fell, she rammed the other through its eye socket, killing it instantly.

Sienna jumped overhead and launched multiple chain linked explosive blades towards the Grimm, impaling three of them. The explosives detonated, blowing the Grimm apart in a single attack. As she rolled across the ground, she slashed her whip across the body of an Ursa and rolled away, freezing it solid with ice blades she stabbed into its body. She yelled and launched another high explosive projectile into the frozen beast. It exploded, blasting large shards of frozen Ursa into other Grimm around it.

Sienna panted as she stood with the others, all of them looking around. Then their eyes turned to the Lake of Tar to see massive waves splashing against the shore as things were being birthed. "Damn it…" Sienna panted.

Suddenly, the black tar erupted into the sky as something was created, and the huge glowing red sail was the first thing they all saw. "Aw fuck…" Sienna gasped, eyes wide.

Yang and Blake turned with shocked eyes as the massive Grimm emerged from the tar, roaring savagely as it stood on its hind legs, with a long crocodilian snout filled with razor-sharp teeth and a long amphibious tail. It was shorter than a Leviathan, but just as dangerous because of its speed and versatility on land.

"Spinescorcher!" Sienna called out as she saw the monster roar viciously, shaking the tar from its body. But that was not all. They saw even bigger Grimm emerging as well, Leviathans included as they marched onto the shore, bellowing ferociously.

"Shit… we've got our work cut out for us…" Yang stammered.

Until suddenly they saw an airship fly overhead, and Eryka jumped out of it, firing Constantine Damascus into the side of its head. The explosive tipped arrow caused the Spinescorcher to stagger to the side, and Winter dropped from the Airship beside her. "Eryka!" Blake called out.

"WINTER!" Weiss screamed. Winter smiled and spun her sword through her fingers. The Leviathans roared with fury until a volley of explosive shells impacted against the side of them, getting their attention.

"This is the Vasillias Cartel. Looked like you needed some help down there. Sending reinforcements your way!" The Admiral of the Dreadnaught informed, and they saw the Airships descend towards their position.

"They can't fire on the Spinescorcher… looks like it's up to us.

Blake, Yang, Weiss, Oscar, Nora and Ren all ran to join Eryka and Winter against the Spinescorcher. The massive Therapod roared to the sky with fury as flames still trailed from its cheek after Eryka fired on it.

Eryka

The Spinescorcher attacked before they could even share words between them for their reunification. It lunged forward and bit down at where Eryka was standing, but she rolled aside. She aimed but expected to feel the presence of Dulcis… the wound was still fresh… and she didn't know how to fight like she once could without him with her.

But she sprinted aside as the Spinescorcher stomped down at where Eryka was standing, and she snapped out of her depression and drew her bow, firing another arrow at the heavily armoured creature. Winter sprinted across the sand and she jumped, forming a glyph to throw her higher into the air and she conjured multiple more, blasting four beams of energy down at the creature. The beams pushed the Spinescorcher's head against the ground, ripping up the sand, throwing it everywhere.

Yang bounced on her toes as the beast circled them until its eyes glowed red and they saw flames belch from its body. "The hell is it doing?" Yang questioned.

"It's charging up!" Winter answered, the huge Grimm growled deeply as flames flowed through the body, causing the blood red sail to start flashing, and the pulses in the sail grew in intensity and speed as the flames burned across its body. Magma drooled from its teeth, and once it had fully charged its body up, pyroclastic ash spewed from its hips and sail like a volcano. It roared so loud that Blake had to cover her ears, and it charged towards Yang.

She rolled out of the way just in time as it dug its sharp three-toed foot into the ground to spin it around.

The Spinescorcher breathed deep and suddenly fired a powerful beam of fire from its jaws at them all, only narrowly missing most of them but hitting Nora, blowing her across the sand. She grunted pain as she slid through the black sand. Ren gritted his teeth and fired at the titan as it walked around. It suddenly spun around, swinging its heavy armoured tail at Ren, but he fired his grappling hooks, wrapping them around its tail and letting it fling him up into the air. He spun through the air and fired down upon the Spinescorcher, breaking off some plates of armour in the process before diving towards it.

He drove Stormflower into the side of its neck, the sudden stop almost pulling his arm out of his socket. The Spinescorcher roared with rage as it sensed the boy dangling from its neck and tried to bite at him. Ren fired into the throat as black blood splattered across his face, but a cloud of super-heated ash blasted from its neck and into his face, blowing him off its body. He crashed against the ground and the Spinescorcher reared back and drove its jaws down towards him.

It only missed him by an inch as it ripped soil from the ground and ran ahead of them, smashing the ground apart with every step it took. Blake charged ahead and swung herself towards its jaws. It roared and went to devour her, only to snap its jaws onto a shadow she projected, using explosive dust to create a powerful eruption of fire. The detonation made the Spinescorcher recoil away from it, breaking off more plates of armour in the process.

It hissed savagely as it scraped its claws across the ground before sprinting towards them again, and as it slid across the sand, it splashed into the tar. As it walked towards them, it roared with fury, smothered in the tar. It suddenly slammed its bottom jaw into the ground, dragging it through the soil as it charged at Weiss. She gasped, her blue eyes widening and having to dash out of its incoming path, jumping at the end to just narrowly miss it. It continued to charge, tearing the ground open with its teeth before ripping it up and spinning around.

Oscar jumped and threw his chain hammer forward, wrapping it around the jaws so tight to clamped them shut. He pulled down with all his might, slamming its head against the ground with substantial force. Yang blasted into the side of its head and punched with all her might, knocking it onto its side. Nora got back up and spun Stormur Skeggox through her fingers. She sprinted forward and Winter formed a glyph which blasted a powerful gust of air upwards. She jumped off it and held the axe in both hands, diving at it with a defiant scream.

She buried the axe into the neck of the beast, pyroclastic ash blasted from the wound and the eye of the beast glared at her with rage. "Damn it! It's filled with that stuff! We gotta focus on it at range!" she yelled. The Spinescorcher suddenly got up and went to bite her in half, but Blake threw Gambol Shroud around her waist and pulled her away from it just in time. Nora tumbled across the ground as the Spinescorcher stood back up, and suddenly it channelled all the volcanic power it had charged up into its mouth and fired another beam at them all.

Nora rolled out of the way this time whilst Weiss and Winter both drove their swords down, creating a wall of energy to deflect it. The beam refracted off their wall of energy and burned across the side of a Leviathan's body, making it roar in both pain and fury.

"Y'know it's name is starting to make sense!" Yang joked, before loading fresh belts of explosive shells into Ember Celica and firing them towards the titan. They shrieked across the sky towards the monster as it paced back and forth, erupting into marvellous fire against its sail. It snarled and staggered to the side from that, and Nora fired her grenades from Stormur Skeggox's Grenade Launcher form. They exploded with brilliant pink flames against its body.

It snarled and charged towards them, biting at Yang and swinging the tail towards Nora. She gasped and slid underneath it just in time. As the Spinescorcher turned, Nora launched Magni towards its face, creating a loud metallic bang upon impact and making it swing its head to the side as it smashed against the armour. The Spinescorcher hissed them turned to the rocks, devouring them.

Yang furrowed her brow in confusion. "It's hungry?" Yang questioned, until they realised it was crushing the rocks in its mouth, and pyroclastic ash started venting from its furnace like body, melting the rocks into lava. It pulled its head downwards as the lava dripped from its teeth, and then it roared, throwing the lava into the air towards them. "SHIT!" Yang screamed, jumping away as the lava landed nearby.

Nora slid out of the path of the lava, turning to see Eryka sprinting towards the creature. The Spinescorcher's sail rattled as it stared her down, and she saw the glow fade and the ash cease to vent. Meaning it needed to recharge the fire in its body again. She slid onto one knee and pulled Constantine Damascus back, aiming at the creature as it charged at her, then she fired a powerful arrow into the eye of the beast. It bellowed in immense pain as the explosive arrow fractured its eye socket, causing the monster to fall forward onto the ground, only narrowly missing Eryka when she rolled out of the way.

The huge sail sliced through the sand as it tumbled over, but it slashed its feet across the ash as it quickly tried to get back up. They took this chance to deal some damage, and Oscar jumped up in the air and swung his hammer downwards into its face, before smashing it across the arm with the Long Memory. Winter shot across its side, slashing through its soft stomach to spill black blood everywhere whilst Nora jumped and drove her axe into one of its arms, nearly cutting it off.

The Spinescorcher roared with berserk rage, kicking Oscar so hard his aura flickered, and he tumbled through the sand. It flipped back onto its feet, roaring so loud it blew them all away and made their ears ring. It turned and jumped towards the Lake of Tar, diving into it and disappearing. Silence fell for moments as they all stood together, with Eryka helping Oscar back to his feet.

"What game is this thing playing now?" Weiss mumbled, but Blake listened… feeling the vibrations from here.

"MOVE!" Blake yelled, and they all followed her as she jumped to the left. The Spinescorcher suddenly erupted from the lake, splattering the black tar across the sand and slamming down. It roared as the tar dripped from its body and stared at them, scraping its bulky tail through the sand. It then charged up once again. Flames and cracks split across its body and pyroclastic ash began blasting out from its injuries as the sail pulsed and glowed more and more.

"Damn it! It's charging up again!" Winter yelled, Weiss suddenly drove Myrtenaster into the ground and closed her eyes. The large glyph formed on the ground as she started to summon her Arma Gigas.

"Keep it away from Weiss!" Nora yelled, and she charged up Stormur Skeggox and held it with both hands, firing her own beam back at the Spinescorcher. The beam burned across its face and she carved across its body and sail. The Spinescorcher snarled before it suddenly blasted a vast cloud of super-heated ash from its jaws at them. They all ran aside from the incoming cloud before it shook the tar from its body once again. Ren shot at the creature as he and Yang circled the beast. It stared at them as they continued, so it spun and swatted them like flies with its tail, smashing them all away from it.

Eryka slid across the ground, firing three arrows into its chest and another into its leg. The Spinescorcher roared and stamped at her repeatedly as she ran underneath it. She ran up the rock that protruded from the ground, and when she reached the end, she jumped off. She spun around and fired an arrow into its mouth, making it recoil away from her. It snarled angrily as it spat out the tooth and arrow in the process. It sprinted after her, shattering the rocks. She ran up and she only just rolled out of its way.

The Spinescorcher smashed one foot down, anchoring itself, before swinging its tail towards her again. Nora yelled and jumped for the tail, driving her axe into it and pinning it to the ground. The Grimm stared at her and breathed deep, channelling more volcanic energy into its jaws, before firing at her. Suddenly the Arma Gigas appeared behind it, grabbing onto the roof of its open jaws and pulling its head all the way back. It fired upwards, narrowly missing Nora and slicing through one of the spiring crystals.

The huge crystal came crashing down to the ground and Nora gasped as the Arma Gigas kept pulling it back, constantly firing its beam into the sky like the Relic, which was still slowly reconstructing the Moon.

The Arma Gigas released it and as the Spinescorcher turned around, it swung its fist extremely hard into the side of its head, causing its skull to smash against the sand, throwing large quantities of it into the air. The Spinescorcher roared and charged towards the huge knight, only for the Arma Gigas to form its sword and swing downwards against the side of its neck. It did not behead the beast, but slammed it against the ground. It tumbled through the sand but rolled back onto its feet.

Its tail flicked through the sand, then it turned to one of the crystals and bit onto it, ripping it from the ground and throwing it towards the Arma Gigas. The Knight sliced clean through it and charged at the beast as it rushed forward. It bit down into the Knight's shoulder and dragged it across the ground, and tossed it up into the air. But the Arma Gigas suddenly blasted downwards and cut through the Sail, causing volcanic as and lava to erupt from its back.

The Spinescorcher howled in agony before smashing the Knight across the face with its tail. Nora fired multiple grenades into its back whilst Winter flew across the sky on a summoned Nevermore with Eryka riding on the back of it. She drew Constantine Damascus, firing at it repeatedly from above. It fired another beam of magma towards them, but the Nevermore dodged it as it burned across the sky.

The Arma Gigas drove its sword into the side of the Spinescorcher, making it bellow again, only for it to kick it onto the floor, and bite down onto the knight's head, ripping it clean off. Weiss gasped, released from controlling the Arma Gigas, and knowing it was up to them now. Winter's Nevermore swung its wings, firing Fatal Feathers towards the creature, slicing off plates of armour and cutting open the flesh.

They all charged the beast, firing everything they had at it, but the Spinescorcher drove its jaws into the ground, and they saw the fire and magma channel through the entire body and through the jaws. Suddenly, the ground exploded, blasting columns of lava into the air from beneath, raining molten rock all around them. The Spinescorcher stood tall as the raining lava had no effect on its body as it had evolved to be immune to such temperatures.

Nora rolled, and she threw Magni into its face again, knocking it so hard it had to spin around as it staggered, then she threw Stormur Skeggox at its face, and as it rebounded, channelled more lightning into it from the kinetic energy and threw it right back. The impact created a powerful explosion, staggering the beast once again. It snarled as black smoke and blood leaked from its many wounds, but like all Grimm, it never retreated.

It kept fighting until either it fell or its enemies did.

It channelled more fire into its jaws and blasted the beam, but it was far wilder than before, like it was losing control, swinging its head around like a berserk animal, destroying everything and anything around it. Yang rolled aside but was clipped by the beam. Blake rolled aside and caught Yang as she fell, then she nodded at her.

Yang's hair ignited, and she gritted her teeth, sprinting towards the Spinescorcher and Blake threw her Gambol Shroud, and swung her around with all her might. Oscar extended Thunderous Deception and turned to Ren. "Ren!" He yelled.

"Done!" He knew what to do and sprinted towards the beast, sliding underneath it whilst it continued to destroy everything around it. He remained on the other side as Oscar fired his chain and it wrapped around its entire body. Ren caught the chained hammer and pulled away, tightening it and they both held on, using either the Long Memory or Stormflower to anchor themselves to the ground and hold it still.

Weiss and Winter both did the same, casting black glyphs to hold it in place, whilst Eryka dropped from the Nevermore to join the three who could take it down.

Yang sprinted at the monster with fire trailing from her hair, and the Spinescorcher bellowed at her. It snapped its jaws at her, but she punched it in the face so hard that the jaw snapped and it shrieked in pain. Blood spewed everywhere and Yang slammed both fists down against the top of its head, smashing it against the ground. Eryka was thrown high in the air by Nora and she drew Constantine Damascus back and fired another explosive arrow into its eye, blinding that one, whilst Nora sprinted and slashed through the right heel of the beast, dropping the leg, and drove the blade of her axe into the other.

As it fell forward, Yang punched upwards with all her might, blowing the head of the beast into the air. As Eryka dropped, Winter caught her on the Nevermore and tossed her back into the air again. And she lined up the shot with another explosive arrow, and she fired it right down its gullet.

The Nevermore caught Eryka, and they flew overhead as it detonated from the inside. The Spinescorcher unleashed one last howl of fury as the volcanic reserves detonated out of control. Massive explosions erupted from its body in multiple places as it roared alongside clouds of super-heated ash billowing from its jaws.

Its roars finally ended in a single blinding and deafening explosion, completely blowing the beast apart.

Yang panted, lowering her fists as her aura broke and she dropped to one knee. Blake rushed to her side and helped her up. "You okay?" Blake asked her.

"Yeah… just need to… get some aura back." She panted, shaking her head. "That was one tough Grimm… didn't go down without a fight, I'll give it that."

Eryka and Winter landed before them, and they all turned to their friends. Weiss finally ran to her sister and wrapped a warm hug around her. Winter fell to one knee and laughed with relief to see her little sister was still kicking since she last saw her at the Summit's Claim. Nora rested Stormur Skeggox on her shoulder as she walked with Ren to the others, and Oscar rolled his shoulder, panting.

"You've been busy." Yang joked to Eryka, but the Falconess didn't say a word, just a small smile. They all looked at the sky to find him, then looked at Eryka. "Hey… where's…"

Silence…

Eryka didn't say a word, but the tears in her eyes said it all. "Oh… oh fuck no…" Yang sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Someone's gonna pay… SOMEBODY'S GONNA FUCKING PAY!" Nora yelled with anger.

"He already has… Killian… he was the one who did it. When we hunted him down to kill him." Winter explained.

"Killian's… dead? You got him?" Weiss asked in disbelief.

"Yeah… we got him…" Winter assured, then looked at Eryka. "But… well… it was a hard fight… he nearly killed all of us."

Eryka exhaled shakily, but wasn't expecting Blake to wrap her arms around her in a warm hug. "I'm sorry." Blake said to her, and Eryka closed her teary eyes and hugged her tight. Then she gasped and rubbed the tears away, stepping back from Blake.

"There's… something you all need to know." She began. They all looked at her, and Winter smiled at Weiss, standing up.

"What is it?" Yang asked.

"They're alive." She answered.

All of them stood there, looking confused.

"Uh… who?" Oscar asked.

"The people we thought we lost. Sun. Neptune. Scarlet, Sage. Team C.R.D.L… they're all alive." She told them, Weiss' eyes widened, and she rushed to her.

"What? You're sure?" Weiss stammered, her voice trembling.

Blake and Yang stood next to each other, and Yang closed her eyes. "Oh, fuck… Blake… I…"

Blake didn't know what to say.

He's alive…

Gods, what do I do with this? I thought he was dead… for six years… for six years…

"We found Cardin. He told us. He only just escaped this place, but they're still here… but… from the state he was in when we found him… they're gonna be in a bad way. They're in Evernight." Winter explained, pointing at the main castle they were fighting towards.

"Blake?" Eryka asked her, then she looked at Yang and quickly figured out what was going on, but before she could even ask, Blake nodded her head.

"We're getting them back. I know it's gonna be a trap. I know Adam is probably in there waiting for us… but we need to get them back." Blake explained, and Yang nodded her head, stepping back.

Oscar nodded his head in agreement.

So did Nora and Ren.

They were in this together.

It was time to save what was lost…

Adam

He paced through the halls of Evernight, looking around. "Tyrian? TYRIAN!" Adam yelled at the top of his lungs. His voice echoed down the halls, then he turned when he heard his dark and creepy laugh echoing down the cells. Adam gulped and nervously walked down, one hand gripping onto Wilt and Blush.

He approached the cell, only to see Tyrian giggling on his knees with a mad smirk. "Tyrian? What're you doing?" Adam questioned.

Adam could not look into the darkness of the cell, but he knew it was their cell. "Tyrian, we need to prepare. We're under attack." Adam grabbed him but Tyrian's blood covered Cybernetic Tail suddenly wrapped around his throat. It was only now that Adam saw Tyrian Callows was smothered in blood. "W-What did you do?" He stammered, eyes wide.

"I know that they're coming… so I have prepared a little something for them… and when they come? We'll be ready…" Tyrian laughed, eyes glowing purple.

Author Note - What has he done?

God Tyrian is always so damn terrifying, I love to hate writing that bastard. But now it's frightening to wonder what he has done to Teams SSSN and RDL. They better be prepared for what he has waiting for them.

So the Spinescorcher is by far one of my favourite Grimm so far. I was literally like... What if I combine a Spinosaurus with a Volcano? And that's the monster I created, and I just had to name the chapter after it XD. Been a while since I've written such a big battle against ONE Grimm. Missed it. Grimm are so fun to come up with I swear lol.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review, follow and favourite!

Stay tuned for the next chapter!

- Matt