Chapter 47 – The Rage of War

Marrow

"Warning: Critical Damage detected."

The automated voice repeated the same sentence repeatedly throughout the entire Dreadnaught. Marrow aimed Fetch down the hallway, with Fiona beside him, also aiming her Crossbow ahead. Vine walked behind them, keeping an eye on their rear to make sure that no enemy reinforcements sneak up on them.

"Dutch, how are we looking?" Marrow inquired.

"Looks like sending that Wasp into the Dreadnaught like that really caused a ruckus. Most of their troops are headed there, but remember to expect resistance." Dutch warned.

"Solid copy." Marrow answered. He pressed his shoulder against the wall, listening carefully down the next hall, whilst Fiona rolled across the gap to do the same, crossbow tightly in her grasp.

"How far are we from the Bridge?" Fiona inquired.

"Not far, maybe five minutes away if we're lucky." Marrow answered. They both quickly proceeded down the hallway, weapons at the ready in case anyone tried to attack. He kept his finger close to the trigger, waiting to pull it if he needed to. They walked further into the hall until Dutch's voice made them jump.

"Incoming!"

Suddenly a flashbang grenade was thrown in front of them from their left, bouncing off the wall and detonating in their faces.

The sudden flash nearly knocked Marrow and Fiona off their feet, as Black Gallows soldiers sprinted around the corner, already firing their weapons at them. Marrow grunted as bullets slashed across his aura protected body, and he scrambled backwards, firing back at them despite still being blinded by the white flash. Fiona struggled to get back up but Vine swiftly extended his aura, grabbing onto them both and pulling them away, before clasping his hands together and spreading the arms outwards, casting a wall of golden aura between them and the soldiers.

"Get ready!" Vine yelled, blocking the bullets from hitting the two of them. They rubbed their eyes and shook off the stun from the grenades. Fiona winced as she held her ear, still hearing the ringing of the flashbang, causing her immense pain. But she shook it off and in time it faded away, replacing her pain with frustration.

"That was cheap." Marrow scoffed, transforming Fetch into its Boomerang Blade form. Vine slammed his hands back together, collapsing the wall of aura, allowing Marrow to sprint forward and throw Fetch towards the Raven Talons. It spun through the air, slashing through the barrel of one soldier's gun, and returned to him. He jumped and pushed off the wall, and with both hands, he cut through the soldier's body.

The Raven Talon collapsed to the ground, blood pouring from the deep open wound, and Marrow swiftly spun around, deflecting the incoming bullets. A crossbow bolt shot into the throat of one of the soldiers aiming at him, grabbing the other's attention. He turned and fired an electrified cable towards Fiona as she sprinted at him, suddenly throwing a crate she stored in her aura from the Hangar at him. The crash knocked the soldier off his feet and then she jumped and drove the blades of her Crossbow-Staff into his chest.

A Raven Talon punched her in the face and kicked her in the chest, forcing her against the wall. She grunted and her enormous eyes widened as the soldier swung the blade towards her throat, but she smashed her Staff against his arm, knocking him to the side and driving the blade into the wall just by her ear. She gritted her teeth and kicked him in the gut with both feet, before spiralling her staff through her fingers, scraping the blades across his armoured chest piece, before throwing the staff into his ribs, pinning him to the wall.

Marrow rolled across the floor, aiming down the hallway at the lesser equipped Sable Guard that sprinted towards them, shooting their pistols at them. He fired precise shots down the hall at them, killing them instantly with perfect headshots. Vine walked past the dead soldiers, not even looking at them as they continued through the ship. They entered another large room, what looked to be an Operations Room where the Operators immediately took cover behind their desks.

But a Trojan Droid emerged, staring at them, its voice made of distorted sounds as it snarled. And it was not alone. The doors opened and more soldiers sprinted in. "We've located the infiltrators! Eliminate them!" The Ebony Sabre commanded, aiming his massive machine gun at them. He opened fire on them from the highest point of the room, with a Marksman up there as well in the rafters, firing off a round every few seconds, trying to nail one of them.

Marrow sprinted through the Operations Centre, grabbing onto one of the tables and flipping it over to take cover from incoming gunfire. He aimed over the cover, shooting at the enemies, nailing a Raven Talon in the chest. But as he fired, the Trojan suddenly blasted towards him across the room, smashing through the tables and grabbing him by the throat. It lifted him off the floor and effortlessly tossed him into the wall, spreading cracks across it.

"Eliminating contact." The Trojan emotionlessly said, walking towards him and channelling electrical energy through its mechanical form. The chest plates slid apart, revealing the cyclonic core inside, which charged up to the max before firing a thick beam of concentrated energy towards him. He rolled aside and sprinted as fast as he could as the beam cut clean through the walls. He aimed at the machine, shooting at it repeatedly to try to hit it somewhere soft.

But the Trojan ceased the attack, and the plates closed back up, and he saw its Hardlight Shields come back online. He reached behind its back and grabbed the rifle attached to it, aiming at him, and opening fire. He slid across the floor and pressed his back against the pillar, waiting for an opportunity.

Vine extended his reach with his aura, swinging across the room and going straight for the Onyx Consul. The Marksman fired at him but missed as he got closer, and she rolled out of the way just as he punched into the wall where she just was. She aimed at him, but he grabbed onto the rifle with his extensions, effortlessly yanking the gun from her grip, swinging it into the side of her head so hard that the helmet broke apart from the impact. He looked down and his eyes widened. The Ebony Sabre beneath him chuckled, firing a missile into the rafters where he and the sniper were in, blowing them apart and throwing him through the air.

He extended his aura and grabbed onto the arm of the mechanised suit, pulling himself towards the heavyweight trooper, only for the Ebony Sabre to extend a long blade from the other arm and thrust towards his chest. Vine dropped, narrowly avoiding it, and rolling across the floor towards the soldier. He threw his Shiruken at the soldier, slashing across the helmet and making the Sabre stagger backwards.

Vine extended his arms and grabbed onto the soldier's shoulders, yanking him downwards and flipping backwards, kicking the soldier up the jaw so hard it cracked the visor. The Ebony Sabre snarled with anger, firing a storm of bullets towards Vine.

Down below in the centre of the facility, Fiona slid across one of the tables and slammed both feet into one of the soldiers, staggering him across the floor. She jumped off the table and fired a bolt into the eye of the Raven Talon, landing on his body and spinning her Staff through her fingers, deflecting incoming bullets from behind her. She kicked his machine gun from the corpse and caught it in her hands, firing it back at the Raven Talon behind her.

Suddenly a Shadow Dagger sprinted around the tables towards her and slashed downwards, Fiona raised her Staff up and caught the blades, dropping to one knee. He glared at her with a vicious snarl, pushing the blades closer and closer to her neck, until she smashed the handle of her staff against his helmeted head, and rolling away, resting the staff over her shoulder and firing at the swift soldier. He cut the bolt down before it could even reach before jumping atop the table and firing the sub-machine gun he had on his hip at her.

She spun the staff through her fingers once again, until he jumped towards her, cutting across her chest and slamming her against the ground. She rolled to the left just as he stabbed at where her head just was, and rushed towards him, ramming the blades of her staff straight through his chest and into the wall.

The Shadow Dagger groaned in pain before dying, making her pant with relief.

Marrow ducked as the Trojan smashed its heavy mechanical fist into the wall where his head just was and retaliated with a hard strike across its head with the blade of Fetch. He rolled aside as it punched at him again, then charged up its cyclonic core once again, firing it at him. It cut across the room, accidentally killing two Raven Talons, and Marrow took the opportunity and fired a full magazine of bullets into the Trojan's chest. Sparks and blue flames erupted from its chest, and the core went critical.

The spinning core of energy blasted arcs of electricity through the metal, slicing it apart from the inside before detonating in a tremendous explosion, killing all the computers and the lights, making it go dark. The Ebony Sabre staggered back as his armour was hit by the Electromagnetic Pulse and Vine grunted, falling to one knee. But he quickly restored his systems, staring at the Heavy Weapons soldier and he jumped over him, grabbing onto the back plates with his aura extended arms and ripped them off with all his might, revealing the inner workings.

He drove Thorn into the cables, tearing them apart and reaching inside to yank the pilot from the armour. The soldier slid across the floor but Vine swiftly knocked him unconscious with a hard punch to the face, and the Ebony Sabre armour slowly tipped over, crashing against the floor with a loud boom.

"Everyone okay?" Fiona asked as she looked around, the light slowly coming back on. The Operators shuddered as they looked around, and Marrow turned to all the Non-Combatants.

"If I were all of you, I'd leave. This is over." Marrow stated until he heard the sound of a gun cock in his direction. He turned and stared at one of the afraid Operators aiming a pistol at him, shaking erratically. Marrow could tell he was just scared and didn't know what else he could do.

He held his hands above his head, after setting Fetch down on the table. "Put the gun down, sir." Marrow requested.

"I can't… if he knows we let you go… he'd kill us all…" The Operator stammered.

"Who's he talking about?" Fiona asked.

"Killian! We don't know where he is, but… the man has gone off the rails…" the Operator stammered. They all looked at each other, and Marrow lowered his arms.

"Killian is dead." He revealed, and that caught all their attention.

"W-What?" He stammered.

"He died before this battle… he was going to bomb Argus and Menagerie alongside setting off those bombs under the four Kingdoms. We had to stop him… but you have my word on this. Killian is dead… and we're ending this today. You can have my word on that as well." Marrow promised.

"M-My… my family won't be hurt?" He stammered.

"He really threatened your families?" Fiona asked.

"When you see him carry out the slaughtering of so many children six years ago… you know he'd be capable of anything." The Operator stammered, still shakily pointing the gun at Marrow.

"If we get to the Bridge, the Black Gallows will be no more. They will be nothing more than a memory…" Marrow promised. "And that I can definitely guarantee you can have my word on."

The Operator stammered, then he lowered the gun, setting it on the table, nodding his head. "Get out of here, get in the escape pods, and get as far away from here as possible. There are some camps on the outskirts that will accept you if you surrender. There are plenty who know that not all the Black Gallows are evil and many are just victims… like me." Marrow explained, and the Operator nodded.

"O-Okay… come on everyone! Let's go!" The Operator agreed, and as they ran, a woman stopped by Marrow's side.

"Burn the place down. It's time for the Gallows itself to experience what it's like to do the Hanging." She said, before running with the others.

"Heh… I like that." Marrow chuckled in agreement, continuing to run further into the ship, unaware that the cameras were back online now, and were watching their every move.

Lavinia

The Winter Maiden blasted high into the air, shooting beams of frost from her hand, blasting a Wasp out of the air. It spun out of control as the fragments of hardened ice came plummeting into the ground with a fiery explosion. The Fully Realised Maiden held out her arms and closed her eyes, summoning a horde of huge roots tunnelling through the sand towards the Black Gallows soldiers entrenched ahead. The roots wrapped around their bodies, snapping their limbs and crushing them alive. Before it snapped their necks, the soldiers screamed in pain.

She flew towards them and pummelled her fist into the ground, detonating a tremendous explosion of ice and lightning, shattering the soldiers all around her. The lightning burnt across the tanks in position behind her, toppling them over and even blowing the turret off one of them. The huge turret skipped across the terrain into the distance.

Lavinia stood tall, staring at the Black Gallows, who aimed their weapons at her. More Trojans slammed down from above in their pods, standing tall and firing machine guns at her. She flicked her hand upwards, forming a wall of thick ice to absorb the bullets whilst her forces advanced against them. Their Grav-Tanks and trucks roared across the dead land and immediately opened fire on the Black Gallows. The Tanks shot enormous shells of fire dust into the enemies ahead, breaking their positions.

As Lavinia stood her ground, one of the Trojans suddenly launched its heavy mechanical body straight through the ice and punched her in the face. She grunted in pain, tumbling across the ground, digging her fingers into the sand to slow herself down and blasting back towards it. She grabbed the machine under the chin and dragged it across the floor, tearing a trench in the land. She threw it ahead of her and fired multiple icicles towards the Trojan. They smashed against the metal upon contact and made the Hardlight Shields flicker in the process.

She turned to see another one was sprinting towards her and shot its machine gun at her. She flew into the air and darkened the sky, throwing lightning towards the machine beneath her feet.

Underneath her, the Vasillias Cartel continued their assault against the Black Gallows. Mercenaries took cover, keeping their heads down as bullets whistled through the air. "We can't keep up against this kind of punishment!" One of the Mercs yelled.

"We just need to buy our Infiltrators more time! Once that virus is uploaded, the Black Gallows are history!" The other Merc responded, aiming over the sand and firing a bullet through the skull of a soldier. He turned to see another one of their men being shot, luckily not fatally. He grunted as he tumbled across the floor, grabbing his shoulder.

He reached to his scroll and contacted the nearest Dreadnaught. "We need Air Support on the painted coordinates!" He yelled, aiming his laser pointer at the area where the Black Gallows had them pinned down. Mounted turrets were constantly shooting at them, cutting down soldier after soldier no matter how fast they tried to advance, and he looked to his left to see one of their armoured trucks bouncing across the sand, the machine gun on top firing at the Raven Talons in the trenches. But the heavier turrets blew it to pieces, tossing the burning wreckage into the air, sliding across the sand.

"Solid copy, firing Broadsides in five seconds. Danger Close, Danger Close!" The Dreadnaught Admiral responded.

"DANGER CLOSE!" The soldier yelled to the other Mercs, all of which ducked under the trenches as the huge Dreadnaught above them shifted across the sky, the ten Broadside Cannons built into its side aiming towards the coordinates. The Black Gallows soldiers realised too late what was coming, and the flashes of them firing made the Raven Talons scatter like flies.

Shells howled across the sky, exploding and rattling the entire landscape around them, fragmenting their defences and turrets, wiping the enemy forces out in a few seconds. Huge clumps of black sand were thrown high in the air by the massive explosions. All the Vasillias Cartel soldiers had to cover their ears from the deafening roar of the cannons blowing that area apart.

But as their Allied Dreadnaught continued to fire, suddenly missiles exploded against its hardlight shields, forcing it to change targets. Joanna looked to the sky to see the Shadow of Broken Promises was firing everything it had at them, flying towards the Vasillias Ships with the rest of its fleet. Shells exploded in the sky as they battled, with Wasps pursuing Bullheads and other Combat Aircraft.

"Joanna!" May called out, and she turned to see who had just arrived.

"Aww shit…" She sighed.

"Well, well, Elm… looks like it's time for a round two." Harriet chuckled after darting across the battlefield in a trail of gold electricity. Elm smirked, spinning her huge Hammer through her fingers, resting it on her shoulders.

"Good, I was hoping to have another crack at these two." Elm stated.

"Couldn't have put it better myself." Joanna snarled, cracking her neck. May and Joanna charged towards the two Ace Ops Huntresses, and they ran at the Happy Huntresses.

May against Harriet.

Joanna against Elm.

Lavinia slammed into the ground nearby, creating an enormous explosion of elemental energy, knocking one of the Trojans back, whilst the other pushed its heavy metal shoulder into the shock wave, only its Hardlight Shields flickering from the attack. It stood tall and extended a blade from its arm, slashing so hard and fast towards her that it also sent forward arcs of electrical energy towards her. She rolled aside to dodge the first and blasted another bolt of lightning at it.

The electricity coursed across the shielded body, but then it absorbed that energy into its systems, and the plates opened around its chest. The cyclonic core immediately fired a beam towards her, but she formed an Ice Sword, deflecting the incoming beam of energy, carving it across the ground before throwing the sword towards its chest. It cleverly closed the armour plating just in time, but she retaliated by throwing a fireball into the body before it could reactivate its shields.

The explosion broke off multiple plates of armour and sent it sliding down the slope. She flew after it and grabbed onto the back of its head, smashing it against the floor over and over to damage it. Until the second Trojan launched itself into her side from the left, tumbling down the slope with her. She rocketed into the air again, throwing gigantic balls of ice she conjured at them. The Trojan cut them in half every single time before extending an electrified cable from its other arm and swinging it up towards her, wrapping the cable around her body and slamming her against the ground with substantial force.

The Trojan jumped high in the air with a thrust from its feet and smashed its fist into the ground where her head just was, and as she rolled out of the way onto her back, she blasted two bolts of lightning into its chest. The blast threw the Trojan against the wall of sand, and she held her hands towards the Trojan as sand fell over it, and she blasted flames into the sand, melting it into obsidian.

The Trojan crackled as it tried to break free, giving her time to focus on the other, which was already right behind her. It slashed at her with its blade, only narrowly missing when she dodged it, and forming both an ice and fire sword. She slashed across the hardlight shields and dashed backwards to bait it into using its Cyclonic Beam again. And luckily, whilst the droids were smarter than Atlesian Knights, they were still predictable.

It did indeed open its chest and charged up its laser. Lavinia took that as her opportunity, and threw her fire sword into the core, detonating it and eradicating the Trojan from the inside. The Droid detonating in an electrical explosion, throwing chunks of broken metal everywhere. The other ripped free from the glass, immediately slashing its electrical cable at her, only narrowly missing her, but this time she caught the cable and took the pain. She yanked it forward so hard that she ripped the cable from its arm and flew towards it, wrapping it around one of its arms and flying overhead. The swivel its arm could turn on snapped instantly, and with a hard tug, the arm shattered instantly.

She flew past it as it stumbled across the sand and found the Hardlight Shield Generator in its back and smashed her fist straight through it, ripping the cables and even some cells of Hardlight Dust from the pack, tossing it across the floor. The Trojan spun around on the spot, using the swivel it had in the centre of its torso, and punched Lavinia across the face with its other arm.

Even with her Aura and Maiden Powers, that nearly knocked her unconscious.

As she slid across the ground, she stared ahead at the Trojan as it sprinted towards her, then lifted massive roots from the ground which pierced between its plates and tunnelled inside of its body. The Trojan glared at it as the roots pulled cables apart, and finally, she yanked them apart, ripping the Trojan to ribbons from the inside, eventually detonating in an explosion.

"Gods, I hate those things." She sighed.

On the other side of the battle, Joanna rolled across the sand, narrowly avoiding the incoming missiles from Elm's Rocket launcher, but she immediately got upright and jumped, smashing her knee into Elm's face. The massive Huntress was thrown back across the floor, crashing against the floor with sand kicked up around them. Joanna rushed towards her, firing her Crossbow at her, but Elm deflected it with the hammer as it transformed, and she swung it towards Joanna's face.

She raised her Crossbow Staff, but the impact knocked the weapon from her grasp, sending it crashing across the floor. Elm punched Joanna extremely hard in the gut before swinging around and smashing her across the side of the face with her hammer. Joanna grunted, her body skipping across the sand like a stone across water. As she rolled to a stop, Elm jumped towards her with a furious roar. Hammer held above her head as she swung downwards.

Joanna rolled to the left and as Elm crashed into the ground like a meteor, she swiftly punched Elm in the side of the head, hooking one arm under her jaw and throwing her against the floor. Elm grunted and swung her hammer, dragging the head of it across the sand before smashing it downwards towards Joanna. She held up both hands, stopping the Hammer, nearly falling to one knee in the process. She ripped the hammer from Elm's grasp and threw it across the battlefield to even the odds.

Elm reached out for her hammer, only for Joanna to punch her in the centre of her face once again, making the Ace Ops Huntress stagger back. She gritted her teeth and scoffed. "Alright then… old fashioned way it is." Elm accepted, raising her fists, and Joanna did the same.

May grunted as Harriet shot across the sand and punched her across the cheek, and before she could even stop stumbling from that punch, she swiftly did the same thing again, hitting her from behind. May rolled across the ground and looked around for her, then spotted her atop one of the rocks. "Gods… who the hell trained you? You call yourself a Huntress?" Harriet scoffed. May narrowed her eyes and spun her Staff through her fingers, watching the Ace Ops member, keeping her senses sharp.

"Lemme show you what it means to really be a Huntress." Harriet stated, darting forward at her, but May smirked and vanished into thin air. Harriet swung and her eyes widened, remembering that was her semblance.

"Oh… you were saying? I would have thought you'd remember to never underestimate your enemy… and to remember what an enemy you've fought before is capable of." May's voice chuckled, sounding like she was all around her. May appeared behind Harriet, smashing her Staff across the side of her head, sending her tumbling across the sand, and swiftly shooting a Crossbow Bolt at her. Harriet smacked it out of the air and rushed towards her, but May quickly stood aside and cut down the back of her leg, causing Harriet to roll through the sand once again. "Oh, I'm sorry… did I stomp on your parade?"

"Shut up!" Harriet yelled, launching herself towards May and smashing both fists into the ground, creating a pulse of electricity which pushed her back. May slid across the sand, then swiftly deflected her incoming punches. Harriet swiped her leg across May's knocking her to the floor and punched down into her chest, smashing May against the floor. Harriet then grabbed May by the collar and sprinted at full speed across the battlefield, dragging the Happy Huntress with her and throwing her into the wall.

May grunted, and Harriet immediately smashed her arm against her throat, pinning her to the wall. "All of this will be for nothing. You have all lost!" Harriet yelled.

"Did you never learn when to shut your trap?" May yelled back, whacking her head against Harriet's. The Hare snarled and immediately went to punch her in the face with her Exo-Enhanced fist, only to miss now that May had disappeared once again. A crossbow bolt suddenly shot into her back, exploding and throwing Harriet against the wall. As she smashed into the trench wall, May suddenly appeared, slamming her staff against her throat, pushing her up the wall. "You betrayed everything the Huntsmen and Huntresses stood for…" May snarled.

May twisted and grabbed Harriet by the throat, and slammed her against the ground. Harriet kicked into her chest with both feet, and flipped backwards, raising her fists.

May smirked, spinning her Staff through her fingers.

Ghira

The Grimm just kept coming.

One by one they continued to pour out of the Tar Pits, and more massive beasts were emerging as well. Ghira roared with rage, effortlessly cleaving a Beowulf in half with his clawed hands, digging them deep into the black flesh and tearing it in two. He turned his gaze with wide eyes as Leviathans tore through their forces, burning them alive with the beams they shot from their Crocodilian Jaws. But one of them roared with rage as missiles exploded against the side of its head when a Bullhead flew past with Rocket Launcher Soldiers firing at it constantly.

It swung its huge hand at the vehicle and smashed one of the wings apart, causing it to spin out of control and plummet into the Lake of Tar. The soldiers screamed in terror and agony as creepy Grimm Hands and claws grabbed onto them and dragged them into the deep to be consumed by the destructive power of this Primordial Form of Death. It was terrifying to watch their people be cut down so effortlessly like this, bringing back so many memories of the last Revolution attempt years ago.

But he hardened himself to the death and roared with rage. "Don't give up! Keep fighting!" Because with every person they lost more reinforcements from across the Globe were arriving, Faunus and Human alike, fighting for their common survival against the Queen of Darkness.

Ghira sprinted across the battlefield towards the Feral Ones, who were also being deployed alongside the Grimm. Under Salem's command the Grimm knew not to attack the Feral Ones, which made matters even harder. As he rushed towards them, they fired their machine guns at him whilst Beowulves also charged towards him. But as the Beowulf swiped its claws at his face, he grabbed it by the throat and turned it around, using it as a meat shield to block the incoming bullets.

The Beowulf howled in pain as its body was shredded by incoming bullets, and the Feral Ones felt great fear as the massive man got closer and closer. He suddenly threw the beast towards the Feral Ones, knocking three of them over and jumping towards the two still on their feet. He grabbed the rifle of one and ripped it from his grasp, smashing it across the face of the other.

The now disarmed soldier went to reach for his knife, but Ghira grabbed him by the throat, lifting him off the floor and throwing him against the ground so hard it knocked him unconscious. If he was given the option, he would always choose to incapacitate rather than slay, but only if he had that option. As the other soldier showed, drawing a sword and slashing it at him. He grabbed onto the hand which held the sword, digging his claws into his wrist to make him drop the sword. But he still drew his pistol to shoot him in the chest, forcing him to ram the sword into his ribs.

The Feral One crashed to the floor with blood pooling from his wound.

The last three stood up, until Ilia suddenly vaulted over Ghira's shoulder and drop-kicked one of the soldiers in the face, sending him flying back. She wrapped Lightning Lash around one of the Feral Ones' throat, shocking him with the electrical dust built into the weapon, and kicked the other in the knee. As he tried to get up, she released the now unconscious soldier she shocked and smashed the blunt end of her weapon against the side of his head, directly against the temple, knocking him out instantly.

The last soldier yelled with rage, drawing both pistols and firing them at her. Ilia slashed Lightning Lash swiftly, deflecting every bullet before extending it into blade form, skewering through his heart and killing him instantly. She panted, turning to Ghira, who nodded his head at her.

Nearby, Sienna and Kali continued to battle against the Grimm together.

Sienna swung Cerberus' Whip forward, launching explosive blades from the links towards the Sabyrs which sprinted towards her, roaring savagely, but the second the blades stabbed into their bodies, they detonated and blew the Grimm apart, throwing chunks of bone and black flesh across the terrain. She swiftly swung her chain forward and wrapped it around the throat of an Ursa Major and pulled herself towards it and rolled across its shoulder. As she landed behind it, she yanked it to the ground, causing it to fall and get stuck in the sand thanks to its elongated spines.

She jumped over it and snapped the beast's neck with the chain, landing on the other side of it. Sienna turned as Apathy continued to emerge from the pools of Tar, screeching at the White Fang soldiers, breaking their will completely so Grimm could feed on their broken bodies. She gritted her teeth and launched more explosive blades towards the Apathy, effortlessly killing them, but the Grimm continued to flood the battlefield.

Spinescorchers also reappeared from the Lake, roaring as they attacked their forces, burning them alive with their lethal attacks. Sienna looked around as more Grimm surrounded her, snarling savagely, but she just cracked her neck and waited for the beasts to make their first move. The Beowulf went first, jumping at her, but she slashed it out of the air with her whip, and twirled on the spot, smashing the head of a Creep into the ground so hard that the armoured skull cracked upon contact.

Sienna rolled backwards as a Centinel suddenly lunged for her, snapping its pincers at where she just was, then rearing up and shooting acidic blood from its jaws at her. She rolled once again and sprinted towards the beast. She wrapped her chain around its body and yanked back, folding it double over its own spine, splitting it in half. As she looked around, she gasped as a Manticore flew towards her, blasting a fireball at her. It narrowly missed and as she turned, she threw the chain upwards, wrapping it around its wing.

With a hard tug, a bone crunched in the wing, sending the beast crashing into the ground. It stumbled back to its feet, swinging its long scorpion tail at her, but she slid across the sand and threw another blade with ice loaded into it, freezing the other wing solid. She jumped towards it and smashed it with the chain. The Manticore roared with immense pain before she threw another explosive blade down its gullet, detonating it inside of its throat.

The skull of the beast exploded, spraying black blood everywhere.

Kali, on the other hand, stood her ground as the beasts surrounded her, with her dual swords gripped tightly in her hands. A Boarbatusk grunted as it paced back and forth, before it suddenly spun and launched towards her, but she rolled aside and as it crashed against one of the rocks, she rammed one of her blades into its chest, killing it instantly. She ripped the blade free, coated in thick black blood. A Beowulf jumped towards her but she stabbed it through the chest with them both, pushing it away.

She rolled backwards and slashed through the throat of an Apathy which nearly snuck up on her, killing it before it could even screech at her. The call of more Grimm echoed as they came for her. She saw Griffin's glide across the sky and they were headed in her direction. One of them swung its talons at her, but she cut downwards, cleaving through its wing in one hard swing. The beast smashed into the ground so hard that the impact alone killed it, but the other Griffin landed and slid across the floor behind her.

It wasted no time in trying to swallow her whole, but she rammed both swords into its mouth, forcing them to stay open, before she rolled aside and directed the creature to fall into the sand. It stumbled, writhing on the floor as it tried to get back up, but she threw one of her swords directly into the creature's eye. After retrieving the sword from its eye, the ground suddenly exploded and her eyes widened as a Blind Worm reared back, roaring at her.

She gripped her swords tight and the creature spat a concentrated beam of acid at her, melting rocks wherever it landed. But she sprinted around the creature. She rolled forward just as it dove back into the ground, pursuing her towards the rocks that went upwards. She clambered up them and the Blind Worm erupted beneath her, screeching as it spat more acid up at her.

But she smirked and jumped off the rocks early and dove towards the beast, stabbing it through the mouth. It shrieked in immense pain, swinging its body around as it tried to be free from her, but she reached into her pocket and dropped a live grenade in its throat, kicking off its face.

The grenade exploded, blowing its skull apart, and the body fell silent and lifeless, crashing in front of Kali, not even flinching as the titan landed before her.

Vernal

The Summit's Claim Warriors held their ground at the Foot of Evernight.

With Team C.F.V at their side, Vernal and Sashaa continued to hold the Grimm off as they continued to attack. Vernal slashed Wind and Fire across the bodies of two Beowulves, before rolling backwards to shoot them both in the head. She sprinted and jumped on top of one of the steps, firing down at the Apathy, which were still coming out of the pools of Grimm, slowly trying to break the soldiers.

Bullets shot across the sky and Vernal turned to see Coco, Velvet and Fox stood back to back, fighting off the Grimm together. Coco roared with rage as she shredded incoming Nevermores down to nothing with Gianduja, and Velvet formed Yatsuhashi's beloved Fulcrum with Anesidora. Velvet yelled as she cut three Sabyrs down in one hard swing, and Fox roared with fury, slashing through a Beowulf's throat with Sharp Retribution. The Grimm stumbled as blood poured from the open wound, and he jumped forward, driving both blades into its chest.

"They're still coming…" Fox sent to the rest of his team. Coco transformed Gianduja into its handbag form as a Howler Grimm jumped from one of the crystals towards her, slashing its claws at her face, only narrowly missing.

"Come on, then, you little bastard!" Coco yelled, smashing the bag across its face so hard that its canine snapped instantly from the attack. She kicked it in the knee and as it fell, she swung her bag downwards against the top of its skull, so hard it killed the beast instantly.

"Look out!" Velvet called out, shifting from Fulcrum to Crescent Rose, a weapon that was lost a very long time ago. She transformed it into sniper rifle mode, firing a precise shot which hit a Griffin through the eye in one shot. The beast crashed against the side of the castle, smashing through one of the windows.

Coco turned with wide eyes when hearing the nearby roar of Adam Taurus from above, seeing him jumping in the air and slashing arcs of red energy towards Blake and Yang, where they were still fighting. Part of her wanted to give them some backup, but she knew they had to keep the Grimm from following them into the castle.

The Children of Salem were dangerous enough even without Grimm biting at their heels.

Nearby, Sashaa fought with her people from the Summit's Claim.

Altum Eagles continued to battle as well, slashing their talons across their bodies, and the Archers fired their Elemental Arrows for their Eagles to grab onto just as Dulcis did. They ignited into Phoenixes, burning the Grimm to ash as they flew overhead, thinning the numbers a great deal. Sashaa fired shot after shot after finding a good vantage point, getting headshot after headshot thanks to her precise aiming.

Vernal sprinted ahead, throwing Fire forward and the spinning circular blade instantly beheaded a Beowulf, causing it to collapse to the ground. But she stayed with their forces, looking around.

"Are you sure they can handle them?" Coco asked her.

"They've fought the people in that castle before… we have to trust them." Vernal stated, and Coco sighed.

"It's always something huge with these guys, I swear." Coco chuckled.

Marrow

"Okay, you're close. That next door leads to the bridge. Expect heavy resistance!" Dutch warned, but the three of them continued to sprint towards the door. Vine approached the lock, and he crouched down, hacking into it so they could gain access to it. Fiona looked up at the cameras and she narrowed her eyes, knowing that someone was definitely waiting for them behind that door.

"C'mon, c'mon…" Marrow was bouncing on his toes with nervous anticipation.

The doors finally opened, and he felt his blood run cold.

He was immediately shot in the chest; the impact sent him flying across the floor. If not for his aura, he would have been killed. He groaned in pain, his blue aura faintly shimmering. Vine did not even flinch, just scowled at who it was. Marrow stared back at him and Fiona ran to his side, helping him back up.

"Well, well… look who it is. I had a feeling you traitors would show up." Clover chuckled, shaking his head as he lowered his gun. He had a pair of Obsidian Glaives beside him, armed to the teeth and ready for a tense battle.

"Step aside, Clover. This does not need to go this way… the Black Gallows… Salem… all of it ends tonight. It's time for Remnant to blossom with a new and better future." Vine stated.

"There is no future without the Black Gallows. No security… no order… you destroy us and Remnant has nothing." Clover stated.

"How about peace?" Fiona interjected.

"Things were perfectly peaceful until everyone decided they wanted more than what their Queen had given them." Clover said.

"Tell that to all the children the Black Gallows slaughtered… my friends… your friends." Marrow reminded, pointing at him. Clover narrowed his eyes with anger. "The Black Cells messed us up… messed you up… but I haven't forgotten who I am. Or what I stand for." He stated, aiming Fetch at him. "So step aside… do the right thing."

Clover scoffed, shaking his head, and drawing his Fishing Rod.

"No." Clover snarled, Marrow closed his eyes with grief, knowing how this had to end.

"Then you've made your choice."

Author Note - They're so close to ending the Black Gallows once and for all

Just gotta get through Clover and the Obsidian Glaives first

Was a fun chapter, always enjoy writing this big action sequences, can't wait to get back to the other battles though. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Sorry it's taken me a while to update lately, Summer is a hard time for writing, especially with my Hay Fever. But here we are :)

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Stay tuned for the next chapter!

- Matt