Chapter 25 – Atlantis
Jaune
The blinding golden light was only matched by its deafening boom.
He looked away and jolted after seeing the solar flare erupt in the sky above Atlas, then he nearly lost all hearing when the enormous explosion detonated. The shock wave hit moments later, already knocking down buildings and cracking the walls. Grimm were launched across the ground as the city above was laid to waste by the Relic of Destruction's devastating power.
Jaune stared at the sky, eyes widening as the glow from the massive blast faded away, and his burning eyes saw what had just happened. And it made him feel true dread in his gut, as he saw the burning remnants of Atlas tipping towards them. The flames reached high into the sky, polluting the air with black smoke, and the screams from the floating city could no longer be heard. The deep groan of the city echoed from above. The Gravity Dust stabilisers flickered and finally they shut down.
"EVERYBODY RUN!" Jaune roared as loud as he could, and they all ran away from the plummeting city's landing zone. Or at least they attempted to. They had a few minutes before the city made impact. The landscape shattered like glass, throwing huge chunks of it sky high. Soldiers screamed in terror as the wall was completely blown to dust by the blast front.
The entire city of Mantle was flattened behind them, crushing the Mass Accelerator Cannon under its weight. The entire mass of Atlas broke apart on impact, flooding Mantle with flames. Massive clouds of fire barrelled through what was left of the city as everything collapsed and sank into the ground. Soldiers screamed as they fell into the collapsing ground, huge fissures splitting open all around them.
J.N.P.R and Qrow ran as fast as they could, but Qrow transformed into his Corvid form as the ground crumbled beneath his feet. They jumped across the fissure, which opened across the road, and tumbled down it as it ruptured, tipping downwards and sending them sliding down. The road flipped through the air and they jumped onto what remained of the wall as fire spread through the area beneath them. They watched in terror as fatally wounded soldiers were consumed by the flames, dying a slow and horrific death.
They could not see everyone else through the destruction, but Ren looked up and gasped as a massive building fall towards them, completely aflame from the explosion and crashing into the road behind them. The road fractured into tiny chunks, throwing them all forward. They tumbled through the destroyed street, and Jaune spun around, slicing through the throat of a Beowulf. He raised his shield as a tanker from one of the bridges crashed into the ground and exploded, blowing Jaune against the wall so hard that his golden aura flickered.
Pyrrha swiftly rushed to his side, helping him back up to his feet, and they continued to run as meteors of burning buildings and rubble came crashing down from above after the tremendous explosion that decimated Atlas above. Soldiers screamed in agony and terror as they were flattened by the chunks of rubble, but Grimm continued to clamber over the remains of the city to kill whoever was still inside. J.N.P.R sprinted towards a destroyed Apartment Building, climbing over whatever they could as it collapsed beneath them.
"Shit!" Jaune yelled, then all four of them plummeted into the burning building. They struggled desperately as the flames burned against their aura, trying to climb out… but through the smoke, Ren's eyes widened as he saw the incoming torrent of water come crashing over the horizon where the ocean was. The Tsunami impacted with intense force, knocking the destroyed buildings over and flooding into what remained. The water flooded inside and extinguished the flames, ripping them through the wall.
They struggled, trying to fight the current, as chunks of rubble in the water clattered and cut across their bodies. Pyrrha smashed against the side of a building, then ignited her Fall Maiden eyes, blasting out of the water and shooting powerful beams of ice into the waves, freezing them solid for as long as she could, but massive chunks of rubble being carried by the current smashed into it, spreading cracks across the frozen wave.
It crumbled and sent another wave towards them, but she bought them all enough time to climb onto a destroyed building, laying on the roof as massive currents of water flowed around them. They panted in terror, laying on their backs as they saw the burning debris come falling from the sky, and the vast cloud from the explosion still looming overhead.
Jaune gritted his teeth, sweating and drenched, as he saw the black and red lightning bolt of Vir Nominis Umbra blasting up into the sky, leaving as soon as he arrived. "He won… by the gods… he has the Relic…" Ren panted in terror as he stared at the clouds filled with smoke.
"All those people…" Nora gasped, her eyes wide, but Jaune focused at the sky as he stammered, seeing the smoke trail of an airship which crashed nearby.
"Ruby… the others… they must still be alive…" He muttered to himself with hope in his voice. But as they laid there to catch their breath, they felt the structure beneath them weaken, and they knew they couldn't stay here much longer. Jaune was the first to get back up, spotting the cracks as they spread across the concrete and bricks beneath them.
"Damn it, this thing isn't gonna hold!" Pyrrha held out her hands, blasting a pair of icy beams of magic into the rushing water, but as she created a frozen bridge to cross, they realised the water level was still rising, and turned to see that more water was rushing in as well from places apart from the Ocean itself. Massive glaciers have split open from the seismic pulses created by Atlas' impact, sending more and more water from contained natural reservoirs their way, and continuing to submerge the ruins of the once great city.
They jumped onto the ice and ran as fast as they could, desperately attempting to not slip over on its surface, but more and more burning debris rained from the heavens, crashing into the ground and causing more massive waves, smashing into the sides of buildings which were still standing. Water was also spilling from the manmade reservoirs from the fractured remnants of Atlas.
Pretty soon, all that would be left behind of Atlas and Mantle would just be a massive lake.
They jumped across just at the perfect moment, as a Hellfire Tank caught in the current was effortlessly thrown into the icy bridge that Pyrrha forged, breaking it apart and washing it away. Soldiers screamed in terror as they were thrown around in the current, impaled into spikes of rubble and even being dragged under by something. Ren looked around and his eyes widened at what he saw.
The glowing red eyes of Grimm…
"You're kidding me…" Ren stammered. "Oceanic Grimm! They're using the flood to get into the water!" He yelled to the rest of his team, looking around. They landed onto the roof of a car parking block, but as they stood there, preparing to figure out where to go next, Nora shoved Jaune away as a burning piece of rubble crashed into the roof they were standing on. It caved in on itself, sending them all crashing down inside of the collapsing building. They all fell into the water, trying to swim back up to the top, and Pyrrha activated her Maiden Powers to blast out, but suddenly another building tipped over and crashed on top of theirs.
"No!" The impact shattered Pyrrha's aura, nearly knocking her unconscious. Jaune held her close and looked around desperately, hearing the rushing water flooding the building and getting higher and higher. To the point where they could see it now.
"We're not going out like this!" Jaune yelled, looking around and sprinting to the doors nearby, smashing his shoulder against it, but as it opened, water blasted through and flooded into where they were, already reaching the height of the door. "Shit!"
The water quickly started to flood and Pyrrha tried blasting her ice powers into the door, but her lack of aura and dazed head weakened her powers, and it was still not enough to freeze the torrent that was blasting inside. Out of options, Nora swung Magnhild into the rubble of the building that collapsed on top of them, trying to break open a path. They all worked together, forcing all their body weight against the rubble that was weighing down on them. Jaune's eyes widened, turning to the walls, and he gasped.
"Get back!"
The rest of the roof collapsed under the weight of the building that was on top of them, burying them in the rubble. They all screamed in pain as their auras shattered, pinned beneath too much rubble to free themselves from. "No! NO!" Nora screamed in terror as the water continued to rise around them. "Please no! Not like this!" she screamed, struggling to breathe as the rubble pressed against her chest, spluttering from the water.
Pyrrha gritted her teeth, pushing as hard as she could, trying to manifest any possible aura into her semblance, but it was not enough. Jaune growled as he pushed harder and harder against the rubble, but it was hopeless.
It was an entire building.
The water level was now reaching their heads as they pushed up as hard as they could, and Pyrrha held Jaune's hand, both staring into each other's eyes, whilst Ren tried reaching for Nora, but they were too far apart.
Light bled through, and a loud crash erupted from above. They all looked up and gasped, to see the damaged hand of a Colossus grabbing onto the huge chunks of rubble, pulling them apart and opening the way out. Kaa and some White Fang slid down the side of the Colossus' arm and ran to their aid. "Get that shit off them!" Kaa commanded, and they all worked together, pushing and pulling the heavy chunks of rubble from the Huntsmen and Huntresses trapped down there. Eventually, they were freed and could breathe.
"Oh gods, thank you!" Jaune panted.
"Don't thank us yet! Get onto the Colossus!" Kaa ordered, and they took her advice, following the White Fang soldiers as they clambered up the heavy plates of metal to get up there to safety. The Colossus was extremely damaged, massive gashes and chunks of armour lost, sparks leaking from the injured places, but it was still marching through the waves with ease.
"You kids are lucky I spotted you. Most of our forces are dead, maybe eighty percent killed in the impact… we're trying to find the stragglers now that the worst of the impact has stopped. But we need to get the hell out of here before this whole place is completely submerged." The Pilot ordered.
"How many… of us are left?" Pyrrha mumbled to Jaune, and they panted.
"I don't know…" Kaa answered, hanging onto the side as she looked around. "What about Branwen? We saw he was fighting with you against Death."
"I dunno, he flew off." Jaune panted.
"Yeah… just left us." Nora scoffed.
"I don't think so… I saw the smoke trail of an airship crashing from where Atlas was. It could have been Team R.W.B.Y. He's probably going there." Jaune explained.
Nora nodded her head, still shaken like the rest from what would have been a very horrible death. Pain flowed in their bodies, and they had some bleeding wounds but nothing fatal… but the question continued to loom in their minds.
Who's left?
Oscar
The sound of destruction was everywhere, and the Last Traveller sprinted as fast as he could to get back to the others as the landscape broke apart around him. The clock slowed as he activated his semblance, jumping from piece to piece of shattered buildings, before jumping across and rolling along the ground, drawing Traveller's Atrocity and slicing through the arm of a Thrall, cutting it clean off. The Thrall screamed at him with fury, only to be silenced as he rammed the sword straight through its open jaws.
Sun was still on the floor, hallucinating from Fear's toxin, but he was trying to fight it with every second that its toxicity faded. He growled, swinging at the air at the reanimated corpses of the people he cared for all around him. Hazel and Mazen both held on. The White Fang Lieutenant drove his Chainsword into the ground with all his might, grinding the spinning teeth through the concrete to dig deeper and lock himself in.
The building they were on floated across the forming lake, crashing against some buildings as it made its way across what remained of the Kingdom. Hazel held Sun's shoulder as they looked around, seeing the Knight of Fear circling them from above in his Undead Bat form. Oscar stared at the sky, gritting, when he saw Death and Fury hovering above with their wings sprouted from their backs.
"Knights of Grimm! Our duty here is complete." Death commanded, yet he remained still, staring at the devastation of Atlas. Oscar could tell from here that Krekras was still trying to fight the curse of Ferrum Arctus, but it still had its hold over him. The fact Death hesitated to leave was all the proof he needed. Even Fury looked shocked by what Vir Nominis Umbra had done.
Somehow all of this… it made what happened to Arkhonex look pale in comparison.
At least Arkhonex could still be found. Atlas would become just like it now. A forgotten city sunken into the planet beneath a new Glacier in many years to come. If they killed Vir Nominis Umbra, of course… otherwise, none of this would mean a thing, and there would be no future generations to discover this city.
Fear screeched from above and they gasped, watching as black smoke ruptured around the Bat's body and it dropped from the sky momentarily before regaining control. "The hell's going on with him?" Hazel questioned.
"The curse… I think… they must be close to breaking free from it soon." Oscar explained.
"Well, I hope they can figure it out eventually." Hazel panted, before turning and his eyes widening. "Look out!" He yelled.
The devastation of the impact forced them all to split up. Oscar managed to get back to them, but Junior and the Malachites could not be found anywhere. As Oscar turned to what Hazel yelled at, he saw another destroyed building protruding from the crashing waves, and the building they were on crashed into it. The spire of the tower exploded upon contact, and Hazel lifted Sun with ease and held onto him, jumping from their building to another, sliding down it and pressing one hand against the wall. Mazen and Oscar did the same, only narrowly jumping at the right time when the building broke apart beneath their feet, disappearing beneath the waves.
Mazen held onto Oscar, stopping him from rolling off the side, and drove his Chainsword into the wall to slow himself down. The four of them were back together now, and Hazel glanced at Sun, seeing he was still shaking and sweating, but he was no longer screaming in terror. The effects of Fear's gas were wearing off, which was good news. Oscar looked around as the water smashed into the building that they stood on, and he could see the Colossus that was carrying J.N.P.R and Kaa across the ruins from them.
More soldiers struggled in the water, some being impaled by the rubble, others drowning, and others dragged into the water by the Grimm that surged through in the Tsunami. It was only now that Oscar could see the level of destruction from Atlas' impact, outside of the obvious flattening and flooding of Mantle – the landscape was completely different. The tundra had essentially been blown away by the shock wave, and enormous cracks had split open across the land, causing a massive earthquake in the process.
It was definitely the impact which triggered the Tsunami, there was no doubt in his mind about that.
Oscar climbed up the wall to look around, then he heard someone desperately yelling. "Hold on!" It was Junior. He turned and saw the muscular man reaching down into the rubble of the building they were now on.
"Junior!" Oscar yelled.
"Help! Militia and Melanie! They're trapped! The water's rising!" Junior begged, Oscar used what little Aura he had left, slowing time and running carefully down the side of the building to get there even faster. He slid to Junior's side and saw them, trapped underneath collapsed rubble and rebar, stopping Junior from fitting his arm through.
"Please! Help! There's Grimm in here!" Melanie begged as she held onto the rebar as the water slowly continued to rise towards her chin.
"We've got you!" Oscar promised. He reached his much thinner arm through and grabbed onto Militia, since she was the closest one. But she screamed in immense pain, and they saw blood burst from her leg, and his eyes widened. He could barely see through the water filled with dust and rubble, but he could see her leg was shredded to the bone, the ankle dangling from sinew and wedged between the chunks. "Oh… shit…"
"Oh god! They're coming!" Melanie screamed. Suddenly, her terror turned to agony as a Grimm Shark bit onto her leg and dragged her under. Her screams became muffled under the water before turning silent. Oscar jolted in horror, only seeing blood and the thrashing of massive tails, and he closed his eyes, looking away in shock as he listened to the desperate cries of Militia who tried to free what was left of her leg.
Junior refused to let go of her, but they could not get her through the rebar and rubble. It was too tight for her to get through. Beneath her, the Sharks were snapping their jaws at where she was, unable to get to her, but the water grew higher and higher.
"PLEEEAAA-" Her screams were drowned in the water as she tried to get free, only for her to slowly drown under the water.
"Militia!" Junior screamed as he tried to get to her, only to see her disappear as she was snatched away by the marine Grimm as well. "NOO!" Junior howled, but Oscar pulled him away, squeezing his eyes shut in grief.
"I'm sorry, Junior… there… there was nothing we could have done…" He apologised, feeling sick to his stomach for not being able to save either of them.
They were… right there… in front of me…
The ground collapsed as the Grimm Sharks threw themselves towards the building, sensing their presence. "We've got to go!" He yelled, pulling Junior back, when suddenly a shark erupted and slammed its heavy body down where Oscar's foot just was. Its jaws slammed shut so fast that the lips had to catch up, showing its huge rows of razor-sharp teeth. It thrashed its long tail rapidly as it tried to get closer to them, but Junior bellowed with anger and fired his Bazooka down its throat, blowing it to pieces.
Black blood splattered all over them, and he buried his head in his hands.
Oscar looked at Mazen and Hazel, who both turned when they heard the screech of Fear once again, but this time the Undead Bat was flying directly towards the two of them. He spun through the air and transformed into Knight form, landing across the waves from them on another building. He spun his Scythe through his fingers with a smirk, eyes glowing a brighter gold than usual.
The curse was in full control. Rylen was not there to reason with only the maniacal monster in control of his body. "Oscar, get Junior and yourself to Sun and protect him. The effects of the toxin are wearing off, but he needs time. Mazen and I will keep Fear off you." Hazel ordered, and the Last Traveller nodded his head, pulling the grieving Junior over to where Sun was grabbing his head, fighting the hallucinations off.
Fear laughed as he walked to the edge of the Mass Accelerator Cannon's barrel, which was buried in the ground. "Shall we continue where we left off?" Fear asked, arms outstretched and smirking sadistically.
"We saw you nearly fall, Rylen. Fight the bastard that's controlling you." Hazel commanded. Fear didn't say a word, but his head twitched slightly.
C'mon, Rylen… fight it…
But Fear suddenly blasted up into the air, wings erupting from his back and he slashed across the water towards the two of them, the curved blade slicing through the waves and splashing it across the building. They both rolled aside and Mazen's Chainsword roared to life. Mazen swiftly ducked down as Fear swung Formido Falcem over the top of his masked head, only narrowly missing him. He retaliated with a hard punch to the side of Fear's face and drove the sword and its rotating teeth into Fear's shoulder, bringing him down to one knee. He roared in fury as the Chainsword ripped the flesh apart and nearly cut his arm off.
Fear's eyes shone bright gold and his jaws opened wide, and he roared in a demonic screech into his face, making even the battle hardened Mazen recoil back. Fear spun around, slashing across Mazen's face, before kicking him in the chest and through the wall. He tumbled and stabbed his Chainsword into the floor, only narrowly stopping himself from falling into the Grimm-Infested waters.
Hazel grabbed a chunk of rubble and threw it into Fear's face, so hard that his skull cracked, making him stumble aside. Fear shoved Hazel to the side as he ran towards him. He rolled across the ground but punched both fists into the concrete, blowing it apart and ripping the rebar out with a sizeable chunk of rubble still attached to it. He jumped and smashed it down against the top of Fear's head, smashing his face against the floor. He then uppercutted Fear so hard it created a small shock wave. Fear rolled backwards, firing his crossbow at him, before darting forward and slashing across Hazel's chest.
His aura continued to hold out against the Knight's strikes, then Mazen jumped overhead, slamming his Chainsword against the ground, cutting the Crossbow clean in half. Fear spun on the spot, swinging the huge Scythe over his head, but Mazen deflected it with his blade. Sparks flew from the impact, and as Fear blasted a cloud of Fear Toxin from his mouth like a dragon at Mazen, he stomped down, hardening his aura with his Crystallisation Semblance. The gas flowed around him like a river round a rock, allowing Hazel to vault over his shoulder with his breath held, and he drop-kicked Fear in the chest.
He rolled across the ground, getting closer to the water, then Mazen rushed forward, slamming his sword down against Formido Falcem, grinding the Chainsaw Teeth against the curved blade, throwing sparks all over the area, glaring into his golden eyes. Hazel turned and picked up a scaffold pole on the ground and sprinted at the Knight, jumping high in the air, and driving the Pole straight through Fear's ribs.
The impact caused the ground to collapse, and send the impaled Fear plummeting into the water below, roaring with anger as he disappeared, crushed beneath the waves and rubble as a house plummeted down from Atlas, crushing him where he fell.
They both panted and looked at each other, nodding.
Oscar held onto Sun, keeping him still, but his eyes still stared at the bloodbath in the water where the Malachites met a horrible end… then his eyes widened…
… he saw something big down there…
Kassius
The Oncoming Shadow was gone. The shock wave killed most of them and as Cinder flew herself and held onto Kassius; they saw the Reality Splits collapse in on themselves. "He did it… Umbra's got the Relic of Destruction. He's pulling his forces out." Kassius deduced.
"I kinda got that, y'know… from watching Atlas explode?" Cinder scoffed.
"I know… I just… fuck…" His mind was focusing on Yang. He didn't even know if he would see her again, but where would you even begin to look?
"Hey. She's alive, okay? We just need to get back and figure out what's going on, okay? How many people are left…" Cinder explained. She flew as fast as she could, carrying someone as well meant that she had less thrust, but she couldn't just leave him out there in the cold like that.
The flames in Atlas were unlike anything they had ever seen, and it looked like the entire city had sunken further into the ground than it was. The fire was nearly reaching the height as some skyscrapers. They knew that nobody was left on Atlas alive, but the people down below were a bigger mystery. Most were certainly dead from the impact, and then the flooding just made it worse. The closer they got to the devastation, the warmer it felt, and the less snow was around them.
Stray Grimm remained as they ran into the flooded city, and they hovered above it, staring at the destruction as water flooded in.
All that was left of Mantle was the southern side, being flooded heavily, maybe nearly being completely submerged at this point. But they could see people stranded atop floating buildings or what remained of skyscrapers as the water levels increased. Flares fired up into the air. Kassius turned and sighed with some relief.
"The Drift of Wandering Star is still kicking… looks like it's all that's left up there with a couple other Dreadnaughts. The rest… they're all gone." Kassius gasped, just looking around at the destruction, seeing the wrecks of Dreadnaughts scattered in the Tundra, still aflame. Some were even washed into the city when the Tsunami hit.
Cinder gasping caught his attention, and he followed her gaze, to see Emerald and Neo were still standing, fighting alongside some surviving soldiers against Grimm which were trying to get aboard the rooftops as well to kill them. And not only them, but the only other surviving Colossus was there as well – only two were left standing, and both were incredibly damaged as well. "Em…" Cinder gasped. She looked at him and he just nodded.
She flew down and dropped him right behind them, and he landed on the back of a soaking wet Ursa, driving both Lash Equinox swords into its throat, killing it instantaneously. He jumped off its body and stood before them, seeing Emerald sigh with relief, smiling. Cinder landed and immediately ran to her, embracing her warmly, kissing her lovingly. "Thank the gods…" she sighed, pressing her forehead against Emerald's.
"You good?" Kassius asked Neo, hand on her shoulder, and she rested Hush on her shoulder. She nodded, but there was no confident smirk. Nobody was smiling, not after what had just happened.
She then tapped Kassius' shoulder and pointed across the way, signing. "They're gonna need some help to get out of there."
Kassius looked across, his amber eyes widening. It was Oscar, Sun, Junior, Mazen and Hazel. Two of his squadmates, he did not know where Penny was after that explosion. Like everyone else he cared about, he was just desperately praying for them all to be okay. "Okay… I have an idea." Cinder spoke up, after calming her nerves after seeing Emerald okay. "Kas, find a way to get to them over there. I'll use my powers to get everyone here onto dry land and out of this hellhole… I don't know how many are still alive, but if I see anyone, I'll fly them there." Cinder explained.
Neo raised a brow. "The place is falling apart. How's he gonna reach them alone?" she signed.
Kassius wasn't stupid. He knew it was suicide to jump across all that alone. Neo nodded to herself and slapping the back of her hand against the side of his shoulder. "I'll go with him, then we get them out after you're done."
"My Colossus is still working. I'll look for other survivors and get them out as well." The pilot assured as he looked around.
Kassius looked at Cinder, and he held his hand out to her. She smiled and took his forearm, and he took hers. "Good luck, sis." Kassius said to her, making her chuckle.
"I can fly… you're the one who's gonna need luck, bro." Cinder said, making him smirk. The two walked apart, and he looked at Neo, who nodded. He looked across the flooding city and he exhaled.
"Let's do this." He sighed, and he jumped across and landed on the roof of a building. Neo jumped with him and she slid across the tiles. They both sprinted over the roof and towards the parts of the wall which were still intact. They both jumped across and rolled across it, and continued, but Grimm were up here as well. A Griffin landed and roared at Kassius, but he fired Vulcan Nox into the side of the creature's face, breaking plates of bony armour, bleeding smoky black blood across the floor. He ducked down, allowing Neo to vault over his back and kick the creature in the face with both feet.
As it stumbled, she jumped up and rammed the blade of Hush through its heart, killing it instantly with a hateful glare in her eye. Kassius sprinted ahead and then stopped as he saw the wall was now collapsed, looking over the other way to see some buildings nearby, but too far for him to jump. "I've got an idea. Think you can float to that building? That crashed Dreadnaught won't take much to tip it towards the wall. I can use it to cross." Kassius suggested, and she nodded, jumping and opening the Umbrella.
Hush carried her to the building and when she landed, she aimed the barrel at one of the wings of the destroyed Dreadnaught. She fired, and the explosive round detonated against the damaged wing, causing it to topple towards the wall, only just missing Kassius. "A little too close for comfort." He chuckled. He jumped and slid down the wing as it broke loose from the ship, but he jumped off and rolled across the fragile tiles beside Neo.
They were much closer to Oscar and the others now, and he backed up before charging ahead, jumping across the gap between the two buildings. Neo easily made the jump, but due to him being a bigger dude, the jump nearly made him fall as the roof crumbled under his weight. Neo caught his hand and pulled him across, just in time, as the tiles fell where he was. "Thanks… I owe you one." Kassius said to her, and she smiled, appreciating the praise she had missed for so long.
It reminded her of Roman… except this time she was doing things for the right reasons, and not just to spite the world.
As they crossed the next building, Kassius turned and pulled Neo out of the way as a Nevermore flew towards them, screeching as it went to snatch her out of the air. But as it flew overhead, he slashed his sword through the wing. The critical hit made the beast crash into the water with an enormous splash. "That was close… damn things don't know when to give up, huh?" Kassius said, which Neo nodded.
He looked across and saw Oscar. "LITTLE OZ!" Kassius yelled, getting a raised brow from Neo. Oscar immediately turned, baffled to hear that nickname again, but he felt nothing but relief to see his new Team Leader.
"Kas! You're alive!" He yelled back.
"I know! It's crazy, huh?" Kassius joked back. "Is Sun alright?"
"Fear sprayed him with his toxin! But he's getting better, we need to get the hell out of here!" Oscar yelled back, then Hazel and Mazen approached, standing beside the traumatised Junior who was sitting on the floor with them.
"We're getting you guys out of there!" He called to them. "Just sit tight!"
"Wait! There's something massive in the water! I saw it… be careful!" Oscar warned.
"Of course there is… when can anything just be easy?" He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Neo bobbed her eyebrows in agreement.
They both looked around. It was hard to find a way across to them, since they were stranded and the path there would not be an easy one. The ground shook violently as something massive patrolled the murky water. "Okay, yep! You ain't kidding." Kassius agreed, and the waves slammed into the building they were both on, causing it to shake.
"Look out!" Oscar yelled, pointing to Atlas. A massive explosion erupted from the mass of land, and an even bigger volume of water erupted from inside, sending even more contained reservoir water into Mantle and raising the water level more and more. It swallowed the city and sent an enormous tidal wave their way until Cinder suddenly flew in front and she blasted a massive amount of ice into the wave to slow it down. The wave froze solid but continued to crack under the weight of all the water. She then formed another ice bridge to cross the buildings with.
"Go!" she yelled. Kassius and Neo took their shot and sprinted to their side and Cinder flew out of the way as the wave collapsed, flattening the building they were just on.
"Hold on!" Kassius yelled, stabbing his sword into the roof as the building flowed with the river, smashing against the wall. The water level increased more and more, now swallowing most of the buildings that surrounded them. As the water continued to flood Atlas and Mantle, slowly extinguishing the enormous fires from the city, Kassius and Oscar stared at the same thing, now able to see it.
"Aww fuck…" Kassius sighed.
The submerged Leviathan-Class Grimm's back was visible, with a row of sharp spines adorned across its back and bioluminescent markings that flickered a deep purple and red. It has a long whale-shaped tail which slammed against the water, so they prepared. Until they saw a long neck burst from the surface of the water, with a small head filled with razor-sharp teeth.
It roared deafeningly at them, with a throat filling with water and eyes glowing red. "Why do we always get the big bastards?" Kassius sighed.
Sun groaned, shaking his head, finally freed from Fear's hallucinations, and despite still being shaken by what he saw, he snapped out of it when he saw the Grimm. "The hell is that?" Sun stammered.
"Elasmosaurus. This is gonna be one tough bastard to bring down." Oscar said as he spun Traveller's atrocity through his fingers.
Hazel cracked his neck and rolled his shoulder with Mazen beside him. Neo rested Hush on her shoulder and nodded at Kassius with Cinder floating above them now that she got everyone back there across to the safe zone. Junior got back up with anger, holding his Bazooka in his hand, and Sun shook off his shock and spun Ruyi Jingu Bang through his fingers.
The Elasmosaurus roared once again, prepared for a tense fight.
Coco
Team C.F.V.Y stood with the few soldiers who survived the impact with them. Coco fired down at the Grimm which were clambering across the ruins to try to get to them, savagely snarling as they grew closer and closer. But her eyes ignited, and she blasted a powerful storm of ice down towards the beasts, freezing them all solid. Behind her, Yatsuhashi roared as he cut through the Grimm with ease with Fulcrum, keeping them from getting up onto the building where they were, and soldiers fired whatever ammo that they had left downwards as well.
Beowulves roared as they were hit by incoming bullets plummeting into the water below them. Velvet slashed her copied Myrtenaster, but she knew she was running low on Hardlight Dust to charge her weapons with, cutting them down one by one, and Fox slashed through the Manticores which tried to snatch the soldiers away in their claws. But after a while they held the Grimm back just enough to get a breather.
Coco panted, pressing the barrels of Gianduja against the ground, exhaling as she sat on the floor. She pressed her hands against her head, taking her sunglasses off. "Is everyone okay?" Velvet panted, falling to one knee from exhaustion.
"Alive…" Yatsuhashi sighed, wiping the sweat from his brow. The soldiers sat down. Morale was low after what just happened – to put it extremely mildly. But she turned to one of the soldiers, then looked to the sky, seeing the Drift of Wandering Star was still up there. And then they saw flares being shot up into the sky where other survivors were located. She poked the soldier on the shoulder.
"Your flare… fire it up. The Dreadnaught is still there. We can get out of here." She told him the soldier was young, and he nodded his head, wiping the tears away from losing his home like this, and he fumbled his pistol out. His hands were shaking so much, but Velvet cushioned his hand, calming his nerves.
"We're going to make it." She promised. The soldier exhaled shakily.
"Okay." He loaded the flare gun and stood up, pointing it at the sky and firing it, sending the shining red projectile high into the air. With most of the deafening destruction ceased, all they could hear now were the waves and some crackling flames. It was disturbing how quiet it had all become now, although from time to time the sounds of conflict and some Grimm could still be heard.
"Crap…" Yatsuhashi sighed.
"What is it?" Velvet asked him, and he stood up, pointing at the distance.
"We've got a blizzard…"
Before long, the blizzard arrived and so did the Drift of Wandering Star's few Airships it had left in its command to pick up the survivors, and one of them landed before them, saving everyone aboard. Team C.F.V.Y got inside and sat in it, looking back at the devastation… all caused by a single Relic.
"Adel, do you copy?" Ortega's voice was a welcome thing to hear, and she stood up, pressing the button to respond.
"I'm… I'm here." She answered, still shell-shocked.
"I've been trying to calculate our losses from what just happened… my estimates are roughly seventy to eighty percent, maybe more. Do you know of Team R.W.B.Y's whereabouts?" He asked her.
"I… I don't know." She answered.
"If we've lost them… if we've lost her… then we've lost…"
Ruby
Slowly, her consciousness returned, and she groaned, pressing her hand against her head as she felt the throbbing pain. She looked around, realising her vision was red from the blood covering the only eye she had. She wiped it off, feeling the deep cut she suffered. She saw Blake holding onto Yang, who was banged up but still alive, and Weiss cut the seatbelt, falling against the roof, which only just made Ruby realise they were upside down.
She reached across and grabbed Crescent Rose. "Is… everyone okay?" Ruby groaned, stumbling and slamming against the wall, holding her side and coughing up some blood. "Ow…"
"Where are we?" Blake groaned, hand pressed against her black hair, some blood on her palm as well. Ruby approached the back door and kicked it as hard as she could, and it didn't take much to break down. She stumbled out into the cold snow, looking around to see nothing but a blizzard.
She looked around as they emerged from the burning wreckage of Jacques' airship, and she looked at the sky, unable to see anything in this storm.
Until she heard the howling of Beowulves. She turned her gaze to the storm, seeing the glowing red eyes.
"Shit…" Ruby winced, raising Crescent Rose.
A Beowulf suddenly burst from the blizzard towards her and tackled her, she groaned in pain and the drooling beat hovered over her face. It roared as it went to devour her until a Tonfa stabbed through its mouth.
She gasped, her silver eye widening when she saw her…
… the Knight of Loss.
Starla dropped to one knee, a black smog constantly surrounding her and her eyes flickering blue as she tried to fight something. But she stood tall and spun her Tonfas through her fingers, staring the Grimm down. "You… will not… touch them." She snarled with gritted teeth.
Author Note - You can do it Starla...
This was a really disturbing chapter to write, honestly. Imagining a city just being completely decimated in a single moment like that was really freaky. Plus imagining what it would be like to be down in Mantle when Atlas made landfall was also pretty scary. Like they all survived on luck alone really, especially team JNPR.
Also, jesus... poor Malachite Twins. What a horrible way to die :(
And new Grimm! As I nickname it - LOCH NESS GRIMM XD
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Please review, follow and favourite!
Stay tuned for next chapter!
- Matt