So, finals are over, I'm still alive, break has begun. Quite the time.
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! So, upon returning from college I learned that my family actually really missed me, and given the holidays have planned a great many family gatherings and events. As such, I will not have the time to write and publish a chapter of this story for next week. You have my deepest apologies, but I hope that you all can forgive me at this wonderful time of the year.
Next, xenosaiyan did not have time to look over this chapter as beta this week, but that is in part because he was busy doing me the tremendous favor of writing one of the sections of this chapter, specifically the Ace Ops one. I could not be more thankful for his help on this as it proved a godsend when I was already struggling to get this chapter written between finals, coming home, and this week's family affairs. I gave him an outline of what I needed to happen and he added his own wonderful flare to it. So for this chapter, consider his credit, co-writer.
If you wish to support me and my college tuition, please check out my P a treon for future chapter summaries, story ideas and more: p a Treon.(c om) (backslash) themaster4444
Tyrian cackled as the desert winds rushed across his body, ducking to the side just as Lady Blake's stinger smashed through where his head had been only a moment before, wrenching a cloud of sand into the air and cleaving a dozen palm trees in two on the backswing. Her Grimm form chittered incessantly as its pinchers lunged forward in a rabid follow-up attack. He swiftly brought his own tail about to swat the claws off course, opening the way for him to rush in with his blades. The steel made contact, but only glanced off her armor, whatever damage he might have dealt negated when the pseudo-Deathstalker disappeared into smog, reappearing a few steps back none the worse for wear.
This, this was what he lived for, what he'd joined the White Fang for, what he'd bowed to his goddess for. This battle and blood, the racing thrum of his heart as he danced through the battlefield, ready to watch that crimson life flow from his foes! He, Tyrian Callows, was a man, or rather a monster, of combat and killing. Whatever path he went down that led him to such carnage was a life well worth living.
But there was difference between what a person wants to do and what a person needed to do, and only an utterly pathetic whelp (Cinder) put the former before the latter. While Tyrian would like nothing more than to pull Lady Blake apart piece by piece like pulling the wings off a fly, Salem had ordered him to bring her back to the Grimmlands alive. As such, it was his sacred and solemn duty not to disappoint the Queen.
A simple matter really. Though Lady Blake did have a slight edge in speed and strength over his current state, he was hardly out of options. Though, using his Etherious Form carried too much of a risk of overdoing matters and accidentally killing her, especially since he knew the Queen would be speaking in her mind through the connection between them forged by Seram's curse.
That didn't mean he could have a little fun though.
"Come, my lady, feel the hatred!" he laughed, dipping around a whip of her tail to score a slice with his own stinger, another shadow clone taking the hit. "You can't run away forever! Every clone you create leaves you with less and less aura! You cannot win if you only make yourself weaker! You must act, give into the strength within you! The Queen's guidance will see you through!"
"Stop ranting at her and fight!" Ilia shouted from the grove, both her and Ghira helping Kali to her feet.
Tyrian resisted the urge to roll his eyes only because he had to leap back from a thrust of Lady Blake's pincers. Really, he'd been able to guess the Albains' game without too much difficulty, but the fact that the Belladonnas were here without alerting him meant there was a grain of truth to their manipulations. That was a matter to be dealt with later, as would the blond monkey faunus who'd apparently be serving as Lady Blake's companion.
He leapt back, crouching down on all fours and skittering away from the palm grove. He'd need room for his next move, his stinger dipping into the sand, a soft orange glow illuminating the area it touched.
Lady Blake rushed towards him, pinchers outstretched, but it was already too late. A flick of his stinger and his magic was cast.
"Sand Wall!"
The desert rose at his command, a bastion of sand erupting up into the night sky, taller than the trees. The technique was primarily a defensive one, excellent at keeping an enemy's attacks at bay, but when summoned from beneath a foe, it could inflict substantial damage, each grain cutting flesh like thousands of tiny daggers. And given their size, they would have no issue finding the chinks in the Deathstalker form's armor.
Lady Blake shrieked in agony, the desert's spawn digging into the soft skin underneath her arachnid defense. An instant after the scream pierced the night sky, her form evaporated, another shadow clone slain. She reappeared just past the wall, her pinchers reaching for his head.
She'd never reach him.
With a gleeful grin, Tyrian snapped his figures and unleashed his curse.
All at once, the entire wall of sand glowed a blazing orange and exploded, a thunderous shockwave screeching across the desert. Ghira and the monkey faunus stood in front of Kali to protect her from the blast while the lighter Ilia was sent flying into a palm tree.
Lady Blake was taken completely off-guard. The flames and force slammed into her from behind and sent her soaring over Tyrian's shoulder, smacking into the desert floor and skidding across the dunes. Her purple aura crackled with weakness as she staggered to her feet.
Tyrian chuckled as he turned to face her. Yes, Lady Blake had a slight edge in physical abilities as they were. But on terrain that favored him so, with his arsenal as diverse as it was? She stood no chance. His Sand Drill would be able to pierce even her strongest armor and his sand with his bomb curse would prevent her from escaping even with her shadow clones. Perhaps if she had her mind, she could think of something, some trick or strategy to gain a momentary advantage. But as she was now? A craven beast, with only instinct and wrath that was not even her own to guide her? She was no threat to him.
He'd just beat her down until her magic ran out and she transformed back, or the Queen was able to guide her into regaining her senses.
Until then, it just meant he got to play with her a little more.
He cackled with utter joy. Oh, it was good to do his goddess' work. For in her arms there was never a dull day. Only sweet, sweet carnage!
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Kill the humans! Kill the betrayers! Cull them! Cull them with the wrath of our lord!
DeSTroY
dEsTRoy
DESTROY!
Blake! Listen to me! You have to hear!
"I can't. I can't breathe. There's only darkness. A sea of darkness. A sea of kill."
kILl!
KiLl!
KilL!
KILL THE PRINCESS OF THE STARS!
ENOUGH!
It is hatred. It is wrath. An instinct cursed upon the umbral by a spiteful god. But it is not a sea. Not if you don't let it drown you.
"I… I can't. It's too much. It's too much!"
Only if you let it be! Your stronger than Seram's petty will, Blake, just as I am. You are not drowning in an ocean. It is merely a different kind of air. Breathe!
"… Breathe… but… to kill…"
CULL!
DestrOy!
DESTROY!
If you do not breathe, then you will suffocate! Take it all in, Blake! Let the hate and anger flow through you! Let it fuel you! Become the power! Guide it towards our enemies before it consumes you!
"…Breathe… breathe in the darkness… become the hate… hate… no, I… I won't…"
You must. You cannot fight it, not alone.
"Alone… I'm… I'm not… alone…"
You are. But not for long. My ally is there. He will bring you to me, and we can destroy our enemies together. We will bring together a new Fairy Tail and save the world.
"To you… who are you?"
SALEM!
KiLl Salem!
KILL the fallen princess of the stars!
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Sun held no illusions that he was the strongest fighter in the world. Sure, he was good, one of the best at Haven, but that was a small pond compared to the rest of the world and even the small glimpses he'd gotten of that great ocean made it clear there were warriors leagues better than him. Pyrrha, Yang, Nora, even Ruby had all possessed a natural skill at battle that he knew for certain he'd never be able to match no matter how hard he trained. Ever since he'd seen them in action, he'd thought for sure that they would be the best, as soon as they climbed to that mythic level of training official huntsmen had endured.
Then he saw Tyrian Callows in action.
He was brutal, vicious. And yet, calculating. Every move was efficient, designed to inflict the most pain possible with each exchange, always leaving Blake scrambling to escape via shadow clone. And even that could only do so much, the surrounding sand exploding in flashes of heat and force, each one either forcing an additional clone or smacking the Take Over wizard with even more damage.
This was the monstrous form that had mangled Adam Taurus and maimed Yang. And the scorpion faunus was beating her down while laughing. What was he?
A question for later. Especially when Sun noticed a familiar black smoke emanating off of Blake's body. A sign that her form was about to desist.
And Tyrian's stinger was already streaking towards her Deathstalker self's chest, which was exactly where her head would be when the transformation ended.
"Stop!" he screamed, praying that the madman really did want Blake alive.
Fortunately, it seemed he did. The Grimm form vanished into smoke, only Blake's auraless form left behind. Tyrian's eyes widened for a brief instant and peeled off his tail only a moment before he would have carved out Blake's throat.
Unfortunately, momentum was a cruel mistress and he couldn't stop his charge completely. Even as he scrambled to move his tail away, his stinger scored a thin slice down Blake's side.
"Ah!" she howled, dropping to her knees. Sun jumped to his feet and dashed over to her, barreling past the scorpion faunus who could have killed him in the blink of an eye.
But Tyrian was hardly focused on him. He was reeling back, his hands pinned to either side of his face and blanket terror running through his eyes. "My lady! I didn't… I didn't mean… she'll forgive you… she'll forgive you…"
Well, that was ominous. But Sun had more important things to worry about at the moment.
He fell to his knees and helped Blake regain her balance. "Are you okay?"
Only for her to shove him away, tears in her eyes. "Why did you bring them here?! Why would you ever bring them here!? You promised! You promised!"
"It's not his fault!"
Both Sun and Blake's gazes whirled around to Ilia, Kali, and Ghira, all of whom were slowly approaching. The chameleon faunus shuffled nervously as the Belladonnas took the lead. "He did everything he could to keep us away, but I didn't believe him. I didn't think what he said about… magic, could be true."
"Blake," Kali said slowly, as if addressing a frightened cat. She clutched her right arm to her side as her husband helped her limp across the sand. The fervent anger and worry from earlier had disappeared from both her and Ghira's faces, both coming to tower above their daughter, tears welling in their eyes.
However, Blake's amber eyes could only see her mother's broken arm. She crawled backward, her muscles bunching in preparation to flee. Sun prepared to catch her, to reinforce her resolve as he had on Patch.
But, before he could, all the tension left Blake's form. She collapsed to her knees, her head hung in complete submission, her eyes blank. Slowly but surely, tears began to flow down from her face, dripping darkness into the sand below.
"I'm sorry," she whimpered. "I remember. I remember everything, but I couldn't control it, not until the end. I wanted to keep you safe, but I… I… I am so sorry—"
"My baby girl."
Blake raised her head in shock, only for Kali to fall to her knees and engulf her in an embrace. Half a second later, and Ghira had done the same, taking his entire family in his arms.
"You… how…" Blake muttered. "I betrayed you. I called you cowards. I nearly killed you! How can you possibly forgive me? How could you still—"
"Because you are our daughter," Ghira firmly declared.
Blake was stunned speechless. Whatever walls she still had in place collapsed instantly as she leaned against her parents and broke down into sobs.
Sun smirked at the three cat faunus, Ilia showing similar joy at the scene. True, there had been far more near-death than any of them would have preferred, but in the end, the Belladonna family was reunited. And with the knowledge that her parents did not think of her as a monster, perhaps Blake might be able to gain some new insight into her abilities.
"Aw, how touching."
Everyone turned to the strangely sincere, but still unsettling voice. Blake's tear-stained eyes shifted from sorrowful relief to utter confusion. "Who are you?"
"Tyrian Callows, my lady," the scorpion faunus bowed, his wet cheeks the only evidence of his own breakdown. "I am truly grateful to see that the Queen's words have aided you."
"Queen?" Blake eyes widened in horror. "Salem!"
Sun shot to his feet, drawing his gunchucks once more. In hindsight, it made perfect sense. His power, his knowledge of magic, his complete nonreaction to seeing Blake transform, it all fit if this guy worked for the same creep that Cinder had. Was he one of her Gates that Qrow and Taiyang were so terrified of? If so, what could they possibly do to stop him?
A joyous smile split Tyrian's face from ear to ear. "Oh, wonderful, you know her true name. She had been worried that her old, cursed name would have to be spoken for you to come."
"She's not coming with you!" Ilia protested, her whip crackling with electricity even as her legs trembled with terror.
"Well, obviously not right now," Tyrian rolled his eyes. "It would hardly be safe to travel with my venom coursing through her veins."
"Venom?" Kali muttered.
The Belladonnas pulled back from their hug, Blake tracing a line down the final cut she'd received in the fight. A sickly purple puss was already oozing from the wound.
Ghira whirled on Tyrian and snarled. "If she dies…"
"Then I will have failed my goddess, I know! It is a horror beyond nightmare!" the scorpion squealed, panic dominating his voice once more. He quickly got himself back under control but even still he was visibly panting. "But it is fine, it is fine. A skilled enough doctor can cure my poison and my knowledge of its antidote will only aid the process. She will not die. She will not die! A few days rest, and she'll be well enough to travel to the Grimmlands. Everything will be fine! Haha! Now, let's be on our way to the settlement, we mustn't delay. Hahahahahahahaha!"
Tyrian wheeled away, cackling into the night. Sun turned back to Blake and met her eyes, both of them unsure.
They had survived the night, but the war they had been training for had come for them. And it was plainly clear that they were not prepared in any way, shape, or form.
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"So, is everything ready?"
"As it can be. The Tremaines are in position and the grunts have made sure the civilians are evacuated," Gray nodded, marching into the warehouse in a SDC foreman's uniform. "How are you?"
Weiss rose to her feet with a flourish, dismissing the summoning glyph she'd been practicing with. The Arma Gigas she'd called disappeared as she sheathed Myrtenaster at her side.
Tonight was it. Months of chasing down leads and sifting through intelligence, and tonight was the night where it all paid off. They knew exactly what the White Fang was planning, and though they hadn't been able to track down their high outs, they had laid the perfect trap. By the end of tonight, Adam Taurus would face justice for his crimes, for all those who'd died in the Breach and the Fall.
And after that, Salem would be next.
"Ready for some action," she smiled, taking in a deep breath of ethernano. "I've never been one to enjoy a fight as much as most of the guild, but I have to admit that all these months cooped up have left me rather peckish."
Gray chuckled. "You've got your tape on? Probably wouldn't be great if 'Weiss Schnee, Hero of Atlas' made her first televised appearance half-naked."
Weiss patted her dress with a smirk. "Might be worth it just to see father's face. Though, I suppose I'll be getting that one way or another after tonight."
Indeed, she had discussed that aspect of the plan extensively with COMMAND ESR and Eleanor. Atlas Intelligence was more than willing to provide agents on the ground to protect civilians and even have the Tremaines present as backup, they made it clear that they wanted this to be Weiss' victory. They recruited the Fairy Tail wizards to serve as one-person armies and her in particular to be the public face of the operation and they expected them to hold up their end of the bargain. The ice wizards would be the stars of the night and the media circus that would inevitably come afterward.
Which was perfectly fine with her. After tonight, father would never be able to disinherit her.
Weiss glanced over Gray, whose stolen uniform did nothing to hide his sculpted figure. She couldn't do much to hide the pleased smile that spread over her face. For all that she had seen him bare-chested, there was a special appeal to his clothed handsome figure.
At least until she saw him shifting uncomfortably under her gaze, at which point she promptly averted it.
"I'm sorry," she hastily apologized. "I shouldn't have—"
"No, no, it's alright," he assured her. "It's just… it's not important."
"No," Weiss said. "Not if you're uncomfortable."
"We're about to go into a firefight."
"Even more of a reason to have everything we can sorted out." Weiss walked up to her guildmate and leaned against a crate of dust. "I'm not blind, Gray. Stuff that wouldn't have made you blink back on Earthland has you squirming. And I can't help you if I don't know what's going on."
"It's… it's a long story," Gray sighed. "You remember when I told you about the Alvarez War and what happened after? I may have left out some details."
Weiss was instantly worried. She'd gotten a taste of war at Beacon, and the conflict with the Alvarez had been even more destructive from everything she'd been told. There was no telling what mental scarring her teacher had endured, what humiliation he'd sought to keep hidden. And given what he'd already told her about his and Natsu's brief falling out, it couldn't possibly be anything less than world-shattering—
"I was sort of thinking about starting a relationship with Juvia."
…
"Oh…" Weiss muttered. "That's… um, congratulations?"
"No, that's where the 'sort of' comes in," Gray awkwardly revealed. "During the war with Alvarez, she was injured because of my weakness. I thought she was dead for a while and that… well…"
"Puts things in perspective?"
The Ice Make wizard chuckled. "Pretty much. The year after the war and then into the Hundred-Year Quest, I just didn't know what to say. I mean I gave her nothing for so long, how could I just turn around and say I wanted a relationship? When I couldn't even protect her?"
Weiss frowned. "Juvia is a lot of things, but she isn't some doll that you need to protect. She'd want to fight beside you just as much."
"Don't I know it," Gray smiled. "She supports me with everything she has. But I haven't always done the same. But, during the quest, there was this guild of people who looked just like everyone in the guild, and I got talking with the woman who looked like her, Juvina."
"What?"
"Best not to think about it too hard. Erza's double was an actress and they switched places for a show. We couldn't get out of town fast enough. The point is, Juvina helped me sort out my feelings for Juvia and I was planning to ask her out when we next saw each other…"
"But then the White Witch brainwashed everyone, and you ended up here," Weiss finished.
Gray nodded. "I didn't even see each her when everyone else was attacking us. Not sure if I should be glad about that or not. But now I'm here, and even though we haven't made a commitment to each other, I don't want to betray her."
Weiss understood his feelings. Fairy Tail was big on loyalty. Just the fact that Gray intended to begin a relationship with Juvia was enough to set his mind on respecting that possible connection. And spending so much time with her undressed, or dancing with Neon, left him feeling a tad unnerved in a way he had never been before when the side effects of his magic were involved. He was a good man who wanted to do right by the person he was falling for.
Though, despite herself and her love for both her friends, she couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy towards them.
She placed a firm comforting hand on Gray's shoulder. "You would never betray her. You know that. I know that. And wherever she is on Earthland, Juvia knows that too. Whatever you 'failed' to do before, you won't let happen it again."
Gray scowled. "I nearly got her killed and then tried to kill Natsu over it."
"Then you really won't let it happen again," Weiss declared. "You're a good man, Gray. So stop beating yourself up and be one."
That prompted a smirk out of the ice wizard. "Don't die for your friends."
"Live for them," Weiss completed, grinning herself. "That's Erza's saying, right?"
"Eh, it's pretty much become a guild saying by this point," Gray said. He then stepped forward and pulled Weiss into a tight hug. "Thanks."
The heiress fought back her blush and returned her guildmate's purely platonic gesture. "Of course. Though I would like to point out that this is exactly the sort of thing that would result in her plotting my imminent demise."
Gray giggled. "Yeah. Probably. She's quirky like that."
Weiss smirked. "Yeah. Yeah, she is."
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Clover blocked a sword strike, gritting his teeth even as he spun around and kicked a different White Fang grunt right in the jaw before blindly tossing out the hook of his weapon, Kingfisher, into the crowd of White Fang and pulling.
The hook somehow snatched onto the scruff of one of the White Fang members' jackets, dragging the poor grunt towards the Ace Operative. On the way, the faunus tanked two different dust bullets and a sword strike meant for Clover himself, going on to smash into two different operatives that were aiming for his comrades with rifles.
Lucky Clover.
Vine was abusing the hell out of his Semblance, grabbing and throwing around White Fang members like ragdolls while simultaneously using them to defend against dust rounds. He was the crowd control, making sure to defeat any White Fang member that approached Professor Pietro. The bastards may have somehow gotten into the lab's docking bay, but they wouldn't get any farther.
Harriet was blitzing all over the place, at times running up the walls and kicking off the ceiling just to get more momentum when she inevitable clocked them across the face. Twenty rapid-fire punches were more than enough to break through even the toughest of their enemies, and from how she was abusing her own Semblance, Clover could tell she was doing that many in a single second.
Marrow was fighting hand to hand, his boomerang-like sword soaring through the air and ripping into the grunts. The moment it came back to his hands it was off again, flung so smoothly that only the most experienced fighters would be able to use that momentary opening to launch a counter.
It only took a few minutes of chaotic fighting before all of the White Fang members were lying on the ground, either out cold or groaning in pain.
Marrow caught his sword and smoothly sheathed it before turning around with fire in his eyes. "Okay, what the hell was that?! How did the White Fang break into here?"
"I agree with the idiot," Harriet commented. "It shouldn't have been possible for the Fang to hit the convoy at all, much less here. This place is chock full of self-defense mechanisms, only Taurus should have even had a chance at breaking through. Even then, it would have caused at least some aura loss. And these cannon fodder got in? Nah, the chances are so fucking low that they would need, like, five different Clovers to get this many people in."
"Harriet speaks wisely, if coarsely." Vine agreed. "Even if our opponents had a similar ability to yours, Clover, they wouldn't be able to sneak in here without some detection."
"That's because they didn't." Professor Pietro revealed, wiping nervous sweat off his brow even as he fiddled with some electronic attached to his 'wheelchair'. "This shows that the access code to the lab docking bay was inputted fifteen minutes ago, only four minutes before the White Fang stormed in. They must have somehow gotten the code."
Clover frowned. "Even if that's so, why isn't Adam Taurus here? He's the best fighter they've got, and he sits out something this big? It doesn't make sense. Why would he not be here?"
"Unless he is," Vine commented morosely. "And these grunts were just a distraction."
"The likelihood of that seems pretty low, Vine." Marrow interjected.
"But not zero." He argued back. "We must secure the convoy and the base." His statement wasn't without worry, and for good reason. If the White Fang got their hands on Atlas's confidential military technology, their threat level would jump up by leagues.
"Professor Pietro, is there anything on the security camera?" Clover asked.
The man fiddled with his computer for less than a second before scowling. "Nothing. They're all offline. The sensors say the lab is still secure, but without visual confirmation…"
Clover nodded. "Professor, please hide in the designated safe room. We'll check this out."
"Yo, wait." Marrow interjected, his expression twisted in worry. "Sure, safety rooms are all good and all, but this is Adam Taurus we're talking about here. He isn't going to give up in front of something as small as steel or whatever."
Pietro gave a small laugh at Marrow's concern before nodding seriously towards Clover. His 'wheelchair' walked itself over to a tile that didn't seem out of place to the others near it. His hands blurred over his keyboard, entering some confidential password that Clover bet that even Ironwood wouldn't have known.
The steel walls unfurled in front of the Ace-Ops, two halves of what seemed to be a highly advanced capsule bursting out of nowhere and slammed together, enveloping the professor. Green light, lasers, Clover would later realize, burned out of the small slit between the two capsule halves, immediately welding it together. Then, before any of the Ace-Ops could react, the tile that the Professor had stood upon broke apart, sending cement in every direction.
Marrow scrambled in panic to the hole in the ground and poked his head through the floor, watching in awe as the bunker the Professor dropped for nearly a hundred meters before landing onto a hidden water slide and slipped away with celerity. In less than three seconds he couldn't even spot the capsule, even with his faunus eyes letting him see in the darkness of the… whatever the Professor had escaped into.
"... What the hell?!" Marrow gaped.
"Marrow, get back!" Clover shouted, even as Marrow's instincts screamed at him. He jumped back out, stumbling back even as a gleaming machine in the room shot out another tile. The tile landed perfectly where the other had broken apart, even as a completely different machine shot out lasers and welded it to the floor. Other than a slight burning smell, there wasn't a single difference in the room from before the Professor escaped to after.
If Marrow had dodged back even a half-second later the tile would have hit him into the same hundred-meter drop, only he suspected that he would have fallen to his death instead of landing onto the slide.
How lucky.
Clover chuckled at the stunned look on the normally ever calm Vine, to say nothing about the rest of his team.
"That's why Atlas science is the greatest on Remnant." The leader said. "And why you don't fuck with this kingdom's scientists. Scarier than any terrorist group will ever be."
He shook his head and started exiting the room. "Harriet, meet up with Elm at the rear of the convoy. Make sure there aren't any more surprises back there. Vine, Marrow, with me in the lab. This was a distraction. Now we just need to figure out what Taurus is really after."
It only took a few seconds before Clover heard their footsteps following him.
Say what you want about the silliness of the Ace Ops at times. No one can doubt their professionalism.
However, they were hunting out Adam Taurus, the most powerful fighter of the White Fang and was at least as good as them, if not more. His reflexes were well reknown, and he didn't hesitate to use even the most unconventional fighting techniques in order to kill. In light of this, it made sense how tense each member of the team was.
Which is the reason why it's so remarkable that none of them reacted to the black smoke that gently floated in the air, passing by them and drifting into the lab proper as soon as Clover opened the triple encrypted entrance. No, it wasn't simply the Ace Ops not reacting to it, but rather it was the entire team not noticing the wisps in the first place. Considering how experienced they all were, it was practically unbelievable.
It was a good thing, however. After all, if any of them had noticed it… they would all have died.
How lucky.
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Adam Taurus smirked as the gates of the SDC Surplus Complex swung wide open. Keyes' codes were right on the money. His squadron of bullheads flew right in and landed as easily as they had during the Fall of Beacon, not an ounce of resistance in sight. It seemed despite the Specialist escort given to the convoy, Jacques Schnee had decided losing his largest domestic contract was a risk he could not take, at least with the dust embargo still ongoing.
That was fine by him. However disastrous his association with Cinder Fall had been, he had learned from the human bitch. Primarily that if one planned a revolution, they needed to provide enough ammunition to last until the war was over. Torchwick may have been a wretched piece of self-centered filth, but he had been good at his job. His men in Vale had never been better supplied than when they were drawing from his stock.
However, Atlas was not Vale, and he would not be able to perform a rash of dust robberies without the military becoming directly involved, something they could ill afford without support from Sienna. But, since all of the SDC's exports to the other kingdoms could not leave the borders, they'd all been consolidated at a single massive warehouse complex. Which meant it was ripe for the taking in a single, brutal strike, especially since their diversion had sent word that they'd engaged the Ace Ops at the Polendina Convoy.
With any luck, they'd take at least one of the Specialists with them to the grave.
In the meantime, Adam's force would slaughter the guards on the way out.
"Get those containers hooked up!" he commanded, his men swarming out of their ships. Dozens of brave faunus in Grimm masks dashed amidst the quarter-mile of cargo ship containers, each one holding millions of lien worth of dust. Just beyond the courtyard of holding were dozens of warehouses, each one in turn holding scores of containers. And soon all of it would be there's. Fuel for their crusade on humanity.
"Sir!" a soldier called, running up to him as his fellows began hooking cables up to their bounty. "Sir, we haven't received any word from the others."
"The Convoy group was ordered to go radio silent when they attacked," Adam replied, most of the men not aware that the other group's survival was not expected. He marched over to the nearest warehouse and began typing in another of Keyes' codes. "No word from them is expected."
"I'm not talking about them, sir," the man continued. "I meant the team we sent to take care of the security towers. We might have the codes, but they still have guards—"
"I am aware of the plans, brother. I made them," Adam growled, smashing in the last digit as the machine hummed with acceptance. Even still, the soldier had a point. The other squad should have checked in already. "Send a team to check on them. We can't afford to be sloppy in an operation this crucial—"
He leapt back as the door to the warehouse rose, spotting the attack just before it struck. His man was not so lucky, a white phantasmal sword sweeping down and sending him flying into the cargo containers, a resounding crack indicating his aura had not been enough to protect him.
Adam snarled and drew Wilt from Blush, the rest of his men dropping their cables and drawing their guns. It seemed they were not as unexpected as they'd hoped.
The Arma Gigas marched out of the warehouse first, its towering armored form and gigantic blade drawing just as much awe from the faunus ranks as dread. Striding out beside it was a black-haired human in a SDC foreman's uniform, though the way he carried himself and the hard look in his dark-blue eyes communicated clearly that this was no mere factory worker. This was a warrior, a veteran of many battles. Probably some huntsman, reliant on his semblance if his lack of weapons and the frost growing on his hands were anything to go by. He could be trouble.
Of course, all thought of tactics or strategy fled Adam's mind the moment he saw her.
She strode out from underneath the Arma Gigas, her pet, sterling hair against a deep blue dress, a demonic beast with the face of an angel, marred only by the single scar across her left eye. She held her rapier aloft like a wand, a full complement of dust visible within its chambers, its silver point aimed straight at him.
"Adam Taurus! In the name of the Kingdom of Atlas, you are under arrest!" Weiss Schnee proclaimed with a smirk. "I suggest you come quietly."
This was the monster he had been born to slay, the devil that he, the savior of the faunus, would bring to justice. This great victory would be the spark that would reignite his smothered flame to greater heights than even the Fall of Beacon had. His branded eye burned with fury, sensing its vengeance was close at hand.
"Kill them!" he roared, swinging his crimson blade for his foe's head. Her abomination met his strike with its ghostly sword, a vicious force reverberating through his body. His men opened fire and the humans countered with a wave of pink and black ice, the dust rounds splattering against the frozen wall.
It would be a grueling trial. Many of his men would likely die. But by the end of it all, they would emerge triumphant.
And most importantly, the Schnee would be dead.
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"You sure about this? Adam will kill us if he finds out."
"He's going to get us killed anyway! Those two huntsmen just shot a mountain of ice out of their bare hands! No amount of dust is going to mean two shits unless we blew it all up in their faces!"
"So? We can just do that—"
"We're staying three feet from them!"
"Oh, right. Explosions don't discriminate."
"Exactly!"
Stiles the fox faunus had been born with nothing but his fluffy tail and his sarcasm. Not the best defense when one was growing up in the underbelly of Mantle, even with his best friend Scott the wolf faunus' abnormally large teeth. Didn't help that Scotty himself was more a puppy dog than an alpha. A great guy, but way too much of a bleeding heart for his own good. When they had both joined the White Fang, Scotty had done so out of some obligation to help people or something. Stiles just wanted some food on his table… and a table to put the food on would be nice too.
But then Adam Taurus had showed up and started kidnapping random SDC guards and torturing them to death. And that just offended Scott's noble sensibilities just a tad too much. Stiles wasn't too against doing what they needed to do to survive, but he didn't think any of the working-class Mantle commuters were responsible for the faunus' shit lot in life.
Weiss Schnee might have, but she had a giant armored Grimm on her side. Stiles made it his policy in life to avoid antagonizing those.
"Look, just a bit more and we're home free," he said, guiding Scott and the rest of their two dozen or so band of deserters through the maze of cargo containers. "Adam will be in prison by the end of the night, and we can slip back into Mantle unnoticed."
"I wouldn't be too sure about that."
The chilling voice stopped Stiles cold. Every faunus in his group gazed up at the top of the nearby cargo containers and began to tremble, the recognizable gray uniform identifying their adversary as Atlas Intelligence. And the fact the older woman was wearing it at all meant that they didn't care about being subtle.
"You guys run!" Scott commanded, throwing a protective arm in front of Stiles. "I'll hold her off as long as I can!"
Stiles was touched by Scott's declaration, but he didn't think it would matter.
Orange flames surged off the woman, instantly forming into a ten-foot flaming cat. Its light blazed down on the deserters, elongating their shadows across the ground.
"Lucifer," the woman said. "Pounce."
The fire cat growled and swarmed over them as if they'd fallen into the bowels of hell, the asphalt around them charred black as the metal containers melted under the feline's claws. The deserters emptied a volley of bullets into the beast, but predictably, given it was made of fire and all, they passed through harmlessly.
Scott, brave fool, charged, his aura flaring with strain as it slammed him into the ground. The others fled screaming, blue flames eating away at their clothes.
Stiles figured there was a better option. There was no way he was leaving his friend to become cat food, but his rifle was useless against the fire beast's body. However, it that thing was the intelligence agent's semblance, then taking her out would probably weaken it, if not completely wipe it out.
He raised his gun, ready to blow the bitch's brains out.
Only to hear the distinctive cock of a pistol click behind his head.
"Not bad. Fewer people think to aim at her than you'd think," a female voice said. "Too little too late, I'm afraid."
Stiles whirled around to meet the new assailant, but all he received for his trouble was a bullet to the head.
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"Ice-Make Geyser!" Gray roared.
Spires of pink ice erupted from the center of the courtyard. Dozens of White Fang grunts screamed in terror as they were consumed or blasted back by the frozen stampede. Those that were lucky enough to avoid the attack hefted their rifles towards the wizard, pouring down as much fire as they could, for all the dust rounds could penetrate the mystical stalagmites. They chipped off the frozen structure bit by bit but by the time they'd made any significant progress, the Fairy Tail wizard had already fired off another blast to bind them to the containers. With their bullheads fused to the ground in crystal, the only other way they'd get out of this compound was on a ship to prison.
He had to admit, he agreed with Weiss. Months of slow espionage and careful information gatherings were all well and good, but he was hungry for some action. And while he would always be up for a drag-out, knockdown fight, there was something undeniably satisfying about mowing down waves upon waves of assholes. These people had ransacked Beacon, and slaughtered thousands throughout Vale. Whatever merit their beliefs held, their methods could not be allowed to continue.
Weiss had leapt into the fray with uncharacteristic bloodlust. Not to the point of aiming to kill, but she was hardly being the same perfectly practiced fighter she'd always tried to be. Gone was the precise, patient long-range attacks. Now, the Schnee heiress darted across the battlefield on her glyphs, chains of black ice lashing out at her foes, wrapping the terrorists up and slamming them into the containers.
It took them barely a few minutes before they were sure of victory, Gray creating the landscape and Weiss dancing across it. At that point, the small fry might as well have just been decorative art.
"Take care of the rest of them," Weiss shouted. "I'll deal with Taurus!"
Gray nodded, sparing a brief glance towards the only opponent who could really be considered a threat to them. They had intentionally isolated the bull faunus from his forces, no point in giving him any more resources than they needed to. Weiss' Arma Gigas would keep him busy until they'd finished dealing with his men.
At least, that had been the plan, but Adam had no intention of making it that easy for them. He had matched the towering Grimm armor blow for blow, their furious exchange of strikes demolishing the side of the warehouse. Even now, the bull faunus leaped atop the flat of the Arma Gigas' blade, running up the phantasmal blade until he reached the spirit's metal shoulders. He promptly removed his sheath from his waist, transformed it into a shotgun, and opened both barrels down the helmet's opening into the suit itself.
The Grimm armor slumped to its knees and dispersed into starlight. Adam hopped back to the ground and whirled around to face the others, only for his scarred face to stretch in shock.
"Help us, sir!" one of the soldiers screamed, only to get pinned by another surge of Gray's ice and knocked unconscious.
Even with his eyes hidden by his mask, Adam's gaze clearly flickered around the battlefield, from his men, to the still open compound gates, to the frozen bullheads. After a few seconds, he sneered and ran away into the maze of cargo containers.
"Coward!" Weiss shouted after. "Face me!"
"Weiss, wait!" Gray called, but she was already gone.
The ice wizard gritted his teeth. In pure power, he had no doubt his former student had the edge on the terrorist. But if he'd witness Blake and Yang's power at Beacon, then he might be aware of that as well. And that meant his retreat into the maze of cargo containers wasn't cowardly, but strategic. He needed to circumvent Weiss' strength with an environment he could use to perform hit and run attacks.
Maybe she could handle it, but it was all too possible that the bull faunus might get a lucky shot. And if his semblance was what the reports said it was, then one shot would be all he needed.
Gray couldn't let that happen. He needed to back her up. Which meant he couldn't waste any more time on the small fry.
"Um, why's that guy taking off his clothes?"
The ice wizard had barely noticed the stripping the random White Fang grunt referred to, but it would be awfully convenient to make his true power known.
He dipped down into the recesses of his soul, stirring strength that was not wholly his own, but birthed by hell itself. Hatred, rage, and fury stirred within his spirit, held in check only by his spirit's promise of an outlet for its wrath. And wrath was not a blazing inferno like most people thought, not at its strongest. No, wrath was a patient thing, a venom that seeped through the heart and corrupted the mind.
Wrath, was a cold, creeping chill.
A tattoo blacker than the deepest night appeared over his right arm and streaked up the side of his face, its surging power spiking his hair skyward. An air of purple magical energy, separate from his aura, emanated off of him. His foes all ceased fire, unable to stop trembling in abject horror before the creature demons feared.
"Ice Devil's Zeroth Long Sword!"
They flew from his hands, dozens upon dozens of frozen blades. The wisest of the White Fang attempted to flee, but most could not overcome their terror. But even those who ran could not escape, the swords tracking their path and spearing them into the ice geyser or the cargo containers, sometimes through bones, sometimes through flesh.
Gray took a deep breath, his tattoo evaporating into nothingness. His Full Demon form was to him what Natsu and Wendy's Dragonforce was to them, a heightened state that drastically increased his magical output. Unfortunately, said output also required he had the magic energy to put into it, something a little more complicated considering the sparse ethernano of Remnant. He would not be able to maintain it long in this world.
But perhaps that was for the best. After all, while Dragonforce was for the most part just a power boost, his Full Demon form had additional drawbacks. The more he drew from its strength, from that hellish well, the louder his worst impulses screamed within him. When he'd first developed the power during his time with Juvia when the guild was disbanded, he'd sought out Erza for help controlling the state, which led to her asking for his help infiltrating Avatar. His old friend had helped him understand that rage was not something that could be quelled and smothered, not completely. His darkest parts were still a part of him.
So, he'd learned to channel that darkness, that fury. It wasn't too hard, any foe that would require him to go that far likely would have earned his ire anyway. He would guide that dark strength into destroying his enemies, anyone who tried to cause harm to his guild, to his family. But after what nearly happened with Natsu during the war…
The power of the abyss was not something to be taken lightly. But if it was to save his family, he'd brave a thousand hells.
He whirled around and dashed after Weiss.
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"Come out, Taurus!" Weiss hollered, carefully running through the maze of cargo containers. "You're not getting out of this! Surrender now before you make this worse for yourself!"
Not that he really could make it worse for himself. The public didn't know about Cinder, so Adam was the public perpetrator of the Fall of Beacon. If he was caught, he wouldn't be getting less than a life sentence.
"Oh? The Schnee is offering me mercy?" the bull faunus' voice echoed out, its reverberation making it difficult to home in on. "I'm afraid I'll have to decline. I've seen how you monsters treat your victims."
"Oh, the irony. The most wanted terrorist on the planet is calling me a monster," Weiss replied. If she could just keep him talking, she might be able to figure out where he was. "Blake said you were psychotic but she didn't mention you were a comedian."
"Don't you dare speak her name!"
Only the shout prevented Weiss from being sliced in two. As it was, she had enough warning to leap aside just as the gigantic crimson slash sheared through the cargo container beside her. Taurus rammed through the opening from the other aisle, his scarlet sword echoing its master's cry for blood.
The Fairy Tail wizard summoned her glyphs and retreated, dancing back as her rapier diverted each of the bull faunus' powerful swings. He had just used up all the power he'd stored up against her Arma Gigas and that slash would have surely bisected her if it had struck, aura or not. He was like Yang, only more styled towards killing outright instead of just beating someone to a pulp. If she met him head-on, she'd only be making him stronger.
Fortunately, Weiss' strength had never been in pure force, but in battlefield manipulation. Her time in Fairy Tail granted her a deep well of pure power, but it had also sharpened her other abilities and her tactics. She wouldn't try to match blows with a physically superior foe like she had with that chainsaw-wielding lieutenant at the Breach again.
And thus, she waited. She retreated back, allowing Adam to rain down blow after blow, each time pirouetting just out of his reach. She twirled and tumbled and maneuvered the containers into his path, watching his already pathetically poor temper burn ever more out of his control.
"You took her from me!" he raged. "You twisted her mind and then you turned her into your attack dog! You made her weak!"
"I take it we're talking about Blake here?" Weiss needled, ducking under his next swing. "If that's the case, then she was never stronger than when she left your insanity behind."
"You made her a monster!" Adam roared, his sword glowing scarlet with whatever meager power he had. "But you made me a savior! I will put an end to your tyranny and put humanity exactly where you belong!"
"Doubtful."
There! His fury consumed him utterly, his anger finally compromising the expert form he'd trained into his bones. Weiss made use of the opening and flicked her rapier to the side, summoning a gravity glyph that pulled Adam across the aisle. The bull faunus rammed into the container but managed to wrench himself off the metal before long.
But that was all the time Weiss needed. She slammed Myrtenaster's pommel into her palm and then smashed both into the ground, magic flooding from her fingertips.
"Ice God Jotunheim!"
A thick sheet of black ice flashed across the asphalt, climbing up and incasing the nearby cargo containers. Divine power surged from her flesh, the very air itself seeming to freeze from her command, the battlefield becoming her domain, the kingdom of the one who could slay gods.
"Magic," Adam growled, now with his feet frozen to the ground and his blade frozen to the wall. "You craven witch!"
"Again, says the terrorist," Weiss intoned. She thrust out her hands, her maker magic pose perfect and practiced, a time dilation glyph appearing below her feet. A magic circle, distinct from her semblance's glyphs, blossomed before her. "Ice God Phalanx!"
A bombardment of frozen lances erupted from her mystical crest, her time dilation creating two more beside it and accelerating her rate of fire. Dozens of spikes of black ice cut through the air and rammed into Adam, the bull faunus screaming as a barrage powerful enough to reduce a paladin to scrap metal tore into his flesh. But with his weapon restrained and his feet trapped, there was little he could do but take the blast on his aura.
In a few seconds, it was over. The terrorist's aura crackled and died, his body slumping to the ground, held aloft only by the hand gripping his weapon. His Grimm mask, the symbol of the terror he had inspired in the innocent, cracked in two and crumbled to the icy asphalt.
Weiss dispersed her magic circle and glyph, heaving a contented sigh of relief, striding forward. It was over. She'd done it. Whatever conspiracy had smuggled Adam into Atlas might still be at large, but the man himself, the man who had led the attack on Beacon and haunted Blake's nightmares, was defanged. She had beaten him.
Except, she didn't know how much until the smoke cleared.
Her heart stopped as soon as she saw it, whatever taunting remark she was to make caught in her throat. Three simple letters, three letters that she had known all her life, that had stood for her all her life… burned over his eye in wretched red flesh.
Adam raised his head and snarled at her, a sentiment she now understood so much more. "Admiring your handiwork, witch? Proud of the mark you left on your better?"
"I… I didn't… I didn't know…" Weiss whispered. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry? Sorry?" Whenever veneer of sanity Adam possessed shattered into a cacophony of mad cackles. "How pathetic! You stomp over my people! Treat us like animals! And you say sorry like that doesn't make you a monster!"
"But… I didn't do this to you—"
"Your name! Your name is all I've seen for fifteen years! And I see you! I'm the only one who sees clearly! Blake! Sienna! They're blind! They think you can be reasoned with, that you deserve to live beside us! But you're weak! You're cruel! And I will be the one to crush you all beneath my boot where you belong! The whole world will see you for the monsters you are!"
He tugged his sword and the blade snapped free of the ice on the container. Evidently, he'd been faster than she'd thought escaping the gravity glyph, his crimson edge screaming towards her eyes.
And yet, she couldn't find the sense to move because her gaze was locked on his. On her name staring back at her from the beast her family had made.
"Weiss!"
A heavy force tackled her to the side and slammed her into the ice, forcibly rousing her from her daze and saving her life at the same time.
"No!" Adam howled, hacking into the ice with his sword, desperately trying to free his feet so he could get back into striking distance. "Schnee! Schnee!"
Gray hopped off Weiss and hovered over her protectively, his hands in position to cast if needed. And yet, his eyes widened the moment they landed on Adam's face.
"Holy shit," he muttered. "Is that—"
"I didn't know," Weiss murmured, staggering back to her feet, still unable to tear her eyes away from the brand. "I should have. Why didn't I know?"
"Because it doesn't matter."
A single gunshot cracked through the night. The left side of Adam's face, the marked side, suddenly crumbled in on itself, his bone crushed to paste as the bullet tore out the back of his skull.
The bull faunus' sword halted mid-strike. The blade, and its master, wilted to the ground, never to rise again.
Weiss and Gray whirled around to the opposite end of the aisle of cargo containers. Eleanor marched down the rows of steel, holstering her smoking pistol on her belt.
"What the hell was that?!" Gray roared. He ran up to Eleanor, gripped the elder Tremaine by the lapels of her uniform and slammed her into the nearest container. "It was over! He was beaten!"
"Then he shouldn't have been moving," the older agent replied, far too calm for having an angry wizard in her face. "You two were letting your guard down. Whatever sob story he had, that man was still a mass murderer. You do not pause mid-battle to cry over a criminal's childhood, you take them in. I will not risk assets as valuable as you two because you were too busy feeling sorry for him to stop him from stabbing you."
"You didn't have to kill him!" Weiss yelled. "He was… he was…"
"A psychopath. Being one of your father's many victims doesn't change that."
For a few tense moments, the air was cold, frost gathering on Gray's hands. The smallest sparks of flames crackled above Eleanor's shoulder, the faint image of a cat flickering in the night. The White Fang may have all been dealt with, but it would only take a single move to start another fight.
But as tired as they all were, as disgusted some of them were, they were still allies. For now, that counted for something. Gray released the Intelligence Agent, the grey-haired woman's semblance's fading away.
Eleanor sighed, a note of exhaustion and relief carrying out from her lungs. "Agent Tremaine and I will do a sweep of the stock, make sure none of the hostiles got away with anything. Get yourself together, Schnee. COMMAND ESR called the media down as soon as we engaged, and you need to be ready for your close-up. Tonight, you're a hero."
A hero? Was that what she was?
As Eleanor walked away and Gray came over to place a supporting hand on her shoulder, Weiss couldn't help but stare at Adam Taurus' corpse.
He was a terrorist, a mass murderer. He had knowingly and eagerly participated in the Fall of Beacon. The world was without question better off without him. Blake, someone who had once loved him, had called him a monster, a horrendous beast without mercy or conscience.
But he was a beast of her making, of her family's making. Of her father's making.
Adam was just a symptom of the cancer that was Jacques Schnee. It was about time she cut out the disease.
Well, we get a warm and fuzzy Belladonna reunion, Blake takes another step in not running from her problems and seeking to take responsibility for her actions, and she's bought a few days from Tyrian's demands. But with the Gate of the Scorpion determined to please his goddess, how long will she be able to remain out of Salem's grasp.
Meanwhile, Weiss gets everything she has been working towards so far, only to have her disgust for her father enhanced even further. A reckoning is approaching.
An extra huge thank you to my patrons: ArcherMcMuffin, Gregg Tracton, Keith Traction, Annaya Chan, Nora Okonus, Paula mandel, KefkaesqueXIII, Christian Howard, and SanyaBane.
Thank you for Reading! I hope you enjoy what comes next!
Go Forth and Conquer!