KS: Hey, guys! We are officially in 2020! And I'm kicking it off by updating Nature's Wrath. I put a lot of work into this chapter, and I know you'll love. There's a big fight up ahead, so hold on to your seats. Let's go!

The group decended to the stairway, the light growing dimmer with each step they took. No words had been exchanged between them on the way down due to the overwhelming tension that hung in the air.

Tension which Nora was all to eager to cut through with her usual banter.

"This is it," she said. "We're finally gonna get the disc the lady told us about. It'll be all over when we get it." She quickly walked up to Lilac, narrowing her eyes as she stared at him. "You know what that means, right?"

"Oh, whatever could you possibly mean by that?" Lilac asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Once we get the disc, as well as find Jaune-" She emphasized that part. "We can finally be done with your snarky, heartless, willing-to-shoot-anyone-who-looked-at-him-wrong butt for good."

"What she said," Ren added. "Only shorter."

Lilac shrugged. "For what it's worth, I'll be happy to be rid of you lot when this is all said and done. Especially that clod you've got dragging around."

And like that, he was back to insulting Jaune, much to the chagrin of the others.

"Do you think you could give that a rest until we get him?" Qrow asked. Though judging from his tone, it sounded more like an order than a question.

"I'll think about it," Lilac replied. "But my opinion on him or how his colleague needlessly sacrificed herself isn't going to change at all."

And once more, his comment earned the aminosity of the group, though they didn't outright express it.

"Alright. If there are any Grimm down here, I'm personally throwing you to them."

Apart from Nora, as it seems.

"Nora!" Ren shouted in appalment of his friend's callous threat.

Ruby and Qrow looked just as shocked, knowing Nora was never the type to say such things, even if the person she said them to deserved it. In fact, Nora herself was surprised it came out of her mouth, but it was overshadowed by the massive amount of contempt she had towards Lilac, who had stopped walking.

To everyone's surprise, Lilac started to chuckle, which soon turned to full-blown laughter.

"Throw me to the Grimm, you say? I swear, it's been a long time since anyone threatened me with that. Not that they ever got the chance to do so."

He continued walking down the stairway, paying no mind the stares he was receiving.

"This may sound unusual coming from me, but now I'm thinking of shooting him in the back," Ren mused.

"Better men have tried," Lilac responded. "And failed, by the way. I'm woke to this kind of thing."

Everyone stared at him in surprise when used a phrase no one would ever dream of using.

"Who the hell in this day and age says 'woke' anymore?" Qrow asked in bewilderment.

"Probably nobody in your generation, old timer," Lilac called out.

Qrow's eyebrow twitched a little as he slowly turned to Nora. "About throwing this guy to the Grimm…"

"Hey, I can use an extra pair of hands," Nora replied.

"I can still hear you~" Lilac sang as he walked ahead of the group.

Ruby sighed. "Let's just go."

As the group walked deep underground, they found many more fox-related artwork. There were cave murals of foxes, small gemstones resembling the heads of foxes and even sculptures of kimono-wearing women wearing fox masks over their faces.

"This getting weird," Nora commented, looking around. "What's with all this fox stuff? Did whoever built the temple have a love for them or something?"

"Perhaps it was built to worship them," Ren answered. "I will admit that they might have taken their love for such a creature a bit too far."

Qrow looked at a cave mural depicting two women in fox masks hugging each other tightly, but upon further inspection, it looked as if they did more than hug.

"Something tells me they didn't take it far enough," he muttered.

Ruby narrowed her eyes at her uncle and kicked him in the shin. "Ogle at them later. We need to find Jaune."

Qrow winced at being kicked and turned to his niece. "I was not ogling them. I was just appreciating how detailed the art was."

"I'd say you were appreciating how close the girls were," Ruby deadpanned. "What is with all the fox stuff, anyway? I'm getting the feeling it was more than worshipping a simple fox."

"To be honest, I was thinking the same thing," Ren replied. "All of this artwork seems far to elaborate to pay tribute to a humble creature like a fox."

"Maybe they just loved them so much that they had to paste and build everything that was related to them," Nora said. "Clearly these people didn't have much room for a hobby."

Lilac ignored the conversation and looked at some of the paintings with a narrowed gaze. He found how detailed each of them were, but he also had a sense of dread.

"How long does this cave go on for?" Nora groaned. "It feels like we've been walking for hours."

"It's likely we'll find the exit up ahead," Ren replied. "All we have to do is continue at our current pace and find the exit. As well as Jaune, hopefully."

Nora immediately saw his expression dour at the mention of their leader. She took his hand and gave him a comforting smile.

"I'm sure we'll find him. We just have to keep going like you said."

Ren was touched by the gesture, but he didn't change his expression. "I suppose so."

"Yeah, we'll definitely find him," Ruby said, getting in between the two with a big grin. "It's all a matter keeping positive. We'll find him in no time."

"Hey! Is anyone down here?"

Everyone perked up at the sound of a familiar voice coming from deep within the cave.

"Could that be…" Ruby said hopefully. "Jaune! We're over here!"

"Ruby? Is that you?" The sounds of footsteps were heard as they became close to where they were. Eventually, a familiar with blonde hair came into view.

"Jaune!" Nora cried as she lept towards their leader and essentially crashed into him.

"Gah! Nora!" he grunted from the impact, along with the bone-crushing hug he received. "You're… squeezing me…"

"I'm not letting you go!" she declared. "I don't want to lose you again!"

Hearing that made Jaune feel a bit of shame. Had it not been for his outburst earlier, he wouldn't be in his current position. But with that in mind, he still had some bitterness towards Lilac.

The others caught up to see how he was doing after the drop he took. He explained that his aura shielded most of the damage, much to their relief.

"Glad to see you're still in one piece, kid," Qrow commented. "Now that we're all back together, let's say we get out of here."

"I'm down with that!" Nora cheered. "Time for us to head back above ground!"

"But what about the artifact we were sent to get?" Ruby asked. "We still need to get that."

Nora's joyful expression quickly replaced with a dry look she casted towards the other redhead. "Ruby, I hope you're not saying that Jaune is worth less than a trinket."

Ruby sweatdropped at the accusation. "I didn't say or imply it."

Nora leaned closer, narrowing her eyes. "You had better not."

"We still need to get the thing," Qrow said. "We need to exchange it for details about where the Spring Maiden has gotten off to."

"Oh, I almost forgot," Jaune said. "I found a weird door when I was wandering around here. It was big and had a mask that looked like a fox head at the center."

Lilac briefly widened his eyes, then returned them to normal. "Well, I guess you're useful after all." He walked ahead of the group. "Guide us to this door you found while you were staggering around like a drunk moron."

Jaune grit his teeth in frustration at Lilac belittling him once more, but felt Ruby grasp his hand. He turned to her and saw a smile on his face that calmed him down somewhat.

"Don't worry. We just need to get the artifact and he'll be out of our hair for good."

Jaune let out a sigh. "Here's hoping."

It didn't take long for Jaune to guide the group to the door he found. It was big and had a fox mask in the center, just as he described it. There were also carvings of foxes on both sides of the door.

"You're sure we'll find the trinket behind the door?" Qrow asked.

"It's just a gut feeling I have," Jaune replied. "But I can't get the door open."

"Did you try to find a secret compartment on the door?" Ren asked.

Jaune sighed. "I started to press the door to see if anything would give, but nothing worked. I even poked under the mask in case there was a hidden switch beneath it. It didn't work either."

"Aw man, this sucks," Nora groaned kicking the door. "We came all this way only to run into a door that can't be opened. The builders must have a sick sense of humor."

"There has to be some way of opening it," Ren said. "It can't end here."

While everyone wondered what should be done, Ruby stared at the door intently. She didn't know why, but she had the feeling that the door, or whatever was behind it, was calling out to her.

"I get the feeling that something else is behind the door," she said. "Something… powerful."

Without realizing what she was doing, her hand extended towards the mask and she lifted it upward, causing the door to shake.

"W-What?!"

The rest of the group reacted to the tremors that came from the door.

"Ruby, what did you do?!" Nora shouted.

"All I did was lift the mask up!" Ruby shouted back. "I didn't know that was the trigger!"

"How is that possible?!" Jaune yelled. "I tried lifting the mask and it wouldn't budge! How did you lift it?!"

The door slowly began to open, and what lied beyond it was something not even words could describe.

Inside was a large, arena like complex with red and gold fences surrounding the area, and on the center of the floor was a logo of a fox mask.

"Great, there's fox crap around here too," Nora groaned. "I'm getting real sick of it."

"If that's how you feel, then I suggest you prepare to feel like you're coming down with the flu," Lilac replied.

Nora shot a dirty look at the man. "What do you mean?"

Lilac pointed up at the ceiling and Nora's gaze followed. What she saw caused her to go pale.

"Oh."

Everyone else looked up, and their expression more or less matched Nora's. Hanging from the ceiling was a large statue of a fox with nine tails and it's jaw wide open, like it was prepared to devour whatever was unfortunate enough to stand in its path.

"This must be what all those paintings and sculptures back there were leading up to," Qrow mused. "But I need to know what the deal is with that and where we are right now."

Ren looked around the arena as a feeling of dread washed over him. "Perhaps this is just more than to worship the fox. I believe it was used for… sinister purposes."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked with a hint of fear in her voice.

Ren sighed. "On our way here, I noticed more murals on the cavern walls. They all depicted the fox as usual, but it differed from the ones we had seen earlier."

"How were they different?" Jaune asked.

"The murals from earlier showed people worshipping the fox, offering food to it," Ren explained. "At first, the fox seemed content with their contributions, but as time went on, it demanded more. Apart from food, it wanted valuables such as gold, jewels and rare fabrics for clothes. But even that was not able to sate its desires."

"That thing got food and treasure," Qrow said in disbelief. "What more could it want?"

Ren's expression grew dark as he spoke the next words. "The fox wanted to devour the flesh of those it worshipped."

(Persona 5 OST: Desire)

Hearing those words caused everyone's blood to run cold.

"But… but…" Ruby struggled to voice her theory. "That would mean they offered themselves as sacrifices to the fox."

"It does," Ren said in a serious tone. "I inspected the murals carefully in case I had misread what they represent, but now I see it was all true. The temple not only served as a place to worship the fox, but it was also a place where they sacrificed each other to it in order to keep it satisfied for decades."

Qrow turned to Lilac with a hateful glare. "Did you know about this, pretty boy?"

Lilac raised his hands in defense. "I'm as shocked as you are, man. Never in my life did I hear about people worshipping a man-eating fox. In fact, I'm not sure Astaroth knew about it herself."

Qrow let out a sigh of frustration. "What in the world did we get ourselves into?"

"I don't know," Ruby said. "But we should just find the artifact and get out of her before-"

The sound of an object falling and breaking interrupted Ruby. She turned around to see a broken stone beneath her feet.

(End song)

"Where did that come from?"

Another stone fell next to her, causing her to jump slightly.

"Another one?"

More stone fragments began to fall, prompting Ruby to move back. The sounds caught the attention of the rest of the group.

"What's happening?" Jaune asked. "Is it some kind of earthquake?"

"It can't be," Nora replied. "There's not a lot of shaking."

Lilac looked up at the giant fox statue and saw that there were multiple cracks forming on it. His eyes widened as he unsheathed Androlight Sigma.

"Everyone get back!" he shouted. "That statue's got a bad surprise inside of it!"

The group looked at the statue and went stepped back, drawing out their weapons. Soon enough, the statue broke, giving way to what was inside of it.

"What the hell?!" Jaune shouted.

Emerging from the remains of the statue was a massive, fox-like Grimm, covered in white fur with red highlights on the tip of its tails. The second it landed on the ground, it let out a deafening roar that shocked the group to their core.

(Metal Gear Rising Revengeance OST: Rules of Nature)

"They worshipped a Grimm," Nora said with wide eyes. "These people worshipped a Grimm! What gave them the idea to do such a thing?! No wonder it wanted to eat them!"

"They must have kept it dormant under the temple for quite a while," Qrow said. "In my opinion, that time should be better spent killing the thing."

"Well, we'll have to do it their place," Ruby said. "Everyone, prepare for battle!"

The Grimm charged at the group, but they split their formation before it could get a hit in. Nora fired grenades at its head while Ren fired at it's body, but it had no effect.

"This Grimm is tough!" Nora shouted. "It will take a lot more than what we have to put a dent in it!"

Jaune attempted to make the Grimm lose it's balance by slicing its ankle, but also did nothing to deter the creature as it lifted its paw, preparing to crush him, but jumped out of the way before it could happen.

"What is this thing made out of?!" Jaune yelled. "It doesn't feel like any other Grimm we've fought before!"

Qrow leaped upward and ran down the Grimm's back, leaving multiple cuts as he went down. The result was the same, as the monster suffered no damage.

"This is getting really annoying," he growled. "There hasn't been a Grimm like this in the records!"

Ruby shot at the Grimm's head with Cresent Rose, but like before with the previous attacks, they didn't leave so much as a dent in the beast.

"Nothing is working," she said in frustration. "It's tanking every attack we throw at it and it's still standing."

"Then we just keep cutting at it until we we find a weak spot!" Lilac shouted as he charged at the monster. "Letting up would mean our death!"

Ruby was well aware that Lilac had a point, but she still couldn't deny that defeating the Grimm in front of them would be nothing short of impossible. Even with that in mind, they had to fight unless they be slaughtered.

"Here we go!"

She jumped towards the Grimm in a swirl of rose pedals and slashed at it's eyes, staggering the monster by a margin. Nora followed her lead and changed Maghild into hammer mode before smashing it on the Grimm's head. The strike managed to unbalance it, but it didn't last long as the beast swung at Nora and sent her flying into the fence.

"Nora!" Ren cried as he rushed over to his friend. She wasn't too damaged, but her aura was dangerously low.

"This sucks," she groaned. "It would take an army to bring this thing down to size."

Ren helped her stand up on her feet. He looked at the Grimm with a narrowed gaze. "Hitting at random doesn't seem to work. It must have some kind of weakness."

"What kind of weakness does a tank like that have?" Nora asked with a pained grunt. "It's looking pretty invincible at this moment."

Ren sighed. "It sure looks that way. We need to rethink how we fight."

The others fought the Grimm with everything they had, but nothing worked. As they fought, Ruby quickly came up with a plan.

"We need to hit it from behind," she said. "If attacking the front won't work, then we should getting it in the back."

"Seems like a long shot," Jaune replied. "You sure it will work?"

"It's all we have right now," Qrow cut in. "Me and Lilac will distract it while you two get behind and hit it with everything you've got."

"I don't remember being volunteered for this job, but I'll take it," Lilac said, changing his weapon into dual pistols. "Just expect a higher cost when this is all done."

Qrow shot a dirty look. "How does not knocking out all of your teeth sound."

Lilac looked at him, then shrugged. "I'll take it. Let's rock."

The two fired at the Grimm's face, getting its attention as it advanced towards them. Seeing the first phase of the plan working, Ruby and Jaune rushed under it and reached the rear of the monster.

"Let's hope this works," Ruby said, turning to Jaune. "Are you ready?"

"As always," he replied.

They raised their weapons and cut off two of the Grimm's tails, causing it to roar in pain.

"I think we injured it!" Jaune exclaimed. "The tails must be its weak spot!"

Ruby grinned. "Then we have a way to beat this thing! Let's cut the rest of them off and weaken it some more!"

Before either of them could have the chance to do so, the Grimm swiftly turned around and slammed its paws in an aggravated manner. Ruby got herself and Jaune away before they could be crushed and returned to where Qrow and Lilac stood.

"Judging from how that thing is lashing out, I take it you two found its weak point," he said.

"It does have a weak point," Ruby said. "Nine of them, to be specific."

"It's actually seven," Jaune corrected. "Cutting off the tails is sure to bring it down."

Nora and Ren quickly rejoined the group, hearing everything.

"We gotta get rid of the tails, huh?" Nora stretched out. "Seems easy enough. At least, it would be if that thing wasn't being crazy right now."

"Then we need to distract it some more," Ruby said. "Half of us get its attention while the rest focus on removing the tails."

"I'd like to volunteer for distracting the giant furball," Nora said, raising her hand. "I need to pay it back for that lucky shot earlier."

"Careful you don't lose your aura in the process," Ren replied with a hint of concern.

Nora grinned as she nudged Qrow. "Don't worry. I have a capable huntsman backing me up."

Qrow chuckled lightly. "Glad I could be of assistance."

Lilac gave her a look of mock hurt. "What am I, chopped liver?"

"Of course not," Nora replied. "You're bait."

Lilac lightly glared at her. "Of course I am."

"Looks like the rest of us are on tail chopping detail," Jaune said. "Let's get to work!"

The group split apart once more. Ruby, Jaune and Ren rushed towards the backside of the Grimm, and the rest kept it attention on them by attacking the head.

"Eat this!" Nora shouted, smashing the beast's face harder than before.

Qrow followed it up by cutting around its eyes once again with Lilac firing at it's snout.

"This is going good!" Lilac shouted. "How are you three doing back there?!"

As the creature was distracted, Ruby and Ren managed to cut off three of the tails.

"We're doing great!" Ruby shouted back. "We have four tails to go!"

Jaune sliced off another tail. "Make that three!"

"We are progressing smoothly," Ren commented. "Removing the rest of the tails is sure to cripple this beast for sure."

"Then let's keep at it!" Ruby cheered. "Time for more chopping!"

She raised Cresent Rose to cut of the tail, but a loud rumbling was heard from the Grimm as the red highlights began to glow. It swiftly turned around and glared at Ruby, rage present in its eyes. She prepared to flee, but the monster quickly pinned her down with its paw, ruining her chances of escape.

"RUBY!" Jaune and Ren cried out as they struggled to free the redhead.

It did not go unnoticed by the other group, who were worried.

"Oh no!" Nora shouted. "Ruby's in trouble!"

The Grimm opened its mouth and a small ball of energy formed inside of it. It slowly began to grow bigger until it nearly filled its mouth.

"Come on! Let go of her!" Jaune growled, using his sword to pry the paw off of Ruby.

"This is beyond inconvienient!" Ren exclaimed. "We can't fail when we're so close!"

The energy ball the Grimm formed in its mouth grew to full size. It fired the ball the happless trio, ready to obliterate them.

But out of nowhere, a lavender-haired savior blocked the blast with a single blade, much to their surprise.

"Lilac?!"

"I'll handle from here!" he shouted, using another blade to stab the paw without doing the same to Ruby. It howled in pain and lifted its paw, allowing Ruby to go free.

"Thanks, Lilac!" Ruby shouted.

"Thank me by killing this beast! he shouted back. "You want the artifact, put it in the ground!"

Ruby nodded and rushed towards the remaining tails, which were being held by Nora.

"Bring home the gold, Rose!" the other redhead shouted.

Ruby grinned and leapt towards the tails, slicing them off in clean motion as the Grimm howled, losing its glow. The beast fell to the ground, utterly defeated.

(End song)

Everyone panted, clearly tired from the fight.

"We… we did it," Nora sighed, dropping to her knees. "Take that, you furry rat."

"It's… a fox, Nora," Ren breathed out before falling.

"What… ever."

Qrow drank from his flask and sighed. "Well, I'd say we did good."

Ruby nodded and looked at the fallen beast. "I still can't believe it. There were people who treated this Grimm like it was a divine being. Why did they do that?"

"Who knows?" Qrow replied. "All that matters is that we avenged those who have been sacrificed to the creature."

Ruby smiled. "Yeah. They can rest easy now."

Jaune was on his knees, panting heavily. He felt just as tired from fighting the massive Grimm.

"You did good, kid."

He looked up to see Lilac offering his hand. His expression was still neutral, but there was the smallest hint of a smile on his face.

"I guess you're not useless after all."

Jaune glared at him and knocked his hand back, getting up on his own. "Whatever."

Lilac stared at him in surprise. "What's with the cold shoulder? I was offering you a hand."

"Anything of yours isn't worth having," Jaune replied coldly before walking off.

Lilac sighed. "So much for being friendly."

Once everyone had gained back their stamina, they searched the arena to see if anything had changed. Much to their frustration, nothing happened.

"What a rip," Nora groaned. "We bust our humps fighting this big fox and we get nothing as a reward?"

"I wouldn't think of it that way," Ren said. "Taking down this Grimm was in of itself a reward."

"Maybe, but it's not like we can just haul this sucker back," Nora commented. "It would be too heavy to carry, even with the six of us." She poked the monster with her foot. "Come to think of it, shouldn't it fading away right now? Why is it still here?"

Qrow looked the Grimm with a curious gaze. "Now that you mention it, this fox hasn't disappeared. It's obvious we took down a rare Grimm, but even still, it should just crumble like the rest of them."

"Maybe this one is special," Ruby said. "It must be really old, like that dragon back in Vale."

Suddenly, the fox Grimm began to glow white. Everyone grabbed their weapons, preparing for a second attack. But instead of rising, the Grimm's glow became brighter until it faded from existance. In its place was a small, golden circular object with a strange mechanism built inside of it. Ruby went to it and picked it up.

"It's the artifact," she said. "It must have been inside of the Grimm this whole time."

"How is that possible?" Nora asked. "Was it next to the food and the fox ate it by accident?"

"Probably," Ren said. "Either way, Ms. Astaroth will be very pleased to know we have completed our task."

"And we're one step closer to knowing where the Spring Maiden is," Qrow added, turning to Lilac. "Looks this is the last time we'll be seeing each other."

Lilac scoffed. "You make it sound like it's a bad thing. I'll be happy to never see you lot for as long as I live."

"Trust us," Nora said. "The feeling is mutual."

Outside of the temple stood two people. One was a tall man with an muscular build, orange hair and red eyes. He was shirtless with a cape hanging over his left shoulder and a pauldron on his right. He wore black pants and matching boots and wore a fang necklace around his neck. The person next to him was a young girl that was significantly shorter than him. She had dark skin, teal hair that went down to her back along the top portion tied in a horn-like style with a flower hairpin. She wore a red and black kimono with and brown sandals.

"I no longer feel the hostile energy," the man said. "They have defeated Amaterasu."

"It would appear so," the girl replied. "Still, I'm surprised they were able to do so. Others before them attempted to fight it, but all of them wound up devoured. I can't help but feel like those bakas were lucky in some way."

The man huffed. "Luck had nothing to do with it. They had him, after all."

"Oh yeah, how could I forget?" the girl said with distain. "He was with them. They must have let him do all the heavy lifting."

"I doubt it," the man said. "He's never that shallow. Still, we should deal with the sfigato before long."

"I agree," the girl hissed. "He'll get what's coming to him, sooner or later."

The two turned around and walked away from the temple.

KS: Well, looks like the group is in for more surprises in the future. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I welcome you all to 2020. Let's make this year the absolute best! I'm out. Peace.