Chapter-28
Sigurd
Sigurd, Cú, Shirou and Tristan were in the grounds sparring. The day had come. After a week of planning with Ozpin, it was time for them to leave for Mount Glenn.
Cú dashed forward, his spear stabbing at Sigurd who blocked and parried with Ridill and Hrotti.
"Algiz." Sigurd spoke inscribing a rune as Cú's spear bounced off a shield and Sigurd dashed forward to stab at him. Cú backpedaled, avoiding the stab before stepping to the side and kicking at Sigurd's stomach. Sigurd brought up his left hand to block the kick and was sent skidding away a few metres.
He punched Ridill and Hrotti at Cú, who deflected them by spinning his spear.
Right. He's almost immune to projectiles. Sigurd noted as Cú quickly crossed the distance between them. Gram came up in a flash and parried Gáe Bolg's strike, before Sigurd stepped forward with a slash. Cú stepped to the side and swung Gáe Bolg. Sigurd blocked it and shoulder checked Cú, sending the lancer to the ground before a kick to Sigurd's chest sent he saber flying back.
Sigurd and Cú regained their balance before staring at each other. Cú smirked before running faster than before. Sigurd narrowed his eyes.
A trick. His wisdom told him as Cú went to the side and sent Gáe Bolg at Sigurd's abdomen, stopping a few inches from it.
"I win." Cú spoke before noticing one of Sigurd's daggers hovering above Cú's neck. Cú groaned.
"Damn it. I guess it's a draw." Cú spoke as Sigurd shook his head before tapping his armor. Cú scoffed.
"We haven't really seen if my spear can penetrate your armor, which I'm pretty sure it can, so it's a draw. Why not ask Ruler? It was supposed to be his job to referee." Cú spoke looking at Shirou who nodded.
"A draw it is." Shirou spoke. Sigurd and Cú looked at Tristan who still sat silently. "He's still drowning himself in self-pity?"
"That he is, sadly. You can't blame him. He was the one single reason the enemy didn't launch full-scale attacks on Cysgod. By getting himself incapacitated, he essentially gave the enemy the opportunity to attack the people he was protecting."
"Tristan." Sigurd called as the Child of Sadness looked at him. "Are you still blaming yourself?"
Tristan sighed. "Of course. It is my fault, after all. If I hadn't been so weak as to be able to do nothing, Cysgod wouldn't have been attacked. It is tragic…"
"Oh shut it!" Cú snapped as Tristan frowned. "Enough with the 'tragic' stuff already! You come over so that I can beat your stupid behaviour out of you!"
Sigurd stared at Cú. "Really?"
Cú shrugged. "It's what my teacher used to do." He spoke before taking a stance. "So, come on!"
Tristan got up and equipped Failnaught. Sigurd walked away to create distance between the two servants.
The two stood in a silent standoff before Cú made the first move, charging towards Tristan. The knight plucked Failnaught's strings as numerous vacuum arrows shot at Cú. Cú twirled his spear to deflect the arrows before suddenly turning around and deflecting more arrows. Tristan kept shooting more projectiles, but Cú didn't stop, deflecting all of them before suddenly lashing out with a kick to Tristan's chest. The knight flew back and before he could recover, Cú was already present with Gáe Bolg going towards Tristan's chest. Tristan blocked the blow with Failnaught, but the stab knocked his arm off-balance and Cú sent him to the ground with a sweeping kick.
"So, feeling better?" Cú asked as Tristan. "A bit better. Although, this didn't feel like a balanced fight."
"Duh. I'm an archer's worst nightmare with my Protection from Arrows. I wanted you to struggle a bit so that you could get out of your little self-pitying gloom at least a bit."
"I suppose you're right." Tristan replied before Cú helped him up.
"Excellent sparring." They heard someone speak as Ozpin come up. "How are you adjusting, Tristan?"
"Good. The others have been helpful." Tristan replied. "Although it is rather a tragedy that I…" Cú slapped a hand over his mouth. "No." He hissed as Ozpin looked at the others in confusion.
"Sir Tristan is a bit of a narcissist, always seeing whatever that happens to him as a 'tragedy'. Its not much of a problem, but well, Lancer here has developed a little frustration towards it."
"I…see. Alright, I came here to let you know that the bullheads have arrived."
Sigurd nodded. "Understood. We'll be there shortly." He spoke as Ozpin left.
Regarding the Mt. Glenn mission, Qrow had already left early to scout the area and find any entrances to the underground city of Glenn, since the old ones were closed after the disaster. Most likely he has the information to Ozpin. With that, them four will be leading half of the force into the city and flush out the white fang, take the remaining dust crates and apparently kill the names Ozpin had given him alongside the enemy servants. It shouldn't be difficult, since the enemy servants can't beat him alone and with a number of huntsmen, they would be overwhelmed.
Only point of concern would be the Carrier. Sigurd had too little information regarding Perseus' superior, so he had to be cautious regarding him.
The plan was not the most perfect of plans, but it was good enough. Except it was most likely that something will go wrong.
The Carrier, the servants and Cinder and her underlings gathered in one room in their base Mount Glenn's railway station. Perseus sat with his eyes closed, only willing to speak when he had to.
"Ozpin is aware of our location?" Cinder hissed. "How did that happen?"
The Carrier shrugged. "That…I cannot answer."
"Why didn't you do your fortune-teller magicky hocus pocus?" Roman asked.
"That is because I cannot actually see the future. I can quickly think of the number of possibilities people can make and based on the probability, act upon what I think will most likely happen. Of course, the problem is when the unlikely outcome occurs, which is what we're seeing now. Of course, even when I didn't know Ozpin would figure out our location, I did make some changes regarding the servants now that they have another one."
"Tristan won't be a problem." Semiramis spoke.
"Of course. Which is why it is your responsibility to kill him. Poor Perseus is a bad match-up."
"The Hound of Culann will be dealt with by Perseus, the Dioscuri and Mordred."
"Ah, right. That barbarian demigod who humiliated me and Pollux a month back." Castor spoke. "We'll gladly cut him into pieces as payback for that."
"A little extreme, brother…" Pollux spoke exasperated.
"Eh, its fine as long as I don't have to fight the dragon-slayer." Mordred spoke.
"Speaking of whom," Perseus spoke up. "What are we going to do about him? You've assigned me as a part of the group to kill Cú Chulainn, Semiramis is going for Tristan and Cinder's group will be going for the huntsmen. Who's going to fight him?"
The Carrier smiled. "You can come in." He spoke as the door opened to reveal a tall figure walk in with heavy steps.
Mordred's eyes widened. "You've got to be kidding me…" She spoke twitching. "You're telling me we're working with this guy?!"
"Now, now, Mordred, I understand your reservations, but right now, the Will is not willing to send servants over from the other kingdoms. He will be able to stall Sigurd, or if we're lucky, even kill him. Won't you?"
"…Yes, master." The servant replied in a strained voice.
"Good, now, Cinder, go inform Adam and the white fang to taken defensive positions. Do not release the phantasmals until I say so."
All in all, Perseus approved of this plan. Being caught off-guard by this sudden revelation, they could only do so much. Only thing was that he wouldn't get to confront Sigurd.
Oh well, I can settle with the Hound of Culann's head. Perseus thought. Because if their new ally was who he thinks he was, then Sigurd is in for a tough fight.
A fleet of bullheads departed from Beacon academy, carrying the association to Mount Glenn. The group that would lead the attack will be dropped above the backside of the mountain away from the city, in case the white fang assumed defensive positions. The group that would seal all exits to the mountain will land at the foothills and set up positions, while some remained in bullheads incase the white fang attempted to escape by air.
Inside one of the bullheads were Sigurd, Cú, Shirou and Tristan.
"So we're jumping?" He asked as Sigurd nodded. "Don't worry, I'll ensure we're safe."
At that moment, the servants heard screeching and noticed a flock of nevermores and strange birds with blue and red flaming feathers through the window of the bullhead.
Those are Stymphalian birds. Sigurd realized.
He picked up his scroll. "Ozpin the enemy is prepared. We can see a bunch of nevermores and Stymphalian birds with flaming feathers."
"Stymphalian birds?"
"They're creatures whose feathers are sharp as knives. I don't know why they have flames but…"
"Die, human scum!" Sigurd heard the Stymphalian birds screech before they sent their flaming feathers, which exploded against a bullhead. Its hull was thankfully sturdy to withstand the explosion.
"Wha…All bullheads, steer clear of those birds!" Ozpin yelled. "Tristan, can you shoot them?"
"I can. But we risk attracting their attention."
"Don't worry, I'll handle that." Sigurd spoke before inscribing an Algiz rune on the bullhead.
"I've put a rune! Tristan…"
"Understood." Tristan spoke before opening a side door and plucking Failnaught's strings. Vacuum arrows shot out, killing nevermores and Stymphalian birds before the flock turned to them.
"Ozpin! Tell them to head to the landing point."
"Head to the landing point!"
"But headmaster, what about…"
"Do not worry. One of our teams has the right tools and skills to handle them. Keep moving!"
The Stymphalian birds sent more flaming feathers that exploded against Sigurd's shield. But Sigurd kept pouring mana to keep the rune functioning while Tristan shot down the birds.
Sigurd looked at the pilot. "How much longer?" He asked as the pilot turned back. "Almost there."
Good, because I cannot spend more mana from my dragon core. Sigurd thought.
"We're approaching the location!" The pilot spoke. "Are you ready?"
Sigurd nodded and the Pilot opened the bay doors. Tristan kept shooting until the flock pulled away.
"Hope you're not afraid of heights." Cú told Tristan who shook his head. "No…although this is quite a novel experience."
"I think that's true for all of us." Shirou spoke. "But enough talk. We'll miss our landing point."
With that the servants jumped, Sigurd seeing the bull. As they got close to the ground, Sigurd inscribed two runes.
"Algiz. Haglaz." He chanted as their fall was slowed down and they landed softly beside them, their group landed using their semblances and weapons.
"We've landed." He spoke into his scroll to Ozpin, who was directing the operation from his office in Beacon with a large projected map of Mount Glenn on his desk.
"Excellent. Team A, proceed towards the city. Your objective is establishing a foothold in it. Team B, search the lower parts of the mountain for the white fang's presence. Find them, eliminate them. I shall list out the objectives once these are done."
Sigurd looked towards the other huntsmen. He was the leader of this group.
"Proceed quickly but with caution. We cannot afford to spend too much time on this." He instructed as the group moved through the forest towards the city. They found a few white fang scouts, quickly taking them down as they moved on.
Soon, they reached the city, but they could see that there was a grassland creating a gap between the forest and the city. In the urban part, the white fang grunt stood armed with guns and explosives on the roofs of buildings.
Which would be a bad place for us to be. Sigurd thought.
"Tristan, can you hit them from afar?"
Tristan nodded.
"Good, pressurize them. While they're distracted we'll move up." Sigurd spoke as Tristan plucked Failnaught's strings, creating a number of vacuums shooting towards the defenses and hitting many in the head.
Sigurd heard exclaimations of surprise.
"Now! Charge!" He yelled as they made charged out of the forest, running at full speed towards the city while sharpshooters and Tristan pressurized the white fang to be unable to devote attention to them.
As they got close, some of the grunts pulled out sabers and met the charge, thus starting the siege of Mount Glenn.
Positions immediately collapsed as huntsmen overpowered their enemies through superior skill, speed and strength. The servants were at the front, Cú impaling grunts with Gáe Bolg, Sigurd slashing with Ridill and Hrotti and inscribing runes to enhance the abilities of the others, Shirou freezing grunts by throwing black keys at their shadows and cutting them down with his Katana, and Tristan shooting them down with failnaught.
The group penetrated deeper into the city, yet as they approached the main square, all was quiet.
Immediately, they all stopped. "Ozpin?" Sigurd asked.
"…Saber! There are lots of grimm and other monsters approaching your positions!" Ozpin exclaimed before they heard the distant sounds of howling.
They noticed a horde of beowolves and ursas along with Knockers, Trölls, Cyclopes, Stymphalian birds and shadow servants approaching them. Leading them was a massive black creature larger than an elephant with a horse-like head topped by three large horns and sharp fangs. Its eyes were blood red and its feet were clawed.
Odontotyrannos. A Phantasmal creature from India encountered by Alexander and his troops. Has immense physical strength. Sigurd's wisdom told him.
"Oh…shit." Cú spoke. "This is really bad."
Sigurd narrowed his eyes. "I'll take on the Odontotyrannos. You three help the huntsmen with the other monsters."
The Odontotyrannos let out a roar and charged at them at astonishing speeds. Sigurd quickly inscribed an Uruz rune on his body and took the brunt of the Odontotyrannos' charge head on, skidding back a bit before planting his feet. The two pushed against each other before Sigurd threw the Odontotyrannos to the side. The creature crashed into a building, demolishing it completely and Sigurd went after it. He took one look at the others.
Tristan was shooting down the Stymphalian birds, dodging their explosive feathers with whatever speed he had while cutting down shadow servants with the spikes on Failnaught.
Cú was taking on the Knockers and Cyclopes, zipping across the square to run his spear through the Cyclopes' heads and smashing the heads of the knockers with his fists and legs.
Shirou fought the Trölls, trapping them with black keys while enchanting his katana to conduct lightning and tear through them.
The rest were fighting grimm and shadow servants, demonstrating impressive skill as they cut down grimm and shadow servants left and right while the more passive huntsmen used their semblances to do damage.
Sigurd focused back to his target, as the Odontotyrannos stomped the ground, sending tremors that almost knocked Sigurd off balance before it dashed at him again. Sigurd sidestepped its charge to avoid getting skewered by its horns and dashed back as the Odontotyrannos suddenly snapped at him. Sigurd swung gram and sliced some of its teeth off.
The Odontotyrannos roared and stomped on the ground again. This time, Sigurd jumped onto its back and stabbed Gram into it. The Odontotyrannos let out a roar before running, Sigurd hanging onto his back as he noticed the streets of the city filled with huntsmen engaging grimm and shadow servants.
They ran across the city, smashing through buildings before the Odontotyrannos shook Sigurd off in a street.
As Sigurd got up, he noticed the Odontotyrannos stare at him before its eyes ignited in flames.
What? Sigurd thought before its maw opened, glowing as Sigurd's eyes widened.
He immediately went into an alley as a beam of fire blasted past him. Sigurd then poured mana into his legs and jumped into an open window of a two-storeyed house, just as the Odontotyrannos poked its head into the alley, its horns now burning with flames.
It let out a snarl before spotting Sigurd in the first floor. The Odontotyrannos roared and slammed its horns against the house.
Sigurd ran for the open window on the other side and jumped into the next house while the first one collapsed. Sigurd quickly went down the house and into another alley way to hide in another house just as the Odontotyrannos demolished the second house.
Sigurd kept changing houses as the Odontotyrannos pursued it through the narrow alleyways. Soon, he stood still in one house, hiding behind the couch and waited for the monster to come.
He heard the Odontotyannos' thumping footsteps before the beast began looking into the house he was in. Sigurd waited for his opportunity and soon, he peeked over the edge to see the monster's giant red eye looking into the room. Sigurd slowly got into position before lunging towards the monster, stabbing Gram multiple times at the monster's eye.
That should make it easier to hide from it. Sigurd thought as the monster thrashed around and destroyed another house.
But then, he noticed as it roared, a fiery aura surrounded before in one last roar, the aura exploded from its body into a massive fiery explosion, obliterating the houses around it. Sigurd sliced the fallen debris, and noticed the ground was glowing with heat form the explosion.
The Odontotyrannos' one eye stared at him with bloodlust as saliva dripped from its mouth.
This is it. Sigurd thought. If he could get the other eye, then he should be able to finish off the creature.
The problem…was that he had to do it without getting roasted by the Odontotyrannos. He now materialized his mask and raised Gram.
The Odontotyrannos maw opened to fire another beam that Sigurd dodged, before it charged towards him, almost smashing into him.
Getting into its blind spot, Sigurd slashed its leg, making it buckle.
Sigurd went for its other eye but it moved its head and Gram cut a gash on its snout. Sigurd quickly raised Gram in a blocking position as the monster's head slammed into it, sending Sigurd tumbling before Sigurd punched Ridill and Hrotti at the charging monster, sinking into its skin and the sudden pain causing the Odontotyrannos to veer off.
It started glowing again and Sigurd covered his head with his arm as the ensuing explosion blasted against him. It incinerated what remained of the debris, leaving Sigurd without anything to use as cover.
Sigurd, however, was still standing. His armor was smoking but otherwise he was unharmed.
If I have to get close, I need cover. He thought before inscribing a rune on the ground.
"Laguz." He spoke as water suddenly appeared, coming into contact with the fire and evaporating to engulf the area in a fog.
The Odontotyrannos looked around, its visibility being reduced to near nil. It growled before Sigurd appeared out of nowhere, stabbing gram into its other eye.
The monster roared in pain, now completely blind as Sigurd pulled Gram out and ran to a piece of particularly sharp concrete.
"COME ON!" He yelled as the blind monster turned to where his voice came from and charged towards in with one desperate roar.
Sigurd planted his feet again and caught its horns, again stopping its momentum before adjusting his grip to wrap around its horns and lean back.
The Odontotyrannos' feet were lifted off the ground as Sigurd flipped it over in a suplex, impaling its neck onto the sharp piece of concrete.
The Odontotyrannos thrashed in pain, roaring as Sigurd stepped away. The Odontotyannos thrashed around for some time before going still as a pool of blood formed around it.
Sigurd exhaled. He picked up his scroll to notice it was muted.
"Saber? You weren't responding to my calls." Ozpin spoke. "Sorry, I was occupied killing a big monster." Sigurd spoke looking at the Odontotyrannos' corpse.
Ozpin sighed. "I was worried when you weren't picking up the calls. The horde has been routed, we are in control of the city. We're sending reinforcements to defend the position. Return to the others, I'll guide you from there."
"Understood." Sigurd spoke walking to where he could sense the others.
This was going to be a long mission. And surprisingly, he hadn't gotten any reports of the girls sneaking around.
Maybe Team RWBY hadn't come this time.
A/N: I feel bad for Sigurd writing the last part, especially after how I left off Chapter-27. Besides that, Mount Glenn's begun and I already have it planned. it's of course not going to be as long as Cysgod, so thank goodness for that.
This weekend has been exhausting, since I was writing two chapters per day and I plan on writing in the weekdays. Going by that, we'll be done with Volume-2 in Chapter-33 which comes out next Saturday.
Hope you guys enjoyed and Constructive criticism is appreciated!
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