So...I apologise for taking nearly a month to publish this chapter. But I have been side tracked with a number of projects, assignments, and revision for my upcoming exams and as such had little time to work on it. As such you may find this latest chapter to be not up to your expectations, in my defence I was rushing to get this out and stayed up late to finish it up. Please let me know your thoughts on it in reviews. Thank you for reading my story
"...23…25…30…34…40." Wolf calmly counts as he smashes his shield of pure Void Light against the onslaught of Grimm in the ruined hallway. Each strike with his shield sending waves of Void that tear apart the Grimm. He didn't give even an inch of ground; skulls and bones of Grimm accumulated enough to form a small pile under his feet.
He throws his shield one last time, wiping out a score of Grimm before switching back to his Perfect Paradox, firing rapidly at approaching Creeps and Beowolves, covering the hallway in rapidly evaporating black ichor and bone fragments.
When he eventually runs out, he slams the blade on the shotgun's pump into the neck of a Beowolf, breaking its neck with his strength, before using the corpse to assist in racking his shotgun and loading a shell quickly into it, firing at another Beowolf behind it.
Wolf rips out Perfect Paradox as he quickly begins loading the rest of his shells into it before a Creep attempts to interrupt him only to be grabbed by the throat and had Void Light poured into it, turning the Grimm into a volatile Void bomb.
He throws the Creep back at the crowd of Grimm, firing at it and detonating it in a purple explosion, but it did little to stem the tide as more Grimm rushed to replace them. Wolf fires into them and slays many, eventually engaging them in melee combat, swinging his shotgun's spiked stock and shattering skulls.
He reels back his fist with a roar, charging it with as much Void Light as he could that it started to seep out like a leaking faucet, smashing it at the closest Grimm and setting off a massive Void explosion that cleared the area once more.
Wolf takes a breath as he waits for the next wave; using that much Void Light in rapid succession was beginning to take its toll even if he was an EXO. The Grimm at the entrance gathered and roared at him, but he could sense that they were now trying to play it carefully after seeing the death of many of their comrades.
"Ghost, what's the status of evacuations?" he asks as he points his shotgun, daring the Grimm to come closer.
"Give me a moment." Ghost says, "Tapping into Huntsmen communications; it's a message from Mellows on all channels: 'This is Headmaster Mellows to all Huntsmen in Signal. Evacuations have begun, our wounded being sent first. We need more time; I'm sending locations for checkpoints to fall back to; we can maximize our defenses there.'" Ghost finishes playing the message, "We're too far away from their frontlines, we need to fallback or get surrounded eventually."
"Don't need to tell me twice." Wolf says as he rushes backwards, firing behind as he ran. Even as a Guardian, you don't want to catch yourself surrounded on all sides with no backup or cover. At least with cover your Ghost can safely bring you back, or a partner can share their Light to hasten your recovery, having neither means putting your Ghost, and yourself, at risk.
Wolf finally arrives at one of the chokepoints, finding a group of militiamen and teenagers pointing their weapons from behind a makeshift barricade of tables and chairs. The teenagers had strange unique ones compared to standard issue so he assumes they must be like Ruby, students of this academy. And at their head was a familiar blonde man.
"Wolf?" Taiyang asks surprised, now wearing what appears to be a pair of dragon head-shaped gauntlets on his arms, "Wha-?"
"Grimm behind me!" Wolf warns as he slides towards their makeshift barrier as Grimm bursts out around the corner behind him. To their credit they respond almost immediately, pouring firepower at them, and he even saw Taiyang's weapon lob explosive fireballs.
He adds his own firepower with a Scatter Grenade, and together the Grimm chasing him gets shredded to swiss cheese by the combined firepower.
"Nice shooting, Tex." Wolf jokes as he got up, reloading his rifle as Taiyang looks at him oddly.
"My name's Taiyang." he corrects as he glances around, "Where did you come from?"
Wolf gestures behind him, "North East section, was holding that place from the Grimm."
"By yourself?" He looked surprised, "I was supposed to head there before the Headmaster asked me to guard the choke point here."
"Yeah, there were just a bunch of foot soldiers." Wolf waves it off, "How's the evacuation? How long are we looking at?"
Taiyang sighs, "At most, we can be looking at half an hour. There's thousands of civilians in Signal. We're making a break for the port, hoping that the Grimm didn't wreck any boats. But if they did, then we'll hope the port is more of a defensible position than here."
Then his eyes widen as he realizes something, "Where's Ruby? I heard people say she was with you, right?"
A roar behind them distracts them from the conversation as gunfire fills the hallways again, the students and militiamen doing most of the work as Taiyang drags him behind the barrier to continue their conversation,
"She was worried about her sister and went to find her. I was gonna follow but I heard the Grimm breaking into the North East section and rushed there instead." Wolf explains as Taiyang looks worried and panicked so he rushes to assure him, "Relax, Ruby's a bit of a badass. And her sister as well, they'll-"
"I just got off the Scroll with Yang minutes ago, she's off the walls!" Taiyang explains with fear, "She's falling back with the rest, and Ruby's heading in the opposite direction?!!"
"...Shanks." Wolf says in realization, "Can you call her?"
Taiyang shook his head, "No, Ruby lost her Scroll during the Grimm attack. I have to find her!"
He points to one of the older looking students who looks at him stunned, ""You, you're in charge." Fall back to the next chokepoint, regroup with one of the professors. Keep an ear on your Scroll at all times."
He turns to head out when Wolf grabs him by the shoulder, "Now wait just a second, I'm coming with you."
"No you're not." he tries shrugging off the grip but was surprised by the strength even when he was using his Aura to try to break free, Wolf still held tight.
"I'm the one who let her run off, I won't be the one responsible for her death." Wolf says determinedly, "And besides, not sure if you heard of it, but there's a saying; 'Stronger together'."
Taiyang grits his teeth but doesn't want to waste time arguing, "Try to keep up."
"Yang? Yang?!" Ruby cries out as she weaves through the crowd of civilians rushing past her, if it weren't for Aura she would be swept up by the panicking crowd. Reaching the end she saw Creeps snapping at their heels, pulling out Crescent Rose in its rifle form and shooting their heads off. The thick armored skulls meant having to use multiple shots for each, and the narrow hallways preventing her from using her scythe.
She pulls out one of the two Fire Dust crystals she brought from the armory and throws it into the pack of Grimm, shooting it and setting off a massive explosion.
Sure a rocket launcher or grenade could have accomplished the same goal, but she had neither. She dashes through the burning bodies and wrecked hallway, resuming her search for her sister.
Suddenly, around the corner, she could hear gunfire, but they weren't the sound of Ember Celica. Still, she followed it anyways, desperate for any sign or hint her sister was still alive.
She turns around the corner to see a Huntsman, one of her professors, firing at something with a pair of machine guns. She knows him, Professor Jay Koemaru, he teaches her history, and he even lets her look over his guns once when she asked; most people, including professors, always told her no.
This would be the last time she sees him.
He sees her, and he opens his mouth to yell something, but a white and black blur cuts him out, white bone claws slicing through his Aura and shattering it with ease; he chokes on his own blood as he bled out, his hands going limp and dropping his weapons.
Ruby was stunned at the sudden and gruesome death, but even more so at the size of the Grimm that did the deed. She had seen Alphas before in photos, but this one was taller than them by a full foot. It was too big to fit in the hallway, but it does so anyway, smashing aside the walls and ceiling, leaving trails of rubble and dust behind it.
Thick bone plates cover the entirety of its body, nearly making it look albino if it weren't for small gaps on its joints, neck, and waist that show the dark flesh underneath, looking as if it was a shadow seeping out.
And the eyes were like red flames, which was common to see on Grimm, but as her silver eyes met them, she felt cold dread run up her spine.
This Grimm was intelligent.
This must be the Ancient, the one she overheard the Headmaster talking about. She could feel the rage, the hate, and the savagery behind its eyes, and it chilled her to the core.
As if the situation wasn't bad enough, she hears footsteps and growls from behind it, more Grimm. Alpha Beowolves she recognizes, leaders of Grimm packs, and there were six of them. Each growl and snaps at her, acting like dogs on the leash with the Ancient the one holding it.
It snarls at her, crushing the corpse in its grasp as if to taunt, frighten or mock her. It does its job in instilling fear but with some rage as well. Her instincts to run clash with her want to kill it for what it's done. So she compromises.
She runs but fires Crescent Rose while she does so, high caliber sniper rounds propelled by Dust smash against the skull of the Ancient, leaving no more than scratch marks on it.
It snarls at her, almost sounding like it was laughing, before pointing a clawed hand at it and roars, dropping its hold over the Alphas and letting them loose at her.
Her first thought was to run back from where she came but then remembered the civilians still running. If she runs back, the Alphas will find them, and it'll be a bloodbath. Maybe if she was against one Alpha, she could take it on with some trouble, but against a pack made up of Alphas?
She has no choice, though; she continues firing as she ran, using the recoil of her weapon to further launch herself forward from the Alphas' reach, luring them away. Signal was built on a fortress, and the interior had many twists and turns to slow down enemies in case they breached the walls, so she makes use of that.
She runs blindly, following the hallway with the Alpha Beowolves hounding at her heel, occasionally using her Semblance to get some distance between them before she nearly screeches to a halt, finding a pack of Grimm in front of her.
'They already overran this part of Signal that quickly?' she wonders, surprised before bringing out Crescent Rose in its scythe form. The Grimm in front of her were young, so even one slice was enough to slaughter more than one. But they brought the Alphas behind her enough time to catch up, and by the time she finishes up, an Alpha was already leaping at her with its jaws wide open and claws forward.
She prepares to meet it head-on, but then her eyes widen as the walls come crashing down. A black shield with glowing purple edges slams into the Alpha Beowolf's skull, cracking it and sending it flying backwards before a blast of fire engulfs it, followed by a metal gauntlet smashing its head in.
"Wolf? Dad?" she looks both confused and relieved, "What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you." Wolf says as the shield vanishes, and he swaps to his silver shotgun, "Followed the sound of sniper fire, made a few educated guesses on interception, and then a few shortcuts were taken."
He says, gesturing to the hole in the wall behind him.
"We need to find Yang; she's still out there!" Ruby says as Taiyang sighs in frustration.
"No, Ruby, she's not." Taiyang says, causing Ruby's eyes to widen in surprise.
"What?"
"She's safe; this is why I ask you to take care of your Scroll, young lady. Poor communication kills, especially if you're a Huntsman!" he rebukes, "Your Scroll's a lifeline out in the field; how many times do I have to-!"
"Incoming." Wolf interrupts and fires buckshot at an Alpha dashing towards them, sending it reeling backwards before leaping at it and smashing its face with his knee. The Alphas stumbles before Ruby fires at its already damaged skull, the first shot cracking away at what armor remained before the second punches a hole through the soft shadowy flesh under it.
The Alphas growl as they surround them, slowly approaching as they readied their weapons.
"Is it me, or do they feel tougher?" Wolf questions as he loads a shell.
"They're Alphas." Taiyang explains as he slams his gauntlet into another Alpha before ducking under a swing and countering by blasting twin fireballs under its chin, "They take a bit more to put down, but I've never seen them without a pack with them."
"I saw them following this big Beowolf; I think it was the Ancient." As she reloads Crescent Rose, Ruby adds, "And…they killed Professor Koemaru…."
Taiyang flinches at the news of his death, "Jay…."
But he shakes his head; he can't let the death of his co-worker affect him now.
"I'm not even going to get into how you eavesdropped on us," Taiyang says as he blocks an Alpha from tackling Ruby and blasting a continuous stream of fire from both gauntlets under its chin point-blank, "But if you're right, then we have to run. Now."
"Run?" Wolf asks as he assists in eliminating the flaming Beowolf by shooting its head off with two quick shots, "Why should we? The head of the horde presents itself to us on a silver platter. Maybe it won't stop the horde, but it sure as hell won't do harm."
"The last time an Ancient showed it was an Ancient Deathstalker in Solitas, during the Great War, took a ceasefire between the Mantle and Vale Army to drive it away, and eight Aura Users to kill it." Taiyang explains as he, Ruby, and Wolf got to each other's backs as the remaining Alphas hesitated in pressing the attack, "You need enough firepower to level the academy if you want to kill it."
Suddenly it looks like a lightbulb popped up in Ruby's head,
"The Dust Lab!" she exclaims, "Would that work?"
Taiyang blinks in surprise before thinking. The Dust Lab was where students learned the basics of Dust usage, such as how to handle them and use them for combat applications carefully. Sure, a lot of Dust was gathered to be used for the defense, but if enough remained, and if the Ancient Beowolf was caught in the blast? Chances of killing it are low, but it could be enough to wound it badly to retreat along with its horde.
"There might be enough Dust to hurt, maybe even kill it." Taiyang admits, "But it's too risky; we'll need someone to lure the Ancient towards the lab."
He turns and glares at Ruby before she could speak up, "And it's not going to be you! I nearly lost you twice today; I'm not doing that again!"
The Alpha Beowolves took his momentary anger as a point to launch itself at him before both he and Ruby shot at it with their weapons, throwing it backward on fire.
"Then it's settled." Wolf gets between the two, "Ruby, you and your dad head to this Dust Lab of yours; I'll try to draw the Ancient to it."
Taiyang shook his head, "I can't ask you to do that, Wolf; it's too risky."
Wolf scoffs, "You don't know half the risks I've taken. You've seen what I can do; I think I'll make pretty good bait for this Ancient thing."
He had a point. Taiyang had seen how devastating that lightning of his was from the window, clearing out Grimm like an artillery barrage from an Atlesian airship. But then he also saw that strange purple shield he materialized from thin air, disintegrating Grimm into purple specks with it.
He couldn't help but wonder because no sort of Semblance could be that variable, can it? And a Huntsman like him was in on the business long enough to know when Dust was being used, and it certainly wasn't when Wolf was dishing out those strange attacks. He only knew a handful that could perform feats like that, but the list was so small he could count it all in one hand. So just who was this Wolf, then?
The sound of claws scraping walls interrupts them as they look down the hall at the source of the noise; Ruby pales as Taiyang feels a shiver run down his spine at the sight. Even in all his years as a Huntsman, there were still a few things that unnerved, even scared, him.
This was one such thing.
The remaining Alpha cowers as it realizes its master stood behind it; he knows Grimm communicates with one another and assumes that the whining sound it was making was some kind of excuse or showing subservience. The Ancient responds by swatting it away like a fly, smashing it into a wall, and leaving a black stain with shards of bones.
Now Beowolves aren't the strongest of Grimm, near the bottom of the totem pole; even their Alphas were only so much of a challenge if a Huntsman knew what he was doing. But when faced with this Ancient Beowolf, Taiyang felt that he should prepare to lose his life if he should fight it.
But Wolf?
"That's the Ancient?" he mumbles to himself as he reloads his shotgun, "Wonder if Eris can make it into a gun."
As the Ancient shrugs off the dust from his back, scraping at the ceiling. Its red eyes are like flames in the dark, peering at them inquisitively, studying them, or more accurately, studying Wolf.
"I don't think it likes me very much." Wolf notes its glare directed at him as it growls, sounding like rocks grinding, before it begins to slowly approach them, carefully on all fours, like a wolf sizing up its prey. Ruby takes an unconscious step back, and Taiyang brings his weapons up, prepared to fight, when Wolf interrupts him.
"Get to the Dust Lab. Now." Wolf says firmly, stepping up in front of Taiyang, "The two of you know what you're doing; I don't even know what the hell this Dust thing is. When you're done, let me know, I'm already tuned in to your Huntsmen frequency."
Taiyang doesn't even have time to ask how he got that frequency or how he didn't know what Dust was, but in a split second, he decides to trust his gut on the matter.
"We'll alert you when we're done." Taiyang says as he grabs his daughter by the arm, "Stay alive, Wolf."
Wolf could see the conflict in Ruby's face at the thought of leaving someone behind, so he gave a thumbs up to reassure her,
"Relax, Rubes, I've fought bigger and scarier than our big bad wolf over here. I'll-"
Suddenly a white blur smashes into Wolf, who barely had time to materialize and bring up his shield to protect himself, a wall of purple light expanding from it to block the Ancient that slammed into him.
"Jeez, I guess he didn't like being called that." Wolf jokes through gritted teeth as his boots created sparks trying to hold his ground; the Ancient's strength was pretty strong for something of its size. Almost on par with an Ogre.
It reels its arm back for a swipe, hoping to destroy the shield, but Wolf brought it down and barely slid under the blow in time before leaping up and smashing the Sentinel Shield's edge on its back, sending it stumbling forwards.
Wolf frowns at the sight of his attack leaving only a crack and Void scorch marks. That was some thick armor, which made sense if this thing had to survive for who knows how long. If he was comparing it with enemies back home, this Ancient was probably a Major or Ultra.
Then came the second strike; the Ancient moved faster than he expected, slamming him backward, down the hall, and through the wall, covering his armor in dust and debris as he landed in what appeared to be a classroom, shattering any desks and chairs that he landed on.
"Ow…Ultra. Definitely an Ultra." Wolf groans as he hears his armor's warning system beep rapidly, indicating the loss of his Light-generated shields.
A roar came from the opposite end, and he thought quickly. Perfect Paradox was good but not against heavy armor; he needed something with more punch.
"Ghost, Arbalest, now!" he yells as the shotgun transmats away, replaced with the Dark Age railgun. He drew it quickly just as the Ancient came in sight, squeezing through the hole he made when he was thrown.
A quick shot from the railgun snags the Ancient right in the skull, causing it to roar in pain as it recoils from the sheer force of the blow. A solid metal slug embedded right in its skull, not penetrating but still dealing damage.
He fires another shot but the Ancient ducks under it this time and dashes forward, with Wolf barely rolling aside in time and pointing the Arbalest at its skull again at near point-blank range. But the Ancient was faster, slashing upwards with its claws and tearing into his armor, sending him flying upwards into the ceiling before landing again.
"Come on, Guardian, you're embarrassing yourself." Ghost says, "Can you imagine the headlines? Breaking News: Overgrown mutt does what Hive Gods failed to do and beats the Hero of the Red War."
Wolf smirks as he pushes himself up, leaking iridescent liquid from his wounds, but soon it started patching itself back together thanks to Light.
"I was stuck in a cockpit for a week. All that did was just knock the rust out of me." he scoffs as he barely dodges a downward swipe from the Ancient that would have decapitated him, retaliating with a Sentinel Shield uppercut causing it to stumble backward.
As it was stunned by the blow, Wolf exhaled and released the built-up Void Light, purple smoke leaking from his body as he filled himself with another form of Light. Solar fills his artificial body as he raises both his hands in the air, and the sound of a striking hammer steel resonates through the area, grabbing a flaming maul and slamming it into the chest of the Ancient.
The bone armor protects it from most of the blow, but the heat radiating from it resonates through it and burns at his flesh under the armor and shadowy hide. It roars in pain before being silenced by another strike from the Burning Maul, smashing the side of its head.
Wolf moves for a third strike when the Ancient raises both its claws to block the blow, wrapping its claws around it. The maul burns and begins to melt its bone-covered hands, but from the look of its eyes, the rage inside it was burning hotter.
"I think you made it angry." Ghost unhelpfully points out as the Ancient opens its mouth. But instead of roaring more, it made some sort of choking, gurgling noise before showering black goo all over him.
"The hell-?!" Wolf cries in surprise and disgust; he's pretty sure he's never had an enemy puke on him before in all his career as a Guardian. Fortunately, any that got on him was quickly burnt away by the flames on his armor, but it was still disgusting.
"Traveler, that's disgusting! Learn some manners, will ya?" he says through gritted teeth as they both wrestled for control over the Burning Maul; he was about to bring his leg up for a Solar infused knee when another thing he didn't expect happened.
Honestly, you'd think that he would no longer be surprised after slaying his third god-like entity in the form of Oryx the Taken King. But the universe just loves its variety, doesn't it? Why should it not keep throwing new crazy things at him?
Claws grip at both his legs as he looks down, and optics widen at the sight of the large black puddle forming under his leg, with a dozen clawed arms reaching out from it, three pairs grabbing each leg tightly.
"You gotta be kidding me." he grumbles as he sees the heads of young Beowolfs beginning to pop out of the black puddle. They spawn that fast?
They quickly sprung up from whatever that puddle was, a dozen of them scraping at him while grappling with the Ancient, wearing down his freshly recharged shields. He tries to free one hand to wipe away the young Grimm when the Ancient saw its opening and slashed at him, tearing through his weakened shields and cutting into his armor. Through his own Grimm.
He smashes against the walls, the Grimm that clung onto him, still trying to bite through his armor with their freshly grown canines that just weren't as sharp as the Ancient's claws. Through the pain, he materializes a smaller flaming hammer and smashes it against the head of the young Beowolf, disintegrating it.
He gets up and does the same with the others, smashing them with fist, boot, and hammer until all that was left was black gore all over his chest. Thank Traveler that these things disintegrated quickly from what he's seen.
"It's fascinating, really." Ghost exclaims as his armor begins self-repairing, "From what I see, the composition of these Grimm are remarkably similar to that of the Taken. Yet they are so different. The Warlocks back home would wanna have a look at them."
"You don't say? Well, then let's bring Ikora a few samples. Maybe she'll give that hug you wanted last time." Wolf says as he pushes himself back to his feet, ignoring his Ghost's defensive and flustered response.
The Ancient continued spewing more of that tar-like substance; more Grimm began crawling out of the puddles. Wolf can now see why it took small armies to drive these things away. Tank-like armor with the speed of a Thrall, claws sharp enough to shred field plate like a hot knife through butter, and the ability to create its own army in the blink of an eye? Sounds like something the Hive would like to come up with.
And he can't help but smile. Now he wouldn't call himself bloodthirsty, but there was just something about the battle that excited him, focusing him and sharpening his mind.
The freshly spawned Beowolves turn their attention to him as their Ancient lurks behind them. They roar and snap at him like Thralls would before throwing themselves into the fray; raising his hand into the air for a Hammer of Sol, he charges to meet them head-on.
"Wolf!" Ruby shouts as she sees him get smacked away by the Ancient, as she struggles against her father's grip, "We're just going to leave him?!"
"He volunteered." Taiyang says as he runs, pulling Ruby with him, "You know him most out of all of us; how strong do you think he is?"
Ruby thinks, recalling how the both of them fought off Grimm when he crash-landed, dishing out lightning strikes with ease and obliterating entire packs when he was helping her get to Signal.
"...Very." she answers as she stops struggling and ran alongside her father, "It still feels wrong."
"I didn't say it doesn't." Taiyang responds, "But that's how it is in the field; sometimes you have to make choices that feel wrong for the right reasons."
Fighting their way towards the Dust lab, there wasn't much with most of the Grimm concentrating on the slowly retreating defenders, but there were still stragglers that stuck around looking for easy prey. Ruby and Taiyang showed them the foolishness of their decision, wiping them out quickly as they made a beeline toward the lab.
"That's the last one," Ruby says as a bullet punches through the head of a young Beowolf mid-roar, splattering black blood across the walls as its corpse lays amongst its brethren.
Once she was sure the room was clear, she re-collapses Crescent Rose into a compact form, storing it at her back. Around them in the wrecked Dust Lab lay corpses of Grimm, already beginning to disintegrate and leave behind pieces of bone armor.
But unfortunately, those weren't the only corpses; she pales and looks away when she sees three half-eaten corpses; it was likely they tried hiding from the Grimm only to be caught. She chokes back bile rising up her throat when she realizes how small one of the bodies was compared to the other two.
She fails, looking away as she relieves her stomach of its contents. Taiyang rushes to his daughter's side, placing a comforting hand on her back. He knew that when his daughters started their training on the road to becoming Huntresses, they would have to get used to sights like these. But he didn't expect them to experience it so soon.
"I'm fine…I'm fine." Ruby insists as she pulls herself up, avoiding looking at the corpses, "Let's…let's just get this done."
Taiyang nods as he approaches the locked metal door; behind laid the Dust stores that the academy uses for training. Sure, plenty was used up during the initial defense, but there should be more than enough remaining for an explosion big enough to take out at least a quarter of the school if rigged properly.
"Keep an eye on the entrance." Taiyang orders as he opens the door using his Scroll. Inside he finds containers full of Dust crystals of various qualities and powder. Now he wasn't in charge of teaching Dust usage, but really you only need to know the basics about Dust to rig a bomb out of it.
He starts keying in the codes to open up the transparent containers. Picking up the dozens of remaining Dust crystals and canisters, mixing Fire and Air Dust powder to increase the explosive power, including multiple Earth and Ice Dust to potentially bury the Ancient, hooking them together using some wires in the lab. It wasn't exactly an Atlesian military-grade bomb, but it should be enough to give the Ancient pause.
As he worked, he heard gunfire from outside, a majority of the Grimm forces would be focused on the negative emotions the civilians were exhibiting, but a few stragglers would come across them and attack.
He finishes up, hooking the last Dust powder canister with the rest, and pulls out his Scroll to turn it into a makeshift timer. At that moment, a call rings, with Headmaster Mellow being the caller.
Swearing at the interruption, he accepts the call anyways,
"Tai! Where are you? The evacuation is halfway complete! I'm getting reports of the Grimm pulling back at least half their numbers. Don't know why or care, but we're taking advantage of this." he shouts down the Scroll, the sound of gunfire heard behind him.
Taiyang wonders why the Grimm would fall back now when they have the advantage. Then his mind flashes back to Wolf facing the Ancient. It couldn't be…can it?
"Our forward scouts found every ship in the port wrecked, but only a small presence of Grimm. It's being cleared as we speak, so we need to evacuate and hold out there."
"I'm in the Dust Lab." Taiyang responds, "I spot the Ancient, Wolf is buying time, and I'm scrapping together what Dust was left to make a bomb for it."
"You're what?!" he exclaims, "Taiyang, you're just putting yourself in needless risk. And Wolf…he's going to get himself killed!"
"Call it a gut feeling, but I think he'll make it." Taiyang says as he starts hearing gunshots from the lab, "I have to go; Grimm are here, won't be long before more come."
"...We're blowing the tunnels as soon as the last civilian gets through. You got 20, maybe 15, minutes." Mellow sighs, "I hope you make it."
He hangs up before he could get a reply in, and Taiyang taps his Scroll to get into the Huntsmen frequency, sending a message,
"Wolf? It's Taiyang; the bomb's been set. I'm gonna set it to three minutes. Would that be enough time for you to get the Ancient here?"
For a moment, there was silence over the frequency. Then he hears the familiar sounds of Beowolves, young from how it sounded, snapping and roaring over the Scroll, and he worries,
"Wolf?" he asks again, fearing the worst before he finally gets a reply.
"Sorry, you're gonna have to speak up a little!" Wolf shouts over the Scroll, and Taiyang wonders how he was answering while fighting, "Damn mutts are suicidal; even some Thralls have some concept of strategy."
Wolf grunts over the Scroll, and Taiyang raises a brow at the terminology but shrugs it off; there are more important things to worry about.
"Head to the third floor immediately. You can follow the signs to the Dust Lab, can't miss them." he instructs, "I'll set the timer for five minutes. You'll have to find some way to immobilize the Ancient before running."
It was terribly risky, he realizes; the chances of something going wrong and Wolf getting caught in the blast were high. He hesitates before adding, "I'm sorry for having you take this risk…."
"Don't sweat it; I've taken worse risks!" Wolf says as Taiyang hears screeches from Beowolves as it sounded like they were set on fire; from his own weapons, he would be familiar with the noise, "I'll make it. Just focus on getting yourself and Ruby out of there."
Taiyang has regretfully heard many similar statements in his life, people encouraging others to go ahead while they stayed behind for whatever reason. But there was always traces of uncertainty, tints of fear in their voices. There was none in Wolf's, and the casualness he's showing to the prospect of his own death unnerved him.
"Now, just where the hell is…." Wolf pauses at something before chuckling, "Well, what do you know? I'll be there in a minute; get out as fast as you can!"
Before Taiyang could ask what he could mean, the call cut. He sighs, and with little choice, he activates the timer on their makeshift bomb.
"Alright, Ruby, the timer's set; we need to go, now," he calls out as he exits the storage area to find his daughter with a small pile of Grimm bones shattered in front of her feet,
"Yeah, just one small problem." Ruby says as she continues firing at the doorway, nailing Beowolves in the skull with each shot, "A bunch of them rushed by, but they saw me, and now they changed course!"
Taiyang curses as he rushes over to help his daughter. The Grimm must be falling back for a reason, either Wolf did something that caused the Ancient to call for backup, or it had something else planned. Neither was good for them, considering they were now stuck between the bomb and a horde.
However, before they could do much, a loud rumbling was heard above them. Steadily becoming closer and closer. Taiyang briefly glances upwards to see a crack forming in the ceiling, barely having enough time to grab Ruby before pulling her away as something smashes and falls from above, crushing a handful of Grimm beneath it.
"Wolf?!" They both exclaim in shock as they see the armored figure putting the Ancient in a chokehold with one of his arms, the other holding what looks to be a rifle of some sort, firing it point-blank at the head, but it didn't sound like it was firing any Dust propelled rounds they were familiar with.
What was most surprising was the sight of the Ancient before they had seen a near-pristine full set of bone plates surrounding it, looking nigh unbreakable. Now there were thin cobweb cracks all over, barely visible, but the ones on the skull were more visible, and it was roaring in both pain and anger as it struggled to tear off Wolf.
And he was laughing. Wolf was cackling as the Ancient kept trying to throw him off. It was a mind-boggling sight that both Ruby and Taiyang took a moment to blink and process what they were seeing.
Then the Ancient slammed its back against the walls with such force the room shook, and they both heard and saw what looked like Wolf's Aura shattering before being thrown off. They heard him grunt in pain as he was grabbed and tossed away like a sack of potatoes, losing his gun as he was thrown.
Taiyang snaps out of it and lunges for the Ancient, delivering rapid blows to the cracked torso. The Ancient seemed to barely react and swung a clawed fist down with Taiyang barely blocking it in time. The impact was stronger than he had expected, and his knees buckled under the force as his Aura strained under the pressure.
The fire surrounding Wolf begins to burn out as he starts to replace it with something else. Layers of frost began encompassing his arm and the ground around him.
"I need time; buy me a few seconds!"
Ruby thinks quickly, her own rifle has proven ineffective against the Ancient's armor, and she doubts that it will even if the armor was slightly damaged. She then notices the gun Wolf dropped nearby before dashing forward in a burst of rose petals, grabbing it and taking aim at its head. It was an unfamiliar weapon, and it felt bulky and unfamiliar in her arms, but it was still a rifle, and she's a master at those.
She pulls the trigger and blinks, confused when instead of firing a bullet, she hears something charging inside it for a few seconds before firing. She overestimated the recoil and compensated too much, causing the shell to hit the Ancient in the shoulder just as it swung its other claw to strike her father, causing the blow to miss instead.
Taiyang capitalizes on this distraction and fires full-powered shots at point-blank at the skull, consuming the whole head in flames, the recoil knocking him out of the grip and burning out his gauntlet's Fire Dust power cells, which were going to be a pain to replace.
The heat must have damaged the eyes because it grasped them in pain, covering its eyes with its oversized claws. But it won't have time to recover.
Thick frost crystals build up in Wolf's hand as a perfect blue crystal manifests before he chucks it at the feet of the Ancient Beowolf, a wall of ice popping out of nowhere and encasing the Ancient Beowolf in a sheet of ice in the blink of an eye.
"Wow…" Ruby looks at the frozen Grimm, amazed, before looking back at Wolf, "So you got lightning, that purple thing, and ice?"
"Yeah." Taiyang grimaces as he rubs both his arms, the gauntlets sparking from damage and overloading the Fire Dust, "I'd like to know that as well."
"No time to explain; the Stasis won't last long." Wolf pants before turning to her, "Nice shooting, by the way."
Ruby flushes at the praise before handing back Wolf's railgun buttstock first, but before he could grab it, all three of them hear familiar-sounding footsteps and turn towards the entrance, Wolf pulling out a black pistol from a holster and firing an orange laser beam that sliced and burned through the Grimm, as Ruby fired Wolf's railgun again.
"Looks like its backup arrived." Taiyang grimaces as he prepares to help fight, then notices from above them that the hole Wolf and the Ancient created when they smashed through had Grimm prowling around the edges, leaping down.
He grabs one of the Grimm by the neck before using it as a bat to bludgeon another, "Both of you, run now! I'll keep them distracted!"
"No way!" Ruby protests as she fires again but the railgun cycles to empty, dodging a claw swipe before switching to Crescent Rose and slicing it with its scythe mode, "We already lost, mom; I'm not losing you as well!"
Taiyang hears a crack and takes a moment to glance at the frozen Ancient Beowolf, its claw shaking as the layer of crystals surrounding it starts cracking and dissipating. Wolf curses under his breath; the Ancient Beowolf was breaking out faster than he thought.
Wolf materializes a crystal gauntlet around his fist as he slams it to the floor, sending up crystal walls that trap Grimm before shattering them, the shard launching like shrapnel from grenades and slaying even more Grimm, but more just keeps pouring in.
If they can't break out in time, they'll be trapped between the Ancient Beowolf and the horde. A rock and a hard place. Wolf thinks about using a Fist of Havoc to clear the room, but both Ruby and Taiyan would be caught in the blast as well as the bomb, which would trigger it.
Then it was like a bulb lit up above his head as his eyes spun to the storage area where the bomb lay, a digital timer marking four remaining minutes. He starts shifting elements again, back into the Light, but the strain from switching from Solar to Stasis and now Void in such a rapid pace takes its toll; he stumbles, weakened, leaving him open to an attack that would have connected if not for Ruby.
He gives her an appreciative nod; even as an EXO, the rapid shift between elements, as well as Light and Darkness, can take a toll on one's stamina. Once he was filled to the brim with Void again, he pointed his Devil's Ruin at the bomb.
Taiyang sees what he was aiming at and shouts something before throwing himself to stop him, but before he could touch Wolf, the trigger was pulled, and a Solar bullet sped past towards the bomb.
A loud explosion could be heard miles away, as for a moment, the skies lit up with a flurry of colorful, elemental explosions, destroying a portion of Signal Academy. Walls collapse, and mountains of rubble, spikes of earth, and ice emerge from one point created from the detonation of several Dust crystals, and fire scattered everywhere.
Near the center of the explosion, a dome covered in the aftereffects of the Dust explosion laid. After a moment, the soot, dirt, and ice fall off, revealing a purple dome of Void Light underneath, which Wolf brings down the Ward once it was clear there was no more threat.
"You didn't think to warn us you could do that?" Taiyang asks, annoyed as he exits the dome, followed by his daughter and an out-of-breath Wolf.
"Didn't have time to explain." Wolf shrugs, "Needed some way to wipe out the Grimm without catching the two of you in the crossfire."
He stumbles and kneels on one knee; he takes a step forward, and Ruby rushes to help him, but he waves it off,
"I'm fine." Wolf insists, "That just took a lot out of me." he breathes deeply as he looks around, "What about the Ancient?"
"If that blast didn't kill it, it's probably buried under all that." Taiyang gestures to a large spike mound of ice and earth, " We should get out of here before more Grimm comes along."
Wolf sighs, "Shame there's no corpse to recover. Would have loved to make some kind of weapon out of it. Or some armor. Bones as strong as that would make good armor."
Taiyang rolled his eyes and was about to respond when he hears cracking from the spike behind him; a black blur smashes out of it, claws swinging at him as he was barely able to bring up his arms in time and concentrate his Aura before the blow landed.
It shattered his already weakened Aura, sending him flying backwards as he slammed against the damaged remains of a wall. He collapses, breathing ragged as his stamina drained when his Aura shattered.
"Dad!" Ruby cries in fear before turning to the Ancient. It was covered in heavy damage, bone plating falling off and exposing many weak spots underneath, but it still stood tall over the exhausted Wolf as he struggled to get up.
She rushes towards it to buy time, slicing into its exposed flesh with Crescent Rose, but they leave shallow cuts. Despite its damaged armor, the shadowy hide proved enough to fend off her weapon's blade.
She dodges under a swipe and bursts into roses, traveling behind it and slamming Crescent Rose blade first into the exposed neck. But it takes Ruby by surprise, grabbing the handle of Crescent Rose before the blade could impact, and swings with her still latched on to her weapon.
She smashes through a pillar of earth, her Aura shattering as she lays there exhausted. She tries to push herself up as the Ancient drags itself to her, rage burning in its eyes as it lifts a claw.
She has no Aura, meaning no Semblance, meaning she has no hope of dodging the attack. Even if she did have her Aura, it wouldn't be strong enough to tank a hit from the Ancient. Crescent Rose is out of reach; the Ancient Beowolf would reach her first before she touches her gun.
There was no way she could think of surviving this encounter.
She braces herself and closes her eyes as the Ancient Beowolf raises and brings its claws down for a strike.
She hears something shatter and the sound of metal twisting and breaking before opening her eyes again and gasping in shock.
Wolf had thrown himself in front of her; the claws shattered shields and punched entirely through his armor and body, leaking what appeared to be a slick iridescent liquid.
"Shanks…" he mutters with a weak and strained voice, "I guessed it hit something important."
His body went limp, arms dangling by the side, head slumping down. The Ancient Beowolf roars in confusion, there was no trace of blood or flesh in its claws, it knew from experience that the abominations wearing metal had soft flesh underneath so where was it? Why was there only this metal carapace despite it having the light within?
Ruby could only curse herself for her weakness as she tries to stand despite her Aura exhaustion. Someone else was dead, and this time it was because of her. They were so close to making it out, but she got careless, if it wasn't for her Wolf would still be alive.
Unknown to her, a flicker of light sparks in her silver eyes, but then she saw the unexpected happen. A small hexagonal drone materializes out of thin air in a flash of blue light, and even the Ancient Beowolf pauses in confusion at the thing in front of it.
Ghost, Ruby recognizes and wonders why it suddenly appeared and put itself in danger.
The Ancient Beowolf was similarly having trouble processing the sight. It was not living, smelled of no flesh or blood, but metal just like the corpse in its hands, but yet it bore light inside it, the logic confounding it as it spoke.
"Hello there, it looks like you're the first of your kind ever to kill a Guardian. Must be quite an achievement for you. Congratulations." it spoke in a chipper tone, ignoring the corpse of Wolf in the Grimm's claws as it pulsed and charged with blue light, "Stand by to receive your reward."
It releases a pulse of light that washes over Wolf, who suddenly springs up, taking everyone by surprise as he grabs the skull of the Ancient Beowolf before smashing his Void-charged helmet against its already broken skull.
Each slam breaks off another part of the skull, disintegrating them with Void energy. Ruby takes her chance and grabs Crescent Rose, firing at the now exposed head. The recoil was different without Aura, but she practiced enough with Crescent Rose that it became negligible.
The Ancient Beowolf finally had enough; it threw Wolf away as if he was a sack of garbage, landing next to Ruby, who kept firing at its retreating form. Wolf joins in and fires with Devil's Ruin, nailing it in the back with a Solar laser beam as it retreats into the forest.
Once it was out of sight, Ruby turned her attention to Wolf,
"Wolf! Ghost? Oh my gods, what just happened?!" she exclaims as she looks over the large stab wounds in his torso, they were big enough to squeeze an arm through them, and inside there were a bunch of wires and machines pumping strange iridescent liquid, "Do you need help?!"
"Relax, he's been through worse." Ghost assures as he floats near the wound, beginning to shower it with Light to repair his wounds, "If you think this is bad, you should've seen that time he tried to raid the Vault of Glass by himself."
Wolf sighs, "Come on, we both agreed I was an idiot for trying that."
"No, you only agreed after three hours and dying a thousand times!" Ghost reminds as Wolf looks away, embarrassed before deciding to change the topic.
"Where's your dad?" he asks Ruby, "He alright?"
"As good as I can be." A pained voice came from behind them as the two of them looked back to see Taiyang standing over them, hunched, and grabbing his arm in pain, "Aura shattered before I landed, think I dislocated my shoulder, broke a few ribs, sprained a leg, and maybe even a concussion."
He gazes at Ghost before at the wounds and leaking iridescent liquid,
"But unless I'm that concussed…you're not human, are you?"
Wolf can't help but chuckle as he gestures to the gaping wounds,
"What gave it away? The wiring or the blood?" deciding the gig was up, he uncollapses his helmet, revealing his pale white robotic face and blue eyes.
Taiyang's jaw dropped slightly at the sight before glancing at his daughter, "And judging from the lack of surprise, you knew?"
Ruby looks away nervously as Wolf intercedes, "Hey, I told her not to tell anyone until all this was over. Can't have anyone freaking about travelers from outer space while there's an attack by some minions of Darkness." Wolf pauses before talking to himself, "Damn, that sounds like some cheesy play the Ghost Community Theater would come up with."
"Hey!" Ghosts protests, "I'll have you know we produce quality work there. Didi just gives us a bad name!"
Both Ruby and Taiyang stared in disbelief as the two casually chatted like there wasn't giant gaping holes in Wolf's chest right now.
"Do we need to get you a doctor? Or a mechanic? What's a doctor for a robot?" Ruby rambles as Wolf pokes the holes in his torso.
"It's not that bad." Wolf winces as he pokes a stray wire, "Ghost?"
"Already done." the drone nods as he finishes patching Wolf up with Light, connecting wires back to their spots, realigning and reattaching mechanical components, and welding back plates of metal. In the end, it created a decent, but not perfect, patch job.
"See? All patched up." he gives the two stunned humans a thumbs up as he gets back up.
"I've never seen a robot like you before." Taiyang mutters in shock, "Didn't think Atlas could cook something like that up."
"We're not from Atlas." Ghost says, "Or anywhere on this planet."
"They're from space!" Ruby explains, "They crashed their spaceship near me, and then we fought Grimm together."
"Aliens…from space," Taiyang says with skepticism dripping from his voice as Wolf shrugs.
"We don't have time to explain why we don't have time to explain." Wolf says while internally joyous at finally having a chance to say those words instead of hearing them, Ghost giving him an amused look, "What do we do about the Ancient? What's it gonna do now?"
"Lick its wounds and regroup, I suppose." Taiyang answers as Ruby helps support him with her body, "Grimm only obey the strongest of their kind; they might question the Ancient's leadership after seeing its state, could be looking at an Elder or Alpha take their chances leaving its horde to strike on its own or take over. Even then, we probably destroyed a lot of the horde with that explosion; they'll take time to recover."
"So, these guys get stronger the more they fight, and they only obey the strongest?" Wolf asks as he shares a worried look with Ghost, "Sounds a lot like Sword Logic, doesn't it?"
Taiyang wasn't sure what the look between the two was or anything else, but before he could ask, they heard howls in the distance.
"Grimm." Taiyang recognizes, "Could be reserves or survivors. We need to regroup with the rest of the-"
He trails off as he notices Wolf wasn't paying attention, instead checking his ammo and pistol before realizing what he was thinking.
"You still want to fight? Are you nuts?"
"I lost track of the number of times I asked him that, and I'm a machine." Ghost chuckles as Wolf shrugs.
"Why give them time to regroup?" he asks rhetorically before holstering the pistol and holding a hand out to Ruby, "My Arbalest, please?"
Ruby blinks, confused before realizing what he was asking for, throwing him back his railgun, where he ejects the empty magazine before loading in a fresh one.
Taiyang sighs, "I suppose I can't stop you. I've seen what you can do, so I can assume you'll take care of yourself. I guess the question I should ask then is, do you have enough ammo for the rest of the night?"
Wolf only grins in a reply before re-collapsing his helmet, "Radar shows they're getting closer; you two might wanna get to safety fast."
They both left after sending him one more grateful nod, and as Wolf prepares to face the hoard, he takes a moment to gaze at the night sky, a shattered moon on the horizon. Even with the Collapse, with dozens of once life-brimmed colonies rendered near uninhabitable, Mercury turned into a Machine World and billions of lives lost; he's never seen a planetary body in such a state.
"The moon, it's so much like ours." his Ghost comments as it gazes into the sky with him, "The star patterns are very familiar as well. It's…eerie."
"You think? Almost feels like some twisted mirror dimension."
"Stuck in another world with an alternate form of the Taken and Hive mixed together, and a bunch of paracausal humans are running around protecting what remains." Ghost says, "What do you think of that?"
Wolf smirks under his helmet as he sees the Grimm begin to approach him, "I got a feeling we're gonna fit right in."
It has never been beaten like this before, not since it was a whelp barely scraping by under its Alpha. But once he conquered his pack, and then the second and third, it has never lost a single battle since.
Until this day, where it has been beaten to the brink of death. Its once proud bone plates, signifying his age and skill, have been reduced to scraps barely clinging on, allowing it to maintain such injuries it could barely limp away from the abominations.
The abominations, it has never faced one like that one before. It had slain many with its own two claws, but this was the first that was pierced, and just as it was relishing in its light being snuffed out, it burned once more, and the abomination retaliated, nearly crushing its head to paste.
It barely escaped; the horde it had spent weeks building has been cut in half in one swipe because it lost focus. But it will learn from this, just like it always did.
The caverns on the island had many places to hide and rebuild, especially after it had its horde help to excavate it. By the time it was found, it will be healed and ready once again, this time more prepared than-
BANG*
Something pierces its unarmoured leg, punching straight through despite its thick hide, and it howls in pain. Stumbling, it turns around, expecting to find another abomination hunting it.
But then its flaming red eyes widen in shock as the sight of four familiar figures enters its vision.
"Pathetic…" a deep, guttural voice growls out as the largest figure, easily towering over 7 feet tall, strolls towards the incapacitated Ancient Beowolf, a bone-white cleaver almost as large as him trailing behind, digging into the earth. Red veins run through the bone blade, and making up the hilt, and guard of the blade were the upper and lower jaws of an Ursa Major.
The Ancient roars in defiance before swinging its claws at him, but he was faster as he lifted the cleave and slammed the blunt of the blade on the Ancient's now exposed head, imparting the ground and creating a crater where it lay in the center unconscious.
"Yes, what a waste of time it was. We could have done a better job." squealed a voice from another figure, this one lankier and thinner than the first, wearing a white mask that covered his entire face with red markings and a large yellow eye in the center. His right arm was a thin shadowy hand, and the other was what looked to be a long rifle embedded to it, wrapped and embroidered with Grimm bones with the mouth of the barrel decorated with the Nevermore skull, the stock merging with his arm wrapped together with red veins.
"It was not a waste, Geist!" The large figure states, "There was good slaughter today. It could be more, but there was a great number of blood still spilled; I pray our queen accepts our tithe and offerings."
He says with a tone of reverence as the sniper, Geist, bows in subservience and mimics his gesture, "Yes, of course, Alpha. Forgive me for speaking out of turn."
The large figure, Alpha, sneers at his companion's lack of spine before checking to see if the Ancient was still alive, pleased to see that it was.
"Still, we have no use for this now, do we?" hisses a female voice, draped in a shadowy cloak and twirling a glowing, golden dagger between her clawed fingers, her face covered with a mask. "Can I kill it? I would love to add its bones, or what's left of them, to my collection."
Red tendrils lash out to stop her hand before she could raise her dagger to strike it down. Behind her, a figure with a long flowing cloak approaches with tendrils emerging from a red crystal ball cradled in black skeletal arms,
"Be patient, Sabyr." a raspy, dry voice came from the cloaked figure, "An Ancient is hard to grow and come by; better to save it. Our queen would be most disappointed to have an asset destroyed on a whim."
Sabyr sneers behind her mask, "Do not speak as you know our queen's plans. This thing has proven itself unable to quash even a little hamlet such as this. I say kill it; that is our way."
Before the disagreement could turn physical, Alpha raises his hand to silence both of them.
"The Ancient's defeat was unfortunate, but it does not mean it was weak. It merely faced an unforeseen challenge."
Geist scoffs as he loads a bullet into his rifle-arm, but instead of being tipped with metal, it was with bones, and instead of Dust as a primer, there was a thick, black liquid substance, "That armored Huntsman? Bah, let me at him now, and I'll place a bullet between his eyes. His helmet would make for a great trophy, do you not agree, Sabyr?"
"For once, I do." Sabyr turns to Alpha, "Why not strike him down now?"
The Alpha growls, "You felt it in your blood, no? His Aura was different from the others; that much was noticeable. And his abilities, do they not feel familiar? Do you not feel the familiar burning itch in your mind, even if you were only gazing at it?"
"Another Warrior then?" the cloaked figure with the red crystal ball asks, "You believe so? His abilities were strange, and we all felt the same itch, but they were different from a Warrior. And I heard the last one died out years ago, slain personally by the queen herself."
"Whether or not it warrants further investigation. We obey our orders and flee for now with the Ancient. The doctor may find a use for it in his tests. And you," he points to the cloaked figure, "You will watch this new piece that has entered our queen's game. Am I understood?"
He looks around between the other three, daring them to challenge his directive, but they all bow their heads in agreement. He nods and grabs the Ancient Beowolf, slinging it across his shoulder.
"Come, we move at once." he orders, lifting his cleaver into the air, "Patch is a minor setback, but our true target awaits. We march for Vale. For the queen!"
"For the queen." responded the three with varying tones of enthusiasm.
"Any sign of the Grimm yet?" Taiyang asks a militiaman on a makeshift barricade.
"Nothing besides a few stragglers." he responded, keeping his gun pointed in the direction of the forest, "Looks like something got their attention."
"Yeah, something," Taiyang mutters as in the distance, you can barely see the occasional flash of light, like a thunderstorm brewing in the distance. He leaves without saying another word, looking towards the surviving civilians. There were roughly five hundred people in Patch; if what they were looking at now were the survivors, they were looking at two hundred dead. At least.
He sighs; as a Huntsman, he should be used to sights like these, but moving to Patch was to explicitly avoid sights like these. Patch had been one of Vale's most promising colonies, fertile farmland, and extremely low Grimm rates. An Ancient lurking around had been practically impossible, but here they were, fresh from forcing one to flee.
Or, more accurately, that strange character Wolf had driven it off. When he first saw him, he thought he was just some cocky teen with strange armor that popped out of nowhere. Strange, but he had been through stranger events.
But then this Wolf starts showing off his strange abilities, wielding lightning, fire, ice, and that weird purple thing. Manifesting weapons from thin air that were enough to hurt the Ancient Beowolf while his strongest attacks only stunned it.
He first thought it was just another trick with Dust. Creating solid Dust weapons had been nothing unusual, expensive, and in some cases impractical, but not impossible. But he's seen those types of weapons before and was a Huntsman for long enough to know that what Wolf did was without the usage of Dust.
And then the big reveal, he saw Wolf get gutted by the Ancient Beowolf protecting his daughter while he laid injured and too far to intervene. For a moment, he thought it to be the end of a young man with a promising future, but then the strange drone thing appeared out of thin air, bringing him back to life.
Or, more accurately it, as it was revealed that he was actually a robot.
And according to Ruby, an alien.
Alien robots from space with magic. It sounded like one of those ridiculous videogames Yang and Ruby play. He was skeptical of the whole story; after all, Ruby was a smart girl, but she could be a bit…naive if he was being honest. The concept just seemed so absurd, but at the same time, there was merit. He doesn't think Remnant has such tech to create something like that, even amongst Atlas. Unless it was some top-secret project, of course.
It wasn't the robot thing that disturbed him though, but the abilities it displayed. It was magic; there was no hope of mistaking it. And he's only known two people on the planet that could perform such things.
Neither he likes; both played their twisted chess game using the lives of those he cared about as pawns. Once news got out about Wolf's abilities, it would be a matter of time before both send agents to investigate, and there was no telling whose side Wolf would pick.
But he knows that he doesn't want Wolf to pick her side. If he let things go as they were, she might get to Wolf first, find some way to twist Wolf to her side, and after seeing what Wolf was capable of, he doesn't want to see that firepower turned against Patch, let alone the world of Remnant.
He needed to get Wolf to Ozpin first.
He finds himself a secluded spot and a borrowed Scroll to make a call. One he had sworn never to get call ever again. He waits patiently as the dial tone rings for a few seconds before being picked up.
"Taiyang?" greets a surprised voice, "I never expected for you to call again. Is this about Patch? I've heard the reports; I assure you I am doing the best I can to convince the Vale Council to-"
"It's related, but that's not the issue." Taiyang cuts him off quickly, "Oz…there was an Ancient Beowolf leading the horde."
"Yes, I've gathered that from the reports. Has there been any development regarding it?"
"Yeah, if you can consider someone chasing it off with its tail between its legs, a development." Taiyang snarks as the voice on the other end pauses.
"The Signal staff was enough to hunt and chase off an Ancient Beowolf?" he asks in surprise, "I'm aware an Ancient Beowolf is not as comparable to, say, an Ancient Deathclaw or Ancient Wyvern, or even an Ancient Ursa, but it sounds-"
"I wasn't finished." Taiyang cuts him off, "I…can't believe these words are coming out of my mouth, but it was a robot that did it. A robot with magic. No, I'm not concussed, brain-damaged, or whatnot. I'm not talking about some fancy trick with Dust or some powerful Semblance. I've been a Huntsman long enough to know which is which, and this was neither. It felt…different. Like what you or her, or the Maidens would be able to do."
There was silence over the line, and Taiyang doesn't blame the disbelief. He waited patiently, tapping his foot as Ozpin overcame his shock, and after a few seconds of stunned silence, he heard a response with steel in his voice.
"Taiyang…tell me everything you know." he demanded, "Every speck of detail, no matter how unimportant it seems. Now."
