Author's Note: Wow it's been a while since I posted something, and for of you those who follow me, I deeply apologize on that. For those of you who are just coming across this story, I hope you enjoy reading this one-shot nonetheless! It's a bit edgy I'd say, so heads up in that regard I guess lol.
Essence of Change
The besieged city shook under the bloodied night as veils of darkness and roars engulfed it in chaos. Flames bloomed across the horizon of buildings and muted rays of moonlight were all that pierced through the darkness and bathed the land in a dim lustrous glow.
The sky and land alike quaked with a horrifying screech as a massive figure of pitch black and bone-white unfurled its crimson wings to take to the night sky. For a few tense seconds the Wyvern simply circled overhead, beady crimson eyes roaming over the hellscape of the burning city. Its head snapped towards a tower in the distance, feeling it being beckoned there, before the Wyvern finally descended upon the city and its inhabitants in its terrifying glory. Another screech of a roar ripped forth from its throat and reverberated through the air as the Wyvern flew off into the distance. Black pools of mud fell like a deluge of rain from the Wyvern as it seemed to shroud the world in darkness beneath its massive wings, blacking out the moonlit night.
The corrupted liquids slammed to the ground, settling into and searing the land itself, before pulsating and rippling in violent waves. Among one of the turbulent pools of mud, bone white claws ripped out from the liquid wombs of darkness, clawing and scraping at the ground as an Alpha Beowolf heaved its newly birthed body from the mud. The Grimm lifted his head to the moonlit sky, gazing towards the Wyvern disappearing into the distance before immediately recognizing the scent of blood and the fear which permeated in the air. Sweet whispers filled his mind, urging his body forward with mindless rage and a ravenous thirst for blood. His purpose was clear, instilled into him the moment he was born.
Larger and smarter than most of his brethren, a savage howl escaped his throat and echoed throughout the bloodied night. As if to rally his fellow Beowolves, others of his newly birthed brethren joined in as they too let loose howls of their own. Others he recognized as Alphas of different species joined the effort as well, rallying together the lesser brethren of their respective kinds.
Spawned from the countless pools of mud which breathed life into them and instilled in them their purpose, his brethren soon amassed in a horde dictated by nothing but their indiscriminate anger and starving need for violence. Alphas led the front, and he too found himself among the front ranks of the charge. The ground tremored and the city shook as they flooded the streets like a blackened wave of chaos, errantly slamming into buildings at sharp turns and effortlessly toppling over vehicles parked in the streets. They were all united in their desires yet chaotic in their order as they pushed and trampled upon one another with no regard.
Gunfire accompanied by human shouting soon met them, felling countless of his siblings. Many others of his fellow Grimm tripped and stumbled over the fading corpses of their kin before being trampled on by the rest of the horde. His brethren still mindlessly surged towards the human soldiers regardless, not even moments after their birth were their purpose ingrained into them.
Among the frontlines of the horde, he found his prey quicker as he reared to his full height before coming down to smash a screaming soldier beneath his massive paws. The armored breastplate the man wore crunched with a wretched sound as his chest cavity was caved in. Another soldier beside the now dead man frantically made to raise his gun at him. He growled contently at the fear oozing from the human before backhanding the weapon out of his hands, like one would to a bug, and grabbing his legs. The man's screams were immediately silenced as he lifted and smashed him to the ground, shattering his body and cracking his skull wide open on the pavement.
He snorted and shook his head as a bullet whizzed by his eyes, piercing clean through the chest of a younger Beowolf behind him. A dying wail escaped from his lesser sibling, and he found himself looking back at the fading corpse. The air whistled with a shrill cry, and he ducked before his skull could be taken clean off by the bullet. Another dying howl ringed out as another of his brethren was felled, gurgling and heaving for breath before breathing its last.
He felt something pang in his chest at that, but he couldn't explain the foreign feeling which felt so different from the bottomless rage and insatiable bloodlust. He found himself howling at the sight and surged forward, feeling himself being motivated by something other than mindless fury.
Bullets pinged off his thick pelt and bone plating before he raked his claws through two human soldiers, sending blood and their eviscerated corpses flying back into the human ranks. One of the soldiers cried out as the blood splattered across his face, stumbling to the ground in wide eyed terror as the beheaded bodies of his comrades landed in front of him with a meaty thud. The moment of weakness was all he needed to be upon the human in mere moments. A scream didn't even escape the man's lips before he snatched his head with his jaws and snapped them closed with a satisfying crunch.
He frantically looked around the battlefield as blood, screams, and black masses blurred together. The roars and shouts of both humans and Grimm mixed together in the night, dying screams and roars coming from each side respectively as they tore into one another in the blood bath. It was only now that he noticed that the impromptu pack of Beowolves he had banded together had already been long decimated. Yet his brethren went on unaffected even with countless of their siblings being slain in mass.
A large Boarbatusk screeched and shoved aside a Creep before it made its way towards the human ranks, shearing stone effortlessly as it barrelled forward in a spinning wheel of death. Bullets pinged off its bone plating and a human soldier failed to evade it before he was ruthlessly grinded into the pavement until his body was just a splatter across the street. The Boarbatusk roared in triumph which was short lived as a large huntsman grabbed it by its tusk and heaved it over his shoulders, forcefully slamming it into the ground with its underside exposed. Battleaxe in hand, the man raised it over his head and brought the blade down deep into its stomach in a brutal arc as it squealed in its death throes.
Tugging the axe free of the dying Grimm and lumbering forward, fire ignited and danced along the blade of the huntsman's axe before the man swept it across the horde with a vicious swing. An arc of fire roared forth and effortlessly cleaved through countless ranks among the horde. Others were set ablaze with howls of agony as the unnatural flames began to violently spread among them, lighting up the otherwise sea of black.
The man shouted out orders as he took to the frontlines, beheading and bisecting any and all Grimm who neared him or dared to pass him. Axe blazing with fire which pierced the darkness, a black mass of fading bodies piled at his feet, only increasing in size as more and more of his siblings were effortlessly slain. The soldiers cheered and rallied at the sight, reforming their ranks and gunning down more of his kin with newfound efficiency. Fading corpses lined the street, flooding the road with their spilled blood as more of his siblings let loose dying wails before breathing their last.
At the sight he found himself doubting his very purpose, the sweet whispers which lulled him into his starving need for mindless violence not as appealing anymore when given the prospect of his death. His powerful limbs took a step back without him even realizing before he fled the scene. Leaving his brethren behind, he dashed through the horde, maneuvering through the mass of moving and dying bodies. He shoved aside lesser brethren and nimbly leaped over those of larger stature before finding sweet refuge in an alleyway nestled between two ravaged buildings.
The dying wails of his siblings roared through the air. He tried in vain to ignore them and instead jerked his head towards the night sky above in a gesture resembling curiousity. Blood and suffering still stained the air with a comforting scent as screams and roars alike echoed around him. The instinctive urge to simply indulge in the bloodlust which tore at his mind was irresistible, clouding his thoughts in violence and reducing it to base desires. No different from his mindless brethren who died in mass around him.
For long moments he chose to stay within his haven, ears pressed flat against his head as more of his kin howled in agony. The whispers in his head soon screamed within him, clawing at the edges of his mind as the need for violence flooded his thoughts and overtook them with thoughtless rage. His body violently shook and spasmed as he suppressed the enticing urges, his survival instincts winning out for the time being.
His crimson eyes peeked out from his sanctuary and roved over the battlefield with a keen gaze his single-minded siblings lacked. Through innumerable deaths among their own, the horde had finally made progress against the humans. Though he hardly focused on that fact as his gaze roved over the countless fading corpses of his brethren. Others of his kin were in the process of dying, torn off limbs or gaping wounds hindering them as they still tried to move their bodies in vain attempts to satisfy the insatiable cravings they all possessed.
His chest painfully panged once more and he found himself growling at the sight, his throat feeling as if it were constricting itself as a rage blazed within him, one that felt far different from the thoughtless anger which urged him before. His body moved with a mind of its own, carrying him back to the battlefield his brethren waged battle against. His claws scraped and shredded through stone as he moved as one with the pack, pushing aside his previous doubts as his bloodlust reignited tenfold.
A young Beowolf to his left let out a dying wail as a bullet tore through its skull. An Ursa in front of him roared defiantly before finally falling to the hail of steel which assaulted them. With each of his kin that was felled, he felt the strange rage within him burn even stronger and stronger. Bullets flew overhead as their mass of black bodies clumped together and surged as one. Blood and limbs flew through the air as many of his fellow Grimm were struck and thrown back with the force. A sickening crack came from a Deathstalker up ahead of him as its thickly armored carapace was finally split open under the rain of steel. It let out its death throes and a piercing screech before finally toppling over. The horde advanced regardless, stepping over its fading corpse in their single-minded pursuit. As bullets whizzed by overhead, his survival instincts screamed in his mind, clashing with his insatiable lust for blood and vengeance which seemed all too enticing. A Creep right next to him found its skull torn straight off, and his survival instincts immediately won out at that moment.
He slowed his pace and ducked behind the gargantuan armored figure of a Goliath. The hail of oppressive rain pinged uselessly off of his massive brother's thick hide and armored plating as it lumbered forward with a low roar which reverberated through the air. With that in mind, he moved and slithered through the back ranks of the horde, pushing aside his grievances at the cowardly action of letting his brethren shield him. An Ursa roughly brushed past his shoulder and roared as if to beckon him forth before mindlessly charging off with the rest. He shook his head and ignored his kin, instead opting to observe, to learn.
The humans were soon pushed back even further by the sheer might and number of the horde. Fear and panic oozed from them as their high spirits from before began to collapse under their might, and he salivated at the thought of tearing into them. But he found the will to restrain himself, suppressing the whispers which pleaded him to indulge himself in the thoughtless violence. He would simply wait, awaiting an opportunity for his patience to be rewarded.
As they retreated, a soldier stumbled and fell. Too slow to recover, his siblings were upon him in mere moments. The human screamed before being abruptly silenced as his lower torso was torn off and flung to the side. As his brethren heedlessly charged past the brutalized corpse, he heard something clatter to the ground. His sharp ears perked up at the sound, recognizing it as something not of flesh but seemingly sturdier given the sound it made.
Shoving through countless of his siblings among the stampeding horde, he made his way to the source of the sound. His eyes landed on the device in question, instantly recognizing it as the accursed contraption responsible for the rain of steel which slew countless of his brethren. He cocked his head to the side, eyeing it curiously as he gently scooped it up and mimicked how the humans wielded it. His massive claws could barely wield it properly like the humans but still managed to grip it like they did.
Something sparked from within him, a new feeling he had never felt before. As if he were proud at his own accomplishment. His maw seemed to stretch upwards with the feeling as guttural grunts escaped his throat erratically, as if smiling and cackling with glee.
Bone white claws settled on the gun's trigger, his sight aligned with his chosen prey. A nearby soldier was far too busy with his inferior siblings to notice the barrel being leveled at him, monstrous hands somehow mimicking the human motion.
"There are too many of them!" The man howled, gunning down a few Creeps before hearing a tell-tale click of his gun. "Fall back! Fall ba-"
His head violently snapped back with a spray of blood as his body limply cluttered to the ground.
"No! Damnit!" The huntsman roared, agony and frustration lacing his voice. "Fall back to cover! We got a sniper!"
Covering their retreat, the huntsman swept his axe through a dozen Grimm lunging at him. Fading bisected torsos and limbs rained through the air as the seasoned warrior brought his axe down in violent arcs and brutal swings. The huntsman snarled as he slammed his foot down and ducked low beneath an Ursa's claws, before ripping his blade up to its neck and taking its head clean off as it flew into the air. Spinning on his heels with the momentum of the swing, fire once more enveloped the axe and spewed out from its blade as the man slammed it into the ground. The street and buildings alike violently shook with a quake before massive pillars of flames erupted from the ground and incinerated dozens upon dozens of Grimm, consuming even Goliaths whole as the torrents of flames washed over them. A hail of gunfire soon came from behind him to tear through countless more ranks of Grimm who charged through the flames, their bodies ablaze in their single-minded pursuit.
The pillar of flames began to wither, the eruptions they caused no more than light trembles now, and the remnants of the horde capitalized on the opportunity. Through sheer numbers alone, bodies of Grimm flooded over and smothered the weakening pillar of flames, climbing over and crushing their own underfoot without regard. More bullets rained on the horde, pushing them back, before the huntsman finally heaved his battleaxe overhead with all of his remaining might. Once more, flames bursted from within its grip and surged upwards to its blade as the axe reignited in a glorious blaze of flames that pierced the darkness.
The flaming axe seemed to hang in the air for long moments as he stared upon it. His instincts snapped him out of his trance as they screamed in his mind of the danger he was in. With his gun in hand, he made for a mad sprint towards a building. His powerful limbs carried him with exceptional speed and agility and he hurled himself through the wall of the building, effortlessly smashing through it before a blazing inferno roared from behind him. The pitch black horde was completely engulfed in the blinding torrent of flames as darkness gave way to light. So intense was the hellstorm of fire that he could still feel the searing heat lick at his skin and singe his fur even from within the safety of the building. The screeches of agony and dying howls roared and echoed into the bloodied night from the flames as multitudes of Grimm were burned alive on the spot, the pungent scent of burning flesh rising and spreading through the air.
The shrill dying screeches soon quieted and the flames settled. Smoldering corpses and sizzling ashes which blew away with the wind were all that remained on the street. Smoke rose from the countless burnt and fading Grimm before they dissipated entirely into black smogs that rose into and polluted the sky. The huntsman heaved a sharp exhale of breath in utter exhaustion, hunching over and panting for breath as the man barely held himself upright by leaning on his battleaxe like a cane.
Through the fading flames and dissipating black haze of his slain Grimm brethren, he aimed a bullet straight through which pinged off the huntsman's head with ruthless accuracy. Aura protected the man from the bullet, but the sheer concussive force of it still left his brain rattled as the huntsman staggered to recover.
"Fucking bastard! Show yourself you damn coward!" The huntsman roared once more, mindlessly swinging his axe around him in his dazed state. "I'll make sure to carve you alive!"
It wasn't long before more of his kin came. A storm of steel pelted their numbers once more, and the huntsman's clumsy swings still caught mindless Grimm which charged at him regardless. The seasoned warrior whipped his head side to side in his daze as he fended off the Grimm, his vision still blurry and recovering as the man tried to locate the wretched sniper.
He cocked his head to the side curiously, taking note of the man's labored breaths and the lack of flames he once brought forth. Could he no longer use the flames from earlier due to fatigue? His jaw twitched the slightest bit upwards at the revelation, a feeling of euphoria threatening a vicious smile to form on his face.
Though images of his mutilated and fallen brethren flashed through his mind, and he clamped his eyes shut as his glee soon mixed with bitterness. The insatiable bloodlust and wanton anger which urged him to simply charge at the fatigued man still clawed at his mind endlessly, but he instead focused it. He allowed the strange feelings to swirl and settle within him, ones which felt so foreign from the simple fury and bloodlust he initially followed. He honed his mindless rage with the painful memories, stowing away a thoughtless need for violence for something much more powerful.
Rage born from pain, hate born from love.
His eyes opened with a newfound view of his purpose. He raised his gun, leveling the ironsights to the huntsman's head with barely suppressed glee and bitter rage.
The air whistled with a piercing tell-tale sound. The huntsman's head snapped in its direction and his axe came up even sooner as a bullet sharply pinged off the flat side of its blade.
The staggered man smiled ferally. "Found you, you basta-"
The words immediately died on the veteran's lips at what he saw; a smoking barrel leveled at him accompanied by claws which shouldn't be wielding it.
Countless bone white teeth lining his maw quirked upwards in an impossible smile, and his crimson eyes looked upon the huntsman with nothing short of mirth and resentment. Again, he raised the gun and took aim at the shocked man, opening his maw to finally breathe life to thoughts which gnawed at his mind without end.
"D-d… di-…d-di…" His jaw opened and closed as rumbles and guttural growls echoed from his throat, straining to finally form words which would forever shatter the huntsman's and the world's perception of Grimm.
"Diiieee."
Author's Notes: Well I hope you enjoyed this one-shot and yes, I may or may not have taken some inspiration from Episode 2 of Volume 8 and wrote this in the heat of the moment lol. That aside, as for those of you who follow my RWBY x Fate crossover stories, I can't assure you that I'll be updating them anytime soon and I apologize for that. Between college, just straight up mental burnout, and now this whole COVID situation I haven't been able to get my writing groove together for the longest time now. If I do ever get around to updating my RWBY x Fate crossover stories, I have vague plans to rewrite them and I might take down my "The Hell Hound of Remnant" one-shot when I do, so heads up on that.
Also another heads up, I have a My Hero Academia story in the works which I plan to post relatively soon. It'll either be a one-shot or a short two chapter story as I'm still writing and figuring it out. So yeah, if you're a My Hero Academia fan that's something you can look forward to from me I guess.
Anyway, please leave a review on this story and tell me your thoughts on it! I appreciate constructive criticisms if you have any or just comments saying you what you think of this one-shot and whether you liked it or not. With that said, I hope you guys enjoyed this story and thanks for reading!