Chapter Eighteen; Revelation, Part Two
Teams BLAC and AYST fought their way through packs of Grimm as they searched for their professor. They scoured building after building as they called out for her, all the while attracting more Grimm to themselves. Soon however, they came across the main hall.
"Come on, maybe she's in here," Bianca called to her companions.
When the two teams entered the building, they were horrified by what they saw. Strewn out across the floor where the bloodstained bodies of Professors Vasilias, David, and Ayana. Most of them were in shock at the sight, Roy even ran to the corner and puked up his lunch. While they found it sad that the professors were dead, Cyrus and Lucas had seen death before and were mostly unfazed.
Ebony noticed Arslan's blood stained robes. "Looks like Master Altan got hurt, but I don't see her anywhere. Hopefully she escaped whatever happened here."
Alyssa sensed someone at the far side of the room from them, "guys, over here!"
The eight students ran over to their professor who was lying unconscious on the ground. Lucas checked her pulse.
"She's still alive, but just barely," he said.
Lucas and Roy picked up Professor Haze and slung her over their shoulders. As they moved her, she grumbled something. "Who… what…"
"Professor, it's us, Teams BLAC and AYST. We came to get you outta here," Bianca said.
She was still out of it from her fight, against who, the students didn't know, "SLVR… after her… help… them…"
"Wait," Bianca stated, "Team SLVR's still here!? Where'd they go?"
"After… her…" Professor Haze struggled to say.
"After who?" Cyrus cut in.
"R… Rouge…" Professor Haze said. "They… out… back…"
Bianca looked from the professor to Alani, "Al, take your team and get Professor Haze to the evac zone. We're going to find Team SLVR and get them out too."
Alani nodded to Bianca, "you make sure to get back to the evac zone, we won't let them leave without you."
"We'll meet you at the docks," Bianca replied with a confident smile.
At that point Yin took Professor Haze's other arm from Lucas and slung it over his own shoulder. The two teams split up; Team BLAC rushed out the back of the main hall, while Team AYST ran out the front.
Team SLVR harassed Rouge, Jet, and Nilah as they chased them, not allowing the male Dusk twin to use his semblance so the three could escape. They rushed out of the academy and into the upper city. The two groups soon found themselves in the town square, where the maiden and her allies turned to face their pursuers.
The square had been relatively untouched by the battle raging in the city and academy. Despite that, there was a smoking wreck of an Atlesian fighter on the road that ran parallel to it. The aircraft had torn up the asphalt and concrete along its path. Meanwhile, the ornate fountain in the center of the marble-floored square had ceased spouting water. Atop the fountain was a bronze statue of Mistral's last king and first emperor, Yu Huangdi.
Rouge stood atop the statue as Jet and Nilah stood on the borders of the fountain. Team SLVR stopped and faced them. All had their weapons at the ready.
"You know, it's really a shame," Rouge stated. "Your master assured me of your loyalty to her and what she deemed right. But apparently, she was wrong."
"Shut up!" Sierra shouted. "I don't know what Sifu has to do with all this, but I'm going to find out, after I defeat you."
Rouge chuckled, "how optimistic of you." She looked to the Dusk twins, "Jet, Nilah, deal with this one's friends, leave her to me."
"Yes, my lady," they replied; one apathetically, the other manically.
The twins sprung from where they were standing. Jet engaged Luke, whilst his sister attacked both Russell and Violet. Rouge jumped down from the statue and pulled out her dual retractable short swords as she walked towards her silver-eyed adversary.
Sierra pounced on the maiden. She fired her SMGs as she closed the distance between the two of them. Rouge weaved and spun her swords around herself, easily deflecting the rounds.
When the two closed to melee range, Sierra shot out her claws and slashing and raking at her opponent. She also mixed in quick and powerful kicks with the slashes. Rouge easily parried all her attacks.
Rouge interweaved her swords around herself as she struck at Sierra, however, she too had her attacks easily blocked and parried. The two of them seemed to be evenly matched for the time being.
As the two of them fought, their allies did as well. Luke spun his rope-dart around himself like a whip as he struck at Jet, the male dusk twin found it somewhat difficult to dodge the attacks. Meanwhile, Nilah blocked a kick from Violet, however the jerboa-faunus activated her boots' hydraulic soles and sent the psychotic girl sliding back. Shortly after that attack, Russell descended upon Nilah, but she jumped out of the way as his armored fist struck the ground.
Nilah smiled manically, "you two are fun!" She charged back in.
Rouge and Sierra were still stalemated, until the tiger-faunus's aura began to glow. The maiden swung her weapon down upon her, but her opponent disappeared the moment the blade made contact. Before Rouge knew what hit her, she got hit with an uppercut, sending her sliding backwards.
The maiden quickly composed herself and charged back in, exchanging blows, blocks, and parries with Sierra. Then again, the tiger-faunus's aura glowed and Rouge's strike only hit air as she received a violent round-house kick to the back of the head.
Rouge smirked, "I see what you're doing now." A vibrant flame like light surrounded the borders of the maiden's eyes while a flame was emitted from her feet and her swords caught fire. Like a rocket she shot towards her opponent.
Sierra fired her SMGs at the maiden as she raced towards her, but the bullets were deflected by a shield of fire. When Rouge closed the distance, she gave Sierra no room to even attempt to activate her semblance.
The tiger-faunus struggled to parry and block her opponent's attacks now that she was using her true power. Every time she attempted a counter when she successfully parried her, the attack she threw just bounced off her shield of flame.
Rouge knocked Sierra away with a slash of her swords and then bore down on her with an attack of wind and fire. The tiger-faunus was unable to dodge the attack and she took its full force. Her aura was shattered.
"Sierra!" Violet shouted. The jerboa-faunus then broke off her engagement of Nilah and charged Sierra.
"Violet don't!" Russell shouted, taking his eyes off Nilah for a moment.
In that moment as Violet leapt in the air to strike the maiden with a hydraulic kick, Nilah somersaulted over Russell, combined her war fans into a razor-sharp disk and threw it at the jerboa-faunus. Violet couldn't dodge the attack as she was in midair and the disk was moving far too fast. It sliced deep into the flesh of her neck and decapitated her. Her body and head hit the ground with a pair of thuds.
Rouge caught the now bloody war fans as she stared down Sierra, who was in shock at what had just occurred. She sighed, "you see, this is what happens when you defy the forces of good. Your friend didn't have to die, but in yours and your allies' arrogance, you killed her."
A feeling of dread fell over the remaining members of Team SLVR. A silence filled the square, with only the sounds of gunfire and explosions of the not so far off battle to break it. Soon, however this near-silence was wholly broken by growls and the scraping of claws on the ground. Grimm.
Sierra stood, "and you think now that you've killed my friend, that the rest of my team and I will join you? You're sorely mistaken." Her silver-eyes began to glow, and her aura began to regenerate.
"I never said any of that," Rouge smirked as she tossed the fans back to Nilah and rushed in to finish Sierra.
Grimm began to charge in from all around them. But when the beasts got near the six of them, Sierra unleashed her own power. The monsters were all vaporized instantly as her eyes glowed a vibrant, solid silver. They and their allies continued their engagements.
The maiden and the silver-eyed warrior clashed like gods locked in a duel for the ages. Kicks and claws were met with blade and flame as they fought. Nothing was held back, each one determined to kill the other.
Sierra threw a quick succession of slashes at Rouge, all of which the maiden parried and blocked with little effort. The silver-eyed tiger-faunus leapt back and fired a long volley from her SMGs at the maiden.
Rouge blocked her opponent's shots with a shield of flame she manifested in front of herself. "Is that the best you can do?!" She smirked from behind her shield. "Your master certainly played up your abilities to me. She said you were the next great huntress, on par with the likes of Ruby Rose and the Grimm Reaper." Rouge shot a fireball through her shield and into Sierra's chest, knocking her to a knee and breaking her aura once more. "It appears she was mistaken about your skills too."
Sierra took a deep breath, shut her eyes, and calmed herself. She replenished her aura once more as she drowned out everything around her, although it wouldn't be a strong as before. Her thoughts were filled with those she cared for; Ember, Arslan, Russel, Luke, and Violet. She thought of the good times they'd had together and the times they struggled but stood together. She thought of how Rouge corrupted her master and had just killed her friend. She opened her eyes, they glowed even brighter than before. From her kneeling position she pounced at the maiden, her claws fully extended.
She punched through the maiden's shield, snuffing it out. She threw slashes with her claws paired with kicks with the strength and ferocity of a lion. However, all her attacks were parried and dodged by Rouge.
The maiden parried a way one of Sierra's slashes. When she went to counter the silver-eyed warrior's attack, her aura glowed and once again she disappeared when her blades made contact.
Rouge smirked, "pathetic." She spun around as she ducked under a slash from her opponent, who was now behind her. She then pierced Sierra's aura and drove her short swords into the tiger-faunus's belly.
Sierra went wide-eyed but was unable to cry out in pain as the wind had been knocked out of her. She grabbed onto Rouge in a vain attempt to hold herself up as her legs had gone numb. She looked out to her remaining teammates. Nilah spun around multiple times as she laughed manically and then planted one of her war fans into Russel's chest, killing him near-instantly. Jet sliced through Luke's rope dart and then fired the blade of his ballistic-sword into his abdomen, killing him.
Rouge leaned closer to Sierra as the tiger-faunus began to spit up blood. "I told you, all of this could've been avoided, but you chose the side of evil." The maiden stepped back and pulled her blades out of Sierra's stomach. She collapsed to the ground, dead.
The maiden looked down on the red-haired faunus as she stood over her body. Rouge's feelings of malice were replaced with pity and sorrow for the girl. She watched as a stream of blood flowed from her mouth, across the tiger-stripe tattoos on her neck, and to the ground. She knelt and gently closed her dead foe's eyes. "Such a waist."
Jet and Nilah walked up to Rouge as she stood. "Where to now my lady?" the male Dusk twin asked apathetically.
"Our job is done here, we'll leave the city and link up with Albus's men for the next phase of our plan," the maiden said.
"Of course, my lady," Jet nodded.
As Jet was about to activate his semblance, the three of them came under fire once more. In the direction of Haven Academy, came Team BLAC. Cyrus had his weapon switched to its auto-shotgun form and was letting loose with a flurry of buckshot at Rouge and her allies. The three of them spread out from each other as they dodged Cyrus's shots. The two groups then faced one another.
Bianca looked around at the death surrounding them and a heavy sorrow fell over her when she saw Sierra's body. "You killed them," she said.
Rouge shrugged, "they forced my hand. You all can avoid their fate though." She looked away from Bianca, "can't they Cyrus?"
"What's she talking about bro?" Lucas asked, his hand ready to draw his katana.
Bianca looked to her partner, a look of confusion and concern filled her face. As she turned to him, he just stood there, his expression was one of disdain for Rouge. He looked ready for a fight.
Cyrus took a breath, and without breaking eye contact with Rouge, he spoke. "She wants the four of us to join her. She thinks we're 'worthy of salvation' or something like that."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Alyssa said.
"It means exactly what it does," Rouge replied. "I have deemed you four worthy of being a part of a new world that I will make, once I've cleansed this one of evil. So, what'll it be? Death…" She motioned to the bodies that lay around them. "Or salvation?" She held her arms out wide.
"You're crazy if you think we'd join a murderer!" Bianca shouted. "We're going to stop you here and now!"
"Yea!" Lucas and Alyssa shouted in agreement.
Cyrus remained quiet, but he shot Bianca a confident smile and nod. The four of them then readied themselves for a very real fight.
"Tis a shame," Rouge sighed. "Death it is then."
Rouge gave a motion with her head for Jet and Nilah to attack, the twins went after Lucas and Alyssa respectively. The maiden's eyes lit back up as flame manifested in her hands and once again engulfed her swords.
Nilah spun around like a crazed ballerina as she slashed at Alyssa with her war fans. She let out a psychotic laugh as she landed a hit on her faunus opponent, sending her sliding back. She tilted her head to the side and cackled as she watched the faunus slide to a stop.
Alyssa launched herself at Nilah with a blast from her shot-boots. Like a bullet she flew at her opponent. The blonde faunus pulled her fist back and chambered her shot-gauntlets as she neared her adversary.
Nilah chuckled manically as her aura glowed its white color. She whipped her head back and then shot it forward as she let out a sonic screech that knocked Alyssa to the ground. As she hit the ground, Alyssa folded her cat-ears down and covered her human ears as her over-sensitive hearing was being attacked.
Nilah ceased her screech. "Come on, I know you can do better than that," she smiled manically.
Alyssa picked herself off the ground and cocked her shot gauntlets. She rushed back into the fight.
Nilah grinned psychotically in response and counter charged Alyssa, laughing like a madwoman the whole time.
Nearby, Lucas and Jet clashed with their blades. They traded blocks, parries, and quick slashes and cuts, neither one gaining the upper hand initially.
Lucas jumped back away as Jet slashed at him. He shot a glyph under his own feet and then leapt high into the air as he drew his tanto. He combined his sword and knife and formed his yumi bow and loosed three dust arrows at his opponent.
Jet lifted his sword and fired the blade into the arrows, blowing them up between the two of them. He reloaded a second blade into his weapon and then fired it at Lucas.
Lucas parried the blade away as he fell back to the ground. He shot another glyph to the ground and landed on it, breaking his fall. He then split apart his weapons and rushed Jet.
As those two fought their duels against the Dusk Twins, Bianca and Cyrus faced off with Rouge. The maiden calmly walked towards the two silver-eyed warriors, her flaming swords held out to either side of her body. She smirked at them.
The two of them glanced at one another and then charged. Bianca being the faster of the two reached Rouge first. She threw interweaving slashes at the maiden, but she easily matched and parried them with her own weaving attacks. Rouge threw a fire-laden kick into Bianca's belly, sending her sliding away.
Cyrus then reached Rouge. He swung his longsword down upon her, but she blocked it with her flaming short-swords. She shoved him back, for a moment and the two began trading blows, blocks and parries. Rouge found Cyrus a bit more difficult of an opponent, but nonetheless she effortlessly countered his moves.
Bianca charged back in, and for a time, she and Cyrus engaged the maiden together. They fought together near flawlessly; Cyrus took center stage, engaging Rouge head on, whilst Bianca used her speed to rush in and out, delivering fluid expertly weaved slashes to their opponent. For a moment, they put Rouge on the back foot. For a moment.
Rouge crossed her arms, the flames dissipating from her swords as she built up a great amount of flame and wind around her body. She sprung her arms out and shot the elements out in a circle around herself, knocking her attackers away.
Bianca and Cyrus were reeling from Rouge's last attack as they attempted to pick themselves up from the ground. Cyrus was immediately set upon by the maiden. She put away her swords and blasted him with flames from the palms of her hands. He raised his longsword in front of himself and projected an aura barrier to block the attack.
Rouge turned up the heat of her attack and Cyrus's barrier began to crack. She walked closer as she shot the flames from her hands, continuing to increase the intensity. Finally, Cyrus's barrier shattered, and his aura with it.
The maiden walked around the silver-eyed boy as he struggled to pick himself up. She shook her head as she drew one of her blades, "you should've taken my offer when you had the chance. You and your brother wanted redemption and I handed it to you on a silver platter."
Bianca began to pick herself up at this point. When she pulled her body to her hands and knees, she saw Rouge standing over her partner. She tried to stand but collapsed back to the ground. She then looked to her other teammates, both were too distracted by their opponents to help either she or Cyrus.
Cyrus spat at Rouge's feet, his saliva was mixed with a bit of blood. "What you offered wasn't redemption. Lucas and I would've fallen back into our old lives, you would've condemned us once more."
Rouge's expression was one of ire as she looked down upon Cyrus. She kicked him onto his back and placed her foot on his chest, holding him down. "I don't normally do this, but I'm going to have to teach you a lesson before I cleanse your evil from this world."
Bianca's eyes widened as she heard what Rouge said. With all her strength, she tried to pick herself up, but continued to fall back down. "Come on, get up, get up!" She said to herself. "You have to save him, you can do this."
Her aura began to glow, albeit weakly, as she slowly stood. Bianca took a step and nearly fell back down, but she composed herself. Then, like a rocket she shot herself towards Rouge. She was prepared to sacrifice herself to save Cyrus, as her mother did to save her.
Rouge noticed Bianca attack her, she smirked. Without breaking eye contact with Cyrus, she charged a fire ball in her empty hand and shot it at Bianca. The silver-eyed girl raised her weapons to block the flame, but the attack was too powerful. The blades were shattered, the dust within them exploding. Her aura was broken, and she skipped across the ground as she hit it. Rouge then plunged her sword into Cyrus's right shoulder.
Cyrus screamed in pain as she sliced through his flesh and separated his arm from his body. Blood oozed from his shoulder as he grabbed where his arm had once been. The pain was unbearable and he soon lost consciousness.
Alyssa and Lucas's attention were pulled away from their fights as they heard Cyrus scream. Lucas's eyes widened in rage as he saw what Rouge had done to his brother, while Alyssa was in shock. However, before they could do anything, their opponents brought them back into their respective fights.
Bianca looked on in horror as she could do nothing to save her partner, the man she loved. With a whimper she cried, "no."
Rouge looked over Cyrus for a moment and raised her blade once more. "I'm not really one to make people suffer too much, so I'll put you out of your misery."
As she was about to snuff out Cyrus's light, a high-pitched charging noise could be heard fairly close by. Before Rouge knew what hit her, a tungsten railgun round slammed into her stomach and sent her tumbling across the ground and away from her victim. Team AYST rushed into the fray to aid Team BLAC.
"CHEE-HOO!" Alani shouted as she leapt and thrust her spear at Nilah.
"You again," the psychotic girl said. "I've been looking forward to a rematch."
"Al, Luc and I can handle these two, help Bianca and Cyrus," Alyssa said.
Alani nodded and looked to her teammates. "Eb, Yin, keep her pinned," she pointed to Rouge who was standing back up, her aura crackling from the shot she'd taken. "Roy, you get Cyrus, I'll help Bianca!"
"Got it!" The three of them replied.
Yin let loose volley after volley with his revolvers, whilst Ebony continued to fire her rail-sniper at the maiden as well. They kept her under constant fire and forced Rouge to create a shield of flame to deflect their rounds.
Roy ran up to Cyrus and nearly puked at the sight he was met with. He covered his mouth and gulped as he knelt over his friend. He felt for a pulse, there was one, but it was very weak. "Ok, think Roy, think, how to stop the bleeding?" He looked around for a moment and then at his dust infused gloves. He sighed, "sorry man, this is gonna hurt." He snapped his fingers, igniting the fire dust in his glove and pressed it to Cyrus's shoulder. The unconscious boy grimaced as the flame cauterized his wound.
Alani reached Bianca, she folded her spear and placed it on her back. She then picked her fellow team leader up and slung her arm over her shoulder. "It's ok Bianca, I've got you."
"Put me down, help Cyrus, please," tears fell from Bianca's eyes.
"Roy's already on it," Alani replied. "We'll get you guys out of here."
Roy and Alani carried Cyrus and Bianca out of the fight. Meanwhile, their teammates, along with Alyssa and Lucas began to make a fighting retreat away from their opponents. Nilah and Jet attempted to give chase but were called back.
"Let them go," Rouge commanded.
"But my lady…" Nilah was cut off.
"We've overstayed our welcome," Rouge stated. "It's time for us to end this battle."
The Dusk Twins bowed their heads to Rouge. The three of them gathered around one another as Jet's aura began to glow. A black mist manifested around the three of them and they disappeared into the shadows.
Around the perimeter of the upper city, the battle still raged. The Atlesian defenders together with the small contingent of Southern Islanders heroically held the line against an enemy of superior number. Despite their resilience however, Rouge's forces continued to push them.
Within one sector of battle, one of Rommel's officers was leading his men from the front. His saber was drawn as he shouted orders from atop the turret of his tank. As the fighting raged, his earpiece beeped. He pressed it, it was Field Marshall Berg that was contacting him.
"Commander Rayne," the Field Marshall said. "Our lady has ordered general retreat, und make it look convincing."
"Yes sir," Commander Rayne replied. After deactivating his earpiece, he surveyed the battle field for a moment before giving his orders. "All forces pull back! I repeat, pull back!"
Commander Rayne's men began a fighting retreat from the Atlesian defense lines. All throughout the city the same order was given, and similarly, other groups of the attackers began to retreat from battle. As they retreated, Bullheads and other light transports descended from the airships above and steadily, Rouge's army ended its attack on Mistral.
The defenders cheered in victory as the last of the attackers left the city and the airships disengaged from General Schnee's command ship. Among the commotion of victory, Princess Haukea stood silent and sheathed her daggers as her people and their Atlesian allies celebrated. She and all her brothers had made it through the fighting, however she couldn't help but worry for her sister.
Team AYST helped Team BLAC back to the evacuation zone. Despite the battle dying down and ultimately ending, the local authorities insisted on still evacuating all those from the academy. When the two teams arrived, The Atlesian Soldiers at the evac site had managed to drive off the last of the Grimm and once the area was secured, they set about fully overseeing the evacuation.
Medics rushed over to the two teams and began immediately tending to Bianca and Cyrus. However, they quickly determined Bianca's injuries to be minor and superficial at most. After treatment, the two teams were escorted onto the transport with the rest of those from Beacon Academy. Many looked on in shock as they saw the condition Cyrus was in. He wasn't the only one injured though, many others had bandages covering minor wounds, while Apollo had a metal brace strapped to his leg, keeping the bones in place, and Professor Haze had bandages wrapped around her head and several other parts of her body as she lay on the floor semi-unconscious.
Lucas knelt next to his brother as he was set down by the medics. He didn't make a sound, he only gazed upon his unconscious brother as sorrow filled his face.
Bianca hobbled over to the Grey Brothers, the look on her face was a mix of sorrow and shame. She tried to save her partner from this, but she failed, and she hated herself now for that. She couldn't bear to look at Cyrus in the state he was in. It was her fault it happened.
She turned to the other Grey Brother, "Lucas, I'm…" she was cut off.
"Get away," he said softly.
"Lu…" She didn't even get to finish his name before he leapt to his feet.
"I said get away!" He shouted.
Bianca continued to stand there but didn't say a word as she looked to the ground in shame.
"You could save that bastard Apollo, but not your own partner!?" Lucas continued to berate his team leader.
"Hey, I'm right here!" Apollo yelled, but no one payed him any mind.
"Luc, calm the hell down," Alyssa approached them.
Before she could get any closer, Lucas drew his katana and held the tip to Alyssa's neck. She could sense all the emotions running through his mind and body; sorrow, anguish, rage, and hate. All these emotions were gathered in the hateful, yet sad expression on his face as tears rolled down his cheeks.
Alyssa grabbed Bianca by her shoulder, "come on B, lets give him some space." The two of them then walked away.
All around the world people watched the battle take place. It was unbelievable to them that after over a hundred years of peace between the kingdoms that Vale would attack Mistral and by proxy, Atlas. The world was now on the brink of a Second Great War. But with all this commotion, there were those who weren't unsettled by it.
Within a popular Vale night club, a snake-faunus man dressed in all black and with eyes as silver as the shattered moon sipped on a fine glass of scotch. While all others within the club muttered and talked amongst themselves about what had just occurred, he looked up at the television news feed with an intrigued expression.
"Very interesssting," he said to himself as his scroll rang. He answered it, "Ah, hello War, what have you to report?"
"I believe I've found the next Summer Maiden candidate," he paused. "A young girl named Auxesia Ignis."
"Very good," the man in black said. "Keep tabsss on her."
"Yes, my king," War replied and then ended the call.
The man in black smiled evilly as he looked back to the news screen and took a sip of his bourbon. "It'sss almossst time."
Meanwhile, in another part of Vale, Weiss was frantically pacing back and forth trying to get ahold of Bianca. She got more and more worried for her daughter as she'd lost track of how many times she'd called and was on the verge of tears.
After yet another failed call, she looked down to her scroll, the battery was almost dead. "Dammit! And I forgot my charger today to. They should have a CCT terminal here, I think."
Weiss pocketed her scroll and began to hurriedly walk out of the room when she heard rustling coming from her wife's bed. Her eyes widened as she heard a muffled, yet very familiar voice.
"W-Weiss, is that you? W-why… Why can't I feel my legs?"
End Volume Two