Vol: 8 Chapter 2: Return of the King Pt. 2
Wolfgang, Jaune and Sky vs Grendel: For Honor Rap by JT Music
Werewolf Wolfgang vs Grendel: Wake the White Wolf by Miracle of Sound
Creation of the Hourglass: Time Stands Still (At the Iron Hill) by Blind Guardian.
-Fortuna, Solitas-
The sound of clanging steel and grating of edges on hard surfaces could be heard for miles, sparks flying in the air moments after the sounds faded back into the air.
These things all stretched before a four way battle between a trio of Huntsmen and a truly massive Primeval Grimm known as Grendel.
It was a massive Griim Beowolf, except it was covered in spikes, bone plates (healed and broken) along with scars all showing its age.
Wolfgang yelled as he leapt into the air and swung his flaming sword at the behemoth's face, causing the edge to glance off its armor and send fragments of the monster's bone carapace flying into the air.
"I'm not done yet, you bastard!" The wolf faunus yelled as he pressed his attack.
"We got your back, pal!" Sky exclaimed as he fired darkbolts at the giant Grimm to stagger it.
Grendel roared as he tried to swat a clawed hand at the three, only for them to evade it and keep harassing him, damaging his bone plating further than it had already been. The Primeval Grimm was slowly growing angrier as the fight dragged on.
Jaune slid between Grendel's legs and slashed at his left, causing the beast to drop to one knee, allowing him to grab his sword by the blade and slam its cross guard into the Grimm's eye, causing him to rare up, and get hit in the gut with the butt of the Knight's sword.
Sky quickly followed up, whipping out Prologue and Epilogue before he fired several bullets between the cracks of the armor plating, causing Grendel to roar in pain as the wounds started to bleed. The King then took out his trademark sword and delivered a series of slashes to his torso, leaving several gashes behind.
Wolfgang finished off the group attack by leaping at his home's destroyer with his sword aflame and brought it down on his arm, causing the ancient Grimm to roar in agony as it was severed from his body.
But as the boy landed on the ground, Grendel grabbed him before he could recover and started slamming him on the ground repeatedly, over and over like a monkey slamming a crab against a rock.
This continued until the boy's aura broke and Jaune and Sky started drawing the beast's attention from Wolfgang so Joan could try get him back on his feet.
However, before she could even get a good look at him while Jaune fired arrows from No Turning Back…
ARRROOOOOOOOO!
Wolfgang howled as he turned into his werewolf form, getting everyone's attention as the beast within came out to play. Grendel stared at Wolfgang, a look of recognition flashing in his eyes. He remembered who Wolfgang was now… And he would be sure to kill him this time.
With another titanic howl, the white wolf charged at its black and white counterpart, the two clashing claws together as Grendel used his alpha call to make a Geist that was hiding in some rubble to fashion him a new arm out of stone.
Growling and snarling like wild animals, the two pushed against each other, the earth upturning underneath their clawed forelimbs like crinkled tin foil. Off to the side, Sky and Jaune watched as the two predatory beasts clashed against each other.
"Uh, Sky? Should we do something?" The blonde knight asked with a gulp.
"No. This is out of our hands now. Getting involved in a fight between two predators is just stupid." The Dark King replied, shaking his head in negative.
With a primal roar, Grendel dug his teeth into Wolfgang's shoulder, causing the boy to howl in pain as he punched the Grimm in the face to get him to let go.
Grendel staggered back before catching himself and tried to attack again, only for Wolfgang to slash him across his chest and force him back again. They darted around constantly, clashing claws with each other like the wild beasts they represented.
"This is getting intense!" Jaune exclaimed as he shielded his eyes, the air pressure blasts from the clashes blowing the two back and destroying the ruined buildings that surrounded them.
"No kidding!" Sky exclaimed, cutting a large chunk of rubble that was falling toward him in half. "I guess it's a good thing that this place is deserted, or things would be really different!" He added.
Back with the two wolves, Wolfgang slashed his right claws across the Geist's face–which was on Grendel's left peck–causing it to screech as it died, and the rubble arm to fall apart. Grendel, distracted by the surprise of suddenly losing his fake arm, was left open for the wolf faunus to claw at him ferociously.
The display consisted of much of the Primeval Grimm's blood being splattered all over the place while he tried his best to fight back, but it didn't matter. The end result was Grendel being thrown against a wall near Jaune and Sky, but before the beast could recover, Wolfgang bolted forward and skewered his family's killer right through the chest, causing him to cough up blood.
Ripping his arm free to the Grimm's chest, the three then took a moment to realize that Grendel was bleeding. Which didn't make any sense–Grimm don't bleed.
Seconds later, as Wolfgang slowly turned back to normal, Grendel disintegrated, leaving a pile of bones–and a human corpse behind.
"What… the… hell…?" Jaune breathed in shock as he looked at the body. Sky walked up to the corpse and frowned at it.
"Gurren, do a scan of the body and see if you can figure out who the hell this was." He ordered, prompting his AED to get to work.
"Hmm, nothing in the Kingdom's databases… must be from before Fortuna or even Atlas. Around the inception of Mantle, maybe…?" The drone said, scanning the body, before... "Oh no…" He added in shock.
"What?" Jaune asked, wondering what had Gurren spooked as Wolfgang returned to normal.
"This man. My scans tell me he likely had silver eyes when he was alive." Gurren replied.
"Son of a bitch!" The wolf faunus cursed. "Salem's turning silver eyed warriors into Grimm slaves!" He growled angrily.
"But how is that even possible? Silver eyed warriors are supposed to be the Grimm's bane. And Salem is part Grimm, so she should be hurt by them… Right?" Jaune added.
"I don't know the magic behind this, but if she can do this to Silver Eyed Warriors, then Ruby is at even greater risk than before." Sky declared before he picked up the deceased man. "Come on. Let's head back home and tell everyone what happened. Then we can give this guy a proper funeral." He added as he turned to leave.
"This makes me worried about what Salem is doing to Ruby's mom…" Jaune shuddered.
"Tell me about it." Wolfgang shivered.
"I hear ya, boys. I hear ya." The King sighed, hoping that there was still hope for Summer.
(Later)
Silence. Silence. Shock. Horror. Disbelief and Disgust. Those were the feelings and atmosphere that hung in the air of the room as Wolfgang and the boys told the others just what they'd discovered after Grendel's demise.
"This is… I can't fucking…!" Weiss tried to say, the news being too much for her to remain composed.
"No wonder the Silver Eyed Warriors were hard to find; Salem was perverting them into these!" Winter hissed angrily.
Yang was silent, though seething as she held her little sister close to her. This was joined by Blake and–surprisingly–Autumn and Emerald, who were trying to keep the girl from having a nervous breakdown.
Everyone else was having various reactions to the very grim news, and Ruby… Well, she was just about to lose her sanity.
The poor girl was hyperventilating, her mind conjuring terrifying images of fighting a Grimm like Grendel… and learning that she had unwittingly killed her mother in the process. It was too much for her mind to take in all at once.
"We're sorry that we sprung this on you all at once like that." Sky sighed as he got up. "But for now, we need to go back so that Wolfgang can go to the top of the Iron Hill at Felwinter's peak, and create the Hourglass." He added.
"Yeah. It's high time for the prophecy to move along." Wolfgang nodded.
"Promise me that it'll be worth it." Weiss sighed as she leaned on her shared lover.
"It will be. There's no way for it to not be otherwise." The chronomancer replied softly.
(Later)
Hours of hiking later through the wind and the cold of the Iron Hill's peak, and the trio of Huntsmen were finally nearing the top.
"Damn… I know a mountain peak is supposed to be cold, but experiencing it is a whole other thing!" Jaune exclaimed as he held his cloak close to him, trying to stay warm.
"Quit whining, Jaune. We're almost there." Wolfgang barked as they finally reached the top of the mountains, where a large bronze disc with the Iron Wolves crest stood, flanked by two bronze fire pots and statues of two wolves.
Sky then handed his rival and friend the Staff of Creation. The wolf boy took a breath and spoke the name of the staff's tenant.
"Ambrosius." He intoned. Like with Jinn and the Lamp of Knowledge, time slowed before a blue fog came from the relic. Unlike the last time, however, it was a man that came out… A rather flamboyant man, at that.
He was buff, had blue skin, spiky blue hair in a ponytail and pointy elf ears. His eyes were the same color as Jinn's too; clue with black sclera. The accessories he had on his person were some gold chains on his torso and some gold wristbands.
"Oh yeah!" He exclaimed while he stretched, flexing his muscles. "I see that someone has called me forth to engage my creative wiles!" He added.
"..." Sky and Jaune were both silent as they looked at the spirit of Creation and then each other.
"You know, after seeing Jinn, I honestly shouldn't have expected less." The blonde stated.
"Agreed." Sky nodded.
"What you brought me out for better be better than my last project. I mean, a floating city? Pft. How pedestrian." The creation spirit said with a shake of his head.
"Oh don't worry. We got something better in mind this time, bud." Wolfgang told Ambrosius, causing him to pause.
"... I'm listening." He prompted, laying on his stomach in mid air.
"You remember the Hourglass, right? My dad mentioned it the last time you recalibrated the Oracle Crown." The wolf faunus stated, causing Ambrosias to light up. The blue creation spirit's eyes widened at that.
"Shut up! It's time?!" He gasped gleefully.
"Oh yeah. It's time alright." The chronomancer nodded with a grin.
"Aha!" The man cheered as he floated around for a few seconds, hands flying rapidly as he did various calculations in his head. "Oh I've been waiting for this moment. My crowning achievement! My magnum opus!" He continued frantically. "Using a law of reality as a building material to mimic the powers of a paracausal being–truly a genius idea, indeed!" He added before going back to the three. "I even added in a few personal touches, to show that it is my work you're dealing with." He added.
"Let's see it, then. Bring it to life!" Wolfgang exclaimed, eager to see the Hourglass be created.
"You got it!" Ambrosius grinned before he worked his magic. "Now, step back. And witness my artistry!" He exclaimed, arms outstretched.
In a flash of light, the Hourglass came to be. Pieces of scrap bronze around the disc behind them melted and turned to liquid, and started swirling in the air.
This was followed by snow being transmuted into almost impossibly clear glass-like sand and almost diamond-like crystal, which formed two teardrops that fit into an hourglass shape.
Then the liquid bronze from earlier formed around the two sand filled tears in the shape of endlessly alternating rings and a disc that held the hourglass in shape.
Seconds later, the object shrunk to the size of an amulet, and a gold and bronze chain formed on it as the object floated to Wolfgang and into his hands.
"So this is the hourglass, huh?" Joan said, doing a scan on the object. "Wow! The energy this thing is giving off is impossible for me to measure!" She exclaimed.
"That's my magnum opus, little drone. It's supposed to be that way." Ambrosius chuckled. "Now, I leave this to you, young king. May it serve you well." He added as he bowed and disappeared.
Wolfgang looked at the object in his hands as it turned on its own, and then put it around his neck, allowing the energy to surge into him.
"Alright… Let's do this!" He exclaimed as his Aura came back to him and he activated his semblance, causing time to freeze. Everything except himself and Sky (the latter due to having absorbed his Aura before) stopped, frozen in time.
"Damn. Never thought I'd see something like this." The Enthrallen King commented as he looked around.
"And now, it's time for Salem to meet her end." Wolfgang said as he let time flow again and slid the hourglass under his shirt, taking the Staff of Creation in hand.
(Elsewhere)
In an unknown location–presumably the Plaguelands–a group of people were outside what seemed to be a containment zone.
Though upon closer inspection, it was rather obvious that they were faunus. The group worked endlessly as they tried to break through a containment barrier.
A containment barrier which the Atlas military had just sealed up not too long ago…
"And I got it." A crab faunus said as he pulled out his clawed hand from a jacking port, USB chords rushing back into his wrist. "Now we can force this baby open." He added before a large Rhino faunus started walking towards the door.
"Out of the way, ninos." He said in a Spanish accent. He then grabbed the door and pried it open with his raw strength, clearing the way for everyone.
As they stepped into the room that was sealed off, they soon saw red wire-like growths spring from every surface like the roots of a tree or vines. Red nanites buzz in the air like gnats on shit, and large diamond prism blocks dotted everywhere around them.
The whole room smelled like dried blood, oil and circuitry, and the darkness was illuminated only by a menacing red glow as monitors on centuries old computers came to life.
An outbreak was about to begin…
ThermalsniperN7: … How long has it been since we last worked on this?
Dragon Emperor0: Lemme see… Jesus. Over a year ago. We've been really sidetracked.
ThermalsniperN7: Fuck me, our workload is ridiculous. We need to finish more stories so we can focus our attention elsewhere.
Dragon Emperor0: Luckily for us, that seems to be getting closer with other stories. I mean, just look at Kaijugan and Vampyr.
ThermalsniperN7: A sequel took the place of the former, but point made. Anyway, the prophecy has moved along and Wolfgang has called upon Ambrosius to make the Hourglass.
Dragon Emperor0: We're one step closer to fucking Salem over. Oh I can't wait. Anyway, see you guys next time.
