I had surgery today, so it hurts to walk. I'm not supposed to do any physical activity besides walking for the next few days, which means a lot more time to work on this fanfiction. And if all of the chapters are as fun to write as this one, I won't mind one bit that I can't do anything else. This was really enjoyable to write, and I hope it's atleast half as enjoyable to read.
Yang pushed past the crowds of people moving about the city of Vale, making her way toward Beacon Castle. She was returning from a trip to Patch, and needed to be back in the training room as quickly as possible to make up for the time she missed. As the civilians wandered about aimlessly, she felt herself begin to get angry at them for wasting her time. She clenched her fists as she shoved through a group of gossiping housewives.
The Commercial District was a nightmare to traverse at midday, and Yang wasn't a very patient person. The meaningless conversations of the passing pedestrians made her want to rip out her sword and impale herself on it, but she refrained from doing so. Ruby had always been far better at dealing with the crowds of citizens every time they had gone to Vale.
Yang stiffened at the thought of her late sister. Six months after her death, and she still wasn't over it. She was a tumultuous storm of mixed emotions; sadness, anger, frustration, and self-loathing. Each day she trained until she could barely lift her sword, then forced Jaune to do the same thing. Ruby had wanted to help Jaune become a knight, so Yang had taken up her goal and made it her own.
The blonde shook off her depressing thoughts and looked up toward the cliff where Beacon Castle was. It was noon, which meant that the training hall would only be open to knights in training for another four hours. Just enough to make her collapse in exhaustion as was her goal. She started walking toward the castle, but stopped when she noticed something strange.
Her dad had made sure that both of his daughters learned to be extremely observant before he allowed them to train to become knights, and his lessons had stuck with her. Her eyes quickly took in the few drops of fresh blood sitting at the entrance to the alley. They were scattered and random, like they had dripped through poorly bandaged wounds.
None of the passing civilians would've noticed the dark spots on the cobblestones, but Yang had been trained by not just one, but two living legends. While she may have been lucky to spot the blood, she was clever enough not to ignore it. The blood was fresh, which meant someone was hiding at the end of the alleyway.
Most people went to a doctor or a healer when they were wounded, not an alleyway. "They must be someone who doesn't want to be found," Yang mumbled to herself, her hand on her chin. Eventually, she shifted her dusty brown cloak, revealing her gleaming silver armor and her sheathed longsword, Ember Celica. The sun glinted off of them, and the blonde could feel a pair of eyes watching her closely from inside the alley.
"I'm not going to harm you, but I am going to come closer," She called out into the alleyway. The last thing she wanted to do was to scare whoever was hiding there. Rats were at their most dangerous when they felt cornered. The lilac-eyed young woman placed a hand on the hilt of her blade as she walked deeper into the passage.
Her eyes flicked around, trying to spot any sign of an attack. Uncle Qrow had talked about how sometimes thugs used injured people as bait to lure someone into a trap, and she wasn't taking any chances. But she saw no attackers hiding on the roofs, nor did she find any hiding behind the large crates. One might be hiding in one of the large boxes, but that wouldn't be a very convenient place to launch an ambush from.
Suddenly, she heard a faint sound from behind one of the large crates toward the back of the alley. It sounded like someone gasping for breath, and the knight-in-training ran forward to investigate. As she ran up to the box, she let out a curse at what she saw.
A black-haired girl was leaning against the crate with a hand clutching her stomach. A hastily-made bandage covered her abdomen, but a large red stain blossomed out from underneath. Several other cuts adorned the woman's legs and arms, with poorly wrapped bandages barely covering those. Most concerning, however, were the two curved Mistralian short swords lying next to her, each covered in dried blood.
"Gods, are you okay?" Yang exclaimed. She mentally slapped herself, because of course the heavily bleeding girl wasn't okay. "Hold on, I'll get some help!" She told the girl, who glanced up at her with hazy amber eyes. The girl let out a shaky cough, making Yang look at her in concern. "What happened?"
"N-No," The girl just mumbled.
"Who did this to you?" The blonde warrior tried to ask, but the raven-haired girl just shook her head.
"D-Don't call... for help," She whispered, clenching her eyes shut as she spoke. Yang just stared at her incredulously.
"Why not? Even if you were a criminal, the law requires that your wounds must be treated. You'll die without help!"
"They... wouldn't help someone like me," The girl said vaguely, and Yang just gaped.
"Someone like you? What do you mean?" The girl only answered Yang's question by twitching her ears. Her two cat ears, perched atop her head. Yang would've slapped a hand to her forehead if she wasn't so concerned. How could she have missed that? "You're a faunus," She said in shock.
The amber-eyed woman just coughed up blood, and slumped over, making Yang let out a shocked shout. She must not have been able to get treatment for her wounds due to being a faunus. Yang glanced back out to the street, hesitating for a second. The girl was dying, and there was no guarantee Yang could find her help in time. It might be better to just leave her here and let her pass peacefully.
An image of silver eyes staring at her with disappointment flashed in her mind, and Yang let out a curse. Neither of them would be able to forgive her if she left this girl to die, and she didn't want Ruby and Mom to be disappointed in her when she finally kicked the bucket. With a sigh, she picked the girl up, cradling her head in one arm and her legs in the other. She was remarkably light, feeding Yang's concern. She must have not eaten in a long time.
Yang ran out of the alleyway, her head snapping around to find a doctor's office or an apothecary. Crowds parted before her when they saw both her armor and the bloody girl she was carrying, allowing her easy access through them. Yang headed towards the nearest doctor's office she could see before stopping. This girl didn't have time, and wasting what little she had arguing with a doctor that may be racist wasn't smart.
Yang had to find a healer she knew wouldn't care about this girl's heritage, and she didn't know many of those. The only person she could think of lived near the outer walls leading to the Forever Fall, and that would take time to get to. The lilac-eyed girl swore like a sailor as she ran as fast as she could toward the house of Thumbelina Peach, a healer Commander Port knew.
She ran through twisting streets and narrow roads towards the building, ducking through groups of people who meandered by without a care in the world. Blood washed from her enchanted armor onto the walkways, leaving a trail of red stains behind her. Cresting over a hill, she saw the wall that marked the end of the city of Vale, and the small wooden abode that was leaning against it.
Running up to the door and slamming her fist against it, she quickly explained the situation to the kindly old healer she had heard about. The old lady ushered her in and had her set the amber-eyed woman on a bed. She quickly used a combination of innate magic and medicinal herbs to ease the girl's pain and heal her minor wounds, then set about stitching the wound on her stomach.
Yang sat by the girl's bed for the rest of the afternoon, only once leaving to run back and retrieve her two blades from the alleyway. It wasn't until around sunset that the faunus began to stir slightly, then suddenly shot up.
"Where am I?" The raven-haired woman exclaimed, and Yang just held her hands out to reassure the girl.
"I brought you to a healer. I found you bleeding in an alleyway," She explained to the girl, who stared at her warily.
"Why? I don't have any money, so you probably shouldn't be expecting a reward," She hissed out, but Yang just laughed good-naturedly and rubbed a hand against the back of her head awkwardly.
"I guess I did it because it's the right thing to do?" She tried, but the girl just gave her a deadpan look.
"What is it you wanted? Did you think I might be a criminal, and wanted to turn me in for a bounty?" She asked, before narrowing her eyes. "Or did you want to take me as your slave? Force me to wait on you hand and foot?" She questioned suspiciously.
"N-No, none of that!" Yang said, waving her hands out in embarrassment. "I just didn't want to leave someone to die in that dirty alley."
The faunus just snarled at her. "But I'm a faunus. I'm not someone, I'm something to you humans," She spat out bitterly. Yang just frowned; who had hurt this girl so much to make her feel that way about humans.
"Wow, you must really have a low opinion of us humans," Yang joked, trying to lighten the mood.
"I wonder why," The faunus said sarcastically, and Yang just laughed.
"That's fair, I guess. Atlas still forces faunus into slavery, and the rest of the kingdoms are barely better. I'll give you that," She told the black-haired girl, who looked at her in surprise. "But there are good humans, just like there are good faunus. And while we may not always speak out against it, that doesn't mean we support it."
The girl just frowned. "Your complacency allows racism to fester! You say you are against it, but you refuse to take action!"
"Then what should I do?" Yang asked, genuinely curious. The girl just recoiled in shock.
"W-What?"
"I asked what I should do. I haven't really ever thought about that. I always just kind of treated everyone the same, as long as they weren't assholes."
"I... you actually want to help?" The faunus was incredulous; no human had ever just accepted that their complacency wasn't helping so quickly before.
"Yeah. You brought up a good point when you said that by not doing anything it just makes things worse for the faunus. So what should I do to be more proactive? I don't want to just let this happen."
The girl's cat ears just fell flat against her head. "I... I don't know," She said shyly. "I used to think I knew how to fight it, but I'm not sure anymore," She explained. Yang just nodded and gave her a smirk.
"Then let's find out an answer," The blonde offered a hand. "The name's Yang Xiao-Long! Nice to meetcha!" She said amicably. The faunus just stared at her outstretched hand in shock.
"I'm Blake. Blake Belladonna," The cat faunus said, shaking the friendly blonde's hand. The silver armor was cool to the touch, but when Blake felt her aura she felt warm. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"And that's how we met!" Yang chirped happily. Weiss, Jaune, and Ruby all stared at her in shock. Blake just rolled her eyes fondly and laughed.
"I don't seem to recall it going so smoothly. I remember that our argument lasted quite a bit longer," The raven-haired woman teased, making Yang blush in embarrassment. "I also remember that the healer you took me to was a lot closer, not on the very edge of town," Yang just waved off her criticisms with a scoff.
"I took some... creative liberties with the story. It's more fun this way," The warrior declared, making Weiss roll her eyes.
"I'd say your embellishment of the original story only ruins the experience," She snarked to Yang, who stuck out her tongue in response. "I imagine Blake wishes anyone else had saved her that day, but now she's stuck with you," The ex-heiress teased. Blake made a sound of agreement, and Jaune visibly strained to keep himself from laughing, not wanting Yang to notice he was laughing at her.
"I wish. I'm convinced that she only saved me so I would be indebted to her and thus unable to tell her how bad her jokes are," Blake mocked Yang, who nodded in agreement.
"That, and the fact that I wanted to impress this pretty girl I met," She explained with a wink towards the cat faunus, who just rolled her eyes with a blush lightly coloring her cheeks.
"I like her!" Ruby whispered loudly to Weiss, who restrained herself from telling the ghost to stop talking. Besides, she didn't even need to whisper since Weiss was the only one who could hear her.
"So why haven't you introduced us before now?" Jaune asked. Yang just sent him an odd look and spoke in a dead-serious tone.
"I didn't want her to think I actually liked spending time with you," She said without pause. Jaune's face fell comically, and he covered his heart with a hand and adopted a hurt expression.
"Wow. That hurts, Xiao-Long," He said with fake sadness.
"You'll get over it, Arc," She said with a smirk. Weiss couldn't help but giggle at the trio's interactions; their conversation seemed to flow so effortlessly, contrasting with the verbal duels she had practiced in Atlas with her own family. Her three living companions sent her odd looks.
"How far out are we?" Yang asked Weiss, who pulled out the map of Vale she was carrying and checked, finding the clearing they had just entered and comparing it to the map.
"About an hour's walk from Mountain Glenn. The forest should be getting thinner as we approach, so traveling will be easier," She explained. Jaune just let out a sigh of relief.
"Finally. We've been walking for hours." Weiss winced at that, folding up her map and returning it to her bag.
"Sorry. We should have taken a break before," She apologized, but Jaune just sighed.
"No, it's fine. At least we haven't seen any Grimm," He said, but was interrupted when Blake held up a hand for him to be quiet. The four of them, plus Ruby, all fell silent as they strained their ears to listen to the sounds of the forest. Or rather, the oppressive silence caused by a lack of any animals in the vicinity. "Looks like I spoke too soon," Jaune said with a sigh, drawing his sword.
Several black shapes slunk out of the foliage, snarling at the group as their red eyes burned with malice. A pack of Beowolves quickly surrounded them, and the large alpha stepped out from the treeline. It regarded them with hate, but also caution. This Grimm had lived long enough to know that rushing in would get it killed, so it held back.
"Looks like we don't really have a choice here," Yang remarked, drawing her sword from its sheath on her waist. She gave a quick nod to Blake, whose hand darted to her belt and grasped at one of her throwing knives. The cat faunus turned her neck to look at Weiss, waiting for her signal. Weiss gave her a determined nod, and Blake's wrist snapped upward, flinging the knife into the throat of the alpha.
At the leader's howl of pain, the other Beowolves charged forward with a roar. Weiss drew Myrtenaster and ran up to meet one, ducking under its swipe and slashing her blade across its stomach, making the creature begin to fade into a black mist. She pushed magic into her left arm just in time to block a powerful swing from a Beowolf that had snuck up behind her.
Her blade flickered in the afternoon sun as it slashed straight through the monster's throat, ending its life in an instant. Knowing another Beowolf was coming up behind her, she performed a magically-enhanced backflip over its head and plunged her blade into its back several times, ripping through its body with minimal effort. She removed her sword from its back and thrust it over her shoulder without looking, piercing the eye of the Grimm behind her. She turned to face the next opponent, but found her companions dealing with the rest.
Jaune blocked a swing with his shield and bashed the arm away, staggering the beast in front of him. With a shout, he slashed his blade through its torso three times and kicked it in the stomach, making it fall over. A smaller Beowolf shot toward him, trying to bite him, but he twisted his grip on his blade and cleaved through the beast's jaw with a slash that was augmented with aura.
Yang slammed the pommel of her longsword into a Grimm's skull plate, cracking it. She rolled her sword in her grasp, cutting into the Grimm's throat before turning around and punching another with her shield arm. She ducked under a swipe and slashed through its stomach, slicing it in half. A third Grimm lunged at her, but she ducked and thrust her sword in the air above her, stabbing its underbelly.
Blake's two swords flashed out of their sheaths, carving into her foe's abdomen. She flipped out of the way from a swipe from the alpha, and, quickly returning her blades to their sheaths, threw several daggers at its head. Most bounced off its carapace, but several struck true and stabbed into its eyes. The Grimm's howl of pain was cut short when Blake leapt forward and slashed its throat out.
The quartet all scanned the area for any remaining Grimm, finding nothing. They sheathed their weapons and jogged up to each other, panting slightly. Yang had an excited smirk on her face, Blake and Weiss were both impassive, and Jaune just looked relieved that he hadn't died. They quickly took stock of each other's wounds and found that no one had been injured in the skirmish.
"That... wasn't so bad," Yang broke the silence with a joking tone. Before anyone could think to laugh at her joke, a horrendous screech echoed out across the forest. The four's hands all shot towards their weapons as a great wind ripped through the clearing. The four all looked to the sky, trying to find the source of the sound.
"You just had to open your mouth," Blake said sarcastically. Yang just sent them an apologetic look as she scanned for the threat. Weiss kept her eyes on the sky, knowing that they needed to be ready for an attack from above.
"Shouldn't we flee into the forest?" Jaune whispered, but Weiss just shook her head.
"Whatever made that sound was big. It would rip through the canopy with ease, and we wouldn't be able to see it coming as easily. We wait here until it comes closer," She explained. Her eyes flicked to the air above them, where she alone could see the silver ghost staring around trying to spot the incoming enemy. All of a sudden, Ruby turned down to face her and shouted.
"Weiss! It's coming from that direction!" She yelled, pointing towards the south. Weiss tapped her companions on their shoulders and pointed toward the black shape speeding toward them. The four scattered as a massive Nevermore slammed into the clearing, the force of its landing sending a gust of wind that shook the leaves of the ring of trees outlining the area.
The creature began to flap its massive wings, but Blake shouted out. "Don't let it take off!" And charged forward, flicking her wrist outward. Several ribbons of darkness shot out from her shadow and wrapped around the monster's talon, struggling to hold it down. Yang ran up to the Grimm and delivered a heavy, two-handed blow to its leg.
The creature screeched in pain as the blade sunk into its leg, flapping its wings and tearing free of Blake's magic. Several ropes of golden light lassoed around its neck, pulling it towards the shining glyph Weiss had drawn in front of her. Blake darted forward, drawing her two swords and leaping off of Yang's shield onto the Nevermore's tailfeathers.
The cat faunus ran along the spine of the beast, slicing into its back with her blades with all her might, but the hardened feathers worked like armor and caused the blades to bounce off. Weiss drew a glyph that sent out a blade of white energy, but the Grimm managed to twist out of the way to avoid the attack, nearly throwing Blake off.
Jaune and Yang both slashed at the monster's talons, which hung about a foot in the air above their heads. Blake held out her hands to regain her balance and sheathed her small tantÅ, clutching her wakizashi with two hands and slamming it into the wing joint. The creature screeched in pain and slammed down into the ground, bucking Blake off its back and sending Yang and Jaune flying.
The Nevermore glared at Weiss with an intelligence she had never seen in a Grimm before. This monster was so ancient, it was able to make the conscious choice to hate her, unlike most other Grimm she'd fought so far. Only the Geist back in the ancient fortress could compare to this creature's age, and even then it must have only been half as old at most.
The Grimm took off into the sky, snapping the bindings of light from Weiss's glyph, causing them to fade away. Once it reached a high enough altitude where it was beyond their attacks, it spread its wings wide. Weiss's eyes widened as she saw the attack coming and she screamed out to her friends.
"Run!" The white-haired noble took off into the forest as spear-like feathers slammed down into the clearing with enough force to rip clean through their enchanted armor. Blake acrobatically dodged several of the feathers, leaping off of them as she ran toward the covered forest. Yang helped Jaune to his feet and rolled away from several of the deadly feathers, dragging her friend to the forest.
Once she was sure everyone was safe, Weiss rushed off into the forest in a desperate attempt to get away from the creature, with her friends hot on her heels. The wind created from the ancient Grimm's flapping wings tore through the canopy, and, letting out another screech, the creature soared up once again.
"It's going to attack again!" Jaune screamed fearfully.
"Get to cover!" Blake ordered, pulling both herself and Yang behind a large boulder that a tree was growing atop. Weiss leapt behind a large oak tree as Jaune rolled into a deep ditch on the side of the path. The Nevermore let out a loud screech and unleashed another onslaught of razor-sharp feathers into the canopy.
The sharpened tips whistled through the air as they tore through the leaves and branches, creating large patches of sunlight as black arrows slammed into the ground and kicked up a small cloud of dust. Weiss screamed as a feather tore through the tree she was hiding behind, nearly impaling her through the skull had she been a foot higher.
After what seemed to be an eternity was in reality only a few seconds, and the Nevermore quickly began to circle around so it could regenerate the nightmarish weapons it bore on its wings, having used all of the feathers it could while still being able to fly. A Grimm of this level would no doubt be able to recover its lost appendages in only a few minutes, so they only had a short time before it attacked again.
"Weiss, what do we do?" Yang asked from behind her hiding spot. Blake was peering over the boulder behind her through the newly created hole in the canopy as the Grimm lazily circled back around.
Jaune crawled out of his ditch, his face pale and terrified. "We can't beat that thing. We'd need the help of the knights and the mage corps to beat this thing!" He whispered fearfully.
Blake just shook her head. "No. This thing is strong, but it is far from the most deadly Grimm in Vale," She explained, only terrifying Jaune even more. "But for something this strong to be only a day's walk away from the city; it's almost unheard of!"
Weiss nodded grimly. "This thing could attack the city at any time and kill countless people before the knights would be able to push it back," She reasoned, receiving a dark look from Yang and Blake. Jaune just looked at the three of them with fear.
"Y-You aren't saying what I think you are, right?" He questioned, shaking. Weiss just nodded, nearly making him collapse from the fear.
"I don't like it either, but we have to do it," She declared with resolve, standing up and drawing her sword. "We brought it too close to the city, so we need to fix this."
Yang gave Jaune an encouraging look. "C'mon, you've got us doing the heavy lifting! You don't have to worry!"
"If we don't do this, countless people will die," Blake told Jaune, making him clench his fists. The Scion of the Arc household didn't want to die, but it was his duty to protect the people.
"Alright. I'm in," He said, visibly shaking as he grappled with his fear. They all sent him sympathetic smiles as Weiss turned to face the creature as it began to turn back toward them.
"Alright then. Let's kill this thing!" she said, taking off into the forest.
"Weiss! There are some old ruins to your left!" Ruby called out to the girl, who gave her a quick grateful look. She came to a stop, confusing her allies as they too stopped their running.
"What are we doing? I thought we were going to a clearing?" Yang asked the ex-heiress, who answered by taking off in the direction Ruby had pointed out. Yang and Blake shared a glance, but Jaune took off after her, only pausing to give the two of them a look.
"Unless either of you two have a plan, I say we follow the person who does!" He called out to them before pushing through the foliage after her. The blonde woman and the faunus both shrugged and began to make their way after the other two, glancing behind to make sure the Nevermore was still following them.
The massive avian Grimm circled around them, gradually restoring its lost feathers before it attacked again. It had clearly learned its lesson about trying to fight the quartet up close, instead opting to launch barrages of feathers at them until they died. Given its age, this monster was likely already nearly done with its regeneration, even though it had been at most five minutes since sending its last barrage.
Weiss ran out of the forest, panting for breath. Jaune quickly appeared behind her, followed by Blake and Yang, who were casting worried glances behind her. They turned to ask her why she'd run off in a random direction, but froze when they saw what was in front of her.
A large colonnade led up to a large set of stairs, that led to a massive gorge where they could hear a river running through at the bottom. Beyond that was a stone bridge and a massive stone structure that towered out from the gorge. A massive cliff stood behind all of it, and the four had to crane their necks to see the top of it.
"This'll work nicely!" Yang cheered. "How'd you know about this place, Weiss?"
Weiss merely whispered. "Just... a feeling," Jaune and Blake gave her curious looks, but Yang just laughed.
"Yeah, I get that. Happens to me all the time!" She said boisterously, before turning around. "We could probably use these ruins as cover," She reasoned. Blake and Weiss nodded, but Jaune let out a worried shout.
"It's coming back!" The blonde boy took off toward the colonnade as the massive Nevermore soared into the ruins and settled atop the large tower in the back. The four of them ran toward the pillars as the creature spread its wings and flapped them, sending massive gusts of wind to push them back. Despite the wind batting against them, the group nearly made their way to the pillars.
Before any of them could hide, however, the Nevermore screeched and sent off a volley of razor-sharp feathers hurtling toward them. Jaune threw himself to the ground to avoid several of them, Yang and Weiss both rolled away, and Blake dodged each of the projectiles with an acrobatic flip.
"What now?" Jaune screamed once he made his way behind a pillar. Weiss paused, not sure what to do. The ruins were the best place to fight the creature, as it provided a mix of open areas for them to see it coming and a healthy amount of cover. But they had no real way of harming it, aside from Weiss's most complicated glyphs.
"We need to find a way to bring it down!" Yang called out.
"It just flies away every time we do!" Blake screamed back. Suddenly, Weiss was struck with inspiration.
"Blake! Do you think you can distract it?" She asked, and Blake just looked at her like she was crazy.
"Maybe for one of its barrages, but then I'll just be exhausted!" She explained, but Weiss just shrugged.
"I only need a minute, and you're the only one who can dodge its attacks without needing to hide behind cover," She reasoned. The raven-haired faunus sighed and gave her a determined nod.
"Alright, but this better work!" She threatened and ran out into the middle of the colonnade. The Nevermore screeched when it saw her and took off into the sky. As Blake readied herself for its attack, Weiss withdrew her notebook and began to draw a complex glyph on the floor with some chalk. It wasn't the most magically conductive, but it would do what she needed it to.
The Grimm screeched as it sent a wave of missiles towards Blake, who twisted her body to avoid them. A few came close to striking her, but only one managed to just graze her, creating a small red gash on her side. Seeing its last attack fail, the creature sent forth another volley that the cat faunus was forced to dodge, resulting in a few more grazing hits.
"Blake!" Yang called out, hand outstretched. Weiss grabbed her arm and pulled her back, but the blonde just turned to face her, red eyes burning with fury. "She's going to die if we don't help!" The knight-in-training screamed, but Weiss placed her friend's hands down onto the large glyph she had just drawn. A large circle ten feet in diameter, with four smaller five-foot circles in a cross shape along the outside formed the glyph.
"Then help," Weiss told the blonde woman, placing her own hands on the circle, glancing up at Jaune, who did the same. They began to pour their aura into the glyph, their magic slowly activating it. Had she drawn this one from her aura, only her aura could activate it; however, since this glyph was drawn in chalk, they all were able to activate it.
Ruby floated in the air above them, looking down at them with concern. Since she had no body with which to direct her aura, she was unable to help. Instead, she was forced to watch as her friends and family risked their lives to save her. She clenched her teeth in anger as she turned to face the massive Grimm, only to find it staring directly at her. Not the others beneath her, but her. Could it... see her?
Before she could continue that train of thought, she heard Weiss scream out from below her. "Now!" The ghost moved out of the way and saw the glyph Weiss had drawn glowing a bright orange as it activated, sucking in arcane energy from its surroundings. Glyphs couldn't draw on aura when they were used, so she was still no help to her friends, only able to watch as the glyph activated.
A massive blast of focused heat shot out from the center glyph, searing a hole through the Nevermore's right wing. The creature squawked in pain as glowing orange chains shot out from the four circles surrounding the large one and wrapped around the monster's left wing, dragging it down to the ground.
Between the massive hole in its wing and the burning hot bindings pulling it to the ground, the creature was unable to even stand, let alone fly. Weiss smirked as she drew her weapon and leveled it toward the Grimm. "Now's our chance!" She yelled out, charging toward the toppled beast, her companions right on her tail.
The creature snapped at her with its beak, but she ducked under and stabbed out one of its many eyes before leaping back and letting Yang strike. The blonde woman dodged its swipe from its injured wing and slashed at the creature's neck. Jaune ran in a drove his own blade into its restrained wing, while Blake ran forward and leapt atop its carapace and drove her two swords into another set of its eyes.
The Nevermore screeched in pain, opening its mouth wide and deafening them all with the shrill sound. Weiss snarled and quickly drew a powerful glyph in the air and slammed her sword tip into it, sending a fireball the size of her torso right into its mouth, whereupon it exploded in an eruption that sent them all skidding backward.
Blake of course landed elegantly, but the rest of them were sent rolling along the ground in different directions as the now headless Grimm began to dissolve into a massive cloud of black smoke. As they climbed to their feet, the four of them couldn't help but stare at each other in disbelief. Their silence was broken when Jaune let out a relieved laugh, followed by Yang doing the same. Blake was breathing heavily, and Weiss just glanced at Ruby.
"Did we really just do that?" She quietly asked her friend, trying to seem like she was talking to herself. Ruby gave her a sad smile.
"Yeah Weiss, you just killed that thing!" "And I couldn't help at all," Ruby kept the last bit to herself, not wanting to upset Weiss in her moment of victory. As she sat there, with the slight wind caused by the billowing black smoke blowing through her hair, her silver armor covered in grime, and her face caked with sweat, all Ruby could think is that she'd never seen a more beautiful sight.
That Nevermore fight was orignially planned to happen in the ancient fortress from chapter ten, but I replaced it with the Arma Gigas fight instead. I thought that fit better, but I didn't want to scrap my ideas for this fight, so I put it here instead. I hope it was good, because I enjoyed writing it and will probably write more like it.
This fight was a bit random and not relevant to the main plot, but that's kind of how the Grimm work. They don't have motivations aside from killing humans, so I can just put a fight with them anywhere in the story and it would at least somewhat make sense, as long as it isn't in the middle of Vale or something. I also wrote this fight so it was a bit more obvious exactly how skilled the characters are, because they haven't really had a tougher opponent with which to compare themselves to.
Just for reference, I'd say Jaune in this fic is about as strong as he was in Volume 3, but its harder to say with the others since their fighting style has changed quite a bit. They're all tougher than Torchwick, but we haven't had a human opponent who I can compare them to aside from Winter, who only had one fight where she was holding back, so she doesn't work that well.
But this Nevermore was a tough Grimm. Not one of the toughest, but enough that it would take a team of well-trained knights and mages to take down. This gives a bit more insight as to how tough the party is, but it will become more clear in time when they fight different opponents.
It's kind of weird having Ruby be such a reactionary character in this fic. She can really only interact with Weiss, and is otherwise only able to observe. Writing nice moments between the two is fun, but that can only happen when they're alone or in a really crowded place. But since Weiss can talk to other people, it wouldn't make since for them to only interact with each other. It creates a unique challenge because, while she is a main character, Ruby is not the only character, so I have to try and find ways for her to be present without her being the constant narrator.
I just wanted to really quickly say thank you to all of the people who have left reviews, whether it was constructive criticism, a nice comment, or anything in between, it means a lot to me that you left a review on my story. Thank you for reading this chapter, and I hope you have a nice day.
