Beta read by: SecretlySilentlyEvil
Recommended story: "The Girl At The Library" by momoxtoshiro
Evening, six days after the morning in Menagerie
The tips of two weapons dragged through dirt, drenched in the blood of their owner even as they carved a groove in the earth that marked Black Rock's progress through the forest. Her limbs twitched as one heavily armored boot landed laboriously upon the earth, followed by another. The armor was apparent in other places as well; while the boots stopped mid thigh, exposing a stretch of her skin until her shorts began. Her midriff was left completely bare and the armor covering her chest started just under her breasts and covered all the way to her chin and down her arms to end in clawed gauntlets. Her left shoulder held a thick pauldron decorated with a white cross that matched another piece placed on the left side of her head without obscuring her face at all.
The armor was nearly uniform black in color with the exception of the aforementioned cross design, the pair of white belts that crossed over her shorts, a single white star on her right breast, three smaller ones along with a small three-by-three checkerboard square decorated her left breast plate and a black ribbon that could only serve an aesthetic purpose for all the use it had attached the front of the outfit to the back under her left arm with a white stripe running down the middle.
Most worryingly for Black Rock was that Mato hadn't done or said anything once they had left the clearing behind where they had broken. And they were broken, Black Rock could feel the fracture running through their soul as clearly as if it were a broken glass figurine in her hands. She knew it could be mended, they had done so before after all. But it took time and there was a long road ahead.
Gathered from what conversation Mato had made with the woman named Summer before this all began, they were on the continent of Sanus, and northeast of the kingdom/city of Vale. That meant all Black Rock had to do was head west to the coast and south until she reached the city. With her destination in mind the Otherself continued her walk in relative silence as her armor made an audible clank with each heavy step and the sound of blades dragging along the ground at her sides.
Earlier that morning
Getting along with Summer became easier the more time Mato spent in her company. The young mother had a bubbly and open personality that resonated with the displaced girl and once the huntress realized that answering personal questions made Mato uncomfortable the conversations were moved towards helping the teen learn more of the local language, stories about Summer's own family, and information about Vale and Beacon academy.
Mato did feel a little bad about her own reticence to share about herself but how was she supposed to explain Black Rock when she could barely speak the language let alone without making it sound like she didn't have some sort of psychological disorder? For all that her and Black Rock were linked mentally they both were and were not the same person. And didn't that just confuse everything even further? Mato had enough trouble making sense of it in her own mind without trying to do the same to someone else.
And that was before she even got around to mentioning the fact that she wasn't from Remnant at all. That was a headache she was not looking forward to.
And her family… Better not to go there, she knew she likely wouldn't see them again and dwelling on it would only increase Black Rock's self-imposed burden.
This morning they were back in the aircraft and Mato was once more staring out the window at they passed over wooded terrain below dotted with large hills and she could see a few mountains in the distance. It was a nice change of pace when compared to staring at the ocean. She hadn't minded the beautiful view initially but while looking at a pretty painting on your wall is nice when you see it constantly it loses its spark.
'I guess variety really is the spice of life huh Black Rock?'
She let out a little snicker when no response comes from her Otherself. Fully aware of Black Rock's tendency to sit in one place for vast stretches of time without moving, indicated by the years they spent motionless back in Black Rock's forest.
The teen girl's musing were interrupted when the now familiar crackle of the intercom came to life and she heard him speak in a voice that sounded slightly panicked. Before she could try and parse out what the man said doors on both sides of the bullhead opened up and Summer was on her feet slotting differently colored crystals into holes bored into the blade of her sword while stepping confidently up to one of the openings and looking outside and behind the airship.
Curiously Mato glanced out on the other side only to brace herself on a handle when the small craft swerved to avoid a white spike that flew uncomfortably close.
When the hybrid girl looked at Summer she could see the woman leaning half out of the aircraft and swinging her blade to send gouts of fire, shards of ice and pressurized wind towards whatever was behind them.
When Mato looked out again she could see a group of what looked like large wasps flying after them The stingers fired from their tails connected to their bodies by a long black membrane that was apparently able to contract in order to drag the sting back in place rapidly so it could be fired again. She could see three on her side and considering Summer's attacks were not getting anywhere near those she could see she believed there had to be more she couldn't.
With Summer already focusing on her side and the three on Mato's going more or less unmolested it was no surprise when the young girl decided she needed to act and with that decision came the familiar sound of grinding metal and blue light forming around her right arm where the Rock Cannon took shape.
The first lancer fell with her first shot but that was where the easy time of it ended. As soon as the ball of blue energy brought the first lancer down the other two paused, chittered for a moment and then resumed the chase only now they began to shift erratically through the air dodging Mato's shots with an ease that frustrated the young girl.
The Bullhead swerved barely avoiding a stinger from the other side. The motion causing Mato to lose her balance and she was forced to grab the side of the vehicle to keep from falling out entirely. A stinger that might have impaled her had she not managed to brace herself instead missed her waist by inches before retracting.
Mato listened to the pilot's slightly panicked and rushed speech coming over the intercom as they continued to do everything they could to avoid letting the lancers trailing them land a solid hit. Something aided by the ships rounded design, even then however scores were opening up along it's metal frame as the stingers connected and bounced off.
It was only after Mato managed to take down a second of the wasp like Grimm that she lost sight of the third. When she glanced behind her to Summer the older woman was looking around warily only for both of them to blink when a shadow fell over the Bullhead. The Pilot only had a moment to shout in fear before the entire ship rocked violently in the air.
Above them Mato could see where a massive Grimm that looked similar to the giants wasps she was just fighting only twice the size had landed on top of their ship and was even now lifting its abdomen tipped with a wicked looking bone stinger.
Before either Summer or Mato could respond to the new threat the stinger came down shattering the glass of the cockpit and the pilots voice came over the intercom as a wet gurgle as the Bullhead lost control and began to spin through the air, tipping as it began to fall rapidly.
Mato felt an arm wrap around her waist and suddenly she was outside of the falling Bullhead, floating in the air until the inertia of the movement bleed off and gravity took hold pulling Mato towards the ground her body still held by Summer. With a thought her cannon broke into blue light and lightened Summers load as they dropped into a forest the older womans legs bracing and flexing with every branch they hit absorbing some of their downward momentum with every tree limb broken.
They hit the ground at a roll with Summer getting to her feet first her weapon in hand as it's grip extended down to form a pole the sword having become a naginata in Summers hands. The Huntress reached for the hilt and hit a button there a white glow spreading along the metal of the blade.
Slowly Mato pushed herself up and her pistol formed in her hand as her gaze moved up to look around the woods. With the Bullhead down the lancers had to enter the woods to go after the survivors of the crash and they did the chittering and buzzing sounds they made giving away their approach as they flew through the trees and crawled down the trunks around the two.
However unlike when the fight was in the air, now Mato and Summer had the advantage as the trees cut into the maneuverability the lancers had available. Mato watched as they were surrounded and lifted her pistol, the weapon let out a loud crack as the round left it's chamber slamming into the nearest grimm's armor and ricocheting into the eye of another killing the second.
For a moment Mato wondered if Summer had seen that before blinking as she felt a gust of wind pick up behind her followed by the sound of a tree falling over. The chittering grew louder all around them as the grimm pushed in quickly forcing Mato's attention forward once more. She managed to kill one more with her pistol before there were to many for her to continue with it any longer.
She was forced dive out of the way when a stinger was shot at her by a flying lancer. And when she got back to her knees her pistol began to shift its form. The familiar sound of grinding metal announced the transformation as the pistol split and opened, unfurling again and again impossibly as more mass is added to its shape until Mato is left holding her gatling gun in both hands. The weapon spins up and is used to suppress the grimm by rapidly slamming round after round into any bit of unarmored flesh they can.
Mato is unable to keep the stream going for long however when she's forced cut the flow to avoid hitting Summer who finished her side first and turned around to deal with those harassing her teenage charge.
The teenager had to admit watching Summer Rose fight was something else entirely. Mato had only really been exposed to fights between Black Rock and others like her or Grimm until this point. And while Dead Master had a kind of grace to her movements she wasn't the most skilled with her scythe, relying more on her minions to combat her enemies. And Strength had been a close range brawler, clever with her use of the environment but preferring to use her raw power to blow through her enemies defences when it came to actually landing hits.
Summer was all grace and skill, her movements fluid as she shifted or parried to avoid hits before lashing out at any open weakness she could find or attacking with elemental force in short controlled bursts.
Perhaps Black Gold Saw might have come close but the fight between Black Rock and her hadn't lasted long at all before Black Rock overwhelmed her with her berserking attack style and unpredictable attack angles.
The memory of that last bit made Mato shudder for a moment in unease until the feeling was whisked away from her once more.
It didn't take long for the lancers to be cleared out and Summer let out a small sigh and straightened up before turning to Mato with a small kind smile. "Alright, we are going to have to walk from here. But first let's find the Bullhead and grab our supplies." She stated pantomiming her words while she spoke to help Mato understand. And while it did accomplish that it also made the young teen giggle a little at the sight.
When she laughed Mato saw Summers smile widen, clearly pleased with herself for the accomplishment and the teen couldn't help but grin in response.
Slowly they made their way through the woods and found the Bullhead crashed near a small clearing. Mato wondered briefly if the pilot was aiming for it but fell short. That thought was quickly ignored however when she recalled how it had fallen while spinning out of control like that, there was no way it's crashing there was intentional.
Summer hurried inside the wreck after waving Mato off and first gathered the teenagers bag, tossing it out of the Bullhead before going for her own gear and what looked like a box filled with small wrapped squares and a few canteens. Once those were set down outside of the downed vehicle she moved to the cockpit. After a few tugs the door refused to open and Summer was forced to move around to where the giant lancer had stabbed through and forced the hole there wider until she could climb in and pull the body out.
She went back into the cockpit once more for a minute before returning outside and lifting the body of their pilot in her arms, she moved from there into the clearing before setting it down gently. Her earlier smile having turned into a solemn frown when she pulled her sword from her waist. Now the blade glowed green and with a small slash the ground at her feet opened. She set the corpse inside of her newly created grave before sealing it with another swipe.
Mato could only watch as Summer knelt down next to the mound of disturbed earth to speak a few mumbled words.
'A prayer maybe? Do the people of this world even have religion?' Mato wondered briefly. Logically she knew that wondering about something like that with what was going on in front of her wasn't 'normal' but with Black Rock present within her soul greedily taking away any feeling of guilt or sorrow she knew she would be feeling otherwise she was at best apathetic. The thought that at least they managed to give the seemingly kind woman a burial was a small consolation.
Instead Mato set about splitting up the supplies Summer pulled from the wreck. The wrapped blocks being placed in their bags while she arranged the filled canteens to hang from straps.
She thought it had been the right idea when Summer returned and gave her a small grateful smile that failed to reach her eyes. She never managed to pick up her bag however. She had just started to bend down to grab it when she spun around her sword once more in hand as she faced the woods on the opposite side of the clearing.
Mato glanced back at the crashed ship and realized that the direction Summer was facing was the direction they needed to keep traveling in if they wanted to reach Vale. Whatever was in that direction they would have to get past it in order to keep going.
It was then a pair of men came out of the woods. The pair was a study of opposites. The larger one was heavily muscled, with a stoic expression and a look in his eyes that was both resigned and determined. His skin was tanned and his dark brown hair was cut short with sideburns that traveled down his chin and would have connected to his bear if not for a carefully shaven rift between the two.
The other man however looked ecstatic. He stood straight with a sadistic smile spread across his lips. Long brown hair braided down his back and an outfit that showed his scared chest. Where the other man was tall with hard muscle this one was more average of height and far leaner in looks but there was something about him with unsettled Mato far more than the larger man. He looked desperate for a fight and the way he occasionally fidgeted made Mato keep a wary eye on him. Something he noticed and upon doing so his grin grew a little wider and he waved at her. The seemingly friendly motion made a shudder run down the teenagers spine.
Mato couldn't see the look on Summer's face from where she was slightly behind and to the left of the older woman but she didn't need to in order to spot how she tensed. Mato could only watch in trepidation as Summer walked towards the two men after simply ordering Mato to wait with their supplies.
From there, Mato was too far away to hear anything beyond vague mumbles, but she knew the moment things went south by how crescent shaped blades sprang forward from the smaller man's wrists and lunged at her escort/bodyguard. Quickly Mato formed her pistol, but all thoughts towards trying to assist Summer were abandoned when Grimm began to exit the woods from the same direction the men came from, which forced Mato to shift her attention. Unlike the men however who were focusing on Summer, the Grimm all turned to her.
They rushed her immediately, and every time the older woman tried to break away from the two men they would cut her off. Forcing the younger girl to face the Grimm on her own.
Unfortunately for the untrained girl, there were far too many coming from too many angles for Mato to deal with on her own. She could feel her Otherself pushing to take control. With one last look to where Summer was struggling, Mato let out a small sigh before she gave in and closed her eyes.
They reopened in less than a moment, someone watching could be forgiven for thinking the younger girl had simply blinked if not for how her pupils were now ringed, her expression going flat as one of her eyes burst into ethereal blue flame. Her off hand grips the hilt of her sword as it forms as the pistol in her right hand shifted into Black Rock's signature cannon.
The first creature to reach her was a small lizard-like Grimm that walked on two legs. It wasn't difficult to kill on it's own, her sword carved through it's flesh with little resistance. Behind it were many more, grouped together they lunged from low angles that forced Black Rock to run. She dodged those that appeared in front of her in order to make them group up tighter in a trail of sprinting Creep.
When she felt she had enough distance she turned and lifted her cannon, each shot of the massive gun penetrated several of the small and swift lizard Grimm, cut through their ranks, and allowed Black Rock to break off again and start the chase over when the group began to catch up.
While Black Rock was fighting Mato, allowed her attention to focus on Summer's fight from the edge of their shared vision when possible. The white cloaked woman seemed to be doing quite well on her own. And it seemed that—with Black Rock handling things on her own for the moment—the woman's attention was now entirely on her own two human opponents.
Once the Creep were thinned out, Black Rock stopped her run by digging her sword in the ground, the weapon acted as a pivot to conserve her momentum as she twisted around and began charging at the remainder of the small monsters, now joined by their larger cousins, the Beowolves.
Mato couldn't see any larger Grimm around. The ones that were more heavily armored weren't around in this group. Something that seemed odd to her, as up until this point each group of the creatures she had come across usually had at least one of the 'Alphas' in it. Still, without one of the larger, more intelligent creatures around she didn't see Black Rock having too much trouble carving and shooting her way through.
The change of tactic wasn't entirely in their favor, however, as taking a stand against the monsters allowed the larger ones to catch up, the powerful Ursa and Boarbatusk charged into the fray as the smaller and weaker Grimm moved to make room. While the former could do little to hurt Black Rock and her speed, but what the Otherself hadn't expected was the spinning dash of the boar Grimm. It was one of those attacks that landed first and slammed into Black Rock's back, a slash scoured along her back.
It didn't go deep, however, before a silver flash flared across the clearing and carved a line through the Grimm behind Black Rock. When the Otherself glanced in the direction it came from Mato caught sight of Summer's eyes flaring brightly with a power that made the younger girl feel dizzy. Black Rock's eyes cut to Summer's figure for a moment, she lifted her cannon in the direction of the white cloaked woman before firing past her at the lanky man with the scorpion tail when he tried to take advantage of her distraction.
When the next Boarbatusk charged her, Black Rock slammed her Cannon into the ground to use it as a shield and once she rebuffed the attack, a stab of her sword to the creatures underside caused it to dissolve.
It was at this point that Black Rock noticed the older Grimm beginning to filter into the fight. They struck from her sides and hemmed her in, even as Black Rock thinned the grouping out. Black Rock took hits here and there, but nothing that could really slow them down. It was just after killing an Ursa that Mato spotted a grimm that broke off from its single minded pursuit of the Otherself to take a shot at a distracted Summer.
'Black Rock, help her!' Mato shouted into their consciousness, and Black Rock's hand lifted her cannon before the Otherself could even register the request from her human.
It was a moment that Mato would never forget.
The split second where everything went completely wrong.
The cannon fired and while it succeeded in blowing the Beowolf behind Summer in half, doing so meant her cannon wasn't in place to block a swipe from an Ursa that had come in close. The blow sliced claws deep into Black Rock's stomach and threw the young teenager's body into a tree. Before Black Rock could recover and return to the fight, however, a huge body wrapped around the tree as a massive, two-headed snake pinned them in place.
Secured against the tree as she was, there was nothing Black Rock could do but struggle. The snake coiled and tightened in its effort to hold them. Mato could only watch as Summer turned, her eyes flared again, and the distraction proved to be all her opponents needed. The large man grabbed the wrist holding her sword and pulled her into the path of the slimmer man's stinger.
Mato could only watch in growing horror as Summer stumbled, the stinger jutting from her side before she was bodily tossed away. Her sword fell from her hand, her wrist bent and broken. When she landed the large man made no effort to go after her however, turning his attention to Mato even as the lanky man let out a jubilant cry and dived for the downed huntress. His blades sunk into her chest in a sadistic flurry.
The teenager didn't notice when Black Rock suddenly stilled. She didn't notice when the Grimm all stopped pacing and pawing at the ground to stare at her entirely. She didn't notice how the blue flame over their left eye died out. All she could see was the lanky man's weapons lifting and falling, each pierce into Summer's body making the woman twitch and scream until she just… didn't.
When her body stopped moving and the screams stopped pouring from her lips, the lanky man stood and turned to face the teenager. He grinned in satisfaction while his upper body dripped with the huntress's blood.
The flame in their eye relit then, flickering red and blue for a moment before dying once more.
'No… no… no no no no NO!'
Mato's emotions raged wildly. Sorrow ripped at her soul, mixed with rage and hatred. Some distant part of her mind knew what was about to happen, but it was far too late and if she were honest with herself, at that moment Mato simply didn't care. The barriers between her and Black Rock that kept Mato from feeling her negative emotions crashed down, and the Grimm began to howl around her.
The two men could do nothing but look around in surprise as the Grimm they commanded began to act up, slowly creeping towards the girl. The heads of the King Taijitu holding her in place slowly opened their maws threateningly and nothing the two men yelled stilled the monsters. Even the Seer they used to contact their mistress left the woods it was hidden in and began floating towards the bound girl, its bone tipped tentacles whipping viciously at the air around it. It was never really meant for combat, it was designed by their mistress to extend her control of her minions and the creatures of Grimm over vast distances.
Nothing seemed to happen until the two Taijitu heads lunged at their prey. An attack that would never land as swords formed and tore through their body and the body they had pinned, purple blood erupted from the wounds even as the giant creature began to dissolve.
A brilliant flash of white light consumed the clearing as within the teenager Mato felt something snap. Where before she was buried under the emotions, she now allowed them to flow through her. She knew what was about to happen, but where before she had resisted and tried to reign in her Otherself, this time she allowed the stream to carry her away. Where before Black Rock herself had been the cause of Mato's pain, this time it was the two men across the clearing. So instead of fighting it as she had before, Mato retreated to that deep dark part of her soul where she was safe. A place Black Rock had forced her when she took control initially, and a place she had avoided ever since regaining control of their body.
The pain of the transformation was a burden they shared as their body shifted. Chains made of the same metal that formed their weapons exploded from their back there the star on their coat had begun to glow. The blades that pierced her flesh shifted and bent, flowing over her skin wrapping her legs and arms in armor, including a pauldron on her left shoulder and a plate that covered the left side of her head. The gauntlets covering her hands were shaped into vicious claws and they gripped a twisted and spiked version of her Black Blade in the left hand while the cannon in her right was exchanged for a weapon similar to her Cannon Lance. The blade on the weapon was longer, however, and the emblem on the side of the weapon was her signature star only broken and fragmented. Nearly eight feet in length, the weapon was held out to a side with a heavy chain linking the weapon to their back.
When the light faded, Black Rock stood there for a long moment before the flame returned to her eye a bright purple color, her normally stoic face marred by a small frown as she paused, her eyes sweeping slowly around the clearing at the enemies before seeming to lock onto the pair of men still standing near to the huntress's corpse.
From the depths of their soul where Mato had retreated, hiding from the pain that threatened to swallow her. The teenagers voice called out. A single soft order that was both commanding and pleading in equal measure. 'Black Rock… Get rid of them.'
As if responding to the order only she could hear, Black Rock lifted the Cannon Lance and pointed it's tip towards the pair in a surprising show of strength for her slight frame. But before either they or Black Rock could move it was the Grimm that broke the stand off; they charged at the Otherself as a single slavering horde. Even the older Grimm joined in the mad rush, pushing their weaker kin out of the way in their haste to devour the tormented soul before them.
It forced Black Rock to shift her attention from the men temporarily, the glowing barrel the formed the 'hilt' of her Cannon Lance brightened and from it blasts of energy burst forth. Unlike the bullets her gatling gun usually formed and fired, these were shot like concentrated rounds of her cannon and immediately began to carve its way through the Grimm in a cone in every direction it was aimed.
Still there were many Grimm, with more arriving every moment rushing from all around and soon enough Black Rock was forced into melee range. Her lance and sword swept and stabbed as the chains from her back lashed out to tie Grimm down until she got around to killing them.
During this slaughter one of her chains reached out and grabbed Summer's lost sword. It wrapped around the grip and hilt, secured the blade in their grip, before it acted as a third arm to carve into any grimm that sought to attack while her actual arms were occupied. Black Rock walked through the grimm, her blades a dervish as she absorbed blows that would kill any normal person. Holes in her legs or arms would seep with purple blood before sealing themselves moments later.
Wounds that would cripple or debilitate would hamper her movements for a short time but even then it was only a matter of time before she would recover and continue on as if it had never happened.
The only thing that seemed to give her pause was when a giant Nevermore arrived and made it's attacks from a distance with plenty of range to make her shot difficult to land. That problem she solved by pulling off the arm which held her Cannon Lance. This she threw at the flying monster. The limb still acting as if it were attached to her shoulder by pulling the trigger mid flight and pouring her rounds into the flying Grimm from a range the beast couldn't dodge. Ripping holes in its wings and forcing the thing to the ground.
It was then her chains retracted, dragged her Lance back in rapidly, then reconnected with her shoulder as if her arm were a machine designed to be modular in such a way. And with the death of the Nevermore, Black Rock had finally cleared the area of Grimm well enough to focus on the pair of men. The larger one watched with narrowed eyes, while his shorter counterpart seemed barely capable of holding in his own bloodlust.
The only thing that stopped the smaller man from leaping at Mato when she raised her Cannon Lance at them again was a hand placed on his shoulder by the taller.
"We're supposed to recruit her Tyrion, don't forget what she ordered us to do." The larger man stated before turning to look at the teenager who had just strode through a horde of grimm in a way he had never seen before. The girls aura hadn't protected her at all from the attacks, instead it seemed to simply heal her wounds, and at an extraordinary rate. "My name is Hazel and we didn't want to hurt anyone when we approached you. Just make an offer, something my companion should have remembered before he attacked the huntress. But there's nothing for that now."
Black Rock stared and let silence fall over them for a long moment before her knees bent and she launched herself at the pair. Tyrion didn't even wait for Hazel to remove his restraining arm as he darted forward to meet the charging Otherself.
The quick staccato of heels was Ozpin's first warning that something was wrong. Now, what could have caused Glynda to be in such a hurry, varied wildly. He hoped it was just that she was irritated after her recent time spent in Atlas with James.
His right hand had a very strict personality, and there were far too many things that could potentially be bothering the woman. Most frequently it was something one of the students at the academy had done to upset the woman, usually in the case of property damage.
Why damage to the school bothered her he still didn't really know as she could, and usually did, just fix whatever was broken with a literal wave of her crop. Perhaps she saw students damaging the building as a sign of disrespect for the facility?
It wasn't until she entered his office that he stiffened, the slightly amused smile on his lips dying as soon as he saw the urgent look on her face. This wasn't a look that would be caused by harmless student antics.
"Ozpin, we have a problem," she stated simply and Ozpin set down his mug off to the side keeping his desk clear as she approached.
"I see, please elucidate me, Glynda."
"One of our mission Bullheads has activated it's onboard distress beacon. Considering it hasn't moved and we aren't able to make contact we are assuming it has crashed," Glynda stated, plugging her scroll into the desk before she pulled up a display map of the kingdoms. A pulsing ring appeared to the northeast of Vale. It was the Bullheads ID number that drew Ozpin's attention first, however, and he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach.
"How are we handling this?" Ozpin asked straightening up at his desk. The ID meant it was the same Bullhead Summer had taken to pick up the strange young girl from Menagerie. It wasn't uncommon for hunters to lose vehicles out in the field due to damage, but without any contact there was always the worry what a pick up team would find when they reached the beacon.
"An airship is gearing up to pick up the vehicle now. It should arrive within the next fourteen hours. Barring any interference from grimm, of course," Glynda replied and really with the way things were there was little else Ozpin felt he could do at that moment but wait for more information to come in. With a sigh he nodded his head.
"Please keep me informed on this matter. All we can do now is send assistance and hope."
Black Rock didn't know why Hazel wasn't attacking her like Tyrion was and in the end it didn't really matter. The one of them was keeping himself alive despite the Otherself putting forth an effort to render him otherwise.
Tyrion was fast, that was a simple fact and although he had yet to try and use his poisonous tail on her the wrist blades he used were effective at temporarily severing tendons, slowing Black Rock further. It reduced her mobility and she was more or less stuck in one place as he continually aimed for her thighs where the armored boots didn't cover.
It was during one of these passes that Black Rock finally managed to get a hit in. As he pivoted on his tail to slip behind the broken teenager, his arm lashed out to once more cut into the back of her leg. Unfortunately for him however this time she was ready for it. Summer's sword still held in Black Rock's chains lashed out smashing into the man's arm and heavily denting his aura as it acted to keep him from losing the appendage.
The blade unbalanced her opponent when he missed his strike and he wasn't able to correct himself before she turned and kicked out, her strength once more becoming evident as Tyrion bounced off the ground along the clearing.
"Have you had enough? There doesn't need to be any more violence here. All we want is to talk to you," Hazel tried, but was forced to lift his arms as Summer's sword came down in a chopping motion and it's a moment later that he is forced to jump back to avoid the an impaling follow up by Black Rock's Cannon Lance. Brushing himself off Hazel's voice comes out as a growl as his hands pull a pair of lightning dust crystals from his pockets.
"I guess you don't want to talk then," he stated more to himself as it became increasingly clear Black Rock either wasn't listening or just ignoring anything he said. With a quick motion he buried the crystals into his arms and screamed as he felt the power rush through his body, his semblance kept him from feeling any pain.
Black Rock rolled the arm holding her Cannon Lance around before leaning forward as she rushed Hazel, her weapons lashing out in a frenzy as the man used his aura to shield his arms to block the blows.
An overhead slash from the Black Blade is ground against his aura, the serrated spikes on the blade sliding off the man's formidable aura, chipping away at the defense but only just barely. A swipe from Summer's blade on the other side did much the same. When she tried to capitalize by smashing her Cannon Lance down on him however he abandons his block on the huntress's sword to catch the much larger blade he had until this moment avoided. The change in action bought him enough of a pause to activate the dust in his arms.
And there was pain.
Lightning coursed down the Cannon Lance to where Black Rock was gripping the weapon before shooting up her arm and spreading through her body. Without aura of her own to defend against the shock, it lit up her nerves. Her muscles clenched, stopping her from simply letting go of her Cannon Lance while her body began to burn.
The stench of burnt meat began to permeate the air when he finally let go and the sudden lack of electrical flow brought Black Rock to the ground, her body twitching as the electricity found its way out of her charred frame. The fire in her eye died as her eyes closed and for a long moment nothing moved before the large man let out a massive sigh.
"Who fights like that without an aura to protect them when all they have to do is listen? What a waste."
He didn't even manage to turn away when Tyrion leaped upon the charred girl on the ground and drov one of his wrist blades into her stomach and twisted maliciously. The scorpion faunus clearly irritated at how he was thrown aside earlier.
When he pulled the arm back and stabbed out with the other, however, the Black Blade intercepted, blocking the attack before he could do any more damage. The burns visible on the teenager's flesh slowly began to heal as her eyes reopened and the purple flame flared once more in her left eye.
The shock of her continued struggle caused both men to pause and it proved to be all the opening Black Rock needed to punish the Scorpion for his bloodlust. Summer's blade smashed into his side and shattered his aura before he could roll away.
The lanky man seemed unable to make up his mind on whether or not he liked this development as he frowned and giggled hysterically in turn. Black Rock's upper body lifted first, pushed upwards by the chains protruding from her back until she was back on her feet. Her body twitching even as she buried the Black Blade in the ground, leaning on it as a crutch as she lifted her Cannon Lance once more. It pointed at Hazel and blue light shone brilliantly from the hilt once more before beginning to belt out bright blue blasts of energy.
Hazel grunted as he was forced to block them only to jump back when Black Rock closed the distance between them. Only instead of going after him directly, she shattered the crystals embedded in his arms with Summer's sword.
With Hazel being chased down by the broken teenager, Tyrion rushed up behind her. The lanky man waited until Hazel once more caught the Cannon Lance and when he managed it Tyrion, dove in to stab at the exposed side, his tail lifted to fend off the sword Black Rock held in her chains.
What he hadn't expected was for a turret to drop from the underside of the Cannon Lance and swivel in his direction. When it opened fire however at first he felt nothing, shock clouding his mind before pain registered and the bullets that tore through his extended arm proved sufficient to sever the limb above his elbow now that his aura had been broken.
He screamed in pain, writhing on the ground for a moment in twisted agony, before he forced himself to his feet where he began to curse at her, his remaining hand lifted to fire at her only to be ignored entirely. Summer's blade moved just enough to block his bullets as the Otherself turned her attention entirely onto Hazel.
Hazel did not like the position they were in now. With the girl still pushing at them he had no idea how much longer she could go on for while he himself was slowly approaching his limits. Add to that Tyrion's aura already compromised and losing an arm, their situation was rapidly deteriorating and it seemed only a matter of time before the girl landed something lethal.
This in mind Hazel lashed out with a rapid uppercut burning through what little lightning dust was left in his system, before he picked Tyrion up by the scruff of his jacket. "We're leaving, Salem will have to just be glad that we killed the silver eye warrior. There's no chance this girl is going to see reason, and we need to find a way to report in now that the Seer is dead."
There was hesitation from Tyrion as he Glared after the girl who, even then, was beginning to regain her feet. Eventually, though, he stopped struggling and started shooting at the Otherself while running towards the edge of the clearing with Hazel right behind him.
Two things kept Black Rock from giving chase, the first being that grimm were beginning to approach once more, slavering maws intent on ripping into the font of negative emotions. The second was the body of the woman near the center of the clearing, her white cloak slowly turning red with spilt blood.
With the Grimm beginning their charge, Black Rock straightened her stance silently, once more lifting her Cannon Lance to engage.
Silence fell over the clearing where now two mounds of earth lay near the downed Bullhead with twin lines carved into the dirt leading off into the woods towards the west. The soft clinking of chains, the sound of shifting metal plates with every step, and the churning of the earth as a pair of blades dragged slowly through the ground grew fainter in the distance.
Around thirteen hours later, an airship would arrive to discover the crashed Bullhead. The bodies would be dug up and brought back to Vale, the Bullhead hauled along. The damage to the clearing would be recorded and for the next several days a certain headmaster would be left to ponder the fate of a certain young, teenage girl.
Evening, seven days after Menagerie
A bar in Vale was open and a number of people were around drinking with friends or alone. The bartender was quick to fill orders and attentive to anyone approaching his bar. But none of them were really important at this time.
It was the screen in the corner that drew everyone's attention when the familiar face of Lisa Lavender appeared next to a picture of a Beowulf. Reports on Grimm were always important so the bartender lifted the remote and increased the volume as the bar grew quiet in response.
"Today we have reports coming in from villages northeast of Vale that Grimm seem to be behaving oddly over the past day. Nests found empty, acres of forest devoid of the soulless creatures. One family traveling over land reported a pack of Beowolves that ignored their lightly armed group entirely on their way somewhere else." The news anchor explained as a picture of a family appeared to take the place of the Grimm.
"Is this some new weapon being used to draw the Grimm in to attack them as a group, or are they gathering for some other purpose? Thus far we have received no comment from our sources but we will continue to look into this strange phenomenon as the situation develops," Lavender states and the screen is muted for a moment as across Vale, people of all stations begin to wonder what this could mean for them, unsure as to whether the odd behavior in the Grimm is something to celebrate or fear.
AN:
So I could talk about how I took so long to update, but I won't, you all know how it is by now. I can apologize all I want for the time it takes but in the end, it takes as long as it does. There's precious little I can do about it.
Instead I'm going to clarify something important you may notice reading this chapter. Yes, Mato/Black Rock are NORTHeast of Vale. this isn't a typo, I didn't forget the map of remnant. This is done because as already established they're traveling via Bullhead and I can't see those flying for days at a time over open ocean without refueling some how. so they had to travel up Animus before they could cross over to Sanus and head on towards Vale properly.
As always I appreciate everyone who takes the time to even read my work let alone favorite or follow it. But people who leave a review, even just to tell me they liked the story, always have a special place with me so I would like to take the time to thank TheHolyBlade, UnkownSoul, VanguardFirepower, Depicable Kiwii, Blackmill321, Infinite Omega, akiranakamuranura, Archer1eye, buildlancer, Guest (pepaul), and Girl's Dark Imagination Your support is always appreciated.