Chapter 8
He Who Hesitates III
Weiss awoke the following morning with a savage ache, courtesy of the rocky ground. As she struggled to her feet, her aura began to repair the damage, and she couldn't help but sigh in relief once the pain began to dissipate.
She stumbled out of the cave blearily. The pale orange pink dawn sky loomed above her mockingly, and she felt an irrational surge of indignation. A tall blonde boy sat by the fire, tending it absently, and as she approached him he looked up in surprise.
"Rough night?" He asked sympathetically.
"Yes," Weiss said, too tired to pretend otherwise. "You been out here long?"
"Not really," he said with a shrug. "Blake took most of the watch. She's the black haired girl," he explained. "Don't know if you've met yet."
"We did," Weiss said. She couldn't stop a grimace from forming as the previous night's events came rushing back to memory. What a disaster.
"I know she can be somewhat… terse," the boy said, misinterpreting her expression. "But she's really nice at heart. I promise."
"No, not that," Weiss corrected. "A friend of mine ran off last night. Small girl, red hood. Have you seen her at all?"
"Ruby?" the boy said. "I'm her partner. I haven't seen her in a while, though. Was wondering where she was."
"She had a rather nasty shock," Weiss muttered grimly. "I'll going to go find her. I'll tell her you're looking for her too. What's your name?"
"Jaune," he said, offering a hand to her. "Short, sweet, ladies love it."
Weiss took his hand distastefully. "Don't count on that."
"Ouch," the boy mourned. "I'm one and two now."
"I'm Weiss Schnee," the heiress said, ignoring Jaune's comment. "If anyone asks where I went, tell them I'm looking for Ruby."
"Will do. I'd offer to go with you, but I'm technically on watch."
I would really rather you not, anyways.
Weiss followed the general direction Ruby had taken off in. The outcropping gradually narrowed to a thin path. Sheer rock walls towered over it, so smooth that even a huntress would find it nearly impossible to traverse them; it was an advantageous fact, since it limited the options she'd have to search. The heiress moved at an urgent half walk, half jog, anxious to find what had become of the young assassin.
The path gradually sloped upward, curving around the mountain in a sharp spiral. Weiss climbed it relentlessly, occasionally struggling to find purchase in the rough rock, until she was at last rewarded with the sight of a small summit. Sure enough, a small red figure sat in the dead center, watching the rising sun with hollow eyes. With a surge of relief, Weiss noticed the other girl was unharmed, before irritation rushed in. She stalked forward, ready to unleash a tirade, but when she saw Ruby's face the words died in her mouth. Instead, she opted to gingerly sit beside her.
"How are you?" She asked softly. It was hopelessly inadequate, but she didn't have a single clue what else to say. People were much more confusing than information and plans.
"Fine," Ruby said. "Beautiful sunrise, isn't it?"
"Look," Weiss said hesitantly. "I'm sure last night was quite a shock. Are you sure-"
"I'm fine, Weiss," Ruby interrupted. "Honestly."
But there's no way you are.
"Honestly," Ruby murmured, more to herself than anything.
"Alright," Weiss said, unwilling to push the matter further. Ruby's eyes were bloodshot, almost crazed, an impression only exaggerated by the thick bags underneath them. Weiss doubted she had slept at all. "We should probably head back. Can you walk?"
Are you ready to?
Ruby got to her feet awkwardly, hood rustling softly as she stumbled. "Been sitting too long anyways." She steadied herself with a stretch, and Weiss was suddenly struck by how small she was.
"Look," Ruby said, "I know you want to, but don't talk about Yang. I'm here for a mission, and I won't let it distract me."
You're going to have to deal with it sometime, Weiss thought sadly. She nodded tersely to show she understood, and the two girls backtracked down the path. Weiss noticed with no small amount of irritation that despite her sleep deprivation, Ruby effortlessly skipped down the rough terrain. The heiress, for her part, found it no easier to go down than it had been to go up.
When they arrived back at the makeshift camp, she was surprised to see that two new members had joined the group. One, a slim boy with long black hair, waved to her as she approached. By his side, a girl with bright orange hair and an even brighter voice chatted animatedly, and Weiss smirked slightly at the boy's expression of long-suffering patience.
"Welcome back," Jaune called out. "You alright? Where were you?" he asked Ruby, and Weiss knew what he was really asking; do you trust me enough to tell me?
"Fine," Ruby said flatly, ignoring the second part of the question. Weiss winced in sympathy as Jaune shrank away. Now that was a partnership going poorly. "Who are you two?" The last part was directed at the two newcomers.
"Lie Ren," the boy said. His voice was soft, but solid, filled with a quiet confidence, and Weiss found herself silently approving. A good man, in all likelihood. The girl opened her mouth, but he put a finger over her lips, and she closed it obediently. "This is Nora. She's my partner."
If Nora was irritated about not being allowed to introduce herself, she gave no sign of it. She waved happily, both arms drawing exaggerated circles in the air, and Weiss sighed to herself; the last thing she wanted was another excessively energetic nutcase to go along with her own irritating, blonde partner.
"They came right after you left," Jaune explained. "It sounds like they found a promising lead yesterday."
Ren nodded in confirmation. "There's a set of massive ruins further up the mountain. We didn't get the chance to see much, but there were definitely traces of dust usage."
"They were huge," Nora chimed in. "Like, bigger than Ren's brain. Which is pretty big."
Weiss shot a sidelong glance at Ruby, who shrugged. "Sounds promising. Do you think the staff hid the relics there?"
"We should check it out," Ruby said. "Once everyone's awake."
"I bet they're there. It sounds like a dungeon," Jaune commented. He received four sets of blank stares for his trouble. "What? Have none of you played an RPG?"
"What's that?" Ruby asked hesitantly. Jaune shook his head in mock disapproval.
"I'll show you once we pass initiation. I can't believe it. Did you guys have no childhood?"
No, as a matter of fact, we didn't.
"I still don't know what it is!" Ruby protested. Jaune laid a patronizing arm across her shoulders, but she squirmed away.
"You'll see. There's a fantastic new world out there, waiting for you."
Before Ruby could respond, a muffled clank drew their attention to the cave. Pyrrha walked out sheepishly.
"I'm sorry to keep everyone waiting. Have you been awake long?"
Jaune waved her apology off. "Most of us haven't. I have, but I was on watch."
"We should wake the others up," Weiss interrupted, growing weary of the increasingly pointless small talk. "If we're going to explore these ruins, we better do it soon, and I'd like to at the very least know what everyone in our group is capable of."
If they were going to work together, she was absolutely going to know what everyone was capable of before she even entertained the possibility of trusting them with her life.
::-::-::
After everyone joined in on a hurried introduction, the group set off for the ruins. As the one who had found them before, Ren led the way. Nora, predictably, was near worthless when it came to directions. He led them deeper through through the rock formations, where the natural canyons they traversed were interrupted only by the occasional murderous drop. Weiss wondered how he managed to keep everything straight; she had completely lost track after all the twists and turns. Everyone moved in silence, reminded of the Grimm's presence by the periodic shriek of a nevermore.
Finally, the dusty beige sandstone walls gave way to a wide, ancient bridge. Blocks of carefully fitted granite had been forced apart by harder lichen, and the artistic juxtaposition of green on grey gave the whole structure a mystic vibe. Across from them, barely visible in the distance, the broken remains of once tall pillars and decrepit arches marked the ruins they were searching for. A massive scorch mark across the entirety of a pillar drew Weiss's attention. As an expert manipulator of dust, she immediately recognized for what it was: the aftermath of an explosion. A recent one, too; the Beacon faculty were almost certainly responsible.
"We're here," Ren said.
There was an awkward silence as the group looked around uncertainly, each of them unwilling to take the lead.
"We should split up and search the area," Weiss finally commanded, weary of the hesitation. "Go with your partners." She reached into the pouch at her waist and pulled out several gleaming red crystals. "Everyone take one of these. If you're in trouble, or if you find anything noteworthy, throw it in the air and detonate it."
The other members obeyed, drifting off across the bridge until all of them disappeared behind the rubble, leaving Weiss alone with her partner. They stared at each other in a tense silence, both uncomfortable after the events of the previous night.
"So are you going to tell me what's between you and Ruby?" Weiss was the first to break the silence. "Because the way you two are acting is creeping me out."
Yang stretched languidly, a lazy grin etched onto her face. "Now? I know I promised you I'd tell you and all, but is this really the time?"
"Yes," Weiss stated bluntly. "Everyone can tell something is wrong, but none of them will bring it up, and it's going to mess with our performance. I want to know why."
"Alright then. Suit yourself," Yang said. Weiss bristled at the other girl's flippant tone. "Might as well start at the beginning. How much do you know about Ruby?"
"Not much. She's from Patch and she's young for Beacon. How do you two know each-"
A deafening bang tore through Weiss's hearing, and she whirled around in surprise. Three brilliant columns of flame burned in the air, visible even in the bright glare of the morning sun, and she cursed softly.
You're off the hook for now, Yang.
Still, for all three signals to go off simultaneously was very, very bad news.
"That was fast," she grumbled. "And here I was thinking we could go at least a few minutes without a crisis."
"At least it's exciting."
The two of them ran at a headlong sprint, but they hadn't made it more than halfway down the bridge before the sight before them yanked Weiss to a dead stop. Six tiny specks of color fled before a rolling tide of black as an uncountable horde of beowolves chased her teammates. The creatures moved like a singular organism, their bounding hides the rippling muscle of some greater monstrosity, and for one brief moment Weiss felt the icy grip of despair. What could they do? Six mere students, not even full fledged huntsmen, against an unstoppable force of their most feared predators. They were all doomed to die. It was impossible.
But they were huntresses. It was their job to defy the impossible.
"Hey guys!" Ruby screamed. "I think we found some Grimm!"
At the younger girl's words, Weiss's fear shed off her like water from an oiled coat. She dashed forward to help her comrades, Myrtenaster gleaming silver white in the midday sun, Yang on her heels. The six others rallied around them, weapons ready, the grimm only seconds away.
"What's the plan?" Jaune gasped, and seven pairs of eyes swiveled directly at Weiss. She opened her mouth to protest; why look at her, she was a student like them, she had no experience, she wasn't a leader!
But she was a Schnee, and so if a leader is what they needed, a leader is what she would be.
In bits and pieces, sections of training manuals on elementary military tactics that she had perused on a whim back in Atlas returned to her memory. Almost all teams of huntsman developed their own highly unique style, given that almost no one team was similar to any others, but the relative regularity of a common footsoldier allowed militaries to establish general protocol for their troops.
She didn't know how applicable it was for huntsmen cadets. Hopefully it was enough.
"Jaune, Pyrrha, take the front!" she barked. "Yang, Nora, one line behind, you're on reserve. Everyone else, stay back, shoot anything you can, and watch for nevermore! Ruby, prioritize any critical targets you spot!"
Weiss had to admit that she was pleased when her fellow students obeyed her without protest. It was flattering, in a way, that they trusted her enough to follow her commands.
"Fire!" she screamed as the Grimm loomed before them, and with a loud thunk of her weapon, Nora obeyed. An incandescent pink dust grenade blazed a burning trail into the grimm horde, followed by a massive explosion that produced a fountain of coal black particles and ancient stone shards as it tore a gaping hole in the massed charge. More weapons rattled to life, spewing ballistic rounds into the beowolf ranks, but the durable creatures fell all too slowly. Heedless of their losses, they pressed on, their impetus driving them forward.
I need to slow them.
It was a good thing she had the entirety of the near limitless Schnee arsenal at her disposal. Weiss channeled her aura into Myrtenaster, and with a poised thrust a stream of ice flew through the gap between her teammates. It exploded across the ground in razor spikes, impaling beowolves as they were driven forward by the weight of those behind them. Some of them collapsed across the ground, slowing the advance, but most of them died outright. Stressed as it was by the onslaught, her makeshift barrier collapsed almost immediately, and before Weiss could shout a warning the grimm were upon them.
Jaune and Pyrrha stumbled backwards, nearly overwhelmed by the force, and for one heartstopping moment Weiss was certain that the line would fail and they would be overwhelmed. Impossibly, the two regained their footing, unbreakable shields holding lethal claws and teeth at bay. Nora and Yang rushed forward to help, weapons blazing. With a wild swing, Crocea Mors decapitated an attacking beowolf at the same time Ember Cecilia caved another one of the creature's skulls. Both of them dissipated, but they were instantly replaced by more.
"Hold the line!" Weiss screamed, unnerved by how the makeshift formation of her inexperienced comrades wavered as they struggled to stay together. Every time they unwittingly split from each other, however slightly, they were exposed to greater danger from multiple attacks, and eventually a lucky blow got through. Yang was the first casualty, screaming in pain and fury as a beowolf ripped a long gash in her arm before bowling her over with a weighty arm. She collapsed backward, but Ren moved to cover her, filling the gap before any grimm could get through.
Weiss fired off several bursts of white hot flame to buy a precious few fractions of a second, incinerating a row of the Grimm in the process, before dashing to Yang and dragging her back. The blonde hissed in pain, hand clenched to her wound, but her aura worked quickly to stem the flow of blood.
"I'm alright," Yang gasped as she leapt to her feet. "Lost focus for a second."
It was an impossible demand, to perfectly track everything in the chaotic melee. Weiss was about to say so when a piercing shriek yanked her attention to the skies. Two giant nevermores dove towards them, wings outstretched, lethal pinions gleaming. She opened her mouth to scream a warning, but before her throat could formulate sound there was a sharp crack behind her and one of the grimm vaporized before her eyes, with only a wispy contrail to mark the sniper round that had brought its demise. With resolute determination, Ruby hammered her weapon back to readiness, scanning the battle before her for another target.
Blake dealt with the other one. Gambol Shroud embedded itself in the bird like grimm's chest before the cat faunus swung from her weapon's ribbon onto the creature's back with inhuman agility. It didn't even have time to scream before a hail of bullets found its beady red eyes, instantly shattering it into black specks.
This is absolute insanity, Weiss thought despairingly.
An incomprehensible scream from Jaune was all the warning she received before their line finally broke and the beowolves poured through.
If the fight was messy before, it was absolute chaos now. Any facade of order that their formation had brought before was instantly shattered, swept away in a black wave of fangs and claws. A pair of beowolves lunged at her, and she scrambled to erect an ice wall to hold them at bay. Her creation was fractured and shamshod, but it slowed them long enough for her to dispatch one with a thrust through the eye. The other one lashed out at her, though, and she flinched, unable to bring her weapon to bear in time.
To her shock, the beast dissolved before razor claws punctured her aura. Behind it, Jaune flailed wildly with sword and shield, and Weiss realized that he must have killed her attacker, probably through sheer dumb luck. Amazingly, Jaune not only had avoided hitting any of the huntresses around him, he was still completely unharmed himself.
Is it humanly possible to be so lucky?
Weiss dashed forward, positioning herself behind him and the safety of his heavy armor. She watched for openings and flanking enemies, filling in the gaps in Jaune's defense with precise thrusts or blasts of elemental dust. Twice, she screamed as lethal strikes circumvented his defense, but both times he turned the blows aside at the last possible moment. Once, a flanking beowolf caught her off guard, but before it could strike a darting black shadow eviscerated it before fading back into the chaos.
She hoped Blake wasn't the only other one still alive. It was all she could do to keep herself and Jaune in one piece, let alone worry about the others.
After what felt like hours, and yet also mere seconds, under their combined efforts, the tide of grimm began to slow, then stop. As if commanded by a single mind, the survivors withdrew slowly, creating an ever widening gap until they completely fled, leaving only the remaining huntsmen and huntresses alone on the bridge.
"Status report," Weiss gasped, limbs shaking uncontrollably. "Is everyone ok?"
Various cries of affirmation echoed back to her, and she took a moment to check on the other survivors. To her immense relief, all of them were alive, although most of them sported injuries. Yang and Nora were the worst off, both with nasty crimson gashes, but Ren and Blake escaped with only a multitude of smaller cuts, and Pyrrha had only suffered a single scratch to her forehead. Ruby and Jaune were both unharmed; the former made sense, given her skill and backline position, but Jaune? How?
"I think we're all ok," Pyrrha said with a sigh of relief.
"How about you, boss?" Yang chuckled weakly. "You're bleeding too, you know."
Weiss looked down in surprise. Sure enough, her right leg was stained dark red, but it had somehow escaped her notice. "I'm alright. It looks worse than it feels."
"Is that it, then?" Jaune gasped. "We won, right?"
No. There was no way. Grimm never gave up, they never retreated, something was wrong, only she couldn't put the pieces together, what could she possibly be missing-
Blake shook her shoulder roughly. "Can you hear that?"
Weiss strained to hear, but nothing came to her except the low key whine of the rushing mountain wind. "I can't hear anything unusual."
"It's a… clicking kind of sound. Chittering. Behind us."
"How fast? Is it rapid or slower?" Ren interrupted.
"About a couple times a second."
"Deathstalker," the boy stated bluntly. "A big one, too. The slower the click, the larger the carapace. Less joints."
Well, that was just fantastic.
"Excuse me, what's a deathstalker?" Pyrrha asked hesitantly.
Ah, right, most people didn't read the orientation manuals.
"A giant scorpion," Ren explained. "Very poisonous, and very tough. They're one of the main reasons huntsmen teams always bring anti-armor weapons."
"Anti-armor?" Weiss mused. "Yang, Nora, how do you feel about smashing a bug?"
"Sounds like a blast!" Yang crowed.
Silence.
"That was awful," Blake commented.
"Terrible," Ren agreed.
"Yang," Weiss growled, "your speaking privileges are revoked."
"Aww, c'mon! It wasn't that bad!"
Pyrrha raised an armored hand, cutting off the blonde's protest. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but the beowolves are back."
At the opposite end of the bridge, the beowolves had regrouped. The mass of glowing red eyes watched them hungrily, but they held still, content to watch and wait.
Weiss grimaced. Initially, her plan had been for the whole team to fight the deathstalker together, but doing so now would bring certain death if the beowolves collapsed on them. Neither could they fight together on the bridge, the deathstalker would find them perfect prey for a brutal pincer attack.
Ugh. Only a day with Yang and her brain cells were already rotting.
Their only option was to split, which meant that either party ran a much higher risk of being overwhelmed, but what could they do?
"Alright," Weiss said with a deep, nervous breath. "Here's the plan."
::-::-::
"Let's go squish some buggies!" Nora hollered, an orange, white, a pink blur as she sprinted headlong through over the rough mountain trails.
Yang couldn't help but flash a feral grin at the other huntress, heart racing in anticipation. "Half for me, half for you?"
"Nah. First come, first serve!"
"You're on."
The trail came to an abrupt stop at a flat summit, forcing both huntresses to stumble to an awkward stop. Dusty red boulders littered the ground, and Nora rubbed a small one curiously. The rock crumbled between her fingers like chalk.
"Almost time," Yang said with an excited whoop. She pointed downward, where a towering black and white carapace shot toward them. Despite the creature's massive size, it scaled the treacherous rock like a nimble mountain goat. Nora fired a grenade at it, but she overshot, and the projectile spun harmlessly past before exploding uselessly below. She brought the weapon to bear on the deathstalker's skittering form, but before she could take another shot it crested the summit and launched itself directly at them.
Up close, it was positively massive. The body main body alone was easily six feet tall and a dozen feet long, protected by thick chitin plates that clicked as it moved. A wicked stinger perched upon a thick, curved tail, and centered between two gargantuan claws, a score of beady red eyes glared unblinkingly at the two huntresses.
Yang charged fearlessly to meet it. Nimbly dodging around a lethal swipe, she pounded an armored fist straight into the grimm with a teeth rattling shockwave. but the deathstalker shrugged it off easily. The tail snapped towards her, and she barely threw herself to the side in time. The stinger smashed into the ground like a heavy spear, sending hairline fissures spiraling through the ground. Already off balance, the impact sent her sprawling, but she recovered with a tumbling roll.
"Fire in the hole!" Nora hollered joyously. A crackling explosion marked the impact of her hammer with the grimm, and the deathstalker shied away, screeching in fury. She used the momentum of her blow to launch herself away, and razor claws passed impotently underneath her as the creature's counterattack came too late.
Yang tried to rush forward while the grimm was distracted, but she was too slow, and a flurry of swipes forced her back, the pincers whistling sharply as they cut through the air. A luminescent blast bloomed to life across chitinous carapace, eliciting another screech of pain, and the deathstalker spun angrily to face Nora. She shot it a cheery wink before ducking behind a rocky outcropping, already moving to hammer another grenade into her launcher.
Yang realized her mistake a moment too late.
"Watch out!" she cried, as a jet black stinger aligned itself with her teammate's hiding place. She hurled herself at the tail with a vicious hook that would have easily floored a human twice her weight, but against the grimm's implacable bulk she barely threw its aim off. The stinger hit the rock with all the force of a ballistic missile, sending a shower of dusty red debris hurtling through the air. Even with her vision clouded by the grime, Yang heard Nora loose an agonized scream, and all she could do was desperately hope that somehow her new friend had avoided the creature's venom.
A sharp pebble whipped by her, leaving a long trail of blood across her cheek, and for one glorious moment, the world froze in place. She took a deep breath, and her lungs filled with a spicy tang of anticipation.
Then she saw red.
Her hair erupted into an inferno, and she loosed a feral war cry as the deathstalker bore down on her, pincers raised menacingly, tail poised to strike. She caught it off guard, smashing a fist directly into its eyes with a burst of semblance enhanced speed before following up with a furious flurry of blows. Sharp cracks rang in cascades as her assault left the deathstalker staggering. It tried to fend her off with a swing of a pincer, but Yang leapt deftly over it, striking out with her downward momentum with a merciless slam. At last unable to withstand the abuse, the creature's carapace fractured slightly, and Yang cackled in triumph over the sign of
weakness. She stepped forward, ready to deliver the finishing blow, before a dark shadow apparated underneath her. The oddity pulled her gaze upward, just in time for a massive boulder to fill her vision, still spinning from the force with which it had been thrown.
Then her world exploded into all consuming pain.
Her legs collapsed underneath her like brittle twigs. Blearily, she fought for consciousness as her vision swam, the pounding thump of her own heart drowning all other sounds out. The shattered remains of the rock clung to the deathstalker's tail, and despite her fiercest attempts her body refused to respond to her commands.
One giant pincer came crashing down, and all Yang knew was that she was about to die.
Weiss is going to be so annoyed, huh. Guess she'll never get her questions answered.
And then there was red.
::-::-::
"Get up."
It was a cold, harsh, uncaring voice, all the more disturbing for its youth. As the world slowly sharpened into focus, the first thing Yang saw was the deathstalker scuttling away cautiously, one injured pincer bleeding black ichor. In stark contrast, looming over her like a scarlet sentinel was the last person she would have expected to see.
"Ruby?"
::-::-::
"Status!" Weiss screamed, voice twisted into a warbling shriek by exhaustion. Rivulets of sweat mixed with blood ran down her face, staining her once pristine clothing a sickly red. Around her, the still decaying corpses of untold Grimm cast a thick curtain of black upwards. "Everyone still alive?"
Jaune raised a trembling hand, bent double over his sword in exaggerated weakness. "I'm alright," he said, taking care to interject ragged gasps into his breathing. Theatrics, naturally. A couple of beowolves would hardly be enough to tire him. A few feet away, Pyrrha mirrored him with a faint smile, but unlike himself and Weiss she showed no sign of exertion.
"I am unharmed," the champion said, "but I'm afraid the other two are injured."
"I'm hurt pretty badly," Blake confirmed. She probed the edges of a vicious gash along her side but pulled back with a strangled hiss. "My aura's shot. Not sure how much I can move."
"Ren's unconscious," Jaune added. "But he's alive."
"Fantastic," Weiss growled. "At least three of us can – nevermore!"
A black shadow across the burning sun was their only warning of the impending attack. They dove for cover among the ruined arches, Jaune dragging Blake with him just in time to avoid the volley of ebony feathers that lanced into the crumbling rock. Far above them, the grimm twisted about for another pass.
It's massive, Jaune realized. Far bigger than normal. Bigger Grimm meant older ones: stronger, faster –
Smarter.
"What's the plan?" Pyrrha shouted. Before anyone could respond, the nevermore shrieked, giving them just enough time to shrink further back into cover before another volley of ebony feathers impacted the ground. Jaune grimaced when he saw how deep they penetrated. A foot into solid rock, easily.
"I've got an idea," Weiss cried once the noise had subsided. "Just distract it!"
Jaune immediately realized what she was going to do. The student dossiers had included information about their combat capabilities, and he knew that the Schnee's glyphs gave her immense flexibility over battlefield mobility. In all likelihood, she would either try to maneuver herself into position for a freezing blast from Myrtenaster or restrain the nevermore's movements with the glyphs themselves.
It was a hopeless, foolish plan. Causing a distraction for a teammate might very well work against lesser grimm, but a massive nevermore was an ancient one, veteran of countless battles, and the grimm that lived learned very, very quickly to target any aura spikes. No matter the distraction, as soon as Weiss started channeling her glyphs, she wouldn't stand a chance.
Jaune Arc knew this, of course. But Student-Jaune didn't.
"Understood!" Pyrrha said, and Jaune bit back a disparaging retort. She was a champion, but champions fought other people, not grimm. In this case, it was a costly inexperience.
You have one job, Jaune Arc, and protecting your classmates is not part of it. If they must suffer the price of their ineptitude, so be it.
Excessive competence would raise questions. He didn't need questions.
And so when Pyrrha dashed out from cover with rattling bursts of textbook-disciplined fire, he did nothing but stumble after her awkwardly. When Weiss's aura blazed like a lighthouse in the darkness with the effort of summoning her glyphs, when they blurred into form behind her, rings in rings in rings, he offered no word of warning. When the nevermore turned from Pyrrha's distraction with a piercing shriek, sending razor pinions knifing through the air in an instant, his shield did not move.
And when a white clad girl was impaled ruthlessly to the rock and her blood ran in streams through the cracks, he felt nothing.
A/N:
IT'S ALIIIIIVE.
I hate this chapter. I could probably fix it, but it almost killed the story as is. If you liked it, great! If you didn't, it's the same for me. It'll improve. Probably.
Didn't realize it's been 4 months since the last update. Sorry about that. I'm kinda rusty now too =_=
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