A/N: Alright... Before we start with this, I have a small warning to give. This chapter is gonna be... Hard. I didn't go full out on the descriptions here, but regardless, I think it's only fair I warn in advance that some nasty shit is gonna go down. Regardless of that, I still had a ton of fun writing down this chapter, and I hope you all enjoy.
"W-What the fuck?..."
Perci has seen a lot of things in her relatively few days in the world. She saw people die. She saw people get killed. She saw people burn down houses, commit unspeakable actions, justifying them all under the banner of the one true god: The Lien.
But never, compared to every gut-wrenching act she saw and did, has she never seen something this sick.
She automatically shook her hand as hard as she could, violently trying to get the foul ichor away from her, stepping back away from the collapsed cultist. Her head started spinning, and she felt herself gag, raising her other hand to her mouth to hold it all it as much as she could, as even her toughened experience in the world had never prepared her for something like THIS.
The horrid smell of ichor combined with vomit slowly filled the room, and if it weren't for the cave's walls to lean on, Leila would have already fallen to the floor unconscious, though a single glance told that she was on the edge of outright vomiting from sheer disgust.
Hue, while somehow keeping her outside guise manageable, was still screaming at the maddening scene from the inside. Her will to know things and understand slowly reeled away, replaced with a desire to outright run away and collapse the cave's entrance, trapping everyone inside it and then burn it all to the ground for good measure. However, as much as she wanted to do this, it was solely prevented by the lack of a direct command from Port, as well as Jin, who shook in place, seeming in complete shock.
Shaking her head, Perci dashed away, getting close to the teacher again, who at this point pulled his weapon out, tinkering with it out of pure stress. In all his years as a teacher in Beacon, Port was finally caught off guard, and his cockiness all but completely faded away, replaced with primal terror. Regardless, he pushed on, suppressing the voice in his head calling him to run away, and stood tall, against this new cultist threat. "...Knock them all out." He finally spoke up, raising his axe while he was at it. Whatever the situation was, Port was no longer messing around.
Leila could only stare at him, still unable to form a coherent sentence. Of course, it went without saying that whatever plans they had of investigating this on their own were gone straight out of the window, as there was no chance in hell they could play themselves out of this one. Still unsure of his intentions, as well as her own at the moment, Leila hesitated just long enough for one of the cultists to come running at her, ichor still spilling from her mouth here and there, aiming a rather rusty looking knife straight to Leila's abdomen.
However, before the knife was struck, a single shot was heard. Port stood entirely motionless, his right hand holding his axe, now revealing the rifle it contained, after toning down the firepower of his weapon to just under lethal. It hit the cultist head on, and she collapsed, having nearly no power to fight either way as if she was put out of her misery. "B-But..." Leila finally managed to speak, though the action cost her a lot of mental strength to achieve.
"We have to get them back to Vale. If they drank this... stuff." Port briefly explained, taking another shot and hitting dead on, with the skill of an expert marksman. "Then we have to do anything we can to heal them. Now help me. It will only end quicker if you do."
Finally getting an incentive to do something, Perci raised her cane, trying to stay as far away from them as she humanly could, knocking them out one by one with well-aimed swings to the head, having little to no regard to the actual condition they were brought in. Leila did the same, opting out of her usual arsenal of long range skills, and Hue, who had the luxury of wielding a bow, quickly shot icy arrows around, freezing people's legs to the floor and neutralizing them quite efficiently, making their capture all the quicker.
All that time, Jin just stood there, utterly silent, eyes widened and pupils narrowed, still finding it impossible to do anything to help. The fighting, while bothering her just as much, weren't enough. She almost felt the crystals covering her body starting to intensify in amount, as if wanting to fully crystallize her for the sake of self-protection. Regardless, all she could do was stare, as her friends knocked out the barely flickering auras, each more colored out than the last.
By the time they were done in the cave, Perci's head was spinning again from nausea. The entire place reeked of the stuff, and it didn't help that occasionally some of them kept on hurling, clearly in deep pain and suffering from the substance they willingly drank. Port left to bring some stretches from the bullhead, taking Jin with him and running as fast as they could, leaving the other trio to guard the unconscious and semi-frozen cultists on their own. "...Let's kill them." Perci finally managed to utter, somehow exceeding the fear of taking human life in her mind.
"W-What?!" Leila called out in shock. "Are you out of your mind?!" She waved her head frantically in rejection. She was already this close to snapping as she was, and the last thing she needed was to commit murder.
"Look at them!" Perci pointed at the corpse looking bodies, alive by the most technical level. "How much longer do you think they'll survive, huh?! Do you honestly think anyone of us can actually help them?!" Her breathing was out of order, quick paced and inconstant. "We can't help them, Leila! It doesn't matter what we'll do, they're gonna fucking die!" She kept insisting, looking away for a moment. "At the very least we can spare Jin the suffering of having to watch them snuff out."
The other two looked at one another, silent as ever. Hue shook her head, unwilling to do the deed, and Leila, still shaking visibly, slowly reached out for her cross pendant with shaking hands, holding to it as tightly as she possibly could. Her voice came out, praying for whatever she could think of, that her sanity wouldn't shatter from what she saw there. She wanted to help them, and use her semblance to mend their wounds and make them better.
But no amount of aura she might have had could ever erase such a pained existence from them.
"..Well?!" Getting no response from either of them, Perci pressed the issue one more time. Nevertheless, it seemed she didn't have the guts to do it herself, and it was clear that she wanted the approval of the other two to justify it for herself. "Are we gonna do it or wh-"
"SHUT UP!" Leila screamed at her, falling to her knees, holding the cross in her hands even tighter. "Just... Please. Perci. I can't. I just... Can't deal with this. I don't want to do this. Please, I'm begging you. Just this once. Please don't..." She kept going on and on, holding to her fleeting mind with ironclad grip, trying to make sure she wouldn't just slip away. Perci gazed at her, understanding her entirely, and nodded once for a change, stepped back. In truth, she didn't want to do this either. But the thought of Jin being forced to watch this... It terrified her just as much. Perci herself was well versed with killing, and while she never did it herself, she knew enough to get it done. She saw it countless times. Jin?... Didn't even understand the very concept of death. Perci quietly went to one of them, finding a clear patch of skin to touch them on, deciding to at least check their aura herself.
She then realized what a horrible mistake it was.
Just like draining Jin's aura, Perci's head was filled with whatever was on the cultist's thoughts. And, while their aura was weak enough and fragile on its own, barely sustaining itself, Perci still heard it.
The voices.
They spoke to her, on and on, relentless on her toughened mind until they finally passed, ending the nightmare after a few seconds. However, for the few instants that they plagued her, Perci heard far more than any sane mortal was meant to hear. Things about Gods, ancient times, and Grimm. Grimm from times past, far above anything anyone of them had ever faced as a species. They spoke of brothers, a vile god of light and a scheming god of dark, and the world that came to be by their actions, though before she could discern any more than that, they ceased. Perci shook her head, trying to forget what she heard as quickly as she could, focusing on her now girlfriend instead, and the fact that she had someone waiting for her at home. After having calmed herself down, at last, she turned to the other two, who only held the pleasure of watching Perci grab the sides of her head, shaking her entire body violently after a mere second of touch. "T-They... Won't last long. I give them the night." She concluded swiftly, walking away from them.
The footsteps from the other end of the cave both relieved and unnerved the trio at the same time. Port, along with Jin, both walked in, carrying several stretchers each. "Perci, Leila, help us please. Hue, you guide the way." He ordered then around, and at that point, all they wanted was to get back to their homes and forget this had ever happened. Opening the several large stretches, they piled up the cultists on them, just enough for a single trip into the city.
Walking out of the cave felt both refreshing and horrifying for the team. Knowing what they were carrying, it surely didn't help much that they were leading them back to Vale, though no longer having to deal with the gut-wracking stench in that case was a relief. The keg was left there be, empty as it was, none of them wanting anything to do with it, and after an hour's walk, now without having to search and look, they reached the bullhead, piling the people inside. This time, on the flight back, Perci took the seat next to Port, while the rest of her team stayed in the back, understanding her need to at least have someone to talk to on the way back.
The flight itself didn't take too long. Soon enough, they saw the buildings of Vale stretch out before them, their mission almost completed. However, before any of them could celebrate, Port's voice came from the front. "Darn it, I knew I forgot to refuel... I'm sorry girls, we'll have to land at the outskirts and carry them to the hospital from there!"
Holding her stomach in her hands, Leila just wanted this nightmare to end. It was heresy of the highest degree, to meddle with the forces of Grimm, and she had no idea what the Lord would do them once they perish. She glanced at Jin, who unlike the trip to the forest, now stared at the fading auras of the unconscious people in front of her, as if holding her fingers they'd survive.
Cursing herself for not doing more, Leila could only watch helplessly as they bullhead descended, just at the outskirts of town. The door opened up, letting the smell that accumulated in there for the duration of the ride drift out, only made worse by the cultists and the ichor on them. Leila practically ran outside, breathing as much fresh air as she could, wishing she would never have to deal with anything like that ever again.
And then they all heard an explosion.
It was far enough, clearly from the heart of the city, though it didn't take long for them to figure out what it was. Port ran out of the bullhead, weapon in one hand and scroll in the other, stopping just for long enough to explain his actions. "Sorry girls, I have to go! Vale has been breached by Grimm, and the rest of the teachers need me there ASAP!"
"T-Then what about-" Perci stepped from the other end of the cockpit, seemingly feeling a bit better after some stories from Port after the ride.
Port stopped her, running off. "There's no time! Just take them to the nearest hospital you can! I'll meet you there after we deal with this!"
And with that, he was off, just as quick as he came. Team JPLL looked around, seemingly in the archeological district of Vale, as the older buildings would suggest, looking at the two stretchers inside of the still parked and opened bullhead. "...We have to go after him. The cultists can wait." Perci muttered, prioritizing watching her role model act all badass instead of having to deal with the mission.
"Impossible." Hue interjected, waving her head. "The mission is to bring them to a hospital. If we have spare time, we can head after Professor Port and try and assist the breach. But until then, there's nothing else for us to do." Taking control of the group, Hue went inside, grabbing one of the stretchers, calling over to Jin, who lifted the other end, carrying them outside. Muffled moans of pain came from a few of them, but at that point Hue ironed herself as much as she could from their voices.
Perci wanted to object, or at least try and refuse, but she could no longer find the strength to do so. She took a peek at her scroll, looking for the nearest hospital, and upon seeing it was about half an hour away by foot, she approached one of the stretchers, lifting it, as she and the rest of team JPLL set out deeper into town.
Soon, the screams came. Civilians running away from the center of town horrified beyond belief by the Grimm that somehow ended up inside of the city itself. For the most part, they avoided the larger masses, just walking by, though the more they got closer, the more they noticed how the cultists they were carrying started fidgeting around, moving irrationally and unnaturally, something stirring inside of them. Shrugging it off, the group tried to march on, though before long, one of them, shaking wildly, like a doll with a madman for a puppeteer, fell down to the ground. "Fuck..." Perci put down the handles she was holding, the others doing the same, as she approached the cultist, still shaking in pain. "Y-You, uh..." She asked, just hoping it wasn't his time just yet. "You alright there?" He didn't respond whatsoever, staying still on the ground, holding his stomach like his life depended on it, as another wave of people approached them, running and screaming.
And then, a claw erupted from his stomach.
Perci just stood there, dumbfounded, the light in his already dimmed out eyes snuffed out entirely, as an entire arm of a beowolf seemed to stretch out of his guts, covered in blood. At that point, even Perci started to shake, her vision going blurry, and before she knew it, a fully grown beowolf tore its way out, growling at the on goers and lunging at the frozen Perci. The screams of terror and disgust filled the air even more, and if it weren't for Jin's instincts, who tore through the weak Grimm with ease, Perci's neck would have already been clawed open. Perci came to thank her, but before she could, Jin turned back to her, her face distraught and dismayed. Whatever it was, Perci highly doubted her fragile mind would be able to stand much longer.
After the first beowolf was dispatched, more followed. Fueled by the fear and panic around them, Jin was left helpless as she was forced to witness one cultist after another burst, leaving more grimm in their wake. It didn't take long for the paranoia to settle in, as Perci, Hue, and Leila all rallied up, weapons raised, massacring the Grimm as much as they possibly could, Perci in particular screaming at the top of her lungs. "DIE! JUST DIE ALREADY! FUCKING DIE, ALL OF YOU!" Her voice was devoid of reason, pure fear guiding her actions, bashing one beowolf after another, leaving more torn out corpses in her wake.
At some point, one of the bodies was hatched, a smaller hole forming inside of it, as an entire swarm of nevermores flew out, spiraling in the skies around the team. Though each one wasn't bigger than an ant, together, they formed quite the body, launching themselves at the huntresses, razor sharp beaks pointed directly towards their skin. Leila sprang into action, screaming at the top of her lungs as her barrel landed on fire dust, unleashing a fiery volley from the skies upon the tiny nevermores. While she managed to fell a good amount of them, it was still not enough, as the swarm turned their attention to her, replying to her attack with a rain of razor sharp feathers, enough in size to kill.
Perci stepped in, raising using her immense aura to deflect the feathers, trying to pay as much attention to the remaining cultists. She then took a glance at Jin, gauging how she was dealing with it, and it seemed that the only reason Jin didn't snap quite yet was the fact that she had Grimm to kill, and it took some of the load off her mentally childish shoulders.
So far, the Grimm kept coming, as some from within the breach itself joined in the fight from the other end, surrounding the two. The team converged, looking around, none of them sans Jin not even caring for the cultists anymore, wanting to end this as quickly as they could possibly get. Shifting her weapon to gun form, Perci pointed it at the oncoming hordes, unleashing everything she could at the many, many Grimm around them, until her firearm made a clicking noise, out of bullets. She shifted it back, ready to fight for her life, as another shot pierced the air, killing a few of them. "Oi! You guys!" They looked as team ACMM burst through the hordes, running directly at them, Ash calling out to the group. "Are you guys okay?! We heard about the breach happening, and-" She then looked at the torn up corpses, stepping back in fear and shock. "W-What the fuck is that?!"
Perci merely grabbed her shoulder, shaking her head slowly. "They brought it on themselves. The only thing left to do now is to kill all of them. But first..." She pointed to the stronger grimm around them. "Better finish those off." Her state, as it was, was beyond the maddening fear that caught her at first. Any capacity she had to feel compassion was whisked away from her face, leaving a stone cold killer in front of the other team, bent on getting this nightmare done and forgotten with as promptly as they could.
Melody fell to her knees, and Undine looked away, unwilling to even face the horrors. Copper, on the other hand, being as emotionless as ever, didn't miss a beat, attempting to cut the remaining living cultists apart, before Jin snapped, stopping her and holding her sent forward drive in her hand. She shook her head wildly, not wanting to see another aura snuffed out, and Copper didn't insist, pulling back, and returning her attention to the hordes around them.
The fight commenced, and it didn't take them long to dispatch the Grimm that attacked them. Melody and Jin still couldn't bring themselves to do anything at the moment, leaving the remaining six to deal with the threat, working as efficiently as they could to finish them, removing the outer ring of grimm one by one.
Time passed, and a few minutes later, they were finished with the Grimm from the outside, now only having to decide what to do with the internal group of cultists, who still periodically gave birth to Grimm here and there, Jin's instants kicking in and stopping them each time. There weren't many of them left, about six in number, and from the looks of it, they could finally take a breather, seeing as none of them seemed to bring forth more grimm. There were still a few tiny nevermores flying around, but they weren't much of an issue at that point.
"O-Oh fuck... I think I'm gonna need a loooooot to drink after this..." Perci took a sigh of relief, believing it to be other at last.
"You can count me in then." Ash chimed on her offer. "Just... What in the name of god even happened here?..." Her eyes widened in shock as Perci slowly tried to recall what they all just saw, the vivid imagery still fresh on her mind. She doubted that she'd forget it anytime soon, but regardless, the words spilled out of her mouth, slowly recalling everything. The nevermores landed on the seemingly dead cultists, as if nesting on them, and finally directing their attention to the last six.
"So... What now? NOW can we fucking kill them?" Perci offered one last time, looking at the others with primal fear in her eyes. Jin didn't matter. No one mattered. All she wanted was for this to end.
It didn't take long, before slow nods came from most of them, winning by the majority. "A-Alright... Then I'll do it." Taking the toll on herself, and being the one most steeled against seeing murders happen, Perci stepped forth, raising her cane to bash one of their faces in, fully intending on destroying anything that was left of them before any could explode into more Grimm. She stared at the cultist before her, a young woman, not that older than the rest of them, foaming at her mouth and eyes rolled to the back of her head, as the ichor drove them all far away from the edge of sanity. Perci could only imagine the voices that still spoke to them, and with that, sent her cane down, to finish the job.
But the worst was yet to come.
Before she knew it, the cultist rose up, his body suddenly springing to action, grabbing a few of the smaller nevermores and shoving them down his throat, chewing and swallowing them almost whole, as if something else commanded his body at that point. Almost on cue, the rest of them did the same, finishing off the remains of the small swarm, making Perci jump back again, ready for anything that might happen then.
Melody, on the other hand, could only shake her head, shutting down her eyes, knowing what it meant. "No... Please, not again..." She kept muttering, Perci walking closer to her and lifting her to a hug, as well as a kiss.
"Don't worry, alright Love?" Perci tried to reassure her, watching as all of the cultists got up to their feet, moving awkwardly and unnaturally. "I'll protect you, so stand back." She then turned towards the questionably living humans, raising her cane, the rest of teams JPLL and ACMM did the same.
The cultists kept jittering, spamming around and screaming incoherently as if something was eating them from the inside. Soon, their eyes changed, now red and haunting, as their heads stopped twitching, eyeing the huntresses with a mad hunger for anything and everything that could be consumed. The eyes glowed brightly, taking any shred of hope that they were human anymore, as their entire bodies froze right after, seemingly stopped in time entirely.
Their skin, gray and sickly, started to shift, outright peeling in some places, only to reveal black flesh flowing under it. For one of them, an entire palm burst right open, leaving scraps of skin attached to the claw that now replaced it, razor sharp claws sticking out of the almost human-shaped fingers. For another, the left hand fell off entirely, as a writhing tentacle replaced it, almost like a whip, slithering about like a snake, seeking prey. Another one's face partially shed off, showing the horrifying truth: The head was entirely eaten from within, as black flesh replaced it. However, despite all that, some parts of it were revealed, as the dark flesh was growing around a still exposed brain, coating it entirely.
Soon... It was done. All of them, six in number, stood as something that was no longer human, but of Grimm origin, seemingly after consuming their human hosts entirely from within. The six that still stood against the threat, eyes widened and mouths gagged, could only stare in sheer terror, unwilling to even believe that what they were seeing was real. Copper, on the other hand, seemed far too calm for the situation. Perci wished for a brief moment that she could have a semblance like hers, to negate the fear inside of her, though at the moment none of them could bring herself to speak.
One of now Grimm took a look around. It was still new to it to control a human body, or so it seemed, walking sluggishly, and picking up a brick that fell on the ground. It stared at it, seemingly getting a feel for the weight, before turning to the huntresses, screeching in human tongue, and launching the brick at Hue, who moved quickly enough to get out of the way. The others, who observed the first's action, picked other things off the ground, throwing them at the huntresses, quickly learning how to use their new limbs, Causing Perci to finally snap.
"ALRIGHT, FUCK IT! I'M FUCKING KILLING ALL OF YOU!" She had had enough of this freak show, dashing at one of the Grimm, sending a fist into its face. It connected, and the Grimm flew back, though the moment she touched it, Perci went entirely stiff. It was impossible, but as the thoughts ran through her head, she realized what was going on. The brains were still living. The humans were still alive. The Grimm kept them alive on the most technical level. And as the Grimm fell back, the small flickers of light around it vanishing, showing that some external force defended it from the oncoming attack, the rest froze, Jin falling to her knees in despair.
After all... She still saw six auras.
A/N: WOOOOO! HOLY SHIT, WASN'T THIS AWESOME?! Man, I'm so pumped up for the next chapter. These Eldritchan Grimm as SO fucking fun to write and work with, and I feel like this is stepping up my game each time I do. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed, and I'll see you all tomorrow for the finale of Vol 2 of JPLL!