RWBY: Light Extinguished
Chapter 6
Slight warning: the very end of this chapter does involve a lot of blood. You have been warned.
oxoxoxo
Caroline stood before a half dozen of her Caroleans at the main gate to the outpost, carbine rifles slung over their shoulders and sabres sheathed at their belts. This was the team that the lioness assembled to search for the missing patrols, a group of six of her personal soldiers, men who answered only to her. A fairly small battalion of them were stationed here at this base, and though she wished she had more, this would have to do. "Alright men," She began "You all know why we're here. Last night we had men patrolling the island, but this morning, two of those patrols failed to report in and are currently MIA. We're heading out to search for them. This isn't that big of an island, so if we move fast enough and search efficiently enough we should be able to cover a lot of ground today."
"Yes ma'am." Came the chorus of replies.
A blue light shone from behind Caroline's mask, the glow spreading behind the masks of the six men. "We fire as one," she began "We march as one, we fight as one, we die as one."
"We are the Caroleans." Came the response from the men.
"Open the gate." Caroline said into her scroll. The response was instantaneous, the large gate opening with a hiss and exposing Caroline and her men to the island. The lioness turned on her heel and began to march, the six men falling in step behind her as they stepped into the forest of the heavily wooded island.
oxoxoxo
Ruby looked down in awe from the Beacon airship over the decayed city they were to use for team combat. "This place is huge..." She said.
Weiss rolled her eyes at her partner. "It's also a huge mess." Weiss said.
"Were you maybe hoping to be fighting in a nice and clean arena?" Yang said, cracking a smile.
"I just meant... I was... Ugh!" Weiss huffed. "Why did someone feel the need to put me on your team?"
The blonde bombshell slung an arm around the heiress. "You know you love me, Weiss. Just imagine how boring your life could be without me."
"I'm imagining just how much less irritating my life would be if Neptune was on my team instead of you." Weiss muttered.
"But Weiss," Ruby piped up. "Neptune would bring Sun with him, I'm not sure how you would stand to even be in the same room as Sun for a day, let alone four years on the same team."
Weiss put her head in her hands and groaned. "I just can't catch a break."
Ruby and Yang burst out laughing at the plight of the heiress, but one member of the team was noticeably absent from the conversation. "Hey Blake," Yang said, getting her partner's attention. "What's up? You didn't even join in and get in a good Weiss burn."
Blake jolted up at Yang's address. "Uh, sorry." She stammered. "I guess I just have a lot on my mind."
"You can't still be this wound up about Torchwick." Yang said, getting close to the faunus as not to speak to loudly of the criminal. "We threw a wrench into his operations at the very least."
"How do you know that?" Blake snapped. She soon realized the tone she had spoken with and realized that Yang had done nothing to earn the lashing she had given. "How do you know that?" She repeated, more gently this time.
"We were able to hit two of their big, expensive pieces at once in one night." Yang said. "And we got some information out of it. We'll work on it as much as we can, but for now, we need to focus on our classes. We'll never beat Torchwick and his thugs if we can't fight through them, will we?"
Blake sighed. "I guess you have a point." She said, conceding to Yang's statement. That said, the thoughts of what Roman and his men were planning was still in her mind, no matter how much she tried to push it out. It was still there, nestled in the back of her mind, just waiting to emerge again. For now, she needed to put it to the very back of her mind, but what could she do to keep it there? The cat faunus made her way to the window of the airship and had a look at Beacon's team combat training ground. The city itself was fairly small, but for the purpose of a pair of four person teams fighting, it was more than enough. The buildings were mostly of average height, with the majority of them being a single level around the edge of the city, two stories around the next rung of society, and a large, dome shaped complex at the center of the city. "I wonder who's fighting first." Blake mused.
As if on cue, the girls' scrolls all rang at once. Pulling them out, the young huntresses all noticed they had received the same message.
Team RWBY:
Please report to the portside exit hatch as you will be entering the city first. You will begin on the west side of the city and will have exactly two minutes to explore and prepare yourselves before the battle begins. You may be wondering who your opponents are for this battle, but you will have to find out when the fight begins, simulating first contact with an unknown enemy.
Rules of engagement:
Skirmishes may be fought anywhere in the city.
Each student will be given an earpiece communicator to stay in contact with the rest of their team. These earpieces will be traceable by the team's scrolls.
When a student's aura drops into the red, the student is eliminated from the contest.
When a team has no fighters remaining, they are defeated and the other team will be declared victorious.
Attacking a defeated team member will result in disqualification.
After reading the message, Ruby looked up at her faunus teammate. "I guess that means we're first."
"Drat!" Weiss cursed. "I was hoping we could have seen some other teams in action first. How are we supposed to come up with a strategy now?"
"We'll do what we always do, Weiss:" Yang said. "Charge in with no idea what we're doing, and form a brilliant, battle winning plan once we know what we're up against."
"That's not a plan!" Weiss snapped.
"We do have a bit of a bad habit of doing that." Ruby said.
She has a point." Blake agreed.
Weiss looked like she was about to respond, but stopped short of saying anything. "Come on guys." Ruby said. "We should get to the portside hatch before we miss our own fight."
oxoxoxo
Team EMAD picked their seats near the front row of the viewing area that had been set up at the rear end of the airship, the other students having all taken seats to watch the fight. Teams had been seated in random order so that they wouldn't know who was heading to ground to fight. Apparently, Goodwitch had decided that students were not to know who they were going up against in their fight until they made contact with the enemy. Maria looked at the two small dropships heading for the town and tried with all her might to see through the tinted glass windows. It was all in vain as she couldn't even see the silhouettes of those inside. "Any guesses as to who's fighting?" She asked to no one in particular.
Francois shrugged. "I can't tell. There are too many people here to spot any particular missing teams."
"They'll tell us before the fight begins." Alison said softly, the large crowd of exchange students making the artist nervous. "They just don't want us sending messages to our friends on their opponents."
"Will you all shut up?" Ben ordered.
"What flew up your arse?" Thatch asked.
"Be quiet. The fight is about to start." The giant said.
True to what Ben said, the two airships pulled in for landings at the east and west entrances to the small town, the doors opening soon afterward. From the top of the room, two large screens descended from the ceiling, each one turning on to display one of the opening airships.
oxoxoxo
Ruby stepped out of the dropship first and immediately drew and unfolded Crescent Rose, the other members of her team following suit, exiting the craft and drawing their weapons. As the airship took off, Ruby turned to her team. "Alright, we have only two minutes to get ready before the fight starts. Any suggestions?"
"You and I should scout ahead and see just what we're up against and where would be a good place to start the fight." Blake said.
"Good idea." Ruby confirmed. "We're the fastest of the group, so we should be able to cover the most ground and get to the others quickest. As for you two," The young leader said, turning to Yang and Weiss. "Head for the central dome of the city, if you're in an easy to find point, it should make it, well, easier for Blake and I to reach you."
Weiss and Yang both nodded and set off for the center of the city. Blake made for a nearby alleyway, climbing the walls of a building to reach a rooftop.
Finally, Ruby looked around for the tallest building she could see. Upon finding it, she used a combination of her speed and a shot from her beloved scythe to reach the roof. The red reaper took a look through the scope of her scythe, scanning across the other side of the city. Nothing in sight so far. Ruby continued to scan for another few seconds before she decided it was time to find another perch. Using her semblance, she began to sprint across the roofs of the city's buildings until she reached the top of an even larger building. Satisfied with her new perch, Ruby drew her sniper scythe once again, unfolding the weapon just in time to hear through her earpiece "The battle will begin once contact is made."
"You heard the lady." Ruby said. "Keep an eye out for the other team." A chorus of understanding came from her earpiece before Ruby brought up her weapon to search through its scope again. Scanning the city streets, Ruby was beginning to grow frustrated. She wasn't finding anything but the somewhat dilapidated buildings of the city. That is, until she spotted movement out of the corner of her eye. Turning her sights excitedly onto the moving object, she soon spotted the other team. It was one of the exchange student teams, the leader seeming to be a purple haired girl in a black jacket, a purple shirt beneath it and a pair of white leggings with chains wrapped around her arms, each one connecting to a weight held in her hands. Behind her was a blonde boy in a shining gold suit carrying a cane, a red haired boy in a crimson jacket and black cargo pants carrying a staff, and a black haired boy in black pants with a grey jacket and a pair of gauntlets over his forearms, one black and one white. "Guys, I see them." Ruby said into her earpiece. "It's one of the exchange student teams. I don't see too many long range weapons on them, a cane, probably a sword in it, a pair of weighted chains, a staff, and a pair of gauntlets, kind of like yours, Yang."
"Ruby, this is no time to fangirl over weapons." Weiss said in her ear. "Any plans to deal with them?"
Ruby gave the other team a quick look over. "I might have an idea in mind." She mused.
"We're listening." Blake replied.
Meanwhile, down on the streets, Violet Lightwood led Team VOAJ through the abandoned city streets. "You all heard the announcement, everyone keep your eyes open. The other team could be anywhere in this city, and I don't want us walking into a trap. Onyx, keep your semblance active, I want to know if anyone is in the immediate vicinity."
Onyx nodded and closed his eyes, his semblance of spatial awareness showing him everything around him in the form of pure information. If anyone was hiding in the shadows as they moved through the city, they would know it.
"Alex, Julius, keep your weapons ready." Violet stated, raising her own weights and activating the dist crystals within them, one weight glowing white and the other red. Julius drew his sword from within his cane, the red crystal in the pommel shining in the sunlight. Alex had his staff at the ready, clutched tightly in both hands.
Suddenly, Onyx stopped moving. "Hold up guys." He gestured toward a nearby alleyway, the buildings on either side casting a shadow across the alley. "Someone's there." He whispered. "Up on the fire escape of the left building."
Violet nodded and looked to her other teammates. "Alright, we attack as one on my mark. Ready?"
The others nodded, ready to strike when their leader gave her command.
(Author's note: Music begins here. Song: This Will Be the Day by Jeff and Casey Williams)
Before Violet could give the word, however, there was a flash of movement and Blake burst forth from the shadows, Gambol Shroud unsheathed for an attack. The cat faunus opened fire, scattering the other team. Violet reared back for an attack of her own, but before she could attack, a bullet whizzed by her shoulder. She turned around to see the glint of a scope from the top of a building. "Julius! Sniper!"
The Gold heir nodded and threw up a glyph over his team just in time to block and catch five more shots from the sniper.
Blake tried to strike at the swordsman, but Onyx got in her way and punched forward with his white gauntlet, throwing a fireball at her, one she avoided with a shadow clone that took the blast. Julius, safe from Blake's attack, turned his hand around, turning the bullets caught in his glyph 180 degrees. With a push forward he sent the bullets flying back where they came from.
Ruby's eyes widened as her own rounds soared at her, leaping back from the edge as they soared right through where she had been sitting a second before. "Ruby, they have numbers over me, what should I do now?" Blake said through her earpiece.
"Stick to the plan." Ruby said back.
On the ground, Blake nodded and leapt back into the alley, climbing to the top of one of the buildings and making a break for it
"Oh no you don't!" Violet declared. With a push of her mind and her semblance of polarity, she sent her red glowing weight flying at the building Blake was about to land on, the weight producing an explosion of flames upon impact, sending the cat faunus flying into the air. She landed hard on another building, but recovered in time to avoid Violet's other weighted chain slamming into the building and coating it in ice. "Alex, follow her on the rooftops, everyone else, you're with me on the ground."
"You know this is a trap, right?" Julius said.
"Yup."
"And, you don't care?"
"Nope. Now, let's go."
Alex nodded, splitting his staff in half, the halves forming a pair of large pistols. With his new weapons drawn, Alex used his aura to make a leap onto a rooftop and set off after Blake, opening fire as he did.
Above the battle, Ruby watched through her scope. "Yang, Weiss, they're headed your way, be ready."
"Got it Ruby, let us know when they get here." Yang replied.
"Will do." Ruby said. "Might as well take a few more shots before I join them." She muttered, squeezing down on the trigger again, sending shot after shot down to harry Team VOAJ. As she planned, her pot shots only made the exchange team move faster. In less than a minute, they were right where Ruby wanted them. "Yang, Weiss, move now, take down the guy on the rooftops."
Blake sprinted across the roof of a building in a zigzag pattern, ducking, rolling and jumping to avoid the shots fired by her pursuer. Soon enough though, she stopped running, much to the confusion of Alex, who stopped himself, both guns trained on her. Blake smirked and waved to him before a glyph formed beneath her feet and propelled her off the roof. Alex retrained his sights, but before he could fire, Yang surged up onto the rooftop and launched into a series of shots at the red clothed warrior. Alex dodged the flaming projectiles with a backflip and opened fire, several shots missing, but others simply bounced off Yang's aura as she flew at him.
From below, Violet was about to launch a counterattack with her chains, but upon sending one at Yang, the weight slammed into a white, snowflake pattern glyph that blocked the strike. Before she could load up another attack, Blake flew at her from a nearby alley, swinging both the sword and sheathe of Gambol Shroud at her. Violet could only dodge the attacks as she was separated from the rest of her team.
Julius made an attempt to aid his leader, but Weiss stopped him in his tracks, flying at him using a propulsion glyph, sword out. Julius managed to parry the first strike, but Weiss wasn't done yet, making several thrusts with her blade in quick succession, rapidly forcing Julius onto the defensive.
Onyx rushed to the aid of his partner, but a sniper round slammed into the ground right at his feet. The black haired brawler turned to see Ruby leap of a nearby building, having used her speed to rejoin her team quicker. The red cloaked girl swung her scythe at Onyx, but the Mistral youth dodged the attack and returned with one of his own, spraying full auto fire from his black gauntlet. Ruby leapt over the bullets and used a shot from Crescent Rose to fly at Onyx and kick him square in the face, sending him skidding away from Julius' duel with Weiss.
Watching his partner get caught in a fight with Ruby, Julius knew he had no option but to fight Weiss on his own. "I hoped I would get a chance to impress you."
"Here's your shot." Weiss replied, taking a fencing stance. "Impress me."
Julius smirked, the crystal at the pommel of his sword glowing. Suddenly, the blade of the sword burst into flame, bright fires dancing along the sword as he began t attack, the air in front of Weiss heating up exponentially as Julius made a merciless series of slashes with his blade, a series of attacks that she was forced to dodge.
Nearby, Blake had managed to force Violet into a nearby alley, giving her little room to swing her chains and make attacks. She was just barely able to block or dodge the rapid attacks Blake made with her weapons. Violet realized she was getting absolutely nowhere, and she needed to turn this around. The purple haired girl leapt back from a particularly vicious strike and used her semblance to throw one of her weights at her opponent. The flaming weight struck her, the resulting explosion sending her flying out of the alleyway and into the open street. Violet walked out after her, ready to continue the fight.
Up on the rooftops, Yang exchanged blows with Alex, the Mistral hunter having combined his twin pistols back into his staff. The two seemed evenly matched, especially since both of their semblances were beginning to take effect. As Yang took more and more hits from Alex's staff, she began to glow brighter, and Alex began to give in to his berserker abilities, fighting harder and enduring more as he continued. It seemed to be a contest of whose aura would give out first. In the end, Yang gave one last swing, an aura fuelled left hook right to Alex's jaw, firing her gauntlet blaster as she did, sending the poor boy right off the roof, and dropping his aura into the red zone.
"Alex Garnett has been eliminated." A voice over both teams' earpieces said.
Blake rose to her feet to find Violet approaching her, both her weights hovering next to her. She leapt out of the way as her flame weight flew at her, just missing the ensuing explosion. Suddenly, a battle cry drew the attention of both girls to Yang as she leapt off the roof, hair flaming as she flew at Violet. Knowing how much trouble two opponents would be, Violet responded to Yang with a swing of her ice weight, freezing the blonde in a block of ice on contact. While she was distracted, however, Blake took her chance to go on the attack, getting right in Violet's face, not giving her room to use her chains as she swung her sword and sheath in rapid attacks.
Meanwhile, Weiss and Julius were still locked in their duel, Julius' flaming blade and tenacity being evenly matched with Weiss' skill and speed as she parried his attacks. Neither one had thrown up any glyphs yet, but with the time it would take to use one, the other could easily attack and finish their opponent. Space would need to be made. Weiss knew this, and so she was constantly on the lookout for an opportunity to make space to use either her glyphs or dust. Blocking a particularly vicious strike from Julius, the heiress saw her chance, flipping back out of Julius' range, she plunged her blade into the ground just as he renewed his attack, a massive wall of ice catching his blade and holding him in place. Leaping over her new wall, Weiss aimed her sword down as she fell, forcing Julius to abandon his blade or lose.
As the two heirs fought, Ruby and Onyx were also locked in combat, the reaper's speed being enough to avoid the brawler's full auto fire and Onyx's spatial awareness allowing him to dodge Ruby's attacks before they could connect. That said, the use of his semblance was taxing on the Mistral youth who knew he could only keep it up for so long. Ruby, on the other hand, could go all day with her speed, especially since she was aided by her weapon recoil. With a gunshot, Ruby sailed right past Onyx, who just barely managed to dodge, his head throbbing from the sheer amount of information he was receiving. He had no choice at this point. He was forced to rely on only his basic senses.
Ruby was about to launch into another attack, when a cry of pain drew her attention as a smoking Blake flew through the air, Violet having hit her with her chains. "Blake Belladonna has been eliminated." The voice confirmed. Violet looked like she was about to launch at Ruby when a battle cry from behind her drew her attention. Turning around, she caught Yang's punch right to the face, the blonde brawler literally glowing with power as she struck, sending the chain manipulator flying into the wall of a building. Yang didn't stop there, surging forward to strike Violet again. As she rose from her stunned stupor, the leader of Team VOAJ could do nothing to avoid Yang's fist smashing into her face, causing her aura to plummet like a stone.
"Violet Lightwood has been eliminated."
Julius, having retrieved his blade, knew he had to act fast. His team was now outnumbered and without their leader. Thinking quickly, the Gold heir threw up a protective glyph between himself and Weiss, stopping the charge of the heiress. He then turned to face Yang and gave a swing of his sword, sending a wave of fire at the brawler, knocking her back. Unfortunately, he was unprepared when Weiss mounted another assault, a wave of ice catching him and trapping him from the waist down in ice, dropping his already weakened aura into the red. "Julius Gold has been eliminated."
Onyx Blanch stood as the last member of Team VOAJ, the rest of his team having fallen. Before him stood the remaining members of Team RWBY, Yang, Weiss and Ruby herself, each one of them looking ready for battle. Yang charged first, sensing victory, a cocky grin plastered across her face as she raised a fist. Onyx dodged her first punch and returned with one of his own, his white gauntlet, Rise, slamming into her and backing up the punch with a bolt of lightning. Yang's already weakened aura couldn't take that much more, dropping into the red. "Yang Xiao Long has been eliminated."
Ruby raised her scythe to fire, but Onyx leapt into the air and opened fire with his black gauntlet, Fall, full auto fire raining down on her and Weiss as they retreated. The two of them watched as Onyx kept moving, realizing that fighting him on the move would be difficult. They needed to slow him down to land solid hits on him. They both realized the same thing at the same time, and Ruby put it into words. "Ice Flower!"
Weiss nodded and with a wave of her hand a series of snowflake pattern glyphs formed before the barrel of Crescent Rose, the younger girl opening fire at their foe, her bullets forming ice crystals wherever they hit, one shot grazing Onyx across the left arm as he tried to dodge, the extra weight dragging him down just long enough for Ruby to fire two more shots, nailing him in the right leg and chest, coating him from the chest down in ice and dropping the remainder of his aura.
"Onyx Blanch has been eliminated." The voice announced. "Team RWBY is victorious."
At those words, Ruby couldn't stop herself from jumping for joy. "We did it!" She squealed. "Weiss, we did it! We did it! We did it!" she said, pulling the heiress into a sudden embrace. Weiss didn't respond at first, the sheer surprise of it catching her off guard. Before she could say anything, however, Ruby sped back away from her, the young girl's face turning red from embarrassment. "Sorry Weiss..." she muttered.
Weiss rolled her eyes at her partner and leader's childishness. "It's alright, Ruby."
"Uh, g-girls?" Onyx said. The two of them turned to see that he was still encased in ice. "It's n-nice that you two are such g-good friends, but c-could you let me out of here? P-please?"
oxoxoxo
Team EMAD watched Team RWBY's victory with a sense of pride. It was always nice to see friends succeeding.
The team based rounds would continue for the entire day, even as the sun set and day turned to night, the latest round ending as Jaune slammed his shield into an exchange student's face, sending his aura into the red and ending the match. That was when Team EMAD's scrolls buzzed, all the members, including Ben, receiving the message to report to the starboard hatch for their battle. Rising to their feet, the team left their seats and made their way down to the exit hatch. When they got there, Professor Goodwitch was waiting for them. "Are you ready for your match?"
Maria stepped forward. "I'm not sure how I'll fight, but my team is ready for battle."
Goodwitch adjusted her glasses and looked down at her clipboard. "I'm sorry Miss Gaia, but mister Aparte is leading Team EMAD in this battle. I'm sorry, but you still have one more day before your cast is removed, and until then, there isn't very much you can do on your crutches."
"That's absolute bollocks!" Thatch interjected, much to Goodwitch's indifference and Ben's anger. "There has to be something she can do, maybe she can direct us from up here."
"Thatch, shut up." Ben said, putting one of his massive hands on the swordsman's shoulder and hauling him back with his strength. "I can lead you in this fight. I've fought in the Faunus War, saw some of its worst battles. A fight against one other team of hunter students will be nothing to me, and with me leading you, it will be nothing to you too."
"You've never led us in battle." Francois pointed out.
"True," Ben replied. "But after what I've seen and those I've served under, I can learn quickly. Now come on." He said. "We can't keep the other team waiting."
oxoxoxo
Caroline looked to the setting sun and let out a sigh of resignation. She and her men had been out all day searching for the lost patrols, but had yet to find any sign of them, as though they had simply vanished off the surface of Remnant. She looked around to all her men, her Caroleans, all of them refusing to show any sign of fatigue, though she could tell they were growing tired after the day's searching. Perhaps it was time to return to base and admit her failure to Derek. She was not looking forward to doing that.
She was about to give the order to pack up and head back to base when one of her men caught her attention. "Commander?"
Caroline turned in his direction. "What is it, private?" she asked, walking toward him.
"Ma'am, I think I found some of the missing men, but you won't like it." He said.
"Show me anyway." Said the lioness.
The Carolean saluted and beckoned for her to follow him. Caroline and her other five men followed the private through the trees until he brought them to a clearing. Caroline looked over the contents of the clearing, knowing that any other person who had seen what she just saw would have been disgusted, shocked, and above all, terrified.
Three of the missing men were here, alright, but there was no point in bringing them back to base in the condition they were in. Their White Fang robes were stained in their own blood as they stood in the middle of the clearing, each one impaled on a ten foot wooden stake, the stake running along their spines, standing them up like macabre trophies, the heads of the stakes jutting through their shoulders. Dried blood ran down the stakes and out of the mouths of the men, indicating that they had been here for quite some time. Caroline looked each of the men in the eye, their faces all contorted in absolute terror and agony, likely still living and screaming as they were impaled. "Who would do such a thing?" She wondered aloud. She knew some humans hated faunus, the White Fang most of all, but she didn't know of any groups who would do this. And even if she did, how would they get out here? This Island was a secret. She made a vow right then to track down the person who did this. They would pay dearly for what they did. "There's no point in bringing them back to base like this." Caroline said, her eyes still not leaving the deceased soldiers. "Take them down from there, we'll give them burials here."
The men were about to get to work, when a noise caught their attention. A rustle of branches and a groan of pain. Immediately, Caroline and her soldiers aimed their weapons at the source of the noise, the sounds having some from the trees behind them. Each one stared at the source of the noise, fingers on the triggers and aim steady. Each one suspected, however, that had he been able to feel fear, he would feel it.
As soon as the source of the noise emerged, however, the soldiers lowered their guns. Emerging from the treeline was another White Fang member, his robes stained with blood that was dripping from his mouth and from several wounds across his body. He shuffled towards his fellows, head held down as he did, groaning in pain the entire time.
One of the Caroleans rushed forward to meet him. "Where have you been, soldier?" He demanded. "We've been looking for you and your men the entire day, what happened to you?" The soldier didn't answer, but the second he was in reach of the Carolean, he reached out and grabbed the blue coated faunus by the shoulders in an iron grip. "What are you doing? Let me go!" he demanded.
The injured faunus didn't reply, but he raised his head in a feral hissing roar, revealing something horrifying to his former fellows: his throat had been torn out, the bloody remains of his neck leaking all over his robes. He reared back to attack his captive, when a shot rang out, a round from Caroline's Shining Roar slamming into his skull, the former operative dropping in a heap. The commander moved in to examine her kill, ripping the mask off his face. His expression was vacant beneath the mask, not even pained or shocked from the bullet that tunnelled through his head. "What happened to him?" Caroline wondered.
What happened next did not answer her question.
From all around them, groans of pain just like the now dead White Fang member could be heard along with the shuffling of what sounded like hundreds of feet coming right for them. It seemed like the dead soldier's roar had been the dinner bell.
The Caroleans formed up around their commander, one of them asking "Orders, commander?"
Caroline grit her teeth in thought. "We don't have time to bury these men, we need to retreat. Anything stands in your way, shoot it."