The Shadow of Fire
Chapter 54: Hive Mind
A/N: Here we go! Another chapter! More drama, more action, more… more! X3.
I am so psyched since we now can finally watch RWBY! YAY! I am so excited for this season!
Anyways, onto the reviews and then the chapter!
Reviews!:
TehUnoman: It just might be! :3
Jetscythe7: You'll see soon! :3 Thanks!
Enjoy!
Kryata
"You put up quite the fight, brother!" Xalveris roared as he shifted his form back to his original, slicing at the white phoenix before him with his void blade whilst dodging the massive bird's attacks.
Yveltal disregarded his brother's chatter, switching form as well. The Light God spun around before jamming a pure white spear down on Xalveris, who attempted to catch the weapon with his own. The two blades clashed as the Aura spear split the sword in two, leaving Xalveris defenseless as Yveltal punched forward to send his brother flying.
Xalveris landed with a dull thud on the rocky surface below them, holding his hand to his side as his own dark spear came to his aid, twirling it in hand as he ran forward to meet his brother once more.
"I have always been stronger!" Xalveris shouted as he smashed his spear against his brothers, generating a massive shockwave across the universe itself. "And I will NOT be defeated by you!"
Remnant
Core of the Planet
A large diamond sat within the core of the world Dagonus sought to rule, glowing bright as it shined in the darkness with every color of Dust imaginable. The majestic heart of the world it bore sat alone in a massive chamber beneath miles upon miles of tunnel systems and the sheer bulk of the planet itself.
Or so it seemed.
A large creature slept beside the core, nesting, waiting for its time to rise from its slumber once more.
The chamber shook violently as the whole planet seemed to rock along its voyage around the sun, the cavern ceiling dropping several large stones which had become dislodged in the quake.
The rumbling ceased as quickly as it had appeared, leaving little evidence that it had even occurred.
The unfathomable beast shook in its sleep, causing the chamber to groan as if it were in pain.
A pair of red slits began to glow on the beasts face, seemingly scanning the room for any sign of intrusion before it rose up from its resting position.
The creature grasped the chambers walls with several large arachnid-like legs, defying gravity as it moved towards the Dust Stone at the center of the room, making little to no sound as it moved effortlessly to its side. The creature examined the gem for any damages before it seemed to communicate with the stone through a long clicking sound, as if it were hissing at the object.
The object seemed to glow brighter as the creature moved off from its side, traversing the chamber and out into a large opening, leaving the glowing stone all to itself.
Wendar Airfield Base
West Gate
"Doh vic van du lo?" One of the demon soldiers grunted to another as the latter shrugged in response, glaring off into the distance.
Qrow seemed to have gathered all of the men towards the west end of the airfield, mounting turrets and defenses up to protect the fort from some unknown adversary which only he was aware of.
"Wel yul sow roc." The second demon responded as the much larger soldier appeared from the doors of the base, passing between the two.
"Quiet." The beast growled as it dragged a massive jagged stone-sword along the ground below it, sniffing the air as it sensed something was wrong.
A lone black Beowulf, covered in its traditional white bone armaments, sulked on the grassy field in the distance. The humanoid wolf nuzzled its right paw as it looked off towards the base.
"Tu suk!" The massive demon roared as it ordered one of its subordinates to kill the monster, causing a round from a sniper to penetrate the wolf's skull, killing it instantly as it slumped over.
The large demon narrowed its eyes upon the dead wolf in the distance before turning around to return to the base. Just as it did so, one of his men cried out in surprise and shock.
At the very spot that the Grimm's body had taken residence, a large pincer now stabbed through the ground like a tree. The appendage looked ancient, old as the planet itself as the pincer opened up. The ground below and beside it cracked upon its movement, causing the grassy field in that area to sink into the darkness below.
Out from the pincer rose hundreds of Grimm creatures of all shapes and sizes. Several massive DeathStalkers climbed from the hole, not even reaching half the size of the pincer that brought them forth. They all looked powerful, collectively glaring off at the airfield base with utter hate in mind.
The chief demon pointed his sword at the monsters and shouted something in their language, hissing as his men began to bombard the Grimm with artillery.
The creatures of darkness all roared out together as they became under attack, many getting obliterated under the rain of mortars and cannon fire. The smaller and less defensive Grimm were burnt to ash while the others stood strong and defiant.
The DeathStalkers clicked their mandibles as they charged forward through the barrage of fire, leading the way for their allies to follow as the massive pincer sunk back underground.
"Kill them all!" The large demon commanded as it stabbed downward with his blade, killing a DeathStalker instantly as it sank through its head with ease.
While he seemed to be holding his own, his men, on the other hand, were not. The other DeathStalkers broke past their lines with ease, rampaging about as mortar towers and rail-gun encampments were torn to shreds. Beowulfs clawed and mauled their victims to death, leaving blooded messes in their wake.
Qrow tossed Weiss to the ground, surging with electrical energy as he regarded the girl with uncaring eyes. The master Huntsman stood before her, still sparking with his unmistakable Aura.
"I know you wish to topple Dagonus. All a part of your Prophecy that your friends have followed." Qrow began as he stood behind Weiss, who was crawling away to gain a bit of distance.
"Grrr..." Weiss growled under her slow breath, her head feeling fuzzy.
"I know Dagonus will not succeed with his ambitions, but he will play his part in summoning his new master, that I know clearly." Qrow warned as Weiss listened with a throbbing head.
"Listen well, Weiss Schnee." The aging Hunter began as the roars of nearby Grimm began to growl louder and louder. "I won't kill you, as my brother-in-law very much would enjoy."
Weiss sat herself up against a pile of rubble, hissing at the man before her as he gave a very faint smirk.
"I also won't tell you that he is currently parading his might across the Kingdom for the next few days, along with his guard in tow." Qrow continued, causing Weiss to blink in confusion. "Nor would I tell you that hanger bay 3 of Vex's sky-fortress is accessible via that ship you have stolen, nor would I say he would be onboard the craft as well."
"..." Weiss winced in pain as her bones felt like jelly, just staring at the Hunter before her.
Qrow looked up at the massive carrier above the base, which was now bombarding the advancing Grimm forces around the base. Absolute chaos seemed to grip the base like a noose.
"I will, however, ask you to tell my nieces that they are my pride and joy. Do keep them out of trouble." Qrow added on just as a flash of black engulfed the duo.
"Gah!" Weiss cried out as she was suddenly in the arms of Saturn, now a few feet away from the spot at which she was slumped over. Saturn's Guardians held the man up in the air, the twin fists now four smaller ones as two held him up in the air while two others held his trademark golden pen-swords in death-grips.
"..." The pair of men seemed to acknowledge each other before Qrow turned back to the base, plucking up his now broken sword-scythe as he surged with blue electricity.
"Are you alright, Schnee?" Saturn asked as he grabbed Melody as well, running into the crashed Bulkhead.
"I'll live... Maybe." Weiss groaned as the ex-crime lord deposited her and the Goddess in their own seats, activating the airship as it began to rise up from the ground below.
Weiss glanced out the open door of the airship, spotting Qrow walking towards the base as he cut down several Beowulfs with his broken blade and electricity. Weiss couldn't tell if it was a nod of approval or just her aching head, but Qrow seemed to regard her just as Saturn flipped the active camouflage on and fired the airship off into the distance towards Glenn.
Vale
The roaring crowd cheered happily as the clouds above suddenly exploded into puffs, mostly going unnoticed by the populous as the temporal shockwave went by silently in the city. Dagonus stood upon his demonic tank with pride in his heart as his guard proceeded down the street with ease.
"Hold..."
Dagonus waved to the citizens as the convoy slowed as a few children ran across the road ahead to get a better view.
"Hold..."
"Dagonus! Dagonus! Dagonus!" The crowd roared in utter joy to their savior.
"Now!"
The streets the parade had progressed upon suddenly detonated in a massive explosion as a nearby car bomb went off. Citizens dove to the side for cover as the tank was caught in the ensuing ball of fire as Dust particles flew off into the sky.
The black smoke cleared as Dagonus raised his hand to the sky, seemingly dispersing the cloud with no effort at all. All of his demonic guard onboard the tank were instantly killed, but the God of Death stood with no visible injury.
"Dagonus, the false-King of Vale!" Coco, leader of the wanted Team CFVY, stood at the end of the road with her black briefcase in hand, adjusting her glasses as the rest of her team stood beside her in combat positions. "For crimes against the Kingdom of Vale, I am placing you under arrest!"
"How quant." Dagonus acknowledged the girls demand as he stepped off his transport and onto the black street below. The man brushed aside his flowing cloak as he held his hands up in false surrender.
"How ironic, isn't it? That you claim to arrest me for crimes upon this Kingdom, yet you have just detonated an explosive which could have killed these civilians." Dagonus gestured to the area the bomb had gone off in, revealing that he had protected the people by the vehicle with a magical shield.
"Had I not sensed your intent, these people would have been killed by your hand."
"They would have been fine." Coco retorted. "We had this all planned out."
"Your words mean nothing, as your actions speak for you." Dagonus growled as he brought forth his massive scythe to his hand. "Now, you will pay."
Coco narrowed her eyes as she expanded her briefcase into the large mini-gun hidden inside, instantly firing off hundreds of rounds down the road. The bullets bounced off the scythe with dull thumps as Dagonus proceeded up the street from his position.
Coco nodded to Fox and Velvet, causing the duo to sprint towards the God with their fists and feet ready. Velvet spun in the air gracefully before delivering a rapid kick to the man's face, while Fox winded his right fist back to deliver a massive, hard-hitting punch to the deity's chest.
Dagonus spun his blade at the perfect angle to deflect both assaults, slashing the weapon to the side as Fox back-flipped just in time to avoid the blade while Velvet jumped on-top of the God. Velvet punched downward on his neck with a vial of blue Dust powder before pressing her feet on his shoulders and pushing off to safety as the God stumbled over onto the rocky road below.
The blue Dust worked its magic as Dagonus was suddenly frozen solid in a block of thick ice, pinning him to the ground as Coco lowered her mini-gun. Yatsuhashi followed his team's leader up to the imprisoned God with his sword hooked to his back.
"Huh." Coco nodded to her team as she placed a firm boot on the top of the ice block. "I guess they don't make bad guys like they used to, eh?"
Just as Coco's words exited her mouth, the massive ice block detonated as Dagonus's body exploded in sheer power. The man's body radiated dark energy as his form shifted into one of a massive black wolf with blood red eyes.
The wolf howled in anger as it leaped onto Coco, delivering a ferocious bite into her neck as she cried out in pain. Yatsuhashi went to work immediately as he spun and slammed his sword down onto Dagonus's neck, splitting him as he dispersed into a cloud of black ash.
Velvet threw Coco over her shoulder as the remaining trio formed a triangle together, all looking around to spot the deity as the civilians began to boo the Hunters and Huntresses, several throwing objects at them in anger for harming their King.
"We need to leave." Yatsuhashi spoke low.
"Right." Fox agreed as he blindly looked around, struggling to sense any speck of the God.
"Fools." Dagonus suddenly boomed as he stood above them in the air, casing down a magical black cage. The prison boxed the four Hunters inside, trapping them as their weapons suddenly disappeared into thin air.
Dagonus landed gracefully on the ground before the cage, greeted with cheering from his populous as they continued to boo the actions of the Hunters.
"Be calm, my people. For today, four horrible evil-doers will be placed in prison and sentenced to the punishment befitting assassins of the crown." Dagonus announced as he held his arms wide for the crowd to see. "These four have betrayed your trust of Beacon and their morals. As I took control as your King, I told you of the evil that Beacon could do upon you all! That is why I disposed of their kind to prison, all to protect you from their influence and danger."
The crowd boomed with agreement in the form of cheering, calling for blood.
"Three days from now, these monsters will be made an example to all those who would defy and harm our great Kingdom!" Dagonus finished, glaring at the four as his soldiers arrived to take them away. "None shall interfere with our great Kingdom!"