Hello everyone! How are you doing? I hope you had a Merry Christmas!
Chapter 173 is here. My apologies for the delay- I left home for the weekend and forgot my laptop there, so I had no way to upload on time.
Thank you once more for keeping up with the story so far. 2023 has arrived, Rise of the EG is about to end and you all are still as awesome as ever!
So, holding back my urge to babble more, I wish you all to have a great New Year. I will see you on the 11th with chapter 174.
Until then, be well and have fun!
June 14, 86
A pair of heterochromatic cyan eyes carefully narrowed. Two sets of clear blue ones opened in anticipation of their verdict, both shining in the dimly-lit corridor of the SHU's technological department vaults.
"And what might you be doing at this our over here?" Weiss asked the two blondes with a much less accusatory tone than her usual stern and uptight motif.
"You know I could ask you the same thing" Sun jabbed at her, making Jaune stifle a gasp of warning at his partner in crime.
Weiss, much to their surprise, neither glared at Sun nor called any of the campus security. Instead, she took a quick look around and shoved both of them inside the closest room. "Speak - or I am selling you out."
"Ok, please don't be mad" Jaune responded to her command. "I just wanted help to break in without making any damage and I asked Sun to assist me; he is just here to help me, nothing more" he explained.
"Oi, I agreed to- I am not letting you take all the blame" the monkey faunus protested. "Come on now, we don't-"
"Ok, ok got it!" Weiss cut their jabber off. "You are both morons and I knew that; what I am asking is why you did this? You are going to get Blake into serious trouble" she eyed Sun with an intense stare.
"I- well, we…" "We came here for me to get this" Jaune raised his hand and revealed a small metal box full of large black pills like overgrown candy. It had shock-resistant plating and a familiar emblem on its top.
Weiss blinked a couple times before she completely registered what was going on. "You snuck in to get the special aura-enhancing pills? Are you frigging insane? You know you are incompatible to them, Jaune!"
"You think I don't know it?" the boy asked back. "It's just my luck to be incompatible with something created by studying my aura" he let his frustration out. "But I want to- no, I need to do this" he replied to her.
She tried to retort, but Sun gently walked by her "don't be so harsh to him, please" he told her. "We just want to be able to fight next to you guys, so that you won't have to bear this on your own."
"I wish I could" she replied. "Huh?" both boys stared at the petite girl whose shoulders had slumped and fallen in a display of depression. "I wish I could bear this on my own… that way…" her voice trailed off.
"That way Blake wouldn't have to spend sleepless nights dragging you out for bike walks to calm down" Weiss told him, earning a surprised eye roll. "Jaune wouldn't have to resolve to poison his very own body."
Weiss double checked she wasn't being noticed by the night patrol "if I could just take it all… Ruby wouldn't have to curse herself with thinking of all the dead souls Avyssos consumed. Ren and Nora would still be in position to act as huntsmen. And Yang…" she bit her lip in bitterness.
"Yang… wouldn't have to get her soul polluted by this thing. She would still be smiling her heart out." The heterochromatic eyes shut and she licked her dry lips "if only I could do something for all of you; anything."
"Weiss…" Jaune stared at the high quality pills in his hand. They were a bit stronger than the normal pills, utilizing a faster aura acceleration method. They were incredibly effective- and accessible to a select few.
"I just want to stand alongside you guys again" he commented. "You are" she replied "and you don't need any help for that. There is no reason for anyone else to burden their souls and bodies any longer."
"Weiss?" Sun raised an eyebrow as he finally saw the huge book that was hanging out of her thin arms. It had a dark and ominous cover, like a horror article out of a dark bedtime story. She turned at him and fixed the boy with another gaze; this one full of determination.
"Leave your burdens to me. All of them."
-o—
Unsurprisingly, her attack didn't land. The veins she had snatched away from the Mad King's control were easily deflected by the dozens of red ones still hailing at the monster's command before they could reach it.
That allowed her some space, however. Weiss channeled more of the ample magical power into her glyphs and rotated her weapon chamber to gravity dust, forming four black arrays beneath her teammates.
The formations rotated and levitated high above the swirling sands. In a heartbeat, Ruby, Jaune and the Black Sun couple found themselves out of the searing quicksand, gasping for breath in three runic platforms.
Yang stood in the fourth one, coughing violently. Weiss clicked her left index finger and two magical veins picked her up and helped her jump next to her girlfriend. She coughed in a rather restrained mannerism.
"Great save, Weiss!" Ruby cheerfully grinned from far away. The pale huntress wiped the blood off her eyelids, leaving thin red smudges on her cheeks. She stared at her marred fingers and black energy lines.
"What did you-" Yang started asking, but held her tongue. She instead gave her a comforting smile. "How are you holding up, baby?" "Better than you, for sure" the petite woman replied at her transformed lover.
Jaune clenched his fists and swallowed another regular aura pill. Unlike the special ones, these were much safer to use and at least allowed his aura to hold on for a little more. The effect was moderate, but he had promised Weiss he wouldn't resort to using them. He swallowed hard.
Sun was staring at the wounds all over his body. That had been a nasty trap for sure. They had been really close to biting the dust. He helped Blake up and then turned his attention at the unmoving monstrosity.
"Why doesn't it do anything?" he asked out loudly enough for everyone to hear. The form was now lying on the throne with its head tilted. The hole made by Ruby's bullet was visible enough even from distance.
Eidolon's presence surrounding her, Blake took a step to the edge of the platform. "It looks even more decrepit than before. Could Weiss' attack have worked?" she asked Yang, whose eyes scoured the throne.
It truly was strange. Yang and Weiss shared a quick look around. Mad King Tephrus was unmoving, despite its body oozing out energy. They could both see the veins swaying far above them, but if they wanted to be honest, the situation was-
"It lacks depth" Jaune cut them off. "What do you-" "It's scary and of course deadly, but aside from the immense magical powers, I can't see or feel the same horror that greeted us when we opened the door. The sickening churn in my stomach is gone and the air is much less heavy."
Ruby's eyes opened wide. She quickly shifted her head left and right in rapid movements. She couldn't sense magic or see the veins like her friends did, but her eyes were still as sharp as ever. And just right now…
"There's nothing" she exclaimed. "That thing barely moves on its own; as if it's a puppet wrapped in strings." "The veins…" Yang gasped. Her transformed mouth and thinning lips dripped blood. Weiss wiped it off.
"Do you think we won?" Sun asked. "I strongly doubt it" Blake began scouring the area, sending Eidolon to the farther places to spy on each and every shadow. It carefully jumped down next to the glass throne.
The decrepit corpse was thrown on top of the glass shards, like its soul had- it suddenly rose. Blake screamed, summoning her servant back to her shadow as the binding-wrapped marionette jerked forward without any warning. Its flesh stretched out and its bones contorted violently.
Weiss and Yang saw- no, felt- the veins pierce the back of the unholy corpse. Mad King's body was picked up from the throne and raised high above them, the sound of flesh being stretched filling their senses.
The veins finally fully materialized. "What the fuck!" Sun cried out as a humongous network of thin scarlet lines appeared before them.
The bindings came off. Six long thin arms spread from the corpse's body and reached out, wrapped in white plating and encased in red lines that gleamed in malice. Black-red mist poured out of its now smiling jaws.
A dense forest of red glistering veins sprouted out of thin air, allowing the smiling monstrosity to hover mid-air standing on top of them. Its body shifted and twisted upside down in horrifying mimicry of the poor girl from that old horror movie Yang had no desire to think of right now.
Power sizzled from above it. For a moment, Yang and Weiss averted their gaze towards the upper layers of the ceiling, but its next move left them no time to acknowledge the new magical signs any further.
"All of you; get in position for mid-air combat!" Ruby's voice cut off the harrowing feeling spreading inside their hearts. "We will use a Golden Arrow Formation and finish it with one mighty attack!" she announced.
As if reacting to her provocations, the veins shone and gleamed. The Mad King's arms shook it a horrifying, macabre dance as the sea of red once more fell upon them. "Evade and take positions!" Ruby shouted.
"Use the veins as foothold!" Weiss screamed, commanding her pure white lines to shoot up towards the descending scarlet onslaught. They ascended like a hail of spears, aiming to pierce through the enemy line.
They weren't many of them to do so. Weiss quickly realized the futility of her attack and redirected her magical-controlled channels down as soon as the first few got smashed by the red cascades.
Blake and Sun jumped across them, using each other's clones as a way to jump further up. Nightfall and Eidolon sliced thin pieces of magic as Ruyi and Jingu Bang smashed their remains away to create an opening.
Jaune run across the petite huntress' flying platforms and rushed at the attacking spears with his shield. He skillfully bashed a swarm away and quickly sidestepped to thwart the counterattack with Crocea Mors.
Ruby ignored all of it and burst up. She rematerialized upside down, her feet momentarily touching the ceiling. The Mad King was within striking distance and had its focus on raining death upon the others.
With a swift and practiced motion, the reaper emptied an entire vial of Anti-Elder liquid upon her blade, dying it a shining blue. In a heartbeat, even as gravity pulled her down, she burst towards the twisted Grimm.
Like all the previous times she had attempted to kill an Elder like this, it was waiting for her. In a quick motion, it turned around and slammed at her charging body with its six sets of white-bone, razor-sharp claws.
Unlike all previous times, Ruby Rose had been anticipating that reaction from it. She immediately burst away as the slice cut through her aura and jumped upwards. In a swift motion, she sliced just above its head.
Blake and Sun passed through the opening the latter one had made and quickly sliced around the monstrous enemy. It lashed out to strike at-
Jaune's bashing attack, powered by the same Anti-Elder substance, hit a good few meters below it. As the attacks swirled around, it took only a moment for the Mad King to realize what its enemies were after.
It was the same moment when Weiss' veins surrounded the creature, stepping in through the dead zone the huntsmen had formed through the forest of scarlet magic. The pale girl loudly snapped her fingers.
The Mad King's body began to fall. It immediately called upon its vast magical powers to assist it, but Yang was there. She jumped up high and stepped on a deftly formed rune platform to earn a bit momentum.
Power enveloped her. A familiar sense of primal euphoria consumed her once more. Her malformed body screamed in pleasure and anger as it got wreathed in mighty green flames. She bit her lips and they bled.
Her right fist- her only not transformed part along with her face- armed in power. A small, tiny golden hue broke through the abhorrent eldritch cloak. That hit was going to be hers; no forsaken abomination would take that from Yang. She would hit that creepy thing at least once!
As her punch collided with the disfigured creature's body, her instincts screamed at her storm-filled mind. A strange feeling filled her heart- a dreadful feeling of loss and confusion, as if she was realizing something she had been so far ignoring. She shook it away by punching harder.
The impact shook the entire throne room. Mad King's mask broke and shattered in pieces under the weight of Yang's attack. A loud snap was heard from its neck being smashed under the pressure of her right fist.
Instinctively, its arms reached out to grab her. "I don't think so!" Ruby's bullet blew away one of the arms in an explosion of shimmering blue.
Blake jumped up high and unleashed both swords upon it. Eidolon's form lashed out and severed another arm, while Nightfall's wires got wrapped around two more. Yang grabbed the last two-
And she broke them in half with ease, like snapping fallen twigs. She slammed its disfigured mask with her right arm and threw it towards the boiling hot sands, panting and straining for breath from exhaustion.
Before it could land, Sun's clones jumped up and slammed it like it was an oversized rag doll. The monster tried to defend, but its energy was at its worst, leaking out of every pore of its body along with its blood.
The moment it touched the ground, Jaune bashed at it with his shield. Ruby immediately appeared, utilizing air dust and her semblance to form a path towards the shining throne of alien glass for her boyfriend.
Picking up on her moves, Jaune mustered all of his remaining strength to push the Grimm towards it. His muscles snapped and his body felt an unbearable surge of pain dancing at the edge of his skin and nerves.
Yet, he didn't even flinch. His mind was fraying and his legs were on the verge of collapsing, but he never gave in. He needed to do it. He had to do it. As Ruby's semblance raised the Grimm airborne he charged forth.
Yang landed and collapsed on top of a new floating glyph just in time to see Jaune smashing the remains of the Mad King's transformed body into the magic throne of enchanted glass, letting out a triumphant cry.
"All vials but one!" At Ruby's command, Jaune jumped away. Everyone, Yang included, raised their weapons and opened fire, emptying all but one of their Anti-Elder ammunition reserves upon the Mad King's body.
The assault lasted almost for a minute. For almost a minute, the only sound permeating the long-forgotten corridors of the Mad King's tomb was one of gunfire and explosions. Bullets, missiles, grenades, shotgun shells and dust-powered beams all rained upon the decrepit monster.
And then, the veins finally subsided and withered away. The moment the sea of red vanished, Weiss ran towards Yang's kneeling body, her light footsteps the only sound to break through the smoke and dust.
-o—
Weiss knelt next to her. Yang was in pain, and the alabaster girl could easily see it. Her body was severely burnt and, much to her dismay, her aura seemed to not be working well. It's as if this thing is resisting it!
"Did we win?" the blonde whispered under the strain, behind bloodied pieces of bone and overgrown spikes. Weiss hugged her gently, trying not to cry out. "I think so. We blew an entire platoon's supply upon it."
"Good, cause I think I am almost at my limit." Weiss' brow narrowed. "I am not stupid, you know. You passed your threshold quite some time ago, Yang Xiao Long" she tenderly reprimanded and kissed her cheek.
"Not too much human left to kiss, baby" Yang bitterly smiled and then looked at the pale woman's marred left hand. "The lines grew in so little a time- what were you thinking tapping into that stuff, sweetie?"
Weiss threw a quick glance around her, observing as Ruby and Blake were leading the boys into creating a perimeter around the throne's devastated remains. They were being cautious- as they should be.
"I was thinking I can't live without you and I want to help you and those who are family to me" she hugged her and whispered in her ear "at any cost." Yang's heart skipped a beat. Thankfully, her mind was still intact.
"Idiot… this is hell you are walking into." "It can't be so bad by your side you moron" Weiss countered back. "I will save you from this fate; even if I have to summon the devil itself to-"
"Weiss!" Ruby's voice cut them off and both girls turned around to look at the silver-eyed huntress. "I need you to see this- the Grimm faded in dust, but the throne is glowing!" she shouted in confusion and fear.
Quickly, Weiss helped Yang up and they both jumped down the glyph. With all veins having vanished, the sand was now cool and solid enough to walk upon without problems. They carefully walked to the throne's broken remains, supported by Blake and Sun keeping an eye for danger.
The throne truly glowed in power, much to the petite girl's confusion. The Mad King had vanished, nothing left behind but scattered pieces of dark, stained glass and a cracked seat of power, filled in bullet holes.
The runes were scattered upon its surface, but it wasn't that hard to find them. Weiss' magical detection charm allowed her to peek a quick look at the new threat, reading the runes like an old journal of-
"Aios- the MOON?" she gasped out in a rather unladylike manner. "W- What is going on here? Isn't this the Mad King?" she screamed in shock.
"Is this why it felt so underwhelming?" Yang clenched her fists. Blake's svelte body jumped to the other side of the room, her eyes combined with her weapon's magical properties in order to detect any presence.
Sun helped Jaune up. His body was wounded, but other than a severe case of exhaustion he wasn't far worse than any other. Ruby smiled at the two boys and turned around to her shocked teammates.
"We've been played" she exclaimed to them "the Mad King wasn't here to begin with. Instead, we wasted valuable time on chasing another of its spawns." She looked at Yang who was on the verge of lashing out.
"I am ok" she lied, trying to convince her transfigured body as such. The pain was intense and the rising feelings of frustration weren't helping her fight the growing possession away. She rubbed her eyes with her clawed left hand. "We got trapped in here for nothing" she finally said.
"I wouldn't say so; if anything, you performed splendidly" a heavy and proud voice echoed around them, snapping the huntsmen out of their thoughts. It was magically projected, cast upon them from the outside.
"That voice is human; who are you?" Ruby stepped forward, but Yang's metal arm grabbed her. Red met silver as the taller woman shook her head. She had recognized the voice and didn't like who it belonged to.
"Where are you Goldenrod?" she stretched out the name enough for her friends to realize who the man was from her previous mentioning of his. "Is this farce your doing, you obsessed son of a bitch?"
Instead on an answer, Yang felt the world shaking around them. Weiss' eyes shone in power, taking in the humongous spike in magical energy coming upon them from high above. "Take cover!" she warned them.
They tried to, but what happened afterwards let them no time or place to hide in. The magical power spiked high. The huge, rune-coated walls shifted, solid rock moving like panels of a grotesque movie studio.
The ceiling split open in the most unnatural and otherworldly manner. A vast sky, filled in shining stars and shimmering prismatic lights, spread above their heads.
Blake gritted her teeth. It was the same vista they had seen when they had first arrived in the castle- the alien stars pulsing in primordial might in the center of the monolithic arrays. She felt fear and stepped back.
As they tried to comprehend their situation, a powerful blast of purely white energy fell upon them. For the primordial sky, it was just a blink of its numerous suns and planets. For them, it was a spelling of doom.
All six huntsmen screamed in agony as the light hit the center of the empty throne room. The glyphs in the walls activated, shining in thick red and white forms, restraining them in place with impossible magic.
The magical power resonated and started pummeling on their bodies. The resonance pierced though their souls and began absorbing both all of their auras and their very life force, draining them to annihilation.
Ruby hugged Jaune in a desperate attempt to keep the horrible feeling away. The blonde squeezed her and tried to whisper words of courage, despite knowing his own strength was quickly leaving him.
Blake fell on the ground next to Sun. Along with her skull throbbing, she could feel Eidolon's emptiness as the spell slowly consumed its power.
Yang knelt in front of Weiss, her body straining in agony. The petite girl was silent and stilled, but luckily the taller woman could feel her aura was still acting. She raised her head, pushing the pain back in her mind.
I have gotten quite used to working under strain, huh. She bitterly spat dark liquid on the ground. Her body could still move, despite the spell harassing her soul. Do I still have a soul to be harassed? She pondered.
"You are tough, as I expected" the voice announced the arrival of three cloaked figures. They were standing at the outer rim of the ceiling, just one step away from jumping down inside the elaborately crafted trap.
Maize Goldenrod glared down at them, his body severely weakened. A cautious and reserved figure belonging to Fergus Celain stood beside him, holding the despicable mannequin of Safira Blue in his thin arms.
"I envy you, Yang" he morbidly announced to her. "You are about to witness something no human has ever seen- the first completed and successful resurrection spell in the history of Remnant."
She didn't reply as the professor raised a bloodied arm and stretched it out towards them. Power shook the air around him as he whispered in a twisted parody of a language, reminiscent of Weiss' dark chanting.
"The sacrifice is captured. Let the ritual truly begin."