Chapter: 20 The Final Battle Part 1
'Sorry about the delay, life has been extremely hectic. I hope you enjoy the second to last chapter. Please, feel free to comment with your feedback. More announcements to come.'
"Pick up the pace, you lot! I don't need eyes to know you're not shooting them hard enough! We are on a tight time table people! And already behind it! Pick up the pace!" Cinder roared above the cacophonous streams of thunder being belched by automatic gunfire.
With equally grim nods, the men picked up their already brisk pace. Entire teams of the hired men were being used as ammo luggers, running back and forth from the evac point with entire backpack hoppers of dust rounds. At the front, large burly thugs held aloft behemoth dust spitting guns, filling entire hallways with all manners of death for the grimm charging forth. Others wielding massive hammers charged up on lightning dust brought them up and down on grimm skulls with repetitive and clinical efficiency. Yet no matter how many they crushed or gunned down, more swarmed in from every which way they tried to move.
'Let's hope the others survive long enough for this to work.' Cinder thought, using her semblance to shoot a Ravager dead on the wing as their relentless march continued.
Meanwhile in the Inner Sanctum
"Neo, stay behind me." Ruby said, gripping what was left of her weapon nervously.
Neo looks up in surprise, stunned that after everything, she was risking her life for hers.
"Mom. Fight this… Don't make me do this…" Ruby said, her voice hitching as her hands trembled.
To the two's abyssal, gut wrenching horror, slowly the black mass that was burned away from Ruby's attack began to leak thick black smoke. Summer's face on the loping lupine abomination contorted into a large, forced grin.
"Your mother is no longer here. A fate you will have the pleasure to join her in." The hound said.
"N-Not on m-my watch..." Ruby whimpered, but soon was chilled to the bone.
"Don't be scared, baby. Join me. We can be together again, a family again. Just like you always wanted." The hound answered in Summer's voice, "I miss you sweetie. Join me."
Ruby tried to stay strong, tried to stand firm against the monstrous horror before her. Yet any attempt to move, to stiffen up, to do anything, she fell short of being able to. It was as if she was encased in a block of ice. A frozen prison of fear gripped her as her vision went hazy, her head swimming in the misery she got caught up in. Soon she lost sight of the details of the hound, it turning into merely a giant black mass before her. Despite all of that, everything she did this day… she failed.
Soon however her vision changed. Though she couldn't pick out the details as she tried everything she could to get a grip, she saw new colors swirling in front of her. White, pink, and brown. Ruby's eyes widened as the tears poured out by the score. Slowly through every ounce of willpower she had left in her she focused her vision. To her shock stood in front of her Neo, panting and gripping a sword of her own. Suddenly as her senses came back her ears were assaulted by the blood curdling roar of the Hound. Its right hand now missing and thick black ooze flowing from the stump.
"N-Neo?" Ruby asked, stunned at what she was seeing.
Neo beams mischievously back at Ruby, with a look that says, 'Am I gonna have to do ALL the work?'
"R-Right…" Ruby said nervously, steadying and steeling herself as best she could.
Dropping her broken sword, Ruby grit her teeth and used all of her strength to pop her dislocated shoulder back in place. Biting back a scream, she fought through the pain as she felt her dislocated shoulder be forcibly fixed. Reaching down, she picked up another sword, gripped the hilt with both hands, and stood beside Neo as the two prepared to fight while the hound began to recover from the loss of its hand.
"If you wish to meet your end as a squirming maggot writhing in their own guts, so be it. Your end will not be merciful." The hound growled.
Neo coyly holds up a sign, reading, 'Do maggots even have guts?'
Roaring in fury, the hound leapt at the two girls, fully intent on killing them where they stood. Jumping aside, the two girls dodged the grimm hybrid's claws on its remaining hand as it passed between them. Spinning on the balls of their feet, the two swung their blades with all their might, slashing into the beast's sides. Howling in pain, the hound spun and tried to swipe at Ruby only to be met with a slash to its other arm from Neo.
Clenching its fanged jaws in pain, the beast turned to attack the smaller of the two girls, only for the more normal sized one to stab it in the back. Roaring in pain-fueled rage, it tried to turn to attack Ruby. However, Ruby held onto the hilt of her sword and swung with its momentum as it tried to shake her loose. Using the momentum to her advantage, Ruby used her hands and legs to pull the sword free and launch herself above the grimm's head. Using the force of gravity and all of the strength in her arms, she swung down, slashing the beast across its chest.
Howling in pain, the creature moved to impale Ruby with its claws only to find its other hand sliced off by Neo's blade. As the hound forced Summer's face into a vicious snarl, it tried to lash out at Neo with a kick, intending to knock her away and get some breathing room. However, it was forced to retract its leg and dodge aside as Ruby tried to cut its leg off. Growling, the beast roared out in frustrated rage.
"STAND STILL, BOTH OF YOU!" It howled in fury before trying to kick Ruby away.
Before the kick could make contact, the red reaper barely managed to bring the flat of her sword up as a makeshift shield to block the strike. Thankfully, the sword held and she was only pushed back a bit. Looking at Neo, Ruby nodded as the two girls realized what was happening. Whatever it was Ruby had done before, it had weakened the monster. It was getting weaker and slowing down. If they could keep up the pressure, they could win. They HAD to win.
Charging in, both girls attacked it from different sides, forcing it to split its attention as it tried to lash out with them by using what was left of its arms as makeshift clubs. Swinging a forearm at Ruby, the creature dodged aside to avoid a slash from Neo. Swinging a forearm at the ice cream haired girl, it found its side stabbed into by Ruby. Howling in pain, it tried to counter attack by trying to swing at the red reaper to knock her aside, only for her ice cream colored friend to slash off the forearm of its other arm by cutting it at the elbow.
Frustration, pain, and fury filled the beast as it roared out and tried to turn to face the smaller girl only for Ruby to wrench her blade free and slice upwards, cutting off the forearm of its other arm at just above the elbow. Snarling viciously, it kicked Ruby aside before charging in at Neo, attempting to shoulder tackle her. Leaping up and over the hound, the small girl stabbed her blade into the center of its back, making the beast howl in pain and fury as it tried to shake her loose.
Forcibly ripping her blade from the creature's back, Neo hit the ground and rolled to her feet as the beast whimpered in pain. Charging in from opposite sides, the two girls slashed with their blades while aiming at the monster's knees. The twin blows sliced off the beast's legs at the knees, making it roar in agony as it fell onto its back. Planting a foot on the beast's chest, Ruby stared down at the creature using her mother's face as it looked up at her in panic.
"R… Ruby, honey… You wouldn't kill me, would you…? You wouldn't kill mommy, right…?" The hound asked in terror, using Summer's voice again in a quivering tone.
Trembling, Ruby tried her best to hold onto her blade as she looked down at the terrified look on the face that once belonged to her mother. As she did, she remembered everything that had happened because of Salem and this… thing. The death of Zwei and so many others at Beacon…. Her uncle Qrow losing his arm… the pain and suffering inflicted upon her, her team, and Neo… the death of her father… Tears welling up in her eyes, Ruby gripped her sword as she looked down at the creature before her.
"No… I can't… but… you are not my mother…" Ruby told the hound before stabbing it through the head, killing it.
Shutting her eyes, Ruby choked back sobs as she slowly released her grip on the hilt of her sword. As she did, black smoke began to erupt from the grimm hybrid's body as it disappeared, Soon, all that was left was a skeleton that was once her mother's body with a sword blade run through the head. Dropping to her knees, Ruby started to cry as Neo pulled her into a hug.
With a thunderous crack, the two practically were startled out of their spines a
set of heels kicked through a thick wooden door. The two looked to the now opened portico that was once a doorway to see, to their mutual shock, Cinder. Behind her were two of her hired help, and the roaring sound of battle behind them.
"Come with me if you two want to live. We need to get to the bullhead." Cinder sternly said.
"Cinder!? What are you doing here!? And why should we trust you after what you tried to do to us!?" Ruby yelled, hugging Neo protectively. Not that Neo was complaining after what all just happened.
As if right on que, the very stone floor began to shake. Crack in centuries old stone that had stood forever frozen in place began to crack. Thick mortar slowly but relentlessly ground to dust. And this was only the beginning. Within moments it was getting to if any of them had fillings, they'd be knocked loose.
"Believe me now!?" Cinder roared.
"Neo, listen to the blind woman and let's go. I am not leaving you. Not again." Ruby said, standing up with Neo and still in her arms.
Neo looks up in astonishment, 'mutely' following Ruby's lead.
With that they followed their… Savior? Vaguely morally justified kidnapper? You be the judge of that at this point. Rushing through the winding halls as fast as their exhausted legs could carry them, avoiding rubble, grimm and falling set pieces. Ruby several times had to make sure Neo didn't trip, to the point where she simply grabbed the girl and fireman carried her.
"Why are you helping us now of all times?" Ruby asked as they made it to the causeway with the bullhead.
"Listen, war is good for business. Peace is good for business. Neo even stealing half the dust in Vale is good for business if I'm the one who gets a cut. But the end of the bloody world is not good for business. Now get on the damn bullhead!" Cinder explained as she made it to the airship.
Not arguing, though still confused, Ruby and Neo made it just in time as the very airship pad began to crumble. Aside from a couple henchmen that made a mad dive into the hanger. As the tower began to break and crumble, the airship pilot punched the throttle hard to just barely escape the torrent of following rumble. However in the place of the tower began to shoot out a torrent of ash, molten crust and fire.
"What is that!?" Ruby yelled.
"I can't see, but I think I got an idea." Cinder said.
As the hole began to expand, it was clear now what was causing it. Soon sharpened black peaks in a crown of thorns pierced from the ground, forcing the hole open for miles. Then as thick, horrid black smoke erupted, the true face of unquenchable horror reared its ugly head. The pure white skull plate of an unmistakable shape forced its way out, attached to a black, boxy scaled reptilian skull capped in horns that could be mistaken for skyscrapers. Pillar-like legs clad in five-toed feet slammed into the ground hard enough to force torrents of magma to the surface, and rend the ground with their sheer mass.
Titanic darkened plates darker than the void of space clad the reptilian leviathan like armor. Sharp quill like spines trailed down its spine down to the tip of its tail. Like a troglodytic regressive monster, its tail was so long and thick it could be mistaken for the vale trail tunnels. Holding aloft its thick reptilian head was a neck of near equal length, and a thickness of entire anti-grimm battlements. Shaking off untold meters of molten crust and earth from its hide, it unfurled wings of such great length it practically blocked out the celestial light above.
"You knew about this!?" Ruby yelled.
"I had a hunch. Didn't think it'd get this big though." Cinder with surprising calmness replied.
"So what exactly are we supposed to do about this!?" Ruby yelled.
"Simple. Jenkins. Fire when ready." Cinder answered simply.
"Of course, ma'am." The gunner opposite the pilot answered, and flipped open the safety.
With that, the gunner began firing barrage after barrage of missiles into the reptilian leviathan. Following the lead of the main airship, the other bullheads in the massive fleet began unloading their own hail of missile hell down onto the draconic monstrosity. Firing over and over again, the ships didn't let up. Finally, after what felt like eternity, the main ship stopped firing as the others followed soon after.
"Di… Did that do it…?" Ruby asked hopefully.
However, the red reaper's youthful optimism was soon shattered as a massive set of wings appeared from the smoke of the explosions. Flapping, the wings kicked up hurricane winds that blew away the smog, revealing that the winged leviathan was completely unharmed. Throwing its head back, the draconic menace let out a massive, screeching roar that could be heard from miles.
Neo simply raises an eyebrow, as if to say, 'Really?'
Sucking in a massive amount of air, the void-colored leviathan breathed out a massive amount of black smoke. From this smoke, in large groups, more Grimm began to form. Hordes of Grimm of all different shapes and sizes with great wings keeping them aloft in the air roared, shrieked, and screeched as they formed up on the dragon. With a screeching roar from the draconic monstrosity to signal the attack, the fleet of winged grimm charged the airships.