Chapter 18: Dragonslayer

How do you hunt Grimm without Huntresses? It was a simple question, but like asking "How do you breathe without lungs?" there was no answer that was good for morale. Plainly put, you don't.

It was frankly by a miracle that they were just barely holding on, Isabella knew it. Even as the battle prolonged itself, the injuries were piling up. A few close calls here, some mistakes there, they had no Aura to ignore those. She was already compromised, limping from place to place, and one injury usually led to another. Then there was a cut on her shoulder by a stray Nevermore feather, the claw marks of the creep that nearly rend right through the chest of her pilot armor, and the fact she was running out of bullets. Normal people in long engagements against the Grimm were generally losing battles, unless the ones engaging them were the atlesian military, and in the past they were less of a force and more of a 'wall of guns', at least that was what the Beacon Operators called them. Even those squads usually spent too much Dust to make it worth their while.

A cannon turret's gunfire followed a Griffon, finally ending the beast when it fell and erupted into a dark cloud. The gunman immediately switched targets, not a moment's rest.

They were making it. Slowly but surely some of the Grimm wave was thinning. She'd gathered not just the point-fifty turret by now, but a full auto rifle, a fire Dust grenade belt and a shotgun. The pilot armor thankfully had enough holsters and handles to make it work, could even carry the point-fifty strapped to her back. More than enough weapons to make sure if any of the soulless pieces of shit tried to take her life they'd have to work for it. Hard, harder than they'd ever had.

A Griffon flew overhead Just above her. By then the meaning of it was clear, another bombing run. A dozen or so creeps rained around her from the sky, their impact shaking the area around Isabella. She couldn't hesitate, shotgun in hand she shot the first two, dead on, but from behind one stabbed a horn into her side, painfully slicing into rib or two, and that was when the others leapt into the attack, swarming Isabella. One bit her other arm, the other a leg, she shot them, ending the two in a couple of shots, until…

click-click-click

Her shotgun was out of bullets, and her enemies had her. That was it, she'd fought hard but there was no coming back from this, not when every other Operator had their hands full. She reached for the rifle, only for a Creep to intercept her arm by the elbow, biting into it, hard. Well, she'd tried to avoid it but… she wouldn't need both hands to arm the grenades, they were armed by spinning and pressing down on the dial atop of it.

Just as the thought crossed her mind, A green beam of light pulverized the Creeps at her back, then a rapid-fire salvo took down the others. She fell down to her knees, everything hurt, but she looked to where the shots came from.

Penny.

The red-haired woman ran to her side, then helped Isabella to her feet. "I thought you were out of commission…" she said.

Penny nodded once, "I was, for automated repairs. Father had to cancel them halfway through. I heard your call. You need to retreat to the medical wing."

Isabella took deep breaths before speaking, cutting through the pain, "I can still fight. I can do this," she said, not sure if she was trying to convince the Huntress or herself.

Penny glanced at her for a moment, but no more than that. Her eyes flashed green twice, her lips didn't move but Isabella still heard her voice, "Calibration complete. You should be hearing me in your helmet," When Isabella nodded once, she continued, "I will assist the defense efforts. I should be enough to slow them down."

Before Isabella could say anything, Penny took off into the air, assisted by her built-in thrusters. She stopped in midair, then fired barrage after barrage of lasers, always aiming at the nearest Grimm. Where gunfire would've taken five or six shots to take down some Grimm, one or, at best, two of Penny's lasers would cut down even the Griffons, and those things were big enough to swallow people whole.

Damn. It really is like watching a demigod fight, Isabella thought. In moments Penny cut down the numbers to half of what they were before. Then she changed targets, shot a laser into clouds, a bigger blast, an almost blinding beam. The Dragon emerged, unharmed. Its slow, leathery wing beats blew winds into the runway, as it circled the airship like a predator, preparing for an ambush.

Penny didn't give it time to think, shot lasers into its eyes, wings, never a moment without assaulting the gigantic, almost plane-sized beast. It fell into her plan and followed her, though Penny was a smaller target, she had far more maneuverability in the air, flying circles around the Dragon. Penny couldn't kill the thing in one go, but little by little she was whittling down the bone armor, poking holes in it's defense.

Isabella could've turned her back and limped her way into the medical bay. She could've done so minutes ago, but that was not the way of Beacon Operators. They were trained by the Pyrrha Nikos, they would assist to the end. Together to the end, through deed or , limping, she helped where she could, Fired at the Griffons and nascent Nevermores.

Then the tide of the fight changed again.

It was like seeing an invisible wave pass through the Grimm in real time. Rather than swarm around the Mirage, they took on formations, one at a time, and the Dragon ignored Penny completely, flying back into the clouds. They were coordinating again!

When it flew back it was on a collision course with the Mirage. The Dragon stretched its wingspan to the fullest, then spinned its belly to its side, unfazed by Penny's laser barrage. The wings would— The wings crashed into the runway! Turrets and operators were sent flying down to the abyss below, she could hear the engines on the propellers struggling, working harder to keep the now unstable aircraft aloft.

With barely any effort, it had nearly cut the Mirage in half.

"It went through the hull!" Isabella heard Penny shout into her helmet, "Izzy listen to me! You need to get to the medical bay right now, it opened a breach right above team Ruby—aaaargh!"

She looked up trying to find Penny, saw the Dragon had intercepted her by chance, bit one of her legs. It was a calculated attack, to reduce her maneuverability! It hadn't broken Penny's Aura Shield, but it had her in its grasp. One sustained jet of fire from her boot thrusters, and Penny forced the thing to release her, again deadlocked into airborne combat with the Grimm.

She had to get to team Ruby. They still needed her, and they were out in the open! Isabella Limped to the breach, it was above the medical bay, if she could make the jump… If only she could…

Breathing was getting harder and harder, she tried to move but her legs weighed a ton, her vision was blurry. She knew what it meant, but it couldn't be happening at a worse possible time. No! Why now? Just a little more, please! Just a minute longer!

Isabella took a few shallow breaths, then roared, forced her muscles to move even as they gave up. This was not their call to make it was hers! She could die later, they needed her! She reminded her muscles and organs and lungs that it was not a democracy, they were in a dictatorship and they'd fail her when she allowed them to fail. She had a job to complete. Dragging a leg behind Isabella painfully made her way to the breach. She could see the medical bay, she just needed to fall, then point her gun up and shoot at any Grimm that made their way in.

Anyone could fall. Anyone could point and shoot.

At the worst possible time, her legs gave up on her a mere step away. She tried to push herself up, but her right arm collapsed under, too weak to move. The elbow was ruined. It was getting hard to breathe, and her vision blackened at the edges and she was seeing double. Defeated, Isabella reached for her rifle, at the very least she could take another Grimm or two down with her.

But then they all stopped, flying in midair.

A white Glyph appeared in front of her, a moment later, a white-haired figure bounced from it and landed in front of her. Every Grimm around the Mirage screeched and howled in celebration, the Dragon's terrible roar pieced through all of them.

Isabella knew who it was that stood in front of her. Her vision darkened, she wouldn't be there to see it, but she knew she'd done her job.

—❖—

Weiss recognized the body beneath her.

Gone, lifeless. Though she still checked for a pulse, the trail of blood, the injuries, she was gone. Their pilot was dead. Her name was Isabella, Weiss reminded herself.

It was a part of the job that they'd lose someone eventually, good as team Ruby was. Or someone would lose them, they were prepared for it. She'd finish the fight and mourn later, but it didn't mean she didn't care. The rest of team Ruby jumped out of the rift, one by one, then Winter. Penny flew down, to stay just above them.

Before Ruby could even ask, Weiss shook her head, slowly. The Grimm around the Mirage kept themselves away, only flying in place. She knew what it meant, it wasn't them waiting, it was someone else. Someone who wanted them to see this before killing them.

Weiss knew what Salem wanted. "She doesn't think we'll make it out of this alive," were the first words Weiss said to her team.

"I think we can prove her wrong," said Yang.

Winter examined the damage done to the ship, looking around them, "The ship can't maintain integrity for long, not with a breach like this. I'll take care of it, me and Penny," she ran to the edge, "Penny!" She called, jumping to the woman's arms just before disappearing over the edge.

Ruby took a step closer, "Think you can keep that thing up there busy for a few minutes? Until we clear out the other Grimm?"

Weiss considered it. Her hand curled up into fists, so hard it might've drawn blood were she not shielded by Aura. She had only one enemy in her mind, and hen it was gone, when the elder Grimm was reduced to nothing more than a pile of black ash blowing in the wind, maybe it'd send Salem a message.

"Yes," said Weiss, Well aware that her plan was not simply delaying the elder Grimm. No, that'd be too kind.

It was going to suffer.

Over the Mirage and still patient as ever, the Dragon loomed. It was almost as big as a standard plane, bigger than a giant Nevermore. Weiss opened her arms, taunting the beast. Whatever words she said wouldn't reach it that far up anyways, and at the moment she couldn't piece her thoughts together coherently enough to form anything more than a string of insults. She unsheathed Myrtenaster and conjured a line of Glyphs, stairs, platforms as she moved forward and faced the Grimm.

The Grimm all moved in unison, flying to converge her way. Dragon roared, a wingbeat later it dived head-on against the Mirage, threatening to use its massive weight to destroy the carrier. Weiss conjured a wall of Glyphs, a feint. She waited as it approached, her glare fixed on the massive elder beast. It realized its mistake a moment too late, when she twisted the glyphs, so that the Dragon would meet their edges instead. The momentum was turned against it, The Dragon tried to fly away at the last second, but the glyphs cut into its underside, the chest, the abdomen. They left parallel cuts, like claw marks.

At the same time, The Grimm that converged her way were stopped by a series of ricochet shots, forcing them to regroup. A work of Ruby Rose, no doubt.

Could those things even feel pain? Weiss was determined to discover it that day. She leaped off her Glyph, conjuring another to land in midair, then again. She could do it indefinitely, conjure Glyphs as she needed them, there was no real difference between fighting on land or on air, at least not to her.

She circled around the Dragon, analyzing it for a brief moment. If Penny's efforts were any clue — and she had a lot of firepower — Weiss would need to do more than just artillery to take it down. Would direct Contact with Aura hurt it some more? Willing to take the chance, Weiss reconfigured the Glyph she stood on, to make it repel her, quick as an arrow. The first step for this was testing the Dragons defense, and before making contact or even coming into the range of its wingspan, she conjured another glyph, to change her trajectory away from it. She'd done so at the perfect time, as the Dragon spun in midair to strike her with its tail, it swiped only at air instead.

Weiss followed the swipe, bouncing from her Glyphs to the tail. As she stood on its back, she conjured another to pull her down, so she wouldn't fall off the Grimm. She switched on Myrtenaster's hard light mode, turning it into the deadly broadsword Ruby had designed for her. She held it two-handed, then plunged it into the base of the Dragon's tail, slicing it as easily as it would a pile of snow. By the time she had chopped through half of it, the Beast squirmed and twisted in midair. With one final push she sliced through it, separating tail from body.

As it clawed at her, Weiss moved out of the way, along the Dragon's spine. She dragged the tip of her blade on its back along the way. It was minimal damage but it would hurt, and she wanted it to feel every cut, every blow and every last spec of Dust used to bring it down.

Somewhere below the back of the neck, near where the scapula would be if it had human anatomy, Weiss stopped and delivered a barrage of cuts, in enough time she'd sever the spine, make it stop moving and fall.

The Dragon roared in agonized pain. It spun in midair, the force of which, unexpected to Weiss, was too sudden and too great for her Glyph to counteract. As she steadied herself in midair with another Glyph, Weiss looked as the Dragon revealed a trick up its sleeve. The charcoal Grimm flesh its wings were made of bubbled and popped, the liquid substance spawned creeps that walked along its wings, kept close to the body. It would either defend itself with numbers.

More Grimm to kill.

Weiss bounced along Glyphs in the air, sheathed Myrtenaster and spawned a Glyph on each wrist as a pair of shields. She accelerated through Glyphs and delivered a straight punch to the beast's back, the shockwave of which set the spawned Creep on its back flying down to the abyss below.

"My power move, yeah!" Weiss shouted, content with herself before she realized it wasn't her move, it was Yang's.

She looked at her wrist, where she'd spawned the Glyph, was she emulating Ember Celica without even thinking? And the maneuvers in the air, she'd never done anything like it before, it was Ruby's, but she'd used it like she'd known how to for her whole life.

Weiss realized in a moment what had happened. They wandered inside each other's minds, sharing more than just a few memories. Were the others like that too? She didn't have the time to check.

She leaped and plunged the blade on the back of the Dragon's neck, then reactivated the hard-light mode, extending the blade inside and prompting another roar. Below, Weiss could see Winter Conjuring Glyphs to keep the Mirage steady, whatever Grimm tried to attack her and Penny was simply cut down by Blake, as she dashed in midair, using her clones as stepping stones, not unlike Weiss had done a moment ago. Yang had pried off a pair of turrets, point-fifties in fact, and even as she hip-fired them on full auto, it was as if the recoil didn't matter, she still hit her targets.

"Does it hurt when I'm the one to twist the knife? I hope you're feeling it too, Salem. I bet you were banking on killing us all here before we figured it out, weren't you? Trying to kill us before we spilled your little secret, before we could adapt."

The Dragon silenced itself, the head swiveled, so its eyes —positioned on the sides of its head— could look Weiss in the eye. Oh, she was listening alright.

Weiss lowered her voice, to make it pay attention, make sure Salem was listening too, "Maybe you're considering all the ways you could still win, the ways you can make this work. But it's over, and I'll make sure your little Dragon here is the last one standing. You can't stop me!" she finished, venom in her voice and blood boiling beneath the surface.

Weiss drove Myrtenaster even further down, severing the Dragon's spine at the neck. It crashed toward the Mirage, but before it could touch the dear carrier, she conjured a wall of Glyphs, mere meters up from the runway. As she dismissed them, the Dragon's healled lolled down, it lined up perfectly with the breach, ready for the final, cutting blow.

Weiss made sure to position it in front of Isabella. Face-to face with one of its many victims.

Breathing heavily, Weiss jumped down from the beast, stabbed Myrtenaster into its neck again as she did so, cutting it open on the way down. She fired a salvo of shots into the cut, just a little more, and it'd be over. It didn't have the strength to fight back, couldn't move its body, and it was out of tricks… or so she thought. It was too late when she realized it, but something inside the dragon was heating up. A second later, it was a hum of lightning, then light.

She had no time to put up Glyphs, as the Dragon aimed down at the breach and fired a stream of plasma down, cutting the Mirage in half.