Author's note: Now, Ruby's plan gets put into motion. Some people may have been misinformed about the exact nature of the plan, though.
Maria petrified six Megoliath, turned them to wood and attached the incendiary charges between their hind legs, then returned to the Manta. The pilot took off and headed to the next location, taking a slight detour to draw in more Grimm.
"I still can't believe you plan to do that," the pilot said and asked, "What made you try and create a forest in this area?"
"It's a frozen wasteland," Maria answered, "There's a lot of water, so if we add some wood, add fungi to digest it, and wait, then we can turn it into a much nicer environment."
"I see," the pilot said, "Well, I can't wait to see how it turns out." They continued along their route and Maria petrified a couple more Grimm, turned them into wood, and repeated the process until she had covered the entire distance of the Apophis, then they returned to Atlas.
~o~
Close to sunset, Ruby got a message from Maria, letting her know that they're ready and she's on the way back. She gave Weiss and Jaune a nod to get ready, and Yang and Nora to get going. Yang, who was in her dragon form, jumped off the wall and flew towards the Grimm, while Nora shot grenades at the ground to create turrets. Ruby kept a close eye on the sun disappearing behind the horizon.
"Everyone, get ready," Ruby said over her communicator, "Because now, it gets real." She pressed a button on her scroll and the Grimm went up in flames. Additional charges went off, creating a path for the water to flow into the ocean. The fire melted the ice, and after a few minutes, the ice cracked when the Grimm woke up.
"I don't mean to freak you out," Jaune said and asked, "But, where's the military?" Ruby looked around and realized that her group was the only one that had shown up, and contacted General Ironwood.
"James, where are your men?" Ruby asked, trying to suppress her panic.
"Getting ready to get some sleep," James answered and asked, "Why?"
"Because the Apophis is waking up," Ruby answered, and heard the sound of things falling down from the other end.
"I'll get everyone ready," James said in a bit of panic and hung up, and Ruby looked back at the Grimm through her night vision scope. Weiss created a yellow combat drone and had it float towards the massive Grimm, just as the ground shook for the first time. She then created a Healing Circle and Safezone around herself and Jaune, so their auras would regenerate faster. Yang came back and Nora jumped off, reloading her weapon with fire-dust canisters. A Manta landed near the wall and several dozen soldiers marched out its back, with regular rocket launchers on their backs. Additional Manta brought more soldiers, as well as ammo crates, and Elm came as well.
"You guys came here fast," Elm said.
"Yeah," Ruby said without taking her eyes off the Grimm. The Apophis reared its head and the combat drone began shooting lightnings at it, electrocuting the soaked Grimm and dealing more damage than usual. Elm used the Homing semblance on every rocket they had available.
"There," Elm said, "Now they won't miss that thing." She activated her semblance and began soaking up aura from the ground to replenish her own. As soon as the colossal Grimm's body lit up, the soldiers took a shaky step back, as they couldn't see its end.
"That thing is huge," one of the soldiers said.
"I don't think we can do this," another said.
"Nonsense," Ruby said, "We've got this. We just have to work together. Just like how no single person can build a kingdom, no single person can save the world. Anyone who claims otherwise is delusional, no exceptions. But if we work together, there is no limit to what we can achieve." The soldiers regained their hope and focused on killing the Grimm. Several Manta flew overhead, covering the Apophis in rockets as they reached it. The large airships got in position and opened fire. Vine jumped off the side of Atlas and swung along the airships. The soldiers started shooting rockets at the Grimm. The Apophis raised its head to snap at the airships. Vine used his arm vines to hold onto one airship, and his leg vines to pull himself to another, before launching himself at the Grimm. He used an aura shockwave to increase the damage he dealt, but the colossal Grimm didn't budge. He dropped a remote-controlled explosive in the massive eye and jumped away before detonating the charge.
~o~
As the Apophis reached the blanket of turrets Nora had left behind, they immediately began shooting at it, but with no noticeable effect. Rockets kept hitting its head, and Vine was trying to carve it up with his weapon. Airships shot their lasers at it, and Yang came swooping down in her dragon form to shoot fire at it in passing. Weiss' Queen Lancers shot at it with their bone spikes, while Winter's Manticore attacked with fire balls and Whitley's single Sea Feilong hit it with its lightning breath. Ruby shot a Hellrazer Mk. 3 round into its mouth and made the shrapnel explode after it closed its mouth. Blake and Ren still had to hold off, since the Grimm wasn't close enough yet. Penny came flying in, holding the Staff of Creation in her hands and having the Lamp of Knowledge on her belt, and immediately caught the Grimm's attention. Clover, Harriet and Marrow had taken the regular rocket launchers to try and help, and to give the regular soldiers some courage when they saw the Ace-Ops use the regular weapons. Penny flew mostly straight towards Mantle, but at a slight angle, to lead the Apophis past the city, and around it.
~o~
Manta gunships took turns flying attacks against the gargantuan Grimm, dropping bombs and returning to rearm and refuel. As the Apophis came closer to the city, it suddenly ignored Penny, instead heading straight for Mantle. The airships focused their attacks on the parts further away, so as to not alert the population. The combat drones started firing at it and kept it away for a bit, but it tried to get over them.
"I've got this," Vine said over communicator and headed to the front of the Grimm, where he wrapped his leg vines around its right lower tooth, and grabbed the combat drones with his arm vines. He grew out even more arm vines from the original two, grabbing combat drones further away and trying to force the Apophis to change its course.
"Blake, care to help me out?" Nora asked and jumped off the wall, standing to the Grimm's left.
"With what?" Blake asked.
"Lightning," Nora answered, "All you've got."
"Are you sure?" Blake asked.
"Yes, now hit me," Nora answered, and Blake flew over to her. She summoned a giant thunder cloud and brought a powerful lightning down on Nora. Nora absorbed the lightning, and her hair stood up, as pink lightning surged through her upper body. She jumped up and hit the Apophis with all her might, creating a powerful shockwave from the impact and knocking the Grimm to the right. She landed on her hands and knees, and her aura broke. Vine managed to pull the Grimm along, but his aura broke as well, and his vines disappeared.
"Nora!" Ren called out.
"Vine, no!" Harriet called out and activated her semblance. Time stopped around her, and she grabbed both Vine and Nora, before bringing them to the infirmary in Atlas and returning to the wall. She picked her rocket launcher out of the air and fired ten rockets at the Grimm, before deactivating her semblance again. Everyone else just saw Nora and Vine disappear in a blur, and ten new rockets appeared, already on their way to the Apophis. Blake and Ren opened fire, shooting wire mines and dust rounds at it, respectively. As soon as Blake's special rounds hit the Grimm, they unraveled into a razor-sharp wire that cut up everything in its path for three seconds, then lost its momentum and got stuck in the Grimm. Blake used Deathzone on the remaining rounds and shot them into the monster. Ren shot ice-dust rounds at it, trying to slow it down. Ruby rushed ahead of the Grimm and Penny, who was firing lasers at it, and shot more Hellrazer Mk. 3 rounds into the Apophis' maw, before making the shrapnel explode with Cinder's semblance. The turrets along the wall shot all kinds of ammunition into the Grimm, the combat drones rapidly shot all their shots at it, and the military also gave it their all.
"Yang, Bumblebee," Blake called out after firing all her rounds. Yang landed next to her, transformed back and the two fused into one. She immediately began attacking the Grimm from the air, using lightnings and ice.
"Sophie, attack!" Ruby called out before rapidly firing several Hellrazer Mk. 1 rounds into the Apophis' open maw when it roared to call for backup. The rats came running through tunnels left in the wall and began gnawing at the Grimm. Ruby pressed a button on her scroll, setting off the initial charges of her rounds and igniting the two kilogram of fire-dust inside the Grimm. Her copied Ambush semblance passively increased the damage twofold, since the Apophis didn't see it coming, and black smoke started coming out of the Grimm's mouth.
"Let's go," Maria called out and fused with her cat's soul, and Rondra attacked the Grimm with her claws. She quickly reverted back to being Maria, however, who then attacked the massive enemy with her two weapons.
"Maria, what's wrong?" Ruby asked over communicator.
"Rondra's semblance," Maria answered, "It makes her stronger when she is fighting a dishonorable enemy, but weaker when she is fighting unfairly. The Apophis is outnumbered, and attacking in greater numbers counts as unfair in any case."
"Go and take care of the smaller groups, then," Ruby said, "And Sophie, have your rats use combat drones when theirs has disappeared, and make them circle Mantle opposite to the Apophis' movement. And use ice-dust." Hundreds of rats lined up along the wall and created ice blue combat drones outside the original line. The continuous line of orbs moved along the city wall, heading towards the Grimm. The first few quickly got within reach, firing ice shots at it.
"Why do you only use ice?" Elm asked over communicator, before firing two more rockets into the enemy.
"Because I have a plan," Ruby answered, "Just make sure to smash the ice into large chunks." The Grimm was slowly coated in ice, stopping the orbs from firing at it, at least until there was a clear line of fire again. The massive Grimm shed ice chunks like skin with every move, and the sharp edges dug into its skin as it slithered past them.
"This is for my friends!" Harriet called out and took control of a manual machine gun turret. She extended her semblance to the weapon and bullets, shooting them a quarter into the Grimm before their fire-dust charge could react to the impact.
~o~
Close to midnight, a soldier ran up to the edge of the wall, wielding a katana. He jumped over the edge, and as if moved by an invisible force, dashed past the Apophis, slashing it in passing. He made a few more dashes, leaving unusually deep cuts every time, and black smoke began emanating from the monster's wound, much to everyone's surprise. Another soldier held his hand towards the Grimm, and a dark green sludge burst from his palm. It landed on the Apophis and burned it like an acid.
"Amazing," Ruby said and asked, "Did you unlock your semblances?"
"Yeah," one of the soldiers answered and sprayed more acid. Ruby dashed away again, positioning herself to see the Apophis' face, and shot water-goo ammunition into its mouth.
~o~
About half an hour before sunrise, the Apophis had fully gotten around Mantle, and all stationary combat drones were gone. Its tail was still pretty far away, and it tried to ram through the wall with its head. Its body had several injuries producing black smoke, and some citizens of Mantle woke up for their early shifts. They saw the black smoke and began to panic, realizing Grimm were attacking the city. Luckily, noone knew that it was a single Grimm. Still, Ruby felt more Grimm approach the city, and took a short break from shooting the Apophis to send the airships a message, so they could deal with them.
"How much longer?" Bumblebee asked over communicator, shot a lightning at the Apophis, but missed. She landed on the wall, sat down and yawned. The Apophis raised its head, and the people in Mantle saw the monster for the first time. Panic spread, and the Grimm became even more interested in destroying the city.
"What do we do?" Clover asked over communicator, getting a bit hazed from the lack of sleep.
"We need to kill it," Weiss said, "Right. Now."
"But how?" Jaune asked, "We'd need a bomb, or something like that."
"Would a maiden count as 'something like that'?" Penny asked. She was the only one who wasn't getting tired, and had just come back from bringing the staff back to the vault. She dropped the lamp as she passed Weiss, who absorbed it again.
"Yes, why?" Ruby asked.
"Good," Penny said. Just as Ruby realized what Penny meant, she saw her fly right into the Grimm's open mouth and release all her energy at once, blowing up the Apophis' head and killing it.
"Penny!" Ruby called out and rushed over to the dissolving Grimm's head, looking for her friend. Everyone gathered around the area, realizing what had just happened, and what their victory had cost.
"Yes?" Penny asked, and landed behind Ruby. Everyone looked at her, and Ruby slowly turned around, then hugged Penny.
"Penny, I'm glad you're okay," Ruby said, tears in her eyes, "But… how? You exploded, and I thought it was over."
"I used Harald's semblance," Penny answered, "It allowed me to make a copy of myself, and she exploded." Ruby pulled away from Penny, wiped away her tears, and looked at her friend.
"Harald's semblance?" Ruby asked. She had to think a bit, not sure if it was because it was some time ago or because she was so tired, but eventually remembered that Penny did, in fact, copy the silver-eyed warrior's Self Duplication semblance. She hugged Penny again, and the others joined in on the group hug as well, as the sun slowly rose on the horizon and the Apophis slowly dissipated.
~o~
Tock, Tyrian and Ichigo walked into Mantle, passing by the evaporating Apophis, and tried to come up with a plan to bust Arthur out of prison. Both Tock and Tyrian wore hooded cloaks to hide their identities.
"We need to get to Atlas," Tyrian said.
"But they know us," Tock said, "They won't let us in."
"But me," Ichigo said, "We'll just make it seem like you two attacked me, and I'll use my aura to heal whatever you do to me, then I'll sneak around and get that guy out of jail."
"If you say so," Tyrian said and smiled.
"Trust me, I've done this a lot," Ichigo said, "But we have to wait. They're tired from the fight right now. We'll start tomorrow." They went into a storage building and Ichigo set up some beds, using her semblance to make the materials necessary.
~o~
Elm walked through the military complex, still a bit groggy from the lack of sleep, but up anyway, since she couldn't stay in bed past noon. Somehow she ended up in the jail room, and was wide awake, as if she had slept all night. She looked around and saw Arthur sit in his cell, looking at her, while the former principal Mr. Aritz slept on the bed in his cell.
"How do you feel?" Arthur asked.
"None of your business," Elm answered.
"I take it that it worked, then," Arthur said and explained, "You see, my semblance lets me isolate a target from outside factors, including tiredness or exhaustion."
"And you helped me with it?" Elm asked, "Why?"
"Because I wanted to talk," Arthur answered, "And given what I want to talk about, it wouldn't feel right if you were half asleep."
"Since when do you care about what's right?" Elm asked.
"Since always," Arthur answered, "I've worked hard for Ironwood, but he never acknowledged my talent. And from what I've seen, he is still the same. He has you and your team fight on the front lines, and when you succeed, it was all him. Not a word of thanks to you, nor any representation. You just saved the kingdom. Trust me, by tomorrow, it will be back to normal. He won't congratulate you, at least not in public, because that would mean he had to share the fame with others. And his ego simply cannot stand that idea."
"It's my job to fight on the front lines," Elm said.
"And it's his job to be a public figure?" Arthur asked and said, "Believe me, a leader's job also includes highlighting the members of their team that did a good job. Even Salem has enough humanity left to acknowledge when others perform well in the field. For example, she stood up for Cinder when Tyrian and Hazel were mocking her for being defeated by Ruby. And I'm sure she is planning to break me out of here as we speak. How can you work for someone who treats his subordinates worse than Salem treats us?"
"I'm done talking to you," Elm said and walked away. After leaving the room, she felt a sudden onset of exhaustion as Arthur's semblance wore off, and had to lean against the wall to not fall over.
Author's note: Yeah, it took the entire Atlas military, and Ruby's Group, and entire night to kill the Apophis.
Katana Guy's semblance is your typical anime spiel. Not really special, just dash and slash. It deals 3 times the normal damage, so if he gets better at sword fighting, his semblance becomes ridiculously powerful.
The other soldier's semblance is based on the spell Poisonheat from Huntik: Secrets and Seekers. It lets him shoot acid from his hands.