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Chapter 133: Mercutio
Beyond the walls of Jidhir Town, which continued to stand resolute and unbroken to keep the countless Creatures of Grimm attempting to swarm over their defences at bay Gestalt-Prime waged a personal war against two colossal monsters, the Nova Beast and the Shatter Beast; the Alpha Cyber-Grimm using their smaller size to their advantage in conjunction to raw power at their disposal to great effect.
And still it seemed it might not be enough.
Every blow exchanged came with a thunderclap of pure, explosive force which shook the air itself and shattered the ground around the combatants; inadvertently helping the defenders of Jidhir Town as the Grimm who clambered over one another to devour them were sent tumbling and staggering with each impact though this was a thought Gestalt-Prime gave concern to as they continued trying to unmake the two champions that their great enemy within the Hive-Mind had sent so violently that the larger and older presence in the dark which threatened them would submit.
Their efforts were halted by Shatter Beast.
Gestalt-Prime had once again managed to out manoeuvre the Nova Beast, the Sun-Bear Grimm still reeling and tortured by the smouldering trench left in its' face where part its' skull and jaw had been burned away; they had managed to seize the grasping, weaponised tongue of the beast and use it to swing and hurl their opponent to the ground with enough force to leave a crater only for the wave of debris and dust that had erupted and washed over the area to provide cover to the second of the two titans; the Shatter Beast had been a shadow amidst the haze as it had reared up onto its' hindlimbs once again to surge upwards from below Gestalt-Prime to seize them in its' jaws.
The force the monster could exert was indescribable.
Only the fact that their jaw was currently sealed shut and their lupine maw transformed into a sleek battle-mask prevented the Alpha Cyber-Grimm from screaming out in pain and rage as their vision was entirely consumed by warnings and error messages flashing across the visor they wore, the mechanical components of their body creaking ominously and slowly beginning to buckle whilst their flesh and bone was steadily crushed to a viscous, running pulp between the jaws of the Shatter Beast, sparks flying from the mouth of the Snapping Turtle Grimm as the various grinding, shredding implements of its' maw did their work only for tooth and bone to crack and shatter against reinforced armour; the pain of their opponent being enough to push Gestalt-Prime onwards and retract the visor from their single, glowing optic as they launched their counterattack.
With their axe-bladed additional limbs encasing their arms and transforming them into bulky, oversized and impossibly muscular masses the hybrid Alpha drove the blades upwards, slamming them into the roof of the Shatter Beasts' mouth and using the propulsion system which their wings aided to surge directly upwards; the difference was minimal but it was clear and it was enough, as they rose upwards Gestalt-Prime began to unfurl their tail and use the limb, powerful enough on its' own to tear bodies asunder with as single blow as leverage and press down until slowly the jaws that had threatened to crush them into nothingness began to prise open. From there and with every motion causing them untold agony as muscles and mechanisms that were being pushed beyond their limits strained Gestalt-Prime began to unfurl the various panels of their chest to reveal their photon weapon. An evil blood red light filled the maw of the Shatter Beast as the Alpha Cyber-Grimm primed and fired their main weapon, the blast incinerating part of the larger monsters' mouth and melting teeth and bone until its' beak like maw was reduced to molten slag and yet this was not the true objective.
Instead Gestalt-Prime had used the attack to throw themselves backwards and out of the mouth of the Shatter Beast in a shower of sparks as their armour was damaged further still.
Hurtling through the air like a missile of pure rage Gestalt-Prime reconfigured their limbs so that their wings were in place and immediately poured all of their momentum into a wheeling flightpath which allowed them to circle back and strike the Shatter Beast with all their might before it could recover, their tail slamming into the eye of the reptilian.
The Snapping Turtle Grimm was flung end over end and landed on the ground on its' belly with a boom that sent out tremors which were felt for miles.
Gestalt-Prime fought the urge to remove the armour currently sealing their jaw so that they could issue a challenge to their nemesis, letting their unseen enemy within the Hive-Mind hear them through the ears of the soon-to-be-felled titanic Grimm but ultimately decided against it, choosing instead to make themselves understood through the universal language of unrelenting violence by deploying their shoulder mounted laser and opening fire at the shell of Snapping Turtle Grimm which resembled a landmass with its' size and cragginess.
The lasers did nothing at all.
The response from the pair of colossi was immediate however, with thundering impacts announcing that the Nova Beast was once again part of the battle, the Sun-Bear Grimm forcing Gestalt-Prime to swoop aside and weave through the air as the massive, long-limbed horror leapt at them and swung first its' hook-tipped claws and then its' sucker-lined tongue in an effort to ensnare its' prey; all whilst the familiar fiery glow of a falling star began to build up within its' jaws once again.
Despite the urgency of the situation Gestalt-Prime quickly realised that the Nova Beast was a distraction and no matter how severe the threat it posed might be the real danger was the Shatter Beast which had spread its' stubby limbs wide and anchored itself into the ground, with the air being filled with the sound of shattering bone a moment later as the mountainous spires of armour covering its' back began to splinter and launch themselves out into the air only to begin hovering and steadily orbiting around the enormous form of the reptilian Grimm; beneath the bony exterior were vast crystalline growths which were a deep and impenetrable black at their heart and tinged scarlet and violet at their edges, as the bone splinters began to orbit and whirl faster to become a typhoon of jagged shards some indescribable force began to crackle outwards from the crystals to everything around them, with arcs of red and purple lightning flashing into the maelstrom of bone and a low, warping bass note filling the air.
Gestalt-Prime did not know what this weapon was and had no desire to learn.
With an effort which would have seen them roaring at the exertion if they were currently able to do so the Alpha Cyber-Grimm chose their moment and then tackled the Nova Beast in mid-air, flying directly at its' face and using all of their limbs to position its' skull; waiting until the very moment that its attempted to unleash its' beam of scourging golden light and then forcing the monsters' head to point directly at the centre of its' partners' swirling nexus of power.
Screaming filled the air but Gestalt-Prime paid it no mind, instead holding fast and once again deploying their main weapon in order to add a second beam of light to the blinding display until it ended in the only way such violence conceivably could.
The Shatter Beast seemed to explode under the assault and implode under its' own terrible power in the same instant; producing a wave of concussive force which flung Gestalt-Prime free of the Nova Beast and then a hurricane of faded black smog and a vacuum which dragged both the Alpha Cyber-Grimm and their foe towards its' heart before finally dissipating.
Gestalt-Prime's body hit the ground and continued, carving a shallow trench and a spray of sparks whilst leaving pulpy black ichor in their wake as they struggled to rise to their feet; unsure of which of their organs, limbs and components still functioned and unwilling to use their visor to find out. At present what they were certain of was the fact that the Shatter Beast had been undone, utterly destroyed and reduced to vapours on the wind in a display of force that would leave their enemy in the Hive-Mind reeling.
Only for that primal sense of victory to dampened as the Nova Beast, bloodied, mangled but more importantly utterly furious rose to it's feet and let out a deafening roar as it began to advance.
Seeing it Gestalt-Prime simply readied their axe-limbs and charged, intending to make certain their victory could not be questioned this time.
Astra and Regalia had found themselves corralled and forcibly directed into a path that had seen them ambushed and surrounded, the rogue Hunter and Komodo Dragon Faunus Carmesi Hueso having forced them to a halt and revealed that he had reinforcements in the form of those who left Pikesreach in order to become warriors, each of whom had a legitimate reason for the hatred of Hunters which had seen them attack with a bloodthirsty fervour.
It was Regalia who had found herself facing the bulk of the briefly trained fighting force that the people of Pikesreach had been forged into and no matter how she might understand their anger or how she wished that the situation could be different the Racoon Faunus understood what was required of her; in the grand scheme of things stopping Nero and the monstrous airship Grimm that he had created was a necessity, as it was now uncertain whether the Atlesian response to the approaching threat would be enough but more immediately it was simply a battle for survival which the former nomad was not prepared to surrender to.
As was evidenced by the several unconscious bodies and dropped weapons littering the ground around her as she fought.
"Heh, welcome to my nightmare" she declared, flourishing confidently as the latest threat came in the form of half a dozen enemies carrying a collection of weapons which were simple, yet far more effective than the farming implements or tools of their trade they might have used in desperation only a few short months ago, knives, swords, stun batons and chains tipped with blades.
The first attack came from a young woman, a few years older than Regalia herself who let out a fierce, wordless scream as she swung a sparking and crackling stun baton at the Racoon Faunus's skull in an effort to incapacitate her and make her an easier target for the rest of the group; Regalia's answer was to twirl and flourish Apex Scavenger in its' melee form, the quarterstaff tipped with a pickaxe head and sporting the harpoon point of its' alternate configuration at its' base being threaten enough to bring the attacker to a halt, in turn allowing Regalia to close the distance and step into her guard whilst using the axe-head of Apex Scavenger to pluck the stun baton from her hands before launching into a spinning sweep which drove the shaft of the weapon into her opponents' ribs, sending the older woman rolling to a stop and leaving her lying on the ground clutching her chest whilst making no effort to stand.
It had been barely more than a moment but the remaining enemies had used the opportunity to fan out and try to surround Regalia, showing some of the lessons that Carmesi had taught them as they came rushing in from all sides; forcing her onto the defensive as she first drove Apex Scavenger into the ground and left it standing upright before throwing herself forwards to deliver a snapping front kick to the stomach of a teen wielding a pair of daggers with some degree of skill, the blow was enough to leave them doubled over and the former nomad followed up by taking them by the back of their clothes and swinging with all her might with the air being filled with a resounding, dull and metallic clang a moment later as the fighters' head was cracked against the shaft of Apex Scavenger. A downward slash of a sword forced Regalia backwards and separated her from her weapon, retreating a few more paces to avoid follow up wild and powerful swings of the weapon that were delivered with more enthusiasm than skill and in short order Regalia had a good enough picture of her adversaries' speed and reach to be able to prepare a counter, ducking low and making to rush below the next swipe of the sword to tackle her attacker to the ground.
Only to be attacked from behind.
Another of the natives of Pikesreach had positioned themselves behind the Racoon Faunus and waited until she tried to charge forward before throwing a kick to the side of Regalia's knee, staggering her enough to first slam a weighted chain against the side of her head and then wrap that same chain under her chin to drag her backwards and to the ground.
"QUICK! TAKE CARE OF HER NOW!" the assailant yelled, clearly more panicked than their victim as they called out to the group of fighters who suddenly looked uncertain now that the prospect of killing was a reality to be confronted, each of them betraying their lack of real world experience as Regalia struggled to free herself; their indecision lasting long enough to be used against them.
"REGALIA, DOWN!" without hesitation she pressed herself as far into the ground as she could the moment she heard Astra's voice, eyes closing almost completely but through the crack she could see enough of the vibrant glow of her partners' Semblance to understand that Astra had found an opening and used it sweep aside her attackers.
It was an action that the Deer Faunus was punished for.
"DON'T WORRY ABOUT HER, WORRY ABOUT ME!" Carmesi' thundered as he closed the distance between them again in a flurry of violence, Astra's Semblance faded as they instinctively flung their shields up to protect themselves form Vindication as the spinning blade flew towards them; glancing off of the sleek surfaces of Buckshot Ares and ricocheting through the air. Before Astra could act they were sent skidding backwards when Carmesi crashed into them with a powerful kick which almost buckled the younger Faunus's arms which Carmesi immediately followed by taking Retribution in both hands and swinging his larger weapon upwards in an underhanded blow intended to carve the enemy apart. Astra managed to frantically angle their shields downwards to block though the raw force of the blow lifted them off of the ground and left them flailing wildly as Vindication whipped back through the air and struck them; sending the leader of Team MARS crashing to the ground with their Aura visibly rippling outwards from the point where the spinning blades had slashed across them.
"Son of a bitch!" Astra hissed the words out through gritted teeth as they dragged themselves into a kneeling crouch and forced themselves to power on through the pain, any effort or thought that they might have put towards making a better, wittier comment being consumed by the urgency of the situation as Carmesi rushed at them again; realising that the reptilian Faunus intended slam his knee into their face Astra sprung upwards and forwards, relying on their skill as a martial artist before their weapons and first using a front kick to strike Carmesi's leg above the knee as he rushed forward and then following up by quickly adjusting their footing to deliver a crescent kick to the rogue Hunters' jaw before slamming the curving edge of Buckshot Ares's right shield into Carmesi's face to send him staggering back.
It was a brief moment of respite and the advantage Astra had found did not last long before Carmesi leapt at them once again and was kept at bay only by Astra stabbing at them with forearm-mounted blades; the two Faunus duelling with their respective pair of blades until Carmesi finally managed to slip through the Deer Faunus's guard enough to knock them back again with a punishing blow to the chest.
"I hate killing people that don't deserve to die, really I do" Carmesi rumbled as he advanced "And with all that wasted potential killing you is going to be like burning a famous painting or-"
Whatever else Carmesi had planned to equate Astra's death with went unsaid as a harpoon lodged itself in the harness which held his weapons' sheaths and ammunition and; Regalia having recovered enough and fended off her own foes who had withstood Astra's Semblance enough to offer assistance by dragging the Komodo Dragon Faunus from his ground and swinging him away, into a nearby wall. Astra, unwilling to take chances readied the guns of Buckshot Ares and took aim; only to be halted as the same stun-baton wielding young woman who Regalia had bested came screaming towards them, weapon ready but held in shaking hands whilst her injuries left her breathing laboured.
"WHY ARE YOU HELPING THIS GUY?" Astra demanded as they sidestepped the incoming attack and kicked the woman's legs out from under her "Pikesreach is gone….The people you're working for are the reason why; Aefen Cruor, Gestalt-Prime….They were turning people into Grimm-"
"You're lying!" another of the former residents of Pikesreach spat hatefully "You're a Hunter, just trying to force us back to the old way-"
"There's no Pikesreach to go back to" Regalia answered, sorrow lacing her words before she and Astra shared a look "Stygian Blue is here right now"
The use of the familiar name sent a ripple through the tattooed fighters.
"Cornflower Blue" Astra added hesitantly "The Hunters at Pikesreach hated her, except for one, Stygian's Dad….Cornflower is in Port Alistair helping people who survived Pikesreach; if you leave her you can ask, ask her what happened, ask her about the people that Nero sacrificed and who Aefen turned into monsters!"
The silence that followed was deafening and profound in its' totality; Astra's chest heaved with shallow and ragged breaths and their sea-green eyes were wild, darting from Regalia to each of the opponents gathered around them until one their number gave a small, shaky and uncertain gesture to their comrades and a decision was made collectively.
They walked away from the fight, keeping their weapons with them but making no effort to use them as they passed the Hunters they had been fighting with.
"That was good leadership….The kind of thing I can respect you for" Carmesi's low, thundering rumble sent a chill through both Astra and Regalia as the shirtless and craggy-scaled reptilian rose to his feet once more, any sign that being slammed into a wall hard enough to crush bricks with the impact had bothered him quickly fading away as he strode forwards with his muscles rippling beneath tanned flesh, sharp teeth bared and his hellish red eyes seeming to glow with ill intent.
It was a two against one fight and yet as Carmesi charged at them with weapons raised and nothing held back Astra and Regalia realised that it might not make a difference.
For Athena-Jade Slate every blow that passed between herself, Zirconia and Stygian was a deep and heart-wrenching torment that she would have stopped if she could.
Though her efforts to do just that only seemed to be making things worse.
"JUST STOP!" the words left her as a ragged and furious scream as she threw yet another barrage of glyphs between her current and former partners in an effort to keep them apart for long enough to regain some semblance of control over the situation; thus far her efforts had been constrained entirely to non-violence, such as using glyphs to form barriers or unfurling Heartbreaker out into its' hammer form and physically planting herself between Stygian and Zirconia rather than going on the offensive though she had achieved little for her trouble if anything at all, thus far it seemed that every time she halted one combatant it served as an opening for the other to attack or better prepare themselves and both of them had their own ways and means of circumventing Athena's efforts. Zirconia, with her cybernetic limbs and inhuman agility paired with an intimate knowledge of how the Bear Faunus moved and fought simply evaded or anticipated every effort made to halt her whilst Stygian made the glyphs entirely redundant as his Semblance allowed him to perpetually close the gap between himself and his foe.
Just as he did once again, vanishing in a liquid rippling of air only to appear on the other side of Athena-Jade's glyphs to bring himself down onto Zirconia for a downward slash of Sharp Cheese whose blade glowed a molten orange with the heat of the Fire Dust it had been imbued with only for Zirconia to counter with expert precision.
"Predictable" she rasped out as she sidestepped and threw a punishing kick to Stygian's flank which lifted him from the ground and sent the Mouse Faunus slamming into the outer wall of an unfinished building; as ferociously as Stygian was attacking her Zirconia herself seemed to be taking a rare pleasure from the fight, entirely at odds with her usual approach and deep-seated discomfort with doing harm. It was enough for Athena to question for a single, fleeting moment if this was the truth of the woman she had loved and if there was indeed a ruthlessness at her core that Athena had overlooked; it was enough for the snowy haired Bear Faunus to leap into action once again.
"Damn it, NO!" she snapped as a glyph conjured beneath her feet allowed her to spring forwards and act before Zirconia could simply leap over or around her, driving the shaft of her oversized hammer into the scarred rogues' chest and upper arms to halt her advance and Stygian and then slip behind her whilst still clutching the weapon in order to hold the Grasshopper Faunus in place.
"I don't want to do this AJ" Zirconia rasped "But he's not going to stop….And I can't walk away now, I wish I could but I can't-"
"Hops….Please" Athena managed to choke the words out, noting that Zirconia was not struggling as hard as she could have done; an effort was undeniably being made but she was certain that if she had wanted to her former partner, who still meant so much to her could simply have leapt directly upwards or else used Sunriser Cain in some way to force the two of them apart. It was, in Athena's hopeful and desperate mind an indication of something but precisely what remained unseen as Stygian leapt back into the fight, his Semblance bringing him close to the threat once more.
"STITCH JUST WAIT-" it was then that Zirconia chose to use her full strength, bodily throwing Athena over her shoulder and bracing her mechanical legs to use all the strength they could produce as she flung the shorter woman away, not in a direct threat or attempt to do harm but the opposite; as Athena realised as she came to a halt and saw that Zirconia had thrown her aside in order to ensure she was clear of Stygian's wild attack before beginning to exchange blows with the Mouse Faunus at a blinding speed, their movements reduced to a blur of Dust fuelled explosions and flashes which rendered Athena utterly unable to halt them or intervene as they tore through their surroundings, Zirconia leaping from the walls of one building to the next and from roofs whilst Stygian doggedly pursued her and slashed with a Katana whose blade changed colour with the various elemental onslaughts he unleashed.
"IS RUNNING ALL YOU KNOW HOW TO DO, THAT AND RUINING LIVES?" Stygian demanded as Zirconia vaulted backwards from a roof with the dark-skinned and tattooed young man following her through the air, his body curling in on itself mid leap to avoid a swipe of her lightning-wreathed weapon before he countered with a kick to the face which sent Zirconia flailing backwards to land on the ground in a disoriented crouch and quickly spring to the side before Stygian struck the same spot, delivering a knee-strike which cratered the ground and swinging his blade out in a wide arc; its' surface a fathomless event horizon of darkness as he used Gravity Dust to try and draw Zirconia back.
"You have no idea how generous I am being by not fighting you, you should appreciate it more" Zirconia answered coldly, unable to keep a bitterness from her words every time she looked at Stygian; after watching the way his electric blue eyes had roamed over Athena at Halo Academy the knowledge that the two of them were partners now was physically sickening for her but there were much more important things at stake in that moment. Athena, seeing the momentary respite as an opening created a solid barrier of dozens of closely packed glyphs between the two of them only for Stygian to teleport again; which Zirconia answered by leaping onto Athena's glyphs and using its' glowing surface to vault away from the attack which came from an unpredictable angle.
"Let me guess!" Stygian spat furiously "You had secret files on all of us while you were spying for Nero? Plans for how you'd take us all down?"
"No….I had ideas for how I'd approach some of you, to help you see the future that I'm trying to be a part of" Zirconia answered honestly only for her mismatched eyes to narrow a moment later as she added scathingly "Not you though, you were never part of the plan"
"WHAT ABOUT SNAPDRAGON, WAS SHE PART OF THE PLAN?" Stygian yelled, eyes wild as his voice cracked "WAS SHE SUPPOSED TO DIE IN THAT ARENA OR WAS YOUR PLAN BULLSHIT!"
Zirconia's expression faltered, doubts, panic and a deep soul-shattering grief etched themselves into her features plainly for Athena to see and for a single moment there was a stillness as Stygian's words echoed through the empty street and Zirconia allowed the hand which held her weapon to fall.
Then Stygian attacked again.
"STITCH! STITCH THAT'S ENOUGH!" Athena screamed as she watched the Mouse Faunus vanish and reappear a dozen or more times in the space of seconds, each reappearance culminating in a slash of his sword which left Zirconia's Aura rippling until it seemed clear that he meant to deliver a fatal blow. Realising that there was nothing else she could do in that moment Athena focused all of her power on creating a solid cage of glyphs around Zirconia, close enough to completely immobilise the Grasshopper Faunus but also dense enough to keep Stygian at bay.
"AJ!" the Mouse Faunus yelled, voice distorted as he continued to use his Semblance "HOW MANY PEOPLE DOES SHE HAVE TO KILL BEFORE YOU REALISE SHE CAN'T BE SAVED? HOW MANY CHANCES DO YOU NEED TO GIVE HER-"
"I'VE NEVER KILLED ANY-"
"SHUT UP!" they were both too far gone, Athena realised with a sinking dread and in an effort to separate the two which she knew would be reckless the Bear Faunus shifted Heartbreaker into its' laser cannon mode and primed the weapon, waiting until Stygian teleported again to pull the trigger and create a threat that his Semblance would see as a priority and use as a beacon to home in on. Her ploy worked but Athena's world exploded into heat, pain and blinding light as Stygian failed to completely stop his slashing attack in time and the Dust infused blade of Sharp Cheese sailed perilously close to her eyes to send her staggering backwards.
"NO!" his voice was a suddenly panicked yell which Athena used to ground herself a keep her bearings "AJ I'm sorry-"
"DON'T TOUCH HER!" Athena felt her glyphs shatter as Zirconia forced her way out of the protective barricade she'd been encased in before aiming and firing Sunrise Cain in its' pistol form; Athena using the synthesised voice of the weapon to guide her as she conjured flesh glyphs and flung herself between the pair.
"That's enough!" she yelled, blinking spots out of her vision and shifting Heartbreaker back into its' sword mode "I don't want to hurt either of you….So don't make me-"
"AJ-"
"No Stitch!" her voice rose with sudden anger at her partner "She's coming with us, alive. Hops….Drop your weapon; if you ever cared about me at all then drop your damn weapon!"
Athena couldn't help but feel a tug of sadness at the way Zirconia glanced at Sunriser Cain and seemed to seriously consider the prospect, her fingers visibly loosening around the weapon before she swallowed thickly and looked at Athena with tears in her eyes.
"If I could I promise you that I would AJ, I love you and I don't want to hurt you" her words sped up and her breath hitched painfully "But….I can't leave him with Gestalt-Prime, I-he's my Dad-"
"My Dad was a bastard too, this is a choice you're making" Stygian snarled, already twirling his sword again "And it's one you're gonna pay for….How did you kill my old man by the way, I want to make sure I do it the same way for fairness"
Glyphs erupted all throughout the empty street.
"This. Is. Not. Happening!" Athena yelled, pouring her heart into every word "Stitch please….I can't let you do this-"
"Can you stop me?" he demanded, betrayal in his eyes "Are you really gonna try to?"
"I'm a Hunter, I save people" Athena answered, words a choked sob as she readied her sword and glanced between Stygian and Zirconia "And if I have to save both of you from each other today then that's what I'll do….I'm sorry"
"Yeah, me too" the Mouse Faunus gave her a smile before teleporting again to begin the battle anew; this time with Athena actively taking part.
The Grimm had swarmed the agricultural settlement of Gruner-Hugel like a tsunami of living and ravenous darkness, thousands of bodies pouring towards the settlement with the sole intent of ravaging and sundering all in their path; the monsters in question ranging from those Creatures which were smaller and of more mundane varieties commonly found of the island of Menagerie such as Beowolves and Winged Buffalo whose sole threat was their numbers and combined might up to far larger masses of jet-black muscle and fury encased in spiked bone armour. The single-mindedness of the Grimm was a double edged sword however and whilst, unbeknownst to the islands' inhabitants' Pantheon had launched the wave of attacks aimed at each of the Kingdoms' settlements the Grimm General's focus was currently directed solely towards Jidhir Town were their hated enemy the usurper Grimm had made an appearance; leaving their hordes to rely on base instinct to achieve their goals. The result of this was that Gruner-Hugel had been attacked with none of the forethought and strategy of the main attack and rather than surround the settlement or the farmland surrounding it they had simply come from a single direction and with no more plan than to throw themselves at the enemy.
An idea Corvid Xiao Long, Atlas Specialist, alumni of Halo Academy and adopted daughter of Blake and Yang Xiao Long was all too happy to indulge them, albeit on her own terms.
"Ground crews defensive positions, coordinate with wall defences to pick off anything that slips through; air support give priority status to anything with a ranged or area of effect weapon that can target the wall or the fields" Corvid paused for a moment, both to deliberate and admittedly for effect before adding "Leave the big ones to me"
"Aye Captain" the chorus of affirmations filled Corvid's ears from several dozen sources at once whilst the heads' up display of her helmet kept her appraised of the situation overall and from there she quickly found her next target and took action. She had been airborne, wearing the Omega Wing its' six-winged battle-suit mode with Venus Rising, the mace which had once belonged to a now-dead friend resting over her shoulder and the shoulder-mounted guns and shield generator of her weapon on standby before she had seen and indeed heard and even felt the trumpeting, thundering approach of a herd of Goliath, the few that had already been felled likely being no more than a small vanguard for the main body of the coming stampede which shook the air and ground with its' approach.
Corvid was on them in a moment.
Twin rail-guns reduced two Goliaths to an obsidian mist which rolled over the battlefield in an instant, the armatures on which the weapons were mounted adjusting slightly and independently of one another to allow for a pair of killing blows which pierced spines and shattered skulls at their base. From there and without wasting a moment the Atlas Specialist dove, her cybernetic eye and battle-suit working in tandem to make minute adjustments to her speed and angle in real time to ensure that her assault was as devastating as physically possible; a fact which was rewarded as the wings of her weapon tucked in and she cleaved through a Goliath entirely, the elephantine monster dying with a trumpeting scream as it was broken in half at the ribs. Another Goliath thundered towards her and whilst the inky smog which formed the remains of her most recent victory filled her vision the Atlas Specialist still acted with all of the skill, precision and well practised technique of her station to destroy the incoming threat without ever seeing more than the glow of its' eyes in the darkness; the first swing of her mace shattering its' tusks whilst the backhanded follow-up tore one of its' ears away and left the thing toppling to the ground with its' skull concave.
"Deploy secondary drone" Corvid said simply, holding her mace out and watching as the weapons head detached, reconfiguring itself in mid-air before vanishing into the blackness whilst Corvid simply braced herself and waited. It took only a few moments for the fading mist to subside and that coincided almost perfectly for the return of the hovering and armed drone which revealed to Corvid that most of the remaining Goliaths had been handled, her modification to the late Iris Ramal's weapon allowing it to either crash into or fire powerful lasers at the limbs, eyes and necks of the massive beasts until they were either destroyed or so badly wounded that they could be easily picked off by others working with her.
A single Goliath remained however and it came surging at her with a murderous bellow, prompting Corvid to make a show of rolling her neck and shoulders for the benefit of any younger and less certain soldiers or other defenders of Gruner-Hugel whose confidence might be wavering as she braced herself steadfastly on the ground and prepared to make a show of things by using her Semblance.
Only to be denied as a single well placed laser shot from one of the fighter craft assigned to her airship lanced through the skull of the Grimm and toppled it.
"I had that….I appreciate the skill, I don't appreciate the attitude" Corvid added the last part in an annoyed grumble that would no doubt be remarked upon in the ships' mess hall at some point, potentially a way for her to break the ice between herself and those she had been assigned to for this mission, perhaps even the beginnings of a reputation amongst her troops in the same vein as her Aunt Winter's. Pushing such thoughts aside Corvid focused on the matter at hand, her helmets' display relaying additional information from across the battlefield to her and allowing her to get a greater sense of how things were progressing; realising as she scanned both the digital information and the evidence of her own eyes that things were going well and were far from as dire as they had momentarily seemed.
Veteran soldiers and a small scattering of recently graduated Hunters eager to earn a reputation for themselves with Atlesian ranks had taken leadership positions and were guiding the defensive garrison of Gruner-Hugel, along with the Atlesian Knight Robots to great effect; working in perfect coordination with the wall defences, in turn bolstered by more military hardware from the icy Kingdom to break the lines of the monsters and funnel the Creatures of Grimm away from fields of crops and also away from main thoroughfares in and out of the settlement, leading them into predetermined kill-boxes where they could be obliterated without the risk of damaging the towns' infrastructure all whilst any retaliation the Grimm might attempt, be that in the form the saurian Boomers or winged Scree were cut down by air support in a series of vicious dog fights and bombing runs.
It seemed too good to be true and in short order Corvid was informed that it indeed was.
"Commander Xiao Long, we have seismic activity heading right for you….Directly at you ma'am, whatever these Grimm are doing they're smart enough to have a grudge"
"Noted. Maintain current operations" Corvid answered bluntly, glad that her helmets' opaque and featureless visor did not allow for anyone to see her grimace at that information; her studies of Grimm migration patterns had already been used to identify several instances of the Creatures of Grimm acting in unusual ways before a tragedy or large scale battle occurred and the idea of the mindless monsters having the wherewithal to single out a lone fighter from a distance set alarm bells off in her mind.
The suspense came to an end in short order however as the ground simply erupted outwards to reveal a huge, six legged and shovel-clawed horror whose overall appearance was that of a finned and predatory sea-monster and whose arrival was one which allowed Corvid to easily identify the locals without ever looked behind her to see who was who.
Those born on Menagerie screamed and yelled at the sight of it.
"LAND SHARK!" the name was cried out from all sides with varying degrees of terror and Corvid noted that she had read of such monstrosities in her pre-mission briefing; easily amongst the largest of the Grimm to dwell on Menagerie, it had been a particularly large example of the species to breach the walls of the Kingdoms' Capital City of Port Alistair less than two years ago.
This time when Corvid used her Semblance nobody chose to intervene.
Despite her weapon allowing her to take the air, the Specialists' Semblance required her to be firmly grounded and it was the same stubborn, defiant willpower which these two facts represented which her Semblance was a manifestation of. Whilst her adopted Felix could become an unstoppable force when subjected to the right conditions Corvid by contrast was an immovable object, simply put once her feet were grounded and her Semblance was activated she could not be broken or pushed aside unless she allowed it and all who tried to overpower would be halted or shattered.
The Land-Shark reared up and lunged at her, its' colossal shadow falling over her and in response the Specialist prepared both her Semblance and the shield generator of the Omega Wing.
The Land-Shark was halted and it was shattered.
Whether the monster realised its' folly before it was too late Corvid could not say, but what was certain was that as the two of them met she certainly felt the force of its' impact as a powerful vibration which sent tremors through her but was ultimately unharmed where another would be crushed or swallowed whole; her Hard-light shield rippling into life to turn the Grimm's own attack against it and bore a round, person sized hole though its' skull with all the resistance of a hot knife passing through butter.
Darkness rolled over the ground once again and Corvid Xiao Long, ever the show-woman had the audacity to visibly and pointedly tap her foot as she were impatient.
"Bridge this is Xiao Long" she spoke directly to her warship which had continued to hang over the gates of Gruner-Hugel, interfering little at her order and instead conserving its' firepower in case of a real emergency.
"We read you Xiao Long"
"I don't think we're gonna get much bigger than that today, I'm putting the ground situation into the control of whichever officer has the most experience in the field; finish this operation and conduct sweeps of the area to make sure we didn't miss anything"
"Understood Ma'am"
"Send word to the other settlements with Atlesian presences and any major cities that don't have any. We need a better idea of what the hell just happened" Corvid paused for a moment, her cybernetic eye whirring as it adjusted before she spoke again "I'm returning to the ship and I'll be taking some our reserve fighters….Team MARS haven't made contact in some time and we promised them backup; so I'll be the first one in"
Athena-Jade, Stygian and Zirconia had continued their deadly three-way duel and the ferocity of it had increased with every blow, perfectly matching the heartbreaking emotional turmoil being inflicted with every moment that the fight wore on with each of the trio desperately trying to understand why the person they care about could not simply see sense.
For Zirconia it was a matter of principle and family, for all that he had done Damascus Nero had been a father and an inspiration to her and she would not stand down and allow herself to be taken prisoner, not when it would leave Gestalt-Prime free to continue corrupting the man and his lofty goal of making a better Remnant; not when the idea of simply using force to liberate Zirconia from whatever prison she found herself in was an idea that would certainly occur to Nero and likely worsen the situation.
For Stygian, no matter how much he wished he could pretend that it was some greater cause or noble idea of justice that he sought the Mouse Faunus wanted blood and vengeance; launching attack after attack fuelled by righteous fury at the rogue Huntress who had caused so much suffering.
For Athena-Jade it was simply a matter of keeping two people she cared for deeply from killing one another.
"STAY DOWN!" the Bear Faunus yelled, voice wavering with the tears she was forcing herself to hold back as she knocked Zirconia through the air and sent her crashing to the ground by first parrying an attempted swing of Sunriser Cain so slow and telegraphed that it was clear the rogue was holding back, following by Athena using the momentum of her blow to throw herself into a leaping and acrobatic spinning kick, using that flurry of motion to disguise the transformation of Heartbreaker into its' hammer-mode which had collided with Zirconia's lightly armoured chest faster than she could hope to react.
"Thanks for the assist!" Stygian called out, with no amount of mocking bitterness in his tone as used his Semblance again only for Athena to counter much as she had several times already, albeit with far more force this time; a wordless growl of frustration escaping her as she summoned a protective barrier of glyphs which both held Zirconia firm and at the same time repelled Stygian so dramatically that he was sent hurtling backwards through the air to slam through steel beams that had rusted enough in their abandonment to ensure that the entire half-made building he had crashed through the upper floor of came toppling down.
"STITCH!" Athena screamed out, what little colour her alabaster features might have held being drained away by the idea that had gone to far and seriously injured the Mouse Faunus.
"Zirconia help me!….Please" Athena begged, openly crying and trembling as she rushed towards the ruined building that had collapsed down onto her partner, anything so trivial as a fight between them being forgotten in an instant.
"We have medics….I think we have facilities on the ship" Zirconia answered tentatively, clearly worried about the response her answer would receive only for the snowy-haired Bear Faunus to act as though she barely heard her at all, instead Athena focused all of her attention and power into her Semblance; her Aura visibly rippling and flickering around her body as the toll the days' fighting had taken on her made itself known in a display of fatigue which concerned Zirconia less than the way she staggered forward a single pace in an obvious display of dizziness. Athena triumphed however and created a single, massive glyph which she used to lift the majority of the fallen stone and steel up and out of the heap in had formed.
At which point Stygian attacked once again.
Athena was relieved beyond words to see that he was well enough to do so but threw herself into the fray once more in an effort to halt the madness as her partner launched himself at Zirconia the moment he had a line of sight, even as his own Aura visibly fluctuated under the punishment he had taken. Zirconia had expected the assault and parried and countered expertly, having fought the Mouse Faunus enough now to have the measure of his technique and ability to a degree that allowed her to work around his ability to teleport towards the most dangerous threat; forgoing her more enthusiastic leaping in favour of calculated moves and ranged attacks which forced the dark-skinned and tattooed Faunus away by redirecting him.
With once such attack being what flung Athena to the ground.
'Magnetic! Fire!' the telltale synthesised voice of Sunrise Cain preceded the shot from the weapons' pistol form and the Bear Faunus, who had been rushing towards the fight saw Stygian's Semblance inadvertently cause him to reappear directly in the line of fire; the Magnetic Dust dragging him along until he crashed painfully into Athena at which point the Fire Dust component of the shot detonated in a blossoming eruption of heat and pain which left the two of them gasping for air and trying to gather their wits as their Auras rippled around them.
Stygian was struggling to get his limbs beneath himself steadily enough to rise to his feet and Zirconia seemed unwilling to press her advantage by firing again whilst he and Athena were so close to one another, circumstances which allowed Athena herself; half-blind and half-crazed with pain, fear and desperation to make her move.
"Okay, we're done here! It's over!" she yelled as she dragged Stygian back down to the ground, Heartbreaker laying beside her forgotten in the moment as she snaked an arm under her partners' chin and pressed her free hand into the back of his head whilst securing herself and the choke-hold further by wrapping her powerful, muscular and scarred legs around his torso from behind.
She truly hadn't expected Stygian to work an arm free and elbow her in the head, though she supposed she couldn't blame him.
"HOW MANY PEOPLE DOES SHE HAVE TO KILL BEFORE YOU TAKE HER SERIOUSLY!" Stygian screamed at her, the ragged rawness of his voice startling Athena as she realised that he too was crying "HOW MANY PEOPLE DOES SHE HAVE TO TAKE….OR DOES PIKESREACH NOT COUNT AJ? DID THOSE PEOPLE REALLY NOT MATTER BECAUSE THEY WEREN'T FROM THE KINGDOM, IS NERO RIGHT ABOUT HUNTER-"
Darkness, unnatural and chilling settled over them.
"If you hit her again I will kill you" Zirconia's voice filled the darkness and between the pain, confusion and pale blue light of her own flickering Aura flooding her vision in intermittent sparks Athena began to realise what was happening. This was Phantasmagoria, Zirconia's Semblance but the sensory deprivation and the darkness seemed somehow more total and sinister than before; an incalculable and fathomless expanse of nothingness where there was only the Grasshopper Faunus regarding them with faintly glowing, mismatched eyes whose whites had been consumed by the blackness and a pervading sense of dread.
Without another word and only a fierce, incoherent snarl in their place Stygian drove his elbow down again and this time struck Athena-Jade in the leg so painfully that she cried out and loosened her grip enough to throw her clear of him; leaving his partner sprawled on the featureless voids' base where she scrabbled to her feet in an effort to tackle him to the ground again only for the Mouse Faunus to be taken down again.
There was a moment of confusion where Stygian tried to use his Semblance within the limits of Phantasmagoria, only to find out that Zirconia's physical form was not the largest threat and that the entire void was a single extension of herself which she wielded with expertise; the darkness beneath Stygian's feet roiled and crashed like a tide and the Mouse Faunus was slammed to the ground, which promptly erupted beneath him in a pillar of solid darkness to slam him into the upper reaches of Zirconia's area of effect.
"ZIRCONIA STOP!" Athena yelled, switching her attention to the person who had now become the most dangerous threat.
"He was hurting you AJ!" the Grasshopper Faunus exclaimed "I couldn't let him-I can't let him….I'll knock him out and then we can talk-
"Do you hear yourself-" whatever else Athena wanted to add was drowned out by another frustrated sound from Stygian which echoed through the seemingly limitless expanse of Zirconia's Semblance as the Grasshopper Faunus continued to try and subdue him; Stygian himself becoming more easily to locate as Fire Dust transformed the blade of Sharp Cheese into a blazing beacon in the void, though even this light failed to reach as far as it should have.
Refusing to waste any more words Athena-Jade took up her weapon its' hammer form and charged.
With all that she endured using her Semblance to create wings for herself was reckless and the constructs, along with her Aura as a whole flickered uncertainly and threatened to give out at any minute; the strain of the exertion making the Bear Faunus's vision swim and skull pound but the forced herself onwards and used the incandescent wings to close the distance quickly and free of any obstacles that Zirconia might create.
"Why do we have to keep doing this?" she demanded as she swooped into Zirconia's space, her former partner knowing her well enough to leap over the initial swing of the hammer and then use Sunrise Cain in its' melee form to strike the weapon mid-shaft to halt the follow assault locking them together for a moment.
"Because I don't want to run any more" Zirconia answered, half crying and half laughing at the absurdity of the comment as she and Athena-Jade continued to struggle against one another "Because I want to be the person you saw in me, but that means being here….that means I can't leave Damascus behind; I promise that I will explain if you-AJ LOOK OUT!"
There was no time.
Athena and Zirconia had circled and struggled as they sought to overpower one another, a feat which would have been easy for the Bear Faunus were she not so drained and as they had done so Zirconia had caught sight of the blazing light of Stygian's sword in the darkness, the Mouse Faunus reduced to physically charging at his foe. It was obvious that the blow was meant for Zirconia herself but the grappling for control of their locked weapons had put Athena in the way and even the Grasshopper Faunus's attempt to physically drag her former partner clear, even paired with Stygian's desperate attempt to halt his own momentum was not enough.
Athena-Jade's world erupted into fiery pain; punctuated by the shattering of her Aura as she witnessed it, then a cold numbness and then a cacophony of noise and chaos as the shock and trauma of the situation cost Zirconia her control of Phantasmagoria.
Though all the Bear Faunus could focus on, her sapphire eyes wide with shock and fright was the blade of Sharp Cheese which had pierced through her lower back and now emerged, stained red from her midsection to the left of centre.
"AJ!….Oh shit, AJ, AJ hang in there!" Stygian's words blurred into a senseless nothingness in the Bear Faunus's mind as she sunk to her knees and began to topple forward Heartbreaker clattering from her grasp and consciousness slipping away, being halted from landing on her face by both the blade embedded in her body and the fact that Zirconia rushed forward to catch her with one hand whilst brandishing her own weapon in the other.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Zirconia screamed
"WE NEED TO GET HER TO SAFETY!" Stygian yelled back anger and blind panic mixing "We need a doctor right now!"
"We have medics, we have facilities" Zirconia's word came hoarse and ragged, a futile attempt to reassure herself with the same promises she had made to the Bear Faunus herself only moments ago. As she spoke Zirconia dropped into a crouch and began studying how best to safely lift Athena without pulling the sword free or worsening her injuries; being only vaguely aware of Stygian first taking Heartbreaker and collapsing it before taking a position close at hand.
The idea that the two of them would continue fighting, or do anything other than help Athena-Jade in that moment was unthinkable to either of them; with their previous rage and vitriol being consumed in the face of this far more urgent threat.
"Where?" Stygian asked, voice trembling "I'll help you….We can both carry her, just tell me where-"
The Mouse Faunus was silenced by the sound of a deafening, screaming roar filling the end; the sound monstrous and animal at first but quickly giving way to a distinctly industrial and mechanical sound which in turn blended into the recognisable sound of Dust engines, distorted in some way and clearly of a titanic size; with all of it preceding the rising of a vast darkness from above the rooftops of Jidhir Town.
"There" Zirconia said simply as she pointed to the Megalodon, which was now operational and taking to the sky.
Gestalt-Prime and the Nova Beast continued to do everything in their power to rip one another apart and as the battle wore on it was becoming steadily more apparent that the Alpha Cyber-Grimm's victory was not as assured as they might have first thought.
They fought without the advantages that would normally be granted to them by their tactical visor, currently rendered unusable as it tried to catalogue the extent of their internal and external injuries whilst those same injuries continued to plague the sentient monster; making their movements intermittently sluggish or jerking and lacking in the raw, unspeakable power they should have been able to wield as bone and tissue that had been ravaged simply gave in to the stresses placed upon it or living metal armour that was as much a part of them as their flesh grated against itself in short bursts of sparks and pain.
All of which allowed the Nova Beast to land another blow.
The Sun-Bear Grimm's oversized and prehensile tongue tore through the air as the titanic Grimm came bounding towards Gestalt-Prime and swung its' massive, flat-featured and already severely damaged head to the side. The Alpha Cyber-Grimm avoided the incoming blow with more difficulty than such an openly telegraphed attack should have caused, their massive and axe-tipped arms unfolding from around their more proportional limbs to unfurl out into wings as they leapt and glanced down with their singular glowing eye to watch as the Nova Beast's sucker-lined tongue tore chunks out of the space they had occupied a second before only for the long-limbed beast to launch a follow up assault with blinding speed and ferocity; another deafening roar split the air as the Grimm reared up onto its' hindlimbs and threw its' right forepaw out in a wild swipe which batted Gestalt-Prime out of the air.
Nearly breaking them in half in process.
The hybrid Alpha hurtled through the air with a total lack of control of their flightpath before slamming into the ground with enough force to leave a crater along with several mangled parts of their living metal exterior and viscous, inky black blood and viscera which pooled around them as it spilled as freely as such a substance could from the wounds the Nova Beast had caused, smoking faintly as it did so. Trying to stand proved itself a fruitless endeavour, making Gestalt-Prime aware of just how badly they had been wounded by the hooked claws of the larger monster which, beyond causing indescribable amounts of pain had cleaved so deeply into their body that their legs were almost entirely unresponsive and buckled at the first attempt to move whilst their tail lashed and shuddered with only the vaguest correlations between its' movements and the intent behind them.
A deafening bellow of victory and animal fury split the air a moment later and Gestalt-Prime realised, with the thundering footfalls of the Nova Beast making the matter more urgent, that the battle was not over and that even in such a ruined state they would be forced to continue and defend themselves.
Gestalt-Prime merely snarled, reminding themselves that they had suffered worse.
Their axe-tipped wings, bent and deformed by the impacts they had sustained bunched up around the hybrid Alpha before they were driven down into the ground to serve as anchors for Gestalt-Prime who, knowing that they no longer had the strength for their main weapons chose instead to deploy their shoulder mounted lasers. The Nova Beast came charging towards them, the gaping and open scar that had been carved into its' skull seeming now to make it more fierce as it closed the distance until finally it loomed directly above its' prey, its' massive form blocking out the sunlight and forcing Gestalt-Prime to confront the fact that their plans for the Grimm species would end here.
And then pain consumed them again.
This time they were unable to avoid the snaking, grasping tongue of the Nova Beast as it coiled around them, its' various features biting and tearing into flesh and armour as they were hoisted into the air and then slammed down into the same crater with a force which sent the fluids they had already lost splashing out in all directions in a grisly display of violence, Gestalt-Prime's lone optic flickered and their entire body felt heavy as the limbs and components that had not been crushed or severed already began to fail them faster than they could hope to recover and a darkness began to set in; a darkness that was offset only by the gathering light within the back of the Nova Beast's throat as it prepared to unleash its' main form of attack and scour away every last trace of the Alpha Cyber-Grimm.
Yet when light blossomed and erupted before Gestalt-Prime's vision it came without pain, at least for themselves and instead there was freedom and sunlight as the Nova Beast's titanic mass was blasted through the air by a volley of missiles.
"What?" they managed to snarl the word, their armoured faceplate retracting to allow them to speak and their confusion being rectified and replaced with a sense of relief and grim satisfaction in short order as they positioned their ruined form so that they could better see their rescuer.
The Megalodon.
It had been a terrifying site whilst docked and still forming but now the airship Cyber-Grimm was beauty and destruction perfectly intertwined, its' sleek and predatory form giving its' every motion through the sky a lurking, monstrous presence and quality which would send any foe capable of thought running for their lives. The Nova Beast was not such a foe however and Gestalt-Prime was rewarded for their tenacity by being able to watch the Sun-Bear Grimm perish as it dragged itself to its' feet and let out a roar, preparing to launch its' devastating beam weapon once again only for the Megalodon, or more accurately Nero and whatever crew or artificial intelligence were aiding him launched another salvo. The Nova Beast keeled over, its' fiery light guttering out as a laser cannon punched a hole through the things' entire torso large enough for a car to drive through whilst another beam of light cleanly sheared away its' left forelimb and from there the destruction only became more total as the Megalodon prowled through the air until it was almost directly above its' target, at which point Gestalt-Prime saw its' cavernous maw open and deploy an indescribable and almost perverse assembly of flesh and metal that was part tongue, part industrial crane and convey and involved several piercing and grasping tools which hauled the Nova Beast into the air and then into the waiting mouth of the airship Cyber-Grimm.
The Nova Beast was destroyed and then it was processed, broken down into raw components which were fed into the Forge within the colossal Cyber-Grimm's underbelly so that more Cyber-Grimm could be made.
As they saw the Megalodon begin unleashing massive amounts of fire into the remaining Grimm Gestalt-Prime allowed themselves to fade into an unconsciousness that would accelerate their regeneration, secure in the knowledge that they would be recovered soon enough, certain that the battle would be won and that their plans were intact.
They had faced the presence in the darkness head on now and they had emerged victorious; soon enough their forces would be powerful enough for Gestalt-Prime to assert themselves as the rightful leader of the Grimm species and remake it in their own image.
When Carmesi Hueso fought without restraint he was a force of nature, a typhoon of blades or tsunami of untamed violence which threatened to crash over all in his path and leave nothing but the ruins of his opponents in his path.
It was a testament to Astra and Regalia's skill that the two of them were still alive.
"It's over! You have lost!" Carmesi yelled, low and gruff voice being raised to be heard above the sound of the enormous airship Cyber-Grimm that had finally taken to the air; his expression softening a fraction and the murderous gleam in his eyes subsiding by the smallest amount as he nodded to his opponents "But I can respect the bravery and conviction it takes for you to keep fighting"
"It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done" Regalia hissed out through gritted teeth as she pulled herself back to her feet after being left sprawled on the ground in the last exchange of blows, using her weapon as a crutch to steady herself whilst a short distance away Astra was in a similar position, returning unsteadily to their feet with a visibly flickering Aura.
"This isn't finished and it's not gonna go the way you want it to" they wheezed out, hoping that they could manage to sound confidently defiant and enigmatic despite the pain they were clearly in. Privately the leader of Team MARS was looking for a way to extricate themselves and their friends from the situation as they were forced to conclude that Carmesi was correct and a tactical retreat until Corvid could send backup was the only sensible choice; a fact which needed to be carefully balanced against the need to maintain a certain illusion and level of believability.
Neither Nero nor Carmesi knew that they would be heading directly into a trap when they travelled to Atlas and Astra realised that if they gave up too easily now it might raise suspicions.
A dilemma which Carmesi relieved them of by simply launching another attack.
"I didn't want it to end this way for you kids, you had promise….But it's necessary for a better Remnant" with those words the Komodo Dragon Faunus dropped low to the ground and slammed his palm into the dry and cracked surface to unleash his Semblance and send jagged spires of solidified Aura out in a rolling wave of eruptions.
Knowing that there was no way to simply run and nowhere to hide from such an assault Astra and Regalia simply charged forwards to meet the mass of blades and jagged edges which stood taller than themselves head on; running and leaping onto the crimson surfaces and leaping from one to the next in an effort to draw close enough to fight Carmesi on more favourable terms only to be forced to adapt once more as shotgun blasts boomed and rang through the air.
"You know you're doing more to yourself right?" Astra challenged, hoping that the element of truth in the cockily delivered comment would affect the rogue Hunter. Astra had seen the effect of having an area of effect Semblance damaged whenever Zirconia's Phantasmagoria failed her and with Carmesi's Semblance being comprised of solid and weaponised Aura it stood to reason that the fact he was currently using Retribution in its' shotgun mode to blast through the spires and spikes in an effort to send his foes toppling down onto waiting blades would in fact deplete his own Aura.
Yet if that was the case Carmesi seemed entirely unbothered and continued to shoot.
Seeing that the attempt at distraction had been useless Astra managed to give Regalia a small signal as the two of them continued to push forward until, without warning the Racoon Faunus veered off to the side and used the cover Carmesi had inadvertently given them with his own Semblance to make her way towards the rooftops of nearby unfinished buildings whilst Astra created a diversion for their partner in the way they knew best.
By being outlandish and daring.
Aura of two shades of glowing red filled the half-made street in Jidhir Town as Astra activated their own Semblance and brought their Aura-construct body into existence in a fiery and expanding bloom; taking sever damage almost immediately as Carmesi's Semblance carved into their Semblance self but at the same time breaking as many of the reptilian's spikes and more importantly his focus with them. Through the glow and breaking Semblances Astra saw Carmesi and realised that the sudden lack of gunfire was a consequence of the shirtless man holding his head in pain whilst visibly disoriented and from there the Deer Faunus pressed their advantage; releasing their Semblance with enough of a push that they finally closed the distance and launched themselves at Carmesi with a spinning back kick which caught the older Faunus in his bearded face, Carmesi tried to raised his weapon in one hand whilst his empty hand reached for his machete but before he could do so Astra slammed the outer edge of one of Buckshot Ares's shields' into his arm and shoulder to halt him and followed up with a kick to the chest forceful enough to knock the reptilian Faunus's feet out from under him.
"Now' it's over" Astra declared breathlessly as they deployed their weapons' twin compact mini-guns and trained them on Carmesi who made no immediate effort to rise. In truth Astra was not sure what their next move should be and whilst they had some vague notion of trying to use Carmesi's capture as leverage against Nero there were several problems with the plan, largely that Gestalt-Prime was unaccounted for and could simply spirit Carmesi away as they had done for Zirconia at Pikesreach or else Nero could simply bring the guns of their new airship Grimm to bear and make much more credible threats than Team MARS could hope to; to say nothing of the possibility that Carmesi was simply so devoted to his cause that he might simply allow himself to be captured or worse rather than risk the mission.
Regalia had taken to the rooftops as a way to find a better angle of attack on Carmesi, he would not be able to use his Semblance against her so easily from there and it would have forced him to split his attention; furthermore the momentary respite would give the Racoon Faunus a chance to use her own Semblance and as they cautiously turned their sea-green gaze in her direction Astra found themselves hoping that Look-See had provided Regalia with an answer that might help the two of them.
Though when Regalia finally did call out it was in a terrified voice and with news that almost undid Astra in an instant.
"AJ'S HURT!" her voice wavered "ASTRA IT LOOKS BAD, SHE-THEY'RE COMING THIS WAY!"
Clarification came only a few moments later as Regalia leapt down from the roof and rushed to her friends side as Athena-Jade was brought into view, carried on a makeshift stretcher made from a door and with clothes stained a dark red by blood flowing from the point where a sword, which Astra realised belonged to Stygian was piercing her body. Stygian himself was one of the two people carrying the makeshift stretcher and the other, Astra realised with a fresh stomach churning lurch and a flash of white hot rage was Zirconia Shadowmoon.
Their weapon was raised before they could think.
There had been no conscious decision, Astra had simply turned and kept one weapon loosely trained on Carmesi whilst bringing their other gun around to point squarely at the face of the Grasshopper Faunus though before they truly process what they were doing or before the buzzing, thundering sensation of their blood pounding within their skull could truly settle they were driven into the ground as Carmesi took their moment of distraction as an opportunity to spring to his feet and tackle the younger Faunus.
"CARMESI NO!" Zirconia screamed "PLEASE-"
"All things considered little girl….I don't think you're in a position to make requests; there's only so much space we can use as a brig and you'll clearly be using it after your stunt earlier" whatever was meant by that comment seemed to shake something loose within Astra's mind and their rage was suddenly stolen from them, the space it had taken in their mind being filled by a rush of sheer terror at the sight of Athena's pale and unmoving form and the fact that the Bear Faunus barely seemed to be breathing.
"Carmesi I will beg you if I have to….She needs medical attention, she is going to die" Zirconia's words devolved into rambling and sobbing and Astra was certain that had she not been holding Athena's impromptu stretcher that she would have sunk to her knees and grovelled "I can't let her die, I can't, please….My Dad-Damascus, he knows what it's like to lose people you love; so do you Carmesi, please just-"
"Stop" the word cut through Zirconia's crying in an instant and Astra' watched as the supposedly merciless rogue Hunter paused for a moment to consider and did not immediately raise his weapon and take the opportunity to finish off several of his foes in an instant. In the tense moment of deafening silence Astra turned their attention towards Regalia whose own gaze was darting from them to Athena in a frantic effort to try and convey something without speaking; it took Astra a few tries to parse any meaning at all in their barely coherent state but as they saw Regalia glance towards Carmesi again an idea came to them and they could only hope that it was the same idea Regalia was suggesting.
And more importantly that it was the correct move.
"Carmesi" they managed to croak out, speaking despite barely trusting their voice "We make better prisoners than corpses"
"Astra what're you-"
"SAVING AJ'S LIFE!" Astra screamed at Stygian, cutting off the Mouse Faunus's interruption and making a show of collapsing Buckshot Ares before taking the weapons off of their forearms and throwing them to the ground at Carmesi's feet.
"We don't have any information that you can use" Astra spoke hurriedly, even having the sense to establish that particular lie in such dire circumstances "But if you get AJ to a doctor then we surrender"
"Do the rest of you agree to those terms?" Carmesi asked after stroking his beard for a moment, debating the prospect for a moment that seemed deliberately, torturous in its' length.
"You got a friend in me" Regalia murmured in Athena's general direction, swallowing thickly before dropping her weapon carefully and kicking it towards Carmesi whose gaze turned to Stygian, with the Mouse Faunus merely nodding silently in agreement. Carmesi then strode to Astra and regarded them carefully as though expecting a trap or clever ploy, all whilst Astra prepared themselves for an inevitable blow to the head which would knock them out.
"When my partner Major Grapeshot, a man who I respected, admired and considered a friend became a hindrance to the future I'm trying to build I killed him myself….You really believe yourself to be in the right, but you'd trade everything for one person?" Carmesi shook his head "I respect you less as a leader for it Mars, you lack commitment to your beliefs….Now I can see that it wasn't just Slate who taught Zirconia how to be weak"
With that Carmesi walked away and began signalling both to Nero himself and to the former Chairman's remaining ground forces so that they could be extracted, informing Nero of Team MARS's capture as he did so.
The blow never came and Astra, filled with a sickening dread with left them shaking and clammy with a cold sweat almost wished that it had; they would have preferred oblivion to the knowledge that they had failed so severely.
Author's Notes:
Get why the Chapter's called Mercutio? "A plague on both your houses, they have made worms' meat of me?"
….Although when I re-read the Act three, Scene one of Romeo and Juliet it's actually Romeo in the middle trying to break up the fight when Mercutio gets stabbed, but regardless.
Also on a related note Harold Perrineau is the definitive Mercutio.
On a more immediate note….All of you put your damn pitchforks down, I know what I'm doing and this is only the mid-season.
I don't normally write a wrap up chapter for a mid-season, but I think this clearly warrants one; so I've got Chapter 134 to write but then I'm gonna plan out the rest of this volume.
ANOTHER SMALL DETAIL: View counts have been frozen on FF Net for a month now, apparently I've had no views at all even though I've been getting reviews. Therefore I'm going to declare by fiat that I have 200,000 views and if anyone disagrees they're welcome to prove me wrong.
But anyway, let's summarise shall we?:
Yeah Gestalt-Prime is tough as nails, but this is reasonably a fight they should struggle with or lose...Two 'Boss fight' Grimm of the calibre that I'd usually save for a season finale being unleashed at the same time.
Being caught in the Snapping Turtle Grimm's jaw is honestly the hit that fucked them up the most, that one did enough damage to open them up for everything else and I feel like having them lose the use of the visor that they usually have, the one which has been part of them since Vol.2 when they first became truly self aware is a good way to show that.
Also, the fact they were silent because of their mouth doing the Optimus Prime thing felt like a good touch.
Using the laser to escape the jaws just felt like some MHA bullshit.
Of course the lasers did nothing.
Okay, this whole fight was inspired in part by Pacific Rim but in my head the moment where the Nova Beast jumped back in was a clear example of that.
Yeah the Shatter Beast obviously had something bigger and more dangerous lined up than just biting….But frankly there's enough happening here and I wasn't sure what to make its' ranged/area of effect attack, so instead I got rid of it and left it as a teaser.
That was a cool take down, using the Nova Beast as a weapon.
The "Welcome to my nightmare" was actually a nod to the 95 Power Rangers movie….RIP Jason David Frank.
What if I told you stun baton girl will be important later.
'More enthusiasm than skill' is a generous way of putting it.
Yeah, if you're gonna kill someone then don't hesitate….Astra was playing nice there.
Okay Astra did well against Carmesi all things considered, I mean he could probably fight any individual member of Team FADE or Team RWBY in their prime and win; he could probably go toe to toe with Pyrrha at her age and she's a benchmark for skill.
Carmesi does genuinely like and respect Astra.
And now the Pikesreach crew know what happened to their home, so they're leaving Carmesi to it.
Y'know with a title like this and AJ starting out by just trying to break the fight up….It really was obvious where it was gonna go.
It really is one of the more mobile fights, you've got someone who fights like a ninja and had robot legs against someone who can teleport and close the distance immediately.
"You have no idea how generous I am being by not fighting you, you should appreciate it more" was bad-ass and you know it.
Stitch has a fair point.
AJ really did try everything to solve this peacefully and she nearly got blinded for it.
As soon as Dads were brought into the conversation it was over.
And here's what's keeping Corey busy, Pantheon's attacks on everywhere.
Winged Buffalo were a joke Grimm back in the initiation.
She did all that, just for the last one to get picked off by somebody else when she had specifically asked for the big ones to herself.
Of course it's a Land Shark, they're the big apex beastie of Menagerie that everyone, including Clan Aiktishaf know about.
Imagine watching that as a recently graduated Hunter, imagine seeing the Grimm bigger than a street charge straight at a lone Specialist and it literally break itself apart on contact.
And now backup is on the way.
The AJ, Hops and Stitch needs suitably emotional music….Like the last Agni Kai.
Even though they were fighting Zirconia was willing to get Stygian to a medic if he needed one.
Magnetic fire was a cool combo actually.
Zirconia's Semblance doesn't get much use but when it does it's pretty damn cool and scary, she really could have finished Stygian off if was just the two of them.
And there it is.
Well that's definitely the one thing that could stop those two from fighting.
But also the Megalodon.
Yeah that was a big hit at the start of the scene, like standing in front of an anchor when it's being dropped.
Gestalt-Prime really thought they were done for.
You know it was a beating and a half when your bodily fluids actually SPLASH like that.
Oh come on we all knew how this fight was gonna end.
That's a new feature from the Megalodon though….It has the Forge built into it, so it needs the means to take on new raw Grimm material, it eat it.
Look, if there's a time to give yourself a boost by quoting Rocky then this is it.
Astra was at least trying to play it smart.
That running and jumping through Carmesi's Semblance would be cinematic as hell.
Breaking into Phantasmagoria from the outside messes with Zirconia, this is the same principle; if you break those spikes enough Carmesi suffers feedback.
That was legitimately one of the most earned take-downs so far; Carmesi does not get beaten easily.
But, there was only one way this could end and Athena's condition immediately turns the tide and gives Carmesi the advantage again.
So yeah….Team MARS are being taken prisoner, surrendering so that Athena can get help.
Also Carmesi's comments about Grapeshot really do highlight the difference between them.
Thank you to Neil12 and MajorBrony95 for their reviews on the last chapter.
Well, the dread was earned...But remember, this isn't done until it's done, pletny of time to course correct.
As for the Pulitzer comment, you are far too kind and I hope you enjoy my original writing as much when I get around to it.
I mean the truck isn't totalled...A bit battered definitely.
What if I told you that the actual Leviathan Grimm will get a cameo?
Yeah AJ does not seem to be having the best luck.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.