In the snowy ruins of Mountain Glenn a unusual sight was currently taking place. On the main northern road, around a thousand skeletons moved in unison through the street, flattening the snow beneath their steps.
Truth be told, there had been many troop movements during the past week, but none could compare in scale to the current one. But of the thousands nameless faces partaking in it, none was truly aware of what they were doing.
However some undeads came pretty close to it. One of those in particular, let's call him Isaïe for the moment, was currently in charge of this expedition. Not that Isaïe even knew that it was an expedition. All he knew was that he had orders to push north and kill all nearby Grimms along the way.
Thus this somewhat important skeleton did the one thing it was made to do : follow orders. His force met the first enemies in the same area as usual, just outside the city.
This kind of engagement had already become a routine for the skeletons. They would group up, go out, kill a few Grimms and retreat. Except this time, Isaïe received no orders to pull back.
His little undead brain struggled for a moment because of this lack of information, but soon his 'instinct' took control and he continued to follow the last order he was given. To advance north.
Grimms grew more numerous as they got further and further away. Casualties were starting to appear. And Isaïe still didn't know why he was doing this, and what he should expect. No one ever bothered to tell them anything.
And then, finally, Isaïe's scouts reported the presence of a massive gathering of Grimms in the distance. They had had to be at least at least eight hundred by his estimates.
He could do this, thought Isaïe. His side had around the same amount of soldiers, he just had to position them effectively. He could always retreat if things went south.
He had been given orders to engage and dispose of every Grimms he met. His master hadn't specified that Isaïe had to warn him, and he was probably busy anyway.
He stretched his army's wings, slowly encircling his opponent. The skeletons remained out of sight from the Grimms during the entire process. Undeads couldn't have negative emotions, nor did they have proper souls. As such the enemy failed to notice their presence until it was too late.
The trap sprung, shots fired from everywhere, Grimms died. The beasts panicked and were mostly unable to effectively react. Those few that did manage to group some number of their kind for a charge were mostly dealt with without sizeable losses.
Isaïe looked at the battlefield with what was the closest to satisfaction. His face was unable to even smile however, and wouldn't be useful for his orders to do it anyway.
So he simply stood there as his soldiers did their job. The horde's numbers had already dwindled to barely a hundred. What was left was essentially glorified clean up job.
However his moment of success when he finally received a new order. It was two simple words, two words that he had grown accustomed to hear and execute.
Fall back.
Now those words felt wrong. He had to kill these Grimms, that's what he was made for. Retreating now would make him unable to conclude his mission effectively. His sub routines pleaded him to continue, to destroy this threat while he still could, to end what he started.
The two words once again echoed in his mind, stronger this time around. His mind tried to resist, but there was something wired deep him that pushed his concern aside. He had orders, and he would follow them.
At least for now.
Kieffner POV
Well that was weird, he never had to repeat an order before. Maybe his communication network was getting overwhelmed from all his new minions. He would have to look into this at some point.
Right now he had other things to deal with. Thankfully his plan was proceeding smoothly for now. His troops reported that the Grimms had taken the bait and abandoned their encirclement in favor of bringing reinforcement to pursue his retreating army.
Looking out of the window of the old town hall, he watched the horizon in Vale's direction. Even now a few Atlesian airships were still flying, and every few minutes a red ray pierced the sky.
Hopefully they were having fun... and wouldn't bother him next.
Kieffner then lowered his gaze upon the civilians that were currently being brought to the hall. The group had steadily dwindled to a measly 21 members in only a week. A few had managed to get themselves killed by a stray Grimm, but most had left his protection in hopes of finding food, and probably ended up like the first category anyway.
Along with those 21 humans he also had to take care of 13 faunus, all of them non-combatant too of course. Fights between the two groups had been common during the first few days, but eventually grew scarce as everyone grew weaker from the lack of food. Kieffner couldn't stop from noticing that the White Fang civilians still seemed to have less visible ribs, as well as fuller cheeks. They were the one controlling access to food after all.
Now most of the civilians needed an undead to help them walk. A few even refused to budge, and had to be dragged all the way from their old lodgings.
While watching the spectacle was entertaining, it wasn't the purpose of his presence here. Thus Kieffner turned his eyes away from the small humans, and moved towards a pair of heavy wooden doors.
This house was in a remarkably good state compared to the rest of the city, especially when considering that it had been the last holdout. But for all those comfy seat and soft beds, Kieffner could enjoy none of them.
While he was greatly appreciative of his new form for saving his life, there had undoubtedly been some drawbacks. What skin he had left was unable to enjoy the soft touch of silk, and his displaced soul was unable to find rest even in the cushiest of beds.
What wasn't for him however, could still be enjoyed by others. He had allowed a select few to make use of what had become an empty home. Among those people were the two behind the door he was currently opening.
"Roman, Neo, how are you two doing ?"
Neo was currently laying in a bed, while Roman was sitting on a chair next to her. The mute girl was awake now, and leaning her back against the wall behind her pillow. An empty but still steaming bowl was resting on her nightstand.
"We will survive, probably." Said Roman with a light chuckle.
Meanwhile Neo nodded with a mixed expression. After all Kieffner was still the one at fault for her current state.
"That's good to hear."
"I suppose you're not only there to catch up with us." Asked Roman.
"I plead guilty." Joked Kieffner while holding his hand up in a mock surrender.
"Kids nowadays... They only talk to you when they want money..." Roman mumbled with the voice of an old woman.
"Don't worry I'm not going to ask anything of you." Continued Kieffner as he leaned against the wall.
"I'm just her to warn you about some things. I fear the situation with Salem may potentially have escalated."
"What do you mean ? Escalated to what ? She was already trying to kill us !"
"I mean that there's a chance Grimms will be right here within the hour." Stated Kieffner while pointing to the ground below them to emphasize his point.
"And you're expecting me to fight ? To leave Neo alone ?" Roman tensed as he uttered those words.
"No, actually. It's probably better that you stay here and protect Neo in case the situation degrades even further." They didn't need to know that they were his last line of defense. Those civilians hadn't been moved here for nothing, and hopefully the Grimms wouldn't pay attention to his minions working underground.
Roman wouldn't need to go to war, war would go to him.
A thought invaded Kieffner's mind. Was he a bad person for using and lying to someone who trusted him ? Probably. But since when was he worried about good ? Despite this his stomach couldn't stop from churning. Not so much from the lie and manipulation itself, but rather that it would be discovered by Roman. That would surely make for an awkward conversation.
Anyway, the dies were cast now. He only had to wait and see how it would turn out. In the meantime he had a battle to organize.
Cardin felt that something was wrong when every Huntsman, including himself, had received a considerably larger ration yesterday. Now, he was quite sure of it.
He wouldn't have to fight for those filthy mutts if everything was right after all. Not that Cardin would voice those thoughts out loud. He very much liked to be alive and would prefer to keep it that way.
Now he was with around half of the human Huntsmen, along with a few hundred undeads, both led by that Adam guy.
Gunfire could be heard in the distance, but they ignored it and continued to head... somewhere. No one had bothered to tell Cardin exactly what they would be doing. He was simply told that they were to fight Grimms, with the survival of everyone in the city at stake.
As he was fuming over this, he noticed the presence of a dozen skeletons standing on the rooftops. They were all firing at something in the distance. That something soon made itself known when a Nevermore swept over one of the rooftops, throwing a few undeads away in the process.
"Nevermores !" Yelled Adam.
"Everyone take cover and ready weapons !"
The order came just in time for a dozen more of those flying beasts to appear. The group began to scatter with varying degrees of panic, from the mechanical undeads to the almost fleeing Huntsmen in training.
In the minute it took the Grimms to completely clear the rooftops everyone below had taken position behind some kind of cover. Be they destroyed cars, big chunks of concrete, and even inside a few buildings.
Everyone armed with a gun opened fire just as the Nevermores began to dive upon them. During a few terrifying seconds no one knew what would happen and who would get reaped.
Only a single Grimm died under their concentrated fire, all the others slammed against faunus, humans and skeletons. Two Grimms died upon hitting the ground, their damaged wings failing to slow them down in time, but all the others smashed through their target's cover without any difficulty.
Cardin raised his mace and prepared to engage the nearest Nevermore. He tried to not pay attention to the bloody sludge between its claws. It was just a big bird, he could do it.
The beast noticed him and turned around to face the Huntsman. Cardin rushed to the former and swung his mace at its face. Under the powerful attack the Grimm's mask cracked and its eyes flickered.
The Nevermore shrieked loudly in pain, and got up on its hind legs while swinging its wings around. Cardin embraced a defensive stance, which was the only thing that saved him when the beast swiped at him with all its weight behind the claw.
Cardin's body was still throw away from the shock, and after his short flight he noticed that he had troubles breathing. He looked at his breastplate and saw that it was heavily dented.
The cold metal pressed into his ribcage, and something warm was starting to flow down his body. He tried to breath in, but was interrupted by a violent coughing fit. When Cardin removed his hand from his mouth, the former was covered in blood.
"Shit..." He whispered between two painful breaths.
Of course the Nevermore before him couldn't care less about Cardin's suffering. The only reason it hadn't attacked yet was because the pain on its face disturbed it, as well as its increasingly blurry vision.
Despite this the beast managed to gather enough focus for another attack. At the same time as it appeared, Cardin noticed the new threat. His opponent approached, and swung its right claw at the Huntsmen.
Cardin's brain quickly analysed the situation. If he moved backwards he would get punched by the Grimm's wing. He also didn't want to imagine what would happen to his torso if he decided to jump over it, or even just crouch under it. The only other option was forward, which included getting into range of that massive beak.
There wasn't anything good he could do in his current state. He would probably die here, killed by a mere Nevermore. So that was supposed to be the end of Cardin Winchester's story ?
No !
If he was going to die right now and there, then it will be with a bang, not a whimper.
The boy stepped forward, the Grimm opened its beak, and Cardin struck his mace inside of it. Metal bent under the creature's strength, but it wasn't enough to deter the Huntsman.
He clenched his left hand into a fist, and slammed it into the beast's throat, repeatedly, until the feathery skin gave away, and Cardin could feel his mace with both his hand.
Then he pulled, putting all his dwindling strength into it. The Nevermore reflexively dug his claws into the ground, trying to push back against Cardin. The latter however, simply pulled even harder, so much that the beast's neck gave out before its claws.
Everyone around could heard the sickening crunch when the Nevermore's head got separated from its body. The head in question continued to chew on Cardin arm for a few seconds before finally dying.
"Come on, let's go." Ordered Adam. "We've already lost enough time as it is."
What a mess, thought Cardin while staring at his bloody arm. And this fight wasn't even their end goal, just an annoying interruption.
Everyone began to jog away to the real fight. Cardin tried to follow, but his blood soaked lungs screamed in protest. A few bloody coughs later, and he had abandoned all hope of catching on the group.
Thinking was getting hard, painful even. He had to find a place to lay down and recover... just a few minutes.
Unknown POV:
He couldn't find the strength to open his eyes.
How many days have passed since he last ate ? He wondered...
So hungry, like a gaping hole replaced his stomach.
So cold. He couldn't feel his legs anymore...
They left him to die here.
Wait. He could hear something.
"The fuck is that ?!"
Someone was here. So hungry...
His eyes opened slightly, and he catched a glimpse of something grey and bulky. There was something red on it, he couldn't tell what.
A sweet scent filled the air. His mouth started watering.
He had to eat...
His stomach felt so empty.
Something...
There was a human before him. He just had to take a few steps. He just needed food, something...
ANYTHING !
Energy surged through his body as he finally let go of the thing within.
His finger cut through something soft, blood flowed everywhere. Sweet, tasty blood...
A lone gargle echoed, and then silence returned.
The person was gone, but he was still hungry...
His mouth found its way to the corpse. He tore through the body, one mouthful at a time. Never did he realize how good flesh really tasted.
But soon it was over. Too soon...
He was still hungry.
His stomach still felt empty.
He still couldn't feel his legs.
At least the cold had left.
So hungry...
He just had to find more.
He just had to let go.
Adam POV
The plan was simple.
They would bait the Grimms in, let them walk straight into the city. Once the beasts were too deep in to retreat, he would lead a force to attack them from the side. His task was to cut of their retreat, meanwhile scattered soldiers on the Grimms' flanks would prevent them from spreading on more than a few streets.
The plan was indeed simple, in theory.
"Captain ! They have broken the second line !"
"We've completely lost contact with the first line !"
Almost everything that could have gone wrong, did go wrong.
"There's too many of them, what are we gonna do ?!"
The number of Grimms involved had by far exceeded their expectations.
Most of the defensive lines had broken immediately. Instead of a few streets, the Grimm horde now covered almost a quarter of Mountain Glenn.
"We're behind schedule Sir. What are your orders ?"
And now those Nevermores had managed to hold them back long enough for the rest of the horde to notice their presence and start to react.
Adam was, to be frank, lost. Torn between wanting to retreat with his men to salvage what they could out of this situation, and on the other side trusting in the Necromancer.
He looked at his small army of skeletons, each perfectly lined up in formation. As if they had heard his thoughts, one of the undeads stepped forward and faced Adam.
The corpse didn't move a bone, yet a deep, inhuman sound came out of it. It took a few seconds for Adam to notice that the thing that felt like it reverberated inside his skull formed words. And a few more were needed for the meaning behind those words to sink in.
"Acceptable... casualties..."
The skeleton didn't wait for the faunus to answer before continuing.
"Proceed... as planned."
Finally the infernal screeching ceased, and for a moment Adam managed to feel relieved despite the undead's actual words.
Then it all catched up on him. He was expected to do more. The fighting wasn't over, and many more of his men would die before the day was over.
There was no choice, he realized. Fleeing wouldn't keep them alive for long. Salem had already labelled them as enemies. Their only chance was to trust in the necromancer, and bring him victory.
Many of his men would die, but the White Fang would survive. There will still be hope for his kind's liberation, for his kind's survival.
They would die, it was all...
"Acceptable casualties."
Ruby POV
"They're coming ! Everyone hold his position ?" Yelled Ruby.
Grimms were starting to pour into the street she was ordered to hold. For this she only had two Huntsmen, her sister and herself, as well as six people from Vale who had been given a rifle at the last minute. Those six were somewhat protected behind a barricade, along with two dozen skeletons that only obeyed her orders when they felt like it.
With her sister Yang, she personally had to stop the Grimms from reaching the barricade, by placing herself between the two.
Ruby fired a few round of her high caliber sniper rifle, which was also a scythe, at the approaching swarm. Soon she was mimicked by those on the barricade.
Grimms began to fall, but it did nothing to deter the remaining hundred of them, mostly Beowolves and Ursas, that a finally all entered the street.
Yang fired her shotgun gauntlets, which was the signal for her little sister to get ready for melee. The mecashift sniper rifle turned back into a scythe, and Ruby used her Semblance to cross the distance between her and the beasts in less than a second.
The first Beowolf didn't even know what killed him, the second only saw a shiny blade, and the third managed to get a glimpse of the barrel that ended its life.
After the third however, Ruby had lost her momentum, and the surrounding Grimms were starting to close in around her. The Huntress took the first hit to her aura when an Ursa managed to punch her in the air after she jumped to dodge another attack.
The same Ursa readied for another blow, only to be interrupted when Yang appeared to crush its head to pieces with a particularly powerful punch.
The two girls took position behind each other's back, protecting themselves in the middle of the army of Grimms while bullet flew through the air all around them.
A dark cloud soon began to form from all the disintegrating bodies. Holding the street whatever the cost was certainly a grim order, Ruby thought. At the rate things were going however, they might actually get out of this alive.
Of course just when she thinking that, something happened that threw their strategy out of the window. Simultaneously all the Grimms ceased to attack the Huntresses, and completely ignored them in favor of directly rushing the barricade.
The moment the first Grimm reached it, all hell broke lose within the conscripted humans. Most of them abandoned all sense of discipline and courage to heroically charge in the wrong direction.
The fate of the remaining two probably ended up justifying this decision, as none of them survived longer than a 30 seconds.
Meanwhile Ruby and her sister were still in front of the slaughtered line. They had managed to catch and kill a few Grimms, but nowhere near enough to make a significant difference.
Just as the duo started to turn around to face the remaining Grimms, a deep, almost trumpet-like sound came from the far end of the street.
There they saw it. Towering high above both of them, slowly walking towards them with a call and confidence no Grimm had the right to have. There they saw a Goliath.
"Do you have enough aura left Sis ? I'm quite low." Ruby said.
"Enough for that thing ? Probably not."
Ruby then looked at both sides of the street, with Grimms sitting on both ends. The group from before had apparently started to notice them once again.
"Well... I suggest we go through those Grimms..." Ruby gestured at the pack of Beowolves and Ursas. "... and meet up with everyone else at the town hall."
Yang looked disheartened for a moment as she stared at the Goliath.
"Argh... Fine, let's get the hell out of here." She grumbled, before facing the Goliath and screaming at it.
"You'll see ! Next time I will have my aura !"
If the Grimm heard her, it didn't show it. The beast kept waking towards them at the same leisurely pace, confident that it would catch up on the duo soon enough.
"Now's not the time to die like an idiot. Let's get out of there." Confidently stated Ruby as they got ready to fight their way back to safety.
This time Yang was the first one the reach the enemy, as her sister didn't wish to waste what little aura she had left. The blonde girl smashed her gauntlet into a Ursa's jaw with a sickening crunch, killing it instantly. A Beowolf attempted to slash her in the back, but was rudely interrupted when a scythe's blade caressed its throat.
Ruby turned away from the disintegrating corpse to slam her weapon's end into the torso of a Beowolf trying to sneak up from behind. Barely had it been killed that another one used its body as a platform to leap at the young Huntress from above and behind.
Failing to see the attack coming, Ruby's body was slammed against the ground. She tried to wrestle the Beowolf away, but didn't have enough strength to do so. Her aura was at the breaking point. She could feel the ground tremble after each of the Goliath's steps.
The Beowolf bit her right shoulder, its teeth easily going through what little aura Ruby had left.
It hurt so much.
She didn't want to die.
Her arms were too weak.
A scream resounded, concrete cracked, and suddenly there was no weight on her anymore. Ruby looked up, and saw her sister. The latter's usual lilac eyes had turned red, and a burning aura seemed to distort the air around her.
The Grimm that had assaulted her was nowhere to be found. In fact, there weren't any Beowolves or Ursas left. The only sign of the battle that had taken place was a huge crater in the middle of the road.
Suddenly, Yang's aura broke. She was left there panting while the burning aura disappeared and her eyes turned back to their normal color. Nonetheless, the girl managed to stumble back to her sister.
Without a word the blonde offered a hand to Ruby, which the latter took with her good arm. She couldn't hold her weapon anymore, so her sister put it on her back. There was no time to lose. The Goliath was still walking towards them, slowly, sure of its eventual victory.
The two sister painfully moved away, with Yang supporting her injured sister. Putting one foot in front of the other. Their auras were shattered. They felt so weak. The Goliath was still following them.
One step after another, it was gaining ground on them. Safety was still far away. They had to hurry up.
One foot in front of the other. It was still getting closer.
One step... They could feel the air moving behind them. Its tusks were slowly swinging side to side as it pursued its inexorable advance.
"Rube... I don't think we're gonna make it."
"We just have... to walk faster." Ruby answered between two breaths. Those words sounded hollow, even to her. Taking on a Grimm without aura was already incredibly challenging, and that's not even talking about Goliaths.
Yang ignored her sister. She instead slowly stopped walking, and turned around, to face the Goliath.
"Go." She said.
"Yang..." Whispered Ruby.
"I'll meet you back at the town hall, and we will eat cookies together. Alright ?"
Ruby began to tear up. This was a lie, there were no cookies left anywhere near the town hall. She nodded towards her sister.
"A... Alright."
Yang smiled at her, and sluggishly got into a fighting stance.
Ruby began to stagger away just as she started to hear the sound of fighting. She had to get away, to the town hall, to safety.
A gasp echoed behind her, quickly followed by something crashing against a concrete wall. Ruby felt the urge to look back, but didn't dare to. She feared what she would see.
A grunt, a gargle, choking sounds. Ruby continued to walk. A coughing fit, a groan, then the sound of a body collapsing on rubble. Ruby closed her eyes, clenched her hand around her scythe, and continued walking.
The Goliath's steps once again made the ground below her tremble. One, two, three. Her sister let out a whimper, and then nothing.
Tears flowed freely out of Ruby's eyes. No. This wasn't possible. Her sister was the strongest, she would never lose.
She felt the Goliath walking.
Ruby didn't know when she had stopped walking away. Something was building up in her eyes. She turned around, her body shivering from the fear of what she would discover.
There she saw the Goliath and, impaled on its tusk, her sister. The thing in her eyes exploded, a bright flash blinded her, and Ruby passed out.
Kieffner's POV
What the hell had just happened ? The last thing he saw through a nearby undead scout was a silvery flash, and then he lost contact. Did that girl just explode ?
He fucking hated that this wasn't even the most concerning thing happening right now. The situation could still be salvaged, he could still achieve victory. But for this, he would need every man on board.
"I fear the situation may not have developed to our advantage." He said to Roman while looking out the window.
The street below was quickly being filled with Grimms, all while the amassed civilians and undeads tried their best to mount a successful defense.
Roman tensed as he heard the familiar howl of Beowolves. He then slowly moved to get his cane and hat.
"That bad ? I was under the impression that you would assure our protection, as part of our agreement." Inquired Roman, without any real hostility in his voice. As a matter of fact he mostly looked tired. His shoulders were slumped, and the thief's hands moved slowly and with apprehension.
"I promised I would try. But don't worry, Adam's attack will bring it all back under control."
"Really ?" A healthy amount of doubt was visible on Roman's face.
"Maybe ? Who knows ?"
Roman opened his mouth to answer, then closed it. He looked at Neo, who was currently asleep. Doubt distorted his features as the screams of the dying came from the street. Then, he finally said something.
"No, I won't abandon Neo."
Kieffner said nothing. A part of him felt betrayed, yet another was morbidly proud to being proven right. He never should have trusted Roman, he never should have trusted anyone. They all failed when he needed them the most.
However, despite all of this, the necromancer couldn't stop from feeling relieved. It was over. There wasn't anything he could do anymore, nothing he had to do. He had lost.
"I see." Was Kieffner's plain answer. He grabbed a nearby chair and collapsed into it.
"Just do what you want. There's a Bullhead on the roof."
Roman stared at the necromancer.
"Kieffner... I'm..."
"Oh shut up. I don't want your pity. Go away now."
He had worked relentlessly for months, all for what ? Everything had come crashing down like a house of cards the moment things became serious. All those shiny preparations barely slowed down his enemies.
He could still chose to run, go hunker down somewhere. Flee to fight another day. But he was tired. All his plans had failed, all his friends had betrayed him, his enemies were too powerful. Now he just had to wait. Wait for this body to die, for Salem to stop bothering him, for the world to become a better place. Then he would come back.
Kieffner looked up. Roman and Neo had left while he wasn't looking. The screams below had died down. He looked out of the window. There was no fighting anymore.
Outside he could still see the Atlesian airships, except they weren't above Vale anymore. Now they were hovering right above him, with their massive guns charging up and aimed downwards.
"So this is how it ends ? What a pitiful world this is."
He didn't even feel anything when learning that a new enemy had appeared. There was nothing left to worry about. His phylactery was safe, probably.
He heard gunfire, but not from the Atlesian.
"Forward ! Fight for your lives !"
There was a figure in the distance, leading a small group of soldiers dressed in white. The Grimms quickly turned around to intercept the new arrivants.
The latter opened fire, and a few of them even engaged in melee. Their combined firepower was enough to quickly defeat the Grimm force already weakened by its last fight.
Once the street was cleared of any Grimm, the group approached. Kieffner could now distinguish their features, and recognized the familiar white masks of the White Fang.
They stopped their advance near the town hall to instead turn right and enter a tunnel leading to the underground network. In under a minute all had disappeared from the street, all except one.
Adam was looked at the town hall, then at the Atlesian airships overhead. For a few seconds he stood in place, before breaking into sprint towards the building. A few seconds later Kieffner heard the doors on the floor below explode.
"Kieffner ? Are you here ?"
The necromancer hesitated, his mind puzzled. He might be willing to give up, to wait a small eternity for a better opportunity, but not Adam. Adam had trusted him, had fought and bled for him. He couldn't let him down.
"I'm here." Kieffner said, barely loud enough for it to be heard.
He then got up and began to head downstairs. The house was pretty, he realized, its comfy seats and beds would be missed. All would be lost, like tears in the rain.
"Come on, those assholes are gonna fire at any moment now." Adam implored when the necromancer finally showed up in front of him.
Just as Adam said that, the first shot was fired.
The town hall instantly exploded, debris flew everywhere, the roof collapsed and they were both buried under rubble. Kieffner struggled against a wooden beam trying to crush him. He managed to push it away, only to be rewarded with another explosion.
Uncaring of the shrapnel lodging itself into his already dead flesh, Kieffner got up and tried to find Adam. He moved debris around, dug through them, until finally, stuck under an iron bedframe, he found Adam.
The faunus was still dazed, but was already trying to get free. Kieffner moved next to him and tried to raise the bedframe. The metal moved just enough for Adam to crawl out of it.
Kieffner let go of the bedframe, and pulled up Adam. The faunus had dust all over him, as well as bruises in the area where the metal had pressed on, but he was otherwise fine.
They started to run towards to tunnel however, upon hearing the whistling of Atlesian artillery, Adam jumped down almost reflexively. He barely managed to avoid getting hit by the ensuing shrapnel and debris. Meanwhile the necromancer failed to react in time, and was punished by losing half of the skin on his face to a burning chunk of metal.
"Kieffner !" Screamed Adam.
The man in question didn't answer, and instead once again pulled his comrade up.
"We have to keep moving !" He urged.
"Right, I forgot you were like that." Adam replied while following the necromancer's command. The latter remained slightly behind Adam, for a reason that became apparent when the next shell was heard.
Adam once again got to the ground, except this time Kieffner laid down on top of the faunus. This time the projectile exploded before hitting the ground, which meant that shrapnel and fire now came from above. Flames licked Kieffner's back and metal pierced his body, yet he felt no pain.
Then he got up, and everything repeated. He pulled Adam up, they ran, they heard the whistling, got down, waited a few seconds, and started again. Thankfully they only had to dodge two more shells before finally reaching the tunnel.
They took a few steps inside to be safe, and were immediately greeted by a dozen of Adam's men. Some let out a sigh of relief, but there were no cheers, nor was there any joy on the faunus's faces. Most were injured to some extent, three were unable to stand on their own, and one had passed away on the ground.
"What do we do now, boss ?" Asked someone.
"We need to go deeper, and reach the railway. Have you sent scouts like I ordered ?" Said Adam.
"Yes, but they've not come back yet."
Adam frowned, and gestured the group to follow him while he advanced deeper into the tunnels. Kieffner followed, but not before discreetly resurrecting the fallen faunus to guard the entrance.
"Are you planning to abandon Mountain Glenn ? After everything we sacrificed for it ?" He asked Adam.
"We need to have an option for retreat. Don't let yourself die in this shithole. If those Atlesian bastards decide to land troops, we will have to run."
"Are you kidding ? I've still got soldiers, and I have all of my fac..." Kieffner was interrupted when he bumped into a frozen Adam.
"Is there a problem ?" Asked the goon behind the necromancer.
Kieffner looked over Adam's shoulder. The rocky ground in front of them was covered in a familiar red liquid. Adam used his sword's red glow to light up the path ahead.
This revealed the presence of scattered chunks of flesh, all bathing in an ungodly amount of blood. Kieffner carefully crouched next to something that looked vaguely like a leg, and tried to examine it.
So many flesh was missing around the bones that it was hard to really conclude anything. The only thing he managed to pick up, was that at some place the skin sported injuries akin to bite marks. Nothing really special in itself, but the interesting part came when he realized that those marks didn't match any Grimm or animal he knew.
"What do you think did those bite marks ?" He asked Adam, in case he knew of a Grimm the necromancer was unaware of.
"Those... don't look like anything I'm familiar with."
Suddenly they heard a rustling from further down the tunnel. Adam raised his sword, and a thing, looking almost like mere shadow, quickly slithered out of the light.
Kieffner and Adam looked at each other. There were less than a dozen fighters. Grimms and a foreign army were above them, and now there was an unknown, man eating thing underground with them. May the gods give them luck, for they will need it.
Hello there.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter. What happened to the other characters will be clarified in the next few chapters.
Nothing else to say, so please leave a comment, and until next time.