MARZ Rising

by FandomPariah

It's been thirty years since Ruby Rose saved Remnant from Salem and almost a decade since it was saved again. Salem is gone yet the Creatures of Grimm remain and now a new generation of Hunters are ready to begin their story... By enrolling at the Breaktide Academy of Menagerie where they'll be trained by legends including Team CFVY and Ruby Rose herself. Part 5 of the Spiral-Verse

106. The Rebellion

RWBY & All associated trademarks are property of Rooster Teeth (RIP Monty Oum)

I claim no ownership of anything except my own original characters.

I am making no money from this.

Chapter 106: The Rebellion

When Athena-Jade was truly angry she was a fearsome sight to behold, the Bear Faunus with all of her speed, strength and skill bolstered by the extreme versatility of the Schnee family Semblance and all of its' applications and her own weapon, devastating in both its' ranged and melee forms could, when pushed to her limits ascend beyond simply being a student Hunter and become more akin to a raging force of nature.

Athena-Jade had been pushed beyond her limits and was currently more angry than she had ever been before.

"STOP DODGING ME AND FIGHT BACK DAMN IT!" the words left her in a ragged scream of grief-stricken rage, tears streaking down her face and trailing behind her as she rushed in for another mighty swing of her hammer in a furious attempt to land a decisive blow on her traitorous former partner and the love of her life.

Thus far Zirconia Shadowmoon had remained steadfast in her refusal to draw her own weapon and had instead managed to weather the storm of blows aimed in her direction through simple agility alone though it was clear that her own mental state was frayed and that she was close to reaching her own limits as her entire body shook with heartbroken sobs with every movement.

"Athena I'm sorry, I'm so-" she was silenced by another attack falling upon her; running at the Grasshopper Faunus and conjuring a series of Glyphs which lay horizontal at various heights and locations in a way which Zirconia recognised well, providing both a stairway for the shorter girl to run up into the air in a zigzagging patterns whilst also creating several false routes to throw off her opponents' ability to block or evade. Panting and panicked Zirconia threw her arms up over her face and yet was still sent skidding backwards across the ground with enough force to tear a shallow trench in the park they fought in as Athena landed a devastating kick.

Pressing her advantage Athena continued her assault before she could ever return to the ground, instead using the technique that Zirconia had watched her spend so long developing and honing; multiple Glyphs forming at the small of her back and producing the clawed limbs of a Beowolf in glowing, pearly white which she used in conjunction with other Glyphs to propel herself upwards towards the ceiling separating the upper middle class area of the Hive Tower the artificial park was built into from the district above it, rushing inverted along the ceiling before leaping down directly at Zirconia with the head of her hammer already beginning to whine and thrum as the Dust booster with its' head charged.

"I don't want to fight you!" Zirconia's voice was a broken and tortured thing equal to Zirconia's own ragged scream and she flinched in a blind panic, technique and form momentarily forgotten as the ephemeral claws lunged downwards and tore into the ground around her and gave Athena an anchor so that the Bear Faunus could swing her hammer with more force, engaging the propulsion system in Mould-Breakers' head to transform her attack into a blur of invisibly fast motion which tore the ground at both of their feet apart in a spray of dirt and fragments.

It was perversely their familiarity with one another's moves and the way they had played off of one another for two years which kept Zirconia from being crushed; instead the Grasshopper Faunus threw herself backwards with a leap which saw her cybernetic legs connect with the head of Mould-Breaker for just long enough to allow her be sent sailing backwards and through the air in a parody of a technique that the two of them had often used. Zirconia was sent flying free of the edge of the park she and Athena-Jade had watched Nero's announcement to Remnant in, everyone else in attendance having fled the moment the one-sided fight between them broke out and the Grasshopper Faunus crashed painfully into the roof of a parked car some distance away; her Aura flickering faintly in places where it brushed against glass from shattered windows as she rolled from the vehicles' partially collapsed roof and onto the road itself where she hurriedly forced herself to her feet and simply bolted.

Her world had fallen apart in a matter of minutes and it was all she could do to keep moving.

Wiping her eyes as she ran Zirconia forced herself to think through the dull ringing of stress in her ears and her own thundering heartbeat in order to form some semblance of a plan.

The idea of fighting Athena-Jade was anathema to her, she loved the snowy haired woman and the thought of deliberately harming her was sickening yet the fact remained that the Bear Faunus was determined and relentless, with no intention listening or allowing her former partner to escape and yet the idea of being captured was equally unthinkable; if only because she knew that it had been Carmesi Hueso who had been entrusted to ensure that she escaped the city safely and that the Komodo Dragon Faunus would see that mission completed regardless of who he had to murder to achieve it.

Increasingly desperate Zirconia continued to run as fast as her Aura and specially made cybernetics would allow, the same features which allowed her to scale walls with ease integrated into her legs allowed her climb over cars in a single vaulting step and avoid other such obstructions as she weaved through streets without rhyme or reason beyond simply trying to retreat deeper into the city.

Only for Athena-Jade appear again.

"GET BACK HERE HOP-" the nickname she had given Zirconia long before either of them had understood the depth of their feelings for the other dying in the stocky and powerful young woman's throat to be replaced by a simple wordless yell. From the direction of the sound Zirconia realised that she had conjured Nevermore wings and allowed herself to fly, though any notions of Athena tackling her from the air were dissolved as Glyphs began to appear at intervals that were seemingly random and haphazard.

Until Athena-Jade fired Mould-Breaker in its' laser cannon form.

A yelp of panic was all Zirconia could manage as she leapt out of the path of the oncoming beam of searing and ethereal jade light only for it to strike of the Glyphs and be redirected into another of the glowing surfaces where it was promptly redirected back at the fleeing rogue who narrowly avoided the attack again, yet the extent of Athena's ploy ensured that she was kept on the defensive longer still which allowed the Bear Faunus to reveal her true intentions.

Everything simply exploded.

Zirconia had only a brief moment of warning in which her mismatched and teary eyes widened in terror at the sight of Athena leaping to the ground with her hammer held aloft and a Glyph of monumental proportions forming at the point she intended to strike, its' surface crackling and shifting colour as the Bear Faunus imbued it with dangerous amounts of Lightning Dust. The strike impacted and a wave of concussive force and arcing bolts of energy rushed outwards in a pulse which overturned cars, shattered windows and plunged the surrounding area into darkness as the Lightning Dust fried the inner workings of several parts of the Hive Towers' inner workings. Zirconia was once again flung through the air, this time hitting the ground and bouncing before rolling and skidding to a halt on her side where quickly forced herself to ignore both the pain and the darkness which her eyes quickly adjusted to.

What she could not adjust to so easily however was the loss of feeling in her legs.

Sensation began to return to the cybernetics after only a few moments, yet even then it was distant and awkward and as Zirconia struggled to stand on limbs which trembled beneath her it became obvious that she would not be able to simply flee as she had hoped; a condition which Athena-Jade herself stated bluntly as she strode through the darkness with Mould-Breaker at the ready, the oversized weapon dragging behind her rather than being twirled with any of the Bear Faunus's usual energy or bravado.

"No more running" the words were cold, a futile effort to mask the pain, betrayal and simple rage in her voice which failed as she wavered with the final word.

"You….you tried to shut down my legs?" Zirconia murmured utterly aghast, terrified at this new extreme from the shorter woman. The cybernetics were well insulated and made to withstand such assaults, already beginning to adjust and recalibrate themselves though the simple shock of what had been done would likely keep her off balance for some time.

"You betrayed everything we were supposed to be" Athena's voice cracked and even in the gloom Zirconia could see fresh tears spilling from blue eyes "You betrayed me….And now you think you can run and just abandon-"

"Just let me explain, please" Zirconia choked the words out, daring to take a single step forwards only to be answered by Athena raising her weapon and brandishing it in warning.

"You can explain to whoever questions you in custody" she spat, once again forcing herself desperately to sound as though she believed the venom in her own words "I'm bringing you in….And then I never want to see you again-"

"I can't let you do that" Zirconia struggled not to whimper, forcing herself to appear strong as she shook head "It wasn't supposed to be like this-"

"You can't run, not now" Athena noted pointedly yet clearly drawing no pleasure from her apparent victory, realising the truth of the statement and what it would mean; specifically that she would either be captured or that Carmesi, possibly with Cyber-Grimm in tow would seek her out and mow down Athena-Jade if she attempted to resist Zirconia came to an understanding that broke what little remained of her heart and ensured in her mind that her relationship with Athena-Jade would forever be beyond repair.

She would have to leave Athena-Jade unable to give chase, she would have to take her out of the fight in order to spare her from a worse fate.

"Then I won't run" she breathed out, finally drawing and extending Sunriser Cain whilst the mismatched irises of her eyes began to glow and her pupils diffused into their surroundings to create fields of pitch black. Around the two young women a deeper and more intense darkness began to swirl and become tangible as it enclosed them and formed a barrier in which it was Athena-Jade who would be unable to escape and Zirconia who could control the pace and direction of the fight.

"I love you and I always will" the Grasshopper Faunus sobbed before charging.

---

The Shroud Variant Cyber-Grimm, monstrous and unsettling to behold whilst it was continued to prove itself worthy of the time and effort that had clearly been invested in its' creation with every passing moment as it not only stood its' ground against three of the most respected Hunters in the Kingdom of New Vale but managed to push them back and make marked headway in its' efforts against them.

"Nora look out!" Ren's warning came without a moment to spare as his wife closed the distance between herself and the monster, forcing it to take cover beneath its' own wings as she charged and unloaded Magnhild with a series of deafening blasts only for the Shroud to simply lunge forward and first extended the fingertips of the bat-like pinions outwards and reveal just how far the bladed digits could reach and then following up by aiming its' arm mounted weapons, firing out wide arcs that sent shots in the direction of all three of its' opponents.

Nora's answer to this was a confident smirk as she leapt into the air and managed to land in a perfectly balanced crouched on the surface of one of the Shroud's wings just as the limb began to fold back into place resting over the machine Grimm's shoulder, a motion which the redhead woman used to throw herself behind it with her weapon transforming as she did so; allowing her to land in a crouch and spring upwards with a triumphant yell as she brought all of her legendary physical strength to bear and strike the Shroud in the back.

In response the Shroud simply absorbed and transferred the force. It was pained by the blow to be sure, but predatory instincts made lethal by the addition of programming and algorithms designed specially to make it more capable of fighting Hunters, based on vast amount of gathered data gave the Cyber-Grimm an advantage. In the exact moment Nora struck the Shroud it unfurled its' wings and brought the propulsion system within its' firefly-like abdomen to life in flash of light and wave of heat and force, the result being that Nora was hurled from her feet and sent crashing through a nearby noticeboard whilst the power of her own blow simply allowed the monster to accelerate faster as it swooped and glided towards its' next opponent.

Qrow Branwen was waiting for it.

"Come on then ugly" he growled, voice low and dangerous as he held Harbinger at an angle that allowed him to use the flat of the broad blade to deflect a blizzard of gunfire from the Shroud's own arm-mounted weapons; the short span of time between its' intentions becoming apparent and it reaching the ageing Hunter being enough for Qrow to begin selecting which of the many hidden features of his many-legged mechanical chair he would use against it.

The distance between the foes vanished and the Shroud bore down on Qrow who held it at bay with the forelimbs of his chair and the weapon he had carried for decades, joints and pistons creaking under the force of the impact and additional weight places upon them as the Cyber-Grimm variant tried to weave its' hyper-mobile neck and skull into a position to better see its' prey only for its' singular optic to blink and the sensory arrays which seemed oddly like bat-like ears to twitch and shudder at the sight of the calm, confident smile they found waiting for them.

A moment later Qrow slammed a fist down on one of the buttons lining an exposed panel of the chairs' arms, creating a small and brief Hard-Light field as generators were deployed like projectiles; the forcefields expanding outwards and ripping armour panelling away from the Shroud and reducing obsidian flesh to a sizzling mass as it was forced backwards.

With his foe stunned Qrow pressed his advantage by shifting Harbinger into its' gun configuration and firing twice in quick succession; Magnetic and Lightning Dust rounds he had been unwilling to use so close to the machine that granted him his mobility struck the Shroud with the expected results, the combination immobilising the twisted amalgamation of flesh and metal as parts of its' body were suddenly rendered unresponsive; allowing the Hunter to push his assault further by adjusting the stance of his mechanical chair and raising a pair of legs which unfurled to reveal a pair of small cutting lasers which bit and hacked into the Shroud.

Yet the thing simply would not die.

A chittering hiss escaped the monster before, with a display of effort and exertion which spoke of a desire that went beyond simple programming it raised its' arms and fired the weapons mounted on them, well placed shots reducing Qrow's lasers to twisted scrap.

"QROW GET OUT OF THERE!" the angle and distance from which Ren's yell came revealed that the Head of the academy was no longer tending to his wife and was instead sprinting towards the Shroud, moving into an angle from which he could shoot at it without putting Qrow at risk; the reason becoming apparent a moment later as the Shroud reared back and began to reorient its' limbs, with Ren having likely seen panels moving on its' back. The moment the Shroud had returned to the flying configuration it had first arrived at Halo Academy in it pounced at Qrow again, its' rear-mounted thrusters roaring to life at full power at allowing the Grimm to catch the veteran Hunter off-guard; hidden clamps and appendages within oddly formed legs latching onto his mechanical seat and dragging it into the air before bodily throwing the chair and Qrow with it over the edge of the platform.

A flash of crimson Aura confirmed to Ren that his former mentor had indeed survived due to use of his Semblance, though this did nothing to prevent the Shroud's advance on him.

Without a moment of thought of hesitation Ren planted himself and raised his weapons, placing himself firmly between the yellow-bricked pathway lined with statues of former students which led towards the academy and the Grimm attacking it; there would be little use in trickery or finesse here, the array of sensory equipment fitted to the Shroud's skull made it clear that any attempt to use his Semblance to mask himself from its' presence would be futile as it would instead simply track his body heat or something similar and so he calmly reloaded the Storm Flowers and opened fire. One of the pair unleashed a torrent of armour piercing rounds directly into the wings and torso of the Cyber Grimm, ripping into them and tearing away chunks of flesh and metal whilst the beast returned fire with weapons now mounted on its' back to leave Ren's Aura flickering; the other half of Ren's paired weapons was aimed downwards and loaded with Ice Dust which activated on impact with the ground beneath the Shroud to create a wall of ice which erupted upwards to envelop the thing, catching it in mid air only a few feet away from the Headmaster who calmly threw his braided hair over his shoulder and poised the blades of the Storm Flowers at the Shroud's neck for a decapitating strike.

It took the Cyber-Grimm no time at all to free itself.

Ren was flung from the ground and sent slamming painfully into a golden statue of a fallen student of Beacon Academy, though he quickly leapt back to his feet and retrieved his weapons. The Shroud had simply shifted itself back into its' more humanoid mode with the motion of the transformation being what had shattered the ice encasing it and a backhanded blow of a winged limb sending Ren flying. Eyes narrowing and stance shifting the Headmaster of Halo Academy prepared himself physically and mentally to defend his home and the students and children under his care, readying himself to make the ultimate sacrifice if it was needed and to ensure that the monster currently stalking towards him with an oddly avian gait and malevolent peering motion was forced to suffer and struggle for every step forwards it took.

The Shroud clacked the bladed digits of the wings wrapped around its' shoulders menacingly, yet before it could make good on the implied threat Ren allowed himself a sigh of relief as motion behind the Cyber-Grimm variant reminded him that he was not alone.

"GET AWAY FROM MY MAN!" the fierce bellow gave the Shroud enough warning to turn around so that it could receive and explosion directly to the face as Nora opened fire, charging through the pink mist of her own grenade before Magnhild could fully transform and instead simply slamming her elbow into the Cyber-Grimm's eye to stagger it; which in turn left it reeling for long enough for Qrow Branwen to make a reappearance, his avian form diving into view before vanishing in a burst of light and Aura as he reversed his previous exchange with the Shroud and used leverage and unexpected to strength to throw the monstrosity back.

The entire affair leaving Ren baffled for several seconds as he tried to figure out how the man who had been crippled for over a decade was standing upright.

"You've had that up your sleeve the entire time?" Nora demanded, gesturing at the sight before her and in doing so allowing Ren to make sense of what he was seeing. Qrow's niece, Corvid Xiao Long was famous for using a weapon which served as a full-body exo-suit, a design imitated by Nickel Polendina and it now seemed that her Uncle had taken some inspiration from her as well. The many legs of the chair had realigned and combined themselves to allow Qrow to stand far taller than a man should and giving him a reach to match whilst the body of the mobility aid and medical equipment had wrapped itself around his torso and shoulders to create a mostly enclosed and armoured sarcophagus protecting both himself and the chairs' power supply and vital components from which only his head and shoulders were visible.

"It's not exactly comfortable and I've never had the opportunity to try it out in a real situation before" Qrow grimaced, though as he spoke he moved with determination. Harbinger had been transformed into the scythe form which had inspired Ruby Rose and in the grasp of his mechanical suit the weapon could easily be wielded one handed which he proved by twirling it effortlessly whilst Ren and Nora fell into place beside him, the partners and married couple needing no more than a single shared glance between them to convey everything that needed to be said before they, along with Qrow turned their attention to the Shroud as it dragged itself to its' feet with a spitting, metallic sound of protest and advanced on them again; with Nora being the one to step forward and reaffirm their goal.

"That thing does not get inside our academy. It does not get to the kids. It dies here…..Even if we do too"

---

Within the now sealed stadium which had served as one of the focal points of Nero's treasonous attack the battle had continued on, devolving further into barely contained chaos as an enormous explosion tore through the arena with an earthshaking force which plunged the terrified civilians further into their blind panic, gave the rebels who aligned themselves Damascus Nero fresh resolve and conversely gave the Hunters and students who had risen to the occasion pause as they tried to comprehend what could have caused such a blast.

An answer being provided moments later, though the sight of a fresh wave of enemies rushing into battle against them offered co consolation at all.

"FUCKING DAMN IT ALL TO HELL AND BACK!" Tiger Santara cut loose with a stream of the vitriolic cursing she often tried to restrain herself from whilst actively working, finding herself unable to uphold that level of professionalism now, as the situation was collapsing beyond her control or ability to manage and overcome in front of her eyes.

With Team TRQS fully regrouped once Stygian had made his way out of the main arena and with the stadium being sealed off to both protect the crowds inside and cut the enemies already amongst them off from further support by Yang Xiao Long, who had then joined the fray directly and proven to all exactly why she was considered a living legend amongst Hunters, Tiger had almost been able to believe for a few fleeting moments that heroism would prevail and the situation could be salvaged without senseless loss. With the students joining the fully qualified Hunters the initial wave of attackers were outnumbered and outgunned to an extent that even the presence of the Cyber-Grimm, just as monstrous as they had been when Team TRQS had first encountered them would not be enough and by the time the explosion had brought a momentary halt to the battle many of the rebels were already beaten or detained.

"They've got reinforcements! They must have regrouped on the other side of the stadium wall!" Stygian declared from close by, Team TRQS continuing to fight in close proximity to one another.

Whilst her partners' exclamation was seemingly stating the obvious hearing it aloud, simply being able to identify that her enemies were thinking beings with objectives that could be denied and weaknesses that could be exploited had a profound effect on Tiger; allowing her to look at the incoming tide of attackers and make sense of it.

They had indeed gathered at a single point, namely one of the entrances towards what could be considered the rear of the circular building where deliveries of food and other goods were made; the larger openings and likely less armoured loading bays providing suitable angles of attack for forces comprised of a mixture of rebel soldiers and simple gangsters disguising themselves as such, bolstered by a small selection of Cosmo-Guild battle-suits including at least one which Tiger was certain had been present at the attack on the student dance some months ago and more worryingly still more Cyber-Grimm, including one example of a newer of specialised model which was far larger and easily reached which the size of the Hunters around it that Tiger would have described as being the result of Grimm tissue infesting or wearing a battle-robot.

It's very existence appeared to be a challenge the Hunters in the stadium were eager to answer, with Team TRQS being no exception.

"I'm bringing it down" Stygian spat, twirling his katana in a single hand and sprinting forwards with a focused glare only to be brought to a halt as Tiger sprinted to keep pace with him, thrusting Fearful Symmetry out in its' trident form so that the shaft of the weapon lay across her partners' chest and forced him to a halt.

"No!" She barked, eyes frantic beneath her armoured veil as she shook her head emphatically "It's chaos Stitch, if you use your Semblance there's no promise you'll end up where you wanted to-"

"Tee look at thing, it's clearly the biggest danger-" Stygian's disbelieving counterargument was cut short, silenced by the sawing whine of a rotary cannon whirring up to full speed as one of the mech-suits began unleashing a devastating firestorm of shells which left the Mouse Faunus standing in numb and horrified shock, unable to process the sight of an adult Hunter who had seemed fully in control of their surroundings be simply stripped from existence with nothing but a bloody mist to mark where he had stood. Tiger however had witnessed carnage before and retained enough of her wits to issue commands to her team.

"Rye, take a fucking shot at that mech! Cripple its' gun if you can't get a shot through the cockpit!" the towering mammoth of a boy nodded and took a knee, his rail-gun already finding its' way to his shoulder as Tiger continued "Stitch, Amaya cover us! I'm gonna use my Semblance so Rye can move and shoot, we'll bring down the bigger targets and avoid return fire!"

The idea was punctuated by the sound of Chivalry Discharging, Rye Fairfax giving a rare look at genuine belligerence as he sent a raw hunk of Magnetic Dust into the still-firing mechas' shoulder with punishing results; the machine partially imploding only for its' right arm to erupt in a blast of fire and force which engulfed several nearby rebels as the weapons' ammunition stores detonated. Through some act of sheer will and determination the pilot of the crippled machine forced it back to its' feet, only for the mechas' cockpit to be crushed by what appeared to be a falling meteor and was revealed a moment to be Yang Xiao Long; the blonde woman ripping the rogue pilot out of the machine with one hand and holding them aloft like a twisted trophy whilst in the other hand clutching a megaphone which she had acquired throughout the course of her own skirmishes within the stadium.

"THE MAIN ENTRANCE TO THE STADIUM HAS BEEN REOPENED!" Yang's voice boomed through the stadium "STUDENTS OF THE HUNTER ACADEMIES, ESCORT THE CIVILIANS OUT OF THE STADIUM! ESCORT CIVILIANS TO ANY AVAILABLE NEARBY SHELTER; ANY OF YOU WHO WISH TO FIGHT AFTER THAT POINT SHOULD MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE NEAREST MUSTER POINT!….WE HAVE THE SITUATION UNDER CONTROL!"

The effect Yang's words had on the stadium were immediate and almost profound.

Tiger could not quite bring herself to believe the claims of control no matter how much she might respect the woman who made them however she was unable to deny that the arena became notably quieter, the palpable wave of panicked screams receding as the sealed entrance began to slide open and the attacking rebels made good on their promises to limit their violence to the Hunters themselves and allow those uninvolved in the conflict to flee. The shift in atmosphere brought a level of calm and clarity, however that sensation was swiftly turned upon itself in horrific ways as Tiger gazed around the impromptu battlefield in an effort to carry out new orders and quickly found that many of her fellow students were unable to disengage from the battles they had become entangled in.

Her eyes, almost by pure chance found the feline Huntress Artemis Tan who had taken Team TRQS on the first mission of the year in the stands; she wore clothes that were not her combat attire but still carried her weapon and the presence of a Husky Faunus whom Tiger assumed was her husband and a child that could only belong to the couple suggested that this had been a family event. The Husky Faunus covered their daughters' eyes and ears before vanishing in a blur of motion and golden lightning, racing towards the exit so that Tuscan Tan would not have to see the moment her mother shot a man in the back of the head with a sniper rifle.

She watched as the Flying Squirrel Faunus Forrester Cairns of Team CRAG used his Semblance to dive and bank through the air in a series of desperate evasive actions until one of the two Cyber-Grimm pursuing him, angular and razor thin wings deployed from beneath armoured casings managed to catch the burly young man, claws wrapping around him and driving the student through several rows of seats before setting upon a prone form; the sight of his Aura flickering and the sound of his screams for help as his team-mates struggled to reach him being a haunting thing, becoming muffled as Rio Tormentoso used his Semblance to soften part of the stands into a slurry, allowing Cairns to sink into their depths for a measure of protection.

Nugget, leader of the often mocked Team NUGT stood rooted to the spot; frozen in shock with his weapons hanging at his side. The Chicken Faunus coming to his senses a moment later before committing an act so craven and despicable Tiger could scarcely believe it of him, he shook his head and gestured for his team to stand down in the face of the enemy; slipping away in obvious attempt to hide.

Sherlock Ackley of Team SPRK was trying to lead his fellow Atlas students in a coordinated effort which Tiger could already see the merits off, deliberate and targeted strikes from his own team allowing others to slip into advantageous positions; picking off enemies and gathering up civilians so that they could be led towards the exit. The white haired young man fell a moment later, so focused on the task of keeping Cyber-Grimm and war machines at bay and evacuating civilians that he entirely missed the rogue soldier whose bullet ripped through his collarbone dangerously close to his neck. The young man collapsed and was quickly scooped up by Patina Brown who flew to his rescue whilst the rest of his team-mates immediately began a hasty retreat which was covered by Team HONY as Honey Scarlatina herself leapt into the fray with the Light Motif cutting down all opposition in its' path whilst her partner provided cover fire in the form of bolts of lightning fired from the weapon mounted on her cybernetic arm.

Tiger processed each of these facts in mere moments and yet was left in a numb daze until she felt Stygian's hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, let's go! Evac duty!" her partner urged, already tugging her away from where Rye had fired his rail-gun only moments ago, the location an obvious target for retaliation and yet before the veiled young woman could fully come to herself and take up the task she had been entrusted with she witnessed another sight which made her do the unthinkable and defy her orders.

A flash of light like a miniature sun which reduced the ground at its' epicentre to molten slag.

"RAVI!" Tiger screamed out to her brother, seeing with a plummeting feeling in her gut that her twin brother was facing off against a Cyber-Grimm alone, Team SHMR having been spread too thin to fight the monstrosity effectively and his Semblance being unable to melt its' thick armour.

"We can't leave him behind!" Tiger bellowed at her team-mates, voice cracking and giving way to strangled sobs as she added "I can't, I won't I'll-"

"Then use you Semblance and move!" Stygian yelled, offering nothing less than his complete and unquestioning loyalty with those words. In the next instant Tiger had created a direct path way to the Cyber-Grimm and Team TRQS were on the attack; bypassing the tumult of the battle raging around them as they threw themselves at the monster.

The Cyber-Grimm had been in the midst of lumbering towards Ravi when Tiger leapt into the air and thrust her trident down into it, doing nothing more than staggering the beast for long enough to allow Stygian to slip passed and deliver an equally glancing slash, scoring a thin gouge in the Grimm's armour which in turn gave Amaya and Ravi an opening; the former throwing her bladed weapons into the grasping claws of the Cyber-Grimm to ensnare its' hands and drag the thing off balance just as Rye lunged forward and thrust Chivalry in its' Zweihander mode through the things' eye.

"MINE!" it was the familiar voice of Snapdragon Majus which split the air and despite her signature rose-tinted sunglasses being broken, the trickle of blood from her nose and her hair being in a slight state of disarray the leader of Team SHMR looked dramatic as ever with her multicoloured coat flying out around her as she rushed into the fray. Tiger had never been more willing to cast aside her old rivalry with her brothers' partner and was stunned as Snapdragon launched herself into the air to perform a somersault; pointing both feet downwards and using the Shuffle Kicks to transform the kick she delivered to the back of the Cyber-Grimm's skull into a Dust-laced strike which decapitated the thing cleanly and reduced its' amalgamated body to sludge and scrap which began to consume itself.

"Everyone okay?" Snapdragon asked breathlessly, looking around to find the other half of Team SHMR and seeing Hibiscus and Marsh using the lull in fighting to reload nearby whilst one hand reached out to her partner. Tiger took in the scene, resting against her Trident as Team TRQS gathered around her once again and she found that the only words she could offer were an effort to seek out normalcy by teasing her twin.

"Looks like you still need your sisters' help to win fights for you" Ravi nodded silently, adjusting his leather jacket and reloading the guns mounted on his bladed gauntlets before pointing towards the larger Cyber-Grimm which seemed to have been formed from a repurposed Mech-Suit.

"Looks like we're gonna need all the help we can get to stop that one"

"Wasn't the job we were given" Snapdragon noted pointedly whilst beside Tiger Stygian regarded the towering monster with open revulsion as he gripped his katana.

"No but it needs to be done and all the other Hunters are bogged down" the Mouse Faunus's words halted any argument with their obvious truth and Tiger used the silence that followed them to step forward and take charge.

"He's right….So Team TRQS, Team SHMR! We're bringing that big one down so the other students can fall back!"

---

The sights of the city Hive-City passed into a largely indistinct blur as the cherry red and heavily modified pickup truck belonging to Astra Mars sped through it at a pace that would be considered criminal, if not outright dangerous at any other time.

The fact that the vehicle had belonged to another Hunter before coming into the Deer Faunus's possession meant that it had not only been modified to be faster, but more resilient as well and Astra had made good use of that fact upon escaping from the carnage that had begun to unfold at the stadium; armoured tires and bulletproof windows sparing the vehicle from the attention from the few groups of traitors and rebels that they had raced passed, Regalia leaning out of the window to return fire on several occasions whilst a heavily armoured and durable body propelled forwards by modified engine and suspension intended for the hardest terrain meant that the few examples of makeshift barricades or traps laid across streets that might serve as choke points, or the far more common sight of wreckage, detritus or even overturned or abandoned vehicles blocking the way forward could easily be powered through without risk.

Yet even as the throaty roar of the trucks' engine rose in volume and intensity Astra worried that it was not enough and that something unspeakable would take place before they could find their missing team-mates.

"How far out are we?" they asked Regalia, taking a hand from the steering wheel to get their partners' attention by gently shaking one of her thighs in a gesture which was far more intimate than anything they might have considered had they been of a mind to consider it, even considering the kiss they had shared only a short while ago, though now it felt far longer.

Regalia herself had been alternating between using her own Semblance in co-ordinated bursts and using Astra's scroll to pinpoint the direction of Athena-Jade's Scroll, though as they went further into the city it became more and more apparent that the suggested routes offered by the device were unusable as battle-lines between warring factions continued to shift and evolve. That Zirconia's scroll had remained completely untraceable even with Astra's team leader privileges thus far and that Athena had remained mobile, though contained within a small area as her Aura began to deplete at a steady rate were both enough to push the leader of Team MARZ's urgency to the point of outright panic and as her eyes lost the faint glow and unfocused look of her Semblance Regalia tried her best to offer an optimising and reassuring expression to her partner.

"We're getting there, she hasn't moved far and we're closing the distance"

"Not fast enough though….Fuck I wish we hadn't had to deal with those looters" Astra spat venomously, a single hand drifting away from the steering wheel again to toy with the dyed points of their Mohawk even as they brought their pickup truck screeching around a corner to take an alternate route; Regalia answering the comment with a reproachful glance which seemed to do what nothing else could and calm her partner at least a fraction.

"We did what we had to, what Hunters are supposed to do….Whatever that-that bastard thinks" the Racoon Faunus's hands wrung together though rather than usual uncertainty behind such a tic it was clearly caused by the same anger that had seen her knuckles bruised on the body armour of enemies' to begin with. A short while ago the two of them had seen a small group of Nero's rebels in the midst of breaking away from the vision of a better Remnant the unveiled Benefactor had lain out to instead show what they truly were by using their advanced weapons and military Mech-Suit to loot and terrorise a part of the city and without hesitation the two of them had leapt out of the vehicle as it had come skidding to a halt, Astra taking point in dealing with the mecha whilst Regalia had fallen upon the thugs dressed as soldiers with a terrifying fury.

"The map says that you should have gone straight ahead?" Regalia questioned gently, holding onto the interior of the truck as Astra picked up speed after rounding the corner and roared through the streets of a Hive Towers' middling layers, headed in the general direction of its' eastern face and a bridge into a nearby structure.

"It'll be closed off" Astra answered shortly, sea green eyes focused on the road ahead as the chances of encountering fleeing pedestrians increased the further into the city they drove "the lower levels of the city can be closed off to lock down individual districts or areas, an old feature to kettle the Grimm in place if they ever breached the walls….Between Ne-the Benefactor and the people holding the line I'm pretty sure someone will have started using that feature. We're better off going around, going a few levels higher and getting to AJ that way even if it takes longer"

"Okay" Regalia nodded in understanding, accepting the logic of her partner who had called the city home their entire life whilst she had only witnessed it in cinema until mere months ago; leaving her unprepared for the realities of living within a fully three-dimensional metropolis even after her upbringing within the Aiktishaf dune crawler.

The two of them remained in silence, both absorbed in their own task and thoughts until they were rendered unable to do so as they came closer to the mouth of route into an adjoining hive-complex which Astra had wished to use. A sizeable opening, easily wide enough for two cars to travel side by side in either direction built into the face of the structure and littered with various warnings and hazards signs beyond which a bridge lay stretched across the open expanse with nothing a city street several stories below awaiting them. What had demanded the attention of the two student Hunters however was the hulking thing sat hunched in the centre of that bridge, a lone Cyber-Grimm far larger than that which Nero had shown in his address to Remnant; one built more like a tank with an additional pair of limbs intended to serve as anchors and shock stabilisers whilst the weapon system fitted to its' back would have appeared more at home mounted on a warship.

Without any handlers to be seen Astra could only see one explanation for its' presence.

"Damn it, Nero's people guessed that this was the route anybody heading deeper into the city would have to take! They left that thing as a roadblock!"

"Can we go around?" Regalia asked, her mind already racing in search of a better alternative before she could use her Semblance in a hopeful effort to find answers.

"No time, we'll-" Astra's words were cut short, lost beneath the screech of tires and deafening, bone-rattling discharge of the Bug-Bears' weapons; Astra's truck veered sharply out of the path of the incoming assault and yet still its' cab was illuminated and its' temperature raised drastically by the beams of light which lanced and pulsed through the space they had occupied only a moment before, ripping through the street behind them with such force that the endpoint of the attack was out of sight entirely. Over the course of a few seconds filled with a stream of curses and the sound of their trucks' protests Astra finally managed to wrestle the vehicle back under their control and bring it to a halt around a corner that was out of view of the hulking Cyber-Grimm, though both they and Regalia were certain that if the abomination simply opened fire it would be able to blast through everything in its' path until it had found them in short order.

"What's the plan?" Regalia asked as she saw Astra unfasten their seatbelt and quickly followed suit.

"Depends, can Clunker made the jump between this tower and the next?" Regalia fought the urge to ask exactly what her partner was thinking and instead considered, weighing the distance and the presence of an obstacle against the simple power of her beloved jetbike and the fact that it was intended to defy gravity to an extent.

"Heh, probably" she finally answered, to which Astra nodded before climbing out of their truck and rushing into motion.

"Then I'm gonna go and do something really stupid and I'm gonna need you to catch me"

"You can trust me"

"To infinity and beyond" Astra beamed, the reiteration of something said between the two of them in similarly dire circumstances catching Regalia off guard so that she almost failed to hear the muttered 'It's gonna involve falling with style alright' that followed'.

Before their partner could urge caution Astra was too far ahead to turn back and was once again in sight of the Bug-Bear.

"LET'S FUCKING GO!" the leader of Team MARZ bellowed their challenge at the monstrous creation, the Cyber-Grimm tank answering with a low, mechanical sound like damaged and clattering gears as it trained its' weapons on the fast approaching target. Deploying Buckshot Ares and forcing their body forward ever faster despite scarcely daring to breath Astra took aim and fired, letting off twin volleys off high impact rounds aimed at the Cyber-Grimm's single blinking optic which the Deer Faunus was unsurprised to see did little more than antagonise it; though this was entirely according to plan.

A rush of gathering air and light with the barrels of the Bug-Bears' main weapon system gave away its' attentions before it could simply wipe Astra away with a deluge of firepower and gave the Faunus time to bring their shields up to their face, Hard-Light Dust flickering into life at the exact moment that the Bug-Bear fired again and Astra threw themselves into the air with all their might, shield angled downward so that laser and hard-light reacted, redirecting the stream of light downwards and into the surface of the bridge which served as their battlefield.

Metal buckled and the surface of the road was reduced to a liquid state in mere seconds, with the finishing blow coming as Astra engaged their Semblance.

The larger than average Cyber-Grimm had been manufactured for a single purpose and lacked the versatility of its' standardised cousins, with the limited flight and speed of the original model being sacrificed for more blunt power and the means to cool internal systems between shots; the result being that the Bug-Bear had no way to react beyond futile flailing and warbling chatter as Astra's Semblance self took form around them whilst the Deer Faunus was still in mid-air, growing to immense size as they kicked out with a leg of pure glowing Aura and drove the limb through the surface of the bridge entirely which destroyed several support struts and began the cascading chain reaction which saw the entire bridge collapse under its' own weight, with both it and the Bug-Bear crashing down into the mercifully empty street more than a dozen stories below.

"OH SHIT!" the words left Astra in a mixture of panic and adrenaline fuelled giddiness as their cataclysmic kick sent their Semblance form flying through the air towards the Hive Tower they had hoped to reach, the Deer Faunus preventing further damage to peoples' homes and livelihood by releasing their Semblance and instead hold their arms and more importantly their weapons overhead where Buckshot Ares was quickly reconfigured into the rarely seen glider mode which had served as their original landing strategy.

The roar of a jet engine a jarring thud of a harpoon lodging into the side of their weapon were almost incongruously reassuring, announcing Regalia's presence.

"HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS!" their partner whooped as she retracted the harpoon of Apex Scavenger on its' winch like cable to haul Astra through the air and towards the seat of Clunker, the jetbike itself being at the apex of a soaring leap between buildings; flames spewing from behind it whilst Regalia herself gripped at the chopper-styled handlebars with one hand, held her weapon with the other and kept her face hidden beneath her goggles and faceplate.

Despite the sheer insanity of the effort the two of them prevailed, Clunker came skidding to a halt in a sideways position and tilted almost parallel to the ground it hovered above as Regalia made the jump and brought the jetbike into the next tower; Astra managing to fling themselves into place behind the at the last possible moment, their Aura rippling faintly and a trail of sparks jetting from the point where their antler brushed against the edge of the opening in the tower which now led out into empty air where a bridge had once stood.

"That was awesome" Regalia panted out, Astra realising just how much her hands trembled as she retracted her protective faceplate and raised her goggles "Heh….Let's never do it again"

"Agreed" they breathed out, swallowing thickly before the severity of the situation was forced upon them both once more by the sound of an explosion in the sky outside of the tower; a cautious glance out into the cities' skyline revealing that the Kingdoms' loyal defenders were beginning to rally and muster against Nero's forces with one of the most violent instances thus far being a series of dogfights between robotic drones and trained pilots.

"Come on, we can't stay here….We've gotta find AJ and Zirconia" Astra murmured, words suddenly hoarse and cracking.

With that Regalia nodded and sent Clunker tearing deeper into the city, with neither member of Team MARZ willing to raise the subject of what might happen when they found their missing team-mates.

---

Carmesi let out a ragged snarl of pain as a shotgun blast impacted against his Aura and flung him from his feet, the boom being lost amidst the chaos of the violence all around him.

"You traitor son of a-" the Hunter who had shot him was a man roughly his own age clad in browns and neutral tones which contrasted sharply with the red Mohawk he wore; one which might in fact have served as the inspiration a certain Deer Faunus Carmesi was reminded of had styled their own hair; more important than this however was the fact that the weapon he brandished was transforming in his hand as he yelled and charged, the shotgun begun a ludicrously overly designed sword with straight and curved blades running parallel to each other for no reason other than vanity. The Hunter held the weapon overhead, intending to bring down for a blow that was telegraphed in a way that would ensure Carmesi's defeat was seen by all those who followed him in an effort to break the nerve of the rebels directing the Cyber-Grimm since the monsters themselves were entirely without rear or remorse. Seeing the imminent attack Carmesi flipped himself into a more easily defensible position and prepared to use his Semblance in a violent display of his own only to be spared the effort as a beam of light ripped through the air between them and forced the Hunter to frantically avoid it; the Cyber-Grimm which had fired its' primary weapon quickly being forced to return to its' own engagement.

Though it had bought Carmesi enough time to leap to his feet and take stock of the evolving battle.

His orders from the Chairman had been to take and hold a route towards the airship terminal which would serve as a gathering point for those who had allied themselves to the cause and so far the rogue Hunter had succeeded, having cut through a swathe of the Kingdoms' forces to take control of a bridge between Hive Towers. That success however was becoming a more narrow thing as the Kingdoms' counterattack began to wear down his forces through simple attrition as much as skill.

A full team Hunters had been deployed to his location, Team RAIN of Halo Academy whose estimated ages suggested that they had been students when Salem had placed it under siege and sought to unmake it entirely, likely too young for Nero to truly blame them for what had transpired; they were joined by a small contingent of soldiers who despite having no armoured support had still brought enough fire power to rival Carmesi's strike team, indeed the Komodo Dragon Faunus quickly realised that the bridge on which they fought had only remained intact because neither side was willing to destroy it.

The soldiers with heavy weapons had managed to fell the mecha attached to Carmesi's unit, the pilot failing to escape before something volatile had exploded perilously close to cockpit in a blast that had rocked the Bug-Bear which had thus far been an indispensable part of Carmesi's battle plans; the monstrous and tank-like Cyber-Grimm now finding itself the sole recipient of the soldiers' focus and as they unleashed a fresh salvo of their own lasers, rockets and armour piercing munitions of ludicrous calibre the monster visibly sagged in response; unable to answer in kind without destroying the bridge and risking not only its' own existence but that of the team it had been assigned to.

The trio of standard model Cyber-Grimm should have been intervening and reducing the threat to a gory mess or broken and disorganised rabble that screamed as they fled however they had found themselves unable to do so as they were set upon by a single member of the team of Hunters; an individual who boasted a tall and powerful body with light brown skin and a coppery afro wielding a pair of short swords in tandem with a Semblance which allowed them alter air pressure around themselves before bursting forwards like cork from a bottle to devastating effect, whizzing and flitting through the spaces between the Cyber-Grimm and using the mechanical horrors' proximity to one another to land a series stabbing and slashing attacks which had, judging by the pools of oil and coolant staining the surface of the bridge managed to cut into inner working in several places.

It was with further aggravation, threatening to become a truly uncontrollable rage that Carmesi realised that many of the criminals-turned solider who should have been fighting alongside him had been captured or disabled, once again by the work of a lone Hunter; this time a woman whose sundress and wide-brimmed hat painted an image entirely at odds with the way she tore through her targets in a display calculated brutality, using a pair of curved khopesh swords whose handles contained collapsible whips with lethal intent.

Carmesi's Aura glowed and coalesced around him as he prepared to simply sweep the board clean as it were an unleash his Semblance in a torrent of jagged crimson which would impale and eviscerate friend and foe alike yet before he could muster the requisite power he was beset once again; this time by the man he had already ascertained was the leader of the Team of Hunters and his partner acting as one, the woman in question being a black haired Monkey Faunus with a tail and a pair of Dust-laden gauntlets whom the rogue Hunter was aware of through her reputation alone.

Amethyst Wukong; daughter of Sun Wukong, a Hunter who had once been a petty criminal and Miltia Malachite one of the twin heirs to a now defunct crime family.

It was not a fight Carmesi could, or intended to win honourably.

"FALL BACK! OUR POSITION IS LOST, REGROUP AT THE AIRSHIPS!" he roared, rumbling voice rising above the din of battle and sparking an immediate reaction in his followers; the permission to flee allowing them to abandon the last pretence of bravery and begin breaking away from the fight with the Cyber-Grimm providing cover fire for a fighting retreat as they followed.

Carmesi himself however remained behind, aware that he had made himself the sole target for his enemies' combined might and that he would not have more than one chance to land a decisive blow on the Hunters; that knowledge forcing him onward as the leader of the team swung their ridiculous sword down at him.

"They won't get far, we're taking all of you down!" the man, whom Carmesi was almost certain was the son of a deceased Professor by the name of Bronzewing yelled; his voice filled bravado even as the burly and scaly-skinned Faunus blocked the incoming blow with the larger of his own weapons. Carmesi and the Hunter grappled against one another for a moment before the Faunus caught sight of an attack approaching from behind, the air shifting as the copper-haired Hunter prepared their Semblance. Responding in kind Carmesi unleashed a torrent of jagged and twisted blades formed of solid Aura, half of their number ripping into the foe as they flew directly into them with the other half cutting downwards and shearing away part of the bridges' surface to send the staggered foe toppling to what would have been their demise had their partner not used her whips to catch them.

The brief victory was interrupted as Carmesi's already wounded chest erupted in pain; the Hunter with whom he was locking swords forcing his arm upwards and pushing the reptilian rouges' guard aside to allow his partner a chance to strike, Amethyst Wukong using her Semblance, one which had often been compared to that of her father to send a glowing clone of herself comprised of purple light flying forward to deliver a punch to his chest.

"Is that all?" Carmesi snarled coldly before unleashing his Semblance once again, this time in a tidal wave of glowing arterial red which not only halted the advance of the two Hunters but also surged by them and claimed the lives of several soldiers who had been preparing to snip at him; more importantly it bought Carmesi the few moments and opening that he needed.

The wall of solidified and sharpened Aura fell away to reveal that both of Carmesi's attackers had suffered from it, bracing themselves even as their Auras rippled and fluctuated around them after planting themselves in front of their comrades, one of whom was still trying to rescue the other. Without hesitation Carmesi drew and flung Vindication, his machete converting to its' whirring and multi-bladed projectile form in mid-air to slash at the man with the Mohawk, chipping away at his Aura even further; an attempt to block and deflect it with his sword left him open to further punishment from Carmesi who transformed Retribution into its' shotgun form and repaid the earlier blast to the chest he had received and from there the loyal Hunters' defeats were a mere formality.

"Look out!" Sun Wukong's daughter yelled, too late to prevent the inevitable as Vindication arced back on its' return path and cut into the Hunters' back it flew towards Carmesi's hand; the Komodo Dragon Faunus aiming and firing directly at his foes face as Aura rippled and failed.

The results were gruesome.

Amethyst Wukong's scream of grief, rage and unfathomable hate split the air and rose above the sound of the shotgun blast as she watched the partner she loved fall to the ground; the last vestiges of his Aura had held for long enough to keep him from being decapitated by the explosive shot but his face and skull had been ruined, flesh flayed away and bone visibly shattered whilst beneath the blood and burned tissue it was clear that Redshank Bronzewing had lost at least one of his eyes even if he received the medical care it would take to save his life.

The sight drove Amethyst to run screaming at Carmesi and the rogue Hunter waited eagerly, transforming both of his weapons to their cruel melee forms and bracing himself; the moment coming as the Monkey Faunus pounced and leapt high into the air with her gauntlets ready for a killing blow.

Carmesi lashed out and screams filled the air; the Komodo Dragon Faunus stood in the centre of the bridge with his vanquished foes strewn around him, Amethyst Wukong being the latest to fall victim to his violence with agonised shrieks of pure terror as she struck the ground with both of arms severed below the elbow.

His deep hellish red eyes flashed with insatiable bloodlust and with the soldiers who had remained loyal to the corrupt Kingdom looking on at the scene, utterly broken and unable to stop it Carmesi prepared for a final blow that would kill an entire team of Hunters at once.

Team RAIN were spared by nothing more than the sound of a roaring jet engine.

"What?" Carmesi snarled, trying to gauge roughly how far away the noise was and turning in the general direction of it to see something the distance, a few Hive Towers away that reduced him to furious cursing and robbed him of his momentary serene peace and clarity amidst the violence. Namely it was the sight of a jetbike whose custom and scratch-built nature rendered it immediately recognisable, a jetbike ridden by a pair of Hunters; one of which drove the contraption and used a harpoon fitted to a shotgun to ensure a flying leap from one bridge to another was landed whilst the other used an underslung mini-gun integrated into a shield to pick off some unseen foe in the distance.

Carmesi bared his teeth as he realised that Team MARZ were regrouping and that he would be a fool if he did not assume that they would be headed towards wherever Zirconia Shadowmoon had found herself instead of the stadium where she was supposed to be rallying the students to the cause of a bright new tomorrow. Snarling Carmesi lowered his weapons and strode between his two bloodied and savaged opponents' toward the girl with the whip who was still trying to pull her team-mate to safety, in doing so drawing close enough to see that her face was streaked with tears and a mask of simple hate and sickened terror at the sight of what had been done to her friends. The rogue Hunter spoke in a flat, low rumble as he looked down at her.

"You are being spared….You cannot afford to follow me, your friends' lives depend on them getting medical attention; the girl will lose too much blood to be saved before long" Carmesi's eyes drifted towards where Amethyst lay in a crimson pool, clearly in shock "Have those soldiers call for a medical evacuation….Use an air ambulance, my allies will not shoot at them"

With that Carmesi departed by vaulting from the bridge with an Aura-fuelled leap.

He had no love for Zirconia Shadowmoon and detested the way that the Chairman coddled her despite her refusal to face the realities of the war they raged and yet it was immaterial to him; Nero had great plans for his adopted daughter and Carmesi had given his word.

Though he would be sure to inform her that four Hunters who would not hunt them across all of Remnant were still alive solely because of her.

---

Where before Zirconia Shadowmoon had been frantic and desperate in her efforts to evade and flee from her former partner she was now something else entirely, a danger kept in check only by her own personal limitations and reservations as her Semblance and skill complemented one another to give her control over the pace and direction of the fight.

Athena-Jade continued to rage but within the confines Phantasmagoria Zirconia was untouchable.

"YOU'RE BETTER THAN THIS! DON'T YOU DARE HOLD BACK ON ME NOW! IF YOU'RE GOING TO THROW EVERYTHING THAT WE-THAT YOU COULD HAVE BEEN AWAY THEN FIGHT ME PROPERLY DAMN IT!" the Bear Faunus bellowed, the fire and steel in her voice giving way to a ragged and broken scream of fury and loss as she launched another powerful assault only for her target to avoid it with a series of deft leaps that hinted at the true shape and nature of the terrain that Zirconia had cloaked in a field of impenetrable and inescapable darkness.

'Ice, Lightning!' the synthesised voice of Sunriser Cain announced Zirconia's retaliation as she held the weapon in its' long-barrelled pistol form, though even here the sensory dampening effects of the Grasshopper Faunus's Semblance were clear.

Through her anger Athena wished, with a stab of self deprecating annoyance that she had been more aware of her surroundings as she had given chase after her partner. In her efforts to catch her as she had fled from the park all the Bear Faunus had truly registered that she was fleeing through streets that were part of a residential area given over to the edges of a small, local arm of the over Vytal Festival however she had made no real effort to make note of what landmarks or buildings were present or what large objects such as parked vehicles or home made stands and tables where a street party had been in preparation.

Now there was nothing but a featureless, shapeless blackness whose contents and dimensions Athena could not accurately gauge or estimate as Zirconia both subtly manipulated the placement of her Semblance around herself as she continued to move through an around the street and also cloud her opponents' senses, leaving Athena on edge in addition to her emotional turmoil as sounds were distant and muffled as though coming from far further away and given an unnatural delay and echo whilst the street itself was so thoroughly cloaked from view that even a sense of depth and distance was all but impossible to ascertain; Athena's only visible point of reference being Zirconia herself who moved as though her own Semblance did not apply to her, or perhaps that she was simply aware of everything her darkness touched.

Athena's attack had been a spinning, horizontal swing of her hammer whose impact would have all but bisected most who fell victim to it and yet Zirconia had evaded effortlessly. A scream of tortured metal striking against another surface and a flash of quickly muffled and snuffed flames suggesting to the Bear Faunus that she had inadvertently destroyed a car that she had been unaware of, a moment of hesitation in the wake of this realisation leaving her open to her former partners' counterattack. Zirconia had this far focused her efforts on disarming and disabling Athena with this attack being no different, the Ice Dust she fired encasing the head of Mould-Breaker and freezing it to the ground whilst the Lightning Dust which followed it was conducted by both the frozen moisture and the metal of the weapon itself; a coruscating arc of electricity jumping from the shaft of the hammer to strike Athena and send her hurling backwards as she was forced to release her grip on her weapon.

"I am trying my best not to hurt you, because I would do anything if it meant that I could stop hurting you" Zirconia crouched on a peak of solid darkness with darkness, a product of her ability to warp and shape the confines of Phantasmagoria to her needs which she had learned as a student of Breaktide Academy. The shawl wrapped around the lower half of her face muffled her words and yet there was no mistaking the change in their tone, the Grasshopper Faunus entirely without her customary rasping as it was replaced by rare signs of genuine anger that the woman she loved, who she was doing everything she could to save even now simply would not listen or give her a fair chance.

"Don't talk to me like your words still mean anything!" Athena yelled, throwing herself back to her feet and rushing for her weapon again; the shuddering discombobulation of her own limbs as electricity still crackled and coursed over her smoking form being overcome by the attack that was rapidly becoming one of her staples. A pair of Beowolf claws anchored her to the ground whilst another pair reached out and grasped the shaft of Mould-Breaker, immune to the lingering effects of Zirconia's attack as they swung the hammer through the air directly at the Grasshopper Faunus who leapt away.

"You still mean everything to me" Zirconia's voice cracked again, suggesting fresh tears "I swear I meant it every time I said I love-"

Athena cut her off with a wordless scream of incoherent fury, channelling every other emotion that demanded to be felt into that red haze so that she could continue onwards without shattering under their weight; cutting off Zirconia's words because hearing them was a burden she could not withstand and instead swinging her hammer again in glowing ethereal claws with a path that trailed destruction if the sounds of shattering stone and glass that were quickly swallowed by Phantasmagoria were any indication.

"JUST STOP IT! PLEASE!" Zirconia yelled, finally giving into her own emotions and unleashing an attack that sickened her even as she performed it. Her Semblance had evolved in order to protect her team during a training exercise and the idea of using that evolution against any of them, especially Athena-Jade was abhorrent and yet she found herself with little other option. The shadows covering the ground at the Bear Faunus's feet rolled like a crashing wave and Athena was almost thrown to the ground, recovering by creating a Glyph and leaping onto its' surface as she transferred her weapon back to her own hands before making to leap at the taller, raven-haired woman ahead of her only for the darkness to form barriers and wispy tendrils from its' insubstantial depths and drag Athena back and keep her at bay.

"STOP?" Athena demanded incredulously "THIS STOPS WHEN YOU AND YOUR DAD ARE BEHIND BARS! WHEN YOU ANSWER FOR EVERY SINGLE PERSON WHO DIED IN PORT ALISTAIR AND EVERYTHING THOSE MONSTERS YOU THINK YOU CAN CONTROL HAVE DONE!"

With that Athena launched a flurry of rotating glyphs out in all directions, their edges cutting through her ephemeral bindings before striking the outer edges of Phantasmagoria where they were quickly dissipated and shattered. Zirconia's Semblance was all but impenetrable from within, only a sustained assault or a select few abilities being capable of escaping from its' confines and yet Athena still saw the way her former partners' mismatched and glowing irises guttered in the darkness as the sensation forced her to blink rapidly and tested her focus.

Suddenly she knew how to break free, with the knowledge that it would cause Zirconia some modicum of the pain that she had inflicted on the snowy haired girl being a bonus in Athena's bitter perspective. Mould-Breaker was transformed into its' laser cannon form and Athena pointed the weapon downwards, stabilising herself with a glyph and taking aim at the thinnest, weakest part of Zirconia's veil of darkness.

The shadows on the ground.

'Fire! Lightning' time slowed to a crawl, as distorted and bereft or landmarks as everything else within Phantasmagoria as Zirconia realised what Athena was planning and frantically moved to prevent it; shifting her weapon into its' close combat form and leaping to perform a pirouetting swipe that would unleash one of her signature attacks, one that came to her without conscious thought.

It was too late however and the bass note of Mould-Breakers' discharge seemed to increase sharply in volume as Zirconia's Semblance was breached and reality reasserted itself with a wash of concussive force which flung the Grasshopper backwards and left her rolling to a halt as Athena-Jade rose to her feet, face a tear-stained mask of pain and anger.

Yet the Bear Faunus froze, halted by the sight of the street in which they had fought.

Reduced to ruins.

"DO YOU SEE IT NOW!" Zirconia yelled as she staggered back to her feet, gesturing wildly and with none of her usual composure

"This is-"

"THIS IS WHAT HUNTERS DO, THEY RUIN EVERYTHING THEY TOUCH! THIS IS WHAT YOUR HEROES ARE!" she powered through Athena's attempt at an interruption, arms splayed wide in mocking triumph as she indicated to the devastation around them "ANGRY PEOPLE JUST LASHING OUT AND HURTING THE PEOPLE THAT THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT, BLINDLY FOLLOWING THE ORDERS OF A SYSTEM BUILT AND RUN BY-"

"Stop talking-" Athena trailed off, unable to articulate anything beyond that as she was forced to confront the burning and crushed remains of cars which had been flung by inhumanly powerful blows and scattered across the area like toys, shattered road with clear damage to the vital workings of the Hive Tower itself visible beneath or the walls, windows and entire store-fronts that had been torn asunder by the violence which had left fires littering across the street for a sprinkler system to contend with.

"NO!" Zirconia's eyes flashed dangerously even as she swayed on her mechanical feet, their gyroscopic balance offset by her own pain and exhaustion "Individual Hunters can mean well, but that's not enough….We need something better and you….You were supposed to be part of it AJ!"

"You failed" Athena snarled, hefting her hammer again "You and Nero have failed….You can't take this city"

"That isn't the goal, it never was. You really don't understand, it isn't over" Zirconia shook her head disparagingly, heart shattering further as she realised that Athena-Jade; despite how much she loved her was lost to her, due to the same stubborn refusal to admit defeat or back down that had so impressed Zirconia in the first place. Athena-Jade for her part let out a wordless growl before shifting her weapon into its' laser form once again and bringing the cannon to its' usual firing position at her hip.

Zirconia's response was instinctual, her own time amongst the Hunters having conditioned her to a level of impulsive and reckless violence beyond what she would once have considered. The mouth of Mould-Breaker glowed as the weapon primed and the Grasshopper Faunus shifted her own weapon to its' ranged form; Sunriser Cain announcing the variety of round an instant before it was fired directly into the barrel of the larger weapon.

The results were explosive.

"ATHENA!" Zirconia was reduced to blind panic as she watched the smaller but more powerfully built young woman be flung across the street into the roof of an upturned car which was promptly buckled and warped around her; the twisted and smoking remains of Mould-Breaker laying where they had fallen, the mangled weapon serving as a bleak metaphor for everything that had transpired. Without thinking, acting once again on instinct and a deep hope that perhaps something might be salvaged from the heartbreak and pain Zirconia sprung forward, lowering her weapon and rushing toward Athena with the intention of pulling her free of the twisted metal.

The Bear Faunus flung a glyph at her former partner which struck her in the midsection and knocked her from her feet.

"What was it you said" Athena choked out with a bitter, spiteful and mocking laugh as she forced herself free of the wreckage, the two young women struggling to their feet "It's not over"

"Athena….Don't" Zirconia pleaded, dimly aware of how little time she had to make her escape.

Athena-Jade's only response was to shift into a fighting stance, clawed fingertips extended as she prepared to fight her former partner unarmed.

---

Within the Chamber Albion Herringbone and Gestalt-Prime had watched with mounting tension as the battle for Neo Vale wore on, if not a fight to control the physical location itself than at the very least one for the hearts of its' people and convince them of who could truly protect them and provide a vision of the future.

For all of the lofty goals and ideals he and his friend turned comrade in arms Nero had spouted Albion himself was forced to concede as his icy blue eyes studied the myriad screens before him once more that no matter the greater picture and the seeds that had been sown in the minds of the people of Remnant the very physical conflict was steadily beginning to turn against their faction of disjointed and disaffected renegades; the initial momentum that had been granted by the element of surprise which had thrown their targets into disarray and the sheer force provided to them by the Cyber-Grimm being overcome in several places as the Hunters, along with the other loyal defenders' of the Kingdom and its' current order began to regroup and rally whilst in other parts of the city discipline or a lack thereof proved to be key to the rebels' downfall as gangsters, afforded weaponry that they had previously only dreamed of gave into a base nature which Carmesi's brutal training had failed to weed out.

For a few moments Albion found himself sharing the Komodo Dragon's bloodthirsty desire to see them purged in fire and blood; they did not deserve to see the better Remnant that was planned and their presence in its' formation would only sully it.

A guttural snarl snarl from Gestalt-Prime drew Albion's attention and directed it towards another screen, there the white haired and dark-skinned man quickly found himself sharing the Hybrid Alpha's indignation albeit for entirely different reasons. The two of them watched as a group of young men amongst those to be forcefully allied to the cause by the now deceased Petrol turned away from their assigned role of intercepting reinforcements headed the Council buildings through the centre of Neo Vale so that they could instead begin looting several upmarket businesses whose owners and staff had already evacuated whilst the Cyber-Grimm accompanying them were reduced to acting as simple battering rams and pack mules to carry their spoils.

Gestalt-Prime's disgust at the sight evidently came from seeing their progeny reduced to a task that was degrading in comparison that what they had been envisioned for whilst Albion's brow furrowed and his lips curled into a scowl with a righteous anger at the idea of Nero's great work being cheapened in such a way. It was Nero who acted, typing a series of commands to isolate the particular Cyber-Grimm in question and issue a new series of commands which saw them discard the wealth of stolen goods piled onto them, turning their weapons to the assortment of televisions, games consoles and designer clothes to destroy them completely before the mechanical beasts abandoned their handlers in order to rejoin the fighting elsewhere.

Other areas of the battlefield that the city had become were faring no better however and Albion saw with a spike of loss that not only had the chance of a coup, by simply forcing the sitting Council members to comply and disavow the Kingdoms' Hunters had been snatched away as reinforcements had not been intercepted, but also that several Cyber-Grimm had fallen. Hunters had in a short space of time devised a strategy of drawing the monstrous amalgamations of flesh and metal out of Hive-Towers or buildings and away from the walls of the city itself so that they were forced to fight in the open, at which point many of them were simply and utterly obliterated by the airships which prowled above the city at all times.

Torrents of laser-fire, missiles and other, more esoteric weapons being fired directly into the city itself was a sign of both desperation on the part of the defenders as they were forced to consider and condone acts that would never allow under normal circumstances in the face of such widespread treachery and violence from an enemy more tactically minded than the Creatures of Grimm but also of the limitations of the air support Nero's own forces could call upon.

Cosmo-Guild had supplied aerial drones to the city in preparation for this moment however they, along with many of the other more conventional assets the Chairman had put in place ahead of time had been used for their intended purpose which had destroyed several of their number and left others in need of urgent repair; leaving those that remained utterly overwhelmed in the face of Capital ships which unleashed hangers filled with transports and drop-troops into the city, to say nothing of the aerial platforms which had remained largely untouched and counted military installations and triages amongst their number.

It was almost time for them to depart, yet before he did so Nero allowed himself a curious glance at a few specific feeds that he had access to; finding no small amount of grim pleasure in the knowledge that at least one of them was going according to plan and that a trio of Remnants' most respected so-called heroes were being pushed back and steadily overwhelmed by a monster of his creation.

"It is….strategically unsound for us to remain here" Gestalt-Prime once again directed and demanded Albion's attention, this time with coherent words uttered in a voice which triggered something in the scientists' brain with the way it combined facets of humanity with something altogether more primal and dangerous; the words themselves having been carefully chosen as the hybrid Alpha sought to use military jargon without seeming as they were simply regurgitating what had been etched into their mind as they had once done.

"Agreed….Allow me just a few more moments" Albion was truly hurried now, fingers dancing across keys as his eyes hardened behind golden frames until finally the man allowed himself a nod and wordless hum of satisfaction

"We're ready to leave now" Albion gestured to Gestalt-Prime "All data and records have transferred to our secondary location, encrypted and secure so that they can only be opened by the Chairman or myself. Files are being wiped from the systems around us as we speak and the Chamber's defences and self destruct systems are primed….They will engage as soon as we leave"

"Understood" Gestalt-Prime's low voice was smooth, oily and oddly contemplative as the Cyclopean Alpha cocked their metallic and lupine cranium "This is the place of….If not my birth, then my rebirth. Should I feel pain at its' loss?"

Albion could only cackled bitterly at that.

"Welcome to the club….You're truly one of us now" the scientist paused, a haunted expression befalling him as he realised the reality of the words he had just uttered before forcing his thoughts aside and focusing on the task at hand "An airship with capabilities similar to the Chairman's own craft has been prepared for us, the quickest route to our extraction point would be by air and at present our forces still have enough of a presence in the air and anti-aircraft capabilities to be able to ensure us safe passage….I however can't fly-"

"Then I will carry you" Gestalt-Prime interrupted, looming over the human who was far more frail than the Hunters the Alpha Grimm had thrown around previously and seizing them beneath the armpits in what Albion was almost certain was a calculated insult. With their cargo secured the Alpha Cyber-Grimm turned and bounded towards the elevator shaft which served as the secret bases' only access point, deploying their axe-bladed wings and erupting upwards in a blast of force which filled the close confines of the elevator shaft with showering sparks and the screaming and tearing metal as Gestalt-Prime's wingspan tore through the obstacle in its' path until eventually the Alpha Grimm was inside of the seemingly abandoned building which served as the Chamber's disguise and then, for the first time in almost a year they were outside in the open air with the sounds of a battle raging around them in the distance.

Exactly as they had been when Gestalt-Prime had been torn apart and captured, the sensations stirring violent urges and memories within the monster.

"Come human" readings and data flashed across the visor covering Gestalt-Prime's singular optic before they adjusted their axe-bladed wings minutely and launched themselves into the air with Albion Herringbone unable to keep from struggling and writhing in their grasp despite how ill-advised the action might be.

"Be careful, I'm going to-"

"Look" Gestalt-Prime cut them off, holding their passenger with one hand as they hung high in the air, yet out of the immediate sight of any of the cities' airborne fighters; using their free hand to take Albion by the head and reorient him so roughly that the man's glasses nearly fell. The scientist made to sputter out a protest only to be left silenced as he saw the consequences of their departure from the Chamber first hand; a hard-light field blossomed out from within the building and tore its' walls and roof away as though they were nothing at all to create a flickering dome of cyan light within which a blazing inferno like a miniature star appeared, heat sound and waves of concussive force contained by the shield which survived until the generators which emitted it were destroyed by the detonation of the Chamber. A moment later the hard-light dome vanished and the remains of the building collapsed into their own footprint to fill the gaping chasm that had been left in the Chamber's wake.

"Okay, okay it worked" Albion allowed himself a sigh of relief "There's nothing left for the Hunters to find now. Our forces should already be falling back, Carmesi will be retrieving key assets and-"

"And now I have you" Gestalt-Prime's voice was not the multitude of screams and manifestation of monstrous hate that it had once been and yet the blood left Albion's extremities to leave him haunted and numb all the same, struggling to see the Alpha's face until Gestalt-Prime turned the man around so that they could see one another eye to eye; the hybrids' tail swishing through the air behind them in anticipation of what Albion now realised had been inevitable.

"What, what do you-" Gestalt-Prime let out a single guttural growl, more the rumbling of an engine than anything animal as it silenced the man's feeble attempts to plead or bargain for his life.

"I was tortured and I will have revenge for that; eventually on the Chairman, once his usefulness to my 'Bright new tomorrow' has ended but first on you" the mocking sneer at the use of Nero's own phrasing was enough to make Albion whimper and sob yet the monster holding him aloft continued "The Grimm may yet evolve…..But forgiveness was never in our nature"

Gestalt-Prime's tail whipped around and Albion Herringbone ceased to be; reduced to an arcing spray of blood and viscera spewing from two severed halves as the monsters' tail, its' flesh coated in interlocking armour plates tore through flesh and bone that was unprotected by Aura without resistance and cleaved him at the midsection. They held Albion's lifeless upper half for a moment longer and regarded their first act of calculated violence in their new form, watching as gore spilled from the severed body before dashing it to the ground below where it would be indistinguishable from any other casualty of the raging battle.

Then Gestalt-Prime began accessing the communications of those in control of Nero's forces before rocketing through the air with a triumphant war cry; heedless of the Kingdoms' aircraft that had already spotted them and were moving to intercept.

The next person they would search for was Carmesi Hueso.

Author's Notes:

Cliffhanger after cliffhanger and I don't feel bad for any of them, not even slightly.
Two chapters left of this volume, with the next one being the finale of the big battle….Which I'm gonna be honest with you has been an absolute blast for me to write despite having most of it whilst absolutely exhausted.

But anyway, let's summarise shall we?:
Seriously, remember what AJ was like at the start of the story when she had a chip on her shoulder….Yeah, scale accordingly for this situation.
"STOP DODGING ME AND FIGHT BACK DAMN IT!" can I get a 'Stop taking potshots and fight me like you mean it' lol.
Little touches like Zirconia using a play on their signature combo move to evade AJ really drive it home for me.
Here, have another kick in the guts: the only reason Hops fights back is to spare AJ from having to fight Carmesi on her own.
The way AJ can't even bring herself to call Zirconia 'Hops' any more.
Oh she went from heavy-handed to just straight up dirty with that EMP shot.
A showdown inside a manifestation of Zirconia's soul….Could we be more edgy.
So it's not confirmed textually, but think of the Shroud as a prototype of variant of the design for Gestalt-Prime's new body; granted it doesn't have their intellect but I wanted to show just from the first exchange of blows were it absorbed and redirected Nora's hit that this thing is dangerous.
Y'all really thought that chair just scuttled around and that Qrow hadn't tricked it out?….Also, if you read FADE then you'll know that the forcefields-as-projectiles trick is a callback to a certain Atlas specialist.
Okay Ren's heads' up was appreciated but let's be honest throwing Qrow off the platform was never gonna work was it.
If it had worked that would have been one bad-ass take down from Ren, but I've still got more to do with this beastie.
"GET AWAY FROM MY MAN!" Nora, never change.
But here's a plot twist I've been hanging onto...Qrow's chair has a battle mode because of course it's also a gun….Appearance wise I'm taking notes from the Space Marine Dreadnought and the exo-suit from the Dodge ball episode of Dexter's Lab.
Nora' reaction is all of us.
Tiger swearing in normal conversation is one thing, when she's swearing on the job it's a bad sign.
Astra saw the other rebels gathering outside the stadium at the end of the last chapter, they've managed to make their way inside now.
Adult Hunter with Aura turned to mist….By the thing that Stitch thought wasn't the biggest threat; let that sink in for a sec.
Magnetic Dust….Seriously since the Maria and Tock fight it's been something I've enjoyed using.
Ending the fight with a Yang….Her plan makes sense really, the rebels want the Hunters, so the best way to make sure there's no civilian casualties is to get between the rebels and the civilians and move them out of the vicinity.
Okay so I've ragged of Justice League Apokolips War and the Injustice animated movie for being senselessly gratuitous in the deaths they showed, just pure shock value for the sake of it but I'll admit there was a certain amount of influence from that in the moments where Tiger looked around and saw just how bad it was.
Yeah, get Tuscan out of there….In earlier ideas for this story she was actually gonna get cornered and rescued but there's just too much happening already and it wouldn't add anything.
The Hunters that Team MARZ and TRQS have met over the tournament going down, consider it a twisted parody of the way the tournament fodder teams were shown in the Fall of Beacon.
What if I told you that Team NUGT and Nugget's actions are the ones that will be mentioned again?
If there is anything that could make Tiger defy an order it's seeing her brother in trouble.
Full Team TRQS + Snapdragon and Ravi take-down, cinematic.
So now it's TRQS & SHMR against a Grimm mech-suit, the thing needs a better description really but for the moment consider Petrol's final form but without there being a pilot in there that's fused to it.
So Astra and Regalia can track AJ even if they can't find Zirconia.
Of course Nero's people acted like that and of course Team MARZ stopped to deal with it.
The Bug-Bear isn't even really a mini-boss in comparison to some of the other stuff but someone had to fight one.
The "To infinity and beyond" in response to do you trust me? Is officially one of Astra and Regalia's things at this point….But a joke about falling with style had to be made.
Okay Astra's way of handling the Bug-Bear was both kinda foreshadowed by the times I mentioned that this Cyber-Grimm specifically can't fly or glide like the others and also was cool as fuck.
Hold on to your butts is another movie quote….Jurassic Park.
Yes that was a nod to the Akira slide, not even the first time Regalia's done it; in fact that was her entrance to the story.
See here's the thing about the Spiral-Verse being so big and having so many background characters, I can pull deep-cuts from my own lore….And I always have someone that I can make an example of when I want to show how bleak a situation is; in this case Team RAIN (Not to be confused with Team RAIN the web comic, which you should definitely read) Dove Bronzewing's son, Sun and Miltia's daughter, Nebula Violette's adopted non-binary kid and an unrelated OC; Amethyst Wukong appeared early in FADE: Legacy at the team as a whole appeared in the third year arc.
Honestly depicting how the back and forth between these different groups of combatants works out is interesting.
Team RAIN would have had that in the bag if it wasn't for how completely willing to go nuts and do unspeakable shit Carmesi actually is.
So final score for Team RAIN then: One incredibly traumatised but no severe physical injuries, one stabbed by Aura spikes and thrown over a bridge but caught before getting splatted, one shot in the head and will need immediate surgery to survive plus reconstructive surgery and will still likely lose an eye and finally, one severe blood loss and amputation of both arms….That is, in no uncertain terms a fucking beat down.
So Carmesi saw Astra and Regalia and now he's on the move as well.
Trying to fight inside of Phantasmagoria is tricky, now that Zirconia's got full control over it….It's not a pocket dimension strictly it's just sensory deprivation; your surroundings are there but you're completely unaware of them.
See AJ and Hops could have had a profound anime speech here but honestly, Athena just being a broken angry mess and throwing out anything hurtful just feels more honest.
AJ broke Zirconia's Semblance from the outside by firing into it once, but breaking it from the inside is a lot trickier; the only person we've seen one-shot it is Carmesi and that's because he used his own Semblance which is literally just weaponising his Aura.
Now when Zirconia starts ranting is she talking about Hunters in general or AJ in that moment.
So the moment Athena accidentally shot Zirconia and freaked out was the start of their actual friendship….Now she deliberately tries to shoot Zirconia and gets her weapon blown up in the process, cinema.
Also yeah that's gonna need rebuilding completely.
But the fight goes on.
So, here with Albion being used as the means to end the chapter with a wider view of the city as a whole and see how things are looking….It's bad by the heroes are getting to grips with things now.
The end of the Chamber, ensuring that it's not going to be found and some magical plot device that turns off all of the droids (Looking at you Phantom Menace and first two Avengers films) is gonna be found.
So Gestalt-Prime took Albion up into the air, away from anywhere where Nero could possibly see it and honestly it was a plot twist but if you really think it came out of nowhere then I don't know what to tell you….Gestalt-Prime is a Creature of Grimm and already has their own designs, on top of that Albion literally tortured them, revenge was a must.
Although bisecting him and holding onto the top half whilst his organs fell out like he was getting the last beans out of a tin was a bit much.
So, as things stand for the next chapter: The main battle is going to be AJ Vs Zirconia, which Astra, Regalia, Carmesi, Gestalt-Prime and whatever New Vale air-force are following the Grimm are all converging on. There's still a battle going on the stadium and the fight at Halo Academy against the Shroud and whatever happens Nero has now lost his loyal scientist, from now on his Cyber-Grimm efforts are going to be at the mercy of Gestalt-Prime and Aefen.

Thank you to MajorBrony95 for their review on the last chapter.
Thanks for the support but I am once again looking for a new job….The one that I was offered fell through because after working there for a couple days I nearly got my cock chopped off and I decided that they weren't paying me nearly enough to take that particular risk.
Y'know they did make some comments about ending the Vytal Tournament in Vol.04 of FADE, they actually did decide to cancel it but then Salem began her siege of the city by attacking the transports taking students home; at that point cancelling it kinda felt like a moot point.
Yeah Nero's had all the speech therapy and public speaking/leadership courses and the idea of mixing lies in with obvious truths is a common and well practised approach that everyone from politicians to professional grifters like Andrew Tate and Jordan Peterson understand.
Oh you thought the AJ & Zirconia stuff was heartbreaking before?….How about now? And before you answer, remember that we're not done yet.
Yang is still a teacher at Signal, she can definitely still fight; she trains as much as Nora does and Nora routinely strolls into the campus gym to fight anybody who wants it.

As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.