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Chapter 149: Storm The Castle
The battle had begun and Team MARSZ were falling.
Their transport was one of many such aircraft to be thrust into the midst of the maelstrom, forced to weave and dodge or in the case of a few brave souls simply power their way directly through the chaos of thousands of swarming, frenzied Creatures of Grimm and countless projectiles unleashed by both sides as Pantheon's opening gambit was answered.
It had taken Team MARSZ's transport, under the control of its' pilot and co-pilot whose skills the five Hunters had come to truly appreciate, a matter of minutes to fight their way through the monsters and reach an area close enough to the teams' designated landing zone; mercifully doing so without suffering damage which would further complicate matters.
And then, with nothing else to be done Team MARSZ had leapt.
In free-fall and plummeting Astra was kept from using their landing strategy by the oncoming Creatures of Grimm who refused to relent for even a moment; their ferocity being underscored in brutal fashion as another aircraft, carrying another team of Hunters exploded in a ball of fire and shrapnel before those aboard could escape some distance away, with the knowledge that it was not Team FADE being the only bleak form of solace that Astra could take. The Deer Faunus had realised almost the moment they had leapt from the aircraft that using their Semblance as a landing strategy was not workable, at least not until they fallen much further as the presence of a glowing, gigantic form in the midst of the aerial battle would only serve to draw the Grimm towards Astra and the rest of their team in droves and yet their original landing strategy, from before they had unlocked their Semblance was similarly unavailable in that moment; the dozens of Grimm already attacking them meaning that Astra could not convert Buckshot Ares to its' rarely used glider form simply because the weapons guns were desperately needed.
So instead they simply hurtled downwards, a wordless cry of desperation leaving their lips only to be drowned out by the uproar of their twin, arm-mounted mini-guns and their sea-green eyes screwed tightly shut; Astra not wanting to see the twisted amalgamation of bone spikes, obsidian flesh and jagged crystal which formed Pantheon's fortress rushing up to meet them for an impact that would be devastating, possibly even fatal if their timing was wrong.
Until the sound of a familiar voice and the feeling of a harpoon lodging expertly into one half of Buckshot Ares without damaging any components assured Astra that help had come.
"GET ON AND HANG ON!" it was Regalia that called out it to them frantically and a moment later Astra was being reeled in, halting their rapid firing for only a moment to avoid harming their partner as they clambered onto the back of Clunker which the Racoon Faunus was riding and which team MARSZ's explosive charges, intended to cause as much havoc with Pantheon's fortress had been carefully attached to. There was little time for the Deer Faunus to catch their breath however, simply reloading and unleashing a fresh barrage into the flying monsters whose screaming filled the air before any of them could draw close, all whilst a simple realisation dawned on them.
"You saved my ass" Astra breathed out "But we're still falling!"
"Wait for it" Regalia answered grimly, clearly trying to force a sense of optimism and showmanship into words that were delivered through gritted teeth. Her jetbike, Clunker was entirely silent with both its' ant-gravitational systems and its' signature roaring propulsion system which had been scavenged from an aircraft both silent, replaced instead by the howling rush of air as the dead weight fell inexorably downwards. Astra already knew that Clunker would likely be strained to the point of being disabled if Regalia was forced to try and use the machine in the open air rather than above the ground as intended again and yet they could not see another option.
Until a glyph emerged beneath them, then another and then another.
"THERE IT IS!" Regalia exclaimed with a whooping cheer whilst Astra, taking care to avoid catching their partner and girlfriend with their antlers whipped their head around and sought out the rest of their team-mates in an effort to figure out exactly what was happening.
Stygian was the first to be seen, the Mouse Faunus having once again defaulted to his usual approach and begun using his Semblance to flit from one incoming Creature of Grimm to another in a series of swift and effective slashing motions whilst Athena-Jade and Zirconia were a pair, the latter being held by the former as the Bear Faunus used a pair of glowing wings to stay aloft; though Astra noted that this pair seemed larger and boasted a membranous design far more reminiscent of the Teryx they had encountered earlier than the Nevermore wings she often favoured. Athena had been using her glyphs to keep the Grimm at bay as she swooped through the air to catch any of her team-mates who might be struggling, with her current use of her Semblance to form a clear road downwards for Regalia and her jetbike being a continuation of that.
'Double Ice!' Athena's efforts were quickly bolstered by the Grasshopper Faunus in her arms as Zirconia used Sunriser Cain to create a solid, arcing road of ice to reinforce the glyphs and upon seeing this Regalia brought Clunker roaring to life; the jetbike going from falling to deliberately racing towards the surface of Pantheon's fortress in an instant.
And yet the Creatures of Grimm were giving chase.
"WE'VE GOT COMPANY!" Astra warned, performing the risky move of spinning around entirely on the back of Clunker whilst the jetbike was in motion so that they were facing backwards before aiming both of their weapons at the swarm of buzzing and droning insectoid Grimm that were trying to catch and encircle Team MARSZ.
Bullets tore through exoskeleton and pulpy flesh with ease and yet in the face of so many incoming monsters it seemed meaningless; Astra continued to fire until Clunker came to rest on the surface of Pantheon' fortress at which point they leapt free and watched with faint awe as Regalia planted herself firmly and used the flames spewed by her jetbike to incinerate the nearest Grimm, sending them rushing back into the security of their swarm only for the flames to spread to more of their number.
And yet still the Grimm came.
Stygian appeared in a rippling of liquid air, the Mouse Faunus emerging first in the midst of the Lancers; his sword plunging and sweeping through bodies with ease until finally he leapt free of the swarm and landing beside his team-mates. Athena and Zirconia were the last to arrive, the Bear Faunus using Semblance-made limbs to keep Zirconia safe whilst at the same time aiming and firing with Heartbreaker in its' laser cannon form. Beams of ethereal light tore through carapace and reduced bodies to wisps of smog until the two of them had a clear, albeit dangerously brief corridor through which to dive and take their place alongside their team.
The Grimm still came.
"There's too many!" Astra yelled over the continuing sound of their own weapons "They'll follow us in and we'll be surround-"
Searing lances of crimson light, a twisted mirror to Athena-Jade's weapon scorched the sky and tore through dozens of Creatures of Grimm in mere moments whilst at the same time causing those which remained to break off and engage a new foe which had announced itself with an unmistakable grinding and metallic shriek.
"Cyber-Grimm" Zirconia rasped out, clearly finding their presence anything but reassuring.
"Come on, let's go!" Astra barked out, desperate to keep their team focused and sensing that the key to victory was simply to keep moving forward. A nod to Athena saw the Bear Faunus take Zirconia by the hand whilst Regalia hauled Clunker alongside herself and Stygian flanked the rest of the team as they proceeded to cross the short distance between the place where they had landed and the place they needed to be; each of them desperately trying to pay no mind to the surfaces they were walking across, living tissue and equally animate crystal and bone so dense and craggy that it was indistinguishable from solid rock, all of which was far more grotesque in person than the images they had been showed during their briefing could possible convey.
Eventually however they reached their target.
"This is it" Astra warned them, before regarding the disgusting seam in the thick flesh of the living fortress which was partly covered by outcroppings of chitinous armour and twisted spikes of gnarled bone.
"It's sealed" Stygian pointed out, preparing to imbue the blade of his katana with Dust "I've got it-"
"Wait" Regalia held up her hand to stop him "Astra, have you got a signal flare?"
"Yeah" they answered, a faint unease settling over them "What're you planning-"
"Give me a flare and get clear. We need to get this to open and then get one of the airships to freeze it, that's the plan and I've got an idea" Astra studied her expression for a moment, seeing the resolve and certainty there before leaning close to give the Racoon Faunus a brief, gentle kiss.
"For luck" they explained before turning to Athena-Jade, Stygian and Zirconia "Come on let's go!"
A moment letter the four of them were sprinting away, putting a respectable amount of distance between themselves and the sealed opening before the distinctive booming report of Apex Scavenger informed them all that Regalia's plan involved using a shotgun to coax the door, such as it was open. They came to a halt and whirled around with weapons at the ready upon hearing a sickeningly wet sound like a combination of tearing meat and a phlegm-laced groan as the opening widened.
The sound of Grimm rushing to the surface could already be heard; their howls and bellows in no way muted by the fleshy walls they clambered along.
"Oh my gosh she's doing the scene from Jurassic Park!" Athena gasped in recognition and understanding as she along with the rest of Team MARSZ watched Zirconia climb onto Clunker and light the signal flare, holding it aloft for several moments and waving it around before finally, at the last possible moment seeming to be satisfied that she had completed her goal and caught the attention of one of the Blockade Fleet's airships.
Regalia threw the flare into the yawning entrance to Pantheon's fortress and then sped towards her team.
Grimm burst into view, fangs and claws bared.
An Ice Dust missile ripped through the air and struck home; entering the hole and detonating in a blast which reduced the Grimm to little more than misshapen and grotesque ice sculptures and a collection of frozen fragments whilst Team MARSZ as a whole were left thankful for the fact that their time in Atlas had left them dressed for colder weather as everything in the immediate area was coated in a freezing mist.
A mist which was dispersed around Team MARSZ as Regalia brought Clunker skidding to a halt beside them.
"That was awesome" Astra beamed, throwing their arms around her.
"We have a way forward but we should move" Zirconia noted in a forced monotone, clearly seeking to hide her fears "We don't know exactly how long the Ice Dust will be effective for and there are still Grimm on the outside….We could still be surrounded"
"She's right" Athena nodded, already hefting her weapon again. Astra simply nodded before taking the lead.
"Okay let's go….We made it, we've got a way in. Now for the hard part right?"
With that uncomfortable thought given voice Team MARSZ rushed towards the entrance that had been blasted open and frozen in place and prepared to descend into the depths of Pantheon's domain.
The Megalodon had pushed forward, cutting Creatures of Grimm down in great number with both its' own weapons and the haze of Cyber-Grimm which both flew around it in a screaming, living haze and other mechanical horrors which crawled and lumbered across its' surface, such as towering Bug-Bear variants which anchored themselves onto the exterior of the Airship-Grimm; their minds and programming merging with the Megalodon's own in order to transform them into additional weapon turrets in a display which seemed to mirror Pantheon's own use of living emplacements in the form of Artillery Shells.
It was fortunate that the Megalodon was so well armed and well defended, the Creatures of Grimm had clearly taken a keen interest in the colossal Cyber-Grimm and for all the talk of alliances and standing shoulder to shoulder to protect Remnant the rest of the Blockade Fleet were seemingly unwilling to come to the Megalodon's aid, instead giving it a wide berth as though it might reach out and begin to consume their own warships.
Something which was admittedly within the realm of possibility.
Aboard the Megalodon emotions swirled and blended with an almost perceptible gradient. The Command Bridge was home to a resolute and grim defiance as those hand-picked to pilot Damascus Nero's greatest creation to date refused to show fear or be defeated, especially not whilst in the presence of the man whose vision for a new, better Remnant they had committed themselves to. In the heart of the living vessel, where machinery and foul, twisted organs mingled with one another in disturbing ways and where the majority of the crew who were not involved in the ongoing combat could be found either undertaking vital tasks or simply huddling for safety there was an almost palpable fear in the air which rolled and spiked in response to the pace and ferocity of the violence and thundering explosions whose tremors the crew had convinced themselves that they could feel even through armour and hard-light shields.
Towards the outer edges of the Megalodon however that fear and resolve gave way to a seething, bubbling rage and eager bloodlust which demanded release; coalescing around the openings which littered the hull of the living vessel like open wounds, the hangars and launch pads where Cyber-Grimm waited to deploy and where the rushing wind outside was kept at bay by little more than a membrane of vein-ridden flesh, stretched thin enough to be translucent so that the vague shape of the chaos beyond could be seen.
It was one of these hangars which Carmesi Hueso strode into, jagged teeth bared, Retribution and Vindication already in hand and his single remaining eye almost glowing with barely suppressed anticipation and a righteous fury which the Komodo Dragon Faunus fought the urge to immediately direct towards the occupants of the space.
"Don't die before you're supposed to….I want the pleasure of killing you myself" he snarled as he caught sight of Gestalt-Prime already waiting; the Alpha Cyber-Grimm flanked by a small group of their armoured minions, their own wings already deployed and tail lashing whilst they made no effort to look in Carmesi's direction as they answered and instead kept their gaze focused firmly on the doorway that was yet to open.
"You have already tried, already failed. You should have fallen to your death then" Gestalt-Prime let out a grinding sound not unlike a chuckle as they reminded Carmesi of the battle atop Port Alistair's CCT tower "Perhaps today?"
"You wouldn't make it look like an accident. You'd want everyone to know" Carmesi asserted bluntly, causing Gestalt-Prime to finally spare a glance in the Faunus's direction; their disdain clear even through the visor lowered over their singular optic.
"True enough" they snarled "But I have more important kills to concern myself with; for now you're simply here to hide in my shadow where your insignificance will protect you"
Carmesi let out a low, rumbling growl at that; biting down on his fury before he cold raise his weapons and carve a chunk of Gestalt-Prime's armoured hide away for the insult. Instead he strode forwards and focused on the task at hand and consoled himself with the knowledge that the mission was far more important than his own feelings and that the bright new tomorrow that so much had been sacrificed for was almost a reality.
With that in mind Carmesi thumped the armoured carapace of one of the Cyber-Grimm, causing it to unfurl its' wing-casings and begin preparing for flight before climbing onto it so that he could ride it like a steed; though another snarl escaped the burly Faunus as he sought out a way to secure himself on the thing without relinquishing either of his weapons and finally settled for using his forward-sloped machete to hook under the thorax-horn of the Cyber-Grimm.
And then it began.
The fleshy barrier was ripped away by some unseen mechanism and Gestalt-Prime let out a fearsome war cry as they launched themselves into the open air, wings and weapons at the ready and followed by Cyber-Grimm as they leapt from various launchpads and hangars along the Megalodon's port side. Volleys of laser-fire flashed across the sky and the Alpha Cyber-Grimm raced ahead of the rest of the force, earning their first kill of the battle in mere moments as a bat-like Grimm was ripped apart by sweeping beams of searing light a moment before Gestalt-Prime crashed into the midst of others like it.
Attacking Creatures of Grimm honed in on this new threat, presumably with many of them reporting back to Pantheon through some unseen means and it was this distraction which allowed the Cyber-Grimm Carmesi was riding to break away and take a different course utterly unchallenged. The rogue Hunter grit his teeth and held on for dear life as his monstrous mounted doubled back and swept under the Megalodon in order to use its' shadow to mask a daring approach on Pantheon's fortress.
It was almost a success.
"Damn it!" Carmesi roared to nobody in particular as the first sizeable shard of jagged bone ripped through the flank of his Cyber-Grimm and caused his own Aura to ripple faintly on contact. The initial impact served as something akin to tracer fire for the others and in moments the air around the Faunus was filled with a whistling blizzard of projectiles which the Cyber-Grimm's return fire did precious little to answer. Carmesi was at least lucky enough to be able to position himself above the fortress rather than open waters before the inevitable happened however and when the Cyber-Grimm he rode finally went slack and began to tumble freely from the sky with its' armour torn and riddled and riddled by the Artillery Shells, a final decisive spike of bone shoved through its' skull and igniting the ammunition of one of its' antennae-mounted guns Carmesi managed, through brute force and sheer good fortune to direct the carcass downwards before leaping from it and firing Retribution downwards as the felled Cyber-Grimm landed amidst the scuttling living weapons littering the fortress.
Detonating the vital workings of its' laser weapon.
Fire and concussive force washed over the landscape of midnight black flesh and twisted mounds of bone, immolating dozens of the hermit-crab Grimm entirely and casting more still into utter disarray as they were swept from their spindly limbs and strewn about the outer walls of Pantheon's fortress. Carmesi landed in the centre of the clearing the explosion had produced in a crouch with his weapons at the ready, rearing up to his full height with a bellowed challenge.
And immediately went on the attack.
His Semblance erupted up from the ground around him and whilst he had no way of knowing whether or not it was actually damaging the living fortress itself the spikes and blades of solid Aura which manifested in rolling waves of bloody crimson carved through the Grimm that remained before any of them could right themselves and spit their bone shards in his direction again.
Without wasting another moment Carmesi looked for a fresh challenger, anything that might stand between himself and his ultimate goal; finding what he sought almost immediately in the form of a nest of monstrous Deathstalkers, accompanied by some long-limbed spider Grimm bursting from an opening within the fortress walls to attack a freshly landed team of Hunters.
With a roar Carmesi readied his blades and charged and as the other Hunters saw him hurtling into battle in a storm of blades and berserk violence his status as a rogue, disgraced Hunter was forgotten; all that mattered was that he had come to help.
Carmesi had his own goals however.
Team FADE were yet to deploy, having used the chaos of the battles' opening moments to distance themselves from the Megalodon and reposition. Nero had tasked the Komodo Dragon Faunus with retrieving the Aura Transfer Machine, certain that General Schnee and her allies were not dealing in good faith and that his great works would be tampered with if the Hunters went unchallenged and since he could not simply follow after them and hunt them down Carmesi had instead opted for the next best thing.
He was going to carve a bloody path to the heart of Pantheon's lair and wait for Team FADE to arrive.
Pantheon entered the battle as a force of nature, their mere presence immediately changing the pace of events.
The main spire of their fortress opened, its' various layers of protection intended to keep enemies from simply firing missiles or deploying Hunters into the heart of their domain slipping away; giving way to an eruption of living darkness at the heart of the battle in the sky which gave the Grimm-fortress the momentary appearance of a monstrous volcano. The cloud was formed of hundreds of winged Grimm which had been waiting for their moment to strike and burst outwards in all directions, swarming and thrashing their way through the mustered airships of the Blockade Fleet or else diving low to harass the seafaring vessels. As the cloud of Grimm dispersed Pantheon themselves became clearly identifiable at its' heart, lingering for a single moment as if deliberately ensuring that they were seen and identified before turning through the sky on powerful wings, clawed limbs and living halberd at the ready as they sought out their chosen enemy.
Annihilating anything in their path in the process.
A transport craft, one intended to deploy Hunters to the fortress was the first victim of the Grimm General's wrath. Pantheon surged toward it on a head-on collision course, at a full eighteen feet in height and with their densely muscled form and heavy carapace armour they smashed into the aircraft almost head-first, adjusting their angle at the last moment so that the streamlined, angled point of their chest carved through the cockpit and upper hull of the aircraft like a sharks' fin through water. Pantheon's tail whipped beneath the transport and the three-pronged claw at its' tip tore into the cavity where collapsed landing gear was secured whilst the Grimm-General's upper arms, each forearm broader than a man's torso and ending in a three-pieced claw with taloned digits like scythe-blades lashed out to grab the wings of the Manta-type transport and sank effortlessly into the struts and supports which held its' propulsion systems in place.
And then Pantheon simply tore the aircraft apart.
Screeching metal and blossoming fire filled the air as the body of the manta was broken apart, its' wings and the remains of its' cockpit being sheared away and each severed component being crushed by the claws of the Grimm General, those twisted masses of crushed metal then being launched with the force of a comet into other passing foes before Pantheon spotted something which sparked their ire.
Survivors.
The crew of the destroyed aircraft had managed to flee into its' cargo hold where a team of Hunters had been travelling; as the rear end of the transport plummeted towards the waves and the numberless Creatures of Grimm which currently lurked within those same Hunters could be seen preparing to make an emergency evacuation, two of them clutching the clearly shaken crew to them.
Pantheon readied their halberd, they had intended to use the weapon on the upstart Gestalt-Prime however the urge to properly blood their creation was too great to ignore and as such they dove after the Hunters, striking at the moment they attempted to leap clear of the falling wreckage.
Carnage was easy and death came swiftly as Pantheon singled out their first victim; a Hunter carrying the aircraft's pilot was reduced to incoherent screaming and insensate panic despite all of their training and experience as the Grimm General swooped passed them in a blur of motion, their living halberd flashing out and carving through the body of the man in their hands with ease, reducing his body, unprotected by Aura to gory pulp with the force of the attack by before the winds kicked up by Pantheon's wings sent the panicked Hunter spiralling away.
Another Hunter in the doomed group tried to yell orders, instantly identifying themselves as a leader and as such making themselves the next to be targeted, Pantheon hurtled towards them and closed the distance in an instant; driving their halberd into the body of the Hunter whose Aura held firm despite rippling visibly however they were left gasping for air and unable to react as Pantheon's clawed tail closed around their skull and whipped them through the air with bone-snapping force.
As the limp body of the thrown Hunter sailed through the air bullets pattered harmlessly but annoyingly against Pantheon's armoured hide, the six eyes turning towards the source of the attack and finding that one of the remaining Hunters had managed to prepare themselves enough to retaliate. Pantheon's answer was to crash into the still falling Hunter and fly downwards, clutching their prey in unshakeable grasp as they dove below the water and dragged the captured Hunter deeper, relishing the way their defiant and thrashing struggles took on a desperate spasming quality as the need to breathe and the pure terror that came with being unable to overwhelmed all else. The fighting continued for a moment longer before the Grimm General simply released the Hunter and departed.
Leaving them at the mercy of a school of ravenous, piranha-like Grimm.
Pantheon burst from the sea once more, their claws tearing deep scars into the hull of a ship before the rocketed upwards in to the air and locked eyes on their next target; namely a shrieking whirring amalgamation of flesh and steel that could only be one of their would be usurpers' creations. The Cyber-Grimm was reduced to mangled wreckage as Pantheon collided with it, their halberd cleaving through its as though its' armour were nothing at all and the Grimm General's own simple mass crumpled its' remains entirely.
The thrill of victory was interrupted by twin lances of pain shooting through their body as Pantheon's body was raked by blood-red lasers; the assault being followed up an indescribable feeling of anticipation which caused them to whirl around in the air in search of their prey, the injuries themselves utterly disregarded.
The moment had come.
"GESTALT-PRIME!" their bellowed challenge seemed to split the sky and the Grimm-General's six eyes locked on the upstart who had attacked them from behind, their much smaller form hovering in the air some distance away; held aloft by axe-bladed wings whilst their shoulder mounted lasers gave the illusion of the two Alpha Grimm having similar form with the same amount of limbs, an illusion which seemed to make the coming battle for dominance more fitting somehow.
Without another thought Pantheon rushed forwards, only for another barrage of laser-fire to force them off course, reducing part of the bone armour around the left wing to a glowing, almost molten state and it was here that the Grimm-General realised that Gestalt-Prime was not alone; instead the Alpha Cyber-Grimm was joined by dozens of Cyber-Grimm which were in the process of finalising a circular formation to enclose Pantheon and several aircraft which seemed to be specialising for air-to-air combat which stormed and swooped around them.
Pantheon merely snarled, they had not truly expected the upstart to face them in single combat and by their estimations this paltry showing would change nothing.
The Nemesis Kharybdis was under attack.
That particular statement could be made for almost every other vessel within the Blockade Fleet however, a bleak reality made painfully clear by the groaning of tortured metal as one of the many truly colossal Creatures of Grimm that had attacked the ships from below began to drag a frigate downwards, crushing the ship as it did so.
The Creature of Grimm in question was an Omnipus, a monster which, as its' name suggested resembled an Octopus albeit with far too many tentacles of a size and scale that dwarfed any natural animal; the Grimm had wrapped its' enormous appendages around the ship and begun to squeeze, the motion wringing out a filthy ooze which seemed to warp the metal and make it more malleable and this had begun a struggle that was a battle against the beast itself and also a frantic race against time. Airships had diverted their attention to the beleaguered vessel and were attempting to open fire, yet the boneless form of the Omnipus and it's position beneath the hull of the frigate limited how much firepower could be brought to bear and ensured that the Grimm would be victorious before any critical damage could be inflicted against it; at the same time an evacuation effort was being made and yet several of the transport aircraft involved were being assaulted by winged Grimm, with the limited amount of Cyber-Grimm and Hunters capable of fighting whilst airborne trying to defend them.
Corvid Xiao Long should have been amongst them however the Creatures of Grimm attacking her own ship had rendered that impossible.
Another seafaring titan had emerged from the depths to battle with the Nemesis Kharybdis and thus far even the ships' main rail-gun, capable of blasting Gestalt-Prime apart from across a city had been able to deliver a decisive blow to the enormous Crustacean-like monster.
Pantheon had joined the battle in person and whilst the sentient Grimm was yet to seek Corvid out directly the ferocity of the attack suggested that her previous bouts with them had not been forgotten; the former leader of Team CLIR had been forced from the air by swarms of flying Grimm which had targetted the ship, further evidence of their assault coming in a single but frightful crack along the surface of the windows of the control bridge.
Knowing that the Grimm had reached so close to where her Great Uncle Qrow was and that he was no longer in a position to defend himself had turned Corvid's blood to ice in her veins.
With her feet solidly on the deck of the ship she was immovable however, as the first Grimm to throw itself at her learned. The Manticore Grimm found its' skull crushed and torn free of the rest of its' body with the force of Corvid's mace hitting it in the side of the head, both of the severed pieces of its' body fading away into nothingness even before the former Atlas specialist could follow up with a furious backswing and break another monster in half; her brutal melee attacks being combined with ranged devastation as her shoulder-mounted rail-guns blasted through more of the Grimm in the air and, whenever possible took pot-shots at the eye-stalks of the enormous Crab-Grimm which the Nemesis Kharybdis was engaging in battle.
Eventually the Manticores grew tired of the fight and sought to overwhelm their foe and gathered themselves into a single swirling cloud of darkness above Corvid, lunging at her in unison.
Corvid activated the shield generator within the Omega Wing and maintained her Semblance, rooting herself to the spot and withstanding the onslaught for just long enough for help to arrive.
Creatures of Grimm collided with Corvid's shield and were left reeling back, hissing and spitting in pain as the force of the impact with the hard-light saw chunks of flesh burned away with an acrid stench. A moment later the skull of one of the winged-lions was reduced to an explosion of obsidian viscera, with the booming report of an artillery piece fashioned into a portable weapon rising above the rest of the chaos and announcing the presence of another Hunter.
Onyx Ursabane.
"You weren't going to save any for me?" the hulking and impossibly powerful Puma Faunus laughed as he charged into the fray, shifting his weapon into its' battle-axe form and ripping into the Grimm with reckless abandon.
"Onyx-ly I thought you weren't coming" Corvid answered, using an opening Onyx left for her in order to swing her mace into the jaw of a Grimm.
"And miss all of this?" Onyx used a wide, sweeping swing of his axe to gesture to the Grimm-covered deck of the Nemesis Kharybdis and from there he and Corvid began working together in earnest; the formerly long-distance couple weaving around one another with practised ease. Corvid's mechanical wing protecting Onyx from a Manticore which had prowled around the periphery of the deck and pounced was followed by the Puma Faunus carving the monster messily in half; followed by another of the monsters attempting to leap at Corvid as her efforts to shatter the skull of a Grimm left her torso exposes and unguarded only for the beast to utterly ruined by Onyx's response. The Puma Faunus's Semblance had been dubbed a 'sonic roar' for years however combining this ability with Fire Grimm gave him the ability to spew a jet of flame, doing so here set the Manticore ablaze and at the same time send it careening away and over the railing around the edge of the ships' deck, falling into the sea where its' flames were doused.
The two Hunters danced around one another and tore through the Creatures of Grimm in a devastating display of skill however any sense of victory was robbed from them by the arrival of red-haired and golden-armoured Hunter sprinting into view with a warning spewing from his lips.
"GET DOWN!" Helios Nikos bellowed, his body wreathed in a flickering darkness as his gravity-warping Semblance bent and twisted the light around him unnaturally. Coming to a halt both Corvid and Onyx turned to face the prow of the Nemesis Kharybdis, facing towards both Pantheon's fortress and the enormous Crab-Grimm that the ships' guns had been doing little more than hold at bay and it was here that the two of them saw the reason for Helios's yelling.
The Grimm had raised its' claw and was preparing to swing the monstrous limb with the intent of rending the hull of the ship open.
Time seemed to slow as Helios unleashed his Semblance not to amplify gravity but instead to reduce it, hoping to reduce the momentum of the attack and send the Grimm's claw sailing over the open deck. Waves of frigid water sprayed from the approaching limb however and crashed across the deck however, slamming into Helios with enough force to send him toppling dangerously until both Corvid and Onyx reached out and seized him before he could be cast into the sea; the damage had been done though and Helios's focus was broken which allowed the pincer to come crashing into the Nemesis Kharybdis.
It was Carcharodon Gore who saved the trio.
The Shark Faunus had clearly rushed down into a lower deck before using his Semblance, his liquid and protean body bursting up into view so that he could grab Corvid, Onyx and Helios; pulling them close and with visible strain and exertion pulling them all back downwards through the deck and into deck below.
Just in time to see the pincer of the Grimm shear away the top deck of the ship.
"NO!" Carcharodon screamed in a mixture of rage and grief at the damage being done to the ship that was both his home and, as the leader of the last remains of a seafaring tribe a cultural and spiritual artefact. The Grimm's pincer had simply scraped away armour rather than punch neatly through it, ripping the uppermost portion of the ship away rather than gutting it entirely thought this simply meant that the results were not totally devastating and that the fight could continue; the guns of the Nemesis Kharybdis continuing to fire even now.
"Great Uncle Qrow-" Corvid's panicked yell and attempt to take to the air was halted by Carcharodon as the Shark Faunus mastered himself and rose to task of maintaining order and seeing that duty was done.
"Eagle is with him, he's safe" he rasped out from behind his hood, jagged teeth bared as he spat out words that were almost physically painful to utter "We need to fall back. We cannot win fighting like this"
"We can't!" Corvid exclaimed "Team FADE! The Hunters, we need to wait-"
"WE WILL DIE HERE BEFORE THEY CAN FINISH THEIR JOB!" Carcharodon yelled "The Nemesis Kharybdis cannot get Hunters to safety if it is at the bottom of the sea!"
"Fine" Corvid breathed out before using wrist-mounted controls and a display mounted into the helmet of the Omega Wing to open a broad communication channels.
"All Hunters be advised" her voice wavered with uncertainty at the course of action "The Nemesis Kharybdis is falling back, fighting retreat….We can't do any more in our current condition"
The message was acknowledged and Carcharodon confirmed the orders with Qrow and Hellion, the pair of them using their position within the bridge to set the ship into motion; pulling out of the grasp of the titanic Crab-Grimm which mercifully did not give chase and instead turned its' attention elsewhere.
Corvid was left silently hoping that her brother would be able to find another way out of Pantheon's lair; the idea that Felix and the rest of Team FADE might deliver the decisive blow in the fight against the Grimm only to be left stranded in the aftermath being a harrowing thought which she could not rid herself of.
Team FADE had finally managed to deploy from their transport, slipping away from beneath the shadow of the Megalodon and whatever machinations Damascus Nero was entertaining in doing so and yet even this had not come without complications.
Whilst many of the Artillery Shells and other Creatures of Grimm crawling across the outer defences of Pantheon's Grimm-fortress had been cut down their numbers were still considerable and in a state of constant replenishment as new Grimm joined the fray; this combined with the fact that several teams of Hunters had made their descent onto the fortress before Team FADE had meant that by the time the four veteran Hunters could leap out of their transport the defending monsters had grown wise to the attacks and adjusted their attacks accordingly. Team FADE had been unharmed, Arctus's glyphs providing cover for them whilst Felix's Semblance cleared out an impressive number of Grimm as he impacted against the bony surface of fortress in a wash of flames and force however the aircraft from which they had left was less fortunate, with Team FADE's last sight of it being as its' pilot frantically tried to keep it airborne and stop it from spiralling out of control as it lost altitude; its' right wing torn apart and flames spewing from it.
Without hesitation the four of them had launched into action, fighting through the nearest Grimm with ease and taking only a moment to get the bearings before setting off in the direction of the opening they intended to use to breach Pantheon's lair; Arctus using his glyphs to carry the sealed form of Project Inertia itself alongside the team. Upon reaching the opening in question however Team FADE had been ambushed by a Grimm which had laid in wait for such an intruder, further proof that the monsters were adapting to the attack.
It was arachnid in design, an enormous trapdoor spider Grimm whose body was larger than a bus and whose skull was unsettlingly humanoid in design albeit with too-many eyes and mandibles attached to pulsating venom sacs for a mouth; its' legs were long and grasping with far too many joints and covered in chitinous armour which ended in spearing, bladed points whilst its' bulbous abdomen was covered in overlapping plates and could unleash gouts of a thick, ropey and dangerously adhesive black substance that was not truly webbing and was instead part of the Grimm's own body which could be retracted back into the main mass in order to reel in its' captured prey.
A Dungeon Master, an oddly nostalgic sight for Team FADE who had first encountered this variety of Grimm during their initiation.
"Keep it away from the payload!" Diamond yelled, her voice underscored by the snapping report of her sniper rifle as it put out one of the Grimm's eyes; the attack failed to break through the rest of the Dungeon Master's skull however and instead it responded by hissing in pain and rage before turning its' attention towards the silver haired Huntress.
"Working on it!" Arctus called back, the Bear Faunus having taken a defensive position which came with risks of its' own by using his glyphs to leap away from the sloped, ridged and pitted walls of the fortress itself where his team-mates were using the uneven surface as a variety of platforms and handholds and instead perching atop a platform of his own creation whilst covering Project Inertia with his own body. His actions did not go unpunished however and before Arctus could ready his weapon in its' twin-barrelled and high powered laser-pistol form at the Dungeon-Master he was instead forced to turn his weapon downwards and begin fending off shoals of small, leaping and biting monsters which leapt up from the roiling waters which lapped against the side of the living structure; the Bear Faunus eventually simply encasing himself and his cargo in glyphs until a better option could be found.
"Dee, keep firing at its' eyes!" Felix yelled "Even if we can't kill it that way it'll be easier to fight if its' blind"
With that the Lion Faunus readied Overkill in its' two-handed broadsword form, the weapons' chainsaw blade coming screaming to life in a shower of sparks which were subtly absorbed by Felix's Semblance whilst he kept his deep blue eyes locked firmly on the spider Grimm. It had been years since he and his team had last faced a Dungeon-Master and the approach that they had used during their initiation as seventeen year old hopefuls was not viable here given that it had been a collaboration with Team NEON.
Before he could come to a conclusion the arachnid monstrosity attacked.
"FELIX GET CLEAR!" Eagle warned with a frantic yell, the armoured blonde taking matters into her own hands and tackling him to the ground; the two of them tumbling and slipping as they struggled to keep hold of their weapons and at the same time maintain their purchase on the outer surface of Pantheon's fortress.
The Grimm had leapt at them, its' movements far faster than its' ungainly form and scurrying gait would suggest and its' bladed limbs ripping through the space where Felix and Eagle had been a second before. Diamond had also leapt clear of the assault however her Semblance saw her escape in another direction, running vertically up the fortress walls unhindered by gravity before back-flipping onto the Dungeon-Master and driving her weapon in its' glaive form into the joints of one of the Grimm's legs. Seeing their friend holding onto the Grimm as it sought to throw her clear and trample her beneath bladed limbs Felix and Eagle launched themselves back into the fray, clambering close enough to begin stabbing and slashing at the monster with their own swords until the sound of metal grinding through bone filled the air; Eagle taking things a step further and launching her shield free of her arm.
"Sentinel! Light it up!" her shield unfolded into its' droid form, the vaguely avian automaton deploying mini-guns and opening fire on the Dungeon-Master with a series of shrill beeps and chirps which could only be interpreted as a defiant challenge and battle-cry.
In response the Dungeon-Master reared up on its' remaining legs and slung its' engorged abdomen beneath itself and aimed its' spinnerets in the direction of Eagles' droid with the clear intent of spewing its' web-like expulsions at Sentinel.
Which gave Felix the beginnings of a plan.
"DIAMOND GET DOWN, I'VE GOT AN IDEA!" the Lion Faunus called up to his team-mate before turning back to Eagle "Have Sentinel try and draw it towards Arctus"
"You've got it" she proceeded to order her drone to act and as Diamond leapt down beside them, giving Felix a sidelong glance for having the Grimm seemingly target her husband despite the faith she placed in her team leader the three of them were treated to the sight of Sentinel weaving through the air to avoid attacks from the Dungeon-Master Master, which had seemingly forgotten the Hunters for the time being.
Eagle's trusty companion slowly drew nearer to Arctus, the Bear Faunus still surrounded by glyphs and Felix braced himself; preparing to unleash his Semblance at a moments' notice whilst calling out to his cousin to prepare him.
"ARCTUS, I NEED A GLYPH ON THAT WEB….DRAG IT AND SPIN IT!" it took Arctus a moment of head-cocked confusion to fully understand what Felix was planning however once comprehension had dawned on him he acted swiftly. The Dungeon-Master spewed another gout of viscous, adhesive sludge in the vague style of webbing at Sentinel only for a glyph to appear between the droid and the projectile; upon feeling its' projectile strike something the Grimm attempted to reel its' catch back towards its' body only for Arctus to focus on the glyph and send it veering off through the air, the Dungeon-Master was in turn lifted from the ground and as Arctus twirled his glyph the Grimm was swung in a wide arc through the air, its' own weapon turned against it until it was sent rushing back towards the side of the fortress.
Where Felix was waiting for it.
The Lion Faunus's body was wreathed in golden fire and he became truly unstoppable force for a single, fleeting second as he downed his weapon and drove his golden cybernetic fist through the skull of the Dungeon-Master as it hurtled towards him; ending it instantly.
"Never gets old" Felix panted, ripping his sword free of the bone and crystal it had been embedded in and sheathing it at his back.
"Astra really did learn how to plan on the fly from you Dude" Diamond snorted with a shake of her head before turning her attention to Arctus who, seeing that the coast was momentarily clear had made a bridge of glyphs to return to the rest of the team. Eagle silently patted a returning Sentinel on his gleaming cranium before instructing the droid to carefully take the metal crate containing Project Inertia and lift it into the air to be carried alongside Team FADE as they proceeded.
A moment later a booming thunderclap, entirely unnatural given the particular colour of the flash of light which accompanied it split the air; utterly sundering Team FADE's momentary sense of relief.
"Holy shit" Arctus breathed out as he and his friends watched an Atlesian airship lurch and list in the sky; its' shields already failed and its' hull rent open in a dozen or more places whilst flashes of light within it indicated that even now as escape craft rushed from its' hangars that fighting was going on within, which in turn indicated that the Grimm had breached the airship and that those who had not managed to reach escape craft in time were planning to fight until the inevitable end.
The realisation sobered them all.
"Dude" Diamond "We need to get the hell out of here"
"Come on" Eagle agreed, words hushed but urgent "We've got a job to do...We need to get inside and get in position"
"I can rip the opening clear with my Semblance or my weapon. I've got a signal flare for one of the airships to launch an Ice Dust missile into the hole to clear the route out as well" Felix assured them, only to pause for a moment as an unwelcome thought came to them "Hopefully someone's still in position to fire for us"
Team MARSZ had made their way deeper into the bowels of Pantheon's domain and every step forward threatened to bring the Creatures of Grimm swarming over them, not only as they risked activating some unseen security measure that the Grimm General might have left behind but also because the Grimm were drawn to fear and despite their training each of the five Hunters was unable to entirely contain their own mounting sense of dread as they continued onwards and downwards.
They had long since travelled beyond the area that had been frozen by the initial Ice Dust missile that had been used to ensure their entrance was possible however as the five of them had pressed onwards they had come to the conclusion that the deeper reaches of the fortress were far less likely to collapse or spontaneously seal themselves shut; allowing them to continue with some sense of security. Their current surroundings were a slightly sloping tunnel of rippling black flesh, its' surface alternating between glistening scales and rippling muscle to give it the appearance of having split open as it grew rapidly; the entire structure of the tunnel was held upright by a ribcage like assembly of bone littered with faintly glowing crystal growths which provided just enough light for the eyes of the Faunus to adapt to.
The tunnel was wide enough for Regalia to ride Clunker at a slow and deliberate pace, keeping her jetbike and the explosive charges secured to it close at hand whilst the rest of Team MARSZ flanked and surrounded her, Astra and Athena-Jade taking the front and rear respectively so that they could use heir shields or glyphs to halt any attack that came. It became clear from the slight angle that they were descending at just how large Pantheon's fortress truly was and also from the presence of so many tunnels, each sized to allow larger varieties of Grimm to clamber their way to the surface that what had outwardly appeared to be layers of impenetrable armour was in fact a grim honeycomb of flesh and carapace, an entire tunnel network not unlike a circulatory system carrying a tide of monsters within the vast construct.
The Grimm-Fortress regrow its' outer layers at a remarkable rate however their surroundings gave Astra an idea.
"We should look for a junction and plant charges there….As many junctions as we can find" they announced in a hushed tone, turning to address their team but never allowing themselves to look over their shoulder and instead remaining focused on the path ahead.
"Junctions?" Stygian asked, his own electric blue eyes focused as he prowled alongside Clunker; watchful and alert with the faint light cast by the crystals in the walls reflected by the blade of his sword and the hand of his cybernetic arm.
"Okay so these tunnels mean that the Grimm are coming from somewhere" Astra began "There's a Spawning Pit, or several pits somewhere deeper down, the Grimm aren't just being spawned out of the walls of the fortress right?….But I think there's gotta be places where the tunnels connect-"
"It makes sense" Regalia chimed in "Otherwise the Grimm would have to run all the way back down to the bottom and find another tunnel every time one was hit or sealed; just bad design"
"Exactly" Astra continued "So we should aim to get down there and plant most of our charges near enough to a Spawning Pit to take it out or at least damage it but we should plant charges on those junctions if we can….We'll set them off as we pull out, do as much damage as we can and hopefully stop any Grimm from following us"
"It's a good idea" Athena noted from the rear of the group, offering her opinion before turning her attention back towards the rear and assuring that no monsters had attempted to slink up behind the team. Astra nodded slowly before turning to their partner.
"Regalia, can you use your Semblance and find a junction?"
"Sure" the Racoon Faunus nodded, bringing her jetbike to a halt so that she could focus herself properly and her eyes quickly took on the backlit, unfocused look that informed Astra that she was using Look-See; the effect lasting for only a matter of seconds before she returned fully to her senses and gave her partner a small smile, one which the ragged scar along her cheek and nose did nothing to detract from.
"You're not gonna believe this, but it's pretty much dead ahead"
"Yeah" Astra gave a weak, barely audible chuckle followed by a sigh "It's never that easy or straightforward"
The Deer Faunus found themselves vindicated in short order.
Team MARSZ made their way forward carefully and tentatively, traversing a further several hundred feet before the sound of footsteps rushing towards them reached their ears, punctuated by low sibilant hisses, the sound being a series of wet slaps of flesh against flesh before the source of the noise became clear. Wretches, a small and largely unimpressive Creature of Grimm most easily understood as an amphibious, marginally more capable cousin of the Creep variety; as the Grimm burst into view Astra saw that there were only half a dozen of them in total which perhaps represented some minor reinforcement effort or part of a larger spawning that had been broken and routed by another Hunter team acting within the fortress and that such a threat could be easily handled.
More importantly they had emerged into the tunnel from the left hand side, proving Astra's logic and Regalia's Semblance to be accurate.
"Leave this to me" the Deer Faunus couldn't help but offer their team-mates a confident smirk at the thought of such a relatively pedestrian offering and feeble challenge "There's no point shooting at 'em and risking getting something else's attention; I've got this"
And then Astra was charging, the blades of Buckshot Ares deploying as they went.
They met the Grimm with a perfect mixture of skill and raw power, somersaulting over the first Wretch and landing behind it, standing on the things' tail to force it to a sharp and sudden halt whilst at the same time thrusting forwards with both arms in order to drive their blades into a skull and a throat and finish two of the six. Shifting their stance slightly Astra then side-stepped and removed their foot from the tail of the Wretch they had pinned only to kick in in the ribs with bone-cracking force and follow up by delivering a backhand swipe of one of their shields to its' skull to slam it to the floor where it was promptly skewered with a blade to the torso.
The remaining trio tried to lunge and pounce at Astra as a unified force, making use of the confines of the fleshy tunnel however there was enough too for the Deer Faunus to counteract them; first leaping up onto the nearest arching mass of bone which gave the place structure and allowing a single Wretch to slip passed them and come skidding to a halt before springing back into the thick of things and delivering an aerial roundhouse kick to the jaw of the Second wretch which flowed perfectly into a legs sweep as they landed. The third Wretch ran directly at Astra with its' jaw snapping but was brought unceremoniously to a halt as the leader of Team MARSZ surged upwards and threw all of their momentum into a backwards spinning elbow strike which utterly flattened its' snout, leaving it dazed and immobile as Astra crossed their arms over their body in order to reach behind themselves with their blades and stab at the unprotected underside and neck of the Grimm.
Two Wretches remained, the one which had kicked and swept to the ground and the one which had rushed harmlessly passed as its' first strike was evaded and it was the latter which came rushing at Astra now, sprinting and leaping into the air with its' clawed and webbed feet raised to strike only for Astra to combine the two halves of Buckshot Ares and unleash a wall of Hard-Light to utterly halt the monster and leave it prone and crumpled on the floor before its' head was cut from its' body with a single strike.
"On your left!" Regalia called out, causing Astra to spring to their feet with their blades at the ready as the last of the Wretches came rushing towards them only for the Racoon Faunus to leap from the back of Clunker and unfurl Apex Scavenger; the pickaxe head of the weapon finding itself promptly buried in the base of the Wretch's spine as the Grimm tried to attack.
"Thanks" Astra grinned as they relaxed a fraction but made no effort to collapse their weapons, sharing a brief and silent moment with Regalia conveyed through nothing more than a look before turning and cautiously making their way closer to the opening that the Wretches had emerged from.
"Okay we've got a junction!" they called back to the rest of Team MARSZ "Let's plant a charge and move. We've still got work to do!"
Pantheon was enjoying the thrill of combat, experiencing violence first hand for the first time in over a decade and relishing the sensations which were no longer separated and muted by layers of removal through the Hive-Mind.
Though they were yet to truly get to grips with their true adversary.
Lances of searing, destructive crimson light ripped through the air and scorched Pantheon's flesh and bone as Gestalt-Prime unleashed both their shoulder mounted lasers and their primary weapon, unfurling the array from within their chest cavity whenever they felt that they could do so without being immediately and brutally punished in return, the would be usurper proving themselves to be faster and more agile in the air and thus difficult to simply impale with a well-placed throw of Pantheon's living spear. Pantheon, in return had managed to avoid some the worst of the assaults and the wounds they had received began the slow process of healing and regeneration almost immediately yet the Grimm General continued to find themselves hamstrung and limited by the underhanded and cowardly tactics of the enemy; the Cyber-Grimm surrounding the two Alpha Grimm as they battled in the air intervening at every opportunity and filling the skies with more laser-fire or else simply swooping and charging for opportunistic strikes with their powerful claws. Airships and fighter craft added their own form of interference to the proceedings, lasers of a different colour being joined by rockets and other weapons in devastating barrages which threatened to destroy Pantheon entirely if they did not change the pace and direction of the battle soon.
With that in mind the Grimm General changed their approach.
Gestalt-Prime could wait.
At present there were simply too many obstacles that would have to be obliterated and Pantheon understood that turning the bulk of their winged Grimm currently attacking the Blockade Fleet towards the task would be counterproductive, that it would see the entirety of the fleet coalesce around the duel between Alpha Grimm and clog the air with more bodies and masses of steel until Gestalt-Prime managed to slip away or claim an utterly undeserved victory.
Instead Pantheon chose to handle the matter themselves and turned their attention to the Cyber-Grimm and fighter craft closest to them.
Their living halberd was thrown in a blindly fast blur of motion and without pause Pantheon launched themselves through the air behind it with a single powerful flap of their wings.
The weapon was too small to be easily targeted and found itself hurtling through the supposedly bulletproof cockpit of the aircraft where its' blade impaled the pilot and pierced them from windpipe to pelvis, almost impaling them before Pantheon came crashing into the aircraft to retrieve their halberd. The co-pilot, in a show of iron will and a stomach to match managed to ignore the blood that had been sprayed across them and the overall horror of the situation in order to seize the control and begin trying to break their fighter free of Pantheon's grasp however it was too late; reinforced Atlesian Steel creaked and groaned in a futile warning before the entire cockpit and nose of the craft imploded and in the same instant Pantheon ripped their halberd free, tearing it out of the side of ruined vehicle sideways in a spray of sparks and viscera which severed a wing and sent the crumpled remains of the fighter craft crashing down towards the command bridge of one of the naval vessels engaged in a fighting retreat against the various titanic monsters that had been released into the waves.
Crimson laser-fire lanced through the air and was narrowly avoided by Pantheon as the Grimm General tucked their wings and reached out with an immensely powerful, three-clawed upper limb to seize the severed wing of the fighter craft as they suddenly dropped through the air and used the change in position and angle to their advantage.
Their enemies were regrouping themselves and Pantheon used the brief moment of distraction to take stock of what being levelled against them in that moment and prepare their response to it; the Grimm General saw that Gestalt-Prime had once again fallen back, this time flanking themselves with a pair of different-looking Cyber-Grimm with mechanical bat-like wings which could rotate into other configurations and a glowing propulsion system within a firefly-like abdomen. More immediately important to Pantheon however were two more fighter craft which moved cautiously into flanking positions and a quartet of the standard model of Cyber-Grimm which had bunched up and were preparing to charge and attack as a unit.
Pantheon pre-empted them.
Clutching their living halberd and the severed wing of a fighter craft the Grimm General beat their wings and soared, six eyes narrowing with a murderous blend of fury, hunger and sheer contempt as the Cyber-Grimm began to prime their weapons with a telltale warping bass note once again. Their first response was to heft and launch the severed wing and propulsion system still attached to it into the path of the inevitable salvo of laser-fire.
The explosion was deafening and shook the sky in the immediate vicinity enough to halt the Cyber-Grimm momentarily and that moment was all Pantheon needed to burst through the resulting flames to destroy two of the four Cyber-Grimm in an instant; driving their halberd through the skull of one until the tip of the blade emerged from a point midway along its' armoured back whilst at the same time their clawed tail whipped out and seized the skull of a second mechanical horror and crushed it it to pulp and scrap.
Seeing one of the two nearby fighter craft preparing to take some sort of action Pantheon span and pirouetted in mid air, driving clawed upper arms into the body of the now headless Cyber-Grimm until vital internal components began to burn and spark as they were ruptured; from there the Grimm General hurled the husk into the aircraft with all their might and were rewarded with a boom and a flash of flames as one explosion fuelled others.
The two Cyber-Grimm remaining tried to flank and attack from opposite sides, a laughably easy to evade approach given that the entire fight was airborne. Pantheon simply flapped their wings and lifted themselves above the twin monstrosities before seizing one one of them as it tried to prepare its' weapons, driving their halberd down into it and then coiling their tail around its' skull whilst reaching down with their remaining arms to first peel away its' spearing carapace horn and then manipulate its' laser as it fired, dragging the captured Cyber-Grimm through the air and using its' main weapon to carve a burning wound into its' ally until the last remaining Cyber-Grimm dropped from the sky with several limbs burned away after a sustained onslaught.
Keeping hold of the last of the four Cyber-Grimm to attack them to still be functional Pantheon let out a wordless, bellowing roar as if to challenge Gestalt-Prime yet again and yet did the opposite, racing away through the smoke-filled and chaotic sky as if if to lure the less experienced Alpha Grimm out and draw them into a chase. When this failed the Grimm General sought out another form of destruction they could inflict, something akin to glee igniting within them as they caught sight of an already heavily damaged Atlas warship amongst the Blockade Fleet with its' shields already crippled after countless attacks.
A perfect target.
Pushing their powerful wings to their limits Pantheon swooped around the damaged, colossal airship and continued to build up speed as they drew closer to it, seeking out an open hangar and setting themselves on a collision course for it.
Holding the damaged Cyber-Grimm out ahead of them as they did so.
A cacophony of tearing, grinding steel, panicked yells and screams and countless fiery explosions erupting throughout the vessel filled Pantheon's senses as they ploughed through not only the hangar but everything behind it, using the Cyber-Grimm as both a shield and a blunt instrument, unsuited to the task at hand as they bore and ravaged their way from starboard to port side. The Cyber-Grimm expired during the experience, its' body being gradually crushed and sheared away until nothing but component parts scattered throughout the ruins of the airship, connected by inky black viscera remained however Pantheon took care to tear a sizeable length of girder which had been a part of the ships' superstructure free and carry it with them as they erupted out into open air on the doomed airships' opposite side.
Carrying the length of steel and their own halberd the Grimm General screamed through the air to seek out the last of those foolish enough to stand between them and their rightful victory.
There had been a second fighter craft to contend with and Pantheon honed in on it a moment later, hurling the length of girder as if it were a javelin, using the crews' frantic attempts to evade the obvious attack as a chance to close the distance and use their halberd to cleave the entire aircraft from nose to tail and leave its' pilot and gunner frantically trying to eject from the falling, severed halves even if doing so would only cast them into a sea filled with the Creatures of Grimm.
And then Pantheon scanned the skies, searching for their enemy until they finally found them; locking eyes with Gestalt-Prime even if the upstarts' singular optic was currently hidden and the Alpha Cyber-Grimm continued to use their minions as shields, with the two Shroud Variants still flanking them taking up defensive positions slightly in front of Gestalt-Prime until Pantheon roared out a challenge to them.
"ARE YOU GOING TO FIGHT ME PROPERLY NOW? ARE YOU DONE COWERING?"
Author's Notes:
Mid-Season finale for the penultimate Volume of the story, let's fucking go!
Also next week is Chapter 150, which is a milestone in it's own right but it's also the actual mid-season of Vol.09 (This battle is a two-parter) and to celebrate that fact it's gonna be a longer one...Get ready.
But anyway, let's summarise shall we?:
I feel like landing strategies being used in mass amounts for a deployment like this would end up being a mix of the beach scene in Saving Private Ryan and the time travel scene in Tomorrow War (Which is a fucking stupid movie with a stupid premise).
Falling from a plane with two options and neither of them working is some utter bullshit.
Even the landing strategy here was a team effort, which is nice….Regalia's "Wait for it" kinda made me grin.
In my head the moment where the Grimm kept coming after Team MARSZ had landed was a little bit like the scene in either the second or third Matrix movie where the one mech pilot held the line.
Of course when they got to the opening it was sealed, Pantheon doesn't just leave the doors open and unlocked.
I love the idea that someone got one of Regalia's movie references before she'd finished it….Also yeah, the scene from Jurassic Park where they use the flare to lure the T-Rex away from the cars (I suppose technically the Jurassic World version would actually be a more apt comparison considering the context, however it was a cheap imitation rather than an homage and we all know it).
And they're in.
I love the idea of the Bug-Bear variants literally merging themselves into the Megalodon to form extra weapon systems, it kinda speaks to the whole concept of what Cyber-Grimm are.
Of course these two can't stop sniping at each other, even now.
Landing strategy? Nope, Carmesi has a ride.
Okay you've gotta admit Carmesi's landing and entrance there were bad-ass...Definitely a moment where theme music gets played.
So Carmesi is hitching a ride with some other Hunters and is gonna try and catch Team FADE unawares, let's see how that goes.
That Pantheon intro is also cinematic as hell, just imagine it….Like a volcanic eruption except it's just made of monsters flocking like bats and then at the heart of it is this winged, four-armed eighteen foot tall monster carrying a halberd.
Okay, both of Pantheon's scenes in this chapter were actually loosely inspired by Omni-Man Vs Invincible in the last episode of (Blood splatters across the title card) Invincible….The part here where he just gets extra vindictive with the escaping Hunters, drowning people and leaving one of them holding the remains of a pilot is kinda based on the way he went through the fighter pilots.
Of course Gestalt-Prime brought back up, this was never gonna be a fair fight.
I'll be honest the scene on the Nemesis Kharybdis was mainly to space out other scenes, but it does give a sense of scale and it will give some context to stuff in the next chapter.
Also Omnipus is a great pun of a name for an Octopus Grimm and I'm not sorry.
So Corey can't really fight in the air effectively, the Grimm have managed to get close enough to crack windows on the ship including the control room and then they're also dealing with a big Grimm so well armoured that the main gun, the one that shot Gestalt-Prime from across a city isn't actually putting it down.
The way Corvid and Onyx fight around each other was run to right but a full scene of that wouldn't have really added much, so instead we get Helios Nikos showing off just how ridiculously powerful he is by floating a giant Crab Grimm's pincer away mid-swing….Until he had his concentration broken.
If you read FADE you know how much it takes to have Car call a retreat, he hates it….But that Grimm just gave the lower deck a sunroof; which means that whoever gets out of that Grimm-Fortress next chapter has at least one less ship to escape on.
I started with Team FADE already landed because three landing strategy scenes felt a bit much.
The Dungeon-Master is an excellent call-back to FADE: Legacy, it was the Grimm Team FADE and NEON fought at the end of their initiation, their equivalent to the giant nevermore RWBY and JNPR fought in canon.
Arctus going on the defensive like that made perfect sense, literally keep the payload out of reach.
All Spider Grimm should be fast, because spiders have the ability to vanish when you blink.
The original Dungeon-Master managed to web Eagle and Sentinel so this is also another callback within a callback.
Okay so the plan was basic as fuck, literally drag and swing it directly into Felix but a) That's what you expect from Yang Xiao Long's baby and b) Felix is Astra's big brother, you can see it when they make plans.
Honestly the airship going down in the background was just to keep the sense of pressure on and undercut every win with more panic.
Yeah the inside of those tunnels is disgusting, bringing back the Warhammer 40k corrupted/possessed ship aesthetic.
Astra's plan is pretty solid, but obviously considering that this is a two-part event there will be fuckery….Also, the jetbike, the maze like tunnels, the charges are all gonna be important.
Of course we were gonna get another Grimm fight this chapter….could have had another whole team event but honestly Astra is suited to something like this and I haven't really had an opportunity to flex just how good they are in melee lately; letting them spinning kick something is just getting back to basics.
And I am not sorry about Regalia's "On your left" either.
Of course Pantheon is having fun.
Gestalt-Prime is faster and has ranged weapons, so of course they're playing keep away as well as using back up.
And once again Pantheon is doing their Omni-Man level violence….I'll be completely honest most of the take-downs of the Cyber-Grimm were done entirely in service of getting to the point where they slammed through an entire airship whilst using that last Cyber-Grimm's face as a plough, which was loosely inspired by the subway train scene, you know the one.
Which brings us to the cliffhanger of the chapter, Pantheon Vs Gestalt-Prime and two Shrouds in the air, whilst Teams MARSZ and FADE work their way through the Grimm-Fortress completely unaware that Carmesi is coming after them and that he's gonna be the vehicle for Nero's eventual backstab.
Thank you to Neil12 and MajorBrony95 for their reviews on the last chapter.
I've got no idea why you're having problems viewing onAo3 to be honest.
Nero being a smart villain has been one of my favorite parts of writing him, it's a fun balance against Pantheon's endless resources and power.
Oh yeah, Pantheon was and is ready for them.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.