"Let no blame lie on the innocents who have prayed..." Persecution of The Masses (1172) OST: Shin Godzilla

Bold: Important note to the story

Italic: Important message to a specific character or event

"Message" Kaijuspeak

"Message" Speech

'Message' Thought's

|Boom!| Noise/sound effect

This chapter will be an emotional gut-punch from how many stories and feelings are going to be shared.

Get ready for a storm of emotion and trauma...

Warning on self-harm, suicide mention, abuse, and other dark subjects!

Scene Segment: Burdens of guilt

Blake, Weiss, and Yang all stared at the frothy white bubbles trailing up to the surface from the bottom of their dorm's apparent custom-made wave pool. Beyond the glass window of their shared dorm, the sky was thick with ash and smoke from Ruby's atomic beam decimating a good chunk of the emerald forest.

The cries of angry Grimm carried on the wind, or at least, they were the cries of the lucky survivors of Ruby's ferocious massacre. Scars of molten glass and liquid rock marred the land from where Ruby's atomic beam had razed all that had laid in it's ravenous path.

Yang stared down at Ruby's slumbering form in the water with no small amount of visible worry and extensive grief. Violet colored pulses radiating the dorm from the water made her heart feel heavier than it ever had before.

Blake cast a solemn glance to the forest beyond their dorm window still aflame with orange color, her amber eyes reflecting the inferno that swirled in the silver light of Remnant's broken moon. Her gaze then flitted back to the girl that slumbered at the bottom of the pool, and Blake had a question she wanted Yang to answer for Ruby.

"What...is Ruby? Why is she even like this?" The questions were spoken no softer than a whisper towards Yang, who had a single tear running a tract from her lilac colored right eye to her chin, remembered what she knew of Ruby's misery-filled last few weeks.

That day would forever leave a scar on their entire family, just as their mother, Summer's, death had over a decade prior. The day Ruby became something that marked her as a monster in the eyes of most people.

"She's like this because fate's a cruel bastard and I can't help her at all with dealing with it..." That was right in all of its cruel travesty, Yang could NOT help or ease Ruby's burden no matter how hard she tried.

How could Yang stop Ruby's body from evolving like it did? If even Ruby could barely control it? It would be like trying to block an ocean with your bare hands, and it was all but futile to try, really. Then there was the physical suffering that Ruby had to drown out with her will's full might, lest Ruby shattered and break like a cracked glass vase falling to the floor.

Weiss stared at where Ruby lay slumbering in the water, her own heart and mind heavy with endless shame. She had a massive hand in Ruby's unfortunate providence, one that should never be denied. Her work on the mathematical calculations was fundamental for the development of the bomb Ruby was exposed to.

'To think I caused something like this to happen...' Shame blanketed over her soul and mind with the chill of freezing water when more bubbles erupted on the water's surface.

The Atlesian prodigy knew all too well what the leaders in Atlas would do with such a weapon...they would use it to their own means and gains. General Ironwood seemed to have kept those leaders on a short leash for a long time, but even he couldn't stop them from building another bomb in secret with their own funding.

If another bomb was aimed at one of the other kingdoms, especially Vale...this living extinction event laying still in the water in front of her could snap from seeing her home threatened, and that would mean goodbye Remnant...

Ripping herself away from those straying thoughts by looking over at Yang, who was trying her best to keep herself together from the horrible memories she must be reliving. Weiss felt her heart break even further seeing another soul affected by her work on that accursed weapon.

"I honestly don't even know the full story myself. She only ever shared a portion of her story with anyone, and even then, it still haunts her. I could barely fathom what she told Dad and me about her suffering..." Yang felt so many emotions flood her mind when she recalled what Ruby had said when they were first reunited.

"I have a tail with an actual mind of it's own, I can shoot beams of DEADLY energy that burn my insides if I use it without cooling off...I CAN'T TAKE ALL OF THIS ANYMORE, WHY WON'T IT END?! IT HURT'S SO FUCKING MUCH!" A sharp and painful stab went through Yang when she remembered how Ruby wanted to commit suicide to escape her unjustified torment.

"Ruby said she wanted to kill herself to Dad and me when we first reunited...do you have any idea how much it hurts hearing one of your loved ones say that?!" Another bolt of pain wrenched Yang's heart from that thought again, before she yelled in anger and punched the ground to her right, the pain in her fist from not raising her aura broke the dam and she broke down sobbing.

After weeks worth of time, Yang could finally process what had happened to Ruby, someone she would give anything for to make them happy. Caught in a terrible twist of fate, cursed with unimaginable power and infinite life, and now suffers more than one mortal soul has ever known.

Then when her dad and her awaited for Ruby to awaken from her slumber after reuniting, they heard Ruby scream like she was getting skinned alive in her own bed, only to reach her and watch as fate played it's cruel game on Ruby.

"When I saw her undergo that evolutionary fit on her bed; her bones jutting out from under her skin and her body was twisting in ways that were unnatural!" Nightmares had plagued her dreams ever since from seeing Ruby suffer like she did, her bones jutting out from under her skin, and those horrible screams that still haunted Yang every time she closed her eyes...

Somehow that made Weiss feel even worse, the idea that she had caused so many people this much misery because of her actions rattled the young girl. Blake had a look of horror on her face trying to imagine the sheer pain Ruby felt in such a fit, small whimpers tumbling past her lips.

Blake had been both stabbed and shot before, and those had been some of the most painful things she had ever felt, yet Yang says Ruby suffers so much more than that?!

"I can't even try to help her either! Do you know how painful it is to watch somebody you love be treated like a monster because of what happened to her?! While knowing nothing I could ever do would lessen the suffering she has to endure?!" Violent sobs left her as she finally broke down from what had happened to one of the very few people Yang carried about with all her heart.

"Even worse is the fact I'm now TERRIFIED of her! She's nearly killed me twice already without even meaning to! I have never been afraid of fire until Ruby used her atomic beams, but those phantom burns still ache even after being healed!" Screeching in sorrow while tucking her face into her knees, hot wet tears were now messing up the slight amounts of makeup she put on every day.

Yang's two teammates walked over and sat down while gently hugged the grieving girl, their eyes however, were focused on the shimmering form sitting still in the water. Both of them felt differently about what had happened to the younger girl.

Weiss hated herself beyond anything she thought possible. She may have been the one to cause the events that would end humanity once and for all if Ruby snaps. Even then, with all of the negativity she felt, Weiss could not help but feel admiration deep within her heart for the younger girl because of how strong and human she was.

Over and over again, Ruby had be given chance and enough reason to torch all of humanity for what happened to her, but she didn't. Ruby wanted to prove she was more than a monster, she wanted to prove that others were wrong about calling her a monster.

No mere human could suffer as much as Ruby have and still do their best to protect others, yet Ruby did all of that and more! Every child on Remnant grew up on stories of heroic huntsmen and huntresses fighting the Grimm in the ever evolving conflict that had engulfed the planet.

There was always lessons on how monsters must be hunted down and destroyed for the future of humanity. Ruby was a monster in appearance and ability, a monster that unnerved and scared everyone she came across with the sheer power she had.

She could level an entire forest with a brief display of the energy that now coursed through her veins. The harsh crackling of the wildfire could still be heard beyond Beacon, the sounds of beasts and trees succumbing to the inferno raging across the land.

Weiss had an extreme problem with anyone calling Ruby a monster now, no monster would so vehemently try to protect other humans from other monsters. The scene of Ruby arriving to her rescue played again in Weiss's mind, arriving in the field with blazing silver eyes that landed on Weiss's helpless form.

That Beowulf had been standing over Weiss even as the older girl screamed defiantly in the face of certain death, before Ruby had barreled into the clearing like a knight clad in dark armor.

"YOU WANT A TARGET?! HERE I AM YOU UGLY BASTARD!" The younger girl had challenged an entire swarm of Grimm and subsequently slaughtered them all while Weiss had watched Ruby with awe.

Then when Weiss had lost hope upon seeing the Grimm horde surrounding them, Ruby had thrown her to safety, Weiss's hoarfrost blue eyes drinking in the sight of Ruby tearing through the horde and winning as she flew higher and higher.

According to Ozpin's footage, Ruby took on a class-A Grimm and beat it without injury, while also fighting off the other less dangerous Grimm at the same time, and it was all to save another person in danger!

Ruby was far, far, FAR from a monster like Weiss's father was. If Ruby was anything the older girl could title her, it would be a paragon; a paragon of pure selflessness. Weiss knew her father had turned her beloved grandfather's company into a force of slavery and vile filth, and compared to him, Ruby was a saint.

Her grandfather's company, The Schnee Dust Company, was the one who had started providing Remnant with high quality dust, and then her father took it over and defiled it.

When the other students had thrown stones at her getting on the transport bullhead to Beacon, she had still refused to hurt a even single person of those attacking her. Ruby had been human...no, she WAS still human, yet she was being treated as far less than one by others, and there were others that were much more deserving of her hated title of Monster.

Even the way she was now, Ruby had come to Beacon to be a huntress, a protector of others. Weiss knew she needed to tell Ruby her part in what happened to the younger girl soon, otherwise she would never forgive herself.

Contrary to the more virtuous things Weiss was thinking about Ruby, Blake felt disgust and uncharacteristic fury at the way Ruby had been treated and how anyone could think she was a monster. She had known a TRUE monster, one who had no regard for life beyond his own race, and sometimes not even then.

"Did you set the bombs?" A male voice sweeter than honey echoed back in her ears, and yet now she knew it was nothing more than liquid nightshade, deadly poison.

His voice had always soothed her before that day, but now hearing it as the flashback of that day crossed her mind, it sent chills down her back from how sinister it sounded in her mind now. They had been on a mission to rob a Schnee Dust Company train, a mission from the now labeled [Terrorist] organization she had been a part of; The White Fang.

The White Fang was a faunas rights organization that had been started years ago by her parents, and later twisted by wicked people to cause untold bloodshed through wanton savagery. Her parents had been right after all, equality could not be brought forth through violence.

It was harsh lesson that had been taught to her after witnessing the depraved depths of extreme beliefs and the pooling blood of many that still soaked her hands. How many had she caused to die? How many families were torn apart because of her and the orders she had given?

...Even now she could still remember the face of her first kill; a scared man that had did some bad things to keep his job and feed his family, she had learned that years later after she did the cruel deed.

If anything...she was more of a monster than Ruby could ever be...

While still sounding so sickly sweet to her now revolted ears, that poisonous voice had asked her to set bombs on the train after they had defeated all the hostile enemies, and she had done as he asked.

Then, when the final bomb had been planted, she had come across a human family of four that were workers for the company, and the look of fear in the youngest child's eyes upon hearing the bomb's timer starting had broken Blake's will for more pointless vengeance.

In that moment, the gut wrenching minute that would always be lowest point of her life, Blake decided to leave it all behind and finally do good with her skills and life. Hastily disabling the bomb, Blake avoided meeting the gazes of the family and hid the bomb within her top.

Turning around and walking to the nearest maintenance exit, she walked to the outside railing and climbed atop the train car to meet back up with Adam upon the roof of the final train car, knowing she had turned her back on him and her previous beliefs in what she had thought to be a righteous cause.

"Goodbye Adam..." That was what she had whispered upon severing the cable connecting his train car to the rest of them, the train cart slowing down while the rest of the train and her sped faster down the tracks.

The intense hurt on his soon faded and twisted to something much more sinister and foreboding, promising Blake that one of their blood would be spilled the next time they met in battle.

Compared to that monster clothed in faunas skin, Ruby is a saint of the highest order; a martyr of fate. That was when Blake started feeling the same admiration Weiss had for Ruby coursing in her heart, her amber eyes focused at the one who had been deemed an abomination for an accident that had changed her forever without her consent.

By now, Yang had fallen asleep from crying herself to exhaustion, making Blake and Weiss share a quick glance and nod. Grabbing one of Yang's arms each and shouldering them, they took her to one of the three smaller beds and gently placed Yang down upon the soft sheets.

Utterly exhausted by the days events and reveals, they themselves laid down upon separate beds and closed their eyes. Soon their breathes lulled as they slipped into a somewhat peaceful slumber.

Soft silver moonlight and the harsh glow of the forest's crimson flames painted the room from the windows lining the far wall, hitting the side where Ruby's pool sat. The two sides were warring in flashes of light over the pool Ruby slept in, almost like the two forces were fighting over a claim to Ruby.

A bet on whether or not Ruby would maintain her humanity or annihilate all of Remnant in her rage.

Scene Segment: Revelations

Scene Break: Ruby

Awakening to a very small amount of light hitting her pool. Ruby pulsed both her radar and sonar organ to view her surroundings through the water and air, Ruby saw that it was the crack of dawn outside from the yellow light bleeding over the horizon.

She slowly swam to the surface with a light jump up and a few strokes of her tail, Ruby felt her head pulse in a headache of a magnitude she had never felt before. Creeping out of the water and into the shallow end, Ruby doubled over as another throb vibrated her entire skull and her stomach cramped in terrible discomfort.

Something was definitely wrong with her! Her head pounded in a fresh wave of pain, her stomach cramped again and she suddenly was super dizzy. The water still left in her gills lessened the nausea slightly, but the sudden urge to vomit made her start moving regardless if she wanted to or not.

Rushing into the bathroom as fast as she could stumble over to it, Ruby slammed the door shut before stumbling over to the huge sized toilet and leaning down over it. Her stomach convulsed once again as her body threw up bits of atomic sludge out of her mouth and into the water below.

Coughing violently while raising her head to look at herself in the mirror, Ruby finally noticed that Yang had been right the last few days, her belly actually was bigger than before! Her breath hitched as she ran a clawed hand over her stomach, focusing her radar/sonar organ inside of her instead of using it to see the outside world.

Her silver eyes widened in both surprise and small of fear when she felt another heartbeat inside of her body and saw a small mass inside her womb through her radar/sonar organ.

'I'm...pregnant?' Various thoughts coursed through her mind while she held her clawed left hand over her stomach, the shock and disbelief of the revelation nearly short-circuiting her mind.

'That...can't be! I've never even done the deed before!...I'm going to be a mom after what happened to me?! What about the child?! How will it survive being like ME?!' Running her clawed hand over her enlarged stomach, Ruby could feel the small and warm heartbeat from the unborn child inside of her.

Panic enveloped her with the sheer amount of emotions she barely understood, her breath coming in short and alarming bursts. Her eyes dilated and started darting around in a near instinctual frenzy, the instinctual fight or flight response kicking in and worsening her panic.

A sudden knock on the bathroom door startled Ruby, she hadn't sensed someone approaching the door because she was too stunned about what was happening to her, the shock causing her to scrap her dorsal plates against the nearest wall and leaving deep gouges in the thick plaster.

"Ruby? Are you in there?" The melodious voice of Weiss called softly through the door, while Ruby slowly walked over to the door after doing her best to steady herself multiple times.

The bathroom door slid open as Ruby towered over Weiss with an expression the latter couldn't place. Ruby look down at Weiss before falling to her knee's from the revelation she just found out, her long greyish-red hair framing her face and hiding it from her teammate.

"RUBY! Are you okay?!" Worried something terrible had happened to Ruby again, Weiss rushed over to Ruby and shook her gently to get her attention, yet, Ruby didn't respond with how she was almost catatonic.

"I can't be!...Not after what happened to me!" Whispering those words to herself over and over again, the words overlapping as Weiss called her name and tried to shake her harder to grab Ruby's attention.

A full minute passed after she had spoken her last set of mumbling, Ruby slowly came to, who then looked at Weiss with a face full of terror as the full weight of her situation finally hit her.

"Weiss...I'm pregnant." A blank look came over Weiss's face from such a sudden and totally unexpected answer.

Her mouth moved, but no noise came out, only for her to hear Ruby start to hyperventilate in slight hysteria and break her lapse in concentration. Weiss immediately wrapped her arms around the younger girl in the way her own sister had for her when they were both younger, making soft shushing noises while slowly rubbing the back of Ruby's head.

She had also been careful to avoid cutting herself on Ruby's dorsal plates. Rubbing her fingers through Ruby's reddish-grey hair seemed to help calm her down more and more with each stroke.

Bit by bit, Ruby's erratic breathing slackened from it's previous swift pace and she melted into her partner's warm embrace. Scylla curled around the two of them protectively as violet light glimmered off of Ruby's back every so often.

Once Ruby had calmed down enough to speak without shutting down again, she looked at Weiss with a face still full of anxiety at the concept of being a teenage mom, on top of already being what she was.

"What should I do Weiss? I haven't done the deed with anyone! Can I even raise a kid when I'm also a frea-" A sharp |SMACK| frightened Ruby when Weiss suddenly slapped her hand against the wall beside her.

"Do NOT call yourself a freak! Do you think I would be here if you didn't save me?! I'd be dead if you weren't kind and strong enough to save me! Would a freak or monster help someone in need?! So don't you DARE demean yourself like that!" Silver eyes that had been clouded in fright, widened upon hearing the first good things said about her by anyone outside of her family.

Grey colored tears leaked out of Ruby's eyes from somehow being lucky enough to have Weiss as her partner. Yet, even Weiss's kind words wasn't enough to completely melt the ball of negativity that still burned in her chest.

Her scarred psyche had trouble even thinking of many good thoughts, much less any about herself. Seeing that her words had had a small effect on Ruby, Weiss gave her a kind smile to try and prove she meant what she had said.

"Panicking about it will do nothing good. Now, do you think we could get some breakfast after I get cleaned up?" Ruby visibly brightened at the prospect of breakfast, just because she didn't need to eat, didn't mean she didn't want to.

Moving her large body out of the equally large doorframe, Ruby watched as Weiss slipped through the doorway, only to pause and give Ruby a warm smile.

"You are more human than you know." Silver eyes once again widened from those words and their connotations.

The soft |clack| of the door didn't register in Ruby's mind, for her mind was currently an utter storm of confusion and chaos. Why was Weiss being so nice to her? It didn't make any sense to the young immortal.

Most people reviled her and her monsterous appearance, then they became terrified of her power that annihilate armies. The other students on the bullhead ride to Beacon had thrown rocks at her because they were scared of her!

So why wasn't Weiss scared of her? Why did she treat her so nice like this?

Ruby had killed people by just existing for Oum's sake! Just by making landfall on a beach, she had drowned likely close to a dozen souls! All of it made her head hurt worse than before. Shaking her head to try and clear her thoughts, Ruby made her way towards her pool, hoping that the water passing through her gills, would help calm her down some more.

Each footstep was uncomfortable, the vibrations rattling her brain in her skull. There was no point in taking any pain medication, it would just burn away from her immense internal temperature.

Dipping forward like how an alligator would, Ruby submerged herself in the cold and clear water, her gills flapping happily and bringing her a good amount of oxygen. It did help lessen her migraine with all the fresh oxygen rapidly entering her system.

Pulsing her sonar and radar outwards, she saw that Blake and Yang were still asleep in bed, although Yang was fidgeting heavily in her sleep for some reason. Turning her attention to other areas of the dorm building, she saw most of the students were still asleep in their beds, with only a few awake and about.

With how she could see through walls with her radar, Ruby accidently got the feedback image of...Weiss in the shower. A light pink tone appeared on her deathly white face, her new body's equivalence of an atomic blush.

Scylla softly thumped against the pool floor as Ruby twisted herself around in the water from embarrassment. Despite knowing no-one could see her in the water, for nobody else but Weiss and her were awake on their dorm floor, she felt a bit like a peeping tom.

It didn't help that the new addition to her lower body, was now at full mast either! Her radar organ wasn't good at the fine details, meaning it didn't let her see any color besides a light gray, but it did provide a great image of the object's shape.

Weiss was definitely beautiful, even if she was a bit more...lacking in certain places than Ruby used to be. A small cloud of bubbles rose to the surface as Ruby made an flustered scream underwater, trying to come to terms with how this particular evolution screwed with her mind.

That scream, however, just made a new problem. With her massive frame and highly evolved lungs, just even a whisper from her, was what most people would compare to the roar of a lion. Muffled as it was by the water, the scream evidently woke Blake up from her slumber, jolting her awake.

The black haired girl quickly scanned around for threats of any kind. When none showed themselves and only silence filled her ears, the girl curled back up into bed and fell back into unconsciousness.

'Why must this happen to me?' Grabbing a bit of her reddish gray colored hair, Ruby brought it up to her face and clutched it against her cheek shyly.

Due to the hormones from her...other part, she now had a thing for other girls?! Fate definitely wanted to make her suffer in every way possible. Sinking herself to the bottom of the pool, Ruby laid down on the concrete floor and waited for Weiss to finish up her shower.

After waiting about five or so minutes more, Weiss came out of the bathroom...with nothing but a towel wrapped around her small frame. Ruby spluttered in shock from what her sharp eyesight was witnessing, the white bubbles once again rising to the surface from her trying to vocalize underwater.

'This is going to be hell for me...' Averting her senses away from Weiss, who was getting dressed, Ruby now felt more sympathy for boys her age than she had ever before.

Weiss and Blake didn't know about her...third arm, so it was understandable that Weiss thought it would be fine to undress around her team of other girls, even if that term could only be loosely be applied to Ruby herself.

Problem was, would she even have the courage to tell them how much more of a...freak she was than they thought? As Ruby thought about her dilemma and the growing log in her custom-made pants, Weiss finished up getting dressed and had walked over to the pool.

Ruby felt something be thrown at the water and fall through it until it hit her dorsal spines, she turned her head back to see Weiss had thrown a brush at her, likely to get her attention. Pushing her massive body off the pool floor with her arms, Ruby swam up towards the water surface and exited it from the shallow end.

Water fell off of her frame in rivers of steaming liquid as she stood upright. Her dorsal plates ambiently hummed and glowed purple with unfathomable energy, her silver eyes had a predatory sharpness to them.

That first step Ruby took out of the water made Weiss stumble from the heavy impact it caused through the ground. Despite having seen Ruby tear apart a swarm of Grimm, it did not convey the sense of power and presence Ruby had up close.

The sheer weight of her body could been seen with every movement, the glint of her claws and teeth so viscerally violent. Her teeth are swords, her claws were daggers, her every step an earthquake.

Her breath...was annihilation.

Shivers ran down the older girls spine from the unintended display of raw might. An ancient part of her being told her to stay away from Ruby, a part so primal, every creature had it ingrained in them.

Yet...Weiss could not help but feel attracted to that same power Ruby held. Whether it was just a part of her subconscious that envied it, or her growing admiration for the younger girl, she could not tell.

A smile curled up on her lips as she extended her hand out towards Ruby, one the younger girl tried to reciprocate with her lipless mouth. Ruby's much bigger hand met Weiss's, only for it be suddenly dragged along as Weiss's alabaster-colored aura shone in the effort to drag Ruby along with her to the cafeteria.

This was the first time for both of them, that they had let themselves be vulnerable to another person. Both of them had made a impact on the other in some way.

For Ruby; it was how nice Weiss was to her in spite of what she was.

While for Weiss; it was how Ruby was a shinning example of everything good in humanity.

Not too long afterward, the two found themselves laughing in the cafeteria, the food on their plates slowly disappearing as they talked and enjoyed each others company.

But...

As the halls of Beacon are still filled with joy and peace, on the other side of the world...something much more sinister has begun it's rampage.

Scene Segment: Armageddon is Coming

Scene Break: ?

The deafening howl of jet engines filled the runway as the squadron prepared for an emergency takeoff. Many loud yelling voices could be heard from everywhere around. Armament haulers and maintenance crews hurriedly rushed around the AAF fighter jets, checking every system for each vehicle.

It was night-time and visibility was rather poor anywhere outside of where the floodlights didn't shine. Alarms blared everywhere around the base, the whole place was at the highest alert level. All nearby settlements had been evacuated while the citizens in the heaviest anti-Grimm transports available and en-route to Mistral's capital city.

Trucks carrying missile silos were forming a perimeter around the active Atlesian military base situated in northwestern Mistral upon a tall mountain ridge. A unified whirring noise joined the chaos of noise the base was surrounded by, the giant silos of the trucks moving and pointing towards one direction.

An army of tanks came pouring out of the hangers and stopped behind the missile trucks, each ready for whatever threat had caused such a response from Atlas. The fighter jets afterburners fired into life, the pilots getting ready to be airborne as soon as they were cleared.

A man in a bright yellow uniform holding red flags rushed onto the airstrip, holding the flags steady at his sides as a sign to wait to take off. That was when the truck's missiles burst out of their silos, the heavy payload launching themselves towards the heavens.

Trails of fire and smoke blanketed the sky as each missile traveled further and further to the north. For several minutes they flew unimpeded, until the heavens suddenly glowed a bright orange color.

Clouds dispersed and a giant shockwave pulsed outwards from the impact zone. Following the shockwave in it's wake, was the almighty bellow of the explosion that ruptured some eardrums. Leaning his head to the left, the flagman got confirmation the fighter jets were clear to take off.

Yelling loudly while pulling his flags downwards, the fighter jets immediately began gathering speed down the runway for takeoff after being cleared. After getting off the ground, the jets got into formation and went top speed.

The tank line behind them opened fire as a massive black shape could now be seen on approach through the thick clouds and nighttime darkness. Thunderous howls echoed as the 150mm tank cannons unleashed all they had towards the unknown threat.

Shell after shell of APHE flew at the target, soon slamming into it and...doing no damage. A horrible discordant screech assaulted the ears of the military personnel as the being came within viewing range.

Reaching the target, the fighter jets launched Anti air missiles, each scoring a hit, yet similarly doing no damage to the creature. A giant limb tried to swat the jets, but those in it's path nose-dived and turned to the right, sailing just under the insectoid-like appendage.

Flipping around in the air and withstanding the immense G-force of these maneuvers, the pilots unleashed their machine guns unto the back of the beast, hoping to distract it away from the base.

Back on the ground, crews loaded up a heavily armored truck with a very important cargo. Vials of black fluid were thrust into high-tech canisters, then quickly loaded onto the truck. The beast tried to swat another fighter jets, this time succeeding as the pilots misinterpreted the limb's path.

A giant blue pulse shone through the sky from the jets now burning carcass, the consequences of it disabling the electricity in all nearby jets. Bereft of power and having lost their propulsion systems, the jets soon went into a freefall.

Tank shells still rained towards the unidentified animal, having been switched to manual loading and shutting off the tracks beforehand. Crimson eyes shone through the clouds as the thing got closer the military base.

Nothing they had used was effective...they had nothing to stop this beast.

No...not a beast, it was greater than a mere beast.

This was a Titan.

This skirmish would be remembered as the opening salvo of the most devastating war Remnant had seen until now.

A million plus souls inhabit this broken world, yet none knew of what was to come...a war of unseen proportions brewing just over the horizon.

A war where the land shall quake in fear and the skies cry blood...The First Titan War.

Annnnnnnnd that's it!

More than year of waiting, and I leave it off on a Cliffhanger :}

I know the last segment wasn't great, but it was difficult trying to come up with the wording to describe a lot of the military equipment being used in combat.

I'll get better at it as the story moves along.

For the important notes of this chapter; Ruby is prego, Weiss and Blake are among the few with no ill-will towards Ruby, and the Hokomuto is fucking shit up in the East.

I hope yall liked the chapter, tell me what you thought and leave a vote if you'd like!