The boys were running as fast as their aura-enhanced bodies could take them. Lungs taking in the icy night air as their muscles screamed. As they took flight, they couldn't escape the sounds of the beast that their teacher had bravely remained behind to face.
And it was because the beast dauntingly pursued them despite Port's intervention. Taking a sharp turn the seven sprinting boys turned on a dime, Sage kept his eyes focused as he ran for life with Scarlett on his back. The injured boy atop his shoulder saw the sight in full view and let out a scream.
The Wendigo had chased them, running on all fours and with Port atop its back delivering blow after blow to its skull with bloodied knuckles. The beast collided face-first with the stone wall ahead, nearly bucking Port off. The man remained adamant and with his legs wrapped tightly around the beast's neck, fought to control its path by its horns.
An ear-piercing bellow was released as its joints seemed to snap and the monster took to scaling the walls above. Fighting for balance, Port began bashing his aura-enhanced elbow into the nape of its neck with little effect.
The beast then threw itself off the walls and landed in front of the retreating boys. Crushing Port beneath as it flailed wildly. Caelum directed them down another road and fired at the convulsing beast. Again it had diverted their path. How many times now? Were they even still heading to the gate?
Their teacher was powerful, a great huntsman even by Caelum's standards but that high assessment came about due to two factors. Caelum had grown to know the man and it was because of his semblance.
Port had divulged his ability to them after one of their training sessions, a way of rousing their interest in their 'hidden potential.' So long as the man's confidence never waned, he would grow stronger in combat. His stamina wouldn't deplete, his strength never faltered, and it all depended on his self-determination.
It was an envious skill to many but one Caelum knew had its faults. Something he could only compare to Xiao-long. It was almost pathetically funny, This terrifying, life-threatening scenario and he recalled how he had punched a blonde girl in the throat at school. But it was that memory that brought dread as he watched the rotund figure of his Professor be sent careening past him, shirtless, bruised, and bloodied into the corner of a stone building head first, bringing down the corner of the structure.
In a fraction of a moment, the boys looked down to see their professor, unmoving, still, and covered in the debris of his impact. Aside from losing faith in himself, his semblance was rendered useless if he was unconscious or dead.
Caelum's eyes shot back to see only a glimpse of the Grimm as it leaped overhead, an unmistakably mirthful grin across its distorted skull at having disposed of its nuisance. The elongated frame latched onto a building and ran alongside, cracking the structure before pouncing off and striking the ground like a meteor.
Beneath it, barely weathering the blow was Sage. His aura crackled a dark green as he threw Scarlett to Sun and took the blow to the flat end of his greatsword. With another series of snapping bones, the creature's crooked limb slid slowly to the side of Sage's blade as he struggled to withstand its pressure.
The others didn't remain idle as its clawed hand slowly gripped the end of Sage's blade and grasped his own hand on the hilt. In the three seconds that it slowly slid its palms, Sun, Caelum, Niel, and Lukas all pulled their weapons and struck at the beast's exposed back as Raiden fought to get to its side so he wouldn't have to shoot through Sage.
Yet their blades and blunt weapons scratched its carapace and beat against rotten flesh to no effect. Sage's eyes grew wide in horror as a dribble of black saliva fell atop his cheek. The creature loomed over him, staring down as its pulsating eyes quickened in tempo, its pace matching his heartbeat. As if savoring the first bite of a meal, its bone-like jaw drooled before splitting down the middle into two serrated mandibles, a bone-chilling rasp emanating from it.
Sage instinctively tugged away yet could not move. Frantic eyes turned to his peers who had struck in the opportune moment only to have no effect then down to his hands. He saw only black flesh and white bone. The creature had firmly grasped both of his hands atop his weapon.
Three seconds, Neptune had watched helplessly, frozen in place for those three seconds as the others fought against the monster. Before they even swung again he saw the uncaring monster's arms swing wide, dragging Sage's along and ripping his guard open. Then as Sage let out the most horrifying scream Neptune had ever heard, it bit down.
The Wendigo's jaw latched from Sage's right shoulder to his sternum. Sinking its teeth in slowly as Sage released a blood-curdling cry, the monster pulled his two arms and bit deeper. Two more seconds. That was how long it took for the creature to rip Sage's arm off and twist its head to the side, shearing flesh with its teeth.
"Sage!" roared Sun as he beat against the carapace of the Wendigo who eyed him like an insect before letting out a strange echoing sound akin to a chortle. Instantly it spun swiftly and batted Sun into the ground with its backhand, spraying him in his comrade's blood.
Sage fell to his feet in shock unable to move as Caelum, Niel, and Lukas pulled back. Turning on his heel, Caelum raised his weapon and aimed. In an instant, he saw the serrated teeth within the throat of the Grimm as it charged at him with its maw open.
"Raiden!" he shouted as he began firing a belt at the beast. The Wendigo covered its eyes from the torrent of bullets and rounds ricocheting off its armor or impacting its ravenous intestine without pain. With Sage out of the way and a free line of sight, Raiden ran to Caelum and placed his railgun atop his partner's shoulder. A brief blue light emanated as the Grimm erratically jumped up and avoided the oncoming projectile.
The streaming blue light ripped through everything in its path aside from the Grimm who had landed on its rear jumping back. Raiden's railgun ejected steam, burning Caelum's shoulder and heating his face as Raiden opened the receiver to insert another tungsten round. Caelum watched the creature's eyes shift about restlessly, it was assessing the situation.
Seeing the expedient reload of both Caelum and Raiden ahead, Niel and Lukas to one side, a frozen Neptune, disoriented Sun with crackling aura, and immobile Scarlett to its rear, the creature's eyes froze. Suddenly a robotic snap emanated as its head instantly shot right and saw Sage on his knees staring at the blood pooling beneath him.
Again its movements were both erratic yet precise as it instantly lurched to Sage, scooping him up swiftly. The creature then climbed an adjacent stone building with one hand as it looked down at Caelum and Raiden, holding Sage firmly in between them yet ignoring, Lukas and Niel's gunfire.
"Fire!" ordered Caelum, disregarding the human shield the monster held.
Raiden aimed his weapon but couldn't as the last sight of the beast was of its marble white horns disappearing behind the rooftop, leaving them alone in the red-misted moonlight with the sound of chittering teeth and a pleading, heart-gripping plea emanating from Sage before going quiet.
Aside from the ringing in his ears, Caelum could only hear the panicked breaths of his partner and the frantic curses of the others. He wished to reprimand his partner and tell him he should have fired but knew discourse would be their ruin as he saw Sun shouting after his teammate through his pain and shaking a shell-shocked Neptune.
There was no time for him to lament over what-ifs. "Niel! Grab Port! Lukas take Scarlett! Those carrying the injured in the middle. Sun, Neptune, take the lead! Me and Raiden will take the rear!"
There was a slight hesitation. Whether it was from instinctual fear or compulsive argumentative attitudes, Caelum gave no time for it. "Now! He demanded, shoving the petrified Neptune along. The boy yelped with fear as the startle led him to break down and a furious Sun to snatch Caelum's wrist.
"What do you think you're doing?! It took Sage! We have to go after him!"
Caelum's wide, alert eyes narrowed as he stared at Sun. A sudden rush of pain greeted Sun's chin as he stumbled back nursing his jaw. Angered at the blow he had received from Caelum he lurched forward to retaliate only to see a barrel in his face.
Caelum had pulled his side arm and held it between Sun's eyes. "He's dead." Those two words robbed Sun of his emotion and his eyes widened. Seeing Sun more receptive to words, Caelum continued. "We have two wounded. We are not in a position to do as we please. That thing is hunting us at its leisure and you want to follow a dead man." Caelum sneered and shifted his pistol to Neptune's head, the boy stiffened in fear and began hyperventilating.
"Avenging the lost is reserved for those who are capable of doing so. I, instead will save who I can."
Frustrated tears burned the corners of Sun's eyes as he snarled. "Save us?! By threatening us? Leaving my teammate for dead and-"
"He is dead!" roared Caelum over Sun. "We've wasted enough time here and I will not risk my team for your ego. Go or I'll maim your partner, and leave you three as bait for it."
Sun stared at Caelum with a newfound sense of fear. Different from the instinctual sense the Wendigo brought, this was horror at what a human could become under duress, the cold dismissal of fellow life. "Who are you? Are you even human?"
"I'm not a faunus and definitely not a Grimm" Caelum replied as he gestured to Neptune. "Now pick him up and go or I will follow through on my word."
Sun turned to his partner who had tears beginning to stream as he fought for breath, clasping handfuls of blue hair in stress. As much as Sage pressed on his mind, Sun could only pray an apology to his teammate as he looked over Scarlet and Neptune. One injured and the other near mental breakdown.
Picking up Neptune, Sun began speaking to him as they made their way along. Following Caelum's instructed formation, the boys carried their wounded and proceeded deeper into the town. The moonlit streets seemed to taunt them with every dark corner and every whisper of an alley that bled the crimson fog around their legs.
The gate they had arrived at was no longer an option, the beast was certainly stalking them at a distance, quick to intercept them should they leave its hunting grounds. Their best chance would be finding an opportunity to slip away unnoticed and make a break unless Caelum could find a damn mirror.
The only two real choices plagued his mind as he fought to think of any other possibility and failed to do so. Yet as he watched the tense backs of his comrades from the rear and his partner's alert expression beside him, Caelum feared he was the only one who could think clearly in this situation. The others, even the remnants of Team SSSN were relying on him whether they knew it or not.
For their lives and his goals beyond Vale, Caelum would escape this cursed place.
-Chapter End-