Chapter One Hundred and Five
Tyrian Callows wasn't in the city of Mistral. Believing Blackbriar, he was outside. He was using a smugglers' den in the middle of Mistral's jungle, alongside one of the main river's branches. The map of Mistral's outskirts was on a large wooden table, and as I watched it, I couldn't help but feel like one of those old Nile explorers, for much of the deep and lush jungles remained unexplored.
"He's no more than half a day from here," I muttered as I looked at the spot in question. The map had one word scribbled around the spot in question, circled in red with a few exclamation marks near it too.
Goliath.
"Bastard chose himself one hell of a cozy spot," Qrow muttered. "Got to hand it to the smugglers, they sure know how to pick shitty places to build their prime estates."
"The Goliath left a long time ago for darker pastures," I mused. "Nobody alerted the city of it, so it was the perfect spot." At least, that was my hope. "Still, we'll have to move quickly. Blackbriar's capture will make the rounds of Mistral by tomorrow."
Qrow stood up from his desk with a sigh, "Let me get my scythe and we can go."
"About that," I said with a grimace on my face. "It would be best if you didn't. I am sure people will come yelling for Blackbriar soon enough, and they'll need your peculiar brand of diplomacy to keep them down."
Qrow snorted. "Seriously?"
"Yes," I said with a shrug. "We'll handle him. Only us and the birds, so to say."
Qrow turned thoughtful. "I can get behind that idea then," he shrugged and sat back down, arms crossed behind his head, legs slammed on the desk. "Less work for me that way."
"You're kidding," Zhelty muttered, looking from Qrow to me, and then back once more. "You're seriously kidding."
"He got Professor Vash," Chez whispered, ears flat against her skull. "We can't do this ourselves."
"We're four against one," Gorm said instead, "If we all attack together-there's a high chance we can overpower him. And Wren's right in saying the headmaster should stay behind-we don't know how Mistral will react to what we did, but most certainly they'll be seeking retribution."
"We're going," I said in the end, "We have the advantage in more ways than one, and if we reach him with the sun still high, we have a better chance than during the night."
"He's a Faunus, isn't he?" Zhelty muttered.
"A scorpion one, he has a poisonous stinger on his tail, so be careful of that too," I pointed out. Then, I looked at Qrow. "We'll be leaving then, headmaster."
"I'd wish you luck, but I'd rather not," Qrow remarked with a grim look on his face.
"Not a problem, luck is for those who don't build their own future," I winked back, and then stepped out of the office with the rest of my teammates in tow.
"I still think this is foolish," Zhelty muttered.
"It's not going to be easy," I acquiesced. "He'll fight to the death, so don't mistake any surrendering attempts on his side for true."
"What if he's not alone?" Chez asked.
"If he's not alone, we'll know," I said quietly, "And we'll change strategy accordingly."
"Should we put our affairs in order before going?" Gorm mused.
I shook my head. "We're not going to die. If push comes to shove, I'll just summon something to hold him off and we can make a run for the city. He won't pursue us where he's going to be swarmed."
"And why aren't we going with a dozen of huntsmen then?" Chez asked. "We can bring everyone-send the students first, and when he's tired we can-"
I placed a hand on her head, and ruffled it hard. She whined at that, before swatting my hand away. "I know you don't mean it. We've faced a lot of Grimm, and a few bandits. What's one assassin-huntsman more?"
"Nothing we can't deal with?" Chez said, pulling out an awkward smile rather than her normal fully-fledged one.
"Exactly," I said.
Zhelty turned thoughtful, "I'll meet you guys by Mistral's gates," she said, turning to head for the academy's garage. "We're going to need everything we can bring to the fight, and it is nearly finished anyway."
I blinked at that. "What is?"
"My precious baby," Zhelty said with a bright smile. "You'll see it soon enough." The smile on her face did nothing to my confidence.
Still, we reached the gates of Mistral at a slow pace, and I honestly expected the worst. What I didn't expect was Zhelty to show up with nothing, but a shit-eating grin on her face. "I present to you the pinnacle of Zhelty Engineering Industries," she gestured at her left wrist, where a watch of some sort now stood. "The Call Help button."
I looked at Gorm briefly, and then at Chez. Chez shook her head. "My madness sense isn't tingling," she said right back. "I have no idea what it is."
"She has been going on and on about building something in the garage for a while," Gorm acquiesced. "But I never did bother to look. Guess she built a watch?"
"This isn't just any watch," Zhelty mused. "This is a product of fine engineering, but you'll find out soon enough what it does once we're in the clear of the city."
I sighed, and then chuckled. "Fine," I said. "At least we'll know the time without having to fish for our Scrolls."
I quietly extended my right hand to my side once we were out of sight of the city, and as a small white Nevermore took flight, soon the blissful silence of the jungle became filled with the raucous thoughts of my teammates. The bad ones, though. The dark ones. The fear. The pain. The worry.
"Chez," I muttered, "This isn't going to end like in Menagerie."
Chez winced at my words, and then gave a hesitant smile. "It's not fair to use your semblance on your teammates like that, Wren."
I sighed. "It's not like I can stop it, and we do need to be ready in case of an ambush," I muttered back, the thick jungle of Mistral soon leaving the place to a large river upon which a couple of boats stood close to the city while attempting to fish the dinner of the day. We followed the river's side, the buzzing of insects and the prowling of animals in the lush undergrowth clear to our senses.
Then, the cawing of a crow echoed up in the trees and I knew we weren't alone anymore. The main river split into smaller, yet still navigable, streams that dispersed in every direction. Traffic disappeared on the water; even the fishermen knew better than to hang around further away from the city.
A couple of beady crimson eyes stared from the depths of the water, white bone-like protrusions telling me that Alligator-Grimm indeed existed, and made of the river their homes. Yet, they stood there. Watching. Waiting.
The jungle's silence was replaced with the cries of the wild animals. The random real animal, and not a Grimm variant of it, prowled about, but left us alone. The stream grew back into a lake after a short while, and there on the edges of said lake of muddy, greenish water and mangrove plants stood a small creaky wooden dock and an equally battered house.
Stabbity stab. Stabbing the stabber. Stab him some more! He doesn't even cry anymore! Stabbing, stabbing, stabbing ahoy! Look at his blood go!
The White Nevermore remained perched atop the cabin. The thoughts reeked from within.
One would-ouch-think he'd get the-ouch-message-ouch! My semblance is regeneration! Ouch! Stop stabbing me, you dumb bastar-ouch!
The thoughts would have been amazingly ironic, if it weren't for the fact that they were brought out from the pain and the misery of one individual and the bloodthirstiness of the other.
"They're in there," I whispered as I watched the crow that had been following us stop on a branch near us. "Tyrian and professor Vash, they're both in there."
"He's still alive?" Zhelty muttered. "Hardcore bastard."
"His semblance helped him," I muttered back. "Tyrian's using him as a stabbing bag." I grimaced. "Let's get him out in the open."
We moved carefully, creeping alongside the edges of the creaky house until we reached the side that had the door. We pressed our bodies on the ground, beneath the undergrowth, and then I quietly concentrated as a second Glyph appeared near the door.
The crackling of the Seer Grimm I summoned was like the snap of a whip in the otherwise cacophony-filled jungle of animal screams of all sorts and kinds.
I heard something. More bags of blood to stab? More sacrifices for the Goddess!?
The Seer Grimm I had summoned neared one of its tentacles to the door, and then knocked.
If it's Blackbriar I'll scare him a bit. He never gives me juicy targets to kill. Only civilians. They scream a lot, and are delightful, but-but I want to fight someone that gets my blood pumping! I want to fight and kill and rend and slaughter and butcher and-
The door creaked open, and I could feel Tyrian standing behind the door, hidden and eagerly in wait. The Seer Grimm's seemingly fragile nature betrayed its actual toughness, and the strength of its tentacles. In one fell mass of stabbing, a myriad of blueish tentacles shattered through the wooden door and then pulled, swinging Tyrian out of the house as the jellyfish-like Grimm stuck to his body attempting to devour it whole before the deranged huntsman could catch his breath.
The gauntlet-guns of Tyrian easily sliced through the Seer in a matter of seconds, even as his thoughts took a darker turn.
"How arrogant to use the Goddess' minions against her most faithful servant!" his eyes were bloodshot with anger, and in a split second he turned towards where we were hidden. "In blood pay for your arrogance, heretic blasphemers!"
We charged ahead in a split second, even as Zhelty briefly pushed her newly minted engineering watch. Nothing happened, and I quickly moved on to actually punt twin explosive bolts from my gauntlets into Tyrian's flesh. Or so I would have wanted it to, if only the huntsman hadn't spun in mid-air, used his Scorpion tail to grab both bolts, and then thrown them back our way.
I knelt and slid on my knees as a Schnee Glyph spread below me to speed me up further. A second Glyph pulled me upwards, and as I cocked my right fist back, I slammed it straight against the open palm of Tyrian's right hand.
Zhelty came swinging her shield forward, Alphonse thrumming as violet dust pulsed to make it spin faster, the blade segment out as it attempted to strike Tyrian's midriff. His other hand blocked it with his weapon's edged blade.
Gorm swung his spiked mace to his side. It came rattling, but one of Tyrian's foot met the spot where it wasn't spiked and he used it to hop off it, and break free from the encirclement. He landed a few steps back, grinned and then abruptly ducked as the revving of a chainsaw came from behind him, the rattling sound growing as flames began to spread across the edges of Alice's now visible form once more.
"How fun! Kids coming to face the big bad assassin!" he laughed at that, maniacally even. "This is what makes me feel alive!"
I rushed in once more, slamming through two Schnee Glyphs as lightning dust ebbed from my gauntlet, my speed increasing further. The crackling electricity suffusing my frame enhanced my speed, just like the second Glyph did so naturally. In seconds I was weaving beneath a swing of the assassin, even as he bent back to avoid the incoming revving of Alice.
I moved to the side as Chez did the same, Zhelty's shield once more in her hand to open fire with the turrets. The man nimbly avoided them, even as Gorm's own weapon now rattled towards him like a snake of its own volition.
This time, Tyrian used a hand to stop it, and then slammed it downwards with strength against Chez, who barely ducked out of the way.
He opened fire next, holding me back as I brought my gauntlets up to block the attack. Alice streamed fire from its spout, and Tyrian used his scorpion tail as a pivot to move out of the way. He swung Chez' weapon aside, and would have pummeled her face neatly had a Schnee Glyph not appeared to intercept the blow.
Growling, Tyrian moved away swiftly before Chez could capitalize on the situation.
"Ruining my Goddess creation is blasphemy enough, but trying to ruin my fun too!? You die first, Schnee!" he laughed as he said that, twisting his body out of the way of the incoming projectiles from Gorm's rifle-side. He came for me next, opening fire which he expected me to block or dodge.
What he didn't expect was for me to let the blows come and ping off my Aura, even as I slammed my feet on the ground.
I am inevitable.
He laughed as he spun, bringing his Scorpion tail to the front only for a White Nevermore to swoop down like a feathered projectile. It slammed claws first into the tail, blocking it from its strike as I took the circumstance to counter the blow with a swing of my right hand. The claw of a Beowolf spread from my knuckles, and slammed with satisfying strength into the man's exposed side.
He stumbled back, his tail moving nimbly to slam and crush the nevermore on the ground.
Zhelty came from the side ready to swing her shield forward, but Tyrian slammed his hand against the edge and stopped her attack dead on its tracks. "No, no, no," he hissed, "First I kill the Schnee, then I play with you all." He smiled as he said that. "Go play in the mud, child. It's where you belong."
He pushed the swing back. He pushed the swing back with such startled ease that Zhelty's eyes widened in disbelief. Effortlessly, he then pulled to the side and easily got Zhelty on the wrong foot, attempting to slam into her now exposed shoulder.
The chains of Archimedes came forward as if animated by a will of their own, swinging around the weapon and pulling to allow Zhelty the chance to move away from the man's grasp.
With a dreadful sigh, and a roll of the eyes, Tyrian glanced briefly at me. "Annoying interlopers to our dance of death, aren't they?" Then he grabbed hold of the chain and pulled with enough strength that Gorm literally came flying. "Maybe the flies must die first!"
In a second Chez was upon the man from behind once more, the revving chainsaw sparking against the edge of his blade-gauntlets. With his other hand he slammed the incoming Gorm against her, and both were sent to tumble on the ground in a mass of chains and fire.
Zhelty's fist swung again, the blade of it slashing through the air as Tyrian eagerly bowed beneath the attack to then slam both legs against her shield and push her further back.
In the meantime, I had been concentrating.
Tyrian turned his attention towards me, and briefly staggered on his feet.
"Oh no, no no no no no, no no no no no!" he screamed as he lunged forward. A dozen hands rose form the grounds in their pale white brilliance. Faces deformed by pain and agony rose from the hands.
"Cacophony," I whispered, "Sing me the song of your people!" I howled as I slammed my hands together.
The blazing shriek didn't rise into the air, but was instead aimed like a sonic cannon of sorts. It slammed straight into Tyrian's body, making him reel back as his body staggered briefly. The Apathy swarm slowly dissipated once more, my breathing now short as I watched the assassin fight to regain control of his desires and body.
"Blasphemous. Heretic. Liar. Fake. Bastard!" Tyrian snarled hotly, blood-shot eyes staring at me before he brought the edge of his blade to his face, letting it slice his cheeks as blood dribbled down on his face. The pain awoke him fully. The blood fell like a curtain across his cheeks.
"Hey bitch," Zhelty said from the ground, "Fuck you."
Then, she fired something from her shield. It wasn't a bullet. It was...an antenna?
The sleek-looking rod beeped precisely once, and then I heard it. So too did Tyrian, who snarled in hatred as he briefly looked up.
It came crushing down on four large, metallic legs with two wheels per leg.
Its head was stocky, and crimson light seemed to shine from within it. It was a mass of cables, with four arms wielding rickety chainsaws and spouts for fire. It even had a small amount of rifles on the sides, miniguns to be precise. It came crashing down on the spot Tyrian had been but a second before.
Its size wasn't really that big either. It was as if somebody had stuck four motorcycles together to form some kind of leg-system for a stocky square in the middle, and the four arms were big just for what concerned the armaments themselves. In some places, it was lacking polish and finish, but still-it was a testament to Zhelty's determination and skills that it was actually working as well as it was.
Then, it opened its back to reveal four pairs of glittering wings. Only they weren't wings. They were sails. It flapped them once, letting the wind pressure force Tyrian to wince. I glanced back at Zhelty, who was clutching on to her watch and pushing buttons on it.
"Meet the Sunsizzle Z! Born of the mightiest pieces I could steal from Atlas, Vale and Vacuo combined with what I found in Mistral!" Zhelty proudly announced as she pointed a finger at Tyrian.
Now that she said that, I recognized a part of the metallic legs as the rocket-lockers of Vale. Actually, judging by how one of them had the drawing of a cat-girl winking etched on it, I dimly realized those had been our temporary rocket-lockers we had used in Vale.
Ozpin was missing four lockers.
Glynda had to be furious.
Tyrian was merely laughing, even as the four of us took our stance right in front of the newly minted Robot-Ally.
"So amusing, so funny, so pitiful..." Tyrian whispered, shaking his head. "Such a toy. I'm going to have to break it. But since you called your friend, maybe I should do the same?" He laughed as he extended both arms up in the air.
Something passed through me in a second. It was a gut feeling. It was an incredibly bad gut feeling.
Behind us, the lake bubbled and churned.
Then the white-masked face of a Goliath appeared from the depths of the lake, algae covering its body, but not its hateful crimson eyes.
"Look at the gift of my Goddess! Despair at your inevitable end! The King of the Grimm rises to kill you all! And I will enjoy stabbing your last breaths out of your broken lungs!" his maniacal laughter rose in a feverish pitch, even as he abruptly lunged forward.
The Sunsizzle Z opened fire with everything it had, Zhelty pushing a few buttons on her watch. Tongues of flame and bullets poured in front of us, Tyrian nimbly avoiding them as the jungle trees behind him began to burst in flames. Yet the thundering of the massive Goliath's steps on the mushy ground rose as the beast appeared to take the central stage in our worries.
"I'll hold the Goliath off!" Zhelty snapped, another button pushed, and the roaring of Sunsizzle Z's engines announcing its charge back as it swiveled the weaponry on the Goliath in question, rocket-legs pushing its frame off the ground as it slammed its four chainsaw-arms into the sides of the Grimm. The noise of metal grinding against bone did not inspire confidence in me, especially because the Goliath in question twirled its bone-white trunk around the robot's frame and swung it aside like it would an annoying fly.
Once it realized that the robot could float, though, it grappled one of its legs and began to pull the rocket-limb into the lake's water to drown the flames out.
That was as far as I looked at the battle, a powerful blow blasting into my sides and sending me to spin out of control onto the ground as Tyrian laughed, "No distractions! I'm the main event!" he laughed at that, even as Chez' chainsaw came to block a twin strike meant to cleave my slumped body apart.
"You're not getting my kittens' father today, tomorrow, or in the years to come you bastard!" Chez snarled back, Alice revving loudly.
Gorm came from the side, but rather than use his weapon, he slammed his hand against the metallic side of Chez' own chainsaw.
The wind rose from the chainsaw. It hissed and it spewed. Oxygen intensity increased. Dust-etched symbols on Chez' weapon began to glow.
And Tyrian understood and moved away as a swing sliced through the ground neatly as a crescent-moon beam of pure white flames broke the ground and caused fires to erupt naturally from the points it touched.
Tyrian sighed, patting his shoulders off of the spontaneous combustion they had experienced. "Nasty tricks, new tricks, old tricks, bah. So little fun."
Flames spread across the mangroves. The heat began to rise. The shadows the fire birthed cast a demonic-like visage on Tyrian's face.
"Time to get serious, then," he whispered. Then he slouched down ever so briefly. "It's not like I need to bring any of you back alive."
I took a deep breath.
Then I slammed both of my fists together.
"Your Goddess a bitch!" I yelled.
Also known as Option C. The 'I Love Emilia' answer. The 'Let us push this button and see how far we can push it'.
"And she's a worthless pathetic loser who really needs to get her stick dug out of her ass!"
Tyrian's face twitched.
It was the only signal before he lunged forward with a foaming snarl of pure, unadulterated hatred in my regards.
A Glyph appeared below my teammates and I, "Bait," I said.
"Gotcha," Chez disappeared after jumping to the side. Gorm hooted and took flight.
I stood there instead, the impact of Tyrian's fists like that of a thundering cannon at point-blank. I swerved and ducked, eyes on the weapons even as his tail came into sharp stabs, and lunged for every inch of my skin I left unguarded.
"No," I sucked air sharply and ducked with a side-step, "wonder," I bent, "she," I threw a right fist, which he blocked, "sucks," he twisted and slammed his boot against my face, or he would have, had my arm not come up to block it. "You're such a-" his tail attempted to skewer me through the stomach. A Glyph appeared to block the incoming blow, holding the tail back as I hissed. "Disgrace to her. Cinder's better-" I pushed him off, "Than you!"
My scream served two purposes.
The first was to keep his ears busied with me.
The second was to tell the folks that were supposed to be flanking him to get a move on, because I was just about to lose my Aura.
Gorm came swinging down like a meteor of steel, winds gathering behind him as he didn't throw, as much as slam his spiked mace down while holding it by the metallic handle it had. Tyrian barely managed to bring one hand upwards, before slamming his tail on the ground to hold the blow back.
Chez came next, her Alice spewing out blue flames as she literally rocket-launched herself forward before swinging like a hurricane of flames and slam the sides of her flaming chainsaw into the flanks of Tyrian. This time, the wind from Gorm's semblance poured down and the faunus assassin widened his eyes as he understood.
"Take a shower of fire," I snarled. "Heat up!" four Glyphs pulsed as white hands sprouted forth, slamming into a square-like trap that tightened abruptly.
He barely brought his other hand to block the chainsaw, but the arms grabbed and held him down as the flames spread into a circle that quickly became blueish, and then white.
He screamed as he pulled away, shattering one of the arms, the others failing to grab hold of him but leaving marks on his skin. His body was scorched, blood seeped from scratch marks across his chest and sides.
And behind us, the thundering crash of Sunsizzle Z told us that the Goliath was done playing with it.
"Sunsizzle!" Zhelty's cry caught my attention, but I didn't turn.
Tyrian laughed. "This is it, then," he bowed, "entertained until the end, but now I must go-"
"Yeah, about that," I muttered, craning my neck. "Today you're going to be all out of luck."
Tyrian didn't understand.
He barely got out of the swing of Qrow's blade, though, the huntsman appearing on cue.
One tired and beaten assassin versus one fresh unlucky Qrow.
I wasn't a betting man like Gorm, but I liked my odds. "Try not to let him escape," I said. "We softened him up for you-" I sighed and turned towards the Goliath. "Man..." I grumbled. "Zhelty, return!"
Zhelty did so, watching with a mixture of sadness and grief as Sunsizzle was slammed against the ground repeatedly, before the Goliath's legs trampled upon it, its body showing the smallest of nicks on its otherwise hardened carapace.
One boss down, and one more to go...
Truly, Qrow's unlucky Semblance was on overdrive on this fine day!
