56I'm so sorry for taking so long guys, I've been strung up by work and studying, shit really keeps getting in the way of my writing and unfortunately I don't think that's going to change anytime soon. That said, thank you all so much for boosting the fic's numbers WAY higher than I anticipated even while I was gone! Enough cheering though, here with another chapter!
Remnant's Serrated Sun
Chapter 6
Fractured skull. Dislocated jaw. Broken orbital. Broken forearm. Sliced upper-arm. Fractured femur. Broken leg. Right side rib-plating snapped. That summed up the most grievous damage. No organs harmed, miraculously. He'd slammed into the trees shoulder-first, his spinning having managed to keep his head out of the way for most of the flight. There was naturally heavy bruising, pulverized skin, and countless lacerations from the splinters embedded in his flesh, a particularly nasty gash running from his cheek, through his nose-bridge and across his brow curtaining his face in his rapidly clotting blood. Argel himself was unconscious, higher brain functions having shut down in order to allow his body to focus on healing itself faster, yet still 'he' sat up.
'Argel' focused on healing the worst of the damage injury by injury, starting with the fractured skull. 'He' got as comfortable as possible and simply waited, silently stitching his broken body back together and seething with indignation. He was going to rip the tail off that daemon and watch the life leave its eyes if it was the last thing he did. For now though, 'Argel' simply concentrated on healing himself.
{Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate - Glavenus Theme}
They were steadily retreating, firing wild and uncontrolled shots at the Glavenus stomping towards them. Whatever shots did land shattered harmlessly across the Grimm's scaled skin, armoured jaws gnashing and snapping at the offenders with shocking speed and terrifying force, ripping clean through trees like they were dry twigs. If even an aura-user was to be caught in those jaws…
*BANG-BANG-BANG*
"It's not gonna stop until all of us are dead!" Ruby screamed above the roaring of her rifle, "We need to at least slow it down!"
"Easier said than done!" Weiss cried as she launched bolts of ice from a trio of glyphs floating around her head, slamming into its feet and spontaneously creating thick casts of ice from claw to hip. It looked at the ice covering its legs with what almost seemed like disdain before it flexed, casually shattering the ice and returning to its rampage. "A Glavenus is a Master-Rank Grimm at bare minimum, we don't have the experience, strength or firepower to even begin taking this thing on!"
"I know!" Ruby shouted, "We don't, but Professor Goodwitch does!"
"So hold it off long enough for her to get here?" Yang unleashed a barrage of Blast-bolts into its hide, the Grimm snorting in annoyance, "Sounds like a plan at least!"
"Easier said than done," Blake groaned as the four stood together against it, the Grimm looking down at them with genuine distain in its eyes before it deeply inhaled to prepare another staggering roar.
"YANG, HEAD! BLAKE, FEET AND LEGS! WEISS, SMOTHER THE DORSAL SPINES!" Ruby called out rapidly, the four instantly bursting into action. Weiss formed Glyphs under herself and Yang's feet to launch themselves up at the Glavenus, Yang roaring and rocketing both knuckles directly into its jaw as Weiss unleashed a wave of ice to cover its dorsal spikes. Combined with Blake rapidly spinning and lashing out at its ankles, the Glavenus let out a strangled cry of surprise and pain, stumbling backwards and coughing billowing smoke and embers into the air.
'The dorsal spines are one of its primary thermal regulators,' Weiss remembered, 'Just ice alone won't be enough!'
Myrtenaster's chamber rotated and clicked into place in the span of a blink, its blade glowing a dull brass as a dozen glyphs spawned under the ice, shining the same colour before explosions of stone burst across its back, weighing it down and leaving it open. Ruby sprung off a tree and slashed away at its tail again, Blake continuing to harry its ankles and legs while Yang leapt up and smashed her knuckles into its chest, the resulting screech of pain coming out hoarse and choked as it stumbled back. They continued the onslaught for a few moments, their confidence soaring as the enormity of what they were doing sunk in.
'We're fighting in par with a Master-Rank Grimm! We can do this!'
Its eyes narrowed and it snorted smoke from its nostrils, taking a powerful leap backwards with the flat of it tail shielding its body from harm.
"It's running!" Yang said with a savage grin while sprinting forward, "We're making it run!"
"No… no, IT CREATED DISTANCE!" Ruby shouted, its coiled body suddenly exploding into motion with a spin, its tail a streak of black and blue and it sliced right through the surrounding trees and raced for Yang's head. She just had a fleeting moment to realize that she was going to die before something yanked her straight down, the blade slicing the air where her neck once was before she was bodily yanked back away from the blisteringly fast follow-up slash of its tail.
"I'm going to find whatever deity thought it would be funny to place this kind of luck on me and beat it over the head with a bat."
Glynda Goodwitch floated forward, releasing her hold on Yang and silently observing the Glavenus as the Grimm did the same to the intruder, immediately sensing that she was a far greater threat than the other four pests.
"That was incredibly reckless," She chided team Rwby, "…but admirable. Stand back for now."
They did so, watching as Glynda calmly walked forward with her crop in hand. The Grimm did the same, snorting at her apparent challenge and striding forward to meet her in the centre of the clearing. Without warning, they broke into sprints, the Glavenus' chest suddenly glowing a molten red before it spat a chunk of flaming debris easily the size of a man's torso. Glynda caught the fireball in the grip of her semblance, forcibly splitting it in two before sending them shooting back at the Grimm, the first fireball crashing into its armoured head and blinding it to the second one slamming into its knee. It did no real damage but served to unbalance it, making its spinning tail-swipe slower and uncoordinated enough for Glynda to leap over, grabbing a felled tree and hammering it onto its head with the thundercrack of shattering wood.
It staggered back from the blow yet smoothly transitioned to an upward slash of its tail, Glynda grabbing herself with her Semblance and sharply weaving out of the way mid-air. Unlike her fight with the Rajang, Decoris Noxwas completely full in its Dust-reserves: with a sharp flick of her wrist, she formed a dozen blades of ice that rained down upon the Grimm like bullets, some of them actually penetrating its scales no thanks to the sheer force behind them. It roared in pain, charging and snapping at her with its jaws. It bit down on a violently vibrating ball of ice instead, squawking in surprise unable to open its jaw wide enough to dislodge it while Glynda floated below its neck, sharply flicking her crop up and creating a spire of stone that blasted into its belly. It crashed onto its back, Glynda drawing her crop back as a royal purple glyph ringed its tip before she punched forward and unleashed a car-width beam of pure water that crashed into its exposed stomach, its sheer force peeling a few of the scales from its flesh while bowling it over, into and through a tree.
The students watching were unsurprisingly awed at the display. Glynda was, after all, one of Vale's (perhaps even Remnant's) most renowned Hunters, and Weiss was especially ecstatic to see her in action. Decoris Nox was one of Myrtenaster's biggest inspirations after all. Glynda pointed Nox at the sky above the struggling Grimm, a giant grey storm cloud suddenly forming from a small, crackling Glyph. Bolts of lightning rained down upon the Glavenus, the Grimm's shrieks of pain suddenly drowned out as thunderous explosions burst on its hide wherever the lightning struck.
"Woah, she mixed Blastblight with the lightning?!" Ruby gasped.
"It's not just that…" Weiss looked up, "That entire cloud is a mix of Blastblight powder and water-vapour. The lightning-strikes activates the portion of Blastblight pushed down by the tip of the lighting and explodes right when it hits!"
A vein popped on Glynda's forehead as she pointed at the cloud, the mass outlined in purple light as the barely-contained energies within began to violently pop and crackle before she roared and brought the entire cloud straight down on the Grimm before as it stood. It looked up in time to watch the cloud engulf it entirely, any roar it could have unleashed completely drowned out by the blinding explosion of light that reduced nearby trees to ash and even entirely uprooting others that were further away from the epicentre. Needless to say, the observing students were blinded, deafened and knocked clean off their feet, though their auras protected them from most of the damage even if the explosion left them all dazed. It didn't stop them from letting roaring cheers loose at the display: this was what they could be if they worked hard enough, this was what it meant to be a real Hunter.
Glynda however was silent, eyes narrowed and body tense. She was clearly winded but nowhere near out of the fight yet, trying to look through the dust and smoke. A red-hot blade sudden pierced through the haze, its tip almost slicing right into her face had she not weaved away at the last second, though the blade sharply swung to the side and slapped her bodily out of the air mid-evasion. She stifled a cry of pain as the heat seared through her aura even for the split second it made contact with her, but she recovered quickly, rolling across the ground and pushing herself back into the air, all while the Glavenus continued to swing its tail back and forth at her to send waves of flame scorching the ground she previously occupied. Even as she took back to the air, she was forced to bob and weave as the Grimm roared and unleashed a combination of sword-tail slashes, left, right, diagonal cuts searing the air before it leapt up and slammed its tail down. Even as she dodged further out of the way, a small explosion blinding and throwing her off balance. Everyone screamed in horror as the Glavenus' tail swept right at her stomach.
*BANG*
A blur of crimson and silver shot out of the treeline and smashed into the flank of the Grimm in a thunderous explosion of force. The blow was enough to send it crashing onto its back, the whiplash of reversed momentum yanking the very tip of its tailblade away and barely brushing against Glynda's brow. Argel continued a furious assault on the Grimm, never giving it the space or time it needed to attack as he slashed away with his blades in blurs of red steel and azure lightning. Where Glynda's attacks had pulverized its scales, his cuts bit deep through its flesh, slicing clean through scales that had just a moment ago been able to withstand the wrath of nature itself. It pivoted and tried to bite his head off, Argel sharply weaving under and slashing up at its chin, its armoured jaw cracking and head snapping up from the force of his attack, putting its face directly in the way of a fist-shaped boulder that exploded into its eye-socket. Argel sprinted forward and ran his blades across its chest, ichor spilling and sizzling on his blades. It tried to stomp on him, clawed foot aiming directly for his head, but he weaved almost gracefully out of the way before viciously lashing out with directly at its ankle and cutting deep into bone. A bolt of lightning smashed into its flank as it reared back and tried to slash at him with its tail, its muscles locking up and body shaking violently as paralyzing electricity ravaged its flesh. Argel snarled and viciously stomped his heel into the Grimm's gashed ankle, the sheer force combined with the already deeply damaged appendage causing the bones to shatter on impact and send the screaming Grimm toppling onto its side.
It watched as the oversized human dove through its legs to avoid being crushed and positioned himself right at its neck. There was a moment where, through the haze of pain, the Glavenus stopped thrashing and looked at the 'man.' It was no man, not really. It wore the flesh of a man, but the Grimm could see what lay just beneath that shell, the silhouette of its true nature staring back into the Grimm's eyes. The Grimm, a proud being that drank off the thrill of slaughter through combat screamed in horror at what it saw, screaming for its God to save it as it felt the primordial intent to murder pour from this thing's very soul. It saw as Argel raising his blades before they turned into a mass of red streaks, slicing through the thick muscle of its throat and dousing the 'man' in black ichor. The last thing the Grimm saw were glowing blue irises, a roar of bestial triumph emanating from the thing inside the shell of flesh bursting its eardrums. The last thing it felt however was far more soothing.
"I hear and see through you my little one," She said. "…Slay him, if you can."
}-…-{
"You certainly took your time," Glynda said with a wry smile, though she paused as she took in Argel's appearance. His entire body was pitch black, more a living shadow with piercing blue irises than anything else. He brought his hand to his face and wiped away the ichor as best as he could, his tanned features shining through as the black blood began to dissolve off of him.
"My apologies," He said, "I had dealt with the Ursa pack and let my guard down. I was… taking a nap."
Despite his rather blank (if somewhat wry) expression, she could see from just how stiff and tense his muscles were that he was angry, angry at his lapse in judgement and angry at having been caught off guard.
"Argel…" She started, only to pause as she watched his brows furrow, his eyes locking onto the dead Glavenus. She was about to ask what was wrong. After all, no Grimm could survive such a messy decapitation. However, she'd rapidly noticed that something was off: it wasn't dissolving. Nox was back in her hand as Argel sharply drew his blade, both of them lunging forward to entirely destroy its head, only for black tendrils to suddenly sprout from the stump of its neck and bat them away. Glynda blocked with a Glyph and Argel managed to parry with his blades, but they were both sent flying backwards, watching as the tendrils connected to the severed head and pulled it back onto the stump.
Its entire body shook violently, throwing up dirt as it began to convulse before it began to change. The broken dorsal spines regrew longer, sharper and more jagged, the nicks to its tail smoothing out as the blade glowed red hot, and the horns on its head curving up. It suddenly heaved and sharply rolled onto its healed feet, its body spasming and twitching as it silently locked eyes with its attackers.
Black Knight Brute Wyvern
Hellblade Glavenus
"It evolved into a Deviant?!" Glynda hissed, whipping out her scroll and pressing the screen rapidly. "ALL STUDENTS, RETREAT TO THE DROPOFF ZONE IMMEDIATELY!"
Not a single one of them argued.
"Someone forced it to evolve," Argel said simply, answering her first question while Glynda gave him a certain… look.
"Someone?" Her sharp tone spoke of a suspicion.
"Yes," He nodded, "It would seem as if their God is watching us through its eyes."
Horror paled Glynda's face, but most importantly Argel understood that she knew what or who he was talking about. From the way she reacted, it seemed that it wasn't something he was supposed to know about, not yet at least. That was a conversation for another time.
"I'm afraid I haven't done much research into Deviant Grimm," He said, steering the conversation back to something reasonable, "Are there any procedures I should be aware of?"
"I've already sent a call for aerial transport to pick the students up," Glynda said, snapping back into her usual combat readiness, "If we can kill it, then we kill it. Otherwise we can't allow this thing anywhere near civilians."
'It is… like Ingathel,' Raum hummed, 'Not on the same level of might but unquestionably Ascended. Dangerous.'
{Monster Hunter Generations - Scorching Blade Glavenus【Intense Symphonic Metal Cover】}
Argel was silent but his mind was clear. He was caught off guard once. He would not allow that to happen again. He took a slow, deep breath in through her nose, baring his teeth as he exhaled. Glynda's eyes instinctively flicked towards the sound and flinched. Gone was Argel's serene disposition as the very air around him seemed to bend and twist with sheer malevolence, her stomach twisting with it. There was something else that caught her attention, a minor change that she couldn't help but notice in the back of her mind.
'Are those fangs?'
Argel and the Glavenus inhaled at the exact same time before they simultaneously roared. The combined shockwave sent Glynda flying backwards, blinded and deafened by the wave of force that slapped across her entire body. Transhuman and Grimm sprinted at each other with enough speed to tear up the ground under their footfall, the Glavenus seamlessly transitioning into a spin and Argel mirroring the move, his blades alive with azure killing lightning striking against the molten red edge of the Grimm's tailblade. Fire and lightning were thrown into the air in a curtain of light and to the sound of shrieking metals, yet both danced away unharmed before they threw themselves at each other again. The Glavenus bellowed as it rapidly chopped its tail down where he stood three times in a row, the heated edge of its blade melting right through the dirt as Argel sharply side-stepped and weaved through its attacks, closing the distance and aiming to cut its tail off at the base. It backstepped with frightening speed and balance as he leapt in and slashed down, cutting empty air as the Glavenus danced back and spun, this time stabbing with its blade at the vulnerable Argel. He moved to block, only to smile crookedly as he felt an invisible force envelop his body and pull him out of the way, slightly squinting in surprise as the tail seemed to burn even hotter before it unleashed a line of sparking dust before it exploded.
"Much appreciated," He thanked Glynda.
"Now you owe me two, one for screaming in my ear," She groused, "Give me a warning next time you're about to pull something like that."
"Apologies," he nodded, gripping his blades tighter. The action caused the blue glow of the power-field's lightning to intensify, the tendrils of electricity thickening and growing more powerful. Argel paused for a moment, eyebrows going up as he glanced at the blades. Raum had granted him some basic psychic abilities which slowly grew in power the more he called upon the demon's strength. As such, he did not miss the way the tendrils of his psychic influence was easily conducted via the dust's power-field, psychic conductivity almost on par with the Aeldari's wraithbone.
'Dust is a pure Psychic material!' Raum hummed, Argel equally intrigued. What he was holding in his hand wasn't just a Power-weapon: he had inadvertently discovered a way to create a new branch of Force-weapons.
He and Glynda wordlessly rushed forward, the Glavenus scraping its blade across the ground and sending a wall of flame towards the Hunters. Glynda thrust Nox forward, a Glyph forming in front of them and spraying a wide cone of water that doused the flames to nothing, only for the Grimm to follow up with another stab that unleashed a line of explosive powder. Argel dashed in front, pouring his concentration into his righthand blade as he grit his teeth and slashed up. The blade unleashed a ten-foot-long crescent of pure blue lightning, cleanly cutting through the cloud of powder and causing it to detonate harmlessly around the pair. The Glavenus chirp-yelped in surprise as it dodged the crescent only to eat a boulder to the face for its troubles courtesy of Glynda and leaving it open for Argel to pounce, blades turning into streaks of blue light as they carved into the Grimm's ribs.
It snarled in pain as his enhanced blades began to slice through its scales, opening its jaw wide and pointing it at Argel, a high-pitched whine accompanied by a glowing gullet clue enough for him to quickly leap up as it fired molten-blue slag at where he had previously perched. The concussive force was enough to launch Argel further upward, though Glynda had grabbed him with her semblance and slung him right back down, spinning like an electrified buzzsaw aimed at the Grimm's neck. Its tail suddenly whipped up as Argel struck, blocking the monstrous blows with the flat of its tail, sharply whipping it at Argel's hasty guard and slapping him out of the air. It used the momentum to spin and bat away the barrage of stone Glynda sent hurtling towards it. The stone turned molten the moment it made contact with its tail, sprayed back towards Glynda like a shower of tiny meteors. She caught them all in a massive net of Glyphs before rapidly compressing them into a sphere the size of her fist, feeding more and more heat into the mass as it shone bright red, the edges of her clothes actually smouldering from the heat bleeding off its form.
Argel knew a massive attack being prepared when he saw one and understood that she needed time. Unfortunately, so did the Glavenus. It roared and began stomping its way towards Glynda, crouching as it prepared to leap at her though not before Argel dropkicked its leg. Where such a direct blow on its joint would have previously broken it, Argel rebounded off with a metallic *CLANG* while the Grimm merely stumbled and quickly regained its balance. It snarled and rounded on Argel, its tail ripping through the ground where he had once been; hitting Argel had never been its goal, but creating some distance between him and itself was. It scooped up dirt on the flat of its tail and heaved, throwing a wall of fire and dirt at Argel. He funnelled power into his blades and swung hard, cleaving through the descending wall before it could reach him only to find that it had flung yet another blanket of fire and debris at him.
'Covering my vision,' He realized, 'Clever.'
He sprinted towards where he knew Glynda would still be and continued to slash away at the walls of fire that the Glavenus threw at him, reaching her just as the Grimm stabbed with its tailblade. Argel slashed as hard as he could, barely managing to redirect searing blade away from Glynda as he felt the skin of his arm burn.
"DUCK!" Glynda roared as she pointed her crop at the Grimm and fired. What should have been a sure-fire killing blow turned into a moment of horror as the Glavenus quickly brought its tailblade up to block, the white-hot sphere blasting into the flat of its tail with a deafening roar of cooked air. Its phantasmal muscles strained against the sheer wall of force pushing it backwards before it stood its ground, Glynda watching with open-jawed horror as her attack was absorbed into the tailblade. The Grimm was panting, looking at its blade before purring in satisfaction at the sight of its boon before it grabbed the blade in its armoured jaw, metallic screeching echoing through the forest as it prepared to unleash the signature attack of its species.
"Glynda," Argel said calmly as he adjusted the grip on his dual blades, the power-field crackling fiercely as he prepared himself. "When I give you the signal, I want you to launch me forward as hard as your semblance can allow."
Glynda gave him an incredulous look before his dead-serious expression sobered her up and she silently nodded. If there was anyone who could pull off something absurd and win, it was him, she thought as she grasped him with her semblance.
"What signal should I-?" She started before she felt it.
'NOW.'
The Glavenus unleashed its tail from its mouth, the world burning white as the blade descended onto them before two lines of pitch-black lightning sliced through. The white-bleached world was shattered, colour returning as the Glavenus was sent tumbling across the ground, roaring in pain as the severed half of its tail embedded itself into the ground tip first. As soon as his feet touched the ground, Argel was assaulting the Grimm, an upward cut biting deep through its armoured jaw and lifting its head a full seven feet off the floor directly into the path of an arcing downward chop that sliced even deeper into its jaw, but he could see and feel the furious build-up of heat in the Grimm's mouth, realizing that it was the white-hot slag from its blade that it had swallowed.
"END IT!" Argel roared as he used its chipped jaw as a foothold and leapt up, blades held high. Glynda was far from idle, already using her Semblance to pick up the severed tail and screaming in exertion as she swung it over her head. The three blades fell as the Glavenus raised its head and prepared to incinerate them –
*CRUNCH*
Its head fell from its neck, molten slag spewing from its mouth and stump as Glynda and Argel stood hunched, their blades embedded into the ground. They sharply backed away from the pooling metal, Glynda falling onto her backside from exhaustion as she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Argel took a knee alongside her, not as winded and still keeping an eye on the Grimm and his ears open to their surroundings, thankfully not sensing any other Grimm approaching. He breathed out and stood, walking over to the Grimm before his hand shot to the hilt of his blade as its body began to rapidly crumple in on itself. Barely anything was left behind in the span of a heartbeat, save for a handful of scales and scraps of flesh that were turning to dust.
{Music End}
'Its god is preventing us from obtaining strength!' Raum hissed, 'Quickly, we must take what we can!'
Argel nodded and briskly walked over to the biggest chunk of flesh not much bigger than his fist an knelt to pick it up. The moment is fingers made contact, he struggled to supress a gasp as raw power flooded his senses, the feeling disappearing as quickly as it had appeared though lingering under his skin like an electric buzz. It was far more potent than the score of Ursa he'd defeated, and he could only imagine what would have happened had he reached the Glavenus's corpse in time.
'This is a good start,' He nodded to himself, clenching his empty fist and feeling Raum purr in satisfaction. He was curious what benefits the essence of a Glavenus would grant him, but that was an experiment for another time. 'My first conscious taste of combat and I let my guard down. If I am to kill Erebus, I need to sharpen myself further then when I was at my peak.
"Are you alright?" Glynda said, having composed herself.
"I'm fine," He held up his burnt arm, though the damaged flesh was already healing. "Or I will be, in a minute.
"Good," Glynda nodded, giving him a once-over to be sure. "…good."
She stared at him for a while and Argel could practically see the question lingering on her tongue. He hadn't exactly been subtle when he drew on Raum's power to grant him as much raw strength as possible, not to mention when he'd telepathically communicated with her. What unnerved him was the part that wanted to tell her the truth warring with his desire to keep it from her. And why not tell her? He was a Word Bearer, blessed directly by the Gods and charged by both them and his Primarch with spreading the truth of the universe. Yet that question he posed to Kharn on Armatura still rung in his head. What was better? Living in blissful ignorance, or having your eyes opened to the brutal truth of the world? He'd already answered the question: both sides were wrong, and now he wasn't sure what he'd say if Glynda asked. Did someone as good as her deserve to be burdened with such a truth?
'I… do not want to expose her to that,' he realized, surprised at himself. Raum remained silent, neither pleased nor upset.
Glynda had long since known that Argel was a wielder of some form of magic, Ozpin had made sure to warn her of that. Whatever it was, it was powerful, dangerous, and it seemed that he knew exactly how to use it. Nobody without aura could do even one of the things he did, displaying a drastic increase to his physical capabilities, manipulating the dust in his blades, and speaking to her telepathically. She wanted to ask him where he acquired such magecraft and why it always felt so disturbing whenever he used it, until she saw the doubt and hesitation in his eyes. He had the answers, she was sure of it, and she guessed that he might tell her if she pressed him enough. But that hesitation written on his face… she wasn't sure she wanted to hear it.
'Does he feel that he's… protecting me in some way from the truth? From himself?' She pieced together. Whatever the case, he hadn't given her any reason to suspect that he'd turn on them, much less harm the students, which was her main concern. Besides, the gesture was oddly sweet.
"Argel," She spoke, supressing a grin as she watched him tense very slightly.
"Yes?" He asked, seeming to steel himself.
"Do you want us to grab a proper lunch tomorrow?"
She laughed as his brows went up.
...TWBY Continued...
So, what do you think? I'm honestly not too happy with how the fight with the Deviant Glavenus ended, but I didn't want to drag it on any longer than one chapter. Other than that, do you guys feel like I'm doing Argel's character justice here with the way he acts and reacts to the events around him? And what do you think about the little tidbit on dust that I mentioned? Let me know and hopefully see you all soon!