章 811: 154
Chapter 154:
Tyrian cackled as he flung himself straight at Team RASP (minus Ruby) and Setsuna. Weiss and Setsuna immediately split apart, going in separate directions. Jaune raised his shield, readying himself to defend. When Tyrian arrived, he sent his body into a spin, allowing him to lash out with his arm-mounted blades in a rapid series of slashes that Jaune had difficulty deflecting, even though they were coming in on roughly the same vector every time.
However, he didn't need to hold out all that long. Pyrrha leapt over his head, leading with a thrust from her weapon in its javelin-mode. With a harsh laugh, Tyrian, who'd only just landed, immediately ducked down, the mechanical tail that had apparently replaced the one Ruby had cut off reaching up to curl around Milo's extended shaft, and threatening to yank it off-course. However, Tyrian found himself faced with Jaune's sword, which swung at him from below, sweeping upwards.
Immediately throwing himself backwards, Tyrian instead began to pull Pyrrha over and above him curling his legs in preparation to slam his boots home against her stomach. However, Pyrrha's entire body abruptly inverted, rising up out of the path of his kick, while she continued to fly over him. Around the metal components of the armor pieces on her body, a shimmering outline of black was visible, Pyrrha using her Semblance to control the metal she wore, using it to make an evasion that shouldn't have been possible for her.
Continuing to use her Semblance to control her own movement, Pyrrha accelerated the arc of her flight, coming down behind Tyrian, using the movement to turn her weapon in her grip, aligning the javelin's blade with the top of Tyrian's head, while the man continued to float horizontally in the air. At the same moment, Tyrian's tail uncoiled from around Pyrrha's weapon, the tip of his stinger jabbing into the floor, lifting him up and out of Milo's path as the rifle in the weapon's butt fired, sending it accelerating forward sharply in Pyrrha's grip.
Using his tail to control his movement, Tyrian swiftly twirled his body around, lashing out with a swing of his leg, forcing Pyrrha to dart back, before aiming both his arm-mounted weapons at her and opening fire with the machine guns set between the two curving blades. Pyrrha swiftly fell back, bringing up her shield, the bullets pinging sharply against its surface.
Then Tyrian swiftly used his tail to launch himself away, and not a second too soon, the asphalt surface below where he'd been abruptly sinking downwards to form a crater. Cartwheeling wildly through the air, Tyrian still somehow managed to find Setsuna's location, immediately taking aim with his guns and opening fire.
Setsuna crossed his kama in front of his body, the air seeming to distort strangely. The bullets Tyrian fired reached that distortion, then slowed to a stop, hanging in the air. Then Setsuna uncrossed his weapons in a slashing movement, the projectiles suddenly flying back the way they came.
With that shrill laugh of his, Tyrian brought his tail whipping up between him and Setsuna, the blurring appendage swiftly batting away the bullets that Setsuna had sent flying back at him. While he was doing that, a white flash of light illuminated the air behind Tyrian, the sword-wheel of a Summoning Glyph appearing. From within that, a spinning shape emerged, flying at Tyrian behind like an oversized wheel.
Distracted by dealing with attacks from Pyrrha, Jaune, and Setsuna, Tyrian was left without recourse as Weiss' Boarbatusk Summon slammed into him from behind, the spikes lining its back raking at his Aura. Even Tyrian's pained shriek was underlined with laughter though. He completely ignored the remaining few bullets of the barrage Setsuna had sent flying back at him, allowing them to strike his Aura, while his tail lashed behind him, its tip tearing effortlessly through the Boarbatusk's spinning body, shredding the Summon into motes of light.
When Tyrian landed, he found Weiss already within striking distance, the tip of her rapier extended. Tyrian batted the first pair of thrusts away with his arm-mounted blades, his tail seeing to a third. Then he jumped back, planting his hands to twist his body out of the way of a fourth, before using the same movement to flare his legs in a kick that reached past Weiss' extended arm to strike her in the chest, knocking her back with a pained gasp.
Setsuna and Pyrrha immediately closed in from behind. But Tyrian simply pushed off with his hand, using the bucking and twisting his hips to orient his movement towards Weiss, planning to press the offensive against her, while simultaneously avoiding the other two. However, before Tyrian could strike the still reeling Weiss, he found his path blocked by Jaune's shield, Jaune skidding to a stop between them, seeming to flicker into being out of nothing.
This again! thought Tyrian, his face betraying the tiniest twitch of frustration as his bracer-blades skipped off the angled surface of Jaune's shield, then he was forced to dodge back as Jaune unleashed a downwards slash with a shout, a blade of white light streaming form the edge of his sword, threatening to cleave Tyrian's Aura in two.
Unfortunately, Tyrian's path of retreat carried him right back into Pyrrha and Setsuna, who converged on his back. Tyrian's tail moved as though it had a mind of its own, blurring and whipping about to fend off the slashes of Pyrrha's sword and Setsuna's kama. Kicking off the ground, Tyrian sent himself into a swift backflip over their heads. Landing, he immediately jumped away again, the ground where he'd touched down caving in again. Tyrian was forced to dodge two more times as the phenomenon repeated twice more, each time targeting the space where he'd landed.
"The jerk's sharp," Setsuna commented.
"Could you expand the range," Pyrrha asked.
"I could, but that has its own risks," replied Setsuna. "The wider it reaches, the higher it goes, and I risk pulling down the level above us. If this jerk is under it when it happens, fine, but too much damage could bring this whole structure down on our heads...not to mention however many Grimm are above us right now."
Pyrrha swallowed, finding herself now mindful that, while they were struggling against Tyrian, the spawning pool somewhere above them was still churning out more Grimm. If they were following the same pattern as before, then they would be congregating, building up their numbers before launching a mass-charge on the safe zone's defensive perimeter. The longer this took, the more Grimm they would have to fight through to get to the spawning pool.
"Destroying that pool is our priority," said Weiss, as she and Jaune came up to join Pyrrha and Setsuna.
"If that's the case, then how about we divide and conquer?" suggested Jaune.
"How does that work against a single person?" asked Pyrrha, looking askance at Jaune.
He gave her a surprisingly sly grin. "We'll be the ones dividing...The problem is...we'll need to hold Callows' attention, so he doesn't figure it out too soon."
They looked across at Tyrian, who was giggling softly to himself as he began to edge back towards them again. "What are you planning?" he asked, his maniacal grin widening, while he tilted his head to regard them. "What little tricks will you children try next?"
Setsuna's eyebrows went up. "Hey," he said softly, "that goddess he was talking about...is it Salem?"
"Yep," said Jaune.
"Then I think I know a way to keep him occupied," said Setsuna. "These pious types come with easy buttons to push."
"I'll help," said Pyrrha, readying her own weapons.
"Then Weiss and I will head for the pool," said Jaune, trading a look and a nod with Weiss.
They all tensed, then Setsuna suddenly flashed forward, using the Shukuchi to close the distance between himself and Tyrian. The man's eyes widened as Setsuna was suddenly within striking distance. Setsuna easily leaned aside from a stab from Tyrian's tail, before launching a rapid series of slashes with his kama, which Tyrian fended off with his bladed bracers.
When Tyrian tried to counter, Setsuna flipped back, kicking up with his feet, striking Tyrian's slashing blades from below with the metal plates attached to the soles of his geta, knocking them up, while extending one arm to slash at Tyrian's ankles. Jumping back, Tyrian used a backflip to whip his tail around, lashing his stinger straight for Setsuna's head. At the last second, the mechanical appendage was lined with black energy, its thrust turned aside to miss Setsuna's face by a narrow margin.
Pushing off with his planted hand, Setsuna executed a flip of his own, using it to bring both his kama down on Tyrian from above, catching the weapons with his bracers, the two of them locked together. Tyrian brought his tail over his head, aiming for Setsuna's head again, but Pyrrha's Semblance pulled it aside once more. However, that mattered little, as Tyrian found his eyes locked with Setsuna, the young boy from the Mibu fixing him with a strange smirk.
"I gotta wonder," said Setsuna, "did you happen to catch Jester's presentation?"
"You mean the lamp?" asked Tyrian, his smile fading slightly. "What of it?"
"Well...I was just finding myself wondering why you follow that thing," said Setsuna.
Tyrian's teeth reappeared...but not as a grin.
"I mean, if you saw the answer to Jester's second question, then you realize what it means, right?" asked Setsuna. "The Gods of Light and Dark are pretenders, false gods. The God of Light cursed Salem with immortality, but the God of Light doesn't even really deserve to be called a god himself."
A low growl built in the back of Tyrian's throat.
"In the end, they abandoned this world," continued Setsuna. "They left Salem behind, and forgot all about her, until the Crimson King brought humanity back. Do you realize what that means?"
"Be silent," growled Tyrian, his blades pressing harder against Setsuna's kama.
Setsuna's smirk widened. "It means that Salem doesn't matter. She was thrown away, like litter on the side of the road."
"No more..." snarled Tyrian, baring down on Setsuna with still more strength.
"How does it feel...knowing you've spent your entire life worshiping a piece of discarded trash?"
"You BASTARD!" shrieked Tyrian, pushing with all the strength of his body, sending Setsuna flying backwards. Tyrian was chasing after him in a flash, leaping after Setsuna and attacking with a flurry of slashes that were too fast for the eye to follow. His blades rang against Setsuna's kama in a rapid tempo, Setsuna swiftly giving ground before the onslaught.
"How dare you say such things about my goddess?!" Tyrian shouted. He went into a jumping spin, twisting his body to send his tail lashing for Setsuna's chest. Setsuna swiftly pulled back out of its way, only for Tyrian's boot to land a blow in the tail's place, knocking Setsuna off his feet. "You will pay for your blasphemy!" Landing, Tyrian brought his arms around, letting loose with another salvo from his guns.
The bullets pinged off loose chunks of asphalt that had risen up into the air around Setsuna, their movements revolving, forming into a loose cloud that screened against Tyrian's shots. When Tyrian paused, seeing that his attack wasn't getting through, several pieces of debris launched themselves at him, much like bullets themselves. Falling back, Tyrian prepared to use his tail and blades to block the incoming attacks, only to feel as though his limbs were moving moving through thick mud. Before he could get them into position, Setsuna's projectiles struck, striking with violet flashes against Tyrian's Aura.
Tyrian tried to move, but found it too hard. A second later, the remaining debris orbiting around Setsuna fell to the floor. Then Tyrian's breath fled him in a pained gasp, the gravity around him increasing several-fold, pressing him down to the floor of the parking garage, which buckled beneath him.
"Guess we should've done that from the start," noted Setsuna, Pyrrha coming up to stand beside him.
"Don't underestimate him," commented Pyrrha. "Someone like this is still very dangerous."
"Right..." muttered Setsuna, readying his kama.
Pyrrha raised Milo, the pair of them preparing to finish Tyrian off. Neither of them felt much remorse at the idea, considering the sheer madness of the man before them.
Tyrian's grin suddenly returned with a vengeance. His previously yellow eyes suddenly turned a violet color. A shimmering field of energy in the same color enveloped Tyrian's right hand. Struggling with all his might, Tyrian raised it, then swept it through the air in front of him.
The result was like a curtain parting. Suddenly, the gravity-field created by Setsuna's Chiyugi unraveled. The burden on his body gone, Tyrian shot forward with a triumphant shriek, immediately spinning, twisting, and flipping his body into a rapid series of attacks; slashing with his blades, lashing with his tail, and kicking with his feet. Setsuna and Pyrrha were rapidly driven back by the onslaught. Pyrrha used her Semblance as much as she could to divert the speed and power of Tyrian's attacks, while Setsuna parried and flipped, using the steel soles of his sandals as often as he used his kama. Then Tyrian abruptly turned his body horizontal, kicking straight out with both legs, while holding himself up with his tail. Each boot found its mark on the stomach of his two opponents, knocking them back.
Skidding to a stop, Pyrrha dropped down to one knee, struggling to get her breath back. "But your...S-Semblance..." she protested.
The last time Team RASP had faced down Tyrian, he had told them that his Semblance was called Potency, which allowed him to control the nature of the venom produced by his tail. But now...he had done something that clearly had nothing to do with his venom. It was as though he had attacked Setsuna's technique itself...No! Pyrrha thought frantically. He attacked Setsuna's Aura!
Tyrian let out a little, wheezing giggle. "I lied," he replied.
"That's a scary ability to go up against," muttered Setsuna. With an ability like that, he could push through most of my techniques, or even disperse our Temper with nothing but a touch. This guy is a natural-born enemy to Aura-users!
"All the better for me to punish you for your heresy against my goddess," said Tyrian, tilting his head back and forth.
"What's wrong with calling the product of a couple of pretend gods a pretender herself?" asked Setsuna. "But...I suppose, if she just tells the lie often enough, eventually she'll get people like you to buy it. Fake it 'til you make it, right?"
That knocked the smile back off Tyrian's face. He lunged for them with an angry shriek, almost the kind of noise a banshee might make. He led with another barrage from his guns. This time, Pyrrha went into action, catching the incoming bullets with her Semblance, sending them circling around the rim of her shield, before slingshotting them back at Tyrian at even greater speed.
Nonetheless, he dodged, throwing his body into a spinning flip that carried it out of the line of fire. His jump took him up to the ceiling, where he planted his hands and feet, using all four limbs to push off and launch himself down at Setsuna and Pyrrha. They parted, jumping aside as his blades plunged through where their bodies had been. Planting his hands on the ground, Tyrian lashed out with his feet in both directions, snapping his tail at the retreating Setsuna as well, for good measure.
Setsuna's legs were bending, his head moving forward and dropping, indicating that he was ducking beneath Tyrian's tail. However, even as his prosthetic appendage passed through the space Setsuna's head had occupied, Tyrian was already dropping down even lower, nearly lying flat against the ground, lunging at Setsuna to slash at his legs. But he was no longer there.
Setsuna hadn't jumped. However, even as he had ducked beneath Tyrian's tail, his body suddenly began to move upwards, flying towards the ceiling. Glaring up at Setsuna, Tyrian was quick to leap upwards in pursuit, only to find himself forced to bat away Pyrrha's shield with his tail, as it came flying at his head. Still, he was able to follow Setsuna, who had inverted his body to land, feet first, on the ceiling of the garage level they were on, between two lines of supports. He stood upside down as though it was the most natural thing in the world. In contrast, Tyrian was forced to grab one of the supports, hanging from it as he twisted his body to strike at Setsuna with his tail.
Easily parrying the attack with one kama, Setsuna dashed forward, launching a series of attacks, his blades blurs in front of him. Tyrian was forced to twist and vault, always holding on to one of the supports, whether with a hand, or his tail, fending off Setsuna's strikes with his other limbs. The fact that he needed to work to keep himself on the ceiling meant that he wasn't able to fight as easily from that position. On top of that, the task became only all the more difficult when Pyrrha opened fire from below.
All the same, Tyrian still managed to continue to keep Setsuna at bay, while dodging Pyrrha's shots. However, the look of anger and frustration on his face was quite apparent. Gone were the manic smile and the wheezing laughter. Tyrian was no longer having fun with this fight. He glared at Setsuna with a look of utter hatred.
The pair of them continued to battle on the ceiling, until Tyrian saw his chance. Using his tail, he knocked one of Setsuna's kama aside, before reaching out with his hand, his eyes turning violet. A crackling sheath of the same color enveloped his outstretched hand, brushing against Setsuna's body.
"Uh oh!" With a surprised grunt, Setsuna dropped like a rock. On reflex, he kicked off the ceiling, both to increase the speed of his descent and to begin the process of righting his body before he hit the ground. That was also what saved him from Tyrian's followthrough, as Tyrian had immediately clenched his outstretched hand into a fist, opening fire with his guns. The bullets would have torn through Setsuna's unprotected body, had he not kicked off the ceiling first.
Fortunately, by the time Setsuna had reached the ground, he had re-established his Temper. But Tyrian was hot on his heels, descending with a shriek, blades whirling and tail stabbing. Setsuna barely managed to dodge away from the dervish, before Tyrian came after him. However, Pyrrha also attacked from behind, throwing her shield at the back of Tyrian's head. His tail swiftly moved to bat Akouo away. However, it was lined by the black of Pyrrha's Semblance, which slowed its motion, allowing her to swing Milo past it at the space between his shoulders.
However, Tyrian ducked forward, planting his hands and kicking up with a boot, intercepting Pyrrha's attack by kicking the hand holding her sword. Milo was knocked out of Pyrrha's grip and sent spinning upwards. With an angry howl, Tyrian went into a one-handed handstand, aiming the gun on the other arm at Pyrrha. Right as he fired, Pyrrha's shield swooped around to intercept the bullets. At the same time, the twirling form of Milo extended into its javelin-mode, orienting down at Tyrian, then using the recoil of a shot from the butt end to send it lancing down at him.
Pushing off, Tyrian was barely able to evade the javelin, which pierced down into the asphalt beneath him. However, his evasion brought him closer to Setsuna, who slashed at his now-unguarded back with his kama. Tyrian tried to move his tail to block, only to find that it was seized tight in the hold of Pyrrha's Semblance, locking it into place. Setsuna's kama left black trails of their own as they bit into Tyrian's Aura, their force far greater than the mass of the weapons themselves and the strength of Setsuna's body combined could possibly produce. Tyrian was sent flying away with a scream, launched past Pyrrha, who sidestepped him just in time.
Tyrian slammed into the side of an abandoned car, folding the vehicle in half with the force of his impact. Laying against it, upside down, he glared furiously at Setsuna and Pyrrha.
"That's a pretty sorry state," commented Setsuna. "I guess the quality of a goddess' minions would say a lot about her. To have a follower like you, it must mean that Salem's a pretty sorry excuse for a goddess, don't you think?"
Another angry snarl built in Tyrian's throat. Rolling around, he planted his hands and feet against the side of the car, before launching himself off it with an enraged shriek, the force actually rocking the ruined vehicle back, and sending it sliding across the asphalt. Tyrian flew at Setsuna like a missile, moving faster than he ever had before. His blades and tail were blurs, and Setsuna was forced to backpedal, while working his kama furiously to fend off the flurry of strikes that fell upon him.
Pieces of broken asphalt shot straight up from the ground, slamming into Tyrian from below. But the man ignored them, not even offering a grunt of pain as they smashed against his Aura, Tyrian locked onto Setsuna with a singleminded tenacity that only a true fanatic would ever be capable of. Pyrrha tried to attack him from behind, but found herself blown back by a strike from his tail. She'd managed to catch it with her shield, but the force behind the blow was unreal, sending her flying away.
"Chinseirin!" More pieces of debris rose up, veiling Setsuna's body in a floating cloud that orbited him at high speed, helping to deflect many of Tyrian's attacks, though Tyrian's blades often cleaved through the small pieces of concrete and asphalt like they weren't even there. Then, with a wave of a violet-shrouded hand, Tyrian seemed to simply brush a number of those pieces aside, creating a hole in Setsuna's defense, through which he struck with the blade on his opposite arm, Setsuna grunting in pain as it bit into his Aura. Fortunately, Tyrian's Semblance had only made contact with debris, and not his Temper, so Setsuna managed to escape being eviscerated.
But the hit still staggered him, and Tyrian moved to capitalize on the opening, the pace of his attacks increasing even more, his arms and legs barely visible, and even his tail nothing more than a blur. Desperately, Setsuna fired the accumulated debris picked up by his technique at Tyrian, but the man again simply ignored the barrage, bulling through it to continue with his raging offense. Gone was the erratic, yet still incredibly precise, fighting style. In its place were the movements of an enraged berserker, even more erratic, and all finesse replaced with unparalleled power.
His flailing strikes with his blades were threatening to tear Setsuna's sickles from his hands. Setsuna used his Manifestation to enhance the weight behind his blows and counters. His kama left black trails through the air with each block and slash. With a growl of exertion, Setsuna fought back, calling upon every ounce of power and skill he possessed. For a moment, he and Tyrian were locked into a stalemate, sparks flashing between them as their weapons clashed against each other. Tyrian lashed out with his tail, whipping it around from below, but it met the sole of Setsuna's geta, with Setsuna increasing the weight behind the kick to better knock the attack away.
However, despite being able to increase his power to match Tyrian's, Setsuna couldn't quite keep up with the madman's speed. With a triumphant shout, Tyrian caught the shaft of Setsuna's left-handed kama between the converging curves of his right-arm blades. With a powerful twist, Tyrian yanked the weapon straight out of Setsuna's grip. Setsuna responded by lashing out with a wave of pure gravity, a burst of black energy that washed straight out from his now-empty hand, forcing Tyrian back...but not before Tyrian's boot slammed into his stomach.
Setsuna landed hard on his back, his breath exploding from his lungs. Tyrian managed to right himself, then reverse his momentum, pouncing towards Setsuna, both arms extended, and his tail arcing over his head, all three weapons converging on Setsuna above. What was more, Tyrian's hands were sheathed in violet energy. He intended to strip away Setsuna's Temper, then tear straight into his unprotected body.
However, Tyrian's blades and tail came to a halt before they could touch Setsuna. Now Tyrian was stuck, his body suspended in mid-air. Behind him, Pyrrha stood up, having recovered from being knocked away. Now she extended both her hands, which were lined by the ebony field of her Semblance. She dragged Tyrian away from Setsuna, which wasn't so hard, given that being suspended in mid-air gave Tyrian nothing to use as a foothold to brace against and resist the action.
With a grunt, Pyrrha threw Tyrian across the garage. The scorpion-faunus recovered quickly though, twisting around to land on all fours, his tail lashing down, the stinger piercing through the asphalt and plowing a small furrow, slowing him down to a stop. Rising, he gave Pyrrha a genuinely frustrated look.
For her part, Pyrrha extended her arms out to her sides. To either side of her, her Semblance seized the bodies of a pair of ruined cars, which she then flung right at Tyrian, one after the other. With a shout, Tyrian leapt, practically galloping over the first flying vehicle on all-fours to jump clear of it. The second one was adjusting to intercept him, but Tyrian thrust his arms forwards, planting the blades of his bracers into the car's metal roof, using the car's own rotation as it flew through the air to come around, aiming to push off the other side to launch himself at Pyrrha and Setsuna.
Except that Pyrrha had already released her Semblance's hold on the car, mainly so that she could take aim at the car's fuel tank, bringing Milo back up in her hands. Her aim was true, and her shot set off the liquid combustion fuel that was within the tank, causing the car to explode, with Tyrian on it. Besides the flames, Tyrian was also battered by the chunks of metal from the car's shredded body. He dropped down to the floor, looking scorched, but still a long ways from being completely stopped.
Pyrrha wasn't done though. There were plenty of other cars scattered throughout the abandoned garage. Reaching out with her Semblance, she seized several more, which were sent flying towards Tyrian, he crouched, preparing to evade. But, when Tyrian did evade, it wasn't Pyrrha's improvised projectiles he was dodging. Instead, he leapt to the side as Setsuna's Chiyugi caved in the asphalt where he'd been standing.
Landing a short distance away, Tyrian had just enough time to glare at Setsuna before he was forced to dodge again, the gravity abruptly increasing right where he'd been standing a fraction of a second before. However, in the process of dodging that attack, Tyrian found that he had placed himself directly into the path of one of Pyrrha's Semblance-controlled cars, which slammed into him from the side, its body crumpling around Tyrian before he was launched through the air.
Righting himself, Tyrian took aim, firing a barrage from his guns. However, there was a ripple of distortion in the air, like an invisible wall between Tyrian and his two opponents. His bullets abruptly dipped downwards, striking the floor. Then Tyrian was struck from behind by another car, being thrown again, before another car flew in from a different angle, clipping his body and sending him into a dizzying spin.
From there, he crashed into the ground, rolling to a stop, laying sprawled out on the asphalt, which immediately caved downwards from Setsuna's Chiyugi, locking him into place. All the remaining cars converged on his position, crashing on him from above, Setsuna's technique making them even heavier. They all struck with an impact that shook the garage to its foundations.
"Did we get him?" asked Pyrrha warily.
"No," said Setsuna, grunting in frustration. "He used his Semblance to get out at the last second. He's a slippery jerk."
Setsuna immediately deployed his Extension around the two of them, waiting for the first sign of Tyrian's next attack. However, even though he was able to sense the timing and angle of Tyrian's approach, the sheer speed was such that he was still caught off-guard. Setsuna turned to meet the incoming Tyrian, only to receive a boot to the face for his troubles. His neck strained as his head was snapped to one side, the strength behind the blow nearly breaking it through his Aura.
As Setsuna was sent flying, Tyrian landed in a crouch, then threw himself at Pyrrha with an animalistic howl. Pyrrha used her Semblance to control Akouo, whirling the shield around herself, desperately using it to fend off Tyrian's strikes, while she used her javelin to try and fight back. But Tyrian's attacks were just too ferocious. What was more, Pyrrha was badly winded from the tremendous exertion of her previous use of her Semblance. As powerful as it could be, she wasn't accustomed to manipulating such heavy objects, or so many of them at once. Because of that, her control was flagging, and her shield wasn't able to keep up with the speed and volume to Tyrian's attacks.
Setsuna groaned, pushing himself up off the floor. As he raised his head, he saw Pyrrha rapidly falling back before Tyrian's onslaught. Grunting, Setsuna tried to push himself up, only for his arms to falter. He barely had any strength remaining. Blood trickled from a cut running down his cheek, making Setsuna realize that his Temper had been broken, barely the faintest wisp of his Aura remained.
However, he couldn't afford to remain down. Pyrrha's Aura was flagging too. Before long, Tyrian wouldn't even need his Semblance to break through her defenses. Growling, Setsuna got one leg under him, then the other. Tightening his grip around his remaining kama, he forced himself up to a standing position.
However, his exertion hadn't gone unnoticed by Tyrian, who glared in Setsuna's direction, before batting his tail against Akouo's edge, the force behind his attack briefly overpowering the control of Pyrrha's Semblance, sending the shield flying at Setsuna's head. Because Pyrrha had been trying to get the shield back under control, it didn't have much momentum. However, because Setsuna didn't have his Temper anymore, the shield easily struck hard enough to stagger him...its sharpened edge cutting a line along his forehead, as he spun in place, fighting his hardest just to keep from being sent back to the ground again.
In the meantime, Pyrrha was without her shield, which Tyrian took immediate advantage of. Swinging his left arm across, he used the move to knock Pyrrha's javelin aside. Following through with his right, he swept the hand, sheathed in the violet energy of his Semblance, across her stomach, parting Pyrrha's Temper. Immediately behind that came his tail, its barb sinking through her corset, and punching into the vulnerable flesh beneath. Pyrrha' gasped, her eyes going wide, her entire body jolting. Milo fell from her hand, and Akouo clattered to the ground somewhere past Setsuna.
Grinning triumphantly, Tyrian lifted Pyrrha up with his tail, leaving her suspended in the air, before he turned his body, whipping his tail to fling Pyrrha off it, sending her flying directly into Setsuna, knocking him back off his feet.
"P-Pyrrha-san..." grunted Setsuna, looking at her worriedly. Pyrrha was coughing and trembling, one hand clutching the puncture to her stomach. On top of being deep, there was also no telling how much of his venom Tyrian had pumped into her, or how long she had before its effects became fatal.
Grinning vindictively, Tyrian walked towards them, taking his sweet time. "Now that I have you two settled, I can take my time teaching you what a sin it is to disparage my goddess," he said. "Then I'll be free to play with the other...two..." Tyrian's voice trailed off as the realization began to sank in.
After all, his only opponents for the past few minutes had been Setsuna and Pyrrha. In his rage over Setsuna's insults towards Salem, Tyrian had all but forgotten about Weiss and Jaune. However, the other two hadn't joined in the fight. In fact...Tyrian hadn't seen any sign of them, nor could he see any now. If they aren't here, then...
It was then he noticed the sounds from above...or rather...the absence of sound. There were no vocalizations of gathering Grimm, no sound of claws against asphalt and concrete. From above, there was only silence. That could only mean one thing. The spawning pool had been destroyed...and the Grimm as well.
I...failed... he thought, his eyes widening, a feeling of despair welling up within him.
"No..." he whispered.
A chuckle drew his attention back to Setsuna, who was smirking, despite the dire situation he and Pyrrha were in. "Pretty stupid, isn't it?" he asked rhetorically. "You got so worked up about your precious goddess, you forgot what you were supposed to be doing for her. Because you were so fervent, you failed her. How does it feel...knowing that your devotion...was your own worst enemy?"
There was no humor in Tyrian's expression now, only a look of purest rage. "I'll kill you!" he snarled. "I'll kill you. I'll hunt down everyone you love and kill them all. I will make them scream and curse your name, before they die."
"Good luck with that," said Gin, before coughing. "Geez...what a tired threat."
Tyrian raised his tail up, preparing to plunge it downwards, aiming straight for one of Setsuna's defiant eyes.
Then the entire parking garage began to rumble. The ceiling above Tyrian completely collapsed, a shining white hand, clad in armor plates, plunged downwards, closing around Tyrian's body. Normally, he could have evaded such an obvious incoming attack. However, between his anger and the damage he'd taken over the course of his fight with Pyrrha and Setsuna, Tyrian's responses were dulled. Because of that, when the hand of Weiss' Arma Gigas Summon closed around him, he was unable to react.
The massive hand pulled him up to the level above. Weiss had started with her Summon's arm, but more of it was coming into being with each passing second. It rose up, its plumed helm smashing through the ceiling of the level she was on. As it rose up, it turned, swinging Tyrian in its grip, slamming his body through the level above, plowing straight through concrete and asphalt, before he was thrown into the open air, coming to slam down into the street outside.
Jaune dropped down from above, landing beside Setsuna and Pyrrha.
"Hang on," said Jaune, holding out white-glowing hands.
"Pyrrha-san's been poisoned," Setsuna managed to force out.
"Dammit..." grunted Jaune, grimacing. He hadn't learned how to treat poisons yet, the skill requiring more finesse than he had right now, with the limited training Sasame and Miyu had been able to give him.
And time definitely wasn't on their side. Pyrrha's body was practically vibrating with spasms, her eyes rolling up into her head. With the dosage Tyrian had given her, she had a few minutes left at most. Jaune took all of this in with a clinical eye, using the observational skills that Sasame had pounded into him, while also keeping calm, applying the training that he had done with Sasame and Miyu, the same training that had allowed him to help Neo before.
"We need to get her to Sasame-sama," said Setsuna.
"Not enough time," said Jaune, "unless..."
Setsuna's eyes widened as Jaune brought his hands up, holding them spaced apart, palms facing each other. Between them, the light of his Aura began to gather, intensifying into a single point, which gradually expanded outwards into a sphere, which he now cupped in both hands. Then, moving carefully, Jaune brought that sphere of Aura down, lowering it delicately to the wound on Pyrrha's stomach, where it sank into her flesh. A rippling, white field of energy washed over Pyrrha's body. Her spasms lessened, then died down completely. Her body when limp, a soft gasp escaping from between her lips.
Jaune frowned, pressing a pair of fingers to her neck, checking her pulse, before touching her forehead, feeling the presence of a fever.
"What was that?" asked Setsuna. He'd never seen Miyu or Sasame pull off a trick like that.
"It's a stopgap," replied Jaune. "Basically, I enhanced a portion of my own Aura, and then planted in her. It'll keep healing her body for a while, which will keep the poison symptoms at bay. But...when it runs out, we'll be back where we started."
"But you've bought her a few more minutes," said Gin, realizing what Jaune had done.
Jaune nodded. "We've got to get her to Sasame now." He paused, raising his head and looking outside the garage, where the sounds of combat were ringing out. "But first..."
While Jaune had been helping Pyrrha and Setsuna, Weiss was giving Tyrian her full attention.
Back before, as soon as Setsuna and Pyrrha had begun their attack on Tyrian, and Setsuna had begun to rile up the man with taunts, Weiss and Jaune had headed for the stairs, making their way up to find where the spawning pool was located on the levels above. It hadn't been easy. All the upper levels of the garage were filling up with Grimm, and they had needed to ascend two levels before they found the spawning pool. Then, after a rushed battle to get through the Grimm the pool had been spitting out, Weiss had finally been able to set it alight, and destroy it for good.
Of course, there had still been the remaining Grimm to contend with. It had been a few hard-fought minutes before the parking garage was cleared of its infestation, after which, a quick check of her scroll told Weiss that Pyrrha was in dire straits. Using her Summon, Weiss decided to forgo using the stairs, and instead smashed straight down to pull Tyrian away from the other two, leaving an opening for Jaune to go help them.
Now, as Tyrian struggled to get back up from where he'd landed, the walls of the parking garage exploded outwards, the massive form of the Arma Gigas plowing straight through, landing with an earthshaking thud, its boots breaking the street where it touched down. It charged at Tyrian, swinging the massive sword in its right hand, aiming straight down at the prone faunus.
With a grunt, Tyrian pushed off the ground with all his strength, managing to throw himself backwards, getting clear of the sword's length, as it split the earth where he'd been lying a second earlier, throwing out waves of debris to either side of it, and sending a crevasse extending down along the line of its slash.
Executing a flip, Tyrian landed on his feet, rising up as the Arma Gigas lifted its sword up, and then began to charge him again. Behind it, Weiss emerged from the hole it had left in the side of the parking garage, landing and following in its wake.
With an angry growl, Tyrian raised his left hand up, swatting at the sword in what seemed like a futile gesture of resistance. However, his eyes turned violet, the same color covering his outstretched hand. When it came into contact with the Arma Gigas' sword, the construct evaporated, more than half the blade disappearing, with the rest beginning to unravel as well, so that the Arma Gigas' attack never reached Tyrian.
Weiss gasped, her eyes going wide. She hadn't been present when Setsuna and Pyrrha had learned that Tyrian had lied about his Semblance in their previous conflict. Because of that, she was seeing this for the first time. The complete destruction of her expectations caused her to falter, which gave Tyrian room to act...and turn the tables.
With a howl, Tyrian threw himself forward, launching himself straight at the gigantic knight, which had paused as a consequence of Weiss' indecision. Now, with both of his hands shrouded in the violet energy of his Semblance, Tyrian lashed out, his mere touch opening up several enormous holes in the Arma Gigas' torso, Tyrian himself flying through one of them to land on the other side as the rest of the Summon evaporated behind him.
Now Weiss had nothing between her and the enraged fanatic. Tyrian lunged at her with a shriek, attacking furiously with his blades and tail. Fortunately, the damage he'd taken in his fight against Pyrrha and Setsuna had actually slowed him down, the problem further compounded by how furiously he had overexerted himself against them in his rage. His speed had dropped to the point where Weiss was actually able to follow his movements. Myrtenaster was a silvery blur as she whipped it through swift crescent movements, desperately parrying Tyrian's strikes.
Missing one slash, Tyrian dove forward to plant his hand on the asphalt, inverting his body and turning it to lash out with a kick. But the snowflake sigil of one of Weiss' Propulsion Glyphs appeared beneath her feet, sending her sliding around to the side. As she moved, she also turned in place, slashing down at an angle with Myrtenaster, forcing Tyrian to use his tail to defend himself.
Quickly pushing off with his hand, Tyrian righted himself and prepared to go back on the attack. However, right as his foot touched the ground, a ringing sound reached his ears, and his foot was enveloped in ice, which had washed out from where the tip of Weiss' rapier had touched the street, Weiss simply tipping her sword down after her last missed attack, then triggering her Dust. From there, she moved straight in, leading with a series of rapid thrusts, her sword appearing to be in multiple places at once.
Despite her surprise at the trick Tyrian had pulled out of his (metaphorical) hat, Weiss hadn't been too distracted. After all, countless matches and training with Ruby had served to inoculate her against the shock of an opponent pulling off a completely unexpected feat. Weiss had lost count of the number of times she'd been caught flatfooted by Ruby unleashing a technique she'd never seen before. Just because Tyrian had done something that she hadn't thought he could do was no reason for her to stand still and let him kill her. Her slight hesitation, after seeing him make her knight's sword disappear with a wave of his hand had been the tiniest faltering. But now she'd recovered.
Now Tyrian was the one forced on the defensive, desperately wielding his blades and tail to keep Weiss' sword at bay. His trapped foot made his normal acrobatic moves impossible, so he was forced to entirely resort to using his weapons to stop Weiss' attack. In the process of parrying one of her weapons, he swung his arm down, the blades retracting so that he could fire his gun, the bullets shattering the ice holding his foot in place. Now able to move more freely, Tyrian was able to leap back. However, another Propulsion Glyph appeared in the air as he passed through it, turning black, causing his backwards momentum to disappear.
In the brief second that Tyrian was left hanging in space, Weiss drove Myrtenaster into the street once again. This time, a mass of stone erupted outwards, a massive chunk slamming straight into Tyrian's chest. He was blasted backwards, his Aura flickering, then breaking. Despite that, he managed to ride out the blow, executing another flip to get his feet back under him.
Upon landing, Tyrian looked up to see Weiss glide up the ramp formed from the stone she'd just conjured, using it to rise up, before diving down at Tyrian with the aid of another Glyph, her sword leading. Despite being bereft of his Aura, Tyrian wasn't about to back down so easily. He threw himself forward, diving past Weiss' attack. She landed, sweeping Myrtenaster around, launching a crackling wave of electricity off the blade as she did. Tyrian dropped to all fours, his stomach practically scraping against the ground, before he pushed himself up and forward, lunging for her yet again.
Weiss charged to meet him, sliding swiftly across the ground. At first, it seemed like it was her win. She slid directly between Tyrian's outstretched arms, her sword piercing straight through the man's abdomen, before punching out his back. However, too late, she realized that she'd fallen for his trap.
Tyrian let out a wheezing cackle, not even seeming bothered by the pain. Rather than slash at her with his blades, he retracted the blades that extended out over his right hand, allowing him to press the barrels of his guns right up against Weiss' abdomen. Triggering them, he pounded the Aura protecting her with several shots, the concentrated attack breaking through her guard at a single point, the bullets proceeding to punch a hole straight through the side of her torso.
Weiss gasped in agony. She met Tyrian's eyes, watching the savage grin on his face. She spotted his tail rising up over his head, preparing to strike down at her and finish her off.
Then the sound of a pair of heavy boots hitting the ground behind her reached Weiss' ears. She didn't need Jaune to say anything. After all their training, she knew what she needed to do to open the way for him. Weiss allowed her legs to give out, releasing her weapon at the same time. She was able to savor the confused look on Tyrian's face as he watched her fall, before he was able to look past her to see Jaune.
Jaune raised his sword, the blade shining a blinding white color. For some reason, its radiance seemed especially blinding to Tyrian. Rather than try to move and evade, for a reason he couldn't completely quantify, he hesitated, as though he couldn't quite figure out what he needed to do to escape this predicament. Even so, the pain of the sword lodged in his gut inhibited him as well, keeping him from making any big moves.
All it was was a simple diagonal slash, Jaune slashing down and across his body. It was the absolute most-basic of moves, and one that he had been practicing incessantly, since his first days at Beacon. A wave of shining white flashed out from the blade, cutting clean through Tyrian. For a moment, all the madman could do was stare dumbly ahead, before he fell over backwards, the upper half of his torso falling away from the lower, blood fountaining out from the wound, then spreading across the ground as his corpse came to a rest, Myrtenaster sticking straight up out of it like a grave marker.
"Weiss!" Jaune wasted no time sheathing his sword and rushing to her side. Carefully gripping her shoulder, he pulled her away from Tyrian's body, then steadied her as he brought his hand to the bullet holes in her abdomen. Luckily, the shots had been on the outside, missing her inner organs. Closing his eyes, Jaune rested his hand against the wound, carefully Projecting his awareness down into her, guiding his Aura to carefully knit her flesh back together. It was the work of a couple of minutes. But, when he pulled his hand away, Weiss' flesh was intact, only a pair of red spots on her skin indicating where the bullet wounds had been at all.
"It's a good thing he was so close when he did that," Jaune commented. Because of their initial velocity, the bullets had punched clean through, and hadn't tumbled and torn the wounds they'd inflicted wider upon exiting. That had made it a little easier to treat.
"We should hurry," said Setsuna, who was staggering out from what remained of the parking garage, Pyrrha's arm slung over his shoulder as he did his best to support her.
Jaune helped Weiss up the same way. "We're a ways away from the safe zone," he said warily. "I don't know if we have enough time."
Weiss glanced sidelong at Jaune. "Can you boost my Aura?" she asked.
"Yeah," said Jaune, giving her a questioning look back.
Weiss smiled confidently. "I've got an express ticket for us."
Jaune nodded, then, using the arm he'd wrapped around Weiss' waist, he began to Project his Aura into her again, this time focusing on bolstering her own Aura. Weiss gasped as her strength returned...then compounded, the strength of her Aura multiplying from its contact with Jaune's own. Her vision cleared. The fatigue completely left her limbs. Her senses buzzed with renewed energy.
Stepping away from Jaune, Weiss reached out and pulled her weapon free from Tyrian's corpse. Then she drove it down into the pavement in front of her. With a flash, an enormous Summoning Glyph appeared around her. The Glyph strobed with blinding light, rising upwards, forcing Jaune and Setsuna to avert their eyes.
When the light receded, the boys were able to look up again. As they did, their jaws dropped.
The figure of a gargantuan Nevermore stood over Weiss, its wings spread. It feathers were a pristine white, and its four eyes glowed a pale blue. Lowering its head, it seemed to bow before them, even as it planted the clawed fingers extending from the bend in its wings against the ground to support itself.
"All aboard," said Weiss confidently.
"The last of the spawning pools has been destroyed," said Glynda, looking up from her scroll.
"Good," Ozpin's voice crackled through. "Clear out the remaining Grimm, then have the students and Huntsmen move to reinforce the perimeter walls. We still have contacts approaching from the outside."
"We still have one more thing to worry about though," said Glynda, looking up at the Wyvern, which continued to shriek as it circled over the city, dropping ever more black ooze from its body, no doubt spawning more and more Grimm with each droplet that fell.
"For the time being, leave it to the military. Without additional reinforcements from the spawning pools, the Grimm that the Wyvern spawns won't be enough to overrun the safe zone's perimeter, even without the Huntsmen there. In the meantime, I will work on a strategy to eliminate it. At this point, ensuring that our perimeter isn't overrun is more important."
"Very well," said Glynda, still a little dubious.
Eliminating the Wyvern would be no easy feat. Bullheads and mantas had been harrying the monstrous beast constantly. However, despite their attacks managing to herd it away from the safe zone, they had yet to inflict anything resembling an actual injury on it. Instead, the bullets and missiles only seemed to splatter still more of that black substance through the air, but never inflicting any actual damage on the beast.
If conventional attacks are not working...then we will need another approach, thought Glynda, not liking how few options they had at the moment.
"When it comes to dealing with the Wyvern, I believe we will need Ms. Rose's assistance," said Ozpin. "However, I am told that she is still recovering after her fight with Adam Taurus. So we will need to hold on until she's managed to regain some of her strength."
Glynda frowned, not liking the idea of putting so much on Ruby. However, she had no better options to propose at the moment.
"Ozpin!" Ironwood's voice broke in over the line.
"What is it, James?" asked Ozpin.
"Radar just picked up a new contact approaching from the northwest," said Ironwood. "It's slow-moving, but large...maybe not as large as the Wyvern, but..."
"Is it a Grimm?" asked Glynda.
"It doesn't seem to be," explained Ironwood. "However, its profile doesn't match any known airship. And we can't pick up any Dust emissions either."
There was a pause over the line. "I see," said Ozpin.
Now what? wondered Glynda, her pulse racing as she tried to figure out what they were up against now.
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