RWBY Sharingan Chapter 72: Cleaning Up (Patreon)

One swing.

Finer control had been disrupted but my aura still held firm, my aura shield sturdy in the face of thinned spiked imitations of hands attempted to crush themselves down upon it.

All I needed was one swing to clear my view and I’d have this dealt with.

Grasped my sword harder, I shifted my weight, throwing myself into a shoulder charge against the apathy directly in front of me, none of their weak arms able to stop me. With a wide sweeping two handed swing, I cleaved those grouped up in front of me in half, their dark forms falling away to reveal that balled amalgamation.

At this range I could chunk my sword, Glynda’s semblance used to make sure it dead center.

But would something that simple kill it? I’d never seen a grimm with energy like it and I wasn’t in a position to be betting on maybes. I could-

A portal opened, a crimson blade shooting out and beheading a crowd of the apathy beside me.

Teeth gritted, an ungodly burn that I hadn’t felt in a long time overtook my left eye.

I couldn’t take any chances with her here and this, for all the aura that it consumed, required little to no control.

Black flames erupted to life dead center on the crystal of the nightmare’s crystalline eye before swiftly engulfing the rest of the amalgamation. The unnatural blaze changed the cold interior of the cave to an oven, heat intense enough to damage aura shields wafting off its wild arcing flares.

Twisted high pitched wails began, but like all the mass caught within those uncontrolled flames, was burned away.

No remains. None of that twisted fiery energy that stitched them together. Nothing.

My diminishing black flames hit the ground curling in as if burning itself out of existence. Not exactly what I intended but it’s not I could risk training to have better control over the dangerous stuff.

Katana sliding back into her sheath, Mom stepped up beside me, staring down at the blackened spot, her helmet and armor left on the other side of her already shut portal.

“What was that thing?”

“Some kind of Grimm.”

“That went beyond a simple Grimm.” On that we both agreed. Grimm coming together to form a horde? The norm. Certain types happening to actively work alongside one another to supplement the other’s weakness? Common enough amongst the older Grimm. But a collection of them melded together like that and actively boosting the strength of the apathy?

Tyrian passing through here at the same time something like that showed up wasn’t a coincidence.

I turned on my heel.

“Talon.” Mom’s hand dropped on my shoulder. “Take off your helmet.”

“I’m fine.”

“Take it off.”

Dropping my shoulders, I twisted over my sword and stabbed it into the ground before reaching up to my helmet. Mom stepped in front of me as I removed it, setting it on the pommel of my sword.

“Fine my ass.” She reached up, wiping away the thick trail of blood coming from my left eye, the searing burn coming from it forcing me to keep that eye closed. The right wasn’t nearly as bad, the trail of blood coming from it much shorter and the burn not so painful that it was a struggle to keep the eye open.

I was sure the left had everything to do with the Amaterasu I was capable of creating when I used the Mangekyou form of my Sharingan, but the right was still a mystery. It didn’t always activate but somehow it was capable of doing away with Amaterasu. I couldn’t say what it did beyond that or even how it did that much.

“We agreed-“

“We both saw that thing.” I interrupted her. “We don’t know what it is was capable of. I couldn’t risk it doing anything to you.”

I rarely pushed my Sharingan into its Mangekyou form. And of those few times I’d only made use of its abilities two separate occasions, three now. I’d never told her about the possible blindness I may or may not have to deal with if I kept using it, but she’d decided for herself that something was dangerous about them.

Either based off the fact that I never used them or through her semblance. Very few things could affect the connection her semblance created but I was sure the Sharingan was one of them.

“Tsk.” She clicked her tongue, stepping back after she was satisfied with her examination. I threw back on my helmet and pulled my sword free. Without the effects of the apathy and that thing, the city should be able to handle its own defense, but I still had to go help clean that up.

Then it was onto Tyrian.

Mom didn’t open up another portal, following behind me.

XOXO

One stray feather fired by a fully grown nevermore. That’s where things had taken a turn for the worse, that first feather managing to destroyed one of the wall mounted guns before several more were destroyed. With the mines expended, that reduced firepower had triggered the huntsmen joining the fight on the ground level in attempt to keep back the advancing horde.

Her red hot blades sinking through the swipe and armoring of an Ursa, then, with another twist, cutting down pouncing beowolves, Cinder backpedaled, eyes scanning the battlefield.

Jumping off and joining the fight had been less a choice for them and a necessity, the part of the wall they had stood on damaged by the dust explosion of nearby turrets.

Mercury was handling himself, sweeping kicks backed by that semblance of his sending the unarmored Grimm flying while forcing more powerful one’s back a step and leaving them open for one of many other huntsmen to deal with. Those kinds of strikes were becoming less and less frequent though, his aura no doubt on the decline.

Emerald, on the other hand, had only grown more and more sluggish, struggling to hit kill shots with her revolvers while avoiding charges at her.

Cinder felt the weight all the other huntsmen had talked about but there was more to it now that they were so close to the Grimm. A revolting pull at her arms, trying to loosen the hold she had on her swords. That same pull was at her head and eyes as if trying to drag her into sleep.

All intended to get her to lay down and die.

She would never do that.

“Get back!” Cinder ordered, Emerald immediately throwing herself away as she pulled out a crystal. It glowed faintly, the heat of her semblance kept low before Cinder chucked it forward. It hit the snout of a beowolf and a bright explosion wiped a large portion of the Grimm coming at them.

“Thanks.” Emerald forced out, one eye closed as sweat dripped down her brow. Mercury had kicked off the Grimm he was dealing with, sending the group rushing him with a semblance powered kick that ended with him landing beside them with a slight stumble. “I’m running out of ammo here.”

“I don’t have much aura, either.” Mercury said.

“Should we…” Emerald muttered, looking her way as she trailed off.

All across the field outside the gates, be they closer to the walls like them or all the way out of the front lines, teams of huntsmen were doing all kinds of fighting. At first, they been sweeping through the Grimm but as the oppressive weight drew ever closer mistakes were made. Even then, they only fought harder.

Then a few died.

Far off, Cinder caught sight of one huntsman crushed beneath a group of Ursa.

She’d seen a handful of failed defenses from a distance and knew how it went. Those first few were usually everything, things unraveling as the death count snowballed.

She looked over her shoulder.

Walls protecting a bunch of strangers. They'd done enough, more than enough, risking their lives for people who didn’t even know what it was like to really have to fight.

She glanced back towards the skies ahead.

But Talon wasn’t back yet.

“Stick together.” She ordered. “We’ll start making our way-“

A dissipating nevermore crashed into the crowd of Grimm far ahead. A serrated blade left its neck, quickly slicing and cutting its way through more.  One after the other, all the airborne Grimm were killed and their bodies used to crush areas where they were concentrated, the turrets above free to fire back down at the mass of Grimm that remained rather than struggling to keep them at bay.

Soon, five different blades came down from the now Grimm free skies, each one moving as though they had minds of their own.

A sixth, the main blade, landed in front of them, Talon, helmet over his head and long messy hair swaying behind him, landing on the handle.

Relief flooded her, the rest of the strange weight that she hadn’t even noticed had eased up, falling away. What was looking like a hopeless battle they were better off fleeing had flipped on its head, Talon’s weapons and semblance changing the tide of the battle. Injured huntsmen without their aura shields suddenly found themselves tossed towards the city’s gates while those still fighting were supported by his flying blades.

She expected him to say something but all they got was a quiet masked stare, Talon turning and focusing entirely on the battle.

“Not going to lie guys-“ Emerald started, leaning back and letting her shoulders drop. “-I don’t think we’re getting paid enough for this.” Funny how she went from panicked to calm enough to act like they weren’t in the middle of a battle.

“Stay ready.” Cinder said, the grip she had on her own swords retightened, Emerald and Mercury both fully raising their guards back up.

She couldn’t talk, her guard having dropped right alongside theirs.

Talon had the kind of strength that couldn’t be ignored or discounted. The kind she needed.

XOXO

No crumbling walls.

No wildfires.

No desperate failing evacuation.

Minami hadn’t fallen, the popular checkpoint settlement still standing. As an airship flew in from the rear, slowing to begin a landing behind him, Tyrian lowered his binoculars, a disappointed sigh slipping out.

And he’d gone out his way to find himself a nice view up in these mountains too, expecting a nice show of death and destruction before he fully set out.

No matter.

There was still the tournament and the White Fang in Mistral; the perfect opportunity to sow a little discord. And if he managed to find a useful candidate to be an obedient little host among all those in attendance?

His Goddess would be pleased.

XOXO

(A/N: And the MS and Amaterasu are officially addressed. And yes, it still appears to be making eyes bleed despite not being powered by chakra. I think I said it at some point but yeah, its use will be very rare and selective. Obviously, considering who Talon is, the quickest trigger for it is family being at risk in a questionable situation so always expect it to pop up in those circumstances.

Also I wasn't sure on the spelling for MS so just went the manga spelling.

Either way, Talon doesn't understand everything about his own eyes so you should consider him an very unreliable narrator when it comes to the MS. It will be a big focus very soon though.

With the appearance of Tyrian in present day, I can say that were approaching the end of our drawn out exploration of Mistral. I am looking forward to writing more of Remnant as well as a few other significant characters.

I shall see you all in the next one.)