Chapter 71: Fortress Defense

Chapter 71: Fortress Defense

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

Fortress Defense

Thankfully, Nora didn't question me, she just gave me a quick nod and hurried off to get my mother. That was good, because with the amount of Grimm now rushing towards the surface, I just didn't have time to waste. A response that large

We had to get ready to welcome them.

"Ren, tell your grandfather to handle the civilians," I turned towards the other boy, expression focused. "Tell him to do whatever he can, but focus on keeping them calm. When the Grimm reach the surface, we're going to have to keep them focused on us, but if they start to scatterthere's enough of them that a lot of people are going to die. I'll do everything I can to keep things quiet over here, but he needs to keep the people busy and away from here. And if you find the rest of my father's team, send them this way."

"This isn't really something we can keep quiet," Ren answered, a sudden tension in his body.

"Oh, you'd be surprised," I answered, cracking my neck as Levant manifested invisibly behind me. "I can do all sorts of things. Now go."

He hesitated for a moment before nodding as well. I knelt the moment he was gone, reaching my senses deep into the ground.

"Dad," I whispered, Levant carrying my voice to his ear. "The way you're running, I take it you've noticed the Grimm are moving. I know whyI mean, I'm not sure about the reason behind it, but I know why. Mom's team just landed and they started moving the moment they did. Somehow, for some reason, they're reacting to us, to Hunters. I don't know if this was a trap meant to draw us out somehow or what, but I'm all but sure that it's us they're after. But with the village behind us"

I let that sink in before continuing.

"I've set up a Safe Haven at the entrance to the tunnel, but I'm waiting for everyone else to arrive to do more. Mom and her team are almost here and I have Elder Hui handling the civilians. As is, I think I can silence the area with Levant and keep the villagers from hearing what's happening which should keep them from drawing even more Grimm, but if we failGet up here soon, Dad."

I finished as I sensed my mom approaching and turned before I even heard her call out to me.

"Jaune!" She shouted before muttering something to her team, telling them to give her a moment. Then she ran ahead of them to reach my side, eyes focused on the cleared away hole in the ground. "How bad is it?"

"Pretty bad," I answered quietly, my voice barely more than a whisper. "A lot of Grimm are coming up. At least five digits worth."

She nodded tightly.

"And your father?" She asked.

"On his way. He went into the tunnels a few hours ago to check things out, but something delayed him. I contacted him just now, told him what was happening, and he'll be here in just a minute. Right now, I'm just working on setting up barriers; Safe Haven's already up."

"I noticed," She said quietly. "How much room can you give us?"

"A fair bit," I shrugged. "I could cover a sports field, maybe. I can't shield the ground because the Grimm could just dig around and pop out somewhere else, though. If you think it's safe, I might be able to ditch the roof, too. If I'm just making four walls, I could make it a little larger. I should be able to clip the wings of any airborne Grimm that try to fly out, so"

She squinted, looking around the area with a furrowed brow before nodding.

"Do it," She said. "We'll need room to fight if we're going to keep them contained. Do everything you can to give us that without risking the Grimm running free. Besides, there's a storm coming. Not having a ceiling can only help."

I nodded, knowing what she meant.

"I could make two halves of a barrier using Sanctum and Sanctum Sanctorum, if you think the size is worth the weaker prison," I suggested.

"How much of a difference will it make?"

I could only shrug in response.

"Depends on what's hitting it and how often," I said. "The whole thing would be about half as strong in theory, butto be honest, I wouldn't want to let an army of Grimm start wailing on it either way. The way Grandmother described it in her story, they used it to fend off the small Grimm while Hunters dealt with the larger ones. I can probably withstand the attacks of any small fry, but if something big gets at itI don't know. How well it can hold back an army isn't really the type of thing I've gotten a chance to test. Until now, I guess."

She took a slow breath and shook her head.

"Do what you think is best," She said at last. "You'd know better than I would. We'll try to keep the Grimm off the walls in any case, butjust in case, how long will it take you to put it back up if it falls?"

"Not too long," I said, calculating. "Depends on which barriers I put up."

I looked around, considering possible setups.

"I could split it," I mused aloud. "Like a sports field, again. Have the hole on that side, with Sanctum and Safe Haven to lock them in and wear them down faster. Have Sanctum Sanctorum and Temple on this side giving us a benefit, healing, and helping me regain MP. If I set up now"

"Please," Isabelle said and I around to make sure everyone who was supposed to be here was. Ren had returned with Keppel and Carmine and Nora had come back with my mother's group. With my father and Onyx coming up from the hole soonI focused and felt invisible barriers rise into place around us.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one.

"Isabelle, what's going on?" A red-haired man I vaguely remembered asked, squinting around us.

The Four Gates on the Crimson River

LV 71

Tyrian Sour

"Jaune's setting up a perimeter to keep any Grimm from escaping," My mother said. "It should hold so long as we don't let them test it too much. Familiarize yourself with the boundaries and Jaune will show you the important areas established within."

"Not much to say," I shrugged when eyes turned my way. "I have it set up so that the Grimm are weaker over here and we're stronger over there."

"You can do that?" Tyrian asked, eyebrows lifting slowly.

"My barrier, my rules," I said. "Also, one sec."

I put a hand on my mother's shoulder and layered my buffs on her quickly before going to the others one by one, laying hands on them for a second which got me a few odd looks, except from those who'd already seen it.

"Well," A brunette about my mother's age murmured, tilting her head at me. She was wearing armor almost the exact color as her hair and layered in heavy, heavy platesas in, the whole thing probably weighed nearly as much as she did. "Aren't you full of surprises?"

The Four Walls and the Iron Ring

LV 68

Castanea Beech

"I try," I answered after a moment as I finished layering buffs on all of the Hunters.

"Castanea, Tyrian," My mother said to her teammates. "My son will be serving as support. Should the barriers fall, he can put them back up. Should one of us get hurt, he can get us back together. Pretty much anything we need to do our jobs, he can probably provideso make sure he stays in one piece, will you?"

"Got it," Tyrian grunted.

"As for you" My mother paused, squinting at the two locals.

"Ren and Nora," I said quietly and she nodded at once.

"Ren, Nora, you'll be doing the same," She said. "Your job is to protect Jaune. Should the situation change, I'll tell you where you're needed. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," Ren replied, nodding once while Nora merely tilted her head, both hands on her hammer.

"Tenne, you're with me in front," My mother continued. "We'll play offense. Keppel, Carmine, you too."

"Say what!?" Tyrian shouted even as he clapped his hands and a circular plane of energy appeared, floating in the air above the center of the field. We all leapt for it as tilled dirt and lava flowed towards the center of the spikes and down a massive gullet.

And then we saw what it belonged to.

Tyrian's barrier shattered as it rose into the air with an earth-splitting shriek, teeth punching through it like paper and sending us flying. It rose high in the air, far above the top of my barrier, and shrieked again as if to remind all of mankind who owned this worldand destroying any chance we had of keeping the civilians from panicking in the process, I imagined. It was white, mostly, it's massive hide layered in scales of Grimm bone marked in red. As its neck curved, I got to see its teeth once more, lining the inside of its mouth in countless, wicked rows.

And as it looked at usif something with neither eyes nor a true head could look at usit made a strange sound. Scales and teeth rubbed together with a rasp that should have had no meaning, and yetI couldn't help but think it was laughing. It bent its neck once more, tore through my Sanctums like they'd been made of spider webs, and dove back into the earth.

"Shit," I heard someone shout and it wasn't hard to see why. It wasn't even aiming at us, not really, but if something that large hit us on its way down

I grit my teeth and reached out a hand to grab Ren and Nora, the pair closest to me, calling upon Levant to help me throw them far away. They flew into a nearby building, Ren landing graceful as Nora smashed down a wall, and both hit the ground running. Tyrian and Castanea leapt from platform to platform, using their powers to make footholds and escape, but I saw Onyx falling towards the ground, helpless in the air.

With a grunt, I thrust out a palm, a blast of air sending both of us flying. He smashed a massive arm into the side of a building and threw himself up onto the roof while I landed opposite him, eyes on the creature. I thought I heard him shout something at me, but if so I lost it as the colossal beast came down and ate half the street before vanishing into the bowels of the earth.

For a moment, there was nothing but the sound of falling rubble and debris as loose earth and broken buildings came crumbling down. I reached out with my senses to locate all the others and leapt toward my parents, landing beside them on a floating platform of ice shardsa collaboration between Keppel and my father, I imagined. After a few seconds, Tyrian, Castanea, and Onyx found us as well, followed shortly by Ren and Nora, each panting slightly with dust on their faces.

"What the fuck was that?" Onyx snarled, peering over the edge to look down at the former street.

"Crom Cruach," I heard my mother whisper. "It's Crom Cruach."

"No," Onyx said, looking at her in disbelief. "What? No. God damn it, no. Fucking fuck, no."

Nobody replied for a moment, probably just understanding the feeling, but then my father placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Jaune?" He asked and I closed my eyes.

"I don't sense it," I replied after a moment. "But I didn't sense it before, until it was right below us. It moved fast. I wasn't looking, but"

"I was looking," Onyx said. "Hand my hands in the dirt to make sure nothing popped up and gave us a nasty surprise, butfuck, I'm with the kid; it was just suddenly there. I moves through the ground as fast as anything I've ever seen on land."

"Jack," Keppel said quietly.

"I know," He answered. "Isabelle, call Ozpin and tell him to upgrade our status from 'Fucked' to 'Really, Really Fucked.' If that thing is involved"

She already had her scroll out and was typing away at it. Far beneath us, I heard the Grimm follow in Crom Cruach's wake, a huge mass of the crawling from the enormous pit that it had left behind. In the distance, villagers began to scream, making my father curse.

"You two," He said to Ren and Nora. "Go help Hui keep the villagers safe. We'll do what we can here, but we need to hold out until reinforcements arrive. Just try to"

He trailed off and shook his head, probably realizing how ridiculous the mere idea of keeping everyone from panicking was now, but Ren swallowed and nodded firmly. Even Nora's bubbly demeanor seemed to fade as she looked out over her village and the Grimm now swarming it.

"Nora," Ren whispered. "It won't happen again."

She nodded once, weighing her hammer in a hand before leaping into the village, Ren following a moment after.

"Everyone else, we've got a job to do," My father said to his fellow Hunters, who had all positioned themselves at the edge of the floating platform except for my mother. "So go do it."

As one, they leapt down into the river of dark bodies and began tearing the Grimm apart. I saw spears of earth and ice stab up at the sky as Onyx and Keppel landed, impaling dozens of Grimm above their teeming ranks. Tyrian and Castanea began raising shields and walls of energy and light as Tenne and Carmina carved a swath through the monsters, but

"Jaune," My father stopped me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"I should stay here," I answered, looking at him. "I can do the most good supporting you."

"That's not what was going to say," He shook his head. "Or not quite. I just you to know, if things get bad here"

"I'll get us all out," I said. "If I have to, I can do that, at least. Naraka should"

My father was silent for a moment before nodding.

"Yes," He said. "Justremember. I"

He stopped himself as a drop of water hit his face, looking up at the storm that had finally arrived with a bleak smile.

"Fitting," He said before looking down at me with a smug, confident look. "Well, might as well make the most of it, eh? Want to help me with this son?"

I smiled back at him as we both lifted out handsand greeted the Grimm below with a clap of thunder. With our control of the water and air above, with the shifting of charges, we called to the lightning again and again. I assisted my father's aim, directed it a bit more accurately at the most heavily armored targets below as we pulled all the energy we could from the storm. The clouds turned darker and the storm worsened as we intensified it and feed it with our power and the Dust we had on hand, until the rumble of thunder seemed a constant thing. A dimly felt my mother finish sending her message and join the fray below, but the majority of my focus was on the skies above and my enemies below. We rained a display of nature's power down on the creatures of Grimm, dashed any monsters that drew our attention from the face of the world, and yetand yet even still

We couldn't kill them fast enough to stem the tide.

We tried anyway. When thunder and lightning weren't enough, we leapt to the ground and drew steel, my father tearing at the broken earth with his power as I drew my own around my body, raising it to enormous heights.

"Are you ready for this, son?" My dad was smiling fiercely as he lifted his hammer high.

"Of course," I answered, tracing Crocea Mors' blade as I crouched. A massive Ursa leapt at us and my father reduced it to paste. Before his hammer even hit the ground, though, I was off. Surrounded by dark shapes, I swung my sword with all my might, cleaving off heads and limbs without hesitation. I didn't stop except to restore my strength, didn't hesitate except to make sure I wasn't aiming at an allyI kept moving forward.

At times, I saw the others; Onyx with a crushed Ursa in either hand, Carmine in a circle of corpses, Keppel in the shape of a monster of ice, Tenne switching to Dust rounds that exploded with each hit to take on the tougher specimens. I didn't see my mother at first, but as the bombs began to go off and massive structures formed in the air. Atop his throne, I saw my father laugh as blankets of fire, explosions of ice, areas of altered time, and distortions in gravity ripped through the ranks of our enemies. For just a moment, as the Grimm were pulled away and the field was momentarily cleared, I was able to look around and see that we were all aliveand who knows how many of our enemies weren't.

In that moment, that one moment, I believed we'd be okay. I believed that we'd be able to do it.

And then the moment passed.

Looking up as I was, I saw the smile drain from my father's face as he looked at the hole and turned to see the cause. Something was crawling from the pit, a Deathstalker more massive than any I'd ever seen, even in pictures, but

That wasn't what had drawn my father's eye and it certainly wasn't what drew mine. Clinging to its back like baby scorpions were shells of pure white bone, jagged and layered but free of any sign of red or black, clean of any dirt. Compared to the creature that was carrying them, barring its tail threateningly, they were unassuming.

I looked back at my dad, something like terror filling me for an instant and I saw its mirror on his face. He drew a breath and almost unconsciously, I amplified the sound with Levant, making it carry through the battlefield and beyond.

"It's carrying a Pandora Shell!" He shouted, voice thunderous.

As one, every Hunter turned, eyes wide and terrified as they saw the Deathstalker and its bounty. I knew what they were all thinking; I was thinking it myself. Why? How? There shouldn't be any point, they shouldn't be able to break the shellbut what if they did?

We had to stop it. I don't think any of us knew what we were doing and we certainly didn't plan for it, but we ran for the monster. Carmine sheathed her sword instantly and my father pulled his bombs far away, both of them probably as afraid of the possibilities as I was, but we still attacked. A new flood of Grimm rose at the Deathstalker's heels, rushing around and over its bodylarge forms with countless spike-like growths, the older Grimm. With our biggest guns put away in fear, it was enough to stall our advance for a moment, forcing us back with the sheer weight of bodies.

And then I saw light, as if the clouds had cleared away to show the sun but coming from the ground instead of the sky. I looked down, not wanting to believe it, but

Crom Cruach, I thought. You motherfucker.

I moved toto run? In that moment, I honestly had no idea what I was going to do. Naraka, I thought. It was our only hope, but the mere thought that we had hope was enough to make my heart riseand to crush it even more so when I realized I didn't have the power left. I had to

The Deathstalker clicked its pincers, rustling as if pleased as the light behind it began to grow. With desperate speed, I reached into my Inventory to draw out a crystal and held it tight, draining it for power. A saw a column of light tear through the earth, sheering through a mountainside in the distanceand I saw it fade away as my barrier rose.

I did it, I thought, smile rising to my face. I

My mother tackled me to the ground, grabbed me, and pulled me tight against her. For a moment, I thought it was a hug, that she was relievedand then I was abruptly colder than I'd ever been in my entire life as air began to solidify around us. No, it was more than that even; I felt heat as well, the earth liquefying enough for us to sink into, sending a wave of agonizing heat through me even as I froze in place. It hurt, hurt unbelievably, and I didn't understand why she was

Oh, I thought. She was trying to protect me. But I'd already saved us. I'd already

And then I felt Naraka shatter, breaking from the outside. As it did, I knew the Pandora Shell had opened.

And I knew I'd failed.