Chương 77: Chapter 70: The Nightmare of Kuroyuri

The horrifying shriek of the Nuckelavee echoed across the courtyards of Haven Academy, a sound so profoundly unnatural it seemed to freeze the very air in the lungs of the Huntsmen. That creature thrashed its massive equine body, its hooves gouging deep trenches into the cobblestone. Fused to its back, the emaciated humanoid torso twitched erratically, its jaw unhinging as its impossibly long, elastic arms whipped violently through the air.

"Look out!" Ruby Rose yelled, triggering her Semblance to burst into rose petals as one of the beast's sweeping, rubbery arms smashed a stone pillar right where she had been standing.

"What is this thing?!" Neptune Vasilias shouted, his face pale behind his goggles. He leveled Tri-Hard in its rifle form, firing a barrage of electrified blasts. The plasma scorched the monster's black, leathery skin, but the Nuckelavee didn't even flinch.

"Spread out! Don't let it pin us down!" Arslan Altan commanded. She darted forward with incredible speed, her fists glowing with fiery Aura. She delivered a devastating uppercut to the creature's horse-like jaw, fully expecting it to stagger. Instead, the beast absorbed the kinetic impact, its humanoid half whipping its arms around to swat Arslan. She raised her arms to block, but the sheer force sent her skidding violently backward across the courtyard.

"Arslan!" Bolin Hori called out, spinning his staff to deflect a secondary strike from the creature's rubbery hands. Reese Chloris zipped around the monster on her hoverboard, her dual pistols blazing.

"This thing's hide is way too thick!" she yelled, narrowly avoiding a lethal kick from the beast's hind legs. Nadir Shiko provided cover from the rear, his assault rifle emptying clip after clip into its torso to absolutely no effect.

"We need a coordinated strike!" Weiss Schnee ordered, sliding gracefully on a pale blue glyph. She summoned a barrage of ice shards, raining them down on the monster's back. Blake Belladonna lunged from the shadows, swinging Gambol Shroud in its sickle form to entangle one of the flailing arms. But that creature possessed horrifying strength. It simply yanked its arm back, violently dragging Blake forward.

"Blake!" Sun Wukong yelled. He leaped into the air, bringing Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang down in a heavy staff-strike to force the beast to release her. Sage Ayana and Scarlet David flanked the monster, their broadsword and cutlass sparking against the thick bone-plating on its legs, failing to find purchase. The Nuckelavee let out another deafening, ear-piercing scream, raising both of its front hooves to crush Sun and Blake into the pavement. BANG! BANG! BANG!

A rapid burst of green-tinged bullets rained down from the upper terrace, striking the beast directly in its glowing red eyes. The monster shrieked, reeling backward. Before it could recover, a massive, pink-and-white hammer slammed brutally into the side of the creature's horse-skull. The kinetic impact was staggering, forcing the giant beast to stagger to the side. Landing gracefully in front of the staggered Grimm, weapons drawn and eyes burning with unadulterated fury, were Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie.

A split second later, Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos dropped in beside them, their shields raised and weapons locked in defensive positions.

"Ren! Nora!" Ruby called out, recovering her footing. Ren didn't look back at her. His magenta eyes were locked onto the twitching, horrifying visage of the humanoid torso. His grip on StormFlower was so tight his knuckles were completely white. His breathing was heavy, ragged, and filled with a dark, suffocating emotion Ruby had never seen in him before.

"Go," Ren said, his voice dropping into a cold, terrifyingly calm register.

"Help the other Huntsmen in the city. Help the Faunus evacuate the civilians."

"What? But Ren, this thing is huge!" Sun argued, stepping forward.

"We can take it together!"

"I said go," Ren repeated, his voice cracking slightly with raw, barely contained emotion. Ruby hesitated. She looked at Ren's trembling shoulders, and then at Nora. Nora wasn't smiling. The usual bubbly, chaotic energy of the hammer-wielding girl was entirely gone. Her teal eyes were dark, filled with a grim, unflinching determination as she stared down the monster that had stolen their childhood. Weiss and Blake exchanged a heavy glance. They could feel it. This wasn't just a battle to secure the perimeter.

This was intensely, deeply personal.

"We've got this," Jaune spoke up, stepping forward to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Ren. His voice was steady, projecting the unshakeable confidence of a true leader.

"We will handle this. The people in Mistral need you guys right now." Pyrrha nodded firmly, leveling Miló.

"We won't let it take another step. We promise." Ruby looked at Team JNPR. She saw the absolute trust radiating between the four of them. She gave a firm, definitive nod.

"We believe in you," Ruby said softly. She turned to the rest of the gathered Huntsmen.

"Team SSSN, Team ABRN, Blake, Weiss, with me! We have a city to save!" As the other teams broke away, sprinting toward the gates to plunge into the chaotic streets of Mistral, the Nuckelavee recovered from the initial blow. It let out a furious, rattling hiss, its elastic arms snapping out to attack the four teenagers who dared to stand in its path.

"JNPR!" Jaune roared, raising his shield.

"Take it down!" The battle erupted with explosive violence. Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. The Nuckelavee lashed out, its rubbery arms whipping through the air like lethal, bone-crushing cables. Ren darted forward, his movements a masterclass in agility and precision. He slipped beneath a sweeping strike, weaving between the erratic, unpredictable motions of the monster's limbs. I was just a boy. Ren thought.

His mind flashing back to the burning ruins of Kuroyuri. The smell of smoke and blood. The terrified screams of his parents, Li and An Ren. I hid beneath the floorboards. I was powerless.

"Not anymore!" Ren yelled aloud. He leaped off the stone wall, firing a rapid barrage from StormFlower directly into the joints of the beast's humanoid arms, trying to sever its mobility. The horse half reared up, bringing its massive, bone-plated hooves down to crush Ren. CLANG! Jaune slid directly under the descending hooves. He raised his shield, planting his boots firmly into the earth. The sheer kinetic force of the monster's weight collided with his defense. A normal Huntsman would have been crushed.

But Jaune Arc had survived Saitama's training regime. Channeling the monstrous, hyper-dense muscle mass he had built through his hellish training, Jaune's Aura flared a blinding white. He didn't just block the attack. He gritted his teeth and pushed upward. With a ferocious grunt, Jaune overpowered the giant Grimm, violently shoving the beast's front legs into the air and throwing it entirely off balance.

"Pyrrha! Now!" Jaune yelled.

"Right behind you!" Pyrrha vaulted over Jaune's shoulder. She threw Akuou, her heavy bronze shield, using her Polarity to spin it like a buzzsaw. The shield sliced deeply into the creature's front legs, drawing a shriek of pain before ricocheting back to her hand. The Nuckelavee thrashed wildly, its humanoid torso spinning completely around to target Pyrrha. It shot its elastic arms out, aiming to grab her and tear her apart. But Nora was already in the air.

"Leave her ALONE!" Nora screamed, her eyes glowing with raw, unhinged fury. She triggered the explosive payload in Magnhild, using the blast to propel herself downward with the force of a meteor. She smashed her hammer directly onto the creature's extended, rubbery arm, pinning it violently to the cobblestones with a sickening crunch of breaking bone-plating. The beast shrieked in agony, struggling to pull its arm free. Ren utilized the opening instantly.

He sprinted directly up the pinned, stretched arm of the Grimm, treating the monster's own limb like a runway. He fired StormFlower as he ran, keeping the humanoid half completely disoriented. I ran away, Ren's internal monologue continued, tears of rage and grief pricking the corners of his eyes. I took Nora's hand, and I ran, while that monster slaughtered my family. The humanoid torso recovered, whipping its free arm toward Ren to swat him off.

"Jaune!" Ren called out. Jaune didn't hesitate. Recognizing the tactical flow from their endless sparring sessions, he sprinted forward and threw his shield like a discus directly at the monster's attacking arm. Pyrrha instantly caught the metal with her Semblance mid-air, violently altering its trajectory to smash the Grimm's hand away, leaving its chest completely exposed. Ren leaped from the creature's arm, soaring high into the air. I am no longer that scared little boy.

Ren thought, his Aura glowing a brilliant, radiant magenta. I am a Huntsman.

"Nora! Pyrrha! Finish the legs!" Jaune commanded, drawing his broadsword and charging the beast head-on to draw its attention. Pyrrha shifted Miló into its rifle form, firing a barrage of Dust rounds directly into the beast's hind kneecaps, shattering the armor. Nora channeled the residual electricity in the air from the storm clouds above, her muscles surging with hyper-charged energy.

"SAY GOODNIGHT!" Nora roared. She swung Magnhild horizontally with catastrophic, thunderous force, striking the horse-half directly in its weakened knees. The devastating impact completely shattered the beast's lower legs. The equine body collapsed, crashing heavily onto its stomach. The humanoid torso shrieked in pure panic, thrashing its arms to drag its crippled body away.

"You're not going anywhere!" Jaune yelled. He lunged forward, using his immense physical strength to physically grab the elastic, thrashing arms of the beast with his bare hands. He dug his heels into the cobblestone, roaring with effort as he held the horrifying monster entirely in place. High above, gravity caught up with Lie Ren. He plummeted downward, aiming his descent perfectly.

He locked the blades of StormFlower into their forward-facing position, dropping directly toward the screaming humanoid face of the beast that had haunted his nightmares for a decade.

"This is for Kuroyuri," Ren whispered. He landed. With a brutal, singular, and perfectly executed cross-slash, Ren severed the humanoid torso entirely from its equine base. The Nuckelavee let out a final, gurgling gasp. Its red eyes flickered and died. The massive, grotesque body immediately began to dissolve, turning into black ash that scattered into the mountain wind. It was over. Jaune released his grip, falling to one knee and panting heavily.

Pyrrha stood beside him, lowering her weapons with a deep sigh of exhaustion. Lie Ren stood in the center of the dissipating ash. His weapons slipped from his hands, clattering onto the cobblestone. He slowly lowered his head, his eyes sliding shut. A profound, overwhelming silence washed over his soul. The ghosts of his parents, the burning village, the decade of fear, it was finally put to rest. He had avenged them. Nora walked up to him quietly. She didn't cheer. She didn't shout.

She simply stepped to his side and gently rested her head against his shoulder. Ren opened his eyes, letting out a trembling breath, and rested his cheek against the top of her head, finding absolute peace in her presence. But Remnant refused to let them rest. The peace lasted for barely ten seconds before the sky completely tore open with sound. A deafening chorus of horrifying roars echoed from the clouds above. Ren and Nora snapped their heads up. Jaune and Pyrrha raised their weapons again, their faces pale.

Pouring over the mountain peaks were thousands more. A fresh, massive flock of Nevermores and Griffons eclipsed what little starlight remained. The sky was literally swarming with airborne Grimm, bringing an entirely new wave of destruction toward the city. Down in the streets of the city of Mistral, the morale of the defenders shattered.

"No..." Blake Belladonna whispered, looking up at the sky in sheer despair as a Nevermore shrieked above her.

"Will this ever end?!" Sun yelled, his arms trembling from exhaustion. Qrow Branwen and Oscar Pine stood on the steps of the academy, completely surrounded by the encroaching darkness. Qrow gripped Harbinger tightly, a bitter, hopeless laugh escaping his lips.

"She really wants us dead tonight." The Menagerie Faunus and the Mistral Police Forces began to panic. Civilians screamed, hiding behind whatever cover they could find. The sheer, impossible scale of the horde was suffocating. It was an endless, apocalyptic tide of death. Suddenly... A sound cut through the screaming. It wasn't a roar. It wasn't the screech of a Grimm. It was a heavy, mechanical BOOM. The sound was like thunder, echoing from the upper atmosphere. Everyone.

Huntsmen, police, Faunus, and even the Grimm themselves. They are all stopped and looked up. Something massive was falling from the sky. It tore through the clouds, glowing with the intense, fiery heat of atmospheric reentry.

"What in the world is that?!" Weiss yelled, shielding her eyes from the blinding light.

"Incoming!" Jaune shouted, throwing his shield up to cover Pyrrha and Nora. With a catastrophic, earth-shaking impact, the object slammed into a massive, empty plaza in the center of Upper Mistral. A colossal shockwave of dust and displaced air swept through the city streets, knocking Beowolves off their feet and forcing the Huntsmen to brace themselves against the gale.

As the massive dust cloud slowly began to settle, the heavy, rhythmic whirring of hydraulic gears and massive mechanical servos echoed through the silent city. Standing in the center of the crater was a silhouette that defied belief. It was a giant, heavily armored mecha. It possessed a sleek, militaristic design, but its scale was completely unprecedented. It towered over the buildings of Upper Mistral, dwarfing the Atlesian Paladins by several magnitudes.

Its glowing, visor-like optic sensor burned with a bright, piercing blue light that pierced the gloom of the Grimm invasion.

"Is that... Atlas?" Qrow asked, his jaw dropping in absolute shock.

"I've never seen anything like that in my life!" Weiss gasped, staring at the mechanical titan in sheer disbelief.

"What model is that?!" No one knew. No one could possibly comprehend what they were looking at. But somewhere, deep in the shadows of an alleyway near the plaza, a girl with heterochromia eyes wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead, maintaining her absolute masterpiece of an illusion. While a certain bald man in a yellow suit casually prepared his fist to end the apocalypse.