Perilous Arc |AU|

Razor Blade [Chap. 13]

Every heartbeat pounded in my head, just barely audible over the ringing screeching in my ears. The arrow in my hand was blackened by soot, but as light as glass.

'Pyrrha...'

The trembling of my hands was stopped cold, settling for stone-steady. In my head the scenario played out between Pyrrha and that woman. The incredible fight she must have put up, one that knocked the building around them apart. A fight that was ended with little glass arrows, just like this one.

'No!'

I remembered the last arrow I had seen. In the chamber beneath Beacon where I was meant to stand guard while the Headmaster put Pyrrha into that machine. The foreboding aura of the thing was crushing at the time, and the failure of it that led to Pyrrha letting out such horrible screams was still fresh in my mind. That failure was caused by a little arrow like this. One sent straight through the glass, and through the heart of the girl in the machine.

'Her...'

That woman showed up wearing a red dress, the one with coal black hair and amber eyes. She was the one that let the arrow fly. She did something similar when she fought during the tournament, using glass to fight against her opponents. According to general consensus, she's the one that killed the Headmaster.

'What was her name?'

I now remember their debut fight so clearly. All her teammates, the way they fought, who they fought against, it was clear in my mind. That voice that hijacked the broadcast during the tournament and induced panic belonged to her. The names they listed during the tournament for her fight...

'That woman's name was-'

The glass arrow shattered in my hand, and the shards crackled on the stone.

"CIIIIINDEEEEER FAAAAAAAALL!"

I roared the name of that rotten creature with everything I had. I poured every ounce of emotion into the words. Every bit of disappointment, regret, annoyance, rage, hatred, loathing, fear and grief I felt was let out all at once, finally coming to a head too large to bury under a layer of stoic indifference. The ringing in my ears graduated to a loud tone that droned through my shout. It was accompanied by the loud heartbeats that racked my body and the veins that popped on my forehead. The crackling of stone snatched my gaze away from the shards of glass. Instead, my head whipped towards the noise.

The Wyvern settled neatly in my sights. Three red eyes looked down upon me from one side of its head, and I could see that the ash that layered over the entirety of the Grimm was fracturing and falling from its surface. The massive head eased up further over the edge of the tower, and the stone coating the masked head cracked around the jaw before shattering entirely. It chattered the large teeth lowly, just before two enormous wings flared behind it and blotted what little light came down from the quickly clouding sky.

"SCRRRREEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The screech shook the entire tower and doubtlessly echoed all over Vale. The remaining stone coating the Wyvern exploded off of it into mere powder as it reared up powerfully.

I barred my teeth at the Grimm in a massive scowl that twisted my features. Crocea Mors was in my hand and brandished without having to think, and the glare I was sending to the creature was hot enough to burn holes through Atlesian warships.

"You helped her."

The words were machined, ice cold with jagged edges. The instinctual urge to fight took me, and I prepared to follow the call. The Wyvern came down fast, pivoting low with a mighty flap of wings to bring its giant maw snapping down towards me. I steeled myself, adjusting and preparing to leap just out of range so to counter, but I never got the chance. Before it even got close, a sparkling purple sheen bubbled into place around the Wyvern and it stopped. A massive screech devoid of movement shook the tower once more, but my eyes snapped behind me in spite of the monster.