I am crossposting this story from other sites, but I suggest hopping on Questionable Questing if you would like to see some character portraits. Or join me on Discord, server code is vN7sTYhEp6

  I will be posting four chapters daily on this site until it catches up with other sites.

  Brocket

  The broken moon shone brightly over the town of Celdic. The sky was clear, as the region had weathered its stormy season well. In the parade grounds of the barracks of Celdic, Donovan Brocket paced down a line of men.

  “Any updates on our scouts?”

  “None, sir.” Duncan, his most trusted aide, replied swiftly. “We had only sent them a few hours ago and with no way to contact them…”

  A morose silence fell over them as the rest of the dragoons converged on their position, and joined the parade line.

  “Sir, should we wake Montgomery and the rest of the garrison?”

  “No, let them rest. Montgomery is still injured, and the men had suffered a lot in the quarry.” He turned to see all of his avaible troops at the ready. Some of them had to be roused from their sleep, but all of them were wide awake.

  “Should we at least sound the arm? Such a phenomenon has never happened before.”

  The Lieutenant turned to his potential future son-in-w, Rory, and smiled genially. “Do not worry about that. Let us not cry wolf so early, I’ve sent a runner for both the Sheriff and Valestein. The refugees are all armed and have promised us to man the walls with the militia when the time comes. For now, we need to be sure of what we are dealing with.”

  Brocket gazed at all thirty-four of their numbers standing at parade rest. The scouts he had sent to check on the bandits had returned in their absence and, aside from the six men he sent to scout the attacked vilges earlier, his entire force was here.

  Donovan stopped in front of his men, “Everyone. We are facing an unusual situation here. You know your duty, check on your mounts, your arms, and your armor. Perhaps this might be some freak accident, but if this is enemy action, and my hunch tells me it is so, then we the Dragoons of Celdic must be at the ready to repel any attackers. Be they Grimm or human.”

  “Yes sir!”

  The men left to arm themselves and check on their horses, aside from Duncan who moved to stand beside Donovan at the gate waiting expectantly. Soon enough, three figures appeared in front of them.

  “Good, you’re here. Duncan, wait for the Sheriff and bring him over once he arrives.” His aide nodded as the three adventurers followed him to his office.

  “What’s the situation?”

  The Lieutenant stood behind a table with a map of Celdic and its immediate vicinity sprawled on it.

  “I’m sure you have noticed, but we have a complete loss of communication.” He waited for the three adventurers to nod, “None of us have any idea how this could have happened. I highly doubt the tower was damaged again, as even our shortwave radios are dead. Your thoughts?”

  Sara looked to her team expectantly, and Brocket smiled inwardly as even now, the woman used this situation as a teaching opportunity.

  “The town has already been attacked by unknown hostiles,” Jaune Arc spoke first. “They specifically targeted the Dust shop and the communication center. What manner of communication systems did you have before their destruction?”

  “Aside from the standard system connected to the CCTS via our tower, we had an old ndline connected to Beacon. Sadly, we did not have an actual phone and relied on Morse code to send and receive our messages. That option is now gone with the destruction of the comm center.”

  “Considering the attackers specifically targeted the comm center and the train station, is it safe to assume they wanted to cut off communication to the outside?”

  “That appears to be so.” Donovan smiled slightly as the young man picked at the obvious clues.

  “I see. Sara, you spoke to Goodwitch earlier. Is there any chance she would realize something is wrong here?” The blonde man turned to his mentor who frowned in thought.

  “Not directly, as I had ended the call. She did expect an update in the morning, but I would rather not pretend that nothing will happen in the coming hours.” She shrugged helplessly before blinking. “I was speaking to Kilika before the comms died. Knowing the paranoid vixen, I am positive she would notify Beacon of it at once. How Beacon would act on that information, I could not tell you.”

  “Hmm, It's still better than being completely blind.” Jaune turned back to Donovan. “It's a good thing they didn’t target the ammunition depot or the armory.”

  The silent question was easily heard as Donovan chuckled, “They tried, but the explosives they used were duds. It is unfortunate that we could not discover the saboteurs… for all we know, they could still be hiding in town.”

  “Let’s not go on a witch hunt now,” Sara interrupted, to which they all nodded. The st thing they wanted to do was to cause a panic with the residents. They were already standing on a knife’s edge as it was.

  Jaune frowned at the map closely, “How are the town’s defenses?”

  “Combat ready.” Brocket said instantly, though at the younger man’s unconvinced look he sighed, “I would have preferred for the walls to have a moat or other obstacles in case the Grimm come in overwhelming numbers. Yet, we have plenty of machine guns, fmethrowers, and grenade unchers along with enough ammo to equip an army. Add to that, over three thousand defenders with rifles and other small arms, I am confident we could weather a simir horde to the one we faced in the quarry.”

  The young man’s eyes were drawn to the map again. “The northern and western walls have a natural moat in the form of the nearby spring, but it's neither wide nor deep enough to deter the Grimm for long. Further to the west lies the Emerald Forest, which had been silent since the attacks on Vale. The south and east will be our weakest points, as they are open to farmnd and other homesteads to the south and the mountains to the east. Do we still have more of the phosphorus stuff you used in the quarry?”

  “We do, though not in great quantities. What do you have in mind?”

  The young Arc frowned as he perused the map, then walked to the window and looked south. “The terrain… It’s too open for us to beat back a horde effectively.”

  “Indeed it is, but we will have to make do with what we have.”

  “What if we don’t have to?” Brocket looked curiously as the young man returned to the table and traced a line along the farmnds and homesteads. “What if we create a choke point for the Grimm? In the quarry, we destroyed that horde easily enough due to the gorge and the relentless firepower at our disposal. What we need to do here, is to create a simir scenario.”

  “Interesting proposal, but how do you recommend doing so?”

  “I suggest evacuating all those homesteads, rig them and the fields with explosives and incendiary munitions for when the Grimm invade, but we leave a single corridor, about a hundred feet wide, for them to take. Let’s say over here,” Arc pointed to a spot in front of the south gate where most of the town’s crops were pnted, but a veritable kill zone for the defenders. “With no way to town for the Grimm, they would be forced to use the gap, where we would concentrate all of our firepower on it. It would destroy the town’s harvest, but we would at least survive.”

  Donovan’s eyes were wide at the extreme suggestion, yet Sylphid nodded her head eagerly, while Valestein held her chin thoughtfully.

  “We will have to defer such pns for when the Sheriff and the others arrive.” Brocket compromised, “Fort now, let’s go over what we know.”

  “Grimm bait,” came the cold voice of Sylphid and Donovan closed his eyes in sadness. “The kidnapped children from a few days ago.” The young cat-faunus continued, her eyes unblinking. “I’ve spoken to many of the refugees, and they confirmed that many of their friends and family were missing, without even their corpses to be found. Clearly not the work of Grimm, as the monsters kill for sport and rarely eat their prey in full.”

  “Indeed,” he nodded to Sylphid and gave a slight cough. “All the evidence points to this phenomenon being man-made. How mere bandits have come to possess such sophisticated methods that could jam all communication waves astounds me.”

  “Regardless,” Valestein interjected, “All we can do now is to prepare for an imminent Grimm attack. Too soon in raising the arm, and we risk a panic among the popuce, especially as we do not know which path they will attack from, too te, and we would fail to put defenses in time. It’s a good thing this happened so te at night and most of the residents were asleep.”

  “On a separate note,” Arc waved his hand and a few pieces of Dust crystals nded on the table. “I’m not sure how goes your Dust reserves, but if you need Dust, I might be able to help.”

  Donovan looked at the Arc d. He had seen him pull things out of thin air, and he had waved it off as his Sembnce. He had seen plenty of weird abilities in his life, and having some sort of personal storage was hardly the most unusual thing he witnessed.

  “Acknowledged. Naturally, we shall reimburse you for any Dust we would need, though currently we should have more than enough. Our Dust stores are stored in a different pce than the civilian grade that Odvin’s trades with.”

  “Will they be enough for my pn?”

  “… Perhaps not.” Donovan sighed, as the more he thought about it, the more he realized that it would probably be a good idea to at least prepare such a trap. Destroy Celdic’s future to protect its present? Or risk its existence over fear for the future? Damned if he did, damned if he didn’t. “If you have any Fire or Lightning Dust, please let me know. Wind would also be helpful, but let’s wait for the rest to arrive.” The young man nodded and stored back the crystals.

  “Alright then,” Donovan was eager to conclude this before the rest of his guests arrived. “All we can do is to silently prepare and wait for my scouts to return. Any questions or suggestions?”

  “Too slow.” Came the sudden reply from Sylphid.

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “We can't wait for your scouts to return. What is the standard course of action for your units when they lose communication while on patrol?”

  “Return to base, of course.”

  The young adventurer nodded her head, “I believe it would be faster for me to track them down and have them return. We've already agreed this is a prelude to attack.”

  “Do you think you would be capable of catching up to my dragoons when you are four hours behind them?” Donovan asked, not unkindly, but there was still a hint of exasperation in his voice.

  “Yes.” Came the simple answer, causing him to sigh tiredly.

  “Valestein?”

  “Fie could probably run all the way to Vale and be there before sunrise if she wanted to. It would kill her doing it with her low stamina, though.” The amused look on the older face combined with the hint of pride in her tone stopped the younger girl from giving a scathing reply and just smiled instead. “I say let her recall your scouts and have her survey the nds for any obvious signs of a Grimm horde heading this way.”

  “But wouldn't you be too tired to participate in the defenses, Sylphid?”

  “Don't worry, I have my walking/talking unlimited power supply cheat to get me back to speed.” The girl tapped her blonde friend's elbow, her catty smile looked expectant.

  Both men met each other's eyes and an instant understanding went through. He felt for the d, and they sighed in exasperation.

  “I guess I can also try to see if we could communicate through that link.”

  Donovan did not know what Arc was talking about, but it seemed the two teenagers had an understanding as they nodded before turning back to him.

  “Alright then, let's not waste time. I'll show you the route they took, and write you their orders.” The girl's smile widened, “and Sylphid? Bring them home safe.”

  The young adventurer nodded seriously and after perusing another map of the region, she had the Arc d do – something – to her that caused her to visibly vibrate with energy and disappear from the office, the only clue she was there was the open window.

  A few minutes ter, Duncan had returned with Sheriff Greaves, his deputy, along with two surprise additions in the mayor and –

  “Captain Montgomery! I’m surprised you are up so te. And the mayor?”

  “We were listening to the test broadcast from Vale when the signal died. More importantly, what the bloody hell was that thing that flew out of your window?”

  .

  .

  .

  “Out of the question!” The mayor excimed, “You want to destroy our livelihoods?”

  “It would be a st resort in case the Grimm overwhelm us. If our predictions are right, and a horde simir to the one we faced is on its way, then it is our duty to prepare by any means necessary.”

  Valestein was not backing down from Arc’s pn, and after further thought on it, Donovan was starting to see the merit of it. To the side, Montgomery was moving his hand in awe as Arc had somehow healed his broken limb, while the d himself was by the window gazing at the moon.

  “B-but still, Celdic relies heavily on all those farms. Our famous beer would not exist without the grain!”

  “Trust me, I know. I can’t believe I would ever say this, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Even that beer will need to be used as fuel, and it kills me to admit this!” He hid a frown at how distressed the woman sounded, she really did like her booze. It’s a bit unbecoming from a dy, but maybe that’s just his old-fashioned self speaking?

  They continued arguing back and forth for a few more minutes while Sheriff Greaves caught his eye.

  “What’s on your mind, Cyrus?”

  Cyrus Greaves was a slim old man of average height, wearing a red poncho, a brown wide brimmed hat, a bandoleer with two revolvers, an ammo belt and a rifle holstered on his back. His face had a permanent grin that would put people to ease as much as it would give any ne'er-do-wells pause. He had been the sheriff for Celdic ever since Donovan was a teenager. A crack shot who could shoot the fly off a horse’s tail from a hundred yards, he oversaw the militia along with his deputies, but rarely ventured out of Celdic’s immediate vicinity.

  “I don’t like this, Donny. I don’t like this at all. We should be prepping for battle, not idling around with our fingers up our arses.”

  “Don’t I know it,” Brocket ignored the nickname the sheriff gave him. Old men and their habits, he too was getting up in the years. “My Dragoons and some of Montgomery’s men are quietly making sure all our defenses are up to task. What’s the word on the militia and the newcomers?”

  “Many of these folks have never had to shoot a hare, let alone a Grimm in their lives.” The sheriff spat out, his grin growing sharp. “I would wager they would break at the first Beowulf that gets on top of the walls. Still, the town’s walls are tall and, while old, all the guns and other defenses are well maintained…for the most part.”

  They turned back to the ongoing argument between the Mayor and Valestein, as even Montgomery had to intervene, surprisingly on the Adventurer’s side. He was about to add his own thoughts when a sudden voice interrupted.

  “I’m afraid you will have to decide quickly, Mayor. The scouts are on the way.” They all fell silent as they turned to the young Arc, who had turned a way from the window with a serious expression.

  “Fie found them?”

  “Yeah, and that wasn’t the only thing she found.” His determined face was all the confirmation they needed. It appears their worst fears shall become reality.

  T*A*M*S

  Many miles away,

  A group of men were busy setting up a camp in a clearing near the main road heading out of Celdic. The dragoons sent to scout by Lieutenant Brocket had wisely decided not to continue travelling in the darkness, which allowed Fie to catch up to them so easily as she travelled on top of the trees.

  She nded just as they were starting the campfire, causing them to jump, their hands going to their sidearms.

  “Who are you?”

  Fie looked closely, not recognizing any of them. They must have been out on patrol over the past week she’d been in Celdic.

  “C-Rank adventurer, Fie. I have orders from Lieutenant Brocket.” She handed the written orders to their apparent leader, who accepted it warily. After a quick read, his face scrunched up in annoyance before sighing in defeat.

  “What is it?” One of the other dragoons asked.

  “New orders from Brocket. We are to return to Celdic ASAP. Imminent Grimm attack on the way. Pack up, men. At least we won’t sleep in the wild tonight.”

  “More like we won’t sleep at all.” A series of annoyed groans sounded out, but the men did as they were told. Fie folded her arms and stared impatiently at them. Suddenly, something sped through the skies. It was too fast for her to discern what it was, and before she could think about following it, she heard a sound in the wind. A sound she had learned to recognize well.

  Grimm.

  “Nevermind your stuff, just saddle the horses and get away from here. They are coming!”

  At first, some of the dragoons looked askance at her before one of them strained his ears for a moment and paled significantly.

  “She’s right, we gotta–” A loud sonorous howl reverberated in the forest and everyone in the clearing froze before drawing their weapons. Fie looked around warily, straining her senses until she found her target.

  A Beowulf leaped out of a bush, its cws poised to eviscerate one of the dragoons, who instantly had his revolver aimed at it and shooting all six rounds of his gun in less than a second. The Grimm staggered, but its thick armor identified it as an Alpha and continued its charge. If the dragoon had used his rifle, he would have been able to down the monster. Yet, it was a moot point as Fie nded on the Alpha Beowulf’s back, forcing it to the ground and stabbing her daggers into its eyes. She pulled the trigger to finish it off, blowing its head apart.

  “Thanks for the help.” The dragoon accepted her offered hand to pull him up.

  “Don’t mention it. I suggest you all leave. This was but an advance party, the full force should be following soon.” She turned towards the other dragoons, who were also attacked by lesser Grimm but were easily neutralized.

  “Understood. Thank you, adventurer. Will you need a ride?”

  “No, I have my own mission. Farewell.” The Cat-Faunus left before they could ask more questions and watched them as they turned their steeds back down the path to Celdic. The light of the lit campfire illuminated the clearing as she waited for the rest of the Grimm to appear, all the while trying to send a message to Jaune through the link.

  .

  .

  .

  The sound of gunfire reverberated around the forest as a white haired figure jumped from tree branch to tree branch, dodging pinions from Nevermores and a rampaging Goliath charging through trees like they were shrubbery. On the ground, a myriad of Grimm moved with a blind resolve towards Celdic. Normally, Fie would be capable of killing any of the attacking Grimm individually, or even distract many of them to bring them down on her own terms. Yet, the Grimm were completely fixated on whatever flew in the sky that was also heading to town.

  The cat-faunus could not get the chance to properly identify the reason for their fixation, however, as she was doing her best just to stay alive. Jaune’s boost had seemingly given her unending stamina yet even then, she would not intentionally throw herself in the middle of a Grimm horde in the thousands and hope she could come out of it alive.

  Well, she probably would be able to drag some of them away and kite them from distance. Yet, that would take far too long and would also be in vain. Better she retreated to town and joined in the defenses, than waste her time and energy on a forlorn hope.

  Fie dodged yet another hail of pinions from a flock of Nevermores. She nded on the ground and kicked at the remains of the earlier campfire into an advancing Boarbatusk along with a grenade.

  Another Boarbatusk rolling towards her had the cat-faunus jump back to the trees just as her grenade exploded, taking both Grimm out. Fie did not have a moment of respite, however, as more pinions skewered the branch she had just jumped from.

  Travelling from tree to tree, the agile adventurer looked back to the skies, not finding her original target. Instead, she saw that same flock of Nevermores. Surprisingly, the horde was missing a lot of flying Grimm, that flock of about two dozen being the only ones. A look ahead found the entire horde marching towards Celdic, causing her to frown. At this pace, she reckoned they would arrive in two hours. Fie could feel Jaune’s Arcus link, but she had no way of communicating through it aside from emotions.

  Deciding that there was no way for her to effectively stop the horde, she focused on the link and sent feelings of anxiety and helplessness through it. The fact she was willing to do such a thing spoke volumes of the amount of trust she had pced in her new friend. A comforting feeling washed over her, and she recognized Jaune’s Aura and feelings of assured confidence, making her lightly smile. Her job was done, Celdic was forewarned.

  A rain of pinions fell on the tree once again, and Fie jumped away, with a slight downturn of her lips the only evidence of her annoyance. Perhaps she could finish off the flock before she heads back?

  A loud screech from another Nevermore had her dodging hastily. That was different, that screeching was far too loud, too primal. Fie looked up to the skies again and found the source of the screech. It was a monstrous Nevermore, easily the size of one of those massive passenger airbuses.

  Looks like she found out the leader of this horde.

  T*A*M*S

  Celdic outskirts, sometime after midnight, July 6th.

  “Is this the st pce?” Jaune asked their guide, one of the younger militiamen the sheriff had lent, as they stood in front of the entrance of a rge abandoned looking homestead. It was a good plot of nd, Sara observed, but it was clearly neglected, with plenty of weeds and not a single farm animal in sight.

  “Yep, Old Baha is the crankiest sumbitch in these parts. The old codger is in his nineties, blind as a bat, and missing a leg from a bad encounter with a Beowulf that killed his wife a decade ago.” The minuteman, named Sonny, was wary of pushing open the wooden gate and stared at them expectantly.

  They had spent the st hour since Fie’s warning evacuating all civilians and their animals from the many farmhouses and ranches close to Celdic while following Jaune’s pn of trapping every inch of nd they could find with incendiary explosives. Naturally, many of the residents were hesitant if not out right hostile over such an extreme method, but they managed to convince all of them of the reality of their situation. Either they stayed and became Grimm fodder, or they evacuated and lived to see another day and hopefully rebuild.

  “Well?” Sara looked confusedly at the kid, “What’s the hold up?”

  “There be no way I’ll open this gate this te at night! The senile old coot is known for booby trapping every yard of his nd. How the bastard can even do that with his blind ass is a mystery, I tell you.”

  Jaune grunted in annoyance and pushed the gate roughly, barely walking a few feet before an ominous click sounded out. Sonny whimpered beside her, but Jaune barely flinched when a makeshift gun sprang up from the ground and fired a round straight to his head.

  “Shit and meatballs! Is that dude even alive?”

  “Dunno, let’s ask him. Hey Jaune? You alive?” She could barely hide the mirth from her voice, especially when her blonde kid turned around with a bullet stuck in his Aura shield right between the eyes. That… wasn’t supposed to happen, Aura didn’t work that way, but she had learned that Jaune Arc’s existence was a living contradiction.

  “What do you think?” Contrary to her own, the boy’s tone was drier than the twenty-year-old military ration she ate on a dare in her student days. “Let’s keep going, we’re wasting time.”

  For the next few minutes, they followed Jaune as he tanked everything from bullets, arrows, crossbow bolts, spears, and even a freaking dishwasher that dropped on his head when he rang the doorbell. She also had to cover their more fragile guide from an errant shotgun slug, her sword appearing instantaneously thanks to Storage and disappearing back just as fast, leaving a gawking minuteman falling on his backside.

  “This is starting to get annoying.” Her partner grumbled as he kicked down the door when no one answered… only to get a chest-full of shotgun bst. Sara looked worriedly at him as, for the first time, Jaune took a few steps back but quickly shrugged the pellets off as they bounced off his breastpte and fell to the ground.

  This really is getting ridiculous, what was the point of even wearing armor if his Aura will still shield him? Just how tanky had his Aura become? Sara knew that the more Aura someone had, the thicker and more potent it became. It wasn’t a simple increase such as one plus one equals two, but rather an exponential one. From what Jaune said, he had five times as much Aura as her, yet the sheer potency and strength she feels from his Aura makes her believe his was at least ten times as potent as hers.

  The world just wasn’t fair, she huffed mirthlessly.

  “That ought to teach ya varmint.” A crotchety voice sounded from further in the house. “Who the ruddy hell would show up at people’s doorsteps at one in the darn morning.”

  A figure, sitting on an armchair in the middle of a living room, could be seen from the open door.

  “You, old man, are getting evicted.” Jaune was clearly not in a good mood, “Gather your essentials and valuables. We have a ride to take you to Celdic.”

  “Evicted? What in tarnation are you smoking, kid? Either share it, or get out of my property. Also, I might be blind, but I could have sworn I shot yer ass.” The old man reloaded his double barreled shot gun and aimed it at the door, causing Sonny to scatter and Sara to take cover. Jaune, however, was already inside the house and curiously looking over stacks of crates and some sort of work bench. Clearly, the old codger had good hearing as he tracked Jaune with the gun but refrained from shooting.

  “We are adventurers in the employ of Celdic,” Sara interrupted whatever Jaune was going to say as he looked close to snapping the man’s neck. “I am A-rank adventurer Sara Valestein and the man you just shot is C-rank adventurer Jaune Arc. We have confirmation that a Grimm horde is on the way to attack the town and all its surroundings, and we are evacuating all residents to town.”

  Old Baha turned to her, bald head gleaming and massive goggles hiding his eyes. “Adventurers, aye? Well, I’ll be, I haven’t met one of your kind in a good thirty years. Used to be an adventurer as well, you know, until I took a pinion to the knee. Same darn knee was eaten by a Beowulf a decade ago along with the rest of the leg, hehahah.” The old man spped his prosthetic left leg, and Sara was starting to feel frustrated at the old man’s rambling. “Teamed up with another guy called Arc for a while.”

  “Really?” Jaune looked interested, seemingly forgetting that the man had done his best to kill him for the past few minutes.

  “Yeah, big man, hair the color of piss and a complete hardass but a real teddy bear inside. I wonder what Max is up to these days?”

  Sara chortled, perhaps she could endure the man’s rambling after all.

  “You sure you’re not hallucinating, old man? You might be a mean bastard, but you’re still a crotchety old cripple.” The minuteman, Sonny, seemed to have gained some spine from hiding behind her. Old Baha slowly turned to the man’s voice and simply smiled as he tapped his gun.

  “No, he’s telling the truth.” Jaune dropped what he was inspecting on the workbench and stared intently at the old man. “His Aura is unlocked, and he has more than you, Sara. You know what that means.”

  Sara’s eyes widened as the old man continued to smile. What was that old saying? Never underestimate an old man in a profession where they die young.

  “Anyway, we pn to rig your nd with explosives and incendiaries in preparation for the Grimm attack. I’m afraid that it’s the only way to beat back the horde.”

  Jaune’s words brokered no argument and even the stubborn old man seemed to sense it, “That’s all moonshine, kid. I pnned to sell this pce anyway. I’ll go, so long as I get to pnt my own kaboom.”

  After the insanity of the past hour, Sara felt she could live with that.

  .

  .

  .

  It was time, Sara could feel it. The whole town had been roused, and every house had its lights turned off in favor of massive floodlights pced on the walls and the water tower, flooding the town and the surroundings with artificial light. The walls had hundreds of men and women of the militia standing side-by-side, rifles and other small arms by their sides, with thousands more in reserve ready to take over for when one is injured. Every dozen feet or so, a machine gun nest or a fmethrower was manned by a member of the better trained garrison. According to the pn, Sara and Jaune held the southern walls with most of the defenders. The other walls had the militia and refugees manning them, their main job was to warn of any other attacks, but Jaune assured her that Fie was coming from the south and that’s where the horde was coming from.

  The eastern walls, where the mountains could hide any number of Grimm, had Sheriff Greaves and that old nag, Baha, manning it. She wasn’t sure if that combination was smart, but hopefully the Grimm would concentrate here.

  On the ground, behind the walls, were teams of mortars ready to rain fire and hell on the Grimm. They had tried to pce the two field cannons on the walls, but they were too big, even when Jaune helped carry it up. In the end, they abandoned the idea, and parked them by the eastern bastion overlooking the mountains. It was the only pce on the ramparts that was built to accommodate artillery, and Baha was certainly ecstatic to have more boom-bewms on hand.

  By the gates, were the Dragoon contingent on horseback ready to sally forth to take down any Grimm that weathered the defenses and tried to destroy the fragile gate. It was the biggest weak spot in the town’s defenses.

  From her position on top of one of the ancient stone towers, Sara could see the Grimm horde slowly making its way to the town, and that worried her. That they were slow, and methodical. Clearly, they were led by another elder Grimm, and her st experience with one of them did not go smoothly. A buzzing sound above them showed a drone recording the proceeds, and Sara gnced at Jaune’s new friend from the market as she volunteered for the defenses. The older Rabbit-Faunus used her Aura to carry a heavy machine gun, and behind her were belts and boxes of ammo stacked on the ramparts. That she also had a video camera set on a tripod to film the whole process was as ridiculous as it was cool. Sara idly fixed her hair, it wouldn't hurt to look good while she killed some Grimm.

  “We need to kill the leader. We can’t afford to have them discover the trap and simply go around it, attacking us from another side.” Sara turned to Jaune, hoping that her blonde companion would have a pn besides the one she had in mind, which included her wasting time looking for the leader and going all out to kill it… possibly leaving her open for a thousand-other Grimm to rip her to pieces.

  “Don’t worry. Fie will let us know.” The young Arc looked valiant in his gray and slightly rusted armor, and his sword was drawn, tip to the ground. He looked intently at the horde as it formed up, before narrowing his eyes at the skies.

  “What is it?” She looked where he was gazing, not finding anything.

  “I thought I saw something flying over town, but it was too high. Don’t worry about it, more importantly, Fie is preparing to strike.”

  They looked intently, searching the horde for their missing companion, when a massive Nevermore screeched in rage from behind the horde. Sara pulled a pair of binocurs, and stared at the creature, finding the reason for its screeching.

  “There, that’s the leader. Fie is dangling on its neck. I think… Holy crap, that’s my girl! She’s leading it here.”

  The statement had everyone around them on the tower shifting uneasily as the massive avian monster lost control of its flight and headed their way. Fie looked like she was stabbing its wings, while dodging its beak and the other Nevermore’s pinions. To the side, Meg had her camera aimed at the spectacle while whispering some form of commentary.

  “How will we kill it, though?” One of the defenders asked as he aimed his rifle at the beast. “It’s too rge for anything apart from the cannon to affect it, and still too far away to get a solid hit in.”

  In the time it took them to speak, the Nevermore had flown ahead of its horde, and Sara finally noticed something important. It had been blinded, possibly by her dear protégé. Fie had withdrawn a shining green object, before jumping off the bird, a few thousand feet from the ground, yet she seemed to be floating thanks to the shining Wind Dust crystal in her hands.

  “Good going, Fie.” Jaune brandished his sword, channeling an obscene amount of Aura into it. So much so, that he made all the town’s lights look like candles in comparison. “Knowing you, you still have something up your sleeve–”

  He had barely said the word when explosions bsted in the sky. Sara looked at the Nevermore, now realizing that Fie wasn’t stabbing the bird’s wings. She was pnting explosives.

  “Alright, Jaune. The Nevermore is wingless, and rapidly falling. Whatever you’re gonna do, do it soon or else it will crash into town.”

  The young Arc didn’t need to be told twice, as once the Nevermore was a couple of hundred feet away from the walls, he sshed his sword, sending out a massive bde of light cutting the beast in half, and felling it beyond the walls.

  The result was instantaneous. The moment, the Elder Grimm was syed, the entire horde, which had been confusingly watching them, roared in rage and charged into the fields to the walls. Sara could hear Montgomery ordering for the trap to be lit, but she had eyes only for the airborne figure that nded next to her breathing heavily, dropping the depleted crystal as it turned to dust.

  “Great job, Fie. That was beyond wicked.”

  Fie took another deep breath as she smiled lightly. The girl had a few healing cuts, and her clothes were a mess. Jaune quickly pced his hand on her, channeling some of his Aura into her, only for both of them to grimace and stop.

  “Sorry, Fie. You barely have a third of your reserves. You will need to rest for the night.”

  “That’s alright.” The girl looked at the fields beyond where a lone Dragoon galloped to a designated spot with a torch, lit two fuses, and galloped back to town. “We aren’t clear yet. Whatever is luring the Grimm was on that Bullhead flying way up high. I would bet my goggles it's the bandits, and the Grimm Bait is onboard.”

  Sara and Jaune frowned as they searched the skies. “I knew I saw something.” Jaune’s face twisted into a furious scowl, “I even sensed some sort of Aura up there.”

  “I would love to save them, sweetie, but Celdic comes first.” Sara watched as the fuses lit the fields, just as the horde had entered them and were midway through them. Montgomery had timed it well.

  “Go rest in town, this will be a long night and even with Jaune’s boosts, we will be run ragged by dawn.”

  The girl nodded and flickered away, probably back to the Weathercock Inn. Sara turned back to the explosive confgration that was the fields of barley, rye, and wheat along with the people’s homes. She could hear some of the townsfolk bemoaning the loss of their livelihoods, but they could always rebuild. More importantly, the damage was catastrophic… for the Grimm, as they were burned to death by the hundreds. Soon enough, though, many of them discovered the gap they left for them to attack from, and the defenders opened fire.

  Sara and Jaune, however, had eyes on the skies for the rest of the attacking Nevermores.

  “So it begins.”

  And the horde attacks, yet the defenders manage to strike a major blow. Whether that will be enough remains to be seen.