An Anon's Journey: Remnant Act 1

V3E11: Calling Bluff, Gambling with Life

"Come on, Come on!"

Hope began to tap his scroll's screen frustratedly. Ever since Vale's walls fell silent, signal had become hard to come by. Hope knew that the CCT tower was still up because he could get signal, meaning it must be on the fritz due to the virus. His frustration gave way to worry. Without the CCT tower, no one could communicate or coordinate to keep Vale's innocent out of harm's way. Hopefully, the old fashion way would suffice.

He just hoped that nothing insurmountable happened to Ironwood or Glynda.

It really didn't help that the Honourbound was causing such a ruckus, its guns are thankfully offline but it's still worrying to see it so close to the ground. Hope could easily imagine the catastrophic damage it would incur if it were to crash land in Vale City.

Roman, you better not fuck this up.

Hope spotted a lone beowolf eating from a corpse, the carcass so mangled and disfigured that he had no clue whether or not it was male or female. Hope blasted its head off with a quick, contemptuous flick of his pistol. He continued, walking past the smoking body of humanity's nemesis. This pattern repeated more than enough for Hope's patience to wear thin. More deads to avenge, more monsters to eradicate, more monsters eradicated. The only thing keeping him from falling apart being Satan's Pride was beginning to become redundant, the effect of his wounds coming through despite the ignored pain. he felt his aim wander after every shot and his strength leave him little by little.

Was my gun always this heavy?

A sudden crash nearby frightened him, making him jolt in place. He heard feminine whimpering coming from the same location the crashing sound came from. A cold breeze hit his entire body and a sense of foreboding overcame him. He sighed nervously, knowing something was up.

A small jaunt over the rubbles of what was once a Mistrali tea parlour revealed a sight of complete carnage, one featuring familiar characters. Team BRNZ layed in a pool of their own blood and gore, each torn apart in uniquely gruesome ways. Nolan was bisected at the waist, his legs quite a ways away from his torso with his guts stretching the length of the separation. Roy bled out from his jagged maw crushed legs, resembling mangled meat produced by a sloppy butcher. Brawns was missing half of his ribcage and his left arm, his eyes empty of any light and the last of his tears draining away as he stared at his doomed lover.

Lastly was May Zedong, whose execution was already underway.

She begged and cried as the lone Grimm who decimated her entire team held a finger over her left eye. She screamed like a maimed dog as the monstrous being drove its entire claw into her eye socket, shaking and waving it until the eye turned almost liquid. The tortured sensory organ sloughed out of its receptacle as the beast sneered contemptuously, devoid of any true sense of sadism.

It looked utterly disinterested.

The monster sighed as it tossed May aside like garbage. BRNZ's sniper crumpled into the fetal position, clasping her empty socket shut while screaming in agony. The monster stood over its last victim, wincing at how loud and annoying this... pathetic creature was. None of them fought back properly, a token defence, sure, but nothing out of expectation. Every being will fight for their lives but these... worthless larvae would give up as soon as they felt the cold bite of mortality. None clung to life with tooth and nails, none had the drive to fight their impending doom.

None, save... Him...

The beast raised its clawed hand lazily, intent on separating the head from that weeping mess's shoulders.

Suddenly, a metallic click was heard.

The Grimm dodged, throwing its entire frame to the side in a sloppy roll. On all fours, the Grimm's head shot up, more startled than actually aggressive. But then, a familiar scent hit its nostrils. Its eyes locked to the tattered frame of the one who decimated it, so little ago.