Eclipse - Act 1 - The Healing

Chapter 22 - The Black Smog

Sun

His blue irises stare towards the coming destruction, hundreds of thousands of Grimm just sprinting towards the fences. The Beowulves slam their bodies against the chain linked fences, biting and clawing their way through. Sun and Ren's eyes widen as they prepare themselves, looking around and realising that they are the only people here. And that the Grimm are attacking all the fences all at once, practically throwing themselves against the fences. Ren's eyes focus onto the ground as he notices the ground rippling and rupturing from something tunnelling its way underneath the buildings and fences.

The ground explodes, and they see the Creeps bursting up from beneath them, roaring monstrously as they stand there, pacing back and forth before sprinting right at the two Huntsmen again. "What the hell's happened? What do we do?" Sun panics as he draws Ruyi Jingu Bang, spinning the staff through his fingers, and Ren narrows his eyes, pulling Stormflower from his holsters, aiming them at the attacking Grimm.

"I don't know, but you and I are the only things standing between the Grimm and the civilians behind us. It's not enough but if we can hold them off long enough for help to arrive then that is what we do!" Ren tells him, but their eyes widen when they hear the deep roar of the Shadow of Broken Promises moving over their heads. In the hope that it will offer them assistance, disappointment and a look of betrayal is all they are given as the huge vessel – still holding Eryka and Winter right now – starts moving away from the school.

And the Black Gallows are pulling out pretty much immediately, making Sun grit his teeth and scoff. "So much for defending the people. It's up to us." Sun agrees preparing himself and calming his heart down with steady breathing. The first of the Creeps jumps forward, biting down at Sun, but the Monkey Faunus spirals round and clatters the creature across its armoured face with the staff. It grunts and snarls, staggering aside, only for Sun to beat the head with a hard-downward strike, and he disengages the locking mechanism in the chains, so then he can fire the Gun-Chucks into the soft spot in its head. The Creep evaporates away into ashes in the wind, but they keep coming, the chain linked fence is doing its best to buy them time, but bigger Grimm are coming.

They can hear the trumpeting howls of the massive Goliaths approaching as they topple down the trees with every step that they take. Sun gasps, because a Creep jumps at him and bites down onto his Bo-Staff, bringing him down to one knee, viciously trying to rip the metal weapon from his grasp. Ren tackles the creature, stabbing both blades on his green pistols into the side of its head, one right through the eye and breaking its neck with a fast twist, killing it swiftly. Ren pulls Sun back up and fires Stormflower at another Creep that just made its way through the fences. They just keep coming as the other Grimm slash against the chains that block them from all that terrified food inside.

Ren rolls across the back of one of the Creatures of Grimm, a larger version of the Creep which is most likely a Creep Major. As he rolls across its back Sun strikes with his Bo-Staff, recoiling the creature into the firepower of his duel pistols. The green projectiles shred through the armour plating and it staggers with a roar, black smoke bleeding from the wound. It roars at Sun as it jumps up and buries its head into the ground, digging towards him as it turns over the dirt beneath all the concrete. As it bursts out it slashes the long tail at Sun, but he stops the attack with the spinning defence of Ruyi Jingu Bang. He steps back, pummelling the creature back with every fast swing he makes with the staff, then he unlocks the chains once more, spinning them quickly as he batters it with shotgun blasts bursting out from the smaller barrels. The shrapnel digs deep into the softer glowing red tissue within, and to finish it off he jumps in the air and kicks downwards, slamming its head straight through a spike of rebar sticking up from all the rubble that surrounds them.