The Fall Of Argus (2)

"Help us!" A woman running for her life glanced behind her. A Faunus dressed in the uniform Shen gave out was covered in blood and chasing after her. "Please nooo!" She screamed as the Faunus quickly caught up, punching a hole directly through the woman's chest. "Agh…" Blood-curdling gurgles could be heard as the woman's body fell limp to the ground.

Looking around them, the Faunus saw their allies kill the remaining citizens in the area. "Well keep pushing them inwards until we have the City Hall surrounded!" All of them nodded as soon as they spread out. Explosions echoed throughout the city as the chaos continued to spread and more lives were lost.

"Ahh! What the hell is going on!" A Police Officer using his vehicle as the cover was shooting at the oncoming threats. There were only three Faunus, yet the uniforms Shen gave them made all the difference. Their speed was overwhelming as they dodged each shot made at them. "Damn Faunus!" As one of them got extremely close to him, he let off another shot.

Reacting, the Faunus quickly jumped into the air, dodging before landing directly on the hood of the car. The Police Officer was frozen as he even forgot to breathe. "Heh." The last thing he heard was a malicious chuckle as the Faunus grabbed for him. As if he weighed nothing, the Faunus slammed his head into the hood of the car, making a large dent.

The overwhelming difference in ability made it practically impossible for the Police to handle the situation. The City Hall where the Atlas Military had moved temporarily after their bases had been destroyed. Inside it had been transformed into a temporary base of operations. There the Mayor was at his desk with his head in his hands. "How did this happen…"

Caroline, who was also in the room, was looking out of a window at a single fire and smoke in the distance. The gunfire ringing through Argus was only getting louder, and the fighting was beginning to get closer to the City Hall. Soon an Atlas Soldier ran into the room and saluted. "Mam I have an urgent report on the situation of the City!"

Caroline nodded as the Atlas Soldier spoke. "The Faunus have gone completely genocidal. They are no longer working under the banner of the White Fang. At the same time the Police and our remaining Military forces can't hold them off! They're like monsters, nothing we do is slowing them down."

Caroline clenched her fist as she turned around. "What about Sanctum Academy?" The Atlas Soldier went silent as he shook his head. "They have gone into complete lockdown. Their focus is protecting the Academy and are offering us no assistance."

"Damn cowards!" Slamming her fist against the glass window, it shattered instantly. "What about communications? Have still not made contact with the outside world?" The Atlas Soldier shook his head. "No mam not only that all vehicles we have sent to get help manually have not returned. We can only assume they are being intercepted."

The next moment before Caroline could even say anything, yet another Atlas Soldier came. However, unlike the first one, he tripped while running in. His face was full of fear, and his mouth was trembling. "What's wrong with you, Soldier! Speak properly!" Caroline yelled at him, but it had zero effect as he pointed behind him wildly.

"Gr- Grimm! Grimm! An army of Grimm has been spotted coming this way!" Caroline's eyes contracted. "What! From where!"

"From both the land and sea! The count is over ten thousand on both sides!" The Mayor, Caroline, and the Atlas Soldier felt their hearts stop all at once. There were around sixty-five thousand people that lived in Argus. It was the second-largest city within Mistral, besides the capital.

With how much chaos was happening, it made sense Grimm would be attracted here. However, ten thousand on both sides! That was an insane number, and it also made no sense. "They planned this… That's why they took out our shields and communications…" It was the only concept that made sense, and it caused Caroline to fall to her knees.

"But how? How could they have set this up!" Nothing was making sense anymore. And soon, the situation would get all the worse. Outside in the city, Pyrrha blocked two incoming strikes. Lowering her stance, she tripped the first Faunus before jumping onto them and slamming her shield into their head. "That's one."

The second Faunus there quickly rushed in from behind her. Standing up and turning around, her spear began to transform into a WW1 stylized rifle. Reaching for her belt, she quickly loaded an Ice Dust bullet into the chamber. "Ragh!" Just as the Faunus was going to leap at her, she predicted their movements and shot at their feet.

Immediately Ice began to form, stopping their movements just long enough. "Huh?" Running at them the moment they stopped moving. "Hya!" Spinning around, she kicked them in the side of the head before bashing them in the chest with her shield. The ice at their feet shattered as they were sent flying back, knocked unconscious. "And that's two..."

Ever since the Faunus began their attack under Shen's orders, she had been fighting them. Her breath was already getting rough, and she looked exhausted with sweat dripping from her face. 'They don't have Aura yet they are so strong. And there's no end to them either…' Looking at the city around her, so many things were on fire.

Citizens were either hiding indoors or running for their lives. Looking at all of this, she suddenly heard a siren. The noise got louder as the siren was heard throughout the entirety of the city. [This is an Emergency Broadcast! All citizens are advised to evacuate immediately and seek shelter. A massive swarm of Grimm has been spotted nearing the city through both land and sea. Their numbers range into the tens of thousands.]

After that, the broadcast and sirens continued to loop, echoing throughout the city. "What…" Pyrrha's eyes widened as she quickly ran towards a tall building. Making her way up to the roof, she glanced in the direction inland and towards the sea. She didn't even need to squint to see the massive horde of Grimm approaching. "But… How…"

Her voice almost sounded hopeless as Shen, the man responsible, looked at everything occurring. He hasn't spent any of his points or relied on the System too much during his take over. As such, he had not spent points since he was Level 8. But right now, he was Level 13 and was already more than halfway to fourteen, thanks to killing the Headmaster of Sanctum.

And with all of the potential XP in Argus, Shen was pretty confident he could hit Level 15.

{Personal Information}

Name: Shen

Level: 13 [723580/1024000]

Race(s): Life Fiber-Hybrid (28%)|Human Demon-Hybrid|

Abilities: Life Fiber Manipulation [Lv. 5]|Karmic Retribution[Lv. Max]|Devil Trigger [Lv. 1]|Witch Walk[Lv. Max]|Squirmy Fingers[Lv. Max]|Goro Goro no Mi[Lv. 2]

Skills: Tangle (Life Fiber Manipulation)|Appearance Manipulation (Life Fiber Manipulation)|Mental Refitting (Life Fiber Manipulation)|Volt Vari (Goro Goro no Mi)|Sango (Goro Goro no Mi)

Linked Skills: Demonic Blast(Devil Trigger)|Karmatic Lightning(Karmic Retribution;Goro Goro no Mi)

…

Creating all of those uniforms let his Life Fiber Manipulation level up once again. Which also meant he was now even stronger, being composed of more Life Fibers.

{Personal Stats}

Points: 5

Physical Strength: 16 (+56)

Endurance: 19 (+71)

Dexterity: 24 (+49)

Power: 23 (+34)

…

'I've been holding my Power stat back for a while now.' Damaging his opponents has never been too much of an issue after all. But he decided to change that as he dumped the five points he did have into it. "I spent so much time setting this up. Now I feel the urge to get involved." Torchwcik looked over at him as he saw Shen's figure transforming into lightning. "Oh and here I thought you were just going to watch the show with us."

"Well as fun as it is to play puppeteer. There's just some unique satisfaction from doing things yourself." Completely transforming his body, Shen flew through the air. Being higher in the air than practically every building in the city, he stopped. His form turned back to normal as he stood in the air. "Let's see what all that endurance was good for."

Holding his hand up to the sky, it began to spark with electricity. Those sparks grew more intense as a bolt of electricity flew into the sky. As if reacting to that, the sky began to darken even more. The clouds in the sky began to turn black as lightning crackled through them. "Right the City Hall is being used for evacuations and their base of operations."

Turning his eyes to the center of Argus, he smiled. "A perfect target then." Still standing on the roof of a building, Pyrrha heard the sound of lightning. Looking up at the sky, the clouds had blocked out the moon and stars and were circling the city. Her eyes traced the sky until, eventually, they landed on a figure in the air.

'It's him… He's the one responsible for all of this! But what is he doing so high in the air? And how is he just standing there?' She saw the lightning in the sky getting more frantic as she tried her best to follow his line of sight. "Oh no…" Eventually, Pyrrha saw Shen's target, and the moment she did, her face turned horrifyingly pale.

'No! If he attacks the City Hall, all of the refugees… Everyone will…' Without any hesitation, she quickly transformed her weapons back into its javelin state. Taking a large step, she pulled back her arm while lining up the shot. "Make it. Please make it!" With all her strength, she threw it. It flew through the air much faster than a bullet, with its target staying perfectly still.

The sound of the spear cutting through the air just barely caught his attention. Turning his head, he spotted it along flying towards him along with Pyrrha. But he didn't move and instead smirked. Lowering his hand down, he spoke two words. "El Thor." Creating a sound that drowned out any other noise. Every person looking at the sky saw it turn blue.

As if a blue sun had just appeared in the sky. And at the same time, a lightning bolt-like no other came down. Windows for miles shattered instantly as people were knocked off their feet. The ground shook as if an earthquake had struck, and electricity trembled through the air. The Mayor, Caroline, and everyone else within a large radius of the City Hall did not have a chance.

Without mercy, the strike wiped away everything in its path. As the lightning disappeared, all that was left was a massive smoking crater. Electricity charred the ground as dirt and debris had been thrown for hundreds of meters. The City Hall and the refugee camp had been completely erased.

Seeing that happen, Pyrrha's eyes immediately lost their focus as she forgot to activate her semblance. The attack went straight through Shen as he saw Pyrrha collapse to her hands and knees. Transforming into lightning, Shen disappeared from the sky. Appearing on the roof, Pyrrha was on; he had her weapon in hand as he tossed it next to her.

He could hear Pyrrha was mumbling to herself. "I wasn't fast enough… All those people, all those lives. It's my fault…" Her voice was practically cracking as a sense of realization dawned on her. "Together all of you should be capable of saving the world. Yes and your death would go on to help so many push forward. Of course that's if I never interfered."

Lowering himself, he looked at Pyrrha. "Yet in the end you're all still kids. Once someone attacks what you believe in, crushes your ideal hopes and fantasies…" Shen slowly lifted Pyrrha's head up with his hand. Her eyes seemed almost dull as tears built around them and slowly began to fall. "You'll all break down."

"I wonder how much you convinced yourself that I wasn't the person responsible. Just writing off the obvious hints I gave away as coincidences? Surely the person who saw you without your fame couldn't be the same person responsible for all of this. Yet that thought pattern ended up killing thousands and will kill tens of thousands more."

Pyrrha's face looked as if she was on the cusp of a full breakdown as she forcefully spoke. "But… Why? Why do all of this what's the point…" Her mind was already at its limit, yet she still wanted to know. "What kind of answer do you want?" Shen turned her head to the right as he spoke, giving her a view of the burning city and Grimm, who had finally made their arrival.

"I don't have a sad backstory to justify my actions. I was never treated cruelly or cared for by my parents. There was no sudden betrayal nor do I hate the world for petty reasons." Taking his hand off her face, Shen placed his hand on top of her head. "I'm sure I'll be able to give you a more concrete answer eventually. But for now just take it as the phrase suggests."

"Some men just want to watch the world burn."