“Bruno!”

Robert looked up from Thalia, his eyes wide with excitement. “Bruno, that was amazing!”

“Yeah yeah, just keep feeding his ego. Forget about the guy who actually killed that thing…” Geralt grumbled, as he lay on the ground in exhaustion.

“I was a real huntsman, wasn’t I?” Bruno said with a smirk on his face. “Do I really need to graduate after that…?”

“Keep your guard up or you won’t be around to do it!” Geralt exclaimed. “Not that I’d care…”

As if on queue, the familiar sound of howling and growling grew closer to the student’s position. Bruno and Robert instantly shared looks of fear, only amplified when a group of beowolves rounded a nearby corner and began to rush the group.

“Oh shit!” Bruno exclaimed, instantly readying himself.

“Damn it, you’ll have to hold out a little longer Bruno! I have to keep putting pressure on Thalia’s wound or she might not make it…” Robert shouted in a panicked voice. “Can you move Geralt…?”

“Nope. Everyone’s aura fatigue lasts different periods of time. Mine is rather long.” He answered, audibly annoyed.

Bruno prepared himself for the small onslaught of Grimm, but luckily he found his work a little easier than expected. As soon as the Grimm neared their position, a group of soldiers burst out from one of the nearby alleyways. Surprising the Grimm from the side, they made short work of the group. Guns went off and spears pierced flesh, filling the street with even more ichor.

The final beowolf managed to break away from the others, rushing towards Bruno. He jumped up and kicked the creature in the snout, before launching off a bit of solid air behind him and plunging his claws into its head.

“I could’ve still taken them.” Bruno muttered, as the soldiers approached.

“Huntsmen! We’ve secured the rest of the town!” One of the lead guards, the girl with a resemblance to Brandford, reported. “The Grimm have been pushed back to the gates!”

“That’s a relief…” Robert let out a sigh, before quickly continuing on. “This one here, Thalia, she’s lost a lot of blood! She needs medical attention right now. There’s another over there by that destroyed house, I don’t know how badly he’s hurt.”

“We need these two stabilized right now!” The lead guard shouted, before pointing to two others in her party. “Go retrieve the boy over there and be careful!”

The two guards made a beeline for Shin, whilst another from the group knelt down next to Robert and began to tend to Thalia.

With this, the Mistralian finally allowed himself to relax, turning to Bruno and giving him a thumbs up.

*

“Merlot.”

Leon spoke up as the ichor began to coalesce all around Willow, surrounding her form. “Run.”

Merlot didn’t need to be told twice. She turned tail and bolted for the staircase, Leon standing ready in front of Willow.

“Not so fast.” Willow said. A multitude of ichor tendrils formed around her, before rushing towards Merlot. Leon gasped, attempting to cut through them with his blade. He succeeded partially, but a great deal still managed to break through his defences, wrapping around Merlot’s ankle and right wrist. She let out a shout as the thick black substance inhibited her further movement.

Leon rushed Willow. She countered with another set of tendrils aimed his way, all of which were sliced to bits this time. As he dealt with them, the other set pulled Merlot back towards Willow, whereupon further ichor emerged to encase the girl. Thinking quickly, she flung one of her chakrams with her free hand, bouncing it off the wall and severing the tendrils that bound her.

Her initial strategy having failed, the ichor began to join together into one mass. Raising her hand, Willow formed a sharpened blade composed entirely of the tarry substance.

“She can control the Grimm blood…?” Merlot said, mouth agape.

“The ichor, yes, it seems like it.” Leon replied.

“What a semblance…”

“Something that’s more pressing to me is how she even has a semblance despite her lack of aura.”

Before the two could continue further, Willow attacked.

Leon raised his weapon, meeting her ichor blade head on. The two began to clash, exchanging swift blows with one another and sending sparks flying. Their movements were quick, but Merlot could make out that Leon was on the backfoot. Willow moved like she hadn’t before, unleashing attack after attack.

Merlot waited, before spotting an opening and tossing one of her chakrams. The spinning blade slammed into Willow’s arm, drawing her attention briefly. Her eyes flicked to Merlot, but it didn’t stop her from raising her blade to block an overhead strike from Leon. With a wave of her hand, several more ichor blades began to take form in the air above Willow. They careened towards Merlot, who was in turn forced to duck and dodge the various blades.

They chased her, slashing through wooden desks and destroying communications devices. Merlot did her best to weave around each one, tossing her other chakram at another and cutting it in half. Her weapons returned to her in time to block another blade. Unbeknownst to her, another had slipped around her defence and attacked from behind, slashing Merlot’s side and lowering her aura.

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Leon was pushed back by another blow from Willow. Rather than charge back in, he dodged backwards, avoiding a follow up slash before sharply bringing his naginata over his head and into a downwards strike. Willow raised her own blade to block… Only for Leon’s weapon to cleave straight through the ichor blade and leave a sharp gash across her chest. Her eyes went wide.

“Seems like you forgot about my semblance.” Leon said, bringing his weapon back. Willow’s eyes narrowed on his naginata. She could barely make it out, but surrounding the sharpened blade was a coating of pressurized air.

A hand went to her chest.

“I can’t believe you’d do that… You awful huntsman!” She seethed. Leon wore a serious and confident expression at first, until he got a closer look at Willow’s wound. The substance that dribbled out from the open cut wasn’t blood. Instead of a crimson red, he was met with the blackness of ichor.

“What the hell are you…” Leon murmured, an audible fear settling into his voice.

Willow didn’t respond. Rather, the remaining ichor in the room as well as the liquid dripping from her injury immediately morphed itself into a set of blades, all of which flew towards Leon and Merlot.

Leon immediately raised his weapon, slashing through as much of the sharpened blood as he could, his blade a mere blur.

Having been in the process of fighting off only a few, the now hundreds of blades that filled the room caused Merlot to gasp. She ran, but she could only go so far as the blades followed after her. One struck her shoulder, followed by another hitting her leg.

She made a full pass around the room, before finally heading back in the direction of Willow, still being pursued. A blade charged her head on, but she slashed it with her chakram.

Despite Leon’s best attempts, the flurry of weapons began to overwhelm him, breaking down his aura with each glancing blow. He grimaced, turning around and blocking another attack, only for an unexpected ichor tendril to grab him by the leg, pulling him off balance. This was just in time for a blade to rush in and strike his forehead, briefly disorienting the huntsman. It allowed another tendril to harden around the arm clutching his weapon and a third to pin him to the ground. He struggled, but the tendrils had become completely solid.

Merlot saw this from across the room, but barely had enough to process it as an ichor knife flew past her face. She began to charge directly towards her foe.

“Willow!” Merlot shouted over the sounds of cracking wood and smashing glass. “Just wait! I give up! I’ll go with you! Just stop!”

Willow glanced over to Merlot. The blades froze in place, still poised and ready but no longer moving. Merlot took heavy breaths in and out, dropping her chakrams to the ground and raising her hands.

“Merlot! Just run!” Leon shouted, continuing to struggle against the hardened ichor to no avail.

“I can’t!” She replied, a nervous look on her face, amplified once Willow crept closer. She stood only a foot away from Merlot, a smirk forming on her face.

“Thank you for being reasonable.” Willow said, staring down Merlot. Their eyes met, Merlot’s a vivid, almost glowing purple whilst Willow’s were a beautiful brown. “I have someone who I’m sure would really like to meet you. After these Grimm destroy this city we’ll go…”

Willow trailed off. Her eyes suddenly seemed to grow heavy, and her face grew red. She slumped over slightly, and put a hand to her head.

“We’ll go to… Uhhhh…” She spoke slower, slurring each word. Willow stepped back, only to almost fall over, a pillar of ichor forming up from the ground in order to support her.

“I can’t… It’s just…” Her words turned into a slight giggle. “Wait a second, wait a second… I’m taking you back right?”

Merlot smirked slightly. Her eyes glowed with a faint purple light, before extinguishing. The girl didn’t waste another second. Her chakrams returned to her grasp, pulled along by gravity dust. Willow’s eyes went wide, and the ichor blades immediately converged on Merlot, but she wasn’t able to react in time to stop the student from tossing both the chakram towards Leon. The blades cut through his bindings, freeing the huntsman.

Willow turned her attention to Leon just in time to receive an air blast directly to the face. She screamed, falling to the ground and clutching at her stomach. Her world was spinning, and she struggled to maintain her balance. Leon’s aura flickered.

Merlot was barraged by blades. She was struck from every angle, and before long her aura shattered. She fell to her knees, aura break fatigue taking over. It didn’t stop the ichor attacks however, as a blade flashed past her neck, drawing blood and leaving a shallow cut. Another cut her leg, while a third buried itself in her shoulder. She held back a scream as blood trickled down her arm, unable to act against the overwhelming loss of energy an aura break caused.

Another blade poised itself in front of her, heading straight for her forehead. Before it could make contact, it was cleaved in half by Leon’s naginata. The other blades too were sliced apart in a series of slashes.

Leon now stood between Merlot and Willow, panting and covered in ichor. Willow continued to stumble and clutch at her head, barely able to make out any words. Leon rushed in for an attack, but it simply glanced off a hardened ichor shield.

Willow backed off, reaching the hole in the side of the tower, caused by the now fully disintegrated nevermore. She took one last confused glance at Leon and Merlot, before leaping out.

Leon instantly bolted to the edge, but by the time he peered out to the town below, she had disappeared amongst the darkness and rubble. He let out a sigh, before immediately turning to his student.

“Merlot, how badly are you hurt?!”

“Not too bad…” She replied, the fatigue beginning to wear off. “Just a few scratches.”

“I’m glad to hear it. What's that you did to her?”

“I used my semblance. I can make someone drunk by looking them in the eye. I got her pretty good, but if I was able to stare for longer I could’ve made her puke.” Merlot chuckled slightly. "I wanted to use it on the nevermore before, well..."

“I appreciate what you did but even so, this whole thing was reckless. You should’ve stayed at your post, regardless of what was happening.” Leon said seriously, extending a hand to Merlot and helping the student to her feet.

“I’m sorry.” She mumbled, clutching her shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it for now. We have much more important things to attend to.”

*

Branford let out a battle cry as he plunged his sword into the eye of an ursa. It growled, batting him across the chest with its pointed claws, mere moments before the sword cleaved through the rest of its skull. This attack caused the faunus’ aura to flicker slightly, but he had no time to worry about it as a beowolf pounced towards him from a nearby pile of rubble. He gasped, plunging his sword into the beast’s mouth.

All around him, the battle continued to be waged around the gates. Defensive barriers had been erected within the walls, hard light shields that lit up the otherwise dark streets. Soldiers fought from behind the barriers, launching arrows and firing rifles into the slowly thinning horde.

“Nevermore!” A soldier called from nearby, prompting Brandford to look up as one of the massive flying Grimm swooped in from above. The captain readied himself, only for the creature to be struck by a flying chakram, burrowing itself into its wing. It screeched as a second slashed across its back, drawing ichor. This was followed by a naginata blade, slicing straight through its skull from a nearby rooftop.

The body of the nevermore crumpled to the ground as Merlot and Leon arrived on the scene, weapons at the ready.

“It’s about time, huntsman.” Brandford growled, before charging back into the fray. Leon and Merlot followed, taking the Grimm head on. Together they fought their way through the remaining foes, the combined might of three adept warriors thinning out the horde quicker than ever.

The soldiers watched on, cheering as Grimm after Grimm fell to the three defenders.

“Get ready to seal the gates!” One of the soldiers shouted. Another nodded, grabbing a set of grenades off his belt and tossing both towards the remnants of the gate. The grenades detonated, filling the entrance to the village with a massive wall of solid ice, trapping the remaining Grimm within and preventing more from entering.

Within minutes, the final Grimm, a beowolf, was felled by a chakram to the neck. Leon, Brandford and Merlot, the defenders of Shian Shi, stood surrounded by Grimm corpses, all covered in ichor and breathing deeply.

The soldiers let out one final cheer. The battle was won.