“Bruno, look out!” Robert proclaimed, raising his shield as a beowolf leapt out of a nearby alleyway. Bruno whipped his head around in time to drive his blades through the head of the beast. It collapsed to the ground, and the faunus wrenched his blades from its corpse.
“Damn it, why are there so many of them inside the city? Isn’t that why we have a wall?!” Bruno exclaimed, kicking the Grimm’s disintegrating corpse as he resumed running down the city streets.
“Obviously if there are Grimm here it means they bypassed the wall.” Geralt said. “Though I’d expect this level of education from someone like you.”
Before Bruno could respond, another pair of beowolves made their presence known from the shadow of a nearby alleyway. Geralt instantly readied his spear, blocking an initial claw attack and proceeding to sever Grimm’s arm with his trident. He then plunged the tip of the weapon into its stomach.
Robert took care of the other, stunning it with a shield bash to the face before decapitating the Grimm with a single clean slash of his sword.
Following their brief battle, their attention was immediately drawn to a nearby section of houses. The sound of smashing concrete, as well as the almost unnatural roar of a beringle made itself heard over the usual sound of howling Grimm.
The three students all looked to one another, before heading straight in that direction.
*
Thalia cried out in pain, her stomach beginning to bleed furiously from the beowolf’s assault. Nearby, the beringle had somewhat calmed itself, with its primary target seemingly dealt with. It shifted its head to a nearby street, before letting out a short grunt and stomping towards it.
The beowolf snarled, pulling its paw back for a fatal attack. Thalia attempted to stomach the burning pain that coursed through her body, throwing her bow aside and drawing one of her daggers in time to block the attack. She struggled against the beowolf, with its superior strength overwhelming her last minute defence. As the creature pressed her dagger down, its snarling maw moved in, snapping at Thalia. She moved her head out of the way, barely dodging a mouth full of glowing teeth.
As she struggled for her life, Thalia’s gaze moved to the quiver that lay next to her. Her arm whipped out, grabbing one of the arrows from within, one infused with fire dust. The Grimm took notice of this, attempting to bite at her limb. It succeeded in its endeavor, its fangs sinking into the girl’s arm.
Thalia let out a shrill scream as the beowolf threatened to crush her arm with its jaws. Mustering one last bit of strength, her scream turned into more of a battle cry and she plunged the tip of the arrow directly into the beowolf’s eye.
The Grimm let out a great howl of pain, releasing Thalia’s bloodied arm. She didn’t waste a second in crawling out from underneath the beast, grabbing her bow and notching an arrow. Pulling back the drawstring she let it fly. Her arrow struck the dust arrow already lodged into the Grimm dead on. It activated the explosive capabilities of the projectile, causing it to detonate in a burst of flame and take the beowolf’s head with it.
Thalia stumbled back, dropping her bow and clutching her arm. The Grimm’s now headless body toppled to the ground, green ichor coating the area. Thalia was dazed. She could barely think straight, growing more and more lightheaded as blood dripped from her stomach and arm, collecting in a puddle with the ichor around her. She took sharp breaths in and out, attempting to stay conscious.
Through her blurry vision, she managed to make something out. A large shape lumbering towards her. The beringle had returned, letting out a blood curdling roar as it discovered her still living form. The creature lurched towards her, raising its fist above its head. Thalia closed her eyes.
A loud slam echoed throughout the street, followed by a voice.
“Well fought, Thalia.”
Opening her eyes, she found Shin standing before her. His fist had met the beringle’s dead on and he was holding the Grimm back with surprising ease.
“Shin... This Grimm, it isn’t like the others. Be careful.” Thalia managed to utter out.
“I can tell. My stored energy has reached its limit after absorbing only one punch.” He replied. “Try not to move or speak too much. I’ll end this as quickly as I can.”
The beringle roared, pulling back its fist and throwing out another punch. Despite its impressive size and speed, Shin managed to dodge to the creature’s right. Its body was completely left open, allowing Shin to slam his gauntlet clad fist directly into the Grimm’s bony chest. The massive beringle was sent flying, slamming into a nearby house and reducing it to rubble.
A golden energy surrounded Geralt’s fist as he gave Thalia one last glance, before rushing the beringle.
The beast wasn’t down for long. It emerged from the wreckage of the house, beating its chest furiously and letting out another roar. It swatted at Shin, who dodged the massive hand, leaping over it and landing to the Grimm’s left. The beringle began to throw a barrage of punches at Shin, causing the ground to crack much like it had earlier against Thalia.
The student was caught off guard by the repeated strikes, one managing to nearly throw him off his feet were it not for his semblance absorbing the shock of the blow. Without wasting another second, Shin threw the accumulated energy back at his opponent, meeting his next punch head on with his own fist, as he’d done many times already.
The two traded blows, their fists clashing with one another in the dimly lit square. Energy encircled Shin as he absorbed the force of one blow, before sending the kinetic energy back out with the next. His aura grew battered, whilst the fists of the beringle began to grow cracked and damaged. Shin continued to press on, letting out a battle cry as he traded blows with the Grimm.
His aura faded with each passing second, his reserves growing lower and lower. He was damaging the beringle, but at the rate they were going at, his aura would give out first. Shin made his move, aiming squarely for the beringle’s center mass. Sadly for him, the Grimm was faster and its reach was longer. Its colossal fist slammed into Shin, sending him flying across the street. He hit the ground hard, his aura flickering.
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The beringle let out a triumphant roar, stomping its way towards Shin, its glowing green body visible amidst the darkness of the street. Thalia lay a few meters to his right. Shin pulled himself back up again, ready to face down the beringle with his remaining bit of aura.
It lumbered towards Shin, raising its fist. The leader prepared to use his remaining aura in order to block the attack, crossing his arms in front of him. Hopefully this last bit of aura would be enough to hold on.
The Grimm threw out a devastating punch, only for it to be blocked with a dull thud by the metallic surface of a shield.
Robert stood in front of Shin, his shield barely able to hold out against the beringle’s attack. He wouldn’t have to hold out for much longer however, as coming in from the creature’s left and right respectively were Geralt and Bruno. Each struck simultaneously, Bruno leaving a light gash on the Grimm’s shoulder and Geralt only singing a section of its chest with his burning trident.
The two landed next to Robert and Shin as the beringle stumbled back, bellowing in pain.
“You and Thalia really had trouble with this thing?” Geralt scoffed, turning to Shin. “I mean, I guess I can understand when it comes to the animal lying on the ground over there-”
“Bruno, Robert, tend to Thalia immediately!” Shin commanded, brushing past Geralt’s comments. “Geralt, I don’t want to hear another word. Our focus right now is on this Grimm and nothing else.”
“Fine.” Was all he said, reaching to his belt and extracting his shortsword in one swift motion.
“Right away!” Robert replied to Shin. He whipped around, heading to Thalia’s side with Bruno behind him.
“Oh geez… It didn’t look this bad from far away.” Bruno commented, gazing at her wounds.
“Bruno!” Robert glared at him.
“Oh yeah, sorry if you can still hear me Thalia.” He said quickly. Thalia let out an unsteady breath, her eyes reopening momentarily, before closing.
“C’mon, we need to put pressure on her wound!” Robert announced hurriedly. Bruno simply nodded along.
Shin and Geralt stepped forward, meeting the beringle in the middle of the street. The shortsword in Geralt’s hand began to glow as it did in his fight with Brandford, being imbued with energy. The Grimm charged forward with its bruised and battered fists, bellowing loudly.
It unleashed a punch, which slammed into the street, splitting it apart as Shin and Geralt dodged. Geralt went high, aiming to jab his weapon into one of the Grimm’s eye sockets. The beringle protected itself in time, placing its hand over its face.
Geralt’s sword stabbed into its hand, but didn’t go any further. Notably, the gash left by the weapon was much wider than the actual blade. In fact, the energy being emitted by the weapon seemed to extend its length and width, as well as enhance its cutting power.
Shin meanwhile, went in for a jab to the beringle’s chest area. Before he could reach his target, the creature swung a hand in his direction, forcing him to dodge.
Geralt ripped his sword free, before following up with a vertical slash, also blocked by the beringle’s arm. The Grimm proceeded to retaliate, slamming its arm into Geralt and knocking him off his feet.
Geralt struggled to get back up, only to be met by the beringle bringing both its hands together for a clap, with the huntsman in middle of it. Both of the beringle’s hands slammed against Geralt, and would’ve threatened to crush him if not for his aura. Following its devastating attack, he collapsed to the ground, momentarily dazed.
With the creature’s back turned, Shin rushed up behind the beringle, raising his fist to strike. He launched himself towards the creature, only to be grabbed out of the air by its massive hand. From there, the Grimm slammed Shin into the ground. His aura shattered, but the beringle didn’t stop there. It dragged Shin across the dirt street, before tossing him into a nearby house.
He hit the concrete walls hard, before falling to the ground, bruised and bloodied.
“Oh fuck!” Bruno exclaimed.
“Shin!” Robert shouted, a nervous expression on his face.
Geralt glanced across the street at his ally. He wasn’t moving.
“Bruno, you have to help him beat that thing!” Robert said quickly.
“What?! If Shin couldn’t beat it, you think I can?! Plus, I’ll have to do it with Geralt! Hell no!” Bruno replied, crossing his arms.
“Bruno! Do you see the situation we’re in right now?!” Robert said seriously, grabbing the faunus by the shoulder.
Bruno took a nonchalant glance around. Between the houses he could catch glimpses of soldiers battling Grimm. Above, a group of nevermores continued to swoop down on the town, with shots ringing out from all across, attempting to bring the creatures down. And nearest to him, Geralt readied his weapon preparing to face the beringle as it lumbered towards him.
“Listen to me, this is your chance! This is what real huntsmen do, this is a situation a real huntsman would be in!” Robert said. “Right now you are a real huntsman, Bruno! For the sake of Shin, and Thalia and the rest of this town, you have to act like it!”
Bruno paused momentarily, before shrugging. “Well when you put it that way…”
The beringle rushed Geralt. He dodged its initial flurry of blows, before throwing out a slash. It wasn’t aimed at the beringle per say, and cut through only air. However, a sharp beam of energy was released from the blade of his weapon that made a beeline towards his foe. Sadly for him however, it glanced off the Grimm’s arm, not powerful enough to even create a scratch.
This failed attack left him open to a pummeling strike from the beringle, slamming into his low aura. The creature followed this up with an open handed slap from above, preparing to bring its hand down upon Geralt.
“LOOK AT ME! I’M A REAL HUNTSMAN!”
Before the beringle could bring its hand down, a sudden shout from nearby caught its attention. It turned its head in time to see the swift form of Bruno, plunging one of his clawed knuckles into the Grimm’s glowing red eye.
The beringle screeched as ichor poured from its left eye. It aimlessly swatted at Bruno and Geralt, its strikes slamming into houses and street lights nearby.
Bruno dodged, seemingly by jumping back and landing on the air itself. From there, he kicked off the aforementioned air and flew towards the Grimm once more, slashing it across the chest. A few beads of ichor appeared from the wound, but it was shallow and resembled more of a scratch.
“Hey, faunus!” Geralt called. “You may be fast, but you aren’t gonna do anything to it with your weapons! My semblance is the only thing that can cut through its skin!”
“What if I just stab its other eye out?” Bruno shot back, slingshotting past a swipe from the beringle and landing on a nearby rooftop.
“Unlike you, it’s intelligent and won’t fall for the same thing twice!” Geralt replied, annoyed. “Come down here and…”
Geralt trailed off. Bruno jumped off the rooftop, just in time to dodge a punch that sent shingles and tiles flying. He rushed to Geralt’s position.
“And what?”
“You’ll have to carry me or something.”
“Huh?”
“You wanna die you pathetic faunus?! Use your semblance to get me in position and I’ll finish it off!”
“Ok, ok! And if you keep calling me pathetic I’m gonna drop you!” Bruno shot back, before grabbing Geralt and hoisting him over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes. The second year wore a look of disgust the entire time.
“Don’t you dare drop me… And keep your head up! I hope there’s a special hell for faunus if we die.”
“You’re heavy, you should exercise more.” Bruno taunted, focusing on the beringle as it turned towards the two. “But luckily for you, my semblance can handle it!”
Geralt attempted to find some words to respond, but before he could the Grimm was upon them, swinging its barrel sized fist. Bruno leapt out of the way, before jumping up and kicking off the air towards the beringel.
The Grimm swung at Bruno, but Geralt was ready. His blade began to shimmer as it filled with energy. He brought it down on the Grimm’s arm just before it would’ve slammed into them, severing the limb entirely. His aura flickered.
“I only have enough aura left for one more! You’d better not fuck this up, faunus!” Geralt shouted.
The beringle screeched and attacked with its remaining arm. With another kick, Bruno dodged and landed on the arm itself, rushing along it up to the shoulder. Before Geralt could unleash another attack, the beringle turned sharply and flung the two students off its body.
Bruno stopped himself against the invisible solid air once more and prepared to kick off again.
“BRUNO!” Geralt called. “THROW ME!”
The faunus blasted towards the beringle head on. It raised its arm to block, and just as it did Bruno transferred his aura to his arms and threw as hard as he could. Geralt flew through the air, blowing just past the beringle’s defence and straight towards its face.
With a battle cry, he let loose a powerful energy infused strike, severing the creature’s head from its body and leaving a shallow cut in the house behind it.
The two students landed on the ground as the corpse of the beringle collapsed behind them with a solid thud. Geralt’s aura shattered mere seconds later and he fell to the ground with an exhausted sigh. Robert stared in awe, unable to contain the grin on his face.
A silence fell over the street and the humans within it, bringing to light the sounds of the battle raging at the front gate. After only a moment of silence, Bruno leapt to the injured Shin's side as the others refocused on the Grimm in the distance.