Lucillia was a few seconds away from telling Kali off before Mary interjected. She could already tell that the white haired girl had undergone some proper training before arriving at this school. Kali on the other hand reminded her a lot of Emma. She seemed to have some prior combat experience but for the most part she was pretty rough around the edges. Even if Lucilla didn't know how either of the two girls fought, the greater numbers would be a boon.
As Lucilla sat through Mary's little spiel, she waited for someone to interrupt her. To her surprise it wasn't Kali but Iris who jumped in. And she jumped in with a good point. They didn't know how points were divided for groups, so the best thing to do would be to get as many points as possible. Just as she was about to open her mouth to respond, Lucilla noticed just how quiet it had gotten.
As the loud sounds approached the group, Lucilla instinctively put her hands over her ring blades and waited. Kali returned and told her everything she needed to hear. As they looked to her with worried expressions, she gave them a confident smirk. "I'll be fine. It's like you said, we need to rack up as many points as possible. And if you think we can use this place to our advantage,we have to go for it. My semblance comes in pretty handy for drawn out fights" She said preparing herself for another tough battle.
Spoiler (click to show/hide):
“Spoken like ya don’t even sense how bad this could go. That kinda confidence’ll kill ya,” Kali scoffed. Yet despite her rough words… a slightly uneasy grin formed on her face. The other two felt the same way, evidently. Iris nodded to Lucilla, before she took a steadying breath and addressed everyone. “... Okay then. Let’s get ready. Situation goes FUBAR, let’s cut and run. I’ve... got something I can do to make sure we can make it out if need be.” Not that she seems so enthused with the idea of using this secret weapon of hers.
The group gathered themselves and left the ruined home to head into the danger, Kali taking the lead since she roughly knew where to go. The situation steadily filled with dread as they walked, some sort of pressure bearing down on them like a physical representation of doom, and the storms above thundering with lightning dramatically weaving through the clouds didn’t help their nerves… yet they pressed on.
They caught sight of it. Heard it’s booming stomps. They were closer now… but they couldn’t see it too well. On Iris’ suggestion, the four of them decided to climb a house to get a higher vantage point. It was there that they finally were able to properly take in the source of the pressure and danger in the environment. A massive, threatening, looming monster—a Grimm like none other. Not one of them had ever seen nor heard of such a creature…
The four girls didn’t know it, but they were meeting with the Sharkasaurus.
“... It’s big.” Iris was the first to break the silence. “It’s— what is it..? Have… has something like this ever existed?” Her confused tone was mixed with signs of fear. “I-I’ve… I’ve not ever heard of it, m-myself…” Similarly, Mary felt the same. The big difference is that she made absolutely no move to master it or overcome the feeling. She was shaking like a leaf. But Kali…
“It’s probably something almost extinct. Let’s just bash it the fuck up and finish the job.” She hid her fear behind a look of defiant rage, her hand clenching around the handle of her weapon as she bared her teeth. Iris finally looked away from the Sharkasaurus to the others. “... Any ideas, then?”
Like the others, Lucilla was paralyzed with fear. This was supposed to be an entrance exam and they were already fighting a giant Grimm monstrosity! Every cell in the huntress’s body was telling her to run and she just might have if not for Kali’s steadfast attitude. Giving her cheeks a quick smack, she regained her focus. “Kali’s right. We just have to figure out how to take it down” Lucilla said as she started to scan the battlefield for anything useful. A few barrels, a wood chest, a tree … wait . Lucilla paused on the tree. It was rather old with a thick trunk and branches. But more importantly, it was about the height of the imposing Grimm.
“Okay I’ve got something” Lucilla said as she motioned to the tree along the path. If we can lure the Grimm down this path, we can topple that tree onto it. It should be enough to knock it down so we can go to town on it’s ass. We’ll need one person to draw it down the path while the rest attack from afar. Sounds like a plan?” Lucilla said waiting for their approval.
The other three looked to carefully consider it… or, rather, Iris did. Kali just shrugged noncommittally and Mary was still shaking. The white-haired girl barely managed a nod, not really thinking it through and just glad to have some plan of attack.
“Anyway, you sound like you’re the one up for it,” Kali spoke up with a grin. “Good on you for volunteering for tree duty. Ain’t sure how you’re gonna knock a whole fuckin’ tree with those fans, but I’m rooting for ya. I’ve got some idea on how to shoot things with my Aura so I’ll stick in the back and do that.” She was already stepping over to the edge of the roof… Iris cleared her throat afterward. “I’ll stick with Kali. I’m probably better off throwing knives so we can pile on damage.” And those two would play the ranged parts, then. While they could potentially work to the same effect as baiting the Grimm, it’d probably be better if they focused entirely on hurting it instead of drawing its attention, so that left…
“... I-I’ll draw it over,” gulped Mary. She was still shaking like a leaf in the wind, but at seeing the concern of the others—sans Kali—she tried to offer a shaky smile and a look of confidence. “I’m— it seems I’m already quite… negative now, no? S-so… I’d be the best beacon! This is… it’s the job a huntress must do. So I will, as someone… who wants to become a huntress.” She sounded more like she was trying to convince herself more than anyone… but there was a bit of hard determination in her eye.
Lucilla didn’t think she’d be the one to take down the tree. Kali seemed more suited to the job. But with Mary leading the beast down the path and Kali and Iris attacking from range, the task was left to her. All the more fitting since aside from her miasma, Lucilla had no other way to attack the creature without getting within range of it’s sharp grasp. She just had to figure out how?
“Alright sounds like we’re good to go” Lucilla said as she patted Mary on the shoulder. “Be careful Mary. If things go sideways, we’ll scatter and leave the Grimm to someone else.” The huntress said as she moved to the edge of the roof they were on and let out a steady stream of Miasma into the air towards the monster. It floated towards the giant beast gently carried by the wind until the foul smelling cloud collided with the Sharkasaurus.
It probably didn’t have a sense of smell—do Grimm even have senses? But, at least due to the Aura-related nature of the miasma, the Sharkasaurus would seem to be poisoned anyway as it paused in its march to tilt its head upward in… confusion, maybe. It halted in Iris’ range, so the practical-minded huntress-to-be immediately assaulted the beast with a volley of knives. She threw them like darts, launching 4 in quick succession from her jacket and watching with satisfaction as they met their mark. Kali, immediately after Iris’ volley, threw her bat upward and reached out to aim with a finger gun. She stared down the sights of her thumb, her bat spinning madly as it reached the zenith of its ascension, and as the weapon dropped down… her finger glowed white, before a burst like a fireball shot forth from her extended finger. Kali nonchalantly grabbed her baseball bat as she watched her shot totally miss her mark.
“... Just a warning shot. Make ‘im see us.” Iris stared at Kali as the dark-skinned student scoffed. “Ain’t like you would do better if you were a little rusty!”
Meanwhile, after taking a calming breath to get her nerves together, Mary sprinted off of the rooftop… but slipped due to the rain wetting the wooden roof. “Ah!” Pheeeww… thud! “Urgh… nice going, Mary. Just run off the roof, why don’t you…” The others were doing way better than she was! She had to get it together and be useful. Be useful… it repeated like a mantra in her head as she picked herself up. “Be… useful.” She resumed her rush, hopping onto the other roof and turning to look at the humongous beast they were at war with. Mary took another deep breath. She was still shaking… but this time, that was. Fine.
No, more than fine. Fear was what she needed. “H… hey, you there!!” The posh girl shouted out, her voice completely failing to reach its mark due to the overwhelming noise of the storm. “Why— why not… I-I mean, I… I speak to you, you… big oaf! Come to me! I will vanquish you!” She didn’t seem to understand the futility of her shouting, but even so… her fear was enough to attract the Grimm’s attention anyway. It spiked even higher when the head of the creature turned her way, its beady red eyes… nothing. Offering nothing. Seeing nothing.
Yet the malicious pressure settled on her like a tidal wave. Mary hesitantly took a step back, just as the Sharkasaurus took a step forward with a widening maw. “W… wait…” She reached for her weapon quickly. Her hand grabbed the hilt of her sword— too late!
A white light formed in its mouth, and from it, a MASSIVE beam of pure corrupting force shot out like a cannonball, striking and passing through Mary as she disappeared under the laser, her terrified and pained scream drowned out as she was blown off her feet. “MARY!” Iris was shocked to see it. Her and Kali only watched as the laser retreated into fading lights, and the remains… was a wounded Mary-Rose Atwater. Her clothes were torn lightly, exposing her side and reducing her jacket to tatters, and there were noticeable scraps and burn marks from the parts of her shield that was punctured by the attack… but she was alive and conscious, already struggling to her feet in a daze. “I… okay— I’m okay…” She was swinging back and forth, but she was fine. More than Mary’s condition, the house and the tree had gotten caught in the blast, stealing a sizable chunk from the rooftop and the tree in the form of the blast’s size… without Aura, it would’ve killed in one shot. The Sharkasaurus had immense power backing it.
“... God… damn it…” Kali was shaking. She looked away from the devastation, her face a confused mask of bundles of emotion she couldn’t understand. But she wouldn’t freeze up. “We— we need to kill this thing. We can’t fuck around. This thing… it NEEDS to PAY!” Her hand raised up to charge another burst of Aura.
“I know. We’re going to take it down. Just stick to the plan!” Lucilla cried as she jumped off the roof. Using her Aura, she cushioned her fall and began to sprint towards the tree in question. It’s trunk was as thick as she imagined and the creature still wasn’t in position yet. Though when the time came, she would have to cut the tree in one fell swoop. Building the venom in her body once more, she released her miasma again. This time though she concentrated it around the base of the tree trying to weaken it. All that was left was for Iris, Kali and Mary to do their parts. But Lucilla was growing more and more concerned for Mary’s mental state.
The rangers of the team were firing off as they would, focused on dealing as much damage as they could after clarifying Mary… being alive. Most of Iris’ knives weren’t really doing much now. The blades failed to sink past the Grimm’s armor, bouncing off its scales and falling uselessly to the ground. Kali’s own blasts of Aura were much more effective even if they weren’t much more than bug bites. They started to backpedal carefully to maintain minimum distance. “Th— this isn’t really working, is it..?” The rumbling thunder above almost completely snuffed out Iris’ observation. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of her temple. “Doesn’t… doesn’t matter. We’ll fuck it up—”
BLAM! Lightning suddenly struck at the precise moment to cut off Kali, blasting against the ground nearby and signifying the worsening storm. The rain was pouring harder now, too… “As if we didn’t have enough problems on our hands…”
Meanwhile, Mary had picked herself up, a mixed look of a daze and focus on her face as her mind struggled to stay with the battle. She drunkenly navigated the ruined roof, stepping over splinters and hopping around as she neared the tree Lucilla was working on. With a decent hop, she latched onto a branch and started climbing her way to the treetop. “I-I’ll be at the top… a-and when you drop this tree, I’ll attack!” She called back down to Lucilla. Soon enough, she’d be right at the top…
But the Sharkasaurus wasn’t waiting around for this plan to come to fruition. Seeing damage pouring in from the rooftop, it shifted its attention to Kali and Iris, making the two girls freeze in their assault as they noticed eyes on their position. The Sharkasaurus took a step forward, its mouth opening wide as white light formed in its dark abyss. “... Run.” Iris took a step back. Kali, unlike normal, was… still staring at the Grimm as it charged up. “Kali— Kali, we have to go. N-now, Kali..!” Iris’ weak pleading fell on deaf ears, but it was too late anyway. She realized that and already turned to try to get some distance—
BEEEWM! The massive laser shot forth from the Grimm’s mouth! At speeds too fast to react to, it tore through the rooftop they were on and blasted them totally. With their own respective screams of fear and pain, the two students disappeared underneath the light… and when the beam died down, all that was left was smoke where the laser impacted. No trace of the two.
“HAAH—” A choked gasp came from above Lucilla. Mary watched it with total horror in her eyes, hands covering her mouth… and for good reason. Wasn’t this… wasn’t this so horrible? Their friends might’ve died in that. Gone without a trace in a second. It was… horrific.
Was this what it meant to be a huntress? Could she really survive something like this? Doubt must’ve plagued her. Sorrow, at those she might’ve lost. Anger, at the creature who stole them. FEAR at how easy that creature did so. Hatred… towards herself for failing to help. A swamp of negativity assailed Lucilla and she was forced to weather the weight. In the background, the cause of her emotion continued to stumble forward, coming right under her tree with one big step and turning in her and Mary’s direction. The force of its oppressive, malicious intent bore down on them.
The fear Lucilla was feeling threatened to overwhelm her. As the large Grimm stared down at them, Lucilla backed away from the tree. Taking on such an opponent was impossible from the start. Now she was going to die, just like Iris and Kali. Her body trembled as she looked at the beast in despair. But as she was about to give in to her fear she remembered the words of her patron, Victor Valentina.
Don’t run from your fear, embrace it! Only by overcoming it will you be strong enough to serve me
Gripping her ring blades, Lucilla grit her teeth and charged at the tree. “Get ready Mary!” She shouted as Lucilla slashed at the weakened area of the tree, not stopping until it fell.
The sound of wood tearing spawned from her assault. Her ring blades diced into the wounded bark, cutting into its softer interior and depriving of it much needed support to stay standing. The Sharkasaurus was totally oblivious to her plan. It had taken another step forward and started to lower its head over her, its looming, large maw opening wide to show its many teeth...
But it would soon abandon such a thought as it finally noticed the threatening shadow of the big tree coming closer to it. “I-I’m prepareeeEE—” The tree was falling. The Sharkasaurus tried to turn up to meet it just as the massive structure fell across its back with a finalizing push. Despite how great in size the beast was, with the sudden weight coming down on it and its particular positioning, the Sharkasaurus was forced down into the dirt, a soundless cry coming from its wide open mouth. “AAAAHHHH!” Again, let it be known that this was planned. Mary had climbed to the top of the tree and was falling with it, but apparently she wasn’t as prepared as she said. Despite having the chance to immediately hop off and deal some damage to the monster, Mary was dazed for a moment as she climbed off of the tree, a hand held to her face as she stumbled... must’ve face planted into the wood.
“I... I am f-fine..!” Mary tried to shake it off. The white-haired girl stepped over to the edge of the tree and hopped off, her sword in hand as she barely stabbed an inch deep into the monster with a war cry. She twisted the sword, viciously pulling and stabbing at the same spot as she tried to do any more damage than... the nothing its lack of reaction was saying she was doing. As Mary was trying her best in futility, the rubble from the wreckage started to shake and turn... before out stumbled a somewhat beat up Iris. Her jacket was rough, with the remains of it wrapped around her waist as it held up several knives tied against her waist, and her short top was barely preserving her upper modesty with straps that might as well have been considered ribbons. She didn’t look happy. “Bastard ruined my coat..!” With a winded, aggressive puff, Iris pushed further out of the wreckage and hopped onto a roof, before she turned and threw a volley of knives at the downed Sharkasaurus. It dealt minimal damage.
But the Sharkasaurus had enough. It shifted its weight, using its powerful legs to push up enough to get its small little flaps to press into the ground. The Sharkasaurus did a full military pushup, destabilizing the rampaging Mary and blasting the tree off its back to fall to the side. “W— aah!” Mary slipped as she tried to grab hold of it and dropped onto its side. She was quick to struggle to stand up and face the Sharkasaurus in case of an attack... but when she turned...
Its eyes were on her again. They glowed red—they turned into miniature stars before her very eyes, burning brightly with hatred, malice, and rage at her impudence. She shook in place. An assault of emotions suddenly struck her all at once. Despair. Loneliness. Regret. Guilt. Fear. Hate. Fear. Fear.
“P... please...” Her sword clattered to the ground as Mary dropped backward, her hand raising up as if to ward away the intense pressure bearing down on her. “Please, I... I-I didn’t...” She tried to crawl away. Images of her end filled her mind. This thing would stomp her until she was nothing. Bite her down and tear her open, limb from limb. She’d imagine the power of its rage would extend to her loved ones, all because of her. The blurred sight of her parents appeared before her. The Sharkasaurus took one look at them and reached down to bite their upper halves off—head, torso, and only leaving their hands. The leftover limbs dropped to the ground. A bloody puddle formed from their remains and it was all her fault. Her parents died because she thought she could be a Huntress. She made the mistake of thinking she was the strong one. But this...
Mary screamed as her hands reached up to her head. Meanwhile, the Sharkasaurus disregarded her to turn and stare at the other two. Iris was totally floored by Mary’s sudden reaction.
Whatever negativity Lucilla was feeling paled in comparison to what Mary was experiencing. But Lucilla didn’t have time to comfort the huntress. If Iris managed to survive, the gruffer Kali must be under that rubble as well. Kali’s Aura Blasts seemed to be the only things that did any damage. Lucilla would just have to stall until she got out. Building up bile, Lucilla began to spew more of her Miasma into the air to keep the Grimm at bay. Focusing Aura into her hand, she struck at the creature’s tendons and ran west attempting to lead it away from Mary.
The Sharkasaurus took the attack without so much as a jump or otherwise. Following up behind Lucilla, Iris was throwing more knives to try to bring the abomination's attention away from the fetal Mary and more towards them... which, even if she was missing all of her knife throws, seemed to be working still. "Grr... rrRRAAHH!" Suddenly, Kali's bat swings through the collected rubble! She swung it down to the ground, cracking the rocks beneath as she turned to face the monster with an enraged look.
"You..." Wasn't hard to see why. Unlike Iris and Mary, it looked like she took the brunt of the blast... times two. Her coat was completely gone, possibly either destroyed without a trace or left pinned under the rubble, and her zipped up top was completely burned off... along with the mini skirt she wore under it. It was here and now, in this battle, would everyone be made aware of the fact that Kali wore purple and black panties. The flash of a bit of purple underneath her ruined top showed she probably wore a matching bra.
Kali stomped forward up to Lucilla, stopping a few spaces away from her. "Vavanova," was her gruff call out as she extended a hand in Lucilla's direction. The only well-dressed woman there felt some sort of... budding feeling within her, much like something was pulling on her dress in a beckoning call. "Semblance. Reach out to it." She wasn't asking. As if to match its user's feelings, the tugging felt more insistent.
“Kali!” Lucilla said with surprise as she watched her rise from the rubble. Lucilla wasn’t sure what Kali was going to do. She was just glad to see the tenacious girl rise from the rubble, even if she was missing most of her clothes. It was then that she felt the tugging feeling. Was this Kali’s Semblance? Unsure of what it would do, Lucilla trusted her new found teammate and reached out to this strange sensation.
The moment Lucilla made "contact" with the sensation, a sudden rush of... energy, struck her from the point of bond. Intuitively, she came to understand what was happening in the time that passed as that energy... Kali's Aura, connected to hers. Every emotion Kali felt, she could sense. The hints of thoughts that weren't her own were on the edge of her consciousness. It, somehow, removed some sense of loneliness in her mind, as if she'd been inside a room all this time and someone was finally coming to join her...
It was weird. Even weirder, it... felt good.
Kali sighed. "Fuckin' hell, this is always weird..." Lucilla felt an annoyed embarrassment from the girl. Kali never liked using her Semblance, but she knew it was an effective weapon that couldn't be wasted. With it active, the two of them would be capable of assisting one another—they could spend their Aura for the other, use one another's skills, and communicate over long distances without needing to talk. It was nothing short of a powerful Semblance! But to Kali, the only catch was that it removed both of their privacies... it was a legitimate bond. Lucilla, once again, felt Kali stifling her thoughts on the matter as she aimed her finger at the Sharkasaurus. "If I'm getting low, I'm takin' your juice for this." White energy coalesced to the tip of her index finger... and it fired toward the great beast and sparked against its tough hide.
Of course it barely seemed fazed. Kali seemed to be frustrated.
But the efforts of the three girls to defeat the Sharkasaurus or otherwise draw it away from Mary had given the girl the time she needed to pick herself up. With a few sorrowful sniffles, and a look like she was just barely managing herself, Mary sprinted away from the Grimm as it was rearing itself back and slapping its foot against the ground. The storm above became more violent. A strike of lightning came ever so close, lighting from the back of the giant Grimm as it... well, it charged.
With two big, earth-shaking stomps, the Sharkasaurus quickly crossed the distance before it hopped up into the air, spun in a horizontal air roll, and the world froze... as Lucilla realized it was coming down on HER. "Huh." Iris was rather close to her, the blue-haired woman's head raised to regard the falling Grimm. "Well, sh—"
BOOM! CRAASH! It felt like someone just dropped an air carrier on her, and for all intents and purposes, Lucilla... shouldn't have survived this. But her Aura was barely able to prevent her from being crushed. It still hurt like HELL, and there was no way she was moving soon enough, but... she was alive. In her mind, she felt worry and incredulity from Kali. Did... Iris even survive this?
“What in the … “ was all Lucilla could say before the Grimm was on top of her. The world went black for a moment as the crushing pain seared through the huntress’s body. Her Aura was the only thing keeping her from being turned into a bloody stain on the ground. For some reason her frazzled brain started to remember one of her clients. He was a heavy set man that was easily three times Lucilla’s size. She could still remember barely being able to breathe as he lay on top of her. As then, all she could do is endure and hope the Grimm rolls of her like her client did.
She couldn't see anything from under there. All around her was dark... but she could just barely hear the sound of conflict. "... hit... out..!" Iris. It was hard to say what she sounded like, faded as the sound of her voice was... but it was followed by the loud grunt of a pissed off Kali. In this darkness, her bond with the rowdy student only felt more attuned. There was a level of desperation in her... combined with a feeling of that always present frustration, but it was muted by her understanding that Lucilla, herself, was okay. But she wasn't so sure she'd be fine for long if this thing didn't get off her...
ZZZ—TRAP! Rumble rumble... what was that? "... lightning?! Are you..." Kali. She was feeling... shock. More fear. But she was trying to fight against her emotions by focusing on her anger. "Now..!"
...
The darkness shifted with a rumble. Slowly, more pressure was pressed down on her Aura, but after bearing through the brunt of the shift in weight... light struck upon Lucilla's form as she felt the torrent-like rain and the stormy winds once again. "Up! He's up! Fat bastard..!" A tug on their connection called Lucilla to move. The area around her, since last she'd seen it, didn't look too different... but she could tell the storm was worse. Judging from the smoking pile of wood near Iris, the area was under a sort of lightning hazard too... but what was more important was that they were all still fine. Mary seemed to be completely out of sight though.
Lucilla took a deep breath as the giant shark like Grimm finally got off her. A sense of relief radiating off her, as well as a sense of desperation. She couldn’t withstand another attack like that. Not to mention the storm that's raging around them. If Kali and Lucilla were truly connected, then she would understand that they needed to end this battle now!
Transferring Aura to her legs, Lucilla tried to steady herself and attempted to attack one of the wounds her companions had already inflicted. “Ahhhhh!” She cried as she made a passionate attack.
Passionate or no, her attack was barely scratching the large Grimm. Despite how wounded it appeared, the Sharkasaurus was simply taking the damage without care as the rest of the team piled on. Iris had wisened up on her attack and pressed the assault by launching a volley of knives aimed toward the Sharkasaurus' eyes. Her blades had mostly connected on target, and it looked like the most effective amount of damage they've dealt to the giant so far... but that pulled its attention onto her. With a well-timed tilt of its head to have another volley plink off its hard head, the Sharkasaurus began to charge up its powerful laser in its maw, but its target had seen the attack coming beforehand and dived to the side, just as it blew past where she was standing and obliterated the house behind...
A ball of white Aura blew up against its jaw, forcing it to shake its mighty head in reaction and cease its laser as Kali pressed forward. "Shut the HELL up and DIE!" She raised her other "handgun" and dual wielded her blasters, firing a series of Aura blasts consecutively and burning out her Aura quickly as she sought to give it one final push, together with all three of the future Huntresses... to defeat this great threat. The Sharkasaurus simply stood as it was pelted. The sense of looming doom multiplied as it felt like nothing was happening. Would this... even be enough? Even if it looked hurt, even if it was beginning to stagger and pause at their onslaught—was this enough? That looming pressure. The negativity in the air. It settled down on their shoulders, pleading for them to stop. To abandon this foolish rebellion and run at the sight of the Grimm. To give up...
From behind the great giant's foot, a small patch of white hair was stalking forward, wobbly and shaking. The small human girl pressed her forehead tiredly against the Sharkasaurus' foot. She raised her blade high, her eyes clouded by her wet hair, and...
"JUST FUCKING DIE!" With all the strength she could muster, Mary brought the blade down into the softer part of the Sharkasaurus' foot. She repeated the process. Stab. Another stab. Its hide was too tough for anyone to reliably cut through, but in a violent frenzy, Mary would do nothing but try her hardest. She screamed like a woman dying and cut away as much as she could. The other three struck the Sharkasaurus just as fiercely.
...
They eventually tire themselves out.
"Haah... haah... is... it..?" Iris ran out of knives. She stared at the motionless Grimm with confusion, a similar reaction from Kali, who had since dropped to sit on the ground with her bat limply held in her lap. Mary was still behind the Sharkasaurus, her blade embedded just tip-deep into its foot, and... the battlefield fell still.
The rain lightened into a light drizzle. Cracks of light pierced through the clouds above.
... It was quiet.
Like Kali, Lucilla was on the ground, trying to catch her breath. She had thrown everything she had at the creature. Her lips were stained purple from all the Miasma she spewed onto the battlefield. Looking to the large Grimm, the huntress stood up and started to examine it. As the lightning crackled in the air. Lucilla paused in disbelief. “I … I think we did it” She said, unable to believe the four of them were able to defeat such a monstrosity.
"... No." Iris joined up with the two of them. Since she wasn't expending much aura, she was far less tired out than they were. "If we killed it, it'd be disappearing like all Grimm do. It's... it has to still be alive." That was the basic realization that anyone would come to. Grimm disintegrate when they die, full stop. If a Grimm were to linger around... then it'd have to be alive. But if this thing was still alive, why is it just... standing around? Why was the weather clearing up? Why was that pressure, that omnipresent sense of danger and doom... lightening?
Mary stumbled over to them. Quite literally, she collapsed onto her hands and knees, huffing and puffing as if she just ran a marathon with a tear-stricken face. "I... I-I tried, I..." She was confused. "D-did not we... succeed? It is dead... correct? I'm not— I mean, I don't... feel it." She righted herself into a sitting position. What she was referring to, they knew, was that strange bundle of negativity that resulted from the fight. The mind-bending tension. The fear and gloom. All gone.
"... Um. I-I am not quite sure... if this is relevant right now," Mary started after the silence became oppressive. "But I-I found this..?" She pulled out her... wrapped jacket? And unwrapped it. Bundled underneath the cloth was a red blade, sizzling with red hot heat and slightly smoking. It was pretty big—easily the size of the white-haired girl's arm—and it looked like it'd been broken off of something. "I've not a clue where it came from. When the... that thing stopped moving, this shard of sorts had dropped from above. I believe the rest of it is in the Grimm's back."
... The other two shared a look. "Um... so, what now?"
Lucilla couldn’t deny that it was strange that the creature hadn’t disappeared. It filled her with a sense of dread, as if the monster could just jump back up and devour them all. But as time passed her dread faded, along with the other negative emotions that had inflicted her during the battle. All of it was replaced by a cautious optimism.
When Mary showed them the red blade, Lucilla stared at it intently. She had never seen anything like it. ‘I wonder” Lucilla pondered as she turned to the Sharkasaurus. Scanning the monsters back she looked for the other part of the blade.
