2-4: Encounter

The Sentry immediately smiled at her friend's reaction, watching as the Lieutenant's eyes widen at the sight of the Dust crystals.

"Where did you get that...?" Understandably, surprise changed to suspicion as the deer-faunus felt her companion's eyes shift back to her. "I don't remember those crystals in the supply trucks..."

In response, the Sentry's expression softened, her smile faltering as her gaze fell, focusing on the intricately cut crystals as they sat in the container. The woman ran her finger along the edge of one of the gems, tracing its form before letting out a somber sigh.

"They were something us sentries scrounged together over the years. This entire place was supposed to be a hidden storehouse for us, a sort of emergency cache with supplies in case something... went wrong." The woman's voice trailed off, her eyes falling back to the corner, watching the candle flicker. A bitter chuckle escaped her lips as her eyes turned on sight of the fallen masks once more. "Not that it did us much good. I was the only one who even made it back here..."

"But at least you still made it back." The Lieutenant's voice was firm as she faced her friend, a soft expression on her face as she placed a hand on the Sentry's shoulder. "And you said we weren't the only survivors, right? "

"...Yeah, you're right." With a nod, the Sentry turned away from the Dust crystals, shaking away her doubts as she sent a soft smile back to her colleague. They couldn't afford to mope around. After all, there was something they still had to do. "The Captain went and got himself in trouble, so he needs us to break him out. The grimm's got him holed up in the armoury, the only building that really survived the blast. That's about all I can tell you, though... So you ready, Iris?"

"As soon as you tell me where you put my weapons." Iris returned the smile, slowly rising to her feet as she searching the rest of the room. It only took her a few moments to locate her Cestuses, propped up beside the makeshift bed, before she was equipped and ready. After making sure her weapon was secure, the Lieutenant's attention returned to to the deer-faunus, watching as she packed the container of dust once more. "How about you? Got enough ammo there?"

"Nope, so I'll have to use something a little different." Without explaining further, the Sentry shrugged, turning her focus to another container as she ignored the rifle that she had propped against the wall.

This intrigued Iris, to say the least, as she had never seen the Sentry use anything besides her rifle and sword. So, she remained quiet as her companion slowly unpacked the second container, finally pulling out an unassuming short sword. At first, it looked like any other White Fang blade, but she didn't miss the green vials of Dust that were attached the hilt. And on closer inspection, the blade itself had an odd assortment of marks on it, too uniform to be scratches or battle damage. "... Do I want to know what it is?"

"You might want to make some room... " The deer-faunus's words were as mysterious as ever as she watched Iris step back. Once she was certain there was enough space, the Sentry gripped her weapon, giving it a few practiced swings before invoking her aura, her wrist flicking out as she snapped the blade at the wall. The wind dust inside the shortsword resonated with her, and sword came apart, no longer linked as a single coherent mass, as the blade whip lashed out.

She wore a prominent smile as she turned back to the lieutenant, trying to look as innocent as her green eyes allowed. Which, when holding a custom-made blade whip, wasn't too innocent at all. Though she was a bit disappointed that Iris wasn't as surprised as she expected her to be.

"Okay. I give. Where'd you get that?"

"I made it, of course. You'd be surprised how many books our old weaponsmith had tucked away in his little office. Now c'mon, let's go." And with that, she made her way to the room's exit, a single barricaded door. She removed the chains, unfastened the bolts that kept the metallic barrier secure, before slowly pulling it open, revealing a small alcove with a ladder leading upwards to a hatch.

Iris followed, an eyebrow raised as she finally noticed the security on the barricaded door, confusion on her face before she put her mask back on. "You know... You never told me where we were."

"Oh, you know, one of the secret basements inside the north tower. Now c'mon, let's go break into the armoury." The deer faunus replied with a smile as she made her way up the ladder, removing a few more layers of security from the hatch before pushing it open.

"One of th-? No... I'm not even going to ask. You sentries are crazy, Lyra."

"I know."

The Lieutenant had no other response, giving her friend a final glance before following her up.

"You know, Igole... These powders are a lot more annoying than I thought they'd be."

The sound of irritation was clear as he watched his ninth experiment at this station fail. Oh, sure, this one had started off promising, as the mixture of red, blue and green powders seemed to blend together without exploding for once. And when he loaded it into the chamber of his Noxine, the device actually came to life for a few moments. It was when he tried to command the Noxine to take flight that it had failed, exploding in a miniature whirlwind that smelt vaguely of magnets. Don't ask how he knows that smell.

And as much as the Xelor appreciated the new property in his reaction, he wasn't too enthused about cataloguing the different scents of powder blends. It back to the drawing board, it seems, and Nox quickly wrote down the results of this particular batch before putting the vials aside. His clockwork armatures quickly brought up the next replacement Noxine, and the Xelor turned his attention back to his notes as he began siphoning away the residual Wakfu once more.

"I definitely need the red one... And I'm certain I need to mix it with something... but what?" He began reading through his notes, looking over the failed proportions, each catalogued with its method of failure, from wisps of smoke and mist to sudden explosions of fire or ice. There were some that remained inert, but Nox had been unable to use them as fuel, so he filed those away for further examination later.

As he viewed and reviewed his findings once more, the Xelor's eyes narrowed, trying to spot a correlation. There was definitely some sort of logic behind these reactions, as each one was far more involved than a simple clash between elemental Ice and Fire. And adding a third powder, the elemental air that he had stowed away, only added to the complexity.

Perhaps his other tests were going better.

Nox rose up from his seat, turning to the other four workbenches beside him, each powered by his Wakfu as he felt their arms pick and sort through the weapons. Unlike his fuel experiments, these stations were simply disassembling the weapons that had been stockpiled in the structure, trying to sort between useful alloys and the more mundane metals. The alloys were what he used to create his Noxines, and the rest were quickly melted down, folded into more cogs and gears for his clockwork abode.

Yes, his clockwork abode, that was slowly growing more intricate, steadily replacing the fragile walls of this building with a sturdier infrastructure. And each time an assembly arm adds in a new floor or ceiling, his reach grows, as new beams and rails are added to support his assembly line.

It would take some time for this structure to reach the same level as the one he had in the World of Twelve, and the powder required to fuel it would be... costly. However, it would be worth it in the end.

But that was for later. For now, his attention turned back to his companion, the faithful dog that had stayed by his side since he entered this world. "You wouldn't happen to have any thoughts on the matter, would you Igole?"

Nox ignored the confused look that the shadow wolf gave him, a curious glance that shifted from the Xelor to the steadily growing supply of cogs. Of course, the beast provided no answer, and Nox simply shrugged that away.

"I suppose you wouldn't, would y-"

A loud explosion echoed out, drawing the Xelor away from his thoughts, and causing no small amount of ruckus from the rest of the shadow beasts in his base.

One of the wolves began to howl, the snarling voice eventually joined by dozens more. The wolves sped off, leaving the workshop empty as he let out a tired sigh, turning his attention away from his studies as he followed after them. Hopefully, it was just one of the shadow beasts causing some noise; Nox wasn't sure what they did when they idled about his base, and the Xelor had not observed them doing anything besides threatening his test subjects.

His irritation soon changed to concern, however, when he started other sounds, as he picked up the sound of metal meeting flesh. The Xelor quickly reverted to a more serious state, eyes flashing blue as he pulled some Wakfu from his reserves. If those test subjects were sabotaging something, he would simply have to convince them to stop.

Violently.

It took the Xelor mere moments to arrive at the scene, one of the rooms that he had not yet replaced. And it was there that his expression changed from irritation to surprise, as he spotted the source of the explosions.

Two more of the masked people. Well, technically, one of them was masked, but that didn't matter to the Xelor.

One of them was currently punching a larger shadow bear, showing no signs of fatigue as her gauntlets impacted against the beast. Again, Nox spotted the telltale signs of the locals' mysterious energy, wrapping around her arms with a dark green hue. Her gloves had the same light wreathed around them, snaking into the metal as it collided against the bear's shoulder. That light shifted the moment the bear tried to attack back, covering her entire arm as it warded off a heavy blow, the razor-sharp claws barely rending the cloth of her sleeve.

It was certainly interesting, and the Xelor would've loved to observe the conflict in greater detail, but something far more important caught his attention.

The second individual, the one who wore no mask, was crouched behind the first person, putting something into a box as she glared straight at him. Of course, he ignored the person herself, his eyes falling squarely on the object she was trying to stow.

It was the powder fuel, but it was in a pure crystallized form. Nox's mask whirred, the closest expression to a grin that he could muster, as he invoked his power. The sound of an ancient clock reverberated through the ruins, and time slowed to a crawl.

Iris had no idea what had happened.

One moment, they were fighting against Beowolves and Ursa. The next? Oh, the next moment made absolutely no sense. She heard a distant chime in the background, ringing out with a sound that echoed out from one of those old clocks. Then, she felt... off. There was no other way to describe it, but the sensation quickly fled, only to be replaced by confusion as Lyra's voice sounded out.

"What? How did it-?"

That was enough to draw her attention away from her foe, and the Lieutenant's expression turned from concentrated combat focus to stupefied confusion, as she spotted the humanoid grimm. More importantly, she spotted the humanoid grimm carrying the container that the Sentry held, slowly observing the Dust crystal with one hand. She didn't even have time to question how he had managed to steal that, before her opponent took advantage of her momentary lapse.

The Ursa charged forward, its front arm coming down in another massive swing, and the ferret-faunus barely caught herself as she ducked out of the way. Her fist came up in return, her Cestus wreathed in aura as she struck at the bear's neck, knocking it backwards as she staggered the beast. This single action gave the woman the time she needed to look back to her friend, to see if she was okay.

And she was. She was perfectly fine, completely untouched. If it wasn't for the fact that the humanoid grimm had somehow gotten its hands on the Dust Crystals, Iris would've thought nothing was wrong.

But she knew something was very wrong. What sort of grimm would steal dust?

There was only one answer: the truly intelligent ones. The ones you'd hear in hushed whispers, in rumours and dark fables. The ones that people were certain did not exist.

The Lieutenant tore herself from that line of thought. It didn't matter; Right now, they were fighting against the enemy, and she would fight, no matter what it was. She sent a second glance back to her partner, watching as the Sentry drew her blade, her eyes narrowing as she charged the closest grimm.

Iris followed suit, turning her attention back to Ursa before her. By this time, the beast had recovered from her initial assault, but that bout of clarity was not enough for it to meet the Lieutenant's second attack, speeding forward as she closed the distance between them, slipping into the spot right below its head. The Ursa roared out in response, only to receive a metal-fueled haymaker as the ferret-faunus struck upwards, her Cestus striking directly into the throat of the grimm. Without missing a beat, she lashed at its arm, the limb useless as its owner reeled back, her fist striking at a joint, then again as she invoked her semblance.

It was as if time slowed for the Lieutenant, her body going into overdrive as she felt her aura rush through her. Her nerves flared, reflexes rising dramatically as she searched for the next weak spot, her eyes darting from place to place as she mentally noted the weaker spaces between the grimm's protective hide. The moment she found her targets, she poured her aura into her muscles, forcing them to move as she struck out, her Cestuses striking at the critical points between the bear's bone plates, resounding once, then thrice, then many times more as her attacks lashed out in rapid succession.

Finally, after a few long seconds, she stopped, her body catching up with the burst of speed as her arms ached at the sudden strain. Still, it was enough to end the bear, the beast breaking apart at the joints as its black fur ripped apart, revealing the unnatural insides of the grimm. This wound only lasted for a few moments, before the monster faded away, the acrid smoke of dying grimm disappearing into the air.

She turned her attention back to the humanoid grimm, ready to strike out at it, only to stop as she noticed its unnatural... eyes? Lights? focused directly on her. She prepared herself for an attack, watching it slowly raise up its arm. Iris still had a few moments before she could call upon her semblance again, and depending on what the creature did, she was fairly certain that she'd be able to rea-

An azure light was the last thing she saw.

"Iris!"

The sentry's voice was filled with dread as she turned towards her friend, stuck between the urge to help her and the need to fend off against this Alpha Beowolf. The creature was far larger than other beowolves she had seen, and unfortunately, that size was more than enough to deter her from helping. Unlike the Captain or the Lieutenants, Lyra was a simple sentry, and her aura was far inferior to her peers. Even now, she was slowly running out, exhaustion wracking her body as she tried to face off against the pack.

Why had she not expected this? It was a humanoid grimm, so surely it had other grimm under its control. They should've done more than just clear out the beasts in the courtyard. Yet, she had chosen to blast into the armoury without a second thought, assuming that the monsters outside were the only ones that populated the ruins.

Even now, she was regretting how wrong she was. That singular blast drew the attention of countless monsters, each streaming from the depths of the armoury, and she had to rely on her friend to protect her while she tried to secure the rest of the Dust crystals.

And then that thing appeared.

She had no idea how it happened, but the monster had somehow stolen the Dust in the blink of an eye, its movements completely unnoticeable even by an experience Sentry such as herself. And because of her incompetence, she had lost possession of the crystals, that moment of failure marked by a distant chime.

... Chime?

No, she didn't have the time to consider that, as she warded off another razor-sharp claw, the Alpha Beowolf diving forward once more. She struck out with an attack of her own, her blade losing its form as it slipped past the creature's arm, slashing at the beast's shoulder with a deep gash. This drew a cry of pain from her opponent, and Lyra allowed herself a moment of satisfaction as she wounded the beast.

This satisfaction faded to dread as the unnatural voice of the humanoid grimm immediately roared out in anger. The deer-faunus barely had time to refocus on the being, her eyes falling on it just in time to watch the monster raise its hand again. Her instinct told her that it was preparing to fire that strange lightning that had taken down her friend, to strike her down the same way it had done to Iris.

But she would not allow it.

Fueled with adrenaline, the woman brought her arms up, crossed over her chest as she flared her semblance for the last time, feeling her aura drain away in this final act of defiance as the flame of her soul surrounded her. The sentry didn't even flinch as her eyes settled down on the monster, glaring at it as the inhumane lights on its mask peered back at her.

And then she fell.