The budding students were greeted with a rustling in the bushes nearby. As they turned, they were greeted with an unmistakable vision.

Two pairs of eyes peered through the undergrowth. They glowed red with the fury of nature itself. The first pair was thin and slitted, while the second was round and fiery. As they began to grow brighter, the beasts unveiled themselves from behind the brush. The first was a giant abomination with sharp ivory tusks. Its entire body was coated in a thick coat of armor and its quick movements made it seem invincible. Its overall appearance mimicked that of a wild boar.

The second beast soon revealed itself. It was a giant snake capable of crushing all eight students to death with length left over. Its body was a perfect dichotomy of white and black, with each side ending in a head of the opposite color. Its fangs were the size of railroad spikes, and could drive a man through with minimal effort from the beast.

The snake attacked quickly, shattering the platform the students were standing on. The ground itself was so broken from the strike that it formed a divide. Verse, Lyla, Noir and Orion found themselves stranded with the horned Grimm. Meanwhile, the snake chased Razz, Sage, Cherie and Nyanza down a path leading to the east.

Verse drew out the quill pen he had behind his ear. He took a breath and began to write in midair, making sure to spell out 'bludgeon'. As he wrote, a large rounded mace appeared in his hand, created of green light. He rushed in, showing no mercy to the beast as the others held back. The mace was not breaking through its armor and disappeared after Verse swung five times. Verse fell back, exhausted. As he paused for air, the boar began to spin toward him. It slammed into him, its tusk digging itself into Verse's shoulder. When it finally pulled out, Verse's cloak was stained red.

After seeing this, the others jumped in to protect Verse. The last impact had depleted his aura. The beast immediately singled out Lyla, ruthlessly attacking her, causing her aura to break as well. Orion soon came in from above, viciously attacking with his axe. Nothing he could do was damaging it, so Orion made a split-second decision. He split his weapon along the shaft and moved the blades to create a set of dual hatchets. Using the uncovered semiautomatic pistols embedded within the shaft, he opened fire on the beast, still to no avail. He went in for a close-range strike but missed. He found himself slammed against a tree for his efforts.

Noir was the only one left standing. He stayed calm as it began screeching in his ear. He was in a state of hyperfocus, and it soon became evident as to why. A shadow in Noir's likeness came forth and restrained the monstrosity. He took off his mask, revealing the hazel eyes beneath them. Immediately, he unfurled his mask into a whip and tied the end to the pistol at his waist. He began to use the combination of the whip and pistol to wreak havoc on the creature. However, he could only keep control of his shadow for so long before he, too became exhausted. As the beast began to attack, Noir found himself in a heap with the others.

As they got to their feet, Verse spoke up. "I think I know how to survive this. You, with the whip. When you hit that thing on its underside, it looked like it really hurt. I need you guys to help me restrain it. Orion, you clearly have the most raw power of any of us. You need to deal the killing blow. Lyla, can you still do that flying thing?"

Lyla was able to respond. "Yeah. The flight has nothing to do with my aura. Stellar Wind uses wind dust."

Verse had a plan figured out by this point. "Great. I'll need you to fly around and distract it while Noir and I grab it. Are you guys up to that?"

Unanimously, everyone gave Verse their own seal of approval. As they sprung into action, Lyla took flight. "Hey, ugly! I'm over here!" The boar seemed to understand her, and it tried to jump after her. As it tried to jump, it left itself open for attack. Verse and Noir rushed in immediately to flip it over onto its backside. Orion rearranged his weapon into a large glaive that resembled a dual-bladed scythe. As the Grimm was left defenseless, Orion hurled the weapon, sending it slicing through its stomach. The monster, finally vanquished, disappeared into vapor.

After the fray, the four young huntsmen were out of breath, but Verse managed to speak up.

"Is everyone okay?"

TO BE CONTINUED