Disclamer: This chapter contains scenes of graphic violence and a suicide victim that may cause severe discomfort for some. Readers discretion is advised.

"What do you mean 'escaped'?" Scarlet was furious. She took out her weapons and went to the tree they tied the Huntsman to.

"You can't go alone," Yangochi said and followed the team leader with Atgeir in hand.

The rest of the group looked at each other concerned. Everyone was tired and not up to dealing with Nachrichter. Scarlet and Yangochi returned after a brief moment.

"He broke through the restraints," Scarlet snarled with anger.

"I can't sense him nearby," Yangochi added in his monotone voice. "He is faster than he looks."

"We still need to recover," Vivian started thinking. "I doubt he would attack right away. He has to be as tired as we are after the fight."

"Let the most injured recover and have some sleep while the more fortunate take guard." Scarlet finished before Vivian could end her thoughts.

"I can take the first shift," Granola said, trying to stand, but the grimace of pain betrayed his condition.

"You can barely stand," Scarlet looked at him with a pitiful stare. "Yangochi and I will take the guard."

The quiet Faunus nodded and started patrolling the surroundings.

"The rest of you," the redheaded woman turned towards the others. "I hope you recover quickly."

Scarlet and Yangochi were vigilant all night. Despite the fatigue from the fight, they kept their cool and guarded the camp. Yangochi was continually listening to the sounds of the night while Scarlet scouted the perimeter. Now with Nachrichter away and the effects of his Semblence gone, they could use their aura to heal quicker.

When the morning came, everyone was rested. Team VNGR was up and running, with only Granola having troubles with his shoulder.

Nina only now noticed his injury. "Your collarbone is shattered," she was concerned. "If we don't get professional medical help, this might be a serious problem."

"It's nothing," Gran tried to calm her down but squirmed when he moved.

Neil seeing her stressing over the injury, joined in the conversation. "In most situations, collarbone can heal without any issues. You shouldn't be alarmed."

"Exactly," Gran smiled towards Nina. "Besides, I'm great at aura manipulation when it comes to healing my own wounds." His smile was sincere, but Nina knew he was in pain.

"Though I would advise on using a splint or something, so you don't move that arm too much," Neil added.

After hearing that, The Faunus girl quickly used her hoodie as an improvised splint for Gran.

"It's really not necessary," the Faunus boy tried to stop her, but seeing her determined look, he didn't resist.

When it came to team SYAN, only Neil still had a major injury. Amethyst's arms were healed, though the burns left visible scars.

"I'll go hunt," Ray proposed. "We need breakfast before we continue the journey."

"Joining you," Vivian declared to help.

The one-eyed fighter quickly rebuked. "I can do this on my own."

"No!" Black responded in quick. "We cannot afford to do anything alone right now. Anyone doing anything needs to have someone at their side."

"Yeah, ok, mom…" Merlot scoffed and headed out.

Vivian clenched her fist and went after him. "I'm still coming!"

Yangochi leaned against a nearby tree and dozed off. The rest of the gang prepared a fire, and when Ray and Vivian returned with some game, they smoked the meat. Although It took some time, everyone was silent throughout the entire process. No one said anything, even during the meal. When they were done eating, Scarlet broke the silence.

"We need to get a move on. Can't stay in one place for too long."

Everyone agreed. They packed, prepared for the journey ahead.

"We should've just gone by ourselves," Nina said silently.

The group continued the journey being on high alert. They mostly relied on Yangochi to sense if Nachrichter is nearby. If the Huntsman would surprise them, who knows how bad it could end. Vivian was sure that he left them alone, but the rest didn't want to take any chances. Especially Scarlet.

Nina walked over to Neil. She was very curious about his ability after the display with the Huntsman.

"Your semblance seems really impressive," she started. "What exactly does it do?"

Neil narrowed his eyes, looking into the distance. "I don't have a semblance." He snarled and walked away from the Faunus.

Confused, she walked over to his twin sister.

"Why does he hate his semblance so much?" Nina asked.

Scarlet considered her answer for a while. "I guess there is no harm in telling you... Neil discovered his ability quite young, but in a situation that was quite traumatizing for a kid. Once, he argued with our mother about something, and he spouted: 'I wish you were dead' like kids tend to do to their parents in anger."

Nina was looking at Scarlet in shock. She never said that to her parents.

"In the case of Neil, however, those weren't just some words thrown in the wind. That was a command. Mom grabbed the nearest knife and stabbed herself in the gut."

"That's horrible," Nina gasped and covered her mouth.

"She recovered, of course, but from that day forward, they never looked at Neil the same way. That's the main reason they work in Atlas now. They are scared of him and what he can do..."

"And you're not?"

Scarlet just smiled and raised her eyes towards her brother. "I am, but I can't just leave him alone and in fear of his own power. He needs someone to believe in him. He needs me."

Her eyes shimmered with strange emotions behind them. She looked at her brother with almost a motherly look that Nina never saw from her. From their relationship, it seemed that Scarlet is rather cold and distant compared to Neil, who craved warmth. But it seemed their relationship worked for them, even if it seemed odd to her. However, hearing the story behind Neil's semblance, it's not that strange that Scarlet keeps her distance. Family can be really complicated sometimes.

Gran closed in and embraced Nina. She smiled and pecked his arm with her lips. "How are you feeling?" He asked

She smiled at him. "Much better now," she answered.

Vivian stopped the pack noticing something in the thicket. She slowly got closer and observed a glass bottle that was dripping with some black, tar-like substance. Vivian used her semblance to pick it up and examine it closer. On the bottle, she discovered a tag reading "Beringel."

"What's that?" Asked Raymond noticing the tag as well.

"Bad news," Vivian answered, deactivating her semblence and started to look around.

Everyone felt a small tremor under their feet. After a short while, there came another. Then another. Yangochi raised his head, listening carefully.

"Something big is coming," he said calmly, still listening.

Everyone activated their weapons, with Granola and Amethyst raising their fists. The tremors were more potent and much closer apart. Suddenly, they stopped.

Both teams fanned out into a circle and observed their surroundings.

From the trees.

Yangochi sent out to the ears of everyone around, and they looked up. A huge, ape-like beast crashed unto them, destroying their formation. With a deep, guttural roar, it rushed towards the closest enemy.

Granola jumped in with a punch, and the beast met the attack with his own fist. Gran felt a tingling sensation going through his entire arm. The force of the impact pushed him away, and pain started to pulsate through the bone. It felt like his aura barrier was not activated.

Amethyst seeing the incident, jumped on the Grimm's hand, forcing it behind his back. With the momentum, she jumped up and tied her tail around the ape's neck.

Vivian wanted to activate her semblance to help in the fight, but she couldn't. Fear flooded her thoughts. She started franticly looking around. Is he behind some random tree? Or maybe he waits in the branches?

"Yangochi!" She screamed, "Nachrichter is nearby!"

The Faunus stopped to sense the Huntsman. Raymond noticing the terror in his team leader's eyes jumped towards her and grabbed her arm.

"No need to be scared. We can handle him." He said in hopes of calming her down.

Meanwhile, The Beringel grabbed Amethyst with his other hand and pried her from the hold. The moment he started to crush her between its hands, Scarlet dashed and slashed the monster's hands. It let go of the Faunus girl.

"Vivian!" Nina turned towards the scared teammate, "does this thing have a weak spot?"

Black blinked a few times before she regained her composure. They needed her now. The problem was, she had no answer to that question.

"Beringels are very strong and durable. Sorry, but the only way of beating it is by brute force…"

"Got it," Nina nodded, activated the whip form of her sword, and attacked.

"But, you may try to go for its throat…" She added, but it seemed no one has heard her.

Neil held his Kusarigama in his working hand. He spun the chain around the metacorpus of his hand while the sickle was in his palm. It was challenging to use this way, but he didn't want to burden others. He wanted to be useful. He spun the chain with the iron ball and jumped in to help the team.

Yangochi picked up on an aura that was not one of his teammates. It was the Huntsman. He quickly threw his spear like a javelin in the direction of the enemy. Nachrichter jumped from the tree he was hiding in while Atgeir pierced the branch.

"You 'ave more power in that arm than it seems, mate." Nachrichter smiled.

Yangochi jumped on the tree to pull out his spear. Raymond did not waste any time and attacked the Huntsman, who blocked the approach with his axe. He tried another attack, but the hulking man deflected the slash and spun around to deliver a strong attack. Ray was unable to hold his balance after the blow and fell to the ground.

"This ain't a trainin' session, innit?" Nachrichter started to slowly walk towards the boy.

Vivian was frozen in fear. If Raymond had problems fighting this beast of a man, what chances does the rest have?

Nina and Neil started attacking the Grimm from rage. The beast was able to deflect most of the blows, but his hands were getting more and more injured. A black tar-like goop was slowly covering his whole forearms. With a roar of anger, he jumped in to attack the Kusarigama wielding fighter. Amethyst dashed in to redirect the attack. The redhead used the opening to deliver a slash across the monster's chest. The beast stumbled backward while Nina continued her onslaught.

"Keep it busy!" Scarlet dashed towards the Beringel with a fury.

She run towards the beast with her weapons to the side. The moment the monstrosity noticed her and threw a punch, Scarlet drove her pickaxes into its arm and run alongside it. The Beringel roared in pain, and Scarlet jumped on its back and pierced its neck, splitting it open.

The Grimm collapsed on the ground before dissipating into a cloud of smoke.

"That's how it's done," she commented, holstering her pickaxes.

Yangochi finally pulled out his spear from the tree trunk. He felt the presence of Nachrichter moving quickly towards one of his teammates.

Watch out

He sent to Scarlet, but she was too slow to react. She raised her hand to block the attack, yet the axe went right through it. The arm dropped to the ground. Scarlet screamed in agony and shock while blood spouted out of her stump. Nachrichter delivered another slash but was intercepted by Raymond, who blocked the attempt with his sword's flat. He reinforced the block by holding his arm against his blade. His whole back was covered in blood with a visible, deep wound.

Scarlet fell to the ground writhing in agony. Neil was already by her side to use his own splint to stop the bleeding, but suddenly, the blood flow stopped. Looking around, he noticed Gran slowly walking towards them with a raised hand.

"Are you doing this?" Neil asked.

"I just need to concentrate," Gran answered, with a focused expression on his face. "Give me time, and I can stop the bleeding entirely."

Neil just nodded and held his sister's hand.

The Huntsman kicked Raymond away, who fell to the ground. Nachrichter then looked for his next victim, and the lizard-Faunus was the closest. He quickly transformed his axe into a scythe and attacked the girl with a vertical slash.

Amethyst jumped away to avoid the attack, but something stopped her hop short. She hit the ground. Suddenly she got dragged closer to Nachrichter, and piercing pain in her tailed informed her what the foe's blade caught. The moment the Huntsman dragged her to him, he grabbed her head with his free hand and smacked it forcefully to the ground. The force of the impact made her lose conciseness.

Nina wrapped her whip blade around the attackers scythe and pulled it towards her. In the same moment, Raymond went in for an attack with his semblance active. He raised the sword, but his fatigue was getting the better of him, and the attack missed. Nachrichter just smiled and kneed him in the guts. He then punched him in the head, forcing him to the ground. With Ray unconscious, the Huntsman raised his scythe.

"You will pay for your sin!"

Nina again tucked the blade, and the scythe missed her teammate. Nachrichter was enraged and jumped towards the Faunus. She avoided the attack, but the foe was relentless and continued the onslaught.

Suddenly, Nachrichter was hit by a metal ball into his head. His aura cushioned the blow, but the attack only made him angrier.

"Let's dance, big guy," Neil was spinning the chain, ready for an attack.

Granola was still trying to close the wound left by Scarlet's missing arm. She looked at her missing arm but quickly regained composure and started to observe Nachrichter intently with angry eyes.

"What are they doing!?" She was annoyed that they could not beat the Huntsman.

"Please, stop moving." Granola was getting tired. The focus and energy required for his semblance to stop bleeding so severe were immense. He was ready to collapse.

"Where is Yangochi?" Scarlet spouted in anger, looking all around.

"Please, don't…" Granola fell to the ground, and his eyes were slowly closing. He used up all of his energy to help Scarlet.

Nina, Neil, and Nachrichter were trading blows. The Huntsman was focusing his assault on Neil, who was visibly wounded. That required Nina to pick up the pace and be more protective of her teammate than to go on the offensive herself.

The Huntsman went for an attack, and Neil wrapped his chain around the enemy's blade. Nachrichter smiled and, with a force of his whole body weight, headbutted the boy. The twin bent backward and dropped his weapon. The oppressor then quickly turned to kick Nina away. Now left with only Neil, he slashed at him.

Blood spouted everywhere. A strange metallic taste in his mouth he never experienced before. A warm fluid hit the face of the redheaded boy. Neil opened his eyes and saw his sister with a scythe blade sticking out of her abdomen.

"No," was the only thing he could say while tears swelled in his eyes.

"Take care of the team, little brother. You're the…"

She wasn't able to end the sentence. Nachrichter pulled the blade to the side, reaping Scarlet into two.

"No!" A scream of pain and frustration came from the mouth of her brother. He wanted to rip the killer into pieces, but the shock froze him in place.

"That's one," Nachrichter shouted angrily, "The rest still needs to pay."

At that moment, Yangochi dove from the tree top with a powerful slash to the enemy's chest. The Huntsman bend backward, surprised. Yangochi delivered another wide slash that connected. Nachrichter regained his composure and attacked the Faunus boy, but he was too quick. With a nimble dodge to the side, he slashed again. The mountain of a man tried to attack again but was too slow to hit the agile fighter. He transformed his weapon into an axe and struck again.

Every attack the Huntsman attempted was avoided by Yangochi. The huntsman in training was zipping through the battlefield with a flurry of attacks that the opponent could not deal with; Each blow chipping more and more on his aura. Frustrated with the situation, Nachrichter looked around to assess the situation. The redhead boy was still frozen in place and was vulnerable.

The Faunus continued his assault while the Huntsman started deflecting the slashes. After a blocked piercing attack, he dashed toward Neil with his axe raised.

"Not on my watch!" Nina was ready for the advance and, with a pirouette, deflected the axe coming for the twin.

Yangochi sliced the opponent and went behind him to attack again. This time, the Huntsman was prepared and grabbed the spear before it could reach him. He pulled the small fighter closer and bashed his head into his.

The Faunus staggered while Nachrichter raised his axe. Nina again wrapped her Orchid Flame around the handle of the opponent's weapon and tugged it. The Huntsman was furious and swang wildly in the direction of the girl. The moment he let his eyes off of Yangochi, the Faunus boy started attacking again with his speed still too much to handle for the enemy. Frustrated with the situation, Nachrichter began to run away. The Faunus chased but suddenly stopped, looking into the distance.

"Why aren't you chasing him?" Nina ran to his side, wondering what is going on.

"I think we need to move," Yangochi said and walked towards the rest of the team.

Nina was confused. "But why?"

"I feel a strange presence in that direction. Scary presence…"

The girl nodded and joined the group. There was Neil, holding the upper half of his sister in his arms, crying. The Faunus girl stood still, frozen in shock. After a short while, Vivian joined the team, holding her side.

"Are you alright?" Nina asked, still tense.

"Just the wound Gran closed had opened during the fight with Nachrichter. Nothing to be afraid of." She noticed Neil and Scarlet, and her eyes opened in shock. "What happened?"

"I don't think we have time to waste," Yangochi interjected, looking into the direction Nachrichter escaped. "Something is slowly closing in, and I don't think we want to find out what."

The group collected itself as much as they could. Amethyst and Granola were helping each other stand while Yangochi and Nina were holding Raymond. Neil wasn't moving and did not want to leave his sister's corpse. Vivian talked some sense into him, and he nodded. Neil said his final goodbye and took Scarlet's weapons with him. Vivian pulled him away as he was staring at the pickaxes in his hand. The tuck was enough to make him regain his composure.

They slowly continued the journey as everyone was exhausted. The presence Yangochi was feeling still followed them, even started to overtake, but not finding them.

"We might get some rest after all," Yangochi said softly. "The thing seems to go in a different direction." He laid down Raymond and sat in place.

"Are you sure it's safe?" Vivian asked, looking at everyone. They all were in desperate need of a rest.

Yangochi nodded.

"So everyone have a rest," she said. "I'll take the watch."

"What if Nachrichter finds us?" Nina was concerned.

"I will be fine."

She monitored everyone, but her fatigue was getting to her as well. I just sit down for a while went through her head. She rested her head against a tree and started to look around. The grounds were luscious in green, and the trees spread all around, providing a lot of cover. She began to listen to the ambient of the forest. Not many animals around. Probably the sounds of fighting scared them away. However, the leaves swaying in the wind created a very calming tone. Before she could notice, she fell asleep. A tap on her head woke her up.

"You know it's very dangerous to sleep on a watch duty?" It was Raymond who smirked after waking her up.

She quickly jumped up.

"Calm down," Raymond put his hand on her shoulder. "It's already morning, and I woke up first."

"That was so unprofessional of me," Vivian was rattled.

"Don't worry, just wake up the rest. We need to make up for the wasted time."

The party continued the journey west hoping not to run into Nachrichter again. Yangochi started to feel the familiar scary presence once more in the direction they were heading. Still, it bounced off in a different path leaving their's safe. He also heard a strange clicking noise that even Vivian did not recognize from any Grimm she knew.

The Party suddenly stopped at the sight of a body hanging from a tree. Nina hid her face in Granola's chest. A huge man, strangled and suspended in the air swinging from side to side. It was Nachrichter. His face purple with a tongue sticking out. Vivian wasn't able to look at the Huntsman for too long and embraced Ray hiding her face in his neck.

Before anyone could react to the dead man, Neil threw his Kama to cut down Nachrichter's body from the branch. The huge man dropped to the ground with a loud thud. The twin jumped on the body and started wildly slashing the deceased's face screaming like a mad man.

"Don't," Gran stopped Nina, noticing she wanted to stop their friend.

Neil slashed and punched the body to the point where it was no longer recognizable. With each slash, his hands were getting more bloody. His knuckles were more bruised and pale. Screaming with each flail, he didn't even consider that his left arm was damaged. Finally, when he stopped the assault, he burst out into tears. Sobbing, he looked at what he created with a mixture of fear and anger.

"Finished wailing?" Raymond said with his arms crossed on his chest.

"Ray!" Vivian was angry. "You lost your father. You know how it feels…"

A glimpse of shock blinked in his eye but quickly faded, leaving his usual stoic composure. "I didn't have the luxury of mourning, and neither has Neil. We need to get to Vacuo on time, so get a move on."

Vivian was ready to slap him but was stopped in her tracks.

"No," Neil said slowly, standing from the deformed Nachrichter's corpse. "He's right."

When he turned around, everyone could see that his face and hands were covered in large amounts of blood. His eyes glaring emptily into space. "I can't afford to take a break. Not now…"

Amethyst got closer and put her hand on his shoulder.

"You know we'll always be there for you, right?" She showed an uncertain smile.

The redhead got closer to his teammate and put his head in her shoulder. "I know…" He whispered. "I know…"