Nearly an hour had passed since the exam began. So far there was no indication any other team had completed the exam, but with no way to judge how close the other teams may be, Jade, Amy, Yu, and Diamon trudge through the forest with anxious brisk. Thankfully, since their fight with the Geist, they had not encountered any more Grimm and, more importantly now that they are in a team of four, other teams. However, even if they were somewhat secluded, they were not lax in keeping an eye on their surroundings.
After about ten minutes of running, the forest started to thin then completely give way to an impressive sight. Before them was a series of crumbling stone structures lined on either side of what appeared to be a boulevard that led to a towering temple-like structure stood on top of deep gorge. Beyond the gorge was a cliff wall rising even higher than the temple. It was safe to assume that somewhere along that cliff was where they started this whole exam.
As for the temple itself, it gave off an ominous feel. The structure consisted of long thin columns of bleak gray mortar, thick with moss, that formed the structure's outline like a skeleton devoid of skin or muscle. On top of that, thick fog poured from the chasm, obscuring the base of the temple as well as part of the structures that line the boulevard in a hazy shroud.
Jade was still unsure if they were in the right place, but one thing she was certain of: this place was important for something.
"Well, do you see anything?"
It was Diamon who spoke first. The party scanned their area, but other than the crumbling stone structures, nothing stood out that might help them end their assessment.
"Perhaps inside that temple?" Diamon offered his suggestion. No one said a word, but they silently agreed and began walking towards the tall structure.
However, as they approach, Jade couldn't shake off the feeling that they were missing something. She recalled the riddle that led them here.
Find the sanctuary in time of yore,
Quoth the raven...
Now that she thought about it, the second line felt broken, as if there was a missing word. But what could it be?
Absorbed in her own thoughts, she ran into the back of her brother who suddenly stopped moving. Everyone eyed him in confusion, but one look at his sharp expression, they could tell something was amiss.
"We're not alone."
His curt words hung ominously in the misty air as they sunk in to the rest of the party.
He was right. They were so focused on the temple, they forgot about keeping an eye on their surroundings. After Yu pointed it out, Jade definitely felt as if there were eyes watching close by.
Then, a piercing clap originating behind the stone pillars lining the street, confirmed Yu's words.
A lone figure emerged from the pillars. A girl with short fiery red hair, blood red uniform, and an oversized coat hanging from her shoulders. Jade's eyes widen as she recognized this girl.
"Joker."
A wide smile touched the red haired girl's lips at the mention of her pseudonym. It was the same amicable grin she gave back when they first met, but in this situation, with the foreboding atmosphere, it felt more like sadistic glee.
"It looks like we've been found out."
She stopped clapping and signalled behind her. Three other figured materialized from the mist. To no one's surprise, they were the other members of the Royal Flush.
"Pardon for my lady's sudden intrusion."
"Oho, a familiar sight. Perhaps the red string of fate intertwined us after all."
"..."
Each of the new members gave their own short quip, but all were calm and relaxed, unlike Jade and her team who stood tense with their hands at their weapons.
"Please, no need to be so jumpy."
Joker's attempt to defuse the situation fell on deaf ears, which caused her to grumble and roll her eyes. Then, she tried again, but with a different approach.
"If you are here for the lock, I can tell you it's not in the temple."
Jade eyed her in suspicious, but she found no reason for her to lie. However, for her to reveal that information has a far more foreboding implication.
"You have the same clue, don't you?"
"Oh, whatever gave you that idea?"
"..."
Jade was about to answer, but hastily clenched her teeth to prevent herself from answering such a blatant rhetorical question, which amused Joker. Not wanting to humor Joker any more than necessary (after all they are in the middle of a exam where time matters), she fired back with a rhetorical question of her own.
"And you know where it is?"
To that, Joker gave a smug smile.
"Wait just a moment. It should be coming around real soon."
Jade was confused by her statement and, by the expression of her comrades, they were too. It wasn't until a moment later, when she felt a subtle shift in the wind, a steady methodical pulse, that alerted her to the true meaning of Joker's words.
Suddenly, a large shape passed over the sun, darkening the sky as if time had moved several hours in a blink of an eye. A winged beast, black as night, flew overhead, with its long feathery wings stretched wide and body pointed straight as an arrow, a majestic yet terrifying sight. As it soar past, the beat of its mighty wings sent torrents of wind blasting down upon the helpless land dwellers, causing them to raise their arms to shield themselves from the assault. There was only one such Grimm that commandeered the skies with such swagger. It was none other than a Nevermore.
That's it! That was the missing part of the riddle, Jade thought as the pieces fell together in her head. But what does a Nevermore have to do with the lock they were seeking?
Luckily, the Nevermore had not realize there was company, as it is lazily circling the temple ruins, which allowed Jade spy a strange device chained across its chest despite the height at which it flew. She turned back and gave Joker a questioning look, asking for some confirmation of her suspicion, to which Joker only gave a wider smile.
"So, now that you're all caught up, what will you do?"
That was the dilemma. Jade held the assumption that the lock was at a static location, not circling above them attached to a highly mobile, much less dangerous, Grimm. This situation is far outside her expertise - not that she had experience in anything she's done today - and she was racked with doubt on how to proceed. She turned to her team, hoping they might have some insight on their situation, but it was immediately clear that no one had an answer ready.
Diamon in particular seemed just as troubled as Jade on their dilemma by his facial expression.
"Do we deal with the team in front of us? Or do we bypass them?" He mumbled to himself with clenched teeth and furrowed brows. He appeared at the cusp of hysteria trying to come up with an answer to his own question, but failing.
However, it was Yu who made the first move.
"If an obstacle stands in your way, then get rid of it."
He drew his bow, a bolt of energy primed, and pointed it at the group of four standing before him. But, while most people might go on the defensive when a weapon was trained on them, Joker nor any of her teammates moved a muscle.
"Haha, I like this one, he's got spunk!" Ace gave a hearty laugh. Out of all of his teammate, he was the most amused at the situation. "But I have to tell you, this obstacle here won't be budging!"
Yu's eyebrow twitched, from anger or from annoyance it was hard to tell, before letting his arrow fly. It flew straight at the cocky smile of Ace, but it never met its target. Halfway down its path, it was intercepted by another energy bolt, similar in shape but shorter, fired from a crossbow that suddenly appeared in Ace's hands. There was a bright spark as the projectiles struck, not dead on but grazing each other, causing the both to veer off course. A few more shot were fired but were met with the same result.
"Heh, you've made your choices." Joker laughed as she snapped her fingers. "I guess it's time to for us to make ours."
From there, everything happened in a blur. Joker's team all moved at once. The big hulking Kingsly took out what looked like a giant engine with two long muzzles extending out like some sort of cannon. However, it didn't remain like that for long as it transformed into a cross between a glaive and a hammer, with the engine section forming the head of the hammer. As this was happening, Queen nimbly leapt into the air, doing a few summersault along the way, before landing on the head of Kingsly hammer-glaive which he held up like a platform. Despite the extra weight, Kingsly appeared completely fine and revved his weapon. The engines made a loud boom as flames started spurting from its exhaust pipes. They burst out like mini explosion but the flames quickly turned blue and the noise transitioned from loud thuds to a soft hum.
"Raaaaaaagh!" With a bit of exertion, Kingsly swung his hammer-glaive wide, Queen perfectly balance at the head, and aimed at the circling Grimm. After a rotation, he launched Queen towards the Nevermore like a lacrosse ball, the force of the throw causing a sonic boom.
The shockwave from his throw assaulted Jade's sense, the blast stinging her eyes and ringing her ears, but it was enough of a shock to bring her back to senses. As the adrenaline started to kick in, she felt the world around her slow. Her blood start flowing, her body started warm, and she felt every beat of her heart. And with it came this moment of mental acuity where she could perceive everything happening around her crystal clearly. The energy bolts flying from Yu and Ace's weapons. The soaring figure of Queen. The battle stance of the remaining fighters. She noticed all this in a single moment in time as if viewing a realistic diorama.
This feeling. It wasn't an unfamiliar feeling, but it was difficult to describe. There was something about this state she was in, something nostalgic. But as she took a breathe and the frozen figures around her start to slowly move again, she knew there was no time to be dazed like that. There was a battle happening and they need to do something.
"Amy! Fly!" It was all Jade could get out. There was not time to give detailed instructions. They lost the initiative and had to react.
Luckily, after an astonished pause, Amy was able to decipher Jade's command and a big grin crossed her face.
"Diamon! Shields up!" From Jade's command, Amy issued her own.
Normally, Diamon would question anything Amy ask of him, but considering the gravity of the situation, he chose to shut up and do as she says.
Diamon got on his knees and brought his energy shields up while Amy leapt into the air, doing a few somersaults along the way. As she twist in the air, her clothes turned into light and rearranged itself around her. Gone were her frilly dress and in its place appeared the fairy-like garb she wore when she first appeared before Jade. She landed lightly on the shield, almost as if she weight nothing, at which point the shield then glowed brightly as energy overflowed into it. Then, Diamon thrust his shield in the Nevermore's direction, a pulsating blast radiating from it, which launched Amy skyward, a trail of glittering sparkle in her wake. As she flew, Ace did not miss the opportunity to intercept Amy with a few energy bolt, but just as he had blocked Yu's shots, Yu counter each shot he fired, much to his chagrin.
A sudden shriek from the Nevermore signalled to the teams that it had finally noticed that it was not alone, whether from seeing the approaching Amy or from Queen landing, and started moving towards the forest, descending as it goes.
"We need to chase after it!" Jade cried as she started running back to the forest. Yu and Diamon quickly followed behind, but so did the rest of the Royal Flush. While they did have a slight head start, it quickly became apparent that Joker's team was faster.
"Diamon! Send me up like you did with Amy!" In this race to the Nevermore, whichever team can get more hands on the lock around its chest will have the advantage. Since, it was clear that they will lose a footrace, Jade made a desperate call. If they could get someone there before Joker, they may have a chance. However, having herself be launched would be dangerous as she had no way to control her flight path like Amy nor does she have a landing strategy, as evident after being launch from the cliff, so if she can't reach the Nevermore, it won't end well for her. But if she couldn't send Yu as he was the only one capable of blocking Ace's shot against the defenseless flier.
Amy slowed her run and jumped into the air, legs tucked, ready to step on Diamon's shield. Diamon did not miss this cue and made a short hop to get his shield centered on the sole of Jade's feet. As the two made contact, the shield pulsed brightly again and Jade was launched forward with great speed. Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed an object flying at her, Ace's bolt she presumed, and prayed that Yu would block it in time, but as it got closer, she realized it was something else entirely.
"Oh no you don't!" The flying object was actually Joker, who had a sudden burst of speed, and used a stone pillar as a springboard to launch herself at Jade.
Yu was too shocked to react as Joker grappled Jade mid-air and the two went tumbling into the forest.
"Jade!"
Yu attempted to follow her sister path but was stopped by a wall of flame that suddenly sprang in front of him.
"Where do you think you're going?" Ace's snide jeer cut through the roar of the inferno. He was now perched on top of a stone pillar while his partner Kingsly stood below him, his large hammer-glaive partially buried in the dirt, the origin of the fiery wall. "Joker wanted some 'alone time' with your friend so we're gonna make sure she gets it."
Yu cursed as he looked around for another way through. Besides the wall of flame in front of them, they were still in an open area where they can go in whichever direction they choose. The fire wall didn't go very far and it wouldn't take that long to get around it. Even then, they still could risk jumping through the flames and take some damage to their aura. Confident that there were plenty of options to elude the pair he called back to Ace.
"You really think you can keep us here?"
"Perhaps."
Yu couldn't tell if he was joking or serious. He wore that snide smile of his like a mask, unmoving and unreadable, preventing any attempt to read his thoughts. A true poker face.
Just as an extra precaution, he scanned his surrounding again, but nothing stood out as out of the ordinary except for the wall of fire, which was now slowly dying. He turned to Diamon, who also gave their surrounding a good look, shook his head, unable to pinpoint any traps that might await them. The only danger would be projectiles from Ace or ranged attacks like the wall of fire from Kingsly, but as long as they cover their rear, there was no possible those two could stop them from just running the other way.
Giving a curt nod to Diamon as a signal to go, the two started running away from Ace and Kingsly, all the while being wary of attack that might come at them. They managed to cover a few yards before Yu heard two blast, presumably Ace's crossbows. He pointed his bow behind him, ready to intercept the projectiles, but to his surprise, there were none. What shocked him more was that a bolt suddenly flew in front of him from his immediate left and another bolt came from Diamon's right. The two bolt collided and formed a massive shockwave that blew Yu and Diamon off their feet. They tumbled for a bit before rolling to a crouched position.
Yu faced Ace to figure out what happened and noticed he held two crossbow in hand, a large and a small one, that were pointed not at them, but were held outstretched in opposite directions.
Does he have the ability to arc his bolts? Ace frantically tried to piece together the method Ace used to hit them at such an angle. No, he would have noticed the path of the projectiles if that was the case. Then, teleportation? Possible.
However, at that point, he noticed something was wrong.
"Where's Kingsly?"
He looked left and right, but could not spot the large blonde man.
"Above us!"
Diamon's cry alerted him to the one direction he failed to check, and he strained his neck back to see the figure of Kingsly, his weapon held high belching flames from its head, as he hurtle towards them at an incredible speed.
Yu dove out of the way to avoid the attack, but Diamon held his ground, raising his shield to meet it. Hammer and shield made contact, causing an ear splitting screeching sound and spewing flames in all direction. The fire danced around Diamon, licking at his limbs, but were unable to make contact, only arcing closely around him as if he was surrounded by an invisible bubble. The force of the hammer only brought Diamon to his knees, a testament of how durable he was given that such force could easily flatten a normal person, but he wasn't planning on taking the entire brunt of the attack.
As the hammer slowly sank on him, he angled his shield to the side and, with the help of an energy blast from his shield, threw his opponent away. Taking this opportunity, Yu attempted to strike at the vulnerable Kingsly, but his progress was halted by energy bolts from Ace.
Not like he could have landed his attack anyways, as Kingsly was still in control of his movement. He drove his hammer into the ground to stop his fall then immediately swung it around, transforming as it goes, and directed it at the numbed Diamon, now a flamethrower with its nozzle glowing red, ready to let loose a torrent of flames. If Diamon doesn't do something fast, he won't be walking away with just a sunburn.
"Yu get behind me!" Diamon shouted as he tapped the cross shaped diamond on his shield gauntlet. Yu, with no other options available, jumped behind him hoping whatever he had in mind works.
Diamon's shield disappeared, but in its place, his entire body started glowing white. Kingsly's flamethrower let loose a large spray of flames, it growing in size as it rapidly approach the pair, but before the fire engulfs them, Diamon slams his fist into the ground and a barrier, a curved translucent wall that looked like half of a dome, materialized in front of the flame.
Fwump! The energy barrier blocked the flames, parting the river of fire and creating a tear shaped island safe from the blazing torrent.
However, while they avoided the fire, it was the least of their troubles. The smell of gasoline and charred foliage filled their nose. Their lungs burning, unable to obtain air as the flames greedily ate it up. And their vision clouded, as sweat poured over their eyes and heat waves distorted their surroundings. The oppressiveness of their situation was slowly causing them to lose consciousness.
Realizing that nothing happens soon, they will pass out, Diamon sluggishly reached for the underside of his gauntlet, his left arm feeling like lead as he moved, and pulled out a blue gem.
"Oh, merciful Sapphire, relieve us from heated woes!" Diamon prayed as he dropped the sapphire. Nothing happened as the blue gem fell, but the moment it touched the ground, white mist started to expand from the point of contact.
Suddenly, the heat didn't feel so bad anymore. In fact, not only was it disappearing, it was getting awfully cold. The white mist washed over Yu and he soon realized that it was forming frost as it expanded. The mist then made contact with the flame, causing an explosive reaction as their surrounding was filled with steam. The fire sputtered and died, replaced by a thick, cold fog.
Relieved from the heat, Diamon tiredly stood from his crouched position and let out a huge relaxed sigh.
However, Yu knew better than to relax. He suddenly rushed in front of Diamon, his weapon in its melee form, and made a wide swing in front of him.
Tink! Tink!
Two energy bolts, aimed at Diamon suddenly veered off course and disappeared further into the mist.
"Wha…" Diamon barely got a word out as Yu grabbed his collar and repositioned him in front of him. More energy bolts flew through the mist from the opposite direction, but Yu accurately struck them away just as he did before.
Annoyed, Yu drew a physical arrow from the small quiver at his hip. He nocked the arrow and pulled back, the tip disappearing inside the revolver mechanism above where his hand held the base. The revolver spun, going through myriads of colors before landing on green. Then, he pointed his bow straight up and let the arrow loose.
The arrow shot through the mist, carrying with it a massive amount of air pressure, causing the mist to first scatter before following in its path. This did not completely remove the fog, but it did thin it to the point where the figures of Ace and Kingsly can be spotted a short distance away.
"Oh, I see you both made it in one piece." Ace snickered as he lounged lazily against the stone protruding from his high perch. "Funny, I swore my shot were on mark. Either I miscalculated or you're really lucky. I'm betting its the latter..."
Before Ace could say anymore, Yu fired a shot at him. But with a lazy flick of his left hand, he countered it with a shot from his hand crossbow.
"Well, that was awfully rude. Attacking while I'm still talking."
"If you aren't going to say anything useful, then shut up. I don't need more pointless chatter today."
"Hey, that's a bit harsh, don't you think?" Diamon mumbled after realizing that Yu was indirectly insulting him. Yu merely gave a cold shrug, which Diamon reluctantly accepted since this might be the closest form of apology he's going to get from him.
Ace, on the other hand, ignored Yu and continue to speak.
"So, what do you think? You want to try running again? Cuz I assure you, the result will be the same."
Yu pondered the idea, but like he said, the same thing may happen again. As long as he wasn't hundred percent sure how Ace could get his arrows to come at them from different angles, it could be his weapons ability or his Semblance, its as if Ace had surrounded them with theoretical version of himself. And if running isn't an option…
"...then I guess we just have to take you out first."
"Right," Diamon agreed as he prepared his shield. "You may be trying to keep us seperated, but the same could be said to you. If we defeat you here, then our team has the upper hand once we regroup."
"Hahaha, well said. But..." Ace applauded as he burst into a hearty laugh. However, his posture suggests his complete confidence in his abilities. "I don't think you are a match for me."
"Says the guy wearing an eyepatch." Yu retort back.
"Oh, this?" Ace runs the end of his large crossbow against the strip that constitutes his eyepatch. Then, he got into a dramatic pose, his chest jutted forward and his head tilted back like pompous aristocrat. "You should be thankful I shroud my right eye behind the cloth. For it seals a vast and terrible power that will bring ruin to all who bear witness to its majesty."
Yu and Diamon looked on in confusion at his theatrics, but maintain their guard. Ace continues.
"So don't you worry. Even with such a handicap, you won't be able to keep up with me."
"I think you underestimate my abilities."
"And you mine." Ace then held aloft his two crossbows first raising the smaller one then the larger. "I will have you know, with my crossbow Cu and Chulainn, I have never, NEVER, missed my target."
"What a coincidence," Yu snarled back. "Neither have I."
"Such bravado. I like it." Ace gave a sadistic chuckle as he licked his lips. "And it will be much more satisfying when I turn that tough confident expression of yours into one of despair..."
With that he brought his crossbow to the ready. In response, everyone else held their weapons up. Yu pulled back the strings of his bow letting an energy arrow form. Diamon brought out his normal energy shield, his eyes darting his surroundings ready to block Ace's shots, wherever it may come from. And Kingsly transformed his weapon back to the hammer-glaive and rest it menacingly on his shoulders.
"...but enough of the chit chat. It's time for our weapons to the the talking!"
