Hello readers and welcome to chapter 5 I hope you enjoy it thank you for reading

Chapter 5 the Emerald forest part 2

Salem couldn't get the grims words out of her head; who was this silver eyed tyrant that has plagued her life "Salem duck!" Suddenly coming to and noticed a beowolf leaping at her head on, she dropped to the floor skidding along the ground as small fire blast smashed into the beowolf interrupting the leap and Salem slid underneath it and with an effortless slash cut the bottom half of the grim it dropped to the ground dead.

"phew thanks for that cin", cinder was slightly taking aback by the sudden nickname she stood slightly blushed "its fine just make sure you pay attention to your surroundings" Salem gave cinder a small smile "yeah… thanks for the advice". They continued on their journey for a little while until they came to a cliff edge which led down to an open clearing with a large stone circle in the middle with several alters around it; Salem sighed "I think we found the place " cinder nodded "I think so too but how do we get down" the cliff edge was a good hundred foot sheer drop.

Salem rubbed the back of her head "I could throw us like last time" cinder went slightly pale "maaybe save that for a plan b… or c" Salem made a small pout "well then what do you suggest". Cinder looked around and noticed the cliff gradually rounded down to the clearing but the detour would take a while or as she noticed the cliff seemed to have several holes in it like caves or something and with a small wander found one of the holes that reached the top of the cliff "this might take us down" Salem's ears perked up as she hovered over the edge "oh good this can't go wrong" they both stood at the mouth of the entrance and walked in.

The cave was very dark with only the daylight to see, cinder lifted a finger and a small but bright flame lit her finger like a candle and lit up the cave which now with the light was more of a tunnel. Salem marvelled at the small flame at cinders finger "wow cin that's your semblance right" cinder nodded "it is I can manipulate fire from any point in my body I can even change the temperature so that it doesn't burn, here touch it". Cinder pointed her burning finger towards Salem. She was hesitant but approached the flame and paused "are you certain I won't burn I'm too young for burn scars" cinder chuckled a little "trust me I promise you won't burn; it won't even hurt.

Salem reached out her hand and closed her eyes as her hand hovered over cinders and she waited for a moment for the heat but there was nothing; she opened her eyes and her hand was in the flame licking around her hand, psychologically her brain was telling her it hurts but as she looked there was no damage to the skin, no smell of flesh burning, nothing. Salem stood there for a moment in amazement as the flames danced around her hand "your semblance is beautiful cinder" cinder went redder than her flames "thanks most people are afraid by my flames" Salem looked at cinder "well I mean you gave me your word it wouldn't hurt so I had no reason to be afraid" cinders eyes lit up and she looked away and coughed "well anyway let's keep going shall we; Salem moved her hand away to her side "lets"

While the two made there decent it was clear this was no ordinary tunnel it had intersecting tunnels that formed like crossroads, but they agreed as long as it went down the other directions didn't matter. A moment later a sound started to emanate around the tunnel like skittering but loud skittering both Salem and cinder were still moving down but staying ever vigilant. Suddenly something burst through the wall off the tunnel and kept going as cinder made the flame brighter what they saw was like a train of seemingly endless red armour plates with hundreds and hundreds of legs charging through this new hole, as the legs finally came to an end they heard a noise from behind them like pincers they turned to see a huge pair of mandibles staring at them.

Both girls looked at each other with an equal look of terror and both bolted down the tunnel as this large, long creature chased after them the sound of thousands of legs racing towards them was maddening until they say the light of day from the tunnel and Salem picked both her and cinder and threw them out the exit as fast as she could. The two girls burst from the and landed a good thirty feet away from the exit when a massive centipede like grim came crawling out after them its whole body was covered in red armour plates even the legs were armoured with huge pincers which look like they could sever a tank in half and at the back was two stingers that were dripping with poison and each drop on the ground made a hiss as the ground melted away

As they ran Salem turned to cinder "I knew throwing our self of the cliff was a better option!" cinder turned towards Salem "how was I supposed to know that thing was going to be in there?!, anyway what are we going to do we can't run forever"; they both looked at each other, nodded and both stopped at the same time and turned to the centigrim. Salem turned her weapon into bow mode and cinder charged a large fire ball they both released at the same the attack almost seemed to fuse into each other then it collided with the grimm's head which caused it to halt.

For a moment they thought that was it but the centigrim just shook its head like it someone bounced a book off its head, it centred its head a stared at the girls with its large mandibles pinched twice and charged forward. Salem sighed "well that didn't work I'm going try a different approach you keep hitting it with fire" before cinder had a chance to respond Salem ran forward and with her semblance launched herself over the grim and onto its back. "What the?" cinder was completely thrown off by Salem's sudden attack but shrugged and prepared another fire ball. Salem snapped her weapon back to its normal form and slashed its back bit it only bounced off its armour "Hmm maybe I'll go for the head"

"look out behind you" Salem hadn't noticed that the grim had reared its back to stab Salem with its back stingers just as was about to make contact a ball of fire collided with it knocking the blow away and Salem jumped off. "What the hell was that Salem?!" cinder shouted "improvising!" Salem shouted back. The centigrim spun its back half towards Salem but she jumped over it and rolled on the other side "well this isn't working"

Salem thought to herself then an idea popped into her head she concentrated for a second activated her semblance and raised a hand towards the middle of the grim and lifted her arm which caused the grim to arch a small amount enough for Salem to slice its underbelly which made it bleed. The grim screamed in a high pitch screech and started to writhe unpredictably and it slammed its body into Salem causing her to fly towards the treeline just before she should have landed a bubble of energy surrounded her and she bounced of a tree and onto the ground relatively unscathed.

Salem looked up to find Neo staring at her with a puzzled look "big ass bug" Salem pointed in the direction from which she came from. Emerald walked over and lent a hand "you ok?" "yeah I'm just peachy" and she took emeralds hand and dragged herself up. Once Salem was at her feet emerald tilted her head "so what's this about a bug" just as she was about to answer cinder came running towards them screaming followed by an extremely angry centipede, Salem pointed "that" emerald starred at the creature "oh, I see" emerald went a bit pale at the sight of the monstrosity that was barrelling towards them "move now" Salem directed and emerald and neo jumped to either side of its path "cinder think you can lure it back to the clearing" cinder shouted back "really? well I'm going to need some backup then".

"alright you got it" Salem turned to neo "could you put a few shots into it to throw it off, it doesn't matter where you it" neo nodded and aimed at its leg and fired one shot hit in between one of its kneecaps the leg came off completely. The grim hissed at Neo and just as it was about to charge towards her a fireball hit it in the side redirecting the centigrim back to cinders path which she had turned back towards the clearing and it went after her again.

Salem turned to neo "great shot stay within the treeline and give us fire support" neo smiled and nodded "emerald you're with me" emerald grinned "what did you have in mind" Salem turned to emerald with a similar grin "we're going to take its head" As Salem and emerald were running together Salem spoke "so I know it's a bit rude to ask but what's your semblance, it's just so I know what to coordinate with" emerald smiles "I don't mind my semblance is called blink I can teleport short distances in rapid succession"

Salem's eyes widened "that's amazing, that'll be crucial ok can you run interference then just blink around it until you see any openings and exploit it". Emerald grinned "it's like you knew what I was going to do anyway" Salem nodded "great let's get to work but watch for that tail its lethal". Emerald turned to neo "switch to AP shot" neo nodded and swapped her magazine with another marked 'AP'. "we're all set Salem" Salem gave a thumbs up "ok break" and Salem and emerald split either side of the charging grim.

Salem reached out her and with her semblance grabbed the edge of the tail and slowed the grim down enough for cinder to catch a break. The centigrim turned to see what was obstructing its movement and it clocked eyes with Salem and she gave it a grin. It stopped moving and turned to Salem for a moment there was nothing then the sound of Neo's sniper filed the air 'crack', 'crack', 'crack' three shots fired and shattered the front armour plates on its face exposing its flesh, the grim reared back at the sudden shots.

Emerald saw her opportunity and blinked towards it first, she slashed its exposed head then blinked her way down its body stabbing and prodding any weakness she could find. Salem ran headfirst and engaged it head on dodging and slashing the incoming attacks of its pincers. As emerald made her way to the end of the grim, she spotted cinder catching her breath "you want to give us a hand here cinder" cinder looked up to see emerald vanishing and reappearing all over the place disorientating cinder.

"yeah sure next time your running from the bug" she took out her whip and pressed the button on the side blades extended all down the whip and using her semblance she coated her weapon in fire to make a fiery serrated whip. With a few fluid twirls the whip danced around cinder like water, she whipped it towards the grim curling around its tail the grim could only shriek in in pain from the flames, the tail flailing wildly then she pulled the whip causing all the blades to tear through its armour and into the flesh, then with a turn of the handle severed the stinger from its body and the flames casing the wound to cauterize.

This sudden loss of its stinger and the excruciating pain the grim curled and flailed and screeched everyone took a step back as it was surprisingly more dangerous like this in a blind rage it actually lunged for Salem which caught her and everyone off guard. Salem caught her weapon in its mouth as it tried to bite her, it was immensely strong seconds more of this and Salem would collapse but then out of nowhere a sheath came out of the forest and struck the grim on its fleshy head and the force knocked it back away from Salem. "That's why you should always stay alert, have I taught you nothing".

Salem got up and turned to a familiar voice as Adam appeared from the forest "Adam what are you doing I had that" Adam smiles "I'm sure, was that before or after you were going to be impaled" Adam turned his head towards the trees "Melanie, Miltia get the legs and Roman blast its head" Two girls bursts from the trees at high speed splitting up and in a fluid motion of kicks, claws and speed they made their way effortlessly down its body and stopped at the stump of its tail they both turned to face Adam and spoke together "you're not the leader yet Adam quit acting like it"

Adam rubbed the back of its head "alright that's fair my bad, Roman you're ready" the stylish redheaded boy with the black trilby emerged "sure thing boss" raising his cane towards the grim he pressed a button and blast of energy smashed it face causing the centipede to rear up "now's our chance Salem I'll let you have the honours since this was your fight" Salem nodded they both ran together as it tried to move with its destroyed legs, still reeling from the explosion Adam got underneath its head and wedged his sword between the bottom of its neck and the ground and Salem jumped in the air an came down with a spin slash and its head separated from its body. It wriggled around for a moment and eventually stopping and reduced itself to ash.

With the centigrim dead the four girls joined together at the podiums and picked up their relics a few minutes later some other students emerged battle worn and exhausted but at last the trial was over.

And there you have it the conclusion of the emerald forest I hope you enjoyed reading it, sorry if it's a bit dragged out, I'll try to improve in the future, see you in the next chapter.