Chapter 7 (S875)

Several heartbeats after Azure could make out detail through the air rushing by his eyes he brought his feet forward facing the ground. He quickly began absorbing the momentum from his fall, slowing the blurry world back into focus, and finally hitting the ground with a soft thud. The air trailing behind him caught up with him a second later, coughing up a rushing river of debris.

Seconds later, a red firework-like projectile whistled into the air exploded over the treetops, signaling Rin's location. Azure lazily drew the Kusanagi, and began impatiently hacking through the dense shrubbery.

While he didn't mind the forest as a whole, he minded the incessant presence of bugs – Notably mosquitoes. It always felt like they'd prefer him over his peers, so he made it a point remain in constant movement. Of course, there was something magical about Rin that kept the damned things away from her. If he didn't know better, he'd swear up and down that she was erecting some sort of invisible insect barrier.

Only a couple minutes passed when a small flurry of similar-looking firework bolts shot into the air. One, two, three… Azure's gut dropped as he counted the fourth one. Branches flew as he began madly tearing through the brush. Four meant that she was in trouble. Considering that Celeste and Picton weren't around, it was completely up to him to back her up.

Every distant explosion twisted Azure's gut, fueling his panic-driven fury. No matter how much he fought the forest, it just didn't feel like he was making any ground. The idea of being useless pricked at his sweaty hands – He could do better.

With a single jump, he soared through the treetops, frantically and carefully trying to find a place to make the next jump. Several plumes of smoke rising into the air off in the distance took his breath. Whatever was out there was making a mess of the forest. Dangerous as tree jumping was, it was by far many times faster than what he was doing before. All he could do now was hope he could reach her in time.

Before they even got out of the dorm, Picton's gut was already uneasily shifting. He'd pushed Celeste to hurry up, much to her surprise. It was usually her that was issuing orders, not him. By no means did he doubt Azure or Rin – They worked better together than any other pairing he'd had the chance to observe. Was it the state of their relationship? No, the two seemed happy as ever.

Perhaps they ran into trouble? They were supposed to drop at random locations, so that was a possibility, but the Emerald Forest didn't really offer a whole lot of outstandingly dangerous creatures aside from the Nevermores and Deathstalkers. Even if they did run into those particular two monsters, Rin could easily shoot down a Nevermore, and Azure could stand down a Deathstalker as long as he was careful.

The lively atmosphere the path to the launch pads only intensified Picton's unrest. It felt almost as if the chirping birds and the prominent sunshine were trying to hide some sort of disaster.

"Oh… Crap!" shot Celeste as she looked over the cliff into the Emerald Forest.

Picton's guts turned violently as he rushed to her side. Several columns of smoke were rising off in the distance, and a tiny dot that he distinguish as Azure was jumping through over the forest's canopy toward it.

How the heck did they get there? The smoke was coming from a location that the launch pads couldn't have thrown either of them to.

Celeste also quickly made note of this, and anxiously drew La Massicot. "Forget about the pads, just jump! Go! Go!"

And then she was gone. Picton reluctantly stepped to the edge and drew his weapons. To him, there was a distinct difference between being thrown off a cliff and consciously jumping off of one. Naturally, jumping off a cliff spelled death to him, but he still nevertheless crept forward.

He took a deep breath before turning around, and jumping off backwards, flipping several times as he fell. Before the short fall concluded, he spotted his landing zone, held out the Notus, and fired a miniature rocket-like projectile into the ground. It seemed to phase through the ground, before aerating it and turning it into some sort of pillow, cushioning his fall.

To his left was evidence of Celeste's landing area – She'd already gone ahead of him. Realizing he was being left behind, he closed his eyes and put a hand to the ground, letting a burst of his aura enter fly outward. The pulse returned, and he traveled through the recreated textureless terrain in his head, quickly picking out Celeste's figure. Immediately after finding her, he sprinted into the woods, trying to catch up.

Azure landed in the midst of the ravaged forest, and traced the battlefield with the Kusanagi without hesitation, searching for Rin or any of the Grimm.

"Rin!"

Dread crept over his stomach as his call echoed back. Where, where, where could she be? He didn't want to run off in some random direction out of fear that he might be wrong, but he also didn't like standing around.

Another flare-like bolt flew into the air moments later – She was close. He quickly made off toward it, sprinting across the broken trees and charred land. He still had time. She was just through a small set of trees in front of him.

Feeling that something other than Rin was with her, he jumped into the air and raised the Kusanagi, poised to strike.

What the hell is that?!

Several car-sized ants were prosecuting Rin, soaking her barrage of bolts like it was nothing. Azure held the trigger on the Kusanagi and began charging a shot. At the same time, he saturated his weapon with his aura, casting a blue glow across his arm.

DIE.