Chapter 15 (S875)

Celeste managed to give Picton a panicked looked before he was struck to the ground again, but there was nothing she could do in her power to avoid the earthshaking barrage.

The next thing she knew, there was ringing in her ears, she couldn't tell up from down, her vision was a blurry mess, and she felt as if she'd just been run over by a steamroller. But she was still somehow still on her feet, leaning against La Massicot.

Though she couldn't detect Picton normally, her gut twisted as if it knew that he was in danger. Without a moment of hesitation, she used what little remained of her aura to purge her senses, giving her just enough agility to avoid yet another crushing blow from the soldier.

Where could he be? It didn't help that his semblance made him undetectable, nor did the smaller Elementas trying to blast her. She cleaved her way through several of them before finally catching sight of him stumbling to his feet against a tree. It was just too hot - Another minute or two, and their auras would be at absolute zero. "Picton! Retreat and regroup!"

"Roger!"

Seconds after she made it to Picton, the earth shook violently, nearly throwing her off balance. But this felt different - Debris and fire wasn't flying at her or Picton's face, yet the ground continued to tremble.

She gasped as she looked over her shoulder - The column of rocks and dirt that Azure and Rin had concocted was falling out of the sky. Did they lose? Did Rin run out of dust? Against her instinct to survive, she wheeled around and charged back into the soldier that was still in pursuit of her. No way she was going to leave them, or anyone for dead again.

"Celeste, what are you doing?! Don't do it!" shrieked Picton.

Forget what he or her instinct said - She'd rather perish than have to carry their body bags back to Beacon.

The sound of metal slicing through armor stopped the soldier dead in its tracks, and and a river of bolts homed in on the back of its head, finally collapsing the oversized bug. Celeste sighed in relief as she saw Rin falling out of the sky while strafing the remaining Elementas like a bomber.

When she landed, the Emerald Forest finally returned to silence - They'd won. Azure slid off the side of the soldier and crumbled to the ground in exhaustion. Rin hobbled to Azure and brought him to his feet, letting him lean on her shoulder. A look at her monitor indicated that both were sitting just over 25% - Better than her and Picton, but not by a whole lot.

"And just what took you two so long?" panted Rin.

Celeste resisted the urge to lash out at her for locking her and Picton out, and instead gritted her teeth. "Worry about that later, we're leaving before more of them show up."

Everyone limped away in silence, not eager to discuss what had just happened. While they were climbing back up the hill to Beacon, Celeste let go of the idea that Rin and Azure deliberately locked them out. Throwing such an accusation at them wasn't going to be good for the team even if she was right, since she didn't have the proof to back it up.

Damned bugs, thought Azure to himself. What sick force managed to twist something as innocent as ants into these thick-skulled, dust-wielding, bull-charging MACHINES? They were absolutely merciless! Unyielding! Even in that physics-defying column, they still managed to make his and Rin's lives miserable.

Jumping between platforms should've been a joy, but these bugs had managed to saturate the skies with their dust-charged flak, making it tremendously more dangerous and unpleasant to perform. If he never had to see those things again, he'd be happy.

On the other hand, Rin was trying to figure out how to better attack them if they encountered them again. They had clearly underestimated them from the start, which was stupid considering Porter had specifically instructed the class to beware of them.

Conventional fighting wasn't going to work, and the hexagram probably ended up doing almost as much damage to them as it did to the Elementas. Their base stats weren't the problem - That soldier that Azure finished off couldn't compete with a Deathstalker or a Nevermore. It was the overwhelming numbers that got the better of them.

The moves they'd already designed for crowd control weren't going to work - They were designed for use against large numbers of unarmored targets, like Beowolves or Ursi. Dust wasn't cheap, but it could certainly get the job done if she wasn't stingy with it.

The walking trains of thought continued their way into Beacon, blindly following each other into the dorm to change out of their tattered clothing.

Celeste sighed as she changed into a fresh set of clothes. They performed as two independent cells more than a team, which made it rather difficult back there. It was almost as if Rin and Azure preferred to fight on their own, which was probably true considering their extensive service record with each other. Simply telling them that they needed to work as a team wasn't going to pull them together - She needed to prove to them that working together was effective.

Even as they crossed into the cafeteria, Celeste was still lost in her thoughts. Azure and Rin must not work well as individuals if they were that attached to each other. If she could remind them what it was like to fight on their own, maybe that'd convince them to come together. Sure, it was just 1V1 sparring, but if they lost, it might convince them to rethink what might happen to the Grimm. "I've got news for everyone."

Everyone turned their attention to her.

"We're committing to the sparring tournament."