Chapter 2

Grimm

In all honesty Robin couldn't say this wasn't the largest thing she fought. The prize had to go to that giant Risen the Shepherds encountered in that one town they were resting at. Grima didn't count because it was fucking Grima.

Still, she had the aid of her loyal friends, two of whom held the Falchion, against the colossal Risen. Here she was alone.

Okay Robin, focus. She doubted the stare-down would last much longer. The smaller beasts were getting antsy, and even if she could use the Falchion she doubted her odds in a war of attrition.

Whatever miniscule chance her sword had of being a major part of her plan shriveled up and died with the appearance of the large beast. If the giant's resistance scaled up from the smaller ones, then even her tougher spells would have some difficulty.

There was a key difference between the situation with the regular wolves and these mockeries of wolf and man. The wolves had her stuck in the middle, forced to fight on all sides. Here she was at one end of the clearing while the wolf-beasts were on the other. Plenty of space and room to run away.

A good tactician always knows when to retreat.

A great tactician knows how to make that retreat good.

Robin couldn't just turn tail and run. She'd need to stall the beasts and allow herself a head start. Electricity pulsed around her fingers as she readied a spell.

The wolf-beasts crouched as they prepared to pounce.

"Arcthunder!"

A great boom of thunder heralded the unleashing of a powerful lightning spell. It crossed the distance in an instant, striking her target in the chest. The massive beast was staggered back from the force of the spell, sparks of lightning jumping from its form. Unfortunately it didn't seem to do lasting damage, as the beast quickly composed itself and howled, signalling the smaller ones to charge.

By then Robin had already conjured another spell. This time it was fire that played around her hand as sigils glowed in the air surrounding her. With a shout, the ground between her and the beasts erupted, the grass burning to a crisp spreading the hungry fire forward. From what she could see through the flames, the smaller beasts had skidded to a halt and were slowly backing away from the advancing fire.

Satisfied with her handiwork, Robin fled into the forest. Hopefully she wouldn't encounter more of these things before she found civilization.

Robin grunted as she avoided another swipe of a claw. The air around her once again lit up as she thrusted her tome forward.

"E-Elfire!"

The beast was thrown back as the burst of fire struck it dead-on, its body set alight. Robin slumped against the cliff face panting and clutching her left arm, her sword, broken once more, hanging limply from her hand. With the coppery taste of blood in her mouth, an all-too familiar feeling, she peered at her aggressors.

Robin must have done something to piss off the gods, because she had been accosted by more of these monsters for what must have been half an hour. Despite it being a life or death situation, she wondered if Naga was angry because she accidentally destroyed one of the goddess's icons while fighting some bandits.

"H-heh…damn that hurts…"

Once again her sword arm had suffered injury while fighting one of the beasts, a large bear-like creature. Not only were there more types of beasts, but despite the sometimes huge disparity in physical appearance they worked together, coordinated their attacks and herded her into the cliff. It only brought more questions to their origin and their purpose that Robin was increasingly sure she'd never be able to solve.

They were probing her defenses, and they knew she was faltering. She had used up or even lost many of her tomes in the skirmishes between herself and the beasts, and her sword was nothing more than a handle after a clash with a boar-like beast. One of the larger wolf-beasts ran forward and received a severed forearm for its troubles, courtesy of a blade of wind sent from her tome.

A massive bear-beast trundled forward, the many spikes on its back reminding Robin somewhat of a porcupine. As she started the chant for an Arcthunder, Robin realized the magic wasn't responding, not a single glowing sigil appearing around her. With a sense of finality Robin opened her last remaining tome. Not a single page left.

She dropped the now worthless cover. So this is how it ended. Alone. Surrounded by what seemed like demons from hell. She always knew it was likely she'd die in battle, but after she had met the Shepherds and joined them as a comrade-in-arms, had married the love of her life and met her beautiful child, she hoped that if her end had indeed come on the blades of an enemy, it would be surrounded by the people she loved, the friends she'd grown to care for as much as family.

Now she doubted they'd even find her body.

"I-I'm s-sorry Chrom, Lissa, M-Morgan…Lu-Lucina…" They'd still think she'd be coming back. That she'd see them at least one more time. Now she was nothing but a liar. "I…I'm sorry for b-breaking my promise." She realized the wetness on her face wasn't blood.

With her remaining strength she forced herself up. She'll face death standing like a Shepherd. The bear-beast had reared onto its hind legs, its growling nearly drowning out the rest of the sounds of the rest of the beasts. Idly she wondered if this was some sick revenge for relishing that bear meat her first night with the Shepherds. Staring defiantly into those blood-red eyes, a sudden morbid impulse ran through her.

"H-heheh, it looks like this is checkmate."

She giggled at her stupid in-joke before wincing from the pain in her ribs. Unfortunately her audience didn't seem to find the humor in it, and raised its massive paw with a roar.

Robin closed her eyes, conjuring up memories of her family.

Goodbye, everyone.

The clawed paw swung down.

The sound of flesh being struck echoed throughout the forest.

Robin cracked open her eyes.

She was still alive.

The bear-beast was still in front of her. Its claw paused mid-swing.

There was a sword sticking straight through the beast's chest.

Robin could only stare at it with numbed confusion. For its part, the beast appeared to be perplexed, as if it couldn't comprehend that it had been run through.

It lasted for all of a second before the beast was pulled, no, thrown back flailing through the air. Such was its speed that Robin had barely comprehended it was gone before it had already made it to the edge of the clearing. Just as the beast had reached the edge of the forest it was split in two, bisected vertically near-perfectly. Like the curtain of a stage revealing the main character, the two halves parted to reveal a kneeling silver armor-clad figure, sword to the ground and a massive red shield at their side.

Turning to the new player, the assorted beasts growled, and Robin almost thought they sounded…disappointed? Angry? The person, for it could not have been yet another beast, rose to his full height. Robin would have whistled in appreciation if she wasn't in so much pain. With his chest puffed out and shield standing stalwart at his side, the man certainly cut a heroic figure. Upon closer inspection, his sword didn't match the blade that pierced the beast's body. No, from the bottom of his massive shield a blade of similar gravitas emerged.

The man was saying something, but she couldn't hear.

And then out of the forest three more figures emerged, noticeably younger and much to Robin's surprise not wearing much in the way of armor. While the clothing styles themselves were unfamiliar, these children seemed to be dressed for a Sunday out with friends, not fighting the twisted incarnations of animals.

The girl who stood closest to the armored man had shoulder-length hair that reminded her so much of Morgan's own if he grew it out. She wore a light azure shirt overtop what she assumed was a grey sweater. The shirt was tucked under a darker blue waist-high skirt reaching her mid-thigh. Underneath her skirt, the girl had knee-high black boots with gold trimming. The only thing that seemed vaguely like armor was a black chest guard covering her left breast and shoulder. On the chest guard was a blue symbol, though she couldn't make out any details.

She held a rather unconventional shortsword—was that an additional handle she saw in lieu of a crossguard? From what Robin could make out of her expression, the girl seemed calm and serious, not unlike Lucina once she was in the thick of battle.

The shortest of them had light brown skin and deep green scruffy-looking hair. Perched on either side of his head were two…were those dog ears? Did canine taguel exist? I'll have to ask Panne later. His clothes consisted of a brown vest and green shirt with a pair of light tan shorts held up by a belt. To his sides were a couple of dark green pouches, and his feet were covered by two brown boots.

In his hands was a massive peculiar-looking sword almost as tall as he was. The blade was rectangular with what seemed like black trapezoids sticking out of the sides. The boy swiveled his head as he took in their opponents while speaking something to the tall girl next to him, who shook her head.

The tallest of the new arrivals, though shorter than the armored man, had on an outfit more suited to dancing at a theater than fighting mockeries of nature. Even Olivia had donned armor when she had to wield a blade. Nevertheless, Robin had to admit it was a beautiful dress, a wide-necked alabaster blouse whose sleeves puffed out just before her elbows. Covering her forearm were elbow-length gloves ending in frills. A white skirt flared out from her waist, stopping at her knees in beautiful folds. Over her long legs were black tights that matched her dark waist-length hair.

Held in her hands was a long silver and gold staff whose ends were tipped with blades reminiscent of those spears from Chon'sin. The girl shifted into a ready stance, the staff flawlessly twirled around to her side, marking years of practice.

The beasts growled, snarled, screeched at them. Their dark forms tensed up as they anticipated blood.

The armored man, whom she decided to call "Knight," gave a short signal, a quick nod of the head and a simple one-word command, and they leapt into action.

The blue-haired girl, imaginatively nicknamed "Blue," was the first to meet the beasts. One of the larger spiky bear-beasts lunged at her, and Robin expected Blue would duck under the clearly choreographed attack. To Robin's surprise Blue lashed out with her own sword, neatly slicing the bear-beast's paw off. As the beast was reeling from the blow, Blue followed up with a flurry of slashes driving the beast back further until she finished the beast off with a neat decapitation.

Undeterred from their brethren's swift demise, a pack of wolf-beasts charged at Blue, leaping into the air intent on cutting her down. Blue responded by swinging her sword in a wide arc, unleashing what Robin could only describe as a blade of blue energy.

Five wolf-beasts leapt into the air. Ten wolf-beast halves met the ground.

Blue's companions weren't doing bad either. Green had launched himself an impressive height into the air, bringing down his sword in an overhead swing that cleaved a beast clean in two. Intent on avenging their fallen comrade, more beasts lunged at Green, who simply smirked and shifted into a batter's stance. He swung, striking the closest one square in the face with the flat of his blade, launching it backwards with a yelp into another beast.

Without pausing, Green brought his sword down in a diagonal slash that easily cut cleanly through another beast. Planting his sword to the ground, Green spun around to kick another before using the momentum to bisect a third one at the waist. Within seconds the remains of the beasts laid mangled on the ground releasing the sickly black smoke into the air.

Whereas she would describe Green's fighting style as crude, his taller companion, White, seemed to take her "dancer" appearance and extend it to her fighting style. In a word: elegant. Her staff never seemed to cease twirling, spelling death for any of the creatures who dared to go near. After neatly decapitating a gorilla-beast, White used her staff to vault over the ring of beasts closing in, planting her feet on the back of a bear-beast and launching herself further toward Robin.

As she twisted through the air, Robin saw her pull apart her staff. She now held two swords in her hands, the handles appearing to retract as she disarmed, literally, a wolf-beast as she landed. Once again blending beautiful footwork and elegant dancing with implements of murder, White became a whirlwind of death, and beasts found themselves limbless and soon headless whenever they sought to attack.

And as for Knight, he was as indomitable as Kellam and Kjelle were. Unlike the others, he had made a beeline for Robin's position. The creatures not intercepted nor cut down by his companions were pushed aside, launched back into the waiting blades of the others. The more (un)fortunate ones saw themselves dealt with by the man himself, a simple and efficient slash and they were but dust in the wind. Knight was barely even slowed down by their efforts, none able to penetrate his indomitable shield, and the term "unstoppable force" flitted through Robin's increasingly dizzy mind.

One of the beasts had deigned to ignore the assailants and turned toward Robin, intent on finishing off their harried prey. Robin grimaced as she attempted to lift the remnants of her sword to try and block a claw as long as her fingers, but the gesture was unneeded. Knight's shield spun on his arm so the massive blade faced the same direction as his hand, and the blade was sent flying, a deadly projectile that easily punched through the wolf-beast's body. For a split second, Robin could see the long chain that connected the creature to Knight. So that's how he does it. She'll need to ask how the launching mechanism worked.

Knight only paused in his charge to swing the chained beast like a living flail, swatting away its brethren like discarded toys. After retracting his sword and sending the poor beast flying into the depths of the forest, Knight made a running leap for Robin, surprising her by the distance he was able to cover despite his armor and shield.

Glancing back to her, he asked in a voice that screamed "grandfather," "You alright, miss?"

Despite her stunned state from the everything happening, despite the sudden fatigue from the loss of blood, Robin couldn't help but snark, "Oh I'm peachy, decided to try for a new look: covered in blood." She tried to give a cheeky grin, but it quickly morphed in a grimace as the pain in her arm suddenly flared up.

Knight smirked as he made a "hmph." "Well if yer lucid enough ta joke about yer wounds, then I think you'll be fine for the next few minutes while we clean up these Grimm." As if to punctuate his statement, a beast met its end as Knight cleaved it in half.

Grimm? Well at least she finally had a name for these horrid monstrosities other than variations of "beast." From what she's seen, it was a fitting label.

With her safety assured, Robin focused on the others, observing her saviors in action. From the practiced way they slaughtered the beasts—no, Grimm—this group has been fighting the creatures for an extended time. This raised questions such as where the fuck was she? Despite their many travels, the Shepherds had never encountered these Grimm, and certainly if there were beasts that had similarities to the Risen the Shepherds would have at least heard rumors. Another question, a more traitorous question asked when did she wake up? Did she wake up far in the future? Were…were all her friends and family long gone? The thought made her despair, the thought that she had indeed returned but far too late. That she left her loved ones alone until their dying day. That Morgan would never see his mother again.

More Grimm leaked in from the forest. Her saviors, excluding Knight who stayed near Robin, arranged themselves into a loose semicircle to fend them off.

Robin clamped down on that thought. No, I'm sure Naga wouldn't let that happen, that would be too cruel. She took a deep shuddering breath as she closed her eyes. Enough ruminating on what might be, focus on the battle raging around you.

As she opened her eyes once more, her mind, honed by many, many hours of combat, went into overdrive to analyze the fighters around her. From the initial confrontation, it was clear that these people were very skilled, pulling off maneuvers and acrobatics she'd only seen Lon'qu, Say'ri, or even Chrom and Lucina perform. At such a young age, it pained her heart thinking about the circumstances that forced these children to learn how to fight so well. She couldn't help but draw parallels with Lucina and her companions, and Blue's hair didn't help matters.

How they were effortlessly cleaving apart the Grimm where she struggled to even injure one was another mystery. She'd admit she wasn't the strongest physically—her talents lay in the magical arts—but she was no Ricken, and the time she won against Sully in an arm-wrestling competition was a fairly joyous moment. Still, even White, who was the most scrawny of the four, could trivially split a wolf Grimm in half. From the azure blade Blue unleashed, the logical conclusion was that the weapons were magical. A stray though wondered if the weapons had names. Another answered if they didn't Owain would have gladly thought of a "grandiose name befitting of such a legendary and powerful artifact of yore." She couldn't help but smile at that.

In any case, the weapons and their wielders would have been either a welcome asset or a challenging obstacle. She was only grateful they were pointed at beasts from hell, and not her. Still, this was nothing she wasn't used to.

And then fucking bullshit happened.

A screech drew her attention to the skies. A small part of her hoped it was Minerva, but almost immediately she squashed it. It was too different, more of a demonic crow than that of an airborne lizard. Indeed, it was the large raven-like Grimm that she occasionally saw soaring above the canopy. She had taken care to avoid open air after she had spotted it, but she had been forced into the clearing besides the cliff by the Grimm. Another reason to be thankful for her saviors.

The others had noticed the flying beast as well, as Green called out to Blue, "Kai! Nevermore!"

Kai answered with a quick affirmative, and for a brief moment Robin wondered how she would take down the so-called Nevermore. She neither saw arrows or a tome on Kai's person. While the blade she let out made an impressive distance, it was too slow to reliably hit the aerial Grimm.

Kai grasped the handle on the rain guard of her sword, the blade splitting into two halves. They rotated around the rain guard to the sides, appearing like the limbs of a bow. The handle retracted into the rain guard, and Kai brought her hand to the bottom and a glowing blue string appeared, connecting the ends of the split blade like a bowstring. At the same time, the front of the former sword glowed the same blue light as Kai drew back the faux-string before she released it, unleashing a blue bolt of energy.

The Nevermore, seeing the threat, dived down to avoid the bolt. In response, the bolt curved downwards to meet the bird Grimm, striking in the back and sending it dropping to the ground.

What.

Quickly shaking herself out of her stupor, Robin surmised it must have been part of the weapon's ability. It wasn't unheard of, swords that could channel magic—levin swords were proof of that—but such a complicated design would have not only made maintenance harder but lessened the durability and strength of the blade itself since it was not one solid chunk of metal.

Seeing the girl vulnerable, several beasts charged toward her, claws outstretched and maws wide open. Despite this fearsome display, Kai proved herself to be no slouch even with a ranged weapon in close-quarters, leaping over the beasts and launching more bolts of energy at them. Soon the Grimm were no more than disintegrating bodies.

White had once again split her staff into the dual swords, spinning as a ballerina would and slicing apart Grimm that ventured too close. The area around her now devoid of aggressors, White pointed her sword horizontally at an approaching beast. Robin heard a bang and a saw a flash of light from the edge of the sword, and the wolf Grimm was staggered backwards before collapsing to the ground, its upper jaw and head now absent.

Robin was still processing what happened when White threw her sword at a wolf Grimm, the blade embedding itself into the beast's chest. Behind White, a bear Grimm swung a claw to cut her down, but it was for naught. One second White was under the shadow of the Grimm, the next she was on the struck wolf Grimm, a trail of ephemeral afterimages the only thing marking her movement. Had Robin blinked, she was sure she would have missed it. With another bang, White and the wolf Grimm were sent in opposite directions; the former flipping through the air and the latter suddenly missing a chunk of its chest.

Taking a short breather to compose herself, White once again transformed into a whirlwind of destruction, now a storm of flashes and bangs. Grimm fell even outside melee range, and those that were able to withstand the barrage were cut down, cut apart by silver and gold swords.

Robin's mind was in a whirlwind. The twin swords White wielded opened up new mysteries, new questions that came rushing in, vying for dominance. The first to come to mind was the teleportation. This she could easily write off as an ability of the weapon. Teleportation, while rare, was still something she was familiar with. Many times she had used Rescue staffs as part of her strategy, sending her friends and companions into seemingly suicidal charges then pulling them back to safety while the enemy ran in disarray. The swords seemed to be a more refined version of that magic, White using them to quickly gain control of large portions of the field through throwing the swords and teleporting to them.

Then came to the question of the miniature explosions she saw, for they couldn't have been anything else. She was disinclined to think it was yet another magical ability, for this was too crude, too violent. Magic in almost every form had a certain grace to it. Even Mjolnir, one of the 12 Holy Weapons and the single strongest and most devastating lightning spell in the world, had a majesty to it, a sense of awe-inspiring might. This extended to Dark Magic as well; for all of its nastiness and vile nature, Robin admitted that it too had a perverse beauty to it. Whatever was causing the small explosions was much more mechanical, more physical. It clearly wasn't the fire that emerged from the sword that was killing the Grimm, as the creatures well outside of its range were dying.

Robin swayed as a wave of dizziness swept over her. Her injuries must be catching up to her. She slumped to the ground before she toppled over, and Knight must have noticed her distress as he yelled out to the others to hurry up.

Swiftly decapitating yet another bear Grimm, he turned to her. "Sorry miss, they seem ta be a tad more riled-up than usual. Hopefully we'll get this rabble cleaned up an-"

"LOOK OUT!"

Both Knight and Robin snapped their heads up at Green's shout, and Robin's eyes widened as she saw one of the many tall trees that made up the forest soar toward her like a thrown javelin. Knight quickly interposed himself between her and the projectile, but Robin was hard-pressed to think up a way how a man with a shield, no matter how impressive, could stop a what must have been a several ton object hurtling toward them. She flinched away as the tree struck Knight and a resounding bong echoed throughout the clearing.

Turns out he could stop a tree fairly well, the plant-turned-projectile falling to floor with a crash. For his part, Knight didn't seem to have budged even an inch. Okay, at this point they could pull out a pink unicorn that shoots Arcthunders from its horn and I'd accept it wholeheartedly. Of course, that could be the blood loss talking. She was interrupted from further rumination on horned-equine armaments by a distressingly-familiar howl from the tree tops. The Grimm that had been accosting their little group suddenly ceased their mindless charge and fell back to the edge of the forest.

The three teenagers exchanged wary glances as they shifted into ready stances. Kai looked back to Knight, a worried expression marring her brow. Knight gave a reassuring nod. "Keep together, cover each other. We'll pull through this."

The three nodded in acknowledgement, solidifying their stances. Robin noted that Knight must have been highly respected by his companions if that simple statement was enough to boost their resolve. Not unlike Chrom, she mused.

The cracking of bark and agitated rustling of trees being forced aside marked the entrance of the massive wolf Grimm that had hounded Robin in the clearing she awoke in. A head the height of a man peeked out, its tooth-lined jaws bared in a snarl, and its trunk-like arms shoved aside actual trunks, felling them with near contemptuous ease. Just as it did in the clearing, the wolf Grimm reared and unleashed a massive howl, joined by the menagerie of its monstrous brethren to create a cacophony of terror.

"…Well if anyone has any plan to fight this thing I'm all ears." Green said as he tightened his grip on his sword. Robin noted a very slight quaver in his voice.

"We stab it. Repeatedly. With our swords." White provided.

Green turned to his friend with an incredulous expression. "Gee, thanks Napoleon, I never would have figured that out."

Kai turned to say something to the two, but whatever she said was drowned out by the sound of more trees falling. After everything, Robin's eyes only slightly widened at the sight of two massive scorpions emerging from the forest, the smaller Grimm parting for them. Their upper body was covered with the same white bony armor with the red markings, and their stingers were made out of a shiny golden material that would have been beautiful had it not been attached to a bloodthirsty beast. Despite their impressive size, they were still dwarfed by the giant wolf Grimm.

Knight barked a brief laugh. "Miss, I've no idea how ya managed ta piss off a Giant Beowolf n' a couple of Deathstalkers, but yer gonna need ta tell us when we get outta here. Sounds like a great story."

His confidence that they'd get out of this bind would have been perplexing if she didn't have to deal with Vaike. In any case, the time for words was over, as the Grimm rushed forward to attack.

Green's sword folded in half as he gripped a handle that flipped out on the bottom. With a roar the weapon spat out the same fire as White's own swords, the sound coming out as a staccato of steady ratta-tatta-tatta. Sweeping his weapon across the horde, the effects were immediate as Grimm were cut down. On the other side, Kai swung her sword in a horizontal arc, another blue blade thrown out to slice Grimm in two. White's swords combined into her staff, and she swiftly killed any Grimm who dared to get near. Those who managed to leak through were dispatched with a single swing from Knight's sword.

Their efforts had managed to thin out the horde to half its number by the time the scorpions—the ominously named Deathstalkers—arrived at the front line.

Green's weapon didn't seem to affect the Deathstalkers as much as it did the smaller Grimm, covering their bodies with their large pincers. Green switched his weapon back to its sword form, and leaped toward the scorpion Grimm, intent on bringing down a powerful downward smash. As he reached the apex of his jump a Beowolf slammed into him from his side, throwing the both of them away from the Deathstalker and leaving the left flank open. The Grimm flooded through, the Deathstalker making a beeline to Robin and Knight.

Kai had barely fared better, pushed back toward White. The three of them had formed a tight circle to fend off the Grimm that surrounded them. Knight eyed the approaching beasts and aimed his sword at them. "Miss, yer gonna want ta cover yer ears."

Robin immediately comprehended what he meant, and raised her working hand to cover her left ear. A boom and a wolf Grimm fell to the ground sans head.

Damn that's louder up close. Robin's exposed ear rang from the loud sound, and even through her covered ear it was still deafening. More booms signalled the death of more Grimm, and then Robin cursed her injured arm as her open ear was assaulted by the roar of Knight's sword.

The three teenagers were holding their own, and no Grimm could land a solid hit on them. The giant wolf Grimm, who was staying back throughout the fight, suddenly crouched, a gesture not unnoticed by the trio. The ground shook as the giant Beowolf soared into the air, much, much higher than Robin thought it would. She felt her jaw drop at the astounding agility the Beowolf displayed for its size, and felt the ground shake and her teeth rattle as the giant Grimm crashed down to the ground fracturing the forest floor.

The trio had barely managed to get clear of the Beowolf's landing and they staggered and fell from the impact. Robin watched in horror as the giant Grimm swept a massive claw in an uppercut, catching Green and tossing him into the air. Just as quickly the behemoth's other claw brought a bone-crushing blow that threw Green into the cliff above Robin, shattering the stone before he fell to the ground in a heap.

Robin felt her heart sink. There was no way for the boy to have survived that. She felt her heart sink at the thought of someone, of a child dying to protect her. She cursed her useless state and struggled to push herself up; this was why she led from the frontlines, why she willingly put herself in danger where other tacticians wouldn't. She hated the idea of someone dying because of her orders, detested the thought that someone else got hurt on her behalf.

Which was why she was shocked into stupor when Green pushed himself up, visibly in pain but still alive. Not only that, but there was little sign that he had been bashed aside by a claw as big as he was aside from disheveled and slightly torn clothing.

"Damn, he hits like a fucking truck." Green said between pants. "How can we even fight that thing?" He stared at the giant Beowolf, who was engaged in combat with Kai and White. Kai slashed at the Beowolf's spiked forearms while White had extended the handle of one of her swords and was using it to hold on to the Beowolf's back, periodic bangs signalling her attacks.

For its part, the giant Grimm barely seemed affected by the attacks, focusing on shaking off White.

"Keep yer chin up lad," Knight reassured his younger companion. "The three of you can take down that Beowolf. Jus' remember what I taught ya." A clang resounded as Knight blocked the stinger of a Deathstalker before he swiftly cut it off as the Grimm screeched in pain. "Now go! The girls need yer help!"

Punctuating his statement the giant Beowolf had managed to smack Kai away with a backhand, and was reaching toward White. Green yelled out an affirmative and raced off, knocking aside Grimm who sought to impede him. By the time he had reached the wolf Grimm it had already pried off White and was grasping her with its paw, her head and shoulders just peeking out and her face contorted in pain and exertion.

Green yelled out something as he swung his sword at the one of the Beowolf's legs, and Robin thought she saw an image of a larger version of Green's sword flash. The ground shook as the beast was toppled from the blow. A flash of blue revealed Kai in the air seeking to stab the Beowolf through the heart. Its arm shot forward, and Kai was knocked out of the air by White. Green was accosted by several bear Grimm, who retreated before the giant Beowolf swatted him aside.

"Damn, can't help the youngsters." Knight grunted as he fought the other Deathstalker, the previous one buried under several tons of rocks after he had thrown it into the cliffside. Robin, despite an increasingly hazy mind, understood what he meant—he couldn't leave her defenseless to take on the giant Beowolf. And it was very clear that the three teens were outclassed by the giant Grimm, not helped by the fact that its smaller brethren were interfering their attempts to fight it. Every time they managed to get an advantage, the smaller Grimm would delay them long enough for the giant Grimm to recover. The odds were against them.

Unless…

Robin wasn't unfamiliar with bad odds. Against Plegia, against Walhart, against Grima, the odds were always against the Shepherds, often outnumbered and outclassed. But it was her mind, her tactics that pulled them through. And it will be her tactics that will help these people.

Robin's head started to spin. She was losing time. She opened her mouth but the words came out slurred and weak. A wordless grunt of frustration escaped soon after, and Robin struggled to compose herself amidst her increasingly blurry thoughts. She tried again.

"T-two of you attack the Beowolf in tandem while the other intercepts the smaller Grimm!" Robin collapsed back, her "tactician's voice" as Lissa like to call it too much for her in her current state.

The three teens snapped their heads back at her, surprised at her command and they were barely able to avoid another swipe by the giant Beowolf. Robin's worry that they'd disregard her advice was dissipated when Kai yelled something and made gestures at the other two, who nodded affirmatives.

Kai and Green rushed the massive Grimm one more time, avoiding a swipe of its claw. Several smaller Beowolves rushed to aid their leader only to be dispatched by White's blades. Green smacked away the giant Beowolf's paw, staggering it. Kai leapt forward and made a vertical slash, the blue blade striking the Grimm just below the shoulder. With a roar the Beowolf recoiled, its now-severed arm landing with a thunk that Robin felt.

Knight gave her an appraising stare. He looked like he was saying something but Robin's eyes were already drooping and the sounds of battle fading and her thoughts becoming more and more muddled as she slowly fell into the deep embrace of unconsciousness.