The more she thought about it, the more Cyan started to realize she didn't know quite what she had been expecting when she first decided to try to become a Huntress. The biggest mistake Dad had made regarding her decision was telling her that she couldn't. She hated it when people told her she couldn't do something, not so much out of being contrary, but more the implication that she wouldn't be able to if she tried. Ever since she was young, she always felt that she was different from the other kids around her. That she was special in some way, or that she was meant to do something extraordinary. At the outset, being a Huntress looked like it would be a natural fit. Lyohniy also had a lot to do with it she supposed. When they first met him, he used to tell them both stories about his father. He greatly dramatized a number of the details, certainly, but the possibility that even some of it was true— protecting the innocent, going on adventures to different lands, it seemed like such a wonderful life.
The last thing she expected was to spend ninety long minutes slowly following a horrid monstrosity through a bitter cold wilderness.
Cyan cautiously peered around the side of a tall coniferous trunk, only to slink back in time to avoid the casual gaze of the Beowolf. Leaning back around the other side of the tree, she met eyes with Roan, who was similarly hidden about twenty meters away from her. After a short, but furious, protest, he had agreed with the plan to follow the Beowolf until it returned to its fellows. She was too far away to clearly spot Vermilion or Lyohniy from her current position, but if there was a problem Roan would have signaled to her by now. He had clear sight to Lyohniy, who was roughly equal distance from him that Roan was from Cyan, while Vermilion was positioned on the creature's opposite flank.
The formation had been Lyohniy's idea, something his father had shown him when he was younger. All four of them maintained line-of-sight and equal distance to the Grimm, and could quickly react to any sudden changes in its movement. In addition, by maintaining visual on at least one other teammate, the whole group could be alerted quickly if one of them ran into trouble. If the Grimm detected one of them and began heading in that direction, they could easily scatter and rebuild the formation to account for its new heading. Finally, they are able to observe far more of the surrounding area than they would as a close-knit group. As long as they remained vigilant, there should be nothing to worry about.
Nothing, of course, except the unbearable stress of the situation.
Cyan had been on edge ever since they started. She had told herself it was just nerves, and that after she had given the plan a chance they would settle down. Instead, she had only grown more agitated as the minutes ticked by. Ten, fifteen, thirty. She had given up trying to count them when she almost heard herself doing it out loud. Every footfall the Grimm made, every crackle of the fallen timbers it crushed underfoot, and every branch that rustled in the wind spun her head in attention as though it were a gunshot going off next to her ear. The hush that surrounded them was possibly the worst part. The various denizens of the forest seemed to instinctively avoid the Grimm as it approached, even though it paid them no mind. Birds scattered into the sky, insects stopped chittering, and the whole area fell eerily silent. While it wasn't boring, it certainly wasn't fun as she would ever define it. The entirety of the situation was terrifying, and steadily growing more difficult to bear as time went on, instead of easier.
She began to wonder if any of the others felt the same way.
A single quiet beep from her watch drew her attention. She glanced down towards the digital display, which told her that one hour and forty minutes had passed since they started. Only twenty more to go until the time they agreed on. She tried to take a deep breath, but it started to come out as a shudder, so she clamped her mouth shut on it.
All of the sudden, the Beowolf stopped, and craned its head to one side with its foreleg lifted in the air, as if it were listening to something. Cyan froze in place, waiting for any sign of movement. After a few agonizing seconds, the creature turned and began lumbering away from her. She checked Roan's position and saw him frantically signaling for her to follow. A lump formed in her throat as she cautiously picked her way through the foliage, taking care to keep herself out of sight. When she joined with him, he lead her silently through the woods to meet up with the others. They came upon Lyohniy, who was sitting upright on an old fallen tree, with his right foot disappearing between it and a nearby rock. Vermilion leaned over him, examining it carefully.
"What happened?" Cyan asked worriedly.
Lyohniy bowed his head sheepishly, "Ah, I was trying to get over this trunk and I slipped on a patch of ice."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." he said while wriggling his leg, "But I can't get my boot loose."
Roan's voice was gripped with apprehension, "We need to move. The Beowolf is headed this way."
"How much time?" Vermilion asked him.
"A minute, maybe less."
Vermilion nodded, stood, and moved on the other side of the trunk from Cyan, "We'll have to lift it far enough for you to pull your leg out."
Cyan and Roan exchanged glances just long enough to realize that they didn't have any better ideas before they both squatted down and reached their hands as far under the fallen tree as they could get them. After a quick count, the three of them heaved, but the tree proved even more determined than they in its stubborn refusal to budge. The faint sounds of movement reached Cyan's ears. Something big was coming closer.
"Vermilion..." she said nervously, her voice brought down to a whisper.
"Again!" he shouted as quietly as he could.
The three of them once again strained against the weight of the trunk. It creaked and groaned as it sloughed off the years of vegetation that had grown around it. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, it rose off the ground, a few fractions of an inch at a time. Slowly, the sound of the footfalls grew ever closer behind them. Cyan shut her eyes and pulled up as hard as she could.
The tree trunk let out an enormous crack as it began to splinter down the middle between her and Vermilion. Before any of them had time to react, the rotten wood split the trunk into two uneven halves. Vermilion lost his balance and tumbled backwards to the ground away from them. Roan's feet slid out from under him as he struggled futilely against the overwhelming weight of the remaining half of the trunk. Cyan locked her body into a rigid position while Lyohniy tried to pull himself out of the way. Her arms finally gave out just before he could completely clear the trunk, and he let out a sharp yelp of pain as the heavy wood rolled across his ankle.
"Lyoh!" she shouted as she rushed to his side. He winced and managed to drag himself away from the tree. Vermilion stood to his other side, and together they helped him get back up. He was able to stand, but wobbled unsteadily as he did so, his right leg clearly unable to support his full weight.
A vicious snarling drew their attention. They all looked between the trees and brush behind them in horror as the Beowolf, now a scant five meters away, drew itself up to it's full height. It's jaw fell open, and from it erupted an ear-splitting howl. The cry echoed throughout the small valley they were in, lapping off of the nearby trees. Cyan's eyes widened in shock as she realized that they weren't just echoes. Something was nearby, and answering back.
Oh no...
"We have to go!" Roan suddenly shouted and bolted in opposite direction.
"Hold on!" Vermilion called after him, but the young Faunus was already on the move.
Lyohniy pushed himself free from their grasp, "I'm alright! Just go!"
They ran.
Between the trees, over fallen timbers, through shrubbery, anything they could find to slow down a direct pursuit, they moved for. One by one, these same things cracked under the weight of the Beowolf as it pursued them. It didn't take long for Lyohniy to start to falling behind. The gap between him and Roan steadily widened as they moved through the forest. They burst from the edge of the foliage and came upon a small stream, bounding across it one by one. On the opposite shoreline, Lyohniy finally lost his footing and stumbled to the ground, planting a palm in the mud to stop himself from plunging face-first into it, but managing to keep his other hand firmly gripped on his rifle. Vermilion skidded to a halt, turned, and wrapped one arm around Lyohniy's waist, and Lyohniy's free hand around his shoulders, then hauled him up out of the muck. Cyan whirled around to see Roan had stopped in his tracks and was slowly backing away from the edge of the treeline in front of him. Two more Beowolves, both even larger than the one they had been tracking, emerged from the foliage, their dripping jaws hanging open.
"Head upstream!" Vermilion shouted.
Roan darted off in that direction followed closely by Cyan, who spared a brief look over her shoulder to see her brother slowly drag Lyohniy along. This was hopeless. They'd never outrun the Beowolves on open ground. Up ahead she spied several outcroppings of rocks piled lazily on a river bend, with a few gnarled trees growing nearby. It was as good a place as any to make their stand.
She pulled the rifle off of her shoulder, spun, dropped to one knee, and shouted "Go!", taking careful aim at the nearest pursuer.
Just as her target got within striking range of Vermilion and Lyohniy, she squeezed the trigger and a short burst of weapon fire sputtered from the barrel. It struck the creature squarely in the face, splashing off its skull-like mask. The Beowolf roared in frustration as its clawed hand fell shy of the intended target. It was little more than staggered, but that bought Vermilion enough time to make it past her with Lyohniy, and settle him in the shadow of one of the trees. The creature regained its bearings and charged in her direction. Cyan inhaled sharply and fired again in several controlled bursts. The Beowolf snarled and ducked its head in response, causing the shots to ricochet off of the mask and the thick pelt at its shoulders. Once it got close enough, it leapt into the air and tilted its head to the side, bringing an enormous gaping maw down on top of her. Cyan tucked her shoulder and dove forward, passing under the creature as it landed, wincing as she felt a tooth snag the fabric of her jacket. She turned the dive into a smooth shoulder roll and whirled back to one knee, trying a few more shots at the monsters exposed back side. The Beowolf seemed little more than irritated, and it lashed out at her again with a pair of clawed hands that were easily bigger than her head. She rolled, weaved, and tumbled around, keeping herself a hair's breadth away from one vicious swipe after another.
"Cyan! Heads up!" she heard a voice call to her.
She leaned to one side to look over the creature's shoulder and saw that Lyohniy had propped himself up against the tree. He had drawn his Dust blade from the sheath and, as soon as she made eye contact, tossed it end over end through the air in her direction. The shape of the Beowolf eclipsed her view once again and she hopped a full meter backwards as another hairy claw slammed into the ground where she had been standing. Before it could take another swing, it suddenly reared back in pain, and whipped its arm backwards behind it. Vermilion, having just sliced a clean blow through it's hind leg, slid away from the retaliatory strike. Cyan took the opportunity to leap clear over the Beowolf and secure her rifle to her back, then twirled artfully, grabbing the blade out of the air and cut a deep gash in the back of the monster's neck in one continuous motion. The creature roared again, and tried to swipe its other claw at her as she landed. Cyan swiftly transferred the blade to her other hand and ground her stance as her brother stepped in behind her, and the two of them brought in incoming claw to a hard stop.
Lyohniy's cheer was cut short by a low growl and a rustling sound coming from behind him. He looked up to see another Beowolf perched on its hind legs and leering menacingly over the tree. It attempted to leap over the tree at him, but Lyohniy fell to his back and allowed the creature to pass over him, spraying a hail of gunfire into its largely unprotected belly before rolling clear as the beast sprawled on the ground howling in agony. It pushed itself back to all fours, snarled in his direction, and tried to lunge for him again. The charge was cut short by Roan, who suddenly appeared in the air just above its head, bringing a pair of Dust blades down directly on top of its skull in a blow that left the Beowolf stunned. The weapons weaved rhythmically back and forth across the creature's face, flashing out a hail of sparks with each impact, forcing the it back on its hind legs in an attempt to reach over top of his line of attack. When it did, Lyohniy opened fire again, filling the monsters underside with perfectly placed shots. The Beowolf groaned and collapsed to the ground.
Meanwhile, Cyan and Vermilion began to move in tandem against their own Beowolf, alternating flawlessly between attack and defense. The creature made a wild swing, Vermilion stabbed at the exposed paw, and Cyan ducked underneath of him and sliced at its upper arm. When it tried to retaliate with the other arm, Cyan shielded them from the blow, and Vermilion spun around in front of her to cut the creature across it's shoulder joint. It then attempted to snap its jaws shut around them, and they split in opposite directions: Vermilion leapt straight up in the air, while Cyan ducked into a crouch that took her almost to the ground before thrusting her blade upwards through the bottom of the creature's closed mouth and it disappeared inside of its head, which she lifted upwards just long enough for Vermilion to bring the heel of his leg down on top of its skull. With a furious shout, he channeled his Semblance into the bone-like mask, striking with a sickening crunch that spider-webbed it with tiny cracks, and the Grimm fell without a sound. Before she could even draw a breath, a sudden noise made her whirl around to the sight of two more Beowolves entering the area, growling menacingly at the group.
"Look out!" she shouted at her brother, noticing too late that he had drawn his rifle and shouted the same thing to her.
A sudden gasp of pain escaped her lips as something huge and heavy slammed into her back. Without her aura to protect her, the blow would have shattered her spine. Instead, the surprise attack from a third Beowolf hurled her several meters through the air in the direction of the stream where she rolled to a stop on its bank. Vermilion tried to level his weapon at it but was set upon by the two other beasts. He leapt over the first swing aimed at his legs, but was unable to avoid the strike from the second one. He braced his arms over his head and absorbed as much of the blow as he could, but was nonetheless smashed back to the ground, his breath knocked out of him.
"No!" Lyohniy shouted, and began unloading his weapon into the new assailants, drawing snarls of rage from them both. The third one ignored the distraction and stalked over to the ground where Cyan lay. She groggily rolled to her back just in time to see a mouth lined with razor sharp fangs descend towards her head. She had barely enough time to shift to one side far enough to avoid the snapping jaws. When the Beowolf leaned back to try again, she brought her knees to her chest and thrust the heels of her boots into the creature's snout. It snarled, reeling back from the blow and glared furiously at her. In that same instant, Roan appeared just behind its head, holding both of his Dust blades in a reverse grip, and plunged them into the soft area in the back of the Grimm's neck. It let out a gurgling snarl and flailed briefly, trying unsuccessfully to throw Roan off before collapsing to the ground.
Cyan bolted back to her feet and looked desperately towards Vermilion, who was doing his best to lead the other two Beowolves away from Lyohniy.
"V!" she shouted at him, "Backup!"
He didn't waste time nodding to her. After ducking away from another swipe, he retrieved the scroll from his belt in a blur of motion. Cyan and Roan both ran over, placing themselves in front of the Beowolves, trying to provide a distraction while he called for help.
"N3 to Team Lead! We—argh!"
One of the monsters went for the bait, the other one did not. It lunged for Vermilion the moment he turned away, misjudged the distance of its attack, and ended up slamming its shoulder into him, knocking them both sprawling. The scroll fell from his hand and was sent skittering across the ground towards the tree line. A tinny voice crackled through the speaker as it landed.
"N3, come in! What's your position?"
Cyan threw herself in the direction of the scroll, narrowly avoiding the gangly arms of the Beowolf. She scooped up the device as she rolled into a crouch, and mashed down the talk button.
"Team Lead, contact! Coordinates are—"
She paused for a half a heartbeat to double check the readout on the scroll, and was distracted by the deep rumbling of footsteps headed in her direction. Suddenly an enormous black shape burst from the treeline directly in front of her, shattering several of the huge trunks into splinters. Cyan was knocked backwards more from the sheer force of the impact than she was from any actual debris, and the scroll again fell from her grasp. When her vision cleared she looked up in horror to see the outline of a truly massive creature before her. It pushed itself up on its hind legs, reaching easily over three meters in height; far taller than any Beowolf, and almost twice as wide. It's white bone facemask sported several jagged protrusions around the edges, and wicked-looking red patterns around the the eyes. Numerous bone spikes grew out of its back, but unlike the ones on the Beowolves these were as thick as her leg at the base and nearly as long. It's beady red eyes surveyed the area with a malicious hunger, and from its gaping mouth arose a terrible, deep-throated roar.
"Say again, N3, say again! N3, do you—!" the voice on the other end of the radio was cut off when the monster came back down on all fours, crushing the scroll underfoot. It didn't even notice it was there. The two remaining Beowolves loosed a few irritated snarls, but ultimately backed away, surrendering their prey to this newcomer. It wasn't until it started to slowly stomp across the clearing that anyone came to their senses.
"That's..." Lyohniy said, trying to fight through the shock, "that's a big Ursa..."
Roan looked on in horror, and Vermilion kept his eyes glued to the new threat, watching for any sudden sign of movement. Cyan could feel the hatred and malice oozing from the thing as it stalked forward from the forest, issuing one low growl after another. She wrapped her fingers tightly around her rifle, and had to work hard to keep herself from trembling. The Ursa somehow eyed all of them at once, seemingly waiting for the one of them to falter and invite it to charge them.
"What do we do?" Roan asked.
Vermilion looked over his shoulder at Lyohniy, who was barely able to keep himself standing, and shook his head, "There's no way we can outrun that thing."
He tightened his grip around the Dust blade and it sparked to life, wisps of electricity humming along its edge, "The only way out is through."
Cyan nodded and ejected the magazine from her weapon, inserting a fresh one in its place. Lyohniy did the same, then leveled his rifle at the creature and waited for an opening. Roan spun his blades around on his palms, assuming a normal grip and took up a defensive stance at Vermilion's side. Vermilion nodded towards him, and signaled for him to get ready to move in on the creature's left. The Ursa snarled towards them, still moving steadily forward. Vermilion held his blade low and behind him, shifted his weight forward and then charged.
He didn't even make it within striking range before the Ursa raised a paw to swat him aside. It was so fast that no one even saw it coming, least of all Vermilion, who was batted away like a child's toy, and flung through the air into the trunk of a nearby tree, where he sat up dazed. Roan was able to make it close enough to take several swings with his blades, but they seemed unable to scratch the monster's skin through its thick matted coat. The Ursa snarled and swiped a backhanded paw in his direction, forcing him to use his Semblance to flee a fair distance away in order to avoid the hit. Lyohniy began fire as Cyan moved in, hoping to draw the creature's ire so that she could find an opening to strike. A hail of Dust charged energy struck its open mouth, and the monster roared in anger. Cyan had barely enough time to take a swing before the creature lumbered forward and pushed off of it's hind legs with astonishing strength and agility. It barreled through Cyan as though she wasn't even there, knocking her to the ground as it hurtled towards the source of the weapon fire, swinging a pair of enormous claws as far overhead as it could manage. Lyohniy tried to move, but his ankle gave out and he fell to one knee. In the split second it took the Ursa to smash its way through the tree, Vermilion shot across its path, grabbing Lyohniy around the shoulders and carrying him clear of the impact crater its massive paws created when they struck the ground.
Lyohniy exhaled in relief, and nodded his thanks at Vermilion who had already stood up and was trying to find the Ursa in the cloud of dust and debris it had created. With another angry roar, it sprang back into view, running directly at them. At Cyan's direction, both she and Roan came at the beast from opposite flanks, cleaving a strike across it's right front leg, foiling its charge and sending it tumbling to the ground. They crossed paths again when it tried to stand, slicing at its left front leg. This time, however, only Roan found his mark, while Cyan's blade bounced harmlessly off of a thick bone plating just under a tuft of fur. The creature got back on all fours and whirled a claw towards Cyan. She tried to raise her blade to block it, but the creature was far too strong and almost effortlessly knocked her to the ground, then reared back at her on its hind legs. Vermilion charged forward, thrusting his blade repeatedly at the creature's exposed belly, before leaping clear so that Lyohniy could fire again. His shots struck the open wounds, and the monster roared in what Cyan could only hope was agony. Roan flickered back into view behind the Ursa and leveled his blades at the back of its hind leg, then spun in a graceful circle, whirling both weapons in a deep, precise cut.
The Ursa teetered backwards several steps before dropping back to all fours to keep from falling on its side. Vermilion snatched up his rifle, and both he and Lyohniy splashed a number of shots off of the Ursa's mask, causing it to wince and back away. Roan rushed forward again, Dust blades flashing with energy, but was knocked senseless by a sudden savage swipe as the Ursa lurched forward. Cyan darted under the swing and slashed her blade upwards, cutting a deep gash across the right eye of the creature's mask. The Ursa roared and quickly fell backwards another several steps. Roan shook his head out and regained his bearings, charging towards the creature again. The Ursa noticed him too late to react and he leapt in the air, crossing his blades in front of him as he slashed a deep gash on the creature's right side. He then flickered and appeared on the left side, executing an impressive mid-air spin and landing another double cut. The creature reeled from the blow and spun to face him, thrusting a massive hairy claw in his direction. Roan fell to his knees and then leaned back until he was almost parallel to the ground, then uncrossed his arms on joint of the Ursa's foreleg. Vermilion pulled his blade back out and took several more steps forward. Cyan shuffled around behind it, unslung her rifle and sprayed its backside with another round of weapon fire. Another roar, and the swung its head back and forth, evenly splitting its attention between her, Roan, and Vermilion. Lyohniy braced himself against a nearby rock formation and focused his gaze down the rifle sights, waiting for an opening.
The Ursa snarled angrily and reared back once again, slamming it's massive forepaws down on the ground. The force of the impact sent a tremor that knocked everyone off-balance. Everyone, that is, except for Vermilion. The instant he saw the creature's legs coming down, he leapt into the air, nearly a full three meters above its already impressive height. He extended his arms outward, shifting his jump into a full head first dive, aiming himself squarely at the creature's back. Upon closer observation, Cyan could see he was picking up speed, and realized he was absorbing and internalizing the kinetic energy he was generating simply from falling.
"Get clear!" she shouted at Roan, who quickly obliged by vanishing and then reappearing across the field next to Lyohniy, helping him away from the area. She took the remaining time she had to dive in their general direction and cover her head with both arms.
The creature looked around, seemingly confused, as its adversaries broke off their attacks one by one. Vermilion set his jaw in furious determination as he began to focus himself on the point of impact. He gripped his blade tightly, and braced his other palm on the bottom of the pommel. Too late, the Ursa noticed his descent, and let out a pained howl when he thrust the blade in between the spikes on its back. With a sharp cry, he funneled the kinetic energy he had gathered into the blow, and the force of the impact pressed the Ursa flat on it's belly. A massive shockwave erupted from the creature that cracked the earth beneath it, sending up another blinding cloud of dust and debris. Cyan heard a tiny, high-pitched sound that she at first mistook for glass breaking, and then realized that Vermilion's Dust blade had snapped at the hilt. He pushed off into the air again, clearing the impact site and landing less than a meter from the other three, then immediately fell to his knees, gasping for breath.
Cyan scrambled to her feet and rushed over to help him stand. He panted heavily for a few moments before smiling weakly at her. She turned him around so they could check on Roan and Lyohniy, who both looked very impressed.
"Oh yeah!" Lyohniy said victoriously, his face breaking into a broad grin, "Now that's how you—"
The sounds of movement cut him off. All four of them watched in horror as the Ursa slowly picked itself up off of the ground. The remains of the blade stuck out of its back, surrounded by a field of white bone spikes. Despite the countless wounds, it continued to rise, growling and gnashing its teeth. Its legs wobbled for only a moment, and then it planted them firmly as it took one step after another. It didn't even look injured.
In fact, it looked angrier than ever.
"You have got to be kidding me!" Lyohiny said in exasperation.
Fear swelled deep in her stomach, and Cyan felt her breath grow shallow, "V, this isn't working."
"We need a plan." he agreed, but there was no resolve left in his voice at all.
She looked over to see despair beginning to fill her brothers eyes. Similar resignation played on the features of the others. Not that she could really blame them; this monster had taken everything they had thrown at it so far and all but shrugged it off. They were all so exhausted that running was even less of an option now than it was before they started, and no one was coming to help them. She ground her teeth and pushed those thoughts away. There had to be a solution, another approach they hadn't considered yet. There just had to be. But how…?
Then, she got an idea.
"V," she said, tugging at his arm, "Do you still have that magazine?"
"What?" he said, looking at her askance.
"The one from Roan's damaged rifle."
He turned his head, "Yes, but—"
The sound of the Ursa's ever approaching footsteps made her cut him off, "Give it to me."
He blinked at her, but removed his arm from around her shoulders and obliged without further protest. Cyan quickly took it from him and held it out to Roan.
"Vermilion and I are going to distract it. When we do, can you get this in its mouth?"
Roan was incredulous, "In the—?"
"Can you do it?!" she demanded.
"I… think so." he nodded, slowly at first, and then more assuredly, "Yes."
"Good." she said, then turned on her heel, "Lyoh? You're the best marksman here. Once we're all clear, can you make the shot?"
"Oh yeah" he said confidently, "But that's gonna be a heck of a blast."
She paused for a moment in thought, then said, "Can your Semblance protect us?"
He nodded, "Sure, but we'll have to be close. I need to make the barrier as small as possible."
Cyan tossed her rifle to the ground and drew her blade from the back of her belt, "Let's do this."
Roan replaced one of his blades to its sheath, then took the magazine from Cyan and stood just behind her and Vermilion. She gave him a signal to be ready to rush the Ursa, as they wanted the coming explosion to be as far away from Lyohniy as possible. The moment that they made their move, so did the Ursa, lurching forward into an impressive leap. They managed to cover about half the distance Cyan would have like before they had to scatter to avoid being pounced upon. The creature let out another vicious snarl and turned to face Vermilion, apparently remembering their previous exchange, and flashed a huge row of razor sharp teeth at him. Cyan dashed forward, cutting a long gash along the creature's right flank, while Roan did the same on the left as he moved passed Vermilion to get behind it. The creature roared, and began looking in Roan's direction, prompting Cyan and Vermilion to simultaneously bring their blade's down across its face, which was more than enough to acquire its undivided attention. Its attacks were far too strong to block like she had done with the Beowolves, but they were also slower, so rather than grounding her stance, Cyan pivoted back and forth lightly on her toes. She and her brother avoided one heavy swing after another, retaliating with shallow strikes intended to anger it more than inflict damage. Before long the beast stood back on its hind legs in an attempt to simply crush them. Roan took that moment to make his move. He teleported directly onto the creature's back, grabbed a large fistful of fur with one hand, and, rather fearlessly, plunged his other hand into the enormous gaping maw.
Which promptly snapped shut around his arm.
"Roan!" Cyan shrieked in terror at the sight.
Even though the Ursa had clamped down tightly, there was no blood. His aura was still protecting him, but the pain was excruciating, and caused him to wince his eyes shut while a small cry of agony escaped his lips. The creature shook itself furiously back and forth, but Roan refused to let go. The twins both charged at it again, and were caught up in the creature's wild flailing. Vermilion took a blow to the bottom of his chin and was sent careening back at the ground. Cyan barely managed to avoid a similar blow by leaping backwards. While she was still in the air, she whipped her arm forward, throwing her Dust blade like a javelin at the eye where she had wounded its skull mask earlier. The blade found its mark and the Ursa reeled backward, howling in pain. With its mouth open, Roan tumbled down in front of the creature. Before he could get his bearings he was struck in the back of the head by one of its flailing claws. He plummeted the rest of the way to the ground, and lay unmoving at its feet.
Once again the Ursa's jaws split into a roar. Cyan peered upwards and noted that the magazine had been wrenched firmly in place on a row of sharp teeth near the back of it's mouth. Part of of the housing had been sheared away, exposing several bright multicolored spheres. Vermilion rubbed the dirt from his eyes while sprinting for Roan as fast as he could
"Lyoh!" she shouted as she followed her brother forward, "Take the shot!"
He hesitated, holding his aim steady, "But—!"
"Do it!"
Cyan and Vermilion made it to Roan almost at the same time, each grabbing an arm, and together they hauled him away from the Grimm as it flailed from the pain of it's wounded eye. Vermilion concentrated and pushed his legs off of the ground, channeling enough stored energy through them to carry the three of them several meters through the air. When they landed they weren't anywhere near Lyohniy, but it would have to be far enough.
Sweat fell from Lyohniy's brow as he stared down the sights of his weapon. He took a deep breath and held it, then at the last moment shifted the barrel a fraction of an inch upwards before making three rapid pulls of the trigger which loosed three shots in the direction of the Ursa. The beast crouched and pushed off its forelegs to lunge forward, opening its mouth to roar at them once again, lining up the incoming gunfire perfectly with its target: the single Dust crystal that had fallen free from the magazine and begun to roll across the monster's lolling tongue.
The instant the shots connected the creature was eclipsed entirely by an earth-shattering explosion. A kaleidoscope of color burst over the ground towards them, and Cyan stood up to face it. For just a moment, the image of her burning house flashed into her thoughts. Rather than push the memory away, she focused on it, drawing on the instincts it carried with it. She extended her hands towards the incoming tide of destruction, and heard Lyohniy desperately call out her name. The shock front from the explosion washed over her and she began to draw the energy into her outstretched palms, her whole body erupting in a hellish blue glow. After a few terrifying seconds, the fires had been reduced down to embers, and Cyan collapsed to her knees, gasping for breath. When the dust cleared, the Ursa was slumped awkwardly on the ground, and there was nothing remaining of its head but a burnt, smoking stump.
Lyohniy's face broke into another grin, and he hobbled his way over to the others. Cyan, still drawing ragged breath, had managed to push herself to a sitting position with her head held between her knees. Vermilion rested Roan up against her back, and he groaned as he started to come around. Lyohniy sat down beside her, and nudged her shoulder with his elbow.
"Hey." he smiled.
She turned towards him, managing a little smile of her own, "…Hey."
"You did it." he said.
Cyan shook her head, "We did it."
Vermilion nodded at her, relief spreading across his features, "I suppose we did."
Roan clutched at his brow and moaned again.
"How's your head?" Lyohniy asked.
"I will be fine as soon as the forest stops spinning."
Cyan couldn't help but laugh, and casually turned her gaze back towards the remains of the Ursa, which were already dissolving into clouds of wispy black smoke.
Her heart froze in her chest when she saw the faint outline of a Beowolf through the haze stalking towards them from the forest's edge.
She gripped her brother's arm, and he stood up in an instant when he followed her gaze to the approaching creature. Lyohniy must have seen it as well, because he also futilely tried to stand. It was then that the nearby faint echoes of snarling reached her ears, and she frantically looked around. Eight— no, a dozen more of the creatures were emerging from the treeline one by one. They were completely surrounded.
Lyohniy slumped his shoulders, tilting his weapon downward, and made an ineffectual attempt at voicing a protest. Like the rest of them he was too tired to even think straight. Cyan looked up at Vermilion, who looked back at her almost apologetically. She shook her head and struggled to get her feet back under her. Her hands found the blade that had been lodged in the Ursa's eye on the ground near where she was sitting. Once she was up, she gripped the weapon in both hands and held it at the ready. Vermilion stared at her, noting the fury in her eyes. Then he brought his rifle up to bear and stood to her left flank, sweeping the barrel back and forth at the line slowly advancing on them. Lyohniy nodded wordlessly and stood to her right, the pain from his ankle no longer seeming to bother him. Even Roan managed to get his legs working enough to stand, and drew both of his blades in a small flourish, then stood with his back to Cyan. The four of them watched and waited as the Beowolves steadily began to close the circle, picking up speed as they did.
Just as the three that were in front of Cyan broke into a run, the ground around them was suddenly rocked by a series of violent explosions as a powerful weapon discharged from somewhere nearby. She turned her gaze in shock with the others, Beowolves included, towards the source of the blast. A lone figure stood just on the inside of the crest of a nearby hill, the barrel of a long weapon resting on his broad shoulders. He wore the outfit of a faculty member of her school, though it was somewhat torn, dirty, and stained with sweat. The next thing that Cyan recognized was the wild hair and long wispy beard of Instructor Jared.
Before she could manage to voice a response, the remaining Beowolves began to growl and bark ferociously, and several of them rushed in the direction of this new threat. Jared braced himself against the recoil, aimed the barrel, and fired again. The shot struck the center Beowolf in the middle of it's chest and sent it flying backwards half meter through the air before it exploded in flames. The rest of the creatures continued their charge undaunted, and Jared met them head on. He leapt down from the hill, swiveling the weapon off of his shoulder to reveal that he had been firing out of the heel of an enormous two-handed axe. He buried the blade squarely in the back of the neck of the Beowolf closest to the middle of the pack, and crushed it to the ground under the sheer weight of the blow. With a simple shift in grip, he beheaded the one right next to it, then swung the axe in the opposite direction, hammering a third one in the chest with the butt of the blade and knocking it sprawling. When a fourth Beowolf leapt at him from behind, Jared almost casually dropped to one knee, bracing the haft of his weapon horizontally above his right shoulder, and brought its vicious swing to a dead stop. He shoved the arm away from him as he stood back up and whirled his weapon in two complete circles. The first one tore the Beowolf's legs out from under it, and the second one swung upwards, bisecting the creature at the waist while it was still in mid-air. Cyan stood awestruck at the sight.
A snarl off to her left drew her attention, and she turned to see another Beowolf advancing on Vermilion. He tried to aim his weapon at it, but Jared fell from the air in front of him and brought his axe down on top of the creature's head. He tightened his grip and shuffled backwards enough to catch the back of its neck in the crook of his blade. With a savage roar, he spun around several times, lifting the Beowolf off of the ground and smashing it into two of its fellows before allowing it to fly into a third. With quick flourish, he settled the axe back onto his shoulder, leveling the barrel at the disoriented pile and fired another single blast. All four of the creatures were engulfed in an explosion that reduced them to little more than a pile of charred remains. The remaining Beowolves continued to snarl and swarm around Jared in a flurry of teeth and bone. Jared deftly whirled his weapon at them with hurricane-like force, and in a matter of seconds the Grimm were cut to pieces. The instructor was barely even breathing hard when he finished.
For a while, no one moved. Jared took a few steadying breaths and slowly swept his gaze around the area. Once he was certain the threat was gone, he lowered his guard and stood up straight. Before anyone could say anything, he turned his eyes towards the group.
He did not look happy.
Lyohniy's grin quickly vanished, and Cyan could hear him audibly gulp.
"Uh oh."
