3-4: Results

"What the hell are those things?"

The Captain wasn't sure who yelled those words, but he shared their sentiments. This was the first time he had seen grimm like those in this region, which only added to how surprised he was by the sheer numbers of the pack. He counted well over 50 of the crocodilian grimm, each marching in tandem with one another in a tight formation.

That was another thing that confused him: grimm formations. The only reason he was able to guesstimate 50 grimm in the first place was because they all entered the arena in a tight-knit group. The tiger-faunus gripped his bardiche, waiting for them to draw closer as he watched the columns of grimm approach, each line moving in lockstep. He didn't have the luxury to contemplate the unnatural phenomenon, however, as he still had to find a way to deal with over 50 unknown grimm.

"Say, Lyra... that new weapon of yours wouldn't happen to double as a gun, would it?" The last thing he wanted was for them to descend into a melee. With so many opponents, it would be suicide to plunge headfirst at them, especially since the room they were trapped inside had nothing in the way of obstacles or chokepoints.

Unfortunately, Lyra could only shake her head at the query, bringing up her blade as she shifted it to its more flexible form. The fragments themselves began glowing with a fiery blaze, emboldened by the Sentry's semblance as she took on a combat stance. "Sorry boss... This is the best I can do."

Owen bit back a sigh, nodding in response to his subordinate's words. This fight would be that much more difficult, since only he and Sienna had any ranged capability. Already, various plans were being formulated and discarded, as his eyes flickered between his allies and the encroaching grimm. His own semblance was useless here, and the sheer numbers meant that Iris's semblance was impractical. His only choice was to act as artillery, while his subordinates did what they did best.

"Alright. In that case, I'll target the rear of the pack. Sienna, keep them locked down as best you can, so Iris and Lyra attack their flanks. They're closely packed together, so keep an eye out for friendly fire." His voice was soft but clear, his plan reaching each of his allies in a global whisper. Owen threw a quick glance at their captor, hoping he had been discrete about it, but the mummy's gaze was fixed on something else. Either it didn't hear them, or it simply didn't care.

Which was just fine by him. He gathered the dust in his weapon, his aura coursing through the bardiche as it ignited the dust within, channeling it through the shaft before unleashing a bolt of blazing electricity straight at the column of grimm. A loud explosion rang throughout the arena as the heated arc detonated at the rear of the grimm formation, bathing them in a deadly conflagration as the faunus began their attack.

Sienna was the first to act, drawing the attention of the grimm as she brought her saber upwards. Her body began shimmering an ethereal blue, her blade gleaming with that same azure glow as she swung it back down. The very air rippled, freezing instantly as the dust took effect, drawing a shell of ice in front of her. The grizzly-faunus's blade followed an instant later, cutting through the frozen sheet as her semblance flared, firing it off in arcs of frost. The crescents of crystallized air collided with the first row of grimm, simultaneously cleaving and freezing them in a deadly flash.

Just as the first line fell, the other two faunus sped off as Lyra and Iris sprinted to either side of the grimm column. Both moved in sync with each other, reaching the edge of the arena before closing back to the group of grimm in a deadly pincer. Yet, despite the icy flash at the front of the group, not one grimm was baited, as the outermost monsters all turned towards their respective combatants.

Iris closed on her targets first, quelling her surprise at the grimm's apparent intellect as she brought her fist forward. But even as she drew closer, she could see the crocodilian grimm in front of her hold its ground, intent on taking the hit while the rest on either side fanned outwards. She immediately recognized the maneuver, and the moment her foot touched the ground, she changed targets, charging towards the leftmost gator.

The fact that they had immediately tried to surround her was not lost on the ferret-faunus, and she could only grit her teeth as her fist found its target. She heard the impact of her attack before she felt it, her cestus striking squarely at the gator's mask, cracking the grimm bone wi-... That did not feel like grimm bone.

"Wait, what?" Her words were alarmed, but quickly silenced by the sudden snap of an adjacent grimm. Her aura managed to ward off most of the blow, leaving her with only a stinging sensation as she hopped back from her position. Her eyes fell on the grimm she had just struck, staring at the wound and metallic gears whirring beneath it.

And the ferret-faunus was not the only one to notice this oddity.

Lyra found herself perturbed by the grimm's mechanical movements. As a Sentry, she was accustomed to the movements of people and grimm alike, having watched and combated both during her service on the walls... And her experience told her that these things moved far more like machines than monsters. Her attacks confirmed this, her sword-turned-whip whistling through the air as it struck at an exposed part of the gator grimm, only to glance off in a metallic ping. The strike was useless, but it was coupled with an ominous anomaly.

Her attack left a gash, but neither blood nor grimm smoke exuded from the wound.

The Sentry reformed her blade, strengthening it with her Aura as she prepared her Semblance. Her weapon grew rigid, locked back into its blade form as fire steadily began forming around her feet. Lyra dashed forward, propelling herself just before her Semblance could take effect, driving her blade straight into her target's faceplate as the sound of creaking metal echoed through the air. Just as suddenly as she arrived, she departed, kicking off the crocodilian grimm with an explosive blast as she launched herself away from any sort of counterattack.

"Watch out! These aren't grimm!" Lyra shouted her warning mid-flight, landing back on her feet just in time to catch her allies' gaze. She immediately turned to the Captain, nodding to confirm her words before her voice filled the room once again. "They're machines! I don't know how they're being powered yet, but don't treat them like grimm!"

And with that, she charged once more, aiming her blade at the closest mechanical gator.

Nox cursed himself at his misstep. He had felt a Noxine perish, and that sensation had distracted him from the experiment. It wasn't until he heard a sudden explosion that he returned his attention to his test subjects, only to find that they had already begun their trial.

Fortunately, he didn't seem to miss much. The source of the explosion made itself known as another arc of blazing lightning shot through the air, blooming from Subject#2's weapon as it struck its target.

Which was surprising.

"So their energy can be used to contain the powders... Interesting." The Xelor nodded to himself as he watched another cluster of lightning begin to form on the tip of #2's weapon. Normally, he'd invoke his powers to get a proper glimpse of the reaction, but Nox was certain that he'd be seeing the phenomenon again. So, rather than waste Wakfu, he merely called in more Noxines, intent on watching the battle unfold.

As if to prove his point, Subject#1 began her own attack, her power coming to life as the strange energy began flowing into the powder-canister stored within her saber.

What caught Nox's attention was that the resultant effect manifested in a completely different manner than it had in Subject#2's. Like the other test subject, #1's mysterious energy coalesced around the powder-fuel, drawing it forth into the air. But, where #2's power had locked it inside an untamed ball of energy, the woman's power had formed it into a crystalline lattice.

Nox immediately made note of this discrepancy, surprised that he had not noticed it sooner. Yes, the transformations of the powder were similar, but they were also markedly different. Were they using their innate energies in completely different methods? Or were they different energies entirely, that just happened to interact in the same medium?

He'd have to test that later.

For now, the Xelor's mind remained fixed on the experiment, noting with mild curiosity that only Subject#3 refrained from using her energy. Unlike the rest of her associates, #3 stuck with physical combat, using her weapon purely as the bludgeon it was designed to be. He didn't even feel the energy that had surrounded her during her battle with the shadow bear earlier, where she had done... something that exceeded her physical limits.

Incidentally, it seemed that physical limits of the locals here were... unexpected. He would have to get a larger sample size, of course, but if these people were representative of the people on this planet, then he would have to adjust his equipment accordingly. That fact that they ignored lacerations did not go unnoticed by Nox, the lights of his mask fixed firmly on #4 as she resisted a mechanical bite with her bare arm. Just how was she-...

Wait.

The lens on Nox's mask narrowed, the Xelor magnifying his vision as he settled his sights on #4 once more. He gave a mental order for the nearest clockwork gator to charge the woman, eschewing defense in favour of an immediate response. The gator's mouth opened, clamping back down on the woman's arm, only for her to ward off the attack with her bare arms.

And that's when Nox realized that it was not her bare arms that protected her.

This time, he saw the mysterious energy around her body, reacting to the sudden strike as it hummed. He ordered the gator back, and the mechanical creation immediately withdrew its assault, giving the Xelor ample opportunity to observe the Test Subject. The light that had signaled her defense dissipated, but the mysterious energy itself remained, continually encased around her in a thin membrane of... something.

"Tell me, Igole, do you know what thi-" Nox turned his attention towards his eternal companion, the shadow wolf. At least, he assumed it was his companion. There was no way to be sure, as he had not been able to leash his new pet yet. And the observation that he had just made meant he didn't have the mindset to consider it that inconsequential detail. "... Of course you don't. Why would you, Igole?"

After all, Nox had finally noticed that the shadow beast was completely devoid of this energy.

Nox pushed his awareness back into the Noxines around his base, the mechanical insects focusing on all the shadow beasts within his abode. From boar to bear, from wolf to lizard-thing, one thing was clear for the Xelor; none of these creatures had that mysterious energy.

There was one more thing he had to make sure of, and his gaze turned to the Noxines outside his home. He could feel their presence far beyond his abode, having covered a respectable amount of distance in the time his attention had been lowered. His creations suddenly stopped their motions, switching from simple travel to a more exhaustive method of reconnaissance as they began searching the woods. He had been pleased to see that, just as before, his mechanical scouts were undetected by wildlife, as he saw one approach a non-shadow animal.

What pleased him more was his new discovery: non-shadow beasts did have this mysterious energy. It was far fainter, of course, and seemed to bleed into the... environment...

Oh. Ooh. Well, isn't that useful?

Nox's mechanical visage whirred in approval. He was officially in a good mood.

Winter Schnee was nothing if not efficient. While she had been requested to engage in a recon mission later that night, the Atlesian operative had already prepared herself by the afternoon. It only took a single formal request for the base commander to allow her deployment, and the silver-haired specialist was halfway to the reported White Fang encampment by the time night fell proper.

That wasn't to say that her journey was seamless; there was an unexpected amount of grimm in the area. Not only were the concentrations of creatures well above the region's norms, the kinds of grimm that seemed to infest these woods were unusual for this location. There were odd variants of Boarbatusks and Beowolves, each draped in unusual patterns of bone plating that did not match the region's usual species. If you could even call those variants divergent species.

Not that this made a difference; she was skilled enough to avoid the larger ones, bypassing them entirely as she made her way through the woods. Most of the smaller ones were equally unaware of her presence, with only a few unlucky wolves being the ones that crossed her path.

She was currently locked in melee with one such creature, her weapon running itself through the lower jaw of an outraged Beowolf as she gave a graceful flourish. Her target tried to roar in pain, reeling back as it attempted to claw away her blade, only for its claws to find nothing as Winter drew her weapon back. Unfortunately for her opponent, the Beowolf was not as nimble, unable to retract its arm before the Atlesian operative struck again, her sword cleaving through the beast's forearm in a solid stroke.

It tried to roar once more, only to find its cry muffled by the claws of a pure-white doppelganger. An ivory mass of fur clashed against its blackened counterpart, the Schnee's summon charged forth as it wrestled her target to the ground. The specialist's brow furrowed slightly as she watched her wolf struggle against the other, not quite able to match the wild Beowolf in strength.

Something she still had to work on later, undoubtedly, but it was more than adequate for now. Winter brought her blade downwards as the summoned wolf held the grimm in place, the mass of light fading just before her weapon could reach it, leaving the Beowolf fully exposed as she ran her blade through its throat. Nothing remained of her target as it vanished into black smoke.

She turned her gaze to the rest of the pack, still encased in a prison of pure ice. Now that she was finished with the stragglers that her glyph had missed, she could focus on cleaning up the encounter. Another glyph began to form, the glowing circle wrapping and weaving around the frozen mass of Beowolves as she invoked her earth dust. The icy flower was quickly replaced by one of pure rock, impaling the rest of the wolves in a violent spike of power, shattering the mass of ice completely.

No foe remained.

As soon as she confirmed this fact, Winter took a moment to re-orientate herself, drawing out her Scroll as she accessed her map. Just as she had suspected, her position was a bit short of the midpoint between the Rhinestone Quarry and the White Fang encampment. At her current pace, she'd arrive in the dead of night, which was... not as advantageous to her as she would've liked.

From her experience, wilderness encampments, especially those that belonged to the White Fang, maintained a similar rotation of guards during the night as they did during the day. Coupled with the fact that most faunus in the wildlands have adapted to the harsher conditions, and the operative considered nighttime more of a detriment than a boon.

This did not mean she was unprepared, however. The Rhinestone base commander had provided appropriate equipment for a night-time mission, and while she was in her familiar outfit at the moment, the operative fully intended to switch to something far more discrete once she arrived at her last waypoint.

But that was for later. For now, she still had plenty of ground to cover, and the night would only grow darker. She took one last glance at her Scroll to orientate herself, before putting the device away. Then, without wasting a second more, she sped off in the treeline, her eyes focused on her destination.

After all, Winter Schnee was nothing if not efficient, approaching her actions methodically and consistently.

But perhaps, if she had been a moment slower, if she had remained in that clearing for a second longer, she might've heard the sudden arrival of a dusty old crow, and the reflexive curse that had quietly echoed from a nearby tree.

Once more the White Fang operatives lashed out at their opponents, the Sentry parrying a lunging an attack from a crocodile contraption, her movements slowing as her blade deflected the blow.

"Just how many of these things are there?" One of her allies growled, and the Sentry could only spare a single glance at the speaker as she watched the grizzly-faunus lash out at another mechanized grimm.

Unlike her, Sienna was having a far better time with her opponents, her strikes powerful as her blade of ice cleaved off the monster's forearm. But, before she could capitalize on it, the Lieutenant's target retreated into the mass of grimm, only to be replaced by two more. Of course, the Lieutenant was not foolish enough to stay, as she kicked off from her current position, just in time to avoid the reckless charge of a third reptilian machine. "This is getting annoying! Can't they just shove off?"

"Tell me about it, Sienna." Lyra chuckled at her friend's outburst, even as she shared her sentiments. Of course, the chuckle itself was forced, but she needed something to keep her mind off of her growing unease of their situation; Fighting against grimm was one thing, but fighting against intelligent machines that showed tactics to this degree was another issue entirely. If they weren't able to gain the advantage soon... She didn't want to think about it.

Instead, the Sentry invoked her semblance once more, augmenting her strength as she swung her blade at another robot gator, shattering the monster's head in a shower of twisted metal and cogs. Yet, even that wasn't quite enough to stop it, as the broken creation began thrashing around, blindly swinging at the air around it for a few moments longer before collapsing in a pile of scrap.

That was the weirdest part of them, really: They were piles of scrap.

At least, there was no other way for the deer-faunus to describe them. Unlike the security mechs that she had seen in the past, these metallic creations had no rhyme or reason to their creation. There was no circuitry that she could see, nor any dust connections that allowed them to move. Instead, they were a complicated mass of metal, connected by gears and cogs that didn't seem to make any logical sense to her, all molded around a glowing chamber that contained something.

Her first thought was that the chamber was a container of fire dust, used as fuel for the strange creations. Yet, when her weapon had pierced the metallic chamber in an attempt to use it as a makeshift explosive, nothing happened; Rather than detonate, the red light mysteriously died off, and the robotic lizard had collapsed into a heap of metal. This was more than enough to tell Lyra that these things ran on something other than dust.

So what could it have been?

Unfortunately, their situation meant they had little time to contemplate that, and the Sentry's attention returned just in time to spot another charging lizard. Without missing a beat, the woman threw herself to the side, ducking out of the way of the gator's strike, her sword swinging back in a vain attempt to counter as it glanced along the side of its arm.

Lyra growled at her ineffectual attack. If it wasn't for the fact that her aura was dwindling, she would've eschewed using her blade entirely, as her semblance-fueled strikes were far more effective on these creatures. However, she did not have the luxury, so the woman had to settle for distracting the metallic monsters while her allies struck them down.

Allies like Sienna.

Speaking of which...

A loud crash echoed out as Sienna brought her saber down to her target. Under normal circumstances, her saber wouldn't have been too effective on the mechanical monsters; However, the grizzly-faunus bypassed that detail entirely by empowering it with her. As a result, rather than a metal saber, she was essentially swinging around a solid weight of ice that happened to be saber-shaped, crushing her target in a massive swing. Just as quickly as it came down, the Lieutenant drew it back up, readying herself for another strike as she gave a sweeping horizontal slash at the next group of enemies.

The grizzly-faunus growled as she felt the resistance of several robots against her blade, both her arms gripping the hilt of her sword as forced the strike through, almost throwing herself off-balance at the attack. Still, it had been worth it, as the cluster of robotic grimm were knocked away, giving the Captain ample opportunity to strike them down in a fiery bolt of lightning.

Another group of robotic grimm down.

Sienna grinned at the resulting explosion of metal and fire, turning her gaze over her shoulder as she cheered back at her group. "Hah! They're not that bad, huh? Pretty easy once you get used to them!"

"Heh. Don't relax yet, Sienna." Iris returned her words, quickly curbing her enthusiasm with a playful scoff, her fellow Lieutenant waving off her words with a dismissive shrug. "You're doing worse than Lyra, and she'd not even your rank. Sure you're not slipping?"

"Oh come on, she's Lyra. That's not really fair."

That little comment earned them a glare from the pouting Sentry. "Hey! I heard that!"

"And besides, I don't see why you're so cheerful." A glare that Sienna ignored as she adopted her fellow Lieutenant's stance, throwing back the same playful sarcasm as she gave an exaggerated eyeroll to Iris. "You're just lucky your weapon works on these things. If it weren't for that, you'd be in worse shape than those."

The grizzly-faunus shot a thumb over her shoulder, just in time to catch another fiery bolt as it immolated the next cluster of grimm.

"Well, I'm not, because I'm smart enough to plan ahead. And besides, the weapon issue's all you. If you were that disappointed, you should've gone for something better than that sword." The ferret-faunus shot back, smirking at Sienna's subsequent pout before turning her attention back to another wave of lizards. To demonstrate her point, the Lieutenant charged forward, her fist striking against a lizard, cracking the face-plate in a powerful, if unbalanced, strike. "I'll never understand what you see in that thing. Give me a solid weapon any day."

"Focus, all of you." The voice of an irate Captain was the next to echo out, drowning their banter with a single order as he glared at the two Lieutenants. "We still have a fair amount of enemies left, and I know you're all running on fumes."

The three women threw a glance at each other. For all their banter, the two Lieutenants and the Sentry struggled to keep their stance stable, and they all that each of them were nearing their limit. Still, they were almost done with their opponents, as less than two dozen of the mechanical grimm remained. Five or six for each of them was far easier than the odds they were facing beforehand, and they were all ready to strike back at their opponents.

They were resolved to see this through.

Perhaps that's why the armoured mummy chose to act at that very moment, giving a single resounding clap as he interrupted their fight.

It began saying... something, and while they weren't able to understand it, they could hear the mirth in the person's tone. Before any of them could react, their weapons were wrenched away by their captor, leaving them completely helpless as they stared at him. Their disbelief only lasted for a few moments however, as they turned back to the robotic lizards, ready to fight till the end.

Which was why they were all completely dumbstruck to find that the robotic lizards had already left, whisked away by the weird robotic arms that hung from the ceiling.

Within moments, a different set of arms came down, ignoring their expressions completely as it dropped off a large table and four chairs. This in itself was already a silly contrast to the dire fight they had just experienced, but what really took the cake was the final set of armatures that came down. Plates, forks, napkins... All sorts of dining equipment came down on the table, followed by a single massive dish.

It was covered, of course, but the four White Fang soldiers had enhanced senses, which meant they could smell the contents from here. And as the robotic arm set down that final plate, pulling away the lid to reveal the roast boar beneath it, only one thought was going through their mind.

Was... was he serving them dinner?

No amount of language barriers could hide the fact that their captor was now chuckling at them.