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Chapter 53: The Bigger Person

Deafening, low and hissing shrieks like sandpaper left the very air itself trembling with their deafening volume which drowned out even the sound of large scale and massed weaponry, grinding and sawing at every nerve of those who heard it and were subsequently chilled to the bone as the giant Land-Shark continued its' thrashing rampage in a furious, yet continually denied effort to tear through its' current quarry and make its' way deeper into Port Alistair. If the monster chose to simply dive beneath the ground again there would be no stopping it and there would also be a catastrophic level of damage done to the cities' infrastructure; many of its' currently active shelters were located below ground and if the Grimm managed to inflict significant damage to the waterways and sewer systems running beneath the streets it was not inconceivable that entire sections of Menagerie's Capital City would have to be abandoned, with the title of Capital then falling to the bleak city of Blackwater Cove.

Though thus far the defenders were doing everything in their power to keep the Land-Shark distracted and ensure that did not happen.

Velvet Scarlatina was chief amongst them and continued to lead the charge as she conducted herself in a way that would certainly pass into the folklore and urban legends of the city she had helped found provided that Port Alistair remained standing at all by sunset. Both her Aura and the capabilities of her weapon were being strained to their limits as she did battle against the titanic beast, launching a sustained series of hit and run attacks wherein she shifted from one copied weapon or small war machine to another and narrowly avoided being crushed or swallowed whole; all whilst Team WULF and Team MARZ, with the exception of their absent leader continued to give what little aid they could despite the situation being so far removed from anything they were prepared for.

Currently Velvet's camera and hard-light projector were mimicking one of the missile launcher emplacements which had adorned the wall before its' destruction.

"Professor look out!" Athena-Jade yelled as she and Wolfram intercepted an incoming aerial Grimm, one of few lingering monsters flying over the wall whilst their friends continued to pummel and cleave through the more numerous ground-based attackers; the Bear Faunus following her frantic warning by taking matters into her own hands and conjuring a large glyph directly over her teacher which held the diving avian monster at bay for just long enough for Wolfram to fire Berserker in its' ranged form, another shriek warned them of a second incoming Scree and to deal with this Vulture Grimm the two switched positions with Wolfram using his Semblance in the capacity that he had recently learned it was always intended, a shield of solidified air whilst Athena drew her cannon and reduced the flying abomination to smoke, fragments and a few stray falling feathers.

As her students provided cover Velvet unleashed a volley of glowing and translucent missiles which exploded against the sleek and segmented bone armour of the subterranean leviathan, providing cover for the teens in turn as the attack diverted the attention of the Land-Shark back towards Velvet herself and away from the remains of the perimeter wall which they were attempting to hold as they left deep cracks and fissures splintering out from a series of blackened scorches each large enough for several people to stand within.

"Come on, come and get me you oversized salmon" Velvet muttered under her breath, allowing the Land-Shark to get a clearer look at her as she, still illuminated by the fading, incandescent embers of a Schnee glyph exchanged the hard-light artillery piece for an equally ephemeral battle-suit of Atlesian origin, one of the largest constructs in her arsenal and one that taxed her weapon greatly, yet one that had seen repeated use over the course of this fight and without hesitation she opened fire at the upturned point of the shark Grimm's snout where each of its' three pairs of hammerhead protrusions met to form a mass of pitted and eroded bone, promptly blasting chunks from it in an uproarious explosion of sound and shower of flying fragments yet even this did little to slow the beast.

As the Land-Shark let out another of its' bone-rattling screams and began rushing towards its' attacker on its' six colossal limbs whose claws had fused to form shovel-like implements however Velvet's reaction made it clear that this had been expected and prepared for; she rushed out to meet the attack and at the very last moment before her hard-light battle-suit could be crushed and sundered by rows of monstrous teeth the Faunus allowed the construct to fade away and instead threw herself into a high, Aura-fuelled leap which saw her landing on the skull of the Land-Shark with a copy of Coco's Mini-Gun already in her hands which she used to unleash a fresh maelstrom of bullets along the back of the Land-Shark, scoring and chipping its' massive, overlapping plates of thick chitin all the from its' neck to the point where its' fin rose from its' back and then, with a fierce war-cry she allowed the Mini-Gun to fade away so that could, in an effort to conserve what little power her weapon had left switch to more simple if equally hefty sword used by Yatsuhashi.

Velvet sprinted forwards and drove the sword down, stabbing into the impossibility large Grimm and dragged the blade along beside her to carve a trench into its' armoured hide.

The Grimm shrieked, it thrashed and finally, just as Velvet thought she might be able to achieve a blow of some consequence the Grimm rolled.

"PROFESSOR!" Athena-Jade's scream left her throat ragged as she and Wolfram used their Semblances in tandem to create a layered shield upon seeing their teacher be flung from the uppermost reaches of the Land-Shark, her own Aura visibly shattering as she thudded against the ravaged remains of tramlines below, leathery flesh and discoloured bone was pushed aside and forced to redirect its' movement as the titanic beast completed its' roll, like that of a dog in mud which had served its' purpose of freeing it from the attack it was subjected to and in the process left a wide and shallow trench in its' wake where a road out of the city had once been. The twin barriers of shield and glyph held, but only for the briefest of moments before Wolfram; already spent sagged to his knees with his Aura rippling and sputtering around him before finally shattering.

"I can't….I've….Fuck, I'm sorry" he wheezed out, a fury that now began to turn itself inwards with his lack of ability to project itself on the Grimm written plainly on his features along with simple exertion as he looked up at Athena-Jade who released her glyph and simply hauled him to his feet.

"You just saved Professor Scarlatina's life; we're doing okay, we're still in this fight!" she exclaimed with all the forceful hope she could muster, desperately trying to make either of them believe her claim.

Only for the ground to quake as the Land-Shark came hurtling towards them.

"MOVE!" she screamed, arm wrapping around Wolfram's waist as she half dragged and half carried the armoured teen, painfully aware that there was little chance of either of them being able to outrun the advancing horror that was about to descend upon them with teeth larger than their own bodies.

'Ice! Hard-light!' the distinctive sound of Zirconia Shadowmoon's weapon was almost lost beneath the shaking of the ground however its' effects were easily spotted as a wall of shimmering hexagons, bolstered by a thick wall of solid ice rose up between the Grimm and its' quarry, halting the Land-Shark for a brief moment more out of confused curiosity than any lack of ability to simply shatter and trample the obstruction, yet that single moment was all that was required for Regalia to fire her harpoon towards Athena-Jade, who clutched it with her free hand and allowed the Racoon Faunus who was aided by the Semblance-aided strength of Diabla Fuego to reel in both the Bear Faunus and the leader of Team WULF and bring them to relative safety whilst Ursinia and Laser opened fire to keep the Land-Shark distracted for even a little longer, which Athena noted with a rising sense of elation gave a bloodied and limping Velvet Scarlatina time to pull herself away from where she had fallen, searching for a place to try and gather her senses.

Though there was no denying that the situation was bleak.

A crashing sound filled the air as the seven students, separated from their teacher and seemingly any other aid as they were amongst the last people fighting on this part of the broken perimeter wall, the sound coming as the Land-Shark's destructive appetite finally outweighed its' momentary curiosity and it brought down Zirconia's impromptu barricade.

"Thanks for that Hops" Athena panted out, fighting to hide just how much her entire body was trembling at the sight of the enormous Grimm turning towards the group, smaller Grimm continuing to seep through the breach it had created and swarm around it.

"Would I be too optimistic to hope that someone has a plan?" Zirconia answered from behind her signature scarf-like cape, mismatched eyes filled with more naked emotion than Athena could remember seeing in them, largely in the form of unadulterated terror.

"We could try falling back?" Laser suggested hopefully.

"Everyone else has pulled back to places they can hold….Whatever tanks Menagerie has can't get close enough because of the Grimm already in the city" Regalia shook her head "We're the only ones here and if that Grimm gets passed us it's gonna rip the whole city apart"

"Then we throw everything we've got at it" Diabla's voice, contrary to the expected venom-laced harshness was a brittle and hollow thing as she realised that she was very much preparing to lay down her life, a thing she had only recently begun to value in of itself "If everything we've got isn't enough….Well, then I guess Atlas was right about me"

"So" Ursinia swallowed thickly as the realities of the life she had chosen became undeniable and she realised just how far she was from the secluded farming village she had called home "Are y'all serious about this?"

"Absolutely" Wolfram nodded grimly, turning to Athena who was acting in Astra's stead as best she could and the two shared a final, conclusive look before readying their weapons and beginning the charge with their friends close behind them.

Teams MARZ and WULF rushed forward, the Land-Shark and its' attendant cloud of smaller Grimm came stampeding out to meet them, yet before the battle could reach its' brutal, bloody and likely swift and tragic conclusion the remains of the area between Port Alistair's outer streets and ring-road and its' perimeter wall were bathed in a fiery red glow which came from deeper in the city, a blazing light which none present could identify though if Regalia, or perhaps Wolfram had been given time to ponder it might have noted was the exact same shade as Astra Mars's Aura.

"What the hell?" Athena winced the demand out to nobody in particular as she shielded her eyes and was forced to a staggering halt by a fresh trembling of the ground not connected to the Land-Shark or any other Grimm present.

"It can't be!" Zirconia rasped in disabled as she turned her uneven gaze towards the source of this new phenomenon whilst Regalia raised her tinted goggles in slack-jawed disbelief before letting a cheer of pure, indescribable joy and relief.

"I NEW THEY'D COME!" the words seemed almost absurd to Athena for a fraction of a second, though before she could demand to know what her team-mate meant an answer provided itself as a glowing nexus of crafted light burst from the cover provided by Port Alistair's skyline.

Astra had joined the battle.

What came powering into view defied the senses for at least the first few attempts to properly understand it, however the gathered student Hunters soon realised that Astra was contained within a construct of their own Aura which had engulfed them and been intensified a thousandfold as it expanded outwards, the Deer Faunus hanging suspended and motionless as though floating with their sea-green eyes open, yet lost entirely within the radiant fiery red that shone from them; their Aura had taken on a humanoid shape complete with a pair of antlers and Astra's own signature Mohawk gracing its' otherwise featureless skull, forming a glowing facsimile of the Faunus themselves which stood easily equal in height to the buildings around it.

The Land-Shark shrieked and hissed at this new challenger before charging towards it, throwing up debris and chunks of asphalt several meters across as it slunk low to the ground in preparation for an upwards lunge, jaws already set and fangs bared.

Astra rushed forward and kicked the Grimm squarely in the head with their new Semblance form.

An explosion and resounding splintering crack like that of a hundred shotguns fired in tandem rang out and those looking on in stunned disbelief saw the Land-Shark be sent toppling and rolling backwards over its' own body, with one of its' hammerhead protrusion, the bottommost of the three sprouting from the left side of its' head was broken away entirely and sent arcing high into the air only to dissipate before it could strike the perimeter wall. The Land-Shark righted itself, spitting out man-sized teeth and rearing up on its' hindlimbs, body writhing in a din of grating chitin yet Astra was on it again in an instant; this new form they had attained seemingly lacking an equivalent to Buckshot Ares yet being largely unhindered to this fact as the enormous being of glowing, sunset-red leapt forward with perfect poise and form to deliver a roundhouse kick to the left flank of the colossal Grimm and send it crashing to the ground with an earthshaking impact.

The force of the blow seemed to shake sense into those on both sides of the conflict who had been watching it with wide eyes and bated breath, the first breaching of the heavy silence across the battlefield coming in the form of snarling Creatures of Grimm, though it was quickly answered by Athena-Jade Slate who held Mould-Breaker high in it' hammer form and declared.

"Astra can handle the Land-Shark! We've still gotta take out the rest!" at her word she and her friends charged, though now they moved with the promise of victory.


For Gestalt-Prime the core and fundamental differences between the Creatures of Grimm and the truly living people whom they fed upon were thrown into stark relied by the progression of the battle for Port Alistair, the hybrid Alpha being the only member of the horde of thousands upon thousands of monsters capable of contemplating such concepts.

The Grimm were, for all of Gestalt-Prime's urge to elevate their kind to a new, higher state of being and next step in their evolution still a force of raw, primal destruction; an unchanging aspect of the nature of reality given form in much the same manner as the nature-commanding demigods that people across Remnant had called 'Maidens' and allowed to pass into myth and legend or the time-altering Wizard figure. The practical application of this truth was that the Creatures of Grimm, Gestalt-Prime amongst them could not truly create and were capable only of consuming and destroying all in their path, propagating their own numbers solely to do so more effectively whilst what planning and inspiration the hybrid Alpha had displayed in their more advanced thought and self awareness could be entirely attributed to the human influence of the machines they had incorporated into themselves and was, at best a pale imitation of the genuine article whilst humanity and Faunus could, by contrast imagine a better world and then take steps to bring that imagining into reality, forever learning, creating, adapting and changing themselves and the world around them.

All of which currently meant that the military protocols and plans Gestalt-Prime had made themselves privy to were effectively useless as the defenders of Port Alistair changed them almost the moment the Grimm horde began attacking.

"Hacks! I call hacks! Shenanigans!" the shrieking abomination declared as an exploding artillery shell filled their senses with fire and pain as it detonated in mid-air a few feet away from Gestalt-Prime, whose attempts to weave around the attack had been far too little, too late and was in turn sent careening off course and ploughing through the wall of one of the many office blocks lining the streets of this particular part of the urban battlefield; brickwork and glass shattering to both rain down onto the street below and be sent flying across the interior of the building which had clearly been hastily abandoned by whatever employees had been present for overtime on a Saturday.

"It's inside! Spread out and contact the nearest Hunter team….Whatever the hell that thing was it doesn't leave!" Gestalt-Prime heard the voice of one of the cities' defenders barking orders out to their subordinates several stories below and reared up to their full height, throwing aside splintered and upturned furniture that they had crashed though and shaking debris away from themselves as the mercifully limited amount of damage that they had endured began to be undone as rippling obsidian flesh knit itself back together. The sound was almost certainly heard by the men and women approaching from below though the Alpha Grimm cared little, they were not Hunters and it was unlikely that they would be able to do anything at all to halt them so instead Gestalt-Prime stalked to the hole in the wall of the modern and previously pristine office block that they had been blasted through and peered outwards, the visor laid over their singular eye acting as a display and targeting system which showed once again just how creative and determined the defenders of Port Alistair were.

Gestalt-Prime had initially deployed their packs of Winged Beowolves to target Hunters and other high priority targets, such as mobile war machine yet on the street below they could see a tank which hovered several feet above the ground owing to the use of Gravity Dust based engines and whose weapon, the same gun that had targeted the Alpha Grimm was sweeping the skyline whilst beside it was a Battle-Suit bearing unmistakable claw marks which suggested it had not only engaged the Winged Beowolves but won. The pair of machines acted in unison and covered one another, with the battle-suit deftly lifting parked or abandoned vehicles and stacking them on top of one another in order to create fresh barricades as it went all whilst a team of several humans and Faunus clad in fatigues spread out across the ground and moved into adjacent buildings in order to take up strategic positions as they sought to cordon off the immediate area until Hunters could arrive.

"I hate campers" Gestalt-Prime snarled, shrieking and grating voice muted somewhat as they allowed their senses to drift outwards and saw first, with utter revulsion and disgust that their forces were performing far less impressively than they had initially anticipated; their had been successes to be sure and the very fact that the tide of monsters had reached the innards of the city was testament to this fact however the advance had largely been limited to airborne Grimm alone as those attacking by land had been met with stalwart resistance which had kept them from pushing through industrialised mazes of steel and asphalt and pre-prepared kill-boxes into the residential areas beyond whilst the hastily mobilised naval attack intended to reach Port Alistair's opposite coast was being all but completely held at bay. The second, more promising point of data their display gave them was that despite the constant, infuriating trickle of stinging hit and run attacks they had been subjected to, each intended to draw them away from their goal the hybrid Alpha was in fact close to the moment of victory; the monumental array of Port Alistair's CCT tower, the skyscraper like affair which provided the main communications hub for all of the Kingdom of Menagerie and dwarfed relays like that found on Hammerfall Outpost rose up into the air some distance away and Gestalt-Prime's lone, glaring eye focused on it hungrily.

Before pain erupted through their lower left arm as a bullet tore trough flesh and bone, a small, insignificant wisp of smoke in opposite window giving away the location of the daring sniper.

"Returning fire!" Gestalt-Prime shrieked hatefully before aiming and firing their own, back-mounted artillery directly into the window the sniper had fired from and causing a level of destruction which, almost certainly reduced the unfortunate soul to a red paste decorating shattered walls. Evidently spurred on by the sound of booted feet sprinting upwards through stairwells reached the Grimm's ears and in response Gestalt-Prime dug their clawed limbs into the ground and powered the their wing-mounted thrusters up, the foul combinations of twisted metal and monstrous flesh flexing and belching dark, acrid fire and smoke out into their surroundings to such a degree that within moments the flames had spread from the office space out into the corridor beyond it with a destructive hunger of their own that would see any would-be hero attempting to corner the Alpha met with immolation.

With this act of wanton arson and destruction complete Gestalt-Prime turned their attention to the mechanised forces below.

The Battle-suit was clearly piloted by a capable individual, one who not only understood the various practices and disciplines of combat as taught by the Kingdoms' defenders but also possessed that streak of unquantifiable instinct which had vexed Gestalt-Prime in their previous bouts with the Kingdoms' defenders, as evidenced by the machines current battle-scars and so the Alpha turned their attention to the hovering tank beside it instead. With a howl which echoed through the air they rocketed downwards, fiery contrails in their wake as the spun and weaved to avoid incoming fire before bring themselves so low that asphalt began to bubble under the heat of their wings and flying inverted until they were under the gravity-defying tank, from here Gestalt-Prime's scaled and serpentine tail wrapped around the turret of the machine whilst all four of their arms and the various sucker-lined and vestigial tendrils which resembled rags or prehistoric flatworms that hung from their torso lashed out to grasp the underside of the tank until, with a roar of exertion it was overturned and its' own Dust engines turned against it when the sentient monster planted their feet firmly on the ground and threw the tank into the battle-suit.

The resulting explosion shattered windows all along the street and sent the soldiers that had accompanied the small armoured contingent fleeing deeper into the buildings they had hidden in whilst Gestalt-Prime themselves emerged from the fireball with a victorious shriek, their singular eye once again seeking out the goal that they would not allow themselves to be kept from.

"Good game noobs" the Grimm declared before setting off once again in the direction of the CCT tower, where their destiny awaited.


Carmesi Hueso was currently immensely grateful for the scroll they had plucked from the dead body of a Hunter shortly after they had managed to slip through one of the many cracks in Port Alistair's defences that the Creatures of Grimm had proceeded to make; the Komodo Dragon Faunus managing to divest himself of any guilt regarding this particularly vile act of thievery by telling himself that not only was it a necessity but that if the deceased Hunter could be asked they would likely approve of the way Carmesi was using the device to continue the mission and keep the attacking hordes at bay.

He could admit he had miscalculated, but that was not what mattered right now.

The rogue Hunter had not encountered the monstrous Grimm that his benefactor had ordered him to capture in the flesh since it had been a relatively simple Alpha Geist during the student training mission that had taken him to the Desert Claw fight club what now felt like an age ago and Carmesi was forced to conclude, with the sheer weight of evidence pressing all around him that he had underestimated just how much the monster had grown in that time. Neither he various reports and data that he and Grapeshot had pored over, nor the harrowing accounts from first hand witnesses they had interviewed had properly prepared him; he had been expecting a capable and extremely dangerous adversary to be sure but watching as Gestalt-Prime's forces stormed Port Alistair and began to separate into tactical groups with distinct objectives and battle tactics that spoke of an intellect far beyond what bestial minds should have been capable of was something that would haunt Carmesi for some time.

Though it would only strengthen his resolve, convincing him that the creation of the better Remnant the Benefactor foresaw was of the utmost importance.

The Hunter he had taken a scroll from had fallen in the line of duty as they attempted to protect a fire station from the attentions of the Grimm, the idea that the monsters would conduct themselves in an honourable way and respect rules of engagement was laughable in a bleak way and it was clear that their desire to spread misery upon which they could gorge themselves was entirely in line with the orders they had been given, namely to disrupt any infrastructure, military operation or civic function which might prevent the razing of Port Alistair. Upon putting the small group of Grimm to the sword and ensuring that whatever reinforcements could be spared were sent to replace the fallen Hunter Carmesi had used the scroll to both avail himself of the unfolding battle for the city, seeking out a route to his ultimate target that would not see him impeded by either the Creatures of Grimm including the Winged Beowolves who seemed to have been tasked with seeking out Hunters, blocked roads and burning buildings or well-intentioned defenders who might recognise him as a wanted man and also to return the favour by offering what information and developments he could find to those organising the cities' defence, though indirectly as he continued his own advance.

He knew in his own heart that Port Alistair should not fall, yet there was no time or opportunity for him to actively join the battle now that he had finally found his own prize.

The Kingdoms' primary CCT uplink.

Knowing that the sentient monster he hunted sought the means to connect itself to Remnants' communication network for its' own twisted purposes Carmesi had naturally sought out the place that it would most likely be headed and, despite all odds had seemingly managed to reach the massive tower before Gestalt-Prime themselves; meaning that he could at least in theory implement some version of his previous plan albeit with much higher stakes now that his duel with the monster he sought to capture would not be confined to the Aiktishaf.

The entrance to the massive building had been oddly unguarded and though communications were obviously still operative throughout the city much of the towers' internal power supply had been cut, rendering elevators useless and forcing Carmesi to instead run hurriedly up several dozen flights of stairs through what at first seemed to be an abandoned building, only to be halted be the sound of voices somewhere above him and in a rare fit of something approaching compassion and decency change his course just enough to seek out the source of those voices to ensure that nobody died needlessly if he could prevent it, leading him to burst moments later out into an open plan floor of administrative offices, whose overall lack of distinct walls or even cubicles rendered it no less sterile or corporate but did at least improve visibility enough for Carmesi's crimson eyes to widen as he saw what was clearly the towers' own security team in the process of setting high powered explosive charges.

"Holy shit!" the panicked voice of an administrator exclaimed, causing Carmesi to whirl around and see the ashen faced office worker regarding him with abject terror; for a fleeting moment he thought that his plan might be undone here at the final moment only to realise that the woman, clad in professional attire entirely at odds with her current duty was reacting to the fact that Carmesi's face and clothes were caked in the dried blood of the late Major Grapeshot.

"There are Grimm coming" he stated flatly "Leave"

"Can't" the woman answered, voice trembling with forcefully contained uncertainty "We've got a job to do"

"You're planning to blow up the CCT?"

"Councilwoman Adel told us to expect the Grimm to come here; a Hunter was supposed to be bringing someone else here to handle it but they never made it….The bombs have been on site since Midpoint was attacked" the wavering voice answered in a nervous and rapid-fire way, its' owner visibly shaking "Hammerfall is being reactivated as we speak, I've started transferring back up controls to the uplinks in other cities….If the Grimm comes here it's gonna get a nasty surprise-"

"This isn't your fight" Carmesi shook his head as he spoke in a low and stern rumble "Leave"

"Hey pal, this is our Kingdom too!" one of the security guards spat "Those are our homes out there and our families, so why don't you shut-"

He fell silent as Carmesi unsheathed his weapons and allowed a low, guttural sound to escape him; only for that sound to be answered by the shriek of tortured steel from somewhere in the air outside at a distance that the Komodo Dragon Faunus reckoned to be far enough for these would be heroes to escape, but a second shriek informed him was rapidly decreasing.

"Oh no" the fearful administrator whimpered "Grimm, they're really coming"

"Take this….It belonged to another Hunter, tell them that the situation is in hand and that you need directions to the nearest safe house or evacuation point" Carmesi's voice was impossibly cool and calm as he handed the scroll he had taken from a dead man to the woman "I'll handle this"

The security guards who had been forced to become a demolitions team took their colleague and all but fled, their forced show of bravery crumbling in the presence of a better option and for a moment Carmesi was incongruously, almost perversely at peace. The broad shouldered and leathery warrior strolled leisurely across the open space of the towers' administrative floor towards one of the series of windows which created a panoramic view of the city below, positioning himself so that he faced in the direction from which the incoming Grimm's cries had come and listening to retreating footsteps until silence reigned for a few moments that stretched out to encompass an eternity; Carmesi managing to take no more than a few calming and steadying breaths as he shifted Retribution into its' shotgun mode and flung Vindication out almost lazily, the blood-stained weapon ripping through each of the explosives and disabling them in turn before flying back to his hand before he caught sight of a flame-wreathed comet heading towards him, or more accurately the CCT tower.

Gestalt-Prime had come.

Carmesi considered slinging the containment unit from his back so that he was not hindered by its' presence in the coming fight before dismissing that idea, it seemed unlikely that the two of them would remain so stationary as to be kept within its' range after all and so instead he simply watched the many-limbed monstrosity soar closer, the roar of its' flaming wings filling the air until he realised that the Alpha Grimm's flightpath would take it sailing over his head once again and have it attack the uppermost reaches of the tower where the CCT array was housed. Finding this to be unacceptable and doubting that he could sprint up the remaining stairs in time Carmesi simply took a single step closer to the glass of the panoramic window and firmly rapped the broad barrel of his weapon against it.

The Grimm halted.

"You can hear me can't you?" Carmesi growled "You can see me. We've fought before and you remember me….Come and get me" a wordless scream of what could only be the purest loathing split the air as Gestalt-Prime swept downwards and hovered outside of the window, several dozen feet away on twin plumes of fire and smoke; the rogue Hunter and the sentient Grimm regarding each other for another eternity-spanning moment before both of them understood that what would come next could not be avoided or delayed.

They both fired at the same time.

Carmesi raised his shotgun and squeezed the trigger, the weapons discharge shattering the glass in front of him in the exact same instant Gestalt-Prime's back mounted weapon spat forth a single forearm-length mass of sharpened bone in the rough shape of a bullet, or perhaps a fang and the two projectiles, impossibly and yet fatefully struck one another head-on in an explosion of force which shattered windows all along the side of the building at which Carmesi was currently stood, not only on the floor he occupied but on the floors above and below as well as the shock-wave travelled outwards and yet despite this the Faunus remained unmoved and simply clutched his weapons ready as the flying Grim regarded him, animal ferocity tempered by an intelligent hatred that blossomed into something almost incandescent as Carmesi Hueso had the audacity to roll and pop his neck.

"LET'S GO GAMERS!" the Grimm screamed before launching itself at the Hunter and into the CCT tower.


"GET BACK!" Wolfram heard the yell, the sound of one of his friends' voices managing to peak above the din of raging battle which was in turn almost lost beneath the blood pounding in the young mans' ears and his own wordless battle-cry as he cleaved a Beowolves' snarling maw away from the rest of its' skull with a single, laboured and painful swing of his axe; the fact that he had continued to fight on despite his Aura shattering some time ago due to sheer exhaustion being shown for the hard-headed lunacy that it was with each attack that cost more to give and narrowly blocked retaliation it cost more to receive and as the Grimm he had relieved of its' snout and jaw began to collapse and fade away the true extent of how far Wolfram had been reduced became clear as he was unable to react to or even truly comprehend the presence of another monster as it leapt through its' kins' remains in a savage pounce.

Only to be halted by a glyph manifesting between it and the leader of Team WULF, breaking its' jaw and several teeth.

'Gravity! Hard-light!' Sunriser Cain announced as Zirconia pivoted and posed with the weapon in its' cylindrical melee form, part sword and part truncheon as it sent a lance of solid cyan brightness rushing forward to skewer the beast through its' skull, almost directly through the ears whilst in the same moment Athena-Jade herself lowered her glyph, saving what energy she could as she rushed forward to bodily drag Wolfram out of immediate danger though with the Creatures of Grimm all around it would seem that getting the exposed and far more defenceless boy to actual safety was somewhat beyond her.

"You need to make a break for it!" the Bear Faunus yelled "Get out of here, I'll cover you-"

"Not a fucking chance….If I go out I'm going out like my Dad!" Wolfram's voice cracked, giving way to a single choked sob at that before he looked around with wild eyes and continued "My team are here, I'm not leaving 'em behind"

A bellowing and trumpeting roar split the air at precisely the right moment to draw the attention of Wolfram and the two members of Team MARZ covering him to where a lone Goliath, evidently having been waylaid from its' intended role of breaking the cities walls was being contained and overwhelmed, albeit with great difficulty by those same friends Wolfram was willing to risk his life to fight alongside and Regalia Russet.

"Heh, this thing's a little heavier than Astra….Heh maybe not now actually!" the Racoon Faunus called out as her harpoon bored into the flank of the monstrous beast yet did nothing to slow it "Have you guys got a plan? 'cos I can't just drag it back and-"

"Keep it busy!" Laser yelled as he unloaded his machine gun into the Grimm whilst trying to rummage through his endless pockets to find something that might help "I might still have-"

Laser was silenced and sent rolling limply across the ground by the Goliath as her charged forwards and swung a trunk as broad as the boys' torso directly into him and though the boys' pained wheezing revealed that he was still alive and conscious the visible shattering of his sickly green Aura and the audible thump of the impact made it clear that it had been painful.

"I got ya varmint, don't you worry none!" Ursinia yelled frantically as she skidded to a halt beside her injured friend and used her Semblance to give what little comfort she could, only for her own Aura to ripple visibly around he and the towering Scorpion Faunus to topple from her crouched position down to all fours in dizzy and bleary exhaustion.

"AND I'VE GOT THIS!" Regalia' retracted her harpoon and fired the shotgun of Apex Scavenger into the tusked skull of the Goliath the moment she heard Diabla's forceful challenge and leapt clear as the Mantle-born brawler charged passed her, glowing like a compressed sun and delivered an uppercut with a sound like a thunderclap to the monsters' exposed underside; collapsing the entire ribcage of the Goliath yet if the flickering of fiery orange within the cascade of jet black smog were any indication she had also used the last of her Aura in the effort.

And all of this, heroic as it might've been was paltry compared to the battle between Astra and the Giant Land-Shark.

The Deer Faunus felt powerful in a way that there were no words to describe, their Aura had created a form which stood at several stories in height and yet even this was dwarfed by the sheer magnitude of overwhelming conviction and simple belief that exuded outwards from the leader of Team MARZ as they once again faced down the equally titanic Creature of Grimm for another exchange of city-shaking blows. Despite his newly discovered Semblance the Land-Shark dwarfed Astra by orders of magnitude and as it charged was able to tower up and over the glowing construct of fiery red, bending itself almost entirely double to drive its' remaining hammerhead protrusions and man-sized teeth downwards yet Astra braced themselves, his Aura-self unexpectedly leaving no physical footprints in its' wake as they thrust their arms upward to grasp the two central and largest of the Grimm's angled back bone growths and, using well practised technique pivoted at the wake to simply drag the Land-Shark off balance and swing it around as though it were any other opponent, its' thrashing tail clearing a swathe of destruction through its' own allies before Astra released it and sent it crashing to the ground with a booming impact which flung dust into the air and halted the battle around it as all other combatants were staggered or floored.

A moment later the Land-Shark came rushing at Astra yet again, this time snaking around them in calculating, circular and serpentine movements in an obvious attempt to catch the glowing giant off-guard before finally lunging at the looming avatar from the left. Astra responded, their entire being focused down to the task at hand and the toll that continuing to act was beginning to take on them as they drove a meteoric elbow into to the snout of the Grimm with an impact that sent a shock-wave out through the air and also fissures of blinding light along the arm of the Aura self as raw Aura met solid bone and muscle; undeterred however Astra continued his assault of the reeling leviathan with a back-handed blow which tore teeth from its' mouth yet at the same time caused more fractures like the light of a collapsing star to by etched into the knuckles of their Semblance-form before lunging forward, size translating into speed and momentum as they planted a snapping front kick on the Land-Shark's belly to sending rolling backwards over itself and carve a new landmark into the edge of Port Alistair. Pressing the attack further Astra waited until the Land-Shark reared up again and rushed close as it lunged, planning to deliver one of their signature spinning leg sweeps to the massive Grimm whilst it was off balance.

The Grimm was faster.

Words or actions could not come fast enough as shovel-claws ripped through Astra's Aura-self and pierced dangerously close to where the actual body of the Faunus resided, sending out an impossible web of glowing cracks from their impact points as the Land-Shark dragged the fiery construct to the ground and pinned it with a screaming, hissing cry of victorious defiance before opening its' maw wide and positioning itself so that it could crush as much of the avatars' skull in its' jaws as possible without being hindered by ephemeral antlers.

And then, despite the vast improbability of everything that had already happened in such a short period of time; something truly unexpected occurred.

"I'M GONNA BOOP IT'S SNOOT! IT'S A GIANT DANGER GUPPY!" the almost incomprehensible statement was delivered with a maniacal cackle and, in Astra's opinion far more importantly a glow that appeared as though the sun itself had somehow been turned a particularly vibrant shade of forest green. It took the Deer Faunus, whose Aura form was beginning to disintegrate under the stress of the damage it had taken and Astra's own inability to maintain this newfound power for much longer, longer than they would like to admit to realise that as they looked upwards and towards the shattered remains of the cities' wall they were in fact seeing an approaching transport, from which two figures capable of flying under their own power emerged.

The first figure was Nickel Polendina.

During Team MARZ's previous encounter with a much smaller Land-Shark Astra had seen a glimpse of the Spring Maiden's power yet now they were forced to conclude that she operated on an entirely different level of being entirely. She hurtled through the air and struck the Grimm like a missile twice, firstly bursting through its' upper skull and carving a trench into its' back then sharply banking and rocketing back towards the behemoth as it reared up so that she could burst through its' spine and chest with such force that she tore the thing almost entirely in half before surging back towards the broken wall and landing at the point where the Land-Shark had first emerged, eyes and fists wreathed in unstable and crackling fire as she began to raise a wall of roots and brambles.

The second figure was Professor Ruby Rose and she was no less impressive.

"Holy shit" the Deer Faunus murmured weakly, body reduced to normal size and eyes reduced to their natural colour as they lay strew on the shattered ground; looking up in awe as the living legend began to work. Ruby hovered in the air, surrounded by hovering petals of silver with her scythe in hand and her remaining silver eye glowing as she turned it towards the injured and struggling Land-Shark before unleashing a wave of blinding argent light which swept over everything in sight, engulfing the titanic beast and all that had followed it.

As the afterglow subsided Regalia searched for Astra yet for several moments feared that she had been blinded, such was the density of the smoke rising from the battlefield.

"ASTRA! ASTRA!" she called out, finally shaking off her dazed state enough to use her Semblance and hone in on the Deer Faunus's presence and by some turn of fortune managing to bump into Athena-Jade and Zirconia on the way so that as they stumbled and hurried through the fading darkness Team MARZ were reunited all at once.

Astra was laughing hysterically

"You-" Zirconia gestured at them, the extent of her private and fortunate education offering her no words "You were…."

"The bigger person!" Astra exclaimed, still laying on the ground and laughing as though it were the funniest thing in the world "That's my Semblance….I'm the bigger person, I'm never gonna be able to to live this one down-"

"We're glad you're here Astra" Regalia's comment cut through the haze of Astra's near-incoherence and sobered them as their partner pulled them to their feet and into a hug, forcing them to finally take stock of the sheer devastation around them and equally to the harrowed looks on their teams' faces, the realisation that they had endured this battle without them leaving the Deer Faunus almost retching with shame and terror at what could have been.

"I'm glad I'm here too" the words were paltry, no words could ever be enough and Astra knew that yet before they could even begin to comprehend what would need to be done the dull clunking of an aircraft's landing skids informed them that there were other matters at hand.

"It's my Aunt Ruby, she's coming over" Athena murmured, leaning on her hammer in her weariness and giving Astra a look that was grateful, yet held for more behind it and Astra met that look knowing full well that there would be series conversations between Team MARZ if they made it through the day. The battle was not yet over however and Astra turned to Ruby, standing to attention.

"Professor Rose-"

"Velv-Professor Scarlatina was under some rubble" Ruby interjected "She's banged up but she'll be okay. Penny is taking her back to Breaktide right now; Nickel is going to stay here and begin repairing the defences as best she can. You four can be on the next emergency evac to-"

"The fight isn't over Professor….We both know which Grimm led this attack" the words were out of Astra's mouth before they could halt themselves, the exhaustion of only moments ago a distant memory as plans and countermeasures began to form themselves in the back of their mind. The Deer Faunus chanced a look around them, half expecting any of Team MARZ to be ready to explode in anger at their presumptuousness. They were instead left swallowing a lump in their throat and trying to deny the way their eyes stung as they saw their friends taking up familiar positions beside them.

"Carmesi and Grapeshot brought that Grimm here, they're heading after it right now" Regalia noted.

"I'm aware of that" Ruby answered evenly "The Grimm will be making its' way towards the CCT as we speak, I plan to intercept it there-"

"Aunt Ruby, no!" Athena was unable to keep the dread from her voice "That attack that you just did, can you do it again? That Grimm's smart-"

"And it's not the only thing you have to worry about" Zirconia added quietly "Can you handle Carmesi's Semblance?"

"I have to try" Ruby answered bluntly, taking a heavy and trudging step forward and preparing to push through her students whose concern was both admirable and not as misplaced as she would have liked, only to be halted by Astra Mars, in a show of wild fear that had travelled so far as to become serene bravery placed a hand on her shoulder.

"There's Grimm all over the city, you can help people all over Port Alistair instead of just once" Astra spoke as though they were scrutinising each word as they uttered it "Let us go to the CCT tower-"

"Astra" Ruby ground their name out through clenched teeth "We are long passed the point where I am willing to entertain your-"

"This isn't me trying to be the hero just to feel good about it!" Astra exclaimed "Listen, my brother is already in the city and Team FADE are already meeting up with him; I was with him before I regrouped with Team MARZ….I know we can't take Gestalt-Prime, we couldn't take Carmesi and Grapeshot but Team FADE can and Team MARZ can at least by them enough time to get there"

Ruby blinked at that, mechanical eye whirring as it adjusted, mind racing as she contemplated an idea that was at the same time both dangerously ill-conceived and yet seemed to be, on some deep and instinctual level almost perfectly sensible. It was, Ruby was forced to concede, exactly the kind of plan that she would have made during her own time as a student and so even with all of her years of experience demanding that she do otherwise there was only one answer she can give.

"And all of Team MARZ are onboard with this?" Astra turned and regarded their team with frightful hope, daring to believe that they might show a loyalty that their leader no longer deserved and was rewarded with the sight of Zirconia nodding silently.

"My bike is in that building over there" Regalia beamed "Looks like I got lucky, Grimm seem to have missed it"

"AJ?" Astra asked quietly, the Bear Faunus set her jaw and shoulders and glanced from her leader to her aunt and simply offered Ruby's words back to her.

"I have to try"

"I understand" Ruby nodded before stepping forward to pull her niece into a crushing hug "Your parents would be proud….I'm proud of all of you. Go, head to the CCT and I'll inform Team FADE and free up enough other Hunters to make sure that Gestalt-Prime gets brought down. Remember that you don't need to win, you just need to hold the line, but if it looks like things are going south then be prepared to retreat. Help is coming, you're not alone"

"Yes Professor" Astra nodded "Team MARZ….Let's go!"

With that the four of them departed with all haste, the idea of retreat not entertained for even a moment.


For all of their ferocity, adapted physiology, massive size and tactical knowledge Gestalt-Prime was being held at bay by a lone Faunus and had, despite their best efforts been prevented from even entering the CCT tower where Carmesi Hueso continued to defy the monsters' every effort.

Wind whipped and howled through the torn open space where panoramic windows had previously been, leaving the administrative floor in a state which would likely have induced a frightening feeling of vertigo in a less disciplined or experienced fighter as each gust made it painfully apparent just how far one would have to fall from the skyscraper sized building, truly one of the largest structures in all of Menagerie before they struck the solid ground below with all of this being amplified further still by the utter ruination that the open plan offices had been reduced to during the course of the brief stand-off; Gestalt-Prime's artillery piece had been fired more than a dozen times and Carmesi had not deigned to block each and every onslaught, instead choosing his battles carefully and being silently thankful that he had disabled the demolition charges before the alpha Grimm arrived whilst the rounds of pointed and condensed bone he allowed to pass by him tore through furniture, caused several computers and at least one fire extinguisher to explode in violent showers of debris and tore great chunks from one of the many support columns, though it seemed that the floor above was in no immediate risk of falling down onto him at that moment.

And now Gestalt-Prime was preparing to try again.

"AND FOR OUR MAIN EVENT!" the horrific amalgamation of flesh of metal declared, its' tone a mocking mimicry of those who had once contained it and reduced the Alpha Geist the hybrid had once been to a perverse stage-show for the amusement of the depraved. As they spoke Gestalt-Prime aimed their cannon again and fired though Carmesi could immediately tell that this was the beginnings of a new ploy by the burst of reeking flame that flashed from each of their quarry's wing-tips and so, acting on well honed instinct alone the Faunus raised his larger weapon in his shotgun form and once again blasted the explosive shell of bone apart in mid-air with unbelievable precision, fragments rippling through his Aura and slashing through all in their path as they ripped their way across the open space. Using the merest moment of hesitation on Carmesi's part, a slight narrowing of the eyes to avoid being blinded as even the knowledge of his Aura and the protection it granted could not override such basic responses, Gestalt-Prime launched themselves forwards at full speed and sent their array on flatworm, fang-ridged tendrils writhing out ahead of them to ensnare the persistent obstacle to their ascension.

The moment the hybrid drew level with the broken glass lingering in the window frames Carmesi responded, throwing Vindication in its' triple-bladed form in much the same way he had used to great effect against his former partner what now felt like a lifetime ago.

Gestalt-Prime shrieked in agony as their tendrils dropped to the ground with a series of wet thuds.

"THE MONSTERS DON'T GET TO WIN! NOT THIS TIME!" Carmesi's words came out as a grief-stricken scream rather than the forceful and victorious bellow he had intended yet despite this the burly Faunus, open and sleeveless shirt trailing out behind him like a cape charged at the Grimm and caught his smaller blade as it returned to him; shifting both Vindication and Retribution to their sword forms as he crossed the width of the open floor in a series of powerful and bounding strides, reaching Gestalt-Prime the moment their clawed feet sunk into the carpeted floor and leaping into the air so that he could drive his booted heel into the visor covering the monsters' lone eye.

"THIS TIME YOU DON'T GET TO TAKE FROM PEOPLE!" Carmesi roared "THIS TIME I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU GIVE SOMETHING BACK!" his machete, forward-curved and resembling the claw of a beast even more hideous than even his current foe was in his left hand and he swung it in a back-handed slash the moment he saw Gestalt-Prime's arms move, the blade tearing through the bicep of their lower right arm and leaving it hanging limp before he raised his larger blade; deciding that whilst the Grimm might be far larger and have an advantage in height he could still swing one crushing body blow after the next until its' ribs were a shattered mess.

Gestalt-Prime knocked his attack aside with a back-handed blow of their own, their upper right arm, with muscles as large as a man's torso flying out so fast as to become a blur of darkness which threatened to sweep the reptilian Faunus from his feet entirely.

Carmesi was not so easily toppled however and even with his right arm throbbing with the pain of what felt like struck by a mountain and his senses largely disoriented by the shock of it he managed to turn the momentum of his staggering and tumbling spin into a vicious slash of his machete which saw its' blade bite into the flesh of the Grimm's left thigh before he sought to punish the same limb even further by raising his own leg up to deliver a cruel and crushing kick to the knee, intending to shatter the joint completely and render the monster immobile and easier to capture.

Gestalt-Prime was ready.

"Counter, counter" the Grimm sneered, packing a truly human sense of ironic venom into the word before dredging up a thick and viscous sludge which left smoke billowing from the corners of their maw and dripping from the tips of their snake-like fangs before spitting it directly at Carmesi and forcing him to transform his intended kick into an artless, flailing dodge at the last second whilst Gestalt-Prime used the surprise to their advantage as their tail came whipping around from behind them to wrap around the ankle of the leg still bearing Carmesi's weight, reducing the rogue Hunter to uttering a truly undignified sound, followed by a grunt of pain as he was hoisted from the floor and slammed face first into the ceiling and then, once again face first into the floor with a pair of impacts which rattled what little glass remained in the nearby shattered windows free of their frames and filled with air with a fine haze of falling plaster before finally Gestalt-Prime flung him across the office space and directly into the support column that had been damaged in an earlier exchange to shatter it completely.

"Moving to eliminate!" Gestalt-Prime's voice, screeching like damaged machinery as it did managed nonetheless to sound unmistakably like crowing with a sense of malicious pride as the monster burst forwards, claws outstretched and propelling itself even faster with a subtle use of its' wings.

Only to be halted as spears of light the colour of spilled blood tore through the air around it.

"You talk like a good solider" Carmesi sneered as he strode, despite how much easier it would have been to limp out of the small mound of debris and twirled his weapons whilst the afterglow of his Semblance subsided.

"You're not though" he continued coldly "My partner was a good soldier, until his willpower abandoned him….I killed a good soldier today, a good man; all so I can stand here in front of you….You don't even understand what any of what I'm saying means do you, still just a monster after all"

Gestalt-Prime remained silent.

For several moments the only sounds that filled the electric and tense air were the sounds of cautious footsteps on a soft and carpeted floor as the two combatants slowly circled one another in search of an opening, the sound of ragged and panting breaths and several metallic sounds from deep within Gestalt-Prime as their mechanical components underwent minute recalibration; this last detail causing Carmesi to take in a wider scope of detail in regards to their enemy and realise with a sickening, sinking feeling that the visor they had cracked was slowly beginning to repair itself as though it were living tissue and that the hybrid Alpha was subtly beginning to regenerate, with the tendrils they had reduced to useless stumps already beginning to twitch with mindless lives of their own as they regrew and the first toothy-suckers yawned wide upon their emergence.

Carmesi realised that containing this beast would be more difficult than he had anticipated.

"Round two fight!" Gestalt-Prime shrieked before charging again.


The Winged Beowolves had found Felix Xiao Long

Shortly thereafter they had found that nothing in their experience or inherited and ingrained knowledge could prepare them for an opponent that simply did not react to pain or attacks, could not be halted and seemed to treat the laws of physics as their own personal plaything and most concerning of all to the primal recesses of the Grimm's minds, seemed to be made entirely of fire and stone.

Six of the lupine, yet still airborne terrors were currently attempting to harry the Lion Faunus even as the remains of the seventh member of their savage cohort faded away and left midnight contrails in the air after being cleaved from shoulder to waist by Overkill, the oversized and chainsaw-bladed sword had wielded for years now after their original smaller, yet no less spectacular weapons had been lost in the final battle against Salem herself. Snarls and growls filled the air at a regularity which suggested some degree of coordination and cooperation between the Creatures of Grimm as they regarded their foe, flapping just above Felix's reach on their membranous and almost translucent wings as they flocked and wheeled whilst regarding the Hunter whose body now resembled molten stone, complete with veins of magma whilst their eyes, hair and the mechanical portions of his arm and tailed blazed with golden fire due to the aid of his Semblance; each of the Grimm seeking out any possible weakness that they could exploit in order to fulfil the task Gestalt-Prime had made them for.

Namely killing Hunters so that their Alpha could proceed with their plans unopposed.

After several tense and yet tedious moments of angling and searching on the parts of all involved something seemed to spur one of the Winged Beowolves on and send the Grimm into a low sweeping dive, which in turn not only drew their pack-mates after it in a wild frenzy as murderous instinct rushed over whatever logic or plans they had been able to maintain in a cascade of violence like that of a dam breaking but also gave Felix himself the signal to launch his own counter attack; as he slammed Overkill's blade into the asphalt at his feet with enough force to send cracks through the ground in every direction he began to brace himself and if the Winged Beowolves had been able to entertain anything beyond their own single-minded and insatiable bloodlust they might have heard a slight mechanical whine and thrum as an Aura regulator integrated into the mechanical segment of Felix's tail began to cycle up and activate its' cache of compressed Fire Dust which was in turn fed back into a Semblance that allowed him to absorb heat and convert it into raw power.

Felix had decided to stop holding back.

His body began to change once again, ascending beyond what had been dubbed his Balrog State to reach a plateau of power that he rarely saw a use or need for, the degree to which it taxed him rarely being justified in his work. The lines of magma around his body shifting from an authentic fiery hue to a brilliant white along with the gold of his eyes and hair whilst an Aura of unearthly fire, blue-tinged and roaring engulfed him.

Against all odds and rationality the first of the Winged Grimm to attack continued onwards, unrelenting in its' fury.

Felix punched it in the face and the monster simply ceased.

A shock-wave of raw, concussive force travelled along the length of its' body and unmade flesh and bone in an instant; reducing the Beowolf to dismantled fragments suspended in the air for a fraction of a second before the booming aftershock of the attack scattered its' remains into a fine and intangible haze spread across the length and width of the street on which they fought and seeing this the remaining five Grimm attempted to flee, or at least pull back for a tactical retreat as terror blunted their huger enough for coherent thought to resume.

Their escape was halted by a series of glyphs.

"Glad you could make it!" Felix called up to the remainder of Team FADE, releasing his Semblance and visibly sagging and swaying on his feet for a moment as the crushing pressure of maintaining his ultimate form rushed out of his body like a receding tide; eyes that were restored to their navy blue colour glancing from rotating circles which shimmered darkly and like stained glass as the Gravity Dust Arctus had imbued them with began to exert its' effects on the Winged Beowolves and forcibly ground them and then up to where Arctus Slate himself sat astride one of his glowing constructs, a sizeable Nevermore comprised of ephemeral light, Dust and Aura whilst behind him his wife and long time partner Diamond removed her hands from his waist so that she could draw her weapon and deploy Lex Talionis in its' sniper rifle form.

"We thought you could handle yourself dude, ran into some students who needed a hand with these things" she noted, almost casually despite the ongoing Grimm incursion still tearing through the city at large and then in the next instant four shots pierced the air with muffled cracks and four Winged Beowolves vanished as the Dust round struck through the centre of each glyph as though they were mere dartboards or training targets. The final remaining Winged Beowolf thrashed and struggled to free itself in vain until a small, pure white blur of motion came swooping down toward it; an avian shriek revealing the diving form to be Eagle Arc using her own Semblance a split second before the bird of prey winged passed the monster and vanished in a flash of brilliant Aura to reveal the blonde, freckled woman herself, appearing resplendent in pristine white armour worn around a sleeveless leather jacket and sheathing an ebony-bladed sword she had swung so fast the motion had not been seen at all.

The Grimm fell to the ground in two pieces.

"Oh my gosh, these things are everywhere; seriously it's like they're deliberately leading other Grimm towards Hunters….like those Bloodhound Grimm we saw in Vaccuo that one time but way more dangerous. A couple of them managed to get a colony of those weird combining bugs to try and flank Team ABRN, it's a good thing we were there to drop in and give 'em a hand" Eagle's momentary facade of some fierce and unrelenting warrior vanished in an instant as she began to speak with her usual rapid-fire exuberance which nerved only amplified though neither Felix, nor any other member of Team FADE would ever wish to change this detail, as was made clear by the smiles Arctus and Diamond exchanged as they leapt to the ground beside their team-mates; Arctus being the first to speak.

"So, area's clear….Car says you managed to get the people in the busted shelter to safety?"

"Got 'em on a transport right as those flying mutts showed up" Felix nodded, ripping his sword free of the ground and sheathing it "Soon as I figured they were more interested in me than the civilians I drew 'em away"

"Nice work dude" Diamond nodded approvingly "So now what?"

"I don't think there's any more shelters near here, or at least any that have requested assistance" Eagle noted "Should we call in and see where we need to back people up or-"

"Astra stole my car" Felix interrupted, the comment causing the rest of Team FADE to perform a series of stunned double takes "They said that the rest of Team MARZ are at the wall and that they were heading their to joint them-"

"Then that's where we're going" Arctus stated bluntly, unsheathing his own oversized and black-bladed great-sword whilst already halfway to conjuring another glyph with which to summon a mount as thought of the danger his sister must surely be in, especially given the damage that the cities' outer perimeter had already sustained filled his mind and drained what little colour his alabaster complexion held.

"Wait….If they're on the wall then they're near either Coco, Yatsu or Velvet. Let me call it in and find out where they are exactly and what the situation is; it'll be quicker" Felix added the last comment as he realised that it was the only thing that could truly hope to stop Arctus and for that mater Diamond from simply taking off in the direction of the besieged part of the wall and searching for Team MARZ themselves. Seeing the towering, bearded Bear Faunus pause, even though deep-seated panic and concern etched itself into every line of his frown Felix hastily drew his scroll and chose a member of Team CFVY at random to call and hoped that he could reach them.

It was Velvet and she answered after a few short rings.

Even with Faunus hearing as keen as that of his cousin, Arctus, the only member of Team FADE who would have been able to hear both sides of the conversation between Felix and Velvet did not listen in to the specifics out of deeply ingrained manners borne of Atlesian society which managed to prevail over even the current threat, though that grew more tenuous as he, along with Eagle and Diamond watched Felix's expression grow more and more withdrawn with each passing second until the call ended.

"Aunt Ruby is back in the city, she's relieving Hunters where she can" he began "But the hybrid Alpha is already in the city and on the way to the CCT tower, it's also very likely that Hueso and Grapeshot are headed that way too and Aunt Ruby already used a lot of her power-"

"They went after 'em didn't they" Arctus winced, understanding what would come next "Team MARZ, they went to try and take out the Grimm-"

"They went to buy time for us to get there" Felix answered, unable to keep a fond smile from his face "They same to think that we'll be able to handle this and they're gonna hold the line….So, let's not keeping waiting to long"

Without another word needing to be said Arctus began summoning multiple flying constructs as Team FADE prepared to once again save the day.


The CCT tower loomed ever larger over Team MARZ as they sped through the usually crowded streets which led towards it.

It had been with a sense of both relief and also mildly incredulous disbelief that the four of them had found Clunker, Regalia's beloved jetbike undamaged and precisely where she had left it within a multi-story parking lot only a few streets away from the absolute edge of Port Alistair. It seemed that the Creatures of Grimm, sensing nothing living within the unremarkable structure of utilitarian concrete and steel had largely passed over the parking lot, venturing into only the lowest levels and smashing the windows of several other vehicles in a cursory attempt to root out any prey that might be hiding from them before moving on; the monsters that had attacked from the air had unleashed a few almost perfunctory volleys of bladed and piercing quills, stingers, corrosive vomit or other equally unpleasant projectiles down into the upper levels of the building which had likely rendered it unsuitable as a landing zone for reinforcements to deploy from if the need arose however none of these attacks had reached deep enough to be of concern to Team MARZ and most remarkably of all, the destruction of a section of the perimeter wall by the giant Land-Shark and the explosion of falling debris that had followed had managed to almost entirely miss the parking lot, doing no more than remove fascia and cladding from its' exterior. After examining her prized possession for several moments, taking every precaution to ensure that Clunker was still safe to use despite the immediacy of the current situation Regalia happily exclaimed that the bikes' condition was the result of some unknown instinct that had made leaving it in the parking lot seem wise, though whether this was simple trustworthy gut instinct or the work of some hitherto unseen evolution of her Semblance was unknown.

After what had felt like far too long to wait Team MARZ had finally departed, with the stolen, or at least borrowed Killer-Bee somewhere nearby and in an unusable state the four of them had reverted to what had become something of a regular mode of transport, although rarely within the city limits owing to sheer volume of traffic laws it violated; namely with Regalia riding and Astra perched behind her, weapons at the ready and with no helmet or even goggles to be seen whilst behind them Athena-Jade clung to the harpoon component of Apex Scavenger which had been extended out on its' retractable cable whilst the weapon itself was holstered on the bike, a glyph appearing beneath the Bear Faunus's feet to be used as an impromptu and unlikely skateboard of sorts whilst Zirconia, dubious as ever of if this mode of transport had clung to her partners' waist for dear life.

Their initial voyage deeper into the now unmistakably war-torn and ravaged centre of Port Alistair had been accompanied by Ruby Rose, their Grimm Studies Professor racing alongside them with the use of her own Semblance albeit without flying as she instead kept whatever amount of the power her remaining Silver Eye granted in reserve for later use and consoled herself with decimating approaching Grimm by either cleaving their bodies apart with Crescent Rose or simply ploughing through the beasts as she struck them at lethal speeds.

Eventually however Ruby had departed to help struggling Hunter elsewhere in the city and Team MARZ had been forced to rely on their own abilities.

"HEADS UP, WE'VE GOT AN URSA!" Astra called back to the team-mates trailing behind them as they saw the lumbering Grimm come charging towards them shortly after they rounded one of the final few corners which stood between them and their goal, Regalia handling her jetbike with a speed and skill that bordered on preternatural as she whipped between crushed and abandoned vehicles and swiftly adjusted the hovering height enough to pass over smaller detritus strewn across the streets, much of it on fire.

"ONE OF THOSE FLYING BEOWOLVES IS BEHIND IT!" Regalia called out, seeing details that Astra could not make out from over her shoulder and delivering what she considered to be ample warning for the rest of Team MARZ to react before putting her instincts into practice and sending Clunker veering towards a parked car, altering the height and intensity of the jetbikes' anti-gravity systems as she reared back to perform a wheelie on a bike with no wheels.

Sending the four of them arcing through the air as she used the car as a ramp.

Astra was the fastest on the uptake, their own penchant for hastily made and overly dramatic plans giving them an inkling of what their partner intended which combined with the advantage of already having Buckshot Ares deployed allowed the Deer Faunus to place one hand on Regalia's shoulder and lean as far out to the side, away from the body of the jetbike as possible and extend one of their forearm mounted blades; tearing deep into the exposed flank of the Ursa in a vicious slice which slipped under its' forelimbs as it reared up and leaving the monster slumping forward and slowly fading away.

Athena-Jade and Zirconia handled the Winged Beowolf, one of a new variety of Grimm which they had been warned about as radio chatter from across the various hot-zones of combat trickled down to them and informed the teens that these particular abominations were acting disturbingly like shock-troops or some form of elite vanguard; a claim put to the test as Athena turned away from the road ahead for just long enough to share a knowing and understanding look with her partner before creating a series of glyphs in mid air which interacted with the glyph the two of them currently rode on, forming a solid surface which the Bear Faunus used to alter the angle at which they trailed after Clunker and keep them out of reach of the Winged Beowolf for just long enough to allow Zirconia to shift Sunriser Cain to its' pistol form and snap off a single shot.

'Gravity! Fire!' the combination was explosive and shredded fragments of already fading Grimm tissue sailed by Team MARZ as they returned to hovering at the usual height above the road with only the slightest thud; Regalia immediately forcing more power out of the engine which had once been part of a small aircraft and sending them rocketing forward at an even more incredible pace whilst Astra half-turned and called back to Athena-Jade and Zirconia, fighting to be heard over the roar of the engine as they did so.

"Nice shot!"

"Should we be concerned that we haven't seen more Grimm yet!" Athena called back "If Gestalt-Prime is going for the tower then why haven't they attacked it with numbers?" Astra considered the question carefully for a moment and gave the closest thing to a reasoned reply that their mind could formulate at that moment.

"I think it's trying to keep Hunters busy, the whole attack is a distraction for it to get in and get out!" they paused before adding "If we start seeing more Grimm heading this way then it means it needed backup and Carmesi and Grapeshot are winning!"

"Heh, they'll have to move quickly then! We're here!" Regalia's assertion was not entirely accurate, however it was close enough that it would have been fruitless to disagree as by the time Astra could calculate just how far away they were from the entrance to the CCT tower that distance had been closed thanks to their partners' inspired and daring driving and the Racoon Faunus had brought Clunker skidding sideways to a halt in a trail of dust and smoke, angled close to the ground with a technique which Astra realised apropos of nothing was almost the exact same way that their partner had first entered Breaktide Academies' grounds.

A furious, metallic and reverberating shriek split the air; emanating from above them and followed by several gunshots.

"They're here" Regalia dragged the words out and using a childish voice which it clear to her friends exactly which classic horror movie she was referencing. Team MARZ slowly assembled, weapons drawn and glanced up at the shattered windows of one of the towers' upper floors. The brief sense of levity the Racoon Faunus had sought to provide fizzling away in an instant to be replaced by an unnerving sense of purpose and finality which kept any of them from taking the first step towards the entrance to the building.

"So….this is it" Athena-Jade breathed out, audibly gulping as she noted wryly that this was the moment where she would prove herself capable of measuring up to her parents and brother as Hunter and that, in the present moment that fact did not matter in the slightest "Do you guys think we can actually do this?"

"I think we're the only people here" Zirconia rasped out, mismatched eyes inscrutable as she stared up at where Gestalt-Prime was clearly rampaging as they fought a rogue Hunter. Astra nodded in agreement with that sentiment and took a single, deliberate step forward; their brief memory of the more simple beginning of their time as a student reminding them of their efforts to stop a robbery the night before and with that same, determined and defiant sense of heroism flooding into them once again and the knowledge that their team were with them inspiring them to believe that they could achieve anything they spoke.

"We can do this" they nodded "We can do it 'cos we're Team MARZ and we're Hunters….Kinda"

Authors' notes:

Okay ladies and gentlemen and esteemed others, two chapters left of the entire first year arc and the next one is the big one, the showdown, the main event….Who mistakenly believes that they're ready for this one?
But anyway, let's summarise shall we?:

That Land-Shark diving could, feasibly have been the death knell of Port Alistair which in turn would have begun the total collapse of Port Alistair as a Kingdom.
Wolfram's absolutely getting some use out of that Semblance.
Velvet casually doing an impression of Heath Ledger's Joker staring down the Batmobile.
I actually debated having her use Blush here, in the Spiral Verse its' a construct she actually gets a bit of use from but I decided Coco and Yatsu's weapons one after the other was more fitting.
Well that's Velvet out and Wolfram should be, but he's stubborn.
Silly Laser, falling back is never an option in a season finale.
Okay….Diabla, darling….Go back to counselling please.
SURPRISE! Astra is here, with a brand new Semblance to show off….Basically think Armour from X-Men or Tai Longshadow from DC.
In the Spiral-Verse the Wizard and Maidens are basically father time and mother nature, because that's honestly what I thought canon was going to do with them at the time and I'm not retconning years of work; the Grimm are the manifestation of death as a universal constant, there's no Grim Reaper, just the Grimm.
Death being unable to create anything….I've been reading Terry Pratchett.
Hunters are never going to be the only people fighting the Grimm and unlike RT I at least let the standard soldiers try and do something before they get jobbed.
Camping….It's a legitimate strategy.
Tanks have been proven to be far less effective than you'd think in an urban environment in recent weeks, that's all we'll say on that.
It actually occurred to me as I was writing that Gestalt-Prime hasn't met Carmesi or Team MARZ since Vol.01.
He's a bastard but at least Carmesi used the stolen scroll to give the defenders the location of Grimm forces.
So here we are, we're finally in the CCT and getting ready for a showdown….I was thinking something open like the CCT at Beacon, but more admin focused.
Coco and her group of people in the know did have plans in place to blow the CCT towers as a last resort.
Of course Carmesi is calm….He believes in destiny lol.
No bombs, too easy.
Okay admit it, Carmesi tapping the window to get the Grimm's attention was bad-ass and the way they shot each others' bullet out of the air was just pure anime.
Of course Wolfram kept fighting with his Aura broken….Also, you need counselling too kid, definitely got some unresolved trauma there.
Well, that's Team WULF done….They kept fighting until none of them had any Aura left to use.
Just play the Pacific Rim theme for the fight between Astra and the Land-Shark.
So Astra's Aura-Body definitely isn't invulnerable, in fact with the amount of cracks it ended up with its' honestly pretty brittle for its' size.
Oh did you think I'd forgotten about the cavalry arriving?
And this right here is why I don't really like having Maidens in the story on a regular basis, because once you get to that kind of power level there's effectively nothing that can measure up and the story stops being about the main characters.
I might literally call Astra's Semblance "The Bigger Person".
And here we go, the set up for the actual final battle of the volume….the real showdown that's coming next chapter.
Ruby was rightly ready to go off on Astra there.
Ironically Astra wanting to just buy time for Team FADE and not be the hero has made them far more heroic.
Carmesi was literally holding the line to the point where Gestalt-Prime couldn't even get through the open windows into the building.
Well, Carmesi is at least processing his trauma….Not healthily, but he's processing it.
Y'all forgot Gestalt-Prime can spit poison after eating the Imperator-Taijitu didn't you?
All in all a good opening exchange but it's pretty obvious that Carmesi is gonna get rag-dolled on his own.
Seriously, a pack of half a dozen Grimm against Felix Xiao Long? Against Felix Xiao Long using his Ultimate Balrog State?….Not even close to having a chance.
It's always fun to have a scene of Team FADE kicking ass in MARZ's story.
Eagle is just every anime swordsman.
Of course Arctus was going to help AJ.
And now Team FADE know they have somewhere to be.
I had to dedicate a little time to the absolute dues ex Machina that Regalia's bike being undamaged actually is.
Had to have at least a little bit of Bike-Mounted Grimm combat to finish off the chapter.
So when Grimm start moving towards the CCT it means that Gestalt-Prime has called them there, which means things are going to get unpleasant.
Regalia has perfected the Akira slide that she tried in chapter two.
"We're Team MARZ and we're Hunters….Kinda" is a callback to chapter one where it was just Astra.

Thank you to Lurkweed and MajorBrony95 for their reviews on the last chapter.
Yeah "And so it begins" is definitely the overall vibe I was going for.
Oh yeah Mama Russet had to live, we're not making Regalia an orphan.
Was Astra's Semblance reveal worth the build-up?
Eh I had to trash someone's vehicle, it's tradition and I didn't want to write off Clunker.
It wasn't even a fully conscious thing Laser did, he saw something weird and then just acted out of panic and instinct.
Oh the IT issues are going to be a 'Rocket Locker' level plot device.

As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.