The Arrival of Calamity

Fight

"For multiple counts of theft and murder in Mistral, you are under arrest, Raven Branwen."

In retrospect, Noriaki felt that maybe he should have delivered the warning after drawing his bow. Or better yet, fire first and dispense with the formalities altogether. Because his last words hadn't left his mouth that his quarry exploded into action, rushing straight at him before his comrade could make the slightest move. Somersaulting above the table he had put between them, the woman was on him in an instant, a short blade darting out from the gauntlet on her right arm.

The huntsman raised his bow just in time, its bladed limb deflecting the first blow as he tried to back-step away. Yet the black-haired woman didn't let up, her short sword darting left and right as she followed him step by step. Gods, she was fast! Noriaki managed to deflect the first and second blow, yet the third caught him through the side, his aura flaring up to prevent the worst of the damage. Still the pain was enough to make him wince, and the woman was keen on taking advantage of that opening.

It might have been the end of him without Fengxian finally joining the fray, his colossal partner charging through the room's furnitures to come to his help. A massive swing of his halberd came crashing down, only narrowly missing Raven as she sidestepped away. But now Noriaki was free to draw at long last, releasing an arrow charged with fire dust in the woman's direction. The arrowhead only grazed her cheek, before exploding among the shelves behind her, shattering wood and glass in the process. Before she could retaliate, his partner was on her and the two of them starting exchanging blows while the archer readied another shot.

He took an instant to check out his injury. His left side sported a shallow cut, which his aura was already in the process of healing. There was pain, but it shouldn't affect his aim, which was what mattered the most. Similarly, he didn't pay much attention to the inn's patrons running away screaming. Perhaps it would have been safer to confront the bandit away from the crowd, but the two huntsmen had decided to seize their chance while they still could. In the end, Shion's inhabitants would be grateful for their work today.

They would better, given how tricky this fight was turning out to be. The woman was fast and deceptively strong, more than holding her own against his partner's mighty blows, with an acrobatic style that made predicting her moves difficult. The only reason his partner managed to come out of their first exchanges uninjured was likely due to the heavy armor he was wearing. Worse, she was clearly keeping track of Noriaki as well, always managing to stay out of his direct line of fire by using his friend as cover.

Also, the bowman noticed his first shot did set part of the room on fire, flame dust and alcohol being a rather poor mix. Already most of the counter was ablaze, and the rest of the building would surely follow suit if nothing was done soon.

… he would pin that on the bandit woman in his official report.

But first, they had a fight to win. Right now his friend was getting hard pressed, especially after their opponent revealed a hidden blade in her boot, the unusual combination meaning double the trouble for Fengxian, who had to focus on defense, trying to cover his few exposed areas. Raven kept using him as cover as well, but that was fine. Noriaki would have been a poor archer if he didn't have an answer to this.

He released two lightning arrows at once, each shot trailed on their target without putting his partner at risk. The black-haired woman reacted instantly, crouching low while sidestepping away, staying well out of their trajectories. Which is why she showed a rather shocked expression when both projectiles took a sharp turn to stay on target.

Noriaki allowed himself a wry smile. His telekinetic semblance worked wonders with his archery, which was of course why he picked the weapon to begin with. His opponent managed to knock one of the redirected arrows in mid-air with the flat of her blade, earning herself a painful jolt through her right arm. She wasn't so lucky with the other, who managed to hit her in the shoulder, the arrowhead piercing flesh while still releasing its devastating current, with Fengxian moving in for the kill.

Yet the dark-haired woman still managed to push through the pain, gritting her teeth as she managed to catch the halberd coming toward her with her free hand, before retaliating with her injured one.

"Searing Edge!"

The path of her blade went ablaze, forcing the armored hunter to jump back to avoid having his face burned off. A dust-powered weapon? The gauntlet she was wielding seemed a bit too old-fashioned for that, Noriaki decided, it was probably her semblance. Nothing too dangerous then, a fire semblance was something they could handle.

… speaking of fire, the whole place was beginning to turn into a brazier. They'd better wrap this up quickly.

However that soon proved easier said than done. The previous injury barely seemed to slow down the woman, who fought with renewed ferocity, going as far as pushing back Fengxian with a single kick. Seeing his giant of a friend forcibly moved by someone half his size was worrying, to say the least, as was the fact that the girl didn't even flinch while taking the opportunity to pull off the arrow in her shoulder with a snarl. Seeing his chance, Noriaki fired once again, this time a couple of frost-powered projectiles.

"Vanishing Thunder!"

Almost sliding on the floor, Raven managed to knock both arrows back with a gust of lightning. That gave the archer pause. Was she using dust after all? She had to be. The alternative would be worrying, to say the least. His companion didn't hesitate though, immediately charging after her, switching between high and low swings to keep her on her toes.

Yet it was becoming clear he was getting the wort of the exchange. The shallow cut he managed to inflict on her leg was answered by a lightning-fast kick to the face, which came close from gouging his eye out. As it was, he was let off with a gash to the cheek, nothing fatal yet a vivid reminder of how close a call it had been. He still did his best to counter-attack, punching with his free hand only to meet thin air. The woman went under his arm before delivering a flurry of swipes toward his knees.

"Splitter!"

Most of the blows glanced off his friend's armored leg, but a spurt of crimson showed one slice at least had found its mark, an impression confirmed by the wobbly step Fengxian took in an attempt to create some distance. Firing once again, Noriaki's arrow was this time intercepted by a chair on fire the woman kicked in his direction, forcing him to perform an undignified tumble to avoid being smacked by the burning wooden furniture. At least his partner got the second of respite he needed to steady his posture.

Still things weren't going well. The girl was too much for Fengxian to handle alone in melee, and she was getting used to his trick shots. Also she seemed to feel no discomfort from the rising heat in the room, while Noriaki was sweating profusely despite his light clothes. He could only imagine how much worse it was for his armor-clad partner. They needed to turn this around, and fast. Fortunately, Raven wasn't the only one able to call her attacks.

"Give me an anvil here!" he shouted out to the other huntsman.

After a couple of years hunting Grimm together, his partner needed no other explanation, instantly grabbing a table and throwing it at his opponent. Even from the distance, Noriaki could see the calculations in the woman's eyes. If she dodged, she'd be exposed to the arrows he had trailed on her. So she picked the unorthodox option to slice through the incoming projectile, with the intent of charging through.

Just as he had hoped.

Raven's eyes widened in surprise when her blade didn't even make a dent in the table, courtesy of Fengxian reinforcing semblance. Instead, she got smacked right in the face by the improvised projectile, just before being blasted through the inn's wall by the gun integrated to his partner's halberd. Her body rolled through the street, blood coming up from the injuries their attack managed to inflict. Not foolish enough to think this would be enough to keep her down, Noriaki released a volley of lightning dust arrows, each projectile splitting itself in four before all descending on his target like a vengeful storm. Each of those fragmentation arrows cost a little fortune, but hopefully the bounty for neutralizing the bandit leader that terrorized the region would cover that.

Instead his eyes widened when he saw the silhouette still standing in the middle of the cloud of dust his attack had kicked up. His sense of alarm grew when he took a good look at her left arm, which she had used to shield herself.

The bandages that he had assumed were meant to fake an injury, were gone. Instead her arm was now pulsing with red and black energy, not a single trace of flesh to be seen. And in lieu of hand, was a gigantic claw, seemingly radiating killing intent.

Was that a semblance? It hadn't been in any files concerning Raven! In fact, this thing almost felt like- like a Grimm, he realized with dread. "What- what are you?" Noriaki asked, eyes wide.

The dark-haired woman answered by opening and closing up her clawed hand, the simple gesture enough to make the hunter shake in disgust and fear. "Last chance. Get lost, or I'm devouring you."

"No can do, lady," Fengxian rumbled. If he was feeling intimidated, he was hiding it well. "From where I'm standing, you look more like a monster than a human. And it's our job to take care of monsters."

An expression of disgust grew on the woman's face. "How familiar. Come, then."

It was over in an instant. His partner charged forward, thrusting his polearm like a hurricane. The blow hit its target square in the stomach, literally impaling the woman in a shower of blood. Yet the injury barely seemed to phase her, and left Fengxian wide open for the swipe of her claw. The demonic arm grabbed his face, and squeezed. The only sound the hunter made was the sickening crack of bones and metal his helmeted skull splitting open under the pressure made. A few seconds later, Fengxian's entire body vanished, as if drank by the monstrous claw.

Frozen in fear, Noriaki remembered to move only when the woman's gaze fell on him.

"S-stay back!"

Fumbling in blind panic, he was still trying to line up a shot when the monstrous girl closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye. He felt her left arm grab his side, and his aura flared up to protect him, but it was getting drained fast, far too fast. His last vision was of the woman's two amber eyes burning like flames, and then there was only darkness.

As soon as the second corpse vanished, Velvet allowed herself to cough up the blood that had been stuck in her throat. That had been painful. Part of her injuries had been healed by eating those two warriors, but Phi's healing artes would have been more than welcome right now. Even Magilou would do, at this point.

Her sight fell on the now burning inn. There was no sign of someone coming to extinguish that fire either, the few people brave enough to remain outside the building had scattered when she crashed through the wall, possibly to get reinforcement. Well, if she had any intent to turn up a new leaf in this world, that pretty much was the end of it. No matter the place, a daemon remained a daemon, she supposed.

Speaking of daemons, those two fighters had been eerily reminiscent of exorcists. Yet despite the strange artes they had used, there had been no sign of malakhim to support them. Had it been their own power? No matter what, if there was more people like them in town, things could get dangerous. She had to get out of here, and then decide of a new course of action. Should she rush for the gates or try to scale the walls, though?

She was still considering the question when a voice called out for her from a back alley. "Hey miss, over here!"

Pulling her blade, Velvet turned around to come face to face with one of the shadier-looking men she ever had the displeasure to meet. He was a lanky thirty-something year old, with chestnut hair reaching his shoulder, an angular face and a beaked nose, and was giving her a smile that didn't reach his grey eyes.

"Woah there," he said while raising his hands in surrender. "No need for that. I'm a friend."

"I don't have friends around here," Velvet answered coldly, "and I doubt you have many yourself."

He answered with a crooked grin. "Fine, not a friend then. But I can help you."

"And why would you do that?" the therion asked, still keeping her blade pointed at the stranger.

"Because if you're able to take on two huntsmen, you're someone worth knowing... and on the wrong side of the law, which is a plus as far as me and my people are concerned. But what about continuing this conversation later? We need to leave this town before reinforcements get there."

"So those guys weren't wrong in suspecting a bandit infiltrated this town," Velvet guessed. "They simply accused the wrong person." Just her luck, really.

"Well, after what you did, you might as well go all the way, don't you think? I doubt the law will feel merciful if you told them this was just a misunderstanding at this point."

Velvet refused to simply concede the point. "Be as it may, I see no reason to go with you."

"Come on, I can help you get out of here," the undercover bandit pleaded. "And if you're looking for something or someone, I'm sure the others can help you find it. We're pretty well connected, you know."

That gave her pause. The man might be lying, but if he was telling the truth, that might be a lead worth following. And while she had no doubt she could force her way out of town, it would likely result in a needless slaughter. All in all, she supposed that after associating with pirates and underground criminal organizations, joining forces with bandits, at least for a while, was a natural follow-up.

"All right, we'll do it your way," Velvet conceded. "Let's move."

The man grinned before taking off, and the daemon-girl followed. If his people had ears across the region, it might make finding her companions easier.

And if he was lying and all of this was just a ploy to rob her blind... Well. Even eating two people in a row wasn't enough to sate her never-ending hunger. There would always be room for a third.

Notes: so, some of you might have noticed that auras in this story don't seem to work quite exactly like in the show. I have basically tweaked the mechanics in order to make for more dynamic and suspenceful fights, in a way that I feel is probably close to what was intended with them to begin with.

Auras were meant to allow people to wail at each other with lethal instruments without things being over in an instant. I have no problem with that idea, it provides a neat excuse to go full anime fight. However, the way it was implemented in the show, it became this weird "all or nothing" mechanic that I felt created more problems than it solved. As long as your aura is up, you're basically invulnerable. As soon as it is down, you're screwed. The problem with that is that as long as your aura doesn't break, there's no real tension- no matter the blow you take, you're fine as long as you have aura. It also creates some weird problems – say, why would someone feel threatened by a sword to their throat, as long as their aura is up? And why does it even come with an healing factor if it prevents injuries to begin with?

As such, in this story auras act a little differently. Rather than an invincible forcefield, it basically grants damage reduction, on top of its healing factor. An injury can still be fatal even with your aura up, but most of them will be toned down to something more manageable, which will heal in time anyway. Hopefully that change won't have people up in arms against it, but I feel it's something that will benefit this story.