Lazula and Snow were almost to the door of the Student Fitness Center when the alarms began to blare. A voice warned the crowd to get inside, and stay as calm as they could manage. Yet Lazula could see the cause of panic. Toward the water, above the sports fields and sparring courts temporarily housing vendors stalls and picnic tables, winged beasts soared.
"...Another attack." Lazula let out a breath to compose her thoughts. "I'm going to help."
"I... I don't think I should," Ichigo decided after a pause, with a quiver in his voice. He looked to Laurel. "I mean, you saw me against the animatronics." He indicated his Holoband. "Rowan says he's in the locker rooms. I-I think I'll meet up with him."
"I won't ask anyone else to come with me. These are real Grimm. If you don't kill them, they will kill you," Lazula reminded. "If you would like to, help would be welcome."
Lazula abandoned the doors to the SFC, swimming against the crowd that rushed inside. Snow and Laurel followed. She ran through everyone she knew was testing. Laurel and Snow were beside her. Ichigo and Rowan were in the Student Fitness Center, and unless the attack spread, they would be safe by her guess.
That left Caspian and Lilly.
"Snow, call Lilly. Make sure she's safe, and tell her to message me when she can."
"Understood."
"This area is under attack by the Creatures of Grimm. Please, evacuate to Sentinel Stadium immediately," a man dressed in Frontline's Organic Android uniform demanded. His tone was authoritative, but devoid of the worry Lazula would expect of the situation. He, and a similarly dressed woman, guided a score of horrified spectators toward the stadium. Lazula ignored the android's request, instead poking at the call symbol next to her brother's portrait.
"The person you are trying to reach is currently not in range of service. Please try again later."
"Shit."
"Lilly is currently inside of Sentinel Stadium, she said she's safe," Snow reported.
"Good," Lazula responded. That, at least, was a relief. But Caspian was another issue entirely. CCTS service should cover all of Port Cyrreine, she reasoned. The only dead spot would be one deliberately made. She pounded the call symbol again.
"The person you are trying to reach is-"
Lazula broke into a run.
What was a pleasant, rainy yet festive day just minutes before had degenerated into pure chaos. Lazula couldn't tell whether the screams of grimm or human assaulted her ears from each direction. Gunfire erupted from the crowd, striking down several of the Nevermores and Griffons that dotted the sky. Yet as one fell, it seemed as if two more would take its place.
Laurel took off to the side, some distance from where organds guided groups of spectators and students alike into the stadium. She mounted her gun on a picnic table, and began to fire rounds into the air. The Grimm faded as they fell, disintegrating to nothing before reaching the ground.
Lazula found her path to the bridge blocked by an Ursa. It matched her speed, trampling toward her on all fours. As she neared, she raised Aegis, taking the bone-crushing force of the collision into her arm. She spun, channeling her semblance into a single forceful swing. Impetus tore from the Ursa's hip to opposite shoulder. Flesh to both sides of the massive gash began to dissolve. Lazula punched the fallen creature to the side, continuing onto a handful of Beowolves.
She slashed twice across the gut of the first, bashing with Impetus to knock the beast's two halves apart. She dashed to impale a second, tearing her blade from its chest and into the neck of another. Snow joined her, lashing at the creatures without a semblance of fear, attacking as if they were animatronics that would let up as soon as they brought her aura to zero.
Several screams broke out from nearby. Snow cast her glance to the side, where a Creep broke from its pack to chase down a large family. The white-haired huntress lashed out with her weapon's whip configuration, its barbed spines binding the Grimm's arms to its body as it wrapped around. Snow ripped it toward her and flipped through the air, transforming her weapon into its axe configuration and cleaving the beast in two.
Without waiting for a word of thanks, she leapt back toward the black horde surrounding Lazula.
A pack of Beowolves surrounded Lazula. She panted through grit teeth, a lock of hair falling from place and draping across her nose. She stared the beasts down. The real ones were a bit larger than the machines on Sentinel's training island. The leathery skin she had seen on the animatronics was pitch black fur, and the steel plates of armor she had grown used to now looked to be made of bone.
One broke the standoff, leaping at her with a ferocious snarl. She blocked its swipe, despatching it easily. But more assailed her from each side, taking her broken focus to their advantage.
She had taken out four or five by the time a shadow crossed in front of her, too fast for her to make out any particular form. Wind whipped by her and she looked to the side to see a woman in all black, katana raised to the end of a calculated slash.
Three Grimm in her path began to dissolve, dark essence flowing into her katana as she sheathed it.
The woman was about her father's age, the beginning of grey streaks appearing in her pitch black hair. A lock to each side of her face looped under her ear, rejoining the ponytail in back. Her face was obscured by a white and red mask, modelled after the face of a fox. Though her life as a huntress had officially ended with the Grimm's first defeat, her lean muscle and athletic physique had deteriorated strikingly little in the years since.
Lazula nodded out of gratitude. "Mrs. Kurayami," she greeted. "Thank you. Ichigo is safe, he's in the SFC right now."
The woman turned, revealing a badge on her right breast. "Sentinel Academy; Head of Security," it read on each side of the school's crest.
"It is nothing," she said. "And thank you very much for the update. But please, get Snow to safety as well. A safe zone has been set up inside of Sentinel Stadium."
Lazula shook her head as Snow finished off one final Creep and regrouped with her. "We'll be fine," she assured. "We should focus on clearing out the Creatures of Grimm."
Mrs. Kurayami placed a hand on Lazula's shoulder as she began to turn, clutching Impetus's handle. "I have been ordered by your father to find you and secure Snow. I do not doubt your abilities, but this is a direct order!"
"Why is Snow's safety being held above everyone else's?" Lazula questioned, edge of impatience arising in her voice. She grimaced at the shrieks of human and grimm alike. "People will die if I don't fight!"
"Your father has deployed all of the huntsmen he has available." Mrs. Kurayami turned to Snow. "I understand why you wish to fight as well. But please, come to safety."
"MY BROTHER IS STILL IN THERE!" Lazula pleaded, violently beckoning to the bridge.
Mrs. Kurayami's eyes widened, and she raised her wrist to place a call. "Pierce! I have found Lazula. She says Caspian is still inside of the Stadium!"
Lazula heard a man on the other end swear in a gruff voice. "Meet me at the mouth of the bridge. But make sure Lazula takes Snow to the Stadium."
"I'm sorry," Snow offered as she, Lazula, and Laurel joined the crowd funneling into safety.
"It's not your fault," Lazula dismissed, staring straight ahead.
"I'm... worried about Caspian."
Lazula sighed. "...So am I."
The three found their way into Sentinel Stadium, finding Lilly calming an elderly couple among the masses mumbling, fidgeting and weeping in the stands. After exchanging a few words, Lazula and Laurel left Snow with the faunus, and stood guard outside of the stadium's main doors. Laurel picked Grimm off from a distance as Lazula stayed near, guarding the stragglers from beasts that strayed too close.
She kept a spare eye on the people who entered, hoping to catch a glimpse of her brother.
An infant's cries permeated the air inside of the stadium, shrill above the indistinct muttering of the masses. Her mother, a young woman with curly locks of brown hair, cradled the baby in a vain attempt at consoling her. Snow cocked her head slightly, as if examining the situation. Without a word to Lilly, she stepped toward them.
"Excuse me," Snow introduced. "May I hold your child?"
The woman looked to Snow uneasily with fatigued eyes. She looked down to her child and stood, handing the baby over. Snow cradled the girl gently, and began to hum a soothing tune. The child's cries lessened to a whimper as Snow rocked her slowly. Then, silence.
The solid sheets of rain buffeting Caspian's face glowed red under the flashing of countless holographic warnings. The Bullfiend's eyes shone brighter. A grey fog rose from its drooling maw, obscuring the horrified faces of those who looked on. The ground shook with each of the beast's steps toward Caspian. It looked to be sizing him up, a predator slowly closing in on its prey.
Without warning, it began to charge.
Caspian's heart leapt out of his chest. As if his body puppeted his mind, he ran forward, blade in hand.
The abominable creature lowered its head, stark white horn aimed for his gut. Caspian tumbled to the side. The ground was filthy, but preferable to being gored by a horn the width of a grapefruit. He sprung back to his feet as the fiend skidded to a stop. Caspian tore at its thigh with Undertow in the best imitation of his sister's strike. He stepped forward, reversing his blade's momentum to slash into its gut. The Bullfiend roared, swinging wildly with claws half the length of Caspian's own weapon. He screamed, diving back to the mud with dangerously little time to spare.
Caspian rolled onto his feet, gaining some distance between he and the monster. Once again, it bolted at him. Sinking back and raising his weapon with a trembling arm, he fired a shot into its eye, stopping it in its tracks as a thick black liquid began to seep down its bony mask. Caspian's next shot wasn't as accurate, leaving little mark in the bone next to its remaining eye. He took off, running an arc around to the beast's blind side. Undertow's bullets of dust tore through its pelt, smoking from the wounds they produced.
A snarl from his side, then screams. Caspian turned to see a Beowolf clawing at the crack the Bullfiend's horns had left in the barrier, the last vestige of protection between human and Grimm. The beast had pried its way through the crack all the way to its waist, and began to claw at the bleachers as spectators huddled in the corners, shrieking and clutching each other in an instinctive bid at comfort.
"Damn it, not now!" Caspian agonized. He turned his gun on the Beowolf, firing shot after shot until it ceased to move, and began to dissolve. The ground shook, and Caspian heard a ferocious, unearthly roar from his side.
He whipped around just in time to take the beast's horn below his chestplate.
Caspian screamed in pain as it pierced his shirt, and he felt the needle-like tip stop on his skin. He was flung backward, flipping through the air for what felt like several seconds before slamming back to the ground, skidding and rolling as waves of cobalt aura crackled around him.
He ended up on his back, Undertow out of reach to his side. He gasped for breaths that would not come, still feeling the sharp pain of the monster's horn in his stomach. He felt at it. Wet. Grimacing, he looked at his hand, feeling a moment of relief to see his hand coated merely in mud.
His celebration was short-lived. He groaned in agony as the Bullfiend perched over him, crushing his right arm beneath its weight. He clawed feebly at its wrists, trying to free himself. The beast's grotesque face, the size of his torso, neared. Black sludge still seeped from its hollow eye socket. Caspian shuddered, feeling the creature's viscous drool dribble onto his neck. He smelled the stench of rot on the monster's hot, musty breath.
In a last resort, Caspian raised his armguard to shield his face. His teeth clamped down on the handle of a straight-bladed dagger, wrenching it from its sheath. He spat it out, snatching its handle from the air and driving the blade deep into the monster's remaining eye. Black sludge exploded onto his face and hand, and his ears were shattered by an agonized roar.
Caspian felt the weight let off his arm.
He pulled out from under the beast, making a mad dash for Undertow. He scooped his weapon from the ground as he sprinted, finally stopping to turn once he made it some distance away. He held down Undertow's trigger. The gun began to vibrate and hum, steam raising from its glowing barrel as energy gathered around it. He let fire a beam of focused energy into the monster's neck. Yet as his gun kicked, a sudden, torturous pulse worked its way down Caspian's arm, clutching his heart. He suddenly found himself unable to stand.
The last thing he saw within the greying edges of his vision was the Bullfiend fading away in the rain.
A/N: Heya! Reviews mean a lot to me, so if you feel inclined, let me know what you guys think! This is the first point (chronologically in the plot, at least), that I've had explicitly planned for some time, so I'm excited to finally be getting this chapter out! And for those of you who have played the Witcher 3, you may notice some not-so-accidental similarities between this monster and one from the game!