(With Yang and Ruby)

Normally, both girls would've run away from seeing a small horde of Grim approaching them. However, having someone like Draco as their mentor made them more than prepared for most situations.

Acting quickly, Ruby empties the current clip thats in her mecha weapon and replaces it with a different one with a small explosive sign on it. Then, with a single pull of the trigger, seventy-five percent of the horde was utterly eviscerated.

The only ones left were a Beowolves and a couple of Ursa. However, that quickly changed when Ruby pulled the trigger again, and all the remaining Grim were eliminated.

Both thinking the massacre was over, the students of the last Morningstar were about to move forward but stopped mid-step when they heard a deep guttural growl coming from behind them.

Ruby and Yang slowly turned around to see what was producing those terrifying sounds. They deeply regretted taking this action as they both paled at what was in front of them.

Standing twenty meters away from them was a Grim that stood at a height of six meters was another humanoid, Grim. However, unlike the others, this one had a powerful frame, nearly covered from head to toe in spiky bone plate armor, and had four arms, each holding a war hammer that could cause devastating damage.

This Grim was none other than the Guardian, whose sole purpose was to protect the Nest and Queen from any who dared threaten to destroy their home.

Letting out a roar that the nest shook, the Guardian charged toward the girls at a speed that shocked the future huntresses.

Ruby, swiftly and with perfect precision, shot the Guardian directly between the eyes twice as her instincts screamed at her that this Grim wouldn't be as easy to eliminate as its brethren.

And much to her horror, her instincts were right. However, they heavily underestimated the durability of the Grim's armor. It took the hits from the explosion incendiary rounds with little to no issue, nor did its armor show any signs of damage, and it was still charging toward the girls.

When close enough, the Guardian slammed its upper war hammers to the ground, intending to turn the girls into a bloody paste.

However, the girls quickly moved out of the way as both liked living. The Guardian pulled back its weapons and looked at the spot where its targets should've been. Seeing no blood staining the ground, it quickly realized it missed its target, causing the Grim to grow angrily.

The large Grim looked around the area, and its eyes soon landed on Yang, much to the blonde's annoyance and trepidation.

Going on the offensive, the Guardian swung its war hammers at the ten-year-old while the latter did everything she could to avoid being turned into a pasty.

"I could use a little help here, Rubes!!!" Yang shouted while ducking underneath another attack from the Guardian.

The blonde would've closed the distance between her and the giant, but the Guardian was swinging its weapons at speeds that, to ordinary eyes, looked like a blur.

"I'm on it!" Ruby shouted.

The younger of the two quickly appeared several meters behind the Guardian and shot another two explosive incendiary rounds at the back of the Grim's head.

This attack managed to get the Guardian's attention as it stopped attacking Yang and turned its attention toward the young Seraph.

The Guardian growled at the silver-eyed girl, and its red orbs shimmered violently. Letting out another roar, it pursued the youngest of the two.

However, before it could get too far, Yang ran it and sent an Aura-reinforced punch to the back of the Guardian's knee. Due to a combination of Reinforcement techniques and explosive rounds loaded into Yang gauntlets, the attack caused the Grim to fall to one knee.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Ruby shifts her weapon back into scythe mode. She then blitzed towards the Guardian and stuck the point of the scythe into the giant Grim's eyes.

This attack caused the Guardian to throw back its head, taking the young Seraph with it, and it let out a roar of agony that slightly shook the nest.

Ruby quickly dislodged her scythe from the Guardian and jumped back to the ground, narrowly avoiding getting smacked away by the giant Grim to get her off of it.

Yang quickly went to her sister's side and grinned at the younger girl. "Wanna see something neat?"

Ruby quirked an eyebrow and shrugged. "Sure."

Yang's grin became wider at her younger sister's reply. She then pressed a button on her gauntlet, and the next that happened was that Guardian's body exploded into hundreds if not thousands of tiny pieces.

"The guy sure went out with a bang, huh?" Yang asked rhetorically with a grin.

Ruby groaned at hearing the blonde's terrible pun. "That was awful."

Yang looked at Ruby, offended. "You just don't have a good sense of humor," Yang retorted, huffing in annoyance.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Let's keep going. We still have a lot of ground to cover," she began walking forward.

However, she didn't get very far as three more Guardians came from the ground and stood ten five meters away from the future huntresses. The girls looked at them blankly until Yang gave her reaction.

"Oh, come the fuck on!!!" Yang cursed, throw hands out in exasperation. "How many of these fuckers are there?!"

"Draco owes me a bunch of cookies after this," Ruby grumbled, preparing to take on the three Guardians.

(With Draco and Summer)

Draco hummed. "Looks they're quite in pickle, aye?" he asked rhetorically. "Eh, nothing they couldn't handle."

Guardians, while stronger and more durable than the average Grim, weren't all that impressive in the beginning stages of colonization.

Ruby and Yang proved that fact. All it really takes is placing explosives on the nonarmored parts, going for the eyes, and overwhelming firepower is enough to bring an early-stage Guardian down.

Summer rolled her eyes but kept watching as her daughters fought the gigantic Grims. The older Seraph watched as her youngest killed one of the Guardians by shooting it in the eye with an Aura-reinforced round that caused its head to pop like a balloon when it impacted.

She looked at the other screen on Draco's scroll and saw Yang rapidly strike nonarmored areas of the Guardian. Then, the blonde swiftly climbed on top of the Grim and placed an explosive on the giant's unprotected neck.

The blonde then jumped the Guardian, and while in mid-air, she set the explosive off, killing the Grim. Once she landed on the ground, she quickly dodged an attack from the last remaining Guardian.

Summer smiled, proud of her girls for handling the Guardians so efficiently. Despite the protectors of the nest not being much of a threat, even she admitted she would've never been able to kill Grims of that size at their age.

Thanks to Draco's training, the girls are easily at D-Class levels of power and skill. She could imagine how strong they'll be when they get older.

"Hey, Draco," the teen glanced at her at the mention of his name. "How long did it take for you to complete your training?"

"I believe I was three when I began and nine when it finished," he said, recalling old memories. "Even so, I never stopped improving myself. Why do you ask?"

"Im just curious, I guess," she said honestly. "You hardly ever talk about your past."

"That's because my past is rather irrelevant," the teen said apathetically.

Summer glanced at him and smiled sadly. "It would still be nice to know more about you."

Draco hummed. "Perhaps when the topic of my past becomes relevant, I will give the information you seek. Until then, drop it," he said in an authoritative tone.

Summer sighed. "Ok..."

(Ruby and Yang)

After killing the last Guardian, Ruby and Yang checked their Aura meters and reloaded their weapons. Ruby still has ninety-five percent of reserves left, while Yang has ninety-seven of hers.

"Ya, good Rubes?" Yang asked after finishing reloading her gauntlets.

"Yeah," Ruby set her weapon back into rifle mode. "Alright, let's go."

The future huntresses continued to explore the nest for several hours. They'd killed hundreds upon hundreds of Grim that got in their way.

The deeper they went, each encounter became more challenging due to increased aggression, tenacity, and group cohesion from the creatures of darkness.

It made the girls wonder why the Grim behavior was changing so drastically. Their question was soon answered half an hour later as they stumbled upon an area they could assume was an Egg Chamber due to the thousands of gigantic white eggs with red tips scattered throughout the location.

"Holy shit, look at all those eggs..." Yang wisely whispered. "What do you think are in them?"

Ruby looked at her sister like she was an idiot. "Jeez, I wonder what a bunch of eggs are doing in a Grim nest," she said sarcastically, emphasizing the 'nest' part of her sentence. "They can't possibly contain Grim because that would be preposterous ."

The blonde looked at her sister with a pout. "Why do you have to be so mean?"

The Seraph rolled her eyes. "It's not my fault you asked a stupid question."

Yang huffed and looked around the area. "So if these are Grim eggs, shouldn't they be ya a little more guarded?"

As soon as the blonde asked that question, a hissing sound came from the left side of them. Both girls turned their heads in that direction and visibly paled.

Several meters away was a gigantic Grim that looked like a combination of heavily disfigured women and a spider, with the top part being the former and the bottom being the latter.

"You just had to open your mouth, didn't you?"

Yang chuckled nervously. "Sorry."

End.