The concrete rooftop shredded and buckled beneath the Nevermore's talons, threatening the structure's already dilapidated frame. Laurel and Ichigo flung themselves to each side of the attack, fighting and scrambling the shards and fragments of the roof. The wind ripped past them on the beat of the animatronic's grand wings, and it took to the sky again with an impatient shriek.
A deep cracking noise came from within the building, then another. Laurel's eyes widened as the semi-solid ground she fought for began to shift into the created abyss.
The two halves of the roof's remains began to fall, taking the huntsmen with them. They settled on the next floor down, but before they could rise to their feet, what little remained of the floor above crashed into the already feeble structure, and they fell once more. Apparently, the floor below was more stable. Laurel stirred, working her way to hands and knees and looking over to Ichigo. He sat up, started brushing dust off Hack n' Slash and fussing over its many ports and keys.
Laurel nodded, pebbles and dust falling from her hair. "Ground it is, then."
Lazula whipped around, and within a second Aegis was raised. She and Snow had found their way to the scraggly lawn in front of a false city hall. Stone pathways radiated like spokes from a fountain at their center. Broken. Non-functioning, rather. Lazula would have been surprised if water ever actually ran through the derelict old thing. The lower half of a stone woman held onto the fountain's base by the tip of a toe. Nothing above her waist was much more than a fist-sized chunk of marble, scattered in the rainwater mote below her feet.
Lazula's eyes scanned the city for the source of the sound. There, at the top of a building about a block away, a huge pair of black wings beat. With a shriek, the Nevermore took to the sky. That was a worthwhile target, Lazula thought. She didn't see anyone else engaged with it, and if it had attacked someone in the building, it looked like they'd need her help.
"Snow. New target," Lazula commanded, pointing at the colossal vulture. She took off toward the building with Snow tailing. "When you're in range, get its attention!"
The animatronic body lifted on a slow beat of wings, circling its unseen prey before settling back down on the structure's broken edge. It pecked once, then again; like a crow plucking worms from the dirt.
"I can hit at least half of my shots from here," Snow analyzed. Her eyes mirrored the white of the sky.
"Good enough."
Snow pulled her weapon's handle from her belt. Twin barrels of hard light dust shaped at an angle in front of it, and a trigger sprung from the hilt. She raised her weapon even with her eye, and fired.
The vulture's head wrenched back and shook as a volley of glowing shots pelted its neck. It hopped up from its perch, hung in the air for a second to twist its wings straight, and descended on the huntresses below. Snow nimbly rolled clear of the attack. Lazula ducked down and shielded herself from a talon, pivoting on one foot and slashing the animatronic's leg with all the force it brought to her. It split beneath her blade and fell to the ground, frayed wires sparking in the rain.
"Hey! It's them!" a familiar voice called.
Lazula let her attention off of the Nevermore for a spare moment. Running out of the Nevermore's hunting ground was Ichigo, with Laurel just behind him.
"Thanks for getting that thing off us," he acknowledged between labored breaths. "Not gonna lie, we were a few pecks away from elimination."
"Glad we could help," Lazula returned. She looked up to watch the winged animatronic circle back around.
An ear-splitting burst of noise like a clap of thunder behind the four forced them to flinch. All but Snow hunched over and protected their ears out of instinct, but the white-haired huntress turned down the alley. She slid her thumb across her weapon's handle to lock the trigger inside, and barrels retracted into each other until they flattened to a single blade. Half a dozen Hellhounds raced toward the four. They were each at least the size of the two that had set upon Ichigo. Their jaws snapped with recordings of snarls and barks, crimson eyes gleaming with an animated ferocity. Behind them, the alpha of their pack. Twice as tall as Lazula at the shoulder, with three armored heads and a spine of steel blades down its back from shoulders to tail.
Lazula assessed their situation. The Nevermore hadn't committed to an attack yet, but still circled above. The park, and open air, was to their back. In front of them, a pack of vicious-looking Grimm-machines and their leader.
Lazula pointed at the advancing Hellhounds. "Laurel! Pick them off!" she turned. "Snow. Hold your fire on the Nevermore for now. Join Laurel! Ichigo, keep your eyes up!"
Laurel nodded and scrambled ahead, mounting her rifle on the rusted hood of an old-fashioned sedan. Her shots met the Hellhounds, but as each fell, another joined in from behind their lumbering alpha. As they came close enough, Snow joined in with a barrage from her own gun, and Ichigo from his. The smaller shots had little effect, bouncing off armored plates or burying in their leathery black hides.
Lazula joined. She rammed the first with the force of a speeding truck, and heard metal joints snap behind her shield. She spun and cleaved a second in half, bringing her blade back around on the neck of a third. At Lazula's signal, Snow assisted. She struck twice at one Hellhound before switching to her weapon's Configuration C: the axe. She swung upward into its gut, then cartwheeled backward on one hand to dodge a flying claw strike from its packmate. Lazula whipped Aegis across her body, dashing the leaping Grimm to the street with little effort.
"Uh, guys?" Ichigo called. He pointed up.
With another shriek, the Nevermore dove again. As if on queue, the three-headed beast at the end of the alley began to charge. Ichigo dove to the ground, flipping onto his back and firing a spray of bullets into the Nevermore's gut. Laurel's shot tore through a wing and she wrenched her gun's lever, firing again twice before it reached the ground. Screeching in pain and frustration, it took to the skies.
Lazula glanced at it once more before signaling ahead with Impetus. "Take them one at a time. Go!"
Snow and Lazula charged first on the three-headed Alpha Hellhound. Snow slid under its ravenous jaws and behind it before planting her blade in the street to stop herself and kicking upward. She followed through and onto her feet to lash at its side with a tempest of strikes, each following the last in perfect fluidity. A flash of steel whirled around with blinding speed, lending Snow just enough time to evade, and land a blow from her axe. Lazula took the opportunity to land a few strikes of her own before another claw swipe glanced off Aegis and knocked her off balance.
The metal demon reared back onto its haunches, raising claws above its head. Lazula eyed the attack from behind Aegis. Ten machete-sized claws raised fifteen, twenty feet above the ground. She could probably take it. And if not, her aura could swallow up just about anything. But it was the Final Entrance Exam. As long as she didn't make some stupid, uneccessary mistake, her admission was guaranteed. Rather than take her chances, she tumbled aside to let the pavement shatter below the strike. Snow dodged to the other side but was launched back by a following claw swipe too fast to dodge.
"Snow!" Lazula called.
Snow landed about halfway across the street, then bounced and skidded the rest of the way to the sidewalk before planting her hands on the ground and flipping back to her feet. As if she hadn't felt the attack, she chased the Hellhound down once more.
Lazula paused her assault, watching the white-haired huntress dash in and resume tearing into the animatronic's side with her glowing blade. "Where the hell did she learn to fight like this?"
Two Beowolves tore down the alley nearest Ichigo. Eyes flashing with fear behind his lenses, he hid behind his gun and pulled its trigger all the way. The bullets tore at the creatures' synthetic flesh, but they continued on. Ichigo ducked under a swipe as he transformed his weapon and cleaved at the beast's arm. The attack met with a flash of sparks, and the Beowolf's arm hung on by a single wire. It bit at Ichigo, but its jaws were closed by a desperate uppercut from his hatchet. Laurel turned her gun down the alley, blasting out the knee of the Beowolf that had not yet reached him.
"Duck!" she yelled. Ichigo obliged, and a bullet tore straight between the eyes of the monster he engaged with. He stepped cautiously to the other, just in case its attempts at working its way back to its feet were successful. Its movement stopped when he brought his hatchet down on the crown of its head.
Over her shoulder, Lazula heard an explosion and a yelp of surprise or pain. She turned away from the beast before her to see Laurel wrenching herself back, away from shattering glass and twisted metal. A colossal spear of a feather pierced the car she mounted her gun on almost to the concrete below. More spears rained from the sky, splitting the street as they landed. One aimed directly at her.
Lazula raised Aegis. At the moment of impact she turned her shield ever slightly, taking most of the but flinging the feather to her side. She felt the energy swirl inside herself like a torrent of flame and leapt, flinging Impetus around herself in the air. In one sweeping blow, she cleaved a massive hole in the front of the Alpha Hellhound's chest and split the middle head clean in two. A visible arc of distorted air and shrapnel fired up from her blade, clipping the Nevermore's wing.
It began to fall.
The gleaming blade of Snow's weapon extended into a whip, lassoing the creature's neck and flinging it into the ground. Laurel stepped up, holding Snake Eyes to her side as the last piece of her axe twisted into place. She swung at the Nevermore.
Its head separated from its body, and its wings went limp upon the walls to each side of the street.
Lazula heard a chorus of jingles from all four Holobands.
"Congratulations. You have passed Sentinel Academy's Final Entrance Examination. Your test is now over. Please, make your way to the entrance of the arena. Do not attempt to interact any further with any animatronics."
Lilly stepped carefully down the path cut into the mountain's side. The jagged basalt wall next to her afforded little space between it and the steep drop to the treetops below. Lilly hurried her steps, eager to leave her treacherous perch for the much wider ledge a few yards before her.
The ledge was hardly safer. As she rounded a crag, an Ursa turned its head her way. Its eyes lit brighter. It huffed the air and lowered to all fours, throwing up a cloud of dust and pebbles as it barreled toward her.
The feather-haired huntress opened her parasol, Elysian Bloom. Elysian Bloom's design was a marvel of technology. Its lacy cover looked brittle enough to break after a bad drop, or a particularly violent gust of wind. Yet aided by the dust woven into its fabric, it was durable enough to withstand the Ursa's claws. With her free hand she flipped a latch at its handle, producing a rapier from inside of the bronze shaft. She whipped it across the Ursa's chest and jabbed its gut before pulling back to evade another attack. She twirled as she stepped backward, her parasol cover glowing with a soft white light. Lilly whipped the cover through the air between herself and the beast and a spire of stone followed, spiraling up from the ground to impale its side.
The Ursa raised an arm in an unnatural, jerking motion. Its jaw opened in an attempt to roar, but clicked twice with little more than a hiss of escaping steam. The animatronic began to smoke from the gash in its side.
Lilly sheathed her rapier and folded her parasol's cover before propping it back onto her shoulder. The Ursa lurched forward to reveal a man. Tall, with tousled black hair formed into a wide mohawk. Thick black boots, thrashed skinny jeans, and a black leather jacket to match. He slung a bat over his shoulder, and cocked his head back.
"What's your name?" the man asked.
"Lilliane," Lilly replied. She gave a quick, gentle laugh. "Though I suppose most just call me Lilly. And you are?"
The man projected a screen from his wrist. He scanned the rankings for several seconds in silence before looking up. "Corvis-Braun?" he prompted.
"That's me," Lilly allowed. "And, again. May I ask your name?"
"Noxis. Noxis Orion."
Lilly bid him another chaste smile, and a slight bow of the head. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Noxis."
"Mm-hm."
Lilly pursed her lips at his noncommittal reply. "...I see your tail," she offered. "I'll wager that you're a faunus? Canine, is my guess."
"A wolf, actually," Noxis explained. He leaned in a bit, narrowing his eyes. "That hair of yours. It doesn't look human either."
Lilly pulled her ponytail around her shoulder, running her fingers once through its feathery volume. "My mother's hair is much the same," she said proudly. "I'm a dove faunus, and she's a raven."
Caspian raced through the forest, gasping for breath with each desperate step. Yet, his mind ran faster. He had disabled a handful of Beowolf animatronics, but his score was no more than a quarter the threshold for passing. He had no idea how much time was left in the test. Twenty minutes had to have passed already, and the list of applicants still actively testing had thinned by just about half. He still hadn't found a partner. Rowan had passed by the time he was rejected by that black-haired faunus. Ichigo had teamed up with Laurel, Snow had teamed up with his sister, and both pairs passed several minutes before. Lilly had teamed up with the guy who rejected him, and passed just after that.
Who does that guy think he is?
Caspian's heart felt as if it stopped mid-beat. The screen showing applicant rankings froze for a second before going blank, and a jingle played from his Holoband.
"Sentinel Academy's Final Entrance Examination has concluded. Please, make your way toward the arena entrance. Do not attempt to interact further with any animatronics."
"No. No no no nononono!" Caspian pleaded, pounding a finger into his Holoscreen. He slowed to a trot, then fell to his knees. Mud splashed onto his fists and coat as he slammed the ground in his fit of frustration. Somehow, he knew this would happen. With all those who applied, someone had to fail, after all. And of course that someone would be him.
Caspian. The son of Twilight Crusade's famous leader. The one who led his band of amateur huntsmen against the Church of Awakening; a cult responsible for thousands of deaths, and the extermination of several villages in Northern Mistral in their attempt to bring back the Brother of Destruction. The one who had gone on to become Headmaster of Sentinel Academy, unheeding of the cries that a new school in this time of peace was a waste of time, money, and dust.
Caspian. The twin brother of Lazula Skye. The Indomitable Girl, the celebrity athlete, who had not once lost a tournament match. Hardly any lasted more than a minute against her. Her aura, her strength, it all seemed far too much for one person. She exuded that strength and confidence wherever she went, a naturally-born leader.
"Do remember, if you were unsuccessful in passing the examination, your transcripts will be sent to all other schools," Caspian's Holoband reminded.
He felt like the automated voice and the blue arrow guiding him to the entrance of the arena were mocking him. He knew they were. He wanted to rip the thing off his wrist and stomp it into the mud but, in the continued view of several television drones, begrudgingly obliged. His face was a catatonic mask, eyes frozen on the ground. Keeping up his default smile was nauseating. Exhausting.
"How am I going to face my family?"
The cheers of the crowd grew louder as Caspian neared the stands. He didn't want them to see him. If only there was a backdoor, he thought. But he remembered one single bottleneck as the passage between the spectators' stands and the bridge to Sentinel. He had no choice but to keep walking.
Nearer still, the cheers of the crowd devolved into something horrific. The screams of hundreds, piercing through the mechanized wail that, until the night before, Caspian never thought he would hear. The long, sustained wail he had learned since childhood meant an attack by the Creatures of Grimm. His Holoband screamed with an alert.
"Incoming Grimm attack. Threat level: six. Please remain behind the hard-light barrier, and remain calm as possible."
Caspian's tongue swelled in his throat. His heart pounded against his chestplate, and he felt hot under his outfit. The Grimm were here. This couldn't be part of the test, could it? After what happened the night before, there's no way his father would do something like this. But maybe, it was. Maybe it was all a drill, and he still had a chance. He quickened his footsteps.
The stands finally came into view around one last corner of the broken city. A black swarm swirled above the spectators' stands, screaming with fury as their claws tore at the hard-light walls between them and the hundreds of people huddled inside. A hulking monstrosity stood at the lone passage between the arena and Sentinel's campus. Nearly three times Caspian's height, and just as wide. Indescribably ugly. Broad shoulders like a bull, muscle bulging underneath the black flesh of its sinewy arms. It had the horns of a ram, and a red line running down the middle of a white face far too human for Caspian's comfort.
Its spines and plates were jagged, worn and uneven. Not the clean cut steel of the animatronics.
The Headmaster's face appeared on the hard-light barrier. "This is not part of the examination. These are not animatronics," he spoke urgently. "A safe zone has been set up in Sentinel Stadium. I have deployed all of my huntsmen and dozens of Organds to campus to ensure your safety. Please wait behind the hard-light barrier until they have cleared out the Creatures of Grimm."
The Bullfiend reared its head back, letting loose the bellow of a tortured man. It charged forward, crashing into the stands horn-first with the force of a steam engine. The Headmaster disappeared and screams poured out of the newly formed cracks in the dust barrier. It ripped its horns out slowly and split the wall further, a growl arising in its throat.
Caspian's trembling hand grasped Undertow, and pulled it from its sheath. He lowered the weapon to his side, trying to keep his breath even as his eyes met the monster's.