Roman Torchwick watched the chaos unfold on tv from the safety of his office back at the temporary White Fang headquarters located at the former storage facility near the abandoned station leading to Mt. Glenn, which was where the primary operation was located. Just outside the office were White Fang grunts, real members and not just naive recruits or the ones lacking the spine to do what needed to be done, packing their bags and making sure that everything worth taking was ready to be transported to Mt. Glenn. Normally such an undertaking could never be accomplished without attracting all manner of unwanted attention but the violence over at the market square warehouses gave them a near-perfect opportunity, just as planned even if it wasn't perfect.

They would not be able to escape attention but that only mattered if the people who spotted you had any ability to act against you and right now the police, academy, and Huntsmen were being forced to focus their numbers elsewhere. A not insignificant section of the Market Square had to be vacated for everyone's safety and that was no easy task given how busy commerce tended to be. Then there were the remnants of the Nightwatch who had to be rounded up along with the White Fang who remained behind, Civilians had to be rescued and questioned, that… thing had to be put down, and of course, there had to be people on stand by to face any Grimm who were drawn by the negativity, the cost of living next to the Emerald Forest. That left very little manpower to investigate what Roman's group was doing, it simply wasn't worth it.

With all that in mind, Roman should have been ecstatic, everything had gone off without a hitch. After tonight, there could be no doubt in anyone's mind that he and Neo deserved to be counted among the greatest thieves that Remnant has ever seen! Who else could claim to do what they had done… Now if only they had been able to accomplish all of that without a metaphorical gun pointed at their head that was threatening to become a very literal gun. And then of course was the issue of the Faunus, as strange as it was to think, Roman had found himself actually rooting for those animals. Maybe it was because he found something familiar about their struggle to be taken seriously, maybe it was because he understood what it felt like to be screwed over because you dared to fight back, or maybe it was because most of them were innocent, he didn't know.

"This isn't good enough," Roman wasn't speaking to anyone in particular besides himself. He got up from his chair and began to pace the room, he needed to find a way out from underneath Cinder's thumb but the woman was too careful not to mention there was an angle to all of this that he needed to figure out first. She acts like she's in charge but that doesn't add up, none of this benefits her in any way and she doesn't seem to be an Anarchist or an Accelerationist like me. The only thing that makes sense is that Cinder is a pawn in a much bigger game and it's one that I want nothing to do with.

He stepped outside to escape from the stuffy office and surveyed the clean-up, it was going well. Things would be left behind and depending on what it was they would either be left alone or destroyed, already there was a team of grunts gathering and setting fire to electronics deemed unnecessary. What a waste, a lot of that could have been sold for good money. But his concern wasn't with the objects scheduled for immediate destruction, his concern, and his hopes lay amongst what was going to be left behind.

"It's not much but it's the only lifeline we got."

Blake was feeling utterly overwhelmed, despite her, Velvet, and the White Fang's best efforts the crowd was not calming down. It was taking everything just to keep them from doing something monumentally stupid and soon that wasn't going to be enough. Some people had already been trampled and others crushed by the masses as they pounded against the gate! Even worse was not knowing what was going on outside, she could hear fighting but that was it. She didn't know who was fighting who or where was PRAN in all of that mess, did they succeed in their hunt? Have they even found their target? Was Haley going to be alright?

Blake shook herself out of it, none of those questions mattered right now. What exactly mattered was finding a way to save as many of these people as possible and it was becoming clear that it wasn't going to be possible to accomplish that by keeping them inside this building, they were going to have to let everyone out. However, something like that was insanely risky for more reasons than she could list, But is it as risky as letting them panic in an enclosed space? Blake looked over to where Velvet was standing and saw that the upperclassman was nervously biting her nails, the look on her face told Blake that she had also reached the same conclusion; They had to evacuate the building but they needed more help before they could do so.

"Do you have a megaphone?" Blake asked the nearest Grunt.

"Um, I think Bill has it. I can go get it if you want."

"Just point him out, it'll be faster if I do it."

The man briefly looked around and then pointed to another man standing on the walkaway on the opposite side of the building watching the chaos below, "That's Bill but, why do you need a megaphone?"

Blake didn't answer him, doing so would be nothing but a waste of time when he and everyone else were going to find out in just a little bit. What mattered now was acting as quickly as possible, so she pull out her trusted weapon, Gambol Shroud, and threw it at the rafters while holding on to the ribbon. Once the weapon had hooked on to something, she gave the ribbon a pull and yanked herself off of the ground, and expertly swung to the other side of the warehouse where she landed without issue before retrieving and resheathing her weapon. Then she walked right up to the stunned Bill and pointed at the megaphone before asking, "Can I borrow that?"

"Y-ya, go right ahead," He handed it to her before returning to watch the mob below.

Now the next step was to talk to Velvet who was thankfully close by, "We need to get these people out of here."

"Don't you think I know that!?" Velvet angrily answered with enough force that Blake was taken aback. But then Velvet saw the surprised look on Blake's face and remorsefully sighed before apologizing, "Sorry, I…I'm just frustrated. Do you have an idea?"

"It's alright, do you have a way to create barriers?"

Velvet's curiosity was peaked, "Yes, I can take pictures of the walls here and then create duplicates out of Hard Light Dust but they won't last long, why?"

Blake took a deep breath to prepare herself for what she knew was going to sound stupid, "I want to let these people out and use the barricades to corral them to the police."

"We're going to need more people."

That was not the answer Blake had been expecting but she wasn't about to argue, "The rest of my team is coming to help."

"That's still only three people, we need more."

"We can't wait for more, we need to start now before even more people get hurt."

Velvet looked over to the mob beneath her and slowly nodded, "Alright, I'll talk to the White Fang and call Dews to let her know. Meanwhile, you go and try to calm down the crowd." She then walked away from Blake and up to the nearest grunt to fill them in and discuss what they needed to do to make it work, that was the easy part.

Blake on the other hand had the much harder job of actually getting the crowd to listen and if possible getting them to calm down even a little bit. What would dad say in a time like this? "ATTENTION EVERYONE! WE ARE PLANNING AN EVACUATION BUT WE NEED YOUR COOPERATION!" Some people stopped to listen but the majority either didn't hear her or had no interest in what she had to say, she didn't blame them so she repeated, "WE ARE PLANNING AN EVACUATION BUT WE CAN'T DO IT WITHOUT YOUR COOPERATION!"

"Fuck you! Just let us out!" Shouted an angry and scared man.

"Yeah! Let us out already!" Yelled a feminine voice that Blake couldn't place.

It wasn't just those two people either, more were starting to join in and it encouraged the Huntress. Blake's time in the White Fang, back when her father was in command, taught her that a negative response was better than none at all because at least it meant that they were listening, and if they were listening then they could be reasoned with. However, that same experience had also taught her that the reasoning was often the hardest part as it was near impossible to change the mind of someone who wasn't open to it.

But I don't have to convince everyone, just enough to make this work, Blake thought to herself before using the megaphone again but speaking softer than before. "We are going to evacuate you all to a safe zone, we are cooperating with the Huntsman Acadamy to do so but we still need your help to make this work."

"Bullshit!" Someone in the crowd shouted, "Why would the Academy ever work with the White Fang?"

That was a good question but at the same time it was an opportunity, if she could prove that the Academy was really was here to help them then virtually all of the citizens here would have no choice but to believe her, "I'm from the Acadamy and I can prove it!"

"Then do it!"

Blake pulled out her scroll and used an app to project her Beacon student ID into the air, due to the small size of the projector only the people closest to her could really make it out but the act alone was enough to convince at least a few people and they would go one to convince a few more. And out of the corner of her eyes, she could see that Velvet had followed suit and was also projecting her ID along with a familiar-looking girl standing next to the upperclassman, Ruby? When did she get here and where is the rest of the team?

Almost as if she could somehow hear her, Ruby turned and looked at Blake before using her Semblance to quickly close the gap, "I'm so happy you're safe, we're all so worried!"

"It's a relief to see you but, where are the others?"

"They're just outside making sure the area is safe and it's not just Yang and Weiss either, Sun, Neptune, Penny, and the rest of Velvet's team are outside, just tell me what you and we'll get it done!"

Blake's eyes widened out of pleasant surprise, "I assume that Velvet has already filled you in on what I want to do but we can't risk people wandering into trouble."

"So you need barricades, anything else?"

"We also have injured people, we need paramedics."

Ruby nodded and disappeared in a burst of petals as she activated her Semblance to quickly reach and go through the window that had been broken earlier by the brick that started the panic. Then out of curiosity Blake walked over to that same window and peeked outside, the first thing she noticed was that it was a straight drop to the concrete below, Ruby must have jumped up to this window, or did she use her Semblance? It does seem to work a bit differently from most speed Semblances.

The second thing that she noticed was her team leader quickly moving from person to person in order to fill them in on what they were going to do. It was fascinating watching them move together as they quickly worked out a plan and split themselves into groups to put that plan into action. In a matter of seconds, they were gathering material and Dust to start the construction of a wall that would lead the people inside to safety. Old rods, cables, and Ice Dust that would create a layer of ice covering it all to help keep it together and to make it easier to see, the plan was going to work.

Then she spotted a third thing that caused her to draw Gambol Shroud, switch it to pistol mode and, shout the one word that everyone was afraid of, "HOSTILES!"

The monster came in with a wide swing, it was fast, fierce, and carried a lot of force however it was also telegraphed and excessive. Because of that, Jaune was able to step in and block the strike with his shield and very little difficulty, his training sessions with Pyrrha having paid dividends in improving his guarding and bracing skills. Then the others made their move, Ren pointed his pistols at one of her legs and opened fire shredding flesh and bone. Pyrrha shoved her spear into the monster's abdomen and twisted it to damage the entrails but paused when she felt the tip of her spear touch something hard and out of place. As for Nora, she was the only one who didn't attack, instead, she held in her hand a shard of Electric Dust and began to feed her Semblance to prepare it for later.

Then something happened, the monster's leg broke in half which normally would be a good thing but blood from the stump began to violently spray everywhere. This forced Team PRAN to back away since they had no idea what properties the creature's body fluids might possess, there were well-documented cases of Grimm having Acidic "Blood," or venom. There were plenty of tragic stories of Huntsmen meeting their end because they did not practice proper precaution when dealing with a strange Grimm with unknown abilities and Team PRAN had no intention of becoming another example. Besides, there was no true danger in giving the target some space, there was not much it could do while missing a leg and it gave them a chance to observe its regeneration, and maybe find a way to stop it.

Nora switched her weapon to its grenade launcher form, "I can hit the thing with an incendiary round."

"Don't" Pyrrha quickly ordered, "We don't know what's inside these warehouses or containers. Do you have any Ice Grenades?"

"I got two of them."

"Save them for now, we'll use them when we're certain to finish it off. Also from here on out, I want everyone to use hand signals whenever possible, we don't know if that thing can understand us."

"Ugh, I think some of it blood got in my mouth," Jaune said to himself before spitting, he then looked at Nora and signaled for a general antidote.

"Of course!" She handed him a vial that was filled with the medicine.

"You're gonna want to hurry up." Ren calmly said as he watched the creature slowly back away from the group while holding on to its severed leg. "Do you think she going to try and reconnect it?"

"I don't know," said Jaune as he handed the empty vial back to Nora. "My regen isn't as strong as hers, though I can't say that I've ever tried something like that." The similarities in our abilities are too close to be a coincidence... Is that what I'm going to become? It was a terrifying thought, it was bad enough having his body changed without his consent and in ways that he still didn't understand but at least he still had his mind, she didn't get to keep hers. No. No. No, she's not the same as me! It's similar but it's still different, maybe she's also a victim of the same guy who drugged me back then but if that's the case then what he gave her isn't what he gave me. I'm not a monster. I'm not sure what my body is becoming but I'm not a monster.

"Are you okay?" Pyrrha asked.

"Y-yeah, it's just… weird looking at, that," Jaune replied while keeping an eye on the monster who was holding its cut-off leg and pressing it against the stump in an attempt to reattach it, whether it was working was something that he couldn't tell. He then turned his eyes away from the target to look at his partner, "I'll be fine."

"Good." Pyrrha then turned to everyone else and with her hands conveyed her idea; She and Jaune would attack from the front and as they did, Ren and Nora would go around. Ren would wait for the right time to launch a crippling attack and Nora would try to crush the creature's head. After all, nothing could survive without a brain and even if this was the exception, a lack of eyes and ears would make the fight easy. There was a brief and silent discussion to work out the details, It was a solid plan and it didn't take Ren and Nora more than a moment to disappear behind a building as Jaune and Pyrrha raised their shields and cautiously approached the target who was eyeing them both carefully.

The creature almost seemed uncomfortably human as it pressed its back against the nearest wall, if they hadn't seen the results of its handiwork they might have reconsidered eliminating it. But that thing was simply too dangerous to let live and wasn't it clear whether it was putting on an act, or if suspected that Ren and Nora would try to attack from behind, or if it was actually afraid of them. When Jaune and Pyrrha inched ever so closure the creature raised the pipe it had used as a weapon earlier, it was bent at a near ninety-degree angle due to the force of impact when it had struck Jaune's shield, it pointed the pipe at them as though it was trying to threaten them with it. The pair paused for a moment to see what it would do but it soon became clear that there wasn't much it could do from its position.

"This is too easy," Pyrrha whispered to Jaune.

"Maybe it's trying to lure us closer, do you want to shoot it? I'll cover you."

She nodded and then pressed a button on her spear, the weapon then reconfigured itself into a rifle. She then took aim and tried not to look the monster in the eyes as Jaune stood guard. The beast saw what Pyrrha was about to do and in a moment of desperation threw the pipe with all of its might and lost its balance in the process causing it to fall forward. Jaune blocked the pipe and Pyrrha opened fire, the first shot hit the creature in the back, the second shot broke off a piece of its antlers, and a third shot buried itself in the left shoulder. At this time Ren appeared from around the corner and start to pelt it with bullets and Nora came in with her hammer to finish the job, but she was too slow.

The creature's leg had already reattached itself and when it fell over, it pressed those legs up against the wall and now was time for its counterattack. It pushed against the wall with all of its might which resulted in explosive power that launched it head first towards Pyrrha and Jaune.

The beast plowed right into them and its weight and speed knocked the two partners off of their feet but while Pyrrha merely fell to the floor, Jaune wasn't nearly as lucky. Without Aura to protect him, the antlers pierced into any part of his body that wasn't covered by his armor which resulted in him being stabbed in several nonvital but still painful spots, his upper arms and legs, his mouth, and an eye. The pain became even worse when the creature stopped charging and stood upright dragging Jaune along until he was dangling right over her head like a bleeding writhing decoration atop a crown of horns. The worst part was how he had remained conscious through the whole ascent, even now he was fully aware as his own body weight pushed him further down on the antlers. But the absolute worst part was the look of abject fear on the face of his teammates, fear not for their own safety but for his.

Jaune wanted to tell them that he was fine, he tried to tell them that he was fine, he desperately tried to say anything that could help them refocus but he couldn't form any words while being stabbed through the mouth by an antler that was also exceedingly uncomfortable. The only thing he could do was make meaningless sounds that only emphasized how much pain he was in, I got to do something! I got to get this thing out of my mouth! He tried bitting down but unsurprisingly his jaw was too weak to bite through bone, even though he could feel his body beginning to change in response to the physical trauma it was not enough to bite through. This isn't working! He tried to move his arms and found that he could to a degree, It's not enough to swing my sword but maybe I can make this work!

Meanwhile, Pyrrha found herself frozen on the spot, He getting hurt again because of me! Because my plan put him where it would be most dangerous, why do I keep hurting him!? Becoming a Huntress is not you're destiny. NO, Shut Up!

Ren ran over to her and reached out with his Semblance before placing a hand on her shoulder, and speaking with a slow even voice. "He's fine for now but we got to free him. Fortunately for us, it seems our target has a bit of a sadistic streak seeing how it's lording this over us."

"Jaune is basically being tortured right in front of us. Please tell me how is that a good thing because I can't see it?" Pyrrha asked confused rather than angry since Ren's Semblance was suppressing her ability to emotionally feel anything right now.

"She could have gained some distance and made a rescue rather difficult if not outright impossible. If I were to guess, I'd that she is trying to break our spirits before going for a kill. But that's a mistake on her part, we will be able to save him and that's a fact." It's a good thing I'm not immune to my own Semblance, I don't know what I would have otherwise done.

"Guys, I think Jaune is trying to signal us!" Nora said trying to feign calmness while desperately resisting the urge to run out to try and help her friend, And fail in the process just like in our fight with the Bicorn. No, we free him together, and then together we will kill that Bitch.

At first, neither Ren nor Pyrrha understood what Nora told them, they could see the creature standing there looking at them with smug cruel glee as though Jaune was just a decoration that it was showing off. But then they realized that he had managed to tear his shield arm free, had it not been for his own regenerative abilities there might have been a real risk of him bleeding out, and was now making familiar-looking motions that they might not have noticed without their dulled emotions.

"I- I, think he wants you to shoot him free," Ren concluded.

"I'm not sure I-," Pyrrha never got a chance to finish answering because the beast had finally gotten bored with their inaction, or maybe it suspected that they were planning something, and was now charging right at them.

Had there been no risk of hurting Jaune, none of them would have hesitated in attacking but now all they could do was defend. The Creature was physically powerful, their elongated limbs gave them reach, and they were deceptively fast but there was no skill to back up its strength, and its blows were unintentionally telegraphed. This creature had blood on its hands but it was clearly a novice of combat, which made the whole hostage situation all the more infuriating especially since they could hear Jaune moan and groan in pain every time the thing moved, they had to do something and do it fast.

Pyrrha struggled to come up with an answer, I can use my Semblance to pull Jaune off the antlers but I'll need a way to force it still. "Nora, I want you to freeze that thing!"

Nora nodded and reached into her bag to pull out the grenade as her hammer changed into a launcher however the target noticed what she was doing and made a beeline toward her. Ren and Pyrrha were quick to intercept and struck the sides of the beast, both paused for a moment when they felt something hard underneath the skin that couldn't have been bone, but the thing ignored the pain, assuming it was capable of feeling any, and just kept going. And then Nora dropped Magnhild and ran forward with a battle cry to meet the charge as the stored electricity was released from her body.

The two clashed with a roar and locked hands, for a brief moment it looked as though they were equally matched but then Nora twisted its arms until its wrists were pointing upward before pushing with all her might which shattered the creature's elbows. Then Nora let go of its hands, stepped in and grabbed the monster by the waist, picked the futilely struggling abomination off of the ground, and held it in place. But it was only of time before the creature broke free from her grasp, already its arms were repairing the damage. "If you guys have a plan you better do it now!"

Ren and Pyrrha instantly understood that Nora was right, if they were going to pull this rescue off then they would have to do it now, with a silent nod Ren ran past his leader as she stayed behind and used her Semblance to grab her partner's armor. Meanwhile, Ren reached his own partner and ran past her in order to reach the wall right behind her, he then pushed Aura into his legs, used the wall as a springboard, and vaulted right over Nora's head to deliver a flying kick into the beast's face causing its head to whip backward. Pyrrha then saw her chance and used her magnetic prowess to pull on Jaune's armor and rip him free from the antlers before gently carrying him over to her side, "Are you alright?"

Jaune fought through the pain and gave his partner a sufficient answer, "What do you think!?" Despite the tone of his voice he wasn't angry at her or Ren or Nora, was angry at the monster and at himself for falling for what was in hindsight a rather obvious a wounded gazelle gambit. That thing is smarter than we gave it credit for, it could have finished me off if it hadn't been a sadist.

Meanwhile, Nora could see that the monster was regenerating faster than Ren's attacks could hurt it and made a decision, "Ren, grab Magnhild and get ready to hand it to me." As soon as he was ready, Nora threw the monster as hard as she could before grabbing the grenade launcher out of her partner's hands and shooting a single shot before the creature fell out of sight behind a building.

"What did you shoot at it?" asked Ren.

Smoke began to rise and the sound of bestial screaming filled the air, "An incendiary which should keep it down for a bit but we have to move quickly. But first, let's check on Jaune."

It only took them a second to reach the other half of their team, their wounded comrade wasn't bleeding anymore but the holes poked by those antlers had yet fully close. The good news, however, was that his armor had held strong so nothing vital had been hit, that being said, there was still the issue of his right eye which did get destroyed. It was growing back but until it did, he would be blind on this side and that might be something that their target would take advantage of.

But right now there was a bigger concern on Nora's mind, "Um, Jaune… did you get taller?"

"What?"

"Yeah, I think you did become taller and your fingernails… were they always so sharp?"

Jaune looked at his fingernails and saw that they did seem sharper but it wasn't just that, they were longer, thicker, and had a slight curve that reminded him of claws… because that was what they had become. "I'm guessing that my eyes have become copper-colored again?"

Ren took a quick peek, "Yes but they seem a little more reddish than normal and the veins around your face are more pronounced and darker?. Hmmm, your semblance might be evolving."

A chill ran up Jaune's spine but he forced himself to smile and sound pleased, "G- good, maybe we can use it to beat that thing?" It's evolving!? Shit! Does that mean I'm becoming more like her?

Pyrrha stood up, You let him be hurt and you'll just keep on hurting him. Just like how you hurt him during th-, pushed the voice of doubt into the back of her mind and addressed her team. "Nora, how much longer do we have?"

"30 seconds."

"Then let's talk and walk," Pyrrha began moving towards the rising smoke and cries of pain as her team followed along. "Ren, earlier you and I cut that thing together, did you notice anything weird?"

He thought it over for a second, "Yes, I felt something hard beneath the flesh, it could have been bone but if it is then it's one that I don't know of."

The creature would be in sight soon, they needed a plan and Jaune wasn't sure that this question was leading to one. "We don't know what that thing really is, why couldn't it have bones that we don't know about?" He asked sounding more upset than he intended to thanks to still fresh resentment over his time as an antler decoration and the revelation of his changing condition.

"You're probably right but I still want to get a better look at it, so we're going to cut its belly open and see what's inside!" Pyrrha replied.

The creature wasn't screaming or on fire anymore by the time they reached it, instead, it was standing up and glaring daggers at them all but at Nora especially. In its hand, it was carrying a long heavy chain that it must have found while it had thrashed around trying to put the flames out. Its skin was charred black, there was exposed muscle tissue on many parts of its body and they could even see a rib jutting out of the creature's side. However they could also see the skin starting to regrow over and cover the muscle, they could see the rib shifting as the body repaired itself and slowly pulled the wayward bone back into place. It would only be a matter of time before that thing was fully healed, they could not afford to give it the opportunity.

Jaune stepped forward, "It will go after my right side, Pyrrha can you use your Semblance to keep the chain off of me?"

She sat down cross-legged on the floor, "I'll do more than just protect you, I'm going choke it out with its own weapon."

Nora loaded a flare, "I'm going to blind it."

"I'll provide covering fire," Ren added.

"Wish me luck," Jaune began running towards the monster who threw one last glare at Nora before whipping the chain at a speed so frightfully fast that Jaune instinctively knew that he had no chance to dodge even if he had both eyes. However, that wasn't going to be a concern as long as Pyrrha had his back and she quickly proved that his faith was not misplaced as the chain suddenly froze in midair as her Semblance took hold. The creature pulled on its improvised weapon in an attempt to free it from the invisible magnetic grip, and the creature's inhuman strength soon proved to be a challenge to Pyrrha's control as the tug-o-war forced the Huntress to use more Aura than normal just to keep up. But then a flare struck the creature right in the face blinding it as bullets pelted its body and forcing it to let go of the chain in order to protect its face.

Meanwhile, Jaune had managed to close the gap and was now looking for an opening to strike and it wasn't easy. The beast couldn't see him but it knew that he was there and it was on guard, waiting for him to strike so that it could strike back. Even worse was the reality that the blindness caused by the flare was temporary at best, already he could see the creature blinking as its eyes acclimated to the sudden light. He could see that the bullets from Ren's pistols were slowing the beast down but they lacked the punch to do more than that and as for Pyrrha, he could see that controlling the chain was trickier than she had anticipated. But that did not mean that his teammate's efforts were wasted; on the contrary, the blinding, the bullets, and the magnetically controlled chain now attempting to wrap around the beast's throat made it lurch backward exposing its belly, which was the moment he had been waiting for.

He quickly stepped forward and thrust his sword at the beast which pierced its gut with a satisfyingly wet sound as the creature began to thrash. Jaune raised his shield to protect his still blinded side and tried his best to endure as he fished around for something hard, he found it right where the small intestines should have been. Now what? A small sense of dread crept into him when he realized that he would have to stick his hand inside her guts to pull out whatever was in there, Why can't it be something easy for once?

Suddenly as if the universe could hear his thoughts, the creature managed to get a good solid hit in and forced him to let his shield be knocked right out of his hand lest he be knocked down to the floor instead. Shit, I think she fractured my arm! Out of the corner of his good eye, he could see her raising her fist to strike again, he was nearly out of time and already he could feel a magnetic pull on his armor as Pyrrha prepared to yank him to safety. With no time left to waste he decided to put Nora's earlier comment about his fingernails to the test and with a shout pulled his sword out of the monster's guts before plunging his own hand inside. The beast screamed but whether it was out of pain or surprise or some combination of the two was something Jaune didn't know and didn't care to find out. What mattered was that it gave him just enough time to find what he was looking for, It's cold?!, and pull it out be he shouted, "I got it!"

Pyrrha pulled him back as soon as the words left his mouth and as she did so, Nora stepped up and fired a grenade filled with Ice Dust that hit the creature square in the chest and froze her over. "That won't hold them back for long so let's not waste any time."

Jaune opened his hand while everyone gathered around to see what he had pulled out of her intestine. It was a shard of Ice Dust, "What!? Was she eating Dust?" Jaune asked no one in particular.

"Now everything makes sense," said Ren as he stroked his chin while Nora and Pyrrha nodded along in agreement.

"It might make sense for you but I'm still very much confused."

Pyrrha quickly answered, "Oobleck can explain it much better than me but, there is an old technique called Dust Infusion where you inject Dust into your body, sometimes by just stabbing yourself with a shard. It's incredibly painful but the results are impressive," she glanced at the target to let Jaune know what she meant.

"So does that mean we got to pull out all the Dust?"

Nora hefted Manghild which was now in its hammer form, "Nah, we just need to keep hitting it. Besides, her tank is already half empty."

Jaune glanced at the shard of Ice Dust still in his hand and noticed that it was somewhat faded, Nora's right! That thing can't take much more of this… but neither can we. He placed the Ice Dust in his pocket before two handing his sword, "Now is as good a time as any."

Team PRAN charged together and they struck together shattering the ice into a fine mist as the beast was sent flying right into and through the wall of a nearby warehouse. The huntsmen-in-training quickly retrieved Jaune's shield that he had been forced to drop earlier and then cautiously approached the hole. Inside they could hear what they assumed was the creature moving around but there was a cloud of dust blocking their view, they couldn't see it but they could hear that their target was struggling just to stand up, they could hear its heavy breathing as it tried to no avail to move away from them. They moved in as the dust cleared not to finish it off but so they made sure that it could not escape, they wanted to end the fight here if it was at all possible.

"I can see movement," Ren shouted when he spotted a silhouetted figure limping away. "I can't confirm if it's the target."

"Hold positions and keep watch, we're not getting blindsided a second time!" Pyrrha ordered and her team obeyed.

The dust was now mostly cleared and the monster was standing right before them, her limbs were bent at odd angles but they were realigning themselves but at a noticeably slower pace than before. The realization that all the damage they had dealt up to this point wasn't in vain was of great comfort, this creature was not immortal, she bled, she sweat, she felt pain, and her sadistic confident expression was gone and replaced with a desperate gleam in her eyes as it finally dawned on her that this may be her last stand. This hunt was coming to an end soon and both sides were waiting to see if the other had one last trick up their sleeves.

Pyrrha used her hands to communicate a simple plan; Nora would fire a flashbang and then everyone would rush in at different angles to strike but they would not be going for a killing blow. Instead, they would each destroy a limb and then they would take off her head, it was a cruel plan but it would be an effective one that remove almost any chance of significant resistance, I won't have a repeat of the Bicorn.

"Um, Pyrrha?" Jaune was pointing nervously at the target, "Why is it smiling?"

"What!?"

The beast was indeed smiling because it did have one final trick up its sleeve. It began to scream and as it did, bones start to protrude from underneath its skin and ripped free in a shower of blood. Soon those bones began to branch out and twist in every direction as Team PRAN attempted to put a stop to whatever this was with a shower of lead. However it wasn't enough, the bones kept growing, branching, twisting, and she kept screaming until it stopped almost as suddenly as it began.

Her body was now covered in what appeared to be antlers similar to ones that were already present on her head. But this was different, it might have just been the overactive imagination of youth but these new antlers bore a striking similarity to armor. The way they wrapped around her body and each other resulted in an oddly protective quality that was most apparent with her head since it was now covered in an ivory bloodstained wreath of bone that almost seemed to function as a helmet. And the most worrying thing about her new form was just how many of those antlers ended with their sharp points facing outward, even bumping into her would result in stab wounds not dissimilar to when Jaune had been a fleshy decoration and hostage.

"She isn't going to let us kill her that easily," Nora said with her own smile to hide how worried she really was, Why didn't it do this earlier? Is it going to try an escape?

Nora was not the only on who felt this way but she and her friends were misunderstanding the creature's intention. This armor was not a way to save itself, it had no desire to do so, and it did not fear death. What the beast wanted was to end the life of just one more person and this was a way to guarantee that last kill before its own life ended, who could ask for more?

Author's Notes: I wanted to keep this chapter shorter than the ones before it since its purpose was to serve as a bit of a transitional point to the climax and end of this Arc. Depending on how things work themselves out, it will either take one or two more chapters before we delve into the aftermath, and believe me when I say that there will be consequences, but not all of them will be immediately apparent.

But trust me when I say that when it does come, it is going to come in like a hurricane.