Niel led the chase at the forefront of the group with a wounded Port atop his shoulders. His pistol in hand, he ran as fast as he could across the rooftops while maintaining balance.
Lukas followed behind with a terrified Neptune next to him. While the blue-haired boy took flight easily, it took all of Lukas' capability to maintain his calm and herd his panicking peer to move with the group.
Then there was Raiden, assisting Sun who carried Scarlett. Despite the red-haired boy's wounds, he kicked up a fuss at the sight of the creature behind them. His voice soon went hoarse as his throat failed him and with his battered limbs fought to free himself of Sun's grasp and escape on his own.
Finally, at the rear was Caelum watching their pursuer. Their retreat was moving quickly but the Wendigo, now freed from the confines of the destroyed attic, began striding after them. They had earned a distance of six rooftops before the beast freed itself. Within a short time, it had closed the distance to a single rooftop between Caelum and its black drool-glossed fangs.
Seeing his team and the wounded ahead, Caelum dug into his pockets. His semblance activated as he felt the cool sensation grace his hands before he grasped a soft malleable object in his left and a solid square in the right.
Running along the uneven rooftops he hurriedly pulled out the objects, fiddling with them as he went. Ripping a small package the long wound-up cord came out as he inserted it into the square device. Then he took two prongs attached to the cord and inserted them within the soft clay-like object.
Spinning on his heel, Caelum threw his arm forward in time to see the Beast on the same roof as him. Mid spin, he hurled the clay-like object at the creature's face, its eyes uncaring for the small offending object as it pursued.
Completing his spin and facing forward again, Caelum jumped to the next roof just behind Raiden as he flipped a switch on the square object and depressed the 'clacker.' With a thunderous eruption, the five pounds of C4 he had thrown in front of the Grimm had gone off and caved in the upper floor of the structure it stood upon, launching him into a roll.
At the sound of the explosion and the sensation of the concussion, everyone's eyes shot back to see the rising smoke in the darkness as the Grimm shot out of the destroyed roof like a bullet. A horrible screech like knives against glass grated their ears as the large Grimm descended upon Sun.
Caught off guard by the creature's sudden leap, Sun nearly lost his balance as the large Grimm clattered against the roof tiles. Thrashing about, the Wendigo reached around wildly grasping for the one who had injured it. Despite his exceptional balance, Sun couldn't avoid the beast's flailing appendages as he was knocked back toward Raiden and Caelum, dropping Scarlett who slowly slid to the roof edge.
Fighting for a footing and purchase to stay atop the roof, Caelum and Raiden watched from behind along with Niel and Lukas ahead as the monster grasped Scarlett in its spindly fingers and slowly eyed its new possession. The damage from the plastic explosive was evident. One of its four mandibles had been blown clean off, leaving a trail of black blood to ooze from the open bone. Its large deer-like antlers now held a few fewer prongs and the skull possessed new thin spiderwebbed cracks across it. Through the haze in its disoriented eyes, it stared down at Scarlett in its hands as the others watched with bated breath.
The red-haired boy couldn't breathe within its clutches, gasping for air, a panic in his eyes as horror overwhelmed him. Finally, it seemed to understand who it held and it wasn't what it wanted. In an instant, its burnt arm threw Scarlett towards the streets below with a brief scream and loud 'crack.'
Caelum and Sun descended upon the Grimm immediately as Raiden checked below. Just barely visible past the wafting red mist, was the still figure of Scarlett. Eyes lifeless and staring up at him. Momentarily shaken by the sight, Raiden turned to see Sun dropkick the Wendigo with little effect.
The faunus agilely recovered with a handstand and back flip to his fighting stance and delivered a few shells of buckshot at the creature's chest as Caelum followed up, slamming the beast's oncoming hand into the roof's woodwork with his weapon as an impromptu hammer. Utilizing the opening, Sun jumped into the air, anger in his eyes as his semblance glowed gold and two copies of him descended upon the Grimm, nunchucks at the ready and intending to split apart the already cracked skull.
A soul-shivering screech emitted from the creature's throat as it pulled its hand out of the roof and swatted at Caelum as Sun came down. Forced to dodge, Caelum was unable to help as the creature threw its head back and its antlers impaled Sun's copies, dissipating them. The smooth surface of the skull met Sun's chest mid-air luckily avoiding impalement but striking the breath from his lungs as he was sent flying away.
Interrupting his flight, Sun crashed into and through a stone chimney before landing against an outcropping of the roof. He had hardly stopped rolling when he saw the wendigo already upon him again, its relentless hunger pursuing his demise.
A sudden blow struck Sun in the torso as he was lifted off the ground by a swift kick delivered by Caelum. The painful save delivered Sun to temporary safety as Raiden retrieved him and tried to join the others who were gaining distance.
The moment his foot planted down after the kick, The beast's weight pressed down atop Caelum as he struggled to parry its wild and heavy swings. As an arm swung wide to strike him, Caelum locked his weapon in its scythe position and drove the blade into the shoulder joint between its armored bone, causing the arm to seize up mid-strike.
The Wendigo glanced at its unresponsive arm and back at Caelum who was breathing heavily from the intensive and straining combat. As the beast momentarily eyed his scraped, dented, and beginning to warp weapon in interest, Caelum stared at its face. As he fought to suppress his panic and think of what to do next, he noticed a simmering red glow between the cracks in its skull, as if it were soldering the damaged pieces together as they fought.
Even sustaining injuries, even when it should be growing tired, frustrated, suffering pain at its joint being hacked into. It showed nothing more than morbid interest and an intense hunger as its body emitted nothing more than haunting sounds of famine, thunderous heartbeats, and chilling chattering of bones.
The moment of affixation lasted no longer than a few seconds before the quick combat resumed. The monster reached with its free hand, not for Caelum but his weapon. Grasping the weapon it swiped its hand down the shaft, breaking off the drum and part of the charging handle, spilling bullets around.
Breaking his grasp on his weapon and remembering the fate of Sage, Caelum released his weapon and withdrew only to watch as the beast snarled and slowly pried the blade out of its thick hide. The blade had struck shallow, revealing it was more the creature's hardened carapace colliding against the scythe than the wound that prevented its swing.
As black blood slowly oozed down the weapon blade and the creature's arm, the two charged each other. Attempting to retrieve his weapon and disengage, Caelum was quickly struck mid-air by his own weapon as the beast swung it in an arc hitting him with the shaft. Following through with all its weight and a snap from its jaw nearly missing his head, Caelum was pressed into the tiles below before feeling an absence of resistance from behind.
Like a predator taking its prey into a death roll, the Wendigo grappled Caelum off of the roof and spun downwards into the sea of red fog below with the enraged clacks of its mandibles following the short descent.
A sudden crash was heard below as the others above looked down to see the brawl had crushed a small shed. Amidst the dark dust and red fog a mass of the two indiscernable figures moved. What was the Wendigo was clear as it reoriented itself, where Caelum lay was unknown until the beast lurched to the side in a sweeping motion, searching for him.
Those above then saw a fleeting figure as it stood out of the fog and dodged an incoming claw. Caelum lived, his translucent aura flickering as he vaulted over the beast's arm and behind. His weapon was gone, nowhere to be seen in the swirling mist. Two hands landed beside him blocking further lateral movement as he glanced to see the beast's enraged maw descend on him.
Stooping low to buy a fraction of time, his hands swept the ground for anything to strike at the monster. Feeling a narrow pole he raised his arms and swung as hard as he could. He had grabbed an old rusty scythe out of the destroyed toolsheds debris and drove the bladed end into the Grimms eye socket.
The tip drove low, impaling the hard flesh beneath but not blinding or even harming the eye. Using the strength of the impact, Caelum propelled himself out of the Grimm's reach at the cost of the farming implements integrity. The steel blade snapped in two, lodging the sharp end within the monster's eye as the shaft splintered into limp, hanging pieces.
Amidst the discomfort of the steel beneath its eye, the Wendigo lashed out and grazed Caelum with the tip of its claws. As the beast wailed and thrashed about further, tearing into its own eye socket with two serrated fingers, Caelum brought a gloved hand to his face in disbelief. He felt the narrow tips of those same claws that it used on its own flesh. Felt them graze his face, disperse his aura, and cut his skin instantly.
He felt the small trickle of blood from the shallow lacerations before his aura staunched the flow and healed them. The sound of steel clattering against stone followed by silence and heavy breathing drew Caelum's attention from his shock. There with a heaving chest, the Grimm stared at him with one pulsating red eye, the other socket profusely bleeding as another red ball slowly grew replacing the previous which had been damaged in its primitive removal of the steel.
The boy and the beast had only been in their personal arena for a dozen seconds before his peers aided him. A hail of gunfire drew the Wendigo's attention as it turned around and raised an arm to shield its remaining good eye and discern the gunfire's source. Caelum took the moment to begin climbing to a rooftop with haste and saw Neptune, Niel, and Lukas firing all they had at the monster when a blue glow arose.
With a jolt of electricity and a blue flash, Raiden fired down at the Grimm. The round impact the beast's raised arm shearing it clean off from the concussive impact and penetrating past into its thigh, eviscerating a chunk of the bone and muscle. In shock, the Wendigo fell to the side with its newly damaged limbs no longer supporting it.
Releasing a heavy breath, Raiden opened the receiver to his railgun as it vented heat and he quickly placed another tungsten round within from between his fingers. The gunfire didn't cease as the few still standing were bolstered by the progress, Neptune even maniacally laughing in disbelief as he fired. Aside from the railgun, the other rounds held no effect and the beast rushed to the base of the building, crashing through a wall and shaking the foundation.
Caelum rushed to join his allies and saw the beast climbing with the cauterized nub of its arm and maimed leg, ignorant of any pain or shock. Raiden pointed his railgun over the edge only to narrowly miss a chunk of debris hurled at his head. As he backpedaled, the Wendigo appeared over the edge of the roof, jaws closing in on his extended arms.
A familiar roar arose from the side as the image of Lukas descending from above entered Raiden's eyesight. With his bat raised overhead, a side vent opened and dust discharged enhancing the strike atop the monster's skull, a crack emanating across the cold night air. The Wendigo's mouth slammed into the roof, clasping down a mouthful of clay tile as it lost its purchase and slid off the side.
Raiden was in disbelief as he fell to his ass. Realizing Lukas hadn't come up from his fall he ran to the roof's edge only to see the green-clad boy dangling by one hand on a window sill and the other holding his now bent bat. As Niel rushed over to retrieve his partner and Lukas gave a cocky grin of disbelief, Raiden saw the beast just before it disappeared out of sight.
As Caelum joined them a grating, grotesque howl sounded in the distance. "It took Scarlett's body" he announced pointing at the small courtyard below. Sure enough between the drifting haze, bloody drag marks could be seen. "Pick up the wounded, we need to move. Hopefully, his body will keep it preoccupied for a while."
"I don't think it's coming back after that ass-whooping," said Lukas with confidence despite the macabre statement from his leader.
"It will" refuted Caelum, dousing their hopes. "It's already healing. It had its eye again when it ran. The muscle on its thigh, it had even regenerated the bone of its elbow. It will be back." his declaration brought a gaunt look of horror to his teammates. Something he'd never wanted but the truth of the situation had to be understood.
"We need to find a mirror and evacuate. We can't resupply or treat the wounded anymore." He brought out a glass shard from his pocket. "We're officially fucked until then."
-Chapter End-