You consider your options with care. After weighing the outcomes of each choice, you realize that it would be best to go with balanced teams. There are too many unknowns in the fight ahead to commit to a more one-sided plan. Better to engage it first, to learn something about it, to actually comprehend how it fights, than to just to dive in.
You turn to the others and say, “I agree with Halina- we just don’t know enough to commit ourselves to a narrow approach. We’ll go in teams of two.”
Everyone nods their assent. After a brief discussion, you form teams to complement each other’s offense and defense. Pallav and Ulrich, who are old friends, stay together. You team with Halina, so you can guard her with your shield if need be. Metim teams with Xia, so he can pepper the Grimm with shots while Xia moves in to engage. Everyone nears their partner, confirms the plan, and then you set out.
It isn’t long before you can make out the Grimm on the road ahead. It still appears to be sleeping, but thanks to Halina’s intervention, you’re expecting it to be awake. You motion with your hands for the party to split up- you and Halina take the center, Pallav and Ulrich take the left, and Metim and Xia take the right. And, after everyone nods in agreement, you all burst apart. You dash forward, shield held aloft, Halina a few steps behind you.
You’re not surprised when the Grimm springs to its feet. But, damn, is it large- it is somewhere between a lithe Goliath and an over-sized Ursa. And it looks wicked- it has jagged, curling spurs of bone jutting out as ridges over its eyes, veins of red luminescence running along its back, and a barbed, pliant tail. It dives forward, then rears upwards, and snarls ferociously at you.
You keep charging.
It runs at you.
You have to keep charging.
Its mouth opens as it lopes closer.
You have flashbacks to earlier.
It leaps, raising its paw.
You raise your sword.
The gilded woman’s presence suffuses you with heat.
The Grimm’s claws come downward to rake you mid-stride-
You dig into the ground and shout, and with a titanic swing you launch an arc of fire at its paw.
It yowls, leaps back, and Halina leaps clean over you. She spins in mid-air, a barrage of knives flying from her hands and sleeves. The Grimm flicks its tail too fast, deflecting the knives. Halina drops to the ground, to her knees, then twirls into a standing position, hands and eyes glowing lilac. The knives fly back to her, but she continues her spin and slingshots them right back at the Grimm. It bats at them, but some sink into its paw. Halina beckons to you, yelling, “Come on!”
You sprint forward at the surprised Grimm. Halina dives in close, drawing her claw-like daggers from within her coat. The Grimm swipes at her, but she ducks and rolls, ending her roll under its body. She slices at its legs, and it tries to leap backwards, but Metim and Xia are already in position, and Metim is placing his shots carefully at the Grimm’s exposed back.
It whirls to face the new threat.
Halina goes to give chase, but the tail comes streaking down to strike her- and you dive to her side, trying to deflect the attack with your shield. The tail clatters off of the shield, but it comes back down, once, twice more. You’re trying to hold the shield over you and Halina, trying to block, your eyes trained on the barbs- and then the Grimm whips around again, batting you aside with one paw and knocking Metim to his feet with its tail. The tail wraps around his leg, then the Grimm swipes you so hard you’re bowled right over, knocked off your feet.
Xia jumps in, and she’s deftly swinging a weapon that consists of a copper ball attached to a lengthy rope. She casts it away, then snaps it back, windmilling the copper head to smash into the Grimm’s tail. It twitches and releases Metim, Xia throws her leg up, allowing the rope to catch on it- and you take the moment to scramble back to your feet. Xia’s technique is mesmerizing, but you have to move.
The demonic tiger is fighting all of you at once. Even as Xia snaps another arcing attack at the tail, a paw comes in to swipe you again. You duck in time, but then it kicks up a small wave of mud that splashes along your visor. You can still see just enough to watch the Grimm deflect Xia’s next attack. Metim uses his quarterstaff to parry a couple of swipes from the tail to defend Xia, who focuses on regaining the momentum her weapon needs. And then the Grimm pounces on Halina, catching her in its paws. You shout and start running, but someone sprints past you in a flash- Pallav.
Pallav is glowing green, and there’s a sigil traced along the back of his duster. You whirl around to see Ulrich chanting, his eyes trained on Pallav. There’s a scrap of paper floating in front of Ulrich, and it is glowing green with the same sigil that’s on Pallav.
You turn to Pallav again, in time to see his spear transform and extend. And then he leaps forward, slamming the extending spear into the ground, using it like a vaulting pole to launch himself upwards.
He sails clear over the Grimm’s back, his spear beginning to retract again, and then you hear Ulrich shout. Pallav freezes in mid-air with a flash of green light, then he’s launched downwards, right at the Grimm. He plunges his spear into the Grimm’s back.
It drops Halina, arches its back, and buckles, trying to shake Pallav off. Pallav grabs one of the beast’s bone crests, then his spear retracts further, transforming into a short, dense blade. He starts swiping at the Grimm, pushing off from the crest he’s clutching.
“Metim, Xia- move in, cover me!” You shout, running towards Halina. She’s on the ground, dazed, and Pallav won’t last up on the Grimm much longer. You hear Metim snapping his weapon through another rapid transformation, and he fires off a few shots at the Grimm’s legs. Its tail, about to clobber Pallav, whips around to strike Metim. Xia’s ready to defend, though: she winds her weapon around her leg and casts it with a kick, striking the tail head-on.
You hit the dirt by Halina, pulling her to her feet. “I’m alright,” she splutters. “My Aura’s holding, but, I’m just a little shaken!”
You hear a shout, and a few yards away, Pallav is sent sprawling and splashing into the mud. The Grimm turns its full attention on Metim and Xia, who are solely focused on parrying it. Xia dances backwards, keeping her weapon swinging in a steady rhythm, casting the hammer at the tiger’s tail whenever it draws close. As the Grimm goes to close the distance between them, Metim, teeth barred, is forced into a flurry of motion.
He reforms his weapon, parries a swipe, breaks his weapon, twists away from the Grimm’s snapping jaws as they come in for a chomp, point-blank blasts its face, snaps his weapon together, jabs its neck, deflects the other paw, breaks his weapon, releases the blade, slices the paw as it comes back, spins, shoots at its face in a desperate attempt to drive it back, and he’s bellowing wordlessly, he can’t keep up, and Xia’s swearing-
Ulrich dives in, swinging a mace with a head composed of whorl of a Dust crystal. He bashes one of the oncoming paws away from Metim, then he throws a scrap of paper into the air and whacks it. Beams of light burst out of the paper, shredding it, then extending and enveloping him, Metim, and Xia. The Grimm slams the light-turned-cage, but the bars hold. Ulrich plucks another scrap of paper out of his bag, then throws it into the air. It ignites, and the light-cage bursts apart. The beams stream outward, then curl back around and wrap themselves around the Grimm’s front-right paw, dulling its claws.
It snarls and tries to chomp on Ulrich, but Metim’s quarterstaff forces its jaws back. It swipes at them instead, batting Xia aside. It twists to avoid Metim’s gunfire, then whips its tail and knocks Ulrich’s mace clean out of his hands. It brings the light-enshrouded paw to bear on Metim, whose shots bounce ineffectively off the barrier that had just protected him. Metim is bowled over, and you can hear a sharp report from his Aura, indicating that he can’t take much more.
The Grimm arches its back and roars at the sky.
You turn to Pallav, shouting, “Reform the groups- get over to Ulrich and get him on his feet!”
He dashes off, and you turn to Halina. “Can you-”
“I can- I’m ready,” she says, her brow furrowed.
“Follow my lead,” you say, “and go for its eyes when it turns!” You run after Pallav.
The Grimm turns to face the three of you. It swipes its dulled paw at Pallav, dead-on. You go to shout, but he doesn’t even move. One second, the paw’s about to clobber him, the next- his entire body flickers, and he passes through the paw unharmed. It must be his Semblance, you think. He shouts with the strain of using the ability, but keeps running. The Grimm, baffled, can’t turn to him again, though- you’re coming right at it.
You have just enough time to see Pallav slide to a halt alongside Ulrich, grab him under his arms, and hoist him to his feet. Then, you focus on the Grimm.
You light your shield ablaze, then chuck it at the beast’s face. Surprised by the fire, it stumbles, takes the hit- and just as you expected, the shield glows lilac and rebounds away, back to Halina. You snap your sword in two, then dive at the dazed Grimm, slicing at its underbelly as you run underneath it. You keep running, between its hind legs, and reach the side where Metim and Xia are.
They’re getting back on their feet when the Grimm turns to face you, but you shout, “Scatter- get Ulrich to launch me on go!”
They dash away as the beast rushes towards you. Both your swords aflame, you lunge and slice at its paws, forcing it to step back. You hear a burst of gunfire- weakened as he is, Metim is lingering nearby, trying to distract the Grimm. You hear Xia bellow, “Ready!”
The gunfire stops, and the Grimm darts forward, ready to pounce on you like it did to Halina.
You brace yourself, then shout, “Go!”
The Grimm’s body looms over you, about to drop.
And something crashes into you-
You’re blasted forward-
Underneath the Grimm-
-and you slam face-first into the dirt.
You stagger to your feet, dazed, your Aura weakened. Turning, you see Ulrich rolling in the dirt by you, clutching a scrap of paper. “You tackled me?” You’re shouting, dumbfounded.
“Hhh- winded,” he wheezes. “Can’t just- hh- launch, not how- hh- Semblance works.”
The Grimm, a fair distance away now, is just staring at you, nonplussed. Then, a series of glowing purple darts slice into its snout. Before it can whirl on Halina, Metim and Xia jump in, distracting the beast yet again. You look for Pallav- but he’s already here, kneeling by Ulrich, hoisting him up again. “Sorry, yeah,” Pallav says, “he’s a little useless sometimes, but you can take a real beating, can’t you, pal?”
Ulrich grunts vaguely in response.
“Anyway,” Pallav continues, “I got him now, so don’t worry- just go.”
You nod, then hurry back towards Halina, who’s waiting for you to turn the Grimm before she attacks again. As you close the distance between you and her, she tosses your shield back to you, shouting, “Here!”
You snap your blades together again, equip the shield, and pop out the concealed blade. Xia and Metim are hanging in there, but they’ve completely given up on attacking. They’re focusing solely on dodging the Grimm’s strikes.
“Everyone,” you bellow, “get back!”
You point the shield’s blade at the Grimm, then focus your mind on the Dust crystal at its core. The gilded woman aids you, and the shield pulses with heat. It launches an undulating globule of fire at the Grimm. The fire connects, splashing over the Grimm, and it howls and retreats from all of you.
You pump your fist and shout, and Halina dashes forward, ready to attack while the Grimm is blinded. She leaps, casting dagger after dagger at the Grimm’s snout. It is too disoriented to block, and each of her throws hits home. The Grimm, its strength finally flagging, roars in defiance. Halina lands and begins to use her Semblance to call her daggers back.
Pallav rushes in, backed up by Ulrich. The former stops short, takes aim, and hurls his spear at the Grimm’s flank, The latter throws several scraps of paper into the air. They all burst into flame, but their ashes multiple and condense, forming several shadowy clones of the spear that Pallav just hurled. Pallav plucks two of the spears from the air, one for each hand, and the rest of the replicas revolve in the air and drive themselves at the Grimm.
Metim and Xia have circled behind it, and they attack its legs as it tries to bat the spears away with its tail and paws. The Grimm lunges at Pallav, trying to snap its jaws on him, but Ulrich swings his mace in a vicious uppercut, slamming the Grimm’s head back.
This is it, you realize. Everything’s coming together- you go to throw yourself in the fray as well-
-and someone runs past you from behind, sprinting forward towards the Grimm. It isn’t Halina- Halina is still behind you-
-the Grimm rears itself up, trying to rally, and spins to face Xia and Metim, the ones with the least Aura left to defend themselves. It raises its unhindered paw all the way, preparing to crush them-
-and the person- a girl- blasts herself upward, light glinting off of her gold and white armor. She brings a broad blade to bear, and resolutely slashes the Grimm’s paw.
The Grimm roars, and when the girl lands on the ground, a severed paw hits the ground beside her.
It immediately dissipates into shadows, and the Grimm topples over.
You pull up short, but she turns to you, and yells, “Finish it!”
The Grimm totters to its remaining feet, hardly any strength left.
And the realization hits you- this is it. You can give this fight, this victory, this moment to anyone. And they’ll never forget it.
Who will you choose?
1. Team A- You and Halina.
2. Team B- Metim and Xia.
3. Team C- Pallav and Ulrich.
4. Team D- The girl.
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