[Rose Phoenix]

❝I Was Lightning,

Before The Thunder❞

465 w./ 465 w. total

E strength| F stamina| f Acrobatics| f Dust

e semblance| F weapon| 

Her breath was growing a bit heavy as fatigue slowly began to creep it's way into her muscles. How long had she been running from these things? It must have been at least an hour of non stop chase from the pack of Ursa Minors. There was no way Rose could take these things on by herself and she wouldn't even bother trying. Sure she was mad skilled, but a smart Huntress knew when to cut her losses and just bolt for it!

She weaved through the forest, bobbing and weaves among the brush and trees to confuse the senses of the Grimm while simultaneously keeping her own emotions cool as a cucumber. Though even she had her limits, so when Rose glanced back to see that there was a fair amount of distance gained...she ducked out into an overgrown clearing to hide.

Luckily the creatures charged right past the Vacuo native and continued their fruitless endeavor. The blonde popped out of her spot and chuckled in triumph, rubbing her nose with a sneer.

"Bunch a' dumbass monsters! Is it any wonder why they pose such a threat? I mean like come on--Woah!"

From out of nowhere a great clawed paw slammed into Rose's side to slam her into a nearby tree where she was sandwiched awkwardly. One of the Ursa Minors must have lagged behind and the girl was too up her own ass to pay attention. Stupid girl! She grit her teeth in frustration, coughing from her fatigue and feeling her aura take a serious hit there.

"Bastard...who the fuck do you think yer dealin' with!?"

The Ursa roared ferociously, charging forward to bite down on her while Rose responded with a defiant roar of her own. She unsheathed Rebellion from it's holster on her back, growling in unadulterated rage as she pivoted her body low and swung the sword up in an angle right for it's chin. The Huntress knew it wouldn't do much to the creature, but it did cause the Ursa to back pedal and arc it's body up to avoid the hit.

And that was all she needed. Scarlet lightning crackled all around the blonde girl and she dashed head on into the monster's body, pulling his sword back and plunging it deep into the bear's furry weak belly. Both screamed and roared in terrifying unison as Rose twisted and tore in gruesome gore at it.

"God damnit! Just drop dead already, you stupid ugly no good piece of shit!!"

Rose couldn't take much more of this. Her body was shaking from exhaustion, knees buckling from the pressure of the creature, and she could barely catch her breath from the hard slam she had just taken. If this desperation move on her part didn't work out, then things were going to go south for her real fast. Tch!

© SETHANIEL OF adox 2.0 + WW.

[Argent Steele]

I know you got hate in you. Most do.
Trick is to use it, 'stead of it usin' you.

But you know this. Vengeance is a motivator, not the motive.
Don't hunt 'em 'cause you been wronged.
Hunt 'em 'cause what they did was wrong.
There's a world of difference there, kid.
One makes you selfish. The other makes you a hero.

And I see a hero in you.

❝

Like all archers and snipers who preferred range over engaging in melee, when given the chance, Argent tended towards the high ground, and had been trekking along a mountainous craggy area that rose above the canopy enough that he could get a decent view of the surrounding area. This was enough for him to catch sight of the flashes of red that wasn't too far off - as well as the roars and the shouting that was just barely too soft for him to make the details out of. He was sure it couldn't be anything good, though. People in the middle of combat usually didn't have the temperament for positive thoughts.

The snake Faunus dropped from his perch and started moving at a steady pace, making his way around and over the forest debris with little trouble. While he didn't want to waste any time in moving to render assistance, he also didn't want to end up completely winded by the time he got there and be more of a hindrance than a help. In an unmonitored combat situation like this initiation, there was a very real possibility that doing so could end up in the death of two students, if only because the other would have to cover for him.

It wasn't hard to find the other student, though - just by following the sounds of Grimm rushing through, he could track them down. And when the sounds turned from pursuit into combat, he quickened his pace, the forest falling away before him until he emerged into an open clearing in time to see another student slam her sword into the gut of an Ursa with a shout and a burst of red lightning. For a moment he thought it was the Hellebore woman - but the blond before him wasn't wearing black, and her weapon was definitely something other than the sword-lance combination he'd watched the lightning manipulator use in combat. A new student, then. Perhaps related in some fashion to the other one?

Whatever the case, she certainly didn't look like she had the situation under control, and so Argent pulled a knife from one of the holsters strapped around his legs and sent it spinning through the air once Whisper had flared up around it in a burst of silver. Already damaged from the close combat with the girl in front of him, the thrown knife shot through the Ursa's head in a burst of viscera, exploding like an over ripe melon that had just been dropped onto the floor from a height. The body started to dissolve into smoke, going slack, and a second glance revealed that the other student was clearly not at a hundred percent, looking exceedingly disheveled and not at all in control of the situation.

Still, there wasn't time to inquire after her well being at the moment. Another Ursa minor had emerged out of the forest at the edge of the clearing, and would be on them any moment - and Argent caught sight of more black shapes in the shadows of the woods lumbering towards them, no doubt attracted by the outburst of emotion that the blond girl had been displaying but moments prior. Probably from the same pack - Ursa never traveled alone, and if there was a Major nearby they would need to be careful.

"Rose girl!" he shouted, grabbing both ends of Ouroboros and slamming them together in his hands. The connectors bonded with a quiet vibration, and the bowstring unfurled to be caught by the secondary motor within the handle, stringing it as fast as any archer could. The snake Faunus nocked a pair of arrows to the string, moving to the side and preparing to fire.

"Back up! I have you covered!"

WHISPER OF THE WYRM (SEMBLANCE): [RANK D]

SERPENT'S BENEDICTION: SPEED OF THE SCYLLA (SPEED) [RANK E]
SERPENT'S BENEDICTION: DANCE OF THE DRAGON (AGILITY) [RANK F]
SERPENT'S BENEDICTION: GLARE OF THE GORGON (MARKSMANSHIP) [RANK F]
SERPENT’S BENEDICTION: WINGS OF THE WYVERN (ACROBATICS) [RANK F]
SERPENT’S BENEDICTION: TALONS OF THE TARASQUE (MARTIAL ARTS)

OUROBOROS (WEAPON): [RANK F]

@ ● 624 words ● 624 total words

MADE BY MIZO

[Rose Phoenix]

❝I Was Lightning,

Before The Thunder❞

552 w./ 1017 w. total

E strength| F stamina| f Acrobatics| f Dust

e semblance| F weapon| 

Her blade dug deeper and deeper as she heard the squishy sounds of the monster's insides tear asunder. Rose growled a guttural animalistic sound in direct challenge to the Grimm bear as she locked strength against strength. Yet she didn't have to struggle for long! It's head exploded violently, raining a mess down onto her angry aura and collapsed heavily in a disgusting heap. Rose spat at the corpse and yanked Rebellion out of it's gullet, resting the blade on her shoulder.

She raised a curious brow at the Faunus who had swooped in unannounced and uninvited. He did some fancy shit with his weapon to transform it into a bow, going a bit overboard with the flashiness if Rose was being completely honest. The guy looked impressive and held his stance like a pro, but Rose would never admit that. He probably thought that he was saving some damsel in distress like a fucking holier than thou white knight. If so, then he was a kill stealing little shit! The guy was lucky that they were in a fight or Rose would have bit his head off more viciously than these bear bastards!

"Did you just call me girl!? Like hell I'm gonna fall back! How about you just put that bow to good use and get their attention? I'll play clean up, Scales."

There were three shadows converging on them from all sides. One from the north, a second from the south to pincer them, and a last one on the western outcropping. Which left the eastern clearing open if they needed the space to make room during the fight. Rose narrowed her eyes, mentally detailing the angles that they would come in and breathed out an audible sigh of frustration. Her anger must have attracted them back to her location...shit! She had gotten sloppy with her unbound emotions, but luckily these were only the small ones. At least she had a fairly competent fighter to watch her back.

"Alright you little shitlords!" Rose lowered her stance, building up a storm of scarlet lightning around her that rose with her fury. "Let's see if you smell just as bad...on the inside!"

The blonde charged the Ursa to the north, performing the same strategy of swiping at it's chin. Though this time, as she swung horizontally, the girl used the momentum of her swing to spin slightly past the monster and bring her weapon around to cleave deep into it's soft underbelly. It roared in pain as it's life blood poured out and along the length of her blade.

Adrenaline pounded away at her heart. It was what she lived for! Though the Ursa Minors were weak on their own, they could be hella strong in larger numbers. A smart Hunter knew when to take them serious, but Rose wasn't too smart. In fact, she was quite thick in times like these. All that mattered was winning through any means.

"Scales! You still got me covered!?"

Rose was way too distracted with eviscerating the bear to handle a back attack. One Ursa she could handle, but yeah two pincer strikes would just plain suck. It looked like she would have to rely on the archer to help her out if they would get out of this alive. It would reaaaalllly suck if there was actually an Ursa Major lurking.

© SETHANIEL OF adox 2.0 + WW.

[Argent Steele]

I know you got hate in you. Most do.
Trick is to use it, 'stead of it usin' you.

But you know this. Vengeance is a motivator, not the motive.
Don't hunt 'em 'cause you been wronged.
Hunt 'em 'cause what they did was wrong.
There's a world of difference there, kid.
One makes you selfish. The other makes you a hero.

And I see a hero in you.

❝

"What am I supposed to call you then? Human?!"

The yell back held irritation and frustration in equal measure as the blonde girl charged back into the fray after he'd brought them both a little breathing room. It seemed like today of all days, he would be cursed to encounter people with more fighting spirit than common sense. But it wasn't as if he could leave them be, even if he wanted to. If he could be the kind of person who could leave someone to die like that, he wouldn't be attending this academy at all.

The Minor at the west was far beyond his effective range, but Argent loosed the arrows anyway as he ran, angling himself towards the south in a burst of speed that almost matched the girl's flash of lightning, towards the Ursa just now emerging from the forest. The arrows he'd sent on their way shot through the air but lost the silver glow of his Semblance as they flew, striking the target but losing much of their power before they could do so. Still, it was enough to get the dumb beast's attention as he raced towards its equally dumb brethren, and leapt over it in a somersault to launch a full powered shot into the back of its head, darting away soon after.

"As much as I can, yeah!" he shouted back, nocking another arrow to his bow that he let loose as he retreated, feet finding easy purchase on the forest floor. The two Grimm followed mindlessly, roaring and slavering. But there would be no meal for them today. That was the hope, at least - Argent knew he could easily outspeed the Grimm if he chose to disengage and retreat, and with her own speed the girl probably could as well. But that didn't seem likely - if anything, she was more hotheaded than even Alexandros. This was nearly Nikolas levels of aggression, but where the male was intense, this blonde was ferocious - the difference between them clear enough to anyone who'd seen both in action. Retreating along the treeline, Argent reached for another arrow, firing it off at the Ursa following behind almost as fast as a gunshot.

"You done with that one any time soon?!"

WHISPER OF THE WYRM (SEMBLANCE): [RANK D]

SERPENT'S BENEDICTION: SPEED OF THE SCYLLA (SPEED) [RANK E]
SERPENT'S BENEDICTION: DANCE OF THE DRAGON (AGILITY) [RANK F]
SERPENT'S BENEDICTION: GLARE OF THE GORGON (MARKSMANSHIP) [RANK F]
SERPENT’S BENEDICTION: WINGS OF THE WYVERN (ACROBATICS) [RANK F]
SERPENT’S BENEDICTION: TALONS OF THE TARASQUE (MARTIAL ARTS)

OUROBOROS (WEAPON): [RANK F]

@ ● 374 words ● 994 total words

MADE BY MIZO

[Rose Phoenix]

❝I Was Lightning,

Before The Thunder❞

470 w./ 1487 w. total

E strength| F stamina| f Acrobatics| f Dust

e semblance| F weapon| 

She yanked the blade violently along the Ursa's belly with a hard pull, dragging the blade viscerally to spill as much gore out of it as possible. With the deep slice it was only a matter of time before the creature would bleed out. It dropped with a loud and heavy crash to the grassy ground hard with ichor oozing out of it, twitching violently in it's death throes. Yeah, it was down for the count. Now only to deal with two more and she could get the hell out of this clearing to her next objective.

Scales was holding his own well enough, but he had attracted the ire of both remaining Ursas. He wasn't too bad with his foot work and the clever use of arrows...hm, maybe this school had some potential after all! Rose could have left him to deal with the problem, but her faction made it abundantly clear that she had to assist any in need. Well, that and she kind of owed the Faunus for the help...not like she'd acknowledge it though. Plus where was the fun in leaving him to deal with all the wet work? Killing was just too much joy to pass up!

"Yeah yeah, I'm comin'! Keep your trousers on, Snake boi!" There was just the faintest hint of sarcasm edged in her voice.

Rose clicked the trigger on the hilt of her blade, spilling the fire and lightning Dust forth from the activator. It ignited her blade fully with cackling intensity as she dashed toward the creatures. The guy would mop the floor with one, no doubt, but Rose wanted to make sure this ended easily enough.

She brought Rebellion up high over her head and with a ferocious, challenging roar she swung it down with all of her might. The Ursa turned to the sound of the scream just in time! The strength of the swing shot a great beam of fiery energy straight into the Ursa's chest and knocked it right on it's ass.

Rose kicked up high into the air and past her newfound companion, dropping down onto the bear creature harshly. She drove the sword point down hard into it's weak stomach so hard that the other ended pierced it's back and dug a bit into the grass below. She twisted the blade gruesomely with a wide grin while the Grimm roared in pain.

"That's right...feels good doesn't it?" She murmured softly.

The blonde gave a final plunge to the hilt and the Grimm wasted away into smokey nonexistence. She uprooted her sword, resting it along her shoulder as she turned to regard the other Hunter with a look of contempt.

"You done yet, Kill Steal? Gonna bore the Grimm to death?"

Wow, so many nicknames in such a short amount of time! Rose couldn't quite tell if she liked or hated this guy!

© SETHANIEL OF adox 2.0 + WW.

[Argent Steele]

I know you got hate in you. Most do.
Trick is to use it, 'stead of it usin' you.

But you know this. Vengeance is a motivator, not the motive.
Don't hunt 'em 'cause you been wronged.
Hunt 'em 'cause what they did was wrong.
There's a world of difference there, kid.
One makes you selfish. The other makes you a hero.

And I see a hero in you.

❝

Argent didn't bother responding to the taunt immediately, instead notching the arrows to his bow as he exhaled slowly. Now that he didn't have to run interference and could focus on killing his one final target, there was time to line up and ensure the shots would hit. The lumbering beast that was the final Ursa minor came headlong at the two of them without thought, and silver Aura flared up around him as he channeled his Semblance into the arrows, loosing them into the precise center of the Ursa Minor's vulnerable underbelly. Another few steps it took before reality sunk into what amounted to a brain, and it crumpled, slowly dissolving into black smoke.

The snake Faunus took a deep breath and cast his glance around the clearing, checking for any trace of further Grimm. Once he was sure there wasn't anything like a Major creeping up on them, it was a simple matter to sheathe Ouroboros into the holsters on the sides of his legs. The positioning was a little awkward, and Argent decided he would spring for a new set that would mount the dual blades either for an over the shoulder draw or set them behind the small of his back to avoid encumbrance. Probably the latter, given that the former would interfere with any backpacks he might choose to wear while out in the field. Thoughts of improving his gear, however, swiftly faded away when confronted with the girl before him, who was clearly not particularly happy, though whether it was her natural disposition or because she thought she could take on every Grimm in a three hundred mile radius like Nikolas did was still up for debate. A shrug was the response as he turned to the sword wielder, looking her up and down with a critical gaze as he did so.

"If that's your plan, I don't mind watching you try. You seem to be doing alright with that sword, though, so I wouldn't recommend doing that."

A tilt of his head to the left, and an exasperated expression flickered across his face for a few moments.

"But it's not like you have a history of following my recommendations, so do what you want. You're clearly not a Dandelion group member with that kind of strength and that ribbon, though. Does a kill matter that much to you when you'll probably get a few dozen more before the day is out?"

WHISPER OF THE WYRM (SEMBLANCE): [RANK D]

SERPENT'S BENEDICTION: SPEED OF THE SCYLLA (SPEED) [RANK E]
SERPENT'S BENEDICTION: DANCE OF THE DRAGON (AGILITY) [RANK F]
SERPENT'S BENEDICTION: GLARE OF THE GORGON (MARKSMANSHIP) [RANK F]
SERPENT’S BENEDICTION: WINGS OF THE WYVERN (ACROBATICS) [RANK F]
SERPENT’S BENEDICTION: TALONS OF THE TARASQUE (MARTIAL ARTS)

OUROBOROS (WEAPON): [RANK F]

@ ● 408 words ● 1402 total words

MADE BY MIZO

[Wolfe]

XP Distribution:

Argent: 14 x 200% (event bonus) = 28

544 + 28 = 572 XP new total

Rose: 15 x 200% (event bonus) = 30

243 + 30 = 273 XP new total