Owyn furrowed his brow, "What kind of trouble could we possibly be in that doesn't involve an eight-legged cretin directly from Hell?!" He shouted in disbelief, returning to a combative stance and refocusing.  Now he could hear the Beowolves and... another fighter?  Somebody without a partner could create problems though, so why was he alone?  The rules stated that the first person he found would be his teammate.  But had he yet to find anybody?

Owyn couldn't think much on it as a half-blind scorpion-demon continued its rampage.  Ugh, what a pain...  He readied his sword and dashed forward, parrying one of the massive claw's attacks with a flowing pivot and the flat edge of his weapon.  He half-spun and drove the length of his blade into one of the cracks in the Death Stalker's bone-plated face.  Using his leverage, Owyn leaped up and pulled the hilt of his sword with him.  The crack grew wider and finally broke the lower third of the 'mask' off as the swordsman yanked his sword up with him.  The Grimm screeched through the halls again and Owyn had to fight to maintain his footing.  He thrust his blade down between a pair of vertebrae and twisted.  The sound of bones cracking and popping apart was unpleasant to say the least.  He retrieved the weapon again and segmented it, whipping the linked blade fragments to the side with a few swipes.  The effort removed two legs on the right and, upon repeating, another one on the left.

The Stalker fell to its stomach and lost all control of its body at this point.  Owyn hopped back over its head, pivoted on his heel, and drove his sword deep into the shattered portion of the bone mask.  The Grimm fell silent and stopped trying to get to its feet as the life left its soulless body.

-----

Lyra pulled her bow from her back and placed it next to her.  The screeches from the temple were unnerving at first, but she realized that they were just the sounds of Grimm losing quite badly to her comrade(s).  She pulled her knees to her chest comfortably and watched the Emerald Forest with intent eyes.  She was simply happy to be here, in a place where you were valued for your merit and not your net worth, not your name.  None of that mattered here.


She hummed softly, rocking from side to side atop the temple.  She wondered where she would be today had Owyn's father not taken her in at such a young age, but it must have been some kind of divine fate.  Life in Vale would have been harsh, but not unforgiving like she'd heard Vacuo was.  On the other hand, were she raised in a poorer lifestyle, maybe being a Faunus would have taken a backseat.  As it was, her wealth made her an outcast with anybody remotely like her and her race made her nigh-untouchable with her social class.  Where did that leave her?  On top of a buried temple, humming child's tune as she waited for a teammate to return from his investigation which he insisted she not accompany him for, despite her ability with nightvision.