[h1][color=goldenrod]Auron Carver[/color][/h1][@Cello][@The Irish Tree][@Eisenhorn][@TGM]

[color=goldenrod]“Nice form there Caramelle,”[/color] A small chuckle comes from the veteran Huntsman as the mirthless girl launches off her squadmate, his hand shimmering with a faint golden light. [color=goldenrod]“Though you seem to not be much of a team player, huh?”[/color] 

With a casual air, he deflects each shot that the girl sends his way but lets out a whistle as she closes the gap, no time left to continue the playful banter before he begins to bob and weave through her focused assault. Each strike she launches his way is read seconds in advance, and despite her impressive bursts of speed, never once does she score anything more than a glancing blow. Auron notes the way she constantly tries to circle to his flanks, watching and waiting for an opening to strike.

[color=goldenrod][i]She’s aggressive, a bit churlish, and definitely needs to work on her attitude if that stunt with Turq was anything to go by, but there is potential here.[/i][/color] Auron ponders as he deflects another blow, almost dancing around her blades, seeming to have no trouble reading his students. Even Turq’s own attack from behind didn’t phase the man, the gilded pipe that Veloce had evaded coming back to terrorize the poor boy once more by deflecting his attacks. [color=goldenrod][i]A bit too reliant on her semblance, however, as I can tell from these strikes that her Aura application is under-developed. Not uncommon for students with strong semblances, but still something that I’ll need to correct. Turq needs to borrow some of her restraint and she needs some of his light-hearted enthusiasm. But overall, good kids who have good heads on their shoulders.[/i][/color]

The exchange of blows continues as Auron starts to take more aggressive action, though rather than striking his students, mostly to make them aware of the gaps in their styles without breaking them out of the flow. . . but also to tease them a little bit. Keep them from getting too big for their britches, though to their credit, he didn’t find too many opportunities to sneak them in. Between Caramelle constantly probing his defenses and Turq’s almost mindless barrage from afar, he wasn’t too ashamed to admit he felt a bit pressured. It took all of his attention to keeping ahead of them, and if they were able to coordinate their blows better, he might not have been able to achieve even that.

And then he heard it.

The sharp electrical crack from the distance, ringing out across the clearing, followed soon after by a sharp metallic clang as two pieces of scrap metal flew upward into the air. Slate’s shot had landed true, the power behind it lessened by the interdiction of the gilded pipe, though as the two pieces landed in the sand by a crouching Auron, one might notice the golden luster fading back into dull rusted grey of scrap iron.

[color=goldenrod][i]Right. . . got too cocky and forgot the sniper.  Guess even I have things to work on.[/i][/color] Auron chides himself even as he raises up his arm to fully block the next strike from Caramelle. However, before he could rebuke it, an impact hit him in the back of his head, knocking the Huntsman off balance and leaving an opening for the second strike to strike true. And so it went that the two students engaging their teacher directly would press their advantage, now landing solid blows and forcing him to properly block their combined assault. For a brief moment, they seemed to have him on the backfoot.

Auron was not one to simply sit back and let them keep control of the fight, however, quickly moving to grab one of Caramelle’s blades with his bare hands, blocking a strike from Turq’s boomerang with the other before preparing to launch a swift blow to the girl’s gut.

[color=goldenrod][i]Good showing, kids, but if you think that’s all it takes to get the be-[/i][/color]

A sudden bang, and what felt like a horse kicking him in the ribs, broke his train of thought. Veloce had found his own opportunity to assist, sweeping in from his vantage to land a near-point-blank shot into Auron’s side. The force of it sent the man flying across the clearing, tumbling end over end for a moment before coming to a stop.

Silence would reign over the scrapyard as the workers, who had been cheering and applauding the whole spar, grew silent. All eyes stared at Auron as he got up to one knee, his breathing coming out in a bit of a wheeze.

[color=goldenrod]“Heh. . . not bad for a bunch of brats.”[/color]

[h1][color=Ivory]Nivea Lanatae[/color][/h1][@Asura][@WXer][@datadogie][@Hero]

The Huntress takes a silent sigh of relief as her students show no true apprehension towards the task laid before them, instead quickly moving to discuss the formation they’d take upon heading inside. Nivea waits patiently for them to settle on their plan of attack and, once that is done, steps to the side to allow Rio to lead them onward. As the ground heads into the depths of the bunker, she taps her staff, the lantern-like apparatus lights up with flame, a light to guide them through the dark. As they march forth, she strode behind them in relative silence.

The shift in the air was instant, the sweltering noonday heat turning to a grave-like chill.  In the flickering light of Nivea’s lantern, they could see more remnants of the bunker’s former inhabitants. Ancient Atlesian desks, chairs, and crates repurposed into ramshackle barricades facing the door, with the seats of cars and ratty threadbare blankets marked out when may have been a guard post. As it had been outside, the interior shows clear signs of the Grimm raid, dark stains coating everything and the deep gouges of claws covering the floor.

Past the first room and into the bunker proper, they’d descend a flight into a labyrinth-like maze within. In every room they searched, they found the same miss-match of bandit-modified lodging, vandalized or repurposed atlesian wreckage, and many signs of violence. There was never a body, however. Bloodstains a plenty but despite Nivea’s concerns, they see no corpses even as the group pushes further into the depths. At a certain point, she’d allow them to spread out a bit more, do some investigation of their own before moving on.

On the second level is when the signs of Grim habitation became more prevalent, the chill in the air growing more intense as if the heat was being sapped from your body. Tendril-like growths spread along the walls now, radiating a chilling aura around them as they emit a dull, pulsing red glow. Every so often as they pass down hallways, thick piddles of black sludge could be seen, the slick tendrils seeming to rise up out of them and cling to any nearby surface.

As they exit one such hallway into a three-way intersection, a noise echoes from the two side passages up ahead. An almost laugh, where the pitch shifts between far too high and much too low, ringing out in a strange hitching pattern. And it was not alone, as more and more of these haggard, inhuman sounds join the first. From the shadows ahead of them, red eyes fade into sight. Stepping into the dim light to reveal glistening black bodies and cold ivory masks that they all recognize in an instant.

A creature of Grimm.

The onslaught came swiftly after that, the first set of monsters rushing forth to attack Rio with slavering jaws and wicked claws in a pincer-like formation. Behind them, more assailants surge forth, drawn by the sounds of their fellows being whipped into a bloody frenzy. Like a tide of black, they came to crash against Team Frisk, their endless hunger seeking to swallow them all up in a moment. And from behind the Team, Nivea stands resolute and impassive. She watches and waits, hands gripping her staff so hard that her knuckles turn white in an effort to stop herself from interfering in the test. They had to handle this by themselves.