Volume 1 Chapter 22: Culling of Titans Part 2

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Writing credits go to Uzumaki Ricky, Monsterhuntergod, Sharad the hedgehog, and Traines, as well as Kima Whitehawk Jordan on Facebook. And a very special shoutout and thank you to 501awezome and Mega Ghost on Fanfiction.Net for all your support.

Tiger King and Dragon Queen

Volume 1 Chapter 22: Culling of Titans Part 2

"We are all going to die." Ren said with the same level of enthusiasm he always had in his voice.

"Come on, Ren! We've got this! It's twelve against three!" Nora called out, drawing her hammer.

"Is she serious?" Rena whispered to Ember.

"I believe she is." Ember whispered worriedly.

"Sadly… yes…" Ren told the two girls solemnly.

"Alright guys, we may be down, but we are not out." Jaune tried to say heroically.

"Sir Arc and Miss Nora are right. We outnumber them. If we work together, we can win." Azura told them, drawing his ōdachi.

"Wait, someone actually agreed with me on something…? Oh gods, we are going to die." Jaune said, his knees beginning to quiver.

"If we're going to die Jaune, we should at least go down swinging." Pyrrha told her partner as the two airborne Grimm circled them like vultures.

"Alright people, CHARGE!!!" Ruby yelled out, raising her scythe to the heavens in a grand gesture.

"Come at me, uglies!" Yang roared as she leaped into the fray.

With springs in their step, the twelve teens rushed towards the Grimm. Seeing this, the Griffon and Nevermore split their separate ways, going into various parts of the ruins. The Death Stalker, however, barreled towards the motley crew of a group led by Jaune, smashing aside a pillar of stone with contemptuous ease. Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang, however, were soon pelted by a barrage of titanic feathers. This cloud of black pointed death diverted their path onto a bridge leading to a towering temple built into the side of a cliff in a gorge. Grey mist hung thick in the air, and slowly more was moving in, making it start to become difficult for them to see their monstrous prey.

Hearing something, Azura quickly coated his blade in a blue colored Aura as he stabbed it into the ground. As soon as he did, a massive, glowing blue wall of stone sprung up in front of him and Zhan just as the Griffon came darting out of the mist like an arrow in flight. The avian-feline hybrid monstrosity screeched in pain and fury as its sneak attack was blocked, clawing at the stone as Azura then coated his blade in a blue lightning Aura before attacking with a thrust. This move unleashed a stab of blue electricity that speared through the wall and stabbed into the Griffon's chest. It shrieked in a combination of agony and rage as it took to the skies, evading Azura's projected lightning thrusts as it circled around them.

"Who the hell taught you that!?" Zhan yelled as he loaded a fire dust round into his weapon.

"My sensei did! It's an old Aura manipulation technique where you manipulate your Aura to give it elemental properties! It's how humanity and Faunus harnessed the elements before the discovery of Dust!" Azura explained as he continued unloading thrusts of azure-blue lightning at the evading Griffon, attempting to hit it.

"It's not gonna matter for shit if we can't hit that thing! A Grimm that size shouldn't be moving so fast!" Rena said as she tried to hit the massive Grimm, only for it to evade with shocking reflexes.

"And just when were you going to teach us that trick, Azu!?" Yang bellowed out in indignation as she launched shots of Fire Dust at the Nevermore.

"Yeah, 'sensei'! Have you been holding out on us!?" Ruby called out in annoyance as she shot sniper rounds at the avian Grimm.

"If we all live, then I'll teach it to you girls! Now let's all please focus and not become Grimm food!" Azura yelled to the two sisters indignantly.

Yang gave the samurai a nod and returned to her own work. Loading more rounds into Ember Celica, she scanned the gloomy horizons for her prey. Due to the rolling fogs and mists, it was a lot harder to find the massive flier than she expected. However, a barrage of black feathers screamed towards her, forcing Yang to fall flat back onto the old, craggy stone. The massive spears sailed past but gave Yang an idea.

"Ruby, you got some extra Gravity dust rounds on you?" Yang yelled out to her sister.

"Sure! Heads up, sis!" Ruby called out, throwing Yang a clip of Gravity rounds that the blonde pugilist caught.

"Eyes and ears up girls and be ready! I'm gonna flush this giant chicken out of hiding!" Yang yelled as she changed out the Dust rounds in her clip to the Gravity rounds.

"What is your sister planning?" Weiss asked Ruby.

"Whatever it is, be ready to duck and cover!" Blake called out her weapons at the ready.

"Peekaboo, bird brain!" Yang called out before then taking a deep breath and closing her eyes.

Soon all the world around her was darkness and the sound of the winds. Slowing her breathing to match the wind, she almost felt… connected to the world somehow. Around her bright spots began to appear in her mind's eye that made her jump back a bit, getting her out of her focus and nearly falling off the pillar she stood on, giving Ruby a fright.

"Yang, what's wrong!?" Ruby called out in concern for her sister.

"Nothing. Just… got caught off guard for a second." Yang said to reassure her sister before closing her eyes again to refocus, trying to recapture that feeling.

Matching her breathing to the wind again, the bright spots she "saw" earlier slowly reformed. It was overwhelming. Everything from the plants of the forest, the rushing water below them in the chasm, the hills, even the wind was brimming with energy. It did not help that Yang did not understand what she was seeing. That was until, for a moment, there was a black spot, a shadow covering some of that energy for a moment. She opened her right eye to get a glimpse of the avian Grimm's wing in the fog.

'It's a shadow in this weird state. If we live through this, I'll ask Azura about it, but right now I have to look for it there. I can't see anything in this pea soup fog.' Yang thought and redoubled her focus.

Spreading her arms out like a cross, she let the wind flow over her, almost as if trying to connect to it. Soon light blue energy outlines began to form around her blackened vision, swirling and pooling around her. It was beautiful, as if she somehow were looking at a brand-new world. Her distraction was broken by a large new shadow that disrupted these swirling patterns. It could only be one thing.

"Gotcha." Yang muttered and without opening her eyes moved her arms forward and fired two Gravity rounds in the direction of this shadow.

Much to the shock of everyone present, there was a shrieking screech of pain as the fog was blasted away, revealing what was behind it. Yang had managed to hit the Nevermore in the wing with her eyes closed, throwing it off balance and forcing it to flap its wings as hard as it could to restabilize itself while accidentally blowing away the rest of the fog.

"Nice shot, sis!" Ruby yelled out excitedly.

"H… how did she do that…?" Weiss muttered in shocked disbelief.

"I'm just glad she did. Alright Weiss, let's move up and get it!" Blake yelled, rushing along one of the archways at the behemoth.

Azura, upon seeing the feat pulled off by his blonde friend, was stunned in sheer disbelief. "Sh… she… that was…" Azura muttered before shaking his head and turning his attention back to the Griffon, "No, I need to focus on this for now."

"Hey, boss! Less gawking, more fighting! Oh shit!" Zhan yelled out right before dodging a thrown rock by the chimeric goliath in front of him.

Back with Team Ruby, they tried to form up in a square around the in-flight Nevermore, trying to box it in. Always keeping their eyes on it, they began firing Dust attacks to try to herd it towards a part of the ruins where it would be easier for them to fight. However, this proved to be a herculean task in its own right due to the avian monster's airborne speed.

As the Dust shots screamed into the air around the Nevermore and exploded like artillery fire, it dodged and weaved through the blasts as it tried to evade their shots. Soon, however, one of the shots nicked its wing and exploded on contact. Shrieking in pain, it flapped hard to restabilize as it found a massive stone pillar to roost on to give it a chance to shake the damage off its wing.

"Now, girls! Surround it!" Ruby called out, using her speed to rush along the ruins and get into position.

"And then what!?" Weiss yelled at her partner.

"We hit it with everything we've got until it stays down!" Yang called out, using Ember Celica to launch herself onto a stone pillar to get into position.

"Are you sure that's wise?" Weiss asked.

"Do you have a better idea?" Blake asked the white clad girl.

"Fine then, let's just try not to be stupid." Weiss groaned and rushed across the walkway towards the avian monstrosity.

Using her Ember Celica, Yang launched herself onto its back. Charging up Fire Dust around her fists, she began unleashing flaming punches into the joint connecting its wing to its torso. Trying to break its wing, attempting to keep it grounded. The Nevermore shrieked in pain and fury as it tried to shake the blonde pugilist off, forcing Yang to hold on with one hand and continue to deliver fiery punches with the other. Each explosive blow punched deep into its tough, feathery hide as she kept trying to get through to break its wing.

"Break! You! Stupid! Wing! Break! So! It'll! Stay! DOWN!" She roared with each hit, punching the wing joint with all her might with each blazing blow.

With a single extension of its wing, it sent Yang flying off its wing and crashing hard into the opposing cliff, sending up chunks of rocks and dust flying. Turning its gaze to the remaining three, with a swipe, it launched a barrage of its spear-like feathers at Blake. The black clad ninja attempted to activate her own Semblance to avoid them, however the spread was too great to easily escape them. Seeing Blake's plight, Weiss leapt in, white Glyph activated to shield her just as a feather was ready to spear Blake through. The sudden contact caused an icy explosion.

When the dust settled, to everyone's shock, all that was left was an icy statue of Blake right in front of the monochromatic ninja girl, a giant frozen feather impaled into it. Seeing this, however, it made the wheels in Ruby's head turn. And an idea began to form.

'So, Semblances can interact with each other. And allow them to get close to the Nevermore and not get speared through. We might have a chance yet.' Ruby thought as she was forced to hide behind a pillar from another barrage of feathers.

"WHY! WON'T! YOU! DIE!?" Yang bellowed with sheer rage, as she crawled out of the mountain, pounding her fists together and cracking her neck as she got ready to fight again.

"Calm down, sis! I have an idea!" Ruby called out to her sister.

"Let's hear it, Ruby!" Weiss called out, firing Ice Dust missiles at the Nevermore as it fired another barrage of feathers at them, canceling out the attack.

"At this point, I'm willing to try anything!" Blake called out, turning her Gambol Shroud into its submachine gun form and firing rounds at the Nevermore's head.

"Blake, how far can the ribbon on your weapon stretch!? And how elastic is it!?" Ruby called out, firing sniper shots at the Nevermore to provide cover fire.

"Far enough! Why?" Blake called out back.

"Weiss, do you have any Glyphs that can stop movement!?" Ruby asked, landing a shot into the Nevermore's eye that made it shriek in pain and rage as it took to the air again.

"When I use Gravity Dust with them, yes! Where are you going with this!?" Weiss called out, confused by the barrage of questions.

"We're going to make a giant slingshot and fire at it!" Ruby told them.

"Fire at it!? Fire what at it!?" Yang asked in disbelief as she shot Fire Dust rounds at the avian abomination.

"ME!!" Ruby yelled out to her comrades.

"Are you crazy!? Rubes, there is no way I'm letting you try that!" Yang yelled out in concern.

"Just trust me, Yang! I got in just like you did! I can do this!" Ruby called out to her big sister.

Yang bit her lip for a moment as she clearly thought it over. Seeing no other options, she turned to look at their partners. "You heard the woman! Do it!" The blonde brawler ordered.

With that, they got to work. Blake made clones of herself and, taking Gambol Shroud, she stretched out the ribbon between two sturdy pillars. Once in place, Yang grabbed the ribbon and pulled it taut. Once it was ready, Ruby rushed back into the ribbon with her Semblance to pull it back as far as it would go. Digging deep, Weiss let out a calming breath before activating a black colored Glyph behind her partner to hold her in place while the heiress took aim.

"Alright, can you do this Weiss?" Ruby asked.

"Can I?" Weiss said smugly.

"Can you?" Ruby asked, her head cocking to the side in confusion.

"Of course I can. Just give the word." Weiss answered in annoyance.

"Three. Two. One. FIRE!!!" Ruby counted down in a slow, methodical yet set way. With that, everything happened all at once.

Weiss, after taking aim, released the black Glyph as her partner was shot at their prey like an arrow in flight. Using Iron Body on her arms, Ruby swung with all her might, cutting into the Nevermore's neck and hooking it in place as they quickly soared into the cliffside. Using Iron Body on pure instinct, Ruby smashed into the cliffside, planting herself in place. Weiss - once Ruby made contact - made multiple Glyphs in front of her and a Time Dilation Glyph right beneath her to increase her speed. Taking off with the speed of a bullet fired from a gun, Ruby rushed up the cliffside, dragging the Nevermore behind her as its body dug into the cliff.

Ruby further increased her momentum by firing multiple Gravity Dust rounds from Crescent Rose, dragging the Nevermore higher and higher. Once they reached the top of the cliff, Ruby fired multiple shots as she swung with all her might, decapitating the avian monster as she landed on the edge of the cliff. Looking down at it as its body fell into the gorge, Ruby and the others heard a loud crash as it hit the bottom of the chasm before obviously beginning to disappear.

The colossal carcass slammed into the bottom of the gorge with a thud akin to a thunderclap, cratering the ground where it landed. As it dissipated into black smoke as all Grimm did upon death, it sent that boom through the caverns and below into the deep cave networks below the hills. After the booming echoes finally stopped, a distinctive growl could be heard emanating from a cave as a brief glow of flames burned at the entrance.

Meanwhile

"Okay, so has anyone fought a Death Stalker before?" Jaune asked as it smashed its way through the ruins to get to them.

"No, but there's a first time for everything!" Nora said with a grin that was slightly insane.

"Focus please, everyone!" Pyrrha told the other three as she drew her blade and shield.

Ren said nothing and simply trained his machine pistols on the fast-approaching giant scorpion. 

"If anyone has a plan, do it now," he said calmly.

Jaune then stepped forward, a nervous smile on his face. "I've got this, guys," he told them, trying to sound confident.

"Should we make funeral preparations?" Nora asked as she tilted her head curiously.

"Trust me. Jaune can do this. He has a power none of us can currently hope to understand." Pyrrha replied, confident in her partner's abilities.

"Does that include Jaune himself?" Nora asked, legitimately curious and worried now.

"Let him try." Pyrrha simply said as Ren used this moment to put some space between him and the Grimm.

"Go! Go Wind go!" Jaune said, thrusting his hands towards the Death Stalker, to no effect. "SHABOOOM WITH THE LIGHTNING!"

To Jaune's complete dismay, nothing happened, unlike earlier. This confused Pyrrha while Nora got one hell of a kick out of that.

"... I swear this worked twice already." Jaune told Ren and Nora, feeling very self-conscious about his strange power not coming out this time as the death scorpion raised its claw to smack Jaune away while his attention was on them.

"Jaune, look out!" Pyrrha called out to her partner.

Jaune, confused, turned to look at the Death Stalker and screamed like a little girl as he held his shield up to protect himself from the blow. Just then, a massive boom was heard, causing Jaune to lower his shield and look on as the giant creature skidded back a couple of feet.

"See! I knew it would work! I guess there was a delay on it or something." Jaune said with a confident smile.

"Actually, Jaune, that was me. But don't worry! Performance issues happen to everyone!" Nora replied as Jaune turned to look to see Nora with her hammer in grenade launcher form, the barrel smoking from the fired shot.

"But… I… Aww…" Jaune spluttered out and let out a defeated sigh.

"Can we all focus on the giant, arachnid death lobster trying to kill us!?" Ren called out, as he fired clip after clip into the carapace of the beast lumbering to them.

"He doesn't usually talk this much. So, things seem to be pretty bad." Nora said as she switched her grenade launcher back to its default hammer state, lit it up with Electricity Dust, and tossed it with a loud - completely unnecessary - scream.

The Death Stalker - which had just regained its bearings and was about to attack Jaune again - was sent back even further as the hammer's handle glowed black and returned to its mistress. Jaune, seeing that it was targeting him, got an idea.

"Guys, I have a plan! I'll play the bait and draw its attention! You guys hit it hard and fast while it's distracted! Then, when we see our opening, we take it down!" The blonde knight told the others.

"Jaune are you sure? That sounds dangerous!" Pyrrha told him in concern.

"Danger is my middle name! Literally. Damn it, dad…" Jaune told the redheaded champion.

"One of your parents did that to you too?" Nora asked in surprise.

"Your families both have a strange sense of humor." Pyrrha said bluntly.

"My parents are… Yeah they're really stupid." Jaune said with a shake of his head.

"Distract away, Fearless Leader!" Nora said encouragingly.

"Aw, thanks Nora! Whoa!" Jaune replied with a smile before dodging a stab from the Death Stalker's stinger.

"We need to take care of that stinger!" Pyrrha replied as it wheeled up for another strike, allowing her to see how loosely it dangled from the tip of the tail.

"Stick to my plan, Pyrrha! When you see a shot to take out the stinger, go for it!" Jaune called out, using his shield to block a back swipe from the scorpion monstrosity's pincer.

"You heard the man! Let's rock!" Nora called out, coating Magnhild in Electricity Dust.

With that, the other three began taking long distance pot shots at the Death Stalker while Jaune attacked at it and blocked its strikes. The blonde knight did everything in his power to keep its attention on him. The grenade shots from Nora's weapon in grenade launcher form helped keep it distracted, keeping it from getting its bearings as she and the other three leapt from foothold to foothold among the ruins to keep it from being able to target them. However, the murder arachnid lobster was becoming visibly irritated at the feeble attempts to seemingly damage it.

However, that all changed when Pyrrha saw it reel its stinger back, finally finding her window of opportunity. Throwing her shield like a discus, the redheaded champion launched it at where the stinger was connected to the rest of the tail. Like a buzz saw blade, the shield cut right through the joint connecting the stinger to the tip of the tail as the Death Stalker hissed a howl of agony when its own stinger stabbed into its armored back. Ren provided cover fire before looking at his partner.

"Nora! Go for it! Use the stinger against it!" He called out over the gunshots of his weapons.

"On it, Ren!" The excitable Valkyrie called out as she turned Magnhild into its hammer form and prepared a grenade in the hammer head.

Swinging down with all her might, the manic ginger smashed an explosive blow down onto the ruin beneath her. This launched her high into the air as she brought the head of her hammer to bear in a rolling spin, preparing another grenade. Slamming the hammer into the stinger with a loud kaboom of an impact, Nora drove the stinger deep into its armored back as it roared in pain and the ruin beneath it began to crack. The impact launched Nora back up into the air before she came back down with another mighty, booming blow. Again and again, Nora repeated this process until she managed to drive the stinger through the Death Stalker's body, punching a hole straight through it as the structural integrity of the ruin beneath them began to give way.

Then, with one final downward blow aided by gravity, Nora slammed her hammer explosively down onto the murder scorpion's punctured back, causing an explosion inside it through the hole in its body. This final impact smashed the arachnid abomination through the weakened ruin, sending it falling into the chasm below with bits of rubble behind it. As the ruin began to crumble and break apart beneath them, the four made their way to the edge of the cliff and jumped, landing lined up in a crouch together as they all stuck their landings.

"Alright! Nice work, guys!" Jaune called out in joy, pleased that they somehow managed to win.

"Well done, Jaune." Pyrrha said with a smile.

Ren said nothing but offered an encouraging thumbs up that Jaune returned with a smile.

As the ruined remains of the great arachnid and pieces of rubble fell, they similarly landed with a great thud at the bottom of the chasm. Soon from the great cave came light and smoke, as if someone had lit a fire inside of it. And a small tremor of what felt like a beating heart.

Meanwhile

"For fuck's sake, what is this thing made of!?" Zhan yelled from behind a barricade, as the great chimeric Grimm chased Azura through a stone lined street.

"Everything has a weakness! We just have to find it!" Azura called out as he leapt through the street to avoid large rocks thrown by the Griffon like makeshift projectiles.

"Shame this one's isn't crackers!" Zhan yelled out before swinging his ax, sending a fireball at the creature, only for it to not even flinch.

"We need a plan…!" Ember called out a bit louder than usual, firing bazooka shots at the avian-feline abomination.

"Give me a second." Rena muttered, as she sat down to get into a meditative trance.

"I don't know what she's doing but cover her while she does it!" Azura called out as he coated his blade in azure-blue flames before launching a fiery slash at the Griffon, forcing it to dodge.

"Great. We have to cover the warrior with a heart of stone." Zhan muttered before slamming the blade of his ax into a large rock and using the handle and blade to rip the stone out of the ruins, "Eat this, you giant chicken!"

With a great heave, he hurled the stone at the Grimm's face. However, with swift, avian reflexes, it turned its head on a dime to catch the rock in its beak. Leveraging its head up, it then crushed the stone in its beak with contemptuous ease. Letting out a shrieking howl, it dived down at Zhan only for a glowing azure blue wall of rock to pop up between them. The beast's head crashed into it on impact, failing to do much more than leave a small crack in the stone as the glow dissipated from around the rocks. Seeing an opportunity, Zhan sliced the rocks into pieces and ballpark smashed the pieces at the Griffon in a hail of stone.

"We have to find a way to ground this thing…!" Ember called out a bit, firing up at the Griffon.

"I have an idea for that." Rena said as she broke her trance.

"How? You had your eyes shut." Zhan asked, narrowly knocking back a return-thrown rock launched by the Griffon.

"My Semblance allows me to process information at a much faster rate when I focus. What we need to do is cut off its wings. And I know which one of us can likely do that." Rena said, looking at Azura.

"I can keep my Aura lightning coated around my blades to increase their cutting power. The only problem would be getting at it fast enough to get on its back. How is your throwing arm, Zhan?" Azura asked, looking at his partner as he launched blade thrusts of lightning at the Griffon.

"About to find out." Zhan said, as he rushed over to his partner.

Azura coated his blade in azure-blue lightning before rushing himself at the tall blacksmith at high speed. Keeping himself at a speed Zhan could still follow, Azura rushed at him and reached his hand out for his partner to grab it. Grabbing the samurai by his hand and forearm, Zhan spun at high speed to build up momentum for the throw while Ember fired at the Griffon to keep it occupied. Finally reaching the right amount of momentum, Azura called out to his partner.

"ZHAN, NOW!" He roared out, gripping onto his ōdachi with all his might.

"GO, GO, FLYING BOSS!" Zhan roared out as he threw Azura with every ounce of strength he had before falling on his ass from the momentum.

Azura soared at high speed at the Griffon as he coated his eastern great sword in azure-blue lightning. Flying right at the abomination's wing, he sliced into it with all his might before swinging hard. Azura's mighty slash cut into the wing of the Grimm like an arrow of lightning, carving straight through it. Passing by the Grimm as it screeched in pain and began to fall, giving Azura an opportunity.

Turning his body and coating his blade into deep purple colored Gravity Aura, the azure samurai added Gravity Dust to further increase the power. Swinging his blade with all his might, Azura launched himself at the joint of the other wing as the Griffon desperately flapped it in a desperate attempt to slow its descent. Coating his blade in more Lightning Aura, Azura slashed clean through the wing at high speed and landed on the streets of the ruin in a skid that carved a path into the stone of the paved street. Sheathing his blade as soon as his momentum stopped, the other wing fell away from the Griffon as soon as the click of the guard meeting the sheath was heard.

The avian-feline monstrosity crashed to the ground of the ruin with a shrieking roar and a massive impact, shaking the ruins beneath our heroes to the foundations. As our heroes rebalanced themselves, the now grounded Griffon glared at our heroes with rage in its eyes and shrieked with fury. Beginning to circle them like a shark, its clawed and taloned feet scraped against the stone street as it looked for an opening.

Seeing one, it lunged at Azura for daring to slice off its wings only for Zhan to stop its beat with his ax and hold it back. Coating his blade in azure-blue flames, Azura then slashed it at the Griffon, hitting it in the face and burning one of its eyes as it shrieked in agony. Seeing an opening, Zhan put his hand out towards one of its clawed feet as Rena stabbed into the other taloned foot. Suddenly, the bird foot of the Griffon flash froze as a massive amount of ice sprung up, freezing its shoulder and leg as it cried out in shock while the rest of our heroes looked at the tall blacksmith in disbelief.

"H… how did you…?" Ember began to ask only for Azura to cut her off.

"No time to ask questions, Miss Ember! Fire shots down that thing's throat!" Azura called out, allowing Ember to refocus and begin firing bazooka shot after bazooka shot into the Griffon's mouth and down its avian gullet.

Trying to keep the chimeric abomination pinned down, Rena called out to her allies. "Someone take off its head!"

"Zhan, go for its neck! I'll help Miss Ember cover you!" Azura called out, unleashing azure-colored fiery slashes at its face to distract it while Ember fired shots into its torso.

"Time to make us some fried chicken today!" Zhan yelled, loading another fire dust round into his weapon to prepare.

Leaping up at the Griffon as it swung its head back, Zhan swung his flame coated ax blade with all his might. The blazing death blade cut deep into its throat before the unleashed fiery swung carved into it, cutting off its head. As its body collapsed to the ground, the ruins began to shake violently as the unstable ruins began to collapse.

"We need to get out of here! Move, people!" Azura called out as the four teens broke into a run.

As our heroes scrambled over the ruined terrain, the great corpse fell like the others had deep into the chasm, tearing part of the cliffside with it. With an unholy racket, the corpse and rubble filled the chasm with a cacophony of thunderous noise. From the cave, fire and smoke belched as the ground itself began to rumble. Soon the water trickling through the lower chasm dried into steam from intense heat, as the rest of the teams saw the smoke and steam billowing from the chasm.

Through the smoke, flame and steam they saw the cliffside run hot and molten, trickling down the cliff as if a volcano had formed. As this seemingly living volcanic cloud slowly and torturously made its way, the trail it left had smoothed and slimed the cliffside, destroying its original character. The three groups from across the ruins stood mesmerized as finally a set of massive, obsidian and fire wreathed claws dug into the top of the cliff. As our other group of heroes led by Sylver, Sapphire, and Honey made it onto the scene, the living volcano rose up from the steam and smoke up onto the cliffside before letting out a bellowing, demonic roar.

To Be Continued…