Quote The Raven, Nevermore (Open/Halloween-Event/Open To Eight)

Maestus had hardly any time to react as a desperate attempt to launch a feather at her was about to hit it's mark. In a failed attempt to duck out of the way of the feather, she ended up ducking and moving her face directly in the thing's path. The feather pierced through her head, and for a moment, she felt fear for the first time. Everything went dark for a couple moments, and she somehow felt cold despite how she couldn't really tell the difference in temperatures before. Is this what it feels like to have your life in danger? Suddenly, her vision came back, although it was pretty different this time.

"Guys, I can't... woah what?" Maestus began to stumble around the ground, uncoordinated like an unemployed depressed person would do after a long night of "just hanging out with friends." She would try and step forward with her left foot, only to slide her food across the ground and trip herself. In a confused attempt to fix the problem, Maestus grabbed onto the feather, still lodged in her head, and started to pull. As the feather slid out, Maestus's vision went black again and she fell to her knees with her head aimed straight down. For the moment, movement seemed impossible.

_____________

HP: 150/200
SP: 70/100

No useful actions taken on account of getting royally goofed.

Cynthia had been roaming about Skylight Forest, enjoying the scenery of the area. Instead of taking another Academy Night Patrol Mission, she had decided to walk around the Skylight Forest. She planned to use this nice to relax and unwind before continuing the life of a hunter tomorrow.

However, she soon heard the all too familiar sounds of combat coming from the festival grounds a couple hundred yards away from her current position. In response to this, Cynthia instinctively rushed over to the festival grounds. After navigating through the crowds of scared civilians, Cynthia soon made her way to the epicenter of the chaos; the concert stage located in the center of the fairgrounds. As she approached the concert stage, Cynthia could see two large black bird-like Grimms on the ground. She quickly identified them as Nevermores.

In response, Cynthia quickly got Apocalypse from her holsters and deployed them. In addition to this, she used some of her Aura to use her Semblance. A holographic display soon appeared in front of her. After a few seconds, two read target markers appeared on the display signaling to Cynthia that she had locked onto the two ground targets.

“Hmm... Both Nevermores are about thirty meters away from me. Cynthia thought calmly to herself as she first set the fuse setter of her high explosive shells to Airburst. This was a precaution just in case any allies were in the area. After that, Cynthia set the fuse timers on her shells to take into account the flight time between her current location and her targets. She then angled her weapons at about thirty degrees and fired two shots at Nevermore B. Cynthia then lowered Apocalypse's firing angle by ten degrees before firing two shells at Nevermore C. After about 25 seconds of flight time, the shells reached their destination above their respective targets. These shells then detonated releasing a storm of high-velocity shrapnel upon the Nevermores.

---

HP: 200/200
AP: 90/100 (-10 for using Targeting Semblance)

Weapon: Apocalypse (Rank 1) = +10 Damage
Armor: X110 Aegis Energy Barrier (Rank 1) = +10 Defense

Actions:
1. Use Targeting Semblance
2. Fire two high explosive shells at Nevermore B (40 Damage + 40 Damage) (Defense not added)
3. Fire two high explosive shells at Nevermore C (40 Damage + 40 Damage) (Defense not added)

Terra stumbled backwards from the beast. Looks like they might be able to defeat it easily,and she might be able to stay alive for it. She looked down at the ground and let out a sigh of relief. After getting hit so many times and using up so much of her aura,it was glad to know that it might be over soon for the Nevermore,and not her.

Terra was startled for a second when she felt someone hold her wrist. She looked up to see Valerie holding onto her wrist. She was grateful for someone to be helping her,but she can't be staying here by herself doing nothing. She uttered out a simple,"Thank you," before walking slowly backwards,examining her surroundings. The rubble from the stage could be useful as cover. It was already being used by a brown haired girl,so her using it can't be that bad. She ran around the area,keeping her eyes on the Nevermore. The brown haired girl is attacking it,no sign of the girl that healed her,and no sign of anyone new. Terra rolled towards a piece of rubble,aiming to get behind it. She looked over the piece of rubble one last time before ducking behind it,taking up on Valerie's offer to take some time and rest.

---

Stats
HP:60|Aura:20
Actions:Nothing,because useless with low aura

As Valerie's explosive force ripped through the falling bird an opening was create. Jaiden, the brown haired girl, successfully managed to round Nevermore B and approach it's legs though her intent on distracting had failed. The Bird was simply too surprised by the damage it had already taken. All three slices of her blade would clip the bird's legs and further draw it's ire... though it could not move for the pain it was in. Squawking and screaming it kicked wildly with the leg, now hanging loosely, with the potential to kick the brown haired girl to the ground.

Nevermore C however totally believed it had killed the android who had so badly damaged it. As she lay there, giving off relatively little emotion besides the surprise at her demise, the beast would scream before turning in an attempt to help it's brother. The bird could no longer fly but it could walk, having it's right wing halved and it's left fully in-tact. The lumbered toward the group; taking particular notice of the Valerie having just finished hearing the girl. It was then that the first volley of the missiles, fired from afar, would hit; having missed the bird due to it's movement. In shock the beast would turn before taking the explosive blow in the place of it's downed partner! Two missiles rocketed into it's left side, damaging it's remaining good wing. Screaming loudly the beast would turn and wildly throw four feathers and a ferocious gale in the direction of the attack, potentially one of these would strike the girl but more importantly they would make any response fire difficult to achieve. The winds would risk blowing the missiles off course, potentially into the feathers, at that range. She had to get closer! This had distracted Nevermore C however... it had turned. It was exposed on both sides, both wings were badly damaged.

Jaiden grinned as he strikes hit home perfectly. She could tell the fight should be almost over, the amount they'd accomplished was phenomenal in her opinion considering the fact most of them appeared inexperienced comparatively to actual hunters. She took a breath in making sure to clear emotions and take an intellectual look at the battle again. Things were going well, but there was still a danger involved. She watched for only a moment as Terra was carried away by Valerie and nodded to herself, Good, she was helpful but it looks like she was just too exhausted. She thought looking to Maestus. That was very bad. Maybe things weren't looking as good as she thought. Three people were too busy to fight now, two of them maybe for the rest of the battle and the other possibly exhausted. She didn't get to do this for long, she saw the Nevermore she'd just attacked swinging wildly and was forced to use Gust to launch herself backwards and out of the way

Things didn't stay horrific however, she noticed as Cynthia attacked from a significant distance away. That was good, she wouldn't be alone in this and the attack had definitely gained the attention of the nevermore. She was too late to help as Nevermore C sent the volley of attacks in response to Cynthias attack but then saw what she might not have been able to manage had she tried to help the long distance attacker. An opening.

With a grin and a rush Jaiden launched herself towards Nevermore C cutting twice at whatever damage might have been inflicted by Cynthias attack on the wing, followed by using a burst of air to launch herself to the head and strike just once more before continuing the gust of wind to launch herself away from the Nevermore. She'd learned by now that sticking around these things was a terrible idea.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SP: 90
HP: 55 (Added five due to aura)

Actions taken:
-10 sp for evasion.
-10 for moving for the attack.
Against Nevermore C: 2 strikes at injured wing, one at the head.
Damage if hit (defense not added): 75 total

25 per hit.

Valerie smiled a bit as Terra had gotten somewhere safe to recuperate, but was well aware of the dire situation that they were still in. With more people injured, and a looming Nevermore nearby, things were shaping up to be fairly rough. Despite this, she steadied herself and took advantage of the Nevermore's distraction, as she watched Jaiden fight the creature.

As Jaiden flew backward away from the creature, Valerie would run over to where she would likely land and almost catch her by the wrist when she made landfall. Valerie flared up her aura and began to mend the injuries of Jaiden, while she drew her sidearm with her free hand and popped a quick shot at Nevermore C. She'd look back at Jaiden with a look of stern determination and nod her head at her ally, taking in the moment of reprieve before they would have to make another push to establish control of the situation once more.

~~~~~~~

Hp: 60/110
Sp: 50/200

Actions Taken: Rushed over to Jaiden and healed her while firing a shot at the Nevermore.

-30 SP: Heal Jaiden +20 HP

Attacks: Pistol shot at Nevermore C- 35 DAM (before DEF)

"My first volley missed their mark. However, my second volley hit their mark." Cynthia thought quietly to herself as she watched at Nevermore C launched a couple of feathers and a gut of wind in her direction. However, distance between Cynthia and Nevermore C was enough that she has some time to maneuver. Cynthia responded by dashing over to her left and behind one of the festival stalls. Currently, the distance between Cynthia and the stage was about 40 meters.

"Currently, both of my targets are about 40 meters away." Cynthia commented to herself as she adjusted the fuse timers on her shells to take into account her current distance. She then switched her fuses to impact. Currently, she could see both Nevermore B and Nevermore C. From the corner of her eye, she could see Jaiden rushing in and attack Nevermore C by exploiting an opening she had discovered.

With Nevermore C distracted by Jaiden's attack, Cynthia soon turned her attention to Nevermore B who was still on its back. Cynthia then decided to to focus on that target. With this in mind, Cynthia adjusted the fuse on her shells to Impact before aiming it at a 40 degree angle. Cynthia then fired a volley of four high explosive shells at Nevermore B.

Cynthia's volley flew unimpeded for a bit before being buffeted by the gust from Nevermore C's attack. This caused two of her shells to be thrown off course. These shells landed harmlessly behind Nevermore C. However, the other two shell soon reached the destination before slowing down and descending onto Nevermore B. These two shells hit the Grimm's underbelly. Soon after, these shells then bored into the target before detonating.

---

HP: 200/200
AP: 90/100

Weapon: Apocalypse (Rank 1) = +10 Damage
Armor: X110 Aegis Energy Barrier (Rank 1) = +10 Defense

Actions:
1. Fired 4 shells at Nevermore B (Total Damage: 160 if all shells hit) (40 Damage per shell) (Defense not added)

Maestus sat still silently, unconscious as her body attempted to fix whatever the problem was with her head.  However, Maestus's mind thought that something completely different was happening.  While the others fought the grimm around her in the real world, Maestus began to dream of happier times, living in the middle of nowhere without anything to trouble her.  Of course, this wouldn't last, as her vision would come back along with her movement.  "Oh, what? Okay. Okay!"

Maestus pulled herself back to her feet, preparing to fight her opponents again and join her friends in glory again.  Extending her claws, Maestus broke into a sprint and... fell over.  Her face crashed against the ground and her claws found themselves stuck in the dirt next to her face.  "No! No, no, no!"  Maestus's movement seemed to be making itself scarce again, and she still had no idea why, her screams of rage emphasizing this.

_____________

HP: 150/200
SP: 70/100

Screams of rage? That was enough to stall the birds, even if just for a moment. Nevermore C with it's two damaged wings began to turn toward the android's body, the brown haired human sliced and diced at the bird it refused to acknowledge her; blades cutting through feathers and eventually a slice rending through the beast's right eye. As the winged faunus shot into it's already rended wings the beast let out a screech; clapping what remained of it's wings together and sending forth a powerful wave of air in the android's direction. Three feathers spun wildly in the gust; one so wildly as to fly toward where Valerie was attempting to heal Jaiden. The force of the wind was perhaps the most dangerous aspect of this attack, especially for the android girl. With the force behind it the winds could certainly lift her off the ground and catapult her toward the tree-line.

Nevermore B, having had it's attack evaded and being quite the worse for wear, was struggling to flop from it's back onto it's damaged feet. The bird flapped wildly, quite panicked, and began to kick up wisps of wind around itself; creating strange and violent air currents which carried the occasional feather. One of these made contact with the explosives before it could drop full, lighting up the area around the grimm and shocking it further; the remaining three bombardments meeting their mark and giant bird being decimated by the blast. The entire lower half of the grimm was atomised, leaving only the head, breast and wings. Screeching incredibly loudly the bird began to loose far too many fethers than it should have, wild air currents spiralling through the area and damaging the stage. Two of these feathers spun toward Jaiden and Valerie's location!

Jaiden was slightly surprised to find someone behind her only to notice it was Valerie, and that she had gotten to healing her wounds. Jaiden nodded and smiled, Ok. Things are looking up again. She thought before noticing the feather spinning towards them, she tried to grab Valeries arm and to use a gust of wind to get them both out of the way before the thing slammed into them.

Her head whipped to the side as Nevermore B began its wild flinging around. However, much thanks to having her injuries healed, it was easier this time to take a stand against them. She twisted her hands and clapped them towards the ground dropping her knife for a moment to focus on her semblance, sending a gust of wind against the ground and back up again, then turned to the side, intent on throwing the feathers off course. Due to their angle she narrowly avoided them, she hoped that it had been enough to get them out of Valerie's path as well. Then picked up her knife again.

But she didn't have too much time to think about that, these things needed to go down. She dashed forwards again, weaving her way as best she could towards Nevermore C, staying low so air could more easily pass over her and so she could use her semblance if needed. She'd then attempt to hack away at it again, aiming for it's neck and trying to consecutively slice at it three times trying to sever it as quick as she could.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sp: 70
HP: 75 (added 20 from Valerie Fenix heal)


-10 sp for evasion
-10 sp to alter course of attack.

Three slices at Nevermore C's neck. Damage if hit (defense not added): 75 total

Suddenly being wrenched out of the way, Valerie gasped as one of the feathers just barely scraped against the side of her shield, sending sparks flying and reeling her arm backwards as she traveled with Jaiden. She ended up spinning around as she stopped, still carrying a bit of motion from the near miss.

"Whoa.... Ma'am, you know I have to aim to use my gun right? Make me dizzy why don't you, and see how much help I am." She suddenly jokes as she turns her attention to the Nevermore that Jaiden was not attacking. This had to be over soon, it's been quite a bit of fighting. Valerie crouched and tilted her shield, using it as a brace as she aimed at the Nevermore with her sidearm, wrist against the cold metal of the shield. She fired a shot directly at the creatures chest, but then fire the second at it's head. She hoped that this would counteract any attempts to escape from the shot, as she figured that it would meet the creature in case it tried to flee in the one direction that Nevermore always tried to. Up.
~~~~~~~

Hp: 60/110
Sp: 60/200

Actions Taken: Valerie escaped the Nevermore barrage, aided by Jaiden. She then opened fire at Nevermore B, firing one shot at its chest and another at its head, planning to catch it in the chest if it tried to fly away.

Attacks: Two pistol shot at Nevermore B- 70 DAM (before DEF)

SP +5 (+5 from last round as well because I forgot): Recovery Aura

"Looks like Jaiden and the other girl has taken care of the two remaining Nevermores." Cynthia thought calmly to herself as she carefully approached the stage cautious while using all the festival booths as cover. After about a few minutes of caution, Cynthia soon found herself about 20 meters from the stage. From here, she saw her classmate, Jaiden and another girl she hadn't met before. In addition to this, she saw Maestus stuck in a tree. She made a mental note to help her "dorm mate" out of the tree. Cynthia continued looking around the area and saw a female faunus hiding behind some cover.

Cynthia was tempted to approached the stage so that she could check the condition of her fellow hunters. However, she was unsure if the two remaining Nevermore were completely dead. From her experience, she had lose friends to Grimm that played dead. So as a precaution, Cynthia loaded a belt of Thermobaric Shells into Apocalypse and fire a shell at where Nevermore B was and one shell at where Nevermore C was.

---

HP: 200/200
AP: 90/100

Weapon: Apocalypse (Rank 1) = +10 Damage
Armor: X110 Aegis Energy Barrier (Rank 1) = +10 Defense

Actions Taken:
1. Fire a Thermobaric Shell at Nevermore B (Total damage: 40 damage if shell hits)(40 Damage per shell) (Defense not added)

2. Fires a Thermobaric Shell at Nevermore C (Total damage: 40 damage if shell hits)(40 Damage per shell) (Defense not added)

While everything was happening in front of the stage, behind it there was a figure stirring. Young Eggy Alisa Poe had reawakened. Her dress was torn and it's white stained with blood, her arms burned with rope. Dazed and confused she had risen and stumbled to her feet, attempting to force her way back toward the stage. Pulling through curtains and stumbling over debris she managed to unveil the chaotic scene; the stage was ruined. The curtains were torn, the clearing had been devastated by explosions and feathers. Stumbling passed the injured violinist, still lying unconscious, she reached centre stage before falling to her knees... her body was giving out, her head hit the wooden floor.

"Nevermore!" She screamed, anger and sadness filling her in equal portion, "Nevermore! No more! Never more!".

Her rage, her fear, it was as though some invading animal had struck the queen bee; the Nevermore scrambled in an attempt to attack her only to be eviscerated by the hunters. Shots rang out, blades met flesh and the Nevermore fell dead. The air of the clearing began to fill with ash, the sky one alit with stars and the shattered moon was momentarily engulfed... before in the wake of their defeat the sky was alit with airships. One did land in the clearing's centre and from it emerged a man, even paler than Alicia, dressed in white, red and black with bulbous brown hair and piercing blue eyes. Surveying the area in silence, noting the faces he observed, Gwyn Ryu would nod coldly and make for the stage.

Leaping atop it he would speak calmly and clearly, his voice seemingly amplified by some unknown microphone, "Huntresses you have performed valiantly on this evening, while tonight's festivities have been called short do not mistake it for some punishment. Now, if you will excuse me." He crouched down to Alicia, pressing a hand to her forehead, he found it warm... but no reaction was prompted from the girl. She had fallen unconscious, he looked to the violinist. He was clearly more gravely injured, albeit an effort had been made to heal him. He raised a hand and gestured toward him, from the ship academy Medical staff began to flow forth. One overturned the dear android while others rounded the ship to examine the Hunters and offer them transport and aid.

Gwyn himself slowly crouched down to Alicia, lifted her onto his shoulder and made his way back for the ship. It would soon depart, Alicia and the Violinist would live having been treated at the Academy's own medical facilities; under constant vigilance by one Mr Ryu. As reward for their efforts the Hunters present received 3500 lien, though, in addition, they had gained a wealth of experience (2100 if one were to put it to an arbitrary number) and the thanks of the island.

[Grimm Defeated]

Jaiden let herself crouch down as the Grimm were truly defeated. She lifted up her head as the ships arrived, and somebody came from it speaking. Heh, yeah, not punishment at all. I'm far too tired after this little endeavor of ours to do any more partying here. she thought shoving herself to her feet as the Medical staff came to check on them.

She didn't have really many injuries left to deal with. Thanks both to the healing she'd received from the other huntress and her aura which naturally healed her as time went on. That, of course, did not mean she wasn't exhausted, she absolutely was. After this much work it was truly a difficult effort. But as she looked up in thought of having been a part of defeating three nevermores, she had to admit, it was a rather impressive feat given the circumstances. One she'd enjoy telling people if the time came she could hand out stories to people.

She waved to the other students before they'd leave. She considered going over to greet them, but considering they might need the medics themselves, and the fact that after all this she really just wanted to lay down for a little while, she thought it best that she just wave to them and hope she'd see them again at some point. Cynthia after all was a student and the other one might be too.

But now was the time for sleep.

"Finally, the Nevermores are dead." Cynthia thought calmly to herself as she ejected the empty ammo belts of Apocalypse which landed on the ground with a rather loud clang. Soon after, Cynthia saw airships flying overhead. After a few moments, she saw Gwyn Ryu, get off from one of the landed airships to survey the damage.

From Cynthia's viewpoint, the area looked exactly like a warzone. The stage was destroyed, there was rubble spewed all over the place, and the smell of explosives, gunshots, and Dust could be picked up in the air. After a few moments, Gwyn Ryu walked up to the podium and began speaking. However, Cynthia didn't pay all that much attention to his short speech as she was still experiencing an adrenaline rush. Soon after, a team of Field Medics from Syne Academy began going around and treating the injured.

Cynthia refused any treatment since she was totally unharmed due to her late arrival. However, she was a bit concerned about her dorm mate, Maestus. Currently, she was being checked over by the medical staff. After making sure that everyone was fine, Cynthia turned around and walked away from the area. As she was walking away, her scroll vibrated. After looking at her scroll, Cynthia saw that the call was from her adoptive father. Cynthia quickly answered the call. Before long, Cynthia found herself walking away while explaining to her adoptive father what had just happened.