It seemed everyone agreed with her plan, which made things simpler. And in a crisis situation where people’s lives are at stake, simple was best.
As the vehicle approached the engagement zone, Aurelia moved to the side and started channeling her semblance. A soft glow would begin to emanate from just beside the four-wheeler, slowly growing in intensity over the next few seconds. Then, as the glow reached its brightest point, Aurelia leans and falls out of the open door. However, instead of the sounds of tumbling and falling, the group would instead hear the sound of thundering hooves and the whinny of a triumphant horse. Beside the vehicle, a glittering golden horse—nay, a unicorn—gallops alongside the band of hunters with a cloak-clad knight sitting atop its back.
With a nod, Aurelia breaks off from the rest of the team, leading the charge into the field of battle. Even from this distance, the cavalier can tell her plan to attract the Grimm had worked. The bony plates of the monsters had perked up at the light, and a few had already diverted their attention towards the charger. Underneath the hood of the cloak, a thin smile spreads across Aurelia’s face. Everything was going according to plan.
Switching Dusk into rifle mode, Aurelia takes aim at the oncoming horde and takes rapid-fire shots, hoping to thin the herd before she’s engaged in melee. As the inevitable collision draws closer, she raises her rifle high in the air and squeezes the second trigger, causing Dusk to shift again. However, instead of reverting back into saber form, the weapon extends. Through a series of clicks and whirs, the tip of the weapon crawls further and further into the sky, until finally, Dusk reveals its most powerful form—a twelve-foot long lance!
With its transformation complete, the tip of the skyward lance falls, its motion akin to an executioner’s axe falling onto the neck of the guilty. As Aurelia couches it, Dusk extends outward towards the onslaught of Grimm, the tip beginning to crackle and spark with energy as the cavalier begins to channel fire and lightning dust. Likewise, Noble Steed, too, lowers its head in preparation for the melee, its horn sparkling in the sunlight.
For a moment, all that Aurelia can hear is the sound of hooves pounding the dirt beneath her and the snarls and growls of the enemies before her. She can see the mixture of blacks, whites, reds, and yellows that make up the menagerie of monsters, as well as a collection of sharp white teeth and claws.
*Th-th-thump*
A set of hoofbeats draws the horde closer, and Aurelia can begin to make out the individual markings of red on the Grimm masks. She adjusts the lance so its tip points at the leader of the pack, a Beowolf baring its fangs as it charges at the huntress.
*Th-th-thump*
Another set of hoofbeats, and the horde draws closer still, close enough now that Aurelia can easily distinguish the shapes among the mass of black and white that spread beyond her peripherals. Her grip on her weapon and shield tighten. The battle is less than a step away.
*Th-th—
The sound of hoofbeats is overwhelmed by the sounds of battle as the lance pierces its first prey. Between the dust effects and the amount of momentum Aurelia is carrying, the Beowolf practically explodes on impact as the unicorn charges its way through the mass of Grimm, forced into disintegration before it could even get within striking distance. The lance, uncaring, continues its foray and pierces the next Grimm in line, leading to similar results.
Any Grimm that manage to slip past the lance tip is greeted by the tip of the unicorn horn, and while it may not have the same destructive power of Dusk, Noble Steed nonetheless sends black bodies flying as it hefts Grimm into the air with its own “spear tip”. Of course, any bodies that manage to slip past that still have one more weapon to face in Aurelia’s charge, and that weapon comes in the form of the four galloping hooves of a stampeding warhorse.
Unfortunately for the Grimm, charging is Aurelia’s specialty, and while Noble Steed might have taken a few nicks and scratches, and, with the timely help of the rest of the team, the cavalier crashes through the horde of Grimm and comes out the other side unscathed, the mount’s stride unabated. Of course, that was only the first phase of her plan. Using the few seconds of breathing room she had, Aurelia took a quick look around to confirm how the much of the pack and taken her bait. If she can, she’ll try and pick up as many stragglers as possible before rounding up the horde into a neat little ball.
Pulling the trigger again, Dusk shrinks back down to a sheathed sword, which the knight draws to cleave through the horde one by one as Noble Steed and Saffron’s driving corral the Grimm into a tight little ball of death.