"Welcome to Vale indeed. Don't sound disappointed, you're not missing anything good," a new voice spoke from just behind Martin. "She meant well, putting you on the roof, but I think we're still a bit too close," Drevin spoke again.
Panic started rising in Azrail's throat. None of them knew what was coming, and he didn't want anyone else to need to face whatever it was. It was his job, and no one else's, so he leaped to his feet, stood in front of Abigail, his back to the rumbling, and said, "No, you don't understand! You need to get out of here! I can't have anyone getting hurt because of me! Don't try to be h-" Azrail didn't finish his sentence.
The brick wall behind Azrail exploded as a whirring mass of obsidian-black edges shredded through it, and the humanoid mass continued barreling forwards. Its head connected with Azrail's lower back, and the sheer force of the impact lifted the third year up. Azrail felt a thousand lacerations crisscross his entire back in a fraction of a second as the thing ran underneath him, its edges shredding through Azrail's cloak and even his carbon fiber armor. The real problem was when its shoulders passed under the backs of his legs, as Azrail felt an almost simultaneous twang and subsequent pain as both of his Achilles Tendons were severed. He hit the ground hard and a pool of blood began seeping out from countless injuries.
The thing continued on through the wall of the abandoned apartment building and destroyed a good portion of the inside as it ground to a halt and turned back to see what it had run into, the black blades stopping as it did. It had completely ignored Sandy's bomb, which had been destroyed upon making contact with the creature done a lot of damage to an already unstable structure. The building creaked and swayed precariously, and Drevin was forced to crouch down just to retain his balance. The thing peered out at the world through lifeless orange/red specks, its eyes hiding in the mass of death, and snarled at the others who had gathered.
It was at this moment that Brond, with his semblance burning up at tier 3 approached the alleyway with the students and immediately put out his fire. It was obvious he couldn't use it so close to his allies. Then Brond saw Azrail and his happiness shattered in an unhealthy way. He would have let loose; he would have ended the wretched creature then and there, but he couldn't. He couldn't use his semblance. The giant bear faunus stood, angry and sad all at once, in front of the destroyed wall leading into the alley. He stared stared the thing down with a deep-set hatred in his dark red eyes, and the thing stared right back.
Almost simultaneously, three cop cars pulled up in a semicircle around the building and law enforcement officers leaned out the windows with their guns trained on the thing in the building.
"What the hell!? I thought this street was uninhabited!" one yelled.
"Well shit, it's supposed to be!" another answered.
Azrail could sense the innate dilemma in the situation, but he couldn't say anything; the pain was too overwhelming. But all the while a single passage floated through his mind. “When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. Do not press a desperate foe too hard." Leave an outlet. Let it escape. Don't corner it, a cornered animal only fights harder.
Everything happened so quickly and in sequence that the whole thing only took a few seconds, but in the moment, those few seconds felt like an eternity.