The Power of Experience

Griffin stepped out unto the ridge as Ulsa and Fiore helped Nero further down, Electricity sparked through her body, she hadn't felt this overflowing with Power in a long long time, she'd never had the chance to recuperate, not in the past month, not even in the past year.

Her heart thundered in her chest and it fueled the muscles, focused the mind, fed the soul. Griffin took in a deep breath as she looked at the ensuing battle below and with Animo burning deep, looked with powerful eyes.

Sounds assaulted her ears, but she drowned them out, smells overwhelmed her nose but she exhaled them away, and looking on deep into the battle she looked below.

The Litchen Warrior's were doing battle, and battling fiercely to the falling Imperial soldiers, who took up their swords and muskets in their... lacking armour.

"Only partially armoured, small numbers...."

She peered at the their Arms, low-quality, poorly cared for, even as they clashed and managed to kill a few Litchen, they staggered in poor form.

"Untrained, Poorly maintained weaponry... they have been in the air for a long time...."

Her eyes caught on a few of them limping.

"Hmmm injured. They are fresh off of a battle?"

Her eyes turned up to the ship, she looked at the upturning ridge, looking for a way-op there it was, she could launch herself up there with some momentum and.... ooh, the Hull of the ship, it was cracked, near the Boiler no less, oh dear, this was going to be easy.

"GRIFFIN OF BLADES!!!"

Griff's enhanced eyes caught on three figures a good 30 meter's bellow. these three were different, taller than the Soldiers, darker, they were hooded and cloaked in tattered grey, armoured in plate of black, and on their chests, emblazed the 8 pointed star: the insignia of the Empire.

Their horns jutted out from the flaps in their hoods, heavily scratched and warped, decayed... these Acolytes were not far off in their twisted little pilgrimage, and if Griffin had her way, they'd never get so far.

"WE HAVE COME FOR YOU, GRIFFIN OF BLADES, BY ORDER OF THE EMPRESS!! PUT DOWN YOUR ARMS AND COME QUIETLY, YOU NEED NOT DIE WITH THESE SAVAGES!" One of the Women cloaked in grey called, her voice low and distorted.

Griffin's laugh echoed through the Valley, it echoed louder than the clanging of sword and spear, it echoed louder than anything, they didn't know Nero was here, did they? Oh sweet Red God, maybe this would be a good day after all.

She drew her long narrow Rapier, her hand pressing comfortably on the crossguard, the many Dominatus-Etchings cut into the Steel flashing to life at her touch "Where's the fun in that? You Milk-sucking mongrels?"

She poised herself strongly, and the Acolytes drew their Black blades.

_"Oooo baby Girl..." She whispered to her blade "You're gonna feast well tonight." _

Like a bolt of lightning, She awakened Attrahunt, and reached out latching unto the furthermost Acolyte and ripping herself towards her, The shift in equal weight forcing the Acolyte up into the air, and Griffin to lash downwards like a bullet.

She arced her sword, and as the Acolyte whizzed towards her she thrust calculatedly at the heart of the Monster. She might have met her mark had the Acolyte not shielded itself, it's blade meeting hers in a wicked fast movement, it's body flying into the Ridge above with a hideous crack.

Griff steeled herself, Addito **** extra strength into her boots, and she came down like a bolt of electricity.

Sweeping out at the two Acolytes, She reached into the earth, twisting the atom, making them fluid so that as she slid unto the hard ground it was soft and rubber, where Her two struck at the two Acolytes. One-Two quick and heavy the strikes send the Acolytes in an immediate backpedal against her unwaveringly quick blows, which they met with equal speed.

She fenced off the both of them, sparks flying in the air, until she was tired of it and danced to the side, her mind overflowing with creation, the ground beneath the Acolytes jutting out into humungous spikes the size of carriages and blowing the first one away while spearing the second entirely. Griffin smirked under her mask, Hearing the clanging of swords and piercing of flesh, accompanied by cries of desperation.

Duelling her Mysteria, she Stomped, flattening out the ground with Creaturea into a smooth surface and then launched unto the ground nearby... God did she love this.

Shooting along the path like a bullet on the smooth slide of rock, rocketing around the flank where she adjusted the angle of the slide so that it pointed in the air.

Griff became airborne, and as she twisted around, the throwing blades on every part of her body making her look like a glowing angel of ****, she rapidly latched unto her blades. and started to spin.

The Solider's below barely had a minute to react, because, by the time they had any thought to brace, Griffin's blades launched out of their sheaths and rained down on them with an ungodly precision, like a swarm of angry Mothra, piercing through the flesh of every poorly armoured daughter of a bitch down there, their screams like a symphony on her ears as Griffin's laugh echoed again through the valley.

"Griffin of B-Blades!? IT'S GRIFFIN OF BLADES!!!"

"FALL BACK FALL BACK!"

"THE GHOST OF GAELA, SHE'S COME TO KILL US!!!"

Music to her ears. Griffin cannoned into the side of the Ridge, Creation warping the rock so that it opened for her, Griffin's body passing through the makeshift tube, sliding on the smooth surface as she giggled with delight "Hehe Weeeeeeeeeee!!!!" She cried as she emerged from the tube, spinning in delight into her wide battle stance.

The Solider's where falling back, but many still tried to fight. but the funny part was... the Litchen were actually winning, they were the fiercest motherfuckers she'd ever seen, stabbing without care for their own lives, overwhelming the enemy with her numbers, they were even forming gunner lines, filling the Imperial forces with holes and rendering them as Corpses. They were blocking each side of the Valley, leaving no escape, it was a pit of **** for the enemy... Nero... that man was sharp as a knife.

Griff chuckled, she enjoyed bloodlust, she'd heard about the ferocity of Litchen warrior, and she enjoyed having it first hand-

The Hooded figure appeared almost out of nowhere, closing her hand around Griffin's throat and **** the air out of her lungs, She grasped its hand, unable to breathe, it's overwhelming strength crushing on her neck as it's companions appeared beside it, moving so fast that they seemed to appear almost out of thin air.

They stared, with their eyes, black and soulless "Do you think yourself, infallible, Griffin of Blades?"

Griff choaked, trying to focus, trying to use her Mysteria.

"You will return with us..."

"To the empire."

"You are much sought."

"Yes. she is."

They spoke one after the other, like demented triplets. She just needed a little air, just a second, no a millisecond, and she could focus her mind, channel her powers.

The Acolytes on either side of the one holding her drew their blades and stood on each side, ready to cut her clean in half "Your **** will mean our freedom from the flesh."

"I-'ll.. gladly... do that.... for you... myself...." She wheezed through her helm.

Her Adversaries rose their blades aiming for the weakness in the plates between her coat. Griffin closed her eyes. "Cool as the wind, still as a mountain but fierce as a storm and non the less, ruthless. Always smile, always laugh, because that Ila. they can't take away."

She smiled, even though she was probably going purple, and choaked out a laugh, just like her Mentor taught her.

The Acolytes puzzled for a moment "You laugh? Traitor?" One of them spat.

She did. "Hey... Do... you know... the difference... between.... me.... and You....?" She asked.

"You are about to die?" The third Inquired.

Griffin saw the way these Acolytes moved, and they were just like the others, twitchy, robotic, she knew that their grafted muscles had faults, especially when reacting to stimuli, like fast-moving blades.... she'd only have a second, she'd have to Dual Additio and Attrahunt, it would be a massive waste of energy with what she had to do after killing them... but she smiled and waited for the moment.

"Oh no... Not me. But you... well... you're already dead."

They swung and things almost seemed to move in slow motion, the Acolyte that held her, when the two blades drew closer to bisecting her, it's finger's twitched and just for a moment, it's grip relaxed, only a little, but enough.

Additio and Attrahunt, Add and Pull together sparked at once, She pulled the strings at her neck and lashed them into the Acolyte, who's throat collapsed as she passed on her choaking to it, and making it collapse to the ground. simultaneously she grasped all of the blades that she had shot down earlier, pulling them back in her direction. ripping from the corpses, the barbed blades slashed into the other Acolyte, ripping it's back to threads and it collapsed forward.

A sharp stabbing pain cut into Griff's side while stumbling forward, the Acolyte slashed at her ribs, blood oozing from her side.

"What!?" the Acolyte holding her shouted in rage.

She changed the nature of the metal on her boot, the sabatons flashing as it sharpened into a point which she drove deep into the Acolytes chest, right into its patchwork heart.

it twitched just once and fell to the ground, dropping Griffin who gasped for air only momentarily before casting her line up to the ridge and pulling herself to her feet. She called her sword "LITANY!"

The Dominus on the Blade flashed and the sword flew into her hands. Quick as light she whirled around to the Acolyte that she had diverted her strangling too, and stared ferociously at it "I'm not done." She growled raspily, the Thing's black eyes widening as in one clean arc, she lopped off its ugly head.

Swishing her blade the Dominus etching glowed, and the blade separated, whizzing at her eyeliner right into its chest, where the blades lacerated deep into its chest, tearing through the Patchwork heart and flying out of it's back...

The Three Acolytes, lay dead, though they were not even really alive in the first place, only barely so. She nodded to herself and stared up at the beast in the sky, the Imperial Frigate, now she had a pretty far reach but she wasn't quite Solia, she needed to gain altitude.

She trekked up the ridge, leaving the one-sided slaughter below, climbing rapidly and slinging across the crevice until she was a good 15 meters up. She took a short breath, the Litchen and Imperials where like ants from this height, Griff really hated heights but she supposed, Heights where like Nobility, sometimes you just had to get shit done.

Griff opened the cut in her coat and bodysuit, tearing a shred from her beautiful cloak... she really hated tearing her lovely cloak, Solia had it made for her, still, she grunted, and looked upon her wound, a clean-cut just below the third rib, she pushed the cloth unto it, wincing as she flared Attrahunt, pulling the Fabric tightly and almost magnetically on her skin, closing the wound.

And then she stepped off the cliff.

She twisted and plummeted through the air, the wind screeching across the beak of her mask and for a moment she imagined she was a bird, A great Griffin, or a Thunderbird like Jupiter, and she wondered if she could soar and fly, perch on Nero's shoulder's where she would sit forever.

Then she thought that was a little creepy and that gravity kills gals like her who don't act, so as she approached the corner of the bottom, Creature flared to life on her skin and she constructed a huge, curved ramp in the shape of a U, which she carefully landed into, sliding up with immense speed, one minute she was heading down then in a second she was shooting up, out of Fall grim, out of the Valley and up into the storm, hurtling toward the Imperial Frigate, Creaturea igniting again as she poured every ounce of her power into it and reaching grasping a jagged boulder and preparing to strike this giant mother fucker right out of the air.

Nero was barely there, all He could hear was the clashing of blades, the sounds of ****, He didn't know who was winning, all He felt pain, not physical pain, it was confusion, Sometimes when people spoke, He heard Minies voice, or Adelle's, His eyes hurt, because they kept rolling around.

He could barely even hear Ulsa as she held him, He couldn't see much beyond three, very large dark blue forms walking beside them silently. Fiore was saying something, she was shaking him, but He didn't respond, he just looked at her.

But then, When Ulsa came forward, he saw her quite clearly, cool, calm, beautiful, with hair of mismatching coloured like blood on a snowy hill, her red lips curled into a gentle, loving smile and when they touched his lips He felt... serene, if only for a moment.

"I do not know when I will next see you. Sweet Wolf." The Words where clear, clean-cut "Cheif Ulsa will see you again. and the Sovereign will smile on our reunion."

He looked at her, raising his shaking hands to touch her face "Don't go Ulsa." He said weakly.

Her hands touched his, and for the first time, He saw sadness painted on her beautiful face "Ulsa's people need her... and everybody else, needs you. But you promise me, that you will love My Fioremika for me?"

He nodded "A-A...Always."

"Great chief... uh Mama... Fioremika... she..." Fiore stammered, tears welling in her eyes.

Ulsa pulled her daughter close, hugging her closely "Carry the strength of the Hoard, Fi-fi. Ulsa..." the Chief seemed like she might cry, but she was Warrior Chief, it was not her way "Ulsa expects you to care for the Warwolf... The Journey through Yrden to the Great tree can be dangerous."

Her daughter tilted her head and Ulsa smiled "Go with the Chief's blessing, care for him and for yourself, until now, and until you go to the Sky. Tell Old Ghila... just be careful."

Fiore smiled and bowed "Yes Chief Ulsa. To the Sky-"

The Line Nero had suggested they make in a half doze to close the enemy it was holding for the most part... though that wasn't accounting for the fact that the Litchen hadn't been killing the stragglers... or accounting on a few playing dead.

They had been crawling under the wall, but by bit, and just as Fiore finished, they pounced, right on Ulsa. They had blades and went to stab at her but she was quick and ready, fending them off fiercely.

Fiore jolted, she wanted to go, she wanted to fight for her mother, but Nero could not stand, and Ulsa shouted fiercely "GO!"

The Girl looked panicked, nobody in the Hoard had noticed, and Ulsa struggled alone against a good Dozen Soldiers. Nero wanted to help but... He had given his power away, he tried as hard as He could with everything he had. but not even his Instinct would answer the call, everything was too distorted.

Ulsa slashed in an arc, stabbing into flesh and crying in wrath as she consumed herself with Battle. Fiore stepped backwards, screaming to try and get the Hoard's attention... but they were far off, Ulsa was alone... And she cried out in pain as she took a dagger deep in her shoulder, dropping her rifle and staggering back against the wall, rage and pain on her face as the attackers drew closer like starving wolves, ready to tear her to pieces.

Fiore put Nero down, seating him carefully as she grasped at her rifle, aiming at the attackers. Ulsa saw this and growled, her arm blazing with what little movement she had in her arm.

Fiore's fingers loosened and she dropped her weapon, her mother leaching the strength away "TAKE THE WARWOLF AND RUN! RUN!!" She commanded. Fiore tried to pick up her rifle, tears falling down her face, hands shaking and unable to grasp at the weapon where she shouted in panic as the attackers grew closer to her mother.

Nero wanted to get up, he wanted to fight but his body refused to listen and his mind's commands where distorted and warped.

Fiore stood, her face going pale with such hatred that her eyes almost popped out, she reached out, teeth bared like an angry beast like she wanted to tear them away from her mother, to crush them... Nero felt something strange in the air, like static, it made his hairs stand up on end, the air rippling around Fiore as she growled, taking in a long deep breath before screaming like a banshee "STAY AWAY FROM MY MAMA!!!!!!!!!"

It was like an invisible explosion, a great wave of unseen energy booming through the air as Red crackled across Fiore's left arm, her jaws wide in a scream of hate, worry and pain as the Mysterian Glyph branded itself deep into the skin of her left arm... the Mark of Subtracta.

The Energy that she had released crashed into the entire group of attackers, and Nero looked on, wide-eyed as they began to shriek, their bodies... were growing smaller, thinner, their skin lost its colour, shrivelling like grapes, blood spewing from their eyes as if something was crushing and sapping the life out of them, ripping away ever drop of their life-**** until nothing but Hollow uniforms and plates of armours fell to the ground in piles of dried skin, bone and hair.

Fiore took in a sharp breath as she finished, staring at the blazing patterns on her bicep with confusion... Ulsa sat back, against the rock heavily breathing, complete shock followed by recognition, followed by a wide smile "Go! Fioremika! Use my gift well! Your Mama Loves You!"

Fiore blinked, and sprung up, like she was full of nervous energy, nodding to her mother before suddenly dashing for Nero and throwing him over her shoulder, actually carrying his full weight as she broke into a hard dead sprint down into the Valley.

Nero bobbed up and down as Fiore bolted through the empty space, He'd managed to clutch at her Rifle spear and held it tight where she had forgotten it in a panic. His eyes looked lazily upwards, having one last look a Fallgrim until whenever it was that He could return, He loved the place, it meant so much to him, not because of it's a subtle beauty, but because of the people that inhabited it and-

There was a crack in the sky, and Nero peered up over the Valley's ridge. A form, shrouded in silver, shot into the air "G-Griff?" Like a Bullet, she flew up right into the storm like some Silver-plated bat out of hell, heading right for the Imperial Frigate.

She had to be out of her mind, what was she gonna do? she couldn't board it, even at her speed she wouldn't be high enough, she couldn't do enough damage just by herself, right? RIGHT!?

Ho-ho-ho boy, Griffin of Blades erupted in sparks of red, and reaching out, Nero looked on in absolute shock as an entire section of the top ridge tore away, easily the size of a double-decker bus, the huge rocky formation shaping into something like a gigantic drill that crackled with sparks.

The Sounds of fighting stopped, everything bellow stopped to watch, some in hope, some in horror others in joy as Griffin's roaring laugh boomed from above as she pulled on the huge stone spear that pierced and smashed into the Frigate that screamed like a dying beast as it erupted in flame, boom boom boom the beast exploded like a giant metal pimple, it's sailing burning up as the Huge Frigate swung away into the Rusts another huge boom sounding as it crashed out of view.

Fiore didn't stop, she just kept running, still leading the three Dark blue shapes in front of them as she huffed and puffed, Nero's watching the sky blaze with crimson flames as his eyes twitched and his neck painfully spasmed in protest of holding his head up. able to remind himself only to never ever under any circumstances, piss off Griffin "The flying-boat slaying boulder-splitting badass" of Blades.

"SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT" Griff fell from the sky, she barely had any scraps of her power left, ripping off an entire section of a Valley tended to do that to a girl.

She plummeted downwards, out of the cracking storm that slammed into the fabric of her Armour and long coat, the shards tinkling against her helmet until she emerged into the clarity of the Valley, the ground fastly approaching.

Griff would be flat as fucking dust cake if she didn't do something... that's when she saw them, sprinting down the Southern ridge further down into the valley toward's the Litchen Arena: Karzkja. Fiore was bolting like a madwoman with Nero's much larger form slung over her shoulder like a sack of vegetables moving faster than Griff had ever seen her move before.

But that wasn't the only thing Griff caught... but she noticed Fiore's bottom-left arm, and the markings on it "Mysteria?" She thought.

The Ground was still rapidly approaching however and Griff was fresh out of ideas.... she sighed in her helmet. She really didn't like using it, it was against everything that she stood for.... but this was an emergency.

Griffin looked inside and unleashed The Anthem.

If she felt any pain, if she felt any fear, it all melted away and everything became clear, calm, she wasn't intense, she wasn't wired, it was pure unadulterated focus paired with a deep unwavering power.

Griff's arms shot out, Attrahunt blazing on her bicep as she reached further than she ever had before, mentally gripping on each wall of the valley ahead. The Line became taught and strained like a rubber band pulled to it's maximum.

And Pulling with all of her might, she shot through the air through the valley like a diving bird of Prey, her eyes snapping down as she approached the wall of the battle between the Litchen and Imperials. Her muscles tightened, and twisting in the air like a cyclone, she let out an unrelenting barrage of her glistening blades, that cut down into the Imperial forces so harshly that they exploded through their feeble bodies like knives through butter, ripping through a vast majority of the Imperials who didn't even have time to scream, dust flying up into the air and the Litchen watching Griffin in Awe.

After she had passed over their head, Griff splayed her cloak wide as she turned, glancing down the passage to Fiore below, where she cast down her anchor and latched as the ground, her body whipping at the air and plummeting in defiance of gravity.

Clapping her gloved hand together, the entire length of path flashed into her mind, The Anthem booming inside and enflaming her senses, allowing the Mystrian Master to touch the atoms of Creation, twist them, turning the jagged rock path with a spark of her Glpyh into a smooth slide.

Fiore staggered nearly tripping down the slope with a twitching Nero over her shoulder. But Griff reached her first, lashing by, time moving almost in slow motion as she wrapped her arm around Nero, pulling close and skidding down the make-shift slide, Fiore sliding behind them in confusion as Griff's armoured plates clanged against the smooth stone. Nero held tightly in her arms. the Trio sliding down and around, deep into the Valley and away from Fallgrim... Griffin letting the Anthem drown out, with Nero's twitching head laid on her chest.