Lady of Blades

Nero's skin tingled, goosebumps prickling along his skin as He looked in disbelief. His descent had slowed drastically, it was like, gravity had tweaked or something was pulling him upwards slightly as He fell a lot more slowly to the ground, his form landing roughly but not painfully on the ground.

Wincing and rolling himself over, Nero's eyes were caught, Apparently, the Alpha had seen it too because it was staring into the sky.

Glimmering brightly, was Griffin, falling high up from the sky, the shining blade of her silver sword glinting in the slight as she suddenly and rapidly begun to spin her self, around and around, faster and faster, and then, it happened.

Whizzing through the air, came a bright cloud of Razor-sharp knives, showering down on the Alpha, making it screech again as the shining blades pierced it's soft flesh and stuck deep into its armoured joints. Griffin shot downward at lightning speed, the blade of her Sword slicing clean through the already half-destroyed ligament of the Alpha's wing.

Griffin had landed hard on the ground _"How the Hell... she couldn't have survived that fall!" _Nero thought, though saw clearly Griffin... sinking into the stone which flexed unaturally like rubber, bouncing from the ground and elegantly flipping acrobatically off to the side of ruined Arches, she stuck out her arm a crackling of red light shooting out as the Stone changed and moulded into a smooth surface that Griffin slid across in an arc, flying in a circular motion around and around the Maw, zipping around like a silver bullet, the stone beneath her flattening and smoothing out like a slide beneath her.

The Alpha staggered leaving it's severed wing behind as it growled, cannoning its claw into Griffin's path but... the Blades that stuck and stabbed into its body, suddenly ripped away towards Griffin, tearing like razor-sharp bees through the Beast's arm, leaving it a mangled mess.

Every single one of those blades darted towards Griffin, each slotting harmlessly into the sheaths dotted around her body, making her shine with metal as the Slide of stone suddenly shifted in and upward, making Griffin slide at inane speed up and high into the air.

Nero looked in awe at Griffin as she zipped up into the sky, arms spread wide like a bird, Her hands locking around her Swords handle.

Nero saw the Blade of Her sword suddenly flash with white light, watching as the metal cracked into clean segments coming free of the Hilt like a whip made of Sharp steel "Nero, kill it!" Griffin cried, grabbing the Black blade that was tied to her waist and casting it down to him, the Crystal sword embedding itself in the ground in front of him.

Forcing himself to his feet, Nero growled, sprinting forward and grabbing Caliope's curved weapon without a second's delay. Griff plummeted towards the ground, He Bladed whip spinning like a cyclone around her as she zipped towards the Alpha's back, Nero roaring as He ran towards the Manticore's exposed side, the sharp curve of the blade immediately piercing right into the huge Beast's chest, its blood splattering all over Nero, it's head twitching as a mortal yowl escaped its jaws.

Griff came down like a hammer, Her whipping blade lacerating cleanly through the Alpha's mane, severing its head at the neck as she slid across the ground, breathing heavily and now also covered in a splatter of blood.

The Alpha slumped over, it's head buried in the rock beside it, dead and broken. "Argh..." Griffin groaned, wiping blood off of her coat and walking awkwardly over to Nero who had pulled the Black sword from the Beast and sat on the ground, exhausted and trying to ignore the growing pain of his broken arm by staring at Griffin in shock.

"Ummmm, wow, ow..." He winced, Griffin, reaching up to remove her helmet and crouch beside him. She looked pretty tired, a light sheen on sweat coating her red face and Her hair frazzled on her hair, something she quickly straightened as He looked at it... Nero felt an air about Griffin, now that He had seen her fight, really fight, not brawl, weakened by Subtracta but at Her full strength, this was not a woman to trifle with, this was a true Mysterian Warrior's Power.

"Oop, sorry, helmet hair." She said with a slight smile, Nero just stared at her, still starstruck by what he had seen

"You... what was that, that was insane, You were zipping around like a crazy person!" He said, the wonder inside of him finally starting to Boil over, Griffin just shrugged, wiping more blood off of her coat with disgust

"Easy enough, throw the Blades to weaken, sever the wing, Creation to soften the fall and then create a service to slide along, Pull the blades back, slide into the air, throw you the sword, sever the head with a killing blow and Add a little more oomph to my legs to take the fall, I kinda Burnt out Creation... and I think I still might have broken my ankle, but yeah, job well done in my eyes." She said casually, Nero was positively gobsmacked

"Job well done!? that was fucking Awesome, You have to teach me how to do that!" Nero grinned, pulling her down into a hug as He chuckled partly amazed, partly thankful, He probably wouldn't have survived without her, his arm still burning with crackling pain.

Griff flushed, chuckling with him briefly before pulling Nero up "No problem. it's a good thing I decided to look in on Your little hunt, come on, we should check on Fiore... or You should, I don't know how happy she'll be to see me-"

"GRIFF-GRIFF!" Nero and Griffin jolted as Fiore burst out of nowhere, wrapping her arms around Griffin and smiling widely, her bruised face flushed with joy "You saved our lives! You flew around and cut her here and cut her there, it was incredible! I am so so sorry that I was mean to You! Fioremika is in Your debt!" the Girl cried, shaking Griff who winced with Fiore's weight on her broken ankle

"I'm gonna guess that she likes me now?" Griffin asked Nero, unable to understand Fiore, He nodded, grinning slightly _"Finally." _He thought, walking around the Alpha's body to look at its severed head, its eyes closed with a horribly panicked look on its face.

Fiore came to examine the Beast, seemingly mesmerised by it "This Alpha was even greater than the stories told, and it's a female too... It could hear us even with the screamers, Mantari are strong but not this strong!" She said, feeling it's shaggy mane before looking to the other hunters who bundled together desperately, some of them very badly injured... and others corpses. Fiore frowned sadly, running over to them immediately as Griffin looked at Nero's arm

"How is Your hand burnt and broken?" She asked, touching it carefully, He shrugged, pain flying up through his fingers as Griff touched them

"I used a glyph, creation I think... made an Explosion that blew the damned thing's tail off before It crushed, but My arm went with it." He explained to Griffin who frowned disapprovingly

"You need to be more careful, You could have blown Your own face off." She scorned but softened sighing "Although, You did a good job in the fight, You have a good battle Instinct I'll give you that, with some training and a little experience, You should be able to live to talk about Your battles, and trust me, battling an Alpha Manticore is one hell of a story to tell." She said with a smile, Nero raised an eyebrow

"So You know what it is, a Manticore?" He asked curiously, though Griff seemed to misunderstand his question

"Of course, I've heard the stories, everyone has-"

"No, that's not what I mean... Manticores are Mythical creatures in my world, Hell Griffins are too, so I'm confused just how they are here." Nero said thoughtfully, still quite confused as to just what the connection between Mars and Earth was? everything felt so strangely comfortable, eerily similar, it was an enigma

"Really? that's curious... strange, a Myth You say, so there is no evidence of their existence?" Griffin asked, Nero laughed shaking his head

"Absolutely not, but here it is." Nero pointed the Head with Caliope's sword, grimacing at it slightly but Griffin seemed to have a lightbulb moment, smiling slightly as she rubbed her chin with a devilish smile

"Tell me, do Gaian's Myth say that Manticore's hoard treasure?" Griffin grinned coyly, pointing at the Maw's cave, Nero's eyebrows raised as He nodded

"No actually, but I'd be interested in taking a look." He agreed, following a slightly limping Griffin through to the Manticore's cave.

"Well, this is slightly disappointing..." Griff said grumpily, looking in and around the Manticore's Nest of rocks and sand. Nero swept his foot through the pile, looking carefully through the circular Nest with a suppressed frown, Griff only had to go and get his hopes up, the Silver clad woman huffing with unrelenting boredom "let's get going, I can heal our wounds when we are in the Valley... damn, I really thought-"

"Wait..." Nero interjected, his eye-catching on something shiny among the rock dust and thick grains of crimson sand.

Scooping up the object in his hands, Nero brushed away the dust, staring at what looked like a shiny pearl, Black and White melting into one another in a water texture on its surface "Hmmm, Pretty." He said, Griff, looking at it with a raised eyebrow

"Hey, good eye there. So what, the Alpha was a Powerhouse... and a cheapskate? lovely," Griff said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, Nero smiled at the small black and white orb, holding it out with a sweet expression

"A Pearl for the Lady?"

"Cute, but no thanks, I am not a jewellery kind of gal. Keep it, not much of a trophy but it beats carrying That thing's head around" She grinned, gripping her helmet tightly at her side "seriously, come on, the sooner I can fix this ankle the better."

Nero nodded, tucking the Black and white Pearl into his furs where it safely stayed put as the Group prepared for the travel back to Fallgrim. Fiore had gathered the remaining Hunter's gathering cuttings of the hairs of Misa and the other's who did not survive the battle, speaking a few quiet words before leaving the bodies behind "Return to the Sky." Fiore whispered before gesturing to the Alpha's massive head, the remaining Litchen rushing to tie ropes that they tied to the Beast's huge horns

"Do we have to take that with us?" Nero asked with a cringe, Fiore nodded happily, clapping her hands together with pride

"Of course, Great Warrior, it is a Trophy of our great hunt! We will come back for the Meat before another takes it!" She grinned as the Hunter's began to heave the huge head forward, Fiore bit her lip, scratching her head "N-Nero... I know that Your arm is injured but... would You mind lending us a hand, I'd ask Griff-Griff but Her ankle is hurt." She asked innocently.

Nero's eyes narrowed at Griff as she chuckled, shrugging at him as Nero shook his head with annoyance "Not a word." He warned, walking over to the Hunters to help them pull the Head single-handedly, not looking forward to what would likely feel much longer than it actually was.