The air smells…. Different. So thought Guts as he swung his sword for what felt like the thousandth time that night. Another one of these mystery creatures fell to his blade, only to be replaced by two more. He swung again and again as the creatures attempted to claw, bite at him, most of their attacks missing. As he brought his blade around for another swing, Guts' mind wandered to how he had ended up here. His last thought before waking up in the middle of the dark forest was falling asleep under Schierke's healing magic after fighting a group of mutated beasts…. Like what he was fighting now. There were many differences between the beasts he fought earlier and those he fought now- those earlier had been covered in scales and crawled on the ground while these were mostly jet black and resembled wolves- but what were those differences to him? Just more monsters to kill before he got to rest again.

Dozens of red eyes gleamed at him in the light of the shattered moon- another oddity he had noticed- as they crowded around him, eager for a taste of his flesh. As he cleared an area in front of him of the creatures with one huge swing, he raised his prosthetic arm to fire the repeating crossbow mounted on it. A few more creatures fell, but even more crowded to take their place. He sighed as he swung yet again. It wasn't like killing these things was hard- he had had a harder time fighting the scaled monsters- it was rather tedious. Definitely not worth using the berserker armor. He felt as though he hadn't rested fully before waking up surrounded by these things in the middle of the night, and it was beginning to wear down on him. A larger beast leapt towards him- this one resembling a bear more than a wolf- and he brought the dragonslayer down on its head, cleaving it almost in two. It fell and dissolved, as he had noticed these beasts tended to do. He felt lucky these creatures dissolved after death, otherwise the corpses would have gotten in his way. He glanced around him, noticing the first rays of sun over the horizon. If these creatures were anything like the ones he was used to fighting then they would disappear under the rays of bright light.

Somehow, he doubted that was the case.

After what felt like several hours- although it couldn't have been more than two or three- the creatures were finally either all dead or had fled from him. The sun had fully risen at this point, and Guts was glad for its warmth on his face. He slumped beneath a tree, leaning on the dragonslayer as his eye began to close from exhaustion. As his eye drooped, he noticed movement out of the corner of his sight. He glanced over-

-and was struck hard enough to send him flying across the clearing.

Somehow Guts held onto his sword while he was in the air. He landed hard against the base of a tree, coughing blood. He looked up at what had struck him.

It was at least ten feet tall, on four legs with horns- no, those are tusks- sticking out from behind a dangling appendage where its nose should have been. The creature trumpeted and charged at him again. He managed to stand and get the point of his sword between him and this monster's face, bracing himself for the impact. It suddenly turned, faster than a creature that size should have been able to, and caught him in his side.

The berserker armor sparked as the tusk glanced off, not even scratching the enchanted steel. Guts, however, felt that the impact had broken at least three ribs, most likely breaking more. The creature stopped and looked back at him, seeming confused as to why he wasn't dead. Guts quickly brought his sword around, slicing off one of the creatures back legs. It roared in, turning to face him- and immediately fell over due to its missing leg. As it struggled to rise, Guts raised the dragonslayer and brought it down in an arc at the creature's neck.

It gave one final roar before dissolving into shadow. Guts fell against the tree, exhausted from the fight. He breathed in a sigh. Knowing the sun would bring no relief from the monsters made him wary. A nap was definitely out of the question. He pulled himself up, using his sword as leverage, and stood still to listen to the sounds around him. These creature seemed like they prefer head on attacks to stealth, which would make his life easier if they weren't constantly stalking him. However, these creatures had shown to have several different breeds, so he must have his guard up in case a stealthier beast tried to kill him. He sighed again and looked around. Besides this clearing, the forest was thick with massive trees, so he couldn't exactly see where to go. He decided to pick a direction and start walking.

Guts walked for hours, the sun steadily rising to his left. He was listening for sounds of the creatures approaching him, but also for any source of water he could find. The fight had left him incredibly thirsty, and he would need to find water soon. As he thought about it, he reached up and rubbed the brand on his neck. It had not bled ever since the seal had been placed on it, so he couldn't know if these creatures were some kind of apostle or if they were something else entirely. Of course the seal was supposed to keep any supernatural forces from being drawn to him, but magic didn't always work the way it was supposed to. He tilted his head, hearing the faintest sound of running water.

Finally, he thought, hobbling faster towards the sound. It got louder and louder, until he finally came upon a small stream. He knelt at the edge, leaning his face into the stream. He drank deeply of the cool water until his thirst was sated, then stood, looking around.

"Should be a village around here somewhere, seeing as there's water here," Guts said out loud. He looked around, in case a beast suddenly came charging out from between the trees. Nothing came, so he began his walk down stream. The sun steadily rose through the branches, elongating the shadows into twisted shapes as he continued his journey downstream. The air was still, the forest silent except for the chirping of birds. He stopped every few minutes to take a drink from the stream before continuing on.

After walking for another hour or so, he began hearing a strange sound from far off in the distance. It sounded almost like a huge swarm of buzzing insects. He was pondering moving towards the sound or away from it when he realized something else: the buzzing would stop, then start back up again at random intervals. Also, he faintly heard sounds of shouting, as well as the unmistakable sound of metal on metal.

"Might be a group of soldiers under attack, maybe some villagers…. Either way, they might know where in the hell I am," Guts thought to himself as he started moving towards the sounds. As he got closer, he heard shouting as well as a roar from some beast like what he had fought earlier.

"If they need help, might get some free food by assisting them," he thought as the sounds grew louder. When the sounds appeared to be just pass the next brush pile, he heard something new- a faint clicking that seemed to come at random intervals.

He reached out and pushed the brush aside and stopped dead in his tracks.

In front of him were for people fighting several of the bear-like creatures he had seen earlier. Their clothes seemed strange, but not as strange as their weapons. Two men- one large, one more of a medium size- were fighting up close to the crowd of monsters. The larger one was wearing green armor while wielding a massive curved orange sword- though not nearly as big as the dragonslayer- while the smaller one wore a red shirt and wielded what appeared to be two reverse orange blades on each arm. Behind them was a woman in all brown wielding- what was that? At first he thought it was a cannon, but at second glance it was rotating very quickly, and seemed to be the source of the buzzing sound he had heard earlier. Maybe some kind of advanced repeating crossbow? And behind her was another woman, this one wearing brown and orange clothes of different styles holding a flashing box to her face and yelling encouragement to the others fighting. Guts had to look at her twice before noticing the rabbit ears protruding from her head.

"Where the hell am I?" he thought as he backed up to hide himself in the brush.

"We've got more Ursa coming in!" Yatsuhashi shouted as he cleaved a beowolf in half.

The group of bear-like Grimm charged out of the woods towards the members of team CFVY, roaring. Coco swung her minigun around to face them and squeezed the trigger, dissolving the first few monsters into black mist. Fox ran from behind her, his twin arm blades flashing as he took the head off of another beast. Velvet's camera clicked away in the background as the rest of her team finished up the fight.

As the last Grimm dissolved into nothing, Coco's minigun folded in on itself until it was the exact size and shape of the handbag she was usually seen with. She sighed, wiping the sweat from her brow. Her team had been sent to exterminate a small group of Grimm two days ago, and the whole thing had turned into a much bigger mission when they had stumbled upon a nest of beowolves while scouting the area. As they got deeper into the woods, they kept meeting Grimm in bigger and bigger packs, which was highly unusual for this part of the forest. Another oddity was the fact all of the creatures had been heading in the same general direction since they had arrived. Since creatures of Grimm were drawn to negative emotions, the team had come up with a theory that they were near a ruined village, most likely torn apart by the monsters. They had been on their way to scout around and see if they could find wherever the creatures were headed when this pack had found them.

"Well, that was fun," Coco said as she checked her handbag.

"Yeah, if you call being attacked by a couple dozen Grimm fun," Yatsuhashi responded.

"Well if I didn't think it was fun I wouldn't have said it Yatsuhashi," Coco snapped back at him.

Velvet ran up to where the rest of her team was gathered, stowing her camera back in its box at her hip. Even after the battle, she seemed slightly nervous and continually glanced around.

"Hey guys, I don't mean to scare you or anything but-"she began.

"What's up Velvet? You look like you've seen a ghost," Yatsuhashi said as Coco punched her shoulder.

"Hope you got my good side while taking those photos," she joked.

"Guys, seriously. I might just have seen a ghost while you were fighting," Velvet said nervously.

"What do you mean?" asked Fox as he walked towards them.

"Well, right before those Ursa came charging in I nearly dropped my camera. When I went to steady myself I happened to glance around and saw what looked like a man in black. Then I turned back towards you guys when Yatsuhashi yelled about the Grimm, and when I looked back he was gone."

"Hmmmmm…. Seems interesting. Could just be some old hermit living out on his own." Coco said.

"I don't know Coco, he looked pretty young to me," Velvet replied.

"Well, was he hot at least?" Coco asked, lowering her sunglasses.

"I- what- I barely glanced at him, I could hardly tell he was there any way!" Velvet said, flustered.

"I'll take that as a yes," Coco said, looking around the clearing. "Well, we had better get moving. If there's some hot guy around here I'd really hate to have him eaten by Grimm."

They took a defensive position- Yatsuhashi in front, Coco behind, Fox watching their flank and Velvet in the middle- and began their trek back into the woods.

They came upon a stream when Fox knelt to look at something in the mud.

"What is it Fox?" asked Yatsuhashi.

"It looks like Velvet really did see someone. There are boot prints here, and here. Looks like he knelt to get a drink before he continued walking." Fox said.

"And do we know where he's headed?" Velvet asked.

"Actually, it looks like he was headed towards where we were fighting earlier before turning around. I'd have to look around a bit more to see if I could find any more prints." Fox replied.

"Welp, Velvet, looks like you were right after all." Coco said, slapping her on the back. She glanced at the prints, then at the trees around her.

"Think we should look for him in case any Grimm show up?" Yatsuhashi asked.

"Well, usually I'd say yes, but first we need to find what's drawing these Grimm all to the same place." Coco replied.

"Have we thought about the possibility that whoever this guy is, he's the one drawing in the Grimm?" Fox asked.

"I mean, I guess it could be possible, but I highly doubt it. It would take a group of people who all were having a really, really bad day to draw in this many Grimm at once." Yatsuhashi said.

"Well in any case, we have to find the source. So if it is this guy or something else that's the problem, we'll figure it out soon." Coco said.

"Why do you say that?" Velvet asked.

"Because," replied Coco, "I'm pretty sure I just heard an explosion."

As the others stopped to listen, they all heard something else- a shout, and then a screech of pain that could have only been caused by a Grimm.

"Let's go check it out," Coco said as she activated her minigun.

Guts swung again and again, clearing away the group of monsters before him. These had come charging out of the woods as he walked back upstream to find a place to rest after deciding to not bother with those strange people. He wasn't afraid, just wary of the woman with the….. he decided to call it a repeating crossbow, but knew that wasn't the case. But what else could it be? Besides, better to scout them out first and decide if they were friend or foe.

The bear-like creatures- that boy had called them Ursa- charged at him again and again, all meeting the same fate beneath his sword. They dissolved into mist, only to be replaced by four more. Out of the corner of his eye he saw more coming, as well as a new kind of monster- almost like a boar, but with four eyes.

He brought his metal fist down on the head of a wolf creature before turning to face this new threat. Two of the boars stopped a few feet away before curling into up, like they were going to roll at him? It was then he noticed the sharp spines protruding from their backs.

The two boars charged, their spines tearing up the ground. Guts swung his sword and cut the first one in half as it neared him, but the second one managed to just dodge his swing and hit him full force. The impact sent him flying into the base of a tree.

As a group of the Ursa charged at him, he raised his sword and swung in an arc in front of him. The swing took the heads off three of the beasts and various limbs from the rest. As the boar prepared to charge again, three others joined it. As they flew towards him, Guts raised his prosthetic arm, grabbing the string protruding from it with his teeth while raising his sword with the other hand. As the boars neared him, he yanked back on the string, firing the small cannon hidden in his prosthetic arm. The cannonball broke through the first two boars and sent an Ursa flying. He used the momentum from the cannon shot to propel the dragonslayer around, catching the rest of the boars on its edge. He pulled on the sword's grip with all his might, completely slicing through several monsters and sending even more flying through the air. As he turned to face the other monsters- of which there were still at least a dozen- he coughed, spraying blood on the ground in front of him. It was then he realized the boar earlier had hit him harder than he originally thought. A wolf monster lunged at him, only to meet its end on the dragonslayer. As Guts brought his sword back around, he was struck from behind by a powerful tail.

As he flew through the air, he coughed even more blood. The berserker armor may be protecting him from being cut to pieces, but it didn't stop a heavy impact from shaking around his insides.

Guts landed in the middle of the remaining wolf monsters, which he quickly dispatched with a whirling slice from his sword. He then turned to face what had hit him earlier.

It appeared to be a massive snake, half black and half- then he realized it had a head on both ends. He rose to meet this new threat by lunging towards the black half, bringing his sword down to cleave it in two. In his peripheral vision, he saw the white half lunging towards him, fangs outstretched.

As he brought the dragonslayer down on the monster, the white half's fangs scraped his armor but didn't pierce it. The sword struck home, slicing the two halves apart. He heard a loud, angry hiss before turning to finish off the monster. Now both halves were reared up, prepared to strike at him. He swung his sword as they lunged.

In slow motion, he saw that his sword would hit both snakes across the mouth but the black half had aimed higher than the white half, trying to bite at his face. He twisted his body so the snake would miss its initial mark…..

And instead pierced his shoulder.

He roared as he cut into the monsters, finally felling them by slicing their heads off. He fell to one knee, grasping at the fang near his neck. He sighed in relief when he realized it did not sink in completely, rather it was buried almost an inch into his skin. The upward force of his sword had caught the monsters right as he was pierced, stopping it from going all the way in.

As these thoughts went through his head, he realized that the fang wasn't his only problem- a feeling of numbness was slowly spreading over his body from where the fang had pierced him. He grasped at the fang with his good hand but felt nothing due to the numbing sensation that now covered half his body. He struggled to stand, using the dragonslayer with his prosthetic hand to hold himself up. As he straightened, his knees shook violently before giving out and sending him back to the ground. He grit his teeth, struggling to rise again. He heard a low growl coming from his right but could do nothing to turn and see what it was.

"So this is it then?" Guts thought to himself, "Three years at war, the eclipse, fighting apostles at every turn, and I'm going to die to some beast I've never seen before earlier today."

He would have laughed if he could still control his face.

An image passed through his mind then- one that had been seared into his brain years ago. It was an image of Griffith as he'd been before his torture and the eclipse- bright eyed, smiling, white hair streaming down his back.

The thought drove a spike of extreme hatred through Guts.

Slowly, he moved his left arm to pick up his fallen sword, his right arm moving to support his weight as he struggled to rise.

"I can't die, I won't die yet," Guts thought as he slowly raised himself, "Not until I kill Griffith."

As the monsters closed in around him, he managed to stand, using the dragonslayer to support his weight, as his legs were almost useless from the venom in his blood. With an enormous effort, he managed to bring his sword around and slice the head off of a monster. They seemed taken aback at the fact he could stand, let alone swing his massive sword.

Gritting his teeth, Guts prepared to activate the berserker armor. It didn't matter if he lost his mind here, nothing mattered except killing Griffith. If he lost his mind here to the armor's dark powers, then be mindless he would- eventually, he knew Schierke would detect the armor and find him, bring him back to who he was.

At least, that's what he hoped.

Although he had no idea what effect the venom would have on the armor's powers.

As the monsters closed in around him, he felt the armor's presence enter his mind, calling to him to unleash its full potential. Right as he was about to pass the point of no return, an angry shout brought him back.

The armor's spirit faded away as he looked around and saw the monsters suddenly dissolving for no apparent reason. It was then he heard the buzzing sound from earlier, although this time it was much louder. He turned to look behind him, only to see the four people from earlier running in to fight the monsters. The girl with the buzzing weapon was walking slowly forward, sweeping the barrel back and forth to kill every monster she could see. The girl with the rabbit ears stood behind her, watching him nervously. The boy with the orange sword jumped into a crowd of monsters, sweeping them away with two swings. The one in red was a blur, slicing the monsters to pieces with his twin blades.

Guts was somewhat impressed with how quickly they dispatched the remaining monsters.

As the last creature dissolved, the girl with the rabbit ears ran up to him.

"Mister, are you hurt?" she asked, looking concerned.

"What the heck Velvet, of course he's hurt! Or did you not notice the giant fang sticking out of his shoulder?" said the girl with the machine- although now it was nowhere to be found and she was now holding a small bag he hadn't noticed before.

The other girl- Velvet- turned red.

Guts opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly went numb all over and collapsed. His sword fell next to him.

"Crap, the venom's getting stronger!" shouted Velvet.

The bigger boy ran over to them and gasped when he saw the dragonslayer.

"Dang, that is one huge sword!" he said.

The girl in brown smacked him across the head.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious, but right now we need to get this guy some help," she said.

"We should probably call the airship for a medevac before anymore Grimm show up." said the boy in red as he walked over to where she stood.

"Right, right, give me a minute." Said the girl, pulling a rectangular device from her pocket.

Velvet knelt next to him, checking his pulse.

"Whoa," she said, "what's up with this weird tattoo?"

Her fingers brushed the brand of sacrifice on his neck.

As soon as she made contact with the brand, Guts passed out.

Velvet seemed taken aback. "Fox, Coco, this guy's passed out."

"I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner," Fox replied, "given that he has King Taijitu venom in his blood.

"Will it kill him?" Yatsuhashi asked while examining the massive black sword.

"I'm pretty sure their venom is used for paralyzing prey before they eat it," Fox said, "but in any case we should get him back to the doctors in Vale."

"But dude," Velvet started, "did you see the way he fought? And what caused that explosion we heard earlier?"

"Yeah, this guy seems like a pro, can't find any kind of id on him though." Yatsuhashi said. "And check out this sword, its freaking huge!"

He lifted it up, only to drop it after a few seconds.

"Also, look at this," said Fox.

He pointed to the mystery man's left arm, which they now saw was some kind of prosthetic.

"Must be an old battle wound," Velvet said.

"Alright guys, airship's on its way. Find anything out about this guy?" Coco asked, returning to where the rest of her team stood.

"Besides he swings around a sword that I can barely life like it was nothing, has a prosthetic arm, and no kind of identification whatsoever? Nope, not a single thing." Yatsuhashi said.

"Well, I can see one thing that none of you apparently saw." Coco said, lowering her glasses.

"What's that?" asked Velvet.

Coco looked at her, grinned and said "He is super hot."