The Knights of Grimm - Act 3 - Shattered Memory

Chapter 54 - Beauty and the Beast

Kassius

Pyrrha yells as she smashes Akuou into the face of Krueger but the gigantic Rhino Faunus does not even stagger when he charges towards her, but she uses her polarity to pull the shield right back as she runs right at him. He raises one fist above his head with a booming bellow as he pounds his clenched hand towards her. Pyrrha jumps and rolls right out of the way at the perfect time, spinning round to slash him across his side and he stumbles, managing to take off some of his Aura. But then he grabs her by the Ponytail, creating a yelp of pain from her as he lifts her off the ground.

Suddenly Kassius comes flying in, punching the Rhino across the face with his Cybernetic Arm, the shockwave ripples through the thick armoured skin of the man, making him stagger back. He immediately spins round and slashes Lash Equinox up his wrist, dealing some immense damage to his aura. The impact losses his grip on her hair, and she pushes her heels against his arm, throwing herself from him, and landing right next to him. She lifts her shield up, protectively pacing back and forth as she waits for him to make his next attack. "He just doesn't give in." Pyrrha states, but Kassius cracks his neck as she stares the beast down.

"Hey, Hyde – wanna have a crack at the big guy?" Kassius asks, then the amber eyes ignite and the cracks spread from his eyes and across his cheek bones, embers trailing out from the fissures. He grins with gritted teeth as he glares at the Rhino, his voice changing into the familiar voice of Hyde, gravelly and almost snarling at the same time. Hyde chuckles as he stares Krueger down as he prepares to charge at him once more.

"It'd be a goddamn pleasure." Hyde replies, as he sprints straight towards the Elite White Fang Soldier, and the Rhino goes to pound him into the ground. But Hyde catches his fist with Kassius' cybernetic hand, far stronger than he was before. Channelling his aura into his muscles and senses to become more powerful but only when Hyde is controlling his body. Krueger's eyes widen with confusion and shock, staring at Hyde as he grins back, kicking him in the chest. Hyde roars, spinning round to deliver a powerful attack, spiralling through the air with both swords extended outwards and firing both Vulcan Nox bracers constantly. The bullets fly everywhere, and Pyrrha has to use Akuou to deflect a rogue bullet from him.

"Hey, watch it!" Pyrrha calls out, running to aid Hyde, since he is not as strategic as his host is. He just attacks and attacks, almost blindly, running on rage and bloodlust. However there is no rage here, since he can actually tell who is friend and who is foe. That attack was completely focused on his chest, the weakest section of his body, they have determined. And that attack that he performed – also known as the Cyclone Attack – was very successful, shredded Krueger's Aura down to the minimum. But as Hyde goes to stab downwards with Lash Equinox combined into its Spear Form, Krueger grabs him by the throat and smashes him down into the ground. "Human filth!" Krueger roars as he punches downwards, only for Pyrrha to launch towards him and slam Milo into his chest, the impact creates an almighty crack that throws him back, smashing against the wall. He grumbles with frustration as he pulls himself from the rubble.

Pyrrha looks down and she offers her hand to Hyde, and he accepts with Kassius' human hand, using her help to stand back up. "Are you okay?" Pyrrha asks him curiously.

"Yeah...I'm loving this!" Hyde chuckles, bouncing on the spot as he kicks Lash Equinox upwards and into his hand, disconnecting the two swords to deactivate the Spear Form. Pyrrha has never witnessed an individual to get up with such excitement to fight something stronger than them like that before...

...well...maybe Nora is the exception in that regard.

"Well whatever it was that you did, it seemed to do some damage. We just need to keep wearing his aura down so then we can knock him down." Pyrrha explains, her shield still in her grasp as she stares the huge man down. He finally breaks free from the wall, landing before them with his weight creating a quake through their feet.