[Opener: Dua Lipa--"Swan Song"]

 "Hey," Jaune called to the front entrance squad, "there's a bunch of Grimm covering the passageways inside."

"They're trying to stop us from finding the leader!" Pyrrha guessed.

She sliced at one. But another one grew over it.

"This is not going to work," she said.

Jaune tugged at one, hoping it would run from him, but these Grimm were more stubborn.

"I guess Mala can protect herself," he said.

"We can't just let her do this," Pyrrha insisted.

Penny and Kip were cuffing the bandits that Arkos had just ploughed through like it was nothing, but the others hurried to catch up to them.

"I see," Theo said. "I always knew too many plants was just a pain in the a--."

He tossed a grenade at the mass of them.

"Wait a second!" Jaune jumped to knock Pyrrha back farther from them before the grenade exploded.

It did create a huge hole in the plants.

Theo raced in there without further ado.

"He's crazy!" Jaune cried.

"We knew that," Pyrrha said. "Come on, hurry."

She plunged after him.

"They're both crazy!" Sun called. 

The thorns were already trying to grow back.

Jaune hastened to follow Pyrrha, and Nora vaulted herself through, with Ren right behind her.

"Wait!" Jasmine plunged in after them.

Ruby grabbed Oscar and burst into rose petals, just making it through as the thorns closed too tightly.

Gira was a second too late following them.

He tore at the vines, but they just started to drain his Aura out instead, and he let go.

"I hope they're enough to help," Sun said. "'Cause I'm not sure if we can get in there after them."

"I'm sure they'll meet up with the others," Kali said. "But, Dear...there's another problem."

She motioned.

Animalistic Grimm were coming down over the rock ledges of the cavern towards them.

"How many does this place have?" Sun asked.

"Aren't they Irasci?" Kip suddenly said.

He was right--they were. And they began to screech.

Anger began to fill some of the fighters.

However, it did not quite affect them the way the Grimm might have intended.

Because that rage turned against the Grimm themselves.

The huntsmen with them, and even the ones outside the cave watching for strangers, suddenly fell upon the Grimm they saw with more vim and vigor than before.

Team CFVY especially started kicking major butt with the Grimm that were starting to surround them because the tribe's scouts had recovered and were closing in.

Team CTTS went after the scouts themselves, as it happened that they had a lot of tracking training. Being Valeans, they already had some experience navigating woods, and they didn't get shaken easily in the trees, as the scouts tried to hide and use the Grimm to pin them down.

Libby was helping to head off any stragglers by using her fireshot attacks.

At some point Zwei had run inside after Ruby and Oobleck also had gone in, leaving mostly just the newbies in charge out here.

So far they were working together well, though. Robyn was at least there to try to supervise.

She also had Shep Nottingham by his wrist and was demanding he answer her about what might be waiting in there for the other team.

Shep spilled about the monster of the pit and the other Grimm. But he said he thought that Mala might not be able to use it for long without another sacrifice to power it up.

This was disgusting to hear, but it was useful to know that she did have a limit of some sort. As long as she had no victims.

Shep also was able to tell them what they had not known before, which was the pit monster had run from view, and that meant Mala might not have access to it. If this was true, she was going to run out of big attacks if the heroes kept heading off all her Grimm. And the Grimm might grow less obedient if they were not given something in compensation for doing as she said.

Robyn headed into the cave to use her communication device to wire to Theo.

"According to this guy, you all need to wear her down," she said. "I guess the Grimm runs out of patience sooner or later. None of them know that much about how it works, but she must have told them that so they'd go along with...feeding people to it. But if it has no fuel, it might finally leave all you shiny people alone. That might take care of the things closing off the doorways."

"Copy that," Theo said. "So it's a war of attrition? I can live with that. We're desert people--we know all about outlasting Grimm and other pricks. Another few hours and she'll be out of options."

"I'm not sure a few hours is short enough for us to hold out if more Grimm keep coming," Robyn said. "We're okay now, but we'll get tired, and they won't. This had to end fast if it was going to work. I'd still say you need to find her, make her exhaust herself, and then finish this. But I have no idea how you'll do that, so I'm leaving it up to Branwen to figure it out. Just thought you should know what I learned."

"I'll pass it on if I find them. The thorns are closing off the entrances all over the place here, but we'll get through it if I have to dig them up by their d--- roots!" Theo went off the line.

"He'd better be okay, or Vara will kill us," Robyn remarked to Penny.

Penny slew more Grimm.

"I think we can handle the small ones," she said. "But I am concerned that there may be larger ones in here. Or perhaps a whole swarm of them. Humans are vulnerable to the Deimos and Irasci in particular, and I wonder if this resistance will last."

"Then we have to hurry," Robyn said. "More are appearing outside too. I can't believe there's so many in this one forest... It's like we found the motherlode of the ones in hiding."

"In a way that could be a good thing," Kip observed. "We could clear them out, if they can't regenerate in the Grimm ponds."

"Yeah, but there's too few of us to keep it up," Robyn said. "If I had my way, I'd pull back now, based on how long we've been fighting--but can't do that, so better hope the others find a way to cut off their supply. Maybe we can lure them outside more, though. Being boxed in with them is making it worse."

"Perhaps we can use the devices we used to summon them at all," Penny said. "Get them to come out..."

"Wait a moment," Taylor spoke up, running up to them. "I remember what your team told us to do in our village, with the music. Perhaps, if you had a speaker..."

"I have one built in." Penny held up her hand.

"Then, if you did that, perhaps the monsters would run out of here," Taylor said.

"That's not a bad idea," Robyn grinned. "Smart kid. Anyone have a playlist for this?"

"I do." Kip held up his scroll. "Just a moment. Penny."

Penny opened the port in her head, which was kind of weird to see. It looked like she was wearing a scroll shaped mini-hat.

Kip pressed the button, and Penny amplified the sound.

https://youtu.be/-fgen24eKiM

["You Are Amazing God"--Chris Tomlin]

"Indescribable, uncontainable!
You placed the stars in the sky
And You know them by name
You are amazing, God. All powerful, untameable!

Awestruck, we fall to our knees
As we humbly proclaim
You are amazing, God."

Some of the fighters listening began to join in the song.

Sure enough, all the Grimm in the room began to freak out and run for the exit.

Even the claws in the doorways began to tremble like they might curl up.

The fighters cheered and ran after the Grimm in hot pursuit, sniping them easily while they were not even trying to fight back.

The ones outside headed off some more and cornered them.

Even the planes outside saw a bunch more Grimm fleeing their way and began to shoot them down.

* * *

Hypnosia had expected to die pretty quickly after Mala had recovered.

To her great surprise, she held her off a lot longer than she'd thought...that is, for about 5 minutes.

That didn't mean that Mala wasn't trying to attack her--it meant that in her adrenaline-pumped and panicking-for-her-life state, Hypnosia's Aura was expending itself to make her Semblance last longer, and she slowed down the Grimm claws for more time than she expected.

Even so, Mala was pulling herself up and lunging forward, but as if she was going through quicksand.

Hypnosia couldn't put her to sleep. Mala made everyone she employed with a dangerous Semblance do a ritual, probably better left undescribed, to inoculate herself from their Semblances.

Somehow it worked so that she was never totally overwhelmed by them.

But she was slower.

Esmeralda had gotten away.

But Mala was fighting with manic energy, and the Grimm in the cavern seemed to be growing out of control. Hypnosia couldn't really see what they did, but Mala would say, "They'll not be leaving here now!" in a crazy way, so she thought it was something to block them off.

While she was trying to flee down the other tunnel and get some distance, more Grimm tried to block her way, and she pushed them aside. The other 6 would be up any second as her Semblance timed out on them, and then she'd never get away from all of them.

Mala attempted to get her to stop running by using her own Semblance to lure her back--but her Aura being depleted by before did render it a lot less powerful. Hypnosia was slightly drawn but able to resist the suggestion.

Even so it was discouraging, and she really didn't think she was going to get away, but if she could slow Mala down enough for the others to get the chance to get a leg up on her...well, at least this wasn't for nothing.

All that, and she'd started to think she'd actually survive this, she realized, but it was a vain hope, of course. No one could defy Mala and live to tell about it long.

...Except maybe the heroes... They were special. She should probably have listened to their advice more.

The tunnels never seemed to end, and Mala was gaining on her now.

"Just give up," Mala called. "You can't get away. You traitor! You know what I do to traitors?"

The tunnel closed off in front of Hypnosia abruptly.

She turned to face Mala.

Mala was panting by now. So she did get tired.

The lighting was not great in here, but, by the few dust lamps, Hypnosia noticed something was different.

"Mala," she called, "your hair!"

"Don't you call me by my name, you worm," Mala said, but breathlessly.

"Your hair is turning more grey!" Hypnosia ignored her remark. 

So it was. There had been some grey streaks in it before, amidst the dark brown, but now there were...easily 8, maybe 10. Much more than before. Almost half of it.

Frown lines were appearing on her face also.

"It's...using the Grimm, isn't it?" Hypnosia gaped at it in horror. "Even you can't sustain it forever, can you? You're killing yourself just like everyone else. Why are you still doing it?"

"Hold your tongue--I'll cut it out." Mala raised her hands.

Hypnosia ducked and rolled out of the way just barely. "But I don't understand. If you... The whole time you lied to us about what it would do to us, but did you also lie about yourself? Did the Grimm drain the life out of you also? Is that why you have to sacrifice other people to them, so they don't devour your Aura? I never understood why yours wasn't affected by the draining of the shots... What did you do?"

"Silence." Mala had no better retort, apparently, when she was out of breath.

Hypnosia moved again. "Did you make a deal with the devil?" she demanded. "Their lives for yours? You...wicked woman... I see it now. That's what this has all been about. You would do anything to retain your own power, but what happens if you lose it? No one lives forever. I wonder what happens when you die... Do they eat you also?"

"You won't have to worry about it," Mala said. "You're out of room."

Hypnosia looked back... She had run right into the Grimm wall.

One of them reached out to her and grabbed her arm, drawing her up to it.

Mala walked up to her, holding out her knife.

"Before I end you," she said, "I just want to know--why? What did they promise you that you would turn your back on us? Didn't you know it was suicide to betray me?"

"That any part of you still cares surprises me," Hypnosia gasped, as the Aura began to get sucked out of her--and she didn't have much left as it was. "But I suppose I might as well answer... They promised me nothing."

"Nothing?" Mala said, like that didn't make sense to her--and it didn't.

"There...is a time when you do a thing not because you get something out of it, but because you must," Hypnosia said, in a low voice. "I never had such a time in my whole life, but after Menagerie, I saw what you turned me into, and I knew if I was going to turn back to a human being, I would have to help bring you down."

She laughed suddenly. "And I did!" She was almost hysterical. "You don't realize it yet, but this is the end for you too! You'll never escape them now--it's too late! It doesn't even matter if you kill me. You can't take them all. It's over!"

"It's not over till I say it's over!" Mala stabbed her in the stomach.

A shot to the heart would have killed her faster, but not been as painful or drawn out, which was no doubt Mala's intent.

Hypnosia gasped.

The plant dropped her.

"I could just let them kill you now, but it'll hurt more this way." Mala put her foot on Hypnosia's neck. "I hope when you get to the afterlife, you tell them not to get too cocky."

Hypnosia gasped, since she couldn't really breathe.

* * *

While this had been going on, the group of older huntsmen had been duking it out with the geist.

The rock one had been enough trouble, only because of the tight space that prevented them from getting a long range attack.

The other three geist had not waited to let them figure it out.

They flew around their heads, looking for an object to possess.

Raven ducked one and sliced its face in half before it could settle.

"I didn't know you could do that with geist," Watts said.

"There's a lot you don't know, Watts," Raven said. She eyed her sword. "Actually...these things really aren't such a problem, now that I think about it. Not for us anyway."

The rock monster stomped at Weiss, who was trying her best to keep Esmeralda out of the way of it. Her summoning was weakening.

She shot dust at the face of the geist and missed as it moved.

Qrow ducked its other arm and pulled it partially off its feet with his scythe.

"If anyone could get higher, we could hit its vulnerable point," he called. 

"Working on it." Winter made a a gravity glyph and jumped on it, springing herself towards the geist's face.

One of the tendrils on the wall lashed out and grabbed her foot.

"What?" She barely had time to realize what happened before it yanked her back and slammed her into the wall.

"Winter!" Weiss and Qrow both cried.

Winter looked up, dazed, and her Aura began to drain.

"Hey, get off of her!" Qrow moved using his sword form now to cut the tendril off.

The rock monster smacked him in the back of the torso and hit him into the wall.

The two free geists swarmed around and flew towards the ice dust Weiss had put up to try to block Esmeralda from them.

"Uh oh..." Weiss said.

Now it possessed the ice, and it rose up and began to shoot tiny icicles at them. 

"Ow!" Weiss tried to use glyphs to block them.

Esmeralda covered her face.

Meridian deflected some ice with his sword/bow.  

Raven sprang over the walls and ran toward the last free geist.

Hazel suddenly caught it by its white face as it flew by him and slammed it into the ground. It cracked and dissolved.

"I didn't know you could do that either," Watts said nervously.

"That's two," Raven said.

"Commander--" Royal had backed up. "--do you have an electric blade in that collection?"

"Yeah, but I never use it. It's pretty volatile." Raven pulled it out. It was long and yellow, of course.

"Great, can I borrow that?" Royal said.

Raven handed it to him. It was shooting sparks.

"Qrow!" Winter was shaking him.

"I'm fine," Qrow wheezed, as the wind was knocked out of him.

"No, move!" Winter said. The rock creature was raising its foot to stomp on them.

She reached for her sword where she'd dropped it when the other thing had grabbed her foot.

Royal threw the electric blade so that it whizzed past them and hit the tendril that was reaching for Qrow right then. Electricity shot up and over it to some of the other ones along the wall.

The rock geist paused, as if sizing it up.

Royal slipped under its arm deftly and reached up, and, taking the bottom of the sword as it was fizzling out, he flung it back into the monster's white mask.

It fried over it, and the geist dropped the rocks and poofed into smoke.

Royal grimaced, as his hands had gotten slightly singed doing that.

"That was...an unusual strategy," Winter said.

"Well...it worked." Royal shrugged.

"I can't believe that thing got me," Qrow groaned, standing up. "I must be getting old."

"I had it." Winter hated losing.  She made a fist. "If the other thing hadn't taken me by surprise--how was I to know that it would do that when they hadn't tried to thus far?"

"Winter, this kind of childish defensiveness is unbecoming of a commander," Raven scolded her. "Focus."

She pointed at the ice geist.

"Big fellow," Hamish called to Hazel, "toss one of those rocks here."

Hazel obligingly picked up one of the rocks the geist had been possessing and threw it into the air.

Hamish hit it with his huge club, and it smashed into the ice geist, crushing a lot of the ice dust flat.

The geist struggled to regain its form, and Meridian shot an arrow through its face.

"That's freaking teamwork!" he cheered as it dissipated.

"Whoa..." Esmeralda was amazed. "All of you are so incredible!"

"If anyone cares," Watts said, "Mala seems to be moving this way. The signal is getting closer."

"Hypnosia," Mino said, racing down the tunnel.

"What a meathead," Watts said. 

"Shut up," Raven said. 

"We should help him," Meridian said.

"What about Nirvana?" Weiss said.

"Hey, guys," Yang called from the opposite direction. She'd run there at some point. "There's another passage this way. I think it might be where Neptune is. He has to be fighting something. I'm going to look for him. Sorry, but you'll have to bust Mala without me."

"Weiss, go with her," Winter said. "Take the girl. We're not taking her towards Mala."

"Of course," Weiss said.

But her summoning disappeared right then, and Esmeralda started to drop.

Hamish caught her, as he was close enough to.

"Perhaps you should be more careful about that," he said to Weiss. "Is your Aura gone?"

"Well..." Weiss held up her scroll. "I am getting low. Oh, where's Jaune when you actually need him!"

"I'm going to pretend I didn't just hear that," Jaune said.

They turned.

He and Pyrrha were on the other side of the Grimm wall, in the passage they'd come from.

"Theo is behind us," Pyrrha said, "trying to blow up one of these other fences... By the way, should we be concerned about how stable these walls are? They seem sturdy, but he's using explosives..."

"I don't think they're as sturdy as they look," Royal said. "See how the Grimm have been all over them? That's probably weakened them a lot. The Grimm destroy everything they touch. Plus, if this used to be a mine, it's gotta have fault lines in the rocks from when they drilled and stuff. It might not even be noticeable, but if he hits the wrong point, he could collapse the tunnel on all of you."

"Well, we tried to tell him to slow it down, but...so far he's not listening," Pyrrha said.

"Tell you what," Meridian said, "Weiss, Ham, and I will take this girl and go with Yang. You all can go after the crazy woman. I'm not really that eager to deal with her myself. We need to knock out that Nirvana place so she can't use it... Who knows? Maybe it'll even have a good effect on her other slaves."

He took Esmeralda's other arm.

"Jaune--" Cinder had been staying out of the fight, since she didn't have enough energy to really do a lot and she was saving it for Mala. "--we need some healing in here."

"I was afraid you'd say that." Jaune was tugging at the vines. "But these things are wedged tight."

"Mino will be in trouble," Raven said. "I'm fine. I'm going to go after him. We'll hold Mala off, I guess, till you all can come in and give us some reinforcements."

"I'll go with you," Hazel said.

"Us too then," Qrow said, helping Winter up. "You're okay?"

"I am now." Winter brushed herself off. "Just my pride isn't."

"I can handle the Grimm." Mercury stepped forward.

"No, wait a second," Royal said. "Merc, I have an idea. And Emerald, but we need to confer. We'll catch up to you all in a minute. Just keep Mala distracted--and her cronies too."

"Will do." Qrow saluted. "I'm told I'm very distracting."

Winter sighed and rolled her eyes.

They rushed down the other end of the hall.

Pyrrha slashed at the Grimm arms. "No good... Theo!"

"Let me hit it." Nora had finally caught up to them.

"Wait a moment," Ren said. 

He used his Semblance to cover them all, then he pushed at the Grimm.

They pulled aside easily enough.

"They're only blocking humans..." Weiss said strangely.

"Quick," Ren strained.

Team JNPR ran through.

"Wait for me!" they suddenly heard Ruby yelling, and then a burst of rose petals flew through the tiny gap Ren had opened, and then Ruby and Oscar appeared.

"Ruby, I think I've done that one too many times today..." Oscar wobbled, looking sick.

"It gets a little rough after a while," Ruby said. "Where's the danger?" She held up her scythe.

"You just missed it," Mercury called.

"Just pay attention," Royal said. "Listen, we have to trap Mala, but we can't do that until her faithful dog Striker isn't there to spirit her away. I have an idea for how to catch him, but it would have to be quick, a split second of time."

"I'm listening," Mercury said.

Royal explained his idea.

"If that worked..." Emerald said. "But if he just runs for it..."

"Look, if I know one thing about these people, they can't resist the easy kill," Royal said. "I don't think he'll pass it up."

Emerald nodded. "Fine, we'll try it. If it works, at least she can't use the shadows to run...and he can't block the Silver Eyes, which means we can finally use them on the Grimm with her and the others."

"Exactly. To get to them, you go through him," Royal said. "Anyway, I owe that guy personally for capturing Cinder and myself more than once."

"Okay." Jaune augmented Cinder's Aura. "I hope this is enough for you to fight. I can't do everyone completely."

"Oh, me!" Emerald said. "Just a little..."

Jaune moved to her also. And Royal.

"Okay," Mercury said. "Let's go. Mala and Striker are bad enough, but if they had those other 6 people with them, then we need to hurry. The others won't be enough to hold 'em all off without us taking out their escape guy."

"Want me to take that collar off?" Pyrrha asked Cinder. "I could break the inside of it so it stops working."

"Actually no," Cinder said. "I have an idea for using it. It won't work if it's not on."

"Isn't that kind of stupid?" Pyrrha said. "I mean, other than this entire idea to begin with." She frowned. "We'll have words about that later. If I had known this is what you meant--"

"Then you would have not told me your honest opinion?" Cinder cut in. "And I wasn't really after the 'safe' answer. You're not one to talk anyway."

Pyrrha blinked at her and then closed her mouth and walked away.

"What was that?" Nora asked.

"This weirdness goes both ways, I suppose," Ren said. "We should go with them. I can fight the Grimm in the tunnels."

"Right." Nora lifted her hammer.

They rushed to join Royal and Obsidian.

"Oscar, make sure you take care of that girl." Cinder pointed at Esmeralda. "I have to go."

She rushed to follow them.

"I'm with them," Ruby said.

"I can come with you," Oscar said.

"No, go with Weiss," Ruby said. "This Nirvana actually sounds pretty bad, but the Mind Grimm don't bother you much. You should help them get rid of it."

"Are you sure?" Oscar said.

"Come on, mate, time's wasting," Meridian called. "You're better at healing and stuff than fighting anway, from what I've seen."

"Hey, I can fight," Oscar said.

"Just move it," Yang yelled back.

They were pretty far into the tunnel.

Oscar sighed and ran after them.

Ruby burst into petals and zipped up the tunnel toward Mala.

* * *

Mala had her foot still on Hypnosia's throat. Hypnosia was seeing black.

"No one betrays me." Mala frowned down at her. "Fool."

She was just going to move off when the Grimm blockade suddenly parted.

It was only supposed to part for people in the tribe. She looked up in time to see Mino run right at her.

Mala was almost too surprised to dodge. Somehow she hadn't connected the dots that Mino would be working with Hypnosia, since he'd said nothing at all about her switching sides.

Mino ran at her like a bull--ramming and using his head to send her sprawling into the rocky walls.

The Grimm tendrils mostly caught Mala anyway, but, to her anger, one of his horns had pierced her shoulder.

That didn't do much to her, but the idea of it made her mad.

Mino looked down at Hypnosia.

"Hyp..." He took her hand. "Are you still there?"

She gasped for air, then she said, "Watch out, you idiot!"

Mala was getting up.

"I should have known," she said. "But this is somehow still surprising. You're turning your back on your only refuge from that world out there? Mino..." she said, crooning almost, "don't you know that everyone else hates you? Why would you give up your one refuge?"

Mino looked up. "I just realized something," he said. "I'm not welcome out there, but there's people who are not welcome in here either. So, it's not fair. And I realized that I cared about the people who did actually accept me, warts and all, more than I did about your vengeance against the world. I guess your spite can't keep people forever."

"How touching," Mala said with venom. "I suppose you think that means you have love or some nonsense like that?"

"I don't know what I have, but I know you don't got it." Mino held up his weapon.

Mala snarled. "You know you'll never beat me."

The Grimm rose up behind her like a gross octopus trying to cover its underside.

"I don't have to beat you," Mino said, frowning. "Sometimes, you just have to fight the person to blame, and that's enough. I owe it to Hypnosia anyway. Maybe if I'd helped more before, this wouldn't have happened, but you're the one who lied. You're the one who took us all in like you meant to help us, and in the end it was a lie. You're dead."

https://youtu.be/NM53vEiNMeI

[Bastille--"Blame"]

Mala bared her teeth at him, and the tendrils rushed out.

Mino dodged them a bit and cut down some with his chainsaw-like weapon. He'd retrieved his spare from his tent the day before.

Mala, however, was only waiting for her backup, and sure enough, in just a few moments, Striker, Bloodrayne, Krusher, Blink, and the other two (Nox--a Faunus with a venomous spray, and Mud, who could make the ground soft with her Semblance), were all upon them.

They stared for a second at Mino and Hypnosia.

"Take care of this fool." Mala was not really interested in fighting Mino herself now. She had bigger problems. "Striker, the heroes are trying to escape with my slave and their own filth."

"You're sealing off the tunnels, aren't you?" Striker said. "Are they far?"

"Not far. They're coming right for us. Be ready," Mala said. "They're foolish enough to try to take us head on, and they'll die for it."

"Your hair is greyer," Blink observed.

Mala gave her a warning look.

She looked the other way.

She inched closer to Hypnosia, who was probably bleeding out.

"Why did you turn coat?" she hissed.

"Did you notice the monster is gone?" Hypnosia might have been delirious. "Just gone..."

"You're stupid," Blink said.

"They'll kill you all," Hypnosia said, looking at the ceiling. "It doesn't matter about me... At least Mino came around before the end. Maybe...maybe there'll be mercy."

"D--- it, Sand, I almost liked you," Blink said. "In the end, you turn out soft."

"Open your eyes, Millie," Hypnosia said. "Have you missed what's happening?"

Blink looked up, nervously.

It was right then that the 4 older fighters arrived in a blaze of glory--which was really Raven using her sword to send fire at the tendrils blocking their way.

She stared at Mala and the 6.

"What do you think?" she asked Hazel.

Hazel made a fist. "I think someone has to die today."

Raven smirked.

Blink paled right then and took off like a shot.

The other assumed she was doing this to fight, but she was actually running for it.

She ran past the group, and Ruby burst into petals and went after her, gaining on her quickly as she built momentum.

Striker moved for Mala, and the shadow began to grow.

Qrow shot fire dust into that path, and it blazed up, intercepting the shadows.

Striker swore, but there were plenty to go around.

One of Winter's summonings ploughed into him and sent him into the wall. Hopefully that would stall him enough for the others to do whatever their plan was.

Bloodrayne swung her maces and charged in at them, cackling with wicked glee, and Qrow ducked her and used his scythe to knock her off her feet.

Krusher moved forward to attack, and Hazel just caught one of his clubs with his bare hand.

Krusher had the look of someone who was thinking, "And that's when I knew, I fricked up."

Hazel yanked the club out of his hand and tossed him into the pit itself, that was 30 feet away at least.

Hypnosia had run along it before trying to disappear into the tunnel and had run out of options.

Mino groaned.

Raven motioned at him. "Take her," she said, kicking aside the Grimm that tried to grab them both. She pointed at Hypnosia. "Go now."

"What? But--" Mino was confused.

"Just do it, you idiot. I'm sending you to someone who can help."

Raven opened a portal and motioned.

Mino picked Hypnosia up, and Raven shoved him into it.

"No!" Mala lunged at it, but it shut before she could catch him.

It did catch the end of her hand though.

She looked down as her fingers started to bleed.

"Whoops," Raven said, sarcastically.

Mala wiped it on her clothes. "You're going to die, Raven," she hissed.

"We'll see." Raven held up her sword.