[7/2 (Wednesday) - Evening]
[Vale — Zone 8 (Commercial)]
Looking up at the clock, Clerval couldn't help but feel a growing sense of pressure as the sun slowly dipped below the horizon, the faint glow of the moon beginning to emerge overhead.
It was almost time. Only a few more hours remained before the countdown reached zero.
As for what would happen afterward, he had no idea.
Still, he was as prepared as he could be for whatever awaited him within the Labyrinth.
He even had an excuse—albeit a flimsy one—to remain in Vale for the night instead of returning to Beacon before curfew. Good thing he decided to talk to Professor Port instead.
All of his essentials were on his person: weapons, armor, consumables, and everything else he might need.
And no one would be expecting him back that night, either.
So, with bags filled with Dust crystals, elemental Gems, physical enhancement items, healing supplies, and enough provisions to supply an army through a month-long siege, he made his way toward the Velvet Room after finishing a hearty dinner.
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[7/2 (Wednesday) - Midnight]
[Labyrinth — VESTA 11]
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... Where was it?
Two minutes before the countdown reached zero, Clerval had already prepared himself with multiple performance-enhancing items and Skills, raising his strength, speed, and durability to levels far beyond his normal capabilities temporarily.
The moment the countdown hit zero, the barrier blocking his path disappeared.
Without hesitation, he rushed down the stairs and into the next floor, expecting something to happen.
Instead...
Nothing.
After rounding the corner, he found himself in a single, massive chamber. A large door with the height of Beacon's clocktower stood in the distance, directly across from him.
The problem?
There was no path leading to it.
Clerval jogged toward the edge of the room, only to stop when the floor abruptly came to an end. A massive gap separated him from the distant door.
"... What?"
He stared across the chasm.
Even with everything in his arsenal, there was no way he could cross it. The distance was simply too great.
But why?
What was the point of an unreachable door hidden behind a barrier that only disappeared once the countdown reached zero?
None of this made any sense.
Turning around, he inspected the sole room of VESTA 11.
The only thing there was a teleporter, similar to the one he'd encountered back on VESTA 5.
He reached forward and activated its mechanism with the press of a button.
Watching it flare to life, he contemplated returning to the entrance of the Labyrinth. With no apparent objective in sight, he was about to step into the teleporter when the communication channel between him and Mary suddenly flickered to life.
"ZZZ—do you read—ZZZ!"
"Vale—ZZZZZ—under attack—ZZZ!"
"Mary?" he called aloud, wincing as the static screeched painfully in his ears.
"Zone—ZZZZZZZ—come to the docks—ZZZZ—8!"
The transmission abruptly cut off.
Clerval immediately sprang into action, fully activating the teleporter and sending himself back to the Labyrinth's entrance.
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[7/2 (Wednesday) - Midnight]
[Vale — Zone 8 (Commercial)]
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Weirdly enough, he didn't have to pass through the Velvet Room to return to the real world. Instead, he simply appeared outside the door to the Velvet Room.
Putting that thought aside for now, he dashed through the empty streets, racing toward the docks where Mary had directed him.
[BOOOOM!]
As soon as he neared the docks, an explosion rivaling the Dust explosion from the White Fang's "secret" operation erupted, sending powerful gusts of displaced air through the surrounding streets.
Amid the chaos, he could hear frantic voices shouting from all directions.
"Where are the Huntsmen and Huntresses?!"
"Grimm! GRIMMMM!"
"Our Dust rounds aren't working, sir!"
"Keep on firing! We need to contain it here until reinforcements arrive!"
Gunfire continued to thunder through the streets, rounds repeatedly striking something in the distance.
But evidently, they weren't enough.
Screams of pain rang out a moment later, followed by another deafening BANG!
Weaving through the terrified—yet morbidly curious—citizens who had gathered around the scene, Clerval eventually reached the front of the crowd, where policemen were pushing the civilians back and directing them toward safety.
His eyes widened.
"A Shadow? Here?"
Out in the waters, a massive Shadow let out a distorted, guttural roar as the police department opened fire, their weapons doing little to slow it down.
Its silhouette vaguely resembled that of a donkey, but whatever creature it might once have been had been twisted into something grotesquely humanoid. Its elongated limbs were unnaturally thin compared to its hulking torso, while its joints bent at angles that made even his stomach churn.
Its head was perhaps the most disturbing part, with a pale, distorted mask covering the upper half of its face, shaped almost like a warped slab of bone. Set into the center of the mask was a strange symbol resembling a zero turned on its side.
Beneath it, a pair of bulging eyes protruded from the creature's face, twitching unnaturally as they darted from one target to another.
There was no visible mouth.
Instead, several jagged openings had formed across its face, each one resembling a wound that had been crudely torn open. From those orifices, flames suddenly erupted.
[FWOOOOSH!]
Beams of fire shot across the water, striking the police cars and sending them rocking violently as the officers scrambled for cover.
As the Shadow drew closer to the docks, Mary's voice suddenly rang through his mind.
"Wanderer, watch out!"
He caught the warning just in time.
Clerval immediately raised his sword, deflecting a torrent of black sludge that spewed from the Shadow's jagged mouth as it violently threw its head backward.
The viscous substance splattered against his blade before he knocked it away from harm's reach.
Behind him, civilians screamed in terror.
Clerval ignored them as he watched the sludge writhe on the ground.
It bubbled and twitched for a second before it began to pull itself together.
The black mass slowly rose from the pavement, its shape twisting and contorting until it formed a familiar silhouette of a donkey; two long, crooked horns protruded from either side of its head.
"A Grimm?!"
This wasn't a Shadow.
This was an actual Grimm.
Shadows could manifest Grimm?
Since when?
The creature barely had time to raise its head before Clerval's sword flashed.
Its head was cleanly severed from its body, collapsing without even managing to let out a proper growl.
They're weak.
Very weak.
They were slow to form, their movements sluggish, and their bodies possessed nowhere near the durability of the Shadows he had been fighting inside the Labyrinth.
But the terrifying part was that the Shadow had created more than one.
Clerval looked around.
Across the docks, more black sludge began spilling from the Shadow's body.
One by one, the viscous masses writhed across the ground before taking shape.
Within moments, multiple Satrieks formed from the sludge the Shadow had expelled.
Clerval reached for the Evoker at his hip and raised it toward his head.
"Persona!"
He pulled the trigger, with the deafening shatter of glass echoing across the docks.
From within his soul, he called the aid of the Persona that was formed from his bond with Pyrrha.
Fortuna manifested in an instant and turned the wheel of fortune, invoking a wide-area Magaru as rushing gales tearing through the advancing Satrieks, ripping the fragile Grimms apart with ease.
Clearing all the Grimm in one fell swoop, he turned toward a nearby stunned officer.
"Get the civilians out of here," he instructed, pointing toward the crowd. "Have everyone fall back and focus your resources on protecting them."
He didn't wait for a reply before vaulting over the barricade and sprinting toward the docks, where all hell had broken loose.
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