To say that Leo Cor was not having a spectacular day was a bit of an understatement. For one, someone had moved his spear during the night, and left their dirty fingerprints all over his beloved. Secondly, his breakfast had consisted of stale bread and cold tea on account of having forgotten to buy supplies the day earlier. There was also the fact that 2 of his teammates were quite possibly dead. Truly, a mediocre start to a day. Now, not to give a poor impression of Team LLAC, or "lilac", they had graduated almost top of their class, only beat out by a slightly more coordinated Team BTTR. The skill and team synergy displayed by Team LLAC was the envy of their entire class. So naturally, it was a tad distressing to Team Leader Leo that things had gone so pear-shaped on such a routine endeavour.

For reasons relating to the forgotten shopping, Team LLAC set out grimm-hunting that day. The idea being that claiming bounties set by smaller settlements was a great way to make a quick buck, after all, the second highest cause of death in such settlements was "mauled by grimm". The first highest cause being of course ennui, resulting from living in one of those small settlements. Of course, grimm-hunting in these areas was usually fairly simple. Despite living outside major cities and in the dangerous wilderness, these villages generally steered clear of massive grimm congregations or the homes of the larger varities. After all, no-one would even bother if "Mauled by grimm" was also compounded by "House crushed by Goliath" on a regular basis.

So Team LLAC ventured forth and began killing the small grimm in much the same way a grotesquely overweight man might clean his plate. A routine operation so uneventful, Team LLAC had split up to faster clear the area. As it currently were, Leo was musing that perhaps Lynette was not being a "Silly Banana" in suggesting that it would be better to stick together to stay on the safe side, as it was "better safe than sorry". Alas, there was nothing to be done for it now; As they say, Hindsight doesn't need to visit the optometrist. Shaking these regretful thoughts from his head, Leo decided to focus on the issue at hand. Lynette now lay slumped against a tree, bleeding from a massive diagonal gash across her torso, Arctic was leaned up against another tree, utterly dazed from what appeared to be a blunt strike to his head, and Celek had lost use of both her legs due to complete shattering of the bones in both. Clearly they were dealing with something a little more dangerous than your average cannon fodder grimm.

"Is that all?" shouted a bored-sounding voice, from somewhere afar. "Surely second best means that you would be nearly the apex of ability"

The source of the voice soon revealed itself, as a well-dressed man, somewhere in his 30s, stepped out from behind a tree. He had a sleepy look to him, eyes just a little bloodshot. Overall, unimpressive. Yet Leo faltered. Something was wrong. Leo immediatley took up a defensive stance.

"That's quite a nice spear you've got there, Leo" shouted the man, still slowly walking towards him, "Why don't I share with you one of mine?"

Taking a step back, Leo scanned his surroundings. There wasn't much to work with. Though the man looked unassuming, evidently he had neutralized all 3 of Leo's comrades. Now would be a good time to take Lynette's advice to heart. No amount of caution however, could've prepared Leo for what happened next.

The sleepy man had suddenly stuck out his arm, as though attempting to snatch an invisible bird, before plunging his hand into his chest. The man's torso shimmered, as though liquid, and after a moment, the man pulled forth from his a short spear.

"Mister Leo, I introduce to you: The iklwan-shot. The name wasn't my choosing of course, by I quite liked it so I took it anyways." The man took a moment to admire his weapon, before returning his attention to Leo.

"Silly name aside, this short spear has an absolutely wonderful property to it. When thrown, its flight speed rapidly increases. Something like a kinetic dust reactor or something, I didn't get much out of the guy before he died. That aside, at our current distance..." The man quickly eyed the ground between himself and Leo, "I think you'll have very little reaction time. Think Fast!"

The man threw the spear. Leo saw the man move. Leo was already tense, ready to spring into action. But Leo's legs wouldn't respond.

"Too Slow!" shouted the man.

Leo glanced down. Leo found a hole where his heart would be. Leo stopped moving, forever.

====

Well, that was a little disappointing wasn't it? Don't know why I'm asking you, girl, you look like you're on your last legs. Not literally mind you, but you get the idea. I'm surprised that Leo boy was your team leader! A double-ended spear? What a tremendously boring weapon. And I don't even know you can even call that a semblance. Truly, taking Leo's things doesn't really feel like I've actually added much to my collection, more like I've just increased the number of things I've got to make myself feel better. Now you, girly, are much more interesting.

Rapid, short-range teleportation? A flame-throwing megaphone that works by shouting into it? My my, Celek, you are a delicious one. Now, hold still. As I understand it, the process of semblance extraction is fairly painful. Or at least I think it's painful. Could be people just really enjoy screaming.

====

What a racket. Doesn't look you'll be screaming much though. You haven't made a peep since you failed to block the sword. I suppose I wouldn't be moving too much if I had a wound that deep and that large, though all the same, I wouldn't have been slashed to begin with. In fairness to you, it does seem hard to block a sword with a chain, even if it is really spikey. I suppose I won't be needing to tell you not to move then, eh?

====

Oh Arctic, you haven't been here at all! Mentally I mean. Boy, I hadn't expected that concussion semblance to be so potent. I mean look at you! Eyes unfocused, feet unsteady, drooling a little bit. You didn't even notice when your best friend died, or when your girlfriend let out that blood-curdling sream of a last breath! I almost feel bad for you! Well, I mean I'd feel worse if you were actually cognizant of all the stuff happening around you but I'm not going to let you live after all this. That would just be cruel, and I'm not a monster.

It's a real shame I didn't get to see you in action, I have no idea what your semblance is and this crossbow-thing looks real fascinating. Perhaps I was a little too hasty with that concussive blast or whatever. Oh well. You can however, test something for me. Can the concussion be broken with pain?