portals vs humbaba

At the same time, Raven seemed to flow through the battle as if she were set apart from it. She hardly seemed to rush or run, though I knew she was moving quickly—instead, she simply brushed aside attacks that came too near with a careful brush of her sword that, almost coincidentally, carved lines of red with its tip. She’d stop occasionally, nothing but her sword moving, and the Humbaba would be driven back or to the side, into an attack or away from an ally.

And occasionally, she’d strike when it was off-balance or over-extended, bursting into lethal speed. A sudden series of slashes would open up a ring of portals and abruptly she’d hold a blue blade in her hands. A thin beam of energy would disappear into one portal and reappear from another, piercing a small hole through the Humbaba’s flesh only to fly into another spiraling void and repeat the process until a cage of lasers pierced through the Humbaba half a dozen times. By the time the light faded, Raven would already have another sword and would move in before the Grimm could recover, striking at it directly with a sudden burst of acceleration.

She used the properties of Dust to expand her options in combat, changing the nature of her strikes, her portals, or both. In a blink, a normal portal could turn pitch-black and things would be drawn into it, twisting violently as they went and disappearing into its open maw—and in the next, it could glow like heated steel, incinerating anything that came near as Raven used it as a shield before vomiting forth a torrent of fire from who knows where.