Arc Royale: Chapter 25

Ashari cursed. "SCATTER!"

It wasn't a moment too soon. There was only a brief moment between Knight's eyes narrowing and him appearing in the midst of where they'd been, his jacket flapping behind him. His sword caught Adam's, and instead of a ring of steel on steel there was one not unlike metal on glass, as Adam's crimson blade exploded into little pieces. That would have been his skull if he hadn't already been diving away.

Landing in a roll, Ashari's first thought was for Emerald. He saw her trying to regroup with Cinder – a bad idea – and chased after her. His instincts screamed at him as he did and never one to ignore them Ashari threw himself away, preventing the loss of his head by mere fractions of a second.

He was in motion as well however, loosing two flash bangs from his coat. It had worked before, blinding Knight and removing him from the fight, but even he knew it was hopeful at best to expect a foe to fall for the same trick twice. The second Knight saw them, he closed his eyes and even shielded them with one arm, kicking back and clearing a crazy distance before the canisters exploded in white light with a loud blast. Ashari hit down, eyes clenched shut, ears focused. Over the screams and shouted orders from the White Fang trying to rally, he picked up Cinder shouting for Grimm to fill the area with his namesake. Not a bad plan, though if she expected them to beat Knight, she probably had another thing coming. At best they would buy them a few seconds.

I'd take that right about now.

"Ashari, blind him!" Cinder ordered, summoning a wave of fire that Knight slammed through without a hint of damage. "Null, now!"

[...]

"No!" Ashari echoed, sprinting after her. "Emerald, no! Fuck!"

Panic gave him speed, allowing him to shoulder Emerald out the way just as Knight turned to face the new threat. His daughter hit the gravel with a gasp, and Ashari got Crocea Mors up before him with a gasp of his own. Time enough to catch Knight's blade as it swung diagonally upward.

Shards of metal flew slowly before Ashari's eyes. That, along with blood and his right arm, spiralling over and over as Knight's sword continued upward without the slightest loss in momentum.

Oh, Ashari thought dully, that's not good.

Gritting his teeth, Ashari dumped a full bandolier of grenades at Knight's feet, stooped to grab Emerald with one arm and haul her over his shoulder, then kicked back. Knight, like the last time, fled from his grenades before they could have any effect. Fortunate since he hadn't primed or pulled the pin from any of them. Bleeding terribly, Ashari pushed aura to his arm, as amused as he was terrified about the fact he still had aura left. The attack had been so swift and so powerful it hadn't even drained his aura. It had just bypassed it.

—Arc Royale: Chapter 25