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</div></div><br/>Akena yelled in triumph as Shiro's and her's gambit worked, killing the alpha outright. The swordswoman had done a great job of keeping the other grimm off of them, especially with that clone technique of hers. The plan was working - and once they grabbed that key, they'd be able to get out of there easily now. Akena recalled Nyx Astra, trying to reassess the situation as fast as possible. They had the advantage, or so she felt. Predictably, the other grimm had grown stronger, with the one nearest the key now the largest. The twin redheads were engaged with their pair, but were falling behind - one looked like it was about to disappear, perhaps? Not good, she was the closest they had to a good fighter, or at least outclassed Akena by a wide margin in combat ability. Glasses was no slouch, but his weapon didn't seem like something meant for a frantic tussle. They had to push through now, or they'd fall.<br/><br/>Akena's ears twitched, and the spines on them seemed to stiffen as she heard something bounding towards her. Upon Karmyne's warning, she spun around, only to be confronted with a grimm rapidly heading their way. She grimaced, and transformed the orb back into gauntlets, the fingers sharpening into talons. Loading another charge of dust into them - explosive this time - she called out to Shiro. He had good control over that chain it seemed, so maybe he'd be able to nab the key. "Glasses, I'm leaving the grabbing of the key to you." Her voice was more authoritative. Funny, that life-threatening danger would awaken aspects of her she didn't realize existed. "I'll try to hold this guy off, but it looks like Red's having it rough too. Time to leave!"<br/><br/>Akena tried to time the grimm's pounce, but it was a bit faster than she'd expected. She tried to sidestep, only to get raked across the torso, her shirt tearing across the belly. Trying to fight through, she screamed in pain and aggression, hitting the wolf with a palm strike, and activating the explosive dust she had imbued the weapon with. Akena tried to not yell out in pain again as the reaction rebounded on her. Nyx Astra was able to dull most of the impact, and she used Ignition to absorb some of the reaction. Even so, she felt a jolt of pain shoot up her arms and the shockwave almost blew her glasses off. Her skin tingled, and her heart was practically pounding out of her chest - absorbing explosive dust was always a gamble, and she'd have to release it soon. They had to escape, quickly.