Chapter 23

The flirting, yeah you want to say flirting between you and Nora calmed down quite a bit after that as you flew along looking for more Grimm. But, for the life you, you couldn't seem to find any for some weird reason.

Was there a hunter about or something?

Either way, it did let you and Nora get into some small talk. And you learned that interestingly enough, your backgrounds were similar. Nora grew up in the streets of Kuroyuri, while you grew up on the streets of Vale. Though, Nora met Ren when she was around seven, when the village was destroyed by a Grimm, and apparently the village wasn't far from where you two were at the moment. From there, she, with Ren's help and his semblance was able to avoid the Grimm and reach a new village with some pilfered supplies from the destroyed village. They were able to pay to get Nora's aura unlocked from a passing huntsman and get some basic training and weapons, and then they kind of hopped between villages working together to make due and training together.

Where as, you like Ren unlocked your aura naturally, though, unlike them, didn't have any supplies to pilfer to get them going and so could only learn basics techniques from libraries and train yourself on the streets. It wasn't until you were twelve that you joined up with an information dealer by the name of Junior, real name Hei and worked as a thug for him that you got enough money to get yourself an apartment. And you quit working for him by time you were fourteen to focus more on your training.

Still, it was interesting to see how similar your backgrounds were.

"Weeee!" Nora hollered in joy, hands fisted tightly in your fur to keep steady as you took a steep dive to liven things up, "I'm queen of the grimm!"

You snorted, levelling out after a few moments, "I think Salem might contest that title."

Nora lifted one hand up and gave a thumbs down, "Booo to the big titty Grimm Queen," she retorted, grinning, "Besides, I'm still growing..I think and you said we're about the same size. Gimme a little bit to get even bigger and I'll be Queen of this Grimm right here!" she cupped her boobs and hefted them up a bit to show their large size before jiggling them a bit when you looked at her over your shoulder.

A lovely view, you had to admit. You snorted.

It was times like these, you really missed your dick. Honestly, you were kind of tempted to point out that you at least still had a massive tongue. But, you held said tongue simply because...well, you weren't human in body right now. And that would be fucking weird.

"I'll look forward to that size increase then." you settled on replying with.

Nora nodded her head 'regally', "As you should knave." she said, but then grinned a little bit and winked at you.

"Still, I dunno about being the Grimm Queen, but get an electrified saddle to boost your semblance that will fit me and you can be a Grimm Knight." you hummed. you couldn't exactly fire any guns anymore with your new body, and Nora's Grenade Launcher packed quite the punch. And someone tough as nails riding your back if you ended up grappling with another huge grimm would be perfect to launch over and finish them while you had them distracted with her massive warhammer.

"Ooh, that sounds fun!" Nora clapped her hands then grinned slyly and nudged you with her elbow, "I wouldn't mind bareback either, though I get the feeling it's more you who'd prefer to ride me bareback."

..Damn, that's a good one! You opened your mouth to retort, but then your enhanced Grimm eyes caught sight of something in the distance. A massive pillar of black smoke, the same that grimm corpses produced towering up into the sky. And it was moving towards you!

"The hell is that?" you wondered.

"Oh, not got a repl-" Nora went to tease before falling silent as she saw what you were looking at as well. "Oh no." she whispered.

"What?" you wondered, bemused that something could make the ever energetic Nora go quiet, "What is it?"

Nora gulped audibly, "..It's the grimm that destroyed Ren and mine's village, the Nuckelavee," she said quietly, her voice quivering lightly, "..It's the only grimm we know of in Anima that produces a tower of black smoke."

Oh. From what Nora had told you of it earlier, the Nuckelavee wasn't some normal Grimm. It was ancient and had been around for over fifty years, ever on the move and ever attacking the settlements of Anima. Apparently it had once attacked Mistral, and while it decidedly lost, it had been smart enough to retreat rather than stay, fight and die.

That made it even more dangerous.

Rumours said it may even be stronger than one of the incredibly rarely seen Sea Feilong's, and that it could even regenerate.

...That thing would probably give you a massive boost to your strength if you killed it. And it just so happened, you had gotten a hold of two particular abilities last night through a bit of effort that you had received from that Elder Death Stalker yesterday.

You think you might be able to take it. Especially since, according to Nora, it was a ground based Grimm and didn't really have anything to deal with a flying opponent.