Part 7
-Raging Tiger, Freezing Blade-
You want to look down on me? Fine. Go ahead. Moron, fool, knucklehead, I've heard it all. But that doesn't matter…. All that matters is the fight. Now acknowledge me. Face me head on so I have a reason to unsheathe my claws again!
The woman's fist struck Weiss's face as the huntress formed a sigil, holding herself in place for just a moment before quickly undoing it so she could be send sliding backwards in time to avoid another blow! Slowly, the white haired huntress raised her rapier as she caught her breath from the sudden exchange, her opponent landing on the ground in front of her.
The girl, seemingly in her early 20s, raised her arms in a loose boxer-like stance, spikey blonde hair sticking down from her black beanie hat, her body was covered by a simple white shirt and a pair of jeans with a long-sleeved open leather jacket covering her arms, on the back of which was a stylized image of a tiger's head. Despite her short, slim, stature, an intense glare flashed through her green eyes as a toothy, excited, grin crossed her face, her right leg slamming into the ground with one of her brown shoes as she widened her stance, pushing one arm in front of the other before turning her hand around and motioning for her target to come at her. "The name's Lilly. Lilly of the Tiger-Style Fist!" She announced brazenly. "You ready to go!? Don't let me down, now!"
Whoever this new fighter was, Weiss quickly gauged their general strength. That wasn't a weak punch, she clearly had aura. And the fact that she came alone meant she was confident. Even if for a moment, the smartest thing to do was to buy time for the others to arrive. Any major battle would only waste time and energy, but few people would be daring enough to try and take on all five of them at once, right?
"Listen-" The sword-user began. "Salem is dangerous and if she wins she's going to destroy everything! The fate of the very world might rest on this rescue mission!"
"I don't care." Lilly simply responded before suddenly leaning forward and forcing all of her strength in her front-most foot, allowing the fighter to launch herself straight at her opponent in the blink of an eye! "I'm getting the most out of this job no matter what!"
Weiss blindly swing her sword in a moment of panic as she immediately took a hard punch to the stomach, forcing her to buckle over in pain before being knocked back upright by a second blow to the head! Reflexively, the huntress began stumbling backwards as Lilly continued her onslaught, forcing Weiss to just barely block and parry a series of lightning-fast palm-strikes, jabs, and kicks with seemingly no end in sight until, finally, Weiss swung her sword in at the woman to try and gain some room only for her opponent to block the attack with the side of her arm before moving her arm in a quick circular motion to grab Weiss by the wrist, taking control of the arm she held her sword in.
For a brief second, the sword-user's eye glanced over to Lilly's hand as she quickly noticed a bloody cut across her palm. Wait… blood? But her aura didn't seem to be gone yet. Did she somehow get through her aura at some point? But, before she could think too much about the small detail, Weiss suddenly lost her balance as Lilly quickly pulled her right arm in a jerking downward motion before coming at the huntress with her free hand! Immediately, the huntress was forced on the ropes yet again as Weiss could only raise her left arm in defense to protect her head as Lilly began wildly swinging her right fist straight at Weiss's raised arm in a brutal series of attacks, each one getting a more direct hit through Weiss's makeshift guard than the last!
A dissatisfied glare crossed the fighter's face as she sneered in pure rage at her opponent. "Fight back…" she breathed. "C'mon! Is this all a proper Huntress can do?! SERIOUSLY?!" As two or three more blows landed, Lilly's punch finally got through as she smashed into the woman's face, spit flying out of her mouth as her head was forced to the side from the impact of the blow. In a fleeting moment, Lilly's face got closer as both her and her target locked eyes. "Why…." The brawler muttered. "Since when do Huntresses have so little nerve?"
"Why are you so scared, Huntress?"
Time seemed to stop for a moment as the words seemed to cut into Weiss, digging themselves deep into her mind. That's right…. She was a Huntress now. Her father wasn't here and she got her wish. She was finally able to put her life on the line for the sake of the world. Right, she could finally do what she always wanted…. So why… why did she suddenly find herself trembling now that her life was on the line?! No, she couldn't stop, she had to keep going for the sake of everyone else!
Out of nowhere, Weiss suddenly flipped her sword around, holding it in a reverse grip as she drew from as much of her strength as she could to stab the tip of the sword into the ground, causing the Dust inside the weapon to form a large chunk of ice around Lilly's legs! For a split second, the fighter glanced down in surprise, distracting her for just long enough for the huntress to finally break out of her attacker's grip and step away!
"Yes…" Weiss breathed. "I am a Huntress. And I'm more than capable enough to take out someone like you."
"Oh really?" Lilly smiled as she reared her arm back before shattering the ice with her fist in one solid attack. "Then let's see you try!" Without thinking, the brawler rushed straight at her target yet again only to be met with a white sigil on the ground. As soon as the fighter got close to it, Weiss simply motioned upwards with her left hand as the sigil launched Lilly straight up into the air! An annoyed leer crossed the woman's face as she looked down at Weiss only to see a barrage of lasers fly from her direction! "Cheap son of a-" The fighter growled as she was forced to cross her arms in an X shape to block as well as she could against the ranged attacks as they exploded against her body.
A slight smirk crossed Weiss's face. "Oh, sorry, I meant to say 'WE' would be taking you out!"
"Wha-" Immediately, Lilly turned to the side in time to see Ruby flying straight at her as she twisted around and slammed into the woman with a flying dropkick! Without hesitation, the blonde woman faced her new adversary as Ruby held her scythe at a steep angle away from her opponent and pulled the trigger, using the recoil of the shot to fly down towards the ground with the brawler at a steep angle! For a second, a smirk formed on the brawler's face. This… this was more like it! An opponent that could really get her blood pumping!
As Ruby and Lilly crashed into a random building off in the distance, Oscar quickly ran up to Weiss, panting heavily. "I- I'm sorry that took so long!" He explained. "I froze up, and Norra chose to stay behind, but- As soon as I told them, Ruby didn't wait at all to come help!"
"… Yeah…." The white haired huntress muttered softly in a calm, collected, voice. "Ruby's always been quick to rush into danger like that."
