Roman finally stopped running when he knew there was enough room between him and the rest of the fights going on around him to allow for his own fighting style to not be horribly restricted. He quickly scanned the area to make sure that no one else would be interupting the fight between him and the heiress with the rapier. Crimson and the two brats were still stuck in that fire arena, the twins would keep sugar high and mr. serious busy. Jaune could hold on his own against a single enemy without a problem, and Adam and Blake had enough baggage to fill an airship, so their fight would most likely drag on for quite some time. "So then Snowflake looks like its just you and me" he took off his hat and gave the girl a mocking bow.
"Not for long" Weiss paused a few feet from Roman and quickly spun the chamber on Myrtenaster until it clicked to confirm that Burn was set as the main power.
"Oh no you are going to shoot fire at me" Roman smiled and put the back of the hand holding the hidden cane blade against his forehead. "Mercy be given, whatever shall I do?"
Weiss hesitated at the mans insane ramblings. She had encountered many things when pointed her blade at another person. Fear, anger, even a laugh when it had been done as a jest, but never had she encountered someone who made such a joke over something so serious. "What are you playing at?" she asked firmly.
Roman spun around the now headless cane body above his head with a small whistle. "Me? Play?" he laughed a bit and struck the body of the cane onto the ground. "Why my dear Snowflake a man as serious as myself would never play." he gave a false cough as if he were clearing his throat. "In each Schnee company Dust crystal there are hundreds of small nanomachines that are suppose to just be used to keep track of where it is sold, how it is used, and other things such as that"
Weiss lifted an eyebrow. "Everyone knows about that, it isn't exactly a secret you trash" she didn't know where he was going with this, but something told her it wasn't good.
"What people tend not too know" he continued as if she had never interjected. "Is that the nanomachines also can be used to depower the crystal by drawing in their energy. Of course these devices are only typically held by board members of the Schnee company. Not even police have the privilege of having them" Roman let go of his cane and reached into his coat, pulling out a small box shaped device. "Why… whats this?" he pressed the button on top of if and the Dust crystals inside Myrtenaster turned dull grey. "This appears to be the exact device which I just spoke of!" he put the device back in his pocket. "Such a coincidence I should just so happen to have something like that"
Weiss felt herself go cold as she looked down at the now colorless gems. "How… you shouldn't have something like that" she had known about the emergency shutdown devices for quite some time, she had one of her own that she had left back at the school. Each one was suppose to be DNA encoded to the person it had been given too, to make sure no one tried to steal it.
"Oh, funny story actually" he put his hand on his cane and leaned forward. "You see back when me and your father started working together I told him that I would want one as insurance, he disagreed with me asking, so I blew up his summer home!" Roman laughed and then paused. "Or was it his winter home, I swear you rich people and your multiple homes,"
Weiss was getting angry now, not something that was extremely rare, but all the same. "My family would never work with such a vile lowlife as yourself!"
"Vile? Lowlife?" Roman put a hand to his mouth. "Me?" he moved his hand to show a wide grin on his face. "Yeah I suppose that is fair, but seriously Snowflake me and your father have been working together since you were…" he looked her up and down and put his hand a few feet from the ground. "About this big"
The young heiress's blood turned cold. This wasn't possible, her father would never work with someone like Roman Torchwick. Despite his moral failings he would never sink so low as to work with criminal scum.
Would he?
"You're lying" Weiss hissed at the criminal mastermind.
"No...I'm not" Roman's voice dropped from its playful tone to a more serious one. "Me and your father have been working together for a number of years, and want a real kicker?" Roman leaned forward and gave a stage whisper toward her. "We both run White Fang"
Weiss felt the world stop around her. "That is…"
"A lie?" Roman shook his head. "Sorry princess but it is the gospel truth" a small light danced along his eyes. "Tell me, do you know the exact point in which White Fang turned violent?"
Twelve years ago… she thought in her mind. Twelve years since the first attacks, since board members starting disappearing… board members that might have spoken a bit out of turns in meetings… no it couldn't be true, her father wouldn't do that…
"If you guessed twelve years ago then give yourself a big pat on the back" He sighed dramatically. "Two years after I left Beacon and joined Crimson"
"Y...you were a hunter?" Weiss was almost as shocked by this as she was by the previous revelations.
"Yep, I was even on the best team in the entire school, big names I am sure you will recognize." he raised his hand and held up four fingers. "Divine Punishment Goodwitch" one finger dropped. "Grand Wizard Ozpin" another finger fell. "Grand Eye Torchwick" one final finger was raised. "Holy Light… Arcangel…" his voice fell to a whisper on the last one.
"T..they don't give Hunters titles until the third year" Weiss suddenly realized that if the man in front of her was telling the truth then she might be in serious danger. He was way above her own fighting class.
"True, horribly boring ceremony" Roman sighed and kicked the side of his cane, sending it spinning into the air and catching it above his head. "Now then Snowflake, it seems that I have told you a bit too much, meaning now you have to die"
Weiss felt her heart race as panic set in. Was she really strong enough, good enough to take down someone who had done that much?
Roman disappeared in a flash and appeared in front of her, swinging down his short cane blade at her. Weiss just barely reacted in time, blocking the strike and leaping back a few feet. "Your reaction times aren't bad, your mother might actually be proud of you… except you know shes dead, kind of hard to feel anything when you are worm food"
Weiss froze at the mention of her mother. Ten years ago she had been caught in a White Fang attack, killed mercilessly by them and set at the front of the mansion. Except White Fang as she knew it didn't exist… which meant. "No…"
"Oh right probably shouldn't have mentioned that, isn't hard to put two and two together on that one" Roman shook his head. "Darn shame about her, but she found out what me and your dad were up too, had to be one way or the other"
The young huntress began to shake with fury. "Y..you monster" her hand gripped the handle of Myrtenaster tight.
"I've been called worse" Roman said with a shake of his head. "Just surrender and I can make this qu…" he paused as the young woman ejected the full chamber of Dust crystals from her weapon. "And whats this then?"
"I...am going to kill you" Weiss moved her arm in front of her, putting her hand palm up. A glowing glyph appeared above the hand, and from it dropped a new chamber filled with crystals. She quickly loaded it into place and took a stance.
"Haven't we been over this?" Roman placed the cane down again and pulled out the device, pressing the button. Except this time the Dust didn't drain out of the solid crystal. "What...the hell?"
"My own special blend, I made it in class and found that it was even more potent than my families special brand" Weiss gave him a cold glare. "Whats your answer to that?"
Roman put the device away and looked at the girl. "So… the rumors are true after all" he shook his head in amazement. There was a legend that in the Schnee family genes there ran a trait of pure genius. The trait could disappear for entire generations, but when it arose it did so spectacularly. Those who possessed it were said to be some of the most dangerous people in the entire world. "The Schnee family genius runs through your veins"
Weiss shook her head. "That is just a myth, what I do is pure skill" she moved her hand through the air as if she were drawing something, and suddenly a symbol appeared under her. "Now then, I suppose I can grant even trash like you an amazing show before I take you out" the symbol grew smaller under her, and suddenly all along her skin a multitude of glyphs took form.
Roman took a step back and raised his weapons, just in time to see the girl vanish from where she was standing. It was only thanks to his Semblance, which allowed his to feel everything within a limited range and react to it without thought, that he managed to bring up his cane in time to block the strike from the white haired girl. Even with the block through pain ran through his arm. The girl might be small, but her strike landed with the force of an Ursa. Just as he blocked the first strike he detected another from his left, blocking it with his blade. It continued like that, him blocking and on the defensive while she rained blows on him from every direction. Eventually she paused the assault and appeared again standing a few feet away. "Tired yet?" she asked in a mocking tone.
Roman strove to catch his breath and looked down at his weapons. His cane had shattered under the assault, so he threw it aside with a look of disdain. His blade was still strong, but it wouldn't help him much against her speed. "How… are ...you...doing that!"
She shook her head. "Rather easily, you see I carefully studied my teammates Semblances, and then figured out how I could copy them using Dust and my own Glyphs." when used her free hand to wave at her body. "I figured out that if I placed a special set of Glyphs around my body and charged them with my special Dust in this load then I could create watered down versions of their best traits"
"The amount of on the spot calculations for every variable… that isn't something a human can do" Roman was starting to get seriously pissed off.
"Hm, maybe not for most people, and especially not for garbage like you" she began to run around the orange haired gang leader with a smirk. "But for me… simple" all around him after images began to appear as she ran, making him lose sight of where she was. Suddenly her blade began to glow white, leaving a trail of glowing luminance in her path.
Roman did his best to follow her, but he had been forced to turn off his Semblance in order to conserve enough Aura to protect himself. "This is…"
All at once the girl charged at him, along with the after images. "The end" Weiss landed a blow and left a cut along the madmans side. She took a deep breath and laid her hand on her rapier. "Freeze"
All at once a massive prison of ice formed all around Roman, entrapping him and freezing his entire body. Weiss let out a tired breath and let her Glyph armor fall. That battle and the previous one had tired her out, but maybe she could assist one of her team mates through just ranged attacks. She was about to walk away when she heard a sound that should have been impossible. The sound of ice cracking.
She turned toward the massive column of ice and watched as hundreds of cracks began to appear along it. All at once the ice shattered, leaving Roman Torchwick at the center of it as small snowflakes began to fall. "Well… it appears I need to stop holding back as well." his hat was tipped in such a way that his face was impossible to see. But there was one obvious thing that was different about him, a pitch black Aura that now covered his entire body.
"That… what?" Weiss took her stance once more and looked at the man.
Roman reached a hand up to his hat, a hand that was now pure black and had five very dangerous looking claws on the end of each finger. With a gentle push Roman moved the hat atop his head, revealing a horrific sight. Roman's face was half human, and half...Grimm. In place of a human eye on one side there was now a wide red eye, and half of his mouth was nothing by razor sharp teeth. "What do you think?" he asked in a voice that now boomed with energy. "Don't get to break out this form very often, you might even consider it a bit of an honor" he ran at the young heiress and grabbed Myrtenaster in his Grimm hand, using his other arm to deliver a powerful blow to Weiss's face.
Weiss tumbled for a bit before she managed to stop and pull herself up, cleaning a small trail of blood that ran from her nose. "Monster" she said under her breath.
"Eh maybe" he tossed up her weapon and tested its weight. "In this form I could easily beat any human in terms of skill or power"
Weiss created her symbol to reform the Glyph armor around herself and tried to bind the symbols against herself again. But the symbol disappeared from under her when she tried to do it. Just using that ability once was draining on her Aura, she had never needed to do it twice.
Before she could react Roman was in front of her, delivering a powerful kick to her stomach and knocking her over. Before she could move the half Grimm monster put his foot on her stomach, hrad. "This is the part where you die" he raised the weapon up, aiming the tip for her forehead.
Weiss looked up at her weapon, feeling fear flow through her as she saw the end of her life before her eyes.
But suddenly Roman froze in place, his body shaking. The blade fell out of his hands, landing harmlessly to the side of Weiss. The room became quickly covered in a dark fog which seemed to absorb any and all light around it. "Damn it kid you weren't suppose to advance to this stage yet" Roman's human arm grabbed at his Grimm one, and he fell to the ground in pain. "Damn it… this much dark energy… can't…" Roman collapsed fully on the ground.
Weiss wanted to move, but just as whatever this fog was had drained Roman she felt the same effects. It was cold, all consuming, evil. And even through she wanted nothing more than to pick up her blade and drive it into the monster a few feet away she couldn't fight the sudden wave of unconsciousness that overwhelmed her.
Authors Note: Well that was exciting… I hope. So you know the deal guys, comments and reviews only increase my desire to put out the next chapter for you. Silence is an authors worst motivator after all. Catch you guys on the next update.