AN: Hey everyone, I have the next chapter here. Thank you for all the support this series has gotten here and on Tv Tropes. So, changed up the plan a bit. I talked with some people and concluded that it would be best to have the boat raid happen before the next mini arc. It means the White Fang rescues operation will be tonight instead of tomorrow night like originally said timeline. The earlier chapter will be updated to reflect this change. It's only a small one, but I feel makes the story a little more linked. Be warned, this chapter does get very bloody. Hope you enjoy this chapter, leave a review with your comments and questions, and have a nice day.
Chapter 22 – Judgement
Weiss.
The day turned night over the calm seas. Trudging through the waters were three massive vessels, each with a crew of working seamen. In the center ship, the captain had retired to his personal quarters as his crew managed the vessel. One loan member wobbled across the right-side rails; his checks red as the rum he just drank.
However, in his stride, he thought he heard an odd noise. The drunken sailor turned to the waters, but only hear the crashing waves hit the hull. He then shrugged and made his way towards the deck of the ship, where more rum would be found.
On the outside of the right hull, something had attached to the ship. Rather, three individuals. Weiss, Adam, and Reines each knelt on one knee, their bodies attached to the hull via a large black glyph, "My, these platforms sure are useful." The Princess of El-Melloi said as she looked at the white heiress. However, Weiss white outfit was now black. Her ponytail undone as she hides the bulk of her hair in the back of her jacket, "Though, your sense of fashion could use some work." Reiss said with her right hand on her chin, "Black just isn't your color."
"This at least prevents me from sticking out at night," Weiss responded in a hushed, yet enraged voice. Then turned towards the waters, "My sister was right, we could use my platform glyphs to run across the water and latch onto the ship."
"Yes." Adam said before looking down, "Now, we board this ship." He said with two nodding back. The White Fang swordsman then placed his right ear to the hull of the ship, listening, "…I don't hear anyone walking."
"What if they are standing still?" Weiss said as before Adam pulled his sword into the hull, timing his impact with a wave's crash. She then sighed before creating a yellow glyph where the sword touched the edge of the circle As the glyph spun, the sword ran over the circumference until making a full rotation. Adam grabbed his sword as he pushed in the circular piece of wood, their entrance into the ship was made.
The wood did hit the floor, but as a black rune showed up on the piece, it failed to make a noise. Reines smirked as looked to the others, "My specialty." Suddenly, the same rune appeared on all three members' backs, "Now, our footsteps will not make a sound as well." She said before the other nodded.
Weiss entered first, looking down the hallways before fully stepping foot inside. The inside of the vessel was as dark as the outside. No candles or lanterns illuminated the pathways. After Reines and Adam had followed, the white fang swordsman lifted the circular piece of wood and placed it over the hole. Weiss created a black glyph to keep the piece in place, hiding their work.
Adam led the way, his eyes focused on the path ahead. Reines smirked as she looked up at the White Fang swordsman, "I forget how well faunus eyesight is in the dark." She commented before pouting, "It is much more useful than my mystic eyes."
"What are you talking about?" Weiss asked.
"I'll explain another time," Reines said with a smirk, "For now, let's focus."
"Right," Weiss responded, turning back to Adam, "This should be the level the faunus are being imprisoned."
"Yes, at least going by that heat signature." Adam said as his grip on his weapon tightened, "We should be clo-" He was saying until the group saw a light, "Someone's coming!"
Turning the corner was a man with an oil lantern in his right hand. He yawned with his eyes closed, placing his left hand near his mouth. As his eyes returned to the path in front of him, nothing of the ordinary was in his path.
Meanwhile, the three infiltrators knelt atop the ceiling. A black glyph held them in place as they waited for the crew member to get further away. After the coast was clear, the glyph released with the three landing back on the floor, "This place is crawling with them." Weiss said with a sigh, "I thought most would have been on deck or asleep."
"They still have a few guards portraying." Adam responded, "Watch our backs in case that one turns around."
"Right," Reines said before they continued down the hallway.
After a few minutes of travel, they reached a locked door with a plaque that read, Prison Block. Weiss looked to the bottom of the door, seeing no light souse on the other side. She then put her hand on the knob of the door, but it was looked. The Princess of El-Melloi created a silence rune on the door before Adam stood in the way. In a single motion, he tackled the door off its hinges. The door hit the ground with a deep thud, too low of a pitch for any one human to hear.
However, multiple faunus ears spiked up at the noise. The prisoners awoke as they looked to the bars. Their eyes widened at the sight of the Grimm mask in the darkness. As Adam made his way to one cell, the prisoner recognized the red hair and horns, "Adam?" the prison said as he White Fang swordsman checked the cell lock, "We were told that you were imprisoned."
"I was freed. And soon, so will you." Adam said while examining the cell door lock, seeing that it required a key.
"Thank you." The faunus prisoner said as tears started to form in his eyes. However, his eyes turned to hatred at the sight of Weiss and Reines, who was placing the door back the way it was, "Are those-" He was saying until Adam cut him off.
"They on the same side as us," Adam clarified with the faunus prisoner gasping, "Now, be quiet." He said with the faunus prisoner nodding, "Good, we need to open these cells." He said, knowing it would take too long to cut open every one of the bars. As well as make to much noise.
"A guard held the keys." The faunus prisoner answered before pointing to his left, "He took some of us into that room." He said with Adam nodding.
"Stay here, we'll be right back," Adam told the faunus prisoner before the three left.
Weiss then turned to Adam, "I used a Glyph to keep the door in place." She informed him, "Even if someone comes by, they are not getting in here." She said before her fist tightened, "Still, we need to hurry now."
They reached the end of the Prison Block, coming to a door marked with a red X. As Weiss looked down, she saw light coming from the other side of the door. She then turned to Reines to for placement of the silence rune. However, Princess of El-Melloi simply nodded on the door. The white heiress eyes widened as they heard footsteps approach.
The door opened to reveal a portly crewmember with a scraggly bread. He gasped at the sight of Adam, who already had his right arm reeled back. The White Fang swordsman punched the man in the center of the face, launch the man into the nearby wall before he fell on his right. As he laid on the ground, the keys fell out of his right pocket.
The three enter the room with Weiss picking up the keys. However, her eyes widened at a familiar feeling. The scent of blood filled the air. She turned to see a young woman on a table. She was laid on his stomach with no clothes on. Her back was ripped open, revealing her destroyed spinal cord, "What in the world?" Weiss said in horror as Reines went over to the woman.
In parting the woman's green hair, the Reines saw the lifeless eyes. However, she noticed the brille on the right eyeballs, "She was a reptile-type faunus." She said before seeing an odd pile next to the table. In examining the pile, several pieces of bloodstained animal parts laid in a basket. At the top of the pile was a large turtle shell, causing the Princess of El-Melloi to go silent
Adam saw pieces of paper at a small nightstand. He read through the crude scribbles, his rage building on his discovery, "They tortured them for information on the location of other bases." He said as he came to a page call inventory management, "Those who didn't give information, they killed after removing the faunus trait." He said before the paper scraped to crinkle in his grasp, "As whoever wrote this noted, they sell very well on the black market." The White Fang swordsman then saw a closed window with a bloodstained sile, "That we were the rest of the bodies went."
.
Weiss remained quiet as well, her left-hand tightening. However, she heard a slight groan from behind the group. In turning around, she saw the portly man waking up. The white heiress spawned her Myrtenaster, aiming a foot away from his throat, "Don't move or speak." She said in a hushed voice, "Put your hands behind your head." The portly man obliged as Weiss remained focus on him.
However, the portly man smirked before reaching behind his neck, pulling out a flintlock pistol tucked in the back of his shirt. He aimed at Weiss as her eyes widened. In that moment, her mind went blank. As the hammer was pulled back, the white heiress slashed his right hand, causing the aim of the pistol to be for the ceiling. As the shot was fired, the portly man screamed, "AAAAAAAAA-" The man screamed before his voice was cut off.
As Weiss' mind cleared, she realized with had just occurred. Blood had stained the tip of her weapon. Some were from the hand she slashed, but the rest was from the throat she slit. The portly man fell on his back as blood gushed out of his neck wound. Weiss' watched, her breathing was sporadic as the man's body convicted. After a few seconds, he slowly stopped moving, his eyes devoid of light. However, they still gazed back at the white heiress as she dropped her weapon, "I…I…" She said while backing up.
Suddenly, he backed up into Adam, who placed his right hand on her left shoulder. "You did what you had to do." He said with her glaring at him.
"No!" She scowled back, "My first slashed disarm him, I didn't need to-" She was saying until Adam pointed at the corpse of the portly crewmember.
"You did disarm his right hand," Adam said as Weiss now noticed it, "But while he had your attention with that first gun, he reached for the gun in his left side." He said as the white heiress saw the portly crewman's left hand partially hold the flintlock, "If you had reposed after your first attack, he would have gotten that second shot off." Adam said as she turned back to him, "No matter what you think could have happened, you did what you needed to do." He said with Weiss remaining unresponsive. She looked down with Adam turning to Reines, "However, if they didn't hear the scream, they wound not have misheard that gunshot."
"Yes," Reines said, her eyes still focused on the basket of severed limbs, "Adam, I am giving you an order." She said while glancing over to the dead turtle faunus' body, "While Weiss and I free the remaining faunus," She stated before turning to the White Fang swordsman, her eyes glaring with a piercing rage, "Send everyone else on this ship to Hell."
Weiss slight gasped at the command, but Adam remained unexpressive. Slowly, he lowered his head with a bow, "Understood." He said before walking out of the room. After he was a few steps away, a sinister smile formed on his face, "I'm beginning to like that one." The White Fang swordsman said readying his Wilt and Blush.
Adam.
At the vessel's deck, thirty crewmembers readied their weapons. All were focused on the door leading to the inside of the ship. Suddenly, the door broke open as a corpse crashed though. The body landed near the mast of the vessel. The crew examined it, seeing it only as a torso with no arms or legs. They then turned back to the doorway, the silhouette of a beast in red aura emerging from the darkness. One member of the crew's forehead could not stop sweating, while another's hands could not stop shacking "What's the matter?" Adam said as he emerged from the doorway on the deck, "You were all enjoying yourselves a few minutes ago." He said before reposing his weapons, "Come on," The Beast of the White Fang dared, "Let's have some fun!"
Suddenly, one of the crew members aimed his pistols. However, as he pulled back both hammer, Adam had already dashed within range of Wilt. He slashed off both arms at the elbows, then bisected the man down the middle of his stomach. Another crewmember aimed his pistol at the right side of Adam's head. As the trigger was pulled, Adam ducked the bullet, causing it to hit the forehead of another crewmember. The Beast of the White Fang glared at the one who just shot him. In aiming Blush, he fired at the kneecaps, blowing off the right leg in a single shot. He then aimed for the head while the crewmember's body was still falling over.
A crewmember with a sword rushed Adam from behind, his cutlass raised overhead. Adam reverses the grip of Wilt, stabbing backward into the crewmember's chest. In backflipping, a gushed of blood erupted from the crewmember as his chest stilt open. While in midair, the Beast of the White Fang quick fired Blush three times before landing, blasting the heads off three more crewmembers.
Once Adam landed, he sheathed his sword. A crewmember with a flintlock rifle aimed at his target, the Beast of the White Fang aimed back with Blush. In pulling the trigger first, Adam's Wilt launched from his sheath, smashing into the skull of the rifle crewmember. The crewmember let go of his rifle, of which Adam dashed to grab. After firing into the chest of another crewmember, he blocked with the flintlock rifle from a swinging sword. Adam turned to see another crewmember picking up Wilt, who smiled as he raised it, posed to kill its original owner. However, Adam still held Blush. The Beast of the White Fang aimed low, blasting the crewmember in the pelvis, causing him to drop Wilt.
Adam let go of the flintlock rifle before retrieving in Wilt. Suddenly, five more crew members with cutlasses rushed him. Each slashed, but Adam's blade blocked all the incoming attacks. As one went for a horizontal slash, Adam blocked with Blush at his left. He parried and waited until all five attacked the same vertical downward strike. At that moment, The Beast of the White Fang sheathed his sword before shooting Blush. In a horizontal slash, Wilt bisected all five members down the stomach. Their bodies flung back in chucks, the blood raining down on the remaining crewmember.
As Adam was about to engage the rest of the crew, a gunshot was heard. The shot was fired upwards from the back of the crew. The members parted their formation, reveling the one who made the shot, their captain. A man wearing a navy black long coat, his greyish white hair getting out from under his hat and beard, "Hey," The captain stated with a scowl, "You're ruining our celebration."
"You must be the one called Christopher Columbus," Adam said with The Rider of the Resistance sneering, "But to me, I only know you as the White Fang Killer."
"Hahaha, look at that, a stowaway!" Columbus responded with a laugh as he tossed his flintlock pistol, "I didn't see you at the base last night." He said as a crewmember gave his captain a rifle, "I usually kill the annoying ones first." The White Fang Killer said before aiming his rifle at Adam.
Adam scowled as glared at Columbus, "When you say, 'annoying ones,' like that." He asked the Rider of the Resistance, "Does that include a certain White Fang member with a chainsaw?"
"Oh, you knew him!?" Columbus taunted, "Right before I cut him down, he did mention that someone would avenge him." The Rider of the Resistance then stocked his beard with his left hand, "What was the name he said: Addy…Arron…Arnold?" Suddenly, Columbus looked to see Adam sheathing his sword, "Huh, giving up already?"
Suddenly, Adam's aura glowed a deeper red. As he held his Wilt and Blush in front of his body, electricity sparked between the two weapons. Columbus fault an ominous presence, as the electricity sparked black, "You shall die." Adam declared he unsheathed Wilt a few inches, the crimson blade glowing. Columbus scowled as he was about to fire his rifle. However, in the path of the shot, a diagonal red line appeared. The Rider of the Resistance gasped as he started to see more and more of these red lines in the air around him. They appeared to pass through his body, as well as the body of the crewmembers. A line of sweat ran down his face as Adam started to unsheathe more of his sword. The Rider of the Resistance then jumped back, canceling his shot, and avoiding any of the lines before Adam fully unsheathed Wilt.
In a single slash, the red lines faded. The White Fang swordsman knelt as he placed Wilt back into Blush. At the clicking sound of his sword back in his sheath, the area gleamed in a white flash. At that moment, the remaining crewmembers were diced into chunks. Their bodies flung to pieces as blood covered the deck. As Adam stood back up, no one was left of the crew, except the captain.
Columbus stood without a scratch, but his teeth grit at his opponent, "Damn you!" The Rider of the Resistance said before looking at his flintlock rifle, seeing it was cut in half, "What was that!?" he said before tossing the destroyed weapon.
"A woman from Apocrypha helped me regain my fighting composure." Adam responded before smiling, "With that time, I decided to learn one of her Kingdom's special techniques."
"A Noble Phantasm, I see." Columbus said before grinning, "Well, at least this will make it interesting." He said before drawing his sword in his right hand, "Once I have eliminated you, I'll pay her a visit as well."
"Oh, one thing about her." Adam responded, "She also taught me how to have a small amount of compassion, even for my enemies." The White Fang swordsman said before reposing his stance, holding Wilt and Blush to his left side, "However, I have no such thing for you." Adam announced before dashing towards the White Fang Killer, who smiled back with a toothy grin.
AN: There you go, we have the first half to the White Fang Rescue Operations. I really liked writing the different ways Adam, Weiss, and Reines could use their abilities together to sneak into the ship. We have Weiss getting her first human kill, and well as Adam proving why he is a beast. You also get to see that he has a Noble Phantasm that Musashi helped him to learn. It references one of Adam's moves from a rwby video game, which also refenced the move from DMC3 that Vergil uses called Judgement Cut. Now, Adam is up against Columbus in a one-on-one duel. Next chapter, we see who lives and dies from this rescue operation. That is all for now, thanks for reading, and hope to see you in the next chapter.