"Cinder…" Emerald's voice sounded weak as she looked through the Hunters toward Cinder. Cinder began a slow, steady approach towards the Hunters, who in turn drew their weapons. Ruby stepped to the front of the hunters, spun her scythe in an arc, and extended it towards Cinder.
"Back off!" Her voice rang loud and clear. "There are way more of us than there are of you!"
As Cinder continued her approach, flames licked at the ground near her feet, danced up her body, and into her hands. "That's true…" she looked at the fire as it played along her fingertips. "For now." She extended her arm. "Logi!"
The fire expanded above and behind her, manifesting itself into a semi-humanoid form. Starting at the torso, a cyclone of flame shaped itself into broad shoulders and long arms, with a muscular neck and a bald head. The 'face' had no features, though a pair of eyes and a mouth seemed to circle around the persona's head, detached from the body. The mouth and eyes seemed locked in a pained expression. Every so often they would line up to form a mask of anguish before disconnecting, spinning in opposite directions.
Around the persona's neck sat rough black chain, wreathed in flame. This chain extended into Cinder's waiting hand, where it wrapped itself around her extended forearm. The chain then continued to extend past Cinder, straight towards Ruby's scythe. It whipped violently at the weapon, causing Ruby to lose her balance just as a ball of fire erupted from Logi, straight towards Ruby's unprotected form.
Yang managed to catch her sister with her body, both of the girls flying onto their backs and landing near the edge of the platform. Jaune watched to be sure they weren't going over the ledge, then turned his full attention to their enemy. Penny, Pyrrha, Blake, and Weiss formed a line behind him, weapons and evokers at the ready.
"We don't have to fight, Cinder." Jaune's voice shook slightly as he said it… he wasn't sure if it was La Pucelle telling him, or just a feeling in his gut – but something about Cinder scared him. It made his knees want to shake. A very old and primal instinct in his brain was telling him to flee.
"I hardly see the fun in that." Another shot of fire erupted towards Jaune, but before it could strike him, Pyrrha was in front of him, Baldr's shield protecting them both from the blast.
Pyrrha turned and gave a weary smile to Jaune – clearly exhausted from the strain after the assault her persona took from the previous shadow. Jaune gave her a thankful nod, put his Evoker to his head, and summoned La Pucelle. As she floated behind him, her gaze granted him sight of his enemy –
Or tried to.
Where Cinder should've been, Jaune's vision was covered only in a blazing flame. He couldn't make out any of her – or her persona's – stats, strengths, weaknesses… nothing. He was fighting blind. He grasped his head and screamed in pain as the fire seemed to burn at his very eyes.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha reached out, touching Jaune's arm.
He shook her off. "It's ok, I'm fine!" he spat through gritted teeth. "Just keep fighting!"
Pyrrha frowned slightly, but nodded, her face turning into a resolute mask of steel. She spun back towards Cinder, her ponytail flying behind her.
"Enough of this." Weiss stepped forward and pulled the trigger on her Evoker. As Fairest appeared before her, Weiss used her persona to launch a volley of blade-like shards of ice towards her foe. "Bufula!"
As the shards rushed towards Cinder, they melted in the air – never coming close to harming her. Cinder's smile widened, and she continued her approach. As she did so, she seemingly dragged her Persona with her, who followed helplessly as he clutched his chain, clawing at his neck.
Three more chains erupted from Cinder towards the hunters. Blake barely rolled out of the way of the one coming toward her. Weiss took a blow to the gut, doubling over from the strike. Penny, however, deftly parried hers with a strike from her dagger, and moved to the front of the group.
Pyrrha stood beside her, spear at the ready. They moved in tandem – as a chain struck at them, Pyrrha would deflect it either with her spear or with Baldr. Meanwhile, Penny would use Kvasir or her own dagger. By alternating in this pattern, they started to gain serious ground on Cinder.
Jaune tried to keep up, but the blazing inferno still burned in his head. He watched on through squinted eyes, trying to keep track.
"Weiss! I've got you." Freya appeared once more, a healing light washing over Weiss's doubled over form. Blake then reached over to Weiss, helping her stand up straight. Weiss took a moment to nod to Blake, then looked up to see Penny and Pyrrha's continued assault heading for Cinder.
Yang and Ruby ran up beside Weiss and Blake, and the four seemed in perfect sync as their evokers fired off simultaneously, causing an immense staccato gunshot to echo throughout the room. Fairest, Big Bad, Sif, and Freya all stood next to each other. Fairest spun in place, winking one large eye. Big Bad let out a howling snarl as its small red cape billowed behind it. Sif's onyx hand stretched out, her shining golden hair dripping over her body. Freya's book snapped open, and her cat-like claw danced over the pages.
"Bufudyne!" "Garudyne!" "Ziodyne!" "Agidyne!"
Cinder's eyes widened as she continued to launch her flaming assaults onto the approaching Pyrrha and Penny. She caught the magical assaults out of the corner of her eye. As the Shadow Hunters Persona's manifested, Cinder slid backwards towards her Persona, using the tautness of her chain and her Persona's massive form as leverage.
The swirling tornado, giant shard of ice, gargantuan fireball, and bolt of lightning all struck the spot where Cinder had only been a moment ago. Cinder pulled herself up to her feet, stretching out both of her hands. As she did so, one chain came straight for Pyrrha and Penny, which Pyrrha easily knocked aside.
Another chain went down, underneath the bridge, and came up on the other side to wrap itself around Pyrrha and Penny's legs. Cinder jerked her hands back, and both girls were gone in an instant – the chain dragging them underneath the bridge, where they dangled, arms swinging. Pyrrha's Evoker left her hand… it spun past the moving platforms beneath them, and as it vanished from sight, no one heard it hit the ground.
Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang – who had all started to head onto the bridge, suddenly stopped in their tracks. Cinder had one hand outstretched towards the approaching hunters, the other with a tightly-clenched fist.
"I believe," Cinder said, slightly out of breath, "that Emerald should come with me."
"And I believe you deserve a fist to the face." Yang responded, pounding a knuckle into her open palm and taking another step forward.
"Is that so?" Cinder chuckled and slightly relaxed her clenched fist – the chain holding Pyrrha and Penny slacked, only slightly, causing them to descend a foot further from the bridge. Pyrrha gasped at the sudden shift, and Yang stopped in her tracks.
Jaune's blurred vision slowly came back, just to see Pyrrha and Penny held aloft by the chain. His mind raced as he took in the surrounding scene – Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang – all ready to take on Cinder. Cinder, holding Pyrrha and Penny above the gaping chasm beneath them. Emerald stood next to him, and he could sense that she was shaking.
"Cinder, I…" Emerald stepped forward, past Jaune. "If I come with you, you have to let them go."
"I suppose that'll do." Cinder said, staring daggers at the rest of the hunters.
Emerald slowly shifted her way toward Cinder. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang parted to let her onto the bridge. Emerald sighed, her footsteps echoing as she approached Cinder.
Pyrrha's voice rang out from beneath the bridge. "You don't have to do this." Pyrrha shouted. "You don't have to go with her!"
Emerald looked down to see Pyrrha's helpless form, dangling next to Penny. Penny's eyes seemed to be darting to various locations, her face calm – and Emerald noticed that her wrist-dagger was partially revealed through her arm – it looked as though Penny was taking aim with one arm, and holding Pyrrha's waist with the other.
Emerald furrowed her brow – despite Cinder's strength, they were still resisting. Even as defeated as they were, they were still fighting… These Shadow Hunters never gave up…
"What if you joined us?" echoed in her mind. She saw Ruby's smiling face… imagined a life where she wore a school uniform, where she could be carefree. Where she could have friends, not just people she depended on to survive.
A blue mist started to swirl around Emerald's body. "I… I don't… want… to go with you!" Her voice rose as she spoke, and the mist started to take shape behind her. "You told me to pick more competent friends…"
The mist continued to swirl, taking shape above her. What manifested, floating above and behind her, was a carpet that was floating on its own in mid-air. The carpet was inlaid with multiple images – thieves with scimitars, a massive cave, serpents, apples, djinn, and a fisherman. From the center of the carpet, a woman's upper body emerged – just her head, upper chest, shoulders, and arms. In her hands she held a diamond that glittered beautifully.
"Well here they are! Scheherazade!"
As the persona finished forming, it held its diamond forward, which began to glow with a powerful energy that threatened to strike out at Cinder.
It never got the chance.
A black, burning chain wrapped itself violently around the newly formed Persona's neck, slamming its face into the ground where it vanished into a puff of smoke. Another chain shot forward, grabbing Emerald by her waist, whipping Emerald toward Cinder at breakneck speed.
"Emerald!" Jaune cried out, one hand outstretched towards Cinder, another gripping at his head, trying to dull the pain. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang all looked on, eyes darting between the dangling Pyrrha and Penny, and the Emerald now in her grasp.
Cinder held one arm around Emerald's neck, the other still gripped to the chain that was tied to her Persona – which was then tied to Penny and Pyrrha. Cinder let out a gentle chuckle that filled the room.
"Well, I did say I would let them go." Cinder smiled to herself. "Far be it for me to go back on a promise."
She let her hand fall slack, and the chain that was holding Penny and Pyrrha vanished. In that same instant, Penny fired the wire-dagger from her right wrist, her left tightly wrapped around Pyrrha's waist. The dagger flew into the bridge with a 'thunk', leaving Penny and Pyrrha suspended by the wire attached to the dagger.
For a moment, at least.
"Logi." Cinder said calmly. Logi roared, and a ball of fire shot from her Persona into Penny's outstretched wrist. It collided directly with the base of her wire – the only thing keeping her and Pyrrha from falling to their doom. As the ball of fire exploded, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Jaune all looked on helplessly, gasping as they watched the flame incinerate the wire into ashes on contact.
In total silence, Pyrrha looked to Jaune, and Jaune looked to Pyrrha. Their eyes met for the briefefst, most precious of moments, Pyrrha's face a solemn, pained smile. Time seemed to slow as Jaune's hand reached out... at nothing. If her name left his lips, she wasn't there to hear it.
Through pained expressions, the Shadow Hunters looked on as Pyrrha and Penny were, suddenly, no longer there.
