AN: Well clearly, I flaked hard on my weekly promise. It has been a harrowing couple of months at uni and considering my friend and I have to sort out our housing properly, suffice to say I haven't had time to put out an update. However, I didn't stop writing and originally was gonna put out a double-length chapter, but I guess this is what you guys are left with, haha. Enjoy!

Chapter 4

Vale at night was a treat that one could only experience if they were at ground level. Walking on the streets, seeing the many vibrant people and colourful vehicles created a deafening rhythm to walk to…

"Could you walk any slower!? Stupid hippies, 'Make love, not War'. How about you make some fucking space?" The man pushed past him and spat on the pavement as he muttered curses at him. He was a perfect example of the lovely people that you could meet in nocturnal Vale.

However, his little refuge was in Palace Park. While not as big or as well-known as Central, it was exactly why he loved living there. It was quieter, more serene than its congested counterpart. Over time, it had become a part of him just as he had become a part of the community. The night was cold and his breath flowed out of his mouth, swirling around his head as he walked. Reaching his destination, he rummaged in his pockets for his keys. He lived above his small shop, Valentine's Convenience Store.

Unlocking the door, he walked into the inky darkness that shrouded the shop. He knew the aisles better than the back of his hand. Not needing to turn on the lights, he navigated his way into the back and walked upstairs to his modest apartment. The apartment had come as a package deal with the shop downstairs. It had been a purchase made out of necessity, but it had benefitted him in unquantifiable ways. Turning on the lights in the living room, he was bathed in the warm colours of the main light. He walked over to the fridge in the corner of the open plan kitchen and grabbed a beer from the vegetable drawer.

As he shut the door, there were a few photos magnetically stuck to the fridge that fell. One of them was of him, standing in his signature all-black outfit. The only differences were the black, round-rimmed glasses that sat on the bridge of his nose. His long hair was pulled into a loose ponytail and few locks of hair framed his face. Gathered around him were five boys, one of them was in dress robes holding a degree, while the others were either smiling or boisterously jumping over each other.

He twisted the cap of the bottle of beer and took a long sip, savouring the cold burn that coated the back of his throat. Another of the photos had fallen onto the floor in front of him. He picked it up and dusted it off, but paused to look at it. This one wasn't as recent as the other one. In fact, it was much older than about half the stuff in the apartment. This one only held four people. Once again, he was in the middle, however, he looked markedly different to his other-self.

Instead of the all-black theme, there was a dash of red mixed into the ensemble. He was wearing a blood-red coat and the hilt and crossguard of a sword peeked out from behind him. Next to him, was a man that looked almost identical to him. Except, his complexion was much paler than his, not to mention the biggest difference was the white, slightly grey hair that was much shorter than his, only reaching his neck. His red coat looked more worn and faded, having the sleeves rolled up to his elbow. The slight dusting of a beard coated his face giving him a rugged look. Coincidentally, he also had a sword on his back, however, the hilt and crossguard were silver.

On the other side to him stood a man a couple of inches taller than him. With his shaggy brown hair and beard, coupled with his lazy expression, he cut an odd figure next to the other two. His outfit was also a stark contrast to the others. All white, except for some black highlights around the upper coat. The biggest difference in clothing came from the pleated hakama he wore. It was a traditional Vacuan dress, not at all for women, like they had said when they teased him about it. This man also had a sword, but this time it was on his waist and was a katana instead of the two great swords that were carried by them.

Lastly, on the far side to him was a considerably shorter male with black hair cut into a messy fringe. It came to just above his eyebrows and he had three horizontal white highlights on the right-hand side of his hair that parted his hair in the middle perfectly. He wore a black suit, with a double-breasted jacket with a stoic look on his face. The bottom of the picture held a caption that looked like it was printed, indicating that it was a newspaper cut out. The caption read:

Arduous Guild Executives. From left to right: Coyote Starrk, Vincent D Alucard, Anthony Redgrave and Death the Kid.

Taking another sip of his beer, he stuck the picture onto the fridge and sat down in the living room. He pulled out his scroll and started browsing the internet. His feed was filled with useless pieces of information. There was maybe one mention of the nightclub, but four news outlets had covered this particular headline:

Yang Xiao-long slays it in a stunning bikini while on a beach in Vytal.

It made his blood boil, who cared about what a blonde girl did on a beach that wasn't even in Vale? He immediately turned his scroll off and threw it next to him on the couch. Finishing his beer, he stood up to put it into the bin when his anger boiled over and the bottle in his hand shattered. Luckily, his aura shielded him from the minuscule shards of glass that were still in his hand. No! This isn't how it was supposed to turn out. He walked out of the room, making his way to the back of the apartment. The flimsy door creaked open as he walked into a little study. The room was bare except for a wooden wardrobe in the far corner. The rest of the space was filled with nothing but a table near the door with various tools littered on top.

He opened the wardrobe and pulled out a dark rectangular case from inside. It was pitch black with silver hardware. He unclipped the locks and lifted the surprisingly lightweight lid off the case. Spanning the length of the case was the same great sword from the picture. However, above the sword were two abnormally large handguns. One was silver with gold accents, with an elongated barrel modelled after the original Colt M1903. Exactly opposite was another handgun, this time all black, but nearly identical to the other one. The peculiar thing was that this gun didn't appear to have a slide and the bullet ejector was on the left-hand side. In white cursive the words, 'Monty Oum is in heaven now' was written on the barrel.

The 'Joshua' had been by his side the longest, so long, that this was the last order that was fulfilled by the original company before closing down. That was why they had taken his unusual design requests on board. Alucard picked up the silver firearm and its respective cartridge and slotted it inside pulling back the slide to check the barrel for any problems. The black pistol, 'Jackal', was an upgrade that he had acquired after coming to the city of Vale. It came as a surprise to him that there was a gunsmith in Vale skilled enough to not only replicate but upgrade the older design of the Joshua. He completed the same procedure with the Jackal. When he went to pull back the slide, the whole barrel moved back and snapped back into place. At least that was what it looked like; in truth, the slide was the shroud that covered the barrel.

Standing up, he walked over to the wardrobe again and pulled out a black dress shirt and trousers. After putting them on, he reached inside and pulled out a thick black trench coat. Inside the coat pockets were two white gloves. After pulling them onto his fingers, he walked over to the table on the other side of the room. Sitting face down, was a white mask with a blank exterior and on the inside, it was empty too. Putting it on his face, the inside of the mask was black, but he flared his aura and the inside of the mask glowed white and then faded away. However, the inside wasn't pitch black any longer. The interior had become transparent, allowing him to see everything as if they were his own eyes. If it wasn't for this I might've had to wear a balaclava, yeesh, talk about a cliche. I have no power anymore. Climbing the ranks isn't feasible either, I'm not as strong as I was and the others left after the Hostile Takeover. It had been a long time since he had been active. Times had changed, but the essence remained the same. The strongest were at the top and the weak scuttled around under their thumbs.

However, time had made them complacent, arrogant and indulgent. He was going to show them why you let sleeping dogs lie.

The low rumbling of a couple of bullheads swept across the docks. The silence of the night was a blanket for the noise keeping any suspicions from arising. They flew low across the docks and touched down. All of a sudden, several people emerged from behind the other freighters.

"Alright ya animals, get yer filthy arses to work and move those crates. If yer good ya might get a little doggie bag, hahaha." A heavyset man laughed as the Faunus labourers moved to transport the boxes. They were dressed shabbily, some of them didn't even have full trouser legs, with the worst one having a large coat wrapped over his body and a pair of ratty shoes on his feet. Some of them grumbled at the derogatory words spat by the man. However, his eyes glowed red and immediately the sounds of hacking and coughing filled the air. They all fell to the floor groaning, "Oi, there a problem with what I jus' said?" He asked threateningly. Suddenly, his eyes stopped glowing and they gasped and took deep breaths. "Hurry up or the last thing you eat will be your teeth," he said menacingly.

They quickly scurried to the bullhead and started moving the boxes into a few open containers. The large man stepped out of the bullhead, he had a black jacket that was unzipped showing his large pectoral muscles and abs. He had a tattoo of the number 10 on his right pectoral. He had a skeletal mask in the shape of a carnivorous jaw adorning his mouth. The white of the mask was a contrast to his chocolate skin and a discoloured scar ran vertically down the left side of his thick lips. Everything about the man was large, with his thighs bulging from his trousers, straining to keep his quadriceps contained to his sleeves struggling to keep his arms contained. He took large purposeful steps as he lit a cigar. As he was rotating the cigar, the large brown cylinder exploded and pain shot through his hand.

"The pedigree of the animals sure has dropped since I was last here, eh?"

The large man was holding his smoking hand and frantically searched for the source of the warbled voice. A sharp whistle pierced the air, "Over here you stupid bovine," said the voice tiredly. He looked up towards the bullhead and sitting on top of one of the wings was a black figure. The person had one leg swinging of the edge while the other leg was bent at the knee. His long black coat billowed in the night breeze, while his hands held two large handguns. One was smoking, indicating that it was the culprit for the cigar's murder. One of the guns was silver and the other was black, but the most interesting feature was the blank white mask that adorned his face.

The large man started laughing, "Don't compare me ta these filthy animals. Ya talk big for someone who's far away, why don't ya come down here little boy and we'll see whose pedigree is low?" The other workers had stopped moving the boxes and started backing away from the two people. However, they instantly fell to the ground that same oppressive feeling suffocating them.

"Who said you could stop? You useless fleabags!" They started writhing on the floor trying to breathe, but they were unable to take in any air. Some of them had stopped squirming, others tried to stand up but were slammed back into the ground by the unknown feeling. They started clutching at their chests. Just as the other Faunus was losing consciousness, a black blur slammed into the large man. He flew across the dockyard smashing into a freighter and crumpling it like paper. The unnatural pressure lifted off the other people. They immediately gasped for air, the ones who were able to, stood up slowly.

"I would suggest you take your friends and leave from here," said the black-cloaked man. He kept his attention on the damaged container. It looked like they were suffocating, but it clearly only works on people without aura, otherwise, he would have used it on me straightaway. He addressed no one in particular, but whoever was able to, quickly scurried away taking anyone they were able to. The crate bulged and then exploded in shrapnel, flinging the jagged pieces of metal across the docks. As they were running away, the pieces of shrapnel shot down the homeless people like gunfire. The dark figure allowed his aura to tank the pieces of metal trying to puncture holes in him. The large man walked out of the smoke looking unharmed.

He cracked his neck from side to side, "Six out of ten, boy. You need to kick from the knee," he taunted. For his part, the other man kept silent, then suddenly raised his guns and fired off two shots. CRACK — the bullets blasted across the ground in front of the large man. That was odd, but he didn't have time to think, as the other man crossed the distance between them and punched at him with his right hand. He ducked to the right and using the silver handgun fired a point-blank shot into his opponent's elbow, blasting his arm away. He carried on with his motion, twisted anti-clockwise and kicked the man straight in the navel. His opponent was flung backwards, but not far enough to give him a breather as he was once again within his radius.

This time, the beast of a man led with his left hand, however, it was coated in red light and instead of punching towards him, he punched towards the ground. Suddenly, he felt an explosion of air as he was flung at least forty feet almost hitting the bullhead. Slightly dazed, he stood up and shook himself off. What the hell!? That felt like an air grenade went off in my face. "What's the matter, little boy? Ya seem pretty silent, where's all that bravado from before?" Once again the large man incited him. However, he still didn't answer and silently waited for his opponent's next move. "Not very talkative, huh? Well, I haven't been very friendly ta ya, so how about ya tell me who ya are and why yer messing with Rouge-Palace and maybe I won't kill every one of those worthless animals over there," he said jovially. However, the playfulness in his tone held an edge.

The other man stayed silent. Sigh, "Yer right. I should introduce myself before I ask for yours. I'm Yammy —

"Baron of Rouge-Palace currently ranked 172. The former tenth Conllave of the Cifer Clan. The piece of shit that is responsible for this district, who is engaging in drug and weapons smuggling. Also, a raging racist. I know exactly who you are."

Yammy's eyes widened, "Hoh, I'm pretty famous, huh? It is curious ya know what this tattoo actually means, no one in Rouge-Palace knows, hahhahaaa," he started cackling. His shoulders moved up and down and he threw his head back, then just as quickly as it started he stopped. He suddenly stared straight at the black-cloaked man, his eyes glowing a deep pinkish-red. He crouched and the ground cracked and ruptured as he kicked himself forward. The man also ran forward, just as he was about to reach Yammy he blurred out of existence. Yammy's hands came down in a hammer fist but impacted only air. However, it looked like he had hit a solid surface as his fists didn't reach the ground.

The masked man appeared above him and kicked with both his feet into the small of his back, forcing him to his knees. He then pointed his black pistol into the back of his neck and fired a round into it. Yammy's head snapped forward into the ground cracking it as it impacted the concrete. However, there was no respite as round after round was impacting his neck. The masked man raised his leg high into the air. A black aura surrounded it and he brought it straight down onto Yammy's back. The leg impacted the small of his back again, but this time there was a huge shockwave as the ground underneath the two men ruptured and crumbled away like cheese. The containers were blown away like leaves in the wind and the bullheads were moved precariously close to the edge of the docks.

As the dust cleared, he saw his heel was held slightly above Yammy's back in the air. It felt solid, almost as if there was a platform underneath. There is no way I'm imagining this right now. There is a solid platform just above the nape of his neck! The man was suddenly thrown off and Yammy stood up slowly and dusted himself. "Hmm, ya pack a good punch, well done ya graduated from little boy to little man. Yer still little ya see, but good for you that would have taken out my aura and maybe even my back if I wasn't careful," said Yammy.

He was smirking, "It's a shame I can't enjoy this more, but ya have to understand I can't not deliver this ya know. If a few animals died in the process well then it's just the beastly actions of a few Faunus who were trying to steal from the benevolent Rouge-Palace," he said with fake remorse. Suddenly, the air started to flicker and the temperature started to rise rapidly. The injured men and women started to suffocate again and tried to scream in pain, but only the scrapping of vocal cords could be heard. "Listen ya can leave here with their lives intact if ya take yerself back ta whatever hole ya came from," Yammy sounded impatient now. The masked man looked at the group of homeless people briefly before turning back to Yammy.

"It's a waste to use my bullets on you. You aren't worth spending money on," He said emotionlessly. I was right! This is more than just air manipulation if the temperature itself is rising, no semblance can control two things at once! He put his guns inside his cloak and pulled his gloves tight. He raised his hands in the air and without warning, they blurred in front of him. The air ignited and the flames billowed towards Yammy. However, a thunderous sound shattered the windows of the bullheads just as he was about to dodge.

The flames licked at his jacket and he quickly discarded it, watching it burn on the floor as he clumsily dodged the column of fire. He was slightly disorientated from the sound. What was that sound? Did that come from his punch? No way! Who the hell is this guy, the only person with strength like that is Tsunade Senju. Unless I'm hallucinating that's a man right there, last I checked Tsunade is a woman. With huge —

SMACK, a leg impacted the side of Yammy's head and he spun like a corkscrew as he flew into another container, however, this time he didn't stop and carried on until he smashed into the wall of the control tower of the docks. Huge cracks ran up the building as the concrete wall collapsed like plasterboard. The masked man made his way over to the control tower, raised his fist and punched the large pieces of rubble in front of the wall. They immediately disintegrated and the shockwave of the punch shook the tower badly and it started to creak ominously. Yammy was embedded into the hole with large pieces of concrete surrounding him. His whole face was battered and bruised and blood ran down his face. The air had stopped flickering and the temperature was returning to normal. He used the pieces of rubble as a makeshift chair and the added weight caused Yammy to yell out in pain.

"Keep your mouth shut you useless bull. I have some questions for you, think you can answer them without hurting yourself more?" When he didn't answer, the black pistol was used to whip him around the head. Yammy spat out a tooth and smirked at him.

"I ain't telling ya shit! Ya caused a lot of commotion, ya will be lucky if ya get out of here without having Employees on yer tail. Not to mention if ya take me out, haha, it will be a B-class rating at least. That means the Executives of the Guild and Shareholders will be after ya," He rasped. There was a deep, distinct click as the slide was pulled back. The gun was pointed straight at his face.

"Your aura is shot, which means this will blow your brains so far across the room that they will find traces of grey matter in the foundations for weeks. Not to mention, your skull will be reduced to powder. I meant it when I said I didn't want to waste my money on you. These are custom rounds, 13mm full metal jacket. Without your aura, your arms and legs are pieces of cake to it."

The masked man showed no emotion, left no inflexion in his voice. He had appeared calm throughout the whole fight. It had been amusing at first, but now it was unsettling. How could he not be even the slightest bit worried of the Bureau coming after him? Staring into the pitch-black barrel, he switched his gaze to the man's face. The blank white mask was now more unsettling. It scared him, he had been outclassed heavily. Even though he hadn't shown it, the man's blows had rattled his body even through his aura. His semblance had helped keep him on even footing, but as soon as he had threatened those filthy animals, the man had used his —or what he thought had to be— semblance.

He clenched his teeth and spat out a glob of blood from his mouth. "Tch, fine. What do ya wanna know?" He said defiantly.

"Why are you shifting so much dust? Who is it for and why?"

"We gotta make money, what is it ta ya?"

BANG! The rubble next to Yammy's head disintegrated into dust.

"My nose is very sensitive to bullshit Yammy. One more lie and you're gonna see the Brothers. Why are you shifting dust through the clubs?" He asked. The dry tone of his voice cut through the silence.

"We aren't shifting drugs through the clubs, ya info's faulty. None of the clubs 'round here is shifting dust," said Yammy with a confused look on his. The masked man was silent for a few seconds.

"Next question. Those two boys in the news, why are they the only ones to have made it onto national television? I thought a Great Guild would have more competency than that?" The masked man said sarcastically.

"I don't know shit about any punk-ass boys. If they died, they were probably junkie scum anyway," Yammy spat. His irritation wasn't kept out of his voice.

Sigh, "It seems I'm gonna have to work a little harder for answers," said the masked man quietly. Yammy's face slowly morphed into one of fear and he started to struggle. The stiff click of the slide punctuated the end of his sentence.

Staring down the barrel of the gun into the blank white mask of his captor, his eyes widened and then nothing. A deep, punchy crack resounded throughout the control tower and the splatter of blood, brain matter and shards of bone followed quickly after. Completing the ensemble was the slow hiss of smoke that slowly snaked its way into the air.

Well, that was a waste of time. I better make sure the Faunus outside are okay. Alucard slowly stood up and dusted himself off. Turning around, he made his way out of the control tower and onto the main dockyard. He quickly noticed that the bodies and cargo had disappeared. Immediately, he was on guard. He couldn't hear anything. Nothing at all. Looking around, he wasn't able to see anything out of the ordinary.

Everything was as it was, the bullheads were askew and the containers were bent and twisted inward. Even the stars were — What? Even if this is the docks the lights should block out everything. His eyes widened and he immediately leapt to the side, when the ground where he was stood was blown apart. He was pushed even further by the concussive force and was showered with dust and concrete. What the hell was that!? Damn, that almost got me. What are they feeding people nowadays that even mid-level rankers are this strong? Alucard was broken out of his thoughts when a slender figure floated into the air above the docks.

It's official, I've lost my mind.

As the figure came into view, he was able to make out that they were female. The woman had faded, dark red hair that was tied into two ponytails leaving enough at the from for a fringe. She wore a small red jacket over a white blouse and a red skirt. She had black knee-length socks and black boots, but her most defining feature was the M82 sniper rifle that she had in her left hand. She daintily touched the ground in front of the crater and immediately turned her head to look at him.

Oh shit.

"Are you the nuisance that brute Yammy couldn't handle? Honestly, the only thing that muscle head was useful for was lifting things," looking around at the containers, she shook her head in disgust. The disdain in her voice was surprising, maybe he could use her apparent dislike for Yammy in his favour. "Evidently, he turned out to be useless for that as well," she said drily. His eyes widened, she was standing in front of the control tower. How did she move so quickly? I didn't even see her move. Alucard knew that from the way she carried herself this wouldn't be as simple as before. This woman was on a different level to Yammy. He quickly stood up and was about to make his escape when she appeared in front of him. The silver barrel of the M82 was pointed straight at him.

"I don't appreciate being ignored. Furthermore, trying to escape while I'm in your presence is terribly rude, how do you plead?" She said haughtily. He stared at her, not that she could see his eyes, and held his hands up in mock surrender. He was able to make out the click of her finger on the trigger and he immediately disappeared out of existence. At the exact moment, the muzzle flashed white and the ground was ripped up in front of her. The shot once again whipping up gale-force winds in the yard. The resultant was the bullheads finally tipping into the harbour. He appeared behind her coated in black aura and swung his leg around into her head. Just as the leg was about to impact her head, there was an unnatural resistance that stopped his leg dead in its tracks.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blasted him across the yard. He flipped a few times to bleed off the energy and immediately leapt of the way. A loud THUNK resounded throughout the clearing, the shot from the M82 once again was unnaturally strong blasting through the foundations of the control tower and finally bringing it down. He noticed something peculiar, there was no cartridge. What the hell? How is she firing those shots? It must be something to do with her semblance! Shit, it's times like these I wish I had a more interesting semblance. Bullets are expensive!

"Your unwillingness to communicate irritates me, I left a prior engagement for this! I will not be treated as an afterthought!" The wind picked up in the area and she started to rise into the air. Alucard inwardly paled, there is no way I can combat that right now. It was a mistake not bringing extra cartridges! He turned tail and ran out of the docks. There was no way to combat her if she could fly. Running up to one of the buildings that weren't damaged, his leg glowed the signature black colour and he kicked off the wall. Propelling himself fifty feet into the air, he reached another empty warehouse and continued his superhuman parkour.

How am I gonna get rid of her? As he was running across the rooftops, he looked back and could see her floating towards him. Is she sitting down, on-air! Sure enough, the woman was sitting on a chair made of air with her legs crossed and her fist resting underneath her chin. He turned around and picked up the speed. His aura coated him once again, however, this time he kept pumping the aura around his body. Ugh, this is taking a lot out of me I haven't done this in a long time. His surroundings started to blur around him, the cars on the road were just lines of brilliant red and white and the billboards created an almost dreamy backdrop with a variety of colours and shades that spilt into one another.

"Running is futile, I will catch you, even if half of Vale is destroyed. You have ruined my evening and I have run out of patience," she said sternly. It sounded like she had spoken into his ear! That was impossible, he turned around and saw her still 100 metres away. That's impossible unless she was able to somehow use the air to speak to me? Her semblance must be air manipulation, there is no other explanation. Damn, I really need to stop underestimating the Rankers these days, first Yammy now her. Just as he was jumping across the freeway, he hit an invisible wall. He fell straight into oncoming traffic. Oh shit, that's going to hurt! An eighteen-wheeler had swerved trying to not hit him but to no avail. Coating himself in his aura again, He raised his hands in a cross-block, the front of the vehicle crumpled like paper. The resulting crash caused a pileup of cars on the highway.

Pulling the windscreen off his head, he dusted himself down. The mask was slightly cracked and the HUD was flickering. By the gods, I didn't know she could do that! "Cough, fa-facial recognition, period: two minutes ago,"

Scanning. Completion: 60 seconds.

"Hmph, if you want to know my name, the proper etiquette is to offer your name first! Is there no outlaw with even a modicum of respect these days? That is why Mr Houdini is my favourite Rogue to deal with. Now there is a man with proper etiquette," her voice was dripping with disdain.

The way she looked on in disgust at him from her place in the sky, said a lot about her personality. She didn't care for all the people injured because of their fight. Her attention was focused on him but even then she gave off an air of disinterest. That out of all the artefacts here, he should be grateful to be even allowed the privilege of her attention.

Completion: 25 seconds.

She waved her free hand like she was swatting a fly. He was immediately thrown to the right, by a gust of wind so strong the eighteen-wheeler was thrown into the air along with him. He was thrown into the other side of the dual-carriageway. Rolling backwards, he stood up and looked up to see the huge truck casting a shadow over him. Shit, I have no choice. I can't catch it without hurting more people. He diverted all his aura into his right hand, the black glow was concentrated about his fist. Thank you, Tsunade for teaching me this. He stepped forward, cocked his fist back and punched just before the truck hit him.

Rotating his fist as he punched forward, the shockwave shattered the windows of every stopped car on the highway. The truck itself was smashed to pieces, the only damage was the small bits of debris from the now disintegrated truck. Falling to one knee, he was breathing heavily. Sheesh, it was only supposed to be in and out get some information and put a pinch in some plans. I wasn't supposed to fight high-rankers!

He was low on bullets as well, meaning that was not an option. Not to mention with her semblance it would make his bullets redundant. He had to escape otherwise he was going to lose a lot more than sleep tonight. The woman floated over to him, once again waving her hands, this time with a single finger. A high-pitched whistle entered his ears, only for excruciating pain to erupt from his right arm. The blood stained his mask, adding to the already caked and dried blood from before. He gritted his teeth, unwilling to give her the satisfaction if her smug smile was anything to go by.

"So, you bleed? Good, I was beginning to think you were one of Atlas' experiments."

Scan complete.

"You may call me Le Blanc, Baroness Romantica Sangria Rank 100." He was discreetly coating his whole arm with aura. Immediately he felt multiple sharp things at his neck.

"I would advise you to keep still when your betters are speaking. I don't appreciate fidgeting while I'm talking to you. Now Le Blanc, if you would be so kind as to accompany me to the branch headquarters, that would be lovely. You have caused quite a stir, you know. Baron Yammy, no matter how distasteful, was not a weak man. Without authorisation from the Ranking Bureau, you engaged in an illegal match with a Ranker. Not to mention, the destruction of Rouge-Palace property and the deaths of the innocent Faunus over at the docks. Or maybe, was it the unfortunate casualties of gang violence? Huh, who knows? At the very least I'm sure you don't because you will be very much incapacitated by the time it matters," She said cruelly. The look of disdain and superiority had only become more pronounced as she spoke.

Geez Alucard, this is the lowest of the lows. I wasn't this pathetic even when I had no aura and no semblance! I can't believe that I lost the bet of who's gonna die first, me! I owe Danté, Starrk and Kid so much money. Maybe it's good that I won't be able to pay them? Hahaha.

More is revealed, yet more remains a mystery. Everything is done for a reason, but will you find out that reason? Who knows?

TheRedTower