Hey everybody, it's Liz again. Thank you all again for the continued support! At the risk of sounding repetitive, it really does mean a lot to me. I'd like to continue to reply to your reviews, but I'm not sure if you're all okay with that. So, I'll respond to them here, and let me know if you'd prefer I'd stop, put them at the end of the chapter, or if you'd prefer I didn't, tell me that too!
Greer123: Yes, it did. I hope that it was in-character enough though.
Itharax: Hope you've stopped short circuiting by now! I agree that the two share some similarities (although I didn't notice until you've pointed them out). As for the rest of your review, well, I guess this update will answer it! Thank you for the kind words, and I also hope you have a great day!
Phantommore: He is, and I hope that this chapter captures his hunger properly.
Kragh: Thank you for rereading the previous chapters (though they aren't many), and thank you for the kind words!
Artem-abramov-2004: You're absolutely right about that, and thank you for the reminder! I will be sure to keep that in mind going forward!
Kreceir: I can't say anything in regards to your first comment, but in regards to your second, I'll be honest, I don't know how to write romance (being ace doesn't help). I've been trying to explore that in my Pokémon story, and I'm not against romance, I'm just unsure how to incorporate it without making it the focal point of the story. I can't say that I won't pair Kaneki with somebody, but I don't want to promise that I will... which I realize sounds like a cop-out. I'm sorry! If the romance evolves, I hope it will do so naturally, not shoe-horned in to appeal to shippers. Hope you understand!
Guest: See my response to Kreceir, I guess.
King Crimson Requiem: Thank you so much, Your Highness! I hope this chapter was worth the wait!
I love this (guest): Thank you so much! I appreciate your kind words, and that would definitely be something I would be willing to explore later on!
KnightOfZaku: Thank you! I can't say anything regarding the second part of your review, but I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Takedo: I'm glad you're excited, and I hope that you'll have some of your question answered this time around!
CykaBlyantintensifies: It sure will! Hope you enjoy the chapter!
"Damn kids," Torchwick cursed his breath, rushing towards the front of the train. He grabbed his hat as he ran, holding it down onto his head. He had only traveled a few carts when he nearly crashed into his temporary bodyguard. "Oh, you're here! Wonderful! What the hell am I paying you for?!"
Kaneki raised a brow. "You're the one who told me to rest," he pointed out. "Did something happen?"
Torchwick pinched the bridge of his nose, taking a minute to take a breath. "We have company. I don't know how they found us, but a group of Huntresses are here, and that's where you come in, alright? Just follow me to the front of the train."
Kaneki was surprised, not having expected anybody showing up to such a remote location, much less an entire team. He followed Torchwick wordlessly, preparing himself for battle. As the two made their way to the front, there was a distant thudding.
"Oh for fuck's sake," Torchwick growled. "Eyepatch, do NOT let them get to the front of the train, got it?"
A loud explosion caught Kaneki's attention. He looked at Roman questioningly, but the man didn't acknowledge the sound. After a moment, Kaneki figured the less he knew, the better. Nodding, he walked back a few train carts to wait. To his surprise, Neo had joined him a few moments later. "Torchwick ordered you to hold the line too?" he asked.
Neo simply smiled at him and twirled her parasol. Further crashing and explosions were heard distantly, which earned a giggle from her. She walked over to a crate and took a seat, gesturing for him to join her. He complied, and shook his head.
"You confuse me," he admitted. "It's no secret that you're afraid of me, yet you insist on trying to know me. Why?"
Neo wore a thoughtful expression for a moment, then took out her scroll. She typed away a few times, starting over a couple of times, before sending him her response. 'You're interesting.'
Kaneki let out a humorless laugh as he read it. Shaking his head, he turned to her. "You really are insane. Everybody else, including your friend Torchwick, avoids me like the plague, and for good reason. I can kill you at any moment without warning. Especially out here in the middle of nowhere; nobody would ever find you."
Kaneki's scroll went off again a few moments later. 'Then why don't you kill me now?'
"I don't want to kill you," he replied, rolling his lone eye. He looked down to his hands, clenching them into fists. "I… I just can't promise that I won't."
Neo grinned at him deviously and leaned on his arm as she wrote another message. Instead of sending it, she raised it for him to read. 'I'll take my chances ;)'
"Why are there bombs on all the cars?!" asked Blake, opening the hatch of the second train car. Dr. Oobleck rushed over, skipping a car and opening the next one.
"They ALL have bombs!" he alerted. "We need to stop this train immediately!"
The four girls rushed forward, seeing a couple of Atlesian Paladins spray painted with White Fang logos get on top of the train readying their weapons. Oobleck unleashed an inferno that easily blasted through one, causing it to fall off the train. A second explosion alerted them to the train car's cargo going off. As they looked back, a plethora of Grimm began to swarm from the caverns that were opened up to the fallen pilot of the Paladin. Zwei let out a whine as he heard the dying screams of the White Fang member.
"Oh gods," Weiss gasped. The train's forward movement made it hard to see the fate of the pilot, but she could tell it wasn't pretty.
"They're insane!" Yang shouted. "They're luring Grimm towards us!"
"No, they're leading them to the city!" Dr. Oobleck realized. "They're opening up Grimm nests and aggravating them to follow us to Vale!"
Ruby's face paled. "Why would they do something like that?! They'll kill tons of innocent people!"
Dr. Oobleck, Zwei and the girls remained silent for a moment, before the licensed Huntsman finally spoke up. "Girls, we do not have time to worry about the why's. Let's stop this train before they can accomplish their goals. I will take the lead, but as soon as I begin to slow you down, leave me behind and press on with the mission. This train cannot reach its destination."
"Yes, Doctor," the girls said together, quickly rushing after the caffeinated professor.
The second Paladin was quickly defeated by Weiss and Blake, who used a combination of Shadow Clones and Glyphs to push the mech off the train. Luckily for this pilot, it remained mostly undamaged, allowing him to defend himself from the incoming Grimm horde. Once the group had found a train car without bombs, they jumped down and began to make their way from the inside. The five took a moment to catch their breath, Zwei beginning to whine at the door leading up to the next car.
"What is it, boy?" asked Yang. She hadn't seen the family dog panic like this in years.
"He must sense something," Weiss concluded. The four girls stood before the door hesitantly.
"I'm afraid we have no choice, girls," Oobleck said. He readied his weapon and approached the door. "Remember, if you see an opening, go to the next car."
He slid the door open and ran in, the girls quickly following.
Kaneki and Neo heard the door slide open and jumped into their respective fighting positions. Before them ran a green-haired man wearing what looked to be an explorer's garb. He wasted no time in attacking the two, causing them both to jump back. Kaneki stood before the door, as Neo simply seemed to shatter.
"Neo?" he asked, not seeing where she went. The man rushed towards Kaneki, who prepared to fight, only for his weapon to be hooked by Neo's parasol, throwing him off balance. The man was quick to recover, and took a horizontal swing at Neo, who effortlessly backflipped under it, due to her short height, and jumped up and roundhouse kicked him back a few feet. Undeterred, the man aimed his strange weapon at Kaneki, who quickly braced himself. To Kaneki's surprise, a huge stream of fire with a frightening amount of force behind it, shot out towards him. Kaneki could feel the heat immediately and braced himself to be scorched.
In an instant, the flames were dispersed as Neo jumped before him and blocked the fire with her parasol, impressing Kaneki with its durability; the flames would have likely burned his skin off. She pointed to the next car and winked at him. He could see the bloodlust in her eye and immediately understood.
"Are you sure you can handle him alone?" he asked, to which she rolled her eyes playfully. She then rushed back to the fight, elegantly evading the man's strikes and redirecting his wider swings. Kaneki decided to listen to her, and began to make his way to the next car when he was suddenly struck by an intense force that caused him to crash through the door.
"Ow, ow, ow," cried Ruby, as she rubbed her head. "It feels like I ran into a brick wall!"
Kaneki got up, surprised to see the short girl in the red hood. A few moments later, her three teammates arrived, including the blonde from the club. They didn't seem to notice Kaneki right away, showing concern for their leader.
"What happened? I thought you said breaking through the door was going to be easy!" Weiss shouted.
"She didn't hit the door," Kaneki interrupted, dusting himself off. The impact had mildly hurt, but it was nowhere near worse than anything he's already felt before. He could then see the four freeze as they locked eyes with him, especially the blonde.
"Y-you really are here," she nearly whimpered. Her fear was quickly replaced with anger as her eyes turned red and she punched her gauntlets together.
"Yang, wait, we have to attack him together," Ruby reminded her. "Don't go off on your own again."
Yang grunted in agreement, and was quickly flanked by Weiss, who raised her rapier and began to summon a glyph. Blake rushed forward first, taking both of her swords out and attempted to overwhelm Kaneki with her speed.
"What sort of formation is this?" Kaneki asked, as he lazily evaded Blake's strikes. As she was close to him, he could see she also had a terror in her eyes underneath the anger. He took a swing at her when she left an opening, only for him to strike nothing. The image of Blake disappeared, and a second Blake appeared behind him. She went for two vertical slashes at his head, but Kaneki slipped to the side and side-kicked her away. This time, he did feel the impact, but the image disappeared again, and she appeared to his blind side, and repeated the process. As he made to counter attack once again, a powerful impact caused his head to fling back.
"I got him!" Ruby announced, having landed a successful headshot. Weiss unleashed her time dilation Glyphs on Yang, who then rushed forward as Blake jumped back. Kaneki turned his back, rubbing his forehead, and saw Yang approaching much faster than the first time they had fought. He quickly raised his arms in defense, once again slipping through and weaving through her attacks, only Yang managed to land a few this time around.
Her first landed to his stomach, which knocked the wind out of him, and the next was a swift uppercut as he arched forward. Finally, she landed a straight punch to his jaw, which had a surprising amount of force behind it. As Kaneki flew back a few feet, his jaw nearly punched off, several shards of ice shot towards him, freezing him in place. Through the ice, he could see the four girls visually seem relieved.
"We did it?" Yang asked, feeling the adrenaline rush through her body.
"We don't have time, we have to stop the train," Blake reminded, as she attempted to rush past the frozen Kaneki. Before she got within five feet of him, Kaneki broke free from the ice, and adjusted his broken jaw. She immediately jumped back, her eyes wide.
"Wh-what?" Ruby asked, alarmed.
Kaneki raised a hand and placed a thumb over his index finger. "Well, that was unpleasant," he said sarcastically. A loud pop echoed in the train car, causing the girls to flinch. "You haven't even introduced yourselves, yet you attack me as if I've done something to you."
"Done something?!" Yang shouted, her teammates shifting back into their battle positions. "You're a damn murderer! You need to be stopped!"
Kaneki let out a laugh, and broke another finger. Four Kagune burst from his back, and his red eye almost seemed to glow. The sudden appearance of extra appendages shocked the four girls, and he couldn't help but laugh. It was a relatively normal laugh at first, but it soon grew psychotic, as his hunger began to get the better of him. He reached to his mask and unzipped the mouth, revealing his twisted expression."Then stop me."
The four girls seemed to panic, as they abandoned all tactics and rushed at him together, which only made it easier for him to deal with them. Ruby swung her massive scythe around as if trying to sever his Kagune, but they simply wrapped around her weapon and pulled her around, slamming her into the walls, ceiling and floor of the train car. While this was happening, Weiss rushed with her rapier with rapid thrusts, which Kaneki didn't bother blocking or evading, as they simply bounced off his bare skin. As she tried to jump away, his Kagune lunged at her, striking her in the chest. She suddenly began to glow, before a shattering sound followed, and she lay still on the ground.
Blake and Yang had tried to get around him, but only Blake was successful as she used her Shadow Clone to evade his Kagune from grabbing her. Yang on the other hand, was caught, and like a snake, the Kagune wrapped itself around her, squeezing the life out of her. Again, he could hear something like glass shattering before Yang began to shriek in pain. Blake then unleashed dozens of bullets at him, but they had no effect. As Yang stopped screaming, he flung her towards the back of the train with Weiss. Ruby had eventually let go of her weapon, not being able to stand the assault.
"Oh… is that all?" taunted Kaneki, before laughing again. He then began to sniff loudly, before looking eyes with Ruby. "You smell good, Ruby."
"H-h-h-how do you know my name?" she asked, terrified. Blake jumped behind Kaneki, attempting to stab her swords into him, but two Kagune shot up and slammed into her, the first breaking her aura, and the second slashing across her back, cutting off a fair length of her hair. Blake let out a pained whelp, as she lost control of her descent. Kaneki reached up and caught her by the neck, his grip silencing her. As soon as she stopped moving, he tossed her with the other two.
"Does it matter?" he asked, approaching the weaponless girl. In a panic, she tried to use her Semblance to get past him, but his strange appendages were just as fast, if not faster than her, and easily caught her. With a Kagune on each limb, he restrained her from doing anything and walked closer to her.
Ruby had never felt as afraid as she did in that moment. In a matter of seconds, her entire team was neutralized, and now a monstrous cannibal was playing with his food; playing with her. Tears streamed down her face, and she did something she never had done before.
She begged him to spare her life.
"Please! Don't eat me!" she cried. "I don't want to die like this! Oh gods please!"
Kaneki suddenly felt a pang of guilt fill his body. This girl, the same one who ate strawberries at the café, once again reminded him of Hinami. Ruby's expression of terror was not too different from the one Kaneki had witnessed when Hinami wore when her mother was slaughtered in front of them. Ruby may wield a scythe and fight monsters, but she was still just a child, and right now, the mask of a Huntress had fallen off. The only thing he saw in front of him was a girl afraid of dying… afraid of him. Her pleas had become sobs and she no longer could form words. "I'm not going to eat you…" he said. Ruby stopped shouting, her eyes full of doubt, but a glimmer of hope. "But you cannot go any further."
Kaneki lifted her up and slammed her into the ground, tossing her to the pile of colors he had defeated. His eye reverted back to normal, and his Kagune retracted, as he calmed down. Just as he did, Neo came in twirling a hat on her parasol. As the two were about to regroup, Neo suddenly jumped back, Kaneki quickly following suit. He looked over to where they stood to see a woman in black and red with a massive red sword at her side. The Ghoul stole a glance to Neo to see a familiar expression of panic.
"I got this one, Neo," he said. "Make sure Torchwick is okay."
Neo didn't hesitate and ran off.
"You're either confident, or stupid," the woman hissed. She sheathed her sword, and the chamber began to rotate. She drew her sword again, this time, it had a long green blade.
"I guess you'll have to find out," he replied, his eye darkening and Kagune bursting from his back once more.
The woman physically flinched and took a step back. "She's making more like her?!" He could hear her voice waver a bit, but she held her ground. She lifted her sword with one hand, and in a flash closed the distance between the two. Kaneki was prepared, and his Kagune quickly intercepted her blade, blocking her strike. She was much stronger than the four girls he'd fought and he was weary of her strange colored sword.
Kaneki tried to pull the weapon away, but her grip was firm, and she landed a front kick to push him off, but his Kagune helped him stay close. He then began to unleash a flurry of blows as he held her only offensive option. The woman was able to take a few hits, but she eventually snapped the blade of hers and drew another. Kaneki's Kagune snapped the blade she left behind, only to feel a burst of wind coming from it.
"Interesting…" he said. The woman rushed towards him again with a red blade, and as she swung, the sword ignited. He jumped to the side and was surprised when the slash melted through the train car's floor. His momentary distraction gave the woman enough time to swing another time, this time aiming to decapitate Kaneki, but he ducked and with his Kagune, pinned her sword to the ceiling. Pulling himself up with them, he unleashed a pair of kicks that sent the woman sliding backwards. Kaneki stood straight, unfazed by the woman's attempts to attack him, though he couldn't see the woman's face to see if she was even trying to win.
She pulled another blade out and created an black portal behind her that surprised Kaneki. If she was retreating, he wouldn't stop her. The woman kicked the four girls into it, before walking backwards into it herself, leaving Kaneki alone.
"How disappointing," Rize sighed. "I bet she was tasty… and Kaneki dear, you let four perfectly good meals escape!"
"Don't speak to me," he ordered, sighing. As he felt the adrenaline leave his body, he could smell blood. It was coming from the train car Neo had fought the explorer. He walked over, feeling his hunger grow as he did. As he arrived, he saw a puddle of blood on the ground, but no body. The smell was intoxicating and while he knew it would do nothing to sate his hunger, he froze as it started to overwhelm him.
Suddenly, he felt somebody grab him from behind. "I've got you now, you monster!" the man shouted, lifting Kaneki off the ground. With his arms pinned at his side, and his ghoulish hunger getting the better of him, Kaneki didn't hesitate to summon his Kagune. With a sickening sound of flesh tearing, the arms around him went limp.
Kaneki turned around to see the now extremely wounded man fall to the ground behind him. He could see faint life in his eyes, but Kaneki didn't care. He grabbed his arm and bit a huge piece of flesh from it. The man struggled weakly, but Kaneki's strength was too much for him. With just the first bite, he felt better, but he found it difficult to stop himself. He opened his mouth to bite him again, only for his scroll to go off. He ignored it and took another bite, only for his scroll to go off a second and third time.
The temporary distraction nearly brought him to his senses, but he still struggled. He shouldn't eat this man. He may have attacked him, but he's likely one of those Huntsmen who try to save the world by risking their lives. The scent of his bleeding wound enticed Kaneki to continue, but his scroll went off again.
"WHAT IS IT?" he shouted, taking his scroll out. All the messages were from Neo.
'Hey Eyepatch!','If I were you, I'd brace for impact,' followed by a,'Good luck!'
"Brace fo–"
The sirens wailed as a huge breach in Vale's city was detected. The robotic voices called out for evacuation, warning the citizens that Grimm were invading the city. A massive hole in the center of the city seemed to be an opening to an endless horde of Grimm, as hundreds poured out, ranging from many species and ages. The automated defense systems were deployed, but the Atlesian Knights soon were overwhelmed by the sheer number of them. In a matter of minutes, the peaceful city had become a warzone.
Marble was beyond panicked, as she was out shopping for groceries when the breach occurred. She was in the middle of it all. With no signs of Huntsmen or Huntresses to save her, she ran, but didn't get far. She was soon surrounded by a few Creeps. She turned to run back, but there stood an Ursa on its hind legs. "Oh gods," she cried. Panic filled her as she desperately tried to find a way out. Finding none, she decided to try to run through one of the small Grimm.
"Wait!" a familiar voice shouted. Marble looked back to see Libby standing behind her patrol car, her gun drawn. She shot off a few rounds to get the attention of the Grimm. "Now! Come here!"
Marble ran with all her might to her friend, who opened the door for her to get in. Wordlessly, she got into the driver's seat and sped off, weaving between Grimm as best as she could. "Oh gods, Libby, thank you! I thought I was going to die. Thank you!"
"We're not out of the woods yet," she said through her teeth, swerving around debris on the road. "The sirens have been going off for a few minutes, so Huntsmen should be here any second, though I wouldn't want to stick around. We'd just make their jobs more difficult."
Marble nodded and leaned into seat, doing her best to catch her breath. Had she ever been a passenger in a car driving like this before in any other circumstance, she would have had a panic attack. She looked out the window to see the crater smoking where the explosion had occurred. "Gods above…"
Without warning, she saw a stream of bullets begin to mow down Grimm, and she looked up to see a massive airship. It was one of the ships the General had arrived in, and it deployed even more Atlesian Knights to combat the Grimm. Relief washed over her for a moment as the number of Grimm finally seemed to stop growing. Even Libby seemed to have calmed down a bit as more and more Atlesian Knights began to storm the streets, followed closely by groups of Huntsmen and Huntress in training. She smiled and looked over to Marble and let out a relieved sigh. "Looks like the cavalry's here," she said. "I'm sure those Grimm will get wiped out–"
A sudden eruption of rubble drowned out the rest of Libby's sentence.
Team JNPR and CFVY had thinned out a fair amount of Grimm when the sudden eruption caught their attention. Jaune ordered his team to regroup as they kept an eye on the smoke from the debris. They each readied their weapons as the outline of something began to show.
At first it appeared to be some sort of long spider legs reaching out of the hole. They were a sickly red that seemed to glow, but suddenly two more appendages, much thicker and with jagged horns all along them. All the appendages met in one spot, connected to a black clad figure. As the smoke cleared, the figure's face was exposed, resembling a plague doctor's mask with a glowing black and red eye in the center.
"What is that thing?!" Jaune shouted. The creature seemed to attract the attention of the remaining Grimm, as they all turned towards him and swarmed. "The Grimm… they're attacking it?"
"Hey, first years!" Coco shouted from afar. "You focus on evacuation, we'll handle that thing, alright?"
"Jaune, we should listen to her," Ren urged, seeing a few citizens still too afraid to move. Jaune sheathed his sword and nodded.
"Right, we're on it!" he shouted back, running towards a man attempting to hide behind a turned over car. Coco and her team regrouped, preparing to fight the thing, when suddenly the creature skewered all the Grimm around him, pulling them closer to him. As they began to dissipate, they grew horrified when it started trying to eat them.
"What the hell is that thing?" Coco asked under her breath.
'What's it doing?' asked Fox using his Semblance.
'It's trying to eat Grimm,' Coco replied. 'I've never seen anything like this.' Fox resisted making a blind joke, easily sensing that Coco was unnerved.
"They're dead, I killed them. I wasn't strong enough… I must eat to get stronger…" Kaneki shoveled Grimm into his mouth, but no matter what he ate, it turned to foul mist in his mouth and just disappeared, leaving him hungrier. Finding no solace in devouring the Grimm, Kaneki tossed them aside looking around for a source of food. He didn't have to look long as he saw a massive man with an equally massive sword running towards him.
"I'll DEVOUR you!" he shrieked, launching himself towards the green-clad man. His appendages trailed behind him, Kaneki leading with his face, desperate to eat. His opponent swung his sword down on him, but Kaneki easily side-stepped it, blurring as he did, and appeared next to him. With a maniacal laugh, he sunk his teeth into the man's unarmored shoulder.
"Gah!" shouted his opponent. He stabbed his sword into the ground, and grabbed Kaneki's head to pry him off, but the Ghoul bit down again and again.
"Why won't you bleed?! BLEED FOR ME. BLEED!" he demanded, before being thrown off to the side. As he tried to right himself, he felt intense pain as he was sprayed with a stream of bullets. Unlike the bullets from behind, these chipped away his Kagune. Turning his gaze to the source, he saw a girl in brown unleashing a bullet hell at him from a gatling gun. In an instant, his attention was solely on her, and ran through the bullets, intent on stopping her.
"He's not going down!" Coco said alarmed, as she did her best to amp up her weapon's offensive potential. She reverted her weapon into its melee state, to preserve her Aura, and jumped off to the side as the Ghoul nearly grabbed her. Fox immediately jumped to her defense and began to attack the monster, only to realize his weapons did close to nothing, no matter how hard he swung. The monster's tendrils seem to act independently as they guarded him even when he wasn't looking.
"What the hell is this thing made of?!" Fox asked aloud, jumping back to avoid an attack from one of the thinner appendages.
"He cut them off, over and over and over AND OVER!" Kaneki laughed as two of his opponents jumped closer to each other. He rushed forward, nearly disappearing for a moment, and caught Coco. His hand wrapped around her face and he began to crush her skull. "One thousand minus seven," he whispered to her. "Minus seven… minus seven… MINUS SEVEN!"
Coco dropped her weapon, and grasped at her opponents' finger, but his grip only tightened, causing her Aura to crack. "AGHH!"
"Coco!" shouted Yatsuhashi, bringing his sword down on Kaneki's arm. Yatsuhashi's sword managed to cut into one of his appendages, but not enough to sever it. Kaneki threw Coco, not seeing her as a threat anymore, and faced off with Yatsuhashi once again, but behind him was another face he recognized, even through his hunger.
"Get away from her!" shouted Velvet, wielding a similar sword to Yastuhashi, only it seemed to glow as if composed of lights. She swung it down just as Yastuhashi did and to her surprise and Kaneki's, it cut clean through.
Kaneki jumped back to create some distance between the two, his Kagune growing back almost immediately as he did. He continued to shout incoherently. Kaneki was arched forward on his feet, swaying side to side. His head snapped towards the two opponents and froze. Kaneki's senses briefly returned as he realized who he was facing up against. "Velvet…? No, no, no, no, get away! GET AWAY FROM ME!"
Yastuhashi and Velvet didn't seem to hear him from their distance. The two mirrored each other, and rushed towards him together. Kaneki shielded himself with the centipede-like appendages, which were able to withstand the assault. Velvet's weapon soon disappeared, and in its place were two more weapons that resembled Fox's. Now much faster, she began to hack away at him, forcing him to fight back. He struck at her with his armored Kagune, pinning her to a wall. Yatsuhashi seemed to grow even angrier and attacked with renewed vigor.
Kaneki roared as he abandoned his passiveness, and began a full assault on the tall teen. Yatsuhashi was able to take quite a few hits before Kaneki eventually overwhelmed him. Fox and Coco stood a fair distance away, trying to recompose themselves, when suddenly Kaneki felt a familiar sensation of ice.
His Kagune suddenly hardened and cracked, as Glynda Goodwitch joined the fray, casting countless shards of ice. He fought through the pain, and shattered his own Kagune, allowing them to replace themselves, and ran towards Glynda. She waved her riding crop and an invisible force sent Kaneki flying back into a building. "It's in my head," he cried, losing himself. "Get it out, get it out!"
Glynda scowled at his rambling, using more Ice Dust to freeze him in place. Firmly secured, one of the airships that was passing by locked on and unleashed a barrage of bullets that tore through Kaneki. As the dust settled, Kaneki remained motionless, covered in blood.
"Children, please, stay back," she ordered. Velvet took a step back, terror clear on her face. She took her scroll out and radioed the pilot. "Circle back and keep your eye on the target."
"Yes, ma'am," the pilot replied. The massive airship began its slow turn to reposition.
Glynda raised her riding crop readying her semblance. She began to approach slowly, ensuring to keep her guard up as she did. She didn't see any movement, but heard a faint chuckling.
"I actually felt that," he said laughing. Kaneki's kakuja mask was cracked, so he tore the rest off, revealing the leather mask underneath. His eye was wide in anticipation as he got up from the rubble. His Kagune reemerged behind him and faster than Glynda could track, he appeared in front of her and attempted to skewer her. Luckily for Glynda, she had more than enough Aura to spare, but still felt all the pain. She managed to hold her ground, and summoned a massive purple glyph above them, creating an icy storm around them.
"You're not escaping today," she said through her teeth. "I'll make sure of it."
Kaneki laughed. "Good luck." Using his kagune, he threw Glynda into a building, shattering through the wall. He looked around for more Huntresses or Huntsmen, but saw only Velvet, who ran off towards Glynda. He also noticed the airship that had the fire power to easily puncture his skin was nearly back in position, and he hid. Regaining his sanity, Kaneki dismissed his Kagune and thought about running, until he remembered his entire reason for being here. Abandoning his retreat, he ran back to the train to find Torchwick.
"I can't believe it…" Roman said, looking at the destruction as he was being cuffed by some Atlesian troopers. "How did the crash not kill him?"
He didn't resist as he was taken inside of the airship, wondering what was next. While the plan had gone off ahead of schedule, Cinder had never told him what his next role would be. As the doors closed behind him, he took solace in the fact that he wouldn't be bossed around by the she-devil anymore. Leaning back as the airship took off, he considered asking one of the troopers to light a cigar for him. As he pondered, he heard a commotion ahead.
"What the hell is that?!" shouted one of the troopers. Torchwick turned to look, but couldn't see anything. Then, the door where he entered from began to be pried open from the outside. Torchwick immediately recognized the appendages and wasn't sure if he should be relieved or horrified. Kaneki tore the door off and used his Kagune to anchor himself as he began to throw the troopers out of the airship. Seeing Torchwick, he stalked over to him, his Kagune easily breaking through his restraints.
"E-Eyepatch," Torchwick greeted. "Um, how's it going?"
"We need to go," he said, his voice cold. He grabbed Torchwick with one of his Kagune and jumped out of the airship. Torchwick resisted shrieking in terror, instead focusing on not letting his hat escape him. Kaneki used his Kagune to grab onto some buildings to break the fall, then released Torchwick. "I will contact you for my payment."
Before Torchwick could respond, Kaneki used his Kagune to scale the buildings and escaped. Torchwick snapped out of his stupor and ran off to hide from the remaining authorities. "Might be a freak… but he's damn good at his job," Torchwick said to himself, finding a newfound respect for the teen. He took a look around before running off to hide somewhere.
Neo stood atop a building, having seen Kaneki's rampage. She now understood why he told her what he did. On one hand, she now had a healthy fear of the teen's abilities. On the other, she couldn't help but want to know more. What granted him his abilities? Was that somehow his Semblance, or was he actually part Grimm? She jumped off the building, floating down with her parasol. Once she landed, she used her Semblance to disguise herself and wandered over to where she saw Kaneki run off to.
Thank you again for your reviews and kind words, I really can't thank you all enough. Just a reminder to let me know how you'd like I address reviews from this point on!
Hope to hear from you all soon!
~Love, Liz.