I've got a lot of free time. Been reading more again and getting myself back into the habit of writing. Want to finally catch up with RWBY too, as well as other anime.

Also got my first vaccine dose, yay!

With his pistol in his left hand and his sword in his right, the Wanderer killed.

Jaune pulled the trigger just as the canis leapt at him. The final bullet in the Mysterious Magnum blew the Grimm's head apart. Its limp body flopped feebly down at his feel, and bits of brain and blood splashed onto him. The slick layer of gore on his clothing quickly steamed and evaporate out of existence, as Grimm remains do when the creatures die.

The killing occurred so quickly and continuously, however, that black gore constantly spurted onto him. Especially as he waved the vicious saw that was Crocea Mors, which tore and ripped and smashed far more brutally than just about any other huntsman's weapon.

He swung Crocea Mors, tearing open a small beowolf's throat as it pounced at his flank. The creature crumpled down beside him, and he firmly kicked the corpse back into another beowolf that charged him. The body and beast tumbled back, leaving the beowolf quickly scrambling to get back to its feet.

When it did, a dust round ripped its head off.

Jaune looked behind him to see Ruby reload Crescent Rose after emptying the last shot in her magazine. He nodded to her in gratitude. She nodded back. They were locked in combat now, more soldiers in arms than anything else at the moment.

Jaune patted a pouch strapped to his waist and cursed when he confirmed it was empty. He was officially out of ammunition for the magnum. Quickly, he stuffed it back into his holster and drew his scroll from his pocket. He eyed the battlefield before him, saw no immediate threat and checked his scroll.

The screen showed he still had yellow aura. The arena's collapse had inflicted most of the loss, along with a few good hits from the Grimm.

He glanced at a timer on the scroll, which showed his rocket locker would be here any second now—

BOOM!

Jaune winced at the cacophony of a horrendous explosion. He looked up and saw a salvo artillery fire rain down from one of the Atlas battleships, pummeling the forest before them. The blasts threw sent flying chunks of wood, rock and earth, along with bits of Grimm. The wave of monsters charging them had been turned into craters.

Jaune stepped back and put his chainsword tip-first onto the ground, leaning on it like a cane while he caught his breath in this brief respite, an eerie quiet having now fallen. He glanced around and saw his friends also taking the time to gather themselves. A look back near the collapsing stadium showed the surviving civilians cowering. He could not blame them.

A deep shriek shattered this meager calm like a bullet through glass. Looking up, Jaune saw not one or two, but three huge nevermore sweeping in from the chaotic frenzy above, where the flying Grimm whirled around the Atlesian ships. These three Grimm, each larger than a bullhead, glided down with their massive wingspans at full breadth. The three huge nevermore each bellowed cruel, high-pitched shrieks that made all of one's hairs stand on end.

Jaune swallowed. His mind began to fumble with possible ideas for what to do in the spare seconds they had to prepare—

"Leave this to me!" said a peppy voice he recognized.

Penny sprinted past him and the others, followed by all the shining swords connected to her back via glowing green wires. Even though Jaune had seen it before, what happened next still bewildered him.

The swords convened before her, points inwards. Power flowed through the wires and into the blades, which in turn emitted the energy to a central point. A laser-ball formed, containing all the power of one of those cannons up on the Atlas battleships.

All present gawked as this teenage girl let loose her true capacity for destruction.

A vibrant green laser sliced through the air and swept from right to left, slashing all three nevermore in half. Their smoking butchered remains dropped down into the smoldering, twisted forests below.

The eerie quiet was restored, now that the slaughter of Grimm was, for the moment, complete. The defenders had a brief respite, though the tension of immediate danger still breathed down their necks and staved off any hope of relaxation or a good mood.

For everyone except one.

Penny retracted her blades and turned back to face the others with a smile. "Enemy neutralized!" she called out. The girl then jogged back towards Jaune and the rest. "Friend Ruby, I hope you are healthy!"

Ruby, weary as she was, managed a small grin. "Yes, I'm alright Penny." She looked down at her torn, roughed up clothes. "Well, as good as I can be right now," she said with a shrug.

"Haha! That is very good friend Ruby!" The smile dropped in an instant. Penny cocked her head to the side, as if listening to something.

"Oh no," she whispered.

"What's wrong?" Ruby asked.

"The Atlas flagship has been overrun. Immediate intervention is required to avert further catastrophe." Penny replied. The cold, automatic way in which she repeated those facts to them struck Jaune as odd, especially since Penny stared at nothing while speaking them. It was as if she was reciting some soulless command.

Her eyes flashed back to Ruby suddenly, as if she became aware once more of their presence.
"I am sorry friends, please accept my sincere apology"– Penny took a few steps back and flashed her swords out behind her like a pair of wings –"but I am needed elsewhere for now." Once more, her blades charged with green energy, and she swept them down.

A gust of power propelled her in the air, and her shining swords flared out again and swept her higher into the sky. A blast of wind was all she left behind as she flew away. Soon, she looked like little more than a green light heading for the great battleships above them.

Jaune turned to Ruby.

"What the hell?"

"Um"– Ruby meekly looked away –"she's not very ordinary…"

"Yeah, could tell that much—" the scroll in Jaune's pocket buzzed again, cutting off any more questions. He slipped it out and checked the screen, then felt relief as he learned that at least one thing was going right.

He looked up at the sky and saw flames propelling something through the night. Jaune's rocket locker careened over the forest, headed straight for him.

It smashed into the earth, and Jaune wasted no time in running for it. He coughed and waved away some of the smoke and dust kicked up all around it and pried open the door.

He heard more Grimm bellow in the distance. The next wave approaching.

Jaune rooted around through the locker's contents and pocketed extra ammo for the magnum. He also grabbed something else.

"Are you going to try and use it?" Ruby asked from just behind him. "It's still a prototype, not too reliable yet—"

"Everything needs a field test someday," Jaune said.

From the locker he pulled out a rifle. Crimson Arc. It constituted sleek and polished steel, lacking the paint that most hunter weapons had. It also had no special mecha-shift design, being only a gun. Nevertheless, it was a unique one. The barrel was rectangular rather than cylindrical, and a peculiar, bulky disc protruded from its side.

Jaune fished out a few capsules full of electric dust from the locker. Around him, his friends and allies shouted alarm and let loose with their rapidly dwindling ammunition as another pack of Grimm ran out from the battered woods.

Jaune slammed the capsule into the rifle and flicked a switch. Immediately, the tesla coil he had saved flared to life and whirred. The piece of Earth technology charged up with Remnant's elemental power, brought to life again after being crushed under his power armor when he first arrived in this world so long ago.

The rectangular barrel was made of sturdy stuff, being the remnant of Metal Blaster, his trusty laser rifle from the wasteland. A nasty weapon he had acquired during his nasty time in the Pitt. Now, it was wedded with some of the most advanced technology that had been produced in the heyday of Earth's pre-apocalyptic past. Both brought together and given new purpose on a different planet.

A light flashed blue on the rifle's butt, notifying Jaune that the Tesla coil should be fully charged. He braced the rifle against his armpit and hovered his finger over the trigger.

Jaune stepped out from behind the rocket locker and looked into the deadly forest that spewed monstrosities at him, his friends and the survivors they desperately tried to protect. Dark shapes barreled out from the trees and bushes, pushing past each other and gnashing their teeth and glaring with their bloody red eyes.

Among this herd slithered a massive snake. It surged across the ground, speeding straight forward with deadly purpose. It hungrily flickered its tongue and set its eyes on prey. Jaune hefted the rifle, aimed and pulled the trigger.

Crimson Arc shuddered. The tesla coil whirred. Nothing happed.

Jaune narrowed his eyes and looked down at the prototype. He flicked his gaze back up at the snake, rapidly approaching. He swore and smacked the side of the tesla coil.

The moment he did, a shock of static sputtered out of the rifle's barrel. That was a good sign—hopefully.

The snake closed in now. Its deep red eyes locked with Jaune's own, having found a victim. It stopped and reared its head back, bearing its fangs. The monster was about to strike.

Jaune pulled the trigger again.

A blinding white shot of electricity streaked out of Crimson Arc. It burned jagged and raw, accompanied by a deafening clap of thunder just like a real stroke of lighting cast from an angry sky.

Jaune himself screwed his eyes shut from the power, while the serpent Grimm suffered worse. The lightning struck it straight in its open maw. Faster than one could blink, the creature's head was blown apart, and residuals streaks of electricity scorched the rest of its corpse and seared the ground around it.

Jaune stepped back, disoriented for a moment. Though blinking and blurry-eyed, he looked down at Crimson Arc in his hands. The lighting rifle felt warm. He looked up at the rest of the oncoming Grimm. The slightest hint of a satisfied, sadistic smirk came to his lips.

He readjusted the weapon's power level, took aim and fired.

Bishop rammed his sword through the poor woman's chest, completing the slaughter. He wrenched his weapon back out of her corpse as it collapsed. Bishop stepped through the quickly growing pool of blood that his latest victim produced and stood in the middle of the Atlas flagship's bridge.

He breathed steadily and loudly through the gas mask, as did the rest of his team that filed in behind him. A noxious yellow shade hung in the air—the poison these people had been subjected to before being finished off. Between the chemical weapons and the mad robots, the rest of the crew was dead or dying.

Bishop looked out over the various control panels of the bridge and through the thick glass that allowed him to see the chaos unfolding. More Grimm than he had ever before seen swarmed around the Atlesian fleet; each ship deployed all the firepower they had, cutting through monsters big and small.

The Enclave wasted no time getting to work. Several went directly to the main computer core and shoved in data transfer tools, while others did the same to various control panels.

"Hey there friends, how's it going?"

The others reached for their weapons, though Bishop did not justify the cretin with so much as a look.

"Art, nice seeing you again," Roman said, pointing his cane at the Enclave lieutenant as he stepped into the room. "And commander, glad to see you made it out the train all right!" The thief chuckled cockily, though the laugh sounded unnatural and gravelly through the gas mask strapped to his face.

Bishop turned just enough to observe the man in his peripheral vision, just enough to make sure that his smaller partner was there as well—the dangerous one. Neo stood beside Torchwick, and though they tried to hide it, each were on edge.

"So, now that we've hijacked a ship and met up, shouldn't we really be getting the heck out of dodge before more nasties show up? Or before Atlas decides they want their ship back? Or before they scuttle it?" He waved his cane around at the other Enclave soldiers as they ransacked the place. "This a new addendum to the plan that I wasn't caught up on or…?"

"Shut up," Bishop said. "We're doing as we need." And the moment that was done—

Before the irritating parasite could rile up Bishop further, he spotted something from beyond the bridge's window. A streak of light, perhaps a rocket, had curved up from under the ship—headed directly towards them.

"Fall back!" Bishop commanded, lunging away himself and sprinting for the exit to the bridge. Everyone else did the same; Torchwick and Neo, as recalcitrant as they may be, recognized the danger as well

They ducked from the room, but Bishop himself stayed in the doorway, looking back. What he saw made him narrow his eyes in anger. Well, confusion also, but mostly anger. The "missile" that had been heading straight toward them had suddenly stopped just before the glass.

He saw a girl. He recognized her as the finale contestant from Atlas. Her swords fanned out around her like a set of wings, each blade acting like an energized and deadly feather. She had a determined scowl on her face as she looked into the bridge. Bishop locked eyes with her.

Then Penny Polendina shot up into the air. Bishop looked back down the hall, where a ladder led up to a secure hatch which in turn would let him onto the top of the ship.

"Finish collecting what we need," he ordered. "And keep the two criminals in sight."

"What are you doing?" Arthur asked as his commander walked past him.

"I'm going to make sure we don't have a problem."

Bishop jumped onto the ladder and scaled it rung after rung while his team went back to their work. Reaching the top, Bishop took hold of a large metal handle and twisted it. A hiss of outside air spewed down onto him, driving back the sick yellow malaise that had spread within the ship. Bishop threw the hatch back.

The commander of the Enclave climbed out onto the top of the flagship. The battle began instantly.

Penny descended upon him, cutting through the harsh winds and striking at Bishop like a hawk at a mouse.

Bishop ducked and rolled to the side, avoiding flurry of swords stabbing straight into the hull. He leapt up immediately and slashed at Penny as she hovered above him. She gracefully flew backwards, avoiding him.

Bishop narrowed his eyes. He needed a way to ground her, else this fight would never turn in his favor.

Penny struck down in a lightning-fast blade barrage.

Breathe deep. Hold.

Time slowed down. A light burn heated up at the back of Bishop's eye sockets, which he easily ignored. Instead, he focused on the world around him, the world which suddenly became still as ice. Each detail sharpened, and even the darkness itself subsided under his vicious gaze.

He saw the thin wires connecting the girl's swords to her back. He saw the glow coming out of the soles of her feet.

Bishop tightened his grip on Rubra Mors, readying his wrist and arm for sudden action. He focused his aura, drawing out the power of his soul and welling it in his body. It made him feel warmer, more powerful.

Release.

Her reaction time was exceptional; and that was what saved her, for Bishop had managed to get straight through her offensive with one of his own. He jumped straight into her storm of swords, angling himself sidelong so that he could avoid most of the blades and deflect a few grazing strikes with his armor and aura. This, while he thrusted Rubra Mors up to stab her right through the gut.

Just in time, she threw herself up and forward, flipping through the air and just barely avoiding his attack. The speed and precision she used to avoid his attack—which took a split second—was almost inhuman.

Bishop scowled as he missed and became entangled in a few stray wires. Penny capitalized on this and swung him towards the edge of the battleship.

Bishop swiped Rubra Mors and sliced through the wires that bound him. This, however, did not save him from momentum. He now still flew through the air, headed straight for the open sky where the battleship's roof sloped down.

Bishop hit the steel hull with a tough thud and kept rolling. The smooth metal did not give him much friction, and he quickly slid head-first down to the edge of the ship. He saw darkness before him; but the night obscured details, blending ground and forest and sky into a single dark abyss that he was hurtling into.

Thrown halfway down this deadly slope, Bishop pivoted on his hips and flipped around to face back up to the top of the ship. Rapidly, he fell down a steepening forty-five-degree angle. The wind bull rushed him, threatening to fling him off the side from his already precarious position.

Bishop growled; raw anger and determination made any feeling of fear impossible. Instead, he pushed himself away from the hull of the ship. For a moment, Bishop teetered back and almost fell off the side of the ship entirely.

"RAH!" With all the power he could muster, he stabbed straight into the ship's hull; then he held on tight. His body jerked with the momentum suddenly cut off, but his grip held firm. He planted both feet and kicked off.

He tore Rubra Mors out of the hull as he threw himself back up the side of the ship, landing once more on safe, flat ground.

Two of Penny's swords lay motionless on the hull, those he had disconnected by cutting through their wires; nevertheless, she still had plenty. Enough to send them all in a swing that could have sliced him to ribbons if he were not fast enough to dodge to the side.

After evading the strike, Penny scowled.

"I held back in the tournament," she shouted to him, "but I won't do that for you."

She flew back and landed on the hull. Her wires glowed fiercely with green light, and the swords themselves became brighter and brighter as power flowed into them. Penny brought them all before her, each pointed in at a central point. The raw energy focused in the blades flowed out and coalesced into a singled ball of destructive power.

Bishop realized just a moment before it happened what she was doing.

Penny's laser shot forward.

Breathe deep. Hold.

The laser had just begun to fly towards him, and even as the world slowed according to his perception, the laser itself crawled forward. Bishop analyzed.

He did not have the ability to dodge in time, and no doubt she could easily turn and redirect the laser at him in a moment. The only solution Bishop found was the one in his hands: Rubra Mors.

The loyal black sword had been forged with a nuclear reactor; durasteel was the finest metal ever made by mankind. It was used to facilitate laser and plasma weapons, so surely it would hold here as well. It would have too. Otherwise, he would be incinerated.

Release.

Bishop let go of his breath. The world rapidly sped up again, and so did he. Faster than any eye could track, he threw Rubra Mors up before him, grasping the hilt with both hands and bracing himself just before impact.

The laser struck his sword right on the blade, and itself was cut in two.

Penny's energy blast split in half and shot out at odd angles—right around Bishop. The sword shook in his hands, but he kept his grip as the fierce power pressed against him. His arms shuddered from the sudden and intense effort; his feet slid back on the hull. His ears were full of only a shrill screech coming from the laser and the vicious hiss when it impacted Rubra Mors. The backs of his eyes burned with a pain like that of pricking needles.

But Bishop Beauvais and Rubra Mors do not fold.

The laser petered out after just a few seconds, fading as quickly as it came. Smoke drifted up from Rubra Mors's blade, scorched by the incredibly focused power it had just bested.

Bishop looked up at his foe. He saw her face. For the first time, her determination cracked. Her surprised expression betrayed a new emotion: worry. She looked quickly at her various swords, each of which had powered down.

Bishop realized with satisfaction that she did not have enough energy to keep up those kinds of lasers for long, if at all anymore. He had weathered her deadliest attack. And she knew it.

That did not make her any less determined. Penny looked back at him and scowled. She planted her feet on the hull and jumped up; her swords lit up again as she did so, keeping her afloat. She flipped, gathered speed and shot down for Bishop.

At the last second she herself stopped, but her swords still flew forward. Bishop swept Rubra Mors in a wickedly fast arc, deflecting several while he pivoted to the side and let another couple fly past him. The last sword he batted away with the back of his free hand, aura flashing where it was struck.

Penny did not make it a victory for him. While dodging all his swords, he had left himself expose to a direct attack from her. Exploiting this, she swooped down and lashed out with a crushing kicked directly to the ribs.

Bishop bit down and could not stop himself from grunted as he flew back through the air. The strike was as harsh and damaging as when he had been punched by a super mutant back on Earth.

He hit the ground and collapsed, but he did not let himself stay still for a moment. To do that would be begging for defeat. He rolled onto his knees and sprung back to his feet without missing a beat. Although, now his chest was a bit more sore.

He flicked Rubra Mors this way and that to deflect her rapid swipes and stabs. Frustratingly, the girl stayed away and up in the air while making her blades do her bidding. She cut at him from a safe distance, while he could not even get close.

Breathe deep. Hold.

Bishop narrowed his eyes and focused while time stood still. He glared at his target. He ignored the burning in his eyes. He analyzed the distance between them, the positions and angles of her swords and what he had at his disposal; and he came up with a plan.

Release.

Bishop dove through and under her swords, which whipped wildly down to intercept him. He kept rolling, and he flipped the switch on Rubra Mors. A line of hot red flame ran up along his dark sword, bathing both him and his opponent in a hot new light.

Not a second had passed, and he was right under Penny, though she still hovered well above him. He saw the glowing green soles of her feet, which he could only assume were part of her flying ability. "Die!" Bishop shouted. He pressed down harder on the button at Rubra Mors's hilt and slashed upwards.

It was a modification made possible with Remnant's dust. An upgrade that imbued his sword with an even greater ability to ruin.

Extra fire dust sped down through his sword, immediately smoldering and ready to explode. The swipe of his sword threw this primed dust out into the air, even as the blade itself fell well short of his enemy. What resulted was a concentrated slash of flame flying straight upwards.

"Gah!" Penny cried out in surprise as a gout of furious, crimson fire engulfed her legs. The sheer force of the blast sent her further up into the sky. With satisfaction, Bishop watched her clothes smolder and burn as she pulled away. Flickering white aura saved her from some of the damage, but almost immediately the plan proved successful.

The plume of fire quickly sputtered and evaporated in the wind, leaving her scorched. As she quickly tried to put out the flames clinging to her clothes, she wobbled in the air, as if losing her balance. The green soles of her feet—battered and burned—flickered before turning dark.

She fell with all the grace of a rock, hitting the hull with a hearty slam! And Bishop wasted no time in his assault. Penny threw herself up to her feet and back away, but it was not her he was after.

Bishop took this opening to hamstring her: he targeted the swords and their wires. Charging in as she flipped back up to her feet, he viciously chopped through several wires around her before she could retract them. Half her swords clattered—inert—to the ground.

She did not let that slow her down. With three remaining weapons she lashed out at Bishop, stabbing with each as quickly and efficiently as a scorpion with its barbed tail. Bishop deftly parried each thrust. Given the much-reduced numbers, it was comparatively easy now.

Penny realized that her advantages were lost. That did not slow her down for a second as she relentlessly lashed out at her foe. Bishop, ever impatient, decided to finish things.

Breathe deep. Hold.

The burning behind his eyes intensified. It felt like red hot needles were being prodded against the back of his eyes sockets. This he ignored. He focused instead on her stance, the positioning of her swords and the glowing wires running through the cold night air.

Release.

With one deft step, spin and slash, Bishop severed all remaining wires.

"Hah!" he shouted, jabbing straight for Penny.

Eyes wide, the girl still managed to dive to the side. Her aura flickered as Rubra Mors grazed her arm.

"Just give up already!" Bishop snarled. He gnashed his teeth beneath his mask, fueled by hate. "You're not stopping anything! Everyone in the ship is dead! You're just wasting my time!"

Penny stepped back and glared at him. The mild-mannered girl had never seemed capable of true contempt, but he saw it in her now.

"You killed them all?" she asked him.

"Your security is pitiful," Bishop said, allowing himself a sadistic chuckle. "And you can't even keep everyone loyal. Pathetic."

Penny's scowl deepened. Bishop charged her.

She dove to the side, picking up two of her swords as she rolled back up to her feet. She stepped into Bishop's attack as he slashed down at her, blocking his brutal strike by crossing her swords into an X.

Bishop growled, for defiance enraged him. He pressed against her with all his strength. Her arms shook, and she leaned back; but she did not break.

Bishop flicked Rubra Mors's switch and held down. It hissed for a second.

A plume of flame shot from the blade in a fearsome explosion, forcing them both to step apart. Bishop aggressively brought his sword across once more, jettisoning the last of the hilt's flame dust into a geyser of scorching heat that blasted his enemy. She gasped and pounced back, but she could not outrun the vicious fire. It engulfed her, pressed her aura to its limit, charred her hair and scorched her clothes.

Bishop followed closely behind it. He lunged through the smoke and flames to unleash a final blow.

Penny's swords clattered to the ground–with her hands still holding them.

Rubra Mors had sliced off each of her arms just below the elbow. All Penny could do was look down in shock at her ghastly wounds.

For cruelty's sake, Bishop smirked and watched and let her live long enough to realize she had lost. After a moment, however, he himself was thrown for a loop. From her stumps not a squirt of blood was pouring out. If anything, little sparks were coming from her wounds. Prosthetics? She also did not seem to mind the remaining little flames eating at her clothes and skin, or the burns already inflicted on her.

Penny looked up at him. Their eyes met.

Bishop lashed out and smashed his knuckles into her cheek with the force of a boulder rolling down a mountain in a landslide. It drove her straight down into the ground. Not giving her time to rise, Bishop pressed forward and smashed his boot into her face, stomping her head into the hull.

He stepped back then, observing the product of his violence.

Penny looked back up at him. Where his fist and foot had hit her, it looked as if the skin was scratched and torn off, exposing dull metal below. Her right eye had popped and shattered, revealing a green light.

"Just what the hell are you?" Bishop asked.

Penny looked back up at him, resolute to the end. "I am a person. A person with friends. Friends who are good people, and I know they will—"

He cut her head off.

I assume Penny would put up a tougher fight against a serious opponent than she did against Pyrrha. I think she pulled back in the tournament to not raise suspicion and only got killed because Pyrrha's specific semblance made her completely vulnerable in a sudden moment. And I can't recall if her swords were completely controlled by wires in the show but eh whatevs.