Hello there, everyone. I'm now happy to say that my summer class is finally over! It sure took a lot of time and energy to get through, but now I'm officially done with college. Now time to go looking for a job… sure hope I can find one without too much trouble in the current economy and all.

That being said, of possible interest to you all is that my personal side-project that I've constantly mentioned in the past is soon going to be uploaded and available for purchase/download on any Kindle device or anything similar. It's not up just yet (probably won't be for a day or two after this is posted), but it will be in due time and given it's 581 pages long, I plan to set the price at around $10, which I sincerely hope is a reasonable price given its length and the fact that it is more or less an amateur work of mine.

So if any of you would happen to be intrigued in it, please give it a purchase/download whenever I get it up. When it's up, I'll post a message or something on my profile page. It's called "Fading Darkness, Rising Light," and is something of a supernatural/fiction thing with strong religious/mythological influences that I've put my own spin on a bit. Even if you come to think the whole story is the shittiest thing to have ever been shat in the history of shit stories, please let me know why you'd think that way so that I'll know how to improve my next original story/novel.

But again, totally up to you guys if you want to buy and read it.

Sorry for the shameless self-advertisement though and let's get onto the chapter.

Chapter 26

Cinder grimaced and from beside her, she could hear Emerald also let out a gruff tsk in agreement as yet another vicious shockwave rocked the entire area.

"…Should we be worried here?" Emerald hesitantly asked the older woman.

"A bit," Cinder admitted with little hesitation. She'd done some peeking around and saw that it was indeed the ancient magi that had come to attack this place, so she wouldn't be so arrogant as to say to her little minion to not worry at all. That said, she still felt that this entire situation wasn't an unsalvageable one. "Master, is everything taken care of?" she asked Vidar.

The man in question grunted as he finished downloading all of his research onto an external hard-drive, in the form of a rather small flash-drive that he now pocketed. "Yes… And did you already see to the destruction of the machines?"

Cinder nodded. As soon as the attack had started, she had dragged Emerald along with her to go check on the captain as soon as possible and had been grateful to discover he was unharmed and not under attack. But when he had used his magical weapon to discreetly see what was going on, their moods had done a complete 180 upon realizing the ancient magi had shown up here of all times and places.

From there, she, Emerald, and Vidar had been in a bit of a rush in making sure anything worth saving was taken care of while moving the equipment still needed to Cinder's own Robotics Space. From there, all that had been left was to trash whatever else would no longer be of use to them and to that end, Cinder felt she'd done a job well done, said machinery being little more than melting slag right now off in the corner of the large room that it had all been set up in.

From beside Cinder, Emerald could be seen sweating a fair deal, the thief trying to fan herself to cool off due to how intense the heat had been to melt the machinery down so fast and so well. She might as well not bother; if anything fanning herself just made her sweat even more.

However, both Cinder and Vidar seemed unaffected and continued to talk whilst Emerald silently went to the door to stand watch.

"Right now, Heracles and Indra are engaged in combat with both Brynhildr and Loki. Apophis is fighting Thor and as for Lugh, it seems he's ran into those teens from Beacon Academy…" Vidar sighed as he thought on the others. Kalma was still in her room, no doubt, not wanting to leave it in fear of running into the ancient magi. Morgan seemed to be just a little ways off from where Lugh was at and Cinder's other little lackey, Mercury, seemed to be with Morgan as well.

As for the other ancient magi, he couldn't detect them all due to his magical weapon picking up a great deal of mana being exerted not too far away from their current location. And looking at the mana signature, it was very easy to determine who it was.

Fenrir was here as well.

Such a simple thought chilled Vidar to the bone. His experiments, while having born a great boon thus far, were still a little unfinished, the results really using a bit more tinkering to perfect the mix he was trying to create here. The one solace he could find in this though was that, based on the readings he got, Fenrir seemed to be exerting a good deal of effort over the very space itself, meaning he had generated Ai Space. This was little more than a guess on his part, but Vidar felt reassured in that the city outside was far too quiet and felt too off for this attack to be taking place out in the real world. Besides, he knew the ancient magi well and knew for a fact that they wouldn't intentionally or knowingly try to endanger civilian lives.

"So what now?" Emerald spoke up, grimacing yet again as the entire city shook from all the fighting going on. "Didn't you say this Fenrir guy was uber-powerful? Just how are we going to slip past him?"

"If I'm right, then right now, he's busy exerting his power over Ai Space, holding it together in case the fighting starts getting too out of hand. So I doubt he'd be capable of moving around freely right now, not without breaking his concentration," Vidar reasoned as he stood to his full height. "Furthermore, while he can generate and control 'space,' that is only relevant to what he can make. Meaning our Robotics Space will be untouchable to him."

At that, Cinder nodded. "So we're to retreat to my Robotics Space then, master? And use it to move where? And what about the others?" For a moment there, a look of concern flashed across her face.

"As to our new destination, that'll be a bridge we'll cross later when we come to it. For now, let's focus on rounding up the others any way we can," replied Vidar. "Let's get Kalma first and then work our way around to see who else we can pick up."

"Alright," Cinder agreed.

"Sure hope this doesn't become totally FUBAR…" Emerald muttered.

"Think that way and it will happen," was the last thing Vidar said before using his magical weapon to teleport them all out of the room.

It was time to beat a retreat while it was still possible.

As this had occurred, with Lugh, the young man was in the midst of a fierce battle. At least, fierce in terms of enemy assault.

"Ha!" Ruby cried out as she used her semblance to cut around to the fifth seat's right side and swinging Crescent Rose at him.

At the very same time this happened, Ren switched his own weapons into their gun form and opened fire on the man, an action that Blake also copied while Weiss and Jaune hung back for now.

With a speed that defied their eyes, Lugh twirled his Relic with ridiculous ease, swatting aside the bullets before taking exactly a half-step back to avoid Ruby's attack. Then with a swift movement of his arms, he swung his weapon around and struck the young girl in her stomach with the blunt end of his spear.

"Ruby!" Weiss cried out as she watched her teammate/friend go flying back from the almost casual strike. But her concern only lasted for all of a microsecond before she now went on the move herself. Still unable to use her Dust moves due to the hallway's size, she was still fully capable of using her glyphs, something that she put to good use right now.

Creating a particularly large one that was yellow in color and sported a design resembling a time clock, the Schnee heiress stepped right into it and immediately felt it take effect. Unlike her usual blue glyphs, which only pushed things away at great speeds, her yellow glyph – often coined the 'haste' glyph – actually increased one's speed temporarily.

Normally, such a glyph would use up a noticeable amount of her aura due to its relatively long lasting effect, but against their current foe, this wasn't really a situation where they could afford to hold back.

So now rushing forward at nearly four times her 'normal' top speed, Weiss readied her weapon as she prepared to stab Lugh right through his chest.

But it didn't turn out as well as she'd hoped. With almost laughable effort, Lugh simply parried Weiss' thrust at the last possible moment and sent her careening into Ruby at the end of the hallway, the two crashing together like something out of a morning cartoon.

Using the slight movement from the parry to propel himself forward, Lugh assessed the situation. Certainly, these teens possessed some measure of skill, the last few minutes having shown them capable of things that the White Fang grunts could only dream of pulling of. But alas, they weren't magi, let alone artificial ones such as himself and therefore were nothing more than fodder.

Lugh found himself somewhat revising that critique when his spear thrust was blocked by Jaune's shield. And much to Lugh's surprise, Jaune had only been pushed back a foot or so despite the strength of the blow. Furthermore, even the shield seemed relatively unscathed.

That was when Ren came up on him from behind. Back in their blade forms, Ren swung them in complete silence at the back of Lugh's neck. Lugh, sensing him at the last possible second, ducked under the attack only to force himself to have to block a surprise attack from Blake, the cat Faunus having taken that exact instant to get low and try and strike from his front.

Narrowly deflecting a strike from Gambol Shroud, Lugh was quick to start his next move, moving his Relic around with great speed and form, striking Blake and Ren hard enough to make them go flying back into the walls.

Eyeing the two downed opponents, Lugh then felt it best to not play around anymore and simply get rid of them. He could now better detect the fighting taking place elsewhere and felt the mana signatures. He no longer had the luxury of simply toying around with these teens.

"You did fairly well, all things considered…" Lugh muttered.

"Take this!" Jaune then yelled, interrupting the fifth seat. He knew that what he was doing was foolhardy, but alas he had no other options available to him. It wasn't as if this hallway afforded him many environmental advantages to use and trying to take this fight elsewhere would be pointless given the Holy Knight's much greater speed and power. So he did the only thing he could, the one thing he's been practicing time and time again in order to improve.

He swung his sword right at the Holy Knight from the front, getting in between him and his currently fallen friends.

"Hmmm…" Lugh had to admit that the blond teen's attack form wasn't too bad. Not perfect, but it was getting there, even if he was clearly lacking in skill and power compared to his friends. This rather positive assessment of Jaune didn't stop Lugh one bit from responding accordingly.

A sound that would surely haunt Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Ren that night occurred just as those four looked up in time to see what had happened.

Namely, Lugh's Areadbhar piercing right through Jaune's stomach and out of his back.

Jaune's attack stopped dead cold and he immediately started to cough up blood, Lugh's Relic having clearly punctured something.

That said, it took the blond almost a good few seconds to realize what had happened. It wasn't until he ended up dropping both his sword and shield and looking down that he saw the wound.

That was when the pain truly came.

"A-Argh…" Jaune weakly cried out, his mind not quite comprehending it all. But as it quickly did, memories of Surma's assault upon him came back. But while Surma's brutal beatdown had done him great harm, it wouldn't have actually killed him.

But…

But this wound might.

"Surprisingly tough," Lugh commented. "That's certainly one thing in your favor, I guess." He pulled out Areadbhar violently and with great force, the bladed tip slicing its way out of Jaune's stomach viciously.

In a stunned stupor born of horror, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Ren watched as Jaune slumped to the ground. It really wasn't until he fully hit the floor that they finally managed to come to grips with the reality before them.

"Jaune!" Ren yelled out, the normally quiet teen's voice being louder and filled with more emotion than anyone else there could ever recall.

"…He's got some impressive vitality," Lugh commented aloud, albeit to no one in particular. Looking down at Jaune, he could see that the blond was still alive and kicking, but was quickly going into shock. "Still, best to put him out of his misery."

He raised Areadbhar high, ready to plunge it through the back of Jaune's head.

And that was when mana suddenly burst forth into existence and with such force that Lugh had to cease in his action.

"What?!" he now exclaimed as something he deemed impossible seemed to happen.

Ruby and Ren, the two closest to Jaune out of the four of them there, were now back on their feet, their bodies all but literally pulsing with artificial mana.

The two of them have awakened as pseudo-magi.

And now they were glaring white hot death at the stunned Holy Knight.

Lugh, shocked as he was, could only watch as both Ruby and Ren lunged for him at far greater speed than what they were capable of before.

The tide in this battle between the Holy Knights and their enemies truly did seem to be changing.

Elsewhere in the area, Ryuichi's fight with Apophis was still in development.

"Tch!" Apophis, having finally managed to get back into the groove of things a moment after Ryuichi had activated Turbulence, swung his Devouring Blade at the magus in question.

He might as well have not bothered. Even with him using its special ability to attack from multiple angles simultaneously, it proved completely ineffective against the far faster magus.

All he succeeded in doing was driving Ryuichi back for all of a minute.

Landing more than a dozen meters away from Apophis, Ryuichi now stood silently and without taking up a fighting stance.

Seeing the ancient magus do this, Apophis had to suppress a grieving sigh from escaping him. Instead, he took the slight reprieve to assess his own status.

His clothes in slight tatters and burned in some places from the intensity of Ryuichi's lightning aura, Apophis found his entire body looking and feeling like one big bruise, the result of Ryuichi's relentless assault upon him.

But the damage was more than just that; with four fractured ribs, a bruised sternum, a nearly crippled left leg, and a swelling right eye, Apophis was honestly amazed he was still conscious. He could only hope that he'll be able to keep it that way until his healing factor can undo some of the damage, if only enough to be able to see properly.

As for Ryuichi though, the ancient magus looked perfectly fine. Thus far, he's yet to suffer a single scratch. Such was the result of his great speed in this form. It was why he was able to almost arrogantly stand before Apophis like this in such a casual stance. After all, it'd only take a fraction of a nanosecond at the most to close the distance between them.

"Why do you not finish me off?" Apophis then spoke, much to Ryuichi's surprise. Seeing the current situation as hopeless, he now intended to try and lull Ryuichi into a false sense of security by talking a bit. If nothing else, it may give him just enough time for some of his injuries to mend themselves. "It's ridiculously clear you have the speed advantage… and now that you've moved the fight outside, you have the field advantage too; plenty of room to maneuver."

Indeed, thanks to the sheer intensity of his attacks, Ryuichi had quickly reduced a portion of the warehouse to little more than rubble and had moved Apophis a few city blocks away from the place in question.

"To answer that, it's because I think you still haven't quite paid enough for what you've done… and what you will do," Ryuichi responded.

His words apparently struck some sort of chord within the Holy Knight, because the next thing the magus known as Thor knew, Apophis had started to laugh.

"What I've done, huh? You mean my killing of your comrade?" the Holy Knight asked.

"That is certainly one major thing… but I can also tell just by looking at you; you've killed a lot of people in the past," Ryuichi stated without hesitation. Having been thoroughly trained as a shinobi so many centuries ago combined with said number of centuries of experience, he and the others have become quite adept at detecting people's true nature.

And it had only taken him one look at Apophis to know the man's 'truth': he's a killer, plain and simple. He may now be serving some sort of 'higher purpose,' given what they've learned thus far from previous encounters with the Holy Knights and what Roman has told them, but even from this distance one could practically smell the blood on Apophis.

The man, whoever he might have been prior to becoming a Holy Knight, has killed a lot of people. And although the Holy Knights seem to proclaim their goal as being one that'll benefit everyone alive, their actions thus far and other methods would suggest a more violent side to them.

"Ha… so you can tell that easily…" Apophis muttered. He held back a grunt of pain as he felt the swelling in his eye go down a fair deal, which was by no means a painless process. "Well, I can't deny that… but what of it, anyway? Nowadays, I'm trying to put my abilities to good use."

"By trying to change the world?" Ryuichi shot back. "By trying to kill us 'ancient magi' off first? For what purpose?"

Apophis chuckled a little. "Because we've studied you lot for quite some time. And we've found you lacking. All these centuries alive and yet the world seems rather stagnant still. You could've helped advance civilizations all over the world to new heights and brought peace, yet you didn't. That is why we're after you: you'd oppose progress."

Ryuichi simply stared at the Holy Knight, now quite believing what he was hearing. Nonetheless, he had a response to such words. "Peace, as wonderful as it sounds, isn't something that could just be instilled in the world just like that. And if we exposed ourselves to the world at large, there'd be no telling how people would react to the existence of magic… it's a much bigger risk than what could ever be taken. And if you really think magic can help advance the world to 'new heights' as you put it, you're wrong; magic, while capable of many things, isn't some be-all/end-all thing."

"Ha! That's only because you and your comrades just aren't using it right." Apophis paused for a second as he felt his damaged ribs heal. "And if you lot really do believe that, then I guess you're all much softer and weak-hearted than I had thought. Don't you know… that sometimes change has to be forced?"

Feeling the more major wounds heal enough for him to move properly now, Apophis subtly began to concentrate his mana into his Relic whilst also preparing to activate his Robotics Space. He wasn't quite sure if doing so would make too much of a difference, but it would definitely increase his Relic's prowess, which was a plus to him at any rate.

But his concentration was interrupted by Ryuichi's next words. "Don't you know…" he began, the magus' eyes narrowing yet with a small smirk appearing at the same time too. "That it's dumb to just think we're alone outside?"

"Wh-?" Apophis began, only to be abruptly cut off when suddenly three arrows made out of pure mana shot out from the distance and pierced through both of his arms and left knee. "Arrrgh!"

Having been about to draw the Devouring Blade from its sheath, Apophis instead fell to his good knee while both of his arms went limping to the ground now. In his shoulders, close to his neck to be more specific, two smoldering holes could be seen.

"W-What just-!" Apophis began to growl out.

Ryuichi simply looked off in the direction that the arrows had come from. "Thanks, dear…" he whispered.

From the vantage point far away, Mari allowed herself a triumphant smirk as she had watched her mana arrows hit their mark. "You're welcome, honey," she whispered back. Although she was incapable of actually hearing what Ryuichi had whispered, she had been able to read his lips and responded in kind.

"Nice shots!" Hanako complimented Mari from where she stood next to Naruto. Although she too was tasked with sniping from afar if need be, she was still Naruto's magical weapon. To not be close to her master just in case of something happening would be foolhardy. Even more so since he was so busy concentrating on making sure Ai Space remained intact.

And from the looks of it, it seems his efforts to do so have increased two-fold. There was a reason for this: although magic has yet to be truly used to its fullest, the battle that his wife, Takehiko, and Yang, Nora, and Pyrrha were waging against Heracles and Indra was still one of incredible violence and power. Even from here, the ground quaked violently from the sheer power of the blows. Of which, Naruto was certain that Miki and the Heracles guy Ryuichi had informed him of were the main causes for.

"Miki…" he muttered softly, praying for his wife's safety. And although he had great confidence in her power and skill, he still worried greatly nonetheless. For something felt off here. Even with all his centuries of experience combined with his now innate understanding of magic, he still couldn't quite place the odd sensation that his senses were picking up.

But even then, if he had to try and describe it, it felt as if there was some mobile block of space that Ai Space couldn't fully affect and was therefore rather brittle around. It was as if there was some kind of natural counterforce to Die Walkure, a thought that left Naruto inwardly gaping a bit, having never encountered such a thing before. The sensation was very different from his Da Capo Zero, which returns all to nothingness, instead being something more along the lines of some natural thing that instead fought to keep outside forces at bay.

It certainly made for a disorienting thing to deal with, especially since, based off of his senses, it seemed as if the source of near-disturbing sensation was none other than Heracles himself.

"Master?" Hanako asked, grabbing his attention now. "Is something wrong? You look a little strained there."

Naruto took a very brief moment to look at her before looking to Mari, who was now busy providing additional firing support for Ryuichi, the woman spawning mana arrow after mana arrow to shoot. In addition to this, the area began to shake even more as the fighting picked up in intensity.

Taking note of all of this nigh-instantly, Naruto finally replied to his humanoid magical weapon. "Not sure… but whatever is going on, Miki's opponent seems to be the cause of it all?"

"Really? In what way?" Hanako asked, her eyes narrowing now as she mulled over what her master just said.

"Don't know how to describe it, but it could be pretty dangerous anyway," Naruto said before sitting down on the ground in a cross-legged position, which made it a bit easier for him to concentrate on maintaining Ai Space. "…If you can manage it, try and give Miki and the others some firing support. I have this feeling that they might need the help."

Hanako wasn't too sure what to make of that. Whatever seemed to be bugging Naruto appeared to be something she couldn't sense, at least from her current position. But if he said it was something potentially dangerous, then she'd treat whatever this mysterious danger was as such. "Got it."

Moving forward a bit to get a better view of the warehouse, Hanako left her master alone to focus on Ai Space's continuing existence while she tried to focus better on what was going on from over here. With her heart now filling with worry due to Naruto's words, Hanako silently hoped that he was wrong.

Meanwhile, with Morgan, the third seat of the Holy Knights was all but spinning from everything that had occurred in the past several moments. Having silently been observing the confrontation between her dear brother along with his friends against Lugh, she had been more than horrified and angered when Lugh had gone onto to possibly fatally stab her younger brother. It had taken a good deal of self-restraint to keep from interfering.

Now quickly walking away from it all with Mercury following after her in a bemused silence, Morgan could only dwell upon what had occurred afterwards. Much to the shock of both Lugh and herself, Ruby and Ren had awakened as pseudo-magi, something that she wasn't sure how it could be possible. And she'd briefly looked to Weiss and Blake long enough to get a read on them and sense them being on the verge of an awakening as well, no doubt born from the shock and trauma of seeing Jaune stabbed like that.

And thinking on him now, Morgan's heart hurt greatly to have seen him that way while filling with pride over his continuing perseverance, having seen him hold his own a bit against the White Fang before Lugh had come along to wreck the whole thing. At the same time, the very voluptuous blonde woman could only feel sad over the whole affair. Her first instinct had been to immediately step in and rescue Jaune, healing him if it was possible and take him well away from all the fighting. But she had refrained from doing so for one almost ludicrously simple reason.

Fear.

She had feared that if she had revealed herself to Jaune and his friends as the third seat of the Holy Knights, she'd succeed only in making them all look upon her in shock, betrayal and eventually hatred. She'd briefly met them when she and her sisters had gone to check up on Jaune during his short stint in recovery after Surma's attack and no doubt they've come to like her then, if only due to the fact that she was Jaune's sister. So if they had truly looked upon her in such a possible scenario… it made her heart hurt for some reason.

Of course, Morgan couldn't even begin to fathom how devastated she'd be if her brother ever came to hate her, perhaps rightfully so. Given that she was a member of the same group that had essentially attacked Beacon Academy and had hurt him and many other students, it'd be easy for him to possibly turn on her. Something that she could not ever blame him for, though such a thought hurt nonetheless.

"I'm sorry, Jaune…" Morgan whispered to herself, trying to calm herself down.

"You say something?" Mercury then asked, having been paying attention more to Morgan's large breasts as they had bounced from her fast walking pace than to the woman's obvious state of duress.

"…Nothing," Morgan replied, having been startled slightly when he had spoken. In her haste to get away from the scene of the battle in addition to her own conflicted emotional state, she'd forgotten that Mercury was with her.

"Well, alright," Mercury then said, stretching his arms a bit. He felt a bit miffed that he'd been unable to join in on the fighting since Lugh had appeared to have things well enough in hand, but he figured he'd get a good enough chance to fight sometime in the future. Given that those teens had suddenly seemed to power up, he felt confident in this thought. "So what now?"

Morgan paused in her walking and heaved a great sigh, seemingly unaware of Mercury once again eyeing her chest as it expanded forth for the action. She took a moment to think.

Logically speaking, that those four teens had suddenly been able to awaken like that was something that'd require further observation and perhaps even testing to see how their abilities had developed as a result. It also would've been the right thing to do to aid her fellow Holy Knight, but that too was something Morgan hadn't bothered doing. Aside from her own emotional state, there was still the simple reason that Lugh should still have the power advantage, even against those four.

Alas, given the circumstances, that was impossible even for her. What with the ancient magi attacking their base, there was simply no telling what could happen. And since coming into contact with any of them could potentially risk her true identity being outted to Jaune plus the possibility of dying, that was something she couldn't risk doing. Besides, while her own abilities were quite powerful, she felt no real need to test their limits now of all times, especially since it was still imperative to carry out their plan as was possible.

"For now, we'll try and regroup with anyone else who isn't currently fighting," Morgan said to Mercury. "From there, we'll have to retreat to somewhere else."

"But isn't this a good chance to get rid of all the ancient magi?" Mercury asked, eyebrows quirked.

"Not when they've had the element of surprise. Even with Robotics Space and our other trump card, there's no telling what could happen right now. Especially if Fenrir is here as well," Morgan responded in an almost casual manner, her usual façade being drawn back into place.

"Well, whatever then." Mercury folded his arms across his chest and shrugged. "You're the boss here, after all." Both he and Emerald had been explicitly told by Cinder that if she wasn't around, then they were to listen and obey any of the other Holy Knights, much like how a simple rank-and-file soldier had to listen to the commander. Given Morgan's beauty, having to listen to her like this was something the grey haired young man could easily put up with, though there was still the more rebellious side to him that disliked the idea a little bit, evident by the somewhat sarcastic undertone to his words.

But his attitude went ignored by Morgan who now strode forward yet again, much more composed now than she had been just a few minutes ago. Yet although it remained hidden, there was a small part of her that remained torn over the whole affair.

Whatever happens from here, Morgan… no, Celine Arc, could only hope that Jaune will forgive her for her future actions.

As this occurred, Miki, Takehiko, and the three heavy hitters of teams RWBY and JNPR were having their hands full with their two current foes.

"Rgh, you're pretty fast for a big guy!" Yang exclaimed in frustration as she shot round after round at Heracles, trying to keep a certain distance away from him. Unfortunately for her, most of her rounds weren't making contact, for even though he was still swinging away at Miki, he still proved to be fast enough to dodge or block the rounds with his Relic. It didn't help that Yang was more or less busy trying to fight her own instincts to get up close to fight. Given her usual fighting style, which involved getting up in her opponent's face, Yang had to make a conscious effort to try and stay out of the way instead due to the sheer power difference between her and Heracles.

In response to her words of frustration, Heracles simply laughed as he all but ignored her attacks and remained focused on Miki. One after another, he swung his massive fists at his smaller foe with startling precision and terrifying speed. But in response, Miki remained completely focused and psychologically unaffected by Heracles' abilities and used Svafrlami to deflect his blows, the blade holding up well against the first seat's Nemean Cestus.

Spotting an opening between two particular blows of his, Miki then took a few small steps forward, moving with a grace that would look more at home on a particularly skilled dancer rather than a swordswoman with such a slim yet muscular physique and large sword. With deadly speed and skill, Miki jabbed forth with Svafrlami, aiming for the Faunus' heart.

But much like she has done thus far, the man deflected the blow by raising his left knee high, kneeing the blade on its flat side and knocking it towards the right. "Ha, try harder!" Heracles boasted. And this was something he really did want Miki to do; he wanted a challenge that would genuinely make him use his Relic's true abilities.

Whether or not she was aware of this was unknown, but either way Miki seemed determined to do just that. Still refraining from using Tyrfing – it was simply too powerful an attack to use with Yang and the others so close by – Miki instead took the deflection of her piercing move in stride and allowed the momentum to spin her forward, turning the failed attack into a new one. Now swinging in a wide horizontal arc, Miki tried to aim for Heracles' legs, hoping to at least damage him enough to slow him down.

At that very same instance, Yang's eyes, honed considerably from training with Ryuichi and Mari, was able to pick up enough of what was happening to decide on her next course of action. Having reloaded Ember Celica seconds in advance, she unleashed every round she had at both above and behind Heracles. At the same time, she also fired a few rounds at his exposed side just as Miki swung.

Heracles' joyous smile faltered as he immediately realized the situation. Yang's shotgun rounds have all but boxed him in. If he tries to jump up or back, then the rounds will hit him. If he tries to block the shotgun rounds coming at his side, then he won't be able to block Miki's attack. On the flip side, if he blocks the sword swing, then the rounds will hit him. And while his body is tough, he had no real intention at finding out how much effect live rounds would have on his body.

This was what the first seat had instantly surmised about his current situation. And so, he acted.

He tried to block both.

He lashed out with his right gauntlet, intercepting Miki's swing while simultaneously using his left one to take the brunt of Yang's rounds.

Results were somewhat mixed.

Both Miki and Yang looked on in somewhat wide eyes as the man managed to rather successfully fend off both attacks. Only one of Yang's shotgun rounds managed to strike him on his side, piercing his uniform with ease and seeming to scratch his skin a bit. As for Miki's sword wing, his gauntlet was able to stop the blow, but the sheer might Miki packed within her body proved to be too much for just one arm to hold back and so Heracles was blown back a fair distance, skidding across the floor with such force that it literally broke apart under him.

"Urgh…" Heracles tensed up just a bit in slight pain, more at Yang's round than anything else. Being the first seat, he had hands down the most mana of the Holy Knights and with exceptional physical abilities to match. In turn, his Relic was quite powerful and was to be the trump card of sorts against Fenrir's abilities. This was because his Relic is capable of rejecting the effect of enemy magic upon them and by extension, Heracles himself. In other words, he was highly resistant and in some cases flat out immune to attacks of a purely magical nature. This was why he suffered so little damage from Mari's mana arrows all that time ago when he'd briefly fought Ryuichi. This was why Naruto, moments ago, felt a sort of counter force working upon Ai Space; because Heracles' Relic was trying to reject the very magical space that now surrounded them all.

However, the one flaw that came with this was that it was only limited to magical attacks. As such, non-magical attacks were the only attacks that could truly threaten him. And while he is certainly much more durable overall compared to the other Holy Knights, it is still possible to injure him. Especially if done so with attacks meant to pierce such as bullets compared to blunt or explosive force type attacks.

This was why Yang's rounds worried him a fair bit; he had yet to test how well his body could hold up to bullets since becoming a Holy Knight. But now it seemed he could put his worries to rest; all the damage he'd taken was nothing more than meager scratches.

"Ha… I suppose you'll have to try harder than that," Heracles then boasted, trying to regain his composure.

At that, Miki simply narrowed her eyes and readied her magical weapon yet again. As for Yang, the girl's usually lilac colored eyes turned red and her hair began to glow fiercely. Heracles' rather condescending tone of voice just now was something that just rubbed her the wrong way a bit.

But she held back her urge to just rush in and try to punch him in the face. This wasn't a battle she could just go swinging her fists around mindlessly.

So with barely restrained anger, Yang prepared to continue the fight alongside Miki.

As for Takehiko, Pyrrha, and Nora, the three of them found themselves surprisingly pressed by Indra. "Hmph. 'Disintegrate all within my view,'" Takehiko commanded with King's Scripture directly by his side.

In response, the very area directly within his field of vision simply ceased to be, the walls and floor literally disintegrating into little more than individual atoms.

And yet.

"Try this!" Indra cried out before firing a bolt of lightning with Vajra at Takehiko, an attack that was blocked by Pyrrha of all people, having stepped in front of Takehiko in advance and blocked it with her shield, which had demonstrated a rather surprising resilience to lightning.

Alas, while this was true of the shield, Pyrrha herself was a different story, with the heat of the lightning bolt still affect her somewhat, sweat breaking out across the top of her forehead.

That was when Nora also stepped in and fired off several explosive rounds at Indra. But the young Holy Knight, inexperienced as he is compared to his comrades, still proved himself a capable and particularly fast combatant, leaping away at the same speed he'd move just now to avoid Takehiko's vicious attack.

Pyrrha then switched her blade into its gun form and fired rapidly yet with great precision and timing, further forcing Indra away from them before he could even think of approaching.

Takehiko, briefly taking this moment to observe both girls, had to silently commend them for their efforts thus far; although it was mainly himself that was keeping the Holy Knight truly on his toes, both Pyrrha and Nora were admirably fairing against Indra as well, having earlier tried to engage him in close range combat earlier. Although the seventh seat had had the physical advantage, his lack of actual battle experience had allowed the two to hold their own pretty well, having relied on a great deal of teamwork and technique to keep him at bay.

But now Takehiko's small smirk of respect vanished as a slight amount of worry began to accrue within his heart. Although he's seen this Holy Knight in action before, right now it seemed as if things have changed a bit. When he had fought Daisuke back in Atlas, the Holy Knight had tried to go on the offensive as much as possible in spite of Daisuke keeping him easily on the defensive instead. But here, his fighting style has change a bit, focusing more on hit and run tactics.

Which Indra chose to demonstrate just now. Moving in a zig-zag pattern all around the area, the young Holy Knight carefully picked certain spots from which to attack from, firing off weak lightning bolts of pure mana in an attempt to conserve as much mana as possible and also to test his opponents' defenses, something that had been pointed out to him by the others during a few of their small talks.

But as he watched Takehiko effortlessly throw up a barrier to block the attacks, giving Pyrrha and Nora ample time to try and dash after him, Indra allowed his thoughts to travel a bit. "Kalma…" he thought in a great deal of worry. He's yet to see the girl today and with the ancient magi now on the attack, he worried for her safety. So great was his concern for the girl that was almost like a sister to him that a part of him almost felt completely compelled to just abandon this fight to go check on her. The main reason he refrained from such an action was because he couldn't exactly afford to not confront the ancient magi either. After all, they were attacking the base.

He was roused from his thoughts when Pyrrha and Nora managed to close the gap between them. When just a little more than several feet away, the redhead of team JNPR threw her shield at him, which he ducked under only to have to raise his sais to block Nora's hammer blow, her weapon Magnhild now back in its hammer form.

At the same time, Pyrrha quickly circled around to his exposed back, expertly catching her shield after using her semblance to call it back to her before switching her sword into its spear form and slashing at Indra's back. "Ha!"

With a bit of a startled cry, Indra managed to push back Nora quickly enough for him to backflip right over Pyrrha and kick her away hard in her ribs the instant he landed. He followed this up with a lightning bolt to the off-balanced Nora, who managed to use her weapon as a makeshift shield that was only partially successful in its function. With a cry of pain, Nora went sailing back, but was actually caught by Takehiko, who gently placed her back on her feet as she quickly tried to shake off the pain.

"I'm a bit surprised. You're so quiet right now," Takehiko remarked as he stepped forward, his magical weapon still at his side. He also made sure to keep his senses completely focused on the young Holy Knight before him. "Before when you'd fought my friend, you'd been rather chatty and so full of yourself. Where's that attitude now, hmm?"

"Can't say, really. Though to be fair, things are different this time around," Indra replied in an attempt to stall the ancient magus long enough to figure out his next move. "After all, you are here trying to kill my comrades."

The air suddenly became heavy as Takehiko's mana flared about wildly, crushing everything around him. "How very hypocritical of you to say that…" he growled out. "Considering you lot seem to have no problem attacking me and my comrades when we've done nothing to you."

"'Vanish from this place,'" Takehiko then commanded. King's Scripture pulsated in response to its wielder's overflowing mana and emotional state.

Pyrrha and Nora could only look on in wonder and awe as the very space around them all contorted to suit Takehiko's desire.

As for Indra, who looked all around him to see reality itself all but literally begin to contort and collapse inwardly with himself at the center, he could only gape in horror.

It would seem he's just gone and said exactly the wrong thing.

Whilst the battles waged on, Kalma was in her room, acting much like the young and easily scared girl that she was. In spite of being a Holy Knight now and therefore being much more powerful than she was before, years of discrimination and abuse prevented her from having much confidence in this fact. This wasn't helped by the other fact that she was able to sense what was going on in the warehouse and determine that the ancient magi had attacked. As such, she felt terrified to summon forth Surma. Yes, the sentient Relic would certainly be able to provide her with some decent measure of personal protection against one or two of the ancient magi, but against more? She feared more for Surma's safety in such a scenario than she did for herself.

At least so far she's yet to be discovered by anyone. That being said, Kalma also knew that simply waiting around like this wasn't going to be doing her any favors so far.

"I have to try and find the captain," she thought as she slipped out of her bed, dressed in the same white dress she had worn when she'd commanded Surma to search Beacon Academy.

But alas, it turned out that her resolve to leave the confines of her room was for nothing; in a mildly bright flash of light, now standing near the entrance of her room was none other than the captain himself. To his sides were Cinder and Emerald as well.

"C-Captain!" Kalma immediately felt her fear and worry wane momentarily. Having Vidar and Cinder now here made her feel safer.

"Kalma… apologies for the wait," Vidar spoke softly as he then beckoned the girl to approach. "We've had to transport a number of things first before coming here. But it's time to go."

"Right… but what about the others?" Kalma now questioned as she walked to them.

"Oh we'll be getting them soon enough," Cinder now spoke, a somewhat drawl smirk on her face. "For now, how about we get you out of here first." She then paused to look to Emerald, who didn't seem too well now. "Once my little friend here is all better, anyway. Emerald?"

"…Give me a quick minute," Emerald muttered, trying not to retch. Having been rather suddenly dragged into and through Robotics Space to essentially move stuff around for transport before coming here had upset her stomach a little, an unfortunate little fact that bothered the thief a bit. After all, it was one thing to look bad in front of someone else, but to look bad in front of Cinder? Emerald honestly felt like puking more from the shame than from the actual aftereffects of the fast trip.

However, Vidar didn't seem to sympathize with Emerald's plight. "Your 'quick minute' will have to wait," he said without emotion as he reached for Kalma's shoulder now that she was close. He now planned to use his own magical weapon to transport them all as far away from her as possible before coming back to check on the other Holy Knights. "Right now we need to-."

"Need to what? Leave?"

Cinder immediately spun around to confront the new speaker, as did the other three there.

There, now leaning up against the wall closest to Kalma's bed was none other than Daisuke. Said ancient magus had one grey eye open, looking at Vidar coldly even as he smiled. "Sorry to burst your bubble, you four, but I don't think I can let you wander off now that I've finally found you."

Indeed, from the moment he and the others had rushed here to fight, he'd spent his time trying to sniff out the location of the mysterious captain that Roman had mentioned to them. It'd been rather hard to do, but now here he was.

Moving away from the wall, his magical weapon, Field Changer, appeared all around. The metallic orbs glowed ominously with mana as they circled slowly around Daisuke before spreading outwards.

Cinder called out her Relic, summoning it directly to her hands. Emerald in turn also pulled out her own weapons, all the while cursing colorfully under her breath. As for Vidar, the man saw it fit to do nothing other than mentally prepare himself for whatever would come next. "Stay close, Kalma… We may need Surma should things go awry for good," he whispered in a very soft and low voice to the sixth seat now by his side.

"Y-Yes sir…" Kalma replied just as softly, even as she looked upon Daisuke in fear. This was yet another reason why her Relic was sentient and why in particular she'd been given Surma; due to the sort of treatment that had been doled out to her in the past, she simply lacked the mindset needed to personally fight. Simply put, she would never truly be a warrior in any stretch of the word. It was why Surma was around to make its own decisions in the midst of battle.

This was something known very well to Vidar and Cinder, guessed by Emerald, and unknown to Daisuke, who continued to cockily walk towards the group of four.

Now opening both eyes to actually glare at Vidar, Daisuke spoke. "I know that you're the one calling the shots around here," he began. His hands that had been stuffed into his pants' pockets now clenched tightly into fists. "And that you ordered one of your little white knights to hunt down a longtime friend of mine."

With focused eyes, Cinder stepped in between Daisuke and the captain while Emerald simply tensed up. One could even hear her gulp nervously if one listened close enough to her.

The orbs around Daisuke picked up in movement speed and now they pulsated with his mana. They were being prepared to strike. "Normally, I'm a pretty relaxed guy, you know? Go with the flow and have a little fun here and there and all that jazz. But now?" Daisuke's smile turned into a scowl.

"Dance for me," he commanded. That was when he finally went on the attack.

It certainly wouldn't have done to make things now too easy for anyone in this chapter. As of now, you can see that both sides are relatively tied for the time being, but you can be expecting that to be changing very soon.

That said, I'm now more or less stuck preparing for a written test I need to take for a job. If that goes well, then right away, I'll be meeting with someone for an interview and if that goes well too, I'll have to do a physical agility test for the correctional officer trainee position I applied for. So in fewer words, I don't know when I may be able to get the next chapter up. But given that I'm now officially done with school and that my test is not for another 2-3 weeks, I should hopefully be able to get another chapter out by then.

Once again too, in a few days time following this chapter's posting, I'll be posting my original story up for purchase/download on Amazon Kindle/whatever it's officially called. So as stated in the above AN, if you're interested in it, please give it a look.

Until next time, everyone. Take care.