As is now the norm for me, this chapter was started just a day or so right after finishing up the previous one. It's still very much my goal to try and finish this fic by the New Year, though given how much more I want to pack into each chapter, I'm hesitant to guarantee anything.
Nonetheless, I intend to try anyways.
That being said, it's very heartwarming to see how things have turned out since the tragic events in Paris. Little clips and videos showing people coping with their losses in small but powerful ways. Seriously, it's people like them that make this world a better place. You can find tons of videos like this on some Facebook pages, so give them a look, they shouldn't be too hard to find.
Now then… onto the chapter.
P.S. And may you all have a Happy Thanksgiving.
Chapter 42
Junior was having a pretty bad day.
Today had started out okay, but everything had all taken an unsurprising turn for the worst. Some of the supplies he was supposed to get earlier today to prepare for yet another open night had failed to show up, leaving him high and dry in regards to some things. A handful of his goons, in yet another showing of their increasing ineptitude, had somehow managed to muck up the sound system for their regular DJ while giving the equipment a routine check. The Malachite twins had decided to go shopping and use his own card to take care of the expenses, not just for their new clothes but also for anything else they'd bought.
These were but a few of the many sometimes small, sometimes major things to happen today to make Junior a very grumpy man.
But it wasn't until the attack upon the radio station had taken place that things had somehow managed to get even worse.
Despite the past incident with Naruto here at his club, Junior still had a large crowd of regulars coming by even after that, but once the siege had happened along with Mercury's message on air, virtually everyone had deserted the club to go see if they can get a closer look at what was happening more or less right up the street, leaving his business empty save for himself, the twins, and his usual goons.
Then to add to even that, some new people showed up! And Junior immediately hated what the four had brought with them:
Destruction.
"OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE, WHY?!" Junior bellowed at the top of his voice as he ducked behind the bar counter, just in time to avoid a table that had been knocked aside in his direction. He looked to the twins, who'd joined him just now in taking cover. He glared at them with wild eyes. "You plan to do anything about this?!"
"And get killed in the process?! Hell no!" Militia retorted immediately.
"Do it yourself!" Melanie chipped in, grimacing when a chunk of the dance floor was cut apart and the pieces went flying everywhere violently, shaking the building.
On said dance floor, Jaune was squaring off against Mercury. And to the blond's frustration, the grey haired young man was practically toying with him.
"You're strong, but you don't have much technique there, pal!" Mercury mocked. He'd figured out that for all of his power, Jaune still had a ways to go before his actual skill level was up to par with his friends. And Mercury was exploiting this almost giddily, dancing in between Jaune's blinding strikes with seeming ease.
Jaune grimaced in anger, but managed to keep calm. In the many training/sparring sessions he's had with Miki and Naruto, he'd been taught to try and keep his cool as much as he could and was told to try and rely on tactics just as much as he relies on sheer physical ability.
"Come on, think! What can I do here?" Jaune silently pondered, taking one heavy step forward with the desperate aim of crushing Mercury's left foot, only for the man to pull back a step and then lash out with a sudden kick to the side of his neck. Jaune's Armor of Fafnir may have rendered the attack almost completely harmless, but it did very little to stop the attack from knocking him back, sending him almost tumbling to the ground.
Through sheer instinct, Jaune was able to retain his footing and tried to counter to circle around Mercury and attack him from his side, but the man had read his mind and kneed him in the chest before he could even make three full steps. Then when he managed to block that strike, Mercury leapt over Jaune and hit him with a sudden spin kick that connected with the back of his neck.
"Damn, he's quick on his feet!" Jaune couldn't help but silently admire how agile his opponent was. Mercury may be an enemy, but for someone that only looked to be barely a year or two older than him, he had some serious skill.
"That all you got?" Mercury taunted before throwing a kick that activated the gun mechanism on his grieve weapons, the bullets enhanced with mana to strengthen their piercing power. Of course, all it did was simply irritate Jaune upon hitting him in the chest.
But then Jaune had an idea. "Wait, his feet!" he thought in wonder. He'd known from the start that slowing the guy down would be his top priority in order to make him easier to fight, but he'd been so focused on purely physical means that he'd neglected other methods.
And aside from Junior and the twins behind the bar, everyone else had fled, including the goons, who'd just run out during the past minute or so.
So taking care to aim away from the bar area, Jaune focused some mana into Balmung.
Mercury, seeing this, tensed. His playful demeanor dropped upon sensing the power building up within Jaune's magical weapon. So he decided to go on the offensive for real this time.
He immediately fired several bursts of bullets from his grieves, aiming for Jaune's hands in an attempt to blast Balmung out of his hands, but Jaune held strong and refused to let the force behind the enhanced bullets make his grip slip.
Not wanting to risk going in close and getting hit by Jaune's obvious magical attack, Mercury then thought it best to move out of his line of sight. So making a little brief motion with his feet, Mercury began to run towards his right…
…Just in time to see Jaune follow after him so perfectly that it was as if the two were in sync. "Wha-?!"
Jaune allowed himself a smirk at the man's shock. He couldn't believe how dumb he'd been so far. He'd been so focused on wounding Mercury's legs and feet that he'd neglected to genuinely watch them, to look for any little motions and tells that would indicate Mercury's next action.
And to his own surprise, he'd been able to anticipate Mercury's direction and speed incredibly quickly. Looks like all those times he'd tried to figure out Miki's next move in a spar had really paid off.
And now it was time for him to show the fruits of his labor.
"Balmung!" He cried out, swinging his blade fiercely and unleashing a wave of conceptual magic that proved to be impossible for Mercury to dodge at this close a range.
The man barely had time to even make a noise before the wave struck him head on.
And it was a powerful wave of conceptual magic indeed; the sheer force of the swing and the wave alone was enough to rip right through the far wall and roof of the club and shoot onwards to the sky above, looking like a lightning fast crescent moon to the few people that had managed to see it pass by.
Yet in spite of this, Mercury was still alive and in one piece as he crashed into the ground, the front of his shirt torn open to reveal a thick and bleeding gash on his chest.
But then again, that had been Jaune's intention.
He knew from the start he wouldn't have enough time to charge up Balmung enough to kill Mercury. Even he did have such time, Jaune honestly wasn't sure if he had it in him to kill someone. But that didn't mean he had much of a problem crippling someone if it had to come down to that.
And Mercury was about to find out just Jaune had gone about this.
Shakily, the grey haired man tried to get back on his feet, but to his worry, it proved to be a much harder thing to do than he'd thought it ought to be. Grunting while he did so, he managed to finally stand and he glared at Jaune lamely. He had immediately figured out just how Jaune had managed to get him with that attack and it honestly made him feel pretty stupid; to have had his own little ticks read so easily by someone that was still getting used to proper fighting was honestly embarrassing.
So he decided it was high time to give a little payback.
Girding himself, Mercury took off running right at Jaune – only to suddenly trip over himself and go tumbling along the dance floor, some audible cracking sounds ringing out in the process.
"Argh!" Mercury cursed a little under his breath. He looked to his legs, which looked slightly bent. The sight was enough to nearly make him hyperventilate. "W-What the hell…?"
Jaune had to hold back a laugh of success.
Ever since he'd been told by Miki to experiment with his magical weapon and discover what he could really do with it, he'd taken to her suggestion like a fish to water. And while Balmung appeared to so far be a weapon that unleashed a wave of pure mana to physically annihilate whatever it hits, its ability to change concepts to an extent had proved itself to be most impressive.
When he'd unleashed Balmung, Jaune had done so with the intent of changing the status of Mercury's legs from 'completely uninjured' to 'their bones being on the verge of breaking apart.' As a result, when Mercury had kicked off the ground to run at him, the sheer force behind the start-up had been enough to break the man's now dangerously brittle bones, hence his little tumble just now.
Alas, it wasn't a permanent effect. So Jaune was going to have to take the opportunity now to really strike down Mercury.
And so the last thing Mercury saw before his world exploded into pain was Jaune rushing forth, sword held high…
Whereas just on the opposite side of the club, near the DJ's spot were both Yang and Neo, the two of whom were fighting it out on almost even footing.
Neo had ceased to use her semblance, worried of using up too much mana to be able to fight properly later. And now the silent woman couldn't help but wonder if perhaps this had been a hasty decision on her part since Yang was clearly still going strong.
And how strong Yang was now.
While the damage she'd taken thus far was still slowing her down despite the wounds healing, Yang's semblance had allowed her to only keep her going, the hits she'd taken having boosted the amount of mana flowing through her, enough so that her sheer strength alone was enough to keep Neo at bay a little.
Unleashing a storm of blows, ranging from simple jabs to vicious haymakers, Yang kept the pressure on Neo and felt a flicker of hope burn within her as she noticed Neo doing less blocking and parrying and more outright dodging. The shorter woman was evidently afraid of Yang's increased strength from her semblance, so much so that she no longer seemed willing to risk blocking any attack.
Though this didn't seem to deter her from fighting back; for every attack Yang attempted to land, Neo responded in kind, utilizing her umbrella to land hits on Yang instead of her actual arms or legs. And considering how her umbrella was tough to withstand the few glancing blows from Yang thus far, it was safe to say that Neo was making a smart move in using it.
Using the longer reach that her weapon afforded her, Neo thrust the pointed tip into Yang's side as she dashed past her, drawing blood.
But Yang held back the cry and whirled around, firing several rounds from Ember Celica before the diminutive woman could slip out of sight and/or range. She watched Neo avoid the first few before having to block the last two rounds with her opened umbrella, the enhanced shotguns rounds doing little more than slightly pushing Neo back.
But Yang remained determined and she simply fired Ember Celica behind her to launch herself forward at Neo. Letting loose a vicious straight at her foe, Yang hoped to destroy the umbrella and render Neo weaponless. However, the smaller woman, although lacking in physical strength now compared to the blonde, had much more experience and it showed through when she gracefully spun out of harm's way, whacking Yang in the lower back with her weapon.
Yang simply shot another round to blast herself back into Neo and this time, the criminal was unable to do anything due to how close Yang had already been to her. Yang smashed into Neo back-first and they both shot across the dance floor and smashing through a wall, landing in the backroom area, where Junior kept all of his alcohol stash.
Getting up first, Yang lashed out with a kick to Neo's head while she was still on the ground, but Neo rolled out of the way and Yang's fiery kick only ended up striking the lower part of a wall, bringing it down along with all of the expensive wine bottles that were stocked on the shelves built into said wall.
Ignoring Junior's cry of forlorn anger (he'd recognize the sound of falling bottles anywhere), Yang went on the offensive yet again, one blow after another, each launched with great precision just as Neo had gotten back on her feet.
Due to the much more cramped nature of the back area, Neo suddenly found herself having equally less room to really maneuver and it took a great deal of effort and thought on her part to keep from being boxed into any of the corners.
Yang, realizing this, decided to try something out. Jumping back a bit, she fired exactly two blasts from Ember Celica. One was aimed for the left corner of the room and the other for the right. The enhanced rounds ripped right through the corners like nothing and exploded so violently that the entire back half of the room looked ready to cave in on itself.
This in turn forced Neo to have to rush forward to avoid being crushed by the falling ceiling, only to end up running right into Yang's fist, the blonde having counted on the criminal to try running straight down the center of the room to avoid the collapsing the walls.
Her fist struck Neo's face with great force and Yang was delighted upon hearing what sounded like breaking bones when she'd struck. She immediately hoped that this one blow, what with all the power she'd built up from all of the hits she'd taken, would be enough to floor Neo so that she could go help out the others.
But to her genuine amazement, Neo had remained conscious, albeit whilst sent flying back. Kicking off a piece of the roof that was about to hit the floor, Neo jumped right at Yang and spun before dropkicking her in the stomach, resulting in a loud 'oomph' from the blonde while the attack allowed the two of them to go back out onto the dance floor just before the room collapsed fully.
Neo held a hand to her bloodied face while simultaneously kicking Yang in the gut, just as the blonde had been about to get back on her feet. She then pulled out her umbrella and started shooting a plethora of bullets from the otherwise unassuming tip of it. She didn't bother to enhance the bullets with her mana, hoping to conserve it as much as possible.
This may have proved to be a bit of a bad move on her part, for Yang was able to recover from the kick and dodge all of the bullets aimed at her head and vital spots, sliding to the side like a professional boxer before responding with two quick explosive shots of her own that burned through Neo's rounds and nearly struck the criminal.
Neo was able to defend herself by opening up the umbrella and letting it take the brunt of it all, but even then, the sheer amount of mana Yang packed into the shots was enough to still make Neo falter under the force.
Both women gritted their teeth, growing increasingly tired of the other's battle style.
So with continually mounting frustration, the two both went on the offensive simultaneously. And as they did so, Junior's cries of indignant sadness only grew louder and louder as his club collapses all around him.
While this occurred at said club, on the other side of the immediate area were the duo of Blake and Pyrrha. Having managed to take the fight from the rooftops down to the streets where more room was available for them to maneuver in, Adam had wasted no time in following them, despite the man obviously knowing what sort of advantages the two young women would have here.
Much to the annoyance of the two students, the lieutenant was back on his feet again and was just raring to go, sheer anger driving him on now at having been dropped earlier by Blake like that.
"Damn brat!" the man in question bellowed as he swung his chainsaw at great speed. His glare was so potent that even with his mask completely covering his face, Blake could feel the older Faunus' eyes trying to burn her into a crisp through his glare alone.
Thankfully for her, such a thing wasn't possible and she also possessed reflexes great enough to dodge his attack, jumping back in time to see the massive weapon slice clean through the wall of a building. She then leapt forward and swung the heavy yet sharp sheath of Gambol Shroud at the man and struck him across his shoulder with the hopes of crippling his dominant arm. But alas, the lieutenant still had plenty of aura left in him, the young cat Faunus barely able to make a nick in the man's shoulder.
But she remained unaffected by her failure and simply followed it up with a sudden kick to his face. Alas, to her great shock, the lieutenant was able to suddenly lash out and grab her ankle with his free hand and proceeded to laugh viciously as he raised her high and smashed her into the ground with tremendous strength. He then punted her like a ball across the street, the young woman crashing through a street lamp before hitting the concrete unceremoniously.
That was when Adam made his appearance onto the scene. While Blake had briefly traded blows with the lieutenant, Pyrrha had tried to keep him occupied by making liberal use of her semblance. It wasn't until now that he was able to slip through her continuous long range assault of cars and steel trash barrels and bullets fired from her weapon and make it here.
Sheathing his sword as he quickly approached the still down Blake, the red highlights on his clothes and hair glowed ominously as he once more fed on his own mana to give himself a boost to his physical abilities. It was high time he paid his old friend some payback for leaving the White Fang.
But instead of cutting down Blake in a single strike like he'd intended, Adam had to direct the intended killing blow towards a large pipe that Pyrrha had used her semblance to pull off the side of a building to throw at him. The pipe was cleanly sliced through twice in the span of a single instance, a tribute of sorts to the experienced fighter's sword skills. But experienced as he was, he'd briefly neglected the possibility of Pyrrha having used the pipe as a decoy and so was completely unprepared when the redhead's shield came crashing into his nose immediately after the pipe was dealt with.
Pyrrha approached quickly, switching Milo into its sword form and wasted no time in slashing away at Adam, cutting the front of the man's coat and even drawing some blood before the older man recovered and moved back. However, Pyrrha simply switched her weapon into its spear form to extend her reach and continued her offensive, though this time most of her strikes were deflected by Adam's quick drawing of his own weapon.
That was when the lieutenant came barreling into things, jumping high into the air and swinging his chainsaw downwards. Had Pyrrha not rolled to the side at the last second, the chainsaw would've split her in two. The man didn't let this bother him and got up to attack her yet again, forcing her to block the strike by recalling Akouo and using the shield to protect her. But this managed to ease the pressure off Adam and he joined in as well, unleashing a series of swings that cut into Pyrrha's side a bit just as she tried to move back from the two.
To her good fortune, however, Blake was finally back on her feet and had taken the time to form three clones, two of which rushed Adam and overwhelmed him slightly through a combination of fierce swings with Gambol Shroud while the other clone and the real Blake tag teamed the lieutenant, the clone pushing the larger man away while the real one opened fire on him with her weapon in its gun form.
The gunfire did little harm, but the truck Pyrrha used her semblance to pull from further down the street had much more success against the lieutenant, crashing into him like a massive bullet that knocked him down the street.
To the man's credit, all it did was push him down the street. It didn't knock him down nor did it particularly break his stance, the Faunus having seen it coming and had enough time to brace himself for the impact. So with little effort, he brought his chainsaw down and cut through the large vehicle and charged forward like a runaway freight train.
Blake let out an inward sigh. She was really growing tired of this man and his ridiculous endurance. She had to think of something to end this so that she and Pyrrha could turn all of their attention to Adam yet again.
And sure enough, an idea came to her as she finally took notice of the fact that they all were out in the middle of the deserted street.
"Pyrrha, give me a boost!" Blake suddenly said, just briefly sparing a glance to see if her clones were still holding up against Adam. To her thanks, they were.
Not wasting another nanosecond though, she ran towards Pyrrha, who had immediately responded to her words by crouching low, with Akouo raised above her head. Blake leapt onto the shield and leapt off of it just as Pyrrha suddenly jumped up, allowing the B of team RWBY to go much higher up than she would've gone otherwise.
Blake went soaring high into the air and further down the street. As she did so, she proceeded to wrap her two ribbons around two street lamps on opposite sides of the street. An instant later, the ribbons were pulled taught as they stretched as far as they could from her jump. It was so sudden a thing that it nearly ended up dislocating her arms.
But Blake held on and steeled herself for what was about to come.
For she was about to perform the very same trick her team leader had pulled to take down the Nevermore during initiation. Only difference is, the angle she was firing from.
The ribbons couldn't take anymore and so with nowhere else to go, they pulled Blake back at a great speed, shooting her down the street like a human comet, one that was aimed right at the charging lieutenant.
The lieutenant didn't even know what hit him. One second, he'd been about to fully cover the distance between him and Pyrrha, the next he was knocked to the ground with ridiculous force.
Due to the surprising speed at which he'd been moving, he'd actually covered move ground than Blake had been expecting. Nonetheless, it was something to easily account for now by simply spinning in midflight and delivering a blinding fast axe kick to the very back of the man's head, the entirety of Blake's strength and the insane momentum built up from her 'sling-shot' dive packed into the one attack, which had resulted in the man's aforementioned face-plant.
The ground cratering under the man from the sheer force of the blow, both Blake and Pyrrha watched as his chainsaw was knocked loose from his grip and went flying into the air. Seeing this, Pyrrha waited for it to fall a little before jumping and delivering a sudden roundhouse kick that sent the weapon careening off into the distance, smashing into an abandoned building a few blocks away.
God forbid, if the lieutenant somehow managed to get back up from this attack, then at least he'd no longer have a weapon at his side. Thankfully, quickly checking on the man, the lightning fast blow had knocked him out, though for how long, neither teen could really guess.
But they'll take what they can get. Time to focus on Adam.
By chance, the two clones that had managed to keep him pressed were finally dealt with, the mask wearing man having spotted a brief opening in their teamwork to land a single horizontal slash that had destroyed the two clones instantly.
And now Adam walked forward boldly, evidently unbothered by the lieutenant's defeat. "I've never liked your semblance. You know that, Blake?" he spoke, the slightest of growls ripping its way out of his throat.
"Hard to tell with that stoic expression of yours all the time," Blake shot back. Although still feeling a little guilty over having left him and the White Fang so suddenly, the teen ruthlessly suppressed the emotion and simply focused on one, simple fact:
If left to his own devices, Adam – and by extension, the White Fang and the Holy Knights – will only bring death and destruction to the world. Even if they say it's for a greater good, many people would lose their lives unjustly for such a cause.
They had to be stopped. He had to be stopped.
Beside her, Pyrrha switched Milo into its gun form and cocked it as Adam continued to approach. The redhead then opened fire when the man's walking pace picked up a little.
Adam saw the bullets coming a mile away and swatted them aside with careful strikes, cleaving the bullets into pieces before they could get within even four feet of him. It wasn't until Blake ran forward during Pyrrha's cover fire that Adam himself now ran too.
Blake formed a clone as soon as she and her former friend were about to meet head on, the clone locking blades with Adam while she circled around him and swung Gambol Shroud. But Adam twirled, immediately disengaging from the clone and deflecting the strike from the real Blake. A swift kick forced Blake to defend herself at the expense of it knocking her away from Adam, giving him ample time to start shooting at Pyrrha, who blocked the shots with her shield.
Using her own semblance, Pyrrha located the nearest street lamp and brought it towards Adam from behind him. But it did little good, with Adam simply pivoting and slicing it in two. Blake's clone tried to attack Adam as this happened, but thanks to him still using his own enhanced semblance to keep himself stronger and faster, Adam was able to react in time by kicking the two halves of the street lamp at the clone, causing it to dissipate on the spot.
The real Blake reappeared now, both weapons that make up Gambol Shroud in their sword forms. She got in close and started to let loose one deadly slash after another, aiming for Adam's joints in an attempt to cripple him, even if only for a brief second. However, despite Blake's close proximity limiting the sort of attacks he could counter with, Adam was still able to defend himself easily enough, guarding irregularly with his now sheathed sword, such as using the very hilt of his blade to stop a swing from Blake or using the side of the sheath to ward off a sudden knee strike.
But when Pyrrha rushed forward and joined Blake's assault, Adam started having more trouble. To defend against Blake was one thing; having fought alongside her on many occasions during their time together, he'd grown familiar with her combat style, which hasn't changed much in all this time. But Pyrrha's way of fighting proved to be noticeably different from Blakes', the redhead's attacks much more versatile as she freely switched between the three weapon forms of Milo; sword form for dealing close ranged strikes, spear form for attacks from a slightly longer distance and gun form to keep Adam on his toes regardless of where the redhead was at.
What made things particularly hard for the Faunus was then having to deal with Pyrrha using her shield in conjunction with her strikes, parrying the few blows he was then able to get out while still attacking him in kind. Blake then capitalized on this by forming two clones that immediately circled around Adam and attacked him from his two exposed sides.
Adam grunted, not prepared for having to defend from four simultaneous offensives from four different directions. He tried to stay focused on the real Blake as well as Pyrrha, but in doing so, the two clones were able to easily land several hits on him, with one creating a deep gash in his upper back near his right shoulder while the other clone shot him in the back of his right thigh before kicking his knee in.
The man crumpled to the floor ungracefully, but was able to turn it around by rolling back, going past the clones and landing in a crouched stance from which he shot his sword out from the sheath. The sword hit one clone hilt first in its jaw and he used this to his advantage by immediately shooting it twice, making it dissipate. He dealt with the other clone by suddenly rushing forward, ignoring the pain in his back and leg long enough to grab hold of his sword before it could fall and slice clean through the clone, bisecting it.
That was when Pyrrha used her semblance to pull a metal fridge from a nearby store and launched it at Adam from his left side. And said man wasted zero time in cutting that down too.
But that was what both the redhead and Blake had been counting on. Although both of them didn't notice it at the exact same time, they had still carefully observed Adam throughout the entire fight and had come to see one particular penchant of his.
No matter what sort of situation he'd be in, the masked criminal would always attempt to deal with their semblance based attacks first, prioritizing Blake's clones and Pyrrha's many metal based attacks over anything else.
In other words, in always dealing with clones or whatever hunk of metal thrown his way, Adam would leave himself open very briefly.
And it was that opening that the two huntresses-in-training now pounced on.
Adam, with his back almost completely turned to them and his current swing just barely reaching the end of its arc, was left utterly defenseless in the wake of Blake's and Pyrrha's combined attack, the two performing a X shaped formation with Blake cutting deeply through Adam's back and side while Pyrrha did the same to the back of his knees and his triceps.
Blood poured out into the air and onto the street in the immediate aftermath of the attack, Adam crying out in both surprise and pain. Combined with his right thigh still healing from the clone's earlier bullet, he began to crumble to the ground in a heap.
But Blake and Pyrrha weren't done just yet.
Performing the X formation again, the two cut into his chest, just where his heart was at along with his solar plexus and even the very bottom of his neck, which his chest began. Although the wounds weren't as deep as the previous ones and therefore wouldn't put him at risk of bleeding to death, the White Fang member finally lost consciousness, his sword falling from his hand and clattering onto the street loudly.
Fully crumbling to the ground, both Blake and Pyrrha panted slightly from the exertion, the battle having finally began to take its toll on them. But a sense of victory kept them standing, just long enough to check and make sure that Adam was indeed down for the count. Just to play things safe, though, Blake took Adam's weapon and flung it away as far as she could, just in case the man should wake up.
Silently moving Adam and the lieutenant to the side and chaining them to the ground via bent metal courtesy of Pyrrha's semblance, it wasn't until the two criminals were fully secured to the ground that the two young women allowed themselves some time to really breathe.
But alas, they still didn't have the luxury of rest.
Even from here in this abandoned part of Vale, they could hear the others still fighting hard against the other criminals.
So without another word spoken, both Blake and Pyrrha ran off. It was time to go and aid their comrades.
Meanwhile, with Ruby, Weiss, Nora, and Ren, the four were still engaged in combat with Roman within the confines of the news station. And it was turning so far to have been a bad move to do so. For although the entryway had been spacious enough, the hallways and rooms that lied further within the building were much smaller and narrower overall, keeping the teens from fully utilizing their abilities whereas Roman, whose abilities weren't geared towards outright destruction or anything else that would require much breathing room, was able to fight at full force.
Ruby, never one to let anger really get to her, was having a hard time keeping her cool in the face of Roman taking potshots at them from around every corner he passed by, using the surprising range of his magical blasts to keep them at bay down each hallway. And with how small said hallways were, she couldn't use her semblance lest she end up literally causing her friends to slow down in the process.
Weiss was fairing little better as well, the heiress' fighting style revolving around the use of Dust and her glyphs, both of which became unwieldy here in this cramped building. And with the people still no doubt being held hostage here, that only made things all the more dangerous for her and her friends; it meant they all were going to have to be very careful with how they did things.
This was something that both Ren and Nora understood as well, the former perhaps more so than the latter. Fortunately for the young man, his way of fighting was substantially less destructive than his friends' and more geared towards single targets anyways. As a result, he was really the only one of the four able to return fire against Roman, the relatively weak and much less destructive shots from Stormflower being enough to force Roman to dive past the corners for good without causing much collateral damage.
Roman grimaced in slight distaste as he avoided barely a bullet from Ren that had nearly grazed the side of his forehead. He'd honestly forgotten that not all of his pursuers were more geared towards great destruction. Still, Ren's presence did little to dampen his spirits; after all, he still held the upper hand here, what with the hostages a floor or two above them as well as the White Fang goons that had been lent to him still keeping watch over them.
So all he had to do was just keep the four teens at bay just enough for himself to get to the broadcasting room was at and use the hostages as shields. Then when the teens undoubtedly back down, he could simply dispose of them with impunity. They couldn't afford to hurt civilians, but he didn't have that worry.
As Ren took the lead and rounded the corner first to chase him, Roman decided to simply focus on running, which he did with surprising speed, easily staying ahead of the raven haired teen even when a hail of bullets ripped through the air and nearly struck the criminal.
"Nora!" Ren called out to his longtime friend. "Be gentle here!"
"Got it, Ren!" Nora exclaimed as she now ran past the corner and turned. Switching Magnhild into hammer form, she leapt just over Ren and smashed it into the floor. As per Ren's words, she made it a point to hold back as much as she could as to avoid bringing down the entire floor above them. However, she still struck the floor hard enough to make the entire building rumble and the floor to break apart.
And for her action, she was rewarded with an off-guard Roman stumbling and nearly falling. Alas, the criminal managed to retain his footing and recover well enough to keep on running with little lag, but again – there was still just a bit of lag.
As a result, both Ruby and Weiss, by far the fastest of the four teens, came bolting down hallway now, hoping to strike Roman down now before he could reach the end of this hallway and take the stairs up.
"Get back, everyone!" Ruby then said as she took charge, the young leader switching Crescent Rose into its gun form to avoid having it banging into the walls on either side of her. The very instant the other three complied and slowed, she skipped forward a few steps before activating her semblance.
Time slowed to an almost grinding halt around her while her 'time' sped up by the same amount. Whereas before she'd been just barely rounding the corner, now she all but launched herself like a human rocket down the hallway at tremendous speeds, easily catching up with the very first criminal she'd ever encountered in all but an instant.
"Whoa!" Roman made no effort to hide his surprise as Ruby soared over his head and cut him off, the young girl's semblance having slowed him down considerably just as she'd passed by him overhead. And with said semblance still activated, his block proved to be far too slow as Ruby swung her weapon at his jaw.
Ruby was never one to find joy in violence, but the sound of Roman's jaw snapping under the swing of Crescent Rose honestly made her heart soar just a little bit. With how cocky he'd always demonstrated himself to be even whilst committing many crimes, she felt that this was just a little due payback for all that he's done.
That said, the heavy blow didn't knock him down though it did succeed in stopping his running, if only for a moment. So seeing as the man couldn't possibly recover in time to avoid her or her friends now, Ruby deactivated her semblance and quickly motioned for Weiss, Nora, and Ren to catch up.
But that was what Roman, in spite of being hit, had banked on. The instant Ruby's guard dropped, he allowed the force of the blow to fully spin him and he lashed out with the blunt end of Melodic Cudgel, striking Ruby in the side of her right knee hard enough to sweep her right off her feet. Then before she could even fully fall, he pointed his weapon upwards and blew a huge hole into the ceiling with a magical blast.
"Nice try, red! But you're still years too early to play with adults, kid!" Roman boasted as he used the still stunned Ruby as a literal jumping stone, leaping onto her and jumping through the hole hard enough to kick Ruby even further into the floor just as she'd been about to fully land.
By now, the other three teens had caught up and Weiss refused to let the man go. Using Myrtenaster to channel her ice Dust, she stabbed the tip of her weapon into the ceiling/floor of the second floor and promptly froze it completely solid.
She'd done so just in the nick of time; the second the floor froze, Roman had just barely landed and started to run. So instead, he just ended up slipping and landing on his back harshly, sliding across the floor comically down the second floor hallway. A handful of curses escaped from his mouth and it was honestly enough to make Weiss feel a little proud of herself.
"You alright?" she then asked her partner.
"Y-Yeah! Nice one, Weiss!" Ruby cheered, a smile on her face. She sure had pulled one over on Roman there.
"Compliment more after this is over! Let's just get him!" Weiss shot back almost harshly. But a closer look at her face would show a small and grateful smile.
Jumping up to the second floor through the hole, all four teens were quick to spot Roman just as he got back up on his feet, the man's balance hanging on a precarious thread as the spot he was standing on was completely covered in very smooth ice. He had to use his cane to help keep himself standing.
This was something the teens definitely didn't waste on trying to exploit, with Ren taking aim and firing at the man. But Roman, while not quite used to standing on ice just yet, was still able to stand in place well enough to deflect the shots with Melodic Cudgel before they could do him harm.
Then he aimed at the floor and started shooting one magical blast after another, collapsing the floor just as the teens had tried to move forward. The blasts forced them back, jumping over the hole to land on the other side and therefore keeping them well away from their slippery foe.
Said criminal finally got used to standing atop the frozen floor and quickly fled upwards. Thankfully for him, the teens' efforts had only put him near the stairs up to the third floor, where the hostages were being kept.
This was something the teens realized as well. "Oh no!" Ruby cried out, realizing that Roman could and most likely would hurt the hostages to get back at them. "W-We have to hurry!"
Leaping back over the hole, she and the others gave chase, rushing as fast as they could to close the gap between them and the criminal.
But ultimately, Roman's action had given him a decent head start and he was already up on the third floor and quickly approaching the broadcasting room by the time the teens were barely getting to the stairs.
Roman nearly laughed. It was always a nice feeling when he managed to pull off something like this, even if all he did was really quite simple in nature. Still, it'd given him the time needed to get here. Now it was time to use those damned hostages to his advantage and turn this thing around for go-.
All feelings of triumph immediately crumbled apart as he kicked open the door to the broadcast room, the criminal's smirk locking into place. His heartbeat slowed from the shock racing through him before picking up rapidly in speed as this new situation began to really set in for him.
The reason for his reaction?
All of the White Fang members that had been keeping close watch of the hostages were lying sprawled in the middle of the room, beaten unconscious and tied up with a plethora of rope. The hostages themselves were all freed form their bonds, which explained the rope tying up the White Fang members, and now all of them were huddled together up against the wall, well away from their now former captors.
And in the middle of the room, standing over the defeated criminals was someone Roman had really only met once and had come to immediately despise and fear.
"Glad to see you've to come instead," Ryuichi remarked, the ancient magus' eyes locking onto Roman with an intensity unlike anything the man had ever seen before.
Having used Thor's Hammer to finish Indra, it had left virtually no trace of the Holy Knight in addition to the sheer power of the attack being great enough to destroy Robotics Space, which had ended up ejecting Ryuichi into this very room by pure, blind luck. It had also taken up enough of his mana to force him to end his Turbulence mode, returning him to his normal state.
But alas, even in his normal state, even with a good portion of his mana having been given up in order to destroy Robotics Space and Indra along with it, Ryuichi was still more than a match for Roman.
Something that both people immediately acknowledged in silence as they gazed at one another.
Roman's mind immediately screamed at him to retreat, despite knowing that there was no way he could outrun Ryuichi nor overpower him if it came down to a fight. Even then, his mind yelled at him to do something, to do anything that might just change things a bit.
But alas, the mental screams came to an end when Roman then heard his four pursuers reach the third floor, Ruby, Weiss, Nora, and Ren just rounding the final corner to get to this room.
Cut off at both the front and the back by the ancient magus and the teens respectively and deprived of hostages and back up, Roman could only utter one thing:
"Oh. Fuck. Me."
These words left his mouth just a nanosecond before Ryuichi's fist came barreling into it.
Meanwhile, within Kalma's Robotics Space, the battle waged on fiercely between the duet consisting of Hanako and Yuko against Surma.
Things had remained relatively unchanged despite the beast's best efforts thus far. Surma had attacked ferociously and constantly and with increasingly more cunning maneuvers as time went on, hoping to take down its foes now in as quickly a manner as possible.
But it'd proven to be a cumbersome task for it to accomplish. While Yuko's blades proved themselves to be more or less completely unable to hurt it, the magical weapon was still at least capable of generating enough power to push it back if given time to charge up. That and the very small yet present fear of Yuko managing to cut it with one of her blades kept the sentient Relic on its toes, not wishing for one of its senses to overload and cripple it.
As for Hanako, she was proving herself to be a real threat. Several powerful magical blasts that had devastated vast portions of Robotics Space had seen to that. For one thing, the humanoid magical weapon had been firing increasingly powerful magical blasts, clearly intending to discover the limits of its durability. And moreover, the humanoid magical weapon had also finally seen it fit to turn some of her attacks towards the wild life around here. And while said wild life was virtually indestructible in the face of Surma's All Dead ability, constantly being regenerated due to the mechanics behind their creation to keep themselves alive to feed Surma's strength, they were no match at all for the immense power Hanako had at her disposal.
And her few attacks upon said wildlife and the surrounding environment had actually taken a bit of a toll upon Surma; with less around it to be drained by its All Dead ability, the less of a boost it'd receive. As such, its power was dwindling, not enough for it to make much of a difference yet, but enough for it to pose a problem if left unattended.
And so Surma tried to blindside its targets, staying unnaturally low to the ground as it approached… Only to be warded off by Yuko's two constantly flying blades, which opened fire upon it as soon as it got within twenty feet of their master.
Then Hanako fired a blast at the sentient Relic just as it leapt back. But the beast twisted in midair, the blast only managing to blow off its tail rather than the chunk of its torso that she'd originally been aiming for.
Surma's snout twitched in pain, but it pushed onwards as it moved ever closer to the two women, knowing that if the distance could be closed enough then there was no way the two of them could fight it.
But Yuko showcased her tricky speed via Enhalt, dashing underneath it in midair and slashing away at it a dozen times before backing off. Surma now growled just as its tail regenerated, the appendage hissing at the magus even as Surma itself continued towards Hanako, who wasn't quite as mobile.
But Hanako was ready for it and forced Surma into one spot by firing simultaneous blasts at the spots directly to its sides and above it. She then followed it up with a final magical blast that was much more powerful than her previous ones.
By all rights, it should've struck Surma head on and in turn obliterate the entirety of its upper body, something that would've killed the beast instantly. But to Hanako's amazement, the beast managed to avoid the attack by something rather unexpected: it dug through the ground just prior to contact.
And it did more than simply dig a hole in which to hide in; Surma dug a path to Hanako and attacked, leaping out from underneath her and slashing at her solar plexus with its massive claws.
The sheer force behind the blow cleaved apart the many trees behind her as well as the land, carving it up as if it was nothing. The attack succeeded in sending Hanako flying as well, her clothes even more damaged and the attack having been successful in drawing a considerable deal of blood, finally bypassing the humanoid magical weapon's sheer toughness.
"Ngh…" Hanako could only grimace as she hit the ground, but managed to roll and get back on her feet in time to take a potshot at Surma, who'd run off in a zig-zag pattern to escape the counter.
Surma was too fast and moving in too wild a pattern for Hanako to score a hit, but that didn't stop her from firing anyway, changing targets. Aiming well away from where Yuko and her blades were at, Hanako shot off into the distance where a majority of the remaining wildlife were at and was rewarded with a massive explosion of mana that far outdid all of her attacks thus far, wiping out said wildlife in an instant.
She could hear Surma howl in anguish and felt its power drop accordingly. "I was right," she thought. "The beast's power only grows and remains as high as it is when there are things to absorb energy from. The less of these things there are running around and the more the environment gets torn up, the less there is for it to draw upon."
Of course, in doing so, there was a greater likelihood that Surma would turn its ability upon her and Yuko to increase its might, but that was ultimately a risk that had to be taken. At least by then, the sentient Relic's power should have dropped enough for it to be far less of a threat than it currently is.
"Yuko-chan! Tear up as much as the place as you can! That'll weaken it!" Hanako yelled out for her comrade to hear.
And hear she did. Yuko knew quite well the limits of her own power and how ineffective she'd continue to be against Surma, at least in a direct confrontation. So hearing Hanako's words, Yuko wasted absolutely no time in switching gears.
Commanding two of her blades to take flight and soar high into the air, they opened fire upon the forest below, destroying it with as many powerful magical blasts as they can fire. As for Yuko herself, she immediately began to abuse Enhalt to practically glide across the ground, using her remaining blades to cut down or cut up anything that she passed by and was within reach.
Trees, rocks, even grass, nothing was spared in her wake.
But Surma was an intelligent beast and was versed enough in strategy and tactics to know what Hanako and Yuko were doing, with the former trying to keep it pinned long enough for the latter to lay waste to more of Robotics Space.
It couldn't allow this to continue on now. It was time for it to try and put an end to this battle.
Dodging a small barrage of weak, but fast magical blasts from Hanako, Surma managed to perform a feint that resulted in Hanako taking aim in the wrong direction, the following attack from her being off by several feet. This gave Surma the opening it needed to rush away, well out of range of Hanako's blasts and at a speed that the humanoid magical weapon couldn't possibly match on her own.
"Yuko-chan, look out!" Hanako instead called out after her even as she tried to run after the beast anyways, hoping to at least keep it within her sights.
But it wasn't possible for her at all; Surma had immediately put a great deal of distance between it and her and was now closing in on Yuko, who it felt had to be dealt with first.
"Ngh!" Yuko's path was cut off by Surma, the beast relying on its superior speed and knowledge of the terrain to get to its new spot. As such, Yuko was caught off guard by it and could only raise her arms in time to feebly block the bone shattering uppercut that the sentient Relic lashed out with.
Yuko could only scream in surprise as the blow lifted her off her feet and sent her soaring through the air at lightning speed. The bones in her arms had been damaged, broken and it would be a few minutes before they can begin to really heal. And as if to add to her new worries, Yuko saw a cliff that she was rapidly approaching. Looks like that was to be her crash site.
Steeling herself, Yuko held back a pained cry as she smashed right into it with tremendous force, destroying the cliff itself and making a crater of considerable width and depth.
Amazingly, she had still managed to hold onto her blades and she was careful not to accidentally cut herself on them as she tried to stand.
Only to stop upon hearing a startled cry.
Freezing in place where she was, Yuko directed her head upwards to where the sound had come, originating from just the edge of the crater.
And in doing so, she ended up locking eyes with Kalma, the sixth seat having just barely managed to jump back prior to Yuko crashing to avoid being hurt.
"A-A young girl?!" Yuko thought in shock, her eyes widening. Only to then narrow when she recalled just where exactly she was fighting in. This strange dimension was a space that only the magi and Holy Knights could possibly be in. There would be absolutely no way or need for a civilian to be caught up in this battle.
Which could only mean one thing: the young Faunus girl before her was one of the Holy Knights and likely the controller of the beast she and Hanako had been fighting.
And so as Yuko began to stand up, Kalma could only look on in growing horror as the ancient magus' gaze hardened. Through sheer dumb coincidence, Surma had knocked one of their enemies towards her.
And she didn't look very happy at all.
Hard to believe that just like that, most of the battles had come to an end. All that's left is the Daisuke/Morgan/Cinder battle, the Jaune/Mercury and Yang/Neo battles, the Hanako and Yuko/Kalma and Surma one. Aside from, of course, the Naruto/Vidar battle.
Wow, can't believe it's genuinely coming to an end now. Nonetheless, let me just say that a handful of surprises still await everyone, both in the story as well as you readers. Hope you will continue to look forward to it.
Until next time, everyone. Take care and once again have a Happy Thanksgiving!