Tyrian made the first move, hopped up as he was on the prospect of violence, even more so now that he had his mistress' blessing. Feeling no need for anything more complex, the faunus threw himself towards the defending heiress: 'a simple frontal assault on the girl should be enough to at least rattle her into panic' he thought maliciously. He was therefore quite astonished when the white haired huntress thrust her blade forward to meet his own and shifted her own weight on the ground, causing Tyrian to careen overhead and fall heavily against the stone floor a full yard away from where Weiss stood on guard facing him, ready to parry again.
He sprawled on the floor for only a moment before spinning acrobatically on his back and regaining his footing. The bewildered faunus looked into his enemy's eyes and saw not the fear he expected, but distain, and a confidence that made his already temperamental nerves lurch unpleasantly.
"I'd advise you to avoid the amateur mauvers." The heiress allowed her lip to curl slightly at the overt annoyance coming from Tyrian like billowing steam. "I came top of my fencing class. Second only to my sister in the Schnee family, and it would be hard to tell the difference between us, so watch yourself."
Tyrians scowl turned into a snarl, clawing at the ground like a furious animal, he charged forward once again, slicing at the air, determined to kill. But Weiss was prepared and as if history repeated itself there on that spot, she discharged Tyrians attack in the exact same manner. His desire to pour so much destructive force into his attacks seemed to be robbing him of a certain amount of dexterity. He had strength and speed, but at the cost of control… With the grace and skill of a professional fencer, the heiress sent Tyrian flying into the air again.
Tyrian did not allow himself to fall any great distance from Weiss however, nor did he pause in his next attack. Whatever Weiss had expected, she had not expected this. A long black scorpion's tail had shot out of the folds of the brown coat, and narrowly missed the exposed flesh of Weiss' leg. True her aura would have prevented the spike from even scratching her…but still…if she hadn't been quick enough… swiping her sword upwards in a fluid motion and employing a propulsion glyph at her feet, Weiss used her momentum to both gain some distance and bat the ugly tail away from her. She was slightly unnerved at how her stainless steel rapier seemed to bounce off the oddly hard chitin.
Tyrian straightened up and turned around as Weiss landed on the roof of the lookout. He was smiling wolfishly at her again, clearly aware of the impression that his tail had made on the huntress. There was something about that smile that Weiss didn't like; it was deranged but almost childishly mischievous, as if this mad man had a secret that he was taking great enjoyment in keeping from her. She gulped and made a mental note to avoid that tail at all costs, for as both a clubbing weapon and as a toxic blade, it posed a grave threat.
Tyrian had crouched down again, on his hands and feet like some great pale monkey, whilst still smiling that beguiling smile. Weiss barely had time to react as those teeth came within an inch of her face, and she only managed to evade the first swat of Tyrian's bladed arms. The second swipe caught her in a right cross and the tail spinning around from the rear caught her in a left. Weiss was now the one careening through the air, over towards the back end of the lookouts castle. Tyrian, with a chuckle at his overzealous force, clambered up onto the side of the castle and began to scuttle over it in a very scorpion like manner. 'This was going to be absolutely sumptuous' he thought giddily to himself as the great knobbing joints of the tail vanished from sight.
As the harsh noise of clashing steel violence and crunching stone began to subside, a gentle breeze began to blow as the old man stood facing the creature, and his long black hair flew back away from his face to expose his similarly black and confident eyes. They found the red eyes on the other end of that unearthly video phone and bored into them, trying to discern thought without words. It was the kind of silence that seemed deafening in its complete and total dominance, but both knew that this couldn't last forever, and after settling herself a little higher in her chair, Salem spoke first.
"I see…so you are the one that was giving Adam so much trouble…a mister…Son Wukong was it?"
"Call me Goku" said Goku, with a slight smirk at the obvious mistake, "I didn't catch your name."
"My enemies call me Salem, my friends call me 'my lady'", and now she returned the old man's sarcastic smile with her own, pail curl lipped sardonic smirk.
"I guess I'll call you Salem then". Silence swept over the lookout again following these words, before Goku broke it. "No; by the way, I haven't done anything involved with that little brat's gang. You're probably thinking about Vegeta, he's the one that went into the city to look for survivors after that little…attack of yours." Goku folded his arms and shook his head. "It sounded like you were making sport of defenceless people."
Salem shrugged in her chair and her expression became aloof and disinterested. "Humans are meaningless. Those who cannot defend themselves are merely cattle, fuel for a higher purpose. Don't you think so?" Salem tilted her head as she waited for an answer, while Goku's eyes sharpened; his whole expression suddenly became dangerous. Slowly he shook his head, and Salem was left sitting there thinking how best to reply. Allowing her curiosity to outstrip her boredom, Salem added "Why not?"
"Because their lives are precious to me, they all are. I've saved them more times than I care to mention and I don't regret a moment of it. I don't measure someone's right to live by their strength alone." Goku opened his eyes, his expression souring by the second. "If it comes to life or death, I choose life…but people like you never understand that, you just destroy whatever's in your way."
Goku continued to stare Salem's weird little phone monster down as she stared back, the witches own expression starting to darken. She sighed, "I have heard this before, you know? And it's really beginning to try my patience!" Salem found herself raising her voice, the mounting rage towards Ozpin and to all that followed him. "Humans are weak! What evidence is there to the contrary!?"
Her final word was punctuated by a horrible high pitched scream from the other side of the castle. Something white and shiny sailed through the air over from where Tyrian and Weiss had disappeared to, and crashed down in the centre of the no-man's land between Saiyan and witch. Neither of them reacted in any obvious way, although the sight set Salem's black heart racing, and caused Goku's to swell with pride.
"That's enough talk, show me what this thing can do!" And with no further warning, Goku charged at Salem, readying his guard for those barbed tendrils. He shot forward so fast; he almost knocked over the large pearly blue iceberg, containing a large black pointed severed scorpion's sting.
Far down below, in the sands of an indistinct wasteland, more clashing and shouting could be heard. The din was mostly caused by Adam Taurus, who was not so much fighting as flailing angrily at a highly amused black haired girl. His failure to hit her with his katana, and her refusal to answer his question was starting to send him into an animal rage.
"Tell me! Are you Blake or not!?"
At this, Rory stopped laughing and looked in the brown, angry eyes. She could not help herself, he looked so pathetic with his blood-stained coat, exposed face and missing sheathe, that the laughter just burst out of her mouth again. She calmed a little after jumping over another of his sword swings and sliced up his face a little more with her rose petal attack, the very same that had seen the faunus fall from Kami's lookout.
"I already told you" she said, letting a few giggles escape at his exasperated sigh of impatience. "Yes… and no. I am her, and I am not. Her memories are mine, and so are her skills, but I am not the one you seek, we are more than that…"
She did not have time to fully complete the taunt as Adam was now swinging his sword so wildly, he didn't seem to be aiming at all. The crimson blade sliced through the air like an overzealous conductor's baton, and gathered in speed each time it missed. He was getting desperate, his standard style of quick strikes with his sword and sheathe was not possible with only Wilt, and this girl did not even seem keen on using her weapon, it remained on her shoulder, wrapped up in that purple ribbon! He couldn't see how he could possibly…
Adam stopped swinging and stared at the blade he was holding. He had remembered his semblance. Normally he only used it while quick drawing for extra impact, but there was no reason why it could to work without it. All he needed was the right opportunity, and this girl would be through. Glancing up, Adam saw the brat floating in mid-air, clearly ready to dodge his next regular attack. He had her now…
"Come on then you little bitch, I know you can't beat me in a fair fight! That's why you keep dodging is it!? You're just a show off with no honour! If you think you can beat me then prove it!
Rory's smile vanished, and her face became quite blank. It was not clear if she was shocked or angry, it was a look that eerily reminded Adam of Blake. Slowly, she began to descend back down to the ground. With a gradual, mindless sort of action, whilst never taking her own scarlet eyes off of Adams, Rory began to reach for the weapon mounted on her back.
"That's right! Come-on, if you've got what it takes then let's see it!"
Then…Adam shook his head, he must have blinked or something because the weapon was now in her hands, fully unravelled of the ribbon, and Adam got to see the weapon in all its glory. The long purple halberd looked oddly familiar to him, it reminded him of an amusing joke weapon he had one been challenged with. All of a sudden it clicked; he had seen that weapon before! But what he didn't know was how this mystery girl had gotten a similar one. Her body was never recovered after all, maybe this Rory knew her.
Adam held his blade out in front of him, as if he were about to duel someone old the fashioned way. He then concentrated on diverting all the damage that his body had taken from the fall, the kicks, the rose petals, everything to the blade of his sword. He had no idea whether this would work or not, but he was going to have to experiment with his semblance at some point, and he was quickly running out of options. The shadowy huntress threw her weapon up into the air as easily as if it too had been made of rubber, and caught the end of the ribbon attached to the end of it. In the most bizarre way that Adam had ever seen, Rory pulled the weapon back down to slam into the ground in front of her, sticking in the dirt. The ground tremored a little and Adam gripped his weapon tight.
'…She's showing me how heavy it is and how quickly she can manipulate it'; He thought to himself, '…shit…this had better work.'
Rory saw how rigid Adam had become, how frozen with fear he was, and her smile returned like the rising sun. She tugged at the ribbon and skilfully caught the handle at exactly the right place to hold it comfortably. She was deliberately holding off her attack to allow Adam more misery, but she knew that the time for fun was growing thin, and action was necessary. The others might be in trouble, and she intended to protect them. Gripping her weapon tightly in her ail hands, Rory dashed forward and swung her halberd at Adams side. At the same time the faunas swung his sword with all his might, aiming for the purple halberd. What happened next defied all expectation.
Adams sword exploded, its blade burned red hot and expanded outward in a shower of furious energy, pushing back against Rory's weapon. The force of the sword strike smacked it aside and collided with the side of her head. The power seemed to disperse upon contact with the girls bow, and Adam felt something hard hit his throat, causing him to stumble back. He managed to maintain his footing, unlike the girl who collapsed back onto the ground, holding her head. For a few moments the two faunus' panted and tried to process what just happened. Adam was floored that his semblance had produced such unbelievably devastating results, feeling now that he at least stood a chance. Rory on the other hand, was sitting on the dirt floor, clutching her bow, and at the faunus ear beneath. The ear that was now half missing.
In the girls mind, the Blake side of her consciousness was blazing, trying to rationalise what just happened. She knew that Adams semblance was absorbing damage and releasing it in a powerful slice, this was how he had cut off Yang's arm. But she had thought that the destruction of his sheathe would make this part of his technique impossible, but now that she thought about it, it made sense that his semblance would still be active even without his ability to quick draw. It was foolish to assume that he would not be able to. Touching at the area where the ear had been cut, Rory found that she felt surprisingly little pain, the heat of the pain appeared to have cauterised at the same time. Well that would help with any blood loss concerns, but if that sword cut something more vital…
Adam looked as though he had collected himself, and raising the red hot blade above his head again, charged forward, aiming for Rory's head again. Being ready for it this time, the young woman brushed her hair with her hand and a cloud of rose petals emerged from it like floral dandruff and danced through the air to meet Adams strike. The sword burned through the petals, but discharged the force of the strike, allowing Rory to parry the weapon to the left with her halberds handle and cut his back open with the blade. He cried out in anger and twisted around, swinging his sword along with it. Rory bent backwards to dodge underneath it and brought the handle up to strike Adams face, which he quickstepped away from and came back with a stabbing motion aimed at her heart. At the same time Rory twisted the halberd in her hands to face Adam. Both put all of their weight and aura behind their weapons and charged.
Rory managed to shift the blade of her weapon in front of the attack, the side of the blade colliding with the powered up Blush. The impact was strong, but the Halberd appeared hard enough to resist the blades disintegration and was instead pushed back. Rory felt her feet make trails in the dust as she attempted to remain standing, thinking fast. This was bad, his blade was just getting stronger with every clash, and she was getting nowhere fast. Adam seemed to have noticed this as well, because he wasn't on the defensive anymore, he wasn't even on guard. He was walking quite casually towards Rory, not a smile on his face, but a grimace of rage. He seemed in that very moment to be every bit a bastard that Blake had ever known him to be: spiteful, merciless, and hopped up on the idea of a slaughter.
"I get it" said Adam, looking at the red mark where the cat ear once stood whole on Rory's head, his breathing beginning to quicken. "You're that pathetic human that got in my way back at that stupid farm…you look different…but you're still weak." Rory's mouth had gone very dry as Adam began to grow close. "If you had surrendered, I might have spared you, I didn't know you were a faunus…but we're long past that now." And now the smile returned that horrible aroused smile that Adam only got when he was closing in on his pray. It broadened to a leer when the girl collapsed to her knees and hung her head, a wordless surrender. Adam had decided to abandon his original idea of decapitation for good old fashion impalement, he had no idea why but given her position, it seemed appropriate. She kneeled at his feet now, and with his sword raised, Adam Taurus was sure of his victory. Unfortunately, as Adam thrust his sword down towards the cat eared black scalp, Rory's face raised, and there was a triumphant smile on her face to match Adams.
"Checkmate" she said softly, as she grabbed the sword hilt. Adams grip on wilt slackened, both with shock and pain. He had been struck heavily in the stomach, but there was no doubt that his sword had met its mark, but as he looked on in horror, the smiling girl with a sword stuck in her head disintegrated into a cloud of rose petals. At the same time, a second pair of hands grabbed Adams free arm and with considerable strength, twisted it painfully behind his back. The faunus grunted in pain as he fell to his own knees, still feeling that hand on his sword arm. He looked wildly from side to side, trying to see what was holding him. His stomach dropped. Two Rory's, presumably the real one and a perfect double, were holding his arms hostage, one was behind him, but he could see a red ruffle protruding from the lowest point on his left side peripheral vision so he knew it was her.
Adam suddenly remembered that odd technique that that other girl and used on that farm, the use of rose petals as the means for creating duplicates. She must have created these when she brushed those petals out of her hair. The other was still holding the arm that housed Wilt, and she was…taping it to him. The ridiculous girl was indeed holding a role of duct tape in her pale hand and was proceeding to bandage the katana to its master's hand.
Adam was speechless with incomprehension, what purpose did this serve? True his blade was not as effective in a stabbing position, but he was by no sense of the word 'disarmed.' But then he smelt sweet breath as the girl behind him, presumably the real one began to speak. The voice coming from behind Adam, while the one that had just finished binding his hand looked on in silence, created an unsettling illusion of telepathy.
"Just in case you're still deluding yourself, I could have crushed you the moment I saw you, you felt it before, how powerful I have become." A slight tug on his neck made a very good impression, not that one was needed, of how powerful Rory's grip was on Adam. "Why so modest?"
Adam wanted to try and shake the bitch off, but something else had grabbed his attention, Adam was staring at his sword. The blade was staring to glow with heat as rose petals glided towards it and daintily landed on it. Within moments the weapon was an inferno, to the point where the duct tape around his good wrist was starting to make Adam worriedly wiggle the fingers beneath the plastic barrier, feeling the heat reaching through it. He did not fully understand what the end game was here until he felt it, the unbidden motion of Adams wrist as it began to tilt sideways towards his other hand.
"You were coming at me with everything you had, my dear" and there was a hefty spike of venom in the final word, clearly an acknowledgment of her disgust of that word since…Adam looked up and saw the cat ears just in view, the bow had disappeared. They were black, with the merest hints of white near the inner sanctum and though one was damaged, they still had an elegant shape, and alluring raven gleam in the sun…they were beautiful…
"You have no idea how many people you've hurt" and there was no sense of levity in the voice anymore, and Adam began to struggle away from the scorching hot blade, but to no avail. "I would see you suffer for every single crime you've committed…but I have places to be and you aren't interesting enough to bother with. But you will pay for what you did to Yang, starting with your arm."
The bloody eyes widened as the faunus began to realise what was happening, and what he was feeling. These traits that enraptured him, the ears, the hair, those wonderful piercing eyes…he knew he had been pierced by them before. He understood, how by no means, but he just knew somehow…that this was Blake. Some vestige of her soul or being was held within this girl, but that made no sense, could this…be her child?! The thought made his position all the more unbearable.
The pain brought him back to reality with another horrible realisation. In his musings about the identity of this mystery girl, Adam had allowed his taped wrist to slide too far, and his inferno of the weapon was now an inch from his bare forearm, the flames already eating into his flesh. For a split second, Adam considered begging for his release, but gave up before he even attempted it, as he could feel the heavy rise and fall of the breast behind him, she was clearly enjoying watching him struggle. Adam had never appreciated how destructive his semblance could be until now, now that it was slowly and excruciatingly cutting his forearm off. He struggled and shook his holder, trying to throw this crazy bitch off, but here muscles had ceased up around him, and her enthusiasm seemed to be strengthening her, as she forced the blade a notch further into Adams arm. Adams head was spinning, he couldn't see any more for the pain, all he could hear was the rush of the flames and the excited breath of the girl as began to scream. He cried out for release, for salvation, and he even begged forgiveness, if only the pain would stop. He didn't want to, he found it humiliating to be in such a position, but his resolve had finally broken, and he just wanted this to end, with either freedom, or death.
"…Alright, I won't take your arm." Came a voice from somewhere, sounding much calmer and softer than anyone could have expected. In an instant, it was over. Adam found himself hunched over on the ground, leaning over his knees as he clutched his burned wrist. He looked at what he expected to be a ruined and useless forearm, to find the wound was rather smaller than he had expected, the pain apparently having been caused by the heat rather than the cutting. Panting hard and wishing he were anywhere else, Adam got slowly to his feet and turned around. The other girl had vanished, and only the one remained surrounded by cascading rose petals that mounted a non-existent breeze.
She was looking up, away from the wounded man before her, towards a distant point in the sky. Her face was impassive, unreadable, until she turned to Adam again, and a smirk curled the dark lips. Her red eyes bored into the blood soaked brown ones, and the appraising look she was giving Adam suggested she was thinking what to do next.
"You need more, I know that much" said Rory, placing her fingers on her chin, as though deep in contemplation. "That was nowhere near what you deserve. However, I'm needed somewhere else, and I don't have time to toy with you all day. Consider this a 'to be continued'."
She turned to leave and the spluttering protest that she had expected burst forth right on time. "Toy with…what are you…you can't jus-?!" Adams words were halted like his breathing by what happened next. A sharp pain in his gut was all the warning he got before he slumped to the ground. He looked down and saw a stab wound in his chest, not deep enough to be dangerous, but sapping the last of his stamina in a single strike. Rory was still walking away, now whipping the pointed end of her halberd on the ground to get the blood of the end.
"Ciao" She said sweetly, as she took flight and set off towards that point she had been looking at earlier at an immense speed. Adam was left looking at the ground, blood leaking from his body and feeling all the heavier from his sense of defeat. He could hardly believe that he had, not an hour ago, been on his way to that stupid castle and had actually felt confident. He could now taste the bitterness of it all in his mouth: the blood, the sweat, the dirt and the hopelessness. He didn't bother getting up, not that he could, given the amount of damage his body had taken in his fight. He looked slowly up and saw that the girl that had beaten him so easily was already out of sight. This always seemed to happen, they left and he watched them go, powerless to bring them back. Adam felt the back of his head meet dirt, and though it was course and rough, the weight of the world seemed to lessen his burden, as the beaten and broken faunus gave into unconsciousness. His final thoughts were of Blake, of her beautiful raven hair…and that sweet scent.
Goku only had a second to react; those tendrils were strong enough to lift that heavy pedestal and they were a lot faster now that they were not pulling it anymore. Within seconds the seven or eight long black limbs had tensed into life and shot in the Saiyan's direction, their arrow head points glinting threateningly in the early morning sun. He managed to dodge the first two without difficulty, but in the path of six coming at him from different angles, he felt his eyes widen slightly, even more so when he dodged the first attacker and found that it embedded itself deep in the stone floor. Goku did not want to see what those things did to skin! Crouching down low to the ground and summoning up enough energy to increase his mobility, Goku dashed forward between two tendrils and severed their pointed heads with a roundhouse kick. They hit the ground with a tinny metallic clang and disintegrated. He expected the face in the glass to look angry or surprised as he looked back with a spiteful smirk on his face, but was shocked to see the expression reflected upon the pallid distorted woman's face.
Goku threw his head back just in time to dodge the barbed edge of yet another tendril. They looked to be dripping with something that he suspected to be poisonous, and slicing them had availed him nothing, as before his very eyes, a fresh pair of pointed barbed black limbs sprouted from the one he had just destroyed. Goku had no choice but to avoid them now, and their increased number was making this difficult. Even with the instant transmission and after image techniques, the limited amount of space around the lookout was making it difficult to use them both to their fullest capacity, and he dared not take to the air, as this would give the tendrils opportunity to attack from all sides and trap him. The woman in the weird looking glass what saying nothing, only looking at Goku with a dull expression of boredom.
Goku jumped over a tentacle and grabbed hold of it, and tried to pull the creature towards him, but the black material was slippery and surprisingly strong, and his attempt lead to him being lifted up and spun around in circles. He recognised this technique as he had used it before on both Frieza and Majin Buu, but how did this lady know how to use it as well. Goku's hands slipped off the black tentacle, and he flew with a horrible crash into the wall of the lookout, where he was embedded slightly into the stone. He barely had time to let out an exclamation of pain before a series of sharp pains pinned him to the stone. Four of the barbed tendrils had stabbed into Goku's libs, in both of his arms, and in both of his thighs. A fifth tendril wrapped around his neck.
Only now could Goku feel the true weight and strength of these hulking arms, and the unnatural behaviour of that material black material. The way that it remained totally still as the pedestal floated closer, not quivering or bending even slightly to the breeze playing across the lookout. The pale lady in the mirror looked triumphant as she drew nearer to her pray, and Goku could only hopelessly struggle against the knives binding him, against the strangle hold around his neck poised to pop his head like a champagne cork. To make matters worse, that clear liquid that had coated the end of the barbs was now seeping into his bloodstream, though its effects were unknown to Goku and he felt no extra pain or weakness, no more than he would usually expect. Even so, his body was not trained to deal with this kind of trauma, and age had made his muscles more susceptible to pain. It was all he could do to stifle his moans of pain as he worked his muscles furiously to get unstuck, but the tendrils didn't give.
The pale features now sat both inches and miles away from Goku's own face, though neither could truly believe it. Salem scoffed at his struggling and spoke in a tone of mocking indulgent glee.
"You are a fascinating specimen. You have lived for so long…had so many adventures in this world, and on others, and even in the next world…and weathered so many storms…."
The dark eyes were now sharp and alert, still gazing into Goku like he was some awe inspiring painting in an art gallery. The Saiyan still struggled for his freedom, but the tendrils had moved, they were now pulling away from each other, stretching him with that unnatural power. The stone wall broke with a crack and Goku was in the air, suspended by his limbs and neck by this woman from hell. 'What…are you?'
The woman seemed to come back to reality slightly, and smiled at the question that she should not have been able to hear. Yet something about her face told Goku that she had heard exactly what he just thought.
"Oh…I am far more interested in what you are. That energy that Cinder got from your friend is intriguing. Such raw power contained in one body seems impossible for a mere human…unless."
Salem was cut off by a loud crash next to her, it was Weiss, and she was on the defensive. Tyrian, now with a large stump where his tail used to be, was now rabid in his fury, with bloodshot eyes and a snarl like a bloodthirsty beowolf, was stashing at the heiress with all the strength he could muster. Leaving no openings for her to use her glyphs, Weiss was jumping back and using her Rapier to deflect the furious rush of blades that was Tyrian. It was clear to Goku that this guy was done playing games, and was going in for the kill, and the grazes and cuts on Weiss' face made it clear that her aura had run out a long time ago.
A particularly savage series of uppercuts, followed by a head-butt to the chest caused Weiss to drop her weapon, and fall to the ground. Tyrian stood over her and grabbed hold of her pony tail, hoisting her up by it.
"NO! DON'T GIVE U-" Goku's plea was crushed out of him by the tendril around his neck, Salem had not paid the slightest attention to Weiss being disarmed, and this seemed to infuriate Tyrian even more. After a savage look at his mistress, the faunus raised is right arm, aiming directly to the limp girls neck. For the briefest of moments, everything stood still, and Goku felt that familiar burning in his stomach, the rush of heat through his mind as it was wiped of all thought. His once limp and useless hands were now bawled into fists so tight that it was painful, and the arms that had bound him so tightly, now seemed to be made of wet paper. For a moment, he thought he was back on Namek, with the waves crashing against the plateau he stood upon, and the lightning barely missing his body as he transformed into something more than Saiyan. He saw the look of terror on his sons face, and the sadistic look on the face of the monster threatening him…And then, many things happened at the same precise moment.
As Goku broke free of his bonds in one great surge of energy, a shape flew up over the rim of the lookout from the earth below. Rory soared though the air and just before she landed on the white stone tiles, split back into Ruby and Blake. Neither of them looked curious at the strange scene before them, they both looked determined and ready to fight. Blake was missing a bit of her ear. At the same time, the door of the lookout exploded, and a looming shadow could be made out amongst the smoke.
Attention shot from the first new arrival to the explosion of dust at the door, and Salem finally looked away from her ex-captive to see who it was. Tyrian looked momentarily at Blake and Ruby, but did not bother to look behind him. This was a poor choice as the heavy metal object that collided with his skull a moment later might have been avoided, had he turned around. The yellow object sailed through the air, having rebounded off Tyrians skull, who had dropped Weiss and clutched his bleeding head, and landed in front of Ruby. She looked down at it in a mixture of awe and terror. It was Yang's remaining Ember Celica…or what remained of it. The body was extremely battered, as if used in excess over a long period of time, it also appeared twisted and broken in several places. Ruby could only assume that it would no longer be comfortably wearable, let alone still functioning in this state.
But her attention was drawn back to the doorway again by a gasp from beside her. As the dust began to set, and the way cleared for the eye to see, Ruby could finally see what had broken the door down. Her jaw dropped at the sight before her.
The skin was badly scarred in several places, as if from severe burn damage, that had been endured, not treated. The clothes were still intact, but only barely, patches of skin were visible through the brown material. The leather boots, long worn by their owner, began to descend the stairs with a swift and confident step. The distance between the newcomer and Tyrian was closed in an instant, and the hand with knuckles like jaw-breakers, closed around the platted pony tail without hesitation.
"Having some trouble there…lady killer?" Said Yang, with no trace of a laugh.
Hello everyone, Its been a while...
I just wanted to apologise for not uploading for a while. Various factors have prevented me form working continuously on this story for the past few months. Exams, moving house, and problems with my own health have gotten in the way of me doing what I love before, and I expect they will again at some point. I know its a long shot now but i really hope that all of you who started this journey with me want to see it to the end. If you've stuck with this story up to now, i want to let you know that i appreciate it beyond words. More content coming soon, Stay awesome.
Yours sincerely
Johnathan Soulless x