AN: Hey everyone, I have the next chapter here. Thank you for all the support this series has gotten here and on Tv Tropes. This could have been two chapters, but since it is the new year, I will make this an extra-long one and release it early. (Also to celebrate Grand Order Carnival getting announced, that is an anime I have been waiting a long time for). A lot of characters get revealed and finally showed off. And, as the titles shows, a lot of death is looming. Granted, it has been a while since a dark chapter happened here. Hope you enjoy this chapter, leave a review with your comments and questions, and have a nice day.

Chapter 44 – Killers

Caenis.

Caenis yawned as she entered the tent, discovering Sienna at her throne. However, she also noticed someone else was missing, "Where's our prisoner?" the White Fang Champion asked.

"I gave the order to a couple of our men to take him a safe distance away from our camp." Sienna responded, "With this meeting, it could complicate things if they find a human hostage, especially one from Apocrypha. Should this go well, you will need to rush over and release his bonds."

"Yeah, good call." Caenis responded, then crossed her arms, "The way you're talking, you think you'll take their offer."

"…I'm still unsure," Sienna said with a sigh, then stood up, "In this meeting, I can determine firsthand if their intentions truly are as good as Ghira seems to think." She said before crossing her arms, "I haven't always trusted his perspective."

"Well, I guess we'll find out soon." Caenis responded before patting Sienna on the back, "I'll leave the boring talking stuff for you and Sheba, while I keep an eye out for anything fishy."

"Thank you," Sienna said with a slight giggle, causing Caenis responded with a one as well. Suddenly, a loud crash was heard from the outside of the tent. "What was that?"

Sienna and Caenis rushed out of the tent, quickly seeing the carnage. A set of five Atlas paladins mechs rampaged on the other end of the camp. Multiple White Fang members ran in horror before getting gunned down by the arm-mounted turrets. Caenis watched as one member got crushed in the hands of a paladin mech, "Those backstabbing military bastards!" She spoke before spawning her lance and shield.

"No," Sienna commented as Caenis turned to her leader in confusion, "Look at what's on those mechs." She pointed to a familiar painted on them, "That is the symbol of the White Fang, our symbol we painted on ones we stole. Rather, our other bases stole."

"The same bases that were attacked," Caenis added on, "Which means these aren't the military."

"They're the White Fang Killer," Sienna said with a scowl while reading her chain whip. However, a look of worry suddenly came on her face, "Wait, where's Sheba?" The two quickly scanned the area, finding their command guiding a group of faunus children away from the camp. However, a paladin mech dashed to cut off the fleeing group. Sheba gritted her teeth as she faced down the turret, the faunus children trembling behind her. Suddenly, three different dust arrowheads crashed into the paladin with a multi-elemental explosion, "Hey!" Sienna called out, "You want the leader of the White Fang, right? I'm over here!" She declared with the paladin mech turning to her, then dashing, causing all the other mechs to follow. Sheba turned to her leader with a nod before guiding the faunus children away from the carnage.

One of the paladin mechs locked onto the Leader of the White Fang, firing homing missiles towards her. Caenis leaped and blocked the missiles with her shield, creating a massive explosion. All five paladin mechs stood outside the reach of the smoke, raised their turrets, and unleashed a barrage of bullets. However, Sienna dashed through the smoke, evading the bullets as she targeted the rightmost paladin mech. The others tried to redirect their aim, but The White Fang Champion leaped out of the smoke. She ran her spear into the head of the second rightmost paladin mech, twisting her weapon before violently pulling it out, "No person inside." Caenis said before evaded the volley of bullets aimed at her, watching them hit the paladin mech she was just standing on before it topped over. She stood before three of the paladin mechs, reposing with her shield and spear, "Which one of you is hiding him!?" The White Fang Champion demanded before all three paladin mechs opened fire on her.

Sienna continued to dodge the bullets while reequipping her chain. Upon closing in, the paladin mech raised its right arm higher to crush the Leader of the White Fang. However, Sienna launched three more of her dust arrowheads. This time, they were aimed at joints in the right shoulder. Upon the elemental detonation, the paladin mech's right arm was blown off. It then tried to kick Sienna with its mech left leg, but the Leader of the White Fang slide underneath the attack. In getting behind the paladin mech's she leaped onto its back before finding a small exhaust vent. With her fangs flared, she clenched a few of the arrowheads in her right fist, then shoved them into the vent. A split second after pulling out her arm and jumping off, the back of the paladin mech exploded. Sienna landed on her feet while the paladin toppled over, "Tsk, we already had a report made on how to fight these things should the military ever use them against us." She said before seeing the one that Caenis had assaulted start to get back up, causing her to ready her weapon.

However, a small grey jackalope leaped off her right shoulder and walked up to the paladin mech. As the turrets were about to aim at the small creature, the jackalope started to spin its right arm, which was wearing a dark red boxing glove. With a slight gleam beforehand, the jackalope uppercased the paladin mech into the air. Its body was spinning before something rocketed by. Suddenly, a second boxing jackalope punched the paladin mech across the sky. Before it could get too far, a third brawler jackalope smashed the paladin mech downwards and towards the one Sienna had defeated. The collision of the two mechs exploded both into scrap metal and spare parts. The Leader of the White Fang shielded herself from the shrapnel before seeing all three jackalopes standing in front of her.

"Well, that should make us even." Sienna turned to see Sheba was the one talking to her, a slight grin on her face, "I don't like to be in people's debt for very long."

"Are the others a safe distance away?" Sienna asked with Sheba nodding. Both looked over to Caenis, who was standing ground while blocking the bullets of all three paladin mechs' turrets, "Caenis!"

"Got it!" Caenis said with a grin of eagerness. Suddenly, her mind flashed back to a moment many years ago. At the docks of Menagerie, two faunus girls stared out at the open sea before both looped up. In the sky, the young white horse faunus saw the birds flying high. In her mind, they seemed to be flying next to the sun itself. Stretching her right arm as far as she could, she reached for both objects, yet they were out of her grasp. In turning to her friend in slight anger, she overhear the young tiger faunus chuckling. While the young white horse faunus pouted back, she then looked back up at the birds. At that moment, Caenis' mind cleared as her eyes went red. She dashed while lowering her shield, now radiating a large amount of heat. The bullets started to melt away in her flaming aura, "I can reach it, regardless of where that place may be!" The White Fang Champion said while the flames grew bright, forming into the shape of a large phoenix, "Lapithai Caeneus!" Caenis declared before ramming through all three Paladin mechs at once. Each began to superheat, the metal started to melt before they exploded into scorched chucks. The phoenix soared high into the sky, letting out a loud screech before dissipating. Sienna and Sheba watched as Caenis freefall. She landed on one knee next to her two comrades, "Told you." Caenis said with a grin while standing up.

"Indeed," Sienna responded then turned to Sheba, "This is bad, they know our location." The Leader of the White Fang spoke, "We need to move everyone."

"But we still have the meeting with that military group, not to mention the-" Sheba said before her face filled with dread, "The other members heading towards us." She said with both comrades gasping, "The reports said that before the group attacked Columbus' ships, multiple bases were raided at the same time."

"Oh no," Sienna realized as well, "Atalante." She said before gritting her teeth, "Caenis, run as fast as you can to their aid."

"On it!" Caenis said before sprinting at high speed.

Sienna then turned to Sheba, "I need to contact Atalante. You need to message the military group. They might be closer to her than they realize and can help." She said before Sheba nodded back. They started to run towards the tent to make the calls.

Suddenly, through the flames of the destroyed mechs, a red gleam shine through. Sienna's faunus ears twitched before she turned around. As something was rushing through the flames at high speed, the Leader of the White Fang gasped at a large spear was aim at her stomach. However, her body was shoved at the last moment.

"LOOK OU-!" Sheba called out before her body was squired by the spear. Sienna fell on her back, but looked up in horror. The jackalope faunus' body was stung up over ten feet in the air. Her blood dripped down from the stomach onto the spearhead and polearm. Holding the weapon was someone in a type of paladin-like armor. The blood dripped the darker steel body and stained the greener cloths on the arms and legs. At the head, a slight chuckled was heard before Sheba's body was tossed off the spear. She rolled for a few feet before the grey jackalopes rushed to her aid.

"Hehehehe," a voice from inside the armor, "Looks like I missed." The White Fang Killer said before turning to Sienna, resting the blood spear on his right shoulder, "Better try again."

"You Bastard!" Sienna said as she stood up, radiating a crimson aura while flaring her fangs, "YOU'RE DEAD!"

Blake.

"Y-you're not Adam!?" Blake said to the White Fang Killer, "Who are you?"

"Hijikata Toshizou," The White Fang Killer spoke while walking towards the black cat faunus, "However, that information matters not to a corpse."

Suddenly, Atalante leaped out of the forest and over Blake. She flared her fangs while reeling back her right arm, "DIE!" the faunus alter spoke while she slashed. However, Hijikata blocked her claws with his sword. He then pushed back on his blade, launching Atalante to Blake's right side.

"Are you from Apocrypha?" Hijikata asked, "You seem to be a berserker class as well."

"What was it you just said?" Atalante responded while spawning her black bow, "That information matters not to a corpse!" She said before shooting a black flaming arrow at the White Fang Killer.

Hijikata dodged before drawing his long rifle in his left hand, then fired a counter shot. Atalante jumped to evade, but Blake gasped at the sound of her opponent's rifle. Her mind flashed to the recording of Ilia, the sound out the gunfire that killed the lizard faunus. It was a match to the shot that was just fired now. Hijikata then aimed at Blake, causing the black cat faunus to focus before she aimed back. Each shot a flaming dust round at the other, which collided in a blazing explosion.

However, Hijikata fired a second shot right afterward, which travel through the smoke cloud. At the same moment, Blake fired a stone dust round from her weapon, creating a statue clone where she once stood. The blast from the rifle smashed through the stone as Blake dodged the rocky shrapnel, "That sound, and a sword and rifle combo?" she thought while jumping back, "But, I heard that the Killer also had red hair like him?" Suddenly, Hijikata rushed her, slashing with his sword while Blake blocked with her cleaver, "If this is not Adam, where is he?"

"You're not focusing," Hijikata said before going for an upwards slash. Blake managed to block this with her cleaver, but slightly stunned in the recoil. The White Fang Killer then quick-fired a shot at the base of the cleaver, shattering the weapon in Blake's hand. The black cat faunus gasped before seeing Hijikata spin to kick her in the stomach. Blake was launched while skidding on her back. The White Fang Killer then leaped before aiming with a downward plunge of his sword.

With another shot of the pistol, an aqua clone formed in her place. It took the stab as Hijikata landed on the aqua clone that soaked him. The water mixed with the dirt, creating a thick mud that pulled Hijikata's legs in a few inches into the ground. He turned to see Blake quick-fire two more shots, creating an electric clone and a wind clone towards him. However, the White Fang Killer pulled off his coat and threw it at the clones, causing them to detonate before touching him. However, Blake fired a third shot, this one with ice dust. It impacted with the soaked Hijikata, freezing him in place. However, the already started to crack as Blake knew he was about to break out.

The black cat faunus ejected her dust clip again, seeing she had five more rounds left. However, she reloaded a normal clip before clenching her gift from a friend. Blake tossed the dust clip at Hijikata, then shoots it with her pistol. A five-elemental explosion occurred, which launched Blake back in the shockwave. She struggled to stand back up, before looking at the pillar of smoke.

However, Hijikata walked out of the smoke. His clothes were slightly damaged, but his sharp gaze remained focused on Blake. The black cat faunus was hyperventilating, her eyes trembling. She gritted her teeth before her pistol changed to its blade form, readying for his assault. Suddenly, her faunus ears flinch.

Hijikata hears something rushing towards his left. In turn, he saw the Atalante in her monstrous boar form ram into him. The tusk held him against the boar's head as they charged into a tree. Hijikata spits up blood before his eyes went white with rage. With his long rifle, he shoots off the front right leg of the monstrous alter. The White Fang Killer then dropped his gun to free his left hand, leading to him reaching into the monstrous alter's mouth. In pushing the upper jaw, he exposed the underbelly of the beast, allowing him to reel back his right hand for a vital stab.

Before the blade could fully pierce the monstrous alter, Atalante ejected herself out of its back. She launched herself high in the air, her body radiating a dark flaming aura, "The burning shadow. The bow of the far side of the shattered moon. Take all of my hatred!" the faunus alter declared as her body shot back towards Hijikata, her body engulfed like a flaming arrow. "Tauropolos Skia Thermokrasia!" she screamed before impact, creating a massive explosion of dark purple and black energy that pulsates throughout the area. Blake held up her arms to block but was overtaken by the blast. Though the hit was not directed for her, the shockwave rang through the last of her aura.

A black dome of energy covered the area for a full minute before dissipating. When the smoke cleared, there was nothing but scorched dirt and charred rocks. Standing alone in a small crater, Atalante was breathing heavily while scanning the area. Soon, she discovered some rumbling stones, followed by the black cat faunus emerging from the ground. Blake's right arm was limp as her head was bleeding. She tried to focus her vision, but it was all blurry for her. Atalante then started to walk, "This is all your fault again." The faunus alter spoke, "If you hadn't shown up, I would have been able to save everyone here." She said as Blake gritted her teeth, looking at the ground, "Now, everyone is dead." Atalante said before her dark aura returned, "And soon, you can join then."

Slowly, as Blake fell back down to one knee, she noticed her weapon on the ground. While the blade had shattered, the pistol mechanizes looked to still work. She picked up her weapon and aimed at Atalante, "I'm not dying here!" Blake spoke with her finger on the trigger, her mind flashing to her teammates, "I made a promise to my friends. That we would all go on an adventure together!"

"That promise, will never happen!" Atalante said before flaring her fangs and claws, then pouncing towards her prey. Blake aimed as best she could with her blurry vision, but struggled to lock on, "DIE-"

Suddenly, a rifle shot was heard. With that, a hole was made in Atalante the exited out her stomach. She landed only halfway to Blake, resting on one knee before vomiting black blood. After she and the black cat faunus looked at the origin of the shot, their eyes widened. There he stood with his rifle barrel still steaming, "You thought that would kill me?" The White Fang Killer spoke, his body bloody, but his gaze still sharp, "My body will never quit."

Atalante flared her fangs before dashing towards Hijikata. The White Fang Killer then fired another shot, this time blasting off the faunus alter's left leg. However, Atalante used her right leg to pounces, reeling back her right arm with a dark aura claw ready to slash.

But as she went for this final attack, Hijikata slashed with the sword in his right hand, cutting off Atalante's right arm at the elbow. The faunus alter's body went over the White Fang Killer's head, landing on the ground with a loud thud. As she tried to get up, Hijikata ran the sword into her abdomen and into the soil, "AAAAAAA!" Atalante screamed before the end of the rifle's barrel was pressed against her left eye. Despite this, she still glared back with her right eye, "I swear, I'll kill you!"

At that moment, Hijikata pulled the trigger. With one shot, Blake watched in horror as half of Atalante's head was blown off. The faunus alter's body went limp, not even reacting at The White Fang Killer pulled out his sword. Hijikata then looked over to Blake, "All that's left in my way, is you." He said while walking over to the black cat faunus.

Blake began to hyperventilate as she aimed. She fired a few shots, but Hijikata deflected each one with his sword. Blake tried to use her semblance but realized she had nowhere to hide. Soon, the White Fang Killer was standing in front of her. Blake aimed her pistol at his head, but Hijikata remained unflinching. He glared her down with a sharp gaze, while she struggled to maintain her focus. Blake ran through every idea and reason to pull the trigger at this easy shot. She now realized it; this was the man that killed Ilia. Those eyes were the same ones that cut her friend down. Blake could finally avenger her and all other faunus this man had killed. She gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on the pistol, but could not pull the trigger.

"Coward," Hijikata spoke as Blake still trembling. Suddenly, the black cat faunus gasped as a sharp pain was in her chest. She looked down, seeing Hijikata's sword was ran through her body, piercing her heart. Her mouth filled with blood before she coughed onto the ground. The White Fang Killer violently ripped out his sword from Blake's body, causing the black cat faunus to fall backwards. Blake dropped her pistol without ever firing the last round. The rest of her body started to go limp as blood pooled around her. Hijikata watched her final gasped of air before walking away, not saying another word. Blake continued to feel the last of her life drain away, tears in her eyes before they slowly started to close.

Achilles.

Moments earlier.

"So, you think this is far enough?" A voice spoke that awoken Achilles. As he opened his eyes, he discovered that his head was covered by a black cloth bag and his mouth was gagged. "I mean, we just have to sit here and wait until Caenis comes here tell us what to do next?"

"That's the plan," Another White Fang grunt spoke, "Now, I'm going take a leak."

"Uh?" the first grunt responded.

"Relax, we scouted this area a couple of days ago." The other grunt responded, "No Grimm to worry about." He said before Achilles heard footsteps getting further away.

A few minutes later, Achilles heard the first grunt speak up again, "What is taking him so long?" Achilles then heard the voice get further with footsteps, "Hey, come on already! I need to go-" Suddenly, the voice of the grunt turned to shutter.

"Hey there," a new voice spoke, "What? Scared, are ya?"

"Y-you." The grunt spoke in fear, "A-all that b-blood."

"Yeah, your pal is not coming back." The new voice answered, then had a slight chuckle, "Don't worry, I let him finish his business. I'm not a monster." Suddenly, the tone changed to serious, "More a Faunus-Slayer. Or, maybe you know me as,"

"The White Fang Kill-" the grunt tearfully spoke before being cut off by a slash. Achilles heard one loud thud before a rolling sound.

Achilles' eyes widened as he heard a set of footsteps approaching, causing him to struggle out of his chains. However, their runic bonds prevented him from escaping. The footsteps were next to his head as the Faunus-Slayer spoke, "Hmm, lucky you. I'm not a fan of shooting fish in a barrel." He spoke before walking was heard, "I have a bigger catch to make."

Achilles screamed while struggling, but the footsteps only got further away. Even after a few minutes of trying to free himself, Achilles could not break the runic chains. The swift hero's body went limp as his eyes closed. Suddenly, a new voice was heard. However, this one echoed in Achille's mind. "Remember Achilles," the voice manifested in the image of his hours faunus teacher, "It may take more to deal damage to you, but you are the one that defines where your limits are set." Chiron spoke with a smile, "And it is up to you to see if you can break them."

Suddenly, Achilles opened his eyes. He attempted to break out of the chains again, causing his runic bonds to glow orange again. Their divine energy shocked through Achilles' body, but in response, he started to radiate a green aura. The two auras mixed as the chains began to bend. Despite his body being shocked from the recoil, the swift hero continued to push through. At the apex of both auras, the chains exploded off Achilles' body. Achilles sat up before removing the black bag and ungagged his mouth, "Finally." He said before sighing, "Thanks teacher. I wish I remember that earlier." He said before standing up but flinched as his body sparked with orange electricity, "Oh, that doesn't feel right." He said while holding his stomach. He then moved his right hand to his mouth and whistle, but nothing came, "No Chariot," he then held out his hand, focused, and summon his lance, "At least I have this." He said before despawning his weapon, "Guess I'm traveling the old fashion way." The swift hero then looked over the area, "Which way did he go?" At that moment, a massive explosion and burst of light occurred in the sky. He turned and gasped at the sight of a massive firebird ascended into the air before dispersing. The swift hero then clenched his fists before running towards that direction, his body still recoiling from the runic explosion.

Sienna.

"DIE! DIE! DIE!" Sienna screamed as she launched arrowhead after arrowhead from her chain wipe. The fire dust detonated on impact with the White Fang Killer. However, none could make a dent in this raging paladin's armor. He dashed across the ground as he closed in on his target.

However, one of the grey jackalopes intercepted him, landing a punch into the White Fang Killer's right jaw. Not only was he launched into a pile of metal, but his helmet was knocked off. As he stood up, his head was exposed. Beyond his crimson red hair, a set of orangish-yellow eyes stared back at all three jackalopes gathered, accompanied by a sinister grin, "You little bastards."

"Who are you!?" Sienna demanded.

"Heh, I guess it's no use hiding it now." The White Fang Killer responded, reposing with his spear, "I am Mori Nagayoshi. An advocate to make worthless fools know their place in this world."

"You!" Sienna spoke through her teeth, her fist clenched so tight that blood started to drip, "How many of my brethren have you killed?"

Nagayoshi grin, "It's hard for me to keep count, so I came up with a little game for myself." He responded before resting his spear on his shoulder, "You see, basic grunts are three points. While higher up admins are ten points." He then smirked over to Sheba's twitching body, "Someone like her would be twenty-five points, but I don't get them until she bleeds out." The raging paladin then aimed his spear at Sienna, "Normally, I average about fifty points per base I visit. But with you here, the leader, you're an easy hundred points." Nagayoshi said before reposing, his eyes glowing red, "And I feel like breaking a record! Hyahahahaha!" the raging paladin then dashed forward at high speed.

Sienna continued to launch more of her arrowheads at Nagayoshi, now concentrating her aim at his head. However, he slashed the exploding projectiles with his spear, creating only a cloud of smoke he dashed right through. Upon getting in range, Nagayoshi reel back before thrusting his spear to impale Sienna. In the seconds before, the Leader of the White Fang launched another arrowhead. This time aimed at Nagayoshi's chest like before. However, this one hit dead center with the exposed core of the armor. The reaction caused a bigger explosion that reversed Nagayoshi's moment. Sienna then wiped two more arrowheads, each loaded with an ice dust shard. They collided with the raging paladin's feet, locking him in place. Nagayoshi gritted in his teeth in rage before lifting his spear to strike the ice. However, he gasped upon an odd light overhead. The three jackalopes he had taken his eyes away from through the smoke cloud now hovered overhead, each holding a different orb of energy. Before he could even finish his gasp, the orbs were dropped onto his body. The explosion rang throughout the whole base, blasting chunks of the armor in all directions. Sienna glared while the smoke cleared, revealing the raging paladin laying motionless on his stomach.

The three jackalopes landed and ran back to Sheba, followed by Sienna. However, all had a look of horror as the jackalope faunus could not stop bleeding, "Sheba, why?" the Leader of the White Fang spoke, "Why did you save me?"

"Hehe…an investment?" Sheba said with a smirk, "You owe me big time now…Hehe." She said before coughing blood.

"Please, just hang in there." Sienna said as she ripped part of her red cape lining off, using it to stop some of the bleedings, "If our other group arrives soon, they should have the medical supplies we need. Then you can-" however, her faunus ears flinched again.

"That group isn't coming." Sienna heard a voice speak from a short distance away. She turned to see a man with messy black hair that was tired in the back. He wore a black cloak over a grey gi. In his left hand was a katana in a red sheath. An orange scarf was worn over his neck, which he lowered to talk, "Most likely, they're all dead." The White Fang Killer said before Sienna noticed the bloodstains on his pant legs, "Just like everyone else at this camp."

"You…" Sheba spoke in a trembling voice, the image of kids she led to safety flashing in her mind. However, the White Fang Killer looked back at her with a cold gaze. Sheba gritted her teeth before all three jackalopes pounced on him with fists reeled back. However, with the slightest eject of the sword from its sheath, a flurry of slashing formed over the jackalopes. Before they could finish their last thought, the three jackalope's bodies fell to pieces. Sienna gasped as Sheba watched the bloody chunks fall to the ground, "Ehad, Shtayim, Shalosh." She spoke with tears in her eyes.

"I am Okada Izou, the Faunus-Slayer." he spoke before drawing his sword fully with both hands, "Pleasure to meet you, Khan." Izou said before grinning, "Now, die." The Faunus-Slayer dashed with his katana in a horizontal swing.

Sienna jumped back to dodge, but Izou pursued with his slashes. The leader of the White Fang gritted her teeth in focusing on evasion. However, the Faunus-Slayer went for an abdominal stab. Sienna sidestepped the strike the raised her right arm, her hand in the shape of a claw as she went for Izou's face.

However, Izou grinned as he evaded with a flash of speed. Sienna gasped before realizing he was now behind her. The Faunus-Slayer held his katana back for an upward vertical slash.

With Sienna's left hand, she cracked her chain wipe into the katana, throwing off the blade's trajectory to miss. Izou reposed for a down vertical slash as Sienna pivoted to face her attacker. She grabbed her chain with her right hand and pulled her weapon tight. The chain wipe blocked the blade, creating sparks from the grinding metal. Sienna then lifted her left leg and kicked Izou in the stomach. While she reposed, the Leader of the White Fang equipped a fire dust arrowhead to her chain wipe, "Drop dead!" Sienna shouted as she was halfway in her attack, but Izou grinned.

Suddenly, Sienna's faunus ears flinched as she heard someone approaching from her blindside. She turned her gaze, seeing it was back where Nagayoshi's was. Now, the raging paladin was dashing for her, his armor shattered, his chest and head bleeding, but a sinister smile on his face, "One-hundred points!" Nagayoshi shouted as he reeled back his spear. Sienna gasped as she knew there was no way to dodge, no way to intercept, no way to escape this surprise attack. She could only watch as the blade of the spear was about to impale her. However, her faunus ears flinched again.

At the last second, someone tackled the raging paladin. Nagayoshi was flung back towards Izou, skidding on the ground, his spear never hitting its target. Sienna turned to the one that saved her, seeing it was Achilles. Izou looked at the swift hero, a grin starting to form, "So, the fish escaped the barrel." The Faunus-Slayer said before Achilles reposed with his lance.

"You," Sienna spoke but saw Achilles remained focused on their enemies. She then remembered Atalante's words about the swift hero. The leader of the White Fang then turned to their opponents, reposing her weapon as readied to fight.

"Who is this guy!?" Nagayoshi said while standing up, his aura glowing red, "He's really pissing me off!"

"One more opponent is nothing for us," Izou said as he readied his blade. However, he then looked up to see something approaching. The others soon did the same, noticing a large Atlas airship, "But that is pushing it a bit." He said before sheathing his sword, glancing to Nagayoshi, "We'll retreat for now."

"What!? But my high score?" Nagayoshi complained.

"You can get it when you kill her next time." Izou responded, "That gives you a chance to use the new armor."

Nagayoshi started to smile, "Oh, yes. That would be fun." He said before pointing his spear at Sienna, "You better not kill yourself before we meet again. Your head is mine!"

"Neither of you are getting away!" Sienna said before wiping her fire dust arrowhead at Izou. However, Nagayoshi slashed it out of midair with his spear, creating a smoke cloud. Sienna and Achilles readied for their opponents to attack but were met with silence. As the smoke cleared, the duo of White Fang Killers vanished. The Leader of the White Fang scanned the area before realizing they had escaped. Achilles gritted his teeth, but then saw Sienna rush over to Sheba's side, who had now lost consciousness. The swift hero signed, then looked up at the airship, seeing it was about to land near this destroyed camp.

Atalante.

"…No…Not yet…" crawling on her stomach, the mangled remains of Atalante moved to the body of Blake, "I will not die…by that Killer's hands!" she said while raising her head, which was partially disintegrating like a Grimm's corpse, "I need…a new…body." Before reaching the black cat faunus, discovering her a faint breath, "You have only seconds left… as do I." Atalante said before sitting partway up. With her left hand, the faunus alter reached into her own chest, pulling out a black beating heart. The light started to fade from Atalante's eyes as her body disintegrated at a faster rate, "This will either kill you…or make you wish that it did." The faunus alter grinned with blood dripping from her mouth, then flared her fangs before plunging the black heart in Blake's chest. The heart was absorbed into the black cat faunus' body, resulting in a dark aura forming, "Now…wake up." Atalante spoke before the rest of her body disappeared with one last word, "Nikushimi." Suddenly, the eyes opened with a pillar of dark purple aura shooting into the sky.

A short distance away, Caenis ran through the forest, seeing the beam through the tree line, "What is that?" she said before gritting her teeth and rushing to the edge of the forest. However, upon arriving at the base, she found nothing, "H-hey! Where is everyone!?" Caenis called out, "Atalante! ATALANTE!" she screamed while walking around, but already knew what had happened. Eventually, she found a freshly scorched mark and a pool of blood. The White Fang Champion fell to her knees, punched the dirt as tears formed in her eyes. Suddenly, something caught her gaze. She reached near the pool of blood, pulling out a damaged photo of four young huntresses in training. However, blood had spilled over on one of them in the photo.

AN: There you go, the three White Fang Killers reveal themselves. We have Nagayoshi, Izou, and Hijikata. The first two left Sheba near dead and her jackalopes in pieces. And the third dealt with Atalante and Blake with ease. Achilles finally broke those cuffs and even got back to save Sienna. However, Caenis was not able to get back to her friend in time, (Also, I really do like how her NP is tied back to her friendship with Sienna). Things are going to get more intense as more groups are meeting. And with the last moments of this chapter, as one alter dies, another is reborn. That is all for now, thanks for reading, and hope to see you in the next chapter.