Chapter 6

Sewers

It hadn't even been one minute, three of Adam's men are already downed. One dead, one dying and one maimed, and Ragna hadn't even drew his sword.

"Have enough? Now get lost before I really lose my temper."

"You killed my people, human, you think I will just let this go?"

"Let me make this really simple for you, the moment you pointed a weapon at me, I will show no mercy."

BANG!

Adam's sword shot from his scabbard, but the moment Ragna heard the shot, he already drew his sword and deflected the sword. Adam's sword bounced off and went spinning in the air, but he caught it midair and immediately sheathed it, but Ragna was already in front of him, covering his sword with red and dark aura and swinging his sword at Adam, but he blocked it just in time, Ragna then unleashed a fury of slashes, only to be blocked every single time.

"Human, as if your kind needed a reason to oppress, kill, rape, and enslave us." Said Adam with a cold voice.

"Sorry. I'm not taking responsibility for other people's shit - find someone else to annoy!"

'I already have enough people who want me dead for legitimate reasons, I don't need a fake one.'

Adam drew his sword and slashed at Ragnas' face, but Ragan tilted his head and body back and dodged the attack, and did a backflip in the air; Adam gave chase, but Ragna created a blue Ars platform above him in midair, and use it to propel himself downward at Adam with his sword crushing down!

NIGHTMARE EDGE!

Adam stopped in time and blocked the attack, and Ragan turned his body and slashed at Adam again, but was blocked again!

'His defense is good. But something's strange.' Thought Ragan. "Every time I hit his sword, it's like there's no impact.'

Adam smirked as he went into a drawing stance. 'It's time, I'll take an arm first, or maybe a leg…'

In a flash, Adam drew his sword, and a wave of red energy flew towards Ragna, Ragna responded by challenging the wave, and swung his sword downward, clashing with the wave head on!

CLASH!

The impact sent red energy and dust everywhere. Adam had to cover his eyes and moved backward out of the dust cloud. But then, out of the dust cloud, came a huge, dark claw! Adam raised his sword to block, but instead of an attack, he was lift off the ground

"Now, Devoured by Darkness."

Adam felt it, his life draining out of him, but just then, spears, made of glass, impaled the dark claw.

BOOM!

The spears exploded, sending both Adam and Ragna flying. When the dust cloud cleared, Cinder appeared before Adam, and gestured him to escape.

'That human… he survived my Moonslice! And how could he still be in one piece?! I had cut through layers of reinforced steel with my Semblance!' Thought Adam, with one knee on the ground, supporting himself up only by his sword. 'And why am I so tired? I've only been fighting for a few minutes!'

"I owed you nothing, human." Said Adam. Cinder resist the urge to roll her eyes, like literally resisted. It wasn't easy. After that, two of Adams' men carried him by the shoulders and left. His remaining men also picked up the injured and followed him.

Cinder turned to Ragna.Even though he was bloody, she couldn't see a single wound on him.

'His wounds, inflicted by Adam and my exploitation are already gone…' Thought Cinder. 'I knew it. His Semblance is some kind of life force theft. I was only following him to find out where his hideout was, but to think I'd get to see him fight again. Yes, the more information I have on you, the easier it is for me to defeat you.'

"Again?" Said Ragna, looking at Cinder "I'm not into people stalking me."

"We will meet again, Ragna the Bloodedge."

And then she blasted the ground with a fire ball and created a smokescreen, and disappeared.

"Really? You actually just gave me the "We will meet again" line? Stop stalking me lady!"

Kaka Village

The moment Blake entered the village, she could smell him.

'He's here? Nononono!'

"We're here!" Said Taokaka excited.

"And where is here?" Asked Weiss.

"Tao's home!" Answered Tao.

Yang: "What! Please don't tell me you just wanted to go home! I thought you were leading us to Ruby?"

"Ruby? What's that? Is it tasty?" Asked Tao, tilting her head to the left a little.

"The owner of this sock!" Said Weiss, holding out a paper bag.

Yang: "Tao, I swear if you forgot what we were doing AGAIN I'll-"

Bang: "I believe in my disciple. If she says it's here, then it's here!"

"I'm home! Now where's the food!" Said Taokaka, ignoring them and walking into a house.

'What do I do? What do I do?' Thought Blake, as she tried to hide her panic.

Was he here to recruit? Her first instinct was to run, but… before she could do anything, they were met by a group of cat Faunus, all dressed like Tao. An old cat Faunus walked in front of them.

"Welcome, Mr Shishigami. What can I do for you and your friends today?"

"Ah! Elder! These are my friends from the beautiful continent of Remnant!"

"I am the Elder of this village, Totokaka." Said an old cat Faunus.

"Are you with the scary masked men?" Asked one of the Faunus child.

"What Masked men?" Asked Weiss.

'Masked men!' Thought Blake.

"That's no important right now! Where's Ruby?" Said Yang.

"She's alright." Said a black haired woman walking towards them.

"And your are?" Asked Yang.

"Miss Litchi! You're here!" Said Bang, happily.

"Litchi Faye Ling, I run a clinic in Orient Town. And your friend is alright."

"Where!?" Yelled Yang. Litchi understands that she didn't mean to sound rude, she's just worried.

Litchi Pointed to the hub behind her, and Yang immediately rushed towards it. The others soon followed.

Rachel Alucard looked on from the ceiling, as the sisters reunited. That was easy. All she did was sent the wind in Tao's direction and she immediately picked up Ruby's scent. And when Tao lost interest she just sent the smell of dinner from Kaka village.

She then looked to Ragna, watching from the shadow, waiting for them to leave. And she flew down to him.

"Not going to join them? Or do you just enjoy watching teenage girls from the shadows."

"Shut up. I just want them to leave, so I can have some pace and quiet. I'm still hurting from the two battles I had today."

Ragna made it look easy, but in reality, both fights were incredibly dangerous. While his Seithr resistance was higher than most people, he was not immune. Arakune could have easily overwhelmed him with Seithr. And Adam's final attack, just blocking it fractured his left arm.

'If my right arm wasn't more durable... there's no way any normal arm could have blocked that.'

And if he was only a split second too late, he would be in two pieces by now. The bones in his left arm was now healed because of the life force he took from Adam, but it still hurt.

Rachel looked at Ragna's left arm, and snapped her fingers, teleporting both of them to her rose garden.

"What?" said Ragna, surprised. "You need to warn me before you do something like this!"

"Just for tonight, I will allow you to rest in my garden."

"But Princess! Just by being here, this ugly beast is ruining the view!" Said Nago the cat.

"And he smells too, we might never be able to get rid of the stench." Said Gii the bat.

With a wave of her hand, both familiars disappeared.

"I didn't agree to this." Said Ragna.

And Rachel ignored him, and then also disappeared.

In the Hub

As soon as they opened the door, they saw Ruby, sitting on a bed, wearing a mask, looking at them. Yang immediately walked to her and hugged her.

Yang: "Ruby! I was so worried…"

Ruby: "Sorry… Sis."

Yang: "So what happened? Why did you disappear like that!"

Ruby: "I… don't remember… My head is all fuzzy."

"Is there something wrong with her?" Asked Weiss.

Litchi: "Me and… another person found her in the sewers, suffering from Seithr poison-"

"Seithr poison! Is she all right?" Asked Yang.

"Yes… in fact, aside from a little memory lost, she's in perfect condition. I can't explain it. But somehow the Seithr in her body has disappeared. I only had her wore that mask as a precaution."

"So she's alright?"

"She's still weak from the fever she had. But yes. A good night's sleep and by tomorrow she'll be as good as new."

Everyone lets out a sigh of relief.

"But how did it happen?" Wondered Weiss. "The Seithr level is rather high around here, but not at the level that would be dangerous."

Litchi: "Uh…"

"It was the monster." Said the Elder.

Weiss: "A monster? You mean a Grimm?"

"Oh… I remember… I was attacked, wasn't I?" Said Ruby, trying to remember. "I was following… something? And then… something attacked me? A Grimm Maybe?"

Totokaka: "We call it, Arakune. Just by existing, it spreads Seithr. Some of my people have already been attacked."

Weiss: "It can spread Seithr? Usually Grimm only emit some Seithr when they die and disappear."

"And how did you survive? Did you beat that Grimm?" Asked Yang.

Ruby: "I… don't remember…"

Elder: "It was Doctor Faye Ling and another guest of ours that brought her here."

Weiss: "So you beat the Grimm?"

Litchi: "No… I didn't do anything. I only helped bring her here and treated her."

"That's not nothing." Said Yang. "Thank you."

"No… it's alright. Just doing my job." Said Litchi, and for some reason, looking uncomfortable.

Blake: "So it's the other one who beat the Grimm."

Yang: "Where are they? I would like to thank them, for saving my little sister."

"He is out right now." Replied the Elder.

"So this Arakune is dead right?" Asked Weiss.

"No. It seems that it got away." Answered the Elder.

"Good." Said Yang, creaking her fists. "Now I can personally settle the score with this Grimm."

Weiss: "What? You still have the tournament to consider!"

Yang: "I wouldn't worry. Aside from Pyrrha, no one is even posing a challenge."

Weiss: "Hey! I'm in the tournament too!"

"Yeah…" Said Yang, looking at Weiss. "My point still stands."

Elder Totokaka: "There is a bounty on Arakune. However, that monster is quite illusive. Several hunters had found it and engaged it, but it always managed to escape."

"Do not worry, Elder! I, Bang Shishigami! Shall defeat this fiend!" Said Bang proudly, as he stole glances at Litchi.

Elder Totokaka: "Oh no. You don't have to. Our guardian, Torakaka will be back in around three days. And with her and Tao here, we'll be fine."

"You do you. But I have a personal debt to settle." Said Yang.

After that, they decided it was time to return to the dorm, and Yang carried Ruby back on her back.

Blake: "I want to stay for a while."

Weiss: "Okay then. See you back at the dorm."

After they left, Blake went to the Elder's house.

"You want to know about the White Fang, yes?"

"How…"

Totokaka laughed. "I only guessed. I'm almost a hundred years old. Experience is all I have these days. Let me have my fun playing the know-it-all wise old woman."

"So the White Fang, did they come to recruit?"

"Yes. Unfortunately for them, the Kakas of this village are too lazy and carefree to join any rebellion. No one joined them."

Blake let out a sigh of relief.

"It also doesn't help that the young man who was leading them was too angry and used too many big words. The Kakas here are happy with their lives. A speech like that would only bore them, not sway them."

'An anger young man?' Thought Blake. "Happy? But you live in a sewer."

"We live under the sewers." Corrected Totokaka. "And yes, there are some discriminations by some humans, but we are free. Kakas are more resistance to Seithr than humans and Faunus. There are many places we could choose to live that human couldn't. Make no mistake, we chose to live here."

"One last question. The one who leading the White Fang, was he a bull Faunus with red hair?"

"Yes."

Cinder Sewers Hideout

"Oh, that's the Azure Grimoire." Commented Kazama Kval, the shady information broker.

"What?" Even Adam was surprised.

"What the hell is an Azure Grimoire?" Asked Mercury, in an uninterested tone.

Cinder wasn't too sure either. All she heard were rumors, about how it was the ultimate Grimoire, as coveted as the Nox Nyctores.

"I heard it grants the user immortality or something, or bring the dead back to life, or some other stupid bullshit like that." Said Emerald, ignoring Adam scowling at her when she said bullshit.

Hazama did his best to hold back a grin. 'Oh those silly rumors. Well, then again, I was responsible for some of them. Well, most of them. Ah, those were fun times.'

"So. What is the Azure Grimoire, truly?" Asked Cinder.

"What? Why do you think I know?" Kval replied with a question.

Cinder summoned fire into her hand. "Tell me what you know now, or I will turn you into ash."

"Fine, fine." Said Kval, taking a few steps back, looking at the exit. "Don't lose your cool now, please."

The more she saw of this Kval, the more pathetic he looked, and the more she felt stupid for ever being so cautious of him.

'If not for my Maiden power sometime acting up when he's around, I would have just saw him as nothing more than a coward.'

"Stop playing games, Kval, and get to the point, or the thing I'll lose will be my temper."

"Didn't you fight Bloodedge before? Did he not use the Azure Grimoire in front of you?"

Cinder thought back to her first encounter with Ragna, yes… his right hand created a dark Aura. Wait…

"I never told you he used his Azure Grimoire in front of me. I didn't even know about the Grimoire."

"Oh… you didn't hmm… Oh well, not important, details, details. What is important right now is the Azure Grimoire, right?" Said Kval, trying to downplay the realization, but Mercury and Emerald already surrounded him.

Cinder: "Azure Grimoire, that "grim reaper" used it to create Aura, that is what I remembered. Dark Aura came out of his hand."

Kval: "Aura? Are you sure it's not Seithr?"

Seithr?

Emerald: "So the Azure Grimoire can create Seithr? But why, there's already too much Seithr as it is."

Kval: "Oh, it doesn't create Seithr, it's a gate, connecting to the Boundary."

And Mercury laughed. "Boundary? You religious type… Hahaha!"

Kval: "Religious? What's so religious about the Boundary?"

Mercury: "Oh come on! The place where souls originated and return? Where the Gods live? You believe that shit?"

"It not a matter of faith or belief or religion, The Boundary, at least the realm of infinite Seithr exist. As of the Gods… who care about that right now."

'Thought I am friend with one, well at least acquainted… don't really worship him though.'. Thought Hazama.

"You're right, I don't care about your religious views. So, Bloodedge's hand is a gate to the Boundary?"

"Yes, and with it, endless Seithr."

'So that's how that human beat me. He cheated! It wasn't his own strength. That's how these humans always are. They can't win with their own strength against us superior Faunus, so they cheat! I haven't lost!' Thought Adam with a smirk. And Hazama looks at him, giggling inside.

Hazama: 'Look at him. So happy.'

Tarumi: 'Narcissists are so easy to please. We should know! He hahaha!'

Endless Seithr, endless power. Cinder now understands why Ragna has such an absurd price on his head. Not just because he's dangerous, but also because the Library probably wants his Azure Grimoire too.

Hazama can almost literally see Cinder's greed growing, and he giggled in his mind.

"But it's of no use to you people, right? Since you can't use Grimoires."

Mercury: "How hard can it be. They are just weapons, tools."

Kval: "They are just tools. But just like any tool, you need certain knowledge to use them. And in Grimoire's case, it's Ars Magus."

"Your "magic" huh." Said Mercury, looking around, hoping to find others who think this was as stupid as his thinks it was.

Kval then looked at Cinder. "But you, you could use magic without any knowledge of Ars Magus. Think how powerful you can be, with the Azure Grimoire, and a Armegis. Think about it, unlimited power."

"But as you said, I don't know how to use Ars Magus."

"You can use magic already, you might not have to."

'Just what are you playing at, Hazama? What is the point of this?' Asked Tarumi.

'Nothing, just giving our toy a little upgrade. And toys don't need a point, they just need to be fun. Just let her dance on my palm. And who knows, maybe she will be a little more useful this way.' Replied Hazama to Terumi.

'Now that I understand.' Said Terumi, and then began to laugh, inside Hazama's mind.

Kval pointed to Cinder's weapons. "Well? You don't really need them anyway. Let me borrow it, I know a guy. I'm sure he can convert them into an Armegis for you."

Cinder unsheathed her twin swords, Midnight, and handed them over to him.

"You won't regret this."

"For your sake, I better not." Said Cinder, her eyes lighting up as if they were on fire, letting Kval know who was in charged.

"Please don't do that. You're making me nervous, you don't like it when I'm nervous. Might ruin your carpet." Said Kval, with his hands in front of him.

"What a coward. As expected of a human." Commented Adam.

"Have some faith in me. How about this, as a sign of good faith, I'll give you another piece of free intel. There will be something big happening tomorrow night."

Emerald: "Something? What kind of something?"

Kval: "I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise. Let's just say a fun festival that will shake the whole region."

'Shake the whole region?'Thought Cinder.

Kval: "I wouldn't recommend you leaving the city tomorrow night though."

'That could be our chance, I could send Torchwick and Neo to the Atlesian mother ship and hack their system, if I can trust him.'

Cinder looked over to the smiling Kval. 'No, he wouldn't dare to lie to me. He may have some power here as an info broker, but he knows first hand just how powerful I am.'

Thinking back to when she and Kval first met, and how he cowered before her power.

'If nothing else, at least I am more powerful than him.'

Cinder smiled. Finally, the plan was back on track.

To Be Continued