Blaze laid on the couch with a magazine over his face as he slept comfortably. However, Emerald entered the room with the intentions of waking up the lazy Blaze. As she approached Blaze, Emerald gave a small kick to Blaze's leg in attempt to wake him. That made Blaze stirred himself a bit.

Blaze moved the magazine off his face, revealing his face. Emerald widen her eyes for a split second as she saw Blaze's red colored eyes. The eye colored changed back to its normal green color as the eyes shifted toward Emerald's direction.

"Why did you wake me?" Blaze asked as he let out a long yawn.

"Cinder wants to talk to you."

"What does that woman want now?"

Emerald didn't replied as she turned around and walked away. Blaze sat up on the couch for a moment. He stretched his arms before getting up from the couch. He casted a glare on Emerald as she walked out of the room before heading for the same direction himself.

-*RWBY*-

In the middle of the warehouse district during the night, a group of White Fang grunts hung out together near one of the empty buildings. By the looks of it, they simply strolled in a group, but they seemed to be joking around without a care.

"Why do we need to have a larger patrol now?" asked one of the grunts.

"There have been rumors of a man in a black robe has been taking out multiple hideouts near the neighboring area," another one explained. "They're afraid he might attack this place also."

"Come on," one man declined, "I seriously doubt he would attack this place."

The group let themselves have a laugh before continuing on with their patrols.

After a moment of silence, the one grunt towards the end of the group was caught by his neck with an invisible force. The caught man was reeled up from the ground without the rest even noticing. The grunt dropped his gun to the ground, alerting the rest of the group. They immediately turned around with their weapons ready.

Before they could realize what was happening, a man in a black robe with a black blade jumped down in the middle of the group, catching them all off guard. With one single swing from the sword, it managed to slice through all the targets. However, one of the grunts managed to trip before getting himself slice by the blade.

The grunt looked at his dead comrades before looking up to Shadow. Before Shadow could do anything, Shadow watched as the grunt quickly stood up to his feet and ran away from him. Shadow only let out a sigh in responds.

"You seriously going to make me work for my kill!?" Shadow called out to the grunt. Shadow started to walk towards the direction the grunt had headed without really giving any chase.

Shadow continued to follow the runaway grunt for a couple minutes. The way the grunt would occasionally stopped for Shadow to catch up, like he was leading Shadow somewhere. However, Shadow knew very well that the grunt was leading him to a trap. What the grunt didn't know, Shadow planned for himself to 'fall' for the trap. The chase ended as soon as the grunt ran into a dark building, Shadow followed without a second thought.

-*RWBY*-

Shadow entered the building without showing any sign of caution. The whole room was pitch black except for the single light shining over the center of the room. Shadow casually strolled to the spotlight.

The moment Shadow entered spotlight, the door to the warehouse closed behind him, and the lights of the place turned on. Shadow found himself surrounded by multiple grunts with rifles aimed at him. Shadow made no sign of concern.

"Drop your weapon!" one of the grunts ordered.

"Like I would ever do that," Shadow replied.

"I doubt you would," Shadow heard a woman's voice from the distance.

Shadow watched as Cinder walked onto the second floor walkway, followed by Mercury and Emerald. Cinder smiled as she thought she had the upper hand, but Shadow remain unfazed.

"What is your purpose for attacking the White Fang?" Cinder questioned.

Shadow didn't say anything as he wanted to get on Cinder's nerves. Before Cinder could say anything, everyone heard Blaze's voice from the distance, "What the hell do you want? I'm trying to get some sleep."

Everyone watched as Blaze entered the room while he scratched his head, showing no care for anything. He reached to the railing, stood next to Cinder, and stopped. Blaze noticed Shadow stood below him.

"Shadow?" Blaze said, "I didn't expect you to be here so soon."

"Blaze? I forgot you were here with these people," Shadow commented.

"Wait, you know him?" Emerald asked.

Blaze leaned onto the railing before answering, "He's my brother." Everyone looked at Blaze with a surprise look by Blaze's explanation.

"I don't really count you as my brother, Blaze," Shadow stated, "I am not like the rest of you."

"Are you sure about that?" Blaze asked.

Shadow watched as Blaze's eyes shifted to red in a matter of seconds before changing back. Shadow responded by laughing out loud, enough to even frighten the grunts around him.

"So, you are really my brother," Shadow said as he stopped laughing. "Then you know my true intentions."

"Yes I do," Blaze said. "Since you are the manifestation of him then I know what you truly wanted," Blaze smiled, "You let Terra die for him to regain his earth magic. Well… more like it was convenient for him to get kill."

"What are you going to do? Fight me?" Shadow questioned.

"I can't," Blaze declined, "one of the condition of living here was not to fight you, so I don't get myself kill by you."

Cinder casted a death glare at Blaze. She didn't like the fact that Blaze had planned for his own safety. He even knew about Shadow's plan to attack the White Fang.

"However," Blaze continued. Blaze jumped over the railing onto the same level as Shadow. He summoned the Mystical Blade, Inferno, and pointed it to Shadow. "I just wanted to see how I would stand against you."

"If you're going to fight me, then you must fight me with your full strength," Shadow stated, "I already know your true identity, I know you don't use that kind of style."

"Damn, you knew," Blaze jokingly said. Inferno transformed into a red metal gauntlet around his right hand.

Blaze lunged at Shadow, with his fist, at an incredible speed. Shadow quickly held up the dark blade to block the incoming attack. Shadow held his stance as the Blaze's fist made contact with the blade. The force of the punch destroyed the area behind Shadow. Blaze knew Shadow smiled under his hood by the result of the attack. Blaze quickly reacted by holding out his left hand at Shadow at point blank range. A small red magic circle appeared, causing Shadow to act.

A stream of fire shot out of the magic circle as Shadow disappeared from sight. Shadow reappeared behind Blaze as Shadow swung his sword, but Blaze, also, disappeared from sight. Blaze reappeared behind Shadow as Blaze swung his fist at Shadow. Shadow quickly used Blaze's fist as a way to flip himself over Blaze.

Before Shadow could perform his next attack, Blaze punched the ground causing a huge explosion, forcing the two to separate themselves.

Blaze charged once more at Shadow. As Blaze came close, Blaze quickly performed a series punches and powerful leg swings. Shadow only reacted by blocking and dodging the attacks. Shadow ended the assault by a quick upper slash, causing Blaze to jump back.

Before Shadow could make a counterattack, Blaze disappeared again, but reappeared next to Cinder on the walkway. The trio on the walkway flinched by Blaze's sudden appearance.

"I give up," Blaze surrendered as the red gauntlet turned into ashes.

"So, you knew I was holding back," Shadow stated.

"Yeah, besides, shadow magic isn't really my style," Blaze stated, "I know you were holding back because you only used Shadow Step during the fight. So, I guess I can give this victory to you."

"So, that's it?" Shadow questioned.

"I want to call a truce, out of respect for each other skills. If that's okay with you?" Blaze declared.

Shadow considered Blaze's offer for a bit before answering, "Yeah, I guess I will take on your offer, Blaze."

"So," Blaze continued as he gave Shadow a reassuring simile, "As a sigh of peace, you could leave us in peace."

Shadow began to laugh as he found the whole situation rather amusing. "Sure, I will take my leave. However…" Shadow's tone changed into a serious one, "Blaze, I know what you're trying to do. You know I can't leave until I kill the runaway grunt that led me here. You know how I work very well."

Blaze gripped the railing tightly as he knew his plan had failed. Cinder didn't say anything since she doesn't know how to deal with Shadow herself. She had no choice but to allow Blaze to handle this situation.

"Sure, we will bring him out," Blaze said without a second thought.

"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!" one of the grunts yelled out to Blaze.

"What are you doing?" Cinder whispered to Blaze.

"If you want a chance to live, then sacrifices must be made in order to success," Blaze said to Cinder. He looked back to the grunts. "Bring him what he wants."

However, no one made any effort to follow Blaze's orders. They continued to aim their weapons at Shadow. Blaze found it very concerning.

"What's wrong?" Shadow asked the group. "I promise that I will make it quick and painless." The grunts remain silent. "Okay, how about this," Shadow continued, "one of you could take its place. You all look the same, so it doesn't matter for me."

"Enough," everyone heard a voice coming from the hallway. A White Fang member emerged from the doorway. His uniform was different than the rest of the grunts. He was equipped with a large axe on his back with multiple throwing axes strapped around his body. "I grow tired of your cocky attitude."

"Look, it's a Lieutenant," one grunt called out.

"You're going to be the one to throw your life away for a grunt?" Shadow asked as he held up his weapon.

"Your blood will spill nicely on my axe," the Lieutenant stated. He pulled out a throwing axe in each hand.

Shadow sighed in responds. "You're really going to make me work for my kills, are you?"

The Lieutenant threw both axes at Shadow and watched for his reaction. Shadow reacted by slapping the axes away with one single swing of his blade.

The Lieutenant reached for the large axe on his back as he began to charge at Shadow. As he was close enough, the Lieutenant pulled out the large axe and jumped. Shadow quickly rolled to his side as the Lieutenant slammed the axe into the ground next to him.

The Lieutenant pulled out another axe and threw it at Shadow. Shadow disappeared into black smoke before the axe could reach him. Shadow reappeared behind the Lieutenant without him realizing it and delivered a powerful kick. The force of the kick caused the Lieutenant to fly across the room, crashing into a wall.

"I started to grow tire of this," Shadow stated.

Shadow held up his blade in attempt to end this. The blade was covered in black smoke before transforming into a blade with multiple teeth across the blade. During this process, the Lieutenant emerged from the crash without showing any signs of damage. Shadow simply held up his blade to show he was ready.

The Lieutenant charged at Shadow as he pulled out two more throwing axes. In responds, Shadow decided to charge at the Lieutenant as well. As the two came close to each other, Shadow prematurely swung his blade, but caused the blade to extend out into a whip-like weapon. The Lieutenant swung both of his axes at Shadow, but Shadow jumped over the charging Lieutenant.

Shadow landed behind the Lieutenant. He immediately whipped the weapon, causing the tip to wrap around the Lieutenant's neck. Shadow pulled the handle forcibly, the blades on the whip ripped through the flesh of the neck without effort.

The whip retracted back into the blade from before. Shadow stood motionless as the blade disappeared into black smoke. The head of the Lieutenant fell onto the ground before the body collapsed onto the ground also.

Everyone looked at Shadow with a terrify look, but Blaze's expression remained the same from before. Blood started to form around the head and the body.

"YOU BASTARD, YOU KILL HIM!" one grunt shouted.

In responds, everyone began to open fire at Shadow. However, a tornado, made out of fire, brewed up and surrounded Shadow. After moments, everyone seized fire and watched the fire. The fire subdued, vanishing instantly, but Shadow stood there without a scratch on him.

Everyone looked towards the second level and noticed Blaze had his hand out with a red magic circle in front of it. Blaze's face told everyone that he was angry.

"Don't be stupid!" Blaze barked. "Shadow would leave after killing one guy. You all forced me to overstep my boundaries."

"You can't be serious!" one grunt talked back.

Blaze casted a death glare at the grunt, the grunt flinched out of fear.

"Like I said before, sacrifices are needed for success," Blaze continued. "You're about let your comrade's death be in vain as you would all got yourselves killed." Blaze looked at Shadow. "You got what you want, leave us at peace."

"Before I go," Shadow began to talk, "I will tell you this: Since you are like me, failure is not an option for you. I expect many things from you, Blaze."

Shadow gave one last laugh before vanishing into black smoke.

Cinder looked at Blaze with a concerned look. After what happened just now, she doesn't know what to expect. Blaze turned around and headed for the door without saying a word.

"Where are you going?" Cinder had the guts to ask.

Blaze stopped without looking back. "I had no choice but to execute my plans early."

"What are you planning?"

Blaze let out a sigh before continuing, "You could say I will be laying out a trail of breadcrumbs for a trap."

Blaze ended the conversation by leaving the room. Cinder looked at Mercury and Emerald before looking back over the railing. She watched as the grunts began to clean up the mess, Shadow had left. Based on Shadow's skills during the whole encounter, this will pose a problem for her in the future.

-*RWBY*-

Asarirn woke up later that night. He immediately looked out the window without a second thought. Blake was also wake. She was reading a book as she noticed Asarirn's sudden movements.

"What is wrong?" Blake whispered to Asarirn.

"Nothing," Asarirn responded.

Blake narrowed her eyes at Asarirn before continuing, "If you say so." Blake began to read her book once more.

Asarirn felt two magical presence. Before he could identify them, the traces disappeared. Asarirn simply laid back down as he tried to ponder about it. "Whoever they were, I know for sure they were fighting against each other. But why?"

Asarirn couldn't let that thought distract him from sleep. He decided to ignore it for now and addressed the issue when it happened again. With that, Asarirn began to sleep once more.

Author's Note: To the people who gone to RTX or watched the live stream, I will tell you this: THE HYPE IS REAL! I can't wait for Volume 3. Well anyway, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter.