Remnant: Angel of Death

Chapter 6: Night-off.

The pain on his side woke him up. For a moment, he was out of breath but ignored it and stood up anyways; the fragmented moon was barely visible on the morning sky.

"Sir, you should stay on bed. It's too early in the morning."

Azrael turned around to see his Scroll. "I am fine."

After taking a bath and dressing up, he opened Neo's door. She was there, sleeping calmly on her bed, laying on it as if she had just fell from a second floor. Her room was childish with pink, brown and white as the dominant colors and even some toys which he didn't find rare since he used to play with action figures from time to time. Her bed was a utter mess, sheets on the floor and pillow scattered across the room.

He went downstairs to make breakfast and train. Given his injuries, he was forced to only exercise his arms with lightweights, performing a biceps curl was painful enough but in the battlefield, he couldn't allow himself to be paralyzed by pain. Once he finished, he went upstairs to take another bath. At that moment, the sun had already risen and some birds were singing. Anthe, the wolf pup, surely was waking up and was on her way to the cabin.

At the same time he set foot on the upper floor, Neo came out from the door at the bottom of the hall; her pink nightdress and messy hair made her cuter than usual. Her sleepy face changed to surprise as soon as she saw him; not because he was shirtless -although it was a good reason to be-but because of the fact that he was out of the bed. She was no doctor but it was common sense that if you have broken ribs you should rest.

"Good morning, Neo."

Neo was not glad at all and demanded him to get to bed but after her repeated attempts failed, she gave up and went downstairs to eat.

Later in the morning, she was on the porch reading one of the books she, well, Azrael bought. It was a collection of fables which end was commonly grim, she was in the middle of a fable about a farmer that wants to kill his old dog when something called her attention.

Azrael was knelt with both knees on the ground facing the woods. He was still shirtless and was not wearing the brace to keep his ribs from moving. Neo watched with interest what was he doing, it seemed that he was meditating. On his left side, Anthe, the wolf pup, was sat as well mimicking Azrael.

The wolfie wiggled her tail and sometimes climbed onto him but all he did was grabbing her by the nape and returned her to a meditation position.

Neopolitan observed with curiosity. Her eyes were drawn to his back, the tattoo on it... something was off. She couldn't see anything but she had that sensation of unease when something was out of normal, just like when someone close to you changes their appearance and that somehow triggers something in your brain. She felt shivers going down her spine, the more she saw the tattoo the stronger the sensation of unease but she couldn't take her eyes off his back. Out of instinct, her aura activated enhancing her body and senses.

Focusing hard enough, she could catch glimpses of the tattoo spreading tendrils of ink towards his injured side but when she blinked, the tendrils were not there. To her surprise, she saw how his almost black bruise acquired a clearer shade of purple. Wait, did he just heal? He could use aura?

Her questions were cast aside the moment Azrael fell to the ground. Neo rushed to help him, fortunately, it was not necessary; he was conscious but exhausted. She grabbed Anthe and caressed her head to calm her down, watching how her "master" suddenly collapsed alarmed her a lot.

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After resting for a while, at the time of the day where the sun was at its highest. Azrael went to the basement accompanied by Neopolitan who couldn't believe that he had managed to heal so fast. He sat in front of the hyperfuturistic computer.

The three holographic screens showed different information. Behind him, Neopolitan kept on reading her book interrupting her reading to look at Azrael occasionally or to relax Anthe who, common for her age, had a lot of energy.

Azrael paid her no mind but he interrupted his work to listen in case of an in-coming attack, it was not that he had no trust on Neo but that was already an habit that he didn't plan to get rid of. Regarding what had took him to the basement, he was going to try to find Blake Belladonna, at least that was his main investigation.

On the screen at his left, a case file regarding Raven Branwen; on the screen at his right, a case file regarding Summer Rose; and finally, on the screen on the middle a case file regarding Blake Belladonna. The latter had taken a priority since it was the most immediate thing he had to do; finding clues about Raven was hard enough to make his drones explore every corner of the kingdoms, and regarding Summer Rose, he had nothing but rumors.

"I think you know where she is. You want to be sure, I assume."

He nodded at Rachel's accurate deduction, he shouldn't be so surprised though, Rachel was an Artificial Intelligence created to acquire all kind of information from unexplored worlds. Sometimes he felt as if he was limiting her and even asked her if that was the case but she was happy to serve him...apparently.

"Regarding, Raven Branwen. Her last known location was somewhere in Vacuo."

"Look for places with a reliable water source, possible agriculture, high animal activity, and/or constant sandstorms."

A good sandstorm far away could deter anyone from getting closer and since there were no satellites in Remnant, the ranging winds that lifted gigantic sand clouds would provide a more than good cover. When he left, the Branwen Tribe was around two dozens counting Raven and Vernal, feeding so many mouths three or two times daily logically required constant food. There were no villages in Vacuo, at least non-nomad ones, and the ones that existed were dangerously close to the city, so raiding was not a plausible option which just left hunting and agriculture as the only ones effective enough to feed so many mouths.

"Now, update me on Summer's case."

"Summer Rose, huntress graduated from Beacon Academy and leader of the team STRQ. Her semblance was named 'Petal Burst'."

On the screen of the right, an image of Summer carrying a baby appeared. Judging by the messages, the baby was Ruby Rose. Besides, Summer, a little Yang saw her sister with awe, cute image.

"Among her team members, she showed the highest combat score and the team as a whole holds the highest success per mission ratio ever recorded. The team completed successfully more than 40 missions while in Beacon. May I comment something?"

Azrael crossed his legs and folded his hands. "Go ahead."

"I detected multiple changes to the files and a slightly unusual period between missions."

Azrael squinted and played with his shaved mustache. "It might be a coincidence. Mission reports tend to change from their initial state and they were students at the time, maybe the academy gave them time to study. Another alternative, someone is covering things up."

"I agree. I would investigate further but the firewalls of the CCTS have became aware of my intrusion. Should I try to access once again?"

"No, too risky."

Azrael leaned forward and with his thumb on his chin he began to summarize.

"Team STRQ was the best one in Beacon, they had many missions. The reports of said missions are modified in some manner and the periods of time between missions varied. It might not be nothing but I should make sure."

He leaned back on his chair and focused on the screen in the middle. Blake Belladonna stared at him, that image belonged to a training course that was made in Mistral; Blake was sometimes too pure of heart to even do questionably morale things but she had the fire within her, the fire to try to keep pushing forward despite of having the odds against you.

"White Fang activity has been reported near the northern coastline. Should I deploy drones to scout the area?"

"Affirmative, mark it on the map. If you can, make the drones map the zone as well."

"As you wish. Sir, the nanomachines in your body are telling me that your ribcage is almost healed."

"Perfect."

"Sir, I think that I should not remind you the dangers of forcing your soul to aid the body."

Azrael stood up and went to the closet in the wall opening revealing his gear and different weapons. He was clearly about to head out but he was halted by Neopolitan who was just puzzled by his intentions. Without her aura activated, he could easily push her aside but that would not be... was absolutely against the idea of him getting out in such a condition. Both of them were stubborn and held their opinions but, in the end, Neo's pleading face dealt the fatal blow.

"Fine, you can go with me."

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City of Vale.

Roman Torchwick sighed. He didn't like being ordered around by anyone but the business promised to be pretty lucrative; after that, they would have to abandon Vale for a while but that didn't matter if they managed to get out with the money.

The job was basically about stealing industrial amounts of Dust for the woman. What was her name again?

Roman played with his staff as he tried to remember the name of the woman who hired him. It was something about fire, he was sure.

Ash? Nope, that sounded illegal. Blaze? Didn't feel right. Cinder? Yes, that was it.

Cinder Mall...That didn't feel right. Cinder Small? Cinder Salt?

"I have it on the tip of my tongue."

Roman walked around the dusty and abandoned warehouse he was in. The perfect place to store the stolen Dust without attracting attention, the weak and partially corrupt police department was easily bribed which made things easier.

"Fall, Cinder Fall," said Roman to himself after finally remembering the woman's name.

The reason why she wanted so much Dust was unknown to him but he didn't and shouldn't care, the money he received in advance convinced him. However, he was not so stupid, if something really big happened or if her plans got ruined then Cinder would put all the blame on him. That's why he had made sure to take pictures of her and record her voice and plans; she might be more powerful than him but she was a novice regarding to dealing with criminals, she believed that power alone would make everyone respect her.

While wandering inside the warehouse, Roman allowed himself to think more.

In few days, the monthly meeting with his partners in crime was going to take place in Vale. The meeting was only attended by Roman, Neopolitan and a relentless partner in crime; it was a simple reunion in which they discussed about new movements and the places they were planning to go to.

He and Neo planned to head to the city of Mistral but they had thought about the problems he had there. Roman had betrayed the greatest criminal organization in the kingdom of Mistral and had earned their hatred although they were kind of welcoming to Neopolitan; their relentless partner in crime was totally banned from the city, the last time he was there he ended up killing, torturing, exposing or handing to the law a large number of criminals. Both the law and the criminals didn't want him there. Besides, if he ever set foot in the kingdom, it was probably to get the job done and eradicate crime there.

Neopolitan liked Vale, that was the place in which she grew up in after all but she would follow Roman wherever he goes.

Vacuo was a good choice, its capital city was relatively safe and no one knew about them there.

The vibration of his Scroll got him out of his thoughts, he quickly picked the device from his pocket and opened it. A message from his relentless partner in crime.

"Heading to the northern coastline. Hope you arranged good food for the bash

-Dark Angel."

Roman put his Scroll back in his pocket and lightened a cigar. It was time to get back to work.

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[Few days later]

Nothern Coastline, Vale.

Neopolitan watched with curiosity how Azrael drew strange symbols in the sand and said something in another language. After some seconds, he sighed and erased the symbols with his boot. With the sea in the front, sand under his feet and the woods behind him, he got suspicious.

"I was just checking for the presence of spirits or elementals. Are you sure about showing your true appearance?"

She nodded.

"I see."

Azrael looked at himself. He thought that his clothes were pretty good to pass by a casual traveler.

A long sleeve dark green t-shirt, brown cargo pants, and black mountain boots. He had a smart watch on his left wrist that was actually a multi-task tool with a wide variety of uses. He had a pistol in the back of his pants, worst case scenario, he could use it.

He had a small white and black backpack. There, he stored a dismantled gun, throwing knives, grenades and more stuff that might be helpful later. Sometimes he didn't even get to use half of the things he carried but it was always better to be prepared.

She wore a black corset that exposed her hips, brown pants and white boots; the white jacket that complemented her outfit was wrapped around her waist. She used her parasol to cover herself from the UV rays raining over her.

Without further word, they advanced.

Neopolitan had began to really hate forests when they finally made it out, she was about to scream. A town was near, if you considered half kilometer near. She looked at Azrael with a mixture of admiration and disbelief; while her body was exhausted, he was completely fine as if he had just crossed the street to buy groceries in the store. Even with her aura activated and her parasol to shield her from the heat, she felt it and adding to the mix the 30 minutes walk...

Azrael didn't rest at all, he kept walking forward forcing Neo to follow him.

It took them a few minutes but they arrived at the village just in time for Neo to head to a public bathroom to refresh her face. Poor Neo, melting under the cruel sun.

That town was really big. The buildings were tall and apparently made of concrete, the streets were made of the same material; the houses, some of wood, some of stone, had pointy roofs with a chimney. There were little people in the streets and many faunus were walking in the same direction.

"Excuse me, sir?"

He turned around to see whoever called him.

"What is the matter?"

It was a faunus woman with squirrel ears and tail, she was standing there with her arms on her hips and a scowl.

"You're not here to stop our protests, are you?"

Azrael, completely bored, looked behind the woman. Neopolitan had gotten out of the bathrooms, her face was still soaked but she didn't care. Right, he had to answer the woman. Maybe the faunus had confused him, he had a fake huntsman license wrapped on the front of his belt, most people tended to let you mind your business if you had one.

"No, I am not. I am just passing by. What is this protest about?" his nigh-permanent neutral tone made hard to decipher any of his intentions.

"We are tired of discrimination."

"You don't say. Is there a most detailed explanation?"

The faunus got offended by the sarcasm in the first sentence but at least this person seemed to care.

"We get paid less for our hard work, most times we are not even hired just because we are faunus, we are denied basic services and even education for our children."

"Sounds pretty bad. May I suggest something?"

"What is it?"

"Protest in front of the city hall or any other governmental building, make sure you are heard."

The faunus evidently was not expecting such an honest advice. She quickly thanked him and ran off to head to the place of the protest. He shrugged and waited for Neo to stop cooling herself down, he didn't have any refreshing beverage with him and he wished he had, poor Neo was melting.

"Excuse me, sir."

"Dear Monty. Now what?"

Azrael turned around again.

"How may I help you?"

A police officer, first a faunus and now a policeman. No one had seen his face before neither Neopolitan's, he should be ready to act regardless. The police officer wore a classical blue uniform, nothing in him made Azrael curious nor suspicious.

"I'm sorry for bother. Are you new in the city?"

"I am."

The officer clicked his tongue and put his hands on his belt. "Sir, you might want to book a room in the nearest inn. There will be a protest today."

"I understand. Thank you, officer."

"Just doing my job. Do you know where the inn is?"

Azrael shook his head. "No, I don't."

"I'll take you there then."

"I appreciate the help."

The town resembled the capital of Vale just that it had a more victorian-like architecture. The roads were not thought to have cars transiting, maybe it was made with horses in mind. The town had an old architectural style but had advanced technology just like in the capital. Something that upset him was the number of homeless people and starving children, mostly faunus.

The inn in which they were going to stay either for a couple hours or until morning was a small one. Its entrance was accessible by walking through an alley, the only way to know that it was there was the metal sign hanging, "Starlight Inn".

Neopolitan clapped her hands and excitedly pulled his shirt. He rose an eyebrow, she quickly used sign language to communicate him about the nature of the place, it was more a place for couples. How did Neo knew about it? Probably just read it somewhere.

Azrael and Neo got in, the latter basically hopping swaying her hips. Women surely had some kind of innate magic or genetic memory because all of them somehow knew that hip movement worked just like the pocket watch that swayed from side to side to hypnotize you. Azrael shook his head and grunted quietly at his behavior, staring at her hips was not acceptable.

The interior of the inn was pretty cozy and gave that sensation of standing in your own home. The living hall was big, the counter was at the bottom and two big arcs on both sides welcoming the guests to the ballroom or the dining tables. Near one of the arcs, a staircase rose across the wall allowing the clients to go to the second floor and head to their rooms. The balcony was the first thing a customer had to walk on before going to the hallway to get in their room, said balcony was supported by sturdy columns made of stone. There was a candelabrum with actual fire and candles, there were lamps powered by electricity Dust and a red carpet with golden trims.

Neopolitan pulled his arm and pointed at the counter, he didn't consider himself an expert but if she mimicked falling asleep and then rubbed her stomach, the message was pretty obvious.

"Good morning," he greeted.

"Good morning, mister, miss."

"I would like to book a room."

The person behind the counter was well-dressed and was respectful, that was a good start. The person touched the counter activating a holographic screen.

"All day long or just for the night?"

She discretely kick him in the shin. Azrael showed no signs of pain but he understood the message.

"For the night."

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Rachel, Azrael's A.I, controlled a pack of small flying drones. The drones were doing reconnaissance performing two tasks at once, finding Blake Belladonna and adding the town to the world map. Using facial recognition to identify Blake was not an easy task. The facial recognition technology of the surveillance cameras was not as advanced as the ones that could be found in Atlas which made the task of finding Blake harder than Rachel's algorithm would like but that was better, she loved challenges.

Speaking of challenges, she already had put the gears in motion with hopes of finally succeeding but the protests were going to spoil the mood. That was a one out of ten possibility, she did the calculations, and it would be pretty hard to set such an atmosphere.

She had to find a way to prevent the protest and reduce casualties, preferably to zero, with maximum efficacy and she had just thought about something.

Her stored data contained a name of an organization that operated in the city, Amber Swan. It was a political party that made it to the top of the city through money, its leader, Cole Moreau believed that only a faunus could give rights to the faunus; he constantly battled to get a seat in the council of the kingdom but to reach that point he had a long way to walk first.

One of the drones headed to the building used by the Amber Swan with the intention of finding Cole Moreau and hack his Scroll.

The building was small and far from impressive, you hardly would believe that a political party had it as its "base of operations" but that made sense. Most human rulers wouldn't like to have a faunus as a governor or even as someone with political power but the Amber Swan had spent a lot of money buying respect. The Amber Swan was allowed to keep growing since more than half of the population in the town was faunus, acting actively hostile towards it would have ignited the fire for things to get violent.

The drone was finally able to locate Cole Moreau and using a lot of energy from the drone, Rachel managed to send a virus using the wireless connection. As she expected, the man opened the message spreading the virus and installing the backdoor she needed to proceed.

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Azrael watched on the TV how the protest was canceled in exchange of a speech from Cole Moreau, a faunus with apparent high social position in the town. It was good to see some faunus getting a better position in society for a change.

The doorbell rang twice triggering a reflex on Azrael who quickly reached the handgun on the bed and pointed at the door. He hadn't ask for any service nor was waiting for someone, Neopolitan was still in the bath singing in silence (ha!)

"Sir? Are you there?" said a young masculine voice from the other side of the door. "I came here with your...suit and the lady's dress."

That was strange, out of normal, he didn't like it at all. With extreme caution, he got closer to the door and looked through the peephole; a butler was there, holding a tuxedo and a gorgeous pink dress. Azrael rose an eyebrow, again, he didn't remember asking for anything. Had The Spider sent an assassin? If that was the case then he was after him or Neo?

"I am. I didn't ask for a suit nor a dress."

"Oh, but a deposit was made, sir. To buy these clothes for the soiree."

Azrael clicked his tongue and turned his gaze towards his watch, the only "person" with access to his account was his A.I friend. That was the first time that such a thing happened. Should he be worried?

Keeping the interaction with the "butler" as brief as possible, he took the clothes and thanked before nearly slamming the door at the "butler's" face. He took an earbud from his pocket and put it in his ear, he pressed it with a finger and spoke.

"I would like an explanation," he demanded with his usual neutrality.

"I offer apologies, sir. But as you know, I programmed myself to ensure your well-being, your body is healed but you have been quite stressed lately. For tonight, I beg you to allow me to take care of the problems about the White Fang and enjoy yourself."

Azrael's neutral expression turned grim as if he had just witnessed a genocide.

"I know that you are not fond of public spaces but the performance tonight will count with a solo from Weiss Schnee."

He put the dress on the bed and took a good look at the tuxedo, its jacket was purplish black and the pants were completely black. It even came with formal shoes.

The elegant dress was of victorian style and had a puffy skirt and was sleeveless. It had brown trims and a white flower as accessory. It came with white ankle heeled boots.

"Fine, I will take the night off. Happy?"

"Kind of. I would like the night to go as expected but you often surpass any probability."

"What is that is supposed to mean?"

"You are unpredictable."

"Oh."

Azrael looked at the bathroom as soon as he heard the shower stop. The room they had rented was medium-sized and quite luxurious with a really marked victorian style, something that used to be usual 80 years ago before the Great War. There was just one big bed with night tables at each side and small lamps on top of them. The TV was holographic and its projector laid on the drawer against the wall. The bathroom was just beside it.

The bathroom's door opened, Neopolitan stepped out covering her tiny body with a towel. She didn't even looked embarrassed, she simply moved her hand as if she were telling a dog to go away; understanding this, Azrael entered the bathroom and gave her privacy. He probably should clean himself since he was going to spend the night with a lady and possibly meeting the heiress to one of the richest and powerful companies in Remnant.

Since he helped the White Fang and became even more aware of the mistreatment to the faunus, he found out that the Schnee Dust Company, or shortened simply as SDC, was the main culprit. There were multiple ghost organizations created by the SDC that basically kidnapped faunus children and forced adults to submit to the literally slaving nature of working as a miner for the company. The current CEO was not a fool nor naive and probably knew about such illicit actions, Jacques Schnee was selfish, greedy, envious and lacked the most basic morality. He was not a monster yet but was dangerously close.

The SDC could only be redeemed once Jacques were out of the picture. With Weiss as the CEO, things would be better, much better.

As much as he would hate it, he had to try to be quite friendly with the youngest daughter of the Schnee. Well, it was not like he would hate it at all, he liked her songs and amazing ability to dance ballet.

Two brief hits to the door indicated that Neo was ready. He got out of the bathroom and went to check his backpack, he had left it on a chair. His pace was interrupted by a kick to the shin from Neopolitan, it was such a fortune that she was bare-footed, for some reason she was an expert in the art of hitting shins with heels. Azrael turned his gaze at her interrogating the short woman without saying a word.

Neopolitan moved her hands from her head to her legs clearly attracting his gaze to her figure.

"You...look pretty."

She crossed her arms and tapped her foot.

"What?"

...

"Even without the dress, looking at you is like a drink of fresh water after being exposed to a cruel dessert."

Neo smirked and "tried" to hide her blushing face with one hand while "dusting off" the commentary. With a smirk still on her face, she pointed at Azrael then to the tuxedo.

"I will take a bath before but we still have..."

Rachel took over the TV and answered through it. "4 hours before the event."

Azrael silently grabbed his backpack and headed to the door, his path was blocked by Neo's parasol that was pressed against the wall.

"I think that Miss Neopolitan would like you to stay until the night."

"But I need to-"

"Night-off, remember?"

Azrael didn't say anything and simply got into the bathroom nearly slamming the door shut.


The night had fallen and a crowd had already formed in the biggest plaza of the huge town. A stage had been erected for the special singer and the musicians, members of the police department were all over the area making sure that no one caused problems. The people was divided in sections from the lowest class to the highest, each section being separated by waist-high barricades; anyone could try to jump them but the police would arrest them immediately. The place was decorated and lamppost with holograms changed from the banner of the town to the face of the youngest daughter of the Schnee family and the place counted with a band that played violins, violas and other instruments adding elegance to the environment

Well, this town was actually a city. Was there any difference at all?

At the back of the stage, the most expected singer of the night was trying to calm herself with deep breaths.

Weiss Schnee, a teenager with white hair, blue eyes and pale skin. Her hair was tied into a ponytail to the left and a thin scar went for her eyebrow to her cheek, during that night, she wore a pale blue dress with ornaments and white heels.

"Miss Schnee. Someone wants to talk with you."

Weiss looked at her assistant mildly annoyed, that someone probably was her father who probably would tell her not to ruin the performance. She was a person not an object. How was possible not to be nervous knowing that you were going to sing in front of hundreds of people?

"Greetings, Miss Weiss."

Weiss' assistant walked away to check on the band and talk with the police to ensure Weiss' flawless performance. Weiss looked at the man who called her, strangely not referring to her by the surname but by her name, that was rare and...nice.

Azrael, now wearing his tuxedo and Neopolitan clung to his arm. His hair was slicked back and wavy as usual and any traces of beard were erased; Rachel and Neopolitan, who showed a vast knowledge about fashion, helped him to buy cologne; the lovely ice cream was the one who sniffed him to confirm that the right cologne was bought.

"Greetings," Weiss replied.

Noticing her doubt, Azrael gave her his name. "Walker, Jonathan Walker. The woman at my side is Neopolitan."

Neopolitan bowed.

Weiss couldn't hide her curiosity and maybe because of her nerves, she put some decency aside. "That's a strange name."

"Why so, miss?" questioned Jonathan. That was a more a question destined to confirm what he was suspecting, Remnant had a curious tradition consisting on naming your children after colors or something that brought one to mind.

"Oh, it's nothing. May I know the reason of your visit?"

Of course that no one was allowed to see Weiss on the backstage just like that but a death threat of Neo or a bribe from Azrael were enough.

"I have been following your performances. I feel you are venting out your frustration while singing, specially Mirror Mirror. Just wanted to know If my supposition was correct."

He noticed how she looked around searching any member of the SDC. She crossed her arms and straightened her back, he probably touched a nerve.

"That's not the-"

"Your father will never know, Miss. You do not need to worry about that."

"Why do you care so much? I mean no offense but you are a total stranger and you talk like a stalker."

Jonathan bowed and with a hand on his chest, he took the word. "My upmost apologies. I shall leave then but before that, I would like to offer you a gift if that is not a further bother."

"It will not."

He took something from the inner pockets of his jacket and stretched it to the heiress. It was a book with black cover and the depiction of a cage being surrounded by a bird, she read the name, "Caged Bird."

"I hope that it is of your liking. I wish you luck in your performance, Miss, although you do not need it."

The man and the woman quickly left. Weiss briefly tried to make sense of what had just happened but decided to focus on her performance instead, that was the first time in which someone gave her something not because of being a Schnee but for her own achievements.

The sound of the announcer making the presentation got her out of her thoughts.

"And the hour has come, the most expected act of the night. Ladies and gentlemen, Weiss Schnee!"