And here is the new chapter for this week. I've been doing a little bit of writing every day hoping to get this story closer to the ending I want. Two chapters left I think or one if I want to combine the epilogue with the next chapter and just get it done with. We'll see.
This was terrible, truly truly terrible. Raven watched with horror as teenagers dropped from the sky and started slaying the last bit of Grimm still roaming around the clearing. After Summer's little hero shtick most if not all the Grimm that was around turned to dust in the wind. The few that the teens were hunting had only just came through the large hole in the ground. Raven was letting them gain in numbers cause she didn't want the trip over to be wasted on useless fodder. And then the kids arrived.
"I'm on three"!
"Slow poke I'm on five"!
The teenagers were comparing their kills with each other, not realizing Raven's eye twitching and her growing annoyance. Summer wrapped her arm around the tall ex bandit and turned her away from the students, "I'm sure there's still some helpless Grimm out there waiting for you to gut" she said calmly. The implication that a dangerous beast of murder and death was helpless before her didn't escape Raven's notice nor did the small smile on her face escape Summer's.
"You know if there's any action to be had I'm sure our daughters have probably found it by now".
Raven rolled her eyes at the obvious hint that Summer wanted to check on their daughters with her semblance. She figured she might as well check to help put her team leader at ease so Raven concentrated on her connection with Yang. The connection gave her everything she needed and brought a scowl to her face. "I hate it when your gut feeling is right" Raven growled.
Summer watched her partner walk off at a brisk pace before deciding it'd probably be best if she kept up with her. "I don't get it? Why aren't you opening a portal to Yang right now so we can save them"? Summer asked once she caught up.
"Seeing as how you already noticed that Yang didn't run off alone I'm sure you know what it means if a team of huntresses are in danger despite their numbers".
The silver eyed woman nodded "it means their either fighting against an even larger group of people then they can handle or a few incredibly strong opponents". Raven agreed with that assessment, "in this situation I'd bet my money on some really strong opponents but that's just me. Whatever the case I'd rather face this with strong allies at my side then run off alone". A scarlet eye looked over to the woman beside her, "I thought if anyone knew that better it would've been you".
The smirk on Summers face was telling. "Oh I already knew all that, but it just makes me so proud to see how much you've grown over the years Ray".
Raven huffed and walked even faster forcing Summer to jog along side her to keep up. "So who are we taking"? Raven spared a glance for her silver eyed leader before looking forward, "here's one". Saphron jogged up to the two to see what had them moving so quickly when Raven walked past her right before reaching back to grab the girl by her collar. Then with a startled yelp the blonde found herself on her ass being dragged along by her adopted mother.
"Hey! I got a good pair of legs for walking you know".
The Arc daughter went ignored for several long minutes before she decided there was no fighting against the ex bandit when she got like this. Deciding she still needed answers Saphron turned to Summer, "care to explain"? Summer tapped on her chin as she thought about how to answer. Eventually she shrugged her shoulders and decided to answer honestly "The only thing I know for certain is that my daughter is in trouble along with her little friends. And your sister of course. Ray is trying to build a small team to go back them up but I don't know when she'll have all that she needs before we go".
Raven looked back and scoffed, "I'm almost done already. Just one more person ought to do it and I can see them from here". Summer followed Ravens gaze to the back of a man who stood proudly while arguing with a brunette she'd never seen before. "Ironwood?! Seriously"? Summer had to ask cause frankly the only thing that could make the man leave the square at all was if Salem herself showed up somewhere else. "Ha" Raven said "the last thing I need in my life is a man with a stick so far up his as that he could taste the tip. No we're after a much bigger fish then mister roboto".
/
"The answer is no and that's final" Ironwood growled at the hardheaded brunette. Amber was having none of it and let the general know by jabbing her finger into his chest when she got in his face. "Yeah sorry buster but did you really think for one second that I'd just sit quietly like a good girl just because you ordered me to"? The brunette scoffed "I ain't one of your soldiers therefore you have no right to stop me from doing my job, which is to kill the Grimm I might add".
Ironwood stood his ground, "your job though it may be, we have the situation already under control thanks to our students. The last thing we need is for you to go missing or getting killed needlessly because your bored. With half of the maiden powers missing already there's a possibility that if something happens to you the powers will seek out it's other half. I doubt I have to tell you what happens if that's true".
She wasn't an idiot if that's what he was getting at and sure a bad person would have control over the elements but then again they could do that already with half the power they stole. So far the world kept spinning and it wasn't like the bitch that beat her was down here when she could still sense Cinder on the airship. Amber shook her head "I don't need you to tell me, and I don't need your approval. This is my life despite the fact that you and Ozpin only see the magic within instead of the person who wields it".
It was the truth. She knew it as did they. The host of the maidens power was nothing more then a container for that power and whoever had the most under their control would have the advantage. It was the reason Amber traveled alone so no one would be tempted to leash her like Ironwood was trying now.
So embroiled in their spat neither Amber nor Ironwood noticed Raven until she was standing right behind the fall maiden.
"Huh"?
"what the... Woah"?!
Amber fell back on her rear before she started getting dragged away. "I wouldn't bother struggling if I were you you'd just be tiring yourself out for no reason" a bored voice said from beside the brunette. The fall maiden looked to her side and saw a blonde woman in the same predicament. Images from memories not her own gave name to the blonde woman, "Saphron right? Jaunes sister".
Saphron looked the brunette up and down before focusing on her eyes. "Yeah that's me but who are you and how do you know my brother"? She asked. Amber smiled "Amber, and someone your brother saved from the people who are causing all these problems these days". She held out her and to the blonde, "nice to meet you". Saphron shook the brunettes hand just before Raven dropped them both to the grown and pulled out her sword.
Ironwood regain his senses after the shock of Raven practically kidnapping the fall maiden right in front of him. He marched forward, prepared for anything since he was dealing with a Branwen when a piece a rubble from the street slid perfectly under one his feet as he walked over. When Ironwood put pressure down on that foot the rock slid forward dragging his foot with it and causing the tin man to drop like one of those cartoon characters who slips on a banana peel. The general lifted his head in time to see a portal open and Raven Branwen bodily tossing the fall maiden into it along with Jaune Arc's sister.
Raven was next to enter the portal and was quickly followed by Summer. The silver eyed huntress looked over to the general and gave a small wave with a friendly smile before vanishing when the portal closed. Ironwood sat up and saw the small piece of ruble that had tripped him. He took the stone in his hand and after a second to put what just happened to him together he crushed it in anger. "Damn them".
/
Ruby crashed into a parked car and dented the door in where she let out a pained groan a slid down to her knees. She would've taken dozens of grunts over the guy she was currently fighting.
Adam chuckled darkly as he strolled up to her, "I can't believe that Blake would trade everything she believed in for humans as weak and pathetic as you and Arc". He grabbed Ruby by her hair and forced her back on her feet all while the small girl struggled to get free. Ruby still had hold of her crescent rose and when Adam tossed her into the parked car she raised her weapon to block Adam's blade when he brought it down on her head. "Maybe when your gone Blake will final understand that the white fang is the only place she truly belonged" he spat.
Ruby used all her strength to keep Adam's attack away from her but even that would fail in time. She thought about her best friend and what he'd do in a situation like this where he knew he couldn't win but couldn't escape either. The thought gave way to an answer because she knew Jaune so well. "Even if you did kill me and everyone here, what makes you think Blake would ever come back to you after all you've done"?!
Adam smirked "who ever said I wanted her to come back to me? No, I want her to regret betraying me and the fang with every fiber of her being. Then when she's reached a pit of despair so deep that her only salvation is me and my forgiveness I'll dig my sword into her heart so she knows what I felt when she left me".
She'd seen bad guys like this on tv but never thought they actually existed. Knowing that this man had truly lost any sense of reasoning Ruby pulled the trigger on crescent rose. The gun bucked and the force of the gun pulled Ruby to the right until Adam used his sheath to block the blade of her scythe.
Ruby knew the faunus would have stopped her attack easily which was why she turned one desperate move into two. She pulled on the shaft when her body became airborne from the sudden stop and rolled over her scythe to double kick Adam in the face. His mask came off and shattered on the pavement just before Ruby hit the trigger again.
The next shot pulled Adam off his feet and carried him through the air where Ruby rolled over her weapon once more to slam Adam into the concrete. Before the faunus could get back up Ruby quickly put some distance between them and aimed her weapon. The bull faunus wasn't as fast as she was but he knew how to out maneuver everything she could think of. Stalling for time until her friends could come save her was the best she could do right now.
Adam let out a frustrated sigh when his fingers reached up to his mask only to feel nothing there. When he stood up and revealed his face to the small huntress in training she flinched at the site of the S.D.C brand burned into his skin.
"Take a good look girl. This is what your kind has done to faunus kind since the beginning but unlike all the results before I'll be the one to prevail".
Ruby fired one shot after another but Adam deflected each shot with his sword, each of which created more and more energy for his semblance. The two continued their fight with Ruby constantly trying to keep the distance between them and Adam gaining more ground then she could make. It was clear to both fighters that something would give eventually unfortunately for Ruby it had to be her.
Adam took notice of how his prey kept putting distance between them and all but gave up on melee combat entirely. 'She's stalling' he concluded. That couldn't be allowed to happen so Adam spent a little time reading her movements and noticed a slight pattern in the way she was fighting. Being predictably in a fight to the death was a one way trip to the grave, Adam made sure to show her that folly.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
After those three shots Ruby used her semblance to put some distance between Adam and her before skidding to a stop to repeat the process once !
Bang!
Bang!
She was off again but this time when she skidded to a stop there was another loud bang and Ruby's legs buckled from the pain. Her speed only made things worse because she now had no way to stop herself from crashing into a building made of bricks. Ruby's back hit the wall but her aura mitigated most of the damage on impact. She groaned and pushed herself up to her knees, "haven't crashed like that since I first unlocked my semblance".
Her knee ached but she ignored it to see where Adam was. The moment she looked up Adam pulled his right arm back in preparation to thrust his sword through her head. Instinct coupled with intense amounts of fear pushed the small girl to lean back letting the blade stab into the brick wall beside her. She rolled on her back and collapsed her scythe mid roll to keep it from catching on anything. When Ruby managed to get her feet under her once more she jumped back just in time to dodge Adams blade when it sliced through the wall in an attempt to reach her.
Ruby dodged the sword but not the dust that was thrown her way, it got in her eyes and she inhaled a small bit of it which brought an uncontrollable cough at the worst time ever. Her semblance was her only chance and yet when she used it to get further away from the faunus it became her undoing.
Adam aimed his sheath at the one spot he knew would bring the best result. Ruby's knee. She was still feeling the pain from the first time he struck there and just like last time when he pulled the trigger she went down. The small huntresses leg buckled once more and she found herself crashing into a fire hydrant. The metal hydrant bent to the side slightly but it was enough for the water to start escaping from the damaged part Ruby's body created.
Ruby quickly wiped her face and looked towards Adam once more but he was gone. It took the ground around her darkening to realize where the bull faunus had gone and by then it was far to late.
When Ruby started her tumble into the fire hydrant Adam ran up alongside a parked car and used the vehicle as a spring board to jump high into the air. He sheathed his sword and charged it with all the power his semblance had stored and when he descended he struck like a thunderbolt. Ruby used the only thing she had to defend herself but even that was nowhere near enough to protect her completely.
Adam roared angrily as his sword surged with power. Power enough to slice through Ruby's crescent rose and carry the small girl off in a torrent of scarlet energy. When it was all said and done the bull faunus stood tall and slowly followed the path of destruction left in the wake of his semblance. Adam felt such elation after releasing all his anger like that, "I wonder how it'll feel once I do the same to Blake"?
/
Everything hurt. Her chest, arms, legs and everything in between ached so badly she couldn't hold back the tears that forced their way to the surface. Something burned in her chest so Ruby lifted a badly shaking hand and touched the place where she felt the burning sensation. The second her hand settled on her chest she felt something wet and warm flow between her fingers. When she lifted her hand up to her face it was coated red with her own blood.
If she was bleeding like this then her aura was gone which also meant she couldn't use her semblance anymore. Ruby felt scared now. With no weapon to fight with all she had now were her fists and she was garbage with those. Ruby pushed onto her side and groaned from the pain but refused to quit. Slowly she rose to her knees before pushing herself up with all her strength to her feet. She placed a hand over her chest and winced when she felt her fingers touched the large cut running down to her stomach.
The cut wasn't as deep as she originally thought but it was enough for Ruby to grow really worried about what would happen if she didn't get medical attention quickly. Each step was agonizing but despite her body feeling so heavy she pushed on.
"There you are".
Ruby froze for a second before pain shot through her leg and she screamed at a pitch she didn't know she could reach. A few feet behind her stood Adam with his sheath aimed at the back of Ruby's knee, the same knee that the small huntress clutched in her arm's because of the bullet hole in it.
The bull faunus showed no mercy when he walked up and kicked the little huntress in her face, scattered spit and blood from her busted lips. He could tell the huntress was starting to feel the blood loss because as he continued to kick her brutally over and over again she began to react less and less until finally she laid there motionless. The only thing that confirmed she was still alive was the slow rising and falling of her chest.
Adam eyed Ruby for a brief second before holding his blade up with the tip pointing down. "It's been fun kid now join the other huntsmen and huntresses who's names have been lost to time". The bull faunus took a moment to look around his surroundings to make sure no one was going to interfere. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary at first until something shiny caught his eye as it got closer with each passing second. Adam spun on the spot and slashed at the shiny object only to realize what he hit was a medium sized bronze shield.
He'd gotten so used to people interfering with him in his final moments of victory that it didn't even surprise him when the four huntresses in training from before showed. Adam should have felt intimidated but he wasn't in the slightest. To his eyes the four girls were already fighting against the worst enemy they could have in this situation. Exhaustion.
Dirt clinged to their bodies and the fact that he left them to fight several thousand faunus warriors meant they probably had little aura reserves left. Adam took in the site of four huntresses in training getting ready to move in on him so he motioned with one hand to the girl on the floor at his feet. "Do you think it wise to attack me when I hold one of your own hostage"? He asked.
All four girls froze, their eyes flickering from Adam to Ruby before going back to the faunus. "Hand her over and we won't hurt you" Pyrrha tried diplomatically.
Adam smirked, "by all means don't let me stop you" he said before taking a few steps back to give the huntresses some room. "She still breathing for now but without medical attention she won't survive for much longer". Everyone tried to ignore him but to know avail. "Of course with all this negativity in the air it might be difficult for one person to retreat alone successfully" the faunus said with a knowing smile.
The girls still had their weapons trained on the bull faunus but circled around to get next to Ruby. When they were close enough Yang dropped to her knees and looked her tiny cousin over. To say Ruby was heavily wounded would have been the understatement of the year. Her lips was busted, blood continued to leak from the cut on her chest and her body was littered with bruises that had already started to form with more on the way.
If that was the extent of the damage Yang was all but certain her cousin would have made a full recovery. Her eyes were drawn to Ruby's left leg and therein lay the biggest problem. The bullet struck Ruby's knee bone from the back and judging by the look of it the bone had snapped. What's more it looked like something had been hitting the side of her knee with incredible force.
Yang turned to the bull faunus with scarlet eye's, "what did you do to her"? The sheer amount of venom in her words made Blake close her eyes in shame while Weiss and pyrrha shared concerned looks with one another.
"I just educated her on the cruelty we know as reality" Adam answered.
Yangs hand shook with uncontrollable rage and she wanted nothing more then to take it out on the bull faunus. With a great force of will she turned back to her cousin and began to tear up Ruby's red cloak so she could use it as make shift bandages. "You know he's trying to separate us right"? She asked the other three. Blake nodded as did the others.
"He couldn't have made it more obvious...still he does have a valid point" Weiss said.
Yang finished wrapping up Ruby's wounds as best she could before looking to the others. "So what do we do"?
"You and Weiss get Ruby out of here while Pyrrha and I hold him off" Blake answered. Yang rose to her feet and glared at the cat faunus, "after what he did to Ruby I owe him some pay back on her behalf and don't you dare think your going to stop me". Nobody spoke for a few seconds before Blake broke the silence. "I get where your coming from Yang trust me but you've been out here fighting long then all of us" Blake reasoned.
"She's not wrong Yang" Weiss cut in "I'm out of dust and fairly certain that the white fang won't want to pass up on a schnee who can't defend themselves". The blonde teen looked between the two before looking to there final member. Pyrrha didn't look back but her one word response was enough. "Go". Yangs nails dug into her palm but after an explosive sigh she turned away and picked up her cousin. The blonde looked back to the cat faunus with a frown, "don't hurt Jaune or Ruby by getting yourself killed, you get me"?
Blake chuckled "I get you now go".
Yang nodded and took off in the direction they came from with Weiss breaking off to join her.
Adam watched the two run off before focusing his attention on the two in front of him. "Before we start how did you manage to escape my men"?
Blake grasped her katana with both hands and lowered her stance for battle. "A few capable huntresses came along and took care of the issue for us". Just as she answered a lightning bolt dropped out of the sky and crashed in the direction Yang and Weiss were heading to. The lightning bolt also acted as a starting signal that had Adam, Pyrrha and Blake rushing head long into one another.
Pyrrha took the lead and opened her hand allowing the shield she'd thrown to come back to her with the help of the gravity dust within. The bronze shield blocked Adam's sword easily and Pyrrha pushed forward forcing the bull faunus to push back unless he wanted to be knocked over. Blake vaulted over Pyrrha's head and landed a fierce kick to Adam's face breaking the stalemate and knocking the bull faunus back a bit.
Adam snarled angrily and went to attack Blake but the cat faunus used her semblance to create a clone for him to cut through. His sword hit nothing solid but before the clone full vanished Pyrrha's bronze shield flew forward and crashed into Adam's forehead. Blake flipped in the air thanks to her semblance and arranged herself in a way that allowed her to throw gambol shroud when her teammate created an opening.
Adam's aura flickered from the damage he was dealt but remained on his feet for the next attack. Gambol shroud came into his vision and the bull faunus stepped to the side letting the blade pass him by. Once Blake's weapon stabbed into the ground Adam stomped on the ribbon and put his sheath under it before pulling the cat faunus towards him. Blake came close enough for Adam to thrust his red blade through her head but when he did it passed through her and the cat faunus flipped over him.
Blake's feet hit the ground and she yanked on the ribbon allowing it tighten on Adam's chest. The bull faunus saw Pyrrha rushing towards him with her spear so he aimed his sheath behind him and shot through the ribbon binding him. Once the ribbon was broken Adam dove forward and rolled under the red haired huntresses weapon while sheathing his own. Once his feet were under him, Adam quick drew his sword and aimed for Pyrrha's back. The spear in Pyrrha's hand collapsed into it's sword form before she slashed behind her to stop Adam's blade. Both blades released sparks when they met but their union didn't last long when both their owners slid them apart. Pyrrha threw a punch with her shield but Adam matched her by striking with his sheath at the same time resulting in the two landing direct blows on each other.
Blake tossed aside the broken ribbon and ran forward to pick up gambol shroud from it's place in the ground. Without it's ribbon she'd have to rely on her katana form since she was nearly out of ammo from fighting those white fang grunts from before. Adam and Pyrrha just landed painful blows on each other and the moment they stepped back provided an opening Blake just couldn't pass up. when she thrusted her blade at Adam's chest the bull faunus caught her blade by allowing gambol shroud to enter his sheath.
Blake's eyes widened in surprise before Adam brought his blade up and slash the cat faunus from her left hip all the way to her right shoulder. Scarlet energy was released during his attack and Blake was sent flying into her teammate knocking them both over. Pyrrha made sure to spread her arms in time to keep her weapons from hurting her team leader when they collided.
Pyrrha was the first to her feet but Blake couldn't follow suit. Her aura crackled and shattered leaving the cat faunus as defenseless as the average women. "Stay back and get some rest" Pyrrha ordered before rushing back into the fray. Blake tried to stop her teammate but it was too late. Pyrrha and Adam continued their fight but it was obvious who had the advantage in combat. The bull faunus was just too strong to take alone so Blake mustered all her strength to rise to her feet again. She had to get gambol shroud back which meant getting up close to pull her weapon from Adam's sheath.
It was suicide but it was also the only chance Blake had to help her friend.
Pyrrha jumped back and fired as many shots as she could from her rifle before Adam closed the distance between them by cutting through her bullets. His sword slashed downward against the bronze shield while in Pyrrha's right hand her rifle changed into it's sword form. She slashed at the bull faunus's neck but Adam went low and slashed a line in her thigh instead. When Pyrrha looked down to see what Adam was about to do next gambol shroud shot up and nailed the red headed huntress in her right eye.
Adam saw his chance and leapt into action thrusting his katana forward to end his adversary. Blood spurted from the wound in the woman's chest but to the surprise of Adam and Pyrrha, Blake had taken the hit by pushing the red headed huntress out of the way. The moment of shock gave Blake the chance to catch her katana with her right hand when it came down and used it to stab into the spot between Adam's neck and shoulder. Whatever aura reserves the bull faunus had left broke in a small burst of red light before the pure black blade ripped through bone and muscle.
The two remained frozen in place until Adam smiled psychotically with red teeth before dropping dead to the ground. Blake's relief was short lived when her legs gave out from under her and she fell backwards. Before she hit the ground Pyrrha quickly caught her and gently laid her on the floor. Blake's breathing became shallow and she started coughing up blood with each breath she took. Pyrrha had a frantic look on her face and she was practically screaming something at the cat faunus but for the life of her, she just couldn't understand a word that was being said.
Blake's breathing became more labored but her thoughts were back on Yang and what the blonde had said to her.
"Don't hurt Ruby or Jaune by getting yourself killed" she said.
Blake sighed internally, "sorry, guess I'm not a very good listener".
There we have it the end of Adam but not without great sacrifice. Poor Ruby getting nearly killed like that but at least she's alive for what it counts as. And finally Blake (sigh) you've done well little kitten.