I have a business speech/awards ceremony I have to host and speak at on the 30th September, so that whole week will be no fanfiction as I have to prep, plan and perform, then deal with clients after, break down the show and transport all the equipment back afterwards.

That'll mean no updates on 27th Sept – 3rd Nov inclusive, just to forewarn you all.

Cover Art: Terakali

Chapter 39

Adam had little knowledge of Blake's teammates, how they fought or who they were. In hindsight that was a failure on his part, either as an aspiring huntsman or as someone trying to get back with her. He had never cared to find out about them because he'd convinced himself they didn't matter, that Blake would, once he proved her wrong, leap back into his arms.

The old him had been foolish. Now, he found himself fighting alongside them.

"What are we looking at?" the boy asked. Ren, if Adam recalled the name called by Goodwitch in lessons. Speaking of, where was Goodwitch and the other teachers? Still on Amity? "Do you know their Semblances?"

"No." Adam's answer was curt. "I know nothing about them other than that they've held back in the tournament. Expect them to be stronger."

"Hm." Ren nodded.

"Easy enough." Nora added, twirling her heavy hammer.

"You both need to get your heads in the game." Adam bit out, aimed mostly at Nora but also at Ren as well. "This isn't like your other fights."

"I think we've handled ourselves well."

"Knocking people out, holding back your strength, trying to take the White Fang alive." Adam shook his head. "I'm the last person who can talk morals to you, but this is different. They won't hesitate to kill you, me and everyone else here. You need to be the same."

That brought them up short. He had no illusions that they weren't capable fighters – they had to be to get into Beacon – but Beacon was a school, and it taught a… light view on combat. You went all out against Grimm but combat against people was for fun. Training. Sparring. It was an activity not to be taken too seriously, and never to the point of harming someone. If they were going to hold back during this, they'd be worse than useless. They'd be burdens.

"These three are responsible for everything, aren't they?" Ren asked.

Adam grunted. "Seems that way."

"Then they're responsible for every dead student, every Atlas soldier killed." His face hardened and he brought his knives up. His stance shifted, taking a more serious edge. "If it has to be done…"

"Renny." Nora looked to him and then to their opponents. "F-Fine. Are splitting off? Working together?"

Teamwork was powerful, but he had none with them. Conversely, they had to have their own brand together. "You take the underlings." he snapped, charging forward. "Cinder is mine!"

Wilt whipped up and its point surged at her chest. The lunge was sudden, and the woman was unarmed, waiting for him with both hands out and to the side. Adam didn't expect the blow to land, not with that damn smirk. As such, he was only mildly surprised when she twisted to the left, summoning a blade in each hand and directing his away. His momentum carried him forward and into range of her counterattack. He shifted the guard up, caught the first and ignited Blush, blasting the second, and the hand directing it, away.

Cinder disengaged with it, flipping herself back and hurling both swords at him to shatter on his. As he dealt the molecules – dust or sand? – she summoned a bow and arrow, took aim and fired. His eyes tracked the shot and he was confident he could have struck it out the air, but confidence could get you killed. It was safer to lean his body to the left, stepping back with his foot at the same time to let it go by.

Two quick attacks and she'd already revealed more than him. His reliance on swordplay was a known quantity, but now he had some small grasp on her Semblance. A better foe would have kept it hidden. Someone like Pyrrha would have lured him in first and then caught him off-guard with no time to react.

Adam dodged another arrow and zig-zagged his way toward her, eyes narrowed as he analysed her footing and style. Cinder's black hair danced as she hopped back between shots.

She's a show-off. Too eager to break out and awe with her Semblance, and she's not even reliant on it like Ruby is. If she wanted, she could have brought a real bow and swords and kept it a nasty surprise.

He was used to her type. The ones who had to feel powerful, even when it cost them. Those that showed off their power, lauded themselves and couldn't stand the thought of someone else being better. That kind of arrogance usually was backed up by a powerful Semblance, but it could cost her all the same. It would cost her. Adam ducked under one last arrow and closed the distance, entirely unsurprised when she let her bow vanish and summoned swords again, falling back with an angry snarl under his rapid barrage.

It seemed she was used to her opponents dying sooner.

Then again, this was Beacon – a school – and he was far above the average level for a student, so perhaps Cinder's confidence wasn't entirely out of place. Adam decided to test it, leaving an opening on his left side and swinging wide. He knew it was too good to pass up, and sure enough she thrust out with a quick stab, trying to slide her blade up between his elbow and his ribs. Reinforcing the area with aura, he accepted the raking pain, then clamped his arm down, trapping the weapon against his side.

Cinder let it go. The upside of a Semblance like hers was that she wasn't married to any one weapon. When she released it, Adam caught the blade before she could make it disappear, eyes widening briefly as he felt its surface. It dissolved a second later, but that was already too late.

Glass.

On the next swing, Adam gritted his teeth, stamped a foot down and swung with all his might. It was a heavy blow – far beyond the quick slashes he preferred. Brute strength and little more. It was also telegraphed, enough so that Cinder had all the time in the world to block it.

And yet she didn't. Eyes flashing with panic, Cinder threw herself back and lost a lock of hair for it, escaping by a fraction of an inch. Of course she did. Glass or not, and however thick it might be, her weapons couldn't stand up to tempered steel.

"That didn't take long," she muttered.

Did she expect it would? Adam didn't give her the pleasure of a response, but he did roll his eyes internally. When someone showed off their Semblance, it was only natural you took the time to consider it. He charged in, preparing another heavy slash.

Gold fire lit down Cinder's dress, spiralling around her sleeve toward her left hand. He had no idea what it would do, what it was about, but when someone pointed something glowing at you, you got out the way. Adam checked his charge at the last second and lunged to the left, side-stepping the gout of flame a mere second before it scorched the ground behind him.

"Confused?" Cinder mocked, sweeping her hand across and sending more fire after him. This, he had no defence for, and he was forced to run ahead of it, watching her warily as he took cover behind a fallen and deactivated Paladin. "I have more than one trick, Adam."

Evidently. Chatter must have been one of them, too. With his position currently secure, he spared a quick glance for his allies. They were fighting two on two, attacking together and trying to push the others away from his fight. It was all he could ask of them.

Tongues of flame licked over the edge of the Paladin, heating the metal and making his skin smoulder. By the growing intensity, he guessed Cinder was walking forward and keeping the pressure up.

"Come out, Adam. I'm not even here to kill you. You're just bait."

Again with the words. Adam hated it, and he hated even more the idea that came to mind. He had to bite back a groan before he pushed ahead. "Bait for what?" he called back, feeling every bit the fool. "What's your plan, Cinder?"

She wouldn't answer him. Surely not.

"Isn't it obvious? Hmph. Perhaps you're too much a dumb animal to understand."

Or she would fall for it. He couldn't believe the way she laughed, so full of arrogance and scorn, and for what? An opponent yet unbeaten, who she knew might still cut her down? Laugh later, he wanted to shout out. Laugh when she was in a position to. As it was, he took the reprieve it gave him.

"What I'm here for, Adam, is to retrieve something that belongs to me. Something that I earned, and that Ozpin has stolen from me. Really, I wouldn't be here at all if he hadn't overstepped his bounds."

Keep her talking. I'm not the one on a time limit.

Adam forced his utter mortification down and embraced his best Ruby impression. "Liar! Ozpin is a good man and would never do anything like that!"

He almost gagged.

"Really? Oh Adam, poor, delusional Adam. You really have let them pull the wool over your eyes. Everyone has secrets, especially someone like Ozpin. The man you see, the face he shows you, doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of his lies."

Obviously. Adam couldn't believe she said it like it was some revelation. There wasn't a person on Remnant who didn't have secrets or their own motives, and he been born yesterday. She's an idiot, he thought to himself. An actual idiot. It's like she doesn't understand people, like she hasn't been raised around people. She's so sure of her own superiority, and it's over the dumbest things.

Adam rolled his eyes and shouted, "You're lying!"

"Am I? Then where is he? Where is Ozpin? For that matter, where is your teammate?"

On Amity. No. Yang was here, wasn't she? Despite his scorn, Adam felt a brief flash of panic. Cinder wanting to know where Yang was wasn't a good sign. She said she wants to use me as bait. The only people who would even care enough to give a shit if I was captured are my team. Most of the people here would celebrate my death.

And if Weiss and Ruby were on Amity, there could only be one person Cinder was after. Damn it. He hadn't cared before, but now he wanted to know where Yang and Ozpin were, and what the old man was doing with her. Great. She's actually managed to make me curious about this. And here I was meant to be the one leading her on.

"What do you want with my team?"

"Only that which belongs to me. Once I have it, I'll let you all go. How about it?" she offered. "You've no loyalty to Beacon after the way they've been treating you. Surrender, let me trade you for what I want, and I'll let you go. You can keep your team. Keep Beacon for all I care."

Adam looked in the glass cockpit above him. The concave angle finally caught Cinder's approach, stretching out her image but giving him a good enough idea of where she was in relation to the wreckage. He tightened one hand on Wilt, the other on Blush, turned around and angled the latter at the cockpit.

"No deal."

Buckshot shattered glass and ignited already damaged controls, causing a further explosion that made the canopy go off like a frag grenade full of sharp glass. It was blasted outward, and Cinder reacted the only way she could, throwing it away with a gust of her own fire before it could reach her.

As she did so, as her gaze and power were directed upward, Adam rushed out from cover and kicked forward, Wilt's point yet again spearing in toward Cinder's heart. This time, she was flat-footed, distracted and already trying to bring her hand down to target him.

Too far. He wouldn't be able to reach her before she burned him, and he would wager those flames were hot enough to do so. Experience told him not to risk it. Instead, he stopped his charge and planted his foot down, twisted his wrist and swept up instead. If he couldn't reach her, he would take the hand summoning the fire!

Aura protected her from losing it, but the force still knocked her limb away, saving him from being burned. Better still, Wilt cut through the red cloth on the underside of her forearm. Golden dust, still glowing, tinkled out from it, and the fire winked out.

Well, Adam thought smugly as the panic form in her eyes. That's the downside of having a weapon built into your clothing.

"CINDER!" one of her lackeys screamed.

Adam's eyes flickered to the girl who had screamed, if only to make sure she wasn't close enough to be a threat. His eyes met hers, noting the distance and how Nora was chasing her down. He turned back, still in the motion of drawing back Wilt for a killing, or at least debilitating, blow.

The world lurched.

Adam's entire body stumbled forward, his centre of balance suddenly twisting like he'd gone down a bump in a roller coaster. It was like someone had taken the ground itself and suddenly flipped it twenty degrees, leaving his previously stable footing like balancing on the edge of a cliff.

He swept Wilt out anyway – even a bad hit was a hit – but Cinder was able to dodge the clumsy strike at the last second. Her foot then caught his chest, seeming to come from an angle that wasn't consistent with where he saw her! His guard was inches low, leaving him gasping for air and toppling back as she kicked off his stomach.

What the hell was that?

"Adam look out!" Someone – Nora – yelled.

The lackey. Letting Cinder go, Adam roared and turned on his heel, swinging for the green-haired girl closing in on him. Or what he assumed would be her. It was actually the orange-haired Nora, closer than she had any right to be, and with wide eyes.

Fuck! Adam pulled his blow at the last second, only just avoiding cutting her head clean off. Nora answered him with a smile that looked just a bit too wrong on her face. It was the only warning he had before her hands came up wielding not a hammer, but two sickles with guns on the end. The rounds struck his chest, driving deep into his aura and launching him away.

"You killed me…"

Adam snarled, whirling toward the voice. A masked White Fang member came lurching toward him with weapon drawn. Adam slashed through him far too cleanly. He wasn't prepared for how little resistance there was and stumbled.

"You killed me," another White Fang shade said, appearing from nowhere.

"You killed us," a third said, and then a fourth. "You killed us all."

Not real. Adam took a deep breath and let it go. Unless the girl's Semblance was raising the dead, this was a trick of some sort. Adam held his ground as the four shades of fallen comrades approached him. He was wary to strike at all lest he cut through Nora and Ren by accident. He focused on his hearing instead, listening for the tell-tale crunch of grass or gravel. The shades made none, further proving they weren't real and couldn't harm him.

Sharp claws raked down Adam's back. Hissing, he flooded his body with aura, cutting off the pain and damage while also darting forward and spinning on one heel. He heard distant laughter and touched a hand to his back, finding it wet. The shades couldn't harm him, but evidently he was the only one trapped in what he was quickly realising was an illusionary Semblance. In the real world, he must have been standing still, and Cinder had taken advantage of that to slash him.

I'm lucky she didn't fire an arrow into my chest.

She wanted him alive.

Caught in an illusion. Adam danced back and slashed in front of him if only to keep Cinder on her toes. He'd faced many people with varying abilities in his life. They all had weaknesses, and this would too. The biggest that came to mind was that it was tied to the green-haired girl, which meant if Blake's teammates could kill her then it would cease. But if Cinder left him to fight the two of them, they wouldn't stand a chance. The girl could keep him locked in here until Ren and Nora were dealt with.

Which left only one option.

"Hiding behind your minions, Cinder?" he called out. "So much for your power. It's understandable though, isn't it? You never stood a chance against me alone."

There was no response he could see or hear – the illusion was impacting him auditorily as well as visually. It didn't do much for tactile sensation however, as he discovered when another slash caught his left side, burying under his ribs. This time, he was clever enough to keep his aura up, but that didn't stop it hurting. His reaction was an immediate slash in that direction, followed by a sharp thrust when Wilt failed to find a body. Sadly, that didn't work either.

Hopping back again, he tracked in his mind's eye where Cinder must have been to make the attack in the first place. If she went left, she wouldn't be in range, but as long as he kept circling quickly enough, she wouldn't catch him. If she went right, however…

Adam swung Wilt to the right and fired his buckshot just to the side of that. His sword cut through nothingness, but the buckshot hit something, pelting off an invisible body. He couldn't hear the grunt or cry of the one hit, so he had no idea if it was Cinder or anyone else. If he cut down Blake's teammate by accident…

Damn it. Adam kicked back again, unwilling to follow through. It could be Weiss or Ruby for all he knew, or even Yang. Ducking low, Adam swung behind him in case of an ambush, but there was nothing there.

"Get rid of the green-haired one!" he roared. He couldn't hear anyone, but they could surely hear him. "She's the illusionist. Deal with her!"

"Are you going to kill me, Adam?" Blake appeared before him, holding her arms open with a sad smile on her face. "You've killed everyone else. Is it my turn at last?"

"Idiot!" Adam hissed. "Illusions lose their impact when I know they're not real."

Blake's face twisted into a smug smile. "Perhaps so," she said, now in Cinder's voice, "But it's funny to see you flailing around like an idiot all the same. You never had a chance, Adam. I've dealt with brute strength people like you before."

"By outnumbering them and relying on her Semblance?" he asked. "Is it you who dealt with them, or your pet?"

"Emerald has her uses."

"More than you. Makes me wonder when she'll replace you."

Oh, he'd struck a nerve. Cinder's smile fell and her face – or Blake's – flushed dark red. Adam took the chance to fire Blush at the illusion, but the buckshot passed straight on through. As I thought, she's appearing in the illusion as one herself, probably to bait me into attacking.

And assuming Cinder would be in a position to take advantage of that when he over-extended, she would be… There! Adam shot forward like a rocket and slashed upward. This time, he hit something. Shattered glass impacted his skin, and he felt his body strike another. His free hand shot out, wrapped in fabric and dragged it toward him. He pushed aura to his skull and slammed his reinforced head into the person.

So close, Wilt was a liability, but now that he had hold of Cinder, he wasn't prepared to let her go. Not when he'd never find her again. He let go of the sword entirely, abandoning it and using a few of the tricks Yang had taught him in their brutal training spars. He'd never been a brawler, but you couldn't go rounds with her and not figure a few things out. Namely, that strength and weight meant something. Cinder might have been fast, but she was not as strong as he was.

Claws raked over his arm, but he refused to let go – even when a glass knife stabbed up into the underside of it, grating against his aura. Pulling her in close, he sent a fist crashing into her face, then another. The third was caught by what he assumed was her forearm, and he answered with a knee driving up for her stomach. Without being able to see, he missed, but felt himself go right up between her legs instead, something he had on confidence was just as painful for women as it was men, even without the dangly bits.

Cinder was not inactive during it. Sharp objects stabbed into his chest and stomach, her hand struck his face, and his mask was dislodged. Adam growled and bore her to the ground, landing on top and driving another fist into her face. This couldn't be Nora or Ren, neither wore a dress he knew he had a hold of, and neither fought with glass. Settling atop her chest, he took a second to feel over her face, grunting as teeth bit his hand before he found her chin and slipped under it to fix his hands around her throat. Aura or not, everyone needed to breathe.

Her invisible hands struck his arms to dislodge them, then went for his face when she realised he wouldn't let go. He'd drain his entire aura to keep her locked down. He snarled down at her, ignoring the fingers over his cheeks and nose, but unable to do so when he felt her press a thumb into his eye. Had he been able to see, he would have closed it and saved himself, but as it was Cinder raked her fingernail right over his cornea. Pain exploded through his skull, and he reared back, releasing her to cup his face. Blood. She'd pierced his already damaged eye.

Two things came of it.

Firstly, Cinder planted a foot on his chest and kicked him off her. Secondly, he got to see it. Either the damage to his eye had ended the illusion, or Emerald had been dealt with. Whatever the case, Beacon flooded back into focus, if stained red and blurry through the left side of his face. His back struck the grass. Doing his best to ignore the pain, he scurried back and to his feet, clapped a hand over the bleeding half of his face and searched for his weapon.

He found it under Cinder's heel. She flicked her foot back, sending it skittering away from them both. The woman was heaving for air, face flushed red and bruises forming around her neck where he'd tried to choke the life from her. Her nose was bleeding slightly, her hair a mess, but she wore a grin all the same, holding up her right hand and wriggling her bloody fingers in his direction.

At least it was the eye he kept covered. Adam had a feeling he had either lost it or was going to lose it later. Such concerns could come at a better time. When Cinder summoned her bow and took aim, he knew he had more immediate concerns.

"You really are wasted on them, Adam. Wasted on these children."

"A recruitment pitch," he spat. "Now of all times?"

"No. I don't need you." Cinder drew the bowstring back. Her lips curled up. "Not anymore."

What did that mean-?

An angry scream rent the air. "ADAM!"

Yang.

No.

Adam stared past Cinder to the school building, where Yang was glowing like yellow fire and hurtling toward Cinder's back. From her position, she had seen him disarmed and wounded, blood running down his face and Cinder about to land the killing blow. There was nothing more she needed to intervene, one fist cocked back, and her lips peeled into a snarl.

From the cocky smirk on Cinder's face, she'd expected as much. The bowstring remained taut even as she took a step back, turning and bringing it to focus on Yang's figure.

"No!" Adam shouted. "Yang! Dodge!"

The arrow was loosed. It shot at Yang like a bullet. He knew Yang – knew how she fought and how she approached a problem. With her aura high and her reserves untouched, he knew she wouldn't hesitate to knock the arrow out the air. She threw her fist at it, aura turning her knuckles and fingers into something with the consistency of steel. An impenetrable barrier for simple glass.

Cinder's arrow turned to fragments before it hit, twisting above and below Yang's reinforced fist and reforming on the other side. Adam cried out and Yang gasped, only just managing to bring her left hand up in a sweep to try and knock it off course from her throat. She was partly successful.

Yang's charge was stopped with the impact, her upper body bending back as the sharpened glass arrow punctured through Yang's left wrist and out the other side in one motion. It lodged there, an inch or less from her throat. Her mouth opened and she released a bloodcurdling cry.

Cinder was already in motion. Immediately after the arrow had flown, she cast aside her bow and raced forward, stopping to pick up his sword instead of summoning her own. Bringing the hilt back, she flung herself forward and drove the point toward Yang's stomach, all while the blonde was distracted by the arrow lodged in her wrist.

A body knocked into Yang's and forced her aside. Ozpin only had the time to grab for the blade before it hit his stomach, driving him back with incredible force. Aura flashed around his palm on the blade and also across his midsection. The headmaster was pushed back several steps, off the staircase and against a stone pillar. With her momentum, Cinder couldn't stop anytime soon, and even aura wasn't infallible.

Wilt dug deep into Ozpin's gut, slid through his intestines and scraped into solid stone. The man gasped loudly, gripped the sword with both hands and did the only thing he could to help Yang. Refuse to let go.

"Damn you!" Cinder snarled, releasing Wilt. She pointed and the arrow through Yang's wrist dissipated again, flowing back to form her own sword in hand, which she brought high. "That power is mine! Die already!"

Yang answered in kind, snapping her uninjured hand, and Ember Celica, up into Cinder's face. The barrel glowed as she ignited the dust within with the click of her thumb.

"You first, bitch!"

Next Chapter: 14th September

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur