[X] Just need to rest... (Temporary Perspective Change)
-[X] Look through the eyes of Winter Schnee
Her Nevermore flew off, carrying the injured girl on it's back, and Winter Schnee put the thought of Yang Xiao Long out of her mind.
She could be concerned about that later. For now, she had an opponent to kill.
The two identical figures, differing only in the colour of their armour, looked at Winter.
"A Schnee?" The one in black asked.
"That hardly matters." Winter replied. "You don't need to know anything about me. You will be dead momentarily."
The two men ran at her, flanking her so that one approached her left and one her right. Winter waited for a moment, to allow them to approach, before calling forth her Summons.
Twenty Beowulf's weren't a threat to someone of this level of power. but it was still ten each, and it would take them time to bash through the bodies. The only weapons they seemed to possess was their gauntlets and the harpoons she could see on their backs, and that meant their range was low when they weren't shooting.
It was an interesting Semblance, being able to possess two bodies. But it was also an ability that was predictable. In essence, fighting him meant you were fighting two foes at once. Against a single foe, that could be deadly. But against Winter, it was pointless. The main advantage was that the foe she fought would outnumber his enemy most of the time. Winter, however, could reverse that in a heartbeat.
The one armoured in white fired a harpoon, which ripped through the ghostly Beowulf's and came within a hair of striking at Winter, but her blade deflected it before it could strike at her.
It only took a few seconds for the two figures to slay most of the Beowulfs, but in that second, Winter had prepared her next move.
Swarms of weaker summons wasn't the best tactic against singular powerful foes. Against the Grimm she had fought to the south, it was fine, but even then, once the more powerful Grimm started approaching, their usefulness faded. For more powerful foes, she needed to make use of more powerful summons.
The white-armoured figure came into range of Winter, and threw a fist. Winter's sword clanged against his armour, as the arm was forced to the side. The man stopped his momentum before he could stumble forward, and Winter shifted her arm, striking the man in the face with the hilt of her sword. Then she took a step to the side, and looked upon the new summons coming forth.
A humanoid shape carrying an oversized axe dashed at the black-armoured figure, and slashed the weapon into the dark armour. The man grunted in pain, but took the shaft of the axe in his hand, and squeezed hard enough to shatter it. The axehead faded away, and a fist through the summon's chest ended its existence. A large cut was left in his armour, but not enough to expose flesh.
Winter waved her blade, and a glyph appeared before her. Birds began emerging from it, firing at the white-armoured figure with force equal to one of her blows. The incredible number of blows forced it on the defensive, and taking the opportunity, Winter dashed at the figure in black.
A glyph appeared under her to increase her speed, and the sudden burst of increased speed caught the man off guard. He moved to catch Winter's blade as she approached, but a moment too slow. Her blade stuck at the gash in the armour, smashing through it and striking at flesh. The increased danger of the blow drew more Aura from the man than before, and Winter the pain etched on his face was enough to let Winter know she had an opportunity.
Another glyph formed underneath his feet, and Winter pulled out her blade and jumped back just as it took effect. The black-armoured man ran at her, but the glyph took effect, and his movements slowed to a crawl.
That particular glyph would make it difficult to damage the black-armoured man while he was within it, but it also kept him out of the fight for a while, leaving only one body remaining.
Winter looked at the white-armoured man, blade in her hand. With a brief gesture, several more summons rose up before her, all of which charged as she pointed her blade forward.
The first summon, a humanoid figure with bull's horns, stepped into range first, jabbing forward with a spear fast enough that dodging wasn't an option, with enough force that blocking forced the mercenary leader back, putting him in a position where he had to walk back to avoid being overwhelmed. Then, as he approached the wall, the man dashed to the wall, running up it, before coming down on the bull man and crushing his skull with a fist. As the summon faded, the second came into reach.
The second form, a sort of amphibious Grimm that Winter had fought years ago, was slow to move, but the spearman had served his purpose well enough. By the time he had died, the spearman had brought time for the Grimm to get into range, lunging at the mercenary and unfolding it's tentacles. Suction caps attached to the man all over, and the ghostly Grimm slowly squeezed, pining the white-armoured man's arms to his side and trying to crush him through his armour.
The man in white struggled agains the grip for a moment, slowly pulling his arm away from his side, but it took too long, giving time for Winter's next summon to make it's move.
The last two of the group summoned, the giant Creep and the Cerberus, ran at the man at once. The three-headed hound reached him first, scooping up both man and Grimm in a single bite, and began chewing. The other two heads moved the body as it focused on keeping the man contained and in pain, walking towards the slightly green-glowing Creep.
As it did so, the Cerberus' centre head bowed, and the Creep crept onto it. A moment passed, and Winter prepared to order the Creep to detonate.
Then there was a crunching sound, and a fist emerged from the Cerberus' fangs. Acting immediately, Winter detonated the Creep, but the dark figure escaped the jaws and leapt to the side at the last moment.
...The dark figure.
Looking back at her glyph of slowed movement, Winter saw that it was empty. How-
The Creep and ruined Cerberus head faded away, revealing an incredibly injured white-armoured figure. But then, as if in response to her gaze, the white-armour blinked out, and the man in black walked forward a step. As he did so, the man in white appeared where he had been standing a moment before.
"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" The man asked.
In response, Winter leapt into the middle of the two men, pulling at her blade as she did so. The second sword hidden within folded out, and Winter struck at both men at once. They blocked, and then moved to attack. It was trivial, redirecting their blows away from her, and Winter's blades danced as they repelled fist after fist, from either direction.
A pair of glyphs appeared under Winter's feet, and her speed increased, allowing her to strike faster, allowing her to punish every wrong move from her opponents. They still had the advantage, but Winter would hold out long enough for the plan to work.
She had one more summon, not within range of the fight, that had accomplished it's mission. And even now, it was on it's way.
The blades gave a graceful dance as they struck at armour and diverted fists, but her opponent's movements were pragmatic and controlled. Every blow against her could have been devastating if it hit, every blow only left an opening that could be quickly covered, and the blows kept coming fast enough to prevent Winter from taking the initiative. The one in white pulled a harpoon from his back and moved to stab Winter, but was easily disarmed. The harpoon fell to the floor, and Winter quickly moved her left hand to block a blow from the man in right behind her.
Enough time had passed.
The Cerberus resumed movement at last, ignoring the loss of it's middle head as it charged at the battle. The man in white turned to deal with it, loading and firing a harpoon through the gap between heads and plunging into where it's heart would be. Winter took the chance to bring both blades against the black-armoured warrior, who took a step back and was put on the defensive.
Winter's Cerberus faded from the killing blow, and the summon that had approached behind it suddenly became visible. Before either man could react, the ghostly Nevermore took flight, grabbing the white-armoured man with both talons and flying off with him. Winter activated the second rune under her feet, creating a barrier around her and the man in black, and stabbed forward again.
Some sort of bond connected the two identical figures, and as the white armoured man was dragged out of range, the man in black was forced back into the invisible barrier, crying out as he did so.
Winter felt her Nevermore lose it's grip on the white armoured figure, and a hand emerged from the chest of the black-armoured man. Perfect.
Making a hole in her barrier and stepping out of it, Winter quickly created another Creep within it, just as the man in white fully emerged from the man in black.
Before either could react, it exploded. The barrier shattered and faded, and there was a cloud of dust for a moment.
Winter looked over it for a moment, then slowly stepped forward. The man in black stumbled out of the dust, and Winter took a blade to his throat.
Aura shattered, and the mercenary leader gurgled on blood as he collapsed. Behind him, Winter heard another thud, of someone falling. It appears as if defeating one had defeated the other.
Stepping away for a moment, Winter pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket, and wiped her blade clean of blood.
A tough foe, but nothing she hadn't dealt with before. Yang had done a surprising amount of damage to his Aura, so it was easier than it could have been, too.
Looking over at the corpses as the dust faded, Winter took a moment to consider what to do with them.
She cared nothing for the man. He was a criminal, and a murderer. Not a particularly famous one, either. There wasn't likely to be a bounty on him, so proof of death was of no use to Winter.
But, perhaps Yang Xiao Long deserved some sort of trophy for this battle. She had done remarkably well, for a child of her age. It was the level of quality that Winter's father had always expected of his children, and he had the funds to buy the services of the best mentors, to train perfection in every action.
Yes, her performance certainly deserved some form of recognition. It wasn't uncommon for Hunters to take trophies of their victories, at least for a smile time. Perhaps Yang would take his gauntlet or armour as a token of her victory. Or perhaps she'd use the more... Barbaric trophy, of a skull on a stick.
Either way, she deserved something for doing as well as she did. Especially considering the circumstances. Piran had informed her that Yang told everyone else to run, so she had known she couldn't defeat him alone, and yet still fought...
As she sheathed her swords, Winter manifested another two summons, both Beowulfs, to carry the corpses. Even if Yang didn't want a trophy, it was still possible that Winter was wrong and there was some form of bounty for the man. She could take that instead.
But, time was of the essence now. She had delayed the Grimm for long enough, but she had left them some time ago to slay the mercenary leader. By now, there was likely only a small amount of time before the village was overrun. It would be wise to have the airship on it's way out before Grimm started trying to take it down.
The boulder blocking the street took a moment to run around, but it wasn't long at all, before Winter reached the airship.
The ship was surrounded by rubble, but the airship itself was unharmed. And standing on top of it was-
"Hey!" A voice called, and the blue haired girl standing on top of it jumped down, landing in front of Winter. "You're the one in charge, right? I'm-"
"Two." Winter interrupted, looking at the familiar mark on her forehead. "I've been told about you."
The blue haired girl nodded. "Yeah? Good things?"
Winter looked at her. "Nothing bad." She said, after a moment.
Two beamed. "Good! I've heard good things about you, you know!"
"Is everyone here?" Winter asked.
Two nodded. "Your ghost-thing carried Yang back ages ago, Piran followed her into the airship after driving off explosion boy 'cause his arm got hurt, and Cent arrived with everyone from the North just a few moments ago."
"Then we leave immediately." Winter said, walking past Two onto the airship.
"Huh? Oh, okay, off we go!"
As Two followed Winter up, the airship door began to close.
...Two was different to what Winter had expected, she thought as she pulled out her scroll.
With a few button presses, the airship began to rise. Just as the doors began to close, Winter gestured out of it, summoning a bunch of flying summons in the process. "How many survivors are there?" She asked.
"Didn't count." Two said. "A lot of kids. A lot of badly hurt ones, too. Your medical area's filled up, Piran refused to have his arm looked at so people could get their wounds healed up first."
Winter's Beowulf's threw the mercenaries corpses over the doors just as they closed, and then they faded. Two looked at them for a moment, her smile growing framed.
"That's him, then?" She asked.
Winter nodded. "That's the leader."
Two looked at it for a moment. "Hey, d'you mind if I search the body? He might be dead, but people want a name, and I might be able to find on eif he had a wallet or something on him."
"Feel free." Winter permitted. "I'll be seeing my students in the medical area now. If you need me, just say so."
Two nodded, then looked over to the bodies. For a moment, Winter considered whenever or not she wanted to have the conversation now, but decided against it. Two may be permitted to hear what she had to say, but right now, there was too much of a chance that someone walking past and overhearing too much classified information.
Leaving Two with the corpses, Winter looked over her scroll a bit more, then quickly typed out a message to be sent home. A report on what had happened so far. This was bigger than she was expecting, so sending a report early would be a smart idea.
Once her report was done, Winter put her Scroll away, and stepped into the medical bay.
Yang was on the closest bed to the door, unconscious. Her wounds were being patched together, her breathing and heartbeat were being monitored and regulated, and there was a dust generator sitting nearby trying to kickstart her Aura, to assist in the healing.
She'd be out for a while. Winter would speak with her when she regained consciousness.
Standing near her was Piran, who had an arm wrapped in bloodstained bandages.
"Piran." Winter spoke, and the boy quickly looked up at her and gave a salute.
"At ease." The Schnee ordered. "What happened with your arm?"
"Invisible bomber." Piran replied. "Well, he was a bit less invisible without his Aura, but he still had a lot of traps. He kept bringing down buildings, so I had to injure him to force him away. Got caught in an explosion to do it, broke through my Aura, and my arm took the brunt of it.
"And why aren't you having it tended to?" Winter asked.
"I can live with it." Piran replied. "I'm a Hunter. I signed up to get hurt for the sake of others. Those kids didn't. Even if it means having this arm be useless for the rest of the month, it doesn't matter."
"Don't be a fool." Winter ordered. "Putting others before yourself is admirable, but if you leave yourself short a limb for the month, you're as good as dead."
"...As you command, ma'am." Piran replied.
"As you were, then." Winter replied. Piran nodded, and went back to watching Yang.
...He did run from the fight at her order, didn't he? Piran probably felt responsible, to some degree, for what had happened.
Winter took a moment to look around the cramped medical bay. Off in the corner, she saw an orange-haired girl talking excitedly to a boy in a...
...Well, the shirt looked like it was initially green, but there was a lot of blood covering it. He struggled for a moment to sit up, before the girl pushed him back down. Likely wise. Winter could see a cut in that shirt that was surrounded by the majority of the blood. He seemed badly hurt, and too much movement could cause more bleeding.
Sitting close to them, wearing an open jacket and a rather excessive amount of belts, was-
"Blast Yellowstone." Winter ordered. "Report."
Blast looked up at her. "Not too many injuries', boss." He said.
"Why are you in here?" She asked.
"Just having the machines check up on me. Broke a finger bone, but that's it."
"What did you do after your deployment?" Winter asked.
"My Semblance is a bi- , uh, pain." Blast said. "I mean, it's really cool in a fight, but it also usually leads to a lot of fights, y'know?"
...Right. His Semblance. It bore a rather uncanny resemblance to a certain old man who never failed to get on Winter's nerves, despite her best efforts.
"What exactly happened?" Winter asked.
"Well, I heard gunshots." Blast explained. "So I went to investigate, and ended up in the north of the village. Saved a few people from attackers, but then some woman with lightning abilities tried to fry me. Naturally, my Semblance kicked in then, and it helped me block the attack. It's just that, uh, I didn't realise until after I got away that I blocked it with my scroll, which is kinda busted..."
Winter looked at him.
"...Is there any spares?"
She was rather tempted to turn it into a glare.
"Well..." Blast continued. "After that, I got into a lot of fight. Beat up some people. Turns out, they were gathering in the north. Most of the chain of command was up there. Then I say that Ren kid take one of them out, but then the rest jumped on him, and, well, I could hardly leave him alone to fight a dozen people like that."
"I see." Winter said. "So you jumped into a near impossible fight with no way of knowing if you could survive it."
"...Well, I won, didn't I?"
"How?"
"...Okay, I got back-up." Blast admitted. "That Cent guy saved the day, was pretty cool. But me and Ren were fighting for a while before that, and I probably could have gotten away if I didn't have to carry Ren around after he got hit like that."
Winter nodded. "I understand."
"You do?"
"On our next deployment, you are not to be out of my sight."
Blast groaned. "Why does every authority figure do this to me..."
Winter left him to his complaints, and turned to leave the medical bay, when a certain blue-haired girl walked in.
"Two." Winter said. "Is there something you wanted?"
Two nodded. "Where's the airship landing?"
"...I was going to take it near the forest." Winter said. "Of our objectives, it's the closest one to us. Why?"
Two held up a small scroll, one outdated decades ago. "I found this on the mercenary leader guy."
Winter took the offered scroll, and browsed through what Two had left open.
It was a picture of the mercenary leader, with a girl that looked a lot like him riding on his shoulders.
"What is this?"
"He was a bad guy." Two said. "But it looks like he had a daughter."
Winter flicked through the images, seeing a lot more of the girl. Her hair was black, and she was... Rather thin. Skin was not meant to cling to the bone that much.
"Even if he deserved bad things, well, I don't want to leave someone out here alone." Two said. "We should go find her, shouldn't we?"
Winter considered it for a moment.
"We'll be landing in a village not far from here." Winter said. "The airship doesn't have supplies to carry too many people across too far a distance, and we'll stay there for a bit to give people time to properly recover in the medical bay. After that-"
She paused. On the one hand, Signal had given her a path, and it would reflect poorly on her and Atlas if she deviated too much. On the other...
Winter's eyes flicked up to the roman numerals on Two's forehead.
...Winter's obligation regarding the Intoners was more important, in the end. With the sort of power the known Intoners had demonstrated...
Well, the message had been sent, and Winter had heard that Yang had acquired Two's contact information. Two would want to stay in contact once Winter shared the information she had, so monitoring her in person wasn't exactly a requirement...
Thinking it over for a moment, Winter decided.
[X] "-We'll help you look for her." Follow Two, monitor her, and talk to her when the time is right.
[X] "-We'll let you look for her." Let Two do her own thing, but get her alone to talk to her as soon as possible.