Multiplayer

by NeoShadows

Life is a game. In an attempt to save a friend during the Breach, Jaune Arc died. Brought back to life with powers of a Gamer, he must now attempt to beat the game called life. He's not alone though. Every win or lose ends in a Reset, so how will he beat a game that never ends?

12. Definition of Humanity

Sup? NeoShadows back and refreshed, baby.

Apologies for missing out on Chapter 12 last week. Literally, I finished writing it around eleven o'clock that night. So I had to put it off for this week. Good news though, I was able to finish Chapter 13 yesterday. Don't have to worry about next weeks chapter, I can tell you that. But I was able to touch up my profile while I had the time. Even wrote down future stories in the works as we speak. If you wanna check them out, head on to my profile for a peek. None of them will be released until the end of Volume 1 of Multiplayer. The few that are ready to be uploaded will fill in the slot till we're a good ways in with Volume 4 of RWBY coming out in October. I can't wait to see what RoosterTeeth has in store for us.

No DLC today. Still working on the next piece.

I do have a question for you all. Do you think I should stop answering some of the reviews you all leave behind? Honestly, the only reason I do them is to speak out to you all when I can. Something unique that some authors rarely do. But if you all don't want them, I consider taking them out.

For now, Review Time!

DigitalEmperor001: Man's gotta have ambition. I know Couer is already doing a Gamer like fic now, and the Game We Play is still active, but I still wish to try. I gotta long road ahead of me, I can tell you that much. And no doubt Jaune's grown distrustful of cabins by now. They hold dangerous yet sexy things inside them. Excluding the dwarfs of course.

GhostHornet: Yup, an island. One all to herself with no one ever bothering her. She just wants to be alone, away from the troubles people bring with them. Damn, I was hoping it would get you. Just you wait, I have more in stores.

Einyx: Ren does seem whiny, but he's simply jaded. Imagine if you had to play the same game, over and over again, with all your hard work brought back to nothing whether you win or lose. Nothing he could ever change will stay the same, and the one moment in his life he wishes to change is always intact despite his best efforts. He's tired, fed up, done with playing hero. Only time will tell if he will ever try again. Still glad you enjoy the story though.

Templar Wrath: Yeah, there is more to games then RPG elements. But their not being shown right now. As the story grows, you'll see more elements. As for the Gamer rehashing of old stories, honestly I've only read 5-7 chapters of The Gamer on Kissmanga and only read maybe two fics of RWBY with The Gamer used as a premise. Everything being written is inspired by the video games I've played, mostly Kingdom Hearts. . .and others. (Looks in shame to the shortcut on his laptop reading Huniepop.) Sorry if it feels that way. And for the replying to reviews, I'll see about that. If it's word count you're worrying about, no need to worry. At most my replies count up to 600-800 words. That's not much to skip over. Especially with each chapter being more then 11,000+ words.

Frosty Wolf: Good to be caught up. I got much more waiting for you, best believe that. I'll write down Jaune's status with the others and his abilities when I have the time, maybe at the end of this arc. Along with the other Players available.

SonicFanFlame: . . .Uhhh. Damn, that is a lot of text. Okay, I'll do my best to answer them! I'm getting Pokemon Moon and Poplio, always start off with a water type! And nope! Ren ain't the first Player, nor Adam. The First Player is actually surprising. And Ren is about to reach Lvl30, he ain't that high seeing as he tries to stay out of fighting and playing The Game. Adam on the other hand, man's a monster. And yeah, any Player who dies does not affect the others in The Game. Everything only resets when someone reaches The End, no matter how many Players are left. I think I answered what I can right now. Oh, and one last thing. Ciel, best waifu. Even though I now nothing about her.

Hirshja: You bastard. No Spoiling! Leave Kevin's name out of your loose mouth, heathen!

Warhaler: . . .You say that. But. . .well I'd be spoiling if I said anymore.

Wandai: (Starts laughing maniacally) Son, there is so much more to this scene then you realize. After all, how could he have a memory of his funeral when he was dead? What an error. Or is it? Yeah, it should be unprobable for Holt to have found Jaune as a rat, but a guy as bright as him stood out in there ranks even when compared to Cardin who was also a huntsman in training. Then again, The Game likes to shake things up when it wants things moving along. What a bastard. Things are colliding, who knows who will walk out alive.

Raos: Too many OC girls? Eh. When I stack them up, I have 8 Male OC's and 5 Female OC's. And not all of them are in love with him. Hell, only Antheia is interested in him in the story right now. I haven't even revealed who is going to be included in the Epilogues for the multiple endings. Glad you like the Friends of Faunus, they were interesting to make up. Remember not to take the Harem bit seriously, it's just for fun right now.

Alright, that's it for today. I actually finished early today, go figure. Now I can relax a bit and think about how to start of Chapter 14. And maybe work on some of those future stories in the works. My Pokemon hype is practically sending me through the roof! Or that's just the caffeine. Now let's enjoy the show! It's about to get good.

---

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to RWBY. They belong to RoosterTeeth. And if you start kicking in my door, slamming me to the floor and screaming in my face as to wear are they(The rights to RWBY) while beating me up in a crappy 3rd grade Batman cosplay, I'll simply say to you one thing.

Martha.

Because apparently, that's all it take to stop a fight to the death these days. And please, don't play Evanscene in the background while in the act. I don't care how good Bring Me to Life sounds, it's an overused Meme. And I thought Batman couldn't be anymore edgier.

---

Chapter 12: Definition of Humanity.

Ren grunted as Storm Flower blocked the vibrating blade of an FoF member, clicking his teeth as he aimed the barrels of his MSG's into the sweating man. Green lights flashed in front of his eyes before several powerful rounds peppered his goggled face. The HP above the grunts head dropped to zero, leaving him to fall back with a wheezing gasp. Several throwing knives aimed for Ren's back as the grunt's brothers in arms retaliated in kind. With Scan's cross hare's hanging over his right eye, Ren was able to discover the red Dust at the end of the hilts.

Jumping back, the knives struck the ground, flashing brightly as they detonated in flaring plumes of fire. One of the FoF grunts followed after him, madly swinging the sawing sword at him with precise swings. The blade flashed around him as he danced around his attacker. Raising his pistols behind his back, he blocked another FoF from striking his back. His friend saw an opening and struck. Ren scoffed as he simply blocked the next swing. Locking the blades of his pistols with the grunts, Ren broke their power struggle with the added amplification of Storm Flowers shot. The grunts shouted in pain, their wrists swelling as their blades flew out of their hands. With nothing to defend themselves with they were left wide open as Ren spun on his feet, spinning in place as he fired his pistols continuously to spin him around like a bladed top. Pink aura cloaked the blade like fangs of MSG's, elongating them to wide blades long enough to reach both men. The sawing pink blades tore through their aura, depleting them into the red zone.

The two grunts swayed in place as their auras began to flicker. Ren scoffed, aiming his pistols back to the two before firing a shot into their heads. +850EXP! They fell back as their auras died away, knocked out by the blows to their heads. Blood trailed down their temples, infuriating one of the grunts watching by.

"You son of a bitch!" He roared, dashing straight at the dead green garbed boy. He swung his sword only for its blade to be blocked by the pink eyed boys fanged pistols. Annoying little bastard! "Team E, report to my location!" he shouted into the mic hidden in his ski mask as he moved back from a kick to his stomach. He began to sweat as his vibrating blade clashed with the boy's blade, the onslaught of swings creating sparks around them in their fight. Leaning to the right, the grunt grinned at the missed fanged chop for his head. Finally, an opening!

Ren frowned at the surprisingly quick strike for his head. Tilting his head away, he miscalculated as the passing vibrating sword nicked his cheek. There went 20HP, what a shame.

"Don't think I'm done, you bitch!" The grunt huffed in a sweat, tightening the grip over his sword, "I'm going to make you pay for killing my friends!" He shouted angrily before unsheathing another blade from his waist.

Ren rolled his eyes as he continued to clash blades with the camo themed man. It wasn't like he killed them in cold blood. Once an enemy's HP reached Zero, they were unable to fight back. They were in a state of unconscious most of the time. Stronger enemies were able to ignore the lack of Aura shielding them as they fought on. That left them in a Critical State. Criticals landed smoothly with no aura to protect them. To surmise, their body was as normal as a regular civilian's, shots to their head would kill them on the spot, a slice at their arms would cut it off, and a stab at their heart would pierce it. Their HP became Negative, the critical hits to their bodies making it easy to drop their Negative HP to the Death Point.

Say you had 1,000HP and it dropped to zero. One critical hit could drop it to -1,000HP. That was the point of death. Nothing would save them at that point. Game Over.

Killing your opponent allowed for an EXP Boost and higher chance at rewards. The enemies personal weapon and attire could also be rewarded once they died. It was optional if you wanted to achieve a high level quickly with rare gear and weapons.

As a student of Beacon, it would be frowned upon if he killed his opponent. They wouldn't kick him out, but he would have to deal with a lecture from Ms. Goodwitch. Not to mention it would be a pain to deal with his friends judging stares. Nora would understand, she'd seen him do it before long ago. But she would still disapprove. . .and make him cook her a kings buffet of pancakes. Jaune would also be a problem. Did not want to deal with another one of his corny speeches.

It was Jaune's fault he was now battling a gang of crazed humanizers. The trip to Vale had gone smoothly at first. He stopped by Dust Till Dawn for more Dust and even had time to stop by A Simple Wok for some breakfast ramen. He was enjoying the small lapse of peace as he drank the tasty broth. That was when the FoF had struck.

The shop across the noodle bar was bombed, its window shattering before the blooming flames. Panic enveloped the streets as men in white and gray cameo uniforms ran out of the flames, attacking several more shops and buildings in hunt for hidden White Fang. Anyone that got in their way was cut down by their high frequency blades. It was smart, the vibrations made it easy to cut through aura.

Unfortunately they made the mistake of ruining his respite. Only a few select people were allowed that. And they were not on the list last he checked.

Ren sighed in annoyance as more of the FoF came into view in the streets they fought. They were coming out of the wood work it seemed. How annoying. At least he went up two levels since their attacks began. Catching the buzzing blade within the space of Storm Flower's fang, Ren moved it to the far side as he aimed his elbow for the man's face. The boost of his pistols recoil turned his elbow smash into an iron hard blow to the temple. The grunt's HP dropped like a rock.

"It's too early for this kind of crap." Ren glared as he found himself dotted by red lights from the FoF's rifles. They wanted to play that game? Fine with him. He shut his right eye as he called on his Mana.

'FoF Grunt, Lvl10.

1,700HP/1,7000HP.

Strength: 10

Defense: 10

Speed: 9

Dexterity: 10

Intelligence: 6

Luck: 5

Weapons:

FoF HF(High Frequency) Sword.

FoF Rifle.

Abilities:

HF Slash.

Explosive Knife.

Wild HF Blade.

Red Dust Shells.

Information:

A common grunt of the Friends of Faunus. Trained by a well trained ninja, this grunt is more then capable of standing toe to toe with huntsman and huntresses for a brief period of time. Beware their HF swords, the deadly vibrations make cutting through aura a simple swipe. When grouped together, they riddle their opponents with Red Dust Shells, blowing them away in flaming pieces.'

Good to know. Stronger then the average White Fang grunts by a single level this far in game. Snapping open his eye, his pink iris grew darker as several magenta dyed crosshairs targeted all the FoF grunts ahead of him. They zoomed in before flashing onto his targets.

"Lock On." Ren breathed as he loaded two special icy blue cartridges into his pistols. Time to finish them off. Twin light azure lights twinkled from Storm Flowers barrel as a loading bar appeared in his HUD. Just needed a moment to charge up.

"Load up your Dust ammo!" The head of the grunts shouted. Was not going to let that strange boy fire off whatever he was planning.

Too late, Ren smirked as the crosshair in his eye blinked, the bar to his ability charging finished loading, "HailStorm."

Vanishing into the wind in a blur, Ren appeared over the grunts heads firing every bullet in Storm Flower's chamber. The bullets twisted around the air with cold blue lights trailing behind them. No amount of running could save the grunts from the rain of chilling shells locked onto their bodies. Their screams of fear and pain were drowned out as their bodies became encased in blocks of ice, chilling the air as their icy forms released wisps of cold vapor.

+50,100EXP! 'You're level has risen by 1! Sakura Storm Lvl1, Unlocked!'

Ren smiled as he felt an all too familiar power run through his veins. It was good to have Sakura Storm back. It was one of his favorite early game abilities. The buzzing of his scroll caught his attention as he landed, swiping the message away to read his messages. It was Pyrrha. Ren frowned as he read over the redhead's text.

'Blake and Velvet have been kidnapped by the FoF! Come to Vale as soon as possible! We have to find them before they do something to them. Please, come quickly Ren.'

Ren grumbled as he replied back. First time she text him and it was about a problem The Game created thanks to Jaune. Nothing ever changed.

'Understood. I'm already in Vale. I'll see what I can find from the grunts. Be safe. . .and keep Nora's rampaging to a fair minimal.'

Did not want Vale giving them a bill for her destruction. In this life.

Pocketing his scroll, Ren went off to search for any conscious FoF for information, "Scan: Grandscale." Red little dots were displayed on his HUD map, revealing the many locations of his enemies on the screen. Time to go hunting for loose lips.

A bigger dot pulsed on the map which he ignored as he ran of for the closest enemy.

Nope! Was not dealing with a boss today if he could help it.

---

'What about the passengers?'

'What about them?'

Cardin grit his teeth as his temper flared. The large coliseum screen showed off a redheaded man with a grimm mask and horns smirking cruelly next to a familiar raven haired girl. The footage was suddenly cut off as it turned to static, the robot recording everything shutting down from the extensive damage littering its frame. His face was shadowed as his shoulders shook with repressed anger.

All this time, he had been in class with a member of the White Fang? Blake had been hiding under his nose as a faunus, a dirty stinking faunus! And the worst of the lot. His blistering blue eyes glared at the ashamed frown on the cat girl's face. She was looking away from his judging sight.

"You." Cardin hissed, his muscles tensing as his heart beat went wild. Adrenaline was surging through his veins.

Grimacing over the tight hold of the shadows keeping him grounded, Jaune weakly raised his head as he spoke to Cardin, "You don't understand, Cardin! She's not part of the White Fang anymore! She left them for a chance of a clean start. She's innocent!" he shouted, flinching as Holt increased the grip over his body.

"Innocent?" Cardin laughed in disbelief, snarling as he pointed his finger at the stunned ninja girl, "Her kind is responsible for the deaths of hundreds! How would you call that innocent!?"

"Wait? You knew about me?" Blake asked with wide eyes. How? He wasn't even surprised about her cat ears either. How was that possible, she had never met him till initiation.

Holt grinned widely as the blonde knight cursed to himself, "My, my, Jaune. You're just full of dirty surprise, aren't you?" Holt smirked before snapping his fingers. He ignored Cardin's hateful glare of the cat faunus as he turned his attention to his fellow blonde released from his shadows, "Ah, ah, ah~!" He sang, shaking his finger at the charging knight. Unsheathing a hunter's knife from within in his battlecoat, he used the blade to slowly lift Velvet's chin up threateningly. The action stopped Jaune in his tracks he openly clenched his teeth in frustration.

"One wrong step, and she won't be given the freedom of even waking up as a proper human."

Dammit, dammit, dammit! Jaune glared hatefully back at the Cheshire grin on Holt's smug face. In Velvet's knocked out state, her aura couldn't protect her from any harm. Why was she even here? She should have been in Beacon along with Blake, safe from the FoF. Even they weren't confident enough to make a move on their grounds.

"Now, you have an option, boy." Holt explained, his knife tracing over Velvet's cheek, "See, my little Ann is actually fond of you, for reasons I can't fathom. It would be such a devastation if she were to learn that you were only using her for your own agenda of sending her and her family to prison for the rest of their lives. And there's nothing more heart wrenching then the look of betrayal on her pretty little face. So I'm giving you an option." he stopped smiling as he spoke seriously. Flipping a switch on his knife, sparks ran along the blade as he stabbed the bunny girl's shoulders. She awoke a with a scream of anguish, her body lighting up with lighting as he pushed her towards Jaune.

"Velvet!" Both Jaune and Blake shouted in worry. Jaune dashed for her sparking body, catching her as he brought her to his chest. Her weak chocolate orbs gazed back at him in confusion, the sparks around her body dying down.

Body trembling from the painful wake up call, Velvet was at lost of where she was. Her left shoulder was soaking her uniform with blood from the stab her aura was now working on healing. Last thing she recalled was staring into the eerily haunting eyes of the FoF's leader standing in front of her. She'd seen that look before long ago.

"Velvet, are you okay!?" Jaune asked in worry as she tried to focus her eyes on his own.

"Jaune? What's going on?" Velvet frowned weakly. She tried to standing back up, only for several black tendrils to pop out of her shadow and coil around her limps. They held her down as she was forced to sit on her knee's with a pained gasp.

Jaune spun his head back to Holt with a snarl only for a rough hand to pat down on his shoulder. From the shadow stretching out behind him, the shaggy haired humanizer appeared from the depths of his silhouette. Sweat rolled down his face as Holt's knife poked at the side of his temple with deadly intent. His damn semblance was overpowered!

"Here's your option, Jaune." Holt scowled deeply, flipping his knife in his palm. Grabbing Jaune's hand, he forced his palm open before dropping the knife into his grip, "Save your little friend of her ugly curse and join my cause. She would look so much prettier without those ears on her head."

Big mistake, "As if!" Jaune roared, gripping the new weapon in his hand. He swung the blade for Holt's head, caught be surprise when the knife struck. The slash kicked the shaggy blonde back with a grunt. Wasn't going to question it, Jaune thought while dashing towards the stumbled humanizer. He was ending this now!

His knife went in for a stab towards Holt's chest. A long spear length black steeled baton suddenly came in between the two blondes, blocking Jaune's small knife and shattering it upon impact. Ann's glaring green eyes stared back at him, her body shielding her boss from her so called 'friend'.

"Lay off the boss, Blondie." Ann said dully, twirling her weapon in her hand before it collapsed into a smaller stick. Its ends were adorned with orange spearheads that withdrew with a click, leaving only the studded red bands at the ends. Her weapon slid back into her sleeve by a hidden mechanism as she lightly scowled at Jaune's tensed form, "You can't be attacking him like that. He's more then capable enough to kill you on the spot. Just," she struggled for a moment, her eyes turning to the weakly struggling form of the bunny girl looking to them pleadingly. She sighed at the look before steeling her resolve, "Get it over with. It's either live as part of us, or die. You don't have any other options."

"You can't be serious?" Jaune shook his head with disbelief, "Velvet's my friend! I'm not going to cut her faunus ears off just because that bastard thinks it's the only way to make her fit in. His way of logic is batshit insane! If I can accept her as who she is, then others should be able too. Being a faunus is not a curse, it's a blessing!" he roared angrily.

"Blessing? Don't make me laugh, boy." Holt laughed cruelly as he cracked his neck. He moved the blue haired girl to the side as he swept his hands towards the two faunus school girls, "The faunus are cursed to walk the earth as monsters! Freaks! No better then the Grimm! Humanity has blamed them for all the problems plaguing the world, and you call their curse a blessing!? But what do I expect coming from the mouth of a rat!" He shouted.

Ann frowned, "Rat? What are you talking about, boss?"

"Check for yourself, Anabel." Holt tossed back the scroll he pickpocket earlier to Ann, "You've hung around him long enough to bypass the security on his scroll. I'm sure it will tell you all you need to hear."

'No duh.' Ann scoffed as she caught the small white tablet, 'The idiot talks about some girl he calls 'Snow Angel' all the time. No brainer what his password could be.' Typing in the nickname, Ann was able to easily unlock the scroll. She opened up the messages seeing a new notification, her eyes reading the texts to a familiar name.

Her knuckles cracked as her grip on the scroll threatened to break it apart to pieces.

"Who is Church? And what is he talking about 'raid'?" Ann hissed furiously, her face becoming shadowed. If it was who she thought it was then he had a lot of explaining to do.

"I-I can explain." Jaune's words stumbled. This wasn't how he wanted her find out, "I was suppose to help them gather intel on Holt's bases and workings. They were going to reduce your sentence if I helped them out!"

An emotionless chuckle slipped out of Ann's lips as she looked down, "My sentence? So all this time, you were using me? You were going to have them lock me up like some criminal! I should have known!" She shouted angrily, biting her lip as her voice began to tremble.

No one could be so generous and kind if they didn't want anything from you. Blondie had been using her, he got close to her just so she could tell him about the Friends of Faunus and their plans. That day in the cafe must not have been a coincidence like she thought. It must have been part of their plans, to get close to her using some kind gesture as a way to gain her trust. And she fell for it like an idiot.

Nothing in this world was free, not even friendship.

"Everything you ever said was just so you could earn my trust. You were playing me like some sucker the entire time. I should have never accepted those 5 Lien, I should have never trusted you!"

"Ann. . ." Jaune reached his hand out to the trembling blue haired girl.

"SHUT UP!" Ann roared, the volume making Jaune step back with a hurt expression. No, she furiously shook her head with a venomous glare. He wasn't allowed to feel hurt for what he had done, "And to think I felt guilty about dragging you into this mess. You're even worse then us, then White Fang, then the Grimm!" She openly ground her teeth, ashamed of the wet hot moisture gathering in her green eyes, "Guess you failed initiation. Which means we have no use for a rat like yourself."

"Now you're speaking my language!" Holt grinned gleefully, stretching his hand out to pull his favored weapon from his shadows. He had been dying to tear him a new one.

Ann stopped him with a furious tearful scowl, "No. I can handle this. I want to be the one to end him!"

As much as Holt wanted to argue, he thought better against it. When Anabel had such a look in her eye there was no saying other wise.

He shrugged, snapping his fingers in command for his shadows to gather underneath Jaune. At least he could stay and watch Cardin fully commit. The boy was awfully quiet with such a hateful look on his eye. Time to see if he would fall into the darkness.

"Fine. Knowing you, you'll need some time to get into your gear and retrieve the rest of your weapons. So I'll give him a few toys to play with in the mean time. A few of my men will accompany you when you're ready. Even if he's a bastard, the boy shouldn't be underestimated with." Holt flashed his sharp canines savagely as the shadows snapped over Jaune's body. The blonde knight struggled against his semblance hold, gazing solemnly back to Ann who turned away with a scoff, "It's your lucky day, boy. You don't have to suffer under Death Rattle's blade. Don't worry though, I'll take good care of your bunny friend in your passing. The kitty, not so much"

The shadows engulfing him crawled up to his neck, leaving Jaune with no hope of escape. He had no idea where Holt was sending him but it wasn't going to be pleasant. His blue eyes moved towards Cardin, his brows furrowing in worry, "Cardin! Whatever you do, don't fall for his bullshit! I don't know what happened to you in the past to make you hate the faunus, but it shouldn't matter right now! You're better then this! I know you're not like them. So-!"

Holt grinned as the shadows gulped him up, cutting him off. Thank god! How annoying, talk about a sap.

He sent the blonde to a lower arena bellow, giving the go ahead to Ann, "I'd hurry, little Ann. The Beowolves just might beat you to the punch."

Ann didn't acknowledge her boss. She simply turned away as she made her way out of the main coliseum. She was done listening. The only thing she could hear were her raging thoughts.

With Ann gone, Holt went back to the real drama in front of him. Seeing the bunny girl still fighting his hold, he sucked her within her own shadow, warping her to the stands above. He joined her with lax grin, leaning back in the comfy seats as he pulled her in.

Velvet grimaced in the man's arms, his brown eyes and grin digging up memories from her past.

"Long time, no see. Hope you didn't forget little old me, bunny girl." Holt chuckled, scratching at his nose where his clawed scars greeted her. The memory of her small fingers scratching her attacker long ago came back as her eyes flew open in horror, "I got to thank you for the scar. Makes me look rugged, don't you think?"

Now that there were no more distractions in the way, Cardin's full attention went back to the quiet form of Blake Belladonna.

Why? Why wasn't she saying anything!? She had to say something now that her secret was out. So why was she keeping quiet?

"Say something." Cardin muttered with shaking fists. Still, she refused to met his gaze. It only infuriated him further, "Say something, dammit! Even animals can speak!"

"And say what?" Blake sighed, turning her glaring eyes back to Cardin, "What do you want me to say? That I was once part of the White Fang, that I'm actually a faunus, that I lied so people would treat me the same as them! What does it matter to a racist like you!?" She yelled, fighting the powerful hold of the shadows keeping her still.

It didn't surprise her that Cardin of all people was part of those humanizers. Fit him just fine with his cruel attitude toward her kind. He wasn't afraid to speak his mind of his strong hatred of the faunus, it was only a matter of time before he turned to such savage forms of hate. Jaune on the other hand had caught her by surprise. To think he had been hanging around such people. But it seemed like he had his reasons. A spy, didn't think he had it in him.

Now he was taken Oum knows where and Velvet was in the hands of their leader. She had to get out of here. Velvet wasn't safe in that man's arms. Hopefully Jaune could hold out long enough wherever he was until she could reach him with Velvet. They needed to escape now.

"How long."

'What?' Blake frowned, turning her yellow eyes back to Cardin's shadowed face, "What do you mean?"

"How long were you apart of the White Fang?" Cardin hissed.

"For as long as I can remember. But I left-"

The explosive boom of Beaufort slamming down cut Blake off, Cardin's snarling face putting the ninja girl on edge. He did not look pleased.

"I want numbers! How many years did you spend with those fucking animals!" he shouted, his mace's Dust crystal flaring brightly.

Blake coughed lightly as the small explosion created a dust cloud. Why would he want to know how long she had been with them? What did it matter? "Why? Why do you want to know?"

"Just tell me!"

"Ten, maybe eleven years!" She answered back.

Her answer only made his rage grow stronger. That was long enough.

Heaving Beaufort up to rest on his shoulders, Cardin only had one last question to ask before he decided to what he would do next.

"Tell me, do you know about the Canterbury Square Bombing?"

The name rung a haunting bell within Blake. She sadly knew about the incident far too well. It was one of Adam's first acts of violence towards humanity. So many died in the bombings for Adam's cause. And it was the first time she saw how cruel her partner had become.

It's one of the reasons why she had eventually left. She was too young to say anything about what they had done before, too terrified of her own people turning on her for being soft on those who despised them and cast her out. As the years went by, and each act turned to terrorism as bloody as the bombings, she began to realize that what they were doing didn't justify their means. All they were doing was killing innocent people, they were becoming the monsters they feared. That was no way to be respected or seen as equals.

She nodded with guilt, shutting her eyes as the screams of terror and panic reared back into her head, ". . .Yes, I do."

"Where you part of it?" he muttered with no emotion, his face tensing as a vein pulsed on his forehead.

Blake didn't want to answer that question. She hadn't done much at the time, she didn't even know what they were planning as she helped her brothers and sisters in arms set up the odd packages around the square. But she had down her part, and was too late to stop them as Adam detonated the bombs.

The blood of innocent stained her hands, just like many others.

Cardin's rough hands picked her up from Holt's semblance, tearing off the shadows as he raised her up to meet his scalding eyes, "TELL ME!"

Blake looked away in shame, ". . .Yes, I was." She admitted, shutting her eyes.

Cardin dropped the cat faunus as his heart stopped. He began to sweat as the girl's guilty expression morphed into a wild twisted grin, her eyes slitted as her long hair stood up with an evil aura.

She was there! She was one of the filthy savages that took his family away from him! It was her fault his father had become so distant, why he had lost his mother and sister! The dirty faunus was the reason he no longer had a happy family to go back to. And she was standing right in front of him.

"It's your fault." he droned, suddenly laughing in a broken voice. His eyes were wide with tears as he swung his mace, "You killed my mother and unborn little sister!" He roared with pure hatred, slamming the tips of his weapon to the left side. A large cloud of flames detonated upon impact, creating a bellowing wind of hot air to blow past them within. The light of the fire raging around them lite up Cardin's furious features as Blake shielded her face with her arms crossed.

Holt grinned at the display. About time, he was growing bored with the sullen silence. He needed action! Speaking of action, he mused while reaching for his scroll. Needed to activate the force field, other wise they were in danger of any of their attacks flying up and hitting them. Not to mention release the Grimm below. Had to have something for Jaune to entertain himself with.

Blake's heart dropped at the new piece of information. She did what? The rage and hatred staring her down didn't lie. Sickness took over her as she weakly stood back up.

"Cardin." Blake's voice trembled, frowning sadly at the boy she had hurt deeply without even knowing, "I'm sorry, I didn't mea-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Cardin roared, charging into the cat faunus guard. He gave her no time to react as he batted his heavy weapon into her stomach. She gasped in pain, her breath robbed in one swing. Her body was sent flying far back, crashing against the end wall of the arena with a pained shout.

Blake held her side gingerly as she gasped. If it hadn't been for her aura protecting her, she was sure to have broken every bone in her upper body. Flinching, she gazed back at the brown haired huntsman with one eye as he steadied his weapon.

"You don't get to feel sorry. The only thing you get to feel, is the same pain and fear everyone that has fallen to you fucking savages felt before death."

Twirling Beaufort around, Cardin leveled its head to the grimacing faunus with cold eyes. If this was what Holt would give him for joining his organization, then so be it. The life of a huntsman could never compare to the feeling of sweet retribution.

"This is your trial. Something you animals are unfamiliar with. Consider me your judge, jury, and executioner!" he roared before charging with his mace glowing with a new energy.

It was time Justice was finally served.

---

Bullets pierced the hood of Church's police car, sparking an ignition in its engine before erupting in flames. The force blew several of the officers close by back by the rushing flames and smoke. He fell into a coughing fit as he ducked for cover under the sniper fire raining down the streets.

Chaos filled the streets as the Vale Fire Department tried to control the flames eating away at the local shops and businesses in the main street. The Friends of Faunus weren't making it easy as they attacked whoever got in the way of their crusade, cutting any down with no remorse. Their message bad been clear, no one would stop them. Blood had already been spilled, several of uniformed officers lying in pools of their own blood from the bullet holes drilled into their heads.

Church grit his teeth as he hid behind the side of smoking shop, seeing one of the officers that had greeted him into the force long ago shot dead from his line of sight. There wasn't much he could do against snipers with such skill. He gripped his pistol tightly as another shot rang in his ear along with the sound of another dropping body. They were picking them off like flies.

"This is Officer Joey Church to HQ! We need heavy reinforcements down here, ASAP!" Church shouted into his mic, sweating as the side of his cover spot was chipped off by a firing sniper. He was out of hiding spots, he wouldn't last long like this. Another bullet aimed at his hiding spot, tearing off a large chunk as several more followed, "ASAP! We're being slaughtered out here!"

"We're trying! But we're dealing a blockade of FoF grunts keeping us from reaching your spot. Any attempts to breach their blockade is being shot down! Just hold on for the time being, we have Huntsman and Huntresses heading for Vale to aid!"

Hold out? He couldn't hold out any longer! Half of the officers that had answered the call earlier had been killed, the rest had run for safety wherever they could find. Church was the only one left trying to protect the fireman controlling the blaze engulfing everything. Speaking of which, his eyes caught the sweating forms of a group fireman hosing down an apartment complex, their backs turned from the three FoF members lurking toward their backs. They were sitting ducks.

This put him in a dilemma. If he went out to save them, he would be wide open for the rain of sniper fire from above. He'd be dead before his blood hit the ground. But staying back would be leaving the fireman to their deaths. His morals were fighting his desire to live.

In the end, Church's morals beat his desire to live to a bloody pulp. He cursed himself loudly as he loaded his pistol. Didn't matter if his life was at stake, he had a job to do.

Counting to three, Church ran out of his cover spot towards the fire fighters. Relying on his training from the police academy, the lone officer weaved through the fire of bullets aimed at him. The three lurking FoF grunts turned their attention to the sound of pelting bullets. Several Dust rounds greeted them back, hitting their marks as they fell before Church's gunfire. One of the FoF had enough strength to stand back up. He grit his teeth as he abandoned his sneak attack on the firefighters to attack the officer charging at him.

Church leaned to the right to dodge the swiping sawing blade. The FoF's sword buzzed loudly, flashing as the grunt wildly tried to dice him to bits. Church began to sweat as he tried to maneuver around the deadly blade. He was getting too old for this! It was a good thing he had his aura unlocked while he was training. Catching an opening in the grunt's mad swings, Church dug his fist into the man's face. He grinned as he knocked him back to the ground. The grunt made no move to get up as his body slumped and fell into unconsciousness.

Still got it! Catching his breath, the glass's wearing officer went back to the men fighting the raging fires. Banging shots echoed in his ears as several dead thumps fell over. His heart stropped at the sight of the dead firefighters dead by headshots. He was too late.

A whistling breeze caught his attention before his shoulder erupted in pain. Blood gushed from his shot right shoulder as he fell to his knee's with a grunting shout. Fuck! Church gasped as he tried to stand back up to run. He only ran a few steps before two more sniper bullets pierced his upper body. He fell forward with a thud, his chest spazzing as he tried to keep himself from coughing up the blood seeping out his lips.

"Pointless." A cold metallic voice droned, their footsteps drawing closer to his bullet riddled body. Church weakly raised his head to the lone man standing in front of him. The hooded man wore a creepy bunny skull mask with its eyes replaced by a red gleaming trifocal night goggles. Smoke escaped the man's odd longsword, clicking as it dropped several empty shells from its hilt.

Where were the rest of the man's snipers? It couldn't only be him. One man was capable of sniping them down?

Cross loaded another round into his weapon, Horizon, as his red lenses peered down his latest target. He was the last of the bunch. A few more and it should suffice as a clear message. If they wanted more bodies hitting the ground pointlessly, then it was fine with him. They had every chance to escape.

"Why do you persist to resist?" Cross sighed as he kicked the standard issued police pistol out of Church's hand. He paid the pained glare no mind as he finished reloading the last of his ammo, "We gave you the option to run and live. Are you truly surprised at the outcome awaiting you now?"

"Not really." Church chuckled, coughing a glob of red from his blood stained lips. Hey, if he was going to go out, he wasn't going out like a bitch. He grinned widely up at his killer with no fear, refusing to give the inhuman man the pleasure of seeing him die in a sorry state, "If I wanted to live a long life, I would have listened to my wife and taken that management job at her father's sports outlet."

"Then death is no stranger to you." The gleaming red barrel of his hybrid weapon stared down Church's forehead. "Know that I take no true pleasure in the spilling of your blood. But a soldier must follow orders to the letter."

Church couldn't help but laugh, "To the letter, huh? Yeah, guess that's what is to be expected of us." He smiled remorsefully, his thoughts turning back the clock to the image of a dirty little red headed girl. Her wary and pained eyes stared back at him, paining him more the then the three bullets lodged in his body, "But if we always listened to what our superiors told us to do, we'd become no better then the robots we build to listen to our every command. Sometimes, you just need to disregard an order or two based on what you believe is right. Don't you think?"

"No. That is the folly of man, and why I have transcended such errors that plague both our kind." Cross's three red lenses spun, pausing as they focused onto his target. His finger hovered over the trigger, his body humming eerily, "Now, are you done wasting your time in an ill attempt to buy yourself minutes for help to arrive? I have more targets to hunt down."

"Wasting your time? Buddy, that's all I'm really good for. Besides, I'm not buying time for a rescue." He suddenly grinned cheekily, a baton sliding out of his right arms sleeve. It sparked wildly before he took what little time he bought to strike the inhuman man's leg. Volt's of electricity ran up Cross's body, messing with his cybernetics. The grip on Horizon loosened, the sparks running through his body causing him to drop his weapon.

Church weakly smirked as he struggled to rise back up. His aura was working to heal the damage done by the sniper's bullets, but it was a hard process. Some of his organs had been close to being punctured. He was lucky his aura hadn't been depleted completely. He grimaced as he stood in front of the twitching sniper. His body must have cybernetics if his stun baton had done this to him. Then again it was set to the highest possible setting it's Dust crystal could handle.

Alright, it was time to get out of here before the lunatic could get a grip on his body. Sheathing his baton back into the mechanism in his sleeve, Church went on to trudge his way away as he radioed for help.

"SYSTEMS BACK ONLINE. ACTIVATING HEALING UNIT. LIMITER REDUCED, RUNNING AT 40% POWER. TARGET, LOCKED."

"Wha-?" Church frowned, cut off suddenly from turning around as a hard knuckled fist slammed into the side of his face. The strength behind the fist knocked him back a few spaces, slamming him back into the side of the home he had been using for cover.

His aura flickered, dying away as he gasped, coughing up a wad of blood and saliva as he slid down against the wall. Blood trailed the wall, his wounds bleeding out without the help of his aura healing the damage. 'Fuck! The guy must be a machine, I've never been hit that hard before in my life.' Church's jaw was painted with a swollen bruise, making it a struggle to even moan.

A soothing hum could be heard from Cross's body as it began to repair the damage done by the officers surprise attack. He stretched his arm back, his palm opening up to reveal a dark purple Dust crystal embedded within. Horizon spun in the air back into his hand, its hilt hovering an inch between the Dust in his palm as it revealed a similar crystal at the very bottom.

The sparks crawling on his body died away as he clenched his open fist. His systems had taken a hit, but it wasn't anything he couldn't easily fix. The officer should have finished him off when he had the chance instead of walking away. What a soft hearted fool. His mistake would be his end.

Taking his time to reach the bleeding out officer, Cross couldn't fight his curiosity as he watched the man try to get back up, "Again, why do you continue to resist? My scanners show that you're in danger of bleeding out, you've already lost a dangerous amount of blood as it is. And your aura has been reduced to nothing, there's nothing to heal anymore of your wounds from here on out. No one is coming to your rescue, there is no hope of survival. So why," Cross asked flatly, pressing his sniper barrel back against Church sweaty, dirty forehead roughly, "Do you continue to struggle?"

"Because I have too many regrets to just kick the bucket like this!" Church shouted, the action causing a stabbing pain in his jaw. He struggled to speak as he glared back at Cross through his cracked sunglasses, "I could honestly be a better husband at home, I could be a more supportive father, and I could be a better officer! I have way too many regrets in my life to die right here, there's still one wrong that I could right, but I can't do nothing if I let you blow my brains out here! That's why I'll struggle, I'll bite, and I'll squirm like a fucking worm, to survive! Because I have too much to do to die like this!" He roared, swinging his sparking baton out for another strike.

Cross caught the sparking metal rod despite what it had done before. His systems had upped his resistance greatly. And with a simple grip, the baton broke into pieces.

"Petty words of a dying man. Human, Faunus, I truly don't care of your reasons to live. I find all this hate between the species pointless. If I put a bullet through either of your skulls, you die the same."

"Then why are you trying to humanize the faunus if you find it all pointless?"

"I am a soldier under Master Holt's command. An assassin for his cause. Call it repaying a great debt, no matter the task, no matter how cruel, no matter how morally questioning it may be, I follow it to the letter. That is my purpose. And you're in the way of fulfilling that purpose."

Church shut his eyes as he fell back to the ground. There wasn't much to do now. His body was too weak and beaten up to fight back. This was it. As much as he hated to give up, there wasn't anything he could do now. He wasn't superhuman, incredibly fast, or even had a semblance to get him out of situations like this. He was just an ordinary human that dared to become something more.

'Sorry, Ashlee, looks like you're going to be a single mother. Take care of Ben.' He smiled with bloody lips, his thoughts turning back to the redheaded girl in his his memories, 'You too, Anabel. I'm sorry I turned my eyes away from you all those years ago. It's my fault you were sucked into the Vale's underground. I just wish you can forgive me.'

"Now die."

"Incoming!"

'Huh?' Opening his eyes, Church was stared dumbly at the sight of a young red hooded girl in a red and black combat skirt double kicking the sniper's face. Rose petals scattered around them as the blow kicked Cross off his feet and sent him skidding on his side. The sniper grunted in frustration, flipping back on his feet. His sniper longsword swiftly aimed to his attacker, firing off three quick shots in less then a second. The hooded girl spun the large red mech scythe around her, blocking every bullet coming after her. She reared its hooked blade behind her, firing off a powerful shot and rode the recoil to slash at Cross. Cross countered the slash with a recoiled powered swipe of his longsword, their blades clashing against each other. Sparks crackled between the fighting steel as they both fought to overpower the other.

"Who are you?" Cross rasped, his right lens gleaming darkly.

The little red hooded girl grinned brightly at him, her silver eyes peeking out of the shadows of her favorite hood, "You're worst, cute nightmare!" Ruby shouted brightly, her eyes narrowing as he bounced back from their clash. She jumped high up in the air, spinning Crescent Rose around in a blur to shift into its rifle form. She aimed its barrel back at the FoF sniper, loading a special cartridge before firing off a shot at the odd man.

Cross swung his blade to counter, only to grit his teeth as the bullet flew by Horizon's edge and lodge itself in his shoulder, 'Damage 7%. Running healing unit. Assessing new Target.' Blue sparks ran out of the wound as he frowned.

Several high caliber shots followed, forcing Cross to leave the spot. He dashed away, missing the rain of crumbled road flying up as the shots missed. As surprising as her presence is, he still had another target to finish off. His eyes locked on the officer as he used the distraction to steady himself on his feet.

Ruby frowned. Aww, she was hoping to incapacitate him for information on Blake and Velvet. Her eyes followed after his running form, gasping as she realized what he was after. The officer hadn't escaped. He looked badly injured, if not on the verge of death. Time to be a hero!

Shifting her weapon into its scythe form, she lodged the blade of Crescent Rose behind her, hopping onto the long handle and placing her feet against the inside of its hook. She grinned as she fingered the trigger, setting her sights onto the back of the sniper.

With the officer within his sights, Cross reared his blade back for a quick burst of speed to send him in for a bisecting slice. He fingered the trigger, ready to finish his work. The sound of another sniper fire brought his eyes back. If his eyes were out for others to see, they would be as wide as dinner plates at what he was seeing.

Spinning madly around her large scythe, the little red hooded woman flew towards his back. Skidding to a stop, Cross quickly loaded an Explosive Dust round into Horizon and fired. Using the explosive force, he was able to bounce the twirling hooked blade back. Ruby skidded back on her feet, her hood flying back from the erupting blades trailing the odd blade.

Cross cracked his knuckles as he stared back at the young face of the girl fighting him, "You. . .You're just a child!" He shouted furiously, flashing his blade around as he blocked the girl's bullets. Steam leaked out Horizon's vents as he sheathed his longsword.

Ruby frowned at the action, pausing her firing. Why did he sheath his weapon? They only just started! She pouted as she pulled back its bolt action trigger to unload its empty shell.

"Walk away, child. I do not wish to hurt you. I have business with the man behind me." Cross gestured his thumb back to the blood stained officer. His red lenses dyed a calm green as his fingers tapped the oak sheath by his waist, "I do not wish to place you as a Target. While I hate killing children, I will not hesitate if you wish to get in my way."

"Sorry, but I can't walk away from something like this. As a huntress, it's my job to protect the people of this city! And your leader kidnapped my friends! Whether you like it or not, I'm going to be in your way."

Stubborn little one. Cross shook his head, his eyes bleeding red once again. Fine, if that was what the little girl wanted then he had no right telling her other wise. He peeked back to the officer, sighing in a metallic tone. The bleeding man had escaped it seemed. Sneaky little human. That was fine, he nodded as he turned his gaze to his new target. All he would need to do is follow the trail of blood later. His hunt was far from finished.

"Like all those who fell before my Horizon, you had your chance to escape. Do not be surprised by your death." Cross scoffed, disappearing in a blur a second later.

Ruby cursed. The guy was really fast and it didn't look like a semblance.

Her silver eyes spun around for the goggle masked samurai. He must have been hiding in the abandoned buildings around her. It's what she would have done if she primarily fought with a sniper rifle. Crescent Rose was much more then that though.

From his hiding spot in a smoking shop, Cross tweaked his goggles to lock on to the girl. His cross hair steadied over the girl's body, allowing him to load three glowing green shells into Horizon. No need to drag this fight on, better to kill her quickly then let her suffer.

Spinning on her feet, Ruby's eye caught a glance of a green light peeking out of a burned shop. Not a second later did three bullets cut through the air aimed at her head.

Petals danced in the wind as she speed off the spot, her semblance saving her from the fatal shots as they passed her by. More followed after her, leaving her no option but to dodge. She already knew where he hid, she just needed to draw him out. Crescent Rose collapsed into its compact rifle form, giving her a better firing rate. She continued to dodge the incredibly fast sniper shots, firing back whenever she had the chance. Cross grunted as he vanished from his hiding spot to avoid the countering gunfire. He zipped around the girl, loading and unloading shell after shell in a blitz of bullets. With her semblance, Ruby was able to dodge each bullet as they danced around each in a cascade of empty shells and red roses.

The lashing blade of Horizon came for her head as Cross appeared in front of her in a blur. She ducked under, hooking Crescent Rose's blade around his leg. With a recoiled swing, she tripped his legs, leaving him wide open for a barrage of swift swings.

Again and again, Cross was beaten around by the twirling red mech scythe, his body's defenses struggling to up his defenses. He was already forcing it to run at 55% power, looked like the girl was making him up the output. Having had enough of the assault, he swung his arm against its swinging long handle, bouncing it back as he brought his longsword back. The added fire of an explosive round sent the little girl flying back from his swiping blade.

Catching herself from the burning blow, Ruby panted as the man came rocketing off the spot for his own barrage of long reaching swings. Cross swung for her feet, she jumped up and spun around Crescent Rose for a slash at his chest. He spun around the scythe, flipping Horizon's trigger out to fire as he kicked her feet from under her. The bullet glowed with a dark purple pulse, its gravity element sending Ruby flying high in the air where she remained floating by the Dust enchanted shell.

"Lock on. Initiating heavy fire." Cross spread his arms apart from another as the sounds of gears whirring and turning filled the air. Four hidden slim cannon barrels sprung from his back, their barrels spinning in place before setting their sights on the airborne girl. He then slammed his arms into the ground, crouching to steady himself as the cannons began loading with red light, "Qua-Cannons, READY! FIRE!"

Nope! Was not going to stick around for something like that. While the Gravity bullet was keeping her in the air, that didn't mean it stopped her from moving. Reaching for another cartridge, Ruby dropped the few left in Crescent Rose before slamming the newer case in. Time to start flying.

With a resounding crackling boom, Cross fired four bright red cannonball's of flaring fire. They speed up for the sweating red headed girl, drawing closer to blowing her to bits. But Ruby wasn't having that. The crescent blade of her scythe straightened back a bit, resembling a spear. It's new form allowed it send her soaring to the right as she fired, its new recoil shattering the gravity effect trapping her. The scorching balls of fire blew her hair around as they flew past her, never stopping till it began to lose their stability. Plumes of orange red flames decorated the sky behind her as she shot down to the FoF sniper. Cross was left open as his cannons needed a moment to cool, their smoking barrels preventing him from drawing his weapon back.

The spear blade sliced through his midsection, tearing his armored vest as she shot passed him. Fixing Crescent Rose back to its scythe blade, Ruby spun it around the still sniper, her blade lashing at his body in red blurs. Adding a few bullets in didn't hurt either.

'Damage at 37%, healing unit at 86%, maximum power at 59%. Status: Qua-Cannons recharging, until cool down completion: 1:00 minute.' The little girl was stronger then she looked. She even managed to damage his healing unit with one of her shots. With every swift swing of her scythe, she was chipping away at his defenses. 59% percent power wouldn't be enough to kill her it seemed. He needed to raise the output further.

Pausing her barrage, Ruby swung her scythe's handle around her waist. She pressed it against her back before standing on her tip toes and firing another shot. A red blurring ring spun around her as she twirled like a spinning top in place, slashing at Cross's cannons repeatedly. It was enough to chop off one of the cannons barrels.

'Status: Qua-Cannon disabled. Resorting to Duo-Cannon. Cool down: Complete.'

About time.

A heavy pressured grip tugged at Crescent Rose's blade, stopping Ruby's mad spin. Cross's red lenses gazed back at her, narrowing as three cross hair's appeared as iris's, "You have tried my patience, little one. I can no longer hold back. Limiter reduced."

Red lines suddenly appeared on his body, running around in odd patterns as little vents popped out of his shoulders. Hissing steam bellowed out of the vents, blinding Ruby as the grip on her precious weapon was released.

"RUNNING AT 80% POWER. TARGET, LOCKED. INITIATING INTERNAL DUST OUTPUT."

Three gleaming red lights stared back at Ruby before vanishing with the bellowing steam. She spun her head for the assassin, only to have a steeled fist plant itself against her cheek. Her eyes trembled as she found the grim looking man beside her slamming his fist into her face as his creepy lower mask's jaw dropped wide open like a screaming skeleton. A vent opened in his elbow, releasing pressurized steam as Cross knocked her off her feet with a boom.

With a bruise forming on her face, Ruby swung her scythe around to steady herself in her flight. Cross didn't leave a chance to catch herself as he appeared behind her, stabbing his elbow deep into her spine. Ruby shouted in pain, suddenly choking it back as he blurred in front of her for a knee jab into her stomach. Cross didn't relent as he spun around for a clothesline uppercut for her exposed throat. Another boom resounded as it connected, sending her flying up in the air again.

'Got to fight back.' Ruby grimaced as she tightly gripped her scythe while holding her bruised neck. If it wasn't for her aura he could have easily chopped it off, if not break it. She swung it back to fly back with a barrage of her blade.

"I told you, you had your chance to escape." A chilling cold voice sighed behind her. Her eyes widened in shock at the voice as she stared down his still form bellow. How? The still body of Cross blurred, vanishing into the wind as she turned her head back to find him rearing his steaming fist back.

"Are you surprised?"

Cross's fist grew how as it was painted by an orange red glow. With no mercy he dug it into the girl's stomach as she spun around to swing her scythe. Its blade nicked the back of his neck before he sent her plummeting back into the streets with his iron hot knuckles. Smoke trailed her descending body before crashing against the empty streets, kicking up a dust cloud from her fall.

Landing back on his feet, Cross walked towards the cloud of dust, parting it away with a simple swing of his hand. In the crater of her impact, Ruby struggled to get up on her knee's. She held her smoking stomach where a fist had burned itself through her clothes and onto her skin. Blood trailed her chin as she winced, glaring back at the robotic man releasing steam from his shoulders.

Her aura was dropping with only a few hits. He had been easy to dance around till now. Was he even human? Ruby could make out the telltale signs of cybernetics around his body. He must be a cyborg or something. A cackling hum of gears escaped Cross's open jawed mask as he aimed his fist at the wounded huntress. One of his slim cannons sprung from his shoulder, twitching before it slid along his arm to mount itself against the back of his palm.

"You're too injured to use whatever speed you had before to dodge again. Already, I can see your body struggle to stand back up. Accept your death peacefully, little one." Cross droned, his mounted cannon lighting up with a charged cannon shot.

Ruby grinned back with a pained grimace. As if she was done already.

"Sorry, but I have too much to live for to kick the bucket so early."

Behind his mask, Cross scowled. Yet another fool tightly clutching their life at the end, "You humans are truly puzzling. Is life so worthless that you would disregard it without a second of thought? You've all had chances to continue living, yet you ignore it to face death with no chance of escape. Is your life so poor that you would throw it away without a care?"

"Nope!" Ruby happily chipped, standing back up even as her back barked with pain. That was going to hurt tomorrow, "It's the opposite. It's because I treasure my life so much that I'm willing to fight even against odds that I can't measure. I want to be a hero, just like the ones in the storybooks my mother read to me when I was too little to remember. It's my job to stand up against the terrible odds of the world with a brave smile. That's why I can't die here, I have to keep fighting till the end!"

"Then welcome to the end!" Cross shouted in frustration. He had enough with these bleeding hearts. With his cannon finished loading, he prepared to finally finish off one of his annoying targets. He was done playing.

"Power Shot!"

Cross roared in anger as once again he was interrupted from delivering the killing blow. A streaking bullet of charged lighting pierced through his chest, stopping his cannons from firing as he held the small gaping hole. His body lite up a second later in a beacon of yellow lightning, shocking his internal systems into a fritz. With his body bursting with lighting, he was left with no way to defend himself as a green garbed boy with glowing pink eyes appeared in between him and his target. The boy quirked his brow at him curiously, scoffing as he jumped high in the air. His feet lashed at his head, kicking him far away with an aura clad kick.

"Scan." Ren sighed, dusting off the dust on his shoulders.

'Cross Hare, Lvl51, The Deathless Assassin.

17,089HP/20,000HP.

Stats:

Strength: 60.

Defense:60

Speed:78

Dexterity:80

Intelligence:70.

Luck: 10.

Weapons:

Horizon.

Multi-Cannons.

Rockets.

Skills:

Limiter Removal.

Healing Unit.

Lock On.

Internal Fire Dust.

Abilities:

Qua-Cannon.

Duo-Cannon.

Fusion Flare.

Spring Impact.

Vanishing Phantasma.

Death Top.

SD-Code: 4D5E1A20T8H To 1A12L12L

No Life.

Systems Armed.

Information:

Cross Hare, once a rabbit faunus who had lived his life peacefully in Atlas years ago before brought to death's door in a case of mistaken identity by the SDC during a raid gone wrong. Saved by his master and given a new body by another member of the FoF, he is a master sniper and assassin. With his body mostly compromised by cybernetics, Cross is able to increase his abilities and reduce them with his Limiter Removal. He is also able to repair damage with his Healing Unit as whatever remains of his original body can not produce an Aura, and his Lock On ability grants him near perfect accuracy. Beware once he removes his Limiter Removal, his Stats increase immensely but severely cuts his Defense and Luck. And avoid No Life at all costs.'

Ren's eye twitched madly. Of all things, why did Ruby have to head towards such an early game monster? He would have steered clear of the cyborg if he hadn't noticed the blue dot representing one their group heading towards the Boss. And of all people, it had to be Ms. Hero Complex. He held back a sigh as he turned his head to said girl. Her puzzled silver eyes looked up to him in confusion. Looked like he got here just in time. A quick Scan into her status told him that her HP had taken quite a hit. Her aura was kicking in during the pause in fighting, slowly regenerating close to half her original health.

Couldn't have Ruby dying, the Story was much more of a pain in the ass if the Main NPC died. What he wouldn't do to live as a side character again.

Reaching into his tailcoat, Ren used the cover of clothing to reach into his Inventory. With three small vials of green liquid in hand, the pink eyed boy tossed them back to Ruby. She stumbled with the catch in surprise, staring down at them as she examined its contents.

"Take it. It's an Aura Potion. It should speed up your aura's recovery rate." Ren shrugged as he turned back to the slowly rising assassin. No point in telling her to run, he lived enough lives to know that she wasn't the type to leave a friend to do all the fighting. Might as well have her back him up. Two was always better then one.

Ruby nodded her head before popping up the cork and drinking one of the recovery potions. She didn't know how he had found her, but she was more then happy to not question it. Saved her behind. She sighed gratefully as she finished drinking the last drop. Already her wounds began to heal the damage she had sustained. The burn was fighting her aura, but the pain had stopped. That was more then enough.

The small gaping wound in his chest shined with a green light, repairing the damage done by the lightning Dust bullet that pierced through Cross's body. He stood back up as his healing unit finished its repairs.

"Yet another annoying target has dropped in." Cross hissed losing his temper in the face of the new stranger. It was one thing to lose one target, but to be interrupted twice? Unforgivable. He was not the type to be taken lightly. It was time to stop treating all his prey as measly targets.

"Boy, there is no warning for you. I believe that you wouldn't listen either way. Instead, I'll grant you both the deathly pleasure of facing me as a gruesome death."

'WARNING! Boss Incoming, Cross Hare, the Deathless Assassin! Get Ready!' In Ren's HUD warning bells rang along with flashing red lights with the status description. A barrier of code unseen by the NPC's trapped them within the burning streets. It was Boss time alright.

A mechanical cackle escaped Cross's bony mask as his three goggled lenses burned darkly with wisps. The bottom legs of his pants were shred to pieces by an unseen force, revealing large springs coiled around his mechanical legs. There was no need to use Horizon as he was now.

"LIMITER REMOVAL, DISABLED. RUNNING AT MAXIMUM CAPACITY. INITIATING SYSTEMS ARMED!" Cross clawed his masked face as his mounted cannons popped out again. Small hatches opened along his arms. Mini rockets peeked out from the openings before he squatted down. The springs in his legs pressed down tightly before sending him bouncing high into the air.

'BEGIN!'

With the announcement ringing in his head, Ren gestured Ruby toward the incoming bullet hell about to rain down from the sky. Her aura had healed enough, it was time to start playing again.

"FIRE!" Spreading his arms apart, Cross unleashed the mini rockets from his arms along with several salvos down upon the hunters. The deadly projectiles locked onto their aura's, blazing through the air.

Ren and Ruby wasted no time as they began to dodge the falling projectiles chasing after them. They trailed them as they ran around the battleground, no amount of evading stopping them in their pursuit.

"Fire back! If we can't escape them then we can at least detonate them!" Ren shouted back to Ruby as he jumped back from one of the cannon salvos crashing down.

Ruby nodded her head as she pulled back her trigger. Seeing three of the rockets closing in, she planted Crescent Rose's blade into the ground before firing. The rockets collided against the incoming fire, blowing up in flaming smoke. Another cluster fell from above, gleaming dangerously as they closed in. She aimed a single round at the peak of the rocket cluster, detonating a chain explosion.

Storm Flower made quick work of the rockets following Ren. The firing rate was better suited for taking them out. He locked onto their sights and reduced them to burning remains. Another cannonball of flames fell towards him as he caught his breath, "Reject!" He shouted as he threw his palm against the ball of fire. A pulse of pink magic energy bounced the blast back to its owner, erupting in a veil of scorching flames. It was enough to cease Cross's big attack as he fell back down.

Flipping on his feet, Cross paid the damage no mind as he rushed for the raven haired boy. Seemed he was the stronger of the two. Better to kill him off first.

Knuckle and fanged blades clashed as Ren and Cross met in a melee blitz. They swung back for the others vulnerable spots, countering every strike at another. Glowing orange red, Cross's fist slammed into the blocking fangs of Storm Flower, keeping the boy on defense as he tried to break through. Just what he needed, he smirked. Distracted by his fist, Cross used the opportunity to kick Ren's kneecaps. The blow staggered him as he fell on his knee's. The shadow of Cross's foot hung over Ren's face before a spring coiled kick rammed into his face.

"Ren!" Ruby shouted in worry as she watched his body sent flying away. She appeared in a swirl of roses behind him as she caught his body.

"Don't look away!" Ren shouted suddenly, causing Ruby's eyes to widen. A mechanical cackle entered her ears as a shadow fell behind her. She spun Crescent Rose one handed to block the two handed swing of the sniper longsword hybrid descending upon her. An invisible force cut through her body, her aura softening the pressure that cut the streets behind her.

Cross cackled as he rained down savage blows onto the handle blocking his blade. He was tired of dealing with these annoying targets. They just wouldn't stay down! He brought the girl to her knee's as each hammering blow sent painful tremors running along her arms.

But in his red haze he forgot about the pink eyed boy. Vaulting over Ruby's head, Ren slammed the bottom heel of his feet into Cross's skull.

"Hit him with everything you got!" Ren shouted before a mounted cannon blast blew him away.

Cross stumbled back as he tried to adjust his sights. Static momentarily took over his vision, switching back and forth before he caught the image of the red hooded girl swinging her scythe. Ruby spun her scythe's handle around her waist, slicing the top layer of his vest to shreds. He swung his fist to her face as he regained control over his vision. A recoiled lash of her blade bounced it back, following it up with a slashing windmill swing. Sparks flew as she sported a large tear in his body. Springing his cannons, he aimed them dead set at the grinning Ruby. She winked before ducking under the twin stomps soaring behind her head courtesy of Ren.

"ENOUGH!" Cross roared furiously as he was sent skidding back. He swung his longsword to block the two hunter's charging in. His blade danced around him as he blocked their blitz, the sound of steel clashing filling the air. Against two he could still fight back. He was a trained killer, he wouldn't fall to some kids!

Firing an explosive along with a swiping left swing, Cross pushed them back. He then spun on his feet, continuously firing Horizon off to spin him around like a sawing blade.

Ren panted lightly as he wiped his forehead of sweat. Almost forgot how difficult boss battles were. He tried straying clear of them and only acted as support after giving up on The Game. Seeing the bladed top buzzing straight at them, he was happy to see a new message pop up on his HUD.

'Reaction Command: Twirling Red Lotuses. Activate?'

It had been a while since he activated a Reaction Command, but he was still familiar with Ruby's. Ren mentally activated the command as he laid his hand on Ruby's shoulder. She looked back at him with confusion before an odd sensation crawled into her being.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Ren smiled.

For some odd reason, yes, "I don't know why, but yeah! Let's do this!" Ruby widely grinned as she loaded a fresh cartridge.

Closing their eyes in sync, both hunter's in training began to spin in place, following Cross's example as they turned into red and green bladed tops. Their weapons recoils keep them spinning as they meet Cross's sawing blade. Grinding back and forth, the tops created sparks in their struggle. Ren and Ruby spun counter clockwise from another as they bounced back, charging back in to trap Cross in a pincer maneuver.

It was too much, Cross grunted as the two grinding tops broke his spin. Nothing could stop them as their blades pinched against him from both sides, sawing at his damaged body. His Healing Unit was struggling to repair the damage to his systems from the grinding blades. It was beginning to overheat.

"I SAID ENOUGH!" Cross roared with blistering fury. Steam rushed out of his elbow vents as he countered the annoying hunters. They flew back as their attacks were disrupted, sent skidding back on their feet. The red lines crawling over his body grew deeper as he crouched, pushing down his springs to send him back into the sky. Systems Armed was activated again as Ren and Ruby were forced to weave through the streaking mini rockets. Little flaring jets blew his wooden sandals apart below his feet as they kept him afloat, his eyes trailing the speedy hunters on the ground.

Ren silently cursed as he flipped over a rocket, swinging his MSG's to shot down the pestering projectiles before aiming his second pistol to back for the cluster behind him. Cross's wide range multi targeted ability was becoming a hassle to deal with. Another cluster fell down onto him along with two flaring cannonballs following behind. He shoot them down, bouncing the cannonballs back with another Reject spell. Cross flew to the side to evade his own fire, turning all his firepower to the pink eyed hunter. With a simple thought he pulled the rest back and ordered them to trap the boy in a dome. Stuck in a scattered dome of incoming missiles Ren was left with no choice but to counter back with one of his spells again. Pink lighting danced around his fingertips before he threw them against the wave of deadly missiles, "Chain Lighting!"

The bolts of plasma energy streaked from his fingertips, sticking themselves to a small group of missiles before branching out to the rest. The missiles paused in their flight as rays of light shined from their heads. A massive cloud of flames blocked out the area around them as they all erupted from the striking magic. Ruby coughed in the bellowing smoke. Even she was having trouble evading the countless missiles and shooting them down. Most of them had ignored her this time, intent on striking down Ren. Good thing he dealt with them quickly. 'I wonder if he has a lighting semblance? That was awesome! I wish I could shoot lighting from my fingers.' She pouted, swinging Crescent Rose around in a windmill to tear the smoke cloud away.

"JUST DIE ALREADY!"

'Wha-' Ruby spun around to the roaring voice only for a crackling fist of venting flames to dig into her face. Flames blossomed from the explosive punch, sending her flying in a ball of licking flames.

Ren sprung off his feet to catch the burning red hooded girl. He frowned as the flames died away to see her weakly wincing eyes. Burns crawled over her face and blood was trailing down her nose. 'Scan'

'Ruby Rose, Lvl36, The Silver Eyed Reaper.

1,135HP/8,700HP. Status: Burn. Barely Conscious.'

A sigh left Ren at his situation. Ruby was too injured to keep going like this. Her aura was just about done with. Wouldn't be long till it faded and left her open for a critical death blow. All it would take is one simple attack and she would be a goner.

Sweat dripped down his forehead as he soon found Cross appearing out of thin air in his field of vision. His HP over his head had lost its full blue bar, leaving only the green 9,798HP left. Didn't matter though, he thought in frustration as he began to dodge the inhuman's lashing longsword. Cross's Healing Unit Skill was regenerating his lost health. If he was going to have any hope of ending things here, he needed to take it out. In his dancing around the swift edge, his pink eyes could make out a small glowing green mechanism in Cross's torn chest. All he needed was one shot.

Cross was beyond frustration now. When was the last time he was livid with anger? And here he thought he had abandoned all those emotions with his new body. But no, these two annoying humans were somehow able to dig such feelings back from their grave just by living, by surviving his onslaught! It was suppose to be a simple mission, shot the officers and people trying to stop them down like flies as a bloody message. And he had been close to sending it before they interrupted him. Even with the pink eyed boy busy carrying the red head, he was still unable to cut them both down! It was inhumanly infuriating!

Ren ground his teeth as he had no choice but to throw Ruby to the side as he raised his arms to block the rising flurry of coiled kicks. The raining blows tore at the sleeves of his tailcoat, lacerating his skin with cutting welts. He was really regretting ignoring his training and grinding his level right about now. His low Dexterity was making it easy to damage him through his aura, was chipping it down with every blocked kick. Seeing a spring fueled kick about to slam into his guard, Ren braced himself as he fought the overpowering blow.

"Why?" Cross stressed in frustration, the upper part of his body sending electrical sparks flying from the tears and slashes cut into him as he struggled to break the boy's blocking arm clad in aura, "Why do you prolong the inevitable? It's only a matter of time before you fall to my blade, JUST LIKE THE REST!" He shouted angrily, adding more pressure to his leg to send the boy on his knee's. His defiant eyes glared back at him, only causing his rage to grow stronger, "So why continue to fight!? I've never met a being that I could never snuff out with a simple pull of my trigger, yet you've both resorted me to break my limiter and come at you like a wild animal! I don't understand! What is it that's keeping you standing against my blade!?"

A deadpanned stare was Ren's answer. Really? Was the assassin asking him cliché questions? This was usually the part where the hero made some speech about friendship being the source of their power, yada yada, they were never alone and would keep fighting till the end, bla bla bla, and that they would never lose to scum like him. But Ren wasn't like Jaune and Ruby, not anymore. He was done with that sappy crap.

Instead he flatly gazed up at the deadly assassin as he used his free hand to block the swinging longsword aimed at his side with Storm Flowers fang, "Don't look at me, I'm simply here because a friend of mine stumbled onto you and it would be annoying if she died. You're nothing but annoying experience. Besides," Ren quirked his lips as his eyes caught a weak set of silver eyes far behind Cross.

"You'd get a more motivational answer behind you."

Realization hit Cross like a bullet as he dropped his leg back to turn back to the girl he had ignored. Making it all the more ironic when Ruby's high caliber bullet pierced his chest, breaking through his healing unit like glass. Blood and Dust bleed out the gaping wound as he fell on his knees with a pained shout. Dirty little, "Disappear!" Cross barked, releasing his mounted cannons to fire a double blast of flames. The flames flew straight at the weak girl sitting on her legs, suddenly joining together to form a larger cannonball.

With a burst of speed speed Ren vanished from his previous spot and appeared in front of Ruby in the glow of the towering balls of roasting flames. He stretched his hand out just as the Fusion Flare slammed into them, "Reject!" He yelled, digging his feet in as his magic pulse struggled to push back Cross's cannonball. His Reject spell was only capable of bouncing back projectile attacks that were lower or matched his own Strength and Wisdom stat. Didn't look like it was strong enough to block this one.

With a thundering boom, the cannonball of flames blew up against Ren's spell, shrouding them in its toxic bellow of black air. They both coughed as the smoke entered their lungs. Ren winced in his attempt to fan the clouding smoke, the arm he used to fight the ball of flames wounded. His sleeve was reduced to ash, leaving his red burned skin out for the stinging air. He wasn't able to send it back, but at least he had been able to disperse it. Looking back to Ruby, he was relieved to see her safe from the explosion, her aura was even recovering. She did a great job destroying his healing unit, had to give her that.

'NO LIFE!'

A thin orange red line parted the sulfur smoke suddenly, clearing it away as Cross blurred right behind them with Horizon gestured in a wide swing. Steam lingered from its blade as a single deeply orange shell fell out of its chamber.

Ren's eyes flew open in shock as a his blocking fangs shattered, his body still blocking Ruby from harm. A gush of red flew out the midsection of his chest. With that single slash his aura protecting his HP was torn away as he fell to his knees with blood flying out his mouth.

'Systems heavily damaged, running at 31%. Healing Unit, destroyed. Internal Fire Dust crystal exhausted. Horizon Ammo: 0. Missiles: 0. Duo-Cannon's, exhuasted.' Cracks dug into Cross's trifocal goggles, shattering to bits from the pressure and damage they had suffered. With a dead mechanical whine they fell away from his face. Short white hair popped out as his hood fell back in the passing wind. His single horribly scarred red human eye slowly turned to his targets, revealing to them the twitching robotic half of his face.

While most of his combat functions were now disabled, he could take some pleasure in eliminating the boy with the odd energy coursing through his body. It had taken his special round of Dust combined with the last of his inner Dust to cut through his aura like butter. It was more then worth it. No one could survive such an attack.

"REN!" Ruby shouted in fear as she stopped him from falling onto his stomach. She held his bleeding wound to keep keep him from losing anymore blood. If he hadn't shielded her from the assassin's final slash, she would be in a similar situation. How was he even conscious? He was breathing heavily with his face scrunched up in agony.

Ren shook his head at the girl as he called up his inventory, "I'm alright, d-don't worry about m-me!" He shouted loudly, opening his tailcoat for cover. Couldn't have her asking him how he could pull things out of thin air, "Just buy me some time!"

"You. . .You're still alive!" Cross roared in disbelief. Why!? Why couldn't they just die!?, "Just lay down and die already!" What did it take!? Even without any ammo left for Horizon, Cross utilized his leg's springs to send him bouncing with his longsword pulled back for one last swing.

"Stay away from him!" Ruby countered the swing, stopping him dead in his tracks. Back and forth they swung their weapons at another, their blades blurring in their blitz of flashing steel. Nicks and lacerations opened along their bodies in their attacks that sent their blood flying back.

Putting everything that was left in his wrecked body, Cross hammered Horizon into Crescent Rose's guarding handle. Eyes wide in anger, he spat at the girl stopping him from finishing off the practically dead huntsman, "Why can't you just die!? Even if you kill me, do you truly think that will stop our plans!? Look around you!" He yelled loudly, grinding Horizon's edge deeper into the chipping metal.

The flames of eating at the surrounding buildings had died down, leaving only their smoking remains lingering around them. Dead bodies of both officers, FoF, and even some civilians laid around them in the after math of his attack. The afternoon sun shined down onto the haunting scene.

"The damage has been done! By the end of the day, the world will know that the Friends of Faunus are not to be taken lightly, that we only wish to save the faunus from such a cruel world! Do you truly believe that you can make a difference!? Such thinking is that of a child!"

But she was still a child. Despite the grim scene around her, Ruby looked back at Cross with a strained smile.

People tend to forget that fairy tales, despite how happy they could be, were actually pretty dark and twisted. And despite their dark roots and beginnings they were bright. No happy ending was easy. Horrible things awaited the hero's in every story in their struggles. That was no different in real life. She still had her friends to help her in the end. That's why there were huntsman and huntresses, to make things better.

"I'm just trying to save my friends. If it means having to take down your entire organization to do that, then so be it!" Using all the strength in her small body, Ruby pushed back Cross's longsword, surprising him as he stumbled back. She took a deep breath before shouting as she spun her scythe around her waist, shredding his mangled chest. She then swung left, ripping the metal of his shoulder, tore a long gash with a rising uppercut, busted his robotic knee with a sniper shot along with a glancing swipe to his lower mask, and finished the combo off with falling chop of her reaping blade.

Smoke blew out of the final slash, opening up a whirl of gears and Dust tubing in Cross's chest as he stumbled back clutching his slightly bleeding wound. His systems were turning to static, leaving him with only the sight of his human eye. He gasped in pain as his mask cracked, shattering like his goggles to show off his silver robotic lower face. Small patches of dead tissue skin could finally be seen on his face, the largest patches around his human eye and left ear. Everything else seemed to be made of metal, including his teeth.

Despite his damaged body, Cross couldn't help but release a rasp chuckle as blood and Dust dripped fell to the ground. His wounds were too much to progress any further, if he attempted another swing of Horizon it would break his body. No options were available to him. Nothing but death. Falling to his knee's he gazed up at the silver eye looking back at him. The girl never stopped surprising him as her eyes filled with pity.

"What are you waiting for? Kill me, this is what you wanted, right? This is your only chance at finishing me off, child." Cross chuckled lowly.

"But I don't want that!" Ruby shouted as she shook her head, "All I want is to know where my friends Blake and Velvet were taken! I'm not going to kill you!"

"THEN YOU'RE AS DEAD AS I AM!" Blood and oil flew out of Cross's mouth as he shouted, grunting in agony as he plunged his trembling hand into his chest. Through the pain he grinned smugly at the wide eyed girl as flashing red rays of light pierced out his chest. His programmed systems may have been shut down, but he didn't need them to activate his self destruct manually. It would destroy a mile wide radius, killing all in the hellish explosion.

"If you wish to meet your friends ever again, then you'll have no choice but to kill me right here, right now! Whether you like it or not, one of us will not live to see the day!"

"Fine by me."

Appearing out of thin air, Ren stood behind the kneeling cyborg with Storm Flower's barrel glowing with a light green. No other words needed to be said as he pulled the trigger. Cross's HP fell to nothing, passing the critical meter to -19,999HP. The Wind bullet blew open a large gaping hole in the middle of his chest, splashing the little blood that circulated his cybernetic body onto the horrified girl's face. His single red eye dimmed, his arms dully falling to his sides.

No brainer, Ren scoffed. As if he would stand by and let the assassin force Ruby into making such a difficult decision. She wasn't ready to kill, not yet. Eventually she would be left with literally no choice but to take a life. And she would grow stronger for it. Now though, she had no reason to. Killing Cross would only damage her young mind. It was less of a hassle to do it himself. Plus he needed the EXP.

A single point of health didn't matter as Cross was now. He would die by his fatal wound. Better to let him die by them then horrify Ruby even more with the true killing blow. He would still be rewarded the EXP and reap the rewards.

Slight pain coursed his upper body as he held his blood stained midsection. That was the benefit of living life as a game, he could heal even the most fatal of wounds, as long as they weren't aimed for his most vital organs, with a simple potion. He was completely out of them seeing as he had no choice but to fuse them all together to restore his aura completely. All that was left of Cross's final move was a paper thin cut running along his skin. And that would soon heal. The exhaustion on the other hand could not be restored. He was beyond tired at this point.

"Ren. . .why?" Moving his eyes back to Ruby, he was now forced to deal with the teary eyes of sadness looking back at him. He sighed, scratching his head. She was only fifteen for Oum's sakes, seeing something like this wouldn't sit well with her. Her mind was still full of innocence and hope. Probably believed that there was some way to stop Cross without killing him.

Maybe there was, but it was much easier to kill him. He was nothing but an NCP that would fade back into nothing in the next Reset.

"His self destruct would have killed everyone in a wide radius. I'm sorry Ruby, but I wasn't going to stand aside and let him kill more people. If killing him meant saving many more, then there wasn't much to think about. I did what I had to do."

'Still. . .' Ruby sniffed as she looked down with trembling fists. For the love of god, she could feel the blood on her face growing colder. She felt sick to her stomach seeing the inner workings of his mechanical body fall apart as blood mixed with Dust dripped down onto his knees. Even if he wasn't completely human, he still seemed to have a heart, or what was left of one. She dried her wet eyes as she walked over to Ren. Couldn't forget he was gruesomely hurt.

She blinked noticing his deep slash had healed mostly. She was sure his aura had been torn apart with the sniper's blade. Just how fast did his aura regenerate? It was almost super human.

"Are you okay, Ren? Do you need any help moving?" She tried to smile gently. Her heart clenched at the sounds of blood dripping, swallowing back the anguish.

Ren shook his head as he let go off his wound, "I'm fine. I'll just need to bandage it up when I have a moment. We still need to find the others. Why aren't you with the rest of the girls anyways?" He frowned at the now sheepish redhead, "It's not safe to be wandering around with the FoF running amok. If I hadn't showed up when I did, there's no telling what would have happened." She would be dead is what would happen.

"We thought it would be a better idea to split up and look for any signs of where the Friends of Faunus leader could have taken Blake and Velvet. Somebody has to know where they were taken."

"Searching for clues by yourself isn't a good idea. Hell, if you've all gone on your own, then that means no one is around to reign in Nora." Ren could already hear the crazed laughter of his best friend tearing the streets around here. That girl needed someone to keep her in line, otherwise she was free to do as she pleased. And what pleased her was complete anarchy, "We should look for the others next. Hopefully they've found some semblance of an idea where Blake and Velvet are being held."

Hopefully they did. Nodding her head, Ruby moved to follow the calm minded hunter. He was ahead a few steps before she turned her head back to the dying man they were leaving behind. She bit her lip before coming to a decision.

"You should scout ahead for a bit, there's something I have to take care of."

Ren held back a sigh of annoyance as he wordlessly nodded his head in understanding. Nothing he would say would stop whatever she was going to do. Better to let her come to grips with what she had witnessed.

Seeing Ren give her the okay, Ruby turned her attention back to Cross. She walked in front of him as he looked down with a bleary eye, reaching into her burn patched skirt for something.

"Here." Ruby smiled softly, taking out a spare bottle of Ren's healing potion he had given her. She grabbed his beaten and cracked hand, dropping the green vial into his hand gently, "I don't know if it will heal you completely, but I'm sure it will help you get back on your feet."

"Child. . ." Cross struggled to stay conscious another second longer as he looked weakly at the item in his unresponsive fingers, "There is no saving me at this point. Do you not see what has become of my body? Even if I had the strength to lift my broken arms, even if there weren't gaping holes in my chest, even if I accepted your healing vial, I no longer possess the ability to produce an aura. I am no longer human, I am no longer a faunus. I am simply a tool broken beyond repair."

Ruby bit back a small sob. She knew he was the enemy, he had done horrible things, responsible for the dead lying around them with blood spattered out of the back of their heads, but she still couldn't fight the pain of seeing another person die. She was just a child despite being capable of killing Grimm like some grim reaper. She never expected to see such tragedy so early in her life, not since her mother's passing. No one deserved to die.

Cross's one eye narrowed weakly, seeing the small girl's body wracked with sorrow. He was her enemy, he tried to kill her, he was responsible for many of the wounds over her body and nearly killed her friend. So why did she have such a look on her face?

What little life left in his broken body began to slowly fade. It was a perplexing surprise he was even capable of speaking. Naragami did a remarkable job in designing his body. He truly had a gift for robotics. A sense of melancholy filled his being even as he felt his heart beat less. He would no longer see them, no longer have to deal with Naragami's swearing tongue and air of smoke, no longer have to shush Anabel from playing her loud music or have her nag him about his emotionless stares, and he would no longer have to listen to Holt's voice, soothing his thoughts and praising him for his skills. Nothing but nothing awaited him now.

"Child, answer me this before I fade into oblivion." Cross rasped, fighting to stay living just a little longer. Her silver eyes looked back to him with emotions that didn't belong on the face of an enemy. Truly, she was a puzzle that confused him to his end, "What has kept you going through it all? Something must be pushing you onward despite the bleak road ahead of you. Just what is it that has kept you from falling to my blade?"

He had to know. No one else had been capable of doing the impossible and survive his killer intent. The boy didn't have an answer. When he looked into those pink eyes, he saw a soul that could care less of what he had done. It looked exhausted, almost gray. Made him wonder which of them was the real lifeless machine.

But the little red headed girl was different. He saw a gentle soul, simple in its design. And yet she walked the path of the warrior. A path that was destined to be paved with the blood of many souls. Yet she continued to strive through it all. Why? He refused to draw his last breath until he could find the answer.

"That's an easy answer." Ruby grinned brightly, even as a lose tear rolled down her cheek, "Friends. That's my reason for almost everything other then being a huntress."

That was it? Friends? Such a simple answer. But despite it, Cross found himself smiling sadly despite himself.

Thump!

'"You should really cover up your face, deadman."A small short red haired girl pouted besides him. His unmasked face stared back at her dully. Even though his face looked a bit unnatural with all the metal making it up and his mouth looked horrific when he talked, she still refused to look away. She held up a mask she had been toying before handing it to him. It looked like it had been a bunny skull mask till she chopped off the area above the nose, "It's hard to take you serious when you have such a dumb look on ya all the time. I think some of the new guy's are even scared of you. Doesn't make any sense, idiots." She huffed as she began to walk away, leaving him to stare at the odd trinket in confusion.

"You don't look scary to me."'

Thump!

'Naragami blew a puff of smoke out his cigar as he meddled around Cross's arm circuitry, "What did I tell you about exerting more then 50% power to your arm servos? I still haven't worked out the final touches to your Limiter just yet. Using more then 30% is bound to break it apart, you're lucky you weren't training your new Inner Fire Dust crystal."

"I apologize, master." Cross rebutted instantly, his voice muffled slightly by the mask over his mouth.

"Tch, don't apologize to me, you idiot. And what I say about calling me master? Save that bullshit for master Holt, he's the one who had me bust my ass with that annoying doctor to craft your body. I may be an amateur, but I'll be damned if we didn't do a decent job on it."

"Then what should I call you?"

"Nara, dumbass. We're comrades. So no need for all that formality bullshit."

Th-Thump.

' "Here you go, Crossy-boy!" A slightly younger Holt grinned widely as he handed Cross an oak sheathed longsword. Cross's single eye quirked at the odd man who had saved his life, wondering why he had given him a weapon for.

"What is this, master?" Cross asked with a slight tilt of his head.

"Why, it's your weapon! I call it, Horizon! It's what you'll be using to protect your new family with!"

"New family?" Cross frowned in confusion, "I don't even know how to fight, let alone wield a sword."

"But it's not just a sword, it's also a gun, a sniper rifle to be more specific. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it." Holt nodded self assuredly.

Cross continued to stare at the odd man as if he were some alien being. He never met such a man before, willing to save his life at deaths door despite being a faunus. Just what was he planning?

Seeing the look of suspicion in his newest charge, Holt shook his head with a smile, "Don't give me that look. We're family now, Crossy. And the world is a cruel place. It's only right that I give you something to protect yourself with. And hopefully, as time passes by, you'll learn to protect us too. After all," He grinned brightly, the action causing Cross's single faunus eye to widen at the warm light he seemed to exert.

"We're friends! And friends is just another word for family."'

Thum-

Friends, huh? What a childish answer.

-P.

With his last breath, Cross's head lulled forward, the light in his eye fading away. The vial in his hands fell over, shattering to pieces as its contents mixed with his bodily fluids around him. And with a dying hum his body completely shut down.

The inhuman man incapable of producing aura again died. With the thoughts of the few people that kept him going.

+270,000EXP! 'Congratulations! You're level has risen by one! You're level has risen by 1! You've been rewarded Horizon! You've Unlocked the Ability Vanishing Phantasma! You've Unlocked a Secret Reward! Monty's Lost Page, #7 unlocked!'

Ren's heart stopped at the new notification. Even as he felt a new power course through his being and a new weapon drop into his inventory, he didn't make any notion of caring for it all. Instead he turned his trembling eyes to the single beaten paper flashing into his hand. How? It usually took him overpowering some unbelievable event to even receive one, and he only had two! How was this boss any different!?

His pink eyes turned back to Ruby, catching her close Cross's single in his passing. She rubbed her eyes of the tears as she sniffed in the death of the man who tried to kill her and killed so many.

Was it because of her? Did she somehow do something for The Game to reward him with such a rare prize? That didn't make any sense.

For now though, he sighed as he waited for the red hooded girl to make her way over. He wouldn't question it, not while they still had much to do. He was curious to what this page would reveal to him now. It would have to wait till this Event was over with. Seeing as Ruby was most likely responsible for his incredible reward, Ren gently patted her shoulder as he brought her close to his side. She looked at him in surprise, catching his weary eyes smiling apologetically to her as he leaned against her.

"Sorry, but it looks like I'm not as healed as I thought. Would you mind if I used you as support?"

Ruby shook her head with a smile, "Course not! It's what friends do!"

Ren nodded his head gratefully before they began to leave the scene behind them. The afternoon had just arrived, the day was far from over.

---

Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.

Things have gone down a dark road it seems. Death is hanging over the air now that blood has been spilled onto the streets. Who will walk out alive, who's hands will be painted in blood, and can the sun truly shine tomorrow? The clocks ticking, will your friends be there?

Man, wait till you see the next chapter! It has my favorite fight scene to date. Other then this one. I'd say we have maybe two chapters left before we head on to Forever Fall. Then we finish it up with the end of the volume. Let's see what changes.

And as I said before, if you want to take a look at my future works in development, check out my profile. One will be ready just around November. Hope you give it a shot when it's out.

Read and Review. It's common courtesy after all.

NeoShadows fading in and out.