Chapter 32
"Winter!" cried Weiss as she looked back, the metal reinforced door having separated herself and Neo from the rest of the group. She reached her hand towards it before hearing a loud thud against the other end. There was no way through, the material was too dense. Neo's hand was around her wrist and she felt her tug at her, gesturing for the her to keep moving. For a second Weiss kept her eyes on the door before being pulled along what remained of the hall. Ahead of them a clear exit in the form of a window that was at ground level. Before they reached it Weiss ground herself to a halt, once more prompting a glance from Neo. "We... We can't just leave her here, we need to go back!" yelled Weiss in a concerned manner, her face full of worry.
Neo stared at the woman before shaking her head at her and tugging at her wrist once more. In response Weiss attempted to pull her wrist back, to which she succeeded as Neo lost grip. Now free Weiss ran for the only other direction besides the window that she could. Looking around the corner she could see down a second hall, in the far distance soldiers were searching. She felt Neo grab her arm and pull her away from the corner. When Weiss turned with an annoyed expression she saw that Neo was frowning at her.
Weiss looked uncertain as she spoke, "I can still help her" she said. Neo again shook her head slowly before pointing her other hand to the window. "I won't leave her!" yelled Weiss as she grew angered at Neo's persistence to flee. Suddenly she felt Neo tug at her arm as she moved around her. With a painful twist Weiss was pushed face first against the wall with her weapon arm folded behind her back. She let out a yelp of pain as Neo applied enough pressure on her arm for Weiss to drop Myrtenaster, the second she did so she was thrown to the ground in front of the window.
She grit her teeth as she stood to turn and face Neo but upon standing the point of her own familiar blade was poking beneath her chin, forcing her to tilt her head up and stumble back against the window. Neo had taken the rapier in her own hand, her glare determined. In one swift movement she pulled the blade back before thrusting it forward. Weiss shut her eyes tight as the sting of the weapon pierced the window behind her, shattering it as its shards fell upon the snow and dirt outside. Upon realising she had not been harmed she opened her eyes to see Neo once more aiming the silver rapier at her. She gestured her head for the newly created exit.
All Weiss could do was oblige as she slowly stepped backwards out of the window, held by the throat with her own weapon. Her captor followed her out from the window, stepping down into the snow and the rain. Instantly the chilling rain began to drench the two as they stood at a pause. Myrtenaster was withdrawn from Weiss' throat before being flipped into the air casually. Neo caught the blade and now held out the grip of the rapier towards Weiss who stared upon it in confusion. To her at least it seemed that Neo was demonstrating her ability to disable Weiss should she choose to not follow her. With hesitation she took her rapier back and looked upon the (for once) shorter woman. Both of their clothes were now beginning to soak as their hair clung to their skin.
The area around them was clear and open, the terrain moving down into a slope away from the mansion. Only the rain had started removing the snow steadily, making the ground soggy and wet, the combination of rain and snow forming a type of slush in the dirt. They could not stay here forever though, if they did not escape and find some form of shelter the climate would surely be the death of them. Over to their right the sound of something mechanical turned the corner. It caught their attention as they looked to the Atlesian Paladin that had been searching for them since it broke into the grand foyer. Its left arm whirred as a gattling gun sprung to life, its bullets already firing against the ground beneath it as it started to raise its arm towards the two. A path of bullets began to rip up the ground as it trailed towards them.
With wide eyes Neo tackled herself into Weiss and sent the both of them rolling down the dirt and snow covered slope. Where they stood previously was now a mess of shredded earth. The Paladin lowered itself somewhat as two bursts of flame erupted from the back of its would-be feet. With an agile speed for such a large contraption it sped towards the top of the slope they fell from and turned itself to face them as the jets of flame halted. Two thick spikes on either side of its feet penetrated into the dirt as to slow its speed, sliding against the wet mixture upon the ground as it came to a halt. The Paladin seemed to have two red slits on each side of its cockpit that scanned the area down the slope. A wave of red light passed over the two as it detected them, sitting in the snow as if trying to stand back up.
Upon its shoulders two hatches opened to reveal multiple missiles ready to fire. In a burst of flame they hurled down towards Weiss and Neo in a scattered and wild fashion, carpeting the area they were sat defenceless in. The dirt and smoke kicked up and obscured the area of impact, but it was safe to say that anything within that area was now gone. The Paladin in its mechanical nature remained still however, to confirm the kill. After the obscuration cleared it found no presence of neither target, only pummelled ground. Its sensors caught movement upon its right as Neo lunged towards its optics with her thin blade. She pierced deeply into one of its four eyes as the machine recoiled and started shaking itself violently as to remove Neo. When she found her chance she kicked her boot against the cockpit of the machine as she pulled her sword from its eye, launching herself from the Paladin before landing on her feet besides Weiss.
Neo had used her semblance before the missile barrage and had long since moved to a safer distance from the area of impact. With its three eyes the Paladin looked down at the two, for a second it paused as the red eyes shifted into a deep blue. The machine lowered itself as it prepared to charge down the slope and towards its targets, knowing its stance this time Neo prepared accordingly. To her eyes she started to walk away from her own image, positioning herself into a flanking spot as she used her semblance once again. The Paladin then charged down the hill as the jets of flame erupted from behind it once more. As it came down the slope however it seemed to curve as it adjusted its coarse straight for Neo, the real Neo.
With a shocked expression Neo acted quickly as she dived out of the machine's path. She narrowly avoided its charge as it turned and slid to a halt. It had known exactly where she was this time. It was then she noticed the blue eyes, it must have been tracking her heat, something her illusions couldn't hide. Neo was never made for taking on such enemies single-handedly. Her attacks were often too light, she had precision but sheer power was something she simply lacked and as a result she was more suited towards taking out softer targets, like people.
While its attention was distracted something lunged into one of the eyes of the Paladin, a silver rapier. The machine recoiled again as two of its four eyes were now disabled. Weiss kicked off of the Paladin only to land herself against a second glyph in the air, launching back into an instant second attack, piercing yet another eye as the machine stumbled further. Neo ran up to its flank as she readied herself to make an attempt on the fourth and final eye as Weiss pushed herself off of the Paladin, landing on her feet a safe distance away.
She charged towards the Paladin as its right arm seemed to alter itself heavily. A large wide blade protruded from its wrist as it turned in a swing towards Neo, the blade ripping up the ground in its path towards her. With her agility she jumped forwards, boots landing on the blade as she used it as a platform to leap towards the cockpit from. Her slender sword pierced the final eye as she swiftly disengaged from it. After a second the machine started to twitch before seemingly freezing in place, as if powered off. Neo peered over to Weiss before briskly making her way over to her. Weiss herself was watching the machine with narrowed eyes. It was too easy.
From the sides of its cockpit appeared multiple laser devices that started scanning the area. Neo halted as she saw this and moved in front of Weiss in a defensive manner. They hadn't disabled the Paladin, it seemed almost like it had just... rebooted itself. The gattling gun upon its left arm retracted as in its place folded out a mechanical arm with a hand. One of the lasers passed over Weiss and not a split-second after it did all of them aimed upon her. She took a step back cautiously as the Paladin faced the two, its left robotic claw opening wide as if for some reason its objective had been changed from kill to capture.
The Paladin lunged forward with its grasping arm as both Neo and Weiss dodged backwards with the help of a glyph. The two of them alone could not do enough damage to halt this creation, its plating was too thick and durable. Neo pushed herself back against Weiss, holding out an arm in front of her as if gesturing for them to retreat. As they moved back the Paladin advanced towards them, its blade at its side with its grasping hand in front of itself ominously.
Another burst of lightning erupted from the sky over the mansion, alarms could be heard echoing out from it.
The Paladin started to charge as the two attempted to flee further down the slope. The machine proved swift however, the claw coming in right behind Weiss. Neo glanced at the attempt and once again tackled into the woman besides her as the two continued to fall down the slope, rolling and slamming against multiple bumps and rocks beneath the snow and mud. Another strike of lightning came from the sky, this time however it seemed to brutally make contact with the Paladin that veered from its path as a result, splinters of metal launching out from its back as it stumbled and fell into the ground heavily, sliding against the wet floor.
Finally rolling to a halt Neo looked up to see the Paladin, its lasers flickered and its form twitched, it was still active as slowly it attempted to upright itself. Neo looked down to Weiss beneath her before standing up to her feet and pulling the woman up. She grabbed her by the arm as they resumed fleeing, the place that made most sense to them was the city but it was still far off down the hill and they couldn't keep counting on stray strikes of lightning. The large slope divided as to their left now was an elevated piece of land. Neo tugged Weiss towards it as a thought struck her. She pushed her against the small cliff-face of the ledge and then struck the area above them with the blunt force of her umbrella. She pulled Weiss down to the ground as she opened up her umbrella above them, the snow falling atop the two and burying them.
It was a desperate measure but it was all she could think of, they wouldn't be able to outrun the Paladin after all, of which had finally stood back to its feet. Its lasers scanned the area around it before its heat-seeking blue eyes re-appeared, having been self-repaired. The final form of the Paladin was nothing if not prepared for any occasion. Through its vision it continued to glance around but its optics could pick up no heat. It looked over exactly where Weiss and Neo were but still could not see them.
After failing to identify its targets the Paladin turned as it started to slowly trudge away, eyes ever scanning from left and right. Neo listened for the sounds of its thudding footsteps desperately. The cold was getting to her and she could feel her body shudder, even pressed against Weiss as she was beneath the snow did little to help. Weiss herself was dealing with the temperature far better than Neo was capable of. After all, she had grown up here. But that wasn't to say that the cold didn't effect her at all. Once the footsteps of the Paladin had moved from range of their hearing Neo stood up, the snow falling from the umbrella as the freezing rain continued to crash down. She offered her hand down to Weiss who looked up to her. Today alone it could be considered that Neo had saved Weiss multiple times. It was then she recalled what Winter had ordered of her before they were separated. She had asked Neo to remain by her side at all times and the girl seemed intent on fulfilling that command.
She took Neo's hand and was pulled to her feet. Neo's umbrella did some amount to stop the rain from falling upon the two as she pointed her finger out towards the city of Atlas. Weiss' blue eyes followed her gesture. They were in no state to fight as fatigued and frozen by the weather as they were. Going back to the mansion would surely be suicide but if there was perhaps a chance she could regroup with Winter and the others then Neo was her best bet to do so right now. It would have been near impossible to find them amidst the storm they found themselves. She looked down to the tracks the Paladin had left behind, it had moved towards the direction of the city in mechanical assumption that it would be where they would flee to. As a result they would be forced to move slowly as to not catch up to it, but at the same time they could not last long on this hill and every minute spent here stole what time they had.
With what little choice they had the two remained close to one another as they started to descend the rest of the hill. The tracks of the Paladin soon turned into straight lines, signalling to them that it had increased its speed. With any luck they themselves would be allowed to progress faster now. Neo had wrapped an arm around the waist of Weiss and held her close, her other hand forever keeping her umbrella above them. Once again Neo could feel the cold creeping through her body, she started to feel tired, weak. Her eyes barely open as her footsteps started to drag through the mud and snow. When Weiss noticed this she wrapped her own arm around her to help steady her footing. The two times she saw Neo before, she was an enemy. But it seemed much had changed since Beacon, she would have to find her sister and the others to clear up recent events.
For now though, she just had to keep walking and making sure the woman that had saved her four or five times today didn't perish along the way. Lightning crested the sky again, the storm had been raging for hours now and still showed little sign of dissipating. She felt Neo growing heavier as she tried to help her along but it didn't take further until the small girl's legs gave in, collapsing to the floor. Weiss caught her but fell to her knees in the process. She took her umbrella and held it up towards the storm as she pulled Neo against herself, her eyes looking every way for any kind of assistance. Peering down to her she spoke, "J- Just hold- on" shivered Weiss. How quickly enemies could become allies she thought to herself.
Harsh winds picked up and only caused the rain to drop down against them harder. Covered in dirt and soaked to the bone Weiss looked around once more. There was nothing in sight, nobody who could come to their aid. Neo had closed her eyes and attempted to curl herself into a ball against Weiss, shivering uncontrollably. The situation was dire and there was no immediate solution to be seen.
Perhaps Neo was wrong, maybe they should have gone back into the mansion and searched for the others. Weiss shut her eyes tightly as another rush of cold wind and rain hit her back, her ponytail, muddied as it was from all the falling, over flailed in the wind.
This hill was going to be the death of them.