Chapter 65
Her fist crushed into the chest of another Strigoi as it fell to the ground. She advanced swiftly with both hands at the ready as she delivered a right hook to another, and a left hook to a third. Ahead she saw one of the beasts charge towards her with its piercing tail at the ready. She caught the lunging strike as she swung the creature around by its tail and crashed it into several more of its kind. With a slight bit of breathing room she threw her arms out to the side as the spent casings were ejected from Ember Celica. With a quick reload she took aim to the dense swarm of Strigoi that circled the battle and unleashed consecutive shotgun blasts into their midst. She had to thin out as much of the swarm as she could before they were completely overwhelmed.
Her lilac eyes glanced to her right as she spotted Tyrian lunge towards Mercury with his pincer-like weapons. The silver-haired assassin narrowly avoided the strikes with trained efficiency before pressing onto the assault with a flurry of kicks. Each kick was parried by the madman that made his intentions clear; he wanted to kill the boy. Not out of any reason or logic, but simply because he wanted to. He cackled as he knocked aside another kick and pressed forward as his pincer like weapon came thrusting towards Mercury. The attack grazed his arm deeply as he stumbled back, but he was still intent on continuing the fight. With a kick he released a white whirling missile that made its way towards Tyrian in an erratic fashion. The madman once more avoided the attack as the missile continued on its course towards Blake.
The missile struck her clone as she glanced briefly to make sure Mercury was still occupied. But she had her own battle to fight as she narrowed her eyes and swung the cleaver-like blade of Gambol Shroud towards a green sickle; knocking aside the weapon as the chain was pulled back to towards its wielder. Blake utilized her own ranged form of attack as she threw the thinner blade at Emerald while maintaining a hold on the black ribbon. She performed multiple whipping strikes with the ribbon-attached sword as it fired off bullets in seemingly random directions. Each strike she made against Emerald seemed to cause her to disappear and reappear elsewhere. It was similar to Neo's semblance but with only one difference: Emerald's form of illusion seemed a lot less... Real. And so her seemingly random gunfire and wild whipping served a purpose. With a grunt of pain Emerald had been struck as her illusions came to a halt. Her aura had taken the brunt of the attack as she readied her sickles in preparation for some actual combat.
A ball of flame exploded the space between the two before they could re-engage, they turned to see where the misdirected fire came from. Cinder ducked beneath the deadly whip-like tail of the Sire as it stood tall and still; using the least amount of energy it could in order to fight. But Cinder wasn't a foe you could simply stand in one place with. The Sire's burning red eye glanced down as it noticed a strange fiery mark beneath its feet. With a single powerful blast from its wings the creature lunged forward as a bright pillar of flame erupted from behind it where it once stood. The greater Strigoi closed in towards Cinder as it allowed gravity to do its work. It landed with a heavy thud and made swift consecutive strikes with its clawed fingers. Cinder dodged and avoided the attacks with some effort as she shifted away from the Sire.
When she leapt away she'd realised she had played straight into the creature's predictions as its obscenely long tail was coiled at where her foot would land. As soon as her heel came into contact with the floor the tail wrapped tightly around her ankle and raised her up from the ground. Initially she was slammed straight back into it before being tossed up into the air. The Sire's single eye watched with intent as it remained still and saw the dozen Strigoi descend from the swarm above. The Grimm crashed down into Cinder and slammed her back into the floor. There was a brief pause before an explosion of fire erupted from where she was; incinerating the Strigoi around her.
The Sire's head seemed to lower slightly in a fashion similar to that of a predator; something about the eruption of fire seemed to strike a nerve with the creature, as Cinder stood back up on her feet. Her own eye narrowed towards the Sire as her raspy voice spoke out, "She was right to warn Tyrian that you had become somewhat... Sentimental..." A low growl came from the Sire as Cinder's right hand engulfed into flames. She raised her arm as a bolt of fire blasted against the swarm above; destroying several Strigoi. The Sire took a threatening step forward as its tail thrashed and whipped around behind it. "It's pathetic... Do you see yourself as some sort of father to them? To think that your species becomes so weak when it finally learns to place a value upon its life. You should have remained like your brethren; mindless," Cinder hissed her words as she unleashed another bolt of fire into the sky. The Sire gave out a blood-curdling roar as the swarm quickly began to disperse, and as a result Cinder's attack hit few.
Cinder prepared for the blind rage of the Grimm before her, but she was stunned to see that it was directed elsewhere. The Sire knew that Cinder, a maiden no less, would best it in a single fight. But what it could do was stack the odds against her as with a burst of its wings it launched towards Emerald who was unaware, as her focus was on Blake. In a blur the Sire passed by Blake's golden eyes as its tail coiled around Emerald's form. With a yelp of surprise the abducted woman found herself in the air. The powerful wings of the Sire halted as it flipped forward, the tail swinging Emerald around before releasing her and launching the woman down towards a wooden building. She crashed straight through the roof as the Sire turned its attention elsewhere. Tyrian had Mercury covered, so now it needed only dispatch of Yang's group.
The burning red eye spotted a head of silver-white hair amidst the darker surroundings. Weiss turned from her combat as her ice blue eyes met the Sire. Her posture straightened as she prepared Myrtenaster. The way she stood and held herself greatly annoyed the Sire, and amidst its rage it lunged down towards her. It crashed against the ground as Weiss leapt over its charge with the use of a glyph; an ability the Sire had not witnessed yet. When it turned it saw that Weiss was allowing it to stand, allowing it to recover. She held a gaze of superiority and there was nothing the Sire wanted more than to rip her face off and bite off what was left of her head.
Cinder quickly realised the beast's intent as she made to intercept its plans. A figure halted her in her steps as her eye narrowed upon the open umbrella. Neo smirked at her as she placed the umbrella over her shoulder. Cinder was partly to blame for Roman's death, so if she was going to claim vengeance, it might as well be her. Fire danced around Cinder's form as her palm lit up in flame, "Arrogant little bitch..."
Neo watched as her foe prepared to unleash upon her the wrath of a maiden, but the second before she did, she utilized her own semblance in a fashion she had not done in some time. A flash of bright light blinded Cinder as fire erupted from the palm of her hand and missed its mark, and instead scorching the ground. The smaller woman moved in as she ripped her blade from its sheath. She made a thrust towards her opponent, but Cinder had quickly recovered as she made a swipe with her hand that was trailed by flame. Neo halted her charge and stepped away from the swipe before making an arcing slash with her blade. Her eyes blinked into white as she realised just how outmatched she was. Just how foolish she was to have engaged Cinder alone. The woman's hand had simply clasped around her sword. A violent explosion shattered the weapon completely as Neo fell back against the ground with a broken blade in her grip, the pieces of sharp metal scattering all around.
Cinder stood above her as a sword of glass formed in her hand. She raised the weapon and brought it down towards Neo's image as it shattered into a thousand pieces. Neo delivered a sharp kick to her side which only lightly stumbled her adversary. The smaller woman's eyes remained a stark white as she now did her best to simply survive.
Across the field of battle, and now without Strigoi to fight, Yang found herself looking to assist the others. She spotted Neo as she struggled to fend off Cinder. She saw her stumble and attempt to retreat. She saw her need for help. Yang's eyes flashed red as she began a limping charge for the aid of her friend, but something at the back of her head wouldn't stop bugging her. She was forgetting something...
Crescent Rose came sweeping in towards her as she was forced to stop and defend herself. The slash swiped against Ember Celica and barely managed to prevent a serious injury as she fell back against the ground. Before her stood her sister, Ruby, who until now had been stalking the outskirts of the battle for easy targets. Yang had become one such target. The blonde stood up to her feet as behind Ruby she saw Neo continue to struggle and even take a glancing hit to the arm from a blade of glass, yet the obstacle in front of her refused her passage.
A scream was heard, a man's scream. Various eyes glanced to the source as Mercury gripped his shoulder while stumbling away from a laughing Tyrian. Blood smeared the madman's weapon. Auras were finally beginning to deplete as the fight had been continuing, and soon everyone would be taking lethal attacks. For Mercury it was looking grim as his wounded shoulder now impeded him. Tyrian lunged ahead with an arcing cut as his weapon slashed against Mercury's chest; ripping into flesh and sending a spatter of blood to the ground with another cry of pain.
Yang looked forward once more. She had to get past Ruby soon, or otherwise Tyrian was going to join the fray and make things take a turn for the worst. Crescent Rose came sweeping towards her once more as she pushed herself from the path of its cut. Her wounded leg wasn't helping her as she quickly tried to run by her sister. A flash of petals appeared as she once more blocked her path with a cut from the scythe. There was no more time to hold back as Yang whispered an apology to herself as she aimed a straight punch towards her own sibling. The attack was parried with ease as Ruby made a counter and forced Yang even further back. Over Ruby's shoulder she could see that Neo had now taken a few more hits, if nothing changed she wasn't going to last much longer. She had to do something now. Lilac eyes spotted Emerald who had reappeared and assaulted Weiss. Blake had engaged the Sire in one on one combat near Cinder and Neo. She was their best bet and so she tried to call out to her, "Bl-!"
Her call was quickly halted as she was forced to avoid Crescent Rose once more. The Geist controlling Ruby would not even allow her to speak as she was forced to watch her friend struggle in the distance.
Various buildings had began to burn from the constant use of Cinder's fire, and so the night was filled with embers and rose petals that scattered with the wind. Neo raised her umbrella to block another strike from Cinder's blade. The impact alone forced her back as she panted. The few scrapes and knocks she had taken already pained her greatly. A single direct attack would take her down for sure. She was alone in this fight against Cinder, and nobody was coming to save her. She grit her teeth as she utilized her semblance to form a clone of herself. But Cinder already knew her tricks and her sharp gaze watched as dust was kicked up from seemingly invisible footsteps. Her blade may not strike her directly with the lack of a visual target, but she would strike her never the less.
Neo's clone shattered, but not from an impact against it. The real Neo fell to the ground, clutching her ribs as the blunt side of Cinder's weapon had struck her directly. The pain surged through her body and she found it difficult to breath as her eyes watered. She watched as Cinder's attention was seemingly drawn elsewhere. For a moment Neo believed that help had arrived, that someone was going to save her. Her white eyes followed Cinder's as she saw Blake had been thrown to the ground besides her by the Sire, who turned to engage the others. Cinder smirked as she raised both open palms to aim upon Blake.
The Faunus groaned from her impact to the ground as she looked up to see Cinder as she took aim. Her golden eyes widened as she saw the bright fire erupt from her hands. She shut her eyes tight as the sound of burning heat rushed through the air; destroying everything in its path.
Through pain and suffering Neo had thrown herself into the path of the fire as she opened her umbrella against it. She utilized dust to form a cyan barrier that blocked the flames as they poured around the edges. Her eyes widened as she realised just how powerful the attack was, and as a result she quickly gripped her umbrella with both hands as her heels slid back against the dirt. She couldn't hold it back.
Blake saw that Neo had come to her rescue, but she could also see that she was struggling. Her hands pushed up from the ground as she made to pull her from the path of the fire, so that she could save the two. But she realised she couldn't, she realised only one of them was going to get out of this alive. There was no way they could both get out; the fire would consume them as soon as the barrier dropped.
Neo could see the barrier as it started to shudder and fade under the power of the maiden. She didn't know if Blake was still behind her, or if she managed to get out. Her white eyes blinked into blue as she saw the cyan barrier break. The fire seemed to consume her vision as it flowed around the umbrella. She was surrounded as her last defence began to burn against the attack. She saw bright lights appearing from her umbrella where the fabric was being burned through, and the metal shaft of the object started to burn her hands as it conducted the heat. All she could hear was the roaring flame, and all she could feel was its blistering heat.
One last attempt...
Weiss halted as she heard a voice. It called her name and it seemed familiar, but she had never heard it before. Her blue eyes turned to the source as she saw a jet of flame pierce the darkness. It quickly faded as embers drifted from where it was seconds ago.
Icy eyes widened as they watched the burnt metallic skeleton of an umbrella slowly and gently float down from the sky; spiralling towards the ground silently.