Frost's perception of time seemed to slow as he cradled Neo's body in his arms as she feebly reached towards his face. Tears welled up in his eyes as she put on a weak smile, her hand gently caressing his cheek and wiping away a stray tear before falling limp at her side, her last breath leaving with a small sigh. At that moment, he felt like the loneliest person in the world, regardless of the number of people standing defensively between them and Adam Taurus.

Adam.

That name burned a fire in his chest that he had never felt as strong as he did now. When he had heard that Adam was Blake's old mentor in the White Fang, he had been more frustrated than angry that someone could be so blind as to openly encourage war and ruin the lives of countless innocents in the process just for his own twisted ego. As much as the White Fang wanted to gain Faunus equality with that of the humans, their tactics were far from something that would promote anything except fear. And now they had even forsaken that in the pursuit of more power, by turning themselves into literal monsters just to be able to stand above the rest. It made him sick. It made him frustrated.

But most importantly, it made him ANGRY.


"Adam!" Blake called out as their group stood like a wall in front of him. "Stop this! This isn't you! I don't care how many times I have to say it, but this was never what you wanted for the Faunus!"

"Poor, naïve Blake," Adam taunted as he casually propped Wilt atop his shoulder, his other hand casually sitting atop Blush at his side. "This is for the best. I realize now that pitting the humans and Faunus against one another would have ended in so much pointless loss of life. So we needed to tip the balance in our favour. Do you really think I was the only one that chose to receive this power? You could have had this as well had you just stayed with us rather than run off to Beacon and try to play Hero. You should know by now that there is no such thing as Heroes. Only those that survive and those that perish due to their weakness. That's just the way the world is."

"…Is that so..."

All heads turned at the sound of the voice that had spoken; their focus on Adam momentarily broken as the cold and lifeless tone seemed to echo across the courtyard. Frost slowly got to his feet as he finished placing Neo's body on the ground with her hands crossed over her chest in an almost peaceful image were it not for the puncture wound I her abdomen. His head turned up to face them, one of his eyes now pitch black with a red iris just like that of Adam's. And yet, he seemed calm. Too calm.

"Keep an eye on her, alright? This won't take me long."

"Don't do something you'll regret, Frost." Emerald swallowed roughly as she recognized the expression on his face from their travels through Atlas. This time was different, however. And it didn't bode well. "I know that this must hurt, but she wouldn't want you to go down this road, she-"

"YOU DIDN'T KNOW HER LIKE I DID!" His voice roared over all of them as they stumbled away from him due to the ferocity in his voice. Meanwhile, Adam stood calmly as he watched with rapt attention, a sinister grin beginning to form on his face. "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO LOSE SOMETHING SO CLOSE TO YOU, TIME AND AGAIN, AND STILL HAVE TO FIND THE STRENGTH TO KEEP MOVING FORWARD! NONE OF YOU DO!"

"You're wrong." Yang stated calmly as she regained her composure and crossed her arms with an angry look of her own. "Ruby and I lost our mother, Summer, when she was out being a Huntress and we never saw her again. Ren and Nora have been orphans since they were kids. We all lost Pyrrha and Penny when Cinder and Adam attacked Beacon. So don't you DARE go on about things being unfair for only you. You don't have the right."

"…Don't I?" Frost asked, his emotionless mask unfaltering as he faced Yang head-on. "Let me ask you something. Did any of you watch from a front row seat as your mother bled out in front of you? Were you the one to land the killing blow that caused the mother of your best friend and your own father to die?" The cold silence that followed, accompanied by the shocked and horrified looks of those surrounding him was all the answer he needed. "I didn't think so. Because there's one piece of information that I discovered back in Patch that I didn't tell anyone. The Grimm that's inside of me…was the one that attacked and helped kill Neo's mother and my own parents. And I know for a fact that I'm the only one here besides motherfucking Taurus that can claim there's a Grimm inside of them. So STAND. ASIDE."

"We can't do that, Frost." Ruby stated as she took a stance next to her sister, the two of them slowly joined by the rest of their group. "You can't fight him alone, he'll kill you. And this isn't what it means to be a Huntsman anyways. You can't let revenge control you. You have to protect those that can't protect themselves."

"Oh, this isn't revenge, Ruby. This is justice." Frost commented as his expression darkened. "And once I've beaten him within an inch of his life, which will be protecting people might I add, I'll get him to tell me where the man who made the Grimm inside of us is, and then I'm going to end this. Then you can do whatever you want with Adam. Throw him away for all I care. But not until I'm done with him."

"And what makes you think you can even get through all nine of us without us stopping you?" Weiss remarked coldly as a glyph became to form underneath Frost's feet, ready for the moment he made any sort of motion.

"Because." Frost replied without a care in the world, his arms loose at his side without any sign of a threatening gesture. "You're all too slow."

Without warning, his arms lit up with a blinding flash, forcing all of them to cover their eyes to avoid being blinded in the process. In the following moments, what transpired could be considered chaos as Frost unleashed the pent up rage he had felt building for months. For as he stood there, his entire body alight with his Semblance, electricity crackled across his form as though he were a walking Tesla Coil. Before any of them could react, both his arms whipped up as streams of raw energy sailed from his fingertips and into each of their bodies, causing them to convulse as their bodies were frozen to the spot due to the energy coursing through them. All of them except for Nora, who seemed to only be getting stronger as the others collapsed around her, their limbs twitching as the paralysis kicked in and prevented them from moving.

"That's nearly all of you at least." Frost stated with a cold tone as he cracked his neck violently. "I never realized how easy it was to simply mask my Semblance buildup before now. Maybe it's the Grimm or something. Whatever, it doesn't really matter right now."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Nora snapped as she wielded her hammer with an angry look on her face. "My Semblance just makes me stronger when I get electrified, how did you plan on stopping that?"

"Oh, easy." Frost slowly started walking towards Nora, his hands in his jacket pockets as the electricity faded from his body, though the light of his Semblance remained. "When it's just 1 on 1 the odds are ridiculously in my favour unless I were up against someone like Ruby, Weiss, or Yang. You want to know why?"

"Why?" Nora asked cautiously as Frost suddenly pounced forward and gripped Magnhild with one of his hands. Nora tried to pry her weapon away, but found that it wouldn't move as the white-haired boy in front of her looked around their grip without an ounce of remorse on his face.

"Because only they can outrun me or overpower me. The rest of you are just children compared to how powerful I am with this Grimm inside of me. Yang could just take my punches and retaliate, Weiss could stall me with her Glyphs, and Ruby could outrun me until I tire out. Your electrical Semblance is useful in most scenarios, but this isn't a fight you'll win. Not in this life. So stand aside, or I'll be forced to make you."

"No. Not after what you just did to the people you call your friends."

Frost sighed as he let go of Magnhild, much to Nora's surprise as she stumbled back from the sudden lack of force fighting against her. That moment was all he needed as he leapt forward once more, his hand outstretched as he grabbed Nora by the arm and spun around rapidly, launching her into one of the buildings surrounding the courtyard with a crash. For those that fell in a way to be able to see the battle, their eyes remained transfixed as she slowly climbed out of the rubble with a cough, dirt and scratches covering her after the sudden collision with the building as she had broken through into an empty home.

"Is that it? I could do worse on a good day." Nora smirked as she took a stance while Magnhild changed into its launcher form. As she was about to shoot, he froze as she realized the position Frost was in relative to the rest of their group. If she were to shoot at him, there was the risk that she could harm her own friends and allies in the process.

"Conscience proving too much for you, Nora?" Frost asked almost mockingly as he stepped over or around the group without actually stepping on anyone. "I used to worry about stuff like that as well, but…well you can see where that got me. Dead parents, dead friend, nothing left to lose I guess. So just stand down, and keep an eye on the people you care about so much while I beat Adam into a bloody pulp."

Nora stood her ground as she gave him a furious look, filled with equal parts anger and confusion. "Why would you do this?! We would have helped you! You know that! We would have fought with you to stop Adam! So why would you turn on us like this?!"

"Because you would all stop once he was too injured to fight back, or at least to where you think he can't fight back. But you don't know just how tenacious the Grimm inside of us can be. It won't stop fighting even when limbs are broken and your body is a mangled mess. I've seen it firsthand, and in a way I've experienced it by reliving the memories of the Grimm. The only way to stop him is to push him right up to death's door and leave him there. And none of you would understand that until more of you are bleeding out on the ground like Neo. That's why."

"But…this isn't you!"

"In a way, you're right. The part of me that still remains is the one thing that kept me from delivering a lethal blast of electricity through the others. It's only because I held back that they're all just unable to move right now due to their muscles seizing up. But that part of me is small compared to how much control the Grimm has right now. I can still feel the burning rage and thirst for blood clawing away at my mind, and if I keep fighting it for much longer I could end up killing you by accident before moving on to Adam. So please, Nora. Stand. Down."

"Fine, but only because someone needs to keep an eye on the rest of them in case more Grimm or White Fang show up. You made your choice. I hope you're happy with it."

"...I doubt I ever will be." With that, he walked past the ginger girl as she moved to watch over their friends, one passing glance going to Frost's retreating form with a sad look.


"I'm surprised." Adam remarked as Frost slowly marched towards him, his face once more an emotionless mask as he approached the leader of the White Fang. "After what I just did, I thought that you would have resorted to much worse than simply paralyzing them and letting the one walk away. I was almost worried that I would miss the chance to kill Blake myself. Call me impressed."

"How about I call you worm food instead?" Frost snarled back as he stopped a few feet away from the man. "Because that's what you're about to be in a moment."

"Are you really so sure about that? You still cling to some small vestiges of your humanity, while I've fully embraced the power I've been given. What hope do you have when you couldn't even save your friend?"

"Because against you…I'm not holding back. This ends, tonight."

"Then show me just how powerful you are and we'll see who gets to continue living."

The two then leapt at each with such force that they both left small cracks in the ground where their feet had been moments prior.

The two were practically a blur as they swung wildly at each other, both allowing the beast within to take control as their attacks were empowered with the tenacity and killing intent of the Grimm. The sounds of metal on metal echoed across the area as Frost deflected swings of Adam's blade with his gauntlet while Adam parried attacks from Frost's gauntlets. Neither had resorted to ranged attacks yet, mainly on Frost's part due to what he had been warned about Adam's ability to absorb attacks with his blade and return them at an increased power. To be able to overcome that would require a single opening that he could unleash the full power of his Semblance against the monster he currently squared off against.

Suddenly, Adam leapt away as he lifted Blush from his hip before firing a few rounds at Frost. The boy responded by quickly lifting his bracers to deflect a majority of the bullets even as he felt the sting of a few rounds deflecting off of his Aura. Sensing the change in the tide of battle, he leapt towards the bull Faunus with a quick burst of his Semblance directed towards his legs, his rapid approach to the man met with a blade swung to deflect the oncoming swipe at his head before he felt a full round of the shotgun explode into his abdomen, sending him almost exactly in the direction he had just come from as he crashed into the concrete below, dust and rubble being kicked up from his landing. He quickly got to his feet as Adam hopped down from the balcony once more with a cocky grin on his face.

"It's just like I said, you can't win if you don't give in completely. I'm too powerful for you to hope to win on your own. The girl with the hammer was right, you know. You probably could have beaten me if all ten of you had attacked me together. Not without consequence of course. So I suppose you were both right. It doesn't matter now. Once I'm finished with you, I'll finish the job with the rest of them since you've made such easy targets out of them."

Frost's eyes widened as he realized that Adam had orchestrated this entire scenario. He had wanted Frost to lash out after attacking Neo, and had somehow known he would hold back. How he knew, he had no idea. But if it meant that the rest of them were his next target, then he needed to end things. Now.

Frost felt the power of his Semblance build once again as he felt the electricity crackle across his fingertips. Meanwhile, Adam smirked even wider as he returned Wilt to its place within Blush as he took a ready stance. The two stared each other down as the tension in the air seemed to build between them.

"So this is your response? A final attack to try and stop me quickly? You do realize that my own Semblance will easily overpower yours and simply make it easier for me to kill you, right?" Adam's expression seemed almost disappointed as he shook his head with a clicking sound coming from his mouth. "And here I thought this would be a satisfying fight."

"I'm not here to satisfy your lust for blood, Taurus. I'm here to make sure you never do what you did to anyone else ever again. So shut up, and die like the monster you are."

"Show me your true power then."

"With pleasure."

Frost felt the energy surge across his arms and fingertips as he pointed both hands towards the man in front of him. As the power sailed across the air, the red blade was slowly drawn from its sheath as it began to absorb the power flying at it, the red on the blade and in Adam's hair and eyes glowing as it did so. But as it did so, his eyes widened in shock. Unlike other times he absorbed attacks, they only seemed to be from small salvos or a short blast. This attack seemed to keep going, and if he were to sheath Wilt to use his own attack he would run the risk of leaving himself vulnerable.

"Not so easy to redirect an attack when it just keeps coming, huh Adam?" Frost asked with a sinister grin of his own. "You're probably so used to short and powerful attacks that something that keeps going is the one thing you can't fight against. Too bad for you, I'm putting everything I have into this attack rather than drawing this out any further. If you can survive it, then you win. But that all depends on if you're able to last that long."

"Let's test just how much power your weapon can hold, shall we?"


Well that one was...difficult to write...to say the least. That one took me to a dark place I don't enjoy going to bring out that anger in Frost this chapter. Honestly, there were times when I was younger that I felt like the entire world was against me, and I wanted to yell just like Frost did here when things started going south. Either way, as promised here is my most recent update. As usual, I will see you all in a couple weeks for the next update.