Chapter 9: Blake vs. Kono

Ruby skidded back a few feet after trying to block another one of Emi's attack with her scythe. She fell down to one knee, breathing heavily. Emi walked towards the red hooded girl, who struggles to get back to both feet.

"You're quite stubborn." Emi said with a sign. "Fine, I'll end this little fight now." Emi stuck her hand out towards Ruby and a silver circle appeared in front of it. "Sound Burst…Cannon!" Ruby felt a huge amount of pressure hitting her stomach as an explosion erupted from where she was.

"What the…" Kotori said shocked. "What's going on?!" Her eyes widen when the ice that covered Weiss shattered into pieces, releasing the heiress from her icy cocoon. "There's no way…" Then black snow started to surround itself around Weiss as the heiress looked at Kotori with a fierce glare on her face. Kotori's shocked expression turned into one of anger as she prepares attack again. "Ice Dragon's Roar!" Kotori fired another powerful stream of snow and ice at Weiss. This time, Weiss didn't dodge the attack but she stood her ground as she took the attack head on. Weiss opened her mouth and ate the snow and ice from the attack. "What?!" Kotori widen her eyes as her ice was being devoured by her opponent.

Weiss opened her mouth again and fired a blast of black ice and snow at Kotori. Kotori cried in pain as she hit by Weiss' attack. 'Impossible…she has that type of slayer magic. God Slayer Magic…' Kotori fell to the ground and loss consciousness.

Weiss was breathing heavily as she fell to her knees in exhaustion. She looked at her hands, wandering what just happened. 'This power…' she thought. 'It wasn't my semblance. It was magic. But what type of magic is it? I'll worry about it later.' Weiss slowly got back to her feet. 'Right now, I have to find the others.' Before she could take a step, her vision started to blur. Her body was feeling the effects of the beating she took from Kotori.

"Damn!" she cursed quietly as her vision turned black. Before she fell to the ground, something grabbed her and held her up.

"Hold on, I got you." A familiar voice said. It was Lucy. She looked around the battlefield and saw the damage that was caused as well as the unconscious Kotori. "Come on; let's head back to the guild."

Blake skidded on the ground after getting pushed back by Kono. Kono readied his sword as a light blue circle appeared on the blade. "Wind Sword…" He raises the sword over his shoulder. "… Gale Cortador!" He lowered his sword, releasing a projectile of wind and firing it towards Blake.

Blake quickly jumped out of the way as the projectile cut several trees into pieces. Her sheathe changed into its weapon form as she fires at Kono. Kono swung his sword sideways, releasing another air projectile and deflecting the bullets.

"That's quite an interesting weapon you have there." Kono said, looking at Blake's Gambol Shroud.

"I should say the same about your sword." Blake said.

"Oh this thing, it's just an ordinary sword. The attack you saw was caused by my wind magic. However it's not as strong when I'm using a sword. Did you want a demonstration on how strong my magic really is?" Kono stuck his hand out and a light blue circle appeared. "Gale Force…Canon de Presion!"

Blake widens her eyes as she felt a large amount of air pushing her back, sending her through several trees. The cat faunus struggled to her feet, using her sword to help.

"Gale Force…Latigo de Aire!" Kono used two fingers and released a whip made of pressure air and lashed it at Blake. Blake quickly jumped out of the way as the air whip cut through the destroyed trees and the ones that still standing.

'That's too close!' Blake thought, looking at the cut-up trees. She leaped up to the nearest tree and climbed to the highest branch.

"Look above you!" Kono shouted, forcing Blake to look up at the sky. She saw Kono standing in mid air with light blue circle at the soles of his feet. He descended towards the faunus, swinging his sword at her. Blake quickly blocked with her sword but was pushed of the branch she was standing on, crashing to the ground below.

"Gale Force…" Kono pointed his index finger at her. Blake slowly got back to her feet, glaring at the wizard. "…Bala de Aire!" A barrage of bullets made of air fired, heading towards the faunus. Blake quickly ran from her spot, avoiding the air bullets. Kono followed her with his finger, still firing the bullets at her. One of the bullets struck Blake in her leg, causing her to fell to the ground and skidding a few feet. Blake winched in pain, holding her shot leg.

Kono smirked as he jumped from the branch and a light blue circle appeared on the bottom of his foot. "Gale Force…" Kono started to descend towards Blake in a rapid pace. "…Pulse Aire!" Blake quickly jumped out of the way as Kono crashed to the ground. She winched in pain when she landed on her injured leg. She shook off the pain and turned towards Kono, who stood back up in the dust cloud he created.

"You've stopped running." Kono said as the dust cloud cleared. "Why is that? Have you decided to fight back? Or did you realize that you can't run forever especially with one good leg?" Blake didn't respond to Kono's question. "What's wrong? Aren't you going to say something?" Blake still didn't respond. "Fine, don't talk then. It wouldn't matter once you're dead. Latigo de Aire!" He lashed a pressure air whip at the faunus but she disappeared before it could her. "What?!"

Kono winched in pain as he felt something sharp slashing his back. He looked behind his shoulder and saw Blake with her weapon over her shoulder. "Damn you!" he cursed, swinging his sword at her but she disappeared again. Blood spilled out of his shoulder, then his right arm, his left leg, and his left hip. "That's enough! It's time to end this!"

Blake appeared in front of Kono, readying her blade to attack again. Kono stuck his hand out at her. "Canon de Presion!" he shouted, releasing a large amount of air at the faunus and destroying the area behind her. Blake held her ground as she continued to push her way to Kono.

"There's no way!" Kono shouted in disbelief. "Nobody could withstand that spell!" He added more air into his attack, trying to push Blake back but couldn't. Blake let out a loud battle cry as she swung her sword at Kono, cutting him down. Kono dropped his sword as his blood came out of the cut on his chest and spilled to the ground. Kono fell to his knees and hit the ground face first.

Blake fell to ground on her butt, breathing heavily. "It's done." She said, looking at Kono. "You fought well. But you still lost to me."

Kono chuckled and said, "I guess I've underestimated you. I got a little over confident and made a mistake. Mistress Ito would be greatly disappointed."

"Mistress Ito?" Blake repeated. "Who's that?"

"I guess no choice but to tell you since you've defeated me." Kono said. "But I can't tell you everything. She is the one in charge of our guild. She is known as the 'Shadow Woman' due to her superb expertise of a certain type Shadow Magic. Even if your friends manage to defeat my comrades, you don't have a chance in hell to defeat her. That's all you're going to get out of me." Kono closed his eyes and lost consciousness.

'The Shadow Woman?' Blake thought. 'And she's the head of their guild. I need to ask Master Marakov about this. But first, I need to find to the others.'

"Hey Blake!" A familiar voice shouted, getting Blake's attention. Blake looked around her shoulder and saw Gray walking towards her.

"Gray? What are you doing here?" Blake asked.

"Erza thought that you and the others might need some help." Gray said. He looked around the area and saw the damage caused from the battle as well as the unconscious Kono. "What happened here?"

"I'll explain later." Blake said, standing back up. "Right now, we have to help Ruby." Gray nodded but before they could move, a magic circle opened up underneath Blake and trapping her inside a ball of pressurized air.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid that I can't let you that." Kono said, surprising Blake and Gray as he slowly got to his feet.

"Bastard, let her go!" Gray shouted. "She's already beaten you."

"She defeated me, yes. But she didn't finish the job. As punishment, she'll suffocate in that ball while I'll deal with the rest of her little friends."

"That's not gonna happen." Gray said, throwing his shirt off. "If you wanna to get to them, you'll go through me first."

Kono smirked and said, "As you wish."

Inside Kono's air ball, Blake was struggling to breathe as she feels the air leaving her body.

'It's getting to harder to breathe.' She thought. 'I need to get out of here. I have to stop him.' Then Blake's body started to glow as well as her weapon. 'What the…what's going on?' The glow started to radiate outside of the air ball, getting Gray and Kono's attention.

"What's happening?" Kono questioned. The glow died down and the air ball was dispersed. Kono widen his eyes at what happened to his air ball and the person who destroyed it. It was the faunus that he tried to suffocate, Blake, but her attire and weapon are different that what she had before.

To be continued…