-Chapter 21-

Fire of Vengeance

Cinder and I stared as one random timber weed passed by in-between us. Cinder made the first move, summoning fire out quickly. I dodged to the side, but did it in a sloppy way. The fire turned the side of my leg, burning my pant. I quickly put it out and even used my gauntlet to cool the burn mark with ice.

"Uuuuuuhh." I felt more relaxed, but Cinder gave me no break when she struck me with her sword. I summoned my sword, blocking her in a nick of time. I stood up strongly, causing her to leap away. She transformed her weapon into a bow and shot arrows at me. I ran away from the barrage of arrow before I hid behind a metal crate.

She then switched her arrows to fire arrows, and began using those. "What's a matter, Ellix? Are you afraid of getting burn again?"

She giggled evilly as I sat, and panting. I looked at my palm, seeing how much energy I used up to this point. I could see my hand blurring a bit.

"This is not good. If I don't finish her here and now, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and…Yang will!" I thought before I went back into action. I used my gauntlet in its grappling form and shot it at one of the towers. I zipped upward to the top, and transformed my weapon into its Gatling gun mode.

I shot several barrage of ice-energized bullets at her, but she protected herself in a barrier of fire before she released that barrier, shooting a wave of heat.

"Uuuh, feel too hot!" Ruby complained as she sweated bullets

"I say!" Weiss cried.

"Damn these heat waves!" I complained. While I was distracted, Cinder shot a fire arrow at me. The arrow pierced through my right shoulder.

"Gaaaah!" I screamed in pain before I fell down.

"Ellix!" The girls screamed.

"Drgh, gaahh!" I cried in pain as Cinder walked over to me. She knelt down a little as I saw her face over me.

"Look at you. You looked so painful…that is the face I like to see, and I am really enjoying myself." She said before she walked around me and decided to do something I did not expect and…not fond of.

She sat over me in a cowgirl position as I still cringed to my wound while she slid her hand on the side of my face, leaning close to my face with her.

"Hey! You let go of him!" Yang yelled angrily with her eyes flashed in red.

"By looking at you closer, besides the painful expression, you're very handsome, like I said before. If only you're on my side, I can admit that I want to play with you a bit." She said as she slid her fingers from my face to my chest.

"Sss..sorry, but I'm..17 years old. I…I'm not old enough to do what…you are implying about." I replied, trying to fight against the pain and tried to get up, but she was holding me down strongly. I should able to…that is when I am at my full strength, but my strength was already dwindled to low level, thanks to the last three fights.

"Before I kill you, give me what I need to know. What is the Code?" She asked.

"I…will never tell you." I said.

"Oh, well then…unfortunately, I have to confess here. Until you tell me the Code, I can't kill you, but how about I just kill your friend right in front of your eyes right now?" She asked as she got up from me, but I still couldn't get up with very little strength left in me.

Her right palm was on fire as she aimed it to my hanging teammates.

"Oh crap!" Ruby panicked.

"No, you won't!" I cried. "You can't!"

"Oh, but I can. You didn't say in parts of the deal that I can kill your friends while we have this game of fight, didn't you? So, why not? Tell me the Code, so I can have a second thought about their life!" She said seriously.

I grit my teeth, resisting in telling her as the girls looked very worried and scared.

"I see. So that is your answer, but I will ask one more time and you better answer it. Tell me the Code or else your precious girlfriend will be burned to hell!" She stated.

"What!?" Yang gasped.

"No! Don't!" I yelled.

"Tell me what it is unless you want her to be burn alive alongside your other precious teammates and friends!" Cinder exclaimed.

I managed to turn myself over and used my arm to push myself up, but fell back down shortly.

"Damn it! I really don't have any energy left to even lift myself up!" I thought.

"Ellix…" Yang sighed. She closed her eyes for a moment and said this, "Ellix! Whatever you do, don't tell her what she wanted!"

"Huh!?" I gasped as I eyed at her.

"Yang, what are you talking about!?" Ruby asked.

"Just forget about me! Don't fall to her!" Yang yelled.

"Are you out of your mind!? You know that mean we get all burned to crisp!" Weiss argued.

"Ellix! I don't know why she wants this Code she's been blabbering about, but I…can tell how important it is that you don't want to say. Whatever you do, don't tell her! Just finish her off, so please get up!" Blake yelled.

"Blake…" Yang sighed.

"What are those idiots yelling about?" Cinder thought aloud.

Ruby thought to herself for a moment and decided to join in shortly. "Yeah, Blake and sis are right, Ellix! As your leader, don't say the Code or whatever it is! Just save yourself, Ellix and defeat her once and for all!"

Weiss groaned loudly. "Ellix, as much as I hate to get myself killed for this, but whatever that she wants from you, don't ever let it fall into her dirty hands! You must fight, even if it means that we get hurt in the process! Just finish her off, or I will punish you if you fail!"

"Ellix!" Yang yelled.

"Ellix!" Blake yelled.

"Ellix!" Ruby and Weiss yelled in unison.

"Ruby…Weiss…Blake…Yang…." I said weakly. I slowly pushed up myself with my knees now on the ground.

"No, it can't be…" Cinder whispered.

I then slowly put my feet to the ground, standing up, but I stumbled a bit until I completely got up.

"Ellix!" The girls yelled in a cheerful tone.

I slowly turned around and faced them, seeing them. I smiled slightly at them until I was shot right into my abdomen.

The girls jaw dropped as there was silence until one of them screamed. "E…EEEEELLIIIIIIIX!" Yang screamed.

I fell down to my back. I touched where I got shot and saw my hand covered in blood.

Cinder laughed evilly. "Foolish boy! You may be persistent, I will give you credits for that, but you also let your guard down when you were cheered by your most precious people in the world! And yet, you are the freaky Second Coming of Darkness, who is supposed to be the strongest and powerful Hunter in the world, and you, of all people, let your guard down!"

"Cccc…Cinder…you…cheater!" I cried.

"Cheater?" She repeated before she giggled. "This is just something I planned out from the beginning. I may not have your foresight for Semblance, but like any strong person, he or she will have a weakness and for your case is letting your own guard down for a moment when you are cheered by your friends! You are such weak boy, and I thought you were stronger than this! I guess you needed a longer year of training!"

She laughed mockingly at me as I grit in frustration, but felt a great lose to her.

"Now then, I think it is time to finish you off. As much as I want to kill you to get achieve my number 1 desire, I think I will finish off your friends first as a little snack before my main course. Now, watch carefully, Ellix, as I will burn your friends to the eternal hell!" She said horrifying as she shot one fireball at my hanging teammates.

The entire situation became silent. My eyes widened as I watched the fireball hurling to my friends. They were looking shock as I was while the fireball headed to them. Cinder smiled like a maniac.

BOOM!

The fireball exploded. I thought my friends were gone until the smoke cleared and I saw my friends, still intact.

"What!? No, how!?" Cinder gasped shockingly.

Ruby opened her eyes slowly, realizing that she and they were still alive. "Hey, we're still alive!"

"What happened!?" Weiss questioned. Suddenly, they got released and fall to the ground, resulting a scream until they were caught safely by a big shadowy hand.

"And what is up with this big hand!?" Yang exclaimed.

Blake noticed the white boomerang flying by until she saw its owner as the boomerang returned to that owner's side.

"Lucky Shot." A familiar male voice said out loud.

Cinder and my teammates looked as I was about to faint. "Heh, heh, it looks like somebody came…to rescue us." I said before I fainted.

"So, you must be Cinder Fall, right?" The familiar boy asked. "You've been on the news for a while after you escaped from the prison and all, but I got to say…it is very lucky to meet you."

Each member of Team RGAL came out of the shadows.

"Rudy!" Ruby said as tears of joy flowed down from her eyes.

"Giovanny!" Weiss yelled.

"Aron." Blake said.

"Luke!" Yang exclaimed.

Each girl said their respective freshmen partner. Their leader, Rudy smirked proudly as Cinder groaned.