A/N: It's been a month, my readers! Time for another update! But first, let me respond to the reviewers!

Wow. I can't say much. I don't expect to have this much positive response for my fic. And I'll say this: Thank you for constantly reading, reviewing, and waiting for this story. I'm grateful!

I have to say sorry for the one month delay. I need to say that, after seeing all of the responses. Next time, if I don't update in three weeks, please- chew me out or something. I might be busy, but that's not an excuse.

Now to sum up my respond to the reviewers: To those who think Blake will kick Roman's ass... uh, guys? Do you remember that Roman not only managed to overpower Blake, but also fend off both her and Sun at the same time during Volume 1 Finale?

I think I don't need to explain why Roman would defeat Blake in an one-on-one duel. Even though she defeated him easily at Volume 2 Episode 11, it was because Blake utilized Dust- a new tactic she had never shown before, plus Roman was being overconfident since he had handed Blake her ass in their previous encounter.

This time however, Roman faced Blake knowing that she is Adam Taurus' partner. He knew how dangerous Adam is thanks to Cinder and will fight assuming Blake is just as good as him. Meaning? Roman will not be careless in this fight.

So? Does that mean Adam and Blake will be caught by Cinder? That will be answered by the next chapter, of course.

About how Adam will respond to Blake's feelings... I'm not quite sure yet. There are so much potential, so many 'story routes' that could happen. You can say that point is the 'branching point' of the story for the Adam and Blake, and the whole White Fang.

...In one hand, my sadistic side wishes for Adam to reject it. On the other hand, my conscience tells me to make him accept. And due to the context of the story, it is perfectly possible for both. So overall, I'm just like you: I'm not sure yet! And I don't want to burden you guys with YET ANOTHER poll just for that.

Speaking of which, the votes for Leliel's love interest surprises me- I thought Adam and Blake will win, but suddenly a great number of Ozpin supporters appear! Oh my goodness!

Adam (?): 6

Mercury: 2

Neptune 1

Ozpin: 10

Ren: 1

Blake (?): 5

Pyrrha: 1

OC (?): 6

Suddenly Ozpin reaches a double digit. Wow. I wonder, will you ship Leliel with more unexpected characters? Remember that Leliel will become a student~ there are so many possibilities.

Now that's done, let's do this! I present you chapter 5, "Wild Flames"

Blake was pissed.

As she prepared to fight Roman Torchwick, Blake sighed in annoyance as she considered her situation.

Blake and Adam were supposed to lay low and gather information- that was why they came to Junior's bar. And, as luck would have it, they did gain an info- a mysterious woman in white was also looking for the same… thing the duo were looking for.

Things were going fine… until this prick managed to identify her mentor, and under the orders of Cinder Fall, no less. He had to be calling his employer, just now. That meant Cinder was coming- if they couldn't escape by then, things would take turn for the worse.

Blake had to defeat this guy. The White Fang's freedom was at stake!

With her Gambol Shroud in hand, Blake transformed her katana into its gun form and threw the gun on a ribbon at Torchwick.

The thief responded by smacking the gun away with his cane, at which point Blake fired the gun to fling it back to Torchwick's direction. However, he repelled the attack again and retaliated with an explosive shot aimed at her feet.

Hmm… how about melee?

Forced to leap away from the explosion, Blake pulled her gun back and transformed it back to its sword form as she caught it in her right hand. Then, Blake created clones as she zig-zagged and closed the distance between them.

Blake noticed that Torchwick merely watched her with a smirk as she approached him. At that, the cat faunus narrowed her eyes.

Now within close quarters, Blake left a clone in front of Torchwick and propelled herself past him, swinging her katana at him from behind. However, the thief reacted faster than she had thought, turning and parrying her sword to the side.

The faunus continued her assault by swinging her sheath-cleaver at the thief from the other side, but he ducked to avoid her attack, before suddenly moved toward her and threw a punch to her face.

This guy is faster than I thought…Blake produced a clone to take the hit, as she herself performed a hand-backspring to prepare herself for another exchange of blows.

As soon as she was back to her feet, Blake leaped at Torchwick and attacked with a downward slash, which he blocked. Landing in front of him, she thrusted her katana at the thief, but again he managed to parry the sword to his right.

Frowning as none of her attacks connected, Blake backflipped away from Torchwick. As the fight was paused, the faunus threw him a glare when she was back to her feet.

"You are certainly stronger than your looks suggest." Blake commented.

"And you are certainly weaker than your partner suggests." He replied cheekily.

Offended, Blake narrowed her eyes and attacked him once again. As she swung her katana at his face, Torchwick ducked while raising his cane upward, catching the blade with the handle, before pulling her weapon down.

Blake only had a second to gasp as Torchwick proceeded to land a solid uppercut on her chin. Her Aura protected her jaw, but the force was enough to daze her for a few moments.

The faunus cursed internally, but the thief didn't miss a beat and slammed his cane to the side of her face, causing her to be knocked away.

"Ugh!"

Hitting the ground a few feet away from him, Blake recovered just in time to see the thief firing another explosive projectile at her.

Without thinking, Blake quickly produced another clone to take the shot and propel herself to the side, narrowly avoiding the explosion that destroyed the clone and the floor it was on.

"Well, well, aren't you persistent." Torchwick said, twirling his cane.

Blake gritted her teeth in frustration. She didn't expect the thief to be a difficult opponent… she had miscalculated.

Blake wasn't sure whether she could take on the entire Junior Club at once by herself, so she wordlessly told her mentor to handle them while she would fight Roman Torchwick. While Blake was sure that the thief could fight, it shouldn't be on a level she couldn't outmatch.

Seems that criminals know how to survive.

Blake gripped her weapons harder. Meanwhile, Torchwick chuckled.

"Is it fine if you just stand there like an idiot? I just called my employer, you know."

The faunus twitched. He was right, she had no time to waste. If she couldn't beat him quickly, then they would be screwed.

Calm down, Blake. Blake told herself. He was trying to make her panic- the worst possible thing to do.

Blake frowned contemplatively. She had to find out a way to overcome his defenses, and remove him out of the equation.

Meanwhile, Torchwick glanced to other side of the bar brawl.

"Hmm… that bullhead certainly is no laughing stock." He commented.

Although Blake was sure that Adam was winning his fights, concern made her took a glance to his side of the fight.

Blake watched as her partner knocked several henchmen senseless with his sheath -without drawing out his sword- and jumped to the DJ's podium, kicked the bear-masked guy to the wall, grabbed his collar, slammed his face to the table, and promptly stole the DJ's machine gun.

Adam didn't stop there- holding his Wilt and Blush in his right hand and the stolen gun on his left, he promptly sent the guy flying off his booth with his sheath, and with the machine gun, he fired at the henchmen downwards.

Blake was both relieved and amused seeing that.

It seemed that Adam hadn't killed anyone, and that was good. The amusement came from the fact that, even with a blunt melee weapon and a stolen gun, Adam still used them like he wielded Wilt and Blush- something she found funny.

I wonder who taught him that?

However, it was no time to be distracted- Blake refocused her attention at Torchwick.

"Not lowering your guard at all, eh? Seems that you are not pathetic as I thought." He mocked.

She narrowed her eyes. "I'll make you shut your mouth!"

Just as the cat faunus was about to continue her assault, however, the thief responded to her declaration by firing his cane at her repeatedly.

Blake avoided his first three projectiles by running to her right, but she noticed his next shots were not aimed at her.

The faunus watched as the floor around her were systematically destroyed by his explosive projectiles. The resulting explosions created smoke-screen around her, but it did nothing to harm her.

"...?"

"Ha ha ha!"

Laughing, Torchwick fired another projectile, and suddenly followed it up by firing the handle of his cane.

Blake widened her eyes. Her brain quickly processed that the cane's handle was actually a hook, tethered to the cane with a cable.

Wait, don't tell me…!

The girl wasn't able to react as the handle quickly caught up to the explosive projectile he fired earlier and hooked it mid-air, causing it to detonate.

Right above her head.

As the overhead explosion practically forced her body down to the ground, Blake was only able to let out a yelp before her face was planted to the floor.

Feeling like she was just stomped by an Ursa, Blake struggled to stand back up to her feet.

Damn it…!

Recovering from her daze, Blake focused her attention as she recovered. However, the first thing she was able to see was a smirk on her opponent's face.

"Bull's eye." Torchwick chuckled.

Blake didn't have enough time to respond before another beatdown was admistered to her.

"Is that your best?"

The bull faunus sighed boredly as he looked around at his frightened enemies. He had been effortlessly beating them down- without even drawing his sword.

Usually Adam would have decapitated or mutilated these guys several times over with Wilt, but killing them wasn't a good idea, now.

If Adam killed the henchmen, then it was likely that the 'woman in white' Junior was talking about would hunt him and Blake down. And that was not exactly keeping a low profile.

That meant he needed to hold back… something he really did not like.

After he slammed his sheath to the head of a henchman, Adam aimed the machine gun he stole at another henchman -the last one standing- and pulled the trigger. However, the gun didn't fire anything.

Realizing the machine gun he stole had run out of ammo, Adam decided to improvise by discarding the weapon by throwing it on the henchman's face, knocking him to the floor.

Mooks…

Adam turned his sights on Junior at the other side of the bar. The twins clad in red and white were on his right and left respectively, preparing themselves for combat.

"You are a beast." Junior commented, preparing something Adam could only recognize as a rocket launcher on his right shoulder.

"I don't like repeating myself, but I'll say it again. Give up already." Adam deadpanned.

"In your dreams, bullhead."

With those words, the bar owner fired a swarm of what Adam identified to be guided missiles. Knowing that avoiding all of those missiles would prove difficult, Adam decided to get serious.

I suppose it's time.

Finally drawing his sword, Adam pulled Wilt out of Blush and quickly swung it repeatedly to release multiple crescent-shaped Dust beams at the missiles, destroying them mid-air, before sheathing the sword again.

As the smoke of the resulting explosion obstructed his view, Adam narrowed his eyes behind the red sunglasses.

…Two incoming.

True to his instincts, the twins emerged from the smoke and charged at him. Seeing this, Adam waited to see which one would leave an opening first.

The red one attacked first, who made a downward slash with the claws on her arms. Adam backstepped to dodge her attack, but the other twin ran past her pair and attacked him with a sweep of her bladed heels, aimed at his feet.

The faunus took an even further leap backwards to avoid the kick, taking his time to judge the skill and finesse of his opponents.

I see…

Seeing as the twins then separated and tried to flank him from different directions, Adam decided to concentrate on one of them- the white one.

As the red one attacked him with another swipe, Adam stepped to the side to avoid her attack while watching as the white one jumped over them and landed behind him. Fully aware of this opening, Adam aimed his Blush over his shoulder and launched Wilt off the sheath, hitting the white twin on her forehead, causing her to wince in surprise pain.

Not missing a beat, Adam turned and closed their distance with a single step, catching his sword mid-air and landing a kick square on the white twin's torso. The white twin only managed to let out an abrupt yelp as her body was flung to a nearby glass pillar, destroying it.

Turning his sights on the other twin, he watched as the girl in red didn't immediately attack him, likely wavering after seeing her partner's defeat.

"...Hmm?"

Adam's instincts were alarmed as he sensed danger coming from his side. Turning his gaze, Adam was surprised to see Junior leaping at him with his weapon raised- it had transformed into a large batting stick.

Surprised, because he didn't think he would make such an idiotic move.

An opening. That instant, Adam prepared his Semblance.

Deciding that heavily injuring Junior was just as bad an idea as killing his henchmen, Adam's hair glowed red as he prepared to release the energy that had been charged within Wilt by Blush. His signature technique-

Moonslice.

Drawing his sword with an extreme speed, Adam aimed his strike at Junior's weapon, hoping to shatter his confidence by displaying a massive difference in strength- that usually worked to intimidate most of his non-stupid opponents.

Unexpectedly, it was Junior's weapon -the bat- that got shattered instead.

As Junior landed in front of him, it took him a few seconds to realize that he had lost his bat. He glanced at his weapon just in time to see the bat dissolving into rose petals in his hand.

"W-what!?" He muttered in shock.

Not wanting to waste any time, Adam sheathed his sword, and with both of his hands gripping the sheath, the bull faunus swung the weapon at the man's face- knocking him away, and sending him toward the girl in red.

Adam chuckled at that.

"What the-"

The red-dressed twin was abruptly cut short as her own boss ungracefully hit her, causing the both of them to hit the floor and finally, onto the wall.

Seeing as the two of them didn't stand back up, Adam sighed in disappointment.

That was not hard… Blake could've taken these out by herself- Oh yeah. Blake.

Recalling her partner, Adam turned around to see Blake's condition. However, the area of the bar near the automatic door was filled with smoke- it prevented him from seeing much. It was probably caused by Torchwick's explosive shots.

Fuck you, Torchwick… He started the fight, and now he trashed the bar. At this rate, whatever crime he pulled off here would be blamed on the White Fang.

Adam had no time to think of a way to get around that now, though- for now, he and Blake had to retreat. There was no time to worry about profile.

Relying on his ears, Adam calmly walked toward the smoke-screen.

"..."

Narrowing his eyes behind the sunglasses as he walked forward, Adam noticed that it was eerily quiet, he could hear nothing but his own faint footsteps. The bull faunus frowned at that-. if Blake was fighting the thief, then it shouldn't be this quiet.

Could it be that they are fighting outside?

With that in mind, Adam hastened his steps. There was no point to stay in the bar anymore.

Holding his breath as he walked past the smoke-screen as quickly as he could, Adam found himself at the other side of the door in a few moments.

However, it was at that moment.

Adam's heart skipped a beat.

"Blake!" Adam shouted in horror.

Near the entrance of the bar, the thief were holding his partner down in the most brutal way possible with a cane.

Blake was struggling on the floor as Torchwick was stepping on her back with his left foot. Meanwhile, his cane's handle was wrapped around her neck, while Blake's own weapons were dropped on the floor, just a few feet out of her reach.

It didn't take long for Adam to understand that the position was dangerous- Roman could strangle or break Blake's neck just by forcefully pulling his cane up.

At his voice, both Torchwick and Blake noticed him.

"Oh, you are here just in time, bullhead." Torchwick grinned mockingly.

Adam ignored him as he noticed that Blake only stared at him apologetically- it was if she was saying, 'I'm sorry… I screwed up.'

The bull faunus didn't even pay attention to that and quickly rushed forward. However, the thief stopped him on his tracks with a warning.

"In case you don't take the hint, Adam Taurus, don't move." The criminal said cheekily, smirking.

Adam gritted his teeth. "You bastard!"

Torchwick merely shrugged. "Jeez, you just noticed that?"

"Aaa…!"

The thief pulled his cane up, squeezing Blake's neck and causing her to suffocate. Adam almost felt physically harmed as he heard Blake's strangled cry.

"Heh." The thief chuckled as he lowered his cane. As Blake gasped for air immediately after, Torchwick spoke again.

"What's wrong? The mighty animal who fought for his race is unable to protect his single pet?" He mocked again.

The bull clenched his fists. Every fiber of his being screamed at him to move, to kill the thief, and to save Blake. And yet he didn't move- Torchwick was holding her partner hostage. Any perceived threat and Blake would be killed on the spot.

Adam cursed under his breath as his mind went into a race. He had to think of a way to get out of this. And fast, considering that Roman might have called Cinder to come over while holding them off here.

But how?!

The thief was watching him- he couldn't make a single move. Not if he wanted Blake to survive through this.

If he wanted to escape by himself, he could. The White Fang didn't exactly need Blake. So long as the leaders were around -himself included- the Fang would continue to rise.

But what was the point of it all if Blake wasn't there?

"...Huh?"

As he gazed at his partner on the floor, Adam finally realized that Blake's eyes were onto him as he was deep in thought- trying to convey something.

Gaining his attention, Blake let out a sigh of relief. Quickly after, the girl's lips moved soundlessly, mouthing a sentence. It was a message.

One that Adam couldn't accept.

"Leave… just leave me."

Blake's mind was frantic. She knew this was an idiotic thing to say. If Adam left without her, she couldn't say a word to him. She would never be able to tell any of her feelings.

Nothing would change.

But, if she had to choose between her life and the freedom of her people, it was obvious.

Blake knew that Cinder Fall needed her partner to enslave the White Fang. That meant the only one who should avoid the woman was Adam. So long as she didn't get her hands on him, White Fang would be safe.

Although Blake was sure the woman would most likely do unspeakable things to get information out of her… it would be pointless once Adam had mobilized the White Fang from their current location.

It was likely she wouldn't survive after that… but that was fine.

My life isn't something I'm going to throw away without a good reason. And her brothers' freedom was something worth sacrifing yourself for.

The cat faunus noticed that her partner had already looked distraught.

I'm sorry, Adam…

But she had no choice. Blake knew that he too, understood this. Adam was one of the leaders of the White Fang. He had to prioritize the many over the few.

"Eh?" Blake uttered.

She swore she saw something.

Something small- and reflective. On her partner's face. It seemed to trail down.

She suddenly understood what it was.

Blake smiled painfully. She didn't need to talk in order to understand what he was thinking, and she didn't need to see through the sunglasses to understand what he was conveying.

Adam…

Blake closed her eyes.

If only you showed it more often…

She took a deep breath-

That painful heart of yours.

She screamed at the top of her lungs.

"RUN, ADAM!"

It was that moment.

She heard a shotgun fire.

"What the-"

Torchwick's voice was abruptly cut by a weird sound.

And suddenly, the weight that was on her body was gone.

"Eh?"

It took her a few moments to realize that Torchwick seemed to have removed his foot from her.

What the…? Why?

Blake stared at Adam. He looked dumbfounded.

Seeing that, Blake decided that she had to see it for herself.

Blake was held down like that for roughly 3 minutes, so as soon as she bent her back, it felt a sore pain. However, she endured and stood up, turning around to see what happened to the thief.

And then, golden orbs met lilac.

It was a blonde woman.

Her golden mane was windswept, and she unloaded something out of one of her yellow gauntlets. Her stance suggested that she just punched someone.

Before Blake could say anything, she spoke.

"You okay?"

And… that's it! Sorry to have a short chapter after one month wait. I can continue past this, add a Leliel scene... but it will feel more like cliffhanger. And many do not like that, right?.

But I'll make up for this- I can promise you that much, since the next chapter is another Night chapter. Leave your thoughs in the reviews or PMs, if this chapter is somehow lacking in quality, I'll fix it.

I'll probably update my 'Something about a Rose' or 'Alternate Reincarnation' next week, so the next chapter will probably be done in two or three weeks- sorry about that. If I can manage it earlier, I'll post it.

By the way, keep voting- don't stop just on characters that has already appeared. Remember Leliel will enter Beacon- she can be shipped with everyone and everything! (Although I prefer not team RWBY, Adam, and OCs…)

Thank you for following the developments of Nightmare Angel so far!