We are back with another chapter in the story. As always RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and its associates, as always my characters are my own so let's get to the story.
Carmine was walking down the street with Freyja and her brother Rindr trying to see if they could spot Blake, Omar had not gotten back to him about looking for her but Vigil had noted that he did look at the message. Freyja's other brothers were on the roof tops looking over them as they continued walking, not seeing a hint of Blake or Schwartz made Carmine uneasy. Checking in with Levina and Delilah they had not seen Blake at all, but they had the same uneasy feeling he did as the sun reached its highest point.
When the sun began its descent Freyja had everyone stop at a vendor stall to eat, looking at the clock it read 4:00 pm when his scroll rang. Flipping it over Vigil was a red pulsing exclamation point taking up most of the screen, quickly putting in his ear piece he unlocked his scroll. Freyja and the others quickly gathered around Carmine as Vigil spoke, "Sir we have a situation, Miss Levina is currently engaged in combat as is Mister Omar. I must warn you on the enemy making a move on you soon, please be careful, I can also have the bullhead in the air within minutes if need be." Carmine nodded, "get the bullhead ready, I'll head over to Levina right now." Freyja got up as her brothers readied themselves, Carmine paid for the food as he looked at a map that Vigil had displayed. Levina was closer then Omar, Carmine marked Levina's position knowing Omar could probably handle who ever he was up against.
Running down one of the main streets Carmine noticed that it was emptier then it should have been given the time of day and current festival preparations. Slowing down Carmine and Freyja looked around as the shadows the buildings were casting seemed to wave and almost dance at the shrinking sunlight. Everyone drew their weapons as a voice echoed throughout the street, "I do hope you enjoyed the meal you just had, I was pondering how I could get to you when that Faunus friend of yours ran away. Her team leader came to you for help and I knew that all I had to do was wait, of course I had to keep the others in line until now but with all of you in different parts of the city this could not be any easier." Schwartz appeared out of the shadows ahead of the group, the shadows seemed to melt off of him as he stood in the middle of the street.
Schwartz had on a black formal suit with a dark grey undershirt, his tie was striped with the same colors. The bowler hat was dipped over his eyes covering most of his face, but the smug smirk he had on was still visible. Schwartz was leaning on a walking cane that had the head of an eagle carved out of a dark metal, still standing in the same spot he made a small motion with his hand beckoning the group forward. Zisa roared as he drew his axe and charged Schwartz, Freyja stood in front of Carmine and shouted at her brother, "Zisa stop, we know not what he can do!" As Zisa was running Schwartz did not have the slightest amount of fear as Zisa raised his axe above his head. Lifting his cane a few inches off the ground Schwartz stomped it down, Zisa was in between buildings standing in the light when Freyja and Carmine saw the shadow of both buildings ripple before several shadowy tendrils shot out and skewered Zisa's shadow.
Zisa froze as the animal pelt he was wearing started to drip red, dropping his axe he fell to his knees as the shadow tendrils ripped themselves out. His animal pelt was torn apart by an unseen force as was the chainmail shirt, Zisa had several visible holes in his body as Schwartz cleared his throat, "Carmine this can all be avoided if you simply step into the light, this blonde haired boy can still be saved." As Carmine went to take an unconscious step forward Freyja stopped him, Zisa picked his axe up again as he slowly tried to stand. Freyja nodded to her other brothers, "we can handle ourselves, your friend is in danger, go we will hold shadow man here." Carmine nodded as Freyja and her brothers charged Schwartz, when they entered the light Carmine saw the same ripple effect happen with the buildings, seeing the tendrils coil up Carmine realized what Schwartz's semblance was doing. Throwing his shield to distort their shadows as much as he could he yelled, "GET OUT OF THE LIGHT HIS SEMBLANCE DEALS WITH SHADOWS!" Freyja and her brother leapt forward as Carmine's shield was sent upward by the tendrils, they entered the shadow of the building in front of them as Schwartz smiled widely.
Acting quickly Freyja grabbed Zisa from where he was in the street and dragged him into the shadow of the building they were hiding in. Schwartz chuckled, "you are probably the first person to notice what my semblance can do, and it was rather quick mind you. Most of the time my targets die before they even know what happened, but using your own protection detail as bait is quite cunning." Carmine flexed his hand retracting his shield to his gauntlet, Freyja injected Zisa with something as Eir held his hands over Zisa as they glowed green. The wounds on Zisa were closing up as he was able to breathe more easily, Carmine drew his gun as he placed the shield on the metal plate on his back. Schwartz smiled as he stood in the same spot, loading a clip into the gun Carmine squeezed the trigger. Carmine was aiming directly at Schwartz with each round but Schwartz made no move or indication that he was at all affected by the bullets, he still stood smiling as Carmine removed the empty clip.
Schwartz tucked his cane beneath his arm as he slowly clapped, Carmine unsheathed his sword as he placed his shield in front of his chest. The edge of the shield blocked most of his lower face as he whispered, "Vigil get the bullhead up in the air, weapons hot." Vigil gave a confirmation ping. Carmine was trying to figure out why Schwartz was still standing after he emptied his entire clip into him, he remembered earlier in the week when he met him how he passed right through him in the courtyard. That's when he realized why Schwartz stayed in the shadows both times, "Freyja we need to make him cast a shadow! It's the only way anything can affect him!" Schwartz finally looked up from under his hat, he had the look of worry clearly displayed across his face.
Rindr hoisted up his crossbow aiming it at one of the parked cars near Schwartz, the tip of the bolt was crystalized fire dust. When the bolt hit the car engine the entire car blow up in a giant ball of flame and light, Freyja saw Schwartz's shadow, seeing an opportunity Freyja charged Schwartz. Schwartz was visibly surprised at the sudden turn of events until Carmine saw the smirk return to his face larger then before. Freyja was only a few feet away from Schwartz when he lifted his cane and stamped it on the ground. Carmine saw shadowy tendrils slither out of the back of his shadow, Freyja was still running at him unaware of the immediate danger she was in. Just as the tendrils shot out toward her, her brother Zisa shoved her head down as the tendrils shot out piercing his shadow.
Freyja saw red splash across her eyes as she tried to push back against her brother's arm, Zisa gave no outward yell but instead pulled out a small handheld crossbow aiming at Schwartz. Carmine threw his shield a second before Zisa had fired off a bolt, the shield obscured the bolts shadow as Schwartz had to actively dodge both flying projectiles. Flexing his hand Carmine retracted the shield clipping Schwartz on the shoulder, Rindr fired off one of his bolts at Schwartz, Schwartz did not have enough time to recover to cleanly stop the second bolt. As the bolt came to a stop near his chest there was an audible click as the bolt detonated creating a large ball of fire, Freyja looked up to see her brother fall to his knees clutching his bicep as blood poured out over his fingers. As Freyja went to take a knee her foot bumped into something, looking down she saw a severed arm that stopped at the mid bicep, looking back at Zisa's hand confirmed that it was indeed his arm on the ground.
Carmine ran toward them as Eir and Rindr rushed to their brother and sister, Rindr grabbed the arm trying to reattach it as Eir tried to heal the wound. Freyja forced Zisa to look at her as he started to panic at the loss of his appendage, when Carmine was getting close he felt something grab his leg. Looking down he saw a shadow tendril coiled around the shadow of his leg, Freyja looked over to him just as the tendril hoisted him up into the air before slamming him down into the street. Using his hands and arms to protect his head he was able to lessen the damage as his new battle armor was dissipating most of the impact the tendril caused him.
The tendril twirled him into the air before throwing him at one of the nearby cars, Carmine made a sizable dent into the frame of the car as Rindr loaded another bolt. Flicking a switch on the crossbow a slide opened up on the bottom of the crossbow allowing him to load a drum of bolts, cocking back the now visible hand-bolt handle Rindr fired off over a dozen bolts as Schwartz was both dodging and using his cane to deflect many of the bolts. Carmine recovered quickly drawing his gun and loaded another clip in, aiming at the stunned hitman Carmine fired off several rounds hitting him the direct center of his forehead. The first two shots broke his aura as the last went through his head, Carmine set his jaw as he looked away. Freyja saw Carmine lose his nerve, "Carmine remember you had to end him, he was after your life and that of your friends. There was nothing that could be done otherwise, now come we can still make it to your friends." Carmine nodded flexing his hand to retrieve his shield.
As Carmine walked toward her he heard a voice, "my, my, my now under normal circumstances you would be a murderer. Killing an innocent civilian like that." Carmine's blood ran cold, looking back at Schwartz he saw an almost black ink substance melt away from the body revealing a civilian. Before Carmine could do anything he felt something stab him in the lower back, looking down he saw a slender sword sticking out of his stomach. The sword slid back out as he stumbled forward, turning around he saw Schwartz melt into view.
Schwartz smiled at Carmine, "come now, I've already said that if it was that easy to do me in I'd be out of a job long ago." Carmine looked back to the corpse on the street, "I guess all that stuff you said about not putting civilians in the cross fire and being an honorable hitman were bullshit." Schwartz wagged his finger at Carmine, "remember what I just said, under normal circumstances you would be a murderer, but these are not normal circumstances. Now don't worry he was long dead before you came walking down this road, is it not odd that there is no one around despite the upcoming tournament?" Carmine putting a hand on the hole in his stomach briefly looked around as Schwartz answered his internal question, "I cleared the street of any distractions, and I did say I liked to conduct business in an isolated area with no distractions." Carmine quickly raised his gun to fire again, Schwartz made no move to evade as Carmine fired off three rounds. As Schwartz fell to the ground the shadows melted away revealing another civilian, Freyja stood up along with her brother Rindr as they readied their weapons.
Zisa and Eir looked around as Eir helped his brother up, Schwartz spoke again as his voice reverberated throughout the darkened street, "in keeping with the upcoming festival I have decided that we play a game, one of my favorites to be precise." Carmine stumbled to the group, Eir placed his hands on the wound Carmine had as the shadows rippled again. They were surrounded by several dozen copies of Schwartz, "I believe you've heard of the game 'whack-a-mole' well this is the same concept except that one of these copies is the real me, the rest are the dead civilians that were walking this very street this morning." Freyja roared angrily, "STOP GAMES AND FIGHT LIKE MAN!" Three copies rushed her with cane sword drawn, a swift swing of her mace broke the shadow shell they were coated in.
Carmine looked around, "none of these are him, and he would not put himself in a situation where a lucky swing or shot could reveal him." Rindr fired off several bolts at a few copies that rushed him, "what do you suggest we do? I do not have enough bolts for all copies." Zisa nodded, "we will tire out long before we make dent in numbers." Carmine tried to think as the shadow copies began their charge.
After the fifteenth copy Carmine was holding his shield in front of him in a way that was reflecting some of the sun that was still in the sky, the reflection hit one of the copies causing it to shriek before releasing the corpse it was controlling. Carmine looked surprised as he looked at his shield then to the sky, a smirk slowly formed, "simple science huh?" Freyja had seen what Carmine did, "Zisa, Rindr, Eir reflect the sun, it only way to beat these things." They nodded looking confused on how exactly they would accomplice such a task. Freyja used her bracers to reflect beams of light as best she could at each shadow copy that charged her, the shadow copies shrieked before dissipating leaving behind a corpse of a civilian.
The copies began to adapt to the change in tactics by using each other as shields, they managed to get closer to the group who were still trying to figure out if Schwartz was any where near them. As they were fighting Carmine heard the sound of a cane stomp the ground, Rindr fell to his knees as a large hole opened up in his calf. Eir turned and went to help his brother when another cane stomp sounded off, a hole in Eir's chest next to his heart opened up. Zisa and Freyja looked down at their brothers when another two stomps reverberated throughout the street, Zisa had a hole open up a few inches below where his neck met his chest, Freyja fell to the ground as a hole opened up in the direct center of her body.
Carmine looked at his shadow to see if there was anything closing in on it, as he stood near team FRZE he was still trying to defend them from the seemingly endless number of shadow copies. Blocking an overhead attack Carmine felt something grab his ankle, looking down he saw Freyja dragging herself closer to him, "use my shadow as shield." Carmine placed his shield over her, "Vigil how soon can you get that bullhead here?" Vigil pinged, "The bullhead is in the air now, ETA 5 minutes." Carmine huffed as Freyja was leaning against his leg obscuring the bottom portion of his shadow.
The shadow copies had circled the group moving in a twitching fashion, they would sway to one side before their body jerked correcting themselves in an unnatural way. Carmine was getting creeped out as the copies made no move to get closer but had blocked off any escape route he could take. Looking at his wrist a small digital clock appeared, he only had to wait another four minutes but from the way things were looking he wasn't sure if the bullhead would get to them in time.
Looking around Carmine was breathing heavily, he had run out of bullets and was not keen on throwing his shield and risk the chance on it not coming back. His arm was exhausted from keeping the shield up, taking another breath he felt something press against his back, looking back he saw Eir standing behind him pressing his back against Carmine. Looking up he could barely see the bullhead in the distance as it was getting closer, all of the copies twitched and turned to where he was looking. Schwartz laugh echoed throughout all of the copies, "Do you honestly think that your AI can save you?" Carmine looked to the sky again, "I just have to wait another minute." The copies twitched and jerked until they started dropping one by one, Schwartz who was sitting on a bench nearby was covered in darkness so he knew Carmine could not see him was surprised at his shadow puppets dropping one by one until he looked at the sky.
The sun had almost completely set and the little remaining light in the street was slowly being whittled away. Stamping his cane on the ground again Eir fell to the side, Schwartz had connected all of their shadows to his a few minutes into the fight. In front of him on the ground were the small scale versions of their shadows, Carmine was the only one that remained standing. Getting up he slowly walked over to them still hidden, when he was a few feet away drew his cane sword slowly twirling it as he stood next to Carmine. Carmine could feel something hovering right next to him but he pushed the feeling away, given that Eir was standing behind him he figured his instincts were keeping track of Eir should something happen.
He felt his back suddenly become exposed, turning around he saw Eir on the floor clutching his chest. Schwartz used the moment of distraction to have several shadow copies rush Carmine, Carmine reacted too late as the copies reached him swinging their canes at him. Carmine tried to block as best he could but every time he moved his arm it was pulled back exposing his front, Schwartz was using his cane to prevent Carmine from moving his limbs more then he wanted. Carmine's aura was taking just as much of a beating as he was, the bullhead was only another few miles away when his aura finally broke. That was the moment Schwartz was waiting for as he was standing behind Carmine completely invisible within the shadows, placing his sword on Carmine's neck he dropped the invisibility.
Schwartz spoke to Carmine in an almost somber tone, "you know you are the first person to make me use this technique, I will remember you as one of the few people to have actively put up a wondrous fight." Carmine was frozen stiff as he could feel the blade on his throat, he knew any wrong move would end him. Schwartz gave a small sigh, "sunset is one of my most favorite times of day to finish a job, and it lets the target get one last look at the sun before they die." Carmine felt something push him from behind, there was no time to do anything as the blade slid across his throat opening his neck. As he fell forward there was a flash in the corner of his eye, Schwartz screamed out as he felt someone turn him over. Putting his hand to his neck he could only see a blinding light before it began to dim, another hand placed itself on his throat as the figure of a girl came through the light.
The girl had jet black hair but the rest of her was still obscured in the blinding light, after a few seconds the light was gone but his vision was still seeing spots as he saw her look at him. He couldn't really make out the details of her face but he could hear her speak, "Carmine my name is Raven, I'm Omar's cousin I'm here to help. Don't freak out but everything is going to seem really fast, it's just my semblance, I need to use it to make sure you make it to the hospital ok?" Carmine nodded as best he could as he saw Raven close her eyes, when she opened them she was right, the stars blinked rapidly into the growing night sky as EMT showed up and were moving at an unnatural pace. Blinking he was suddenly in the ambulance as the EMT seemed to scurry around the inside of the truck, when he blinked again he saw Doctor Canadensis standing over him with a sad expression. Shelly placed her hand over his eyes as his body felt warm as he drifted off to sleep.