A/N: Sorry for the long update. Turns out the reason my internet connection was dropping was because I had a virus or something on my computer that was interfering with it. For those who do not know, I use the file editor on to write and edit my chapters instead of using something like Microsoft Word or OpenOffice. I simply do this because I find it easier to use, since most of the options that OpenOffice and other word document use are not available in a FF chapter, so its redundant.

More of Eien's Spirits get some character development - something that is quite difficult when you have less than 9 chapters left. As an extra note since I got a review speaking about it, you should be able to tell who's POV it is if their name is in the first line or so. Something like, say, 'Jaeger raised his guns to fire' or 'Time seemed to slow around them, before Gin lashed out with a vicious slash across their torso'. Something like that. If that does not apply, its likely Eien's POV (I don't like openly stating the POV of a person, it just feels unprofessional).

Thank you to all who favourited, followed, reviewed and have stuck with the story thus far.

I DO NOT OWN RWBY

Chapter 22: Clash

As he had informed his team prior, life resumed as normal. The injuries he took in that battle took almost a full day to heal, something that drew a fair amount of attention, but he easily dismissed the concerns of his fellow students and comrades. Summer and Marisol were the ones responsible for clearing out the labs since I had been occupied. They were officially handling the aftermath with the help of Qrow and Raven, with Ozpin intervening when needed. Winter Schnee was now the Leader of the SDC, having forfeited her position in the Atlesian Military for Weiss's sake.

Weiss was learning to control her Summoning Ability with Doran at the moment, using her power to create a enlarge broadsword that mimicked the movements of her actual sword, funnily enough the same thing Doran could do. Because of his ability to either create a full-blown Aura Samurai or, more preferably, just making the arm and sword of the samurai. They were, for lack of better word, doing a very slow form of sparring, focusing more on control than speed.

At my suggestion, Yang would start training with her father Taiyang soon, when he arrived. Amusingly, neither Summer nor Raven had ended up contacting him during the entire duration of their respective returns. Blake on the other hand had to figure it out herself, but to her advantage her unique ability was rather simplistic when you got down to it, even if the physics behind it didn't match up. Then again Semblances didn't often obey the laws of physics.

I would have to solve my mistake soon, and not only that but my Spirits had upped their training, both in teamwork and individual strength. It was necessary, for what was to come. Juha himself was doing the most intense of the training, mainly to increase his Aura reserves as to increase the duration of his Semblance, one that I could honestly admit I was still astounded that I had been able to create it; Clairvoyance and Nullification. In short, it allowed him to see the future, and anything he could wrap his head around and comprehend would not be able to hurt him. An example was this; if he understood how a bullet worked and could understand the physics behind it, that bullet wouldn't be able to hurt him at all.

It was limited, sadly, in both duration and how far he could foresee. At the moment he could only see a day or so into the future, and could only watch a eight second clip of the future. With no reference point, he was basically picking a random time during the day and seeing eight seconds of what happened. It had the potential to be one of the most powerful Semblances out there, but also one of the most finicky. Give him a decade or two and he could be one of the strongest out there, but until then he relied on his trusty sword.

My musings were interrupted as the door to the roof I was on opened, and I easily picked up Pyrrha's Aura signature as I turned slowly to look at her. Smiling, I greeted her with a silent nod ''Hey Pyrrha''.

''Hello Eien'' She smiled, dressed in her combat armour ''Jaune said you wanted to speak to me?''.

''More of a request, but yes'' I nodded ''I was wondering if you could train with Yang, since her father Taiyang isn't here yet''.

''Sure...'' She drawled, a growing frown on her face with a glint of curiosity in her eyes ''But you wouldn't ask me to train her for no reason, would you?''.

''No, I wouldn't'' I confirmed, giving her an unblinking stare ''I'm asking because she has a... unique ability very similar to your own - you know what I'm talking about''.

She blinked, seemingly mulling it over impassively before a slight, cunning smile grew on her face. She closed her eyes, shaking her head slowly in obvious amusement, a soft humming chuckle escaping through her closed lips. When her eyes opened, they were the same crimson red as her hair, but far brighter and shinier like her emerald ones prior.

''I can't say I'm surprised you knew about it'' She said, sly smile not leaving ''Let me guess; you want me to help her control this?''.

''As much as needed, yes'' I nodded as I felt Era approaching my location ''I will be busy for a few days, so send my regards to the others''.

''Of course'' She smiled and nodded, blinking as her eyes turned back to their bright emerald colour ''If that's all, I'll be going now''.

I nodded, watching her as she turned and left the rooftop. I only had to wait a minute or so before Era took her place, walking through the door with her head angled downwards like always. As shy as always, the God (or Goddess?) of Time looked up at me, deep blue eyes equal parts innocent and intelligent.

''You said you wanted to speak with me, Eien?'' She said softly.

I smiled faintly ''Yeah''.

''I'm gonna need a favour''.

With a ding, the elevator reached the bottom of the elevator shaft, bringing myself and Era into the vault below Beacon. The eerie hallway that once held Amber was just as unsettling as I remembered, or at least as unsettling as I could feel. We didn't need to move far from the elevator, instead moving a dozen feet away and to the small alcove that was more of a design choice over structural choice. I sat down cross-legged, my cloak pooling around me as I withdrew my unnamed blade, placing it on my lap.

Era took a seat in front of me, sitting on her knees instead ''Are you ready, Eien?''.

''Yes'' I nodded, smiling as I closed my eyes. Era did her magic - possibly literally - and I felt time slow around me, as if I had just jumped into a body of water. This was what I was planning in order to increase my power; train like a motherfucker. As time slowed down, it allowed me to work inside my soul and give me extra time to both work and solve my problem.

I felt myself falling, as if a hole had opened in the ground, even though I knew that was certainly not the case. Instead of the physical floor being destroyed, it was effectively my awareness of the physical world disappearing. It was one of the subjects within my mothers journal, being a state of meditation from an age long forgotten. I usually used the quicker and easier method of transporting my physical body into my own soul, which in itself made little sense in terms of physics - but hey, who was I to determine the laws of existence.

I had determined my entry point very precisely, as to deal with my biggest problem first, the one who caused such a mess because of my inconsideration. My eyes opened to reveal the monochrome world that lay in the outer shell of my soul, where Nein lived. Standing across from me, waiting, was a being in full-body black knight armour that looked like it had been twisted, with a pair of crooked bull horns on its head and a demonic mask, spikes protruding from its shoulders and kneecaps, long claws on its feet and hands. This, this was the demon that had plagued Cotton Arc.

Despite having a mask over its face, I had the impression it was grinning. Finally, it spoke.

''Yo''.

''Hello... Nein'' I whispered, drawing my katana with a swift motion and blocking the strike from his ivory blade, which had since become partially black as the demonic power tainted it. He shoved me back, his strength far superior to mine and sending me skidding back, but ready.

In the blink of an eye, ivory steel crashed against onyx metal, the ground shattering under our feet. I reinforced my muscles with my Aura, but even then he was superior in that regard due to this new form, so to speak. I ducked under our blades, enhancing my foot with my Aura and stomping on his ankle, making him growl but otherwise show no signs of pain. I jumped back just in time to avoid his slash, even if part of my cloak fluttered away as it was cut.

I teleported away, landing on the branches of a monochrome tree a dozen feet away. I concentrated the flow of my Aura and extended it to my weapon, hardening it into a solidified energy before swinging the blade in a wide arc, sending a purple arc of energy at him. I heard something akin to a snort as he carelessly slashed the attack in half with his clawed hand.

''Tch'' I sounded disdainfully, charging up another attack even as I jumped off the tree. My desire for that movement was correct, as less than a second later it exploded as Nein telefragged into it. I appeared next to him, swinging my blade even as he spun, his ivory blade smashing against mine. I had not been the only one to charge their Aura in their sword, as his blackened Aura pulsated in it before exploding outwards like my purple one. They fought for a moment before his overwhelmed mine, exploding my way and sending me flying back.

Even so, I caught myself on a Sigil mid-flight, jumping off it a heartbeat later to avoid a beam of black energy. One of the disadvantages I was at was that I wasn't able to use Seele Mitteilung, because the way I had designed my own to work was that I drew upon Nein's power and combined us in a sense, but since doing so would not be the best of ideas, I was a little stuck.

But even then, I had an advantage that he didn't; the ability to call upon my creations Semblances. With that in mind I called upon Jaeger's first, using his Retina Telekinesis to grab Nein's sword and send him flying to the side, since he refused to let go of it. I dashed in, landing a solid strike on his shoulder armour before I retreated to avoid his counterattack. I swapped Semblances and generated a ball of acid in my free hand, letting it grow as I fed it my Aura. I held it behind me and let Nein get close before using SchattenSchritt to get close.

I appeared behind him, dropping the basketball-sized orb of acid onto his shoulder and collar, making him snarl in pain as his armour was assaulted by the poisonous acid that belonged to Risa's Semblance. I swapped immediately, this time tapping into Kindle's and creating a ball of flames, which I immediately dumped on the acidic liquid and jumped back. Instantly upon contact the acid caught aflame, the roar of the explosion drowning out Nein's cry of annoyed pain. Even so, he didn't kick my ass and the others for being as weak as he was; I just held the advantage inside my soul because, well, it was MY soul.

The matter of his overall strength became apparent once more as his clawed fist slammed into my face, sending flares of pain through my bones and hurtling me through my own monochrome world with all the speed of a bullet. I created a Sigil behind me, dragging it along with me as it slowed my speed gradually over the course of a quarter of a minute. Even before my momentum was slowed, I was forced to jump off to the side to avoid another beam of blackened energy that came from the mutated Nein.

Even so, I had learned from our previous fight that he had weaknesses; I had just been so flustered and worried for my Spirits I couldn't take advantage of them. He had monstrous strength that even surpassed Ozpin's and most Grimm, incredible speed and reflexes, and enough Aura to fight almost two dozen A-Rank Hunters at once. He was almost on par with myself, but I had the cards decked in my favour, and now it was the time to take advantage of that, even if it potentially risked me taking serious backlash.

I tapped into Era's power, using it in the form of a pulse, sending out a nigh-invisible dome-shaped wave that covered the entirety of the world in a heartbeat, draining all colour and leaving them just various shades of grey. Even though I performed the act within my soul, I could feel it emanate from my physical body, contesting with Era's actual power before she negated it with her far vaster mental strength. Time slowed to all but a halt, Nein moving in slow motion while I was free to move at a relatively normal pace.

I concentrated, this time reaching into the well of power that Reality had gifted me, causing a faint pink glow to spread across me, mixing with my Aura. I directed it all at Nein, utilising my Aura Construction to its max and arming Reality's power, a thousand, million spears and groping hands of invisible tendrils attacking Nein's body. It only lasted for a few seconds, but in that time almost a billion strikes landed all over him, impacting his very soul, which was ironic in its own way. Time resumed a second later and Reality's power faded away, fully drained.

Nein let out a wheezy gasp as his Aura dropped to non-existent levels in an instant, thousands of cuts and bruises forming on his body as blood spurted out from everywhere. His bone armour shattered, his consciousness faded and returned multiple times in a single second, and overall his soul tore itself apart and reconstructed it, inflicting unimaginable pain. I fell to the ground, landing specifically so his barely conscious body would land at my feet and no more. Reality and Era has instilled a portion of their power within me, and just from a single glance at their souls was enough to tell me I didn't even bear a tenth of a percent of their power, but given they controlled all time in the universe and existence itself, well it was understandable.

Hell, it was difficult to even look at their souls without feeling my own begin to wither from their sheer potency.

''It was my mistake that caused this, and so I shall rectify it'' I intoned, aiming the katana at his face ''I shall help where I can, but you must be the one to triumph your own darkness, Nein''.

And with that, I pierced his skull with my blade, making his body explode into shards of rainbow glass.

I watched for a minute, even after his body had fully disappeared and left nary a trace of its presence, I just stared. I hadn't killed him, instead I had essentially isolated him in a section of my soul, one could even call it an extension of it. If you pictured the soul as an orb, then imagine a second orb attached to it by a beam. If that beam is cut, he is left within the void, left to wither away and die. I didn't want such a thing to happen, both for practical reasons and empathetic ones. Practically, he was a powerful fighter that constantly grew in strength. Hell, the mutated form he was in right now meant he was able to surpass me in melee combat, even if it cost him his sanity. Or however sane he was in the first place.

In a purely physical fight, he would win over me no matter what, his strength was just that monstrous. However I had the advantage in that I possessed abilities that belonged to various god-like figures, however limited, and had far better control of my Aura opposed to his energy beams. One disadvantage I held was that my ability to summon my Spirits worked as a double-edged sword, in that regardless of my power, I held concern for those close to me. If one of my Spirits got hurt, it was pretty hard to ignore, made worse when they were in extreme pain, both because of normal reasons, and the fact I could see their soul begin to die. It wasn't something I'd like to see often.

I shook my head, pushing past my grim thoughts. I cared for Nein the same as I did the others, regardless of how I acted around him; it was more of a wise choice opposed to intention, in that he was the type to pounce on you if you showed weakness, regardless of alliances. Doing this whole thing instead of defeating him with honour was rather cowardly, in a sense, and I would've given that more thought if honour meant anything to me.

Sighing, I flicked my wrist and a portal appeared almost as easy as breathing, the action practiced over the course of many months. I took a step inside, then another and I was fully inside the clock tower I had built as a transporting site. I didn't bother with the stairs either, instead just jumping down the shaft in the centre, a simple Sigil softening my blow to nothing. I felt a little sad and a little annoyed, but mainly sad, so being around those more cheerful or could produce solid results would be good for me.

I exited the tower, immediately taking note of Juha sitting next to the doorway, meditating. He did not open his eyes when my presence became physical, but he did have a slight shift in his Aura, a natural response one would have from being raised to fight. It was more instinctive than conscious, and in itself it was him giving the equivalent of an acknowledging nod. I let him meditate, instead directing my attention out to the others, my senses expanding out like an invisible and undetectable wave of energy.

Aria and Kindle, Risa and Shu, Kenshi and Gin, Mona and Eleanor, Jaeger and Kotori, Risa and Homura were all sparring with each other. Natasha appeared to be napping - no surprise there - and Chrystal was currently using a pillow as a trampoline, by using her Semblance. Kineticism was quite powerful, and if she was to say, jump off a building, she could absorb the kinetic energy and then use it to propel herself. By using a pillow - or multiple - it made that a form of training, in that she would have to gather more energy within her, pushing her limits, to be able to fight against the loss of energy that soft materials like pillows provided.

''What has become of the situation?'' Juha finally asked in his regal tone, straight to the point. I didn't turn or give any sign of acknowledging it, but it would be pretty hard to miss him speaking given my usual level of awareness. I took a few moments to mull over my words, before I replied.

''In an effort to not drag out the fight after my counterattack failed, I ended up using the powers of Time and Reality on him'' I intoned, staring off at the rolling green hills ''I did not kill him. Instead, I isolated him, and shall continued to attempt to help him until a breakthrough can be achieved''.

''And if you cannot?'' He pointed out wisely.

''Then I shall deal with it'' I said bluntly, casting a brief glance at my sword. Juha hummed in acknowledgement to my words, but did not provide a precise opinion on it. On one hand, they had been... friends? I wasn't sure what you could call them, but at the very least they could tolerate the other, if not enjoy the others company. On the other hand however, he was an intelligent and wise person, and had been since his creation. He was well aware that the lives of all my Spirits were not worth risking for Nein's. Hell, my own life potentially wasn't worth the same as all of them, if you didn't include the fact I could create more of them at will and they needed me to exist for them to do so.

I wonder how Neo and Amber were getting along? I hadn't exactly checked in on them often, since Neo was content to do whatever the hell she wanted, only contacting me either to ask for something or just because she was that bored. Amber on the other hand had been recovering from the whole, you know, dying thing. Essentially, her soul had been thrashed about in terms of soul matters; She had fought Cinder, been weakened, had the Maidens power stolen from her soul, died, absorbed into me, then the Maidens power was forced into myself when I absorbed Cinder, and then directed the power into Amber while she was still in the process of recovering. Not pleasant, but necessary.

The power of the Maidens, from what I had garnered from Ozpin, was essentially an extremely complex spell that had been created millennia ago, back near the start of humanity itself. In short of it all, it granted magical powers to a person, but only if they met certain conditions. Those conditions were that they were female, young, and their souls were willingly able to accept it; that is to say that the soul can handle the power. However, I was not female, and while I was young and my soul was willing, I couldn't exactly work around it without potentially destroying or damaging the spell, fucking up future Maidens in the process.

So the only logical option was to return it to Amber, who will possess it until she gets old and dies, since Neo and Amber aren't unaffected by time like my Spirits.

''How has Homura's training progressed?'' I asked idly.

Juha hummed ''Quite well, I have to say. She's quite a quick learner. She isn't up to par with say, Kindle, but she is gaining strength fast. However she lacks physical strength and the ability to take multiple heavy, consecutive blows. She makes up for it with her speed and Aura control, along with the ability to fire as fast as she can pull the trigger - which is quite fast''.

''And her potential?''.

''She will likely be on par with Kindle when she gains her Seele Mitteilung and gains a bit more training, if not stronger'' He concluded.

''I see'' I nodded, closing my eyes ''And what of yourself?''.

''My Semblance has grown to allow me to see a few more seconds, though the general limit to how far ahead I can foresee has not improved by a considerable amount'' He replied.

''It is to be expected'' I acknowledged ''While Precognition is not the rarest of Semblances, they are extremely limited in what or how they perceive the future. Add in the fact that you can nullify things, your Semblance is quite unique amongst the unique''.

''Indeed'' He agreed, nodding slightly.

We fell into silence once again, him meditating and myself just... contemplating. Even as my eyes were closed, I could feel the burning power of the Maidens power within me, willing to be released. I presumed I would be able to control it to an extent through Amber, but it was not wholly mine - it was much like when I tapped into my Spirits' Semblances, in that I could use them but they were not mine, per say. If it was anything like Kindle's Semblance then it may take a little practice, but nothing I couldn't manage.

There were other things to consider, of course, in that the modified version of Seele Ernten I had used on Cinder had essentially absorbed her being, but destroyed her consciousness. Its like having a body, memory and brains of a person without the sentience of one. It was like a collection of memories given to me, like when I was a helpless child, a time that seems so far away now. I could see her life, from her birth under Ignus Fall and Onyx Fall, the former the father and the latter the mother. Memories danced behind my eyelids like flashes of gunfire, yet they were all too easy to pick out and define in less than a moment, allowing me to see their contents, so to speak.

She grew up in Mistral, up until the age of seven and having a brother two years older than her, and a sister three years younger. From there, her parents both died after being swarmed by Grimm of so many species even I was mildly taken aback. Grimm that were native to Vacuo, Atlas, and even Vale had all flocked over to them, and the two parents died protecting their children. They had fled, of course, but the parents could only distract the Grimm so much as the three Fall children ran back into the capital. When I say that however, it was more of 'ran several kilometres without stopping while being chased by Grimm and somehow surviving'. Notably, they all unlocked their Aura on that day.

After that they started living off the street, basically what you would expect from such a lifestyle; they stole, they starved, they stole some more, they stole even more, hell a large portion of her earlier memories were purely stealing stuff, whether it be jewellery to sell on the black market or food to fill their stomachs. This continued until Cinder was about twelve, which was when an... unfortunate event occurred. Her elder brother, Ash, died protecting them from some drunk Huntsman, quite a brutal death too. That had pushed Cinder over the edge and unlocked her Semblance, which she used to absolutely massacre the drunk man. Her pillars of flames were not exclusive to the Maidens powers it seemed, as she had used the overwhelming amount of alcohol in his blood to light him aflame until he died.

Both Cinder and her younger sister Ember lived on the run after that, chased down for the murder of a powerful Huntsman. When she was fifteen, they were caught and nearly killed by a group of vengeful Huntsman, who had seemingly been tailing the duo for weeks. Both had been chased into a warehouse near Violet City, owned by the SDC funnily enough. Long story short, they were chased and then one of the crates went off, causing all the others to go off in a massive explosion. Ember and Cinder were separated by a wall of flames, and with the Hunters closing in behind Ember and with the continuous prompts of her sister, Cinder fled and never looked back.

It was likely the first and final glimpse I would ever get at Cinder being depressed, drinking away her sorrows like the man who murdered her brother. To my mild surprise, Salem appeared shortly afterwards, and then the memories got fuzzy. From what I could make out from the now-disjointed memories was that Salem offered Cinder to work under her in exchange for power - classic bad-guy stuff - and then from there Cinder trained under her, becoming stronger at a surprising rate, almost as fast as myself prior to my death. After a while, Salem instructed her to leave and find allies for herself to use.

She stumbled across Emerald when she was young, the mint-haired girl having attempted to steal some money from Cinder. Cinder in turn scolded her, but then offered for her to join her in her quest. Emerald, starved and lonely, hesitantly joined her. From there, a mother-daughter relationship sparked, with Cinder training and caring for Emerald for years until she caught word of an expert assassin who was for hire. She went out to look for him, only to find that his son had killed him - Mercury. After that life continued as normal; training, growing, and occasionally reporting back to Salem.

Then they found and hunted Amber, a memory I skipped merely for the fact it was hard to watch. If it had been anything else I wouldn't bore through it and just watched, but considering that any information it would provide was negligible, it wasn't a concern.

I zoomed through the rest of her memories, finding them to be of less interest than her earlier ones. I now knew what made Cinder who she was, both as a person and the choices she chose to make. Even near the end, she chose to die by my hand for one reason, one that makes me want to sigh in irritation or clench my jaw.

To die by my hand, instead of live by Salem's.

When I opened my real eyes a full twenty-four hours, I did so with gradual slowness to prevent myself being blinded by the dull green lights that lined the hall. Era was sat a few feet away from me, just outside the dome that was her own power, leaving her to munch away on a sandwich. Since my eyes were hidden beneath the tip of my hood she wouldn't have noticed me awakening from my meditive slumber, but she wasn't an almighty being of time for no reason I guess, given her eyes darted up from her snack in less than a second.

''Good afternoon'' She greeted with a gentle smile and I nodded my greeting back, wincing faintly at the stiffness of my neck. She gingerly handed me a bottle of water and I drunk it slowly, feeling myself be hydrated back to a relatively sub-par level, but enough to keep me alive.

''Thanks'' I thanked, not specify what I was thanking her for, mainly because I was thanking her for multiple things; her using her power to help me, the water, the fact she gave me a part of her power in the first place, and other things. Era merely nodded her head with another shy smile, pushing herself to her feet a moment later and I followed her example, stretching on the way and sheathing my sword. Without another word she walked towards the elevator, still eating a sandwich as I followed after her, one specific destination in mind.

The elevator ride was short and uneventful, not that it particularly could be. I called upon my personal Bullhead in seconds, whipping out my scroll and shooting off a message to Ozpin and Ruby about my current and soon-to-be location. The latter would be in classes, given that I practically had no use for them and had the authority to leave when needed - perks of being the descendant of Ozpin I supposed.

With a passing, but warm goodbye to Era, I left out the main doors of the building and towards the helipads where my ride was waiting. My sluggishness that came with having just awoken was quickly dealt with a faint burst of Aura, the energy flowing through my being and decreasing my fatigue, however slight. But now was the time to head to Forever Fall to gather the sap I needed.

Regardless of the ominous feeling I had, of course.

It took nary five minutes until we reached the crimson forest, though I just got the Bullhead to lower down to a little above the trees before I hopped off, sending the aircraft back towards Beacon with a simple thought, no need to waste fuel. It only got a few dozen feet away when a glowing black projectile flew out of literally nowhere, piercing the Adamantite hull and both engines, causing the aircraft to whine as it immediately began descending with no capable way of keeping it airborne. I was just surprised, dare I say shocked that something had been capable of doing such a thing, but that shock left moments later as I went into battle mode, scanning the area around me.

The blackened projectile swung around for a second run, aiming straight for my centre mass. I waited until it got close and teleported to the side, letting it fly past where I stood, but instead of hitting the ground it flew to the treeline... and into the pale hand of Salem. Honestly I wasn't overly surprised by that, hell if the world decided to go fucking explode I wouldn't be surprised.

''Salem'' I greeted, raising my head in acknowledgement.

''Eien'' She replied with a confident quirk to her lips as the treeline around us shuddered and rippled, before ten figures appeared. Amongst them all, I could make out Seraphim, though she did look a fair bit stronger. That meant these were her 'Ancients' then or whatever she called them, though I don't remember Seraphim claiming there was ten.

I hummed, staring at Salem ''My, such an audience, with your Ancients no less... what do you want?''.

She didn't reply to my question, so I sighed as I called upon my Spirits. Whatever they were doing was ceased as they armed themselves in seconds, allowing themselves to be transported into the physical world, standing around me. Given the nature of my enemies and their strengths, I summoned all of them. They rose around me; Risa, Eleanor, Aria, Shu, Kenshi, Doran, Mona, Jaeger, Gin, Kotori, Kindle, Homura, Juha, Chrystal, Natasha and even Neo did, though Amber did not.

''Very well'' I intoned, eyes locked onto Salem's red ones ''Everyone... go''.

Instantly, all of them took off, either clashing with their opponent and dragging them away or leading them away from the area. In less than a minute they were all gone from what was about to be my battlefield, instead clashing off in the distance. I let my Aura flow into my katana, building it up as this happened, and once we were alone, I teleported right behind Salem. She spun around, wielding a double-bladed Naginata and blocking my strike.

The ground cratered around us on impact.

Neo and Homura practically glided into an open clearing, skidding to a stop as one of the 'Ancients' followed them. They were of indeterminate gender, given that their form was grey-black traditional knight suit of armour, a red tassel hanging form the back of its head. Its face was obscured by a pseudo-diamond shaped helm with multiple vertical lines, two glowing red eyes within. A large, grey broadsword was held in its left hand. Its entire body was armoured, leaving zero weak points, meaning they would need to punch through it.

''I am Baldur'' The now-identified male Grimm intoned, a heavy grizzly accent like Nazai ''You?''.

''Homura'' Homura replied softly, both handguns in her hands.

''Neo'' Neo responded, attempting to keep her high-pitched voice as low as possible. Silence ensued for several seconds, but the two Spirits used this to good use, communicating through the ever-present mental link they shared, as Eien was their host. In the short time they had, an improvised plan came up, and when Baldur showed the first signs of moving, they acted.

Neo rushed straight ahead while Homura unloaded a volley of bullets at him. The purple-tinted energy projectiles impacted his armour, but didn't even dent it. Baldur waited until Neo got close before lashing out, swinging the broadsword in a wide horizontal arc. Neo easily jumped over it, pulling the sword out from within her parasol and taking a testing slash at his helmet, causing sparks to fly but no noteable damage to be present. She scowled faintly, jumping over him before he could bring his sword out for a second hit, only for her eyes to widen in surprise when he grabbed her ankle.

Before she could use her Semblance, she was thrown away, impacting a tree and toppling it over with her. Her Aura absorbed most of the damage, but it still hurt like a bitch. Homura fell to one knee, dropping one of her handguns and pulling out her launcher, taking aim for only a moment before firing, launching a larger purple missile at him. Too slow to move, Baldur took the attack head-on, erupting a cloud of smoke around him. Said smoke disappeared when he swung his sword, the wind current behind it dispelling it. Again, no notable damage had occurred aside from light soot marks.

''Is that all you got?'' Baldur rumbled, slowly walking towards Homura. In turn, Homura's lips twitched down in annoyance as she began charging her right gun with her Aura, overloading it in a sense. Neo sprinted towards Baldur from behind as they enacted the second phase of their plan, Aura gathering. Homura dropped one gun, pulling her launcher off of her back and chucking it into the air, jumping a second later and doing a hasty spin before kicking the launcher on one end of it, sending it like an impromptu missile at Baldur. He simply leaned his head to the side, which allowed the weapon to fly past him. Homura jumped on invisible platforms she made with Aura, running at him at high speed while picking up her second handgun.

Baldur reared his blade back to spin, confident he could ignore Neo for the time being. She proved him wrong as she grabbed the launcher out of the air, continuing her momentum as she spun before smashing the launcher into his upper back like a baseball bat. He grunted, the force of it making him hunch forward slightly. Homura fell back, sliding even as her momentum carried her below him, where she aimed up with her guns and opened fire. The overcharged shots from them blasted at his face and chest, erupting into an explosion of purple.

Her momentum carried her out of the blast zone, letting her jump and spin, continuing to unload a hail of energy bullets on his back. Her Aura was consumed as she used it in place of physical ammo, such was the nature of her Semblance. Neo stood beside her, preparing to cast an illusion over them and teleport the two of them out of there if he came back with anything serious.

He did so a few moments later, roaring in a bestial tone and turning towards them, even as purple explosions erupted on his chest. He swung his broadsword, a faint black energy wave shooting out of it towards them. Neo immediately acted, layering a static illusion over them and grabbing Homura, teleporting the two out of there and to a dozen feet behind him. The wave cut through the illusion and a horde of trees behind it, causing a roar as trees fell.

''You two... you are annoying'' He rumbled as he began to glow with... Aura ''Feel the power Lady Salem has granted me! Jumon: Kishi!''.

He exploded into smoke, basically. Or rather, a shroud of smoke surrounded him as gruesome cracking and tearing sounds echoed from within, the gust of wind that had been summoned from his words not affecting them at all. Baldur roared furiously from within, his form naught but a shadow, something that writhed and shook and made the two girls hesitate to attack.

They didn't need to wait long though, as another roar shook the ground below them and dispelled the smoke, showing his changed form. Two additional armoured arms formed under his original pair, a standard grey longsword now present in each hand. His helmet was now destroyed, in its place was a black skull with glowing crimson orbs, a high collar of metal around its neck.

''This is the power Lady Salem has granted me'' Baldur intoned, tilting his head ''If you surrender, I make it quick''.

Homura and Neo shared only a glance, more for his benefit than anything, before they reached a silent agreement. Their Aura rose around them, Neo's pink and Homura's purple. A gust kicked up around them, shaking the trees and making the air thicker as their Aura became more potent than it should be, pushing the limits of their souls with the techniques that only their kind possessed.

''Seele Mitteilung'' They intoned, Aura exploding violently around them, incidentally kicking up a dust cloud to conceal them in a pseudo-dramatic fashion. A quarter of a minute was left to pass as they finished their transformation, both of them using it for the first time, Homura because she only gained it literally a few hours ago - or days ago in the time distortion field.

Neo's hair had become fully pink, her eyes also the same colour. Her outfit hadn't changed, but a pair of wings formed behind her, the energy barely connected to her shoulder blades. They were a the same colour as her hair, but had a hint of vanilla white and chocolate brown on the tips, eluding to the nature of her released state. Being an actual person prior to when she was absorbed, her weapon was not tied to her soul, so it remained unchanged.

Homura on the other hand was unique amongst her fellow Spirits in that her outfit had actually changed quite significantly. It was a strapless dark purple-black dress that went to her thighs before spreading out a bit, not hindering her movement even though the dress carried on behind her, reaching to her ankles on all sides aside from the front. She had chequered lilac-purple stockings and elegant black shoes, dark purple arm warmers that stopped at her meagre biceps and an onyx black necklace, standing out against her bare collar. Behind her, a pair of nigh-realistic feathered wings, starting off as grey, then turning white, then becoming the same dark purple the rest of her outfit consisted of.

''Do not think you hold any superiority over us, fiend'' Homura intoned as she raised a delicate hand up, a dark purple orb forming in her hand, floating. The slightest twitch of her hand made it contort and lengthen into a spear of energy, floating idly. A small smirk formed on her face before she jerked her wrist, sending the concentrated mass of energy hurtling at Baldur. More mobile and wary, Baldur moved to the side, letting it strike the ground behind him, but that proved to be a mistake. He was engulfed in a dome of energy, searing at his armour as Homura's Semblance took extra care to hurt him.

Blowing out a breath, Homura's smirk widened as almost a dozen more spears formed in the air around her, crackling with energy. Her Aura reserves had increased four-fold because of her enhanced state, but even she was aware the drain her Semblance was already taking on her. Seele Mitteilung was, at its core, just a massively enhanced version of their Semblances and combat prowess, so it was only logical it increased the cost of her techniques.

Baldur burst out of the smoke, crimson eyes widening when he caught sight of the spears. He didn't have a chance to block, as they closed in on him in a second, erupting once again into a dome of searing energy. Still, he charged through like a bull, two swords raised to block and two raised to attack.

''Tch'' Homura sounded as she jumped back a fair distance, summoning another series of energy lances ''Neo''.

The quiet girl nodded, charging straight at Baldur and hopping over his swords, bringing her blade down and stabbing at his collar, piercing the metal slightly and hitting Grimm flesh below. Baldur growled as swung haphazardly to shake Neo off, which she replied to by slipping down his back and whaling on him, sword a blur as she struck multiple times a second. His sword came around and she jumped off it, but mentally cursed when the second one came around, clashing against her own sword and sending her flying back.

The hailstorm of energy spears came down on him, exploding into another dome of energy that continued to damage his armour, however slowly. Baldur turned his focus on Homura and charged with the assistance of Aura, bull-rushing her. She formed a singular lance and met him halfway, using the energy-state of her weapon to withstand the weight of his blows. His two right swords came down, crashing against her spear and making her knees buckle slightly before she formed another spear in her free hand, blocking the other two swords and sandwiching her in-between them.

''Neo, now!'' She grounded out as she poured more Aura into her weapons in an attempt to withstand the crushing strength that was slowly overpowering her weapons, making them ripple and fizzle. Neo rushed in from behind, sword glowing pink with her changed Aura as she brought it down in a single heavy strike, cutting into his armour on his back and spilling blood. Homura's weapons glowed fiercely before exploding, allowing their wielder to jump back to escape the blast radius while Neo backed off also.

It turned out to be a mistake, as Baldur came charging out of the smoke full speed, shoulder-bashing Homura and stunning her. His sword came around and slammed into her side, cutting deeply but her Aura protected her as to not get bisected in half. She hissed in pain as she was thrown off to the side, toppling multiple trees on the way past. Neo attempted to avenge her ally, but Baldur's strikes were growing quicker as the fight progressed, adding onto the fact they hit like a truck. The end result was that she was sent flying backwards by a single blow, her Aura taking the majority of the damage.

A thinner, but longer spear of energy flew at Baldur, piercing his armoured stomach before erupting into a roaring star of an explosion. When the explosion calmed down, it immediately came under a hail of fire as Homura continuously summoned and fired more energy projectiles of varying lengths and densities. She had a deep gash in her side from the last attack, her dress soaking up the blood even as it continued to flow, her Aura slowly sealing the wound closed. Neo carefully crafted an illusion in the background, making a static image of her preparing an attack as to fool him.

Baldur roared, dispelling the smoke around him during the brief interlude when Homura stopped firing. The static image of Neo preparing what - to him - appeared to be a charge-up attack that was about to be fired, and it was only a few feet from him. Almost instantly, he lunged and slashed out with two of his four swords, shattering the image into pseudo-glass. Neo charged in, using her advanced state to aggressively lash out with her sword, utilising her smaller size to evade his strikes as much as possible. She whittled away at his armour, distracting him as Homura charged up her final attack.

She blocked a strike with her parasol, the reinforced material not ripping but knocking her back a dozen or so feet. With a simple thought, she changed, her pink hair melting away into brown as was her eyes, both brown. She ran at him again, slightly slower, but the effect shined through when she blocked a blow and barely flinched, instead lashing out with several rather futile stabs at his armour. That was the nature of her Seele Mitteilung that Eien had granted her; three forms of attack, each the colour of a Neapolitan. Pink increased her strength, reflexes and reaction speed. Brown increased the density of her muscles and improved her defensive capabilities. Vanilla increased her movement speed, heightening her senses and evasive capabilities.

Still, it did the job in distracting him as they exchanged blows for almost a full minute, both of them doing little damage aside to their Aura. The only warning that she had completed her task was the shifting of air as she moved, flying at him and picking him up despite the obvious weight difference, her Aura and Aura Wings assisting her as she flew into the air. Below, Neo sheathed her weapon, her wings dissipating as she watched her ally fly into the sky with their opponent.

As they past the clouds, Homura's body glowed a royal purple as her Aura flared to new levels, faint cracks appearing on her flawless skin, spreading as the glow got brighter and brighter. Baldur struggled, but even if he did escape he wouldn't survive the fall, so he could only wait and attempt to strike when she was weak. Not that he would get the chance, as her skin flaked away, glowing purple energy in its place. As her skin flaked away the glow increased, until her whole body was just a glowing mass that was vaguely human. Then in a heartbeat, she vanished into thin air, as if a vacuum had sucked her up and compressed her.

In the brief pause where time seemed to stop, Baldur could only mutter ''Soul Suicide...''.

And like that, the sky became alight as a nuclear-like explosion shook the air and painted it purple.

The air around Jaeger shook, as if it was an earthquake in the air itself. The purple oval-sphere that lingered in the sky was Homura's, something that Jaeger could identify quite quickly, as he was always good with Aura, given that his main weapons were quite literally Aura-based. He grimaced a little as he felt his comrade die off, even though he knew Eien could revive her without much difficulty, it didn't make it any easier to know she essentially committed suicide to kill her opponent.

If anything, that was probably a motivator for him to actually fight his opponent, instead of just avoiding her shots and biding his time. His opponent was that Seraphim girl, though you wouldn't be able to tell given she was a Grimm. She hadn't changed in appearance since his leader fought her, although her reserves of Aura were a lot larger, along with an unknown energy he associated with the Grimm, possibly their version of Aura.

Ducking under another orange-ish beam of energy, he easily used his Aura to create a platform and jump away from the slowly-enraging Seraphim, who was quite clearly getting pissed off with him not fighting back and essentially wasting her time. He raised his glass-like handgun, taking a split-second to aim, and then pulled the trigger and unleashed a beam of blue energy at her. Unprepared for the sudden counter, she took the blast full-force and was sent careening back down to earth.

'I'll avenge you, Homura' I thought with a flicker of a frown on my face, aiming both guns and pulling the trigger again, both of the charges set to the maximum. The earth below me shook as the two beams of energy impacted where Seraphim had landed, erupting into a fizzling dome of roaring energy. The moment it began to deflate I zoomed in, ignoring the energy around me as it dissipated and landed right in front of Seraphim, who was recovering from my attack. I placed the barrel flat against where her stomach was and fired, blowing a hole straight through where her organs would be if she was, you know, human. Instead, black mass just began bubbling and filtering towards it in an attempt to heal it, however slowly.

I didn't give her the chance, instead bringing my foot crashing down on her knee, making her let out a high-pitched screech as she fell right into the line of my barrel, her eyes widening before her face was consumed by another blast of energy at point-blank range, completely ignoring her impressive defences. These were his weapons; Wolf and Saint, guns that transformed his Aura into a state of matter even Eien did not fully comprehend, yet its power showed as every shot was capable of piercing an Uber Titano's armour. He hadn't given his all during the fight against the massive Batman, given that he was aware Eien would step in when needed, so he just put on a show, as did many of his comrades.

The blast cleared, showing Seraphim had been thrown several dozen metres away from me, her face badly burned. She was coughing and wheezing, lying on her back as she tried to crawl away. It was rather pitiful, especially since she had apparently been capable of matching Eien once upon a time. Then again, he was one of Eien's strongest fighters for a reason; his resonance he held with his weapons surpassed that of all his comrades, both spiritually and emotionally. He cared for his weapons a great deal.

With a simple navigation of his Aura, he pushed it into his feet and jumped. It was a relatively easy manoeuvre that was taught to most students in academies, but Eien had special attention on it when he and his comrades were trained, as it was the closest they could get to having a teleport/movement technique that could potentially save their lives. Because of that, his simple - almost lazy - jump carried him over fifty feet, landing him right next to Seraphim. She looked at me, her hollow silver eyes that held no emotion, even when her face revealed her terror, her panic, her fear... her sorrow.

But I had not anticipated her words.

''Jumon: Tai Tan!'' She cried out, her whole body glowing orange before exploding, sending me flying back. It hadn't hurt me much, if at all, but the knockback had sent me flying back a dozen or so feet, ready for the next round. I waited patiently for the dust cloud to settle as Seraphim's form shuddered and writhed within. Soon however, they shadow in the cloud grew... and grew... and grew. Barely concealed within the dust cloud, the form shuddered once before standing up, revealing her new form.

Standing at somewhere between forty and fifty-five feet, she was clad in the ivory white armour that most advanced Grimm possessed. Her legs and feet were clad in flawless white armour, as was the rest of her. On her palms were the same orange circles that discharged the beams of energy that Uber Titano had, and her shoulders had extra armour on them while her arms were actually less armoured. Her face was the only thing that remained the same, aside from being larger that is. Unblinking silver eyes stared down at me, as if waiting on me.

''I may die here today, but I will not go down without a fight. I owe Lady Salem that much'' She informed, unblinking.

''I see'' I hummed, rolling my shoulders in faux-nonchalance ''Tell me, do you know what my name, Jaeger, means?''.

She tilted her head slightly, considering it for a few moments before replying ''If memory and education serves me right, it means 'Hunter' in the old Germanic language, correct?''.

''Yeah'' I smiled faintly ''Eien told me earlier that was only part of my name''.

''Oh?'' She sounded, an intrigued note to her tone.

I nodded ''Riesen Jaeger, that's my full name. It means Giant Hunter in German, apparently because he believed I could bring down any Giants that stood before me, like the legends of old''.

''Interesting'' She mused before a slight smirk came across her features ''Would you like to test that theory, Riesen Jaeger?''.

''Who shall win, the Ruler of Giants or the Hunter of Giants?''.

A/N: More fights will be in the next chapter and possibly, if they carry on, into Chapter 24. These fights are mainly shown for character development, actual skill displays and other reasons. If you remember the Atlesian Special Forces guys from Chapter 3-5, I intended for them to play a slightly more important role in the original draft of this story, but they just fell out of purpose really. I don't want that to happen to the Spirits, so I'll devote some actual attention to them instead of focusing on Eien all the time.