Qrow Branwen

She was fast. No, that wasn't it.

He couldn't describe it. He got the impression that he had the stat advantage, his strength, speed, mana level, it all exceeded hers. The tricks she could pull were simply bridging that gap. It didn't help that most of his were unavailable.

Sure, he could use wind magic if he was careful, but anything he could use to deal some damage, he'd have to spend more mana containing then actually went into the formation of the spell. Sticking to Anti-magic until it was safe to use his other options was the best bet for now.

"Why do I have to try to be a good person..."

His theory about Neo being a trickster was proven correct as she lunged towards him, copying his trick and clearing the distance as soon as he blinked. Not many people could push there perception this high, maybe she did match his mana level after all.

She stopped just before his body and twirled on one foot, knocking his sword out of the way with her umbrella then hitting his face with her other foot in a smooth spin, he adjusted quickly and deflected her next umbrella attack as she finished the motion before settling into a stance and thrusting towards him in a stabbing motion multiple times in quick succession. He parried the attacks with ease, and interrupted the last thrust before it happened with a swipe up of his swords blunt side, then with a flick of his wrist it was sent slicing back down to her head. With a blink her brown eye became white again and she blocked the attack, her heels digging into the ground as it cracked.

This time he followed through, he put his other hand on the handle and flipped forward over here still holding the blade, as it angled over her umbrella he thrust forward with both hands to try and stab her while still in the flip. She let her body fall backwards onto the ground in order to dodge and once Qrow had landed she spun her body around, kicking his legs out from under him with her own, then moving into a quick crouch and leaping away before he could recover.

Qrow groaned a little as he hit the ground, standing once more and dusting his body off. She blinked again and her eye became brown once more. He furrowed his brow.

"She's not using magic... she can recognise the anti-magic because she's blocking with her own... by why switch back to Earth Affinity if your not going to use Earth magic?"

He readied his sword in both hands this time.

"I could bet on my mana level being higher then hers... if my Anti-magic cuts through hers, im sure i can cut through the umbrella... but that would be betting most of my mana most likely..."

If he could use Deaths mana pool this fight may have been over already... but he couldn't risk attracting Grimm to this area. Once Yang and Blake had gathered up all the civilians though... they'd be able to defend them from a few Grimm... well, a lot more then a few, but he could end the fight fast enough.

She blinked one more time and her eye became grey.

"So she does have more. She probably wants to keep most of them a secret... but i can assume shes got most if not all of the single elements if shes got a Grey and White eye."

This was dangerous. She was already keeping up with him physically, but that eye would definitely push the odds into her favor.

She approached carefully. Her steps were cautious and slow... she was taking ages to approach... but why? This was completely different from earlier.

"She should be faster then me now... why'd she slow down...?"

He felt a chill down his spine. His gut told him this wasn't right. He saw a flash of an earlier memory go through his mind, when she had first attacked him? She had been invisable-

Another image flashed through his mind, this one much more vivid then a memory. A premonition... A thin blade piercing through his chest from behind.

He immediately spun and swung in a wide horizontal sweep behind him and Neo managed to flip over the slice just in time, he watched as the world seemingly shattered like glass, revealing everything as the same, except Neo was now here still with her brown eye instead of approaching with a grey one.

"Her Illusions... she's not making them out of actual illusion magic. I've only ever seen Glass magic a few times... I didn't even know it was an Earth subsidiary..."

Luckily he had a few tricks he could still use... or, rather, couldn't turn off.

That particular ability to see his own Death before it happened, shouldn't be enough to attract many Grimm... but...

"I should probably avoid letting her get fatal hits in just to be safe."

He chuckled a little to himself.

Neo had backed off a few steps and Qrow paused. Normally he would pressure her and not give her time to think, but buying time was the easiest way out of this. They'd fight at her pace until she started picking up the speed.

She put a finger to her chin, she was clearly thinking and Qrow wasn't sure if he should just attack or not. It appeared that her guard was down... but ya know, trickster.

The Glass magic trick was a good one, but it wouldn't work twice. They both knew that. A little Anti-magic on his eyes and he could see through any illusion she might throw up.

She smiled and nodded excitedly. Apparently she had a plan? Qrow felt left out of a conversation that he wasn't even sure was being had. She blinked and her Brown eye was replaced with... oh shit.

She rushed forward and he quickly brought his sword up to block, she grinned evily over his guard as her umbrella pressed hard against it. Her newly applied Red eye glowing brightly.

A Beserker eye... a sort of random curse that could be passed down from a parent or randomly afflicted to a child on birth. It affected one Affinity that they were born with, either there natural Affinity, or there Artifical Affinity if they got one from being a creature. Yangs eyes for example. She had a natural water Affinity which had deep blue eyes, she recieved a Fire Affinity from being a Hellhound which was afflicted with Beserker making them Red. The Red and Blue then combined which resulted in her purple eyes, unless her Beserker eyes came into effect. Beserker eyes made the afflicted Affinity stronger with the hosts emotions, usually being affected the most by anger.

Qrow was also born with Beserker eyes, as were most Branwen's before Yangs kids decided to throw the curse out the window. Qrows natural wind Affinity and the Wind Affinity he got from being a Roc had combined so he had just had the red eyes. That was until he became the Harbinger of Death and recieved the Affinity for Anti-Magic, which had White eyes. Resulting in the pale red eyes he now had.

What all of this meant was simple... Red eyes could be any Affinity. They could even affect Gold or Platinum eyes.

Qrow was back to having no clue what Neo could do.

She kept pushing against his guard, trying to overpower him, he stepped to the side and let her overpush with the carried force and tried to counter. Instead of saving her self she pushed forward further, falling into a handstand and pushing herself up and over Qrow's next swing with a leap. Once she landed she was immediatly back on him, trying to overwhelm him.

Her attacks were quick and carried quite a bit of weight behind them, he parried and dodged each one, but was being pushed onto the back foot. She was gaining ground and he needed to regain control.

"What is that Beserker eye??"

He let out a pulse of Anti-magic. A small shockwave that wasn't even strong enough to throw her off balance, but temporarily it cancelled out her magic. Look for a difference, what changed??

She was mid swing when it happened, and when her umbrella collided with his sword he felt something odd... it was much weaker then before.

In that moment he got his chance, he turned it around on her and begun letting out swing after swing of his own. She was forced to move to blocking and defending. Her eye had changed back to the white of Anti-magic, she needed that to block his sword. He just had to control the fight like this.

Even with her tricks his power was growing too much for her, swing after swing connected with her weapon and he could see her limbs start to tremble when it collided. He might not even have to wait her out at this rate-

She blinked and he nearly froze again. Her eyes... the white one changed to grey... and the pink had changed to green.

She kicked his stomach and he felt the wind leave his lungs as he was thrown back, the sudden change in her speed and strength took him by suprise. He didn't roll to land, rather he caught himself on his feet and immediately charged.

This wasn't an illusion, that green eye, she wanted to heal herself.

His swing met the solid wall of a barrier a foot before it could hit her. She was smirking through the green energy field as he lowered his weapon. The green light of healing flowed through her body as she repaired herself.

He could cut through it, his sword was coated in Anti-magic after all... but she was definitly focusing on maintaining the barrier. Trying to cut through it might just result in him losing his sword inside of it as she repaired it. He could try and cancel the whole thing out with Anti-magic, but that would result in a straight mana battle. Not something he wanted to resort to yet.

Besides, this was her wasting time and mana. That grey eye was going to be the problem... and she had switched out the Pink eye which he hadn't even been sure she could do up until now.

"But what was the Pink eye doing?"

He didn't get a chance to think further on it, the barrier dropped and she rushed out towards him. Her attacks were faster then his now, and stronger too. Her flurry of blows were unrelenting and frankly too much for him to handle...

But something was off about her attacks. They were... less sure? Like she wasn't willing to fully commit to any of them. It wasn't a sensation he could describe... just make a comparison to. It was like the difference one would undergo in caution when training wheels were taken away. The momentary questioning mindset of 'can I do this without it?'.

Qrow could still defend himself, his parries and dodges were working. In fact... even with her added strength and speed, it was easier then before. She left openings in her defences that he could move to exploit, but chose not to.

No, he'd play a little trick on her too while he figured this out. Let her build a false sense of confidence before attacking.

That Pink eye. It was supporting her. More then it had appeared to since this was the difference. She had grown stronger and faster then him, yet without its help she couldn't put him on the back foot... at least, not properly.

What effect could give that kind of boost though? It was like she was aware of what he'd do before he did them... like...

"Time magic..."

Very difficult and very dangerous. Even with an Affinity. Time magic was illegal in most places and the knowledge on how to cast it was mostly destroyed. Travelling through time and altering the timeline directly, was impossible. Not even because no knowledge on how to do it existed. No one could ever have enough mana to travel through time. Even if someone had all four Harbinger titles, they might be able to push time back by a second or too if they killed themselves to do it.

But if she was using Time magic... all knowledge on it had been lost, including the colour of the Affinity. Pink was an unknown so far, and it was a reasonable connection... she was using it to look into the future most likely. Getting a constant feed of half a second into the future, and at the speed they were moving that was a very substantial length of time.

This wasn't a concrete theory... but it was the one he'd go off of for now. She didn't have enough mana to stop time, if she did, she would have done so already. Which meant that his Harbinger mana would be enough to overpower her at the very least.

"Alright... enough of this."

With the question at hand answered for now, he moved quickly and suddenly.

In the middle of another thrust, he stepped around the umbrella and spun, slashing with a heavy swing straight for her face. Her umbrella was out of range to block and she couldnt throw him away in time. She raised her arm up to block, seemingly trying to slow the attack down by sacrificing her arm.

A loud crash of noise as Qrows full power swing was stopped by a dense and hard object. Her arm hadn't been cut off, rather she had blocked the swing. Her sleeve had been torn to shreds under the power of it though, and where his blade connected with her arm there wasn't flesh but scales.

Dense, powerful scales.

She threw him off of her and he adjusted as he landed a good few metres away. She breathed heavily, seemingly having figured out that he was tricking her.

"Scales..? She dosent look half transformed... this is a mastery transformation. I dont have to worry about her pulling a transformation out of her arse then. But what is she."

What did he know about her so far... she seemed to be mute, she had more eyes then he could see, and she had scales that were at least comparable in defence to a Dragons.

He could rule out her being a True Dragon. She wasn't strong enough. A False Dragon though?

"Not a drake... wyvern... cockatrice... Jaberwock... Hydra... Hydra?"

He considered it for a moment. Hydras were the only False Dragon he could think of so far. They didn't have wings which explained her lack of them even in a mastery form, there scales were almost as durable as True Dragons, and they had multiple heads so multiple sets of eyes but...

"Hydras don't generate new souls which each head... the only way to get new Affinities is for a new soul to be born... a birth defect maybe...? Or an experiment...?"

It didn't matter for now. Like everything else about her, he'd have to take a guess.

"If there are lots of souls in that body though... it explains why she's not speaking... and if they've all accepted there collective name as 'Neo' that would explain the list."

Confirmation bias or evidence..? He wasn't sure.

And he didn't have time to think more about it.

She blinked again and her eyes were Pink and Grey.

This was the combination he was afraid of. Now she could ignore his skill by foreseeing his attacks, and could move faster and hit harder then him.

She drew the umbrella off of the blade and threw it away, before rushing forward.

She kicked up dirt with every step and Qrow prepared a defensive stance. He managed to parry two attacks before he was hit with a premonition of his own death. Her blade going straight through his heart. He couldn't move fast enough to stop it, he'd have to take the hit and hope she didn't follow up and he had time to heal-

As the blade moved towards his heart, he barely saw it out of the corner of his eye.

A bright blue flare filling the sky in the distance. The Hunters signal for mission accomplished.

He smirked as the blade went right through where his heart once had been. His chest exploded into a flock of crows and the rest of his body followed as they all reformed into his body a fair distance from the girl. She seemed to understand what had happened, or at least...

What was about to happen.

When Qrow reformed he was wearing his dark cloak. The pitch black liquid forming the clothing seemed to drip at the bottom of it but never got any smaller. His hood was down and his smirk was still in full blast across his face. A cracking noise could be heard as a skeletal spine seemed to slip through his swords blade, twisting and cracking the weapon as it curved, the spine shot out of the handle side of the blade and turned ninety degrees forming a long pole like handle. The sword now scythe, he adjusted his hold to compensate, striking an image akin to the Grim Reaper as held the larger weapon over his shoulder.

"Neat isn't it? A reactive weapon. One of only a handful that exist. It transforms based on the user's magic, an old friend made it for me." He smiled softly now. "She called it Harbinger."

"Summer was such a dork..."

"But I guess that isn't important for now. Looks like your time is up Neo-" She looked shocked that he knew her name. "There still in the forest so I'll have to hold back to make sure I don't set the whole forest on fire." His eyes were glowing red now. He had been holding his Beserker eyes back this whole time... frankly, he was tired.

He raised one hand up in front of him and Neo's eyes flailed with fear. She blinked and both eyes became a deep Magenta in colour.

"Spatial Magic? I'm not just gonna let you teleport away."

A cut of wind blew through the clearing, then another and another, the burst of air carried around the whole clearing over and over again circling its outer ring. The force carried some of the stalls into the air and it continued to speed up, ripping different things nailed down out of the ground and even destroying some fences. The growing wind became so great in force it formed a barrier of pressure and became visible in a grey colour.

The tornado grew in power and size, raising into the sky and tightening, lowering its radius around the centre of the clearing in order to keep it away from the forest. The bonfire still raging in the centre seemed to have the fire drawn from the stack of ash and scorched wood as the tornado absorbed the flame and added it to its own strength.

The eye of the storm was where Qrow and Neo was. The barrier of flame that surrounded them on all sides was intense and dangerous. Neo's expression was full of panic and fear and she kept trying to form a portal to escape with... but to no avail.

Qrows Anti-magic now covered the area, it wasnt too intense, but enough to keep her from teleporting. If she wanted out, she had to go through the tornado.

Her eyes blinked as she recognised this, both becoming brown as she sent a large spike of earth from the ground into the barrier of flame and wind. The solid stone and rock structure was annihilated, melting and shattering at the same time as it collided with the pressure.

"How quickly the tables turn huh?"

She was out of options and they both knew it. She'd either have to reveal her best trick yet... or die.

One more Blink. Qrow watched it happen in slow motion, what colour would her eyes be? What magic did she have planned to escape this?

They opened and... Pink. Both of them, not just one this time.

"Time magic? She can't freeze time for the same reason she can't teleport out. I expected her to try and counter my Anti-magic with her own... frankly I'm disappointed."

Qrows disappointment didn't last long however. He felt a pulse in the air. A aura of Death that wasn't his own... it was coming from the forest.

He whipped his head around and stared in the same direction the blue flare had come from, he couldn't see the forest through the tornado but he knew what he was feeling.

Grimm... and not a small presence either... he usually had to concentrate to feel anything less then an Alpha Grimm.. but whatever this was had stolen his attention without him trying.

"An Alpha Deathstalker...? Alpha Nevermore...? Maybe both...?"

He couldnt tell.

Yang and Blake were strong, and Tai could at least keep up... but would they be able to protect everyone at the same time?

He looked back to Neo... the little bitch was smirking. She had gotten lucky... really lucky. And she knew that.

"Maybe Pink isn't time magic..."

Luck Magic didn't exist. Luck could only be affected by potions or curses... you couldn't have an Affinity for it... but if it was a curse like Beserker eyes...

He appeared in front of her, throwing caution to the wind and using as much speed as he could summon. His scythe cut straight through her umbrella, and took her head with it.

Her body slumped to the floor and her head rolled in the distance, he summoned his list and with a glance...

"Neo... still glowing... you really are a Hydra..." She could only be killed if every head was destroyed. In her mastery form, her whole body was in a way 'the head'. He would have to kill her once for every set of eyes she had. But, this should mean she couldn't use the Pink ones anymore.

That would have to do, he couldn't just wait around for her to regenerate, he had to go save the others.

For what it was worth, he forced the tornado to collapse in on itself, consuming her body in a torrent of flames. At the very least that should take out one more head...

He exploded into crows once more and set out to the sky, seeking out whatever had given him that ghastly feeling.

Ruby Rose

This was her first time seeing them... Grimm.

They were terrifying in a word.

There bodies were made of a black so dark it couldn't have a shadow cast on it, there armour made of a white that could only be compared to bone, and there glowing eyes... a red that held so much hate and rage behind them.

There were at least twenty of the 'small' werewolf like creatures that Tai and Caitlyn were handling. The giant scorpion covered in rows and rows of spikes was being kept busy by Yang who was currently in her half transformation, and Blake was towards the centre of the crowd.

There was a titanic bird like Grimm in the sky above them, it kept raining feathers down on top of them, these things were like gigantic ballista bolts that Blake had to deflect herself to protect the crowd. So far she had managed pretty well, only one had gotten through but it hadn't hit anyone.

Blake was wielding a sword, but it wasn't her usual weapon. She hadn't brought it to the festival... maybe if she had her proper weapon she could fight back, but for now this was all she could manage without risking breaking the sword.

Ruby hadn't even questioned the gigantic fire tornado that had erupted from the festival earlier... well, where the festival used to be. Said tornado had disappeared before she even got the chance to properly admire it...

The gigantic winged creature let out another earth shaking screech of a roar as it reared back, ready to fire another volley of feathers. The crowd screamed as they all knew what it was and everyone ducked and braced themselves, trying to give Blake as much room as possible.

The feathers never came. A loud ringing slice pounded through the red sky as the creature was split in half. A rushing wind of a noise was heard and something landed on the scorpion as well, crushing its body from its back with pure force.

Both creatures burned into ash which seemed to disappear before it settled onto anything and a dark figure in a cloak comparable to the Grimms flesh in colour... or rather lack there of, stood where Yangs opponent had been.

The figure turned and took of his hood, Qrow let out a sigh as his cloak disappeared and he sent a slice of wind flying to his side. The air cut felled multiple trees as it travelled, killing a number of those wolf things as it passed. The rest of the pack seemed to wise up and turned to flee as Qrow moved over to Tai.

"Do you have a Scrying Orb on you?"

"I... n-no I... Qrow are you alright?" Qrow just nodded and turned to Yang.

"You got a Scrying Orb kiddo!?" He yelled out. The blonde girl was settling herself after her fight and shook her head. Ruby got the impression that Yang and Blake were going to bring there weapons wherever they went from now on.

A helpful member of the crowd moved over to Qrow, handing him there own personal Scrying Orb and Qrow thanked her before stepping away and calling someone.

Ruby collapsed to a seat on the ground and looked around.

Sun and Celica were next to her, both children were hugging each other as tightly as they could... they had wanted comfort from Ruby, but been smart enough to hold each other instead, knowing they wouldn't be able to control there strength at the moment.

Tai and Caitlyn immediately began checking the crowd for injuries. They were probably some of the best healers here, just from experience more then anything.

And Ruby...? She did nothing. She was just another member of the crowd, she hadn't helped one bit...

Yang and Blake rushed over, hugging there children the instant there arms could reach them. The kids cried into there mothers arms and Ruby felt guilty... she hadnt even been able to comfort them... she was so weak.

Qrow moved over as well and waved Ruby to follow, she nodded and stood, moving over to the treeline with him... the Grimm had actually attacked them in the clearing they had found earlier.

He handed her the Orb and Ruby was confused... before she heard the voice come through.

"Ruby? Are you ok??"

"Weiss..? Uncle Qrow... why did you call Weiss-"

"He didn't. He called Ozpin... we were having a talk when he called."

"It's like... two in the morning Weiss. What were you talking to Ozpin about??"

"Nevermind that! Are. You. Alright??"

"Y-yeah... I'm fine Weiss. I'm fine."

"Physcially anyway."