Author's Note: So uh, not much to say. Here's the fight you've all been waiting for.
Sins of the Forefathers
Act the First: A Beacon of Hope
Chapter Fifteen: Attack on Amber
A fist struck the wall behind him, cracking the wood; he'd just barely dodged it. If it had been a normal person's hand, the attack would have broken it.
His opponent was not a normal person.
Taking advantage of how he'd been forced against the wall, his opponent thrust her knee up at him. In response, he simply let himself fall, passing under her extended leg and grabbing her back leg. With a twist, he unbalanced his opponent and threw her to the ground, repositioning himself and entering a mount position.
"Woo! Go Ren! Kick her ass!"
"C'mon Arslan, you got this! Shake him off!"
The fighters ignored their friends. In terms of pure force, she was stronger than him - but on the ground, she couldn't use that strength effectively. She squirmed under him, attempting to buck her hips up and get him off balance, but Ren didn't try to resist it. He used the momentum to lean forward and shoved his left forearm under his opponents chin, choking her. He used his right arm to fend off her punches as he used his weight to maintain pressure on her throat.
As Ren pinned Arslan's left arm, her right came around and delivered a strike square to his temple. Stunned, Arslan rolled him over onto his back and attempted to mount him. He managed to get a knee up to keep her from the full mount, but she pushed his other leg aside and threw a few punches to his torso that landed. She attempted to reach further, aiming for his head-
Now!
Ren swiftly grabbed Arslan's attacking arm and pulled her off balance. As she fell forward, he wrapped his legs around her neck and locked her into a Triangle hold.
She struggled, attempting to pull his legs off her. When that didn't work, Arslan attempted to set her legs and straighten her back, attempting to lift Ren off the ground.
Ren simply hooked his free arms around the backs of her knees to keep her off balance. Unable to counter the chokehold, Arslan eventually tapped, and Ren let go.
As they stood up, they bumped fists and bowed to each other before turning and bowing to their Master. He was a short man, the shortest in the room - his scaly bald head a full head shorter than Nora. His green eyes had a thin, black, reptilian slit for a pupil. He was slim as well, almost stick-like. His heavy blue-green robes obscured his body entirely.
He was also the strongest man in the room, and they all knew it.
He nodded. "Well done as usual, Ren. And you as well, Arslan. Your understanding of my art has improved by leaps and bounds."
Ren simply nodded while Arslan bowed again and said, "You honor me with your praise. And uh, sorry about the wall."
"I praise what is praiseworthy - and don't worry about the wall, it's only wood. When you and Bolin first arrived, you were strong - but that was all. Now you have the skill to use that strength effectively. You are no master, but what I have given you will be more than enough for you to excel at Haven. As for you, Ren," the Master turned to face him fully. "Are you certain in your decision? Haven would make you just as strong as Beacon, and being close would allow you to continue your training with me as well."
"The world is wide, Master. No matter how powerful I may become with you or at Haven, it would only be power as seen through a single lens - and as you once said to me, true power-"
"Yes, yes, I remember. Hmph. You've sure grown up, brat, if you've got the spine to start talking back to me. I guess Nora's to blame for that," he glared behind him.
Nora simply grinned and gave two thumbs up. "Yep! It's all thanks to me that he can speak up for himself!"
Ren sighed. "That's not quite right…"
"Hmph," the Master said. "Very well. If that's what you wish, I have no reason to stop you. Just remember to come back once in a while. You beat Arslan, but you're far from a master yourself, Ren."
Ren nodded. "Of course, Master."
He waved them away and turned. "Go on then. Training is done for the day - enjoy your last day in Mistral in the city."
They all bowed collectively. "Thank you, Master Tatsumi!" they said.
Once he was out of sight, Nora put her arms around Ren and Arslan. "Well? C'mon! You heard him, let's go out!"
"With what money?" Bolin asked.
Arslan grinned. "I'll get us some money, don't you worry about that-"
Only to be cut off when Ren smacked the back of her head. "I can't believe I have to say this again, but no stealing."
"I wasn't going to!"
Ren and Bolin both raised an eyebrow at her.
"I wasn't! Some of the food stalls still haven't paid up their protection money this month, so I figured we'd go collect some for a meal."
"Oh," Bolin nodded. "Yeah, we can do that."
"You know," Ren spoke up, "I don't appreciate you calling it 'protection money'. It makes it sound like we're running a racket."
"Ren, we are running a racket."
"No, we run a security service. It would be a racket if we went out of our way to damage our customer's property for failing to pay."
Nora shook her head and started pushing them all out the door. "Whatever you guys want to call it, let's go already! We're wasting time! This is our last day together, let's do something fun!"
Arslan laughed, and her laughter spread amongst them. "Of course! I may lose to Ren in a fight, but there's no way he'll beat me at the arcade!"
Ren scoffed. "Say that again when your scores are higher than mine."
They continued to laugh as they strolled down the road, through the muck and mud of the poverty-stricken district of the city that they lived in.
I lay in the dirt, rifle aimed down the road before me. The rifle was another buy from Junior - the Chivalric Arms Rifle-19, colloquially known as the CAR-19 . The Thor company made a significant amount of weapons for the Atlas Military, but there was hardly a monopoly. For the most part, Thor made guns, while Chivalric Arms made the robots used by the military - but of course, those robots used guns, and it was more profitable in the long run for CA to develop their own ballistic weapons rather than design their robots to use guns developed by another company.
I had chosen a specific path for the ambush site - a winding dirt road. On one side, wild tall grass, and on the other, where I was, a dense forest.
The plan was simple. Amber would ride down the road. Emerald would make some illusion or other that would give Amber pause, then Cinder and Mercury would jump out and attack her - Mercury first, because even at full speed he would just be the distraction for Cinder to get real damage in.
My role was to take potshots and keep Amber moving in desired directions. Basically, just shoot at her whenever the opportunity was available.
All told, Cinder would be the main attacker, which was to be expected really - none of the rest of us could even hope to hurt Amber unless she dropped her guard. Supposedly Mercury was fast enough to keep up, but personally I thought he was bullshitting. Faster than me? Definitely. Fast enough to keep up with a Rank 3? Fuck no.
Naturally, I'd told Ozpin and Blake about this plan, and they'd gone on to tell Amber. I had yet to speak with her personally myself, but if our plan went off properly today, I'd have my chance.
In essence, Amber would be traveling down the road alone, as expected. What Cinder and the rest didn't know was that Blake would be keeping up with Amber in the forest. Once Mercury and Cinder had engaged Amber, Blake would step out and attack Mercury while I would keep Emerald pinned down with suppressing fire. At that point, it would become a matter of which side would lose a person first - and with Emerald being the clear weak link, I'd be able to take her out and then move on to helping Blake with Mercury.
That was the plan, at least. I had no doubts that Cinder probably had some sort of contingency in mind for whether or not I betrayed her here, but then Ozpin had expected that and said he'd planned something of his own.
Yeah. So it goes when you deal with intelligent people - everyone has plans on plans on contingencies on backups. A lot of lay people think that being a good strategist means coming up with a plan to deal with every possible scenario.
That's stupid. It's impossible to conceive of every possible scenario, because there are a nigh-infinite number of possible occurrences at any given moment. And thus the value of Intelligence (as in, knowledge of your enemies and what they are doing or planning for themselves) becomes clear. If you know what your enemies intend, you can then plan around that.
I've gotten off track. Point is, everyone in the intrigue game is working and planning around everyone else in the game, at the same time, all the time, which is why the game fucking sucks and why I prefer to just talk to people one-on-one and get honest with them.
Never completely honest of course. Just because I hate playing the game doesn't mean I'm so stupid as to ignore the rules.
I lay in the dirt with my rifle pointed down the road, and waited.
They raced down the road, moving as fast as they could: one, feet thundering across the land with each stride, sending up clouds of dirt and leaving a rut in the ground as he passed; the other, soaring above the land, a black dart piercing the air, leaving sound behind.
They were running late, for no fault of their own - they'd had to ensure that the kids were secure before they could leave.
Please let us get there in time!
As Cinder waited for Jaune's signal that Amber would arrive, she mused on the likelihood that Jaune would betray her here. Then she shook her head clear and focused.
It doesn't matter. I've already prepared for that possibility. All that's left is to act.
Emerald and Mercury were in their positions - Mercury, forward and to her right, closer to the road, where he would be able to quickly jump in front of Amber once she was in Emerald's illusion. Emerald herself was placed to her left and behind - pointedly, not where Jaune had suggested she be, but still more than able to do her part.
A shame that she's not stronger. But that's okay. Once we succeed here, I'll ask Master to take them both into the Tribe, like I was. They'll get stronger… more useful.
A clip-clop sound drew her eyes down the road. A chestnut horse, with a woman rider. The rider's most notable piece of clothing was a dark-green cloak. Cinder could see a red crystal sticking out the side of her clock, held on her back.
It's her.
She held out her left hand and flexed her fingers in a particular pattern that she'd drilled into Emerald.
Emerald said nothing, but Cinder knew she would be using her Semblance now. All that was left was for Amber to take the bait.
Amber was almost insulted by the "bait" laid out before her.
Honestly. Some young child fallen off a tricycle, way out at the edge of a forest? There's a farm past the grass field sure, but that's a half-mile off. Do they really expect me to just get off my horse and try to make the illusion feel better?
…
Ugh, but the counter-plan was to spring the trap anyway… When I get a hold of this 'Jaune' guy, I'm gonna wring his neck. There are better ways to counter an expected ambush than by springing it on purpose…
Sighing inwardly, Amber allowed herself to be 'tricked' by the obvious illusion, getting off her horse and digging through her hip pack for an apple. She knelt in front of the illusion and held it out to 'her'.
To be fair, it is a good illusion.
She could see the rustle of the girl's clothes, hear her breathe, even smell the dirt and blood from the scrape on her knee.
At the same time, she focused her hearing, taking in the noise of the surroundings.
Or rather, the lack of it. The road was next to a field and forest, and there wasn't even a single bird call - the telltale sign of something being in the area that had scared off the wildlife.
Even if I hadn't been warned, this is pretty amateurish for an ambush…
A rustling to her right caught her attention and she turned as a silver-grey form burst from the grass.
This must be "Mercury".
Amber tossed the apple at him and it smacked him in the face. Not enough to do damage, but plenty to make him flinch and give her time to leap backwards, onto her horse.
Now properly situated, she drew her staff from behind her back and pressed a button, extending it outwards to its full length. With a twirl, she assumed her horse-back stance and stared down at the boy before her, who had assumed his own stance.
With a yell, he shot forwards, before jumping right at the forest. His feet briefly touched the bark of a tree before he shot off again, now coming at Amber from an off diagonal.
Amber didn't even bother using the Dust in her staff. She touched her heels to the side of her horse, and it shifted over, turning on its hooves to allow Amber to smack the incoming leg away with the side of her staff. He twisted in the air as her staff hit, turning his other leg around to swing a roundhouse at her head, but she had had enough and smacked him down, the Wind Dust at the end of her staff briefly glowing white as it forced him down with greater impact than she normally would have delivered.
One of the other attackers - Cinder, she remembered - attacked right as Mercury was struck. She burst from the grass as well, fiery black blades glowing bright. The entirety of her outfit was aglow as well, colorful lines of Dust Threads tracing though each piece of clothing, giving her different boosts and elemental abilities.
Amber turned her horse to face away from Cinder, and it reacted appropriately, it's hind legs coming up to buck at her. Cinder was undeterred and slashed at it, expecting her blades to carve through the horse's meager flesh-
Only for her eyes to widen in shock as they impacted against the horse, going no further. Unable to go through, she twisted aside to avoid the horse's kick and twirled in the air, landing on her feet at Amber's left.
Mercury had stood back up at this point, and abandoned all pretenses.
"Do it now!" he yelled.
In an instant, Amber ceased to see. She hadn't known that one of them could do this, but this was hardly the first time she'd fought blind. Focusing her other senses, she heard the dirt shift, smelled Cinder's shampoo, felt the shift in airflow as the Assassin leapt at her again from her left.
From the forest, she heard shots ring out as who she assumed to be Jaune finally began participating.
About time, kid…
She twirled her staff again and activated both Dust Crystals, fire and wind swirling together to make a ring of fire that she launched at Cinder, her horse rearing up in a whinny as she did.
As soon as Mercury yelled out, I knew it was go time. Emerald would use her Semblance again to distract Amber - though I'd been assured that nothing she could do would be debilitating to the Huntress.
I trusted in the fact that she was unquestionably stronger than me and focused on my job. Ignoring the battle between Amber and Cinder, I turned my rifle on the grass and fired. Nothing reacted, so I assumed Emerald had moved.
Not a problem. I had prepared for that.
I reached over down to the grenade launcher attachment that I'd gotten for the CAR-19. Once again, nothing too fancy: it was the same model used by the Atlesian Enlisted Military forces. What was a bit fancy was the ammo. I knew we would be fighting by grass, so I made sure to buy some incendiary ammunition.
I loaded the first shot and fired at where Cinder had jumped out. The explosion ripped through the grass, and the fire charred the earth.
More importantly, it brought Emerald out of hiding.
Unable to just withstand an explosion (though who could blame her for that), she leapt out of the grass in a panic.
I was on her instantly, rifle rounds cracking against her Aura. She rolled and dodged, glaring at me as she stood up. I knew she would turn her Semblance on me, so I chambered another grenade and fired before she could.
As I sent it, Mercury burst through the forest at my right, and I wasn't fast enough to block his kick.
Blake cursed as another grenade went off in Emerald's vicinity. She'd seen Mercury run at Jaune's position, but she figured that Jaune could take care of himself, especially if he could keep up with her.
She also knew that she wasn't strong enough to get involved with Amber and Cinder. Even now, as she burst from the trees, she could barely keep up with either of their movements, Cinder flitting about with her twin blades singing, and Amber maintaining masterful control of her horse, prancing and dancing to keep Cinder at range where her Dust Artes were most effective.
So she went after Emerald. Jaune had said that she was the weakest fighter, so once she took her out, she could help Jaune with Mercury.
Gambol Shroud transitioned into its pistol form and she fired three rounds as she closed the distance. As Emerald fired back, Blake held up her bladed sheath width-wise and used it as an impromptu shield, blocking the shots.
As she got closer, Emerald growled and flipped the sickles out of her guns, running to meet her.
Blake transformed Gambol Shroud into its blade form and met her head on. Blake parried Emerald's clumsy, untrained strikes with ease, hardly having to use her off hand.
After taking a moment to learn Emerald's rhythm, Blake shifted her stance and began to attack. Her left arm brought the bladed sheath around into a backhand strike. As expected, Emerald blocked it, and the simultaneous strike with her main blade - but she didn't expect Blake to deliver a piercing kick down Emerald's exposed center.
Blake charged after her as she rolled up, only to stop as her vision suddenly darkened. Not as though the sky had darkened - if that were all, her Faunus heritage would still let her see. No, it was as though, in an instant, she was blinded. She reeled as she felt multiple impacts across her body. She activated her Semblance, dodging away only to be struck again after the fact.
I can't dodge properly if I can't tell where the attacks are coming from!
Desperate, she attached Gambol shroud to its ribbon and began swinging it wildly around, whipping it back and forth through the scorched grassland, attempting to strike Emerald and distract her enough to make her drop her Semblance.
All the while, Emerald continued to take potshots at her, maintaining just enough focus to keep her Semblance running while avoiding Blake's wild attacks.
Cinder cursed as Amber drove her back once again.
She's a skilled rider… Roman's information said as much, but this is beyond what I expected!
Forwards, backwards, side to side, diagonal, even leaping through the air and bouncing off the tree-trunks - it wasn't just Amber's control of the horse, but the horse itself was exceptionally trained and developed. The horse's mobility was almost as good as if Amber was on her own two legs. Maybe not as acrobatic as Amber could be - Cinder doubted the horse would be doing any backflips - but certainly more acrobatic than the average horse.
Guardian Animals - animals with their Auras Awakened, trained alongside Guardians for use in combat - were common in Vale and Atlas, but she'd never fought one before, and its capability was… unexpected.
Still…
She glanced up in the trees behind Amber. A Maroon Oriole, native to Mistral, stood perched on a branch in the trees. It's grey-black speckled body and red tail-feathers stood out from the green of the leaves, while its black head tilted as Cinder glanced at it.
Just as planned.
Cinder connected her twin blades and a new line of Dust Thread in her gloves glowed as a fiery string formed. She drew it back as another line formed an arrow, before she loosed it at her.
Amber responded with a quick activation of her Wind Dust crystal, scattering the flame. She kept the wind blowing into a small vortex as she extended her left hand and shot something liquid into it.
Cinder's eyes widened and she backed off, towards the trees for cover. Her Semblance! Forming a sticky resin that can entrap enemies… Jaune thought she might mix it with her Fire Dust to make it more viscous, allowing her to spread it more easily. He didn't account for her Wind Dust… or perhaps, he purposefully ignored it, considering his betrayal. Never mind that, deal with him later. Now is the time to kill Amber.
As the vortex approached Cinder, it tore through the trees of the woods - the wind whipped away branches and leaves while the resin in the vortex stuck to bark and ripped it clean off. As Cinder leapt through the branches to avoid being hit, she fired another arrow of fire that was dissipated, but it wasn't intended to hit Amber - it just kept her from noticing the Maroon Oriole as it leapt off its perch and flew at her.
As I expected, Mercury was kicking my ass.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not so weak that I was being manhandled, but Mercury was undeniably faster than I was, not to mention a better trained fighter.
Every technique I knew was something I'd 'stolen' from another fighter. Even what little I learned from my father, I learned by keeping my eyes open while he beat the shit outta me.
Compared to that meager education, Mercury's training - abusive as it was - was much more comprehensive and better suited to shaping a proper fighter.
Yeah, my 'education' made me better at analyzing other people and reading the flow of their movements and techniques, but that doesn't automatically translate to 'being a better fighter' if I don't get taught the proper methods for performing those techniques.
Not to mention, he'd caught me off guard while I had been aiming for Emerald.
His first kick after he burst from the trees sent me rolling across the ground, before I came up and used the CAR-19 to block his second kick.
He kept up the pace, using his fast footwork to reach the holes in my guard and hit me. My Semblance was on maximum now - vision, hearing, scent, touch - I empowered those four senses and erased my sense of taste to compensate. At maximum processing speed, I was able to see Mercury's movements - but seeing them and being fast enough to react to them aren't the same thing. No matter how quickly I reacted to any particular movement, his raw speed allowed him to switch up the angle of his attack and hit me where I wasn't guarding.
Time to get desperate-!
As I managed to barely guard another strike, blocking his vision of my chest with my rifle, I pulled the pin on one of the grenades on my vest - specifically, a flashbang - and used my Semblance to make myself deaf and blind.
It went off, not that I could see or hear it do so - but I could smell the chemical reaction happen, feel the explosion as it rumbled against my chest. Once it had passed I turned on my sight and sound once more, and counterattacked, taking advantage of Mercury's stunned state. I struck his throat with the butt of my rifle and bore down on him from there, drawing my knife and cutting at him wherever I could - his face, throat, the arms and hands he used to guard, anything to wear down his Aura.
I heard a mechanical shift behind me and leapt off of Mercury, rolling to the side and bringing my rifle up to deliver a few more shots. They missed as Mercury's legs transformed, fire shooting from the soles of his prosthetics as he twirled in the air before steadying himself, floating above the ground.
Unable to help myself, I asked, "When the hell did you get rocket boots?!"
He smirked but refused to answer, merely tilting in the air and using the push of his new ability to charge at me.
Amber felt the shift in the wind as the bird flew at her from the side, but thought nothing of it beyond the fact that it was strange for a bird to stay around for all this chaos.
Even if it's an attack bird that Cinder trained, it's too small to do any real damage.
So she thought as she continued to manipulate the vortex of resin, until
A Pulse.
It came from the bird.
MAGIC! Her mind screamed, and she attempted to leap away with her horse - too late.
Two feet impacted her right side and threw her off her horse, into the dirt. She rolled and came up with her staff-
Just as a wave of red energy tore through the trees and dirt and tore her horse in half. Blood and guts ruptured and practically exploded out from the impact, the two halves flopping lifelessly onto the ground.
"FLORENCE!" She screamed, tears wetting her eyes, but she wiped them quickly.
Mourning time is later. Survival first.
She assumed her stance and waited, watching as Cinder stepped out from the woods, accompanied by two more. One was the source of the magic she sensed - a young woman, perhaps in her mid-twenties. Her dark brown hair was cut short and cropped to the front, icy blue eyes piercing Amber with a glare even as her mouth was turned up in a smirk. She wore a light brown vest over a collared white shirt with torn sleeves, the buttons down to reveal part of her chest, and the top of a black bra. A tattoo of a bird and flowers was visible on her left arm. Her right arm had a glove and vambrace, while her left hand just had a glove. In keeping with the lack of symmetry, her maroon pants had differing leg lengths, with the left leg extending down to her calf guards and boots, and the right leg rolled up, exposing her thigh. She wielded circular blades with some sort of gun in the middle of them.
The magic came from her, but she's no Maiden… a bird…
"The Branwens?" Amber asked, and the girl's smirk hardened into a thin line. Right on the money then.
Cinder's other companion was well known to her - she'd been chasing him around Forever Fall for months, trying and failing to stop his constant attacks on Vale's exterior infrastructure, farms, Dust mines, and other such installations.
"And Adam Taurus," she continued, Adam nodding almost genially. "It's nice to finally see you in person… or in Faunus, if you prefer."
"Don't condescend to me, Huntsman. You've been a thorn in my side for months."
"That's my line."
"Hmph. To some extent, I'm disappointed that Cinder couldn't hold up her end of her offer and deal with you herself… but then, if she had, I wouldn't be able to watch you die myself."
"You have to kill me to watch me die."
He held his sheathed sword forwards. "That's the plan." With a blast, the sword was ejected out of the sheath and came flying towards Amber, Adam close behind as Cinder and the Branwen girl raced to flank her right and left, respectively. The Branwen girl leaped up into the trees once more as Cinder left a blazing line of fire in her wake through the dry grass.
Goddammit, what's taking them so long? She grit her teeth and launched herself forward to meet them.
Blake dodged back, still blind, reeling from another of Emerald's shots. Stumbling, her back slammed into something that moved into her.
"Jaune?" she said hopefully.
"Yeah?" came the reply.
"Thank the Goddess- I can't see! You never mentioned Emerald could do that!"
"I didn't know she could. Mercury's kicking my ass by the way, he's too fast for me. Switch dance partners?"
"Done."
She felt Jaune shift and heard the crack of his rifle, and her vision returned as Emerald shifted focus. Mercury came flying out of the woods, but her own focus shifted to her left-
Where Adam was aiding Cinder and some other person against Amber.
Adam's focus was on Amber, but Blake swore, even as she instinctively activated her Semblance to dodge Mercury's flying kick.
Even Amber won't last in a three-on-one, especially with Adam fighting her! But what can we do? Even if Jaune and I finish off Emerald and Mercury, we aren't strong enough to help Amber deal with them!
She compartmentalized her thoughts as she dodged another of Mercury's strikes before countering it. Her stomach wound ached a bit as she twisted in the air, bringing her sword down. Mercury leaned back in the air, releasing a quick blast of exhaust from his jet boots. The blast sent him down to the ground, but he was prepared for it and caught himself with his hands before flipping over.
Blake was caught surprised and hit by the heat and the force of it, spiralling down and flopping on the ground before she rose once more. They stared at each other and began to circle around, each thinking of the next action to take.
I don't think I have much Aura left. I need to take him down quickly, but he's even faster than I am. I can dodge, but I can't block his hits, but he can block mine, but-
Her eyes flicked down to his boots.
The exhaust. Those boots must be powered by Dust - if I can shoot the exhaust, maybe cause some sort of blockage or rupture, his boots might explode.
Plan decided, she charged again.
Amber growled as her opponents pushed her back. One-on-one, she could match each of them, with Adam being the most difficult to deal with - but Cinder and the Branwen woman worked too well together, and had clearly spent years fighting alongside each other. So if she kept Adam at bay, she was tag-teamed by Cinder and the other woman - and when she blasted them away with wind or fire, Adam was on her, wearing her down and slicing through her guard.
Goddammit, I don't want to expose myself! Where the hell are Qrow and Tai?
Their fight tore through the landscape even as Amber moved them away from the kids, trying to avoid collateral. Adam's strikes ruptured the ground and cut through trees with ease, and his red wave attacks tore them up by the roots entirely. Cinder's fire charred the earth and left a burning trail in her wake, her flaming arrows set the forest ablaze. The Branwen moved like a beast on a rampage, her footsteps leaving cracks in the earth, her gun-blades blasting apart more of the forest.
To be fair, Amber wasn't much less destructive - it happened naturally when you engaged in fights at this level. Her own footwork was lighter than the Branwen's, but her Dust Artes were no less precise. To keep them all at bay, she couldn't focus on any one of them - so she used wide area-of-effect Artes, forming flaming vortexes and lances of wind that tore apart the land and burned the dirt into glass, even as she mixed her Semblance into it and formed pools of resin to control her enemies' movements.
However, they had more precise ranged options than she did, and it slowly wore her down - Cinder's arrows, Adam's rifle-sheath, and the Branwen girl's bullets. Bit by bit they pierced the Wind Walls she formed as a barrier around herself until gradually, she could not keep them up - and Adam managed to get close.
Shit!
The world went red as he drew his blade. Amber instinctively called upon her magic, eyes glowing with rainbow fire-
Something SLAMMED down between them and struck Adam in the chest, knocking him back to roll along the ground before he stood back up. Cinder and the Branwen girl paused as well to take stock of the new arrival.
"You're late," Amber sighed, leaning on her staff.
"Sorry," the man replied, "Qrow was drunk again. You know how it is."
The man stood a head taller than Amber, with grey-blonde hair arrayed messily on his head. His blue eyes were pulled up as he turned and smirked to her, giving a thumbs up. His shirt had the right sleeve cut off, allowing his black tattoo to show openly, though he covered the shoulder with a pauldron. A red bandanna was tied on his left arm. He wore a brown vest over his tan shirt. Having come prepared for combat, both his forearms were equipped with hard metal vambraces, and his hands were covered in Redsteel gauntlets. He wore light brown cargo shorts that exposed his greaves, which went down into his boots.
After a moment, Amber sensed another quick burst of magic as a man landed on the ground beside him. He was equally as tall, with salt-and-pepper hair spiked back, his pale-red eyes openly on display. Unlike the other man, who had a bit of stubble, he had a clean-shaven face. A tattered red cloak draped down the back of his grey dress shirt, which wasn't tucked into his black dress pants. Several rings adorned his fingers, and his blade, Harbinger, was out and pointed at Cinder.
"Fuck off, Tai, I heard that. This ain't the time to joke."
Taiyang's face hardened as he nodded. "Yeah." He turned to look at the three Assassins. "Who do you want?"
"I'll take-"
"Oh, it is you Uncle Qrow!" the Branwen girl called out snidely. "It's been a few years, how've you been?"
Qrow inhaled and exhaled forcefully before he said, "That one," and rushed forwards.
Taiyang and Amber shared a shrug as he said, "Well, then I'll take Taurus. You can handle Fall, right?"
Amber sighed and stood up. "I guess I'll have to. Thanks for taking Adam though, and watch out: he's the best fighter among them."
"I know," Taiyang said, cracking his neck. "That's why I'm taking him."
He rushed forwards as well, and they both chased their opponents away from the road, leaving Amber and Cinder by themselves.
"Well," Amber coughed, "do you have any other backups you wanna bring out now? Or can we get to the part where I kill you?"
Cinder grit her teeth and roared as she charged forwards, blades extended, reaching for Amber's throat.
As the woman observed the proceedings below her, several emotions rushed about within her. At the forefront of them all was disappointment in Cinder for once again failing, but on another level, she was amused despite herself.
I suppose I've just been bored, she mused. Jacob still hasn't sparred me. And all the others were too busy running their countries, training their students… irritating.
With a sigh, she leaned back, posturing lazily as she watched the fight play out.
Jaune can sense Emerald despite her ability to blind him, which evens out their fight. Cinder and Roman both noted enhanced senses on his part. The Belladonna girl is a bit slower than Mercury, but her dodging Semblance makes it all but impossible for him to hit her. Amber was almost down, but then Tai and Qrow had to jump in. Tai is stronger than Adam- stronger than Cinder and Vernal too, at that. Qrow can take Vernal, Tai can take Adam, and Amber can hold Cinder off long enough for Tai and Qrow to finish off their opponents and help her out.
She sighed again. At this rate, it'll be a total loss for Cinder, and all because she trusted Jaune with too much information.
Jaune Arc… She looked his way again, taking note of how he deftly avoided or blocked all of Emerald's attacks and consistently managed to get a bead on her with his own attacks, despite her constant use of her Semblance.
Your father never would have come up with a plan like this. And soon, you'll be going to Beacon with Yang… Hmm, but perhaps it would be good if some of your wiles rubbed off on her. She's far too much like me and Tai. Too headstrong.
Well, I suppose I'd better stop this before it goes too far.
With a deep breath, she prepared to step down and show herself.
Taiyang was having an easy time of it, all things considered.
Sure, it wasn't like he was completely overpowering Taurus. He was definitely a skilled swordsman - he'd never say it to Qrow, but Adam probably had better technique - but the difference between them was all too clear. The difference in speed was the most evident.
For every strike Adam threw at him, Taiyang could respond with two or three counters. No matter how he moved, Taiyang would be ahead of him, outmaneuvering him.
Even the use of his Semblance wouldn't give Adam an advantage. Even as the world shifted red, Adam's Aura shining bright as he unsheathed his sword, Taiyang's response was the path of least resistance.
He sidestepped to the outside of Adam's right arm, blocking Adam's strike from fully extending by pressing his forearm against Adam's elbow. As he did so, his left arm backhanded Adam with such force that he flew back and crashed into the dirt.
Taiyang smirked. "C'mon, is that all you've got?" he teased. "I've been hit harder by the kids at Signal!"
Adam sighed as he stood up and dusted himself off. "I'm a little old to fall for that sort of trick, Heavenly Dragon- or isn't it Little Dragon, ever since your exile?"
Taiyang's mirth disappeared in response to Adam's own jab, his face becoming as stone.
"Regardless, we're both adults here. So let's not waste any time," he crouched low, hand on the hilt of his blade, "and just try to kill each other."
"If that's the way you want it," Taiyang growled, "then who am I to deny you?"
They charged at each other again.
Qrow Branwen was not having a good time.
It wasn't that Vernal made for a difficult opponent. Quite the opposite - she was definitively weaker than he was.
However, she was chatty. Worse, she was family.
"C'mon Uncle Qrow," she tittered as she bounced from tree to tree, using the environment to aid in her avoidance of his strikes. "You got nothin' to say to your niece?"
He trapped his sword in between Vernal's circular blades and pressed down, locking her in place as he leaned over her.
"You DON'T get to call me that. I cut my ties with the Branwen clan."
"And yet you still call yourself Qrow Branwen," she smirked. "Sounds to me like you can't let go."
With a roar he pushed harder, only for his blade to pass through air as Vernal transformed into her bird form and alighted to a branch behind him, standing on it. She pulled the triggers on her weapons, firing buckshot that Qrow twirled his blade to deflect. The pellets ripped through the trees around and behind him, leaving him unscathed as he pulled the lever on Harbinger, setting the gears turning as it transformed.
It was a sudden thing that forced the fight to end.
We were all doing our things, striking and defending, clashing and retreating for advantage-
When something came between me and Emerald. Something too fast for us to sense, forcing us to leap back to avoid the impact.
We were all lucky that whatever the projectile was, it had been aimed between us, instead of at any of us.
It was so sudden that Emerald even dropped the blindness she'd forced on me. My enhanced hearing picked up similar impacts all over the battlefield, so I figured that whatever it was, it was happening to everyone.
I looked at the impact point and saw a halberd, with some sort of mechanism within the green blade itself, but I didn't get long to look as the weapon was absorbed into-
A portal!? Raven Branwen!?
I turned my eyes up and saw her. Damn near pissed myself when I did.
She had multiple portals open around her, and one under her feet that she was standing on. The one under her feet floated down slowly, letting her descend as dramatically as she pleased.
The ones around her were obviously the source of the weapons that came between all of us, not that I knew how she'd fired them.
Amber, Cinder, and whoever else had joined that clusterfuck was down the road a bit so I don't know what they were doing, but Mercury and Blake had also stopped fighting. Blake ran over and stood by me, while Mercury and Emerald joined up. Some more portals opened up around us - some near Emerald and Mercury, some near Blake and me. We both tensed for a moment before Amber stepped through the one near us, accompanied by two faces I didn't expect - Qrow Branwen and Taiyang Xiao Long.
Apparently, Ozpin cared about Amber a great deal if he sent international celebrities like these two to back her up.
Taiyang and Qrow didn't seem all that roughed up, which didn't surprise me. They were powerful, and had arrived late to begin with.
The portals next to Emerald and Mercury spat out Cinder, Adam - making Blake seize up with fear behind me - and some woman I'd never seen before.
We all spent a few moments awkwardly glaring across the field at each other and looking up as Raven descended. Upon finally reaching the ground, she stepped forwards and called out.
"Cinder."
Ignoring everyone else, she stepped forwards and knelt before Raven. "Yes, Master."
"You've failed. We're leaving."
Cinder looked like she wanted to protest, but nodded and sulked back to her place in the line. The other woman looked over, concerned for Cinder, before returning to attention. Emerald and Mercury looked afraid, probably because they wondered about how Cinder's failure would affect them.
"What's this about, Raven?" Taiyang asked. "Why Amber?"
"Don't ask a question you already know the answer to, Beloved." Despite the pet name, Raven didn't bother to look at Taiyang as she replied. "Adam Taurus."
"Raven Branwen." Gotta admit, he had some stones to look her in the eyes like that.
"I apologize for the fact that my apprentice wasted your time."
"It wouldn't be wasted if you'd just kill Amber yourself."
"Amber isn't worth my time. She was a test for my apprentice, who failed. I will offer you nothing for your efforts but a portal to an SDC stockpile in Atlas."
"I suppose that will have to suffice."
"It will. Now," she looked over at us. "Jaune Arc."
"Yeah?" I said, doing my best to keep my voice from shaking.
"Your father has asked me to pass on a message. He will allow you to attend Beacon for one year - at the end of the year, he will assess how much stronger you have become."
"Tell him to put some pressure on Atlas. He'll know what it's about."
"Very well." She looked around at all of us and declared, "That marks the end of this conflict. Cinder, Vernal, Emerald, and Mercury, with me." With no more words said, she opened a portal and they all walked in.
Adam looked at all of us and turned around, promptly retreating in the wake of being left alone with three fully fledged Huntsmen.
Taiyang and Qrow looked like they wanted to chase after him, but Raven remained behind as her entourage left, ensuring his escape. Once everyone else had left, Raven passed through the portal in silence, leaving us alone.
Blake sighed in relief as she watched Adam flee. Qrow checked on Amber, while Taiyang came to talk with us.
"You kids okay?" he asked.
"Wounded, but not much. My Aura's not even broken. Blake?"
"Emerald got some hits in. It'll bruise, but nothing serious."
"Good to hear. You both did well in keeping those two off of Amber."
"It was the plan. Nothing to praise us for," I said.
"Regardless, I expect that this, along with whatever deal you made with Ozpin, will give you some leniency from the Council."
"He told you about that?"
"He made us aware of your circumstances, yes. Both of yours," he nodded towards Blake. "But don't worry too much. Ozpin's the forgiving sort - if he wasn't, he wouldn't have let Qrow in. And he turned out fine!"
His sister sure didn't, I thought, but didn't say out loud.
"By the way, what was the whole thing with your dad?"
I winced. "My dad is Jack the Ripper."
He blinked. "No way."
"Yeah…" I coughed and tried to change the subject. "So what was it like at Beacon? How are teams chosen?"
He looked like he had more questions, but for whatever reason - my guess being that he figured Ozpin most likely knew, and trusted me anyway - he chose to let the topic drop.
Despite the fact that she was sitting in a private waiting area, Pyrrha couldn't help but feel exposed.
An attendant came by, all dressed up in a full suit, and asked if she wanted anything to drink. She said no, her mother asked for a tea, and her father asked for a beer - only to change his mind when her mother glared at him.
"Are you sure you don't want to go to Haven, dear?" Her mother asked for what must have been the twentieth time- that day.
"Yes, mother."
"Aw, she'll be fine, Gorgeous," her father used his pet name for her mother. "She's the strongest woman her age! No one at Beacon will be able to take her down."
"Yes, yes, I know, Leon," her mother said. Turning back to Pyrrha, she continued, "But you have to let me worry, you know? I'm your mother, it's my job to worry."
"I know, mother," Pyrrha gave a soft smile. She'd have preferred to speak to her mother candidly, but they were outside their house, which meant she had an appearance to keep up - even in a private area, there was no telling whether the press was sneaking about somewhere. "I understand. But it'll be okay. Headmaster Ozpin has assured me that he'll keep the press at bay as much as he can."
"That's not what I'm concerned about," Georgianna said. "All your training has made you strong, yes, but…" she glanced about for a moment, confirmed they were alone, and continued, "you've never had much chance to get to know people your age. I worry that you might have trouble making friends… Goodness, that's such a normal thing to feel worried about, it's almost strange."
"Mother, I can handle the media. Making friends isn't going to be a problem."
Georgianna smiled softly. "Pyrrha, there's nothing harder than forging a real friendship."
Pyrrha opened her mouth to ask something in reply, but was cut off by a chime.
"ATTENTION PASSENGERS TO VALE ON FLIGHT 729, WE ARE NOW BOARDING FIRST AND BUSINESS CLASS. I REPEAT, PASSENGERS TO VALE ON FLIGHT 729, WE ARE NOW BOARDING FIRST AND BUSINESS CLASS."
"Well, that's me," Pyrrha said, standing up.
Her parent's gave her one last hug in private before they walked out of the waiting area towards the terminal.
Edit: Review Replies
gogo bananas: Thanks! There's more to come!
CircusControl: Well, hope that this continuation meets your expectations!
fordkdn: That's pretty high praise, considering how popular Couer is. I only wish I could write as fast as him - but then, I shouldn't compare myself to others. Just compare myself to who I was yesterday. Things will only get better from here.
Author's Note: And that's the end of Act the First: A Beacon of Hope. Coming soon: Act the Second: The First Step.
WE'RE FINALLY GOING TO BEACON. IT'S BEEN TWO FUCKING YEARS.
With that said, I'm going to be taking a week off from writing SotF (I know, I know, updates are sparse enough already) to plan out the next act, as well as some original stuff I have ideas for. Maybe crank out a one-shot while I'm at it.
Still, don't expect this to die anytime soon.
Oh and uh, thanks to my editor for sticking with me through all this bullshit. I appreciate it. You know who you are.
Before anyone asks, here's the power scaling for the Amber Assassination Fight. Strongest to Weakest are listed from Top to Bottom and Left to Right. Line breaks denote a different "level" of power. For the sake of comparison, Roman and Neo will be added in despite them not taking part in the fight.
Raven (Regardless of whether she has the Maiden Powers active or not)
Amber (With Maiden Powers active), Taiyang
Qrow, Adam, Amber (Without Maiden Powers active)
Cinder/Vernal, Roman
Mercury, Neo/Blake, Jaune
Emerald
The slash between Neo and Blake's names as well as Cinder and Vernal's names denote the fact that they are approximately equivalent in strength.
Also, if you're wondering why Jaune is so scared of Raven face-to-face, imagine going hiking in the woods, just minding your own business, and then turning a corner and coming face to face with a mountain lion.
It's that kind of feeling. The "Oh shit, I'm going to die" instinct.
In regards to Mercury's new rocket boots, they're not quite as advanced as Penny's V7 Rocket boots. More like an in-between of Mercury's ability to perform an air-jump (as seen in his tournament fight with Yang) and Penny's rocket boots. He can't fly properly like Penny can, but he can float off the ground and maneuver in the air.
Also, a few jokes that me and my editor came up with as a result of certain chapter events:
Zero Suit Mercury is now playable!
HORSE COMBAT!