It was mid-afternoon the next day when Sienna, Adam and his allies had arrived at Athena's tower. The White Fang quintet stood on a nearby rooftop over looking the area.
"No guards. No traps." Sienna noted.
"It's quiet. Too quiet." Douglas said.
"She's probably going to trick us." Adam warned.
Ha, little does she realize she's walking into a double-sided trap!
The bull horned faunus thought back to his conservation with Athena from last night.
"I have a plan that might help one or both of us, so listen very closely..." Athena began. "You and your entourage will come back to the tower at sunset tomorrow. This will give me time to prepare my specialists and Revolutionist soldiers for battle and for you and your friends to prepare for war. I will also prepare traps for you to face. The main elevator will be rendered useless, so you will have to navigate perilous pathways of trap laden stairs, floors and enemies. On certain floors you find a wave of enemies to face. These waves will consist of a number of Revolutionist soldiers and one of my five specialist agents. Your friends will be captured in battle and taken to the dungeon in the basement, where they will be held until the war has ended. In turn, you will knock out my agents so that they can't stop me. This will continue until only you and Sienna remain.
"Once you have lost your three other allies and have defeated all five waves with my specialists, the two of you will confront me on the top floor and a fight will ensue. When the time is right, you turn on Sienna and attempt to kill her. From there, the fight becomes a battle royale. Whoever succeeds in killing Sienna has the right to claim the Badge of Leadership and become the new High Leader of the White Fang. Since this is a temporary alliance, I ask that you not kill any of my agents, and I will do the same. If you don't hold your end of the bargain, well, let's say that you'll have more bones broken than Cordovin did. Is that clear?"
Adam answered without flinching. "Crystal."
"So, do we have a deal?"
"Deal."
Adam shook hands with Athena and sealed their deal.
He returned to the present as they overlooked the scene.
"Still no outside guards." Ilia noted.
"They're probably waiting inside." Hector told her.
"Enough stalling. Let's go." Sienna ordered.
The five jumped from the rooftop and ran towards Athena's tower.
This is a big risk, but if this works, I'll finally have the power to get my plans off the ground. Adam thought.
Meanwhile, Athena flew a few feet off the ground in the library room, setting an indestructible glass panel over a bookshelf and locking it in place with a key. All the bookshelves were shown to be covered in that same glass.
"Perfect. Not only will the books be protected, but the reflection of attacks will make for an interesting fight." She looked at her watch. "It's almost time." She flew into the chair and sat down, taking the magazine. "Adam and his entourage should be here any moment, and with them will be Sienna. Oh, this couldn't be better!" Athena cheered to herself. She began looking at a statue in the magazine when she heard the door being opened. Ares entered the room. "Ares?" She stood up, putting the magazine down. "What are you doing here?"
"I don't like this." Ares admitted. "I fear you're taking a really big risk here. What if Adam attempts to kill you so that he can have High Leadership all to himself?"
She gave him an assuring smile. "I know this may be a risky move, but this is a calculated risk. I calculated every factor into this. To address your concern Ares, he would only kill me if he sees me as an enemy, and since I do not pose a threat to him, he has no reason to fight against me. If anything, I have the advantage. Adam's aura will be weakened over time with each fight he engages in. Best case scenario, his aura breaks and he comes to me with Sienna on his last legs. And even if it doesn't happen, both him and Sienna will be weakened, while I'll be at the top of my game."
"And what will we do with Adam's entourage?"
"That I'll determine once I'm the leader. I have set everything into place. There's no way that I won't become the High Leader at the end of the day."
The 'war god' sighed. "I suppose I'm also irritated that I have to play warden while everyone else gets to fight off Adam and his crew."
"We both know you have a malicious fiery temper, and if you fought, you'd be caught up in the war and might kill Adam's other allies. We can't have that, lest we violate the terms me and Adam agreed upon."
He raised an eyebrow. "And how do you know Adam will keep his end of the bargain?"
"I told him specifically that he would regret it if he did. He won't dare cross us." She held up her scroll, currently showing four screens in a box grid. "And, as an added bonus, with the security cameras I've recently installed, I'll be able to watch these fights while I wait for him and Sienna to arrive. I'll see whether or not he's trustworthy firsthand. Worst case scenario, I'll deal with him myself. Ideally it won't come down to that."
"You have some good points there. I suppose I can't help but worry, if only a little."
"It's okay. You love me. It's part of the job description of boyfriend and significant other."
He gave her a quick peck on the lips. "For luck."
She grabbed him and pulled him in for a passionate kiss. He closed his eyes and threw his arms around her, letting them slip to her waist. She threw one arm around his neck and for a moment, the world didn't matter to them. Ares backed away and gazed into her eyes.
"It's time." Athena spoke.
"So it is." Ares bowed to her. "See you soon, future High Leader Athena."
The ram-horned faunus left the room and Athena smirked as she looked at her scroll. "Let the game begin."
Down below, Adam, Sienna and the others had just entered Athena's Headquarters. Waiting for them was a group of ten Revolutionists. Among them was a faunus with a green lizard tail. He had a uniform similar to Ilia's, only his was green and in place of his shorts were capri pants. Over his green uniform was a black vest. His owl-feathered mask had green line cutting upwards from the right eye.
Sienna scowled upon seeing the lizard tailed faunus. "Cola Arvin."
Cola grinned as he greeted the High Leader. "Long time no see, Sienna. Sorry you have to fall for the glory of our esteemed savior."
"She's no savior, Cola. You of all people should know that."
She started the battle by getting out her whip and swinging it towards him. Cola backflipped to evade it and soon found himself against the wall. He ducked down to avoid the whip as Adam got out his sword and knocked out two soldiers.
It bites that I can't use my semblance here without risking death or injury to her servants. He thought silently as he fought them. But on the other hand, I can store this energy and use it against Sienna later. In the end this will work. I just need to bide my time.
With Lightning Lash, Ilia quickly got to work, electrocuting one Revolutionist soldier in the arm after another. After doing this five times, Cola threw a few shurikens at her, forcing her to roll back her whip. Then she threw some at Sienna, only for her to use her whip to deflect them back to him.
Hector punched one of the Revolutionists down with his bare hands and Douglas kicked down another, leaving Cola and one Revolutionist soldier. Adam quickly tossed the soldier aside as Sienna used her whip to grab onto Cola's arm. She pulled the specialist towards her, spun him around and kicked them down, sending his mask flying and revealing grassy green eyes underneath. He screamed before he hit the wall head-first and fell unconscious.
"This seems too easy." Adam spoke.
"Perhaps she's sending out her weakest warriors first to lure us into a false sense of security." Sienna theorized. "Either way, we must press on."
Is it possible that Athena asked some of her soldiers to hold back? Adam thought as they ran through the halls. It doesn't seem like it's fake...
They made their way to the elevator. Sienna pressed the button, but it wasn't lighting up like it did the previous day.
"Curses! The elevator's busted!" She sighed. "Looks like we have to take the stairs."
They ran for the first staircase they found and quickly went up the first flight of stairs to the second floor. As they were about to go up the next flight of stairs, Ilia felt a shiver crawl up her spine and widened her eyes in terror.
"Sienna, wait!" she called out.
Sienna was pulled back by her arm by Ilia as spikes went up on the next flight of stairs, blocking their path.
"What the Hell?!" Sienna shouted.
"It appears she set up some traps. We best be on our guard." Adam advised.
"Looks like we have to explore the second floor and find a new staircase..."
They quickly roamed the halls of the tower. The walls were light grey with small patterns of vertical red lines among them. The floors were carpeted dark grey with a red carpet over them. The red doors to the hotel rooms were all closed.
Is this where all the Revolutionists have been staying? In an old, defunct hotel? Sienna wondered.
"Look, up ahead!" Ilia called out.
Up ahead they saw the doors to the stairway. Only they were guarded by twenty guards and a creepy man with a grin on his face, showing off his bat fangs. The bat fanged man wore a black tuxedo ensemble with black dress shoes. His undershirt was dark grey and around his neck was a grey bowtie with dripped blood stains. He also wore a black cape that with a high collar and blood red inner-lining. His White Fang mask had a miniature grey bat near his right eye.
Sienna blinked. "Gilford Carran?"
Gilford kept his toothy grin. "Surprised, Lady Khan? Or should I say ex-lady Khan?"
She scowled and swung her whip at him... "Don't try to flatter me, Gil."
Only for him to backflip, landing his feet on the wall and propelling himself to punch Sienna in the face. "You don't have the right to use that nickname. Only my friends call me that!"
The tigress got up and lashed out both verbally and with her whip, "Don't tell me you're still mad at me for rejecting you?"
"Oh, I was furious. And now you'll see that fury unleashed!"
Well, he didn't take rejection well. Ilia thought as she kicked a Revolutionist soldier down. Then again...
She screamed as guns were fired at her, as she just now remembered where she was and dashed back to dodge them. The chameleon faunus electrocuted a soldier with her whip and ducked down to dodge an energy gunshot.
Adam used his sword to knock down one soldier after another as Hector tried to steady his gun and aim at the Revolutionists. The mercenary successfully got one down, but two more came towards him. Soon, more and more closed in on him...
Beside Hector, Sienna swung her whip vertically at Gilford, only for him to duck down and retrieve twin scimitars. She wrapped her whip around the right one, trying to yank it out of his hand, but he had a strong grip. He pulled his right scimitar towards him in attempt to disarm the High Leader.
As the two became locked in their battle of strength, Douglas punched down one soldier, knocking him into another, and another, until five soldiers had been taken down.
Hector found himself surrounded by ten soldiers. He tried to back up from them only to back into a Revolutionist. He was punched into the wall and he dropped his gun.
"Oh no..." His scream was heard and he was shown being dragged away by two Revolutionists that had grabbed him.
"Hector!" Ilia exclaimed.
Sienna let her guard down and with it, the whip was dragged out of her hands. She mentally chided herself for getting distracted, especially over someone who wasn't even part of the White Fang. Even Douglas had looked a bit concerned.
One down, two to go. Adam smirked as he took down another soldier.
Ilia, now laser-focused on her objective, took down the remaining soldiers one after another. The last ordinary soldier was punched out by the White Fang lieutenant.
The tigress kicked down Gilford in the stomach, making him release both his weapon and hers. Sienna retrieved her whip and kicked Gil in the face, knocking off his mask. His black eyes were seen before they closed as he fell unconscious.
"So why was that guy calling you ex-lady if..." Douglas began.
Sienna hissed. "Not relevant. Let's move."
"But what about Hector?" Ilia asked.
"No time. We have to move before more of Athena's agents find us." Adam told her.
The four went on, hoping to avoid trouble. As they went up the next set of steps, they found themselves dodging arrows coming out from the wall as they ascended.
Adam wondered to himself, Is it possible that Athena means to kill me as well? Or is this just a test?!
He breathed in, trying to simmer down his anger. They went up another set of stairs, this time making it to the seventh floor before finding that the stairs were completely gone. Just gone.
Sienna groaned, but didn't say anything as they explored the seventh floor. The quartet entered another hallway, this one painted with ocean blue walls with curved dark blue lines and blueish black carpeting, as if they were at the bottom of the sea. Sienna noticed a sign with a right arrow that read; Pool and Hottub
They passed the indoor pool area and Douglas slowed his pace.
"It's quiet..." Douglas stated. "Too quiet."
"And why do you say that?" Sienna asked him.
"I thought that the Revolutionists had hundreds of recruits, but yet so far we've only seen thirty soldiers and two specialists." he explained.
Ilia looked at Douglas curiously. "Is it possible that Athena's deliberately holding back for some reason?"
Adam remained silent and no else answered. They continued through the halls at a slower pace.
Eventually the carpet turned to a blue tile, and in front of a stairway and elevator was a group of forty Revolutionist soldiers. In front of them stood Aoi Morris. She appeared exactly the same as she did in Sienna's vision, only now she held a weapon in her hands- a black trident with a purple and silver stem to it. The fork of the trident contained electric, ice and water dust.
"So the tigress has come." Aoi stated.
Sienna looked at the Revolutionist with a disapproving glare. "What happened to fighting honorably or for a good cause, like your sister, Urdina?"
The 'sea-witch' shook with rage. "Don't you dare mention her! She turned her back on helping faunus, just like you have!"
Aoi swung her trident towards her, releasing a wave of electric and ice dust and causing a small puddle of water to fall to the floor. She repeated this motion, causing more small puddles to form throughout the area.
She's forming small puddles to trip us up. Adam noted as he took down Revolutionist soldiers. Or possibly even use them with her trident to fry us. I need to watch my step.
After taking down five soldiers by himself, he looked at Ilia and nodded in mutual agreement. The two worked in unison to take out their foes, jumping onto the backs of soldiers, taking them down and on the nearby walls, with Adam striking from the left and Ilia on the right.
Douglas got out his chainsaw and tried to use them against the Revolutionists, but most of them being young and agile were able to dodge his advances. He groaned as they evaded him. One of them however, swept him under with a roundhouse kick and sent him flying. Due to the water on the floor, he skidded along before seeing the soldiers circling him. He got up and revved up his chainsaw, forcing them to step back.
The camera focused on Sienna as she dodged and swung her whip around the trident. Both stood their ground as they tried to yank the other's weapon out of their hands.
"Why have you sided with this traitor?!" Sienna interrogated.
Aoi scoffed. "Traitor? I am not a traitor! Urdina is a traitor, Maura is a traitor, and so are you!"
Sienna fled her blood boil. "Don't you dare speak to me about treachery! You don't know what being betrayed feels like!"
The tigress released her hold on her whip and struck back, leashing her weapon around her right arm. She tightened her grip, causing Aoi to cry out in pain. She was pulled further along, and the Revolutionist specialist bit her tongue and tried to concentrate her energy. The 'sea witch's arms glowed with a bright purple aura and eight tentacles of that same color projected into existence, surrounding and protecting the conjurer.
The cursed warrior was taken aback. "What the fuck?!"
Before she could say anything, Aoi waved her right arm and clinched her fist. Sienna was grabbed by one of the tentacles and tossed onto the floor. She slid along before hitting her head on the wall, disorienting her.
"Crap." Ilia spoke. "What now?"
Adam looked at his lieutenant. "Douglas, see if you can damage those tentacles!"
"Got it!"
He made his way over to her and attempted to hack those tentacles into pieces, but one of them grabbed Douglas, and another grabbed his chainsaw and crushed it into pieces. The first tentacle then threw him aside and right in front of four soldiers. They grabbed him by the arms and dragged him away.
Sienna got up, recovering from her dizzy spell and noticed, "They're getting away!"
Ilia ran faster than Adam, as the latter took the opportunity to fight another soldiers instead of saving his friend. Alas, the Menagerien specialist tripped on a puddle and fell to the ground, but not before taking another soldier with her. She then noticed that Aoi's allies were all wearing slip-proof shoes.
"Aw, come on." the chameleon complained. "This is just cheating."
Sorry Douglas. It's only temporary. the Valeian leader smirked. Two down, one to go.
Meanwhile, Sienna was wrestling with one of the tentacles with her whip. Adam struck the tentacle she had been holding with her whip.
"Nice start, but there's still seven of them left." Sienna remarked.
The remaining tentacles tried to grab them, but they all jumped back. Ilia frantically asked, "Anyone got any bright ideas?"
Adam looked around as she pushed her arms forward, the tentacles moving forward. He noted the bright glow of her aura around her arms.
"She's using her arms to control them. We stop her from moving them, the tentacles are neutralized." Adam rationalized.
"Excellent. Ilia, you get her left, and I'll get her right. Adam, distract her while we bind her. Once that's done, knock her out."
Adam nodded as he charged into the fray. He swung his sword at the tentacle, only for her to pull most of them back, leaving one to take the hit. She swept both of her arms towards the bull horned faunus, attempting to grab him, only for her right wrist to be grabbed by Sienna's Cerberus Whip.
Ilia pressed a button on the side of her whip, causing the electric dust to disappear as it was funneled into another compartment.
"Ilia, now!" Sienna ordered. Ilia restrained Aoi by her left wrist, leaving her tentacles motionless. "Now Adam! Finish her!"
He charged forward and punched Aoi in the face. She was punched right between the eyes, breaking her aura and causing her aura tentacles to disappear as her mask crumbled, revealing violet eyes.
Aoi groaned and tried to get up, but soon fell unconscious.
"Sienna?" Ilia inquired nervously. "What was the tentacle woman talking about? And who is Urdina?"
"The woman is named Aoi Morris, and Urdina is her younger fraternal twin sister. Aoi's sister choose to become a huntress, becoming a member of what was once team LUNA of Shade Academy. The team of huntresses graduated a few years ago, but Aoi believed that Urdina turned her back on faunuskind by choosing to become one. Thus she accuses her sister of being a traitor, even though Urdina was never involved in the White Fang."
A vision flashed before her eyes; Adam fighting against Sienna in a library. As the vision ended, she gasped.
"Sienna?" Ilia asked. "Is something wrong?"
She shook her head. "It's nothing. We need to go."
The three of them ran forward.
Outside the tower, Blake and Sun were examining the building.
"Looks like this is where the GPS took us." Sun said as Blake looked over his shoulder. They saw a red dot appear to be moving up a set of stairs in a blueprint like screen. "He's moving upward." He put the device away. "But if the rumors are true, then this is where the Revolutionists are. Why would Adam be here?"
"I don't know," Blake began. "but it looks like we're going to find out."
The duo ran through the door, looking upon Cola and the defeated soldiers. Some were bleeding, others were simply unconscious.
"What happened here?" Sun whispered.
"It looks like someone's already been here." Blake whispered back. They went to the elevator Sienna tried to use earlier, only for nothing to work. "The elevator's out. Something strange is going on here, and I don't think I like it."
They ran up the staircase, beginning their ascent.
Unbeknownst to them, Ares looked at them from a big screen in a dark room, where Hector and Douglas were being held in a prison cell.
The 'war god' smirked. "Well, looks like I'll get to fight after all."
Ares left the room in a hurry, but not before taking the cell keys.
As Blake and Sun begun their intrusion, Adam and his entourage were fighting against a group of eighty Revolutionists waiting for them on the thirteenth floor. A good number had already been taken down, but many still remained.
Leading this group was Tawny. She wore her casual outfit and the black dye in her hair had faded, leaving it back to its natural brown. Her mask had no designs, but instead two owl feathers, one on each side.
Sienna swung her whip and caught the Revolutionist catgirl by her arm, dragging her forward.
"Tawny Lemongrass, you should be ashamed of yourself."
The cat eared faunus used her free arm to pull on the chain and dragged Sienna forward. She chuckled as her opponent fell to the ground. "You try to guilt trip me, but I feel nothing. No regret."
The High Leader stood up. "Are you nothing more than Athena's lapdog? You were once your own person, willing to question what you what you knew, fight for whatever cause you believed in."
She scoffed, trying to hide her nervousness. "You accuse me of being subservient? You're a fool, Sienna. The only subservient thing I've ever done was believing your words when I was young and foolish."
Sienna growled, threw her whip around her torso, and tossed her head-first into the wall. With that, Tawny was knocked out and Adam knocked down the last soldier.
"Alright... We've fought a lot of agents." Ilia looked at Sienna with a hopeful smile. "Surely that's the last of them, right?"
"I don't think that's the case, Ilia. From what I read in the paper, Ares Adamos and five specialists were able to escape arrest at the Storming of Sanctum. We haven't seen him, or the last specialist yet. We best stay on our guard."
The trio dashed into the fray, heading up yet another staircase.
Why does something feel wrong here? Sienna silently asked.
"I can't believe we nearly got spiked, had arrows shot at us, and nearly crushed by the walls closing in." Sun told his girlfriend as they roamed the halls.
"At least we're still alive." Blake said, half-enthusiastic. "We're already on the thirteenth floor."
She stopped and Sun became concerned for her. "Blake?"
"Something still doesn't add up. Traps, other White Fang members being hurt before we arrived... Something's wrong here, I know it, but what?"
"I'm afraid you won't live long enough to find out." a voice said behind them.
They turned to find a man in Greek battle armor with ram horns.
Sun blinked in confusion. "Adam?"
"Not quite." the ram-horned faunus answered. "If you've come looking to stop him from interfering with the game, I'm afraid your quest ends here!"
Ares got out a collapsed sword that unfolded into a Zweihander with a black blade and a red handle and swung it at Sun, using only his right arm to swing.
"How is he wielding something that big with one arm?!" Sun asked in terror as he barely dodged.
The 'war god' smirked and continued his attack.
Blake and Sun got out their weapons and engaged in the duel. Sun fired a few shots at the 'war god' only him to block them with his sword. Ares attempted to strike Sun, but he was too agile and quickly evaded. The ram-horned faunus set his sights on Blake but she jumped onto his sword, then jumped up and decked his face, causing him to let go of his broadsword. He groaned as he was thrown to the ground. His sword was a few inches away, but he couldn't reach it. Blake put her right boot to his throat and gave a smirk, only for him to steal her other shoe and throw it at her.
She dashed back to avoid being hit and to retrieve her shoe, putting it back on as Ares retrieved the Zweihander. Sun tried to continuously fire at him while Blake came in from behind, but he saw it coming and spun his sword around. The catwoman ducked down, barely missing the cutting edge.
The monkey faunus advanced, trying to get close and personal, only for Ares to swing again, forcing Sun to duck and fall on the ground. He then tried to stab at him three times, Sun rolled to dodge each one before successfully rolling away, and impacting into a wall.
Blake shot at him with her gun, hoping to buy her boyfriend some time. Ares struck her down, only to reveal that he had struck a shadow. The beauty kicked him in the face, but he kept a tighter grip on his weapon. He got up and charged at her again...
As the scene cut to Adam, Sienna and Ilia, who had made their way to the twenty-fourth floor.
"No more traps?" Ilia asked. "I can't believe our luck."
"Something's strange here..." Adam noted.
They went to the last hall, which was almost entirely white, save for the red fractured lines on the wall.
After walking around for a few minutes, they came upon the last group of foes they had to face. Marrok stood at the front of the pack, his white hair blending in with his sheep ears. On his human ears were small diamond earrings. His skin was pale and his mask had a large grey X over the eyes. He wore a white jersey shirt and jeans ripping at the ankles. He wore a white scarf and white combat boots with grey laces to complete the look.
Behind him were 160 soldiers, and among them was a familiar face...
Ilia gasped in disbelief. "Daphne?"
Daphne looked dramatically different from the last time her former friends had seen her. Her black hair, once in a ponytail, was now held up in a bun. Her green dress had been replaced with a burgundy red miniskirt and a barn red crop top, with small frays of cloth protruding from her right side. Her skirt was paired with a black belt where she kept her gun and other combat gear. She wore a red ribbon on her left wrist and on her right wrist was an X bracelet of miniature swords. Her Revolutionist mask now had a red tear painted below each eye. What was most noticeable however, were that her cat claws were out.
"Hello Ilia. Adam." She glared at the tigress. "Sienna."
"What are you doing here?!" Ilia asked.
"You traitor! You swore to be loyal to Maura til your dying days!" Sienna shouted at the same time.
"Maura deserted me! And more importantly, she's dead! The Loyalist Movement is no more!" Daphne lashed out. "And besides, they never stopped innocent bloodshed." She sobbed briefly, a tear falling from behind her mask and onto her cheek. "They never stopped faunus from being hurt or worse, killed! It's time for a new reign, one of human blood and tears, to begin!"
Daphne got out her gun and impulsively fired at Sienna, who ducked down and retaliated by swinging her whip directly at her. The cat clawed girl looked up in horror and quickly cartwheeled backwards to dodge it. The tigress swung her whip from the side, and she ducked down to dodge it. Sienna swung again, which would have gotten her had it not been for Marrok creating a white aura shield to protect her from Sienna's backlash.
Marrok yelled, "Leave her alone! Don't you see she's a tormented soul?!
"Marrok Alban, you are a liar and deceiver!" Sienna retaliated. "You're the one who lied to her, didn't you?"
In the background, Adam moved in a blur trying to take down the soldiers as Marrok answered, "I did not lie to her, Miss Khan. I simply asked her a few questions that caused her question what she knew. She joined us of her free will."
Sienna growled in anger as Marrok made a hasty retreat. "Come back here!" She swung her whip round, pulling two guns away from the Revolutionist recruits and started firing them at the soldiers surrounding her. She screamed in anger, trying to shoot down Marrok.
Adam looked at her a bit concerned before turning back to see a soldier coming at him. He kicked the soldier down and struck another one with his sword.
Ilia swung Lightning Lash towards Daphne, who ducked under it before dashing and clawing at her arm. Even with aura protecting her, she flinched and screamed, "Ow!"
Daphne looked at her claws and smirked. "Looks like these are sharper than I thought."
Before the chameleon had a chance to strike back, Daphne dashed to claw at her again, only for her to jump back... right into Marrok, who had twin curved blades. He slashed at her left arm. She screamed in pain. Daphne came at her from the right, and Ilia's aura began to flicker in a flash of forest green.
After a brief montage of being slashed several times by one or both of them, Ilia's aura broke completely. Daphne picked up her weapon after she fell to the ground.
"Well done Daphne." Marrok complimented. "Take her away!"
Sienna, who had been strangling a soldier, looked in shock as Daphne dragged their remaining ally away. "Ilia! NO!"
She tried to catch up with the traitor carrying Ilia away, but her path was blocked by Marrok. The High Leader swung quicker, grabbing Marrok's arm, only for him to grab Sienna's whip with his free hand. He swung her around, trying to shake her off. She felt dizzy as he took her whip and spun her around.
Adam, still fighting the horde, smirked and quietly chuckled. And with Ilia taken, none of my allies stand in my way.
With a burst of adrenaline and anticipation, he rushed through taking down the last soldiers as Sienna took on Marrok.
She wrapped her whip around Marrok's right blade and yanked it out of his hand. Once that was done, she took the whip in both of her hands and directly stabbed the electric dust blade into his arm, causing him to scream in agony. His aura flickered in a flash of white and Sienna activated her semblance, making Marrok's aura break and her aura continuously glow around her. She twisted his arm with the whip, causing him to scream even louder.
The tigress kicked him in the gut, breaking his aura. She stole his mask and punched him in the face. His red eyes widened in pain and terror before he hit the ground. Sienna stood over his unconscious body, about to kill him by stabbing the dust blade directly into his neck.
"Sienna." Adam spoke. "We need to go."
The High Leader realized Marrok was unconscious and so were his allies. She left Marrok alone and ran to catch up with Adam. As they made their way to the final staircase, Sienna stopped before the blue steel staircase.
Adam, about to take his first step upward, noticed and turned to face her. "High Leader? What's wrong?"
The tigress didn't say what was really on her mind, responding with, "Athena... She caused so much chaos and destruction. It doesn't matter who stands in her way, she'll kill them all." She looked down sadly. "Do we really stand a chance against her?"
"I believe we do, High Leader Khan. It looks bad now, but we can still stop her. She'll be outnumbered and outmatched." He flashed a smirk. "That winged menace doesn't stand a chance against us."
She looked at her left hand. "We're already hurting from the fights we fought, but don't have much time to rest." She turned away from him so that he couldn't see her tormented look. "If we don't stop Athena, she'll could find us on our own, or worse, kill off what few allies we have left."
I know Adam agreed to help me defeat Athena, but why does something still seem wrong? Sienna asked herself silently. Is Salem's magic getting to me? How much of my sanity have I lost? Do I even have any left?
He grimaced. "We can't waste any time here. Are you ready?"
Maybe... maybe Adam has changed. But maybe I'm making a bad decision. I hope I can trust him...
She slowly turned to her subordinate and looked at him solemnly. "Yes."
And so, with Adam taking the lead, they gradually ascended the stairs to face Athena.