Hello again my wonderful readers. Thank you all for all the support since the last chapter. I appreciate the kind words I got, and I hope to repay that kindness with a high quality and enjoyable chapter. This one is going to be action-packed and you guys are going to hate me with how I end it. I already know that.
Beta: CrowSkull
The Blind Huntsman
Chapter 56- Volume 1, Episode 23
Highlight of the Night
Orchid started off the chaos by sending her identity clones after Adam in a blur of red, blue, and green. She hung back and kept her distance and her sword at the ready just in case her projections were defeated. Her semblance's greatest weakness was the fact that she had to keep still in order to cast it, but after training with it for two more years, she has learned how to use it and still be able to move at the same time. Albeit limited, she is able to at least defend herself now while keeping a heavy concentration. It is still too dangerous for her to enter combat personally while she is using her semblance, especially against someone like Adam Taurus, but she was at her strongest right now, she was confident that she would at least be able to hold him back while her allies fought their opponents. They would back her up when they won, she was sure of it.
Adam held a solid defensive stance as the projections all came at him from all different angles. The red screaming one coming up the middle, the fencer on the left, and the one wielding a blade similar to his on the right. His clothes turned dark and his hair glowed red as he sent out three dark shadow clones of his own to meet each of them. Their battle would start as a contest of attrition, through their own semblance created clones, Orchid and Adam stared each other down, prepared for any outcome.
Blake and Ruby shot off to meet Sienna Khan, who dashed toward them with speeds that nearly caught them off guard. Despite having experience and strength on her side, Ruby had a semblance that made her much faster than the tiger faunus, pulling herself and flinging Blake back to avoid the supreme leaders opening attack. Ruby burst into a flurry of rose petals and jumped on top of one of the storage containers, Blake knew what her teammate was trying to do and locked weapons with Sienna. Her chain whip wrapped around Gambol Shroud and her wrist, but she was able to prevent herself from being thrown off balance and dug her heels down. Sienna turned her eyes and saw Ruby taking aim at her, and narrowly dodged a sniper round that would have hit her right in the temple had she not leaned back in time. Taking her chain whip with her.
"Her semblance is focused breathing!" Blake shouted to Ruby. "She can increase her strength and speed many times as long as she holds her breath."
"Got it!" Ruby called back to her.
"Tch," Sienna whipped her chain to the side, assuming a new stance. "Stupid girl, you are digging yourself a deeper grave every time you open your mouth."
Blake didn't rise to the bait, not that Sienna expected her to anyway. She instead went down into a low stance and broke Gambol Shroud into its two blades, the short one edged katana-like blade in her main hand, and the cleaver in her off-hand. The ribbon connecting them in the middle. Sienna eyed her down and kept watch on her, while also keeping an eye on the red blur that kept circling them. She caught on to their desired strategy right away, Blake, most likely being the better upfront fighter was going to directly combat her, she wouldn't win on her own, she should know that. Sienna was the supreme leader of the White Fang for more than just her ideology. So the red one, Ruby, was going to provide fire support and make hit and run attacks with that pesky speed semblance of hers. It annoyed her somewhat, how a young girl was able to surpass her many years of agility training by purely being born with a convenient semblance. That was alright, however, all she needed to do was put down Blake while watching out for red. Easy enough.
Except it was much easier to plan than to actually put into action. Blake has not been idle in these past two years, and as they fought she could see the increased flexibility and skill that Blake put into her attacks and defensive maneuvers. Her semblance was improved as well, every time Sienna felt like she was going to land a meaningful hit, Blake would move back or to the side and leave behind a clone to disorient her. And in that short moment of hesitation, Ruby would punish her by either shooting her in the back or making a pass with her scythe.
Sienna grit her teeth as she took the blow to her auburn aura. She still had plenty left, but the frustration was taking its toll. The next time Blake attacked, Sienna dodge and grabbed her forearm, Blake widened her eyes and left behind a clone, but the supreme leader knew what she was going for and swung her chain behind herself. Blake yelped in surprise and pain as the chained blade whipped against her body and aura, she fell backward and tripped over herself, and she barely crossed her arms across her body to protect herself as Sienna threw a crushing sidekick against her torso. She went flying away with the momentum and tumbled across the ground, and Sienna was quick to try and take advantage of the large opening she had created for herself.
Ruby put a stop to that immediately, getting in the way and parrying away Sienna's blade as it flung out to stab Blake in her shoulder. Sienna held her breath and narrowed her eyes in focus as she dashed forward, feeling her strength and speed increase as the world slowed down before her. Even in this state, however, Ruby was still faster and able to block her attack. The young girl proved herself to be no pushover as she twirled her scythe while shooting at the same time to create a mirage of rose petals and gunpowder. Sienna blocked a kick to her face with an arm as she watched the girl twirl on the staff of her own blade, and parried next attack with a gripped chain blade firmly held with both hands. While they were locked in a contest of strength, Sienna was easily able to slip through Ruby's guard.
Ruby yelped as her arms were thrown to the side and she nearly lost grip of Crescent Rose, her legs twisted with each other and she found herself off balance. Sienna smirked and held out her weapon as to try and end the girl right then and there, but before she could get close enough Blake recovered and smashed her cleaver against her protective leather wrap around her forearm, it was hard enough to create sparks against Blakes blade and with the force the two of them both flipped backward. Sienna toward storage containers while Blake stumbled into Ruby, who caught her before she could fall.
"She's too strong to take head-on," Ruby told her as the two of them stood beside each other once more. "We have to go back to what we were doing before."
"Agreed, but she is better than me," Blake admitted shamelessly. "I can hold her off for so long."
"I'll increase the pace of my attacks then," Ruby promise with a nod. Blake nodded back and the two of them stood against Sienna Khan once again. The tiger faunus flailed her chain whip to her side in a perfect circle as she slowly matched their circling, then suddenly dashed to the side and into a cluttered group of storage containers and toward Penny and Sun.
Ruby cursed and used her speed to enter the field of metal crates. Blake cursed as well and rushed to meet her, seeing the spark of blades clashing against each other as she did so. When she rounded around the corner, she saw Ruby and Sienna fighting with each other once again, but this time her surroundings were littered with the dead bodies of the White Fang. Her eyes widened and she looked to Ruby in shock.
"It wasn't me!" Ruby cried out when she noticed Blake staring.
Of course it wasn't, Blake shook her head to get that silly thought out of her mind. This was Ruby she was thinking about. She would be surprised if she would be able to kill a harmless fly… or at least a person or a friendly animal. Sienna was snarling and obviously agitated, but despite that Blake was able to tell that she was subtly holding her breath. Ruby wouldn't last much longer against her, so Blake used up some of the small amount of dust she was able to borrow from Weiss and stuck the orange dust crystal into her weapon. She felt the orange lightning crackled around her as she flung herself in between Sienna and Ruby right after the former slammed Ruby against a metal wall. Right before they clashed blades, Sienna widened her eyes as Blake left behind a new clone, this one being made of pure orange lightning with her own face. It was too late to halt her attack, and Sienna found her body crackling with lightning tensing up all of her muscles to the point where she could barely move. Then together Blake kicked the tiger faunus away into the other side of the combat field and behind concrete barriers.
"These people…" Ruby said as she pushed herself unsteadily back up to her feet. There were about half a dozen dead members of the White Fang, their faces set in shock as they laid dead flat on their backs. "This wasn't us… was it?"
"I doubt it," Blake looked back toward the ginger girl fighting with Sun. "I don't think Penny would have killed any of them either. This wasn't us, I don't think so."
"What happened here then?" Ruby asked, her eyes set in shock as she was barely able to keep her eyes away from the bodies. "A traitor?"
"Perhaps…" Blake frowned at a thought. "Or perhaps we aren't the only ones here trying to stop this White Fang raid."
"Argh!" Sienna exerted her voice loud as she kicked away the concrete cover and toward Blake and Ruby, who both narrowly dodged the collision as they jumped and flipped back onto the storage container behind them. Below them, they could see Sienna seething with anger, veins popping out of her forehead and face as her features turned darker with rage. She knew that the two girls before her couldn't possibly be responsible for the deaths of her White Fang that laid all around her, they were way too busy dealing with her after all. But even despite that logic, the sight of the blood of her people spilled onto the ground with such fearfulness splayed out across all their faces was enough for the leader of the White Fang to be sent into a frenzied rage, and unfortunately, Ruby and Blake was right in the center.
"Sienna, wait!" Blake called out to her, admittedly fearful of Sienna's anger. "Just stop this, all this fighting is just going to lead to more of this on both sides. Is that what the White Fang is known for?"
"What do you know of the White Fang?" Sienna barked back as she flailed her chain whip at the two girls. They both dodged in different directions, Ruby taking aim at her from her position while Blake jumped down to confront her old friend. "You wouldn't know loyalty even if it slapped you across the face traitor. You left when we needed you most, and in the worst way you possibly could."
"I know," Blake said, surprising the leader mildly. "I regret leaving the way I did, but it needed to be done. If it didn't happen two years ago, it would have happened one year ago, maybe less maybe more. I joined the White Fang to become a revolutionary!" Blake cut one hand through the air as if to make her point. "Not a terrorist. Not this."
Sienna glared at her fellow feline for several moments, Blake glared back just as hard, despite the shaking in her hands. Sienna scoffed, Blake put on a brave face, but really she was just as anxious and scared as she's always been. She is still the same girl as she was two years ago, just older now.
"Do you think I want the White Fang to be like this?" Sienna asked her, her voice bitter and cold. "Do you think I want our entire race being branded as monsters and terrorists? Of course, I don't! It's like I said earlier, you know exactly why we're doing what we're doing. We don't have a choice." The supreme leader of the White Fang looked desperate with wide yellow eyes, so much so that Blake had to take a step back to collect herself. She remembered that woman very well, and all of the allies that she made them work with. Blake remembered that terrifying insane man Tyrian, and the other huge bulky man who is faster than his size alludes too, Hazel. She hasn't seen those two in years, but her fear remembered them.
"You have a chance to make things right!" Ruby suddenly called out, shockingly holstering her weapon as she jumped down from her advantageous position. Sienna looked to the human curiously. "You're the leader of the White Fang, you can change things! If you're being forced to do these things, then just call for help. I'll help you, my friends will, and I will try and convince Ozpin to help as well. You can make the White Fang better, you can break free from Cinder and help us bring her down!" Ruby held out a hand to Sienna. "Please, Sienna, I know you don't know me, and I know I am human. But some of my best friends are faunus, and one is a cross between the two. I know peace can be made, all we have to do is try."
Sienna looked at the girls offered hand and thought to herself. She stepped closer, and for a moment Ruby looked excited and hopeful that the leader of the White Fang was actually going to agree with her. But instead, when Sienna came in range, she saw in her eyes that she was being anything but cooperative.
"Pull your hand away girl," Sienna spat into her hand. Literally. "It's not as simple as you easily put it. Ozpin would never agree to this, and I have committed too many crimes to ever be a trusted person again. The same goes for most of my White Fang."
"Draw your weapon and fight," She added at last. "If you defeat me here, you can get part of your idealistic wish. Fight for that."
Ruby rubbed her hand against her clothes and sighed, her eyes looked sad as she looked at the striped woman. Blake pulled her back and the got ready to continue their battle.
"Is this our fate then?" Blake asked one last time. "Is there no way for this to end?"
"There is a way," Sienna admitted, preparing herself. "But one day you will figure out yourself in time. When it happens, you will know when." She smirked, Blake pondered in her thoughts what the woman could possibly mean by that.
Blake nodded her head nevertheless, the time for words was over, and Sienna wasn't the same woman she once admired long ago. If she and Ruby could manage it, they would try and bring the White Fang down to its knees tonight.
"Hah!" Sun shouted as he slapped his hands together and formed a symbol. His body shone gold and two spectral clones of himself, shrouded in transparent gold, shot out of his body and toward a group of members of the White Fang. The bullets shot at the two clones were useless as the two specters simple charged straight through them, the bullets leaving their bodies through the other side harmlessly as Sun took cover behind his new friend.
Penny and Mercury clashed kicks once more, and once more a loud deafening clang was heard as their shins collided against each other. Mercury winced as he felt the vibrations run up his metal legs and into his bones. Something was loose, that was for sure. He flipped backward and dodged flying swords that tried to remove the same leg he clashed against the girl with.
Roman shot at the girl while her flank was open, but the explosions did little to nothing to the girl. She looked through the smoke with glowing green eyes and Roman felt himself nervously gulping as she turned her swords away from Mercury and toward him. Ranged attacks weren't going to work against a girl like her, and her endurance and durability were out of this world. Only Mercury with his robot legs was able to match her blow for blow, yet still, the cyborg was barely able to come out even with the ginger girl. Tch, typical, these new bloods were getting more creative each generation.
"On your left!" Roman called out as he saw one of the blonde monkeys clones try to catch Mercury off guard. Key word being try. Once warned Mercury turned around and roundhouse kicked the clones head straight off, the clone fell to its knees and faded away almost like a Grimm would, but instead of fading into black particles, it faded away into gold. From through the particles, the real monkey faunus jumped through. His staff broken apart into two nunchuck like weapons with small shotgun mechanisms at the end of them.
Roman had to hand it to the kid, fighting against the athletism and blurring nunchucks flinging around at the speeds that they were going was a sight to see. But with Mercury being distracted, that meant that someone knew was now in the other one's sights.
The master criminal cursed as Penny sent her army of swords in his direction. It was really about a dozen and a half, maybe up to two dozen, but it might as well be an army. Roman jumped back and swung his cane at great speeds to parry nearly each and every one of those blades. While doing so he kept an eye on Penny herself as she kept a jogging walk to get up close to him. Clashing against her leg or fist was something Roman was entirely against doing or experiencing. His legs weren't made of metal after all.
When Penny finally did get close enough to grab one of her own swords and swing it at happen, Roman leaned back and blocked the next flying blade with his cane, then grabbed that sword and threw it away. Only for it to stop mid-air and come right back to the girls hovering armory.
"How many of these things do you have!?" Roman asked as he continued to maneuver his way and parry blades left right and center.
"Twenty-two." Penny happily replied.
"Ugh…" Roman groaned, pulling back and jumping away from the ginger in order to dodge five of them coming at him at once.
"However, I do have more." The girl added with a damn smile as even more swords left that pack on he back and flew into the air around her. About another dozen swords, from what Roman was able to count. "These will not be for you, however."
Roman grimaced as he watched the blades fly past him and toward the White Fang that were currently trying to take down the blonde boy as he fought Mercury. They panicked and screamed as the blades started to cleave through them like they were not even there in the first place. Their help was getting torn apart, and in some cases literally.
"I do not believe I said it before, but you are under arrest," Penny said as her eyes shined, a ball of green energy forming in each of her palms. "Please do not resist, I would not like to be forced into using lethal force to terminate you."
"Well, that is just the perfect way to get me to calm down," Roman said as he twirled his cane and leaned on it with the swagger he always showed off. "I am going to have to humbly request for you to not try and kill me, you're odd enough as it is. My rep would be dragged through the muck if they found out some ginger girl was the one to finally end me."
"Hey!" Sun called out as he held back Mercury, one of his forearms blocked a knife from stabbing into his neck as he held his staff in a way to push back an armor-plated knee. "Don't call her odd! She's perfect enough as she is!"
"Thank you, new friend," Penny said with a bright smile.
What the hell kind of generation am I looking at here? Roman thought to himself as he leaned his weight off of his cane.
"Anyway," He said, ignoring the words he just heard, but laughed at the way Mercury head-butted the faunus to daze him only to kick him away into a dark set of metal crates and containers. "You're weirdly strong for a girl who looks like you, you're doing a good job at kicking our asses so far. You can have all the weapons in the world, but you won't ever be able to outgun me."
Penny tilted her head curiously. "How so?" She felt curious enough to ask.
"You'll find out soon enough," Roman raised a hand, and Penny zeroed in on it immediately. There was nothing in it, but he was forming some kind of gesture for whatever reason. Intrigued, Penny allowed Roman to continue doing what he was doing.
Roman smirked at her as he snapped his fingers.
Her eyes widened as a blade appeared out of thin air, the tip heading straight toward her eye. On reflexes alone, Penny was able to raise her hand and winced as the sword went through her hand. Green sparks shot out of her new wound, and her attacker widened her miscolored eyes as Penny showed no signs of pain. But before Penny could bring forth her swords to get the girl off of her, she broke away into shards of glass and appeared again besides Roman Torchwick. Her curious grin turning wider when Penny took her sparking hand and hid it behind her back. The smile on her face no longer present.
"I present to you my secret weapon," Roman said, standing to Neo's side and presenting her as if she was an object. Neo bowed forward to greet her. "Her name is Neo, she is super dangerous, and killing happens to be something she is really good at. But most importantly, Neo listens to everything I say. Well, almost everything anyway. Oh, and she is fresh off the shelf, full power and everything."
"Here, I'll even show you an example," Roman said as he cleared his voice. Neo perked up and offered him an ear, cupping her right ear and leaning toward him. Waiting to hear his voice.
Penny's eyes narrowed at them, she was scanning them both up and down, and assumed that the pink one had some sort of illusionary semblance as well as some kind of teleporting movement. Now, however, she no longer felt cheerful, instead she felt an emotion that she rarely felt. Her friend Sun was fighting Mercury Black in a field of storage containers. Her other new friends were fighting extremely dangerous opponents, and here she was, Atlas' secret weapon herself, wounded with a stab wound in her hand.
She felt something strange. Her mind was full of thoughts she hasn't thought of before. Was this anger? Rage? It had to be. But there was one thing she did know.
"Neo," Roman called out, smirking cockily the entire time. Neo smirked as well, her teeth showing as her grin grew wider and wider. "Sic 'em."
She wanted to hurt that girl.
Adam's shadow clones beat back Orchid's own identity clones, each time one of his clones entered his body once again, Adam followed up on another strike that the clone projected. Dealing double damage. He moved with enough speed and strength that even the three most powerful of Orchid's personalities together could barely keep up with. None of them were killed off and dispelled thankfully, but two of them were knocked to the ground.
Orchid grit her teeth as she saw Adam's eyes through his mask stare right at her. Her weapon drawn, she prepared to defend herself the best that she could. Even if in this state she could hardly be considered dangerous. Adam dashed toward her, and Orchid held her sword up to defend, but thankfully a green blur got in between them before Adam could close the distance.
"彼女の悪魔から離れて！" Get away from her fiend! Samurai Orchid exclaimed as her curved greatsword, more akin to that of an oversized katana, sparked as it ground against the bright red metal of Adam's sword.
"あきらめたほうがいい," You are better off giving up. Adam replied in the same language. Samurai Orchid widened her eyes with shock as Adam proceeded to use his semblance and cut through her sword and into her body in a flash of red aura and a litter of his own version of rose petals. Samurai Orchid cried out as her body was sent rolling to the ground, her cloned body flickering on and off as the aura spared to her threatened to die off and return to Orchid.
"Aargh!" Berserker Orchid's red twin blades nearly caught Adam off guard. He blocked the first blade with his blade and caught the wrist of the other blade before it could make contact with his body. He then used his superior strength to force the girl's weapon away from him and kicked her away. Just in time for him to dodge and weave through the piercing thrusts of the turquoise intelligent Orchid's rapier. One or two attacks managed to strike his aura, but was absorbed by his semblance into more raw power. He didn't need to use just his sword to absorb it, it was just the main catalyst in which he can release it in one powerful strike which was specifically forged to be able to work in absorbing power for his semblance to take in and release.
He parried and dodged the next dozen or so thrusts before he was finally able to counter. The blue Orchid widened her eyes as Adam forced himself into her guard and grabbed her blade with his gloved hand. She tried to pull it back, but the leather gloves and tight grip were just too much. Her eyes widened with terror as his hair began to glow red, and the aura around them turned black and white.
Thankfully, Berserker Orchid crashed into his side and cut off his semblance, making him waste power by sending it into the ground. Adam groaned and grabbled his way out of a disadvantageous position while somehow still holding on to the tip of the thrusting sword of the Blue Orchid. He sheathed his own and crossed his open arm over his face and vital points as the red Orchid began to tear into his aura. He winced as he felt the blade smash against his forearm, chest, and shoulders over and over again, and after he felt his aura drained by a chunk he flicked his head forward in an opening and smashed his masked head against the red Orchids face.
Berserker Orchid was nearly knocked out from the blow as she flung backward. Blue Orchid looked on with wonder as she saw the way Adam's hair just stopped glowing once the berserker landed on the ground. He must have used his semblance to enhance his next attack not in his blade but within his skull and mask. It was a wonder how Berserker Orchid even still had enough aura to spare at all after taking a blow like that.
Adam let go of her sword in order to do it though, and he suffered for it when Intelligent Orchid tried skewering him through the side so that her blade came out through the other. It sadly did not happen that way and she ended up the one getting punished as Adam slammed his elbow into her face. She felt one of her teeth come loose as she flung backward and rolled across the ground.
Adam stood back up on his feet and dusted himself down, his sword hand kept on his hilt just in case one of the clones decided to jump out at him again. He looked around and saw how each of them was either knocked out or injured. While the main magenta Orchid hung back with sweat dripping down her face. A sign of her overexertion coming through.
After one more look to each of the three clones that the girl created, Adam stepped through in between them and started pacing his way toward the true Orchid. She gave him a run for his money, he could respect that. Had she been a faunus he would have offered her a spot in the White Fang. But she never stood a chance in the first place. He was taking it easy on her, and he still won quite handily.
Sensing the three clones behind him stand back up, the world around him became black and white. His hair glowed red and his sword shined as he slid it out of it's sheathe. He turned and swung in a wide horizontal arc, slicing everything in half as he did so. Through his mask, he could see all three of the identity clones split into two pieces, and then watched as they all faded away into raw aura and returned to the main Orchid.
He spun around again and caught the greatsword overhead strike before it could cleave into his shoulder, and kicked the girl away.
"Impressive," Adam said as he flicked his sword to the side, getting rid of some of the fake blood that came from the identity clones. "You sacrificed your great weapons to try and get the jump on me, if I was any younger and dumber I may have fallen for it."
"Yeah?" Orchid propped herself up on her sword and used it to support her weight as she stood. "Well, your face is stupid."
Adam shook his head and continued. "Surrender now, final warning. If you don't, you'll end up the same way as your clones did."
"I-I…" Orchid trembled, Adam sighed. She was afraid now, how disheartening. He might just leave her alone anyway-
"I'd like you to see you try you red-haired taint licker!" I-Don't-Give-A-Single-Fuck-Orchid suddenly screamed out, flipping the middle finger up toward Adam as he stared at her with a surprised expression. "You and your stupid long red sword, you trying to compensate for something there? Huh, tiny dick? Is that why Blake ran away from you?" The rude Orchid giggled. "How sad!"
Adam groaned and slid his sword back into his sheath, doing his best to ignore the insults. "Are you going to surrender?" He asked one final time.
"Wait, I thought before was my final warning?" Orchid asked, teasing him. "Or is it the next one? I don't know, you stupid comic book villains always confuse me." She said as she took her sword out of the ground and aimed the tip at him. "C'mon tiny dick, let's see you try to make me scream."
Disappointing. Adam thought as he prepared to end the girl. He wasn't aware that she was this… eccentric, but it seemed like something was wrong with her. He gave her a chance, if she wanted to squander it and insult him like a child in her final moments, then that was her choice to make.
In one fluid motion, he dashed forward, watching as the girl continued to flip him off and stick her tongue at him. To her final moments, she would ever be defiant it seems.
Before he could finish her off, and before he could get his sword out of it's sheathed, he felt something grab his arm. His senses screamed for him to halt his attack and he did. He might have saved his arm when a silver shiny curved blade almost sliced into it. His new opponent didn't stop there, and he drew his sword to face the masked man. They clashed blades with each other three times, matching each other's strength with each strike before stopping and coming to a standoff.
Adam narrowed his eyes at his new opponent. "You must be Stone Face," He said darkly.
"Stone Face?" Orchid echoed, coming back to normal as she registered her savior finally. She couldn't see the man from behind, but she could see the clothes he wore. Dark combat pants, designed to hold throwable weapons, a black sweater with nothing much special about it other than a leather strap around his chest and side with a red symbol stitched into his right sleeve, and a pair of black shoes of some kind on his feet. It was just as she saw on the news after Qrow had a run-in with him. "You're him…" She said, not knowing how to feel about the vigilante being the one to save her. From what she's heard, his tactics weren't the kindest. "Stone Face…"
"You idiot," Stone Face replied in a dark muffled voice. "I lost my cover coming to save you. If your plan was to get yourself killed fighting this man, then you were doing a great job of it."
Orchid didn't know how to reply, he was right after all. If it weren't for him, she'd be dead right now.
"As for you," Stone Face aimed his sword toward Adam. "Where is she? I know she is here somewhere."
Adam tilted his head with curiosity. "I know not who you speak of, race traitor." He replied. "The only one you should be worried about is me, you've killed countless of my White Fang, I will make you pay for each and every one of their lives."
"Their lives were forfeit the moment they joined the White Fang," Stone Face replied, sparking anger within Adam. "After everything they did, you should count yourself lucky that I am the only one actually trying to do anything about them. You are all monsters, worse than the Grimm… I simply treat them as such."
"You know nothing, vigilante," Adam growled. "But I will teach you not to take us so lightly. Words are useless, I hope you are as dangerous as you have been made out to be."
Stone Face took a stance before him.
"I'll fight with you!" Orchid exclaimed, taking Stone Face as her temporary ally and standing beside him.
She found the edge of his sword pressed up against her chest as a response.
"You'll only get in the way, as you are now." He said coldly, pushing her back. Orchid let it happen, not because she was intimidated, but because of the blood that was wiped onto her shirt as a result of Stone Face rubbing his weapon into her clothes just now. He's killed people, today, the rumors were true. The stone mask she could barely see also had a splatter of blood on it. Wordlessly, Orchid stepped back and allowed Stone Face to take all of the aggro, then disappeared into the dark to go help her friends.
Right as she left, Stone Face lurched forward, as did Adam. Words wouldn't work here, not after the things they had just said to each other. These were two enemies who cross blades, and there was no sign of peace as their blades clashed against each other. Creating a shockwave that was heard all across the docks.
Mercury crossed his arms in defense as a joined attack from Penny and Sun together threw him back. His arms weren't metal, so they took the full force and he grimaced as he felt his bones shake and muscles scream in protest as he used them to dull the blow. It didn't do much for him getting thrown back, however, the fatigue of fighting these two was catching up to him and making his movements noticeably slower. And while the blonde one seemed to be suffering under the same effects, the ginger one didn't look like she was tired at all.
In fact, she wasn't even looking at him. Neo put on a surprised face as Penny turned left and blocked her sword with her forearm. This time the blade didn't enter her arm at all and simply bounced off of her green aura. Penny smirked and grabbed the girl by her wrist, slamming her into the ground. Neo immediately broke into glass and moved away, fading back into reality beside a huffing and puffing Roman who has came to using his cane as an actual cane for once.
"What the hell is she made out of?" Roman asked as Neo returned to him. "She doesn't look tired at all, some kind of semblance maybe? No, I would guess that to be the fucking flying swords."
"Give up," Penny repeated as she helped her ally up from the ground, and kept a hand under his arm and around his body to support him. "You are tired and your 'secret weapon' will never get the drop on me again."
"Wow…" Sun said with an exhale as he leaned his head on the girl's shoulder. "You really are incredible." He said when he shut his eyes and smiled.
"You are efficiently adequate as well, friend," Penny replied with a cheerful grin. Sun chuckled in response.
Neo snarled silently and grabbed on to Roman's wrist, but before she could take him away he pulled back. She looked back with shock as Roman shook his head at her and mouthed something to her. Neo widened her eyes as she understood their secret language, and nodded her head in understanding.
"Thing is, you might be too tough to beat," Roman said as he twirled his cane and took aim at the two of them. Penny hardened her stance and glared back. "But even if we would beat you in time, and trust me, we will. You may be tough but that kid over there was trained to be an assassin and Neo was trained to be an even better assassin."
"And you?" Sun asked as he stepped away from Penny, standing on his own as he twirled his staff with both hands and took a low stance. "What's your gimmick? Mediocre trained assassin?"
"Cute," Roman laughed. "But no, I trained myself in the art of street fighting so that I could take care of myself against people like you, hunters and those in training and whatnot. But that's not the point I am trying to make here."
"Ugh," Mercury groaned as he walked out from behind them, cracking his neck and knuckles as he looked toward Penny and Sun. "Just get to it then, I am sick of having to listen to your voice."
"Awe, and here I thought we had some kind of thing going on," Roman complained lightheartedly.
"Well, get that shit out of your head right away," Mercury said as he suddenly got more serious. "We aren't alone here."
"Hm?"
As Roman wondered what he meant, since they obviously weren't alone here, their pal Adam came out flying out of an explosion from the center of a few metal crates full of dust. Following him was another man, shorter but no less dangerous evidently as he clashed weapons with Adam. Their strength matched the other, and they broke off from one another to gain distance.
"Die!" Adam shouted as he slid his sword back into his sheath, clothes and hair darkening and shining red as his semblance activated.
The masked man cursed and leaned back with his weapon held out vertically for defense. The wide arc of red slammed into his weapon and broke it apart into many pieces, but it absorbed enough of the force for the vigilante to not be instantly killed by the moon slice. Instead, Stone Face slid back on his feet until his back slammed into a storage container. His mask cracked as half of it fell off his face, revealing his mouth and part of his nose.
Adam also wasn't in a much better state, after discharging that attack he dropped down to one knee to catch his breath. His own mask was cracked and chipped in places, nowhere near as pristine as it once was before. If that wasn't enough, the sound of shooting and metal smashing against metal was heard and Ruby came out flying out of the darkness. Her scythe rolled beside her as she came to a stop, but before the tiger faunus could capitalize, Orchid blocked and threw Sienna away. Blake came in and doubled up on that, kicking Sienna away until she was forced to retreat back to her other allies when Sun and Penny also came to the defense of their friend.
Stone Face popped something back in the socket of his shoulder, and walked up to stand with his temporary allies. Albeit it not among them and to the side, they looked at him and he barely graced them with a glance as he clenched his fists and decided to use the hilt of the broken sword to fight with since he had nothing else.
"Can we trust him?" Blake asked, keeping an eye on him.
"I… think?" Orchid said. "I don't know, but he saved me earlier. I think we can rely on him, for now at least."
"I can hear you, you know." Stone Face said as he turned to face them. "I will fight with you, you aren't my targets anyway. You don't deserve to face my justice." He said with a nod. "Besides, it looks like you're going to need all the help you can get."
Before them, Adam Taurus, Sienna Khan, the supreme leaders of the White Fang stood together along with Roman Torchwick, Neo, and Mercury Black. With Stone Face, the present members of Team KRBR stood with Sun and Penny, they outnumbered them, but quantity did not necessarily overpower quality in this situation. Their enemies all had more experience and frankly more skill.
"Are you okay?" Adam asked Sienna.
"I'm fine, those girls are just pesky to fight against when they're together. But I handled myself. You?" Sienna inquired.
"Healthy," Adam said. "The vigilante proved to me how he was able to cause us so much trouble, he can match my blows, but that's all we've been doing so far. We haven't been fighting but more like brawling."
"Heh, well, it looks like you came out on top on that front." She said, noticing Stone Face's broken mask. "Good job."
"Hmph,"
"The police are on their way," Penny reported to them, the sirens blared in the distance. "Along with a huntsman, we don't need to win, but hold them off long enough and prevent their retreat."
"Hell yeah!" Sun exclaimed. "Not needing to win is my specialty."
"I thought it was those specters you created earlier?" Penny asked, confused.
"Er," Sun stammered. "Well, yeah."
"Hah! Look at us here." Roman interrupted them. "We ended up right back where we started, a good ol' standoff. Except we each of a new ally."
"You're lying," Stone Face suddenly called out, earning all eyes on him.
"Am I?" Roman asked, raising an eyebrow.
Stone Face tightened his fist, even more, his nails biting into the palm of his hands as he stood against them. His bright aura shone as it protected his hands from being cut, but his grit teeth were seen even as he brought one hand up to his face and dragged the stone down to cover his revealed features. "You are," He declared.
"Come out of hiding, Cinder."
True to his word, his allies all gawked and widened their eyes with shock as a woman with a revealing red dress made her way out of the smoke and darkness. One of her orange eyes were flaming red, and her other one was glowing red like a Grimm's would. Her monstrous arm whipped to the side, ridding itself of the sleeve that covered it. Cinder Fall looked angry, glaring daggers at Stone Face as she revealed herself.
"You're quite perceptive," She said, her voice sounding as scary as she looked. "I suppose I should have expected that from one of the animal race."
"C-cinder," Roman backed away as Cinder jumped down and made her way to them, taking the front of the line as she continued forth toward the hunters by herself.
"I told you, all of you," She said, her voice as chilling as death when she addressed them. "That if you didn't handle this vigilante, I would step in myself. So here I am. Do not fail me a second time, and keep the other children busy."
"Your fight is with me," Stone Face declared, his voice angry and dark. "I'll make you pay for everything you did."
"Are you someone I should have remembered?" Cinder asked. Stone Face remained silent. "Maybe, but there is a lot of people that I've hurt throughout my lifetime. Hundreds, thousands," Her face split with a wicked grin. "You're probably one of them. Do you really think you're the first fool who has sought vengeance against me?" She asked, her eye flaming as more fire began to burn around her. "You'll die like the rest, and I'll tear that mask off your cold dead body to see what really lies behind that mask."
"Either way, you'll get to see it before you die," Stone Face replied coldly, and with hatred. "You're a monster, and I am going to treat you like one. Worst than the Grimm… It makes me sick just thinking that people like you actually exist."
I said… that I'll treat you like the Grimm… The memory echoed through Cinder's mind. I'm going to make you pay for what you did… monster. Followed by a bright white light. The same light that took half her face and left arm.
Cinder widened her eyes with anger and hatred.
She attacked with hellfire and a feral scream.
Oh dear, yup, there it is. I can see the reviews now. Cliffhanger after cliffhanger. I love it. For those of you who might not have figured it out yet, but Stone Face is Kai, and I am addressing him in the story as Stone Face mainly because this chapter was written from the perspective of the other characters, like Orchid, Adam, Sienna, Blake, etc. They don't know that- Well, some of them do, that this is actually Kai.
Oh… oh… next chapter is going to be a doozy. If all goes well, it will be the final chapter of Volume 1. So it's probably going to be a long one. Yaaay.
Please review and let me know what you think.
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