Sorry for the wait guys, had some things that I needed to take care of. I wanted to write as much as I could for this action-packed chapter before I went to work on Monday and it sorta worked out and sorta didn't. I'm sure some of you know what I mean. I cannot simply rush writing nor can I also take too much time with it, I'm a fast writer for the most part if you've noticed. By average, I say that if I really don't stop, I can probably write 3-4k words before two hours are up. When I'm slow, 2-3k words in 2 hours. Luckily with action stuff, I can be extra fast with, considering that most of the chapter is just fighting, screaming, classic anime tropes with my own personal touch sprinkled all over it. Just the way you guys like it!
Beta: CrowSkull
Coverart: Nova
The Blind Huntsman
Chapter 63- Volume 2, Episode 6
Accumulation of Rage
The soft yet stern hum of the Bullhead was the only thing that Kai could sense besides for Qrow's and his teammate's heartbeats and bodily functions. He could also hear the pilot and co-pilot mumble to each other as they decided on where and how they were going to land the flying machine. After some calm discussion, they decided that they were going to land about two blocks away from the warehouse that they were all supposed to raid soon as to not give themselves away, and hide the Bullheads on the roofs of tall buildings.
He also sensed Ruby practically shaking with nervous excitement, and Orchid is one of her motherly personalities soothing and calming her down. Beside him, Blake rested a hand on his shoulder, telling him that her support is his and that she is not going to leave his side as his partner. He appreciated that, even if he felt like he didn't really need her help in the first place. When the Bullhead eventually landed and the engine came to a slow halt, Qrow was the one to lead them out slowly and steadily. They were on a tall building so Kai couldn't sense the other Bullheads anywhere near him, but he knew that they were around based off of Qrow's calm nerves. As a singular unit, they made their way down through the building which happened to be an apartment complex, and disguised their movements as a friendly night out and encourage the citizens around them to remain calm in a subtle manner. Thankfully, none of them seemed to be faunus nor a member of the White Fang, and with Kai with them, they probably wouldn't have wanted to slow them down anyway with their curious questions.
After greeting the owner of the building and informing them of their impromptu landing, they were given permission to return here after the raid was completed to board the Bullhead once again to depart back to Beacon. They left the building and immediately Kai was able to sense the vast outside world and started sensing around for his other friends right away.
Jaune and his team met up with the first, and not two minutes later, Ren and Yang caught up with them as Brick and Weiss came close behind. As a large group of thirteen huntsman and huntresses, they were hardly incognito, and so they decided to split off into pairs that would stick together as they made their way toward the warehouse from three different angles.
He and Blake paired together, naturally. As well as Ruby and Orchid and everyone else with their own partner. The situation and mission being entirely serious, no one tried to crack any jokes or induct themselves into casual conversation. Not that they dared to anyway. With Qrow with them, he wouldn't be surprised if friends like Brick and Rick who didn't know Qrow very well personally would be scared of being berated by him if they were to speak casually like they weren't on a mission. However, the words that were spoken were only about positions and proposed strategies. Ren and Jaune proved to be surprisingly good at this part of the mission, with Qrow remaining mostly silent as they offered the ranged attackers such as Weiss, Ruby, and even Rick and Brick to some extent with their electric bolt semblances to take up sniping positions on the surrounding buildings. While the close-range combatants like Kai, Orchid, and Yang would set up stakeouts surrounding the building itself.
"We should find a way to cut the power," Jaune echoed over the radio stuck in Kai's ear.
"Why? Faunus can see in the dark, you know." Rick pointed out.
"Actually, that is a common misconception. While we can certainly see in darkened environments, light still needs to be present in order for our eyes to reflect and process the light and amplify it." Blake explained.
"And they seemed to have boarded up the windows and doors, the moonlight must be scarce in there. They may as well be as blind as Kai with the lights off." Weiss finished for her. From across the way, Kai far from offended, sensed Blake nod her head with approval.
"There isn't any electrical boxes that I can see," Pyrrha started, Blake was able to see her vibrant red hair flow about as she poked her head out from behind cover to scan her side of the building for any electronics. "What about you guys."
"None over here," Ruby checked in.
"Nada," Brick added.
"Nope," Nora said.
"It's probably going to be inside the building," Qrow piped up. "This building was decommissioned five years ago, so most likely the lights and everything were taken out and repurposed. The White Fang probably has some kind of generator and spare lights keeping the place on the inside lit."
"Darn, so we're going to have to go in hot?" Jaune asked, audibly gulping nervously as he did so.
"If we do, I'll make sure no bruises get to your pretty face!" Nora promised.
"Uh… sure?"
"No," Qrow chuckled. "Flirt later you two, there is probably a way that we can catch them off guard in a more safe way."
"How many faunus do we have with us?" Kai asked suddenly, tilting his head toward Blake as he did so. "Besides Blake and me, I mean."
"Technically you're a hybrid, an outcross." Blake corrected politely. "But I know where you are getting at here."
"Can you two do it?" Ruby asked. "Sneaking in there might work, but what if someone recognizes you? Kai is sorta famous at this point."
"They'll provide us with masks," Blake turned toward Kai. "And Kai isn't wearing the clothes he usually did before."
"Are you sure you two want to try this?" Qrow asked. "You don't have to, it's really risky and might not work, you know that right?"
"We do," Kai said, being the one to answer, he felt Qrow hum from all the way behind him. "We can handle ourselves for a good amount of time just in case, and if we do get caught before we can find a way to destroy the lights, then Yang, Nora, break a hole through the wall. Ruby's speed can catch up to us easily, and the rest can go from there." He sensed Blake hum her approval at his actions. He couldn't blame her, he even surprised himself with how easily the plans and strategies came to him. Simple as they may be, against the White Fang they might as well be considered super effective. "With Qrow with us, this should be a walk in the park. Are we all in agreement?"
"Question," Brick's voice piped up through the comms.
"Yes, when the fighting breaks out you can fight with Rick," Ren answered for him with a sigh. "As long as you don't forget who your teammates are."
"I no longer have any questions." Brick and Rick replied at the same time.
Kai felt himself grow an amused smirk on his face as most of his friends snickered at the short line of banter. He even heard Weiss mutter the word 'Idiots' under her breath throughout all of that. The effect they gave off naturally strengthened his desire to keep them safe.
"You might want to take the blindfold off," Blake advised as they started making their way to one of the gates that was being guarded by a pair of White Fang members, a line of innocent faunus lead into the building itself. "It is pretty recognizable to the general populace."
"Right," Only a little disappointed, Kai complied easily and untied the blindfold and folded it in half, then into a quarter, then stuffed it in his back pocket. Just to disguise himself slightly more, he also raised his hood up to cover his hair. He didn't know what kind of style he wore, but he was sure people might be able to see that and put two and two together. He couldn't hide his silver eyes with white pupils, so as a solution to that he shut them tight and grabbed on to Blakes's arm. She immediately knew what he was going for and interlocked their arms together in more natural and comfortable away. To the White Fang guards, they might be considered boyfriend and girlfriend, or perhaps relatives or just good friends. He kept his eyes shut as they got on the line and the closer he got to the building the more he had to restrain himself from lashing out after hearing. Roman Torchwicks voice slowly becoming louder and louder. The man himself hasn't done much to harm him or his friends besides fighting against Penny at the docks, but he was still someone who worked for Cinder, and as a result, he was an enemy.
"Show me your traits," One of the guards rudely asked once they finally made it to the front of the line. Thankfully in preparation for this inevitability, Blake decided to take off her bow, revealing her catlike faunus ears. Kai let his tail flutter about as evidence of his own faunus genes. "Why are his eyes shut?" The other guard asked as they leaned in to get a closer look at him. Kai refrained from wincing, the man's breath stank of manure.
"He is my half-brother." Blake lied easily. "Humans dumped chemicals on his eyes when he was a child, he can't open them anymore and has been rendered blind."
"Ah," to his credit, the terrorist before them was capable of feeling empathy and immediately felt bad for prying. "Damn humans, sorry about that. We'll make them pay for all that they have done. Though, I must ask, how will he be of use to us?"
"I can fight," Kai said, and his stature and hard-earned physique was enough to support his claim. One of them even went as far as to feel around his upper body for his muscle, and let out an impressed whistling sound as he felt all of the toned muscles.
"I can definitely tell that you've been through a few scraps," The guard chuckled. "Welcome to the White Fang, brother and sister."
"A pleasure to be here," Kai made sure to let his hate come through in his voice, letting the men before him believe what they wanted to believe.
Blake was handed two masks and handed one to Kai as they walked into the building. It was nothing like his stone mask and was actually much more comfortable than that thing, but it still made him feel sick to his stomach at having to wear something like it. He could sense Blake beside him grow more anxious and nervous as well, so it seemed like the feeling was mutual. As their arms remained interlocked, the reason for it became more than to just keep up an act.
They blended into the crowd and made sure that they were in the middle of a very large segment of them. The entire building reeked of many kinds and types of faunus and of course gasoline. If Kai wasn't so used to smelling things like that, he might have thrown up because of it. He felt bad for any dog faunus out there in the crowd with them, unless they were a part of the White Fang, anyway.
"Do you see it yet?" Kai asked. He was obviously no help here, there was only so much he was able to sense at one time and there were at least two or three hundred people in here all walking, talking and breathing at the same time.
"I do," Blake replied. "I can shoot it from here, though we are in the middle of all of them, I'd rather we wait until Torchwick is done speaking."
"Fair enough."
Upon the stage before them, Kai sensed that man, Roman Torchwick, step forward. Alongside him was someone much heavier, bigger, and more muscular. Blake saw him too, and they both felt the same feeling of dread wash over them. It was Hazel Rainart, one of the men who fought against them during the Mistral tragedy. Kai felt his hands ball into fists, one of them even being placed on the hilt of Silver Ebony. Already, this raid was going to be so much harder.
"Hello, animals and revolutionaries!" Roman greeted them with so much fake excitement it was enough to make a child cry. "I am glad you were all able to join us on this great night. Now, let me get this straight, I know, I'm human, and so is my associate Hazel whom some of you may already know. I get it, we're the worst, and I'll be the first to agree with you on that."
"However, who said that every once in a while we couldn't work together? I definitely didn't. But that's beside the point, because we all know what happens when we don't listen to Miss Fall." Angry cried and howls were heard amongst the crowd. "Sorry, sorry, that didn't come from me." Roman laughed. "But hey, with me there is a blessing in disguise. You lot aren't all here to listen to me rant, so let's cut right to the chase! Thanks to the help of a certain bull-horned faunus," He spun and pointed his cane toward the giant machine that was draped over with a large sheet of cloth, some White Fang officers were the ones to unveil the Atlesian paladin.
As always, Raven and Vernal knew where to send them.
"Long technical name aside, this here is an Atlesian paladin!" Roman exclaimed. "Officially, these are being produced to help beat back the Grimm, but we all know what the real use is going to be. It's going to be used against you helpless faunus!"
"He's lying," Kai spat silently as his nails bit into the aura on his palms while all the faunus around him and Blake roared in anger. "He's just making this shit up just to get them on his side."
"Calm down," Blake tightened her grip on his arm. "Not yet, especially not with him here, we can't afford to draw attention to ourselves."
Knowing she was right, Kai let out an explosive sigh and pretended to be as excited as the faunus around him.
"So me and my pals thought it would be a great idea to… apprehend is the legal word for stealing right? This magnificent machine, and converted it to our own very network. We're going to use their own tech against them, how ironic is that!?"
Even more thunderous applause.
"Thank you, thank you, I myself am looking forward to what you all can do with all this stuff. The light show is bound to be amazing, I'm sure." Roman chuckled. "Now for a secondary announcement…"
"Kai…" Blake pulled him through the crowd. "Hazel is staring right at us."
"Shit," Kai placed a hand on the hilt of his sword, and this time Blake didn't stop him. She herself made sure to grab the handles of Gambol Shroud as well.
"There's been a little trouble with a certain vigilante, hasn't there?" Boos and cries for Stone Face's head was heard. "If you guessed Stone Face, you guessed correctly. I've had a run-in with him myself, and damn he is really not one for mercy. I get why you all are calling out for his head right now. But you know who else you should direct your hate toward?"
A hand reached up and tore the mask right off of his face, off of an instinctual reaction, Kai spun around and lashed out with Silver Ebony. Neo flipped backward onto one hand and discarded the White Fang mask like the trash it was. She smirked at him, he couldn't see it, but he knew it. His hood was also down as well, revealing his face and wide silver eyes burning with fury. Blake cursed and drew her weapon, pressing her back against his as she did so.
"Call the others," Kai demanded as he drew his sword and warded away any approaching people while mainly keeping his focus on Neo.
"I can't!" Blake reported. "Something is jamming the comms!"
Kai narrowed his eyes with a harsh realization.
They knew they were coming, and they planned for it.
"Not even Kai Matsuoka, who is a famous hero of the unfortunate Mistral tragedy," Roman chuckled darkly as he crossed his arms and stared directly at them, beside him, Hazel groaned irritably. "Is willing to give the faunus a chance, him and some friends of his came here with the intent to shut this entire operation down! Little did they know, the paladin here isn't even operational, they were stupid enough to believe I'd actually show off tech like this to new recruits, Ha!"
"What are you doing?" Hazel whispered to him. "This wasn't part of the plan."
"Making it up as I go, big guy," Roman winked at him as the lie very easily flowed through his lips. "Is that really the symbol of hope and equality you all want to have representing both the humans and faunus? 'Cause I sure as hell don't."
"He's lying!" Kai screamed out to the crowd around him. "You are not my enemy, the White Fang are terrorists! You are all making a huge misunderstanding!"
His pleas fell upon deaf ears, with an irritated groan, Kai shook his head and gave up. The faunus around him already made up their minds about him, and they already hated it. He could sense it through all of them. They wanted him dead, he just went from hero to monster in their eyes. What irritated him more was that Neo chuckled silently mockingly, then slowly drew her sword out of her umbrella.
"So, how about we send the world a message?" Roman said at last as he waved his hand across himself and directed the faunus to make a path for him. The path turned out to be not for him, and for someone who was much worse. Blake widened her eyes with shock as she realized who it was, and Kai cursed and gripped his sword tightly as he sensed the scorpion tail scraping against the concrete floor as the crazed Tyrian Callows started making his way toward them.
"Oh, happy days," Tyrian cackled as he continued on his warpath. "I don't believe we've ever met before, little Kai. Though I hear you are the one who tore out poor Cinder's eye and arm." He giggled. "I thank you for that! If it wasn't you it would have been me! Let me show you my gratitude as a result… Hehe…"
It was him, it was the man who attacked his father and sparked this entire change in his life. The man who helped distract Ozpin so that he couldn't get to him in time to fight Cinder with Malikai together. The man who has done so many unspeakable things and was something that Kai couldn't get a bead on with his senses.
"Blake…" Kai muttered in his hateful anger, his silver eyes were burning painfully as he forced his muscles to gain strength and flexibility.
"Now." Blake agreed. In a black flash, Tyrian pounced. He seemingly impaled Blake with his tail, but instead of piercing flesh he pierced an illusion. Behind him, Blake jumped into the air and unloaded a clip into the generator she saw in the corner of the room. Lights flickered on and off and the screaming started, made even more chaotic by Tyrians cackling.
After Kai was done pushing back Neo with a burst of air, he allowed black flames to float around his body. Combined with the use of his air abilities, he engulfed the surrounding area in a small tornado of black flames and directed it behind him and toward Tyrian.
Tyrian laughed as he dove into the hot fire.
"Woah!" Jaune exclaimed as an explosion of black and white blew through one of the walls of the building, rendering it to pieces of rubble and dust. "Is that supposed our signal!?"
"Go!" Qrow screamed at the top of his lungs as he fell from the sky suddenly. He was already drenched with sweat and his aura was flashing, he just came out of a fight. "Go get Kai and Blake and we're getting the fuck out of here! We just walked right into a goddamn trap! Go!"
Without giving it a second thought, Jaune burst through his cover and charged forward, heart beating heavily in his ears as the heat from the black flames washed over his body. Beside him, Nora and Pyrrha immediately covered his three and nine o'clock respectively, with Rick and Brick close behind them. Looking further through the flames, he saw Ren, Weiss and Yang along with Orchid also sprinting toward the opening that was just made in the wall, assumingly and hopefully by their friend.
A blur of red burst through the flames, Yang called out her sister's name but it was already far too late, she was already fighting inside the building. Cursing, Jaune forced his legs to move faster, thanks to Nora's training he was able to keep a fast pace.
They stopped as a man with red and brown hair with dark black horns landed in front of them. Jaune barely had time to react and had to be saved by Nora who tackled him into the ground as a slash of red and black energy swung its way toward them followed by a grunt of exertion. Fortunately, the attack became dispersed enough for Pyrrha and the Violet twins to block the rest of it while the others dodged to the side just in case.
Qrow landed before them before they could even figure out what was happening. "You again eh? I have a bone to pick with you after you took two of my fingers," the older man said as he held up one hand and showed off his crippled hand. "But I'm afraid that I am not in the mood to waste time with you right now, get out of my way, only warning."
"Says the one who planned to attack innocent recruits tonight," Adam Taurus said as he drew his crimson red-glowing sword. He was also taking in deep labored breaths, he must have been the one to attack Qrow and make him look so tired by the time he retreated to let them all know what was going on. "You go no further than this huntsman, the students I shall allow to path, but you and I have some unfinished business to settle."
"Damn it," Qrow took a stance and pounced forward, the sound of his large blade clashing against Adam's shook the entire surrounding area. "Go! I'll hold this one off myself!" Using his superior strength, he pushed forward and knocked Adam off balance, then kicked him in the side and into the building itself. He then swung downward in an attempt to slay Adam, but his crimson blade was fast enough to block it completely. They entered another contest of strength as Adam held off Qrow's large thick blade from cutting down into his shoulder and cleaving his aura in two.
"Go!" He repeated, even as Adam headbutted his stomach with his horns and tried to break through his aura with his faunus traits.
"R-right, let's go!" Jaune said as he helped up Pyrrha while the Violet twins helped each other up. Nora waited for them to be all gathered before they went forward, and they did, but Brick and Rick stopped and looked back toward Adam and Qrow fighting, using every bit of space they have while everything around them is being cut to pieces and torn asunder.
"We're going to help him," Brick said once Jaune looked back.
"He won't beat him fast enough on his own!" Rick called back. "Get in there and get Kai and Blake outta there!"
In a whirlwind of violet lightning, Brick and Rick saved Qrow from what might have been a bad hit and blew Adam away, right away the fighting started again, with Qrow not even having enough time to berate them for it. Jaune could only wonder how the inside of the building looked if just one battle that involved four people could include this much action.
"Let's go!" Nora pulled him along as he found himself completely shocked into paralyzation at the sight of the battle before him.
After building the confidence within him, he took a deep breath and ran forward toward the hole, breaking through some flames as he made his way into the building. What was in there was terrifying. Just pure chaos and ruthless fighting, blood, and darkness.
As soon as Ruby broke through the flames and saw the chaos that was the inside of the building she gasped. She shot down her own shock however in favor of looking for her teammates, and they weren't very hard to spot. Roman and some really buff guy were fighting Blake, or rather trying to catch her, as she jumped around the crowd, onto the stage, and didn't allow herself to stay in one spot for longer than a few seconds. She was just about to go try and help her, but from the corner of her eye, she saw a burst of fire and air blast around a targetted area. Squinting her eyes, she was just able to make out Kai locking blades with not one, but two people. Neo, and a scorpion faunus, assumingly a high ranking officer of the White Fang. Somehow, Blake managed to see her and call out to her.
"Help him!" The cat faunus cried out. "I'll be fine, just make sure he doesn't get overwhelmed.
"I'd worry about yourself first before you start worrying about boys," Roman taunted as he fired off explosive flares in her direction, not caring for any collateral damage as they blew up left right and center.
"You will not be able to keep this up forever," Hazel pointed out, calmly walking after Blake each time she jumped away and literally shrugged off bullets as they pelted off of his chest. "Make a choice warrior, I will not give you this chance a second time." He said directly to her, the fact that she called her a warrior meant he also knew exactly what the color of her eyes meant.
After looking toward each battle again within the span of a few seconds, she considered who to go help first. Blake was up against two dangerous opponents, but besides moving around a lot, she would be able to play keep away from them for a good amount of time for the rest of their friends to enter the battle and help her. Kai, on the other hand, looking like he was fighting tooth and nail against Neo and Tyrian. His silver blade blurred as it warded away three other sharp edges from cutting his body. If he made even a single mistake, it may as well cost him his life.
Decision made, Ruby used her speed and shot forward like a bullet. Red rose petals entering her vision as they surrounded her body and made her look like a simple spiral of red wind. Once she was getting close enough, she spun and twisted her body to bleed off the momentum, and swung Crescent Rose in a long wide arc, intending to cut the tail right off of the scorpion faunus after deducing that he has been using it as a weapon alongside his two wrist blades.
Without even looking at her, one of his wrist guards blocked her powerful attack effortlessly. She felt chills run down her spine as the man turned to look at her, his yellow eyes shifting to a neon purple as his smile was fit to break his own face into two pieces.
"Ah, another silver-eyed one for me to play with!" The man exclaimed as he broke off his fight with Kai and started pushing her back so effortlessly Ruby almost tripped over herself. Not even Qrow was able to push her back this easily, and despite her small and thin size, she was actually physically stronger than most people. "Happy day, happy day indeed! My mistress would adore me if I bring her and entire two sets of silver eyes."
Ruby bit the inside of her cheek as she felt her eyes burn with a familiar numbing pain as she used the same technique Kai taught her to enhance her strength. She was able to push back Tyrian for a moment to his surprise then deflected him off to the left.
"Your monstrous reign of terror will end today!" Ruby shouted at the man as she entered an aggressive stance.
"Is that so?" Tyrian asked as he wiped a fleck of blood off of his lip. It happened so fast that Ruby didn't even have time to process that she'd kicked him across the face with the front of her steel-toed boot. With the force she used against him, many other men would have been knocked out from the unexpected attack. "Well then, it seems like the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree, does it?"
Ruby widened her eyes with angered shock. Did he mean… her mother?
"RARGH!" Kai roared as he shot over her left shoulder and swung his sword from over his head. Tyrian laughed madly as the blade clashed into his two wrist blades, their contest of strength was so powerful that their feet dug into the concrete floor as they pushed against each other. Ruby knew that he was strong, but not that strong.
"Ruby!" The fact that his blind eyes were wider than she's ever seen them was another thing to be surprised about. "Don't fight them head-on, you won't last even with your eyes!" He called out as Tyrian thrust him away, Kai backflipped off of one hand, and before Ruby could even call for him to watch out he held his blade behind and above his head right when Neo was about to stab into his neck.
"I can't leave you here by yourself!" Ruby cried out as she dove in to help him, Neo broke away into shards of glass as Crescent Rose stabbed into her body.
"Support me," Kai gritted to her with tight teeth. "You know what to do, just like we practiced.
Ah, so that was what he meant. Ruby nodded her head as she pressed her back against his, warding off Neo as Kai kept his focus locked onto Tyrian. For a moment she was worried that he was sending her away to fight the White Fang or help Blake, but there was a reason that Kai and he spent so much time training together over the past three years. Despite them not having the luck to become the other partners, they still knew how to fight with each other better than anyone else.
Just as they practiced, Ruby clicked her heel against the ground twice and then felt Kai shoot forward to Tyrian and started battling him once more. Then, to Neo's surprise, she jumped straight up and flipped through the air, Crescent Rose shifting into its sniper rifle form and to her perspective, she was falling in slow motion. She took aim toward Tyrian, and just as she knew Kai would make it his back was turned to her. She fired off two shots before she hit the ground, at which point her two armour piercing rounds pelted against Tyrians strong aura, making him groan in pain and stumble just long enough for Kai to land a critical hit against his shoulder, making the man stagger back and hold onto his shoulder in pain, his smile left his face and was replaced by unbridled anger.
Once she landed, she landed hard. Her knees bent to bleed off the force but not fast enough for her to properly react to Neo coming for her from behind. She tried to turn to face her, but instead was knocked over by an unknown force. She figured out where the force came from as her hood and cloak started flapping about all over the place, she looked back for a moment and saw Kai struggling to hold and angered Tyrian back as he held one hand in her direction. Looking back, she saw Neo easily recover after being blown back by opening her parasol and deflecting all of the forward momentum she had, while also launching herself in the air. In response, Ruby the staff of Crescent Rose up and successfully blocked Neo's blade.
Where are the others!? She asked herself as she held off Neo and pushed her back. Unlike Tyrian, she was actually able to match her strength. They should have been here by now!
"Gah!" Orchid gagged as she found something metal and flexible wrap around her neck. The gagging only got worse as she was whipped backward away from Weiss and Ren and thrown into one of the cars on the outside of the building. To make things worse, the whip crackled with electricity and made her scream from the pain. Pushing through the pain, she grabbed the weapon directly and pulled it off of her neck.
Just in time for her to see Weiss and Ren crash into the same car beside hers, this time by a different whip kind of weapon.
"Good job Ilia," Sienna Khan said with a chuckle as she jumped down from the roof of the building, her chained bladed whip scratching the floor as she dragged it behind her. Next to her, another girl landed, she looked much younger and thinner than the supreme leader of the White Fang but her mask looked very different from the others. Her black skin shifted to a normal light brown skin color that was dotted with large freckles. Her whip crackled with yellow electricity, telling her that she was the one who tried to strangle and electrocute her to death at the same time. "I even managed to get the Schnee bitch, I'm going to enjoy putting your death on the news for the whole world to see," Sienna said with a cruel smile as she grabbed the chain before her.
"I feel the same way," Ilia said with much less hatred in her voice. "You're on her team, aren't you?" She asked Orchid.
Orchid glared as she finished coughing and rolled off of the car, her magenta eyes darkened with anger as she locked onto the faunus girl with the lightning whip, reminding her of the battle with Rick, Brick, and Qrow fighting against the dangerous Adam Taurus.
"I might," She growled as she placed her hand on the back of the car she was right next to.
Ilia whipped her weapon into the ground and snarled. "Then you will die first-"
Her voice was cut off as Orchid threw the car she placed her hand upon and watched as it clashed with Ilia's body. Orchid laughed and drew her greatsword, then thought better of her opponent and broke it apart and shifted it into two longswords instead.
"Oh yeah?" Orchid smirked devilishly as she started walking toward the girl who was recovering from the massive hit. "We'll have to see about that, don't we?"
"You two are mine," Sienna said as she stepped in front of Ren and Weiss before they could run forward and try to help Orchid as she entered a fast-paced battle with the one who was named Ilia.
"You're making a big mistake in thinking I have had anything to do with the treatment of faunus around the world," Weiss said as she held out Myrtensaster before her and pointed it at Sienna.
"True, you haven't directly harmed any faunus, have you?" Surprisingly, Sienna seemed to agree with her. "But, you are the daughter of Jacques Schnee," Weiss winced helplessly at that. "And what better way to get back at the man who has single-handedly made lives for the faunus in Atlas as difficult as it is then to send his daughters head to him on a silver platter."
Ren stepped in front of Weiss protectively, his pink eyes narrowed with barely restrained anger. "I won't let you hurt her." He said simply.
Sienna scoffed. "We'll have to see about that, won't we?"
Ren and Weiss never fought together before, but what better way to have that first time than to defeat the leader of the White Fang together? After glancing at each other, they nodded their heads in mutual understanding. They would watch each other's backs, and do their best to defeat Sienna as fast as they could so that they could get to the rest of their friends.
Yang was pinned up against the wall as two twin faunus pushed up against her. They were trying to choke her to death, but she wouldn't allow it. Using her semblance to overpower to two brothers and punching one of them in the stomach hard. But before she could continue her assault, the other twin was able to block it with his hands. Nullifying her blow and kicking away his own brother so that he wouldn't get harmed again.
The Albain brothers, as they were so kind to introduce themselves before attacking her, were apparently the right and left hands of Sienna Khan and Adam Taurus. The official news was that they were still in Menagerie looking to try and recruit more of the faunus over there, but obviously that news was a lot of bull now.
"Damn it," Yang snarled. "Get out of my way!"
"I'm afraid not," One twin said regally as he took a defensive stance.
"You will have to defeat us both before we allow you to get anywhere close to your other friends." The other twin finished as he mirrored his brother's stance perfectly.
Yang groaned in indignation as her hair caught alight because of her anger. She was really not in the mood for this shit, especially when her sister was being her sister and rushing in to help her friends fast than any of them could.
She only hoped that Nora and Jaune could do something, since they were the only ones who seemed to not have been pulled to the side by a surprise attacker.
Kai groaned as he caught his breath, down on one knee. The only reason he was giving himself this short break was because Tyrian was letting him. He just stood there in front of him, pacing back and forth, sweat dripping down his body as he waited for Kai to get back up on his feet. Tyrian didn't at all come out of their battle unscathed, and Ruby and Neo were pushed aside to battle elsewhere, making two one on one situations.
Rock pillars were spiraled up everywhere, scorch marks were plentiful, and there was still a strong breeze any time Kai took in a deep breath. But still, Tyrian Callows was so much stronger than Kai realized. He knew that he was apparently good enough to fight against Ozpin and his father albeit with help, but this was just crazy. It was like the man had limitless stamina.
"Hm, yes, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree at all." Tyrian mocked as he set his shoulder back into its socket. Kai wondered how he was able to fight so well even after the opening that Ruby opened up for him. "You would make an excellent asset for the wondrous Salem. She wants you to work with us, don't you know?"
"Why?" Kai asked as he forced himself back up to his two feet, spitting out blood mixed with saliva to the side as he did so. "Why is she so interested in me when I've made it my mission to kill every single one of you?"
"I don't know," Tyrian cackled.
Kai tried to sense for lying, but there was something so incredibly off with Tyrian that he honestly couldn't tell if the man was lying, telling the truth, feeling any kind of emotions, or anything of the sort. All he sensed from him was just… erratic movement and plain nonsense. No wonder Malikai must have had trouble with him once upon a time.
"Were you expecting me to explain everything to you?" Tyrian asked with excitement. "No, no, no, all I can say is that Salem wants you, and that other silver-eyed girl, to be brought to her directly. For what, I don't know, but I do know that she is quite fond of you… Matsuoka… Keh heh., I don't know if I should be jealous or proud of you!"
"I'm never going to work with a monster her!" Kai growled out as he held his sword out in a wild stance, his eyes were wide with anger. "To do so would be to spit on everything that I've grown to become and live for. As long as I live, I'll make sure to make her life as painful and difficult as possible."
"Funny," Tyrian said, far from offended or angered. To his surprise, he was actually very amused with him. "Once upon a time, many years ago, I believe your father said the same thing."
Kai felt his heart drop. "What? You're lying."
"Oh, am I?" Tyrian cackled. "You can tell if I am lying or not, can't you? So, riddle me this then. When Salem proposed to your father that she would let him and his wife live in peace as long as he betrays the one called Summer Rose by telling her the details of her final mission while also refusing to go with her, while also distancing himself from dear old Ozpin. What do you think he would have done?"
"Shut up!" Kai felt angry tears burn behind his eyes. "You're lying! I know you are!"
"The greatest thing about it is that I'm not!" Tyrian exclaimed. "This is all the truth! Your father is a traitor and a liar, and once we found out that he's been grooming his own son to take his place and find a way around their little deal. She sent Hazel and I do go punish him!" He giggled madly and manically. "Imagine that, just like your entire bloodline, you're all betrayers to your word and people. I finally see it! I finally see why Salem wants you on her side! All Matsuoka's betray their allies at the end of the day, I might not be able to turn you now, but what about a year from now? Five years? Ten?" He laughed even louder. "I might not even be alive to see it, but deep down in your weak little angry heart, you know it to be true."
Kai shook in his place, never feeling such anger before. Such betrayal. As he thought back on it, his father has been training him ever since he broached the topic of wanting to become a huntsman. The training was intense as well, not every child in the world would have been able to keep up with that and it was a miracle he was even able to. Then even when Malikai was thought to be dead, that message only furthered Kai's desire to take his fathers place. To take on the mantle as Ozpin's personal silver-eyed warrior.
He never had a choice from the beginning of his life. His father, and Salem influenced his choices and thoughts both directly and indirectly in order for him to make the choices he has done so far. He remembered that Cinder wasn't supposed to try and kill him back in Mistral like she did, and instead, it was to take him away and back to Salem. And for all his efforts, despite Tyrian being crazy, he wasn't lying to him.
How ironic, being able to tell when people are lying only to fall to the biggest one yet. His entire life was a lie in itself. He only got this far because Malikai and Salem wanted him to.
Was his family a lie too? Was Malienna a backup plan just in case he didn't work out? Was his mother in on it? Qrow? Ozpin? Was the reason he was pushed into Ruby and Yang's life so abruptly because they knew they would also influence him to become stronger so he could protect them?
How deep did the greatest lie go?
"In that case," Kai's hands went limp while still gripping Silver Ebony, the black-shiny blade digging into the ground. "If my fate really is what you explained it to me..."
Tyrian whistled an impressed tune as black and white flames burning so hot that they became inverted in colors flowed around Kai. His tail smashed into the floor, cracking it and turning it up as a strong cold breeze flowed through and around the entire surrounding area. His sweat crystalized and sparkled, and finally, his silver eyes glowed. Not a white light, but a deep dark black instead. His eyes were rejecting him before, but now he was forcing them to work for him. If fate decided to let others control and manipulate his choices in life, then he would manipulate fate itself and create his own path. No… he would do one better than that.
Tyrian laughed and got ready for round two.
Kai laughed bitterly as well.
"I'll just have to destroy fate itself."
And anyone who stood in his way as well.
Now that is a cliffhanger and a half. Don't worry, I love you all too. Kai is getting uh… a little angry here. Man, isn't that a surprise. In case you guys missed it from earlier chapters, out of all the families with Silver eyes, the Matsuokas were the ones who helped oust the rest of them. So most of the silver-eyed warriors are gone because of Kai's ancestors, and apparently, they all have the innate ability to betray the ones they love.
And for Kai's forced activation of his eyes, that's also something that came with a lot of planning. Remember what past Kai said to Ruby back on the docks? SE's are meant to protect the innocent and the ones you care about. While here, Kai is intending to use his eyes to kill and hurt people, the complete opposite of what SEW's are meant to do. Hence why I decided to give the activation a black light instead of white, meaning that it's inverted and if you really need a better analogy, think of it like the Light and Dark Side of the Force from Star Wars.
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