I've been really busy with Elden Ring lately. I was originally going to come back to this weeks ago but then Elden Ring came out and I had Drill and a bunch of other stuff to do that I couldn't really make time for this Lol. Well, I'm back anyways, and I'm raring to go. Been thinking about the future of this story lately, and in order to get there, I need to finish this great part first. This may be the second out of probably three chapters involving the battle of Haven, and there's still a lot to cover. I'll do what I do best and write until it all comes together.

Another thing, everything in this chapter is happening at the same time. So in total, the span of time that passes here is just a few minutes. A lot happens in those few minutes, but I thought I might as well point that out.

The Blind Huntsman

Volume 5, Episode 7

Chapter 119- Fight

Kai didn't expect Cinder to have become so much stronger than the last time they faced each other. He knew that she had gotten stronger, but by this much? In their first engagement, he could feel his muscles strain under the stress of Cinder's power, and he felt the heat of her flames wash over his body like a hot summer breeze. So hot that for a moment it felt cold. He imagined his skin was already becoming flushed red because of that. But he had to keep fighting, no matter how slick his grip was becoming on his sword and no matter how his bracers heated up with each block and deflection. Six strikes in a matter of two short seconds, he counted. Each so fast it had to have rivaled Ruby's speed. But still, it wasn't so quick that he couldn't keep up. The hairs on his skin that hasn't been burned away yet stuck up whenever he felt Cinder was attacking, and she was ruthless in her assault. There was hardly a moment where Silver Ebony wasn't flashing through the air. If he let her keep this up however, he'd never get a decent hit in, and so he felt his eyes light up, not with the dark power just yet, as he feared for the collateral damage it would cause to his friends and allies, and instead tapped into the pure silver he was teaching Malienna.

Cinder seemed to have realized the threat the instant his eyes began to brighten. She backed off instantly, and her Grimm arm spread out in front of her like an organic shield, stretching and cracking as bones were forced to pop and stretch, and then it was burned away just as quickly. Kai blinked his eyes and shut the power off just as quickly. He liked to think that he has mastered the power of his silver eyes, but that didn't mean that it wasn't still strenuous. He assessed the damage he dealt to Cinder, and in the brief moment of sight he was granted from his power he just barely managed to see that Cinder's grotesquely mutated form had begun to heal from the burning damage his eyes has caused. His tongue clicked and he placed a hand on the ground, resorting to his semblance was something he only did against powerful enemies, and Cinder certainly was one.

Neo made herself known as a ramp of spiked earth shot up from the ground like a flurry of pellets. Cinder saw her coming and didn't let her distract her. Rather than spend the precious second in deflecting her strike, she instead allowed herself to be pierced in the leg Neo was aiming for. Neo must have not expected her sword to so easily pierce through Cinder's leg, and nearly had her weapon ripped from her grasp as Cinder hovered into the air using her magic. Black ichor spilled from the deep arterial wound in her calf, but it was stitched back together quickly. She could heal then, Kai quickly put together. That would make killing her much more difficult, especially since it seemed that Cinder could heal rather quickly. Physical attacks were effective, but only for a short time. With that in mind, Kai's arms ignited with familiar white flames.

"Hah! You can't hope for your flames to match that of a maiden," Cinder exclaimed, meeting his fire with equal fury. "But I welcome you to try nevertheless!"

"Incinerate!" Kai exclaimed, thrusting one hand out and releasing a wild explosion of pillared pearl flames from his palm. Cinder caught it with two hands, and the fire seemed to have done absolutely nothing as it was absorbed into her aura. The fact that she so easily dispersed one of his strongest attacks made him pause with confusion, a moment of weakness in which Orchid would thankfully cover him for by flying up to Cinder and raising the sharp side of her greatsword into her wrists. One hand of Cinder was fine, if only bruised from the damage it dealt through her aura, while her Grimm hand was cut off entirely. Cinder let out a scream, but it wasn't so agonizing like he expected it to be. Instead, she merely covered a short retreat with a plume of ice and pushed Orchid away.

"Don't use attacks like that against her!" Orchid exclaimed, landing near him as her eyes alight with fire as well. "It'll only make her stronger!"

"So she can absorb power from fighting now?" Kai clicked his tongue with frustration. "That's going to be hard to deal with… Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Orchid was breathing heavily, feeling the strain of having her power forcibly siphoned from her was exhausting, she wondered how Ozpin almost beat her like this. "But I'm waning. Long story short, she can siphon magical attacks. But it seems less potent with semblances, so you shouldn't be too restricted like I am."

"You shouldn't fight her then," Kai said, stepping in front of her and raising his sword not too unlike Pyrrha did before him. The redhead herself was still active, but chose to stay near the unconscious Jaune as he recovered from his early encounter with Cinder. Leaving just her, Kai, and Neo against the monster maiden while Weiss and Malienna went off to help the others. "Let me handle this, I've been training to fight maidens for a while now, and I've beaten her before."

"Yeah, barely, and with help." Orchid pointed out. "C'mon Kai, this is just like old times. Team KO, back in action!"

For a short instant, Kai allowed himself to smirk at the memory of his time in Signal academy before his life turned upside down. Cinder didn't allow them a second. She seemed more than welcome to the idea of fighting all three of them at once and targeted Orchid while she was at it. She flew hard and fast, charging into Orchid and clashing her duel glass weapons against Orchid's two swords, who just barely managed to break apart her greatsword in time to block both strikes. Orchid's back slammed against the statue of the woman above the hole where the vault was. It didn't take Kai second thought to figure out where that hole led to, and he was quick to use air to catch Orchid and force her away from Cinder's grip so she couldn't be forced down into the vault. Neo flickered into existence as soon as Cinder was back on solid ground, and she attacked Cinder from behind. Cinder turned and caught her sword with her hand, catching the mute off guard as she glared at her.

"Is attacking from the shadows all you can do?" Cinder taunted as she snapped Neo's blade in half, shocking the mute just before slamming the pommel of her sword into her stomach. Neo's aura flared and she was thrown into the far wall bouncing off of it with an electric crack. Aura flickered again as she struggled to keep herself on her feet. Cinder then raised a palm toward her, eager to end the mute before she could annoy her again.

"Urgh!" Kai jumped in the way of the blast, using his bracers to deflect the fireball into the ceiling. It blasted a hole in the ceiling, causing a variety of different-sized debris to fall onto the impromptu battlefield. The bandits that Raven had brought were forced to retreat, including the White Fang, and Kai found himself momentarily trapped underneath some of it.

"How utterly disappointing so far, Little Kai," Cinder said as she held Orchid by her throat with her human hand while Orchid desperately gripped the other, pushing it away from her face as to not lose her Spring Maiden powers. "You better push past your limits soon, or your friends are going to die in front of you again." Cinder flew up with Orchid in one hand and then hovered over the entrance to the vault under Haven. Then started forcing Orchid into it, using gravity to her advantage. Orchid with all her might pushed back, refusing to be forced down into the vault only to be used to open it or be forced to give her power to Cinder. The magic she was releasing was just being absorbed by Cinder, however, and she wouldn't be able to last long.

"Wait, don't!" He heard Weiss call out to him from somewhere. She must have been busy fighting someone else, probably helping against Hazel, but Kai couldn't listen to reason now. Orchid was in danger, someone he deeply cared for and who is one of his longest lasting best friends. Images flashed of his father, then his mother, Shae, Rick, Brick… He already lost so many people he cared about to this woman, he couldn't let it happen to Orchid too!

"I won't let anyone else die again!"

Oscar found that Lionheart was not as difficult to fight as he thought he would be. But he knew that was because he was slowly gaining all of the experience and muscle memory that Ozpin has accumulated throughout his very long existence. Lionheart was a huntsman and has certainly proven his prowess in his past enough to become a headmaster as well. But that could only do so much against centuries of battle sight. Still, that didn't make the fight easy. Oscar's body was not as toned or strong as any other huntsman or huntresses would be, that made this fight a battle of attrition. Either his body would give out, or Lionheart would be defeated before he could beat him. So far, however, he was doing good in making this fight decisive in his favor.

He used his cane like a thrusting weapon. Each stab made a bruise grow on Lionhearts body. In fact, he had struck him so many times in the nose that it had become to bleed and swell up with bruises. Along with a thicker black eye that was slowly forcing the faunus' eye to shut, half blinding him. Oscar felt an uneasy sadness arise within him as he beat down his former ally in equal anger and sorrow. He knew the feelings didn't belong to him, Ozpin was to blame for that. He had really considered Lionheart to be a dear friend, and he really was heartbroken that Lionheart had betrayed him so eagerly. He didn't like the fact that he had to do this, but he knew that he was the one who had to. He was responsible for this, after all.

"Agh!" Lionheart wildly slammed his weapon into the floor, creating a transparent wall of ice between him and Oscar. It wasn't so tall that Oscar couldn't look over it though, and when they locked eyes, the faunus headmaster began to rant. "You would never understand what it's like anymore, Ozpin! What it's like to be afraid, what it's like to not have any other options! You told be of secrets and of magic and and ancient enemy and then left me alone! Expecting me to deal with all these monstrosities on my own. You just don't know anymore!" Lionheart paused to take a breath, shaking his head as he realized that it wasn't Ozpin that he was speaking to, but his current vessel. "No, you wouldn't even come out to speak to me. I should have known. I see he hasn't absorbed you yet. That's strange, he absorbed the last host within weeks of taking over."

Oscar shook his head, not allowing himself to be uncomfortable with that news. He was prepared to sacrifice himself soon, whenever Ozpin decided he was ready to be absorbed, and that was by extremely reluctant means. "I can't say I understand everything you must have went through, Leonardo. But I know it was hard, just by looking at you here. If anything, I do feel sorry for you." He said. "But that doesn't excuse you from endangering the lives of countless innocent people, and causing the deaths of dozens of good huntsman and huntresses."

"I had no other choice, boy!" Accusingly, Lionheart pointed a finger at him. "It was either that or die a horrible death by one of Salem's creatures. I tried to resist at first, I did!" Suddenly, Lionheart ripped off the front of his suit, revealing his chest. Oscar gasped upon seeing it, a thick black rune that instantly reminded him of Salem. This wasn't the same kind of symbol that Ozpin has seen on previous minions and servants of Salem, however, this one was clearly forced into his skin. Nay, his aura itself. "I tried to resist until I couldn't anymore!" Lionheart said, beginning to tear up as the black symbol on his chest pulsed along with his heartbeat. "Even now, Salem could make me suffer a painful death on a whim. I… I… I know what I did was wrong, but I couldn't resist, I didn't want to die."

Oscar almost felt that he should just leave the man be. And he almost did, but he stopped himself. He closed his eyes, prying his gaze away from the ugly brand on his chest, and opened them again looking into his eyes. "I am sorry for what happened to you, Leonardo. But that does not absolve you. Its just too late to have regrets now. If you told Ozpin before, he might have been able to help, but now…" He loathed what he was saying, but he felt as though Ozpin had taken over for this moment to speak. His suspicion was confirmed when he felt the familiar sensation of aura flashing and eyes sparkling as Ozpin took control of his body. Lionheart realized it was him the instant control was passed over, and his eyes took on a sudden flare of fear that didn't exist before.

"If it is any consolation, I'll be the one to stop you once and for all, Leo." His voice was much more mature, and to Leonardo, much more sinister. "I owe you that much at least, for failing you for all these years. I should have been more reliable… but its too late to dwell on the past." Ozpin shook his head. Lionheart didn't dare attack as the ice dust between them wore off. Ozpin hadn't even returned to a stance yet, and he knew that he didn't need to. The second Ozpin took control the battle was over. "The past can't be changed, sadly. But I will remember you for what you were, and not for what you've become in the end."

As if on cue, the ceiling exploded with bright orange fire, causing debris to fall all around them. A thin cloud of dust shot up and shrouded his vision. Lionheart blinked once, and when his eyes reopened, Ozpin was there to dish out the punishment. A jab with his cane to his knee, then to his groin, his stomach, shoulder, forearms, neck, and then to the side of his head all at once, and Lionheart let out a choked gasp and fell forward. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as Ozpin simply stood in front of him to catch him. Lionhearts aura flickered and went out, and the faunus was unconscious. Ozpin pushed the faunus off of him, and relinquished control back to Oscar. When he regained control, Oscar gasped, breathing heavily once again as he felt the strain in his body after the fight he had just had with Lionheart.

"It's over then," Oscar said, turning away from the former headmaster without a second thought. "How long will he be out?"

"Long enough to no longer be an issue." Ozpin stated matter of factly. "We have other pressing matters to attend to as it seems Cinder has managed to take Orchid down to the vault. Matsuoka's down there with them, and we're going to have to trust him to take care of her."

"He has magic too, doesn't he?" Oscar asked as he started descending down the stairs to return to a different battle. The conversation he was having with Ozpin was happening quickly in his mind, spanning mere seconds and allowing him to still concentrate on what was happening around him. He wasn't able to see what happened with Cinder's initial clash with the suddenly appearing Kai, but Ozpin was. It was like two different senses of perception being used at once. While he focused on Lionheart, Ozpin was listening while keeping track of Cinder. "He blasted her with fire, and she absorbed that."

"Yes, but his version of magic is different from my own. I suspect that the siphoning ability Salem granted her was meant to be mainly utilized against me and the maidens. She was able to absorb some of it, yes, but it's not nearly as potent as it would be against me, and that's just the latent magic that is present within Kai's semblance naturally. The same magic that is within everyone's semblances."

"What about silver eyes then?" Oscar asked as he stopped next to the girl with mismatched eyes and hair. He pushed his fingers against her neck, thankfully feeling a healthy pulse. This girl was just unconscious and would recover on her own, hopefully. There was another girl with her, extraordinarily young. Through Ozpin's memories, Oscar recognized her as the once presumed dead younger sister of Kai. "Or better yet, the darker version that he seemed to possess."

"I don't know." Ozpin replied with honesty. "We will just have to hope it doesn't work that way. Or else I fear our last hope will be lost."

"We still have another," Oscar thought, looking at Malienna as she dragged Neo away from the thickest of the chaos. "And one last resort as well."

"Let's hope it doesn't have to come to that."

Their mental conversation was interrupted by an enraged roar.

"OZPIN!" Hazel shouted at the top of his lungs as he held back both Raven and Qrow with either arms while Weiss pinned him down with gravity glyphs. He wouldn't be pinned down for long, however. The second Hazel's eyes locked with his, the giant seemed to only get stronger from anger. "I won't let you get away again, not this time!"

"Ergh… can't hold him," Qrow groaned, feeling his feet begin to slide back as the giant slowly overpowered the Schnee glyphs.

Oscar gulped nervously. He may have been growing mentally quickly, but he still found himself intimidated by the giant of a man that was Hazel Rainart. There was little usurped skill could do against a stronger being that couldn't feel pain. "Take her somewhere safe and stay put." Oscar told Malienna, who didn't appear to be all that enthused with the idea of fighting Hazel herself.

"R-Right," She responded, shoving her small body underneath Neo and opting to pick her up rather than continue to drag her. Right now, the safest place for them would probably be where Lionheart was unconscious, but at least that wasn't here with the likes of Hazel and Adam Taurus around.

"Gah!" Raven grunted as her back smashed against the wall close to Oscar. Heaving heavily, she looked over to him, one red eye cracked open. "You Ozpin reincarnated again?"

Still a little nervous because of Hazel, Oscar meekly nodded.

"Great, help us out then. Distract him, he seems to be really focused on you."

"OZPINNN!" Hazel roared, breaking out of the glyph and from Qrow's desperate hold.

Oscar rolled his eyes. "Gee, whatever gave you that idea?"

For being all on his own against four people with good training, Adam was doing well. But it proved difficult for him to fight while holding back at the same time. It really wasn't his style, and it was showing. He had to give it to the blonde brawler-style girl and that Winchester boy however, they had gotten much better than they were at Beacon. The latter of the two much more so considering that he may as well be considered fodder at that time. Now he could have been considered a meager threat if Adam didn't pay attention to him. No matter how less-skilled someone could be compared to him, being struck with a heavy mace like the one he used was going to hurt no matter what. The other two Adam didn't know by name. A ginger girl and a pink-eyed boy with a pink stripe through his black hair were equally as annoying as the other two. He really didn't want to hurt them, they weren't even his target, and the opening that Raven made in bringing Kai here to distract Cinder quickly made him the biggest focus point in the room. After the debris all fell down after that explosion earlier, Adam almost had his chance to strike at Cinder's back with all the power of his semblance after accumulating power for these past few weeks. He didn't know if it would still be enough however, which was why he initially chose to antagonize these people in the first place instead of trying to befriend them.

Cardin's semblance as it turned out, were those explosions he created after each strike with his mace. Whether he hit the ground or against him, his mace would glow a dim bronze color followed up by an earthy explosion, spilling dust and shrapnel every which way directed toward his target. That wasn't something he could safely absorb through his aura, and didn't want to try his luck with his sword either for that matter. Yang, and the two others were different stories, however. Especially the blonde's semblance being similar to his. In a different environment, in a different time when Yang was just as good as he was, they could potentially make each other stronger and stronger with the only limit being how long their aura's could last because of their semblances. He knew how to beat her, of course, one massive attack so overwhelming that not even her aura could keep up in absorbing it. Something like that would kill or severely injure her, however, and he didn't plan in harming the older sister of an unexpected friend of Ruby Rose.

Speaking of Ruby… She better hurry up and get here soon. Adam thought as he cut one of the ginger's grenades in half and in the same stroke, parrying the green blade of the pink eyed boy. I'm missing my window to attack Cinder with these four constantly ganging up on me at every given chance. At this rate, I'll have to leave myself open to make the attack or carve my way through…

If the White Fang were nearly as good as he made it back before all of this occurred, they may have been able to at least distract them. But alas, they were all defeated, and the ones that managed to last were knocked unconscious by the blast. Peeking through his mask, he could see Kai catch up to Cinder, pushing her off of Orchid and locking blades with her once again. Only this time, his eyes were brightly glowing from underneath his blindfold, strengthening himself with the power of the silver eyes. Adam clicked his tongue in frustration as he watched it only really put him on a more even playing field against Cinder. But she could still fly, and use the abilities of the Fall Maiden. Which made him wonder…

Cinder's holding back as well. Adam thought with a confused grimace as he caught Yang's fist and manuevered her away from him. And she's smiling as she fights… She's enjoying this, the monster. He should have known that Cinder would have wanted to extend this to make it as long and painful as possible. But in fact, the plan was banking on that. No matter how strong she became, aura was still aura, and right now half of her body wasn't being protected by it. His semblance would severely damage her, if not kill her. He just needed the opening and a few precious seconds, and he'd be able to make that happen.

But that was only if these four would leave him alone long enough for that to happen. He almost considered trying to reason with them but knew that it wasn't possible. Especially with the likes of Cardin around. He understood the boys unwavering hatred for him. He killed his teammates, and left only him to live and even taunted him about it several times. It was cruel and villainous of him. Adam understood that in every other circumstance that may have been available, they would all be right to hunt him down and execute him for what he has done in the name of justice or vengeance. And he might have been willing to surrender to that. But not now, not while Cinder was still alive and breathing. He had a score to settle with her after all these years of lies and abuse of his forces. The White Fang had to be destroyed because of her, and even though it was a pathetic shadow of what it once stood for when he first signed up, it was his life. If his life was going to come to an end, he was going to make sure that Cinder would be following him into hell soon after he made a home there.

Which was why he didn't attack the vague familiar silhouette of a certain scorpion faunus he hasn't seen for a long time. But he knew who he was just from the shadow of a stinger. Tyrian Callows. Adam knew that he'd be here for this event, and he only wondered why it took him so long to appear. In any case, originally, he would have had no intention of allying himself with the man but now called for desperate measures. So when Tyrian burst out of the dust cloud and slashed his clawed blades against the ginger girls chest, he didn't stop him.

"Come now Taurus! I know you're better than this!" Tyrian howled as he flipped and acrobatically kicked the girl in the stomach and away from them. He landed with his back turned to him, and he twisted his neck so far back for a moment Adam thought he might snap it. A small part of him wished he did. "Why are these children still alive?"

"Ergh," Adam refused to respond to the man. Tyrian didn't seem to mind, simply laughing and launching off to continue his relentless onslaught on the two he attacked. Leaving just Yang and Cardin with him alone. For a second, Adam took the opportunity to scan the battlefield. Cinder was still fighting Kai and the Spring Maiden, the redheaded champion, Qrow and his sister along with the Schnee and the freckled farm boy were fighting - or more like, surviving against Hazel Rainart. As expected, Lionheart must have been defeated already. Other than that, Ruby, Blake, Taiyang and Ghira's forces were likely almost here or on their way, and when that happened, Cinder would know that she was betrayed, and probably stop messing around. At that point, people would get hurt, killed, and some of those people might be ones he cared about.

Adam grit his teeth, and looked at Cardin and Yang, who were more hesitant to assault him now that Tyrian was there and he was alone with them. "Your team at Beacon," He started at Cardin, who perked up with anger at the reminder of them. "I would have let all of them lived if they retreated. But they didn't, you all attacked me, and I had no intention of killing them."

"So what, are you sorry?" Cardin scoffed, spitting a thick lob of saliva off to the side. "I know we attacked you, I was the one who ordered it."

"I know," Adam said. "I'm not saying I'm sorry," sheathing his blade, his hair started to light up, along with his clothes. The accented red color of them burning a bright mixture of red-white.

Yang, being on the other side of that attacked and nearly being killed by it if not for him redirecting it, knew exactly what he was doing. She backed up, grabbing Cardin by his arm as he did so. "We need to get back, he's using his semblance!"

"I know what that looks like." Cardin snapped. "It's what he used against my team!" To his credit, as young as the boy in front of him was, Adam did respect him for his courage.

"We were on different sides of the battle then. Something that's different, this time." With a smirk, Adam then released a loud roar, taking several seconds to push Wilt even deeper into its scabbard, and then holding it there as he charged his attack. Time began to slow for him, color turned black and white and grey with the only tint now present being red. Before he turned around to aim his attack at Cinder, he just glanced Cardin charging him, his mace low and ready to bring up to strike him in the back. Adam readied himself for a very painful blow, knowing that when his aura went down to fully fuel his attack with even more power, it just might kill him.

Moonslice but just kill Cinder on the spot if he did this though, and that was worth that pain. Energy crackled around him, the absence of color persisted all the way up to Cinder, and even she had to pause in the middle of her battle to look at what was happening behind her. She might have realized that Adam was about to try and kill her right as he unleashed his attack. His aura cracked and broke his White Fang mask right as he released his attack.

A wide arc of red-black energy covered with similarly colored flames roared across the entire hall, carefully aimed so that it didn't hit anyone that didn't need to be hit by it. From all the way across the room, Adam took a sadistic pleasure in the sudden shock and fear that lit up in Cinder's eyes as the attack sliced through the air at an impossibly fast speed. He put his everything into this attack, and the fruits of his preparation would show now in this perfect opportunity.

Kai and Orchid recognized what was happening, and managed to dive away from Cinder right as Moonslice struck her. Cinder tried to block with her arms but quickly realized that it wasn't nearly enough. Her Grimm arm was cut through by her forearm and then through her bicep, cutting it off. Her aura flared as it struck the right half of her body, and to her credit, it was holding up, but that was before it cleaved through her Grimmified left half. Cinder spat out blood as she crashed into the statue behind her, looking down at her body to see that it was nearly cut in half. Slowly and methodically, the Grimm parts started to stitch back together, but not fast enough. Cinder's eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she fell down into the vault.

Right around that time was when Adam felt Cardin's mace strike him in the back, and the following explosion that came next made his vision go black.

"Well now…" Tyrian's smile, for once went down a little at the sight of what had just occurred. "This changes things."

"Is… Is she dead?" Orchid asked as she peered over the entrance to the vault. Everything was happening so quickly, she still couldn't believe what just happened. Kai was with her on that front, leaning over the entrance to the vault with a conflicted expression on his face as he took in labored heavy breaths.

Kai took a long moment to sense the ground beneath him. He put both hands on it, feeling his senses spread out below him and deep into the ground. It was hard, going so deep underground to try and feel for one specific thing, but thankfully the giant hole in the ground made it much easier for him to pinpoint her. All the way to the bottom of the long, seemingly bottomless hole, he felt something strike the ground. Kai flinched, feeling all the cracks on one half of the figure all at once, but he was focused on something much more specific. Not too long after Cinder struck the ground, Kai felt her move.

Angrily, he grit his teeth. "She's still alive," he said, ripping his sword out of his scabbard and preparing himself to jump down. "Adam… I don't know why he decided to change sides so suddenly, but he got very close to killing her. If he was able to release that a second earlier, he would have cut her all the way in half instead of just cutting through her left side."

"We have to stop her while she's weakened." Kai was surprised at how easily Orchid seemed to want to kill her as well. Her eyes flamed on with a new inspiration, a second wind. "This might be our only chance to kill her now that she's gotten so strong that even you can barely keep up with her. We can't pass this up."

"You're a maiden," Kai said. Suddenly coming to the realization himself. Everything was happening so fast before he didn't get the chance to think about it until now, but Orchid was the Spring Maiden. Now that he was thinking about it now, there was no mistaking it. "She'll just absorb your magic and heal from it. You're better off up here, help the others-"

"No!" Orchid snapped, striking him in the shoulder suddenly. "The last time I let you do things alone, I didn't see you for a long time… I thought you were dead, all this time… I won't go through that again. We do this together, we're teammates, aren't we?"

Kai was still conflicted, Cinder had to be much weaker now that she has suffered so much damage from Adam and then the fall, so maybe that meant that they could kill her before she could siphon from Orchid. But if that was wrong… It was a risk, but he didn't see any way to dissuade her right now. Besides, she was right. It was probably now or never, and Kai really wanted to make sure that Cinder would never harm anyone he cared about again. He wanted to be the one to drive his sword into her heart, killing her once and for all.

"Together then." Seeing no way to convince Orchid otherwise, Kai leaped into the vault, Orchid following suit just after him.

And there we go. Finally, we are back to this story. Ugh, I was thinking before how I wanted to write a lot of chapters for this in a row, but then Elden Ring came out. And before that, I had my first Drill in my new MP Company, and THEN I had to do a ton of homework for them as I was being taught a bunch of new stuff I was never taught in Basic and AIT. It was all fun and I enjoyed it, but after it was all over I suddenly remembered that I had a story I need to finish. A few of them, in fact.

On that topic, I decided that I am going to focus on one story at a time. It means that my other stories are going to be on pause for a long time, I know. But I am also working on my book at the same time. That book is almost finished, and this story right now is the most important to me since I started it so long ago and it's actually nearing some of its final arcs as well. So, one fanfic project at a time. Who knows, maybe, and probably, I'll go and continue another story if I get the urge to. But failing that, I'll finish this story, and then move down the list of most popular or just the one I want to write the most. You'll see what happens.

See ya next time.