It's been a while since I last wrote an action scene. It's not perfect, and I am a bit unsatisfied with it. But it's 5 AM and I haven't slept, so bear with me. I still hope you enjoy.

XXX

Chapter 3: Tears and Fury

XXX

Salju gazed at her foe, eyes and heart steeled. She had no idea how strong her opponent was nor the details of her semblance. Maybe if she knew WHO her parent was then she could make some educated guesses, but right now the best she could do is prepare herself for whatever surprises this Leone girl has up her sleeves. She didn't even have to win this duel since everything was stacked against the blond-haired girl.

They are currently standing on the rooftop of one of the most prominent huntsmen schools in Remnant, filled with hunters in training, school staff, and hardened veteran teachers who would without a doubt investigate the sudden ruckus that they would make. Time was always on her side-

Her eyes widened when Leone's fist appeared in front of her face. She didn't even manage to process anything before it hit her square on the face and the sheer force of the impact threw her several meters. She instinctively created a glyph of gold to stop her moment right before she was about to be thrown off the building.

Fast-?!

Before she could even finish her thought and gather her bearing the sole of a combat boot kissed her right on the face and it threw her THROUGH her glyph and into the dark Emerald Forest below.

"HMMMM!" A gag Jaune screamed in panic at the sight.

Leone leapt after her without hesitation and landed next to the impact site. Salju was waiting for her with barely any injuries, already recovered and had assumed a fencing stance. "You inherited the Schnee semblance, huh? You must be Weiss's kid. It'll be easier for me then."

*BANG*

The blond-haired girl didn't flinch and moved her head to evade a dust-filled bullet. From the red colour, she guessed it was a fire dust. "You're gonna need to be faster than that-" Her words stopped in her mouth when a fire dust bullet HIT her on the back and created a huge explosion.

"I don't need to be faster, just smarter." Salju smirk. It was a dust bullet filled with high-grade fire dust, so even with aura it would HURT. "If you are so confident against my glyph then you should be able to foresee me using it to move my bullet."

Now that she had caused an explosion, the staff and teachers would come and investigate.

Leone growled, she looked behind her and barely saw a golden glyph disappearing. "Repelling glyph, huh? Cocking little shit." She stood back up and even after a direct hit she didn't look a bit fazed. "I'm getting serious, so let's see if you can keep it up." She charged at the silver-haired girl with a burst of speed.

In response Salju formed two glyphs between them and as the blond-haired girl easily destroyed one of them with a single hit the Arcshnee fired a shot, a lightning bullet, through the second glyph which hit the blond directly on her chest. The sound of lightning roared into the night and she saw Leone staggered from the hit. But she recovered just as fast and continued her charge.

What a tank! Is she part Goliath?! Salju was forced into the defensive again, dodging, blocking, and once in a while counter-attacking but any thrust she made was easily blocked by her opponent's dark gauntlet. It was clear to Salju that despite her combat style favoring duels her foe are faster and stronger than her. She can't even stop to think as Leone continues her onslaught. CQC is her speciality. I need to create distance!

But it was easier said than done. Leone didn't give her enough space to put a glyph between them so Salju had to get creative. She created a repelling glyph behind her, dodged one of Leone's punches and let it hit the glyph behind her and the sudden repulsion staggered her back a bit. She created another one under her and used it to propel herself into the air and away from the blond. She fired two more shots at her, water and wind dust bullets, to discourage her from following.

So of course Leone followed after her anyway, using the same repelling glyph to leapt after her, taking TWO direct hits from her shots in the process. Her leaping force was such that two elemental explosions only slowed her down.

"Damn-" Salju thought for a second to fire another shot, but she stopped when she remembered what she put as her fifth bullet. She could try to dodge with her glyphs, but at the speed they were going she doubted she could do it. So in a half-second split decision, she instead reinforced herself and took a hit from Leone who smashed her downward to the ground. The silver-haired girl grunts in pain and summons several glyphs to soften her fall.

"Okay princess, let's get this over with." Leone landed next with no sign of fatigue.

Salju slowly stood up, she looked haggard and very exhausted. "Yeah... Let's." She aimed her weapon and fired.

But not at Leone.

The bullet hit the ground near her and exploded in a large explosion of green, where from the ground sprouted forth huge plants similar to tentacles. "What the fuck?!" Leone was taken off guard as the plant wrapped itself around her.

"Do you like it? It's one of Arcschnee Holding's latest creations; modified plant dust bullet." Unfortunately, as it designed to be used as a weapon for her, it's not commercially successful as the plant would entangle anyone who is not her. "Surrender, now."

"Fuck you!" Leone struggled and broke some of the plants that entangled her only for more to appear. "What the hell is with this plant?!"

"It's designed to keep regrowing if touch by aura, and as long as you're not me then it'll keep entangling you." Of course, the plant would only survive 6-10 minutes before it dies, but she's not telling her that. "So just surrender." Salju tried to smiles smugly despite her fatigue. She leaned at a nearby tree, catching her breath.

"That right? So you're telling me this plant absorbs aura?"

"Yes."

Leone scoffed in amusement. "Okay then. Since it wants aura so much, why don't we give them some?"

"Huh?"

Leone let out a burst of her aura and let the plant absorb it. She smirked, "You want it right? Think you can live with it? Then take it, TAKE IT ALL!"

Salju's eyes widened, "No stop what are you doing?! You'll die!" Leone didn't listen and continued to let the plant syphon her aura. Much to the surprise and horror of Salju, the plant began wilting, getting weaker and weaker until it died, leaving only its empty husk. "What...?"

Leone began walking toward Salju nonchalantly, cracking her neck. "Aura eating plant, huh? I swear you Schnee are devious no matter the timeline." She cracked her knuckles next, smirking triumphantly. "So, ready for a beat down?"

"How...?"

"Huh? Do you want to know? It's simple. It's my semblance." Her smirk turned predatory, "See, I have this nifty semblance called 'Fading Flame' that made my aura poisonous like burning venom." She stared directly at Salju's eyes. "You want to know another cool thing about this semblance? It lets me share my aura with someone else, and all they need to do is stick close to me."

It was then that Salju was hit by a revelation. Leone's preference in CQC and her over-aggressive pursuit of her was to maintain her semblance. She tried to stand up but fell to the ground instead. "Ah..." She could feel her aura-, no, Leone's aura BURNING inside of her. Every movement now felt sluggish and painful.

Leone chuckles, "Finally feeling it huh? Yeah, I heard it's not a nice thing to feel." She continued moving toward Salju, "Now to take care of your pest-"

*CLICK*

A giant chunk of ice suddenly hit Leone on the side and threw her a few meters.

"STAY AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!" Weiss Schnee fired off more ice toward the blond girl, who destroyed each one with her fist.

"Great, another Schnee." Leone prepared to charge but was stopped when she had to dodge a blur of red. "UGH!" The blond blocked an attack from behind by Blake, who was surprised by the blond reaction. "FUCK OFF!" At a surprising speed, Leone strikes Blake across the face and the sheer force throws her several meters away.

Ruby goes around again for a drive-by, firing her weapon at Leone who easily blocks it with her gauntlets.

Then...

"The cavalry's here!" Yang, in all her glory, arrived last with a post and confident grin.

That voice... Leone turned her head toward the new arrival, her eyes went straight to the boisterous blond of the group. It's her...

It's her.

It's her.

ItsherItsherItsherItsherItsherItsherItsherItsherItsherItsherItsherItsher-

"XIAO LOOOOONG!"

"Huh?"

Leone let out a bloodcurdling scream and CHARGED toward Yang, ignoring everything else. Her dark gauntlets hummed to life and six 12-inch red blades extended from her hands like claws. Her movement was so fast that Yang could only raise her gauntlet to block the claws. Ember Celica steel met with the red blades.

"Woah!" Yang kicked Leone off when she noticed the blades were superheated and would melt through her weapons if given enough time. "What's your problem?!"

"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU BITCH!" Leone went back to attacking Yang and they exchanged blows. Slash, dodge, parry, dodge, strike. It was a wild dance between CQC specialists.

"Why the fuck do you want to kill me?!"

"YOU LEFT US!" Leone cried out with seething hatred. "Papa and I! YOU LEFT US FOR HER! HE DIED BECAUSE OF YOU!"

"H-Huh!?" Yang was confused, but something about the girl's words struck a cord within her. Her chest is beating hard, and anxiety begins filling in. She started feeling lightheaded and sick. "W-What are you-?!" There was a weakness, momentary hesitation in her.

"YANG/SIS!"

The next second was a blur, but when Yang snapped out of it the sight of red blades a few inch away from her face was what greeted her. "Huh...?"

"Miss Xiao Long, NEVER let your guard down in a fight. Do I need to re-train you?"

Glynda Goodwitch along with several teachers and security staff showed themselves. All of them except the security staff are wearing a more casual outfit, probably anything they could take to wear for decency when they were awakened from their sleep by the noises. The blond teacher has her riding crop aim at Leone, using her ability to stop her weapons from moving.

Leone unequipped her weapons and tried to jump Yang but was stopped by Ruby and Blake who tackled her to the ground.

Glynda stared at the scene, with Ruby and Blake holding a screaming girl on the ground, Yang still in shock, and Weiss is holding a young girl on her chest while crying and asking for forgiveness. She sighed, "Why is it always you four...?"

XXX

"Man, that was super close. I was about to take the shot."

Quite a distance away, perched on top of a big unassuming tree, are three figures observing the unfolding event.

First is a brown-haired boy with short hair, wearing a white fedora, white button-up shirt and black vest with black pants and combat boots. He's holding and looking down at the sight of a large sniper rifle.

Second is another brown-haired boy but one with bunny ears and a soft, some would say effeminate face. He has long hair, wearing a simple brown sweater, black pants, and combat boots. He's holding a binocular to his eyes.

The third and last one is a black-haired boy with short hair and a burn scar covering almost his entire right face. He's wearing a short-sleeved red robe and a pair of red puffy pants tucked into his combat boots.

The boy with the fedora sighed, "But honestly, that was too close for my liking. We should've taken the shot."

"Maybe." The black-haired boy put down his binocular, "But everything went well in the end. Besides, the Masked Fools might notice us if we start shooting, Bean."

"I guess-HEY don't call me that!"

"What? Your real name?"

"Yes Ash, my real name. I told you to call me Mocha, didn't I? You trying to piss me off or something?"

"Um, guys, please don't fight." The faunus rabbit pleaded.

Ash just waved him off. "It's just friendly banters, V, nothing to worry about." V doesn't look convinced but he seemed willing to moved on. "Anyway, you two noticed something? Like how weird it is that there isn't a single grimm here?"

"Y-Yeah, I noticed it too." V responded, "And I can't sense a single one."

"Weird." Mocha let out a humm, "TOO weird. Want to go scout?"

"It's fine, I'll scout the area." Ash volunteered. "You two should go back to Beacon and keep an eye there."

"Hey, if you want to go jungling some more be my guess."

"W-Will you be okay by yourself?"

Ash waved V worries, "I'll be fine, wouldn't be my first rodeo alone. You two focus on keeping the school safe. I wouldn't complain if you two go and meet your mothers."

Mocha shook his head, "Maybe later, our dad's gonna have a heart attack if he knew about us after what happened."

Ash faintly smile, "Okay then, stay safe you two." With that, he leapt toward the dark forest, leaving the two boys alone.

-CHAPTER 3-END

Yeah, sorry if it's not a good chapter. I'm not that good in combat, but I tried my best. Hopefully, you enjoyed it!

The next chapter might be a bit late. I want to do my other fanfic and my side project of actually writing an original story. Thanks for reading! Leave a comment if you like it, and ciaou~

Axel Yamamoto Handy Dandy Guide:

-Ember Mori (Dying Ember): A pair of high-powered, dust-enhanced claw gauntlets. The 'claws' are six retractable red heat blades or vibroblades, three on each hand.

-Vergissmeinnict (Forget-me-not): Rapier type Revolver Gunblade. It can chamber 6 high calibre dust bullets.