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Saphron's specter rested in place around her with a great blue wing made of ethereal blue light. She jumped and kicked at me and the ghost moved behind her and lashed out with two of it's red legs in perfect, floating time with Saphron's attack.
"I know that she's willing to torture me and I'm her fucking son…" I murmured. "I can only imagine what she's done to you."
I tried to block but I was knocked off course. My thinner longsword was hard to keep in place against her, even with Limit Breaker active. My back pressed against one of the shelving units that lined the warehouse.
"It's not so bad if you never give her a reason to punish you," Saphron countered.
She landed and did a horizontally as well as vertically rotating flip that ended with her knife whipping out at me. The monster's claws lashed out at me patiently from within her space and bit deep into my aura. Its claws came down as her blade lifted up and they sort of clapped together through the same space. It slammed me into the tall shelf and knocked it and me over in a loud crash.
I picked myself up out of the metal shelving with a low groan. "And have you given her a reason to punish you?" I asked.
That clapping attack had rocked me. She shuffle stepped towards me, then she lashed out with two round kicks, one leg then the other and the specter kicked out in synchronization with her and it knocked me back on my ass as well as flung me a few dozen feet away into the next shelving unit which wobbled unsteadily.
"Only once or twice. I've never felt such agony," she whispered. "But I've also never felt such pleasure except in serving her."
Then she started shooting at me. Rapid fire came with the high caliber rounds. I managed to get up and shield myself from some of them but she dashed forward into my guard and grabbed me by the straps on my armor. She pulled me forwards at the same time she stuck her foot out to trip me and I cartwheeled into the ground.
"It doesn't have to be like that," I told her as I got back to my feet.
I was getting my ass kicked like I hadn't since the first time with Tyrian. She was nimble and I didn't get the sense that her semblance made her faster. Instead it just made her unbelievably stronger. Maybe by an order of magnitude, maybe even more.
The being was between nine and twelve feet tall. It had long red demonic limbs and serrated claws on each hand. There was one wing at least as tall as it was colored blue on its back. It had a small face proportionally with glowing white eyes over a deep nose and no mouth.
I groaned as I picked myself up. I couldn't even fight back in full because I was trying to spare her life.
"Come on, Jaune," she said with a note of laughter on her lips. "You better mean it if you want to beat me."
She jumped and the being behind her flapped it's gigantic blue wing in time with her jump. I caught her out of the air with an enormous swing of my longsword. She was rocked backwards and she bounced off the ground and rolled into a shelving unit of her own. It rocked slightly and timbered into a second one that it just leaned against.
The eleven foot tall creature that floated behind her hadn't been touched and it stood at the ready waiting for her to get back up and join it and I on our feet.
The apparition was able to touch me but I was unable to hurt it. My blade had passed right through it.
At a guess I asked, "how much charge you got left on that thing?"
She got to her feet and glared at me.
"I can't hurt it can I? But that's not how it works. It works by hurting you to get at it. You take damage to bring it out but you also lose it by taking damage, is that right? Dear sister?"
She just jumped and snapped her fingers at me. A tiny wisp of purple and red flames flicked out from her fingers. It didn't look like something I wanted to be hit by. It looked like some sort of spell, to be completely honest.
"Don't be like that, big brother. He's just out to play." She gestured at the specter behind her.
I hovered towards her over the shelf that fell with one leg outstretched and the other bent at the knee. I vaulted into the air at the last minute and cast my blade forward from the left, then I rotated to the right in a three-sixty to bring my blade down on her twice.
"Tell him to go home," I said to her face. "He's not wanted here."
"Oh posh. Maybe not for you but I like his company."
She blocked the first slash with her knife but the second caught her and bit deep into her aura. A great silvery barrier emanated from her body when my sword met her second skin. It pulsed outwards and she shouted. The being behind her snapped it's fingers forward and I was flung back by the counter attack. The counter spell, really. I back-flipped to land securely and before I hit the ground I cast a tight blade-beam at her that made me hover in place as I threw it at her.
She snapped her fingers and sent her own little fizzy fire spell out and they met between us and sort of cancelled out. Her spell fell apart but it caused my tight beam of energy to dissolve in a spiraling fashion into the air.
Then she pulled her gun on me and opened fire. I supernaturally deflected the bullets then I charged at her again and she raced towards me over the toppled shelving unit.
She had to be fleet of foot through the shelving where I could just hover so I was faster than her by a great deal. We met and I slashed at her twice. She was forced to block the long range my shorter sword still provided. Her short knife flickered forward and I just flew backwards then back in with a wild slash from over my head downwards. I reversed the momentum of the double edged sword and danced forward into her. She blocked each with a subtle twist of her wrist and she snapped her fingers at me again and the fizzy ball of fire caught me in the chest.
It did lasting burning damage to my aura where it connected. Purple and red flames licked at my glowing blue body. It hurt as it burned me. Burns, if you've never really been burned, hurt. A lot.
I didn't let it hold me down. I did a front-flip and cut at her and drove her back into the shelving unit behind her. Flicking her off her feet and back into the wall of metal.
She landed harshly but was racing back towards me after only a moment. She did a spiraling side-flip at me, her knife extended to slice at me and the claws of the monster behind her imitated her and slashed with her. I blocked this time and the monster stopped where her knife did with it's long claws.
It could be stopped. It could be beaten. I just had to bash on my little sister a little to make it happen. That… that broke my heart a little. She turned in the air in a nimble fashion and landed on the strips of metal that made up the fallen shelving. She balanced easily. She jumped and shot at me. She hovered in place for the first two bullets then she landed in a slide for the next two. Her coat whipped through the air behind her in bright crimson like a long cape almost, with two little flares.
I deflected both volleys off my Titania edge. And took a running-gliding slash at her. I swung at her, wielding the sword with one hand. Then I took it in both hands once more and hacked at her.
She blocked the first and flipped out of the way of the second. The monster still loomed behind her. She jumped and kicked at me twice. The monster followed her perfectly and lashed out with her. I could barely block the attack and it sent vibrations down my arm.
She landed and did this sort of sprinting double kick that caught me and flung me back off of my feet. From there she jumped and spiraled in the air and let bullets rain down on my prone form. I held my sword between us but it wasn't as wide as the broadsword and I didn't have my shield out so I only managed to block some of the bullets.
Still I managed to hover back to my feet. I spun in a circle, slicing around my body with my blade and forcing her to hop back a step. She just jumped and shot me again. Then she had to reload when her gun clicked empty and she did so quickly, using the hand that held the knife to discard her magazine and slam a new one into place.
Blake came swinging down from above and collided with my little sister's back. She slammed into one of the shelving units and fell down.
"Go help Yang. Please trade with me. Stop Adam. You're the only one who can match him one on one."
I was pretty sure I was the only one who could match my eldest sister and her magic too. Her semblance gave her unimaginable power behind each attack. Power I could only barely overcome.
I nodded anyways. "Beware her semblance. And… and don't kill her."
I flew up to the catwalk and descended upon it and saw where Yang was standing there with her prosthetic hanging with circuitry bitten into.
Adam had her in a corner. I met his slash just before it could bite into Yang's body.
"Sit this one out, Yang. I'll cover for you," I said.
"You," he rumbled at me.
"We meet again," I agreed.
"I destroyed you last time. Sent you packing with your tail between your legs," he grunted.
"This won't go down like last time. I'm not going to hand you the power you need to win again. You had better work for that shit," I spat back.
Yang, low on aura, backed up to the edge of the destroyed catwalk. She was holding her prosthetic with her free hand where it was broken. Then she just jumped down to the first story and out of the way of Adam's and my fight.
I gripped my longsword in both hands. It was a touch longer than Adam's blade. It was thicker too, from the hilt to the tip. I flicked the blade out towards him and he shielded under his own. I rocked him a little with my strength. He riposted and I blocked with a twist of my wrist. I tried to catch his blade on my wider guard and rip it out of his hands. Then I tried to thrust the guard up into his face. He was taller than me and tried to leverage his weapon down on me but I resisted.
I hovered back out of the way of his slash back out over open air then I came back with a wide swing that started low and ended high. It tore up the metal grating and forced Adam back.
He swung at me in a wide horizontal slash that I blocked vertically and he tried to twist around me and thrust the narrow blade into my chest. It sort of worked. He cut me part of the way across the torso and I kicked at him back.
I chased him with another kick and brought my blade up in a quick jab of my sword, one that would have been impossible with the broadsword. I followed it up with a three-sixty that dragged my sword from high to low and forced him to shelter behind his weapon.
He slashed at me and fire burned from his weapon. The red of his sword must have been dust infused. A touch like that of Raven Branwen's sword. He sheathed it and took it out again lightning fast and delivered two diagonally oriented cuts that reverberated down my arm. He sheathed once more and when I sliced at him vertically he blocked with a combination of the scabbard and the sheathed sword.
He pulled the scabbard free and fired at me with it three times. I hovered around him and sliced into him from above where I flew. I kneed at his face while I floated above him. It didn't connect but it made him flinch. Then I brought my blade down on his body hard while he stumbled back.
He couldn't keep up with the mobility that my ability to fly provided. He tried to back-flip off of one of the walls and come back to the catwalk but I sliced through the walk and forced his footing to be bad as he came back. Hovering, I cut at him twice horizontally. He blocked the first and the second sliced across his head and made him fall back. I just floated above him while the catwalk began to fall. He leapt up at me. I brought my blade down with both hands and slammed him back into the crooked catwalk. He couldn't get in on me. I just had too much of an advantage while floating over him. I flipped down onto the catwalk and sliced through it as I glid up at him. He jumped and I caught him by the collar and slammed him back down into the diagonally standing catwalk.
I crushed a dust crystal and sent a bolt of lightning ripping at him that he partially managed to deflect off his blade. The rest of the energy crackled over his body. Then I swooped in and grabbed him. I cut at his body while I held him and threw him hard back down into the walk. I strode forward and continued to cut up the catwalk, sending grates of cut metal descending down to the first floor and cornering him against the stairs. He took one step down the stairs. He tried to cut at me but his footing was bad where I didn't even have to worry about that. A bit like my fight against Saphron over the shelving.
I deflected easily off my longsword, holding it with one hand. I slammed my pommel towards his face and kicked out at him while I flew. I slid my sword into the shield on my back and drew the broadsword. Then I started to rip up the catwalk for real.
He jumped and cut at me in mid-air but I blocked and took a mighty swung that slammed him back first into the catwalk. He rolled to his feet all the way back to the steps. He sheathed his blade and slashed at me with crimson energy. It was weaker than when he had absorbed my energy and I cut through it and let the energy splash harmlessly around me. It was a desperate gamble against me. Something he only tried at the end of his rope.
I hovered to the side of the catwalk and brought my sword down on his head in three diagonal cuts. I rotated in the air, slashing to the right then swinging to the left twice in a three-sixty. Then I front-flipped with a massive helmsplitter that rocked him and kicked him in the chest. He bounced off the wall next to me and he back-flipped at me. He tried to cut at me but my blade was enormously longer. I caught him in the Octa slash as he over extended in his desperation with my incredible range.
He smashed hard into the wall of the place and the final cut of the Octa slash sliced him across his chest badly. He was flung back into the warehouse. I descended on him and picked him up with one hand and slammed him back into the wall. The force rattled the entire warehouse. Blood welled from the corner of his mouth as he tried to stand up.
I stabbed my blade forward and thrust it into his chest. I held him there at the long edge of my weapon and he struggled for a second. His hand came up and gripped the edge of Crocea Mors and he tried to pull himself off of it. Blood poured from his hand as he tried to twist his way off of the weapon.
"Don't push your luck," I told him. "This is it for you."
He cursed at me but he choked on his blood.
"Blake!" Weiss shouted.
I pulled my weapon back and let him fall to the ground. Then I went back to where my friends were gathering.
Yang rushed up to Ruby, Weiss, and Blake. Her arm still hung uselessly by her side. "Blake!" She shouted. "Stay with us. Don't go to sleep."
Blake was injured, she had a knife in her stomach.
I hovered over to them.
"Did we get him? Did we get Adam," Blake asked from the ground.
"He's dead. He's gone," I answered.
Blake sort of slipped under into unconsciousness her eyes fluttering closed.
"We need to get her out of here," Ruby murmured.
"What happened with my sisters?" I asked.
"They slipped away," Weiss responded.
"Damn it." I bent down and picked Blake up bridal style. "We better get her to a hospital."
"Thank you, Cloud." Yang's arm still hung uselessly downwards. I was sure she wanted to be carrying Blake but she really couldn't in that state.
"No problem," I murmured. I hovered along to the bikes outside and laid her across bumblebee.
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-WG