ChapterSix
Ruby helped me to my feet, and I un-summoned my aching wing, the pain transferring to my back instead. Okay, so injuries are transferred between forms, I noted. With my wings always getting hit, I had to wonder why.
Moving around, despite being in a different body, I had no issues. I wasn't the picture of grace, like Ren, but I wasn't clumsy either, this body feeling like my own despite me only having it for two days. My mid-form, that bipedal dragon body, had been fine as well, as had my largest draconic form, but something about my wings when I was still humanoid. . .
I don't have instincts for them, I realized. I mean, I did, but they were practically copy and pasted from my mid-form. I had a feeling that, if I did switch, my larger, stronger wings would be able to take hits that the ones I could manifest as a person, scaled down as they were, and scaled down with less innate armor, could not.
That's why I was always half a step behind with them. Okay, I told myself, don't use them unless you have to. Rather than standing in front of the others this time, I grabbed a seat on the lowest bench, turning to look up at them, as Yang high-fived her sister.
"Nice one, sis!" the blonde congratulated.
"Thanks, he hit really hard though," the younger girl said. "I thought I was gonna lose for sure!"
That put Yang into full 'protective older sister' mode, as she turned to glare at me, "He did, did he?"
"Of course I did," I replied, looking insulted. "This is a fight, and she's not only a Huntsman, at least one in training, but she's a team lead. Why should I baby her, if the Grimm won't?"
"Yaaaaang," Ruby pleaded, pulling at her sister's arm. "It's okay! Besides, I hit him way harder than he hit me!"
". . . Fine, but I'm next," she declared, standing up.
I waved her back down, "When I've recharged, fine, but first, what'd everyone think of her performance?"
"Good use of Semblance, though you leave yourself open the moment before you strike," Pyrrha noted. "Does your ability not allow you to increase the speed of your attacks?"
"Nah, I can zip around super fast, but it's just me, not parts of me," Ruby explained.
The gladiatrix nodded. "Then have you considered starting your swing, then moving, so it is half completed when you arrive?"
Ruby nodded in return, "Yeah, but I don't hit as hard if I do."
"Sometimes it is better to hit at half strength, then not at all," Pyrrha noted, getting a nod from Blake.
"Also, like Nora, she's adaptable. Really adaptable," I noted. "Within five second she'd figured out a way to counter my counter, but made it look like she was just trying the same thing, but harder. Also, Nora, you and her should compare mid-air movement notes, as you have a similar style of flying around."
"Aye-aye, el-capitan!" the hammer-wielder saluted.
"Don't do that," Weiss ordered, "He's not even on your team!"
"That does sound like a good idea, though," Ruby disagreed.
"Aye-aye, la-capitan!" Nora reiterated, with the exact same movement.
I shook my head, "The only other thing is that you might need to work on your short-range fighting, as your weapon's size might work against you, but you took me down too fast for me to really see if that were true or not." Glancing over, my Aura was only back to 55%. "And I'm gonna take five real-quick, as I still need to recharge, and get something to drink."
"I'll come with you!" Ruby volunteered, zipping down next to me in an instant. Pyrrha and Yang both looked like they were going to object, but neither said anything. Heading out, the small girl followed, asking as soon as we were out of earshot of the others. "Do you really think I should be team leader?" she questioned hesitantly, not nearly as chipper as she was a moment ago.
"What brought this on?" I asked in turn, heading towards the vending machines I'd spotted as we'd walked down to the training hall.
She was quiet for a moment, hands working the hem of her skirt. "It's, just, I'm a lot younger than everyone else, and I really didn't expect to be in charge, and I really don't think Weiss likes me."
"I don't think Weiss likes anyone," I shot back eliciting a snort of laughter. "And I'm a team lead, and you kicked my ass."
"You let me win," she dismissed.
I stopped, making her turn to face me, her expression questioning. Looking at her seriously, I told her, "Ruby, I was going as hard as I could."
Her expression screwed up in confusion. "So when you threw your sword. . ."
"I wasn't throwing the fight, I was trying to hit you," I stressed.
"You do know that's not how you throw a sword, right?" she asked with a giggle.
Throwing my hands up, I walked past her. "I do now!" That got another giggle. "I haven't had that much experience fighting like this, but I've got power, and I learn fairly quickly. Hopefully that will be enough."
Ruby blurred forward, and fell in step with me, bumping my leg with her hip. "I think it'll be."
Looking down at her, she smiled back up at me, a giant, infectious grin. I couldn't help but return with one of my own. We walked in silence, getting drinks, Ruby getting two. "Yang," she offered as an explanation of the second.
Pausing, I got another. "Also me," I explained. "Fighting everyone's rough, and it wasn't for Aura I couldn't do it." At least, not without giving away what I was.
She nodded, and I thought about my own fighting, and what problems I was having. "Hey, you're good with building weapons, right?"
"Yeah! Why?" she asked, glancing towards my hip where Crocea Mors sat.
"I need a better weapon," I said simply. "Even with my Semblance, I need ranged options. I like the sword and shield concept, it fits what I want to do, but it isn't enough. Not sure if it would be better to add a gun to the sword, or the shield, but I need something. But, this is my father's, and his father's, and so on, so I don't want to just change it, so I need something new entirely. If it can use Dust, that'd be cool too, but that'll be a bit down the line, as I don't know the first thing about using that stuff."
Ruby nodded rapidly. "Oooh! Yeah. We could maybe add a rifle function to the blade, or maybe use the shield as a carbine! Ooooh! We could use both! This is going to be awesome!"
Entering the training hall, the conversation that was going on inside died instantly, meaning they were talking about me, Ruby, or both of us. "What's got you so excited?" Yang teasingly asked, as Ruby blurred over to her, nodding in thanks as her little sister gave her a can of flavored coffee.
"Jaune's gonna let me play with his sword!" she practically squeed.
Aaaand now everyone was staring at me, with expressions running the gambit of concern, confusion, disgust, and amusement. Hands full, I lifted my leg to lightly kick Crocea Mors. "I need a ranged option, but this is an heirloom, so I asked her to help me design a better one."
"That'd do it," Yang commented, relaxing, as Ruby nodded quickly, grinning. "So, ready to get beat, Arc-light?"
I shook my head, walking over to put one drink down, drinking the other, and re-connecting my scroll to the hall's computer. Seeing I was back to 100%, I sighed, taking out my weapon, and moved to the center of the training floor.
Yang grinned, jumping off the seats, firing her weapon behind her at the apex of her leap, blasting herself forward to land in front of me. I pointed up, and she rolled her eyes, grabbing her scroll from a pocket in her jacket, her face appearing opposite of mine on the display.
"Ready?" she asked with a grin, and I nodded, shield up.
She charged me, fist cocked back, and I brought up my shield, catching the heavy blow. Both our counter attacks came forward at the same time, her fist flying in from under my shield, hitting me in the chest, as she tried to duck under my blow. However, while she was too close to slash with the blade, I caught her in the head with the cross-guard, striking her just as hard.
We both spun away from each other. I took six percent off her with my glancing blow, while the heavy, direct strike to my chest-plate only took off five from mine. "If you turn this into an endurance match, I'll win," I warned her.
"It's always good when a guy has some stamina," she shot back, taking two steps before blasting herself towards me with her gauntlets, closing fast, but slow compared to Ruby. Her fist was cocked back again, and I moved to block her, sword rising to meet her counter, when she twisted her forward arm down, firing, and launching herself over my head.
My first instinct was to flare my wings and rise, but that was wrong, and I threw myself down as her cocked fist shot forward. Yang missed me, but shot the back of my head at point blank range, sending me sprawling as I flicked my wings out to turn the downward fall into a forward tumble. Recovering in a roll, I quickly pulled the appendages back into me as I turned around, and had a revelation.
I was fighting Bakugo.
Not to the same level as King Explosion-Murder, but the same basic mechanics, with a heavier emphasis on pugilism and with a weak-ish long range attack. That. . . changed things. Having a feeling how this would turn out, I closed on her, and she let me, ducking under my slash, but I knew she would, somersaulting high over her return blast and slashing for the back of her head. I missed, as she blasted away, catching her hair instead. While her Aura protected it, mostly, a single golden thread, less than an inch long, was severed.
My eyes went wide as I landed, twisting around as Yang did the same, her eyes focusing on the bright yellow hair.
"Oh nooooooo," moaned Ruby in dismay, as her older sister's teasing smile was replaced with a teeth-bared snarl, her hair, the rest of it, seeming to catch fire with neon yellow flames.
She launched herself forward, strength carrying her just as fast as her weapons had before, and I barely brought my shield up in time to block the blow, which hit like Nora's hammer, sending me stumbling back.
I slashed forward, but she stepped to the outside, around it, and buried a fist in my side, sending me flying as my ribs groaned in pain from the blow. I'd barely gotten my feet under me when she closed again. I brought my shield up, her fist skidding off it, but I was too close in to use my sword and she grabbed my armor with her other hand slamming me down into the ground so hard I cracked the stone floor, letting go, and firing point blank into my chest as she jumped high in the air.
I knew if I kept trying to use my weapons, not only was I going to lose, I might actually be seriously injured. From what I knew Yang was a. . . bit of a berserker, and I'd accidentally set her off, mostly because I didn't know what I was doing.
While I knew a bit about swords, more than Jaune, I had no formal training, and not that much informal training either. I was learning fast, but not fast enough. That, however, did not mean I didn't know how to fight.
Trying to shift my Aura assisted strength into speed, I rolled face down and shoved myself off the ground, twisting to the side as I could practically feel Yang bearing down on me.
She missed, barely, slamming into the ground like a meteor, not having expected me to move that fast. She turned, and started to blast off towards me, so I threw my sword at her, ignoring Pyrrha's sad, "Not again."
It didn't hit, but I didn't need it to hit, I needed time.
Getting my shield ready, and having time to land, Yang blasted herself off course from my sword, which was at least closer to hitting my target, another shot putting her back on course for me, fist raised in the way she always did for her power blow. Tossing my shield in her face, she reflexively punched it, sending it flying past me, and giving me an opening.
Darting forward, I slammed an open palm into her face, stance set to maximize power, pushing my draconic strength to match her fury-empowered own, and, for a moment, became the immovable object to her nearly unstoppable force. Her own momentum propelled the blow into something more than I could alone as the air vibrated with the slam, her arms and legs shooting forward as not only did I not stop her, I, with a primal, draconic roar, slammed her head-first into the floor just like she had to me.
She was stunned for half a second, but lashed out with a punch to the back of my elbow that might've broken my arm if I hadn't already let go, moving around her. Working on my instincts, I grabbed the limb as it hit nothing but empty air, yanking her hand even further to the side even as her feet came up below her to try to push herself up.
I wanted to get her on her stomach against the floor, so I could get her in a hold until she calmed the hell down. However, the over-the-top strength-enhancing effects of Aura, which let everyone move so ridiculously, meant that when she tried to spring to her feet I sent her twisting towards me, bouncing off my chest, spinning several feet in the air. The change disoriented her long enough for me to step forward and kick her as hard as I could, sending her flying away.
I only had enough time to glance upwards and see our Aura levels, mine at 73%, and hers at 58%, as she fired again before she landed, hitting the ground and taking off at a sprint towards me as she closed, leading arm high in a block while her right hand was held low.
In the last ten feet she shot forward even faster, stopping right in front of me, coming in low for a rising uppercut. If she'd started with that, I would've been screwed, but after fighting everyone else, and seeing her in action, I could see it coming, and while she had speed and strength, Ren was faster, and I was stronger.
If I'd had my shield, this would be almost impossible to block. I'm sure there was a way how, but I sure as hell didn't know it, never having trained in using one in hand to hand combat. However, without it, I was already moving, before I even recognized what she was doing.
Twisting backwards, my right hand came across my body, hitting her wrist as she tried to strike my chin, my body trying to lean out of the way as she tried to lean in. Feeling my palm hit, I reflexively grabbed onto her, taking a half step back as I yanked, pulling her off balance. However, with Aura, everything was taken to a ludicrous degree.
Instead of being pulled forward, she launched herself upward in what I'm sure would be an impressive move, only to find herself tethered to something that didn't want to budge, which turned her fiery rising uppercut into a very defined Arc.
Slamming her down, back first, on the ground, the buzzer sounded, and her hair started to darken, or at least be less on fire, but she wasn't done, punching the inside of my wrist, firing her weapon, and making me reflexively let her go as she launched herself up towards me to continue the fight.
Thankfully, I'd half-expected her to keep going, and my other hand darted forward, pushing her blow to the side as my now free right hand shot to her throat, grabbing her and slamming back down into the ground, though not nearly as hard.
The buzzer sounded twice, giving me a warning that the fight was over, and that more damage would notify a member of staff. "Enough," I growled almost animalistically, kneeling half on her stomach, half on the ground, as I held her down, wanting her to Submit. My side still throbbed in pain, my muscles aching from the exertion, and I felt a deep instinctual need to hold her in place and mount-
I shook that thought away, and held her in place as her blows, lacking the leverage to do more than shave off a couple of percentage points of Aura, became more feeble, not doing any damage, her red eyes blinking as they faded back to purple. She stared up at me, in shock and a little fear, and tapped my arm, to end the spar. Careful, and ready for anything, though I had a feeling it was over, I let go. She coughed, taking a few deep breaths as I stood.
I held out a hand for her and she hesitated, before taking it, using me to pull herself back to her feet. "I, ah, kinda got carried away there," she admitted sheepishly.
"You think?" commented Blake, deadpan, but her dilated pupils, half again their normal size, gave away that she wasn't as unflappable as she was trying to appear. "And. . . did you roar?"
"Dragon," I shrugged, wondering how the hell I noted pupil size of all things, breaking her from whatever she was thinking as she gave me an unamused look at my 'lie.' Turning to look at Yang, she was walking pretty stiffly, a look up at the screen showing she was down to 33% Aura. "You okay?"
"I'll be fine," she waved off, wincing. "Just those last hits hurt. But ya can't keep a good Yang down."
I nodded, "So, you'll be down for a bit?" That got me a punch which carved a percentage off my aura, but the smile she gave me was worth it.
Ruby looked like she wanted to help her sister, but felt like she couldn't, before finally zipping over to the blonde and helping her up the steps. "I'll be fine, Rubes," said blonde insisted, but didn't pull away. "Deserve it, for losin' it like that."
"So," I said, taking a seat and rubbing my side, though it was already starting to feel better. "Assessment?"
"That was hot!" Nora volunteered.
Ruby frowned, "Because of the fire? It's not actual fire, though, so it's not hot."
Ren calmly put a hand over Nora's mouth. "Yes. Because of the fire. Thank you for clarifying that Ruby."
The girl smiled, "No problem, Ren!"
"Mm mm'm mmm mmmmmmm mm'm mmmm!" disagreed Nora, who looked over to Ren, her mouth still covered. "Mmmm mmm,Mmm!"
"Nora says thank you too," Ren 'translated'.
"What else?" I asked.
Weiss sniffed, "She fights like a mindless brute."
"Weiss!" Ruby objected.
The heiress just sniffed again. "Well she does, and he's no better."
"One," I said before Yang could, "the term is 'berserker'. And two, thanks for volunteering to fight me next."
"I did no such thing!" she objected. "In fact, I never agreed to fight you at all!"
I nodded, "Oh, okay, well that's informational all on it's own. Okay everybody," I clapped, "I want you to know that Schnee's lead people on, run from fights, and generally are not to be trusted."
Yang nodded, looking annoyed, while Blake took out a notepad and wrote it down, offering, "They might not be scared of everyone, only Faunus. It would explain their business practices."
That got Weiss hackles up. "Just because I don't wish to scuffle in the dirt does not make me a coward. And I have nothing against Faunus, they have something against me."
Ignoring Blake's muttered, "Wonder why," I cocked my head. "'Scuffle in the dirt'? I didn't realize you thought so poorly of Pyrrha."
Either actually insulted, or going along with it, the woman coolly noted, "Neither had I."
"I, you, fine!" the heiress stammered angrily, stomping down to the arena. "Well?"
"Well what," I asked back, pointing towards my Aura, which was now in the 70's. "I said you were up next, we're still talking about Yang."
Weiss huffed, walking back to the seats, sitting on the lowest one, like I was, but on the other end of the long bench.
"So, berserker rage, and you hit hard," I told Yang. "Less than Nora normally, but faster, and harder when you've activated your Semblance, but also more predictably. That means you can bully past slower opponents, but someone who's fast and strong enough can take you down."
"Like you?" she asked, and while there was teasing there, there was a bit of something else as well.
I nodded, "Yes, like me. I have more experience with hand-to-hand than I do with sword-and-board, but I wanted a defensive option, which you don't have."
"I can defend myself," she replied, sounding a little defensive.
It was Pyrrha who replied, "No, you can dodge, and you can get inside an opponent's guard, but you have no true defense that will not drain your Aura other than your gauntlets, which you did not use defensively."
Waving towards the red-head in a 'see?' gesture, Yang sat back. "So I should pick up a shield, like you two?" she asked skeptically.
I considered it, and how she could build it into her style, before shaking my head. "No, though some kind of vambrace over your forearm might help, like Pyrrha has." I glanced at my own paltry armor, adding, "And I might go for some as well, in case I need to go hand to hand again. We're both strong enough to handle the extra weight no problem, and it'll actually make your punches hit harder." I paused, trying to think of what that would feel like to get hit with. "Or, actually, you know, maybe don't do that."
She laughed, "Too late, Bright-knight. You're gonna get to feel what it feels like to get hit by those next time we spar!"
I nodded, "Then I'll have to get better so I can take it. Other than that, it's probably everything you already know, as it's obvious, like having limited reach, but you can use your weapons-"
"Ember Celica," she interrupted, with the name of her gauntlets.
"To maneuver which takes care of most of it," I continued. "And the size of most Grimm actually makes that a benefit, as you can get inside their attack range, while being strong enough not to worry about grapples, which most Grimm don't bother with anyways," I finished, shaking my head. "We're Huntsmen, supposed to fight Grimm, but we're going to end up fighting criminals almost as much, so hyper-specialization's an issue."
I felt something inside me settle, and looked up to see that I was back to 100%. "Speaking of which," I said, standing up and walking towards the combat floor.
"What is that supposed to mean?" demanded Weiss, who got up and followed me.
I looked at her weapon, "From what I saw yesterday, your entire fighting style requires Dust to function, which means you'll be a liability in any protracted battle, or any time supply lines are not stable. It's not a problem if you're a defender, hiding in the capital and with large stocks of supplies, but if you actually work as a Huntsman? Going out in the field? You'll always be on a time limit before your strength. . . melts."
Both Yang and Blake suppressed laughter, though Blake didn't try that hard, and the Schnee heiress glared at me. "I don't need Dust to take you down, you, you, lizard!"
The laughter shut off, and I grinned. It wasn't happt. "Oh, I'm going to make you eat those words. Come at me, if you dare."
A glyph started to form under her feat, but it stuttered, vanishing as she charged me, rapier at the ready. Once again, I was thankful I'd fought Nora, who telegraphed everything, and then Ren, who was fast in a way that had nothing to do with equipment or Semblance. With what I'd learned fighting them, I'd managed to take down Yang, and at least last more than ten seconds against Ruby.
Weiss closed, expression of ill-repressed fury on her young, aristocratic features, and she was easy to read, going for a chest stab, trying to slip her rapier around my shield like Yang had slipped a punch. That was blocked, and she twirled to the side, trying to knock away my longsword, but badly prepared for the force of the blow, which sent her sprawling.
She rolled to her feet as I waited, which just made her angrier, and she closed again, jumping to come down at me at an angle, rapier flashing in series of stabs that were easy enough to block with my broad shield, as they seemed more a practiced pattern than anything meant to get by my defenses, one missing entirely without me having to block.
As my sword swung in she twisted, slamming into my shield with her feet to jump away, only to give a yelp of surprise as I yanked her platform to the side, using the pommel of my sword to slam down into her back, and send her crashing to the floor.
She tried to roll, but I took a step forward, putting my foot softly, but firmly, on her right wrist, trapping her weapon. She tried to kick me, but she was face-down and couldn't get leverage, and her form was horrible, and beating on my leg with her other hand didn't do anything either.
Looking up, my one strike had drained her of 8% of her Aura, and I hadn't even hit her that hard. Her struggles got more frantic as she started to panic, prompting me to instruct her, firmly, though making sure to hide the. . . annoyance I'd been feeling towards the entitled brat, "Weiss. Calm down. I'm not doing anything else."
"Don't tell me to calm down!" she snapped, anger overriding fear for a moment. "You're just a brute! I should be able to defeat you easily!"
I sighed, "Not without your Glyphs you can't. You don't have Pyrrha's skill, or Nora's strength, or Ren's speed, and you're not using most of what you know."
Lifting my foot, she tried to roll up and stab me, which I blocked with my shield before punting her halfway across the combat zone, shaving off another 3% of her Aura. "Use your Glyphs, Weiss," I commanded. She just glared at me, so I sighed, reminding her, "This is supposed to showcase what you know, not prove that you can beat someone who specializes in physical strength, in their field."
"That eager to lose, are you?" she sneered, sending the revolver chamber of her weapon spinning with a flick of her thumb, ending on black as a Glyph sprang up under my feet, lifting me into the air.
I shook my head, even as she switched it to white, five Glyphs appearing before her, each one sending out a star-shaped projectile streaking for me. Manifesting my wings, I beat them, moving out of the anti-gravity glyph, and easily dodging her attack, bearing down on her as she crouched, like she had whenever she'd launched herself before. I twisted as she shot herself at me, tagging her side with my sword, drawing it across her ribs like Ren had done to my arms only an hour ago, slicing off Aura.
She twisted, another Glyph appearing as a platform for her to launch herself at me from, but the trick was very specific, her path pre-determined as soon as the Glyph formed. Sure enough, she shot forward, but I was already dodging, blocking her rapier with my shield as I lashed out with a kick, sending her sprawling towards the ground.
I started to fly close, but a Glyph sprung up around her, encircling her in a dome of ice crystals, sharp crystalline edges daring me to try to break through. Landing instead, I waited, looking up and seeing her Aura at 77%, while mine was untouched, and then saw it drop down to 74%, giving me a fraction of a second's warning as the ice-dome, on my side, exploded outwards, sending crystals hurling my way as if shot by a canon.
I blocked some of it with my shield, but my legs and wings took hits, dropping me down to 92% as I changed back to fully humanoid. Mist had also exploded out, making it harder to see, the glow of red the only warning as a crescent of fire shot in my direction as well, which I almost dodged, hitting my leg and exploding, sending me tumbling.
Hitting the ground, I kept moving, and half a dozen icicles stabbed into where I'd noisily landed. "Good!" I called, immediately changing direction as a light flared and the mist was parted by a flying Weiss, who stabbed into where I'd just been, looking around in confusion as she tried to get her weapon up, only to catch a slash to the side that sent her tumbling.
The sound of flash-frozen ice appearing told me she'd made another defensive wall, and the mist, which had started to settle, had been kicked up into twisting clouds, which I stepped in-to, waiting. Spotting a broken piece of ice, I used the tip of my sword to send it flying to the side, as I silently moved the opposite way.
Sure enough, Her defensive formation exploded outwards, a streak of fire following it, however, even as I darted inside, sword sweeping in for a strike, the buzzer sounded. I couldn't pull back my blow, having committed to it, so I moved it instead, slamming into the inside of the ice dome and causing my blade to sink to the handle in the ice, the impact of the cross-guard making it explode outwards, squeals and shrieks of shock and displeasure telling me I'd just sprayed our teams with broken ice, though their Auras could handle it.
Weiss looked, wide eyed, at the blade inches away from her face as I slowly pulled it back, and sheathed it, holstering my shield as well. "Not bad," I told her, meaning it.
"But. . . I lost," she replied numbly.
Of course you lost, I thought, this was a horrible match-up. However, instead I said. "The point of this wasn't to win or lose, it was to show off what you could do."
She looked at the thick mist, which hung over the field, obscuring sight, and went, "Oh."
"It's fine," I reassured her. "I'll describe things from my end, and you will from your end, and they'll get the gist."
She nodded, eyes narrowing, "Why. . . why are you being so nice?"
I shrugged, "You actually fought, and the shrapnel trick would've caught me off-guard if I didn't see your Aura level drop right before you did so. That'll be something that other huntsmen would see in a tournament, but criminals, or Grimm?" I shook my head, smiling, "They're gonna have a bad time. Just don't do the same trick twice against an opponent that can think and plan, at least not without being ready for them to try to use it against you, like Ruby did."
Weiss grimaced, but nodded, muttering, "I can't believe she's team leader."
"Why?" I quietly asked, even as Yang called, "Uh, guys? Everything okay in there?"
"Be out in a sec!" I called, "My sword's stuck in Weiss' ice!"
Weiss gave me an odd look at that, before shaking her head, whispering, "She's fifteen!"
I nodded, "and she kicked my ass, and, since I kicked your ass, by the transitive property of ass-kicking, she could probably kick yours. Ass-kicking doesn't quite equal authority, but it helps."
"It doesn't work that way," she sniffed. "It's not math."
Rolling my eyes, I teased, "Pretty sure it does." Seeing the mist dispersing, I casually punched the ice, Weiss flinching as it exploded outwards. "Got it!" I called, walking back towards the others, the heiress hesitating before following me.