Chapter 21
Percy's eyes hardened into orbs of steel, glowing with righteous fury.
Attacking his friends and innocent civilians… Cinder had to be on another level of wrong.
She would pay dearly.
Painfully.
As would Emerald for those illusions, and Mercury? Well, Percy didn't really care about Mercury as long as Cinder and Emerald got their dues.
Emerald had no doubt been trying to incite fear with her semblance, but it hadn't worked. So why were the Grimm attacking anyway without negative emotions?
He decided that he didn't care. The fact that there was a level nine Grimm attack already had people panicking, which in turn drew more and more Grimm to the school. He had to save the civilians first and foremost. Revenge could wait.
He sprinted with his team and Team JNPR towards where Ironwood was as the bullheads were already loading up passengers.
"Perseus!" Ironwood looked ecstatic at seeing him, and Percy couldn't blame him.
Percy cut right to the chase, "James, you never fully finished removing the virus. Atlesian knights are going to turn on civilians any second. Shut them down."
Ironwood grit his teeth, "They're helping!"
Percy scoffed, "Precautions-"
The Atlesian knights that had been firing at the Grimm glowed red, and proceeded to turn around.
Percy shot the General a nasty look, and Ironwood sighed in defeat. The General pulled out his revolvers and fired them, skewering them the Atlesian knights without much difficulty.
Ironwood grunted in anger, "Some… vagabond has taken my ship, and hacked it. I'm going to take back control of the skies."
"W-What should we do?" Jaune asked nervously.
Percy turned to the crowd, his face hardening into stone, his voice, "You are the future generation of the protectors of Remnant."
Riptide appeared in his hand, seeming to glow celestially against the sky, as he pointed the golden blade to the crowd of huntsmen.
"Wherever there is light, there will always be shadow. Nothing ever goes as planned in this world. Are you scared!? You should be. Wake up to reality! Without fear, there is no hope. Hope is our strongest weapon! You must adapt, change, think on the fly. You are huntsmen, huntresses, the guardians of this realm! You are the impenetrable shield, unfaltering in its resolution! We are fighting for our right to live, for our right to exist. We will not be vanquished in the night! Amongst the creatures of darkness, we must have a light, a beacon of hope. Amongst the Grimm, glory awaits you! Take it, it's yours!"
The huntsmen and huntresses in training roared in approval, their spirits raised by his speech. Percy smiled grimly; he knew there were slim chances of everyone there making it to the end, and there would be casualties. He just had to be ready for it.
"Vale needs backup, all their huntsmen are out on missions and can't respond."
"All of you need to go to the bullheads, get to Vale and establish a safe haven for the citizens! Teams PRWBY, JNPR, SSSN, with me," Percy immediately ordered, his face set in stone as he reached the edge of Amity Colosseum. Luckily, The teams followed his word to the letter, trusting his word.
"W-What are we gonna do?" Sun asked nervously.
"Team SSSN, Team JNPR, Team PRWBY. Can you trust me?"
"We trust you," Jaune nodded, bouncing nervously on his feet.
"We are going to Beacon. Jump."
"W-What?" Pyrrha stumbled in pure shock, as Weiss shouted at him, "Are you insane? None of us have a landing strategy for that!"
"I do. Trust, right? Trust me. Angle yourselves towards the bay."
"You're bad shit crazy-"
Percy jumped.
He plummeted through the air, the wind rushing by his ears faster and faster with each passing moment, as he boosted himself through the air, towards the bay of Beacon.
It was exhilarating, the feeling of falling, the feeling of weightlessness. It was thrilling, and he felt the adrenaline rush through his veins as he dove towards the sea, a wide grin on his face. Flying was fun, he realized.
Taking a quick look behind him, he could see his teams following him, and he grinned back at them. Boosting wards appeared behind all of them, and he boosted them towards the ocean.
"I HOPE YOU HAVE A PLAN!" Jaune screamed himself hoarse over the rushing wind, blue eyes wide with fear as he looked to his fellow team leader, who smirked in response. For some reason, that only made Percy's grin widen even further.
The ocean was fast approaching. He let himself loose; there was a familiar, almost homely tug in his gut, and the ocean gladly bent itself to his will.
With a powerful roar, the seas rose to nearly a thousand feet to catch them in its gentle, watery embrace.
It hummed in approval at having the son of the sea back in its grasp once again, and Percy grinned euphorically at the feeling.
It was good to be back.
He willed it to catch the others gently, raising them onto a slightly hardened platform of water.
"H-How!?" Pyrrha exclaimed what all of them were thinking, eyes wide in confusion.
"No time to explain," Percy said, "I promise I'll tell you everything later."
"Y-You idiot!" Weiss huffed, "If you ever do that again…"
"Yes, of course, ice queen," Percy rolled his eyes.
"I'm assuming you can dry us?" Neptune was shivering, desperately trying to get away from the water, eyes wide with fear.
"Of course."
He willed the ocean to bring them to shore, and with a simple nap of his fingers, everyone was dried.
"Summon your lockers. Team SSSN, Team JNPR, Team RWBY, rescue any survivors, and clear Beacon of all hostiles-"
He grunted, large waves from his whirlpool slamming into a group of White Fang grunts that was charging them, engulfing them, before sweeping them off the docks. The teams pulled out their scrolls, summoning their lockers. He did his own not a second later, and his locker took just a few seconds to slam down in front of him. He pulled out his armor, quickly strapping it on, and putting on his metal knuckles. He grabbed Requiem, turning it into a stylus. He strapped on the smoke bombs and flashbangs, but he wouldn't be needing them, not today.
Trusting his word, the teams quickly began to run off to clear Beacon of enemies.
"Pyrrha, do you feel fine?"
She nodded hesitantly, "I- Amber- has left over feelings against Cinder… she wants revenge… I can feel them, but they're muted, and Amber isn't actually there…"
"Hold her back," he grunted, twirling Requiem in his left hand, "We don't want Cinder finding out that you're the Maiden. You're not in top notch condition, and you haven't mastered the maiden powers. It would be best for you to stay here."
"I-I'm not leaving you to fight her!" Pyrrha glared balefully at him, green eyes swirling with emotions, the most prominent of all being worry.
"You'll have to," Percy sighed, running his hands through his messy raven locks again as he looked at her.
The redhead looked at him frantically, "Percy! You can't do this! She has three fourths of unimaginable power-"
The demigod cut her off, pressing a finger to her cherry red lips.
"If not me, then who? If not now, then when? Pyrrha," he cracked a broken half-hearted grin at her, "Have some faith in me. I have an ace up my sleeve."
Pyrrha suddenly grabbed the back of his head, and he turned towards her reflexively, confused.
Her lips brushed his, softly, delicately, like butterfly wings, just long enough that he could feel the warmth of her skin, and inhale her sweet, cheery scent.
Within moments, he was kissing back with equal fervor, their tongues intertwining beautifully, sending powerful frissons along their nerves. A deep warmth blossomed in his chest, his head going off like a firework as they embraced, his arms wrapping around her body as she pulled him closer to her.
It fell tender, it felt warm, and... perfect. It was as if they were the only two in this dizzying, swaying world of possibilities. They embraced comfortably, her body's curves fitting perfectly along his as she surrendered herself to his grasp.
It was over all too soon. They pulled apart, gasping for air as Pyrrha laid her head against his chest. He simply continued to hold her, confused on where this came from, but strangely content all the same.
"For luck," she suddenly said.
"P-Percy, please, I can help."
Pyrrha looked up towards him, her green eyes still silently pleading with him not to go. Her emerald, green eyes shined with such love, such compassion, and such worry that he almost couldn't find it in himself to deny her... But he had to. For her own good.
He reluctantly shook his head at her, "You still don't have control of your maiden powers, Pyrrha, and you only have a quarter of the maiden power. She is hunting you down, and she thinks you're with me. I'll stop her."
"I can still help without them!" Pyrrha shook her head vehemently, her red ponytail flapping slightly in the wind.
Percy shook his head sadly, "I'm sorry."
A massive boosting ward appeared behind her, and she only realized half a second later. She screamed at him as Percy boosted her far away, into one of the Grimm hordes. He felt a little bad, but it was necessary. She would survive, after all.
He turned his sights on Beacon Tower.
Ozpin instantly shot up from his seat as he watched the Grimm rampage towards the city through the glass tinted windows of his office.
Hundreds of thousands of Grimm barraged Vale's walls, the guns and huntsmen atop the walls just barely able to hold them back. The White Fang ran amok through Vale's streets, causing mayhem. Thankfully, he'd sent Qrow and Glynda to Vale to help. Beacon was being burnt to the ground, Grimm and White Fang rampaging throughout Beacon as well.
Even so, the headmaster knew it was all just a distraction, all just a ploy for the Fall Maiden. He would play his part, however. Cinder Fall did not yet know the Fall Maiden's power had been transferred, and he would like to keep it that way.
He took the elevator down to the Vault, humming in silence the entire way. He quickly moved to the end of the Vault, next to Amber's pod.
Oh, Amber. I never should have let you wander into the wilds like that, Ozpin thought to himself. He shook himself out of his reverie, focusing on what was at stake. He was going to guard the pod to pretend like Amber was still alive.
It was a perfect ploy that would be executed to perfection. He would stall Cinder long enough for Perseus to arrive, and together, they would take Amber's assailant down. Thankfully, he had challenged Perseus to a spar the other day to get his current body used to fighting again.
The headmaster waited for several minutes, pacing back and forth with his cane.
After another minute or so, Ozpin's senses perked up rapidly.
He whipped the Long Memory upwards in an arc through the air to deflect three black arrows to the right, leaving a green afterimage.
Cinder Fall stalked forward, her glass heels clinking on the floor of the Vault. She was a fair skinned woman who looked like she was from Mistral, with ashen black hair and amber golden eyes. She wore a dark red minidress with yellow sigils.
"She was right about you. Such arrogance," she tutted disdainfully.
Ozpin narrowed his eyes at the mention of her. Salem… the memories… his grip tightened on his cane at the thought of her. He carefully locked them away, sealing them within the dark recesses of his mind.
Still, he had to distract her. And he had picked up more than a few things from Qrow and Percy that would do quite well.
"Miss Fall, I must ask you to please drop the femme fatale act, it's getting boring already," he feigned a yawn, rolling his eyes.
"W-What!? I- How dare you!" the young woman in front of him seethed angrily, flames seemingly erupting from her eyes.
"Exactly. As the esteemed headmaster of Beacon Academy, I didn't expect to get propositioned by a stripper today," he shrugged nonchalantly, watching from the corner of his eye as the woman glowered.
"You will die for that," she hissed.
"Next," he dutifully inspected a fingernail, "Unoriginal. Two out of ten at best, Miss Fall."
"Where is the Fall Maiden?" she growled at him.
Oh. So she had figured out the Maiden wasn't here in the Vault.
"Right in front of you, Miss Fall. I'm surprised you haven't realized; I wasn't aware that you were that uneducated-"
He was cut off when she suddenly launched at him, two black swords seemingly made of glass forming in her hands. The headmaster countered easily, weaving between the strikes and slamming the Long Memory into her chest with force.
She skidded backwards, leaving a trail of scorched ground in front of her. She superheated glass from the ground, sending the hundreds of shards at him. He boosted himself with his magic, slashing all of her shards with ease, leaving green afterimages in his path.
He moved forward, easily parrying her strikes away. Hundreds of strikes flowed from the Long Memory into her torso, and she could do nothing to stop it. Despite the Long Memory being a simple cane, it could still be painful. Blunt damage was still damage, after all.
He finished the barrage of strikes with a fist to her face, sending her back. He pursued, however, despite his less than ideal stamina. After all, he couldn't let her create space and allow her to utilize her maiden powers so easily. No amount of skill would triumph that kind of power.
He pressed the advantage, not allowing her a chance to escape. He ducked under her swings, slamming his boot into her chest again. She grunted in pain, but moved with the momentum, landing on her feet, and firing three arrows at him.
He deflected all of them with a simple swing of his cane, yet in his refusal to move aside, it had allowed her ample time to use her maiden powers.
She glowed with pure, raging fire and power, and it was all Ozpin could do to shield himself with his magic.
He jumped upwards, hoping to throw off her aim and close the distance. But it was not meant to be.
She tracked him perfectly, and fired at him, a pure beam of death with arcs of devastating flame slamming into his energy barrier.
Green energy crackled, and he felt it giving way, before it slammed into him.
"Ohh, you know, I really needed this Neo!" Roman Torchwick laughed maniacally as he watched an Atlas airship crash into another one, sending both of them careening down into the bay.
"Of course you did," the green-eyed man with an elegant moustache next to him inspected the controls, "And I mean that with the utmost respect. Nothing is better than watching your enemies burn and fall to the ground in a spectacular fashion."
"Of course," Torchwick agreed instantly, already liking this guy, "The name's Roman Torchwick by the way. I didn't catch your name?"
"Doctor Arthur Watts, at your service."
"Well, Arthur, what do you think of Atlas?"
"Tch," the man scoffed, "What a bunch of preposterous idiots. I despise Atlas."
"Couldn't agree more!" Torchwick laughed, before sobering up, "I just wish that psychotic bitch Cinder would lay off me for just a moment…"
"Hmm… I suppose a psychotic bitch isn't exactly an unapt description of her," Watts shrugged, "She believes she's so mighty and powerful, but truly she's simply another middleman."
Holy shit did this guy have it straight. He could definitely get along with a guy like this.
Torchwick laughed, actually enjoying himself for once, "You, my friend, are a genius indeed. All she does is oh I light stuff on fire!"
"And don't forget the whole femme fatale act she puts on every time," Watts rolled his green eyes in annoyance, "so… irritating."
They bumped fists, as Roman decided to even offer the man one of his premium cigars.
Watts took it, but before he could light it, something hit the ship, rocking it.
Torchwick groaned, a grumpy expression now on his face. There was no way someone was interrupting a good time where he could finally relax with someone who actually understood him for once!
"Ugh… Neo, go see what that is…"
She nodded once, a smile on her face as she happily skipped outside. Giving her a fight would always excite her.
A few seconds later, a picture came through on his scroll. It was a picture of the General.
"Oh… you cannot be serious…"
"James? Oh dear, it appears that we are in a little bit of trouble," Watts said, stroking his moustache, getting up from his seat.
"You're telling me?" Torchwick grunted as they ran to the stairs taking them up to the roof of the airship.
When they got there, they saw Neo fighting Ironwood as best she could, yet she was getting beaten and on the backfoot. She whipped around, sensing them, and disappeared from sight.
"Hand me back control of my ship, or there will be dire consequences," Ironwood snarled at them in anger.
"Oh hello Colonel Irondick." Torchwick said, using Melodic Cudgel to fire at the fucker, and the General did something.
Metal began enveloping him like it was organic, rippling and rushing over his skin and expanding outwards to cover his body from his chest. All of this happened over the span of under a second, and when the dust bullet hit the man and exploded, he didn't even move.
"Yeah, we are in a bit of trouble alright," Torchwick commented rather uselessly, as Neo reappeared next to them.
"It appears his semblance is some type of organic metal body, which would come with strength, endurance, and durability boosts at the cost of mobility," Watts mused.
The gentleman thief paused, "So shooting him won't do anything."
"You are indeed correct."
Torchwick's head whipped back towards Irondick when he heard a dust bullet whizzing towards him. Neo dashed in front of him, blocking with her parasol. Even so, the gravity dust sent them skidding backwards.
"Hey Major Irondick, that was kinda rude," Roman commented. Irondick merely growled in response.
Watts fired off three shots, all of which only pinged off Ironwood's metal body. The General rushed forward, although slower than he was normally. He fired off more dust bullets, causing Roman to have to dodge to the sides. Neo wouldn't be able to do anything to him with blunt force or that thin blade of hers, so she had to use her semblance.
"Neo, I need you to confuse the fucker."
She blinked once, her eyes switching colors, before nodding. Suddenly, Torchwick saw himself and Watts duplicated all around Ironwood.
Unfortunately for them, Irondick charged at the nearest one, and began breaking the rest of them in a circle.
"A shame," Watts intoned, firing a lightning dust bullet at him. The electricity hit Ironwood, and spread over his body, causing him to seize up and shake uncontrollably.
"I should have been the one to take the P.E.N.N.Y project, not that fat imbecile!" Watts snarled, firing more lightning dust bullets, "You never appreciated my genius James! You just stood atop it and called yourself a giant!"
"I gave you everything you could have wanted!" the General roared.
"Not the P.E.N.N.Y project, however. That one had to belong to that fat imbecile!" Watts roared right back.
Neo took the opportunity to push, appearing from side to side, before she arrived in front of the fucker.
She dodged, her boot kicking upwards to the General's face, yet the man leaned backwards. Ironwood missed three more punches, before finally landing a hit. Even if it was a graze, the sheer power behind the strike hurled her backwards, and her mouth was open in a silent scream of pain. The strike took nearly half of her aura off, and he caught her body in his arms.
The thief's mouth twisted into a snarl. That fucking son of a bitch! Nobody hurt his surrogate daughter like that without getting some in return.
He squeezed off five flares from his cane as Watts fired more dust bullets, but none of it seemed to have any impact. Two lightning dust bullets finally slowed Ironwood down, the electricity running across his body and interfering with his movement. Torchwick fired more blasts at the man, but none of it mattered. Ironwood didn't even have the audacity to move backwards, and the explosions did nothing to his metal skin. What a tin can.
"Y'know, Captain Irondick, I feel like that semblance of yours might be compensating for something, or lack thereof," Roman shrugged nonchalantly, taunting him.
The fucker didn't response, firing back at them. He did his best to deflect the dust bullets with Melodic Cudgel, but more than a few made it past, and Roman let out a cry of pain, hissing as he was knocked onto his back. However, he got back to his feet to see Watts blocking the shots with some sort of hard-light dust shield generated from his rings.
That lucky bastard. Roman so wanted to get his hands on those things.
Roman squeezed off more shots, but it did nothing to delay the motherfucker from charging right at him, and the thief dove out of the way. However, even with the weight of his metal skin, the General veered off course and managed to backhand him in the mouth. Torchwick was sent flying backwards, landing on his back and rolling to his feet.
Even with reduced speed, the son of a bitch was already on his ass! What he did in a previous life to deserve this, he hadn't the slightest clue.
Thankfully, his surrogate daughter saved him, engaging in fierce combat with Ironwood and keeping him distracted. Torchwick searched for Watts, only see him flying away in a parachute of all things! When the fuck did he get that?
The thief snarled. That fucker ditched them because he knew they weren't able to win! And they were having a good time too, shitting on Cinder and all that! What was he, batshit crazy for flying a parachute in the skies filled with nevermores and griffons?
As soon as Watts began flying away, griffons along with nevermores started landing on the ship, more than a few at that. It didn't make any sense, since less people should have meant less Grimm attacking them, but the thief didn't have time for any of that thinking right now.
"Oh for fuck's sake…"
Roman fired Melodic Cudgel relentlessly, butchering the avian Grimm as Neo took on Ironwood again. The thief turned his attention back to Irondick. Feeling his eyes on her, Neo disappeared, and Roman squeezed off more shots, explosions rattling Ironwood's chest.
"Lieutenant Irondick, you're being quite rude right now," Roman tapped his chin thoughtfully, "And I don't suppose you can stop being rude?"
Once again, he got no response other than another round of dust bullets pinging against Melodic Cudgel as he deflected them. Neo came to his rescue, heavily using her semblance to alter the landscape rapidly, disorienting Irondick. Even so, the man only forged onwards, punching through every illusion she made.
Roman growled, squeezing off more shots from Melodic Cudgel, but received more than a few in turn, chipping at his aura.
"Sergeant Irondick, please stop this insanity!" the thief wouldn't stop taunting the man, even if it had no visible effect on him. All people had a breaking point eventually.
The man once again didn't respond, choosing to fire relentlessly at him and Neo, even as he deflected the shots and Neo dodged from side to side. She made her way towards him with another engagement. After a few moments of exchanged strikes, a glancing blow left her reeling, and a boot slammed into her chest, throwing her backwards. Ironwood fired, Neo blocking the shots, but one of them made it past her parasol, and it shattered her pink aura. She scrambled backwards, away from the General.
This… this was bad. Very bad.
Even so, Roman continued his act of pissing off Irondick.
Roman faux pouted, "Please stop hurting my daughter, Corporal."
Ironwood growled, pushing towards them again while knocking away the nevermore that kept getting in between their fight. The thief squeezed off more and more shots from Melodic Cudgel, killing the stupid birds and griffons off. He checked his ammo, and realized he only had a few shots left.
"Oh for fuck's sake…"
Ironwood grabbed a griffon by the neck and caved its head in, throwing the dissolving corpse away.
"Oh hey Private Irondick! Fancy meeting you here!" Roman fake cheered, internally wondering if he had a death wish or something.
"WHY. DO. I. KEEP. GOING. DOWN. IN. RANK!?"
Ironwood surged forward, and Roman readied himself, Melodic Cudgel in his hand.
He looked upwards, seeing the wide open mouth of a griffon descending on him.
Melodic Cudgel clicked emptily. Neo screamed silently, her mismatched eyes wide with horror.
The mouth closed, and he only saw darkness.
Blake and Weiss rushed towards the library, trying to search for any survivors. The way was eerily empty, with no White Fang there. Weiss bisected a creep, and Blake decapitated a beowolf as they approached the library. A tall man wearing familiar red sigils on his black blazer stood over the broken bodies of students on the floor, and Blake could do nothing but gasp in horror. The man turned towards them, the White Fang mask and the red hair recognizable anywhere.
Was that… A-Adam?
"No…"
Blake took a step backwards in fear and horror Adam couldn't be here- he couldn't be here- no, no, NO !
Logically, she knew she was in denial, but she couldn't help but panic.
"Schnee… oh how long I've waited for this moment…"
Her mentor grinned bloodthirstily, swiping his blood red blade from side to side.
"And Blake… my star pupil… how far you have fallen. Consorting with a Schnee?" he spat the word, "The very ones who took our home from us?"
"I am nothing like my father!" Weiss looked indignant, "I am going to change the SDC for the better when I inherit it, with better labor laws for the faunus!"
"All talk, and no action, as all humans do," the bull faunus waved it off, "Nothing ever comes of talks. Your father did the same once, and nothing happened. Look at what he has turned into now."
"She shouldn't be blamed for the misdeeds of her father!" Blake retorted heatedly.
"All Schnees are the same. She is the heiress. No better than her father before her. With this, the White Fang will destroy the future of the SDC. Blake, in spite of your betrayal… as my former prized pupil, I will allow you one chance to step aside. I won't be so generous the next time."
"I'm not running, not anymore."
"A shame. You will have to be cut down along with the Schnee. A traitor to your own race."
"Enough! I won't allow you to keep hurting my friends!"
Weiss sent an arc of flame towards Adam, who only absorbed it with his sword.
"Be careful! His semblance is like Yang's! He absorbs energy with his sword and sends it back when he's ready!"
Weiss didn't have time to reply, as Adam went on the offensive, striking and sheathing three times in quick succession. Weiss was forced to block as she was pushed back, and Blake fired at him, hoping to catch him off guard.
Adam blocked with his sword, absorbing the energy as he sheathed it again.
"Don't you see? This could have been us, Blake!" he pushed, shooting the pommel of his sword at Weiss and ricocheting it off her forehead while firing at Blake. She was forced to dodge, and Adam pursued Weiss, slashing and thrusting so fast that she couldn't keep up.
"I never wanted this!" Blake shouted angrily, squeezing off more shots from Gambol Shroud. Adam blocked, and Weiss landed a grazing hit, but he backhanded her in the face, before slamming his boot into her stomach.
Gambol shroud turned into a katana, and she locked blades with him, glaring at him.
"What you want is impossible!" he snarled as he slammed a boot into her stomach, causing her to doubling over. He slashed his katana twice in quick succession, before throwing a haymaker.
Blake was sent backwards, and Weiss sent icicles at him from numerous glyphs. He dodged and blocked, but Blake attacked him from behind, and he had to whirl around to defend. Weiss attacked, and for the first time, Adam was on the defensive.
He bolted backwards, blocking hits with his sword and rolling to put distance between them. He opened fire on them with his gun, but they dodged the bullets, pushing towards him.
Again and again he blocked, building up dangerous amounts of energy in his blade; Blake and Weiss weren't able to put a hole in his staunch defense, and he forced them away with quick draws of his sword.
She threw down a smoke bomb, clouding the room in smoke as she zig zagged towards her target. When she reached it, however, he wasn't there. She cloned immediately, just barely avoiding his deadly thrust as she went on the offensive again.
The smoke lifted, and Blake tried to force herself into his defense, dual wielding Gambol shroud, but he parried it with ease, forcing her back again. She cloned herself, trying to catch him off guard, but he predicted her perfectly, slamming a fist into her side. Blake was sent back, and she cloned again, firing the sickle form of her weapon.
He knew her too well for that little trick, however. He tilted to the side, before jerking on the ribbon. Blake was sent flying forwards, and he slammed his katana straight into her stomach.
Or at least, he thought he did. Blake used a dust clone to avoid it, leaving an ice sculpture in her wake, freezing the blade.
She jerked to the left, her weapon shifting to its blade form as she thrust it at him. Even though he was caught off guard, he managed to tilt to the side and avoid it. He vaulted over the ice sculpture, using his weight to pull his blade free.
Weiss' fire hit Blake's back, and she grit her teeth in pain, boring the brunt of it with her aura. She and Weiss had never had many team attacks, mainly because of the petty faunus-Schnee feud they had from the start, mostly on Blake's end. And she slightly regretted it.
"I taught you everything you know! And this is how you repay me!?" Adam snarled, hurling his red blade like a saw as it spun rapidly in the air.
His blade glowed red with power, before he jumped in the air, caught it, and slammed it down. She tanked it with a rock dust clone, but it struck through that, and hit her braced forearms. Blake let out a cry of pain as the energy hit her, and her back slammed against a pillar, knocking the wind out of her.
Weiss moved forward with glyphs under her feet, her rapier leading the way, but Adam moved to the side, deflecting it and slashing at her face before thrusting his sword into her exposed stomach. Weiss let out a cry of pain as he forced her back, but her aura hadn't cracked. Not yet. It was close, however. A whirlwind came from her rapier, forcing Adam back, but it was short lived, as he went on the offensive again. His sheath turned into a firearm, and he shot it in quick bursts as he closed the gap.
Weiss shielded with hard-light dust, before she thrust forward. He parried it, slashing several times again, his red sword leaving a pure trail of fire behind it. His blade was red dust infused with a special alloy of titanium, and he was using a lot of his dust now. Again and again he slashed, arcs of fire being sent towards her.
Weiss became panicked, shielding with ice dust. The result was steam, and Blake heard Weiss cry out in pain. The fog eventually faded, and Blake could see them duking it out, Weiss on the defensive as Adam pushed and pushed. Weiss became panicked, unleashing fire from her rapier, but Adam only absorbed the energy into his katana, dodging the rest. She fired ice crystals, before trying to cover the ground in ice. It took a moment though, and it allowed Adam ample time to slash at her, and Weiss was forced to give up on the endeavor.
Blake pushed, ducking under his swings and trying to retaliate, but he backhanded her with his free hand, before slashing and sheathing three times again. Blake left a fire clone in her place, but he avoided the explosion. Blake didn't know where he was for a second, before her senses panicked, blaring heavily. Her aura saved her from being skewered, just barely being able to stop his blade from penetrating the small of her back.
She let out a cry of pain as he followed up with an unrelenting triple sheath and slash, and her purple aura fizzled out.
Adam moved forward to capitalize, but Weiss saved her. Summoning a time dilation glyph under her feet, she surged forward, white glyphs coming to life all around him. Taken off guard by her speed, Adam wasn't ready to block, and the heiress launched from glyph to glyph, her rapier thrusting at him.
All her hits were only grazes, however, and Adam managed to mitigate the damage.
She let out a burst of fire from her rapier, forcing him to block. Weiss burst forward with the same immense speed, fiercely thrusting and pirouetting like a dancer, but Adam kept blocking, grinning.
The effects of the time dilation finally caught up with her, and she slowed at the worst moment, as she barely missed a thrust. Adam burst forth around her, circling her and confusing her. Weiss was facing the opposite direction when he finally made his attack.
"Pay for our suffering, Schnee! See how we feel!"
Weiss screamed out in agony as he pierced through her side, breaking her aura in a fizzling of light blue.
"Weiss!"
Blood splattered on the floor from the blow, and Adam kicked her in the ribs, cracking several and sending her onto the ground.
"This is retribution, vengeance given form!"
Blake growled in anger as she fired Gambol Shroud at him, forcing him to block. She burst forward despite the pain, using dust clones to confuse him, before Gambol Shroud finally found an opening.
He dodged it by the tiniest of margins, retaliating with a pommel to her temple, but she had managed to knock his mask off.
"No…"
Even while bleeding out on the floor, Weiss let out a horrified gasp, her ice blue eyes wide with shock. Blake's ears flattened, as she glanced away, unable to look.
A Schnee Dust Company brand was scarred into his left eye, the flesh bloodied and singed, his eye red except for a gray iris in the center. A single silver eye was all that was left of his vision.
Adam smiled bitterly. He moved forward, a menacing expression present on his face.
"Look at the suffering of us faunus at the hands of your family. Treated like nothing more than filthy animals, like garbage, subjugated by the humans. Insulted and reviled, we were enthralled to humans. We were unwanted, uncared for, and worst of all?"
He swung his blade from side to side, flicking off the blood on it, "We would have been fine with that if it meant equal rights, equal opportunities instead of pure hatred. Yet little progress was made with peaceful protests. Talk? Peace? It would never get us anywhere. Injustice must be met with the cruel, decisive hammer of vengeance."
"I-I'm- I'm sorry," Weiss trembled slightly, trying to crawl away, "I- I'm the heiress- I can fix this! I can change things! Better faunus labor laws- b-better pay! W-When I get control of the SDC..."
"And how long will that take, Schnee?" he scathingly replied, "We've heard it all before. Why should I trust the word of a backstabbing, abusing, human?"
He bent down to retrieve his mask, donning it once more. He stalked forward, unsheathing his bloodred blade, the metallic sound only making Blake flinch, as she realized what was about to happen.
"An eye for an eye, Schnee."
"GET AWAY FROM HER!"
Blake's head swirled as she saw her partner outside of the library.
"No… please…" Blake whispered from the ground, horrified.
From outside the library, Yang screamed in anger, a war cry coming from her lips and her hair igniting with fire as the blonde burst towards Adam in a flame of fury.
He merely chuckled.
His hair, sword, and emblems glowed a foreboding red, and Adam swung. A bloodred arc of pure power carved through the air, and it went straight through Yang's aura, slashing through it like butter. Yang's body flopped limply in the air, careening down.
"NOO! YANG!"
Blake gasped in horror, rushing to her. She pressed two fingers to her neck, feeling her heartbeat, and she relaxed slightly, breathing a sigh of relief. Thankfully, she had pushed all of her aura to the front and tanked the blow, even if it had clawed through every single drop of her aura, from one hundred percent to zero. She was out cold. Blake turned, expecting Adam to be pursuing them. Instead, he turned his eyes on the heiress.
He slowly walked towards Weiss, clearly enjoying his moment.
Blake cocked Gambol Shroud, preparing to fire, when a swirling vortex of black and red appeared in front of her.
A masked woman emerged from it, dashing forward and slashing a red blade twice, before sheathing it.
Adam was forced back, and he sheathed his own blade, wary of this new intruder.
She wore a mask not unlike Adam's, yet different all the same; She had red eyes Blake could see through the mask. She had a long, black mane of hair down her back, not unlike Yang's, with a red wrap style top and a black pleated skirt along with black mid-thigh boots and red armored gauntlets.
"Raven," he grunted warily, straightening himself.
"Adam," the woman matched his cool tone, sending a glance towards Yang, "That was my daughter."
It was said in barely a whisper, but it sent chills down the back of her spine. They knew each other? Why hadn't he mentioned her before?"
"You will pay, for that."
Adam opened his mouth to respond when the woman burst forward in a flurry of strikes, fire springing from her red dust blade, as Adam responded with his own. The two began trading blows at blinding speeds, and Blake forced herself to turn her eyes away from the fight. She had to get her teammates to safety first.
She grabbed Yang and hurried over to Weiss, struggling to pick both of them up.
"I-I can walk, d-dolt…" Weiss tried admonishing her, but Blake ignored her.
"Blake!"
Blake looked up to see Ruby, with the dog at her side, hurrying over to them, and she sighed in relief.
"W-What happened?" Ruby looked over them with a worried face, before looking at the fight.
"N-No time to explain," Blake grunted quietly, her ribs still aching, "Leave them. Help me carry Weiss. We have to go. The Grimm hordes are getting thicker and thicker."
"Right!"
Ruby put a protesting Weiss on her back, and they started to make their way back to the docking bay.
"Percy? Status?" Blake heard from Ruby as she called the general channel using her earpiece, meaning that Team JNPR would also hear it.
"… I'm fine," was all they got from him. He must have been in the middle of a fight. Blake let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding in, thankful he was okay.
Blake could only wonder how the other teams were doing.
In the western area of Beacon, things weren't looking too great. The area was thick with Grimm and White Fang, along with Atlesian Paladins.
Pyrrha pushed, her javelin changing into a rifle. She fired at the cockpit of the Atlesian Paladin. The glass was more durable than expected, and it took several shots before she took out the pilot.
"Pyrrha! Try controlling the paladins with your semblance!" Jaune called out through the team channel.
Pyrrha rolled away from a White Fang grunt, slamming her boot into his chest.
"I already tried! It seems as though they are some kind of nonmagnetic metal I can't control, like titanium!" she replied, as she blocked an ursa's swipe, before piercing its throat.
She flipped away, from the onslaught of Grimm, putting distance and firing at them with Miló's rifle form. She used her scope to zoom on a White Fang sniper, nailing them twice in the head and knocking them out.
A paladin rushed towards her, and Pyrrha had to fire at the cockpit again, but the person inside blocked her shots. Thankfully, Nora came to her rescue, firing grenades at the enemy. Jaune and Pyrrha shared a look, and he began firing alongside her with his new rifle, actually dealing damage to the paladin's armor. Ren watched their backs, blitzing the ursai that were creeping up on them.
Yet still, Grimm converged on their position, and Jaune made the call for them to fall back towards the docking bay.
Pyrrha listened as Ruby asked about Percy, and he responded, "I'm fine."
She wanted to get to him to at least make sure he was okay, but that would require making a push towards the crumpled Beacon Tower, and it would be impossible without the help of the other teams. It was best to regroup with the other teams, and then push through. Until then, she could only hope that he would last.
AN: Percy's fight is coming up next chapter! Stay tuned!
Lots of revelations in this chapter! I'm changing canon quite a bit. Because Percy saved Yang on the train, Raven now saves Yang from Adam, since she didn't end up saving her daughter on the train.
Adam is a silver-eyed warrior, but he has no clue he is one, and Blake and Weiss don't know the significance, hence why they don't react to the specific color.
Watts quit because of the PENNY project specifically, and, well, Torchwick still dies. I wanted to keep him alive, but I felt like if I did, he'd just be a backdrop in the rebuilding Valean underworld, and he'd have little time in the chapters to show his character anyway.
Also, I changed Ironwood's semblance, because, well, it was kind of horrible in the show. I've made his semblance still represent his military mindset, since he basically transforms into a heavy hitting tank, but because of his semblance, I've buffed him a bit.
And a little snippet for my Percy x Pyrrha fans!
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'til next time!
-thann3