Capítulo 807: 150
Chapter 150:
Qrow twisted and turned, winging his way between the forms of flying Grimm as he made his way towards the enemy airship. He was fortunate that his corvid form rendered him virtually unnoticeable to the Grimm, otherwise flying into a swarm of them in such a small form would have been asking to die. Even so, it wasn't easy. The Grimm didn't notice him enough to attack, but they didn't notice him enough to avoid him either. Slamming headlong into a Griffon would be the end of him almost as easily as being speared by a Nevermore's feather would.
And they were the least of his problems. After all, the air was also filled by the thunderous sounds and vibrations of detonating munitions. He was flying into the middle of a full-scale aerial battle after all. Both sides were flinging unbelievable firepower one way or another. Missiles and point-defense fire were raining down on the Grimm, which also meant that they were raining down on him as well, and Qrow wasn't in a position to tell the two remaining Atlesian airships that he was there.
Swooping past the bulk of a Nevermore, Qrow found himself in the space between the Grimm guard-formation and the enemy airship. But he wasn't out of danger. He was flying in the same space as the main target for several different artillery batteries after all. Flying in closer, Qrow could feel the buzz of the enemy airship's shield through his feathers. Dang! Gotta figure out a way through that, he thought. And fast! he added as an incoming shot detonated against the shield, the spray of heat from it threatening to set his feathers alight.
By default, airship shields were omnidirectional. So there wasn't some secret spot where he could slip through. He'd have to find his own opening. Luckily, he had a solid idea of where to start.
Whoever was commanding the enemy vessel clearly knew their business. They'd dropped altitude, drifting just above the buildings of Vale, while firing up at the Atlesian vessels. Normally, air-to-air combat dictated that the higher altitude was preferable. Firing rounds against the force of gravity affected their flight and range after all, and being forced down towards the ground hindered maneuvering. But, in this case, it was a clever move, allowing the commander to use Vale itself as a sort of shield against the Atlesian ships. The Atlesians were being forced to pick their shots carefully to avoid inflicting damage on Vale as much as possible.
On top of that, by keeping their vessel low, the commander could also improve their defense by focusing the shields against attack from above. While the inverse would normally be true of the Atlesian vessels higher up, the presence of so many Grimm, attacking from multiple directions, dictated that they spread their shields out evenly, rather than just concentrating their defenses against the target below. Because of that, Qrow figured that the ventral shields were probably weaker than the dorsal ones right now. If he could force his way through from below, then he could break into the ship and take out the crew.
With that thought in mind, Qrow folded his wings, going into an immediate dive. Dropping down, he swooped beneath the warship, using the sensations transmitted through his feathers to follow the contour of the energy-shield. As he'd expected, his sense of the shield began to weaken, the lower he got. Swinging around to the point farthest from the Atlesian vessels, below and slightly behind the warship, Qrow could barely sense the shield at all.
Swinging his flight out, Qrow got some distance so that he could build up as much speed as possible for the trick he was about to pull. Flying as fast and hard as he could towards the shield, he returned to his human form. Immediately, he pulled out Harbinger, bringing the sword around in a powerful slash. The blade cleaved through the weakened shield like butter, and Qrow flew through. As he did, he transformed back into his crow-form. Now within the shield, he flew along the underside of the airship, looking for an entrance.
He spotted a couple of hatches, but had no way of opening them in midair. That option out, Qrow decided to chance the dorsal hull, even though that section was under the heaviest fire, and where the enemy vessel would be firing from. Sweeping his flight up, he was nearly obliterated when his flight carried him across the barrel of a cannon. He was barely past it when it fired, the streak of red nearly burning his feathers clean off. At least the shields were holding for now. The fire from the Atlesian ships was exploding against it, Qrow barely even feeling the vibrating rumble of their explosions.
Transforming back, he landed on the hull, somewhere behind where he figured the bridge would be. He didn't want whoever was in charge of this tub to figure out they'd been boarded yet. So he didn't want to land in front of the bridge's viewports.
Pulling out his sword once more, Qrow began cutting his way through a small section of the airship's armor. This would have held out against rounds of cannon-fire. But against the focused, Aura-enhanced edge of a Huntsman's blade, he was gradually able to work his way through. After a few minutes of work, he finally managed to cut a triangular section out, which dropped down into what seemed to be a corridor of some kind within.
Dropping down inside, Qrow found himself in a dark hallway, illuminated from above by red lights. Looking ahead of him, he prepared to make his way towards the bridge, only to stop when dark forms moved away from the walls ahead of him. Glowing eyes met his own, and Qrow grimaced, realizing that whoever was running this thing had some pretty good guards. Hearing the sounds of claws against the plating behind him, Qrow realized that he was surrounded.
Damn! This is getting to be a bigger pain by the second, thought Qrow as he readied for battle.
"Dear me," remarked Morgan, smirking as she glanced at the Seer. "What a troublesome development. If that Huntsman is who I think he is, I don't think our security will hold him for long. I suppose I will just have to take what measures I can in the meantime."
Her fingers danced over the control console once more, as she began setting up for her next move. "Go ahead and send them all on the attack," she told the Seer. "If we're going to go down, we should do it with style."
There was no visible response from the Seer. However, outside, the Grimm swarming around Morgan's airship gave up on the guard-formation, instead throwing themselves at the Atlesian ship off her starboard bow. They swarmed around the warship, their sheer numbers soaking up the fire. At the same time, Morgan directed her own ship forward, flying straight towards the blinded and hampered vessel, deploying and concentrating her shields to intercept the incoming fire from the other remaining Atlesian vessel.
Arming all of her guns, Morgan focused them on her target, actually flying her own vessel straight through the swarm of Grimm, right up until she was on the verge of ramming the enemy ship, before triggering all her shots at once. Her attack ripped through the Atlesian ship, the stricken vessel reeling, drifting away, what few lifters it had active sending it drifting down towards Vale's skyline, where it crashed through a pair of skyscrapers, before hitting the ground and throwing up a plume of dust and smoke.
Now Morgan turned her vessel towards the remaining Atlesian vessel. It was firing everything it had at her ship. Taking so much concentrated fire had strained her shields to the limit, especially since increasing her altitude had made it easier for the warship to target her. Nonetheless, Morgan turned her ship to meet the last Atlesian one head-on, increasing the engine output to maximum, and rushing straight for it.
One shot broke through her ship's shields, making the deck beneath her lurch. But Morgan stayed the course, only making maneuvers to ensure that she was still heading directly for the Atlesian vessel. Another shot struck home, blowing off one of her ship's maneuvering vanes. Now her airship was beginning to tilt. Still, Morgan continued to adjust the controls, holding her fire. Whoever was commanding the Atlesian vessel knew what they were doing, and had seen Morgan's original intent.
The Atlesian ship began to gain altitude, taking advantage of the damage it had inflicted, as Morgan wouldn't be able to raise her own ship's altitude nearly as quickly. At the same time, it reversed course, doing everything it could to keep Morgan in the line of its guns, which fired relentlessly, their aim precise, no longer having to worry about evasive maneuvers on Morgan's part. It was clear that there was no way for Morgan to keep that Atlesian warship in her direct path.
But Morgan was still grinning.
Steel shrieked behind her, and the door leading onto the bridge was split open. With a second shriek, another line was cut through it. Then Qrow Branwen kicked the doors out of his way, striding onto the bridge, black particles streaming out through the hallway behind him, the remnants of the Grimm that had served as security.
The hovering Seer turned in place, its bladed tentacles lashing out like whips. Qrow yelped, dodging and ducking, before whipping his large weapon through an impressively quick slash that cut through several of the tentacles. The Seer merely spun its body, bringing new tentacles into play, lashing at Qrow with lightning-fast attacks. Qrow was forced to bring his sword up to block, grimacing at the impact as one of those blade-tipped appendages scraped against the broad flat of his blade. For such thin arms, this thing packs a wallop.
Nonetheless, he wasn't about to let it get the better of him, not with everything he'd done to reach this point. Lunging straight in, Qrow extended harbinger into its scythe-mode, sweeping it out, reaching past the tentacles to cut through the Seer's mantle. True to his expectations, the unusual Grimm collapsed and dissolved, leaving Qrow free to see to the real problem.
"Time to give up, lady," he growled, focusing on Morgan.
"I think not," said Morgan, tapping the screen of the control console one last time. As she did, her ship opened up with all its dorsal cannons.
While the Atlesian warship had escaped a ramming attack, it still took her barrage at point-blank range. Her ship's guns ripped through the Atlesian ship's underside. The Atlesian vessel listed and began to fall, its crew apparently doing their best to keep the ship from falling on a populated area.
"Dammit!" snarled Qrow, charging forwards.
Harbinger collapsed down into its sword-form. While he'd relied on the scythe's increased reach against the Seer, in a straightforward melee, in a confined space, he was better off using its more compact mode. Qrow's sword clashed against Morgan's rapier.
"I suppose that's the difficulty with being the sole crew member of this ship," said Morgan. "Once you were aboard, it was a race to see whether or not I could finish off the enemy air force. It appears you were a step too late."
"Maybe I was," agreed Qrow. "But now I'm gonna make sure you don't do anymore damage."
"We'll see," taunted Morgan. "But...I'm not steering this tub anymore. I have no idea where it will end up now. Would you like to lay out odds where we might end up?"
Qrow blanched. Morgan spun her rapier's blade, deflecting Qrow's sword off to the side, before darting past him. Qrow quickly rushed towards the control console, looking to find and alter the airship's course. Glancing down, he was able to fairly quickly grasp the controls, while reading the information visible on the console. With that, he was able to correct the airship's course, setting it to come down outside Vale's walls.
Turning, he saw Morgan tip her hat in a taunting gesture, before rushing out through the very same door Qrow had cut his way through to get in. Growling, Qrow gave chase.
Holding up her swords, Natsuki faced Raven, watching the older Maiden carefully. She had no idea how Raven had managed to escape that last attack, not when she'd been completely engulfed by it. More to the point, even if Amber's condition was urgent, Natsuki couldn't afford to rush. If she was hasty, she had no doubt that her older, more-experienced, opponent would make her pay for it.
For her part, Raven brandished her sword, holding Omen up and ready. Frowning, Natsuki advanced a step, then another. One thing that she was sure was that she couldn't allow this battle to take place in such close proximity to Amber. Raven didn't move. For all that she appeared confident, the state of her body told a different story. She was burned and cut in several different places, blood dripping to the floor by her feet.
Then Natsuki vanished. Raven's ears caught the clang of one of Natsuki's steps against a nearby railing, the girl using it to dart around behind Raven, suddenly flickering back into sight behind her, both kodachi slashing at Raven from behind. Raven turned to meet the attack, slashing her sword out to meet Natsuki's blades, only for her counter to meet no resistance, cutting through both Natsuki's weapons and the girl herself.
Before Raven's eyes, the image of Natsuki dissolved into flames, revealing herself to be nothing more than a decoy. The real Natsuki appeared just a few meters ahead of where she'd originally been, as though she'd charged straight forward, instead of actually flanking behind Raven. With a growl of anger, Raven swept her left hand out in a wave, sending a blast of wind that threatened to blow Natsuki off her feet.
However, Natsuki's form again dissolved into flames, which were blown out like a candle, as she appeared right alongside Raven, her right-hand kodachi extending across her body, under her left arm, so that she could point it directly at Raven's torso. "Shakuran Entei!"
A torrent of flames exploded outwards from the tip of her sword, engulfing Raven. However, despite that, Natsuki found herself gasping as her sense of Raven's presence completely vanished. Abruptly, her senses told her that Raven was behind her. Quickly, Natsuki slashed her right-handed weapon around to intercept Raven's sword, the red blade ringing off the kodachi, while Natsuki channeled her residual Aura out through the edge of the weapon, sending another wave of flame outward, but Raven easily jumped back to avoid that one.
She teleported! Natsuki realized. But how? Her Semblance isn't supposed to work like that. Is she using her magic somehow?
Despite her question, Natsuki didn't worry too much about thinking. Jumping back away from Raven as well, she held out her right-handed Kodachi, pointing the tip right at Raven. "Hitodama!" A trio of fireballs launched out from the tip, flying at Raven like bullets.
Rather than try to intercept them with her sword or magic, Raven instead slashed Omen straight down through the space in front of her. A swirling vortex of black and red appeared between her and the incoming attack. The fireballs vanished through the portal. A second later, Natsuki screamed as they slammed into her from behind. Glancing over her shoulder, Natsuki caught a glimpse of a second vortex.
Then Raven dove straight through the portal she'd just opened, emerging in the wake of the fireballs she'd used it to intercept, her sword rushing at Natsuki's back. Natsuki was barely able to bring her shorter kodachi around to intercept Raven's slash. Raven allowed Natsuki to deflect her blow, angling her slash downwards, another portal appearing beneath her feet, which she dropped through. Before Natsuki could locate the exit point, Raven emerged from it, one leg extended out in a kick, her downwards momentum now transferred sideways, allowing her to slam her foot against Natsuki's side, and knock her back.
Natsuki hit the floor, bouncing, before managing to roll back to her feet. I don't understand, she thought, grimacing through the pain.
Ozpin had told her and Amber about Raven's Semblance, which Raven called Kindred Bond. Apparently, Raven bonded to people, which then allowed her to open portals to their position. It was apparent, from the myriad ways that Raven used that Semblance, that she could control the distance and position of her portals within a certain radius of the person she was bonded to. However, there was no way she could be bonded to Natsuki or Amber. In a sense, it was a potent Semblance, but one that didn't have much use in combat.
Unless... thought Natsuki, getting an idea of what Raven was doing, ...What if she's creating portals to herself?
That seemed absurd. However, at the same time, it was perfectly logical. Whatever conditions Raven had to fulfill to "bond" with someone, it seemed possible that she could probably meet them herself. In other words, if she created a portal to herself, then she could set the portal's exit anywhere within a certain radius of herself. If she was fighting someone at close range, then that meant that she could easily use such an ability to avoid attacks and launch her own from unexpected directions. The portals could also be used as shields apparently, as Natsuki had experienced when Raven had turned her own attack back on her.
Raven wasn't exactly planning to give her time to work out countermeasures though. She dashed forward, easily moving almost as fast as Natsuki's Shukuchi allowed her to move, her body a blur. Omen was a streak of red, descending through the air. Natsuki darted forward as well. Their blades met, Raven's dark-red Aura clashing against Natsuki's violet. The air was filled with the screaming shriek of steel against steel as the two of them strained against one another. They separated for all of a second, before coming back together, both their weapons flickering brilliantly as they clashed.
Raven knocked Natsuki's attacking kodachi aside. Sacrificing an opportunity to attack for herself, she jumped over Natsuki's attempt at a followthrough, going through a quick flip, while sheathing Omen, selecting a new blade for it. She attacked on the draw, sending a wave of flame flying at Natsuki, who easily parted it with a simple wave of her shorter kodachi. However, the flames parted to reveal that Raven was no longer there.
Almost too late, Natsuki felt Raven descending directly from above. She barely managed to jump out of the way as Raven landed, plunging her sword straight down into the floor where Natsuki had been standing. However, the orange blade exploded on impact, the shockwave knocking Natsuki away with a cry of surprise.
Attempting to regain her balance, Natsuki noticed that Raven had already disappeared again. This time, she appeared to Natsuki's right, emerging from the portal with a blue blade flying out from Omen's sheath. Natsuki met Raven's swing, but merely found herself yelping as ice climbed from the point of contact between their weapons, rushing up to engulf her arm all the way up to the shoulder.
Skipping back away from Raven, Natsuki turned to bring her shorter, more defensive weapon into play. Raven's blue blade skipped off Yuya, fragments of ice scattering away, but not actually spreading across the sword or Natsuki's flesh. With another wave of her sword, Natsuki produced some flames, which she used to melt the ice covering her right arm.
With her right arm free, Natsuki slashed at Raven with that kodachi. But that arm's movements were sluggish, after being only just freed from the ice. Raven easily dodged back, returning Omen to its sheath. When she drew her sword again, the blade was orange once more. Sweeping her sword down low, Raven slashed upwards, sending a powerful wave of flame rushing straight at Natsuki from close range.
Natsuki dropped down to one knee, planting Yuya into the floor, a curtain of flames rising up to shield her from the attack Raven had just launched. At the same time, she released Yuya, and lightly nicked her thumb with the edge of her right-handed kodachi.
Raven frowned, upon seeing the wall of fire Natsuki had conjured to defend herself, which had split the flames of Raven's own attack past her. However, when Raven caught a glimpse of her opponent, she saw that Natsuki had changed. Smearing the blood from her cut thumb, Natsuki had used her fingers to draw stripes across her cheeks and chin, before moving her hands to trail those stripes down towards her collar.
The sense of danger Raven got from Natsuki increased exponentially. Natsuki's gaze was harder, fiercer. Taking up both her blades again, Natsuki rushed forwards. Raven met her attack head-on, flames erupting from her sword on contact. However, Natsuki's weapons blazed as well, two waves of flame clashing against each other. Much to Raven's shock, even while adding the Maiden's magic to her attack, Natsuki's flames still pushed back against her own, forcing Raven back.
Raven's back slammed against the railing behind her, and she quickly jumped on it. Behind her, the rows of seats stretched back towards the coliseum's inner wall. At the same time, Natsuki lunged forward, her right-handed kodachi outstretched. "Maouen!"
Raven's eyes widened as a powerful jet of flames rushed up at her. She disappeared, the fire consuming the seats and floor, all the way up to the top row, leaving a channel of molten metal in its wake. However, Raven simply appeared from a portal behind Natsuki, her now blood-red sword slashing towards the back of Natsuki's neck. However, the blade was stopped cold. Even as she'd lunged forward with her right-hand blade extended, Natsuki had raised her left arm over her shoulder, so that Yuya's blade extended down past her neck, in the perfect position to intercept Raven's attack.
Now Natsuki turned, lashing out with a back-kick that caught Raven in the stomach. Following through, Natsuki spun about, slashing her other kodachi through the air, the blade trailing flames as she closed in on Raven again. However, Natsuki found her vision filled with black and red as she stumbled straight through one of Raven's portals. Emerging out the other side, she tripped, her foot hooking over the top of one of the seats, sending her stumbling forward.
Raven had teleported Natsuki into a lower level of the spectator seating, right into the red seats that were up against the ringside. From her position, Raven was easily able to hop over the railing to bring her sword down on Natsuki's back from above. However, once again, Omen's blade was stopped cold.
This time, it wasn't one of Natsuki's kodachi that had intercepted Raven's attack. The flames that had been burning along the length of Natsuki's kodachi had spread across the rest of her body. Raven's sword met those flames, then stopped as though they were solid steel.
Natsuki made no effort to recover from her fall. Instead reversing her grip on both her weapons, so that the tips of her kodachi pointed out and up behind her, right at a baffled Raven. Before Raven could process what had happened, a torrent of flames surged out from both Natsuki's swords, threatening to engulf her. Taken off-guard, Raven wasn't able to create a portal, and instead jumped back away, trailing smoke and nursing some additional burns. The dark-red of her Aura flickered around her body, indicating it was near the breaking point.
For her part, Natsuki knew she was fighting on borrowed time. Her Chikewai was drawing on her stamina, using it to enhance her overall power, but at the cost of drastically reducing her staying power. She had to finish this fight soon, or she'd be left too tired to do anything.
Not far away, Amber watched the fight going on. She grimaced, her hand going down to close around the sword Raven had left lodged in her body. There was no way she could stand idly by and let Natsuki fight this battle on her own. She was bleeding out anyway. Worse still, if she removed Raven's blade, she would only wind up bleeding more freely.
If that's the case... thought Amber, her brow furrowing at the thought of what she was about to do.
Bracing herself, Amber pulled Raven's sword free with her right hand. With her left, she used her magic to call forth flames, which she then brought to the bleeding wound on one side of her abdomen. Gritting her teeth, Amber pressed that flaming hand up against the wound, biting down a scream a she felt the flames searing her flesh. Tossing Raven's sword aside, she engaged the same magic with her right hand, reaching around behind her to burn the wound shut from the other side.
Her injury cauterized, Amber slumped forward. The pain was unreal. She also knew that this was a stopgap at best. But it would allow her to fight at least a little longer.
Still, she didn't move. Instead, she focused past her pain, devoting every ounce of her will to following the battle in front of her. She wasn't capable of much in this state, which meant she had to make sure that what move she did make counted for something. So Amber watched and waited for her opportunity.
Raven and Natsuki clashed once more, the fire produced from their swords vying against one another. Once again, Natsuki's flames won out.
It wasn't merely the fire produced by her Aura. Natsuki's speed and strength had both increased greatly, and Raven was definitely feeling the pressure. Even more importantly, despite her increase in power, Natsuki was now fighting more evasively. Over and over again, Omen's blade would bite through Natsuki's body, only for Raven to realize that it was another fire-clone.
However, just because she'd increased her overall power with her Chikewai, it didn't mean that Natsuki wholly held the upper hand. Raven was just as evasive in her own way, creating her portals at will, using them to escape and flank Natsuki, but just as often using them as a way to send Natsuki's own attacks back at her from a different direction. If there was one consolation to this situation, it was that Raven could only create one set of portals at a time. However, just that, combined with Raven's greater experience, were enough to keep the field even between them.
Because of that, it was Natsuki who stood to lose the most in this situation. With her Chikewai burning away her stamina, it was only a matter of time before she collapsed from exhaustion, at which point Raven would be free to do as she wished. Because of that, if Raven were aware of the limitations of Natsuki's technique, all she would have to do was play for time.
It was fortunate that Raven wasn't aware of that fact, and was attempting to meet Natsuki head-on. Because of that, Natsuki figured she might actually have a chance of winning this, particularly with all the damage Raven had already taken.
I need something decisive, thought Natsuki, narrowing her eyes as she used her swords to fend off Raven's next series of attacks. The two of them flickered back and forth, dancing, not just along the walkways that ran the coliseum's circumference, but over the backs of seats and off the railings that separated sections of seats. One moment, they were dueling their way up a line of steps towards the nosebleed seats. The next second they were vaulting back down over the lower rows.
Raven switched between several different elements at will. She bombarded Natsuki with shards of ice, bolts of lightning, and gusts of wind, along with torrents of fire. For her part, Natsuki responded purely with flames. In terms of versatility, Raven definitely had the advantage, or so it seemed. However, Natsuki's mastery of her chosen element was all the greater.
In various games, both in the Kingdom and the Mibu, there were fantasy settings where various elements were supposed to have advantages over other elements. Fire was supposed to be weak to water, but fire was strong against metal, and metal was strong against wood, and so on... However, when it came to the schools of Manifestation used by the Mibu, the things that trumped all else were skill and power. Superiority between a wielder of the Mumyo Saigyo Ryu and someone using the Mumyo Homusubi Ryu was determined by who was better at wielding their respective element.
Therefore, because she had devoted herself to complete mastery of her chosen element, Natsuki was not at a disadvantage against Raven, simply because Raven had the greater variety of elements to rely upon. Rather, the source of the pressure Natsuki was currently facing was Raven's knowledge of how to use each element to its fullest effect.
A sheath of rime washed across the surface of a metal railing that Natsuki had intended to use as a foothold, causing her to slip. When she tried to catch herself, Raven used lightning to channel electricity through the nearby surface, shocking her and knocking her back. Wind picked up broken debris to use as weapons. There was more to Raven than simple raw power. It seemed that her brush with death earlier had broken her out of her previous arrogance, and now she was using the canniness that could only be gained through a lifetime of struggle.
But Natsuki wasn't about to let herself lose so easily. Her swords were perfect extensions of her hands. The air around her rippled from the heat of her flames, distorting distance and direction, combining with her fluid movements to make her position almost impossible to grasp perfectly. At the same time, even when Raven did home in on her, it usually proved to be a fire-clone.
Natsuki was also getting a better feel for when Raven would deploy her portals, and how she would use them. When Raven tried to use them to send Natsuki's attacks back at her, Natsuki was able to sense where they were coming from, catching them and sending them back at Raven again. When Raven tried to use a portal to shift position, Natsuki was able to feel where the exit appeared, combining that with her knowledge of Raven's movements going into the portal to predict how she would come out of it.
Their blades were flickering streaks in the air around them, sparks exploding from where they clashed against one another. Raven's slashes were an assortment of ever-changing colors as she switched out blades frequently, using each Dust-type to enhance a particular attack. However, she'd started mixing them up to. A blue, ice-Dust impregnated blade flew out from Omen's sheath. Sure enough, a slash sent a rising wave of ice surging along the floor at Natsuki from below. However, Raven nearly immediately reversed the blade's course, lightning dropping down from above to strike the tip of the sword, right before she drove it back down into the ice she'd just created, channeling her lightning through that to enhance her previous attack.
Natsuki skipped back to avoid getting shocked. But then flames lined the blue-blade, rushing down and through the ice, which then shattered explosively. However, those shards of ice simply evaporated against the flames that had engulfed Natsuki's body.
I don't have much time left, Natsuki thought as she fended off another slash of Raven's sword. Her limbs were already beginning to feel heavier. It was only a matter of time until the difference became noticeable to Raven, and she realized what was going on. Natsuki had to find a way to strike a decisive blow before that.
On the other end, Raven's patience was waning. It had been frustrating that the fight had dragged on for this long. Before she'd managed to take down Amber, at least Raven had had the excuse that she'd been fighting two Maidens at once. However, she now had no such excuse, it was galling that this child was giving her such a hard fight. She could imagine that the fury racing through her veins was the same that Vernal had felt, during her fight with Ruby. Despite drawing on all her power and skill, Raven had still not managed to obtain a definitive advantage over the girl before her.
This isn't how this was supposed to go, she thought. He told me that I had the power of a god in my veins.
"We're related!?" Raven could scarcely believe her ears. She could also scarcely contain her revulsion.
"Distantly," clarified Jester, chuckling. "You could say I'm your great-great-great-uncle...a few-hundred times over...maybe even a few-thousand. You tend to lose count of generations, when you get as old as I am."
"What is your proof?" demanded Raven.
Jester reached up, causing her to reel back as he tapped the bridge of her nose. "My proof is right there...those peepers of yours. Surely you've noticed your eyes...that Kyo has the same kind of eyes that you do...or rather...that you have the same eyes as him."
"And what does that mean?" asked Raven.
"The presence of the Crimson Eyes is the indicator of a powerful pedigree," explained Jester. "Amongst the Mibu, there are very few people who can produce the Crimson Eyes anymore, and amongst that tiny handful of people who can, they usually can only manage it with one eye. However, you have that trait in both your eyes.
"Aside from that, the only ones who are born with the Crimson Eyes active are those in the Royal Family, the Line of Kyo they call it. They're descendants of the purest Mibu bloodline, inheriting the power of their distant ancestors in full, though most usually only ever tap into a fraction of that potential."
"Does that mean I am related to the Royal Family?" asked Raven.
"Nah," said Jester. "That power is no joke, and they're serious about safeguarding it. One child per generation, that's the rule. That's why they adopted little Ruby instead of giving Kyo a younger sibling the old-fashioned way."
Raven bared her teeth at the mention of Ruby, but offered no response otherwise.
"Tell me, did you have those eyes when you were born?" asked Jester.
Raven frowned, her fingers going up to trace the skin just beneath her left eye. "I do not think so," she said. "It wasn't something we noticed right away. But, when I was younger, my eyes were the same color as Qrow's; still red, but not quite like this."
That had changed partway through her time at Beacon. No one could definitively say when it had changed. However, at some point, Raven's eyes had become a brighter, more luminous red. Both her teammates and her teachers, as well as Raven herself, had simply found it an unusual quality, something that was odd, but not unheard of. She'd even suspected it might have been connected to her Semblance. Apparently a person's eyes changing color when their Semblance was active was not unheard of. The only issue with that was that Raven had unlocked her Semblance long before this phenomenon had appeared.
Jester chuckled. "It's an odd twist of fate, but I know of only one bloodline that could be producing eyes like that, after all this time. There's no doubt...you're descended from that man."
"What man?" asked Raven.
"You could call him my little brother," said Jester. "But we were born hundreds of years apart. I was the second of four, and he was the last.
"His name was Mibu Kyoshiro. Together with our other two brothers, we were the Crimson Cross Knights. Our job back then was to control and correct history. When the humans the Mibu ruled threatened to break free from our control, we were sent to deal with them.
"But Kyoshiro eventually rebelled. He joined up with the one the Mibu have come to call the First Kyo, and they turned their swords against the Crimson King. After the Mibu were brought tumbling down, he shacked up with a woman and lived happily ever after. Somehow, it would seem that his line of descendants extended down to you."
"I thought the Mibu kept to themselves," said Raven.
"That's their official stance. But my little brother was an exile, even back then. Who's to say how that line got preserved. I sure wasn't paying attention."
Raven frowned darkly.
Jester sighed and shrugged. "Honestly, thinking about it pisses me off a little. He got to live a human life, and pass on when his time came. But not me." He shook his head in disappointment. "It was honestly such a crock. I was there during the final battle. I'd been beaten twice that point, but even when they cut me down with the god-slaying techniques of the Mumyo Jinpu Ryu and Muramasa's demon blades, it just wouldn't take.
"And then the Crimson King, who'd created us from his flesh and blood called us back into him. That was supposed to be it. I should have vanished within the flesh of my creator, my spirit merged back into his. It was supposed to happen faster for me than little Kyoshiro. Back then...back then..."
Jester's chuckles took on a shrill quality. Raven shivered, beginning to gain an impression of what this story was getting to.
After regaining control of himself, Jester resumed speaking. "In that final hour, I actually lent him a hand, helped him to escape back to his own body, while mine had already crumbled away to dust. Then I was ready to pass from the world. The battle concluded. The Crimson King was struck down, and it was over...
"But then...I was reborn. Covered in blood, I climbed right out of my creator's corpse, good as new, and none the worse for wear. That was when...that was when I realized that it would never end. Nothing could destroy me, not even the power of the one who'd created me in the first place. It was so ironic. My fellow Mibu were plagued by an affliction born from a defect in the creation of their ancestors, a defect that shortened and ended their lives. But my defect had made me the opposite. It was just so damn...funny."
Raven took an uneasy step back from the man as he began to cackle. She'd been right. This story...that moment had been when Jester had broke, when he'd truly despaired of death and his insanity had fully taken root.
"Well...that's just a fun little anecdote," concluded Jester, regaining his composure again. "Man, that really takes me back. But enough reminiscing. My point is that your pedigree means that you haven't yet tapped into the full extent of your power, Little Raven. With what time we have, I can help rectify that. I'll show you an aspect of the Crimson Eyes that you've never even dreamed of..."
Raven's Aura boiled out from her with renewed vigor. Her irises once again swelled out across the entirety of her eyes, while her pupils shrank down to tiny dots of black amidst seas of red. The sheer luminance of her Aura threw the rest of her body into shadow, making her appear as though she was at the center of a massive bonfire, her power rolling off of her like waves of heat.
Natsuki shivered, having never imagined seeing something like this. She'd heard about the Crimson Eyes. They were not talked about all that openly. Even though her elementary teacher had been the Crimson King himself, he had never formally taught them anything about the details of the Crimson Eyes. All that she knew for certain was that they were tied to the Royal Family and that a tiny few amongst the rest of the Mibu could produce those eyes for themselves.
More to the point, amongst the Mibu, those eyes were simultaneously a source of both reverence and revulsion. Possession of them from birth designated a child of the royal line, born to ascend the throne. But, at the same time, said child was regarded with fear and disgust, with many not hesitating to seek his life. Even the Crimson King himself was not exempt from that. While people respected his rule, there were still those who sent assassins after his life.
The Crimson Eyes were a taboo subject amongst the Mibu, acknowledged, but never discussed in detail. Perhaps because of that, this element was something Natsuki had never once heard of. Because of that, facing down these eyes once more, by herself this time, sent shivers down her spine that caused her to nearly freeze up.
Raising Omen, Raven lifted the sword with both hands. Her Aura condensed down into the blade, enlarging it, while the flames streaming from her eyes burned all the more furiously. Besides the raw power of her enhanced Aura, her magic worked several different elements into the spectral blade simultaneously. Ice, fire, wind, and lightning all merged together with that blood-red Aura in a manner reminiscent of the ripples in a masterfully-forged blade. Even as Raven's conjured sword was an image of terrifying power, it was also an image of total artistry.
Natsuki realized what Raven was up to. This was a counter to Natsuki's transformation magic. Transforming one thing into another was a useful defense. But Natsuki had to identify what she had to transform. Last time she'd countered Raven's powerful attack, it had been simple because Raven had simply merged her magic and Aura into a singular power. Now she was weaving them together, but keeping them distinct. If Natsuki tried to transform one aspect of that sword into something harmless, the other elements making it up would hit home before she could transform them as well.
Taking a deep breath, Natsuki relaxed from her stance, facing Raven full-on. As she did, she closed her eyes. The flames washing over her body flowed down her right arm, sheathing the longer blade, intensifying, flowing down towards the tip, where there was a spark of shadow. Black bloomed amidst the red, yellow, and orange, gradually spreading to swallow them up, until her sword was lined with black flames.
Opening her eyes, Natsuki called upon her magic, violet flames spreading from the outside corners, light of the same color shining out from the shorter kodachi in her left hand. She flipped her grip on her weapons, holding them both in a reverse grip, striking a stance that Raven recognized, that of the attack she'd used before to launch six simultaneous slashes.
The two of them froze in place. The distance between them was such that, if Raven attacked, her blow was sure to land before Natsuki could close with her. However, if Natsuki could evade that attack, then she could strike before Raven could counter. Of course, avoiding such an attack was no simple matter. Raven's next strike was guaranteed to decimate the surrounding area, ensuring that Natsuki would have to move fast and wide to skirt its effects.
With that assurance, Raven was free to strike without fear of reprisal, yet she hesitated. Strangely, she couldn't figure out quite why. She felt as though she was making a critical oversight in this situation, that there was something she'd overlooked. Whatever arguments she had about strength, whatever others said about weakness, the one thing that could not be questioned was her canniness. Whether through strength or cowardice, Raven had survived countless life-or-death situations, her brushes with death gifting her with a sensitivity that was telling her something was amiss.
The bulk of Raven's experience was telling her that things had not been decided yet, that there was a hidden card that Natsuki had yet to play.
Still, at this point, there was nothing more to do but make her move and find out what her opponent had planned. Solidifying her determination, Raven brought her sword down. Natsuki charged straight ahead, running headlong along the path of the descending blade. The blades of both her weapons were briefly hidden behind her back. Just as Raven's massive sword of mixed elemental energy had been about to land, Natsuki made her move.
Her entire body blurred as she seemed to spin in two directions simultaneously. Two sets of three slashes etched lines of violet light in front of her, forming a grid-like pattern. Black shadows scattered around her body at the moment of her attack. Raven felt all six slashes connect with her descending sword. That was when Raven felt it, the power of her attack melting away. Each of those slashes was primed with Natsuki's magic, each one primed to affect a different element of Raven's attack. One by one, each of the elements making up Raven's descending sword unraveled, transforming into petals and flowers.
However, Raven had anticipated just such a trick. She'd worked the elements of her magic and Aura into her sword in several layers, making it so that she was essentially making several attacks with the same move, rather than a single powerful attack. With Natsuki's own attack, six layers of Raven's were stripped away, but she still had more, and now they were descending on Natsuki unimpeded.
At the last second, Natsuki threw herself to the side. But Raven's blade exploded as soon as it struck the floor, the explosion washing outwards, ripping a channel along the side of the coliseum, actually punching all the way out through one of the walls. Natsuki's pained scream was downed out by the roar of the explosion. She'd channeled away the flames that had been protecting her, and now only had her standard Tempered Aura to guard with, which wasn't nearly enough to fend off Raven's attack.
Not only that, but she'd channeled the last of the Aura she'd boosted with her Chikewai into that last attack. Her body was feeling as though it was made of lead, like she could collapse at any second. Even though she'd escaped immediate defeat at the hand of Raven's attack, she was in virtually no position to keep fighting.
Despite that, Raven still felt as though something was off. Natsuki had made a big show of using the same black flames she'd produced at the end of her match against Ruby. Yet those flames had been no where to be seen. Was that nothing more than a bluff? wondered Raven. Natsuki had covered the blade of one sword with those ebony flames, but had instead used her magic through both her swords.
In the end, it was immaterial. This battle was nearly over anyway. Raven began to track Natsuki's position, looking to finish her off, when her senses suddenly alerted her to an incoming attack from behind. It was so obvious that Raven hardly needed to respond.
A simple fireball splashed against Raven's magic barrier, Raven not even needing to use a hand to direct its creation. This wasn't one of Natsuki's attacks, but fire from magic. Glancing behind herself, Raven saw Amber there, right hand extended, her lips drawn back in a pained grimace, even as orange flames streamed from her eyes.
Fool, thought Raven dismissively. She should have laid back and waited until I came to finish her. She's gone through all that extra pain for nothing.
Then she noted Amber's left hand, which Amber was holding out behind her. Raven's eyes widened and she became aware of the petals that Natsuki had transformed her attacking energy into. Looking around, Raven saw those petals converging on her position, clearly indicating that Amber and Natsuki were looking to replicate their earlier counter again. But the results will just be the same.
As the petals flooded around her, Raven was already creating a portal for her escape. When Natsuki transformed them back, as expected, the explosion rocked the coliseum, but Raven escaped without any damage this time, having anticipated what was coming, not being caught so easily.
Except that Raven had failed to notice that, amidst all the violet petals being directed by Amber's wind, several black petals were moving along different paths, moving somewhere else entirely. When Raven emerged from her portal, she was shocked to see Natsuki directly in front of her, surrounded by a loose cloud of black petals, which abruptly converged around the upraised blade of her right-handed sword.
It was then Raven realized what had happened. Even before their last clash, Natsuki had already been using her magic...on her own flames. She'd used her magic to transform her own attack first. And now, as those petals collected around the blade of that kodachi, Natsuki transformed them back.
"King of Hell, Come!" Natsuki swept her sword in a wide arc, launching several balls of black fire in arcing paths that converged on Raven. Having just come out of her portal, Raven didn't have time to create a new one. The attack was so sudden and unexpected that Raven had no time for anything but the most basic defense. Using her transformation magic, Natsuki had completely eliminated the interval she would normally have needed to prepare such a high-level technique, especially with her limited experience in using such powerful Manifestations.
The black fireballs slammed into a hemispherical barrier of Raven's magic, blood-red energy holding them at bay. However, Raven grimaced, gritting her teeth as she felt the black flames burning away at her magic, their destructive power beyond anything she had experienced in this fight so far. Her eyes widened as her barrier began to crack. Then it shattered entirely, the fireballs slamming home.
Raven screamed as she was engulfed in black flames. Omen's blade shattered, and the sheath broke onto pieces, scattering the remaining Dust-infused blades she had loaded, which triggered all at once. Suddenly, Raven was blasted by several elements at once, as the Dust in her exposed blades was set off. However, the heat of those black flames continued to sear her. With a snap, Raven's Aura broke, and the fire now began to consume her clothes, hair, and skin. Wailing with agony, Raven collapsed, falling forward.
Natsuki stood over her, gasping for breath, her entire body quaking from the exertion required to simply remain standing. Her strength was all but gone. The flames burning Raven dissipated, leaving her severely injured, but still alive, if unable to continue fighting.
"Looks like that's it," said Natsuki, after taking a few breaths to gather herself.
Raven glared up at her furiously, watching as Natsuki sheathed her blades, then began to look for a way to meet up with where Amber was, a significant gap in the floor across various sections of the seating and walkways making it difficult to chart a proper course.
In her mind, Raven silently reveled in the naive foolishness of an unblooded child. It seemed that Natsuki fully assumed that this fight was over, that she'd completely won. However, Raven hadn't gotten where she was by simply rolling over and accepting defeat. She would make this child pay for her lapse. Slowly, she slid her right hand across the floor, finding it closing around the remnants of a broken blade. It was nothing more than about a foot of steel leading up to the tip, but it would be more than enough for her purposes. Closing her fingers around the blade, Raven squeezed down, letting the edge bite into her flesh. At the same time, she gathered her remaining strength in her limbs.
Natsuki turned away from Raven, still looking for a way up to where she thought Amber was. That was when Raven made her move. Surging up from where she lay, Raven lunged at Natsuki from behind, brandishing that broken blade, preparing to plunge it through the unwary girl's back.
Instead, Raven lurched to a stop, a sharp chill piercing through her chest. Her body was arrested completely, the outstretched tip of her sword stopping mere inches away from her target, before dropping to the floor with a clatter, as Raven's grip lost its strength completely. Next, her arm fell to dangle limply. The rest of Raven would have fallen with it, were it not for the thing propping her up.
Natsuki turned around, her jaw hanging slack as she saw Raven leaning at an angle, held up off the floor by a lance of ice that had pierced her from behind, before emerging from her chest to pierce through the floor beneath her. Then, slowly, Raven slid down the lance, leaving a slick of blood along its length as she did so. She fell flat, her wide eyes no longer the same luminous crimson as Kyo, but a darker, duller shade.
Raven Branwen was dead.
A second later, a brilliant blaze of dark-red light erupted from her body, shooting skyward, before arcing off into the distance. It seemed that Raven's disbelief about what had just happened to her was so complete that it had wiped the faces of the ones responsible from her mind in her final seconds. Natsuki wasn't sure that she or Amber would have ended up with the magic anyway. It seemed that it would now be going to someone completely different.
Looking up, Natsuki saw Amber standing there, her left hand outstretched, her right clamped down on her cauterized wound.
"Amber-san..." whispered Natsuki, before looking back down at Raven, unsure of how to feel at this moment. She wasn't like Ruby. This was her first experience with seeing a human life snuffed out before her eyes. It was...troubling. Even if she hadn't been the one to deal a killing blow, Natsuki had certainly played her part in Raven's demise.
It was a scary thing to see. There had been no fanfare. Raven hadn't gotten any time for last words. It seemed that she had been too surprised to even be frightened by her death, even though it was clear that it was something she'd feared so greatly.
A rumble filled the coliseum, and the entire structure shook, the floor wobbling beneath her feet. I guess I'll need to worry about that later, thought Natsuki. I need to get Amber-san out of here, then we need to meet up with Sasame-sama, so that Amber-san can get her injuries treated.
Natsuki just wished that such a task would be easy. It would be no mean feat to help Amber out of the coliseum, not when Natsuki herself felt as though she was just seconds away from collapsing. Still, she climbed laboriously over the rows of seats, making her way up to where Amber had slumped down, hand clamped on her side, where Raven's blade had run her through.
"Amber-san!" exclaimed Natsuki, staggering over to her, her legs nearly giving out. She felt so tired.
Amber looked up, smiling weakly. "Hey there," she said. "You were good out there."
"Thanks," said Natsuki, smiling back. "Are you gonna be okay? You took the sword out."
"Well, I've stopped the bleeding for now," said Amber, lifting her hand to reveal the burn across the side of her stomach. "But I guess I'll have another scar."
"Sasame-sama will be able to fix that," said Natsuki.
"Well, if she can't, then I'll have another scar to impress Kyo with," Amber said with a soft laugh.
Natsuki giggled along with her. Her own fatigue was leaving her with a disconnected giddy feeling, as though what was going on around them didn't matter. Even so, she managed to scrape enough sense of purpose together to hold out a hand. "Come on, we've gotta get out of here."
Amber nodded, taking Natsuki's hand. Her weight nearly caused Natsuki to pull herself over, rather than pull Amber upright. However, at the last second, she managed to find her balance and successfully draw Amber back onto her feet. Pulling Amber's arm over her shoulders, Natsuki led them on a hobbling walk towards the nearest exit. That wasn't easy. Their battle against Raven had raged across the width and breadth of the coliseum's stands, leaving almost no footing for a pair of exhausted combatants who barely even had the strength to walk.
After a few problematic detours, they managed to make their way to the docks. Unfortunately, it was there that they encountered their next obstacle.
"We don't have any way to get down, do we?" commented Natsuki staring over the edge at the waters of the bay down below.
"Not really," said Amber. "But, if I put out a call with my scroll, maybe we can get a bullhead over to ferry us down." Pulling out her device, Amber's expression fell when she saw that it was cracked, and even partially melted. "Well...never mind."
"So...we're in trouble aren't we," said Natsuki.
"Seems that way," said Amber.
A jolt ran through the floating structure, making the two of them reel drunkenly, nearly pitching over the edge and into the waters below. At this height, and without enough Aura to protect themselves, a fall to the water would be no different than a fall to solid pavement. Still, they managed to recover at the last second and avoid a fatal plunge. However, the lurch was accompanied by another round of bad news, namely the sensation of their stomachs rising up within them.
"We're falling!" yelped Natsuki.
It was gradual, but the sea below was definitely getting closer with each passing second.
"What do we do now?" wondered Natsuki, looking around.
"Hey! You two are still here?"
Natsuki and Amber looked over, their eyes widening as they saw Ciel, Piper, and Rain coming towards them.
"What's going on?" asked Natsuki.
"It's exactly what it looks like," said Piper. "This place is going down. We were just about to bail." She grinned cheerfully. "You two need a lift."
"That'd be great, thanks!" said Natsuki, before looking around. "Wait a second! Where's Penny-chan."
The other three members of CPPR exchanged worried looks.
"Penny is making sure that this place falls where it's supposed to," said Ciel.
"Huh?" grunted Natsuki, canting her head.
"Do not worry about it," said Rain. "We have already called over a manta. It should be here momentarily. The two of you can join us."
"O-okay," said Natsuki, before pausing, another realization occurring to her. "Wait! Ruby-chan's still in the arena!"
She'd been so caught up with her and Amber's battle against Raven that Natsuki hadn't been able to spare a single thought for Ruby. Then, between her exhaustion and her concern for Amber's condition, she'd completely overlooked the fact that Ruby's fight against Adam was still ongoing. Now she and her opponent were in the middle of an arena that was going to be landing in the sea any moment now.
"There isn't much we can do," said Ciel. "At the very least, I sealed some bulkheads, so the arena should be one of the last places to flood...I hope. It won't be much, but that will buy her some time."
"It is all that we can do right now," said Rain. "The fight between her and Taurus is too fierce. There is no place for outside intrusion. We would only be getting in her way."
Natsuki swallowed, casting a glance back down one of the hallways that led back to the arena. Please be careful, Ruby-chan.
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder