Omen knocked away twin gauntlets, golden claws hissing and glowing a deep crimson, scorching with the scent of burnt flesh and blood, tearing claws away from the legs of one of the unconscious bodies upon the soil of Animus.
Raven's eyes narrowed, her Incomplete Mystic Eye of Transience could see hundreds of little bubbles of quantum foam that clung to the claws like dripping blood. Little transient windows revealing dozens of bodies, rendered into strips of scorched flesh by the claws, others fed to what could only be a Grimm she'd never seen before. A hideous thing that glut upon body after body.
Salem's stench laid all over this.
And that tail. The way it curled and swayed with a hunger for violence. She recognized it immediately despite the armor.
Fucking hell. For the moment she'd meet this bastard the rest of her team was back in the Valean Capital Standard timezone, sleeping away. She herself was drowsy, but she narrowed her eyes, reaching into a side pouch pulling out a hypodermic needle.
Her Aura dropped to nothingness over her left thigh, the needle driving into her flesh, adrenaline pumping into her body via chemical injection. It was meant for emergency, but this was one.
One enough to warrant a drastic measure.
Jaune best keep away. She knew that Yang was likely with him about this time, her daughter already having told her of her plan to meet with her little lovers. She'd taken a long nap the moment she got back from school, much to little Ruby's (she'd had a bit of a growth spurt recently) chagrin, as she'd wanted her older sister's help with a school project.
If he dragged her into this like he'd done with that Maiden girl, Raven would never forgive him.
Weirdly enough though, the armored form of Tyrian Callows (something about that armor was vaguely familiar) slunk on the ground, on all fours like some sort of rabid beast. And unlike their first and second encounter, he didn't utter a single word.
Good. That would make it monumentally less annoying for her to deal with.
Omen glinted with its yellow odachi Dust alloy blade. A spark of electricity ran down the length as she crossed it in the air in an X motion, a faint trail of bubbles left in its wake in only her own sight, as she returned to a standard stance, holding her weapon in both hands.
Raven took a deep breath as a mechanical tail flickered behind the armored body, a strange backpack jutting from the upper shoulders, almost like some sort of tiny cockpit. Maybe a power source. She'd cut at it to see what the end result might be, perhaps.
Vernal, Bylen, and Lyann stood behind her, ready to grab the downed bodies of the three young Huntsmen and lone Huntress (possibly in training) and pull back with them, as rescue rewards tended to be lucrative when achievable.
Especially if any of them turned out to be a rare blue blood.
But that wasn't what mattered.
Raven stepped forward, her feet maintaining her stance, her right foot flat, her left dug the balls of her foot into the soil of the forest floor, crunching upon dried twigs.
Her gaze rose up to the clear sky, seeing the foam covered form of a blast of energy having had been fired from a certain invisible airship, the sight of it having to be the source of the scorch upon the ground that the unconscious bodies had clearly been knocked away from.
While Raven couldn't see the exact position of the airship as a whole (not even her Mystic Eye was perfect), she could see the form of foam distantly marking a human shape, like a man made of bubbles sitting in an invisible Bullhead.
The situation wasn't great, but she still had options. The ship (theoretically) had lowered below where the blast had begun, the sight of quantum foam lining up conveniently.
Raven grinned, letting her guard purposefully drop to goad her foe in as Omen tipped down, creating a small opening at her neck.
Omen parried a thrusting stinger, the blade pulling up and to the side. Raven grunted with some effort as she did so. Her sharp eyes spotted the blurry tip of a purple point, not encased in the armor. Despite the weight and heft of the attack, given mass by the layering of armor, requiring more strength than she'd expected to deflect Tyrian's blow, it was fast.
Faster, even, than when she'd fought him before. It wasn't merely the tail that had been fast however.
Her feet blurred, a Shunpo shuffling her to the side, spinning as Omen caught the elbow of the black armor, scratching past, leaving a trail of yellow lightning trapped in bubbles only she could see. Twin sets of claws, burning bright, whistled through the air with a hazy trail of heatwaves where she'd been moments ago.
The shock didn't seem to interfere with the little armored nightmare's (actually considering that he was all armored up, it seemed more like a Knightmare… fuck Tai was rubbing off on her the wrong way) wearer, however. Well insulated.
Raven ducked under the lash of the steel whip of the Knightmare's tail, Omen barely deflecting (her hands rang from the impact) the shot from a gunbarrel hidden on the back of a forearm, having tucked under the armpit to disguise the line of fire. She'd defended with mere instinct alone that time.
Still, the insulation was not perfect, though, as for a brief moment she'd witnessed an involuntary stutter of movement, as if the body had jerked inside the Knightmare, but it was as if the arm was kept mostly locked in place at that moment. As if the armor itself didn't allow the body to wrench out of place unintentionally.
Raven parried an upswing of the left arm, twisted as the right arm fired heavy rounds from a hidden gunbarrel in its right arm. She Shunpo-ed past him with a blinding slash against his side, deflected in part by the curling of the armored tail.
Twin thrusts of the tail were first parried, then sidestepped as a sweep kick caused her to leap to avoid having her leg swept out from under her, knees rising quickly to waist height. Twin glowing crimson-gold claws flew at her, pincering her in.
Raven grinned.
The advanced form of Shunpo rippled as her feet carried her through the air, the back of her kimono jacket tearing over her upper back as a ripple of Aura leaked from her form like a trail of bloody wings.
Her feet flipped up, turning her upside down, twisting around as the bottoms of her boots rippled with her dark crimson Aura, spinning her to face her hated foe as Omen cut into the Knightmare. The blade carved into the shoulder pauldron as she launched forwards and behind, deflecting a tail swipe, but catching a bicycle kick to her ribs with gold taloned feet, launching her towards the ground.
She spun with wings of Aura as she landed on her feet, one knee kneeling into the dirt as she blocked a following downswing of an armored tail, lowering her output back to Shunpo to shuffle back.
She never had the chance to use it to crush the bug in their second fight due (plus the whole team had been wearing dresses, rented tuxes, heels, etc. Tyrian had been lucky) to the small size of the hold of the airship. Both the basic and advanced version of the Aura Footwork techniques required a decent amount of open space to be utilized to the fullest. Plus the constant bucking of the ship making her footing inconsistent hadn't helped.
But Animus was HER fucking home turf.
Aura erupted from her back once more like crimson wings as she leapt forwards into the air, bouncing in a disorientating pattern, striking, blocking, dodging.
And Shunko was hers and her's alone.
Unlike the rest of Jaune's mind control proofed armored jackets and vests, she'd instead demanded a simple, thin v-cut lamellar breastplate (it molded somehow almost perfectly to her form like second skin in a manner that would have concerned her if it wasn't Jaune) that would be hidden under her normal outfit. The upper back had to be left exposed for the ace in the hole she'd developed, as Shunko had a bad habit of tearing through her kimono tops as additional mobility and thrusting force had to come from somewhere.
To think it had all started by a thought she had when observing an interesting clip of her little brat showing off at his dumb little prep-school.
Despite Taiyang borderline cheating with Man At Arms and Qrow now having Reversed Misfortune, there was a reason that Team STRQ agreed that before Summer's Nikkefication, that Raven had been the strongest member of their team despite her non-combat Semblance.
Raven knew the depth of her talents. If Qrow was a mighty river, she was the ocean.
There was a reason he'd never been able to drag her back to Team STRQ before the brat came into the equation. It wasn't merely her Semblance alone.
When she'd sold off Shunpo, she'd given the world an incomplete version using one of her clansmen as the salesman 'inventor', paying for a false identity to make some extra cash while adding an extra layer of separation. It had surprisingly blown up with a bit more popularity than expected, but that wasn't too surprising. A lot of what the brat touched almost turned to gold.
She never did figure out how Jaune leapt through the air the way he did, but she'd made her own version with his ability as inspiration. If the brat could pull it off, so could she, magic be damned.
As Raven flew with Shunko, she swung her blade with pinpoint accuracy, Omen left a yellow streak in the air, striking the exposed tip of the scorpion Faunus's tail as it thrust at her neck, causing the armor to seize. Insulation mattered even less if she could still make direct contact with his flesh(carapace?).
That brief moment stalled enough for her to dash back down to the earth, Omen slamming into the lower back of the Knightmare Armor, extending the stunning blow by a fraction of a second with additional lightning. The insulation was near perfect, not actually so.
It allowed her to reduce her Aura expenditure, dropping Shunko into Shunpo, the crimson wings at her back receding as she dashed forward to cut at the side of Tyrian's neck, Omen flashing up and down, aiming at the weakest joint in the armor she could spot on short notice.
Crimson-gold claws caught her blade on the downswing, recovering enough to lash out with a tail. Raven pulled the trigger of Omen, letting the catch of the handle release the tang of her alloyed odachi as she pulsed her Aura through it, letting it reach near critical as she formed a shield with the armored back of her left gauntlet arm and shoulder guard.
A heavy swing of humming superheated claws tore at her improvised shield, gouging into her armor as the impact flung her backwards, the blow powerful enough to send her careening head over heels.
She'd still guided him close enough to the original X she'd left behind. Raven twisted her head, her Mystic Eye rippling with the ambient magic (the brat insisted ambient magic was called Prana) of the world past her black locks, bringing that mark of lightning alive.
The slashes that had once been rippling against the edge of the near critical alloy blade, causing it to ERUPT in a ball of yellow lightning.
Raven's form twisted in the air as her feet rippled with Aura, Shunko coming to life at her back as she spun upside down to face Tyrian once more, regaining sightlines on her enemy. Dashing twice through the air while still upside down, she flew down at an angle as her left hand adjusted her sheath, cartwheeling to allow her feet to meet the forest floor once more.
Her Aura expenditure lowered back down to Shunpo as she used the rudimentary form of her technique to fling herself back up into the air as Omen slammed into her sheath, her left hand already having swapped the mechanism over to allow her to draw a dark purple-black Gravity katana blade.
Aura built up at her back again, crimson wings of Shunko reaching out like bloodied threads, ready to descend like a crack of lightning.
Her eyes widened as the air felt heavy- the bastard's armor had magic in it- as a roar of flame erupted from the strange jutting backpack (a magic equivalent of a jetpack? Or was the magic merely a power source? Something else?), lifting the Knightmare up to meet Raven in the air, yellow lightning still edging around its form like glittering static.
Heavy firepower erupted from the gun barrels in the forearms of the Knightmare, causing Raven to spin and take another Shunko step as she deflected a shot, was grazed by another, and fired a crescent blade of purple-black Gravity infused Aura from her Omen, the projectile acting as both blade and shield against the few follow up shots. Heavy Dust rounds and crescent projectile shattered through the air between them.
Claws burned as they tore the sides of her left boot by her knee, red hot claws vibrating painfully against the Aura of her leg. Shitty claws were so hot that it felt akin to how electricity could bypass Aura's defenses, despite Aura's ability to regulate heat. As if it protected her from the direct damage, but it felt like the heat still carried over deep into her flesh.
Either way Raven could see in the corner of her eye her underlings drag away the four unconscious bodies, Omen lashing out in a dark purple-black arc a second time caused Tyrian's Knightmare to rather nimbly spin around as it leaned out of the way, though losing some stability as it did so, revealing thrusters built into the lower legs as well.
Its flight wasn't exactly stable.
But her Shunko was plenty. It could even hold her position in the air for a fraction longer than a second at a time as well.
And her footwork left platforms of bubbles in the air, allowing her to reuse them with Shunpo instead of her more costly Shunko if she could levy this aerial battle to her advantage. With her Mystic Eye to reproc the effect of the temporary platform she'd create with Aura manipulation in her Shunko state (normally used in conjugation with the thrust from her upper back) Raven could even recreate a slightly weaker Shunko using her Shunpo technique.
She had the mobility advantage though her aerial advantage had been negated.
And all the power in the world was worth nothing if it couldn't cleanly hit her.
Still Shunko wasn't all powerful, nor was it particularly cheap to utilize over long periods. She'd be burning hard and fast. Yang definitely got that from her, even if she'd beaten the bad habit of tanking hits on purpose to empower her Semblance out of her. Even if it was less effective, deflecting blows were enough for Burn to build up additional energy.
Sure it was more work for less reward, but it also wasn't a double-edged sword at that level.
She dashed forward mid-air, letting superheated claws lash against her shoulder shield technique, tearing into the red painted metal once fore. In return Omen cut into the Knightmare's body, slowing it down.
Raven regretted taking that hit a little, her armor burned with heat and despite her Aura (Aura enhanced armor less effectively than one's own body) clear scratches had been carved into her gauntlet and pauldron.
She bounced around, alternating from Shunko into Shunpo whenever she could by retreading where she'd been before on occasion to conserve extra Aura. Blades clashed against claws, her body whipped around the armored tail to avoid its sting. She struck with impunity, her blades leaving trail after trail of purple-black trapped in trails of bubbles through the air to the point her own vision would have gone too dark without her normal eye to see past it all.
Striking that jutting back piece sadly didn't seem to do anything immediately visible, much to her irritation, aside from acting as some sort of jetpack.
But as she struck, for every two to three blows, she received a blow in turn. Some Omen deflected, others her armored gauntlets, pauldrons. The armor of her left shoulder had nearly shattered, enduring the screaming superheated claws, preserving her Aura.
The gauntlet of her sword arm had frayed to shreds, falling off her arm in pieces as Tyrian had attempted to counter by mangling her sword arm. Her Aura still held, granting further power for maneuvering, in exchange for the sacrifices made by her mundane armor.
The lamellar breastplate of the brat was strong, holding against the damage despite the lashing of the tip of Tyrian's tail, though the Aura of her torso had been disrupted in parts.
Yeah, it had been better that she did not receive the other-
A sudden release of rocket propelled blades from the knees of the Knightmare caught Raven off guard, slashing with heated crimson light of blade edges. It struck against her form as it was revealed to be connected to the armor via metal cords wrapping around her body.
Shit. That was new.
A tail lashed forward, intent on burrowing into her throat where it'd briefly made contact previously, (she was sure that the tail tip must have disrupted her Aura there) but that didn't matter.
Raven's left hand fingers snapped, as her Mystic Eye countered by releasing all twenty three slashes of Gravity she'd left behind.
A cacophony of ringing blades, sequential spawning of black tears in reality, the popping of bubbles of quantum foam tore over the Knightmare's form.
Raven began laughing as the Knightmare began to PLUMMET, turning herself into a corvid, though she rarely did so in combat as even with Aura, as the small body was too fragile and cost more to protect with Aura than it was worth.
It was only for just long enough to twist out of her bindings, the wirebound rocket blades retracting to their hidden compartment into the Knightmare's knees as her body was no longer wrapped by its cords.
Raven gazed upwards, releasing the quantum bubbles above the invisible Osprey.
Yeah she'd gotten the name of that stolen Atlas fucking ship through Qrow (via the Parasite) eventually. She was (occasionally) lazy, not stupid.
It cracked with the thundering sound of prototype Atlasean cannons as it knocked into the invisible airship, the orange blast of Combustion lighting the outline (pretty sleek thing) of the invisible airship up in the sky, sending the bubble shaped human form spinning a bit as flames from thrusters appeared in the air to revealing the presence (and a faint outline) of the Auroric Osprey as it tried to adjust itself as the sources of the thrusters spun in the air.
That bought her the time to Shunko down to Remnant, her Gravity Omen beginning to reach critical as she fed it Aura, ready to slam it down on the Knightmare below, every intent on causing a gravitational collapse to attempt to liquify the innards of Tyrian Callows past his Aura.
Though not many people knew of them, Raven had experimented with multiple ways to kill past Aura. They were rare, but they existed. Nothing was infallible. Now that she had accepted the fact that for what mattered most to her, she'd fight Salem's goons to her fucking last, Raven had spent years preparing for moments just like this one.
Where she'd have to kill by any means fucking necessary.
The problem was most of them required more setup than was realistically possible in a real fight. The critical gravity blade had one murderous purpose, forcing the insides of the body to collapse like a dying star, though it needed to land twice in the same spot with quick near instantaneous succession.
Impossible unless one had her Mystic Eye of Transience. Not even two critical point blades right next to each other had the proper effect. It had to overlap perfectly.
Vengeance. Vengeance! For Summer's eyes, her smile! That hateful failure when she'd let her wife be brought to her deathbed!
Omen sought death.
Her eyes widened, however, as her blade passed through the Knightmare, the weight of magic itched like the crawling of insects upon her skin, the scent of acrid poison, the sensation of something humans could no longer naturally bear.
Omen shattered the critical Gravity katana blade on the ground, the pull of force making her slide forward slightly as it hadn't made contact with the Knightmare.
"Wha-"
Superheated claws caught her side, burning through the remains of her kimono top and scorching against the lamellar breastplate she wore beneath, that too heating rapidly as Raven was knocked back, tumbling twice into the dirt as she slid back to her feet as Shunko screamed from her back.
Her eyes burned with hatred.
Fucking cheat magic armor bullshit!
Still she had other tricks up her sleeves. Both in banditry and her mercenary work, she'd experimented, accumulated life and death experience and knowledge. Omen slammed into its sheath, her left hand, rotating-
A crack opened up in the air and the bastard fled into it in a burst of rising flames.
"Shit! GET THE FUCK BACK-"
The crack had begun to spin around, the front of the Osprey turning in her direction.
Her clansmen had already grabbed the unconscious team and returned to base with the portal she'd left behind. Raven let that collapse as she slashed a new one and stepped through.
The portal collapsed behind her as she cut open the way to a different base camp, this one located further south to Oniyuri. That damned invisible ship might fly over to ambush them. It hadn't been very far from their current outpost at all. That team had been lucky Vernal had been on patrol around the time they'd been blown the fuck up.
"Get the fuck up, shitheads! Abandon camp! We've got a Big Bird situation! Everyone get up and through the gate!"
Raven headed straight for her tent for those damned pearls. She'd have to be the last to leave regardless.
Tyrian let the cackle of laughter echo inside of his helmet, silent to all the world.
"I told you to simply hunt down the students, Callows!" Watts's voice echoed from within his Knightmare's helmet. "There was no reason to play our cards so openly! All I wanted was to stress test its endurance!"
In return for his good work, Tyrian had offhandedly agreed to do things the Atlasean scientist's way every third mission. That was why his speakers had been muted, appearing as a metal wraith. A silent killer rather than his usual more playful sensibilities.
A silent ambush had taken care of the caretaker of the lambs.
Requiring his stinger to land his blows twice was more difficult, as a truly skilled opponent would not allow to be so easily struck twice by the same blow. But how was one to defend themselves while bearing the weight of his Knightmare Armor? With the sensation of the heat and vibrating screams from claws of his Scorpio, pinning down his prey's arms. The legs locked down by taloned feet, struggling in place?
His armor had endured the blows of the lambs as his tail struck true twice in quick succession. That drill bit headed lance specifically had been rather powerful, the drill bit tip grinding to threaten to tear a hole in his armored body.
"And I did hunt them as you asked. Rather we've learned that the little Magus has granted further gifts to his little guardians, haven't we? He he. Things truly are getting more interesting, good Arthur."
Twin stings still had taken the man down. Brought him low.
And the Hero Maker had emerged, glorious neck elongating to consume the poisoned body. No success, however.
That sight had been enough for the lamb's leader to order a retreat. Smart. However had Tyrian been allowed to chase at full force, it wouldn't have been quite enough.
But they'd had Semblances to march and flee, being quite effective at gathering distance regardless.
Frankly it was enough for Tyrian to be unable to catch up, even with his Armor blessed by his Goddess in small part. Rather he'd even been asked to test his Knightmare Armor's standard mobility.
Boring, but his Goddess had requested Tyrian assist the scientist, he'd acquiesced.
Lucky he'd found the crimson bird. That had been fun, despite being surprised by her magic blessing as well. What exactly had she done? Perhaps Arthur might have some insight.
"THAT… feh. It is true that there is SOMETHING recoverable from this ordeal. I shall gather the data and make improvements to the Armor. The thrust of the Slash Harken could use some adjustments, not to mention the flight pack, feh." Arthur's voice grumbled reluctantly in his ear. "I shall accept the outcome of today for more important adjustments. Exit the Knightmare Armor and let me observe the damage. We are pulling out for now and ceasing our operations until I've finished my adjustments and any necessary repairs. We can find other targets later."
Tyrian laughed, allowing the armor to open up from the front, the armored tail splitting at the bottom seam to release his tail and pulling down and through from the additional separation down by the groin so that his tail could be pulled through.
He stretched lazily, stepping forth into the Osprey's hold.
His eyes caught the sight of his face upon the reflective gold of the Knightmare's form. His face forever marked by the scar of Qrow Branwen's blade, a fragment of the skull's socket having been torn asunder into the temple. In its place was a blessed crystal, one to grant him both sight and power.
A blessing from the Goddess.
Ah it was warm inside his skull~ Humming softly to him, filling his ear, reminding that he had the favor of the Goddess. Khe he he! Unlike him for his sacrifice, Arthur had suffered a bit of punishment for his failure then, after the failed recovery of the little Last Magus. Truly it had been funny that it had all come together in failure, despite his disappointment in failing his Goddess.
The beloved Arcana informed him that it was charming, that the wound was a mark of devotion.
What a good child.
He reached into his pocket to pull out the gift from the Arcana for his recent birthday.
A soft length of purple cloth to keep his wound covered when necessary. His Goddess's gift could not be limited by mere cloth, so it was of no detriment. When tied it made a decent enough eyepatch and was gentle on his skin.
Certainly it made it easier to blend into a crowd when he was merely missing an eye and covered it with an eyepatch, rather than stuck with a gemstone glinting in his torn skull
What a good child.
Jaune bid farewell to Yang (it was late back in Patch) and Blake back to their homes via Shadow, ready to return back to work. He'd have to get around to doing a small song on a silly little stage his classmates had built up for him.
He hadn't worried about it much prior, but oddly he felt faintly nervous about it now. Hmm.
Maybe Nora had been on to something there. She could be oddly perceptive to be sure.
His Scroll buzzed in his pocket.
Luckily though his skirt had none, the apron he'd replaced had one sown in for just that purpose. After all, it was the only thing he needed to make sure to carry outside of his Inventory.
A message from Raven.
Keep an extra eye out. Danger in northern Animus. DONT LET YANG GET INVOLVED.
On one hand, it made Jaune chuckle. She was so different from the woman that had threatened to kill him back in that forest somewhere on Sanus as he held Summer's original body in his arms. She was still prickly and rude, sure, but she had warmth beneath.
Will do. Stay safe. He replied back.
But it was still rare for Raven to send a warning like that. Something must have happened.
His Scroll buzzed again.
Ask Juniper if anything strange is occurring. Qrow sent. Tell me as soon as you can. Stay safe, kid.
"...ok something is wrong. And they'll definitely not tell me any details." He sighed. "I'll still ask Big Brother when he's awake, but… hmmm."
While Roman had set up a few locations he owned in Mistral on Jaune's behalf, they were mostly in the Capital and major settlements. Not a very powerful information network, but still it might be worth looking into.
He opened up a program in his Scroll to simulate an alternate device, contacting the Master Thief of Vale to send out some feelers about any strange ongoings in northern Animus.
…his teacup.
He hadn't exactly kept in strong contact with Kamina-senpai, but that wasn't as if he'd cut off communication entirely. They both sent each other gifts on the lunar new year (because of course MISTRAL would adhere to a second calendar just for celebration for the wealthy, though that wasn't too different from Earth) on the regular.
He'd become clan heir of his Great Family Hitenmaki two years ago and had access to their influence.
If he sent a small gift and asked if he'd heard of anything weird happening in Northern Mistral, that might be helpful. Just in case. Nothing hurt in gathering additional information.
A third vibration caught his attention.
"Hmm? Oh!"
A picture of Argus Inter-Kingdom Airfield from the interior of one of the Schnee family private airships, judging from their sigil above the window.
Weiss and Whitley had come to Argus. That was new. He didn't think he'd be seeing them until the Vytal Festival proper.
"Ah shit, I can't pick them up or anything right now. I didn't plan for this. Hmmm. I'll call Big Sis Pepper."