35: Whirlwind Infest - [Power To Strive]

A hypersonic boom trailed in the skies behind Ichigo's much faster jump. He descended down the mountain in a blink of an eye, now without anyone else to be mindful of, his raw speed was unshackled. He was in his sealed state, the single greatsword form of Zangetsu unwrapped and ready in his right hand.

Screams clued him in on where to go, as well as the cacophony of gunfire and explosions from the arriving teams of Haven's student Huntsmen. Good. They could help the civilians, he'd just focus on the battle at hand. Over the streets in front of him, a flock of black avian shapes cluttered the air.

Nevermores, firing their dark knife-edged feathers into crowds of people. Ichigo was already closing the distance, bisecting one with the sheer wind pressure from his sword without even touching it. Most here were about as big as his torso, squawking and hissing as they exploded into sticky black ichor. Ichigo didn't even let that touch him, flying faster than even the droplets that his fallen foes spilled as he cut them. From afar, they looked like ugly stains in the air, like someone had spilled ink droplets all over a blue canvas, and Ichigo was the clean-up crew. Their feathered wings parted like paper under his zanpakutō, severing them as if they weren't even there. None of the monstrous birds even had time to attack him, all of them falling from the sky before they could even realise what was going on.

Ichigo was turning towards the last one when he watched it get shredded by a hail of high-calibre gunfire. The Nevermore was punched through by hundreds of coruscating dust-rounds as thick as golf balls, streaking into the air like a shining stream of death. His eyes traced it back down to the source, and he flickered away with a muted thip.

"Hah! Eat this!" Coco suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and turned about-face to find Ichigo Kurosaki. She didn't stop shooting from her car-sized gatling gun, instead just yelling over its impressive noise output. "Wha– Ichigo? Good to see ya, we need all the help we can get."

"How'd they all just fly here?" Ichigo scanned across the city. They were situated on a sloped rooftop, the brick-red tiles clacking under their feet. All across the inclined skyline and mountainous slopes he could spy young Huntsmen and swarms of flying Grimm going at it, and the terrified shrieks of the townspeople caught in the crossfire.

"But they can't have just flown here!" Velvet hopped her way up to their level, and in her hands was her copy-camera, Anesidora. "That makes no sense!"

"She's right. We have turrets and defensive walls around the entire city. This is the capital of the Kingdom, Ichigo. Don't you know how cities work everywhere on Remnant?" Coco spoke as if it was common sense. Which it was, but not to him.

Ichigo scowled. "Tch. No, I don't. And if that's the case, then how the hell did they get here?"

"How am I supposed to know– crap, crap, crap!" A sudden rumbling had taken hold beneath their feet, the juddering tremors reaching all the way to the top of the building they were on. Tiles at the edges of the roofing slid off and shattered on the ground, and the clay pots holding plants near street-doors tipped over to fracture and spill soil over the cobblestones. It wasn't stopping, the quakes only growing stronger and stronger until the ground began to rupture like a reverse-sinkhole.

"Shoot! An Remnquake like this can only mean–!"

"Mean what–?" Ichigo demanded, and then he got his answer.

"Screeeeee!" A humongous oil-black shape punched right out of the paved road, tearing up the tiled stones whilst throwing out pipes and electric cables as it thrashed with the weight of a living skyscraper. It slithered straight up like a gigantic tree taller than any building in sight, before it started to bend and curl with the kind of vigour only found in monstrous beasts. It was the disgusting off-black colour of an oil spill. Eyeless, with four bone-white mandibles locked together, each thrice the size of a man, then these opened wide with an ear-bleeding screech to reveal four smaller rows of concentric smaller teeth only the size of a single fully-grown man each, surrounding a circular maw that welled up with a toxic-green glow. Four rows of evenly-spaced spikes lined its thick hide, but the rest of was smooth, slimy and streamlined for subterraneous tunnelling.

"...It means that. A Blind Worm." Coco pointed right at it.

And then came more rumbles, and more quakes, and more ripped-out streets and collapsing buildings, as four more of the gigantic worms emerged from the depths and burrowed out to assault the surface. Out from the holes they dug, a torrent of smaller species of Grimm rushed out as a shadowed river of death, howling packs of Beowolves, roaring Ursai, buzzing swarms of Lancers and prowling Sabyrs were just the start.

The flash of Velvet's shutter was followed by Anesidora projecting a shining azure replica of Coco's gatling gun into her arms. She soon joined her partner in shooting at the new, huge target.

"I thought Blind Worms are only supposed to be native to Vacuo!" Velvet fret, "What're they doing here!?"

"Same reason those birds somehow got past your guns." Ichigo hefted up Zangetsu as he spoke, teetering towards the edge of the roof-tiles, "I'll chop them up either way."

"You're seriously gonna fight those things with a sword!?" Velvet freaked out, "They're like a hundred feet long! –And that's just the part of them we can see!"

"Last time we fought, who won?" Ichigo asked simply.

"H-huh?" Velvet was taken aback. What did that have to do with anything!?

"It was me, wasn't it?" he eyed her over his shoulder, "So until then, you can't tell me how to use Zangetsu."

"Pfft," Coco giggled, "You're crazy. But I guess all Huntsmen kinda need to have some screws loose. Just don't get yourself killed."

Ichigo rolled his shoulders, warming up a little. Then he smirked. "You won't need to worry about that."

The harsh buzz of sonído echoed back as Ichigo vanished before their eyes. In an instant, all five of the behemoth Blind Worms were bisected quicker than they could even blink. They toppled like blades of grass under a trimmer, smashing the roads under their impact. From the same deep furrows in the ground they'd emerged from, more of the colossal Grimm soon exploded out, screeching so loud the cry could be felt in Coco's bones. They were taller than anything else barring the mountain, clearing the skyline. But they too were cut down all the same, Zangetsu ripping through their thick, sludge-coated hides with unbelievable speed.

"W-what?" Coco lifted her sunglasses, "He's completely different from when he sparred with us! Is this guy even real!?"

"I can't see him move, even with my semblance..." Velvet murmured, "Ah, looks like he wasn't kidding."

"Good thing he's on our side!" she took aim with Gianduja, the gatling gun spooling up with a whirring whine, "C'mon, let's back him up!"

Ichigo was hardly even thinking as he fought, simply going through the motions as he lopped away at anything giant-worm-shaped that caught his keen eyes. A mix of shunpo and sonído carried his feet across the lengths of the entire Capital, cutting down more and more of the towering monsters as soon as they emerged, and hearing the cheers of the Huntsmen and Huntresses wherever he did. He was about to cut down another one, when he watched its head get shredded by a superheavy hail of Coco's gunfire, nearly tearing the enormous monster's head off. It collapsed, and spasmed on the ground, its thrashing pulverising the walls of buildings all the way up and down the street. Ichigo dived down, swinging Zangetsu with both hands, and the sheer wind pressure beheaded the beast cleanly without a touch, finally putting a stop to its death rattles.

But, as Ichigo stood in the sky on a foothold of reishi just over it, he noticed something very odd. He could sense it now. The Grimm, after he'd cut it in half, was oozing a viscous, luminous green slime. Now that it was exposed, he could feel the reiatsu lingering hidden inside its soulless flesh. The same shade of neon green that he'd last seen in...

In Mountain Glenn.

The profane colour of Soul Dust, grinded out of the very souls of hundreds of innocent people. Something that shouldn't exist.

The Grimm wasn't decomposing. None of the Blind Worms were.

And then the head he'd just cut off lunged at him, and Ichigo instinctively thwacked it wide with the flat of his massive sword, breaking the mandibles clean off. Ichigo saw the body raising itself up, and the Grimm flesh reknitting itself together, not to reattach to the head, but to grow a new one. And the lonesome head was now nursing a newly regenerated, slimy body the length of a train. Grimm weren't supposed to ever heal at all, but these things weren't following any of the rules.

Now, all across the Capital City of Mistral, the Blind Worms rose once more, higher than any manmade building in the Kingdom, dominating the skyline and reaching up for the heavens. The sky was a deep veil of cerulean blue, now pierced by the tar-black pins of the Creatures of Grimm, doubled in number. They turned as one to face Ichigo and screeched deafeningly, and windows shattered all across the city.

They're even bigger than Menos Grandes...

All along their bodies, pulses of toxic-green bioluminescence filled the city with an eerie light. Inside their mouths, the glow within flared up, emerging as a torrent of viridian spiritual energy, cascading towards Ichigo from all sides. He wasn't worried, instead a grim determination set in as the blasts approached from all sides, holding his sword in both hands. He was a Shinigami, and right now there were souls to be freed. Then, he called out:

"Bleach, Zangetsu!"

- –—{}—– -

The bloodcurdling screeches of the Blind Worms carried all the way up the split mountain, reverberating through the halls of Haven itself.

In the Grand Hall, Arthur Watts cupped a hand to his ear and smiled broadly at the noise. "Ah-ha! I see that my late grandfather's work has been put to good use. Those self-replicating Blind Worms are a masterstroke of our family's genius. Now, back on-topic. Cinder? I haven't gotten my answer yet."

"Can't you see the hair?" Senna pointed at her up-tied purple spikes. "I'm not Cinder! That psycho stole my powers, so I took her body! It's only fair, right?"

"Wait, what? What are you even talking about?" Jaune's raised an eyebrow even as he redoubled the grip on his sword.

"Uh… you didn't know?" she sweat, "I'll tell you later! Forget about it for now! You've heard like five crazier things this week, anyway!"

"Ah… so Cinder Fall was done in by the Maiden she thought she trounced. Hubris was always a weak spot for her." Hazel remarked, "No matter, she served her purpose. Let the Kingdom of Mistral fall tonight." he proclaimed grimly. "As for you all… retreat, for your end is nigh."

"Why are you doing this!?" Pyrrha pleaded, "Nobody living here has ever done anything to you! You're siding with creatures that want to wipe out humanity, including you as well!"

"Our goals are beyond your understanding, my dear." Dr. Watts dismissed condescendingly.

"Oh yeah?" Senna shouted out, planting her foot forwards and pointing the gleaming silver of her zanpakutō's curved point at the army of invaders, "Well guess what buddy! Screw you and your dumbass grandiose reasons for doing stupid suicidal bullshit! Nobody cares that you probably have some skeletons in your closet, we all do! But you don't see us crashing out hard enough that civilisation goes down with us! Just do drugs, like a normal traumatized person!"

Hazel stared at her blankly. "…Of all the 'heroic rebuttals' I've heard in my time, that was certainly… special."

Vernal rolled her cold eyes. "Yeah, that was 'special' all right. Kill 'em all!"

At the same time, Raven and Senna shot forwards with the grace of wind and fire behind them, meeting in the middle before anyone else could react. The air dried out instantly as a blurry haze followed the clash of their blades, one crafted out of ghostly fire, and the other a howling gale of mystic wind. It expelled a stream of air that distorted with bending heat, like a mirage in the desert.

The others moved all at once, too. Pyrrha clasped her hands together and something broke in every piece of equipment that used components of pure iron, cobalt or nickel. The alarm that arose at the din of crunches everywhere on their side was the perfect opportunity for Blake to sling Gambol Shroud around Yang's arm and launch her like a wrecking ball right into the ranks of the criminals and bandits. Her eyes blazed red as Burn absorbed the dust rounds fired into her guarding forearms, and she followed the momentum of the swing as she reared her fist back, punching hard enough to launch half of them into the walls and pillars behind. So it was a shock when she felt tight fingers grasp around her wrist and fling her overhead, judo-flipping her until Yang was slammed down into the floor hard enough to crack the polished wood.

She gasped out in shock, before refocusing, flipping herself over and tearing the fingers away from her wrist in the process. In front of her, drawing her disc-blades, was Vernal.

"You're all mine!"

Yang just grinned at the challenge and launched herself at the other girl.

Meanwhile, Emerald had scurried up a pillar to reach the balcony and was using the height to take pot-shots at the crowd of foes below. But as she ducked behind an oaken beam, a double-shot of ice dust covered half the wall behind her after it whizzed past her head. She spied down below and called out her partner's name. "Merc! Get the old guy!"

"On it!" Mercury Black slid through a tangled mess of the henchmen, breaking more than a few bones even through aura with his solid metal kicks, before reaching the Doctor, who'd been climbing the stairs towards Emerald. He didn't bother to say anything before dive-kicking at his head, only to be repulsed by a neon blue hard-light shield that appeared out of thin air. "Great…" he spat as he slid back.

Behind him, a knife-tipped parasol almost stabbed at his neck, before it was deflected by the thwack of a red nunchaku. Mercury edged his vision over his shoulder, taking note that Sun and Neptune were at his back now. Emerald slid down the banister, catching herself by spin-kicking a Branwen bandit over the railings and landing besides the three of them.

Sun actually laughed at the line-up, even as he knocked some guy out. "Team SEMN, unite!"

"Oh, for the love of…" Emerald groaned.

"If we actually pull through…" Mercury began, before he cut himself off, even as a betraying smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. "Never mind."

A double-bladed swipe was fended off by Neptune's trident, whilst Sun hopped over a sweep aimed at his feet. He flipped over in mid-air, turning head-over heels to catch sight of the women who'd just slashed at them.

His tail curled around Neptune's trident, holding him upside down as his weapons mecha-shifted into red-gold shotguns, blasting away at the enemy, who were defended by a spinning cane. The weapon came to a stop with two gloved hands leaning on it, and its owner reached up to adjust his black bowler hat.

"Hell-o boys." he smirked. "What's crackin'?"

They were pitted against Neopolitan, the Malachite sisters and—

"Roman Torchwick?" Emerald cocked her pistols. The mint-green barrels of Thief's Respite were still smoking. "What're you doing here?"

"Truth be told, I just got dragged along." he admitted shamelessly, his coat flapping around him as he gestured with his arm swinging wide, "Either we follow these guys, or we die, like what's about to happen to you!"

"God damn, you're such a weasel." Mercury sneered, "Can't wait to make you swallow those words and your teeth."

"Wait, if that's true, then we don't need to fight!" Neptune held his hand out haltingly, "We'll protect you if you fight with us!"

"Eeeh? What're you saying, hell yeah we need to fight; –I hate these people." Emerald laid a hand on her hip as she looked at him dryly.

"You put our ma in the hospital!" Melanie seethed as she pointed a scathing finger down at them.

"–So you're not getting out of here alive." Miltia was beside her sister, her anger colder but no less potent, her clawed arms crossed.

"C'mon, Neptune, don't be a wuss, let's smoke these guys!" Sun dropped off of Tri-Hard and caught himself on in a handstand, rolling to his feet. The team were standing below their foes, fighting an uphill battle on the stairs on the right wing of the hall.

"Ugh, fine... don't say I didn't try." he said as he readied himself, then stabbed his trident forwards.

Further up past the stairs, up atop the platform over the statue, Arthur Watts and Hazel were surveying the fights as they spoke.

"The vault... do you have the key?" Hazel asked.

"Do you even have to ask?" Dr. Watts informed, "I already forged a copy of Lionheart's pendant on my last visit."

"Then let us open the vault now." Hazel decided, "The sooner we claim the prize, the better."

"Not so fast!" Pyrrha yelled, vaulting over the railings. She'd simply jumped all the way up in one go. "We'll stop you, and save Mistral!"

"Yeah!" Jaune followed after her, a clap of thunder lighting him from behind as the two Maidens of the Seasons clashed. "You're not getting away with this!"

"Says who? You?" Dr. Watts chuckled, "You may have been strong in your little school, but you were simply big fish in an infinitesimally small pond. Hazel, grant me some peace and quiet as I work."

"I am not yours to order, Watts." Hazel growled, before unfolding his arms and stepping forwards regardless. "But if I must protect the weak, frail elder of our circle..."

He was already standing over Jaune in the blink of an eye, and he barely raised his shield in time to block the huge fist of the eight-foot giant that knocked him into the wall, spider-webbed cracks shattering around him with the force of a freight train. "I will fight as a Knight of Salem should!"

Before he could adjust, Hazel felt the scratch of a spearhead against his aura, and barrelled around to elbow Pyrrha hard enough to floor her, before rearing his foot back and kicking her across the dais. She rolled into Jaune, the two of them staggering to their feet to watch as Hazel didn't press the advantage, but spent the time to warn them instead.

"Did you try to stab me, there? I can't tell. My aura is the hardest you will ever see in your lifetime." he knocked his fist against his chest, over his heart, "If you want to hurt me, you'll need to put a little more into it then that, children."

- –—{}—– -

Out of the smoke, after every Blind Worm had focused a blast on Ichigo all at once, came a white sword. It cleared away the smoke, revealing a spotless Ichigo Kurosaki.

He stood high in the sky, his sable-black shihakushō flowing in the wind under his snow-white ōken armour. In his hands rested his true shikai; a black Quincy dagger in his left, and a white Hollow longsword in his right. He vanished, then reappeared in front of the closest titanic Grimm, and bifurcated the monster in one touch of his blade. The remains of the creature cut top-to-bottom bubbled in the air, before gurgling up new Grimm-matter out of their noxious ichor. The vile un-life wasn't staying down, so Ichigo moved again, this time Zangetsu cut, slashed, lacerated, lanced and pierced until, there was next to nothing left of the worms, save for a pile of viscous oozing chunks.

But even those were soon burbling, growing and regenerating anew with trashing spasms, and Ichigo was tempted to really let loose and utterly erase it from existence entirely with an overflowing ocean of transcendent spiritual pressure. But he knew where he was, in the middle of a city full of people, and knew that doing such a thing wasn't an option with so many around him. But then he felt it.

The Soul-Dust crystal.

It was coated in black sludge, but even that tar-like ichor couldn't blot out the effulgent glimmer of its many-faceted emerald surface. He dived right down head-first, holding his sword out and stabbing the white blade of his zanpakutō into the crystal. A blinding eruption of brilliant green light fired off into the sky, unseen to all but two people on Remnant. The crystal itself was shattered into blackened shards, turning from a bright glowing jade to a dead, dull jet.

Ichigo could see it all. All the souls, all flying up in an invisible stream of light, into the afterlife beyond. All those people he'd just freed... how long were they trapped?

His brows furrowed with anger at the thought, as the few dying Blind Worms that had managed to partially regrow from the fragments before he'd crushed their source of power surrounded him at once from all sides. Zangetsu was alight with flares of white and black all along both blades, a blazing contrast of otherworldly light and shadow that drowned out all else. From the outside, it seemed as though Ichigo was piled upon by the fading monsters, covered completely by a tangled knot of reticulating Grimm, before—

"Getsuga Tenshō!"

- –—{}—– -

The world-shaking blast was taller than the mountain Haven rested upon, and loud enough that even inside the halls the combatants turned and witnessed the black-white sky-splitting explosion of sublime reiatsu. The clouds were parted, and the ground shook beneath their quaking feet. The shockwave had carried all the way up the mountain and blown the three front doors open, forcing the view upon all of them.

"Was that Ichigo!?" Yang gasped.

"Isn't this a city!?" Neptune exclaimed, "What the heck is he doing!?"

"Ichigo shot that Getsuga straight up, I can tell! Don't worry!" Senna called out as she and Raven slid apart from each other. A bead of sweat rolled down her face. That torrent of souls just now... did he do it because of that?

"...We– we're not supposed to fight that guy, are we?" Torchwick asked aloud warily.

"I have a precaution, obviously!" Watts waved off, "Now get back to work, henchmen!"

"Henchmen!? You better have a plan, you old f—ack!" Torchwick was cut off by a nunchuck to the face, then Sun whipped round a delivered a rear spin-kick to his gut. He was knocked back, falling up the staircase, and bashed onto the steps.

Neo was shot again and again by Emerald, shattering her semblance over and over until Emerald finally felt a parasol's knife-point on her skin, and she was stabbed through the head. But then Neo blinked and found that Emerald had ducked the thrust, and was on-course to catch her right in the chin with her revolver's sickle. Neo reversed her grip, flipping the umbrella around to deflect, and stomped on Emerald's foot before she hopped backwards. She still hadn't been touched.

Mercury blocked a scissor-kick with his metal shin, then hopped a low-sweep, landing on the railings with perfect balance.

"Heh, you kick like a girl〜" he mocked.

"Hyah!" Melanie Malachite tried a double roundhouse kick next, but he jumped it and raised his body sideways, swinging both legs round and following through to deliver a butterfly kick right to her head. She was knocked down and sent falling right into her sister. Neptune watched as Miltia was torn away from their claws-on-trident clash and had to catch herself on the railing, her blood-red dress swirling around her. The two girls separated themselves and hissed at them both.

"Hey, I know we got off on the wrong foot here, but remember me?" Neptune half-smiled, "We met at the bar–"

"Not interested, loser!" they both chimed, before the two sisters together launched a jumping fly-kick. Neptune braced himself, but Mercury leapt in the way, shoulder-bashing the twin's legs wide.

"Really? These crazy goth bitches aren't worth it." Mercury grimaced, nursing his arm. The sleeve had been cut through by Melanie's shoe-blades. "Get your head in the game, man."

"Oh c'mon, I was just– watch out!" he grabbed Mercury by the shoulder, dragging him out of the way, before a knife could reach his shoulder. Neopolitan had thrown it from across the staircase.

Suddenly, the room felt a whole lot hotter. They glanced upwards and caught sight of a massive blazing fireball being thrown their way.

"I got it!" Senna flicked her wrist up, and a river of snow-white ice washed over the side of the stairs, building an opaque wall of frost that hissed and spat as Raven's stray fireball flowed over it, tongues of bright orange flame lapping over the sides.

"Watch it! I thought we're on your side!" Torchwick yelled, shaking his fist at the black-clad Spring Maiden. She ignored his outraged pleas, focusing solely on the fight.

Sun ran past Mercury, taking it as a sign to follow along. The two of them jumped up and kicked off of the half-molten ice wall to tackle the sisters down the stairs. Mercury pulled Melanie into an arm bar, and Sun was grappling in a leglock.

"Shoot them!" they both shouted.

But before Emerald could take aim, both sisters fractured like glass. Neopolitan's illusory semblance revealing that Mercury wasn't holding onto the arms of the leg-bladed sister, nor was Sun holding onto the legs of the arm-clawed twin. They'd swapped places, and now they were trying to both grapple swords.

"Ow! Argh– seriously!?" Sun disengaged immediately, feeling the raking of sharpened steel over his aura, and he rolled off of her. Mercury felt the claws digging into his flanks, his aura straining under the sharp points. But then they saw what they were rolling under– the ice wall– and the same idea popped into their heads at the same time. The combatants had swapped sides now; their team was higher up the stairs.

""Neptune!"" they called together. "Your semblance, now!"

Neptune saw what they meant. And in the heat of the moment, he knew what he had to do. He thrust his trident into the ice and twisted the shaft, cracking through the half-molten slurry and wrapping it around his weapon. His aura shone a deep cobalt blue, and he swung with all his might, throwing a surging flood of ice-water rushing downstairs, the deluge ripping the Malachite twins off their feet. Torchwick was pulled out of the surge just in time by Neopolitan, hanging onto the railings over the water, just as Emerald spun her revolvers and let loose a volley of bullets, her muzzles flashing an electric yellow over and over.

Lightning dust shocked the water not once, not twice, but twelve times over, enough to drive anyone without an aura into cardiac arrest. The twins, the bandits and criminals further down the stairs, and anyone unfortunate enough to feel dampness around their ankles were fried by Emerald firing her revolvers' entire cylinders out. The twins weren't getting up.

Neopolitan was at the foot of the stairs, trails of grey smoke rising around her. But instead of getting charred, she raised a smug smile. Her umbrella was waterproof, and an insulator. She was also petite enough and light enough to float in it like a tiny boat.

Emerald leered down at her, and kissed her teeth. "Tch. I was hoping we'd get all of you..."

She tipped her revolvers sideways, the cylinders ejecting their spent casings as she held them up in the air, then she swung her arms back and flicked up a set of new dust-bullets as her arms slipped past her belt, before spinning round and perfectly slipping the new bullets into their slots inside her revolvers' cylinders again. The flawless reload took less than a second. Mercury sauntered up to her side and leaned an elbow on her shoulder.

"Nice going, bro!" Sun clapped his partner on the shoulder, and Neptune was snapped back to reality.

"I... I did it, huh? I really used my semblance."

Mercury eyed him over his shoulder, "Guess you're not a pussy after all. Better get it together. The midget and the ginger are still kicking."

"Hey, what's wrong with being ginger!?" Torchwick slid off the banister, landing next to Neo. "It's nowhere near as bad as the other thing– ow!" the short woman stomped on his foot. He shook his head, then levelled Melodic Cudgel to fire.

Yang side-stepped a chakram aimed at her face, then dodged another punch by spinning on her heel, and followed through by raising her left leg into a reverse crescent kick straight to Vernal's face. She was knocked back, before Yang double-punched her in the stomach, doubling her over. Yang raised her right leg for a falling axe kick to the back of her head, but at the last moment, Vernal crossed her forearms over her head and blocked it with a venomous glare in her ice-grey eyes.

"I'll take you down, if it's the last thing I do!" she growled, before sweeping for Yang's ankle, forcing her to lift her left leg off the ground, flip backwards off Vernal's block, and cartwheel to her feet a few meters back. She threw two chains of dust-slugs into the air, whipping her arms up to catch them with Ember Celica.

"Why're you so mad?" she teased, "Got a problem with me?" She twisted her forearms, engaging her sunflower-yellow gauntlets, and fired a heavy shotgun blast at the bandit.

"Someone like you wouldn't get it." Vernal intercepted the burst with a pair of lasers from her chrome chakrams, only for Yang to slide under the beams, between her legs, and snatch her feet out from under her. "Gak!"

Yang lifted her by the legs, and whirled her over her head to slam her down into the hall's floor hard enough to crater it. Vernal cried out, before Blake leapt over her, a copy of herself falling out of her body and turning to solid stone as it plummeted, getting Yang to hop backwards before the Blake-shaped boulder shattered right on Vernal's skull.

"Heh, that's one way of using your semblance." Yang laughed, "It's kinda like a seagull pooping on someone."

"Gross– don't compare Copycat to that!" Blake scowled, dropping the spent vial of stone dust.

"...Don't– don't mock me!" Vernal crawled to her feet, a trail of blood leaking from the crown of her head. "Why can't you fight me alone! Where's your pride, coward!?"

"Eh? Why the heck should I listen to you?" Yang put her hands on her hips, "I've got a team, so I'm gonna fight with them, isn't it obvious? What do you want from me, anyway?"

"You're the chief's daughter, and yet you don't care about her or the tribe at all!" Vernal snarled, "I'll kill you and take your place!"

"...What?" Yang double-took, "Dude... if you want to be adopted, that's between you and Mom, don't bring me into this. Heh, that's kinda cute, actually. I'm already a big sister, so you'll have to listen to me."

"Shut up!" Vernal lunged forwards, but between the three girls a sudden falling figure smashed into the broken flooring, trailing scratches behind their boots. Droplets of blood collected on the floor underneath her feet.

"Pyrrha!?"

In her arms laid an unconscious Jaune with a shattered breastplate, and she was resting on one knee with a bloody lip. But through all this, her bright green eyes were as determined as ever, but now they held a new emotion, one they'd never once seen her express before: Anger.

"Damn it, Jaune!" Blake's bow pressed flat against her head.

Pyrrha was the strongest out of them all, for someone to do that to her...

"Disappointing..."

Down from the dais, landing heavily on his feet, his green coattails flapping behind him, an unscathed Hazel Rainart stood tall with his arms crossed. Even his clothes were still neat and spotless. It wasn't that he hadn't been hit yet, but instead that nothing had affected him at all...

"...I don't wish to fight any of you. But if I must, then I won't be losing."

Pyrrha laid Jaune down behind her, using her semblance to slide him to safety against the wall. Then, she stood up properly, and waved her hand out. "Blake, Yang, stand with me."

"Oh yeah? You don't get to just interrup– ack!" Vernal was silenced by a bronze dipylon shield that knocked her out cold, purposefully thrown right at the spot where she'd been hit by Blake's semblance. It was clear, Pyrrha meant business now.

"Right!" Yang cracked her knuckles, her eyes a blistering crimson, "No one bullies Jaune but me!"

Blake, Yang and Pyrrha rushed Hazel all at once, and he reached into the pockets of his jacket to reveal a fist-sized shard of raw dust in each hand. The warm earthy brown of Stone Dust, and the mauve purple of Gravity Dust. The crystals were jabbed into the flesh of his own shoulders like injections, and his eyes took on the heterochromatic glow of brown on the left, and purple on the right. His veins bulged with infused power and light beneath his pierced olive-green coat.

Pyrrha didn't stop to try and understand what he was doing, instead she simply now presumed what he was likely capable of. Thinking on her feet, she sent a nod Blake's way, and Gambol Shroud folded into the form of a semi-automatic pistol. She placed two shots at the dust crystals in his shoulders, but Hazel clenched his fist, and a shielding boulder came rising from the ground, tearing out the ruined floor as it emerged to shield them. Yang punched right through it, and Pyrrha landed a foot on her teammate's back, leapfrogging over her to lance forward with Miló's javelin.

Hazel waved his beefy right arm wide, and Pyrrha was yanked right off-course, flung out to the side where she skidded to a stop by driving her spear into the floor. Blake let the silken black ribbon of Gambol Shroud fly her way, where she grabbed hold and was pulled back into the fray, sliding around Hazel to ensnare his legs as Yang traded blows with him from the front. He brought a fist down, and she caught it with both her hands, only for him to pull it back up, carrying her with it under reversed gravity. Yang tried hugging her body along the limb in an arm-bar, right as Pyrrha and Blake pulled him to the floor.

He was downed, but all he did was grunt. "Really? You think falling to the floor will hurt me?" He slammed his arm down, cracking the ground with Yang underneath. She closed her eyes, and did the first thing that came to mind; with scarlet red eyes, cloaked in the aura-flames of Burn at full blast, she bit him.

But there was no reaction.

Normally, anyone would at least look, but it seemed like Hazel didn't even notice her teeth gnawing down on his forearm, drawing blood even through his aura. The first blood any of the team had seen him spill, and he hadn't even noticed. Instead, Yang forced herself away on her own, as Hazel snapped the ribbon with the sheer strength of his legs and stood up again. But he still reached over, grabbed Yang by the head, and threw her, then palmed a boulder in his other hand and tossed it after her as she flew.

The rock was blocked at the last moment by Pyrrha, her shield deflecting the boulder with such sturdiness that she didn't even shake.

"He's stronger than me!" Yang realised painfully. That wasn't something she had to admit very often. "What the hell is up with that? Injecting himself with raw dust?"

"Blake, pull out a new ribbon and slide through. Yang, throw me." Pyrrha commanded, not turning back. Her expression was stony, and her eyes were locked onto her opponent.

Yang took a moment, before she understood and smirked. "Got it."

Pyrrha took a deep breath, before Yang hefted her up and she felt Gambol Shroud's wire loop round her waist. Blake sprinted right at Hazel, who flicked three basketball-sized daggers of stone her way, and she sidestepped one, front-flipped over another, then popped out a clone of herself, and used it to take the hit of the third whilst hand-standing on its shoulders. She reached the towering man, and slid under and through his legs, the line from her weapon going taut right as Yang let loose a full-force throw. Hazel pulled up a wall of stone, but Pyrrha was already accelerating herself using her semblance to pierce right through it, using Polarity to pull forwards faster and faster on every piece of metal armour and equipment she owned as she exploded through the solid rock.

Hazel prepared himself, raising his right arm only for Blake to jump up from behind and wrap her arms around his thick neck, then fall away out of herself, leaving a Copycat behind. The clone diffused into a sparking yellow figure of lightning, tearing away his focus just enough for his gravity dust's pull to waver for a fraction of second. It was more than enough.

Shing!

"Ah... that could almost have killed me."

Hazel was bleeding. He'd only had the time to layer his hands over each other, in a last-moment block. Pyrrha's spear had been driven right through his hands and an inch into his chest. If his hands weren't outstretched and in the way, he'd have been impaled. Pyrrha herself was hanging on to the very bottom of Miló's bronze shaft, before she twisted it, and pulled her weapon back out, through Hazel's hands in a sanguine spray.

"I'm surprised, Pyrrha Nikos. I wouldn't have thought you had the guts to try something so... messy."

"I won't kill you." Pyrrha denied with a cold, uncomfortable frown, "That's not what a Huntress does. But I will beat you, and protect everyone, with whatever force it takes."

"Ah, how frightening..." Hazel mocked dryly, "Your home Kingdom will fall tonight. Prepare yourself for the pain, it's the only recourse you have left."

"Shut it! You can't say that when you don't even have a home!" Yang retorted.

"And whose fault do you think that is? I tire of this." Hazel held his right arm out, crouched down and spread his fingers wide. His aura sparked with the power he was drawing on now. Yang was wrenched up from the floor, pulled right into Hazel's arms before anyone else could react. She was whirled around like a ragdoll, before Hazel grabbed her arms with one hand and her legs with the other, stretching her across his broad back as he began to crouch down.

"No!" Blake and Pyrrha both rushed forwards, only to be rebuffed by a set of rock spikes that jutted out of the floor as Hazel finally leapt high into the air, all the way up to the ceiling of the Grand Hall, and Yang crashed right through the roof. Hazel wasn't done, however, because he grabbed her by the leg, pulled her across his other fist, and span in mid-air so that he was coming down like a falling meteor, with Yang under his piledriving fist.

"Hraaaaah!" he roared, the Earth dust crystal in his shoulder pulling up a bed of raw, jagged stone for his landing, and he followed through with the punch into the ground right as he landed, letting Yang take the brunt of it all.

The ground exploded, and the impact was hard enough that the entire Academy shook. A shockwave buffeted the entire hall, and smoke clouded the air, before it was dispersed by Raven. Hazel rose to his feet, marching out of the deep-sunken crater he'd just blown wide, and he didn't bother looking back. Yang wasn't getting up, and Blake rushed to her side, crying out in fear.

"Her aura's busted!" she warned, pulling her limp partner out of the packed earth, "She's out cold and I-I don't know what to do!"

Pyrrha's eyes were wide, and her skin paled in shock. Yang was down for the count, but she couldn't even check on her, because the man who'd done that to her was standing right in front of her.

"Now do you see?" Hazel crossed his arms, "The difference in our strength. You might wonder how I can still move my hands. It's because my semblance allows me to ignore all pain, as a by-product of channelling dust." he sneered at her naivety, "What was it you said before? A Huntress does not kill? Well, if you want to stop me, that's exactly what you have to do."

He reached forwards when—

"If a Huntress can't beat you, then how about a Hollow?"

Senna held her zanpakutō in front of her, the biting edge of the blade cold against Hazel's skin. He felt it through his aura, even without her putting any pressure behind it. He drew his hand back, and thin line down his palm was leaking thin red beads of blood.

Raven dropped down, her yellow-bladed katana crawling with conduits of lightning. "Careful with her, her sword cuts through aura. Though she's nowhere near as strong as Ichigo Kurosaki."

"So much talk about a man I've never met. Either way, we won't be seeing him today, if the plan is followed through." Hazel reminded, "I think it's time. Let us open the Vault."

Winter Schnee saw the sky-wiping explosion across the city, and immediately reached for her communicator. But as she did, her wrist was grabbed by Clover.

"Hold it." he told her, "I'll stay down there with Ciel. You need to reach the academy, that's an order. If we call Ironwood in here the whole situation will go to pot."

"As if it isn't already?" she pulled her arm back, and her head gestured towards the Grimm-sieged city. "What do we call this, then?"

"A city we can still save. Atlas can't be publically involved with what we're about to do." he told her. "Remember the mission. If he's the cause of all this chaos, then that puts his guilt beyond a shadow of a doubt."

They stood on a Bullhead landing pad, an elevated vantage point for Ciel's sniper, which she operated by laying prone on her stomach and hanging the scoped barrel out over the ledge. Winter clearly didn't like being told that, but she set her own opinion aside with a muted professional coldness and began to make her ascent.

"Afterwards, go meet with your partner." Clover added, and that made Winter stop in her tracks. Her fingers curled into her palms.

"Must I really?"

"Penny's already on route. In fact, she'll probably get there before you." he informed her offhandedly. That got Winter moving at a new pace entirely, making leaps and bounds from rooftop to rooftop. "Better hurry up– good luck!" he called after her, cupping both hands to his mouth.

If she was more expressive, Ciel would've rolled her eyes where Clover couldn't see her. But then through her scope, she spotted a scatter of shapes on the distant horizon that washed a wave of unease over her. "Sir? Pull out your binoculars. Ten O'clock."

Clover did just that, and blew out a bemused whistle at what he saw through the lenses. "Well, well..."

"Sir, you know what those are– we should call in air support after all!" Ciel requested, leaning up on her elbows to face her superior.

"Hmm... call it."

"Excuse me?" Ciel was lost.

"Heads or tails. Call it." he repeated confidently.

"This isn't the time for– ugh, heads!"

Clover flicked a golden coin high into the air, over both their heads before he caught it and clapped it down over the back of his left hand.

"Tails. Not yet."

"Not yet? You made a decision off of a coin again, sir? The Grimm are trouble enough, we can't handle this!"

"I think you're in for a surprise; I'm feeling lucky." his eyes rose from the four-leafed clover etched into the golden coin in his hand, and he watched as the silvery fleet of bullheads intercepted the dark clouds of Nevermores and Lancers.

- –—{}—– -

Cardin Winchester ignored the trembles in his hands as he stared down the massive Blind Worm with a grim face. He was prepared to—

The sky-high monster exploded, diced into pieces before turning to dust in seconds. Ichigo Kurosaki burst into view in front of DRCL as the beast turned to ash. They were standing on a pile of rubble that had once been an office block.

"There." he sheathed his swords, "That's the last of them. Thanks for holding down the fort."

"Holy– the crap you spouted at the Beacon Dance was true!?" he sputtered.

Dove nodded, "Good thing, too. We need all the help we can get clearing out the streets of all the other Grimm."

"You're just accepting it like that!?" Cardin yelled, stomping up to Ichigo and leaning in. Ichigo was very tempted to headbutt him. "If you think—"

"—Uh, anyone else hear that?" Sky chimed in.

The air was soon filled with the howl of Bullhead engines, as a fleet of silvery VTOLs descended over the city, raining chaingun-fire down upon the Grimm. Across the city, barrage of crackling shots raked through the streets, picking off any monster that reared its nasty head.

"Aw sweet, Atlas is here! Took 'em long enough!" Russel cheered.

Cardin was the first to notice. He could tell that logo apart anywhere. His hands clenched, and his grip on his mace tightened. "That's not Atlas..."

One bullhead flew down close to their group, clearly singling them out. It turned sideways, hovering over the demolished street, and showing off the prominent White Fang emblem along its side. The hydraulic door hissed open, and DRCL readied themselves to fight, before Ichigo held up his hand. He recognised that aura's spiritual pressure.

"Ichigo Kurosaki." Adam Taurus was leaning out, holding onto a rail inside the aircraft as he greeted him without a wave, or even a smile. But something about his tone of voice... it sounded like he was glad to see him.

Ichigo smiled nonchalantly. "Yo, Adam!"

"Care to hitch a ride?" he asked. "Our forces will take care of the Grimm from here, we're needed elsewhere. Come with me to Haven."

"You're– it's godsdamn Adam Taurus." Cardin stared, then stepped forwards and shouted at the top of his lungs, "You! Why did you come here!? Face me!"

"I don't have time for pests, human." Adam answered, his free hand edging towards his sheath.

Ichigo spotted this, and knew exactly what was about to happen, so laid a hand on Cardin's shoulder, and chose his words carefully.

"Do you want to kill him, or save a Kingdom?"

"I want to– obviously I want to bash his skull in, but I'm not stupid." Cardin spoke slowly, "You think we should work with him, don't you?" he ascertained.

"No, I won't force you to do anything." Ichigo answered simply, "I'll go with him. You stay here and be a Huntsman."

In one bound, Ichigo managed to perfectly catch himself inside the bullhead, front-flipping once at the apex of his jump.

"If they're helping cull the Grimm, White Fang or not, I think it's the right call." Dove decided.

"Shut up. I have eyes." Cardin's face was cold, and he bit his lip as he turned around and stormed off, not looking back as the bullhead's bay doors slid shut and it took off. "What're you sissies waiting for? Let's get to work."

He hadn't changed his mind or anything, merely postponed his anger for now. Besides, Ichigo was there. What else was he supposed to do? Get knocked out again?

Inside the bullhead, Adam Taurus crossed his arms. His mask was polished, and reflected the light in the troop transport's hold.

"Your horns..." it was the first thing the faunus noticed.

"They'll grow back." It was technically true.

"You moult? That's... rough."

"It's uh… no problem."

It was the most awkward small talk exchange Ichigo had ever been through, and he hung out with Uryū. But at least Adam was trying. That counted for something, right? "Now, onto the matter at hand. You must be wondering why the White Fang are here."

"Yes. So spill it." Ichigo cut to the chase.

"I'm not the leader of the White Fang. The High Leader, Sienna Khan, is after something–"

"A relic?"

"–You know?" Adam was caught off-guard, before he course-corrected, "No matter, that simplifies things. Listen, she and her forces must already be within Haven's walls by now."

"Well, if she's clearing out the Grimm, she can't be all that bad."

"She explicitly told me to kill you."

"Lots of people wanna kill me." Ichigo brushed off, "Doesn't mean they can."

"Exactly." Adam nodded, "That's why I've told you all this. Now go ahead and get me a promotion."

"You want to use me to take over the White Fang?" Ichigo's narrowed his eyes.

"...Perhaps." A thin, shallow smirk tugged at the corner of Adam's twitching lips. "Sienna is the hardliner leader who militarized the White Fang after the founder Ghira Belladonna stepped down, if that helps convince you to take her out." he left out the part where he was just as much an, if not more of an extremist.

"Ghira Belladonna founded the White Fang?" that piqued Ichigo's interest, "Does that guy have any kids?"

"Yes." Adam said curtly. "A daughter, named Blake. We have... history."

"Hey, I know her." Ichigo revealed, "She sure doesn't like you, though."

"I'd expect so..." Adam trailed off cryptically.

"She doesn't trust whatever you're doing in Atlas." Ichigo implied the question.

"I'm trying to make the White Fang a political force, not a groundless terrorist cell. If we can build on more territory, gain more living space for our people... I would be satisfied with founding a real, true Kingdom of the Faunus as my legacy." Adam was speaking from the heart, not hiding anything from his friend at all. "It's my life's dream. And to do that, I need popular support. You can't get that by blowing up trains. You showed me so yourself. I'm lucky I wasn't so known from my more... guerilla escapades beforehand. I'd never experienced positive press before what we did in Mountain Glenn."

"Mountain Glenn, huh?" Ichigo mused, "That reminds me, those Blind Worms I just took out... they were pumped full of the Soul Dust that we ran into back there. I think this Salem witch figured out how to make more of it."

"We never did find any further leads on that... my agents found that the mad doctor who invented the stuff died decades ago. He's rotting in Hell, I'm sure."

"The bastard deserves it." Ichigo was sure of it, "So you kept your promises after all, huh?"

"I'm quite good at not letting anything go." Adam asserted.

"Even that girl?" Ichigo jabbed with a sly smirk, "Hope you're not still thinking about her."

"Hmph, her? I'm trying not to." Adam scowled, "You're not helping. Did you come here with any other friends of yours?"

"You bet. Since you already know Blake, she's actually in Haven right now. They're supposed to cracking open the vault while I'm in the city."

"...She is, is she?" Adam almost involuntarily twitched. He rubbed a thumb on Wilt's pommel. Curses. "This... complicates things." he quickly made to change the subject, "Sienna's brought in a man named Hazel Rainart. I don't trust him either."

Hazel? Didn't Senna say Cinder knew a guy called that? "He's bad news alright. He works for the Witch Queen of the Grimm, Salem."

"There's a—!?"

"—Yes." Ichigo finished, "I've never seen her though. I bet she's some big ugly-ass snot monster or something that lays a shitload of eggs through secret portals all over the world."

"That's... disgusting."

"Well, what's your big theory then? Any guess is as good as mine."

"What if she's just a woman who looks like a Grimm?" Adam suggested.

"Bah, that's just boring." Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Anyway, she's immortal, so if you ever run into her just give me a call. I've got your phone– uh, scroll number, and it'd be a bummer if you died on me."

"Noted." Adam internally wondered why a small, silent part inside of him felt so giddy hearing that.

"But wait, if this Hazel guy is working with your boss, then why'd the White Fang show up to stop the Grimm?" Ichigo wondered.

"We have orders to clean the streets to protect any innocent faunus." Adam clarified, "She's not working for Hazel, just following him to the relic. The man showed up wearing godsdamn fake horns whilst lying about being a faunus. That alone is reason enough for her to kill him. Sienna's probably vying for a double-cross, since she didn't call him out on it. Her fat-headed ego's big enough." Adam supposed with annoyed huff.

"Sir! We're pulling in close to the academy!" the pilot relayed.

Ichigo knocked his knuckle against the large button for the door, the hydraulic pistons hissing open loudly as the door slid open to the war-torn skyline. "I'll step out early. If you're saying this Hazel guy is already—"

"—Commander Taurus, look up at the top of the mountain!" the pilot cut in again.

Adam leaned out the side of the bullhead, seeing far off into the distance.

They were already very high up, and on level with Haven's gardens. Up atop a bridge, in full witness of the city– and any news cameras that were watching– stood a masked White Fang agent with white hair.

In her stained hands was the bloodied body of Leonardo Lionheart, hanging limp and soaking red.

It wasn't clear, from this distance, whether he was still alive or not. He was held over the yawning chasm between the mountains, over the side of the central waterfall. The rushing water's white bubbling froth was tinged with red.

The contrast against the deep blue sky was vivid and visceral enough to see for miles. She tossed him over the edge of the split mountain, then pulled out a simple pistol, and shot him with a slug of fire dust for good measure as he plummeted, to make it clear to any who found his body that it was her and not a Grimm who'd done it.

Ichigo switched around on Adam, grabbing him by the collar, "What the hell was that? You killed the Headmaster of an academy in full view of everyone? Wasn't he a faunus, too?"

Adam shoved his hands off, "I never heard anything about this!" Did Sienna order it? But why!? "I'm in the dark too, and I'm just as pissed off as you are."

"Listen, that guy wasn't the best– Lionheart was working with Salem, but that doesn't mean you had to do that to him." Ichigo grit. "There're cleaner ways to merk a guy."

Ichigo leaned out, and– she was already gone, and there were so many spiritual pressures down there that he couldn't single hers out. It wasn't particularly strong enough to stand out. Was she suppressing her aura?

"It was to make a statement. But over what?" Adam dwelt on it behind him.

"Sir! We have incoming!" the pilot warned, "It's homing in on us!"

"From what?" Adam barked. Grimm don't have artillery, so what could possibly—

"Friend Ichigo!" an all-too-cheerful voice for the situation hailed from outside the aircraft, "Salutations!"

Penny was flying sideways, pulling in right alongside the bullhead's open bay. Jets of neon-green pulsating fire propelled her through the sky, her arms held out on front of her like a superhero. Instead of a cape, her pink bow was ruffling from the rush of air pressure.

"Is that girl flying–?"

"You are Adam Taurus! Activating combat protocols!" Four swords ejected from her back, and began orbiting her head like a dangerous halo.

"Hold it!" Ichigo stepped in the way, holding out his hand. "We've got more important things to do right now. Penny, you're coming with us."

"But Adam Taurus is an enemy of—" Penny began. "Oh, but, he is an important public figure now..."

"He's a friend of mine." Ichigo cut her off. "And if friends have an issue, they can set it aside to focus on a bigger problem. You get me?"

"Mmm... okay! Ichigo, I will redirect my imperatives based off of your judgement! Let's save Mistral together!"

"You don't have a problem with Penny, do you?" Ichigo nudged Adam behind him. "I'm pretty sure she's not a hundred-percent human."

"Really..." Adam stared at the jet engines built into her legs. "...I could tell."

"I'm not allowed to talk about that! And where is it that you are flying, Ichigo?" Penny inquired. Her curious eyes were emitting a curious bright green light. "Is it where I'm detecting combat in Haven?"

"Damn, already? Time to bust some heads." Ichigo trusted in his friends' strength, but wasn't about to turn up late if he could help it. "Sorry, but I'm jetting there early. Talk about low budget flights. No food or movies... I'm outta here!"

Ichigo side-flipped out the bullhead, spinning once to kick off the air with a hypersonic boom, rocking Penny and the VTOL with the aftershock. He was aiming right for the Grand Hall, and was moving faster than anyone else on the planet could perceive. The speed he was going at meant he was almost certain to overshoot, but that was fine; he was planning on making a big entrance. His allies had probably already opened the vault by now, but he still had to warn them about their new company.

He was right about to crash through the doors, closing in with the force of a low-orbit comet...

—Like throwing a rock through a pane of glass, the very air itself ruptured and collapsed as Ichigo rocketed right through the entrance, right through the space in front of the entrance, and right through Remnant's perception of reality entirely.

As the ghostly shards fractured and fell apart, Neopolitan's semblance revealed the last closing whispers of Raven's Kindred Link.

NEXT: 36 - TO BE CONTINUED...

Author's notes:

I thought I'd pull something a little similar to Grimmjow's Caja de Negación against Ulquiorra at the end, there. You can also probably tell I saw Sonic 3. The title of the next chapter would be a spoiler, so until then it's TBC.

This is what the Grand Hall looks like, as a reminder:

staticDOTwikiaDOTnocookieDOTnet/rwby/images/d/d0/HavenHallCADOTpng/revision/latest?cb=20240314141824

Adam is back, and I've finally started explaining what's going on with him. In the show they turned him from Malcolm X into Elliot Rodger, so here I'm gonna just turn him into the equivalent of an IRA agent mixed with 1930s ethno-nationalist radicals and Eren Yeager. I even kinda threw in a Lebenstraum angle to him, but I'll avoid any "10 years at least" cuckening. He doesn't know Penny is from Atlas, either. I'm doing all this to show him as still very much an extremist, but one who's moved on from terrorism thanks to Ichigo. This might sound bad... (or based, depends on who you are, really) but think of who Ichigo is already friends with in Bleach. Of course, he hasn't really mentioned his true ideals to Ichigo outright, and he'll continue to change over time. In this story, after Blake ditched him, he hasn't actually committed anything huge enough yet to make him an infamous terrorist, and now that he's gotten so much popular support from faunus after Mountain Glenn, Atlas has to be wary of him. Sienna Khan is normally depicted on here as a better moral character in comparison to Adam, but in this story I'm going to make her just as "bad" as him in a different way. She wants to keep the WF as a terrorist organisation, whilst Adam has grander plans. It's not as if she had enough screentime in canon to establish her morality, anyway, so I can do what I want.

As for the situation with Senna/Amber, after seeing the reviews, I've decided to soften the blow by fusing both characters into one from the get-go. That way it's not an outright replacement. It will be explained fully in the coming chapters. Oh yeah, Hazel pulled Iron Tager's Blazblue super on Yang. I was very tempted to have him yell "GENESIC EMERALD TAGER BUSTER!" but it would've been wayyy too OOC.

One last thing: I've started posting a rewrite of this story to AO3. I was initially wary of that place because it's... really freaking deviant, like holy shit there's so much fucked-up c0rn there, but with the new year I just decided 'screw it'. It won't affect this story's update speed, since it's just minor things I'm gonna fix, like have Amber be Senna from the start for example. This will remain the main place I'm posting, because I like FF net more. Dunno why people say this place is dead, I sure got an audience. I'll post chapters from here to there once a week. Don't tell anyone on there they can come here and read ahead though lol, I'm trying to get a new audience. You can follow me there too if you want.

Thank you for 2,500 favourites! I'm glad to have reached so many people with my work. Remember to live and learn, from the works of yesterday.