Complex Purple

My name is Silva Branwen, and I am now a fugitive of Atlas since I resisted arrest and inflicted harm on some civilians since they decided to believe Jacques Gele's theory of faunus being the problem to all the recent troubles I caused. I sighed as I looked at all of the military police scattered on the ground after I blasted them with my Semblance Emission and left before backup showed up. I opened a portal with Door to Darkness, my other Semblance, to pick up Neopolitan since she is wandering around Mantle. Without needing to go through it, the tri-colored girl popped over and looked around me and... pouted?!

I felt a bit confused at Neopolitan's reaction and tried to understand it, but thankfully, I knew her pretty well, so I guessed her thoughts.

" Sorry I didn't invite you to the party earlier; it just sort of happened, and I didn't think you wanted in on the action."

She waltzed right up to me and poked my chest, more accurately, my solar plexus since she was 5 foot nothing to my 6'8", and I got the message.

" Next time, I plan on causing some trouble; I will bring you along, I promise."

Neopolitan smirked at me and nodded at my promise. I closed the previous portal and opened a new one for Emerald and Argint. I gestured for the tri-colored girl to head through it first, and after she did, I followed her. I reappeared in the room to the tavern and told the girls.

" Pack your things. We're leaving!"

" What, why?!"

Emerald asked me in surprise as Argint immediately did as I said, and Neopolitan shrugged, then complied. I explained myself to the mint-haired girl.

" Well, after I beat the mob coming to the slums black and blue, the MPs showed up to arrest me for harming civilians, and I resisted to the point of beating them as well. So I am officially a criminal of Atlas, any other questions?"

Emerald sighed as she started to gather her things and answers.

" Nope."

Popping the P and I then asked her feeling a bit apologetic at the sudden need to leave due to my actions.

" Want me to grab you anything before we leave."

" Nah, while Atlas is pretty to look at, it stinks with how everyone thinks they're better than the rest of Remnant, but Mantle is okay, I guess."

I smiled at Emerald and started to pack my things as well. In under an hour, everyone was ready to leave, and I opened a portal to my condo in Vale. I let the girls go first, and just as Emerald was about to go through before me, the alarm for a Grimm attack rang. One thing after another. Well, I might as well do one more good deed for the day before I officially leave Atlas and start my skullduggery to snatch the Staff of Creation and set up Willow to take over the Schnee Dust Company after dealing with that b*stard Jacques. I told Emerald as I handed her my bag.

" You go on ahead. I will catch up after dealing with this and grabbing the airship."

" Don't take too long."

I shrug with a casual smile and reply.

" No promises."

***

Mantle was attacked by a hoard of Grimm larger than the last one after the news of the Red Auction Incident first spread. These Grimm were attracted to the previous surge of negative emotions but held back as there were a few Elder Class Grimm in the group that learned from past experiences not to strike at every increase of negative emotion but twice in short intervals; they couldn't resist. Even an Ancient Class Sabyr Great Alpha, which was more heavily armored and three times bigger than normal Sabyrs, joined in on the attack.

The usual forces stationed in Mantle's defense didn't stand a chance and were slaughtered. Qrow Branwen and Winter Schnee acted in Mantle's defense at the hoard. The drunken reaper complained out loud for the ice queen to hear.

" Sheesh, that idiot Jacques doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut."

Winter kept silent but agreed with the assessment as she stabbed a frost-covered Beowolf. They weren't the only ones on the ground dealing with the influx of Grimm. The Happy Huntresses covered a different part of the city. Robyn used her explosive crossbow bolts to take out a group of Ursa as May and Joanna worked together to handle some Teryxes that landed on rooftops. Fiona was guiding people to the nearby shelters despite the current faunus controversy.

James Ironwood wanted nothing more than to strangle Jacques right now but had to focus on organizing his forces. He already sent the Ace-Ops down to Mantle to start helping with the Grimm. He momentarily stopped as he saw a report of a faunus resisting arrest near the slums after injuring several civilians but put it aside for now as he had bigger fish to fry. Atlas's Military started dealing with the Grimm by raining gunfire from their airships, but there were too many to end this quickly. The people's fear in Mantle grew as the Grimm rampaged, which attracted another hoard that had previously been held back for mysterious reasons.

Silva watched the carnage and felt the impulse to drag Jacques down here to suffer the consequences of his actions but decided against it as he would rather strip him of everything he took pride in after marrying into the Schnee family. The snow leopard faunus cruelly grinned as he already made plans of having the fake Schnee mysteriously disappear for a while and come back to face a divorce he can't refuse and lose everything. Putting these plans aside for now, Silva started going after a pack of Beowolfs and tore through them with his claws.

Silva used the anger he felt towards the situation caused by the fake Schnee to attract the Grimm toward him, and it worked to a frightening degree as the fury Silva felt was great and ice cold. One of the first lessons Raven taught him was to keep his emotions under control in the heat of battle. The snow leopard faunus ripped through the lesser members of the Grimm hoard, using Flash Step to rapidly move to their position and claw at their exposed throats and sides. Silva felt an odd sense of euphoria that made him grin as he relished hunting down the Grimm with gusto.

No Semblance, no complicated strategies, no weapon, only his claws and his will to end the threat before him in the most violent way possible; something within Silva clicked as he faced the Sabyr Grand Alpha. His original Semblance Emission underwent an unusual transformation as he prepared to use it to strike the Ancient Grimm. Instead of projecting it outwardly as a black beam or sphere, it coated his whole body like armor, making him look like a being of darkness with flaming gray featureless eyes. Silva took a moment to examine his change, but the Sabyr Grand Alpha leaped at him.

Silva quickly snapped out of it and moved at a speed that surprised him, which made him crash into a building. The Ancient Grimm roared a challenge at the snow leopard faunus; this made him grin as he wanted to take his new abilities out for a spin as he pulled himself up. Silva let out a roar of his own, but it came out monstrous like it didn't belong to humans or beasts, distorted by his dark coating. The distorted bellow was heard by Qrow, Winter, and the Happy Huntresses, which made them go and check out the source. The six of them saw a battle of not a person against a monster but of a pair of monsters tearing into each other with pure savagery.

Silva and the Ancient Grimm fought against one another with their claws. The dark-clad faunus moved with greater speed as he outmaneuvered the Sabyr Grand Alpha and struck its sides and rear. The Ancient Grimm tried to bite, but as its fang sunk into its intended target, it tossed aside Silva aside and cried out in pain as the dark energy covering him corroded the fangs of the monster slightly. Winter observed this and asked the more experienced Huntsman, Qrow.

" What are we seeing?"

" This is a first for me as well, ice queen."

Qrow tried to understand what the being clad in dark energy was and understand the situation so as not to jump to any hasty conclusions. Robyn was of a similar mind as the reaper but took a more proactive approach.

" Joanna, get up on those roofs there. May, over there. Fiona, you're with me."

As the Happy Huntresses took their positions, Qrow noticed them and asked Robyn as he assumed she was the leader due to his experience telling him so as he knows what to look for in a leader.

" Hey, hotshot, what are you up to?"

" Just getting ready to intervene if necessary, five o'clock shadow."

Qrow smirked at the nickname and asked.

" Where would you like us?"

" Over there by Joanna if you don't mind."

The reaper gave a poor excuse of a salute and said, in a joking tone.

" Yes, sir, ma'am."

Winter complied as she wasn't sure how to handle this situation otherwise. As Silva and the Sabyr Grand Alpha clashed, the snow leopard felt his Aura get lower than he would've liked, which snapped him out of his euphoria and made him decide how to end this fight quickly. At the rate his Aura is being drained by his new facet of his Semblance, he will tap out in a matter of minutes. The Ancient Grimm regarded him warily, and Silva turned off his dark energy cloak and then placed his paws together. He fired off a fan shape blast which made the Grimm leap in the air, and he immediately changed the position of his paws from vertical to horizontal.

Firing off another fan-shaped blast, the Grim got a massive wound in its torso but survived. Silva used Flash Step to move at the wounded Sabyr's side and thrust his paw into the wound, and fired off an energy blast from inside the monster. The Sabyr Grand Alpha cries out one last time before going limp and fading into black particles. Silva felt drained but still had enough Aura for a couple more portals. He briefly considered using the current chaos to snatch the Relic in Atlas and thought it would be a good move with everyone's attention on the Grimm down in Mantle.

As he called up the necessary information to find the Winter Maiden and the Vault with Soul Archive, the snow leopard faunus heard a familiar voice call out to him.

" Hey, Snowball, good work there."

Silva turned to see Qrow and greeted him.

" Hey, old man, you sober right now?"

" Yes, I'm sober, brat. Anyway, nice that you can more than handle yourself in a fight."

He shrugged, not caring about his uncle's opinion right now as he had a Relic to snatch while chaos was running rampant in Mantle. Robyn then came over and said with a casual smile.

" Ordinarily, hero, I would disapprove of your reckless actions and tell you to leave it the professional, but you did good."

Qrow ruffles my hair as he says with a grin.

" I taught him everything he knows!"

Silva decided to screw over his uncle since he knows he doesn't like his hair messed with, especially by a guy.

" So you are the one who gave me all those black market pornos?"

Seeing the Happy Huntresses and Winter giving him disapproving looks or disgust made Silva smile as he swatted his uncle's hand away. The snow leopard faunus told them as he left to hide my Semblance Door to Darkness from them to avoid any uncomfortable questions or suspicions.

" Sorry, I got to go as I am burned out and running on fumes."

" Sure, take a rest, hero. You've earned it."

Robyn waved him goodbye as he left, and Qrow glared at his nephew for running his reputation in the mud and in front of some lovely ladies, too, then said.

" Stay out of trouble, you overgrown furball!"

" No promises!"

Silva replied as he left.

***

Let's see here, the Winter Maiden's room should be in view right about there. Focusing on the parts of Atlas to find the Maiden and the spot, Oscar Pine made a hole from the Vault. After seeing what I was looking for, I opened a portal where I think the Winter Maiden should be if Ironwood's information is correct or hasn't changed. Jumping through the portal, I landed on a roof and used Emission. You know, after Emission's recent evolution, I think I should rename it, but that's for later, the task at hand first. I made a hole in the roof to peek through and saw the Winter Maiden painting in her room.

Okay, step one is done; now for step two. I opened another portal and moved it, only to have my torso pop out while standing on the roof. I think I roughly found the spot where the Vault should be directly above. I made a hole and peeked through it as I used my Scroll's flashlight function, then put my Scroll through the hole to light my way. I got out of my current portal and closed it, then opened a new to my new destination. I went through the portal and picked up my Scroll, then looked up to see darkness ahead of me.

I got a long way up... I used Emission to blast my way up, and after a minute, I saw lights. Making my way up, I saw the luminance blue crystals lighting up the chamber to the vault. Too easy. I smirked as I only needed to use the Winter Maiden to open the Vault. As I walked to the door, I opened a portal small enough to put a hand through and took out my Scroll to access camera footage of the Maiden. Looping the footage as she takes a break and guiding the portal to the maiden and having just her hand come through.

After having the Winter Maiden touch the door to the Vault, it opened to reveal the Staff of Creation. Just too freaking easy! After swiping the Staff, I decided to call it a day and head to Vale and close the door behind me. Wonder if anyone is ever going to realize that the Staff got stolen before I use it, obviously. I won't use it for now as I would like to keep the element of surprise when facing Salem. I am ready for a nap; I can get the airship tomorrow.