Chapter 49: An Effort To Return

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Cross-over from various games, books, anime, manga, and movies.

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'Thoughts'

"Active skill name or magic spell"

'Active skill name or magic spell in thought'

"Activation phrase"

'Activation Phrase in thoughts'

"Speech"

*action*

Time*

Noise*

(Location)

[Skill Name] - Passive or Active - AP cost: or none

Description: Info on skill

[Item Type]: [Type]

[Name]: [Item Name]

Durability: 100%/100%

Quality: Poor - Common - Uncommon - Epic - Legendary - Ascendant

Grade: E-/EX

Value: [System Point]/(Cannot be sold to [Persona System])

Description: Info on [Item Name]

[Extra Info]: [Extra Info]

Chapter 49: An Effort To Return

Days?: Now This Is Interesting! Part 3

(Vale: Vale City: Unknown Restaurant)

Both Pyrrha and I stare at Raven, who still out of it and maybe in shock after watching her own tribe destroyed before very eyes. I'm surprised that Raven was able to speak to both Pyrrha and I a few minutes ago at the Rooftop of some random buildings near Yukiko's Mansion.

Now, Raven has been quiet this whole time while we look for a place to have a private talk. Yukiko's Mansion was an option, but Narberal is there and I don't trust her enough to not spy on our conversation. I can even believe the Mansion is installed with hidden cameras everywhere, including the Bathrooms if I think Narberal is crazy enough to do so.

Also, I rather not have Shigure's attention solely on Raven due to her past activities had led to Shigure always has her guards up around Raven's presence and always ready to strike whenever Raven shows the signs of hostile intent, which pretty much, led to many repeats in the past with Shigure and Raven fighting each other almost all the times they meet each other.

So that path was close and I rather not even bother thinking about Beacon Academy, with the military of the Atlas Kingdom still staying over there.

Junior's Club was another option, but that place was destroyed during the invasion. Even if the place was not torn down; we wouldn't even choose that place since there are hidden cameras as well and I had to get Izaya to hack into the place's system to erase our presences being there in the first place.

So after wasting like an hour or so finding a place to talk with Raven, even I find it a little people nearby didn't look like they know Raven somewhere, but anyway, we decided to find a Restaurant, that own by the old man, who somehow stayed alive through the invasion. Honestly, I thought he would get killed by either the grimm or the White Fang, for the old man being human and with the White Fang turning violent and all.

So it was a shocker to me, not Pyrrha since she knew the old man was still alive after the invasion, that I notice a Restaurant running by the old man and decided to go there. Plus, the fact that the place is pretty old compared to other buildings. I would have to say there little to no hidden cameras if anything, there just a few open cameras inside the Restaurant observing the customers.

Then again, the old man got his Dust Shop robbed by Roman himself and his henchmen hired by Junior. And only Ruby was there to help out before Glynda showed up to help out. The police, I have no clue if they showed up or not, but looking at the cameras not so hidden. Either the security is downgraded due to lack of resource or something happens to cause most of the security to go down and people are still trying to get them up.

But, I got the feeling it because of the virus Cinder implanted during the Beacon Academy's Dance and I forgot to tell Izaya to erase it at the time. Nonetheless, the security in Beacon seriously is low. Pretty much, the others and I appear in Beacon Academy, to visit Pyrrha and Weiss. And not once have Ozpin notice we were there or more like he was too busy drinking his [Coffee] to be aware of his surroundings.

So after we order a few dishes for us to eat while we chat with each other while I place a [Soundless Field Talisman: 5 Meters] version of the 30 Meters one under the table. This way, no one could overhear our conversations.

30 minutes later*

After a good lunch, but Raven was still silenced the whole time and neither Pyrrha or I could catch her attention during the whole meal. Well, more like we tried to call out to her, even shouting since we got the [Soundless Field Talisman: 5 Meters] cover for us. Sadly, with all the shouting from both us. Raven still didn't respond back and silently eat her lunch.

Neither Pyrrha or I wanted to get Raven's attention by physical methods due to the fact, that is a slight chance, but a chance nonetheless, would outright attack anything around her unconsciously. Including us and the customers around us eating their meals.

Afterward, we waited for Raven to finish her meal and see if she would say something once she finished. However, she still kept quiet and just sat there with a blank expression.

Pyrrha was about to say something to Raven when I suddenly cough up blood. Much to Pyrrha's horror and Raven, who been quiet the whole. Suddenly raise her head and show us a smile on her face.

"I was wondering when it would take effect." Raven said calmly, without showing any hostile intent this whole time and continue to watch me suffer as she watching something amusing.

Pain, that all I could feel right now, but not enough to cause me to go insane with all the pain I'm currently feeling. Physical pain aside, I am furious at this action of Raven. And with the way, everything that's made of metal that is being covered in black aura shows how mad Pyrrha is at Raven too, but had enough self-control not to cause them to be moved or crushed into scrap metal.

"How in the world did you manage to [Poison] me in the first place?" I ask Raven in a cold rage while using [Accelerator] to quickly expel almost all the [Poison] through the blood I just cough up. I was wondering who had [Poison] me and how, with [Accelerator] being the one that discovered the [Poison] in my body and gathers the [Poison] into a single spot: My stomach, and it was not fun at all during our walks to here.

After [Accelerator] just told me my body can't handle keeping the [Poison] inside my stomach any longer. I expel via coughing it out, with blood coming together with the [Poison].

From meeting up with Raven, to fighting an Olympians' member, who could have transformed into a hybrid [Shadow]. And to find a good place to have a private place to talk. All it took was 3 hours total from the Rooftop of a random building to here.

However, I did not see anything that Raven used to [Poison] me with and even the dead faunus/maybe hybrid of a [Shadow], I faced didn't have anything that could [Poison] me. But then again, the faunus was a snake faunus, and some snakes are known for their deadly [Poison]. Plus, I didn't have [Accelerator] equipped at the time.

Raven continued to stare at me, with amusement and delight of seeing me being [Poison]. Like she just won the lottery and was about to cash it in. At the very moment, she saw me coughed up blood.

"So everything you said on the roof was all lies? Your tribe is not destroyed by Salem's factor and the Olympians?" Pyrrha snarl at Raven, for [Poisoning] her older twin brother as her Fall Maiden's power is unconsciously beginning to draw from within, causing pretty much the whole building covered in a black color aura.

And people started to notice the surroundings were covered in a black color aura, then realized there someone with their aura unlocked and using their semblance to destroy the building. So all the customers rushed out the Restaurant for their lives.

In my opinion, their actions are totally called for, since Pyrrha's semblance may or may not have an increased enhancement due to her Fall Maiden's power. So the possibilities are endless with Pyrrha possessing the Fall Maiden's power and imaging what Pyrrha would be like to have the full version later.

I made [Accelerator] to push out the last remaining [Poison] one last time, just to be on the safe side as I cough out blood once again. Much to Pyrrha's rage and Raven's delight at this display in front of them.

Slowly, I stand up while removing the [Soundless Field Talisman: 5 Meters] and activate [Evil Smile] at Raven, who quickly lost her smile and replaced with a frightened look on her face.

What made it worst for Raven was the killing intent I'm directing at her, with multiple compressed air bubbles appearing near her. Waiting to be set off and explode, right next to the frighten Raven.

"So you allied yourself with the enemies, huh?" I lean over the table to stare directly into Raven's eyes with my own. At the gall of Raven trying to kill me, when Pyrrha and I were helping her out during her weakest moment. 'Maybe that was the signs of the unknown for me to kill Raven at that time?'

"And I even gave you an [Odachi]. Which, by the way, I shall take back from you." I said to Raven, who was too afraid to fight back as I manipulate the vector around Raven to tear the [Odachi] out of her hands and return it back to my [Inventory].

Pyrrha seeing this, but made sure not to look at my face due to [Evil Smile] activated, also place both her hands onto the table and lean in a bit, with a smile of her own. "Also, the [Odachi] is made by one of the Kosaka family's [Master Blacksmith]."

That pretty much dealt the spiritual blow to Raven. Just after she just realized she literally possessed one of the very works of the Kosaka family, that's hard to gain and that only for those average quality of the weapons. So saying a weapon created by a [Master Blacksmith] from the Kosaka family is not that many and not anyone could even ask for a Kosaka's [Master Blacksmith] to make one for them either, without the right conditions.

Honestly, I had no idea why I gave Raven that type of quality [Odachi] instead of the [Common Quality: Odachi]. Maybe it was the build-up guilty consciousness of mine to help Raven out after discovering her whole tribe was destroyed by others.

"You know Raven. I've enough of your assassination attempts for the past few years now since we've met. Sure, I thought it was because I met your family that one time and it was unanticipated for crying out loud. After yesterday, I thought this whole this was over. Of course, if you had tried to kill without anyone from the enemy's side to help you, then I wouldn't mind one bit because the type of person I am and you don't want any chances with someone like me knowing about your family. I respect that and understand." I force myself to speak in a calm manner.

'Also, because I rather not have Qrow come after me later, with Ozpin helping him out. But now, things are different.' I thought to myself, with the buildup frustration of all those years Raven tries to kill me and I couldn't do a thing about it. The only thing stopped me from outright killing Raven the first time she tried to assassinate me was due to her background of her brother and his background.

"But, you just had to team up with the enemy. I warned you yesterday." I grip the [Odachi] in my right hand and ready to draw it out of its [Sheath], then kill Raven with it just to get this little game between her and me over with.

Pyrrha happily shows her support by pulling out a few [Iron Nails] from around the place and send it straight at Raven, with a quick spin to them, for increased piercing into Raven's aura shield and at the non-vital areas.

Yup, I made Pyrrha train in using her environment to her advantage during our years at the Sanctum Academy back in the Mistral Kingdom.

So to make sure Raven doesn't escape after she got fully healed back thanks to us. I set off the bubbles of compressed air, but not to explode and instead connecting each other to form multiple [Wind Roads] for Pyrrha's [Iron Nails] to travel through in a much higher speed while adding an extra spinning force as well towards their destinations.

This is one of the combat strategies I came up by teaming up with Pyrrha and our battlefield could be in a small building or area. With me placing multiple air compressed bubbles around the target to trap them and having Pyrrha covering the area, to search for sharp metal objects to be used as projectiles. This is the outline of the attacks, but the future can be anything, making the plan stay as an outline to adapt the unknown.

If this strategy still fails, then either change to a new one or change the methods of attacks in the strategy to something else.

Sadly, Raven's aura shield didn't break and this was a bad thing, as Raven regained back control over her mental state of being affected by the [Fear] of my [Evil Smile] and killing intent. Then, create multiple small red swirling portals of her own to send all the [Iron Nails] straight back us while at the same time using another portal to disappear from the area.

Pyrrha didn't like this one bit and tried to stop Raven from leaving by regaining control over the [Iron Nails] to send them towards Raven once more, but Raven got away, not before a few [Iron Nails] managed to tag along. Sadly, we don't know if they managed to hit Raven or not.

Of course, I wouldn't let Raven leave so easy after setting me up to get [Poison]. If I didn't offer myself to do the job instead of the Arcana members. I would never know how they die and could be lied to about it too.

So I pull out a [Kunai] wrapped with a [Explosion Tag] and throw it along with Pyrrha's borrowed [Iron Nails] into the portal Raven use to escape. And now, that I think about it. I realized the [Iron Nails] Pyrrha used could belong to something important which held that thing together. The thing that got its [Iron Nails] take out? The table we just used to eat in this Restaurant and collapse itself the second we stop applying weight on it.

"Yeah, I think my response was a bit weak to Raven's assassination attempt on my life. Again." I said to Pyrrha, with a sheepish smile as I rub the back of my head after I deactivated [Evil Smile] not to cause Pyrrha to be under the [Fear] effect.

"You think?" Pyrrha replied back with a question, with an eyebrow raise and her left hand on her hip, to show she a bit disappointed that I still didn't try to kill Raven off like all the chances I got in the past.

"Sorry, habit is hard to break out of, and I got tons of them. Got used to Raven trying to kill me all the time, with Qrow and Ozpin behind her tends to make me have to think twice. Now, with Ozpin in a coma somewhat, with Glynda in charge at the moment. I only have to deal with Qrow later on if it comes to it. So, it's pretty much a habit that stops me." I grin at Pyrrha, who let out a tired sigh and let her gentle smile back on her face.

"Told you last night, that this would have been a trap." Pyrrha sticks her tongue at me, then walk towards the Exit Door and not worry about the cameras catching us when she already destroyed them the moment thing went down.

(Vale: Vale City: Unknown Restaurant: Front Door)

"I never deny it. I even agreed with you." I pull Pyrrha into a one arm hug, to show her I wasn't thinking she was a liar or anything. As both of us exit the Restaurant, that may or may not reopen again. Not like it matters when the old man owns like who knows how many other buildings in this Vale Kingdom.

Then I put away the [Odachi] before people notice it and lead Pyrrha to another place to talk in private, and this time, both Pyrrha and I would like to hope the next place doesn't have any hidden cameras like the previous place we just came out of, being the now empty Restaurant.

(Vale: Vale City: Unknown Busy Street)

"I know you did, Em. But, that doesn't change the fact that you were [Poisoned] by an enemy in the first place. I thought you learned your lesson back in Mistral?" Pyrrha glance at me for a few seconds, then back to looking for a good place to rest at.

Where some buildings are still standing while the rest are close to falling apart or beyond repairable with just a small section still standing and the rest completely destroyed, which just need to be replaced with a new building. Just without the people, who lived there or have things they own inside those buildings are either destroyed or barely in good condition.

"I did learn my lesson. Whatever doesn't kill you, simply makes you much stronger...or stranger depending on what tries to kill you. The [Poison] Raven relied on to kill me this time was aiming for my organs. And a quick [Magic] to heal all the damage away." I said to Pyrrha, who couldn't fault that to me when I'm not the most average people in this world.

"Hmm. Nah, neither, but both of them are you. If I didn't know you my whole life. I would think this was the day I would lose my older twin and begin my path of revenge." Pyrrha said in a joking manner, then quickly put up her false polite smile mask for the public and her fans. As we enter a busy street being used as the main place to sell stuff in Vale City at the moment until the people's buildings are fixed compared to the other, and by others, I mean the old man.

And we could even see the old man that disappeared a few minutes ago from the abandoned Restaurant, where he ended up setting up his own stall among the others to sell his food.

So far, the whole thing looks like an ordinary thing for the old man since he looks like nothing happen to him the last few minutes or so and continue on with his successful life, I think.

"Think the old man has any other businesses he owns in other kingdoms?" I ask Pyrrha, as we walk through the crowd while ignoring some of them pointing at Pyrrha and some rare one, pointing at me as well.

"Who knows." Pyrrha shrugged at me, to show she doesn't think what the old man does for a living and how he achieves it as not important to her.

next day*

Days?: Fight And Flight!

(Vale: Vale City: Unknown Rooftop)

After spending for the past 3 hours with Pyrrha and talking about our plans for the future, with Pyrrha heading back to Beacon Academy to speak with her team about those few plans.

As for me, I went back to Yukiko's Mansion and told everyone that we're heading to Atlas; with Izaya, and both teams RWBY and JNPR. Yup, all members of team RWBY decided to help Weiss out with her problems, even when Weiss got all the help she needed, but her team refuses to listen and wanted to help.

Blake, I was surprised, but Izaya told me over the scroll that her reason was to see if what Weiss said was true about her cover stories and wanted to see it with her own eyes.

Team JNPR because of being close friends with team RWBY; mostly Pyrrha and Weiss, which led to JNR to tag along after finding out RBY are going to the Atlas Kingdom as well to help Weiss regain her inheritance.

Later on, Shigure explained to me on what happened during my absence to meet up with Pyrrha and Raven. I discovered that Yukiko actually had to sell her own Mansion to the Vale Kingdom. Well, sell just to give Yukiko's family some face and provide Lien to refund the amount of money they spent on the Mansion at the time of its sale.

Now, that the Vale Kingdom needs all the buildings they could use with all the now homeless people needs a place to stay. Plus, the fact that Yukiko not even from the Vale Kingdom in the first place. The higher up picked those not born in the Vale Kingdom to force them to sell their ownership of their buildings, that could be their businesses or home, for those that actually born in Vale.

So yeah, the higher status people that still survived and have some control decided this today, which should be a bad move on their part. Due to the new negative emotions arising from forcing others out of their house/business buildings, even after being given a good amount of Lien.

Like that would last them that long without an income to support them or a place to live in during the cold night. So lots of people that not born in the Vale Kingdom or those that couldn't bribe their way through the system are being sent off the Vale Kingdom's territory as there a slight chance of hidden enemies among them. And they rather not take the chance while they are still weak.

Pretty much what I learned so far from the others. Now, we planning our actions to get out of Vale Kingdom without having the higher up people notice us before it's too late.

But, thanks to the incident with Raven. There are more people patrolling the chosen locations we would like to use to leave Vale. Sure, we could tag along with other people already leaving Vale Kingdom. But, there just some people more noticeable status and would be questioned on why they're leaving the kingdom instead of staying.

This mostly towards Pyrrha and Weiss due to their reputation in the public's eyes and people will question why these two girls desire to leave the Vale Kingdom at their moment of weakness. Instead of helping them out along with the other Huntsmen and Huntresses still here, even if they not full-fledged Hunters and are in training still.

Furthermore, Glynda and the other staffs are paying extra attention to both Pyrrha and Weiss. Pyrrha was lucky enough to get away from Beacon Academy to come with me before others notice her disappearance. Sadly, now this is much harder with both Pyrrha and Weiss, along with the rest of their team.

Plus the fact that Pyrrha is now the Fall Maiden, which only Glynda having knowledge about it among the staffs. Another thing is that Glynda tried to keep Pyrrha in Beacon Academy's grounds for her safety, but keep on getting distracted by other things. Which Izaya was happy to cause, much to Glynda's frustration. Including Winter as well, and while she doesn't know about Pyrrha new status as the Fall Maiden. Her attention is more towards Weiss instead than Pyrrha.

So the Beacon Academy's staffs and other foreign older trained Hunters and as soldiers under General Ironwood's control, for now, are high alert.

Afterward, I stay at Yukiko's Mansion for the rest of the night, which is the last night for everyone staying the Mansion as tomorrow is the day Yukiko and her maid has to leave the place.

During the morning, where Shigure and Neo help secretly in packing all the important things Yukiko and Narberal's owns, then ship it to the same forest that Momoyo used to leave Vale.

Also, some people got too close to my comfort, where I had to either knock them out and put them somewhere believable once they woke up or outright kill them just when they discover the whereabouts of the Arcana's presence in the Vale Kingdom's territory without their notices.

Which happen during the transport of Yukiko's things, with among those things are crates filled with [Dust]. And the Vale Kingdom is in dying need of [Dust] to protect itself. Too bad, they won't be able to 'purchase' them from Yukiko to use for themselves.

Neither Weiss or Winter could even provide more [Dust] to the Vale Kingdom. As Winter no longer the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company to order a large shipment of [Dust] and same with Weiss, who also lost the heiress status and lost the power to do the same. At least with Winter, she doesn't have to do so with General Ironwood is able to provide a somewhat decent amount of [Dust] to help out.

It took the whole morning to get everything set, for us to depart for Atlas Kingdom. Ziarre would have been our go-to girl to get us out of Vale in an Airship. But, she still currently taking Momoyo to Mistral as we speak and still haven't arrived yet. Not even the latest new built Airship could fly from one Kingdom to another under a day.

However, Ziarre's older sister: Luna Mapiya and Pyrrha's manager is willing to pick us up. Also, part of the plan to leave, with Luna giving good reasons for taking Pyrrha out of the kingdom. As for the others, Luna didn't see why she had to explain herself for their depart of the Vale Kingdom.

After all, Luna's responsible is Pyrrha herself not the rest of us. If anything, she wouldn't even help this whole thing if it wasn't Pyrrha, who asked Luna to help.

Of course, not all plans go as plan. Luckily, I have a solution to make it go much smoother, and by that, I mean causing a scene somewhere the opposite of the forest we're using to wait for Luna to land and pick us up.

Which would be me, who has to do the job while the others are getting ready and afterward, I would rush over to catch up. Since among the rest of us, with Momoyo gone already, only I could fight against an open battle with an army and have the stamina to face them off until it's time to leave, where I have enough speed to rush over to catch up with the others.

Shigure could have done this, but wasn't strong enough to face an army alone in open battle without any cover for her to use. Izaya is the same deal and at most could set up some explosives to go off at a time, but not enough to distance to return back to the forest when it's time to leave.

Furthermore, this had to be done with a hidden identity or else others can track down our movements while leaving, which defeat the purpose of us leaving in secret before others notice the disappearance of 8 students belongs to the Beacon Academy.

Another reason why this job falls to me since I'm the one who could pop out a new disguise like no problem. As for how? My [Inventory] is just another cheat given to me in this life of mine. So I carry around lots of outfits for all kinds of disguises to use during one of my missions for the Arcana, that require my identity as an Arcana member to be unknown.

And now is the time similar to those missions. Among the disguises/alias, I used for this kind of mission is called Sword Devil. As Sword Devil main fighting style is using pure swordsmanship to fight off the enemies and killing. One of the reasons why [Sword Mastery] reached [Advanced Rank] before I raised it to [Master Rank] two days ago. Since I use [Sword Mastery] often in open battle.

Unlike my other alias: Manipulator, who is known to manipulate the surroundings as his own weapon against his enemies and causing massive destruction to the whole area in the aftermath.

Sword Devil, on the hand, is known for using the surroundings as his own defensive instead of being used as a weapon/offensive and using only a single [Sword] as his only weapon to fight. Lacking a mean for long distance attack due to this. But, not limited because of this and have other methods to counter this weakness.

As one of the known of throughout Remnant as one of the best Swordsmen or Swordswomen. He is known to travel around finding trouble to provide himself a challenge to improve his swordsmanship further in a life and death battle.

So one of my go-to alias for missions that required the identity of being an Arcana member a secret. Also, a way to train my [Sword Mastery] and help Shigure out by sparring with her to improve her own [Skill]. Of course, Shigure has already been at a [Master Rank] in [Sword Mastery] before I did.

However, I could still match against Shigure in pure [Sword Mastery] at the time with [Advanced Sword Mastery] with her [Master Rank] due to my experiences from dream walking in my [Persona]'s past lives.

In a matter of minutes, I would have to make a big announcement to the Vale Kingdom to draw their attention away from the others in the forest.