56

Chapter 56:

"You allowed her to go?" asked Glynda, staring at the back of Ozpin's head. "Surely, we could have dispatched a professional Huntsman to handle the situation."

"Perhaps," said Ozpin, staring out at the distant skyline of Vale. With the sun having set, the cityscape was illuminated by countless lights, which glittered like jewels. "But there is no doubt in my mind that Ms. Rose would not be dissuaded. Her friend was threatened, and that demanded she take action. Precious time would have been wasted arguing the matter. I simply chose to bow to the inevitable, and provide her with what she needed to see things through."

"And you really believe she thought things through?" asked Glynda. "Even though her friend is being threatened."

"I know she did," said Ozpin, chuckling softly. "I was fairly certain at the beginning, but all uncertainty vanished fairly quickly...the moment she asked for two bullheads."

"Let us hope your faith is rewarded," said Glynda, letting out a slow sigh. "We're sure to hear from the police about this...again. And, now that James is here, I imagine he will be up in arms over this as well."

"We shall see," said Ozpin. "If nothing else, James appreciates decisiveness. Ms. Rose has more than demonstrated that, this evening."

"That much is true," agreed Glynda, the ghost of a smile appearing on her face.

"By the way, considering the state of affairs in Vale, I have the feeling RASP's most difficult obstacle will come after they have secured Ms. Forrest's safety." Ozpin shook his head sadly. "Would you be willing to provide them some aid?"

"How much longer?" Weiss whispered harshly.

"We can probably go ahead," said Jaune. "It's not perfect, but we'll have adapted a little."

Slowly, Ruby's three teammates opened their eyes. The darkness verged on impenetrable, but, thanks to closing their eyes before, they had effectively jump-started the process of adapting their vision to a low-light situation, thanks to Ruby's words beforehand.

"Adam's going to kill the lights," she'd whispered to them. "Keep your eyes closed, until you hear them go out. I'll keep him talking for as long as I can."

Ruby hadn't missed the idiosyncrasies behind the whole pursuit of Ashley. Beyond the fact that the White Fang had clearly been guiding Ashley's flight to this location, they had turned on the lights while searching for her. However, for faunus, so proud of their superior night-vision, that was an unusual move, particularly since it would illuminate the space for Ashley's rescuers. Therefore, turning on the lights had been part of the trap too. Draw Team RASP into an illuminated area, allow them to acclimate, then cut off the source of light...and then strike while they were still adapting to the sudden change in conditions.

Weiss had to admit that Ruby had walked a fine line. Considering how much she had baited and angered Adam, she was amazed that he'd held off calling for the lights to be shut off for as long as he had. But she supposed that Ruby really did get him well enough. Adam was petty and vindictive, but also somewhat narcissistic. He didn't just want to get back at Ruby for his loss at the docks by killing her right away. He wanted her to regret making an enemy of him. He wanted her to understand how he'd set up her demise, and so on... Ruby had played on that, prompting him to respond to her barbs with angry tirades, before eating up still more time lecturing and taunting him.

Weiss found herself smirking. And I used to think she had no business being our leader.

Their eyes were almost adapted. They could make out the dark shapes of the various objects around them. They kept their eyes moving, on alert for any signs of impending attack. Ahead of him, Jaune could see blurring shadows, and flashes of red, accompanied by the grunts and shouts of Adam. Straining his ears, he could pick up faint hissing noises from Ruby, which made him smile. Strangely, the sound of blades clashing, of steel against steel, was mostly absent, only the occasional clang sounding out.

But now wasn't the time to be focusing on that. They had to keep their guard up for the first signs of an incoming attack. As it was, Jaune picked up the faintest flash of motion...over his head. Whipping his gaze up, his eyes widened as he saw the faint lights from outside catching on a white jacket. Had he not already preemptively adapted his eyes to the darkness, he might have missed even that small sign.

"Above!" he shouted.

The figure launched straight downward, something in their hand pointed at the top of Ashley's head. Jaune shifted, raising his shield and holding it up between Ashley and the incoming attack. He felt something hard strike the angled surface, accompanied by a jolt that ran up his arm. In these conditions, he wasn't really up to trying to read and deflect incoming attacks, especially since he could barely see them. Fortunately, the force behind the blow wasn't all that impressive.

Seeing as his shield had halted both attack and attacker, Jaune shifted, dipping it to the side slightly, hearing and feeling something sharp and pointed scraping across its surface, while he slashed upwards with his sword. There were two sharp impacts against his shield, and his sword met with empty air, the attacker having kicked both her heeled boots against the shield to launch herself out of the way of his swing.

Jaune's eyes tracked her as she executed a graceful, acrobatic arc over his head, before touching down lightly, directly in front of him. His eyes adapting further, Jaune was able to make out her features, including the two-toned color of her hair. In this faint light, it came off as little more than a slight difference in shade, but still visible all the same. More than that, he remembered her height...or lack thereof.

"It's the girl from the docks," he announced to his teammates.

"The one that works for Torchwick?" asked Weiss.

"Probably," said Jaune, keeping wary eyes locked on the girl.

Now he could see what she had attacked with. The parasol she'd been carrying at the docks was clamped tightly in her right hand, holding it by its closed canopy. He could see the light from outside gleaming faintly off a metal surface, the point of a narrow blade that extended straight out from the parasol's tip. This is gonna be tough, he thought.

Once again, Ruby had called it perfectly. Given his vindictive nature, if Adam Taurus couldn't win, he'd do his utmost to make sure Ruby lost. In this case, "loss" would mean Ashley dying. Losing the person that Ruby had come to protect would certainly count as a loss for her. But Ruby had understood that already, hence ordering the rest of her team into a close formation around Ashley, with instructions to keep her safe, no matter what.

But it wasn't going to be an easy job. Between what he had seen at the docks, and the attack he'd fended off just now, Jaune could tell that their opponent was nimble and elusive. The three other members of RASP were stuck in a fixed position, defending a helpless civilian. This girl, in the meantime, could dance around them and attack from any position she pleased. In a situation like this, save for an incredible stroke of luck, bringing her down would be all but impossible.

But it's not about bringing her down, Jaune realized. If she's going after Ashley, then we win by keeping Ashley safe. That's all that matters.

That being the case, they needed to focus one-hundred percent on defense. "Weiss, keep your hard-light-Dust at the ready," he said, keeping his voice as soft as he could.

Weiss grunted, which wasn't her irritably shouting at him to not tell her what to do, which was a good sign, he supposed. "Pyrrha, did you get her?"

"I did," said Pyrrha.

"Keep track of her," Jaune ordered. "Keep us posted on where she's going. Don't be afraid to move me or Weiss, if you think you need to."

"Got it," said Pyrrha.

Now that his eyes had adapted, Jaune was able to make out the girl's expression. He'd been expecting to see that same mischievous smile she'd shown at the docks. However, she was watching the three of them with a surprisingly serious expression, one that seemed almost pensive. She hefted her parasol, then shifted forwards.

Even though he'd been expecting an attack, Jaune was nearly caught off-guard. The girl lunged in with impressive speed, almost rivaling Ruby's. Her body flashed across the distance between them. Jaune raised his shield, meeting the point of her thrusting blade, her attack skipping off the surface. With a shout, Jaune slashed at her, but the girl had already kicked off the floor, going into a sideways flip that carried her out of the line of his slash.

She barely even took the time to touch down again, before kicking off. Her dodge had carried her into the area where Jaune and Pyrrha's eyesight overlapped. Then, to both their shock, the girl went in two directions at the same time, seeming to split. One shot off to the left, circling around Pyrrha, towards Weiss, while the other reversed course, going back right, around to Jaune.

Swallowing, Jaune stood firm. The girl lashed out at him, but he kept his stance. Her bladed parasol lanced out at him, reaching past his shield and striking his shoulder...only to shatter, as though she'd been made of glass. At the same time, Jaune felt a gentle tug on his shield, and shifted it to his right, her blade emerging out of thin air, and scraping across the surface again. This time, Jaune caught a faint gasp of surprise from the girl, who jumped back before he could try to follow through. There was a flash of light, dazzling him a little, and she vanished from sight.

"An illusionist," observed Pyrrha cooly.

"Good thing we had this plan ready to go," noted Jaune.

"Definitely," agreed Weiss.

Granted, their plan had been meant to counter their darkness-impaired vision. But it was effective against illusions as well, it seemed.

Weiss felt a slight tug on her rapier, pulling it up a little. Immediately, she shifted her arm to cooperate with the movement, whipping her rapier in a crescent motion that caught the descending blade of the diminutive girl's weapon, and parrying it. Turning her wrist, Weiss quickly reversed the crescent motion, and brought her sword around in a lightning-fast repost. The girl's parasol abruptly opened, the canopy flaring outward. Myrtenaster's point glanced off its curved surface. However, the open parasol also cut off her vision. A faint, grating noise reached her ears.

But then Weiss felt a tug at her sword again, and she whipped it around in that direction, even as the girl twisted around behind the cover of her parasol's canopy. Her right now gripped the weapon by its shaft, while her left hand closed on it farther down, just below the crook. Pulling her left arm back, she drew a slender, straight-edged blade forth from the parasol, while spinning behind the canopy to bring it around in a slash at Weiss from her right.

But Myrtenaster was there to meet it, the girl's sword clanging off the rapier's blade. Flicking the first two fingers of her right hand, Weiss summoned a Glyph, which spun outwards at an angle to the parasol's canopy, blowing it aside and exposing the girl behind it. From there, Weiss swiftly brought Myrtenaster around for another riposte, thrusting out at the girl's back, just between her shoulder blades. However, Weiss' sword pierced the girl, and she shattered...again.

Now it was Pyrrha's turn. Raising Akouo, she caught the slash of the girl's sword, before parrying aside the accompanying thrust from the parasol's bladed-tip. The girl danced back away from Pyrrha, holding both components of her weapon, one in each hand.

Reversing course, the girl launched a barrage of attacks at Pyrrha, who fended them off expertly. When the girl again jumped back out of range, Pyrrha flipped her grip on Milo, transitioning it into rifle mode, and cracking off several shots as soon as the barrel aligned with their opponent. The girl opened her parasol, spinning the canopy, and using it to deflect the bullets. The lacy thing looked as though it would tear in a stiff breeze, but Milo's rounds glanced off without leaving a mark.

On and on it went, the girl dancing around the trio, attacking and retreating, trying to find or make an opening to get at Ashley, who remained at their center, resting on her knees, watching everything nervously. Despite her overall fear, Ashley found herself feeling strangely detached, as though she were watching from a place of isolation, where none of what was going on around her could actually affect her. Rationally, she knew it wasn't true. But the sense of security supplied by the trio protecting her; and the warm, protective feeling supplied by Ruby's cloak; imparted a sense of peace.

Sometimes, the girl doubled or tripled, illusory duplicates splitting off and mounting attacks of their own. At other times, she would use an illusion as a distraction, but circle around invisibly to attack from a different direction. Sometimes she just up and vanished, only to strike from concealment later. Through it all, Jaune, Weiss, and Pyrrha held firm.

Neo frowned. She had to admit she was surprised to be so completely stymied. Sure, the three in front of her had a solid defensive formation, one that they were holding to with an admirable degree of determination. As much as she was taunting and baiting them by flitting away, they remained committed to holding the line, and keeping her from reaching her quarry. However, more surprising than that was the fact that they were able to respond to her attacks, no matter what illusions she showed them. Even the scruffy boy, whom she deemed the weakest, wasn't falling for her usual tricks.

What Neo didn't know was that, from the moment she launched her first attack, Pyrrha had applied her Semblance to Neo's weapon. Pyrrha's Polarity was public knowledge now, with even Neo knowing about it. Neo would have expected Pyrrha utilizing her Polarity to interfere with her weapons, maybe even try and use it to disarm her. However, Pyrrha had done no such thing.

It was Ruby who had deduced a potential application of Pyrrha's Semblance. Even though her friends were still only working on the basics of Aura-manipulation, Ruby had told them about some of the more advanced skills, including the one known as Extension, expanding one's Aura to sense one's surroundings without needing their other senses. However, Ruby had deduced that Polarity could act as an Extension for Pyrrha, albeit in a limited sense.

Once Pyrrha applied her Semblance to an opponent's weapon, she could keep them continuously magnetized. Normally, that did nothing, until she needed to attack or defend, when she then increased the power in order to actually affect the movement of her opponent's weapon. However, even when not actively manipulating a weapon, Pyrrha could still feel its position in relation to her, feeling the weak sense of attraction and repulsion created by the magnetic field around the weapon.

Therefore, Neo's weapons, while magnetized by Pyrrha's Semblance, always stood out to Pyrrha's awareness. No matter what illusions Neo created, Pyrrha could always tell where she was, and how she would attack. Even when Neo wasn't attacking with the weapons themselves, their orientation, relative to her movement, gave Pyrrha a rough idea of what kind of attack Neo would be launching.

It had been Jaune who had come up with this particular strategy. Once they had begun their team-training, Jaune had hit upon the idea of a formation with Pyrrha at its center, acting as a control-tower of sorts. By utilizing the knowledge Ruby had hit upon regarding Pyrrha's Semblance, Jaune realized that Pyrrha didn't need to limit herself to their opponents' weapons. She could also utilize her Polarity on her teammates' weapons. Using that, she could use subtle tugs on her teammates' weapons to indicate which way they needed go, and how they needed to attack or defend.

Thanks to that, this formation; with Pyrrha acting as their "eyes", using gentle tugs of her Semblance to tell Jaune and Weiss what moves to make to fend off Neo's attack; was proving to be all but impenetrable. Neo, not feeling any form of interference on her own weapons, was unaware of just how her opponents were able to read and track her every move. It was frustrating. But Neo was feeling something else as well, an emotion that was actually somewhat foreign to her...hope.

Still, Neo had a job to do here, and her sole trusted companion's safety and wellbeing depended on her being able to do it effectively. She couldn't allow Adam to return to Cinder with a report that Neo had been anything less than dedicated to fulfilling her role. So Neo began to press the attack harder.

Dashing towards the group, she lashed out with her heeled boots, kicking at Jaune, who braced his shield. But he wasn't prepared for Neo to actually use the move as a prelude to leaping off his shield itself, the move carrying her into the air over his head, where she stabbed down with her sword. Her attack would have struck Jaune from above, had Pyrrha's Semblance not seized his shield, and dragged it up to intercept the blow. Neo grimaced as the recoil jolted her arms. She'd put everything she'd had into that hit, so it slowed her to the point where she was almost caught, when Jaune followed through with a slash of his sword. Pushing down on her sword, she used it as a fulcrum to lift her body out of the path of his swing, though Jaune's attack still struck Neo's sword, knocking it off his shield, and taking away her support. Still, the missed attack left an opening that allowed Neo to plant her feet on the shield and push off, shooting straight up.

From there, she was forced to open her umbrella's canopy, using it to deflect another series of shots from Milo. Re-sheathing her sword, she flipped away and landed in front of Jaune again, charging forward. This time, she went low, dropping into a diving charge that had her skimming just barely above the ground, the bladed tip of her parasol aimed to thrust out, right at Ashley.

Fortunately, Pyrrha was still tracking her, and Pyrrha countered with a gentle tug on Jaune's sword, guiding him into swinging it down past his legs, slashing right for Neo. He missed her weapon, but the slash of his sword threatened to catch her right in the face, so Neo was forced to abort her attack, her blade pulling back mere inches from the cloak wrapped around Ashley's body.

At the last second though, Neo smirked. There was a faint hiss, and the top section of her parasol leapt forward, continuing on past Jaune's guard, flying off the end of the sword sheathed in the shaft, and striking Ashley right in the chest.

A ringing sound echoed through the darkness, and Neo's bladed parasol glanced off the red folds of fabric wrapped around Ashley's body, bouncing back away, with Ashley not feeling a thing from the impact. Neo gasped and leapt back, barely having the presence of mind to catch the upper portion of her weapon as it bounced away from where it had hit, before she darted back and vanished in another strobing flash.

"That was too close," gasped Jaune.

"Thank goodness for Ruby, though," said Pyrrha, letting out a breathy sigh of relief.

"She thought of everything," noted Weiss with a wry smile.

Within the folds of Ruby's cloak, Ashley blinked in confusion. She'd been afraid, the moment she'd seen that blade fly for her. However, she'd remained where she was, feeling strangely secure and safe. Having that cloak wrapped around her was like being enfolded in Ruby's presence. Little did she know how literal that sentiment was.

The cloak was a creation of Ruby's Aura. In battle, Ruby could channel her Aura through it, hardening it into armor. She'd imbued it with extra Aura, the moment she'd draped it around Ashley on the off chance that, if one of Neo's attacks made it through the tight defense of Ruby's teammates, Ashley would have one extra layer of protection she could rely on. Even now, in the midst of fighting for her life against a madman, Ruby's mind and spirit were still focused on protecting the person in their care.

Still, that close call also served as a frightening reminder to Jaune, Weiss, and Pyrrha. While Ruby's failsafe had kept Neo's attack from hurting Ashley, the fact remained that Neo had penetrated their formation. That was something they couldn't allow to happen again. So they hunkered down and focused on fending off their foe's next attack. However, strangely enough, Neo hadn't made any moves since vanishing.

"Where is she?" Jaune whispered to Pyrrha.

"Behind the stack of cement bags, a little to your left," Pyrrha whispered back.

Jaune frowned. "Do you think she's figured it out?" he wondered.

Pyrrha swallowed. "If that's the case, we might be in trouble."

Of course, the main limitation of Pyrrha's Semblance-based Extension was that it was limited to the objects affected by her Semblance, metal, Neo's weapons in this case. If Neo realized that Pyrrha was tracking her through her Semblance, then she might have left her weapon behind to give the impression she wasn't moving, while aiming to strike in a different fashion. After having taken kicks from those heeled boots on two occasions now, Jaune didn't fancy what they would do if she landed a hit on his head or stomach. Even without her parasol, Neo wasn't someone to be taken lightly, he was sure.

"We'll just have to be ready," said Jaune. "Pyrrha, keep track of the girl's weapon. If it moves, we know she's still using it. Weiss, you and I are gonna keep our eyes peeled." He paused, before glancing down at Ashley. "Um...I know it's hard, but could I ask you to keep an eye out."

"Me?" Ashley pointed to herself in confusion.

Jaune nodded. "You are a faunus after all," he said. "So your night-vision is leagues better than ours. If this girl comes at us, you have the best chance of seeing her."

"A-all right," said Ashley. Truth be told, she was tired of feeling helpless, not wanting to be a complete burden to her rescuers. If she could make even a small contribution to their efforts, she'd feel all that much more relieved.

With that, the four of them settled in and waited for Neo's next attack. All the while, the sounds of Ruby's battle with Adam continued to echo through the building.

With a shout, Adam drew Wilt, the red blade flashing through the air. Ruby ducked beneath it. Adam followed through with three more slashes, each almost as fast as his initial draw, before finishing it off with a shot from Blush. Ruby's form seemed to double, then triple, dancing between the different attacks. She responded with a thrust, forcing Adam to sweep his sword around to knock it aside. However, in doing so, he swept his sword across in front of his face. In that brief instant, when Wilt passed in front of his eyes, Ruby vanished from sight.

The next thing Adam knew, his heightened instincts prompted him to throw himself forward. But the delay caused by his confused hesitation meant that he still caught the edge of Ruby's blade, slashing into the Aura at his back, making him grunt in pain. With an enraged growl, Adam dropped low, before turning and sweeping Wilt, the sword gliding less than an inch above the floor. Naturally, Ruby jumped to avoid the attack at her feet. But Adam had anticipated that, already aiming Blush, and firing another shot at the airborne Ruby.

But Ruby hadn't jumped straight up, as Adam had anticipated, or even directly over his head. Instead, she had gone into a drifting roll that caused her body to gain barely any altitude at all, the move bringing her feet back down with surprising speed, before she darted forward, slashing her swords at Adam in a crossing pair of slashes that threatened to carve an X into his chest. By reversing his grip on Wilt, and drawing it back across his chest, Adam barely managed to deflect her attack, the force behind the blow actually making him skid back across the floor.

In that instant, Adam reversed his grip again, before slamming Wilt home into its sheath, and setting up for another draw. Ruby charged forward at him, aiming to close the distance again. Adam leveled his weapon at her, and pulled the trigger, prompting Ruby to lift one of her swords to deflect the pommel of Adam's sword, which was sent flying for her forehead. In that instant, Adam rushed forward, snatching his tumbling blade from the air, and going right into a series of slashes.

Except that his sword cut through empty space again, Ruby dancing aside from his first slash, before skipping back from its followthrough. Adam lunged after her, extending Wilt in a thrust, but Ruby easily batted that attack aside with Ibara, in her right hand, before launching her own return-strike with Bara, in her left hand.

Adam barely managed to get Wilt back into position for a parry. He quickly followed that up by returning his sword to its sheath, while Ruby stepped forward, taking advantage of the fractional delay created by that move to strike back, before Adam could execute another lightning-fast draw.

Except that was the furthest thing from Adam's mind. Instead of trying to draw Wilt, while Ruby was too far inside his range for him to execute a proper slash with it, he pulled it about halfway out of its sheath, swiftly bringing it up to intercept the descending Ibara. The potential of his Semblance was incredible. Even though it was most effective when used to block powerful attacks, Adam could still build it up, a little at a time, by absorbing the force from multiple weaker attacks. Besides, even Ruby's basic slashes carried quite a bit of force behind them. A few of those, and his counterstrike would be enough to cut her in two.

But Ibara halted a fraction of a centimeter away from Wilt's blade. Adam's jaw dropped slightly, before he was suddenly caught by a slash, cutting across his body from his right. Adam howled with pain.

In the instant she had begun her swing with her right arm, Ruby had begun to turn the rest of her body around, using her right shoulder as a fulcrum. Her right arm appeared to move almost independently from the rest of her body. But it was a movement that Adam had missed, because he had been focused on intercepting Ruby's attack. But it had been a feint, allowing Ruby to strike at the opening on his right side. At his level of skill, Adam shouldn't have fallen for such a basic trick so easily. But Ruby had tailored her movements perfectly to prey upon his expectations.

Adam's Semblance was powerful, there was no question. But, now that she understood the mechanics of how it worked, Ruby also knew how to keep that Semblance from becoming a factor in their fight. Adam had a peculiar method of defending, partially drawing his sword, when he stockpiled power to use with his Semblance. Because of that, Ruby knew how to move to lure out that defense, and create openings through the more limited range of movement Adam had, when holding his weapon like that.

Frustrated, Adam slammed his sword back all the way into its sheath, before executing another draw. But Ruby ducked beneath the line of his slash, continuing the rotation of her body from before, turning around to bring Ibara around in a horizontal slash across Adam's stomach.

Immediately, Adam responded by aiming Blush and pulling the trigger, firing a bullet at Ruby's chest. However, Ruby dodged it by sidestepping and dashing forward at the same time, her move carrying her past Adam, sweeping Bara up across his left side in the process. Yet again, Adam turned to follow her, turning to his left, while sheathing Wilt again. As he'd expected, Ruby was preparing to unleash another slash at him, leading with Ibara, but Bara following up behind at another angle.

Again, Adam partially drew his sword, holding it up in preparation to intercept Ruby's first attack, then immediately catch her second. However, he was again caught off-guard when both of Ruby's swords reversed course, Ruby leaning back...so that she could lash out with a kick that caught Adam right in his diaphragm, expelling all the air from his lungs in a pained gasp. Wheezing and fighting through the pain, Adam was left unable to respond properly, as Ruby danced around him, her swords slashing again and again. In a desperate defense, he unsheathed Wilt, and tried to wield it and Blush in tandem to intercept her strikes, all thoughts of absorbing her attack power forgotten, as he fought to get his breath back enough to fight properly.

Yet Ruby's swords seemed to always find their way through his defenses. His every attack seemed to miss its mark. Again... he thought furiously, thinking back to the night at the docks. It's happening again! It was just like the final round of their fight that night, where Ruby had suddenly turned the tables on him, right after she'd been about to die by his hand. Except, this time, there had been no point where she'd been at a disadvantage.

But how? Adam wondered, spasming from the pain of another slash biting into his Aura. It was only natural for him to be confused. After all, he'd allowed Ruby and her friends to assemble in a well-lit area...right before plunging them into near-absolute darkness. With her eyes unable to adjust quickly enough, and going up against a faunus, with naturally superior night-vision; she should have been all but helpless, completely at the mercy of his blade of vengeance.

Yet Ruby moved with perfect surety. There was no delay, no hesitation, no confusion. She always seemed to know where he was, when and how he would strike. As she landed yet another slash on him, Adam caught a glimpse of Ruby's face, and found his jaw dropping.

Ruby's eyes were shut tight.

Rather than trying to adjust her eyes to the new conditions, she'd forgone the use of her sight entirely. Had Adam known exactly how Ruby was doing that, he would have been even more astonished...mainly because Ruby had foregone using her protective Aura entirely. Instead, she had spread her Aura out around her, gathering it at her shoulders, and allowing it to sweep and billow out with her every movement, like an ethereal, invisible version of her own cloak. With that, she didn't need her eyes to sense her surroundings, nor Adam's position and movement.

It was a risky strategy to be sure. Normally, Ruby was able to layer her Extension over her protective Aura, to enhance her awareness without needing to sacrifice defense. However, she'd imbued the bulk of her defensive Aura in her cloak, when she'd wrapped it around Ashley, leaving herself without enough to use Exetnsion while protecting herself. In this state, Ruby was completely unprotected. If Adam landed so much as a single attack, even a glancing blow, it could inflict potentially fatal damage. Adam wouldn't even need his Semblance for that. With every second of this battle, Ruby was putting her life on the line. And the only reason she could even pull this off...was because she had already learned Adam's rhythm.

Because of that, Ruby was able to anticipate Adam's every move. She knew the timing of his every attack, when he would defend, how he would dodge, and when he would try to absorb her attacking energy with his Semblance. It allowed her to find and exploit every opening, and she did so with merciless precision.

This time, Ruby fought conservatively. Rather than trying to catch Adam with one of her more advanced techniques, and risk him absorbing its power and turning it back on her, she instead relied on basic swordsmanship, landing hit after hit, slowly and steadily chipping away at his Aura and strength.

Even though Ruby had learned the Dancing Blade from Shinrei, her proficiency wasn't at her teacher's level. Thanks to her previous fight with Adam, she already had his rhythm down. But learning it had still been a difficult feat. What was more, it was even trickier to completely give herself up, and fully commit herself to dancing in synch with the moves of her enemy. However, in this situation, with one of her senses bound, Ruby had no choice but to completely entrust herself to her understanding of her foe's rhythm. So she danced to the music of Adam's body and soul.

And it was working. She could feel his Aura steadily weakening, his strength flagging, his frustration building. The angrier her got, the more he was prone to lashing out recklessly, leaving even bigger openings for her to exploit. Of course, that entailed a risk of its own. When his anger and recklessness overtook him, Adam was more inclined to break from his usual form, and employ a move that flew in the face of his rhythm. Normally, in a serious fight, that was an absurdly dangerous move, one that would likely result in defeat. But, in Ruby's situation, it had the potential to completely reverse her advantage, as Adam could, at any time, abruptly unleash a move that she was unable to anticipate, something all the more dangerous, thanks to her forgoing her Aura's defensive capability.

Thus, even though, from the outside, it looked much more one-sided than their first encounter, the rematch between Ruby and Adam was no less of a tightrope walk for Ruby, where a single wrong move could result in death. Even faunus night-vision had its limits. Even though he could see far better than a human, under these conditions, Adam's perception of color and detail were still muted, in comparison to what he could see under the full light of day. Because of that, and a lack of nearby light sources, there was nothing to catch off the layer of sweat that gathered on Ruby's face. Had he been able to see that, Adam would have realized just how difficult this battle was for her.

Of course, because he couldn't see Ruby's sweat, and see just how intense her focus was, Adam was swept up in the illusion that Ruby was effortlessly thrashing him. Because of that, he was all the more incensed by the apparent ease with which Ruby was winning their fight. To his eyes, she seemed but a shadow, flickering in and out of sight, throwing up scattering clouds of petals with each sudden acceleration. Without power from his Semblance to enhance his speed, Adam was left unable to completely keep up with or follow Ruby's movements.

Then it happened, and a decisive mistake was made. Ruby had just slipped behind Adam again, landing a pair of slashes to his torso and leg in the process. Adam turned after her, drawing Wilt. This time, Ruby abruptly turned back, and met his strike head-on. Ibara rang loudly, as it clashed directly against Wilt's blade. Then, to Adam's shock, Ruby swung Bara, not at his body, but at the back of her own sword, Bara striking the back of Ibara immediately as it made contact with Wilt. The sudden enhancement of the striking force prompted Ibara's blade to shear right through Wilt, cutting Adam's sword in half.

"NO!" roared Adam furiously, watching Wilt's upper portion go spinning off into the darkness.

The next thing Adam knew, Ruby was scraping her swords against each other, the blades ringing, crackling vines of crimson electricity climbing their lengths, wreathing the blades. Wasting no time, Adam sheathed what was left of Wilt, prepared to draw just enough to intercept the powerful attack about to come. Perhaps Ruby thought that, by breaking his sword, she had sealed his Semblance again. But Adam knew that, so long as he had a portion of Wilt's blade, and Blush to store the gathered energy, he could still put his Semblance to use. So, as Ruby raised her lightning-charged swords overhead, Adam pulled a portion of his sword out, while leaving a fraction of it still in its sheath, prepared to catch her descending blades.

But, upon swinging her swords downward, Ruby abruptly twirled her swords in her grip, pointing them almost straight downwards, then driving them down into the floor. The crimson vines of lightning raced across the floor like creepers, reaching Adam's legs. Still braced to block against an overhead strike, Adam hadn't even thought to shift his stance, and so was caught when Ruby's lightning reached his shoes, then climbed up his legs. Adam howled with pain as the electrified coils crackled against his Aura, his body spasming, Wilt and Blush falling from his hands to clatter against the floor.

Seeing her opponent disarmed, Ruby braced her hands against her planted swords, using them to hold up her body as she swung around, and slammed both of her feet home against Adam's chest and stomach, blowing him back, and sending him flying away across the building, slamming his back against a girder. Adam let out a pained gasp and slumped, only the girder at his back keeping him upright. His Aura flickered, then dispersed with a snap.

Ruby stood up, pulling her swords free of the floor. Only now did she open her eyes, staring at Adam, silhouetted by the light from the few street lamps outside. She met his angry gaze, even though she couldn't actually see his eyes. Her expression determined, she started towards him.

"Ruby! Look out!"

Ashley's voice caught Ruby's attention. A fraction of a second later, Ruby sensed a presence approaching her from behind. Her Extension was still active, but Ashley's warning put her back on alert, after Ruby had relaxed her guard, something she silently chided herself for. Just because she had beaten Adam didn't mean that his compatriot wasn't still in play, or that she would stay mindlessly focused on trying to fight her way through the other three to Ashley, when her ally was on the ropes.

Ruby swiftly turned to meet the diminutive form of Neo, Ibara meeting the blade of the sword hidden in Neo's parasol, while Bara rose up to parry aside a thrust from the blade concealed in the parasol's tip. Ruby quickly countered, but Neo dodged effortlessly, jumping into a swift flip that carried her over Ruby's head. Ruby turned to follow her opponent, only to find herself facing the spread canopy of Neo's parasol. Despite the presence of the canopy obstructing her vision, Ruby knew to retreat, falling back just as Neo whipped it aside to thrust out with the sword.

Then Neo jumped back as well, sheathing her sword in the parasol's shaft once more, and coming to stand between Ruby and Adam, her expression wary. She'd even managed to somehow retrieve Adam's weapons in the midst of her maneuver. Ruby met the other girl's mismatched gaze, frowning. There was...something...about the impression she got from Neo. It wasn't hostility. But Ruby wasn't sure what she was feeling, regarding Neo's intent. All that really mattered at this point was that Neo was on Adam's side.

Then Ruby's ears picked up a distant sound that was rapidly increasing in volume, as the source grew closer, the sound of sirens. "Give up, Adam," she said. "The police will be here soon." She rejoined her swords, holding Akaibara at her side, ready to bring it up at a moment's notice.

Adam coughed, then grunted, forcing himself to stand up, without the girder to support him. He took a staggering step, but faltered, unable to truly walk on his own. "You think you've won, have you?" he growled. "Well, think again." Reaching into his jacket he pulled out a scroll. "Keep that useless traitor, if you want. But I wonder just how happy she'll be to be alive...when her family pays the price for her treachery."

"NO!" screamed Ashley, surging to her feet, trying to lunge out of the protective circle of Ruby's teammates, only to be stopped by Jaune, who restrained her with his right arm, careful to keep his sword away from her body.

Ruby said nothing, glaring past Neo at Adam. She knew that, if she tried to stop him, Neo would simply stop her. There was no way to reach Adam before he made the call. All she could do was watch.

"I'll even do you a favor, and put it on speaker," said Adam, tapping the screen of his scroll, "so that you can all savor the screams of her parents as they die." He held it up, a click signaling that someone on the other end of the line had picked it up. "It's me...Do it."

There was a pause. Then a voice came over the speaker. "I'm sorry, but the thug you've just called is unconscious, and can't come to the scroll right now. Please leave your name and a brief message after the groan." Yang's voice was followed by another few seconds of silence, before a low, pained groan came over the speaker...then the call ended with another click.

Now the smile that Ruby had been struggling to keep hidden burst forth on her face.

Adam stared at his device, dumbfounded. "How...?"

"I told you, Adam," said Ruby. "I know you. You're petty and shallow. If you can't win, you'll make sure I lose. I figured that, if you couldn't kill me, and I stopped you from killing Ashley, then you'd target her parents. Your plan was obvious from the very beginning."

"You..." growled Adam, lurching forward clumsily, grabbing his weapons from Neo's hand. However, Neo stopped him, and wound up catching him, before he could fall forward onto his face. Looking up at him, she gave him a grave look, shaking her head slowly.

Outside, the sound of sirens continued to grow louder, and the red and blue lights of the police cars was now visible, coming through the spaces between the girders.

Adam let out an animalistic snarl, before pushing away from Neo, and sheathing what remained of his sword. "Don't think you'll be this lucky again, bitch! One way or another, I will take your head...and I will make sure that you suffer before I do."

"Not happening," Ruby replied, starting forward.

Adam was clearly in no shape to keep fighting, or even move under his own power. Sure, if Ruby attacked, Neo would protect him. However, that would keep her from helping his getaway, and Adam would be unable to do so on his own. So Ruby was prepared to go on the attack, and bring Adam down for the police to handle. However, she was stymied when Neo abruptly flicked a hand, and an object rushed through the darkness at Ruby's head.

Ruby could have easily dodged the thrown object, or batted it out of the way with her sword. But there was something about it, and the strange intent behind Neo's action, that told Ruby it wasn't an attack, or even really a distraction, though it definitely served enough as the latter for Neo to pull Adam's right arm over her shoulder, then jump back, carrying him away, the pair vanishing in a flash. Meanwhile, Ruby caught the object Neo had lobbed her way.

It was a scroll. Ruby frowned, staring down at it for a moment, before tapping the screen to wake it. The scroll was locked, but she recognized the wallpaper. "Jaune..." she said, holding up the scroll Neo had thrown her.

Jaune and the others had already come up behind her, still keeping Ashley protectively between them, wrapped in Ruby's cloak. His eyes widened when he saw the scroll. "Hey! That's mine!" Immediately, Jaune began to frantically pat down his pockets, slapping at his thighs. "What the-? When did she...?"

Pausing, Jaune tried to think of when Neo might have been able to steal his scroll. Then he remembered her last attack against the three of them, the one where she'd nearly gotten to Ashley, only to be stopped by Ruby's cloak. At the time, Neo had gone low, and sheathed her parasol, which meant she'd had a hand free. Furthermore, her low charge and thrust had carried her to within arms' reach of Jaune's legs, before he'd managed to drive her back with an attack from his sword. Did she pick my pocket then?

After that, Neo had retreated into hiding, and hadn't taken action again, until Ruby had beaten Adam.

Ruby handed the scroll to Jaune, who frowned at the device, unlocking it and looking through it. "What was she doing?" he wondered aloud, not finding anything amiss. "It's not like she could've unlocked it herself, not here, not in the time she had it."

"There are all manner of illicit programs out there," said Weiss. "Who knows what that girl did to it."

"We can figure it out later," said Ruby, turning to look out through the openings between the girders, seeing cars with flashing blue and red lights screech into the open lot around the partially finished building. "Let's take care of things here, first."