75

Chapter 75:

Day 5:

Ruby didn't have any time to spare a thought for her teammates, stretched out as they were along the length of the ship's deck. All she could do was hope that they were able to handle themselves, and that their preparations would be enough to handle the threat these pirates represented.

The majority of them touched down on the ship's deck, crouching to absorb the shock of landing, while brandishing weapons. These were not the cheap, mass-produced weapons used by the White Fang's rank-and-file. Nor were they the ramshackle, cobbled-together hybrids that had been brandished by the bandits Ruby had faced in the past. These were sturdy, well-made pieces, most of them custom jobs, and many of them equipped with mechashift capabilities. Said weapons might not have been Huntsman-level, but they were enough to make these pirates dangerous, a threat that was only magnified by the advantage their numbers represented.

Four touched down on the deck around the bridge, flanking Ruby from two sides. Ruby knew that their priority would be to bring her down, so that they could secure the bridge and, from there, control of the entire ship. All four pirates immediately rounded on her, one bringing up a rifle, with a jagged-looking bayonet extending from beneath its barrel. The other three moved to attack her from different angles, which kept them from interfering with their comrade's line of fire.

Ruby didn't hesitate. She'd already drawn Akaibara the second she'd seen the rising shadow of the pirates' submersible. Now she flashed straight for the rifle-wielding man, her sword becoming a crimson streak. The man pulled the trigger, firing a shot that buzzed past Ruby's cheek and over her shoulder. Then Ruby was past him. The man's cry of pain ended with a wet gurgle, blood welling up from his mouth, even as his shoulders and upper-chest dropped away, Akaibara having sliced him clean through.

There was no time to spare a thought for the life she had just taken. Ruby turned to face the remaining pirates, steeling herself for what she was about to do. Even without Winter's pep-talk earlier, she was prepared.

The previous evening:

"Say what?!" gasped Jaune, his eyes wide. Beside him, Weiss and Pyrrha looked similarly shocked, though Weiss' expression was more muted. "You want us to kill them?"

Winter frowned gravely. "I won't mandate it," she said. "However, the truth of the matter is that these pirates are dangerous. They've overpowered professional Huntsmen before. As I've already said, those Huntsmen weren't up to the level of students, like yourselves. But that doesn't change the fact that they were professionals. Ordinary fighters wouldn't overpower them so easily. People like that are strong enough that they can keep on fighting, even if their Aura is broken. Unlike the White Fang soldiers you've fought before, they won't collapse the second their Auras break, but will continue to be a threat, even afterwards. Only by rendering them unconscious would you be able to stop them and, even then, many of these men are probably the type to play possum to set up a sneak attack later on. On top of that, these brigands will have numbers on their side.

"The consequence of all these combined factors is that we cannot afford to play around with them. These pirates will be attempting to storm the ship, and speed will be their greatest ally. Every second you spend trying to subdue one will be a second that the rest will be using to fulfill their objective. Therefore, you cannot afford to hold back, even if that means leaving corpses behind."

Jaune swallowed nervously, looking like he was going to be sick. Weiss and Pyrrha weren't faring much better.

Winter sighed. "Were it up to me, you wouldn't be given such a mission yet. It's too early for you to face some of the more...difficult...aspects of a Huntsman or Huntress' work. But Father just had to stick his nose in. In any case, taking on this mission means that you have taken on the responsibility of protecting this ship and its crew. That means you must accept the conviction that you hold their lives up as having more value than those of the pirates that are threatening those lives."

She looked pointedly at Weiss. "I'm sorry, Weiss. I didn't want you to have to deal with this sort of thing so soon. But we have no choice now. Father may even have anticipated this, and expects you to hesitate at the crucial moment. If that winds up costing us, then he'll have the excuse he needs to disinherit you."

Weiss shuddered.

"Are you all prepared?" asked Winter.

Pyrrha and Jaune were sweating with nerves. Weiss seemed more composed. But it was largely a front. Instead of looking at Winter though, they instead looked to Ruby, who showed no sign of trouble.

"Are you all right with this?" asked Weiss.

Ruby nodded. "I...I've already killed people before," she admitted. "They were bandits. But they're still people, no matter what they might be doing. That's not easy...and it shouldn't be easy." She straightened up. "Some people might say you have no choice, but that's not true."

Winter raised an eyebrow with interest.

"It'll always be a choice," explained Ruby. "But...making the choice to spare people like this, when they're still a threat, that could lead to the mission failing. So...if it's a choice between the pirates and the crew of this ship, I'll protect the crew and kill the pirates, because what we came here to do was protect these people. And, if that's the choice that allows me to do that, then I'll make it."

"An interesting way of rationalizing it," mused Winter, appearing to look at Ruby in a new light.

Ruby regarded Winter with a level gaze. "All lives have value. It doesn't matter whether those people are criminals, terrorists, bandits, or pirates. Taking that life is a conscious decision to deny that value, to value someone or something over that life. At the end of the day, you have to look at what you want to accomplish, and then decide whether it is worth it to you, whether you value what you're doing over the lives of the people you're fighting."

The other three members of Ruby's team stared at her. It was Weiss who broke the silence with a tired sigh. "Honestly, you have to make it difficult, don't you? Couldn't you just back up Winter and say that it's necessary?"

"I don't like those words," said Ruby sadly. "I've always felt that, if you let yourself off by saying that, you wind up backing yourself into a corner. Then it gets easier; easier to to say it's necessary, easier to say you had to do it. I want to become a Huntress to protect people. And I'm afraid that, if I let myself write off people's lives too easily, I won't be able to do that."

Winter scratched her chin, regarding Ruby with a look that bordered on fascination. "Well...I feel that your reasoning may be a little convoluted. But it is sound." She looked to the other three. "Prepare yourselves. At the very least, it is as your leader has said. If you want to see this mission through, and protect the people under your care, you have a decision to make."

Ruby could only hope that Jaune, Weiss, and Pyrrha had managed to make some form of peace with that decision. She didn't exactly have the luxury of watching over them now, as she closed with the other three pirates.

One of them raised a cutlass, which crackled with sparks of yellow electricity, courtesy of the lightning-Dust coursing through the blade. Ruby ducked under his swing, not even really noticing the stinging sparks that resulted from the near-miss. Instead, she whipped her sword around and up as she passed, slicing the man in two from his waist to his opposite shoulder.

The remaining two pirates quickly moved to flank her. The one in the front brandished a pair of short-swords with jagged looking edges. Such weapons did not seem capable of cutting cleanly or easily, but Ruby knew better than to underestimate them. Even then, her real concern was the burly woman who'd taken up a position behind her, leveling the arm-mounted weapon on her right arm right between Ruby's shoulder-blades. With a low, explosive sound, like that of a shot from a large-caliber gun, the spike of the woman's pile-bunker thrust outward, its length actually increasing, even as it was propelled forward.

The spike pierced Ruby's cloak, right between her shoulders. But, before the woman's eyes, the cloak dissolved into a cloud of petals, revealing her comrade on the other side, who'd been pierced through the chest, her attack punching right through the protective layer of his Aura, blood spraying out from the hole punched through his back.

Her eyes wide, the woman retracted the spike of her weapon. However, before she could even begin to think about looking for her target, before the man in front of her had even collapsed halfway to the deck, she felt a chill from her neck, and all sensation below there abruptly vanished, darkness claiming her a few seconds later.

Ruby touched down behind the woman, her opponent's severed head landing and bouncing across the deck a short ways, before the woman's body fell to join it. Ruby paused, casting a glance further down the deck to see how the others were faring. To her relief, all three of them were still fighting. She caught a glimpse of a prone body near where Pyrrha was fighting, blood spreading in a pool around it. She probably shouldn't have felt so reassured by the sight of an enemy corpse, but at least that meant that Pyrrha had the upper hand, for now.

Then she caught a glimpse of Weiss hosing down a man with a stream of fire from Myrtenaster. Shrieking in pain, the man rushed to the railing, throwing himself overboard. With both ships still in motion, he would likely be left behind, even if he swam with all his might, assuming he was in any condition to do so in the first place.

Another cry of pain reached her ears, and Ruby saw a man go stumbling back away from Jaune, blood spilling from the stump where his arm used to be.

The sound of a collapsing body further astern drew Ruby's attention to Winter. Turning, she saw Weiss' sister drawing her saber from a gaudily-dressed woman, who fell back limply. Winter had even more corpses scattered around her. Turning, she traded gazes with Ruby.

Then the hiss of another round of catapults sounded, indicating that the pirates had reinforcements on the way.

There had been no time to worry about right or wrong. The moment the attack began, Pyrrha's body had moved almost all on its own. The pirates came for her, wielding a motley assortment of weapons. However, they were all made of metal, and Pyrrha was easily able to counter their moves. As they pressed in, Pyrrha danced amongst them, fighting back as best she could.

One man yowled, as Akouo smashed into his head, his Aura flickering, then breaking. However, rather than collapsing bonelessly: like a weaker opponent might, when their Aura was broken; or concede defeat, the way an opponent might in the ring; he instead rushed her again, still brandishing a weapon that resembled a giant fishhook. Pressured as she was, Pyrrha didn't have the thought to spare for his condition. So, as her shield returned to her arm, she quickly spun about, using Akouo to ward off a strike from another of the pirates attacking her, while quickly slashing out under the man's guard with Milo. The man tried to catch her sword with his hook. But, at the last second, Pyrrha abruptly triggered its transformation into its javelin-mode, and Milo stabbed forward to impale the man in the stomach.

The pirate jolted, then lurched as Pyrrha pulled her weapon free, retracting it back down into its xiphos-form once again. For a second, Pyrrha froze as the weight of what she'd just done sank in. However, her training and reflexes saved her when one of the other pirates came at her back, screaming obscenities. There was no time for remorse, and Pyrrha found herself fighting for her life once again. Amidst the clash of blades and the battlecries, she heard the hiss of the catapults of the pirates' submersible firing once again, launching a fresh wave of reinforcements.

It was beginning to sink in for Pyrrha that the way she was fighting wouldn't cut it. Right now, despite having already killed one man, she was still fighting like she was in a tournament ring. She was fighting to win, in that abstract sense that was only possible when a fight was governed by rules and regulations, and the combatants were willing and able to abide by them.

Though Pyrrha didn't want to dehumanize her opponents, she realized that it would be best to treat this fight as though she were fighting against the Grimm. She would have to look for the most efficient and effective way to bring down each attacker, to ensure that they were no longer a threat to her. Swallowing, Pyrrha steeled herself, and went on the offensive.

As her flames sent the screaming faunus tumbling over the railing, Weiss felt like someone had stuck an electrode right into her chest. A stinging pain snapped all the way through her, out to the tips of her extremities. Sure, the man might have survived hitting the water, which would have put out the flames. Assuming he wasn't too badly injured, he could probably even swim. But it was doubtful he would be able to find purchase on either the freighter or the hull of his own submersible. He'd be left behind, in a barren stretch of ocean, far away from the nearest land. He'd die, whether from exposure, losing his strength and being unable to tread water for any longer, or being snapped up by a passing Grimm. One way or another, the man's life was probably over.

It didn't surprise her that the other pirates showed absolutely no concern for their lost comrade. None of them turned to offer him a hand, or even shout for someone else to help him. Instead, they pressed their attack. Perhaps it was less a callous dismissal of a lost comrade, and more of a commitment to their work to take the vessel. Perhaps it was somewhere between the two. The pirates were fighting fairly cohesively after all. But they gave no indicators that they cared overly much for one another.

There was a hiss, and a series of shadows flitted upwards, the pirates' reinforcements arcing through the air over the deck. Weiss looked up at them, as they passed the angle of the rising sun. Her eyes narrowed in a grim expression. There were a number of things that weighed upon her in this battle. Her inheritance, the claim she held to the SDC, hung in the balance. If she failed, it would be gone, along with any chance she had of fixing the damage her father had done.

There was Winter, who was also fighting in this battle. She was putting her faith in Weiss' ability to hold her own, to complete the mission. And Weiss couldn't let her sister down, no more than she could afford to become a hinderance to her own team.

Finally, there was the crew of this vessel, people who had the simple misfortune of being hired to work for a certain company, men and women who had nothing to do with the evils her father perpetrated. In a sense, they were victims of him as much as the faunus who worked his mines. After all, they had been knowingly offered up, the ship they worked upon serving as bait to draw the pirates into an attack. If Weiss failed, then their lives would be forfeit.

So, as the new arrivals descended towards the deck, Weiss switched Dust-chambers, reversed her grip on Myrtenaster, and plunged the blade into the floor at her feet. A forest of icy spines erupted around her, stretching up towards the descending pirates. A couple realized their plight, and quickly brought their weapons into play, shattering the frigid points in their path to make a safe landing. But three of them weren't quick enough, and instead found themselves impaled, their bodies sliding to a stop upon the frozen spears, unmoving, blood dripping down.

Weiss fought down the sickening feeling that rose in her gut. Pulling her sword free, she whipped it around to meet the attacks of one of the surviving pirates, prepared to do what it took to get through this.

It was, Jaune decided, surprisingly easy to kill a man. When his first victim went down, screaming, blood streaming from the stump that remained in the wake of the sword-blow that had severed his arm, Jaune had expected to feel sick, to have the strength go out of his legs. But, as the man's comrades closed in, Jaune found his grip on his weapons tightening, his muscles holding firm, and his body already going through the motions of defense and attack.

The months of training he'd put in, since coming to Beacon, were doing much of the work for him. It helped that both the sword and shield of Crocea Mors were a cut above the weapons wielded by the pirates. Still, that would have meant little, were it not for his training. He expected the look of pain on his first victim's face to stick in his mind. Instead, he found his mind's eye focusing on something else.

He remembered the look of relief on Ruby's face, when he'd arrived in the CCT, a few nights earlier. She'd been facing a dangerous adversary, with virtually nothing. When Jaune had arrived with her sword, of course she'd looked relieved. But there had been something else to her expression, a look of hope fulfilled. She'd put her faith in him to get her sword to her in time, and he had delivered.

Ruby had believed in him, put her trust and faith in him...Him!...Jaune Arc...the boy who'd lied his way into Beacon, not knowing the first thing about becoming a Huntsman; the boy whose own family saw as nothing more than the punchline of a seventeen-year-long joke; the boy whose father had openly laughed at him, when told that he had passed the Initiation. Ruby had accepted him as a partner, dedicated herself to helping him realize his potential and, when the chips were down, depended on him to back her up.

He also remembered what had followed the fight in the tower; that quiet, intimate moment in their dorm; her lips on his, the two of them sharing their first kiss; falling asleep with her in his arms; the look of joy on Ruby's face when he'd found the courage to ask her to be his girlfriend. Right now, he was fighting for Ruby, to be the support she required, the help that she needed.

As Jaune's convictions firmed and solidified, a faint ring emerged from the blade of his sword, a spark of white light running up its length. The next time Jaune slashed with it, his sword flashed, launching a brilliant crescent at the pirate who thought he'd dodged back out of its reach. Instead, the flying slash cleaved both through his weapon and his body, dropping him to the deck in two pieces.

Jaune was baffled. He'd seen other fighters use their weapons as conduits for their Aura to launch similar attacks, but he hadn't gotten that far with his own training. More to the point, he could definitely feel that it wasn't just his Aura that had gone into that. However, there was no time to marvel at the phenomenon. The other pirates pressed the attack, and the hiss of catapults announced that more would be arriving any second now.

Jaune turned to meet a fiercely grinning man, baring a mouth full of pointed teeth, who swung down with a massive axe. The shield came up to meet the swing. Again, the ringing noise sounded. The shield flashed. The man's axe shattered, not merely breaking against the shield, but rebounding, so that those shattered fragments pierced the man's flesh. Riddled with flechettes of his own making the unfortunate pirate dropped bonelessly to the deck.

Something was going on with his weapons, something Jaune didn't understand. However, understanding wasn't really necessary at this point. All he could do was keep fighting.

The sharp click of boots resounded along the open deck of the submersible. Their owner moved with a sure, determined stride, her crimson greatcoat sweeping along in her wake, almost like a cape. "How are they faring?"

"We've hit unexpected resistance," declared the woman following along behind her, an opened scroll in her hands. "This ship appears to have brought Huntsmen with them, as well as an Atlesian Specialist."

"Two waves, and they still haven't taken the deck or the bridge, hmm?" mused Morgan Bloodworth, a smirk on her face as she pinched her chin thoughtfully. "Seems these Huntsmen are made of sterner stuff than Old Man Schnee typically springs for."

"They're younger than the ones we've dealt with before," added Morgan's attendant. "They might be from an Academy."

Morgan tittered. "Well, wouldn't that be a pleasant surprise. I can scarcely imagine Schnee entrusting his cargo to a group of children. But if they're holding this well, then there must be something to these Academies after all." A fierce grin spread across her face. "I suppose it's time for me to make an appearance."

Her confident stride not faltering, she made her way to the nearest catapult, the one closest to the stern of the deck. Beside her, the other members of the crew cued up for the third wave. Still grinning, Morgan bent her knees slightly, crouching a little. Then, as the catapults fired, she pushed off, using her own leg-power to add spring to her launch, sending her higher still. Flying through the air, Morgan spotted her landing point. As she did, something caught her eye, making it widen.

Another pirate fell, a scream escaping from her lips, before her torso fell away from her legs. Ruby stood back, panting slightly, while looking around warily for signs of the next attack. It came soon enough, the familiar hiss of the submarine's catapults announcing that the third wave of pirates was incoming.

Ruby and Winter had a good enough hold of things around the bridge. But, from the sound of things, the battle on the main deck was only growing in intensity. With their inexperience, both in battle in general and at killing non-Grimm opponents, Jaune, Pyrrha, and Weiss were much harder pressed. They were still fighting well, but were definitely beginning to feel the pressure of their opponents more, particularly as their numbers increased for the third time in this fight.

At this point, Ruby figured it might be best if she went down to the main deck as well, to support her teammates, if only for a little. Winter was plenty skilled, and definitely had no compunctions against cutting her foes down. Still, they would need to wait until they had seen off the third wave, before considering the possibility of heading down to support the other three.

However, while more pirates landed amidst the melee churning on the deck, a single figure descended from above to land on the deck around the bridge. The woman landed with an almost casual posture, hands resting on her waist, knees barely flexing to avoid the shock of impact, the thigh-length boots on her feet thudding authoritatively upon arrival. The tail of her dark-red greatcoat fanned out behind her, almost like Ruby's own cape. The woman didn't even need to use a hand to steady the tricorn hat that rested atop her head, almost as though it had been glued in place. The braided blue length of her hair fell to rest, draped over her right shoulder.

Ruby and Winter both turned about to face the woman. Ruby abruptly felt her knees go weak, her jaw dropping to hang slack, a horrified shudder running down her spine.

"You must be the captain," observed Winter, leveling her saber at the woman.

"I certainly must," agreed the woman, an amused smirk on her face. "I wouldn't have any other post in my crew."

"Morgan Bloodworth," said Ruby, her voice almost a whisper.

Morgan immediately turned to regard Ruby, her eye narrowing slightly, before going wide. "Oh! It is you, Little One." She broke into an ecstatic grin that bordered on orgasmic. "Ooooooh! How exciting. We reunite after so many years apart. We must have been destined to meet again!"

"You know this woman?" asked Winter pointedly, addressing Ruby.

"Oh yes," replied Morgan, not caring that the question hadn't been addressed to her. "This little, red minx was quite the stubborn opponent, even for such a little lass."

Ruby swallowed, her mind flashing back to that day, the pain and fear of her first real battle. Her hand quivered slightly.

"Yes...I can see that you haven't forgotten," said Morgan happily. "No one ever really forgets their first time. I was the one who gave you your first real taste of the pain and fear of battle." She licked her lips. "What a pity we were interrupted back then. I would have very much liked to have taught you so much more."

"I learned enough," said Ruby, brandishing her sword.

"We'll see about that," said Morgan, hoisting up her left hand. Ruby blinked, suddenly recalling that Morgan's left arm had been ripped off by Shinrei's attack. But now, there it was, as though it had never been gone. She wondered for a moment, until the gloved hand rotated a full three-hundred-sixty degrees on the end of Morgan's wrist, accompanied by the whirring sound of servos. "As you can see, I've managed to replace that which I lost. Even though your friend sank those tubs that served as my fleet earlier, I happened to obtain a new vessel, my marvelous Schneller Geist. With it, I've become a true phantom of the seas, haunting my victims and dragging them down to a watery grave."

"In other words, you're as good as admitting that you are the sole perpetrator behind the recent spate of pirate attacks that have plagued the SDC's shipping," declared Winter.

Morgan finally turned to regard Winter. "Tis true," she admitted. Then she scrutinized Winter carefully. "Hmm? That complexion, the hair, those eyes...you're a Schnee, aren't you?"

"I am," replied Winter.

"Aaaaaah! I see," said Morgan. Then she turned and strode along the deck, heading for the section that overlooked the main deck, where the others fighting, brushing past Ruby so casually that Ruby hadn't even thought of using her sword on the woman. "And there, on the bow, another one! What a windfall!

"We came for the Dust. But it seems that we have the opportunity for an even better prize. Not one, but two of Jacques Schnee's daughters, just ripe for the taking; what a wonderful opportunity. I wonder what your dear father would pay to see you returned, safe and sound."

"Probably not as much as you'd think," said Winter in a sour tone. "Father's penchant for being a miser exceeds any love he might hold for us, if such a man is capable of love in any capacity."

"How harsh," mused Morgan. "What a horrid man, to treat his daughters so. Still, you might be bluffing. Besides, even if you are telling the truth, a lovely pair, like you and your sister, will afford my crew quite a bit of entertainment, I think. These poor souls have been away from land for a while, risking their lives in battle. The least I can do is indulge them, maybe by chaining the pair of you down and allowing them to have their way with you in whatever way they might choose."

Ruby's skin crawled at the thought.

Morgan's grin widened. "Yes...not just you. The boy and the other girl as well, they're all fine specimens. We'll have to make sure that we can take you all alive and unspoiled. The spoiling can come later."

Turning back around, Morgan fixed Ruby with a save grin, her wine-red eye gleaming possessively. "But not you, Little One. You I will be keeping aaaaaaallllllllll to myself."

"The only thing you will be taking is a swift trip to Hell!" declared Winter, charging forward.

"Wait!" Ruby shouted, raising a hand in warning. "She's-!"

Before Ruby could finish, the yellow gem set into Morgan's eyepatch flashed, a bolt of electrical energy crossing the space between her and Winter in an instant. It exploded against Winter's face. However, she continued on undaunted, to the surprise of both Morgan and Ruby. Then, as Winter's face cleared through the cloud of sparks, they could both see the small Glyph that had spun into being in front of it, having blocked Morgan's attack.

Morgan's hand immediately went to the handle of her sword, that broad-bladed rapier that Ruby remembered so well. Morgan swept it up deftly to parry Winter's attack, their blades ringing against each other. Winter immediately jumped back, standing next to Ruby.

"I will take her," Winter declared. "Go! Help Weiss and the others."

"Are you sure?" asked Ruby.

Winter glared sidelong at her. "I may not be the heir to the company any longer, but I've grown up with a substantial education in Dust. I can recognize her hidden weapons well enough."

Swallowing, Ruby nodded, her main worry alleviated. She remembered, all too well, the veritable arsenal that Morgan carried, concealed as so much jewelry and decoration. For all they knew, she might have additional Dust woven into her clothes themselves. But it was obvious that Winter was the sort of person who knew enough about that to not be caught off-guard so easily. Instead, she settled for warning Winter about Morgan's other hidden card. "Be careful of her sword. It's a High-Speed Revolving Trident-Sword, made for disarming."

"No fair spoiling the surprise, Little One," teased Morgan, splitting her sword blade into three, and swiftly bringing them back together, making a snipping sound similar to a large pair of scissors, before spinning the blade again.

"Thank you," said Winter, a small smile appearing on her face. "Go."

Ruby nodded, and vanished in a blur of red, a slight flicker of motion and a spray of petals being the only indicator she'd passed Morgan, before she stepped off the railing and soared out over the main deck, descending into the melee below.

Winter leveled her saber at Morgan. With a click, her handle opened up, revealing the handle of a second, shorter sword, which jumped across to her left hand. Taking up both weapons, Winter readied herself. Across from her, Morgan sneered, spinning the blade of her own weapon playfully. Then the two women charged each other, their blades meeting with a clash.

Sweat streamed down Pyrrha's face. She could scarcely imagine a situation where she felt more pressed. Not even fighting against the Grimm seemed as stressful as this. The pirates were relentless, attacking from all directions, their numbers increasing with each wave. Pyrrha was accustomed to fighting multiple opponents, having done it in more than a few demonstration-battles. But those had been with tournament rules, her opponents folding or withdrawing the moment their Auras entered the red, before they could actually be injured. No one had been fighting to hurt or kill their opponents.

It was a struggle to remember that this was a fight to the death, and Pyrrha still found herself hesitating each time she broke an opponent's Aura. Oftentimes, that led to said foe continuing to menace her, alongside the other pirates, until she finally managed to put said man or woman down for good.

That was bad enough, but what made it all the worse was that the pirates didn't even seem fazed by their losses. More than once, she heard the death of one of her opponents accompanied by the callous taunt of one of his comrades. At least one of them had saved herself from death by pulling another ally into the path of Pyrrha's attack. That said ally still had Aura left to spare hardly seemed to matter, as that person had been knocked away, and collapsed, after the attack, suggesting that breaking his Aura had knocked him out, though, after seeing several other pirates get up and keep fighting, Pyrrha knew she couldn't count him out just yet.

Unfortunately, she wasn't bringing down her opponents fast enough. With each wave, the number of pirates pressing her increased. She'd fought groups of opposing opponents before, but never with such a disparity in numbers. At this rate, even if she was better than several of them put together, they would still wind up swamping her, or bringing her down through attrition.

Pyrrha stumbled, then caught a cutlass to the ribs, which knocked her back. Fortunately, the blow hadn't been enough to break through her Aura. But it had staggered her, leaving her open for more attacks. Rallying as best she could, Pyrrha found herself forced onto the defensive, the enemy numbers finally beginning to tell.

The rest of the battle she saw in flashes, mainly through her peripheral vision. Jaune was holding strong, keeping his shield at the ready, and striking back when he could. Weiss' portion of the deck had been transformed by jagged walls of ice, which she was clearly using to partition the battlefield, preventing the pirates from bringing the full weight of their numbers to bear. But she only had so much Dust in Myrtenaster, and no opportunity to reload it, with the pirates reaching her already pressing her.

We can't keep this up, thought Pyrrha.

Then a whirlwind descended onto the main deck.

Ruby arrived, splitting Akaibara, her cloak flashing about her, hiding the slashing blades of her swords. Flashes of crimson scattered around her as she landed right in the midst of the sailors menacing Pyrrha.

"Akai Hanabira no Mai!"

Abruptly, the majority of the pirates still fighting Pyrrha were sliced into multiple pieces, blades of wind cleaving effortlessly through their Auras and what little armor they might have been wearing. Their dismembered bodies scattered across the deck, blood spreading over the entire space.

Now the pirates reacted with fear. A few screamed, immediately turning and fleeing for the side of the ship. Others turned to address this new threat, rushing right for Ruby. A couple tried to continue fighting against Pyrrha. But, with the reduction in numbers against her, Pyrrha was immediately able to turn the fight around, switching Milo to its rifle-mode to bring the barrel right up below one opponent's chin, firing off a round that blew the top and back of his skull away. In the same move, she fended off the other's attack with her shield, before driving Akouo's sharpened edge into his chest, nearly losing the shield when it almost lodged between the man's ribs. But, with the aid of her Semblance, Pyrrha pulled it free.

In the meantime, the pirates that had rushed Ruby soon found themselves reduced to the same bloody chunks as their comrades, while those who had fled threw themselves over the side with complete abandon, the splashes that followed indicating that they'd missed the deck of the submarine altogether, probably condemning them to a prolonged death, treading water helplessly in the open ocean.

A brief lull fell over the section of the deck Pyrrha had been fighting on, though the sounds of battle still resounded from both towards the bow and astern, where Weiss and Jaune were facing their respective foes.

"Go help Weiss," said Ruby.

"Roger," said Pyrrha, already turning and running towards the bow. As she did, she aimed her rifle, firing off several shots, as much to attract the attention of some of Weiss' opponents as to inflict any actual damage. As she did, she heard the hiss announcing the arrival of another wave of boarders.

Is there any end to them? Pyrrha wondered desperately.

Winter and Morgan fenced fiercely, their blades blurring, leaving trails of light as they flashed through the air. They danced swiftly around one another, stabbing and slashing, their blades moving in swift arcs, both to attack and parry. Winter fought conservatively, feeling her opponent out, using her shorter blade to parry Morgan's attacks, while attacking with the saber. Winter kept her expression composed and focused, trying to read her opponent, while not letting herself to forget that Morgan had more than just her sword to use.

In contrast, Morgan was practically a wild-woman. She attacked relentlessly, her offensive making it hard for Winter to find an opportunity to attack. As Winter's saber descended in a downwards slash, Morgan brought her broad-bladed rapier up to parry, but engaged its rotation, using that to enhance the force of the move, without needing to put any extra arm-strength into it, bouncing Winter's saber away at an angle, before quickly riposting. As Winter moved to catch the incoming thrust with the dagger, Morgan spun the blade again, the rotation knocking away Winter's attempt to parry as well. Winter sidestepped to avoid the thrust, but grunted in pain as, at the last second, Morgan split her sword's blade, the opening action bringing one of its now three blades into range to scrape across the Aura protecting Winter's stomach.

Winter's response was to sweep her saber up, hoping to catch Morgan before she could bring her attacking sword back to parry. But Morgan's response was to throw herself forward, Winter's slash only cutting a slit in the trailing tail of Morgan's greatcoat. The uncoordinated dive should have left Morgan in a bad position to counter whatever followup Winter utilized. But Morgan caught herself by angling her sword downwards, thrusting its tip into the deck, and planting it firmly. Not even halting her movement in the slightest, she kicked her feet off the deck completely.

In the same instant, Morgan triggered her sword's rotation again. With the blade lodged in the deck, it was the handle that spun instead, spinning Morgan's body along with it, allowing her to bring her body around and lash out with a kick, putting both her weight and the force of her spin into the boot that she slammed into Winter's side, sending Winter sprawling across the deck.

Winter recovered easily, rolling back to her feet in a smooth motion that also allowed her turn to keep from showing her back to Morgan. Plunging her saber into the deck, Winter halted her momentum, crouching down on one knee. But her aim wasn't simply stopping her tumble. Even as Morgan planted her feet again, pulling her sword free to the deck, the sword-wheel of the Schnees' Summoning Glyph appeared at Winter's feet. With a ringing sound, and a bright flash, a pair of blue and white Beowolves materialized out of thin air, launching themselves at Morgan with ferocious howls.

"There's the Schnee Semblance I've heard so much about!" crowed Morgan, her sword flashing, cutting down the incoming Beowolves with ease.

The Beowolves' bodies collapsed, before breaking apart into countless motes of light. However, their disintegrating bodies revealed Winter, directly behind them, her sword slashing across her body, right for Morgan, whose own weapon was now out of position from striking down the Beowolves, her reaction further slowed by the fact that Winter had been out of her vision when she'd attacked. There was no way Morgan could bring her sword back to parry in time.

Instead, Morgan brought her left arm up, Winter's saber striking with a metallic clang against the sleeve covering the forearm. Dammit! I forgot her left arm is prosthetic, thought Winter, mentally chiding herself for her oversight.

Morgan cackled, then opened her left hand, a flash of blue indicating the activation of ice-Dust, Morgan having molded them into countless minuscule needles, which now raced across the space between the two fighters, rushing right for Winter's eyes.

Already falling back, Winter didn't flinch in the face of the attack threatening to blind her. Instead, a snowflake Propulsion Glyph appeared before her face, blocking the icy needles, and sending them bouncing back, heading for Morgan's eye. Morgan shifted her head a tiny bit, so that the needles struck and shattered against the eyepatch covering her right eye. Tiny flashes of her Aura bloomed where the other needles struck, but the damage done had been negligible at best. From there, Morgan stepped into the next attack as though nothing had happened.

Once again, Winter brought up her dagger to parry. As she did, Morgan's sword split, threatening to catch Winter's dagger between the tines of her divided blade. A Glyph appeared beneath Winter's feet, launching her back, clearing her away from both Morgan's attempt to disarm and her thrust. With another laugh, Morgan closed her sword again, before lifting the blade to meet Winter's incoming slash. However, Morgan's sword split again, threatening to catch and disarm Winter's attacking weapon now.

With an angry growl, Winter forced herself to halt her attack, barely managing to pull her sword clear before Morgan engaged her weapon's rotation, which threatened to catch the saber's blade in the the spinning tines, locking it into place with the torque of the movement. Seeing Winter escape that attempt didn't daunt Morgan in the slightest, and she merely launched into a flurry of slashes and stabs, opening and closing her blade in rapid succession, while spinning it, making an obvious effort to deprive Winter of her blades, her sword making scissoring, snipping sounds every time it opened and closed.

Baring her teeth angrily, Winter abruptly sank into a crouch, ducking beneath Morgan's next thrust, the split sword passing by over her head. However, when Morgan retracted her thrust, she engaged her weapon's rotation again, so that the act of pulling back brought one of the edged tines to cut across Winter's shoulder, scoring Winter's Aura, an attack that made Winter wince. But that wasn't enough to make her falter, Winter rising up from her crouch with an upward sweep of her saber.

Unable to bring her weapon, split or otherwise, into place, Morgan stepped back, bringing up her left arm to catch the slash on her prosthetic again, only to find her feet going out from under her. In the moment she'd crouched, Winter had swept her saber across the deck in front of her, producing a wave of ice that washed out beneath Morgans' boots, stealing the friction from the surface beneath her. The loss of her footing kept Morgan from positioning her arm properly, and she flinched as Winter's saber cut across her chest. Morgan fell onto her back, hard.

Jumping into the air, Winter quickly descended on her prone foe, saber raised to thrust down at her. Morgan's response was to thrust up with her own weapon, splitting and spinning the blade again. At the same time, fire roared up along the tines of the trident-sword, the sword's rotation spreading the flames and making them spin into a rumbling maelstrom that washed out at Winter. Winter responded by sweeping her dagger across her body, triggering the wind-Dust carried in the dagger's handle, using the wind to disperse the flames, so that the most that Winter felt was a sudden wave of heat washing over her body.

Winter's saber plunged through the parting flames, only to get caught in the tines of Morgan's spinning sword, the weapon's rotation deviating Winter's thrust so that her saber plunged into the deck by Morgan's head, the saber's edge scraping along her cheek, actually cutting through her Aura and opening a thin, bloody line along her cheek. Despite that, Morgan's grin didn't falter, one booted foot already kicking up at Winter's sternum.

Winter quickly pulled her left arm back across her body to block the incoming kick. But, with a flash and ring, Morgan's rising boot was suddenly covered by a sheath of rock, which increased its mass and force considerably, in addition to hardening it. Winter cried out in pain at the impact, the kick knocking her upwards. As she did, she felt her grip on her dagger weakening.

Then Morgan's grin widened, and she swung her left arm across her body. As she did, the sound of tearing cloth announced the shredding of the glove that covered her left hand. The mechanical appendage transformed before Winter's widening eyes, the fingers extending, palm splitting, and plates retracting as the extremity transformed into a five-tailed whip, several barbs sprouting along its length like thorns along vines. The barbed tails struck her left arm, at and around her wrist, curling around it to dig the barbs in and pull at the limb. With a cry of pain, Winter managed to pull her arm free. But the cost was that her already-weakened grip on her dagger was broken, the short blade sent skittering across the deck to slide over the side, and into the water below.

Knocked back by Morgan's kick, Winter's arm sported a few small lacerations, where the barbs of Morgan's concealed whip had cut through, not only her Aura, but the gloves beneath it, leaving Winter trailing blood through the air as she fell onto her back. Again, she quickly moved to put her feet back under her, but the move was awkward, and she remained in a crouch, her face contorted in a pained grimace.

In the meantime, flames washed out from Morgan's greatcoat, the ice sizzling as it swiftly melted, then evaporated. Traction regained, Morgan quickly sat up and rose to her feet herself, surrounded by the silver mist of the evaporated water, giving her an almost demonic appearance.

She cackled loudly. "Oh! I haven't had this much fun in a long time!" With a whir, the wrist of her prosthetic hand began to spin, spreading the tails of her whip into a whirling blur off to her side, the barbs striking sparks against the metal of the deck. "I'll have to be careful, or I'll break you myself, before my crew gets their chance."

Winter grimaced, glaring at Morgan furiously. Despite losing one of her blades, she didn't bother wasting time or energy on remorse or loss. Instead, she plunged her saber into the deck again, calling forth another Summoning Glyph. This time, with the sound of numerous beating wings, a murder of small Nevermore scattered into the air around her, before turning their flight to converge on Morgan from multiple directions, swarming her, stabbing with their beaks and scratching with their claws. After that, Winter pulled her sword free and lunged in, ready to continue the battle once more.