19 Chapter 18

'I thought we'd spend at least an hour here before being exposed.' He knew that their 'disguise' would fail sooner or later but he didn't think it would be sooner.

More importantly, the person who exposed their disguise was none other than Adam Taurus…future and might as well be present antagonist.

Reid looked to his mother who was casually sipping out of what he could only assume to be a mango flavored drink.

She seemed unbothered by what was happening but the look he saw in her eyes said otherwise. Someone who didn't know as well as he did would believe that everything was alright.

He put his attention back on the bull faunus in front of him. He couldn't tell what his mother was thinking but there were only two things on his mind at the moment.

'To kill or not to kill? He was portrayed to be one of the major antagonist later on. Killing him now would save me the trouble and not to mention make a lot of things easier. Although…there is a chance that this wasn't canon timeline and he wouldn't end up like that.' With that, he made his decision. Adam Taurus…

…will die by his hand today.

His mind made up, he rushed forward at the slightly older faunus with intent to kill. Oblivious to the thoughts going on in the young Uchiha's head, Adam sped towards Reid, brandishing his sword as he neared his opponent.

"Die!"

With some effort, Reid dodged a slash aimed to take off his arm. As he shifted in to attack, he had to dodge another slash to his stomach.

Seeing he had the advantage due to his sword, Adam capitalized on it, using it to keep Reid at arms length.

"Tch!" Noticing what he was doing, Reid clicked his tongue in irritation. Adam noticed this and let a smug grin show on his visage. This continued for a short while until Adam decided to end it.

He went for a wide slash which Reid avoided perfectly by going low but tripped as an uneven part of the terrain caused him to lose balance.

With a crazed grin on his face, Adam retracted his arm and thrust it with both hands on the hilt to give it more power.

With no way to adjust himself, Reid could only allow himself to be pierced by the sharp blade.

"You're done!" Adam screamed in ecstasy like a mad man as the sound of metal cutting flesh resounded throughout the vicinity.

The Faunus watching gasped at the brutality. Adam didn't just pierce anywhere, he pushed the blade straight through Reid's heart.

"N-no…it c-can't be…" Ashton stuttered under his breath.

Miko, Lisa and Silva watched on silently with attentive eyes. They didn't seem all too bothered about Reid's death while Ashton was still in denial. Adam, on the other hand, was relishing in his victory.

"One down…four more to go!" He announced as the impulsive and now confident child he was after beating his first opponent. His sword was the only thing holding Reid's body upright.

He pulled back his blade, allowing the body to fall to the earth. Just as it hit the floor, the corpse faded like it never existed. The blood on the metal of the blade faded with it.

Before he could process what was happening, he felt air get knocked out of his throat. At the same time, he felt the back of his hand being pelted by a small but powerful object. The sword dropped from his palm, clattering as it landed on the floor.

"Did you really believe it would be that easy?" A familiar voice asked rhetorically. They all turned to the sound of the voice to see Reid! He looked perfectly fine without a single scratch on him and the oddest thing was that he was standing on the side of building just beside them like it was perfectly straight.

Silva observed this phenomenon with open curiosity while Miko's only reaction was a raised brow. Ashton seemed to have life in him once again as he saw that Reid was still alive.

"What happened!? You're supposed to be dead!?" Adam managed to roar in panic as his sword hand was in terrible pain. He looked around for what hit the back of his palm only to see a small stone at his feet.

Before he could fire more questions, Reid started speaking.

"You assumed wrong. A simple application of aura and you suddenly believe me dead. That goes to show that you're not only weak in strength…" He trailed off as he ceased the flow of aura keeping him standing there, allowing him to fall freely.

Adam who was still in pain and out of breath had no way to react as Reid landed heel first on the back of the downed Adam.

"Ackk-!" He wasn't able to let out a scream as air was knocked or more specifically, squeezed out of his body by the offending foot on his back.

"…you're weak mentally!"

Standing casually with one foot keeping Adam down, Reid finished his speech. Sighting Adam's sword not too far away, he walked up to it. He picked it up while observing that this wasn't the sword he was portrayed with in canon. It was a plain sword.

"Simple, but it'll do just fine." He spoke under his breath but was still heard. He walked slowly but determinedly with a goal in mind. Using [Aura Flow] the blade in his hand let out a low hum as it now glowed a dull but visible purple. The whole area was silent as if it was just the two of them, with Reid's footsteps being the only sound.

"Do you feel it? Wallow in the despair of your own weakness. Don't worry, your death is much appreciated…" he finished in a time so low that only he could hear.

To Adam, his voice was like the call of the devil inviting him to the pit of hell to dine with him. He tried to move but the heavy stomp to his back paralyzed his movement.

Reid stopped in front of the downed faunus. The aura enhanced blade may seem like overkill but it was perfectly logical to him. Aura could protect the user from what would be a fatal blow so he didn't want to take any chances. He would cut him down.

'Aura or not, you can't survive this…' With that thought, he raised the sword up for a clean swing. With an expressionless face, he struck down quickly…only for the blade to stop barely a centimeter away from Adam's neck.

Reid expression turned cold as his eyes traced the hand that caught his wrist to its owner. Black eyes met black as he stared straight at his mother.

"That's enough." She said in a serious tone, not releasing Reid's wrist knowing that he'd just continue from where she stopped him. They stared at each other in silence, ignoring everyone else.

"He tried to kill me, it's only polite to return the favor." Reid spoke calmly as if he was doing nothing wrong which slightly baffled Miko. She could see that it was more than that since he seemed to ponder something before actually retaliating against Adam.

Her eyes hardened as her expression turned to a frown. Seeing that he wouldn't be able to convince her, Reid let go of the sword, allowing it to fall to the ground as she released his wrist.

He was insistent on killing the young bull faunus and she didn't know why but she would find out…just not now. Now she had to do damage control seeing as how her son almost killed one of their kind under their very eyes. Although he attacked them first, she doubted that they wouldn't view it with biased opinions.

"Halt humans!" Before she could do anything, she realized that the guards on menagerie had finally arrived and were now surrounding them with their spears brandished.

"Why does this bring back memories?" Silva asked rhetorically as he and Lisa looked on with deadpan expression while Ashton mainly looked confused at everything as a whole.

Chuckling in nostalgia, Miko raised her hands in the air signifying her lack of hostility as she spoke jokingly.

"Take me to your leader."

The sound of Silva's palm smacking his face rang all around as he let out a sigh.