Ember Red

As Silva and Vernal made their preparations to head to the Lindwurm tribe to reinforce Raven's group, the said group was already in a heated battle with their enemy. Raven started by opening a portal within the camp after taking down a few guards and bringing the rest of the Branwen tribe inside the walls of the Lindwurm encampment. The fighting started as the Branwen tribe members charged at the Lindwurm tribe.

Raven made her way to the bandit chief of the Lindwurm tribe and drew her odachi out, then sent a slash of Aura to the tent. As the tent collapsed, an enraged mellow came out.

" WHAT, THE F*CK IS GOING ON?!"

An aged man with long gray hair and dark green eyes came out of the fallen tent, and Raven pounced on him as he forced his way out. Just as Raven was about to behead the old bandit chief, a series of transparent dark blue hexagons appeared around the older man, blocking her strike. This was the Lindwurm chief's Semblance Dragon Scales at work protecting him. Raven clicked her tongue in annoyance, and the elder bandit chief recognized her and said, mocking her.

" So you're here, the little girl of the Branwen tribe."

Raven retorted coldly.

" And still an old fool with one foot in the grave, Drake Lindwurm."

Drake sneered at Raven and drew out a great sword from his ruined tent, and declared.

" This means war, little girl!"

Raven scoffed and told him.

" We were already at war when you started to acquire a large amount of supplies with the Hati tribe from Solitas. Don't think I don't know what goes through your head, you senile fool."

" Well, you're certainly more clever than your predecessor, I will give you that much, but you're still going to die regardless."

Drake leaped at Raven with his greatsword held high and swung at her, but Raven slipped through the strike and thrust her weapon at his left eye. Raven's attack was met with Drake's Semblance that protected his eyes. Ordinarily, Aura would have been normally used to protect one's self. Still, in Drake's case, he was mostly self-taught in how to use his Aura, so Drake can't use it to protect himself very well passively. Still, his Semblance he managed to train to use instinctively in turn when he awoke it, which was a defensive type of Semblance that created external shielding.

Raven knew about Drake's Semblance in advance and wanted to take care of him before he got serious. The black-haired bandit chief braced herself for a fight of attrition against the Lindwurm Bandit chief. Drake swung his greatsword with reckless abandon as he was confident in his Semblance in defending him. Raven darted in and out of Drake's effective attack range and struck him each time to wear out his Aura from his continued use of his Semblance.

But unfortunately, with a combination of Drake's age and experience, he has deep reserves of Aura, and it will take Raven a while to tire him out. As Drake's frustration grew at the fact, he could not land a single blow on Raven, Raven herself calmly and patiently kept up her hit and run tactics. Drake then bellowed in a fiery rage.

" You think you will win, little girl?! Let me tell you why you will die here today. The Hati tribe has a heavily armed gunship that will tear through your tribe like their nothing!"

Raven was stunned to hear this new information but then smirked as she evaded another attack from Drake. Raven felt assured that even if there is a gunship at the Hati tribe, Vernal, with her magic as the Spring Maiden and Silva's growing ruthlessness, they can handle it with little to no trouble. Seeing Raven smirk, Drake then said coldly as he misunderstood the reason behind it.

" You think I am bluffing! Just you wait, the Hati tribe will notice something going awry and show up!"

Raven kept her confident smirk as she evaded another one of Drake's attacks and countered with a thrust to his left leg and finally cut into his flesh. As his leg bled, Drake ignored the pain and kept on attacking Raven with increasing ferocity, and soon flames started to appear within the Lindwurm camp as the rest of the Branwen tribe with Raven attacked the Lindwurm members. Drake grew furious at the death of his tribe and was starting to run low on Aura at last from continuously using his Semblance to protect himself from Raven's attacks.

Raven slipped through Drake's guard and sliced deeply into Drake's torso, and the old bandit chief responded with a grunt of pain as he covered his wound with his hand to try and stem the bleeding. Drake started to flail his greatsword around with one hand but to no avail as Raven evaded and struck back mercilessly. Raven and Drake soon heard a warcry and saw another force charge at the encampment through the smoke. Drake smirked and told Raven confidently.

" I told you the Hati tribe would come, little girl, now why don't you surrender, and I might let you go after my men have some well-deserved fun with you."

Raven scoffed and told him what that force was that joined the battle.

" Get your eyes checked, you senile fool. That is not the Hati tribe coming to your aid but the rest of my tribe coming back from their fight with the Hati tribe."

Drake looked again and pales at the realization that Raven was speaking the truth. Raven then viciously adds with a cold smile.

" I guess that gunship was not anything noteworthy after all. Today you die Drake with the rest of your tribe."

Drake knew he was going to die and accepted that and roared out in determination and rage.

" And you're going down with me, Branwen!"

A series of dark blue hexagons covered Drake's entire body, and Drake charged at Raven with renewed vigor. Raven casually dodged Drake's reckless assault as she waited for him to run out of steam, and he did minutes later. Drake slumped down as his dark blue Aura flickered and broke from his extensive use of his Semblance. Raven walked over victorious as Drake stared her down in defiance, and as he laboriously drew breath and was about to say something, Raven beheaded him in a single strike ending the conflict.

***

Later on, as dawn approached, what remained of the Hati tribe gathered at a cave far from their former encampment. They were a few dozen strong when they came to Anima from Solitas, and now only ten remain. One of the remaining bandits asked Helga Hati, their chief.

" What now, commander?"

Helga kept her eyes closed as she thought about her next action, and after a few moments, she replied.

" We will link up with our brother tribe Skoll in Vale and wait out Atlas' purge before heading back and setting up shop again in Solitas."

The rest of the tribe looked reluctant, and another one asked their leader.

" What about the Branwen tribe? Are we going just to let them get away with slaughtering our brothers and sisters?!"

Helga sighed in exasperation and told them bluntly.

" No, but we can't face them again until we have sufficient strength to retaliate against them and avenge our fallen family members."

This made the rest of the tribe silent as they knew she was right and accepted that they had to wait. Helga then roused their spirits as she promised them.

" I swear to you that the Branwen tribe will pay for this, especially that little butcher that planted those explosives in our camp and whoever took down our last gunship."

A flame of vengeance lit inside what was left of the Hati as they made their preparations to head to Vale to join up with the Skoll tribe.

***

I, Silva, went over the spoils of the two battles of the Branwen tribe as I was stuck cataloging them with Vernal. Aside from dust and used weapons, the only thing of value was the gunship Vernal took down. I browsed the Cross-Continental Transmit system to find some data on it in hopes of restoring it for myself. What I found out so far is that it is an older model of the Atlesian Manta gunship used by the military, and it is a discontinued model. This meant that even the black market might not have the parts for it, and I either have to scrap it or use what's left to make a gunship from scratch.

I don't blame Vernal for the damage, as she took it down quickly before it caused havoc on the tribe. I sighed, which drew Vernal's attention.

" Still pining over that gunship?"

I nodded as I separated the Dust into elemental types. Vernal came over as she finished sorting the weapons into was usable and was going to be melted down. She wrapped her arms around my neck and apologized.

" Sorry..."

" Vernal, it's fine; you took it down because I asked you to, and even if I have to scrap most of it, I could still get some useful parts out of it to modify an airship."

Vernal chuckled and commented on my thoughts.

" You really do want to fly, huh."

" It's less about flying and more about having a means of going where I want when I want."

Vernal then asked as I revealed my desires.

" You want to leave the tribe?"

" I want to see the world and all that it has to offer and become even stronger."

Unfortunately, Raven overheard me and walked into the tent then said.

" You can. However, you need to prove that you can survive without the protection of the tribe first before going anywhere."

I rolled my eyes and guessed how she wanted me to prove that I was strong enough to leave the tribe.

" Let me guess; I need to beat you in a fight to leave the tribe?"

Raven smirked then replied.

" I am glad you know me so well, little brother, but that aside how is our profit looking from the remains we gathered from the Lindwurm and Hati tribe?"

" Not bad, but not great either is we barely break even from our little war with those two tribes."

Raven nodded in acknowledgment and said to me.

" I heard you got your first kill, Silva; congratulations are to come to my tent later after your done sorting out everything."

" K..."

Raven reminded me that I took my first life in either of the two lives I have lived. The only part that bothers me about it is the fact the only thing I felt was some slight nauseous and a grim acceptance of what I had done. Vernal kept close to me to make sure I was fine, well fine as I could be regarding my circumstances, and helped sort through the Dust. I soon finished and then went to Raven's tent, and I found Raven in a black silky miniskirt kimono as she made herself some tea. I liked how she looked in her kimono and thought if I was a bit older, this situation could be interpreted as a sexual favor because Raven's kimono exposed her toned pale legs and hugged her mature curves.

The black-haired bandit chief noticed me and said.

" Good, your here, Silva. I have something for you."

Raven got up and pulled out a lengthy case and opened it to reveal a glave with two blade heads at each end. She took it out of the case and revealed that the double-ended glave could be split into two; one shaft is longer than the other. Raven then puts it back together and gifts it to me, then says.

" Silva, you could now be considered a full member of the tribe since you killed in its name, so I have two things to give you. This glave I had made for you and this."

Raven took out her Scroll from her cleavage and sent me something to my Scroll. I looked at what she sent me and it was an Identification card and I saw my name.

[ Silva Branwen]

While I had some mixed feeling about my new last name Raven then told me.

" You already know I did not want to be a mother when you stayed with Yang and I decided to treat you similar to how treated Qrow but I realized after a while... seeing you grow, become stronger, and steadily become a man it made me wonder if I would feel the same towards Yang if I brought her to the tribe instead of leaving her like I do now with you."

Raven kept silent a moment then awkwardly said.

" So... son, welcome to the family..."

I just looked at her deadpanned then sighed and told her feeling mentally drained from everything that has happened today.

" Good night and see you in the morning... mom..."

Okay, it just felt weird for me to call Raven but I am now dreading my next encounter with Yang even more, she's probably going to beat me within an inch of my life. Hah, things are never easy.