Chapter 17

For once, Neo was actually out doing work. Alone.

It wasn't that she wasn't capable, it was just that Kojiro usually took care of problems… too efficiently. Cloaked in her semblance and walking across the streets during early dawn, Neo cast an illusion of her looking around near a streetlight. As if to confirm the presence of an enemy, that illusion was promptly stabbed by somebody that ran out of an alleyway.

Too bad for them, though. Neo, still invisible, stabbed them in the back. The trench-coat clad person sporting a decade old symbol of the Monarchs, the gang that Kojiro and the others had torn apart, and symbolized the return of a force much stronger than any that Junior's group had dealt with on their own.

Hastily incorporating the blood splattered on her blade into her illusion once more, Neo continued the shadow war against the various members hiding in civilian houses.

She gritted her teeth. Her mission objective was to keep the status quo. Vale could not go under. If they did, then the place that Neo and Kojiro had been living for their entire lives would disappear.

…

She was shivering on the streets. An inheritance was denied by a stepmother, and she was in the way. She had to disappear.

There were three drunk men that cornered her in an alleyway. An orange-haired boy ran in to save her. He was instantly subdued.

Somewhere in the middle, however, the boy changed. The boy became confident and skilled, though his body was still weak. It was almost like he was possessed.

Neo didn't care, no matter how strange the stories he told were, or how strange the boy himself was. She kept trying to suggest correct fashion choices, or actually getting an aura, but…

He never listened.

He was irresponsible. It was almost like he was living in a dream, with how little he cared for his own life and health. But after a couple of months, Neo didn't want Kojiro to change. He was the only one that didn't abandon her.

So the status quo would be kept.

Their status quo would be kept. No matter the cost.

…

Kojiro had given up splitting the rock-like dragon after the second hour. He paused, looking at the slightly scratched beast that had taken his aura-infused strikes with only a scratch to show for it. Scratches that were now rapidly healing.

The scroll on the mountain beside him buzzed again. Wiping some sweat from his brow, Kojiro picked up the device with slightly sticky fingers.

"Yes?" he said, answering the call.

"Kojiro, where in the world are you?" Ozpin asked, somehow still maintaining his calm façade. On the screen, however, his hair was disheveled, and his suit was slightly rumpled as well. The only thing that remained unchanged was his iron grip on his cup of hot cocoa.

Kojiro merely tilted his camera to show the slowly healing dragon, the marks that he had made in the past five minutes finally fading away. "I've been trying to kill it."

"It's nigh invincible in its dormant form." Ozpin sighed. "And its skin is almost impervious to attacks when it's awakened. Either way, we have to keep it contained."

"It's as if this beast can only be beaten by magic, huh?" Kojiro muttered. Ozpin began coughing again. Some of his cocoa spilled over the rim of his cup, staining his suit. Ozpin, however, merely stared at the screen in shock.

"Y-you know about magic?"

Kojiro, however, just raised an eyebrow and continued talking.

"My strikes are no match for its stony skin. Tell me, Ozpin, does the beast get less durable as it comes out of hibernation?"

"I did say so, but why do you ask?" Ozpin said, desperately trying to compose himself once more.

Kojiro opened his mouth to speak, only for Ozpin to suddenly shout back.

"Do not even think about waking that dragon further! If you do so, the city of Vale will fall by your hand!"

"I don't see what I can do that will awaken the dragon." Kojiro said,"I've been attacking it for the last two hours."

There was a brief moment of silence. Out of the corner of his eye, Kojiro spotted a sparrow flying for its nest. Too bad it wasn't a swallow.

"Whatever. Just… follow Ironwood when he stops by."

"Who was he again?" Kojiro said, looking back at the dragon now.

Ozpin sighed.

…

"I want every file pulled out. Check all of our data archives."

"For what, sir? The Dragon?" Winter said, hurriedly keeping pace with the metal general. Metal footsteps clanged and shook the inside of the spacious airship.

"No." Ironwood said, stopping in front of a window and looking at the fleet of ships behind his Flagship. "I need data on a swallow."

"A… what, sir?" Winter said, looking slightly confused.

"Were you not listening to the call?" Ironwood said. "That Sasaki Kojiro mentioned such a… threat."

"Sir!" Winter shouted. "Those were clearly the ravings of a madman! What we should be researching is what kind of mental illness he possesses!"

A moment went by. Ironwood just stared incredulously as Winter's face went slightly red.

"Uh… sorry, sir."

"It is of no matter, Specialist Schnee. All of us do get slightly emotional at times." Ironwood then coughed into his fist, closing his eyes, before opening them up with a steely gaze.

"But as a freelance huntsman that has amassed such a reputation, one does not simply get there with empty boasts and complaints. Despite only wielding a sword, this Sasaki Kojiro is actually an expert at killing flying grimm."

"…Flying grimm?"

"Indeed. And why would somebody with such a reputation and an odd specialization talk about swallows in the context of dragons? The conclusion is that… swallows may be comparable to dragons."

There was silence.

"So… does this mean there are more than one dragon?"

"If these swallows are what I think they are, then we had more than one dragon, Winter. However, the public will eventually find out about the dragon in this mountain. And if Sasaki Kojiro hasn't taken it out yet, even if it's sleeping…"

Ironwood's fist crushed the metal tube that was the railing on the airship. Several crewmembers jumped at the noise.

"We'll have to take responsibility."

…

Kojiro was still on the rocks when the airships finally arrived. The sun was shining brightly above, but Kojiro sat, unperturbed by the heat..

Finally the airship descended into a hovering position next to the mountain. The expansive drawbridges dropped onto the gray stone, and a team of people wearing white stepped out onto the dragon's resting place. One of them absent mindedly nudged one of the still unconscious white fang bodies out of their paths.

"Somebody should probably check on him." Kojiro said, pointing to the body that had just been nudged. "I mean, he was acting pretty important back there, and gave a whole speech about the internet or whatever."

Ironwood ignored the comment about the terrorist.

"General Ironwood." he said, extending a hand to the swordsman.

"We've talked on the scroll for over an hour." Kojiro lied, conveniently forgetting his conversation with Ozpin five minutes ago. "I think I know who you are."

"Oh, right." Ironwood muttered, slightly embarrassed. "Anyways, can I offer you a lift to Vale?"

"And are you sure that I can't just… wake up the dragon and fight it?" Kojiro asked, slightly sadly. "I understand your uncertainty, but I really do think I can vanquish the beast."

"You still haven't slain it." Ironwood said. "And the grimm begins attacking when it wakes up."

"But-"

"Escort him onto the airship."

Kojiro looked at the automatons moving in to restrain him. "Winter, make sure he gets to Vale."

Instead of complying, Kojiro drew his sword.

"You want me to go back to Vale? Alright. Make me."

"Insolence!" Winter snapped, "You going back to Vale is for the greater good of the whole city! Now, stop being petty and just follow orders!"

"I…" Kojiro said, while getting in a stance, "Am not a huntsman. Thus, I do as I please."

"Then, as a huntsman, I am ordering a civilian to evacuate." Winter seethed, her voice lined with icy tones.

Kojiro stepped forwards, sword flashing through the air. A ray of light hit Winter's eyes from the sword in a brief moment, making her flinch. In the brief half a second that Winter's eyes were closed, Kojiro stepped forward and hit her sword arm with the hilt of his sword, sending her stumbling back two steps.

"Why, you… Using dirty tricks…" Winter snarled, ejecting her smaller sword from her bigger one and resuming a different stance.

"It was used to give me a… severe concussion once." Kojiro said, shrugging. "The only rules in a fight are what somebody can do and what they can't do."

"But it was still a trick!"

"I never said this was a duel." Kojiro smirked. "Well, do you want to continue, or do you want to infuriate your superior further?

Ironwood's steely expression said it all.

"I expect a rematch later, by the way." Kojiro said, as he walked into the airship. "I haven't fought a competent dual wielder recently. It'll be good practice."

After Kojiro was out of earshot, Ironwood sidled up to an officer and began whispering.

"Look up all the records of sword dual wielders that may have been in contact with Sasaki Kojiro."

A single drop of sweat slid down Winter's forehead. Since when was the general this obsessed with the unhinged man that was Sasaki Kojiro?

…

"We're facing heavy losses in one quadrant of the city. Nobody has a view of the culprit, but we've already lost a good fifteen m-"

The sound of a sword swishing through the air cut the one-sided conversation short.

"You fucker! So you're the one that's been doing this!"

The civilians tied down in the rooms squirmed and tried to shout through their bindings, warning the little girl that was apparently attacking their kidnappers to run away and just get help…

Their eyes widened as the person that had been threatening their lives for the past two hours was neatly bisected. With the tell-tale glow of aura, the little girl flicked the blood off of her sword and sheathed it back into her umbrella. Holding a finger up to her lips, she shushed the hostages, before reaching out and breaking the ropes with her bare hands.

But as she leapt out of the window and onto the pavement below, a hand reached up for her ankles from out of the asphalt. Leaping back, she landed on one of the lamp posts that were still not destroyed.

Out of the earth, a figure encased in an earthen armor rose. In their left hand was a bident.

"Sasaki Kojiro." the figure said with a muffled voice. "The Monarchs have not forgotten about you."

Neo nearly fell from the lamp post. Those guys were back?

…

Kojiro finally arrived back on the bullhead docks, amidst all the other Atlesian ships. The media, of course, immediately swarmed the docks. Reporters and cameramen competed vilely for their spots near the scene, each one trying to hold their own private concert with their cameramen.

"This here on Vale Daily Ne-"

"This is Jade from the Central News Netwo-"

"-as renowned huntsman Sasaki Kojir-"

"The Atlesians are finally commencing their miliary takeover, this is Central Conspiracy Network-"

The news reports collectively shut their feed as they realized that nobody could actually record what was going on. An almost deafening silence, louder than any rabble could be, resounded throughout the plaza of the bullhead landing dock. Then, a camera fell from its tripod, sparking the conversations once more.

"You're that guy from the competing time slot!" a journalist yelled. "Nobody wants your conspiracy theories here!"

"Vale is a nation of freedom, and the people deserve to know the tru-"

"Long live the White Fang!"

"Back off, you skanks! "

As the reporters devolved into frantic squabbling once more, the General, Kojiro, and their entourage of robots continued their walk onwards. Kojiro, however, paused in the middle of a step.

"Long live… the white fang? Did somebody say that?" Kojiro said, scratching his ear.

"I'm sure it's been a stressful day, Mr. Sasaki." Ironwood said, patting the samurai on the shoulder. "You must have misheard."

Kojiro shrugged, before looking around and seeing an especially angry suit-wearing faunus.

"You fuckers made me drop my bomb!" they said. "You'll pay for this! I'll… uh…"

The journalists collectively jumped onto the self-proclaimed terrorist.

"Where's the bomb?"

"You'll regret this! No, wait! Don't kick there! Not the pens!"

"Shut down all the news broadcasts!" Ironwood shouted. "We cannot let this get out!"

"They already did it themselves." Kojiro said, pointing to the unmanned cameras still pointed at banners of the various news outlets.

"Who knew that the media could actually be good for something?" Ironwood muttered.

"Guys! Let's actually report this incident consistently this time!"

"Yeah! No more bad PR!" the conspiracy theory reporter shouted, lifting his arms to praise the sun.

"No, you will not report this incident until after the Dragon crisis is over!" Ironwood shouted.

The press's eyes snapped to Ironwood. Then, each desperate, underpaid journalist nodded at each other before trampling over the outdated Atlesian Knight models to get to the general, each desperate story searcher armed with a notepad, pen, and a microphone.

Shaking his head, Kojiro walked out of the crowd of journalists collaborating to make Ironwood's day as miserable as possible. Despite the revelations gained in this crazy day, Vale would not fall… just yet.

…

Disguised as Sasaki Kojiro via her semblance, Neo looked down at the strange figure that finally unveiled… herself?

A dark-haired woman stood in the middle of the road, cast in a hard, clay shell that molded itself seamlessly with the roadway.

"You may have killed Chrysos with underhanded tricks twenty years ago, but I, Tisiphone, will get revenge for my brother!"

Neo's brian finally caught up. This was the gang from twenty years ago?

"Why didn't you attack us at literally any other time?" Neo wanted to ask. Sadly, her Kojiro disguise limited her semblance usage severely. Normally, she would create some phrases in the air with illusions, but now, she had to just stand there and make her illusionary head of Kojiro smile faintly.

"You do not even deign to speak to me?" Tisiphone said, growing. "Fine, then. Let us duel with our actions!"

"Chrysos's sister, huh…" Neo thought, looking at the earth writhing and boiling slowly at Tisiphone's command. Her stance, the way she held herself, her semblance…

All of it was strong.

Earthen tendrils lanced out of the ground, taking telekinetic control of the bricks and tiles of the sidewalk, and stabbed themselves towards Neo. She did a frantic backflip and landed on another lamp post, where the woman's geomancy presumably did not extend to.

"You are indeed slippery." Tisiphone said, gritting her teeth angrily. "But can you withstand the same dirty tricks that slew my brother years ago?"

"How do you know about that? Me, Kojiro, Mason, and Verdant were the only witnesses!" Neo thought, wanting to scream the statement. Again, something interrupted her. This time, however it was a sniper bullet. She stood still and let the bullet pass through the illusion of Kojiro's head.

"So this is your semblance. The semblance that allowed you to win over my brother. Intangibility." Tisiphone said, looking at the gaping hole in Kojiro's illusionary face.

"..."

"After we have slain you, Vale will fall with it! And our plans from twenty years ago will finally succeed!"

"..."

"Still no reaction? Very well then, if you are that confident, then let's see if your aura is larger than mine!"

Looking at the earthen waves currently shifting across the street, Neo decided that the answer was a resounding no. She jumped onto a rooftop, before dodging a tendril that came out of the bricks she was stepping on, and jumped again. Then, she proceeded to parkour throughout Vale's slums, stepping on clotheslines and using her Parasol to hang from steel pipes.

Finally,about a mile away, she smiled and looked back, preparing to finally dissolve her illusion.

What she saw instead was a figure approaching from the distance, upon a mass of bricks and soil that was currently crawling its way across the cityscape.

"There is no escape, so long as you are still within the city walls." Tisiphone said, an icy cold glare in her eyes. "Outside of the walls, you would be dead instantly."

Neo thought about the very earthy ground of nature, and decided that she was very lucky she was standing on concrete.

Wait a minute…

She looked down at her feet, standing on pale white concrete. The substance was, interestingly enough, not being twisted into some sort of appendage to squash her with.

Noticing Neo looking down, Tisiphone struck. Isolating herself from the mass of dirt, she shot herself forward, along with her heavy earthen armor and two-pronged spear, and stabbed through Neo's neck.

That would be a problem if Kojiro wasn't several heads taller than Neo. Tisiphone's strike cut through Neo's illusion of Kojiro, causing the head to fizzle. Neo hastily reconstructed Kojiro's face, though a mental assessment of her own illusion, she found that it was rather… blurry.

"So you take time to repair your image. Your semblance is not infallible, after all. You cannot attack when reforming." Tisiphone gloated. "Now, die!"

Another spear was whipped through Kojiro's torso. Neo had to duck to avoid the blow, but the illusion of Kojiro still stood up straight.

"Oh, right… Intangibility…" Tisiphone said. "Well, your semblance can't save you forever."

As Tisiphone swung her spear round and round, stabbing repeatedly through Neo's illusion of Kojiro, Neo slipped out of the illusion herself, jumping backwards while coloring herself with a shade of dirt brown. Then, dusting herself off, she slowly crept behind Tisiphone.

Neo's illusion of Kojiro was a pixelated mess, and Tisiphone's brow slowly furrowed.

"Is this… even the real Kojiro?" she muttered.

Neo decided that she had to prove "Kojiro"'s existence. Unsheathing her own sword from her parasol, she struck at Tisiphone's arm, making her illusion of Kojiro strike the same place. The sword cut a deep gash into the earthen armor, which… immediately sealed itself.

Neo sighed quietly. This was going to be much harder than she thought it would be.

…

Kojiro was growing slightly confused as of now. Every time he wanted to return to the bar and reconvene with Junior, another White Fang terrorist popped up wanting to bomb his location. He was more than willing to put down some random grunts, but this was growing… suspicious.

"Specialist Schnee! Call all remaining Airship units to deploy Atlesian Knight units for security!" Ironwood shouted into his scroll. "The White Fang are stirring up negativity!"

As Ironwood rambled over the scroll, Kojiro closed his eyes and ruminated on one word.

Schnee.

Why were they bombing him? Why weren't they targeting her, the subject of their hatred and cause of their suffering? Unless… there was a specific reason he was lead by the trail of suspiciously unsuccesful bombings and stabbing attempts to a place away from Bullhead docks and larger roads…

"It was a distraction." he realized. The White Rank or whatever they were called were trying to draw him away from… something.

But what could that… something be?

Kojiro shrugged. Whatever it was, Neo could probably deal with it.

…

"Sir, the operation was successful. Sasaki Kojiro is now on the opposite side of the city."

"Good." Adam said, smirking and adjusting his mask. He stood up and waved a couple of grunts forwards.

"Start loading the dust into the trucks and head for the walls. We need to destroy the walls all at once. Leave no chance for Vale to recover."

"But sir…" the messenger questioned, "Why did we have to sacrifice twenty members to police custody in order to draw one single person away?"

"He's… stronger than me." Adam said, reluctantly. "He dismantled our division at Mt. Glenn. And if we really want to succeed in our goals, I have to put down my grudges towards him and work for the greater good."

"Why not just mob him first?" the messenger blurted out. "I mean, we have a lot of guns and stuff. We can take him."

"Idiot." Adam snarled, smacking the messenger on the head. "Before we run out of operatives and our main group catch the attention of Kojiro again, we have to take down the city."

"A-and then?" the messenger said, rubbing his head and looking up pitifully.

"And then…" Adam smiled, thumbing the handle of his katana, "We can settle our score."