Vale

Matthew watched the petite girl carry a gun-scythe on her shoulders. Smiling, she twirls her scythe before slamming its tip on the ground.

On the other side, Matthew observes her pursuers. The leader, which he assumed is the one, wears a white tuxedo, a scarf on his neck, and a bowler hat, he had a cane in his hand while he keeps an eye on the girl in red.

"Okay, get her." The bowler hat guy ordered his henchmen. "And that guy." He added as he urged them to attack Matthew also."

"Woah, woah. Attacking a bystander? That's disgraceful." Matthew replied.

"You are a witness of an ongoing crime, and that's obvious what will happen next." Bowler Hat pointed out.

"And you are assaulting a kid carrying a scythe!"

"Hey! I am not a kid!" The girl in red faces Matthew in protest. "I drink milk!"

"Then how can you carry that big scythe of yours? That's not logical!"

Bowler Hat silently watches them with a bored look.

"Ehem! Are we going to fight or what?" He asks the two as they stopped their bickering.

"Oh, right. Sorry." The girl apologizes, turning to face his henchmen.

"Team up?" Matthew said as he stood beside the girl. "Let's see if you are good with your weapon." He added, pulling out the Staff of the Living Tribunal from his robes.

"Uhh, what's that?" The girl asked, pointing at his long and hard weapon.

"Oh, this? This is my weapon." Matthew shows him as the Staff of the Living Tribunal transforms into an infused eldritch whip sword, demonstrating it by whipping the ground. "Cool, am I right?" The girl simply let out a 'woah' expression as the two prepare for battle.

Bowler Hat orders his four men forward as the two separate their ways to grab more space for the fight. Matthew uses the advantages of his weapon to not let the two goons team up against him.

The first enemy raises his sword to cut Matthew, the sorcerer saw this movement and dodges it by sidestepping, punching the guy in the stomach with a little help from his Eldritch Magic, and sending him past the other guy.

"C'mon. Bozo." Matthew taunted the other goon and he fell for his insult.

The second attacker is surprisingly capable of using his weapon, but Matthew was more experienced than him. Matthew parries it with his weapon and he quickly retracts it, turning to the enemy's side and tripping his legs with a sweep, causing him to collapse.

"Good night." Matthew chuckles as he stomps the guy in the face, making him unconscious.

Matthew checks the girl and he saw that she was already done with her fight, finishing it by using her scythe as a support to spin around and kicking the goon right into his face, his unconscious body was dispatched next to Bowler Hat as he stares at the duo with amusement.

He was going to say something when the unconscious guy from earlier raised his gun, aiming it at the two.

"Hey, look out!" The girl said and she was about to dodge when Matthew unequips his weapons and did some hand gestures, creating Tao Mandalas in both of his hands protecting them from the hail of bullets.

The girl couldn't help herself but gasp in awe, seeing his 'semblance.'

"Whoaaa... That's awesome..." The girl mumbles, staring at the wonders of his Tao Mandalas. Matthew clenches his left fist and made a 'throw' gesture, the Tao Mandala changes into a disc and flew straight into the enemy's face and stomach before it ricochets back to Matthew.

The goon was hit by the attack and fell on the ground out cold.

"Hey, Bowler Hat. Maybe you should change your job requirements. What kind of application form did you give them anyways?"

"Hah, a jester now are we? You two are worth a cent. Truly you were. Well, Red and Blue. This has become an interesting evening for the three of us, but--" The Bowler Hat raises his cane, revealing that it was a gun. "I'm afraid this is where we part ways."

He fires his shot from his cane and Matthew answers quickly, casting the Shield of Seraphim to protect him and the girl.

"You okay?" Matthew turns his head and asks her.

"I'm fine, thank for you protecting me earlier. I'm Ruby."

"Matthew. A pleasure to fight alongside you, I'll help anyways even though those idiots tried to gang you up."

Matthew deactivates his spell and as the smoke clears out, the duo noticed that the Bowler Hat is gone. Ruby scans her eyes around until Matthew landed his sight on the building across the street.

"Ruby, look." Matthew points at Bowler Hat climbing the emergency ladder. Ruby understood the situation and the shopkeeper went outside to catch sight of the two. Ruby faces the shopkeeper and nods. "You okay if we go after him?"

The shopkeeper gave them a thumbs-up, saying that he was okay and the two started to chase after Bowler Hat. Ruby was about to climb the ladder when Matthew stops her.

"Hold it, Ruby. I have a way to go to the rooftop more quickly." Ruby tilts her head in confusion as she watches Matthew remove his scarf. "Let's fly."

"What are you-?!" Ruby cries out as Matthew floats with the help of the Cloak of Levitation. He grabs Ruby by her hand and the two reach the rooftop with ease. Ruby was amazed by Matthew's idea and she still is shocked that he can fly with his semblance. That's her theory in question.

'That was so cool! I'd never thought Matthew could fly! I need to ask his semblance late if I had the opportunity...' Ruby thought.

They cornered Bowl Hat on the edge of the rooftop as Ruby calls him out. Bowl Hat stopped in his tracks, with his back facing them.

"Annoying and persistent..." Bowl Hat muttered.

As soon as he said that, a loud buzzing noise was heard, revealing a VTOL aircraft called a Bullhead flying above them.

It opens its searchlight and aims it directly at them, temporarily obscuring their vision, and forcing them to protect their eyes with their hands.

This bought some time for the Bowl Hat guy as he climbed the aircraft's side door. Matthew notices this and he called Ruby in a loud tone since the aircraft is creating a loud screech. "Ruby, he's getting away!"

Ruby is having a hard time aiming at the aircraft because of the searchlight, so Matthew had to do it before the Bowl Hat guy could get away. He was about to cast an offensive spell when Bowl Hat turns around, a dust crystal in hand.

"End of the line, Red and Blue!" He shouted as he threw a red dust crystal at their feet. "So long!" He aims his cane at the crystal and Matthew moves automatically to protect him and Ruby.

"By the Shields of Seraphim, protect us from the enemy's attack," Matthew mumbles under his breath, and thankfully Ruby didn't take notice of it.

Matthew did a cross gesture and clenches his fist, creating an orange dome of eldritch magic, just in time to protect them from the incoming blast. In the last milliseconds, Matthew saw someone jumping in front of him, just outside his dome.

*BOOM!*

His eyes narrowed when he saw the stranger protecting them with her semblance. The first thing that Matthew noticed is the appearance and the color of her semblance.

'Is that magic?' Matthew thought but he shot the idea down as he shook his head. 'No, it looks like something more... It could be an extension of it, but judging the way of her weapon, err-- Is that a riding crop?'

Indeed it was a riding crop, a weapon of that lady as she adjusts her glasses, deactivates the purple shield, and went for a quick attack of mini energy missiles that rocks the Bullhead.

"Argh. We got a Huntress!" Bowler Hat moved to the cockpit and informs the pilot of the aircraft.

"I'll help," Matthew stated as the Huntress simply stares at him, not even making a reply. "Ruby, can you fire some shots at the cockpit?"

Ruby nods in affirmation as she readies her gun scythe, aiming at the cockpit's window. She fires some shots but she misses as the aircraft skillfully dodges all of them, this makes Matthew's eyebrows arch up in wonder.

"Huh, that didn't work," Matthew commented as the Huntress made a spell right above the Bullhead, and Matthew follows it with the Winds of Watoomb, controlling the direction of the air while the Huntress moves her arm down, letting out a storm of sharp icicles at the aircraft.

The aircraft now has a tough time flying due to the Winds of Watoomb and with the hail of ice striking it like rain, the other occupant of the aircraft came out and touches the metal of the Bullhead, freeing it from the icicles.

"What is that... I can sense... something." Matthew muttered as he watches the mysterious woman create a fireball, sending it toward them.

The Huntress created a barrier, protecting them. The mysterious woman goes after her attack as she lifts her hand.

"Ah, shi-!" Matthew jumps away from the blast and so as the others. He realized that the woman is sending her attack beneath their feet and he informs Ruby and the Huntress about it. "Her attacks usually do come beneath us, be careful."

"O-Okay!"

The wreckage from the earlier blast was picked up by the Huntress's semblance as it morphed into a merged debris that mirrors a needle.

'I see... So she had Telekinesis.' Matthew concluded as the Huntress lets out her shot at the aircraft, only for the mysterious woman to blast it out repeatedly.

Matthew decides to help again with casting the Bolts of Balthakk at the aircraft's left engine. Miraculously, the pilot of the aircraft dodges the combined attack narrowly, this causes Matthew to curse softly because the aircraft evaded their attack two times already.

The woman sends a wave of energy and this destroyed the flying debris that is troubling the Bullhead.

The Huntress and Matthew can only watch as the aircraft turns around in an attempt to fly away. Ruby, in a desperate manner, fires some blank shots at the aircraft, and Matthew finds this unlikely as the woman simply raises her hand to block the bullets with her semblance.

In a final move, the woman waved her hand in a curve and several heat blasts appeared below their feet.

"Hold on!" Matthew yelled as he did some hand gestures and slams it on the concrete. "By the Icy Tendrils of Ikthalon, freeze the entire rooftop!"

Her attack went ineffective as ice covered the rooftop before the heat blast could detonate. Matthew exhales as the cold wind escapes his lips and when he saw that it is already safe he deactivated the spell.

Ruby glances above, merely witnessing the aircraft flying away safely. Matthew sighs in tiredness as the Huntress glared at him.

"Uhh..." Matthew slowly raises his hands.

"Woah... You're a Huntress!" Ruby squealed as she stares at the Huntress with stars in her eyes. "C-Can I have your autograph?"

Matthew was about to escape when the Huntress traps the both of them in a gravitational ball as her response.

"Ahh, great. I was about to run away. Thanks for asking for her autograph, Ruby." Matthew rolls his eyes because he could easily escape the Huntress's binding but he was curious about the situation so he let himself go with the flow.

"Hey, it's not my fault, though. I was just asking a genuine question!"

"And you got your answer."

"..."

The Huntress mutters something inaudible while she carries the two away from the scene.