The Breach was today.
The fact that I was almost giddily excited about that instead of worried of something going wrong showed how cooped up I was feeling at Beacon.
Sparing the students in class was fine – pretty fun at times, even – but constantly holding back was grating. Not helped by the fact the older faculty was simply too busy or uninterested in a match of their own.
So while I should probably be worrying if my preparations would be enough to keep the city safe from most of the upcoming damage, all I could think of was how exciting it was to have a chance to fully cut loose again.
Something I should probably get under control soon, because I think my barely hidden battlelust was starting to scare the civilians.
While I wasn't wandering through the streets with a slasher smile giggling like a lunatic, something about me was broadcasting a feeling of unease clearly enough that I actually saw a few people stop and turn around when they saw me coming towards them.
Normally, that would be something I'd feel bad about and attempt to reign in, but in this case it allowed me to spot the obvious tail I'd picked up following me through the city. Faunus, male, and outfitted in something that wasn't quite a combat uniform but probably came from the store next door. And going by the fact he kept reaching for something behind his back every so often while I acted like I couldn't see him from various reflections, definitely armed.
So now the question was, what exactly was he following me for?
If I was feeling charitable, he was simply following me to make sure the person freaking everyone else out just walking down the street wasn't about to snap in the middle of the street. But the fact he hadn't tried to get my attention or warn anyone else away made that at least slightly unlikely.
He definitely wasn't a random mugger or something like that either. Those types usually went for easy targets, not visibly armed Huntresses.
On a hunch I turned into a random shop and pretended to look around for a while.
My stalker didn't follow me in, but I could see him circle around the street so he could wait for me to come back out without looking too suspicious.
So definitely following me specifically. And he wasn't alone anymore either.
Someone dressed almost identically to my stalker had joined him and was standing with his back to the store I was in, yet coincidentally not blocking his friend's vision at all meaning he could keep a direct eye for anyone leaving.
Well that was interesting, it seemed the White Fang was coming out to play even though they were planning to destroy this area. Either this was a sacrificial team meant to keep me away from the area after I poked around the other day, or they thought they could deal with me fast enough it wouldn't be an issue.
Now the question was, what did I want to do with that information?
It would be pretty easy to slip my tail if I wanted to. Haste would let me basically vanish from the area before the two White Fang could even get close and I doubted both of them had a superspeed Semblance to keep up if I ran, and that was just one of the most straightforward options available to me.
Another option was to just ignore them. One or two followers wouldn't make much of a difference to me and once the Breach began I doubted they would try whatever they were planning. Or if they did, it would only distract me for a little bit until I dealt with them. But that ran the risk of them doing something Stupid when I'd have several other things occupying my attention at a time I couldn't afford any distractions.
Which meant I could just confront them and settle things right away.
As long as I didn't care about bystanders possibly getting caught up if things turned violent, that is.
…although… how hard would it be to find a somewhat secluded area nearby?
I did a quick check through a mental map of the area and realised there was a loading bay not far from the store I was in. Partially secluded, not much foot traffic, and no delicate things people would care about if things got violent…
Well then, it looked like I made my decision.
I left the store and after a quick glance confirmed my two followers were actually following me, made my way towards my chosen arena.
The two Fang members must have known they were caught because they didn't bother their bad attempts at avoiding attention behind me and were now just walking out in the open. One of them even had his scroll out – making a call. Probably for a few more of his friends to come find us now that they weren't bothering with stealth.
I was quickly proven right when I walked into the loading bay and found another two masked White Fang members already standing there with their weapons in hand. The ones following me quickly spread out a bit and retrieved their own weapons and masks.
"..."
I waited patiently for a bit, but it seemed like the Fang members weren't in a hurry to get started. Either waiting for more people or just taking the time to plan things out. I was a bit eager to get going though.
"So, any particular reason you're following me?" I asked as the familiar weight of Kanshou and Bakuya dropped into my hands. "Is this about your Grimm worshiping bosses? Maybe an attempt by your other bosses to not have that little fact spread around so much? Or was this just a funny coincidence?"
"Roman wants you brought in. That's all anyone needs to know." One of my opponents growled at me as he hefted his weapon at me, some sort of cleaver with a shotgun running through the spine of the blade.
The only one with some kind of dedicated ranged option too, since two of them had gauntlet style weapons and the last one had a collapsable spear.
Pretty basic as far as things went, not personalized either. These four must only have been slightly higher-ranked minions than normal. I'd be insulted if I didn't know despite its reputation, the White Fang didn't have many elite fighters all across Remnant.
"Four vs one. Hardly a fair fight." I remarked as I brought up my own blades. "You should have brought more friends if you wanted this to be closer."
They didn't like that.
The one with the spear snarled at me and lunged forward. He was hasty though, and I easily smacked his thrust away while the two gauntlet wielders circled around from the sides – too far away to take advantage of any opening the spear-user might have caused – all while the one with the cleaver cursed at his teammates and rushed to join in.
One of the gauntlet wielders was faster than the other and tried to pressure me while his comrade moved behind me. I dodged his first punch and used Bakuya to parry the second while Kanshou sliced at his side only to slam into his Aura. The second one was ready to attack by then but had to back off when the spear-user mistimed his attack again, allowing me to deflect it into the second gauntlet-user's path.
By then Cleaver had a clear shot with his shotgun. I quickly dashed out of the way when he fired and was actually impressed when he used the recoil to build momentum for his own attack. At least until I saw it was a blatantly telegraphed slash I stopped with Kanshou this time and drove him off with a solid kick to his solar plexus.
To their credit, it didn't take them long to fall into a rhythm that had them alternating who was attacking me while reducing how exposed they were to any counter attacks. But the issue for them was that they simply weren't good enough. Their teamwork was entirely focused on just staying out of each other's way. There was no attempt to coordinate or combine attacks between members even when it became obvious I could parry or dodge what they were throwing at me as I danced through their attacks and chipped away at their Auras when I had the chance.
Honestly? The first years I taught at Beacon were better than these four. Which was actually more a comment on how good my students had gotten over the previous semester rather than a mark against four random terrorists that probably hardly ever fought together.
Spear and Cleaver tried a pincer attack while I was slightly lost in my own head, but I managed to duck around both attacks. Spear missing when I bent around his weapon, and Cleaver when his shotgun fired at where my head used to be – going off in Spear's face instead.
Spear was blasted away by the shot and I turned around and crossed my swords across Cleaver's chest. Going by how he let out a pained groan as the blades hit and quickly backed off so the two Gauntlets could move in I was willing to bet his Aura was close to breaking.
It was actually Gauntlet Two's Aura that broke first. Because as fun as it was to have a no holds barred fight after so long, I was still on a schedule. When he overcommitted to a punch, instead of lightly punishing the opening like I'd been doing previously, I launched into a devastating combo of slashes targeting his arm, torso, neck, and head before brutally kicking him into a nearby wall where his Aura finally shattered and he fell to the ground, unconscious.
The other three kept attacking, but everyone knew that the tide of battle had shifted solidly in my favor.
Spear was the next to fall. He attempted to make up for Gauntlet Two's absence with raw aggression, but that just left him with a bunch of openings I was happy to take advantage of. His Aura broke when I got too close and swept his feet out from under him before spiking him into the pavement with a stab to the chest.
Cleaver and Gauntlet One shared a look that practically screamed they knew they were screwed, but more credit to them they didn't look like they were just going to give up. It was time to end this though. For the first time of the fight I went completely on the offensive. Not by charging the remaining duo, but by suddenly hurling one of my swords and Gauntlet One.
The sudden move caught him partially by surprise, but he was able to deflect it. Barely.
He managed to deflect the second one as well.
The third caught him completely by surprise, and that was before the first two blades boomeranged around to hit him in the back – finally shattering his Aura and leaving only one.
And I felt he deserved a reward for being the last one standing, I thought as I pulled out my new pistol shaped device.
"Accel Shot!" I intoned as a small yellow spell circle appeared at the end of the barrel.
Smaller and more focused than my usual goto Nova Blast spell and now no longer restricted to single use devices that burned out no matter how powerful the blast I used, I had no issues firing the magical blast that broke through the rest of Cleaver's Aura, even in a populated city. Although, I couldn't help but be impressed when Cleaver actually stayed standing despite his Aura shattering. Something a second shot fixed soon enough but the fact I had to shoot twice was surprising.
"Good thing this version has a non-lethal mode." I murmured as I looked around at the four unconscious terrorists. "Now then, time to call the VPD and let them come pick you up while I wait for–"
A massive crash in the distance interrupted me. Something that could only have been the Breach.
My eyes widened as I realised that I'd misjudged how much time I'd had and wasted so much of it playing with the White Fang. I needed to get over there NOW!
"Guess you four got lucky. Do yourselves a favor and get out of your terrorist club now before you do something you can't take back." I had no idea if any of them could hear me, but I also couldn't hang around either.
Another spell circle appeared under my feet as I cast Haste and vanished in a blur.
I had a tragedy to avert!
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