Free caught Ruby as a woman with orange hair emerged out of the forest line, riding an Ursa, the grimm fell dead as a man in a green shirt limped from behind the beast, exhausted.
"Whoa, never knew there would come a time when I'd be seeing lasses fall from the sky!" Free said as he let Ruby down, the four on the platform noticing a giant nevermore screeching upon the sky.
"Did you-? Ruby? Did you just ride on a nevermore?" Yang asked her sister, with Yelena noticing the sound of Weiss screaming whilst she held onto the dark bird.
"Hehe, well, this was a first for everyone..." Ruby chuckled as she rubbed the back of her head, grabbing a card without even turning to see what she got, their attentions were stolen once more as Pyrrha emerged out of the forest, being chased by a Death Stalker, the massive scorpion trying to cut and stab the young huntress. Yet as much as Pyrrha tried to dodge, the grimm stopped as it spun its tail, smacking her and sending her flying towards the crowd.
"Oh wow, everyone..." Yang sighed at the danger they now all found themselves in, yet, as they all began to gather in the stone platform, with Weiss using up her strength, she fell from the evermore, only to land on an unsuspecting Jaune, who walked right under where she was landing on.
"Now everyone is here..." Ruby corrected her sister. Yet, the chaos did not just stop there, as suddenly, the ground began to rumble as the huntsmen held onto each other.
"Now what?!" Free asked as he knelt down and planted one of his wood gauntlets onto the floor, right in front of them, the ground erupted as a large centipede grimm rose, screeching, all stared at it in disbelief...
Yet, Yelena stared at the 3rd grimm not because she was surprised, but she noticed ice covering one of the centipede's bone plating, she recognized that she may have awoken the giant creature during her strategic landing, as the ice may have reached far deeper to the ground than she had imagined...
"We... should be running about now..." Yelena said as she was the first to back off. Although she could probably fend off the first two monsters, with the new addition to the centipede grimm, fighting in a flatlands was less than ideal for her. Free, seeing Yelena's problem, also nodded.
"Our mission were those stupid cards, we'll be picked like flies if we take all three here!" He shouted as he threw a nearby stone at the nevermore, the force of impact being strong enough to ward off the flying grimm. Agreeing with the man, everyone took their own card as they rushed towards the cliffside, they soon noticed that it wasn't just any ordinary cliffside...
It was a bottomless ravine that met them, as the cliff was just at the other side of the ravine, they quickly noticed a series of abandoned stone structures that provided passage towards the other side. And walking onto the platforms, Yelena turned and created a frozen wall that stopped the Death Stalker, and although it proved fruitless as the centipede grimm tore it down by erupting underneath the wall, it gave them enough time to distance themselves, now finding themselves at what felt to be the main platform of the series of structures.
"Now what?" Pyrrha asked, the three incoming grimm now darting towards them, it was Jaune who surprisingly gave a plan.
"We each deal with one grimm." He said, with everyone agreeing to do so, Free interjected.
"You 8 will deal with those two, me and Yelena could handle the insect." He said as Yelena figured the man was going to say it, Jaune nodded as the 10 split off into 3 groups, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang against the Nevermore, and Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren on the Death Stalker.
"And what do you have in mind?" Yelena asked, walking to the side, she looked at Free before she turned to see the giant centipede wrap around a stone structure, screeching at them as Free nodded.
"Alright, it may sound stupid, but..." He smirked as Yelena listened, and as he finished, she sighed...
Following up on Free's plan, she created many ice curves around the series of structures they found themselves in, Free thanked the white rabbit as he saw an entire foundation turn to ice, and 50 meters below, a curve shot upwards. Taking a deep breath, Free took a single step and plummeted down to the abyss, sliding past the ice like he was ice skating, he built up speed as he shot his pistol backwards, increasing his thrust as he used wind dust for ammunition, he gritted his teeth as the ramp propelled him upwards into the air, barely dodging the centipedes' claws and jaws.
Yelena quickly cast more of her arts, freezing the centipede while making more twists and turns for Free to skate upon. Free's hands suddenly detached as it grappled onto the ice in front of him, propelling himself faster than the centipede could keep up, which was being slowed down by the ice.
The structures surrounding the centipede slowly became a sight of ice as Yelena kept up with the speeding man. Soon enough, the giant grimm was stuck as the ice ramps overwhelmed it, with the direction the ice slide Free skid across now feeling like a tornado of sharp jagged ice, Free's plan finally reached its climax as the final ramp he skids across launched himself higher than even the cliffs themselves. Yet, what happened next perplexed those who watched the performance, as Free engulfed himself into a ball of roses, increasing his speed and height temporarily.
"Wait... that's my semblance..." Ruby muttered as her plan also climaxed with using a series of platforms as a slingshot. Yet as he exited the ball of red, looking like the crescent moon, something even bizarre happened as he was just about to fall back to the ground. He instantly teleported forward, leaving a solid afterimage for him to stand on. But before he could blast off towards his target, a glyph began to form in between him and his afterimage, which allowed him to blast off as fast as a bullet downwards.
As he did, his speed only began to increase even further as he blasted his pistols up to the sky, now reaching the point even Yelena could hear the winds cutting past him. Yet, a final surprise awaited them all as Free engulfed himself in flames, his hair erupting in fiery gold, and finally... Impact.
BANG!
The impact was loud enough to send shockwaves throughout the whole entire forest, as the man punched the centipede, cracks began to form on its skin... then... the grimm exploded, body parts crashing onto the trees, other structures and even the cliff face at speeds almost faster than sound. Essentially vaporizing the giant grimm, he fell back down to the abyss, with Yelena catching him with her ice arts, she placed him beside her as the 7 approached the now tired Free, with a big smile on his face and Ruby left up on the cliff, the 7 also amazed on what Ruby did. It was just that Free was much closer to talk to.
"How... those are our semblances," Blake asked, still trying to digest Free's meteoric punch, Free laughed as he laid down on the concrete, the wooden plating loosening up for it to fall, revealing a series of machinery.
"My semblance allows me to borrow 5 other people's semblances on a one-time-use kind of deal." He explained, revealing on his shoulders 6 dotted lights, one of which was still had a light on it.
"Although the more semblances I take in would cause strain towards my body, that's what these two arms are for." Yet, as he finished explaining, Weiss noticed something familiar with the machinery hidden under the decorative pieces of wood, looking further, she gasps at it.
"Wait, these are military-grade atlas technology, wher-"
"Sometimes princess... A man has to keep his secrets. Now can anyone help me up? I can't raise my back..." Free laughed it off as Yelena only looked up to the edge of the cliff, waving at the red youth, Ruby waved back energetically as they all waited for their extraction from their destination...
~~~
The oranged-hair man slammed his scroll down to the table as he took a smoke from his cigar. Sighing, he looked at a briefcase filled with dust in front of him, then behind him, where a small army stood in front of him, all wearing the same bone-white mask that covered their face.
"This much wouldn't be enough for what they're planning... I really need those two."
