RWBY: The Son of Salem (Volume 6-7)

Chapter Two: The Ashen Rose

-White Fang Headquarters.-

"Hey! It's Adam!" A White Fang soldier exclaimed. "I heard that you fled and left our brothers and sisters behind to save your own skin."

"Step aside." Adam demanded.

"Why should we?" Another member asked. "The White Fang doesn't follow weak leaders. Or leaders who abandon their people."

"The great Adam Taurus, fleeing with his tail between his legs." A third member sneered before spitting at Adam's feet. "Yeah right! You failed at Beacon and Haven! You left our brothers and sisters behind after you ran from both battles! Some great leader you are, boy! Sienna was right to-"

The member suddenly went silent before his body collapsed onto the floor. His head parted from his shoulders in a flash.

"Hey!" The first member shouted before he screamed in pain as Adam cut him down next.

The throne room was then filled with the sounds of combat and screams, as Adam killed the guards that stood in his way, before it all went quiet. The floor was littered with dead Faunus and blood flowed freely as Adam himself was covered in it. Wither was stained a deeper crimson than normal as the Bull Faunus stood before his throne. He was the High Leader of the White Fang. His word was law, and his might unmatched. He had an army. He had weapons! He had POWER!

Now he had nothing.

All because of Blake, Silver, their human friends, and Salem. His breath quickened as unbridled rage surged through him, and with a roar, he brought Wither down upon the throne splitting it in two with a Semblance empowered strike. They had taken everything from him. Everything. Except his rage and hunger for revenge.

And he would start with Blake. The traitor who hurt him the most.

Sending someone behind him, Adam spun around and saw a figure wearing a cloak as black as night and a mask which bore a neutral expression. He looked male, Adam deduced that much, but his features were hidden. The figure just stood between the bodies of the Faunus he had just butchered and just... Looked at him. No. Look through him.

"Stop staring at me." He hissed. "It's annoying."

The figure just shrugged. It was like he wasn't afraid of Adam at all, and that irritated the Bull Faunus to no end. His hand grabbed his sword and he readied himself to attack this brave fool who stood before him.

"If you want to die so bad, then let me oblige you!" Adam shouted as he lunged at the figure and struck.

Only to hit nothing but air, as a grave chuckle sounded from all around him.

"It's always the cocky ones that think they can beat me." Death said. "They think they're unkillable up until the moment their life ends. But, the result is always the same. They die, and I shepherd them to the next life. I've lost count of how many times you've died, Adam. In every instance, your rage and obsession is your undoing."

"Show yourself, coward!" Adam shouted. "Come out and fight!"

Death merely laughed at the challenge.

"I don't need to fight you, Adam." The Grim Reaper replied. "But don't worry, becerra. We'll see each other again. Soon, if this instance follows the norm. Until then, pecqueño toro."

With that, Death left Adam to his own devices and to seethe and rage at the insults that he hurled at the Bull Faunus. He understood Vytalian, he knew what the words Death had called him meant. He made a mental note to kill him the next time he saw him.

For now, he had a stray cat and its human girlfriend to kill.

-Team RWBY and ORNJ house. October 10th. A few days after the Assault on Haven.-