The Bloodied Thirty Pieces

13 - High Above the Chimney Tops

Ignoring the pain coursing through her body Ruby ran. Her side burned the most and she found that every breath sent a fresh wave of pain lancing through her torso. She ignored the pain, willing a little of her aura to lessen the worst of the injuries while conserving the rest. She knew Weiss and CRDL would put up a, meager, fight before they died and there was still three members of the other team to contend with.

A glint in front of her caught Ruby's eye and she skidded to a stop, just as the forest air was split by twin gunshots and the trees on either side of her splintered.

Swearing Ruby drew her scythed and looked for whoever had shot at her. He wasn't hard to find. Standing between a pair of thick trees in a simple red shirt with gold trim and buttons over a navy blue shirt, black pants to match his hair and black boots that came up to his mid thigh and were capped in white fur. In each hands was a revolver pistol with a long segmented piece of metal hanging from the bottom of the grip capped by a thick piece of metal. His navy-blue eyes stared at her coldly, making Ruby shiver under her glare.

"Step aside," the young girl yelled composing herself. The young man didn't answer, instead drawing the hammers of his weapons. Ruby tsked and dropped into a combat stance; she didn't think much of the guy before her with his simple civilian clothes, but his cool confidence gave her pause.

"I said step aside!" Ruby yelled and took a step forward. One of the guns discharged and Ruby felt it impact against her leg. The young girl yelped and stepped back; where the bullet hit stung, but her aura protected her from any harm more than a bruise.

"Drop the scythe," the man said in a thick Atlesian accent, drawing back the hammer of the gun. "And lay down on ground."

"I won't tell you again," Ruby growled, dropping into a stance ready to charge; the man didn't move nor did he speak. Ruby shook her head almost in pity of the man and ran, her eyes glowing bright as stars as she activated her semblance and closed the distance between the two in a matter of seconds. Ruby brought her scythe to bear, the large head glowing murderously in the sunlight as it cut across the man's chest, knocking him backwards. Ruby darted backwards out of range and readied herself again, eyes locking on her opponent.

The man, who had not moved to defend himself rolled his shoulders and stood to his full height, locking stares with Ruby unharmed and unfazed by her attack; the only sign that he had been hit was the large open gash to his clothes.

Ruby's jaw dropped at the sight. She had felt her sweetheart hit, saw it cut into his chest. How-

Ruby forced those thoughts from her head and charged again, aiming to take off the man's head. This time the man did respond, lifting his bare arm in front of his head he took the massive scythe blade as if it was nothing. Again Ruby darted back, this time she didn't prepare for another attack. She watched as the man lowered his arm, again unharmed, and zeroed in on the spot she had hit. Again her jaw dropped as she saw the man's skin was hard and mottled and colored a grayish-brown with several small blisters. As Ruby watched the strange disfiguration slowly faded and the man's skin returned to normal. Flicking her eyes to the man's face she caught the last of the semblance glow fade from his eyes and she understood.

"I hate your semblance already," Ruby said to the man as she raised her scythe; she knew this man wasn't going to let her pass and he wasn't going to go down easily. The man rolled his shoulders in what could pass for a shrug and threw his weapons in the air, catching them by the gun barrels and with a sharp snap of his wrists brought them down to rest by his side. The thick segmented metal that had been swinging loosely from the bottom of the weapons unfolded and extended, turning into a pair of metallic whips capped by a piece of metal.

"It has uses'" he replied, flicking his wrists so his whips unfurled and cracked in front of him; a bolt of electricity flew from the end of each, striking each other and hitting the ground with a small thunderclap. "Now drop the scythe and lay down on ground. You have already lost."