Chapter 9: Changing Faces

Blake stood in a dark room. Faceless bodies were piled across the floor. She looked down and saw her weapons. She looked up, met with the eyes of a doe faunus. She looked back down, her blade was in the doe faunus, her hands covered in blood. Blake stumbled backward in horror. "You murdered me, you animal." The doe faunus spoke in a monotone. Blake suddenly found herself being jerked forward by a chain attached to the collar, her wrists now chained behind her back. She propped herself up to find her mirror image staring back down at her, holding the chain attached to her collar. "Now they'll see you for the animal you truly are!"

Blake awoke with a start. Realising she was in her hotel room, she caught her breath and lay back down. The details of the previous day were hazy, but she could still see the face of the faunus she had executed in cold blood. Blake curled up, nuzzling into Yang's warm chest, before falling back asleep.

Ruby and Weiss walked through the streets of downtown Atlas, enjoying the crisp early spring air. They had been taking walks like this every morning through different parts of the city, enjoying the scenery and taking their mind off of the mysterious threat for a few precious hours of the day. Sometimes they had conversations during their walks. Sometimes they never said a word. Sometimes they would pass comments back and forth. This day, though, Ruby had something weighing on her mind.

"How long do you think all of this will take?" Ruby asked Weiss.

"How long what will take?" Weiss asked, unsure about what Ruby meant with her question.

"You know, this whole situation with Kelas and the Coalition and Blake's nightmares and all this crazy stuff?" Ruby stopped to look Weiss in the eye. "When are we going to have time for us, Weiss? Even before all of this crazy stuff started happening I was always busy with missions and you were always busy with the dust company." Ruby looked down at the sidewalk, nervous about her partner's response.

"We'll make time, Ruby." Weiss took Ruby's hands. "The sooner we take care of this situation with Kelas, the sooner we'll be able to have some time to ourselves. Now come on, there's a place just around the corner that has the BEST coffee and cookies." Weiss marched forward, pulling Ruby along with her.

Cinder smiled, stepping out of the alley way she was hiding in. Her target, the red hooded brat that had ruined her plans five years ago, was just enjoying a morning walked, unarmed and off guard. Just to add icing to her proverbial cake, the CEO of the Schnee Dust Company was with her, in the very same position. Cinder moved to follow the two unsuspecting huntresses, only to run into something that wasn't there the moment before.

"Cinder Fall." the silvery haired wolf faunus who seemed to appear out of nowhere stated. "How predictable, for you to show up here."

"And who might you be?" Cinder asked, taking a few steps back and readying for a fight.

"Commander Lupa Silbermond, at your service." Lupa said tauntingly, bowing to Cinder. "I'm going to be the one hauling you back to prison."

Lupa drew his sword, dodging a fire blast from Cinder and darting in to unleash a flurry of rapid jabs which Cinder countered with small shields of fire. Lupa continued his relentless and expert assault, dancing around Cinder and landing cut after cut on her through her defences. Cinder tried desperately to keep up with his attack, but was forced to a knee when he nicked the back of her leg with a blow. With the point of his blade to Cinder's throat, the Commander claimed victory, having a security team return Cinder Fall to prison.

"Hey, have you seen Cinder?" Roman asked, entering the office of the warehouse.

"She left." Kelas tossed back casually. "Wanted to fulfill her silly delusions of revenge. The Atlesian Intelligence Committee, or rather it's leader, predicted this move. Now she's back in prison."

"We gonna bust her out?" Roman asked, laying on the couch, with Neo's lap as a pillow.

"No. I offered her protection, she went off on her own and got caught. She's on her own now." Kelas replied.

"Good riddance." Roman said, closing his eyes.

"We need to work on your fighting." Kelas said, turning around.

"In case you haven't noticed, fighting isn't exactly my thing." Roman said, sitting up and looking the taller man in the eye. "I'm more of the type to talk my way out of situations."

"You can't talk your way out of every situation. You ended up in prison because a bunch of students we're better at fighting than you." Kelas said, moving towards the door. "Come on, we'll start with your hand-to-hand combat."

"Don't have to rub it in…" Roman muttered, getting up and exiting the office, Neo following quickly, eager to watch.

Roman and Kelas moved to a part of the warehouse that was void of any equipment. Readying himself into a hand-to-hand stance, Kelas spoke. "Defend yourself." He dashed in, jabbing with his right hand, which Roman easily blocked. Kelas feigned a high kick, Roman falling for the ruse, guarded high before taking a kick to the ribs and being sent tumbling. Roman got up, holding his side in pain.

"I'm not exactly suited towards fighting someone like you." he groaned out.

"For the time being, I'm only going to give you as much of a challenge as a single one of those Hunters would." Kelas stated, crossing his arms. "Can you not use your aura?"

"That's never been my strong suit either." Roman stated pointedly.

Kelas dashed forward again, kicking for Roman's head. Roman ducked just in time and rolled away, before being forced to avoid a follow-up punch towards the rib cage. "You still haven't taught me how to fight, why the hell are you attacking me?" Roman complained, doing his best to dodge and block the incoming blows.

"The quickest way to train reflexes and ability is to put your life on the line." Kelas said as Roman dodged a spear-handed strike towards the throat.

"Wait, you're going to keep this up until it kills me?!" Roman panicked, dodging another kick towards the head.

"Whether or not you die is entirely up to you." Kelas said, throwing a combo of punches at Roman's rib cage. "Make the decision to live at any cost and you will improve. Remove all doubt from your mind. When you enter a fight, don't hope that you'll win, decide that you WILL win. When you strike, don't hope for the hit to land, decide that you WILL hit your target. Only then will victory be within your grasp."

Roman focused, preparing himself for the next wave of attacks. He dodged the initial jab at his face, blocked the kick that followed it, weaved around a flurry of attacks before jumping a leg sweep and landing into a roll out of the way of an elbow strike. This continued for hours, Roman beginning to block and dodge faster and recovering from what he couldn't avoid quicker. A roundhouse kick sped towards the side of Roman's head, Roman lifting his arms to block. The impact lifted him from his feet and threw him across the room. He landed with a roll, quickly regaining his balance and readying himself for the next attack.

"Very good. You've passed." Kelas said, relaxing his stance. "Take 30 minutes to catch your breath, then we'll work on your attacks.

The training dragged on into the night, weapons being brought in and the lessons turning into simple sparring matches. As Roman's abilities improved, Kelas ramped up the difficulty of the fights. The two danced around each other, trading blows at a blinding pace. Every attack Kelas threw at Roman was either blocked or dodged, a counter blow following an instant later each time.

As the two broke away from their melee, Kelas stopped and stretched. "We're done." he stated simply, sitting on a nearby crate.

"Wait, that's it?" Roman asked, confused.

"You held up for an hour straight fighting at double the pace I kept against the Hunters a few nights ago." Kelas stated matter-of-factly. "Even an elite Hunter or two shouldn't be a problem for you."

Ruby and Weiss walked back to their hotel, enjoying the cool and quiet of the evening in a usually bustling city. As they approached their hotel, Ruby spoke up.

"I really needed today, thank you Weiss." Ruby said, holding Weiss' hands in her own.

"I needed today too, Ruby." Weiss smiled back, leaning in and kissing the red hooded girl.

The pair continued into the hotel and up to their room, Weiss locking the door behind them. The two stripped to their underwear, Ruby lifting Weiss onto the bed and kissing her deeply. Ruby crawled onto Weiss, kissing down her neck before nipping softly. Weiss ran her hands through Ruby's long dark red hair, pulling her into an embrace. The two took turns with their gentle playfulness, slowly growing more passionate. They embraced as their passion grew, spending the night to ease the tension that had been building between them.

"So, what's our next move?" Roman asked, sipping his coffee and lighting a cigar. He sat on the couch of the warehouse office, Kelas seated in a chair across the table from him.

"I want to learn more about the creatures called 'Grimm' that exist in this world. We might be able to use them to our benefit in some way." Kelas said, opening a flask and pouring a dark red liquid from it down his throat. "Also, I'm running out of blood elixir. I'll either need to either find a way to obtain more or find an alternate method of maintaining my power, and these 'Grimm' could serve as a possible source."

"Wait, you mean to tell me that you can't maintain your powers here?" Roman asked in shock.

"My home is in a space between dimensions." Kelas started. "This space has an abundance of negative energy which is the energy that powers my dark magics. This elixir is made from the blood of Fallen Angels, then fermented in concentrated pools of dark energy. The beings from my universe that rely off of dark energy have the option of drinking this elixir to maintain their power in areas where dark energy is not plentiful. If this elixir is not available, the most common fallback is to feed off of negative energy produced by mortals. Emotions such as fear, hatred, sorrow, jealousy, and greed serve as an excellent source, but are only available in small amounts. To produce the amount of energy required to maintain my power, I would have to create a massive disaster that would consume this entire city, which would set back many of the events I have set in motion."

"And since Grimm are creatures of pure negativity, they could serve as an easy substitute." Roman concluded. "There isn't a way you can get more of this elixir? Like, maybe you could bring some back from your realm?"

"To open a gate directly into The Void from here would upset the balance in this universe irreparably, and unless you have a Fallen Angel or other generic corrupted divine being available there's no way I could synthesize more of the elixir." Kelas explained.

"So, where are we going to find the Grimm you need?" Roman asked, taking another sip of coffee.

"A forest outside your Kingdom of Vale, known as Forever Fall. I've read that Grimm concentrations there are unusually high." Kelas stated.

"That's a ways away." Roman responded. "If we use that dimensional gate of yours, the AIC will track us down and we'll probably be attacked by those Hunters again."

"I'm counting on it. It's about time I checked in on a little experiment that I set in motion." Kelas grinned, earning a raised eyebrow from Roman. "My sword, known as Miðnætti Brún, is a blade forged almost purely from dark energy. The energy oozes from the blade like a poison, corrupting anything it cuts. In those it kills, the energy destroys the body and soul, leaving nothing left of the being slain by it except for a pile of corrupted ash. However, if a victim is not slain, the dark energy infects the wound and seeps into the mind of the victim. In minor beings that are not attuned with arcane energies of any sort, the corruption takes hold in a matter of minutes and enslaves the mind of the victim. In more powerful beings, however, the corruption can take days or weeks to sink in resulting in a much more agonizing transformation."

"Sounds pretty scary." Roman said, gazing off in thought before what the God had said clicked. "Wait, didn't you slash that faunus Huntress across the back?"