[Discontinued] Yet Another World (Re:ZeroxRWBY)

12. Battle of the Assassins

She widened her eyes in surprise at her suddenly speaking to her so casually. She began to internally ponder what she meant by that, so she asked in response. "Well, what do you know about little ol' me, then?" Hyena responded.

"I know your real name and the things we do together, even down to your favorite private pass-times. At least before you became what you are now, Scarlet Blackhall. You're just not what you seem to be." She uttered her name in full confidence, earning her a confused look from her opponent.

Hyena can only growl hearing that name as a response before declaring, "I'm not what you think I am!"

Hyena immediately swung down her broken sword, followed by an upwards vertical swing from her second sword. Sending a pair of powerful wind blades homing towards her opponent.
Both of the crimson wind blades shattered the paved road underneath them. Travelling with increasing velocity, exceeding the speed of sound within a fraction of a second of their existence. She smiled and laughed, but out of anger and frustration instead of satisfaction.

"Amplify, 50%"

Indigo brought out a pair of black needles and swiftly threw them to the ground shortly after uttering the activating words of her semblance, Dust Amplification. They shattered and shortly after conjured two layers of walls made out of pure hard light, stronger now with the help of it being amplified, countering the pair of wind blades just in the nick of time. Both forces clashed, forcing the wind blades to burst into a shockwave, kicking up massive amounts of dust and rubble, destroying the hard light walls immediately at the same time, protecting Indigo from the sudden attack.

"What the!?"

Hyena's response was immediately cut short. Out of the smoke, Indigo charged in with an overhead strike.
Hyena barely managed to parry her before backing off and replied with a diagonal swing. Indigo parried it and went for a quick thrust. Hyena managed to dodge to the side, pivoting and going for a hard kick to her chest. Indigo backed off as soon as she recovered from the hit. She charged in once more with her sword now split into a pair of twin blades.

"If you know me so well, how about we dance so I can know you better to compensate?" Said Hyena, countering Indigo's strike, aided by the momentum of the charge, shortly after.

"With pleasure, Scarlet." She replied with a small smile beneath her mask, earning a growl of annoyance once more from the crimson-bladed opponent, which made her charge head on to Indigo's guard after she had backed off.

They began to exchange strikes and parries in quick succession. Both are of equal force and skill, and their speed gradually increases to the point that even Subaru's eyes are having a hard time trying to track them down. Weiss however, was more or less indifferent, but definitely in awe at how in sync they are. In both of their eyes, the entire fight up to the point of Indigo splitting her swords was more akin to a brutal exchange of powerful forces of nature. But this current one is more akin to a dance of swords, Indigo leading her opponent's moves by being defensive, baiting her to attack in order to tire her out.

Like the fight between Reinhard and Garfiel Subaru had witnessed back in Pristella, Indigo is precise and composed on the defense. Hyena, or Scarlet as she calls her, is more aggressive, reckless, and desperate as she goes for the offense. He can see the balance of power being overall equal, both sides knowing what to do despite the differences in their current mood in the fight itself.

Indigo has backed off several times now. Parrying and deflecting blow after blow. No opportunity to do a finishing blow that wouldn't possibly kill the opponent in front of her. She knows that this is going nowhere. She has to find a way to break the balance.

She began with a series of backflips to get her intended distance. Deactivating one of her swords and putting it back onto her belt to bait Hyena in. It was a risky maneuver, but it was one that she was willing to take. Hyena as expected charged in, and she replied with a swift kick to her face after deflecting her blows with the single sword on her off-hand. Another one to her kidneys, and the last one to the chest. Hyena backed off, furious.