The Banished Guardian

Chapter 7: Old Vendettas

Gryphon: That confident, huh?

Nix: The only reason Pyrrha won the tournament in Mistral, is because I left before the finals. Ozpin invited me to Beacon then.

They walked in to the elevator and pressed the top floor button. Gryphon closed his hand and a Stasis arrow formed in his grasp. Nix adjusted her collar and shadows began to rise from beneath it like smoke.

The elevator door opened to nothing but a room full of cubicles and blank screens. Gryphon notched his arrow as Nix made a shushing motion with her finger and pointed to one specific cubicle, it's shadow more specifically.

Nix: You, at the third cubicle in the back. I can feel your shadow moving. Give up without a fight and your chances of escaping jail go from none to slim.

From behind the called out cubicle, a girl in all black slowly rises into sight. The moment Nix sees her, her body goes rigid. She immediately puts her hand in front of Gryphon as more shadow pours from her collar, nearly obscuring her entire face as deep indigo aura surrounds her body.

Nix: She's mine.

A katana made of shadows was constructed in the hand that was blocking Gryphon. The masked girl's expression quickly changed from one of confidence to one of fear. She produced a small case of dust from her belt and threw it on the ground, causing the dust to create a cloud around her. The cloud gathers and creates spikes that fire forward like bullets.

Nix put her katana in the sheathe position and waited. When they got close, her sword came out like lightning as she evicerated everything nearby, cubicles and spikes alike. Then she sprinted forward towards the enemy, leaving a trail like black ink on a Japanese painting from the Meiji period. The girl summoned a pair of blades and clashed with Nix's blade.

Nix: I knew you'd come straight to me if I stayed near Ozpin. I'll cripple you just like you crippled her!

Nix's blade passed through hers, landing her a clean blow that she follows up with a blast of shadow to the stomach. It was then that Gryphon noticed Nix's lack of Shadow. The girl went flying through through the cubicles before Nix plunges her hand into the shadows around her, ripping them upward like a whip and slamming the girl into the ceiling. Black lightning arced around Nix's body as she watched the girl fall from the dent in the ceiling. She shot forward and caught her by the neck, slamming her against the wall. The shadows had completely encompassed Nix's face, leaving only white dots where her eyes are. Those white orbs bore into the girl's soul.

Nix: This has been a long time coming. I would leave you alive to send a message to "Her", but having you dead is more effective.

In a rapid movement, Nix drew her hand back and the shadows formed a claw around it. She drove her clawed hand into the girl's side, eliciting a shout of pain as the shadows began to spread through the wound.

???: What's going on here?!

Nix and Gryphon looked back to see that General Ironwood had come from the elevator with his weapon drawn and two guards accompanying him. Seizing the opportunity, the girl took a canister of dust from hip and used her Semblance on it, causing it to explode.

Nix felt a sudden barrage of pain and blacked out.

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