116 Confronting Black

Emerald, Neopolitan, Argint, Melanie, and Miltia stood in front of me with their travel bags packed in my condo in Vale, and I asked them.

" Okay, does everyone have everything they need?"

" I think we're good, Silva."

The mint-haired girl answered, and I gave everyone one last warning.

" Just to remind all of you, I will not run back and forth from our campsites to civilization, as that would defeat the purpose of camping in the first place. Another thing is that if any of you discover that you hate camping, I will send you back at your request, but you won't be able to rejoin the trip later after you leave. With this in mind, are there any objections?"

They all shook their heads, and I then opened a portal to Raven's camp near the Anima construction sight. The twins saw the Drake and asked me in an incredulous tone.

" Silva, what on Remnant is that?!"

" The hover assault craft that I built for this trip."

I answered with a satisfied smirk at their reaction, and Melanie then said.

" We were honestly expecting something like an RV or mobile home for this trip, not a freaking armored assault vehicle armed with a cannon!"

Miltia nodded in agreement with her more brash twin, and while I enjoyed their reactions, I felt a tug on my shirt. I turned to see Neopolitan looking at me with excitement as she pointed at the turret, and I got the message.

" No, Neo, you can not fire the turret on the Drake, as that is only for emergencies when facing large Grimm or high concentrations of them and possibly bandits."

The tri-colored girl pouted, which only served to make her cuter because I was not budging on this issue, as that turret I built could do a lot of undue destruction if not handled with care. I am under no illusion that Neopolitan would randomly fire the cannon just for the sake of it, so I am keeping the security locks on it unless there is a need for that kind of firepower. Raven appeared from her tent and walked up to me to kiss me on the cheek as a greeting.

" Good to see you, Silva."

" Right back at you, Raven."

I returned the kiss, and Melanie then demanded.

" Silva, who in the world is she?!"

Oh, right now that I think about it, the twins never met the former bandit chief before better give some introductions.

" This is Raven Branwen; my adoptive mother turned lover, and Raven, the one in white, is Melanie, and the one in red is Miltia. They are Lil' Miss's twin daughters, whom she abandoned after her failed attempt to take over Vale's criminal underground from the Xiong family."

The twins gaped at me and then screeched incredulously in unity.

" YOUR F*CKING YOUR MOTHER?!"

" Adoptive mother, and yes."

I corrected them, and they both stood there as their minds froze, trying to process this information. I did feel a bit proud that I got Miltia to cuss, as she was very polite by nature. Raven smirked in amusement as she commented.

" I think you broke them."

I just grinned in reply, then dragged the two girls to the Drake along with their bags and strapped them in as the rest of the girls got ready for our first stop. I called out to everyone.

" Is everyone ready to go?"

" Just go already, Silva!"

Miltia and Melanie recovered from their shock and replied with annoyance. I shrugged and opened a portal to my first destination before I could begin this road trip in earnest.

" Next stop, Argus."

***

Pyrrha Nikos went through her stances with her newly forged weapons, Milo and Akouo. Milo is a red and gold xiphos-javelin-rifle mech-shift weapon, and Akouo is a golden Dipylon-style shield. They covered the redhead's desire for a versatile fighting style that covered her bases in close, mid, and long-range with defense. As she practices in the park within Argus near her home, Pyrrha felt excited at participating in the Mistral Regional Cup again to get a rematch with Silva. Her control over her Semblance Polarity has drastically improved since she took up making mosaics with colored iron sand.

The redhead felt thankful to the snow leopard faunus for the advice, as she has come to enjoy expressing herself artistically through the training method he told her about. Pyrrha's combat outfit now has more metallic accessories to use her Semblance to subtly boost her strength and speed by using magnetism on her accessories to hit hard and avoid quicker. Plus, the redhead's Semblance underwent a small evolution that made her able to sense all the metal in her surroundings through the daily practice she undertakes.

Pyrrha wanted to win against Silva to show her progress and also see how much he has undoubtedly improved as well. The Mistral Regional Cup won't happen until toward the end of Winter Break, which is still months away. Still, nonetheless, the polite Spartan looked forward to facing the snow leopard faunus again. She grew tired from hours of stance training and shadow fighting and took a break to rehydrate. Despite the colder weather, Pyrrha kept up her training regimen by using her Aura to keep herself warm.

As the polite Spartan sat down on the park bench to rest, she heard a voice she hadn't heard in months.

" Still training hard, I see, Pyrrha."

Pyrrha's eyes widened as she saw Silva, and she greeted him with a smile.

" Hello~."

" Hey."

" What brings you to Argus, Silva?"

The snow leopard faunus walked up to her and said.

" I'm mainly getting some information for a road trip across Anima I am planning with my family. Some local maps, known places where different bandit tribes reside, good fishing spots along the west coast, and Lake Matsu and any unique Grimm I should give a wide berth. That sort of thing, you know."

" That sounds lovely but dangerous, Silva. Do be careful, okay?"

Silva smiled at Pyrrha as he thanked her.

" Thank you for your concern Pyrrha; it's appreciated. Since I am here, do you want to spar?"

" It would be my pleasure."

The polite Spartan finished her break and recovered her Aura, then set her Scroll to monitor her Aura levels. The snow leopard faunus took out his blue and black pole axes which surprised his opponents as she knew that he knew about her Semblance. Pyrrha then commented on Silva's weapons of choice.

" I thought you would bring out that massive black conjured polearm you used against me in the tournament or face me unarmed."

The snow leopard faunus didn't bother with idle chatter and showed the black Aura blade formed from the ax in his right paw. The polite Spartan's eyes widened as she saw a weapon like that before, and she kept her guard up. Silva then asked as he took his stance.

" How about I let you make the first move?"

Pyrrha could see how confident her opponent was and took up his offer without hesitation as she thrust her javelin at him. The snow leopard faunus parried the strike with casual ease by increasing the size of the ax blade to give him greater range, then counter-attacked with a horizontal swipe which made his opponent block with her shield and skid a few feet back from the sheer force behind the attack. The polite Spartan's Aura absorbed most of the blow but still felt a slight numbness to her shield arm.

Pyrrha wasn't deterred but instead excited as she was facing a challenge from someone in her age group. None of her classmates could last long against her, and the teachers rarely sparred with her as they were, much to their embarrassment, out of practice due to the cushy life of a teacher. While the polite Spartan felt tempted to use her rifle, she couldn't within the city limits in public as there was a risk of crossfire and harming civilians. She instead threw her shield, which made Silva deflect the projectile with a swing of his ax, and Pyrrha closed the distance to slip into his flank.

Before the polite Spartan could launch her next attack, she was met with a rising slash from the blue ax. As Pyrrha blocked the attack, she found herself electrocuted by the Aura-powered feature of the weapon, which made her tumble away to avoid further contact. Silva turned to face her, and she decided to pull a fast one by making her shield strike from behind the snow leopard faunus. The polite Spartan changed as she honed her Semblance as she was more willing to use more flashy uses of her Semblance against certain opponents, namely those she viewed as rivals or superior to her in strength.

Silva stumbled a bit from the surprise from behind but maintained his footing, and Pyrrha capsulized that moment to use her xiphos in close quarters. The polite Spartan was met with a front kick that sent her flying, but she quickly regained her balance and footing. Pyrrha felt pressured by her opponent, and she was enjoying the feeling as she had not felt it before. The polite Spartan went with a shield charge to try and topple her towering opponent, but Silva planted his black Aura ax into the ground, which stopped the charge cold.

The snow leopard faunus swung his electrified blue ax at his opponent and shocked her as he landed a blow. Pyrrha was already breathing hard from the intense and fast exchange but was smiling at the challenge before her. Silva then said.

" Brace yourself; I am going at you."

He disappeared from the polite Spartan's line of sight, and only through her metal sensing did she narrowly evade the attack on her right flank. Unfortunately, the snow leopard faunus followed up by swinging his black Aura ax and expanding the ax blade even more to increase his attack range. Pyrrha stumbled back from the attack and braced herself as Silva pinned her under the black Aura blade while holding her shield up. The snow leopard faunus started to strike the back of his black ax with the back of his blue ax to hammer down the polite Spartan.

Soon Pyrrha's Scroll rang to alert her and Silva that her Aura had fallen to 15%, and she slumped down, exhausted and satisfied with a good spar. She grabbed her drink to wet her throat and said to her opponent with an infectious smile.

" I look forward to facing you again in the tournament, Silva. Next time, I will win."

The snow leopard faunus felt awkward with what he was about to say next but felt that he should say it anyway.

" I won't be participating in the Mistral Regional Cup."

" Why is that?"

Pyrrha asked, feeling curious about the answer. The snow leopard faunus sighed and told her truthfully.

" I originally took part to see how I stacked against " formally" trained students aspiring to be Huntsmen and Huntresses. I was not impressed overall."

The polite Spartan wanted to defend everyone's efforts in training, but the protest died in her throat as she replayed their sparring match in her mind and saw that it was entirely one-sided for the most part. Silva saw this and explained the difference between him and others aiming to be defenders of the people.

" Pyrrha, unlike you and your classmates, I already have live combat experience, not only Grimm but bandits, as well, and a day of that is worth a month in those combat schools. You will catch up eventually, but it will take a while."

" How did you get this experience in the first place, Silva?"

Pyrrha asked after hearing the explanation and realized that the snow leopard faunus likely didn't have a normal life if he was already facing actual Grimm and bandits. He sighed and told her.

" It's a long story, and while I do like you, Pyrrha, we aren't that close... at least not yet anyway; if you want to talk sometimes, I have no problem giving you my Scroll number."

" Sure, that sounds lovely, Silva."

The two exchanger numbers then made small talk to kill some time.