RWBY:Rascal

We need a plan! Preferably a better one...

From the mind of an enthusiastic agrarian.

Neo squeezed her eyes shut happily and sent another spoonful into her mouth, then almost purred, except silently. It looked cute as hell, but I was beginning to think that this lady had a little Black Hole or Spatial Pocket in her stomach, since it was the seventh bowl. That is, it was the fourth kilogram of treats. If I didn't know for sure that it was unrealistic for an Aura user to catch a trivial sore throat without first losing his Aura to zero, I would have started to worry, but as it was, I was only worried about one thing.

"How do you have so much in you? No, seriously, Neo, this is magic!"

"(<‸<)... (u‸u)..." - The girl glanced at me warily and pushed the eighth vase of ice cream farther away.

" I'm not infringing on your cuteness, I'm just trying to figure out how it's even possible."

" (^_^)," the little girl smiled and enthusiastically began to destroy the ice cream again, paying little attention to external stimuli, while I allowed myself to admire a little - "after all, the girls in this world were damn beautiful almost all without exception, and a girl with an open Aura - and even more so."

But admiration didn't stop me from dipping into Torchwick's memory once more.

It was getting easier and more natural each time. But I didn't understand Roman's motives... now I had to get used to that name... his motives. He had achieved everything he could ever want. By himself. Yes, over heads, over dead bodies and broken destinies, but still. And... he had lost everything by getting involved in matters where an "honest thief" should never have gotten involved. Even if he didn't know the whole background, but when you are offered to work with terrorists, and even organize a mountain of explosives and ammunition in the center of the most populous city of the continent... I would think about cleaning up such "partners", if only out of self-preservation instinct. That, in turn, led to the question, "What do we do now?" And that question was very difficult.

Just running away... won't work, neither Roman nor I, the viewer, have any idea where and how many agents Cinder has, much less her mistress. Fact: in canon, she and her entourage arrived in Beacon as students of another Hunter Academy, with all the necessary documents, confirmations, recommendations, and they included Neo in this "hunting team", having made her a new identity and documents (though perhaps not without Roman's help). And the documents were checked according to the standards of the international competition, which meant that the "crusts" were authentic and really issued by the Academy of... Mistral, if I remember correctly, but that's not the point. It turns out that these crusts were issued with the knowledge and permission of someone high-ranking from the administration of the Academy, or even the rector himself. That is, the head of one of the four worldwide training centers for fighters against the Enemy of Mankind works for the agents of this very Enemy. This raises a logical question - where else could they have their agents? To live in constant fear that not today but tomorrow they will come for you... as memory suggests, it is a below-average pleasure.

Not to run away, but to go and turn them all in? First of all, with Roman's reputation, it's not at all certain that even people who know me will believe me. Secondly, the "Bright Side" remains legal, and the "exploits" of the past owner of this body are enough for three life sentences or even five years of firing squad. Neo would probably be able to get me out, and such a risk, in principle, could still be called acceptable. Except for one thing. The notorious Light Side and its leader, the Immortal Hero, who is also the rector of the Bikon Hunter Academy... I'm not sure it's appropriate to judge a real person based on his cartoon image, but I'm in a cartoon right now, and so far everything matches the story I know. Of course, the devil is in the details, and the motivation, awareness and calculations of the characters may be very different from the way Cocks Teeth and their prophet, Monty, have presented it. But we have the facts: the Immortal Hero has been at war with the Grimm Queen for a thousand years, if not more, and the Grimm have dominated the planet and continue to do so. One can, of course, argue that mankind is gradually developing and even reclaiming the living space, but this is only naive dreaming. As practice and the infamous, though diligently "hushed up" episode with the development of Mount Glenn (Vail's last attempt to expand its area. A huge city, even more huge underground part, extremely good location and even direct communications with Vale itself through underground trains... Almost half a million corpses, when a wave of monsters simply overwhelmed, and later broke through the walls of the settlement and organized a massacre. And neither modern defense systems nor communication with Vale helped the city. Nobody even had time to evacuate), humanity lives only as long as the Queen lets them...us. In other words, this Hero is completely useless. Yes, I realize that when the enemy is so superior, there's not much to pore over, but that doesn't make me feel any better. Again on a character-by-character basis, I just don't trust Ozpin, the current "avatar" of Hero. I'm generally stressed out by the various old men that direct the schools for young wizards. Lemon slice, my boy? Or "cup of coffee," as in Ozpin.

Yeah, they'd be worth each other, one of them not noticing the Cossacks in his school and the other. And both of them missed the "corrupt" of their supporters - the directors of other Academies were appointed not without the participation of this "old man", even if it was not noted anywhere, but a man who could organize forged documents that could withstand the inspection, even a cursory one, even by the admissions committee of the same Bikon, has some information. Just by virtue of his specifics. In short, I don't know what can be here - "Ozpingad", "Ozpintup" or some other nonsense, but the fact remains that the competence of the director personally I have great doubts. And the second point - even if he is competent, it is unlikely that he will be involved in solving the problems of a criminal who has been doing mischief in his town for a dozen years, and at the same time slightly spoiled his reputation - how can it be that some self-taught gifted man is making a mess in the fiefdom of the most respected man of Remnant? No matter how you look at it, the Bright Side is closed to me, at least unless something out of the ordinary happens.

Once again, we're back where we started. What's there to do? What do I have? I have my own personal glutton, sweetie. But if anything, she'll smile sweetly and slit the throat of anyone I point her finger at. There have been incidents. No, conscience, stop trying to chew me out! That was the last Roman, and I'm not gonna do that! Well, let's just put it aside and pretend it never came up. What else? There's also me and the skills of the body's previous owner. What does that give you? Knowledge of crime, the authority of a "thief in law", mastery of a cane, a light sword (Neo was taught to fight with a combat umbrella by Roman, as well as a hidden rapier in this umbrella), although in the latter this girl has probably surpassed me long ago. The skill of shooting on sight from any position and without any significant aiming devices. And marksmanship. I also had a pretty good supply of Aura, and after my appearance in his body, I could tell, albeit indirectly, that there was more of it. But no Manifestation, alas.

Hmm, perhaps I should open this question a bit, and it wouldn't hurt to run the "brief reference" in my memory once again. All living things in this world have Aura, except Grimm, but they are incomprehensible shit, and at least they don't need food to continue their vital activity, and they obviously don't reproduce sexually. So, Aura can stay in two states - "closed" and "open". Closed - this is the default, in a closed state Aura gives nothing, in fact, a person with a closed Aura is "uninitiated magician", no different from a normal person, except for the potential opportunity to gain strength, if it is initiated. An open Aura immediately turns a person into a super soldier. Even in the "passive" mode, the user of Aura without tension can pull a hundred or two kilograms on himself, run at a speed of kilometers so forty or fifty per hour, take at point-blank range on the chest of a line from a machine gun or even without consequences catch a grenade launcher volley in the face (checked personally), plus regeneration of Wolverine level from the "X-Men", if the "armor" still break through. Severed limbs, however, do not regenerate, but even so - very good. Increased dexterity, reflexes and coordination are just a nice addition. Plus there is also an "active" mode, when attack, speed, regeneration or defense are additionally enhanced by "Aura infusion". Under such "doping" a person can easily knock a half-ton carcass of a local Grimm-bear into a concrete wall, jump dozens of meters up and survive under artillery fire.

Of course, there had to be a spoonful of honey in such a barrel of honey. First of all, all people have different Auras, and it is impossible to know the volume of this Aura until the moment of its "discovery". Modern science can't answer what these volumes depend on and how they develop, it, science, has learned only to determine the volume and state of the already opened reserve, but only that. Otherwise, Aura is considered to be the "Power of the Soul", the stronger the soul, the more Aura the user has. Hence the second disadvantage - it is almost unrealistic to develop the reserve of this power, throughout history there were only a few intelligent people who managed to do so. And then there was either the achievement of "catharsis" in the best traditions of the Buddhist monks, or such Exertion, that the hero immediately had to enroll in the Space Troopers, not lower than a sergeant position. The third and, in my opinion, the most dangerous problem - "soul on the open" strongly hits the brains. And the "stronger" the soul, the more the brains go out of whack. Every Hunter (a trained Aura user with enough reserve to withstand large numbers of Grimm) has his own "points", from harmless ones, like Neo's maniacal fascination with ice cream, to very unpleasant or even dangerous ones: alcoholism, sadism, obsessions and so on. It may not be written anywhere, but in Roman's memory I haven't found "any" fully adequate reasonable person with at least average Aura reserve. So, given my increased reserve value, I'm already getting kind of scared. Maybe eyelash extensions and manicures are just the beginning. Next thing you know, I'll want to wear heels and stockings? Brrrrrrrrrr. Against the background of the third point, the fact that "meaningful" control of Aura had to be trained, like any other skill, and someone even with large reserves was simply "not given" to use them competently, as well as the temporary transformation from a "super-soldier" to a "paralytic invalid" with a strong waste of Aura, did not look good.

But that was all flowery. The most interesting thing about Aura users is the so-called Manifestation. A phenomenon even less well understood than the Aura itself. In essence, Manifestation was, um... a manifestation of the soul, its unique property. It was different for each person, and it was discovered completely by chance. Or not at all. They tried to classify them many times, but no normal system was ever built, and it's a bit difficult to do, because there really could be anything. From banal amplification/acceleration to something suspiciously similar to magic, psionics and control of conceptual things like probability theory. How Manifestation is acquired, no one knows. Someone just suddenly realizes that he can do this and that. Someone sits and meditates, waiting for "enlightenment", sometimes he really waits. But most often Manifestation is revealed in an extreme situation. When a person really, really wants to live or to do something without questioning the price of this action or its seeming impossibility. And Roman's Manifestation was not opened, but mine?

I was snapped out of my introspection and reflection by a slight tug on my sleeve.

"(-_-v)?" - The little illusionist looked on with concern.

" It's alright Neo, I was just thinking..."

"(o_o)?"

" About what, you say? About life in general. What we've accomplished so far, what might be next," I sighed. - You know, I suddenly realized what an asshole I've been."

"(O_O)?"

"No, it's not that I don't like being an asshole," there was really something about it. The kind of romance and recklessness that a lot of people dream of, but refuse, preferring "stability" or facing the first difficulties that such a path brings. About the moral aspect we are again silent, - "but I don't like that I was like that with you.

" ("~_~")!.." - She shakes her head and nods at the row of ice cream vases, while I can't hold back a smile. "Neopolitan's yummy-feeding Roman can't be an asshole," her whole posture screams it.

"If only... but I honestly promise to get better! I might even get up the courage to ask you out."

"(O_O')," Neo choking on her ice cream is truly an unprecedented sight.

" What, no chance at all? Eh, poor unfortunate me..."

"(>‸<)," she pouted.

"No, I'm not mocking or joking. I just really realized that if we continue like this, it won't end well. You're really precious to me, and... well, I don't know, I just wanted to say thank you for everything you do for me..."

"(T_T)!" - I was clawed at, covering the distance from the other side of the table in an instant. I don't get it... I do. I'm an asshole.

" No. This isn't goodbye, I didn't put sleeping pills in your ice cream, much less poison. And anyway, how could you think I'd do without my faithful maid? Although... if you want to go on vacation, I can rent the twins from Junior..."

*crunch* - okay, I get it, that was a bad joke. You don't want to tease an illusionist assassin with the mention of other girls. Not right after you've, albeit in a veiled way, asked her out. Although I somehow find it a very amusing and interesting pastime. Bad Roman, very, very bad!

" Oh, I see. Well, since you're burning with enthusiasm and you don't want to go on vacation, then I suggest we get down to our business... but first, have some more ice cream, because something makes me a little uncomfortable..."

" (<_<)..."

" ..."

" (v_v)..."

" Okay, as an apology, I'll spoon-feed you... Like a baby, honestly."

" (^____^)!"

Feeding ice cream to a beautiful girl who "comfortably" moved into your lap is insanely satisfying. But the fact that she feels affection not for me, but for Roman's past - no. But what could I do? Say, sorry, your friend was killed by your gods, and they put their emissary in his body to perform a responsible task? At best, she'd think Torchwick was drunk on squirrels. She'd have knocked me down and tied me up till I came to my senses. At worst, I'd be back on the Dark Dragon's carpet the moment I finished my speech. And I myself, frankly speaking, felt nothing but a natural attraction to a beautiful girl of my type, Neopolitan. And the fact that she had a small but respectable cemetery behind her shoulders did not add to her attractiveness in my eyes. Roman had a larger one, and the memory of it was with me now, as well as the sensations of scarlet streams running down my arms, and we shouldn't forget that we were under siege of demons or something similar, and the world in general wasn't as beautiful and rosy as I would like it to be. But it's one thing to understand all this, and another to accept it. Maybe, in time, it won't bother me, maybe I'll be able to create our memories with Neo, our memories together, where there'll be more comfort and less blood. Maybe I'll really care for her, not in words, but in deeds. But... that would come later, and now... what the hell was I supposed to do with all this?

I had no ideas at all. I've never had the task of "take and get out of a situation where the barrel of a gun is pointing at your forehead and electrodes are already connected to your balls" before, but the current one was exactly of this kind. Roman had such an experience... well, the man has a fun life, but the problem is that he is not me. Different mindset, different personality. And as much as I hate to admit it, this beat-up felon was way cooler. Racist jokes around White Fang terrorists that they want to kill all humans? No problem! Flirting with a lady who promised to burn your balls off? Easy! The fact that she knows you're making fun of her, and she tolerates it, because decency is preserved, and she still needs you, just adds spice. And drowning her minions in the slop is a godsend. Yeah, right in front of her and making faces. It's a marvelous combination of brazenness, charisma, and seeming disregard for the instinct of self-preservation, combined with the ability not to cross the line... Even though I remember him doing it... I can't do it again. So I have to use something I'm better at than Roman. And I've done that. I'm not a martial artist - I'm not a SWAT officer, and my experience of fighting is a couple of fights in my school and institute years. Super-hacker - also not my specialty. Engineering knowledge is closer, but there are completely different materials here. But the general scientific and technical, and simply informational development... here, strange as it may seem, a lot of prospects open up.

Twenty million people - it's not a small number, but the demographic boom occurred relatively recently and, no matter how you look at it, compared to seven billion is still not quoted. Plus Grimm, Aura, and fauns. These things were making a difference in all walks of life. In my head, however, was the knowledge of another world, a world more than two orders of magnitude larger in population than this one. Where people have been slitting each other's throats for thousands of years without looking back. Where the financial crisis due to credit manipulation and the banking bubble and the resulting depression couldn't cause the infernal creatures to burst through. Yes, some things the locals could, did, and practiced... but compared to the fiction of my former compatriots it all looked almost innocent. There were no munitions with chlorine and sarin, no severed limbs of relatives were sent here as warnings, no cities were flooded with napalm, and there was no napalm itself. What's more, a trivial "leg fracture", earned by one of the participants at a bloody sporting event on combat weapons fights with the use of explosives, caused such horror and indignation of the spectators, as if they were at least taken on a tour of a torture chamber while it was being used for its intended purpose.

I froze for a moment, imbued with Awareness, capitalized. Even under demon siege, even selling their souls to demons, the local inhabitants were much more humane and pure than the inhabitants of my world. Yes, there were fights, there were murders, there were even tortures, but, comparing the arsenal of the guy that for twenty years, almost from the first conscious childhood memory, has been spinning among the most select criminals and going to a better life on the heads, with the knowledge of "picked up all sorts of things", but in fact - a completely ordinary "gray" earthling, I came to the conclusion that in our world Roman would pass for a romantic hero, not without sin, but in general - a nice guy! And with a good lawyer so and in general could come out almost not an ascetic and a great martyr. Why? A homeless orphan. A handicapped child, no benefits, no job, but you have to eat for something... yep.

"Hmm?" - The said "handicapped child" of about twenty years old was happily wiggling her feet and shoving a scoop of ice cream in my face. - "Don't you have any more in you?"

"(^_~)," - bite! I was wrong, it does, it does. But they decided to share it with me and now they're feeding me. I resign myself to my fate and endure the ordeal. A beautiful girl sitting on your lap, feeding you ice cream. The suffering is intolerable.

But back to our thoughts. The picture was unpleasant and absurd at the same time. I didn't like what Torchwick was doing. I wasn't sure I could do the same thing at all, and I was pretty sure that if I could, it would be a lot worse. At the same time, I know and... in principle, morally allow, considering something unseemly, but natural, methods to which even Roman would say something like: "Well, no shit, but it would be possible to do it this way too? Well, you, buddy, and scumbag." And then he'd probably smash my head in. Just in case.

And the clock is ticking. Cinder's got a clear mission. She wants Ashes. A lot of Ashes, like she was gonna orbit at least Beacon. At least, that's what Roman thought. I knew it had nothing to do with astronautics. But blowing up the defensive bulkheads that sealed the path from Glenn Mountain to Vail, and attracting grimms along the way - that's a yes. And if she doesn't get the first good news soon, her confidence in my usefulness will be shaken. Given what Mr. Torchwick has already seen and heard, only a clinical moron would let him live. Cinder Fall, unfortunately, was not a clinical moron. So sadly, if I want to make it to next week, I'm really going to have to start looting and stealing. Damn Ashes.

Ah yes, Ashes... Aka Dust, as the term for it has several meanings, historically speaking. Dust is the basis of all modern society. It is used everywhere: as fuel for generators, directly, as a source of energy, as a stuffing for ammunition, as a substitute for gunpowder, and to alloy metals. It can also interact with the Aura and release stored energy at the command of a gifted person, and if the gifted person is well-trained, the released energy can be channeled. Fortunately, fucking Ashes Mages are arch-rarely encountered. Unfortunately, Cinder is one of them, and with an interesting dope. But I'd rather not even think about that. To avoid it.

Much is known about Prah and at the same time, sadly little. People have learned to process it, use it for their needs, and defend themselves against its effects, but only Ozpin, Salem, and the Dragon Gods know what it is in and of itself. I'm not sure about the first two. Roman's never been interested in such matters, but he's heard somewhere that the Ashes don't work outside the atmosphere. Personally, given my new knowledge and, ahem, acquaintances, I suspect that this substance is nothing but crystallized mana (or spiritual energy) of the world. This is why "open soul" users can work with it directly. That's why it doesn't work outside the world, and that's why there are so many strange kinds of it - from the banal fire, ice and air, to gravitational, medical and fuck knows what else.

Ashes differ in the quality of purification, the size of crystals and, as a result, the energy stored in them. The lousiest and cheapest can be used only for fireworks, but even the best of Hunters spend quality ashes with caution - they cost a lot, and a proper cartridge filled with such ashes can penetrate a couple of tens of centimeters of steel... and knock out the average aura in two or three hits. The size of the crystal matters, too. "Dust is a consumable, expensive, but it's still a consumable. But a druze the size of at least half a finger is a serious argument. If such a druze is in the hands of a strong Hunter with the right Manifestation, it can wreak destruction like a carpet bombing, give or take. But it's a rare case. Nevertheless, even just to produce a huge fireball or a hail of ice arrows from such a crystal is quite possible for many people.

Ashes aren't the most stable substance. It won't explode from a slanted glance, of course, but from an accidental sneeze at the wrong time it can. And the most piquant peculiarity: the monopoly on its extraction all over the world belongs to one megacorporation. There are, of course, all sorts of small and private shops, but this is a drop in the ocean, let's return to the monopolists. Mining Ashes is not easy, the richest mines are in the Grimm Lands, which means that miners have to be guarded, supplied, transported, and thirty-three more reasons for the corporation to drive people to work for food and under a bonded contract. No conditions, no normal labor protection. Black, dangerous and thankless work. And 90% of the miners are fauns. Because of racism of some individuals, actions of White Fang, competent propaganda from the same corporations to find a normal job for "beasts" is not an easy task. What is there, "catgirls" could not even be accepted in a brothel. It was either for pervs or for their own kind. And I just couldn't understand... What the hell was wrong with these people? Of course, not everywhere was so bad, in Vale it was almost even more or less the same, but in other Kingdoms... n-no.

Well, to hell with it, I may not be happy about the situation, but I have enough problems of my own right now. And in the first place is the question of how to steal maximum resources with minimum risk, but so that then these resources one beaten bitch can not use them to my detriment? And the rest of the city as well.

I had a strong urge to smoke. My hand habitually went into my pocket and took out a cigar. A careless movement of a finger - and the tip was broken off, and the other hand, slightly removed Neo, was already flicking the lighter.

- (>_<), - expressed my dissatisfaction with the fact that between Divine Food and despicable tobacco my body chose tobacco. After the first puff, by the way, it really felt better. And my thoughts ran more smoothly through my head.

I had a rough plan, and Roman had time to make a sketch of it, even when he was getting drunk during the "celebration of the prospects": he and his hired muzzies were going to make a lot of noise on the border of the commercial and residential districts, three streets away from the supply center of the Bicon Academy, and Neo was going to quietly surround the building's warehouse while he was making noise and attracting the attention of all the possible Hunters who decided to take an evening stroll near the "strategic object". It's business as usual - one acts in the open, the other pulls off the real scheme from the shadows. Everyone's doing what they love to do. Except that my knowledge of the future showed that not everything would go so perfectly. And here I had to think where and how to hedge and what to change. I feel like I'm in for a fun night. And not at all what one would think, looking at the satisfied beauty squirming on my lap, eh.....

Yeah, it's not all smooth sailing, or rather, it's all up the ass. The original plan was to divert the attention of random students of the Academy, who could rush to protect the property of their favorite institution, noticing a suspicious movement near the place where they all pass, going to the city or from it returning to the dormitory. That's what the Aura-open muzzies were for - a loud, noisy scuffle with shooting and waving of iron would have diverted any attention from an inconspicuous truck that drove quietly and peacefully to the warehouse building and, after a while, left on its own. Alas, the facts I knew said that instead of the students, the scuffle would attract the attention of Glinda "Good Witch" Goodwitch, Ozpin's deputy and first assistant. Rumors about their love relations and other things are omitted - what only the teenagers at the most interesting age of 17-20 years do not make up, and about a lonely pretty teacher and the same lonely powerful principal... n-da. Her Manifestation is telekinesis, but, as it turned out, the radius of its application is rather limited, so if you keep a certain distance, nothing terrible will happen. And keeping at a distance in the open city streets (and with Cinder and the local fighter helicopter on watch) will not be too difficult for this lady. In fact, Cinder was supposed to be a backup, in case one of Bikon's teachers or a group of adult Hunters showed up. But, as my memory was still telling me, in addition to the aforementioned Glinda, there would be a cute little girl involved. With a big-ass combat scythe combined with a sniper rifle and a shotgun. And everything would be all right, but she's like a local Chosen One or something, besides, this skirmish will allow her to enter Bicon a couple of years earlier, and in general there are too many things tied to her, so I can't do the most reasonable thing and change the place or at least the time of distraction.

In principle, even though talented, but still a little girl with a scythe was not much of a threat. The real Torchwick could twist her up and give her a good spanking without stopping to comment on the situation and puff on his cigar. Actually, so it was at the end of his life and it came out, and then came a piano from the bushes. Uh-huh, in the form of a grimy griffin that Roman ate. The problem was that I with my "talent", and most importantly, the experience of fights, have a very good chance to familiarize my neck with the blade of the scythe of this cute baby. And then Glinda will come along. No, of course, going to jail, where Neo would get me out sooner or later, wouldn't be so bad, but when would she be able to do it? And wouldn't I have to watch through the bars as the grimms ate the city? Or instead of the expected Neo, the grimms? That makes the first point clear.

"My dear maid, I just had a couple interesting plans pop into my head for tonight!"

"(^_0)?" - The lazily-begging ajar pink eye on the happy face looked... interesting.

"No, we're not having an unbridled orgy with the fauns!" - I should cheer her up.

"(O_o)????"

"I could use a few ligaments to check out, though, so let's go home and have a blast," the girl shrugged in response and easily slid off my lap. After paying the bill (yes, now that I'd seen her ice cream-eating capabilities, I wasn't surprised by her ability to squander a couple weeks' worth of income from her shady dealings), we headed for the place Roman and the little mute girl called home. Though personally I couldn't call this "officially abandoned" warehouse with a small residential annex any other way than the most pretentious temporary house. And it was logical - the couple had fifty such temporary houses only in Vale - just in case, but a normal, full-fledged house - alas, not that profession.

Aura user training is a rather interesting and effective thing. It's hard not to be, when you can use combat weapons, real ammunition and explosives, the main thing is not to overdo it and not to bring down the opponent's Aura completely to zero. So the fight up to the "red zone" - about fifteen to twenty percent of the reserve - is conducted in full contact and with a natural desire to kill, as they tell about it all smart sensei in the shonen... shit, what nonsense in my head comes to mind. As we stepped into the center of the empty warehouse, a sweet, kind girl tried to smash my throat with the tip of her umbrella.

*I didn't understand how the cane I was carrying in my hands had appeared on the trajectory of the umbrella. And nobody was going to give me time to understand. Click... shkrub... slam... clang... attacks to the head, body, feet, groin and eyes, an attempt to get into a clinch and tie me in a knot... ended in nothing! My body was automatically putting the cane up, taking a step back or sideways, my consciousness was not involved in the process at all, I had the impression that Neo and I were just dancing, it looked so easy and beautiful! And then I had the "brilliant" idea to try to attack... that is, to consciously interfere with the process....

The lunge was normal, the "jab" with the cane, practiced hundreds, if not thousands of times, was clean and unmistakable, but the girl just stepped aside in another dance pas, hooked the weapon with the umbrella, and... I did not have time to realize what happened next. Something hit my head, the world shook, and here I was lying on the cold concrete floor, and above me towered this cute little girl... bringing a combat umbrella, at the end of which a big steel spike aimed at my neck! At that moment I had forgotten all about Auras and the fact that such a blow wouldn't kill me, I was lying on the floor, and there was a sting aimed at my body. And I didn't want to die so stupidly and go to the dragon's carpet as a total loser. All my instincts were screaming "get out of here," and... the world shook again.

*The blade slammed into the concrete, and I stood behind Neo, dumbfounded. The body worked itself, and the girl was hit with the cane, but... - *Crunch!* - and her image shattered into a thousand shards, and the hand that twitched as if by itself deftly blocked the blow of the goddamn ninja standing at her side. However, there was no new attack, instead....

" (O_o)?"

"It seems I've opened my Manifestation after all," the vague sensation was very hard to describe, but I really just understood what to do and how to do it, albeit very raw and vague, but still.

" (^_^)!" - A few claps of hands.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm really happy about that too, it hasn't even been twenty years..." - Apparently, my gentle soul reacted much more strongly to danger, even imaginary (though I thought otherwise at the time), than Roman's hardened nature. So she awakened. Or it was the Dragon who helped, realizing that without such a thing his "emissary" would not last long. But for some reason my hands are shaking and I really want to smoke again.

I didn't want to embarrass anyone and took out a cigar, but I couldn't smoke it - my trembling hands couldn't cope with the lighter.

" (-_-#)..." - A heavy sigh, and I was taken away from the tool of fire extraction and given a light.

"Thank you," I inhale blissfully, frantically trying to come up with an explanation to the girl who knows Roman's past so well why he's shaking like a civilian who almost got stabbed, giggle. - "Probably a setback from using the Manifestation..." - I couldn't think of anything cleverer, and there have been cases like that. Not very often, but they've happened.

As a rule, they were connected with a sharp consumption of Aura, however, teleport (and the talent I had discovered looked like it) - a really voracious thing. But my understanding was a little different. Moving in space was not the main "trick", but rather a side effect. I don't know if it was the dragon or my soul, remembering the experience of being in a spiritual form and the addition of Roman's hamster-like behavior, but the fact remained. My Manifestation is a very strange spatial... uh, spiritual pocket where I can put anything. Including my own body. And then "dump it out" within a certain radius of my sensitivity. And no, it had nothing to do with eyesight, but rather with some kind of spiritual attraction... well, fuck it, but I'd just gotten the perfect escape route... which was a good thing, considering the fact that I was no swordsman. At least until I somehow synchronize my brains and reflexes.

"(u_v)?"

" No, let's not continue," I don't want to embarrass myself further, nor tempt fate by causing the girl's reasonable doubts about everything that's going on. - "Get some rest, we have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow... though no, go see Junior, confirm our arrangements for his clowns for tomorrow's performance."

A nod and Neo leaves. Eh, she's a good companion - she helps me in life, she doesn't drip on my brains, she doesn't spend three hours on the phone with her friends... so, Roman, pull yourself together. Well, you're in a world that's been in the Armageddon stage for a thousand years already, well, you can be fried/eaten/planted almost any time, but you're still alive and healthy, aren't you?

" Heh-heh... haa," the laughter came out forced and a bit hysterical. Normally, I should have continued practicing my baton swings, studied the manifestation that had opened up a bit, and ideally practiced shooting... but... I couldn't even stand up. My legs simply refused to hold my body up.

Now, left alone in the empty hangar that the girl assassin had recently left, I suddenly realized that this was all 'for real'. Dark Lords, hordes of bloodthirsty monsters, terrorists, Nazis, anarchists, and other fucking **-types. And I'm already a bit out of the age when you want adventure, but not yet entered the one where "and why not, why not, there is nothing to lose!" At home I still have a familiar life, comfort, some kind of career and quite a good income. And here - all the above monsters and the assignment of an incomprehensible entity, which, suddenly, can do with me whatever it wants. And it is not at all certain that this "will" includes any "payment" for my, forgive the Universe, "services". Maybe they'll eat me and that'll be that. In the end, it was this sweetest dragon who had unleashed a horde of bloodthirsty monsters on this world, so what did he care about me?

I tried to think positively, honestly, but all sorts of sayings about "even if you are eaten..." were perceived either as a perverted mockery, or as a slogan of a moron, who has never been eaten, but for whom to hurt a finger is already a tragedy and a world event! The only thing that made me get up was the realization that if Neo saw me in such a state, I wouldn't be able to avoid uncomfortable questions. And I don't want to wonder what will happen when I can't answer those questions.

"Okay, take it easy, Roman, don't get damp or your mascara will run, ha ha!" - The wicked irony along with the slap I gave myself (no effect, not even Aura stirred) made me get to my feet.

I staggered to the ersatz version of the bathroom and stuck my head under the cold water. It felt a little better. Okay, since I was already up to my nostrils in this whole thing anyway, I should get a shovel and dig myself out of my "life circumstances." After all, a revealed Manifestation allows for a lot of interesting moves, especially if no one knows about it. I had no doubts about Neo - he'll be as silent as a mute, ha ha. And if he does, we'll have a fight on our hands. Hail, Remnant, I'll have my RWBY with blackjack and catgirls!

On that positive note, I let my body crawl to the bed and pass out. It seemed like I'd done nothing, but I felt like I'd been unloading dump trucks all day... with sand... with my hands... in minus forty... hr-r-r....