Kiritsugu grunted as he passed through another set of doors. Dead Faunus passengers, with a small mix of humans, laid dead at his feet. The hijackers apparently weren't picky on whoever they pointed their gun at as long as it made things easier for them.

Shamefully, it reminded him too much of himself.

He shook his head and continued on, pushing his thoughts to the back of his mind. He couldn't afford to be distracted. He might have been a counter guardian, but he underestimated nobody. Not even people who were weaker than himself.

He opened the doors towards the next carriage and ducked back as several bullets impacted the space above him.

"Backup!" The assailant called out as he fired off another set of rounds. Kiritsugu grunted in annoyance and carefully peaked out around the corner to see what he was dealing with.

It was just a single man standing between the rows of seats. He was holding gun that sported a red and black paint job, giving it an imposing look. Covering most of his body was a black vest that glowed with a strange hum.

Kiritsugu narrowed his eyes. He had heard of such types of clothing before. Using dust, people were able to sow it into their clothing, giving them a slight edge in combat.

He wasn't sure what would happen if he shot it, but he didn't have much a choice right now. He didn't feel safe touching it, but he didn't have much of a choice. The guy was getting closer, and his friends would be appearing soon.

He took a deep breath before throwing himself out into the corridor and expertly fired his guns in small bursts.

The man's head snapped back as the bullets slammed into his aura. He was throwing backwards into the wall, but he was obviously going to get back up soon.

Reaching into his holster, Kiritsugu grabbed a throwing knife and tossed it with expert precision, piercing the mans aura and embedding in his skull.

As the man laid motionless on the ground, Kiritsugu kept his distance. Inching forward slowly, he raised his gun and fired once into the man's chest piece.

There was a crackle of electricity, and the man's chest exploded into tendrils of electricity as the lightning dust inside was set off.

"Interesting." Kiritsugu muttered as he carefully strode past the dead man. "A form of armor that doubles as a suicide vest. These men are clearly comitted to their cause."

Those were the type of people Kiritsugu was afraid of the most. Power meant nothing to him, but those who were willing to do whatever it took to achieve their goal were the most troubling to deal with.

It was the reason why he hated having an enemy like Kotomine Kirei in the fourth holy grail war.

He continued onwards, pushing past a few dead bodies and suddenly halted when the doors in front of him opened and a man stepped forward with a red sword in his hand.

The man froze for a second when he saw him, but Kiritsugu was already moving into action. Lunging forward, Kiritsugu drove a fist into the man's chest, causing him to double over in pain.

"Guh!" The man grunted as he felt the wind get knocked out of him.

Kiritsugu may have the body of an olympic athlete, the man he was dealing with was bigger than him by a foot. He wouldn't be able to simply beat the man to death easily with his fists.

So he opted for the next best thing.

Grabbing the man in a bear hug, he raised him off the ground and began to squeeze him as hard as he could, effectively crushing him with a bear hug.

The man gasped as he felt Kiritsugu begin to crush him with his arms and began struggling to gasp for air. However, he thought that this move was simply the warm up to the real event.

It wasn't. Kiritsugu wasn't the type of man to give anyone second chances in a fight. When the man finally figured out that Kiritsugu wasn't planning to let him go, he became crazy with panic and began raining desperate blows on his back with his elbows.

"Tough shit." Kiritsugu thought as he felt the man's ribs crack and a dribble of blood forced its way out of the corner of his lips. "You're wasting air, and you're not getting any more."

The man went limp in his arms and kiritsugu sighed in relief. He threw the man down and continued on course for the front of the train.

Avenger had said that the total amount of men for this operation was 18. Since they had already taken out 5 earlier, and Dantes was fighting seven more, counting the two he just killed, they only had four more left.

He passed through two more train cars before he finally reached the door to the conductor's room. His hand went towards the knob before freezing as he heard the sounds of talking on the other side.

Carefully pressing his ear against the door, he began listening on the conversation the private conversation.

"...I told you to eliminate all of the passengers, fool! Having even a single one alive is a liabilty!"

"I'm sorry, Ma'am." A gruff voice apologized.

Kiritsugu frowned. A woman? It seems she was the one in charge. Avenger must have missed her when he was making his rounds.

"It doesn't matter." The female snapped with an annoyed tone. "We have already changed the trains path towards one of our station. Once we get there, we will begin unloading the dust immediately. Leader won't be pleased with the delays."

"But Ma'am... What about those who are taking care of our men?"

"We shall kill them. Plain and simple." The woman said, although there was a slight edginess in her tone. "Seven of our men have already gone dark. The two we stationed outside went down a minute ago. What I can't understand is why we haven't gotten any-"

The woman paused, causing Kiritsugu to frown for a moment as to why she went silent. A second later, she spoke again. This time, however, he barely heard her.

"...He's right outside."

Kiritsugu's eyes widened before he rolled away from the door and ducked behind a row of seats. No more than a second later, numerous bullets were fired straight through the door in a messy arc, wizzing past his head.

Several glass windows and bottles exploded into shards as they were torn apart by the bullets, causing Kiritsugu to shield his eyes to prevent them from blinding him.

Several seconds later, the storm of bullets halted and kiritsugu lifted his head slightly off the ground. His hand gripped the Calico as the woman spoke once again.

"Go check it out. Make sure that the intruder is dead." The woman commanded. Kiritsugu tried to crane his head to see over the seats but he was stopped by the sound of crinkling glass.

He laid still as he heard the men begin sweeping the rows. He inwardly smiled to himself. These men were amateurs. If they were smart, they would begin with sweeping away the glass to make the environment more favorable.

He raised his gun and pointed it towards the sound of the crinkling glass. He didn't even have to bother aiming for this one.

He held down the trigger and sprayed the gun wildly. Surprised yells came from behind the seats and the sound of bodies hitting the floor followed soon after. Standing up quickly, he emptied the next few rounds into the remaining men and sent them down to the ground in an explosion of red haze.

"So you're the person who has been dealing with my boys."

Two women appeared from behind the destroyed door, brandishing several crude combat knives. The one who had spoken was a beautiful woman in her mid-twenties. She was definitely beautiful, but her hands reeked of blood from those of past victims. It resembled his own hands, but her number couldn't compare to his.

The woman standing next to him was probably in her late thirties. Across her neck was a noticeable scar, giving him the impression that her voice box had been damaged. In her hand was a crude butcher knife that was meant to be used in the kitchen and had absolutely not been intended to be a weapon used for killing. That didn't mean it couldn't be used for it, though.

"A single man... To think that it would only take a single man to deal with all of my guards." The younger woman scowled with a shake of her head as she tightened her grip on the knife.

"Actually, I have a partner, but I don't need him to help me take you out." Kiritsugu said with a scowl as he regarded the woman in front of him. His calico had just clicked on empty with his last attack, putting him at a small disadvantage since he needed to reload. However, that was why he always kept another weapon on hand.

"I am perfectly capable of doing it myself." His Thompson Contender appeared in his hand and he pointed it at the younger woman. He didn't have the time to make any origin rounds, but the round that the Contender shot was a .22 long rifle. A caliber big enough to compare to sniper rifle rounds. With such a powerful round, he would be able to pierce the woman's aura without a problem.

The problem with the Contender was that it only chambered one round. He wouldn't be able to fire another round without opening the chamber, taking out the shell, and putting another round inside. It was the reason why it was his ace in the hole against the more powerful opponents who couldn't be simply taken out with his regular methods.

But he had a feeling that the cards were in his favor. He could easily shoot the woman with one round and take out the other with hand to hand combat. If push comes to shove, he could activate his special ability and let his knives take it from there.

"Hmph. It seems you don't understand the situation you're in." The woman scoffed. She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a small device that somewhat resembled a radio. Holding it up, she pointed to several small lights that were aligned on the box. As of now, 17 of the lights were put out while only a single one remained on.

"This, my dear, is a device we use to keep track of all our subordinates. It works by using the dust that's woven into their clothes as a sort of beacon to establish a connection. The dust is primed to go off when one of them dies, shutting off a light on the dial."

Kiritsugu frowned as he stared at the dial. If what she was saying is true, then that means...

He established his connection to Avenger.

"Avenger, how many grunts have you killed?"

Edmond Dante normally didn't find joy in many things. Most of his personality took a dramatic turn for the worse when he was imprisoned in the hellish hole of Chateau d'lf. Conditions were horrible, prisoners were treated horribly, and constant battle for territory was almost enough to make him commit suicide until he found friendship with Faria the Mad Priest.

With newfound determination, he quickly acclimated to life within the prison. The strong survived while the weak were purged. Surviving with a mind of steel and countless hours of physical training inside of the prison gave him incredible physical ability and powers. It also helped that Faria also taught him many useful abilities like combat, reading, math, Etc.

His cold determination and physical prowess made him a monster into the form of a man. Boasting incredible speed on the brink of thought, and physical prowess on par with B-ranked strength, he was an effective killing machine.

And his opponents were learning that the hard way.

He had already torn of one man's arm, crushed another's skull with his foot, and even roasted two more with an electric current.

All of this had occurred in the time of 5 seconds.

The remaining three men stepped back in fear at the corpses of their allies.

"I-impossible!" One of the men stuttered. "I-I didn't even see him move!"

"Oi." Edmond began, causing all three men to flinch. "It's rude to talk about people who are standing in front of you, ya know?" He picked up one of the terrorist's gun and looked at it with distaste. "Bleh, I hate the concept of these things. At least shooting a bow and arrow takes some skill."

The men raised their guns in defense as Edmond pointed the gun at them with a cold glare. Suddenly, the count grinned and thumbed the eject button, letting the clip slide smoothly out of the grip and hitting the floor with a loud, but menacing, thud.

"Like I said, I don't particularly like these things." He continued as he ejected the loaded round with a click. "It takes away the exciting rush of the moment." He tossed the gun lazily into the corner and gave them a cold smile. "Pulling a trigger... It's like calling a fast found restaurant and ordering take out."

"Y-you're insane..." One of the men stuttered as they slowly began moving back from the Avenger.

Edmond just simply continued smiling and flexed his muscles, earning a satisfying crack in response. "Now this... is the thing. Killing your prey up close and personal while watching the fear in their eyes is satisfying to me. Almost like a drug, you see." The floor creaked as he stepped towards them.

"This is the rush." The men raised their weapons.

"And this... is what I do."

The men opened fired, creating a hail of led in front of them that should have been impossible to dodge. Edmond, on the other hand, just simply smiled and rushed forward in blinding speed, almost taking the form of a blue beam as he maneuvered around the bullets.

"K-keep shooting!" The man ordered as he put another mag into his gun and continued firing.

"A-are we even hitting him?!"

"This man is a monster!" The third man yelled in panic, before suddenly exploding into a pink of red mist as Edmond's fist, flying at super speed, smashed into the right side of his head and caved his entire skull in.

"You're damn right." Edmond said with a smile as he casually tossed the body behind him and turned towards the other men. "By the way... You guys are missing these. Here, I'll give them back to you. Opening his gloved hand, Edmond revealed the smoldering bullets in his hand.

"H-he caught the bullets?!" Man number two cried out in dismay as he stared at the lead in the avenger's hand. "Impossible! It's one thing to dodge the bullets, but catching them?! You're a freak!"

"You're looking a little bit queasy." Edmond pointed out as he gripped the bullets. "You could use a nap. Ciao." With a quick flick of his wrist, Edmond tossed the bullets with enough force to travel at a speed fast enough to look like it had been fired out of a gun once again. The man's aura attempted to shield him, but the hail of bullets managed to finally pierce the energy and kill him, leaving one final man alone to take care of.

"Seems like number three is your unlucky number." Edmond joked with a jovial tone.

"W-wait!" The man yelped, scrambling backwards until his back touched the wall.

"Nothing you say can save you now." Edmond shrugged. "I was originally going to take you hostage and pry some answers out of you, but you're just a grunt. And a grunt isn't good for anything other than cannon fodder." He reached out quickly and grabbed the mans neck with his right hand, causing the man to wheeze as he began pressing on his throat.

"N-no..." He pleaded pathetically as he struggled in his grip.

"Sorry. Can't exactly have you go anywhere and blab about me or my boss." He chuckled. "At least be thankful that you won't have to figure out what your right testicle tastes like." With a surge of energy, he snapped the man's neck with a sickening crack.

"And that's that." Edmond sighed as he rubbed his hands. "Not even a challenge." He went around and rummaged through the men's belongings as he tried to see if he could find anything that could help them in Kiritsugu's investigation. Unfortunately, the only thing he came up with was a bunch of Lien, bullets, and grenades. No wallet or nothing. The dust infused into their clothes had gone off and melted most of their possessions. As he was rummaging around, he suddenly perked up as his master's voice reached his ears through their telepathy.

"Avenger, how many grunts have you killed?"

"Seven, boss. Why?"

"Are you sure you killed only seven?"

Edmond frowned as he looked around at the destroyed corpses around the room. "Definitely seven, boss. Why?"

"Oh... shit. Hold on, I'll be right back."

Edmond blinked in confusion before shrugging. His master was probably having a bit of a problem right now.

Totally not his problem. Right now, he just wanted to kick back and relax. Popping up a chair, he sat down and placed his legs on a nearby table. Grabbing a nearby canned drink that had somehow managed to survive the exchange, he popped it open and began drinking.

He was way too tired to even go help his master anyway.

"Booooring..." Summer muttered as she watched the history teacher, Professor Firdaus Taliesin Schultheiss, gave her the first lecture of their year. He was an old guy with pale white hair and an equally pale beard. Despite how boring his lectures usually are for her, she liked him the best out of the other teachers. He was more laid back, and he looked like a much more nicer person.

"You should at least pay attention." Raven chided with an amused smile as she bopped her leader's head. "History isn't that boring once you start paying attention."

Summer pouted. "But I don't like it..."

Raven shook her head. "Honestly, you act like a little girl sometimes. I mean... I get that you're shorter than the rest of us and all, but you're still our age."

"Hey... I'm not that short." Summer muttered as she buried her face in her open textbook with a bored look.

"You're still a head shorter than the rest of us." Raven said with a sly smile.

"I'm not that short. You're just too tall." Summer grumbled as the bell finally rang, signaling the end of class. She breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally... I'm so done with this class."

"Remember, don't forget to bring your supplies with you to class! I know it's just the beginning of the school year and all, but that is no excuse!" Professor Firdaus said with a stern tone as the students began quickly filing out of the classroom. As he sat back at his desk, he shook his head. "Youngsters these days... So irresponsible."

"Old timer." Raven muttered as she gathered up her textbooks. "Wonder what the boys are doing."

Even with the distribution of teams, not all members of the same team have the same class schedule unless it's in the combat class to work on teamwork. It was odd, but it was just to allow them to learn how to function independently from their team.

"Probably doing boy stuff." Summer said as her mind drifted towards her teammates. "You think they're okay on their own?"

Raven shrugged. "Qrow is actually a pretty responsible guy, but he likes to take things at his own pace. I'm not sure about Tai Yang, though. He seems a little too... hot headed."

"You got that right." Summer giggled, knowing how hot headed Tai could be at times. "I'm sure Qrow will be able to reign him in. If not, then I'm sure Shirou would do so too."

"Speaking of Shirou, where did he go yesterday?" Raven asked as they headed towards the cafeteria. "I didn't see him at the dorms."

"He went to Vale to see family." Summer said with a shrug. "His dad also came here to see the school. Pretty cool looking, too."

"His dad was here?" Raven said with surprise. "That's surprising. What was he like?"

"Well... His name was Kiritsugu Emiya. I've never heard of him before, but he said that he was given an important job with headmaster Ozpin. He never explained what it was, but he asked Shirou about something called 'Avalon'. Do you know what that is?"

Raven frowned. "Avalon? Never heard of it. Certainly nothing with a name like that in the history books. Perhaps we could ask Shirou later?"

"Maybe." Summer said with a shrug. "He doesn't tend to talk about himself, though. He's not a very sociable person."

"What was that?"

The two girls jumped in surprise as Shirou suddenly appeared behind them. He had changed into his regular uniform, but it looked strangely odd on him. Without his combat suit, it was strange for him to look like a regular teenager.

"A-ah, nothing!" Raven said quickly as she regained her composure. Shirou gave them a confused look before shrugging.

"Hn. Whatever you say." He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "I was just heading over for lunch. Mind joining me? We didn't talk much after the initiation yesterday, and I would like to catch up."

"Sure!" Summer agreed immediately with a grin, causing Shirou to smile as he heard Atalanta's voice come through their link.

"You were right. She is quite the person." She said with a warm tone as she floated around them in spirit form. "Although, I can't understand why you're nicer with her rather than with anyone else."

"She reminds me too much like myself. It's perhaps the reason why I can possibly stand her." Shirou thought with a jovial tone. "Too childlike for her own good, but she has big goals like mine. For what it's worth, I would like for her to at least achieve her dream without ending up like me."

"What a caring person you are, Shirou." Atalanta said with a smile of approval.

Shirou simply smiled. "Well... Let's go and find a spot to eat. Tai and Qrow can come and meet us there if they want." He held up a small basket. "I also personally made some extra food for you two. It may look plain, but trust me, it is nothing short of perfection."

He had gained many titles like 'The Magus Killer' or 'The Wrought Iron Hero', but there was one title that he prided over them all.

And that is, 'The god of the kitchen.'

Indeed. Such a title was also what he was known for. Despite being a mercenary for hire, legends among chiefs and magi around the world told stories of his delicious cooking that was said to be able to rival the food of the gods.

He found the idea ridiculous at first, but soon just rolled with it. People tended to let their imagination run wild, so it was best to just let it be.

"Nothing short of perfection, eh? Very well, let's see if you're not just all talk." Raven said with a sly grin as she eyed the basket.

"Oh trust me, whatever comes out of my mouth is nothing but the truth." Shirou replied with a smirk as he grabbed Summer by the shoulder and began steering her towards the cafeteria. "Cmon, Summer. Let's hurry up and find a seat so we can eat already."

"Y-yes!" Summer yelped, surprised at the sudden contact. Raven just shook her head in amusement at her leader before following after them.

She wasn't a beggar, but there was a reason why she was named Raven, after all.