The moment time resumed, Sakuya's knives flew, each one finding its mark on the scattered girls. Jaune, too, was caught in the temporal whiplash, his body seemingly bisected before he and all the other anime girls vanished in a cloud of smoke.
"You smart bastard," Sakuya growled, her expression darkening as she noticed a single girl remaining. "Only one left. This will be quick." She drew her knives, but before she could act, a female voice cut through the air.
"This is our chance! Do it now!"
Jaune suddenly appeared behind Sakuya, his hand closing around the back of her head. "Mind Control," he declared, activating his skill.
A single word of defiance escaped Sakuya's lips: "Shit!" Then, her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed.
"Eve, is it done? Is she under my control?" Jaune asked the system, his voice laced with hope.
[I don't know yet, but be careful. I didn't know that would work,] the system replied.
"Okay. Still, having Sakuya as my personal maid will make this fun," he said, lost in his fantasies.
Just then, a musical jingle filled the air, and Sakuya's unconscious body began to fade.
[Playing: Owen was her]
"Wait, hold up, this isn't Dark Souls!" Jaune shouted, stepping away from the disappearing body.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You should have known it's useless," Sakuya's voice purred from directly behind him.
"What!?" He spun around, drawing his sword with a lightning-fast motion.
"You shouldn't have brought a sword to a gunfight," she said, a flintlock pistol materializing in her hand. A small, amused smile played on her lips. "Huh, neat. I wonder…" She pulled a coin from her pocket. "Here we go, folks."
She tossed the coin into the air. "There's one currency I'll spend, it's the shots I keep unloading till your face is filled with lead!" The pistol fired, and the coin, now a ricocheting projectile, bounced toward Jaune. He managed to block it with his sword just in time.
"Got the flint loading, and I've got bodies to stack," she declared, firing another shot.
"Flank her!" Jaune commanded. A green-haired anime girl charged forward, her weapon raised.
"Not so fast. Time Sign: Private Square!" Sakuya's voice was a whisper, and the girl instantly slowed down.
"Lightspeed: C. Ricochet!" She threw a knife, but the girl suddenly teleported away. The knife, however, continued on its path, bouncing off a wall and striking another woman in the leg.
"No! You bitch!" Jaune yelled, his sword glowing with a skill as he charged. He made a wide, sweeping cut toward Sakuya.
"True colors showing, huh?" she taunted.
"Vanishing Everything!" Time stopped, and Sakuya vanished, reappearing behind him. She kicked him in the back, sending him sprawling. "Come on! Try harder than that!"
"Don't lay a hand on him!" a woman shouted, attempting to slice Sakuya from behind. The strike was deflected by a transparent, blurry barrier that appeared just in time.
"Really? Didn't you see I used my foot to kick him? I didn't even lay a hand on the dude," Sakuya said sarcastically, kicking the woman toward a nearby garbage can.
A bullet rang out, grazing Sakuya. "Really? Let's dance." She turned to face the sniper, a musket appearing in her hand.
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
"DRAW!"
Sakuya fired, the shot hitting the sniper's shoulder. The sniper's return fire hit Sakuya's barrier, harmlessly deflecting.
"I'm done chasing these reincarnators with massive egos," Sakuya said, her voice strained with fatigue. She needed to end this now. Pulling out more knives, she began walking toward Jaune.
"The world's breaking, so why not change up the show?" she said, unleashing her final spell card.
"Illusion Sign: Killer Doll!" Dozens of knives materialized in the air, spinning around her like a halo of death.
"No, oh," Jaune muttered, raising his shield and frantically chanting spells.
"Burial Illusion: Phantasm Killer!" a sigil appeared behind Sakuya. She clutched three knives in each hand, and they began to levitate, spinning in a triangular motion before flying at Jaune at incredible speeds, leaving streaks of red light in their wake.
"Crap!" Jaune cried, as the knives descended upon him like a storm of steel.
Ozpin sat in his office In his hands, he held his ever-present mug of hot chocolate, the warm, rich scent a constant comfort. He took a slow sip, the smooth liquid a welcome warmth in the quiet stillness.
The tranquility was short lived. A sharp chime from his Scroll echoed through the room, a jarring intrusion. He sighed, placing his mug down on the saucer with a soft click before answering the call.
Glynda's face appeared on the screen, her expression a mixture of concern and irritation. "Ozpin, one of the students is missing," she stated, her voice tight with worry.
Ozpin leaned forward, his calm demeanor unwavering. "Hmm, how long has this student been missing, Glynda?"
"More than a few hours," she replied, her gaze intense.
"Do you think they might just be a bit late?" he asked, a hint of his usual playful skepticism in his tone.
"No," she said, the single word a testament to her seriousness.
He raised an eyebrow. "Then what do you mean?"
Glynda took a deep breath, her eyes focused on his. "The local authorities sent me a clip from a CCTV feed. The chief also told me about a woman with silver hair wearing a maid dress acting weird. "
"A maid?" Ozpin's brow furrowed in confusion.
"They said she just appeared out of nowhere," Glynda explained, her voice dropping to a more conspiratorial tone.
"The clip they sent me shows she was near the robbery where Ruby and that other kid were fighting Roman."
Ozpin hummed in thought, reaching for his mug and taking another slow sip of his chocolate. "I'll check on it."
"The kid who is missing was also caught on camera running, with the maid running after him," Glynda continued, her voice grim. "But after that, nothing."
Ozpin's expression finally turned serious. He placed his mug down with a firm thud, the sound echoing the finality of his decision. "Tell the local authorities to find this lady, and to look for the kid as well."
He didn't wait for her response, ending the call with a flick of his wrist.