Speed/Stealth B2C11

Her eyes were locked behind me, and I turned to see a glowing yellow spear lodged into the stone. My eyes widened, but what I saw was soon replaced with a gauntleted fist.

Agony exploded as it struck me, followed by a knee into my back, and then the floor to my face. I panted and gasped, even as the boots before my eyes vanished in a blur. Someone screamed, followed by cries of warning and pain. I coughed and forced my head up, to look at the scene about me.

Weiss crumpled to the floor, bent double over a fist in her stomach. The armoured figure grinned and vanished before Ruby could cut her down, and clear across the room, Pyrrha tried to block an axe kick, but had her feet swept out from under her instead. The Champion landed poorly and tried to roll away, but a stomp to her shoulder prevented it. The woman raised her foot again, but flashed away when Nora approached.

She appeared on a spear lodged several metres up on a wall, and I watched as it shattered when she touched it. She fell a few feet, but teleported away before she hit the ground. This time it was Ren who cried out in pain and was knocked to the ground.

My eyes widened. She hadn't been aiming for us at all. That attack, which almost any other Lancer would have used to wound and drive an enemy back, had instead been used to set up the battlefield. Now that I realised it, the hundred or so spectral spears stuck across the battlefield were a terrifying sight. I didn't get to process the thought any further, for I heard a crystalline sound behind me, and then felt a heavy foot catch me in my stomach. The blow lifted me a good foot off the ground, and I rattled and clinked as I rolled across the stone floor.

"Jau-oof!" Ruby staggered as a fist caught her face, then cried out when the woman swept a foot up to crack against the back of her head. The Reaper went down in a tangle of limbs, and even when Yang roared and rushed in to protect her, the Lancer flashed away once more.

Weiss groaned and slammed into a wall. She didn't move once she slumped to the bottom.

"Get…" I swallowed. "Get together! F-Form a circle. Don't let her teleport to you!"

"Like I'd allow it," Glenn laughed, appearing before me and lifting my body up with one hand. She tilted her head to one side and smirked cruelly at me. "Lucky for you, I can't flash with my spear, boy. Still, I hardly need it for weaklings." Her fist slammed into my face and I saw stars. "Isn't that right?" She punched me again, then slammed me against the wall and left me there.

The massacre continued for a few more seconds. Through vision that darted in and out of focus, I watched her dismantle us one by one. Nora and Ren managed to get together, and to keep themselves away from any of the spears, but she didn't let any other approach them. When the two split ranks to try and rescue Ruby and Yang, they were caught half-way and knocked down. Nora struggled to defend Ren, but proved no match for the Sentinel's power.

It ended as it began, with the woman flashing back to the final spear – her own. She appeared on her knees, two fingers touching the haft. With a dark chuckle, she picked it up and stood. To add insult to injury, she flicked away a small amount of sweat from her brow and cracked her neck to the side.

[...]

The others were in a similar state, scattered across the room on their hands and knees, some bleeding, others bruised, but none uninjured. I saw Ruby, crouched by Weiss with one hand on the Mage's shoulder. The white-haired girl looked to be alive, but her slumped posture spoke of how few spells would be helping us out. I wouldn't give up, though. Not like this.

The Lancer was engaged with Blake, one of the few of us who seemed able to do any real damage to the woman, and the only one who'd been able to remain unharmed from the final attack, too fast to be caught – or maybe she'd hidden.