Hello everybody, AgentZwolf here.
Before we begin, i just want to say sorry for not updating my previous stories, and being on hiatus since... August? Dear god has it really been half a year? Well anyway, the reason for my hiatus was because of one of my previous stories, "The Seraph", which was a re-write of another story "The Silver Lancer". I didn't enjoy the serious tone of "The Seraph" as i thought, so i scrapped it. And because i don't want to make another stupid mistake again. I decided to go on a bit of a break to get my head together before i dive into it again.
So in short, this is a re-write, o a re-write. How many other double re-writes have you read? No seriously, tell me.
Anyway, without further ado, this is my new "Two Immortals". Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN RWBY
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Two Immortals
Prologue: Even Immortals Feel Fatigue
First person POV
27 Years before Canon
Where did it all go wrong?
We were supposed to go on a mission to a slightly remote village, just another simple patrol mission. Not too exciting, not too boring. Well, not for my team anyway.
I walked down the streets of the village. My team and I were in our final years at Haven academy. Just another month and a half before we graduate. The people waved at me as I walked proudly with my spear in my hands, resting on my left shoulder, my cape blowing in the wind, sporting an emblem which was a circle with six feathered wings, with each pair at a certain angle. The people were all smiling, the village was a lot more peaceful since me and my team came here. And considering the village was occupied by bandits for the last three days before we arrived, the people were more than grateful for our arrival.
So why?
Why did this happen?
I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard a Grimm roar. I turned to the source of the roar to see a Beowolf in front of a little girl with blonde hair tied to a bun and green eyes. I grit my teeth and picked up my spear and rushed towards the girl. As I got closer I spun around swinging my spear and decapitated the Grimm before it fell to the ground and dissipated into smoke. I turned to the girl, my silver hair and cape blowing in the wind. I could see the girl was in awe, but this is hardly the time for it.
"You can't stay here kid, find a safe place and hide." The girl snapped out of her thoughts and nodded before running off to find somewhere safe.
After seeing her run off, I turn to see someone familiar, she was around 5ft 9in tall with long curly pink hair almost reaching her waist. She was wearing relatively light armor, though they all share the same color scheme, white and blue with a golden trim. She wielded a broadsword with an armguard shaped like a wing along with a kite shield. She also had wings on her back, indicating she was a Faunus, a half-human, half-animal race. She was slightly shorter than me like everyone else in the team, except for Richard. I rushed over to her and killed the Ursa that was about to strike her from behind with a downward stab to the skull.
"Haven't I taught you enough Florina? Always watch your surroundings." The girl known as Florina groaned a bit.
"Hey, lay off. It's my first time fighting a horde this big. We can't all be badasses fighting thousands of Grimm alone y'know." She said in slight annoyance at me while I just shrugged.
"If it's any consolation, you're already badass in your own right. You know you're badass when you get a title." I said with a sheepish grin as I added another Beowolf to my kill count.
"Riiiiiiight. That's great coming from 'The God of War'." She said sarcastically while decapitating yet another Beowolf.
The title was something I got after taking down whole teams single handedly during the Vytal Festival Tournament, leading my team to win twice in a row. Of course, I had to let my team handle the Doubles and singles rounds to avoid everyone thinking they were a bunch of slackers. There were multiple smaller scale tournaments in between the times my team won the Vytal Festival Tournament in which I participated in, thus earning my title.
"Again, if it's any consolation, 'Angel of the Battlefield' sounds pretty cool." Florina was about to say something when my scroll rang, I picked it up and answered the call. "Talk to me." I spoke to the other side of the call.
"Zwolf, we need your help outside the village. Mary and I saw a kid outside the village about to be attacked by Beowolves. I think I found out why the Grimm attacked." The voice said before the sound of flesh being cut was heard.
"Just hang on Richard. Florina and I just finished up inside the village, we're coming. We already called for a Bullhead extraction in case things get really messy."
"Hurry, I don't think we can handle them much longer." I hung up as Florina walked over to me.
"What is it?" She asked.
"Richard and Mary need our help outside the village. Looks like they found out the source of our problems. Come on." I gestured to move, and Florina nodded before we both ran for the gates.
As we reached the outskirts of the village, we saw two people fighting a horde of Grimm, one of them was a man towering at 6ft 3in wielding a double-bladed battle axe with a handle one and a half times the length of the axe blades. The man wore a white and blue suit deigned for combat purposes infused with dust as evidenced by the blue light glowing coming from the lines along the suit. The other person was a woman standing at 5ft 7in wielding a shield that opens up into a bow, firing arrows that can take a Beowolf's head clean off in one hit. She wore light armor with a gauntlet on her left arm stretching from her shoulder to her hand. The two were in front of a child around 3 years old with brown hair and amber eyes. Wasting no time, Florina and I ran over to them and helped with the Grimm surrounding the so they don't get overwhelmed. When all the Grimm were gone, Richard let out a sigh of relief.
"You really have a knack for dropping in when someone needs you. You know that right?" Richard panted heavily as he tried to keep himself upright with his axe and not collapse from exhaustion.
"I'm guessing you ran out of gas before we got here?" I had a bit of a smug grin on my face.
"Not everyone is born with your kind of aura reserves. So lay off, I'm pooped over here." I then turned to Mary who had an injury on her leg that wasn't healing, meaning she had run out of aura. She was sitting down on the ground next to the little girl her and Richard was protecting earlier.
"How'd you get injured Mary?" I asked her.
"I pushed her out of the way when the Ursa that attacked and it hit my leg." She gestured to the little girl in her arms, who was still a bit scared.
"Heroism is fine and all, but don't get careless. If I worry too much about you out here it'll get us both killed."
"Aww, but I like it when you worry." She pouted at me. Seriously, I can hardly stop myself when she asks me to do something with that face, though I try to refuse.
"Guys, can you not flirt when we have bigger problems?" Richard pointed to a figure in the distance.
The figure was basically the Grimm version of a knight, with bone armor and a black body, it wielded a longsword made from an entire bone. Or at least it looked like it since it looked like one whole item instead of being comprised of parts like how it should be. It had red eyes, shining beneath its helmet, and it looked angry, very angry. The Grimm knight plunged its sword into the ground and a shadow spreads from underneath it, covering a rather wide radius. And from it, a horde of Grimm rose from the ground like zombies. I knew we were at a disadvantage, so I came up with a plan. Though admittedly it was pretty much suicidal.
"Florina, take Richard, Mary and the kid and evacuate the village. I'll hold them off as long as I can. The bullhead should be here soon. Go!" I ordered them. Everyone was against it, especially Mary.
"But, what about you?" I cut her off.
"I said go!" Florina and Richard nodded before picking up Mary and the kid and ran back to the village. Mary struggled as she insisted on staying but Richard ignored her and ran back as I hear the sound of the bullhead I called for earlier finally arrive. As they left, I turned to the Grimm horde in front of me.
"I thought I had reduced your kin to extinction, guess Salem's been busy raising one. Oh well, I guess it's my job to make sure to keep you Millennium Grimm all extinct." I said to the Grimm knight before going into a stance with my spear at the ready. "I know that whenever a Grimm dies you all re-spawn back at your birthing pools. But just in case you retain your memories, tell your boss I'm coming for her." A small red glyph appeared on my spear at the blunt end, and my body at the base of my neck. "But you know what? Scratch that, I'll tell her myself."
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Third person POV
Mary kept thrashing around, trying to make Richard let go. She hit and kicked and flailed, but to no avail as they ran back to the village.
"No! Let me go, we have to go back! Zwolf!" She screamed as the three got back to the village gates. Richard set her down when they reached where the villagers were.
"Will you get a hold of yourself?! Zwolf bought us time to get these villagers to safety. Once they're safe, Florina and I will go back for him. Let's not waste time." His voice progressively got weaker as a single stray tear rolled down his face.
As the bullhead Zwolf called for finally touched down, Richard and Florina went to work on evacuating the villagers onto the bullhead, along with Mary.
"Please, bring him back." Mary pleaded to Richard as she started to cry.
"I'll do what I can." Richard replied unsure if they can get to him in time. He knew Zwolf was strong, but he doubted he can handle that big of a Grimm horde alone. He needed to hurry, and hope that Zwolf can hold the Grimm long enough.
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Zwolf panted in exhaustion as he took a look around him. The Grimm horde that was surrounding him several minutes ago, were now a pile of bodies, slowly fading into smoke. The Grimm knight was wounded, without an arm and was using its sword to stay upright. Zwolf was injured as well, running out of aura and was covered in shallow cuts from whenever he barely managed to dodge the Grimm knight's attacks. Like his adversary, Zwolf is using his weapon to stay upright.
"You're one tough son of a bitch aren't you?" Zwolf chuckled as he was panting heavily with a heavy smile on his face. The Grimm knight simply glared at him as he have been the entire fight, but was obviously winded.
"Well, I can't stay here much longer. Mary is probably already crying by now, and a gentleman shouldn't leave a crying girl alone, whether she's your girlfriend or not, and she is." Zwolf kept his smile as he stood up straight and went into a stance, the Grimm knight followed and seemed to agree with him.
A Grimm agreeing with a human, Well, wouldn't be the first time.
"So, let's finish this." Without a moment's hesitation, the two adversaries lunged at each other and swung their respective weapons. Once the two came to a stop, it was a few seconds of silence before the head of the Grimm knight fell off and it slumped down as it faded away into nothing.
Zwolf let out a sigh of relief as he looked down to see a big gash on his abdomen, and since he ran out of aura it'll take a while to heal. He turned and walked back to the village, using his spear as a walking stick, he trudged his way back, leaving a trail of blood behind him. Completely exhausted from his earlier fight, not to mention wounded. He didn't hide his fatigue, he couldn't even if he wanted to, his breathing deepened, his steps slowing by the second, until eventually, he couldn't take it anymore. He leaned back against a tree and slid down.
"Sorry guys, I won't be able to walk back on my own. I'm way too tired, I'm just gonna sit here and….. Rest." His eyelids grew heavy, he was losing blood very quickly thanks to the wound the Grimm knight gave him. He then slowly closed his eyes, and let out his last breath.
Which he did for the next few minutes before he woke up.
"Gasp Oh, goddamnit! I died again, shit." After a few minutes of controlling his beating heart and erratic breathing, Zwolf quickly got up and inspected himself.
"Torn clothes, as usual. It's a good thing 'She' didn't find me while I was-" Zwolf gasped when he saw a woman with deathlike pale skin, red eyes, and black veins around her body. He saw her flash a nightmarish grin, and Zwolf's eyes widen in a startling revelation.
Zwolf grabbed his weapon and used his aura to run faster, when he arrived at the village him and his team were trying to save. His legs simply gave out as he gazed at the carnage before him.
The village was destroyed; footprints for many kinds of Grimm were left behind all over the remains of he village, just immediately he recognized the footprints of at least 2 Goliaths, a Deathstalker, and a few dozen Beowolves and Ursas give or take. The buildings were destroyed beyond recognition, and the presence of the Goliaths themselves were proof 'She' had a personal hand in this.
"What's wrong, Zwolf? It's not like this was the first time I personally raided a village. I may not have killed the civilians, but your friends were more than enough to sate my children." Cooed a voice behind him. He knew that voice all too well; he's known her forever at this point.
"What do you want from me?" His voice was weak and almost desperate to her, it was almost arousing for Salem to hear her one true adversary crumble before her very eyes. "You've taken everything from me five times over what's it going to take for you to stop?" He turned to her, his eyes were so lifeless, so empty, it truly was satisfying for Salem to see the man she has fought all these millennia, finally fall before her.
"Stop, you have been a thorn in my side for far too long. I can't exactly have you killed, in doing so will kill me in the process, and no amount of magic can kill either of us. One must kill the other, and in doing so, neither will survive. Leave the world of huntsmen and huntresses behind, and you have my word that I will finally leave you alone."
"And how can I be sure of that?"
"Oh, Wolfy~ We've known each other before we were chosen by the two gods, you know I'm still bound to my family's code of honor, Grimm Queen or otherwise." Salem paused as her mind returns to a time long forgotten, a time when she was…. Human. "So, what is your answer?" There was only silence it was barely heard, but Salem heard it nonetheless.
"Yes." She smirked victoriously.