RWBY: The Blue Demon

Premise: Kirito was stranded in Remnant following the event of the Underworld War. After finally getting his bearings, he was ready to find what he needed.

Trailer: Blue

A park in Vale

Kirito groaned as he slipped out of the tree he had been using as an impromptu lodge for the day. He scratched at the stubble on his chin before reaching over his shoulders to check that he still had his two swords on him. Slung over his right shoulder was a handle pure black in color, match by it's sheath. This was his main-hand sword, Night Sky. The structure of the sword slung over his left was different. Blue steel pommel with royal blue wrapping on the handle. However, instead of a guard was a revolver mechanism with windows in each chamber that glowed a light blue color, and a trigger lever went down alongside the handle. The sheath was also royal blue in color. This was his off-hand sword, Blue Rose.

His outfit was ragged, and far more travel worn than anything he had worn previously. Keeping true to his black theme, he wore black boots that were scratched up. His cargo pants were originally black, but had faded slightly to a dark gray. The pockets on the sides were bulging slightly with ammunition and Meals Ready to Eat (MREs). It was late summer, so it was still quite warm. As such, he had a similar faded, dark-gray color jacket tied around his waist. His under shirt was a different color from his usual attire, however. It was his one piece of clothing that he kept in good repair.

It was a light blue shirt with a simple icon that looked like a blue rose over his left breast. He wore it proudly in memory of his late friend. A set of light armor was strapped over his upper torso as well. Segments of plates held together with some cord. One plate covered his right breast and sternum, two plates guarded his shoulders. The plate on his right shoulder had an icon that looked like a jagged cross with a circle segmenting each point. This icon in honor of the people that he had protected before finding himself in this land. This place known as Remnant.

Two years ago, Kirito had been aiding the forces of Humanity and the Dark Territory in a war for survival against the machinations of the final vestiges of Laughing Coffin. After it had concluded, Kirito was hit by a teleportation spell of some sort by a rampant witch from the Dark Territory, and found himself stranded in Remnant.

He had ascertained that he still had access to the System Commands, and thus was still within the Soul Translator simulation. The problem came with the fact that he had no idea how to use the System Console to teleport. Not to mention, he was pretty certain that the spell was Incarnation System in nature to begin with, meaning it was derived from the rogue witch's own mind and intent, rather than an easily reversible System Command.

He spent two years slowly building up what he needed to officially exist in this world. It was a pretty stunning world, if he had to admit it. The culture was far more similar to his own on the surface. Skyscrapers, cars, guns and everything in between. When he first arrived, he only had the shattered remains of his best friend's sword, and his own sword. He had learned about the nature of weapons in this place, and reforged both weapons into ones that would work here, as well as honor their origins.

Then he learned about a new power that these people had discovered. These people discovered a power similar to the Release Recollection of a sword in Underworld, however, it was for the individual. This power was known as Semblance. These people could unlock the nature of their own existence, and turn it into some sort of almost mutant super power. Naturally, after learning about it, he spent nearly six months working on accessing the Soul Power known as Aura, which was actually an individuals Incarnation, and an aspect of their Semblance. At first, he was uncertain what his Semblance did.

This was because he was alone most of the time. Then he discovered the truth on an unsanctioned Hunt from an outer village. He paired with an unlicensed Huntsman to go take out a pack of Ursa that had been seen making their way to the village. It went well at first, until Kirito and his partner noticed something. His partner was losing Aura without using it. Kirito had a clue why. His Semblance was draining the Aura from his partner. But it was too late. Without his Aura, his partner did not survive the surprise attack of a Deathstalker from the shadows, the stinger jutting out his chest and splattering his blood on Kirito. Since then, Kirito only ever took on missions solo.
He instantly knew the nature of his Semblance. It was a part of his soul that he really should've anticipated. Somewhere, deep inside his heart, Kirito believed that anyone who was with him would die. It happened first with Sachi in Sword Art Online, then it happened again at the end of his time in the Underworld. Asuna had dived in with another Soul Translator to try and save him.

Yes, she saved him. The cost was PoH himself cutting her down. Death in the Soul Translator… meant the death of your very soul. Asuna was gone. This first year of his life in Remnant found Kirito once again on a suicide march. He took on every mission he could outside the main cities after hearing about how the outer villages rarely got the help they needed from Huntsman. He filled that role in their lives. However, it was also with a grudging respect that they accepted him, for he had made his Semblance public.

With his blue Aura, cursed Semblance, and his mighty prowess on the field, the now twenty-one year old man bore the title of The Blue Demon among the outer villages. Eventually, once he was certain that he had gathered enough money and notoriety, Kirito found his way to the nearest main city, intent on finding as much knowledge of this world as he could. Which all brought him to this day.

He had heard that the host of one of the bars here was very knowledgeable about the goings-on of different parties around the city. Rather than finding a hotel to nap in till evening, he elected to nap in a nicely shaded tree.

Scratching the scruff on his chin, Kirito idly thought about going to a barber before he was done with this city. His black hair had grown as well, reaching past his shoulder. He kept it bound into a somewhat ugly ponytail, as he was always too distracted to actually try to deal with it.

Eventually he found himself at the entrance to the bar he was looking for. It was quiet inside. The only vehicle parked on the curb was a black and yellow motorcycle.

'Oh yeah, motorcycles exist here. Maybe I'll try to get one before leaving town.'

Lightly batting at the door with his left hand, Kirito walked in and saw what most certainly was the remains of a bar fight. A highly destructive one. Scattered all over the ground were uniformed thugs who were groaning in pain. There were a couple girls who were knocked out too. However, what drew his attention was a very yellow girl manhandling the very bartender he had come to see. Before he could announce himself, the yellow girl decked the bartender, knocking him out.

"Now why did you have to go and do that? I needed to talk to the guy." His voice was a little scratchy from disuse. It did take him a few weeks to get here from that mountain top village he was last at. The girl's flowing blonde hair swayed as she quickly looked his way. Her eyes was lit in a red color. It was the sign of a shift in relation to Aura being applied to something, which meant her Semblance, whatever it was, was already active.

The girl grinned in both excitement and vitriol.

"Now, you look like someone who would actually know where my mom is."

The girl cocked her arms, and the yellow gauntlets on her wrists let out clicking noises, as what was likely to be some sort of Dust round was chambered into them. She was ready to fight. Kirito reach up and grabbed the hilt of Night Sky without actually drawing it. Subtly, Kirito activated his Aura, letting a blue glow surround him. Thankfully, his Semblance did not have a physical indicator without one of those handy Aura Readers that Huntsman carried in their Smartphone Scroll things. When it came to combat against other people, his curse turned into a blessing, where he could subdue people without truly harming them.

"Normally, this would be where I say that I left her in my bed this morning, but really, why would I know where your mom is?"

The girl growled and swung her arms behind her, firing the Fire Dust shotgun shells out of her gauntlets, letting her explode towards him. She reared a fist back and, with a new round chambered, began to swing a Kirito.

'Clever use of physics to amplify combat maneuvers. However…'

Kirito drew Night Sky, and twisted it down so that the edge of the blade hooked into the oncoming gauntlet's joints, and swung it outwards, spinning the yellow girl away and effectively parrying what amounted to being a shotgun charge.

"Can we just calm down and chat? Or do you have to beat people to ask them questions?"

The girl continued her onslaught, with Kirito continuing to parry each attempt with only Night Sky. Yellow then pulled a maneuver he didn't expect. As he went to parry another strike, the girl's other hand pointed up, and fired a blast, forcing her below his blade's path, and re-positioning herself to a position that Kirito was already familiar with. She was now ducked down, with her right fist prepared to fire up, inside his guard, and into his lower jaw. She had him cornered in this bout.

Or so she thought. Kirito had fought with members of the Pugilist Guild at the end of the war, and was ready. A sharp jerk of his knee cracked into Yellow's face, sending her flying backwards, which was further assisted by the premature firing of her shotgun blast. With a crack, she hit the bar. Kirito relaxed a moment before the girl got back up, with an even brighter gleam in her red eyes.

'Wait… the impact fed her Semblance, but what is her Semblance?'

The girl sprinted back after him, and reared another fist. Her fighting style was predictable. Acting on a hunch, Kirito put more force into his parry, and was rewarded with feeling like he just batted at a wrecking ball with Night Sky. However, the pitch black sword remained unblemished from the assault. She could store and return kinetic force. She was basically Newton's Law in a nutshell, or maybe a firecracker.

"So, want to tell me what the deal is with your mom?"

The girl bristled.

"I'm the one asking the questions here!"

Kirito noticed that her eyes were no longer red, and were now a normal violet in color.

'Ah…'

Kirito sheathed his sword, which he knew would irritate the girl, and turned off his Aura. With a roar, the girl launched herself at him once more, only for Kirito to pluck her wrist mid flight, and bring her into a tight bear hug.

"Now now, just calm down. The fighting is over, alright?"

"What!? Let me go! Why am I so weak!"

She struggled with futility in his grasp.

"You're out of Aura. Continued conflict is now a very real threat to your life. Please just calm down and talk to me normally."

Yang slowly stopped wiggling in his arms and he could here some quick, short hiccuping coming from the girl in his arms. Kirito mentally groaned at the familiar situation before sitting down against a wall, with the girl still in his embrace. She was pressing her face into his chest, and he started patting the top of her head while idly noting how soft and well maintained the fierce girl's hair was.

"Yang Xiao Long." He heard her mumble into his chest.

"Well, you sure know how to greet people with a Yang, don't you?" He could here the girl giggle in between her sobbing.

Something odd he noted about this world was that there were vestiges of naming conventions from all around the real world in use in this world. Such as the Chinese named girl in his arms, but this world spoke English universally, and had no foreign language in it's history. It boggled his mind, and it was one of the things he had been trying to learn.

"My mom's name is Raven Branwen, do you know here?"

Kirito hummed while continuing to tactfully not acknowledge her crying to her.

"Branwen, huh. I've heard rumors from villages outside the city of a bandit tribe known as the Branwen Tribe. I was tasked once with going to arrest or scare off their whole camp, but they had packed up and gone before I arrived at where they were supposed to be. I just settled it as a successful mission, since they weren't a threat to the village anymore."

He felt Yang's face shift against his chest, and he looked down. Her eyes were bloodshot, but a fierce look returned to them.

"Please tell me, when was that!? Where!?"

Kirito hummed in thought, before frowning.

"That information probably isn't very useful to you now, but… That was a little over a year ago, at a village about thirty miles north of Atlas, in the tundra wastelands."

"I… I see…"

Her face shuffled down into his chest again.

"So… what were you here to find?"

"I'm interested in learning about the origins of Remnant. The myths, the legends, the history. Everything."

A movement in the corner of his eyes had Kirito looked at a bird that was standing outside a window sill and watching him. Up till now, the black raven had been looking into the establishment like a normal bird would, facing what it was looking at with only one side of it's face. Ravens were curious creatures, sometimes at their own risk, so he ignored it. But now, now it was looking directly at him, with both eyes. He stared back for a moment before the girl hummed thoughtfully in his arms.

"I haven't really paid attention to those in a while, but when I was young, my step-mom once told me this story called The Four Maidens. It's just a fairy tale though."

Kirito nodded in acknowledgment.

"Tell me, do you believe in fairy tales, Yang?"

The raven took flight immediately.