The Alpha Beowolf stared in confusion at the fissure in the sky, a deep blue sea paradoxically flowing in the air that had been present from sunset. The pack was wary of the opening, but as the Alpha it was his role to prove there was nothing to be afraid of. But even an elder Grimm such as itself had never laid eyes on something quite like this.
Its confusion grew even more as the opening began to drip a blue gunk freezing the ground it touched, before an armoured mass emerged from the portal and dropped to the grass elegantly.
The creature felt no fear, the human was armoured yes but it stood barely over 6ft tall at best. It did not radiate power, its build was hard to see under the armour but it was certainly slimmer than the likes the monster had faced on its time in Remnant. The armour was archaic, the man was clearly clad head to toe in steadfast steel. The facial shape of the mask was strange, like an animal itself. A lesser grimm would have attacked by now but a animal of his age did not live this long without erring on the side of caution. The Alpha watched a little longer content to observe the patterns of its prey.
The figure straightened painfully, its back arching in a grotesque manner as it seemed as if his spine had broken. The cold air turned freezing as a miasma of ice radiated from the armoured man's mask, as it straightened out the figure bizarrely placed one of its hands on the ground assuming a more bestial position resembling a rabid dog, with its back turned to the predator watching it.
Upon seeing this weakness the Alpha could wait no longer; the human was deluded it was obvious. It would be an easy kill. The grimm pounced towards the human in an instant with a lightning burst of speed only to feel blistering pain and burning cold as the Beowolf was slammed into the ground and then crushed down upon by the armoured man's knee. The Knight turned his head slightly and snarled quietly before humming in delight seeing that it had caught its victim.
There it was. That taste, that smell, that feeling. It was with him in the darkest depths and the tallest heights. That was his curse. That was his blessing. It was the Pontiff's gift, the holy eyes of Sulyvahn. Those who wore the holy rings were granted godlike prowess on the battlefield, an ability to lay down flurrying strikes with no end that grew in power the longer the attack was sustained, with unwavering stamina and vigour as long as they pressed the attack onwards. Unflinching, unfailing, unwavering, these were the traits of a true Knight of the Boreal Valley. The euphoria of it coursed through his veins and gave him unimaginable pleasure. A warbled mixture between a laugh and roar escaped his lips.
The mass under him shifted letting out a cross between a pained yelp and an enraged growl, reminding the Knight of his unfinished business.
It would be a lie to say he had ever seen anything quite like what was trapped beneath the metal joints of his knee. It resembled a wolf, but was jet black in colour; save for the strange bone-like mask that protected its extremities. An intimidating sight for most he would imagine.
The Outrider dug his sword deep into the back of the wolf-like creature's neck until it eventually stopped writhing. Then it disappeared in a black wisp of smoke, leaving no trace it had ever been there.
Gerhardt growled in frustration before sheathing his sword. What use was a creature if they did not bleed or in any way leave indication they had been there in the first place? It left him hollow and incomplete. He needed the splatter of blood across his armour, the sound of ripping and tearing flesh as he dug into his enemies. He… no what he saying?
The man gripped his head in pain, the side-effect of the rings. How could he forget? He had to be careful with how he carried himself, in and out of combat. The original five Knights of the Boreal Valley were doomed to become rampant beasts as soon as they accepted the gift of the Pontiff's eyes. He was not one of the original five. He was the sixth one, made to succeed where the others had failed. He could not and would not fall prey to what had consumed the others.
A growl inadvertently escaped his throat rupturing the night air, and the Knight once again moaned and gripped his head. What had the Pontiff said? To keep the curse at bay? What? What did he say?
Blood.
The curse ravaged the blood, he remembered now it was so clear. He withdrew an Irithyllian dagger from a pouch on his chestplate and removed his gauntlet, before grinding the dagger across his arm letting the crimson ichor spill to the ground, and water the soil.
Bad blood as it were, the curse spread in his most vital essence. If it was allowed to build up without being tapered off, the transformation could occur and he was not sure if he could come back from it. He would become a mindless animal fit only for the role of a ceremonial guard dog, or perhaps to act as a slave and do menial labours for the Pontiff. He was the proudest knight of Irithyll, he was not like his fallen brothers and sister; the curse would not be the end of him for that would be to spit on all he had been raised to be by his high Holiness. He was made for the position he filled.
The Knight now noticed the animalistic position he had assumed in his blood-drunk state, and straightened up into the proud paladin figure he was meant to be, slipping his gauntlet back on after freezing shut his wound; Gerhardt looked around him in interest.
Where was he? The forest was foreign to him; he had not seen the like of it anywhere in Lothric. It did not seem to be the Road of Sacrifices nor Farron Keep, the lack of swamp and marshland confirmed as much. And it was much too bright to be the outside of the Cathedral of the Deep. So where?
Every Outrider Knight was capable of navigating the Deep, that eldritch and consecrated expanse. It enabled them to hide in plain sight, or even travel great distances if necessary. Which was what he had been doing. The Pontiff had dispatched on his first mission as a true Outrider Knight; to guard Yhorm the Lonely Ruler of the Profaned Capital and prevent any unkindled from seeking to return the wayward Lord of Cinder to his throne, as that could interrupt the activities of Saint Aldrich and the Church of the Deep. He had been granted another unofficial mission by the Pontiff, but that was only between the two of them, but that was inconsequential at this point in time.
He knew he needed out of the forest, that was a given, then perhaps he could navigate elsewhere. At the moment he was a fish out of water, and was about as useful as a dull sword when stuck in these blinding woodlands. He had to see something, anything to orientate himself.
Another Beowolf burst out of the brush to slam into what it saw as easy prey, only to be snatched by a clawed gauntlet and crushed in an instant lifelessly falling to the ground in an heap.
"Pathetic," muttered the Irithyllian Knight, his voice echoing in his helmet before he trudged slowly towards the edge of the forest. The least these beasts could have been offered was a challenge, there was no sport or honour to killing helpless animals no matter how aggressive they were. So far he had not been impressed.
The evening was quiet, and the silence deafening. Not to suggest that it displeased him. The cacophony of battle had its charm, but the rustic feel of nature's orchestra present in the forests of Lothric had never been lost on him. It felt fulfilling in a way.
After trudging for what felt like an hour or so, he came upon a less densely wooded area and he could finally see the night sky. Removing his helmet so that he could get a better look, he felt the biting sensation of the air on his skin. The problems of spending too long in a freezing helmet. He looked up to see the sky.
A bright and pale shattered moon glared back at him. His breath hitched in his throat as he observed the celestial object.
By Aldrich's name where was he?
"Glynda would you have a look at this?" said Ozpin, mug in hand while pointing to the screen of his computer with his eyes.
The deputy nodded curtly and inspected the statistics of Grimm activity in the Forever Fall, noting the sharp decline in the past few days. That was strange, the faculty had skimmed some of the grimm out of Forever Fall in preparation for the trip but not this many. The decline was radical, and rather abrupt appearing to have begun only a week ago.
"Has the Council ordered Hunters to clear the forest?" asked Goodwitch folding her arms and raising an eyebrow in an inquisitive manner.
Ozpin took another sip of his coffee "No, I have contacted them on the manner as far as I have been told no hunter has entered the forest save our colleagues a week ago. It should be free of anything but the grimm."
"And yet the grimm seem to be dying."
Ozpin sighed "They are at record amounts; someone or something is in that forest and appears to be quite adept at exterminating them." He glanced outside the window to look from his perch on the tower down onto Forever Fall, before speaking again "Glynda on that school trip I want you to keep an eye out for whoever or whatever is in that forest. They may be killing grimm but I have no idea as to what their intentions truly are. I wish I could spare some of the second years, but most are on mission at the moment as you well know. With you at the helm I feel the first years will be safer."
The teacher kept a stern face and bowed slightly "I shall see to it, nothing will go wrong on this trip as long as I have any say on it."
Ozpin relaxed in his chair slightly "Thank you Glynda."
As his fellow teacher left the room Ozpin could not help but wonder if the Queen could have anything to do with this.
"Alright team," hollered Ruby Rose, excitable as ever and causing Weiss a clear headache and provoking a death glare from the white haired girl. Ruby's smile grew impossibly bigger "We are not just going to collect four jars of sap; we are going to collect as much as we can!"
Blake sighed expressing the pain of a woman wise beyond her years "This is not just because you and Nora made a bet, is it?"
Ruby blushed slightly before shaking her head fervently "Blake I would never do anything like that not even if I was offered a trip by Nora if we won to that expensive cookie shop that Dad took me when I was younger, remember Yang?"
Ruby's sister smirked slightly "Yep I remember the day after as well because you ate so much that you were sick for the next week."
"Yang!"
"I also remember that you threw up so much that you clogged the sink for a full week as well."
"YANG!"
Yang's face grew ghostly pale. She continued "I also remember what happened when we tried to burn the sheets, the smell was not gone for a month."
Ruby fell to the ground in embarrassment, a broken being. Her red face quite resembling a tomato.
Blake let a ghost of a smile grace her face before continuing her earlier point "Besides that, why are you even reminding us? We are already pretty deep in the forest because we agreed to help you find more sap."
"I really want those cookies," muttered Ruby just about recovering from the earlier incident. Her silver eyes focused deeply into Blake's yellow ones "You have no idea how much this means to me."
"Nor does she have any need to!" yelled Weiss, finally having lost her patience "Does nobody realise we are way too far into this forest? I cannot see or even hear any other teams."
Yang whistled slightly before responding "I am pretty certain Nora dragged JNPR out this way, so they cannot be too far, they are probably just being competitive and keeping radio silence if you know what I mean."
Weiss glowered slightly before closing her eyes in though. She nodded finally accepting the explanation "Well I guess that's alr-."
Weiss was cut of by an alpha Beowolf slamming into a tree right beside her boring deeply into the bark and perishing. She yelped in surprise and withdrew Myrtenaster quickly pointing it in the direction of where the Grimm had come from.
Yang grinned and cracked her knuckles "Good, I was getting bored." She readied Ember Celica before staring at shock at what she saw.
The metallic figure entered the clearing dragging a Beowolf by its skull as the creature desperately squirmed in the death grasp of the iron monster that had it. The icy miasma surrounding the figure was unmistakable, with the dew present on the grass around it freezing solid.
Finally seeming to tire of the baggage it was carrying the creature lifted the Beowolf over its shoulders before bringing it down harshly against the reinforced knee of steel plate armour effectively breaking the grimm in two. The beast fell lifelessly to the ground.
The figure turned to face them and drew its ethereal blue sword towards them, dropping into a fighting stance and unleashing a menacing screech in their direction. The team could almost see the muscles in its legs tensing even under all that armour.
Ruby readied Crescent Rose just in time to see the being leap through the air weapon bared straight at her.
"Uh oh."
Hey guys first story here hope to keep it going and update it every weekend or so, there will be longer chapters later on but for now I am keeping it kind of brief because I really wanted to get this idea on paper so to speak. See you soon.