Mugen no Tenma, in.
Yorokobe Shounen...
For I'm back with a new story!
Not that I abandoning Game of The Wizard, but this story would be my second ongoing fic. So calm your ass before asking 'but, when you will continue Jaune's awesomeness and GARness?' and 'please don't abandon Game of The Wizard!', don't worry, I will continue it. I just... have another muse going on in my head, so please excuse my multitasking.
This story is an AU of my story: Game of The Wizard; basically a different path of The True Descendant of Grimmbane. Yes, the Descendant of Grimmbane here would be the main character, not Jaune, though the blonde goofy boy would play a super important role too.
And this story was heavily inspired by RWBY fangame: Vale of Darkness by Hobozone, with some difference here and there...
...
Well, you know what? Let's just start the damn story.
Prologue
The Raven and The Wolf
"Damn them..."
That night, Raven Branwen was not amused. The frown on her face, although it was covered by her mask, was deeper than it usually does.
Not that many things would change that stern and cold expression of hers, but still, tonight was one of her worst nights so far. She is her clan's leader, for Oum's sake, not a regular clan member who would be sent away for a simple patrol mission. She was not supposed to wander far in the deep forests of Anima tonight, nor she wants to be there.
Blame the elders for that, she cursed.
For an unknown reason, one of of them came up with a foolish reason that she would promptly reject, if only not for the entirety of elder members who agreed with him. For a reason that she doesn't know-and she hates not knowing anything- The Elder Council of Branwen Clan was awfully united tonight.
Something was up, Raven knew that. But the official decision from them was...
They said it was good to show that the Clan Leader would directly doing mission all on her own, to set the example that she is a benevolent leader for all of them. Granted, she just took the leadership from her clan for quite a few years, after faithfully returning to her family...
...after she left her other family behind. Hell, she left her twin brother, who refused to follow her footsteps, to return to their supposed home... he doesn't want any of it, and after a heated argument of a sibling- she just relented and let him do whatever he wants.
Damn that drunken brother. Him, and the other ones... she doesn't even want to think about it. Her former lover—she suppose she can call him that, can she?— and her partner that tried to stop her from leaving them...
Not to mention... her... what should she put it... daughter. To think that she left her own flesh and blood behind, somewhat made something inside her ache. Even if she would never tell anyone about it, it hurts. But she had to leave. For her duty.
For her family here. She owed them for raising her and her brother until they were strong enough to defend themselves, even if their ways of living were harsh, tough love. Even when they leave their clan to attend Beacon, she still felt an debt for their kindness,it is her duty to serve their clan, and she will fulfill it until her last breath.
She wouldn't have it any other way.
She would do anything to keep her clan alive and mighty, she's not above ending another's life for her clan's survival. An individual, a group, a village, a town... even a kingdom, it doesn't matter to her. She would even let the world burn, if her clan can survive that way.
People dies everyday. Whether it because of The Creatures of Grimm, Human or Faunus. Raven was accustomed to death since long ago, had acknowledged it to be inevitable fate... for the weak. Of course, the strong survives, the weak perishes.
She had her belief, it kept her alive until now. There's nothing wrong with that.
By no means she revelled in other's demise. She hated it, she hated death. But those who cannot stand for themselves wasn't worth her attention, that's just how the world works...
Just like the sight of carnage, death and destruction in front of her now. Her crimson eyes, barely visible from her white mask, stared upon the burning town with apathy and indifference. Something like this wasn't new to her, not at all.
The village of Raisin. Another settlement that houses only Faunus after Menagerie, although there was no hostility towards humans, it was quite the opposite. Humans who visited this village were to be treated with kindness and hospitality, provided they treated the villagers with the same gesture.
Raven hadn't had the time to visit this village, this village was not her clan's target to plunder for anytime soon. Targeting this village was an act of mass suicide, for she heard that Huntsmans and Huntresses from all around Remnant were usually visiting this village often.
Her brother himself included. Not to mention that they have tough perimeter defenses which is capable to repel even a Goliath, even felling one if it was close enough. She's not going to send any attack force here anytime soon, that's her plan...
If only the village wasn't being razed to the ground.
The village itself was built in the middle of large forest. The sight of many small trees and a few large ones between them, a fairly large wall from unknown materials built around the village to keep the Creatures of Grimm from entering. Several gun turrets and cannons stationed on the walls to aid whoever was there to guard the perimeter.
A scowl formed on Raven's lips.
'How is this possible for a village like this to fall?'
A stray thought of hers flashed in her mind as she got closer to the town. As she gave the signal via her scroll to her clan members to, politely speaking, take whatever left of this village, she knew that this tragedy was caused by, just like always, the Grimm. If the claw marks and the smashed gate were any indication. Well... a cynical part of her says that it's good to have them break the door for her.
People's screams of terror and horror that echoed in her ears were still audible, yet Raven knew that it was too late for her to save anyone. If only she was with her old teammates—that naive girl would drag her to save them regardless of the situation. That would not work with her now.
As she walked by the main gates to the village, she caught sight of the Grimm—mainly Beowolves and Ursas, they were taking their sweet time to revel in their victory.
Butchering dead bodies, gnawing at them and devours their corpses—just like the beasts they were. There were even wrecked cars and motorcycles, a few fallen Bullheads, ruined buildings and houses, some of them had completely collapsed to the ground.
A few Grimm were even roamed the village freely, and Raven, ignoring them, saw there were many weapons littered everywhere—blades, knives, pistols, shotguns—all of them bloodied with fresh human bloods. This made her frown even more deeper.
'You should know your place, you should have run while you got the chance.'
She lamented upon whoever thought that fighting Grimm without being a Huntsman or Huntress—or even a trained fighter, was a good idea. Those weakling fools who can't even fight should not go into a warzone—they would just die in vain, their lives wasted away. And their sacrifice meant nothing, if they can't even stall time for the ones they want to protect.
"GRRRRAAAHH!"
Casually, Raven unsheathed her sword and swung it at a stray Beowolf that had the gall to pounce at her, cutting it in half effortlessly.
She flicked her nodachi, cleansing it from the filthy black ooze that is the Grimm's blood and sheathing it back without missing a beat. Her red eyes looking around, only to saw more death inside the ruined building, in a corner of a street, literally everywhere. The Grimms were feasting upon the dead bodies, satisfying their primal instinct to kill, maim and devour: all made her clicked her tongue in disgust.
Humans, Faunus, men, women, old, young, it all doesn't matter for them. Raven gritted her teeth as she caught sight of a kid, no less old than her daughter now, being devoured by a Grimm. For a moment, she saw her flesh and blood in its place—only for her to shrug it off and dismiss it.
'It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter at all. Don't think about it, Raven.'
Ignoring the brief pang of guilt and hurt inside her heart, she presses on further into the village, cutting every Grimm that stood on her way, killing them with one stroke each. The younger Grimm were all her victim, while the older ones just retreated, possibly calling for reinforcement, or just knew they were no match on a fair fight.
She's a seasoned Huntress after all. Even the Grimm can tell with her steps alone.
She saw a murder of Nevermores circling around a large building, along with some large and small Griffons accompanying them. That was weird... is there survivors in the building? She pondered about that for a second before she took a deduction, it's probably is. What's more reason for a Grimm to gather around, if not to kill more humans?
As she walked closer, she spotted a mostly intact human body... no, it's a Faunus.
A wolf Faunus with a black furred tail, black hair and grey combat uniform... it's a Huntsman. His dead eyes are dark violet, opened widely in shock for whatever had killed him... no, she knew what killed him, and unfortunately, it wasn't any kind of Grimm...
Fatal deep wounds to the chest and stomach, most likely caused by a blade, short and curved... and they were inflicted upon him numerous times, as if the murderer of this man was a psycho that revels at the pain of its victim...
She hated those kind of people. Sure, she had killed fellow humans before, but it was for the sustenance of her clan, she won't have to kill them if she can avoid it. But this? Killing for the sake of killing, for fun? Even she has standards to kill a person, whoever did this to him must be—
Before she can finish her train of thoughts, she was interrupted by a Griffon who tried to attack her from behind—she just turned, unsheathed her sword, and beheads the hybrid Grimm with relative ease. Its head slowly rolls on her feet, and she kicks it away in irritation...
Just as she decided to quickly approach the large building, something took her interest. Clutched in the corpse's hand was a black sword, which she pried away rather shamelessly. And as Raven fiddled with its mechanism, its blade folds forward, showing a large pistol's barrel, and she found out that its trigger is located in its hilt.
It's a bit similar to her twin brother's weapon. Could Qrow knew this man? Maybe yes, maybe not.
Another thing that she caught sight was a wedding ring on the dead man's finger... he's married? Then, maybe the ones that still inside the building was... his family? His wife, his children, his parents?
Brushing the thought away from her mind, she strapped the black blade to her waist, right next to her own nodachi, as it was an interesting weapon to collect. No offense to the man, but he doesn't need that anymore. The best she could do is to use his weapon to respect his legacy, no?
After that, she pondered whether or not she should go inside the building. The possibilty of someone surviving was low, but not completely unlikely. But she felt something bad would happen if she entered the house. Who knows? Maybe the murderer of this man is still around, and would attack her.
She doesn't afraid of whoever it is. It is just her instinct as a Huntress warned danger to her—and she was not the one to abandon rational thought just for an unlikely possibility. But hey, her brother wasn't around this time, so maybe she won't catch any bad luck tonight—
"NOOOOO! MOTHERRRR!"
Oh, how so lucky she was tonight.
She doesn't know what drives her to go inside the building, this feeling was so alien for her. She doesn't usually go her way to help people in trouble like this, hell she was intending to plunder this village after the Grimm had their way with it, so why her legs move on its own? Why she wants to help people who's gonna die anyway?
She took a fast stride inside the hallway of the house, secretly hoping that whoever in there is still alive. However, just as she slammed the door to the Main Hall open, what she can see is a massacre, blood and organs splattered everywhere, lifeless bodies lying around the floor.
And there's an adult woman with long red hair with grey uniform similar to the dead Huntsman outside, standing straight on the center of the room... with her chest being stabbed by a set of wrist blades, which belongs to a man clad in dark brown jacket, who is snickering madly.
Even an idiot could understand what happened here.
Raven shot forward with her blade poised with the intention to kill the man, but unfortunately, he manages to dodge his way out from Raven's reach with an unbelievable agility, as if he wasn't a human. All while giggling excitedly like a creep.
He managed to dodge Raven Branwen's attack casually.
His wrist blades were violently pulled out from the red-haired woman's chest, and with nothing to sustain her, the woman would've fall to the floor, if not for an unknown figure, who Raven didn't notice before, catching her body.
'A boy?'
"No... Mother! Mother! Please, don't die! Don't leave me!"
Raven averted her eyes from the sad sight before her, for two reasons. First, she doesn't want to be reminded of her daughter, Yang... she doesn't want to be faltered here. Secondly, she can't afford to lower her guard around the man who's proven to be dangerous, even a slight distraction would be fatal.
And her instinct told her that she couldn't let this man alive, for some reason. He must die.
"Ah, as I live and breathe, Raven Branwen!" the man exclaimed rather excitedly. "A true Huntress has entered the fray!"
He bowed dramatically, as if he was in a stage play.
The man was pale, with gold eyes and his brown hair braided in a ponytail, eeriely resembling a scorpion's tail. Inside his open brown jacket, Raven can see another layer of jacket, only white, with pants with same color. She could've described his appearance further, if his body wasn't covered by blood that isn't his.
His bloodied wrist blades and his disturbing smile, she has to admit that she was creeped for a second. What a freak... and how did he knew her name? If she shows her face, it makes sense, but she wore her mask now, so why he can figure her out easily? Just who is this man?
"Listen here... I'm not sure who you are, but," Raven said, her hand in her sword's handle. "You need to leave the boy alone. Aren't you satisfied yet?" She gestures to the bloody scenery around them.
The gold-eyed man chortles gleefully, and that really makes Raven sick.
"Why, my lady, my name is Tyrian! And I'm afraid that is not possible." He clasps his hand together. "My assignment from Her Grace was to retrieve the child and deliver him safely to my Mistress. So that is what I must do... One does not upset The Queen."
Raven narrowed her eyes.
The Queen. She heard about that, when she was still being a part of that grey-haired bastard's inner circle, about... her. The one who commanded the Creatures of Grimm, having them at her beck and call... but still shrouded in mysteries.
"...Salem." Raven announced with a grim tone. "So you're her pawn."
In response, Tyrian chortled again—and smiles even wider.
"So you know about my goddess. I see, so The Old Wizard had told you about her—"
"So what if he did?" Raven sneered. "You have nothing to gain here. Get lost."
"Haven't I told you that it isn't possible?"
Tyrian assumed a crouching position, and Raven unsheathed her sword, letting out a snort.
It seems that a fight would be inevitable...
"Then I just have to get rid of you." Raven stated coldly.
Hearing this, Tyrian just let out a rather relieved sigh.
"Hehehe... good."
Both the fighters are tensing, waiting for the one who would deliver the first move...
But it never come. All in a sudden, the ceiling of the building they currently in collapses before they can go kill each other, the falling debris threatened to crush Raven and the boy with his mother's boy—
"NO!" Raven heard Tyrian screamed in frustration, but she paid him no mind.
Thinking and acting fast, Raven gathered her Aura and slashed the air with her nodachi, all while activating her Semblance—and a portal of darkness with red outline spread out in front of her. Grabbing the boy quickly before he can respond, she drags him along with her, into the darkness of space—
"YOU BITC—" was all she heard from Tyrian.
A moment was all it needed to bring her and the boy to a completely different area, far away from the destroyed city, just before the gate of her village... no, actually, it was just a hideout for her clan, and she brought herself and the boy there,the latter being so shocked that he can't even talk.
It still unsafe though. Who knows if that man—Tyrian—had a lackey or ally somewhere close, and judging from Tyrian's reaction, they really want this boy so bad... what's so special about him? Thinking about it won't get any result, she doesn't know anything, so the best course of action is to—
Direct and complete examination, of course. What else?
He's just a twelve-years old boy, with messy black hair that could only be described as chaos, with tattered and bloodied clothes, the blood mostly not his, probably from one of the victim in the village, clutching a white sword in his arms—yes, an exact copy of the black sword she picked up earlier—also bloodied.
It seems those blades were his parents's weapon...
This boy's eyes was an unique pair. Bright green right eye and dark purple left eye—that wasn't so special, she had seen some people which can change their eye color at whim, this boy wasn't so impressive. He just had a plain look on his face, not so ugly but not so good-looking either, in Raven's view.
And he has a pair of wolf ears and black furred tail, along with some canines inside his mouth—
'Wait.'
There's no Faunus with more than one animal traits. She should've realized it sooner! So that's why The Queen wanted him so bad that she actually sends her pawn to retrieve this boy. This boy had it, the traits that only mentioned in the storybooks... she always dismissed fairy tales as unnecessary, unlike her brother, who trusted The Old Wizard completely... but, this is undoubtedly real.
She had read the fairy tale once. A Faunus who resembled animal more than the others, was destined to become a powerful being, who would be Remnant's savior in the future. The only thing missing is his Mark—where it could be? It could be anywhere on his body, damn she can't remember where. Maybe somewhere easy to find—
Oh, she remembered.
"Give me your hand, now." She demanded.
"H—huh?" the boy stuttered. "W—what—"
Raven's patience ran out in an instant, and she grabbed his hand, elicited a pathetic shriek from the boy.
She forcibly turn his right hand around, and stopped when she saw something she was actually expecting to see...
A circle-shaped symbol with half of it being white, and the other half pitch black. Her red eyes behind her mask slowly widens, and for the first time in ten years, Raven Branwen was elated. She had found what The Queen wanted to take and failed, and now she can take it for herself...
"... what's your name, kid?" With a softer voice, she asked.
... now, her clan can fight 'her' with a higher chance of survival. Maybe even defeat her? That way, maybe her brother would come back to her clan and they would become family again? Nothing could stand in her and her family's way... with this boy in her hands.
"... Hetero." The boy replied, eyes full of tears, still clutching on the white sword in his hands. "...Hetero... Chrome."
With the Descendant of Grimmbane in her possession... nothing could stand in her way.
"From now on... you're staying with me, Hetero."
That's the end of the story! Short, huh?
This is just a prologue. The real plot starts next chapter! I won't say too much, but please tell me how good or bad this chapter was, I was a bit high when I wrote this chapter... so forgive my autism, my dear readers.
See you in the next chapter! And as always...
Scold me, praise me, insult me, flame me or anything… I will accept them gladly.
Thanks a million for reading, guys!
Mugen no Tenma, out.
