"You look ridiculous, Bach", Eric commented as team ABEL walked between the trees.
"Said the guys who's wearing shirt and jeans that he's quote, supposed to grow into, unquote."
"My dad bought these for me, ok?"
"Yep, there's the problem."
"You do look ridiculous, Bach", Alma turned her head toward Bach, her eyes made a quick glance at her teammate outfit, "Even Liz was cringing at that shirt."
"Yeah", Liz confirmed her sister statement then quickly went back to scanning with her semblance.
"Look", Bach's gauntlet hand extended toward Alma, "If you can wear booty short and a tank top", then toward Liz, "and you can wear a frilly shirt and leggings", then to himself, "then I can wear my gym short and a rainbow colour shirt with a shark-riding cowboy cat to this patrol. Besides, everything else is in the laundry this morning."
"Can't you just do the laundry after this?", Eric asked.
"Then I won't have anything to wear after this."
Alma sighed, "At least the grim won't be able to take their eyes off your either", her eyes went back to scanning the surrounding.
The forest had been quiet so far; the only straggler that they've found so far was a Beowulf which Eric dodged and skewered with a row of spikes. The young team leader was a bit annoyed that the guys might not get enough practice in this patrol.
"So Bach, I'm curious…", Liz spoked, still scanning through her semblance, "Are those stone gauntlets part of a set or is it just custom made?"
"Part of a set"
"Where's the rest then?", Eric asked, his eye was started to wander to the grey stone on the gauntlet, which stuck out like a sore thumb compare to the rest of Bach attire.
"In the storage box with the rest of my armors."
"So they're not in the laundry?", Liz asked to which Bach nodded, "Then why didn't you wear those instead."
"Cause they're heavy and uncomfortable", he shrugged, "If I'm gonna get pummeled to death by a bunch of monsters, I'm sure as hell gonna get as comfy as possible doing so."
"You're not going to be pummelled to death by grimm", Alma answered annoyingly.
"That's your promise to keep but the consequences are mine to suffer", Bach shrugged.
"Can you stop bei-
"Sis, 9 o'clock!", Liz snapped the team attention to the direction, "It's a big one…"
"Is it also alone?"
Lisbet nodded at her sister.
"Alright, Bach, you're up this time."
"Welp, see you on the other side Eric", he started moving toward the grimm.
"Stop being dramatic", his friend answered.
Several steps later, Bach was standing in front of an Ursa that've just burst out from the thicket. His hand felt significantly damper as he tried to push memories of the initiation toward the back of his mind.
"Just keep you guards up and you'll do fine", his teammate called out from behind.
Okay, guards up, feet slightly wider than shoulder. He mimicked whatever he could remember from the training manuals.
Lower your stance against bigger opponents. The Beast growl and crawled forward slowly.
Keep your weapon ready to counter, in case of long and great swords, point the tip forward for a thrust or back to the side for a cut. He chose to prepare for a cut and grim bony spines started standing up.
Move forward slowly or wait for an ope- The Ursa startled him with a massive roar.
Run in with an upward swing
Run away
Pray to the Darksun
What…
Spin to win
Cut the arm
Jump and do a spinning slash
Throw lighting
The…
Roll
Get out a shield
Praise the sun
Throw fireball
Fuck?!
Bach tensed up as a stream of memories of different people overwhelmed his brain. He remembered having the same problem when fighting Cardin but now with images and flashback to make it more disorienting. Before, head or tail could be made, the ground rumble along with the Ursa's charge.
"Fuck it", he muttered and roll under a swipe.
And he rolled under another one and another one and another one and another one…
"WOULD YOU STOP RUNNING AROUND", Alma yelled.
"AND THEN DO WHAT?", still rolling.
"ANYTHING OTHER THAN ROLLING AROUND!", she facepalmed herself at the game of cat and mouse between Bach and the Ursa.
"At least he's good at avoiding problem", Eric commented which made Liz giggle a bit.
After another swing, the Ursa paused, seemingly frustrated as its glare still fixed on the elusive and somewhat trembling prey. The other party, however, was more concerned about keeping breakfast inside his stomach. His thought was still being scrambled with memories trying to dictate his action. The beast was rearing for another charge. Not wanting to be minced meat again, Bach decided to take do what a good mental patient would: do what the voice told you to.
The Ursa lunged and Bach rolled again but not backward, not sideway, but forward, barely under the massive claw. The Zweihander shot up into a hind leg and continued to rip through as the beast flew by.
Bach stood up as fast as possible, looked at the limping grimm still trying to look for its prey then glanced at the sword in his hands. It felt strange during the moment, like someone else was right under his skin, guiding his action. This could be how undead obtain power in the game. A roar interrupted his contemplation and once again flood his mind with voices.
The loudest told him to go charge and so he did swing his sword in a big overhead strike which the beast answer with its own. Blade and claws clashed but the undead enhanced strength force the Zweihander to keep going downward, shredding the Ursa hand as it went. Bach quickly raised the sword up again, catching its jaw with the back edge before it could recover. The head was knocked back and the beast was facing toward the sky with its head split from the middle. It stood for as there for a moment before falling over, lifeless and disintegrating.
"Wooo!", Bach turned to his team, "Guess he's having a splitting headache!"
The rest of team groaned and some facepalm were made.
"Well, at least, he took it down…" Alma sighed.
"C'mon, I killed the fucker", he walked over, "What else do you need?"
"I think she expected competency, Bach", Eric answered.
"Wait for the next patch then."
A rifle, C7A2 to be accurate, materialized and was immediately line up toward a Beowulf, trapped amongst a row of barbwires. Eric took a moment to look at the howling monster as it struggled to no avail. He held his breath and squeezed the trigger, letting three bullets smashed through the white bone plate and the thing was put out of its misery.
"Live from Emerald forest where an acts of animal cruelty are performed daily; but for the native of Remnant", Bach held the pommel to his mouth like a microphone, "this is a tradition passed on generation to generation. This Bach, from RNN-1, signing out."
"I wish you put as much effort into practice as you fooled around", Alma shook her head.
"Where's the fun in that", shurgged
"Nice shooting", Lisbet held up a hand as Eric walked back.
"Thanks", he quickly returned the high five.
"Why the barbed wire, though?", Alma asked, deciding to find something better than listen to Bach's nonsense.
"It's smaller and quicker to make than spike walls. Besides…", Eric held up the rifle, "I wanted to try practice my shooting again."
"I thought you didn't have any combat training", Liz spoke.
"Well, not close quarter combat, but they did teach us how to use a gun in the Canadian arm-er… militia."
"Militia, huh?", Alma commented, "Is Canada a frontier town?"
"Errrrr… ", his friend mouthed the word 'yes' from behind Alma and Eric nodded frantically.
"Soooooo…. I guess this patrol is coming to a wrap cuz I can see part of the guard post from here", Bach pointed at a roof, barely visible above the tree line.
Alma sighed, "I should have chosen a route deeper in the forest."
"At least we did get Eric and Bach some practice, even if there were only 3 stragglers."
"And there's always next time, eh?", Bach chimed in while Eric also gave pleading look for the patrol to end.
"Fine, fine, fine", Alma gave in and team ABEL head toward the guard house for extraction.
The last man had fallen, his blood splattered across the metal electric fence, the lifeless body of his comrades strewn around the floating armored figured. His life and the other guards' were not entirely pure but they were hardly sinful enough to warrant this fate. The Pursuer had done it nonetheless; and his brethren would have to throw away even more of their honor to keep their mistress safe.
He turned to face the tranquil forest and let his mind drift toward the good days of yore, hunting the sinners, slaying the cursed and culling the unworthy. The hiss and glow of his great sword struck fear into the eyes of his prey and brought him great pride. The dents and scratches on his heavy armor were reminder of the greatest hunts. Now, He was just another pawn in a petty scheme while the beloved mistress of his order was broken and trapped. Even worse, the life of a great Pursuer would end here. Sorrow flowed through his heart and the dark magic humanity smouldered from the crevices between the plates of his armor. However, this seemingly tranquil forest was quite the final resting place for his blade.
"This team ABEL requesting extraction at Outpost Epsilon – 6… the signal is not getting through for some reason…"
The group of four emerging from the thickets snapped him out of the trance. Two female with the animal feature similar to some his brethren new allies, Faunus they were called, and two other males whom he did not recognized by face but by the souls they held within, a radiant firekeeper and cursed hollow soul. The group seem to be frightened by him and the bloody carnage he created.
"What the FUCK is a Pursuer doing here?", the undead with the jarring T-shirt yelled, it's good that he recognized his fears.
"You know that thing?!", the short hair Faunus spoke next as Pursuer raised his shield and held his sword next to his head, tip pointing forward.
"Yeah and it ain't friendly."
The Pursuer lunged. It missed as the group scattered but he twisted his body around a delivered a sword cut that sent the undead sailing into the trees when he blocked with the Zweihander. An arrow bounced off his left pauldron which prompted him to turned toward the archer only to faced a dive kick from the other girl. The great shield blocked the blow and his great sword shot out in a counter thrust which missed as the girl ducked under the blade.
"Eric! Hold him!", the girl commanded.
He attempted to elbow her with his sword armed but was staggered by an exploding arrow and chains materializing from thin air. He was open for the faunus to slam the short end of her tong fa in to his waist, following by a dust explosion, propelling the girl backward.
When the smoke cleared, he let out a laughed akin to an ethereal howl as the only effect the blow had was a new scorch mark on his armor. He knew his fate here but they would have to earned his demise, his crimson eyes flared up through the visor at the thought. The short hair Faunus launched herself at him under a hail of arrows and he could the flurry of attack coming. He spun his body as she closed the gap. The dark magic enveloping his body ate through the chained created from souls, his thick armor deflecting incoming arrows and his blade caught the girl mid spin, throwing her aside instead of cleaving through due to her aura. He was free of obstruction and promptly dashed toward the archer girl with his massive shied up, smashing through the stone spike and walls rising from the ground. With a yelp, the girl was knocked against a tree trunk by his shield and he swung his sword upward, intending to cut with the back edge. Instead, the blade met steel as the undead had managed to get back to his feet and intercepted his swing with one of his own. The Pursuer, in his mind, had to respect the cursed being for his strength as his great sword was pushed against the ground and locked in place.
As the faunus moved away, an ball of fire erupted against the side of his face, the other one was back.
"Lock him up again! We got this", the short hair faunus seemed to be the leader.
After a few more rapid hits to the head, the Pursuer bashed away the undead to free his blade but his body was locked in place by a multitude of thick steel spike shooting up from the ground. The helmet was holding but rapid explosive strike from the tong fas and arrows was wearing him down. He reached for the darkness bestowed to within his soul and it came pouring.
"GET THE FUCK AWAY", the undead yelled out to his team, the cursed thing seemed to recognized more than just his appearance but it was too late.
Bolts of dark humanity burst forth from his armor, disintegrating the steel constructs and hitting all his assailants, knocking them down and away. The undead seemed to be the only one who had his body damaged and decayed from the attack, this so called aura had protected the other competently, although he could felt the power of their souls depleting. He pushed his advantage, and once again rushed the archer.
"Liz, Eric, just stay mobile and attack him", the leader spoke as she narrowly deflected a sword blow away from her teammate with her weapon, "Bach and I will keep it busy."
As if on cue, the Zweihander blade slammed into his back plate, doing little to no damage to his body, "Should we be announcing our plan?", the undead asked back.
He swung his blade at the girl and missed. She stayed close to him now, throwing rapid fiery blows with her weapon. He pushed back with a quick shield bash then swing his blade in an arc, ignoring the arrows and spikes crashing against the plate armor. The great sword knocked away an attack from the undead, cutting him in the process, and hit the ground where the little faunus was at the end of the swing. The little thing bounced back toward him at the perceived opening but was met by a geyser of dark humanity. The dark magic knocked the girl back and continued to stream upward then devastated the whole area in a cascading rain of corrupted humanity.
When the dust cleared, the pursuer was the only one floating, his opponents battered and struggling to get back on their feet. It seemed like he would have to keep waiting here for the one who would end him, these people were just another distraction. He let out another howling laugh as he observed the leader whispered to her sister.
"Go, now!", was the only thing he heard before being pushed back by a massive explosion.
More came after and soon he was pushed far away from where he was, with only the leader standing before him. The blows were not damaging but it managed to isolate them from the rest of her teammate. He was intrigued as the girl removed what little metal armored she had left and lowered herself into a combat stance. A last stand for the others to get away.
She made a warrior's choice, then a warrior's answer would be given. He raised his blade and let out an ethereal howl.