A/Ns at the bottom of the chapter
Roosterteeth owns RWBY, obviously
I own Crimson… and the OCs in this story.
That's pretty much what I own in this literary work.
"Hey there, Yang."
The plain greeting from her awkward brother shocked Yang a bit as she took a few seconds to observe the man standing in front of her home. Black hair, red eyes, black sleeveless skintight shirt (which she approved of), a red cape, black pants, steel vambrace with black gloves, a black-red sheath and boots—well, there was little denying the practicality of the clothes, but the one who was wearing them…
"Crim…?" she whispered, an unidentifiable emotion laced in her voice (an emotion she didn't want to admit to, anyway).
"Uh… yeah." He shuffled awkwardly, and Yang saw a small mop of black-red hair behind him as he did so. "It's me."
"Crim…" a small grin formed on her face as she clenched her fist. His eyes glanced at her, confused, before she buried her fist to his stomach, making him choke as he coughed. The girl behind him—Ruby—started giggling. "Welcome back, little bro!"
"I'm a few minutes older than you," he wheezed as he held his stomach. He coughed a few times, and Yang might have felt a little bad, if she didn't knew he could take it, of course. He wheezed a few more times before taking a deep breath and standing up straight. "What was that for?"
"That," She put a finger on his chest, making him raise a brow as he looked down on her. He was a bit taller, but only a bit. A bit."Was for not leaving a message on the past four years!"
He flinched when she finished her sentence. He rubbed the back of his head as he gave his reasoning. "I, uh, was busy…" she narrowed her eyes and he chuckled nervously. "Busy… yeah."
Yang simply narrowed her eyes as she continued to watch Crimson simply scratch the back of his neck in nervousness, mumbling some things below his breath that the blonde girl couldn't catch.
"Crim…"
"Uh, yeah?" He stops scratching the back of his neck when his sister barreled into him and hugged him tightly. He wheezed for breath as he lightly slapped the back of his sister. "Air—air!"
Yang snickered and tightened her hug. Ruby idly noted that her black haired brother was turning a little blue. What did Dad say about that again? Wait…
"Wait!" Ruby cried out. "Don't kill Crimson yet! He has a bunch of stories to tell!"
"Yet?" said brother wheezed. He gasped for more breath as Yang slowly crushed his bones. "What do you mean, yet?!"
After a few more minutes of Ruby trying to pry Yang off Crimson, and a few incidents where said boy's vision went completely dark, the blonde finally stopped crushing the teen and smirked at her brother. He's definitely grown, the female twin thought fondly. More ways than one, too! If only he stayed here in Patch, we could've dominated Signal… in reputation and combat! She wanted to giggle at the thought—while she wasn't really attracted to her brother, it couldn't stop her brain from recognizing that she wasn't the only one that got the family's good looks.
"Wow, I would've thought that you've gotten better during the four years!" She chirped. Crimson sighed in annoyance as he nursed his stomach and continued to breathe the air he so wanted.
"I don't think anyone would expect a hug from the enemy, Yang," he grumbled. Yang laughed instead and slapped him on the shoulder, making him wince as he nursed his shoulder too. "Okay—please, don't do that, my Aura can only heal so much damage in one day… and we just got back from an extermination mission."
Yang perked up at that and raised a yellow brow. Beside Crimson, Ruby froze as the situation finally sunk in, and then fell into despair when she realized what Yang would do when she eventually found out what they did…
"Mission? What mission?" Yang asked, deceptively innocent. "You guys took a Bullhead to get here, right? Dad took care of a Kraken problem on the sea, so that couldn't be the mission."
Ruby tugged on her brother's shirt to no avail. She saw the look on Yang's eyes and she was not fooled in the slightest. "We didn't get to kill a Kraken, which I'm sure Ruby's pretty bummed about, but we did get conscripted to fight—mmph!" Ruby's hand covered Crimson's mouth. The silver eyed girl laughed nervously as Yang's eyes narrowed again, a sickening grin covering her face.
"I think you and I are going to have a talk about being safe, Crimson," Yang smiles, and Crimson felt a shiver run down his back.
6 days until Beacon
My eyes fluttered open as the sunlight shone down on me, making me grumble in annoyance and turn around to avoid the annoying light from my apartment window. I stretch in place, still laid down on my admittedly small bed, messing up the covers.
I yawned and smacked my lips. I'm still a bit groggy, but this won't do. I have things to do… people to see. My brain can't process things correctly yet; I need breakfast. Quickly.
I sit up and glance outside. The building normally blocking the sun was gone; was it demolished overnight? I must have been more tired than I thought.
I yawned again and rubbed my eyes, still in my black shirt and green shorts. I pushed open the door and went downstairs—when did the landlord get me a basement, I mused—and went right for the kitchen immediately.
I opened a cabinet and stretched my back, some bones popping into place. My eyes half lidded, I feel around the cabinet and fish out a canned good. Corned beef? Sounds good to me.I close the cabinet slowly and crouch to open the cabinet below, where I know the potatoes should be.
I frowned. The potatoes aren't where they should be—but thankfully, there's a bunch of onions and garlic in here. I grab 3 cloves of garlic and a whole onion and 2 small potatoes and close the door. I yawned once more as I grabbed the chopping board and set my ingredients on a table.
I grabbed a knife from the washer and went to work.
I blinked blearily as I pressed the flat of the knife on the cloves of garlic, pressing it against the cutting board. I crushed the cloves and peeled off the remaining skin and put it in a plastic bowl so I could throw it away later. I peeled off the skin of the onion and put it in the same container and set my eyes on the potatoes.
I took a skinner from the same dishwasher—I actually don't remember when I bought one—and rest the blades against the potato before dragging it down, peeling away the skin of the potato. I hummed a soft tune to myself as I blinked my eyes. The sun felt good on my body as I peeled the potatoes, warmth spreading all across my body.
As soon as the potatoes were peeled, I set them down on the chopping board and went to work. I cut the potatoes in half then chopped them into little squares, putting them on a separate plate so I can cut the cloves of garlic. The crushed garlics were minced into tiny pieces and set aside, then I proceeded to work on the onion.
I chopped the tip of the onion then threw it in with the other peeled skin and chopped it in half. I proceeded to cut off little strips of onion carefully, which, thankfully, isn't very hard at all. I liberated oil from a cabinet and lit a fire at the stove, setting down a pan at the open flames.
Kreutz, I asked sleepily. What do you think I'm missing right now?
Salt. You're missing salt. He informed me, amused. I was momentarily confused by his tone, but then realized I only have a few minutes before the pan was hot enough, and I did not want to burn the onion and garlic.
I poured down a pool of oil at the pan and yawned again as I dropped the minced garlic and chopped onion into the fray. The food sizzled and popped as I mixed the two with a spatula I found at the dishwasher, the smell working its way to my nose and making me sigh in content. I lightly add in some salt and mix them up again, sighing once more as the smell lingered.
As soon as the garlic went brown, I dropped in the potatoes. The sizzles died down, and some of the potatoes stuck to the pan. I hummed as I kept mixing the garlic-onion-potato combo, unaware of my surroundings. After half a minute, I weakened the fire and took the can of corned beef. It was big enough, probably.
Add another one,Kreutz suggested. You're expecting guests today.
I blinked. Really? I don't remember giving anyone my address.
Kreutz stifled a laugh. Crimson… where are you?
In my… apartment… the thought trailed off as I finally woke up and realized that I was not at my house.
"Oh," It was a statement of fact, really. The food sizzling on the pan and the can on my hand, while what I normally do on an off day, was not what I always do. I might have thought of it before I slept, hence why my mind went on autopilot as soon as I woke up. I wordlessly grabbed another can of corned beef and, with the knife, opened both cans without much trouble, dropping the two cylinders of corned beef to the pan.
As I mixed the corned beef with the others, I turned my head around to see my family already sitting down at the dinner table, looking at me attentively.
"So, uh…" I hesitantly started. "No one saw this, right?"
Yang grinned. "We did!"
I took a deep breath through my nose as my family started chatting behind me. I turned the stove off and carefully tipped the pan to a big bowl, using the spatula to grab the remaining potatoes. I wordlessly served the cooked corned beef to the dinner table.
"I didn't know you could cook," Taiyang—dad—casually stated. He took a bite from my cooking and hummed in appreciation. "Feels like it's missing something, though."
"Rice," I revealed off handedly. I glance at them to watch their reactions. "I usually cook some rice from Mistral with this, but I just realized that you probably don't have any. Wheat bread should work fine for these, though."
"Well, it's not as good as cookies," Ruby took my advice and took a piece of bread and stuck a spoonful of corned beef in the middle. "But it's a start!" I don't think anything would be better than cookies for Ruby, but that might just be me.
I shrugged. "There's not much to expect from a canned good, anyway," I take two slices of bread and spread some corned beef then pressed the two slices against each other. I bit into the edge of it and started munching down the literal homemade breakfast. "It's something I do sometimes when I'm bored in my apartment."
"You have an apartment?" it was Yang that asked the question this time. "How'd you afford one? Did Uncle Qrow buy it for you?"
I paused in my eating to swallow. "Didn't I just say I was a Huntsman last night, Yang?" my gaze settles on dad as I say this, an uncomfortable feeling pooling on my stomach. He doesn't look perturbed or annoyed—not showing any expression, really. His face was scarily blank. "I get money from the missions I take. Extermination missions net a lot of money—I even saved a few thousand lien for my own use," I paused at that before adding another thought. "I can give some of my lien to you guys, I don't use much of it anyway."
"Mhm," Dad smiles neutrally at me. "And where was Qrow in… your missions?"
"Doing… something of importance," I couldn't really say that he was working as Ozpin's spy, can I? I have a feeling it would land me in more hot water than I already am in. And the hot water wouldn't originate from Taiyang, either. "He does that a lot. That—and he's probably here, teaching them."
He hummed in acceptance, but I noticed the steel in his eyes, an almost cruel smile blooming on his face. I silently prayed to whatever god existed in this plane to protect Qrow. "That sounds nice."
I breathed out a sigh of relief as I finished up my bread. I was about to grab another one, but paused and realized that Dad was still silently stewing in his annoyance and that my two sisters were still engaged in conversation. I told Ruby beforehand that she shouldn't tell the rest of our family that I was the Masked Huntsman—mainly because I don't want them accidentally saying it to the wrong people.
It's not that I don't trust them—I'd much rather Ruby forget that I was the Masked Huntsman at all. But I have a sinking feeling that I was being watched this past couple months, and I don't want my family talking to the wrong kinds of people.
"I'm going to go to my room," I announced. Dad's reaction was a simple grunt, and Yang glanced at me curiously. I trudged up the stairs and opened the door to my room—
Right after I did, a red portal opened near the window, and I had a feeling that I knew exactly who it was. Go figure.
What does she want this time?
I quietly close the door and lock the knob, Raven fully exiting the portal by the time I do so. I grab the swivel chair by my desk and keep my hand on Dust Chamber just in case things get hairy. I keep my eyes on her. She hadn't taken a wardrobe change since I saw her back then, I idly noted.
"So," I started, casually fingering Dust Chamber's handle. "Wouldn't Dad notice you here?"
"Would I have went right to your room if he could?" She retorted without any real malice in her tone. I shrugged and ran a hand across my hair.
"I'unno. Yang does a lot of crazy stuff—some with planning, and others without," I replied tonelessly. "You know—Yang, my sister, just right below my room?"
She hummed, but her expression was carefully guarded. "Maybe I have some influence in that," She admitted. She took a seat on the side of my bed and relaxes a bit… before lying down and sighing in relief.
... wait, "What?" I said in confusion. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Lying down on your bed," She murmured. She turns around to face the wall and stretches, grabbing a stray pillow and putting it under her head. "Five minutes."
"Five—" I made a frustrated sound. "You can't sleep in my bed! They're right down there! I thought you didn't want to get found!"
"I don't," her words were starting to get more muffled and muffled as she buried her head in my pillows. "I just want to sleep in a real bed for once… the tribe is getting awfully annoying lately, especially that annoying girl…"
I sighed in annoyance, my palm covering my face. "Mom—you can't do this. I have no clue what would happen if someone finds you."
"Then just stay here, it's not like a teenage boy has much to do, anyway," She pauses. "Other than m—"
"Nope," I cut her off quickly.
"It's a perfectly nor—"
"No, mom. We are not having this talk right now."
"I suppose," after that, she goes silent. She wasn't quite vulnerable—but she wasn't very alert either. It's like sleeping with one eye open, I think. I should know—especially since I do that a lot during missions.
Otherwise, she looked quite peaceful. She had turned over and was now facing the ceiling and not buried in my pillows. Her hands weren't on her sword like I always see her as, but instead hugging a long pillow that I kept for the same purpose.
She either trusts me too much, or she doesn't think I'm a threat. I thought, amused.
Don't kid yourself, Kreutz snorted inside my head. God knows you wouldn't attack her—not right now, anyway.
Touche.
True to her words, she didn't sleep for more than five minutes. In that five minutes, I had dressed into my combat clothes sans the mask and attached Dust Chamber to my side. I had also already taken out my scroll to watch an animation video about a certain Mistralian bullet hell game. I think it was called To Who? I don't quite remember. It doesn't help that the video barely mentions it.
When she woke up, she had done a huge yawn and lightly smacked her lips. She grabbed her sword from her side and stood up from my bed. I glanced at her when she paused before opening a portal to leave. She glances at me, and I raise a brow.
She sighs as if I missed something completely important to the story of my life.
Charisma Check Failure: 3/4
… this ability really loves reminding me, doesn't it?
"Goodbye, Crimson," She slashes her sword down, a red portal opening quickly as she did. I paused my video and looked at her as she went in.
"… goodbye, mom," I see a slight change in her expression—a twitch of the lips—but that's all I got before the portal closed, and we weren't to see for an indefinite amount of time.
This isn't going to become a recurring thing… isn't it? I don't want my rooms to be mom's personal lounges. That would get old pretty quickly. I paused in my line of thought and scrunched up my face. God, I hope I didn't jinx myself with that.
"Well…" I sighed as I stood up. My mom left a memory on my bed it seems—a note.
Summer.
What did surrogate mom have to do with anything?
4 days before Beacon
"C'mon, Crim!" Yang grinned at me ferociously. "I wanna spar!" She was basically bouncing on her heels as she said so, generous assets bouncing as she did.
I wisely did not comment on her growth—one, because I did not want to get hit, two, because I wasn't a pervert. , and she's my sister, which would make the comment sound weird seven ways to hell, none of them pleasant.
Her fiery attitude was rubbing off on me, and I really wanted to just accept her challenge right now and beat her down, but the years have tempered my fuse, and I am not so easily goaded into accepting a easy challenge. "Maybe," Crap, maybe not as tempered as I hoped to.
My twin is wearing her own combat outfit now—a tan jacket that exposes her midriff, black shorts, brown boots, and what I can tell as her weapons in their standard form as bracers on her wrists. Currently, we were in the commercial district of Patch, coming back from a quick trip to the convenience store to grab a few rubber bands for dad (though I really don't want to know why he needs it). She was walking a bit ahead of me, her head turned slightly to me, but alert to her front. It helps that no one tries to get in the way of two obvious huntsmen (and one in training).
Speaking of, my dad and twin still don't know that I'm the Masked Huntsman… I guess Ruby can hold her tongue after all! I just need to keep bribing her with sweets and it should be fine.
"Maybe?" Yang grinned, her eyes switching from its normal lilac color to a hot red. "I didn't hear a no!"
"You didn't hear a definite answer, either," I retorted. I rolled my shoulder which was holding the cloth bag which carried an absurd amount of rubber bands (which once again, will not be questioned by me). The items inside ruffled a bit as Yang laughs freely.
"Witty ass," She jabs at me with a smile.
"Cow," I smirk as she gasps in faux hurt.
"Crimson!" She dramatically puts a hand over her mouth as she says my name. "You've insulted my honor!"
"That's great, but with the way you dress, I'm not sure if you have honor."
Silence.
"Jerk!" Yang socked my in the arm as she laughed. No one really got offended by each other (much, anyway). We both know that neither of us are being serious, which is all well and good, because I know a certain other person that can't handle a joke or several.
As we follow the worn path back home, I notice a newer path—one that I didn't notice before really.
Kind of like it popped up overnight…
The path was clean, not worn. Not a lot of people have traveled it, quite obviously. Yang eyes it curiously, confirming my thoughts that it wasn't here before.
"I didn't know there was a path here," I mused. "I'm thinking this is a new addition?
"Yeah," Yang answered, still looking down the road. "It's been here for a few days, but I've never really gone down it. I could probably explore it, but I'd rather not. I have more important things to do, anyway."
Quest Added: The Road Not Taken
Investigate the new pathway… what could it be?
Is the game trying to interact with me, or is it just evolving in its annoyingness? Frankly, I don't really know. Kreutz didn't seem to have this problem before, in his quests, all of the skill descriptions having been apparently made that way by the previous creators, which kind of miffed me a bit. Apparently, all named skills (or perks) have been already made before, the only ones being original were the ones that haven't been seen or done before.
At least I have one original skill, I idly note as I keep watching the path. "You go on ahead," I tell Yang casually, fingering my sword. "I'll see you at home."
She glances at me worriedly. "Are you sure? I doubt that something this weird is going to be that safe," She states a valid point. To be honest—I'm a little apprehensive of that fact too, but given that a quest added itself to my notes, I might as well grab the experience.
Who knows, maybe it'll be the first peaceful quest in my life.
Probably not, but it's good to hope.
"I'll be fine," I tried to dismiss her worries with a hand gesture. "I'll just check it out and go back home."
She eyes me warily and grabs the plastic bags from me. "Alright… come back home safe, okay?"
"I mean, I came back home, right?" I smirked as she tries to sock me on the shoulder again. "Alright Yang, see you," With those words, I venture to the road.
I look behind me and see my twin's long yellow hair disappear to the right and sigh. I focus on my sensor trait, feeling nothing but the natural Aura in nature. I narrowed my eyes as I fingered Dust Chamber, the feeling of something odd still in my senses.
This shouldn't be here, my mind chanted. It's not safe.
Nevertheless, I follow the road less traveled. I probably went a kilometer or few before frowning.
Patch may be a safe island, but there was always the occasional Grimm around. Not the big ones, thankfully, but Beowolves, some Ursa, the occasional Ursa Major, but they're still Grimm and still deadly to civilians, which the local government continuously warns them about. Oddly enough, there wasn't one in the immediate vicinity or within my senses.
Where does this road lead, anyway?
I slowed down. The Aura around here felt different—more natural, so to say. Like there was something giving them life, though what it is, I bet I would find out in a few minutes. I transition to a run as I try to follow the source of the energy, the road seemingly leading right to it.
At this point, even I felt it—positive energy flowing out in bounds—as if someone was sleeping peacefully. Then the energy around me changed—and so did the nature around me too. Negativity, the winds blew harder, the trees dropped and, after trying to stop the wind from blowing, I couldn't control these winds. It's never done that before, so I was honestly a bit surprised when it resisted.
A bit more prodding in the winds finally made it still—the energy around me was still negative—still downtrodden.
Still fearful.
I quicken my pace.
A few hundred or so more meters passed by in a minute, my Agility doing its work. I skid to a stop and dive to the foliage to my right as I come across an open clearing, smoke rising up from the middle of it. It was from a campfire.
Surrounding it were several tents—bandits—and several thugs dressed in what looked to be civilian clothes with leather armor strapped above said clothes. Most of the thugs held melee weapons—swords, a spear, several halberds—and a rare few held guns.
This could work well in my favor, I mused.
The feeling of negativity was still in the air—but the Grimm didn't come. The sky wasn't blanketed in storm clouds, the sun still shined down on the people, but it felt as if a storm was coming—and I don't know why…
Well, maybe I do.
Summer.
The sun was… a bit hotter than normal, actually… was this what mom meant?
I unstrap Dust Chamber as I did a headcount of all the bandits I could see out of their tents. 26—there may be more inside the tents. This will be a piece of cake.
But before I rain hell on the bandits, I listen.
"… you think we gonna do to that chick we got?"
"We're gonna sell 'er, dipshit. What did you think we would do?"
"I'unno…" the man that said that gained a lecherous grin on his face. "She was kinda hot, so…"
The other bandit just laughed obnoxiously as I crinkled my nose. that challenged my own moral compass. That would make the incoming beat down much more satisfying to do.
The two morons walked off, chatting about some other random stuff. Rumors and gossip circulating around their bandit tribe, apparently—none useful for me to keep listening to.Wonder if this is what my mom's tribe is like, I thought as I snuck through the foliage, keeping myself undetected from the bandits.
From what I gathered, there should be a bandit leader—these idiots should have a hierarchy of some sort, since I doubt a weak willed man could keep control of a rowdy crowd (or a weak man in general). He could be tougher than all of them combined—or just tougher than a regular old bandit. Who knows?
I check the pockets in my cape for some extra dust. I felt some electric dust, ice dust, and extra acid dust (which I made sure not to send aura into). Opening the revolving chamber revealed that I was low on gravity dust, which made me remind myself to restock on it.
I replaced the gravity dust with some electric dust and kept it set on said dust. I closed the chamber and let go of my cape.
Squinting, I try to make out where the boss would be. If this is a bandit tribe—the boss might have the biggest tent of the bunch just for superiority, but since they're on Patch, they might be a bit smarter and tougher, so be on your guard.
That's true, I suppose. It would have been incredibly difficult to get to Patch, since there's really only two ways you can get into it—the airfield, or the ports, and both ways have checkpoints before you can get to the real residential area of Patch. Our own home was a bit ways away from the main area of Patch, so the guards don't really check here. That means these bandits have a ship of some kind—or a Bullhead—which signifies someone that has knowledge on how to fly a VTOL or sail a ship.
Well… might not be easier, but I hope it isn't too hard. I don't sense anyone inside there that has a massive amount of Aura except…
My senses focused on that one signature… it was accompanied with a smaller, more familiar one, and a smaller childlike one. Another had a dark quality, but it wasn't anything to be scared of. The dark Aura was closer to the small signatures, which might signify a hostage situation. Those signatures were in the middle of the camp.
That wasn't what surprised me, though. It wasn't what made me wary.
It was what I felt from the massive Aura signature.
It was warm… fuzzy. Something you'd feel on a warm, summer day. I could practically feel the winds blowing against my back, the leaves tickling my face as I bask in the sun. But I could also feel the searing heat on one of those worse days—the sun burning against my skin and the winds strong enough to throw me to the ground. The leaves were sharp, leaving stings on my body and the ground was nowhere near comfortable for me to lie down on.
It was an odd experience… but I only felt this way when Qrow brought in a special someone to Beacon.
That special someone was an injured Fall maiden.
This just makes the quest more interesting…
Quest Updated: The Road Not Taken
Completed: Investigate the new pathway… what could it be?
Save the Summer Maiden
Well no shit, I guess.
My eyes zero in the middle of the bandit camp. My first priority is extraction, and I have no idea what the time limit is and what they're doing inside that tent. I can safely guess that it shouldn't be too dangerous, since I doubt the Summer maiden would be easily ignored unless she's unconscious or being threatened.
The time limit could be infinite for all I know, but I'll have to work on the theory that I have an hour or less. Anything more could be a risk to the maiden's wellbeing and that's a risk that I'm not going to take very easily.
Another set of guards make their pass, and I dive out of the foliage when they got far enough. I stood up and dusted myself off. My black clothes stood out against the natural colors of the trees and I don't think I could just sneak around here since the sun is shining against the camp.
It'd be hard to sneak around—I guess I'll be leaning on the incompetence of the bandits.
I smoothly snuck to their camp—the guards haven't noticed me yet. I appear to be near a campfire, a bit to the eastern side of the bandit tribe. The guards here seem more relaxed and were cooking some kind of meat over a campfire. They were jovial and unaware, which was perfect for me.
Middle of the camp. You don't have to deal with these bandits yet.
Or rather, I couldn't, really. If I tried busting out my high tier moves, I could seriously hurt the innocents—namely the Summer maiden. I have no idea how strong I am compared to a maiden, but I don't want to risk doing some unnecessary damage to her lest I get fucked and she doesn't cover my back.
I easily walk behind some tents and pass by the crowd of bandits. That bumped up the 26 I saw earlier to a good 30—and focusing on the sensor trait for a few moments net me a dozen more sleeping inside their tents. That should be around 40 or more bandits inside this camp—that's an awful lot. Careless too. I'm leaning towards the VTOL pilot or sailor idea now instead of port and airfield security being a lot less loose.
I reach the inner ring of the bandit camp—security here was more alert. A few guards patrolled the perimeter and there weren't any sleeping or chilling guards inside the tents close. There was around a 20 feet distance away from the boss tent—which easily isolated it. There were two buff bandits guarding the entrance to the tent, and three guards passing every two minutes.
I need to knock out the two guards in quick succession… then extract the maiden just in time to knock out the passing guards…
Or I could knock them all out at once to stop any trouble from rising and keep this a stealth mission.
As I contemplated my decision, I hear a rustle and a snicker behind me. It wasn't anyone I felt familiar, so I immediately lashed out with Dust Chamber. It unstrapped quickly and hit the bandit on the stomach, making him spit up some liquid and gasp before I grabbed his mouth and smashed his head to the ground. The guards didn't see me.
The man tried to shout with my hand over his mouth, but I quickly knocked his head on the ground again. Blood leaked from somewhere on his head, and his eyes glazed over. Concussion?
I didn't let him live, however, as I quickly snapped his neck and hid the body behind some bushes. Guessing by the careless way and glory hounding ways he had, I guess he's a lone wolf type—or maybe an outcast. No one would miss him. This beating encouraged me to knock out all the guards in the immediate area—then kill the bandit leader. I glanced to the left and saw nothing of note, and the guards doing their rounds were about to pass by. I activate Dust Chamber into its greatsword mode, the 66 inch sword making itself noticeable even under the shade of the trees.
I came from the southeast. There were five guards in front of the boss tent in total—the first one didn't see me coming at all. In a heartbeat, I had slammed the flat of my sword on top of his head, the man crumpling down to the ground like a sack of rocks. The second one tried to turn around quickly, but was met with a problem as I was already on the process of sending a slash towards his neck.
A wound opened, and he gurgled on his blood as it leaked out of his mouth and the new neck wound. He dropped down, eyes lifeless as I moved on to my next target.
The third and final one from the patrol didn't get much of a say before I swiftly thrust Dust Chamber to his chest, probably puncturing a lung. The man gasped and choked as blood went up to his throat. He held the blade of my sword as he tried to pull it out.
I twisted Dust Chamber.
The man gasped and I pulled out the great sword. He fell to the ground face first, dead. Blood pooled around him and his comrades as they died a quick death except for the first one, who was just unconscious, which I rectified with a quick stab to the heart.
Now they're all dead and dying. I should probably be worried that I'm not feeling remorse for killing people—but it would probably hit me later or something if at all.
The two guards outside the tent finally noticed the dead patrol standing in front of me—one of them started to shout out, but I was already in front of him by that time, stabbing my sword through his chest. He gasped as I pulled out and used the momentum for a downward slash towards the other guard, creating a wound on guard 2's chest.
Guard 1 fell to the ground, dead as dead can be. I heard a grumble inside the tent and a shuffle. There were two children inside—both were crying—and I heard a woman, probably below her 30s, talking to a gruff man inside. At best, I could tell from the position of their Aura that the man was holding the children hostage or something similar.
Coming through the entrance was not an option, then.
"—hell is going on out there?" the gruff man from inside shouted. The crying intensified and the woman tried to soothe them. I don't know why the maiden didn't just start dropping bombs—wait, actually, it's probably because the explosions would hit the kids…
Hindsight is 20/20 for me.
The man didn't leave the tent, and I can understand why—if the person outside the tent was strong enough to murder a bunch of guards without alerting you (much), then it's best to stay inside with your hostages. Smart choice for a dumb bandit.
I casually stroll inside. The bandit has a knife to the throat of a small boy—I almost blinked when I saw something floating above his head, too.
Red Hale
The Devourer (Dormant)
Traveler
It was a small boy, really—probably not more than eight years old. He had scarlet red hair and green eyes—a bright combination, really—he was wearing a dull gray sleeveless shirt and brown shorts. He was bruised and had cuts all over his body. He had been crying, obviously, as the tear streaks on his cheeks told me so.
My gaze wandered off to the other child I heard. It was a small girl this time, and she didn't have any special nametags above her head. Judging from their looks, they're twins. Scarlet red hair and green eyes—both bruised and sported several cuts on their body. I raised a brow as I noticed the Summer maiden—which I found out to be true, thanks to the floating nametag above her head—just stare vacantly to space.
Speaking of, she was light skinned and had brown hair. She had amber eyes and her clothes were torn and she was missing the bottom half part of her clothes, signifying something pretty obvious from the way the male bandit was holding himself. It looked like she broke.
Sara
Summer
Maiden
The bandit sneered at me as he held the knife tighter to the boy's throat. Red cried out more as the blade caught blood. "Well well well, what do we have here? A little teenager playing hero?"
I hummed as I spun my sword beside me. The bandit tensed as the blood flicked off my blade and to the random things thrown around the tent—clothes, some lien cards, wallets, and a random necklace. The blood hit the walls, dotting it red. "Who knows?"
The bandit snarled as he pressed the blade tighter. "Don't come any closer! I'll slit this kid's throat! I swear to God I'm going to do it!"
I narrowed my eyes.
Now frankly, I don't really care much about saving people. I find it difficult to really care about someone I have no connections to—this includes my fellow travelers and maidens—but I find it my obligation to at least warn the rest about the incoming problem.
The thing is, this bandit is threatening a child. This child might be the Devourer, but he was dormant. He wasn't involved in anything yet—and quite frankly, I don't fancy the idea of cutting a child's life in half. He may not be normal after this incident, but at least he would have a life.
I find it hard to respect bandits after my first death too, so I may just be speaking out of spite. This includes, of course, mom's tribe, sans my mom herself.
"The thing is, sir Bandit," I say casually. I strapped my sword to the side as I stretched. The bandit was tense and his eyes were dancing around and looking for openings. There were, of course, none—none that I didn't leave intentionally, of course. "Once the kid dies, I have full permission to kill you."
The bandit laughed as if to boost his own confidence. "Ha! As if a green huntsman like you could actually kill someone! I bet those idiots outside are just unconscious—"
"I wonder…" I mused. Wonder if mom would approve of me using her tribe's name to save a Maiden? "Does the Branwen Tribe ring any bells to you?"
The man's eyes widened and he instantly gaped. The kid within his arms dropped to the ground and scrambled to his sister's company, which was beside the summer maiden. They huddled together and watched us both, wide eyed.
"The—the Branwen Tribe?" The man stammered. I make a show of slowly unsheathing Dust from Chamber, the shiiing echoing within the quiet tent. "That's impossible—they're—they're all the way in Mistral!"
"Oh?" I smile menacingly. It works even without the mask. I see a wet spot forming on the man's crotch as he looked at me in fear. "I suppose this description doesn't ring a bell to you, either? Black hair… red eyes. A sword."
"But—that's…" The man tightened his grip on his knife. "No… fuck you, I'm not going to give up that easily!" he threw the knife at me.
Now, if I was any normal person, I would be stabbed right in the shoulder. It would be painful, the man would gain back his bravado, and attempt to kill me and succeed in doing so, ruining the hopes of the children on the side. Unfortunately for this bandit, I was the Growth of this generation, and I was one of the best damn swordsman on the planet.
I casually deflect it to my left, making the knife pierce past the tent and land somewhere undetermined. I hear a howl of pain outside as I spun Dust a few times, setting the flat part of the blade on my shoulder. "Was that all?" I sent him an utterly bored look, taking private enjoyment on the fear-stricken expression he gained on his face. That was probably sadistic of me—no, wait, it was sadistic of me. I don't feel a bit sorry for it at all.
I must be pulling off the right kind of apathy to the situation since the bandit panics more. "Please—I can give you lien! I'll—I'll leave you alone, I promise!"
I hummed. "Well, here's the thing—I don't care."
With a quick slash, he flew back. He hit the wall of the tent, and the supports creaked a bit before the wall forced him to the ground. He hit it with a heavy thump, but there wasn't any blood pooling under him. I raised a brow as I notice a deep blue color flicker around the bandit before fading away—the sign of an Aura shield breaking. "Surprising; you have Aura. I guess that's why you're leading this group of idiots."
The bandit simply gasped for breath as he held his chest. He looked up to me, a glare set on his face as he did so. I walked closer to him and set my booted feet on his head before roughly pushing it down to the ground. "Now, you're going to tell me exactly how you got in Patch, and exactly how you made a road in a couple of days. Or else we're going to have a few… problems."
The bandit made a couple muffled sounds under my boot before going limp. I shake my head as I remove my boot from his head and twirl my sword. I glance at the hostages—the vacant summer maiden, who was getting shaken by the two kids—and call out to them.
"You. I'd suggest you kids go out but I don't think it'll be safe," I twirl my sword and set the point against the man's back. "Don't look, okay?"
My sword went through his back and out his chest neatly. I pulled it out, blood staining my blade. Grimacing, I take out several napkins from my cape and try to wipe out the remaining blood on it. It succeeds, somewhat, but the blade was now soaked with blood that won't go away until I get it to a cleaner. That's going to be annoying to explain.
Then again, the law is heavily leaning towards the innocence of Hunters so that we could get away with lots of things, so I may not even need to explain anything.
"Y… you killed him," The boy, Red, said softly.
"Mhm," I sheathe Dust and turn to face the trio. The summer maiden was showing no signs of recovery, and the girl was looking more and more distressed as she tried to wake Sara up.
"Come on, Sara," the girl begged the vacant summer maiden. "Please—wake up!"
I gently walk past the boy who was still looking at the bandit leader and touched the maiden's neck. I send a pulse of Aura on her body, but there was no effect.
She was dead. The maiden's powers have already left. I don't know the cause—though it might be the bleeding around her crotch area and wounds all over her body. Blood loss or blunt trauma. Frankly, I don't think she would be quite sane even if I did save her, since she was probably raped more times than she could count. The kids here though, I could probably save them. It's the least I could do for a fellow legend.
Quest Updated: The Road Not Taken
Failed: Save the Summer Maiden
Save the children
"She's dead," I intone. "I would say condolences, but I would be kind of patronizing."
"She's not dead!" The little girl shouted, tears coming out of her eyes. Red was shook out of his stupor when I told them she was dead, and was now looking at me with shock. Or—he was in shock, like the medical problem. "She—She's still alive, please, you have to save her?"
I shook my head and put my hand above her eyes, closing it. "I'm sorry."
The girl finally broke, a stream of tears coming down from her eyes. The boy simply stared at the dead Maiden in shock as he tried to process the multiple things that have probably happened in the last couple days. This might be more troublesome than I thought it would be.
Also! Failing to save the Summer Maiden would be my first time I failed a quest objective. Since the quest didn't dismiss itself, I guess I'm not supposed to save her? Honestly, with these types of shit, I can't tell anymore. I just want to get out of this bandit camp and demolish it.
I… should probably feel remorseful I couldn't do more to save the Maiden, and being honest, seeing the kids cry is shaking me up a little. It reminds me far too much of my own sisters—would this be how they would react if they saw Summer die in front of their eyes—no scratch that, that is how we would react, including me. I would be utterly pissed too, but I could sort of sympathize with the kids.
But I've been basically desensitized from death a long time ago. The loss of a maiden is a great problem—I should probably tell Ozpin that we have a new Maiden. The Summer maiden was one of the unaccounted maidens, the other one being the Spring maiden—but the loss of a parental figure is even greater.
Unfortunately, I can't let them grieve much longer. "Kids," I began. The sobs of the girl lessened as I called to them, and the boy slowly turned his head to me. "We have to go."
"What… what about… Mom?" It kind of broke my heart that they called her Mom, but unfortunately, I'm hardening it just for this mission. I shake my head at her as her head drooped.
"I can't carry her body with you two under my shoulders," Suddenly, I heard a single shout. It was just one, at first, then there were more and more people shouting—I hear the clangs of metal, and people unsheathing weapons. I urgently took the kids under my shoulder and whispered. "We have to go!"
In a burst of speed, I broke out of the tent.
The moment we got out of the tent, I knew that this would be a bit annoying to clean up.
There were three Bullheads flying on the sky, roving around. It doesn't look like two are armed, but one definitely has miniguns welded under its wings. Several bandits roam the area to look for me (I assumed), making typical sneak fashion worthless.
I'll just have to use flash step liberally... again.
"Mister, what are we—" The girl was cut off as I executed a flash step towards the forest. Bandits turned to look at my previous area and were now shouting around it, but I was already too far by the time they got there and started looking.
Another use of flash step got the three of us to the bushes. I immediately went prone with the kids under my shoulders, making them grunt as we fell unceremoniously on the dirt. The Bullheads made loud noises on the air, and the girl started muttering prayers to herself. The boy simply takes in deep breaths as I held them down, careful so that they don't accidentally reveal our position.
The Bullheads were gone, back in the camp, probably. I let them go and they immediately got to a much more comfortable sitting position. I inhale deeply as I crouched and put my head above the bushes to observe the bandit camp.
It was in chaos. The Bullheads landed and the bandits were loading up—except for one. My sensor trait detected him as the strongest on the camp—probably stronger than the leader himself. I narrowed my eyes as the black haired bandit looked around as the Bullhead flew.
"Mister, they're getting away!" The boy suddenly latched on to my arm and pointed towards the flying Bullheads. "Come on, you have to get them! They'll—"
"Kid, not every battle should be a massacre," I tell him solemnly. "I don't like killing people—it's not exactly something I like doing. Capturing them all would be far too messy," I would probably just kill them all since they lack Aura. "and I don't have any backup to keep them in place."
My eyes lock on to the single man on the impressively quickly cleared out clearing. He held his hands in front of him, and the ground started to rumble.
The earth suddenly flipped. Any remaining trash the bandits left were taken with the earth, and the ground was basically the same it should be before any bandits came to it. My brow raised, I guess I know who did the road in a quick amount of time.
"Whoa…" one of the kids murmured that beside me—I don't know which, I'm too focused on the guy covering up their tracks to look back.
I suppose I should deal with this guy for being… a bandit tribe's accomplice.
That gave me a pause. Wouldn't that also make me technically a bandit tribe's accomplice? Though I guess I could excuse it as only being the bandit tribe's leader being the one associated with me since I give her my room sometimes (which happens much more often the past few days. It's never gone past fifteen minutes, though).
I shake my head. Now's not the time.
"Stay here," I roughly pushed the two kids away from the bush.
"Hey!" The kid yelled out before I jumped up to the air. The wind blew upwards with me, making me jump further away. The earth manipulator's head snapped to my direction, his hands twitching towards his back, where he had a bo staff attached.
Now that I was closer, I could see his outfit clearly. He had black hair and green eyes. He wore a brown t-shirt with Kevlar worn above it and black pants and boots. He didn't look anything special, but the way he carries himself was different from the other bandits—much more confident, smooth.
Stronger.
I unsheathed Dust and activated Chamber, both swords held at my sides. Chamber was now a double edged straight sword with a real tip after the greatsword modification, which should help with stabbing.
I narrowed my eyes at him, and he does the same to me. He whips out his bo staff and twirls it around before setting it to the ground, dust kicking up as it hit it.
"So," He started. "Who are you?"
"No one important," I smirked at his annoyed expression. I held Dust at waist level and Chamber at head level, taking a stance all too familiar to me at this point in time.
"No one important?" He mimicked. He held his bo staff with both hands and pointed a tip at me. His feet were apart, suggesting formal training and a much more competent fighter. "I'm sure you're no one important, after killing the bandit leader."
"Mm," We're just stalling each other, at this point. I have no one coming for me—except probably Yang—and he could have the armed Bullhead come back for him. While I could deflect bullets easily enough, I'm not particularly sure about getting shot since the children could get hit by the bullets that I don't deflect. "Any particular reason you're stalling, or..?"
"Stalling?" He seemed amused by the suggestion. "Me? I don't know what you mean."
"Then I guess you won't mind if I—" I cut myself off as I appear in front of him aggressively. His eyes widened as he brings his staff up to block Chamber, which succeeds. He's pushed back a little, and he bats Dust to his side to stop it from going to his stomach. He ducks under a slash to his head from Chamber and jumps back to avoid the slash for his waist.
Unfortunately for him, I was able to catch him off guard and damaged his Aura quite a bit with the last cut to his waist. He grimaced as he held his stomach, a bruise forming. "You're good," He grunted. "Didn't expect that."
"I'm kind of disappointed, really," His eyes widened. He brought up his staff just in time to block an Eclipse attack, both my swords locking with the tougher-than-it-looks staff. "I thought you would be tougher," a strong blast of wind settles our lock. He stumbles back as I push forward, the Eclipse cancelling as soon as it hit the ground. It was enough, however, to slash at his chest to his stomach.
The earth manipulator growled. I stood still and held my swords at my side, smirking mockingly at my enemy. "I suppose this is what I should expect from a common bandit," I stated offhandedly.
I must have pressed a button, because he looked livid.
He probably has an inferiority complex… I could work with that. I can drag out the asshole inside me.
You're always an asshole, though.
Shut up, Kreutz.
Point given.
"And like any common bandit…" I causally slowed down at 'bandit' and inclined my head towards the manipulator. "You're destined to be pathetic."
The man's face went from zero to one hundred. His expression twisted into one of anger as he rushed at me with his staff. He roared as he tried to bring it down on my head, but I simply blocked it with Dust and kicked him the stomach. He coughed up spit as he was sent back.
The moment he touched the ground, however, the ground rumbled. I immediately jumped up as the ground suddenly grew 'cuffs' where my legs should be. I narrowed my eyes as I see the earth manipulator straining while keeping his palms on the ground. Earth pillars grew from the floor, all of them moving straight for me.
Vacuum! A quick vacuum got me out of their targeted position. I landed with a roll and immediately dashed forward so he couldn't get a lock on me. He kept his hands on the ground as the earth around me was manipulated to his desires. What I know, however, is that this should be costing him a lot of Aura—so all I have to do is outlast him.
A dome of Earth appeared around me—I quickly activated Dust's acid form and activated Atom, which quickly opens a hole on the wall. The edges of the newly formed exit was still glowing green as I jumped through it, launching myself to the air right after I got out. The ground around the dome suddenly grew spikes which pointed towards the sphere, which made me think.
So he can't sense through Earth… that's good to know.
The spikes extended towards the sphere, several piercing it and going through the dome. It crumbled apart, the spikes staying in their forms much longer—probably so he could make sure that I was dead. Unfortunately for him, I was only falling towards his body at an alarming pace—fortunately for me, he hadn't noticed.
He suddenly stood up and doubled back as he noticed that my body wasn't there. He looked to the left, then to the right… then he looked up.
I was right above him, an Eclipse ready to strike. He brought his staff up to try and block the attack, but the combined momentum and skill was too much for him. The staff broke in half in his hands, his eyes widening as my sword(s) broke through his guard. The Eclipse hit him square in the chest and makes him fly back, his Aura flickering across his body, signaling the fact that his Aura had faded away.
I casually walk over to him, twirling Chamber and putting Dust on my shoulder. The single edged blade was still glowing green as I approach him, and he tries to crawl back, begging me for mercy.
"Please—I was just forced to do work for the tribe! I didn't want to do this! I didn't really have a choice in all this please let me live!"
"Good grief," I shook my head. I stabbed Chamber on the ground as I pointed Dust at him. "I'm going to make you as ugly as the earth below you."
I stabbed it at his chest, his mouth open in a wordless scream as the acid melted him inside out, ensuring a quick death and easy kill. His chest melts apart and blood spills out of the torn body. I shake my head as I turn around to look at the clearing—there was no permanent damage this time, so I'm keeping my anonymity safe here.
Quest Completed: The Road Not Taken
Completed: Save the children
Failed: Save the Summer Maiden
+30000 EXP, -10000 EXP for failing to save the Maiden
I quickly focus on my sensor trait again to locate the two kids—they were across the clearing. I glanced over at their position and see the boy looking over a bush. I sighed as I walked towards them in a brisk pace. I deactivate Chamber and sheathe Dust, attaching to combination to my side as I stretched my legs. The kid looks up to me with wonder, the young Devourer asking me a question.
"… did… did it feel good?" He asked.
I looked him straight in the eye.
"No. The death of someone—especially a death caused by yourself—will always be bad. You couldn't ever be truly happy by killing someone," I pat his head. I see his sister sat against the bark of a tree, sound asleep. "Revenge isn't the way to solve problems."
"But why?" He persisted on his question. "You saw what they did to mom—she wasn't the only one! That has to be something you'd be mad about, right?!"
"I was mad," I agreed. "And I already guessed that this wasn't their first rodeo since they knew who to hit. But let me tell you one thing, kid."
"Killing someone is worthless. One life won't bring another back."
I should know. The bandits I killed today… I imagined them to be the thug that killed me in my past life.
And I couldn't bring myself back, no matter how much I killed.
A/N
Hello
This chapter hits 10k words! Yay.
It's been around 3 weeks. Sorry! I got the real monitor for my PC and started playing games on it and got distracted for a good while. I'll write an omake to make up for it (HA).
Questions!
"When's the next update?" NOW.
"Is Kreutz named after Erza's armor" Not necessarily, it just popped into my head and when I looked it up, it was a symbol related with Erza's armor. I thought it sounded cool so I kept it.
… that's it, I think.
Crimson meets the dormant Devourer this chapter, and sees the death of the Summer Maiden (don't worry, her powers already switched hosts.).
Crimson dislikes bandits but doesn't necessarily hate them—hate is a strong word.
The Earth Manipulator that Qrow mentions somewhere around chapter 3 dies here. RIP.
There's a few reasons why there are a bunch of "-kinesis" type users on Remnant… a few important plot points, but nothing I'm willing to reveal yet.
Two children that would be important later on.
Please remember Later On. Not yet.
And that's it!
You guys can skip this omake, it's non-canon… Except the death of one character. You'll know what I mean.
Omake: Possibilities
Possibilities. There are a several hundred million—no, infinite number of them on the Multiverse, Bluh muses. That was the point of the Multiverse, after all; to test out all the different kinds of situations the Sys Admins could cook up, they be sadistic to the creatures of the universe or be immensely kind to them. Bluh himself was no exception to these experimentations himself.
This was why he was currently observing a string of universes loosely connected to his Alpha universe. There was, however, one universe that caught his eye… and it's not the one that his main creation got a stand that could theoretically crack his universe like an egg.
No, it was… a variable. A variable that wasn't killed in his time, a variable that defied his fate and fought on, despite all odds.
He was quite amused, really. The variable was already quite strong, but he was immensely weakened by the time the real fight came, but surprisingly, this universe didn't quite get him weakened at that time, resulting in a different outcome.
Bluh observes this universe and his Alpha universe, making a mental note to himself to take notes.
In the Alpha Universe, Hearts Kreutz dies.
He rolled to the side to avoid a beam of yellow, his eyes wide as the beam blew the ground apart. Debris blew into the air, and he ducked to avoid a stray chunk of earth. A half shield forms on one of his arms, blocking a claw strike from a Grimm that looked too similar to a hydralisk to be a coincidence.
The shield around his arm fades as the hydralisk screeched. Kreutz ducked under a slash for his neck and sent his fist towards the Grimm's face. It landed, and a beam of concentrated energy flew out of his closed fist and destroyed the hydralisk's head.
He ducked under a beam of energy, but was sent forward as the explosion damaged him so. He rolled to avoid taking much more damage than he really needs. He stood up and observed his enemies—he had a feeling that this would be… a final battle.
The sun was setting and the sky was clear as he faced off against four Grimm dragons. One of the dragons was leaking blood and the other three were wisely staying far away and shooting energy beams at him. His body was weakening—it must be poison, he thought as he read his status effects. Nevermind—it is poison—and his Aura was drained, unable to recover.
A dragon roared as it shot off a beam towards Kreutz. He retaliated with a beam of his own, the smaller but stronger laser pierced the dragon's beam and diminished it from the inside, the energy fading out from the attack and being siphoned into Kreutz's attack. It hit the dragon square on its belly and exploded, making the dragon cry out as it started to smoke and fall.
"Master…" His hands started glowing. His attack was named after one of his favorite character's moves—wait, scratch that, most of his attacks are named after one of his favorite character's moves—and it was a very simple attack that was very effective against its enemies.
But unlike its namesake, this attack did not need a mini hakkero, it simply needed a metric fuck ton of Aura to use, which Kreutz had in spades and then some.
"Spark!" A pure white beam of utter destruction flew towards the falling Grimm. The dragon screeched as the spark engulfed its whole body, disintegrating its shell and bones. The attack burned the forest behind it, leaving behind a large featureless crater.
Shit… Kreutz cursed. He fell to a single knee, panting in exhaustion. There were a couple of other dragons earlier—from a mighty ten, the dragons fell to three. His Aura was already quite exhausted, now only up for shields and passives. He had little offensive spells that could see use in this battle, and he still couldn't regenerate Aura.
This is it. He thought idly as he watched the two dragons shoot their beams at him. I'm gonna die. The other dragon screeched as it brought out the army it built to him, Beowolves at front and the bigger, meaner units behind them. But hell if I won't die without a fight.
One final spell.
It was a simple spell really. It utilized the person's full Aura—meaning, it utilized all remaining Aura within the user's reserves and sets them up for a powerful explosion.
One final technique.
He waited patiently for the enemy to arrive. He would not be able to get the two dragons that were going to shoot their beams, but at least, he could say that he took out 8 dragons before he died.
The monsters growled and howled.
He smiled.
Kamikaze.
An explosion of Aura.
And Kreutz died a heroic death.
In the Universe Delta however, Kreutz never got poisoned. He never partook the chocolate cake so generously donated to him by the waitress since the dragons came much earlier than they did at the Alpha Universe. He immediately went out to engage, and the fight went much much smoother than before.
"Master Spark!" A single master spark was formed nigh instantaneously, demolishing a score of Goliaths and a single dragon that came far too close for comfort. A dragon roared in outrage and shot a powerful yellow beam of energy towards Kreutz, but he simply grinned savagely.
"Adamantine!" A shield formed in front of him, a familiar rectangular shield with an equally familiar symbol. The beam pushed him back a little, forming greaves on the ground he was standing on. However, it wasn't enough to fully break his shield. The beam of overwhelming energy became a trickle against his shield, and once the trickle was gone, the shield faded, collapsing into itself with a shower of light particles.
"That was cute," He grinned at the dragons—an astounding nine remaining from the earlier ten. "I can do this all day and nothing would change the outcome of this fight," He had a feeling he was talking to someone important through the dragons—but it was just a feeling. He was recently briefed by Ozpin about the Legends and the queen of Grimm, and while he was still reeling from the information dump, he had already sort of guessed that it was this queen of Grimm that sent these against him. "So why don't you be a dear and go back to mommy?"
The dragons roared as one. A singular dragon hung back from the main group, circling a single point of the forest and dropping down globs of black liquid towards the ground. He had a feeling that whatever that was, it wasn't anything good. Not that he could do anything about it—it was too far out of his effective range. He'll have to deal with it after he deals with the other eight charging dragons.
He held a electric blue dust crystal on his hand—it was, of course, for electricity—and crushed it. Instantly, blue energy started flowing around Kreutz. He closed his black eyes, and when he opened them, they were now a shocking blue.
This was one of his skills—Natural Sage. It allowed him to use a small amount of dust in so many ways—a single crystal would be able to cast Ragnarok, a powerful area of effect spell that would decimate any enemy that it hits. Of course, he can't afford to use Ragnarok right now, since there was a village right behind him. It doesn't mean that he can't use the single crystal for other electric attacks, though!
"Chain Lightning!" A singular ball of electricity shot out of his palms at an incredible speed towards the dragons. It was, however, not that fast as shown that the dragons just weaved around it. Kreutz grinned and tightened his fist.
The ball of electricity exploded into several tendrils of lightning. The surrounding dragons, a mighty number of three, got shocked. Though it wasn't a killing blow (He couldn't hit them in the head, sadly), it was still a powerful enough attack. One dragon was forced to land face first to the forest below, and the other two, still steaming, retreated from their charge.
The fallen dragon was quickly taken care of with a quick Master Spark. Kreutz did not want to take any chances with the dragons living and causing him more trouble. Two down, eight to go. He grinned savagely and jumped upwards, crushing an Wind crystal in his hands to use the wind to propel him further.
Two dragons came close to engage him in mid-air combat. The Wind Crystal was helping him fly, and he had access to three dimensional dodging. He rolled in mid air to dodge a dragon's charge and formed a quick shield in front of him to dissuade a dragon from hitting him—which failed, because in hindsight, he should have just formed a Spark attack.
He was sent flying back, and the wind crystal's use faded from his status. Immediately crushing another wind crystal to avoid falling to his death, he found himself yelping as he avoided an energy beam from one dragon. A couple of Nevermores had circled around him and he was, quite effectively, blocked from all sides.
"I'm surrounded?" He laughed. "These poor bastards."
By flying further from the village, the Grimm had basically given him an all clear to use his more powerful spells. This was not good—for them. For Kreutz, it gave him a big testing ground to test out his more powerful spells on a remote environment—and with live test subjects to boot!
Crushing an electric and burn dust crystal in his hands, he essentially combined the two elements to create Plasma. Lasers, essentially—while he could use his Aura to form Master Sparks, a plasma element addition does make it more lethal and dangerous—and explosive.
Perfect. A pair of dragons were charging him. The Nevermores parted to make way for the dragons. They roared as they charged a beam of energy while they went straight for me, but he already had finished an attack chant—this one was something that Kreutz would never let them forget.
"Shoot through the heavens…" A ball of energy formed between his hands. The mix of blue and red energy spun around the orb within his hands, the overwhelming power sending Grimm to the ground. It even gave the dragons a pause before they continued to charge him, intent on not letting him release the obviously powerful attack. "Final Master Spark!"
Three rings formed in front of him, the smallest in front of him and the largest the third circle. There was a thin line at the middle of the circles, the line going past the circles and right at the middle of the dragon.
It was only a little moment of thought that the dragons realized that it was a laser sight.
ThoooooOOOOOOOOOM!
A large beam formed from the smallest circles, growing as large as the third ring in front of him, fully engulfing the dragons and some aerial Grimm in the way. Everything inside the beam was fully disintegrated—nothing was left, the air was dry, and the Grimm that were hit did not even leave a dissolving body. The singular cloud on the sky parted as the beam of energy shot past the atmosphere and into space.
"Whoops," Kreutz shrugged nonchalantly as he turned on his other enemies, already crushing wind, burn, and electric dust in his hands. "I guess I put too much power in that. Want to try another one?"
Salem was shocked to silence. Inwardly, she cursed herself for forgetting the raw power that Growths had. She cursed herself for not remembering the powerful energy they had—their dense auras and their destructive tendencies. It's been a bit too long, she thought, since she forgot what they were actually like.
What they were like? Why, overkill upon overkill, of course.
Normally, Salem would be able to drag the dragons' consciousness from their disintegrating bodies. That was what the black particles were, after all—they were the Grimm's consciousness before it faded away to the planet, sinking into nature. All she had to do was grab the black particles and reform the body in the Grimmlands before sending it out to the open world again.
But the attack not only destroyed the dragons' body, but they disintegrated the particles too—so she just effectively lost two powerful dragons in their own right—two rare types of Grimm—and the Growth didn't even show the slightest bit of exhaustion at the attack!
If she were any lesser woman, she would be sweating bullets. Unfortunately, she was not any lesser woman, but she did know when her troops were outmatched completely.
"This is absurd…" She muttered. It's time I call for a retreat. Brothers know that the amount of Grimm in that area would not be enough.
This was the first time the world saw a large amount of Grimm retreating from a single man, but Salem swore that it would be the last.
5 years later…
Kreutz was running as fast as he can. Qrow was caught sleeping in the house and the kids were nowhere in sight, so he was stretching out his senses to find where the familiar Aura signatures were. Idly, he noticed that Qrow was already out the house and looking for the kids in another direction.
Well shit, was his thought when he found the children not inside the house. Taiyang would kill Qrow… because God knows he can't kill me. He'll hurt me though, and I will respect that.
The now 27 year old man sighed deeply as he stopped in place, focusing on all his senses to try and find the kids. He senses them—a bit to the right, but he's technically going at the right direction anyway.
He crushed a wind crystal on his left hand and took to the skies. His eyes narrowed as he flew, giving him a bird's eye view of the forest below.
Oh no…
He saw them—well, he saw one. Crimson, fighting against three Beowolves. He would be worried, but he could sense the other two—they were inside a building, so he's less worried about them and more worried about his mini self who was fighting the Grimm.
He tried to speed up but he was too slow.
Crimson was slashed across the chest. He cried out in pain and fell on his back, the wound… suddenly stitching itself back together. Aura. Thank God.
But he wouldn't make it in time. He couldn't save Crimson if he was too slow.
I need… to go faster… I need more time!
Everything around him slowed down as he went forward. Time seemed to flow slower as Kreutz charged a miniature Master Spark on both palms. The Grimm seemed to pounce slower.
He arrived just in time to shove a Master Spark to a Beowolf's head, and decimate the other two wolves in the place. Crimson stared at his back, eyes wide as he tried to process his savior.
"Next time," Kreutz grinned as he saw the prompt. Semblance Unlocked! "Try not to go out the house, alright?"
Crimson nodded in affirmative.
10 years… Fall of Beacon.
He had just sent a red haired girl and blonde boy away inside a rocket locker. His nephew and nieces were nowhere near the tower, and the singular larger than before dragon was attached to the tower. He casually crushed a wind crystal and flew to meet the dragon in combat—but the dragon simply froze before flying off, howling.
That's something you don't see everyday, He thought, amused. Frankly, he could take care of the dragon very quickly. At this point, he's powerful enough to do so—probably powerful enough to take on a fully realized maiden.
A fully realized maiden—not this cheap imitation of one. His gaze wandered to the top of the tower, where a signature that reminded him of Autumn resided in. The fall maiden. Or at least—the one that stole her power.
That's one thing that I know from the past 10 years I've been missing. Technically—he wasn't missing. He was actually somewhere in the Grimmlands stemming the production of powerful Grimm and getting EXP in the process. The Master was there with him, the man that had two natural colors on his hair being a great help with his versatile umbrella and semblance.
He shattered a window with a kick as he landed with a roll inside Ozpin's office. The thief glanced at him with surprise and—dare he says it—a little bit of fear.
"You… that's impossible! You've been missing for years!" She exclaimed. The familiar Aura that she stole bubbled beneath her surprised exterior.
"Have I?" He smiled at her. He stretched out as the green color in his eyes faded, making him lose control of the wind. "How about you just give up? This would make it a lot easier than it would normally be."
The woman recomposed herself (Wow, he thought. This woman is something special) and sneered at him. "Oh? And you think I would just give up? After I did so much just to achieve… this?" She gestured towards the Grimm attacking the students—the White Fang doing major damage to Beacon's infrastructure.
It was chaos. She had succeeded. She won.
That was true, he thought. She had already won. This was one of those kinds of problems where he had no time to save the people. He was too late—he didn't notice the signs of the lesser Grimm patrolling around Vale, and Beacon paid the price for his failure.
The 37 year old sighed as he combed a hand across his spiky hair, now streaked with white. "Perhaps. Maybe it's because I've had enough bloodshed my entire life. Maybe it's because I wish to offer a surrender to someone who has the Aura of someone familiar," He stretched out and consumed some Burn and Electric dust, combining them for a lot of Plasma he could use. "Or maybe it's because I really, really hope you just surrender to me so we can avoid fighting out on a school."
Cinder swallowed as she took in the man's pose. She knew how powerful he was—his speed semblance was something to be feared in the way he uses it—speed unmatched by anyone in the world, not even the young silver eyed child could match him. It was something to be feared, especially coming from him, a powerful caster that definitely didn't forget about his own physical conditioning.
In short, he was a walking weapon. An arsenal of attacks and explosive damage. A force of nature.
And she had just called it on herself. Inwardly, she smirked at the small victory of dragging in someone considered important even by her master. She could get rid of a powerful enemy this way! She had the Fall Maiden's power! She—
Suddenly, she was falling.
She released a stream of fire from her hands to propel herself back to the top of the tower, but her eyes widened as she had to dodge a power beam of Aura—no, this was plasma. She was warned of this by Salem, but she thought of them as exaggerations. After all, nothing could part the sky, right?
She was dead wrong. She could feel the heat emanating from the laser, threatening to melt her skin off if she even dared to touch it. Her eyes burned just at the thought of it, and her clothes were starting to smoke.
She was suddenly kicked downwards, a beam of plasma exploding at her stomach as she was axe kicked by the one and only. She crashed heavily, forming a crater when she did so, the once clean Beacon courtyard now in shambles. The statue fell apart as she tried to stand up.
Students were looking at her with expressions of confusion and one girl—specifically, the silver eyed warrior—was staring at her, wide eyed.
"Alright kiddies, I'll take it from here," Came the voice of Kreutz, tone amused. "I suggest you get out of here before more Grimm show up—like that one," he punctuated his last addition with a relatively small (she said relatively because the beam was the size of her head) laser that punctured a Goliath square in the head, making it fall to the ground. "Get to the landing bays, boys and girls… I have something I need to finish."
"Uncle Kreutz?" One of the children—a black haired boy with red eyes—asked, his eyes wide. "You—you're—"
"Shush," he chuckled as he waved off the kid. "Save the reunion for later," He charged up another beam and pointed it at Cinder, who was charging up her own attack. "I have some… unfinished business."
She shot her stream of fire towards him, and he shot his beam of plasma towards her. The attacks clashed at the middle, a shockwave of air bursting out from the contact point as the two attacks collided and fought for ground. The students immediately ran off, as the sheer power of the attacks threatened to crack more than the ground if they decided to stay.
Cinder cursed as her fire gave way to the laser. She dashed to the side as the beam passed by her old position and exploded somewhere behind her. She saw him smiling, relaxed.
As if he wasn't taking this seriously.
She growled as fire burst around—she stopped.
She was sent flying to the side before she could burn her surroundings, Kreutz taking her place as he kicked her in the waist. He blurred from his position to above her, her eyes wide as she was kicked right in the stomach and into the ground.
"H… how? It's like… you stopped time!" She coughed out. Her Aura flickered around her, the passive shielding now gone as she was beaten soundly. The dragon wasn't coming back, that much was obvious, and the Grimm around them were terrified of the man… and admittedly, Cinder could understand just why.
Kreutz smiled. "Bingo! We have a winner. You see, Miss Fall, your posse took the off chance that I had a semblance of speed," He casually walked over to her. "While it wasn't entirely wrong—you took the chance to think that my speed would be no match for your flaming armor, right? You were setting up for something—probably a field of fire—" he grinned as her eyes widened. "I'm right, aren't I? It happened pretty quickly too—but did you know?" He grabbed her by the collar of her dress, making her gasp as she was dragged up. "Most of us travelers have –kinesis types of semblances. You should have done your research."
Chronokinesis, she thought as she faced her final enemy. How… fitting.
"I guess," he chuckled as a light gathered on his other hand. "It's time for you to die, thief."
The Fall Maiden died in the hands of Growth.
A/N
This is why Kreutz stays dead. Kreutz is basically 'fix everything' except he's broken.
I think that's about it for this chapter—nothing really left to talk about.
Also! We broke the 100k words barrier! I'm kind of proud of myself right now! :D
Aaand I think that's about it for this chapter!
This is a semi-serious story,
Take it with a grain of salt
Reviews are appreciated but not necessary.