AN: So I received a review that Ozpin sounded like an idiot and that he's corrupted by power. Not the way I intended for him to be shown but yeah that shoe fits I guess. Ozpin is a king. A medieval king. The way I see it he's the most important man in the kingdom. If that tailor guy screwed up he shamed the most important man in the kingdom and allowed the nobles to make some gossip and whatnot. Ozpin can't just walk into the court looking like the court jester. Actually in a world where there's faunus slavery, damn near child soldiers, and dark beasts that roam the world spreading death and destruction a few people dying because they accidentally shamed the most important man in the kingdom is like a drop in the bucket here. Actually I expected more hate from the scene in the interlude. That scene. You know the one… unless you skipped it. Hm… oh well.
I have a few grimm in here that aren't in canon RWBY. I didn't make them myself. I just scrolled through some fan made RWBY grimm on the internet. Oh, and if anyone cares to complain that I should only use the grimm from canon RWBY then I'll tell you right now that in the world of remnant shorts grimm were originally believed to be evil animal spirits. Not just wolf/elephant/bird/bear/whatever spirits but animal spirits. This makes me think that there are more types of grimm than just beowolves and creeps as canon fodder grimm. So I added a few non-canon ones to spice it up a little. It's just a personal preference for variety more than a big decision. Fighting beowolves all the time is boring anyways. Besides, some of the fan made grimm are pretty cool. The fiend was actually called a ghoul on the original picture but it just looked too much like a fiend from the witcher series for me to let it go. So if you want a picture of it search for ghoul, shrink it from the size in the picture (seriously? Building sized? The fan went a little overboard there), and use your imagination for the rest.
Oh, and that guy that commented on my grammar twice? Yeah as it turns out he's just a hater. Man, it feels weird to have a guy that just wants to make me feel bad. I'm actually almost touched that he went to my story to be mean to me… oh well. Sure my grammar isn't amazing but it's fine for me. Knowing that the guy actually plain wanted me to feel bad. He's right about the dialogue thing though. I do suck on that. I'm making sure to change that whenever I make a new chapter to hide away and I'm working on not doing that. It's a terrible habit that I need to fix but… "I thought of copy pasting the mistakes in the reviews but you just make to many. This chapter? I'd have to do almost all of it." Yeah that confirmed it. He just doesn't like me. Even so, though, he is right. So I'll continue working on better formatting and grammar but I'm not going to stress about it. Hmm… I tend to do that a lot don't I? Oh well.
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Grimm souls chapter 14
The glimpse
"I hate boats." Laura stated.
"Uuuughh." Rella groaned.
"Are we there yet?" Joan asked. He was fine. Bastard…
"Just kill me now." Mancer mumbled.
Dexter just whined pitifully as Rella hugged him limply. Couldn't she see he was as miserable as her? Why was he her support?
On the sidelines the crew of sailors snickered at them. The captain of their small boat looked over the squad disapprovingly. "I have not once in my life seen hunters so easily beaten. I mean sure there's normally one passenger in a group that gets jelly legs but… even the dog? Really?"
"Wolf." Rella muttered halfheartedly. Dexter growled lightly in agreement. The captain shook his head once more.
"We'll be at the island in an hour. I'll have one of my crew get a wheelbarrow to cart you all off my ship. Try to vomit off the sides if you have to."
Nobody acknowledged the statement as they were all to sick to do so. Except Joan, who was just quiet and kind of a jerk at times. Dexter and Laura lamented that they couldn't fly. It was faster and less painful.
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After the horrible experience on the misery boat the squad landed at the bete camp of the eastern strait. Creative name, truly. Laura dismissed the squad and walked to the command tent to see where they were needed. Mancer went with Rella to the canteen for breakfast. Joan had eaten beforehand and went to find a quiet place to read. Dexter went with him. This lead to the current situation.
"How is it that you activate your semblance anyways?"
Dexter wasn't able to say anything so he just placed a paw on Joan's lap in support.
"I mean… a semblance isn't really a… it's not critically important, right?"
Dexter did his best to convey that it really was important and that Joan should try to find his. He really didn't succeed much.
"I've tried meditating, sparring, genuinely fighting, and a variety of mundane things but it just eludes me."
Dexter wondered when he became Joan's therapist. They'd only known each other for two days.
"...Maybe life or death situations?"
Dexter thought for a moment. That might actually work. Make Joan think he was in a life or death situation and the stress might activate his semblance… Was that how it worked? Dexter just went whoosh and it did the thing. Maybe others were different. Especially considering that most semblances were activated differently.
"Instead of a semblance I should probably learn some of those aura techniques you and Laura use so much."
Dexter thought that was a pretty good idea. Joan had a sizable amount of aura. The problem with aura techniques is that they weren't as efficient as semblances. Semblances were somewhat like the penultimate aura technique. They were efficient to the point of having no wasted aura whatsoever. They were also far more powerful. Even the strongest aura technique was maybe as powerful as the weakest semblance. But what aura techniques lacked in power they made up for in versatility. They were also pretty flashy most of the time disregarding internal techniques such as the channelling/enhancement everybody used.
"I'll ask Laura for some help and advice later."
Dexter rolled over onto his side and decided to take a short nap. There wasn't much else to do at the moment. Joan took that as his cue to get back to reading. Before nodding off Dexter took a look at the title of the book. 'On using aura physically - Techniques, properties of physical projection, and how to do so'. Dexter wondered if he could snag that book sometime for himself.
|-\\/-|
After Laura finished with the camp's commander she made her way around the camp rounding everyone up. She had gotten to Rella and Mancer first so they all tracked down Joan, who was in the forest outskirts of the camp doing drills with his sword and shield. Dexter rested hidden nearby reading Joan's book. He stopped reading as soon as the group entered the area and memorized his page number before putting the book back in its place and pretending to be sleeping.
"Joan! We've got a mission!" Laura called. Joan glanced over and stopped his drills.
"Now?" Laura nodded.
"There's going to be a skirmish to the northwest. A platoon of soldiers went off to occupy the Mistralian village of Shiragiku twenty miles away. We're supposed to go there and, when grimm come around because of the negativity from the attack, kill them. After the job we head further towards the forming front line near the middle of this island at cliff camp, which is roughly thirty miles east of the village. We'll stay there until we get another job. Simple stuff."
Joan and the others nodded. It seemed simple enough. "Is everybody ready to leave?" Laura asked. Joan spoke up first.
"Will we have horses?"
"The village and the platoon will have horses. If cavalrymen die and nobody needs them then we'll get their horses. If they do need horses then they keep them and we go on foot." Joan nodded at that.
"I've never ridden a horse before." Mancer said with a hint of interest. Joan decided to chime in.
"It's pretty easy stuff. They're generally smart enough to stick together and not run into anything so long as you keep them on the right track. It's staying calm that's the hardest part for beginners."
"So everyone is ready right now?" Laura asked. Everyone looked at one another and nobody spoke up. Rella, Mancer, and Laura already had their packs on and Joan waved towards his pack under a tree with his book. "Alright. We leave now then."
With that the squad set out to a road inside the camp. Nobody called to them for anything and a decorated man Dexter assumed was the camp officer waved to them as Laura walked off with the squad.
"Say Laura?" Rella asked.
"Hm?"
"What do you feed Dexter?"
"He feeds himself normally by catching a rabbit or occasionally a deer with me. We go hunting before we make camp every day."
"I had a dog back home. When we were young we were about to name him when my little sister came in asking if we had any muffins. We got it in our head between the dog's name and muffins that we were going to name him Muffins. It's stupid but it wasn't like anybody had anything better."
"I used to have a cat back home." Joan reminisced. "We never gave him a name. It was always 'cat'. Grandpa would yell 'Scram, cat!' and nobody ever felt he needed a name. We never really… 'got' him. We just left some chicken outside the family manor once and he just came wandering by. He ate the food and stuck around for leftovers. Eventually he got comfortable around us enough to let us mess with him and pet him and such."
"Was he a calico cat?" Mancer asked.
"Yeah. Why?"
Rella spoke up this time. "If your cat's a calico that means it's a girl."
"What?! Really?!"
Mancer smiled. "Uh huh."
"My grandpa's going to be cat is his drinking buddy."
"Did you ever have a pet, Mancer?" Rella asked.
"No. My family was poor. We couldn't have afforded one."
"That's a shame."
"I was on good terms with some stray dogs around the neighborhood, though. They're nice in the nicer months and if they're well fed."
" I wouldn't play with stray animals, Mancer." Joan warned. "They've got diseases."
"Yes dad." Mancer said sarcastically.
Dexter tuned out most of the conversation as he focused on smelling everything around him. The plants and animals were quite different on the islands than on Sanus.
For over an hour nothing of note occured. The group had made good progress on the road. Perhaps eight miles of road had been covered so far. That was when Dexter smelled something out of the ordinary. A smell like the ashes of a fireplace and a faint rusty smell of blood. In other words, grimm.
Dexter alerted everyone with a bark. Laura caught on quickly. She drew her bow and followed Dexter's eyes to the treeline, where one black and white form was approaching. One of the ones Dexter had read about. A ruinjaw. A grimm resembling a crocodile with no hind legs. Not dangerous to the group at all.
"Oh. Just an easy one." Joan said disappointedly. Mancer walked up to the grimm calmly. Laura boredly shot an arrow at it. It landed on the grimm's right leg. The grimm cried out as it fell from it's charge.
"Should I make a golem?" Rella questioned.
"No." Laura ordered. "It's easy enough to handle for anyone in the group." Laura landed another shot on the grimm's other leg right on the kneecap. The beast roared in pain. Not very loudly, though. It wasn't really made for roaring. Don't crocodile's hiss or something?
Mancer finally got close enough to the beast. He didn't bother to use dust and just sidestepped a snap from the beast's jaws and landed a few blows quickly on the creature's snout. In just a half a minute more of fighting the creature died.
"I thought they were more ambush predators than that." Joan said with a frown. Laura shrugged.
"Are there any more, Dexter?" Dexter sniffed the air. The nearest grimm were a few miles away in the wilderness. No reason to hunt them. To respond to Laura's question he walked further down the path. Laura sighed and began walking on with him.
"Good effort team. Truly required teamwork, skill, and wit." Joan said dryly. Mancer huffed and walked on without a word. Rella rolled her eyes at the group continued onwards.
"Maybe we can see a king taijutsu or something? I'd like a little action. Not life or death but… something." Joan muttered.
"We'll have plenty of action after the platoon attacks." Laura remarked. "Now what were we talking about?... Oh right! Joan, how have you never played chess even though you're rich?"
"I prefer shogi or go." He said uncaringly.
"As I was saying, chess is definitely better than shogi." Laura lectured
"Both of you are wrong. Card games are the best." Manus added.
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By nightfall the group had found the company. It wasn't very hard with Dexter's sense of smell and the fire's the platoon used for lighting. They were met with raised weapons and cautious looks. Laura took out a badge Dexter didn't know she had and flashed it at the soldiers. The men settled down but they kept an eye on the group. Mancer in particular. Dexter heard more than a few rough words about him.
After a moment of walking one large armored individual approached Laura. "You're the hunters the camp sent?" Laura nodded seriously. The man casted an eye over the group. He leveled a glare at Mancer but said nothing. "Well we were going to start tomorrow. That's when we were expecting you, ya see. We'll be starting in a few hours with you here early I suppose. If you need anything find first lieutenant Harold, my second in command. I'm captain Arman if you need me. Oh, and keep your animal on a leash."
Mancer held back a snarl but he could see the captain was offering a word of advice despite his crude words. It took a moment for Dexter to realize that the captain wasn't talking about him. Was it weird that the captain liked animals more than he liked faunus? It was kind of like a compliment in a twisted way then. Captain Arman turned around and started walking. "The hunters are here! We're going out to Shiragiku in two hours! Pack your bags, wake whoever's asleep, and put on your armor!"
Laura walked over to her right. Not knowing quite what to do everybody else followed her out of the camp. Laura stopped a little off the edge of camp and turned to brief everyone.
"You all heard the captain. Two hours of waiting then to Shiragiku. I know we could all use a rest but a nap won't do much good now. We're also all in our combat gear already. So… Anybody want to play chess? I've got a set."
"I've also got cards." Mancer smirked.
"Shut up Mancer."
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It was with a happy smile that Mancer packed the deck of cards back into the package. Joan wore a frustrated look while Laura had a small smile. Mancer had crushed Joan in poker while Laura had held her own. They had bet based on who would carry what tomorrow. Joan, having lost the worst, needed to carry the tents of Laura and Mancer. He also had to carry a few trinkets Mancer had brought with him. Rella hadn't played and instead read one of several books Joan had brought with him. Luckily for Dexter it was the one he had been reading before. He placed his head on Rella's lap and pretended that he wasn't reading while reading the pages he had read before again. Rella was a fast reader, though, and got to page sixty four. Dexter would have preferred to re-read a few paragraphs but Rella turned the page before he could do so. Oh well. Dexter already knew a sizable portion of what was explained anyways.
"Well that was terrible." Joan said sourly. Mancer laughed lightly. He was looking forward to an easy walk tomorrow.
"Terrible for you. You just didn't know when to fold." Joan glowered at the card set. Laura kept a soft smile on her face.
Rella noticed the activity now. "Time?" Joan nodded. With a small sigh Rella closed the book with a small dog-ear on her page.
"We can just leave our gear here… actually we should put it into the tree. Less chance of someone stealing it that way." With that said Laura showed some agility by swiftly climbing up the tree with her pack. She drew a branch through one of the straps and left it there.
"Well don't just stand there. Toss one up." At that Mancer grabbed one of the bags and threw it upwards. Laura caught it and did the same as she did for her pack. Pretty soon all of the packs were stored away and Laura hopped out of the tree. She drew her knife and made a large O on the tree. "An X is too cliche." She said to nobody in particular. Not that anyone cared much what the marking on the tree was.
"Alright. Let's go see the captain." She said. Not a minute later the squad went in to see the captain shouting orders.
"No! The dust goes away from the provisions with the firearms… Yes I'm certain!"
"Donny I swear you had better pack those bedrolls right. I know they can all fit since that's how they got here."
"Stop! Your sword is not a campfire spit! Why were you using it that way? Why not just use a stick?!"
After a moment he noticed the hunters arranged behind him. "Oh. Just finishing up. Shiragiku is a half mile that way so if you care to take a headstart we'll be there in about a half hour." The pointed north and Laura shrugged as she walked away.
Ten minutes of silent walking later and the squad was at a hill overlooking the town. It was large and built in a pseudo-traditional mistralian style. The houses used the slanted pointed roofs meeting in the center with an emphasis on height rather than width yet they were made of bricks and wood like traditional Valean houses. It was an interesting site with a cross between architecture and available materials mixing well. The wall surrounding the village looked far more akin to a Valean wall than a mistralian wall, however. A brick outer layer with climbable wooden scaffolding bracing the wall from inside the inside.
"I've never seen Mistralian architecture before." Mancer commented. "I like it, although it's clearly meant to be made from something other than wood and brick."
"It is nice." Laura agreed. "I think I can take this side of the village. Mancer you'll take the west side. Rella the east and Joan the north. I'm expecting this hill to be an issue so I'll stay here and shoot icicles and arrows where I can if there's no grimm. Dexter you should go with Mancer as backup. If he doesn't have any trouble then go to Rella for support. If Rella has no issues go to Joan though I doubt you'll have that little trouble." Dexter growled an affirmative to the orders while everybody else murmured something along the lines of 'Yes ma'am.'
"With that settled stay hidden, find a spot to settle into, keep civilians safe, and fend off the grimm. Arman didn't tell us how he was going to attack so be prepared."
Silently the group dispersed. Joan was surprisingly quiet in his armor and less shiny as well. He had rubbed dirt on it to get rid of the shine. Perhaps he would be able to show how bright he could be at a later date but not this time.
Rella strode off with a little sound but nothing too alerting. She also wore dark colors so it would be difficult for most to notice her.
Mancer was the loudest in his boots but he didn't let that deter him. He walked in a long arc to the opposite side of the villages and stayed in the darkness under the trees or behind bushes. Nobody would be out so late at night and any that were would be in a group with torches so there was little to worry about for him. Dexter was just plain silent along with his dark fur.
Mancer and Dexter found a quiet rock to sit on together as they waited for the attack. Neither of them spoke since both were on full alert for any sounds of fighting in case they missed anything. Dexter especially was paying attention with his more acute senses.
It was a boring twenty minutes later that something interesting finally happened. Yelling and the sound of steel clashing started coming from the village. Dexter growled and got up to listen for any grimm. Mancer got up as well and drew his tonfas warily.
A minute later a howl echoed through the forest and Dexter heard paws running to them at high speed. Dexter grew bigger as he crept into the underbrush. As soon as the creature passed by him Dexter swiped with his paw and heard a yelp as the grimm was caught unaware. The rest of the beowolf pack stopped and focused on the threat as Dexter finished off the one he had caught.
Several beowolves decided to rush in at once. Dexter slammed one to the ground with a paw and crunched down on the throat of the other. Mancer showed himself to deal with the third. As his baton made contact with the beowolf Dexter smelled burning and the beowolf began twitching with a yelp of pain.
The second baton came down hard and cracked the grimm's mask. The beast died soon after. The rest of the pack, six beowolves in all with one of them being an alpha, rushed at once. Dexter clawed viciously at three of the beasts and dodged one other. Mancer used some fancy footwork to land four blows in all on the creatures.
None of the beasts died but that wasn't a big problem. Dexter attacked this time. He mauled and clawed at five of the beasts and managed to crush the skulls of three due to his size and got the eye of another. He sustained a small scratch mark from the alpha, though. It healed in seconds.
Mancer dealt with the one beowolf he had engaged in the meantime and killed it with a shock to the brain. Dexter growled appreciatively at him.
The final two beowolves seemed hesitant to attack so Mancer took the opportunity. He dashed forwards with an overhead strike and clipped a beowolves' nose. The other lashed out but was sidestepped and struck several times. Dexter stepped in to take the grimm's throat in his jaws and kill it. Mancer swiftly dealt with the last lone beowolf.
Mancer took in a deep breath after the engagement. "That was easier that I thought it would be. Are there many more coming?" Dexter focused deeply on his senses and shook his head. There were four or six creeps approaching but Mancer could deal with them on his own rather easily.
"Good. Go support Rella, would you? If you think I'll be fine I trust your judgement. Just come back later to check on me, would you?" Dexter didn't respond but instead turned and started running to Rella on the east side. While running Dexter glanced to the village. It wasn't looking good. The village was bathed in an orange fiery glow. One of the houses was on fire. Steel clashing and cries of fear were heard in abundance.
As Dexter came into the clearing where Rella seemed to have waited he saw a troubling sight. Rella had taken a nasty blow to her side where her blouse was torn. In front of her was a group of bloodzealots. Reptilian-like quadrupedal grimm with poisonous bites and spines. They were native only to the eastern islands, luckily. They wouldn't be a big deal if there weren't twenty of them in front of Rella. There were also three golems Rella had made in front of her. A small dragon-looking one made out of fire, a brutish ape-like golem made of earth, and one curious shield bearing soldier made from wood.
Dexter leapt into the fray. He tore the spikes out of one of the zealots and clawed another's body. The spineless one died quickly while the mauled one bled purple and hissed. Four of the zealots immediately at Dexter in a frenzy and Dexter stepped back before clawing at the four. The zealots weren't very durable at all. One claw strike went straight through a zealot's neck while another was crippled with the loss of a leg. The other two escaped with shallow wounds.
"Dexter!" Rella called. "An alpha made it past me into the village! Would you go get it?" Dexter's eyes widened. An alpha would be bad. Very bad. He raced towards the village with a weak burst of aura to boost him. He slashed at a zealot as he ran. Within seconds Dexter spotted the alpha zealot. It was scrambling to climb the wall. A few soldiers were poking it back with spears but they seemed to annoy the beast more than anything.
Dexter approached the wall and leaped to the alpha. He sunk his claws into the grimm's back and pulled it down as it screeched in pain. Dexter's jaws sunk into the flailing beast's neck and Dexter shook his mouth around. The beast's neck cracked and it fell limp as it started turning to ashes.
"Umm… Thank you!" One town guard called awkwardly. He turned back towards the town center and rushed back into the fray. The others followed. Dexter didn't mind them much. He ran back to where Rella was fighting.
Rella was still against the tree where she was pinned before. One more golem, a spearman made of wood, had joined the fray. He and the shield bearer worked in tandem to fight against the zealots. The dragon seemed to be doing the most damage. It attacked without care for its own safety. Zealot limbs were sublimating to the ashen mist they always did.
Dexter flanked the remaining creatures and drove into their backs. Four died before any response could be made. Against the suicidal dragon's strength and Dexter's skill the zealots remaining were quickly disposed of. Dexter barked at Rella before running back towards the northern end. Rella nodded as she tended to her wound on her side.
Mancer, as Dexter found, was doing just fine. Around him were a multitude of creeps and a few beowolves. One zealot was sublimating with the corpses. Mancer seemed slightly tired but ultimately fine. Dexter stopped long enough to kill a few of the minor grimm he had been fighting against before barking at Mancer.
"Go check on Joan. I'll be fine." Mancer wheezed. He leaned against a tree, gasping air in the brief relief Dexter had provided him. Dexter wasted no time running to Joan. One burst of aura set him out with a quick boost as his paws slammed against the forest soil.
Dexter heard Joan before he saw him. A roar of anger from him and an opposing roar from some sort of grimm. Dexter raced into the clearing to see what he was working with.
Joan was fighting a fiend. Fiends were like a deer and an alpha beowolf had children and it got very big. It had disproportionately long and strong arms to its body with the forearm looking like nothing but tar covered bone. Bony spikes protruded from it's elbows.
Joan himself was in pretty bad shape. Not as bad as Rella was but not good. He looked tired and he had a few dents on his right shoulder that were from some grimm that came before him.
His eyes widened as the fiend swiped with it's long arms. He rolled out of the way under the strike while the fiend looked just plain disinterested. Dexter refrained from jumping into the fight and instead stalked around the beast. While doing so he was thinking "This would be so much easier if I could use my sabre. Just hack off those arms and done."
As the fiend struck a few more times Joan kept dodging. Dexter waved at him from his hiding spot and Joan only glanced at him before returning to dodging. Dexter continued his stalking.
A moment later Joan had led the grimm over near Dexter and was positioning it so it's back was exposed. "Thank you Joan!" Dexter thought. Joan was just so useful. Maybe Dexter would help carry the tents tomorrow as thanks. First though…
Dexter leaped out with a burst of speed. The fiend heard the sound and turned with surprising speed yet he was not fast enough. Dexter funneled aura rapidly through his claws, making them sharper and harder than most natural materials. His claws actually gained a slight glowing from the amount of aura being channeled into them. He clawed, mauled, and bit the fiend's exposed back. The creature howled an unearthly sound. It reached onto it's back with it's long arms and a joint movement that for humans would not be possible. The beast gripped Dexter in it's large claws, scratching him in the process, and hurled him in front of it over Joan's head.
Dexter flew over Joan's head at high speed. His aura reflexively worked to heal the scratches the beast had inflicted on him. He slammed into a tree so hard the tree groaned and collapsed backwards. Not on Dexter luckily. Dexter just had several broken limbs and an out of place spine. Luckily his aura was already on it.
Joan was not idle during Dexter's flight. With the fiend's overextended arm from the throw Joan advanced on the weak forearm. He shifted his shield to a sheath and with two hands on his sword inflicted several vertical slashes on the beast. A cracking sound was heard as the black bone shattered under the blows. Joan shattered the other in two quick vertical hacks.
The fiend roared angrily and thrashed with it's remaining arm. Joan leapt back but the fiend, frenzied as it was, advanced with it's flailing arm. Joan, panicked, stumbled backwards and fell.
Dexter was mostly healed now though a good half of his ribs were still broken. He channeled aura to his legs once more as he ran towards Joan. But he wouldn't make it in time. Joan transformed his shield and raised it but he and Dexter knew it was futile. The beast's claw was too large and coming straight down on Joan too fast. It would pulverise him.
Dexter roared loudly. Joan was of his squad! He actually liked the guy, aloof as he is! Dexter focused on only one thing. Saving Joan. Something seemed to touch his soul. Dexter could feel his aura being depleted faster than normal but he could feel his aura being, for lack of a better word, supercharged. He directed the super aura to his legs and it instantly excited and exploded outwards violently. Dexter went towards Joan in a burst of speed far faster than normal.
Just before the fiend's arm pulverized Joan Dexter flew into him. He bit onto the protective armor of Joan's arms and used his momentum to pull Joan along with him. A snapping sound was heard from Joan's arm and he muffled a scream by biting his lip. It bled. He had glowed a bright white from his aura. Well, bright but faint in an odd fashion.
Dexter flew past the fiend with Joan in tow. He was just a little too fast and tumbled to the ground in a pile with Joan on him. Joan hissed as he felt his shoulder. His sword arm was more than dislocated. The muscle at the shoulder might have torn.
Joan looked towards Dexter, who could barely move due to his badly broken ribs. Given a few minutes he might be healed enough to run but right now they both knew they couldn't fight. Joan clumsily got to his feet. He had dropped crocea mors when Dexter had saved him. It was lying on the ground a ways away. The only problem was the fiend that was angrily looking at the two. It took a step forward menacingly.
Joan clenched his teeth and grabbed his shield. He readied it as best he could. Perhaps he could dodge well? His shaking legs said not.
Both Dexter and Joan looked to the fiend as it took another step towards the two. Before either of the two could do anything a massive spike of ice impaled the fiend. The beast was as surprised as they were. It looked down as it fell to the ground in a slump and began to disappear. Before it fully disappeared another smaller spike of ice tore through the back of it's head at high speed, coming out of it's left eye.
Dexter and and Joan looked at a very angry looking Laura as she stomped out from the trees. She looked, in other words, pissed. Dexter could tell from experience that it wasn't directed at him, though.
"That...FUCKER!" She yelled. "THAT SONOFABITCH AT THE BASE SAID THIS WAS A C RANK MISSION!"
Dexter's eyes widened. A C rank? A C ranked job would be taking out a few packs of bloodzealots. A C ranked job was supposed to be given to amateur huntsmen! With the fiend (A B ranked grimm), the pack, and dust knows WHAT Laura and Mancer have faced this was a B ranked mission! That they managed to finish the job at all was because Laura used her powers as a fake semblance. Joan would be dead if he hadn't found that semblance of his. Whatever it was it allowed Dexter to save him. Aura amplification, maybe. Dexter had felt a portion of his aura become at least three times as potent after Joan enhanced him.
Laura glared at a tree on her right as though it had assigned her the mission. If it was a man he would have some very messy pants.
"The town is occupied now, at least. Mancer and Rella are getting patched up. Mostly Rella. She took a nasty hit to her ribs. They're cracked. She'll be fine in a day. You two, though…" Laura glanced towards Joan's right arm. She groaned in annoyance. She strided towards them, picking up Crocea mors along the way.
"Yeah. That's bad. Ugh… Dexter?" Dexter looked at Laura curiously. "We'll probably have to show them the full depth of your abilities if we want everyone to get through this war alive. I didn't think it would be this bad but with grimm like the fiend coming out of hibernation this war is probably going to escalate fast. We should be prepared." Dexter growled and rested his head against the ground. He had thought that was going to happen.
Joan looked confused. "Wait… What? Dexter's already the second most powerful member of the team."
Laura rolled her eyes. "Dexter is better at stealth than anyone. The reason he got hurt this time was because he wasn't allowed to use the full breadth of his abilities. Believe me, Dexter is better suited for fighting in other ways than he is now."
That was true. Dexter could have killed that fiend far easier if he was in faunus form. His sword could, using his sabre, been chopped off easily. He was also faster as a faunus since he had less body mass then. His beowolf form may be the physically strongest, his nevermoore form the fastest, and his cat form the stealthiest, but Dexter was far better equipped as a faunus. His sword was sharper than claws, his hands and frame well suited for climbing in treetops, and he could simply pepper his prey with arrows or throwing knives should he need to. He was even approaching a somewhat adept level of swordsmanship when sparring. He was most suited for combat as a faunus. So that's what he would be to best help Laura.
|-\\/-|
Omake: The trials of Mancer and Laura
Mancer casually slammed his tonfa into the jaw of another grimm. It died rather easily. He sighed and went to lean against the tree again. It had been… five? Ten? Minutes since Dexter left. There had been about three packs of grimm in groups of about five or six. Easy stuff. None of them took more than three minutes so Mancer was somewhat bored with how much waiting there was.
"I wonder how Joan's doing? Meh. The guy's stronger than I am. Or at least trickier. I'm sure he's fine. Besides, there's only these weak minor grimm. Simple stuff."
|-\\/-|
Laura sat against the rock she liked. Another pack of grimm appeared but she didn't even get up. She just shot a few icicles at them. The remaining members roared in rage and charged at her. She just shot more icicles. They died. She yawned in boredom. Maybe she should check on Joan or Rella? Nah. They were grown ups. Though Joan was pretty young looking. Hmph. Whatever. Dexter was probably laying in his hammock somewhere away from prying eyes… God she wanted that hammock so badly. The thing was heavenly. Oh there's another pack. *SHTICK* *SHTICK* *SHTICK* *YELP!* there. Being a maiden had its perks… what could she offer Dexter for his hammock?
AN: Shiragiku is the romanized word for chrysanthemum, which means truth in the language of flowers. I found it fitting given the ending.
Secondly, Joan's newly discovered semblance. It's similar to Jaune's but not quite the same. Jaune's semblance, to my understanding, amplifies the healing part of his patient's aura. He could probably amplify the shields of people too if he tried. I think he did something of the sort unconsciously with his own aura in the Jaundice with Cardin. Joan's semblance is different. Joan makes an ally's or his own far more powerful but it burns itself away rapidly in exchange for this power. Of course, there's more on it next chapter. Mwahahaha...
I decided that we need a list of all the forms Dexter has so far to not get anybody confused as well. To recap and elaborate on Dexter's shapeshifting ability he can change forms including limbs, body type, and body mass. Making a new form induces a discomfort but just changing the size of a form or changing a few little features is easy.
Dexter doesn't know why he can shapeshift (I do though). He just does. He also can do a sort-of-shapeshifting where he forms his bone into weapons. Imagine the bone guys from Naruto but where they can change their flesh as well. Dexter is like if those guys were like that but to a much less impressive degree. He's not making any giant ribcages of bone anytime soon (*Naruto reference*)
Beowolf form - Rather self explanatory. A beowolf. There's a few variations of this, though.
Alpha beowolf form - Beowolf but bigger and with spikes. Dexter uses this form far more than his standard beowolf form.
Wolf form - A wolf. That's it. He also became a big wolf this chapter aand last chapter but being an alpha beowolf is more the norm. I don't expect him to be a big wolf ever again.
Giant nevermoore form - A nevermoore. A big one. He can't use the feathers since he doesn't know how to recreate that attack mechanism yet. Maybe he never will.
Tiny nevermoore form - like a little crow with a beak of bone.
Cat-like form - A sort of Jaguar/Lynx cross. A big cat form used for stealth. It would get destroyed if placed in combat. Other forms are capable of stealth but like this Dexter is at his sneakiest.
Housecat form - A normal looking cat. Nothing suspicious here. Move on.
Faunus form - A faunus with beowolf ears. Pale-ish skin too. I described him as somewhat handsome as well.
He has a rapier, bow, throwing knives, arrows, and a knife. They're all made of his bone. Don't go thinking they're as hard as steel or anything. They're made of sharp, brittle bone. Steel is far better quality-wise. Without aura running through the bone they would crack and shatter easily.