Chapter 29: The Devil and The Crow vs. The Scorpion and The Dragon
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"And you know nothing pertaining to what these creatures may be? At all?" He asked the faceless beings amongst him.
The white, incandescent space he was in was filled with high rising seats for The Council members, like judges in their seats during a trial, though, this was more along the lines of Gods looking down upon their creations.
"Regretfully not." One of them spoke in a hollow, echoing voice, "These creatures are as foreign to us as they are to to you."
"We ordered a search in the archives, but were able to find nothing." Spoke another not too far away from his seat, "As you know, the archives were tampered with seventeen years ago, some knowledge not known to most disappearing with the lost records."
"We know a great deal, but even we of The Council know not everything." Spoke another, more feminine voice, "It is possible such records never existed. Or perhaps they too were lost amongst the records. One may never know really."
Although he was appointed by them, he never all too much trusted the members of The Council, save for one.
"And you wouldn't happen to be withholding information from me, would you?"
"Such impudence! Mind your tongue boy! Though we appointed you Great First of The Trinity, that does not put you above us..! Great First of The Trinity and presiding Angel of Primordial, Blanc Angelford!"
Shining emerald eyes finally moved up from his book as he met their "faceless" gazes, glaring at the beings callously.
"I understand that does not put me above you, but my title does put me near a similar authority to yours." Blanc replied as folded his black leather gloved hands together, leaning in towards the members from his chair, "As Great First, the protection of the various Worlds and their various Peoples are my priority. As such, I do not take kindly to potentially secrets being kept from me that would interfere with my ability to protect the People."
"We understand Sir Blanc." Spoke the feminine voice, "But we simply do not possess any information at this time concerning those creatures. The only time we've ever pulled records from the Archives was far before your time after the First Great War by decree of The Creator. It was only until after the previous Arch-Defender's sentencing did we restrict information to certain groups."
"Ah yes… That menace Dante…"
"You speak his name too freely, Sir Sixth…" Blanc said immediately.
"He was your close friend, was he not?"
"He was Sir Eighth, but as The Thirteen of you recall, he was threatening the balance that maintained the Laws of Creation. IF we are to Resurrect beings, then it is to be done so by our careful selection and through The Trials. The previous Arch-Defender was foolish to believe he could freely undo all the death that transpired within the week of The Betrayal. And because of this, he not only suffered the loss of his power, but was also left to rot near the boundary of Nothingness. It was by his own hand he put himself there."
"And you did not agree with his actions?" The feminine voice spoke.
"No Lady Third, I did not. Taking matters such as that into his own hands would threaten to disrupt the balance that has been set in place. That, and it would give others the impression that they too can 'undo death' as he did. Hence why we fabricated the truth behind his sentencing."
Blanc was starting to become annoyed. He didn't need a recollection of a fool's severe lack of judgement. Not when he was there to witness it all for himself.
"If you have no useful information for me, then I'll take my leave. I have important matters to attend to on Primordial."
"Very well then Sir Blanc. If you do find more information along the way, do keep us posted, yes?" Another feminine voice spoke
"Of course Lady Seventh."
Blanc snapped his fingers and immediately found himself in his leather seat back home within his massive study, moving over to the expansive library in front of him that seemingly spanned for miles, placing the book he was reading back in its place. He then moved himself back towards his desk, moving past it towards the large window that spanned over his estate.
The sun was almost ready to set for the day.
Blanc ran a hand through his slightly curly white hair before bringing up his Holographic display, moving to his messages and starting a new message list.
Celeste, Filia, Darwin, Rosswall Vermilion, Violet Royale, Sybil Stratos, Zack Charleston, Sibyl Livingston, Serenity Halfrid, Aiden Gravewalker, Siris Vertia, Abigail Mysterios.
It was time for all of them to be gathered his old allies so that he could share his news with them.
"As I live and breathe, Qrow Branwen. A true Huntsman has entered the fray!" The scorpion tailed Faunus exclaimed.
Qrow and Dante stood their ground, the older man looking back at Ruby for a moment who had given him a shrug.
"I don't know, this guy's weird."
"Look guys, I'm not sure who you are, but you need to leave my niece and the pipsqueak alone." Qrow stated, getting an annoyed glance from Dante.
The man chortled, and the man with the Grimm-like dragon mask simply stood where he was, not moving or making a sound.
Despite that, Dante could feel the large smile from behind his mask.
"Why, friend, my name is Tyrian, and I'm afraid that is not possible. My assignment from Her Grace was to retrieve this young girl. So, that is what I must do. One does not upset the Queen."
"Queen?" Ruby meekly asked.
"Salem…"
Dante glanced at Qrow momentarily, undoubtedly sure of the name he had just heard. But who exactly was this Salem? And why did suddenly take an interest in Ruby? That…
And what did this man in the mask want with him?
"Hmm, I think we've had enough talk now, don't you?" Tyrian stated to his temporary ally, who only gave him a shrug.
"Took the words right out of-!"
Tyrian rushed Qrow before he finished voicing his thought, and the two had moved away. Dante sidestepped a downwards strike from the Dragon Masked man's longsword of blackened bone, then raised his sword up to block a horizontal swipe that sent him skidding backwards into a building with great force.
A roof nearby had been damaged and Tyrian used the guns in the gloves of his wrist blades to shot at Qrow many times, Ren and Nora attempting to assist only to be forced away easily by Tyrian. He moved to go after them, but Qrow had immediately intervened, getting in his way.
"Don't come closer!" Qrow shouted to Ruby as he continued fighting the scorpion tailed Faunus.
Ruby looked to Dante, seeing him rapidly exchange blows with his opponent until they came to a powerful clash for but a moment. Both white and black swords were forced high up into the sky, leaving their owners without weapons as their fists made contact with one another.
Who was she going to help?
Without wasting another moment, Ruby took herself and Crescent Rose to the top of a building nearby and waited, looking for an opening to shoot Tyrian or the Dragon Masked man. However, both groups of fighters were moving way too fast for her to take aim and shoot.
Tyrian used his tail to disarm Qrow, finally allowing Ruby to repeatedly shoot at him from her perch on the roof, but Tyrian simply deflected each with his tail, without taking a glance behind him.
Undeterred, Qrow walked up and punched Tyrian in face before delivering a powerful kick to Tyrian's stomach to send him away. Qrow casually moved to retrieve his weapon from where it Kay embedded in a wall, his back exposed as Tyrian moved to strike, but the Huntsmen merely leapt on top of his own weapon and activated its scythe mode, their battle soon taking them to a rooftop nearby. They appeared to be on even ground until Tyrian descended into the building beneath and used his tail to drag Qrow down, too.
Looking off to the side from her tower, Ruby quickly found Dante being grabbed by the face, and ready to be slammed head first into the ground. But just as he was moving to the ground, he grappled his opponent, landed on his back, and tossed the man over him, allowing him to throw an Aura Sword in the direction of his actual sword. Reappearing instantly to his sword in streaks of white and black Aura, Dante grabbed hold of his weapon and blocked another swipe from his foe, his eyes looking to the side briefly to met Ruby's.
"I'm fine, go help your uncle!" Shouted the immortal as he broke his clash and lashed out with a powerful enough strike to force his opponent back.
Ruby hesitated a moment, but quickly decide to no longer stay back and dashed to the building where her uncle and Tyrian fought.
Qrow emerged from a wall, his body and his weapon bouncing before the weapon landed with its blade in the ground, Qrow placing his feet on the handle as both he and and his weapon slid to a halt, the man now perched atop it as flickers of damaged dark red Aura shone over his body twice.
Tyrian came out of the dust and grime inside the building, purple flickers moving across his body to show that the Aura protecting his body had suffered as well. As the two began to strike at one another again, Ruby jumped in between and deflected Tyrian's blades with Crescent Rose.
"Do you wish to be taken?!" The maniac asked.
"No! But I won't stand by and watch someone get hurt!"
Both Qrow and Ruby moved in to attack Tyrian together, only to result in a clash. His eyes shone purple again, Tyrian trying for Ruby with his stinger only to be intercepted by Qrow blocks it.
"Ruby! What did I say?! Get back!"
"This is my fight, too!" She said shrugging off his warning as she attacked Tyrian, still locked blade-to-blade with Qrow. But he made his legs arch away from the swing of Crescent Rose to free himself.
"No, it's not that! It's-!"
Ruby attacked again, only for Tyrian to move away from her attack, and forcibly flip and sends her backwards with a two-footed kick. She slid closer to the building and gained ground again, but the wooden beams above her had long since been shaken up, a large and heavy one breaking and descending upon her.
Dante blocked an incoming punch, and allowed his attacker a solid kick to his abdomen, only so that he could lock his foot in place, raise him up in the air to spin him a few times before slamming him down into the ground.
The man moved his head out of the way of a stomp, sweeping the immortals feet from out under him as he twirled and delivered and delivered a swift kick to his face. Dante himself spun around a bit after being hit in the face so forcefully, but quickly found ground soon after.
The Dragon Masked man moved in to pounce Dante, but the immortal quickly unleashed a flurry of round kicks and back heel kicks as he spun himself around quickly, forcing the man to block his onslaught of kicks. Soon after, Dante had finished up his combination attack with an upwards back heel kick from his left leg that swept both himself and his opponent up into the air, and swung his right leg across his body for another powerful kick.
Despite blocking and being taken up into the air, the man found a dive kick burying itself into his chest that sent him crashing into the earth, feet burying themselves into the ground as he skidded to a halt. He leapt backwards to avoid a continuous hail of Aura Swords that nearly skewered him, finding his sword lodged into the tree it planted itself in earlier. Unaware, Dante had reclaimed his weapon and was about ready to strike down his opponent from above.
Or so the immortal thought.
The Dragon Masked man twirled his bone-like longsword into a backhand position, turning his body slightly to block Dante's blade, resulting in another clash. For a brief moment, Dante looked over to the fight with Qrow and Tyrian, seeing Ruby doing her best to help.
But…
"Is that genuine concern I see?"
"Don't ask stupid questions..!" the immortal responded as he slowly began to overpower his opponent.
"Really? I thought it was a legitimate question. Are you actually concerned? Or are you just showing it?"
Dante immediately broke their clash and quickly batted his enemy away from him a good distance, who had blocked the dangerous strike to his neck.
"Now now, don't be too angry with me."
"Saying nonsense like that gets me angry. So how about you stop talking trash and get this over with?"
"Oh? You want me to end this so soon? Such a shame… And here I was hoping I'd get to know more about you."
"From the sound of it you already know a lot about me."
"Only what I've heard really and rarely saw. You're quite the accomplished young man aren't you?"
"I don't care about titles or anything like that. I'm not looking to get famous, only to do right by people as best I can."
"Ah yes, so righteous and noble." The Dragon Masked man replied as he strode off to the side, "But in reality, you're not really like that are you? Noble. Righteous."
"You're starting to bore me, so cut to the chase about your monologue."
The man stopped in place, letting out a sigh of disappointment that he could not continue as he intended.
"You're trying a little too hard to pretend aren't you?"
Silence. But the glare he shot the man conveyed his thoughts and feelings clearly.
"You know that your power is far greater than most if not all existing Huntsmen on this planet. In fact, I think you're even better than the Warrior King of Vale that existed once upon a time."
The immortal had heard stories before in Oobleck's classes. And he made sure to pay special attention to those lectures.
"An embodiment of might and righteousness… Say, you wouldn't happen to be a fan copying him, would you?" The man teased.
"If you're gonna ask stupid questions-"
"I'm just having a bit of fun."
Dante wasn't having fun.
"Yet at the same time I'm also trying to pick you apart to understand you more."
Figures.
"It's hard to pin a motivation to you, why you do what you do. So why are you here? What is it that you're doing exactly?"
"I'm just trying to do the right thing. Nothing more, nothing less. I just go to greater lengths than most ever will."
"That much I could ascertain myself. But tell me…" the Dragon Masked man asked as he faced Dante once more, "How much of yourself is still left after constantly 'trying to do the right thing'? Not much I would imagine."
Dante heard loud crashing behind him, seeing Qrow and Ruby struggling against, only embolden his desire to abandon his fight with his current opponent to go help them.
But he knew his opponent wouldn't allow him the chance to escape.
"Are you done?"
"With questions, yes. But as to stress testing you…" the air shivered and quaked violently around them as the immense pressure of the man's Aura flooded the field, "We still have some time before I need to go."
The man rushed forward at great speed and continuously assaulted Dante, an onslaught of blades keeping him from attacking regularly.
He was trying to crush him.
Dante would crush him first.
Instead of it happening like the Dragon Masked man wanted, it was in fact Dante who had pushed him back, following up with a downwards strike into the ground to raise it up with jagged points, lik spears.
The man would have been speared had he not leapt back.
Dante's head turned to see Ruby and Qrow seemingly argue over something, exchanging a few blows with Tyrian, and then…
A beam that was about to fall on Ruby.
With a sigh, the man said "If you're really that persistent about saving them, then go on ahead."
Dante was already running in that direction, subtly placing himself so that the Dragon Masked man would slowly force him back in their direction.
"Psych."
The man rushed forwards with his blackened sword, gaining on Dante almost immediately as both had taken in the sight of Qrow being sliced by Tyrian stinger across his abdomen.
Dante moved even quicker when he saw the stinger making for Ruby. But his opponent wasn't going to let him have his way.
Or so he thought.
The man swung at Dante, but only saw the immortal smile as he raised his sword to block the attack. The force from the swing he blocked was enough to send him flying backwards with great speed exactly in the direction he needed to.
Instead of being furious like most would, the Dragon Masked man chuckled and remained where he was, watching Dante fly towards the other group with a skidding halt, just in time for him to grab the stinger before it hit Ruby.
All were surprised, but only Ruby acted quickly enough and used Crescent Rose to cut Tyrian's tail off, who reeled back and cried out from the pain.
"You bitch!"
Standing up, he whirled to face Ruby with intense fury, but before he did anything, a shadowy, armored hand crashed into the side of his face sending him tumbling on his back until he crashed into another building a short distance away.
Tyrian took a few awkward steps as he stood back up, not engaging any of them due to the realization he was sorely outmatched now that his tail was absent.
Retreat was his only option.
"She'll forgive you… She'll forgive you…"
With that, Tyrian tucked whatever tail he had left and ran away as quickly as possibly.
Dante surveyed the area quickly, looking back to where he last saw the Dragon Masked man to see that he was gone. Even his Aura Signature had vanished from the area. He then looked to Qrow, who had still been upright with his weapon at the ready for a few more moment until he collapsed to one knee and clutched at his wound, panting heavily.
"Uncle Qrow! Are you okay?"
"I'll be fine. He just grazed me."
He didn't look fine, not with how his hand was shaking and the traces of blood on it.
"Who were those guys?" Asked Nora as she, Ren and Jaune ran to them.
"How did you get here?" Ren asked Qrow.
"Uncle Qrow? What's going on?"
He didn't respond to Ruby at first, only briefly glancing to Dante as he did the same, only rolling his eyes as he continued keeping watch.
"What's your favorite fairy tale?"
Around a campfire, Ruby, Dante and the others sat on logs, taking in the information that Qrow just gave them about the Maidens. Only silence met Qrow, who took a swig from his flask and looked around once again, waiting for anyone to say something.
"Really? No questions?"
"Of course we have questions. This is just...a lot to take in…" Jaune stated.
"Sure, of course."
"So these Maidens... They're powerful fighters that don't need Dust to use magic?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah."
"And there are four of them?" Nora asked.
"Yup. Always."
"Which means that, whenever one of them dies, the power transfers to someone, a female, that they cared about?"
"Whoever was in their thoughts last." Qrow corrected Ren, "Important distinction. Best option is someone we can trust. Regardless, their souls become combined in a way."
"And that's what you were trying to do to Pyrrha... The night the tower fell... You were trying to turn her into one of them." Jaune said, finally realizing what was attempted that night.
"The previous Fall Maiden, Amber, had been attacked. She was young, inexperienced. And her assailant, who we now know is Cinder, somehow managed to steal some of her power, but not all of it. We were afraid that if we didn't do something, the rest would go to her as well."
"So you forced it on Pyrrha…"
"They didn't force anything on her Jaune." Dante quickly defended, "They gave her a rundown of the situation and gave her a choice. She could have declined at any moment if she wanted to and just walked away. But she didn't."
Jaune briefly looked as though he wanted to say something in response, but he soon hung his head for a moment before getting up and walking several feet away from group.
"That guy, Tyrian… Why was he after me? And why was that weirdo in the mask after Dante?"
"Well, you definitely painted a target on your back with what you did at Beacon." Qrow said with a sigh, "I told you having silver eyes is a rare trait. And the fact that you were able to use them seems to have upset some very powerful people."
Enough that they would send an assassin after Ruby, something that troubled Dante greatly.
That man Tyrian certainly wasn't going to be the last they would encounter.
"Not many people know about the silver eyes." Qrow continued, "Those that do aren't very happy that one has surfaced. That's why I've been keeping an eye on you in order to make sure you were safe. All of you."
"Well then, why not just travel with us? It seems like that would've been way easier."
Dante already knew of one reason, but there was something else to it…
"He was using you as bait."
And of course, Jaune, the paragon of optimism and happiness, had to say the alterior motive for Qrow's decision to hang back, even if it wasn't his main reason.
"Look, I wouldn't put it like that. It's complicated."
"What is all of this? Ruby's being hunted, the schools are being attacked, all for what?! What is the point of all of this?! Will you just tell us what's going on?!"
Qrow stared at him a moment before slouching over with a sigh.
"Would you sit down? You're stressin' me out kid…"
Jaune took a moment before he finally sat back down on his log and crossed his arms, giving time for Qrow to take another swig, but stopped midway before the flask reached his lips.
"Not many people are super religious these days. This world's been around for a long time, long enough that people have created dozens of gods. But if you believe Ozpin, two of them are actually real."
Dante paid particular attention to Qrow's words upon hearing "gods". If ever there was a deific presence, he wanted to know about it quickly so that he could decide whether or not to kill him or her.
He didn't have a particularly good time dealing with deities during his previous experiences.
"They were two brothers. The older sibling, the god of light, found joy in creating forces of life. Meanwhile, the younger brother, the god of darkness, spent his time creating forces of destruction. As you can imagine, they both had pretty different ideas about how things should go." Qrow explained, "The older one would spend his days creating water, plants, wildlife. And at night, his brother would wake to see all the things that the elder had made and become disgusted. To counteract his brother's creations, the god of darkness brought drought, fire, famine, all he could do to rid Remnant of life."
As gods of destruction usually do.
"Life always returned. So one night, the younger brother went and made something, something that shared his innate desire to destroy anything and everything."
"The creatures of Grimm…" Ruby spoke up.
"You guessed it. The older brother finally had enough. Knowing that their feud couldn't last like this forever, he proposed that they make one final creation together, something that they could both be proud of, their masterpiece. The younger brother agreed. This last great creation would be given the power to both create and destroy. It would be given the gift of knowledge, so that it could learn about itself and the world around it. And most importantly, it would be given the power to choose, to have free will to take everything it had learned and decide which path to follow; the path of light...or the path of darkness. And that is how Humanity came to be."
"But...what does that have to do with us?" Asked Ruby.
"Well, that's the kicker. See, the four gifts to mankind, knowledge, creation, destruction and choice, aren't just metaphorical. Each of them exists in a physical form, left behind by the gods before they abandoned Remnant, and each of them is extraordinarily powerful. If someone were to collect all four, they'd be able to change the world."
There was always some fool who wanted to change the world to their "perfected" vision.
"That's exactly what the enemy wants. The Huntsman Academies were created to train generations of Humanity's protectors, but they also serve another purpose; guarding the Relics. When Ozpin's predecessor founded the schools, he built them around the Relics to act as a fortress. Not only would they be easier to defend, but they would constantly be surrounded by trained warriors. The hope was that hiding them would keep mankind from using them against itself… And of course, keeping them out of her reach. So yeah, there's that."
"Her... You mean Salem?" Ruby asked.
Salem… A name Dante has heard a few times now…
"That's right. Not much is known about her. Quite frankly, that's not what matters. What matters right now is that she wants the Relics, and if she gets them, it's not going to end well."
"Alright. So, let's say we believe all this. There really is this crazy evil being behind these attacks, not just some thugs trying to become powerful. Why doesn't the world know? Why isn't Atlas going after them? Or Mistral?" Jaune Asked,
"And why aren't we in more of a hurry to get to Haven? Shouldn't we be getting them a message? What if they're next?"
"The headmaster over there saw what happened to Beacon. He's not dumb. He'll be on his guard. Besides, it takes time to mobilize forces like that. Do you really think they planned out that attack on Beacon overnight?" Qrow answered Nora, "And to answer your question…" he said pointing to Jaune, "It's the same reason we keep quiet about the Maidens. If the whole world knew about the Relics, about Salem, there would be chaos. There'd be another Great War on our hands, and this time, you'd have to fight."
Jaune glanced away, thinking quite possibly of the potential terror of having to fight in a war.
"Look, I had the same questions, too. But ol' Ozpin would always put his foot down. 'We can't cause a panic.' Heh, can't tell you how many times I've heard that... Salem's smart. She works from the shadows, using others to get what she wants, so that when it comes time to place the blame, we can only point at each other. She's trying to divide us. And so far, she's done a pretty damn good job."
"Alright, so what should we do?" Ruby asked her uncle, noticing all eyes on him at the moment
"I don't really know." He said with a chuckle.
The teens all looked at each other, surprised and nervous. Dante remained indifferent upon hearing such news. It wasn't exactly his first time putting a stop to a "world-ending" plan without an actual, well thought out plan to act as a counter.
He normally battled his way through and used his wits whenever possible. Usually things weren't so clear cut until towards the end, hence why no real solution came to mind until in those moments.
But that was all before when he had actual power to make a difference to anything that could possibly come his way. He was weaker now, and he realized his weakening all too well. Given time however, his power would grow well enough.
Time however wasn't always in his favor.
"Ozpin's put a lot of trust in the headmasters. Like I said, the schools are an important part of stopping Salem. Atlas is going to be on high alert after the last attack, and Vacuo is...well, Vacuo. It'll be hard to hire thieves and scoundrels to fight against other thieves and scoundrels. Take that, add in the fact that Cinder and her crew claim to be from Haven, and I think it's likely the next target. So, we're on our way to the headmaster. Haven't heard from him in a while, even before the attack. I'm hoping he has the answers."
But if he didn't? What then? Where would they go next if their lead was suddenly a dead end? Who would they have to focus on?
Qrow's logic, and Ozpin's for that matter, seemed sound in making Haven the next place to be attacked. If that were the case, could they defend against an attack..?
Can I actually save people this time..?
"Alright, I think it's time you kids got some sleep."
"Uncle Qrow?"
"Yeah?" Qrow said as he turned to his now standing niece.
"This is a lot to take in, and it all sounds crazy, but... I'm willing to do whatever I can to help because I trust you. But why couldn't you trust me? Why couldn't you just travel with us, instead of this secrecy, and, and-"
"Look, this has nothing to do with trust. I-It's a long story, okay..?"
"Seriously? Now you're tired of telling us stories?" Nora asked.
Qrow stared at the fire in silence before picking up a stick and poking at the fire, soon telling his tale.
"Did you know that crows are a sign of bad luck? Old superstition, but it's how I got my name. See, some people can absorb electricity, some people can burst into rose petals, some people can unload their Aura for devastating attacks, and some people are just born unlucky. My Semblance isn't like most, it's not exactly something I do. It's always there, whether I like it or not. I bring misfortune." He said with a bitter chuckle.
Misfortune… Like-
"I guess you could call me a bad luck charm. Comes in real handy when I'm fighting an enemy, but it makes it a little hard on friends… And family…" Qrow finished standing up, holding his side.
"Well, you are just a real bundle of help, aren't you?"
Jaune didn't really notice it at the time, but Ruby and Dante shot glares at him as soon as he said that. That wasn't really called for.
"Yeah…" He said walking away from the campfire slowly.
"Where are you going?" Asked Ren.
"Taking a walk."
There's nothing else you want to tell us?" Ruby asked, expecting something else from her uncle.
"Not tonight."
He continued his slow walk away, leaving the five teenagers to themselves as the log he had prodded at earlier rolled out of the campfire. Once he was out of view for certain, Dante spoke his mind.
"Word to the wise Jaune, there's some things you say and some things you keep to yourself."
Everyone stared in the immortal's direction, Jaune shooting a particularly angry glare.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"If I have to explain your foolishness to you, then clearly something is wrong."
Jaune immediately stood up and took a few steps forward, stopping just short of Dante as he stood up with an indifferent and unimpressed gaze.
"If you think a cold stare and a menacing approach is anywhere near close enough to intimidate me, then you've clearly lost any sensibility to you. So...why don't you turn in for the night, yeah?"
The glaring continued between the two for a few silent moments as the others watched with concern, the silence broken by Dante making a clicking noise twice as if he were speaking to a horse and nodding his head in the direction of the sleeping bags further away. Jaune seemed furious, but instead of doing as he intended, he simply walked off, ignoring the immortal as he sat back down on his log.
"What is with you two?" Asked Ruby.
"Yeah, ever since you found us again, things with you and jaune have been pretty dicey. What's up with that?"
"Don't know, don't care." Said Dante answering Nora as he leaned back fully on his log, ah es behind his head and crossing one leg over the other, "All I know is whatever beef he's got with me, for whatever stupid reason it may be, he needs to stow it until we get to Haven. We can't have problems like this out here in the wild, too easy to take advantage off. Or worse."
"Worse..?" Ruby questioned.
"Anger makes people say and do stupid things. I should know. In any case, he needs to get over his temper tantrum soon and sort out his nonsense. Otherwise it's going to get him killed."
"Wouldn't it be simpler to talk things out?" Suggested Ren.
"Nothing is simple with Jaune." Stated Dante, "Right now isn't the time for 'a talk'. When it is, I'll speak with him or whatever to figure this out. For now, you guys get some rest since I'll keep watch tonight."
The all gave him a hesitant glance. After today's events, sleep was the last thing on their minds. But they needed to rest. Should either of the two attackers come after them again, they needed to have their rest.
"Go on and sleep guys. No one and nothing is getting in this camp tonight."
"If you say so…" Ren said as he and Nora stood up and went to their sleeping bags to turn in for the night.
The immortal unsheathed his sword and glanced over it quickly, spotting no dents or chips in the blade, which was a bit surprising given how hard the Dragon Masked man was swinging at him.
Even though his Proxy called Anvil a replicated fake, it was still an excellent weapon. That at least wasn't surprising given the materials he used to create it…
"H-Hey…" Ruby said taking a seat next to Dante, "Can we talk a minute?"
"I already know what it's about." Dante said with a sigh as he sheathed his weapon, "Sorry, but I wasn't exactly going to allow him to talk like that to your uncle and not say anything about it."
"I'm glad and all but… What's going on between you two? What happened?"
"If I knew, I'd have already fixed the problem. But I don't, so I can't. For all we know, Jaune's just being stupid…"
"That isn't all too fair…"
"Well, it won't be fair if whatever's eating him is going to hurt us in the long run. It's like I said earlier, stuff like that needs to be left behind when we're out here. It'll weigh heavily on the mind and get someone distracted. Someone gets distracted and makes the wrong move, people get hurt. And I don't want that happening to anyone. Not even Jaune despite how much of a jerk he's been."
"I get that, but… Go easy on him a bit? Things...haven't been easy for him since…"
"I know. Trust me when I say I'll do my best."
Ruby scooted closer to him until she hugged his left arm and leaned her head on him, the two watching the flames flicker softly in the night as tiny embers rose up, only to fade into the darkness of the night.
"The camp is safe, right..?" asked Ruby.
"I attuned all the Aura Swords I placed around camp to everyone's Aura Signature and made them invisible. They won't hurt anyone of us. It'll be like they're not even there for you guys."
"The that means you can rest too."
"Well…"
"No way. You're sleeping too."
"But-"
"No buts! Remember what I said?"
How could he forget?
"I remember…"
"Great! Then you have to carry me as punishment!"
"Fiiine." he said lifting her up immediately despite the small twinge of pain in his right arm.
The immortal carried Ruby with him all the way to "their" sleeping bag, settling her inside it. As he was about to turn around, Ruby patted the empty space near her, prompting Dante to lower himself to the ground and climb inside the bag, zipping it up shortly after.
Hearing a happy giggle, he found arms wrapped around his waist, feeling Ruby against his back as she clung to him tightly and nuzzled her head into his back.
"You do realize the chances of me sleeping is next to none, right?" he said as he spun himself around, back facing the ground as the young girl's head now rested on his chest.
"You're here with me…" she spoke softly as she closed her eyes, "That's all that matters."
"My my, that was a bit more troublesome than I expected…"
The man sat near a fire of his own making, taking a seat on a small tree stump and staring deeply into the flames through the eyeholes of his Dragon-like mask, which he soon removed with a heavy sigh. His chin length, messy black hair flowed freely now, his narrowed to slits as he sported a snake-like grin on his face.
"If I didn't leave as soon as did, they might have all tried to fight me at once. Not that it matters really."
He looked around himself, as if the realization that he was alone suddenly struck him.
"Ah yes, I almost forgot..."
He let out a small and short hum as he looked ahead of him, seeing a mass of shadow creeping out from the forest and standing tall, taking on the shape of a man with a similar mask design, only the horns on this new arrivals mask were numerous and much more twisted.
"You've been busy, Aizûr…" the shadowy figure spoke to the Dragon Masked man.
"Oh? Well this is unexpected. I wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon." Aizûr spoke as a hand reached out from under his black cloak to rest his chin in his palm.
"It is quite difficult to ignore your overwhelming Aura Signature… I assume this means you've made contact with the boy?"
"Indeed I have."
"And? Your impressions?"
Aizûr hummed to himself a moment, his narrow, slit-eyed gaze falling back on his ally a few moments later.
"He is quite impressive. As he is now, he isn't all too much of a threat. His mind is clouded with fear. But more than anything, he has his doubts, moreso pertaining to himself really."
"The the chances of him defeating Scylix are..?"
"Low at the moment." said Aizûr waving his hand before resting his chin in it again, "He isn't entirely motivated really. And to be honest, I can see why."
"Then he's of no use to us…" the shadow said turning to leave
"Now now, I wouldn't write him off so quickly if I were you."
The shadow stopped, turning to face Aizûr once again as he still kept his wide grin about him.
"True as it may be that he lacks the motivation required at the moment, I believe it'll only be a matter of time before he gains that which he needs."
"Time that we don't have really. With Scylix and that pretender Salem at the front of things, it won't be long before they make their move, Scylix being the frontrunner to it all. She is as great a threat as Salem now if not greater considering her goal doesn't pertain to collecting any of the Relics."
"Ah yes, the relics hidden within the Huntsmen Academies… Quite a serious threat in its own right, wouldn't you agree?" asked Aizûr.
"The Pretender is of no concern to us at the moment. Though the advancement of her plans may give her confidence, they will crumble in time by the efforts of Humanity and the Faunus. They are sorely mistaken to think that what she brings is terror." the shadow spoke as he wandered around the campfire towards Aizûr, "It is us that they will be more afraid of in time."
"But that time currently isn't now. And it won't be for a good while either. Besides that, I wouldn't go and underestimate humanity and the Faunus if I were you. Not with their respective defenders in the fray at the moment."
"Do you honestly believe that boy and his allies can offer that much of a threat to us? That they can disrupt milenia upon milenia of planning?"
"They are quite unpredictable from what I've seen so far these past few months. Even the current group he's traveling with can be a bit of a problem."
"Hmph… I shall see that for myself." the figure spoke as he walked towards the darkness of the forest, "Wait upon me. I will join you within a few days time to discern his abilities for myself, as well as those of his allies. I'll be bringing others with me to occupy them."
"Of course. By the way, did Brígo and Râk perish recently? I haven't been able to contact either of them for some time now."
"They did. As to who is responsible, that is what is currently unknown. Though, it is suspected they were in league with whoever created the towers across Anima."
"So they betrayed us then…" Aizûr stated for himself, "Serves them right I suppose."
"Quite. Be aware that Sca'âtha is currently within Anima at this time for his own reasons."
"Oh? He's in Anima as well? It has been quite some time... Where in Anima is he?" asked Aizûr.
"Near the village with the Dragon Faunus I believe. If that's all, I'll be on my way then. Unlike you, I have actual work to do."
Aizûr chuckled at his brother's statement as he lifted two of the small skewers he fashioned earlier from the firepit, both containing a cooked fish on both pieces of wood.
"Want one to take back for your actual body to eat?"
"No, I'm quite full as is." stated the shadow as he walked off into the forest, "Remember to await my call, Aizûr." he spoke a final time as he vanished.
Aizûr let out a sigh as he placed one of the skewers back into the fire, noticing the flame was slowly dying. Sticking out his finger, a small bolt of blue lightning emerging from his fingertip, rekindling the flame as it grew bright and strong once again.
"Troublesome indeed…"
He was...shocked. Rarely did he ever sleep, much less willingly. But for once, he simply closed his eyes and...drifted away. Of course, at the moment, he was only partially awake, enough so that he was aware of his surroundings and any noises. And from the look of it, no one seemed to be awake at this time. Save for one, cute little reaper who was currently playing with the longer strands of the young immortal's pure white hair.
"What are you doing..?" he asked groggily, eyes still shut.
"Nothing~!" was the only response he got from Ruby as she giggled happily to herself, "What was that about incredibly low chances of sleeping?"
He remained silent despite the wide grin and silent laughter from Ruby, the immortal soon smiling himself as he slowly rose up with the young reaper, both still in the confines of their shared sleeping bag.
Dante waved his left hand in front of him out towards his side, hundreds of Aura Swords made from white and black Aura shimmering into view, Ruby staring in profound awe at the sight of the swords that remained perfectly motionless in the air.
"It's not that amazing…"
"Are you kidding?! You can make floating swords! Correction, floating swords that fly through the air faster than my bullets and hit harder! And that's not even all you can do!"
All he could do was scratch his head in embarrassment.
"You are way too humble! You should be proud of yourself more!"
"I know." Dante replied, "I just don't like bragging is all. And when I do brag, it's usually for the sake of a joke."
"Still too humble."
"Give me a break already…" the immortal pleaded to Ruby's amusement, "I'm surprised your uncle didn't drag me out and string me up somewhere… Speaking of which…"
No matter how quickly he searched, Dante could not spot Qrow anywhere. Had he gone for a walk?
"See him anywhere?" Dante asked.
"No…" Ruby asked, her concern growing larger by the second, both hurriedly standing up.
The couple moved through the camp silently enough to not disturb Ren, Nora and Jaune, soon finding the veteran Huntsmen a short distance away, slouching against a tree. Both were relieved, but relief had quickly vanished once they looked to his wound, seeing purple-colored stains emerging from his bandages as he coughed violently.
He stared at his wound, then stared at the two teens, offering them a wry chuckle before saying, "Well… That's unfortunate…" and promptly passed out soon after.
"Uncle Qrow!"
Both had quickly lowered themselves to the ground, Ruby helping Dante lay her uncle flat on the ground as the immortal's left index finger became a shadowy claw that allowed him to effortlessly cut the cloth covering his wound.
"Damn it… I should have known better than to assume there'd be no poison since he's a Faunus..!"
"Poison?!"
"Scorpion toxin affects the muscles in order to paralyze and sometimes kill a target, almost like snake venom." the immortal said as he checked the wound, "This is why I leave all the medical stuff to Inuba… She knows infinitely more about this nonsense than I do… In the case where I did assume that lunatic could poison your uncle, I thought his Aura would heal him, but it looks as though this venom is special in that it counteracts healing…"
"What's wrong with him?!" asked Nora as she, Jaune and Ren quickly approached.
"That lunatic's tail had poison in it when he stung Qrow…" the immortal quickly responded as Ruby zipped away and back to him immediately with his bag.
"Can't you do something?" Jaune asked.
"Unfortunately Jaune, I'm not as perfect as the general consensus would have you believe." he said applying Inuba's ointment to Qrow's wound, "I specialize more along the lines of killing things thousands of times bigger than you."
"You're right about that one…"
"Jaune!" Ruby exclaimed before turning back to Dante, "Is he going to be alright?!"
"I don't know… The ointment I applied is a sort of multi-purpose ointment, meaning it can help close wounds, clean them, counteract toxins, foreign contaminants, etc. I can't guarantee it'll work entirely well on him. My partner didn't exactly have time to look at the various toxins and poisons here on Remnant to make anything remotely usable for this sort of situation, just what she knew already."
He was beginning to curse himself within the inner confines of his mind for sending Inuba to deal with one of the towers. The immortal knew full well he wasn't even remotely close to being experienced in the medical field as his partner Inuba was. At most, he figured he would have to treat normal injuries and the like. But never did he assume they would run into an assassin out in the wilds of all things, especially since he had no prior knowledge concerning the man that called himself Tyrian.
Dante let out a frustrated sigh as he finished wrapping the new bandages on Qrow's wound, staring down at him and shaking his head.
"Like I said, that ointment won't do much. It'll slow the toxins down at best. We need to get him out of here and get him help elsewhere. That, or pray to whatever gods that exist in this World that my partner manages to find us."
"Where is your partner? Didn't you say you were traveling with a group?" asked Ren.
"I was but… It's a long story that we don't have time for. If I calculated things correctly, we're just on the cusp of getting to Mistral, a few days at best. Which means my partner can't be too far behind since we split up more than a week ago. If we're lucky, she'll catch up with us. But we can't just rely on that."
While Dante did manage to restore some call functions to his Scroll, Inuba's, his siblings and Raum, they only worked in the case of short distance signal boosters, that way the group could reach each other at any time over wide and lengthy areas. But they were too spread apart for a call to reach any of them.
While the Soul-Link he had with Inuba was re-established, the psychic link he once shared with her did not remain, which meant they couldn't broadcast each other's thoughts between them.
There was no way to reach her at present.
But there was a way to leave her a sign.
"Get him prepped to be moved." Dante said as he quickly rose up to allow Nora and Ren in to help.
"What are you going to do?" Ruby asked.
"Leave a sign behind…" the immortal responded as he waved his left hand in the air, his white and black Aura flowing into the earth to create an imprinted image.
Let's hope you still remember this one Inuba…
(Omake: Fishy Deviants, by me)
"Are you sure you don't want any finish? I even seasoned it to make it more delicious." Aizûr asked his shadowy compatriot.
"I thought I told you I was already I do not want any fish."
"Oh come on, you made an effort to get here. You may as well take this back to your real body so you can eat."
"Fish aren't something I actually enjoy."
"What if I pan fry it?"
"No."
"Grill it?"
"No."
"Take out all the bones from it?"
"No."
"Smoke it?"
"Aizûr-"
"The last time you and I traveled together, we went to an establishment within a city that a locale that sold 'sushi'. As I recall, when you ate some, you said 'Well now, this is a rather adequate and delectable meal'. So, are you really going to lie about liking fish? What would the others think if they heard you went to such lengths to hide the fact that you enjoy fish?"
Despite Aizûr's trickery and mischief, he made an argument compelling enough for his shadowy ally to reach out and grab the fish skewer.
"You will speak of this to no one."
"You know I'm not one for gossip." Aizûr stated with his seemingly permanent grin, "Bye bye now!"
The shadow disappeared within the darkness of the forest, and the Dragon Masked man known as Aizûr let out a deep sigh as he continued cooking the last of his fish.
"He should be more honest with himself."
(Weapon's Illustrated 12)
"Alright Dante, whose weapon should we talk about today?" Ruby asked, slowly kicking her legs up and down eagerly from her seat.
"Hmmm… You know, we can talk about my partner Inuba's weapon."
"Oooooooo~! Tell us about it!"
"Well, for starters, it actually used to be my weapon years ago. It was made for me during the time I was in the CGA after I was involved in some conflict in her HomeRealm, The Apparition World, with her brother Akihito. After everything got resolved, it was made for me by the their family as a gift."
"So? What can it do it?"
"In all honesty, it pretty much is just a katana. But not a normal one of course. DarkLight Antithesis was specially made for me in regards to my powers. While it was made to channel powers involving light, it was mainly created for the purpose of channeling my Darkness Essence, giving me way better control over my abilities and making them more...precise. Clean cut you know?"
"How does it work with Inuba?"
"Well, since my partner's abilities are Light Essence based with the addition of fire as her element, it really enhances her abilities and give her better control of them. Makes it efficient too, that way when she uses her Aura related abilities, the cost isn't big. It actually makes the cost so minimal that she can use her abilities more frequently without pause."
"Sooo… It's a weapon that enhances a person's abilities if they're Light or Dark based, and also cuts the cost of Aura based abilities?"
"Yup. The other thing to take note of is DarkLight Antithesis' extreme sharpness to make cutting through the toughest of objects and hides very easy, especially when channeling Aura. The other thing is its super tough durability, though, that feature was made more for us rather than being able to block attacks."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, problem is that Inuba and I hit really really hard. So we sometimes landed ourselves in situations were the sheer force of our strikes actually broke our weapons when in combat. So the super tough durability was incorporated to counter that little problem we had. As a sort of added bonus, it makes the weapon really durable against enemy attacks."
"So there's no other features?"
"Mmmmm… Maybe, but I wouldn't know. She hasn't said anything about it if there were new features, though knowing her, she probably did add a new feature to it somewhere in between."
"I guess we won't know until we see it… Well, thanks for joining us again everyone! We'll be seeing you next time with Ciel and Leo! Bye bye now!"
Hey everyone! I know I said I wouldn't be all to busy since I have only one final basically (by the time I'm writing and posting this I've actually completed that one final), but I've been busy with other things throughout the week as well as making plans for when I go home and when I come back. You know, general stuff in life.
Other than that, I have been playing Curse of Osiris, and in my opinion... Its ok, but not entirely great. I mean, I'm sort of the optimist who's just happy to have gotten a DLC that somewhat expands on story and the like, but I can definitely see and agree with some of the grievances other players and people have had. If you're on the fence about it, buy it if you want. I'm not really making a recommendation nor saying "Stay away" or "Don't buy it", it's more or less up to you for this one.
Also, Monster Hunter World. Sweet Suffering Gods.
Honest to God, before they released the MHW Beta this weekend, I've never touched a MH game in my entire life, but have heard of them and seen some gameplay. IT WAS REALLY FUN, so I might end up buying it.
In any case, that's all I have for now. So with that...
I highly recommend you all go check out the freaking amazing story XSRA's Flame written by Xera Stark. His story overall is absolutely fantastic and is a must read, so I suggest you seriously read it. You won't want to miss out on this story.
Not only that, but check out his other awesome and highly entertaining story Rogue Huntsmen as I mentioned above. It's just pure awesomeness bundled into one story. Trust me, you'll love it pretty much immediately. And hey! Go check out HydraFLow's story Lost in Binary! It's equally as awesome and entertaining, and more than definitely worth spending the time reading and enjoying!
Questions? Ask them anytime. I will try to answer without spoiling.
Please remember to review, follow and favorite this story if you really enjoyed it and want to continue seeing more of it. And hey, even tell others about this story! Remember that your support is what helps make this story grow even larger and what helps improve it. With that, I bid you all an excellent week/weekend!
Bye-bye now!
