Chapter 16: Discovery and Growth
Emerald Forest, a few days after fighting Kuro
Ragna was standing in the middle of a clearing as he was breathing in and out as he held his hands out, like he was holding a ball. He had dealt with any nearby Grimm that would have bothered him during his training. He had also only told Adrian where he was as he didn't want any of his friends finding out about his Blue Flame and spreading around the school and later the city. It would end up getting back to the White Fang and he didn't want them to learn the truth about who he is under the mask. So in order to make sure he has a chance to train as far from view of anyone as possible. He can easily return to the campus via activating his power and running across the forest to get back within minutes.
He then turned on his Blue Flame and was covered by the fire. He felt his body become stronger by the power as he let it grow more as he focused on the space in between his hands. A small fire was forming and growing more and more by the second as Ragna tightened his focus.
Lupa, who had been watching from the side looked on with rapt attention as she was well aware of what he was doing. It was clear that the fight with Kuro had been a bit of an impact on the young man as he knew that he had to train harder if he going to be better prepared to deal with stronger foes. Ragna hadn't been someone who would be idle when realizing that there were those who could pose a real threat of him. Much like with Selvaria, he threw himself to train in order to improve himself for the next time they clashed.
This would hopefully start him on the path to learning the more "mystical" side of the Valkyria.
"Okay young pup," She said, "now, picture a weapon in your mind. Make it a simple one such as a knife or baton as it won't be hard to make in comparison to other weapons."
Ragna's face turned one of determination as he focused part of his fire into his hands, envisioning a knife in his mind. The fire he gathered formed into a sphere that floated in midair as he imagined a simple knife. The fire's shape was altering, beginning to look like a knife, with the handle and blade beginning to come into their own. The fire was beginning to flare at points as Ragna continued to concentrate and was taking it slowly in order to prevent it from completely blowing up. The blade was becoming longer and its edge razor sharp while the handle was forming into something that would work for Ragna's particular grip.
"Good, keep it up." Lupa said as she could see he was getting it.
However, when it looked like he was about to do it the blade exploded. Thankfully, he wasn't injured but it did cause him to lose his footing a bit. He caught himself before he fell over but he was now annoyed by his failure.
"Dammit." Ragna said as he lowered his hands. "I thought I had that."
"Well, you were able to hold it for a few more seconds then before." Lupa said.
"Well it still is taking a while for me to get this ability down." Ragna said as he sat on a nearby rock. "I mean, you said before this power to create various weapons from my Blue Flame would be a massive help in future battle along with mentally controlling them to fly around. That is going to be useful in future fights against multiple opponents or as another method of using weapons."
"That is true, this will allow you more options bring combat." Lupa said. "You will also be able to create more and more weapons along with increasing the power they have along with the explosive power they have when detonate. Don't worry though, I have faith you will be bale to perfect it and be able to use it effectively."
"Yeah I guess so." Ragna said as he walked over to a rock and sat. He put his hands together and looked out to the horizon in thought.
"You've been... a bit more distant lately." Lupa said. "That you've been more distracted."
"Sorry, after what happened with Kuro I'm just concerned." Ragna said. "She's good, really good. Not on the level the woman with black hair was but still she was skilled then most people I've fought in the past except Sel."
"I understand why you are concerned pup." Lupa said in acknowledgement. "You're concerned about giving away the full extent of your abilities before a decisive battle in which the element of unpredictability could greatly benefit you."
"Not just that." Ragna said as he thought back to his fight with Kuro. "There were a couple of other things bothering me."
"Explain." Lupa said.
"Well, it was when she looked upon the ragnaid canister when she knocked it out of my belt." Ragna said as recalled that moment. "When she looked at it, it was as if she had seen something like it before. I mean maybe some types of Dust have similar colors to that of Ragnite crystals so maybe she could have thought that. However, it seemed to me that she must have recognized it from somewhere, like she might have known what it was."
"Are you saying that she might know about Eden?" Lupa questioned.
"Maybe?" Ragna said with a shrug. "It might mean anything and that she could have thought it was some type of crystal she saw before, but that nagging feeling in the back of my head is saying that maybe she might know what it is." He said it while rubbing the back of his head to emphasize it.
"Not only that, but for some reason I feel as though she might be holding something back. Like another power of hers that could help her to defeat me and might force me to use by Blue Flame." Ragna said with a bit of annoyance in his voice. He then stretched his arms back to help loosen himself up.
"And you're worried about her possible getting the upper hand on you?" Lupa said
"Its the fact if I do use the Blue Flame, there's no way that Fire Bitch isn't going to put two and two together and she could find some way to get that information to the White Fang." Ragna said with a scowl. "Then everyone at Beacon and those I've interacted with in Vale will be in danger."
"If I have to ever use it, I have to make sure that its for a final fight with her." Ragna said as he got back up. He then turned on his Blue Flame as he took a martial arts stance and began throwing punches and kicks at high speed. He wanted to try refining his martial arts skills before he faced off against Kuro again. It was clear he needed to improve in this area as he knew if she disarmed him she could have the advantage in hand to hand.
"And of course, I still have that strange feeling I get from whenever I meet Mathias. It's like for some reason I feel as though I can speak with him about things and that I can trust him to keep it a secret."
"Like you've seen him before?" Lupa said as she continued to observe him.
"Yeah, the fact that the shade of his hair is similar to mine is setting off a few alarms." Ragna said as he tested out a fast series of side kicks.
"Are you saying he could be a Darcsen?" Lupa said as she saw him switching to a boxing stance the throwing jabs, hooks, and haymakers.
"Maybe, hup!" Ragna said while putting his back into another punch. "But maybe it might just be me being a bit crazy. But when I've encountered some of the student with similar hair colors or eye colors, I never got that that feeling."
"Well either way, it might best to ask him when the time comes." Lupa said. "I feel as though he has been a bit interested in you and Adrian based on what happened at the cafeteria."
"I had some thoughts like that, but we'll be able to find out when the time comes." Ragna said as he then pulled out Beowolf and began to test his swordplay. "No point in pressing the guy until we learn more. Though I guess if he does turn out to be a Darcsen, that begs the question how did his family show up here in the first place?"
"Well..." Lupa said as she looked to the sky. "I suppose to answer that, I would have to speak of something that you and almost all of Eden probably never heard of."
"What do you mean?" Ragna said with raised eyebrow.
"Well, think of it this way." Lupa said. "While your people saw the Valkyria has godlike due to our powers and abilities, which compared to the average human and with the thinking of the ancient world, that would make the most sense. However, much like how people tend to see famous figures in a way that makes them larger then life, Valkyria were simply beings that led our own lives and only gained the fame we had by being in the right place at the right time."
"You mean in your time the Valkyria had normal lives?" Ragna said as he was getting interested in what his ancestor was saying.
"Yes," Lupa said with a smile, "we had our own art, music, buildings, medicine, learning, philosophies, etc. We also looked to advancing our own technology, as there were those among us who wanted to reach beyond our world. It was even said that a faction of Valkyria once left under Lenneth's eye in order to see what was among the stars. In order to accomplish this, both our understanding of science, technology, and magic were expanded upon and there were some mavericks that combined the two."
"Technology and magic, working together?" Ragna questioned.
"Well you've probably think one is better then the other in most cases." Lupa said. "At least if it was to where one didn't exist or was looked down upon. There have been groups I've seen that believe their magic or equal to it makes technology look useless." She then snorted. "Honestly, these old codgers in one dimension are complete fools since their magic might one day disappear along with getting karma for their selfish desires and unethical practices."
"What do you mean by 'Old codgers'?" Ragna questioned while raising an eyebrow.
"They're a group that we once messed with and they've have some what of a grudge against us save for their leader." Lupa said. "He enjoyed us smacking them off their high horse as he was feeling quite bored. Believe when I say if you go to that dimension, you'll need to be much stronger then you are due to a certain group of souls that this group uses for a pointless item that they wish to use for their useless and honestly self-destroying quest."
Ragna didn't know why, but he felt as if his ancestor had less then pleasant thoughts about this group.
'Why do I feel as though knowing my luck I'll end up dealing with issues in that dimension?' Ragna thought which some worry. However, he then realized what his ancestor said as his eyes widened.
"Wait, so you're saying the Valkyria looked to going to other dimensions and accomplished it before you were born?" Ragna said surprised.
"Indeed, I once knew a few Valkyria that were ecstatic in going to other worlds." Lupa said. "The dimension gates were able to allow us to see about observing other worlds and races, to see whether or not we would need to meet in peace or come down in order to end a conflict we were inevitably dragged into."
"Wow..." Ragna said with amazement. He didn't think it was possible, but then again, the only things that people in Eden knew about the Valkyria were their prowess in combat, their ragnite weapons, their abilities, and some of their powers. To know they were capable of this made him realize that perhaps they as a civilization, they were not only powerful, but highly advanced. It him realize, that there was far more to one half of his DNA then he could have realized.
"Well thanks for the info Ancestor." Ragna said. "It was nice to learn a side of the Valkyria that probably no one in Eden knows about."
"Anytime young pup." Lupa said. "Anyway, I believe that is enough of a break. Let's return to your training."
"Got it." Ragna said as he got back up and turned on his Blue Flame. He redid his martial arts and looked to improve his stance and form further. The next time he and Kuro fought, he would make sure to beat her.
After around 20 minutes of practicing his swordplay and hand to hand skills, both beings heard hollowing from a distance as Ragna turned off his Blue Flame and groaned while pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Seriously? How many damn Grimm are in this forest? I positive I killed a few hundred in this area alone." Ragna said.
"Enough to where this far in, there are so many in which people wouldn't end up wondering in this far without being completely reckless or unaware of their surroundings." Lupa said as she started to vanish. "You had best deal with them right now before getting back to training."
Ragna then moved around his neck to get rid of any cricks in his neck. "Got it." Ragna then saw the incoming Beowolves moving in as he got himself in a combat stance. From what he could see there were over 100 Beowolves and judging from the following dust clouds more were coming and possibly some large ones like Ursi and the like.
"You guys caught me in a bit of a mood right now." Ragna said as he draw out one of his pistols and Beowolf, pointing the latter at the large Beowolf pack. "So unfortunately, you guys are going to be my punching bags to help relieve my stress. Don't take it personally." He then dashed toward the Grimm at full speed, ready to tear them apart without mercy.
In his his mind, these monsters deserved none.
White Fang Vale Branch HQ
Kuro was tearing apart a sizable number of Atlasian Knights as her claws easily turned them into scrap metal. She was dodging bullets as she used the terrain to leap off of with her agility. She jump off a large rockpile as she quickly fired off a couple bursts from her SMG as the rounds pierced their bodies.
She then used her Semblance as the Knights were trying to adapt to the sudden change of their environment by switching to other types of vision they had. Kuro then used it to dash and slash apart their heads and limbs as she also tossed around grenades in their groups as she moved as fast as she could. She then kicked away a grenade one of the knights tossed back at a group of them which exploded. She then ran along a small incline before she leapt at a few more of them while spinning around. She easily slashed through them before landing and dashing toward two more and slashed in an x pattern.
She then tossed a few Explosive Dust grenades as she took out a few more robots and then ducked behind a small concrete barrier. She then put away her weapons and readied her claws. She then used her Semblance again as she vaulted over the barrier and quickly slammed her feet into the head of one. She then twisted off its head and tossed it at another one, making it fire in the general direction and hit a couple of its fellow robots. She then spin kicked another into two more as then slashed off the heads of more robots before tossing another grenade at a group of five.
She then fired upon two Knights who had MGs in place of their usual SMGs which increased their effectiveness. However, Kuro was able to stay ahead of the fire as she used her PDWs to fill them full of holes as she dodged the bullets (though she did feel grazing hits which was dropping a little bit). She then saw an incoming robot armed with a rocket launcher as she avoided the incoming explosive. While she wasn't hit by the blast itself, but she still felt the blast wave but her Aura protected her. She then switched one of her PDWs to semi auto and landed a headshot to the enemy robot.
She then looked around as saw that she was close to a container that the Fang had taken from a SDC ship.
Soon, a captured Spider bot came out from the container and began to fire on her. Using her agility she easily avoided its fire as she tossed an electric Dust grenade at it to stun it. The robot was able to fire off a few rockets which Kuro avoided as she used her PDWs to disable the the rocket pods as she then leapt into the air as she put her weapons away. She then pounced upon the robot and slashed away at it with her claws. They were capable of slicing through Aura easily so the armor of the spider bot gave away as she easily lopped off it head.
Her instincts kicked in as she avoided a few shots from further away. She looked up to see a pair of Sniper Knights and two more Spider Bots on a ledge. Kuro then began to run up the slope while using her Semblance to block their sight. The Sniper Knights fired at where she generally was prior to losing visual and the direction she was taking.
She then tossed two Dust grenades at one of the Spider Bots, both filled with Electric Dust. They exploded and the robot short circuited from the overload of electricity, which allowed Kuro to slice up its body and ended with her slashing it in two. The final Spider Bot then opened fire with its missile launchers as they flew toward her.
She then slid under the missiles fired by the Spider bot, somersaulted, and dashed forward while slicing its head off. She then walked away from the robot as it exploded behind her while rolling her shoulders. She then pulled out her scroll and stopped the timer.
"2:50:48" Kuro said. "Not bad due to them being spread out and the number they were at."
"Excellent work Kuro, you've proven that you can easily deal with the walking junk piles that Atlas produces." Adam said as he walked up to the Fox Faunus after seeing her training session. "You do know that fighting Anti-WF forces would be far more difficult and thus would put up a better fight."
"Well we really don't have many prisoners to try that on." Kuro stated while crossing her arms. "The boss wanted to try and get them to spill their guts about any info they have."
"Please, what is so important for us to learn from them?" Adam said with annoyance as he crossed his arms. "We should just kill them and send their bodies back to their comrades. That way we can really send them a message."
"And this is why High Leader Khan is our leader." Kuro said while rolling her eyes. "Information is key to our continued efforts. Simply killing all of them would just bring further reprisals down on us from them and they would cause even more damage to our forces. If anything, they probably could match up with the Fang Hunter in causing damage to us. Do you want that to happen Adam?"
"Fine, I suppose you have some kind of point." Adam said with annoyance in his voice. He wanted to execute them to prove a point and to instill fear into their forces, to show that they can and will suffer for going against them in the first place.
Then again, this had happened before and that a WF officer that had done a similar action to what he wanted and the next day, he, his Lieutenants, and several soldiers were found dead in their base. They were assaulted and either had their throats slit, had knifes stunk in areas where it was fatal, shot up with what could be SMGs, or blasted apart by explosives.
There was someone else out there who was sneaking into their bases and camps, killing them without mercy and leaving a trail of bodies behind them. While they weren't as damaging as the Fang Hunter, this particular Anti-WF fighter was a problem that needed to snipped in the bud. No images of this person was found out, so they had nicknamed him the Black Shade due to him always making his kills in darkness.
However, Adam did recall that at one point Blake and a group of WF troopers had encountered the being at one point. Only Blake walked away with her life as her team of 16 had been killed in several large explosions. This was only several days before she left him and she wasn't able to talk about it as she had only nicked someone that was able to keep himself in the shadows.
"Either way, what happened with the Fang Hunter?" Adam said with a serious tone in his voice. "What were you able to get from fighting him?"
"Well I can say that he was more skilled then I figured at first." Kuro said while crossing her arms. "He was able to keep up with me in hand to hand and he was quite the gunslinger, a few of his rounds hit me and his shot a grenade in midair a few seconds after he threw it. Plus he's good in hand to hand, a bit of a mixed of brawler with formal martial arts training."
"Why would you say a mix of the two?" Adam said with a slightly raised eyebrow.
"Well he fought like the former with some of his attacks but he wasn't as blunt in his moves." Kuro said. "He did show aptitude and fineness much like a martial artist. So I think he maybe a mix of the two."
"Honestly, I think you might actually have some competition in the swordplay department." Kuro said with a smirk on her face.
"What?" Adam said with a frown.
"Its true, he was able to cut my bullets without even trying and his sword was able to match my claws in sharpness." Kuro continued. "His blade was like a glint at times, cutting into my Aura well enough and he could launch Aura blade beams without issue much like you can, minus what your Semblance's benefit to such attacks."
Adam scoffed at that. He always saw humans as being big talkers about their skill level compared to Faunus. He knew his people's better senses and traits allowed them an edge in close combat. So he saw himself as being above them in ability, making him argue against the fact that the Fang Hunter is anywhere at his level.
Though with how things have been going for him, a small part of him was thinking that was possible.
"What did his sword look like at least?" Adam with a bit of annoyance in his tone. Perhaps there was something that would allow them to narrow down the list of people that could be him.
"It was mainly black and dark gray with a stylized crossguard and hilt." Kuro said as she thought back.
Little did Kuro know, Ragna had found ways to hide the most prominent parts of Beowolf by painting it black and covering up the runes and jewels. Ozpin had also sent him a hilt that was able to cover his sword's original one with a different designed cross guard. Thus, while one could see the blade of Beowolf as similar to the one the Fang Hunter used, the rest of it was different enough to not draw any connection. Added in with Ragna having knocked out any surviving WF Troopers and them ending up in prisons which were having improved security, meant that his identity was still kept secret.
"Well this is just fantastic." Adam said. "We may have gotten a win, but we still lost a good amount of those supplies and we are no where near closer to finding out the man's identity!"
"Well excuse me for not being able to reach your expectations oh great avenger." Kuro mocked. She knew full well that for all of his skill and charisma, Adam was a still a complete obsessed brat who would make mistakes in his anger.
"Not only did not finish the Fang Hunter off and avenge our fallen comrades, but now he knows what your Semblance is." Adam said while pointing at her in an accusing manner. "Now he'll find some way to better prepare for you next time! Why did you flee!?"
"Well, it was the fact that I did get some injuries from him along with a major cut. Plus there was the fact that his partner was rushing to our position." Kuro stated. "If I had to face both of them, they could easily find a way to beat me and either take me in or me. So forgive me if I know when a battle is unwinnable and pulled out before offing him. Plus, he could have fought through the pain to still fight and I never saw what Semblance he had."
Adam glared at the WF assassin behind his mask. While he would have argued with that since he figured that both of them would have been killed by her hand, he did admit she had a point. "At least we know now that he isn't invincible. All I just need to do is set up a trap to make him walk into with enough man and we will be able to finish him off."
"Anyway, I'm off to speak with Sienna about improved the situation here." Kuro said as she walked away from the "Vale Branch Leader".
She left out the blue crystal that the Fang Hunter had carried on his being. While it did nag at her thoughts for a while, she figured there was no need for Adam for know about something that he would found as unimportant. It was something that was important to her so she didn't need that prick looking into her past.
'The Fang Hunter is quite the powerful opponent. However, I plan to make sure that the next time we met that I'll be the only one walking away.' She thought to herself with a dark smirk on her face. 'Besides, I haven't used my secret weapon yet.'
"Adam." Banesaw said with his chainsaw staff behind him on his back. "We've received reinforcements from our friends in Mistral and Vacuo. If it keeps this up, we maybe able to get back on schedule within a few months."
"Not the rate I was hoping for, but I suppose we will have to make due." Adam said with a frown. While he had been reaching out to the other branches along with speaking with High Leader Khan, they had been busy with Anti-WF forces in the other kingdoms. The Fang Hunter's attacks had emboldened those groups to more action and they had been causing more damage to both his forces and has been spreading it into the other Kingdoms. He was becoming a symbol for resistance against his organization and even the Valean Military has been stepping up. Even if they further use their brutal tactics, it will not be able to have the same effect against them.
He sighed heavily, things have truly been going against them ever since the Fang Hunter showed up on the scene.
"Sir, may I ask a question?" Banesaw said.
"Go ahead." Adam said.
"Why is it that we are still working with that woman Fall?" Banesaw said. "Didn't you originally reject her offer?"
Adam sighed at that. "I understand why you and some of the others have been asking that. The thing is that due to the Fang Hunter's actions as well as the increase in Anti-WF force attacks, we have been getting problems getting supplies from areas in East and West Sanas and some of our key storage areas have been hit as well. Since that woman Fall has access to the black market via Torchwick and he has proven effective in bringing in equipment from Atlas, it would be best for us to make sure we can get better equipment. I dislike working with humans greatly, however if we don't get a reliable method of supply then our forces will be running low on everything."
"I understand sir." Banesaw said. "However, some of our men have been annoyed by Torchwick's usual sarcasm and annoying quips."
"We'll have to bear it." Adam said. "Once we've gotten what we need, we will finally be able to launch a large scale attack on Vale. Our first true, large scale strike against humanity. Even if we deal have to deal with Torchwick, it will be worth it in the end. Though I must admit that dealing with both him and Kuro's sarcasm is quite irritating."
"Are you certain that at the rate this is going that you'll feel the need to lash out at either Torchwick and or Kuro for their annoying sarcasm or the Fang Hunter for the damage he's caused us?" Banesaw said as the two walked back to their camp.
"Believe me Lieutenant, I'm tempted to do all of the above if given the chance." Adam said a smirk.
Beacon Academy, later that day
"TAKE THIS!"
Ragna yelled as he clashed blades with Yasuhashi, the muscle in Team CVFY. The large Mistralian (which to Ragna and Adrian looked more like he was from Nippon in their world due to the name) used his large blade to block Ragna's attack as the young giant narrowed his eyes at the force behind the blow. Ragna then kept on the attack, his blade appearing to be a blur as the large student was blocking as fast as he could. However, his Aura was being drained at a decent rate so he needed to go on the offensive in order to reserve the situation.
Ragna jumped back from Yasuhashi's swing as he quickly pulled out one of his pistols and opened fire to test the boy's defensive stances. Yasu was able to block the shots with his massive sword before he dashed forward and trying to slam him with the back of his blade. Ragna was able to avoid the attack and then dashed forward and dropkicked him in the chest. However, Yasuhashi was able to withstand the hit (though he was slid back from the force of the attack). Ragna then switched his pistols into knifes and began slashing and stabbing at the large student.
While Yasuhashi was blocking to the best of his ability, he did see that his Aura was dropping.
Ragna was then able to move under Yasuhashi's swing and nailed him with a fast uppercut, causing the young giant to stagger back a step as Ragna followed up with a strong thrust which he barely blocked. He then tried to throw a side kick at him, but Yasuhashi was able to block it and shove him back. The muscle of CFVY then tried to send his own thrust forward as Ragna avoided the attack. He then pivoted and unleashed a spin attack which almost caught Ragna as he raised Beowolf to block the attack. Ragna slid back from the force of the attack as he then pulled out one of his pistols and landed a few hits on the student. He then put his firearm away and dashed at the large man and continued to clash with him.
Ragna used his better mobility and speed against the giant student as he lands hits when he could to ware him down. He then slid under a spin attack which Yasuhashi attempted to counter him before he tried to throw a punch to surprise Ragna.
Ragna was able to bring his hand to stop his attack. He had to admit that punch made his body shake from the impact. The Mistral native was a bit surprised by Ragna holding his own from that attack before Ragna then slammed his head into Yasu's for a quick headbutt. He then switched the grip of Beowolf into a reserve one, and threw a few fast jabs and crosses to keep the attack going as the large swordsmen was forced back a step. Ragna then threw a spin kick to Yasuhashi's head and manage to knock him back.
However, he was forced to parry a swing from Yasuhashi as he counterattacked. Ragna had to block at times, which made him feel the strength that Yasu put behind his strikes and was impressed. However, Yasu then shoulder checked him to out Ragna off guard and then put even more power behind one of his swings. He had angled his in a way that made Ragna's body stagger back. Yasu then landed a strong spin attack while using the built up momentum from his precious attack before Ragna could recover and nailed him in the chest with it.
Ragna then felt the hit as he was knocked off his feet and flew through the air. He then quickly readjusted himself as he landed on the walls feet first while bending his legs to better halt his momentum. He then jumped off the wall and soared back at Yasuhashi and then drew one of his pistols. He then did a mid air spin around a thrust from Yasuhashi and then slashed him in the chest as he dropped more of the latter's Aura as he then skid on the ground. He then pointed his pistol back as he left loose a few shots into his back.
Yasuhashi then dashes at him with another swing which Ragna avoided while switching his pistol into a knife as he slashed his side in a reserve grip while spinning counter clockwise. However, the large student then slammed the pommel of his sword into his stomach before trying to slam him with a back hand to the head. Ragna pivoted around the attack and spin kicked Yasu in his head as he staggered back from the attack as he then delivered an uppercut to his chin and forced him back.
Yasuhashi then swung his blade in a series of swings to force Ragna back. He then jumped into the air and brought his blade down at where Ragna was as he sidestepped the attack and launched an Aura blade beam into the side of the Mistral native. The students saw that Yasu's Aura dropped a good number by the attack.
Adrian was watching along with Team RWBY as he saw how Ragna was better observing how to deal with the Mistrali native. He had to admit the Third Year student was quite skilled in his own right showing that he was using the best of his physical abilities. Ragna still had better skills and was faster then him, but the hybrid was still hit by strong blows which knocked his Aura down a bit. However, he knew Ragna was testing the waters and was landing more hits on his opponent and getting used to his movements. After all, this type of fighting was something Ragna was liking to help pass the time in between missions.
Ragna then dashed under Yasu's swing and nailed him with a strong uppercut, following up with fast jabs and finally a side kick to the chest. The force behind the kick made the large student stagger back before Ragna unleashed a more powerful Aura beam blade and knocked him onto the ground.
"Enough!" Glynda yelled as the two dropped lowered their weapons. Looking to the Aura meters, Yahsuhashi was in the red while Ragna had his around 80% from the few hits that landed. "Ragna Blaze is the winner. Very good work from the both of you."
Ragna and Yasuhashi put their weapons away and shook hands as a sign of good sportsmanship. While Selvaria was more skilled then anyone at Beacon, Ragna had to admit that the large man from Mistral may have more physical strength then her.
"Let's try this again sometime." Ragna said to the big student.
Yasuhashi simply nodded at that. From what Ragna had heard, he was a man of few words and let his actions speak for themselves. He didn't have any issue with that as that was now he was and didn't want to force him to speak. There was no doubt after this fight that Yasu could easily have the skills be an Elite Fencer or Mauler in the Gallian Military, easily being able to probably swing the large two handed swords and warhammers with one hand.
'Hell Rosina would probably respect him due to how strong and impressive his muscles are.' He thought.
Adrian, RWBY, JNPR, and CVFY clapped at the two for a very good fight. While Coco was confident that Yasuhashi would be able to deal with anyone with his strength, she had to admit that Ragna was able to keep up with him pretty well. Not only that, but she could see that he was more skilled then she originally thought after all the things she heard about him. Velvet was a bit sad for her teammate's loss, but she knew that Ragna was quite powerful in his own right.
"Nice work all things considered Ragna." Coco said with a smirk. "Yasu's strength was admittedly something that I figured would give you a serious fight."
"Hey considering that he had landed a few good hits on me, I think that was a good idea." Ragna said with his own smirk.
"Congrats on your win Ragna." Velvet said with a small smile.
"Thanks Velvet," Ragna said with a smirk. "hope to see you in Battle someday as well." He then walked pass CFVY and took a seat next to Adrian.
"Nice one as per usual Ragna." Adrian said as the two high fived.
"Thanks, so anyone catch your fancy today?" Ragna said as he took a seat.
"Well I think we both know who deserves it the most." Adrian said as he looked to Cardin and his gang with a hard look. Ragna had told Adrian about what Cardin was doing to Jaune after they had gotten back from the mission. To say the Krieger was angered was an understatement. He wanted to punish Cardin much like how he saw the officers in the Korps do to Imperials who were to be disciplined.
Ragna convinced him not to since that could get him kicked out of Beacon for going to such hard measures. They would make sure that when the time was right that CRDL got what they deserved.
"Well go ahead, no one is stopping you." Ragna said with a shrug.
"True, but what if does something like have Jaune fight for him?" Adrian said with a bit of concern in his voice.
"Well, I think there might be a way to get him to fight you in person." Ragna said with a smirk. "It is a gamble, but if it works then you maybe able to kick his ass." He then whispered into his ear as Adrian nods to what he came up with.
"Anyone else interested in a match?" Glynda offered to the students.
Adrian then raised his hand.
"Yes Mr. Marasati?" Glynda said.
"I would like to spar with Cardin if that is alright." Adrian said with a small smirk on his face.
Cardin's eyes widened as both RWBY and JNPR know full well what this meant. CFVY had also heard about how Ragna and his friend kicked CRDL's asses and how the former was able to beat them in the cafeteria when he helped out Velvet. While Coco had concerns whenever the Rabbit Faunus was by herself, Velvet wanted to prove that she didn't need to be coddled or looked after 24/7 when dealing with Faunus Haters. Of course, Coco knew full well that Velvet had a rather unique and powerful ability that she used in conjunction with her weapon and wanted her to have the chance to train up and use it when the time was right.
So if anything, the rest of Velvet's team was interested in seeing what was to come.
"Sorry not interested." Cardin said with a smirk on his face. "How about you and Krieg over there fight Jauney boy huh?"
Ragna and Adrian glared at him for trying to have Jaune basically be the one to take the heat for him. It was clear that Cardin was starting to see that he couldn't fight against the two of them and was trying to find ways to avoid them.
However, as this was happened the other students were beginning to talk among themselves.
"Man, Cardin was all big and powerful before but he's losing his nerve."
"Well when fighting one of the guys that kicked he and his team without any problem, its little wonder why he wants to chicken out of it."
"I can't believe I was worried about these guys, they're complete pushovers!"
As they kept talking, it was getting to Cardin as his face was contorting in anger at what he was hearing. His reputation had taken a massive hit due to the two otherworlders and now this talking around him was showing him how far he had fallen. While he tried to mentally block out the opinions of those around him, his pride was demanding that he shut them up and prove he was strong.
Ragna and Adrian were a bit surprised by that the students were actually helping them out. They then smirked at seeing Cardin's increasing annoyance as the voices of the students who were mocking him. It was clear that Cardin's excuse was only further hurting his position and this would only further bring insults and rumors that would make him into more of a joke.
"Well Winchester, looks like you're being called out." Ragna said with a growing smile. "Are you really going to skip out on fighting Adrian and give it to Jaune? I mean, if you have to rely on someone to do your fights for you..." He let his sentence trail off as he saw Cardin's face grow even angrier until he exploded.
"FINE!" Cardin yelled as he got up and looked at the two of them with anger on his face. "YOU WANT TO FIGHT DEATH BOY!? YOU'VE FUCKING GOT IT!"
"Language Mr. Winchester!" Glynda said in a commanding tone. She looked to both otherworlders and sighed at the two goading Mr. Winchester into a fight. She was well aware of what CRDL has been doing to Faunus students and those they see as easy targets. In fact, she was well aware of Ragna's beatdown of them in the cafeteria a few days ago. She wanted to confront Ragna and have him not pull such acts otherwise things could end up with CRDL in the ER of a hospital, but she knew that as CRDL continued their bullying then it was inevitable they would come to blows.
And now it looked like one of those moments.
Ragna grinned as Cardin fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Since Cardin wasn't willing to fight him due to how badly he got his ass kicked by him twice, he felt better fighting someone who was seemingly weaker. Sure, Adrian did manage to beat his team before, but he was better then them.
At this point, it was clear to Adrian that Cardin must have tried to psyche himself to fight with thinking he was better then teammates. Of course, the Krieger knew he could easily beat him via his ranged weapons and he has fought against soldiers as big as or even bigger then the man-child. In comparison to Cardin, Adrian was as cool as a cucumber.
Adrian had his weapons fully loaded before class had begun, knowing full well that he was going to humiliate Cardin after Ragna told him everything.
"Begin!" Glynda said as both of their Aura meters were displayed on the monitor.
Before Cardin could make a move, Adrian quickly fired of his rifle grenade as it soared through the air and landed next to the armored boy and staggered him. He then fired at him with 30-06 bullets and landed a number of hits on him, dropping his Aura more and more. Cardin then charged at Adrian as he was trying to smash in the Kreiger's head. However, Adrian quickly avoided the attack as he pulled out his shotgun and fired a round right in Cardin's face and knocked him back. He then quickly equipped it with his bayonet as he parried another attack from his mace before slamming him with the buttstock of his weapon. Adrian then pivoted around as he quickly flipped his weapon in his hands to where he struck Cardin with the buttstock while swinging it like a baseball bat. The force behind it dropped Cardin's Aura by nearly 10% to less then 50%.
Cardin then retaliated with a quick swing from his mace which did hit Adrian as he was knocked back. However, Adrian had faced worse pain before as he quickly recovered and punched Cardin in the face before grabbing the head and slammed his knee into his face repeatedly. The brutal attack did make some of the students cringe at the sight, but to Adrian if it was effective then he would do so. He then threw a haymaker and punched Cardin to the ground as he pulled out his Vale Lake grenade launcher and fired a round at him and the explosion sent him flying back.
Cardin was trying to avoid Adrian's shots from his HCAR's bullets and grenade launcher as his Aura was dropping quickly.
Adrian then put away his firearms and pulled out his sabers. He then quickly dashed at Cardin and avoided one of his swings as he quickly thrust his blade into his chest. Adrian then stuck him with a knee strike in the face. He then unleashed several slashes which forced Cardin back to try and block, but several did make it through. Cardin then threw a punch and swung his mace around as he was getting desperate to try and land another hit. Adrian parried some of his blows before he kicked Cardin's left leg in an angle that threatened to break his knee. Cardin had to adjust his leg to prevent Adrian from breaking it and allowing him to stab his blades at his neck and under his armpit.
Adrian then activated the electric Dust in his sabers and put it to the max voltage. Cardin was then screaming as he was shocked even with his Aura as his body was spazzing out. He then landed a side kick to Cardin's face as he sent him into the wall. He then finished it off with a grenade shell from his shotgun and knocked Cardin's Aura in the red, finishing the match.
"Man, look at the knight of fail." One of the students said nearby to Ragna and his friends.
"I know right? His team become complete laughing stocks with them continually losing to Blaze and Marasati."
"We thought these guys were tough? They look like little kids can kick their asses at this point."
"Man looks like CRDL is becoming the school's main laughing stock nowadays." Yang pointed out as they heard the whispers and mutters.
"Since Ragna and Adrian have been on a roll of beating them, their reputation has been plummeting." Ren pointed out.
"I think it's well deserved considering how they usually are." Blake pointed out. "They taught of themselves as better then everyone else, but their defeats have made others realize that they aren't as strong as they claim to be. Now people have been talking behind their back and it isn't stopping."
Several more fights later, the class finished up and the students were packing up to go to lunch. Cardin then walked over to Jaune and put his arm around his shoulders and walked out with the blonde and his goons behind him. Pyrrha looked at Jaune with a frown on her face and sighed as she walked out with Ren and Nora.
Ragna and Adrian looked at each other and nodded, they had heard that they were taking a trip out to a place known as the Forever Fall later today. They planned to finally face down CRDL for what they had been doing to Jaune and beat them into bloody pulps if it came to it. Of course, it would be up to Jaune to help make amends with his team when the time came.
Ragna's room
"Ugh..." Ragna said as he looked over the map he placed on the floor as the two were sitting down. "Seems like that the Fang has been getting a bit of a resurgence in this area." He pointed at an area of Northern Sanus where the Fang had been getting more active. According to Ozpin, the Fang was focusing more in the northern area since their last mission in order to try and restore the balance of power in the region. Of course, while Kuro had thrown them off due her skills that night, the fact was that the Fang had been dealing with increasing number of Anti-WF attacks in recent months.
It was the same situation with Selvaria during the Imperial Invasion. While Kuro was dangerous, there was only one of her and thus she couldn't be everywhere at once. though that didn't give the Edenians any relief.
The two boys were in Ragna's room during their free period while the others were attending class. They had been getting word from Ozpin that things with the White Fang had been picking up operations in the north and east of the continent.
"Indeed, it could be possible that since we encountered Kuro there the Fang have some more confidence with her being here." Adrian said as he was looking over all of the movements that the Fang had been making over the past few days.
"Well, from what Ozpin told me earlier today..." Ragna said as he brought out a red marker and circled an area west of Vale City along the coast. "The Fang have been sending more soldiers and supplies in this direction. It looks like they've been bringing in more men and supplies from Vacuo along with Mistral. Since reaching East Sanas will be troublesome in terms of keeping our cover, we'll have to limit ourselves to the north for right now until the weekend which will give us some room go far east."
"Well the old man said that another large shipment seems to be coming into Vale's main port later this week." Adrian said as he pointed to Vale's docks. "Let's see about hitting that first before moving back north to tackle Kuro."
"Well, looks like you have quite a challenge on your hands."
Ragna and Adrian looked to see that Mathias appeared from behind the door as he walked into the room.
"Mathias!?" Ragna said in surprise before narrowing his eyes at him. "How long were you standing there?" He couldn't understand how Mathias was able to sneak up on them under his rather heightened senses.
"Oh just long enough to hear the key points of your little talk." Mathias said with a smirk. "I know that your friends are in their classes at this point so it would make sense that you would be able to talk about anything in your room. Of course, I happen to have a free period around this time though you probably didn't know about that until right now."
Both of them were worried now that someone now knew about their secret activities.
"You don't have to worry about me blabbing about your secret activities." Mathias said while waving his right hand in a dismissal manner. "Let's just say that I know the type of job you guys do quite well."
"Wait, you're an anti-WF fighter?" Ragna said with a raised eyebrow. "I had an idea that you were different from the other students but not something like that."
"Yep, I've caused several big problems for them over the years, but even I have to admit that the Fang Hunter has been beating me in terms of causing damage. Seriously, that guy has some serious balls for basically making a one man war against them and being so blatant in his disgust with them." Mathias said with a smile as he walked over to Ragna's bed and sat down on it. "Of course, I am glad to have more guys around my age who are also after those assholes."
Ragna and Adrian then looked at each other, similar thoughts going through their heads. At this point, it seemed clear to both otherworlders that since Mathias knew full well what they were doing along with the fact that Ragna still felt that old odd feeling that he could trust Mathias, it might be a good idea to reveal to him a certain secret.
"Well Mathias, since you know know about us fighting the White Fang I think it might be a good idea to tell you a certain something about us." Ragna said as he walked over his closet. This made Mathias raise an eyebrow at the young man's actions since he couldn't help but wonder why the two guys had that little exchange earlier. Ragna then moved several of the clothes he had bought before out of the way and removed a panel on the wall, revealing a number pad which he inputted a code. This revealed a small compartment which held a folded up black coat along with a large black bag.
Ragna then pulled out the bag out of the secret compartment in the closest he has in his room. He then rummaged through the bag as he pulled out a certain object and tossed it to Mathias to catch.
Mathias looked down at the object his hands and was greatly surprised at the mask. The red lenses and the wolf design of the mask were dead ringers for what was known about the Fang Hunter along with his black sword and coat. He could have said that maybe Ragna was an imitator of the Anti-WF fighter, but he had an odd feeling that this wasn't a lie.
"Well I'll be damned." Mathias said. "I felt as though you may have been another Anti-WF member but this?" He flipped the mask around and held it up next to his head. "You must be really be trying to bring down the Fang and make sure they don't come back."
"Then again, I guess I should have expected that those from Gallia are known to be stubborn." The Fox Faunus said with a smirk.
For both Ragna and Adrian, the world seemed to stop for a few minutes. Their eyes were as wide as dinner plates at the sentence that the Faunus had said.
"H-H-How do you know about Gallia?" Ragna said with shock on his face and Adrian glared at him.
"I'll explain, however something tells me that you happen to have your own questions that need answering."
"Yeah, you could say that." Ragna said he really looked closer at Mathias. He had felt this feeling before back at the cafeteria. This was something he had always experienced before back in Gallia. Now that it was clear with the reveal that he knew about Gallia, it was clear that he could now ask the question he had needing to since they first met.
"Mathias." Ragna said as he pointed his finger at Mathias. "You're a Darcsen aren't you?"
Mathias's looked to the side, a solemn look on his face. He then let out a long breath for a couple seconds before facing Ragna and speaking up. "Yeah, my mom was one."
"I knew it." Ragna said as the realization came to him gradually. "When we first met, I had this odd feeling as if I knew you and could trust you. Darcsens always had the ability to trust the words of another when they talk about serious events. To be honest I thought I was just crazy for thinking something like that since Adrian, Sel, and I were the only ones from Eden that came here."
Ragna then lower his finger as he sighed heavily. He then fully faced Mathias and walked up to him. "You do realize that this needs to be kept secret. We can't let something like this get out otherwise it will get to the wrong hands."
"No problem, I know full well that information is power and that could give the bad guys an edge."
"Well, I recall a lot about my early years prior to becoming part Atlas's Spec Ops program." Mathias said as he thought back. "I especially recall the stories my mom told me and my sister about Gallia."
"You have a sister?" Ragna questioned.
Mathias looked down with a forlorn look on his face. "The village that we lived in with our mom was burned down and destroyed. To be honest, I'm not sure if my sister was killed or simply disappeared. I tried to look for her for sometime but all of my leads dried up and I don't know if I'll never learn the truth."
"I wouldn't give up just yet, if there wasn't a body then there is a good chance she might be out there." Ragna said in a sympathetic tone.
"Maybe..." Mathias said as he contemplated the idea.
"What did she talk to you about?" Adrian said as he looked to the Faunus, wanting to move on from the current topic and know what Mathias knew about.
"Well she mentioned the whole thing with EW1, the flu outbreak and the early years of Archduke Charles Di Randgriz, mainly his proclamations in the early 1920s." Mathias said as he counted the number of things his mother had told him about that was more recent for her.
"Wait, she only went up to the early 1920s?" Ragna questioned.
"Well, thing is that she said to me and her later that she experienced some kind event caused her to appear on Remnant." Mathias continued. "It think she said it was between 1923 and 1924 that it happened."
'So that means he doesn't know about EW2 then.' Ragna and Adrian thought at the same time.
"We'll tell you about what your Mom missed since she vanished from Remnant." Ragna said with a small smirk on his face. "But first, who is your mom anyway?"
Mathias soon as a small smile on his face as he spoke, his eyes showing that he meant it earnestly.
"Her name is Moira Vahlen, she was arguably the best programmer and scientist in Atlas. She was known for looking into alternate ideas on energy production as well as coming up with new ways to improve Dust usage for use in combat and daily life. She also known to improve weapons and robotics as well, even coming up with designs for robots that would have easily made Jackass Jacques Schnee's whole operation and usage of Faunus labor completely obsolete. To some, she was considered the best tech wizard in all of Remnant with few equals."
He then looked to the side with anger on his face. "Of course Jacques wanted to shut her down as much as possible due to the threat she posed to his business. Of course, my mom is the type of women that would make sure those who slighted her and anyone she cared about pay dearly. Supposedly, she helped get several Faunus who were being used by Jackass Jacques to escape and ended up hurting his profits considerably. Plus, she's had been gathering a list of information to get back at Jacques when the time came."
Ragna and Adrian were impressed that Mathias had this kind of memory since he was rather young when his life turned upside down. It wasn't uncommon that those who went through a horrible experience that they would recall which things vividly. However, this was making them think that Mathias could remember what happened to him a baby with 100% accuracy.
"So what happened to your mother?" Ragna said, impressed by how far Mathias's mother was willing to get back at Jacques.
"Not sure, she also disappeared when I was exiled." Mathias said with a sad look on his face. "Honestly, maybe she's out in Remnant trying out whatever other inventions she's been making and or making life for Faunus haters a living hell."
"Well thank you for informing us about your family's history Mathias." Adrian said while getting up from the floor. "We promise to tell our side of the story later
"You mean the whole issue with Arc and the dumbass squad?" Mathias said. "I noticed it too when I passed them earlier this week, its pretty clear that they are using the guy like a slave."
"Yeah. We're thinking of deal with those bastards once we end up outside of the school for whatever project for our classes." Ragna said as he leaned against the wall. "We've heard that Prof. Peach might have us go to Forever Fall for a field trip."
"Actually, I might might be able to tell Ozpin and have him see about letting me off for that day." Mathias said with a grin. "I might be able to join in for "added security" in case of there being too many Grimm to deal with."
Both Edenians looked at each other smiled. This would be perfect in dealing with CRDL and if things got out of hand and led to plenty of Grimm showing up, added help wouldn't hurt in the slightest.
"Deal." Ragna said as he and Mathias shook hands. "Looking forward to working with you Mathias."
"Likewise, Fang Hunter." The Fox Faunus said with a shit eating grin.
Later that Day...
"Ugh, it seems like Port's class, and by extension his speeches, are getting longer bit by bit." Ragna said as he and Adrian walked back to their rooms as they were stretching and yawning.
This latest class of Port's had been quite boring as he had gone to even greater lengths for his usual tales and the class hadn't done something along the lines of his and Weiss's test against Grimm. Thus many of the students ended up falling asleep and even the well disciplined Adrian felt sleepy from his stories.
"Well at least we will be able to rest for a bit before the next class." Adrian said as they rounded the corner.
"So you want to go take on Cardin or his goons when we confront them again?" Ragna said as they rounded the corner.
"Either or." Adrian stated. "I honestly don't care which of them we fight since we'll be beating them into the ground."
"Fair enough." Ragna said as he put his hands in his pockets as let out a slow breath.
"Nope!"
The two of them heard the familiar voice of Ruby.
They peered around the corner and saw that Ruby was speaking with Jaune while outside her doom room. They couldn't help but wonder what the two were talking about.
"Wait, that's it? Just Nope?" Jaune questioned the young leader.
"Nope!" Ruby said with a smile on her face.
"Now I'm confused." Jaune said as he slumped forward.
'You're not the only one.' Ragna and Adrian thought at the same time.
"You have a team now Jaune." Ruby said with a sympathetic smile. "It's not just you that you need to be concerned about, but your rest of your team as well."
Ruby patted him on the back as she then walked into her dorm room as Jaune ended up walking around as was starting to think about what his friend told him.
Ragna and Adrian smiled at the sight of Ruby unintentionally giving Jaune the confidence boost he needs to finally stand up to Cardin and his goons. Both of them can easily see that given time, Ruby will become a skilled Huntress and great leader when she gets older. Of course, the two were aware of her lack of skill in unarmed combat (Ragna had spoken to Yang at one point when he asked her how Ruby fairs with hand to hand) so that was pretty much something they had to work on with her.
Ragna's scroll then went off as he had gotten a text from Mathias. He opened up his message app and saw what the Fox Faunus had sent him.
Ozpin agreed. We are good to go for tomorrow. - Mathias
Ragna showed it to Adrian as the Krieger was pleased by it. The two nodded at each other as they planned out a way to finally get back at CRDL during the upcoming field trip.
Forever Fall
Ragna, Adrian, along with teams RWBY, JNPR, and CRDL were walking through the red trees of the famous woods as their seemingly never ending red leaves continued to fall. It was a rather impressive sight that had the students in awe.
"I still wonder how the hell this is even possible." Ragna said as he saw the red leaves. He had read up about how the forest acted, but he couldn't help but still be a bit impressed by what he was viewing.
'Honestly, I wonder how Welkin and David would react to this and try to find a way to explain this.' Ragna thought.
"Indeed, however the way that the leaves continue to fall makes it seem like their bleeding." Adrian said. "It would make nature professors in our world have some headaches in properly explaining it."
"Well I will admit Peach would be Welkin's favorite professor since she is the nature expert at Beacon." Ragna said, thinking about the the pink haired professor. She was nice and also knowledgeable about Remnant's nature and even offered insights to Aura.
"Yes, students, the forest of Forever fall is indeed beautiful." Glynda said as the students were looking around the forest. "But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the tress deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so."
The group then stopped walking, as Jaune then walked into Cardin as he was busy carrying a large case with several jars on top of it. Cardin was pretty much angry that the clumsy blonde didn't watch where he was going as Jaune feigned innocence with a tuneless whistle.
Glynda then held up one of the jars that Jaune had been carrying around as she continued. "Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at 4 o'clock. Have fun!"
"So we are just collecting tree sap?" Ragna said. "Makes it seem like we're trying to make maple syrup."
"Well the sap is able to attract Grimm found what I read about." Adrian said. He then whispered to Ragna's ear. "Maybe we could use it to lure them to WF encampments and make our move during the chaos."
"Good idea, that could work." Ragna said with a small smirk.
As the students were spread out to get sap, Ragna motioned to Adrian as the two saw Cardin drag Jaune away with he goons following him. The two knew that Cardin was up to something and they knew now was a good time to shut them down and help Jaune out.
However, before either of them could speak up, Ragna felt a familiar feeling as Lupa wanted to speak with him in his mind. "Adrian can you go on ahead for right now? My ancestor wants to speak with me."
"Alright, but you better hurry before Cardin and his team does something early on." Adrian said as he nodded. He soon headed out and left Ragna to speak with Lupa.
"Okay ancestor, what's the situation?" He questioned Lupa.
"Ragna, something's come up." Lupa said to him mentally. "I feel as though someone might be watching us or rather your friends from afar."
"You sure?" Ragna questioned. Sure he had good senses to tell when a person was watching him from far away. However, if he wasn't able to tell then the person observing them was really good at hiding their presence from him. His ancestor was far better in such a thing due to her having far better sensing abilities.
"Positive." Lupa said with finality.
"Alright, go investigate what is bothering you. Just be careful." Ragna said with a bit of concern in his tone.
"Understood." Lupa said as she faded from his mind and emerged from Ragna's sword and floated off in the distance. He then walked off to speak with Adrian as he had a good idea for a "spot" to go look for sap.
With Jaune and CRDL
CRDL dragged Jaune with them to a position overlooking where the others were working on collecting sap. Sky went off in a another direction while Russel and Dove brought a couple of crates for them to use.
"What's that?" Jaune said.
"Oh we collected some sap early Jauney-boy." Cardin said as he picked up one of the jars. "This attracts Grimm like bees with honey, you hit something with this Grimm will come swarming over said something like moths to a flame or bees to honey."
Sky returned with a frown on his face as Russel and Dove looked over the jars.
"Um Cardin?" Sky questioned. "I looked around and while the others are busy working on getting sap, I can't find Marasati and Blaze anywhere. Maybe they went further into the woods?"
"What!? Those pricks aren't here?" Cardin said with anger in his voice. This was his best means of getting back at those two for making him the school's biggest laughing stock. Hell, even Jaune wasn't even close to being called names as they were since those two came to the school and kicked their asses hard.
"Whatever, we can get those freaks later." Cardin said as he picked up a jar handed it to Jaune. "Alright Jaune, here's want I want you to do." He then pushed the blonde to see his friends and teammates collecting sap from the trees. "I want you to pick any of the guys down there and toss this jar at them."
"What!?" Jaune said. "Cardin they could get hurt from a Grimm attack if we did that!"
"So what?" Cardin said as he was rather uncaring about the situation. "Unless you want to get kicked out
"She really pisses me off." Cardin said as she glared at the Invincible girl. "Thinks she's so smart and talented. Everybody just loves little miss famous." He then pretended to gag. "I think its high time the Invincible Girl knows her place. So you make sure to throw it at her first got it?"
Jaune tried to speak up, but was then interrupted by Cardin once again.
"While I wanted to get back at both Krieg-boy and two tone most of all, but you can't always get what you want." Cardin said while clicking his tongue. He then shoved Jaune forward. "Now do it."
Jaune almost readied himself to toss the jar but remembered what Ruby had told him yesterday. He soon felt worse then he did before, for being made into such a tool for the bullies. His expression then turned to anger as he lowered his arm and gripped the jar harder.
"No." Jaune said with a bit of bite in his tone.
"I'm sorry what was that?" Cardin said as he thought he didn't hear what the blonde said.
"I said no." Jaune said as he turned around to face Cardin. He was getting more upset with every passing second as he finally stood up to the bully.
"Do it or else!" Cardin said as he was starting to get upset at the Blonde Knight defying him.
"I'm not going to help you hurt my team!" Jaune yelled as he tossed the jar into Cardin's chest, causing it to almost completely cover it. A few seconds had passed as the bully and his team were stunned by the blonde's actions. They hadn't expected that he would have gotten the backbone to stand up to them.
"Oh Jaune..." Cardin said with a dark chuckle. "You really shouldn't have done that." He then cracked his knuckles as he walked up to Jaune as he was getting more and more scared of the bully. However, he still stood his ground and wasn't going to let Cardin pick on him any more.
However, before Cardin could try and attack Jaune, they heard the sound of clapping behind them.
"Well nice to see that you're finally growing a spine there Jaune."
Ragna walked out from a nearby tree as he was clapping slowly. His face showed up a large smirk as he saw Cardin and Jaune's faces in shock at his appearance.
"R-Ragna!?" Jaune said with clear surprise on his face.
"How pathetic Winchester," Ragna said as he still had his smirk on his face, "relying on blackmail and using that to make Jaune a slave in all but name? Man you really are complete scum."
"H-How the hell did you-!?" Cardin said as he was starting to feel a bit afraid by how Ragna was now here and knew about what he had done. While he had no worries about Jaune as he could easily reveal the fake transcripts and get him kicked out of Beacon, Ragna was another matter entirely. The guy seemed to be a favorite of Ozpin based on the special privileges that the Headmaster gave to him. If he revealed what his team had done to Jaune and argued on having Jaune stay, Ozpin might actually agree to his requests and they woudl be the ultimate losers in this case.
"Did you really think that I didn't know about what you were doing?" Ragna said as he crossed his arms as his smirk turned into a frown. "I was there a few nights ago when I heard Jaune and Pyrrha's conversation along with you threatening him to do what you wanted by hanging that threat over his head. I knew full well that when the chance came, I was going to make you suffer the worst punishment I could think of. However, it grew as I saw that you were using it as blackmail, holding the threat of losing his friends and team over his head in order to make him basically your slave. Thus I promised that you and your team would get the worst punishment possible."
"And frankly, you and your team deserve every bit of pain I'm going to give." Ragna said with venom in his voice as he walked forward.
Cardin and his team were shaking form the hostility being given off by Ragna as he cracked his knuckles.
"T-Toss the syrup at him! N-N-Now!" Cardin said to his team as panic was clear on his face. He tried to reach for the jars but then a bullet crossed between the two and two more passed in front of Russel and Dove. Adrian walked into view with his HCAR smoking from the barrel, no doubt having glaring under his mask at the four bullies.
"Of course, I did bring Adrian to make sure that you morons didn't pull anything." Ragna said with a smirk on his face. "So Cardin, you do you want to come along quietly or do the two of us need to kick your ass and send you into the hospital in a body cast?"
Cardin was starting to panic bit by bit as he and his team were trying to reach for their weapons to try and fight back if needed.
*ROAR* *HOWL*
Ragna and Adrian narrowed their eyes as Jaune and CRDL's eyes widened as they heard several footsteps that were heading toward them.
"GRIMM!" Sky and Dove yelled as they and the rest of their team were starting to step back quickly.
Several Grimm then charged from the woods toward the students, from Beowolves to a few Ursi. Ragna quickly pulled out his pistols and fired several rounds at the Beowolves and took down seven of them. Adrian then fired off a rifle grenade off at a group of four Beowolves, blasting them into black chunks before firing off his HCAR at full auto at an Ursa, the heavy rounds punching through its body before being turned into Swiss cheese. The fire from the two were starting to slow the Grimm down as the monsters continued to close in.
CRDL began running away screaming, making the two Edenians roll their eyes at how pathetic they were. Ragna then switched one of his pistols into a knife and dashed forward at full speed, covering ground quickly and slashed off the head of the closest Beowolf before jump kicking another one back into another behind it. He then fired off a few rounds at another Beowolf before pivoting around an Ursa trying to jump at him. He then spun and quickly slashed at its leg which made it unbalanced and fell, being taken out by another rifle grande from Adrian.
"Jaune! You better go after them!" Ragna said as he cut through the neck of another Beowolf.
"You sure!?" Jaune said as he dodged a Beowolf that tried to tackle him and hit it on the head with his shield. The attack allowed for Adrian to fire a burst of 30-06 rounds into the head of the Grimm.
"Trust me, those idiots will need the help." Ragna said as he spun around another Beowolf slashing at him and then shoved his pistol under its jaw and fired a few rounds into its head. "We'll be right behind you!"
Jaune nodded and ran off to follow Cardin and his team. While he hated them for all of the crap they've forced him to do, he didn't want them to die.
The Krieger switched to his shotgun and killed two Beowolves with grenade shells. He then avoided a slash from another one and then pulled out one of his sabers and stabbed it into its neck while tossing his bayonet equipped shotgun like a javelin into the stomach of another Beowolf. He then jumped around the Grimm, grabbed the blade of the saber and quickly twisted it to break its neck. He then pulled it out and slashed a Beowolf's chest as he then shoved a grenade into the wound and front kicked the monster into another one which made the grenade kill both Grimm. He then dashed over to his shotgun and, while sliding under a pouncing Beowolf, grabbed his shotgun and quickly stabbed its into its gut. The force behind his attack and his dash gave him enough strength to easily knock the monster on its back as he pulled it out and rolled away from an Ursa that tried to stomp on him. He then pointed his shotgun at it and blasted its neck at close range and then fired another shot using the slam fire method which killed it.
Several knives flew through the air and struck five Beowolves in the eyes and necks, causing them to fall. Soon twin streams of bullets were fired at a couple more Beowolves and they went down.
Mathias had jumped off a nearby tree and drew his father's knife as he slashed through the neck of an Ursa, causing a large amount of black blood to spray out. He then pulled out three more throwing knives and and tossed them into the necks of three more Beowolfs.
"Nice timing Mathias!" Ragna said as he stuck an Ursa with a strong spin kick to the head, knocking it back before dashing up and placed his pistol under its chin, firing a few bullets through its head. He then helped Adrian by low sweeping another Beowolf as the Krieger then stomped on the head of the beast, crushing its skull as he keep at it while firing away with his HCAR until he finally smashed its head in.
"So I take it Jaune chose to go against Cardin and his goons?" Mathias said as he kicked away a Beowolf and fired a burst into its chest.
"Yep!" Ragna then fired a large Aura blade beam at an Ursa and blew it up before kicking away another Beowolf as it slammed into another of its kind.
Mathias then put a hand to the implant in his head and caused a glass lens to appear over his left eye. He then started scanning the number of Grimm in the area and what types there were. Thankfully prior to his exile, his scanner had access to the vast database of Grimm cataloged by Atlas. "We have about a few dozen Beowolves and about ten Ursi!" He said aloud. "Should be simple for us."
"Got it!" Ragna said as he let several Beowolves leap at him before unleashing a spin attack that cut through all of him. He then unleashed six blade beams at a pair of Ursi before dashing forward while changing one of his pistols into a knife and cut through the head of one and slashed into the neck of the other. He then switched his knife back into a pistol and emptied the rest of the magazine into three more Beowolves. The wounded Ursa tried to go after Ragna but then was decapitated by Mathias with his father's knife before switching back to throwing knifes and tossed three them into the necks of three more Beowolves.
Adrian then stabbed his bayonet equipped shotgun into another Ursa's gut and quickly stabbed a spiked grenade into its wound. The explosive went off as he killed another Beowolf with a point blank shot. He then fired off a few more shells into another Ursi and then tore into it with his bayonet before slashing it in the neck. He then ducked under a leaping Beowolf and slammed the buttstock of his weapon into the face of another one before Mathias fired one of his SMGs at it before he pulled out his main knife and cut off the head of another Beowolf as Adrian then tossed two Fire Dust grenades at a group of four Beowolves. The Grimm howled in pain as Adrian then pulled out his HCAR, reloaded quickly, and fired several bursts which allowed him to kill half a dozen Beowolves. He then fired a rifle grenade and
Mathias then kicked another Beowolf away to Ragna which cut it in half as he fired several more rounds at a trio of Beowolves, heading one round each into one of their heads. Ragna and Mathias then dashed forward as the former cut open or helped expose areas of the Grimm which the latter exploited with his knifes and SMGs. She then cut through the throats of several more Beowolfs with his main knife as he used his Semblance to blind into their shadows and stab them through any gaps in their armor. He even managed to get a few to try and leap at him, only for him to dodge and have the leaping Grimm slam into another of its kind. This allowed for three to take out more of them instead of one at a time in some cases.
Eventually, the three had killed most of the Grimm off within minutes as they stared down the remaining dozen Beowolves.
"Well I have to admit, this is a bit more fun then I thought." Mathias said aloud.
"URSA!" The three heard Sky and Russel yell at the top of their lungs.
"Damn! One must have gone around us!" Ragna said as he dashed off. "You guys deal any stragglers, I'll go help Jaune save the dumbass brigade."
Mathias and Adrian nodded as they continued to tear into the remaining Grimm without mercy.
Ragna then ran to follow the last Ursa as he saw Jaune holding his own against the Grimm. He was struggling but he was doing good enough until the Ursa was about to slash him. He then saw for a brief moment that his shield turned black as it he raised it faster then he knew he could do as Jaune knocked away the claw and then he managed to land a fatal slash on the Grimm as it fall before the blonde haired knight
'I see what you did there Pyrrha.' Ragna thought with a smirk. He figured that the Spartan Girl would have pulled something like that as Jaune wasn't looking down at his shield.
Jaune looked down at his first true Grimm kill as he was disintegrating.
"Woah... Jaune you-" Cardin said as he was taken aback by the Blonde's success against the large Grimm.
"Don't ever mess with my team - my friends - ever again. Got it?" Jaune said with a serious look on his face as he walked away from the bully with a look of anger on his face.
As Jaune walked off from a stunned Cardin, Ragna put a hand on Cardin's shoulder as the hybrid had a large smirk on his face.
"Well, well, looks like your little scheme went south eh Cardin?" Ragna said before he turned to fully face him with a scowl. "Be glad that he choose to save you and you walked away unscathed, since I would have beaten to you into the ground. Frankly, I wanted to beat you into the ground for what you've done to him. However, with the fact he saved your sorry ass now simmering in your mind, I think you'll learn twice before trying again. Before I go though, allow me to leave you with this little warning."
Ragna's face then turned stone cold with rage burning in his eyes as he spoke his next words with venom and promises of pain for next time.
"You pull anything like that again, and I will make you pay. Understand?"
Cardin was now feeling fear at the harsh glare Ragna had in his eyes. He thought that the guy was bad before but now he felt a little bit more fear as the two toned kid was now giving him a death glare. Now he was starting to get the picture that his options in trying to get back at him was becoming non-existent. He simply nodded as he wasn't willing to try and fight back against the Hybrid since he know understood that only worse pain would be the only thing he would get.
"Good, now piss off." Ragna said as he pushed Cardin away. The bully however didn't try to strike back at Ragna and just kept running, wanting to get away from the hybrid who was more terrifying then Grimm.
Ragna soon caught up with the others as they were observing a staredown between Weiss and Mathias. He rolled his eyes at the sight as one day he would have to get them to bury the hatchet in order for them to work together in the future. Thought he still couldn't help but wonder about the meaning behind the broken snowflake tattoo that Mathias had on him.
"What is he doing here?" Weiss said annoyed at Mathias's appearance.
"Could say the same thing to you Ice Queen." Mathias said with a smirk on his face.
Weiss started to look cross at the Fox Faunus as he said the nickname that always annoyed her.
"He went with us on the trip to help deal with any Grimm." Adrian said as got between the two of them. "We figured it wouldn't hurt to have some extra muscle if we came across Grimm that were stronger then usual."
"Seriously?" Yang said. "Don't you think that with all of us here that we can pretty much handle any pack of Grimm that tries to attack us?"
"There's that overconfidence again Yang." Ragna said while sighing. While it was true that the other students could have been able to hold off the same force of Grimm they fought, Yang's overconfidence would lead to her defeat if she ended up fighting an opponent that was far stronger then her.
"Ugh, sometimes you are such a nag Little Boy Blue." Yang said as she rolled her eyes at Ragna before being a bit stunned with Ragna's glare. She then put up her hands in a surrender gesture and backed away a bit.
Ragna walked up to Pyrrha with a smirk. "I saw your Semblance on Jaune's shield. I must admit that was pretty good with a subtle move there."
"Oh, you saw." Pyrrha said with a concerned face.
"Yeah, I know you meant well." Ragna said. "Just know if you start to help him with his training, you will need to make sure that he gets the lessons you give him and that you don't go easy on him."
"That was what I was planning on." Pyrrha said with a small smirk.
She then looked to her team's leader as he saw that he had changed due to him standing up to Cardin and his team. While she had no idea as to what finally got Jaune to turn on his tormentors, she wondered about why he was forced to work under them in the first place.
The other's walked ahead of him as Ragna could see the glowing sphere from that his ancestor took as he stopped and let it fly into Beowolf.
"Well I see that things with you and your friends went swimmingly." Lupa suddenly spoke in his mind.
"Welcome back Ancestor, so why did you need to go out in that spirit form of yours?" Ragna said to her mentally.
"I sensed that someone had been watching us from a distance." Lupa spoke. "They didn't look to be hostile and I couldn't sense any evil intent from them toward you and the others. They vanished from the area by forming a portal with her sword."
"Someone that can portals with ease? That could be an issue if they become an enemy." Ragna mentally said in concern. "I'll tell Mathias and Adrian later about it."
"Very well then." The famous Valkyrian warrior said with a small smile as Ragna joined up with the rest of his friends.
Later that day...
Ragna was walking through the hall from class, looking forward to later when he would give CRDL the beating of a lifetime. However, he was also working on something that he would be doing to the students when the time came. To say he was exited to do it was an understatement. After all, when he did his things, the students would become far better off then where they were currently. He had been looking through his notes on ideas he came up with for the students as he walked over to his dorm.
As he turned the corner, Ragna then looked up and saw Jaune waiting by the door to his dorm room. Ragna put his notes away and walked over to the blonde teen. "So how you holding up?"
"O-Oh I'm good." Jaune said quickly. "At least Cardin and his team haven't tried to do anything to me yet."
"Well I think that your fight against that Ursa and them running like scared little kids shows that you have more spine then they do." Ragna said with a shrug.
Slience followed for a bit until Jaune finally spoke up.
"So... You knew this whole time huh?" Jaune said in a defeated tone as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Yeah, I overheard what you said to Pyrrha that night." Ragna said without hesitation. "Before you say anything, no I won't reveal your secret and NO I'm not going to use it as blackmail make you do anything I say. I'm not a complete ass like Cardin."
"Oh good, considering how bone-headed I was when I told Pyrrha about that I guess I should be more careful where I say things aloud." Jaune said in relief. A minute of silence passes before he spoke up again.
"Thanks for helping me out with protecting Cardin and his team." Jaune said. "I know they are insufferable jerks for what they did, but even they didn't deserve to get killed."
"Yeah, honestly its more fun kicking them around the school for being the dumbasses they usually are." Ragna said with a grin. "I know that sounds a bit sadistic, but until those morons get the hint and stop doing actions like that they kinda deserve whatever they get."
Jaune chuckled a bit at that. "Yeah, I guess it would be best. After all, maybe if they get the hint and change it will make a lot of people happy that they've stopped bullying people. But honestly, part of me wonders if I should have left before Ruby got me to realize that I have to stand up to them not just for myself but for my team."
"Well leaving would have only encouraged Cardin to pull similar stunts like that so it was a good idea that you stood up to them." Ragna said as he smiled. "Plus, I think Ozpin does still want to keep you at Beacon."
"Wait, what do you mean?" Jaune questioned while tilting his head.
"Well think of it like this," Ragna said, "if your performance hasn't been up to snuff and the teachers are fully aware of it, why haven't you been kicked out yet? More importantly, do you honestly think that Cardin wouldn't have gotten off Scot-free if he did snitch on you? If anything, I think Ozpin does know about you faking your papers and is still letting you stay at Beacon."
"Wait seriously!?" Jaune said surprised. He figured that if Ozpin for or any of the teachers found out about him lying to get into Beacon, he would immediately kicked out. However, if they already knew about him and that his papers were false but still allowed him to stay at the school then that means they must think he has something that will make him a Huntsmen.
"I think he still sees you have a potential to grow and become a great Huntsmen." Ragna said. "I've known Ozpin since I first came to Vale and he strikes me as someone that knows what he is doing. If he thinks you have the potential to become something great, I think he wants to have you around to see if his hopes are correct."
Jaune took a second to process what Ragna had just said. He figured that Ozpin was smart due to him being the Headmaster of the Academy since he can teach students or something like that.
"So he let it happen to see whether or not I could find the courage to stand up to Cardin?" Jaune said thinking about the whole thing.
"I believe so, of course Ruby did give you that final push to finally stand up to him and even
"Well, I think you need to apologize to a certain someone first." Ragna said as he motioned to Pyrrha who was walking up to them.
The Invincible Girl had wanted to confront Jaune about what had happened earlier that day in the Forever Fall. However, she didn't think that Ragna would also be there with him at this time.
"Oh hello Ragna, I didn't know you were with Jaune." Pyrrha said with a bit of surprise.
"Hey." Ragna said with a wave. "I was just discussing what happened today with Jaune."
"O-Oh I see." Pyrrha said with a slight nervous tone in her voice. She knew that Ragna wouldn't probably tell Jaune she helped him from afar in dealing with the Ursa but she was a little worried about that.
"So, I'm sorry about what happened before." Jaune said while he slumped forward
"It's fine." Pyrrha said while looking to the side. "I'm sorry for not speaking with you while you were busy hanging out with Cardin and his team. I suppose it felt like we were pushing you away since you were ignoring us in our eyes.
"Pyrrha, the reason Jaune was being dragged around by Cardin is that the bastard heard the whole argument you and Jaune had that night." Ragna said while crossing his arms. "He knew that Jaune lied to get into Beacon and used it as blackmail."
Pyrrha gasped at this. She hadn't considered that there was a chance that Cardin was able to listen in on their conversation that night (frankly she didn't know his team's dorm room was just below this area). She had thought that Jaune had been leaving them to be with CRDL because he didn't want to be with his team anymore or something similar to that, but she never had that thought cross her mind!
"So that's why..." Pyrrha said while getting angry at herself that she didn't consider it as a reason. "Jaune, I'm so sorry I didn't even think of that!"
"No-No-No!" Jaune said while waving his arms in front of him. "I should have been more careful about what I was saying."
He then slumped forward in shame. "I shouldn't have snapped at you like I did last night. All I wanted to do was to prove I can handle myself and don't need to helped all the time.
"Jaune..." Ragna said as he walked over to the blonde and put a hand on his left shoulder. "Let me tell you this, everyone needs help every now and then. No one is invincible, they're only just more powerful most everyone else. Besides, since you haven't gone through the same type of training or education as everyone else, you are a long way from being to where you can fight Grimm on your own easily. Trust me, I was at the point where I needed the help of others to help me get to where I am today."
"It was mainly two girls that helped me." Ragna said as he looked back on his time with Squad 422. "Their names were Relia Mercelis and Nagisa. The latter I ended up meeting via strange circumstances and the former I worked alongside for around a month. They were both on similar levels to Selvaria in terms of power and skill, hell they both managed at one point or another to beat her. Thus I asked to have them help me with training and I came out better then Sel in combat."
Ragna then though back to the white clad swordswoman and the unique eyepatch she had on her. 'Though part of me wonders if she was holding back quite a lot.'
"Wait a minute," Pyrrha stated as she realized something she had missed before. "How do you-?"
"Well truth be told, I also listened in on you guys that night and saw what Cardin told Jaune." Ragna said while crossing his arms. "I planned to make Cardin pay when the time was right."
"So, you knew about the whole thing with Cardin then?" Pyrrha questioned. "So why...?"
"Look I know I could have ended the whole thing, but sometimes you have realize that the person who is being bullied has to stand up on their own." Ragna said with a sigh. "I get that Cardin and his team would have been punished for it but Jaune needed to stand up to them in order to truly grow as a person. There are far worse people out there in the world so he has to know when to take a stand against such actions where ever they exist."
"If I had dealt with the whole thing, Jaune would possibly have to relay on others to stand up for him."
Pyrrha took a minute to ponder this and spoke up. "I can see where you are coming from with that but I still think you should have at least told us before. We could have done something to help Jaune."
"I know, just wanted Jaune to also get it through his head that he needs to be more careful with his secrets." Ragna said as Jaune looked to the side.
"Also," Pyrrha said as she faced Ragna directly. "does that mean you-?"
"Yes, I did know about the whole fake papers thing he told you about." Ragna said as Pyrrha raised her eyebrows at the hybrid. "Relax, I'm not someone that would call him out on it. Plus if you are curious Adrian and Mathias also know about it as well."
"Wait, you told them!?" Jaune said with shock on his face and in his tone.
"Adrian mainly." Ragna said while shrugging. "Mathias put two and two together with what CRDL was doing and guessed correctly about what was happening. Both gave me their word they won't tell anyone else about this."
Jaune didn't know what to think about that as more people knew about his secret. "Well I mean I know Adrian won't tell but what about Mathias?" Jaune questioned with a bit of panic in his tone. "We just met him several days ago!"
"Let's just say that I have complete faith in Mathias." Ragna said with a grin on his face.
Both students looked at Ragna strangely. Sure they had met Mathias on that one day and he had been a rather nice guy (save for his antagonism toward Weiss and her family). But the fact that Ragna trusted him so completely from his tone of voice and face meant that he was serious.
"Well... I guess if you have such faith in him Ragna, then I suppose we can give him the benefit of the doubt." Pyrrha said. Ragna didn't seem like the type of person to lie about things like this to them.
"Thanks." Ragna said with a nod. "Now then, I believe that you two have something to talk about?"
"Oh yeah." Jaune said while rubbing the back of his head. "So, I'm sorry about what happened before Pyrrha. You were just trying to help me out and I was being stubburn. Honestly, the whole thing with Cardin was a bit of karma."
"I understand Jaune." Pyrrha said. "I'm not blameless in thinking you were straight up leaving the rest of us out to hang with Cardin. So if anything I was also being stubburn."
Both of them paused for a few seconds and then laughed. They now saw they acted ridiculously this whole time.
"So how about I help you with catching up to the others?" Pyrrha offered to the blonde knight. "My offer to help you still stands."
"Really? You still want to help after I what I said?" Jaune stated.
"Of course, I suppose we were being a bit bull headed for some of the actions we made but now that's water under the bridge." Pyrrha said with a smile. "I'll make sure that by the time we graduate, you become a great Huntsmen in your own right Jaune."
The blonde knight was still surprised by the famous Huntress in Training's offer still standing even with what happened that night. He was glad that the redhead was giving him another chance along with still being his friend.
"Alright, I'll take you up on that Pyrrha." Jaune said with a grin on his face. Pyrrha smiled back, glad that her team leader was ready to move on from what had happened the past few weeks.
"Well nice to see that you guys are back to being friends and teammates." Ragna said with a smile on his face as he stood up straight. "Well I look forward to seeing you guys working together. Also Pyrrha, if you need help with Jaune's training let me know."
Ragna then walked over to the edge of the roof. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to do a certain thing. Please ignore everything you two may hear."
He went over the railing and saw he was to the left of the window that would lead to Cardin's room. He looked inside to see that the idiots were doing their usual things including homework or just complaining about what had happened today in the Forever Fall. He could see that they left their window up which made things easier. He then swings over in front of the window and entered in through the window and took CRDL by surprise.
"What the!?" Cardin yelled.
"HEY DUMBASSES!" Ragna yelled. "TIME FOR YOUR PUNISHMENT!"
A few seconds later, Ragna began a brutal beatdown of CRDL in their room. Their screams sounded out into the night as they tried to either fight back or even protect themselves. They soon heard the sound of breaking bones and even the high pitched screams when males were usually hit between the legs. It didn't sound like there was any broken furniture as it seemed like he was trying to limit any collateral damage.
"MOMMY!"
"NO-NO AHHH!"
"Pyrrha, remind me to NEVER get on Ragna's bad side." Jaune said as both he and Pyrrha where cringing at the screams and wails of pain CRDL was having due to Ragna's beat down of them.
"Agreed." Pyrrha said as the two slowly walked away from the roof and back to their team's dorm.
Earlier that day, at Valor
"Are you sure that you want to see about dealing with the bandits out in the hills miss? You look like a Huntress but just am concerned." A middle-aged man with a cowboy hat and duster said to a certain person who signed up for a guard job. It was a usual convoy guarding job in which Huntsmen and Huntresses join the usual guards assigned to them in order make sure they arrived safely at their destination. Valor was a key location among the routes throughout Sanas which is why any warrior worth their salt could find good money doing such work.
"It's fine," Selvaria said, "I'm more then capable of dealing with scum like bandits."
She had been helping out around the house for the past few days, cleaning, cooking, and even watching over the kids. She had come to gain some notice from the regular people in Valor.
She had been going to the local library in order to get more information about Remnant. As it turns out, going in between towns and villages is a hassle due to both bandit raids and Grimm which prowl on travelers. Due to her getting back into form, she figured that jobs like this would be key in order for her to get stronger and to hopefully unlock her Semblance. Once she and Ragna reunited, they would have to prepare for whatever enemy that Ragna had no doubt made (her brother in all but blood had a habit for getting certain kinds of people angry to the point where they want to get back at him).
The cowboy noticed the weapons on the girl were less advanced then the usual ones he had seen in the past. The lance and shield she had on her looked odd, especially with their spiral like patterns. They almost looked like antiques or more like pieces of art rather then actual weapons. Her rapier looked to be in fine shape and her revolver and unique LMG were more modern looking. Her outfit looked like an old Great War era uniform which looked to be sewn up (though it did help show off her body quite well).
He could also tell that while she looked around the age of the those who would be at the Huntsmen Academies, her eyes were battle hardened and full of experience.
"Alright, well the convoy you'll be working in will be leaving in two hours." The cowboy stated as he filled out the paperwork for the Valkyrian. Once he was done, he slid both that along with a map and a list of names of the people she would be going with to her. "There's a Huntresses named Abigail you'll be working with so you'll have some strong backup."
Selvaria nodded as she took the forms and went out of the station. She breathed in and out to relax as she walked back toward the Silver's home as she looked over the map that had been given, showing her the route the convoy would take.
As Selvaria looked over the map that highlighted the route she was to take, she thought back to a couple of days ago.
Flashback
"You want to see about taking some jobs to get some Lien?" Jacob said with a bit of surprise in his voice.
Selvaria had been playing around with the kids as they kicked around a soccer ball. They were showing her how to play soccer since she had only really seen the game from a distance back during her service with the Empire. She had allowed her troops play the game in their R&R periods in order to help them with easing their mental states along with keeping them in shape. She had watched them play but never got the chance to play along with them due to her duties as a general and the fact that Maximilian at times told her to focus more
"Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the hospitality you have given me." Selvaria said with a small smile. "However, I don't want to feel as if I'm free loading. I want to see about not only making funds for myself once I truly set out, but I figure that I can pay you back for all you have done for me."
"No we understand Selvaria." Jacob said with his hands clasped together. "It's just we are a bit surprised that you want to get work like this."
"I figure that it would be good in order to help me keep in shape when dealing with the Grimm and any non-Grimm forces." Selvaria said as she saw the kids now running around the field in a race. "Knowing Ragna, he's probably made quite the number of enemies and he'll need all of the help he can get."
Lauren laughed at that. "After all of the things you told us about him, you think he's some kind of troublemaker whose act you need to clean up?"
"Maybe." Selvaria said with a grin. Honestly, she did love her Valkyrian brother but sometimes he can easily get in over his head. The fact that he was so stubborn to the point where he held off a large force of AVs in order to allow several Militia Regiments to fall back during the Battle of Naggiar when Damon had sent them into a trap
"He never turned down a chance for a fight those with less then good intentions, and to take on those who would harm his friends." She continued. "If anything, I imagine that he would have already started picking fights with the White Fang and local criminals."
"From the way you said that, it sounds like he could be a superhero." Lauren stated with a smile.
Sel giggled at that. "You could say that."
"Alright then, you can go and do what you think you could do." Jacob said with a tried smile. "Just be careful alright?"
"I will." Selvaria said with a nod.
A couple of hours later...
Selvaria was with Abigail as the two were looking around the area as the trucks passed through the valley.
There were around 18 armed guards equipped with assault rifles and other light weapons to provide protection. There were a few LMGs on some of the trucks and a trio of HMGs to act as deterrents to Grimm attacks and to further persuade bandits from attacking. However, there still had been attacks in the area which caused any convoys to start buying more guards in order better make sure most if not all of their goods got to their destination.
The Huntress she was working with happened to come from Mistral, and was a graduate of Haven Academy. She had pink hair in a ponytail, with a light armored vest on her body and combat gloves along with black pants and combat boots. She used a spear-assault rifle weapon combo as she was cleaning it thoroughly, looking to Selvaria that the young woman took her role seriously and wanted to be ready for anything.
"So Bles was it?" The Mistral Native stated. "This is your first job being a blade for hire?"
"I wouldn't call myself a mercenary." Selvaria stated to the young women. "I just wanted to find work to benefit my patrons and fighting in one of my best skills."
"I heard a bit about the family you're staying with. Abigail said as she continued maintenance on her weapon. "Seem like good people."
Sel nodded as she then choose to brought out a lunchbox that she had brought with her and opened it up. She had made some food for herself prior to going on the mission as she wouldn't go through the supplies the others had and she knew it would be good. However, she had made a couple more then usual and made a quick decision.
"Here, if you are hungry I made some sandwiches." Selvaria had as she brought out said one of said food in a wrap and gave one to the Huntress. The Mistralian Huntress figured it wouldn't hurt to try it out as Sel was a good person in her mind. Abigail took the sandwich, opened it up and took a bite into it.
Her face lit up in amazement at the taste in her mouth. She had eaten at popular and fancy restaurants due to her licence giving her enough to maintain a steady lifestyle and went out with friends for special events. However, the sandwich she was eating tasted on par if not better then the best places she went to. She devoured her snack and felt satisfied after chowing down on it.
"Holy Oum..." The Huntress stated. "Are you sure you want to do this kind of work? You could easily open up a restaurant and make some serious Lien."
"That's not the first time I've been told that." Sel said with a small smile on her face. She had actually made some food for some of the locals and they all said she was an expert chef. She made some money on the side doing this, but she wanted to go out into the world and really get a lay of the land.
Her senses however then went into overtime as she told tell someone was approaching
"Looks like we may have company." Abigail said as she was a bit surprised that the young silver-haired woman caught on to the approaching enemies as well.
She could see that there were around 60 bandits that were surrounding the convoy. They had various weapons including SMGs, pistols, assault rifles, and bolt action rifles for firearms. They also had various melee weapons from swords, knifes, spears, and clubs ready to attack the convoy. They had rough looking clothing, ranging from leather coats (with some having torn sleeves), torn up jeans and rags wrapped around various areas of the their limbs and torsos (some even being headbands).
"Alright you shits." The bandit leader, who looked to be in his mid 30s walked forward. He had a fumanchu, buzzcut hair (both being colored black), and several scars over his muscular body. "Hand over all of your goods and weapon and we'll let you go without any injuries."
He then had some of his men fire close to the guards to intimidate them.
Selvaria quickly shot out her revolver and took out six of the enemies's assault rifles within the blink of an eye. She then jumped down to face the bandit leader as reload her weapon and put it away. "How about this?" She said with a frown on her face. "You leave us be and you'll walk away without being humiliated or being set to the next life."
"Tell you what little Missy." The bandit leader said with a lecherous look on his face as he eyed the young Valkyria. "How about you let us take the goods and maybe we won't have to take you and your friend there to have some fun."
Selvaria glared at the bandit's clear lechery as she glared at the bandits with fury in her eyes. Some of them were starting to feel cold and were shaking from the intensity.
Sel then smirked at them as she got into a combat position with her shield out. "Well then, you want me? Come and get me."
She then dashed forward and kneed one of the closest bandits in the gut, causing them to cough up spit and set them flying into two of their fellows. She then quickly landed solid strikes via her CQC skills on four others as they were still recovering. Eventually, a few of the bandits fired at her with their firearms.
Selvaria soon drew her rapier and cut apart the bullets that were fired at her.
She then dashed forward and slammed her knee into the gut of the nearest bandit, the force behind it sending the bandit into a nearby tree. She then used her shield to block more bullets being fired at her as she knocked away another bandit with a spin kick. She then ducked under a bandit trying to stab her with a spear and then slammed her shield into his face.
She then tossed her shield as it spun through the air and hit several bandits on the head as she then dashed forward and slashed her rapier through their throats and stabbing into their chests. Her shield bounced off the last one and went into the air as Selvaria jumped and easily caught it as she preformed a frontfilp and slammed into a bandit as she came down. Not missing a step, she had used the momentum to roll forward as she tossed her shield again and took out several more enemies that were lose to her.
She smirked at how the battle was going, she hadn't even gotten all that serious yet and she was having an easy time defeating these brigands.
She then pivoted around a sword user as she then pulled out her lance and used it to sweep them off their feet before thrusting it into the chest of one that had aura and sent them flying into a tree.
Abigail was fighting using her spear-rifle combo weapon as she deflected several attacks on her and slammed the butt of her spear hard into the stomach of one who used a mace. The impact having enough power to make the man vomit as he staggered back. She then parried another attacker and sent them back with a front kick to the chin and then spun around to send a bandit into another one. She then jumped around and switched her weapon into its rifle form and nailed several of them with gut or head shots using Electric or Wind Dust rounds. She then switched her weapon back into a spear and gored into the chest of another bandit, blood coming out as she used her spear as a pole to spin around and kick back two more enemies. She then tossed her spear into the stomach of a bandit with Aura and sent him flying into a tree as she then jumped between two more and did a split kick to their heads.
The guards of the convoy used the chaos the two women were making to fire at those that tried to get close. They showed they were a cut above the usual hired help and took down quite a few of the bandits themselves, especially using the LMGs and HMGs on their vehicles.
Selvaria then jumped up into a large tree and then pulled out Glory, opening fire on the bandits on the ground. The high rate of fire easily tore through those without Aura and did help lower the Aura of others.
The usual line of thought with automatic weapons with a high rate of fire is that they had bad spread. Thus if one fired their weapon in long bursts, the recoil would make the weapon fire all over the place and allow them a chance to fire back. However, Selvaria's gun had been stated to be incredibly accurate even with long bursts, to the point where the Empire had planned to produce the weapon for use by their Scouts to increase their firepower (and therefore, effectiveness) on the battle field.
She easily nailed the bandits with her bursts, taking center mass or limb shots to take them down either in a lethal or non-lethal fashion. She then pulled out her revolver and nailed six of the bandits with center mass shots. She then quickly redrew her rapier and cut through more bullets that came at her, this time from a bandit using an LMG themselves. She moved forward while slicing them up and landed a spin kick to their ribs, putting her back into the move by twisting her back at the same time.
Abigail then used her spear to vault over a group of bandits and as she landed, used the monument in her spin to swing her spear at their legs and knocked them down before pulling out an Ice Dust grenade and freeze them solid. She then moved forward as she switched out her current magazine and began to use Electric Dust rounds to disable more of the enemy as she landed a dropkick on another bandit armed with a large mace. She then pulled out a hidden pistol and landed several headshots with Wind Dust rounds before jumping into the air and tossed a couple more Ice Dust grenades into a squad of assault rifle armed bandits.
Abigail had been a bit of an oddity as she brought backup weapons other then her main compared to her fellow graduates.
Eventually, the two female warriors and the guards were able to take out all but the head honcho.
The bandit leader was stunned to see that his whole group was taken out like complete pushovers. The girl with the silver hair was far more dangerous then he had originally thought and had done ht most damage to his men. He didn't even think she had an Aura based on the close shaves she had fighting his men, making her all the more powerful and skilled
It was she was a monster in human form.
Gritting his teeth in anger, the bandit leader charged at Selvaria with his large double bladed axe and tried to take her head. She avoided a number of his swings and then slammed her shield in the back of his head. The bandit leader then switched his axe into a pump-action shotgun and tried to shoot at Sel, but she used her shield to stop the shots (though she was nicked in a few places). She then slid under another swing from her foe and then knocked him off his feet with a low sweep. She then dashed forward and threw her shield behind her and nailed the bandit leader in his head as Abigail nailed him with her rifle.
The bandit leader's anger soon reached its height. He wasn't going to lose to these wenches and have his whole gang completely wiped out by these bastards.
"AHHH!"
The man soon had a red Aura surround his body as his eyes also turned completely red, looking as if he wanted to tear apart those in his path to pieces with his bear hands. He then easily sliced down some nearby trees due to the sheer power behind his attacks.
"That's not good, he has a Berserker Semblance." Abigail said with a bit of concern in voice. "He'll be harder to deal with unless we ware him down or nail him with a powerful attack."
"I'll see about taking his attacks and allow you an opening to attack him." Selvaria said as she took out her lance and shield.
"Wait wha-!?" Abigail stated before the Valkyria moved.
Selvaria dashed forward and thrust her lance into the enemy's gut as she then spun around his counterattack and slammed it into his back as he overreached his swing and lost his footing a bit. Her hit caused the enraged man to stumbled forward before he tried to turn around, only to met Selvaria dashing at him with her shield in front of her. She put every bit of power behind the attack (which was more then enough due to both the Aura boost an a Valkyria's natural abilities) and knocked him onto the ground before rolling forward and drawing her rapier landing several thrusts which dropped his Aura down a bit.
Abigail fired at the legs of the bandit leader as the Ice Dust rounds were starting to slow him down as Selvaria continued to slash and stab away with her rapier.
The bandit leader jumped into the air as he tried to cut Selvaria in half as she jumped away. He instead cut a tree in half as Selvaria then tossed her shield at his head. While this wouldn't cause all that much damage, making him even angrier would help to make them less able to focus then per usual and leave him open to attack.
Abigail then slammed her spear into the side of the bandit leader before following it up with her spinning and slamming the shaft of her weapon into the back of his head. She then ducked under the counterattack and nailed him with a strong high kick to his chin to launch him into the air. Selvaria then jumped into the air and slammed him with a dropkick in the gut and sent him into a nearby tree. Abigail then fired several rounds at the down bandit, using Ice Dust rounds to try and keep him contained and tossing another Ice Dust grenade to keep him contained.
However, the bandit leader got back up and roared in anger, his Semblance allowing him to ignore the pain he felt from both girls attacks (even though for Sel, her attack felt stronger then what Huntsmen and Huntresses could usually do). He then shattered the ice around him and charged once more at the two as the bandits attacking the convoy guards were losing due to the girl's previous efforts. She then had her shield knocked away from her as the bandit tried to back hand her. Sel avoided the attack as he kept charging at her, making her jump back to avoid his attacks as she parried a few with her lance.
The bandit leader, (in a moment of clarity) then began to swing his ace around to cause trees to fall on the Valkyria, which made her jump around in order to avoid getting hurt by them. He then unleashed a powerful swing which was able to cut down several trees before Selvaria could counterattack. She saw that with know they were setup would cause quite a few to fall on her current position. She quickly dashed away as she nearly avoided a few trees falling down on her and re-positioned herself.
She saw that Abigail was trying to avoid swings from the Berserker as she observed the fight. The Huntress was holding her own by using her range and calm mind which allowed her to exploit opening to further weaken the leader's Aura. However, in another moment of clarity the Bandit leader was able to throw a faint which Abigail tried to take advantage of. Then the leader pivoted faster then she expected and slammed his weapon into a large enough rock which nailed the Huntress and sent her flying into a tree hard. She coughed up spit as the bandit leader was about to charge at her and plant his axe into her skull.
Selvaria then dashed forward as she activated her Blue Flame and slammed her lance into the enemy's gut. She then launched out a large beam from the lance and blasted the bandit leader back and impacting a nearby tree. His Aura gave out as he coughed up blood from the attack and fall forward onto the ground.
"Wow, I've never seen a Semblance like that before." Abigail said in awe until she saw the elephant in the room. "Wait a sec, how did you do that without having an Aura?"
"You could say mine is quite unique." Sel said with a smirk on her face as she turned it off. She then looked to the guards in the convoy. "Is everyone alright?"
"Yeah, a few are wounded but none of it is fatal." One of the guards called back.
Selvaria sighed in relief, they were out of the worst of it as the bandits were all down, either dead or unconscious due to their actions. None of the supplies had been hit as the two of them had kept the enemy busy.
Sel then heard the roars of Grimm heading their way. She then quickly set herself up to protect the guards as they scrambled to reload weapons and take up position to counter the attacking Grimm.
Selvaria then pulled out Glory and opened fire on the first pack of 8 Beowolves, accurately putting bursts into their heads. She then tossed her shield at a tree, bouncing it off and slamming into several more Beowolves which allowed her to better pick them off with Glory. She then jumped off a nearby rock as she put away her LMG and pulled out her rapier and slashed down an Ursa's gut, causing quite a lot of black blood to spray out. She then pivoted and slammed her shield into the side of another Beowolf's head.
She then quickly turned on her Blue Flame and jumped up and opened fire with cobalt bolts and easily killed more Grimm as she allowed Abigail an opening to take out several more Grimm with spear thrusts and even slashes at their necks.
At the same time as Ragna attacks CRDL that night
As Ragna continued to beat down on CRDL for several minutes, no one would have seen that there was someone that had been watching the whole thing. They had been observing some of the students as they had been in the school for a while in order to formulate a plan to force a certain Fox Faunus to face her and her unit. Only then will she finally have the chance to end him and finally prove herself the strongest.
"Well, I guess you little friend is quite the powerhouse huh Mathias?" The observer, a young girl with short blond hair and clear blue eyes. She was rather small in stature compared to other girls her age, but one should always be aware of the phase "Big things come in small packages". She also had a scopeless sniper rifle with a bayonet on her back over her green military coat.
She had been in Beacon for a while now, blending into the crowd to observe any possible persons that could prove to be a problem for her.
While a few stood out to her such as Pyrrha Nikos due to her Semblance and experience, she knew she could find a way to deal with them. Sure her Semblance would be able to move around metal objects, she wasn't able to say stop bullets coming at her which were faster then swinging melee weapons. It wasn't to say that she could get to such a level given time, but it would take years of training in order to pull something like that off.
Ruby Rose was another standout as she was a sniper with a 50 caliber rifle which can due some damage. Of course, in a sniper duel, she would easily be able to beat the girl since she has no real experience in such a match and her lack of intent to kill would be a handicap in any battle.
However, it was the heterochromatic boy and the Krieger that stuck with him that caught her attention easily. Their abilities in battle were different in that they were moves that had been planned out during battle and had purpose. Plus, they had were more level headed and mature then their fellow students. It almost reminded her of the person she wanted to kill the most along with the others she had worked with all of those years ago.
She had a sneaking feeling about the two toned boy and knew full well that he was hiding something that could make him a threat to her plans for revenge. Knowing this, she would have to plan around them and make sure that nothing the Beacon students could not stop her and her squad.
"I will admit that your new friends have the potential to be an issue and they have the look of soldiers. However, you shouldn't relax with having them around." The young girl said with a dark smirk on her face. "I'll find a way to counter your friends and I will finally prove myself the strongest assassin."
"After all." She said as her eyes turned golden with a bloodthirsty smirk on her face, "The Little Devil never allows her pray to escape."
Omake: A Raven's Concern
While Ragna and his friends were holding off the Grimm in the Forever Fall, they had been watched by an unseen person.
She had been hearing from the grapevine that a new Anti-WF fighter had shown up and caused such damage that the White Fang was scrambling to get together forces to better deal with them. It was at the level in which Adam Taurus, the leader of the Fang's Vale branch was gunning to finally kill the being responsible. Sure he had been known to take killing humans to higher degree then most, however he was starting to have a bit of an obsession according to her contacts.
It shouldn't even matter in the eyes of the bandit leader, as she knew that there were far more dangerous forces then the Fang out there. She left behind her brother and that man's allies as she knew that fighting Salem was completely pointless. She was more powerful then anyone on Remnant, and her abilities to both manipulate the Grimm in ways that could defeat regular forces and Huntsmen along with creating different variations of creatures on mass would allow her to finally grind down humanity and the Faunus. In her mind, all of the pity squabbles the Kingdoms and Races have with each other would be pointless in the end when Salem finally won. It was only a matter of time.
Then the Fang Hunter showed up and events from there took a turn for the strange.
The fact this Fang Hunter was striking out with information that couldn't be found so easily without the assistance of someone high in power in Vale. Only Ozpin has been known to use information like that without any serious push back from the Counsel and he had been supporting such actions in the past. However, with the Hunter's success against the White Fang (to the point where he is enemy number #1 for the terrorist organization), it was clear the Counsel didn't have any issues as he was helping them in dealing with the Fang.
The fact that Ozpin was heavily supporting this being in his missions was something that confused Raven. Sure he had assisted such groups in the past, but to help one person out this much was odd.
'Why is it that Ozpin is supporting this being that much?' She thought to herself. 'It couldn't be that he thinks this being will have that much of an impact against Salem. However, this behavior is unlike him.'
She was well aware of her blood daughter being a first-year at Beacon along with Summer's girl in a team. While she didn't hate Summer for filling Taiyang's heart when she left, she felt a little pity in that she died due to Ozpin continuing his foolish war with Salem.
However, it was the three young men that were fighting the Grimm pack without hesitation that caught her attention.
She had been aware of the Faunus that Ozpin had taken in as his own and could see that he was quite skilled for his age. His throwing arm was impressive in easily placing knifes into where he wanted them to be, and his Semblance was perfect for sudden and quick assassinations. He had proven to be far more dangerous then she had thought of him originally along with
Raven shook her head, the young boy may have considerable skill but she couldn't see him being all that important against Salem. Sure he could stand a better chance against her minions given enough time, but unless the Immortal Witch was actually able to die it would be pointless.
In fact, he seemed far too calm. His posture looked to be one of an experienced and battle tested warrior. His eyes spoke of considerable experience in live or death battles, too much to make him seem to be a simple student.
Raven's eyes widened when he looked her way as she ducked out of sight. Part of her worried that the boy might have spotted her and would be on his way to find her, but he instead went off to save the students that had run from the Grimm. His companions were able to deal with the rest of the Grimm with relative ease and all of the students came out intact.
The bandit leader soon walked away, she had seen enough today and the the others would be heading off for a raid in the near future. Once she was far enough away to be fully out of sight of anyone that was still in the area, she drew out her blade.
'Just what are you planning Ozpin?' Raven questioned as she created a portal and walked through it.
Little did Raven realize, someone had known she was there as a bright blue light popped out behind their hiding place.
'Looks like there are far more players in this then I thought.' Lupa thought to herself. "I wonder that person's story is."
Ah, looks like things are progressing in ways you guys didn't see huh?
See for a while with my thoughts on the Valkyria, it mainly comes down to two things:
Either they are truly beings made by God and came down from the heavens. Or they happen to be an advanced alien race who came to VC Earth and caused the Calamity. Again, the whole "Appearing from the heavens" thing makes it sound like they could have come from the stars.
So then I thought to myself "Why not do both? It would be sweet seeing a race that uses both advanced tech and magic together.
Yeah, I figured that Raven hearing about a newcomer to the grand chess game Ozpin and Salem play would want to learn more. Add this in with the fact that she thinks how foolish Ozpin is to continue to fight Salem in the first place, and she would be curious as to why he is giving this much support to one person.
As for the whole "Ragna making weapons via his Blue Flame", this is part of that fusion of tech and magic (or rather more like energy manipulation). This is going to be part of an overall strengthening of Valkyria to make them more impressive and powerful. Also, I figured this could give him a challenge with this powers on top of refining his control over his Blue Flame and Azure Flame.
As for the person at the end that was keeping tabs on Mathias and saw what Ragna was doing? Well if you're curious, she's a certain Isekai character some of you may know. Her inclusion was an idea Johnnieboy11 gave me in terms of making more villains show up in this story to throw some curveballs.
And before you ask, no she's a Remnant version of the character not the version of her anime.
Anyway, preview time!
Next Time on RWBY: Remnant of Flames
ALRIGHT MAGGOTS! LINE UP!
So yeah Cardin, your little stunt with Jaune would ended with you losing either way.
Consider this a taste of what I had to do to get stronger.
Ruby, you can try as best as you can but you need to learn how to fight hand to hand.
Well, this guy really is something.
Hey Oz, hope I'm not interrupting or anything.
Chapter 17: Ragna's Boot Camp
Hope you guys enjoyed! Blazblade signing off!
P.S.: If you guys could try it, guess what group Lupa (and by extension myself) was throwing shade and insults at for thinking technology was seen as unimportant and only look to finding inhumane ways in some cases to keep their powers from being completely taken away from them.
Hint: I had Lupa mention that the group's leader who was entertained from the Valkyria beating said group as he was bored.
