Well boys we did it.
We have more follows than 'A Hunt like no other'
Poggers.
For those who don't know, this story, as well as its predecessor, 'A chance to live' were what inspired me to write in the first place. Without them, I probably would never start writing.
So let me give my thanks to CrazyScientist85 who inspired me to do all of this.
I was also thinking about posting my stories on other sites, such as AO3 and Wattpad, but I actually lost my original files for the first two chapters, so if I want to do that I could either CTRL+C CTRL+V from this site, or rewrite them completely.
I was leaning towards the latter, given the first few chapters… Aren't as good as they could be.
Once I'm done with that, I'll post the story on other sites too.
I like Wattpad in particular since I can add some images there, I could just draw some stuff that's harder to describe, like Glutton forms for example.
I'm not a professional artist so don't expect any masterpieces though.
I was also thinking about creating a sister story to this one, called 'Lost Traveler: Reimagined' or something like that, that would have the same basic concept, but different execution, and also a new protagonist. I'm still thinking about it though so that's just a plan for the future. Maybe it wouldn't even be a crossover at this point. Just a RWBY story. Again, still only thinking about it.
Also I bought myself Metal Gear Rising while it was on sale and I'm having a blast. I'm definitely going to put many references to it here.
Also I finally played Borderlands 3 and while the gameplay is great, the story kinda sucks, not gonna lie. But then again my story isn't perfect either so I probably shouldn't be the one to judge.
The boy was lying on the ground, panting heavily and covered in sweat.
"Are you ready?"
"I'm… Barely… Breathing…"
"Oh really?"
For a moment, there was silence, and the boy thought that this time he got away from the problem, at least for a moment or two.
Unfortunately, that was not the case.
A loud gunshot echoed, followed by the sound of a bullet ricocheting off the ground right next to him.
His eyes shot open, while his muscles found the reserves of his energy, used to rapidly jump back to his feet, and then to the side, barely dodging the next couple of shots, but only because the shooter didn't even mean to actually hit him.
"So what!? Do you think that your enemies will wait for you to catch a breath? They'll be waiting for the smallest sign of weakness to get to ya'!"
The boy managed to jump behind a big boulder, hiding from the bullets that crashed into it.
The fatigue was reaching levels he didn't even know were possible, muscles on his legs hurt so much he thought they could fall off any moment, and the taste of blood in his throat gave him the feeling that his lungs were just about to collapse under their own weight.
He leaned against the boulder, and did his best to catch in as much oxygen as he could in this short moment of downtime.
A yet another mistake.
He felt someone grab his collar from behind the rock, pulling him with great strength over it.
Like a doll, he was picked up high into the air and tossed aside. He grunted after hitting the ground, but at this point he felt so much pain already this barely affected him.
"Remember, on this planet, there is no such thing as 'down time'. You have to constantly push your body past its limits if you want to survive here."
The boy didn't respond, instead, he kept lying on the ground, seemingly writhing in pain.
"If my training's too much for ya, you can go ahead and return to your whore of a mother and whatever's left of your hometown. I don't really care, honestly."
The boy gritted his teeth, as the first tear finally escaped his eye, pouring down his cheek.
"Oh wait, that's right…"
The man slowly approached the downed kid, and raised his foot above his head, about to stomp on his face.
"...She's fucking dead, isn't she."
As his foot closed in, the boy that still looked half-dead suddenly rolled to the side, and jumped back to his feet, barely dodging the stomp attack.
"Don't talk about her!"
The boy shouted, while throwing a punch at the man.
With an anti-climatic slap, his small fist was stopped mid-air by the man's open palm, who didn't even flinch. Soon, the man started pressing onto him, forcing him to kneel down, while his fist was being crushed under the pressure.
Even so, the boy still tried to retaliate, using his other hand to support his grabbed fist. His legs. His back. The boy used all of his barely functioning body to push the oppressor back.
But to no avail, as the man kept winning this strength duel with only one hand, and without even breaking a sweat.
The power difference was simply too high.
"Look at yourself. You're barely standing."
Instead of responding, the boy kept struggling. His face already red from all the accumulated blood, both arms and legs shaking, about to give in.
"Keep in mind, I am your ally…"
With a half-hearted kick, the boy got knockbacked, landing on his back, and hitting the back of his head.
*COUGH*
The boy coughed blood all over himself, and laid on his side to prevent himself from choking.
"... Imagine what a real enemy would do."
…
The short moment of silence was interrupted by a sound of a ringtone coming off the man's PDA.
"Oh boy, it's 4 pm! It's time for your daily 10 kilometer run!" - the man said with a voice slightly too amused by the situation.
No response came from the boy, who didn't even move, too damaged to get up.
"Oi? What's that?"
The man asked while getting closer. Once he did, he raised his foot once again, this time, with the intention of kicking the downed boy.
"NO NAPS ALLOWED!"
He woke up.
After raising his head and looking around, he remembered where he was.
Lying on top of the Beacon's rooftop, apparently.
"Ugh…" He groaned, and grabbed his forehead.
'What the hell am I even doing?'
After taking a deep breath in, he stood up and stretched his remaining limbs. Unsure what to do, he checked his PDA for any new messages, just to get disappointed by the lack of any.
At least the view here was nice. The only point higher than the one he was on would have to be the tower, where Ozpin's office was located.
'Hmm… If Ozzie's office is right there… And I'm standing on top of the dorms right now… That means that my room should be…'
After some simple calculations, as well as using his 3D mini-map as a reference, he found the window that should lead to his room. It was a couple stories beneath him.
He looked downward from the edge of the roof, noticing a couple silhouettes walking beneath, unaware of his presence.
'That's right, only the first-years are on the initiation right now, the older students have a day off.'
As for the actual height, he guessed it was somewhere around 20 meters.
'Hmm…'
He moved a couple steps backwards, and jumped in place, trying to achieve as much height as possible.
The results were less than satisfactory.
'Either I lost my form, or this planet has stronger gravity than Pandora. I would still survive the fall, but probably with a broken leg. Let's not do that.'
That leaves two choices: Use the fire stairs like a normal human, or…
After grabbing the ledge with both of his hands, Jacob started climbing down the side of the building, with his room's window set as his destination.
Using windowsills and railings as grabbing points, he was able to descend without messing up the building as a whole, which was something that would happen if he had used his metallic arm to dig into the concrete.
'Alright, three floors downwards, then one to the… left?'
As he peeked through the window, he was met with a partially unpleasant surprise. A couple of female students, who were now in the process of changing their clothes, giving him quite the view.
Unfortunately for him, one of them noticed him quickly. She jumped in place and screamed, alerting others in result.
"Whoops. My bad."
Without much reaction, he casually jumped back to the previous window, and checked his mini-map.
'Oh… It was four floors downwards…'
And so, he climbed one extra floor down, jumped to the left, and once again peeked inside. This time, however, he did it much more subtly and slowly.
But it looked like this time he got to the correct place, as he saw his empty room inside.
The window was left partially open, totally because he planned this, and not because Ram shouted at him to let some air in earlier.
Regardless, he jumped inside, landing right next to his bed.
"Alright, what to do now?"
One thing he could take care of was trying to make some gunpowder, but unfortunately the chemistry class didn't have the necessary ingredients. He checked earlier already.
Exploring Forever Fall had to wait for tomorrow it seemed. Well, he could just go by himself right now, but it wouldn't really give him anything, and it's not like he was racing with time, really.
Also, no new quests arrived from his dark web site still, so, in conclusion, there wasn't anything to do.
...
A moment not spent on making yourself stronger is a moment wasted
…
"They do have a gym in here, maybe I should check it out?"
…
"Yeah, let's do it."
Jacob grabbed a spare set of clothes, and hid them inside of his inventory. Once he was ready to leave, instead of leaving like a normal person, he took the more optimal route…
...By jumping out of the window.
This time, height wasn't dangerous at all, so he jumped off without any unnecessary climbing.
He rolled while landing, after which he jumped back up to his feet.
"What the hell are you even doing!?"
A familiar voice reached his ears from behind.
"Hello there, Ram."
Rem's pink-haired sister was standing behind him, taking care of the bushes and plants next to the building.
"Are you trying to kill yourself?"
"Hmm… No, not yet, at least."
"Well then, if you will want to in the future, then do it somewhere away from Beacon at least."
"Ouch. Why so cold?"
"Oh please, as if you care."
"You're right, I don't~"
"Tsk. I think I liked you more when you were unconscious and with one foot in the grave."
"Heh, yeah, I get that a lot."
"No matter. Just let me work in peace."
"Your wish is my command.~"
After a sarcastic bow, Jacob excused himself and went towards Beacon's gym.
"Pfft." - Ram scoffed at him while returning to her duties.
'Just what do you even see in him, sis?'
Beacon's gym was a place where students could spend their time, doing physical training to stay in shape. It was open all week, closed only at nights. It also had all the gear one could ask for: weights, treadmills and anything else one might need.
The atmosphere inside was also quite nice - more experienced users were always happy to help out newcomers, and everyone was generally positive and friendly.
Given that it was a gym used by huntsmen in training, it had seen a fair share of amazing records, usually held by students with semblances that boosted their physical performance. Today however, a certain pandorean set his goal to break all of those records.
"What the hell is up with this guy? He's been sprinting non-stop for almost an hour now."
"That's gotta be a new record on the powered-up list. There is no way he doesn't have a stamina-increasing semblance."
"Hold on, isn't that the assistant guy? Shouldn't he be like… I dunno, working?"
"Well, we still have one day off before real lessons start, I guess the same goes for him."
"Still, even if he's powered-up he's still pretty crazy. I saw him lift more than 200 kg earlier!"
"Well, he does have a robot arm, so I don't think it counts."
"That's the thing, he lifted it using only his normal arm!"
"Whoah, okay, that's quite something. He must have a really strong semblance. No wonder they gave him this job."
"And what are you standing here for instead of training, huh!?"
The students' conversation was interrupted by a deep manly voice.
"Huh!? Mr. Alloy!"
One of them said the P.E. teacher's name aloud. Needless to say, it was very respected in Beacon, and even more so at the gym itself.
In short, it was because Alloy was an absolute unit of a man, physically strong and huge in size. He stood at an impressive 2.3 meters (7' 6") of height, with massive muscles of a bodybuilder, that, combined, weighed more than 120 kg. His skin was dark, eyes brown, and head bald. He was wearing red shorts, and a gray tanktop.
"Yes, that's my name. Mind telling me what's the commotion about?"
"It's about the new assistant guy, he completely broke the stamina record, with lots of room to spare!"
"Hmm, really? I heard that he was quite something but I wasn't able to meet him yet."
Alloy said while turning his sight towards the young man in question, who was still sprinting, and looking at his reflection in the mirror that was on the wall in front of the row of treadmills.
"I'll go have a word with him. You guys should return to exercising."
"Yes sir!"
After approaching the running boy, Alloy took a second to inspect him more thoroughly. His brown hair were completely soaked in sweat, with his cheeks slightly pinkish in color. Regardless, it still looked like he could keep going if he wanted to.
"Is there a problem?" Jacob voiced his question without even looking at the man. Well, directly, at least. He still saw his reflection in the mirror. It's hard to miss such a giant, after all. 'This man could probably rival a goliath in terms of strength.'
"No, no, I just wanted to meet you. You are Jacob, right?"
"Yeah."
"Well I am Zeno Alloy, but you can just call me Alloy for short. I am the P.E. teacher here."
"I suppose that makes you one of my bosses, then. Is there anything else or did you just want to introduce yourself?"
"I just wanted to see how you were doing here. Might if I take a look at the data feedback on the treadmill?"
"Sure, go for it."
Tank nodded his head and came even closer, with intention of inspecting the said data.
Time: 00:42:55
Avg. Speed: 11 m/s
Top Speed: 15 m/s
Total Distance: 28 325 m
"My, my… Those are quite the numbers. Are you sure the arm is the only artificial part about you?"
"I don't recall having any other implants, if that's what you mean." Jacob said after the joke went over his head.
"Well… Anyway, I am happy to inform you that you broke one of our records. I'll write your name on the leaderboard for the powered-up."
"Powered-what?"
"Well, we have two seperate leaderboards here, one for normal students, and one for people with semblances that boost their physical performance. This way, everyone has equal chances."
"Do they? The semblances rarely are equal amongst each other."
"That's just nature at this point, besides, the "powered-up" can still try making records without using their semblances if they want to see how they fare without them."
"...Fair enough, I guess."
"So, how do you want me to write your name? Just Jacob Rook, or something more fancy, like a nickname perhaps?"
"Just write my name down normally."
Jacob didn't even bother correcting Alloy's mistake and saying he doesn't even have a semblance to begin with. After looking at the 'normal' leaderboard he noticed that his feats broke all the records with tons of room to spare, so making them think it was all 'natural' would end with them not believing at best, or asking questions at worst. And at least for now, he wanted his Pandoran origins to remain hidden.
"Very well. But it looks like you aren't done yet? You already have the #1 spot, but you can keep running to make it harder to lose it."
'Should I? I was starting to get bored anyway.' Jacob thought, and then looked at the clock above the mirror. 'Oh shit, time sure flies, huh.'
"Whatever, I'm finishing."
With a click of a button, both the treadmill and Jacob started slowing down, until reaching a full stop.
"If you're leaving, then go take a shower. One must take good care of their body if they want to stay in good shape!"
"Yeah, sure, whatev… Cya later."
"See you too, Jacob!"
'So… I am the strongest human on this planet, huh?'
Jacob thought to himself, while standing in the shower, fully naked. Cold water poured down on him, cleaning his body from the sweat gained from training.
'Well, even back in my home galaxy or whatever, Pandoreans were known for being irrationally tough. Guess I'm no exception.'
He released a sigh as he leaned against the wall, letting the water hit his back.
'Although people here still have something I don't. Aura and Semblances. There is no way to accurately guess what they may pull out, so I probably shouldn't make this entire planet an enemy… At least for now…'
With those thoughts he looked at this silver arm. He clenched the fist, and tensed its 'muscles'. In response, the thin purple 'veins' shined slightly, changing into a slightly brighter, pinkish color for a moment.
'I still have no idea what that thing may be. But as far as I know, It may have something to do with eridians… '
He changed his position, allowing the water to hit his face.
'And then there is the fact that I don't remember what even happened. Or even how much of my life I forgot… Could I have actually fulfilled my dream of opening up a Vault? I heard of a case where some people opened one up, just for two of them to disappear without a trace. The survivors said the Vault took them… somewhere. I always assumed they were simply backstabbed by the survivors but now…'
He lowered his head and turned the shower off. In his mind, he thought too much, and acted too little.
'And besides, What's the worst thing that I could forget? Being the most wanted criminal in the galaxy? Heh, yeah, I doubt that.'
"Your task is to catch The Betrayer, dead or alive, and retrieve the Vault Treasure that he stole…"
The information has been given to a group of warriors that were standing in a dark hall, sitting on cheap, plastic chairs that really broke their immersion of being hired by one of the most powerful corporations in the galaxy.
"...For background information, the Vault in question lies on Pandora, the infamous wasteland on the borderlands of our galaxy, and home to a surprisingly high number of Eridian Vaults."
Amongst the mercenaries, one of them smiled under his nose. A middle-aged man with an unshaved beard and long, black hair tied into a ponytail, with several big scars on his face, gained from the years of fighting. He was wearing a suit of combat armor, thin and light to maximize dexterity, but still durable enough to provide a high degree of protection, also, leaning against his leg, his weapon stood.
"...The Vault of our interest, however, lies within the Great Canyon, located on the western shelf of the planet. The site has been left unchecked for a while now, so there is a high possibility local bandits already destroyed this place…"
The man with the ponytail scoffed slightly at that, and put his hand on his weapon - a high-frequency katana blade, with a special sheath armed with a rifle mechanism for rapid draws. It was a very old blade, remembering even the times before space travel were a thing. A family heirloom passed down for generations, with each user adding some upgrades as the years went by.
"...Should you meet any, dispose of them, as they are not the main concern. The true objective is to: A - retrieve the Vault treasure, B - capture the Betrayer, dead or alive, and optional C objective - retrieve the Vault Key that was used by Vladof's red legion to open the said Vault."
Raising his hand like a student in a classroom, the man caught the presenter's attention.
"...Yes?"
"What's the deal with this betrayer guy?"
"...I was just about to get to that part…" The female presented answered, clearly irritated, which caused the man to merely chuckle in response. "... The betrayer, as he is referred to by the Vladof corporation itself, was a man who was originally a part of their Red Legion, and took part in the Vault's subjugation process, but ended up sabotaging it, betraying everyone and sentencing them all to death, only out of his own greed to keep all of the treasure for himself."
Now that was respectable, at least in the man's mind. Walking on corpses to achieve a set goal was something he himself was very well-accustomed to, after all.
"It is unknown what happened to him, or even if he is currently alive for that matter, but it has been confirmed nobody left the planet since the incident, so he must still be there somewhere. The reason we are interested in him is because he must know what happened to the treasure itself, which is our main concern. Should you find him, do whatever you must to retrieve the treasure from him. What happens to him, or his other properties, is up to you."
The man however, raised his hand once again.
"...Yes?" The presenter asked, her frustration only increasing.
"Is there any more information about him? Or are we supposed to fight him blind?"
"...Proper research has been made about the subject, and the information we managed to collect shows that he is slightly more capable than your average bandit. Most likely born and raised on the said planet, he was previously quite renowned across the continent. Locals called him 'Jack the Ripper' in honor of his achievements, consisting mostly of single-handedly taking out entire bandit tribes, with high degree of brutality."
'Jack the Ripper, huh? Now that's a nickname, much better than the betrayer.'
"Regardless, he is just one ordinary man, and the only enemies he faced before were common bandits and the Red Legion themselves, neither of which are particularly strong. For… professionals like you, he should pose no threat."
Another hand has been raised, this time, surprisingly by someone else.
"...Yes?"
"If that's the case, then why hire so many of us? Do you want us to kill each other while we are at it?"
Some muffled voices sounded across the mercenaries, with exception of the man with a ponytail, who only rolled his eyes at that.
"...We believe some sense of competition will work wonders on your motivation, if that is what you are asking."
"So yeah, they want us to kill each other." The man summarised, and was quickly followed by a couple surprisingly calm agreements from the others, however, it seemed like nobody really minded that, accepting it fully as part of the job.
The presenter could only deadpan and sigh away her frustration.
Meanwhile, the man with the ponytail smiled under his nose.
'I am eager to meet you… Jack the Ripper.'
ATCHOO!
Jacob sneezed as he left the building, after changing his clothes, he had his jeans and button-up shirt on, while also hanging his cloak over his shoulder, holding the hood with his pointing finger.
'Damn, am I getting sick? It's been ages since last time it happened to me. Oh well, whatever.'
Jacob's plan was to go explore the Vale city more thoroughly, with hope of finding a chemist's, and find the components needed to create some real gunpowder.
"Ah, Jacob, my friend!"
But it looked like it had to wait for later. For a familiar voice of a certain bullhead pilot reached his ears.
Jacob turned around, to face Sarius, who was wearing his pilot's jumpsuit, alongside his usual headgear that fully covered his face.
"Are you free right now?" Sarius posed the question which piqued Jacob's interest.
"...I guess I am, what about it?"
"Good! How would you feel about going on a short flight, huh?"
"...Huh? Where exactly?"
"The initiation is coming to an end and I'm supposed to fly to the Emerald Forest to pick the students up. Since you're not doing anything productive, how about going with me, huh?"
"Won't Ozpin have anything against it?"
"Not at all! In fact, he was the one who suggested taking you with me!"
"Oh really?" Jacob asked, slightly suspicious.
"Yeah! So what do you say?"
"I say… Sure."
"Great! Come with me, then. Who knows, maybe one day I'll teach you how to pilot a bullhead, as I always wanted a second pilot!"
"Whatever you say, pal."
"Marvelous…" Ozpin commented at the sight of the students in action. While there were minor hiccups here and there, overall their performance was way more than just satisfactory.
The group that passed with the best scores was waiting at the designated spot, waiting to be picked up by a bullhead. Ozpin would have to make sure they would end up forming teams, as together they were able to achieve great things.
...And yet, Ozpin couldn't shake off the feeling they were still somehow lacking.
Yes, at the moment they were candidates, like unpolished diamonds waiting to be refined.
Yes, the amount of powerful Grimm they were able to slay together was remarkable.
However, when compared to Jacob, who was able to get similar results all by himself, with limited resources, and then still state that he could've done much better, they simply paled in comparison.
Although Jacob was close to them in terms of age, he was a league above them in terms of raw power, and Ozpin could see that clearly. If anything, Jacob was closer to a full-fledged huntsman with some actual experience on their back.
This fact made Ozpin incredibly curious about the young man, or, to be more specifically, what kind of life did he lead out there, beyond any kingdom's walls of safety.
He recalled that the boy called himself similar to a bandit, which should be expected, as he himself admitted that The Lands were far from friendly.
That must be it. The reason why there is so much power difference between a young wanderer and one of his students.
Students wanted to obtain power from reasons such as dreams of adventure or status, or from the romantic desire to play the role of a hero. Now, Jacob, on the other hand, obtained his power because of necessity. To survive. That would explain his brutality and apparent nihilism that were caught on camera during his own initiation.
'Perhaps my methods aren't brutal enough?'
After all, whatever motivation may drive a Huntsman candidate, their job should be protecting whatever is left of this world.
And how can you protect anything without power?
…
The sound of an ominous screech coming from Ozpin's scroll woke him up from his thoughts. After looking at the live-camera feed it appeared that the students have encountered another powerful Grimm.
The giant bird of prey known as the Nevermore.
'That may be a problem, but…'
The sound of a bullhead's engine roared throughout the Beacon complex, and soon enough the machine piloted by his trustworthy ex-student and a certain newly hired assistant flew high above his head, already on its way to that very place.
'The solution is already on its way.'
"One minute to target."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, turn the music up!"
Jacob said after the music in the radio caught his ears. He wasn't usually interested in music, but even he could appreciate a good tune from time to time.
"Haha! Yeah, this one's my favourite too!" Sarius laughed, after which he put the speakers to the max.
However, before Jacob could indulge himself in the aggressive symphony of the metallic song, a call from Ozpin that popped up on his HUD prevented him from doing so.
"What?" he rudely asked after answering the call.
"It appears a small complication appeared."
"Oh really? What is it?"
"A Grimm. Only one, but a pretty strong one. You should probably take care of it."
"Huh? Only one? Shouldn't the students be able to do it on their own?"
"They're holding their own for now, but were pushed away from the meeting point considerably, right now they are in…"
"Holy shit, is that a Nevermore?" Sarius' question interrupted Ozpin's sentence.
"...That direction." Mostly uphased Ozpin continued his sentence, although slightly altered, given the circumstance.
"A never-what?" Jacob raised his head and peeked through the window, only to widen them slightly at the sight in front of him.
Quite the distance away, a giant bird like-creature was flying in the sky, approximately on the same height as them, looking down on the ground below it, and screeching at something. The screeches were loud enough to reach his ears even through all the distance, bullhead's glass, and even the loud music blasting through the speakers at full volume.
"Oh. An overgrown raven, huh?"
Although quite majestic and definitely menacing, Jacob had seen even bigger flying creatures in his life before. Most of the time, once you pin them to the ground, they stop being a problem.
"I'm assuming that's the complication, yeah?"
"Precisely so. Now, as much as part of me would like to let the students deal with it on their own, the schedule for today is a bit tight. The team creation ceremony starts very soon, after all."
"Weren't we supposed to not intervene?"
"Correct. Although, the initiation had already ended, and these students have already passed. Therefore, it is no longer a concern. And besides, you asked for a re-test, didn't you?"
"Hmmph." Jacob smirked under his nose "One fried chicken it is, then."
Quest Accepted
RFC - Remnant Fried Chicken
[ ] Kill the Nevermore
"Excellent. I'll leave everything to you then." Ozpin said with a pleased tone, and hung up.
While the conversation ended, Sarius already managed to shorten the distance between them and the Nevermore greatly.
"Well I can't really land and pick the students up with this thing around. Someone will have to take care of it."
"Yeah, yeah…" Jacob said as he got up from his seat with a groan.
"The wingsuit should still be in the case. You can take it if you want."
"Oh I will, don't worry."
With a flash of blue light, his black cloak was dematerialised and stored within the PDA's inventory, after which he quickly put on the said wingsuit, all while Sarius was getting closer and closer to the destination.
"Alright! That's about as close as I can get. Damn, I wish I had some weapons installed in this machine! Anyway, you'll have to jump again."
"Two steps ahead of you." Jacob responded while opening the back hatch, letting the air currents blow through his already messy hair.
"Oh! And one more thing!" Sarius shouted to get through both the music and the loud wind.
"What!?" Jacob growled back as he turned to face him, leaving the outside behind his back.
"Have a nice flight!"
Jacob chuckled and shook his head.
"Oh I will, don't worry."
And with those words, he tilted his body backwards like a scuba diver, and allowed gravity to do the rest.
'This Initiation is even better than I thought'
So Nora Valkyrie thought to herself as she readied her weapon to fight the Deathstalker in front of her.
Together with some other students of her age, they were ambushed by not one, but two powerful Grimm right after they found the artifacts that were required to pass. Oh how lucky she was!
Really, she thought all the action would miss her, but such a great battle showed up just before everything ended!
The other Grimm - The Nevermore - was currently being distracted by some colleagues she had just met. Turns out a fight for survival is a great occasion to make some new friends, who would have known!
As for the Deathstalker - she,and a couple of others were stuck with it on some sort of an ancient bridge, with nowhere to escape excluding the super-deep void below them.
Speaking of, she should probably focus on the fight for now. Don't wanna be losing those newly gained friends, after all!
And so, after finding an opening, she raised her weapon - a two handed warhammer called Magnhild - and charged straight at the giant arthropod, releasing a powerful vertical swing with all her momentum.
The monster released a screech of pain and even got knocked back slightly, but ultimately was left mostly unphased by the attack, courtesy of its incredibly hard exoskeleton.
To retaliate, the scorpio raised its poisonous tail, and launched it straight at her.
Nora was quick enough to dodge, and jumped backwards, so that it could no longer reach her.
"AGH!" - however, before she could land on her feet, she bumped into something. Or rather, into someone.
The black haired girl that previously stood in that spot was knocked off the bridge, straight into the void.
'Oh. Whoops.'
Nora quickly looked over the edge, extremely worried and terrified, but was able to release a sigh of relief once she saw that the girl was armed with some sort of a grappling hook that allowed her to save herself from the fall.
'That could've been very bad. Gotta be more careful next time.'
*CRAACK*
The sound of stone rumbling and the feeling of the bridge they stood on slowly losing stability gave everyone a very clear message - they have to end the fight quickly.
And so, Nora stood up and rejoined her remaining three comrades in the fight.
"Let's go!" - The blonde boy shouted. His name was Jaune, and despite the fact that in Nora's mind he was probably the weakest of them all in terms of raw power, he somehow came out as a pretty decent leader when it mattered.
And so, the four of them rushed at the Grimm, using their respective weapons to take it down.
One boy managed to outmaneuver the beast, and jumped on top of its tail, preventing it from using it on any of them.
This boy was Lie Ren, her old friend, and he was much closer to her than anyone else here for now.
Seeing this chance, Nora transformed her Warhammer into its secondary form - A rotary grenade launcher, and released two shots, each damaging and stunning the target slightly, but still not quite enough to pierce through the exoskeleton.
In the meantime, the scorpio managed to shake Ren off of himself, and send him flying back on the ground, which ironically was a much safer place than the bridge she was standing on.
"Ren!" She still called out of concern.
The deathstalker growled, seemingly unmoved, with the keyword being seemingly.
For Jaune had found a weak spot.
The poisonous sting appeared to be damaged greatly by Ren, and was now more vulnerable for any incoming attacks.
"Pyrrha!" he shouted for the other girls' name, and pointed at it.
Pyrrha Nikos, who was a renowned prodigy student across the continent and further, was quick to notice what he meant, and quickly proceeded to attack.
With a powerful swing, she threw the round shield that was attached to her left wrist, aimed straight at the weak spot. "Done!"
The shield with sharpened edges was able to slice the sting completely off, and because of the rotary acceleration Pyrrha gave it, it was even able to fly in an arc, and return to its sender's arms.
The heavy sting dropped with gravity, straight on top of the Deathstalker's head, and even though it got stuck in its exoskeleton, it wasn't able to fully penetrate it.
"Nora! Nail it!" Jaune commanded as he saw an opportunity for her.
"Launch me!" Nora said to Pyrrha, who was once again quick to understand her intent.
As Nora sprinted towards her, Pyrrha readied her shield for her to use as a platform to jump high into the air from.
With the combined strength of the two warrior girls, and the knockback gained after shooting her weapon downwards (But away from Pyrrha for obvious reasons) Nora was able to fly high into the air.
And as she flew, when the heat of the battle calmed down for one short second, Nora realised something.
'...Why do I hear music?'
The melody was coming from above of all places, so naturally she quickly looked there.
It was only for a split second, but her eyes widened in shock as a dark object flew towards her at a high speed.
"AGH!" - was the only thing that escaped her mouth as the object collided with her.
To be continued
Well this chapter turned out to be much longer than I expected. I guess I'll split it in two parts.
As always, if you have any questions/suggestions/critique leave it in reviews. Although I don't always respond I do read ALL of them. Which, speaking of, from now on I'll try responding more too.
Again, special thanks to:
CrazyScientist who inspired me to write in the first place
Pretty Lazy for being a bro and a great co-writer
Legend of Frog for being a bro and being a great beta reader
Anyway, that's it for now.
I hope you liked it.
Cya!
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Oh and please take a look at the poll on my profile regarding interest in seeing my drawings for this fic.