Eh yo they finally found a goddamn Huntsman, a dude named Carmine. That is all, go read the chapter.

Chapter 40

The New Normal

"Nice to meet you, Carmine," Link said, the Huntsman releasing his hand and allowing him to hide it back under his cloak. Noctus took the initiative and offered his hand forward, Carmine smiling and taking it in his.

"And a pleasure to meet you as well, my good men!" he said, noticing that Noctus gripped harder than Link did. "So, might I ask what you need a fine Huntsman such as myself for?"

"Need some help on a job," Noctus said, placing his hands in his pockets. "We're looking for some top-tier Huntsmen to do some top-tier work."

"Well, I can assure you that you've found nothing short of the best!" Carmine shouted proudly, putting his hands on his hips. "Before the Fall of Beacon and the CCT, I was at the very top of the Kingdom's Huntsman rankings! I was number two, and I'm sure I'm still befitting of the ranking even now!"

"Wait, who was number one?" Noctus asked.

"Some fellow named Crow or something, I've never met him myself..." he said, putting his hand to his chin in thought. "Though I do believed he spelled it rather oddly..."

"Oh, I think he's talking about Branwen," Noctus said, nodding and leaning back a little bit. "And he does spell it weird, dude uses a Q. Who spells crow with a Q?"

"Well, Qrow does," Link said, nodding to himself. "Number two though, huh? For the time being, that should work for us."

"Well, now that my credentials are no longer an issue, what job are we looking at? I'm sure a few of my men would be happy to help," Carmine said, smiling widely at the two.

"It's a little secretive, so we'd prefer if we could talk about it in private," Link said, looking Carmine in the eyes.

"Well, I suppose I can do that, follow me," Carmine said, gesturing for the tow of them to join him in his tent. They did, seeing that despite the meager exterior, the inside was rather well furbished, such as rather new looking furniture. They were also surprised to see both White still within, as well as a larger male in similar clothing.

"Who're you?" the male asked, getting up from his seat, White reaching up and grabbing his arm to hold him back.

"I was just telling you about them, come on," she groaned, glaring at him for a moment.

"Oh, this is them?" he said, looking at Link and Noctus as Carmine came in behind them.

"Oh right, you've already met White, but this is her brother, go ahead and call him Black. They're two of my best scouts," Carmine explained, holding the flap open. "But that's not important. You two, out, they've asked for a private meeting."

"What? No," Black said, glaring at Link and Noctus. "What if they try to pull something?"

"I'm sure I could handle them if they did," Carmine said, only for Noctus to snicker for a moment, though he paid it no mind. "Anyway, our visitors each rode in on motorcycles, could you put them somewhere safe for us?"

"Got it!" White shouted, Black mumbling 'Whatever' as he followed her out, Carmine closing the curtain behind them.

"Now, what about this job?" Carmine asked, pulling up a chair to a table in the center of the tent with a map of the Vale and the surrounding portion of Sanus. He gestured towards chairs on the other side of the table, Link and Noctus taking the seats and looking him dead in the eye.

Link was the first to speak. "What do you know about the Fall of Beacon?"

"Oh," Carmine said, taken a little off guard. "Well, let's see, it all started when those Vale students started running amok, breaking the Haven student's leg and killing that poor girl from Atlas."

"And after that?" Noctus asked, leaning forward.

"Well, I suppose after that the woman came onto the stadium speakers," Carmine said, nodding to himself. "Yes, seemingly she took over the broadcast as well, otherwise they'd likely have cut the cameras."

"And what happened next?" Link said, almost glaring at Carmine.

"That's when... Ah, that 'Oni Strife' fellow showed up and warned the whole world not to stand in his way," Carmine said, laughing for a moment. "Rather amusing, him thinking he can so brazenly challenge all of Remnant like that."

"He's correct in his thoughts," Link said, placing his hand together in front of him. "Little know him, but he is the strongest Huntsman alive."

"That's quite the joke you're telling young man, but I don't do jokes," Carmine said crossing his arms. "If you came all the way here just for that joke, then I think you've overstayed your welcome."

"Do I look like I'm joking to you?" Link said, looking Carmine in the eye. "Who was the next person to arrive, after Strife?"

"His nephew," Carmine said. "It's a shame, he was lauded as one of the best students in Beacon's history."

"What did he look like?" Link said, leaning forward and definitely glaring at Carmine now.

"He looked like... Well, I dare say he looked a lot like you," Carmine said, looking Link over.

"Why do you think that's the case?" Link said.

"Well naturally, that would be because..." Carmine said, realization finally dawning on him. "It's you. The Beast of Beacon."

"My name is Link, thank you," he said, Carmine rising from his seat and taking a step back.

"What do you want from me?" he said, looking at the two of them, focussing on Noctus for a moment. "And who are you?"

"Name's Noctus, thanks for finally asking. You'll know me better as the rank one Huntsman of Atlas," Noctus said, smiling slyly at Carmine.

"What we want, Carmine, is to kill the strongest Huntsman alive," Link said, tilting his head to the side as he looked at him. "And we're looking for people who can help us do it."

"And so you came to me," Carmine said, pacing the room. "Why should I help you?"

"Your options are to help us, help him, or die in the chaos he will bring about," Link explained. "And standing with him puts you against us and the rest of Remnant."

"So regardless, we aren't exactly looking at perfect odds," Noctus said, resting his head in his hand and looking at Carmine. "But you're a Huntsman, it couldn't exactly hurt trying to fight back. I mean, it's literally your job."

"I... I see," Carmine said, allowing their words to sink in. "But why me?"

"We're looking for people like him," Link said. "No normal Huntsman could possibly stop him. As such, we need Huntsmen that aren't so normal. His name, Strife, is no ordinary name. Those who share his bloodline are stronger than others. We want to see if you're one of them."

"And how do you intend to do that?" Carmine asked, ceasing his pacing and grabbing the back of his chair.

"I'd like to spar with you, one on one," Link said. "As I'm sure you're aware, I am Oni Strife's nephew, and by extension I too am a Strife. Given my current condition, if you are what you're looking for then you should have no issues against me in a mock battle. If not, then we'll move on."

"I'd love to take you up on your offer, but at the moment I am unable," Carmine mumbled with a sigh, gesturing to the map on the table. "We've been seeing an influx of reports from our scouts regarding Grimm attacks. We can't turn our attention away from anywhere in or out of Vale, even for a moment without risking the lives of civilians. Maybe once we see a steady decline in those reports can we partake in your sparring match."

"I suppose that's fair," Link said, rising and taking a look at the map. "Which areas are being hit the hardest?"

"Pardon me?" Carmine asked, looking at Link for a moment.

"The sooner the local Grimm populations go down, the sooner we can take care of our business, right?" Link said, looking up to Carmine. "Then Noctus and I can give you a hand. We'll move as a unit though. I'd prefer if you didn't split us."

"That's... of course, yes, that will do nicely!" Carmine exclaimed, a smile coming back to his face. "We can get you a tent set up with a few essentials, and we can go forward from there."

"Man, after all of that and you've got me back doing Huntsman work," Noctus said, rolling his eyes. "Oh well, I'm good at it."

"Oh don't complain, so long as it ends with you killing Grimm then you'll have fun," Link said, stepping back outside the tent with Noctus following closely after him. "So, where'd you put our bikes? Our weapons were on those."

White came running up upon seeing the trio leave the tent, gesturing over to some trees. Evidently, she'd heard them. "We put them over there. We have a small firing range there in case anyone needs to brush up on their aim, and the center of camp is usually used as a sparring ground."

"Thanks," Noctus said, smiling at the girl before heading in the direction she'd pointed, Link doing the same.

"So, what'd they want?" White asked, leaning towards Carmine once Link and Noctus were out of earshot.

"They require a Huntsman's help for a job," Carmine explained as the two walked away, crossing his arms as he watched them. "But for now, I've enlisted their help. Gather the other scouts, get a tent set up for the two of them, and tend to their needs as they come."

"Of course," White said, jogging off to do as she was told, gathering the others and getting the gear ready for another tent.

"How long do you think this'll end up taking us?" Noctus asked, the pair finally finding their bikes and retrieving their weapons.

"Hopefully not too long, any time we waste here is time he has to further his goals," Link said as he strapped his sword to his back.

"Who're you talking about?" asked another voice, Link and Noctus turning to see Black sitting there eating a small piece of bread as he glared at the two of them with his deep crimson red eyes.

"No one of any real consequence," Link said as he tucked the strap under his wolf pelt. "It's nothing to worry about."

"That makes me more interested, you know," Black said, turning when he heard his sister jog over to him.

"Hey, Black, Carmine needs us and the others to set up a tent for these two," she said, Black blinking a few times and looking at her incredulously.

"What, seriously? Why?" he asked.

"I guess they're going to be helping us for a while, so he wants to give them a decent place to stay. Can I get your help moving the supplies?" White asked, Black relenting and finishing the rest of his bread and rising.

"Yeah sure, I don't see why not," he said, following his sister out of the firing range clearing and away from Link and Noctus.

"I guess we need to be more careful when we talk about this..." Link whispered, turning to head back towards the main clearing. "Those scouts of Carmine's are probably good at what they do."

"It'd make sense, they've been doing it for a while," Noctus whispered back in agreement. "Oh well, not too much to talk about it at this point."

"True," Link groaned, sighing as he did. "I understand his sentiments, but I just wish he'd understand that there are bigger things at play here. We can't waste any time if we want to stop him."

"Yeah yeah, but we can't rush if we can't actually pull it off," Noctus said, looking to see that the tent was already set up, and a few people were carrying some spare pieces of furniture in. "Oh damn, that was fast."

"There's a lot of us," White said, carrying a chair towards the tent. "Black and I aren't the only scouts here."

"I'd hope not," Link said, seeing a large group of people dressed similarly to White and Black moving in and out of the tent carrying various necessities.

"Oh, by the way, is there anything else you need?" White asked. "We've been told to give you a hand with anything you need. Well, within reason I guess."

"Yeah, actually, do you guys have a medic?" Link asked, White thinking for a moment.

"We do, but they're more or less a field medic. Stitching up cuts and bullet wounds is no problem, but anything too extreme is beyond them," White explained, turning and pointing to a nearby tent. "That's their tent there, I'll have the others spread word around that you guys are here with us."

"Thanks," Link said, offering a smile to White. "You've been really helpful, we appreciate it."

"No problem, just doing my job!" she cheered, smiling and offering a salute.

"You're definitely more cheerful than that brother of yours, huh?" Noctus joked, White shrugging and nodding for a moment.

"Yeah I guess, but can you blame him?" she asked, picking the chair back up and carrying it inside. "It's not the best of times right now."

"She's got a point," Link said, following her into the tent and looking around to see that they'd basically finished up, the inside looking reasonably accommodating for the two of them. There were a couple of tables inside for them to use, as well as some chairs and a couple beds with a curtain set up to divide the two of them. "It seems comfortable enough in here."

"Remember, if you need anything else, ask one of us," White said, looking around to make sure there was nothing else she needed to take care of at the moment. "Anyway, you two have a nice day!"

With that, she ran out of the room, leaving Link and Noctus there alone. Link decided to at least test out how comfortable the bed was, sitting down on it for a moment and experimentally bouncing a little bit.

"Not bad, actually," he said, standing back up and doing a final check of the room. "Well, it's still pretty early in the day, and we currently don't have anything other to do than wait."

"Sounds... fun," Noctus said, laying down on his bed and looking up at the ceiling. "I've never been too good at just waiting around, I need to do something..."

"I may have an idea, if you're interested," Link said, Noctus perking up and turning to face him.

"I'm listening," he said, seeing Link smirking.

"Wanna spar? It's been quite a while since you and I fought," the swordsman said, leaning against the table on what he deemed as his side of the room. "Nothing too crazy though, just something to keep us on our toes."

"Oh, sounds fun," Noctus said, standing back up and grabbing his sword. "Let's hope those guys clear out the main clearing for us though, we're gonna need room."

Link simply smirked and set his rifle down on the table, figuring to himself that it'd be too risky to use it in the center of camp with so many people nearby. He then walked back outside with Noctus close behind. Looking around, Link found a scout reading a book under a nearby tree, heading over to him and getting his attention.

"Hey, can I ask a favor of you?" Link asked, the scout perking up and marking his spot in his book.

"Oh, uh, sure," he said, standing up and brushing himself off. "What do you need?"

"My partner and I would like to spar, and we'd like it if you would ask the others to give us use of the space," Link explained, the scout nodding and running off to do just that.

It didn't take long, but the scouts and mercenaries cleared out the clearing, a good few of them setting up chairs outside of their tents to see the fresh meat go at it.

"Don't play for too long kids, some of the adults got work to do!" shouted one of the mercenaries, laughing at his own joke. A few others chuckled as well, though most of the scouts that had gathered around didn't, among them being White and Black, the duo watching intently as Link and Noctus took their places. Link reached up and undid his cloak, looking around for a moment to see that White was nearby, choosing to toss it to her.

"Can you hold this for me?" he asked as he tossed it, Black catching it instead.

"Don't throw stuff at my sister," he growled, setting the cloak down next to himself.

"It's fine, I could have caught it," White said, elbowing her brother in the arm.

"It looks to me like we'll have quite the show," Carmine said, setting up his own chair to watch the two spar.

"Dah, come on boss, this ain't gonna be nothin' but a letdown. Ain't no newbies comin' in and entertainin' us," another mercenary proclaimed, though Carmine simply shrugged.

"We will see," he said, Link and Noctus looking around to see the crowd they'd drawn.

"They're that eager to see the new guys fight, huh?" Noctus said as he drew his sword, burying the tip in the ground and stretching out his wrists and back.

"The safest way to deal with Grimm is from a distance, so I wouldn't be surprised if most of the mercenaries specialize in firearms," Link said as he rolled his right shoulder, making sure he could move it freely if need be. "Even just sparring between them with melee weapons might be rare."

"Lucky for them then, that's where we specialize," Noctus said, freeing his sword and settling into his fighting stance.

"Indeed we do," Link said, unsheathing his sword and settling into an adapted fighting stance, one that focussed on his sword alone since he couldn't use his shield at the moment. "Care to give us a countdown?"

"Sure," Noctus replied, reaching into one of his pockets and pulling out a cleaning rag, tossing it into the air.

The rag danced in the breeze for a few moments before swirling to the ground, and the moment it finally touched they leapt at each other, locking blades in the center of the clearing. The resulting clash was also powerful enough to produce a small shockwave that blew through the crowd, knocking over a few who weren't expecting it.

"This..." Carmine said, leaning forward to watch more closely, "is going to be interesting."

Ignoring the surprised expressions of those around them, the two kept going, darting around the clearing and clashing time and time again. After a short time, this ended up leading to a powerful backhanded swing from Noctus that knocked Link back, though he managed to keep his footing as he slid towards a small group of onlookers. They tensed up as he came by, but breathed a sigh of relief when he stopped himself just short of knocking into them, the swordsman turning around and smirking for a moment before running back in towards Noctus. Leaping high into the air, he came crashing down onto Noctus, the Huntsman meeting it with a swing of his own that successfully stopped him in his tracks. Noctus, forgetting that Link had more than just a sword, was taken off guard when Link chose to kick him in the face, staggering him back for a moment but otherwise leaving him unharmed.

This also served to start making Noctus excited.

"Man, it's been a bit since I've had a good fight," he growled, ducking under a follow up swing from Link before taking a huge upswing, though Link was able to veer the swing off to the side by bracing his sword against his other arm. Luckily it didn't hurt, so he was able to quickly take another swing at Noctus which he rather easily dodged away from. Knowing he was now out of range, Link threw his sword at Noctus only for him to deflect it into the air and charge in and go for a punch with his free hand. Though Link was able to barely slip out of the way of the punch, Noctus then used this as a chance to elbow him in the face and push him away. Noctus then had to forethought to duck Link's sword, as a foot was one thing, but that sword after a recent tempering was another.

The two then took a moment to circle each other, Noctus shouldering his sword and rolling his neck while Link spun his sword a few times. Noctus moved first, quickly swinging his sword down and sending a wave of his aura at Link, though he rather easily slipped out of the way. The mercenaries were a bit unsure of what they'd done, but soon figured it out when a few trees fell in the direction Noctus had swung.

"Cheap shot," Link said, rolling his eye as Noctus chuckled and shrugged.

"No one was behind you, so I figured I could have a little fun," he said, lowering back into his fighting stance as Link did his.

After a moment, perhaps waiting for the other to make a move first, they both ran forward, Noctus taking a wild overhanded swing as Link swung hard from below. Putting his entire body behind his sword, Link was able to fend off the blow and ram his shoulder into his Noctus' chest, only for Noctus to wind up and headbutt Link. He stood his ground and pushed against him as Noctus pushed as well, the two sliding away from each other once more. Link recovered first and charged Noctus, holding his sword back in preparation for a backhanded slash. Noctus easily saw through it and took a wide sweep right as Link got in range, though Link had baited Noctus into doing so, leaping over the swing with a twirl and landing an axe kick to the top of Noctus' head. Before Link could land, Noctus preemptively went to sweep his legs, managing to do so and tripping him up before ramming the pommel of his sword into his chest that knocked him back. Throwing his sword to the side, he used his backwards momentum to loop his way back towards his opponent, ripping his blade free as he came back. The sword returned to his hand mid downswing, though Noctus was able to block it. The two pushed against each other for a moment before nodding to each other, letting go and sheathing their weapons.

"That'll be enough to hold me over for a while," Noctus said as he turned towards the group of people that he'd almost knocked Link into. "Hope you were fine with the performance being in 3D."

"I'd hope so, anyone here who needs to take out Grimm should be able to handle a person sliding a bit too close," Link mumbled, heading towards White and Black in order to reclaim his cloak, removing his sword for a moment in order to put it back on. "Could you hold this for a moment?" he asked of White, holding the sword out to her.

"Oh, of course!" she cheered, taking the sword from him and looking it over as he put his cloak back on. "That was incredible, I can't remember the last time I've seen anyone fight like that!"

"What, Carmine doesn't spar with the others here often?" he asked, mouthing 'Thank you' as he took his sword back from her.

"Quite the opposite! He always beats all of his sparring partners in one hit!" White cheered, Link cocking his head to the side for a moment.

"Really?" he mumbled, Black groaning.

"You calling my sister a liar?" he said as he glared at Link. "One hit, every time, just like she said."

"Just making sure she saw it right. If you both saw it, then I'd be willing to say she did," Link said, smiling at Black.

"What happened to your eye?" he asked, his tone making it clear that he wasn't curious; he was trying to hit a nerve.

"Depends. What happened to yours?" Link shot back, taking note of the scar over Black's left eye. It was merely superficial though, and as such he retained full use of the eye.

Lucky.

"Don't worry about it," Black said, turning and looking back to the ground.

"Then don't worry about mine," Link shot back, smirking for a moment before turning to leave.

"He seems fun," Noctus said, having overheard Black's attempts to antagonize Link.

"He just seems like he's going through a lot, I can't fault him," he replied, waving it off as he started to walk back to their tent. "I'm going to drop my gear back off in the tent and then go see that medic, maybe they can do something about my arm that other people couldn't."

"We really need to find you a real doctor for your arm..." Noctus lamented, following after Link to return his weapons to the tent, as he didn't need them at the moment. "Well, that and your gut, there's still more or less a hole in you."

"Trust me, I am aware," Link groaned, heading back out of his tent. "Oh shoot, I forgot where the medical tent was..."

Looking around, he found one of the scouts taking a walk around the clearing and got their attention.

"Could you remind me where the medical tent it?" he asked, the scout, a girl with piercing green eyes that faded to a stunning gold around her pupils, looking at him for a moment.

"Um... over there," she said, gesturing towards a tent. "There's a little bit of a wait right now though."

"Oh well that's no issue," Link said, thanking the girl and heading over to the tent, heading inside and seeing there were a couple other people waiting for treatment.

"You that new guy?" one of the female mercenaries asked, Link nodding and taking a seat in an empty chair.

"One of them, yeah," he said.

"Scouts went around earlier mentioning a couple new codenames, so I'll assume those are you guys then," she said, though she seemed to confuse Link.

"What codenames?" he asked, cocking his head to the side. "It's the first I'm hearing about it."

"Yeah, Carmine tends to give us mercs and the scouts codenames, makes it harder for people to find us, and by extension Grimm and bandits," she explained. "The scouts are usually given color names, and mercs are usually just some relevant name. For instance, 'round here they call me 10-4, since I used to be part of the Atlesian Military. Got stuck here after the Fall though."

"Then what are our codenames?" Link asked.

"If my hunch is right, then you're Knight, and that buddy of yours is Midnight. That won't get confusing, not at all..." the mercenary lamented.

"Knight? Yeah, that's fair I guess... I'll be sure to let 'Midnight' know that's what you're gonna be calling him," Link said, looking up to see the medic come over to get the next patient, which was actually his conversational partner. He didn't realize they'd spoken long enough to get through the other patients, honestly.

Waiting patiently, the medic eventually go to him, bringing Link back to the 'exam room' in order to take a look. In reality, it was nothing more than a curtained off section of the tent she had set up to have some privacy.

"So, what seems to be the problem?" the medic asked, Link holding up a finger and removing his cloak, sleeve, torso armor, shirt, and tunic before gesturing to the once again bloody bandages.

"All of this," he said, the medic's eyes widening in shock.

"How were able to fight with all of this?" she shouted, undoing the bandages and looking over his arm. "Forget about that, how are you even able to move this arm?"

"It used to be worse," Link explained. "The muscles were mostly severed, but there's still enough intact to make movement possible. Haven't been able to see a proper doctor or surgeon though, so it hasn't been able to heal correctly. Same thing with my torso wound."

"Jeez, it looks like you haven't been able to use this correctly for a long time, it's pretty severely atrophied," the medic said, continuing to look over his arm. "Let me see that other wound of yours."

He did as he was asked and showed her the wound in his lower abdomen, the medic's eyes widening once more.

"How are you moving right now?" she asked, turning to grab supplies to try and close Link up a bit.

"I've been told I can be really stubborn, I guess this is just proof," he said, wincing as she went to work stitching him shut.

"These are only really temporary, you're gonna want to see a real hospital as soon as possible, okay?" she said, finishing up and wrapping him back up in fresh bandages, looking up and taking note of his eyepatch. "I'm going to take a look at your eye too. We cover all of our bases here."

"Uh, sure," Link said once she finished with his bandages, removing his eyepatch and letting her look over his eye. "This was able to actually heal though, so I don't really think there's much to do about it."

"There's a small scar over the lid... How bad is the eye itself? Can you still open up this eye or...?" she asked, though Link shook his head.

"They eye was completely removed. I can still open it up, but it's sort of hard and it hurts a bit," he explained, grabbing his eyepatch and putting it back on. "The eyepatch makes sure it isn't exposed or anything, so it makes sure nothing hurts."

"If you say so," the medic said, sterilizing her tools and throwing away her gloves and used bandages. "You know where to find me if anything goes wrong."

"I'll be back for maintenance every once in a while," Link said, getting all of his armor back on. "Can I get a hand with the sleeve? It's a little hard to do by myself."

"Sure thing," the medic said as she slid the sleeve back over Link's arm, taking note of how much he winced as she did. "Something tells me 'every once in a while' actually means 'often', right?"

"I guess," Link said with a sigh as he donned his cloak once more. "Well, thanks. Do I owe you anything or...?"

"What? No," she said, looking at him as though he insulted her. "You're a part of the team now, you get access to our perks."

"Well that's pretty convenient. Hey, what should I call you? I really only know a few people here, and if I'm a part of the team then it'd make sense for me to get to know people," Link said, standing back up and moving his arm around a bit, being surprised that it felt a little better than usual. A few stitches go a long way, apparently.

"They call me Doc," she said as she offered him her hand. "I'm sure you can guess why."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Link said as he turned to leave. "Thanks again."

"Anytime, Knight," she said, accepting the next patient as Link walked back to his tent, finding Noctus sitting at his desk with his feet up listening to music.

Bumping the back of his chair, he caught his attention, the Huntsman removing an earbud and glancing to see Link.

"They do anything new?" he asked, Link kind of half nodding.

"Stitches on top of the usual antiseptics. She still recommended I see a real hospital when I can though, like usual," he explained, taking a seat at his own desk. "Oh, and I guess we have codenames now?"

"Oh, fun. What we got?" Noctus asked, pausing his music and fully turning to face Link.

"I guess they're calling me Knight, and you Midnight," Link said, Noctus thinking and shrugging for a moment.

"It fits I guess, but won't that get confusing?" he said, Link nodding after a moment.

"Probably. It's a good thing I clarified we're gonna act as a unit then, huh?" Link joked, turning back to face his own desk. "I'm probably gonna do some weapon maintenance, and I'm gonna listen to my music while I work. If you need anything, bump me or something."

"Got it," Noctus said as he turned back towards his desk, looking at his sword in the corner. "I probably should too, now that I think about it..."

With that, he grabbed his sword and put it on his desk, going to work honing the edge while Link checked the mechanisms on his gauntlet and rifle.

They had a feeling that this was going to be their new normal for a while.

Oh boy new chapters. Nothing too special here though. Like with the real Volume 4, Volume (4) is going to be more of a transitional volume than anything else. So bear with me for a while.

I do have some fancy stuff planned later on though. Fun fun fun.

OniHelix out!