This… this had not quite gone to plan. Not that anything ever did go to plan, but he'd hoped it wouldn't go quite so awry so early.
Step one had gone quite well. Wearing his Abominae Mask had prevented his Mana Flash from blinding him, whilst seeming to not only catch Seiren off guard, but also blind her, seeing as she'd started stumbling backwards, clawing at her face.
Step two had proven to be a bit more of a shot in the dark, using XII. The Hanged to pull himself towards Blake and Ilia, managing to avoid smashing himself into either the ceiling or the wall. He'd landed the dismount quite well, actually, so it had worked, but only through sheer luck.
Step three was where things began to break down a little. Ilia had been the closer of the two, and he'd quickly scrambled over to her, her blank eyes locking onto him as her writhing redoubled beneath Shirdal.
Naruto was winging this, not that he hadn't been before, but this was real untouched territory. Ilia could be mad with him when he got them out of this situation. Nothing he couldn't handle, though.
Naruto cast Mindbend on Ilia.
Good news, it worked. Ilia's eyes regained their color, and she realized exactly what had happened, already putting on a full-body blush courtesy of not only her memory, but also her chameleon heritage.
Bad news, Naruto couldn't really communicate the rest of his plan very accurately, because he'd accidentally made Ilia temporarily deaf. Mindbend was literally preventing any sound from going from her ears to her brain. That was an interesting effect. It definitely could've been worse, he could've made her terrified of him.
Ilia gasped, re-tripling her efforts to break free of Shirdal's talons.
Oh, right, the mask. That probably wasn't helping the situation.
Naruto lifted it quickly, just enough to show Ilia that he was in fact underneath it, and then pointed towards the now recovered Seiren, who was already turning towards them.
Shirdal moved to intercept, buying Naruto a few seconds to scramble over to Blake, beneath Callisto, but he was already worried. Naruto cast Mindbend again.
Blake's eyes regained their color in much the same way Ilia's had, but they didn't look anywhere, remaining fixed on one single point. Naruto swore under his breath.
That… that was where the plan really broke down. Mindbend, as it turned out, could also inflict blindness.
Which meant that Blake was temporarily blind.
At least he could only hold Mindbend on one target at a time, meaning that Ilia was no longer deaf. Of course, now he'd have to use it on her again in order to prevent Blake from being blind, but that wasn't even possible, seeing as each target seemed to have a cooldown. He couldn't use it on Ilia again, despite trying.
Shirdal disappeared in a puff of smoke, giving Naruto what felt like a mild heart attack, as Callisto found herself on the proverbial back foot, forced to give ground to the ever advancing Seiren.
Not good. At least Seiren's mental control hadn't re-engaged on Blake or Ilia, which he was definitely thankful for. A single positive amongst the sea of severe negatives.
Naruto's next part of the plan was summarily abandoned as he felt another sharp pain, watching as Callisto also disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Naruto was, unfortunately, still unarmed. "Get Blake clear!" He yelled, already stepping in front of the two, raising his fists.
Seiren paused her approach, tilting her head. "Impressive. You broke my control on them as well. You do have a number of hidden talents." The bone on her hands sharpened even further, at the cost of the armor on her arms. "I'm interested to see how you'll avoid me now, though, without any weapons, or turned brethren, or any of the other tricks you've had at your disposal."
Naruto decided the most mature response would be to flip her off.
Cadejo came to his rescue in the nick of time, though, jaws clenched around the grip of Crocea Mors, and Naruto took it from the wolf with a quick head pat. No matter the situation there was always time for a head pat.
Seiren scoffed as Naruto leveled Crocea Mors at her once more. "I'm not going to surrender. You can try to intimidate me as much as you want, it won't work."
She shot forwards in response, claws angled to cut straight through Crocea Mors and then him right afterwards, but the blade held true in the face of the razor-sharp bone, Naruto using both hands to prevent it from going through once more.
Except Naruto noticed something incredibly important. Despite there being sharper bone, the attack actually felt… weaker?
He pushed back against the attack, swapping the Abominae Mask from Beowolf to Ursa with a mental command as he swapped his buff from Haste to Power, putting all his power into Strength as he broke the blade/claw lock, stepping forward with a powerful swing, casting a Mana Slash just for the additional damage.
It hit, and it hit hard. The slash didn't cover any distance because it literally hit a moment before the actual blade did, and it was effectively like hitting twice with the same weapon in the same moment. A powerful strategy that Naruto was surprised he hadn't stumbled across earlier.
He could see bone chipping away, small fragments hitting the damaged stone, and he kept up his onslaught, swinging again with the same double attack, another charged Mana Slash impacting a nano-second before.
Seiren had been ready for it, pushing the blade out of the way, but he wasn't going to give up on any of that momentum yet, delivering a Gravity Infused Mana Blast to her chest with his free hand, launching her backwards and keeping her suspended in the air for a moment, the gravitational effect the infusion had preventing Seiren from moving.
He hooked her with XII. The Hanged, and reeled her in, delivering a devastating slash that hit her right arm, just above where the bone plating of her hand began.
It sunk into pale flesh with a satisfying squelch, and Naruto withdrew the blade, hitting her with a Lightning Infused Mana Blast to launch her backwards yet again.
The only difference was that she was now missing a hand, the offending item laid on the ground, twitching slightly.
Seiren was screaming loudly, but it wasn't a scream of pain. This was a proper scream of rage, of pure fury. She took a hit to the side, more lightning flowing through her wounded body, but she grabbed the whip and pulled hard, tugging Ilia towards her.
It was so sudden that Naruto could barely react as she took Ilia by the throat and began draining her, and despite the fact that Naruto was moving, he could already see a familiar sight, flesh reforming around a severed limb.
He slashed downwards, causing Seiren to release Ilia or take a blow to the head, but the proverbial damage had already been done, even if the bone plating that covered her was no longer anywhere near as dense or sharp as it had been before.
"We've gotta wear her down without letting her drain us! That's why she was so strong, she was constantly sapping you and Blake!" Naruto shouted, firing a Mana Cannon in Seiren's direction.
She avoided it with a quick spin to the side, but Naruto and Ilia both were pushing forward, trying to keep their distance whilst still maintaining melee range. She was too wily to pick off at range, and Ilia's only ranged attack had nearly thrown all of Naruto's work away.
Melee was dangerous, but it was the lesser of two evils.
Naruto watched as Ilia slashed, and he ducked under the lightning-charged whip as it swung around, just missing, but he was already swinging Crocea Mors at Seiren's legs, the Grimm-seductress using it as a stepping stone to flip over him, only to find Ilia taking another attempt at landing a strike.
It hit bone plating, hastily rearranged, but Naruto stabbed behind him, grinning in satisfaction as the blade bit into flesh, even if it was for only a moment.
A flicker of green escaped the tip of his blade, too, as it landed the strike, and he could see Seiren scramble for distance, but her movements were slightly woozier. He'd never had it happen before, usually when it did activate the target was already dead, but the moment the strike landed, Sixth Labour, the perk Naruto had gotten so long ago from Alcmena, activated, poisoning Seiren.
It wasn't a powerful poison, but it was something, and in a war of attrition, it was exactly the minute advantage Naruto was appreciative of.
She'd gained some considerable distance the moment the poison had activated. It obviously spooked her, and her bone plating was rapidly flaking off, now. It seemed the constant damage was wearing her reserves low.
Naruto snapped Predator up, firing a shot, smirking in satisfaction as the round put a hole in her shoulder, and Seiren let loose another scream, before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
Naruto immediately went on alert, stowing Predator back in his inventory and readying himself, eyes scanning the room.
Ilia moved first, and Naruto realized why a second later. Blake was still blind, a prime target to be drained!
He followed the chameleon faunus closely, only to see Blake, eyes closed, narrowly avoiding the attempted grapple of Seiren.
Or at least Naruto had to assume it was Seiren. It was a cloud of smoke that seemed to have an arm, or sorts. Another hallucination? He'd broken free of her control, so was this just some kind of camouflage?
Naruto didn't know, and frankly didn't care about why. He just needed to know how to counter it, and seeing as Blake was relying entirely on her hearing to avoid, Naruto figured the black-haired ex-freedom-fighter could use some help.
He Flashstepped forwards, blade cutting through smoke, revealing that despite the fact that it was a kind of illusion, it wasn't a particularly powerful one. Perhaps if it had been more powerful it would have triggered System Mind?
Seiren had been using it as a distraction. Damn it, now he was out of position, part-way through a slash, and unable to prevent his blade from digging into the stone. She was behind him, grabbing at his arm, but a bullet from Blake, who, Naruto wanted to note for the record, was still blind, stalled her long enough for him to turn incorporeal with Phaseshift, moving clear of Seiren's reach. He'd not let go of Crocea Mors this time, turning the blade incorporeal along with him, and he'd freed it from the stone without any effort.
A lash from Ilia made Seiren remember that Naruto and Blake were not alone, and Blake's eyes suddenly opened, amber staring piercingly at the bone-clad woman-Grimm hybrid that was in between the three of them.
There was absolutely no way she was going to give into the three teenagers, though, that much was certain. Her typical illusions were ill-effective, her bone plating was minimal at best, and what little remained was fragmented and cracked, flakes and whole chunks falling off.
She began backing up, slowly but surely. "You haven't won, you've merely delayed the inevitable," she remarked, and though the only part of her that was clad in anything were the claws on her hands, she kept her weaponized fingers up and ready to attack.
"You've got nowhere to run, and we've figured you out," Naruto said in reply. "Surrender and die."
"You would kill a hostage just to get to me?" Seiren asked, having backed up to the pool of water.
Naruto shrugged. "I don't see any hostages."
Seiren reached into the pool, pulling out a small girl. A very familiar girl. Naruto and Blake both widened their eyes.
"Dawn?" Naruto asked, tentatively. He wasn't sure if this was another trick or not, but if it wasn't…
The little girl just whimpered as a set of sharp claws wrapped around her throat. "Leave, Hunters. Take the rest and leave me be. Or she and the rest die."
"Naruto, if there's a chance…" Blake began, in a whisper.
A million things ran through Naruto's mind in an instant, and he settled on the only thought that seemed to stick out.
Naruto pulled out Predator and put a round through Dawn's head and into Seiren's chest without a second thought, watching as not only did the girl disappear, but Seiren clasped at the hole in her.
Both Blake and Ilia's eyes widened as Naruto heard the noise of a pop-up being automatically minimized, but he ignored all of that external information, burying Crocea Mors deep into Seiren's throat, plunging the blade straight through until the hilt was touching her chin.
"Your illusions won't work on me, you disgusting bitch."
Seiren spluttered a mouthful of black blood onto his mask, and Naruto just snarled, yanking Crocea Mors free out the side of her neck, severing her head from her body, letting both drop into the pool of water.
"Burn in hell."
[Congratulations! The Hallowed Bay has been cleared!]
[Rewards have appeared!]
[A shortcut has appeared on Floor 18!]
[You've gained 10,115,000XP and 46,750 Lien! You've acquired 1 Skull of Lust, 10 Diamond Seeds, 1 Platinum Seed and 1 Damascus Key!]
[You have leveled up two times and gained +10 Stat Points!]
[You have gained +10 Reputation with Menagerie!]
[Hunter Bounty: Hallowed Quay Complete! You've gained 1 Materia Crystallum!]
[More notifications waiting!]
Naruto ignored it all, throwing Crocea Mors to the side and slumping down onto his knees, letting loose a sob.
That… that had been a lot. Just a lot of everything.
System Mind triggered, bringing him back to his senses, but he could still feel the underlying anguish. It was just dulled, heavily so.
He pushed sweat-slicked hair out of his face, finding himself being hauled to his feet by Blake. "Are you alright?"
Ever his rock, he appreciated the question. "Yeah, you?"
Blake nodded. "Nothing a few sessions of therapy won't fix."
Naruto let loose a half-hearted laugh at her poor attempt at making light of the situation. "I won't ask what she made you see."
Blake stilled up, but nodded gratefully. "I won't ask you either."
Mutual solidarity was great, Naruto concluded.
"Ilia, you good?" He asked, turning to face the girl.
Despite the fluttering of emotions that she seemed to be going through, considering the rapidly changing color scheme of her skin, she nodded.
Naruto brushed off his shirt, realizing he was completely caked in muck and viscera. "Let's go check on the faunus and then get the hell out of here. I don't want to be in this place any longer."
He retrieved Crocea Mors, grabbing the sword and then quickly using his grappling hook to snag his shield, a hefty yank pulling it free. "What do you think, Blake? Improvised chain-mace?"
"Only if I'm nowhere near you."
He strode over to where he could see a Damascus Chest, scooping it up and dropping it unceremoniously into his inventory, trusting that his semblance wasn't so evil to give him a mimic just after all that, before noticing the other reward that lay on the ground.
A mace, more specifically a morningstar, with a long handle and a solid, spiked orb at the head, made of a familiar silver metal, with a gold trim around the handle, wrapped in a blue fabric.
The moment Naruto laid eyes on it, it spoke to him. Metaphorically, of course, anything else would be him channelling his inner Ruby, but there was something about this weapon.
Naruto picked it up, feeling its oh-so-satisfying weight in his hand. He Observed it, eyes widening.
[Caligo Mors]
[Morningstar, Artifact]
[The morningstar used by Oriens Uzumaki, a solid grip ending in a rounded head covered in spikes. Believed to have been lost somewhere on Menagerie's coastline.]
"This has to be what she was talking about when she said she'd met another Uzumaki. Oriens Uzumaki… wish I knew a little more about my family tree."
"Naruto! The Faunus have woken up from the trances! We need to get them out of here!"
Blake's voice snapped Naruto out of his thoughts, and he quickly stowed the weapon in his inventory, jogging towards the exit.
His mind went on automatic as he helped Blake and Ilia usher the lost, confused and hungry faunus citizens through the newly opened shortcut, which, Naruto was glad to find, was less of a tunnel of water, as he'd been expecting, but a long ramp that seemed to lead all the way up to the surface.
It wasn't the longest of walks, but these people were weak from some time underground without much, if any, sustenance.
So, Naruto's summons came back out, and after a lot of convincing, he had the weakest riding on them as they walked back up to the surface.
The day was finally over, and Hallowed Bay was finally cleared.
So why hadn't the lingering feeling of dread gone away?
Naruto had never thought he'd really miss Kuo Kuana, but now that he was arriving back at the Belladonna household, drenched in sweat, dirt and various Grimm viscera, he realized exactly how much he'd missed the place.
A shower sounded like an absolute dream right now. Ilia had accompanied them back, either unwilling or unable to return to what sounded like a large White Fang barracks, and Blake was more than happy to provide a place for her to stay.
Kali and Ghira also seemed more than happy to do so, just as they were with Naruto.
On the exception that they clean themselves off as soon as possible. Naruto might not have the same improved senses that all Faunus shared, but if he could tell he stunk to high hell and back, then he'd've hated to be dealing with that on a massively increased level.
Plus, hot water running over his 'bruised and battered' body, despite it very much having healed at this point, well, that was always a significant plus.
He let loose a moan the moment he got underneath the showerhead, relishing in the feeling of bliss that flowed over him, soap assisting the water in cleaning him of the past day's grime and guts. A lot of the former, and even more of the latter than expected.
His mind would have wandered back over the past day, reminiscing on the moments, lingering on the mistakes he'd made, but his unread notifications were of more interest to him at that moment, and he quickly opened them up, reading through.
[For surviving such a dangerous ordeal, you have gained +2 END, +2 STR and +1 LCK!]
[A title has ranked up!]
[Banker has reached the rank of Diamond!: All Lien drops +75% while equipped!]
[Multiple entries have been filled in the Grimmonomicon!]
[Achievement Unlocked!]
[Exterminator: Clear a Lair. Reward: Challenge Module Recipe.]
[You have gained +2 Corruption!]
Naruto accepted the reward from the achievement, unsure of what a Challenge Module was, and proceeded to read the final notification, worry creeping into his mind.
He'd known the risk of gaining corruption from using the Abominae Mask, but he didn't actually know what corruption was.
His player menu now had a Corruption meter, though, sitting at 2 of 100, and from a tertiary glance, he could tell his Aura was lower than before.
Not by much. Two percent, he had to guess, considering the numbers. The worst part was he didn't really know how to remove corruption, which wasn't great.
It wasn't a huge deal now. It didn't seem to be anything else other than a slight dip in his AP, so he was alright with not worrying about it.
Naruto stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel off the rack and quickly towelling himself dry, equipping clean clothes and stepping out of the bathroom.
He made his way all the way out to the Belladonna household's courtyard, noting Blake mid-discussion with Kali about something. He nodded a quick hello, not wishing to interrupt Blake's stream of verbal thoughts, and took a seat next to the two.
"Mom, if the White Fang were involved with what happened at Hallowed Bay, this is serious. There were no humans, it'd be pure faunus-on-faunus violence."
Kali hummed in thought. "There's not too much evidence to prove they were involved, aside from the testimonies of the faunus from Hallowed Quay. Seeing as they're in recovery right now, we're not going to get anything from them for a little while, but when they do recover enough to talk, I suppose we'll find out. I'll let your father know."
Blake nodded, as Kali continued, turning her attention towards Naruto. "What about you, dear? I suppose you might want a break. You certainly deserve one. All of you do, actually."
Naruto let out a laugh. "If only. My semblance would disagree, though. All efficiency, all progress, no breaks."
Kali frowned. "You might get hurt like that, Naruto."
Naruto nodded. "That's the life of a Hunter, I guess. All action, all injuries. At least mine don't last too long."
Blake spoke up. "So what is next, Naruto?"
Naruto… Naruto didn't know. He didn't speak, instead frowning in deep thought.
It was some moments later when he did say something. "Honestly, we've still got two teammates out there who might need our help. Weiss, maybe, but Pyrrha…" He trailed off, concern for his partner evident. "Despite everything, I don't think Menagerie likes me being here, and with the White Fang making moves like they have, me being here is the spark for what might just be a very big Dustkeg. No matter what, I think I have to leave Menagerie, especially whilst all this is going on. I'm just not sure where to head."
A new voice spoke up, deep yet calm. "I might just have what you need, then. The Vale CCT is back up and running, and whilst it's still a little finicky, I did manage to receive a message or two. Including one addressed for Blake, from Weiss Schnee."
Naruto and Blake shared a glance, before Blake took her father's scroll, playing the message.
Weiss appeared on the screen. "Blake. I hope you are with your family, because if you are not, I doubt I'll be able to track you down. If you do get this, please, find Naruto and come to Atlas. I need your help."
"When was this sent?" Blake asked her father, a worried expression on her face.
"Two days ago," Ghira said. "I only just got it in my office a few hours ago. There's been no news of attacks in Atlas, so whatever your partner's issue is, it's not Grimm related."
Naruto frowned. "Weiss wouldn't ask for help unless it was serious."
Blake nodded. "It's probably a family thing, knowing hers."
Naruto nodded, though he wasn't completely familiar, he'd heard rumours. "So, that's our next stop I guess. Not much else for us to do here. We can't really help any more than we already have, unless some other kind of gigantic dungeon has appeared."
Ghira shook his head with some amusement. "I'm afraid not."
Naruto stood up. "Well, I'm going to open all the chests I got from the dungeon. Anyone wanna watch me pull a bunch of things out of nothing?"
Ghira shook his head yet again. "As much as I wish I could spend some time relaxing, duty calls. My dear, if Fennec and Corsac stop by, tell them they can find me in town."
Kali nodded. "I'll make sure to make it as vague as possible, just to buy you as much time as I can. Good luck out there. I'm going to go make some tea, perhaps read a book."
Ghira bent over to give his wife a kiss, before he bid a hasty retreat.
"Blake? Interested in what we worked so hard to get?"
Blake stood up. "Give me the briefest rundown you can when you're done. I need to go have a talk with Ilia."
She followed her mother out of the courtyard, leaving Naruto as alone as he ever could be.
He shrugged. "Oh well. At least you can all keep me company."
All the summons he could fit within the courtyard would be more than enough, after all.
[You have opened 3 Citrine Chests and acquired 39 Iron Ore, 65 Coal, 19 Zinc Ore, 6 Adamantite Ore, 1 Silver Ore, 6 Anaxis Seeds, 2 Uncut Sapphires, 1 Grade VI Air Dust Crystal and 2 Grade III Lightning Dust Crystals.]
[You have opened 1 Opal Chest and acquired 2 Uncut Onyx, 3 Caeruleum Vials, 9 Zinc Ore and 6 Adamantite Ore.]
[You have opened 4 Cobalt Chests and acquired 167,533 Lien, 244 Adamantite Ore, 238 Mithril Ore, 10 Coal, 3 Uncut Diamonds, 5 Uncut Manastones, 3 Maple Saplings, 1 Mahogany Sapling, 2 Hearthstones and 1 Damascus Chest Key.]
[You have opened 2 Damascus Chests and acquired 80 Tin Ore, 187 Iron Ore, 147 Mithril Ore, 130 Gold Ore, 126 Zinc Ore, 2 Uncut Manastones, 1 Uncut Dragonstone, 5 Topaz Seeds, 1 Ash Sapling, 5 Maple Saplings, 5 Mahogany Saplings, Charm Skillbook, Terminator PACK, Cryptic Clue.]
Naruto stared at the notifications. "What am I going to do with all of this?"