Context regarding the protagonist on the A/N.
Chapter 1: He who fought, he who fell.
Cheers and screams of victory entered his ears. Who could blame everyone? The battle had been harsh and long. He could imagine the fist of the new greatest Hunter rising in the air, signifying that everything was over, that their enemy was defeated. A moment that would certainly be the birth of his legend, one that would likely be remembered for many years to come.
"Heh...hehehe…" A small, rugged chuckle could be heard on one of the many gymnasiums of the Academy. Even if his shadow was silent, even if his vision was becoming blurry and the sweet embrace of death was starting to creep over him Miles, who was laid down against a wall, smiled.
"We did it…" he said to nobody in particular, before glancing down. "Sorry… You had to use up all your energy…"
Minutes passed and he heard no response. It was rare for Katia to remain silent for so long, even when she had been at her weakest she still had delivered that cocky smile with that high air about her. He wanted to theorize why, but he felt too exhausted, it was hard to form thoughts. A warm, red liquid had formed a small pond beneath him, he couldn't feel any regenerative power healing his body, his mind began to feel dizzy.
"..." The young man then looked up. Faint memories entered his mind, memories about how Keiichi, his sister, and himself had been able to defeat the right hand man of the Cult of Revival's leader, the wielder of the cursed Hellcalibur.
It had been a difficult fight, he had already been tired from his previous confrontations so his partner had to give up every little spare energy she had to him. Even so, Ryusuke, the man, had given him a brutal battle before his sister arrived to help.
Together they had brought him down, and yet, despite it all, the curse of Hellcalibur had taken over the dead body of the man and reanimated it. After that it had been more a struggle for survival than a batte, until Keiichi, a powerful Hunter, arrived to make the safe for them.
At a certain point, perhaps in desperation or a genuine flash of cunning from his part, Miles had taken part of the curse onto him, weakening the demonic Hellcalibur in the process. All of their combined strength was necessary to, for the final time, defeat the empty husk of a man.
Miles remembered as they carefully laid him to rest, before hurriedly leaving to help Minato in his battle against Toshirou, the cult leader. That was the last time he had seen them.
"...?" Miles looked up, but this time things were different, as he could no longer see, his vision had become far too clouded and his mind was drifting too far on the 'other side' as chemicals were released by his brain. "Nee-chan…" He wanted to sigh, but breathing out hurt more than it ever should have. It hadn't been the first time Miles felt death looming over his shoulder, but this time it felt different: peaceful in a wicked manner, the black and white sword he held on his right hand slowly fading as his life also did.
"I was… weak in the end… s-sorry…" There were many things he still wanted to see, things he wanted to experience and places he wanted to be. Much more than ever. He had been saved… by Katia, by Minato, by Oshino, by everyone and this was how he would repay it? By leaving a gash in their hearts?
"I'm… pathetic, aren't I…?" And yet he did not feel fear, he didn't feel resentment. The future was on Minato's shoulders, the lives of the family he had made this year, the family that was class 1-B would still be in good hands. His life would come to an end. Just as it had begun.
"Miles!" There was a faint sound, perhaps the last he heard when he finally closed his eyes after a final, quiet chuckle. They felt heavy, all of his body did.
"No! Oh, God..." His sister kneeled down and held him close to her, as tight as she could, to not let him go away. Warm tears of regret and sorrow fell on his now cold face, strands of her long, silver hair grazing it as she brought him close. She would have used her sheath to heal him, but it was a fruitless effort at this point, she was exhausted and the holy relic would only halt the inevitable for some time.
You feel… so warm, Nee-chan…
The cheers in the halls of Kasatsu Academy were replaced by the sorrowful crying of a sister who had failed her brother. On that day, victory was bittersweet. The number of injured surpassed the hundreds, but fortunately, the only casualties reported were by some cult members who had died in the hands of their own berserker Shadows.
There was one exception however, one that tore the hearts of many students and staff of the institution. On that day, many had lived and only one had died. One student… one who wished to protect everything he loved, valiantly fighting until the end against many foes greater than him, for the wish that perhaps the war would come to an end.
On that day, a silent, mournful prayer was all that accompanied the death of Miles van Astrea.
'It is a shame your passing will be like this. Perhaps in another world your life would've continued, dear pained one… However, you perished and not even a goddess should interfere with a cycle so important as life and death.'
...His mind felt strange. He couldn't breathe, but he felt as if there was no need to do so. There was no touch, no smell, no sight. Only the warmest voice he had ever heard in his life, it was the only thing accompanying him in this endless void.
'I do believe, though, your path is not yet over. Whilst you were fated to pass on this day, I do not believe you have reached a point where you can be satisfied yet, am I wrong?'
If he was honest, it felt bitter. So it was true he had died. He wanted to sigh, but there were no lungs nor a body that could allow him to, Miles could only think. "No…" he formed a simple thought, but it felt more than enough.
'In that case… What would you say to striking a deal with this goddess who miserably failed you and your dear friends?'
"A deal…?" He formed another thought. "I'm dead, miss goddess, at this point I find it hard to turn down…" A brief pause. "Let me hear it first at least."
'Oh, of course! Miles found it endearing, she sounded happy. 'I was planning on telling you anyways. It would be irresponsible of me to not inform a dear hero of what his next mission was.'
"Well? I don't know if I have ears, but I'm listening."
'To start off I will say that I unfortunately cannot revive you in your world, as I said, I am not who to decide against Fate.' Yeah, he guessed as much, but he wouldn't complain at this point. The bitterness of dying was already deluded from the fact that he was likely hallucinating a conversation with a goddess in his dying moments. Oh well. 'However… With my authority, I can give you life in a world different than yours.'
A different world? He felt a slight headache coming in… except there was no head that could hurt, so he just kept on listening.
'First. I wish you to keep growing, to keep living. I will not tell you something cruel like to forget the cherished and sad memories that made you who you are. Your pains, experience and abilities will carry on.'
Well, that was slightly unexpected. At some point he had basically accepted that he would just be reincarnated into someone else in this 'different world' the goddess spoke of. He wasn't going to complain, he had liked his life, even with all its lower points. His friends and family had 'fixed' the broken toy known as Miles van Astrea, he would feel very bittersweet to be told he'd just start from zero with maybe just part of his completely lovable personality. "My abilities? Does that include my relic?" It would be incredibly useful to have alongside him the crystallization of his soul.
'Every skill that once was at your disposal and used to slay the enemies of mankind. She clarified. Apart from that first point… there is a second.'
"I guessed so from the start. What would it be?"
'This world you will be traveling to is one whose path differs from yours greatly, yet I am certain you will find the similarities between the two rather quickly. You are knowledgeable for a human of the modern ages.'
"Go on, please." His mind insisted. He decided to hear the whole thing before drawing a conclusion.
'The lands and people have stagnated on a war against beings similar to the Shadows my sister once spawned. There is of course an origin to this scourge, and while there are still some humans that remain seeking it to finally lay it to rest, the focus of this world has shifted into shelling itself. At a point in time, humans began to discriminate amongst themselves and categorize different humans as a different species. It is similar in a way to… my sister's children.' The goddess sounded ashamed for a moment. 'Humanity in this world is shattered and uncooperative. A world consisting of a Remnant of what it once was.'
"I understand… Though, you will have to excuse my rudeness, miss goddess. I will not be able to refuse it if it comes to it, but I won't feel comfortable or capable of solving every problem this new place has. I may be strong, but you yourself saw it: I am not capable of bearing the weight of a world on my shoulders, it simply is unrealistic." His nature wouldn't escape him, not even in death, and not even in the presence of a supreme being.
'Of course, I understand that, dear pained one. Which is why I am unwilling to give you such a goal. There are other things I wish to accomplish, with the first priority I already stated of course.'
"Thanks for understanding." He felt a slight relief. "Please tell me the goals I am to achieve."
'Certainly. To start off, I want you to get to know this world, explore it and take fondness of it. To find a real motive to protect it that comes solely from your heart and not at my request, to defend it and its people.' Miles headlessly nodded, it was a reasonable request.
'Secondly, I wish you to help, with your experience, the comrades and friends you will meet. The difference lies in the small things, it is the little embers that eventually change the world greatly. Change the world little by little, dear Miles, maybe it won't be you who destroys the darkness that dwells deep inside Remnant, but perhaps it will be someone inspired by you. I understand it was never your goal to be a hero, but… be there for those who need it, make them elude the pains you went through. I do not know someone who will do a better job than you will.'
"To be a hero, hm…" It was a hard goal, one that wasn't inscribed in his mind, contrary to a certain purple haired Guardian he knew. In the last months of his life, the idea of becoming a teacher had popped inside his head, it wasn't a bad profession and he would be a guide to the future generations of hunters. But a hero that inspires? Was it really so different anyways? If he made strides in this new world, he could achieve this goal, he could prevent something like the war in his own world from ever happening.
'Are my requests not to your liking…?' The goddess sounded unseasy.
There was a moment of silence. No, it would be more accurate to say that there was a moment of thoughtlessness, there was nothing to hear in this emptiness anyways. 'To be a hero' was a great responsibility, heroes were meant to lead, to inspire, to harbor every pain from the people around them and still stand strong as paragons of peace and justice, they were sacrifices for the greater good, shields of mankind.
Miles considered heroes as more "Symbols", than anything else. Heroes couldn't reach every corner and save everyone, he hadn't been saved by heroes, but by troubled and real individuals, just like himself. Still, he thought back on Minato's, his best friend's words: 'As long as one person smiles thanks to what you say or do, those things would be worth it'. Those words had once taken him out of a dark place… and perhaps he could carry that torch onto others.
"...Very well." A thought finally formed on his mind, or whatever subconsciousness was left of him. The van Astrea finally came to terms with the goals set out by the goddess, and what his new responsibility was. In a very, very bizarre manner, he had been given yet another chance at life, it was starting to make sense for him at that point: if he could prevent the pain that struck so many people in his world, he would become a hero, perhaps even a Symbol.
'That makes me so very happy, dear Miles. He could feel the goddess smile, even if he couldn't see her. All you need to hold onto that resolve, let this silly goddess do the rest.'
Never before those words had the void felt so close. His thoughts slowly began to fade as he finally saw something, no, someone. What a beautiful woman it was… her light green hair and warm expression took a hold of his mind and finally put it to rest. All thoughts escaped him, but suddenly his eyes felt the characteristic brightness of being beneath a streetlight.
'Coming back from the dead… feels cold.'
Such was the first thought that popped his still numb mind. By all means, he should be deceased. The injuries he sustained in his fight against Ryusuke should've been more than enough to at least permanently cripple him, even more so when he took the bold choice to exert possession over the black knight's relic.
Yet there he was, standing beneath a streetlight of an unknown city, it looked to be European built and slightly more futuristic than those back in his world. Thinking back on it, the goddess had only given him a very streamlined version of the information he might've needed to start his new life. Was there a way to contact her? He doubted it.
From this point on, he would have to seek answers to his own questions. She had told him his mission was to learn and to find a new life in this world.
"Remnant, was it…?" Hearing his voice escape his dry throat did finally assure him he was still indeed, alive. Miles sighed, faint thoughts of regret started to fill his head. He had pushed his body and soul too far, which had led him to meet an untimely demise. Miles felt bad for the people he left behind, the young man hated the thought of them mourning his death, it just left a bad feeling in his mouth. If he had been smarter, it wouldn't have needed to come to that.
Miles looked up at the shattered moon, which surprised him quite a bit, but the surprise was quickly taken away by an idea. He hurriedly checked his shadow, but as he did, the little hope that she had followed him dissipated. A small sigh left his lips, did that mean Soulcalibur would start to corrupt him? He focused, seeking that "other" side of him. And it clicked. He looked for a nearby window and glanced at his reflection, his iris had turned a deep crimson, by concentrating one more time he dispelled his inhuman form. 'Good.' This meant he could likely fight at his strongest without worrying about corrupting his soul, at least for some time.
Miles took a second to look over himself. The injuries he had sustained throughout the final confrontation of the war were completely gone, not even leaving scars that could've potentially led to less than convenient questions in the future. The young man looked healthy, perhaps even healthier than he had ever been. He was lean and tall, a body type he most likely inherited from the Dutch side of his family.
His hair was a dark shade of brown, very similar in colour to his eyes. His haircut was simple and not too short, but not long either, his hair reached the nape of his neck, he had always made a habit of not letting it get too long. Miles had never stopped to notice it, but according to his female classmates and sisters, he was handsome, or at least he looked well enough to not look unapproachable, save for his sharp expression.
What surprised him the most though, was the fact that his clothes, specifically the combat uniform Oshino Aragami had made for him, were completely repaired, not even a mild evidence of damage. His uniform was mostly black and white, with some additions of brown around the details. He had always been annoyed at his legal guardian for making it too similar to a butler outfit, but alas, he had eventually taken a liking to the outfit. Plus, he had to admit it was expertly made, perfect to suit his combat needs and to allow for a fairly surprising degree of protection for such a light weight.
'Now, how to proceed?' Miles walked away from the window and looked around. The logical course of action would be to get employment somewhere and start from there. After quickly checking his pockets he only found his crushed phone, his wallet and old keys. Nothing he could immediately pawn off for some quick cash. Maybe he could offer his services in some kitchen and visit a library for information. He didn't know if the equivalent of Shadow Hunters existed in this world, there was still much to research abou-
BANG!
"A gunshot?!" His body reacted almost on instinct. His Soulcalibur, the black and white sword with a wing on its hilt, instantly materialized on his right hand with a simple thought. Not even five minutes in this world and he was already about to get in trouble, how swell.
Bang bang! He heard more gunshots, they were progressively getting closer to his general direction. 'Should I book it? There must be an authority in this city, with gunshots these loud they should-' "Kh!" A bullet dangerously passed next to his head, it was roughly about as fast as a Shadow's attack, so he had managed to react in time. Miles turned his head to see a red blurr fighting against a dozen or so men with black suits and an odd assortment of weaponry. He recognized what had grazed him to be a low caliber firearm, the same one he saw some of the men use.
"Tch, if this keeps up then a civilian will eventually get hurt." Miles narrowed his eyes and Awakened, drawing power from his soul. "What a great way to start a life in a new world." His eyes turned crimson, a grey aura began to surround him, Soulcalibur had separated into two separate shortswords, one black with Death and one white with Life, they mirrored the two gloves that appeared on his hands. 'I don't feel any corruption… Excellent.'
He got ready, the former Kasatsu student had no idea of the combat capabilities of these men, from what he saw with his enhanced vision, the red blurr was dealing with them rather effectively, they only had the upper-hand due to their sheer numbers. Ganking bastards.
'I can't take chances like these anymore… I won't make the same mistakes I did back then.'Without a second thought, he rushed in, or… that would be what he wanted to do, however, he stopped in his tracks when he finally laid his eyes upon the red blurr who was being pursuited. 'A girl?' Was his first thought. His second was the sheer ridiculousness of the weapon someone as small as her was wielding, THAT definitely was something that could easily be classified as an antimatter sniper rifle, but it also was an oversized scythe?
It reminded him of Oshino slightly, but that wasn't the only thing that reminded him of the deceased hunter. Her cape was… like his and Nagisa's. Was it their cape, actually? No, no, what were the odds of that? It was impossible. From what he understood, he had passed that cape onto Nagisa-senpai, a fellow Kasatsu student of his, many years ago, he only recognized it as Oshino's because of the old recordings and pictures he had seen.
Miles kept his eyes on the black-haired, red-dressed girl. She moved and she moved quite well, he could tell she was trained, even when looking so young. She was not older than Minato, he doubted it, and yet she fought in a way that really reminded him of his former legal guardian.
She used the recoil of the "gun" part of her scythe in order to amplify and cancel the momentum of her slashes, but she differed from Oshino in something: she could "air dash" using the recoil generated by the sniper rifle attached to the scythe. Or was the scythe attached to the gun? 'Wait… Is that weapon a relic?'He couldn't tell at a glance, he could feel something similar to Anima surrounding the girl and her sniper-scythe, but he was clueless.
In whatever case, he did notice that she was starting to have a tough time fending the almost literal horde of goons around her. Having such a volatile fighting style surely ought to tire her out fast.
"Sorry for taking long." Miles got into a stance and he dashed. His speed, even only at the first phase of Awakening, was several times faster than any normal human. By the time he engaged, a calculated swing of his swords disarmed the first two goons.
They only spared him a momentary, rather confused glance before they were already moving in to attack him as well, having recognized him as an enemy. 'These guys are well trained, their reaction time was admirably fast. This might get slightly complicated.'
The first who decided to attack him did so with a wide swing from his red cleaver, Miles ducked just low enough that the strike flew over his head, he reversed gripped the black shortsword on his left hand and quickly dashed past the enemy, slashing at his side and leaving a pretty bad cut on his ribcage, the Death element of the blade surely amplifying the pain the man felt.
Miles quickly registered him as "defeated" and moved on to the next unfortunate bastard. He raised his body and striked upwards against the guy's jaw with the flat of white shortsword, he grimaced slightly when he heard a slight "crack", the guy in question was sent sprawling away some other goon, who dropped on the ground as well.
Just before he could get comfortable, two men were shooting at him, with a third throwing a crystal at his direction. Miles narrowed his eyes and threw a sword at each of the guys, they hit them and the men ceased fire. As for the crystal, he jumped up and with an almost practiced motion carefully kicked it back. He saw utter panic in the guys' face as the crystal exploded near him. With a simple thought, the twinswords warped back to his hands.
'They're… strong, but nothing special.'Maybe stronger than most normal humans in his homeworld, but he was used to battling monsters several times stronger than some regular criminal goon slightly enhanced by whatever anima equivalent they had.
He concluded that being Awakened at the moment would be a waste, so, by joining both shortswords he deactivated it. His regal blade was back to normal, so were his eyes and, without skipping a beat, he began to subdue more of these henchmen.
Miles noted they were pretty sturdy, a swing of his sword wouldn't cut them, instead they would look exhausted, some sort of barrier around them would disperse and they would fall unconscious. He could only theorize it was something akin to the defensive barrier many hunters and shadows coated themselves with to reduce damage taken. In any case. "Hahh!" He dug his elbow deep into some unlucky man and sent him sprawling away.
His sword moved and attacked another person who could barely block one strike before having his guard broken and having their side pierced by Soulcalibur, the man simply collapsed from the damage. Miles decided that due to their innate defense he would be safely able to not hold back in his Unawaked state without accidentally killing someone. He moved with the same technique and fluidity which he used to strike shadows down, not leaving one standing in his wake.
Two more goons attacked, but with a timely dodge, a trip with his leg and two slashes on their solar plexuses, they fell.
One more attempted to strike from behind, a savage downwards swing that he categorized as a "success or suck" attack. Turning his body with great dexterity, Miles easily evaded it. The man stumbled as he didn't expect the sudden momentum of his failed strike, with a diagonal upwards slash and a subsequent thrust on his back from the dual coloured blade, he was out for the count.
Time moved slowly for the former hunter-in-training as he slashed one foe after the other, he was efficient if slightly brutal in his approach. Miles would leave none of the assaulters standing if it came to him. When two or more men approached him simultaneously, he reared himself back into the same unorthodox stance he had practiced time and time again and delivered a slash concentrated with Anima that blasted them away.
Soon enough and without him realizing, the number of foes had dwindled to only a couple, it was then when he also noticed that the red girl hadn't stopped either, she definitely seemed to be having an easier time with a partner at her side, although the slight sweat on her brow was telling that this fight had taken a toll, if only a slight one.
Together they managed to regain the advantage and cut through the numbers of foes with the sheer difference in skill between the duo and the group. However, when only one remained, Miles instinctively backed away, he knew this guy was trouble.
The guy in question wore a slightly annoyed grin on his face, a white suit, a cigar, a cane, and a pretty sleazy haircut under his fancy black bowler hat. The way he carried himself screamed to him that there was no way he was a simple goon. "That's their boss..." He muttered under his breath. However, his temporary partner didn't seem to have the awareness he did, Miles saw how she, with an inhumane speed, dashed past him to confront the man.
She began a rapid series of strikes and slashes, combined with fire from her sniper rifle and rapid kicks, however, the man showed no openings. When the opportunity came, he simply reflected a strike of hers with a slightly annoyed look and aimed the tip of his cane straight at the girl's face.
'Shit!' Of damn course the cane had to be a gun. He couldn't react quickly enough to save her… Damn it! He could only see as the girl fired her own sniper in an attempt to use its recoil and move herself in order to take the shot to her body. She flew across the air, the bullet had clearly hit its mark, the girl landed, stumbled slightly, and motionlessly collapsed on the ground.
"I don't normally do such brute acts in front of children, but this evening you really managed to take it from me." He had a cocky, irritated tone. "I must admit you two are skilled, especially you, the one with the straight sword. Perhaps without that ridiculous sense of justice you would've made fine thieves, but I grow tired of playing games tonight."
Miles grimaced as he saw some sort of flying vehicle approaching their location. The man with the cane quickly fired off some rounds at his direction, but he knew they weren't meant to hit him, they impacted the ground beneath his feet and made a layer of thick dust to rise. He closed his eyes for half a second, but that was enough for him to see the man quickly climbing up a ladder to the building where the airship was waiting.
"Damn it…!" Should he chase him? No. He had to check on the gi-...
"Sorry, do you mind if I go after him?" He saw the girl standing up to turn at a shopkeeper who was near them, apparently the man with the cane had robbed him. After seeing a nod, the girl quickly placed her sniper rifle behind her and with a loud "bam!", she had been propelled forward from the recoil of the gun.
You know what? At this point he didn't care. She might not be as powerful or experienced as some of the people he knew, but she had the guts and the style to back herself up. Miles felt like he shouldn't reveal his full hand just yet, so instead of using his common point-warp technique, he powered up his legs and dashed once, before powering them up even further with Anima and leaping to the building.
He soared across the air in a parabolic arc towards the building. Without something akin to Minato's wind magic, Miles landed with a loud thud on the roof before breaking his fall with a roll. He saw the girl ready to open fire at the thief, who was now boarding what looked like a modern V-tol type aircraft.
Miles however, felt his senses scream when the man took out a large crystal and tossed it at them, or more specifically, at the red girl. The gem landed about just ten meters away from her, and he could already see the sneaky bastard taking aim towards it. 'Shit!' Miles could almost feel the sheer energy that was encapsulated on the crystal. He remembered to have seen some of the goons tossing them around, they were similar to grenades, but on a much bigger scale. If the small ones the men had were sufficient enough to leave small craters on the street, one of that size could easily blow up half of the building. And them alongside it.
"Soulcalibur: barrier!" Miles rushed forward and passed by the girl, who didn't seem to react in the same way he had, Miles dismissed his sword and Awakened, this time all the way to the third phase. The girl could see, for a moment, how his hair turned silver and a wavy barrier covered him, as well as a gauntlet appearing on his right arm. Miles extended that arm, his right, and surely enough, a large copy of Soulcalibur materialized in front of them, it was wider and thicker than normal, definitely not meant for attacking, but for pure defense.
"Kh!" He could feel the brunt of the explosion hit the shield sword as soon as the thief fired from his cane. Shock travelled across his arm and onto his body. The explosion of that crystal could easily be compared to one of Haro's, one his classmates, better tier of offensive spells, it gave Miles the realization that the fighters in this world were dangerous, maybe there were individuals as dangerous as the cultists or worse.
He continued pumping Anima into the shield until he felt the heat dissipate, he had successfully stopped the explosion, but he fell to a knee, he was tired and his arm felt numb. Why had that explosion done such a number on him? He heard laughter from the man on the airship and he felt greatly irritated. He dispelled the shield and, when the smoke dissipated, he saw the figure of the thief grinning towards them. To Miles' relief, he also saw the red girl unscathed, though he didn't entirely notice her large, silver eyes staring at him with an awed look.
"Damn, do I hate tricky ones…" Sweat trickled down from his forehead, his eyes were unfocused, but now he was pissed with the cocky bastard. Miles closed an eye and aimed towards the airship, soon enough, copies of Soulcalibur began to spawn above him. He could feel himself grin when he noticed the slight panic growing on the thief's face. 'I've taken blows from a legendary shadow, this is nothing, you massive bastard.'
The copies above him quickly fired and began to plant themselves into the aircraft, Miles noted how the copies didn't degrade fast like they normally did, but that would be something he'd have to check another time. For now, he'd just have to keep firing until the aircraft fell. Plus, he could see the red girl also trying to shoot it down, some meters behind him, he was honestly glad she was there, even if he found her a bit too careless for her own good.
Imagine his surprise when he saw a tongue of fire coming out of the aircraft and destroying his copies. He clicked his tongue and tried to make them appear next to the aircraft, but he was tired and his control was limited. 'Is that another ability? Or a crystal or weapon? Magic, a relic? Goddess, why didn't you give me more information?!' He inwardly cursed.
Now, imagine his further surprise when not only did none of his copies or the girl's bullets got even close to the already fleeing aircraft, but when he felt the ground beneath him literally heating up like an oven. "Shit, this is-!" He cursed further beneath his breath, but there was little that could be done now, that steaming piece of crap would get away.
'Calm yourself…' He took in a short breath and jumped back to where the girl was, almost as soon as his feet left the ground, he saw a pillar of fire envelop the floor where he previously was standing. A second, later, he cursed even more when he saw that the entire building roof was turning red.
"Kh…" He felt weak and he honestly wanted to hide it for a bit more, but he wasn't about to risk the girl's life like that. Soulcalibur appeared in his right hand as he dashed to the girl and wrapped his arm around her waist. "You'll feel nauseous after this, but just hold tight for now! Point…" With all his strength, he threw Soulcalibur back at the street where the fight had originally started and he extended his hand. "Warp!" The last thing he saw was the irritated look of a woman dressed in red looking down at them.
Her name was Ruby Rose. She was a peculiar girl from Signal Academy, a combat school located in her hometown, in the island of Patch.
She had been browsing a weapon article in a Dust shop just some minutes ago, before she got assaulted in said shop alongside the shop owner. This had made her take action and dispatch some of the weaklings that decided to just walk in like the place was theirs.
Things however, had gotten slightly complicated when around a dozen or so more of them appeared to restrain her. The situation had been hairy until this mysterious guy came in to help her. It had been unexpected, but he was kicking some serious ass with that beautiful sword he had. she swore the thing was special, but she hadn't gotten the chance to properly ask him until now.
Ruby's Semblance was called "Speed", as it allowed her to move very quickly in a single direction. In a very little amount of time. However, "Speed" still took time, albeit little, as well as still implied Ruby had a body which moved.
But this? This was different… She simply felt the world change around them, one second they were almost about to get roasted like a turkey on the holidays and later, on the same second, they were hanging from a streetlight, seeing the airship fly away.
Ruby's brows furrowed, there was no way in hell was she going to be able to catch up to it now, it was as good as impossible, even with her Semblance. Ruby looked up at the guy who had helped her, she noticed his hair was back to a dark colour, or was it always like that? She didn't exactly remember. Oh, well. She ignored the dozen guys in red ties and black suits sprawled among the street and looked at him again. The only thing that mattered was what she wanted to say, and what she wanted to say was...
"Yoooo! That was SO AWESOME!"
Miles looked down at the red girl, he let go of the sword and carefully landed on the street, Soulcalibur warped to his right hand and he unwrapped his arm from her waist, letting her go. She basically had a sparkle in her eyes whilst looking at him. Well, her head and eyes couldn't entirely decide whether to keep themselves on his holy sword or himself.
"What's that weapon?! Did you make it?! How do you make copies of it?! Is it your Semblance, Aura, Dust?!" At that point she practically started jumping around him. "Are you a huntsman? You gotta be one, right?! Right?! Where did you learn? Does your sword have a name? I mean, jeez! And what about that shield you used and the armour and-"
"A-Alright… Calm down, will you? You're way too excited about this." 'So she's… an enthusiast, huh?' He thought. The girl reminded him of his friend Minato whenever the conversation turned to relics, History, or hunters… 'Wait… did she just say huntsman? As in like… hunter?' That had to be one of the coincidences the goddess had spoken of.
If there was a similar profession, perhaps he could become one for a steady source of income, a way to gain understanding and some renown in this new world. For now, however, he technically wasn't one, so he decided to answer honestly.
"And no, I'm not a huntsman. I er… used to train to be one." That technically wasn't a lie. "But some circumstances lead me to coming to this city. Oh, I'm Miles van Astrea, by the way." He said while offering his hand for a handshake. The girl took his hand very enthusiastically after shifting her scythe-sniper weapon into a more compact form.
"The name's Ruby Rose!" She said, with a bright smile. Now that she was closer, Miles could get a better look of her. To put it in simple terms… she was red. Red cape that suspiciously resembled Oshino's, red boots. red bangs, red weapon, red boots, and a red corset she wore. Actually… Her outfit was also awfully similar to Nagisa-senpai's. Was he missing something? Perhaps not, or so he wished to believe. She also wore a belt with the symbol of a rose on it. "Hm? You were in a combat Academy? Was it Beacon? Is Van some sort of second name?" She wondered.
The other thing that caught his eyes were, well, hers. They were silver, a strange colour he had personally never seen. There was something off about them, but he couldn't exactly pin down what.
It had been some time since the van Astrea blood flowing in his veins had alerted him of the unnatural, and he could almost feel it in her eyes. Before he could answer her questions, their little interaction came to a close. The voice of a woman called out for them both. Miles turned his head in unison to Ruby, they saw a blonde lady in perhaps her late twenties approaching them, she had some sort of wand in her hand and her look wasn't very friendly.
"You two!" Her voice rang throughout the street. "You two will be accompanying me, unhand your weapons immediately and avoid any sort of resistance." Miles turned to Ruby. He could assume that the blonde woman was some sort of authority within the city and he personally thought he had caused enough of a ruckus already. Ruby seemed to sigh and hung her head low a bit. She turned to him and whispered. "Man! We beat a bunch of baddies and they try to take us in!"
He knew it'd be a problem if the red scythe girl tried to flee for some reason so he whispered back. "Just stay calm, follow her and explain the situation, I'm sure they'll understand." Ruby seemed to deflate a bit, but then nodded.
They both walked to the woman and she promptly took them to a car and made them sit on the back. Miles could tell she was strong from the way she carried herself. He wished to assume the woman was an experienced Huntress of sorts.
Were all hunters in this world on this level? Yet another question that would go unanswered for the time being. Really, couldn't he just quickly contact the goddess again? No… probably not.
Oh, boy... Hi, I'm Yuri :)
Well, I never thought the day would come where I published something, but here we are. If you're reading this it means you actually read through this whole thing and for that I'm very, very grateful. For those wondering who the heck Miles is and where does he come from, I'll try to briefly explain.
Some years ago I co-wrote a story with a buddy of mine, we were in our last years of highschool and didn't have anything important to do apart from ocassionally studying, so we decided to invent and write our own little special thing, which incidentally we never published. We called it "Kasatsu Academy", and well, I sort of realized these past months how similar we unintentionally made it to RWBY (we hadn't even seen the show so it was pretty surprising).
Basically, Miles was one of the two main protagonists of our story, and he became someone I had a lot of appreciation for, I really liked him and I gotta admit he was probably my favorite character in the story xD. But going back to Kasatsu...
In a nutshell, the story of Kasatsu was set in a world similar to ours, in the modern ages. The plot consisted of humanity's battle against monsters called "Shadows", monsters that were spawned from the negative emotions of mankind. To combat this threat, at a certain point a benevolent goddess gifted to humanity an object called "The Artifact" (not too original now that I think about it xD), said object allowed for the souls of people to be crystalized or materialized into certain weapons of legend depending on their compatibility when they came in contact with it in their youth. Years passed and the warriors of mankind who wielded these weapons were called Hunters, the weapons themselves came to be known as Relics. To prepare the future generations of Hunters, as well as to protect the Artifact from harm, the man known as the First Hunter founded an institution called "Kasatsu Academy" in Japan, where he was from.
The plot was not the greatest thing, I have to admit, but we had an absolute blast writting it. Seeing how similar it was to RWBY, I decided to write this fic. For now, I still want to keep some things vague, since I'll likely be revealing more of Miles' world in the future. Just know for now that relics have a powered-up state called "Awakening" and that there are (in Miles' case) five phases to this Awakening, each being more powerful than the other.
I'm not a professional writer or anything like that, so any kind of constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, grammar corrections too pls. I'm sorry for this long ass A/N, and inmense thanks to anyone who took their time to read this 3 I'll probably upload chapter two soon, since it's pretty much done if anyone is interested. Thanks again, everyone! Have a nice day!