Vale.

I was slowly making my way from the landing pad for the flying deathtrap called a Bullhead, heading towards my destination.

Beacon Academy.

It was only a few days ago that I learned that my stunt when I returned home a few months ago was recorded by the security systems of Cadia and some idiot decided to post it on the CCT network, needless to say, it was not all that popular considering a normal Hunter would also be able to make such a jump over the gate and sprint at the speeds I had albeit at the cost of a large amount of Aura.

But the biggest problem came when a certain headmaster of Beacon saw the footage and decided to investigate, resulting in him somehow finding out that I was the one that was responsible for the ruckus.

When he had learned that I was 17 years old, in this world anyway, he had immediately sent an invitation to attend Beacon academy and become a Hunter, something I had refused at first, I had enough of fighting, but I was soon convinced by my father and mother to attend Beacon for two main reasons.

The first reason was that they wanted me to enjoy normal school life, as normal as it could get for a Hunter school. The second reason was so that I would be able to create a stable foundation in society by performing excellently and graduating as a Hunter. Doing so would mean that those old fools of Mistral and Atlas would not be able to touch me since the punishment for attacking an active Hunter was quite severe.

This was the reason why I had decided to forgo my Giant armor and Sword of Artorias and decided to equip a simple chest plate and had the family sword with me. That did not mean that I would leave behind my armor and weapon back at Cadia. Those were all that I had left to remember my life in Lordran, the sword especially held a great sentimental value for me. It was created from the soul of a Noble wolf after all. A Wolf that I had saved in Oolaciel only to kill him with my own hands to obtain the Covenant of Artorias. The sword was a reminder of my sin and regret, as well as my way of remembering the fallen Wolf. This was the reason why I had decided to use my command over the Dark to store my armor and weapon with my own shadow acting as a gateway.

Walking through the quiet town of Vale during the knight was truly refreshing. With no human voices to distract me nor any noises to irritate me, I could peacefully enjoy the vibrant life all around me, something that was severely lacking in the dying world of Lordran. But suddenly, I was distracted from my musing when I heard the sounds of fighting and a window breaking.

Looking towards the source of the sound revealed a truly strange sight.

A girl wearing a red cloak was using a massive scythe to beat up a bunch of guys that looked like some street thugs, then she suddenly started using maneuvers using the recoil from her weapon, which I assume to have come from of hidden projectile weapon. Honestly, the weapons of this world were crazy, to say the least.

I watched as the main ringleader of the thugs started saying something and raised his cane towards the girl.

Immediately, instincts took over as I pulled out Crocea Mors and deployed the speed, closing the distance between me and the girl in a second, just in time for the man to fire an Explosive Dust round, but his efforts would be in vain for the force of the impact was nothing compared to the hits I had taken in the past, hell, even a measly Undead Archer packed more of a punch in its crossbow compared to this man's attack.

I turned slightly to watch the girl from the corner of my eyes and spoke.

"Are you okay?"

"Huh? oh! yeah! I am okay, thanks!" she replied happily while her eyes shone in excitement for some reason.

I turned watched as the man started to make his way up a ladder, probably to escape but was immediately followed by the girl using her weapon to jump on the roof.

Meanwhile, I stood there, a little dumbfounded at the girl's behavior.

She was being extremely reckless by trying to attack an enemy that was leagues above her level. But watching her take on such a challenge without even considering for her own life brought back memories of a time when I had first awakened at the Undead Asylum.

Deciding to follow the girl, I used a small amount of effort to jump over the building and land by the side of the girl, just in time to see the man throw a dust crystal of the larger variety, the kind that was normally used as fuel in most forms of vehicles, and then shoot at it.

I realized too late that he was trying to finish off the girl with that explosion, but before I could try to do something, the blast was stopped by a woman with blond hair and glasses that I recognized as the vice principal of Beacon academy. The same woman that had come to Cadia alongside Ozpin to invite me to the school.

I broke out of my stupor and sprinted towards the woman, stopping in front of her with my shield up and held with both hands.

"I will take care of the Defense, you take care of the Offence!" I shouted towards the woman whose eyes widened in recognition before reverting back into a Cold and calculating look and nodded.

I focused my Aura on the Shield while using one of the new abilities I had discovered when Dad had awakened my aura. My Semblance.

A small white dome came into existence as it covered Glynda and me along with the girl while she used her own Semblance to wreak havoc on the Bullhead.

"We got a Hunter and a Huntress!" I heard the man yell towards someone and run into the cockpit while a woman replaced him while staying in the shadows, making sure to hide her features.

Suddenly, the entire rooftop was consumed in a fire as Goodwitch used her semblance to protect both herself and the girl along with me.

But looking at Glynda trying to protect me from flames, I could not help but laugh as I slowly sheathed my sword while reverting the shield back into its normal form.

While it is true that I am the Dark Lord and Darkness is my domain, fire held a special place in my soul for it was through the power of fire that I was reborn every time I had died, it was fire that provided me a home when I had none, and it was fire that I had used to slay the final Lord of the world, Lord Gwyn himself.

Thus, it was laughable that this woman would try to use Fire to defeat me when I am so deeply related to said element.

Let me show you what true flames are.

I slowly lifted my right hand and pointed it towards the Bullhead as a scarlet red flame materialized in my hand.

Immediately, a massive fireball the size of a room flew towards the bullhead and really brunt it to nothing, it was only the quick reflexes of the pilot that they had managed to evade that flames, but I was not done yet.

Once more I tapped into my repertoire of pyromancy and called forth the spell that was deeply linked to both Pyromancy and the Abyss.

Black flames materialized in my hands as I hurled them at the airship at extreme speeds nonstop for a few seconds.

By this point, the Bullhead was like a leaf in a storm as it swirled uncontrollably under the weight of the black fire assaulting it as if two giants were playing catch using the machine as a ball.

But before I could finish off the fight, the woman suddenly conjured up a bow and shot a glass arrow which I caught midflight.

Before I could do anything, the arrow shattered in my hands like an explosive while the Bullhead made its escape during my distraction.

Turning towards the girls in red I was amused to see the girl looking at Goodwitch with a shine in her eyes while asking for an autograph.

I lazily relaxed in my chair while watching Glynda rip into the girl, Ruby Rose, and express how she was not amused about her stunt today when suddenly she turned towards me and started speaking again.

"And you! you were supposed to be at Beacon by this morning yet the Bullhead pilot said that you refused to board the ship because you were too busy eating at home, do you know how much of a headache it is to send a Bullhead all the way to Mistral from Vale?"

I refused to look her in the eye because I knew that what I did was wrong, but can anyone blame me? I had not eaten proper food in centuries due to the fact that I was Undead and I was incapable of performing such human acts.

But when my Aura was awakened, it had an unintended side effect which was quite the present surprise for me.

I was human again.

While I still had access to all my powers and abilities, along with my strength and everything else I had gained by sacrificing the souls I plundered from the other Undead to the Bonfires, I was now completely human both inside and out, although there were a few peculiar changes that I had noticed in the last few days.

While I was human, I still did not require food for sustenance neither did I need sleep, while I could eat and sleep if I wanted to, I did not actually require them.

But I could not care less about such things since I was still over the moon with the discovery that I had finally regained my humanity.

I ignored the shouting Goodwitch who only seemed to become more and more angry the longer I ignored her, but I had a saving grace in the form of a grey-haired Headmaster of Beacon.

However, I started to become suspicious of Ozpin when he suddenly extended an invitation for the girl to attend Beacon two years early, combined with the fact that I had seen the look of recognition as well as the calculative look that flashed in his eyes when he mentioned her silver eyes made me believe that the man in front of me was planning something. It was also worrying that I could detect small hints of Magic in his body, nothing on the levels of even the weakest of a Channeler but still, it was there and it was also tainted with the presence of the flame, something that was quite worrying because the energy felt similar to whenever I revived at the bonfire after a death.

While definitely something to investigate in the future, I decided to do something else that was quite important at the moment.

And that was to eat the Chocolate Cake I had just ordered from the bakery on the opposite side of the street.