New Surroundings

by CrowSkull

A new eviroment means new begginings, this new place might not be kind, but what other choice do you have than adapt and survive, luckly you are not always alone in that journey: Multi-Crossover with RWBY, Watch Dogs, Infamous, Quantum Brake and Prey (2017) that starts before the events of Volume 1...now if only I could tag all the characthers...

24. 24: The Swan's Trail (Part 3)

A/N: Well… this was delayed. Merry Christmas in advance everyone! I won't say I have a good reason for the delay, but the best way I have to explain it is that I simply… got overwhelmed.

I could go into detail later but I feel all of you deserve an explanation. You see I got a new job, I did talk about that last time, and that does involve having less free time in general. So I adapted to a new schedule and started working on fixing my sleeping schedule. But also, far more is happening. By next month I will deliver my final project for college, the only big thing left before I can say goodbye to college forever and get my diploma. And this final project requires work and actual effort, work, and effort that I have tried to split between writing, work, and other stuff. And I quite simply couldn't manage it well, and ended up half-assing both writing and my college work for a while. So I focused on slowly getting everything to being decent once again.

Add to that some technical issues with my computer and changing hard drives, couldn't use my computer for a set number of days due to the issues, and me really wanting to make this chapter a long one, and… well, I couldn't finish this last month. I'm sorry for that.

I hope that the long chapter can compensate a bit for that, don't know if you'll like it, but I hope so. There were a lot of things that I wanted to put in, and honestly is part of the reason it is this long, and after proofreading, it didn't feel right to shorten some of it. So yeah, big chapter.

The good news however is that soon I'll be able to say goodbye to college and also to a lot of my worries. And after that, we can begin 2022 in full gear and with new goals and time for chapters. I will do my best to also post the next chapter of Essence and Humanity before the year is over. But with that done, let's get on with the chapter.

Beta: Genatools (In Spirit)

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Chapter 24: The Swan's Trail (Part 3)

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Aurelius guided the four of them inside his home. They stepped through the door, stepping on a decorative semi-circle of marble that then gave way into a large yet compact hall with wooden floors, two sets of stairs that led to the second floor, two marble pillars with marble decorations surrounding them, and simple walls of a dark beige color. Overall, it seemed like a victorian mansion with some greek or roman influences, though not too ostentatious or eccentric. It was sort of plain in fact, but homey as well.

"Please, come." Aurelius led through a hallway between the two stairs, leading deeper into the house. The group followed him close behind.

"Gotta say, you do have a nice place," Cole mentioned.

"It has a good design too," Morgan added.

"It's actually a sort of recreation. My grandfather had a large house in the countryside long ago, but it was sold eventually though. I always was fond of that place though, and eventually, through multiple circumstances, me and my family were able to afford this house, and reshape it in honor of that manor. It's smaller, and that's fine honestly. Me, my wife, and my daughter wanted something nice. Perhaps a bit large, but nothing too extravagant or flashy." Aurelius told them.

"You at least somewhat blend in the neighborhood," Jack noted.

"Hmm, I suppose so," Aurelius said as they exited the hallway into a large room.

The room seemed to be a core part of the house, using a large portion of it. But it wasn't a dining hall or a living room. Those were actually in other parts of the house. This place however had large marble pillars, marble decorations, and two long steps that led into a large circle of marble with separations in other smaller circles, and lines of black marble. All those smaller circles and lines gave the circle a clear purpose from the way they divided it. And the training weapons on nearby racks made it even more obvious. It was a training arena.

"Was this also in your grandfather's place?" Aiden asked Aurelius.

"It was in fact. Now come on, I have an office that's right above it on the second floor." He said as he moved towards a set of stairs. "We can talk there."

The four of them followed Aurelius and were soon all in a small office tucked behind one of the walls of the arena. The office itself had some weapons on display, a couple of pictures, two diplomas hanging on the wall, and a bookshelf with books and what seemed to be a sort of medal displayed in a small glass box. There weren't exactly seats for all of them, but it wasn't really an issue.

"We could look for more chairs if you would like. It's no problem bringing some from the bedrooms or the halls." Aurelius offered.

"I think we are fine standing. But thanks." Aiden said. He and Cole chose to stand and leave the two seats of the office to Morgan and Jack.

"Very well then, I suppose it's time we begin then." Aurelius reclined back on his chair.

"You wanted to meet us. You wanted to see if we had a good reason to find Xiu?" Morgan guessed.

"That would be part of it. The other part would be figuring out if you can keep a secret or two." Aurelius said.

"Right, and how are we supposed to prove that? We can promise, but that wouldn't really cut it." Jack raised his hands in a shrug.

"Heh, true. But what you just did, being honest and open with me, that's a very good start. And it's in fact what I would ask of you, to be honest with me and tell me in detail why you are looking for Xiu. And I mean in deep detail." Aurelius told them.

"Uh-huh. So to prove we can keep a secret, we need to tell you everything? Just like that? Kinda seems weird if we are meant to be keeping secrets." Cole mentioned.

"Well, if you must know, you are doing quite well. You can be honest, but are also careful enough to not say something simply because someone asks you to, not without reason. But that's the thing, you need a good reason to tell someone something private or secret, and to trust them with that information. What I need is a good reason to trust you. And funnily enough, one does earn trust by being honest. Being honest can reveal quite a lot about someone, including if they can keep a secret, or if they are worth sharing one with." Aurelius said.

"Hmm, so we are honest to you, and you'll be honest with us," Aiden said. "No offense, but are you sure you'll be able to tell the difference?"

"I suppose I will have to trust my judgment, but for that, I'll need some details, because I will not judge blindly. If you decide that there are things you don't want to tell, that's fine, that's your choice. But if you don't tell me enough, I won't be able to tell you anything either." Aurelius said.

"Fair enough I suppose… maybe. And is Xiu fine with you telling others where he might be if they have good enough reason to find him?" Aiden decided to ask.

"When he himself says to not tell others "Unless they have a good reason to", then I guess he shouldn't." Aurelius shrugged. The Outlaws looked at each other, and then looked back at Aurelius.

"Well, Kayden did tell you about our situation, or part of it according to him. What has he told you?" Morgan asked him.

"Hmm. What Kayden told me was that you four were looking for Xiu in hopes to ask some questions about a student of his. One that is apparently in league with the more powerful criminals in Mistral. He didn't go into too many details, but it seems that you four have angered that student, and she's using all her power to hunt you down."

"That would be a very short version, but yeah, that's true," Cole confirmed.

"It's not the only thing he said about you. He praised you as capable fighters, and that you happen to have saved his life. From assassins no less."

"We were honestly lucky he held out for as long as he did, a bit longer and he would have been dead," Morgan told.

"Mmm, well, even so, you saved his life. Kayden normally can handle himself, but it seems that this one was too much for him alone, and he's deeply grateful for your help." Aurelius said.

"I don't know if it would be a good thing if he wasn't. Not really. I mean, he would be dead otherwise." Jack commented.

"Quite true. But beyond that, he hasn't told me much. So if I may ask, what has led four capable fighters to be chasing after powerful criminals, and having to search for no other than 'The Master Xiu'. How did you end up in this situation?" Aurelius asked, giving them pause.

Like many times before, they truly could not tell Aurelius everything, not how they were from different worlds, or that even there were other worlds. They themselves had avoided that thought and put it aside as best they could by keeping themselves busy. But even so, their history in Remnant was not something they were afraid to share. Some minor details aside, they had nothing to hide, and so after looking at each other for confirmation, they began to tell the story again. A somewhat abridged version.

"We were guards at Wolfpine, a town not too far away from Mistral; it has its own train station. We did our job and guarded the town like all the other guards, but we were able to do more. We were able to go out and clear Grimm nests on our own, no huntsmen were available so we did it ourselves. Though soon it wasn't just Grimm." Morgan began.

"Smugglers and others passed through town, and eventually… other people as well. We saved someone from slavery, and then the slavers hired bandits to try and recover their property, they came after her while we were away. We managed to chase them down and save her again." Jack told, making sure to not mention Miri directly. The fewer people knew about her, the better.

"There were too many bandits around, doing whatever they wanted. And things were getting worse as the families seemed to be making moves down south. We were able to do something about it, so we did. We patrolled the roads and took care of any bandits that were a problem." Jack continued.

"We eventually pissed off somebody. The leader of The Golden Blades, a gang of bandits, and a large one at that. Okro Santes, had the fake name Alsus. He sent assassins after us for stopping his goons from killing and robbing people in the middle of the road. The assassins seemed sure that Okro would keep sending people after us, and keep attacking Wolfpine and the people close to us. We couldn't take that chance, we couldn't let him risk that many people just for us. So instead we decided to go after him and take that matter in our own hands, take the fight to him so that he would focus on us, and only on us." Aiden said.

"We went ahead and destroyed his gang, they had all taken over a city, and we made sure to break their grip on it. But in the end, he wasn't there. He had gone away to try and find more support for his gang. We followed him every step of the way to Kuchinashi and then to Mistral, fighting Grimm and criminals every step of the way." Aiden finished.

"Trouble seems to find us, whether as Grim on the road or as gangs and groups fighting each other. Wherever we went to try and find him or find tips of where to find him, there was always someone out there that needed help. We actually broke the hold on the town his gang was in by getting rid of nearby Grimm. We were kind of proving that they weren't doing it and giving people hope by killing the Grimm and standing up to the bandits. We did the same everywhere we went. Someone needed help, Grimm needed taking care of, people were taking advantage of others, or criminals were doing their own dirty business. Once we reached Mistral and started working with Lionheart… we had stepped on the toes of the Families, The Balck Sheep, The Wave, Bandits, and more probably." Cole told Aurelius.

"In Mistral, we did the same, we worked with Lionheart and others to try and bring some order back, while also chasing after Okro. With luck, we were hoping to even help in bringing down one Family. The Taupes. Okro was friends with them, and they gave him a new life as some sort of enforcer, so if we wanted to finish what had started with him sending assassins after us, then we would have to fight the Taupes. And we were getting closer to him, but then she appeared." Morgan continued.

"Madam Sangria. There are the gangs and syndicates, there are the Families, but there are also groups that are special. In her case, she's the head of the best smugglers in Anima, The Swans, the kind of good that even the ones that know about the underworld don't necessarily know about them. A specialized syndicate of its own kind. Well… back in the town we freed from The Golden Blades, we fought a lot of bandits, they were an army, and so, we didn't hold back. Every advantage we could get to beat or end them, we took. I fought one girl that was a lieutenant of them, she could copy and suck away my p-… semblance. I wrestled for control with her, and she wouldn't surrender, fighting every step of the way, so I ended up killing her. Turns out Okro might have many more friends than we thought, because that girl was Sangria's niece." Cole said.

All of them would agree that if necessary, they wouldn't hold back or pull punches, especially not if lives were at stake. But even so, killing was not a simple matter, even when one could justify it, or even feel no remorse for who they had to kill at the moment, it still had its own kind of weight. Sangria was an example of one type of consequence.

"She wiped the floor with us. Just like her niece she could absorb our semblance and used them herself, and all the while she controlled her hair and made it grow into tentacles and ropes that filled the entire room. Honestly, she's kind of a monster." Jack looked to the side. It was unsettling just how outmatched they were if Sangria could take them on one against four.

"She has her personal vendetta against us now, and now she decided that she will ally herself with one of the Families in their war and stick to them. We've caused problems for the Taupes, since they are Okro's employers now, and now they also have Sangria. We only survived because we wore her down and had more people with us, TTU squads that helped us clear out the Taupe stronghold we were raiding. But ever since then, we are sure Sangria is working day and night to get to us. We know she's already working with Okro and has sent more assassins after us." Aiden explained.

"The only thing we have been able to figure out is that Sangria was a member of The Swans, and that the previous leader of The Swans had a prodigy he wanted to make the new leader. Lionheart had learned this years ago and told us that that prodigy must have been trained by Xiu, if we can believe him and whoever gave that information at the time. But that so far has been our only lead." Morgan said.

"Sangria is after us. Okro is after us. The Taupes are backing them up, and eventually, they'll find where we stay and come themselves. The only way we'll be able to beat someone like Sangria is if we can learn more about her, and if Xiu trained her for a time, then he's our best bet." Morgan finished their speech.

Aurelius eyed all of them and seemed to be doing his best to gaze directly at their souls. Eventually, though, he stepped up from his chair and turned his back to them, seemingly pondering as he stared at one of his bookshelves with his hands behind his back.

"Tell me, if you could, would you undo what you did, and stop yourself from killing that girl?" Aurelius asked them, asking Cole in particular.

"I…" Cole thought for a second. "I don't know. I don't know if she deserved it, but she and all the other bandits didn't give me time to think too much on it, not at least until they were all defeated."

"We all killed that day, but… so far... I've never killed someone that I wasn't fighting with. I've never killed someone that wasn't a threat somehow, and generally, we don't try to." Jack immediately added. He knew that it wasn't completely true though.

They had tried to kill only when a serious fight broke out, but even then, they were ready to take lives if it was the best option to end a fight quickly. They had killed proactively before a fight as well, and that probably didn't look good when explaining your motives to someone like Aurelius. For now, though, Jack thought it was best to omit those details until Aurelius asked, he wanted to trust them, so it was probably best to try and be as truthful as they could.

"Hmm." Aurelius paused for a second. "You know, one thing implied about the life of a huntsman, but not really addressed, is that one day you'll fight for your life, and not only against Grimm." Aurelius began.

"Just as an officer of the law, a soldier, or even a security guard, you'll have to be ready to fight a person with a soul one day. And that person won't have that best intentions, they'll be ready to kill you, and a warrior knows that they'll have to answer with equal force, sometimes killing the other. It's the nature of a fight where life and death are involved, everyone knows it, and given a certain situation, most would agree that one must defend themselves. Yet, it is still a complicated matter, because it still means taking a life." Aurelius told them.

"Personally, with a world as tumultuous as Remnant, I don't think I have an answer. But for you four, just as if you were true huntsmen, I believe it's worth noting why you fight."

"Why? You said it, it is not simple, and we have killed all the same." Aiden pointed out.

"Well, you are not the only ones." Aurelius paused. "Yes, I have killed as well, I have faced bandits, and many other huntsmen have done so as well when necessary. You may not be huntsmen, but everything I've heard from you tells me you have far more purpose than even some other huntsmen and huntresses I have met. You decided to not stand by and decided to take action when it seemed like there was no hope, stood up for those around you, and did your best to give people some of that hope back. And personally speaking, Lionheart Kayden, and the authorities would not help if you weren't a force of good, a force that could make a difference."

"That's all well and good. But morally speaking, good intentions are not the best guideline." Morgan said.

"Perhaps not, but if someone should be punished right now, I don't think it should be you. Not with all the good I've heard you have done." Aurelius turned towards them as he began to rummage through some drawers of a cabinet.

"And what does that mean? Where does that lead us?" Jack asked.

"It means I'm going to help you," Aurelius answered as he found what he was looking for in a bottom drawer. It was a tube that contained a rolled-up scroll, an actual paper scroll. He unrolled it on his desk for all to see, and it was a map of Mistral, with several spots marked on the map.

"If I had to guess. Those are the places that Xiu stays at, right?" Jack looked at the different spots on the map.

"There's eight- no, nine places, and scattered all around Anima. Those two are close, but just kinda, and all the others are pretty far apart." Cole said.

"The one's to the east, I don't think any train is gonna reach too far that way. We might need a bullhead." Aiden tried to work out the best route or approach to reach the different places quickly.

"Even then it's gonna take us a while. And he could be moving, if he knows how to move around then he could practically go between safehouses before we realize." Morgan reasoned.

"He could indeed. But Xiu likes to stay at a place for a decent amount of time, a season or two depending on what he has on his hands at the moment." Aurelius told them. "But with luck, we'll know where he is soon enough."

"We? What do you mean?" Aiden asked.

"As I said, I'm going to help you. I may not be the person most in touch with Mistral's underworld, but this Madam Sangria sounds dangerous enough to give most people pause. You are right, if you're going to face her, you are going to need Xiu's help, and the sooner, the better. Lucky for you, a map is not the only thing I can help you with." Aurelius spoke as he pulled out his scroll, and then found a small addon in one of his other drawers.

"With luck, I should be able to reach him, given enough time," Aurelius said.

"Wait, you can just call him? You can actually do that?" Cole perked up bemused.

"In a sense. Xiu doesn't use modern scrolls, instead, he relies on older ways of communication. Correspondence is one of them. But so are some older methods such as wave signals, transmitters with a dust battery that use it to send waves, and simple messages over large distances. Not the most practical, but useful to remain hidden and independent in the wilderness."

"Smart." Aiden granted.

"Xiu and I became good acquaintances during the time I employed him, perhaps even friends, though I wouldn't know if he sees it that way. But he helped me train and improve, and taught me many ways to do the same for my daughter. He gave me what I needed to contact him again if there was ever a need to." Aurelius said.

"Does this count as one of those times?" Morgan wondered.

"It would ultimately be up to him. But I have a feeling we can convince him to stay still for a bit. He's a man that believes in responsibility, and if Sangria is truly a past student of his, then he'll feel compelled to help you. And even if it isn't the case, he always enjoyed the challenge of training someone for a tough situation. Regardless, contacting him will probably take a couple of days."

"A couple days. Do you need our help to call him or not really?" Jack asked.

"You don't have to worry, this is me helping you, but feel free to stay with us in the meantime." Aurelius offered.

"Are you sure? Are you fine with strangers living with your family? In your house?" Morgan asked him.

"You may be strangers, but I got a good feeling for the kind of people you are. I say we'll be fine with you spending some time here. We have plenty of spare rooms, and in fact, we could use some company. This house is a bit large for just us. And this way you won't have to search for a hotel around town." Aurelius said.

"That's a bit too generous honestly." Cole tried to politely decline Aureius' offer.

"When a Nikos says they'll help someone, they truly mean it. Please, let me be of help. I am a huntsman, and just like you, I don't feel I can simply stand by when there's something I can do." Aurelius said to them. The four of them looked at each other, pondered, and then turned back to him.

"Are you sure? We still have people after us." Aiden reminded him.

"You and your family would be at risk if we stay," Cole added.

"Hmm. I appreciate that you worry, truly. Do answer me this though. Have you been followed?"

"No. Not this time. We actually made sure." Aiden responded.

"If that's the case then we should be safe for the time you'll stay here. It won't be that long, and it won't be easy for anyone to find you here. And even if that happens, I do trust my wife, my daughter, and even our servant to get our harm's way. They are not defenseless either, and neither am I. Now, are we agreed? Or do you have another altruistic reason to avoid accepting help?" Aurelius raised an eyebrow.

"Alright, alright. We get it. Heh." Jack said for the four of them. "If you really insist then I suppose… " Jack then looked at his friends to verify if they were accepting the offer or not. Everyone showed some sort of confirmation, even if dubious. It seemed like Aurelius managed to convince them.

"I guess we accept."

---

A day in the Nikos manor passed very quickly. They were given rooms and they were formally introduced to Aurelius' wife, to his daughter, and to the servant that came to the house from ten to five during the week. They could spend their time as they saw fit whether that would be relaxing inside, or perhaps go for a walk outside, but not only that, they could also train.

Aurelius had a training arena ready to be used whenever, and they had decided to use it a couple of times, if nothing else, to not lose their edge, and perhaps even to try and improve themselves. They had a long way to go if they wanted to stand up to the likes of Sangria, or others such as Wolfsbane, and it had been a while since they could take time to try and practice new tricks and moves. They had been fighting practically non-stop ever since they reached Mistral, and they had improved, but in a true fight, it was best to try and go for true and tested, most of the time at least, and trial by fire was only one side of the coin. A controlled environment was the place to try and theorize ways to deal with their increasing list of enemies, how to push themselves, and how to combine their different abilities and powers as a team. But they weren't the only one's training.

"Keep your guard up! Even with your semblance, you'll still have to be ready to block or deflect! Use them together!" Aurelius shouted.

"R-right." Pyrrha nodded as she braced herself. She found herself slightly embarrassed, which was odd given that she had appeared live on TV many times and fought in front of large audiences. But then again, none of those people witnessed her training with her father.

"Has she used her semblance? She seems to be doing fine without it." Aiden asked the others.

"Maybe it is one you cannot see. Or maybe she hasn't and he's just telling her to remind her." Jack offered.

"Hmm."

"She's still really good. I don't know how much Aurelius is holding back, but she's standing her ground. I don't know much about form but… she and her father are both fluid and precise. You can tell it's different from most others." Morgan commented.

"Yeah well, she looks good, and yeah she's good. Though I don't know how she'll fare against some of the stuff out there. There's that bit where you can tell she still has some stuff to learn." Cole said.

"Well, she's fifteen. But even then she's better than some people we fought." Morgan said back.

"No yeah that's true. But what I mean is that she looks like she's... rehearsing. She got the moves down but she's gotta do more than that. Get the initiative, act first, and try to play the other guy." Cole explained his point.

"So basically she's gotta adapt more, and plan more. Do something different as well, something a bit more- what's the word, ruthless? Decisive?" Aiden wondered.

"I don't know if that's the right word, but yeah. She's not getting someone if she's sitting back and waiting for them. That works on the easy people, but the ones that know how to deal with her, she won't be able to do much other than wearing them down. But yeah, being creative and switching things up, and maybe doing something nasty when the other guy exposes himself. I'm sure she's gonna get it though." Cole spoke.

"Well her old man is not gonna make it easier for her to hit him. Or to play him the fool I guess." Jack pointed towards the arena.

Pyrrha countered one strike of her father's blade, aiming for a thrust at his chest, but Aurelius already used the momentum of his swing and her block to angle his sword in defense. Pyrrha pushed on the offensive with two swings, and Aurelius deftly parried and deflected the blows while moving back. Pyrrha tried to reach for him with quick strikes and thrusts, but just as she deftly moved in, Aurelius deftly moved back avoiding and parrying the blows. Always out of reach, always at the perfect spot to rush in.

Pyrrha blocked with Akoúo̱ as her father suddenly charged in with a powerful swing from the left, pushing her a couple of meters back with the force of the impact. She had overextended and her father took advantage of it. She was ready to move back in, and almost did, but the way her father seemed ready to move to intercept or avoid her gave her pause. He was still able to control the fight between the two and to perfectly space their movements. She would have to be more careful.

"Well, more the reason to think and try something. She's not gonna get him unless she surprises him." Cole nodded. Aurelius had been listening, and indeed

"Hmm…" Aurelius had been listening, and he agreed with the assessment. He waited for Prrha to try an attack again, deflected her attack, and moved past her while striking back and hitting her shield. The result was Pyrrha skidding backwards, remaining still as Aurelius pointed his sword, a gladius at her.

"You need something new. Let's try something new." Aurelius said as he sheathed his sword. While Pyrrha was improving each time they trained, she would need to change tactics if she wanted to surprise him, she needed new ways to look at her opponents, or more adversaries. And that train of thought gave him an idea.

"Huh?" Pyrrha was a bit confused. Her father never usually stopped a fight or sparring session right in the middle of it.

"Cole." Aurelius suddenly called.

"Mmm?"

"I think you were giving a solid assessment. Would you mind if I ask you to come here?" Aurelius invited Cole to the arena.

"Okay, you already asked. But no, I don't mind." Cole walked from his spot to join Aurelius and Pyrrha in the arena. He was curious what Aurelius was planning, though he could guess it probably involved some sort of demonstration.

"Excellent. Now from what I've seen you do when you and your companions are training. Our semblance and fighting style are different from most. All of you are different from most, but I think you'll do just fine for this." Aurelius spoke.

"Alright. What are we doing?" Cole asked.

"I would like you to spar with my daughter," Aurelius said to him. At that, both Cole and Pyrrha looked at each other and then at Aurelius.

"Um…" Pyrrha was confused. Not against the idea, but confused. It wasn't something her father had ever done before other than the time he presented Master Xiu to her.

"I mean, I guess, is just… that's fine with you? And with you too?" Cole pointed at Aurelius and then at Pyrrha.

"Oh-oh, it's not a problem, I don't think. Well, I wouldn't want to waste your time or-" Pyrrha began.

"No no no, don't worry about that. We are fine here. But okay, this, is this just sparring normally? Or are we doing something specific?" Cole asked Aurelius.

"For the most part, I say it will be sparring. Go close and melee, like we usually do." UAreius looked at Pyrrha and she nodded in understanding. "But…" Aurelius then pulled Cole aside and whispered to him.

"I want you to amp it up as the fight goes. You control lightning, right? She needs to face something completely different, something she can't defend from normally, something she hasn't seen. That'll force her to think on the fly." Aurelius said loud enough for only Cole to hear.

"Alright. Yeah, sure." Cole nodded and then turned back towards Pyrrha. Before they could start however, the rest of Outlaws stepped in.

"Can you excuse us for a second?" Aiden said to Aurelius as he and Morgan pulled Cole slightly to the side while Jack spoke with Aurelius to keep him occupied.

"Hey uh, just so we are clear. You are fine with this? I trust Cole when we train together, but that's when we are training. Is Pyrrha fine with getting...maybe hit or shocked?" Jack asked Aurelius.

"Heh heh. Don't worry, she's a tournament fighter. It hasn't happened in the tournaments though, but she has proved she's willing and ready to take a hit. And I don't believe any of you are planning to really hurt my daughter, are you?" Aurelius raised an eyebrow.

"N-no, no, absolutely not. Cole wouldn't, and I don't think anyone else here would." Jack responded.

"Then even if some things escalate, we should be fine. We can always stop the fight and intervene if something seems wrong."

"Okay then." Jack nodded in agreement. While Jack and Aurelius talked, Aiden and Morgan had their own conversation with Cole, making sure no one else could hear them.

"Okay, what's wrong? I won't go overboard, I'll tell you that much." Cole whispered.

"No, you won't hurt her. We know that already." Aiden whispered back.

"This is in case she hits you." Morgan lightly jabbed her finger at him.

"What?"

"They train with aura. When they hit each other the aura heals the damage more or less quickly. You don't have an aura." Aiden explained.

"We don't really need to scare her, or make things too suspicious. So try your best to not get hit, especially stabbed or cut. Or pump up your healing factor as high as you can, if you can of course." Morgan said to him.

"Right. What if I can't avoid it?" Cole quickly asked.

"Then, do you still want to spar with her?" Aiden asked back.

"I guess. Yeah." Cole said after giving a quick glance to Pyrrha. Call it strange, but helping someone get better with their fighting or powers was something he enjoyed.

"Then we'll deal with it if it happens," Aiden said after a brief pause.

"Just don't do anything really stupid," Morgan added.

"Right. Okay." Cole said and went back to meet with Pyrrha. Aiden, Morgan, Jack, and Aurelius walking outside the ring.

"You can begin when you are ready!" Aurelius called out.

"Okay, are you ready?" Cole asked Pyrrha.

"Oh, uh, y-yes. I am." Pyrrha answered. She then took a deep breath and readied herself as she assumed her combat stance.

"Okay, but relax, we are just sparring. Not really trying to hurt each other or not really holding back. I say that because SOME people forget about that sometimes!" Cole suddenly turned and shouted to one of his friends in particular.

"Hey! I said I was sorry!" Jack shouted back. Aiden and Morgan for their part either groaned or sighed. Pyrrha looked at the scene and couldn't help but chuckle. Even if they seemed somewhat mad at each other, they still seemed to be good enough friends. She couldn't help but wonder if she'll find friends like that in the future. She hoped so.

"Heh, it's fine. I do get it." Pyrrha smiled at Cole.

"Alright, good. Then let's go with it. Shall we?" Cole said as he drew his spear.

There was no countdown, bell, or ring to signify the start of the sparring session. It was just a quiet stare-down until one of them made the first move. Pyrrha analyzed Cole as best she could as they both faced each other, noticing his relaxed stance. In an instant, Cole rushed forward with a thrust and the fight began properly.

Pyrrha blocked the attack with her shield, surprised slightly by the force of it. As she blocked she moved to the side and extended her sword in a thrust. The move had been almost instant, but Cole had already moved back in order to avoid the thrust, deftly backstepping as Pyrrha continued to try and strike at him. After dodging Pyrrha's third attack, Cole retaliated with a thrust of his own, followed with a strike with the other end of the spear, and followed up with a horizontal swing that skidded the top of her shield. Pyrrha deflected the attacks while Cole moved in close to land a punch with his off-hand, Pyrrha blocked the punch and skidded backwards, once again surprised with the force of it.

Cole tried to land another thrust and Pyrrha evaded to the side, countering with a low slash that struck Cole's leg, and forcing Cole to shift to the side to parry a follow up with an upwards swing of his spear.

"Tch." Cole needed to put more effort. Pyrrha may be young, but she was good, and personally, he couldn't let her outplay him.

Cole gripped the spear with both hands and immediately swung downwards as Pyrrha moved in with a thrust to his chest, deflecting her blade and then attacking with a strike from the rear end of the spear, and followed with a quick swing with the blade of the spear. Pyrrha blocked with both Miló and Akoúo̱ and then retaliated with a slash to Cole's face, Cole narrowly leaning back and righting himself as Pyrrha charged into him with her shield. Cole moved at the last second and pushed Pyrrha to the side as she failed to push him, continuing with two rapid thrusts and then with a low swing to her legs, but Pyrrha blocked the thrusts and parried the swing, countering with a charging slash.

Cole surprised her by swatting Miló downwards by hitting its flat side with a strong swing of his arm, and then narrowly avoiding Pyrrha's head with a thrust as his spear gritted sparks against the top of Akoúo̱. Both were now exchanging strikes and blows left and right, high and low, Cole continuing his onslaught with two powerful swings and a strong thrust, followed with a low kick, and punch. Pyrrha managed to narrowly move to stay at the range where she could block the attacks, avoid the kick, and finally brace herself with Akoúo̱ as the punch sent her backwards. Cole didn't let up and jumped forward with a thrust, but Pyrrha moved to the side and answered by transforming Miló to its javelin form, and attacking with continuous jabs of her own. As Pyrrha attacked, Cole moved back and to the sides to get out of her range, and then moved in to try and capitalize on his dodges, but as soon as he rushed in, Pyrrha moved again and transformed Miló back to sword form and weaved and deflected his thrusts and swings, answering with slashes of her own.

They kept weaving back and forward as Pyrrha went in with a barrage of thrusts and then charged in with a shield charge to cover a set of slashes. Cole meanwhile sidestepped the charge and forced her back with a powerful roundhouse kick, though this time Pyrrha prepared herself and skidded backwards far less, even then the force of it knocked some air out of her, and so she quickly had to take a deep breath to recover as Cole moved in again. The attacks became faster as Pyrrha weaved left and right while blocking large swings and powerful thrusts from Cole, watching out for his surprise kicks and punches, meanwhile, Cole kept moving, dodging, and parrying to keep Pyrrha from really getting in and scoring a hit.

She dropped low, avoiding a high swing and doing a low spinning heel kick to try and surprise Cole. He was indeed surprised, but the kick wasn't strong enough to trip him, so he retaliated with a couple of swings and thrusts of his own, forcing Pyrrha to block and dodge, she eventually countered with a diagonal slash, but Cole deflected Pyrrha's attack with swing followed with backwards jump, landing a couple meters back while twirling his spear. Pyrrha panted as she assumed her guard again, Cole immediately jumped back in as he gripped his spear with both hands by the end in a giant swing. She blocked the attack and moved in for a slash, but instead, she got pushed back as Cole followed up with a kick, predicting her movement. She blocked with Akoúo̱ as best she could, though this time she felt the impact far more and get sent back further. She then dodged to the side as she saw Cole moving in again, but then gasped as Cole suddenly stopped and then chased her movement with a swing, forcing her to block and move back. He had faked her out.

Cole could see that Pyrrha was far more skilled than he had thought. He could fight and do moves that many others could not, but he wasn't really a trained martial arts master. Pyrrha however had talent, skill, and finesse of movement he didn't have, she performed all her moves in an almost perfect manner, with good form, and knew what to do to deflect and dodge his attacks while countering and leaving little to no openings. But on the other end, Cole had something she didn't have, experience. He knew what he could do and how to adapt, he could watch Pyrrha and accurately guess her movements and options, had an accurate idea of how to stop her offensive and move in and out of her range, and knew more or less how to use his own strengths against her, and even surprise her.

Overall, Cole had a very good idea on how to fight Pyrrha, and it seemed to be working to a degree, all except for his accuracy, which seemed to be terrible that day. His attacks with his spear seemed to be mostly well-aimed, but when he was about to land a good blow to Pyrrha's defenses, or even to her, he would feel himself aiming a bit sideways or off-center, making the attack miss or make it more easily blocked. He wasn't trying to be rough on her, but he wasn't trying to miss attacks on purpose either. He wasn't exactly sure why it was happening.

The fighting continued, both moving rapidly between strikes trying to get the better of the other. After multiple attacks and parries, Cole saw a chance to answer with a quick jab thrust that Pyrrha deflected, but gave him room to sweep to her legs with the shaft of his spear, tripping her and making her fall backwards.

Pyrrha landed and recovered by rolling backwards on instinct. Narrowly dodging as Cole was about to strike at her position. Once upwards she decided to step back to try and recover while Cole chased her. He rammed towards her with three consecutive thrusts, while Pyrrha blocked with Akoúo̱ and then attacked with Miló in a set of quick cuts, Cole parried the attack and continued attacking with quick thrust jabs, kicks, punches, and swings. Meanwhile, Pyrrha answered in the same way, both of them becoming a blur of motion, up until Cole punched through her guard and then came in with an upwards swing at a diagonal angle. Pyrrha's eyes widened as noticed she was in danger and reacted on instinct. Cole's attack suddenly went slightly to the side and she dropped low and rolled under the attack and past Cole while landing a slash at his shin.

Cole grunted but recovered quickly while Pyrrha tried to continue attacking, blocking behind his back with his spear, attacking backwards to keep Pyrrha on the defensive, and attacking with a back kick that impacted Akoúo̱ and forced Pyrrha to brace herself. Pyrrha managed to remain in place and attacked again, but Cole jumped backwards and flipped over as she attacked, surprising her and forcing her to raise her shield as he came down with a powerful diagonal strike, and used it to close the distance on her. Cole then pushed his knee forward to upset her balance and went to grab her wrist. Pyrrha panicked and twisted her wrist to avoid getting caught totally, baking away as best she could, but Cole did his best, in turn, to pressure her with his spear and holding on to Akoúo̱.

The spear twirled as Pyrrha had more techniques she knew to escape a grapple-lock, herself escaping barely as arms twisted and they switched positions. Pyrrha managed to set herself free and disarm Cole of his weapon as it went clattering to the ground, but in turn, Pyrrha was taken by surprise as Cole kicked her side. Cole then took the chance to grab Miló, Pyrrha panicking as he did so. Cole felt a strange force adding strength to Pyrrha as she pulled her weapon, in response he pulled harder and was able to beat the force, but that meant Pyrrha was pulled towards him, and she used the chance to hit him in the face with Akoúo̱. But Cole saw it coming, and even though he was hit, he saw chance where Pyrrha was unbalanced, and let go of Miló to grab on to Akoúo̱ with both hands, managing to use Pyrrha's momentum to make both of them roll on the ground, and prying the shield from Pyrrha's arm, both of them recovering and making distance.

"Huff… Well done." Cole praised as he tapped the bruise he now had close to his eyebrow. Pyrrha was slightly shocked that she had hit him that hard, or that he didn't have his aura up, but she then relaxed as she saw the bruise heal itself.

"I-I'm sorry. I just… huff… I was…" Pyrrha tried to apologize.

"No no, it's fine. It's what we are supposed to do." Cole said. "But now what?" He said as he walked over to his spear and recovered it by kicking it to his hand, and then proceeded to throw Akoúo̱ far behind him.

Armed with only Miló, Pyrrha was indeed in trouble, and Cole was an opponent that was making her put in a lot of effort already, but that was welcomed. She looked between him and Akoúo̱, and tentatively walked with only Miló aimed at him in its sword form. She then decided to charge at him. Cole charged back and once again felt something odd as his aim was suddenly thrown off, he felt it far more than other times, just like when he and Pyrrha were locked together.

As Pyrrha went past him, he guessed she was going for her shield, and instinctively turned around with a swing and thrust to stop her, and he did stop her in her track, but he- and his friends watching the fight- were surprised as the shield bean to move on its own, coming like a projectile to the back of Cole's head. Cole quickly turned and hit Akoúo̱ upwards, only for it to change trajectories and come quickly to Pyrrha's arm. Cole and Pyrrha then stood watching each other for a second. Cole quickly put two and two together.

"That's what you do then…" Cole said as he aimed his spear at her, but looking at his spear suddenly made something else click in his head. "Wait… this was you too?" He asked her as he tapped his weapon.

"Um…" Pyrrha looked embarrassed as it seemed she had been found out, something her father had warned her against. As to keep the opponent guessing as to what her semblance was. The approach relied a bit on deception, and in a sense it was a way to affect the opponent's mind, making them doubt themselves.

Xiu had emphasized on that approach, and it was really effective, but she tried to use it sparingly, so as to not become too reliant on it. Part of her also felt bad about it, as it was a powerful semblance, and the opponent not knowing about it when they fought was somewhat unfair. But people like Cole and her father made it very difficult not to use it, as they were capable, and her usual defenses weren't enough.

"Very sneaky." Cole complimented.

"I… I'm sorry if I deceived you. I- I only try to use it when I need to. I'm sorry." Pyrrha began to rapidly apologize.

"Hey hey, don't be sorry. You use it really well. Honestly, you could use it more." Cole suggested.

"I, well. I try to not become dependent on it, it's a strong semblance after all. I would like it if I was the one responsible for winning, not my semblance." Pyrrha looked away in embarrassment.

"Alright, fair. But still, you should try to use it, there's plenty of strong semblances out there after all. And if you try, maybe you can use it along with everything else you got. Then you'll be really crazy." Cole said.

"Umm…"

"I do believe it's time for a demonstration. To amp it up as if you could say, right Cole?" Aurelius called from his spot.

"Yeah, I think you are right," Cole said as he stood straighter, and let his spear fall to the ground, discarded. Pyrrha was now curious as to what her father meant by amping it up.

"Well you see, up to now, you could say I've been playing your game right? Getting up close and using weapons?" Cole asked Pyrrha.

"Uh, uh-huh." Pyrrha nodded.

"Well…" Cole grinned as he made sparks and bolts arc from his hands and fingertips in multiple directions. "I think it's about time you play mine," Cole said as lightning surged from his extremities. Pyrrha's eyes widened as she realized that it was about to get a lot more difficult, she would say she was also slightly scared.

In an instant, Cole sent forward a barrage of lightning bolts. Pyrrha gasped, and on instinct brace herself with Akoúo̱, but even though she blocked, electricity coursed through her body. It was slight, but she could feel her muscles tense and her breath stop ever so slightly with each blocked bolt. Another bolt came and she blocked it, but then Cole sent forward a thunderbolt, the impact being far stronger and it sent Pyrrha jumping backwards as the impact knocked her feet off the ground. With traces of sparks all around her, Pyrrha realized she couldn't remain defensive the way she was now, otherwise, Cole would whittle her down, or eventually electrocute her enough for her to become paralyzed and open for an attack.

As Cole continued with his barrage of lightning, Pyrrha decided to block another bolt and then rapidly roll out of the way of the next ones. She recovered and began running in Cole's direction at an angle, making sure to keep Akoúo̱ in front of her in case more bolts came. A couple bolts indeed came, Cole tracking Pyrrha's movements and aiming accordingly, carefully aiming as Pyrrha moved in one direction, and then with aura enhanced speed turned in focused on running and blocking while getting closer, putting all of her attention into it. She blocked two more bolts and began to run faster, but before she could realize, she was surprised by an explosion of lightning that sent her flying backwards. As she recovered she realized that it had been something right below her.

"Ah ah, you gotta pay attention," Cole said to her, as he juggled a ball of lightning in his hand.

He then sent forward more lightning bolts and Pyrrha began to run again, doing her best to block and dodge out of the way of the bolts, but as she continued running, Cole threw another lightning grenade on her path. This time she did notice, jumping backwards to avoid the explosion.

As she panted, Cole sent forward another thunderbolt that she narrowly blocked as she was pushed further back to the edge of the ring. She realized that she would need a new approach. She decided to run diagonally and then immediately run in the other direction with some aid of her aura, dodging out of the way of an explosion as lightning bolts rained down on her. She then aimed herself and lunged directly towards Cole in a powerful jump.

But Cole was ready for her, shooting lightning bolts at her while she was in the air and forcing her to block with Akoúo̱, and as she reached him, Cole pushed his palm forward into the shield and knocked her back several meters with a lightning palm. Pyrrha landed on her feet as she skidded backwards, but she was one again right where she had begun.

"Well done. Now we gotta do that again, so what now?" Cole asked her as he gave her a small breather.

Pyrrha for her part was trying to think of something she could do. And the answer came right away, but she would need an opening, but she thought surely it would work now that Cole was weaponless and only using his semblance. And so, Pyrrha decided to throw Akoúo̱ at Cole, Cole using two lightning bolts to knock the shield out of the air, and right there, Pyrrha transformed Miló into its rifle form, shooting three bullets at Cole.

Cole however responded immediately by creating his polarity wall and blocking the bullets with a shield of pure lightning. Pyrrha gasped at the ability, she had not seen anything like it before and was impressed. To top it off, she then saw Cole raise his hand, lifting her shield with magnetism and throwing it back at her. She used her semblance to catch it and strap it back to her arm, the fight briefly at a pause as Pyrrha gaped at Cole. She was astonished that someone could do so much with a lightning semblance.

"Sorry, but it's not gonna be that easy." Cole quipped. Pyrrha for her part stared for a couple seconds before nodding and assuming her guard one again.

It was not gonna be easy, she would need to push herself if she was going to get into Cole range and strike at him, but he clearly knew what he was doing, and wasn't going to let her. Just like her father, she would need to try her best. It felt like a difficult task, and she didn't know if she would be able, but that didn't deter her, she in fact welcomed the challenge. It was something new, and in a way, it was exciting.

Pyrrha this time tried to run in a diagonal line and bait out Cole's grenades, she did well to avoid the first grenade that came her way, but soon after she had to dive-roll to go past the next one and she felt her aura get hit by the multiple sparks. Once she was close, she blocked another thunderbolt, forcing herself to charge in despite the force of it, reflected a lightning bolt with Miló, and then put all her strength into throwing Akoúo̱ directly at Cole at close range. Cole had not much choice other than ducking to avoid the shield as it flew past his head, and that was when Pyrrha lunged forward with a powerful thrust. Crouched down, Cole used his position to jump with his thrusters and easily jumped four meters into the air, evading Pyrrha's attack with a pirouette, and throwing a cluster of grenades at her and a rocket as he landed with his thrusters on the opposite side of the arena.

Pyrrha got caught in the explosions, but rolled and recovered after the first impact with the momentum of the shockwaves, only being slightly hurt as she got to a kneeling position and called Akoúo̱ back to her with her semblance.

"Not bad, almost got me there. Come on, you are doing great. Just a bit more and you'll hit me." Cole said to her.

Pyrrha gritted her teeth as she got up and faced Cole once again, she was getting closer with each try, she only needed it to push it a bit more. With her heart racing, aura lowering, and her breath slowly becoming more ragged, she pushed herself forward and let adrenaline carry her. She needed an opening, something she could use, and she suddenly saw it. She noticed Cole's spear lying on the ground still, and decided to use it to her advantage. As she rolled past a lightning bolt, she used her semblance and the spear went flying directly at Cole.

"There you go!" Cole grinned as he ducked his spear and turned back towards Pyrrha, who was now running with Akoúo̱ on her back and Miló on its rifle form, shooting at him as she got closer and forced him to put up his polarity wall. Cole eventually used his other hand to throw a lightning rocket, Pyrrha barely seeing it in time and moving to the side, she didn't completely avoid it, as the explosion pushed her to the ground rolling, but she recovered quickly and charged directly at Cole.

Cole for his part shot lightning bolts at her, but Pyrrha figured out a new tactic, she threw Akoúo̱ at Cole, and Cole batted out of the air with a lightning blast, but then Pyrrha held it place in front of her with her semblance, serving as a long-distance shield from Cole's electricity, protecting her from electrocution, and soon, ramming right into Cole. She threw Akoúo̱ forward for good measure and forced Cole to dodge to the side, and then she lunged and narrowly missed as he dive-rolled to the side. She now had a chance to finally hit him, and lunged towards Cole as she called Akoúo̱ back to her. But then, Cole formed a gigawatt blade and knocked Pyrrha backwards as the blade and Miló clashed.

Pyrrha was unbalanced as she was pushed back, and Cole took the opportunity to try a new trick. He reached in his back pocket and threw powdered dust towards Pyrrha, and quickly triggered it with electricity. The combination of lightning dust, and his own powers created a smokescreen of yellow and blue sparks, Pyrrha being blasted further back. Pyrrha recovered and then saw as Cole came through the cloud of smoke that the lightning and dust created, charging at her with his gigawatt blade before she could react. She reflexively blocked, and had her guard broken as Coe applied enough force to get past her defenses, and ended the fight by using an alpha blast to push Pyrrha on her back and out of the arena.

Pyrrha panted for air on the ground as she slowly stood back up, her aura flaring as she did so. Most of it was gone now, and by being thrown out of the arena she realized that she had lost. She then saw as someone extended a hand for her, Cole.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Um, yeah," Pyrrha said as she took the hand and Cole helped her stand up.

"Sorry if I hurt you, I mean that what aura is for both-"

"No, no no it's fine. I'm fine." Pyrrha assured him. "I'm… uh, I'm actually…" Pyrrha stammered.

"Mmm?"

"H-how… How are you able to do all of that? It's uh, really impressive." Pyrrha said.

"Heh. Well, it's a long story, but the short version is that I had to get used to it, practice, and fight a lot as well. But that's about it, and also learning how to use it well. You saw what I was doing right?" Cole asked.

"Umm, uh…"

"I was sitting back, throwing lightning bolts, what I was doing was keeping you back forcing you to back up…" Cole began

"And wear me down." Pyrrha finished.

"Yeah, but then you got in."

"But then you-" Pyrrha paused for a second. "You rushed at me, through the smoke and with that-"

"Shock and awe. Heh. When you surprise someone like that, you give them very little time to react, and you get the advantage. Not the best explanation, but you did it to me too. You pressured me and suddenly I had to do something. You could use your semblance like that." Cole suggested.

"I-" Pyrrha looked down. "I don't know."

"Yeah, but look, fighting smart is the important thing here. And you did just fine, I honestly used a bit more energy than maybe I should have, I should have kept it in reserve and used it later."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but saving it doesn't work if you don't plan to use it, not really. Find new openings, scare people into backpedaling, but more importantly, don't let them play their game. Find some way to pressure them to play yours, to play what you are good at, which is kicking ass up close. Maybe find some way to pull them in or for them to come to you." Cole suggested as he clasped her shoulders.

Pyrrha's eyes widened as she took the information in, because she felt it was not something she was struggling with currently. "Right, right. I see, you played my game, and then I played yours. I get it. If I wanna fight back against that… I should try and get in quicker, maybe find some other way… but how? You were doing good even when fighting up close." She asked.

"Well it's a bit more complicated I guess but, trust me, fight more and you'll start to find more ways to get in quick, or to start playing your game sooner. The more you do it, the better you are at it, but always keep a good eye out, that helps a lot." Cole said, and Pyrrha smiled at the instruction. Back on the other side of the room, the others were having their own conversation.

"You think it was good?" Aiden asked Aurelius.

"I believe so. I'm glad in fact that Cole managed to push her the way he did. Losing can always be a chance to learn, and I feel Pyrrha learned a lot from this one. And I'm thankful for that." Aurelius stared at Aiden, Morgan and Jack.

"Well, you should thank him over there. But honestly, your daughter is pretty good, you trained her well." Jack said.

"I am impressed with Cole as well, it's rare to see someone with that kind of control. Not that rare, but it is not exactly common. Are you all on the same vein?" He asked.

"More or less," Jack answered.

"He was mostly showing off, throwing out a bit more flare than usual," Aiden added.

"How much energy did he use again?" Jack wondered.

"It's the blasts, shockwaves, grenades, and rockets that consume the most for him. Otherwise, though, I think he should be able to keep going for a decent amount of time, though yeah, he did spray it out a bit." Morgan assessed.

"Hmm." Aurelius began to ponder on something.

"Is something wrong?" Morgan asked him.

"I've been wondering. How did people as tough and skilled as you four end up as guards in a small town? More importantly, where did you learn all your skills? Are you sure you weren't huntsmen or, something else beforehand?" Aurelius asked.

"That…" Aiden paused before looking at the others, they gave him a glance and then looked downwards. "We would like to keep that to ourselves."

---

Another two days passed and it seemed like they finally got the answer they had been waiting for. Aurelius had managed to contact Xiu earlier during the day while they had been training and resting. It is usually this day of the month and at this hour when Aurelius usually went out to have a walk with Pyrrha, trying to have a bonding moment besides training and usual daily life. Aurelius told them that he will tell them in detail once he and Pyrrha returned, but that if they wanted, perhaps they could join them for a bit. Neither he nor Pyrrha seemed to mind. With nothing better to do in the meanwhile, the four of them accepted the offer.

That's how they found themselves trekking along a path that exited the main town of Argus and went around the coast. The cold wind gently blew as they walked through the forest.

"So, why are you looking for Xiu?" Pyrrha asked them. She knew that they were looking for Xiu, but neither they nor her father told her why.

"To put it simply, we need his help," Morgan answered the question.

"Oh, you need him to train you? But all of you are already really strong. Do you really need more training?" Pyrrha wondered.

"Actually, it's not about training. But in a way, it might be." Morgan said.

"I don't understand."

"We uh… We are trying to find someone, someone dangerous. She already beat all of us before and we barely got out alive. It seems Xiu trained her, and he's our best bet to try and find a good way to beat her." Jack told her.

"Xiu… She…She b-beat all of you? Really?" Pyrrha was shocked knowing that the four of them were seemingly as strong, or perhaps even stronger than some huntsmen out there. Granted not all huntsmen and huntresses were made equal. But still, defeating the four of them…

"She is special. Very strong semblance, and knows how to use it. We still have to chase her down, eventually. So anything we can learn would help us." Aiden continued.

"And Xiu is our best bet. Given that he seemed to train her." Cole added.

"Though I don't know if he'll train us. I don't know if he'll consider it a good use of his time, but hopefully, we'll be able to learn something we can use against her." Aiden said.

"If you must now, he has agreed to meet the four of you," Aurelius said.

"He has. What did he say?" Cole asked.

"He said, 'Alright, I'll meet with them. I'll be at the northwest place in about two weeks'. That's all he said before cutting contact again." Aurelius said.

"And, that's it?" Aiden raised an eyebrow.

"No questions? No prodding?" Morgan wondered.

"That's it." Aurelius nodded.

"You are serious? Just like that?" Jack asked as well.

"Xiu… really doesn't say much if he doesn't need to. Heh heh. "Pyrrha laughed as she scratched her cheek. "He's really straightforward. Really blunt and serious at times. Heh."

"Well then, it seems getting him to help is gonna be really fun. Let's hope he wants to." Cole quipped.

"Tell me about it, we already have one really serious guy here, don't know if we need another one." Jack joked with Cole as he pointed at Aiden. Aiden for his part deadpanned.

"Well, by his tone, I get the feeling he's going to help you. Perhaps what I told him was enough." Aurelius said as he pulled out the map he had shown them. "There's only one safe house he has that's on the northwest. Be sure to arrive on time. He likes punctuality." Aurelius said as he handed the map to Aiden.

"Of course he does. Thanks." Aiden nodded his head to Aurelius.

"Really, you turned something that would have taken us months into something of just a couple of days." Morgan said to him.

"It was my pleasure. Hopefully, he'll be able to help you. Though if I'm honest, if he can't, I don't know who could." Aurelius responded.

"We are already working on that. We don't plan on doing this without help." Morgan said.

"So… this woman. You said she's dangerous. Is she… a criminal?" Pyrrha asked.

"Pretty much, yeah. A really powerful one at that, and more than in one way." Jack said.

"Mmm. Well, I hope you catch her. I'm pretty sure you can. You seem to be powerful huntsmen." Pyrrha said to them.

"Well, we are not really huntsmen, kid." Cole reminded her.

"Oh, right. But either way, I know you can. If I become a huntress one day, I wish I could become as strong as you or as my father." Pyrrha said.

"You have it planned out then? Being a huntress is what you are gonna do?" Cole asked her.

"Well, yeah. I don't think there's much else I'm good at. Heh." Pyrrha lightly chuckled. With some amount of insecurity in her tone.

"Hey, I'm pretty sure you are good at plenty of things. You are young and you can find plenty of things on top of being a huntress. Your mom is really proud of you also, she can hardly hold herself about how nice and smart you are." Morgan said to her.

"R-really? She… she just talks normally about me." Pyrrha responded.

"Trust me, I've had parents that… their pride in me was not always so nice, or genuine. But your mom and dad. They love you, and both of them are proud of you. If only worried a bit about you, as most parents should be about their kids." Morgan said. Pyrrha looked at her wide-eyed, and then she looked at Aurelius, finding him looking at the ground slightly embarrassed. Aurelius did look at her though, and he smiled with a nod. Pyrrha doing the same.

"And hey, as a huntress. Well I say you are already pretty good. You are gonna do just fine." Jack added, Cole giving her a thumbs up right beside him. Pyrrha couldn't help but smile.

"Right. Thank you." She said to them. Aiden took the chance to whisper to Aurelius however.

"Hey. Remember what you said about people like us fighting other people? And taking lives? You think you'll be able to teach her that?" Aiden whispered to him, wondering what he thought on the matter.

"For now, I only hope to try and teach her as the time comes. Maybe it will be me, or maybe she'll learn once she goes to a huntsman academy. But for now, she's young, and has plenty to learn still. As I said, most people already know these things, I'm sure she does as well. But for now, we'll focus on making sure she fights at her best, and in turn, survive her future fights." Aurelius said to Aiden. Aiden nodded and soon enough, the six of them continued with their trek.

The sun was beginning to set as they calmly followed a road that followed the treeline and eventually disappeared off the side of the coast and into the mainland. Barely any sound other than the sound of waves hitting the side of the cliff they were on, the birds, and of their voices. Though eventually, a sound came from above them as a pair of Atleasian airships went past them and then went on to the horizon.

"Those are the Atlesian military right?" Cole asked.

"Mmhm. They seem to be making a trip to Solitas." Aurelius responded.

"Hmph. Do they often take trips between continents?" Morgan asked.

"Not always, but a lot of people use this place to travel directly to Atlas and Mantle. And if you are in a hurry and can't wait for a normal airship to be available, the people of the base may be willing to let you tag along with them. But you'll have to settle a deal with them, and as it seems, they are pretty… strict, and sometimes… over the top." Aurelius said.

"Wait, really?" Aiden wondered what he meant by 'over the top'.

"Only thing I've heard about the base in Sanctum is that if you go by the base early in the morning, you can hear two guys singing the Atlas national anthem every morning without fault. And always shouting it." Pyrrha said.

"Ah, I bet those two are the Nuckbucks." Aurelius reasoned.

"The what?" Aiden turned to Aurelius.

"The Nuckbucks. Practically the personal guard of Caroline Cordovin, the current leader of the base, and has been for quite some time. Now she's a whole different can of worms. To put it simply, apparently the reason she was stationed here was that her coworkers found her patriotism annoying, and made sure to put her as far away from Atlas as possible." Aurelius told.

"Wow. Okay, yeah that doesn't sound good. And that hasn't caused problems?" Jack asked.

"She has her tendencies, and a personal list of people flagged for additional screening. But as long as you don't say anything mildly bad about Atlas, and stick to the general procedures they have, everything should be fine. She's normally reasonable, mostly. But if you get on her bad side then it becomes an uphill battle." Aurelius explained.

"Speaking from experience?" Cole questioned.

"No. Just speaking of what I've seen. Though I'll admit, the sum of her parts makes it difficult to take her seriously sometimes. Her tendencies, her temper, and even her size." Aurelius mused.

"Her size?" Morgan asked.

"She's not particularly tall. Quite small actually, maybe shorter than four feet." Aurelius said.

"Huh. Alright yeah, that's really small. Kinda want to meet her now to see if that's true." Cole chuckled.

"You better not at least not for that reason. She doesn't have much of a sense of humor." Aurelius warned.

"Is really everyone in Argus fine with someone like her in charge of the base?" Morgan crossed her arms.

"Argus is still in Mistral, and the huntsmen and other forces here and nearby still answer mostly to the Mistrali government. Cordova and the base answer to Atlas. It does mean that she cannot really interfere much with the business of the city other than its defense, and we in turn don't have to compromise much with Atlas about their military presence. But the defense of the city and Atlas business here is their only priority. There's not much else that truly concerns them." Aurelius explained.

"So they are glorified guard dogs in a sense," Aiden said.

"That would be one way to put it. But even so, Cordova has done her job more or less to the letter. Argus has remained as a safe city between the Kingdoms, and the Grimm in the proximity are cleared and dealt with. Is in fact part of the reason we can take these long walks by the coastline." Aurelius said.

"I suppose that much is true. If both the Mistral and Atlas side of Argus can work without stepping on each other's toes, maybe then there's not much trouble. There doesn't seem to be a lot of Grimm nearby either." Morgan watched the forest for any signs, but found none.

Their time as guards and as cleaners of Grimm nests had taught them that in order for Grimm to stay away from a place, one needed to usually keep a strong enough force to deal with the Grimm, and to keep the people feeling safe. If that was the case in Argus, then perhaps the military base was doing its job.

"Grimm will always be present, and they overstep from time to time. We do have a siren system with different types of alerts in case of a Grimm attack. And hard light shields along the coastline." Aurelius told them. But as if on cue, they began to hear sirens in the distance. Not blaring sirens, it seemed more like a warning, but it didn't stop.

All of them turned back towards Argus. Pyrrha's eyes widened, looking at her father and then back towards the city. The Outlaws looked towards the city as well, their blood beginning to rush.

"Don't tell me. Exactly those sirens." Jack guessed.

"Yes. That's not a major alarm. But it's an alarm more nonetheless." Aurelius said to them.

The six of them quickly drew their weapons, all of them traveling with them at all times, and sprinting back the way they came from. As they got closer to Argus, they failed to see any horde of Grimm or any signs of an attack.

"You said there were different alerts. Which kind is this one?" Aiden asked as they continued to sprint.

"It's not a horde of Grimm." Aurelius said as he pulled out his scroll to double-check "It would be a different siren if it was the case. This is not minor though. It's a large Grimm getting close to the city."

"Large Grimm. How large are we talking about? Giant Deathstalker?" Jack asked.

"Larger, or at the very least, more dangerous," Aurelius answered.

"Well great," Jack said as they began to approach the walls.

Even once they were close, there didn't seem to be any sign of the supposed Grimm, but they could see plenty of activity as airships flew around in the military could see as well that the hard light shields were ready for anything trying to go towards the city.

"Could it be on the other side?" Morgan suggested as they got closer. Suddenly, however, Aurelius began to slow down.

"Nikos?" Cole looked at him. The man raised his hand to tell them to remain quiet, seemingly trying to concentrate on something. They paid attention as well, using their natural, and superpowered senses.

They began to hear and feel something, a rumble. The sound of a rising tide that seemed to extend far more than a normal wave. As for Cole and Jack, they began to look towards the sea, not sensing anything nearby, but feeling hints of some strange thing. It was getting closer.

"Um, D-dad?" Pyrrha looked between them.

"Pyrrha, you have to stay back, no matter what-" Aurelius to his daughter and then paused as two airships flew above them.

"You! Go back inside the walls immediately! For your safety, you need to-" The pilot of the aircraft shouted at them through a megaphone. But before he could finish, they witnessed as a massive roar came from the sea, and a beam of ice and hail shot at the airship. Knocking and freezing the airship out of the air as it fell into the sea.

"Aah-..ah- Aah!" The pilot's shouts cut up as his airship fell, and they saw as a massive Sea Feilong popped half its body out of the water. Roaring in triumph and quickly trying to take down the second airship. Its large but nimble body quickly moved in a serpentine manner as it tried to bite it out of the sky. The airship barely was able to maneuver and avoid being eaten.

"Okay! That… That is big!" Cole and the others took a couple of steps back.

"That's not big, that massive. A massive sea dragon!" Jack added as they watched the airship barely avoiding the bites and the movements of the Feilong. It desperately was trying to hold out until help arrived or find some way to escape.

"Pyrrha, like I said you need to-" Aurelius commanded, but paused as he saw Pyrrha frozen in place. Shaking with her mouth agape and her eyes wide.

"Pyrrha!" Aurelius shouted, pulling her out of her stupor as she turned towards him. Up in the air, however, the airship was barely evading the Grimm.

"H-he… he's gonna…" Pyrrha looked at the airship. Meanwhile, Aurelius and the others turned towards the Feilong.

"He's not gonna survive long." Aiden quickly said.

"What do we do? Plans?" Cole asked.

"Eh…" Morgan was failing to come up with something.

"We have to… Pyrrha, do as I say. Run and don't look back. Now!" Aurelius ordered.

"B-but…"

"Now!" Aurelius said louder.

"Listen to him. Go!" Aiden joined in.

"We'll be fine," Morgan reassured as well. Slowly but surely, Pyrrha nodded and began to run in the direction of the forest. As she was leaving, the five of them turned towards the Grimm.

"So we are doing this?" Jack said in a mix of exasperation and panic.

"If we wish to save that pilot." Aurelius nodded.

"Well, fortune favors the bold, right?" Jack said to the others.

"I don't know if it will!" Aiden answered.

"It's a Feilong, we are gonna have to hit-" Aurelius tried to offer advice.

"He's gonna die!" Morgan called out as the Feilong dipped low and was ready to tear the airship in two with a ramming bite.

"Yep. Screw it. Just hit it!" Cole called out.

"Hit the head!" Aiden shouted as well.

Aiden shot with shots enhanced by his semblance, Morgan shot with her firearms and used her powers, Cole used thunderbolts and lightning rockets, Jack used a Time Blast and Aurelius used his own firearm. A gauntlet with a large bracer that had a rifle built inside. Together they fired at the Feilong's head and were able to daze it as their projectiles impacted in a large explosion of smoke. Giving the airship an opportunity to escape. But they also garnered the attention of the giant Grimm.

"It looks pissed," Jack said as the Feilong quickly turned towards them. With a roar, it soon was moving in a serpentine toward them. With a speed not expected for a beast of its size.

"It's fast!" Cole gasped as the Grimm moved in the shape of a number eight and was soon upon them.

"Back! Back! Back! Back!" Morgan shouted as they began to retreat while shooting at the monster.

"Behind the treeline!" Aurelius shouted as well as they began to sprint for cover. Just as the Feilong reached the side of the cliff and began spewing its ice breath.

With a hail frost covering the ground behind them, they sprinted and dived for cover, the Feilong covering the ground behind them as they reached behind the trees. Jack Time Dodged to get out of the way and finally took cover behind a large tree, ice covering his surroundings while Aiden jumped over a bush and then slid behind another tree, Cole vaulted over a large rock and then his behind it, and Morgan and Aurelius dove quickly past three trees that were very close together. The ice covered all their surroundings, their cover and proximity got covered in solid frost, but for the moment, they seemed to be safe.

"Everybody okay?!" Aiden shouted as he peeked behind his tree to keep an eye on Feilong. Which seemed to be trying to spot them past the mist and residue of ice itself created.

"Alive!" Jack responded first.

"Okay here!" Cole followed.

"We are good-" Morgan said and then turned towards Aurelius, but looking past him she noticed something. Pyrrha.

As some of the others looked in her direction to see why Morgan had stopped mid-sentence, they noticed Pyrrha as well. The girl sitting wide-eyed behind a rock and a tree as she watched the Feilong's movements. She then turned towards the others as she could feel the eyes on her.

"Pyrrha! What are you doing?! We told you to run!" Aurelius said to her.

"I… I couldn't leave you. And then I heard the ice and I- I…" Pyrrha trembled.

"Sweetie please, just stand back. Run through the forest and let us handle this-" Aurelius began, but stopped once the Feilong let out a massive roar. They all dove behind cover as they turned and saw the Feilong let out another massive beam of ice, freezing and destroying parts of the forest with a powerful beam.

As it stopped, the team managed to remain in position unscathed, but the Feilong managed to hit it and tear through part of Aurelius' and Morgan's cover. Quickly spotting them and fixating on them with an icy stare.

"Dad!" Pyrrha yelled in panic. And her fear seemed enough to make the Feilong fixate on her. Pyrrha quickly realized that the massive Grimm was now focused on her. And her legs froze in fear as she raised her shield.

"Pyrrha!" Aurelius shouted and quickly broke into a dead sprint as the Feilong roared and let out spew more of its breath towards Pyrrha. He reached Pyrrha in a second and tackled her behind cover as the ice missed them. Soon though the Feilong was doubling down with a second wave of ice breath from another angle.

"No no no!" Jack quickly Time Rushed towards their position. He wasn't the only one, Morgan quickly dove to action as well, being the one closest.

As the second ice breath came, Jack created a Time Shield around them, Morgan assisting with her own power into enhancing it as the ice surrounded the shield. Not being able to cross it. Aiden and Cole were the ones farthest away, but both of them looked at each other and nodded. They knew what they had to do. Before the Feilong could continue spewing more frost, they ran out of their covers and steadily ran towards the left while shooting at the Grimm with lightning bolts, green scorching shots and singing, lightning rockets, and even throwing a dust grenade with a powerful throw. Both of them acting as a distraction and get the Grimm to pay attention to them.

It worked really well. The Feilong snapped toward them and roared. Quickly rushing towards them with the upper half of its body, Cole and Aiden jumped and rolled out of the way as it tried to swallow them. Cole threw a lightning grenade at the monster's head while Aiden hit it with a combustion dust grenade, quickly reloading and shooting with both guns towards its head as it serpentined and came around for another dive towards them. It dived directly towards both of them with its jaws opened. Both of them jumped back as it impacted and created a crater on the ground, then quickly shot at it as it lifted its head up. It used its frost breath again, and Aiden used his semblance to dash away as a mass of smoke while he continued to shoot at it. Cole jumped back and then backflipped to avoid the ice breath, retaliated with a lightning rocket, and then used his thrusters to jump up and into one of the trees to avoid another spew of ice.

Back with the others. They were safe, if trapped in an ice dome, but it wasn't a problem for long. Morgan channeled her Superthermal power through Jack's TIme Shield, melting the ice and shattering it once Jack released the shield in a shockwave, water and melting ice falling all around them.

"Are you okay?" Aurelius held Pyrrha by the shoulders. Pyrrha nodded while looking down. Soon though, the four of them heard the roar of the Feilong, and saw as Aiden was shooting at it from the ground while Cole lept from tree to tree to avoid ice beams and waves of ice breath.

"They are gonna need help!" Morgan looked at the others. There still was the issue of Pyrrha however.

"Sweetie, listen to me." Aurelius cupped her face. "Stand back and don't get too close. Remain calm, remember everything you've been taught, do not show them fear."

"Uh-huh…" Pyrrha nodded.

"Be brave. You are my daughter, and I know you are braver than most. Now stay safe and let us deal with this." Aurelius said.

"S-should I help?" Pyrrha asked, and Aurelius paused. The Feilong roared again and they all saw as it kept attacking Aiden and Cole. Jack and Morgan looked at each other, then stared back at them to see Aurelius giving them a knowing look. In a second they were both running to save their friends.

"You…" Aurelius seemed to be finding the right words. "The most important thing is that you stay safe, okay? Don't fight or do anything unless you have to. You understand?"

"Y-yeah." Pyrrha wanted to protest, but quickly fought the urge and nodded. Aurelius nodded in response and quickly ran to join the others. Leaving Pyrrha watching behind a tree.

Aiden dashed from side to side while shooting at the Feilong, Cole doing much the same, only atop the trees, jumping and dodging just as the Feilong charged at him and crushed the tree he was at the top of. Aiden focused and unloaded an entire magazine from both his guns in a stream of green singing shots. The bullets impacted and the Feilong recoiled and answered immediately with a wave of ice breath in Aiden's direction, who barely got away as his coat got covered in ice. Cole used the opportunity to hit the Feilong with blasts and explosions of lightning, while Aiden recovered and threw a fire dust grenade at it. The Feilong moved far quicker than one would think for a creature its size, quickly turning back and forth between them as it fired ice beams, let out breaths of frost, and rammed towards them.

In a swift motion, it let out a large wave of ice breath at the trees Cole was using, turned and rammed towards Aiden, who dashed away as black smoke, and quickly turned around to charge towards Cole shattering the frozen trees and sending Cole tumbling to the ground. It then turned towards Aiden with an ice beam. Aiden dodged out of the way and did his best to retaliate, his guns were empty and the best he could do was use his semblance to create firebolts. He managed to hit the Feilong and slide past one of his attacks, but it quickly turned and charged directly at him.

"Aargh!" Aiden barely was able to jump back as the Feilong charged into the ground, practically grazing him as it created a crater on the ground and a shockwave that smashed Aiden into a tree.

Cole got up and noticed the Feilong was preparing itself to attack Aiden again. He used a still-standing tree and his thrusters to jump into the air and drew his spear, descending with a thunder drop and jabbing it on Grimm's head. Cole unleashed lightning through his spear and the Feilong screeched, quickly shaking its head, and eventually smashing itself to the ground at a side angle. Smashing Cole to the ground.

"Urk… Oh ho, shit." Cole fought the pain and tried to get up, but the Grimm was already looming over him and readying its ice beam to finish him off. That was when it was impacted by a Time Blast.

The Feilong roared as it spotted a streak of orange dashed at incredible speeds towards them. The form then turned into Jack and drew its attention by shooting at it from range. It didn't do much, but it certainly drew the Feilong's attention. It created a giant ball of ice and fired it towards Jack, who stopped by putting in a Time Stop mid-flight, continuing on his job to draw the Grimm's attention away from the others.

As Jack ran past, Morgan created a Lift Field at the Time Stop's location and aimed it back at the Grimm. Luckily enough, the Feilong was too distracted trying to shoot ice at Jack that it remained stationary, and so the ice ball went back right at him, shattering on its side and making it sway. The Feilong turned around and roared towards Morgan, but was immediately battered with another Time Blast as Jack came from the other direction. It shifted its attention, but then noticed Morgan was once again trying to hurt it. It noticed a ball of fire form on its head and explode, charring its scales, and it saw as Morgan created large spears of stone with the aid of dust.

It charged towards her as the spikes impacted against its scale, doing little damage as it rammed towards her. Morgan Phantom Shifted at the last second though, dodging the ram and immediately shooting at the Feilong's side with her shotgun. Jack Time Rushed close to her and did much the same, reaching the Feilong's head and shooting two times with the D12 before getting away from the massive dragon. Jack blasted the Grimm with another Time Blast while Morgan kept running and unleashing her powers, letting loose Superthermal explosions, Electrostatic Bursts, and Kinetic Blasts. The only thing she couldn't do was Psychoshock it, perhaps due to its size, but she couldn't think too much about it for now.

The Feilong began to move faster and let out another massive ice breath. Jack Time Dodge far away while Morgan jumped back and avoided most of the frost, but then the Feilong came through the cloud of frost and charged towards her. Morgan rolled away and was pushed on her back as the Feilong crashed against the ground and created another shockwave. It then lifted its head up and prepared itself to try and chomp down Morgan. But right then, a thunderous thud resounded and the Grimm seemed to be shrugging off something. It was then attacked by bullets as Aurelius rushed towards it while firing from his gauntlet, he then jumped into the air as his gauntlet took the form of a tower shield, and rammed the Feilong's head while thrusting forward with his sword. He didn't do much damage to it, but it was better than nothing.

The Feilong recoiled and then composed itself as Aurelius landed once again on the ground, it tried to charge towards him, but was cut off as Jack came back using Time Rush, making a powerful jump with the aid of a Time Dodge, and used all his momentum to make a large gash under the Feilong's jaw, shooting at as time was slow down on the same spot for good measure. The Feilong recoiled again, and then rapidly serpentined from side to side as Aurelius and Jack began to shoot at it. More of its body came out of the water to give the Grimm more ease of movement, now moving too fast for them to land a good shot, but as the Feilong leaned back to shoot another ice beam, Aiden ran into the fray.

Aiden dashed into the air as a mass of smoke with his semblance and then materialized, throwing six different dust grenades towards the Grimm and shooting with his guns. He shot at the grenades and at the Feilong, the Feilong recoiling slightly at his shots and the grenades exploding into elemental shockwaves and clouds of powdered dust. The Grimm further recoiled at the explosions as powdered dust rained around it in thick clouds.

"Now!" Aiden shouted, having landed back on the ground and finished reloading his guns.

Cole and Morgan joined back into the fray and saw the clouds of dust, Jack and Aurelius did as well, and soon their combined firearms and powers caused the dust clouds to explode into waves of steam, fire, lightning, rock, and ice. The impact made the Feilong bounce back, but it wasn't the end just yet. Cole and Morgan recharge their energies together and prepared for something new they had worked on, the others noticed, and began attacking the giant Grimm so it couldn't recover. Aiden and Aurelius kept shooting at it in bursts, while Jack hung back and fired another Time Blast to further stagger the Feilong, giving Cole and Morgan the opening they needed.

"Ready?" Morgan asked Cole.

"Oh yeah, I've been wanting to actually do this again," Cole smirked.

Morgan was channeling a large amount of wind dust into a wind sphere, together with Cole they enhanced with their powers, the ball growing in size and firing sparks all around. Once ready, they threw it towards the Feilong together, and what came out was a giant vortex with a core of lightning, going towards the Grimm and mixing with the dust. Carrying the Feilong further back with it in a storm of fire, icy hail, lightning, and waves of energy.

"Whoa! B-better than I hoped. Heh." Morgan grinned.

"Yeah, that's gotta at least do something." Cole nodded. The Vortex quickly dissipated, showing the Feilong with its scales covered in patches of fire, ice, and earth, with sparks flickering around it. And more than that, it looked pissed.

"No one was hoping that would do it, right?" Jack joked.

"No. It's too large for that." Aurelius said as he again formed his tower shield, hefted it up, and then brought it down upright against the ground. Creating a thundering sound.

The Outlaws saw as the Feilong seemed to shrug off, or at least tried to try and shrug something off again. But more than that, they felt different. Aiden looked at himself and was able to tell his aura felt different, denser if you could say. It wasn't much but he noticed more, and so did the others. The best they could describe it was as if they were refreshed, as if they had taken a breath of fresh air, and ready to fight twice as hard.

But the Feilong was ready for more as well. With a massive and deafening roar, it spread its wings, sailing into the air in a spiral and forming an eight as it then turned towards them. As it roared again it fired an ice beam trying to hit them, only for the five of them to split up as the beam created shards of ice between them.

"Of course it can fly!" Aiden huffed.

"Forget that it can fly, worry about how fast it is," Morgan said.

"We are gonna need to get to its wings," Aurelius said to them.

"Sounds easier said than done," Cole commented. The Feilong didn't waste time and dove towards them.

It moved fast, and it forced them to move equally as fast to just avoid its mad dashes towards them. It rushed for them as they rolled, dashed, and dodged out of its way while continuing to shoot at it. Jack was actually forced to actively dodge as it turned towards him after failing to chomp down Morgan, sliding beneath as it went past him and shooting continuously with the D12 during Time Rush. It then flew high above them and shot down a breath of frost, covering a large part of the area, and forcing the group to split up, but even so, they kept firing at it with everything they got. Cole fired missiles and rained lightning strikes on the Feilong while Aiden fired both his guns in a stream of green scorching shots, Jack, Aurelius, and Morgan though, they planned something else.

As the Feilong recoiled from both of Aiden's and Cole's attacks, it decided to dive down and straight towards them. That was when its vision blurred, something akin to nausea affecting it and as it continued to dive downwards, it was met with several Time Stop filled with dust, and as it went past them they detonated into explosions of elements and colors, just to meet giant ice spikes firing into him. Jack had finally figured a way to detonate dust with Time Stops, and used it to create traps while Morgan used dust and her Lift Field to use the Grimm's own ice spikes against it, Aurelius assisting them with his semblance.

As the first ice spike hit the Feilong however, it seemed to recover its senses, quickly flying out of the way of the spikes and dashing towards whoever was in vision. Morgan was forced to Phantomshift out of the way and then dive roll as the Feilong quickly followed her and tried to swallow her. It did mean though that it had gotten closer to the ground and it allowed the others to move in on the monster. Aurelius charged first and climbed on the back of its head, holding on to the Grimm and thrusting his sword repeatedly at its back, the Feilong responded by quickly fling through the treeline, knocking the trees down and eventually forcing Aurelius off of it as a branch hti him off. But just as it was about to leave the treeline it was intercepted with a Time Blast from Jack. Jack then moved to its side and created a Time Shield, hoping that perhaps the shockwave might knock the Feilong sideways. It kind of worked, but only mildly shoving it in the direction of more trees, but it was better than nothing.

He quickly had to Time Dodge away, however, as the Feilong turned to him and very nearly turned him into an ice statue with a powerful beam of ice. As he dodged away, however, the Feilong followed his movements, ended its beam attack early, and then fired in the direction Jack was going. Jack tumbled to the ground and smashed into a tree as the beam created an explosion of ice right beside him.

"Fuck…" Jack held his side as he sat up, and then very quickly rolled on his side as he heard the wind whooshing towards him. He barely avoided being splattered on the ground as the Feilong charged through the trees and then turned towards him. It charged at him with its mouth open. But right then Cole showed up to his rescue, jumping in with gigawatt blades in both his arms and then impacting into the Grimm mid-flight with two powerful cuts and a lightning explosion.

The Feilong stumbled to the side and Cole landed on the ground, quickly lobbing a shock grenade towards it and hitting it on the head. He then rolled out of the way as the Grimm used its massive body and spun, encircling Cole as he did so, and was ready to try and use its breath on Cole. But Jack jumped up from his position and quickly dashed in. And he wasn't the only one. Jack Time Dodged into the air and then did so again towards the Grimm's head, landing on it with a powerful dropkick and then embedding his axe on its side clinging to it and shooting with the D12. Aurelius followed right behind him by running by the side and landing a perfect cut that made a massive gash on its side, he then found another weak spot on the Grimm and landed a powerful thrust right before jumping on its back and stabbing its scales while shooting at it with his gauntlet. He ran along its back and thrust and cut in different points while the other joined in.

Aiden came next as he jumped from a tree and came down as a streak of green fire, creating a wave of fire as he landed near the wings of the Feilong, and shooting at both of them with his guns and with firebolts from his semblance. Morgan joined in with him and hoped on the Feilong's back with a Phantomshift, shooting at the wings with her shotgun and then using her powers to hit different parts of its body. And Electrostatic Burst in the abdomen, a Superthermal explosion further up, and a Kinetic Blast on its neck to force it down. She ended by making a Lift Field and combining it with rock dust, creating a stream of rock projectiles aimed at its head, carefully aimed so as to not hit Jack. Finally, Cole jumped in, he aimed his rockets, grenades, and bolts carefully to not hit his friends, and then leaped up a tree and then used it to step jump at its head. Forcing it further down with an alpha blast and then joining Jack. he noticed that his spear was still embedded in the same spot he had left it.

"This is mine you know! How about we continue where we left off." Cole said as he channeled as much electricity as he could through it and into the Feilong's head.

It screeched and began firing beams of ice and ice breath into the air. It then began thrashing as the five of them did their best to hold on to it. Morgan held on to a scale as she continued to throw whatever power she could. Aiden was attempting to shot it's eyes Jack continued to hack away at the back of its head with the axe and then shot with the D12 on the same wound, Aurelius thrust his sword down into its body, and then smashed his shield own, using his semblance again, and Coe continued to electrocute as he held on to his spear. As the Feilong continued to trash around, it finally decided to try and shake them off by flying into the air.

It flew up and began to zig-zag and wave from side to side. Eventually, their grip on the Grimm began to slip and their weapon began to dislodge, Aiden fell first as his hand slipped, next was Morgan as she lost her grip. With one final whip, the Grimm shook the rest off as Aurelius', Jack's, and Cole's weapons were pried loose, and now they were all freefalling.

They dove straight to the ground, and all of them needed to find a way to slow their descent. Aiden turned into a fiery green trail of smoke, while Aurelius grinded the flat of his swords against his gauntlet, creating an aura of gravity dust around him. Cole dove towards Morgan and caught her in mid-air exchanging energies just in case, then used his truster to slow his descent with her. Jack used Time Stops to slow down, and Morgan created Lift Field for them to land. All of them used the momentum stop of the Lift Field and Jack's Time Stops to land safely on the ground close to each other. Panting as they survived the fall, and turned to face the Feilong once again.

"They should be here by now," Aurelius said as he assumed his stance and took a deep breath.

"Hah… Who?" Morgan huffed as she asked him.

They turned towards the sky as they saw the Feilong descend with a massive roar towards them, preparing it's ice breath. But before it could descend completely, it was pelted by a barrage of gunfire and missiles. The Feilong shrieked and turned mid-flight as multiple Atlas airships continued to fire at it.

"Them." Aurelius sighed in relief.

"Huh… it would have been nice if they had come a couple minutes earlier," Morgan said as she recovered her breath.

"Yeah. Took them long enough." Aiden sighed and inhaled as he too recovered. "But it's not gonna be easy on them either," Aiden said as they noticed the Feilong evading the gunfire and the missiles with its speed, practically turning and going behind them before either the missiles or the airship could turn.

"We should help them before they end up like the other guy," Cole said

"It's not over yet then. What do we do then?" Jack asked.

"As I said, the wings," Aurelius responded.

"Those should barely be holding together. Maybe. We would need to bring it down again." Morgan said.

"We did it once…" Jack said

"By making it angry and focus on us. Yeah, we should be able to do it again." Aiden nodded.

"Hmm. We need to go up, or get him to come down. Which one do you guys prefer?" Cole asked.

"If we can, perhaps both," Aurelius said.

"Well, I got one idea." Cole followed up.

"I got a couple." Morgan then said.

"Two I think might work. "Aiden added.

"I actually got another, but once it's a bit further down." Jack joined in as well.

"I think I can do something that will certainly help." Aurelius also added.

"Very well… then let's see what we can do then, eh?" Cole said, and the five of them quickly made a plan.

Pyrrha had been watching from the sidelines, following her father's instructions to remain safe, but even so, she couldn't help but worry for all of them. But as she watched on, she began to marble as they fought the Feilong. To fight such a massive Grimm, to react as quickly as they did, to keep fighting despite its speed and being tossed around. She also began to see the power and control her new four acquaintances and her father possessed. Her father's semblance was powerful, even if it didn't look like it at first glance. It allowed him to bolster the people around them and himself, to make their aura denser, their attacks hit harder, to make them almost tireless, and to act with enhanced senses. He couldn't do something crazy like completely enhance someone's aura, or make someone regenerate it, but what he could do was enough to make others and himself constantly fight at a hundred and fifty percent. Her father himself could fight perhaps for an entire day with the combination of training and his semblance.

But where it really shone, was in what it could do to his enemies. He could demoralize them, make them slower, make them tired, dizzy, to make them lose balance if ever so little. Every advantage in a fight was useful, and her father used his semblance to create many. Making his enemies falter before him, and bolstering his allies. She now witnessed as his father made the giant Feilong slow down to give the gunships a better shot but more than that, forcing it to down as it was assaulted with weakening effects. She then turned to see that the others were getting ready for something.

Cole and Morgan combined their energies, taking advantage to recharge themselves, and then together they made an enhanced Lift Field that was surrounded by a circle of electricity. Cole stepped in first, being launched far up into the sky and the others following right after him. As they were rising, Cole grabbed each one by the arm and then threw them, giving them additional momentum as they kept rising and reaching high enough to get close to the Feilong. As they got closer each of them found a different way to close the distance. Jack Time Blasting the Feilong and then Time Dodging towards the Feilong with a dropkick, landing on it with a huge impact. Aiden becoming a streak of fire and dashing left and right in the air, Aurelius using the momentum Cole gave him to fly high up in the air go past the Feilong while making another huge gash on its side, Morgan morphing herself into something small and then reaching the Feilong before transforming back, and Cole using his lightning tether to make the distance he couldn't cover with his momentum and thrusters.

Now next to it, they began assaulting the Feilong in different ways. Aiden darted in multiple directions with his semblance while shooting from his guns in bursts, Cole laid lightning grenades across its back and then punched on its head with repeated alpha blasts and shockwaves, forcing its head down. Jack ran across the Feilong, shooting and hacking at what he could while making Time Stops. Aurelius once again stabbed and cut at precise points in the Grimm's body, and Morgan used dust to create blasts and fields of rock and gravity across the Grimm's body, altering its flight, and also forcing it to fly lower.

The Feilong tried to shake them off, but it wasn't capable of flying right with its wings damaged, the five people attacking it and affecting its flight, and the airships firing at it. And even when it managed to spin to shake them off, they jumped off willingly. As they jumped off the Feilong, Jack made Time Stops around the Grimm, and Morgan then used dust to transform those bubbles into pieces of solid ice and earth that unnaturally floated in the air. Pyrrha watched as the five of them used those bubbles as platforms to jump off the Feilong, and then immediately jump back in. She saw as Jack dashed left and right in Time Dodges hacking at the Grimm mid-air, Morgan creating surges of lightning combined with fire dust while morphing into a small object and then reforming somewhere else, her father charging at the Grimm in mid-air and landing devastating blows left and right, Cole carpet-bombing the Feilong with bolts, grenades, and missiles before climbing back on its head and trusting his spear down, and Aiden rainstorming bullets as he spun in the air before dashing as that streak of green fire, and then firing more barrages of singing and scorching bullets.

"Whoa…" Was all she could say as she marbled at them having a mid-air battle with the Grimm and continuously forcing it downwards.

The Grimm was forced further down as Jack Time Rushed up its head and the Time Dodged downward while embedding his axe on its head, the momentum carrying him and the Feilong downwards from the time breaking force. Aiden joined him on the head while dropping one of his last dust grenades behind him. He then ran up the side while shooting, dashed into the air as a streak of fire, and dashed back towards it with his baton ignited in flames, stabbing it in its eye. The Feilong shrieked and trashed in the air, but Cole forced it still with lightning bolts to the back of the head, and with a lightning strike at the middle of its back. With the Grimm partially stunned and trashing less, Morgan and Aurelius found a good chance to finally take care of the wings, Aurelius cut one at the base while Morgan shot the other's base off. The Feilong shrieked again as it lost its wings, and it was now plummeting.

Each of them jumped off the Grimm and landed back on the ground in a similar fashion as they had before, meanwhile, the Feilong crashed down into the sea as the airship kept bombarding it. The Feilong rose from the sea and fired its ice beam into the sky, the airships narrowly dodging it, though one got hit and was forced to crash land into the forest. Morgan and Cole rushed towards it and helped it land relatively safe as Morgan used her Lift Field and Coe aided with his electromagnetic pulse, slowing it down to lessen its impact.

"It's a lot slower now." Jack pointed out as he, Aiden, and Aurelius remained near the fight.

"Then let's try and finish it off," Aiden responded.

Aiden and Jack combined their abilities, having found a way to do so. Jack was behind Aiden while Aiden was aiming both his guns towards the Grimm. Jack formed a small but strong Time Stop in front of Aiden's guns, meanwhile, Aiden powered up with what energy he had left stored in his semblance, and began to pour a lot of fire into the Time Stop. Aiden fired and continued to apply fire into the shot as the Time Stop held it in place, slowly breaking. Aurelius granted them a clear shot by stunning the Grimm with his semblance momentarily, and then the Time Stop broke. What came out was two large green beams of flames that shot with enough force to pierce the Feilong's scales and embed themselves deeply into it, making two sizable holes. The Feilong bounced back with the impact and was subsequently attacked by the remaining airships.

"It's almost done!" Aiden shouted as he and Jack jumped back into the fray. Dashing towards the Grimm and climbing on it as they dashed back and forth to shoot and hit it from different angles. Cole came back running and did the same, being assisted by Morgan with a Lift Field in order to make the jump to the Feilong and landing on top of it with a thunder drop, additionally, he impaled his spear into parts of its body as he moved around, holding on for dear life lest he fall into the ocean. Meanwhile, Aurelius kept harassing it by shooting at it and weakening it with his semblance.

"How do you do that?" Morgan asked him. "I tried to pierce its mind before, but I couldn't. It was too large."

Aurelius raised an eyebrow, then looked at her and back at the other three climbing and dashing around the Grimm. "... Put everything you have into it, overwork what you can do. If it's bigger, then perhaps think bigger. But keep the same precision." Aurelius suggested as he used his semblance again to make the Feilong nauseous.

He then formed his shield again and charged with it at the Feilong's midsection, landing a huge blow while proceeding to find another weak spot he could trust his sword into. Meanwhile, Morgan concentrated, focused on the Feilong's mind and did her best to reach it with her Psychoshock, and indeed she was able to feel something. She could reach it, but the amount of energy needed to affect its much larger brain was not the usual, or even what she normally used for larger Grimm, in fact, she did not have enough energy to even try and form a big enough Psychoshock. But she tried anyway, following Aurelius' advice to be precise, and sure enough, she reached a deeper part of its brain, leaving little traces of her energy behind, and once she couldn't reach any deeper, she let all her energy fire up in a chain reaction. The result was the biggest Psychoshock she had ever achieved.

The Feilong let out a massive and deafening shriek as its large but simple brain was wrecked from the inside out. The people that were the closest to it had to cover their ears as the Feilong tried to reach its head with its relatively small arms. But he wasn't the only one, Morgan too had to hold her head as she had used all of her psionic energy in one single surge, causing her a migraine and strong dizziness that dropped her to her knees. She did her best to stand up, but the Feilong received first, and with a single focus in mind, as it seemed to know who caused it that huge pain.

"Morgan!" Jack shouted and Morgan looked up to see the Feilong firing its ice beam at her. But before she could think about how to avoid it, she was rescued by someone tackling off the beam's line of fire. And that person was no other than Pyrrha.

"Puff…" Pyrrha exhaled and then gasped. "A-are… are you okay?" She asked.

"Pyrrha?" Morgan's eyes widened, and she instinctively went ahead and grabbed her hand to pull her away from the fight, and she did drag her some a couple steps away from it, but stopped mid-way to look back as the others and the airships were dealing with the Feilong.

"Thank you. I owe you…" Morgan looked back and saw the Feilong spew ice breath into the air in desperation. "You should go back and stay safe."

"But… I can help. I know I can!" Pyrrha said, determined this time. Morgan didn't truly know if she could, or if she should, but the decision would be taken away from her as both of them heard another warning.

"Move!" Aiden shouted and they saw as the Feilong was shooting its ice beam to the sky, turning, wailing, and trashing as the beam went in all directions. And that included where Morgan and Pyrrha were.

Pyrrha and Morgan ran and dodged out of the way as the beam nearly skidded them. Morgan began to use her handgun to shoot at the Feilong while keeping Pyrrha slightly behind her, meanwhile, Pyrrha used Miló in its rifle form. They didn't do much, but even then Morgan felt that in a way Pyrrha was doing more than her. She couldn't use her powers as she was completely drained, and she couldn't absorb lightning dust as Cole could. But if it were to turn to electricity, she might. And with that though, an idea popped to her head.

"Pyrrha. I'm gonna need your help." Morgan said.

"W-what do I need to do?" Pyrrha turned to her.

"I need you to use this dust." Morgan pulled out a vial of lightning dust, it was practically a fistful. "You need to make just a small spark."

"Um… Can't you-?"

"There's no time to explain it. Just do it, please." Morgan cut her off.

"O-okay." Pyrrha nodded and used her aura to activate the dust, and from sparks of lightning. The lightning surged into Morgan and Pyrrha saw it dissipate from yellow sparks into some purple energy around her.

"Aah…" Morgan exhaled. "That should be enough for now." She said as she produced some psionic energy on her hand.

"Ready?" Morgan asked Pyrrha. Pyrrha in turn nodded, Morgan smiling and using her powers to a ball of psionic energy and of whatever dust she had left.

"I don't have much dust or energy left, but this should be enough. You are the better shot, so make these ones count." She said as she guided the ball of energy with her hands to the tip of Miló's barrel. Pyrrha turned towards Morgan as she continued to produce that energy and guided it towards her gun.

"Go ahead. I'm right here, and I'll keep powering up those shots for as long as I can." Morgan said to her. Pyrrha nodded and aimed towards the Feilong's head.

Pyrrha was surprised as a single rifle shot became almost like an artillery gun as her shots exploded in impact with strong force. Shot after shot she kept firing and hitting the Feilong with enough force to annoy it. And eventually causing some damage on the top of its head. The Feilong wailed and thrashed once more as it shook its assailants off. But as it did so, Aurelius ran up the Grimm's stomach and neck, making a massive cut across its midsection as he then jumped off the Grimm and into the mainland. Jack followed right after Time Rushed to the top of the Feilong's head and once again forced it down with downwards Time Dodge and embedding his ae in its head, leaving it stunned before jumping off it, firing a Time Blast at its body, and then landing back on solid ground with the aid of a Time Stop. Aiden and Cole jumped off the Feilong together, Cole jumping in the air and landing several lightning rockets before using his thrusters. The Feilong tried to use its ice breath again, only for Aiden to throw a dust grenade on its mouth and then turn into a mass of black smoke and fly off, reaching Cole, who was not going to make it back just with his thrusters, and carrying him safely back to the ground and the others.

"Everyone okay?" Cole asked the others, everyone nodding or asserting in some way.

"We should be fine," Aurelius said as he turned towards his daughter, smiled, and then turned back towards the Grimm.

"Let's end this, shall we?" Cole proposed, and the others agreed.

The Feilong attempted to charge its ice breath again, but it was then bombarded once again by the Atlesian airship, and at the same time, it was hit by a barrage of multiple attacks from the people on the ground. Aurelius turned his sword into a handgun and fired alongside with the firearm in his gauntlet while he burdened the Feilong with his semblance, Jack placed multiple Time Stops on the Feilong and fired a Time Blast. Aiden and Pyrrha shot at the Feilong with precision and enhanced shots, charging up the Time Stops with bullets and fire. And finally, Morgan and Cole exchanged energies, Cole using the energy to make a lightning storm to rain down on the Feilong and charge up the Time Stops even more, and Morgan using her powers in all different Time Stops, detonating them in one massive surge of psionic energy.

"Hya!" Morgan shouted and the Time Stops exploded into clouds of shredding bullets, lightning, and fire. Creating a massive smoke cloud that covered the entirety of the area.

"Is that it? Is it over?" Pyrrha nervously asked the others. They remained quiet as they waited, soon enough hearing a soft but large hacking sound.

The smoke cleared as the giant wave of frost breath came towards them, all of them jumping back and avoiding it. They could now see the Feilong standing with missing chunks, parts of its body on fire, smoking, its scales bruised, cut and battered, and overall, not looking healthy at all. Not to say missing an eye thanks to Aiden's actions. But even so, as it was coughing and the equivalent of blood for Grimm dripped from its injuries, it seemed set on fighting till its last breath.

"You gotta be kidding me." Aiden raised his guns once again, waiting to see what the Feilong would do.

"What do we need to do to kill this thing?" Jack asked Aurelius. The coughing and hacking Feilong turned towards them, but then it was blasted by a beam of energy. A beam that seemed to use dust as half of the Feilong's body turned to rock.

"If you creatures were smarter, you would know it to be a mistake to challenge the might of the Atlas Military!" A voice coming from a large speaker resounded in the distance.

The group turned towards the source of both the voice and the of the beam, and they saw a giant mech walking on the ocean and approaching the Grimm. As the Grimm turned towards the Mech, it roared once again as it began to break free of the rocks. Only to finally be put out of its existence as the Mech fired it's beam once again alongside a barrage of missiles, tearing apart what remained of the Feilong. Chunks of its body disappearing and dissipating slowly as they fell into the sea

"Right... Where was this guy earlier?" Cole commented.

"She was probably getting ready, and she was probably also making a speech," Aurelius said.

"She? Wait a minute, speech?" Jack questioned, but then turned as the Mech got closer to all of them.

The Outlaws remain on guard, but Aurelius signaled them to calm down. As the Mech spotted them, it approached them with slow steps, up until it stopped in front of them, and the front of it opened up, revealing a small woman.

"Aurelius! I must say, I'm pleased to see you. And glad to see you and your accomplices helped my pilots." The small woman grinned as she shouted her words. She seemed to be in a cheery mood.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. Caroline Cordovin." Aurelius said to the others.

---

The group took another day to rest after their battle with the Sea Feilong. The city, in general, was in high spirits as the Atlas Military and the local huntsmen proved strong enough to defeat the giant Grimm that suddenly appeared. It made them feel safer. But for now, the group's time in Argus was over, and they needed to return to their work in Mistral, and other parts of the kingdom.

"I must say. I understand Kayden's and Leonardo's praise a lot more now. You have a way to make an impression." Aurelius said to them. Him and Pyrrha accompanied the group of four to the train station.

"Didn't know they praised us that much. I thought we were a bit problematic." Jack commented.

"That's putting it lightly," Morgan added.

"What the four of you have is conviction. You have morals and ideals, and the will to see your actions through. It makes you more assertive, and capable of achieving more than others, and dangerous." Aurelius said to them. The four of them nodded while Pyrrha looked a bit confused at the way her father was describing them. In her eyes, they were proper huntsmen. But she did wonder if the fact that they were not had something to do with it "So far though, your results speak for themselves. And I hope you keep making the right choices, and to keep fighting for the right reasons."

"I don't think anyone can make the right decision every time," Aiden responded. "I don't know if we can make any promises."

"Do try. If it is what you are fighting for you should follow it, but never lose the bigger picture." Aurelius suggested.

"I suppose we'll have to." Cole nodded as he thought on the subject.

"Speaking of impressions, is everything fine with Cordovin?" Morgan asked.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about her. She's gonna be over the moon for a bit. I talked with her on your behalf so that you don't have to debrief to her. She is honestly quite pleased with how everything went." Aurelius said.

"Well, that's good to hear." Morgan sighed in relief.

"Hey. Thank you again, for all you helped us with." Aiden said to Aurelius.

"I just did what I thought was right," Aurelius responded.

"I know you will be able to catch who you are chasing." Pyrrha encouraged them.

"Heh, thanks kid. And hey, keep it up with playing it smart. You do that, you are gonna be amazing." Cole smiled at her.

"Of course. I will do my best." Pyrrha nodded as she beamed.

"Take care of yourself. And like this idiot said, do watch the hands." Jack said to her.

"The only idiot here is you," Cole said to Jack.

"Heh, I will. I hope that one day we can spar again." Pyrrha laughed.

"Maybe kiddo. I don't know if that will happen but, maybe." Cole said to her.

"You are welcome when you wish to visit. Now do get ready, your train is departing soon." Aurelius said to the four of them. The employees already allowing people to enter and take their seats.

"I suppose we should hurry then. Again thanks, for having us." Aiden said once again. He and the others shook hands with Aurelius, and also to say goodbye to Pyrrha. Cole ruffled her hair, and Morgan made sure to hug her.

"I still owe you for that save. One day I'll find a way to repay you for that one." Morgan said to her.

"Oh, heh. You don't have to. Just be safe, and keep your friends safe. I… I-I… I want… I want all of you to come out of your adventure in one piece." Pyrrha responded.

"I'll do my best. We'll do our best." Morgan said. Soon she and the others were on their way to boarding the train. But Aurelius stopped them.

"I hope everything goes well for you, and that Xiu will be able to assist you. He could perhaps even assist you in training those abilities of yours, even though some of you don't have semblances." Aurelius said. Pyrrha turned towards her father confused, and then turned to see The Outlaws staring back at Aurelius with wide eyes.

"There's a lot out there in the world of Remnant. And Xiu seems to know of a few similar people. Perhaps Sangria is like that as well." Aurelius suggested. The Outlaws in turn continued to stare, but eventually nodded and then proceeded to board the train.

Pyrrha and her father watched as they boarded the train and waved at them as they saw them on a window, the four of them waving back, the uneasiness from before seemingly forgotten. Once the employees of the train began to enter it, the train began to move, and soon enough it was leaving the station.

"Um… What did you mean by them not having semblances. They clearly…" Pyrrha tried to ask, but realized that she was having a hard time saying that Cole's, Jack's and Morgan's abilities were normal. Only Aiden seemed to have a more or less normal semblance, if powerful.

"As I said, there's plenty of strange things in Remnant. But I'm sure Xiu will help them with those details." Aurelius paused for a second. "I'm quite proud of you."

"Huh?" Pyrrha almost jumped at her father's sudden praise.

"You carried yourself well, both when sparring, and when fighting against that Sea Feilong." Aurelius clarified.

"Oh, uh. Thank you." Pyrrha smiled as she scratched the back of her head. Her father did not give compliments like that too often. But it meant that he truly meant it, and that she had outdone herself in a way.

"But if you are gonna keep improving, then we are gonna need to redouble your training." Aurelius sternly added.

"Oh.. oh. Right. Of course." Pyrrha bowed her head.

"Have you thought of a way to approach someone like Cole in a fight? A better way to close the distance?" Aurelius asked her.

"Umm… uh…" Pyrrha had a couple of ideas, but she wasn't able to realistically say if they could work.

"We'll start with that. And from there we'll make sure you are ready to face many more opponents and Grimm." Aurelius firmly said. "Are you up for it?" He asked her.

"Y-yes! I'm sure!" Pyrrha jumped at the question, determined to improve. Her father did ask her from time to time if she wished to keep up her training, to go further, or if she would rather take care of her training in Sanctum. But she always responded that she wished to continue her training the way it was. And this time she felt she really needed to do better, and that seemed to be noticed by her father, who smiled at her determination.

"Good. Then we'll find a way for you." Aurelius said with a smile.

---

Inside the train, The Outlaws were talking amongst themselves, partially wondering how and when did Aurelius had figured them out. They did grant that someone with enough knowledge and observant enough could figure something wasn't right, and that Jack's, Morgan's and Cole's powers were not semblances. But seeing as Aurelius seemed to not worry that much, perhaps there were indeed more things out there in Remnant, perhaps even stranger than them and the Grimm.

"Think Sangria is kinda like us?" Cole asked.

"It would make sense that she's different in some way. How exactly, I hope Xiu will tell us." Morgan said. "Though I really don't think she's really like any of us."

"That would be strange if she was. I don't think she's a Conduit, or a Shifter, or anything like that." Cole said back.

"What if she was? She isn't any of those, but what if she wasn't from… here." Jack suggested, and silence followed.

"We don't know much about her. But maybe soon we'll figure it out." Morgan said.

"First we'll have to survive, and also weaken them," Aiden said as he stopped reading a message he got, and was now showing it to the others.

"What is it?" Jack looked at the message.

"From Leonardo. Huntsman mission that's on our way and that someone on the Council seems to be concerned about. It also seems to be a sort of tip." Aiden responded.

"Hmm… 'A gang has risen in Aki Sugi, have caused a commotion in the area and threatened and harassed transports, and people leaving the train station. The people in town have been unable to get rid of them. They also seem to be working with the Hemlocks. Could be a chance as well to disrupt and get some intel in some of the other families.' Huh." Morgan read the message out loud.

"Well, seems like fun times are now it's back to work and dealing with the worst of the kingdom." Cole crossed his hands behind his head.

"We wish these idiots were the worst of the kingdom." Jack quipped.

"Heh. You got that right." Aiden chuckled as they made plans for their next stop. Aki Sugi.

---

A/N: Okay, that was a long one. But soon enough the Swan Trail chapters will be over. I took advantage of the time I took in writing this chapter and made some plans for the future and double-checked some of the stuff I wrote. And partially preparing for some loopholes and plot holes I found, but luckily, they are easily fixable.

But with that, the next chapter will be the last of the Swan trails, and I aim to make it spicy.

Thank you for reading, follow, favorite, and review if you so desire, and I hope to see you again in the next chapter. Have a good day.