Blake watched as the bullhead landed at the docks.
Sun has been right on the money. The dust thieves couldn't resist the opportunity to steal from the large shipment of SDC dust. No doubt they expected a quick and easy mission, not knowing the two hunters that lay in wait for them.
The ship's side doors opened as a ramp deployed. To Blake's horror, she watched as the familiar figure of a White Fang member walked down the ramp, scanning the docks.
"Oh no…"
Sun looked to Blake. "Is that the White Fang?"
She nodded sadly. "Yes, it's them…"
The pair of Faunus watched as several more White Fang members exited the bullhead. Some of them went towards the back of the ship, while others disappeared into the depths of the docks. Suddenly, another figure appeared, walking down the bullhead's deployed ramp.
"Come on, keep it moving!"
Blake bristled at the sight of Roman Torchwick. While the White Fang was somewhat expected, even if she didn't want to admit it, the presence of the infamous thief was anything but.
"This isn't right. The White Fang would never work with a human, especially one like that."
Drawing Gambol Shroud, Blake leapt down from the building she had been perched on, ignoring Sun's protests. Stealthily, she ran behind some of the shipping crates for cover and began to creep up on Roman.
He was going down. Blake would make sure of it.
…
Dawn arrived at the strange land of crates.
She'd seen a few of the snowflake labeled metal containers before, but never this many! Dawn had no doubt there was hundreds of the things, all stacked in neat piles. This must be where the weird masked Faunus got all the crates from.
Speaking of the weirdos in masks, Dawn saw a few of them hooking up strong looking ropes to one of the crates near a parked ship. They appeared to be preparing to anchor it to the bottom of their craft for transport.
"Alright, so this is where you get them. But what's inside?"
Dawn tried to get a better look at the crate itself, but to no avail. The masked Faunus never bothered to open it up, being too busy preparing to take the crate with them. Instead of just watching that, Dawn turned her attentions to the rest of the docks.
Almost instantly, Dawn recognized the figure of the man in the bowler hat. She could hear him barking out orders faintly, directing the masked figures with his cane. Dawn was relieved to see her attack hadn't caused any mortal damage.
As she kept up the aerial surveillance, something much more worrying caught her eye. To Dawn's distress, she saw none other than one of the hunters from the Emerald Forest! The black haired girl was creeping her way through the crates, making her way towards the man in the bowler hat.
Dawn watched in horror as the girl suddenly lunged towards the man, pressing a blade to his neck. By the Gods, she was going to murder him! Manslayer had warned her hunters were dangerous and killed Grimm, but since when did they kill other humans?!
Anger boiled inside of Dawn. The hunters had killed the Nevermore, killed Pinch, and now they were killing other people? Dawn couldn't sit by and let this madness continue any longer. Someone had to step in and stop these insane hunters, and that Grimm would be her.
Tucking her wings in, Dawn swooped downwards towards the pair.
"Hang in there bowler hat guy, I'll save you!"
…
Roman had expected an easy mission. Get in, get the dust, and get out.
He did not expect, however, to have a crazy Faunus girl pressing a blade to his throat while trying to convince his White Fang entourage to leave him. Roman deeply regretted not taking up Neo on her offer to tag along.
The girl's eyes narrowed as she pressed the blade closer to Roman's neck, making him flinch. "Tell me what your planning, or I'll put an end to your little operation."
The air was whipped up into a frenzy as two more bullheads prepared to land from above.
"I wouldn't exactly- Oof!"
Suddenly, something large slammed into both him and the crazy Faunus girl. Roman was catapulted some distance away, coming to a halt as he slammed into a shipping crate. Quickly, the master thief got to his feet to see one of the most bizarre things he'd ever seen in his career.
The wretched white eyed Nevermore from before was attacking the Faunus girl! The Grimm shrieked and snarled as it slashed with its talons, forcing her on the defensive. Meanwhile, the assembled White Fang looked on, dumbfounded.
Roman took the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. Raising his cane, he took aim at the dueling pair and fired a shot towards them. The glowing ball of light surged forwards, hitting the ground near the pair with a large explosion.
Not trusting a single shot to finish the job, Roman yelled to the White Fang idiots. "Don't just stand there you animals, get them!"
The White Fang closed in as Roman followed.
…
Dawn hissed as her flank burned with pain. She narrowly dodged out of the way of the incoming bullets and another ball of light. The man in the bowler hat was attacking her, along with his group of masked goons. Meanwhile, Dawn watched as the murderous huntress also ran to cover, avoiding being blown up as well.
She'd have to defeat both of them. Dawn hadn't planned on fighting the man in the bowler hat originally, but now she had no choice. The little Nevermore moved to defend herself from the approaching threat, when suddenly a figure leaped out of nowhere and kicked her in the side.
Dawn hissed in annoyance and flared her wings at her newest attacker. It was a boy with blonde hair, and a similarly blonde tail sprouting from his behind. The Faunus deployed a collapsible staff and lunged at Dawn, swinging furiously. She leapt out of the way, but at the cost of being exposed to the masked minions.
The little Nevermore shot into the skies to avoid being shot full of holes. Thankfully, the Faunus with the staff engaged the masked Faunus, giving her a chance to survey the battlefield. The bowler hat wearing man and the crazed huntress were dueling on one side of the dock, while the boy with the staff kept the masked goons busy.
Talons outstretched, Dawn swooped downwards towards the evil huntress. Caught off guard, she dodged out of the way sloppily, right into a swing from the man with the bowler hat. Dawn gave the huntress no chances to recover. With a mix of her talons and beak, Dawn began a devastating combo of strikes.
Dawn raked her talons down the huntress's chest. "This is for the Nevermore!"
Dawn brought her beak down on the huntress's head. "This is for Pinch!"
Dawn savagely uppercutted the huntress with one of her feet, then slammed her in the gut with the other. "And this is for all the other Grimm you've killed!"
Aura flickering, the huntress was sent bouncing and rolling across the ground, landing next to one of the snowflake emblazoned crates in a pile.
Dawn didn't have time to celebrate as both the monkey tailed Faunus boy and the man in the bowler hat moved to attack her. She managed to avoid being blown up, but was unable to dodge a staff strike to her head.
Vision woozy, Dawn flew upwards erratically, narrowly dodging rifle fire from the remaining masked Faunus. However, the staff wielder wasn't done with her yet. Dawn shrieked as something grabbed onto her tail feathers. The little Nevermore flew around like a drunk rapier wasp, trying to throw the Faunus off her tail as both the bowler hat wearing man and the masked Faunus open fired on them.
Eventually, after being smacked over the head several times with the staff, Dawn managed to free herself of the parasite. The boy fell, but landed with a roll. The man in the bowler hat and his masked grunts promptly engaged the monkey Faunus, giving Dawn a chance to breathe and get a good view of the battlefield.
Dawn's eyes narrowed in on the black haired huntress. She was still struggling to recover from Dawn's combo at the edge of the makeshift arena, using the side of the crate to steady herself. Grinning wildly, Dawn swooped downwards towards the huntress once again.
The huntress saw Dawn and leapt out of the way, but was too slow. Dawn adjusted her dive and caught her beneath her talons. The huntress squirmed beneath Dawn's grasp, but was unable to free herself in such a weakened state.
Dawn stared down at the huntress. Her aura was low, and Dawn probably could finish her off for good with a few more strikes. This creature, Dawn knew, was nothing but a trained killing machine who go onto kill more Grimm if she let her go.
And yet… Dawn found herself hesitating to attack further. Outside of fringe cases in self defense, Dawn had never properly killed a human or hunter before. She wanted to be able to, that much was true. But as Dawn looked down at the huntress, her scared eyes made Dawn freeze in her tracks.
"Hey!"
Dawn didn't get a chance to make up her mind before a voice interrupted her. Looking up, Dawn saw the figure of the silver eyed demon. Her weapon was held to her side, and she glared down at the battlefield with anger.
Instead of joining the fight like Dawn expected, however, the silver eyed huntress turned to look at something behind her. The man in the bowler hat capitalized in the distraction, firing a ball of light from his cane at her. The silver eyed huntress turned around just in time to see the explosive hit her dead on.
Dawn actually laughed at the comical sight, as the huntress was blown backwards and thrown out of sight. If the man in the bowler hat wasn't also trying to kill her, Dawn might have even tried to thank him.
Suddenly, a different girl with orange hair and a green outfit leapt from the top of the building the silver eyed huntress had been on, joining the fray. Dawn watched in awe as she commanded seemingly magical swords, which floated around her and attacked the masked grunts that remained.
Several more ships that had hung back flew in, raining down gunfire towards the newcomer. The girl spun her swords in a defensive circle to keep the bullets away before two more shot from her back, embedding themselves into a nearby building and reeling her to safety.
The girl extended her arms outwards as the swords returned to her, spinning once again in a circle in front of her, but this time pointed towards the ships. A ball of green energy began to form inside the swords, cackling with power.
The girl grinned and made a punching motion, causing the bubble of energy to rupture and shoot forwards as a beam. One of the ships managed to pull away, but the others weren't so lucky. The beam sliced them to pieces, their smoldering remains collapsing into the ocean.
Dawn decided that sticking around was a bad idea at this point. Everything was falling apart, and more and more humans were arriving.
"Well... at least I don't have to leave empty handed."
Wrapping her talons around the black haired huntress, who was still pinned below her, Dawn took to the skies. With a little luck the humans would be so busy infighting they wouldn't even notice her leave.
Unfortunately this didn't turn out to be the case. Dawn shrieked as a familiar ball of petals suddenly appeared in front of her, exploding into the form of the silver eyed demon. The little Nevermore dived downwards, nearly being cut in half by a swing from the huntress's scythe.
As Dawn flew lower to the ground, the monkey Faunus from before leapt at her. Dawn cried out as he grabbed one of her legs, and began to smack her yet again with his staff.
"You want the stupid huntress so bad?! Fine, have her!"
Releasing her grip on the black haired huntress, Dawn began to spin in the air. The monkey Faunus's grip held for a short time, but Dawn's evasive maneuvers were the superior. The pair of faunus tumbled downwards, freeing Dawn of her cargo.
Dawn's eye was caught as she watched the orange haired girl pull down one of the ships that was trying to escape. The great craft careened downwards, slamming into a pile of the snowflake crates and erupting into a fireball. Meanwhile, the man in the bowler hat ran for one of the few surviving ships. Quickly, it took off, departing with the only other surviving ship.
A sinking feeling weighed in Dawn's stomach as she dodged out of the way of several sniper shots. There was no chance she could take on the combined power of these four. She had to escape, or they would kill her.
Pumping her wings, Dawn made a break for it. She flew up and away from the dock, putting as much distance as she possibly could between her and the hunters. They unleashed everything they had at her, as Dawn weaved her way through both energy blasts and bullets alike.
Suddenly, Dawn felt an eruption of pain in her right wing. One stupid little stray bullet had managed to lodge itself into her joint, hampering Dawn's flight. Dawn flapped furiously, trying to stay aloft, but to no avail. The little Nevermore began a nose dive back down to the ground.
Dawn was still no slouch, even in a wounded state. She managed to avoid being hit by any more projectiles, and pulled off a rough, but not deadly landing. Looking around, Dawn realized she hadn't landed in the docks, but instead one of the streets of Vale itself. Almost immediately, Dawn heard the sounds of humans screaming.
"Oh… no thank you!"
Getting to her feet quickly, Dawn got up and ran. She had no idea where to go, but all she knew was that staying still meant the hunters catching her. More humans screamed as Dawn sprinted and leapt through the streets, taking cover inside the nearest buildings.
A familiar ice spike whistled over Dawn's head. Dawn looked behind her to see a different pair of hunters from the Emerald Forest chasing after her, the yellow and white ones. The little Nevermore cursed her bad luck and sped up the pace.
Dawn turned a corner, only to see the four hunters from the docs running towards her. She dug her talons and came to a halt, turning back the way she came. Unfortunately, the other two hunters were closing her in. Dawn's stomach sunk as she realized she'd been played right into a pincer trap.
This time there was no Pinch to bail her out. Dawn was pinned down with no escape. Her heart began to beat rapidly in a panic as the hunters closed in on their prey.
"No… no! Not like this!"
Dawn sprinted towards the yellow and white hunters. With her good wing, she fired a salvo of feathers towards them. The hunters were forced to raise their guards, blocking the oncoming attack. Legs moving as fast as they possibly could, Dawn closed the distance.
Spreading her wings, Dawn vaulted into the air. She soared above the hunters in a last ditch effort to escape, beating her wings wildly. The two hunters below her were too slow to recover, their attacks harmlessly sailing through the air behind her.
Freedom! Safety! She had done it!
The scythe came crashing down on Dawn. It dug into her slide, cutting through her flesh. The little Nevermore screamed as she tumbled to the ground, smoke pouring from the gaping wound. Dawn didn't stop, though. Even severely wounded she kept running, trying to get the distance she needed.
Dawn might have made it, too, if it weren't for the wires. In her panic, Dawn hadn't even seen the gossamer strands in the path in front of her. She became entangled, thrashing and screeching in an attempt to escape.
Smoke clouded Dawn's vision as the hunters slowly approached.
…
Ruby watched the Nevermore struggle against Penny's wires. It was strong for its size, no doubt, but the Nevermore was unable to get free. Penny clapped gleefully, turning towards Ruby.
"I have done it, friend Ruby! The bird will not be going anywhere!"
Ruby couldn't help but smile at Penny's excitement. "Great work! Now what should we do, team?"
Yang cocked her head, a little confused by Ruby's question. "What do you mean? We're going to kill the Grimm, right?"
Blake nodded. "That thing tried to kill me. I'm not just letting it go."
Ruby bit her lip. It might be a bit naive, but after what she had read in that book, something inside her had hopped there would be a way to resolve this that didn't end with anyone involved dying.
"W-Well… we could… bring it back to Beacon to be studied…?"
Weiss narrowed her eyes. "Are you serious? Ruby, that think is a bloodthirsty, soulless, killing machine! It attacked us during initiation, and it attacked again just now! Why would we ever let it leave?"
Ruby tried to think of a reason, an excuse, something. But nothing came. Her team was right, as much as she didn't want to admit. This Nevermore had shown a tendency to attack them twice now, and it probably would again if they let it go.
"Okay… I'll do it."
Scythe raised, Ruby walked towards the entangled Nevermore. Upon her approach, the Grimm began to struggle more ferociously, but was still unable to free itself. Ruby's eyes met the Nevermore's. It seemed as if it was pleading to her, begging to be let go.
Ruby hesitated, Crescent Rose readied to finish the Grimm off. Her grip shook as the Grimm fell motionless, simply staring back up at her. Closing her eyes, Ruby brought her scythe down.
Into the pavement.
"I-I can't do it…"
Everyone else looked at Ruby as if she had sprouted an extra head. Yang was confused, while Weiss and Blake berated her for not finishing the Grimm off. The monkey Faunus from earlier, meanwhile, remained silent with intent to stay out of the conflict.
Eyes narrowed, Weiss drew Myrtenaster. "If you won't do it, then I-"
Suddenly, the heiress let out a gasp. "Ruby! Look out!"
Ruby Rose didn't even get the chance to turn around before something slammed into the back of her head. Hard. She fell to the ground as her world became consumed by inky darkness.
…
Manslayer looked at the fallen huntress with a hint of confusion. He'd expected more from this infamous silver eyed human, or at the very least they wouldn't crumple to a single attack.
It didn't really matter either way. Manslayer had been able to sense Dawn's distress for some time now, and finally was able to reach her. He'd chew her out for disobeying his orders and wandering into Vale later, but right now he had some hunters to deal with.
The first huntress came to him. In a blaze of fire, the yellow haired huntress rocketed towards Manslayer with a roar. Manslayer sidestepped the brazen attack easily and threw a punch of his own. The force of the blow sent the huntress flying through the window of a nearby building, and out of sight.
Manslayer turned towards the remaining hunters. They all brandished their weapons and bristled, ready for a fight. Manslayer had always admired the tenacity of humans, their unbreakable will to go on even in the face of impossible odds.
Unfortunately for them, it would not work in their favor today.
With a mixture of a wheeze and a cough, Manslayer opened his mouth and let forth a cloud of black gas. The noxious cloud acted as a smokescreen, shrouding a portion of the street. The hunters were not only blinded, but began to hack and cough thanks to the gas's toxins.
Manslayer simply walked towards the hunters as they struggled to see and breathe.
This would be like shooting fish in a barrel.
…
Dawn listened in hushed silence as the hunters cried out from within the cloud of gas. Manslayer was on a whole different level compared to her. She'd seen him do things that would be impossible for any other Grimm before, but it always amazed her to see him in action.
The white haired huntress sailed over Dawn's head and landed somewhere out of sight with a crash. She almost felt bad for the hunters, they really didn't stand a chance in this fight. Grimm grew stronger with age, and Manslayer was primordial. Dawn asked Manslayer how old he was once, and the latter simply said he had lost track after two thousand years.
Finally, the gas cloud cleared. The only hunter still standing as the girl with the orange hair, who was currently engaged in a fierce battle with Manslayer. They danced back and forth, clashing with incredible power. Eventually, however, Manslayer gained the upper hand. Grabbing several of the girl's swords, Manslayer pulled her in and delivered a devastating strike.
The orange hair girl sparked as smoke poured off her body. She fell to the ground, light fading from her eyes. It confused Dawn, since when did humans go down like that?
Manslayer let out a sigh and dusted his hands off before walking towards Dawn. The little Nevermore suddenly remembered how much trouble she was probably in.
"U-Uhm, hey boss! Lovely weather we're having, huh?"
The ancient Grimm shook his head and knelt down, beginning to untie Dawn from her bonds. "We'll be having a talk about this later Dawn, but not now. Getting you to safety is more important."
Dawn fell silent, letting Manslayer pull away and cut through the wires. It didn't take long for Dawn to be freed from her prison. The little Nevermore shakily got to her feet.
"How badly hurt are you?"
"The hunters got me in the wing, and cut my side, but I'm keeping it together…"
Manslayer ran his hand through the feathers on Dawn's head, his expression sympathetic. "Good. Let's be off then, there's no telling when more humans will arrive."
As the two Grimm began to leave, a yell caught their attention. The yellow haired huntress had recovered from Manslayer's attack and lunged downwards towards him, firing off blasts from her gauntlets. Dawn can for cover as Manslayer engaged the huntress.
She was hopelessly outmatched, of course, but Dawn was surprised how long she lasted. The skirmish went on for around a minute, the yellow haired huntress throwing off punch after punch at Manslayer, but her efforts were in vain. Manslayser steadily whittled her aura away with quick strikes, maneuvering her into a favorable position. The huntress didn't go down with a bang, but instead a whimper. Aura entirely drained, and energy expended, she fell to her knees gasping for breath.
Dawn watched as Manslayer looked down at the huntress. She was staring back up at him with enraged red eyes, but seemed unable to muster the energy for anything else. The two stood there, eyes locked, for a short time.
Suddenly, Manslayer spoke. "You… Human, you have much potential to be strong. I simply hope next time we meet it will not be used against me."
The huntress seemed shocked as Manslayer walked away, gesturing to Dawn to follow. The little Nevermore scampered from her hiding place, rejoining Manslayer. The two Grimm walked away, leaving the hunters behind in their defeat.
…
Yang gasped for breath as she tried to wrap her mind around what had just happened.
That Grimm… that thing… it had totally demolished their team, along with Penny and the monkey boy who had been with Blake. Yang looked around, realizing she was the only one of them still conscious. At least she assumed, Weiss was nowhere to be found.
After catching her breath, Yang slowly got to her feet. She made her way over to Ruby with shaky steps.
"R… Rubes…? Are you okay…?"
With a groan, Ruby's eyes slowly opened. "Yang… what… ohhh… my head…"
Yang chuckled weakly, pulling Ruby to her feet. "Some other Grimm came after the Nevermore… it kicked out butts… and…"
Ruby looked confused. "And?"
The final part came out as nothing more than a whisper, barely audible. "It spoke to me…"
…
"Come back! Don't leave me behind!"
The great sky beast ignored Manslayer's plea. He ran after it as fast as he could, but proved to be too slow. The great sky beast disappeared into the horizon, leaving Manslayer alone.
Defeated, the Grimm fell to his knees. Everything had fallen apart since that dreadful night, leaving Manslayer without purpose in the world nor a friend to his name.
It was her fault, Manslayer knew that much was true. However he did not waste time pursuing vengeance. Some things mattered more than a personal vendetta.
Manslayer got to his feet and began running in the direction of the sky beast.
They would be reunited, or he would die trying.
And that brings the events of Volume 1 to a close!
Some of you may have noticed that the time scale for Volume 1 was brought inwards, with things like forever fall being removed. I'd like to say I have a good reason, but they were honestly just irrelevant to the story, and would have made it so the timeline I had planned would cease to work properly. Don't worry, I shouldn't be cutting any major events out of the story again! (I might even just have forever fall occur as an in between for Volume 1 and 2)
Meanwhile, Manslayer speaks! This outta stir up some controversy, seeing as Grimm don't normally speak to people or spare them after they're defeated.
And that about wraps it up. I hope you enjoyed this chapter of "The Manslayer" and I'll cya'll next time!