Chapter 19: Unseen
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"Alright then. So next is...what exactly?" asked Weiss as she and Destiny stared at the stone column in front of that displayed their next set of instructions.
"Ugh… The instructions here are fairly convoluted… That and not entirely knowing this language isn't helping."
"Then how have you translated the texts so far?"
"Luck partially. I was only able to pull together a few keywords and kinda figured it out from there."
"That Dante character seemed to be able to translate just perfectly fine. Couldn't we send him a text and ask him?"
"Text here won't work as well as comms. We're on our own unless he decides to come in here."
"Brilliant…"
"Oh. This seems fairly simple enough. 'When light shines...it gives rise to shadow…' Hmmm…"
"Look." Said Weiss pointing out towards the floor ahead of them, "There's two sections of flooring here, each with hexagonal tiles spanning the entire room."
"Some of the symbols seem to repeat. Hmmm… Does this mean we have to cross the room by stepping on the right tiles?" Asked Destiny.
"I have a feeling simply traverising the room won't work and open the door on the far end. We have to cross using this riddle."
"But still...which tiles do we step on or don't?"
"I actually just noticed, but it seems as though the first floor section seems to have horizontal lighting on it while the other section has no lighting."
"When light shines…" Destiny hummed as she gazed toward the first section of tiles, "it gives rise to shadow." She finished looking towards the unlit section.
"I think I understand now. The tiles we need to step on-"
"Are the tiles representing light and dark. Alright, I'll go first."
The problem for Destiny was now deciding which symbol represented which. A few of them looked as though they represented light or dark. But what she had to be most careful of was the potential consequences for stepping on the wrong tile, for they would very likely be trapped.
She took a few seconds before taking a leap forward onto one tile, waiting patiently while her eyes constantly scanned the room for anything potentially about to go wrong. To her relief, nothing did. With that, Destiny looked around carefully before taking a step to the right onto another tile and leaping forward over four of them. She had covered half of the way to until the next section.
"Nice… Just a bit more…"
The next tile Destiny leapt to, it quickly sank halfway as her wolf ears picked up a mechanical whirring noise from both of her sides, prompting her to duck down to avoid three quick javelins, and then leapt up above another three to avoid being impaled from the sides down below.
"Okay… Don't step on those. This one then..? Woah!"
Destiny's foot sank in the person sized gap that was created from the tile crumbling beneath her foot, but before she sank, she outstretched her arms and caught herself on the edges of the gap, struggling a bit before she moved her left hand close to the right to allow her to pull herself up.
"Are you alright?!" Called out Weiss.
"Just fine! Good news is that I've basically cleared...the first section." Said the wolf Faunus as she now stood up, "Follow the pathway I took. The tiles I stepped on seemed to have lit up."
"Understood."
Destiny focused her attention to the front as she leapt onto the platform leading to the second section, examining the next floor of tiles to see more symbols. However, she noticed something strange from the previous section…
When she stepped forward, she paused for a moment, uncertain that the tile in front of her was safe like the last section.
She was correct, for as soon as she stepped on that tile, a glowing light emerged from the cracks below. Destiny jumped back immediately and watched a pillar of black flame erupt from the tile below, taking a breath to calm herself quickly.
"So I was right then…"
"About?" Asked Weiss as she joined Destiny's side.
"The trial here. When light shines, it gives rise to shadow. The tiles I stepped on in the previous section all represented symbols relating to light. Not one of them represented Dark."
"And if you step on all the tiles that represent Dark, they should be fine. It's like the order of the riddle we were given."
"Exactly. Symbols of light where first, now symbols or Dark are next."
The wolf Faunus made a short hop over to one such tile and carefully looked around before stepping over to the nextand leaping over five tiles towards another. She took a step forward and then a huge leap to her right, accidentally mistepping on a tile due to a temporary loss of balance. For this trap, a huge chunk of stone dropped from the ceiling, leaving a massive gaping hole behind where she stood previously.
"I am so not doing this again…"
Destiny jumped onto the platform ahead of her and looked back to see the heiress making her way along the same path took. And so, the wolf Faunus approached the stone door and pushed the small stone piece into the wall that stuck out previously, making the store slide up into the ceiling to reveal the next room while Weiss landed directly behind her.
"Look's like we've cleared the second trial."
"Indeed. Now we only have the third and fourth left before we finish the whole trial."
Weiss and Destiny stepped inside the next room that was dimly lit by blue torchlight, five torches on each all. At the center of the room was a stone slab half as tall as the two with some sort of large dish place in the center.
"That dish… Do we have to offer up something in order to move through?" asked Weiss.
"Potentially. Let's see… Okay… 'In order to proceed, offer the element and the life of passion'. What in the hell..?"
"I'm...just as confused. The element and life of passion..? What could those possibly be?"
"The keyword here is definitely passion. Okay, um, so what elements relate to passion?" asked Destiny.
"I-I don't know… Um… Elements… Elements… What could possibly-?"
Weiss' head jolted up suddenly, as if she found the answer. Even so, her face was fairly red at this point.
"What?" Asked Destiny.
"I-I think I have the answer…"
"Out with it then."
"I remember from one of Blake's books…"
"You read those kinds of books too Ice Queen?"
"N-No! Of course not! I-I just passed by and-! N-Nevermind!"
"Sorry sorry…" said Destiny with a chuckle, "What did you come up with?"
"Think about it. What element is commonly correlated with passion?"
It took the wolf Faunus a moment, but soon she found her answer.
"Fire… Its fire!"
"Yes."
"But what about that bit about the life of passion?"
"Blood!"
"Blood and fire… Okay, I'll handle the blood first, then you make the fire. Alright, cut my hand."
"What?"
"Oh don't be such a baby. Here."
Destiny grabbed hold of Myrtenaster by the point and used its sharp point to cut her hand. When she released it back to its owner, the wolf Faunus moved over to the dish and let her blood fall into it, filling the whole bottom part at least until moving her hand away. Using her uncut hand, a soft green glow appeared from it, at when she hovered over the large cut on her hand, her wound was shortly healed.
"Alright, fire Weiss-cream."
"Right."
The heiress brought up her weapon and spun the dial to red dust, pointing Myrtenaster into the dish and producing a small burst of flame. Strangely enough, the flame lit up the blood, making it turn a dark, crimson red. As soon as this happened, the stone door behind the slab opened up.
"That wasn't so bad."
"Quick! Before the next pass!" Jaune yelled, rushing out with Ren at his side to position the final few spears into the last of the tendrils.
They had all been nailed into place now, keeping the Kraken from making any more attacks to the island's current inhabitants.
Far above them, the Storm Drake wailed in a screeching squeal of annoyance, swooping and spinning in tight circles as a barely visible gleam of silver reflected from between its jagged horns atop its head.
A sudden surge of blue electricity soon erupted from that glint of silver light and the Drake took a sharp dive, wings suddenly whipping about wildly as a glorious holler of laughter hounded down from the dark skies above.
Nora Valkyrie was riding the largest grimm yet…and she was winning.
Seven more thunks rammed heavily into the island's surface beneath everyone's feet soon after, the final spikes of ice hammering into place by Ciel, Yang, Anna, and Yatsuhashi.
"That's the last of them!" Sun called out, rushing back to the center of the island's plateau with Rideat behind him, "Now what?! Hit it until it dies?!"
"Not quite!" Professor Miralla called out, sliding back on her boots as she held down her black cowboy hat snugly over her head, "We've worked out a plan to kill the Kraken quickly and efficiently. Just get ready to sever the tendrils!"
"W-WHAT?!" Sun exclaimed, "There is lava in these damn things! And you want us to cut them in half?!"
"Y-Yeah, w-what Sun said!" Neptune called out from elsewhere.
"Just trust me!" Caza replied, glancing up from beneath the rim of her hat to the Kraken's burning eyes, "Glynda's calculated the chances of success. We have a 67% chance of instantly killing the Dremoha!"
"That isn't doing anything to change my mind!" Sun retaliated.
"I don't care, just do it!" Caza yelled back, glaring over toward where Sun was calling at her from only to see his monkey tail disappear behind a writhing stone tendril, "Good. Ozpin, you ready?"
"That depends on Miss Adel's ammunition capacity." the headmaster replied, stepping forward beside Caza as the Drael Kraken writhed in its painful restraints.
"Locked and loaded, sir." Coco replied, slamming her chain into place before she stepped forward too and planted her in-fashion boots into the ground, "I'll fire when you give the order."
"Excellent." Ozpin replied, twirling his cane in his grasp before grasping its shaft tightly, "Aim for its lower jaw."
"And what exactly will that do?" Coco asked, taking aim from their distant positions.
"Destroy it. Now, fire."
Ozpin's simple reply was followed by a nod from Coco and a pull of the trigger. Golden gleams of burning blue light fired up at the Kraken before them, crashing into the molten shell of the creature's gnarled face and chipping into its durable exterior. However, what at first felt like a weak assault quickly became a salvo of exploding chunks of black stone and blood. The revving of Coco's golden gun suddenly grew louder, whirring all the faster as her bullets emitted a soft green glow.
Immediately after the enhancement occurred, Ozpin lifted his cane, a flash of bright green light emitting from his eyes a moment later before a rapid beam of the same energy connected itself between his cane and the creature's jaw in a violent impact. The two connecting salvos ripped through the molten rock to the Kraken's vulnerable core, tearing into the creature's flesh beneath its lava-born armor and completely breaking away the grimm's lower half of its mouth.
As that was happening, Ciel crashed back down to the front of the plateau and dug her scythe into the icy ground. She ripped up two segments of ice, tilting them into each other to form an upwardly slanting 'V' shape before sliding away to the center of the island. Blake had already been scouting out the spires, and by the time Ciel reached there, a black ribbon was tied around the most suitable projectile.
Without a second thought, Ciel shattered the base of a sturdy spear of ice, nine times the size of all the other ones they'd been using, and hauled it over her shoulder before sprinting back down to the base of the island, back to the slot she just made in the ground.
By then, a barrage of Aura mixed with bullets had come to a close, leaving the Kraken in a wailing screech of pain and anguish as she carefully positioned the massive javelin into place.
"Hey Jaune! Do you trust me?!" Ciel called out, glancing around before spotting her knight in gleaming blue denim.
"H-Huh?!"
In a flash of white and black Aura, Ciel appeared before the boy, grabbed him, teleported back to her position and placed him in front of the slide she planted the spear into.
"Stand there for me, will ya?"
"W-Why?!"
"You don't wanna die, do you?" she asked half-heartedly, skipping her way to her end of the makeshift ballista.
"N-No."
"Cool cool." she nodded, "Then just stand right there."
"But won't this kill me faster?!" Jaune immediately complained, holding his shield up instinctively to protect his entire body from the sharp pointed tip of Ciel's ice-spear.
"Relax! This won't kill you! Maybe! Sort of?! I don't know really!"
"Then why am I standing here?!"
"Oh, you haven't figured it out by now? This ice is stupidly brittle, I can't trust it to stay intact when I hit this baby home. I need your durable shield acting as a guide. You know, like those tours have sometimes, but in space."
"I…sort of understand now..?"
"Wonderful! Now hunker down and get ready, this won't hurt! Maybe!"
Jaune could only groan as he lowered himself down into a solid crouch and held his shield up tightly, pressing it into the bottom of the icy javelin above him and acting as the final piece of Ciel's makeshift bolt-slide. His silent whining was finally silenced, though, when Pyrrha slid down next to him and pushed her own shield into placed alongside his.
"I believe two is better than one here for accuracy, is it not?" she asked.
Ciel only shrugged, "Works for me."
"If it's any consolation, Jaune," Leo spoke out, keeping his distance from the contraption at the plateau's front section, closest to the Kraken, "Ciel has 90% accuracy when striking at something with her incredible strength at full swing."
"Meh, I'm more of a poke-n-hope kinda girl."
"That isn't helping!"
"Relax Jaune." Pyrrha interjected, "It will be fine."
Ignoring Jaune's complaints, Ciel turned to her surroundings and gave a big wave of her white scythe to flag down any straying attention.
"Yo peeps! You ready for some instant takoyaki?!"
"What even is that?!" someone called out, she wasn't sure who.
"It's a ball-shaped seafood snack that incorporates octopus!" Blake clarified.
"Ooooooh."
A cacophony of confirmations soon replied back at Ciel from varying positions across the island, all available teens and teams setting themselves up at the individual tendrils nailed down across the plateau.
"Cool! Sever on my brother's go, yeah?!" she called out, pulling herself and her scythe back as she took a few healthy leaps backward.
This only terrified Jaune all the more.
With a short glance to her brother, Leo fired five gleaming shots out into the night sky and created new graviton restraints positioned behind the Kraken's head.
Five points of light suddenly blazed into existence and all five tethers quickly snapped to the creature's hide, yanking the Kraken's head back in its already strained position and forcing its boneless body to stretch, crunch, and crack all the more. The surge in gravity pulled the Kraken's tendrils taught, and as its body craned backward, its half-destroyed maw was ripped open into a gaping reveal of its inner-mouth and rows of countless, layered teeth. A simmering red glow burned deep within its throat, but that wasn't the target in mind.
Ciel placed a flat hand over her eyes to line up her swing, balancing herself in place several meters back with her scythe held aloft and against her right shoulder. The Kraken in the distance was a large target, but her desired pinpoint goal lay at its central mass.
"Damn thing won't stand still..." Ciel muttered, watching the target she wanted to hit twist back and forth in pain.
Four rings of purple light suddenly appeared around the Kraken's head, though, visibly cracking the stone around its eyes and broken jaw as the whole creature was held in place. With a quick glance to the side, Ciel noticed the rise of a riding crop and the glow of Glynda Goodwitch's aura.
"Still enough for you?" Glynda asked.
Ciel gave the headmaster's right-hand woman a salute before leaning forward and twisting her scythe around her body, rotating its blade behind her back to hold the weapon backward.
"Cut all tendrils on thee!" Leo called out, intensifying the pull of his graviton tethers before firing two more into the air behind the Kraken.
The rest prepared to break through both hard rock and durable flesh with everything they got. They were readying themselves to tear into the rocky flesh before them.
"One…!" Leo called out, firing another graviton restraint.
Eight now glowed to life behind the Kraken's head, all straining it more and more against its pinned tendrils.
"Two…!"
Ciel took in a breath of air, tightening her grip around her scythe's shaft as she flooded her legs with strengthening aura, the ice cracking beneath her shoes. Those cracks quickly disappeared with a passing green light rushing through the ground, reinforced by Ozpin somewhere behind her.
"Three!"
Gunshots, clashing blades, and cracking stone suddenly erupted from the entire island's occupants as tendril after tendril broke away, severing with heated, whipping sounds of rebounding flesh as one, then two, then all the tendrils reeled themselves in.
Glowing lava spewed from every gash, only to be redirected into the water by Inuba's passing hands as she focused on keeping the backlash from getting near any of her allies.
As soon as the Kraken's restraints were gone, its whole body lifted out of the water and was yanked back, mouth ripping open in its entirely as it was strained up into the air by Leo's tethers.
And then all the chilled air of the island was split down the middle as Ciel dashed forward, light feet pounding into the reinforced ground to allow her to put even more force into her swing before she slid herself around and brought the back-end of her scythe with her.
In the blurred twirl of a rotating white streak, she slammed her weapon into the base of the island's largest spear and tore her scythe forward through its hefty mass.
Cracks ripped out across the ground at her feet and around the javelin itself, instantly fracturing the slide she made for the projectile and shattering it to pieces as the point of ice rocketed forward.
Ice suddenly scraped against metal in a shriek of momentum before projectile and Kraken met in an air-rupturing confrontation in the air, the spear entering the grimm's open maw and piercing the soft roof of its glowing mouth.
Everything came to a startling silence as Ciel's spear ripped through the creature's body from the inside and broke through the back of the Kraken's stretched head, javelin sailing out into the distance before the Dremoha collapsed limply back down into the water.
Its last screech dying off as it sunk into the quieting waves of the island's red ocean.
"Whew, that leaves just the Drake now, right?" Ciel asked, slamming her scythe into the ground and throwing her glance toward her brother.
"I'm afraid we've just traded one adversary for another… Look there," Leo pointed forward with his right hand cannon, flicking toward the direction of an opening in the tornado walls of the surrounding storm.
A glowing lime green body of black, reflective armor pushed through the veil of air with ease and began making its way toward the island.
"Are those wings..?" Ciel asked, "They aren't flapping like they should."
"No… Those are engines," Leo replied, lowering his gun as he stared out at the new arrival in the distance, "A bullhead… Military-grade Star-Streaker. SS-117."
"You have to be kidding me… The military's involved now?" Ciel complained, pointing out toward the bullhead then to the Drake in the sky, "What are they doing here of all places?"
"That is not the military." Ozpin suddenly pointed out, hardened eyes staring out toward the same target Leo set his sights on, "It's a hijacked vessel."
"How can you tell?" Caza asked.
"Because Star-Streakers are only ever deployed to deliver a high-concentration Dust payload to a desolate culmination of Grimm in territories we've lost. It's used in events where it's too dangerous to send in hunters to clear out fallen zones." the headmaster explained strenuously, gritting his teeth.
"If that vehicle isn't hijacked…then that means…" Glynda realized.
"A call was made that I wasn't present to veto." Ozpin growled.
LINE HERE
"Third one down." Destiny spoke out in exasperation, a third set of doors opening before them as they made their way through from their third consecutive challenge.
"That's three so far… Do you think it stops at four?" Weiss asked, the two making their way forward.
There wasn't a door in the distance this time, just a black obelisk at the far end of the spanning island. Before it lay a ridged field of pale stone, broken black ruins, drifting dust, and shallow sand.
"This has to be the last one." Destiny stated, moving forward and taking a sinking step into the sandy ground in front of them.
"No door means this is the final test." Weiss replied, following after Destiny's footsteps, "But that also means this should be the hardest if we're following the pattern correctly."
"The tests have only increased in difficulty each time, so yes, this is very likely the most difficult."
"Wonderful… Let's start looking around, see what we have to make use of for this one." Weiss said, breathing out a light sigh as she split away to the left.
The field was barren of any obvious elements, unlike the last three challenges. Which could only mean one thing. They had to make their own.
"Woah… So...that's how you got here? Well, not here here, but like, you're Remnant here?"
"That is the basic version of the tale, yes." Dante replied to Ruby as the duo walked down the corridor.
"It's just… Wow… I can't even…"
"Many, if not all would react exactly the same if they heard what you just did."
"After everything that's happened...do you ever think about them?"
Dante's gaze turned from the young girl and stared straight down the path, recalling the year before. The whole week that resulted in his status as an exile. The person he once called his closest friend, standing against him as an enemy.
"Now and then I do. But I have more important matters to attend to now rather thancontemplate the past. Besides, all is said and done. Now the only purpose of recalling such events is for the purpose of a tale."
"Uh-huh…" the reaper in red said still walking alongside him, "You know, you're much more...um…"
"Formal?"
"Yeah! You're a lot more formal now than usual."
"This is how I normally am."
"All mr. Fancy Pants?"
"Yes, all 'mr. Fancy Pants."
"Then what about the way you usually talk then?"
"I prefer speaking casually nowadays. It makes conversations far more simpler. And interesting in some cases. Usually I only speak so formally at events or meetings with others where such a way of speaking is required."
"And now?"
"Think of how am I now as...me simply reverting to an earlier form of myself."
"Like if a butterfly reverse-cocooned and became a caterpillar!"
"I… Well… Something akin to that."
"Hehehe, all the kinds of interesting?"
"Yes, all the kinds." Replied Dante with a small smile.
"So, did I ever tell you about when I-?"
As Ruby was recounting the time she made her weapon Crescent Rose, her words seem to slowly fade out until he couldn't hear her voice anymore. From his perspective, she was moving her lips, but no noise emerged.
"She can't hear us. From her perspective however, it looks as though we are paying attention. Although, we've already heard this story more than once."
Dante's head turned to his left to see a shadowy figure walking alongside him, donning his Shadow Skin form as glowing white eyes stared back at him.
"You've been silent for quite sometime. Any explanation as to why?" Asked Dante.
"I've only recently reawakened. Think of it as a longer reboot process in comparison to those gizmos you call computers."
"Reboot?"
"Ever since two weeks ago inside the church, I was forced into a sleep mode of sorts that I only awoke from suddenly. It would seem as though you're beginning to take on that form from that night."
"If you were 'asleep' until now, how do-?"
"I've told you once before, haven't I? I can access your memory if I need to in order to recall gaps in time, which is usually why I only do so in the first place."
"What is this form I'm slowly assuming?"
"Certainly not an evolution of your Shadow Skin like all the times before now. No, this form is different."
"Different how?"
"It's yours...but not entirely yours. It was granted to you in your most desperate time of need. To be more precise, it was unlocked for you."
"Which suggests that this is a form to be assumed in the future then?"
"Something of the sort." The shade replied as they continued walking, Ruby still continuing her story.
"Can you feel it Dante? It grows closer with each step we take. A force that both of us recognize and will most certainly never forget."
"So I was right then… One of the three is in his grasp." Replied Dante.
"Precisely. Fortunately, those that are Dark Entity cannot fully access its power, as is the same with Angel-kind. But the power they can gain is vast enough. And given an extensive period of time, they can gain more access to the power within to surpass the limitation placed on them and do more. Thankfully, the majority only think of only drawing power from within in order to increase their own, almost never thinking to understand it and it's secrets; the true potential it possesses."
"And what would call all of this exactly?" asked Dante.
"An attempt to create a world, one similar to the Dark World. It's why stepping into this realm has drawn out your true instincts, buried within the essence of your being. Creating a dimension is simple with what Zeridûl possesses. Creating a new World? That will take much more time. That is...IF he is allowed to continue with this...art project of his."
"Rather crude and simple tastes really…"
"Agreed. Dante, you must not allow him to succeed. If Zeridûl creates a new Dark World, and fills it with Dark Entities…"
"And if he decides to attack Remnant here, they won't stand a chance. With Grimm and all other nefarious beings at play, humanity and Faunus-kind on this Remnant won't be able to stand against them. They will all be swept in the ocean tide of Darkness, waiting to be devoured."
"You understand the situation then. Good. We cannot allow him to proceed and use it like Autlus did. If that happens-"
"Remnant, and all other Worlds in this Reality will cease to exist. I more than understand."
"I know. But do you also understand the potential side risks involved?
"What do you mean?"
"You are working with those who do not fully understand the risks involved. They are not as strong willed as you are and are more susceptible to being swayed by his words. If that happens, do not hesitate to disable them to deal with him."
"Something else I already know. But...I'm hoping such a thing won't come to pass."
"Wishful thinking… Be wary."
"No need to remind me."
As soon as they spoke those last words between each other, the shade disappeared from sight, and suddenly Ruby's words became audible once more.
"Crazy week, right?!"
"Yes. I'm most certainly glad you were able to get the required scope for your weapon."
"That reminds me, why don't you use guns? Don't you have anything for long range?"
"I simply don't believe in the usage of guns for combat. Not entirely the true warriors way. Plus, guns are far too simplistic when it comes to killing."
"Isn't that kinda the point though?"
"Yes and no. Though I prefer more closer means of combat, however." Said Dante raising his sword slightly.
"What about long range?"
"I have these."
Dante raised up his left hand as eight Aura black and white Aura Swords appeared hovering above him, four on each side of him.
"Woah! That's so cool! You can make floating swords?"
"This is but part of my Semblance, Aura Manipulation. I can freely manipulate my Aura at will, using it for either offensive or defensive purposes. The only thing I cannot do with my Semblance is form complex machinery, like guns. At least, I cannot do so for currently. But when it comes to range, I have the option of using these Aura Swords, or any other Aura Weapon I make, and the option of two other techniques."
"Which are the other two?! Laser beams of death?!" Asked Ruby innocently with a sparkle in her eye.
"Yes actually. One of the other two is a condensed beam of explosive Aura that is made more for pinpoint accuracy shooting. The other, well...it's my callsign so to speak. My ultimate technique."
"Woahoho! That's so awesome! Can you show me?!"
"Another time."
"Aw…"
"Collapsing the area around us is not within my best interests right now. If you pay close enough attention, you might see it once we confront Zeridûl."
"Promise?"
"Yes."
"Pinky promise?"
"Of course." Said Dante extending his pinky towards Ruby, forming the ultimate means of a promise with her.
"Hey! It almost looks like we're there!"
"Indeed it is."
"Are you ready to kick all kinds of crazy butt?"
"Most certainly."
Dante didn't understand it all too much at the moment, but he had a strong feeling of unease the closer he reached the exit with Ruby. Was it because he was reaching the end of the line? Or...did this feeling of unease come from elsewhere?
Omake: Zwei Wick, by Xera Stark
It was late at night.
Cold clouds were silently shifting, soft moonlight was quietly shining, and the drifting of an eastward breeze gently fluttered through the white curtains of the estate's kitchen window.
Shattered glass lay cascaded across the black wooden floor, glinting in the chilly night air as the temperature outside filtered into the darkly lit room.
Nothing stirred, nothing moved, all was silent… save for the shadow dashing across the far wall.
A blank darkness moved in rapid grace, roaming across the floor and toward the silver fridge in the dullness of the room. Its perky-eared and small shadow looked up before opening the cold confinement of its confectionary intent.
Light split then emerged from the fridge's opening doors, pouring onto the kitchen floor in a blinding wave of white saturation as the items inside came into view.
Guns.
An impressive collection of black matted, full-decaled firearms rested inside the temperately monitored box of steel as the twin doors swung slowly open.
The figure looked up and admired its reward, scanning through a wall of small caliber rifles and pistols, gleaming irises taking in the curves of every weapon before finding its intended target.
With the package secured, the figure kicked the doors shut with a satisfied smirk, black .357 revolver held tightly between its teeth as the light shut away with the closing fridge's doors.
As those sealed, the figure lowered back to the cold ground, intent on leaving… only for a pair of bunny slippers to drowsily pad into its peripherals, causing its entire body to freeze up.
Two light blue arms stretched over a mop of golden hair as Jaune Arc rubbed his eyes, a deep yawn racking his lungs as he walked further into the kitchen.
"What time is it?" Blue eyes turned to regard the clock on the far wall, squinting for a moment before blinking, "Half past two…"
He blinked again before shaking his head, sleep heavy in his eyes as he eyed the fridge.
"We stayed up way too late playing Grimm Eclipse," he yawned again, punctuating his sentence with a long pause of heavy air, "Just one snack, then sleep."
With a tug of the fridge door, Jaune reached inside and pulled out some sliced ham. With another few reaches, he withdrew a bag of lettuce and a loaf of bread from the side cabinet before kicking the door closed.
"Sandwich sounds good," the Arc muttered, grabbing a paper plate from the counter before opening the loaf of bread.
Beneath him, the creeping shadow from before slowly crawled itself across the kitchen floor. Small legs tapped silently along the ground as it made its escape. Or, it would've, if Jaune didn't forget the mayo.
"Right," he turned around and reached for the door again, "Almost forgo-"
As the door slowly opened, his eyes trailed down to a time-frozen figure at his feet, catching his ankle just enough to stop him from moving forward.
"What the…" Jaune's eyes slowly trailed down before he leapt back in shock, slamming his lower back into the island's edge as he gripped its lip, "Zwei?!"
A black and white corgi silently blinked before glancing up to Jaune, a pure innocence raining from its every expression before, in a flurry of movement, it sat down in the soft light of the fridge and panted up to Jaune with a cute open grin.
One of its paws distractedly returned to its front as it sat back, hiding something behind its stumpy tail as it stared up at one of the residents of the estate.
"Zwei! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Jaune clutched his chest and breathed out slowly, staring down at the pooch in annoyance before even that began to melt away, "What are you doing in the kitchen? And why are you wearing a black dress suit?"
Kill.
Zwei tilted his head to the side, blinking silently as he panted. Clearly not understanding the linguistics pouring from the human's mouth.
"Okay, come on. You respond to Ruby all the time. Why not me?" Jaune asked, throwing his hands in the air before shaking his head, "Not even a bark? A wine? A shake of the head? A nod? And seriously, you're wearing a black tie, black undershirt, and black jacket. Why? Who put that on you?"
Kill.
The dog only sat there panting, tongue flapping happily in the nightly breeze of a window Jaune hadn't noticed was open.
"So not fair. You respond to the girls just fine," Jaune rested his head in his hand, shaking it further before picking up the shotgun he rested on the island to spread spare Dust-made gunpowder across his grenades, "I must be getting tired… trying to talk to Zwei like this."
The click of a hammer and the rotation of a revolver's barrel softly echoed in the silent kitchen before Jaune quickly turned his gaze back to Zwei, the dog still innocently sitting there with its paws between its legs.
"What was that noise?" Jaune asked.
Kill.
Zwei tilted his head the other way, eyes staring widely back up at Jaune's own as the panting continued.
"Right… you don't understand humans…" The Arc sighed again, returning to his sandwich as he took the ham and placed a few slices onto his prepared bread.
It was way too late for this.
The crunch of an apple brought him back to Zwei a second time, eyes snapping to see the dog's snout dipped behind its butt for merely a moment before the dog returned to staring up at him.
Panting.
"Zwei…" Jaune slowly said, gently resting down his butter knife as he turned around, "What do you have behind your back?"
Zwei blinked in confusion for a moment and stopped panting, tilting his head fully to convey that emotion to the boy in front of him.
The stump of its tail tried its best to brush the object out of view, but genetics and popular opinion seemed to keep it just out of reach.
Damn those executive producers…
"Okay, I'll just, uh," Jaune leaned forward and peered behind the dog, seeing its wagging tail brushing up against a partially bitten apple, "You… eat apples?"
Kill.
Zwei barked once before circling around and picking up the apple in a blur, turning back to aim the fruit up at Jaune as the boy stared in confusion.
"Zwei… I'm pretty sure apples are bad for you. I think. So, you can't have that," Jaune reached down and made a move to grab the apple from Zwei's maw, only for a loud crunch to echo through the entire room as Zwei chomped down.
A single apple seed crashed to the floor and bounced, flipping for just a moment in juicy abandon before fluttering off screen from its slow-motion close-up.
Then Jaune hit the floor.
Weapons Illustrated 8
"Heya everyone. We all had to take a break for a while due to some...exhausting circumstances." said Dante.
"No kidding... I still feel really tired after all that..." replied Ruby hunched over slightly.
"Tired enough that you can't do the segment today?"
"I'm never too tired to talk about weapons!"
"That's the spirit. So then, today we'll talking about my sister Ciel's weapon, Praenuntius (Harbinger)."
"Yes! I've dying to talk about this one for a while!"
"Have you now?"
"Totally! Your sister's weapon is really awesome!"
"Well if you're that excited, why don't you take the lead on this one then?"
"Really?!"
"Why not?"
"Alright then, I'll do my best!"
Ruby cleared her throat and stood up straight, ready to present to the audience as the holographic display behind them came to life.
"In it's natural state, Praenuntius is a scythe that has a skeletal like appearance and is all colored black, save for the scythe blade. The entire pole looks like an actual spinal column and has super duper industrial strength ligaments connecting each segment together! And you wanna know why?"
"Why is that?" asked Dante.
"It's because Ciel can actually make the ligaments extend and give her a whole 15 meters to swing her scythe around. The scythe itself is already three meters tall, but with the extension ability, she definitely gains an advantage in range against her opponents."
"What else can her weapon do?"
"Her weapon actually has to extra forms, giving her three different forms total! And so, the second form she has is a SwordSpear! For those of you that don't know, a sword spear is basically like a greatsword, only the handle is now a long pole like that from a spear!"
"And how does Ciel activate SwordSpear form?"
"She actually pulls the ligaments backwards slightly where she's gripping her weapon to completely straighten out the slightly curved pole of the scythe, and by doing so, the scythe blade itself actually straightens out and expands sideways a bit, giving it more width."
"And how wide is the blade of her SwordSpear form?"
"As wide as she is I think..."
"So what about her other weapon form?"
"Her third weapon form is basically a hybrid between a spear and halberd. The activation form is the same as the SwordSpear, where she straightens out the pole, only now, instead of the scythe blade expanding, it just straightens up in alignment with the pole."
"Now that we covered the forms, what does she use each form for?"
"Ha! That one's easy! So, for scythe form, she uses it for blinding fast and precise cutting! With SwordSpear mode, she basically goes all offense to crush her enemies with her lightning fast moves! It's more or less built for using more force and power. And finally, with her spear/halberd form, she mainly uses that one for flashy, but effective rotational attacks that involves a lot of spinning and twirling. I got all that right, right?"
"You did indeed. Let me wrap things up for you. Ciel's weapon is made from the same material my sword Anvil is, which utilizes Calcified Steel from the Dark World and Empyrean Steel from The Plane of Angels. And as we all know, when those two metals combine, they form a super alloy of sorts that's nearly impossible to break. Still possible, but really damn hard to do so."
"And combined with Ciel's super powerful strength, it's the perfect weapon for her to completely annihilate her targets!"
"As sweet and adorable as she is, Ciel still can be an absolute devil on the battlefield."
"Good thing she's on our side..." said Ruby.
"No kidding... Well everyone, that's it for us this week. Tune in next week for Semblance Encyclopedia with Ciel herself and Leonard."
"See you next time!"
"Sigh... Back to bed for me..."
"What?! But you just woke up to do the segment!" complained Ruby as Dante walked away.
"And now I'm going back to bed."
"No can do mister!" she said jumping on him, wrapping herself around him, "We're doing stuff today and that's that!"
"Okay then. What kind of stuff?"
Ruby was about to say something, but she immediately went silent when she realized she had no idea or plan of what to do.
"I don't know, but we'll wing it!"
"Like a certain winged friend of mine named Xera Stark?"
"Oh yeah! I heard a little rumor around the studio recently. Just what exactly are the two of you involved in?"
"It's...complicated."
"Well...things will be alright."
"Yes they will..."
Right... So, um, bit of explaining to do. But I'll keep it short. In short, I got home, was exhausted for quite a while, and had some personal tasks to take care of, leaving me almost no time to write or edit. But, it's cleared up considerably as of late, so I'll definitely have more time.
Now then, after discussing with my partner Xera Stark, we've determined we have at least 2-3 more chapters left for this arc before it comes to a close. And trust me, it's going to be an exciting conclusion that I'm more than sure most, if not all of you, will enjoy.
Right then. That's all I have to say. So with that...
I highly recommend you all go check out the freaking amazing collab Xera Stark and I are currently working on concerning his story XSRA's Flame. His story overall is absolutely fantastic and is a must read, so I suggest you read from the very start. But, if you're just interested in the awesome collab our two minds put together have created, then mozy on down to chapter 53 of his story for the start. I've said it once and will say it again, you won't want to miss out on this story, and especially this exciting story arc we've created. Not only that, but check out his other awesome and highly entertaining story Rogue Huntsmen as I mentioned above. It's just pure awesomeness bundled into one story. Trust me, you'll love it. And hey! Go check out HydraFLow's story Lost in Binary! It's equally as awesome and entertaining, definitely worth spending the time reading and enjoying.
Questions? Ask them anytime. I will try to answer without spoiling.
Please remember to review, follow and favorite this story if you really enjoyed it and want to continue seeing more of it. And hey, even tell others about this story! Remember that your support is what helps make this story grow even larger and what helps improve it. With that, I bid you all an excellent week/weekend!
Bye-bye now!