Chapter 44: Midnight
«»
Her crimson eyes snapped open, her body shooting up from the black leather couch as she let out a sharp gasp.
"Master!" were the kitsune's first words as she panted heavily, frantically looking around.
But… her surroundings… How was she here?
This was the home back in Primordial… This was Dante's home before he left, and it was her home too when she started living with him.
Wait, this isn't right… I was… I was in that place, and..! And…
Inuba held a hand to her head, calming her breathing down as she got up and looked around. This couldn't be an illusion; everything was solid, and there were no influxes of energy, or at least, not enough of an influx to be noticeable.
…
It was as if… she had never left at all…
Everything was as it was…
When she approached the blackwood grain bookshelf near the holographic tv display, she spotted something on the center shelf, something she would have liked to have brought with her.
A picture of her, Dante, and all their friends… taken a month before… before…
How was this possible?
Inuba quickly scurried around the black wooden floors of the house towards the front door, opening it up and putting slippers on to step outside.
Snow… It was… snowing…
Inuba stepped back inside the house and closed the front door, but noticed a thin, metallic white band around her left wrist that looked like a bracelet. When she raised it up, it brought forth a holographic screen, displaying the weather conditions, temperature, and… the date and time…
Wait… the date…
The date was the 19th of December…
This..! This is about two months after..!
After they defeated Aultus…
What was going on..?
Inuba's fox ears flicked up, hearing the soft sound of a muffled garage door closing as she turned and headed towards the kitchen and large dining room area.
"Oh, you're still here? I thought you were going back home today to visit your family."
Master..?
"W-What…"
"I just got back." Dante said with a sigh as the door to the garage closed behind him, "Turns out my date to the school dance stood me up, so I decided to just bail and come home. No point in staying really. Unless, well, I dance alone like a moron."
The teen moved past Inuba towards the closet near the front door, opening up to grab a hanger to hang his black coat on it, along with his black tie that he took off.
"Man! I'm actually exhausted for once…" he said vaulting over the back of the couch to sit on its cushions, and melt into them, "Even if I decided to come home early, I still put in the time to help set up and everything. Knowing Blanc, Aiden, and myself, you know we pretty much set it up to be the coolest yet."
The immortal looked back to Inuba, seeing her still keeping an awestruck expression about her.
"What's wrong? You okay?"
"I… I don't understand… What's… happening..? We… We were… And…"
"Still having bad dreams, huh?" Dante asked, "I guess coming close to dying will do that…"
"What do you… mean?"
"You don't remember? Aultus almost killed you. But I managed to pull you out of the way when you pushed me, so it didn't happen. Once he fled, we chased after him and finished him off. Killing him did something weird though. I think it was like… hitting a reset button for the whole month where he caused all those deaths. So we didn't need to go to The Council and plead a case. Then we all just went home and celebrated for a few days."
"That's…"
It can't be… This… This has to be wrong somehow…
Everything in the last year… It couldn't have all been just some… some dream…
…
Could it..?
"Here." Dante said, calling over his partner, "Sit down with me."
"What..?"
"Come on, sit down." He said waving the girl over.
She did so, walking over to the couch from the other side and sitting down, keeping her eyes on Dante.
Then, she quickly shot a hand out, touching his chest and patting him down thoroughly.
No injuries…
"W-What is it?"
This has to be…
"Must've been a scary dream, huh? Did I die or something in it?"
Inuba's head jerked up slightly, briefly gazing into Dante's puzzled eyes before looking away and pulling back her hand.
But all she did afterwards was nod slightly.
"Well, I'm here now aren't I? So there's nothing to worry about."
Nothing to worry about…
There was nothing… to worry about…
Then all of that… That whole year… It was all… just a dream?
"Hrmmm… Man… Now that I think about it…" Dante started, getting Inuba's attention, "My luck with women is rotten… That's like what, the sixth unfortunate instance where it didn't work out?"
"S-Sixth?" Inuba asked, almost shocked.
"Yeah… There was the one from when I went to middle school for a month… We both know things didn't exactly work out with Filia… Then there was Satania, two girls from school, and someone I met at the cafe three weeks ago. I swear… it's like I'm cursed or something when it comes to this kind of thing…"
"W-Well, I believe the four out of the six of them couldn't really see just how wonderful it'd be to spend their time with you…"
"I know, right?" Dante said resting his chin in his hand as he let out a sigh, "The two before my date for tonight didn't want to have anything to do with me anymore because 'I looked too good', so they thought I was some sort of playboy or something. My date for tonight, however, told me she asked me out on an impulse because she was mesmerized by how I looked. So, she went with someone that had been planning to ask her out prior."
That… really is unfortunate… And irksome to hear… None of them really know what chance they lost...
"At this rate, I might actually be alone for life or something…"
"T-That's not true!" Inuba spoke up, inching closer to Dante to encourage him, "T-There's..! Uh… There will be someone eventually! I-I'm sure of it!"
"You're always so encouraging, you know that?" Dante said, smiling at his partner, "But that's definitely one of your best points. Along with a bunch of other things…"
"I-Is that so…" Inuba said, fox tail whipping about slightly.
-(Devilman Crybaby Ep 9 Credits Full)-
A song came to life on the radio, the sweet and soft strumming of a guitar playing in the background drew the attention of duo sitting on the couch.
It was… a pleasant melody.
"Well… I guess I should get my compensation for the night I had planned out for…" Dante said as he stood up from the couch.
Inuba's fox ears folded against her head as she watched her Master stand tall above her, and reach out with his hand.
"It might not be as fancy of an occasion like a school dance, but this'll have to do for now. So… would you like to dance with me, Inuba?"
Her tail came to a halt, and perked up straight along with her fox ears, looking at Dante with a surprised expression.
"Y-You… wish to dance… with me..?"
"I'd like to, if it's alright with you."
"B-But..!"
She wasn't even well dressed like he was, and was just wearing a casual pair of white shorts and a black t-shirt.
"M-Maybe I should put something better on…"
"You're fine as you are." Dante said, gently grabbing hold of Inuba's hand and raising her to her feet, "We don't have all night, you know?"
"I-I… suppose so…" she said, her tail flicking back and forth wildly.
Their hands that held them together slowly interlocked with each other's fingers, Inuba's hand reaching behind to Dante's back as his hand went around her waist.
And thus their dance began.
Their dance went in a slow pace with the song that played on the radio near them, Dante looking to Inuba, even though the kitsune tried her best to keep her eyes glued to the floor.
Even so, her eyes were shifting back and forth occasionally. She was embarrassed, yes… But it was all so pleasant. They never danced like this, not really. Especially not so close to one another.
Their journey thus far… It was long and perilous, and it wasn't without its own personal difficulties… but when the kitsune thought of how much they overcame together, and how that she was still here, with him… it made her really happy.
"You know… I'm really glad I had you with me all this time." Dante suddenly spoke up, garnering his partner's attention, "If I had to be honest… I've always felt alone, for the most part."
Alone…
"Ironic, considering all the people I've met, and all our friends, but… Even then… I've always felt so disconnected from everything and everyone. But… that changes with you around."
"M-Me..?"
"Whenever you're around, I don't feel even the slightest bit lonely. That void just goes away completely. It's almost like… you're one of the very few people who can truly understand me."
Dante's hand began to gently squeeze tighter, and Inuba's hand did the same instinctively as she slowly pressed her head against Dante's chest. She heard a steady heartbeat at first, but it picked up quite a bit once Inuba's hands wrapped around Dante entirely, the teen doing the same as they hugged one another and continued their slow dance.
It'd be ludicrous to say that the kitsune's own heart wasn't about ready to jump out of her chest as she kept a tight hold of her partner.
"Inuba… Would… Would stay with me forever? And follow me till the end?" Dante asked in a soft voice.
Tears started streaming down Inuba's face, but these were tears of joy, of happiness.
"Yes..!" She replied in an equally soft voice as she kept her face buried into her partner's chest, "I will..!"
Just briefly, they pulled away from the other, still clinging to each other as they locked eyes. Dante's hand was the only one to move, wiping away the kitsune's tears before locking his arm around her again.
It took a few moments, but the two steadily leaned in closer to one another, all while the song slowed and began to fade out towards its end.
-(End Song)-
Darkness enshrouded the empty space. No light, no life.
All except for the kitsune at the center, her glow being the only shine in this pitch black space.
Even then, her once brilliant shine was now dim and slowly fading. And is it faded, the dark enshrouded her further.
For now, she was living in a pleasant dream. A dream she always wanted to make a reality.
A dream that replaced the horrible memory of events that just occurred.
A dream she'd live in until the final moment, where everything would disappear with her.
"Master…"
Her voice echoed softly throughout the pitch black void, tears flowing down her cheeks from her closed eyes, smiling all the while as she continued living within her temporary dream.
The chains were slowly snapping apart, coming closer to freeing the trapped Divine Beast held within their jagged grasp.
Dante's eyes opened slowly, flickering briefly between his normal eyes and his Shadow Eyes until they settled into their black sclerae and glowing white irises. He stood back up with the little time he had remaining, keeping his attention focused on the creature all the while.
The teen then glanced off to the side towards his sword plunged into the ground, and reached for it, slowly gripping it tight before he straightened out his arm and yanked the blade free from the black sands.
Two quick twirls and an outwards slice off to the side, the once immortal held his sword normally, waiting for the beast to press the attack as it broke its bindings in a furious blast of white flame and her hollow, echoing roars.
-(Dark Souls 3 OST - Soul of Cinder)-
Once it spotted Dante, it stood where it was, lurching over slightly as it's tails whipped about slowly and menacingly. But it then did something strange, and extended its hand outwards. From the distance, something flew in at high speed, and when Dante saw what it was that was now held in its grasp, he shivered slightly.
DarkLight Antithesis. Inuba's weapon. Shortly after, the katana blazed furiously with white flame and with another roar, she shot forward like a bolt of light, moving too fast for Dante to see.
With no time to react, all he could do was swing in an attempt to strike at her, but her blazing fist was just as quick, smashing itself into the side of Dante's face with a thunderous crack and propelling forward with intense speed.
The teen flew off yelling briefly from the searing pain that shot through his body, and crashed into the sands, rolling. Dante had a brief moment to look up, and saw the transformed kitsune swinging down on Dante with her blazing sword. He raised up his blade with both hands, but the sheer, crushing force off the blows felt like it broke his arms upon impact with violent and painful vibrations that echoed through his bones.
Dante brought his leg in, kicking the beast in the face to send it back, if only slightly. As if nothing happened, the fox creature grabbed hold of the teen's leg that kicked it, and squeezed tightly, flesh giving way and crunching under the forceful grip since his bones wouldn't.
He cried out in pain, but the drawn out cry was silenced once he was slammed into the ground harshly, his body bouncing up from the impact as the Divine Beast kept its vice grip. A punch landed itself into his gut, repeating the bounce once again before the first crushed itself into the teen's face to bury him in the sands.
Dante was then thrown like a simple baseball across the plane, flying over the sands. He heard something fly past him with the sound of a mortar shell until he took a kick to the face that launched him up. A few shattering punches and kicks shot Dante up further and further until the Divine Beast surged up above him and used her nine, flaming tails as massive whips that flung the teen back into with vicious cracks.
The teen plummeted once more into the sands with a harsh thud, and tumbled through the ground until he crashed into a chunk of debris that littered the field.
Dante gasped for air as unimaginable pain wracked his body. Small spasms in his arms and legs were just feeble attempts to rise until the immense shock and vibrations ceased, allowing him to fumble up onto his feet as blood dripped down the sides and front his face.
His blurry vision caught a glimpse of the beast that safely landed a few dozen yards away, gazing at him with its furious eyes as it let out a low growl before darting through the sands like a bolt once again.
Even if it wasn't nearly as strong, Dante managed to swing at her this time, both of the white blades crashing into one another with and loosing a powerful shockwave, blasting the black sands away from them. The blades scraped and bit at one another fiercely, and while Dante was surely being overpowered, he continued to block the blade.
And then, both blades had been cracked, and quickly chipped away at one another until both swords snapped in half completely, launching both combatants away from the other.
Dante tumbled on his back until he managed to get a grip of the ground to slow himself down, staying on the ground a few moments to catch his breath before he looked up and pushed himself off the ground in a strained breath.
The teen looked to his sword, glancing over the pristine white blade to see a third of the whole missing, lowering it shortly after to glance at the Divine Beast in the distance. It rolled around in the black sands like a true animal, frantically and angrily thrashing about as it kicked up the dirt.
The pit in his stomach never left him. Even with the serious and painful beating he had been taking, nothing felt worse than that empty nothingness in his body.
-(2:10)-
Seeing as it was useless to him now, the teen slowly let go of his broken sword, allowing it to fall and plant itself blade first into the ground as he slowly walked onwards towards the blazing white inferno.
His white and black Aura crackled around his body, his Shadow Skin attempting to form around his entire, struggling to form. Pieces of it fell apart as he continued walking forward, but his Aura immediately set to work in repairing the faulty formations.
The usual, proud Shadow Skin armor he wore was cracked, chipped, and slowly falling apart, even with how quickly he was trying to repair it. One of his horns was missing as well, leaving only the right one, which still showed signs of damage and wear.
The creature, looking as though it regained its senses, spotted the broken armored Dante walking towards her, sprawling onto all fours as she let out another angry roar that made the sands quake and shiver like ocean waves as her raging inferno spread out, turning the area around her to glass.
The teen then walked quickly before moving into a sprint, the beast doing the same as she ran at him on all fours.
-(2:42)-
Black and white fists crashed into one another, shattering the black armor around Dante's hand as well as bloodying it. The creature's hand shot forward for the teen's face, but he raised up his other hand, letting her clutch his wrist tightly until the armor had been crushed, pieces of it digging into Dante's arm.
They struggled, pulling one towards the other, but the Divine Beast was still far stronger than he was, and tossed the teen around like a toy, thrashing him into the dirt and nearby debris. She eventually let go, tossing Dante into a broken tower nearby. When he managed to get a grip of himself, he saw nine glowing tails whip into him and shot him through the stone tower.
Once again he tumbled in the dirt, the creature looming above him as it swiped its claws at him. Dante took the chance to dodge, and threw a powerful right kick to its side, but unfazed, the Divine Beast grabbed hold of the base of his leg where his ankle was and squeezed.
Black armor and flesh gave way to the powerful, flaming, crushing force of the creature's grip as blood burst from her tight squeeze, eliciting a loud and painful cry from the teen. The other, flaming fist smashed itself into his face, shattering his armor as well as silencing him briefly when he was partially buried into the dirt before being flung up high into the air, and taking a shattering kick to his face to send him flying once again.
Pain… It was so painful… He could barely stand anymore just from the pain he felt throughout his entire body. It was all so foreign to him.
He didn't know what to do.
Except get back up, however quick he could.
He was battered and beaten, marked with terrible burns, bloodied. And his leg… Even with how mangled it was, he still took his stand and limped forward, dragging his heavily injured leg behind him as the last bits of armor covering his head chipped away with his horns.
The Divine Beast brought its tails forward, a sphere of white flame charging at the tips of her tails before it was discharged moments later, shooting out a large column of flame that consumed the teen entirely.
-(4:32)-
As the blast of fire passed, Dante remained where he was, body heavily heavily burnt and arms raised up in front of him defensively to mitigate as much as the damage he could.
The pain was starting to overwhelm him now. He could barely move a few inches, but he still inched forward as best he could, letting out struggling gasps as he kept eyeing the transformed kitsune.
Without warning, she surged forward and dealt a devastating uppercut to his stomach, forcing him up into the air to deal a few more heavy and quick blows to his body, each strike getting a painful, strained cry out the teen. To seal the deal, the beast spun around after striking Dante once more and delivered a spinning heel kick to his face with a thunderous crack, sending him flying dozens of meters away.
She remained where she was, roaring loudly at the sky as her flaming feet turned the sand to glass, and crushed it beneath her feet.
And all she did was howl up at the red skies, her angry, anguished cries ringing out across the planes.
-(End Song)-
"This… This is so wrong…" Jaune stated, as he and the others flinched from a thundering echo in the distance, "He can't fight her… He's just…"
The devastating battle down below was brutal, and heartbreaking to watch as their friend was being battered around relentlessly without pause.
"We… We've got to do something… Anything!" Nora started looking amongst them.
"You will do nothing…" the girl cloaked in white said.
"But-!"
"You'll stay where you are and not say another word!" She shouted at Jaune fiercely, clenching her fists tightly as she did.
She wanted to go down there herself. But… She couldn't. She was frozen in place.
He was right about what he said. He was right about it all.
This was the one thing she wasn't going to fail at.
Another blow that sounded like a crack of thunder echoed across the sands, a forceful burst of air pressure coming their way until it shot past them all, crashing into an already ruined wall of stone.
They all got up and ran towards the source of the crash, looking on in horror as they saw a large stain of blood coating the wall, and at its center was Dante, embedded deep within stone.
Ruby moved without thinking, rushing up to the wall in a storm of petals, trying to figure out how to get him down.
"Don't just stand there! Help me!" She shouted at the group, as they ran towards her.
"Hello there! Nice to meet you!"
"…"
"What's your name?"
"…"
"Do you have any friends?"
"..."
"Are you… all alone?"
"..."
"Don't worry! If you don't have any friends, then I'll be your friend and stick with you always! No matter what!"
Dante's eyes slowly opened, showing that they had reverted to normal. His vision was starting to clear up as he let out a shuddered breath.
Most of his burns had healed up, as well as the open gashes and cuts, but they hadn't fully healed yet.
The pain was the only thing that didn't vanish, and still lingered.
He heard voices, but Ruby's was the only one he could hear more clearly as he felt multiple hands trying to pull him out.
…
Why was he here..?
…
…
That's right… I still have… something to do… Can't go yet… until then…
Dante's fingers twitched briefly before his whole arm started moving, and with a few forceful pulls, he yanked one arm free, the other following suite with his upper body, allowing him to fall out of his embedded shape in the wall.
Ruby and Nora caught the teen to prevent him from falling into the dirt, letting his knees touch the ground as the reaper in red clutched him tightly.
"I've got you…" she whispered to him, trying to hold back her tears, "I've got you…"
Dante's eyes slowly worked their way towards the angry roars in the distance, seeing the Divine Beast that was once Inuba letting out her angry roars under the red skies.
…
…
He made to get up, but Ruby held him down with Jaune to stop him from going any further.
"You can't! You're too injured!" She said to him.
He needed to go. He still had to save his partner.
Even if it meant…
…
…
Dante lowered his head, closing his eyes as he took a deep breath to focus.
I know you're there… Please… I need more… I need to-
I can't.
You can! Please! If I don't do this… no one else will be able to..! And she'll be like that forever!
Anymore, and you'll-
I know that! I..! I don't care… Please. I need to do… at least one good thing. For her.
…
Even if I will die… Even if you have to turn me into some terrible beast, I don't care… Please..! Give me the strength I need to save Inuba..!
…
…
Accepted...
Dante's body was slowly being cloaked in pitch black Aura, covering his entire body and forcing Ruby to let go as it consumed his body. That black Aura soon dripped away slowly, revealing grey muscle fibers underneath that completely coated the teen's entire body and clung to him tightly.
His hands were clawed and covered in black armor, the rest of his body layered with jagged fragments of black bone covering the grey muscles fibers like armor. Those piercing black claws of his were unnaturally long and deathly sharp.
When Ruby looked at him entirely with the others, they saw the entire figure of Dante, now lean and ridden with blackened spines and jagged, sharp bones that formed a sort of second skin of bone armor, covering the grey muscle fibers underneath that was his body. His limbs were slender and long, toned by time with an ancient resistance. His faceless, skull-like visage lay beneath two sharp, jagged horns that bent inwards before slightly curving outwards. The only thing present on its black, skeletal head aside from the horns was a dark maw of sharpened teeth, stretching wide into a wicked mouth.
They watched as their transformed friend let out a hollow, echoing breath, his maw opening to let out a cloud of white as he stood, body loudly creaking as he straightened himself out.
He outstretched his clawed hand, and a silent hum sounded through the air as something flew at them. What remained of Anvil, Dante's sword, shot into Dante's hand like a bullet as he grabbed it by the handle, the entire weapon turning pitch black as the missing third of the blade reformed suddenly, sharper than ever.
Once glance of his faceless visage was all he gave them, and then he began walking.
Ruby chased after him, grabbing hold of his arm and digging her heels into the ground, only to be effortlessly dragged off with the transformed Dante.
"Stop!"
He kept moving, paying no heed to the voice.
"Stop!" Ruby shouted again, moving to the front of him and placing both hands on his chest, feeling the thin, jagged black skeletal armor digging into her palms.
The result was the same; he kept walking unhindered by her, despite her struggle to stop him.
"I SAID STOP!" She shouted, slamming the top of her hand onto his head, making him pause entirely and not move so much as a muscle.
The little reaper's hands moved up to the sides of the transformed Dante's, feeling the smooth contours as she placed her forehead against his.
"I know you want to save your partner… We want to save her too… But…"
She pulled her head away, gazing into where his eyes would have been.
"Don't go out there just to die..!"
The strangest thing happened then. His head looked away from her, almost as if done so in shame. But Ruby was quick to orient his head back to face her.
"I've known something was wrong with you for a while… I didn't know what exactly, but I felt it everyday. And it was so frustrating not knowing what it was or what to do about it. But please… I'm begging you…" she said tearfully, "Don't go out there just to die! Win and come back!"
The little reaper looked down to his empty left hand and raised it up, soon interlocking her fingers with his. And slowly, so did he.
He understood.
"Why isn't he saying anything?" Ren asked.
"I've heard about this before… But I've never seen it for myself."
The girl cloaked in white stepped past the others towards Ruby and Dante, standing only inches away from the transformed teen as she laid a hand on his chest.
She couldn't feel a thing from him… Warmth, a pulse, not even his Aura…
"There have been documentations of Dark Entities transcending their limitations for a short while after temporarily sacrificing something."
"W-What did he sacrifice..?" Nora asked, almost afraid to do so.
Dawn continued looking on at him, trying ascertain what she could.
"His ability to speak, for starters. Which is why he hasn't spoken so much as a word. There's a possibility he gave up his sight as well, and is seeing everything and everyone simply through Aura Sensing. Large amounts of his mental faculties must have been given up as well, but he kept enough to be able to have some reasoning and a singular goal, otherwise he would have ignored Ms. Rose completely and walked on unhindered."
"Why give all that up?" Jaune asked.
"You underestimate the power such faculties hold, mr. Arc. By giving up just one of them for a short time, great power can be achieved. You can imagine just how much more powerful one would become if they sacrificed multiple faculties." The cloaked girl spoke, removing her hand.
"What do we do now then? Just let him have at her?" The blonde asked.
"Yes, but… Not alone… Mr. Arc, you made me aware of your newfound powers as group, remember?"
"But Dante made us aware that we still wouldn't be able to effectively be of any help."
"Normally, no. But I have a way. Gather closely, the four of you." The girl asked, dragging Ruby off with her.
"What about Dante?"
"This won't do much for him at all." The cloaked girl replied to Ruby, "But it will do a great deal for you instead."
Positioning RNJR in a row in front of her, the cloaked girl raised her hands up towards them, rays of white Aura shining from one hand as wisps of black Aura sparked from the other.
"From the stars and void of the Cosmos... From the light of the heavens... From the blackened corners of the Dark World... Let these brave warriors know, that their tale is filled with blessings!"
The sparks of black and rays of white Aura spread out across the four in front of her, their own respective Auras shimmering for a few brief moments as they took in the stands of black and white.
Whatever wounds their Aura's were slowly working on healing instantly vanished, and their bodies… They felt stronger.
"I've healed any remaining wounds and refreshed your Aura Reserves, also expanding them a substantial amount for the duration of this spell. Your Aura Shielding is able to take much more punishment now, but I still wouldn't recommend taking a direct hit from her. I've also improved your bodies' physicality fivefold. You'll be faster, stronger, and much more durable naturally."
"We got a super buff!" Nora exclaimed.
"Well… Yes…" The cloaked girl sighed at Nora's simple explanation, "Lastly, I've tampered with your Aura's healing mechanism to heal your injuries at ten times the normal rate, should you take any damage. But again, I wouldn't-"
"Recommend getting hit. Got it." Jaune said.
"Good. Give everything you have and have no fear. I will support you all as you fight."
They all gave affirmative nods before looking in the transformed Dante's direction, who only turned his head towards the distance in response as he walked off, the others chasing after him from behind.
The beast had calmed itself, letting out hollow and echoing huffs of air until it heard a crackling noise and spun it's head around towards the sound of the noise.
The lean devil walked slowly towards her, blackened sword resting in hand as he approached alone.
Letting out a loud howl, the Divine Beast shot forward like a bolt, the transformed teen doing the same as he lead with his sword. Claw and blade meet together in a furious clash, loosing a sea of sparks that danced around them like little lights as they worked to overpower the other.
The creature struck first, striking the side of Dante's head with her free hand before it was grabbed by his own. Not long after, she quickly spun the both of them around let go of Dante, tossing him away as she bolted past him, waiting on the opposite end with a clawed hand raised and ready to shred him in half.
The transformed teen moved his head out of the way, grabbing hold of the hand that missed him as he dragged the creature off with him, placing her in front of him and using his other hand to grab hold of its head and forced it into the ground. His attempt at restraining her was short lived, for her nine tails wrapped around different areas of his body and pulled. Regardless of how much he resisted, he was eventually torn from her and flung away like a toy.
He made his recovery mid air and landed on both feet as they dug into the black grains of sand beneath. The teen immediately leapt back and continued dodging the frantic swipes from her claws and stabs of her tails, purely slickly to defense the entire time.
Their exchange continued, all Dante ever doing was countering her attacks or dodging them. At the very least, he wasn't being effortlessly thrown around like the last time.
In the distance, RNJR and the girl stood hidden behind a broken down domicile, watching the battle unfold.
"Why isn't he attacking her?" Jaune wondered, whispering to the group.
"I don't know…" Ren replied, "It's almost as if…"
"He's intentionally avoiding hurting her…" the girl spoke.
Of course he'd avoid doing that… Part of his mental faculties is still present after all, and he recognizes that underneath that Divine Beast is still Inuba… Wait… Underneath…
A new thought growing in her mind, the cloaked girl raised up a hand, curling her fingers into a fist save for her index finger and thumb. Pointing her hand forward, a small sphere of white and black Aura formed at her finger tip, growing into the size of a golf ball before shooting out into a thin beam of her Aura.
The beam shot out into a straight, continuous trail, eventually reaching the Divine Beast and piercing through her flesh, but the beast continued battling Dante head on, unfazed by the bolt that ran through her thigh.
While she had the chance, the cloaked girl focused her eyes on the fresh wound she made, and noticed there was no blood, no muscle, nothing. It was like, that whole body was…
"Empty!"
Using the same hand she shot a bolt from, the girl quickly knelt down and stabbed it into the dirt, a trail of her white and black Aura worming through the sands quickly, seeking out her target.
Dante managed another clash with the Divine Beast, keeping her in place as her tails wrapped around him once again, trying to pry him off of her. The bolt the girl had sent out reached his foot and latched on, the transformed teen hearing an echoing voice in his head.
"Dante! I don't know if you can hear me, but you can attack her with everything you have! Her body is just for show! The real Inuba is being contained deep within a space that's keeping the body together! I promise you, no actual harm will come to her! Attack her with everything you have!"
A hollow, echoing snarl escaped the teen's maw as he grabbed hold of the beast's other arm, rearing back his head and head butting her with great force, a small shockwave echoing out from the impact. Disoriented, Dante had the chance to run up shank the beast into the stomach a few times before he drew out his sword and landed a solid punch to the face, sending her flying a few dozen yards.
Recovering almost immediately, the creature pounced back onto all fours, seeing Dante approaching her and shot out all of her nine tails like spears as they extended across the plains, homing in on Dante. The teen side stepped them all as they clustered inwards at the last second, and with his window of opportunity, he grabbed a tight hold of all the tails.
Two quick tugs, and the transformed teen yanked the beast towards him overhead, slamming her into the ground opposite of him before spinning her around multiple times. He let go moments after, throwing her yet again, but this time, it wasn't simply to move her out of his way.
It was a precise, calculated throw.
Too late to notice, Ruby had moved past the Divine Beast, completely reaping through its side with one swift slash as she darted past. Disoriented, she tried swinging for the already absent Ruby, failing to dodge Jaune's own slash from the greatsword form of his weapon, and a solid punch to the face from Ren's armored hand. A final blow from Nora's hammer clubbed the beast a few dozens yards into the air like a ball, where Dante remained in wait.
This time, the creature was prepared, spheres of white flame forming at the tips of all nine tails before they quickly discharged into beams of white. Dante spun out of the way of all of them, correcting his trajectory to crash into his target as they both began to plummet.
The transformed teen gave her another headbutt, but she returned it with a wicked left cross that left Dante open, thus giving her the opportunity to grab the teen, spin him around, and toss him into the ground below them, kicking up a large cloud of black sand.
Diving in from above, the Divine Beast lead first with its fist towards the impact zone where Dante fell, her collision unleashing a shockwave of flame the kicked up the sands and froze them in place, turning it a small field of glass.
It's flaming red eyes went wide once it realized Dante wasn't underneath the crushing force of her fist, and looked up too little too late to see the transformed teen swing his foot into its face with a powerful round kick that sent her tumbling through her field of glass.
The enemy was getting too complicated, and in a quick and frantic search, the Divine Beast eyed Ruby from the distance and the girl saw her. When it dashed at the reaper in red, all she did was ready herself in a stance to welcome the beast. But before it got too close, Dante appeared in a black blur in front of Ruby, arm brimming with black Aura before he smashed it into the earth.
Thick, jagged spines shot out from under the earth like spears where the creature's body shadowed, piercing numerous sections of its body as it was held up in the air. Ruby and Dante then dashed beneath their opponent once the spines faded, left long and deep cuts into its body as they passed by, only Dante didn't run off with Ruby.
Instead, he spun around immediately and charged in with Jaune, leaping ahead of the blonde knight to catch the beast's attention as he struck at it. But the beast wasn't unawares of Jaune, and shot her spear-like tails forward. The knight raised up his shield as the tails glanced off the metal in a short cloud of sparks, Jaune spinning around as he sheathed his sword, transforming into its greatsword form once more as he slashed out the creature's leg to make it kneel.
Once the Divine Beast made to stand, a pair of armored fists smashed into its face, Ren and Dante assaulting the creature with a relentless series of punches and kicks that split the air with each strike, and would have presumably shattered its bones, if it had any.
Leaping out the wall of its tails, Ren reatreated just in time for it to miss, Dante remaining where he was as a tail slightly nicked his side. Once he it was open to attack, the teen charged in with an uppercut underneath the Divine Beast's chin to launch it up, and followed through with a shattering blow to its stomach, sending it Nora's direction as she readied her hammer.
As soon as the beast was within striking range, Nora swung her hammer down with all her might, smearing her foe into the ground. She then used her hammer to quickly scoop the creature up in a soft strike that shot it up into the air a bit, and quickly transformed her weapon into its railgun-like form and unloaded a piercing shot that tore the Divine Beast's body, and even temporarily severed two out of its nine tails.
When the beast landed into the black sands, it thrashed around angrily, letting out loud, and shrill roars that let out small blazes of white fire from its body. Most of its superficial wounds had already healed, and the rest had just begun restoration.
Dante and RNJR gathered together in the distance, and were prepared to make their charge until the Divine Beast's body began to spew more and more white flame, causing them all to stop in their tracks.
Soon after, the flames the beast let out grew in mass more and more until finally, they surged outwards in a furious ocean of glowing white flame that spanned for hundreds of meters, quickly consuming the landscape as they traveled.
It was at this moment the girl cloaked in white appeared in front of them, her hands extended outwards to try to form some sort of barrier to protect them, but it wasn't forming quickly enough. Taking note of that, the transformed teen quickly grabbed the girl by the shoulder and forcibly flung her behind him into Jaune and Ren, allowing him to take the frontline on his own as he plunged his sword into the ground and pushed his shoulder into its flat side.
The tidal wave of white flames crashed into the sole person that stood at the front, both he and his black Aura the only thing splitting the flames down the center and protecting those behind him. Even so, they were still too much for him on his own, the cloaked girl taking measures to reset her barrier now while Dante defended them against the encroaching sea of flame.
Everything had soon become consumed in a blinding flash of white light.
As the brightness died down, RNJR opened their eyes to the sea of glowing black glass that surrounded them, looking ahead to see the cloaked girl's barrier falling apart. Ahead of them, they found their mighty friend still standing where he was, bits and pieces of him chipped and significantly damage, the black pieces of his skeletal armor glowing red hot as they slowly cooled down.
The transformed teen's head turned back, finding his allies safe and unharmed by the ocean of flame. For a moment, his face and the cloaked girl's hood locked onto one another, and the girl gave him a small nod, Dante returning the gesture just a briefly as he and the others stood up straight.
As if furious, the Divine Beast let out another earth shattering roar as it's nine tails lit up with flames, and then burst forth with hundreds of very thin beams of white fire, which blanketed the skies like a swarm of arrows as they fell towards the group down below.
Dante was the first to move, leaping up into the skies above and beginning his counterattack. The teen's right arm moved like a blur with his sword in hand, slashing around his body in all directions with lightning fast speed; a large, spherical vortex of thousands slashes filled the air, and shredded the hundreds of bolts of flame into nothing, all within a single instant.
The cloaked girl, now having her opening, rushed in, hands extended outwards as she let out a loud cry. Streams of white and black Aura surrounded the Divine Beast, and formed into chains that tightly wrapped around its entire body to keep it in place.
With their chance of attack all but guaranteed, RNJR rushed in to deliver what they considered to be the final blow. Ruby darted around creature in rapid blurs of red and red rose petals, littering the creature's body with hundreds of cuts. Jaune and Ren rushed in from behind Ruby, the duo relentlessly slashing and beating the beast as quickly as they could before Nora slammed her hammer down onto the creature's head.
As soon as they retreated, the transformed Dante rushed in, blade raised above his head as the Divine Beast finally broke free of its bindings. But by then, it was too late.
Dante had swung down with a harsh and powerful slash, leaving a glowing trail of black down the beast's white body of flame.
It was the end.
Or so they thought.
Moments after Dante had delivered his apparent final blow, and explosion of white flame surged forward yet again from the creature's body, consuming everything in its wake and blinding the world with its majestic glow
He couldn't see a thing. The glow was too bright, and blinded him entirely. He couldn't hear anything either, except for the small, ringing in his ears as he felt around.
There was also…
...
Nausea? No, anemia. Too much blood had been lost too quickly to completely refill his body within seconds, but the tingling sensations he felt in his entire body signified his blood was working to refill itself by means of his Aura.
It wasn't totally unpleasant, but it didn't feel all too great either.
Dante's armor had been cracked and was chipping away bit by bit with every movement he made. Some of the grey muscle fibers covering the whole body under the layer of armor had been charred black and ripped apart. One slight touch to his head, and he felt that his right horn had been absent, likely destroyed in the blast.
Moments later, his vision started to clear up, and the ringing was slowly subsiding, allowing him to see at last and hear fully.
And when he looked up, he saw the white inferno, it's brilliant white blaze still raging on. The Divine Beast at its center stumbled around aimlessly, roaring all the while as it clawed at the dirt.
It was damaged, however. The beast's pristine white form had dozens of cracks spanning across its entire body, and now, it was just thrashing about aimlessly and loosing fire uncontrollably.
The Divine Beast was on its last legs.
But for Dante, voices were starting to echo through his head, like before.
"I'll always be on your side! No matter what!"
Dante shook his head, clutching it with his clawed hand as his mind struggled to remember… a small figure. Very small.
A child…
Someone he knew? Someone he used to know? Why was this popping up now?
…
Why did it feel so extraordinarily relevant?
When Dante's mind focused in on the darkened figure, he could see… and extra pair of ears… and a tail… But they weren't just a simple pair of extra ears and a tail…
They were those of a fox. And… her hair… It was white..!
It was impossible. Had to be. Dante first met Inuba seven years ago. But the memory… The memory suggested he knew her even further back.
What was triggering all this? Was it the close proximity to death? Or was it the intense blasts of Aura he had suffered from her Divine Beast form, her Aura serving as some unintentional catalyst?
Aura is the manifestation of one's soul. It wouldn't absurd to think that when two Auras clashed and collided together so heavily, especially if they had some form of a strong bond between each other, that the Aura would hold memories of another.
It'd be possible that, say, a certain amnesiac would remember lost memories from close contact to a significant other's Aura, especially if they held onto all the memories.
If so… and if she knew him longer than what she let on… why did she never say anything? Why keep it all a secret for so long? What else did she know but never tell him about? There were still gaps in his most recent memories within the past three years. Gaps specifically around the time when he stayed in the Apparition World with Inuba and her family. If Inuba knew about things that he didn't…
Then it was a certainty that everyone else in the Apparition World knew as well, and also said nothing.
Now he understood why they were all careful with their words around him.
The pieces… they were all finally coming together again. And the searing pain he could feel deep within his mind was encouraging him to remember quicker.
But… he still had a job to finish.
-[Nightglow (Honkai Impact 3 OST / Tanya Chua)]-
His body creaked and groaned, like metal under huge strain. Blood spurted from various sections of his limbs and body as the transformed teen rose back up to his feet.
His head focused on the area the Divine Beast mindlessly thrashed about, watching the blazing white inferno expand further in its blind rage.
He wanted to move further, but a jolt that ran up from his spine stopped him in place, a memory slipping through.
It was a dark night atop a cliffside, overlooking a festival down below. The stars were out, the moon was full, and the people were cheerful and happy. Sitting on the edge of the cliff were two youths, overlooking everything from high above, both dressed in traditional garb of sorts.
They were talking, but no words could be heard.
They seemed… very close to one another.
Fireworks suddenly streaked the sky, unleashing a whole series of multicolored sparks in the night sky. And it was at this moment, that the two began leaning in closer to one another.
-(0:53)-
The memory ceased, and the transformed Dante moved forward, leaving streaks of blood behind his trail amidst the black sands.
There wasn't time to think or hesitate. He had to end this terrible battle… and change Inuba's fate as a Divine Beast. A Divine Beast was almost like a god, but not quite. All they had to them was raw power, nothing special like a Deity.
If she was brimming with raw, unimaginable power… then it was going to take a far greater force to completely overwhelm her.
All he needed... was one good strike with everything he had.
He kept walking as far as he could, but his mangled right leg had suffered more damage and was slowing him down, causing him to drag it behind him as he continued walking.
Finally, he had reached the crater where the Divine Beast had stood in, and locked eyes with the beast as it stilled itself, glaring back at the blackened devil.
It let out a loud and angry, but when it tried to dash at him, it only doubled over and crashed into the sands. The raging fires tightened up, compacting itself around the Divine Beast.
It was going to let off one final flare up.
The transformed teen looked to his sword in his right, seeing it had reverted to its original, broken state. Shortly after, it vanished from sight in a flash of white and black Aura, and Dante stood where he was, raising both arms up.
-(1:44)-
The Divine Beast let out an earth shattering, angry roar, white flame explosively flooding the area like an ocean, consuming Dante entirely in its ethereal glow. And yet, instead of melting away like her should have, he stood firm in his place, barely being pushed back as a small burst of his black Aura shielded him from the front.
Hollow, echoing cries of pain came from the teen, but despite the pain flooding his body, he continued pushing back against the inferno.
With an otherworldly roar of his own, the air and ground quaked violently from the overwhelming pressure of his black Aura, which quickly expanded from a small burst to an explosive blast, completely devouring the white flames within an instant, extinguishing every last spark.
The beast stood wide eyed, staring at the teen who had changed once more. His body was now entirely cloaked in pitch black Aura, making him look like a sort of ephemeral black phantom, slanted eyes that brimmed with a glow staring back.
His right hand was soon raised up into the sky.
-(2:22)-
A colossal, violent torrent of black Aura flooded from his arm, spanning for miles high up into the sky, intense gales of wind rushing through the area as the Aura blackened the already dark world.
With one, last roar, he swung his hand down, his massive spire of black Aura quickly following, bearing down upon the Divine Beast. One last attempt of retaliation resulted in another explosive inferno of white flame.
But those flames too were consumed by the overwhelming Dark. Once the spire of black Aura made full contact with the Divine Beast, and crushed it into the sands, a blast of black Aura consumed the entire area, and seemingly the entire world as it instantly spanned out.
It was as if in that moment… any and all light had been extinguished in one, fell swoop.
Midnight had swept over the world in just the blink of an eye, completely consuming all in pitch black Darkness.
-(End Song)-
It was just like before.
Ruby had found herself in an inescapable void of Aura. But it wasn't vibrant and white like the last time.
It was dark. So Dark that she couldn't even see her own hands in front of her.
And it was cold, terribly so. A deep, dark emptiness had manifested all around her.
Ruby didn't know which hurt worse at the time. The fact that it was just as empty and devoid of life like before…
Or that it felt it was a silent goodbye.
The Darkness had slowly broken apart from the world, breaking off into pieces and fading away into nothingness, like static from a television.
The teen stood where he was, arm still swung downwards towards where he struck at the Divine Beast. The black Aura that cloaked his entire body faded away from his body, revealing his ghastly, transformed body to the world once more as he stood completely still.
Suddenly he titled forward and fell face first into the sand.
Dante's brain was sending signals, but his limbs weren't responding. The immense strain from that attack he had just used practically shredded every single muscle in his body.
His Aura had also been severely drained to the point where there was barely anything left. Whatever he did have crackled across his entire body, and eventually, restored his ability to move, even if he could just barely move his head.
His vision was blurry once again, but he couldn't mistake the glow of white flames even if he had tried.
A small, protective inferno of white flames sat a few yards away from the armored teen, and its center was the Divine Beast.
But it wasn't moving an inch. It was on its knees, sitting on the back of it's heels and head looking up at the sky, the red glow from its eyes gone as it lay dormant.
Dormant, but not inactive.
…
He hadn't failed yet. There was still time to do something about this situation. He just needed to get closer.
The teen's body was healing up at a slow rate, but it was far too slow since…
…
Since it was focusing on healing his entire body…
…
He didn't need his legs or most of his lower half at the moment. Instead, he forced his Aura to focus on healing his arms, and within seconds, he had regained feeling, clawed fingers digging into the dirt as he struggled to raise himself up. But he felt something strange in the palm of his right hand, and when he propped himself up with his left forearm and looked to his right hand…
Shock had frozen him in place entirely when he stared at the object in his palm.
It was the silver metal charm of a nine tailed fox Inuba bought him, and the one she had carved words into its back.
No… this wasn't his… It was different.
The charm was Inuba's. He could tell just from the feeling of her Aura that coated it, but when he flipped the piece of metal over with his thumb, he saw there was an extra word etched in the metal.
Love.
…
Why…
Why did he always act as the fool? For other people's sake, of course. But… why did he act completely foolish at times?
He had always tried to understand what he was seeing, even with how little he had left in him since the start, but never truly could. So he always blended in as best he could, making himself "acceptable" to others as best as possible. He acted like a shining example, even though in reality he was far from being such a thing.
But his biggest mistake by far… was with Inuba.
He knew. He always knew, right from the start when they met again a year later back on Primordial. But with each passing conflict, each tiring and grueling struggle… he felt like such a thing was completely out of reach. It was like an unattainable dream, one forever out of reach.
Inuba must have felt the same, with how fervently persistent she was in chasing after him. But she never gave up hope until recently. Not like he did, with giving up on such a dream from the start, putting as much distance between them as he could when it came to that dream.
A dream they ironically both shared.
…
Was it so wrong to give up on it from the start?
All his life, Dante had never given up on anything, either from the start or near the conclusion. It wasn't some intense force of will that prevented him from stopping, not always anyway. And it wasn't having the power he had either.
Dante had never given up… because he was never afforded the option to.
There were a lot of times he had just wanted to give up on something, give up fighting. But something like that… Something like that could never be done, not with the expectations people had always placed on his shoulders. Betraying those expectations would have been like betraying those people. Doing something like that would have been terrible, evil even. Therefore… giving up was never an option in the slightest.
The choice to give up… was always removed from the equation entirely, leaving him with no choice at all but to begrudgingly move forward.
…
It wasn't like that this time, though. This time, he didn't want to give up for the slightest moment. He owed Inuba far too much to not save her.
But there was something in him that stirred the more he thought about it. A strong desire that burned up from within him.
Head jolting up towards the dormant Divine Beast, Dante's clawed hand tightly grasped the charm in hand and dug into the dirt to drag him forward. He steadily placed each arm forward, one at a time, and clawed his way closer to girl stuck in the inferno.
Long seated hatred for himself drove him forward. He had hated himself entirely for what he had been doing the entire time, but… Something else drove him forward as well.
And it was the thought of that unattainable dream… being not as unattainable as he once thought. It was always within close reach. He just never had the real courage to reach out and take hold of it.
Dante's broken, armored form stumbled up onto his left leg, healed enough to regain movement for him to limp forward a few feet into the small inferno, until finally he toppled forward again. His left leg was still too weak to carry him, and his right was totally damaged beyond use.
Regardless of that fact, regardless of that raging inferno scalding his body, he dragged himself forward using what strength he had left in his arms. The flames melted away most of his armor, starting to eat away at the grey muscle fibers beneath.
And yet, he moved forward unhindered.
Eventually, he crawled close enough to be just within reach of her hand, but the heat around her was hotter than the flames she emitted, stopping his advance entirely. Despite trying to force his hand forward, the flames began to melt away the grey muscle fibers, and eventually, his flesh and blood.
It was all erased within seconds, leaving nothing left of his arm, save for the black bones underneath that still struggled to reach out and grab hold of her hand. But it wasn't enough. He needed more.
So he gave more.
Muscle and sinew slowly grew back against the raging fire, flesh taking its place soon enough, with his regenerated arm forming twisted, segmented armor. The force of the pure white flames were still persistent in keeping him back, however.
It was like pushing against an immovable wall, one he couldn't break through no matter how hard he pushed.
A pair of hands he didn't recognize, plated in black armor, reached out moments after and wrapped around his own hand, helping him move forward past that immovable wall.
One of those hands then grabbed hold of the Divine Beast's, interlocking her hand and Dante's together as the unknown rested their own hands upon theirs.
Once this happened, the raging fires began to die down in intensity, slowly calming down to a still.
(Omake: "I know how to flirt, I swear!", by Xera Stark)
«»
"I'm telling you, I'll be fine, okay? This isn't my first rodeo you know," Ciel assured, leaning this way and that on her chair as she watched Skyla move about the room.
"You're going undercover, Ciel. Are you sure you'll be okay?" Sky asked, picking up a soft plushie and holding it up to her intrigued face.
Pink unicorn?
Ciel groaned. "I'll be fiiiiine! It's just a club!"
"What if you lapse in focus?" Skyla wondered. She glanced back at Ciel in her chair before adding the plush unicorn into the pile of stuffed animals on their bed.
"I won't! I have nerves of steel, remember?" Ciel's legs kicked out for a second as she crossed one over the other, crossing her arms too with a huff. "I can be focused when I wanna be."
"Is that so…?" Sky murmured, picking up another plushie to add to the pile.
Ciel's head tipped back with another long groan before she eyed Skyla in her pajamas, which really wasn't anything more than a shirt and shorts. "I mean it! I really do!"
Skyla didn't respond this time. She just silently went about picking up the last few plushies from their plushie war, padding around the dorm room in her bare feet.
She did spend the night, after all.
"Sky, I'm telling you, I'll be fine. You know me! I don't play the prey, I play the pursuer!" Ciel argued again, keeping her arms crossed over her chest in her little huff on her chair. "I make the other girls blush, so it's no problem for me-"
Skyla lightly stepped over Ciel's lap and gently nudged the girl's crossed leg down, uncrossing the sitting girl's legs before straddling her.
"Hmm?" the brunette hummed in question, slowly scooting herself forward in her spot on Ciel's thighs with a gentle press of her fingers against the girl's tense shoulders.
Ciel's body pressed back into her chair from the soft touch, her voice suddenly growing unsteady. "A-As I was saying-"
One of Sky's hands left Ciel's shoulder to trace the girl's thigh she was sitting on up to her hip, gently grazing that touch along the subtle curve of the girl's side before lifting Ciel's chin.
"Mhm?" Skyla hummed again, craning herself down as she settled into Ciel's body and brushed her nose against the side of Ciel's own, tilting her head amidst the close action.
Ciel's cheeks burned as bright as that pink unicorn Skyla found earlier, words scrambling together in her throat before ultimately coming out in an embarrassed, awkward whimper.
"A pursuer, she says," Skyla murmured, smirking to herself as she sat back in Ciel's lap to let the girl recover. "Sounds like I need to go with you."
A tiny little squeak came out of Ciel's throat again before she managed to say something. "W-Why?"
Sky just smiled teasingly at that. "To make it a date, obviously."
An undercover one.
Weapons Illustrated 19
«»
"Um, it's just me today!" Ruby stated as she walked out on stage, "Hi. So um, I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year. And you know, generally a good year so far. Anyway, let's get started."
Ruby awkwardly took a few steps off towards the side, and clicked a button on her remote, bringing down a huge monitor from the ceiling. On its display, a cartoonish image of Jaune stood at the ready, adorning his new upgrades, which had slight resemblance to Dante's Shadow Skin.
"So as everyone should know, we got upgrades a while back! And our upgrades are unique to use in some way or shape. For me, it was a huge increase to my speed, and an amplification to my kicking! Wathca!" The reaper in red demonstrated with a quick and snappy side kick.
She cleared her throat shortly after, and stood normally.
"Today, we're going to talk about Jaune's upgrade. Obvious thing to point out at first, Jaune has a bit more armor than usual to let him take some more damage than usual. Overall, he's got some more coverage over his arms and his legs." Ruby explained.
Jaune's armor turned pitch black along with his weapon and shield, tainting the white color but keeping the gold trimming as it was, untouched. His armor became a little more twisted, and segmented pieces extended outwards from his already present armor, offering him the protection Ruby had spoken of.
"Secondly, his sword basically stays the same, but his shield's position changes so that the pointed end is facing towards his hand, and the shield becomes smaller to fit around his arm. But that's not all!"
Ruby clicked the button, and the mini Jaune on screen began performing his intended actions.
"If Jaune wants to, he can expand his shield into a huge greatshield that can cover up his entire body, and even other people if they hide behind him! Pretty neat, huh?"
The reaper girl placed her hands on her hips proudly, but cleared her throat once more to get a little bit more serious.
"So, what makes Jaune's upgrade for his sword and shield special? Well, it's all a part of what damage he takes with his shield. First, Jaune takes the blow of an attack by blocking with his shield." Ruby pointed out.
Jaune's little character on screen raised up his shield, and was taking numerous claw swipes from an ursa.
"And then, when Jaune stores up enough energy in his shield from taking damage, he can release all that stored up energy in a quick and powerful draw slash! Or..!"
After Jaune demonstrated his draw slash attack animation, it cycled to the next attack.
"Jaune can combine his sword and shield and transform his weapon into its greatsword form, and wham! Hit 'em with a super charged slash that's perfect for cutting through thick or armored targets!" Ruby explained, as Jaune performed the attack and cut the Ursa clean in two with one strike.
The monitor slid back up into the ceiling, and the little reaper gave the audience a quick bow.
"So that's basically it for today. Next time, Ciel and Leo will cover what this upgrade does with Jaune's Semblance, but we still don't know what his Semblance even is yet, so it'll be a tough segment to run. But I have faith they'll do awesome! Well, that's it for now! Till next time everyone!" Ruby waved.
Firstly, no, I don't play Honkai 3rd Impact, but I have heard of it. About a week ago, I saw that animated short they did, "Final Lesson", and was utterly "wowed" by it, especially by the music score. I even downloaded the song to my phone.
After repeatedly listening to the song, the more and more I found myself inspired, so I built the scene that I did in conjunction to the song as if it were Background Music. Trust me when I say my imagination cooked up some pretty awesome scenery.
If only I could draw or animate…
Anyway, man did things get hot in this chapter. Literally. I promised a show, and show I gave you. Fortunately for all of you, the show will go on when we resume next time.
That's all I have to say. So with that...
I highly recommend you all go check out the freaking amazing story XSRA's Flame written by Xera Stark. His story overall is absolutely fantastic and is a must read, so I suggest you seriously read it. You won't want to miss out on this story.
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 pretty much immediately. And hey! Go check out HydraFLow's story Lost in Binary! It's equally as awesome and entertaining, and more than 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!