Mission 2: The Test II
"How did I end up in this situation?" Weiss asks herself out loud, climbing a massive tree in the middle of this forest.
"Come on. Live a little, right?" Dante replies while climbing further up, ahead of all of them. "I saw that giant Grimm circling this area. If we can hitch a ride from the winged freak, we should be able to reach the objective a lot sooner."
Ruby, who is right behind Dante, says, "It's coming. I can see it headed right this way."
"Awesome. Doesn't matter how, just get on that Nevermore. Don't slouch behind princess." He commands, looking back at Weiss.
"You're all crazy." She responds with a look shock.
"Like I said before, 'Live a little.'." He smiled devilishly.
"It's getting closer!" shouts Ruby.
Ruby and Weiss are closely anticipating when to jump. They inch closer and closer to the branches of the tree. Then, they find their moment. Ruby unleashes Crescent Rose and fires a shot behind her to propel herself through the air and grab onto the talon of the bird. Weiss draws her rapier and uses what seems to be dust inside of the weapon. She freezes the tree branch past where she is balancing herself and uses fire to launch herself forward, sliding on the ice. She manages to catch a hold of the winged beast's feathers and holds on tightly. Dante runs forward and jumps once towards the Grimm and using his powers and abilities; he summons forth a red demonic circle behind him and pushes himself off of it with such an extreme speed. This ability is what he's named, Sky Star. It's a part of a group of abilities he's labeled as, Trickster. He passes by Ruby and grabs a hold of the other talon.
"Woohoo!" yelled Dante, seemingly having a little fun.
Ruby has a confused, yet still terrified looked. She asks, "What was the red circle?"
"It was my semblance. I have the ability to push off the air." Dante answers her question. He knew this was an outright lie. He couldn't give her the correct answer due to him wanting to remain in secrecy. He thought back to what Ozpin said and that it would just cause panic and unease if they knew who he was and where he was from. The Grimm flew higher into the sky and screeched.
"You're crazy! You are all crazy!" Weiss shouted, gripping onto the feathers tight.
"Come up with a new line already! It's getting old! We shouldn't be on here for long anyways!" He shouted back. The wind from the speed of the bird ma king it difficult for any of them to hear.
"So what now?" Ruby shouted.
Dante scanned the area. From a couple days ago, he remembered seeing a shrine-like area with chess pieces. Looking for that particular area, he cuffed his hand to his forehead to stop the wind from directly hitting his eyes as well as prevent the sun from blinding him. From the distance they were off the ground, people would look like specs of dirt. It takes a few seconds, but he spots the area coming into view.
Dante yells, "I see it!"
"See what?!" Both of them asked.
"Our drop off point!" He smiled eagerly.
"Oh no! No, no, no! I'm not dropping from this distance to the ground! You're insane!" Weiss yelled.
He looked to her. "Hey! You came up a new line!"
"Just let us know when to drop, Dante!" Ruby shouted.
"I'm not jumping!" Weiss yelled, now with impatience in her voice.
"You'll just have to trust me!" He yelled back to Weiss. The area now fast approaching, "Alright! In 3, 2, 1!" He shouts as he prepares to leap.
"Now!"
Swinging from the claw like a monkey, Dante jumps and dives head first towards the location he was seeking. After falling for a couple of moments falling, he notices Blake and Yang standing next to each other. Blake looks to be pointing upwards towards him. He looks behind him and sees Ruby and Weiss flailing in the air. Weiss seems to be lagging behind Ruby.
"They'll be fine... I think." He says to himself in his mind.
He aims for a tree and draws his demonic claymore. Still not being able to use his abilities in front of everyone, he plants the tip of the sword into the tree, slowing his descent to a slow halt. Dante prepares to jump save Ruby and Weiss.
Ruby, still screaming and wailing her body everywhere, yells, "Dante, save m-" She was interrupted from completing her sentence due to a wild Jaune flying into her and sending her into a nearby tree. Jaune follows her trail through the air, landing in the same tree, upside-down. Ruby taken back and in slight shock tries to make sense of the situation.
"What was that...?" She asks, dazed and confused. It takes a short amount of time, but she regains her bearings and looks around to see Jaune in the tree.
Jaune coughs for attention and says, "Hey Ruby."
With Ruby safe for now, Dante runs quickly off the split tree and jumps for Weiss. He soars fast with his coat flapping through the sky. Once they meet in midair, he wraps his arm around her and puts her arm around his neck. Her grip tightens to him. It felt to him like it would take a crowbar to manage to pry the grip. They rocket to the other side of the opening in the field. He sets his eyes on Yang as he spawns another Trickster circle and darts to her and Blake. In a moments notice, he impacts the ground landing right next to Yang. He tried to cushion the blow a bit for Weiss by crouching at the time of the impact.
He looks towards Weiss, making sure she's okay. Her eyes were closed tight, still clinging him with such force. He takes the hand the was securing her side and raises it up then taps on her face.
"The train's at the station. It's time to get off, Princess." He said with his head turned towards her.
Her eyes pop open in surprise. She tries to say something, but is cut off due to a large Ursa Grimm crashing through the trees with an orange-haired girl riding on the back of it. The Ursa collapsed and the girl was thrown forward.
"I guess we're not the only ones who hitched a ride here." Dante said, laughing. He had gotten up from crouching on the dirt ground and stood up. Weiss, realizing quickly that she was still holding on to him, had let go and a small blush formed on her face.
The girl with orange hair had also stood back up. "Aw. It's broken." She said in disappointment.
A boy jumped out from behind the Ursa, confused as to where they had gone. He had black hair, long in the front, a highlight of magenta in it. He wore a green and black jacket with gray pants. The boy was hunched over and breathing heavily to catch his breath.
"Nora! Please. Never do that again." He pleaded with her.
Nora had darted over to the pedestals and was intrigued by the Rook. She stares at it for a few seconds before snatching it. She does a little song and dance, balancing it on her head and feet before a yell is hurled in her direction.
"Nora!" The boy yelled.
She giggled a bit and shouted back, "Coming, Ren!"
Yang turns to Dante, taking a breath to begin to say what seemed like a greeting, but now she was cut off as another Grimm crashed through trees. This time, it was chasing someone. Pyrrha was running through the open field as this scorpion-like Grimm chased her. It attempted to grab her with it's claw, but she jumps in time and slips through it. Running towards us, she notices Jaune in the tree.
"Jaune!" She shouts, panting.
Jaune hears his name and looks over to the voice. "Pyrrha!"
"Woah!" Ruby adds, seeing the Grimm pursing Pyrrha. She jumps to the ground and does a roll landing. She looks up and notices her sister and runs towards her.
"Ruby!" Yang says in excitement.
"Yang!" Ruby says with the same enthusiasm. She goes to give her a hug.
"Nora!" Nora exclaims, popping up in between them; both of them baffled and confused.
Blake looks at the Grimm then back to Pyrrha. "Did she just run all the way here with a Death Stalker on her tail?"
Yang finally losing it, snaps. "I can't take it anymore! Can everybody just chill out before something crazy happens again?!"
As if on cue, a gate shoots out of the ground in the middle of the opening. Chains and skulls hang off of the gargantuan twin door gate. Torches stick out of the sides of the obsidian-like frame. Blocking the sunlight out where the group is standing.
A voice echoes throughout the forest. "Have fun. Heh heh heh."
Dante recognized that voice and laughter. "Aww. Did you miss me that much, Roland? If I'd known, I would have gotten you a gift as well." He thought.
Banging comes from the other side of the gate. It's loud and heavy pounding. Each one makes the chains on the door rattle and shake. It grows more intense and frequent as each moment passes. Finally, the doors break open, sending wooden debris and shrapnel flying forward. A horde of demons, fourteen or fifteen, exit through the gate, with one large one in the back. They were a mix of the Seven Hells Army with a Hell Vanguard commanding them from the back.
As Ren runs over to finally catch up with Nora and Jaune finally getting down from the tree, Ruby and the group look confused and on edge at the gate. They had never seen something so demonic and twisted. Dante could see a sense some of them were wanting to fight and some of them were wanting to run. Pyrrha finally manages to meet the group as she jump dives onto the ground in front of them.
"Great! The gangs all here. Now we can die together!" Yang says to cut the tension.
"What are those things?" Pyrrha asks, panting to catch her breath.
"I think I've seen something like them before. I can't quite put my finger on it." Blake responds.
Yang shouts over everyone, "Awesome! We get to die by the Grimm and these monstrosities!"
"Not if I can help it." Ruby says impatiently, running towards the enemy.
"Ruby, wait!" Her sister yells, concerned about her.
Ignoring her sister, she charges headlong into the Death Stalker. Ruby goes to swipe at the Grimm, but was met with it's claw across her face, knocking her to the ground. Her preemptive behavior also got the attention of the demons, them sending fierce looks as they gaze upon her.
"Don't worry. Totally fine!" She shouts, unsure of herself.
Ruby turns to the Death Stalker right in her face. Frightened, she shoots at it's armored face and runs back to the group. Yang, scared for her sister, runs to her to meet her halfway. Just as they're about to meet, feathers come flying into the ground; knocking Yang back and managing to snag Ruby's cloak. The Nevermore from earlier had appeared and was distraught.
"Oh, our ride's back. Whaddya know." Dante said to himself.
The Hell Vanguard was coming closer to Ruby and the Death Stalker approaching. Her sister yells, "Ruby, get out of there!"
"I'm trying!" She yells, tugging at her cloak, trying to unsnare it. It's no use however, it won't come undone no matter how she pulls at it or tugs. The Vanguard is right behind her and the Death Stalker is about to strike. Ruby closes her eyes tightly.
Suddenly a streak of two colors fly by Yang. Red and White blurs rush towards Ruby. She opens her eyes to see ice ensnaring the Death Stalker in front her. She turns around to then see Dante crouching over her, holding back the tip of the Hell Vanguard's scythe with the flat of his claymore, still on his back.
"You are so childish." Weiss tells Ruby.
"Look who's talking, princess." Dante jokes, looking towards her.
Ignoring him, she continues. "And dim-witted, and hyper active, and don't even get me started on your fighting."
"Look. I'm one for insults, but-" He was cut off by Weiss.
"And I supposed..." She looks towards Dante to signify she wasn't done with her sentence. "...I can be a bit... difficult, but if we're going to do this, we're going to have do this together. So if you quit trying to show off, I'll be... nicer."
"I'm not trying to show off." Ruby responds.
Dante laughs, "You absolutely are. Don't lie." He looks towards Ruby. "I get it. You want to prove your worth to the school, and that you aren't a burden. You have talent, kid. Don't die trying to prove something that doesn't need to be."
"He's right." Weiss corresponds to Dante.
The Hell Vanguard lets up his attack and goes for a second strike against Dante.
"Oh no you don't." He parries the scythe with his blade and kicks him back towards the other demons that were approaching slowly, crashing into some of them. "These guys seem to be looking for some fun, and I wanna throw em' a party they'll remember until the end of their lives." He grins devilishly. He turns toward the group of demons.
"Are you going to be alright?" Weiss asks Dante, worried about the outcome of him going in alone. "We don't even know what they are. Those are the things that were on the news a week ago. They said it took a multiple hunters to bring just one down."
"Wow. The frost princess is concerned about me. I feel honored." He says, looking back at Weiss.
Ruby gets off the ground and mumbles to herself. She looks at the giant ice pillar that was encasing the Death Claw.
"Woah"
Dante hears footsteps and looks to see Yang running to her sister and hugging her tightly. She says to her, "I'm so happy you're okay."
Dante looks back to Weiss. "Just trust me, okay? They don't look too tough. Just take care of the Nevermore and Death Stalker." He looks towards Ruby, "Reasonably this time?"
Ruby nods her head in agreement. "Okay."
"Good." He runs off in the direction of the demons.
"Wait!" Yang yells at him to stop, but he doesn't show any signs of stopping.
Ruby look to Yang and Weiss, "Yang, Weiss and I did see how well he handled the Grimm we fought when we were outnumbered. The only thing we can do is trust him to fend them off."
"I hope he does." Yang replied with a worried look on her face.
He ran out of earshot from them and the conversation dropped and stopped in front of the horde. There were ten demons here. One was the Hell Vanguard. Seven of them were of the first hell, Pride. Another one was a Wrath. For the last one, it was a Gluttony. Dante smirked at the worriness from those three. He had been fighting these demons for quite a while, but for the same reason he lied about his semblance, he had to lie to them about not knowing what the Seven Hells of the Demon Army were as well.
"I'm getting some serious déjà vu. I remember already kicking your guys' asses outside my shop. Guess I'll just have to make some history repeat itself, huh? This time though, I'll make sure to get that money you guys owe me." He smiles with excitement. Dante's only met with groans and screams from the damned enemies.
The Man in Red rushes over to the nearest Pride, leaving a maroon trail behind him. He arrives within milliseconds and draws Rebellion. He slashes from the bottom-up, making the Pride enemy fly into the sky. The rest of the enemies slowly move towards him. Dante quickly draws Ebony and Ivory and shoots the hell spawn in the air, keeping it suspended. He jumps up to meet him at chest height. He slashes multiple directions in the air leaving the Pride cut deeply. Using the momentum of the last slash, he spins forward and kicks it into the ground as well as following the enemy down. Dante lands as the first fallen Pride bounces slightly back up into the air. He grabs the body and spins. He throws it to another approaching Pride. The body hits the second Pride, causing it to stagger. With the body still off the ground and the second Pride off-balanced, he rushes once again, zooming through the open field and piercing the body and the second Pride. The second Pride staggers even further back. Dante takes a split-second look around the field and the Hell Vanguard was getting closer. Dante takes the pierced body, still on his demonic claymore, and flings it to the Hell Vanguard. The Hell Vanguard flies back a little and skids on the ground. The staggered Pride gets it's balance again and hacks at Dante. Using it's full force, tries to cleave Dante's head. Dante sees it coming and sidesteps the attack
"You guys are getting too predictable!" Dante yells as he axe kicks the scythe into the ground, causing the end of it to come up and hit the second Pride in the face and let go.
Dante grabs the enemy's weapon and takes it out of the ground with two hands, holding it blade down. He spins it in one hand, making it look like the blades on a fan. Dante lunges forward, stopping the momentum of the scythe in his hand and places the blade behind the second Pride's feet, then pulling back, causing the enemy's feet to be pulled out and tripped . He then plunges the scythe into the Pride's chest. Dante quickly removes it and throws it behind him, slicing an approaching Pride from head to toe, killing it. He runs to another nearby Pride to stop only halfway. He sees the Wrath next to three more Pride. Dante draws Ebony and Ivory and aims for the giant orange bomb. The sound of cracking and bullet casings ejecting can be heard all throughout the forest.
After a few shots, the Wrath explodes, causing the Pride standing next to it to fly back and roll on the ground. One of the bodies launch towards Dante. He grabs the body and once again, throws it in the direction of the Pride he was going after next. The Hell Vanguard gets quicker and the Gluttony does too. Dante jumps and spawns a red hellish symbol underneath his hands and feet then launches himself forward. With the force from the Sky Star launch, he uses Rebellion and Helm splits the top of it's head. The Pride goes down to the ground and without hesitation, Dante stands on it's back and takes out Ebony and Ivory once again. He kicks off the ground with a twist, riding the body of the Pride in a 360 spin towards the Gluttony. Dante fires off Ebony and Ivory all over the place hitting the last surviving Pride, as it goes down like a rag doll. He jumps off the body of the lifeless Pride he was riding for a couple of seconds. Keeping the speed from the ride, he runs forward and grabs the Gluttony by the face and runs further back, all the way back to the gate where the enemy came out of. Once he reaches the gate, he smashes the Gluttony's head against the side of the giant gate, cracking the gate at the side.
The reverb of the crack of the Gluttony's head hitting the gate can be heard throughout the forest once more, killing it in one blow. The Hell Vanguard finally seems fed up and starts teleporting and ripples in the ground appear underneath Dante. Dante jumps back with a hand spring as the Hell Vanguard appears beneath, slashing from the ground to the sky. The Vanguard appeared behind Dante and was charging to attack. Dante turned around and attacked, but the Vanguard parried it. He tried it again, but it was parried once more. The Vanguard's stance changed directions to do a heavy attack. Dante then jumped over him to avoid it as it slammed the scythe down hard into the ground, leaving a hole where it hit. In the air, Dante spun and fired directly into it's head. The Vanguard disappeared once again and another ripple appeared in the air, next to Dante. He put Ebony and Ivory away and landed on his feet. It teleported into the air, slashing through the sky and disappearing then reappearing behind Dante. Dante took Rebellion and swung at him again, and was parried. He grew frustrated and attacked once more, only this time when it was to be parried, he grabbed the scythe with his free hand. He held onto the scythe, doing a one-handed handstand, balancing himself on it. He took Rebellion and stabbed it into his face repeatedly, then spun on the handle of the scythe and kicked it in it's face, causing it fly back, into the gate.
"Ten to zero. You guys really need to pick up the pace. Still way too easy. Land a scratch on me next time, at least." Dante sighed, rubbing his right shoulder. The bodies turn to a black then vanish into dust, carrying with the wind. "Though, I've never seen anything like this before, other than the Temen-ni-gru. I don't think standing around waiting for anything else to come from it is a good idea. Better take it down." He thinks, scanning the area.
Dante hears a loud cry from behind him and he turns to it. He sees Ruby off in the far distance on a cliff, facing to him. The Nevermore is falling to the ground, showing no signs of movement. She notices him in the distance and waves in his direction. He gives a lazy wave in return and turns back at the gate to continue his business. He takes a couple of steps back and charges forward, giving the gate a spinning kick where the Gluttony's head cracked it. The gate cracks further and shatters loudly. It comes crumbling down as the pieces fall around him. Lots of debris dust and wood fly up and around the area as the sound is louder than the gunshots Dante had fired before.
"That should take care of it for now. Now to grab a chess piece and be on my way." He says to himself once more. He steps over to pillars, avoiding the debris lying around on the ground, and briefly looks over each piece. There were some missing since he last saw when he first arrived in this world. Some of the students must have been here already and left before the rest that I saw arrived. Both of the rooks were missing, but he had remembered that Nora took one. The king, queen, two of the knights, two of the bishops, and most of the pawns were gone as well.
"Of course everyone takes the best pieces." He says to himself. Dante grabs a pawn and spins it around his index finger. He turns to follow the path that he once did when he first saw this place, but stops as he sees the rest of the group returning. Ruby was running as fast as she could with the others following behind her, trying to catch up.
"Daaanteee!" Ruby yells with excitement, waving and running to him. She stops in front of him and looks around at the rubble. "Woah..." she says weakly.
Yang finally catching up to Ruby, trying to catch her breath, tells Ruby "Stop running off ahead of us, Ruby. I can't believe how fast you still are." While explaining, the rest of the group manages to catch up. She looks around the rubble and sees the devastation of the gate."What exactly happened here?"
"This is some serious damage." Weiss comments.
"I told you ladies I'd be fine." Dante turns towards the cliffs, his trench coat floating with the spin, and begins walking. "I'd rather make it back before they stop serving food. So let's not stand here and waste time." He says without looking back. Ruby and some of the group followed behind Dante and the ones that didn't grab any of the pieces before now snatched one and hurriedly caught up to him.
Dante starts following the way he used when he first got here in this world, only this time more peaceful and with company. Half an hour passes as they get closer to the school. Dante can hear the chattering of Ren and Nora in the back with Jaune making small talk with the group. However, Dante remembered the realization he had from this morning. He slowed his pace to meet Blake side by side.
Dante turned his head towards her, "So Blake. I have a quick question. It's about that book you were reading last night."
"Yeah. What about it?" She responds.
"It really interested me and I want to get my hands on it. Who's the author?"
"No one knows anything about the person who wrote it. Not only that, copies of it are really difficult to come by."
"Why are they so hard to get?"
"It was written about thirteen years ago. At that time, the demand for it was super high after a popular journalist and reviewer talked highly about the work before it's release. It sold well, but there were never any other printings other than the first edition. So, many of the copies are either in thrift stores somewhere or sitting on bookshelves."
"Must be one hell of a read then. Do you know who the journalist was? Thinking maybe she has a copy."
"No. Sorry, Dante." She looks at him with a face of slight disappointment.
"No sweat. I'll just look around the city whe-." He stops himself mid-sentence. "Now that I think about it, I have yet to hit the big city."
"What do you mean? It's almost impossible to come to Beacon without going into the city first."
"I came directly to Beacon from my place. There were some... special circumstances."
"O...kay? The city is pretty big and easy to get lost in. Not the safest place either, but seeing as to what you left behind of that gate, I don't think that's a problem."
"Good to know." He pats her on the shoulder. "Maybe you can show me around the city a bit when you get a chance to."
"Yeah. Sounds good." She smiles slightly as to not be rude to the invitation.
Dante increases his pace to get back ahead of the group. It takes only a couple of more minutes before they reach the school and are greeted by Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch. They were standing in the middle of the pathway where it forks to the front of the school and around the side path.
"Greetings students. You are the last ones to arrive back. Please, make your way back to the locker rooms and get changed into your school's clothes. The assembly will start soon now. There we will talk about the teams which you have been assigned to." Ozpin said.
"Wow. Get back from fighting with Grimm and you already want us back to school ready to jump high. Talk about a slave driver." Dante speaks up for the group behind him. Jaune looks like he's ready to pass out any minute and Nora seems to not be as energetic either.
"I understand most of you are tired and exhausted. Believe me. Some of you look more worse for wear. I promise that this is the last thing for today. After the assembly, the last thing is rooms and that will be all for today." Ozpin reassured everyone.
Yang and Ruby nod as the remainder of the group let out a sigh of somewhat relief. Dante says nothing as he starts heading toward the locker room.
Everyone reaches the changing rooms where some of the students where still changing and others were already done. Girls on one end, boys on the other with a curtain separating them. He took his signature coat and started to wash it by taking a damp towel and wiping it down. It took a little bit of time, but he managed to get most of the mud stains and dirt off the coat. Dante spun the coat around stuck his arms into the sleeves and left for the assembly.
Dante had entered when they were just starting to announce the teams. Dante could hear Ozpin on the speakers in the room and see the faces of what seemed to be one of the teams on two giant screens above the stage.
"Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark. The four of you from this day forward, will work together as Team CRDL (Cardinal). Lead by Cardin Winchester." Ozpin announced to them and the audience.
Ozpin motioned for the next group to walk on stage. "Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you from this day forward, will work together as Team JNPR (Juniper)." He continued. "Jaune Arc."
Dante nearly stumbled making his way to the stage after hearing that. "Well, that's a surprise. Judging by Jaune's face, it was a surprise to the kid as well".
Ozpin motioned once again for the next set of students on stage. "Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long. The four of you from this day forward will work together as Team RWBY (Ruby. Self-explanatory). Lead by Ruby Rose."
"Another surprise. This day is full of em'." Dante thought to himself as he reached the stage.
"There is one last person. During each new school year, we acquire information from watching the feed from the forest to discern your strength, your wits, your reactions, and much more. From the observations made as of today, we have found that a certain individual has exceeded our expectations beyond our imagination. This person has forced us to use a higher number scale that we use to measure the limitations of an individual's statistics during the test. Please welcome to the stage, Dante." Ozpin announced over the speakers.
Dante walked into the spotlight, right next to Ozpin. Dante thought about commenting on the fact he didn't have his mug with him at this time, just his cane. He decided against it however, because it would just slow the pace of the assembly down and it was also a formal inauguration to become a student.
"Dante. From this day forward, you will be known as The Lone Hunter. Essentially, a team composed only of yourself. However, we will assign you to tasks from time to time to be temporarily assigned with some teams." Ozpin explained to Dante and the crowd. The audience murmured for a couple of seconds then applauded.
Ozpin smiled meagerly, "It looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year." He sighed a breath of relief. "Okay, students. You are all dismissed to go to your rooms. For the newly formed groups, the room number has been sent your scroll and a map to guide you there. That will be all."
Dante and Ozpin stand on the stage watching as every other student leaves for their rooms. It doesn't take long for the room to clear out before it is silent.
"Guessing you saw gate spawn then, huh?" Dante said to Ozpin while watching the students getting up.
He stayed quite for a moment, "Yes. We did. Dante, if you don't mind, I have a question."
"Shoot."
"What exactly are these Grimm-like creatures that keep appearing in our world? Originally, I thought they would just remain small, but the ones you fought today were much more large and seemed stronger."
"That's a bit of a loaded question there, Oz. I'm not gonna go into full details just yet, because that would take all night. I'll narrow it down though." Dante grabs a nearby pencil and paper that a student left behind and begins to illustrate the looks of the demons as he sits down."In my world, those are called demons, though apparently demons aren't unknown to this world either. Those that you've been seeing before this, are just small fry also known as Lesser Demons. The guy with the giant purple scythe though, he's more of the leader of the minions. Those are called Hells Vanguard. They command the sins. The first and most common is Pride, the one you showed me on the scroll when we first met. They're the weakest out of all of them. They move slow and attack just as slow. Second, there is Envy. They're just like Pride, only extremely heavy and can't really be knocked back easily. Thirdly, Wrath. These are more of the unique type of sin as they are incredibly sturdy, even for me. They move very slow. Projectiles seem to do the trick for defeating them though. However... When they die, they will explode. So, being near one at all is a bad idea. The fourth is Sloth. They can't move their body, so they rely on teleporting to move around a battlefield. While they are slow at attacking, they hit like a brick. They can cut through sheer metal with just a single swipe. The fifth is Greed. These douchebags you need to take down first. They don't directly attack you, but they wield a ritual coffin. From this coffin they can summon more demons from it. Second to last is Gluttony. It's also similar to Pride. Unfortunately, it's also a lot stronger and can launch powerful sandblasts from its mouth. Finally, Lust. These are the most dangerous of the seven sins. While usually lacking in number, they are incredibly agile and quick paced. They hit hard and can even hurl the blade of the scythe at you. They're a handful." Dante finishes up from explaining and drawing for Ozpin.
"What about the Hells Vanguard?" Ozpin continued to ask.
"Then you better hope I'm there or someone that is as agile as I am. They can parry just about anything you throw at them and warp into a different dimension to reappear nearby, usually slashing out of a ripple towards you. Just know that after it parries two to three times in a row, it is committed for the kill." Dante explains, getting up.
"That seems troublesome."
"It is."
"Well. Thank you for that information, Dante. It will be useful and I'll let the rest of the teachers and hunters know about this info. Have a great night, Dante." Ozpin said, as he starting to walk towards the doors. "Classes start at nine, by the way."
Dante sighed, "Noted."
He left for his room after a couple moments of silence in the presentation room. He walked out the door and headed down the halls, out the door. It was already twilight as the orange horizon mixed with the blue night sky. A slight breeze blew past Dante as he continued towards the cafeteria. He walks in to main building and already smells the food. It doesn't take him long to get to the cafeteria room. There isn't many people in here, so he decides to just grab a slice and head back to the dorms. Dante goes bite by bite and by the time he's near the dorm rooms, he's already finished his slice of pizza. He gets to the entrance when he hears a commotion going on inside. He opens the door and heads upstairs to the sound of the argument taking place. He reaches the final step and looks down the hallway to realize that Team RWBY is standing in front of his door to his room while Professor Goodwitch is there seemingly confused by whatever is taking place.
"Hey there, ladies. I didn't know someone was throwing a party in my room. I would've brought some more pizza with me." Dante commented, walking up to the group.
"Hi Dante!" Ruby shouts, throwing her arms around Yang and hanging off the side of her.
"There you are, Dante." Professor Goodwitch said to him. "It seems there's been a misunderstanding. Team RWBY wasn't able to get into their room because it was assigned to you apparently. Why are your belongings in Room 204? You were supposed to be in Room 203."
Dante chuckled to himself for a bit and reminded her, "Listen lady, you assigned Room 204 to me, even though Ozzy said 203. I guess you were in such hurry to get rid of me, you spaced out on it. I was gonna ask ya, but you sort of slammed the door shut in my face after the invite I gave you." He winked at her.
She pondered a moment or two thinking back to that day. Her immediate reaction to the realization and thought of incident again left her blushing and stuttering her words.
"Y-yes. I do remember that now. I'll g-go get this straightened up right away." She cleared her throat and tried to regain her senses. "In the meantime, you five will be assigned to this room for a few hours. Do not go anywhere until this is fixed." She quickly turned away and walked down the stairs with quick haste.
"Well, that was weird." Blake commented.
"What did you mean by, invite?" Weiss asked Dante, tilting her head and rubbing her chin.
He responded with another chuckle. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure she'll remember it for a long time."
"So... what's in your room, hotshot?" Yang said, sneering with a wide grin.
"Yeah! I wanna know too!" Ruby exclaimed alongside her sister.
Dante pulled his scroll out of his coat pocket. He put it up to the lock and the lock turned green. He opened the door and stepped inside and the girls followed behind him. Straight head of the door is the window and nightstand that had remained untouched. He had stacked the beds into make-shift bunk beds on each side of the window, fully pushed into each corner. The couch that he had delivered is pushed into the bottom right corner of the room as well as a coat rack to the right of the door. On the left side, he had the weapon rack he ordered as well with a jukebox in beside the bathroom entrance that was on the left wall. It had two sinks side by side and large mirror in front of it. On the left side of the sinks was the door that led into the shower and toilet.
Dante took Rebellion and threw it on the weapon rack perfectly as it hung straight down. He removed his jacket and tossed it on the coat rack as well then stood in the middle of the room.
Staring out the window, Dante stretched. "It's not much, but I get by with it." He turned around. "I guess for the time being we can chill here until she returns with some news."
"Interesting design choice." Weiss said under her breath.
"I told you already. I get by with it." Dante retorted, flopping down on the couch.
"It's such a guy's room." She continued to nag.
"Well! I like it!" Ruby said with a huge smile on her face.
"Come on, Weiss. It's not that bad. It does have a certain charm about it that I like. Makes it seem like a hunter's room." Yang joined in with Ruby.
"Thanks. At least some people appreciate me."
"Dante." Blake said in a deadpanned voice. "I need to ask you. What's your last name? Professor Ozpin never said it at the inauguration."
"Oh yeah! Come to think of it. He never did." Ruby commented. Yang was pondering, searching for the answer too.
"It doesn't matter much to me." Dante replied, even more deadpanned than Blake's voice. He rolled on his side, facing the couch's back; propping his arm underneath his head as a pillow. "It's a name that I don't use anymore and requested him not to use as well."
"Why don't you use it anymore?" Ruby asked, looking and standing over him while he was on the couch.
"Bad blood between family members."
"Ah. I guess that would make sense then." Blake responded.
"Yeah. It's a pretty long story with my brother and I."
"Brother?"
"Mhmm."
"Oh. I remember you talking about him before the launch." Yang intervened.
Blake looked at Yang and back to Dante to continue her questioning. "What's his name?"
"...Vergil."
A couple seconds of silence pass before Weiss breaks it. "Our fight with the Nevermore went pretty well, to say the least about our day."
Ruby's eyes shot up with stars once again, recalling the events in her mind. "Dante! You should have been there! Blake used her swords to make a slingshot like thing and Weiss launched me through the air! That was sooo much fun!"
"Seems like you enjoyed it a lot, little sis." Yang commented, seeing her sister be jittery with excitement.
"A little too much. We have neighbors, you know? Let's try our best to not already get a noise complaint." Weiss asked forwardly.
Realizing that he's not gonna get much rest, let alone the need to sort the room problem out; Dante sat back up. "It's fine. These walls are pretty thick. Almost no noise can be heard out of a closed room. I was pretty surprised to find out how well they muffled the sound. Could throw a party in this thing and probably not be caught."
"Oh?" Yang sounded with a devilish grin much like Dante's.
"That's pretty great to know. Guess us girls can get a little rowdy then without bothering too many people." Ruby said, examining the room.
"Today has just been an exhausting day and it's just the beginning of the school year." Yang commented to herself, falling backwards onto the bottom bed that was near Dante.
Dante thought back to the gate bursting out of the ground. It irked him the wrong way that Roland was able to summon demons to this world. Normally, it would take preparation and time or something like the Temen-ni-gru to act as a gateway. Since the Temen-ni-gru doesn't exist in this universe, that would only leave preparation. Unless Roland is extremely lucky, Roland had to know where Dante was going to and had to trigger it. The question remains though, how fast is he able to prepare these gates? It could have been from when they first appeared to moments before Dante had dropped from the Nevermore. He looked out the window. Night time has arrived with the stars and darkness that it always promises.
"Boo!" Ruby appeared from the corner of Dante's sight, inches away from his face; attempting to either scare him or just get his attention. Dante's response was a flick to her forehead while maintaining eye focus on the window.
"Oww... That hurt. You have really strong fingers, you know that?" Ruby cried.
Dante sneered. "Yeah, I've been told that a couple of times."
Suddenly, a knocking came from the door. Dante quickly gets up and answers it. It's Professor Goodwitch with Professor Ozpin.
"Hey Ozzy. What's the news?"
"Good evening, Dante. Good evening, Ladies." Ozpin says, scanning the room. "I've come bearing some news. Whether it is good or bad, is up to you."
"Okay?" Blake says, confused.
"For the time being, you all will be sharing a room together."
"What? Why?" Weiss speaks up quickly, slightly annoyed.
"Professor Goodwitch here made a mistake. I had told her to assign him to 203. However, she had brought him to 204. Due to this, conflicts happened with the room assignments and now 203 is assigned to Team JNPR. This room was thought to be free, however it was not; as you can see of course. We tried to find another room quickly, but every other room is occupied by students or is currently not up to the building code. Thus, our conclusion had to be either room together or one team has to leave."
"But there are only four beds and five of us." Weiss responded.
"It's fine. I sleep on the couch anyway. Reminds me of home." Dante said, leaning against the open door.
"Let's put it to a vote!" Ruby shouts happily.
Weiss' face grew prudent. "Let's."
Ruby quickly shot up her and within a second, the vote was decided. As followed with Dante, Yang, and Blake all raising their hand above their head.
"With that decided. We'll be taking our leave. First though, we have corrected the scrolls each of you have and can now properly unlock and lock the door. So there is no worrying about getting locked out. Get some rest for class tomorrow, kids." Ozpin says as they start to walk away towards the staircase. Dante shuts the door and goes back to sitting on the couch.
"I can't believe you guys." Weiss pouted.
"I can. Who wouldn't want some eye candy around the room?" Yang says, giggling to herself.
"Besides, he's a friend now." Ruby added.
"I didn't mind. He seems to be the quiet type when he's focused." Blake also added.
"You're so right. I never really noticed that." Yang added.
"You think so? I thought he was always a chatterbox." Weiss commented as well.
That hit a nerve with Dante. The furrow of his eyebrows where very apparent. "I would really appreciate if you wouldn't talk about me like I wasn't here."
The sisters giggled with a smile on both of their faces. Blake was trying to hide a smile on her face too as she looked away from him. Weiss then realized she was beat. "Fine... I guess it would be useful to have him around."
"Like it or not though, one thing is right. We need to get some sleep for tomorrow." Blake said to the team.
"Yeah, that is true." Ruby said, stretching her arms into the air.
"Luckily, we have a bathroom to change in so we have some privacy." Dante said as he got up and headed towards the shower. "I'll take my shower first, then someone can take theirs next."
Most of Team RWBY nodded their heads as he closed the door behind him. He turned the knob to the hot water as it squeaked from the rotation. Water began to spout from the shower head as he began to undress and step in. He instantly felt relaxed when the hot water hit his back. He let his mind wonder has he enjoyed the refreshing shower.
"I wonder how Lady's doing right now." He takes the shampoo and begins lathering his head. "Eh. She's a competent woman. I'm sure she's getting by just fine. It's more of if the demons are being handled well. She can definitely handle a couple of sins and such, but anything more than that and she'll be out of her league." He rinses his hair and starts washing his body and rinses off once more. "I should be more worried about how to get back. Once I manage to get everything straightened out here, it's gonna be ridiculous trying to get back home if Roland or Ozpin haven't found a way by that time yet. It would be pretty bad if I ended up getting trapped here. Though the girls are cute, the city needs me. Not just the city, my world." Dante just stands in the shower and becomes lost in thought until a crash comes tumbling on the bathroom wall outside. While voices can't be heard well through the wall, a crash definitely can be. He quickly shuts the water off, grabs a towel and wraps it around him, and opens the door then steps out to peek around the corner.
"What's going on out here? I'm not even dressed and you guys are managing to be louder than me on a good day." He asks, holding the towel around him with one hand. He looks around the room and sees they're unpacking. It appears Ruby had accidentally backed into a bookcase Blake was setting up and all the books fell onto the wall.
"Damn." Yang whistles at him.
Everyone else in the room pauses momentarily to look at him. Ruby and Weiss can only blush and stare as he's standing there. Blake looks over at him covers her blush with a book.
"You might want to put some pants on before anything happens." Blake mentions to him.
"Look. The last thing I need to worry about is you girls making a mess and breaking something of mine. Shower time is me time." Dante says as he goes back into the bathroom, closing the door behind him again. Dripping water everywhere off of him, he takes the towel and dries himself off from head to toe. He grabs his pants and puts back on and rubs off any dirt he sees with the damp towel he just had. Placing the towel on his head, Dante opens the door.
"Now, the shower is free."
Ruby sprang out from the corner before Dante had a chance to step out. "I'm next!" She yells. He takes a couple of steps forward, out of the bathroom, as she darts with her clothes behind him and closes the door.
"What's her deal?" Dante asked, pointing his thumb to the door. He was met with only shrugs and confused looks.
"Anyways. Have you girls decided who is going to get which bed?" He continued to ask.
"Yeah." Weiss responded. "It'll be Ruby on the top bed near the bathroom with myself below her and Yang will be on the top bed of the one in the right corner with Blake below her."
"Mhmm. It's a lot cooler over here because the air vent is right above it." Yang added while sitting on the top bunk that she claimed.
Dante with the towel still on his head, began drying his hair some more. "As long as you girls aren't fighting and yelling, then I'm fine with whatever." He threw the towel into the bathroom area near the sinks. Silence goes by for the most part with chit chat here and there between everyone. Everyone gets their chance to take a shower and dawns on their pajamas. While waiting for the showers, each one of them finished up decorating their side of the room with either paintings of forests or boy band posters. As everyone finally crawled into bed, the lights were shut off with the only light being from the jukebox in the room and the stars shining through the window.
Dante sat down on the couch after turning the lights off. "I got a lot of weight on my shoulders again. First it was Arkham, then it was Vergil, now this. Not to mention that there is a book about my father I still need to figure out. That's going to be a handful. Right now though, the only thing I can do now is wait for Roland to make a move and see if I can intercept it first." Dante untied his shoes and flung them into the middle of the room. He laid down on the couch, head to the wall.
"Lone Hunter, huh? I like the sound of it."
