Hello there Muh. Tora here.Okay another chapter is here, I was quite lucky to have some free time this week but the chapter is still a short one so don't hope for another long chapter, maybe somewhere in the future?
I do not own characters from RWBY, .hack/G.U. or any characters that appears or reference from other works. I only own my OCs.
Enjoy.
--Remnant(World Above), 9 Tuo-Juh(7th month) 377 ADW--
--Somewhere in Vale forest, noon--
-SWISH- -THUD-
"Miss."
-SWISH- -THUD-
"Another miss."
-BANG-
"Don't you know using gun only expose yourselves?!"
It was quite lifely in the dense forest of Vale. Animals that normally enjoyed their lazy afternoon found themselves hiding or scrambling away from the madness occurring in the heart of the forest. Humans, many of them, hunting their kind with utmost glee. It was madness, at least that's what the animals thought.
For the humans, especially the bandits, were stacking with frustration. The source of their frustration was their prey, a single man in his late teens. Normally they only need a few seconds, two minutes at most, to capture their prey with the help of ambush. But this brat have been running around for ten minutes completely escaping their ambush and dodging every arrows they threw at him. This of course also damaged their pride as forest bandits. At least this indicated that their target only good at dodging so all they need to do was exhaust him.
They were wrong of course. The brat had reasons for evading them.
"Why didn't I just confront them now?! Oh yeah, the old hag insisted to 'Make sure you know at least your enemy EXACT number before engaging'. Well I know they numbered around a dozen! So, my turn!"
The brat pulled a green cloak from his 'Storage Paper', which he also stole, and took a sharp turn around the closest tree. He disappeared inside the sea of green.
--Two minutes later--
"Where the hell is he?!" one of the bandits shouted, his voice lacing with frustration. For all the years they have spent operating silently in the forest this was the rare case of someone actually outwitted them. Normally they were already sitting around singing a song for another successful hunt, trainees shouldn't be this hard to kill. Perhaps their target now was a fresh Huntsman? No, they usually traveled in team. A veteren maybe? No, those folks usually traveled alone, yet a veteran shouldn't be that young. Their prey now was like eighteen? Seventeen?
"Tch, the brat's good," the tall and skinny one with spiky hair commented. "Do the usual three man team search, and Barry saves your fricking bullets-- where's Barry?"
"Isn't he always on the back?" Every heads tilted slightly to see the very back of the group where Barry, the slightly mentally ill and trigger happy man, always stood. There was a small problem though, Barry was not on his post. Instinctively they made a circle; their gun trained towards the green ocean around them. Few moments had passed yet they saw nothing but the peaceful forest. A movement from the bushes; a deer. Twitching from a branch; a squirrel. It seems their prey had escaped, maybe?
"Lanyā, do your stuff," the tall and skinny one with spiky hair, or the leader, ordered his subordinate.
"Fine, but I get more share." The subordinate in question was a cat faunus in brown cloak. Her hair was colored leaf green making it a perfect match with her cloak and surrounding, a typical forest ranger.
Lanyā knelt on one knee and pointed the tip of her arrow at the soil. She pulled the string to the utmost limit and began her prayer, ["O Lord Magus, the Calm Wrath of Nature, please grant this mortal means to find their living prey."] Soon green energy enveloped the arrow tip accompanied by a wave of calmness felt by the bandit group; a sign of Magus blessing.
This is called 'Prayer Chant', a branch of magic developed by Froudre Paradyne's legacy. By using natural energy combined with prayer to the gods. It is believed that the gods themselves were the one's doing the magic with each god having their own specialty. Yet, since not everyone can do this, It was still a debate wether or not the gods were the one doing the magic.
Now, Lanyā was invoking Magus's magic 'Life Sona«%¡@%-- 'Aura Sonar'.
She released the arrow. A wave of green followed.
"Forty-three meters west from here, his aura low."
"Surround."
The group split apart into three. Four on the right; four the left; three on the middle. Bushes and branches were shrugged or evaded, focused firmly on capturing their prey. Three on the right brandished their daggers with one brandishing a flintlock, the opposite happened on the left, while the middle knocking arrows on her bow and the other two brandishing axes.
"There, behind that tree," Lanyā announced.
They moved quickly around it with their weapons trained forward, yet they did not find their prey. What they found was--
"Lanyā! What the hell?!"
"You said he was here!"
"I'm not lying! The aura signature is coming from that!"
--What they found was a simple wooden staff stabbed to the soil. When they looked at it closely a faint red glow can be seen on the surface, thus Lanyā announced, "He transferred a little bit of his aura and deactivate his own! This is a trap, retre--"
Suddenly three small balls fall from above.
The lead bandit warning came next, "Explosives!"
Wrong. Those were flash bombs.
Blinding light meshed with thundering clap assaulted their ears and eyes. They were expecting a show of fire and force thus their aura were focused on the front, while the ears were still protected somewhat it was not enough for something this unexpected. Amongst them, Lanyā received the most damage due to her being a faunus and her skillset as a ranger made her aura rather soft.
A sharp pain on the neck later they all fell unconscious.
Slowly but surely her senses finally returned. The breeze felt comfortable on her skin, a slow breeze with the right temperature. Though her body felt odd. She felt sluggish, like having ran for days straight without rest. Contrary to her body her mind felt well rested, like having a nice sleep in your mother's embrace, "This is very confusing... did I drank alcohol?"
She remembered partaking in the last hunt. Their prey was a very annoying brat with agility she envied, how could a human move like that? She was a cat, a forest cat to be precise, born on a traveling cart while traversing the forest. If her skinny boss requested her help, the hunt always ended in a success, plus she got more share. Huh, maybe the brat had some alcohol and she drank them, but why her mind was so clear? A sluggish mind normally followed the euphoria of intoxication.
"Huh... Oh well, time to wake up... Eh...? Eeeeehhhh!?"
She just realized a crucial detail, she was binded. Her hands and legs were bound together with stong rope, and if she's not mistaken it was enchanted with aura--
"--Enchanted with aura!? What kind of kid could separate their aura!? This is advance shit! Maybe semblance? Yeah semblance, it must be semblance-- is this cloth? He covered my mouth with cloth. What's next... I'm blindfolded too. Fuck can this get any worse-- am I naked!?"
At waking, her senses were not at their peak thus the chilly night was mistaken as a simple breeze, the soft grass was mistaken as clothes on top of a sleeping mat, and the darkness was mistaken as her eyes simply won't opened. But now after fully regaining her body she finally realized the true predicament she faced.
Binded under the dazzling moonlight, she couldn't help but trashed. Fortunately, or unfortunately, someone was near, and that someone yanked her head and ripped off the blindfold, she was greeted by orbs of red on a smiley face. A face belonged to her prey-- no, it belonged to the hunter, she was the prey now.
"Ah, i was wondering when will you awake, the others are trashing since an hour ago you know." True to his words she could see the others in the the same state as her. "So, did you had a good dream, and does your body feels sluggish at first? You see, I forced all of you to drink some of my potions, mostly sedatives, and it's not the usual type too. I made all of this using mushrooms and herbs from Undead Gorge, which I found by accident, who could've guess that place has lots of herbal treasures?!"
"Khmmm--khmm--"
"Oh you wanna say something, let me help you." Like what he did with her blindfold, he violently ripped the cloth covering her mouth.
"Eat. Shit. Asshole."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...?"
"HAH! Hahahaha! I like it! The position has been reversed! Soooooo how does it feel being on the mercy of someone? Ohh, you've done this countless times before right? But never feels how it was for the receiving end. Now, feel the desperation of those you killed!"
"Tch, you think a brat like you could possibly break me?"
"Oh, I'm not doing the killing, they will."
"What--"
GRRRRRR
As if answering the master call, red eyes emerged from the forest accompanied by the glinting fang of the beast. Many Grimm; Creeps, Beowolfs, Ursai; surrounding them, ready to pounce at a moment's notice.
"Hey, are you insane?! With this many Grimm you'll be killed too idiot!"
Lanyā raised a valid point. With so many Grimm and eleven men binded it was a miracle they didn't strike at all. Moreover if the Grimm did strike, the hunter couldn't possibly fend himself against them. It was like the Grimm was under an absolute order...
"Impossible..."
The smile of the hunter couldn't possibly get wider, "Before I explain everything I would like to thank all of you for becoming my test subjects for my potions. You see, those potions offer a pure bliss for the drinker in their sleep and eight of you showed positive response, an excellent result I must say.
Next allow me to inform you with a bit of trivia. You see, my family is in possession of an ancient text regarding the Twilight Brigade. It is explicitly explained that they only have a single epithet explaining their very nature. Lord Skeith for example; he is the Terror of Death, a being that brought terror upon death, he has no connection with the Grimm whatsoever. Yet, I control these Grimm with his epithet. The epithet 'The Abyssal King' was given to him by us, men and fauns. From this line of thinking we can conclude that our beliefs had changed their nature as gods, very interesting right?"
"...you're a follower of the Traitors."
"Yeah, what of it? Worshipper of the Traitors are still spread widely especially in Mistral, and I'm from Mistral. Well, there's nothing more for me to tell here-- oh! I must give this to all of you!"
The hunter quickly went to the bag laid on the side and proceed to rummage through it. From within he withdrew eleven papers or talismans, whichever you prefer. He then stuck each person with a single piece of it and activate it with aura.
Lanyā recognized these talismans, "'Lesser Healing Talisman'? What are you... WAIT PLEASE DON'T!"
"What? You've been enjoying your victims' suffering for years and I'm only doing my god's nature. This is completely natural," and then like taking a simple stroll in a park, he leisurely walked away. "Ok boys! You can eat your meal, but do it slowly."
Like what the hunter ordered, the Grimm slowly approach their meal. Only stopping a moment to decide which one they should eat.
"Wait! Please wait! I'll give you everything! My body, my life, I'll give you all! I'll be a good girl, I promise!"
The hunter kept walking.
"Please...sob...sob...mama...papa...save me..."
Yet no one came.
Keeping his pace slow the young man leisurely walked under the canopy of leafs. He was very relaxed as if the darkness didn't posed a threat to him. Fresh Huntsmen will marked him insane right away while veterans will simply marked him as idiot. But in truth, the darkness really didn't posed a threat to him at all. The reason was also a simple one.
["O Lord Skeith, The Abyssal King, let me be one with the abyss and let the abyss knows I am one with them."] With this simple 'Prayer Chant' the Creatures of Grimm would saw his as another Grimm thus he had a very relaxing walk, plus the scream of the cat lady was still audible.
"Mmmmm... Her scream really sound like a magnificent melody," he commented.
"You sound like a villain from the stories of old," and the voice in his head commented back.
"C'mon brother, bringing terror is the very nature of our Lord."
"A quick and painless death will also bring terror if the victim realize it."
"But--"
"The method doesn't really matter. What matter is the lessening of those scum from the world."
"Aye aye, you're the boss."
The walk resume unhindered, only the crunching of dirt and growls of Grimm could be heard. It was the usual for them, walking for miles and miles in search for their god. For both of them this pilgrimage held a significant meaning for their lives, and this journey was made possible thanks to their mentor who also shed light of their heritage.
Sora and Shi-Ro Misaki, descendant(s) of Ryou 'Haseo' Misaki the first Vessel of Skeith.
When their heritage was revealed they cannot even fathom how fortunate their lives can be. Naturally, being the descendant of a Vessel, an untapped potential lied in the depths of their soul waiting to be awakened from it's long slumber. And their mentor did just that, she had awaken their potential, albeit only a fraction, and let them discovering the rest. For now they have access to 'Prayer Chants' associated with every Traitors, especially Lord Skeith, and low tier magic. They still lacked technique for a direct combat but they supplement with their unpredictability, plus their mentor gave them a runic weapon to master.
Ahhh... What a good life.
Dear my Troublesome Students
When you read this letter, I probably have crossed to Āntararāṣṭrīya. Worry not I'm not dead, Āntararāṣṭrīya is a secret realm where the Traitors of Twilight reside, not even the Knights know of the existence of this realm. Now, pay close attention to what I'm going to say, or write in this case.
I want you to come to this realm. The entrance is located on Deva-Yuda Holy Battlefield, specifically inside the Twilight Pillar. Do not forget to bring Ra Kuti since it was a prove of your allegiance with the Traitors. We need every warrior for the coming invasion.
One more thing, head to Padi-Kapas first and find Dyea Alran Rosaline and Mahatma Rufus. They are my students before you and both of them are qualified to be a Champion, bring them with you.
Sign, your excellent master ;)
--Remnant(World Above), 13 Tuo-Juh(7th month) 377 ADW--
--Padi-Kapas, night, atop Starnight Hill--
"..."
"..."
"...did you put something in my drink?"
"...no...maybe you're not sober enough?"
"...I'm not sober enough for this..."