The Awakened One: Book 1 Remnant

by Nentai

Nova is the 18-year-old college student who is fated for greatness. An unknown past shrouded in confusion, a mental intellect far above those of his World locked behind monotony, and unbelievable power slumbering in his Soul, all factors that kept this man from becoming all the things that he was meant to become, but soon these factors will be null and void. Gamer OC x Rwby Harem!

36. The Tribes Of The Desert

So... uhm... yeah I actually had this chapter finished for a long while, but I ended up getting distracted multiple times and completely forgot to upload it until now. Sooooo... uhmmmmmm... my bad. I still stream on Twitch tho so if you wanna peep feel free.

.tv/nentai_ | or just search Nentai_

Without further delay I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please review :)

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Chapter 70: The Desert Kreeps

Zeb mounted his horse with minimal interest and quickly gave the animal the command to move towards his objective, listening as the mount took off and began pounding the pavement. He sat bareback on the animal comfortably, barely paying attention to his surroundings as the horse traveled as fast as it possibly could towards this so-called Khrish's Tribe. "Damn, I can't remember the last time I rode a horse" the Faunus man said to no one in particular.

After paying attention to his surroundings for a moment he came to a conclusion that he already knew before hand, "horses are slow as fuck. No offense" he said to comfort the animal. "What an odd place," he said aloud as he looked at the seemingly infinite desert, "a place with black monsters n shit, but people still riding horses. Aint even got no high-tech vehicles."

This was one of the few thoughts that crossed his mind on the long trip to his designated location.

The desert was massive and expansive but was emptier than he thought it'd be. Every once and a while he would spot a group of horses feeding on the deserts shrubbery or maybe even a wild horde of some odd lookin crabs that were massive in shape, but in an effort to remain on course he ignored the groups of animals that interested him slightly.

Luckily for him, he eventually did run directly into a group of the massive crabs and after he brutally killed them all he quickly learned that they were actual animals and not the same as the black monsters he found in the world.

He even watched as the horse started drinking a black substance that leaked from their corpses, at first, he thought that it was blood, but after a quick taste test he found that it was just odd-looking water. Good enough for the horse, good enough for him he supposed.

However, this was the only interesting thing that occurred on the trip, so as night turned too day and the sun began beaming down on himself and his noble stead, the trip became treacherous.

Partially because of Zeb's size, the desert heat, and the amount of time that they had been traveling, his horse that he had taken to naming Sir Cheesington III, Cheese for short, suddenly collapsed while moving at full speed.

Cheese must've missed its footing or something because one second, they were moving at full speed, but the next they were tumbling hard through the sand, rolling and kicking up the substance before they came to a screeching halt.

"Shit" the Ram Faunus said as he slowly arose from his sandy ditch. "Cheese," he called out to his partner, "Sir Cheesington!" Looking around, he quickly found his horse neighing wildly and flailing its legs a bit away from himself. "Oh, there you are." Zeb quickly got up and walked over to the animal to get him up right again so they could continue their journey

"Ugh, come on Cheese we aint got time to waste." He said as he tried to pull the horse to its feet, but he just wasn't budging. "Come on bruh, what's going on with you?"

After looking around at the horse for a moment it didn't take long for him to see what had happened to his partner and what he saw was a bit disheartening to say the least. "Damn, your leg's broke." Looking down at the horse, he could see that Cheese's front right leg was bent in the complete wrong direction and the entire bottom half of the limb was kinked in multiple directions. Cheese's leg bone was completely shattered.

At Zeb's sudden medical revelation, he turned around to look for the cause of his partners tumble and what he found was a massive mound of shifting sand that looked to have a monstrous beast lurking beneath it. The single mass mound suddenly turned from one to two, then from two to three, and soon Zeb and his horse partner watched as a large worm like Grimm erupted from the mounds of sand, "GGRRAAAGGGG!"

The worm was at least ten feet long with a single massive hole at its front that clearly functioned as its mouth, bleeding sand and emanating in a red glow as it surfaced from the sand. Surrounding the orifice were numerous fangs that seemed to rotate like blades on a chainsaw, rapidly opening and closing as it searched for a pray item to consume.

As the first beastly Grimm erupted from the sand, letting out its voracious cry as it did so, Zeb quickly pulled one of his two axes from his back and casually spun the large weapon rapidly as he stood to his feet. He watched with a keen eye as the Grimm worm dug itself deep into the sand and surfaced with a bound, swimming through the sand like a dolphin through water as it rapidly approached himself and Cheese.

With every second Zeb's axe spun faster and the Grimm got closer, but the Faunus man remained completely unfazed, waiting patiently for the right moment to strike. Soon, the other Grimm began surfacing as well, each one being larger than the last with the largest being about twenty feet in length, but even still he remained absolutely calm, and when the first Grimm worm appeared in his sights he smirked.

"You fucked up!" Zeb quickly raised the rapidly spinning , razor sharp, massive battle-axe in his single arm, putting the weapon in an overhand motion as if he was going to slash downwardly at the beast.

BOOM! His rapidly spinning Griz-Lethal axe was launched at an unbelievable speed like an unstoppable tomahawk immediately following the boom of a powerful shotgun. The shot propelled the weapon at an amazing speed sending the battle axe slicing through the face of the black worm, completely unbothered by the toothy hardened fangs that would otherwise be considered deadly weapons.

Zeb's axe penetrated the body of the beast like a bullet, but the instant it touched its blackened flesh it shredded through the inhuman substance like a high powered buzzsaw on human flesh. The battle-axe was practically unstoppable, and at the angle and timing that it was thrown, it quickly eviscerated its way through the Grimm's body, only making an exodus once it had fully bisected the worm, killing it in mere moments.

The Grimm worm fell before Zeb as a lifeless corpse that practically exploded in shadowy blood from the sudden trauma. "Damn, I gotta go pick that up now" he thought aloud, not thinking much of his current predicament. Although their companion was completely eviscerated in mere moments, the other Grimm worms weren't given pause at all and instead rushed towards him with even more urgency. Without caring much the ram Faunus turned to his downed horse and said, "Imma handle this really quick. Just rest a bit since we still got a long journey ahead of ourselves."

The Faunus man then took out his second weapon and launched himself at the next Grimm, quickly getting swallowed by its opened maw, but protecting himself from its teeth using his special black Aura. Once past the teeth, he shot a single shotgun shell at the Grimm's soft interior before slashing his blade deep into the groove that was opened up by the shot.

With his heeled shoes stabbing deeply into the Grimm's slippery flesh for leverage, Zeb gripped both hands around his axe's handle before using all of his strength to slide his blade through the thick hide of the Grimm, essentially cutting his way out of the beast from its inside out.

As he did so, the Grimm erupted in bellowing cries of agony that would've completely defeated a lesser man, but unfortunately for the Grimm Zeb was not that. With one final grunt of force the battle-axe sliced its way roughly through the inside of the beast, creating a massive bleeding gash that led directly to the outside in the mere moments since the Grimm had surfaced.

Instead of making his exit, Zeb just gritted his teeth and allowed himself to slide deeper into the Grimm's stomach all the while using all of his strength to continue slicing his way through the beast's body. However, it wasn't as though he needed to continue his attack for long as he suddenly felt the large Grimm worm begin rapidly falling to the ground, prompting him to make his exit through the open gash that he created with his axe.

He used his hands to pry the gash open and slide out with ease, landing on the cushiony sand below and listening as the Grimm crashed against the ground right next to him. "That little cut was fatal? So weak" he said to himself as he checked around to make sure Cheese was still doing alright.

Turned out he was very, very, very far away from Cheese now, which was a good thing for the horses safety and made him remember that his other axe was supposed to be around here somewhere. However, as he looked around for his weapon, he suddenly realized something, "where the fuck did the other worm go?" Without warning the final worm erupted from the sand beneath him, crushing its fangs against his unprotected Aura, dealing him a powerful blow, and subsequently launching him into the air as he avoided being swallowed unwillingly into the Grimm.

Zeb held strongly onto his weapon as he rocketed towards the sky, remaining calm even in his current circumstance. "I prolly should've seen that coming " he thought a loud as his ascent slowed and he began his descent. The final massive worm didn't let up its attack, after sending its target high into the air it snaked its long body into the sky, hoping to finish its hearty target with its gaping maw.

As Zeb began falling back towards the mouth of the Grimm it seemed as though the worm would get its wish. "But then again," Zeb spoke as he readied his axe, "I guess this works to." With that thought completed Zeb angled his body so he was bulleting himself down towards the approaching Grimm worm's mouth, placing himself directly in the trajectory of its jaws. He rapidly approached the maw of the beast, quickly finding himself right into fangs of the beast.

However, right before the Grimm was going to swallow him up into its vortex of sharpened teeth Zeb pointed the barrel of his shotgun away from his side and quickly pulled the trigger. The powerful shotgun blast launched the Faunus man clear of the Grimm's maw, and Zeb quickly used the rest of the momentum granted by the blast to slash his axe head deep into the beast's head.

Once the weapon was lodged inside the Grimm the axe wielding man allowed a fiendish grin to cross his lips and he then began rapidly slamming his finger on the trigger mechanism to propel himself down the Grimm's body at an accelerated speed. His blade dragged itself deeply along the Grimm worm's flesh with each shot of the gun and the beast quickly began falling alongside the man using his axe to travel down its body.

Soon enough, Zeb reached the ground while being showered in the blood of the beast that was falling down from alongside it. Once he reached the soft sand below, Zeb looked around himself and suddenly spoke, "Oh, there it is!"

His reason for the sudden outburst was because he coincidentally landed a few feet away from his other axe that he had thrown a few minutes earlier. He quickly jogged over to his weapon and picked it up, just barely avoiding the tail of the Grimm worm as it slammed itself into the ground kicking up a bloom of sand before beginning to dissolve into nothingness. Zeb was covered head to toe in the gunk and ooze from the worms he just finished killing, but as they disappeared so did their flesh and blood from his body. "This is the only cool thing about the monsters in this place" he said.

With his now clean body and completed kills, Zeb walked leisurely over to his animal companion who was still laying relatively still on the ground from its broken leg. "Well, I got your revenge for you Cheese" he spoke as he rubbed the horses head. "Did you enjoy your little break?"

At his question, the horse neighed bubbly, a response that Zeb smiled to. "That's good." Zeb then let out a long sigh before standing back to his feet, looking over his downed horse with a bit of a somber expression. "Well, we still got ground to cover. Gotta get to the whatever Tribe soon and I don't think that you're in any state to run anymore."

For a moment the Faunus man messed around with both of his axes before putting them away on his back and squatting down to the horses side once more. "You've rested for long enough Cheese, its time to go." With that comment Zeb slid his hands underneath the large horse and effortlessly lifted him into his hand, and once he figured Cheese was comfortable within his arms he began running as fast as he could towards the Desert Kreeps.

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"Like I already said, we'll see what happens. If they manage to hold out against Jayson's force of Neanderthals than I guess I'll just say that I only sent the assassins because I was forced to, if not then I'll appeal to the humans and get my fair share of the pot in the future. It's really not that complicated." Khrish commented as he took a long sip of the blackened liquid within his clay cup.

The person that sat across from him didn't seem to be convinced by the man's words, replying, "Do you really believe it will work out that easily? What of the men that got captured by the White Fang? What if they tell about your willing involvement in the entire affair?" The Faunus that responded was a much older man of small stature with a thin long tail and large teeth.

Khrish remained unaffected by the small man's questions, "what have I told you about that worrying nonsense? You really gotta stop critiquing every little thing that I do, it's getting old." The reptilian Chieftain downed the rest of his drink in a single swig before leaning back heavily in his chair. "Listen Pock, you're a great advisor and I understand it's your job to be all quizzical and speculative, but sometimes you just gotta chill out and watch how shit plays out."

The small man nodded his head slightly in response. "I understand Chief, but I still must say this. I don't believe that sitting on the fence in a situation such as this is very wise. The humans are very serious is their major objective and I highly doubt that Adam will allow anyone who plots against him to simply get off with a slap on the wrist."

The reptilian leader finally sat up in his chair as he hissed and rolled his eyes into the back of his head in irritation. "Fine. I'll humor you fuckin geezer. I already know that the men I sent got captured or killed, but that doesn't matter to me. If there dead that's great, but if not it's not like they know anything of value anyway. Worst case scenario they know I'm involved with the humans. So what? What could they possibly do to me with that information?"

"It is possible that they would send someone here to confirm your involvement Chief" the older man said.

That comment made Khrish let out an audible chuckle, "how? Why? Kekeke, they have no men to spare, and they damn sure don't have anyone strong enough to compete with me! It'd be useless! Anyone they sent here would get buried so far underneath the sand that there would be no evidence that they even existed in the first place."

The mousy elder then added, "but what if the person they sent was powerful enough to take on you and maybe even more members of the Clan?"

Khrish's smile disappeared in an instant. "Maybe you are going senile on me old man. Take the rest of the night off and think about the bullshit that you just let escape your mouth." The man paused for a moment, waiting for the man to leave, but when he didn't get the hint, he suddenly rose in anger. "Now! Get the fuck out!"

The elder Pock just snorted through his nostrils and got up from his chair, preparing to exit the room. He slowly walked towards the exit before coming to a sudden stop before the tent's flap. "Your arrogance will eventually bring your downfall Khrish. If your father were still here, he'd be very disappointed in your leadership decisions."

At that comment the lizard suddenly launched his clay cup at the back of the Elders head, watching as it shattered into a hundred pieces as it made contact with the back of his head. "Shut the fuck up! Who the fuck cares what he would do if he was still here! He's not! He was weak, that's why he is dead, and I am the Chief! The only reason I keep you around is because he said that you'd advise me properly, but now it's starting to seem like I have no reason to keep your old ass alive!" Khrish's chest heaved up and down rapidly as his scaly skin began radiating in a red shade. "Get the fuck outta my sight. If I see you again tonight, I'm not sure I'll be able to control my anger as well as I'm doing now."

Pock only sighed at the Chief's angered outburst, not caring enough to turn to face the man before leaving him alone. "Good night, Chief."

The mouse only received an aggressive hiss in response to his sincere comment, and quickly the Chief was left alone in his tent. "That would truly be the dumbest idea possible. A man powerful enough to take me and the rest of my tribe? Impossible. Even Anaya isn't powerful enough to do something like that" he thought a loud to himself. Chuckling at the idea. "Sending somewhere here by their lonesome. There is no way Adam would make such a stupid decis-" Khrish's words were cut short as a Faunus man casually walked into the tent without warning. The chief suddenly got irritated again, "what the fuck do you want?"

The man simply said, "Chief, there is something… odd approaching the camp from pretty far out. I think you may wanna see this."

Khrish only rolled his eyes, "you really expect me to 'come see' some shit? I'm the goddamn Chief, show some respect. I'm getting up to see something just because you think it looks 'odd', who the fuck do you think I am, some kinda peon?"

In response to the Chiefs comments the man only furrowed his brow before continuing with, "I said odd because that is what it is. The Stalkers that watch the far-off perimeter were knocked out suddenly when they approached this figure, so we thought that maybe an army or something was approaching. But they are still pretty far in the distance and all we can identify right now is what looks like a floating horse. So, if you really don't wanna check it out be my guest, I can just have someone more capable look over the situation."

This comment got his attention as he stood from his chair, "there is no one here more capable then me, don't fucking forget it." Khrish then walked over to the corner of the tent to pick up his sheathed Scimitar and place it across his back. "You said it looks to be a floating horse?"

"Yeah, that's what the scope-man said" the guard replied.

"Odd" he replied as he walked towards the Faunus in order to exit his tent. "One more thing," Khrish said as he paused at the tent's exit flap, "don't ever disrespect me again or I will have you striped and shipped to the middle of the desert." With that Khrish exited the tent and began walking towards the location in question, leaving a completely unbothered Guard trailing behind him.

It didn't take long for the two or the Faunus to reach the edge of the Kreep's camp and once they arrived, it quickly became evident that the mysterious floating horse wasn't a floating horse at all. Khrish and the rest of the Desert Kreeps watched as the figure rapidly approached from beyond the desert, moving at a speed that seemed extremely unnatural, especially considering what they now knew.

The edge of the camp was already filled with the curious tribe members as the large ploom of quickly approaching sand caught the interest of the surrounding members. Amidst the sudden excitement of the approaching possible threat, Khrish walked over to the man with the scope and demanded, "give it here."

For a moment the Faunus scoffed at the Chief before giving in to the order, handing the piece of equipment over to the man. "huh?" he said as he peered through the glass, "its not a floating horse…" he thought aloud, "it's a fucking man running with a big ass horse in his arms!"

One of the Faunus nearby then added, "he's running hella fast too."

It didn't take long for a sense of panic to set into Khrish's veins, "what the fuck are you idiots doing!" Khrish erupted, getting all of the Tribesman attentions with a single shout. "Get in positions! We don't know who this guy is, hurry up and move!"

As the Chief barked his orders the Tribesman quickly got into their positions, hiding amongst the sands, lining up out in front, and the Chief of the tribe standing tall at the center of their formation.

Once they finished setting themselves up to attack the potential enemy, the man that was approaching from a great distance was already upon them, slowly coming down to a stop as Khrish yelled, "stop! Don't come any closer or prepare to face the consequences!"

Zeb slowed his run down to a jog before eventually going all the way down to a slow walk, stopping himself a little over 50 feet (15.25m) from the camp. The sun had already set once more and the cool air was beginning to stir, whipping his long black cloak around in the wind. As he heard the commanding voice and came to a stop, Zeb decided that now was as good a time as any to put Cheese down, if only for a moment, so he could hash things out with the Clan that he was sent to 'subjugate' or something like that.

As he placed his horse gently on the cool sand beside him, Zeb looked up to face the multitude of Faunus that were beginning to surround him on all sides. Each of them had their spears, swords, bows, and numerous other weapons pointed directly at him, a chosen few actively circling around him with every passing second.

The bear/ram Faunus then took a few care-free steps forward to put himself at a decent enough distance from Sir Cheese just in case things began to pop off, but this action only roused more tension from the Tribe's ranks. "I thought I told you to stop moving!" Yelled the man at the center of the Tribe's formation. "State your name and reason for being here or face the consequences!" Although the threat of bodily harm was very real, Zeb remained silent, only peering around at the surrounding tribe members with an analytical eye.

According to the Faunus man's quick assessment he determined that the Tribal warriors that surrounded him were actually quite powerful considering the standards of strength that he had come to know in his time in Vale.

If he had to compare them to a group of people, he'd say that they were like the upper-level captains in his own Demon Clan which put them much higher in strength than the usual foot soldier. However, even with that revelation he still smiled, figuring that even though they were much stronger than the lowest of the low in his Clan they still were not much compared to him.

Khrish was rapidly losing his patience as the man remained silent, looking around at his people that surrounded him. At this point he figured that he may as well just get rid of the wanderer instead of waiting for him to finally respond. "Fine, if you won't speak then die!" With that message sent, the Tribe's Chief was moments away from giving the signal for the Clan to ambush the man, but he was stopped short from the large Faunus man loudly clearing his throat.

"Uhm, excuse me," Zeb began, not paying much attention to the man's words, "are you guys the, uhhh, Desert Creepers?" His sudden question brought stillness to the air, and for a moment all was quiet within the camps grounds.

However, this silence slowly turned into hysterical laughter as the surrounding Faunus men and women began giggling at the lost man's comments. Khrish wasn't immune to the laughter as he quickly relaxed his demeanor and laughed off the man's question. "Kekeke, are you lost or somethin man?" He asked as he caught his breath from laughter. "Keke, you have reached the camp of the Desert Kreeps. What do you want?"

As he got his confirmation Zeb's face lit up, "oh shit that's great!" His response only got more laughter from the crowd, which he ignored, instead thinking of his next move. "ok step one get to the Tribe is complete. Next up is… establish your presence. The Chief said I gotta let them know I'm serious and I mean business, so how do I do that?"

That question seemed to be an incredibly important one to answer, so Zeb receded into his mind to find the solution. "Hmm," he hummed aloud, "what would the Chief do?" Once he purposed the question, the first memory that appeared within his mind was the image of his Chief cleaving his way through bodies in the large lot, then the next was him hearing the story of how Junior got his arm cut off, and then it was how he handled the white-haired man that he forgot the name of.

Zeb then quickly came to a conclusion on how to handle his current situation. The large horned Faunus then straightened up his face for a moment, losing the ditsy look in an instant, and looked dead at the man at the center of the group with a killers gaze. "Where is Khrish?"

The man asked the question with a deadly cool, but his sudden shift in tone was missed by the Chief himself as he only continued to laugh at his inquiry. "Keke, you want to know where the Chief is?" Khrish asked, barely managing to keep himself together. "Why do you want to speak with him?"

Without changing expressions Zeb responded, "I need to talk with him. Apparently, he's been fuckin around with the wrong crowds and needs to be set straight." All of a sudden things weren't so funny anymore. Khrish's whimsical smile quickly turned sour at the implications of the man's comment. Looking around he could see that his Tribesman weren't so quick on the come up, but he was helpless to warn them as the lost man kept speaking. "So, Imma ask one more time," as the cloaked figure spoke in a dead tone he suddenly reached towards his back and pulled two axes from what looked like nowhere, "where is Khrish?"

The killer intent began flowing off the masked figure in intense waves, radiating all around them like the visible waves of the heated sun. It quickly became clear that the man wasn't lost, nor was he here to mess around. He was here for a purpose and whatever that purpose may be, he was going to accomplish it.

A large gob of spit got stuck within Khrish's throat, forcing him to swallow heavily before he shakily gave his people their orders. "W-what are you dumbasses doing!" He yelled at his Tribesman, regaining their attention and focus. "Attack him!"

Although the order was given to his Tribesman, Zeb heard the words and smiled, he was definitely not bored anymore. As if the lizard's words were for Zeb instead of his own men, the man cloaked in black with a full faced Grimm mask on fired off a loud BOOM with one of his axes.

The moment the shot was fired one of the surrounding Tribesmen was launched from his feet as the slug slammed itself against his chest, sending him skidding into the sand dunes afar. At the same moment, Zeb leaped into the recoil of the shot, sending himself flying towards another one of the surrounding Tribesman, and with a single dash more Zeb reached the woman.

The moment he reached her he quickly slashed upwardly against her unprotected chest, listening as his axe clashed with a THUD against her Aura. As the attack connected, she was lifted helplessly into the air, to which Zeb then used his other weapon like a baseball bat, slamming the metal against her and sending her flying into another of her companions as if she were a rocketing baseball. "Where the fuck is Khrish!?"

As Zeb paused to ask the question, all of the other Tribesman were paused from his quickly succeeding attacks, however that paused only lasted mere moments as a raging battle cry erupted from the Tribe members as they began to attack. "AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!"

Zeb quickly found a spear jabbing towards his open chest to which he took the attack without care, but at the same moment he used his long range, gained from his large size and large weapons, to slam his axe against the man who shanked him with the metallic weapon.

As the weapon clashed with a loud DUNG, from behind, he felt as two blades slid across the Aura protecting his back. This immediately prompted the isolationist to swing his free weapon in a wide arc, spinning full circle as he wiped out the five individuals that were within his range.

The bodies that Zeb sent soaring away from himself hit the ground with a loud THUD as clouds of sand erupted from the ground where they landed harshly. "Come on Khrish! Where you at!" Without a moment to waste a valley of arrows suddenly rained down on the intruder, pelting his entire body with the sharpened killer weapons. However, as each of the arrows rained down upon the man and made contact with his form, they were all broken asunder as they clashed against his powerful body.

They pelted against his Aura like a Styrofoam bullet on Kevlar, bouncing off, and breaking on, his Aura without appearing as if they did any damage whatsoever. Zeb didn't react at all to the arrows presence, yelling, "the fuck was that supposed to do!?"

Although the odds seemed overwhelming and the man's strength was incredible, the Tribesman were fearless and relentless. Another trio of Faunus quickly dashed in right after the volley of arrows, rapidly closing the distance between them to use their short swords.

However, two of the Faunus trio didn't make it close enough to land an attack on the Absolute Defense Specialist as they were swiftly met with two large slugs that were fired from the man's axes, sending both of them soaring off their feet, and plummeting to the sand below.

The two of them were incredibly lucky as the one to make it within Zeb's was met with a far worse fate. He dipped low as he dashed closer to the man and once, he got close enough he used all of his strength to stab his weapon into the intruder's chest.

The Tribesman's blade reached its target but instead of the satisfying squelch of blade meeting flesh all he heard was the clash of metal on metal, but what his blade had come into contact with was actually a splotch of black Aura on the mysterious Faunus's chest.

"Woah there lil man" Zeb spoke as he let his right axe fall loose in his hand, swinging on his pinky so he could use his full hand to grab hold of his attackers face with Zeb's powerful grip. "That could've actually taken a little bit of my Aura."

In twist of anger and appreciation Zeb squeezed harder against the man's head, raising him off his feet with a single arm, holding the Tribesman by nothing but his own skull. "You know what," the mysterious man said softly, "your very lucky I'm not allowed to kill you."

"Aaaahhhhhh!" The man screamed as Zeb continued to apply more and more pressure to his victims brain, gathering more and more attention with each prolapsed wail of pain.

With a bit of a sinister smile the Grimm masked Faunus man said, "I'd pop your head like a grape if I could." For a moment Zeb squeezed a bit harder, testing the limits of the man's aching skull, but once he could feel the bones begin to waver, he dropped the Tribesman like a toy he no longer wanted to play with.

"But I can't" he spoke, picking up his axe and ignoring the agonizing wails of the man as he did so. Although the fear was beginning to set into the hearts of each of the attacking warriors of the Desert Kreeps, they remained strong.

It only took a moment for another of their members to recklessly smash their club against the mystery man's head, subsequently shattering their own weapon of choice into large chunks of what looked to be hardened lumber. Zeb only sighed as he effortlessly slashed his axe across the man's chest, sending the Tribesman soaring away from himself. "Where is Khrish at!?"

The Chieftain of the Desert Kreeps, Khrish, watched as the masked man effortlessly dealt with each of the Tribesman he sent at him, taking each of them down with powerful swings, crushing swipes, and booming shotgun blasts.

The men and women of his tribe easily landed blow after blow on the mysterious figure, slashing, bashing, stabbing, and whatever else they managed to do with their weapons, but none of them did anything but anger the man further. He tossed them around like children and there was nothing they could do about it. One by one, or two by two, or even three by three, they all fell, leaving only himself, and those that had yet to attempt to take down the man, remaining.

Zeb looked around himself for a moment, checking to see whether or not there was going to be another immediate attacker that he was going to need to deal with, but luckily there was none. "Are we done now?" He asked himself. "Good." Once he finished answering his own question, he walked leisurely back over to his horse that was laying helplessly on the sand floor and began petting him gently. "How you holdin up buddy?" The horse neighed softly to respond to his partners question, bringing a little smile to the man's face. "That's good. Don't worry tho, we'll find someone to heal you up in no time." After reassuring his animal partner, Zeb stood up and faced the last few of the Tribesman that weren't on the floor moaning and groaning in pain, or unconscious. "So, do I have fuck you guys up to? Or are you just gonna tell me where Khrish is at?"

Each of the remaining guards unconsciously turned to the man in question and backed away from him at the same moment, essentially completely ratting the man out. However, it didn't seem like the mysterious man noticed it much since he just stood there waiting for them to answer him.

Seeing as their Chief no longer had any way out of this he nervously cleared his throat to get the shakiness out of his voice before he spoke. "I am the Chieftain of the Desert Kreeps, Khrish Gila. I am the one you are looking for." As Khrish responded he could feel his drop to his stomach, he knew he couldn't beat this man in a fight, even if he had the assistance of his entire Tribe he didn't know if he could so much as land a solid hit on beyond his Aura.

So, he waited in a pool of sweat for the man to decide his fate. Once Zeb heard the apparent Chief's response his mood lightened up greatly as he said, "oh shit, your him? Damn, finally! Why didn't you just tell me before, we could've saved so much time!" The Chief only nervously chuckled at the man's questions, not nearly confident enough to respond honestly. Luckily for him the questions were rhetorical, and Zeb just continued talking without waiting to hear his response. "Well Khrish, we need to talk. You got somewhere we can do that at?"

The masked man's choice of diction caught the Chief off guard somewhat, but he still managed to quickly respond with, "y-yes. You can follow me; I'll take you there."

Before they started walking away, Khrish listened as what sounded like an extremely heavy rock was lifted from the ground, hearing as the sand brushed across the desert floor as it was displaced by the action. "Oh yeah," Zeb said getting the Chief's attention, "do you guys have like a healer or somethin?" The guards and Chief looked confusingly at the man, clearly not having an answer to his question. "For my horse. His leg broke."

As the man began clarifying, Khrish looked to the massive animal that he held easily within his grasps and as the info clicked in his mind his eyes widened in shock. "Did this guy carry his horse through the damn desert because its leg broke on the way here?! He's insane!" It took the chief a moment to recompose himself, but after he did, he nervously spoke, "I'll someone look at that then." He then turned to one of his personal guards and whispered, "go get the elder, bring him to my tent."

The guard immediately went to do as he was told and with that issue quickly resolved Khrish led Zeb through his camp of fearful Faunus to his tent. Once outside the place, Khrish told the man to leave his horse outside the room since the Elder would be taking a look at the animal while they spoke. "Sit wherever you want" he said as they entered the room. "Can I get you some water or anything like that? You must be pretty thirsty after all that exercising" the Chief asked

"Nah, I'm cool, let's just hurry up and get this shit over with. This part of the job always bores the fuck outta me" the man was extremely dismissive of Khrish and his bullshit, not caring for him in any facet.

The tribe leader himself didn't react to the transgression, instead he focused his attention on the man that sat a few seats away from himself. "He's strong, overwhelmingly strong. But he's pretty dumb or at least it seems that way. If this whole thing is simply about asking me why I sent assassins to the White Fang camp, then I can just go with my original plan and say I was forced into doing it. Since this guy isn't the sharpest sword in the tent, he'll take it as truth, and I'll be able to get off Scott free! From there I can just play neutral… or I could help the humans out a bit more so I can get an even better stake in their future endeavors. Either way, minus the warriors that got messed up by this man, this situation isn't a large setback." With his thoughts now completed Khrish turned to the masked man and asked, "so, what's your name, you never really gave me one?"

The man that ravaged his Tribe simply sighed once more, "you don't need my name. You don't need to know shit about me." His harsh tone started to piss Khrish off, but he remained calm and just listened to the man. "What's up with you and Cinder? The humans. You working with them or for them maybe?"

It was time to put his plan into action, "no I'm not working with them at all. I've been trying to steer clear of them entirely."

That comment made Zeb raise an eyebrow. "Really? Even with your peoples showing up at the red-haired dudes camp? Weren't they there to kill him? You know, snuff him in his sleep?"

Khrish sat back in his chair, taking a long inhale before saying, "I was forced to send them. Jayson alongside one of the humans showed up here with an ultimatum, send a group of assassins for Adam's head and take some water crystals as a consolation prize, or join the White Fang in death. I had to look out for my Tribe, but that's also why I sent the least adept Stalkers I could. I don't wanna see the White Fang get hurt at all, after all they're looking out for us, you know?"

Zeb looked entirely unimpressed by his response, not even looking at the Tribal head as he spoke. "Sure. So, your basically saying you have no willing involvement with the Humans at all and you won't be working with them again in the future?"

Khrish nodded his head and replied, "exactly."

"Really?"

"Yup."

"You're sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"You're sure, you're sure?"

"Yeah, I am sure, I am sure. Ok? Are we done here?"

Before responding the massive mystery man stood up from his chair, "yeah we're done here." He then began shaking his head as he mumbled, "damn, this is unfortunate." Before Khrish could ask what the man was referring to, he was quickly greeted by the cloaked figure pulling one of his axes from his back and pointing the shotgun barrel at him.

Khrish was immediately on his toes, leaping from his seat and pulling his much smaller Scimitar from its sheath on his back. "Wait!" He yelled in a sudden panic. "I thought we were good?! What did I say wrong?!"

Zeb only shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know man, I just follow orders. My Chief said that if you say you have nothing to do the Humans, or if you were forced to do something for them, then you gotta go. Sorry, I'm not sorry." With that final comment spoken Zeb quickly slashed his axe in a powerful horizontal swing that Khrish just barely managed to duck underneath. The moment he dodged the attack he dipped low and dashed into the man, posing his blade to slash at his leg.

However, once his sword was moments from cutting the man's leg it was suddenly coated in thick black Aura that made his blade clash against it like metal on metal. He quickly realized his mistake as the masked man brought down his axe on his exposed back with all of his strength, slamming the weapon into his Aura with a force that he had never felt before.

Khrish was crushed into he ground from the brutal attack, his Aura and will to fight disappearing in an instant. Zeb looked down at the crumbling Faunus man and said, "wow, you must be pretty strong to have survived that." The masked man then bent down to pick the man up by his head, holding it within his free palm like a kid size ball.

"By strong I mean defensively, not offense. So, your strong like a structurally sound wall is strong not like a strong person or black monster thingy." Zeb then began applying the pressure needed to crush the man's head within his hand and as he did, so he said, "you gave up pretty fast tho. I think you could've done a lot more if you tried, or maybe if you were seasoned as a fighter." He squeezed tighter, watching as his tear ducts began pouring red like endless waterfalls. "Oh well." As soon as he spoke his final words Zeb put all of his strength in his palm and felt as Khrish's skull gave way to the immense pressure and force that his hand was exerting, and with a sickening CRUNCH the Chieftain of the Desert Kreeps was no more.

Without a care in the world the masked man then unceremoniously dropped the corpse of the man on the ground and walked out the tent to see how Cheese was doing. What he saw when he walked out of the structure was a very small wrinkly man bent over as he deeply inspected his horses front leg, but what it really looked like he was doing was trying to find some good news in a terrible situation. "Your Chief is dead, so I hope you had a back-up prepared. My bad about that." His words came as a shock to both the elder and the guard that stood by the entrance, but neither of them seemed to want to act out in aggression towards him so he figured everything was alright. "So, did you heal Cheese up?"

Suddenly the Elder found it very hard to speak as the words to describe the horse's health were anything but good. However, the longer he waited the worst he figured it would become, so the man said, "the Tribe will be fine, thank you for your concern. But as to the health of your horse it does not look great. A broken leg to a horse is always akin to death, there is just too much weight to hold on three limbs, and because of how much the leg has been fractured it'll never heal." He took a long pause before concluding with, "it'd probably be for the best if you just said your goodbyes."

The Elder winced as he anticipated an explosive reaction from the man that just never came, and once he looked over to the large man, he saw him contemplatively looking down at the horse's limp body. They all stayed quite for a moment, Zeb being deep in thought and the guard and elder remaining fearful of what the cloaked figure might do, but although the silence lasted for a while it soon came to an end as the man mumbled something underneath his breath. "Aight fuck it" he whispered softly to himself. Once he determined that he was going to do whatever he was going to do, he looked over to the Elder and asked, "can you get me another animal? Like a cat or a dog or something?" The Elder and Guard looked at one another for a moment in confusion, but it wasn't like refusal was a choice.

"Go get one of the hunters" the Elder ordered the Guard. "A kitten." With that the Guard dashed off to the other side of the camp, at the same time Zeb silently picked up the massive horse and brought him inside the tent, telling the older man to stay outside and wait.

Once Zeb placed the horse down, he walked back outside the tent to see the Guard from before with a palm sized cat within his grasps. As the masked man looked down at the cat, the Elder quickly spoke up and said, "this is a Dune Cat, they are quite formidable in the sands. They don't grow to be very large, about three feet long at about 45 pounds give or take ten, but they are phenomenal hunters when it comes to finding sources of food. They are also extremely loyal so that is why I had him get you a Kit instead of an adult. Will this work alright?"

Zeb outstretched his hands, motioning the Guard to give him the kitten, and once the small Kit was in his grasp he said, "yeah this'll do." He then turned back inside the tent, but before fully entering he peeked his head outside and said, "don't come in." The Pock the elder and the former Chief's personal guard shared another look of confusion, but they simply shrugged their shoulders and waited exactly thirty seconds for the man who killed their Chief to exit the Tent once more.

Zeb walked out with the small cream-colored fur kitten comfortably laying on his broad shoulder. As he exited the tent and looked down at the two Tribesman, he gave them a quick nod and without saying another word he walked off into the desert, leaving the Tribe with nothing more than a horses corpse.

Chapter 71: The Desert Walkers

"Damn this desert is real… deserty" Zeb said to himself and his partner on his shoulder. Looking to his left all he said was leafless shrubbery and dunes that seemed to go on for infinity, and to right was a scenery that looked completely identical to him.

In fact, up, down, front, back, and center, no matter where he looked, everything looked exactly the same no matter how much distance he covered running or walking. Pulling out the map that he was given for the journey, Zeb sat down onto the super-heated desert floor at the center of the sun's incredibly powerful rays. As he sat onto the steamy sand, he quickly splayed out his brown map along the floor in front of him and began checking for his own location in relation to the other landmarks.

"So, Cheese, we started here," he said pointing at the White Fang camp, "and then we traveled all the way to here" pointing at the Kreeps Tribe. "When we left the tribe's place we were supposed to go south right?" As he asked the question, the little kitten beside him meowed cutely, "that's what I was thinking to. Are there any landmarks we can see to identify where we're at?"

Looking down at the map, he quickly found that there wasn't a damn thing in between the Tribe's camp and the White Fang camp, nothing but endless desert. Even if he was going the right way it would be nearly impossible to know.

Instead of staring at the map for a moment longer, Zeb rolled the paper up and put it back in his pouch, standing up to take in his surroundings. "Hey Sir Cheesington," he said to the tiny kitten on his shoulder, "I think were lost."

After the revelation Zeb did the only thing he knew to do in situations like these, and god knows he's been in a lot of them, "pick a direction, and walk until you find something!" With that the tall Faunus man spun around a couple of times until he had absolutely no sense of direction whatsoever, and once he came to a sudden stop he announced, "it is this way, Cheese!"

With an excited meow Zeb and his now pet cat began running in a random direction, unsure of what awaited them on this road. Turns out, almost nothing awaited them at all as Zeb ran for hours seeing nothing but more sand, feeling more heat, and getting more bored. However, none of it really bothered him because he had a partner in crime to keep him company on the trip, Cheese the cat.

When everything began to seem helpless and Zeb felt as though he'd be running through the desert for the next decade again, he began to see something moving an incredible distance away from himself. It was a group of brown, black, and white objects in a mass of dirt and sand slowly getting smaller and smaller as they traveled away from himself and his furry partner.

"You see that Cheese or am I trippin?" Meow the adorable kitten responded. "You can't see that far? Damn." Zeb then shrugged his shoulders before saying, "well there's no reason not to follow anyway. We're already lost." With that decision made, Zeb picked up the pace and began running as fast as he could towards the ploom of smoke and odd-looking figures in the arid Vacuo Desert.

---

"Demonic Speed (Super Sonic), Empowered By Wind" In an instant Nova's body was filled with an incredible rush of energy, not only from mana, but also from the sensation of immense winds powering the cells within his body. The sand surrounding him suddenly whipped up into the air as a massive gust of wind appeared out of nowhere in the desert night, clouding everyone's visions for only a moment.

Once the cloud of dust dissipated, in that singular moment, it had appeared to all of the onlookers as though Fang disappeared into the night, leaving nothing behind in his wake but a mass of sand and invisible energy. Although only a moment later, across the empty expanse of the arid Desert a loud BOOM echoed throughout the cool night air, kicking up masses of sand from wherever the sound originated from.

*Demonic Speed* {Lvl: MAX}- Allow your feet to blur into nothingness as you reach the height of pure speed. Increase your speed far beyond that of anything around you, no longer bound by the laws that you previously adhered to. Faster than all, a true Demon of Speed; +60% DEX; Cost 250mp/ 1000sec

Ex: Super Sonic- Allow your speed to increase far faster than before; +100% DEX; Cost 500mp/10sec

*Empowered By Wind* {Lvl: MAX}- The intense energy that is immediately jolted into your body once a powerful wind is at your back, combined with the cool, blissful air that revitalizes every cell in your body when you take a breath, these are the combined sensations that are thrust into your body the moment this skill becomes active, allowing you to perform at your peak; +50% DEX, +50% VIT; 1000mp or 700au

It didn't take long for Nova to get his feet underneath him as he traveled through the desert, stepping on soft sand with the force at which he was exerting every moment was challenging since it constantly altered his balance and made him move much slower than he should've been moving at.

At first, he decided to utilize his Skill Air Walk since in tandem with its EX-ability Air Walker, it allowed him to make solid foot holds in the air in any place he chose. After his initial launch from the White Fang camp and taking a few slower strides on the sand below, he used the Skill to finally run at his maximum allowed travel speed, creating a loud boom as he did so.

*Air Walk* {Lvl: MAX}- After jumping into the air you can regain your footing and leap yet again with increasing difficulty. Your ability with this skill determines how often you can utilize it; Cost 200mp per foothold; +100mp for everyone after 3

EX: Air Walker- Create footholds in the air not bound by direction, your limit with this ability is only limited by your creativity

However, the Skills description proved to be very true and the more he launched himself off the solidified mana, the harder it became to create the next one and subsequently the one after that. Even still, he kept the ability going as long as he could before he flew a bit close to the sun and ended up taking a pretty hard tumble on the sand bellow.

Another thing that he learned was how long the Dexterity buff lasted on the Skill that was granted to him by his weapon of choice Agni-Aeolus. It only lasted about a minute at most and he then couldn't activate the Skill again for another five which he guessed was a fair enough restriction considering the benefits it granted his body.

True to its description, Empowered By Wind definitely made him feel as if he was running with the wind at his back, making him move much faster than he would've otherwise, but the effect on his movement speed wasn't nearly as powerful as Super Sonic was.

It felt as though whenever Nova used Demonic Speed's with its EX-ability he physically was able to move much faster than before, travel speed, but whenever he used other skills or equipment that boosted his DEX that didn't happen, instead he could react to things a lot better, attack much quicker, and move much faster in short bursts, reaction speed, attack speed, and combat speed respectively.

The buff that Empowered By Wind granted did a little bit of all of that which was incredibly useful, and he quickly filled that information into his mind for later, rolled off the sand that he found himself laying in, and launched himself in a boom of sound off the Desert floor.

By shifting his momentum rapidly whenever he stepped onto the sand beneath him, he was able to softly step on its surface before flooding that foot with his Mana and launching himself off the surface with such speed that it didn't have time to crumbled underneath his feet.

It was a true exercise of his mana manipulation, a test of his ability to alter and maneuver his own body in such a way that allows him to use his surroundings to his own benefit. Although he messed up constantly, tripping, slipping, and tumbling throughout Vacuo's unforgiving Desert, eventually he got the hang of it and could consistently maintain the technique for three or four strides, and as an added plus not trip himself whenever he messed it up.

The effect of the soft walking technique was incredible, a massive bloom of sand erupting from the ground quickly followed by the BOOM of the sound barrier being broken that dispersed the ploom of sand with the immense winds it caused.

If he had the wind Skill activated at the same time the effect was even more spectacular as immediately following the dispersion of the sand it would be sucked up in whatever direction he ran in, appearing as though a powerful gust of wind suddenly commanded it to move in that direction.

Traveling soon became a piece of cake and mana wasn't a problem, so Nova rushed towards his objective at an unbelievable speed. At this rate he figured it wouldn't take him long at all to reach the tribe, maybe three hours at maximum, in fact he figured that he may even be able to beat the rising sun.

"Any Grimm I find I can run past; wild animals aren't a problem in any capacity, and I'm moving faster than I ever have before. Even though the Desert Walkers are like three times the distance from the White Fang camp as the Kreeps were I should still be able to travel here, do what needs to be done, and travel back before everyone wakes up tomorrow."

With a light smirk on his lips he thought, "It'll be a piece of cake." He didn't have much time to gloat as he suddenly received a mental alert from his best pal Meta, giving him nothing but bad news.

[Partner, you are receiving a call from Big Dommy Mommy Milkers! Should Meta pick up the call for you?]

The moment he heard the name he could feel himself lose his balance, but moments before he sent himself tumbling to the floor once more, he used his tails to act as a counter wight, regaining his footing. "Shit!" He thought at the alert. "I forgot to tell Glynda I was going to Vacuo." Peering into his other consciousness, the mind of his Aura clone in Vale, he watched as an irate Huntress stood with her Disciplinarian in hand, arms crossed, toes tapping, and a scroll placed up against her ear, waiting for the person on the other line to pick it up. "Wow this ability is very useful" he thought in a silent appreciation for his clone. "Yeah, please pick up the call Meta."

[Are you sure Partner? This doesn't appear as though it will be very pleasant.]

Nova let out a small sigh before saying, "thanks for the consideration, but I really need you to answer it or its only gonna get a bunch worse."

[Yes Friend!]

"WHY DIDN"T YOU TELL ME YOU WERE LEAVING VALE!" Without even waiting a hares breath Glynda erupted over the line, racking Nova's brain from the shout.

It was by far the loudest he had ever heard the cool beauty speak and it was a sound that he was almost certain he didn't want to hear ever again. "I did thou-"

"NO, YOU DID NOT!" As the woman erupted once more, she quickly realized that she was still in the presence of the other lovers, standing in their bedroom as they prepared to get some rest.

After peaking at their expressions, she calmed herself slightly by exhaling a heated breath and inhaling a much cooler one. "No, you did not my Love. What you did was leave the premises with Neyah, Nix, and Blake in tow without alerting anyone else. Then, your clone was the one who alerted me of your absence. Not yourself."

"That's true, but I didn't really have the time to do all that. It was a must leave now kinda moment. Plus, you were already busy with School stuff, and I didn't want to bother you."

The woman's face scrunched up at his comment, "Bother me? You know for a fact that you could never bother me. Especially when it comes to something as important as you going off to a far-off land to achieve some hidden objective that no one, but you, knows about! A 'must leave now' moment huh? What us so crucial, so important, so essential that you needed to exit the entire Kingdom without telling me?!" Glynda unintentionally raised her voice at the tail end of her question, but she remained firm in her words.

Nova let out a small sigh at the question, kicking up a bit of sand before choosing whether or not he should reply. "A lot of shit Glynda. It's a lot."

The Disciplinarian waited a moment for him to tell her what 'a lot' entailed, but when she noticed that it wasn't coming, she said, "what is 'a lot' my Love?"

As she asked the question once more, the Awakened One could feel irritation begin rising inside himself, but he smoldered it before he let it dictate how responded. "At first it just was about the White Fang and them being in trouble, but now it's a lot more than that."

"More than that?" She asked.

"Yes, more than that."

"Does more than that make things a lot more dangerous than before?"

The Faunus man within the desert huffed as he could already see where this conversation was going, and he didn't like it at all. "You already know the answer to that question Glynda."

Glynda made a sound across the Scroll that would be best described as a growl before she clarified, "Let me get this straight, you leave Vale without notice, tell only a few the true reason behind it, and are putting your lives in serious danger, for what? Neyah, Nix, and Blake are with you on this dangerous expedition are they not?"

The woman on the other line waited for a response that she already knew the answer to and Nova simply gave in to the trap. "Yes, they are."

"Is it because the White Fang is involved that you allowed Blake and the twins to accompany you?"

"Yeah, I guess that's part of it" he mentioned, kicking up even more Sand with more force.

"Part of it!?" she shouted, "I trust that you didn't allow three of your lovers, three Huntsman in training, three STUDENTS to accompany you on this dangerous mission of yours on a whim!"

Nova dug his foot deep into the sand below, balling his fist tightly as he spoke, "First off, I didn't really 'allow' them to do anything, they strong armed there way on this damn trip! I wouldn't have let them come if they didn't fucking force me to take them! Secondly, its not a damn whim! The second I knew that they were going to come along whether I liked it or not I took numerous precautions to ensure that they'd remain safe, the same way I would have with any of you! For you to assume that I just brought them along just be-fucking-cause is probably the dumbest shit I've ever heard you think!"

Instead of escalating things further, Glynda adjusted her glasses and cleared her throat before starting again. "Watch your language" she spoke in an icy tone. "Those women care a lot about you, as do I, so when they here that you are traveling to a lawless land to fight a great fight it is obvious that they'd want to accompany you in order to make sure you'd stay safe. I would want to do the same."

"I know, that's why I let them. I don't like making any of you worry about me, so if it'll ease your minds, their minds, by letting them come with me then I'll make it happen" he said in a much softer tone then before.

Glynda began softly massaging her temple, "I know that you know this, but there is something that you must understand" she spoke, taking a long deep breath before speaking again. "I said that I would want to do the same, not would do the same. These women are still students, my students, and I will not tolerate them being put in more danger than is necessary, even if it goes against there own wishes. I thought that you would understand this as well… it looks like I assumed wrong yet again."

Those words stung quite a bit, especially coming from Glynda herself. "I'm s-" he stopped himself for a moment, thinking over his words one more before speaking again. "Your right, I should've thought of the situation that this put you in as well and how you'd feel about it. I'm putting them in danger by letting them come along."

As Glynda heard the somber way, he lover spoke through the Scroll she began to feel bad as well, saying "listen my Love, all I wish for is all of your safeties. I know for a fact that you are more than capable of handling yourself, in fact you are more capable than even I or the Headmaster is, but the same cannot be said about them."

She paused for a moment before continuing with, "I understand that you possess more knowledge than all of us and there are things that you must do when none of us are paying attention for the betterment of our futures. This is something that I love and respect about you. However, at the same time, you must still consider the possibility that there are things that only you can accomplish, thus leaving others behind even if they want to help." As the words left her lips Glynda could feel as though those same words were going to bite her in the butt one day, but the wisdom of the statement still holds true.

In the middle of the desert Nova found himself sitting on the ground as he listened to his mature lover's words, finding in himself that he knew them to be true. "Your right. I fucked up."

Even amidst the negative situation they found themselves in, Glynda still managed to smile as she warmly said, "watch your language my Love." Her comment brought a light chuckle to the both of them before she continued with, "I want to see you, Nix, Neyah, and Blake returned home completely safe with nothing but good news to tell me about. Is that clear young man?"

"Yes ma'am" he said with a small smile.

"Good" she responded, untapping her toes and stowing away her ridding crop as she said so. "You know you've made quite a few people a bit nervous with this little stunt, not just me."

"Oh, then tell Neo, Pyrrha, Weiss, Scarlet, Ruby, Yang, and the Malachites that I should've talked to them first."

Glynda looked over at the group for a moment before saying, "not them. The only person who was as livid as I was about this situation was Yang because she felt left out. Pyrrha and Ruby were just sad thinking about you getting hurt again, Neo is missing her cuddle buddy, Weiss is more than assured that you will all be just fine, and Scarlet and the Malachites don't seem to care since they've been acclimated to this sort of thing."

Nova nodded his head in understanding at Glynda's breakdown of the situation, feeling like he could've seen something like that happening. "The person I am referring to is Ozpin. He doesn't feel the need to call you since he believes you have everything under control, but he was a bit… let's say… antsy about your sudden departure."

The Faunus's eyes widened slightly at Glynda's statement, "damn, I completely forgot about Ozpin. I should probably tell him about the Summer Maiden business and everything else that's happening. Wouldn't that just make him worry more than? Well, I should probably tell him anyway so I can get his input on her anyway." After he finished his thoughts, Nova stood up from the ground and brushed off his ass before saying, "thanks for letting me know Glynda. I'll be sure to make it back soon."

The woman on the other responded, "your welcome, and make sure that all of you remain safe. Also, protect my students, I don't want any of them to be put in any situations that they cannot handle on their own. If they fight a powerful opponent, then you better be there to ensure that they win."

"I thought I was your student to?" he asked jokingly.

The mature woman smirked slightly at the joke, "you are… in other ways. Now, don't let me keep you. Goodbye my Love." Once her words got across to the Faunus man the call ended, leaving Nova alone in the desert once more.

At Glynda's final comments a sudden thought popped into Nova's mind, one that he found himself contemplating more and more lately now that the school year had begun. It took him a moment to make a decision, especially because his lovers weren't presently with him at the moment, but he quickly came to a conclusion after he reactivated Demonic Speed (Super Sonic) and Empowered By Wind, and once he began sprinting across the desert once more, he thought, "Meta, I think it's time."

[Then Meta believes it is time as well! What is it time for?]

"Time to start allocating that experience that we've been saving up to the members of the Lovers Clan. Nix, Blake, and Neyah are back at the camp now and if someone were to attack them while I'm gone it could end up not being pretty. I don't know why I've been putting this off for so long, especially since the earlier they get acclimated to the new strength the better. Even if this shakes things up a bit much, it's still better for all of them to be able to handle themselves better just in case something crazy happens that I couldn't have thought of."

[Yes Sir! Would you like Meta to distribute the experience equally?]

"Uhm, no, do it so that everyone can remain on the same general level of strength, level wise. So, skip over Winter cause her levels too high, Scarlet and Willow because they're non-combative, and Glynda, although obviously Glynda can't level up anymore. Also, if you can, move Neo and the twins out of the Demon Clan one and put them into Lovers."

[Meta can do this! However, this will come with a price.]

Trivia Vanille, Neopolitan, Miltia Malachite, and Melanie Malachite are all eligible to be transferred from the Demon Clan to the Lovers Clan!

When done, none of those transferred will be able to retain their boosts gained from their original respective Clans.

Do you still wish to continue the transfer?

Y/N

"Yeah, do it."

Congratulations! The transfer is complete!

As this is your first transfer, it has come free of charge!

"Perfect, now Meta do it please."

[Meta is doing it! Meta is done! Would you like to see the changes made to all of those that experience a level up?]

"No that's fine, just show me Nix, Neyah, and Blake please."

[Sure Partner!]

Name: Blake Belladonna

Age: 19

Race: Faunus

Titles: Second In Command, Shadow, Chieftain's Daughter, Member of Team RWBY, Etc.

LVL: 75-116

*HP: 8986/8986

*AU: 9920/9920

Attributes:

*STR; 1083

*END; 576

*DEX; 1239

*VIT; 436

*INT; 244

*LUK; 127

*Growth Rate: 25

*Shadow (Semblance)*- This incredible Semblance allows Blake to create a physical clone of herself that pushes her in any direction that she wishes, even while air born. The clones are solid and are identical to Blake, however they can be easily dispatched with a solid strike, or if Blake moves to far away from one.

'Gambol Shroud'- This amazing weapon is classified as a Variant Ballistic Chain Scythe and is a three-part weapon. Firstly, it's sheath functions as a massive cleaver that can be swung for massive damage, secondly when unsheathed it forms a katana like blade that is incredibly sharp, swift, and light weight, and thirdly the katana splits in half to reveal a rapid firing machine gun that can bombard opponents with bullets; +30% STR, +30% DEX, +20% END, +20% VIT

---

Name: Nieva Panthera, Nix

Age: 19

Race: Faunus

Titles: Panthera's Priestess, Lunar Half, Ice Queen, Etc.

LVL: 76-116

*HP: 17583/17583

*AU: 13776/13776

Attributes:

*STR; 138

*END; 141

*DEX; 863

*VIT; 865

*INT; 1245

*LUK; 463

*Growth Rate: 25

*Panthera Frostbite (Semblance) *- Exude an incredibly strong pulse of Icy Aura that debilitates all of those that it encounters; -20% to all Attributes

'Lady Of the Snow'- A unique weapon, the prized possession of the Panthera Clan, granted only to the head Priestess of the clan. A large Ancestral Blue Dust Crystal is the focal point of its power granting it multiple abilities in combat. It is also due to this feature that the weapon changes the property of the users Aura. This weapons main form is a large black and blue Bell that when rung is heard across the battlefield, this ring enhances all ally's Semblances. The other forms of this sacred treasure include a blade made completely of the Dust Crystal that allows the user to shoot icy blades with every slash, and a seemingly simple handgun that eradicates its enemies with precision beams of icy bullets; +30% INT, +20% DEX, +20% VIT, +100 LUK, +20 STR, +20 END; +30% Damage when using blue Dust; Aura is now based on VIT instead of END

---

Name: Neyah Panthera

Age: 19

Race: Faunus

Titles: Panthera's Warrior, Solar Half, Wild Huntress, Etc.

LVL: 77-116

*HP: 11626/11626

*AU: 9952/9952

Attributes:

*STR; 1236

*END; 578

*DEX; 931

*VIT; 580

*INT; 126

*LUK; 242

*Growth Rate: 25

*Warrior's Manifestation (Semblance)*- By concentrating deeply, Neyah can manifest her Aura into any weapon she wishes. Due to her mastery of this ability, she can create these weapons on a dime, and can even send them to do attacks without her touching the Aura weapons for a short period of time.

'Purposeful Brightness'- The weapon awarded to the strongest warrior in the Panthera Clan was named Purpose and it was an incredibly strong spear that represented the strength and purpose of the clan. However, after the destruction of the clan and Neyah received the spear, she used her incredible knowledge of weapons and combat utility to upgrade the relic into something much stronger. She transformed the weapon into a dual headed spear that could be easily separated into two separate blades that can be dual wielded. On top of that, when in the spear form it can be changed into a bow that she can use to shoot arrows from her Semblance; +30% STR, +30% DEX, +20% END, +20% VIT

---

After quickly sorting through all the new information he gained from dispensing all the experience he gained since initially gaining the Clan system over a month ago, he turned his attention internally as he sprinted through the desert. "Damn, everyone got up to around level 116 which is a pretty big boost in strength. As long as they stick together, they should be more than capable of handling any threats, as long as its not like Cinder or something like that." Once he mentioned the woman's name, another thought quickly appeared within his mind referring to her abilities.

"I saw Anaya's stats and her shit was fuckin sky high because she's the Summer Maiden! Granted she's the full summer maiden, but still her Growth Rate was 45! That's fifteen higher than the max for the normal Faunus and Human's in Remnant. Plus, she wasn't even at the human limit, which is 250, even then it's possible that the Maidens can go higher than that. I just have to keep that in mind when approaching Cinder later. Even though I will more than likely have much higher stats then her, but because she'll be more flexibility with her abilities, I need to keep that in mind. I may have to bust out some magic if necessary."

Once that thought was complete, he then moved on to the next major issue in his mind which was addressed quickly when he requested Meta call the headmaster. He figured that he'd do it now rather than later since this was an important development in their current situation. Honestly, he didn't know what to expect from the convo, angry Ozpin, sleepy Ozpin, inquisitive Ozpin, impressed Ozpin? Maybe even a combination of all of them. Although, based upon what Glynda said earlier, he might've been mad and curious. Either way he was going to find out soon enough.

It didn't take long for the headmaster of Beacon to pick up the call and Nova could tell from the long yawn that he erupted in before saying his greeting that Ozpin was definitely at least a bit tired. Instead of opening the conversation with telling the old man about who the Summer Maiden was and the situation that he now found himself in, he started off their talks by asking the man if he knew who the Summer Maiden was.

The answer he got in return for his question was more than expected, since Ozpin said that he hadn't been in contact with Shade's headmaster, Theodore, in a fairly long time, therefore being out of the loop referring to who the Summer Maiden was. All he knew about it was that Theodore took pride in allowing the strongest student in a generation of Huntsman to become a Maiden, however after they left, they were free to do whatever they wanted as long as they remained in Vacuo and didn't use their powers.

To Ozpin's knowledge, this resulted in the information about who the active Summer Maiden was being scrambled throughout time since once one died the next wielder was completely unknown. He saw this as both positive and negative, positive because nobody knows who the Maiden is and negative because he doesn't know who the Maiden is.

In response to this explanation, Nova dropped the harsh information on top of Ozpin's head bluntly, telling him that he knew who the Summer Maiden was, the fact that Salem's entourage was here as well, and the possibility that her powers being revealed in the current scenario being more likely than either of them wanted. Ozpin was surprisingly calm about it, initially asking whether or not Nova had things under control, to which he responded 'kinda' in an uncertain tone.

After ironing out the rest of the situation, touching on all the things that Nova had learned over the past day in Vacuo, Ozpin asked the fateful question that his Faunus student was wondering as well. What do we do now? And the answer he received from the man who knew the future was, 'I don't know.' The issue that arose here was that there were lots of things that they could do but weren't likely to happen.

For instance, now that they knew who the Summer Maiden was they could bring her back to beacon in order to ensure that she couldn't have her powers taken by Salem, but the chances of her doing so willingly were slim to none since she had an entire Tribe to lead. On top of that, it begged the question of whether or not it would be a good thing to put all of the Maiden's in a single place.

Ozpin and Nova came to a similar conclusion on that purposed question, thinking that it would be for the best if all the Maidens were in a single place, believing that it would make it much easier to defend them all from attacks.

The entire conversation came to a close with Ozpin giving Nova the go ahead to make any decision he felt necessary in order to bring them to their ultimate objective, defeating Salem. So, with that being said, they ended the call on a slightly higher note, leaving Nova with Ozpin's complete trust that he'd do whatever was best for the betterment of the world around him.

Once the call had been concluded, Nova continued sprinting through the desert as he had the entire time, and as the sun began rising over the sandy horizon his objective was within his sights. "You gotta be fuckin kidding." His immediate thought on the Camp that he was rapidly approaching was one of negativity and the reason for it wouldn't be confirmed until he came to an extremely sudden stop at the center of the Camp, kicking up a massive explosion of sand at the discontinuation of his momentum.

The camp was something similar to that of the White Fang's, however it was infinitely less organized. Tents, fires, trash, bones, and weapons were sprawled out seemingly everywhere in random places without a bit of thought put into where they were placed.

On top of this each of the tents were flimsily made with the skins of various animals, each of them looking as though they would provide very little protection from the extreme cold of the Desert nights. A weak fence made from desert shrubbery surrounded the camp in certain spots, not surrounding the entire location, barely protecting even the parts that they did cover.

After walking around and checking the larger tents one by one, it became more than apparent that Nova's fears about the state of the Camp were true. The majority of the Desert Walker Tribe was gone, and the camp appeared to be completely abandoned. "Shit" the Faunus thought, "where the fuck did, they go?" Instead of continuing his investigation from the ground, Nova quickly opened his mental map and began zooming out in order to take in more of the empty desert area.

The entire camp was completely vacant of people, not even having a Dungeon in the vicinity because of the lack of people, however once he took in a much larger area of space, he saw that there was a smaller group of what looked like ten people further south of the Tribes location. "It's not like I have any other lead," he figured, taking one last look at the empty camp before turning to the vast desert once more, "guess I'll check them out first before heading back."

Without wasting another moment, Nova dressed in his fang apparel reactivated his chosen skills before launching himself in the direction of his only lead. As he ran, he began thinking about what he learned during the interrogation regarding Jayson's clan, seeing as they more than likely began mobilizing the entire Tribe for a battle against the White Fang.

However, the only issue with that idea is the fact that he didn't see the massive Tribe on his way to their previous location. Not on the mental map, not through his six senses, or even tracks of what looked like there may have been people traveling through the area.

So, the only thing he could possibly conclude is that they weren't heading towards the White Fang camp, either that or they somehow managed to hide themselves while traveling, or maybe even got transported in mass to another location, which was highly improbable.

In truth, it didn't matter, the possibilities that he came up with in his mind were null and void because he was quickly closing in on the ones that may be able to give him answers, "huh?" As Nova ran, he let out the audible question once he was close enough to see the composition of the travelers. "Are those… kids?" Nova quickly received his answer to the question once he came to a sudden stop a couple hundred feet before the group, getting their attention in the process.

As he made the stop and began walking closer to them, each of them pulled their weapons from their resting positions and got into a defensive fighting stance. Once there weapons were raised a deep masculine voice shouted, "Who the fuck are you!"

It quickly became clear to Nova that this group of people were not all children and with his eyes he was easily able to learn the composition of the group. Four adult Faunus, two male two female, and six children ranging from what looked like six to thirteen, each with their own weapons. "Answer me!" Without saying a word, Nova silent used his Observe skill on the group to learn a bit about them without needing to investigate further.

Name: Hound

Age: 33

Race: Faunus

Titles: Ex Desert Walker, Banished Hunter

LVL: 42

*HP: 5580/5580

*AU: 4550/4550

Attributes:

*STR; 347

*END; 228

*DEX; 146

*VIT; 229

*INT; 52

*LUK; 94

*Growth Rate: 23

'Hunter's Sword'- A type of sword wielded by those that are powerful enough to become a hunter for the Desert Walker Tribe; +30 STR

Looking at the others he found that they all had similar titles and equipment, all of them had Ex Desert Walker and the four adults had Banished followed by a job of some kind. Using the obvious information that he had just received he figured that these were the kinds of people that he wanted to see, those that would give him the answers to his questions.

However, before he had a chance to say anything one of the woman in the group shouted, "you have ten seconds to respond! Once your time is up don't say that we didn't warn you after you end up dead!"

He didn't need the ten seconds as he quickly replied, "where is the rest of your Ex Tribe! Why'd the Desert Walkers abandoned camp?"

As they listened to the question, the adults of the group looked at one another for a moment before the woman responded, "how'd you know that we were banished?"

Nova rolled his eyes underneath his mask before replying while walking towards them, "it's pretty obvious. Now, please, answer my questions and tell me everything you know. Do it fast too since I don't have much time to waste."

They didn't drop their guards for a moment as they watched him approach and another of the men yelled, "why should we tell you shit!"

The mysterious masked man just sighed beside himself thinking, "I'm getting tired of doing this every time I need to learn something, Source Slice, Demonic Speed." Faster than any of them could react, Fang suddenly appeared behind the man that spoke, and the rest of the group watched helplessly as he plunged his clawed hand through his chest.

Only a moment later a loud Boom echoed through the arid air followed by a mass of wind that sent the children tumbling across the sand far away from the others. After attacking the man's Aura directly, Fang shoved him to the sand and stomped on his back so he couldn't move.

"Daddy!/Dad!" The kids that tumbled away suddenly erupted in a heart shattering cry, watching helplessly as there parent was instantly brought to his knees.

Seeing Fang suddenly appear before them at an impossible speed left the trio of adults shocked, but still they held there weapons strong. The last adult Faunus woman saw the kids begin to get up from the sandy ground and grab back onto their weapons, but before any of them could move she shouted, "kids don't move!"

The eldest of them rapidly responded, "but-"

"No buts! Don't you dare move!"

The masked man looked back and forth between the kids and adults before asking, "are these your kids?" In that instant each of the Faunus froze up, not wanting to say a word as to not endanger their own children.

"What do you want?" the man called Hound asked.

"I already told you what I want" the masked man said. "I don't wanna hurt your family, just tell me what happened to the Desert Walkers." After looking at each other once more the group quickly came clean on what had occurred, and with that came even more irritation for the masked Faunus man. What he learned was that his original assumption was correct, the Desert Walker Tribe mobilized, but not exactly for the reasons he thought. Turns out the situation is a lot worse than he originally thought.

Jayson has chosen to support the humans through any means which some of his Tribesman disagreed with heavily, but incidentally only one of the dissenters actually had a proper say and that was only because he was strong enough to actually fend Jayson off long enough to get his point across.

Eventually, after the fighting and arguing had died down, Jayson had wasted to much time messing around with his fellow tribesman and formed a small group of loyal elite warriors to take with him to join with the humans. They rode off into the desert on horseback a few days prior, leaving the Clan in control of the Nasty Peach, Jayson's former right-hand man.

Since no one else was strong enough to challenge his rule, Peach took control of the Tribe and once he did, so he ordered the mobilization of the Tribes warriors in a different way, attacking the Desert Jades.

Essentially what it sounded like was Jayson brought up using all of the warriors to attack the White Fang in service of the Humans, but Peach thought it'd be better to just take over the Jades since they were already apparently weakened.

The idea was swiftly declined, but now that he was in charge, he decided it was best to do so. So, they abandoned camp on his orders and are now marching towards the Jades as they speak, quite possibly are already attacking them.

The group of ten that Nova found himself attacking for answers were actually Banished from the Clan because they disagreed with the attacks, but they were spared their lives because their children had yet to acquire jobs and therefore still needed their protection to survive in the wild. Yet another problem had fallen on his plate and once more he found himself struggling to decide whether or not to go out of his way to help them. "On one hand the real threat is already escaping, Jayson and his crew of warriors are traveling somewhere that isn't the White Fang camp, which is a problem in itself. However, it wouldn't be a good thing if I just let Anaya's Tribe get attacked when I know I could help prevent it."

As he began thinking, Fang removed his foot from the downed man's back, letting him slowly come back to his feet. "I could fast travel back to the White Fang camp first and tell them about this development before making a decision, but then I'd lose out on ever coming back to this area with any kind of efficiency. The Desert Jades are much closer to here than they are to the camp anyway, so it'd probably be faster if I just helped them out first and then investigate Jayson after we all regroup."

After another few moments of consideration, he let out a loud groan before settling on a decision, "ugh, fuck it! Remnant's Encouragement, Remnant's Encouragement" Nova pointed his hand at the previously downed man, restoring his Aura back to its usual levels before putting his arm into his chest and pulling out a shining blue Dust crystal.

*Remnant's Encouragement* {Lvl: MAX}- All of Remnant's drive to rebuild, reinforce, and heal one another out of the toughest of situations is stapled into your soul; Restore 30% of one Allies AU; AU Regen 25au/10sec for 200sec; Cost 10

"Take this for the trouble," he said as he placed it in the Faunus man's hand, "my bad kids." With that he then disappeared as quickly as he came, and they watched in awe as he sped across the desert plains towards the direction of the Desert Jades. "Stupid fuckin Summer Maiden, with her stupid fuckin clan, and stupid fuckin crush on Adam. If it wasn't for all that I could just ignore this dumbass event!" With that final thought in mind, he continuously launched himself off the desert floor as fast as he could, booming with every step as he sprinted for Anaya's Tribe.