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!

37. Disappearance

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 72: Desert Faunus Alliance

Adam watched as his brother in arms launched off into the cold desert night in a sudden burst of speed unlike anything he had seen before, and once he heard a loud Boom echo through the night air, he turned back towards his camp to finish off the night.

All had fallen quiet in the White Fang camp, after all there wasn't much left to say. Unknown to most of the White Fang's members they were in the waiting game now, their futures were now in the hands of the two men that had just left to ensure the safety of the Fang.

Adam focused little on the nods of respect that his brethren gave him as he walked through the elaborate tents of the camp, focusing all of his attention on the single objective that was on his mind at the moment. His tent.

The Leader of the White Fang walked into the central most tent in the camp without a moment of hesitation, walking over to the pitcher close to the wall, and taking a large drink of water before setting down at edge of the desk like table in the center of the room.

Although all had fell quiet, and everyone was lying in wait, Adam still had work to do. So, while everyone else was lucky enough to find sleep, he would be lucky enough to finish his work and if he managed to do so he'd then take to patrolling the edges of the camp to ensure his peoples safety.

Once he finished setting down in his seat, the bull Faunus quickly opened his Scroll and after a few taps on the screen began reading through the report sent to him by numerous other high-ranking members of the White Fang, including one sent by the High Leader herself. He read through each of them diligently, learning each of the conflicts that were arising, thinking of solutions to each of them, and trying to find new ideas that could assist the Fang in their future endeavors. This was a daily activity for the Leader, although it never needed to be. People are put into these positions of power because they are trustworthy, intelligent, loyal, respectable, and more than anything else, capable of doing whatever is needed of them.

They are more than able to finish the tasks set before them and take care of any sudden conflict that arises in the meantime, but none the less Adam requests the reports of each and every leader in the group, gladly giving any of his time to help the cause in any way possible.

It didn't take very long for him to read through his first major report, a skirmish with a group of bandits that attempted to take control of an ammunitions transport in Mistral, and once he finished reading, he moved right on to writing out a detailed plan to counteract the bandits and ensure that something like this never happened again.

He quickly got into his usual grove of reading and writing, but about an hour into his nightly routine his attention was suddenly stolen by someone opening the flap to his tent, barring entry into his place of work without warning. However, Adam paid the figure no mind, not looking up from his Scroll as he said, "why are you still awake, Blake?"

The woman that walked inside the tent stood idly by the entrance for a moment, her ears twitching slightly at the man's question. "You busy?" She asked, already knowing the answer to the question.

"Yes, I am" he replied without looking up.

Blake then took a deep step into the tent, not caring for his response, "you workin on reports again? You know they can handle themselves, right? You don't have to stick your hand in everyone's activities, you got your own shit to worry about."

Adam sighed quietly beside himself before finally looking up at the now mask-less and bowless Faunus woman, "I will do what I want with the time that I am given. If they will be better off with the insight that I provide, then I will provide it. You know this."

After his response the room fell silent for a moment, each of the two of them holding a strong gaze before Adam turned his attention back to his Scroll. "Blake, what do you want?" At the question the black cat flashed a quick smile before sliding herself into the seat right next to the busy man.

"Well," she began slyly, "I just wanted to say what's up. It's been a while since I've seen you last."

Adam rolled his eye underneath his mask as he shot the question back at the cat woman, "what's up?"

"Yeah, what's up!" she replied with a grin. "What's been going on with you lately, or at least ever since I started attending Beacon." Instead of responding the bull Faunus looked at the woman sideways for a moment before silently going back to his work without giving into her request. "Ugh, come on Adam. You have to give me something!"

"I don't need to give you anything child."

At the child comment Blake strongly punched the man in the shoulder as she said, "I'm not a damn child anymore. Plus, your only like five years older than me-"

"Six."

"-Fine then, six years older than me. In the grand scheme of things that's not that much, so you can't keep keeping me at arm's length when I ask what's going on with you. Your not my fuckin dad or something."

Adam only sighed and looked at Blake side eyed, "for what reason?" Blake looked a bit shocked at his question, not knowing how Adam didn't know why she wanted to know what was happening in his life. But the bull Faunus took her confused expression differently and continued with, "you've grown a lot since the first time I've seen you, and even recently you have truly come into your own. You have yourself a respectable love interest, friends and the like, and your training to become much stronger with great success."

Adam paused for a moment before adding, "you've come into your own as a Faunus, and as such you have your own life to adhere to. For what reason would you want to learn more about what happens in mine? You seemed fairly sick of being around me before."

Blake stared at the White Fang Leader with a blank expression before bluntly saying, "you're a dumbass." Immediately following her response Adam flinched back slightly.

With grit teeth he then responded, "how exactly?"

The cat girl looked the man dead in his masked eyes and said, "it's because I care you, dumbass." Adam found himself paralyzed from shock, mouth sitting partially a gape as he listened to her speak. "Damn Adam, how do you not know this! I've known you for almost my entire life!"

Blake flailed her arms in dramatic effect as she spoke, trying to get her point across to the dense man. "After dad brought you home after the Fang rescued you from that SDC shit you were super quiet and kept to yourself just like me. You didn't say shit to anyone, barely even talking to dad," she paused for a moment before chuckling to herself and adding, "honestly you kinda scared me."

Adam recovered from his shock and closed his gape, sitting back in his chair as his listened to Blake continue her story. "You scared me but interested me, you know." Blake said, "A random older kid that always wore a weird looking mask and constantly trained with swords that were way too big for his body suddenly started staying at my house. You were like a mystery." This comment brought an invisible smile to his lips as the memories of the time started flooding back into his mind. "So, I started sneaking around, watching you from afar" she said with a smile.

The bull Faunus let out an audible chuckle at the comment, remembering seeing the small cat girl always peeking around the corner when he practiced with his sword, cleaned the house floors, or ate in the dining area. "I wouldn't have called it sneaking," he said with a small smirk, "it was almost impossible to not notice you."

Blake's cheeks began to redden in embarrassment at Adam's retelling of the memory, "I know. But at the time I really thought that you didn't notice me at all."

This brought an even deeper smirk to his lips, "I know. It was apparent that I was better at hiding the fact that I noticed you better than you were at hiding in general." The bull Faunus began chuckling at the thought, his chest and shoulders heaving up and down with his laughter.

Seeing Adam laugh brought a glowing smile to Blakes face, "hey, do you remember the first time we really talked to each other?"

Adam's laugher slowed to a light chuckle as he reminisced on the subject. "Hmm," he hummed in thought, "I can't say I remember the first time we spoke. At the time I wasn't even sure if I had a voice anymore," this comment dampened Blake's mood slightly as she remembered all that Adam went through, but she continued listening with a smile anyway, "but I do remember our first interaction." The bull Faunus turned to look the black cat in the eye as he spoke. "The Chief was out for a mission with the White Fang, and I believe your mother was out shopping or something like that as well. So, it was just you and me in the house."

A glowing smile started to come across his lips as the memory began appearing back in his mind, remembering the exchange like it was yesterday. "There was a sword that the Chief had told me I wasn't allowed to practice with because it was too large for me, but now that he was away I could go behind his back and do it anyway. And as per usual, the moment I began swinging the sword around I saw two little black ears round the corner followed by two piercing eyes. I could literally feel your gaze that day, and I don't know what had gotten into you but I remember you slowly crawling from behind the wall and sitting very close to me."

Blake chuckled at the memory, "I don't remember why either, I think I was just feeling confident that day specifically" she reminisced with a bright smile. "I could literally feel the wind from you swinging the sword. I remember thinking that it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. Oh my god that's so embarrassing" she said with deep laughter.

Adam joined in on the laughter as he added, "not as embarrassing as me almost cutting off my own leg with the blade."

The black cat's eyes lit up in remembrance, "oh yeah! You cut yourself super deep on your leg and I started freaking out thinking that you were gonna die" she said with a hearty chuckle, "how'd that even happen?"

The man paused for a moment, thinking back on how he lost control of the weapon. "It was a mixture of the nerves from being watched by you and the fact that the weapon was far too large for me to comfortably swing it" he said with a smile. "My single hand couldn't even wrap itself all the way around the handle, so when I swung downward, and I lost control of it I almost amputated myself." The laughter that came from remembering how he almost cut his own leg off was almost maniacal, but he soon came back down to remember the lesson he learned from the experience. "I believe that was the last time I went against one of the Chief's orders."

Blake lightly punched Adam in the chest in retrospect for his stupidity, "good. You shouldn't' have done that anyway. I was so scared that you were actually gonna die or something. I ran through the house to find the bandages and when I came back, I tried to wrap your leg up, but you wouldn't let me, so I just sat right next to you while I watched you do it."

"Mmmhhmm" he hummed as he nodded. "It wasn't because I thought you were unable to do so, I remember thinking that I didn't want to get your hands dirty with my blood." After the comment the duo paused, looking at each other with a bit of newfound appreciation. The look, and thus the silence, lasted for a while before Adam cleared his throat lightly and finished the story with, "you never ended up telling on me that I was practicing with the sword I wasn't supposed to."

"I thought that you'd get in trouble, so I never did." Blake paused for a moment, taking in the memory of that day before she added, "I guess that's the day when we started to get close. Eventually you started training me as well which was pretty nice of you even though you're a slave driver."

Adam chuckled a bit at her phrasing, "originally, I only wanted you to be strong enough to handle yourself in a combative situation, but when you said you wanted to join the White Fang, I had to ensure that you'd be strong enough to beat anything you faced in the future." That comment brought another thought into Adam's mind. "I never did ask, Blake, why did you end up joining the White Fang? Was it just because your father was the former High Leader?"

The black cat froze for a second, not sure how to respond, but after a moment of thinking it over she said, "remember the first time you showed me your brand and told me the story of how you got it in full?" Adam took a moment to recall the memory and once he did, he nodded his head in affirmation. "Well, there you go, that's what it was. I didn't want any other Faunus to ever go through anything you went through, so I joined up with you."

Words could not explain how this single comment made him feel. It was a warm sensation unlike any other that he'd ever felt before, but at the same time was similar to another feeling he had been feeling often recently. It left him speechless as the words couldn't reach his lips, so all he could do was gently nod his head and say, "I see."

A long-drawn-out silence followed that interaction, neither of the two of them desiring to say what was on their minds, but neither of them being uncomfortable in each other's presence either. It was a comfortable silence that was only drawn-out by the fact that there were so many words and emotions that needed to be expressed between the two that there was simply no place to start.

However, as Blake began to reminisce on her time in the White Fang and remember the reason why she was in Vacuo in the first place, she decided to ask a question that was on her heart. "Hey Adam," she said to get his attention, "why did you say no to the humans?"

As the black cat asked the question an awkward silence fell upon the room with Adam not knowing exactly how to respond to what she asked. The answer was fairly simple, if he were to assist the humans in destroying a huntsman academy and taking over a kingdom then those actions would be looked down upon by the humans, thus putting his own people in danger of further discrimination. It was essentially exactly what Anaya said during their meeting with the other Tribal leaders. However, this was not the issue, the problem was that Adam figured that this isn't the true meaning behind her question.

Many a nights before, the bull and cat Faunus had argued for hours on end about how to approach the discrimination that the Faunus faced day in and out, and each of their arguments went similarly.

Adam would express the side of violent actions and revenge to make the humans understand what they have done, inversely Blake would suggest peaceful solutions, marches, informative stuff to eventually make society as a whole understand the poor treatment of their people. Most of these arguments ended with them deciding to simply call it a night and talk more about it in the future, nothing gained, nothing lost, but occasionally things would escalate, and irreparable things would be said.

After not answering for a moment, Blake added, "you said that given the opportunity you'd raise human society to the ground. You've said that if you had the chance, you would enslave all of humanity to make them understand even an ounce of the pain of the Faunus." Blake paused for a moment, leaning towards the man as she asked her question once more. "The humans gave you the chance to do what you said you wanted, so why didn't you take it?"

In response to Blake's question, Adam sat back in his seat leaning away from the girl that he grew up with. Instead of looking as if he was ignoring her, it became clear to the Faunus woman that he was thinking of his response, and after waiting a while he thinks he found the answer to her question.

"I believe…" he stopped before he continued, choosing to rephrase his words. "Well, I have reason to believe that I've… changed somewhat from how I was before." Blake's ears perked at the statement, giving Adam an inquiring look that prompted him to continue speaking. "Naya told me recently that I've changed somewhat, that I appear as though I've found my purpose."

"Interesting," she mumbled back to herself as she eased back into her seat, "so… what do you think? If whatever made you change never happened, do you think that you would've chosen to take down Vale?" Once he heard Blake's question Adam found himself in an awkward state of being.

Although he felt as though he'd never make a decision that'd put his own people in a bad situation, it was hard to say whether or not he'd take the chance for revenge. In truth his heart was filled with a rage and hatred far greater than he'd ever show on his face, and he knew he still had it inside of him, but now it had calmed immensely.

After being branded from trying to protect Anaya, worked like a slave in Vacuo's last remaining Dust mine, seeing the numerous atrocities that the humans committed towards his people so casually, it was impossible for him to see them as anything but demons. And it was these same demons that somehow made the person closest to him, Blake, sympathize with them and believe that there needs to be a peaceful solution.

He felt like he was losing her, he was losing control, and thus losing strength, so it's hard for him to say that he wouldn't have lost his mind as well. However, none of this was something that he could say out loud, in fact it was something that he could barely think about consciously, so he instead opted to respond with an answer of the upmost honesty. "I hope not."

Blake smirked at his response, "no use thinking about what could've happened right? Let's just focus on what can happen now. Fuck yesterday, let's fuck with tomorrow!"

At her enthusiastic chant Adam smiled lightly, "you've gotten more vulgar since the last time I've seen you, but that phrase is quite wise. Especially coming from you."

"What's that supposed to-"

"-what phrase is wise?" Blake was suddenly interrupted by a woman opening the tents flap and chimed in on the conversation. "Oops, was I interrupting something?"

The woman's presence made the cat girl smirk and she quickly stood up from her chair, "nope, not at all Anaya. I was actually just leaving" she commented. However, before walking to the exit of the tent she bent down to whisper, "good luck" into a confused Adam's ear. She then happily walked to the exit flap of the room before saying, "goodnight!" With that Blake made her fast exit, leaving Adam and Anaya in the room alone.

The horned Faunus simply shrugged her shoulders before walking into the tent and sitting in the seat directly next to Adam, pulling her chair even closer to the man so she could easily lean on, and look over, his shoulder. "So," Anaya began, "whatchu doin?"

Without wasting a moment Adam sighed before reopening his Scroll and getting back to his reports, "working." Naya watched as his expression turned a bit sour as she tried to cuddle up next to him. It wasn't the usual warm silence that he greeted her with, this time it felt cold and dismissive.

The duo sat in an uncomfortable silence for a moment, all the while Anaya was trying to figure out what she did wrong to make Adam angry. Only one thing really came to mind, "sorry about coming here unannounced, I didn't want to make you angry or anything" she whispered as she removed her head from his shoulder, putting on a somber smile as she spoke. "You know how I feel about you, I just want to be around to protect you." She paused for a moment, waiting for a reaction from the man but receiving nothing on return. The Chieftain then sighed loudly, skootching away from the man and sinking down into her seat. "I just don't wanna go through getting you hurt again."

That comment got Adam's attention as his focus shifted fully from the Scroll in his hands to the woman that somberly slumped over in her chair. "You do understand that you coming here only increases the chances of something like that occurring again, right?"

Once he proposed the question Anaya only sunk deeper into herself, his comment completely missing his original objective. "…" as the Faunus looked over to her the proper words of comfort or confidence were locked away into the back of his mind, not able to be released. So, all he could address was the subject that was in the forefront of his mind, "what is happening between you and Nova? You seem to be getting quite close."

Anaya's eyes suddenly shot open, and her posture quickly up righted itself as she looked at the bull Faunus in shock. "Why? "she asked quietly, peering deep at him as she listened for his response.

The man himself found that the lie he wanted to speak choked itself inside of his throat, forcing him to clear them with a rough cough. For a reason he didn't know Adam's cheeks began burning with heat and his brow began filling with miniscule beads of sweat that he couldn't wipe from his face due to the mask.

He couldn't face the woman, and every moment her stare persisted on his form the harder it began to even look in her direction. However, the pressure that the simple question put on him left it impossible for him to simply not respond, so he cleared his already tightening throat and looked down at the desk in front of him before speaking. "Because."

"Because?" she responded.

"Because its important" he added. Anaya allowed a small smirk to cross her lips as she tauntingly tilted her head side to side as she sarcastically thought aloud.

"Hmmmm? It's important huh? I wonder why it's important. Is it important to the protection of the White Fang? Is it important to maybe the security of all of Vacuo?" Anaya then suddenly stopped swaying from side to side as she feigned a moment of revelation. "Or maybe…" as she began, she lifted her already skimpy bralette and motioned her free hand towards her crotch, "it's important to Anaya's chastity."

The image of the numerous other woman that Nova was already in relation with suddenly flashed in Adam's mind and his fists found themselves balling tightly around his Scroll, only the sound of the technology creaking bringing him back to his senses. "That is fucking disgusting Anaya, do not joke about things like that" he managed to growl out through his teeth.

Anaya only chuckled, "who said I was joking? Fang, oh I mean Nova, seems pretty strong and he's super handsome with his mask off too" she added tauntingly. "I wouldn't mind giving myself-"

"-STOP!" Adam erupted, gripping his fists roughly around the Faunus woman's wrists and bringing his face insanely close to her own. "Stop saying things like this" he said in a much quieter tone. "I don't like it."

As Adam's grip on her wrists only tightened and his face only shortened the distance between hers, Anaya's smile continued to brighten until she was practically laughing in his face. "This is not funny," the bull Faunus said, "this is serious." Despite his deadly straight face, Anaya continued laughing as if his comments and actions were literally the funniest thing she had ever seen, finding it hard to even catch her own breath. "Why are you laughing!?" he asked in a half shout at the woman.

"Haha, Adam" she said between ragged breaths of heavy laughter, "you're jealous!" As soon as the words touched his ears the revelation of his actions, his feelings, and everything that had occurred between now and Nova's arrival suddenly became clear.

He was jealous. As the revelation finished making things clear within himself, Adam loosened his grip on Naya's wrists and he turned fully back in his own chair, facing his Scroll with a calm expression. Acting as if nothing had occurred at all. "No, I am not."

Anaya let in a gasp of air as Adam tried to brush everything off, "yes you are!" She shouted as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"I am not."

"You are!"

"Not."

"Are!"

"Not."

"Yes, you are! You were getting all mad that me and Nova were agreeing on stuff, talking one on one, getting all lovey dovey behind your back!" The last comment made Adam cringe hard, physically flinching at the idea of something like that occurring, but still he said nothing.

"Haha," Anaya's laughter over the subject matter slowly died down to a light chuckle as she draped herself over the man that she owed everything, "I don't like, nor am I close with, Fang at all. Not my type at all. So, you can stop acting so damn prissy about it."

"Then what were you talking about when he pulled you aside earlier?" the bull asked without shifting his head.

Anaya took a moment to think about what he was asking, not truly knowing if now was the time for her to tell him about that part of her life. "Uhmm, well it wasn't anything serious, " she started, "nor was it anything really personal. He kinda just wanted to know about the history of my Tribe. You know, something like finding out whether or not my tribe would deflect to the other side without my presence actively protecting them from switching up."

Adam thought about what she was saying for a moment and the first thought that came to his mind was, "did he threaten you?" As he asked the question his fingers twitched as if he were itching to reach for his blade.

"Nope, of course not. He was cordial, polite even, not pushy at all, but definitely very serious. Kinda like someone else I know" she added as she side eyed the Faunus man.

"mmhmm," Adam hummed in thought, "why couldn't he ask while I was around?"

Naya just shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know."

The Faunus woman watched as Adam grimaced beneath his mask, "maybe I should have a conversation with him about this topic."

"Maybe you shouldn't" she commented as she rolled her eyes. After a short pause the horned Faunus snuggled up to the bull and added, "the only person I've ever loved is you. That's never gonna change."

The office rung in a comfortable silence for a while, neither of the duo caring to say anything else after Anaya's confession. However, the silence was broken by a smirking Adam as he commented, "you've said that before."

"I know" she replied.

"I-" Adam paused for a moment, not exactly knowing how to put his feelings into words once more. He stopped short of saying anything direct, instead choosing to say, "I could somewhat understand your sentiment." With those words spoken, Adam allowed Naya to cuddle closer into himself, bring her onto the same chair as his own as he wrapped his arm around her in comfort.

With Naya by his side and a Scroll full of reports in front of him, Adam spent the majority of his night in the comfortable atmosphere of answering numerous questions that seemed to blurt out from the Faunus woman's mouth without stopping. F

or a moment it was annoying, but after a while he found that there wasn't another person in this world that he'd rather spend time with. In all honesty he wouldn't have minded if this night lasted forever. That is to say night turned to day extraordinarily fast in her presence.

---

"You do it!" the bunny girl whispered aggressively.

"Nuh uh. I don't wanna" the massive man responded. Nia and the Lieutenant were sprinting around the camp all morning looking for their Leader, searching thoroughly through every tent as they looked for him. However, they didn't find where he was until they checked the final spot, the most obvious location, the central tent in the camp. This was a win, but the state they found him brought another major issue.

Adam was leaned back in his chair with one of his arms dangled around the shoulder of the Faunus woman that was next to him. Well, next to him isn't exactly the correct description as she was more like on top of him. Evidently both of the important Faunus people were asleep.

Anaya was sleeping soundly with her head on the man's chest, the both of them breathing perfectly in sync with one another. It was a gorgeous sight to see, very cute, cuddly, and adorable, however now wasn't exactly the best time for it

As the two lieutenants continued arguing about who was going to be the unlucky Faunus to wake the two from their slumber, three more masked Faunus walked into the tent without care. "The fuck is he doing? Aye-"

"-wait!" Neyah was quickly cut off by her sister lover Blake as she looked at the scene with quite a bit of interest. "Lemme get a couple pictures first" At the comment Neyah raised her eyebrow and let out an audible 'huh?' before dismissing the subject, but her sister on the other hand had something to say.

"Just do so quickly, we need them awake, aware, and alert because that man he was talking about last night is here. There isn't much time to waste" Nis said urgently. At the same time, she turned to Adam's Lieutenants and said, "you can begin bringing the two of them in, just go as slow as possible."

Once she finished giving the two of them orders, the lieutenants looked at each other for a moment before deciding whether or not they should follow the woman's orders, but after a second of thinking it over Nia shrugged her shoulders and said, "yes ma'am!"

From there the two of them exited the tent to do as they were told, at the same time Blake had finished with her pics and was beginning to bring the cuddly couple out from there slumber. "Hey Adam, lover boy, it's time to get up." As she motioned to shake him awake, Adam suddenly shot up, bringing himself to full attention and waking Anaya in the process. "Woah!" Blake blurted out in surprise.

The moment he sat up, Adam looked around the room for a moment before saying, "what's the current situation?"

Neyah then quickly responded, "what's your current situation? You seemed pretty comfy sleepin the morning away with this lady" she said jokingly.

Adam scoffed at the comment, "now is not the time for jokes Neyah. Where is your sense of urgency?"

Nix followed apologetically with, "sorry for my sister Adam, allow me to tell you about what has transpired since you've been resting." From there Nix quickly explained that Elder Reese and his entourage had arrived at the White Fangs camp, bringing about 20 warriors alongside himself and his trusted companion.

The twenty warriors from the DFA were starting to set up camp, at least that's what they appeared to be doing, and Reese, alongside his warrior guard companion guy, were heading to the tent to meet them all now.

As Nix spoke, Anaya rose from Adam's chest with sleep still evident in her tired expression, taking a moment to rub the sensation from her eyes as she stretched loudly. "Hmmm, what's going on?" After the stretch the reality of her situation quickly came to her.

Looking at the woman that were now surrounding them at the table, the fully awake man that she was coddled over, and of course the words that were being processed in her mind posthaste. "Oh shit," she spoke to herself, "he's here already?"

Adam Turn his head to face the woman who rose from his chest, commenting, "yeah it appears so." he said, trying his best to ignore the fact that they were just comfortably cuddling all night. "It would be best if we prepared properly for his arrival." The bull Faunus then turned to the other woman present in the room and asked, is there anything else you believe I need to know about before this meeting begins?"

Once he asked the question Nix, Neyah, and Blake turned to one another with questioning glances, none of them truly knowing if there was anything else they needed to inform him of. So instead of responding with words they simply shook their heads 'no' and sat comfortably in their seats as they waited for elder Reese and his entourage to arrive.

They didn't have to wait long as the man himself was escorted into their tent by the bunny girl Nia and the chainsaw man Lieutenant, both of them asking Adams permission before they allowed the reputable DFA leader to enter the tent.

The group of Faunus within the centermost tent sat with a sort of nervousness as they waited for the man of the hour to make his entrance. None of them really knowing what to expect from the coming exchange.

Adam knew and respected the Elder, he had a connection with the man through their central goals of creating a world in which the Faunus can live and prosper. Although when it came to anything but his face and their agreement on political issues, he basically knew nothing about him. However, Anaya thought something completely different entirely of the Tribal leader.

The leader of the Desert Jades believed he was a conniving, underhanded, deceitful, power-hungry Chieftain that was only in the business of leadership to attain power and control over others.

On the other hand, the woman that arrived in Vacuo with their lover had no idea what to think of the Elder. Their experience with the man was nothing, and all they had to go off of was their instincts and what they had heard from others, so when the man himself opened up the tarp they were surprised to see a soft expression older Faunus man.

Elder Reese looked, well, old. He had wrinkles across his face and looked to be at least 50 years of age. The Faunus man wore an interesting headpiece with numerous colored feathers across its top and a long tan robe that covered most of his form.

The Elder didn't flaunt much jewelry, only a couple rings of silver that were found on his right hand. The jewelry wasn't gaudy or special in any way, instead when it was on him it appeared as though it was there for a tribal purpose rather than a fashion statement.

Reese looked humble, nice, kind, and warm like a doting grandparent, however even though he appeared to be such a pleasant person, Neyah looked as if she cringed once she saw him.

Once the man entered the room he immediately turned to Adam with a bright smile and said, "it is so nice to see you again. Even if it is under these circumstances." After the comment, Reese's eyes naturally traveled to the other tribal leader in the room. As his eyes met her own, for a moment, he paused. Freezing as if he was surprised to see her presence. "Oh, Chieftain Anaya, I didn't think that I was going to see you here as well."

The woman simply rolled her eyes in response and scooted her chair slightly closer to Adam's before commenting. "Yeah, well, I didn't think I was gonna see you here either Elder." The older man only chuckled a bit at the lack luster response, not showing any signs of animosity towards the Jades leader at all.

Adam then inserted himself into the conversation as he side eyed the woman, "he did not expect you to be here because I explicitly told him that you would not be coming Anaya, but then again I guess he would be the only one that is surprised that you remained her for so long." The horned Faunus Chieftain only scoffed at Adam's comment, brushing it aside before leaning back in her chair uncaringly. After making his passive pass towards his close confidant, Adam turned to face the Elder once more, "welcome back to the camp of the White Fang Elder. Thank you for coming to support us on such short notice" he said, standing to greet the man.

Once the two met at the center of the room they clasped each other in a solid handshake before Reese warmly smiled and said, "of course Adam I would never leave a fellow Faunus in danger. Especially when fighting against the tyrannies of human intervention."

The leader of the White Fang only smirked slightly at the Elders comments as he gestured the man to sit, "please have a seat let us begin our discussion." Without wasting another moment Elder Reese and Leader Adam sat back down in their seats, and once the leader of the DFA finished seating himself comfortably he turned to the other masked faces around the table. When his eyes met each of the masked faces, he deeply looked at each one of their expressions to see if he could recognize any of them, but to his surprise he did not.

Seeing as none of them wanted to speak first, he decided to take the initiative and introduce himself. "Hello, I am Reese Roadrunner I am one of the councils for the DFA, the Desert Faunus Alliance, do you mind me asking who you all are as well? If it is of no issue, I would like to know who I will be working with in these times of great need."

After his swift introduction, Blake only crossed her arms and turned to Adam for advice to which the man himself did not meet her gaze. At the same moment Nix and Neyah exchanged a quick conversation between their masked eyes. Quickly coming to a swift conclusion. The eye contact exchange gave Neyah the confidence to shake her head slightly and decided to set the tone for the rest of their conversation. "White." She said aggressively. "You can call me White, that's my name."

Seeing what her sister was doing Nix quickly followed her masked sibling with, "I am called Blue."

Followed by Blake adding "I'm Red." The bull Faunus was slightly confused to why they were giving the man aliases since he respected Reese and saw that he was trying to help them. But, he wasn't one to endanger those that he had an affinity towards, so instead of visually or audibly dissenting to them, hiding their identities he simply committed the names to memory in that moment and chose to go along with their charade.

Anaya did the same, not wanting to compromise the woman's identity in case of a crisis. Once the women gave their vague introductions to the Elder, he then turned to Adam with a slight bit of confusion. "So, where exactly did these individuals come from? I heard that you were in need of assistance, but I thought that there wasn't much help on the way?" The Elder then chuckled warmly and added, "forgive my rudeness but I don't think these women are a part of the White Fang" he said as he looked at each of them. "Despite what their appearances and masks may suggest."

Adam went along with what the man was implying, choosing to be honest instead of deceiving his now ally. "No, they are not" he said, referring to them being associated with the White Fang. "However, they are good allies of the cause."

The Elder's confusion only rose as he then mumbled, "I can see that." Reese then began peering around the room at the trio of masked woman, looking deeply into them as he did once before. After he felt confident enough in the conclusion he drew from his analysis he asked, "do you mind me asking if there are more members of this group? After all, if there are more of these members, I'd love to be able to network and connect with them just in case I am in need of them in the future."

His question only rose more suspicion within the women in the room, however Adam still responded as he would with any other honorable Faunus. "That is an understandable question," he said, "in fact that is what we were going to get into very soon. However, we may as well start now since we are all already present and prepared."

Before Adam could say a word Nix, also know as Blue, spoke up, saying, "yes there are two more members of our pack. They are Fang, our leader, and Purple." Adam quickly caught on to what the Priestess was doing so all he did was quite down while he listened. "They are currently out on mission in order to lessen the White Fangs current burden."

This seemed to perk the Elder's interest as he then asked, "So, what exactly is this mission?"

Without waiting a second, White, or Neyah, quickly said, "it's none of your damn business."

The Elder flinched back slightly at the sudden burst from the masked woman, but he quickly recovered and smiled warmly at her. "I believe that this is actually a part of my business. Especially seeing as we are all allies around this table, I believe it is more than necessary that we share all of our information. Especially when it comes to the White Fang's burden."

At that comment the Desert Jades Chief suddenly audibly yawned in an incredibly sarcastic tone. As she finished the showing of disrespect, she then uncaringly exclaimed, "oh! I'm sorry. I aint mean to interrupt you, I was just getting tired of the bullshit you keep spewing from your mouth."

For only an instant, Neyah watched as the Elder's eyebrow twitched in anger, but the sudden movement didn't match the man's facial expression at all as he simply smiled warmly at the tribal leader. "I don't know what you're talking about Chief. Care to explain?"

"I'm just saying," Anaya started, "you seem to be real interested in knowing everybody else's information without telling yours. Seems pretty hypocritical coming from a secretive Chief like you."

"I still don't know exactly what you're referring to."

"You know exactly what the fuck I'm talkin bout!" she suddenly shouted.

Seeing as things were getting out of hand, and they were gradually traveling further and further from the topic of discussion, Adam decided to reel things in by coldly stating, "are you done."

The icily spoken comment immediately shut down any argument rising in Anaya's being. "We are all here for a single purpose. We do not need to allow personal matters to get in the way of our singular motive. Protecting our own people and preventing the humans from taking advantage of the other Faunus."

Adam's comments seemed to get everyone back on page although Naya seemed a bit irritated at the fact that the bull Faunus didn't take her side. From there the elder began speaking up once more, adding, "I agree with you Adam. All we want is for the humans to leave us alone and in search of this goal I believe it will be necessary for us to collaborate in any possible way. Including sharing anything that we know."

The Elder spoke in an incredibly calm, even, and warm tone, gradually getting everyone to understand his own perspective. "I know it seems for me to ask without giving so I will begin by telling you all everything that I know." This comment got the attention of everyone around the table, and they all listened intently as the elder began speaking, "for starters I know who of the Tribes chose to defect to the human's side."

"What?! Blake, Red, suddenly shouted in shock. "How do you know that!"

The older man remained calm, saying, "I know it may seem odd for me to know that information, however I can assure you it is a lot simpler then you may think." Once Reese spoke the room's nerves calmed slightly, allowing the man to speak freely once more. "The way I found out was because I was contacted by them. When I say them, I mean not only the humans but also Jayson of the Desert Walkers and Khrish of the Desert Kreeps. While I didn't speak with Khrish directly, I was told by Jayson that he was more than willing to assist them for a price. Naturally, then I assumed that those two tribes are the ones who are backing the humans in their endeavors."

The rest of the room stayed silent for a moment, seeing as their assumptions had turned out to be true. However, this only brought more questions to some of the more thoughtful of the group, but before anyone else spoke Adam asked the Elder, "did you learn what the humans' objective was when trying to ally themselves with you?"

Although the question seemed a bit complex, and wasn't exactly the first thing on anyone's mind, the bird Faunus responded swiftly. "I can't say I learned it exactly, especially not all of their goals. However, I can say this, they were definitely looking to either force you to join them or destroy you in the process. Either way, I cannot say why, but at the same time I would not be surprised if they saw you, and the White Fang, as a powerful asset to their cause. If they fail in this objective, I do believe that they will take any of the Faunus that they can get, but that is just my own belief. I have no evidence to back that up."

After taking a moment to think about what he said, Blake suddenly asked, "so that's good and all, but what exactly did you say after they approached you? Did you just straight up decline and they just let you go? Because that doesn't sound very believable to me."

Now this was the initial question that was brought to everyone's attention and as such everyone peered in as they waited for the elders response. They didn't have to wait long as the Roadrunner had the answer at the tip of his tongue, quickly responding with, "I know it sounds hard to believe but yes, that is exactly what happened. After I declined their request, they simply offered up a bunch of empty threats saying things like 'you'll regret this decision' and things of that nature to make me feel as though I should feel sorrowful from not taking their offer. However, I believe it was like this because the DFA is a very large tribal organization and as such they'd rather not have us as a direct enemy."

His explanation made sense, there was quite a bit of logic behind the decision. However even still, as Neyah focused all of her attention on his words and mannerisms, she could still feel a tinge of deceitful untruth between the lines of his speech.

Almost as if he was explaining what could have happened, or would have happened, had he made another decision. Although she remained distrustful, it seemed that that reasoning gained Adams full support. Because of this Adam then spoke up and said, "is there anything else you think you could tell us about interacting with the traitors and the humans."

After taking a moment to think about what his ally just asked the Elder shook his head and explained, "no unfortunately, I don't think that there's anything else I can really add to that. This is all I really learned very small interaction that I had with the human woman in red. However, one last thing that I believe remains true is the standing of the Faunus woman that came along with the humans. She still seems to be acting as a guide of some sort or at the very least isn't involved in the same goals as the humans were. She was very quiet and reserved, seemingly happy that I didn't accept the offer that the other humans proposed."

The rest of the group took a moment to think about what the Elder had just said, taking into account the fact that Adam got similar vibes from each of the human players in the equation. However, those that came along with Nova and even Anaya, the leader of the Desert Jades, were still very suspicious of Reese and his motives.

In fact, the horned Faunus woman believed even though it may have been true that the Elder had turned down the humans offer, it would be unlikely if he didn't have any hidden motives involved in supporting the White Fang.

It didn't take long for Reese to speak up once more, circling around back to the topic that started this conversation. "So, now that I believe I have told you all something, I think it would only be fair if I received information in return. Of course, keeping in mind the fact that I only desire this information because I would like to help the White Fang clear this human issue from their plate."

For a moment, Adam turned to those he knew as the Panthera twins and the woman he grew up with, Blake, before turning his attention back to the Elder and saying, "of course brother. Let me tell you the current situation that is unfolding with Fang and Purple." From here Adam gave the man a very brief rundown of Fang, AKA Nova, and Purple, AKA Zeb, each heading towards the Desert Walker tribe and the Desert Kreeps. Whilst the birdman listened to this sudden revelation he didn't display much emotion on his face, but to those who paid deeper attention it became a bit evident that he was quite surprised by this reveal.

And once he finished listening to the White Fang leader's explanation, he quickly replied "isn't that quite a bit dangerous to have only one-man approach to 2 powerful and reputable tribes like those Jayson and Khrish control?" The question was quite logical, and it made sense why he would ask such a thing, but nobody was worried about the safety of either of them.

Neyah scoffed under her mask, showing little respect towards the man before saying, "Fang is more than strong enough to handle any group of people that is thrown at him, he'll be fine.

Before Reese managed to respond he stopped himself short, keeping himself from saying the first thing that popped in his mind. Regaining his composure in choosing to not argue the topic any further. "Interesting" he said. "That is as long as he is actually as powerful as you suggest."

"Damn right he is" White responded.

Adam rolled his eyes at the women's statement before turning back to the birdman and getting back to the central topic of discussion. That topic being the 20 some odd men stationed outside the camp and their uses to the cause. "Elder," the bull Faunus spoke, "what exactly do you think we should be doing with the warriors that you brought to the camp?"

Reese's eyes widened slightly as if he had just remembered something meet and immediately following that reaction he responded, "well I brought them here to help defend the camp in case any powerful enemies attack. At least until you are able to transport the White Fang outside of Vacuo, but if we are needed for anything else I'm sure we'd be able to figure out a way for them to act under your command."

Adam then swiftly responded, "they are your men, so I don't want to order them to do anything outside of what you are comfortable with. As such I believe it would be best if they remained on defense as a sort of last line in case a large-scale battle where to break out. Is this alright with you chief?"

The Tribal leader then smiled warmly back at the bull Faunus before saying, "of course that's alright. However, while they act on defense as a sort of barrier, I'd like to introduce you to someone who could help on the offensive side as well." Once he spoke those words, the bunny Faunus Nia peaked her head through the tarp to gain confirmation from Adam on whether or not the person the Elder spoke of could gain entry. Adam swiftly nodded his head in return to which a Faunus man then walked confidently into the room.

The women in the room watched in disgust as a pale man with golden eyes walked egotistically into the room. The man had long brown hair braided into a ponytail that that resembled a scorpion's tail, stinger and all. Along with his sinisterly braided hair, he had sharp slanted eyes with heavy black bags underneath them, they were in such a terrible shape that he always looked ready to attack anyone that even looked his way. On top of this he had a foul-looking eerie grin that seemed permanently attached to his off-putting face.

The scorpion Faunus wore a white sleeveless jacket with leather belts strapped to each of its sides along with semi-matching long white pants that seem to have barely survived numerous battles. His jacket was left completely open, cockily revealing numerous scars from all of his physical escapades and the same could be said about his arms. However, his arms were also covered by dirty brownish bandages that were wrapped all the way up to the center of his biceps.

On his feet he wore long leather boots that went up to the middle of his calf. While also wearing elbow and knee pads that covered those joints from being attacked with any bladed weapon. That wasn't all that was odd about the Faunus as swing eagerly extending from the bottom of his back was a long scorpion Stinger with a deadly pointed tip that seemed to home in on every person in attendance.

The man was maniacal looking, wearing a sinister smile that screamed murderous tendencies and had a shifty balance as if he was ready to attack anyone at a moment's notice. He chuckled ominously as he stepped deeper into the room, laying his eyes on each person sitting around the table before eventually holding a strong, terrifying gaze with the leader of the Jades.

As he met her expression his sinister grin only grew further like a child met with their favorite toy on Christmas Day. He was truly a vile creature that no one in the room could see anything positive in, and in that instant, it seemed as if all trust and respect that was gained from the mutual ideals between Adam in Reese had been gone in an instant.

However, the man in complete control of the DFA seemed completely ignorant of their reactions as he continued speaking. "Adam, Anaya, White, Blue, and of course you as well Red, I would like you all to meet my right-hand man. A trustworthy individual that would put his all on the line in support of our cause, a true reliable Faunus who will do whatever it takes to get the job done, and most impressively the strongest warrior in the entire Desert Faunus Alliance, I'm glad to be able to introduce you to Tyrian Callows."

Chapter 73: Disappearance

Nova looked around at the bodies that littered the cold desert sand without even a slight bit of care or remorse. This wasn't the first time he was responsible for the loss of life, and he was sure this wouldn't be the last. Even though the number of people that he had slayed directly were few and far between, whenever he completely removed one of the attackers Aura, they were left completely defenseless from the attacks from the defending Desert Jades. This directly resulted in the sight that he saw before him, bodies on top of bodies that were left behind after the attacking Desert Walkers realized that advancing further would be helpless.

Throughout the battle, the attacking Faunus were more than unlucky enough to be the unwilling test subjects of Fang's new weapon of choice, Agni-Aeolus. True to its description, the weapon was truly a godlike power, not that Nova really had a godlike power to compare it to but still. In its spear form it was about what he expected from the weapon at a base level, extremely sharp at both ends, sturdy in its shaft, long range, incredibly handled, and borderline unstoppable when it came to piercing attacks of any kind. Once he thrusted the spear head forward with any variability of strength, there was nothing that the enemy could do to keep the spearhead from reaching their bodies.

However, this wasn't the most impressive portion of the spear version of the weapon, that would come from its amazing ability to control both the fire and wind attributes of the Dust that was used to create it. By funneling his mana through the Green Dust portions of the weapon, Agni-Aeolus was able to generate blades of wind that covered the blades of weapon similar to that of Byakko's Skill, and by doing the same to the Red Dust parts he was able to super heat the entire weapon as a whole, making each of his attacks explode with ferocity whenever he pleased. Although it was impressive, he quickly learned that the effects of the Dust enhanced attacks were being limited greatly by the fact that he was using Mana instead of Aura.

Whenever he did these attacks essentially what is happening is his power becomes a catalyst for the Dust to create the elemental reaction and because Mana is a foreign catalyst to Dust it isn't nearly as effective. He could see it fairly easily in Skills as he often needed a lot more Mana than Aura to activate certain Skills and get the same effects. However, simply pouring more Mana into the weapon didn't grant him more effective Dust enhanced attacks, instead the effect simply lasted longer and was easier to maintain, so he quickly deduced that he actually needed to use his own Aura if he wanted to properly utilize his Dust weapons.

This fact was seen even more whenever he changed the weapon into the form that he favorited over the former, its chain mode. As the weapon's description suggested the secondary form of Agni-Aeolus had the former shaft of the spear break its spiral to change into a long chain of alternatingly linked Red and Green Dust links. The former spearhead then extended to form a circular chakram made entirely from small spearhead like blades, each being created with a Red Dust base but having a blade made from its Green counterpart.

When fully extended the chain was about six feet long, even though while wielding it because of how well the weapon handled the chain actually felt like half of that, and the chakram of blades spun rapidly, spinning so fast in fact that to the untrained eye it looked as if each of the blades wasn't moving at all. While in Chain mode the Dust properties of Agni-Aeolus changed slightly, and it was because of this change that he was able to recognize the alternative effects that Mana had on his weapon of choice.

While in Agni-Aeolus's spear form he could coat the weapons in wind and just barely extend a wind blade a few inches from its tip and the explosions that erupted whenever he impacted something was miniscule at best, adding more damage but mostly just concussing his opponent.

Whenever he funneled his Mana through the weapon in this form, the wind generated from the Ancient Green Dust would spin rapidly from the blades. This in turn created a powerful whipping tornado of spinning wind blades that were supposed to be devastating to the touch, but instead of slicing anyone they came into contact with they blew them away like some kind of concussive blast. On top of this, whenever he did the same thing to the Ancient Red Dust on the weapon it did something similar, either adding to the tornado like effect of the Green Dust and creating an explosive force alongside the concussive blast from the wind or generating a ring of fire that seared his opponents and boosted the strength of each of his attacks a good amount.

Either way he figured that he would be able to learn more about the effects that he could create by using Aura instead of Mana, but it would be something that he'd have to test at another time. Learning about Agni-Aeolus was the only thing that he did while combating the attacking Desert Walkers tribe, turns out he also ended up using Source Slice so much that it ended up reaching max level for him, granting him a pretty nifty new ability.

*New* Abilities Obtained:

*The Conduit*- All things that have life are generated by Essence and as such have a basis for creation. Mana, Aura, Life Essence, and all other Power Sources are seen as one entity, and since you are able to see through this façade of uniqueness you are able to attack these Power Sources directly with whatever Skill or ability of your choosing.

*New* Skills Obtained:

*Conduit's Demise* {Lvl: MAX}- All things that have life are generated by Essence and as such have a basis for creation. Mana, Aura, Life Essence, and all other Power Sources are seen as one entity. Since you are able to see through this façade of uniqueness you are able to attack these Power Sources directly, sealing them temporarily from their controllers; Inflict Silence on an opponent; Cost 2000mp

Once Source Slice reached its maximum level it evolved into the Skill Conduit's Demise which made it so he could Silence an opponent, essentially cutting them off from whatever their Power Source was temporarily. So, for example, let's say he were to go into a fight against Glynda and use this Skill, as long as it was successful, he would be able to stop Glynda from using her Aura at all for an unspecified amount of time, but if he were to go up against someone like Anaya, who is the Summer Maiden, than he'd be able to cut off either Aura or Mana but not both. Also once the Skill reached MAX, instead of gaining an EX ability, the Skill itself just turned into an ability that he could use passively whenever he pleased, no costs required.

This turned out to be much more useful than the silencing Skill for the moment since it allowed him to fire off numerous Skills in quick succession without worrying that he might accidentally kill someone, since he wasn't really good at holding back the power of his Skills. Therefore, overall, he learned a bunch from the experience and even managed to find a single dungeon in the Desert Jades' camp, surprised that there were actually enough people for one to be created.

As the battle came to a close and the Walkers quickly began retreating, the Jades barely let up their chase, only stopping once the second in command ordered them to. No prisoners were taken, none but the one Faunus man that started it all, a man that Nova observed to be called Peach, one of his titles being Nasty Peach. An odd name and even odder title, but none the less Nova made sure to kill his Aura and drag him with him to the Jades tribe for questioning. He didn't honestly think he could learn much from the man, but he chose to take him in any way since he could still kill him afterwards regardless.

Unsurprisingly once everything was said and done, the Jades quickly turned their blades on him since he was obviously a very mysterious figure, a mysterious figure that saved their asses, but still a mystery none the less. The moment they chose to target him Nova began thinking about the uses he actually had for this Tribe, thinking about whether he actually needed to spend a whole bunch of time talking with them or if he could just drop the Desert Walkers' new Chief off and head back to the White Fang camp to alert everyone on what was happening. After all the only thing he thought he might've needed from the Jades was access to there camp so he could clear its dungeon.

However, before he was able to make a decision for himself a Faunus man with a short tail draped from his shorts made the choice for him, telling the Tribe's warriors to stand down since he was the one that helped them the most during the battle. The man introduced himself as Sunlight and told Fang that he was put in charge by the Chief while she was away helping Adam with the White Fang problem. Fang was then escorted into the camp which he found was much more organized and stable than the Walkers, their tents being made from the same high-quality fabric as those from the White Fang, the tents placement being organized to allow easy travel throughout the location, and surrounding the entire camp was a large fence, about six feet high, that was guarded with warriors at each post.

It seemed like this Clan was doing incredibly well and was very stable in comparison to the rest, not needing to move around nearly as much. The population was large, their equipment quality was great, and everything else seemed to be in order. According to Adam's report, the Jades were apparently not doing well enough to support any other Faunus, but to Nova's eye they seemed perfectly capable. The only thing that he saw wrong was the people themselves.

Each of the Warriors that fought back against the Walkers were dead tired, sprawling across the grounds in the shaded areas of the camp, their were no kids running around happily, instead they sat quietly barely being able to move, and the entire vibe of the place screamed that there was something wrong. As soon as Nova noticed this he decided to ask about it, to which Sunlight responded that they were going through a bad drought.

Apparently, their main sources of water had run dry, no longer having any Blue Dust Crystals, and the hunting grounds that they hunted Mole Crabs in were no longer prosperous. Turns out these large crab-like animals, that Nova had seen a few of while he was traveling, contained black sacks of drinking water within them, because of this they were essential to the Tribes water supply especially when the Blue Dust ran short. The Tribe was too small to travel long distances to a new area and the hunting groups that they sent out were taking too long to return, so the Tribe's situation was only getting worse and worse.

It was an unfortunate situation, but it was one that Nova could easily help if he so chose to. But it would have to wait for later since he needed to interrogate the man he was dragging through the sand first. It didn't take long for Sunlight to take the mysterious masked man to a discrete location, a small tent outside of the main camping area. This was the place that he would allow Fang to interrogate the former Tribal leader by himself before he would take over to make Nasty Peach pay for his crimes.

Once Sunlight exited the room Nova went through his usual interrogation nonsense to scare the man into telling him everything that he wanted to know, starting with threats, moving on to the fear inducing Skills, and, when that didn't work, finally using bodily harm. He never had to go this far on a person before since normally they'd be spilling every little secret they knew by the time he activated Intimidate however this guy was different, he was very tough, refusing to give literally anything until Fang started removing fingernails and 'extra' teeth.

Nova didn't lie to himself, it felt a bit odd torturing a man who may or may not know something of interest to him, not that he felt bad necessarily, but he definitely didn't feel good about it either. Normally under these circumstances he'd be doing it for a specified purpose, needing a specific piece of information from the suspect, but right now he was going blind and hoping to find some gold. However, it did help that the Nasty Peach was so insistent on not saying anything since that meant that he had to know at least something that was a little important, and it turns out he did… kind of.

After the third fingernail ,and first fang, was pulled from the man's form, he spilled everything, and everything was kind of interesting. According to what Peach explained he wasn't the person to suggest attacking the Jades, nor did he really want to go against Jayson's wishes to directly attack the White Fang, he was led by someone else. He didn't know what the man looked like since he took great care to hide his form, nor did he care to find out, all he did know was that he was strong and sinister, an amazing combination for those in the Walkers.

Peach then went on to say that the mysterious man promised him the position of Chieftain of the Desert Walkers and all he had to do to gain it was do what he said. The man also told him that the only thing he wanted in return was for Peach to order the Walkers to attack the Jades with a single goal… kidnapping Anaya. That was all he said and once Peach agreed he left.

This conversation only brought more questions to Fang, he had a few ideas and a couple of concerns, but this didn't seem to change anything for him specifically. The Walkers attacked to kidnap a woman that they didn't know wasn't here, so if they wanted to actually kidnap her, they'd have to get through the entire White Fang camp, Adam, Nix, Blake, Neyah, and herself since she's very powerful in her own right. There is not really a likely way for them to do anything to her in a situation so there wasn't really anything for him to worry about. However, what he didn't know, and sort of worried him, was why someone would want to kidnap the leader of the Jades.

In reality it could've been any number of things, each of the ones that Nova came up with getting progressively worse, but none of them seemed to do with his current situation. So, he left it alone. Nothing gained, nothing lost. Fang gave the man a small thank you before leaving him in the hands of the Tribe, to which they gave him a swift public execution. It was not a very pretty sight, but then again not one that really moved the onlookers either.

After Nasty Peach's death it didn't take long for normalcy to begin once more in the thirsty Tribe. It was then that Nova audibly said 'Fuck it' before pulling the acting Chief aside and handing Sunlight all of the normal Blue Dust Crystals he had on him, telling him to use them wisely and try to talk with Anaya into putting the Tribe in a better spot for water and food.

Before Sunlight could question Fang, or at least give him thanks, the man seemed to disappear into thin air, leaving him alone in a tent full of exactly what the Tribe needed. Nova didn't actually disappear, instead he simply entered the Dungeon that he found in the most populated area of the camp.

Lair of the Desert Walkers

Recommended Level: 63

Turns out it wasn't actually a normal Dungeon, or a Boss Room, the Dungeon-like rift that he entered turned out to be something called a Lair, and after asking Meta about it he learned exactly what it was. Without going into much detail, essentially a Lair is simply a mix between a very large Dungeon and a traditional area Boss Room. The moment he entered the Lair he was greeted by an ever-expanding desert, arid conditions, and a blistering heat that was far worse than Vacuo's usual climate.

Immediately upon entering the Dungeon he activated his Hakai Skill to attempt to destroy the structure in its entirety, clearing the Lair in mere moments, but once he thought the magic words, he was greeted with a similar message to that he received in Atlas. Now being alerted to the fact that he wasn't able to simply insta-destroy the new Dungeon type, he quickly took to exploring and clearing the location as fast as he could. However, it turned out to be quite a bit more than he originally bargained for.

While normal dungeons didn't take long to clear, nor were they extraordinarily hard to clear, there were tons of them in a concentrated area making clearing them all much more time consuming albeit unchallenging. Boss Rooms on the other hand were the complete opposite, being the only one in a designated sector that was significantly more challenging than the aforementioned Dungeons. Because of the low enemy count and small number of them, Boss Rooms as a whole took little to no time to complete, even thought they were 'more difficult.'

Lairs, however, turned out to be the worst of both worlds. Massive interior, incredibly large amounts of enemies, increased difficulty of Bosses and multiple of them, and of course a final boss that needed to be killed in order to finish the entire thing. All of this culminated into one thing, being time-consuming.

This was more than annoying for Nova who went enemy by enemy, chest by chest, area by area, in the entire Dungeon to see to it that he got the absolute most value out of its appearance, but even he still was able to eventually finish the whole thing.

His reward for doing so was lack luster at best, Dust that he didn't need, money that he didn't need, materials he didn't need, and so on, but he figured that he at least got a good amount of Exp, though it was more for his partners than himself.

Once he completed the Dungeon filled with a few interesting Grimm that he hadn't seen before, he exited the Lair to a notification that was similar to those that he received whenever he completed a Boss Room, telling him that he cleared this area of the Animus.

He quickly finished reading through the clear message, thought about the implications of it on the surrounding desert scape, and momentarily took note of the fact that the sun had risen once more. "How long was I in there?" Peering at his surroundings he quickly realized that he was still in the center of the Desert Jade Tribe camp, and before anyone noticed him, he slipped back into the already completed Lair to ensure he wasn't seen.

"I already did the whole mysterious disappearance thing, it'd kind of be weird if I were to just reappear in center of the camp without notice or reason." Once he reentered the camp, he quickly went over all the things that he came to do, did, and learned, finding that there wasn't a reason for him to remain outside the White Fang camp. "Looks like it's time to head back. Hopefully Zeb finished that Khrish business already and is heading back to the Camp soon so we can plan our next step."

Before activating his fast travel Skill, he absently thought of Byakko and Lilith who he hadn't spoken to in a while, but once he figured that they were handling themselves well and believing that he could check on them anytime he really wanted to because of the System he decided to move forward with his thoughts. "Fast Travel" once he spoke the Skill into existence, all he had to do was keep his desired location in mind and watch as a portal opened directly in front of him, guiding the Faunus man to the White Fang camp.

Looking to the other side of the structure he saw a familiar room, "it's about damn time" he thought as he stepped through the structure, walking directly into the large tent where he originally met with Adam and Anaya. As his trip to quell the anger of the Desert Walkers lasted much longer than he originally thought it would, the gears in Nova's mind immediately began shifting and moving to address how he would address the next problem presented to him.

However, his thoughts were cut extremely short, stopping his planning before it could ever truly begin, as he took a gander at the surrounding room. "What the fuck happened here?" Once his eyes began traveling around the room, Nova quickly became aware of the awkward state of wear the room had been left in.

The tent was vacant. Chairs were spread far from underneath the large wooden table at the center of the room, a few were laying on there sides on the ground with small mounds of sand covering the wooden legs with others being sat up in isolation away from everything else. The pitcher of water that was normally propped up on the round table in the corner of the room was spilled, the water pooling around the table but not dripping onto the sand bellow.

Surprisingly there wasn't anything damaged or in complete disarray, instead it seemed like everyone in the room had suddenly rushed out in a state of emergency, or maybe panic, and had yet to return. Speaking of returning, it was evident from the sand that had blown over the chairs and the state that the water was left in that whatever caused everyone in the room to rush out happened a while ago.

Without wasting another moment, Nova jogged out of the room at a brisk pace and at the same time opening his mental map to get a full scope of the state of the White Fang camp. On the map he found nothing especially out of the ordinary, patrols were patrolling, people were in various structures across the camp, there were still individuals watching over the camp from afar, and all else was quiet. The only apparent oddity was the small group of individuals just outside the camp, however even that wasn't too out of the ordinary. Even still there was definitely something missing. "Where are the twins at?"

Normally the markers on his mental map appeared in different colors, strangers being blue, allies being Green, enemies red, but since he unlocked the Clan creator the marker colors have increased. Those of the Demon Clan show up with black arrow markers with the Elites having a red outline on their arrows and those in the Lovers Clan would have a pink marker. As he scoured the camp using his mental map, and cautiously jogged in between each of the white tarps, he quickly took notice of the lack of colors appearing in his mind.

"Meta call Nix."

[Yes sir!]

For a moment silence rang deafeningly between the Awakened One's ears, causing him to stop in his own tracks as he waited for a response.

[Meta attempted to contact 'The Ice Queen' however this contact is unavailable at the moment.]

"Try Blake." The call to Blakes Scroll actually rang within his ears for a while, continuing to do so while he waited for her to pick up the phone. However, as the call rang and rang it soon became clear that the woman on the other line wasn't going to pick up.

[The contact 'Black Cat' did not answer the incoming call. Should Meta attempt to call 'Dark Skin Goddess'?]

For a moment Nova stood frozen in place not giving a single glance to the White Fang members that were beginning to notice his presence within the camp. Although his body didn't move an inch the Faunus's eyes, ears, and tails suddenly became shifty beneath his appearance, leaving everyone ignorant of the appendages reactions. "Yeah, please call Neyah. If that doesn't work, then call Adam as well."

[Understood! Contact 'Dark Skin Goddess' has been completely disconnected. This is likely due to the Scroll being destroyed entirely. Meta will now contact 'Red Redemption'!]

He wasn't even given a moment to think that Neyah might answer his call as Meta alerted him to the current situation. Even though the sound of silent ringing echoed throughout his mind Nova didn't notice it, nor did he even pay attention when Meta alerted him that Adam's Scroll was unavailable as well. "Fuck" he spoke under his breath, beginning to walk in a lost haze towards the edge of the camp.

With each step his mind only fogged further as it filled with what felt like an infinite number of questions without answers, hypothetical impossibilities, and past decisions that could've avoided this scenario entirely. However, even in his mindless haze of overstimulated information a single question rang nigh infinitely louder than any other. "Where the fuck are they?" The more he thought about it, the quicker his feet moved, and soon enough Nova went from a lost walk to brisk jog and finally an all-out sprint.

"Meta, can you use the Lover Clan or System Map to see where they went?"

[Meta is sorry but that is beyond your, or Meta's, capabilities. Under usual circumstances this may be possible, but when in a situation where the location of a person is unknown to you, they cannot be located through usual means.]

"Shit!" As he began running through the White Fang Camp he garnered more and more attention from the surrounding Faunus, and each of them could be a valuable store of information, but time was of the essence. With that in mind he made a sudden stop in front of a random pair of the masked Faunus, kicking up a cloud of sand as he did so.

"Fang?!" One of the Faunus shouted to themselves as the intimidating figure stood in front himself and his partner.

"Sir!" The woman yelled in his presence, stiffening up as she did so. "I didn't realize you were back already!"

Without acknowledging their greeting Fang took a single step towards the duo and asked, "Where is Nia and the Lieutenant?"

The pair took a quick look at one another before one of the women replied, "Uhm, I don't know, but if they were any where I'd think they were at the scene."

At that comment the woman's partner added, "since they are the acting leaders we can grab them while you wait in the Leaders Hut."

"No" he replied quickly, "that's necessary. Point me in the right direction." Although confused, both of the Faunus pointed in the direction of the group of Faunus outside of the Camp site that Nova had originally seen on his own mental map, and before they had a moment to say another word Fang practically disappeared as he sprinted outside the camp.

It took practically no time for Nova to reappear outside the White Fang camp fencing and into the wind open desert where he found out what the Faunus women were referring to as the 'scene.' The feint scent of metallic liquid flowed through arid desert air causing Nova's nose to scrunched up slightly at the sudden scent change, but the scent wasn't the most horrific sense that was being bombarded at the moment.

The origin of the smell was the field of Faunus corpses that covered the surrounding sand in crimson blood, creating an odd substance of thick coagulated dark red sand that couldn't be lifted with the passing breeze. At a quick glance Fang surmised that there was about twenty of the corpses, the number being only an estimate because of the numerous dismembered limbs that couldn't clearly be assigned to any single person, and once he closed the distance between himself and the deadly battle aftermath he noticed that each of the corpses looked to be some sort of moderately armored Faunus.

There wasn't much else to analyze from the situation, Nova assumed that a skirmish happened outside of the camp and they were subsequently dealt with, but because of the lack of emergency within the White Fang he figured the battle took place at least a day ago. Though from the armory of the corpses, seeing how the other Tribesman were outfitted, and the fact that the elder that was supposed to arrive at the camp wasn't there he figured that the leader of the DFA had something to do with it.

However, speculation wasn't entirely necessary as Fang and the group of Faunus led by the Lieutenant were rapidly approaching each other, and seeing as Nia wasn't present, he figured he needed to speak with him to get the gist of the situation. "Where are Adam and the others? What happened while I was gone?" Wasting no time at all, Fang opened the conversation with his objective.

The large Grimm masked man paused for a moment, looking up towards the sky as if the answers to the questions were written in the stars. It didn't take him very long to compose his thoughts on the situation in his mind, and once he was finished, he responded as concisely as he could manage. "The DFA attacked and the Leader along with your people went to chase him down. That's all I know. We didn't take much damage because of the Leader and your people helping with defense against the camp, but while the fight was going on the Elder escaped with a partner of his."

As Fang listened to Lieutenants explanation, he was able to get a vague idea of the situation, but more than anything he learned where they were probably going. However, once he learned that Adam took off, leaving the camp essentially leaderless in the middle of a deadlock, he knew that what he learned couldn't be the whole story.

Though he didn't have a very specified idea of what occurred when they attacked, or even why they attacked, Nova wasn't in the mood to learn everything about the situation. All he needed were the essentials so he could sprint off into the desert once more to support his lovers and ensure their safety. "Then what orders were you given before they all took off?"

Once Fang asked the question the Lieutenant tilted his head in confusion, unconsciously verbalizing his thoughts with, "orders? I didn't get any orders. Adam just took off the moment all these traitors were dealt with. By the way we did try to take prisoners, but he offed himself before anything was asked. The only orders we got was from one of the people you came here with, the one with the bow. She just said to defend the place and keep a look out for any more attacks from any other tribes."

Nova's ears were twitchy along with his tails, the duo of Faunus traits reacting as if they were being approached by an imposing unseen threat, but he tried his best to ignore the odd sensations to ask one final question. "Then what happened with Anaya?"

The Chainsaw wielding Lieutenant opened his mouth to respond as if the answer was obvious, but before the words escaped, he paused and closed his mouth once more. Lieutenant looked up to the sky once more, this time for a bit longer than before, and once he was finished thinking he just shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Think she just left with the rest of them, probably."

The large Faunus man's uncertainty made Nova grit his fanged teeth. "You fuckin think?" he growled out the question aggressively through his teeth, shooting an unintentional glare at the Lieutenant through the blinds of his Mask. The deep rumbling voice of the legendary Faunus made the large Faunus man flinch back slightly, not knowing whether to respond to the question or wait for his beating. All he managed to respond with was a nervous shoulder shrug. "Ugggrraahahhhh!" Fang suddenly used all of his strength to tense every muscle in his body and let out an ear shattering roar that somehow managed to echo in the seemingly infinite desert.

As he shouted his lungs raw he could feel as all of his Faunus traits suddenly went out of control, his horns began branching out like deer antlers, the fangs in his mouth grew long enough to stab into his own gums, his vision became blurry as his pupils shifted into numerous different shapes and types, and his ears and tails did much the same, shifting into different types, growing much larger than they should've been. Fang's roar radiated throughout the entirety of the White Fang camp, shaking all of the Faunus too there cores as they were frozen in fear and admiration from the legends outburst.

Although his appearance covered the changes made to his body, the sensation of having a powerful Faunus presence in the area wasn't one that many could miss. The outburst was short, loud and powerful, but incredibly short, and once Fang's vocal cords were relieved of their extraneous activity the Faunus man himself seemed entirely composed as if nothing at all had happened.

All was silent with the only sound that could be heard being the whistle of the desert winds, but even amongst the silence the sound of Fang's roar echoed in their ears. The entirety of the White Fang was frozen as their eyes were fixed on the figure before them, the supposed savior of the Faunus people. They all watched as the suddenly perfectly calm, cool, composed, and collected man whisper something underneath his breath before a sudden swirling wind surrounded him and he disappeared leaving a loud BOOM in his wake.

It took a while for the Faunus in Fang's immediate surroundings to recover from the experience of hearing him roar and seeing him practically disappear with extreme speed. "Wow" the Lieutenant said to himself. "That was amazing." After the Lieutenant regained control of himself and got over the awe of seeing Fang's full presence in action, he quickly began reorganizing his group to continue collecting personal belongings of the DFA warriors that fell in battle and giving them a proper burial.

As he and his subordinates continued their task, the Lieutenant heard the rapid pitter patter of someone running quickly across the desert sand, rapidly closing the distance between himself and them. Once he looked over to see the cause of the sound, he was quickly greeted with the frantic expression of a woman whom he knew very well. "Oh, Nia, what's up?"

The bunny girl slowly came to a stop in front of the large Faunus man, breathing heavily as she did so. "Wha- what happened?" she asked between breaths.

"What happened? What do you mean?"

Nia finished catching her breath and quickly replied, "with Fang! What happened with Fang?! We heard him yell from the other side of the damn camp!"

"Oh that," he said with sudden burst of excitement, "yeah he came around asking about where Leader and all them went…" Nia paused and waited for Saw to continue, but the longer she waited the longer the silence rang.

"That's all?!" she erupted.

Saw looked at her with a tad bit of confusion, "that's what happened though. What else do I gotta mention?"

"The roar! The scream shout thing! How'd it happen!"

"Oh that. He asked something about where the other Chief was, you know the girl that Leader is always with. After I told him I didn't know, and I thought that she probably went with them he did the hype shout thing. It was cool, you should've been here." As she finished listening to her partners explanation, her face was ghastly, looking as if her soul had been relinquished from her body.

However, once Nia's soul reentered her body the shock turned to aggression, and she reeled her fist back and slammed it against the Lieutenant's chest. "Idiot!" After the first fist landed she quickly followed with the next, and then alternated to the other first once more all while yelling, "Dumbass! Stupid! Imbecile! Moron! Dope! Brainless!"

Saw took each of the hits like they were coming from a toddler rather than a more than competent Faunus woman. "What'd I do?"

Once he asked the question Nia stopped assailing him for a moment, instead she motioned for him to come down to her level so she could whisper into his ear. Lieutenant obliged his bunny girl partner and squatted down to her height, putting his ear near to her lips so she could relay the information. In a small, meager, and quiet tone Nia began with, "well, you see, Chief Anaya didn't go along with Adam and the other colors."

"What, really?" he asked loudly.

"Shhhh."

"Oh, sorry" he replied after being shushed by the woman.

Nia rolled her eyes before continuing with, "yeah really."

Looking from his right to his left the Lieutenant found that the coast was clear for him to whisper ask an essential question. "Why?"

As she prepared to give him the answer, Nia motioned him even closer to herself, putting the duo close enough that the bunny girl's lips were lightly pressed up against his earhole. "… she didn't go with them because…" after inhaling a deep breath she continued with," BECAUSE SHE WAS FUCKING KIDNAPPED YOU FUCKIN DUMBASS!" Nia's high pitched scream was more than loud enough to get the ears of every surrounding member of the White Fang ringing, temporarily deafening those in the immediate vicinity.

However, Saw only turned to face the woman with a confused expression, "really?"

"Yeah!" Nia shouted at him. "Didn't you see that scorpion fucker throw her on the back of the horse!"

Saw's eyes widened, "that makes so much more sense! I thought it was weird that he came in without any on him, but left with a whole body bag."

Nia was about to erupt again but she found that she couldn't do it anymore, instead she just sighed loudly. "You're an idiot" she said matter of factly. "Why did you think Adam was so pissed, cutting the traitors up left and right without care? Did you think he just really didn't like them in particular or something?"

The Lieutenant paused to think about it for a moment before replying, "I didn't think about it at the time. But now that you mention it he was really focused on disarming them to run passed them. I don't think that bleeding is a painless death… but then again, I've never had one of my arms cut off before."

Nia only rolled her eyes lightly at her partners lack of thought process , "Yeah, you've got to try to start using your brain a bit more, because now Fang is worse off."

"Oh… whoops." After the comment, the Lieutenant and Nia sat around on the rapidly cooling sand for a while, silently taking in the situation. It was quiet until Saw spoke up nervously, though from his tone anyone, but Nia would've believed it was the same monotone emotionless voice he always spoke in. "Do you think Fang will find that out?"

Nia exhaled slowly, "maybe. But then again Leader is there as well so they'll probably be fine either way."

"Mhm" he hummed to himself, but then asking, "Why did they take her then?"

"I don't know. If you care so much figure it out your damn self. We need to focus on protecting and running the White Fang, so we don't have time to worry about the safety of a Tribeswoman. The White Fang comes first" she said as she rose from the sand, brushing its grains off her butt as she did so. "Come on," Nia stretched her hands out, assisting the large Faunus man as he rose to his feet, "let's try to secure transport while Leader's busy saving his girlfriend. You can leave the burying to somebody else."

"Okay" the large Faunus replied. Although he followed swiftly behind his bunny partner, his mind was focused on the direction that Fang ran off in. "Godspeed" he thought in a silent prayer, wishing the man and everyone else on the expedition fast travels and safety as they fought for their lives.

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