The night was dark, only to be awoken by a howling flame within the forest. The crackling of the flames had started to consume all that were unfortunate to have been in touch, illuminating even the sky above, but even through the sounds of the plants being reduced to ashes and the animals escaping the destruction of their habitat, a certain sound managed to erupt cleanly despite the chaos.

A loud sound of weight colliding with steel had vibrated through the air.

… Huh?

Naofumi's adrenaline had worn off, allowing him to realize what he had just done. He leapt in front of Itsuki, trying to take the attack head-on in his place. That in itself was something pulled out of a story, but the notion itself was idiotic in reality. Naofumi didn't have anything to gain by using himself as a shield for Itsuki in this scenario. The Beowolf would have ran through the both of them without hesitation.

… The Beowolf should have ran through the both of them without struggle.

"What the hell is that…?"

"Nao, what did you just…?"

The grimm was having trouble trying to push Naofumi back. It collided with his arms, trying to push forwards and Naofumi felt it. He felt the heaviness that the grimm was trying to force onto him and the dirt that Naofumi's feet were pressed into was definite proof of that.

However—

—between Naofumi's arm and the Beowolf's head—

—was a shield, one with a lustrous green light shining from its front.

NAOFUMI IWATANI

[The Hero of the Shield]

…Words? What the heck?

As fast and sudden as it appeared, it faded away without Naofumi even realizing that he didn't quite register what had shown up before him. His mind was too concerned with the sudden shield that appeared on his person and the beast that had been behind it.

"Motoyasu, don't just stand there like an idiot! Help him out!"

"Y-Yeah!"

From his perspective, fire balls and water blades started to shower and converge from both sides onto the grimm, looking to have stun the Beowolf even further than what it was. The weight dropped off from Naofumi and through a sense of instinct, he lunged forwards and pushed the Beowolf off of him—

"Get off and go away!"

—only to find out that there had been a meaning of too much strength.

His body was able to thrust the grimm across the forest, breaking down burning trees with ease as it slid to a stop in the distance. It was far from dead, as it came to shake off Naofumi's disengage, but this gave them the personal space that they desperately needed.

Ren and Motoyasu ran back to Naofumi and Itsuki. Ren slapped his hand against Itsuki's back to snap him out of the trance while Motoyasu blankly stared at Naofumi's mysterious shield.

"What the hell just happened? What even is that thing!?"

"We'll talk about it later!" Ren cut in. "Itsuki, Naofumi! Are you two alright!?"

"Y-Yeah…"

"S-Sorry, Nao. I didn't mean to…"

"It's fine," Naofumi told Itsuki, who had been recollecting himself. "Everyone's safe. At least, for now. That Beowolf is still kicking, so there's no time to be dwindling around!"

"It's probably going to rush straight through anyways. We need to leave immediately!"

"Wait, Itsuki." Naofumi noticed that the flames were consuming the tree in a great speed, eating up the trunks. This was normal, but he had an idea to buy them even more time. "Itsuki, aim your rocks at the trees to block its pathing. It can't detect us if it's surrounded by smoke and its sight is covered by burning obstacles."

"Got it!"

Itsuki took up a few pebbles that were along the ground and aimed all of them where he was told. In mere moments the trees collapsed at the breaking point, obscuring their vision of the Beowolf in the burning terrain.

"C'mon, let's scram!" Motoyasu exclaimed. "The fence is… this way?"

"That way," Ren corrected, pointed to a slightly different angle.

The four friends nodded, darting alongside Ren's directional instructions. Motoyasu kept looking over his shoulder, not thinking that the Beowolf was going to be kept busy for much longer.

"Oh shit, we are so dead!"

"Honestly, even if we live through this, the caretakers are probably going to be the ones to kill us instead. It's whether or not we're choosing the lesser of two evils or not at this point."

"That's a terrible mindset, Ren! Back me up on this one, Nao!" Motoyasu shot a glance over to Naofumi, though it looked as he was distracted by something. "... Nao?"

Their voices were echoing in the background, as Naofumi's ears were ringing. Even without that, his attention was primarily pulled over to what had been suddenly appearing before his eyes. In the upper left corner of his peripheral, there was a simplified icon of a shield alongside his full name written beside it. There were three bars below it, coloured in green, blue, and yellow respectively. There were also a bunch of other icons that were scattered just before his vision's boundaries, but informational overload existed alongside the panic of the situation. He had no time to register it all and figure out what they could mean.

However, from what Naofumi saw at a glance—

—it really seemed like a heads-up display from a video game. The green bar would have represented his health, and the blue and yellow bars looked to be his ability resources, but it was quickly starting to sound ridiculous. He had never heard of a phenomenon like this before.

Is it possible that this is a part of my semblance?

A distinct howl brought Naofumi back to reality and what followed were similar howls coming in the far distance. It hadn't been nearby, but if it was what they thought it was, the gap could be easily closed.

"That noise…! It's calling for its friends!"

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!"

"We could barely deal with one! How are we getting out of this one!?"

"Don't think! Just run!"

They all pivoted and started to make a break, rushing to trace the path that they took to enter the forest—as much as they could remember in the hectic turn of events. The flames had already spread to a massive level, increasing only thanks to the grimm that push the flames further out. Despite being the depths of night, Naofumi could have sworn there was enough light behind him to fill with the sky.

Through the crackling of the burning scenery, Naofumi looked over his shoulder to see that the beowolf didn't follow them and to hear that the howls had stopped. It didn't exactly help unnerve him, however. If anything, it was more eerie to think that some type of grimm could jump out from any direction thanks to that alert.

"It looks like…" Itsuki took a few heavy breaths through his words. His legs looked as if they were still trying to resist the original fear. "Looks like… they're not following us…"

"Y-Yeah…" Motoyasu, on the other hand, must have thought the coast was clear, slowing down almost to a stop. "That was… pretty close…"

"Don't stop moving. Don't slow down." Ren took a hard brake and glared at the two friends. "We're still in an area where grimm could show up and considering its call, I'd say that slowing down is the best way to get killed here."

"My legs… I can't feel a thing in them…!" Itsuki complained.

"That's good. Then you won't feel the fatigue or pain that comes with pushing your muscles past their limits."

"That's not what it—!" Itsuki sighed as his picked up his pace. "Never mind. I don't want to die."

"... Nao?"

He turned to Motoyasu. "What is it?"

"Carry me."

"As much as I would like to, I'm feeling tired too."

Naofumi found it fascinating that Motoyasu could joke like that in a time like this.

… At least, Naofumi thought he was trying to crack a joke.

How much longer must the night go on?

Ren didn't think too much when Itsuki had offered the adventure to the group. In fact, Ren thought it was a good idea to go out without being bounded by the rules every ten seconds. Considering how they were able to get Naofumi on board, and then back on board again, he would have considered their adventure to be successful upon slaying a few grimms. He didn't even think they were anything much, seeing how young hunters and huntresses over at the esteemed Beacon Academy could slay them with relative ease.

… Though, he supposed that televised reports might not be the best source of information since it's second-hand knowledge. Either that or they really got unlucky encountering such an irregularly powered grimm.

Ren brought his friends over to the wired fence, as he led them with his mental map. However, he was genuinely surprised to see that the hole that Motoyasu made hadn't been there anymore, nor was it anywhere in the visible distance along the fence. He was sure that this was the way—holes in fences don't simply patch themselves up after all.

He heard a collapse behind him as he darted his head over.

Itsuki was on all four limbs, knees and palm, gasping for the air to return to his lungs. Sweat dripped down, both from exhaustion and temperature, into the somber grass field. It sounded like even breathing had been painful for him as Ren noticed that even his arms had been shaking.

Motoyasu waddled over towards the fence, falling over so that it caught him. Despite its varying surface, he still slid down slowly. At some point, his hair tie had broken off. His hair, glossed from the sweat, had been let out and Motoyasu was careful enough not to get it tangled up in the fence as he dropped onto his tailbone.

Naofumi had still been standing. Other than himself, Ren did recall that Naofumi had the most perseverance out of the group, but even he was struggling to stand up properly.

"... Are we… Are we out yet?" Itsuki rasped through his dry throat.

"Not yet. We still need to get through the fence."

"... Wasn't there… a hole I made?"

"There was, but we must have taken a wrong step somewhere. Sorry, Motoyasu. You're going to have to make a new hole for us. Do you have enough mana for that?"

Motoyasu pulled himself up, though it was clear that he was tired, sore, fatigued, and any other synonyms that Ren could pull out from the thesaurus. However, Motoyasu's expression showed enough determination through the weakened state.

"I can… If that means we're getting out of here safely, I'll even move pass my mana capacity…"

"Hopefully, none of the grimms followed us here. If they do..." As Motoyasu picked a place to make a new hole, Ren turned his attention back towards Naofumi who had been bringing back a new item in his hands. "Then Naofumi can help defend using that… shield. Though, while the situation is calmer now, I have to ask. Where the hell did you even get that? You jumped in front to block the attack for Itsuki and it just… appeared."

"... I'm not entirely sure myself." Naofumi pulled himself up straight and leered downwards to the equipped right arm. There was a green orb lodged in the middle of the silver shield. "I… I just wanted to protect Itsuki and I felt a rush come through my body. When the rush ended, I came to with this shield on my person. I'm even seeing these weird things in my sight now, kinda like one of those interfaces in a game."

"Seriously?"

"I'm telling the truth here! I really do see it and it's still there!"

"No, I'm not doubting you, Naofumi. After all, the shield did literally appear out of nowhere."

Ren took a second to think about it. The truth was that it wasn't that unbelievable or anything out of left-field. In some cases, people discover their semblances in extreme situations, with adrenaline surging through their veins. Thus, he wouldn't have thought twice about Naofumi and a semblance to summon a shield for his utility. That part that it came out of nowhere wasn't that unusual.

Ren's head had been held onto the fact that Naofumi had already awakened his semblance and the ability to summon a shield was nowhere close to what the original semblance was. He already had his ability to heal wounds of others and to boost their bodies' durability. Both of them had similar relevance to each other. However, Ren couldn't piece together where the shield had come into play. It hadn't even been a spell type, so to speak.

Then... what is this shield?

Is it even a semblance at this point, a second one or… is it an extension of Naofumi's original semblance?

However, Ren's train of thought took another direction.

He remembered that Ozpin told them that their semblances held potential and that they should learn how to use them, despite the restrictions placed upon by the staff. Ren never understood the contradiction, but something else that he didn't understand was that the man said that their semblances were similar.

Ren's semblance was the creation and manipulation of water. Motoyasu's semblance had been the ability to wield fire to his desires and limits. Itsuki could control rocks and shot them at high velocities. Naofumi can cast healing and supportive help—at least, that was what Ren thought it was.

Right now, Naofumi showed that there was one more to his list—summoning a damn shield out of thin air. Ren looked over to the shield, but glanced over to an empty palm of his.

If what Ozpin says is right and our semblances were similar… Could I summon a shield too? Or would it be something else…?

"Don't worry, Ren." Naofumi continued on from where he left off. "If a grimm comes, I'll definitely protect you guys. You can count on me!"

There was almost a smirk laid across Naofumi's expression. If he didn't know any better, Ren would have guessed that Naofumi was the one who wanted to go on the adventure whereas Itsuki had been the one dragged along. He knew that Naofumi lived more quietly compared to them, so throwing him into the fray must have awakened some type of excitement switch in his brain, but he could have been trying hard not to show it. Naofumi was considerate, and seeing how traumatized Itsuki was feeling, he must have been holding them all back.

Besides, I bet Naofumi is still as traumatized as Itsuki is right now.

A loud howl broke the tension, or rather—it would have been adding to the tension. Ren felt his heart pound heavily, feeling that emotion of fear stabbed right through it. He looked over towards Motoyasu and he hadn't even been a fraction of the way done their escape. However, Ren noticed the lines that Motoyasu traced out.

Motoyasu couldn't even burn through them like he did the first time around.

His flames' had grown weak.

"I c-can't…" Motoyasu arms were shaking, maybe out of fear, maybe out of frustration. "My flames won't burn at a higher temperature to cut through!"

"Damn it! That only leaves us to find out where that original hole was! But… how long would that take…?"

"Uh… guys? I think we have a bigger problem here."

As Ren considered the options, Naofumi looked over towards the distance. A beowolf had been standing on its hind legs, glaring at them with a severe hatred. Even though they couldn't deal effective damage, the burn marks that Motoyasu previously left and the bruises that must have came from Naofumi sending it backwards had presided.

It seemed like either the grimm were so destruction-favoured that they forsake their own well-being or they understood the notion of vengeance and anger.

Not that it mattered to Ren. At this point, saying who the fault would fall upon had been quite childish and irrational to think about. If anything, it was clear that no one in the group had been pointing fingers.

Survival was much more important at this moment.

And in a fight-or-flight situation where their flight had been locked away as an option—

What a persistent creature.

—there only remained the option to fight.

"Motoyasu, you can still use your flames, right? It's not like you're completely locked out of it."

Motoyasu's shaking arms were to their limits, but he looked over to Ren and clenched his fist. He wasn't the smartest person he knew, not by far, but even he should know what Ren was implying. Even so, there was no faltering from his voice.

"... Yeah. I think so."

"Alright," Ren nodded, taking a step forwards. "We have to do this. We've got no other choice. The grimm is faster than us and if we run, we're going to be caught eventually."

Itsuki stood up as Ren took his stance. He was tired, but he managed to catch enough of his strength to walk into this fight with his two legs on the ground. Motoyasu crept up from the fence and cradled his flame in both palms. Naofumi hadn't been taking the backlines like last time. Naofumi took one more step before the line of friends and held his shield outwards.

"I'll be your shield and your protection. Just focus on taking down that grimm!"

Ren and Itsuki activated their semblances and hovered their respective elements around them as the grimm began to ready itself for its assault.

"Aren't you getting too into this?"

"Ren, I just want us to get out of here alive."

"... Well said, Naofumi. Then make sure that happens."

As the beowolf charged at them, both Ituski and Ren fired off their semblance attacks at the creature, which once again didn't bring any results. Rocks bounced off of the creature's partially burned fur while Ren's water blades just splashed on it, merely soaking the monster. He was able to make small scratches from what he could see, but clearly not enough to slow it down.

Motoyasu held out his arm and starting shooting out his fire. However, there was a clear deterioration of his targeting. Even with its straight pathing, Motoyasu could only hit the area that it would have been going to.

"Motoyasu, get a hold of yourself!"

"S-Sorry. E-Everything just seems… blurry."

Motoyasu never took any heavy attacks from any grimm, but he was already acting like he was going to collapse. Ren recalled Motoyasu and his usage of his semblance. Even if what Motoyasu said about having his semblance being all good before they started the fight, he used a lot of fire during the fight. He might have the most destructive element out of the group, but he can use it for a lot less time.

However, the beowolf slowed down as the flames started to spread along the ground, acting like a small barrier between them, stopping before it could get past. Even though it was an unintentional shot, that hesitation in the monster's eyes gave Ren an idea.

He reached out for Motoyasu's arm, wrapping his own arms around it.

"Motoyasu, focus on firing! I'll aim for you!"

"Are Moto's weakened flames going to do anything!?"

"It doesn't matter. That grimm can't tell the difference between temperatures, at least at a first inspection. I'll use Motoyasu's flames to surround the grimm before it realizes the truth. In the meantime, grab its blind spots!"

Ren's mind wandered back to when Naofumi had pushed the grimm back when he unleashed that shield. The strength was enough to break down multiple trees. On the other side, the fence behind them was designed to prevent any blunt strikes that the grimm could use in their attempts to invade the city.

"Naofumi, I want you to send that beowolf flying towards Motoyasu and I."

"H-Huh? What!?"

"Just listen! Don't worry about us!"

"... Got it!"

Flinching slightly from Ren's sudden command, Motoyasu still regained his energy through brute force and started firing his flames blindly, screaming as he shot them in a nonstop manner. As Ren curve the angle to surround the grimm's position with flames, Itsuki and Naofumi ran towards the side with Itsuki picking up as many rocks and pebbles as he could.

As the grimm was too distracted by the present flames, the flanking group reached the backside. Naofumi took a knee in front of Itsuki as the latter aimed his countless bullets into his target. Ren had been preparing himself, sending a water spear over towards the fence and holding them up there. However, Motoyasu's flame stream had deteriorated greatly.

Regardless, Motoyasu kept it up as Ren focused for the both of them.

His head snapped right over towards Itsuki.

"Itsuki, now!"

As Itsuki started his accelerated gatling attack, Ren redirected the flame stream into a direct attack. It probably do anything, but any chip damage was good chip damage. Everything needed to be done to wear it down.

The flying rocks managed to make the beowolf stagger forwards, dividing its attention along the two attacks. When Ren saw the beowolf getting thrown off its balance—

—"It's your turn! Naofumi!"

"Here I come!"

As the bullets rained past Naofumi, he kicked off his position and dashed forwards with his weight shifted all into the shield. The gap between closed in and—

"Take this!"

—Naofumi bashed the shield, clocking at an alarming speed and sent the grimm flying towards Ren and Motoyasu. Ren released his grip on Motoyasu's arm and held his palm along his friend's skull, pushing the both of them down below the small gap that the grimm had opened up between itself and the ground.

The beast flew right over their heads and into right his water spear. It quickly crumbled underneath its impact, crashing into the fence behind it. As Ren expected, as brutal strike like that wasn't even enough to dent the surface.

He didn't think twice—there was no time to—as Ren took Motoyasu's arm around his neck and sent a stream of water, blasting them away from the fence and back towards Naofumi and Itsuki. They rolled over each other, halting to a stop thanks to Naofumi stopping them.

Saliva collected up within Ren's mouth, puking it all out as he struggled to stand back up.

His eyes gazed upwards, as did everyone else, toward the grimm that had been in the same position as Ren. It looked tired and frustrated, or perhaps that was what it seemed like in Ren's perspective. However, he noticed that there was a faded liquid dripping down between its legs, most likely from its back—

—where the water spear had landed.

"It's bleeding. It's beatable," Ren muttered. "We can kill it. We just need a bit more!"

The grimm's red eyes glared brightly.

Even if it was in pain, it still held onto its straightforward strategy and ran forwards for its prey.

Both Motoyasu and Itsuki flinched, but Ren couldn't blame them. Even he thought its movements would have been slightly hindered, but it kept going through its injuries at full capacity.

However, Naofumi ran to match it in the middle.

"I won't..." A similar glint sparked within Naofumi's eyes. "I won't let you hurt them! They're my friends…! They're my brothers...!"

Naofumi covered himself in his green light, strengthening his resolve and his defense as he collided with the grimm in a loud impact. Unfortunately, the grimm, for what they didn't expect out of it, was learning. Meeting the shield's surface with its skull, it took its arms and took a heavy grip onto Naofumi's shield and toss him aside into a nearby tree, almost breaking it down.

And it kept going.

"Nao!"

"Damn it!"

Ren prepared himself to attack the grimm as it came closer, but he was starting to worry.

He didn't have a shield like Naofumi or any of his defensive support. If he couldn't stop the enemy here, it was over for the three of them. He started to summon as many water blades as he could and started to fire them one by one.

Nothing was working.

It didn't slow down.

Ren started to freak out. His fear was starting to control him until—

"HERE IT GOES!"

Motoyasu took a mighty step forwards next to Ren and aimed both of his arms at the incoming grimm, standing with his heart on the line. He couldn't understand what he was trying to do. His friend was on the brink of his mana capacity and couldn't even aim properly.

Nevertheless, the friend that had been standing right beside him looked as if he had been revital—

—No. That's not it.

Motoyasu was putting his everything into this one attack! If he does that, he'll seriously be injured by his own recoil! This idiot!

"Motoyasu, don't—!"

It was too late.

"My all-or-nothing attack! HELLFIRE!"

An explosion practically occurred right next to Ren's ears, almost deafening his sense as a beam of fire was unleashed from his hands. The attack was incredible with heat that was definitely higher than before—but it wasn't anything near the heat that cooked them the entryway. However, it was big and wide, completely devouring the grimm in one complete horizontal pillar. Ren noticed its shadow being pushed back from the force as Motoyasu screamed at the top of his lungs.

All Itsuki and Ren could do was watch as the grimm was lifted from the ground, being sent back against the fence in one loud crash.

The fire dispersed.

They've gotten their distance, but the beowolf was shaking it itself off, most likely disoriented from the unbelievable attack. It was distracted from its pain, growling in a low tone and shaking, buying them some more time.

… You stopped it, Motoyasu. At least, for now.

As Ren looked over to his blonde friend, he slowly widened his eyes.

Motoyasu had looked the weakest he had ever been in Ren's life. His skin was pale, his eyes were dead, and his movements were very limited. All Motoyasu did in his last stroke was turn his head to Ren.

"... I'm leaving this… up to you three… I believe… you can… find a... way… out… of… h..."

—here.

Motoyasu collapsed without even finishing his last word.

"Motoyasu!"

Naofumi had recovered from the attack and ran straight over for his friend. He immediately casted his healing semblance over to Motoyasu, but it was no good. No matter how much Naofumi amplified his semblance, he wasn't waking up.

"Motoyasu! Wake up!"

"It's no use! That idiot really pushed himself this time around!" Ren responded. "All we can do is carry him out of here, but that means beating this damn grimm!"

"W-What do we do, Ren!?"

"I'm thinking, Itsuki!" Ren grabbed his head, scratching it in frustration and anxiety. "I'm trying to think here! Just shut up and let me think!"

"B-But!" Itsuki's finger pointed straight at where the beowolf should be. "It's recovered and looking right at us!"

Ren's expression turned into despair as the drool from the grimm dropped onto the ground. The grimm can detect negative emotions and the Ren had completely forgotten in the midst of his thoughts. It knew that Ren wasn't thinking straight anymore and scratched the ground before it made one more charge.

"This time, I won't let it past me!"

Naofumi met with the grimm, clashing its head with his shield, but this time, Naofumi was careful to not let the monster control his movements. Instead of holding his shield in one spot, he took the shield and struck forwards, pulling back to repeat the process, meeting with its various attempts to grab the shield from the sides. Sparks were flying high with the claws and steel.

He was putting up a good fight, but Ren could tell that Naofumi couldn't keep it up for much longer. All he was doing was defending. Impressed on how quickly Naofumi adapted to the patterns, Ren still knew that it was only a matter of time before the beowolf crushed his parrys and throw him away like the last time.

And yet, Ren didn't know what he could be doing now.

He said that it was beatable, but if it took this much effort to make it bleed by only a little, then he didn't know what more they could pull out that could kill the threat.

Time was ticking.

Their deaths were inevitable.

They couldn't kill this monster.

They were weak.

I'm weak. I couldn't do anything towards that monster other than prick it in the back.

He looked over to Motoyasu, who was lying unconscious with his face down. The fallen friend's efforts gave them more room to breath and he placed his soul into his final attack. He wasn't even considering his own livelihood, even if pushing his limits was a stupid and dangerous thing to do.

Even so, Motoyasu had tried.

On the other side, Itsuki was trying his hardest to lift some rocks in order to throw them at the Beowolf and help Naofumi out, but it was clear that he was struggling. There was no way that Itsuki could control his semblance under these stressful conditions.

Even so, Itsuki was still trying.

Ren then looked at Naofumi again, who was still blocking beowolf's blows, even though he was clearly on the losing end. He was starting to slip his parrys, but his movements showed clear determination despite the odds. He truly wanted to protect them, even if it cost him his life, just as he jumped in front of Itsuki.

Even so, Naofumi was still trying.

As Ren watched in agony, the monster finally managed to flick Naofumi's back, sending his body past Itsuki and Ren as it prepared the final assault. As it accelerated towards them, Ren's life flashed before his eyes.

It was a simple life. All they had to do was worry about what they were eating, what they were doing, what chores and what work they needed to get done by the end of the day. All they wanted to do was to find a family that would adopt them, but until then, they stayed together as a group, going through this life of theirs together.

...

"We're friends, right?"

Ren looked over to Motoyasu as the four orphans had been lying down around the front yard of the building. The night sky was beautiful that day and the staff members allowed the group to do some stargazing as long as they were back in their beds by midnight. The refreshing breeze has brushed through his hair as Ren pulled himself upwards in a confusion.

"What the hell brought this up?"

"Well, we never actually said it out loud, right? Our status with each other, that is."

Itsuki turned his head, laying comfortable along the grass. "Friends… Saying that kinda seems weird. We don't even know our parents, but to say we have friends…"

Naofumi was smiling on the edge of the group, continuing to stare into the night sky. "Honestly, I think we're closer than that. If friends aren't enough, then consider this. We help each other out. We have fun with each other. We live with each other. I'd actually say we're closer than normal friends."

"Closer… than normal friends, huh?"

Ren muttered the thought. Honestly, he assumed he was alone in this world after being abandoned by the ones that brought him here in the first place. He was an orphan and he considered that as a fact that would follow his mind. He doubted anyone would truly want to take in a stranger's child that they left. He didn't think he even had a family and it was likely that it was meant to be this way—a curse of his birth. However, there were children that were already there and children that came in that tried to be friendly. Even if he instinctively pushed them away, they still surrounded him until he was forced to let them break down his walls.

He was scared about being thrown out again.

… Nevertheless, he enjoyed his new lifestyle. He couldn't even remember what his parents' faces looked like anymore.

"But," Naofumi interrupted his own ideas, "what do you think would happen if one of us gets adopted? Wouldn't we be separated there?"

"I wouldn't worry about that," Motoyasu exclaimed. "When that comes, we'll think about it! Besides, we're definitely friends."

"... Why did you even ask then, you idiot?"

"I just wanted to know how everyone else thinks about it! Obviously, I already know we're friends! Even when one of those days come when we have to say goodbye, I don't think it'll be the end!" Motoyasu kicked himself up and spun to face his friends, pulling their attention of the stars away. "I heard something on the television once. 'Friends always stick together and make it through together!' I'm sure we'll see each other again one day!"

"Motoyasu. That's not… what the quote means."

"It sounds nice though!"

Ren sighed with Motoyasu's interaction with Naofumi.

"Although, I guess it still applies to our mindset. What the quote really means is something we should think about each other too."

Motoyasu smiled. Itsuki smiled. Naofumi smiled.

Even Ren had to smirk a little too as Naofumi went on.

"That quote means—"

...

Naofumi rebounded himself quickly and collided with the beowolf, pushing his muscles into the strike. He threw his shoulder over, unleashing a counter that pushed the grimm backwards, but not far. Naofumi was running out of breath, falling over onto a knee as he kept his eyes alerted.

"... It's useless. I don't think we can beat it," Naofumi concluded. His back remained turned away from the group. "... Ren, Itsuki. Take Motoyasu and get out of here. Go find that opening somewhere. It still exist somewhere along the fence. I'll buy as much time as you need!"

"What the hell!?" Ren couldn't contain his disbelief. "Are you trying to sacrifice yourself like some type of hero!?"

"... I only want to protect my friends. Nothing heroic about something as selfish as that, right?"

The grimm pounced back and attacked Naofumi's shield. He gritted his teeth through the pain—Ren noticed that he didn't put up another green layer from his semblance—as he slowly met blows.

"Go! Find that exit!"

"N-Nao…" Itsuki was confused, not knowing what to do.

Ren knew the feeling, but he didn't want it.

He desperately wanted to know what he should have been doing.

"What are you two doing!?" Naofumi was almost pleading for them to escape. "Run! Get out of here!"

Ren looked over towards Motoyasu and decided. He wrapped the unconscious friend's arm around his neck and beckoned Itsuki to do the same.

"W-What!? Are we really leaving Nao here alone!?"

"... I can't think of anything else we can do! The best thing we can even consider is find an exit and call for help!"

Itsuki clicked his tongue. He clearly hated this decision, but so did Ren. Itsuki brought the other arm over his own neck as they started to drag Motoyasu's body throughout the midst of the sound of fighting. Ren and Itsuki tried to make haste to find the opening as quickly as possible, managing to gain a considerable distance, but Ren kept looking back.

Naofumi was sweating. Naofumi was tired. Naofumi had been at his limit.

A blunt strike from the beowolf managed to knock him onto the ground and instead of trying to make it past Naofumi, it decided that one human's flesh was good enough for a night's hard work. As it crept closer, Ren couldn't stop staring. His pause caused Itsuki to look back in horror as the beowolf readied itself to munch on Naofumi's body.

He was still alive. Blood had been trickling down his forehead, but he was still moving.

Ren watched as his mind blanked out from the scene.

…

Naofumi is weak. Naofumi is going to die.

Why can't I do anything!?

Why…

… am I weak!?

...

"That quote means that even in the toughest of situations, we're standing by each other's side, no matter what. That's how we'll all make it through together. It's like chopsticks. You may be able to break a single one by itself, but it'll be impossible to break them all if they're banded together. That's because if we're together—"

"—we're strong."

Ren was silent.

It was like the wildfire hadn't started yet.

It was like there hadn't been a grimm trying to kill them.

It was like his world stopped. The colours had faded into a black-and-white setting as the only sound he could hear was the systematic beating of his own heart.

Badum, it went.

Badum, it cried.

Badum, badum, badum.

And then, there was nothing.

…

…

So what is it that you want to do?

—I want… I want to help him.

And how are you going to do that?

—I… I need more power.

Now tell me. How are you going to even get this power?

—I… I don't know.

—But I want it.

—I need power.

—I need to have the strength to fight and take down everything that threatens our lives!

[If power is what you desire, then hold that blade of yours up high.]

[If power is what you desire, then raise those ideals into the sky.]

[Unsheath your strength and break the chains that hinder your future.]

[Unleash your strength and lead yourself into your own claimed victory.]

—Give me more power. Give me more strength.

[More power will be provided. More strength will be provided.]

[And yet, the question lies. Do you hesitate?]

—No, I won't run away.

—I won't run.

—We will make it through together!

[Then fight fiercely with the promise embedded in your sword.]

—WE WILL WIN. NO MATTER WHAT!

REN AMAKI

[The Hero of the Sword]

Out of all the ways to go, Naofumi never expected to be eaten by a grimm. He wanted to stand back up, but the beowolf had already slammed its foot onto his body. As it basically crushed his lungs, breathing was becoming much harder to do. It was only a matter of time before he was eaten as he was still conscious. He'd imagine it was as painful as all hell, but he thought back to Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu. If his death meant that he bought enough time to get them to escape, he would consider it to be worthwhile.

He was satisfied that the people he considered his friends—maybe even his true family—had been able to escape with their lives intact. He closed his eyes, remembering them for what may have been the final time. His only remaining wish is that they would be able to meet again in the next life, perhaps without the notion of an orphanage. Maybe if they were able to be normal children and become friends at a school, that alone would have been a fun experience.

Going to school with Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu, huh…?

That… would have been nice…

He took one final breath and hoped that if he died imagining that world, it may come to be.

…

…

"NAOFUMI!"

A voice roared as it came violently closer, causing Naofumi to shoot his eyes wide open. Above him, Ren flew into the grimm, striking it in its head with a sword as Naofumi was frozen in his attempts to wrap his head around what the hell Ren had been doing. Naofumi was about to speak up until a damp liquid dripped onto his cheek.

It was blood, but not his own of Ren's.

It belonged to the grimm and it was dripped out at a fast rate as the grimm was knocked back by the momentum Ren must have picked up with his frontal assault.

Ren drilled the grimm off of Naofumi and sent both of them flying into the distance. Ren separated himself, sending the beowolf a fair distance away and he rolled back onto his feet.

Naofumi slowly pushed himself up, only to realize that the sword that Ren had been holding wasn't one that was made out of water. The blade was silver, as golden ornaments were decorated along the weapon. On its hilt, a blue gem had been embedded, familiar to the green gem that Naofumi himself had on his shield.

"... Ren?"

As Naofumi stood back up, Ren straightened out his battle posture, keeping his eyes on the beowolf.

"... So this is what Ozpin meant. He said that our semblances were similar, but I didn't realize that he meant it like this."

"... It's… a sword."

"So it would seem."

Ren swung the sword into another position, glaring at the recovering beowolf. It had a clear injury that he just made along the chest and it was bleeding badly. The attached blood was dripping from Ren's new weapon as Naofumi already knew what Ren wanted to do.

Ren was hungry for some vengeance.

Likewise, Naofumi wanted some revenge too—payback for the terror that the grimm gave to them.

"Let's talk about this later. For now, we're coordinating an attack," Ren declared as the beowolf studied the newfound threat to itself. Naofumi slowly walked up to Ren's side and took a battle posture as well. "We're going to win this one. Losing or retreating is not an option here."

"...Yeah. I know."

Ren and Naofumi weren't going to wait around for the grimm to come for them.

""This time, we're killing the enemy!""

They ran forwards, laying their spirits onto their screams.

They were going to win.

Colour was restored back into Ren's senses, but there was something more to that vision. It was as Naofumi had mentioned—there was a heads-up interface that he remembered from some games he saw in town. According to the hierarchy of the three bars, Ren made a guess to what they were considering their fullness, but it held no importance to him for naming them out.

All he wanted to do was to kill this stupid grimm once and for all.

The grimm lashed out one of its claws, thrusting its attack directly at Ren. However, Naofumi managed to pick up his pace, jumping right between them and intercepting the attack. The parry seemed a little stronger than before somehow, causing the monster to stagger in greater detail than before.

Ren took the opening and leapt over Naofumi. He extended his blade underneath him, dragging the weapon through the beowolf's shoulder and landing right behind it. It cried out in pain, but Ren didn't want to give it any moment to breath.

"Naofumi! To me!"

"Yeah!"

Naofumi dashed forwards into the faltering grimm, pushing him forwards. Ren spun around it, cycling his blade in an arc, slashing its torso as flew past. It rolled over a few times, growling in deep pain, but the assault didn't stop.

They both closed the gap once again as the grimm forcibly picked itself up to retaliate. Naofumi led the clash, taking the first attack and bouncing it off. However, it landed on its feet with both clawed palms ready to catch Ren if he ever tried to jump over again.

Ren instead slid underneath Naofumi's legs and caught one of the grimm's back legs as he glided right between them. There wasn't even a second to let the grimm howl—Ren rebounded once he was behind and struck the beowolf in the back. Sent over to Naofumi, he lunged with the shield, knocking it back like some sort of game, as Ren took the combination and struck with a rising slash. Naofumi followed up by jumping into the air and shoving it over Ren.

It bounced along the ground not once, but five times from Naofumi's momentum.

Ren didn't necessarily understand it.

It was like his mind was clear even through the despair he had gone through mere moments ago. With a monster that seemed like a big boss, the two friends had its movements wrapped around their fingers.

The wounds looked to be heavy on the grimm, but it still glared at the friends with bloodlust, dropping to a quadrupedal stance and ramming forwards.

It was slower, but Ren didn't know if it was because of the injury or because he was moving faster.

Naofumi must have been seeing the same thing as he quickly stood in front and parried the attack once again, allowing Ren to land a clean strike against its body. It tried again, and it was parried by Naofumi and attacked by Ren. Again and again, the grimm tried its linear mindset without realizing that it wasn't going to break through.

However, it muscled through with an unexpected lunge. It knocked Naofumi backwards into Ren, causing the two friends to roll over each other to a stop. It dug its claws into the earthen ground and relentlessly pursued their bodies.

They took their recoveries and went to split up upon the left side and right side. Confused at the diversion, the grimm saw Itsuki and the downed Motoyasu in its path and still pressed on, but the two friends weren't going to let that happen. They stepped towards each other, timing it just right on Ren's cue, sandwiching the grimm between sword and shield. The running slowed down, but with Naofumi dropping right off, Ren had been forced to ride it from the side—his sword was stuck.

Even so, Ren pulled his weight backwards and redirected the course into a tree. The collision knocked the tree down, but Ren was able to pull out his sword and leaping away from it.

He arrived next to Naofumi, but the grimm was still kicking. Scampering around, it quickly appeared before them and swiped its claws. Naofumi blocked the attack, but the strength imbued within it had carried Naofumi and Ren back to where they started originally.

Naofumi and Ren quickly stood right up, only for Ren to realize he released the grip on his sword and it went flying somewhere else. Naofumi saw it, but he still met with the grimm for what seemed like the hundredth time during the fight—and he would do it a thousand more times too.

However, Ren saw where the sword was.

He got ready.

Naofumi didn't know where the sword was, but he wanted to give enough time for Ren to recover it. He could hear Ren's footsteps behind him, so he tried to hold the grimm in place for Ren to land a clean strike on—

"Naofumi, move out of the way!"

With Ren's instructions, he didn't even question it.

He sidestepped the interaction as the grimm continued on its warpath and looked behind him to see what Ren was planning. However, he saw that Ren didn't even have his sword, but he was still running towards the grimm. Naofumi didn't know what to think about it, but surely, Ren had a plan—

—and just then, a sword came flying over Ren's head and connected into the beowolf's chest. Naofumi looked where the sword had come from, seeing that Itsuki had been the one to throw it, given his current stance. His accuracy when throwing things had always been spot-on, digging the sword deep within, but it finished yet.

Ren leapt into the staggered grimm and caught his sword's hilt and thrusted forwards even more. The beowolf was desperately trying to knock Ren away, but it couldn't even response. All it could do was growl in the midst of Ren's scream.

"HYYAAAGH!"

Ren gritted his teeth as he turned all of his muscles inwards, straining them to push right through. As he went on, rocks had been pelting the grimm's arms and legs—Itsuki was making sure that its actions were definitely suppressed.

"IT'S OVER!"

And in one fell swoop, Ren punctured through the grimm, leaving a massive hole for him to parse right through. He had a rough landing, bouncing a few times before he stopped and he was covered in the grimm's blood. He was raspfully breathing from that attack with his arms shaking from the sudden release, but he was smiling as well.

The grimm held the position with a gaping hole through its chest and slowly fell over.

Naofumi kept his guard up, just in case and moved in carefully to see if he needed to finish it off if required. However, the grimm's body began to transform into dust.

The tenseness in his body dropped.

… We won.

However, the dust didn't simply fade away. It started to circle around Naofumi's shield which freaked him out slightly, but his green gem had been glowing as it did. It was as if it was absorbing the dust, taking the remains into its surface. He hadn't been feeling anything weird, so he had doubts if he should have stopped the interaction. In honesty, he was too tired to even think about how he could stop it if he actually wanted to.

Naofumi started to think about the shield.

Considering the powers that he felt like he had during the fight, there was no doubt that this was part of his semblance, if they were any to begin with. However, he had never heard about a semblance that can manifest a physical object like this. To make things even weirder, it doesn't seem like the bars were going away anytime soon. He remembered there was something that was said across his sight when he first unlocked this shield.

Naofumi Iwatani. The Hero of the Shield.

However, a single note had broke him out of his thoughts.

[Shield Unlocked]

Alpha Beowolf Shield

(Grimm Series)

- increased movement speed (small)

- increased agility (medium)

- adds extra damage to attacks of party members (small)

- (special) ability to summon a weak beowolf

However, he didn't take the time to read it fully. Once his mind was free from the shield, the next priority gave over.

"Ren!"

He ran over to his friend who had been struggling to stand up straight. He was using his sword as a type of cane to at least get himself onto his feet. He was still retaining his smirk.

"Serves that damn grimm right for messing with us."

"Are you alright?"

"I can still move. I'll call that a win."

Meanwhile, Itsuki had been dragging Motoyasu across to them, smiling in contentedness as well. Naofumi quickly came to help support him.

"That grimm is finally taken down," Itsuki said. "Now, all we need to do is get out of this forest."

"Still…" Ren looked over towards where the beowolf had died. "That was much tougher than I expected. I didn't realize beowolfs were so tough."

Naofumi recalled the sudden note that popped up seconds ago.

"... Alpha… beowolf…"

"An alpha beowolf!?" Ren widened his expression before chuckling. "Heh. It makes sense! So that's why it was so difficult! If it was a normal beowolf, we would have never gotten into this situation!"

"Anyways, Itsuki's right." Naofumi looked at the unconscious Motoyasu. "We need to get out of here before anything else no—"

Something stopped Naofumi from finishing his sentence.

There were a big number of howls coming from the burning forest. If what they killed was the alpha, then surely, the rest of the beowolf would notice that their leader was dead. Naofumi stared back in disbelief as he could vaguely make out the shadows of a few—no there were tens upons tens—of beowolfs coming into their direction.

On one side, they were all ordinary beowolves. It was clear to see considering that they were all noticeably smaller than the one they fought. However, that alone didn't really matter in the end. There were simply too many of them to deal with given the fact that they had an unconscious person and their main defensive line was getting very tired.

"All that work and we're dying either way…" Ren mulled.

Itsuki clicked his tongue and grunted. Tears started to sob upon his cheek. "I-I'm sorry, guys. It was all because I wanted to come on this adventure… I only wanted to make more memories with all of you. I should have just listened to you, Nao. None of this would have happened if I wasn't so stubborn!"

"It's fine, Itsuki." Naofumi looked over with a serene expression to aide Itsuki's depressed words. "Setting aside the part where we die, I think I… enjoyed this adventure. If we live through this somehow, maybe we should go on more adventures. Though, maybe we should know when to stop though and know our limits."

"R-Really?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm still pissed that you pulled me out of my sleep for this."

Naofumi's soft words, despite the underlying theme, had made Itsuki smile through tears. He wiped them off of his face with his spare hand and looked over to the ones that would let them meet their makers.

"You all can still talk like it's the end." Ren glared at the monsters and stood straight up, tightening his grip on the sword. "I'm not going down without a fight, at the very least."

As Ren took the center stage, he looked back towards the friends. "I'm going to fight them with the intention of winning. Provide me support from a distance Itsuki and Naofumi, make sure that none of the grimms attack Itsuki or Motoyasu."

"... That's… insane." Naofumi couldn't help but to mutter that out loud.

"Nyeh…" Motoyasu slowly opened his eyes through his limp body and slowly brought his eyes to survey the surroundings. Naofumi gasped as Motoyasu was starting to come back to his mind. "...Are we… out… yet?"

"Great, you woke up just when we're about to die," Ren answered. "If being stampeded by a bunch of grimm counts as a part of that definition, then in a way, I suppose we're out."

"... Then can I… say something…?"

"What?" Ren tilted his head at the clearly unenergized friend. "That you're happy to have met us? That meeting us has changed your life? Anything sappy along the lines of that?"

"... I don't want... to die a virgin."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Ren, Itsuki, and Naofumi stood in silent through Motoyasu's announcement, said in a completely serious tone, as Motoyasu fell back to sleep. Both Itsuki and Naofumi were in disbelief to what Motoyasu's chosen last words had been, while Ren glared at the friend with contempt.

"... Motherfucker wakes up to say that moments before we die, only to fall back asleep again."

Even in the foreseeable end, the group ended up chuckling as Ren smirked in amusement.

Nevertheless, the situation was helpless. Their newfound segments of their semblances seemed to be strong, especially in tandem, but at the end of the day, they were mere children—fourteen year olds that haven't even known what school was like. There was no way to run away, especially with Motoyasu in this state, and jumping the wired fence wasn't an option. The only way to get out of here was to fight once again. It was extremely unlikely to live through it, but that was the only chance.

There was one more howl to initiate the stampede and they prepared themselves for the end.

Naofumi winched, preparing himself for the end. He'd only pray that it didn't hurt as he would think it would.

…

…

"Huh? What the—?"

Ren's alarmed confusion had brought Naofumi out of his flinching, causing him to open back up to his surroundings. All so suddenly, a bright flash of yellow light came about the area and just as quickly, a shining projectile flew past Naofumi's body and towards the leading beowolf, immediately crushing its skull into nothing but black blood and dust.

It fell to a halt as its lifeless body began to be trampled by its comrades, but there hadn't been simply one projectile that came. As Naofumi and his friends watched in a jaw-dropped fashion, multiple projectiles had started to almost fling themselves over towards the horde, each taking one or two down with ease and proficiency.

As much as Naofumi was eternally grateful for this random incident to be occurring, the projectiles had to be coming from somewhere.

Naofumi and Ren turned their heads—Ren must had been on the same train of thought—and they noticed a tall figure of a woman. She looked like she was in her thirties, had blonde hair tied back in a bun with a curl hanging on the right side of her stern expression. She was wearing a long-sleeved, pleated top, a cape on top of it, that was black on the outside, and purple on the inside, as well as a black skirt. In her hand had been a wand-like stick.

Itsuki noticed his friends' drawn attention and glanced back for himself.

This woman, whoever she was, must have been the one controlling the projectiles. If that was the case, her semblance was rather strong to be able to control that many objects at a single time. Either she had been a really strong wanderer of the lands, which most probably wasn't the case, or she was—

"A-Are you… Are you a huntress!?" Itsuki had asked what everyone had been thinking, gleaming with hopes in his eyes.

The footsteps of the incoming army hadn't stopped, but they were definitely lighter than before. Without any additional heistation, more projectiles had started to surround her as she took up her wand, almost like how Itsuki would control his rock bullets—simply intensified in a greater proportion and not limited to rocks on the ground.

They all flew past the boys, as Naofumi ripped his head back to see where they were all going. One by one, they collided with the remaining grimm with such brutality and eventually, there hadn't even been a single noise in the forest, other than the subtle crackling of the wildfire—something that seemed to actually been quieter than before.

The woman had raised her crop into the sky, as black clouds began to circle the area. From there, the rain had started to fall, enough to keep the fire down and secured. The destruction that was the wildfire was coming to its end.

Naofumi felt easiness within his heart.

They were alive.

They made it out of the grim situation and he couldn't be happier.

However, a soft coughing drew back Naofumi's attention to the woman. With the darkness aided with a somber light from the flames, Naofumi couldn't explain why her figure looked to be more sinister. His heart started to pound once again, squirming around in this unexpected fear as she pushed her glasses up.

Naofumi gulped and he was fairly certain that Itsuki and Ren did as well. They were all too familiar for what was about to come.

"Well, I sure hope that you have some good excuses for all that commotion."

To be continued

Here we go, part 2 out of 3 of the prologue.

Together with Pretty Lazy we really tried to make this as brief as possible but... yeah.

Anyway, WE hope you liked it regardless.

Cya!

[PLZ don't skip it]