Remnant Heroes (RIMN)

by Adam Rook

A story unfolds between a group of orphans when an incident occurs in their youth, unlocking a set of unusual semblances dubbed "The Holy Weapons". With a keen eye from Ozpin, they are given the chance to set off to their new lives at Beacon Academy, where they become team RIMN. But not all is simple in this world...

5. Chapter 2 - Backgrounds

"It is over, Heroes! I have the high ground!"

Ren shouted while standing on top of the playground's slide that led to a sandbox, while raising a stick he found on the ground earlier in his hand, pointing it towards the other three, who were standing next to each other in the said sandbox.

"Don't underestimate our power!"

"That's right! There's three of us, and you are all alone!"

Itsuki and Motoyasu shouted back at him, not amused by his declaration even in the slightest, but bearing wide smiles on their faces. Motoyasu raised his own, much longer stick that still had a singular leaf on it, pointing it back at their 'enemy'. Itsuki on the other hand, was holding a conveniently bent stick that, with the help of his own shoelace, had been transformed into a makeshift bow.

"Fools! I am far stronger than any of you! I shall slay all of you one by one and then steal all your powers for myself to grow even stronger!"

"We won't lose to you, you greedy, gluttonous bastard!"

"That's right! We will avenge those cookies you stole instead of sharing!"

Ren smirked, and stood at the edge of the slide. "Enough talk! Here I come!". And with those words, he moved his foot forward.

"Wait! Don't try it!" a new voice spoke, this time however, it wasn't any roleplaying, but genuine concern over his friend's safety.

It came from Naofumi, who was standing behind Motoyasu and Itsuki all along. A short stick in his right hand, a trash can's cover in his left, imitating a shield and lastly, a pot on his head, an imitation of a helmet.

Ren however, didn't listen, and stepped forward, with the intention of going down the slide while still standing on his feet.

As Naofumi watched in horror, and Itsuki and Motoyasu in excitement, Ren went down at a high speed towards them while still smirking.

That smirk however, quickly disappeared, once he lost his balance at the very end of the slide. "Whoooah!" he exclaimed as he flew forwards, right into the others.

"Oh shit!" "Crap!" Motoyasu and Itsuki yelled as they jumped to the sides away from him. Naofumi however, was too slow with the reaction, and wasn't able to dodge him.

Ren rammed into him with all his momentum, knocking him down on the sand. For the next couple of seconds, they tried to regain their senses while laying next to each other and grunting in pain.

"Hey! Are you guys alright?"

"Ren? Nao?"

Motoyasu and Itsuki both started calling out to them as they both were still laying on the ground, whereas Ren grunted and tried to move, Naofumi had his eyes closed, and did not move an inch.

"Naofumi!"

---

—"Hey! Naofumi! Wake up!"

Naofumi instinctively groaned, rolling along his bed from his fleeting dreams. He could have sworn he had locked his room before he went to sleep, but that apparently hadn't been the case. Either that or the intruder had somehow developed a lockpicking skill along the line. Though, it would probably be more accurate to say 'gained' a lockpicking skill.

A passing thought of feigning ignorance struck his mind. Of course, he really didn't like it when people woke him up earlier than he expected, but perhaps if he stayed quiet, the intruder would leave him alone. There must have been some increased level of maturity in his soul, but that was only a hopeless wish. Even with a shooting star, it probably won't come true.

"C'mon! Nao! Wake up already!"

'Of course Itsuki's not going to leave me alone. Absolutely nothing about his stubbornness has changed, now has it?'

He hesitated on pulling the pillow over his ears, but his body started to physically shake. It hadn't been anywhere close to a subtle tugging like the old days anymore—it was a full-on shaking that one would give to something like a lotto box. Even if he was asleep, that would have woken him up immediately.

Naofumi threw his hand onto the arm of the shaker as a subtle growling came through Naofumi's teeth.

"What the hell do you want?"

Naofumi leered over behind him to see Itsuki and his smile, apparently content to see Naofumi awake for whatever reason. Hopefully, Itsuki wasn't about to get him to go on an adventure.

"Get up and get out there already!" Itsuki let go of Naofumi and pumped up his fists, having his brother as the witness to it. "Tell me how is it that whenever something life changing is about to happen, you're off on your own, oversleeping!"

Naofumi widened his eyes and immediately bounced out from his bed.

"Wait, crap! Seriously!?"

Naofumi was frantically trying to get himself together, silently cursing the alarm clock that never went off. He was searching for it to see how far he was back, instinctively looking to where the nightstand would have been. However, the base hadn't been there anymore and he reminded himself that he placed the alarm clock along the floor, so he leapt out of bed and crouched down. He almost fell on his face before catching him and immediately grabbed onto the clock to see the current time.

It read six o'clock. There were two more hours until the alarm would have rang.

"... Itsuki, why? What did I ever do to you to deserve this?"

Itsuki had a smirk, extending a peace sign to his brother. "Well, we still have lots of time as you can see! I only said that you overslept to get you up from bed quickly."

Never before had Naofumi wanted to wipe such a smug grin off of someone's place before in his life. Though, he'd be lying if he said that he didn't expect this to come from someone like Itsuki. Naofumi nevertheless held his head against the bed's side, looking as if he was comtemplating socking Itsuki across the face at the moment, but that would be too mean and unlike him to do such a thing.

It was only his precious sleep that was disturbed, nothing of much value.

Naofumi had an irritated sigh.

"One more min—AHH!"

Somehow, Itsuki had rounded the perimeter of the room and gotten to the closed blinds before Naofumi could realize and before Naofumi could finish up his swear, a bright light struck his defenseless eyes. Not even his shield could have blocked such a sudden and powerful flank, as his hands leapt to shield the way for the victims of the sun's attempted murder.

"It's only six o'clock! How is it so bright!?"

"It's not that bright, Nao. Man, you're acting like how Ren and Moto were acting when I opened up the blinds for them." Itsuki locked the blinds in place and turned, placing his hands on his hips. "Now that you're fully awake, there's still things we need to pack up and prepare. It's all in the living room and kitchen, but you should probably eat breakfast first. I've already eaten and… I think Ren and Moto have too? Not sure, they didn't give a clear response."

"Fine. Fine, I'll get up."

Naofumi ruffled his hair as he used the bed to groggily push himself up to his feet in reluctance. He let out a deep breath as Itsuki proceeded back to the door. Oversleeping had been one issue that he would have let an incident like this slide, but if they still needed to pack stuff in, he suppose this could slide as well.

"I'll meet you out there. Just let me be more presentable first."

"Yeah, I got it."

Itsuki made a subtle wave and closed the door behind him, leaving Naofumi to do his quick spruce up.

Today had been the day that the brothers had been waiting for over these last few years. Considering that most hunter students start their training when they were young, having to squish all of that into three to four years was much to digest, especially when the person to train them had hard regimes that primarily included throwing them into a situation and letting them adapt themselves.

For a headmaster for the elusive Beacon Academy, Naofumi had to admit that teaching probably wasn't his strongest suit. Though, Ren seemed to enjoy it the most out of the group. Thankfully, there had been other guests that helped with the training when Ozpin hadn't been available like Glynda and a man named Qrow.

Most of their furniture had been packed up in a moving truck that their father had rented out for the day. There were probably still a few manageable things they had to bring down, but the amount shouldn't have been more than what he could count on his fingers.

Though, they probably weren't going to keep most of those items at all.

They were moving their things out and ultimately donating most of them. The academy already had most of the essentials and all the stuff that they think they would need will be brought with them and stored inside their pre-assigned room before the opening ceremony went on. Really, they were probably the only students allowed to do such a thing.

As Naofumi got himself together and walked out with most proper clothing, he immediately went to the washroom to splash some cold water in his face. He looked at himself in the mirror and took a deep breath.

'Today really did come and we're really going on to Beacon Academy together.'

It felt like a dream, but it wasn't. On that fateful day when they decided to leave the orphanage, never once did they imagine that they would fight a strong grimm, survive the fight, be adopted by Ozpin, and given the chance to go to school together. Naofumi didn't even consider the fact that they were heading to the esteemed Beacon Academy.

Naofumi was merely content that they could stay together like he wished for.

"Hey, Naofumi? How long are you taking!?"

"Yeah, I'm coming now!"

Naofumi slapped his cheeks with a chilly palm and wiped the water out with the towel, responding to Itsuki's voice.

As he was more awake, he strolled right into the living room. He had planned to grab something out of the refrigerator, but there wasn't really much he could eat. Naofumi tried his best to keep the amount of food remaining in there as low as possible as the days built up to today. If anything, there was probably milk and eggs left in the refrigerator. It was tempting to simply order some food and get it delivered here, but his feet stopped as he went on into the kitchen.

He took a few steps back into the living space and turned his head creakily in confusion.

Ren and Motoyasu had their hands glued onto their controllers, staring deeply into the television set that they hadn't put away yet. Their thumbs moved the joystick and hit the buttons with no hesitation or delays while their bodies were sitting on the floor where the couch used to be. Hell, their setup was basically a flat screen television on the wall—that Naofumi could have sworn was packed up already—while they had empty chip bags and soda bottles on the coffee table before them.

Now, Naofumi wouldn't bat an eye at this normally. In fact, this was a normal occurrence in the household, though sometimes, Itsuki would be added in among the fray as well. However, Naofumi couldn't help to compare the time and situation in which they chose to play it. Naofumi unexpectedly let out a small croak of disbelief, but there was an immediate response from the two.

"Yo." "Morning."

And they returned back to the game. Actually, they never left the game in the first place—they didn't even bother to look over to see Naofumi, greeting him without eye contact.

Naofumi didn't even bother asking.

The bags underneath their eyeballs had told Naofumi everything that he needed to know.

Nevertheless, Naofumi probably should confirm it.

"... Please don't tell me you two stayed up all night to play video games."

"Hell yeah, you know we did."

"Why wouldn't we? This is our last chance to do this here."

Naofumi raised his finger and opened his mouth, almost to protest, but there wasn't much he could do anymore. The damage was already done and besides, he clearly didn't have the words to match their utter confidence. His spiral of mixed emotions were subtle and through his mumbled thoughts, he ultimately sighed defeatedly.

"Fine."

Naofumi started walking into the living room and glanced at the screen momentality. He didn't recognize it at all, but that was probably a given. Unlike his brothers, Naofumi was someone who was much more interested in his books rather than video games, but they all shared the interest in tabletops.

"What game are you playing anyways? Actually, it kinda looks familiar."

The screen was divided in two halves, top and bottom. It appeared to be a third-person perspective RPG, as indicated by the fact that the player on the top was holding a spear and the one on the bottom having a sword—both of which had been dashing around a giant monster, deftly dodging all of its complex attack patterns and waiting for the chance to strike. It didn't take a genius to realize which players had been aligned with which brother.

"It's Dimension Wave," Motoyasu answered.

The familiar gameplay was finally matched with a name, letting Naofumi's 'tip-of-the-tongue' notion be relieved of its job. "Wait, isn't that Itsuki's favourite game?"

"Well, he did start off with us, but he dropped off around midnight," Motoyasu went on. "Adversely, we were only planning to stay up originally to about three, but things happened and we—"

"—Hey, dumbass! What are you doing!?" Ren shouted, causing Naofumi to leap a little in his place. "I thought you said you had my back when Thanatos was going into his fourth pattern arrangement! I'm in critical health now! The dude almost one shotted me!"

"I got it! My bad!" Motoyasu jerked himself upright as he gritted his teeth, focusing more on the fight at hand. He even started yanking his controller according to how his character was dodging. "I can handle him for now by myself! Get your healing potions!"

"Literally already a step ahead of you!"

"A-Anyways!" Motoyasu seemed keen on fulfilling Naofumi's question, but his tone had become more stressed out. "Something, something! U-Uh! We kept playing! Something about being too distracted! Wasn't looking at time! Itsuki woke up again at like four! Wanted to join in, but couldn't! Sidequest was a two-man party limit! Decided to do his own shit for—!"

"Motoyasu, dodge it! Don't block it!"

"I got it, I got it!"

At that moment, Naofumi's gaze drifted towards Itsuki who was currently located in the kitchen.

Their living room and kitchen were one big room, divided by a half wall. From behind, Itsuki was sitting calmly in the drastic comparison against these two knuckleheads as he ate his cereal peacefully. Naofumi didn't realize they still had cereal and if they did, he might as well skip out on ordering food then. However, despite the screaming and shouting that was going on, Itsuki seemed to be heavily invested in something in his scroll.

"Wait, since four? What was Itsuki doing for that entire time?"

"Research! Probably!"

Naofumi furrowed his eyebrows. "Research? We haven't even gotten to a single class yet. What does he need research for?"

"Those bad guys from that incident about a week ago!"

"He's entering the sixth phase, Motoyasu! Get ready, it's going to be a wide fucking AOE spread once that phase hits!"

"Yeah, I'm ready! I got the speed-up boost on both of us!"

"Ah, yes," Naofumi sighed. "Really, only you two could possibly get into so much trouble with father after being sent to go get groceries."

"Hey! They started it! Kinda!"

Naofumi narrowed his eyes, not believing that Motoyasu was trying to pass that over him. "You literally jumped into the fight yourself."

"T-That's why I said kind—Ren, left side!"

"Yeah, I see it!"

"Oh boy." Naofumi scratched his head and gazed at both Ren and Motoyasu as they didn't seem like they would even budge from their place. "Look, can you two stop playing already? We have to get going in a few hours and besides, you're probably bored of playing the same game for hours on end."

"Bitch, does it look like we're bored!?" Ren shouted, before realizing what he just said. "S-Sorry, Naofumi. That was uncalled for. We'll get off once we finish this boss fight."

"How long would that be?"

"Well, we're in the sixth phase right now," Motoyasu commented. Naofumi didn't think twice about the number, assuming that they were nearly finished with the fight. He was about to leave them to do their thing before Motoyasu had completed the thought.

"And there's twenty-one phases to this fight."

"... Wait, what? How?" Naofumi wanted to say even more than that, but he shook his head. At this point, it wasn't worth the effort. "You know what? Fine. Have your fun. Make sure you guys finish up and get a chance to eat before we head out. Either that, or I turn off the television."

"Do that and I will murder you in the most brutal way possible," Ren retaliated coldly. "No, I'm not apologizing for that. Try it for yourself and see if I'm kidding or not."

"Geez, fine."

Scratching his head, he was left wondering about the type of amusement that his brothers had looked for. Of course, it wasn't as if he couldn't see the fun in enjoying video games; the entertainment was simply not for him, but sometimes, they took it to a level where it was basically life-or-death for something that seemed so stressful.

Naofumi shrugged it away, entering the kitchen space. The table they usually used for eating was right in the middle of the area, holding up Itsuki's breakfast as he continued to scroll through his device. Naofumi noticed a collective archive of news reports, ranging around from criminal incidents to crime theories upon forums.

He quickly opened up the cabinet and pulled out the first—and only—thing he saw, which was some cereal. He brought some milk out from the fridge and discovered that there actually wasn't anything left there either. Naofumi silently congratulated himself for perfectly managing their supplies in such a well… and then realized that Ren and Motoyasu probably didn't have a proper breakfast yet.

He glanced over to the two guys who were still absorbed in their game.

'Yeah, they're not going to notice at all.'

He sat down across from Itsuki and started to eat.

"You're still looking for him?" Naofumi asked, gaining Itsuki's attention. "It's been a week already. It's fine if you can't find him, just leave him to the authorities. You said it yourself; something life-changing is about to happen. There's no reason to concern yourself with unneeded details."

"Oh, the guy?" Itsuki chuckled at Naofumi's assumption. "C'mon Naofumi. Who do you think I am? I already found out who the guy was—a bit difficult to not know who that guy was upon retrospect. Orange hair, signature bowler hat, smoking habit, and a firing cane. His name is Roman Torchwick; he's a famous criminal in Vale that specializes in robberies and gang deals."

"Then what are you still looking for?"

"That woman that was on the bullhead with him." Itsuki went and continued his search on his scroll as he spoke. "I keep tabs on all of the reported criminal incidents, seeing if the authorities are able to bring justice to them, so I pretty much know the majority of them. Though, I've never actually seen that woman show up on any reports, even though she was able to fight off Moto and defend the bullhead from Mother."

"The woman on the bullhead?" Naofumi tried to remember, but there was only one thing that he could latch on in his memory. "Oh, the person that Motoyasu claimed to have a crush on him!"

Itsuki snickered under his breath. "Y-Yeah. T-That one."

"So the problem is that you don't know who she is?"

"Obviously, I'm not only looking at past criminal reports. I'm searching everywhere for any details on the woman, but everything is hitting a dead end. Someone of that power to rival Mother couldn't be someone that has kept quiet in the world until now. And to come out to the world during a small robbery?"

Itsuki had let out a deep sigh. "Yeah, I don't buy it. I know there has to be something out there that will lead to that woman's identity."

"She's still a criminal, especially if she was helping out a famous robber. She might simply be good at what she does and probably just slipped up last week. How was she supposed to know that Motoyasu would literally fly up into the bullhead to fight her?"

"Unfortunately…" Itsuki diverged from the scroll and started to finish up the last few spoons of his cereal, but his shoulders slumped over.

"Look," Naofumi said, trying to reassure Itsuki's downed attitude. "I'm sure Father's doing his best to find both of them. The four of us should focus on training and school right now."

"I thought we're plenty strong already," Itsuki said, placing down his scroll as he brought his dishes to the sink, "but last week showed me something different. They got lucky with their escape and if we're going to be catching these criminals and bringing them to justice, there's no place for things like that. We'll have to be strong enough to rip the luck out of their hands."

With Itsuki's back turned to him, Naofumi wryly laughed in silence.

'I guess he's still into the whole 'justice' thing. Some things will never change…'

However, Naofumi's eyes gazed upon the surface of Itsuki's scroll. There were a lot of things on it, but he caught himself glancing at a recent news article. There were a few of them, but one of them made him a bit anxious.

It was starting to become part of headlines relatively more frequently, but all he could do was hope that the authorities would be able to deal with those people and keep the city just that much safer.

'The White Fang Strikes Once Again…'

---

'The White Fang Strikes Once Again…'

A figure on top of the harbour's warehouse had been looking at his scroll, reading the headlines of news to help pass the time. He heavily sighed, wondering where the hell everyone was.

The sun was slowly rising into the new day as the light shimmered over the horizons, sliding between the many containers that were scattered around the docks' shipping area. Each one contained a certain weight of dust, but all that the man above knew was that they were the targets of the next operation and he was hired to keep an eye on them.

Though, that was really half the job, more or less acting as a cover, and he wasn't actually hired by any of the companies, plastered on the containers. Well, technically he was, but it's a long story. To be fair, he couldn't really care any less about who the people were. If money was offered and a clear objective was given, he was probably going to do it.

Down below, the man noticed a few moving figures. They started off as dark silhouettes that remained against the shadows, but as the man squinted his eyes, their uniforms became clear to see.

Each of them wore black clothing with white cloaks, as their faces were hidden behind white masks, marked with red patterns. He counted a few of them, probably fifteen in total, but there was an extra figure down below that was in a different outfit. That was probably their mission leader and to add to the overview, three long-ranged snipers were watching over them.

Unfortunately, they were pretty bad at keeping themselves alerted and doing their jobs properly if he was able to stay here without any issues. It was almost hilarious how long he'd been in the same spot without them realizing.

"Alright, get everything all sorted out!" the leader shouted below. It was a female behind that mask; not that it really mattered. "Secure the quota of these containers! The bullheads should be arriving in about fifteen minutes!"

'Fifteen minutes, huh? Well, crap. That wasn't part of the plan.' The man stood up from his position, picking up a loose screw that was nearby. 'Guess I'm going to have to do something about this.'

He tossed the screw over the edge and it slowly flew downwards, clinking against the ground.

"Huh?"

One of the members noticed the sound as they were trying to get the containers setup for the operation. They pulled out their weapon as they crept over to where the noise came from, next to the warehouse.

"Oh…" The member released their breath, sheathing their weapon. "Just a loose screw."

"Hey! You there!" The leader saw the member standing about, looking over to them. She started to walk over, seeming to indicate a physical threat if they weren't listening. "Stop slacking off and get to work!"

The member looked back at their leader. "S-Sorry about that, boss. I just thought—"

"—that somebody was here?"

Within an instant, the leader's eyes were overtaken by a bright light behind the distracted lackey. Everyone who noticed it had pulled away from their jobs, quickly trying to piece together what was going on. A few seconds was all that the light could last for and once she rubbed her eyes, she immediately heard a thud against the ground.

Actually, it was more like a smash as the ground in front of her had been cracked. The lackey's head had been sunken into the concrete, as blood started spilling through the broken mask and there were no signs of movements from them.

On top of the powerless body, the young man's foot had rested on the lackey's skull with a smug look to his expression.

"You really had to speed up the plans, huh? No matter." He taunted them by pounding his chest. "I could have taken all of you on anyways."

The young man, most likely in his twenties, wore a red, sleeveless leather jacket, leather pants and boots, as well as some metallic armor on his shoulder and joints. His eyes and hair were red, with the latter being really messy. He also had a black tattoo on his left arm. However, the most unusual thing about him was his weapon.

A light-blue scythe rested on his shoulder with a huge, curved blade that looked semi-transparent. It was radianting in a shimmering light. As the leader mulled in whoever this person was, her eyes blinked as they caught a jewel that was laid within the weapon, almost like an eye-catching centerpiece to the absurd weapon.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" The young man paused for a bit after the words rolled out naturally. "Oh wait, sorry about that. I feel like that's pretty offensive in this—"

"GET HIM!"

All of the members under her command drew their guns and started firing relentlessly. Cutting the words before he could finish, the leader thought she had taken him off guard as the storm hailed into their opponent. Some bullets exploded as it landed, causing smoke to kick up from the impact.

After everyone fired their rounds, the leader held her hand up to have them yield. The hailing attacks stopped as they lowered their weapons.

The leader smirked underneath her mask.

'That's what you get…! Who did he think he was, trying to mess with the White Fang?'

However, there was a voice that shattered through the clearing smoke and a small laughter to add along.

"Wait, that's it? Seriously?"

The black smoke faded away as a barrier of light was present in front of his body. There were cracks along the surface, but it still held on strongly. Behind it, the man probably had a bigger smirk than she did.

"H-How!?"

"Alright." The man readied his scythe. "My turn. Spell : Accelerate!"

The gunners tried to straighten their aims towards the incoming man, but he rushed in with blinding speeds. He flicked his scythe forwards into a random lackey and though the blade couldn't pierce through the aura, the body was sent launching into the distance and it crashed into a shipping container.

The man landed on his feet, grinding to a halt as he quickly surveyed the current matchup.

There were still five enemies trying to lock on with their guns while the others were resorting to melee weapons. He had an idea, but this scythe wasn't going to be enough for the job.

[Scythe Equipped]
Wind Dust Scythe (Dust Series)
- Deals additional wind damage (high)
- (special) Air Strike Scythe

"That's much better."

As the man's scythe enlightened with a flash of orange, it changed its appearance. When the light disappeared, the scythe was completely different. The blade was made out of a silver metal with shards of green crystals covering its sides. The pole itself was made out of alternating bronze and white fragments. The only unchanged detail had been the orange jewel and the general weapon of the scythe.

"Just die!"

Equipped with a machete and a hearty cry, one of the opposing White Fang members rushed towards him as the man checked his scythe to see if it was the right one, just to be sure. Despite the transformation being almost automatic, he had more concerns for that then the enemies before him.

With a sneer, he waited for the assailant to blindly come into his range and raised his scythe, as if he was going to swing. However, the man instead thrusted out the scythe's pole, sinking it into the attacker's stomach, causing him to retract from the shifted momentum. He spun the scythe in his grip and the blunt side of the blade onto the man's head, smashing him down to be limp on the ground.

"By the way, I should probably mention that you all got a choice in this matter. I was technically hired to only protect the cargo, so if you decide to scram out of here, I won't tattle or even chase you down. I'm not getting paid that much to do so." The scythe-wielder twirled his weapon around, mainly for intimidation, before resting it on his shoulder. "Don't push your luck though. I've got no problem killing people."

Nevertheless, the enemies started to surround the man as he spoke, trying to trap him while he spoke nonchalently. He glanced around, merely sighing.

"No? Man, negotiations are tougher than it seems, but I did properly warn them."

He tightened his grip on his scythe as the green crystal shards on his scythe's blade started to shine brilliantly. With a smirk, he ripped out the space before him with the weapon, slashing horizontally at the five gunners.

"Air Strike Scythe!" The swiping light took a transparent form into a trailing arc and lunged itself into the designated targets. At first, it didn't look like it would hit all of them, but it quickly expanded in width, knocking all five of them out with one fell swoop.

"To the next!"

[Scythe Equipped]
Fire Dust Scythe (Dust Series)
- Deals bonus fire damage (high)
- Fire resistance (low)

Keeping the momentum of his scythe spinning, it suddenly changed once again into a material of orange-stained metal as its blade intimated roaring flames, with a black-red pole. He leapt up into the skies, escaping the little circle they tried to keep while he had his eyes locked onto the next set of victims. With the scythe hanging over his head, he dropped back down, hailing like a small meteorite, and crashed into the ground.

They dodged out of the way, but the impact ignited a small incendiary explosion, knocking them backwards regardless while setting them ablaze. Their screams started to echo through the port as a few of them rushed over to the edge and leapt into the water to extinguish themselves, but effectively placed themself out from the fight.

Others weren't as fortunate to react as quickly, shortly collapsing from the flames.

'Their auras should keep them from smelling like barbeque, right? Rather not have to explain the charred corpses when they get here.'

As he scanned the environment, counting the bodies to make sure he got everyone, a gunshot resonated through the air behind his back. He ducked out of the way, letting the stray bullet fling into the concrete nearby and blast small stone fragments everywhere.

He lowered his head and looked around, trying to find possible cover for the snipers that he forgot about. He reminded himself where all of them were and thought that escaping into one of the warehouses would be a good idea to avoid them, but an idea slammed onto the breaks of that plan, giving himself a subtle chuckle.

He saw the White Fang's acting leader for this operation running to the side, talking to someone on her scroll. She was probably calling in support, but what she didn't realize is that she was about to provide some of her own support to him.

"Spell : Accelerate!"

Kicking off from his position, he rushed down the leader with the granted speed boost from his spell. She noticed that a blur was heading towards her from just within her perspective, realizing that the man had already dealt with the goons.

She tossed her scroll aside and readied herself for a fight, but the man dropped down and slid along the concrete, creating sparks as he drifted his legs into the woman. She jumped over the incoming man, but that was exactly the reaction he anticipated.

While she was still in the air, he slammed his scythe into the ground in front of him, flipping him over with a dramatic momentum shift and leaving nasty cracks in his wake. He landed on his feet and dashed back to her, grabbing her out from the air. He forcefully repositioned her to land between him and the snipers and then held the scythe's blade against her throat.

"I'll give you one more chance and you should really consider your options this time. Your snipers can't reach me since you're acting as my hostage. Most of your street thug wannabes have already been taken care of and you're probably way behind schedule. Not to mention that as much as you might be getting backup soon, I too will be receiving backup of my own."

'Not that I need them anyways.'

"You really think you have this in the bag, don't you?"

"Just stop playing the tough guy and recall those bullheads." The scythe moved closer, almost pricking the leader's throat for blood. "It's really not something to lose your head over."

"Don't be a fool!" She snuck her hand onto the man's scythe, surprising him as to how much control she was having over it. He couldn't easily decapitate her with her hand fighting back. "You still have me to defeat!"

As she proclaimed her choice, she managed to pull something out of her pocket. A small, black object quickly extended into a stun baton towards the man with a simple press of a button. She used it to strike her captor in his leg, electrocuting him.

[Scythe Equipped]
Electric Dust Scythe (Dust Series)
- Deals bonus electric damage (high)
- Shock resistance (low)

Switching his scythe into something that could counter the current situation was an act that went well on paper, but considering the low resistance that it gave, the electricity still went through. His leg started to numb surrounding the attacked surface as his prison on the woman started to falter once it unexpectedly spreaded through his body evenly.

"Grah! Why'd you—!?"

"Take this!"

"C-Crap!"

The man's sentence was interrupted with a battle-shout and an elbow strike, directly nailing him in the nose. He instinctively pulled back, covering his face as the woman escaped his range.

He glanced through his fingers to check that distance allowed his lowered guard, letting him check his nose if it was bleeding. He was frankly pleased that it wasn't anything too serious, but he was still rather bothered that she managed to break out. And yet, he couldn't help but to smirk.

"Not bad," he muttered.

The transformations of his scythe allowed him to wield great offensive capabilities and options at his disposal, but the defensive options he had were quite limited. That was the tradeoff of the weapon, though he didn't really expect much of that from a tool that was first invented as a farming device a long time ago.

The man held onto his leg, massaging the affected area to try and recover it back into play. The shock itself was dangerous and could have severely damaged his legs from how deep she jabbed it, but the resistance bonus gave him just enough to keep on fighting.

He was able to return to a proper stance, as with the woman. He placed a defiant expression to try and cover up the uncomfortability in his leg. Perhaps, saying loudly and strongly could have helped with intimidation; the man wanted to try it out.

"You seem to have some tricks up your sleeve! Is one of them disappearing!?"

"Unfortunately for you, it's not. It's a much better trick that'll make you disappear."

The scythe wielder noticed a brief flash of light coming from an angle, positioned from one of the further rooftops of the warehouses. The rest of the snipers took their aim again with the promise to blow his head off, but the man didn't have plans on the agenda for that.

He rushed towards the leader once again, intending to take her hostage again. He figured that he'd simply reposition how she was handled to prevent her from squirming out again, but one of the foot members came from the shadows and blocked his pathing. He didn't even know where the hell he popped out from, but all he knew was that the man was charging at him with a machete.

The blade swung at him wildly though, giving the man ample time to block the attack with the scythe's pole. The combatants disengaged, allowing the man to raise his scythe over his head in order to make his retaliation. The member readied his machete to defend, raising it up in likeness.

However, it was a feint. Instead, he spun back around and sinked a roundhouse kick right into the member's stomach, causing him to stagger backwards and lose his guard completely. With a subtle chuckle, the scythe wielder raised his weapon once more, intending this one to be unleashed for real.

Just before he swung, he noticed movement in the corner of his eye.

A gunshot flew past his face as he leaned out of the way before another one jumped into to help his ally, slashing furiously and forced the scythe wielder to back up. He definitely hadn't been expecting them to return to the fight all so suddenly, but as he surveyed the port surroundings once more, some of the lackeys he took out had already gotten back on their feet.

They all started the circle once again, but it was clear that they were much more weary about any movements the man might have, forcing him to back up into clear lines of fire from the sniper. Gunshots started to hail, as he made a deft evasion of the bullets before he could duck between two shipping containers.

Like it was an alley between two buildings, he tried to hide himself away to get another good jump at them, but at the end of the road, more members of the White Fang had blocked him off. He swore underneath his breath, as he turned around, seeing that the leader had her original members forming a wall between him, her, and the other end.

"I'd recommend for you to surrender right now. Without the element of surprise, you don't have a chance anymore," the leader sneered. "Not that you ever had a chance in the first place."

"Oh really?" the man scoffed. "You seem pretty confident."

"It's not confidence. It's simply knowing the end result of messing with us."

"You should probably check up what the word 'confidence' means in a dictionary. Your name, whatever it is, would be right under the definition. By the way, your name is also underneath the definition of short-sighted and arrogant too."

"Making jokes at a time like this? You really must have no other options left."

"Wanna bet?"

The man twirled his scythe, quickly changing stances from a defensive one into an aggressive form. He bent his knees and took a single step forwards, trying to trigger his spell once more. The sorry excuse for a leader didn't realize that he had enough manpower to plow through her flimsy wall in a few seconds, enabling him to take her hostage once again.

"Sure, I'll bet on it."

Two red sniper dots suddenly appeared on the man's chest alongside another one that was aimed at his back. Severely underestimating the amount of time it took for them to reposition into a place where they could take aim between the shipping containers, the man instinctively clicked his tongue out of frustration.

His body tensed up, waiting for the bullets to fire, but they were simply held there. He wondered if they were simply given orders to fire when he started moving, so he relaxed his body and went idle. There wasn't much else he had up his sleeve for the time being.

"Your speed is good, but only when you get to use that semblance of yours," the woman said. "From what I've seen from the streets, it's not a very uncommon semblance, but I'd have to admit yours has a stronger potency to it."

He almost wanted to laugh, but tried his best to hold it in. The woman, if she was mindlessly talking, was thinking that she had the high ground as of now. It was best to let her believe that if he needed a golden chance.

"And that scythe of yours is surely an interesting weapon. Were those interchangeable dust cores? Must be given to you from your employer."

The man held his amusement, masking it as a topic he didn't want to discuss. Of course, the leader took this as a sign that his back was definitely on a wall and his silence was something like an affirmation.

"Oh? Does the cat have your tongue now?"

"I guess it isn't racist coming from a faunus herself. Or would this be more 'fitting'?"

"You tell me. Is it?"

At the ringing of the question, a loud sound of an approaching aircraft could be plainly heard from the distance. It took a few moments for the assigned bullheads to be flying from the horizons towards their locations. The leader had glanced over, checking if it was theirs while the scythe wielder didn't have to check to know that it was indeed theirs; it wasn't as if he could check properly with the containers in the way.

"Finally," the woman exclaimed in a pleased tone. "Took them long enough. About a few minutes behind schedule, but I suppose it worked out in the end."

She had a masked face, but the man could tell that she had stolen away the smirk from his face and put on her own underneath. It was through the way she changed her tone; it was subtle, but still noticeable enough that a toddler could differentiate the difference.

"To borrow some of your words, our job is to merely snag the cargo. I don't want to have to explain any dead bodies that we bring with us, so you're free to run away with your tail wagging between your legs."

"Don't have a tail. Spoiler alert, I'm not a faunus."

"But you should be grateful you still have unbroken legs to run away with."

The man irked as the leader laughed at her own implicant joke. It wasn't because of the contents within the phrase that made him shiver; he faced threats on a greater scale than that already in his life. It was actually the smug tone she used which made him wince in annoyance.

It was easily one of the most self-centered voices he has heard in his lifetime so far, being a close follow-up to his single meeting with his employer's daughter. God, he never wants to hear her voice ever again.

However, the red dots shifted their sights from his chest to his forehead, just in case there was any more trouble. With their escape coming, they were probably serving to keep him back until all of the cargo was properly stolen away.

All that was seemingly left to do was surrender.

'Outnumbered… Being held at gunpoint… Their reinforcements are coming quicker than mine… Speaking of which, where the hell even are they!? That girl better have not gone fishing again! Ugh, never mind. I have to admit I was playing around a bit too much.'

The leader glanced back at the man.

"So? What do you say?"

In a response, the scythe wielder merely sighed as the leader flinched in the unexpected attitude.

"I say that playtime's over."

[Scythe Equipped]
Gravity Dust Scythe (Dust Series)
- Grants a limited control of gravity around the user.

"Is that so? More resistance? That's a shame. Then there's only one thing left for me to say." The members that were in front of him brought out their guns and aimed them all at him as the ones behind him moved out of the way for any stray bullets to miss them. The leader merely pointed forwards and spoke one word. "Fire."

The red-haired man struck the ground, releasing a shimmering wave of purple light that exploded where he stood. The illumination was too bright for the members to focus, all forcibly turning away for a brief moment. Some of them managed to get some shots off into the light, but a weird sound that was met that cautioned the leader.

When the light died away, the man was already jumping from container walls to the next, briefly being seen as he landed on the highest point and readied his scythe. Using the vantage point, the man leapt over the group and struck his feet some distance behind the leader.

"Keep firing!"

The gunners stepped to cover their leader alongside the extra members that ran up to rendezvous, aiming their guns with locked sights. Hundreds of bullets must have been fired at the man's back, but their reckless shooting stopped when they started to realize that none of the bullets had been going through.

There was a dimmed light, endorsed by a purple aura, that barricaded the space between them. Snipers took their shots from their side as well, but their bullets met the same fate. Their shock shook them in their shoes as all of the bullets dropped on the ground, raining their metallic clanks.

"Didn't I say playtime was over?"

With the clear sight of the man, his eyes swirled into another colour, mixing from an orange tone to a vibrant violet, noting the same colour as the thematic of the scythe. His smug expression was taunting the members as one of them pulled out their machete and made his attempt to rush the scythe-wielder down.

However, he found that he couldn't get as close as he wanted him to.

"Actually, I lied. I'll have a bit more fun here."

Something felt wrong with his body, noting how his feet suddenly didn't have a surface to stand on. He glanced down, realizing that he was starting to slowly ascend into the air. Struggling had been a solution, but he still squirmed around, trying to get down onto the ground, but only succeeding in getting further away from it.

The man flicked his head subtly, sending the hovering man into the air with a terrified scream added from the victim, causing the rest of them to panic. It was especially evident when the rest of the members started to float as well, but they couldn't be shot upwards like the test subject was.

The leader, on the either hand, merely clicked her tongue and backed up.

"Access to even gravity dust? Damn it, people! Get a hold of yourself!" she shouted. "It's just his weapon! He himself isn't strong, so get out your weapons and swarm him down! Shoot him!"

"Gotta think better than that. Though, I think I'll need to end this now."

The scythe started to transform once more before the leader's eyes. As the light faded away, the weapon followed the pattern of changing to a new shape, but she couldn't easily determine where it could be. Frankly, it looked rather grim compared to the ones before it and paled in a different design.

The black of white handle slid down its pole, accented with red markings that were seemingly familiar, but she couldn't quite place her finger on it. However, the blade itself was incredibly different, consisting of three white fangs instead of a single whole piece.

She didn't know how to perceive that weapon.

What type of dust could have been used to give that type of monstrous form?

'Just what—?'

[Scythe Equipped]
Manticore Scythe (Grimm Series)
- Increases strength (medium)
- Increases agility & speed (high)
- Deals bonus fire damage (medium)
- Deals bonus poison damage (medium)

'—is that?'

"Time to say goodbye! Spell : Accelerate!"

The man seemingly disappeared from his location as he was only traceable through the orange light his scythe resonated from its gem. The leader staggered backwards as the gravity effect was looking to wear out on her group, but screams hit the ground before their bodies could get the chance to descend.

Blood spilt in the air with deep wounds and fatal strikes being the last thing they felt before their bodies dropped systematically with a thumping. Drowning from their own pools, it was clear that their auras weren't enough to stop the powerful attack and crushed them where they floated.

Out of instinct, she gripped onto her baton tightly and readied herself to match the man when he went for her. As unbelievable as it might be, she was the only one present that was left standing alive out of the squad, but she didn't see anyone lunge for her.

"S-Snipers!? C'mon, where's the support!?"

"Over here, dead in my hands."

She glanced up towards the voice to see the scythe-wielder on the rooftops, holding the dead body of one of the snipers and dropping him off the edge. The limp body slumped over in a piled mess with a posture and injuries too gruesome to explain.

"Hope you liked the present. I got some more up here if you want."

She could only assume the other snipers were permanently down as well, sending a chill down her spine. The amount of time that it took for the man to execute their entire assigned brigade was something unreal. Even the strongest of huntsmen would have needed some time to get to everyone, but they would know if there existed a huntsman as strong as him if he ever surfaced.

'How much power does he have? What even is that weapon!?'

In the distance, the bullheads were still trying to reach the agreed location, but upon noticing that there was an intruder to their plans, ammunition was prepared to be fired at the man. The leader could see the attached guns being pulled out from the bullheads, causing her to make one wryly smirk.

"Even with all of that, your efforts are going to waste!"

"Up against aerial vehicles, huh?" His attention drew to the bullheads as he prepared to intercept them. "Not my style to take them down, but—"

Suddenly, there was a flash of purple light that slashed through from a different direction. Surprised reactions came from both members, but once the attack went through the vehicles, they exploded in a fiery storm. Their remnants were falling down in a blazing descent as the shockwave could have been felt from where they were standing.

"... Guess I won't have to. Took long enough for them to get here."

She nervously watched as the wreckage sunk into the water, drowning everyone that was onboard and forcing them to sleep with the fishes; that was if they didn't die immediately upon the impact.

With the strong front crumbling into pieces, the leader fell to her knees in disbelief as the man jumped down from the rooftops and walked up to her, planning to arrest her and hand her off to the authorities under the guise of the company security.

He grabbed the woman by the arm and pulled her up to her feet, finding it much easier to control a person's movement when they're not actively fighting back or jabbing an electrocution rod in his leg.

However, he could hear her mumbling being directed towards him as she looked at him in the eyes.

"W-what… What even is that weapon…? What type of dust is that…?"

Out of the pity, seeing her confidence being shattered into pieces, he decided to allow her in on the secret.

"Oh, so you thought this weapon was something that uses dust, huh? Well, you're not wrong, but you're not right either."

The weapon suddenly faded away from his hand as the energy it left behind looked like it was absorbed into his body, but rather, the correct word would have been 'returning to his body'. The leader widened her eyes, seeing the mysterious scene.

"Truth be told, it's not a weapon. It's just my semblance."

---

"You all get half an hour."

Without even turning around to any of them, her voice went on without any emotion. She turned off the engine of the vehicle and pulled out her own scroll.

Naofumi glanced over her shoulder, seeing it was simply a bunch of emails internetworked with Beacon Academy. He suddenly felt a bit bad about pulling her away from the opening ceremony, but it wasn't as if she made any complaints about it.

… Verbal complaints, at least.

"Alright," Ren sighed, opening up the vehicle's door. "Let's get this over with already. I was never a big fan of this place anyways."

His brothers followed him as Ren went around to open up the trunk. Inside, there had been boxes filled with things that they wouldn't need anymore. All the large things, like furniture and appliances, were already scheduled to be brought here.

Everyone just figured that they should start with bringing what they could bring, so that the staff wasn't too overloaded with new stuff.

"Huh?" Naofumi dipped his head over the vehicle's roof. "You really didn't like it here?"

"It's… It's just…" As Ren got a grip on the first box and lifted it up, he shook his head. "You know what? It's nothing important."

"You sure about that, Ren?" Naofumi walked up next to his brother, grabbing one of the boxes himself. "I mean, we've all been here before. It's not like we had different experiences or anything; we were basically inseparable back then."

Ren's scowl was drawn at him. "Look, I don't think you understand what I meant by 'it's nothing', Naofumi. Drop the question now. Please."

"It doesn't sound like it's nothing."

Ren pulled his head to the side. "I-I guess I'm just a bit tired."

"Yeah, and when you're tired, you're also hyper grumpy," Itsuki mused as he moved. "You're probably all grumpy from doing so much in the morning! You really shouldn't have been playing video games all night!"

The scowl turned into one of a lowly growl. "Like you're the one to talk. You were playing with us too."

"That may be so," Naofumi said, "but at least Itsuki knows that he should get some sleep. I'm not advocating for three hour naps, but three hours is definitely better than none. You should at least be grateful that you haven't ended up like Motoyasu over here."

The three brothers looked at the remaining brother in the car.

Bags were underneath his eyes as he stared into the far distance like a zombie.

"Dodge… Strike… Dodge… Roll… Roll…"

That was all Motoyasu had been muttering for the second half of the ride over here. None of them even thought Motoyasu had realized the car stopped moving yet, as Naofumi placed the box back down, opened his door and crept closer to him.

"Strike… Strike… Retreat… Spell… Dodge…" Naofumi brought his hands before his face and made a loud clap. "Eh!? I'm up! I'm up! Full health and magic meter! Ready to go!"

"Motoyasu, the car stopped." Naofumi wryly smiled, seeing that Motoyasu looked dazed. "We need an extra hand to be moving all these boxes."

Motoyasu's body leaned forward in the seat. "R-Right… I'll be out there… in just a second…"

Naofumi clapped in front of Motoyasu's face, scaring him once again.

"Don't fall asleep again!" Shaking his head, Naofumi reached for his backpack in the front seat and pulled out an energy drink. "I knew it would end up like this, so I got you an extra energy drink to make sure you can stay alive for the next few hours. At least, until the opening ceremony is over."

A smile snuck onto Motoyasu's face.

"Aww, man. You're a lifesave—!"

A smirk snuck onto Naofumi's face.

"Catch."

Even during Motoyasu's dazed state, his reflexes were quite good. After all, their training with their father was very extensive. His tired eyes immediately shot open and his arm extended outwards by itself and despite the short distance it could have travelled, Motoyasu still caught the aluminum can in time.

He held it up like it was a trophy.

"Heh. Still got—!"

Motoyasu immediately dropped the energy can on the seat.

His hand hadn't held onto it fully.

Motoyasu not only looked dead, but felt dead on the inside.

"In a few hours, we're transferring to Beacon Academy, Motoyasu," Naofumi lectured. "Don't skip sleep like this when we're on campus. Classes and grades are going to be important and we don't want to disappoint Father because we decided to skip a night's worth of sleep."

"Fine… I see your point…"

Motoyasu sighed and picked up his drink. He apparently forgot that Naofumi had just thrown him the can, so the moment that he opened it, foam rushed outwards from the lid. Motoyasu quickly slammed his mouth onto the can, slightly hurting his front teeth in the process, and drained it in a panic. He was thankful it didn't accumulate too much, or else the drink would have spilled all over him.

"Serves you right," Naofumi ended off.

"Are you two done yet with your comedy routine?" Ren glanced at the two brothers, ignoring the one rushing out of the car. "Let's go already. I'm pretty sure the manager is expecting us now."

"Yeah, I hear you." Naofumi followed closely, picking up his box again. "We're coming."

Itsuki glanced back at the open window of the car. "Thanks again for giving us a lift, Mother!"

Glynda reached out to the vehicle's window buttons and started to slowly raise the screen.

"Half. An. Hour." She still didn't bother to look at the brothers, ending it off with a clicked tongue, before the barrier between them was fully up.

Motoyasu crept up to the group, managing to swallow up the last of the form. Some of it unfortunately stuck to his hand, but he considered it a victory. He walked up to the curly-haired brother and slapped his clean hand on his shoulder.

"Dude, you accidentally called her by 'Mother' again. I really don't think she likes that name."

Itsuki turned his head back around as he sheepishly chuckled.

Everyone walked on past the parking lot as they walked quietly, quickly approaching the building that they were aiming for. Just beyond the front gate, the four of them stopped before they took a step within the premises.

They gazed longingly at the name of the building, written on a sign above the front entrance. All the memories from before they were adopted started to return to the nolgastic air as it almost looked identical to how they remembered it. In the midst of the silence, only Motoyasu could really have a voice, but in a way, it was what they all wanted to say.

"... Well, I guess we're back. Been a while."

On the sign of the building, it read 'King Ozma's Orphanage'.

Naofumi didn't know how to feel about their return here. Even though it hasn't been close to a decade since they left, it felt like they've been gone forever from this place. For some reason, Naofumi was hesitating to enter as his grip on the box tightened.

If he had to put it into words, it definitely felt awkward to be returning after such a big change to their lives. Perhaps it was akin to how celebrities would return to their hometown after being popular, though subtracting the entire fame portion for their scenario.

"Well, no use just standing here," Itsuki said, taking the first steps into the perimeter. "Let's get a move on and meet up with the supervisor. I don't think we can stand here forever with heavy boxes in our hands."

"Yeah, we still need to check in with her," Naofumi said. "We don't exactly know where they want these stuff and it's better for us to bring it to the destination rather than dropping these at the front and forcing them to bring it themselves."

"What are we waiting for!?" Motoyasu exclaimed excitedly. "Let's head in!"

"Presumingly, for you to pick up your own box. Asshole."

Ren's comment was ignored as the rest of the brothers entered through the side entrance, reserved for people belonging to the orphanage or other trivial business that didn't include adoption. That would have been stationed at the front door, but they could see that the door had been unlocked for their arrival.

Motoyasu opened the door wide open for them as Naofumi and Itsuki waddled inside, but the elder brother noticed footsteps pattering from against the floor. His head turned immediately as Ren tried to make it through before he noticed a blonde-haired girl rushing down the halls. Her small angel-like wings twitched a little as she came closer with her arms spread out like a plane.

An excited call came from her.

"Big Bro! Big Bro!"

"Ah! Filo-tan~!"

Motoyasu released the door and took a few steps forward, closing the entrance on Ren.

"Grah! M-Motoyasu!?"

He knelt down to meet the young girl on her level and broke out a wide smile. He opened his own arms, trying to catching her when he ran up to embrace him, but time started to tick slowly—

—as the little girl ran past him.

"W-Whoa!"

Instead, she went straight for Naofumi, hugging his torso and practically tackling him in the process. He staggered, squirming about from the surprise, but it wasn't as if he could shake her grip off, even if it was a weak one. As Motoyasu stayed frozen on the orphanage's floor, Naofumi wryly smiled at the child who had dazzling blue eyes, looking up to him.

Itsuki could have sworn he heard sobbing.

"H-Hey, Filo…" Naofumi stuttered.

He was trying to balance the attention of a child and heavy boxes at the same time. He glanced at the clock in the main hall, the same place where it was when they themselves were kids, seeing that it felt a little early for them. Though, the schedule would sometimes change from day to day.

"Oh, it really is Filo," Itsuki gasped. "You grew so much, I almost didn't recognize you! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be off with your morning chores with everyone?"

"Filo was in charge of cleaning the windows!" she answered with her arms still trapping Naofumi. "And then Filo saw everyone come in through this entrance and ran down here as soon as Filo could!"

"Still referring to yourself in third person, huh?" Ren grunted as he managed to push the door open by himself. "By the way, I would like a warning before you slam a door on me, Motoyasu!"

As Motoyasu tried to reclaim his energy, he noticed there were a few more footsteps heading down from the nearby stairs. Around the corner, there came a set of children, trailing behind Filo's trail.

"Ah! It's Naofumi!" the weasel-eared girl cried out.

"And the others!" the dog-eared boy shouted.

Ren rolled his eyes lazily towards Naofumi. "Glad to see you still have your little fan club," he said, smirking with the clear intent of teasing. "They must have been hurting to have not seen you all these past years."

"H-Hey, Ozpin has crunched our schedules pretty tightly over that timespan!" Naofumi said. "We needed to train enough to make up for the time that people would have gotten during their lower huntsman education."

"Yeah, I know. I was there, though I do feel like he trained us a bit harder than what was needed to enter Beacon."

"Hey, wait." Itsuki raised an eyebrow. "Why are we the ones referred to as 'the others'? We aren't background NPCs!"

Naofumi merely shrugged as the kids ran past Motoyasu and caught onto empty spaces that Filo hadn't claimed yet. Cold sweat formed, trying to keep the box held up from squishing them as Ren sighed to respond for their busy brother.

"Take a moment to consider the fact that Naofumi was usually the one that was helping out with the caretakers sometimes whenever he had free time. Meaning that Naofumi got to look over these kids over the years we were here."

"H-Hey, we took care of them too sometimes!"

"The difference here is that Naofumi is a damn good cook."

"... Right," Itsuki chuckled, trying not to drool over the memory of the high-quality cuisine. "Any kid could form a fan club for that dinner-working skills of his."

Naofumi winced in his situation. If he thought he couldn't move before with Filo by herself, it was a whole other problem with two more children latching onto him to prevent him from escaping. He laughed defeatedly before glancing down at the pinkish haired head and the black and white haired head.

"C-C'mon…" Naofumi softly pleaded, yet still smiling. "Look, I missed you two as well, but I'm in the middle of doing something. Could you move out for a bit, Keel? You too, Rifana?"

"I can't!" Keel claimed. "Bubba's going to go away again!"

"Yeah, trap him here!" Rifana exclaimed. "Make sure that he won't go away again!"

"Filo's on it!" the third member nodded. "Big Bro can't break out of this!"

Seeing the sweet and innocent sight, Ren groaned reluctantly as he and Itsuki walked past the crowded group. During that time, Motoyasu was still frozen, slumped over in a sorrowful manner until Ren crept up and kicked him in the back.

"Oi! Motoyasu! You had your energy drink, so wake up already!"

The brother jolted up from his place and quickly turned around. He looked over to see Ren nudging his head over to Naofumi's direction where he was clearly suffocating from the overwhelming attention.

"Help out Naofumi a bit!"

"Yeah, with pleasure!"

Motoyasu took a single step with sparkling eyes before Ren blocked his way, clearing his throat.

"With his box. Not Filo."

The sparkle in his eyes disappeared, averting his gaze from his brother.

"Y-Yeah, totally. I was definitely going to… help him out with that."

"Then hurry up before one of the kids gets hurt!"

"R-Right!"

He ran up to Naofumi and silently communicated that he should pass on the weight to him. He quietly thanked Motoyasu as he backed up with the box, giving him the hands required to tend to the three swarming children. A breath of relief escaped Naofumi as he was able to properly crouch down to meet them.

Motoyasu glanced at the group, slightly envious of the brother before Ren shouted from down the hall.

"Let's get these boxes over to the storage room like the caretakers told us over the scroll. Don't slack behind."

"I'm coming, I'm coming!"

The three brothers moved down the hallway as Naofumi was so preoccupied with the children that he didn't even realize they had already left. He was rubbing their heads, combing his hands through their hairs rather affectionately. It had been quite some time, but he felt like the feeling was softer than what he remembered.

"Big Bro, you got so much taller!" Filo jumped up, hopping to stand before him. She tried to reach her hand up high to the height where Naofumi was previously standing. "You're almost at twice of Filo's height!"

"That's what growing up does to people, Filo."

"And you sound so different!" Rifana exclaimed. "Your voice is so much deeper now!"

"Y-Yeah, growing up does that too…"

"And you're so buff, Bubba!"

Keel leapt onto Naofumi's back, trying to lock him into a wrestler's hold. It was a fun attempt that didn't amount to much due to their size difference. Even when crouching down, Keel's feet were hanging off.

"And that's what training does to you. Our adoptive father really placed us four on tough exercises. Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu are just as strong as I am; if not, then even stronger."

"Are you and the others huntsmen yet!?" Keel asked with energy. "You said that you were starting to train to become them, right!?"

Naofumi could feel Keel's weight shifting around too much.

"Easy there, hotshot!" He held Keel still to prevent him from potentially falling off. "Anyways, none of us are proper huntsmen yet. We've been only doing the training to enter the proper academy for that. We still have a few years to go before we get our official licenses. We're actually heading off to our first day at the academy after we're done here."

"W-Well, you're not going anyways, Bubba!" Keel tightened his grip, trying to keep him still while Naofumi wryly laughed in the harmless attempt. "You promised you would visit and you didn't, so to make sure you won't break your promise again, you're never ever leaving here!"

"I-I can't. I know I couldn't come visit, but that was out of my control. I really missed everyone here and if I could have visited all of you, I would have!" Naofumi leaned back to have Keel's feet touch the ground as he leapt off without being explicitly told to. "I'm sorry, but I'll have more opportunities to visit once classes start and I can plan out my break days more precisely."

"Then take me with you! I wanna be a huntsman too!"

Naofumi smiled, holding his hand on Keel's head. "Maybe in a few years, I'll come get you. Right now, you're too young to be attending where I'm going."

"W-What!?" Filo took advantage of Naofumi's turned back to take her turn to jump on, causing him to grunt a little out of surprise. "Filo wants to be a huntress too!"

Rifana didn't make things any better, latching onto his shoulder and down his arm. "I wanna play too!"

"W-Whoa!"

It wasn't as if Naofumi couldn't take the weight of these kids; in fact, he could support them quite easily thanks to his improved body structure, but that didn't excuse the fact that he was practically being treated as a huggable jungle gym. Keel even rejoined his comrades-in-arms. He could only try to get them to release themselves off of him before someone got hurt.

Not that he couldn't fix any of the possible bruises and injuries with his semblance, but he didn't want them to get into the habit of being hurt.

"C-Calm down, all of you!"

He gently tried to push them off, but they kept being persistent. He knew they could hear his voice clearly, but their own overlapping jabbering among each other made it seem like they weren't listening on purpose. He prayed for them to get tired, so that he could make haste with doing what he came here for, but he knew from experience that kids were basically big balls of energy.

"H-Hey, Motoyasu!? Ren!? Itsuki!? A little help—wait, where did they go!?"

His brothers have seemingly disappeared on him, causing him to panic.

The only thing he could do was pray to get him out of this situation.

"It's been a while, Naofumi."

Thankfully, a familiar voice rang from the halls, piercing through the children's voices and once it did, they all stopped their ruckus, turning around to the sound of soft footsteps. Even if it wasn't directed to them exactly, the person approached with enough authority to silence them without trying.

Although, the children still refused to release him.

He blinked blankly, seeing the caretaker for the first time in a while, but she looked almost the same as she was when he was younger, right down to the same white uniform with red accents.

It was a woman in her twenties, or to be more specific, she was a winged bird faunus, just like Filo. Still, there were differences between them besides their age. Whereas Filo had blonde hair and blue eyes, the caretaker had short, silver hair alongside her red eyes. Because of the age difference, her wings were also much bigger.

"M-Miss Fitoria!"

With a lack of emotion shown on her face, she looked at the glancing children as they retreated their heads back a bit. "Children, I'll ask you once to let Naofumi go. You still haven't finished your chores, have you?"

Naofumi suddenly remembered the chills that ran down his spine countless times in Fitoria's presence as a kid and he was certain that the present children had been experiencing the same. She never did anything to warrant such a reaction as far as he knew, but nobody could explain why she felt like she could go on a path of destruction at any given moment.

"Huh!? But Big Bro just got here!"

"And yet, your chores aren't finished," Fitoria said firmly. "Regardless, I need to talk with Naofumi about his business of being here. He's not here to play, as much as you don't want to hear that."

"Boo!" Filo pouted.

Although their unpleasant attitudes, they all dropped themselves off from Naofumi and slowly moved back to the stairs, glancing back every so often to check if he was still there. They disappeared around the corner, but in one final stand, they peeked around the corner before Fitoria scared them away with a glare over her shoulder.

Naofumi had a sigh of relief.

"Thanks, Miss Fitoria," he said, scratching his head as he stood up. "They're great kids, but it's a bit hard to deal with them when they're all on me at the same time."

"The others pointed me to where you were and I assumed you were in a bind." A soft smile emerged from the platonic expressions. "It is very nice to see you are healthy, as well as your 'brothers'."

"It's nice to see you too."

"Come. The others have started unpacking the things. I directed them to bring the boxes into the free time room and I believe an extra hand would help accelerate the process."

As Naofumi followed the caretaker, he felt the rush of memories as he walked through the halls, glancing into the few rooms that they passed on the way. Alongside Fitoria as the leader, it was like he was a child all over again. He would always try and follow her, learning whatever he could underneath her wings. She nurtured the open-minded about the proficiency of household chores, alongside his ability to cook.

If Naofumi had to say anything, Fitoria was the mother in his childhood and it felt odd, thinking about that as his height surpassed her own.

"The children have truly been restless since you left. They keep wondering when you would come back everyday, but you never even sent a clue to when you would visit. To be honest, I was rather worried about you four and if you were all adapting to your new lives properly."

"Sorry about that, Miss Fitoria. I always wanted to send some type of letter to let everyone know we were doing fine, but time kept slipping away and the things that were more prevalent on our things to do started to fill up quickly."

"I'm merely teasing. There's no real need to apologize," she said, turning around to look at him. He stopped in his tracks. "I know you all have more responsibilities to uphold, more than what you've ever experienced during your time here at the orphanage."

"And all that is still going to grow when we step into Beacon."

"Indeed, a few years really changes a person," Fitoria said aloofly. "I remember when you were standing upright to where my waist is, trying to figure out the difference between sugar and salt, but I suppose that's what growing up really means. I can sense that you aren't the same person as you were before."

"Really? Beside my physical appearance and voice, I don't think I've changed much. I only have a lot more things to do."

"You've grown stronger, haven't you?"

Naofumi raised his eyebrows. "That's to be assumed underneath Ozpin's regimes."

"Not your muscles or physique, nor am I speaking about your ability to use your semblance. I'm talking about your heart." She stopped Naofumi unexpectedly while pointing to his chest. He blushed a bit as she tilted her head. "Your heart has grown, but you have to make sure that it stays strong. Though, I believe you'll be able to uphold that alongside your brothers."

"What's this all of a sudden?"

"Hmm. I wonder."

She moved her hand away as she continued on without much hesitation, always with that distant face. Naofumi took a moment to recollect himself before being forced to speed up a bit to catch up, following in the halls to the free time room. Some shouting could be heard as they came closer and it really sounded like it came from his brothers.

"Is something happening?"

However, Fitoria stopped around the door's corner, blankly looking into the room.

Naofumi caught up and walked around her, only to stop himself from the odd, but fitting, scene between his brothers. He thought they were supposed to be unpacking some of the stuff here, as assumed from what Fitoria was saying and the half-done job that was presented before them, but he was still in disbelief as to what was playing out.

"C'mon, Itsuki! Let go of the console!"

"Motoyasu, round him up into the corner! We can trap him that way!"

"Yeah, I'll go for his body and hold him back! Ren, try and rip the console out from his grip!"

"You're only taking my precious Dimension Wave from my cold, dead hands!"

"We don't want to hurt you, Itsuki! We just want you to hand over the console! Amend to the conditions and nobody or no console gets hurt!"

"I thought we already made amends to our games to give them over to the kids!"

"I haven't yet! Shut up! Don't judge me!"

Like a wild cat, Itsuki had been hugging his console in his arms as Ren and Motoyasu were cornering him with a pincer maneuver. There was practically no escape for the tear-filled brother, as he tried to look around for anything he could do to adapt to the hellish situation.

Meanwhile, Fitoria silently glanced at Naofumi, which he had no words to explain his embarrassment, but at the same time, he wanted to laugh. When it all boiled down to it, they were the same four kids as they were from their days underneath the star-lit nights, only having a stronger body and mentality. Though, perhaps it was the nolgastic air that was reducing everyone back to their childhood days.

"Can you promise me something, Naofumi?"

Naofumi looked back at Fitoria who spoke in a gentle tone. "What is it?"

"I want you to take care of everyone. The semblance you unlocked had to do something with a shield, right?" She turned to face him. "Could you use your power to make sure you protect everyone?"

Naofumi smiled sweetly. "Of course, Miss Fitoria. That goes without say—"

The ruckus returned blasting into their ears.

"Damn it, how did you let him slip away, Motoyasu!?"

"Well, I'm sorry that Itsuki's faster than me!"

"Ha! The righteous will always prevail! You can only take the console from me if you can catch me!"

"Itsuki, wait! You're going to crash into the—!"

"Gah!"

"—table… Damn idiot."

"Hey, he did say we could take it out of his cold, dead hands. Hopefully, the console isn't broken."

"... Whatever, let's get this over with quickly. Stick to the plan. You step on him to prevent any resistance and I'll extract the console."

"Got it. Hold still, Itsuki. Not that you have a choice."

Naofumi sheepishly chuckled, after not being able to hold it in anymore, at the scene of Motoyasu and Ren tearing the device out of Itsuki's grasp with empty emotions as Itsuki kept begging almost endlessly. All of it being useless though, as Ren and Motoyasu acted like he wasn't even talking.

"T-That goes without saying…" Naofumi awkwardly ended his sentence, trying to cover his content.

"And make sure that you all don't fight among one another. When you enter Beacon, your strongest assets will be each other and the ability to count on one another. Keep everyone close and don't let anyone of you four enter the darkness alone."

Naofumi quickly glanced at the scene that was playing out before them and at Fitoria, along with his smile.

"Are you making fun of us right now?"

Fitoria merely smiled back. "Perhaps."

Naofumi was about to walk inside the room to help disengage his brothers' little feud, but he heard another footstep approach from around the corner. His hearing wasn't as trained as someone like Itsuki or Ren, but he could detect when someone had been approaching.

"Hmm?"

He turned his head towards the stairs to see a little head popping out from the corner. It caused Fitoria to look in the same direction.

It belonged to a little girl, about the same age as the others. Her little racoon ears were leaning forwards, shyly hiding the rest of her body behind the wall, but once Naofumi saw her, she became startled. However, she didn't slink back to the second floor. Despite her mannerisms, she started to walk over to Naofumi slowly, as if she couldn't believe it was him.

When she got close enough, Naofumi turned his expression into a warm smile, causing her to take relief that it truly was the person she remembered. He silently crouched down to invite her over since he knew she wanted to do the same things as the other kids. In turn, she sprinted the rest of the way and jumped into him.

Naofumi caught her in his arms and chuckled.

"You've grown, Raphtalia."

Her ears were twitching and her tail was wagging as Naofumi rubbed her head. A small smile was revealed on her face, content with the familiar gesture.

"I was… waiting for you to come," she muttered. "Like you said, but…"

"I know. I already told the others when they swarmed me, but I was busy. I wanted to visit like you wouldn't believe."

"Really?"

"Really."

Raphtalia let out of her embrace and backed off a bit to let Naofumi stand back up.

"You should really go back and finish your chores."

"I, uhm… finished them before I came down."

"Ah, so that would explain why you didn't come down with the others."

He knew that Raphtalia was a digilent girl and they didn't change throughout the years that he was gone. Just as he was under Fitoria's wings, it wasn't a stretch to say that Raphtalia had been the one under his wing. When around him, she was rather quiet, but she definitely took up after some of his mannerisms.

"Are you… going to stay?"

"I'm here on business. I can't stay for much longer, or else I'll be late for Beacon's opening ceremony. Today's the big day, you know."

"Oh, really?" She held her hands close to her chest, looking up to him. "T-Then, good luck with that!"

"Don't worry, Raphtalia, I'll be back soon and the next time I return, I'll play with everyone. It'll be like old times, right?"

He rubbed Raphtalia's head once again, seeing that a blush took presence on her face.

Even with her friends around her, he could feel that she had been waiting the longest, despite the same timeframe as the others. Time probably moved much slowly for her, ticking down the number of days to months to years before he would return. At the orphanage, they would be less friends and more like a family, so it must have been painful to not have seen a brother figure that was a part of one's infancy.

"Will you really promise this time?"

"I really promise."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure that 'Big Bro' Naofumi keeps his promise."

Ren stood at the door's frame, watching Raphtalia and Naofumi. Naofumi was a bit surprised at him showing up, but he didn't approach the two or get between them physically.

"Anyways, Naofumi needs to come help us out. We're running low on time as it is. Mind giving him to us, Raphtalia?"

"I-I understand."

Naofumi let out one more burst of head-rubbing before releasing himself from the gesture.

"You'll stay a good girl, alright?"

She made a quick nod as he took a step back. She really didn't know what else to do, standing about a bit awkwardly, having an embarrassed expression. She then bowed suddenly and ran off back up the stairs, trying to leave Naofumi to do his work.

"They all really did miss you, Naofumi," Fitoria said.

"... Yeah. I know." Naofumi glanced down at his open palm. "I really missed them too."

"Sentimental moments are nice and all, but can we get some help here?" Ren silently glanced at the downed Itsuki in the middle of the room, pounding his fist on the ground in his agonizing defeat. Motoyasu had been trying his best to ignore the brother's mental dilemma as Ren groaned at the scene. "We're… one man down, to say the very least."

---

"That should be the last of our donations," Motoyasu said happily, looking at the upgraded room. There were other things like small household appliances that Itsuki and Naofumi brought over to the kitchen area. Ren noticed their return as he finished stacking all the flattened cardboard boxes, causing Motoyasu to glance back at the doorway on his visual cue.

"We're all done with the kitchen too," Naofumi said. "The place looks brand new, though it still feels like the same old kitchen as I remember it to be."

"We've only used our orphanage's budget for essential needs," Fitoria answered. "The kitchen appliances are used with care, so the staff finds it unnecessary to upgrade them. Your contributions will indeed improve what's possible to make for meals and the children will be thanking you for that."

"We're just glad that we can help out this way."

"And it's just in time too."

Ren glanced over to the clock in the room, noting that their allotted time here was nearly up. There weren't anymore for them to catch up with the kids or the staff.

"We should get going now." He stood up from his place, lifting up the light disassembled boxes all in his arms. "Miss Glynda hates it when we're not punctual and I would rather skip being lectured before we even get on the airship to Beacon."

"Geez, I remember her last lecture…" Motoyasu winced at the recollection. "It's been two years, but her lectures never get any better."

"You should have met her when we returned from Itsuki's little adventure idea back then," Ren smirked. "I'd say that was her most terrifying lecture yet, though we didn't even know what was happening at the time. In some twisted way, you were probably lucky to be admitted to a hospital instead of returning back to the orphanage."

Itsuki, in the meanwhile, had been silently gazing longingly to where his console was now plugged in and more importantly, where Dimension Wave was on the shelf. Naofumi smiled wryly, seeing the brother's despair, but he patted Itsuki's back to make him feel better.

"When we're done with Beacon, I promise you that I'll get you another Dimension Wave copy."

"... Promise?"

"Yeah. Of course."

Itsuki made one last defeated sigh before clapping his own cheeks, trying to psyche himself back up from his fallen mood. In any case, giving the children the opportunity to play the amazing game of Dimension Wave will no doubt create more fans. At least, that was what he was telling himself until he left this place and he would slowly return to agonizing depression.

As Ren and Motoyasu walked into the halls with Naofumi and Itsuki, Fitoria stepped out with them to guide them back to the exit. It wasn't necessary, especially since they knew this layout like it was on the back of their heads, but her company was appreciated. It really did take them back to their childhood when she would be bringing them over to the next part of their day.

Before they left the building, Naofumi stopped and turned around. His sudden lack of footsteps caused his brothers to glance over their shoulders and follow in his movement.

"Hey, Miss Fitoria?"

"Yes?"

"I want to thank you for everything, as well as everyone else in the orphanage. I think we made it out alright thanks to your guidance and care, so much as you've protected and nurtured us. I think I've thanked you plenty of times while I was still here, but now that I have a retrospective, I want to thank you again personally."

Naofumi bowed his head to her.

"Thanks, Miss Fitoria."

The others glanced at each other before they took their own steps forward, bowing down alongside Naofumi. There wasn't much else to add onto what he had already said; he summarized their feelings rather perfectly.

They timed their own gratitude together.

" " "Thank you, Miss Fitoria. For taking care of us." " "

When they raised themselves back up, there was a different type of aloofness written across her expression. It was as if she was taken by surprise, but in spite of it all, she merely took a deep breath and walked forwards to them.

"I was merely doing my job, but… All of you. Come closer."

Naofumi scrunched his eyebrows, not knowing what she wanted. They silently and instinctively followed her words, but Naofumi wanted to know the reason. However, he couldn't even get a word out before Fitoria acted.

Once they were in reach, Fitoria extended her arms and wings and wrapped them around the brothers. Naofumi was a bit dazed, remembering that they've never received any types of hugs from her when they were little. Hell, they didn't receive any hugs that were fresh in their memories and he would think that the others were speechless too.

However, it was warm.

Her embrace felt nice to be in.

None of them said anything, staying in silence as Fitoria kept their position.

"Look out for one another and be safe. Understand?"

"Yeah." Naofumi nodded, being the only one to be able to find the simple words. "We will."

---

They came to help with moving their donations into the orphanage, but they were left with a bittersweet feeling. It wasn't as if this was the last time they would be here, not by a long shot, but there was a certain restlessness that emerged at the same time they closed the door behind them and left for the parking lot.

Just as they entered, they left the same way; in silence.

However, as they got closer to the vehicle that had been waiting for them, Motoyasu's abruptive thoughts punched a hole through everyone's bubbles.

"Was Miss Fitoria always that beautiful?"

Never mind 'punched a hole', it completely destroyed the entirety of the bubbles in one fell swoop.

"Oh my god." Itsuki widened his eyes, averting them from Motoyasu as he covered his ears. "Oh my god. For the love of all things on this land…"

"D-Did you just…?" Naofumi, on the other hand, was tackling the eye of the beast, staring in utter disbelief. "Please tell me you didn't just say that."

Ren… didn't respond. In fact, he acted as if what Motoyasu said was within the realm of expectations, so he didn't have any special reactions to his declaration.

"What?" Motoyasu smirked, before stopping the others in their tracks and turning to them. "You can't tell me I'm wrong! She has such an elegant air to herself, matching nicely with her soft expressions and that well-composed face! And those wings! She really looks like an angel! Her beauty is just unparalleled! I knew that she was always a woman of a dazzling appearance, even when I was younger, but to see her once again, still in her prime! Nay, this is higher than her prime! She's the cream of the crop when it comes to grace! A perfect woman, I say! Full score! Ten out of ten!"

The three other brothers remained in silence, unable to articulate any of their exasperated thoughts.

"The only mystery that remains!" Motoyasu pressed his hands against his chest. "Is she currently single?"

Itsuki instinctively screamed. "Moto, she's like more than a decade older than us!"

"Age is merely a small problem when it comes to love!"

"U-Uh…" Naofumi sweated. "D-Do you want to rephrase that or something…?"

"You know what I meant, but I digress! Miss Fitoria has definitely improved!"

"She didn't change much from when we were still here. Hell, she's about the same height," Ren sighed, walking around Motoyasu's blocked path with a slight frustration written on his sleeve. "Instead, you changed. Your hormones started to allow you to notice things like a woman's beauty while it couldn't have been fully registered beforehand."

"Even more than before?" Itsuki frowned.

"Though, let's keep comments like this to yourself." Ren glanced over his shoulder. "Romanticizing our former caretaker isn't part of my bucket list here."

Motoyasu laughed in spite of it. "Yeah, I guess that has to be a bit weird."

Itsuki had a relieved breath. "Thank goodness, you realized—"

"—but what about Miss Glynda? She's pretty hot, especially when she comes off as a dom—"

Itsuki tapped on Motoyasu's shoulder before he could finish.

His first mistake was to talk about Glynda like that. His second was turning around.

"Hey, Moto?"

"Yea—?"

Without another moment wasted, the sound of Itsuki's fist colliding into Motoyasu's face echoed throughout the city. All in the meanwhile, Naofumi silently grimaced, knowing that Fitoria had just told him to look after one another not even five minutes ago. They haven't even left the parking lot yet and that task had already failed.

His face collapsed into his open palms.

"God damn it."

---

What's up gamers, long time no see, huh?

Turns out this whole adulthood thing is pretty harsh. I changed my studies direction (first one was just not what I wanted to do), moved out of my parents' and hometown, and now i live on the other side of my country. Having to manage my life on my own like that combined with the covid situation had a real impact on my both mental and physical health so I hope you guys will understand that I simply didn't really have the power or motivation to write, even if inside i still really want to give you guys some at least enjoyable stories.

This chapter was actually finished ages ago, but as you may remember I stated that I would first like to finish the whole volume 1 before posting, but you can probably guess things simply didn't work out the way I wanted them to. (Also I proofreaded it like 5 times so if anyone finds mistakes please lord forgive me)

My friend Lazy did a great job helping me out with whatever stuff I came up with through all this time (for reference, I haven't even made it past the Beacon Initiation fully as I'm writing this afterword now) so I'm very thankful for that, you guys should check out his works because he really puts effort into his stories and wants the best experience for his readers (which can also be a double edged sword since he makes so much rewrites, but I understand him since I myself also often feel like my works aren't as good as they could be.)

Despite all of that, writing is still a very fun hobby that I wish to keep doing, just, you know, when I finally set my footing and will feel like I'm handling myself well.

Major thanks to everyone who finds my works enjoyable, leaves constructive criticism, or even just leaves a funny comment, those are always great. You guys are great and without you most of my stories wouldn't exist, because what for?

As I'm writing this I realise it sounds like some sort of goodbye, but don't worry. I WILL return to writing this story, all my other ones, and hopefully many new ones. Just… Please understand I have higher priorities in life.

If anyone wants to have a chat, I can be found on both RWBY and Shield Hero discords fanfiction channels under the same nick as my FFN one. (also on the devil may cry ones if you're from Devil Arm Hunter)

I have a couple chapters for this story ready to go, which I guess I'll release during the christmas period, I really feel no need to keep holding onto these since the production rate basically stopped for now.

I guess that's about it. I hope you enjoyed this pretty beefy chapter, which I hope shows just how much ambition and heart me and Lazy put into this story for you guys.

Cya next time.