Chapter-2
Sigurd
Sigurd had been travelling with Qrow for days. Their destination was the Kingdom of Vale, one of the four kingdoms located on the world known as Remnant. On the way, Sigurd had learnt about phantasmal beasts known as grimm that lacked a soul and were driven by their instinct to kill humans. They constantly attacked human settlements on Remnant's continents and slaughtered many.
To combat these grimm, certain humans were trained to hunt down and kill them in special schools in each kingdom. These humans were known as 'huntsmen' and the schools were 'huntsmen academies', of which Vale's academy called Beacon was where Qrow was taking him.
Sigurd assumed these humans were able to fight off the grimm through magecraft, as could be seen from his fight with Amber's attackers. He didn't question Qrow on it, opting to engage in a few casual conversations before going back to silence. Amber, meanwhile, was still unconscious. Sigurd had put a healing rune to keep her stable, but it wasn't going to cure her affliction.
That was all that happened in their journey. Now, they stood in front of the gate to Beacon. Qrow had amber still in his arms. He was calm, calm since the beginning, but Sigurd could see the guilt in his eyes. Qrow was holding himself back because Sigurd was standing beside him.
"This is…impressive." Sigurd spoke. He had seen and heard of magnificent castles in the lands of Valland, but none of them were of the sheer size and scale of Beacon.
Qrow blinked. "You…haven't seen Beacon? How's that possible if you're from…ah. You were born in Atlas but grew up outside of the kingdoms, weren't you?"
Sigurd nodded.
"That explains it. Many villages outside of the kingdoms are pretty isolated and lonely with the only time of interaction being when a huntsman comes to them. It'd make sense if you've heard of Beacon but have never seen it." He spoke before his smile fell.
"Now come on, we need the headmaster to see this." Qrow spoke. "Hold her for a bit." He spoke giving Amber to Sigurd before pulling out a glass board that resembled a communication device from Midgard and pressing it to his ear.
"Oz. We're here."
"…"
"Yeah, she's with me. The guy who saved her too."
"…"
"Alright." He spoke. "The medical staff's arriving. Once they take Amber, you and I are going to see Headmaster Ozpin."
Sigurd nodded. The medical staff soon came, put Amber on a stretcher and led her away, after which Sigurd and Qrow walked to the headmaster's office.
The headmaster's office was the massive tower that Sigurd saw in front of Beacon's gates. He and Qrow got into the elevator.
As they went up, Sigurd let out a sigh. He was lucky that he saved Amber and met Qrow. Meeting the headmaster of a school dedicated to hunting phantasmal beasts would certainly give him some clarity on this world's mysteries.
The doors opened to the office, a circular chamber with glass walls. The ceiling was a strange mechanism of gears with another one to the right wall. At the back was a clock in front of which was a normal desk and a chair on which sat Headmaster Ozpin. Ozpin had silver hair despite looking very young and wore black and green clothes and tinted glasses. He looked like someone who would usually be care-free but right now had a frown on his face.
"Good to have you back, Qrow. Amber has been transferred to the aura stabilizer in the vault." Ozpin spoke.
"Will she be alright, Oz?" Qrow asked.
"I'm afraid I cannot determine that. Whatever has happened to her, it is slowly killing her. The stabilizer will merely delay that. Whether there is a way to save her, that depends on the results of when I check up on her."
Qrow looked down dejected before drinking from his flask. "Oh."
"Qrow, do not blame yourself for what happened to Amber. I know how much harm your semblance causes but you cannot fall in depression every time something bad happens when you are nearby." Ozpin chided him.
"Now," He spoke looking at Sigurd, "I believe you are 'Saber'?"
Sigurd nodded with unease now that he looked at Ozpin's eyes. They projected the look of a wise man who has seen many things in his life, but also the same detached look only inhuman creatures had when interacting with humans. It was eerily similar to Brynhildr's eyes when he rescued her from Odin's bounded field. He also noticed that unlike other humans he'd met, Ozpin had a magical reactor core, indicating he was a much more powerful magus than the others. It was fitting that a school of warriors with mystical powers be led by the strongest of them all.
"I am."
"Then I must thank you for saving Amber. She is someone very important to me and Qrow and her loss would have been devastating for us. You could ask for a reward and I shall give it."
"There is no need. I only did what my duty demanded of me." Sigurd replied.
Ozpin smiled. "Modest and dutiful. Rare to see such traits in most warriors these days. Very well, if you do not wish for any reward then that shall be it. Could you describe the ones who attacked Amber?"
"Yes." Sigurd spoke before recounting the incident. After he was done, he noticed Ozpin had a sudden alarmed look on his face.
That is the look of someone whose secret has been found out… He thought as the information from his crystallized wisdom was loaded into his mind. He must have seen something back when he fought those three that he shouldn't have seen.
That was a mistake. I need to pretend to be oblivious.
"Hm? Is did I say something odd?" Sigurd asked as Ozpin blinked. "…No. You didn't. Did the black-haired girl use glass shards?"
"They looked like glass shards. But the material they were made of was much stronger and could explode."
"Must be a semblance then. Pretty strong one if it can take down Amber's aura that fast" Qrow spoke.
Two new words, aura and Semblance. A headache formed in his head as he had his crystallized wisdom discern their meaning and transmit the information to his brain.
Aura is a type of energy created from its user's soul. It can be used for many objectives but it's primary use is a shield to protect its user's body. It is unlocked when the person harmonizes their body, mind and soul to work together through intense meditation or when another uses their aura to create a bridge fully integrating the soul into the body's functions with an aria for casting.
A Semblance is a mystery similar to a reality marble, in which the user's soul manifests in the form of mystical powers. Unlike reality marbles, which project their user's soul upon the real world, semblances can project their user's soul anywhere, but the effects are much weaker than a reality marble's.
Every huntsman can have a semblance as long as their aura is unlocked.
Sigurd was mildly surprised at that. Both auras and semblances worked on concepts close to the Third Magic, yet were something common? Remnant may not have as much mystics as Midgard, but the ones it does have are close to being called Magic than magecraft.
"Saber?" Ozpin's voice broke Sigurd out of his thoughts. "I have one last question to ask. What were those symbols that you used?"
"They are a part of my abilities. I can call their names and they have certain abilities that are casted." Sigurd spoke, seeing no point in hiding his runes. After all, if magecraft was so common on Remnant, he didn't have to worry about hiding his abilities from others.
Ozpin was silent. "Qrow, I want to talk with Saber alone. You are dismissed."
Qrow nodded. "Alright. See ya later, Saber. I'll go reflect on my shitty life outside." He spoke before walking to the elevator, leaving Sigurd and Ozpin alone.
"So, symbols that have abilities? The only semblance capable of doing that is that of the Schnees. The strange part is, you do resemble a Schnee. But I don't believe there is a Schnee other than Willow, Winter, Weiss and Whitely."
"I assure you, Headmaster Ozpin, that I am not a Schnee. I learnt to use them from my late wife." Sigurd spoke as Ozpin nodded.
"My condolences. And yes, I also do not believe you are a Schnee. That means you have a very rare semblance that almost no one else has."
A lie…
Ozpin had deduced something else but wasn't going to say it. Sigurd narrowed his eyes but left it. Confronting Ozpin about it would only reduce his chances of gaining Ozpin's trust and subsequently the information he had about Remnant's mysteries.
"Well then. Now that our discussion is finished, I have an offer."
"Is it to teach at Beacon?" Sigurd asked from what his crystallized wisdom told him.
"…Yes. Is it that obvious?" Ozpin asked with some childish exasperation.
"You are an opportunist looking for talented individuals who could do well under you. My strength and skill would make me a candidate for the position of a combat teacher to your students. Hence I arrive at this conclusion."
"I would have put it in a less blunt manner, but yes, it is true." Ozpin spoke with a smile. "Now that you know what my offer is, do you wish to take it?"
Sigurd thought about it. If he wanted to achieve his goals, he would need to move around Remnant. Taking a teaching position would restrict him to the school and consume precious time in teaching the youngsters. But it would also allow him to get close to Ozpin. From what he'd heard, huntsmen were an important part of Remnant's society, so a leading figure among them would be very influential.
Sigurd decided to take a middle path.
"Is there a combat instructor?"
"Yes, my assistant Glynda Goodwitch. She is currently busy so she couldn't come."
"Is it possible that I be her assistant in teaching? I wish to continue moving around for work. I could take over for her on some days, but I want to focus more on working in the field."
"Certainly. You could help out in completing the more difficult mission assigned to huntsmen. I shall talk to Glynda and set a schedule for you. You can teach on those days while the rest I will personally give you missions. But before that, do you have a huntsman license?"
"No, I never went to the kingdoms. I focused on helping neighboring villages with attacks by the grimm."
"Alright then, not a problem. I shall quickly have one made for you. You just have to give me your name, place of birth and date of birth."
"My name is something I do not wish to reveal so I shall stick to Saber. I was born in Atlas on…" Sigurd paused to use his wisdom.
Remnant uses AGW as the nomenclature for years while the days remain 7 per week. There are four months, Vernal, Austral, Autumna, Boreal. The current date is 14th Vernal, 80 AGW.
"12th Boreal, 45 AGW."
Ozpin noted down the details. "Excellent. I shall get it done. You are free to go. I am contacting the staff to prepare a teacher's dorm for you to stay in. You will have to wait in the lobby."
Sigurd nodded. "Thank you, Professor Ozpin. I shall take you leave." He spoke before walking to the elevator.
"That was oddly stressful." Sigurd mumbled as the elevator went down. Perhaps it was something about Ozpin's way of conversation. He was hiding something, something Sigurd disliked because it was what Reginn did when he manipulated Sigurd into killing Fafnir. But again, he had to remember Ozpin's importance. He couldn't let his personal feelings get in the way of his goals.
Thus, he will work to gain Ozpin's trust. Once Ozpin trusts him enough with his secrets, then he will see what to do next.
Ozpin sat looking at the screen where Saber's face was, thinking of their conversation earlier.
When Ozpin had heard the news of the attack, he had been alarmed. One of Salem's key strategies to strike against him has always been to have one of her followers gain the powers of a maiden, but usually they were either repelled or hunted down and killed should they gain the powers. This time none had happened. They had gained the upper hand and would have killed Amber if not for Saber's interference.
Saber being able to defeat them was not much of a surprise after meeting him. Amber may have had been proficient in using the powers of a maiden, but she was not as skilled in combat as a professional huntsman. Attack with multiple enemies who can hit hard, and she would go down, unlike Saber, who not only was a skilled fighter but also wore armor that could withstand explosive attacks.
The only problem had been that Saber witnessed Amber using her powers. Ozpin was contemplating whether he should silence Saber or let him join his ranks after discovering that Saber saw it, but when he showed ignorance to that, Ozpin relaxed only for a moment.
The next brought him to the next issue – Saber's power. There was no doubt that Saber was using magical energy. While aura and semblances could also count as magic, they had one major difference from magic of Ozpin's time, Age of Mystery. They relied on the person's soul to perform those powers, and with humanity's souls losing a lot of power with the advent of the current Age of Perseverence, had weaker effects. Ozpin's magic, however, was from a magical core his soul was implanted with when it was in the body of Ozma, like other humans of his time. Saber also had a magical core which felt much more powerful than any other he had seen. From his description, it is likely that Saber used runic magic against the three acolytes, a powerful technique that cast magic by inscribing symbols in the language of the gods, imposing their will upon remnant to actualize the concept each rune derived from.
Ozpin could have called Saber out on this fact, but he didn't. He didn't know how Saber would react and so keeping quiet was a better option.
Now, if Saber used magic, then where did he come from? Ozpin could tell with certainty he was not a descendant from a survivor of the Purge, since he and Salem were the only ones. He could not have travelled through time since the Age of Mystery ended 2000 years ago and travelling through such a long time would kill him. The only other explanation was that explosion he felt.
"Yes, that is the only explanation to his abilities." Ozpin spoke. He must be one of the concentrated points of magical energy he felt a few days back.
Now, Saber's importance increased exponentially in Ozpin's mind. He had long since abandoned the plan to kill Salem, since she was immortal. Now, his plan was to seal her away by cutting off the bridge between the Pool of Darkness and the planet's surface. That plan had always been obstructed by the sheer amount of grimm that roamed the area around the Pool of Darkness as well as the lack of manpower humanity had to stage such an invasion. But if those like Saber existed out there, he could use them to break through the army of grimm and destroy the bridge.
A wide grin came on Ozpin's lips. He had found a way to use Saber's abilities.
"He will find those who are like him and bring them to me. Then, we will settle this once and for all."
A/N: And here's the second chapter. Ozpin and Sigurd have met. Both have plans to use each other for their goals, although Ozpin's looks to be of a larger scale. Hope you guys enjoyed and leave a review.