The Chosen Undead — a sorcerer who had decided to take the name Maledictus Inmortuae when he first became undead — stood over the desiccated corpse of Lord Gwyn holding his Gold Tracer — the blade of which was covered in the ancient, coagulated, golden ichor of Lord Gwyn — in his right hand and his Tin Crystallization Catalyst in his left hand. His heavily reinforced Black Iron Armor was covered in holes, dents, scratches, and scorch marks from his battle with the Lord of Cinder. He was gravely injured but no blood seeped from any of his wounds. This was not because the divine flames coating Gwyn's Greatsword had cauterized the majority of his wounds. No, it was due entirely to the fact that the warm blood of the living no longer flowed through his ancient veins whatsoever as his heart had long since stopped beating centuries ago.
Putting his Golden Tracer and Tin Crystallization Catalyst back in their respective scabbard and metal loop holster which were both attached to a thick heavily titanite reinforced leather belt wrapped around the waist of his armor, he reached into his bottomless box — which was also attached to his reinforced leather belt — and pulled out both his Estus Flask and a small bag of Repair Powder. Dumping the bag of Repair Powder out over himself, all the damage his armor and weapons had sustained during the battle began to fix itself.
Tossing the empty and now worthless bag off to the side, Maledictus took off his Black Iron Helmet revealing his features. He appeared to be in his late teens — though in reality he was much much older than that —, he had neatly trimmed black hair, eyes the same pale blue as the soul sorceries he often used, pale skin, and a naturally serious clean shaven face. Holding the helmet under his arm, he uncorked his Estus Flask and took a swig of the magical liquid fire trapped within. As soon as the ethereal flames touched his lips his wounds began to close and the pain of his injuries faded into nothing
This had been a good fight. Not nearly as hard as some he had fought and not even a fraction as challenging as he had been expecting it to be — even Nito had been a more significant threat than Gwyn —, but it was a good fight all the same. Even in his current state Gwyn was still worthy of being called one of the three Great Lords. It would have taken entire armies of still living humans to come even close to killing him, even now. Fortunately for Maledictus, he was the Chosen Undead and over the course of the hundreds of years he had spent on his seemingly endless journey he had consumed countless billions if not trillions of souls granting him the raw power to more than rival any of the three Great Lords during the height of their power if not all three of them combined. In their cursed and weakened states the Great Lords could still put up a fight but their deaths had been all but assured.
Putting his helmet back on, the undead put out a hand towards Gwyn's corpse and something resembling a massive ball of fire came flying out of Gwyn's chest before coming to a stop in front of Maledictus' palm. Adjusting the position of his hand so he could get a better look at it, Maledictus examined the massive ball of flame. "So this is Gwyn's soul? Interesting... It looks just like Nito's and the Witch of Izalith's souls. Honestly, I somehow expected it to look at least a little different." Maledictus stated, sounding somewhat disappointed. He shook his head and chuckled humorlessly. "I suppose a Lord Soul is just a Lord Soul regardless of who it once belonged to."
Closing his hand around the soul there was a burst of bright white and orange light as he proceeded to consume Gwyn's soul as he had with so many others in the past. He felt the same familiar sudden influx of power that came with the consumption of souls, but magnified about a thousand times over. It was so intense it was nearly overwhelming. So this was the power of a Lord Soul? This almost made him regret having sacrificed the other Lord Souls to the Lord Vessel to open the doors to the Kiln. If he had consumed them instead, he would have been more than powerful enough to break the doors down himself! Oh well, what's done was done.
His eyes drifted over towards the coiled sword sticking out of the center of the Kiln. "I suppose there's only one thing left for me to do…" He muttered to himself. Marching over to the coiled sword he thought back on the past few centuries. He recalled everywhere he had been, everything he had seen, everyone he had met and everyone he had killed friend and foe alike, everything he had done, everything he had sacrificed, all of his innumerable deaths, and all of the seemingly endless hellish suffering he had been forced to endure.
Lesser men would have long since broken and been driven to madness from the sheer horror that was his cursed deathless existence, but not him. He had persisted through all of it, even when it got so awful he had been on the very edge of losing his sanity, and this was his ultimate reward. Freedom from the damned curse that Gwyn branded upon mankind. A permanent end to his hellish existence. An eternal reprieve from the absolutely relentless threat of madness and hollowing that constantly loomed over his and every other undead's heads like the blade of the executioner's axe. Death. A true final death.
Before he got even halfway to the coiled sword, a relieved smile crossed his face. He could hardly believe it. Strange warm feelings welled up inside of him that he did not immediately recognise at first. It took him a few moments but he eventually managed to piece together what these almost alien emotions were. They were hope and happiness. It had been so many centuries since he had last experienced the most miniscule amounts of either one that he had completely forgotten what they felt like.
Coming to a stop near the coiled sword, Maledictus kneeled down in the ashes and cinders in front of it almost reverently. "It's over… It's finally over…" He muttered on the verge of sobbing in utter joy. Slowly he reached out towards the coiled blade and used it to relight the First Fire just as he had done with countless bonfires before. However, as the flame slowly started to light a massive hand that appeared to be made of pure darkness suddenly grabbed the undead from behind before picking him up and throwing him across the room. The thick layer of soft ashes covering the ground cushioned his landing leaving him completely unharmed. As soon as Maledictus tumbled to a stop he immediately forced himself up and stared in confusion and rage at a small man in pitch black robes who was currently standing over the newly lit and still small flame of the First Fire. It took him a moment to realize the staff the pygmy was wielding was the exact same one that Manus, the Father of the Abyss had been wielding during their battle in the Abyss but when he did his confusion and rage was immediately
"No…" The chosen undead muttered in denial, refusing to believe his eyes. "Nonononono… This isn't real… This can't be real! How can you possibly still be alive?! I killed you in the Abyss of Oolacile, gods damn it!" He shouted furiously, tearing his Gold Tracer out of its sheath almost frantically.
"Oh? Is that what you think?" Inquired the ominously familiar and seemingly disembodied voice of the Primordial Serpent Darkstalker Kaathe, whom he had the great misfortune of meeting after killing the Four Kings in New Londo. "Tell me, undead warrior, after you fought Humanity's blessed progenitor in the Abyss and supposedly defeated him, did you claim the Dark Soul as you had claimed the Lord Souls of the Gravelord and the corrupted form of the Witch upon defeating them? No? Then, undead warrior, I am afraid you have been gravely deceived. And it is good that you were deceived for were you not, in your foolishness you may have lashed out at the Father of the Abyss and inadvertently doomed the world to a fate far worse than any other."
The undead quickly thought back to his fight with Manus in the Abyss. Most of the fight was just one big blur but he distinctly remembered two things. One, after figuring out the connection between Manus and the broken pendant he had found in the Duke's Archives he had attempted to use the Pendant as a weapon against the Father of the Abyss. However, it hadn't worked as he had intended and Manus ended up reclaiming possession of the pendant. The second thing he remembered was stabbing Manus through the heart with Artorias' Greatsword and the monster screeching in agony as it began sinking into the inky black ground. He had indeed never collected a soul of any sort from Manus but he had merely dismissed this fact as the Abyss having consumed Manus' soul along with his body.
A cold sense of dread filled him as a terrible realization struck him like the blunt axe of a raging Taurus Demon. Manus sinking into the ground hadn't been him dying nor the Abyss consuming him, it was him running away as with his pendant back he simply no longer had a reason to continue fighting. Manus had been alive this entire time just licking his wounds and biding his time and Maledictus, in his arrogant assumption of victory, had simply never realized it. It would also appear that over the centuries he somehow even managed to regain his original form and become even more powerful.
The Chosen Undead then heard a laugh emanating from Manus and watched as the Father of the Abyss lifted his twisted axe-like Catalyst and held it over the newly lit ethereal flames of the First Fire which were now struggling to grow without Maledictus and his soul to serve as fuel. An eldritch black energy engulfed the head of the massive catalyst and the slow moving bright orange flames of the First Fire slowly started to dim and turn as black as the Abyss.
Grabbing his Gold Tracer with both hands, Maledictus raised his weapon and began charging towards Manus, intent on stopping whatever the hell the beast was doing to the First Fire. He would not allow this beast to doom mankind any more than Gwyn already had with his damnable curse! Not when he was so close to ending all of this and saving the world from destruction!
"Halt, you damned fool! If you wish for humanity to survive and this horrid curse to end then you must not interrupt the holy father of man from his righteous work! He must be allowed to undo the damage the gods hath wrought upon the natural order of the world and upon you, his beloved children!" The still seemingly disembodied voice of Darkstalker Kaathe screeched in horrified outrage as the Chosen Undead raised his weapon and began his charge.
The undead ignored the lies of the primordial serpent and continued running through the ashes of the Kiln. He was not so foolish as to fall for such obvious deception. That vile beast was completely insane just as all those poor bastards infected by the abyss in Oolacile had been, so whatever it was doing to the First Fire would have terrible repercussions upon mankind if it were allowed to finish. Of this Maledictus had no doubt.
However, as soon as the chosen undead came within a few dozen feet the Father of the Abyss held out a hand towards him and a much larger hand of some impossibly dark substance erupted from his actual hand faster than the undead could react even with his god-like speed and reflexes and grabbed him. Meanwhile with his other hand on his staff Manus continued to do whatever he was doing to the First Fire. "Insolent fool… Listen to the serpent for there is wisdom in its words. Cease thine struggling this instant and hinder not my work. When I hath finished thou shalt be greatly rewarded for the wondrous deeds thou hast performed for me and the very world in returning my pendant and relighting the Primordial Flame for me. However, continue with thine misguided hostility and I shall instead be forced to punish thee." Manus growled in annoyance.
Maledictus was immediately taken aback by this unexpected turn of events. Manus could actually speak?! Last time they fought the Father of the Abyss had been little more than a mindless beast no better than any hollow. Suddenly he remembered the four rings he was wearing. He currently had on his Covetous Silver Serpent Ring, his Flame Stoneplate Ring, his Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring, and his Old Witch's Ring. He hadn't been wearing his Old Witch's Ring when he last fought Manus so perhaps he could always speak and the Undead just couldn't understand him last time? Or was it simply that having his pendant back returned some of his sanity? He shook his head to clear his thoughts. In the end it really didn't matter since he had to put a stop to this either way.
Maledictus struggled to break free from Manus' iron grip. No matter how much he struggled he couldn't seem to wiggle free. He did, however, manage to get his right arm free, and with it his Gold Tracer. Flipping the Gold Tracer around he plunged the radiant golden blade into the Father of the Abyss' ethereal hand.
Manus didn't even so much as flinch. Instead he turned his head and looked at Maledictus with two inky black eyes that were darker than the Abyss. He radiated no anger or hostility, only sadness and disappointment. Manus let loose a heavy sigh before shaking his head and looking back at the First Fire and continuing what he was doing.
"Why must thou insist upon fighting me? We art allies whether thou realizes it or not. We both work towards the same goal. Is thine mind already so fractured by Gwyn's curse that thou would lash out at those who merely seeketh to help thee? No… I sense thou retains thine sanity yet. Though I do sense great fear and desperation within thee… Ah… Now I understand… Thou seest me as a threat to Humanity and thou shall not stop until I lay dead at thine feet and thou art burning as fuel for the Primordial Flame. A mental effect of that backstabbing bastard's curse, I'm sure…" Manus growled, turning his head and glaring hatefully at Gwyn's lifeless corpse for a moment before returning his gaze to the First Fire.
"Oh, my dear child, how it pains me to see how misguided thou art. That is why I must sincerely apologise for what I must now do. For I cannot allow a single wayward child to threaten the future of the rest of my progeny, no matter how well intentioned he may be."
Hearing this, Maledictus began frantically slashing and stabbing Manus' conjured hand with his Gold Tracer desperately trying to destroy it or at the very least damage it enough so the Father of the Abyss would be forced to release him. However, his attempts were futile at best. Every cut or puncture he made seemed to fill with the same strange inky black ethereal substance the entire hand appeared to be made from, "healing" it almost instantly.
"All of my progeny shall be freed from Gwyn's curse of undeath, but for thine aggression towards thine progenitor thou art the only one who shall be forever damned. Thou shalt be banished from this world and thou shall suffer thine curse; wandering deathless for eternity in an existence completely separate from our own never to return. However, I am not so needlessly cruel as that backstabbing bastard Gwyn nor any of the rest of the damnable gods and you are still one of my progeny. As such, I shall granteth thee a boon. I shall alter thine curse for thee such that so long as thou merely loses not thine sense of hope thou shalt retain thine sanity and never hollow, rather than having to chase obsessively an impossible goal in perpetuity."
Manus lifted his catalyst away from the First Fire — the flames of which were now blacker than the darkest depths of the Abyss itself where no light could ever possibly exist — and pointed its axe-like head at Maledictus who continued to thrash and struggle futilely in his impossibly strong grip. An eldritch black energy engulfed the end of his catalyst and a white aura appeared around Maledictus who immediately began screaming in agony as hellish agony the likes of which he had never experienced before racked every fiber of his being down to his very soul and humanity. Were the undead physically capable of falling unconscious then he surely would have. Unfortunately for Maledictus, undead were not capable of falling unconscious thus he was forced to experience every last moment of this unbearable agony.
After a few seconds — though to Maledictus it felt like an eternity of the most cruel torture in existence — the white aura disappeared from around the Chosen Undead and the excruciating pain vanished along with it. Next Manus waved his catalyst off to the side and opened up a portal that looked much like the one in Darkroot Garden that he had used to drag the Chosen Undead into the distant past.
"Perhaps once I hath undone the damage Gwyn has wrought upon the world and hath returned the rest of my progeny to stability, I may one day travel to this alternate existence mine self and visit thee. Until then I bid thee farewell, oh deathless one." Manus said before shoving the undead through the portal. As soon as he was through the portal the Father of the Abyss' shadowy hand released Maledictus he hit the soft grass covered ground of what appeared to be some sort of forest full of strange alien trees and plant life. Looking up he saw the pitch black arm vanish back into the portal which immediately closed behind it.
Forcing himself to stand up Maledictus sheathed his Gold Tracer before reaching into his bottomless box. Pulling out a homeward bone he crushed it in his hand and waited to be teleported back to the Lord Vessel. When nothing happened, he reached back into his bottomless box, took out his Velka's Talisman and attempted to cast the Homeward Miracle. Once again nothing happened. In an act of complete and utter desperation, he put his Velka's Talisman away and tried activating his Dark Sign in an attempt to kill himself and have his body reform back at the Lord Vessel. The back of his hand where his Dark Sign was burned as if it had been lit on fire.
However when nothing happened for a final time, Maledictus collapsed to his knees as he was completely overwhelmed by hellish terror and a soul crushing sense of failure. He had failed in his mission. The world was doomed. The abyss would consume everything and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
He could only pray that Manus hadn't simply been lying to him as so many others had before and that he would truly end the curse. However even if it was true and everyone else in the world was going to be saved, Maledictus was apparently still doomed. He would forever bear the curse and thus would eventually lose his sanity and go hollow. He would remain sane as long as he didn't lose hope? How could he possibly not lose hope in his situation?! It was an impossible task…
All he ever wanted since becoming undead was to finally be allowed to die but it seemed that reality was absolutely adamant about continuing to refuse him that one small mercy. Why? What had he ever done to deserve this?! What act had he ever committed that was so evil as to warrant this punishment?! NOTHING! He had done NOTHING to deserve this, yet reality saw fit to make him suffer like this anyways. It wasn't fair… It wasn't fair!
Had he still been alive and thus still capable of producing tears they would have been rolling down his face underneath his helmet as he unleashed an anguished cry so loud that it echoed throughout the strange alien forest, causing any animals nearby to flee in terror and alerting a pack of soulless beings to his location. When his ancient lungs finally ran out of air he stopped screaming and broke down sobbing instead. He continued crying like this for several minutes until his enhanced undead senses heard a pack of what sounded like very large creatures rapidly approaching him.
Out of habit and survival instinct he got up and drew the Greatsword of Artorias from his bottomless box and summoned his pyromancy flame to his hand Eventually a pack of large black wolf-like creatures with skeletal heads burst into the clearing and charged straight towards him. Still very much crying, running on pure instinct Maledictus charged towards the creatures and became a brutal whirlwind of fire, death, and destruction. Using pyromancies he burned the beasts while cutting others to pieces with his greatsword which also seemed to burn them on contact, though he didn't notice this fact in the least. At some point the forest began burning, lit on fire by Maledictus's pyromancies. However neither Maledictus nor the beasts cared in the least as they continued their battle even as the forest fire blazed around them.
Even after Maledictus slaughtered the entire pack the battle didn't end as more and more of the creatures kept swarming in, attracted by the immense levels of fear, sadness, anger, hatred, and other negative emotions Maledictus was feeling at that time. This effect was only enhanced by the darkness that permeated every fiber of his being, his Humanity. As beings of darkness themselves — albeit a very different darkness — such darkness multiplied the intensity by which they were attracted to his negative emotions by several orders of magnitude. This meant he was like a massive beacon to them and they were drawn to him as moths are drawn to a flame with similarly lethal results.
Not all of them were wolf-like as the original pack had been. No, there were a whole host of creatures of all different kinds. At some point Maledictus was even forced to swap out his pyromancy flame for his tin crystallization catalyst as he was assaulted by bird-like creatures in the sky that fired their feathers at him like arrows.
Despite this switch his combat abilities were not hampered in the least. If anything they were drastically improved as being a sorcerer he was far better at sorcery than anything else. Having read every book in the Duke's Archives and had completely memorized all of them in their entirety his skills and power in sorcery were easily on par with those of Seath the Scaleless. And he had even managed to convince Quelana to teach him some of the lost fire sorceries of Izalith, though it took quite a lot of effort to convince her and it cost him an obscene amount of souls, so he was producing no less fire than when he was using pyromancy. In fact he was producing more fire than he ever could with basic pyromancy alone.
Not to mention the fact he had consumed so many souls he was easily as powerful as all three Gwyn, Nito, and The Witch of Izalith in their prime combined if not more so. So he didn't fight like a typical undead or hollow, instead he fought like a god. Thus the still burning forest was being torn apart and destroyed in quite a large area around him as he continued to slaughter the monsters by the dozens. He could have destroyed far more, even going so far as to crack the entire planet in half if not outright obliterate it if he truly wanted to, but he had no reason to do so as these beasts weren't nearly large enough of a threat to warrant it. Besides which, he had no desire to cause destruction on such a large scale. In fact it was the exact opposite, he was so terrified of going hollow because he didn't want to hurt anyone or cause mass destruction.
He failed to notice this at the time, but as he slaughtered the beasts he wasn't consuming any souls as they had none to begin with. Their bodies also disintegrated moments after he killed them, but the same thing happened to plenty of other enemies he had killed in the past so he didn't pay this any mind whatsoever. If anything he was surprised they were disintegrating so slowly. Otherwise he was far too lost in his slaughter, grief, and fear to notice much of anything at all other than the seemingly endless tide of creatures that continued to assault him.
Meanwhile a man who sought to protect the world from the very beasts he was fighting received reports of strange Grimm activity on a massive scale. Hundreds of them all appeared to be converging on the center of a forest fire that had suddenly appeared seemingly out of nowhere despite there being absolutely no villages or settlements around that area for miles. There also appeared to be quite a bit of seismic activity in the area happening at seemingly random intervals. He had no idea what was going on but he didn't like it. He checked and saw there were no huntsmen or huntresses in that area at the moment. At least none that were any closer to the epicenter of the strange activity than Beacon Academy itself was. So instead of sending anyone that was currently outside of the academy he decided to send Glynda Goodwitch, knowing she would be more than capable of handling herself despite the harsh conditions that were sure to be present at the location.
[One hour later]
At some point in the battle Maledictus had finally stopped crying and started to be a bit more aware of everything that was going on around him. As he continued fighting, cleaving monsters apart with the Greatsword of Artorias and casting devastating spells, he heard a strange noise off in the distance. It seemed to be emanating from the sky. He looked in the direction of the sound but the smoke from the forest fire he caused made it too hard for him to see anything. Regardless he was prepared to shoot down whatever new monster appeared.
Eventually the noise ceased and nothing happened. No new types of monsters for him to slay appeared or anything of the sort. It was quite anticlimactic really. Regardless he had no shortage of monsters to slaughter as it was.
After a few more minutes he noticed some movement out of the corner of his eye. Thinking it was another monster trying to ambush him, he glanced in that direction and saw something he hadn't been expecting. A woman with blond hair wielding a riding crop as if it were a weapon and wearing some sort of strange mask over her mouth and nose came rushing into the now greatly expanded clearing.
"Who are you? No, more importantly, what in the name of the Abyss are you doing here?!" Maledictus demanded as he cut another monster to ribbons and cast another spell that caused a torrent of burning crystal spears to rain from the sky homing in on the monsters in a similar manner as the orbs in the spell Homing Soulmass and impaling them like crystal soul spears. He had experimented a bit and had combined the fire sorcery that he had learned from Quelana with the crystal sorcery he learned from the Duke's archives in order to create a few of his own spells, such as the one he had just cast.
"I could ask you the same thing!" The woman shouted back at him, flicking her riding crop in the direction of a group of the monsters a few burning logs from a few of the trees Maledictus had destroyed were sent flying towards the creatures crushing them.
Maledictus was confused for a moment before writing it off as some sort of magic he had never seen before. "I see you can hold your own. Good. If you're going to stay here and fight just try not to get in my way. Some of my spells have a rather large area of effect and I would rather not hurt you by mistake." Maledictus said before casting a spell that made thousands of razor sharp cursed crystals shoot up out of the ground and impale many of the ground based monsters from below before sinking back into the ground and vanishing from existence as if they had never been there to begin with. Several of the monsters were killed by being impaled while others were turned to statues of solid crystal. Maledictus then proceeded to cast spells on more of the monsters which inadvertently shattered the crystal statues.
The woman then grabbed the razor sharp crystal shards left over from the statues with her strange magic and proceeded to turn them into a veritable storm that absolutely shredded the beasts.
Seeing this, Maledictus decided to make even more crystal shards for her to use, most of which he made sure were cursed. Thus as the new crystal shards began shredding them more of the monsters were turned to crystalline statues which Maledictus shattered. Eventually the woman reached a point where she could no longer pick up and use any more crystals with her strange magic, thus quite a few shards were left littering the ground. At that point Maledictus stopped trying to create more and started focusing more on killing the monsters himself.
The battle continued on for another half an hour before the tide of monsters slowly began to taper off before finally stopping entirely.
Maledictus cut the head off of the last monster, a giant bear-like beast, with a swing of the Greatsword of Artorias, finally ending the fight. With that done he put his greatsword back inside his bottomless box and sighed. He then raised his catalyst above his head and cast a spell to draw all the flames of the forest fire towards him, creating a massive ball of flame which he then launched into the sky where it dissipated harmlessly into the air. Finally he looked towards the woman who came to help him and saw her looking up into the sky, clearly surprised by what she had just witnessed.
"Thank you for your assistance, my lady, you fight quite well. However, I'm afraid I must be going now." Maledictus said before turning and starting to walk away in hopes of finding a good spot to serve as his final resting place.
"Wait! Before you go, I have a few questions for you." The woman called after him.
Maledictus sighed but came to a stop before turning and walking back towards her. "Very well. I suppose it's the least I can do. What questions might you have for me?"
"Let's start with an obvious one. What happened to your weapon? Something that large should not be able to disappear so easily."
"Oh, that? I put it in my bottomless box. As its name implies, it is enchanted to be bottomless and can hold infinite amounts of anything. Observe." Maledictus said before proceeding to take his Dragon Tooth out of his bottomless box and show it to her. He then put the Dragon Tooth away and pulled out his Dragonslayer's Spear. Then he put the spear away and pulled out his Black Knight Greatsword, then his Black Knight Greataxe, then his Gravelord Sword, then his Lifehunt Scythe, then his Dragon Slayer's Greatbow and one of the arrows it fired. Putting the Greatbow and arrow away he said, "You get the idea. I have thousands of weapons in there and the gods only know how many other things. Most of my weapons are just basic swords and such that any normal knight or warrior would carry. A few, however, are unique such as the ones I just showed you."
"You aren't a huntsman are you? I don't know of any huntsmen who could do half of what I saw you do." The woman inquired, clearly trying to hide her surprise at what she just witnessed.
"A huntsman? You mean one who hunts wild animals for sport, yes? No, I'm no huntsman. I'm a sorcerer. Well… I've also become a bit of a warrior during my time in Lordran. Though I suppose you wouldn't know what Lordran is, would you? The point is, I am no hunter of any sort." Maledictus explained.
"A huntsman, not a hunter. A huntsman hunts beasts of Grimm such as the ones we were just fighting, not animals. With that bit of clarification has your answer changed any?"
Maledictus shook his head. "I'm afraid not. This is honestly my first time ever seeing such creatures and they're the ones who attacked me not the other way around. Furthermore, I don't have any reason to hunt them. At least none that I'm aware of. So while I will slay them should they attack me again or should I see them attacking others, I will not actively hunt them down."
"I see… You call yourself a 'sorcerer'. What do you mean by that, exactly?" The woman inquired.
Maledictus raised his tin crystallization catalyst and said, "A sorcerer is a practitioner of the arcane. I am extremely well versed in magics of all sorts from pyromancy to sorcery, and even miracles. Though I will admit that I lack the faith required for most miracles. However I am perhaps the best sorcerer in existence. I should know, I killed Seath the Scaleless, the dragon who invented soul sorcery and I memorized all of the millions of books on the subject in his archives. I also learned flame sorcery from Quelana, one of the daughters of the Witch of Izalith who invented flame sorcery. Not to be confused with Pyromancy which is a separate and much simpler form of magic than flame sorcery. Although pyromancy was based on the flame sorcery of the Witch and her daughters it is but a crude parody of the real thing, but it is quite useful all the same… Ah, I was rambling. Forgive me, that's a bad habit of mine when it comes to the subject of magic."
The woman waved a hand dismissively. "It's fine. Your ramblings were quite informative. Who is Seath the Scaleless and why did you call him a dragon? Similarly, who is this Witch of Izalith?"
"That would take hours for me to explain in full as they are both major historical figures where I am from. So I won't go into any detail about them, especially since I myself am not much of a historian. And I called Seath a dragon because he is one. Granted he was a deformed albino dragon born without eyes and the stone scales that made the Everlasting Dragons immortal, thus the reason for his title 'the Scaleless'." Maledictus explained.
"Alright… Well, there is someone I would like for you to meet. If you would, please follow me." The woman requested.
"Er… Is this person nearby? How long would this take? I'm afraid I'm rather short on time…" Maledictus inquired.
"No, he's at Beacon Academy which is quite a ways away from here. However it should only take us about an hour to get there in the Bullhead. As for the meeting itself, it depends. It could take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. After that we can fly you wherever you need to go. Considering our present location and the fact there isn't anything around for miles it should still save you quite a bit of time since it appears you would be traveling on foot otherwise." The woman explained.
"Hm… I suppose I have a few hours. Very well. However, please give me a moment to change into something more comfortable. Armor is okay, but I much prefer normal clothes when not in serious combat." Maledictus requested.
The woman sighed in annoyance but said, "Alright. I'll just be waiting over there just past those trees. Tell me once you're finished changing and we can go." She said before walking off towards the trees she indicated.
Once she was a ways away he started changing out of his heavily reinforced Black Iron Armor and into the clothes he had taken from the self proclaimed "Marvelous" Chester, sans the mask, hat, and the extraneous straps on the trousers containing knives and crossbow bolts. When he was done he nodded in approval. He had long since used his repair spell and a bit of repair powder to fix the torn hem of the coat which hung about his legs as well as all other areas of the entire outfit that had shown any sign of wear or damage, now the clothes all looked as if they were fresh from the tailor.
It wasn't that his Black Iron Armor was too heavy for him as he had consumed so many souls that he was far stronger then either Black Iron Tarkus or Havel the Rock. So despite the abnormal thickness of the blackened steel plates it consisted of which made it far too heavy for living humans to move in — unless the human in question was Black Iron Tarkus, prior to dying and becoming undead of course — to him even Havel's solid stone armor felt so light it was as if he were wearing a second skin. He also very much preferred heavy armor like this in battle for the protection it offered him compared to traditional robes that most sorcerers tended to prefer, stuck up arrogant fools that they were.
He only really had three issues with heavy armor. His first issue was that the clanking of metal whenever he moved tended to annoy him whenever he wasn't in the middle of a fight. His second issue was that, generally speaking, he did not find solid metal or stone anywhere near as comfortable to wear as fabric or leather, even when it had padding. It was just too stiff. His final issue was that in areas where the ambient temperature was particularly hot or cold metal was an excellent thermal conductor and would become uncomfortably hot or cold as a result, a fact that was only made worse as the bodily processes that would normally regulate his body's temperature no longer functioned since he was undead.
Well, technically, such bodily processes no longer functioned unless he used pyromancy spells along the same line as the infamous "Flash Sweat" spell but that was a whole other issue entirely and required the use of magic to accomplish. Besides he hated that spell since he always smelled like a sweaty corpse after using it until he either died again and reformed at a bonfire or he found somewhere to wash himself, which was unfortunately rather difficult in Lordran.
Now lacking anything covering his head his features were revealed for the world to see once more. Unbeknownst to him, his previously blue eyes had become inky black. Otherwise, not much had changed.
As he was changing, he thought about his current situation and what he could possibly do about it. Technically speaking, he should have a few days until his sanity truly starts to slip. Once it did then it would take around a week until he went completely irredeemably insane. So after this meeting perhaps he could use what little time he had left to find a cave somewhere as far from any potential civilizations that may exist in this world as physically possible. If he did then he could collapse the entrance to trap himself inside where he could do no harm to anyone. Well, unless someone or something ended up excavating him by mistake, in which case he would have at least significantly delayed his mad slaughter of everything with a soul...
Hm… Perhaps he could prevent even that by using a bit of what he learned from the books within the Duke's Archives to use his sorcery to craft himself a coffin or sarcophagus of sorts from arcane crystal and enchant it so that his ability to consume souls would be confined to the space within and so that it could never be opened nor destroyed from either the inside or out. Then his self imposed prison would be well and truly complete and he could at least go hollow with somewhat of a smile on his face knowing that in his eternal madness he would never threaten the living nor the souls of anything that may potentially die anywhere near his tomb. Small mercies, he supposed.
Now in significantly more comfortable attire, Maledictus found the woman and said, "There, I'm ready. Please, lead the way."
The woman appeared surprised when she saw him. "You're a lot younger than I expected."
Maledictus just chuckled at that and said, "Oh, I'm far older than I look."
"I somehow find that rather difficult to believe." The woman said, crossing her arms.
Maledictus just shrugged and said, "Believe it or not, it's the truth."
"Sure it is… Come on, let's get going." She said before turning and walking away.
Maledictus then followed the woman through the forest to a clearing where some sort of large metal thing was waiting for them. "What is that?" Maledictus asked in a wary tone, reaching for his Gold Tracer and catalyst.
"Calm down, it's just the Bullhead. It will be what's taking us back to Beacon Academy… You aren't particularly familiar with technology are you?" The woman inquired.
"Technology, as in machines like trebuchets and clockwork?" Maledictus inquired, relaxing slightly but keeping one hand resting on the pommel of his Gold Tracer.
"Sort of, but significantly more advanced… Think of it this way, the Bullhead is just a machine that uses the stuff lightning is made from to rotate blades fast enough to produce enough wind to allow it to fly through the sky." The woman explained, continuing to lead him towards it.
"I see… So it somehow uses sunlight as a source of power to generate rotational force to cause the blades to spin fast enough to produce sufficient lift to carry the machine into the sky… How ingenious! I personally would have used sorcery to generate the rotational force but I suppose this works too. If only I had more time… I would very much like to study the divine mechanisms required to make it work." Maledictus muttered to himself.
The woman stared at him for a moment before shaking her head and saying, "Close enough…" She then proceeded to climb into the Bullhead. Maledictus followed her inside.
The flight took about an hour. Maledictus decided to pass the time by taking a book out of his bottomless box along with a quill and inkwell and theorize about possible designs for flying machines similar to the Bullhead and even attempt to draw up a schematic for a prototype design. He knew he would never get to test his design but it was something to do during the flight.
Eventually they arrived at the academy and the lady led him to an office where a man with grey hair was waiting for them. "Hm… You aren't quite what I was expecting after reading the report Glynda sent me." The man said almost as soon as he saw Maledictus.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you. What is this about, if I may ask?" Maledictus inquired walking closer to the man so as to have a proper conversation rather than talking to each other from across the room.
"Well, at the moment I simply have a few questions for you if you would be willing to answer them." The man said.
"Very well. What is it you want to know?" Maledictus said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"First and foremost, I would like to know where you're from. The report Glynda sent me mentioned something about someplace called Lordran?" The man inquired.
"You would never have heard of where I'm from." Maledictus told him honestly.
"All the same, I would appreciate it if you could tell me."
Maledictus shrugged and said, "As you wish. Vinheim. I was a student at the Dragon School of Vinheim. The single greatest school of sorcery in the world. The name is derived from Seath the Scaleless as he was a dragon and was the grandfather of sorcery. Vinheim was the name of both the school and the country itself as the school owned the country. Lordran is where I went after… Well… My death."
The man raised an eyebrow at that and said, "Your death? You look perfectly alive to me."
"Looks can be deceiving. I believe we have yet to introduce ourselves. I am Maledictus Inmortuae. It's a name I took up for myself after I died since I no longer felt worthy of the name I had whilst still alive. It means "Cursed Undead", and I suppose that's a good place to start. As you may have guessed by this point, I am an undead. I can not die, or… well I suppose that's not quite accurate. I very much can die, it's just that I can not stay dead no matter how much I want to. And believe me, I have died so many times that I have long since lost count." Maledictus explained.
The man took a sip from the mug that was in his hand and said, "Hello, Maledictus. I am Professor Ozpin. Headmaster of Beacon Academy. If you are telling the truth, which I do not believe, why are you telling me this? Wouldn't this be something you would rather keep to yourself?"
"Under normal circumstances, yes. However, there's a bit of a problem I'm hoping you may be able to help me with. However, I'll get to that in a moment. You do not believe me when I tell you I am undead? Well, here's proof." Maledictus said before drawing his Gold Tracer and plunging it into his chest before either Ozpin or the woman who he assumed was "Glynda" could react.
Glynda gasped in shock while the man appeared shocked but had a much more muted reaction.
"See? Just to prove this is real and not an illusion, feel free to try to pull the blade back out if you wish." Maledictus offered, motioning to the hilt of the blade.
Ozpin set his mug down on his desk before standing up and walking around his desk and over to Maledictus before grabbing the hilt of the Gold Tracer and yanking it back out. He then looked at the blade and saw it covered with not with fresh red blood that a living being might have but instead the black congealed blood of a corpse long since dead. "Hm… Interesting… Alright, I believe you." He then held the Gold Tracer out for Maledictus to take back. "Now what is this problem you mentioned? Am I to assume you want help dying? Well, you just proved that killing you would be rather difficult so I'm not entirely sure what we could do to help you in that regard."
Maledictus accepted the weapon back before reaching into his bottomless box and pulling out a rag which he used to wipe the blade off before sheathing it again.
"You just stabbed yourself… Are you insane?! Undead or not, that is an extremely idiotic thing to do!" Glynda shouted at Maledictus.
Maledictus took a swig from his estus flask, causing the wound to heal back up almost immediately. He then looked at Glynda and said, "I've survived worse. Trust me on that. And no, I'm not insane… Not yet, at least."
"Not yet?" Ozpin inquired.
"Not yet…" Maledictus repeated in an exhausted tone. "As for the help I need, no, you misunderstand my intentions. While I would like nothing more than to finally be allowed to die and stay dead, it is impossible. Rather, I need your help to protect everyone in this world from me."
"What do you mean? Are you planning to go on a rampage or something?" Ozpin inquired.
"No. Not at all. In fact, that's exactly what I want to avoid. I don't want to hurt anyone. Let me explain… I died… I don't have any clue how long ago. Centuries? Millennia? It's hard to tell when time itself is broken. That's besides the point. When I died, I was branded with this." He removed his right glove and showed Ozpin and Glynda the back of his hand, upon which a black ring burned with ethereal fire. "The Dark Sign. Now that in and of itself would be fine. After all, one could get used to immortality after a time."
"This curse doesn't just revive you whenever you die, does it?" Ozpin inquired looking at the burning ring on the back of Maledictus's hand.
"Not in the least. You see, Undead like me need a purpose. Something to constantly strive for. If we can't find such a purpose or if we lose our purpose we slowly go insane until we eventually become nothing more than highly aggressive mindless monsters called "Hollows." Unfortunately it gets even worse, especially in my case, because all undead gain the ability to consume the souls of those that die within a certain radius of them. Regardless, as we consume more and more souls we become faster, stronger, tougher, more dexterous, more intelligent and all sorts of other things. The more powerful the soul, the stronger we become. I have consumed so many powerful souls in my quest to rid my world of my particular curse that I have legitimately fought and killed gods. I even have one of their souls still…"
He reached into his bottomless box and pulled out the soul of Gwyndolin. Showing the soul to the old man he continued to explain, "This belonged to Gwyndolin the god of the moon, at least in my world. I know nothing of the gods of this realm as I am obviously from another world entirely. Would you like to get a closer look at it? It may look like fire but it can be safely held in one's hands."
"If I may." Ozpin said, holding out a hand to accept it from him.
Maledictus then proceeded to place the soul in Ozpin's hand. Ozpin then examined it for a moment before saying, "It's much smaller than I would expect for the soul of a god."
"That's because it came from Gwyndolin. He was the son of Gwyn, the god of the sun and of cinders and the king of the gods. However, Gwyndolin was just an average god. The souls of the three major gods were much larger and much more potent than his as they bore what were known as Lord Souls. I should know, I killed all three of them and took their souls. I sacrificed two of them to open the door to the kiln of the first flame so I could fight Lord Gwyn and relight the flame so I could end my curse and finally be allowed to die. I consumed Gwyn's soul immediately after I killed him, otherwise I would have shown it to you rather than Gwyndolin's soul." Maledictus explained.
"I see. Glynda, would you like to get a closer look at the soul of a god? I mean, you would be one of the first three people in history to have ever actually held the soul of a god." Ozpin offered.
"No. I would rather not hold anyone's soul, let alone the soul of a god. Besides, who's to say his curse wouldn't infect me the moment I touched it?" Glynda said, looking rather uncomfortable.
Ozpin shrugged and said, "Suit yourself." He then held the soul back out for Maledictus to take. As soon as Maledictus accepted the soul back Ozpin asked, "So, if you grow more powerful from consuming souls, why haven't you consumed that one?"
"Simple. Certain powerful souls can be turned into weapons by the blacksmith of Anor Londo. He is a giant and he forged all of the gods weapons and armor for them. I was going to ask him to turn this one into a weapon as well but I simply never got around to it. Unfortunately I won't ever get a chance to have him do so now that I'm trapped in this world, so…" Maledictus said before crushing Gwyndolin's soul in his hand. A white light flowed into him as he consumed the soul. "Well, getting back on topic, when an undead, especially one as powerful as myself, loses their purpose, goes mad, and turns hollow what do you think happens to them?"
"They go on a rampage killing and consuming the souls of anything they come across…" Glynda said in a somewhat terrified tone, though she was clearly attempting to keep up a stoic facade.
"Precisely. Thus the reason I need your help. When I was banished from my world by a powerful being known as Manus who easily rivals myself if not surpasses me entirely, I officially lost my purpose. He claimed to have altered my curse to make it so that as long as I do not lose hope I will not go hollow rather than requiring a purpose, but you can understand why I would not wish to take that risk."
"Indeed, I do." Ozpin as he walked back around his desk before picking up his mug and taking a sip.
Maledictus nodded with a bitter smile. "So in the event that he was either wrong or lying to me I fear I only have a week or two — perhaps a month if I'm particularly lucky — before I go hollow. I do have a plan to imprison myself to ensure I can never harm anyone or consume any of their souls. You see, I am an avid practitioner of sorcery and have learned much from the Duke's Archives in Anor Londo. Thus I am capable of crafting myself a crystalline sarcophagus or tomb that will confine my ability to consume souls and should be impossible for me to break out of. However, I need to find a safe location that can serve as my final resting place. Preferably somewhere no one will disturb my sarcophagus or tomb and end up freeing me by mistake."
Ozpin nodded understandingly. "I can certainly see why that would be your first resort. However, before that I would like to ask, is your transformation into a hollow sudden or is it gradual? Would we be able to tell whether you were about to turn or not?"
Maledictus chuckled humorlessly. "I have far too much experience with watching other undead lose their minds and go hollow… It is a gradual descent into madness. I will be somewhat lucid for a time, but after that…"
"Alright, and since you had that god's soul just stored away in that box is it safe to assume you can control whether or not you consume the souls of those around you?" Ozpin inquired.
"Yes… Why? Where are you going with this?" Maledictus inquired cautiously.
Ozpin sat back down and said, "Well, what if this 'Manus' creature was telling the truth and all you need to do to stay sane is to not lose hope? We can most certainly help you with that, such a thing is easy enough. But even if he was lying — which not knowing the creature personally I am inclined to doubt that it was as I don't believe it would have any reason to lie about such a thing — we can still help you. If my memory serves me correctly you said you've existed for centuries if not millennia and in that time you have clearly never lost your sanity or we would not be speaking now. Furthermore you claim that most undead with normal curses will not go insane so long as they have a purpose. Something to strive for. Well, we can most definitely offer you a purpose. However, before we get to that I have a few new questions for you."
"Very well." Maledictus muttered, considering everything Ozpin had just told him.
"First, how old were you when you first died? And if you don't mind me asking, how did you die?" Ozpin inquired.
"I was eighteen. All sorcerers at the Dragon School who are old enough are forced to participate if the country ever goes to war. I died in the first battle. I was on the front lines so as soon as it started an arrow pierced my heart. I died before I could cast so much as a single spell. By far one of the quickest and least painful deaths I've ever endured, I guarantee that. Though by far the most memorable as it was the first. I assume you're asking how old I was because you're curious why I look so young, well undead such as myself stop aging after our first death. I'm biologically still eighteen despite being much older in actuality." Maledictus explained.
Ozpin nodded. "Thank you, that is indeed why I asked. I had assumed as much but I just wanted to be sure. Now, what was your name before you decided to call yourself 'cursed undead'? Not that I have any problem with the title, mind you, but it is just that. A title. An alias. I would like to know your actual name. We need it for our records and I believe you would have an easier time here in Remnant if you went by a more normal name."
"My real name… Give me a moment, it's been so long I hardly remember it… Was it…? No that doesn't sound right… Hm… Sh… Schwarz…? It was Schwarz… I think… Schwarz Albrecht… Wow, that's a name I haven't heard or said in the gods only know how long." Schwarz stated.
"Schwarz, huh? A fine name. You should have kept it. It sounds strangely Atlesian. In fact, I'm sure there are people in Atlas with the same name. Are you certain you aren't from this world?" Ozpin inquired.
"Yes. I'm certain. If you need another demonstration I could always break my own neck. However if I did that I would die, my body would burst into flames and disintegrate, and would reform in the place I first arrived in this world. Specifically the place Madam Glynda found me. At least I assume it would… Then again, undead typically reform at the last bonfire or location they rested at. Technically the last place I rested was that flying machine you brought me here in… So actually I would probably reform there, in which case we could likely speak again in just a few minutes. Otherwise I could just sit down and rest here for a few minutes, then I would just reappear right here and we could continue speaking in a matter of seconds. However, if I do this I must warn you my appearance will change quite drastically. I would look like a mummified corpse. I have ways of reverting back to my normal human form, I just thought I should warn you ahead of time as it could be quite startling if you aren't expecting it."
"No! Absolutely not! You are absolutely not going to kill yourself! Do I make myself clear?!" Glynda shouted at him.
"I suppose but I fail to see why. I can't stay dead, remember?" Schwarz inquired.
"Doesn't matter! Suicide is absolutely unacceptable!" Glynda declared in a tone that brokered no argument.
"Very well. In that case I suppose you're just going to have to take my word for it. Though the offer for the demonstration will remain open for as long as I retain my sanity. One more death hardly matters to me." Schwarz stated.
"I'll keep that in mind… Well, I strongly advise that you start going by your actual name again. Regardless, can any of these forms of magic you can use be taught to others?" Ozpin asked.
Schwarz nodded."Yes. I'm going to ramble a bit so forgive me for this. Anyway, seeing as my sorcery and pyromancy still work here in this realm that means they can indeed be taught to anyone. However, miracles are a bit of a different story. Specifically because they require faith in the gods and I would assume the people of your world worship very different gods than the ones from my world. So no one here would be capable of using them even if I taught them the spells. That just leaves sorcery and pyromancy. Pyromancy would be the easiest for anyone to learn as all it would require is a pyromancy flame which I can provide. Sorcery, however, is much more complex and relies heavily on the intelligence of the sorcerer. In fact, intelligence is required to cast any spells in sorcery. A sorcerer also requires a catalyst to cast spells but I have dozens and I can easily make more. Although, giving someone a catalyst is quite a bit less personal than giving someone a pyromancy flame so I could have more apprentices in sorcery than in pyromancy. That is, assuming I remained sane long enough to teach anyone anything."
"Excellent. Well, I believe that's all the questions I have for the moment. So I'll get straight to the point. We could use someone as powerful as yourself, and the fact you can't die is actually quite helpful. So I have an offer for you that should keep you out of that crystal coffin for the moment. Become a student here at Beacon Academy, become a huntsman, and fight to protect humanity from the Grimm. Though if your curse requires a more clear goal then fight to exterminate the Grimm. It won't be that easy but you're fine with a goal that could take you centuries or longer, correct?" Ozpin inquired.
"Fighting to relight the first fire took me what I can only assume was thousands of years. So yes, long term goals are preferable. The longer term and the more clear the end goal is the better. However, I have a question. Why should I become a student? Why not just call me a huntsman and be done with it. I have been fighting for eons, I hardly need training in that regard." Schwarz inquired, confused as to why Ozpin would think he needed training.
"A few reasons. First, a huntsman needs to know how to fight in a team and by the sounds of it you have been fighting mostly by yourself for who knows how long. Second, according to the reports Glynda sent me, you appear to be unfamiliar with modern technology. Being a student here will help you learn about it and become acclimated to it. Third, I sincerely doubt you know anything about modern weapons either and as a student here you will learn how they function and how to use them. Fourth, you know nothing about this world and a Huntsman needs to know more than just how to fight. As a student here you will learn about history, which you will need to familiarize yourself with if you are to exist in this world. Finally, as a student here you will learn about the Grimm and how to fight them specifically. You've already killed plenty with brute force, but there are more efficient means of killing most of them than brute force." Ozpin explained.
"I see… Very well, I suppose I could consider it a necessary step on the path to exterminating the Grimm. However, I do have one condition. I'm going to make my crystal sarcophagus and I will entrust it to you. So if it ever seems like I am starting to lose my sanity, I want you to find a way to put me in the damned thing by any means necessary preferably before I go hollow. Then once I'm inside, hide it somewhere no one will ever find it. I will write out some warning signs to look for, but it's up to you to look out for them as an undead rarely realizes it when their sanity is starting to slip. If you notice my sanity starting to slip you have anywhere between a week and a month to put me in my tomb before I go completely hollow. Agreed?" Schwarz inquired, walking closer to Ozpin's desk and holding out a hand for him to shake.
Ozpin took another sip from his mug and said, "You know, it's a very rare occurrence that someone genuinely wants others to keep such a close eye on him. Normally when someone has something they want to hide, they would prefer not to be watched at all."
"That's because at this point I have nothing to hide. I would rather you know how much of a danger I could be from the start so you can make preparations and deal with me should the time come. Believe me, I don't want to be put in the coffin if I don't have to, but if it means protecting others from myself I am willing to do anything. I will gladly make my own prison and would even be my own jailer if I were able. So, do we have a deal or not?" Schwarz inquired.
Ozpin nodded and shook his hand. "We do. However, I have a condition of my own. One I don't think you'll object to. Under no circumstances are you to consume the souls of any students from this or any other huntsman academy, any other huntsmen or huntresses, or any innocent civilians. Do I make myself clear?"
"You do. I didn't plan on it to begin with but I suppose it's good to have that as part of the agreement. What about bandits, slavers, and other such unsavory sorts? They're no threat to me personally but death by itself is the ultimate mercy one can receive and one I do not believe such scum deserve."
"I would prefer if you could capture them alive so they could be arrested and given a proper trial. However, if you do end up killing them, the protections our agreement grants everyone else does not extend to them. So you may do as you wish with their souls." Ozpin said.
"Professor Ozpin!" Glynda exclaimed incredulously, horrified that he would be willing to allow such a thing to happen to anyone.
"Glynda, I understand your concerns but now isn't the time. We can discuss this later if you wish."
Glynda frowned at him and crossed her arms. "Fine, but we're going to have to have a long talk about the morals and ethics of your decision after this is over."
Ozpin just nodded and said, "Understood. Welcome to Beacon Academy, Schwarz. How long will it take you to make the sarcophagus and write out that list of signs we should look out for?"
"A few days at most. I've obviously never done this before, so I'm going to have to experiment a bit. In order to make it completely inescapable I think I'll enchant it the same way my bottomless box is enchanted so as to make the interior infinite in size in all directions. There will, of course, be an entrance and exit so long as the lid is open but once it's closed it should be inescapable from the inside. The problem is figuring out a way to make sure it can never be opened after it's closed. However, such a thing might not be possible even with my current knowledge of sorcery, thus the reason I want you to hide it somewhere it will never be found after I'm inside. As for the list, it depends on how much detail you want me to go into. I could have it done in either a few hours or a few minutes. Which would you prefer?" Schwarz inquired.
"Go into as much detail as you can. I want to make sure it's as accurate as possible so we know exactly what to look out for and to ensure no mistakes are made. Recounting your past experiences with watching other undead going hollow and what you noticed as you watched it happen would help quite a bit." Ozpin told him.
"As you wish. I should have that done in about five hours, give or take. Might you have a library or somewhere quiet I could sit while writing it?" Schwarz inquired.
"Indeed we do. We will be providing you a scroll. On it will be a map of the school, just follow it and you should be able to find the library with relative ease." Ozpin stated.
Schwarz gave him a confused look. "A scroll with a map? Wouldn't that just be a map? I mean there's only so much one can fit on a single piece of parchment. Or is it enchanted somehow?"
"Wrong kind of scroll." Ozpin stated before reaching under his desk and pulling out some sort of rectangular device which he then set down and slid over towards Schwarz. "This is a scroll. Go ahead and take it. I'll explain how it works."
Schwarz took the little devise and began examining it curiously. By pure accident he ended up pressing something causing it to activate and display what to him appeared to be an illusion of some sort. "Fascinating. Truly fascinating. What sort of sorcery goes into making such a device function, I wonder?"
"There's no sorcery involved whatsoever, it's all purely electronic, but that's besides the point. On the screen you should see a symbol that resembles a map. Please touch it." Ozpin requested.
It took Schwarz a moment to recognize the symbol Ozpin was referring to as it didn't look like any map he had ever seen before, but once he found it he pressed it and the screen shifted to display what appeared to be a complete map of the school. However, it was labeled in runes that Schwarz was unfamiliar with. "Oh… I'm afraid I can't read it. It appears to be written in a language I am unfamiliar with."
"It is? Well, that's a problem. If you can't read it, that means we won't be able to read your list either. Hm… I'll meet you in the library later and we can work together on writing the list. For now, Glynda, could you show him where the library is on the map?" Ozpin requested.
"Of course." Glynda said before taking the scroll from Schwarz. She then swiped through it a few times before zooming in. She then pointed to one particular room and said, "Here. This is the library." She then zoomed out and pointed to a room in a different building and said, "We're right here in the headmaster's office. Do you think you could find your way to the library from here on your own?"
Schwarz took the scroll back from her and looked at it for a couple more seconds, memorizing the layout before nodding. "Indeed. I believe I can. Thank you very much. I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience."
"It's fine. You'll see something resembling the head of an arrow at the side of the screen. Press it to exit out of the map program." Ozpin told him.
Schwarz did so then said, "Alright, done."
"Good, now your scroll can do quite a bit more than just display a map. It has a variety of programs. One of the most important to us hunters is the program that allows us to monitor our auras." Ozpin explained.
"Er, pardon my interruption but what is an aura?" Schwarz inquired.
Both Glynda and Ozpin looked at him in surprise. "You consume souls yet you have no idea what an aura is?" Ozpin inquired, clearly taken aback by this.
"Er, no I'm afraid I don't. Should I?" Schwarz inquired, scratching the back of his head in minor embarrassment.
"Yes, you should. Aura is a manifestation of the soul. It offers a variety of abilities ranging from protecting one from harm to healing their wounds and can even be used to enhance one's physical capabilities beyond what they would normally be capable of. Through this they can also unlock what is known as a semblance, which is an ability that is unique to the individual in question. For example, as I'm sure you've already seen, Glynda's semblance is Telekinesis which allows her to manipulate objects remotely and on quite a large scale. No wonder a single arrow was all it took to kill you before you became undead if no one in your world has ever discovered the true power of their souls." Ozpin explained.
"I see. It sounds quite useful. Such a thing likely would have made my journey through Lordran far easier and spared me at least a few deaths. How might I use it? Is it something that can be taught, similar to sorcery?" Schwarz inquired, eager to learn such a valuable skill.
Ozpin sighed and stood up again before rounding his desk and approaching Schwarz once more. "Well, it's not so much something that can be taught as it is something that can be unlocked. Would you like for me to unlock your aura for you?"
Schwarz nodded. "If you would be so kind. I would very much appreciate it."
"Very well. Just close your eyes and concentrate." Ozpin stated before placing a hand on Schwarz's forehead and saying, "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul and by my shoulder protect thee." As he was saying this a green aura enveloped him while a pitch black aura completely obscured Schwarz's body from view, making him appear as though he were covered by pure darkness.
Seeing this Glynda took a step back, shocked by the sight. That was not how an aura was supposed to look.
When it was over Ozpin lowered his hand, opened his eyes and also took a step back when he saw the pitch black aura around Schwarz as it had yet to vanish from sight. "What?" He muttered in confusion as he stared at the phenomenon. A few moments later the black aura slowly began to fade from view.
"What is it? Why are you both looking at me like that?" Schwarz inquired, looking around at both Ozpin and Glynda.
"Your aura… It's black. You looked like a void in reality…" Ozpin muttered.
"It is? Hm… Is that not normal?" Schwarz inquired.
"No, it's not. As beings with souls, we are creatures of light. Our auras reflect this and would normally look like a light of a certain color emanating from our bodies. For it to be pure darkness…" Glynda muttered.
"Hm… Beings of light, eh…? Professor Ozpin, sir, were there any oddities you noticed while unlocking my aura?" Schwarz inquired.
"Yes, actually. It was as if you had two souls within your body. One was unimaginably vast and felt warm almost like fire, however it felt… wrong. Sickly. As if it had been tainted by something. The other was still far 'larger', so to speak, than a normal soul should have been but it was absolutely miniscule compared to the other one. It also felt cold. However unlike the first one it didn't feel sickly or tainted. If anything it felt perfectly healthy. So I decided to unlock that one and I left the other one alone as I was concerned that messing with the tainted one might aggravate your curse." Ozpin explained.
"I see." Schwarz stated. He then reached into his bottomless box and pulled out two items. One was a Soul of a Lost Undead while the other was a Humanity. Holding the soul in one hand and the humanity in the other hand he explained, "In my world humans are not creatures of light. We are creatures of the dark while the gods are beings of light. It all goes back to the origin of life. In the Age of Ancients, the world was unformed, shrouded by fog…" He then proceeded to explain how fire and thus disparity, light and dark, heat and cold, life and death all came to be in his world. And how the gods originated from the Lord Souls of the First Fire while Humanity originated from the Dark Soul.
"So, you see, the true souls of humanity, at least from my world, are the infinite fragments of the Dark Soul the Furtive Pygmy produced which we call Humanity. According to the books in the very small historical section of the Duke's archives, at least. Thus I theorize that in their fear of the Abyss the gods or more specifically Gwyn gave us souls that originated from the First Fire similar to those of the gods as part of the curse when he first linked the fire. After all, fire keeps the dark at bay and prevents it from spreading, which is exactly what he wanted. So, I believe instead of unlocking the power of my soul you unlocked the power of my humanity, thus the reason my aura is black as the Abyss." Schwarz finished explaining.
"Hm… If that's the case then I'm curious to see how your aura and semblance differ compared to normal ones, if at all. It would also partially explain why so many Grimm were attracted to you despite you being just one person, and your other soul must have been what caused them to attack you. Would you be willing to participate in a few experiments?" Ozpin inquired.
"I suppose. After all, I have nothing to lose. I'm no stranger to pain and the worst you can do is kill me, which I will come back from. Hm… You know what? Here. Take these." He then proceeded to hand the soul and the humanity over to Ozpin. "I've consumed plenty of souls as is, and that miniscule speck won't do much for me at this point. And I have a few thousand humanity in my bottomless box as I spent quite some time collecting them, so I won't miss one or two. Perhaps you can study and experiment on them as well."
"Thank you. I promise to put them to good use. Is there anything I should know about storing them? For example, does it matter if they're stored together or if they're stored separately?" Ozpin inquired.
"Hm… Not particularly. I believe it would be safe to store them together, after all they were both stored in my bottomless box. Though I suppose they weren't particularly close together since it is infinitely large inside… I suppose it's up to you to store them however you wish. If anything happens to either one, I can easily replace them. Oh! Just be very careful in your experiments with the humanity. It's only one and it's small so I don't believe much will come of it but… Well it would take too long to explain in full and I've already taken up enough of your time. Just don't do any experiments with humanity on living beings and know that if driven mad or provoked Humanity can be quite… unstable. Treat it as if it were a living thing in its own right and you should be just fine. However, if anything bad does happen in your experiments, just tell me and I'll come and put an end to it myself before it can get out of hand. I stopped just such a disaster once and I can do it again." Schwarz explained.
"Hm… That bad, huh? Very well. We will take extra precautions in handling the humanity. Now if that's all, I have some paperwork I need to do. I've just sent the few staff who are currently present a message informing them you have permission to be here, so why don't you take this time to familiarize yourself with the campus? I'll call you via scroll once I have time to help you write down that list. Fortunately it's the beginning of summer so we'll have plenty of time to teach you the basics of our written language before school starts again. You'll be staying in one of the dorms during your time here. I'll show you which one later." Ozpin told him.
Schwarz nodded and said, "Very well. Thank you for your time. It was a pleasure meeting you. I look forward to learning more about this world during my time here."
Notes: So just a few points I wanted to clarify. First, not all chapters are going to be this long. Most will be shorter than this but some may even be slightly longer, it really depends. So don't expect something this long for every single chapter. Also, this will be diverging from canon at some point, so get ready for that.
Second, Schwarz or Maledictus if you prefer, is more powerful than the gods of Dark Souls but equally as powerful as the gods of RWBY. So he's not going to completely over power the gods of RWBY, far from it. Also, yes. Manus is more powerful than Schwarz. He didn't travel through time to get to the future where Schwarz defeated Gwyn. He literally waited for who the hell knows how long. And since time in Dark Souls is broken he was probably waiting for even longer than he should have been. And what do you think he was doing in all of that time? He was building up power, making the Dark Soul grow more and more thus becoming stronger and stronger. So yes, he's more powerful than Schwarz and thus the gods of RWBY.
Also, Schwarz learned pretty much everything he knows about the lore other than what we learn in the first game from books in the Duke's Archives. To me Seath just seems like the type to keep personal journals and records of such events and Schwarz read every book in his archives. So that's how he knows so much that he really shouldn't under normal circumstances. And yes, he fell to his death a few times trying to climb up to reach certain shelves of books because of how high up they were.
Anyways, now that that's out of the way, I have a question for you guys. What do you think Schwarz's semblance should be and how do you think he should unlock it? Remember it should be related to the Abyss or darkness. I was thinking something along the lines of it being something similar to some of the hexes in the Artorias DLC and the later games. And I was thinking he would unlock his semblance via some of the experiments that will be conducted on him or maybe while dealing with an accident caused by the people of RWBY's experimentation with Humanity. However, I'm more than open to suggestions.
I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, and thanks for reading!
Edit: I was originally going to use the beginning of this in another story entirely, and I forgot to change his initial description to fit the current story. I wen't back and fixed it. I'm sorry for any confusion that may have caused anyone.