Shattered, multi-coloured glass covered the ground as the curved blade cut through the woman's right side before shifting the oncoming, piercing jab of the parasol to the left of his body, shocking the small woman, before planting a fist into the side of her face with the rippling waves of her Aura protecting her from the majority of the damage, but still sending her barrelling backwards and creating a large amount distance between the two, all whilst covering her in small particles of dust and broken concreate whilst she emitted visible confusion in her colour changing eyes.
The hunter, however, began to laugh with his voice bouncing off of the walls and seemingly the air, a vicious, bloodthirsty smile covered his face before speaking mockingly.
"You, my dear, have made a large mistake. Illusions and lies do not phase me, I can see the truth of the world around me, even the eldritch true. A mere copy does nothing to me, even if it is stitched into the veil of this supposed reality."
He disappeared into a pile of sanguine, before reappearing from behind the assassin from a single dribble of his blood. Air was cut as the scythe was swung in a curved upwards style, all to the shock of the woman. His gloved hand dragged across the small that was leaking a fine crimson that began to fade into paleness, before licking the liquid off of his finger tip slowly as he stared at the woman.
"In fact, if it wasn't for the little beauty you left me. I wouldn't have been able to do that, and I have been meaning to test it. Now, shall we continue in our own macabre dance?"
The hunter crouched down as if he was at the start of a race, before darting forward, barely missing his assailant as she quickly moved out of the way, or from her shocked expression, that was what would normally happen. The Burial Blade's pointed tip dragged across the surface of her Aura; however, she did manage to cause a wound to the hunter that would have been fatal to most, his whitening blood painted the surface of the ground he began to topple over. With a sharp stop and a stumble, his body turned awkwardly towards the small woman as she made for a quick kick to his stomach, never noticing the excited grin on his face.
White blood bursted over the woman, making her cover her eyes as the man exploded into the thick, pasty liquid. A sharp jab hit her in the side under the ribs, forcing the very air from her lungs and away from where she had stood. Before she could complete the desperate act of plunging her sword into the attacker, her hand was stopped by the hunter with a sickening crack as her wrist snapped back, before being thrown to the side, and into a wall, the action dislocating the arm from the socket.
"Surprise."
Standing there, in front of the beaten criminal was the huntsman, and a double made out of the whitened blood from his veins, the wounds she had dealt seemingly had disappeared, at least from what she cold tell from her one open eye. One of the duo kicked the weapon away from the girl as the other grabbed her by her throat and hefted her upwards as the glittering gold of his eyes peered into her own.
"In a normal case, I would drain you of that ever so sweet sanguine, but I feel merciful. I want you to live so you can be more of a challenge, more of a threat."
A thud sounded out around the docks as she was thrown to the side, before scampering off in pain and agony. The bloodshot eyes watched as she limped away from where she had been beaten, leaving a small trail of blood that was quickly assimilated into the hunter. White dripped to the floor as the duplicate began to melt as if it was wax, the face contorted in agony before a throwing knife was plunged into its chest. The serrated blade was pulled out fast as it was thrown at a wall, and through the knee of another member of the early, militaristic group.
A grunt of pain left the girl's mouth as she fell back, the imposing hunter was slowly walking towards her as he juggled another of the knives. Sharpened steel was pointed at her throat as he spoke.
"Please do me the favour of telling me about your group, and why it appears that you are assaulting some, at least, moderately innocent people? I'd much rather not have to hurt you in anyway."
The warm spit of the girl landed on his face over his right eye, the liquid almost contacting his eyeball.
"Fuck you, human."
The spit was wiped off with the back of his hand, before he spoke with fake sadness to hide the twisted glee in his voice.
"I guess it's the painful way then, such a shame. You may want to bite into something, it should help, at least for a small while ."
A thin knife that was drenched in a purple, poisonous liquid was slammed into her other knee as the joint could be heard snapping as the trousers became dyed a deep, thick crimson. Almost instantly, her complexion seemed to pale as her breathing became struggled, a small trail of sanguine dripping from her nose as coughing came from her drying throat.
The hunter held a small brown packet that contained three white tablets. The small antidote pills was just far enough to tempt her to move the painfilled body.
"This is the only type of antidote to the poison in your bloodstream. In a few seconds, the majority of your organs will suffer necrosis, then turn to mush. For every answer that you give, I will give you one tablet, which will help lessen the poisons effect on you. Why are you at the docks?"
"We… need Dust for our… goal."
He gave a tablet, which she quickly swallowed, however, it got stuck in her throat.
"What is your group called?"
She coughed violently, the sark sanguine dropped from her slackened mouth as if she was vomiting, small nibbles of dead flesh was mixed into crimson liquid. The woman's speech was slurred as she spoke two words through the decaying muscles in her jaw.
"White… Fang."
The girl slouched over as the life left her eyes, as the body hit the floor, he could see the liquidised brain pour from her nose and the empty eye sockets, the eyes themselves having bursted and formed a puddle beneath her cadaver.
"I should have considered that you may have had a weaker poison resistance. Shame."
A heavy sound of the bleeding body being dragged filled the area until it reached the very end of the docks. Red salty water splashed onto the hunter as the body landed into the water, dying the area a weak vermillion as the body fell below its waves. Moaning came from his side as a messenger appeared beside him, holding the glittering edge of the Blade of Mercy and the mask of the crow in its spindly palm. The hunter reached down as he lightly rubbed its oversized head.
"Thank you, my friend. I know that this will help me."
Fabric rustled as he donned the mask, the golden lensed eyes still viewable through the eyeholes of the wooden mask. The smell of the incense in the curved beak was refreshing and strong compared to that of the blood, the smell overtook his sense of smell as he twirled the curved blade in his hand before heading off into the main battle site as the fighting raged on, only to stop as he heard the giggling of a child from behind him.
He knew who it was. It was one of his greatest regrets brought to life once again. Instead of downing a bottle of sedative, he raised the merciful blade to his hand, before stabbing the blade right through it until the laughter stopped, leaving a hand that could just barely be recognised as one. Blood was injected into his system as the needle of a vial of blood pierced his leg.
Step by step he moved closer to the fighting, his putrid eyes looked over the battlefield and found a few more people that had joined, such as what appeared to be a small girl dressed in a ruby red cloak, with red hair and silver eyes. The girl seemed familiar to him but had to delay those thoughts as bullets passed by his head.
A single round almost struck him in the chest, only to fail as he quickstepped out of the trajectory and delivered a harsh blow to the White Fang member, directly cutting him across the chest only causing a small amount of liquid ruby, before turning and switching the weapons into a pair of daggers with the sharp sound of the mechanism unlocking filling the air over the loud bullet fire. One dagger cut across a female's arm painfully, making her drop the gun she was holding, and the other was jammed into the shoulder of another just before the leather clad hunter slammed both of their heads together, rendering them unconscious.
The blades reattached before he grabbed the gun, the unfamiliar heavy weight of the weapon being slightly putting off him off as he fired it. The automatic gunfire took out three more of the White Fang members, before he threw the gun at a fourth, distracting the gunman and allowing him to get closer with only the loss of a few droplets of pale blood from small cuts that were left on him from the searing bullets.
Across the stone-grey plane, he saw the girl in red fall as her weapon, a red scythe, skidded across the floor. Leather slapped against the pavement as he ran towards the disarmed girl as he changed back to the large Burial Blade.
"End of the line Red. It's been fun, well, not really but hey, if it's any consolation you offered some good practice."
The ginger criminal raised the hooked end of the cane into the air as he prepared to strike her down, only to be sent across the cement and into some shipping crates, leaving a heavy dent into the one that he hit and spewing its contents on the flout. The glimmering and scarred edge of the Burial Blade created a more imposing form as the vaguely human looking man walked away from the girl in red, whistling a haunting tune from a small music box he heard once, before stopping and staring at the bowler hat wearing man, who started to speak in a mix of surprise and anger.
"Okay, that got me good, really good in fact, but I got to ask you crow man, who the hell are you?"
A small chuckle left the hunter's hidden mouth that was etched into a smile beneath the featureless mask. Stone was cut as he spun the Burial Blade trough the hardened stone beneath his worn boots.
"who I am does not matter to one such as yourself, I will not tell you who I am, just as I did not tell did not tell your companion as we fought earlier."
The feeling of rage and disbelief that the man showed was intense but hidden well as he began to rant angrily in front of the long, haired blond.
"Great, just goddamned great! First, this plan went bust, then little red appeared swinging her oversized farm tool, and now I find out some edgy man in a crow mask has made my backup useless."
"If I was you, I would run. I promise that I will not chase. I, myself, is a survivor, and I know one when I see them. In truth, the only reason I even fought your accomplice is because she started the fight. "
With a small nod, the criminal ran as the masked man stood still leaning on the scythe, watching as his body disappeared a Bullhead flew through the air the air, before it was cut in half by a large, green beam of light that radiated extreme heat. Not long after, the police appeared, as well as other emergency services and two-woman appeared, one was in white with white hair in a pony tail and under a tiara, and a blond who wore brown clothing and yellow bracers on her wrists.
As he was about to make his own run, the hunter noticed one of the unconscious grunts quickly rise, the blade he held aiming for the woman in white as he brought the broken down in a stabbing motion.
"Die, Schnee!"
Much to everybody's surprise, the crow masked hunter raised his arm as the blade lodged in-between the radius and ulna. The pale blood gushed from the wound as he pulled it back out of the arm and quickly slammed his fist into the side of the hunters face, making the hood fall back and the mask to hit the ground, all as the others couldn't move in horror.
The arm of the White fang member let out a loud snap as the hunter forced the elbow upwards and the forearm downwards, the sound made a few people around him gag and recoil. As the whimpering Fang member hit the ground, he turned back to the girls that showed shock on their faces from both horror and shock. The one in red spoke with a small whimper that was a question.
"J-Jaune? What happened to you?"
It was familiar to him, like a distance memory that had long since faded. It meant something to him, it was personal, the cloud that covered his old identity slowly faded away into nothingness
"Jaune? Yes, that… that was my name, I think? I… haven't heard that in a long time."
A small tug was felt on his trouser leg, grabbing his attention. It was four messengers that looked at him curiously, a smile appeared on his scarred face as he crouched down and rubbed their pale heads as if they were children.
"Uh, Vomit-boy, what are you doing?"
A look of indignation went onto his face as he looked at the blond one. Before his features calmed to understanding as he continued to rub their heads as a thank you, as well to comfort himself.
"What? Can you not see them? Wait, no, no, that would make sense, of course. Why would you see them, you never experienced the dream?"
The four looked at each other with concerned and confusion, until the one in white spoke seemingly impatient and wanting to discover what he was talking about.
"What are you talking about?"
Chuckling left his lips the moment she asked the question, it was less one of humour and more of nostalgia.
"It matters not. Just… reminiscing about the past. It seems as if some people wish to speak with us so, shall we greet them."
The four looked at him strangely, before the one in red let out a small, light-hearted giggle. She continued to speak, not noticing that he had frozen to near stillness as his body shook.
"Jaune, why are speaking so weird?"
Jaune didn't answer, he didn't move and didn't breathe. The eyes in his skull looked off distantly as dread filled his body. The feeling of bony hands ran over his body, long forgotten pain filled his body as his arm flared and covered in electricity as he looked vacant. Before him was a small girl, covered in blood, her arm was replaced by a small stump and her body was half dissolved by acid, with patches of skin and bone showing over her body.
She moved closer as trickling sanguine dripped from her wounds as she stared with her one remaining eye. The blood splattered blond hair moved beneath the bloody bow, as she walked forward. A throwing knife was plunged into his wrist, causing the four others to feel sickened and fearful, before the knife was ripped out violently as his breathing became more laboured and tired as white dripped down from the wrist.
"What the hell?!"
"Why'd you do that?!"
Red was crying tears as she couldn't help but look at the pale blood dripping out to the wound. Jaune's voice was weary and tired, a slight bit of hidden madness worming its way into the words as he walked forward. A small vial of blood was injected into his leg as he began to speak.
"It does not matter why, not at the moment for the very least. I just need a second for it to work, none of you worry I've been through far worst."
A Bullhead landed nearby with two people stepping out, one was female that was dressed in a simple, black tube skirt and frilled white shirt, she was staring at him in surprise with vibrant green eyes that was behind glasses. The other was a man that had short, silver hair and black, circular spectacles, he wore a green suit and cane. To the others, he was simply their headmaster, but to Jaune there was something else to him, one that made him feel sick.
They all sat in the small Bullhead as the headmaster and headmistress spoke with the police on the outside of the vehicle. All but Jaune sat in an uncomfortable silence as the waited for it to be over with, except for the yellow one, who spoke with concern.
"Seriously, Vomit-boy, what the hell was that? Why'd you stab yourself?"
Before he could answer, the one in red spoke up.
"Why's your blood white."
Jaune narrowed his eyes dangerously. They felt as if they were being crushed as the felt the need to run and escape, but were unable to move from the overpowering fear, before it disappeared. Jaune sat still as his face turned into that of a hollow and saddened smile.
"I've changed from who you knew of, I can barely remember each of you and myself. It was because of the amount of time and horrors I had encountered in that damnable city."
All four looked at him in confusion, before the white spoke rather coldly.
"Where, exactly, could you have spent a month to change you into this, dunce?"
It started as a small shaking of his shoulders before turning into chuckles that were short, which turned into full, delirious laughter that could be heard from the outside of the vehicle and perhaps over the entirety of Vale. Tears of white pale blood streamed down his face as his hair moved erratically with his shaking body, the colour changing to a paler tone for a few milliseconds before reverting. He spoke with madness in his voice, the tone shifting to that unhuman, without the need to take breath in-between the words.
"A month, A single month. No, no, no, NO! It had been more than a single month. Years, millennia, eons that would be more believable, especially with those accursed repeats. Over, and over and over and over and over and… and… over… over… over… again… and again… again… endlessly."
The repeating words stopped as he felt the comforting feeling of his messengers around him as they tried to calm him, which worked well. The rest of the Bullhead was silent as they began to set off back to Beacon Academy.