It was never usually within his nature to flee from a fight, but given that their enemy had the advantage it was better than simply being an easy target.
Rios kept to the front of the moving group beside Ruby with everyone else close behind. The massive Nevermore in pursuit in the air, flapping its large wings and gaining ground quickly as the initiates took cover in another cluster of ruins. The avian Grimm did a slight turn before perching itself on a large pillar in the middle of the ruins, screeching loudly while its glowing-red eyes searched for its pray.
"Well, anyone got any ideas?" Yang asked from her spot beside Ruby behind a crumbling wall.
"We need to bring it to the ground, it has the advantage in the air." said Rios, his sharp eyes looking over their environment for something that would aid them. Pyrrha doing the same on his left.
A series of loud howls could be heard from the forest they had just come from, the initiates chancing a glance in time to see a large pack of Beowolves charging out of the treeline toward them.
The wolf-Faunus grit his teeth in frustration as they found themselves surrounded on both sides. "Split up!" he shouted as the eight of them went in different directions.
"Nora! Distract the Nevermore!" the pink-streaked male, who Rios had learned was named Lie Ren, called out to the orange haired girl.
Nora's large hammer mecha-shifted into a grenade launcher as she ran out into the open. The Nevermore locked onto her an fired a barrage of feathers in her direction. The girl lept over the projectiles and landed in a roll before coming up and firing several grenades from her launcher that struck the avian Grimm and caused it to take off.
Ruby cut down a Beowolf that charged her from the side, her silver eyes seeing the others fending off the coming tide of Grimm while the Nevermore circled above them. Her mind going over a series of ideas before coming up with something that might work.
"I got an idea! Yang, Weiss, Blake with me! Rios, can you and the others keep the rest of the Grimm off our backs?!" the younger girl called out.
The hunter cleaved the head off a Beowolf with Leviathan before he answered, "We'll do what we can!" he lept up and drove his axe into the head of another Grimm while Pyrrha sped past him and stabbed another through the neck.
The four girls took off running into the ruins and toward the ravine with the Nevermore hot after them. "So what's the plan?!" asked Nora, swinging her hammer and sending a Beowolf flying.
"Hold the line!" Rios called back, throwing his axe into the pack of Grimm and taking out several as it arced back around and came back to his waiting hand.
Ren brought out a pair of bladed SMGs and fired on the pack, stopping long enough to slash the blades around and spilling black ichor with each swing.
Pyrrha used her shield to block a set of claws intending to cut her down, bringing up her other weapon in sword-form and stabbing the Beowolf up through its jaws and head.
More Grimm came pouring out of the forest, a few Boarbatusks and Ursai joining the Beowolves and making the horde more formidable.
Rios drew Artemis and started firing arrows as quickly as he could draw them. Regular arrows pierced flesh and bone-armor while those infused with dust froze, burned, shocked and blew up against their targets. Thinning them out only for more of the creatures of darkness to take their place.
The wolf-Faunus brought out Leviathan again and took the arm off an Ursa. He saw Ren get tossed backwards when a Boarbatusk rammed into him, Nora called after him before mecha-shifting her hammer to its grenade launcher-form and blasting the boar-Grimm away.
"More keep coming!" said Pyrrha, smashing her shield into the face of a Beowolf.
"Fall back! Stay together!" Rios called out, the four of them sticking close together. Roughly a meter apart from each other but remaining in a line as they fended off the attacking Grimm. Blades, bullets and arrows cutting into their ranks.
Reaching back to get another arrow from his quiver, the hunter discovered that his supply was dwindling and their enemies numbers kept going up. "There's no end to them." he thought, looking over the hoard of dark beasts that continued to pour out of the forest. Sweat dripped down his forehead, muscles clenched as he swung his weapon into each Grimm that came within range.
The others were in the same boat, exhaustion starting to settle in and aura dropping with each hit the creatures managed to get through their defenses. If this kept up much longer, they might not make it back to the academy.
Rios cut down another Beowolf, he quickly glanced around for anything that could give them some kind of advantage. His eyes locked onto a crumbling pillar not too far from them.
Idea quickly forming, the wolf-Faunus cut down another Grimm before running toward the pillar. "Where's he going?!" Nora asked, smashing another enemy in the head.
"He must have something up his sleeve, have faith in him!" Pyrrha answered back.
Clipping Leviathan onto his back, Rios stopped between the pillar he had spotted and a chunk of wall that was still in tact. After surveying everything quickly, he pressed his back against the wall before bracing his feet against the pillar itself, taking a deep breath before pushing with all his strength.
At first nothing happened, but then the stone began to crack and groan as his legs continued to extend to their full length. A deep growl pulling itself from his clenched teeth, his muscles beginning to ache as the pillar began to tilt in the opposite direction.
Relaxing for a brief second, Rios shoved with everything he had. The base of the column crunched and shattered as it leaned too far and began to fall over. "INCOMING!" he shouted as loud as he could in warning to the others.
Pyrrha, Ren and Nora looked up, their eyes widening when they saw what was coming and quickly jumped back out of the way. The Grimm weren't as lucky as the pillar crashed down on top of them, a series of pain filled roars and screeches echoed as they were crushed beneath the falling stone.
When the dust settled moments later, all that remained of the attacking horde were the smoke-like ashes of their fading forms vanishing into the air.
The four initiates regrouped, all of them fatigued from the constant fighting but still prepared to fight on as they searched for any more enemies.
"Anyone seen the others?" asked Rios. His answer was a high pitched battle-cry that drew their attention to the cliff across the ravine, where they all bore witness to little Ruby running up the face with the Nevermore's neck entrapped by her massive scythe.
When the cloaked teen reached the top, the avian Grimm was immediately decapitated in a flash of red rose petals. Its body dropping down and disappearing into the ravine as it began to fade away.
"..Wow..." said Nora in awe at the execution.
"That was impressive." added Ren with Pyrrha agreeing with both of them.
Rios smiled, proud of the young girl and her accomplishment over such a large opponent.
X
Black and red eyes remained firmly locked on to the viewing orb before them. There wasn't much in the world that could surprise the 'Queen of the Grimm', her children being everywhere which meant that her eyes and ears were everywhere as well.
But the last thing Salem had been expecting, was the young man in front of her eyes. She had believed that, that accursed bloodline had been all wiped out centuries ago. But it seemed that it managed to survive to the current generation.
Although she was slightly aggravated at the loss of so many of her children, she now knew that the boy was indeed a descendant of the Pale Warrior of legend...and that meant Ozpin had to know as well, otherwise he wouldn't have gone out of his way to find him and bring him to his little huntsman school.
"Seems you have found yourself promising pawns in our little game, old friend." Salem spoke with her cold tone. Her eyes glowing with dark power that channeled into the orb in her hands. "Too bad you will lose them before they have a chance to come into play."
X
The eight huntsman/huntress hopefuls regrouped together and started making their way back to the cliffs where their initiation had began. All of them tired and aura drained from the trials they had endured the last couple of hours.
"So, what do you think these relics are for?" asked Yang as she looked at the gold Knight piece she and Blake had gotten.
"Perhaps there is some kind of meaning behind them to help assemble teams?" offered Pyrrha as she looked over the Rook piece Rios had gotten for them.
Ruby beamed from beside her sister, "Guess that means we'll be on the same team after all, huh Yang?" the blonde smiled back and gave the younger girl a one armed hug.
Rios paused mid-step in his place at the front of the group, his wolf-ears perked straight up when he felt something in the air shift, all of his senses now on high alert. Everyone else stopped when he did, Blake also stood tense, also sensing the same shift with her enhanced senses.
"Rios, what's wrong?" asked Pyrrha.
Slowly, the hunter took Leviathan off his back and held it ready. Everyone else following his lead as he searched the forest around them.
Through one particular plot of trees, a series of growls could be heard just before a pack of 20 Beowolves slowly skulked out into the open. The initiates prepared to fight...but the Grimm didn't advance any farther than a couple meters from the trees, all of them staying close together while forming a half-circle and sitting on their hunches.
Almost like they were waiting.
A few seconds ticked by before something else moved in the trees. Something bigger. The loud cracking and crunching of wood being broken echoed from within as the one making the noise stepped out into the daylight.
Several within the group paled when the beast appeared. Easily five times bigger than the Beowolves and stood almost as tall as the trees it had been hiding within. Quadrupedal as it moved on four powerful legs that ended in sharp claws, bone-armor plates covering its entire back with spikes jutting out from each one.
The front of the creature was dominated by three heads, all of them canine in nature but possessed longer snouts a rows of jagged teeth and covered in bone-masks just like all Grimm.
When its tail rose into the air behind it, it revealed to have a large mass made of its armor covered in spikes, looking similar to a deadly mace that could crush boulders with ease.
Rios clenched the handle of his axe until his knuckles whitened. A Cerberus. There had only ever been sightings of such Grimm, many of which were debunked as hallucinations or rumors.
Any of those who had supposedly fought such a beast were never heard from again.
"F-First a Chimera...now this..." Weiss whispered, her grip on her rapier shaking as she looked upon the legendary Grimm. "We don't stand a chance."
"Are you planning on just giving up?" asked Yang sharply, her fists clenched and gauntlets ready.
"We have little aura left and we're bordering on exhaustion!" the heiress snapped, "How do you expect us to take on a Grimm that was only supposed to be a disturbing rumor?!"
"It's not giving us much of a choice." Rios cut in as the Cerberus started to slowly advance. The Beowolves scuttling out of its way like loyal puppies to the apex beast. The initiates prepared their weapons, despite how outmatched they may be, they weren't intending on going down without a fight.
Stopping several meters from the teenagers, the Cerberus raised its three heads and let loose a howl that was so loud most of them were forced to cover their ears from the volume.
The Beowolves howled in chorus before charging ahead. Ruby was the first to recover from the deafening sound, slamming the blade of her sniper/scythe into the ground for support and started firing her weapon as quickly as she could pull the bolt-handle and trigger. Everyone else soon followed, making sure the coming pack was kept at a distance.
When the last of the Grimm fell, leaving only the Cerberus, they readied themselves for another bout...
What they weren't ready for is for the the heads on either side of the center one to start making choking noises. Both pointed their snouts downward before spewing out black ichor that spread into a large puddle in front of it.
"Ew...what's it doing?" asked Nora.
The two heads rose back up when they finished, the puddle started to bubble before a set of claws burst from the surface and stabbed into the ground outside of it. A Beowolf soon crawled itself out of the sludge-like substance and growled while several more followed it.
"That's...really not good." said Yang, quickly reloading her weapons as a dozen more Grimm now stood in front of the larger creature.
"We need to bring it down before it summons more!" said Blake, preparing her own weapon to fight.
Rios charged ahead, the others right on his heels as the newly risen Beowolf pack met them head on. The wolf-Faunus swung Leviathan in a wide arc to the side and removed a head from one of the attacking Grimm, kicking the body into another and staggering it and giving him the opening to send a small wave of ice shards into its center of mass.
When the last of the pack fell, the initiates attacked the Cerberus. The beast's response was swift despite its size, one head snapping its jaws down at the teens while its adjacent front claws swung at them, forcing the group to scatter.
Nora swung her hammer at one of the beast's hind-legs, pulling the trigger on it to add more force as it slammed into the plates protecting the limb.
The Cerberus roared when it felt its bone-armor crack under the impact, its back leg kicked pack and struck the orange-haired girl sending her crashing through several trees.
"Nora!" Ren shouted. He ran at the beast firing his dual SMGs, leaping high up and over it and raining bullets down onto its back with no success in piercing its armor.
When he landed on the Cerberus' back, the head closest to him turned to the side and managed to grab the raven-haired male by the pant=leg in its jaws. Whipping around and throwing him in a different direction.
Blake and Yang went at the large Grimm together, the hidden cat-Faunus using her speed and reflexes to avoid being stepped on as she slashed and shot at anything that looked like a weakness while the brawler fired her gauntlets at the three heads.
Shaking off the hits, the Cerberus roared at the blonde before the center head opened wide. A red glow emitting from deep within its throat. Yang paused before the coming threat registered in her mind.
"BLAKE RUN!" she tackled her partner out of the way seconds before a fireball shot from the Cerberus' mouth. The duo barely managing to avoid being reduced to ashes as the blast scorched the ground where they had been standing.
Ruby and Weiss were up next. The cloaked girl swapped her ammo clip for explosive-dust rounds that she started firing while the heiress spun the dust chamber on her rapier, a series of glyphs appeared around her powered by gravity-dust that were sent at the beast.
Each glyph attached to a body part on the Grimm; legs, heads and tail, weighing them down while her partner aimed for its eyes and joints.
The Cerberus struggled against the semblance powered bindings, its strength forcing Weiss to push more of her aura into the glyphs to keep it in one place. But the large Grimm refused to be held down and fought harder, with another bellowing roar it shattered the glyphs and sent the heiress staggering backwards from the backlash. The beast lunged toward the white-haired girl only for a red blur to grab her and disappear in a burst of rose petals, Ruby carrying her out of harms way thanks to her own semblance.
Rios was firing arrows with Artemis while Pyrrha fired her weapon in rifle-form. The hunter switched to Leviathan while the champion mecha-shifted her rifle and took out her shield as they both ran at the Cerberus. Leaping in different directions to avoid the snapping jaws of all three heads and going on the attack.
The wolf-Faunus cleaved his axe into an exposed part of the left head's neck, black blood painting the white bone-armor when the blade found purchase. Pyrrha doing similar to the other side only to jump away when the beast tried to swipe at her with its claws.
"Keep at it! Find a weak spot!" Rios shouted, rolling out of the way when a set of massive jaws tried to snatch him up. Gritting his teeth, he started summoning his inner rage again.
Normally he didn't use his semblance more than once a day because of the harsh toll it took on his aura. But given the circumstances he had little to no other options.
With a burst of flaming orange aura, Rios roared before sprinting at the Cerberus. The beast releasing a powerful howl in response to the challenge, the ground trembling as it charged at the wolf-Faunus.
Dropping down and sliding across the grass between the Cerberus' legs, Rios brought out Leviathan and stabbed upward. Slicing a long, deep gash along its belly and spilling its blood by the bucket fulls.
Rolling to his feet behind the beast, covered in another layer of ichor, the hunter suddenly dropped to his knees when his aura faded. Repetitive use of his semblance and his lack of aura taking their toll on him.
"RIOS LOOK OUT!" Pyrrha screamed. Rios looked up in time to see the Cerberus' mace-like tail swing back and hit him with the full force of a speeding truck. A couple of the spikes stabbing into his body as he was raised off the ground and sent flying.
He vaguely heard the others screaming after him. His body landing hard and rolling several times across the ground before coming to rest against an over turned boulder. Pain spread to every corner of his being, darkness dancing at the edges of his vision, but through it he could make out the others, fighting against the Cerberus with everything they had and still having trouble getting anywhere.
Despite the pain, Rios attempted to pull himself up. Collapsing back down when it was proven his body was too weak to do so. Instead he reached out with a hand, grasping the dirt and attempting to drag himself back into the fight.
He couldn't let the others fight this beast on their own, he needed to help them, needed to fight with them. He couldn't give up.
His vision blurred, making it harder to make anything out as his consciousness started to leave him.
No matter how hard he tried to keep pushing on, his body started to fail him. He watched Pyrrha get swatted aside by the Cerberus' massive claws, her shield and weapon going in different directions as she went down.
Yang launched herself into the fray to aid her, only for one of the beast's head to grab the back of her brown jacket and slam her into the ground. Her hair lighting up and eyes flaring red as she fought the large Grimm with everything she had.
Rios' vision blurred again, no longer able to maintain his strength as he started to slip away.
"N-NO! I can't give up! I need to..." he fought against the encroaching darkness that threatened to swallow him. "I need to...fight! I won't let the others down! No matter what it takes I won't give up!"
"Perhaps there is hope for you yet, boy."
Everything going on in the world seemed to slow to a complete stop, time itself freezing in place when the deep, baritone voice that had spoken.
Using what strength he had, Rios raised his head and was surprised to see a man standing over him. His appearance hidden by the golden light that surrounded the both of them, but from what he could see the man was huge.
"Get up." the man demanded.
The wolf-Faunus struggled, doing his best to rise from the ground only to collapse again.
"Get up, boy! Or are you intending on allowing your friends and allies to die while you lay facedown in the dirt?"
At the mention of the others, Rios grit his teeth, digging down deep and summoning everything he had as he pushed himself up. Fighting against the pain and exhaustion as he rose to his knees.
The man looked down at him, his expression unseen. "A true warrior kneels to no one. Get to your feet." he said sharply.
The hunter got one of his legs under him, planting his foot and pushing upward. He stumbled, collapsing back to a kneeling position, but a second attempt had him rising up to his height, which only brought him up to the stranger's shoulders.
"Who...Who are you?" Rios asked.
The man took a step forward, his shrouded form coming into focus to reveal a powerful, savage-like being. His only clothing consisting of a long, loin cloth-like kilt, old worn sandals with wrappings around his shins and forearms.
His skin was the color of ash and riddled with scars, the biggest one being a long gash that went across his stomach. Red tribal tattoos curved around his arm and up over his head and standing out from the color of his flesh.
He had no hair on his head, save for a black goatee and eyebrows that settled over a pair of sharp, piercing eyes that seemed to sink right through into the teen's very soul.
Rios couldn't explain it, whether it was his natural Faunus senses or something else entirely, but this man's presence alone was power personified. It surrounded him like a shroud, demanding respect and insighting fear, it was almost enough to force the young man back to his knees.
But through it all...the hunter recognized him.
It was the man in his dreams, the warrior who fought armies and monsters alike. The one enslaved to a god, who slaughtered his own family because of his machinations. A beast who brought chaos to all in his wake...
"Kratos." Rios spoke in almost a whisper.
The man nodded his head, "So you do know who I am. Perhaps my legend hasn't completely faded away afterall."
"What are you-"
"Time is short, boy. We can only speak for so long. I am here to offer you a chance to save your friends and allies from death's grasp."
Kratos held out his hands, flames traveled along his arms and gathered into his palms before they started to take shape. Taking the form of a pair of wicked and deadly looking blades that were a meter long, the hilts and pommels a dull gold and were shaped like demonic skulls with the curved, jagged blades coming out of the mouths.
The blades pulsed with a dark power, Rios could sense it. But he could also feel a pull toward them, like they were reaching out to him through his aura.
"The Blades of Chaos." spoke Kratos, "The same blades bound to me by Ares, the former God of War. They're weapons like no other, their power infamous and legendary, but they are also a curse that only those descended from myself can hope to bare."
The warrior looked down at the teenager before him, "Within you exists the blood of true warriors. Warriors who didn't know defeat or surrender, whose rage could topple beasts and armies alike. By accepting these blades, you accept your ancestry, you accept your birthright...and you accept the curse that comes with them."
Rios looked from the deadly blades to the spot where the others were frozen in time fighting the Cerberus who was using one of its heads to summon more Beowolves. They wouldn't survive the fight, the beast would either crush them beneath its strength or overwhelm them with more Grimm.
"I can't let them die..." he said, his gaze locking with his ancestor's with an iron-clad will. "If what you say is true, than if I want any hope at saving my friends...I'll do anything in my power to protect them."
Kratos nodded, flipping the blades around so that the pommels were facing the young hunter. "Be warned, boy. The blades will only accept those with a will strong enough to withstand their bonding. Power, always comes with a price. Remember this."
Rios didn't faultier as he reached out, both hands grasping the legendary weapons. Both of them were surprisingly light given their size...but they felt...right.
In an instant, a chain appeared at the end of both pommels, the links glowing a bright orange and emitting a heat the likes of which the Faunus had never felt before as they came to life and wrapped themselves rightly around his forearms.
The torn sleeves of his thermal were burned away half a second before the loud hiss of searing flesh was heard.
Pain the likes of which Rios had never known pierced his entire being, an almost primal cry of agony ripped from his throat and reached the heavens as the chains continued to burn into his arms...but his grip on the blades remained strong.
During the process, the wolf-Faunus' aura blazed to life. Covering his form and connecting to the Blades of Chaos, forging a bond between the weapons and their new wielder, one that had not been felt in centuries.
Kratos stood and looked on. His features remained cold as stone, but a small amount of pride danced deep within his eyes at the young warrior before him.
He indeed was his blood. A true Spartan in the making.
Rios let loose a loud roar that was quickly followed by an explosion of power that was blinding.
X
Ozpin dropped both his signature mug and his scroll when a column of golden light burst forth from deep within the Emerald Forest. Eyes wide behind his glasses when he felt the power coming from it.
"What is that?!" Glynda shouted, feeling it as well and unable to comprehend where it was coming from.
"C-Could it be...?" the headmaster whispered.
X
Salem reared back from her viewing orb, the power she was feeling...it was unlike anything ever felt before.
Her dark eyes widened when she realized what had just been awoken.
X
Back in the Emerald Forest, initiates and Grimm alike froze where they stood and looked toward the anomaly. The teens being forced to cover their eyes as the light grew blinding for several moments before it began to fade.
When everything finally settled once again, all in attendance were greeted with a sight that would forever be with them to the end of days.
In the center of a badly scorched piece of ground stood Rios. His shirt and cloak completely burned away leaving his muscled upper-half bare. His aura covered his body from head to toe like a shroud, and in his hands were a pair of the deadliest looking blades any of them had ever seen before.
Raising his head, the wolf-Faunus' revealed his eyes, now a sharp gold color that radiated strength and fury. The 'eyes' of the weapon hilts in his hands glowed a similar color as the blades themselves ignited with a sinister blaze.
It was in this moment, that a completely new element was brought forth.
One that would cause either salvation or untold destruction to Remnant and its people.
X
A/N: This chapter took me a solid week to plot out and write, I personally think it turned out better than expected, but I'll let you readers be the ultimate judges.
This will not be the only time Rios will meet Kratos. He will be learning a lot about his ancestry and the bloody history that goes with it soon. But more than that, he will learn that not everyone in the world around him can be trusted...not even the Gods.
Looking forward to your reviews. Still open to ideas if anyone is willing to offer any. Until next time!