Author Note: Hello again! A tad bit late, but fear not! Here is the sixth chapter of A Dark Soul & A Painter Within Remnant. Still, it warms my hollowed heart that more and more people are enjoying this story that just came to thought one day! You all have my sincerest of gratitude! When I see more people liking this, I skip happily and say "Yes yes yes, yes!" just like Pyrrha in Chibi. I hope you enjoy! Plus, criticism and reviews are welcome!
Also:
Simple405: I'm glad that you're looking forward to this one's story! :D
Gold Crown Dragon: Good to see ya again pal! ;)
I don't own RWBY or Dark Souls.
"Maybe we're all cursed… From the moment we're born..." - A certain masked knight.
Team JNPR was bewildered by the fact that Grimm had been swarming to their mission location. There were only two reasons as to state why that is: One, bandits attacking and causing a ruckus, thus leading Grimm to the location. Or two, something unexpected like Grimm randomly waltzing in. Either way, they had to get to the village fast and protect the villagers. Even if said villagers were quite hateful towards humans.
As they were walking out, Professor peach was already greeting them near the bullhead.
She was an odd teacher to be paired with, but unfortunately, she was the only professor around. Professor Oobleck (Doctor actually) is with Team RWBY on a trip to Mountain Glenn and Port is riding with Team CFVY.
Peach wore a half-buttoned up lab coat, a business skirt, and black dress shoes. Her pale pink hair that alludes to the color is tied up in a bun held together by a silver pen. Those red-pink eyes were protected by safety goggles with a red strap, which she insisted on wearing at all times.
"Team JNPR! I'm so glad to be of assistance to you all!" She was all smiles, "Come! The town is in dire need of help." Professor Peach power walked towards the bullhead, several vials of possible dust could be jangling from within the lab coat.
The huntsmen and huntresses-in training looked at each other and shrugged.
"Well, isn't she enthusiastic about this..." Pyrrha added with a hint of awkwardness.
"Hey, at least she isn't as weird as Oobleck or…" Jaune looked forward, only to see Peach studying two vials of fire and ice dust, comparing them and smelling them?
"Are we sure that's Professor Peach?" Ren asked, "Because isn't it deadly to carry vials of dust so casually?" They remembered the story that Weiss told them about Ruby bumping into her and causing an explosion with dust.
"I like her!" Nora said out of the blue, skipping along the way. "I mean look at her, it's not like she's going to blow us all up and crash the bullhead along the way."
A small explosion could be heard and they all turned their heads to see Professor Peach's face covered in black soot and her hair in disarray.
Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren looked back to Nora, with Jaune facepalming, "Look, don't jinx us just yet."
What can be seen through the smokey scene can only be described as a sort of feud between two old rivals. They circled around their makeshift arena in the village, both staring directly into each other's eyes. Alric unsheathed a secondary dagger from behind his waist, it was far more refined than the other gnarled one. Dajorn readied another pyromancy from his last few bits of focus, a combustion spell. If he were to be parried by that new dagger, the spell should keep him from being stabbed directly into the gut.
They stopped. Just for a few seconds before Alric broke the stalemate and rolled forward, slightly turning into clouds of smoke and reappearing again. He lashed out with multiple thrusts from both daggers, his stamina showing no signs of depleting at all. Of course, he'd have to be careful, Dajorn wasn't like those two buffoons that relied heavily on their strange force-field that was also linked to their stamina and well-being.
The old warrior back-stepped, making sure to find an opening within the flurry of stabs directed towards him.
He found it. Dajorn quickly made a feint, which Alric fell for and went in to stop for a parry, only to be surprised when Dajorn reared back his dagger, extending it to reach the target. It struck, managing to pierce his shoulder. Blood began to bleed out profusely. The old man pressed on, slashing away at the assassin's chest, his laboring breathes escaping him as he tried to remain tenacious.
Alric tried to get away and crush something within his hand, yet Dajorn wouldn't allow it. Dajorn rushed forward and tackled him into the wooden wall of a building, it broke and they landed into the dining room, smashing tables and chairs along the way. The tackler prepared to aim for the jugular, only for Alric to dodge it by moving his head to the right. The assassin reached for a small piece of cloth and motioned both hands into an x- shaped cross. Dajorn's eyes widened and back away, only to be thrown back out into the smoldering village by an invisible push of force. Their new arena was now in the open village square, some faunus corpses could be seen, mutilated and torn to shreds beyond recognition, except for a few faces torn off from the body.
Alric could be seen picking up both daggers and slowly walking out of the hole they both made.
"The Dark Soul will be ours." Alric said, "And there will be nothing to stop us."
Though, as he said that, a pack of beowolves prowled about from behind them. A couple on the rooftops and from a few ransacked houses.
"Beasts should stay well out of this." He said with irritation. Both himself and Dajorn readied their weapons against the Grimm.
"Go! Take Jade with you, I'll slow whoever that is down!" Hershel said, opening the glove compartment to reveal a worn pistol with one clip of dust ammunition.
Carrie protested but the sounds of hissing coming from the Wizard got closer, they looked back to see more of those crystal balls floating above their summoner.
"JUST GO!" He cried out, opening the truck door and getting the sorcerer's attention.
Carrie's eyes were filled with tears as she picked up Jade's unconscious body and made a run for it, Priscilla slowly behind, looking back to see the scene unfold.
Hershel shot at the sorcerer, they both made direct marks to the right shoulder and left leg. That strange contraption surprised said magic caster, who was caught unaware of the speedy crossbow-like weapon. It was only moments after that he realized the person he's facing didn't have an aura at all. But how is that possible? Without aura, she wouldn't be able to cast her power semblance...
A scowl could be seen on the Wizard's face as they approached closer. She raised her staff in a sword-like manner, and swiped to the right; a large blue sword came forth and slammed into him, pushing him up into the air and falling back down harshly. Opening up his eyes, the crystal balls bolted forth and struck him. Being hit by those felt like something was forcibly tearing down his own skin and soul; it hurt a lot more than it looked.
Priscilla stopped gazing and turned back, running as fast as she could back to Carrie, who was already deep within the forest. The night proved to be fatal as pitch darkness overtook the wilderness, it was advantageous to the faunus, but to the painter girl, she couldn't see naught but small bits of moonlight.
While they were running, a loud engine could be heard from above the forest. It sounded like a mean roaring siege engine to Priscilla, though to Carrie's ears, that was a bull-head. However, Carrie glanced to see the young girl putting her hands wherever she can in the darkness, calling out the wolf faunus' name in worry.
She put her daughter down for just a moment and ran back to the girl and grabbed her hand, startling her. "It's okay! It's just me," Carrie whispered, "C'mon, we have to get to somewhere safe."
"We're almost there," The bull-head pilot said, "But, there's a ton of smoke coming from the village itself."
"What?!" Jaune said, looking out to see the scene before them. The village was up in flames, dozens of bodies littered the area, and two people were fighting against a great deal of Grimm.
"Land us as close as you can to the village," Peach said with seriousness taking over her usual happy demeanor.
"What's the plan?" Ren asked, and they all looked at Jaune.
"Save as many people as we can!" He replied, everyone, nodding in agreement.
The pilot landed by the town hall, its mangled appearance ruined further by remains of the villagers.
Peach stopped them and spoke, "Okay, here's the plan: Ren and Nora, you two will help those men fighting the Grimm." She looked to Jaune and Pyrrha, "You guys will assist in taking care of any Grimm attacking the villagers, and I will go look for the Sheriff, find out if he's hurt or not."
They all went their separate ways.
The Grimm were evaporating. They showed a tough fight, but against such viciousness never before seen in a fighter on Remnant, the creatures of darkness didn't stand a chance. Both men were panting heavily, even more so for Dajorn, without that ring he treasured so long ago, this wouldn't have been so disadvantageous to him. After that onslaught, the two continued their fight. And things weren't working out so well for Dajorn, Alric proved to be far faster and precise with his strikes. To make things worse, he had the ability to cover his dodges with a ring that enabled him to turn into bits of smoke, that by itself was already troublesome.
"I see your state is proving to be more wearisome than it seems, you traitorous filth. I'll give you some acknowledgment for landing a few strikes, but alas, your time has finally come to an end." He flourished his daggers, "The Dark Soul will be mine."
He rolled towards his opponent, smoke left in his wake as he slashed left and right. Dajorn dodged them with strained muscles, begging him to stop and rest, but that wasn't an option here. He readied up once more, just a dagger in hand and a combustion spell at the ready.
They both charged at one another with the intent to kill.
Until...
"Stop!" A young boy intercepted between the two, his attire reminding them both of the easterners' way of dressing. Another stepped in, this one a girl with bright colors that made Dajorn's eyes hurt.
"What're you doing!? These people are dying and you're all fighting?!" Nora asked, showing a smidgen of seriousness which wasn't her character at all, which baffled Ren.
"Set aside your differences and-" She was cut off when the assassin initiated the fight again, only to be struck by a barrage of bullets to the torso by Ren.
More blood erupted from Alric, some coming from his mouth as well, "Strange weapon that you have there…" He coughed up more blood, "When we meet again… I'll take it off your corpse…" Alric looked to his rival, "And you… we will finish this and that Soul will be mine…"
He pulled out a small cloth and knelt down, whispering some words as a bright circle engulfed him. Shimmering in and out before fully disappearing into nothing.
Dajorn was the only one who knew that he may have used a humanity to heal and a miracle that granted the user to go back to a place that's safe or otherwise considered home. Though, he may have been transported a small distance away from the village instead of going back to Lothric. And from the looks of it, that was a wise move to leave. These huntsmen must be the ones Hershel spoke so highly of, warriors trained in the arts of protecting the people from Grimm and other threats.
Unfortunately, he was in no condition to leave and find Priscilla, his body would not comply.
"Please, get to the forest… my companion is with two others, they may be in danger…"
Ren grabbed the old man and put his arm around his shoulder, carrying him back while calling a bull-head along the way. "Search the forest, Nora. I'll join you shortly!"
"Got it!" The Valkyrie replied, bolting off into the forest.
Could the day get any worse?
Priscilla thought that the Wizard would've kept following them into the forest, but she looked back and saw her contemplating before waving the staff in a familiar fashion of the white branch. The Wizard disappeared into thin air and all that was left were the sounds of beowolves howling and Ursa roaring in the village. Though they hadn't worried about that right now, all that mattered was to get to safety! Carrie had to hold onto the small girl's hand and guide her while carrying Jade's spasming body. But at last, they found a hollow tree to hide in that laid onto the ground. The sounds of running could be heard before the sounds of a person was calling out to them presumably. "Hello! Anybody out there? If you can hear me! It's all right now!"
Carrie ran out with relief in her eyes, "Thank Oum, I never thought we-"
Slash. The sound of a swift and fast metal object went through something and it stopped Carrie's talking.
Her head fell to the ground, eyes wide with terror as blood spewed out from the severed body.
Priscilla looked back forth, Jade was still unconscious. The painter quietly motioned the gestures to use the branch and thankfully it covered Jade as well.
The figure crouched down and looked at the hollow log, squinting blue irises to see a thick blanket of wooden splinters and scraps layering it. A shame, she truly thought the girl with the Dark soul would be hiding with this animal creature.
'Must've ditched them to save herself.' the Wizard thought, standing back up. A second and deep voice conversed with her.
"Did you get it?" He asked, the Wizard shook her head and finally spoke in a soft tone, "A small girl is carrying it with her. I fear that she has fled and left these things to rot by themselves."
"Very well, we will track her down, but first we must leave this place." He kicked the corpse of the now deceased mother of Jade, "Those things you refer to have some strange ability to keep themselves safe. It is best if we don't face more than one of them."
Both footsteps crunched the grass as they walked away.
Once they left, Priscilla let go of Jade's shaking legs, was it not for that, they'd have been discovered.
"Uh, hello! Is a small girl out here?" Another young voice called out. Dread covered Priscilla's face as she scrambled away, doing her best of hiding herself and Jade by curling up into a ball. She won't fall for another trick like Jade's poor mother did.
"Your old pal is safe! He's really worried about you, ya know!"
'Dajorn?' Priscilla slowly crawled out to the edge of the log, peaking out from the opposite side that isn't by Carrie's dismembered head.
She saw through the small bits of moonlight a young girl wearing bright clothing and an obscenely large hammer.
"Ah, there you are! C'mon, let's go annnddd-" She glanced at the corpse of Carrie, "Let's just go…"
"Wait! Tis not just me, but a friend as well." She crawled out and pointed at Jade, "She's not well."
"Okay, I'll get her and you follow me! We're going somewhere safe!"
Nora bent down and grabbed Jade by the legs before heaving her up onto her shoulder. "Hey, wanna hold this while I carry your friend?" Nora held out the mini pink flashlight she used in the darkness, "It's pretty neat ain't it?"
Priscilla held it as tight as she did with the branch, "You said that my friend is safe, tis true?"
Nora scoffed, "Of course silly-goose! I wouldn't just say that if I didn't know, now did I?"
This confused Priscilla, silly gooses? What?
The two walked continued onward to the bull-head landing zone. There they saw the rest of Team JNPR and Professor Peach, among them, is Dajorn sitting back in the seat of the strange metal carriage. He smiled and got up from his seat and began walking to Priscilla, "I'm glad that you're safe."
"Thou art kind to worry about me… But," She paused, "Thine wounds… are you well?"
Dajorn chuckled, "I've faced far worse than a couple of cuts and scratches, Priscilla."
Their reunion was cut short when Peach interrupted them. "Forgive me, but we have to go. There will be more Grimm here shortly and I doubt any of us would want to face Nevermores."
"What about-"
"It'll be fine, Mr. Arc. I've informed Ozpin of the situation and he's already sent in recovery teams to help find any other villagers that are in the vicinity. Right now though, we should take these three to a disaster shelter set up in Vale. we hope to get more survivors soon.
Truth be told, there weren't many survivors, the guards of the village were no match for any of the Grimm, and many of the villagers had no means to defend themselves against those creatures of the evil.
The village is lost, even if they managed to get rid of the Grimm, there'd be nobody willing to stay here after all the carnage that's been endured.
Two days after the destruction of the Faunus village.
Jade's condition worsened ever since that strange man struck her with that blue substance which he applied after witnessing her aura. She was unable to use her aura to the fullest ability, it's as if the stuff took a part of her away. Weakness spread throughout her bones and muscles. Drowsiness was a recurring symptom and the small bits of seizures came here and there. The doctors didn't know what to do at all. Even after all that, she still doesn't know the fates of her parents, both murdered by two unknown strangers that wandered into their village and began killing people and lighting it all into flames.
As for Dajorn, he and Priscilla resided in a 'disaster shelter' or so its called within Vale's hospital, Saint Mercy. T'was an upgrade from a small town to a large city with more colors than Dajorn had ever seen before. All the citizens here wore clothing that many tailors would dream of making or wearing in that sense. Yet, he still felt guilt over Jade. It would seem that aromatic ooze does a great deal of damage over time to this aura that he keeps hearing about. Usually, he would use it against enemies that are covered head-to-toe in armor that he'd otherwise be unable to attack with normal weapons. The girl was lucky she wasn't hit with the dark…. Only the gods know what it'd do to the people here if that were the case.
Dajorn had to steel himself though, this world is doing something to his way of thinking. The Painter- Priscilla came first. The painting had to be finished. He still needs to get the rest of those in Firelink shrine to the painting, it's the only way out of the dreadful cycle. Everything else came as a secondary objective, no matter what. There's no way he'd lose everybody again to it, over and over and over.
"Mr…" A nurse had a clipboard, trying her best to pronounce his name, "Da-j-orn. Someone is wishing to speak with you."
"I'll be there in a moment. Stay here and be sure to never let anyone see it, okay?" He looked at Priscilla's eyes, and she nodded, hiding the small pigment of the Dark soul in a tiny coin bag.
He walked down the clean and white halls of the hospital, he heard beeping noises, wheels on portable beds squeaking, the occasional groans of people in pain from sickness or injury in rooms, and small talk between many of the people sitting in the waiting room. There he saw that Peach woman along with two guards wearing armor on their upper torso that had a white-grayish color to it. A helmet covered their eyes and most of their faces except for the mouth, for some strange reason. Black pants and a belt with a mini-crossbow and a black hilt for a sword, but no blade? One had red highlights lining the torso and helmet, while the other had blue. Next to them was another individual, this one represented more of an elegant, militaristic type of character. The most interesting part of him was not his neat white overcoat, rather the strange metal plate attached to his clean-shaven face.
"I take it you're this Dajorn?" He asked, his arms behind his back as he stepped forward, getting a better view of the supposed only sensible survivor.
The old man nodded, "I am," he looked between the two imposing guards, "Is something the matter?"
"I'm afraid so, Dajorn." The guards placed themselves on each side of Dajorn, placing a hand on his shoulders. "We're going to have a nice chat with you regarding your identity."
There's the end of the possibly longest chapter by far! I hope this decaying hollow has pleased you. If so, wonderful! If not, gee darn it. I hope to see you all again this upcoming Saturday! Have a wonderful time until the time comes. And don't get yer self-killed! Neither of us wanna see you go hollow.