Author's Note: This is the same as HYPERION's Chapter 01 for the first half, so skip it if you wish.
Impurity - 01
-RWBY VERSE, THE KINGDOM OF VALE
Being an assassin was a well-paying job, especially for someone of Ryutensei's caliber. Everyone wanted to hire him to take out enemies, rivals, all that jazz.
Ryutensei, or as he preferred it, Ryuuto, didn't care for any of that. He'd take out anyone… with limits of course. He wouldn't kill someone if he learned they were innocent of the "crimes" he was told about, and he also wouldn't kill children. He had a strict moral code, he wasn't heartless after all.
Ryuuto currently was hiding near the front of a large building, supposedly belonging to a criminal mob boss or something akin to that. He pulled out his Scroll and looked at it once more, trying to confirm his hit before he went through with it. "Mob Boss, Cherry Crims, 28, Female; supposedly an ally of Roman Torchwick and has faint connections to the White Fang, huh?" Ryuuto sighed, putting his scroll back into his jacket pocket. He slicked back his black and purple hair slightly, before pulling out his "Broken Brother" Mask. People knew of the "Broken Brother", the deadly assassin that came for criminals, well-known or otherwise. Some feared him, some praised him, some called him a reckless fool who'll get himself killed one day.
But no one knew who was under the Mask except for employers he forced into silence, and that's how Ryuuto liked it. He looked at the building again, seeing a few guards in front of it holding firearms. Now here was another thing that made Ryuuto different from other assassins, he refused to kill random grunts. They weren't his targets for one, and secondly, they had families. And they were mostly innocent too.
Standing up straight and hiding behind a brick wall, Ryuuto looked through a hole he placed in the aforementioned wall a day ago. Quickly crouching, he pointed his finger through the hole like a gun and charged up his Semblance. Aura Manipulation, or as he would have called it a few years ago, "Mana-pulation". Purple energy bubbled at the tip of his index finger, before being jetted out like a lightspeed bullet. As planned, the guards were distracted by the explosion and rushed over.
Using this small timeframe, he snuck past them and got into the building. Still hiding within the shadows, he saw the security cameras were active. He knew their blind spots though, and to those blind spots, he stayed. He then fired more energy beam at them, these thinner and unable to cause explosions. The cameras instantly shut down, allowing Ryuuto to continue.
He instantly found himself near a lobby, where more guards were on break, but still armed. Ryuuto's left eye twitched, knowing he'd have to sacrifice a lot of Aura to get past them with a "Time Jump". He sighed, at least that way he'd have the least amount of unnecessary death on his hands. He forced his power out, freezing time within the lobby before he dashed through it. Once time resumed a few seconds later, Ryuuto was far away from there, but a little tired.
He got to Cherry's main room, walking through casually, as the mob boss looked at him without fear. Now that he had a good look at her, Cherry wasn't what Ryuuto expected at all. She had long, straight brown hair and cherry red eyes, probably where she got her name from. She also had a healthy white skin tone and was wearing a high-class business suit. Her figure wasn't bad either, but he didn't care for that too much. He didn't romance his targets, especially if they were right there in front of him to kill.
"Who're you?" Cherry asked suddenly, grabbing Ryuuto's attention again. He pointed at his mask instead of responding, and after some time her red eyes widened with fear. She rushed over to him, putting Ryuuto on guard before she got on the floor and started to grovel at the assassin's feet. "Please, oh mighty Broken Brother! P-please, spare me!"
Ryuuto stared passively at her after some time, his now glowing blue eyes narrowing behind his white mask. "Why should I."
"I can give you information on Roman Torchwick and the Fang! I-I can be useful to you! I have connections! I'll turn over a new leaf, I swear!" Cherry begged, with Ryuuto looking over the pros and cons of letting Cherry live. After he looked at her pleading face again, his eyes softened slightly. If he wanted to be better than the ones who made him go down this path, then this was a good place to start he supposed. Ryuuto then went back to speaking somewhat coldly.
"If you give me that information and sign a contract with me to ensure you're telling the truth, then I suppose I can spare you. But to nullify my old contract, my original employer has to die…" Ryuuto smirked behind his mask, his voice somewhat suggestive. Cherry's face went through a plethora of different emotions and expressions. Fear and joy were most prominent for a while before she smiled.
"I think I can arrange that. How much is your old employer paying you for this hit?" Cherry asked as Ryuuto's smirk widened.
"900 thousand Lien." Cherry seemed a bit put off slightly, but then nodded. She thought to herself for some time before getting up and walking over to her desk.
"I think I can manage to pay you double." Ryuuto was somewhat surprised before he nodded. 1.8 million Lien was a lot, much more than he could get from a few normal hits.
"In that case, Miss Crims, I think I can manage to work with you." Ryuuto smiled darkly, as he then left once his new employer told her guards to let him pass by. Ryuuto normally wouldn't have left his original boss behind, but this benefited him in more ways than one. Oh well, time to take down Employer #1. He didn't even bother to remember his name since he would be dead soon.
-RWBY VERSE, THE KINGDOM OF VALE, FOREVER FALL FOREST-
...Ryuuto might have made some critical mistakes within the last 20 minutes. One of which is being stupid enough to forget that unlike Cherry, his original employer had actual trained Huntsmen and Huntresses guarding him.
Of course, Ryuuto wasn't an idiot. He knew when to back up, and so he left behind that job and was currently running for his life. He was injured, his Aura slowly healing him, but his body was focused on keeping him conscious. He jumped into the air, landing on a tree's branches, and watched as the huntsmen ran past his location without him.
He sighed in relief, and when he was sure they had left, he slid down the tree and rested at its base. He tried to calm down, taking deep breaths but felt very tired. His vision blurred slightly, almost disallowing him to see a group of Grimm nearing him.
-RWBY VERSE, LAND OF DARKNESS, EVERNIGHT CASTLE-
Salem watched from her Grimm Seer curiously, as she soon found a young boy with a cracked mask, seemingly hiding from Huntsmen. Upon further observation, he looked a lot like the heir of the God of Darkness from long ago… No, he was a nigh-carbon copy. The same hair, the same eyes; almost everything was the same.
It was too alike to be a coincidence. She thought about it a bit and didn't find it impossible that the Heir of Darkness reincarnated. Salem then smiled. She could use this, she could use him. Besides, unlike the Light Heir, the Heir of Darkness did want to help her with her... issues from back then. Now with a plan in mind, Salem sent her Seer out to grab his attention.
-RWBY VERSE, THE KINGDOM OF VALE, FOREVER FALL FOREST-
Ryuuto heard some shuffling come from some bushes, and all the Grimm stopped nearing him, except for a strange one that seemed to be some kind of Orb? To say he was a little off-put would be an understatement. He went to draw his ax off of his back, but then something stopped him. A voice.
"You don't plan to be captured or killed, do you, boy?" A voice came from the Orb, one that was stern and feminine. "Come to where you're needed. You know where to find me. If not — my Grimm will show you the way. Make your choices quickly, my patience is limited."
Ryuuto stared, but stood and nodded hesitantly to the Orb. Then it fell to the floor, seemingly out of power. Ryuuto, even though he nodded, was unsure if he should trust a disembodied voice from an Orb. He then heard the voices of the Huntsmen that were chasing him returning and finally made his decision.
He followed the Grimm once they left, surprised to find they didn't attack him, but rather seemed strangely possessive of him. Of course, he didn't know why he never encountered Grimm before (he stayed in areas where Grimm usually didn't stay). After some time, he felt something pulling him to go on his own, not needing the Grimm to lead him anymore as he felt like he knew where he was supposed to go. Like a beacon of shadows and darkness, calling out to him.
It took a good amount of time, but he found himself in a dull purple barren wasteland, riddled with dark pools of tar-like liquid and jagged purple crystals. Ryuuto was unnerved to find that hoards of Grimm were coming from the pools, and even more so when the Grimm surrounded him. The Beowolves, if he remembered their name, were acting like dogs eager to see their owners. He was tempted to believe that other types of Grimm also would act like this, docile and eager to please in his presence.
He didn't know what to do with that information. He kept walking forwards, eventually encountering a large castle. He was hesitant to enter, but a Beowulf came up to him and nudged him closer to the castle. Looking at the large dog-like Grimm, he sighed and nodded. He then entered the castle, finding it was much larger than he thought it to be before.
He wandered around, finding everything about this eerily familiar… until he felt a pain in his eyes. He looked at a somewhat reflective window and saw that his eyes, originally a heterochromatic scarlet and dark green, were both now a solid dark purple. His confusion kept increasing, but he didn't want to waste time, whoever contacted him earlier mentioned her limited patience… and he did not want to test it.
He walked until he reached a large wooden door, and after removing all hesitation, unlocked it. He then opened it, seeing many people inside the room. None of which seemed to be the one who contacted him, until… He laid his eyes on what he could only describe as dark beauty; as if she embodied the beauties and grace of the darkest night.
Ryuuto stood there, dark purple eyes locking with crimson. Ryuuto asked the one question that came to mind. "Who are you?"
The deathly white beauty smiled darkly. "I am Salem. Come, Heir of Darkness. Take a seat. We were just about to start our meeting, discussing you."
Ryuuto had no idea what he got himself into, but he doubted he wanted to leave after what would happen today.