Rogue Huntsman

Pawn

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The sleepover was as to be expected. Throw forty incoming students into a room to gather and sleep with one another, you'd fully expect them to get along, find their groups and their fancies, and form bonds before the big day.

What a pipe dream.

Like any other non-substantial inaccessibly non-intelligent gathering for a school dance, this wasn't that far off from that premise, the kids were all as awkward as ever.

Sure, two or three of them seemed to find themselves in minor clusters of groups at a piece. But more or less, this was the first day for most of these aspiring misfortunate souls. It was unlikely any one of them could've already made a good friend.

If anything, that'll change drastically come initiation and the assignment of teams and partners. Then become meaningless by the end of it.

It's just biding your time up until then. The odds are unfeasibly skewed, it'd take a miracle to actually meet up with your 'to be partners' in a setting like this.

Fate would have to be playing a pretty stacked deck for that to happen.

At least, not unless you already knew how this was going to likely work out. And as Ano and I thought, things were as linear as they could get.

37 dimwits with aura and a blonde sack of uselessness stood in a line atop a cliff. Sounds like a story for a summer vacation gone wrong, or, a nightmare would be more accurate. Either way, Ano and I seemed to be the only calm people here.

We're the only ones actually acutely aware of the priming, almost comically large, springs beneath the panels we had all somehow found ourselves on. I don't know if the headmaster was trying to be creative or just blatantly obvious, either way, I wasn't having any part of it.

"Each of you will be given teammate," Glynda Goodwitch spoke, Ozpin's left-hand woman. Why? Because his right-hand man seemed to solely be his coffee mug, "Today."

Someone groaned. Weren't they at least smart enough to realize this by now?

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So, it is in your best interest if you paired with someone with whom you can work well." Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon Academy, spoke soon after. Cryptically, methodically, simply. The man I needed to prove myself to. "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

"What?!"

Ruby, don't make me hate you too… I despise enough people already.

Ignoring the comments, like he should, Ozpin continued, "After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path-"

That was all I needed to hear.

With the echo of a solemn bird in the distance and the mechanical squeak of metal beneath my boot, I stepped off my panel and walked forward.

"Mister Ezdeil, where do you think you're going?" Glynda asked from somewhere to my left. I positioned myself at the end for a reason. It gave me more than enough distance between authority and myself to do what I wanted.

"Walking." My voice was low, uncaring, and short.

"You would be at a disadvantage, young man." Ozpin said, "These catapults launch you eighty meters into the forest if you do nothing. If you have a flight strategy, the wind will carry you much further than that. Do you not wish to use an advantage like that?"

"I don't need one." This was growing annoying.

"Mister Ezdeil, pleas-"

"Glynda, let him be," Ozpin held up his hand as I felt his eyes, and everyone else's, on me, "No student in the past has done what he's done just now. I believe we should let him go."

"But-"

I approached the ledge as the woman puffed out a seemingly silent breath, something I heard loud and clear. I tuned out the mumbling coming from the students behind me, tuned out the sound of grass crunching beneath my feet, and simply turned my attention to the feeling of the wind pulling at my coat.

Then with quiet absolution, I stepped off the edge of the cliff and made my plummeting decent. I'll find Ano later.

A decent landing wasn't needed. My legs covered themselves in a shining lime green aura as they slammed into the ground of the forest, rupturing its dirt and its roots as I impacted it with a solid dull shockwave.

Broken air dispersed as soon as it was sent out, and the overwhelming shine in my legs diminished when I stepped out of the small crater in the forest floor. My glove crackled and sparked, shattering visually in energy and light as I flexed my fingers and pulled at its fabric against my skin.

A flow poured over me, my aura rushing through my being and down my right arm, gathering beneath my glove as I walked through the forest ahead of me.

390 billion trees dotted the surface of the island of Vale. Too many to count for the average human, too little to count for the average immortal, I was neither. So, where did that leave me?

The answer didn't matter. I was heading north, through the trees and the brush of the forest, to find the pitiful display the faculty of Beacon Academy decided to use to try to be clever in pairing teams together by random chance.

Random chance… heh… imagine what they'd think, if a single kid had the brains about him to make the connection of how one will get teamed up. They probably expect the majority to simply be honest in their decision, to take part in their little game.

I could already feel them, small pieces of gold and black. They resided on pedestals of stone in a courtyard of rock and ruin. 807 Grimm wandered around in the immediate vicinity of the first couple miles of Beacon's grounds, 301 of them were close enough to draw aggro in varying degrees.

They didn't matter.

Green light emitted from my fingerless glove, sparking and snapping into the air as I flexed my fingers again. A culmination of aura collected in the space encompassed by my palm, fluctuating as I dragged it up in front of me.

Glowing lime green streaked like starlight, despite the subtlest of movements, as my manifestation of aura reflected the bouncing sun around it and solidified itself in a cluster of molten mass hovering around my fingertips. I took my other hand and grabbed hold of my shining aura.

I pulled it taught, running out an immense array of glimmering strands of light as I manipulated it into nearly invisibly thin wires of my own aura. Then like lambent flames, they swirled forward. Almost like glittering glass.

Only, sharper and unequivocally stronger.

I had thirty seconds before the first students began launching.

The wires of my aura wrapped tightly around the high branches of the trees in front of me, in the near distance and slightly beyond that. Their green lights wound rapidly around the most suitable of limbs before I turned my palm around and pulled, tugging on the strings as I dug my heels into the dirt.

Aura surged into the ground as I pulled and reeled in my strands, watching as the trees before me began to tug inward and tensely bend in high amounts of resistance.

Perfect.

I knew exactly where I was going.

A smirk tugged at my lips as I pulled the trees to their near breaking points, nearly ripping them from their roots, then released all resistance my legs had with the ground beneath them. And just like that, the trees surged forward like whips into the sky as they slung me above the forest canopy.

My aura strands are as physical as solid wires, with the highest tensile strength ever discovered alongside the incredible vastness of their imaginative lengths and uses.

They were nigh unbreakable.

And so was I.

I didn't look back as I sailed through the air, over the trees and quickly through the sky in front of me. A pitiful spring couldn't give you the inertia nor even hope to get close to reaching the velocity capped by 14 trees bending at their trunks.

Not a chance.

It was because of this that I knew no one here could hope to ever become a huntsman or huntress of integrity. When you're given a tool to use that's not suitable for the job, why would you even use it? If the hammer's broken and the anvil's soft, they hold no greater purpose than a straw trying to cut cold cheese.

Most supposed intellectuals would try to make use of what they have. Create new ways to use what's broken for new purposes and alternative goals.

They act like time is on their side.

We only have 100 years to live, 33% of that is spent unconscious in a state of slumber. The rest of the world widdles away in trying to find cures to illnesses and creating new means of travel. They spend their years cultivating new ways to use Dust and its elements, forge new weapons and tools, tend to children and train them to become fighters.

It all doesn't matter… if humanity dies off in the next millennia.

Society is declining, and so is our survivability rate.

Grimm fester in the darkest reaches of the world. Yet, we don't have the guts to so much as step foot into their territory and make the discoveries that really matter. No one places the priority on the threat that'll kill us all in the end.

This is why I can't stand the world as it is. If it can't see that… then let it burn.

I clocked in at 651 miles per hour, aura shield blazing in front of me as its reflective light continuously shredded itself in the rushing wind. 116 miles per hour beneath the speed needed to break the sound barrier.

And in the next four seconds, I landed dead center in a half-circle of chess pieces. All of them rocked in their places, some pedestals chipping and cracking, but the heavy objects seemed to remain strong as I stepped up and let the aura recede from my legs.

"Chess pieces, of course," I muttered, watching the light gleam off of their stabilizing surfaces before they finally came to a rest.

Ozpin was an old, clever man. He knew manipulation and taught those under him how to manipulate others. He has society's best interests at heart yet plays his own dangerous games with its pieces. His life was a board game, his choices a game of risk, yet he strategizes to prevent as much bloodshed as possible.

His adversary is less merciful.

To what, dear Ozpin, do you play against? Two sides of a coin can't make a decision without clashing, so which opposite entity out there is the enemy you so wittingly face in a game of strategy?

The answer doesn't matter, even for my own amusement.

Rooks, knights, bishops, the king, the queen… and pawns… all in two colors.

"Smart enough not to duplicate the king and the queen. Good." I felt a bit relieved that he didn't take that step of idiocy. If he wanted these chess pieces to be genuine, then there can only ever be one of each. Which meant that the King undoubtedly paired with the Queen.

And, likewise for the rest. Twins paired with twins.

Only a self-centered prick grabbed the power pieces. Strategies that revolve around the queen and her disciples were cowardly and tactless. Rushing a sole unit into battle with power beyond measure yet could so easily be trapped and slain was simple.

Bishops were linear, never falling from their paths of righteousness or so much as straying from their line of duty. How gutless.

The rooks were the worst. They were headstrong and charged the front lines, burrowing through all that clashed their armor, yet had no defense on their sides. For all their strength and all their brawn, even a pawn can kill them if the angle was right.

Knights at least had the potential to be unique. They took leaps and bounds to reposition and lock down locations the enemy couldn't even dream of. Yet, oh so easily can they be taken… their lances are deadly to those in their path. Only to break when a single unit slips into their guard and pulls them from their powerful mount.

That left the stubby pawn. A unit in mass quantity built to be used and discarded like that of a tissue on a musky spring day. You give the fellow a knife and just watch as he runs in and opens a few doors, only to be slaughtered during the picking of the third. He was the outlier. They were the sacrificial front line.

Yet, they were the strongest pieces of the entire game.

If used right.

I flicked a black pawn into my gloved hand, flipping it to land softly into my grasp as I gazed down at it. It stared back at me as if it meant something beyond its fabrication, but that was all it'll ever be used for. A simple game limited by rules and routine.

I hated all it stood for.

But I despised something else more.

Green light surged through me and ruptured beneath the pawn in my hand. It shook and rattled, writhing atop and soon within a brightening culmination of my aura in mere fractions of a second…

Before I turned around, drew it back, wound up, and sent the sorry piece of metal so fast into the air that it disappeared in a flash of green and a shockwave of bursting air.

With that done, I patted my hands down then grabbed the last remaining black pawn. I tossed it slightly into the air before snatching it and slipping it into my pocket.

Teams, huh?

I'm here for one thing and one thing only. Working on a team was not part of my agenda.

Ozpin stood atop the cliff overlooking the Emerald Forest. His coffee mug sifted steam past his face as he held it close to his lips, thin brown eyes observing the sea of leaves before him. His tousled silver hair drifted lightly in the wind as he took another sip of his brew.

His… secret brew.

His clothes rattled against the high winds at the cliff's edge, rushing air pulling at his dark green pants and unzipped black suit. The tails whipped back and revealed his buttoned vest and green shirt beneath, tossing and turning in waves of fabric within his wake.

Black trouser shoes shifted slightly as he glanced to his side, sensing the blonde deputy approaching. The cowl around his neck threatened to come undone, but the cross pin clasping it still stayed as strong as his ever enduring resolve.

"He seems to have already reached the relics." She spoke, tablet and holographic screen glowing and nestled in her arms.

"Is that so?"

The middle-aged woman's curl of hair whipped in the wind, but her bun more or less remained the same. The white long-sleeved shirt she adorned clung to her skin, its pleated top and keyhole neckline only feeling all the more snug in the high pressure of air. The cuffs of it flared in pleats at the wrists.

Ozpin always wondered how those didn't get in the way of her tasks.

He dared not to look at her black high-waisted pencil skirt, less the bronze buttons suddenly come undone and fully reveal the black-brown stockings beneath.

She wore black boots with brown heels, and trailing behind her was a cape with a purple interior and black exterior, stylized and cut to render flames and arrows at the ends.

"Our fastest known record for reaching the relics was twenty-nine minutes, and that was by sheer luck that the student managed to travel in a straight line and encounter no Grimm resistance," Glynda commented, fixing her thin ovular glasses on her nose as she cast her gaze to the headmaster.

"Records are made to be broken, Glynda. It was only a matter of time." Ozpin responded, eyes turning to fix themselves on the forest once again.

"Broken, yes. But only in small margins," Glynda pulled the tablet against her chest as she let out a long sigh, "Mister Ezdeil broke the previous record by a rather large margin. He has set a new one for just under two minutes."

Ozpin hummed and pressed his pristine white mug to his lips, "I guess walking worked out for the young man."

"It not only worked out, but I believe the catapult's capacity for distance would've only extended his time and slowed him down," Glynda added, brushing a stray lock of golden hair out of her face.

"In any case, he's-"

A glint of light flashed in the sky.

Ozpin had a split second to react as he leaned his head to the side, a small black pawn rocketing through the space in front of him as it impacted the ground behind him. The object shattered his mug into fragments, glass cutting his cheek in the stale wind as his coffee spilled into the grass below.

"O-ozpin?! Are you-?"

"Fine," Ozpin answered curtly, reaching a few fingers up to touch the quickly healing gash in his sharp cheek.

Kicked up dirt settled behind the duo as Glynda turned to regard the projectile that split the clouds, she immediately recognized it as one of the relics.

Her eyes narrowed as she turned her attention to the tablet in her grasp again, "That young man should learn discipline. I'll-"

"That was a damn good shot," Ozpin's comment stirred her attention, and she quickly cast an inquisitive glance to her headmaster.

"Excuse me?" Her voice was as disbelieving as her face, yet her tone held itself in the wind.

Ozpin didn't answer her. How could he? He had just witnessed something he hadn't laid his eyes on… in a long time.

I sat atop the stone ruins where the relics were placed. Lying down on top of its highest structure as I tossed the second black pawn into the air in front of me. I let it spin, topple, and twirl… before watching as gravity caught up to it and forced it back down into my waiting hand.

Only for me to do it again.

I was bored.

My partner wasn't as fast as me, but she wasn't slow either. I knew her kind. She'd be here first out of the majority, and if our plan holds true, then she'll reach me ahead of all other initiates and become my official partner in this game of chess that we seem to be playing.

"Well, you look comfortable." A voice came from my left, prompting me to roll my head slightly to see the hard black boots and long slender legs of Ano.

She got up here rather fast, and quietly…

"I was, though now that you're here," I sat myself up and placed a palm against the stone beneath me, supporting myself as I glanced out across the tree lines.

"Actually, change of plans," Ano chirped in a light voice, sitting down closely at my side as she kicked her legs over the edge, "Instead of heading back right away, why don't we enjoy the show? I'm sure you already sense what's going on out there."

Her words carried a shrill shriek in the distance, bristling the trees in the dense forest and unleashing a flurry of black birds into the sky.

"I am well aware," I said with a sigh, kicking my legs over the edge soon after and resting my cheek in my palm, "Why must we stay and watch? With any luck, they'll realize this profession is a death wish and quit."

Ano's light laugh didn't draw my interest, but it drew my attention, "They're aspiring young adolescents looking to impress each other with their unfaltering skills. I'm sure there will be something that happens that'll be of mild interest to you."

She just wants people to get to know me… rather than just know of me.

"So be it," I groaned a bit, but I didn't turn down the idea of watching kids strive to keep their heads in a Grimm infested forest. Literally.

Ano gave a cheeky smile and clapped her hands together, stretching them over her head as we waited for something interesting to happen.

And something did.

Two OCs will be presented to you in the next chapter. You'll recognize them both if you read my current story.

Anyway, that was a thing. Despite the seriousness that this story seems to be exuding, it will be riddled with humor and concepts of my own design. With, as you've undoubtedly realized by now, philosophical moments of thought.

Niro's just that kind of guy.

In any case, not much Ano in this one, but it delved a bit into Niro's semblance and weapon. Well, technically I've been delving into his semblance from chapter one, but one of the uses of his weapon was revealed in this one.

A guest guessed (heh, didn't mean to do that but I'm leaving it in that order) that Niro might have aura manipulation.

Of course, he has aura manipulation. Every hunter has it. How do you think they use their aura? Niro's manipulation is simply extended through his weapon, which acts as a catalyst, to solidify it into the air in physical form.

His aura manipulation is enhanced greatly by his semblance, though.

Which has still not been guessed nor directly revealed. Despite the consistent presence of it. He's been using it the whole time, after all.

Chapters will remain in a sweet zone of 3-7k words, depending on the events transpiring.

For now, Favorite and Follow.

I look forward to seeing REVIEWS for this. You'll be introduced to a LOT of concepts of mine. Feel free to give me your thoughts.

Cya XP