Rogue Huntsman

Pajamas

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Blood was spilled this night. Unfortunately, it wasn't Dante's.

My coat was drenched, bleeding itself dry in a river of black grimm essence. Its tails streaked with the plaguing mist, pouring into the dirt and the roots as I made my way through the Emerald Forest.

Slowly, the blood bathing my clothes began to flake away, smoldering beneath my aura as I made my rounds.

I wasn't going easy on them… even if my easiest was more than enough to wipe a squadron of Dremoha class grimm.

No… they didn't deserve any of this. They may kill and devour Remnant's races. They may rip into civilization like the Black Death and sweep through villages, wiping entire populations in a single night. They may inflict fear across the continents and tear the limbs off small children that wander into the woods…

But this… even this… no one deserves.

I reached out with a flurry of green threads, swarming them out in a maelstrom of lime green tethers before wrapping them around a beowolf Major and tearing them through its body.

If only they showed fear, instead they showed instinct. They were on the run for the betterment of their pack… unfortunately, my walking pace was faster than their quickest prowl.

I followed.

This world isn't a pretty place. It's never been one of luxuries or pleasantries. It's been one of war and conflict, struggles between races and cultures, all under the siege of an unknown enemy of vast and impossible masses.

This is a world of bloodshed, and I intended to shed as much blood as I could tonight.

Three beowolves had the nerve to turn on me, but they no longer had the limbs to do anything more than that. I let their armless half-bodies drop to the ground in six unceremonious thuds, spilling black mist and blood into the roots before I crushed the arms I was holding into fur-ridden dust.

My eyes scanned my surroundings again, counting the fleeing wolves into the twenties… then the thirties. I corralled four different packs into this area of the forest, pushing them to the base of a cliff to trap them.

This is my territory, my school… and my forest.

They have no right to wander in here after I cleared it out just the other day.

I stepped forward, brushing my fingers across the long trunk of a tree as I went. From it sprouted and surged countless threads of my lime green aura, dashing out and spanning to encompass the tree line in its entirety.

My boots, still dripping with blood, pressed down into the scraped, upturned grass as I secured the area in a tight-knit web of strands. 49 beowolves culminated at the rocky outcrop before me, all of them pushed back against the stone face… some even trying to claw through it.

"Fight or die," I growled, silencing them.

It was a command, a request, and insurance of death and bloodshed. These were the lesser-most creatures of grimm, the lowest species of the entire chain. They were the easiest to slay and the easiest to find in packs.

They fought together as much as they died together on instinct and bloodlust alone.

But when they last for longer than they should… they begin to learn, to adapt.

That's what I was counting on.

From the back of the pack emerged a beowolf, bone armor a pale blur in the light of the shattered moon. Its smoldering eyes burned yellow and red, seeking my dark silhouette out of the trees and honing in on my bloodied scent.

The scent of its allies.

It was significantly larger than the rest, easily doubling the size of the largest wolf in the pack. Its maw had the sharpest and longest fangs, all biting into its own fleshy gums as it snarled and growled, prowling low to the ground in a cautious approach.

Its claws were sharper than steel, or so it would like to believe. Its armor ran deep as much as it spread wide, covering its entire back, limbs, and head fully in a suit of bone plating, leaving only the joints exposed.

Spikes ran down its jagged, exterior spine, razor sharp in appearance and shining in the splitting air of the cool night breeze.

The rest of its companions began to follow… if only all of them did.

Four… now five… bolted for the trees.

They shredded themselves on my wires, falling in chunks to the grassy forest floor as the rest turned to me, including the leader.

"Allow me to make a point," I spoke lowly, reviving my approach. My first step caused the leader to tense its legs, my second caused it to growl.

I ignored it.

"You believe yourselves worthy of admittance into my forest," I continued, pulling up my gloved right hand and flexing my fingers, letting green lights dance around them, "You ransack, you pillage… you ravage. You thoughtlessly provoke while you greedily devour. You needlessly hunt for the sake of blood, not sustenance."

I was nearly twenty feet away from the leader when it began to back away, pulling back into a collapsing sea of fur as the rest of the 43 beowolves stood defensively before it.

"You have no other purpose in this world but to kill, to push humanity back as far as you can, then collapse on them as soon as they show the tiniest hint of fear and uncertainty," my voice was resonating off the cliff face behind them, slipping into the trees and vanishing in a quiet murmur, "You call this a lifestyle, a mission you were assigned at birth."

A fleeting glimpse of green light split away from the glow culminating around my hand… decapitating a lesser beowolf in front of me.

Its body didn't hit the floor… it just stood there, stiff… before I called on the aura I forced into its body and ruptured it, drenching its companions in a burst of black mist with an expanding flurry of strings.

"What would you do," I paused, allowing chunks to fall from the sky as I lowered my hand, the glow in my hand intensifying, "if someone returned the favor?" I finished in a growl, lowering my head to hide my shining eyes behind its cascading shadow.

They charged.

Seven beowolves were the first to lunge, nine followed, closely tagged by eleven more while the rest seemed content to begin to circle me. I let them get close… seven sets of claws homing in on my pale flesh on this night of a blackened forest.

Slow… I watched as the sharp, brittle tip of a claw moved toward my eye. I felt three of the seven place their claws on my legs and back. The last of the seven seemed keen to try to dig into my sides, clawing and biting for my midsection.

I drew my hand up and pulled the claw away from my shadowed eyes, tapping it with a flick of my hand before taking a step forward and pushing my fist through its ribcage… killing it with its own momentum and lack of judgment.

All claws that made to rip into my flesh shattered, breaking against my aura as I turned, watching as three of them snapped their own arms with how much force they put behind their desperate strikes.

They weren't fast enough… not for someone like me.

Not for something like this.

I dragged my fingers through the air, leaving behind five bright streaks of light before I grabbed them with my other hand and pulled them taught. The solidified aura bent to my will, molding into a glass-like longsword I used to swipe through the remaining beowolves of the first initial wave of seven.

The number one thing you should never allow me the advantage of…

Is the use of a bladed weapon.

I moved in like a shadow in the dim sky, dashing silently through the waves of beowolves as I let my glowing blade pass through their flesh and bone. Every wound I made, I intensified with a blast of aura, severing limbs and tendons with ease while shattering bone.

21 down…

With two fingers, I dragged new light down the expanse of my shining blade, pulling its shape along with my passing hand as I extended its reach. Its glow brightened exponentially, bordering on becoming its own star before I drew it back and swept it in a wide arc.

A surge of lime green light in the form of a passing crescent wave emerged from its edge, slicing through the remains of the beowolves around me before it crashed into the stone of the cliff at the far back.

Their leader had the decency to jump its passing wave… marking itself as the lone survivor.

The rest dropped dead and began to fade away.

I let my blade dissipate and vanish as I watched the leader, a moving ghost of white and black, land on its haunches against the cliff's wall before pouncing forward, diving toward me as it drove its claws through the air.

I caught the tip of its dominant claw with my finger and killed its momentum, cracking the ground and blasting its cold surface and the tails of my coat in a sudden burst of speeding wind. All of it surged into the trees as I allowed my opponent to let gravity begin to kick in.

Its claw didn't shatter, it was too strong for that, but it did pull back as it fell to its hind legs once again.

It still had that look in its eyes… it was a savage, thirsty, bloodlusting glare of defiance, of hunger… of anger.

With every fiber of its being, it wanted nothing more than to tear my throat from my body. It wanted to do whatever it could to survive without admitting defeat, without giving into a superior being. It wanted to fight for every drop of blood I spilled, every ally it lost, every grimm I took.

All in a selfish, vain attempt to kill me… and escape with its life.

It made a bite for my entire head, turning its maw sideways as it lunged…

I reached up and placed my hand on the bottom of its jaw, easing it to the side as its attack missed me entirely. My move forced its teeth to snap closed, muffling a strained and muffled growl of pain as the move nearly snapped its neck.

"Try again," I took my hand from its fur and it backed away, eyes trailing in a darker, colder light as I pushed it closer and closer to its own demise, "Give me a reason to try in return."

Something in the grimm before me began to crackle, snapping its bone armor to life as its eyes suddenly sputtered with golden sparks. Inside its maw broke free thousands of volts of electricity, melting across its fur in shattered webs as it dug its claws into the dirt.

Its whole body tensed, all of it grinding down as it stretched and pushed itself back, unleashing a howling wail into the night air as lightning cracked the ground beneath it.

It didn't wait. I watched it dash to the side with an enhanced speed that rivaled the fastest flying nevermore. It grazed the ground in light, scraping lunges, surging across the forest floor at what would've been a speed no untrained eye could follow.

I watched it make its rounds, remaining in place as I let it disappear from view. I didn't need to see its raw image to know where it was… its presence was enough of a disruption as it is.

It made a lunge for my exposed back… I let it.

I cut off my aura, blocked it from shielding me in any way… and took the hit. Its claws dug into my back from a sweeping right plunge, stopping at my bones as it shot enough electricity into me that could've killed any human in an instant.

The currents of lightning got stronger, intensifying tenfold when it sunk its maw into my left shoulder from behind, spitting thousands of extra volts into my nervous system as the forest around us illuminated in a burning, golden glow.

Dirt, grass, stone, roots… it all began to erode away as the lightning surged through my body, rushing into the ground and breaking it apart. A crater quickly sunk into the surface of the remnant beneath us as I endured it all.

Within the next few seconds, I felt its lightning begin to lessen and its energy begin to die. It pushed itself off of me, throwing itself onto its back as it scraped and pressed its claws into the ground, shaking its fur and head as it eyed me closely.

I kept my aura from reactivating.

Blood, my blood, spilled into the dirt as I turned around, eyeing my prey with a calm gaze.

A gaze that petrified it.

Smoke spilled off my skin, collecting beneath the rim of my hat as I stepped toward the Alpha before me… the Alpha bred with Dust from Remnant's deepest secrets. It was an elemental based grimm…

Or, so it once was.

"I was wrong," I spoke, inciting the tiniest whimper from the exhausted creature before me as I approached, then crouched before its grounded, defenseless form, "You weren't worth my time after all."

I reached forward and touched its fur… unleashing every voltage of energy I collected and amplifying it twentyfold…

Whatever remained of the ground beneath us melted away, a new golden light surging into the atmosphere above as the trees around me blazed with fire. The cliff face behind us cracked and shattered… before disappearing entirely.

The cliff side caved in on itself, melting away and evaporating into the air as if it were nothing more than wisps of gray water. Three trees back, across the tree line that once surrounded us, burst into splinters and flames, vanishing as well.

The creature beneath my touch could only take so much… before it eroded away, dispersing in a fraction of a second from its own power.

Then I stopped… and allowed everything to rebuild itself after reactivating my aura.

Only blood remained, but even that began to evaporate into fading black mist.

No more grimm existed in any proximity to the school once again, so I headed to my dorm.

There wasn't anything left for me to kill.

Arex had just set up her bed, switching default sheets out for the ones Anoel brought with them. She rested her black pillow into place before padding over in her ankle socks, making her way to her dresser where her duffle bag rested.

"You said you brought everything you could find?" she asked, dropping softly to her knees as she unzipped its largest compartment.

"Yup, everything you had in your drawers and closet. Amazing how it could all fit in that duffle bag, but, I did have to leave one or two things behind," Anoel replied, bobbing her foot up and down with one leg crossed over the other.

She was in her pajamas, wearing black short-shorts and a white, short-sleeved shirt to top it off. Her hat, as it would seem to be the case all the time, still remained on her head, completing her usual ensemble.

"I hope nothing important got left behind," Anoel tipped her black cowboy hat in Arex's direction, the girl's silver, humorous eyes peering over the edge of her scroll toward her sister.

"Anoel, what did you leave behind?" Arex asked, voice turning uncertain as she began to unpack neatly folded clothes from her duffle bag. Slowly, she began storing them inside the dresser in front of her.

"Oh, just the things you didn't need," Anoel waved, only working to put Arex's nerves on the fritz.

"Do you tease her like this often?" Kitsuki signed to Anoel, sitting against the pillow of her own bed with her lithe legs slipped beneath her covers.

"Oh, you have no idea," Anoel replied with a smile, catching a momentary but silent sigh from Arex.

"Doesn't it put a strain on your relationship at all? As sisters?" Kitsuki asked, pulling her large white fox tail from behind her and wrapping it around, letting her three tails hold together and rest on her lap.

The kitsune's version of pajamas was, well, the only thing she could think of to allow her tails their freedom of movement in bed. She wore a large white light sweater, falling softly over her form and dangling just low enough to cover her waist and most of her hips, which sported nothing but a pair of white panties.

"Not at all," Anoel responded, letting her scroll rest on her bed for the time being as she regarded Kitsuki across the room, "It actually keeps us close."

"That's one way of putting it," Arex commented, trying to hold her nerves in as she got through the rest of her bag, taking inventory as she went.

She had her clothes, socks, underwear, bathroom necessities, scroll charger, her toolkit, several of her electronic accessories, everything seemed to be accounted for. Anoel even grabbed all her extra light sweaters.

Wait…

Arex quickly scanned her drawers, pulling one out… pushing it closed then checking the next one down…

W-wait…

"Anoel, where are my PJs?" Arex asked, sliding her final drawer closed and placing her hands on the dresser's top.

"You mean your usual sleepwear of shorts and a sweater?" Anoel asked, getting a hesitant nod in return, "Oh, I guess I forgot the shorts. It's getting cold, so I guess it just slipped my mind."

"Y-you remembered everything else!" Arex rested her head on her hands, closing her eyes as she bit her lip, "I don't even get cold anyway…"

"Ah, right, we don't do we…?" Anoel realized, letting her foot bob up and down once more as she flashed a wink to Kitsuki.

Something that confused the kitsune greatly.

"Why would you not bring her shorts? They wouldn't have taken up that much space," Kitsuki wondered, getting a shrug out of the info broker on her bed.

Anoel then did something the kitsune wasn't expecting, signing something back in return, "It limits her options of sleepwear. Trust me, it'll be a cute sight."

Kitsuki's right fox ear twitched for a moment as she fixed Anoel with a tilted, curious, but still slightly confused look, "This was just to see something cute?"

Anoel nodded her head as she responded, "She's one of those people that look adorable when she sleeps, so I'm only making that image all the better. You're the one sleeping with her, though. So you get to take as much of it in as you want."

"K-kitsuki, do you have anything I can borrow?" Arex asked, pushing herself up from the dresser's edge and turning to glance over her shoulder, "Anything at all?"

Kitsuki's golden-orange eyes glanced to Anoel for a few seconds, before with one final twitch of the ear, she turned them back to Arex and shook her head no, "I'm sorry, I don't have anything you'd be comfortable wearing."

"Really?" Arex asked with a sigh, getting an affirmative nod from the kitsune, "A-anoel, what about-"

"Why don't you just do what Kitsuki's doing?" Anoel asked, interrupting Arex's possible inquiry, "Just throw on a clean sweater and drop the pants. It's not that hard."

Arex's face dipped into a reddening blush, "I-I think I'll just sleep with a pair of sweatpants on for tonight. I can pick up the rest of my things tomor-"

Anoel disappeared from her bed in an orange blur, appearing at Arex's side in half a second and eliciting a stifled eep from the girl. The elder sister locked her arms around Arex's waist and placed her chin on the girl's shoulder, pushing her frame into that of the forger's.

"Come on Arex, this is the first step to becoming more open with people you know," Anoel chastised, brushing her cheek across Arex's blushing face, "Just for tonight, why don't you try sleeping like that? You might be surprised how comfortable it is… and it cuts back on laundry too."

Anoel ran the calculations before even packing Arex's bag at her place. She made sure to only pack enough to be worn on a daily basis, leaving everything else just to be sure Arex couldn't set aside anything extra for pajamas.

She needed to break Arex out of her shell, that's always been a goal of hers. But she wasn't lying earlier. Arex really was one of those girls that slept adorably.

"Now come on, drop the pants or I'll do it for you," Anoel began to slowly slide her hands down to find the waistband of Arex's pants, catching the band of the girl's panties beneath in the process just before Arex reached down in a quick urgency, snagging Anoel's hands.

"F-fine, I'll give it a try, just," Arex bit her lip, keeping a tight hold of Anoel's hands before slowly easing her prying fingers away, "Just go back to your bed."

"Promise you'll give it a try?" Anoel asked, just to make sure.

Arex hesitated for a moment, but she gave Anoel a meek nod in return, satisfying the other sister for now. Anoel relinquished her hold on Arex and returned to her bed, an extra spring in her step before plopping herself back onto her mattress.

Arex still stood in place, staring down at the floor with her arms hanging quietly at her sides.

It was just for one night.

The forger glanced up, bright orange eyes noticing Kitsuki hiding behind her tail. The kitsune had brought up the fluffy expanse of her white fur, pulling it in and holding it against her chest as she peered over its softly curled tip.

Two white fox ears and a set of shining eyes were all Arex saw appearing over the end of the girl's tail. She couldn't see the rest of her face.

She wanted to at least see what kind of reaction she got… after that stunt Anoel pulled.

It wasn't going to be the last, she knew that much.

With a soft, resigned sigh, Arex turned around and pulled out a clean sweater. Its material was light, thin, like all the rest of her light sweaters. It was a lighter green than her usual dark colors.

Keeping the article in hand and pulling out a clean pair of panties, Arex disappeared into the bathroom for a few moments. She switched her current sweater for the one in her hand and did the same below, keeping quiet as she changed. With the first part of this catastrophe over with, she threw her pants back on and made her way back to her dresser.

A passing glance showed Anoel to be doing something on her scroll, responding to a message of sorts.

At least she wasn't watching…

Arex then glanced to Kitsuki one more time, noticing her curious eyes still peering over the expanse of her tail. Her hands then signed something out.

"Are you really going through with this?" she asked.

Arex could only give a meek smile and slowly nodded her head, signing back, "I don't have any spare clothes. I kind of have to for now. Is it… as comfortable as Anoel says it is?"

"More than she could ever explain," Kitsuki responded immediately, giving her tail a mild flick as she slid her legs around slightly beneath the covers, "You'll never go back."

That comfortable… Arex bit her lip, then gestured for Kitsuki to cover her eyes or look away. The kitsune did as requested, stuffing her face into her tails as Arex stared down at her sweatpants for another few moments.

She hated falling into these traps… but, believe it or not, Anoel had yet to lead her astray… so far. With everything she's ever done to Arex, never once was it to hurt her or had it result in that way in any case.

It… somehow always ended up working out.

She had that effect on people, that positive influence, even with what she does for a living and an occupation. It was strange, but… Arex trusted Anoel with her life.

Trying not to think about it, Arex softly pulled at the waistband of her pants and silently pushed them down, dropping them over her lithe, slender legs before stepping out of them. She quickly put any worn clothes into her hamper, then padded her way to her bed.

She didn't hesitate to get under the covers.

"How's it feel?" Kitsuki asked, peeking out from behind her tail as Arex adjusted herself beneath her blanket.

"Different…" the girl muttered, finding nothing else to explain it currently. Pleasant, would be a term she'd use, but also vulnerable and open. Those factors played a part in the comfort, though, which just added another layer to the ensemble of ways to describe the freedom of her new pajama set.

"Try it for a little while, you might like it," Kitsuki offered, giving Arex a comforting nod and a small smile.

Arex took that more into account than what her sister said.

"Girls, just as a heads up," Anoel held up her scroll, getting the attention of the other two as she gave it a few small taps, "Niro won't be back for another few hours, so we don't have to wait up for him."

"I don't think he'd want us to anyway," Arex replied, opening her own scroll and glancing at her notifications.

"Unlikely, but just know he'll be coming back into the dorm pretty late. He's pretty good at being silent, though, so no worries about waking up when he does," Anoel finished, giving her scroll a quick toss before catching it.

"If you don't mind me asking, what does Niro wear to bed?" Kitsuki asked, continuing the topic at hand that seemed to be a reoccurring conversation starter.

"Niro?" Anoel responded, letting her scroll slide closed as she glanced toward the bed placed against her own, "He just takes off his coat, really. That's about it."

"He doesn't change at all?" Kitsuki asked.

"He doesn't need to," Arex chipped in, flicking through her scroll as she listened, "He only has those clothes and nothing else anyway."

"Wait, really? How-"

"Don't ask," Anoel stopped Kitsuki mid-sign, giving her a dismissive wave of the hand, "We'll eventually explain it to you, but it's better that you don't know for now. It's too much for one night anyway. Everything about Niro usually is."

Kitsuki slowly nodded her head, understanding the response only slightly but didn't want to push it further, "I guess that made moving in rather easy."

"He basically just has to walk into a building and he's already moved in," Arex commented.

"All he needs is a toothbrush," Anoel finished, taking a momentary glance to the bathroom to jog a few thoughts, "And some shower accessories, I guess."

Kitsuki brought in her knees as she thought about it, "That sounds… nice, and easy too."

Anoel gave the kitsune a sympathetic smile, "It does."

Kitsuki didn't realize how many hardships that lifestyle also brought with it. All the difficulties, the pain, everything seemed to cling to it like a curse with no signs of a cure.

It wasn't a life anyone could live… but it was the only life Niro ever knew.

Ever since he was born.

Early update for this week considering I have a feeling I'm going to want Friday off. I have finals all week since I'm taking 7 of them this semester. So, that's something to look forward to... but, not really. It's a lot to do.

I gave you a little taste of Niro's power at the start of this chapter, then eased it all down into some nice interactions between the rest of his team back at the dorm room.

Anyone have a solid guess on Niro's semblance yet? Or, still trying to figure that one out?

Either way, the next chapter starts a new day. And trust me, a new day will start something interesting alright, something big. The forests might not stay empty for long.

Here's a hint for the time being. I brought up the concept of Dremoha class grimm. I created a scale that ranked grimm based on power, aptitude, and lifetime. The longer a grimm survives for, the smarter and more powerful they get. So, I took that heavily into account. What's coming will be a higher tier than an Alpha.

Might be Dremoha, it might not. We'll see.

By the way, Niro only went on that clearing run because he was annoyed. He wasn't actually doing it for the betterment of the school or its students, he was just fed up with his day.

So, yeah, no update Friday. Give me your thoughts on the fighting style. I'm interested to see how it got across to all of you.

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