It took a minute for Lu Bu to rouse himself and even longer to gain his bearings.
He woke up face down on the soft ground with a splitting headache in his normal battlefield attire. Upon getting up, he looked around and was nothing short of baffled. He remembered almost being executed by Cao Cao on the outskirts of Xiapi castle, where the climate was cold, unforgiving and desolate. Where he currently was however, turned out to be the complete opposite. There was green grass, leaf-filled trees and shrubbery abundant. A few feet away from him was also his legendary halberd that he immediately made for as his headache began to dissipate. Picking it up, he looked around and saw a massive tower just above the trees. He began walking towards it, hoping there would be people there who would answer the many questions he had but suddenly stopped as the breath left his lungs and his eyes widened.
"LINGQI!" He bellowed. If anyone had harmed a single hair on his daughter's hair, they would pay for it with a long, long death. As anger quickly replaced his anxiousness the Demon of the Battlefield sprinted through the forest shouting his daughter's name.
Lingqi could barely move. She felt as though an arrow had struck each of her limbs and chest, leaving her muscles extremely sore. Eventually she mustered the strength to rise and looking around, realized she was in a very different environment than she had been in just a minute ago. But to her, it didn't really matter as long as she was clad in her armor and away from that damn general Cao Cao. A few feet away was her weapon she'd lovingly named 'Soaring Wings' due to the magnificent blue tinge to each of the four blades. She kneeled to the ground and just as her hands were about to touch the weapon, heard a low growl. She stopped and slowly looked around. It had sounded like a tiger, which she had dealt with before but also knew that tigers didn't typically have red eyes that glowed in the darkness of forests.
What stepped out of the shadows left her speechless. A completely black furred creature with a white skull and similarly colored spikes protruding from its arms and legs with the muzzle of a wolf walked on two legs into the sunlight. Lingqi had no idea what this thing was but since it clearly appeared hostile, she snatched up her weapon and stared right back at the monster. It roared but she didn't even flinch. The daughter of Lu Bu had slaughtered man after man in battle, suffered normally crippling injuries and faced down the strongest enemies of her father and his forces.
If this thing was trying to intimidate her, it was never going to work. As if irritated by Lingqi's lack of fear, it charged forth but she dodged left and attacked back by severing both of the beast's hind legs with one slash of her crossed pike. Bifurcating the weapon, she plunged both blades into her opponent's chest. It let out a death howl and she reassembled her weapon, then noticed that the body didn't stay but rather… evaporated?
"What sorcery is this?" She wondered aloud. Lingqi was cut off by two sounds; one she recognized as her father's far in the distance and the other being the snapping of a twig very closely behind her.
Thanks to her years of battle training, she instinctively rolled forward and evaded a paw that belonged to another one of those creatures with about a dozen of similar looking companions behind. To her, it didn't matter what they were but since they were intent on killing her, she would happily return the gesture.
The beast made to close in on her but with practiced proficiency, she threw her weapon forth and it cut off all four limbs before returning to her hand.
The others rushed forward and Lingqi began her slaughter.
"LINGQI!" Lu Bu continued to yell as his rage began to seep into his veins. If anyone had dared touch his daughter, nothing could save them.
Then he heard it. Distant, but it was definitely there nonetheless. A single phrase from the voice of Lingqi: "I will not be beaten!" He rushed at Red Hare's speed towards her voice until he finally arrived at her location where she was fighting off some odd thing that was four times her height. He wasn't sure what they were but when he noticed them attacking his daughter, pure fury flowed through him as he rushed in and cleaved one of the beasts in two.
Three more took notice of him and moved on all fours towards him. The first that dared to get close to Lu Bu was swiftly decapitated. With his halberd, Lu Bu then slashed horizontally which barely missed the creature as it evaded at the last possible second before heading towards Lingqi. Outraged, he then dodged a bite that was aimed for his head and brought his blade down on the white skull, causing immediate death and lodging it in the bone. Lu Bu noticed the wolf-beast approaching his daughter and gave his blade one sharp tug before shouting a word of warning.
Lingqi slid on the grass and aimed her weapon directly at her opponent's throat, slashing it wide open and leaving it to bleed.
"Duck!" She heard her father's voice yell. On instinct, she obeyed and the next thing she knew, her father's spear had impaled one of the beasts, the blade's end showing clearly where her head was not one second ago. The corpse fell forward just to Lingqi's left as she turned to see her father standing. She began to smile until her father shouted.
"Look out!" While she was distracted, another beast had snuck up behind and swatted her across the ground with a powerful paw, the impact equivalent to that of Xu Zhu's club hitting her in the ribs.
Lu Bu's emotions went from concerned to furious the second his daughter was hurt. To any outsider, it would've been the stupidest move to drop your weapon while facing down such a creature but as the general's legendary halberd sunk into the soft ground, his fists clenched and he advanced.
His opponent charged forth on all fours and attempted to bite down on his skull but Lu Bu dodged left and slammed his fist into the beast's head, sending it stumbling away. He delivered an uppercut to the chin and Lu Bu could feel the bone break under his fist. Disoriented and desperate, the monster tossed a claw at him and Lu Bu dashed forth, seized the wolf-thing's neck before slinging himself onto its back and strangling it.
The beast rose on two legs and slammed the man riding its neck onto the ground, but the grip around the neck grew stronger rather than dissipating. It howled in pain and snarled in rage but Lu Bu did not care. This thing harmed his daughter and would pay with its life. As the choking sounds that emanated from its maw came less and less frequently, the Demon of the Battlefield gave his opponent's neck a sharp twist to the side, receiving a loud and satisfying crack in reply.
Lu Bu then stood, retrieved his halberd and slashed a line that ranged from the lower stomach to its throat before rushing over to his daughter.
Lingqi's breathing was shallow, her armor had a large dent in the right side and she was unconscious.
He nearly missed the three figures that ran up to him but once he snapped back to reality, stood over his daughter protectively and seized his halberd.
"Easy, my friend." One man with dishevelled green hair and blue eyes hidden behind oversized glasses wearing a white shirt, yellow tie and black pants declared as he shouldered a stretcher. The man standing beside him reminded Lu Bu of Dong Zhou due to his size with a grey moustache and neat hair clad in a burgundy suit with gold piping and buttons carrying something that looked like an axe with a long tube stemming out from it. The final person was a woman, blonde of hair with green eyes wearing a white long-sleeved shirt similar to Lingqi's armor due to the jewelled neck and keyhole neckline along with a black skirt and leggings.
While their expressions ranged from at ease to angry, Lu Bu himself was nothing short of cautious. "Who are you?" He demanded.
"Wouldn't you like to talk about that once she is safe?" The fat man said as he gestured to Lingqi's figure.
"You can help her?" He inquired, to which they all nodded. Lu Bu loosened his grip on his halberd but didn't let go. "Very well." He said with a nod. "But if you can't heal her, your heads will adorn my spear."
"I don't think it will come to that." The woman snapped in reply as Lu Bu glared at her while he retrieved Lingqi's weapon.
The two other men put Lingqi on the stretcher and ran towards the large tower until they entered a larger clearing with some large machine in the middle of it.
While confused, Lu Bu still didn't leave his daughter's side for a moment as they stepped onto the contraption and without warning, it left the ground.
Lu Bu was startled at first but once he looked out the door, realized it was no different than riding Red Hare. The horse was just as fast and high off the ground as he was now.
They landed in an open space with a long walkway that led to the massive tower and the many buildings surrounding and while the two men carried Lingqi on the stretcher, Lu Bu kept pace and marveled at the sheer size of the structures. The four adults entered another building painted white filled with lots of machines Lu Bu had never seen before. Several people clad in white robes rushed over to help as they lifted Lingqi off the stretcher and onto an empty bed.
"What happened?" One woman asked Lu Bu.
"Struck by one of the beasts in the forest, hit her in the side." He replied quickly.
She nodded back and looked over the dent in her armor before sighing. "Why didn't her aura help her? Was she injured before?"
Lu Bu scowled. "What the hell are you talking about? What do you mean 'aura'?"
The three others who had met him in the forest looked at each other before gazing in confusion at the seven-foot tall monstrous man.
"So? What are your thoughts?" Ozpin inquired to Qrow, who was re-watching the footage on his scroll of the mysterious man slaughtering his way through beowolves before literally choking one to death with his bare hands.
"The armor looks cool, but I don't really get the point of the whole feather headdress thing." He said, placing the device in his right pocket.
Ozpin sat at his desk and looked back at him with a sigh while Qrow chuckled and took a pull from his flask before replying. "Seriously though Oz, I think he's dangerous." He deadpanned. "You saw the kid get hit by the beowolf. She doesn't have aura and I don't think he does either. She looks like the kind who can really hold her own in a fight and keep calm, the very thing we need in a huntress." Qrow declared, Ozpin nodding in agreement.
"But him?" Qrow frowned and shook his head. "Not good. He's strong, filled with rage and lethal, all without aura. If we unlock it and give him that power, I don't think it's going to end well."
"I think so as well. However, the two of them appear to be a package deal so if we recruit one, we'll undoubtedly have to deal with the other."
"Well…" Qrow started. "That's not exactly true."
Ozpin raised an eyebrow at the statement. "How do you mean?"
"Everyone who comes to this Academy, regardless of age or position, has to pass an entrance exam, right?"
"Where exactly are you going with this?"
"I'm just saying, since the kid's probably around Firecracker's age, she should go through the same exam as everybody else, but he's older so how about you give him a more… challenging exam?" The huntsman finished with a small smirk
"And if he passes the test?"
"Campus security or combat training. Then you can see how much he really knows about fighting. But if he fails…"
"Then his daughter, although distraught would have nowhere else to turn but to us." Ozpin finished as his colleague nodded. "I don't like the thought of orphaning a child, but if we can't trust the man, then I suppose it must be done."
"Oz, you and me both know that you've had to make tougher calls in the past."
The other man slowly nodded in reply. "You should be going. A mission waits for no one and I have to address the new students tomorrow."
With a wave, Qrow left the office and alone Ozpin with his thoughts.