Author's Note:
Hah, this chapter ending up being quite a bit longer than I expected... this chapter initially started as something more simple, until some ideas ran away from me. You'll see later what the title means. Anyways please review and follow and I don't own any of Roosterteeths property yada yada yada...
Chapter Four: The Wedge of Heaven and the Wolf that swallowed the Sun
"Come on Summer stop." I grinned as I pulled Taiyang along to what I had deemed the Kerbal Space Shed. It had been several months now since we had struck up our initial friendship on my first day. He had been surprisingly attentive to our friendship, which was odd since he had a fair number of friends other than me. For whatever reason he didn't want to introduce me…but if they were the same guys from before then fair enough. Any time that wasn't spent with working on my abilities, alchemy, or amauter rocketry was spent with him. I could have hung out with the other uh…girls but most of them don't seem to like me very much.
Except for Umber of course but she's great…as for everyone else.
Well…sucks for them, I'm awesome! But anyway back to the Shed, my experiments had advanced a fair bit now. Longer runs, more accurate equipment, and more rocket chambers. I had also been working on making a lithium ion battery using alchemy. Which if this stuff didn't work at atomic to even subatomic levels meant I would have had some issues.
I still needed to figure out what chemistry to use, there was Lithium Iron Phosphate, low energy density, but high cycle life and stability, or maybe one of the Nickel rich cathodes like NCA, NCM, or NCMA. Which were more than twice as energy dense but had moderate cycle life, and lower thermal stability. Fortunately Lithium is a pretty common material on Remnant, the main use of it was in various metal alloys and medical use as a treatment for bipolar disorder. Cobalt might be a bit of an issue too…but honestly if you know a Huntsman or Huntress you should be fine, those guys are pretty loaded.
Now let me open this door and…
"We're here!" I waved my hands in the air introducing my friend to my new workshop. His eyes had widened, and I grinned at the sparkle of excitement in his eyes.
"What is this place?" He bounced from one foot to the other as he looked around the crowded shop. His awe increased when he saw the aluminum fuselage for my newer rocket. It had the same engine design but now there was an actual rocket to fly. It was almost done…and I only needed a few more adjustments before it was ready for flight. And in case of unplanned disassembly I had a bunch of extra rockets as a backup.
"Rocket lab…" I smirked as he gasped, and felt a sense of pride at what I had done here. He scanned the room with his eyes, his lips just slightly open.
"So cool…" Yes I am cool my dear friend. Now listen to my voice, peasant…
I really need to get out more if I'm talking like this in my head now. Taiyang was suddenly distracted and he veered over to a desk open to the college courses I was taking. He looked a little flabbergasted as he tried to read my notes, and was unable to comprehend a single paragraph.
"Uh is this?"
I scoffed at his foolishness. "Elementary my dear Taiyang, only some easy Logarithms, nothing too complicated really." My friend had the cutest expression of complete confusion on his face. He had not idea of what to make of my scribbles and writings.
"Um…okay are…these college level courses."
"And…?" I quirked a brow, and he blushed, his ears turning red. The little guy was really easy to tease and I ultimately couldn't help myself. His embarrassment shifted to an expression I knew very well and I narrowed my eyes at him.
"So Xiao Long do you think it will take you to finish them all."
"Oh hoho!" I rubbed my chin with a glint in my eye. "I would say about four or five Summers." I waggled my eyebrows up and down for further emphasis. "Doing them online will help me avoid the Rose and Rose of older college students in the future."
I waggled them a second time…
"How adorable." I puffed out my cheeks as Gilda came out of nowhere. I hadn't even noticed her show up. The door to the shed was wide open… and my scowl turned to a frown as I noticed some injuries on her face. She was dripping some blood on the floor but otherwise she didn't look like she was critically injured. She smiled weakly at my concern and waved me off saying that a smarter than average Grimm had caught her off guard. But that didn't really make me feel any better at all…
I found some bandages, and remembering some tips I washed my hands, and pressed a clean cloth to the lacerations for a couple of minutes. I didn't understand why she wasn't using her aura and that made me rather nervous. Even if injuries didn't necessarily heal instantly, I should still see some signs of it. Approaching her face revealed that she looked exhausted, more than I had ever seen her before. I noticed a set of golden armor with a tattered red cape, long since dirtied by dirt, ash, and grimm goop. There was also noticeable cracks and lacerations as if something enormous had attacked it. She covered her eyes on her own, and I pulled her to a sink to wash the injury. I removed the fairly decent amount of dirt particles, I didn't want her to get infected.
"Hey Tai can you get the antiseptic for M—her." He nodded and I ignored Gilda's hurt look. He passed it and applied it to the thankfully small cuts, her aura had likely reduced the severity of whatever happened to her. She took it like a ch—well like a Huntsmen and didn't let even a hint of a hiss of pain leave her lips.
"What happened?" I asked her and she flinched at the question. I pouted and waited for her to answer, and even crossed my arms. She hesitated and she slumped as she failed to not tell me.
"I…encountered a very powerful Grimm…it managed to break my aura near the very." I felt an odd grey feeling surge up and I had to keep myself from gripping her face. I focused on the task at hand, and finally wrapped the bandage around, and started to clean up. I was silent and decided to test something, I placed my hands on Gilda's toned stomach and pulsed. My frown deepened when I noticed just how damaged she was…her face was fine, but her ribs were cracked, and there were pulled muscles all over the place.
"I'm calling Glynda." Like magic, my "sister" appeared and with a wave of her weapon(still a crop by the way) froze Gilda. She gently maneuvered her with her semblance and told me to take charge while she took o-her mother to the hospital.
…
…
"Well…that happened." Tai could only nod, and I gestured him forward with my index finger. He did so, and the both of sat down on the chairs facing the fuselage. Two custom aluminum(alchemy made) tanks held the fuel and oxidizer. Most of the piping was in…and in fact the engine was in too. The only step left really was to place it on the vertical test stand.
"So…you want to know what this does?" I asked him cheekily. He added quite a bit of force behind his nod, and I decided to oblige.
"Well my friend…this is the Falcon 0.5 Kerosene and LOX powered cloud cutter rocket! With its non Dust powered engine it will rise into the sky higher than anything made by an 11 year old has ever gone!" My excitement got the better of me for a moment and I flashed Tai a brief smile.
"Woah…cool!" He tried to touch my precious rocket with his grubby hands and I water him.
"No! No touching not until…" I paused for effect, and he rubbed his hand in pain.
"Until…?"
"I have chosen you!" I have no idea what I'm being so dramatic for, it's rather uncharacteristic. "To be my assistant! Will you help me in this endeavor?"
"Uh sure… why are you being so weird?" I shrugged not having the faintest idea why I was acting like a maniac. Maybe it was to feel better after seeing my sole caretaker in such a poor state?
"You know we're best friends right? You can tell me whatever is on you mind?" My muscles tensed at Taiyangs statement, and I bit my lip as I glanced away.
I could trust him with this secret right? He's Taiyang he isn't going to tell anyone about whatever I tell him.
"Uh I want to tell you a secret."
Taiyang looked surprised but nodded anyway.
I scratched the back of my head, waiting for a speechless Taiyang to say anything. I worried that maybe I had broke him, and a part of me worried he would tell other people. As to why I told him? Well if he's going to be a future teammate I would have to tell him the truth eventually correct?
Stop making excuses…own up to why you did it. Taiyang was still holding the metal bird I had transmuted from a high iron content rock I had found. I patted his shoulder and sighed in relief when his expression shifted into excitement like he usually did.
"Can you teach me!?" That would be the worst possible outcome if I did. It's easy to play off my alchemy as part of a powerful semblance, a little more difficult when it's two people.
But…teaching someone Alchemy sounds like it would be fun, and despite what you would think Tai isn't a snitch. So I suppose I could teach him some of what I know. But honestly I had already been teaching him the basics without him even knowing it.
"But you already know the basics of alchemy…" His eyes bugged out in realization and he asked me if I could demonstrate some more. I had recently made a highly specific circle for making delicious cookies…which…made taken some time. Technically with the arrays I had on my hand I could pretty much create any alchemical reaction. I just need to have a great deal of control with my mind, even with a basic general purpose array. But it had nowhere near that level to control yet, which was as when I figured out why those arrays were on the glove even though I could barely use them.
While I could use them on my own, since it isn't as specific there's less control over the reaction. But I could use the array and my memory to change the pattern on the palm of the glove and make the more specific arrays. Like right at this instant I had a downright powerful elemental control array. On my left I could manipulate water and air to manipulate the weather. With the right I could control earth like what Ed would do, or make weapons. And when the arrays overlapped…I got fire manipulation on top of it.
As for the cookie array it had taken me some time to formulate the array…it was simpler to use than the peculiar plant to bread array contained within the more advanced Alchemy books. I even found an array for a goddamn hard drive array. Frankly I doubt I would be able to do that for quite a while…
I began placing the various ingredients within a triangle, ¾ cups of granulated sugar, ¾ packed brown sugar, ½ cup salted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. 1 teaspoon of table salt, and 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips. I didn't have any need for baking sodas since I had that covered with the circle.
"That triangle? Represents heat right?" I gave him a thumbs up, this was really more a mixing, rising, heating array. Basically all it did was act like an alchemy based oven, if cooking much faster. And what do you know a couple of minutes(?) later and I had a batch of 40 chocolate chip cookies. I gave one a taste test and smacked my lips appreciatively, as it met my seal of approval. Tai didn't take one, instead he looked at me with a question in his eyes.
"I've noticed in some of the books you've brought that there's a bunch of different arrays that do the exact same thing but look different, why is that?" I chose down on a few more cookies before deciding to answer him. I watered the food down with a cup of milk and once it was done cleared my throat so I could reply.
"Well the thing is…that the symbols don't actually matter too much, outside of the circle itself. The symbols are just there to represent a part of the alchemy. What those symbols mean are going to vary based on culture quite often. It's the alchemist that gives meaning and power to that symbol."
"That's still cool. Uh mind if I give it a shot?" I nodded and he drew the same basic array I had used over four months ago. He placed his own pebble there, from what I could sense it was a silicate material and I nodded as he pressed his hands near the circle. A flash of light followed, and within a minute a small lumpy stone tiger had come to life. Not literally of course…
Not yet anyway…
"I think I'm going to have a fun time teaching you the ways of alchemy."
A lot of fun indeed…
But not so much fun with martial arts…
"God Dammit why am I so bad at this?!" I shrieked as I took a pole to the face, my aura flashing with the impact. Umber let out an apology and pulled me up from our mat. Turns out I was right about theory not translating as well you would hope in the real world. Now I wasn't terrible but I wasn't very good either, at my current level I would say I slightly above average. Which was still better than about half of the class.
The fucking cherry on top though was the fact that with my semblance, the whole detecting imperfections applies to people too. I can notice just where I need to hit, to bring them down. But one, it's an obvious mistake to rely on it all the time, and two you need the reaction time to actually use that information.
I felt a sigh coming on by suppressed it…there was no time to mope while we were still in class.
"Good spar…but I know you can make some improvements Summer." I nodded wearily, rolling my wrists and trying to keep my temper under check. I suspected that if went to Beacon I would need to compensate my weakness with my semblance as well as my Alchemy, now that there was an effective difference really.
It didn't help that Gilda was routinely coming back tired as hell and even some minor scratches. She wasn't willing to tell me anything not wanting to worry me. So in the end I asked Ozpin and he told me the truth.
There's a good chance a massive Grimm attack is coming…
Right after they rescued me there was a an abnormal surge in Grimm activity, with dozens of villages attacked and a couple were even destroyed. But apparently something Ozpin had found from a recent set of files discovered and decoded disturbed him an he told me he knew what I was.
Which…wasn't really a surprise so whatever…
There's been a sizable amount of change recently and I've heard some rumblings about evacuations, as well as the discrete missions sent out to some Huntsmen to Mountain Glenn. I…I'm an idiot, I could have said something about what was going to happen. I heard all the news about that mountain as well as the posters advertising for families to move in and I still…
It was good that he got just enough warning to reduce the casualties from thousand to only hundreds. But I don't doubt it wouldn't take too long to match that death toll with the sheer number of attacks on towns and villages. It only gets worse…the Grimm that almost killed Gilda is still alive and she didn't tell me that so I wouldn't panic. Which fair enough wasn't entirely wrong.
"H-Hello?" I blinked ending my internal rant as Umber snapped her fingers in front of my face. She had her face set in a hard line, and I apologized quietly. "It's okay, I understand you get distracted but…if it wasn't for that habit of overthinking you probably could have beaten me." I think I got what she was saying. "It's good to think about what your opponent might do, but you take too much time and that isn't good."
She's…right I always try to plan out an elaborate and unnecessary strategy to beat her…pretending to be some tactical genius. If I was a faster thinker maybe it could work, but as I am it doesn't.
"Thanks for the help." No reason not to be grateful to her for the assistance. Umber turned scarlet and mumbled cutely and I gave her an easy grin.
I sat down on a bench, and hungrily downed some water from bottles kindly placed for our benefit. This was one of my better days, this time I had actually come close to beating Umber, and she was the best Polearm user in the entire class. But there was hint of slowness in her step that made me guess that she was intentionally holding back.
The art of martial arts is complicated for the uninitiated…though even with superpowers things didn't tend to change too much. Certain tactics will stay the same, on Remnant there are just…extra ones. In my case the issue with fighting Umber is that she always strikes first to catch me off guard and it works too well with my current slow methodical style.
I've been fumbling with the fundamentals of fighting…most of it had had been with spacing and reading. I have a hard time at reading what an opponent is going to do, and my overthinking again gives people time to thrust a pole into my stomach. But I'm getting better, and Umber is a good test du—sparring partner for me. I've begun to noticed the little habits she's developed over time. The main thing I've noticed is that her bunny ears twitch just the slightest before a low hit.
I'm going to take advantage of that the next time we fight. As to anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about (I know someone out there is listening…). There are at least four fundamentals of combat starting with spacing, which is basically what it says on the tin. The ability to keep myself at a range where I can execute attacks or recover, but my opponent can't.
Now in the case of Umber and I that doesn't work quite as well since our reach is similar(but not identical). Then there's Reading which is well predicting what your opponent may do by picking up on their habits or patterns. It's almost a breeze with Analysis but someday I might go up against someone too fast for me, or where I can't use my semblance.
"You're getting faster." I nodded uneasily as Umber brushed up next to me, her upper ears twitching as if listening to a low sound. "And you aren't telegraphing as much as before. Getting harder to predict, in no time I…uh think you'll get more even with me."
I really hoped so…
"Hah good spar out there! You have both improved considerably over the past few months." Umber squeaked while I let loose a high pitched yelp as Borr snuck up behind us despite his advanced age and tall stature. I felt the slap of his hand on my shoulder, and held back a sigh of annoyance.
The damn bastard had the tendency to sneak up behind you in the most inconvenient moments possible. Frankly I wouldn't doubt he did it on purpose just to mess with people. I can't blame him either, if I could do that I would just love to freak people out.
"Of course teacher." I dryly replied to him, while picking up my practice weapon from the floor. I frowned as I sensed some microscopic amounts of damage, but ignored it for now. I placed it back on the weapon stand, and our teacher dismissed us.
"Please keep practicing and you will improve!" He hollered loudly, and groaned as several students laughed mockingly.
Most of the school, at least those around my age seemed unwilling to go near me, or if they did appeared to just plain dislike me. Something about me appeared to frighten the students, and it was only recently when I figured out why. Apparently some jackass had spread a stupid rumor, blaming me for the Grimm attacks. I have no damn clue how any of that would make any fucking sense but…kids aren't always the brightest people.
Whatever…
Anyways…I kept walking, and decided to move along.
I don't want it bore you too much with the details of History, well no I kind of do. I had some random female cat faunus as our teacher. He had taught us some basics on the history of early Remnant peoples.
Humanity started off as hunter-gatherers just like we did, with the sole exception of being constantly harassed by the creatures of Grimm. An unending horde daring to swallow humanity into the darkness. For centuries mankind fled back and forth from every known corner of the Earth, almost nowhere was safe, without Dust the only place humanity could flee to was the cold continent where the nation of Mantle and its successor state of Atlas would one day arise. But crossing an ocean of monsters was a near impossible task, leaving mankind to wither away.
There are only a few artefacts from this time period, broken spears, axes, and pottery all that is of left of the people of that time. Modern humanity called that period of unknown length the Age of Grimm. Where the beasts of hatred and bloodlust ruled as the single most powerful and populous species on the planet. That terrible and tumultuous times end was marked by the first known use of Dust, a 2181 year old spearhead with a chunk of rough shaped Fire Dust embedded into the center.
Soon after, the era of Man began, pushing back the darkness. But no matter what the darkness was always watching, waiting for humanity to make just one mistake. To make our species fall into the hall of extinction like so many other species before us.
There were still many mysteries behind the dark age. Mainly, how did primitive humans and faunus survive with only aura and weak stone and early bronze weapons to protect them from the prowlers of the night. The only clue behind their survival was the story of the Silvers Eyes Warrior and the fairytale of the Four Maidens, an ancient oral story placed down onto writing 1700 years ago.
Other than that…nothing at all could be revealed, the ancient ruins and their secrets protected by the creatures that destroyed them.
"Hey sister." I perked up as Glynda jogged up behind me, before slowing down and walking in step with me. I gave her a little wave, and smiled glad to see her face.
"Hello~" I replied to her with a slight sing-song voice feeling in a good mood for the day. Despite being barely above average I was still improving, and hoped that mom–err… Gilda's Aura Awareness lesson today would be good. I had largely figured out how to keep my aura up when I needed it, though it wasn't as efficient as an actual Huntsmen. Apparently through training you could up your amount of aura, as well as make it better able to deflect blows, reducing the amount of aura lost per attack. "So whatcha here for?"
"What? Can't a sister just surprise her younger sister?" Glynda had a small smirk on her face, that told me she was lying. I walked past the house into the clearing used as our training ground. There in a set of shining armor no longer tainted and smeared by battle, stood Gilda.
I had never gotten a close look at the armor that Gilda wore. It certainly fit the meaning of her name to a tee. It was also terrifyingly familiar having seen that kind of armor only once before.
She was wearing the armor of King Gilgamesh… and what that meant told me a lot of what her semblance could be. It also made me worry about just how tough the Grimm that attacked her really was, if it managed to hurt her and still get away.
I relaxed as she clapped her armored hands together, a resounding boom beginning the class session. I took a seat on the mat, criss cross applesauce and all. Gilda remained standing, with her eyes flashing red and gold for a brief second. Apparently before having aura and combat training I was shitty at noticing the obvious, which makes sense I've always had an issue with tunnel vision.
"Now since I've already got you well on your way to using your aura well, now I'll teach you some of the more advanced techniques. Including a few other movement techniques and some special attack techniques." I perked up at Gilda's last words, since those were ultimately the most difficult non semblance related aura abilities. Other than the various Dust casting attacks some aura users can do of course.
Basically while channeling aura into your body is fairly simple once you get the hang of it, the world around you still runs on most of the laws of physics. If I tried to run at say 50 plus meters per second, I would either end up tripping or breaking the concrete with the force, whichever comes first. That would make it mighty inconvenient to fight Grimm and rogue Huntsmen.
So today we were focusing on channeling our aura into the ground instead of just our bodies. Our light is able to manipulate the molecular properties of an object temporarily. Making a soft object rigid, or a strong object flexible, or even change the a surface become smooth or not smooth. Of course they can't hold this forever, only sustaining it for as long as they need to.
So to run fast on a normal surface, you need to increase the friction between your foot and the ground to prevent slipping. I've actually figured this out a while back, though I'm only good with wooden floors and roads, but I'm getting better with the other kinds, like say a grassy field, or the cliff side of a mountain.
But now we were working on skating and hopping. The first involved increased friction on the front of the foot, and decreasing friction on the back of the foot. It's basically what Weiss uses to move the way that she does. Hopping is what anyone uses when they leave a hundred feet into the air by reinforcing the ground and then leaping upwards.
I stood up and I let out breath as I focused a fraction of my aura downward. I was moved down to a smooth flat terrain of grass and smirked. But with one step…
"Oh shi—zzle!" I lose control and fell flat on my face.
So…I wasn't having the easiest time at it, but I was getting better. I was never very good at skating, but using it here was an efficient way to use my aura and potentially faster. If limited to only certain kinds of terrain, mostly empty and flat areas, like sand dunes, and snowy areas.
I've got the hopping down, having practice in private but…well I left a few craters here and there. Also got myself buried in the ground for a half hour until Glynda dug me out. Which was stupid since I had my hands free and could have used alchemy.
She made fun of me for an entire week after that…
"No distractions!" I rubbed my reddening forehead glaring at Gilda after she swatted me. "If you can't focus on this task then we can move on to attack techniques."
Ah, special attack techniques…
As to what they are, they are special uses of aura where a Huntsmen will direct aura outward in a violent force. Like how Red used his punches to blow up a Grimms head, or the various sword beams and wind slashes that show up. Basically all those weird shock wave attacks are just applications of sure instead of breaking the sound barrier or moving the wind with pure force.
Now that they can't break the sound barrier with pure speed, but that's entering the upper echelons of Huntsmen who top out in the upper transonic range.
Now breathe in, breathe out…it's time to…focus.
I felt some of my aura concentrate into my hand, coiling and boiling up as the instability increased. I did my best to contain the power, gritting my teeth together as my hand twitches.
"Now hit this." Gilda placed down a meter tall wooden log in front of me, and I lifted up my hand. I glanced down at the heavy object and with a roar threw the aura out violently.
BOOM!
The log exploded into dozens of sharp pieces of wood and bark, the air vibrating and oscillating as the aura passed through it.
"Hah! I did it!" I leaped into the air, reaching 3 meters up before coming back down. I ended up flattening the grass under my feet, but it was worth it.
"Not bad, it didn't go this well for me when I started out." I grinned as Glynda patted me on the back. She had a similar smile on her face, and gave me a light bump with her hip. "At the right you're going, it won't be long before mom decides to set up a Grimm hunt or two." My smile shrunk for a moment, but despite that I nodded regardless. I think…it was controlled I wouldn't have a problem with it.
Grimm…were terrifying and I had done my best to forget that day. The smell, the growls and howls, the sound of their claws raking against the log…
"You excited too?" Glynda pressed her right index finger against my forehead, tapping it three times before retracting it. My face split into a small smile, and I closed my eyes deciding to try again.
BOOM!
BOOM!
Okay what if I…?
WHOOSH!
A cutting wind was thrust out from my hand, with my two family… members nodding approvingly. I tried it a few more times but stopped as my aura started dropping. I curled my fingers together once I had finished with practice. So the attacks are powerful but can use a lot of aura when you're still inexperienced. Very interesting, they could put to good use in later fights.
"I think now is a good time to stop the lesson. What do you two think?" Gilda sounded confident about, and I nodded absently. Her expression shifted to a curious one, looking like she wanted to know something. "Now…"
"You said you were working on a new project in the workshop?" I already knew what she wanted from me.
"You want me to show you what I was working on?"
"Yes, please."
Heh, well it should be rather…. electrifying.
"So this is?" Glynda gestured to four metallic rails placed on a non conductive table. One had large supercapacitors to power it, while the other had two small smooth balls of Blitz(Lightning) Dust for power. Both were tests for differing power sources for a certain type of gun I had always been enamored with.
"Railgun…" I almost felt shivers as I ran my fingers along the smoothly machined Covetic Copper rails. Glynda responded with an eyebrow raise, though she did lean closer.
"And?" She wrapped her arms around her still armored chest, since she hadn't bothered to change out of it.
"Oh," a nearly maniacal grin split my face. "It's an electromagnetically propelled gun instead of being propelled directly by Dust. With a pulse of electrical input the two rails will generate a powerful magnetic field accelerating the conductive armature to over five times the speed of sound." I flinched back as the Huntress rushed over, placing her own delicate hands on the prototype.
It ran on a moderately expensive high purity Lightning Dust crystal battery with a gigantic amount of energy density. Well above the energy density of metallic hydrogen, but far short of nuclear reactions.
"That's amazing! How far along are you?" I answered her by turning on a screen, showcasing a video of a previous tests. The screen popped up, and I sat on the wooden chair, getting comfy.
In the video the two railguns brimmed with energy and a small sonic boom rang out as a five gram aluminum projectile hit about 800 meters per second. Both prototypes reached this energy, though the ultracapacitor had already reached its limit.
"That isn't quite what I expected…" she sounded disappointed but I shook my head, and pulled lightly on her hair.
"It's not ready yet, there are still improvements that must be made on the material of the rails, I need to draw more energy from the Dust crystal too. For the prototypes I hope to hit a muzzle velocity of 2000 meters per second in about a month." Her face lit up, and I swear she licked her lips in excitement. I felt an uncomfortable shiver and ignored the look on her face. I really hoped I didn't make those same kinds of faces, when I got excited about science and technology.
"Now it should…" I trailed off as a wave of raw terror blasted against my body and mind. Gilda's aura exploded outwards and a growl escaped her lips. Glynda trembled and her telekinesis rippled the air.
"AAWWOOOWWW!" A vicious howl shook the entire house; and my hairs stood on end, as hundreds of growls and roars responded back. I yelped as Gilda threw me into Glynda's arms.
"Take Summer! Get out of here and RUN! Evacuate any civilians you can!" The world blurred around me as little good witch leaped through an open window taking me with her.
I could hear screaming and taste the signature iron of blood in the air. I flinched as massive feathers rushed toward us, faster than most of us could move.
PING!
The makeshift projectile weapons shattered uselessly gainst Glynda's glyph, having retrieved her weapon.
The air was filled with hazards as dozens of (thank god) young Nevermores, most now bigger than a mid size SUV. My sister… reacted with several tons of broke metal, knocking the bird right out of the sky. A resounding boom signalled its quick demise.
"AWOO—URR!" Dozens of beowolves were cut off as the sound of steel whooshed through the air. A golden light the only tell of something happening.
"I'm going to put you down okay? I can't fight as well while carrying you at the same time. If you need a weapon you can use your 'semblance" Glynda gave me wink, trying to reassure me by being a dork.
It's a good thing I always wear gloves, should probably get some array tattoos as a backup…
I pressed my hands together, and the ground underneath my right arm was drawn out by a powerful force. The rock and concrete reformed as I dragged the steel rebar underneath. I would probably pay for damaging the road from our home to town but…I like living more. After a few seconds, a single carbon steel spear was dropped in my hand. My aura took to it like a fish to water, reinforcing the weapon.
We started to run away from the house and to the now well known evacuation point, but we were blocked…
Three beowolves and one Ursa greedily growled, their claws twitching as they had us surrounded. I assessed the situation as my mind went into overdrive. Instead of wasting energy on my semblance I could use alchemy… Blue energy surged into the ground and two beowolves yelped as the earth itself turned against them. One was impaled as metallic spike popped up under its body. The other was knocked away by a stone hand, into the third wolf.
Glynda used their distraction against them, and a wave of debris shattered their spines. I felt a surge of killing intent and twisted my spear, and with a flick of my wrist stabbed through another wolf's jaw. I felt shock and surprise as my aura, surged into the Grimm, and its head exploded into bits.
"AWOOO!" I let out a shaky breath at the unnaturally loud howl shaking the sky with its power. It sounds like a Beowolf…but no mere cannon fodder Grimm would ever sound like this.
My left hand array glowed as I drew the water and air around me and flash froze another wolf, then I superheated it and…
BOOM!
The Grimm exploded like a super sized pressure cooker, leaving only dust and noxious gas in its wake. As we approached the evacuation point, the number of Grimm continued to grow, which wasn't a good sign for us.
"HIYA!" I perked up as a familiar boyish voice broke through the cacophony of sounds. From a wrecked building a golden haired blur emerged, side stepping a blow from a larger than average Ursa, around 12 feet tall and very angry. I gasped as Taiyang rushed in close, grabbing the throat of the Ursa with his bare hands and slammed the Grimm into the ground with gleeful prejudice. While the bear was down her leaped over and onto the giant monsters neck, and with a twist snapped its neck. The Grimm disappeared in a blast of dark gas and particles, and after a scan of the area around us I walked over to him.
"H-Hey." My voice was unsteady, still not used to using my aura for long periods of combat. Tai was doing better, but I could sense his heartbeat rising to absurd levels. The golden boy turned to me, his eyes lighting up in recognition as he slammed the back of his fist against a beowolf cracking its bony faceplate. I decided to help and focused on the elements in the air.
"One, two, three…" Snap…
SHOOM!
A directed blast of fire seared the screaming wolf's head off, its arms and legs wildly waving in the air. I heard ribs shattering as Tai gave it a good kick, the monster heaving in pain. The creature crumpled to the ground, dead and dissolving into monstrous ashes.
"Thanks for the help Summs!" I gave him a polite wave with the spear, before gripping it tightly as more roars echoed.
It was a good thing that for all their terrifying appearance and malicious nature. That Grimm were essentially a bunch of brain dead morons with no sense of self preservation or else we would be quite dead. The elder ones were dangerous just for that fact alone, and even if they're borderline mentally regressive. But just because their stupid, it doesn't mean you should let your guard down.
The Grimm sent humanity to the brink for a reason…
"Someone please…h-help me…" I flinched as a weak and raspy voice called out for help. I tilted my head to better hear where the sound was coming from, Glynda's eye widened for some reason and she tried to pull me away as I slowly walked up to a pile of rubble. I poked the broken artificial road and house materials with my spear. Taiyang came in to help, but maintained a healthy view of the perimeter.
Glynda hesitantly and gently lifted off a large concrete slab and I froze at the horrific sight underneath. Even Glynda's cool and stoic eyes widened in horror, while Taiyang had turned green.
There was… a faunus I think that looked oddly familiar. A set of chocolate brown bunny ears, that lay broken and motionless. He himself wasn't in the best of shape, coughing out blood and bile.
His left arm was twisted in a clearly unnatural position, and I could see white bone exposed. His right eye was closed shut and even if he somehow managed to survive, would be left blind. It when I glanced at his chest…
A massive slash from Grimm claws had ripped open his stomach…I didn't even now he could still be alive. He had apparently pressed a clothed boulder onto the unfixable wound, keeping his life fluids from leaking out completely.
For a second I swore I saw a rib poking out…even the idea of it made me want to throw up. He gestured with a twitch of his right arm to come closer and I did with a sense of dread and horror. It only grew when I saw his eyes…
They were the exact same shade as Umber's…
"W-What is it?" I was quivering and my voice had become unsteady, my eyes scanning his damaged face. He lifted up a bloodied photo, and I gingerly took it into my shaking left hand.
In the small family picture stood him, a pretty brown eyed rabbit faunus and Umber.
Oh god…where is she?
"I…need you to…," A sickly cough wracked his body and a splatter of blood fell onto the floor. "Find her I beg of you! Her—my wife managed to get to the evacuation zone…but we lost sight of when the big one came." My grip on my makeshift spear tightened and I nodded before he could say anything else. He laughed with glee and relief and reached for me. I took his remaining hand and he shook it with all his remaining strength.
"Thank the gods… please from the bottom of my soul thank you… t-thank you…" His strong grip vanished and his hand flopped to the ground with little fanfare. The man's eyes had closed and his skin had turned deathly pale as his life finally left him.
I watched a man die…
I…watched him die…
I didn't do anything…I couldn't help him at all…
I WATCHED A MAN DIE!
I watched as my second friend's dad bled out…and DID NOTHING!
I…
I-I…
"SUMMER SNAP OUT OF IT!"
Glynda was actively shaking me and I pushed her away in response. I lost my lunch on the ground, the image just too much to handle for me. I felt shivers turn up and down my spine, a deep cold numbing my senses. I didn't protest as Glynda pulled me into a hug, whispering gentle words and brushing away the tears…
Tears? What is… I used my unoccupied right hand to grab at my face, noticing with a frown that water had escaped from my eye and down to the bloody ground.
That was when it hit…remembering what he had told me.
"UMBER! I HAVE TO FIND HER!" I gripped the steel pole with both of my hands but just as I leaped an invisible force stopped me. I felt a rage surge up as an angry Glynda placed me into stasis.
"Glynda…" I gave her a growl and the teenage girl shook her head. My fingers were twitching urging me to activate the arrays on my hands. But I stopped myself, trying to calm my heart and slow my breath. My body relaxed and I lay perfectly still.
"I-I…promised…" Her expression softened at my distress and she sighed, placing me firmly on my feet.
"I never said I wouldn't help…" I felt some hope rise as she spoke. "But if you leave our side you could die." I nodded forlornly knowing she was right, and that I was being an idiot for no reason.
"So…can we?" She gave me a serious nod, and her expression became steely. Taiyang lifted up his fists giving me a confident(clearly forced) smile.
We started to move, searching for any sign of Umber. Regardless we stayed within six paces of the other, not willing to risk getting separated. No Grimm came to harass, and I felt anxiety and an odd paranoia, like something was watching us. I decided to reinforce my senses, smirking once the light breathy sigh became more familiar.
"Umber?" A brown blur crossed the distance in an instant and I felt for the first time the full force of a glomp. The little bunny was shaking like a leaf,but before I could comfort her in some way she let go. I only saw a frighteningly blank expression, though my confusion was tempered as loud footsteps shook the town. I turn to face Glynda as I heard her choke…her eyes had widened in terror as she looked up at something.
A large shadow blocked out the sun and I took a sizable step back, as from behind a burning house a massive hand crushed the remaining roof with its weight. The hand was the length of a small sedan, around 15 feet in length. There were sizable scars and old healed bullet sounds adorning the paw. The claws themselves were several feet long and nearly a foot thick and as they curled inward stabbed deep in the former home.
I look up and if anyone could have seen my face, they would have known how pale I was. It looked like a beowolf…but it wasn't…too big, too well armored. The massive monster drooled, dropping black tipped saliva that smelled horrid. The stench of blood and death clung to the beast. That…thing looked very much like an alpha if an alpha was the size of a damn building. It opened its mouth…
"AAWWOOOOOO!" I felt shivers again as it's call shook the town. It snarled as it grabbed ahold of a car and with a flick of its wrists flung the car blocking a two meter long golden sword.
The four of us took a step back as it's tail tore the ground away with raw force. I heard the click of heels as a feminine figure approached from the dust and ash of our burning town. In that moment of distraction we hid from sight, it wasn't a good idea to get close to an elder Grimm and trained Huntsmen.
My danger senses were ticking off like crazy, and the entire town was quiet now. I couldn't hear any sound other than the crackling of fire. I kept my hand on my spear, but there was no presence that indicated any Grimm other than that monster in front of us. Strangely enough it stood perfectly still as Gilda approached, her advance implacable. It's claws curled inward once again and it straightened its back, appearing almost human before its eyes flashed with the alien hatred it had for humanity.
"Well then…" There was only coldness and contempt in Gilda's voice, no sign of the kind(if a little crazy) women who had willingly taken me in. That tone…
Her eyes shifted to red…
SHOOM!
From up above her dozens of portals, resembling shining liquid gold were summoned and I could see the small amused smirk on her face. The Grimm was unflinching and shoved its hand into the ground, throwing up several tons of dirt in an artificial avalanche. Gilda sighed and with a wave of her hand multiple shields flew out of the portals. The elder tilted its head, looking intrigued at the development as if it had never seen such a thing before.
"Heh," a small chuckle escaped Gilda's throat and she continued to step into the Grimm's space. "I suppose you wouldn't know what this is," Gilda gestured to her portals. "You attacked me when I was exhausted… very smart to attack me when I was down, but it also means you don't know what I'm fully capable of…"
A flash of metal on metal followed and I watched with disbelief as a gigantic pike the length of a large bus clattered harmlessly to the ground. In the Grimms hand lay another nearly identical weapon, with the difference of it being a halberd of similar length and mass. The axe head was multiple feet long, and the massive Grimm held it more like a battle axe. It lowered into a combat stance, gripping the weapon with its right and curled its fingers while holding its left palm up to the sky.
"Did y-you not see it?" Umber was quiet and I shook my head at the question. She decided to enlighten me on the answer. "In that brief moment, the G-Grimm caught the first weapon and used it to parry the second and third weapon away." I glanced down to the shattered half of a spear that had rolled over to us in the attack.
My god…
"Holy shit…" Glynda eyes were as wide as dinner plates, at the show of unusual strength and intelligence. I decided it was best to move, dragging everyone away from the gigantic demon. A flash of light alerted me and a glance back let me see dozens of more portals pop up. Dozens of sharp, well maintained weapons hungered for Grimm blood. At least that was how it felt…to me.
All kinds of weapons…
Spears and halberds…
Poleaxes and lances… Shields, bows, and various swords. A frightening display of the gulf between us and Gilda's skill and power as a fully fledged Huntress. I froze as Gilda shined in a bright gold, as her weapons inched forward. Her equally golden weapons lit up the darkening sky as night approached.
"You dare to encroach on the town under my protection. You must long for a painful death monster." The beast of Grimm snarled and it gestured with its palm as if saying "get to the point."
"I suppose it is time to put you down like the mad dog that you are! There will be nothing left of you, you disgusting mongrel." Gilda sneered and with a wave of her hands, a storm of iron and gold shot out. The wolf braced itself, and blurred shattered the ground below it as it rushed with pike in hand.
BOOOM!
"Shit!" I ducked under a slash of beowolf claws, and with a twist of my hips stabbed through the offending beast. I shoved a fraction of my aura through my weapon and into the wolf, makings it's head explode.
"Watch out!" Taiyang leaped over me, roundhouse kicking an Ursa Minor in the jaw and cracking open its skull. The bear fell dead into the ground with a light splat.
SHOOM!
I flinched as a golden spear zoomed overhead and winched as it made a fleshy impact with the Grimm elder behind us.
We had been unable to get away, because the moment Gilda and the super Beowolf started their fight we got swarm by low level Grimm. That, and Glynda being here was what saved us from being slaughtered. Her telekinesis was a boon, and the sound of surrounding gunfire meant the stronger Grimm were being drawn away from from us. I swear I heard Borr's loud yells and the swing of metal on flesh every few steps.
Okay…focus, there are three Grimm on the left.
Two on the left, one behind.
"No…how how about a…"
SNAP!
BOOM!
Several Grimm fell dead as they received several grams of nitrogen based explosive to the face. The one behind me fell, to a blast of superheated dream, and a lesser Nevermore above me was destroyed by a telekinesis wave. I gave my adoptive sister a look of gratitude. However, I felt something odd when her expresion twisted in horror.
I felt a massive hand pick me, and the world blurred around me as an alpha Beowolf threw me into the direction of the fight. I narrowly avoided a pike to the face, diverting my course with my aura, like what Blake did with that sea dragon Grimm.
I lay still, my head mercifully below the range of where it could cut off. All I could was sit and watch the almost legendary fight unfold…
I watched in awe as the Grimm parried blow after blow with his claws, having long since lost his weapon. Gilda had risen into the air, standing on the top of a surprisingly sturdy telephone pole. The wolf that I had for now decided to deem Fenrir threw an overhead slash with its claws, instantly blocked by a shield. The number of weapons in the air rose into the multiple dozens only just south of a hundred.
"Why won't you DIE!" Gilda seemingly popped out of existence, and I heard a loud crack as she dropped down onto the Grimm's armored forearm like an artillery shell. It howled in pain and brushed her off, snapping its jaws in her general direction.
It held its right arm cradling the cracked piece of bone crumbling away. It spun on its heels, dodging a large Halberd. However it didn't manage to dodge the tens of dozens of arrows strung from countless bows. The arrowheads pierced it's ghoulish flesh making it look like a porcupine. But instead of being angry it held its breath pushing outward.
The air was peppered by a wide barrage of broken arrows acting as a poor man's shrapnel.
"She's really going to bea—." I paused as I noticed how ragged she looked. He semblance was taking its toll on her body and aura. Her aura was flickering, slowly weakening more and more as the fight became more prolonged. Both adversaries were growing weaker, but the Fenrir had the advantage in endurance. Gilda's breath was racing; my ears straining to pick up the sound.
Gilda sighed and with shaking hands summoned up a portal of much greater size. She gave the Grimm a shit eating smile and fired.
Over a hundred weapons, and hundreds of arrows raced toward the Grimm and in the scuffle I ended up getting knocked behind Gilda. I stood up on shaking knees and my breath was stolen away as the Grimm walked through the weapon storm. It twisted its body in just the right way, blocking the arrows isn't it's thicker bony plates. The monster sneered and in a gory flash tore out one of its own teeth, using it to block various bladed weaponry. I felt fear boil up as the attack grew ever weaker with each step that thing took. Gilda was sweating, her confident facade broken and her smirk now a mere line.
Within a couple of moments the Grimm was standing resolutely over Gilda as she collapsed onto her knees. Her aura had died away completely, all her energy directed into a final desperate attempt. Her eyes looked almost accepting, but also regretful…
N-No please… I can't… I don't…
"S-So this is all I can muster up huh?" Gilda sounded dead in her tone, her head dropping down and her hair blocking my view of her eyes. If I could see then, they would likely look dead…
The Grimm lifted up it doing claws…like the axe of an executioner…
"I'm…so sorry I couldn't be there for you. Glynda…Summer please forgive. I-I love you."
The hand came down…
"NOOOOooOOO!" I let out a scream, my senses fading out and bright flash of light blowing me further.
How did I get here? I grabbed my head, feeling a trickle of blood pore out from a wound. The Fenrir had recoiled and had its eyes narrowed in suspicion as I dropped down to the ground heaving out the remainders of my stomach contents.
"M-Mom?!" I suppressed the confused shock and confliction deep within my soul and glared up at the Grimm. From the corner of my eye, I saw a glimmer of tears in my m-mother's eyes and looked away.
I-I think I have an idea…this Grimm must be an ancient one right? So it knows most of the tricks in the book… silver eyes and top Huntsmen or maybe even maidens…
But does it know about alchemy is the question.
C-Carbon dioxide… Nitrogen…
Oxygen, dihydrogen monoxide(water)
Atmospheric densification…
I grit my teeth as I focused on the alchemical reaction, having never used alchemy on this scale before for combat purposes. At normal air density and distribution, I can generate s-several grams of explosive compounds per cubic meter… I'm going to generate a reaction using… one hundred and fifty cubic meters of air densified to five times normal pressure so…
"M-Mom…you should probably…pick me up once I'm d-done here…" She looked confused until she noticed the lightning being infused into the air.
"N-Now…" I felt the array activate and a small snap followed…
A massive flash of light and heat made impact with my body throwing me back into something soft. There was a brief numbness, until I touched my arms and my lower left cheek. A sensation of burning surged up, and then a twinge in my rib area started up.
I started screaming…the pain was…too
TOO MUCH! I don't w-wanna it…
I ignored the soothing and kind voice of Gilda, my thought process limited to only my own suffering.
I felt numb…there was a glowing light that made me relax comfortably. It was like cool water had been slowly and gently poured onto my body.
It was over…
I faded into a calm and quiet darkness…
Where…am I? The last thing I remember I was…
"Hmm…" A feminine moan alerted me, though I soon realized it was my voice. I opened up my eyes finding myself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling (heh…). I hissed as I felt the tenderness in my muscles and skin. I noticed that most of the pain was on my lower left cheek near my jaw, my forearms, and my ribs. I picked myself up slowly not wanting to hurt myself.
I was sitting on a hospital bed, with one occupied visitors chair. One Gilda Goodwitch, drooling into some weapons magazine. I decided to wake her up with the one word I knew would work.
"Mom?" She didn't stir so I tried again. "Mom…mama?" She didn't wake up despite my loudness. I felt the frustration mount up and tried a third time.
"MOM!" She snapped her head up, ending up shattering a chair with her armored heels thus making me flinch. She let out a searing glare, but the moment she spotted me it softened into relief.
Gah!
"Oh baby you're okay." I let out a frown of discomfort as she pulled me into her chest, my ribs aching in protest.
"Please let go…you're crushing me." Gilda blushed and dropped her arms down and I sighed in relief as the pressure went away. Even so Gilda grabbed my hand with a gentle expression and I wondered why she was looking at me like that.
"How bad has was it?" I don't think I would care too much but…still
"Well, umm you had some burns that will leave some scarring, one broken ribs and two cracked ones. As well as a light concussion and some blood loss, otherwise not too bad." She clapped her hands at the end, noticing her twitching eyebrows. I shook my head at her behavior, and lifted up my arms.
"I need a hug…" She gladly obliged and wrapped her arms around me, my body quivering against her frame. I could she was mad, but it wasn't my fault if those Grimm hadn't… "M-Mom?" She was still angry but didn't interrupt me out of spite. "I didn't…get put there on purpose…I was thrown by some…Grimm"
"I'm not mad at you…just frustrated…" I nodded, placing my chin into the crook of her neck. She was really warm and I needed some comfort after this ordeal.
"Hmm…how many?" She stiffened and I asked her again.
She suppressed a sigh and simply ran her fingers through my hair. "About 15… a good number of good men and women. It could have been so much worse though…luckily we managed to cull an enormous amount of Grimm before hand."
"Everything is going to okay, I promise."
That wasn't true, after a thousand years nothing had changed. The tide had been pushed back but never stopped. Their technology so advanced but it gave them no option of escape, only a respite until the inevitable end.
I wanted to help…in some way.
I was never the greatest person, I had a sense of empathy but it was rarely ever applied on a large scale. I was anti social, abrasive, disillusioned by humanity. But that didn't mean I didn't want to help my species become something more than what they were.
With this power of Alchemy and semblance gifted to me, with the knowledge of my old home world and the knowledge of this one, maybe it would be enough to change everything. But clearly this wouldn't be something I could do alone, it might be cheesy but the whole "Hero" if we all work together thing is true. Everything a sapient species has ever built has been based on some level of cooperation, whether between two people, two tribes, or multiple cities and states. That is how humanity survived for so long on a world like this.
Maybe…I could make well you know, a difference.
"What's with that evil look on your face?" I…want to save this world if it's truly possible, not all on my own. I want to change this worlds future and make a better one.
I'm determined…
Author's Note:
Oh yes I did make a Fate reference in Gilda, again not my original plan until I saw a video of him online versus Berserker. It just seemed to fit you know? There is a reason she had such a large workshop and a slight obsession with weapons... As for what inspired(what i borrowed) for the idea on aura actually comes from a guy named Sunder the Gold, he doesn't post any stories here anymore but he does have an RWBY blog where he talks about his theories on the inner workings of the Kingdoms, aura, Dust and the Grimm that seem to fit relatively well.
But besides that I was thinking of asking questions from people in the author's note as long as they're not something that may spoil the storyline. Don't have anything else to mention... so until next time!