Of Hydras and Blackened Devils

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Well, it's been officially decided. Pizza will be our dinner for tonight. Inuba didn't object to the idea, but she did intend to cook dinner. The three of us, my younger brother, sister, and I, wanted to give Inuba a break for once. I mean, she cooks really good food for us everyday. Don't get me wrong, the food is fantastic, there's no question about it. But you know, doing it everyday even though it's not necessary? Well…

So, the three of us brilliantly deduced that I would go out and buy pizza for everyone and bring it home for dinner. There's this really great parlor downtown in Vale that makes really amazing pizza. Given that none of us eat pizza regularly, we just said "to heck with it". And so, I leave our dorm to embark on the holy quest of grabbing sacred and holy deliciousness.

I would have continued further…had not a certain someone caught my attention.

Niro Ezdeil had just stepped out of his own door too. And from the corner of my eye, I could see he wasn't all too happy to see me. At all. Or ever for that matter.

Not even kidding, I swear this guy has it out for me or something. Every time I've passed him by so far, he's always given me the "I'm going to freaking kill you" look. Seriously, what did I ever do to you?

Maybe he has a thing against happiness. And sunshine. I'm out of here Nosferatu.

Then again… I did want to learn more about this guy. I know he's dangerous just by looking at him. But how dangerous? My curiosity has been compared to a monkey whacking a missile warhead with a wrench. But, someone has to ask the dangerous questions. And be there to see the "explosive" results. Heh. See what I did there?

God I am unfunny at times…

Alright then. Let's calm down and warmly greet the neighbor. Even if said neighbor is potentially concocting a plethora of plans to murder me. Great.

"Oh, hey there. You're that guy from Miss Caza's class. Niro…right?" I said approaching him.

Okay, good start I think.

"I could say the same to you, but it's best not to bother." he replied simply and coldly.

Well look at you Mr. Edgy. Alright...just...be nice. Even if he's poking the bear in the nose.

"Wow…um…you seem a bit agitated. Something happen earlier?"

"Just enough to ruin my day."

You sure you just don't wake up every morning more agitated than the Hulk stubbing his toe?

Nice. Remember… Be…NICE. Let's give a potential complement.

"That bad huh..? I gotta say, that was some really impressive work in the Emerald Forest earlier with how you fixed the place after… well… annihilating it really. How'd you manage that by the way?"

"Things are easier to put back together when they remember the state they were in before they break." He replied, keeping his voice low and even.

I don't think he wants me figuring out what exactly his abilities are. Too bad for you.

"True enough." I replied, my curiosity and my intimidation of him growing by the second, "But that still doesn't answer the question. Deconstruction and reconstruction an ability of your Semblance?"

The way he destroyed the entire forest floor, then instantly put it back together in a matter of a second suggests something along those lines. At first, I thought he was a Semblance user that manipulated earth with how he shattered it. But then I remembered his initial descent and thought maybe it was a Semblance focused on acceleration and/or control of specific vectors around him or those that he touches or comes into contact with.

I doubted even that theory.

Whatever he has is a form of control. Manipulation. But what exactly is it?

"Neither."

"Darn… Was sure I had it… Guess I have to take a better look next time. If there is one that is." I replied.

You bet your ass there'll be a next time.

I noticed that he was getting… twitchy. Like how I get twitchy when other guys talk to Inuba or when they hit on her. At that point, I get really really twitchy.

"We're in the same class, but don't count on being able to figure anything out." He said moving forward, "People have tried in the past. And they've all ended up dead by the advances of Grimm, or by their own hand."

Oh~ threatening. I'm really really scared. Not.

Sort of.

Don't underestimate my capabilities to learn, comprehend and understand. I'll end up figuring you out. One way or another.

"Well… guess I can take my sweet time since I don't have to worry about getting killed, Grimm or otherwise."

Uh oh. I almost let slip-

"Don't claim yourself to be unkillable. You're not immortal. No one truly is." he said clenching his fist tightly like that stupid meme I keep seeing on the internet.

"W-Well… I never said I wasn't unkillable… Just saying I'm not exactly the easiest person to kill is all. I have a feeling the same could be said of you."

No seriously, I highly doubt his ability to be killed so easily.

"You have a preconceived idea that you're durable, but you've never met me before."

You're right. But I've met worse than you princess.

"You wouldn't be able to get back up after something I'm capable of."

See, I didn't dare to laugh right now right in front of him. Instead, I did it within the depth of my mind so it was unheard by all. Except for myself. Cause it's in my mind. Whatever.

"Wow… You definitely must be strong if you're able to say that all scary-like. Which makes me even more curious…"

As curious as I am, I know he's itching to move. And guess what? I welcome it.

"Save the wit for something that matters, and leave your curiosity on the back burner. This isn't something you should get involved with." He said as he began moving again, nearing the moment he'd be passing by me.

"For my own good? Or because you have more to hide than what the rest of us see?" I said pressing him more.

"I couldn't care less about your well-being, but this isn't something to delve into. Not when you have any life you wish to keep."

Don't you realize your threats mean nothing to me?

"My life isn't as much of a concern of mine for specific reasons. If I didn't know better… it feels as though you have a theory you've been cooking up…"

A Game Theory. No no, stop it. Nows not the time for stupid and bad jokes. But I definitely suspect a plan to put me through the wall in the works right now.

"I do, and I'm about to test it."

Alright bitch, Mortal Kombat time. Get over here.

He looked as though he was about to pass me, but I noticed how his legs tensed up to set himself in place, getting ready to punch me.

Pfft. Amateur.

He's sloppy with his technique and delivery, but I have a feeling it's because his technique doesn't need to be as refined as most of ours need to be. Not when he needs to simply plow through his targets. Even better, with how fast this punk was moving, I bet you anything he's thinking that he's moving too fast for me to react.

He was dead wrong.

His fist moved and let the air collapse in on itself behind him to give him a seriously amplified punch, both in terms of speed and and the power behind. Swift. Fairly precise. Brutal to whatever childlike idea he has as to what brutality actually is.

Niro cleared the distance between us fast enough to rip through the veil of air in front of us and break the sound barrier, making his punch sound like a piercing gunshot, like that of an anti-materiel rifle.

Cute. He's thinking his attack is several times more lethal… What are you, a wannabe One Punch Man?

Get over yourself.

"Whew… That tingled a bit…" I replied, the passing shockwave settling as I glared at him with a focused gaze, Niro glaring back with an equally focused glare.

So then… what did I do to stop his attack? A, dodge? B, parry? Or C, simply raise up my right hand and catch his fist in my hand?

If you chose C…ballsy. But also correct.

I'll admit, I didn't expect THAT much force behind his punch as to bruise a large part of my hand and palm. But I at least now have a basic idea of his strength. I'll get used to his kid-karate soon enough.

I could tell just by looking at him he wasn't expecting that. What, were you expecting a hole in the wall? Or a big bloody mess?

"That really would have hurt…" If I wasn't so insensitive to pain and if you didn't punch like a five year hopped up on Gatorade, "Looks like I was right. You getting a bit antsy meant you were definitely thinking of doing something to me. That, though? Not expected on my part."

We both turned our heads slightly to our sides as we saw and heard numerous doors quickly opening in the hallway around us, both of our dorm room doors as well. Unfortunately, I couldn't see who was inside his dorm since they didn't bother to step out.

I saw him flex his fingers for a few moments, looking over his glove before letting it fall slowly to his side.

Did I go beyond your expectations Linkin Park?

"You weren't lying..." Niro said disappointed, "You're durable, but not unkillable."

Wanna try that theory again chuckletits?

"You can try again if you'd like… How far you'll actually get, though… well… I'm curious myself to see how far you'd get…" I said with a challenging, devious smile, far outside my usual norm.

You can go home now and cry in the corner contemplating your meaningless existence and-

Woah woah woah. Time to cool it. No need to get out of hand…

Still though… I too had a theory other than how strong he was while he was trying to punch me. You know how all those other times I got really nervous when he showed up in the area with his overbearing Aura? Well, finally figured something out.

That wasn't nervousness or intimidation on my part.

It was excitement.

For a human…he's really strong. And a more than worthy opponent.

Call me a hypocrite or whatever, I don't care really. But I think I'm starting to accept and share Musashi's ideology of wanting to fight someone a bit more now. If that happened though… what exactly would happen to those around us?

Questions for another time.

"You can count on it." he said as he finally walked away.

You bet you can you f-

"Master!" Inuba said in a hushed tone as she approached, "What happened?!"

"Uh…"

I smacked the bear in the face and woke him up. That's what happened. Though, if I told her I provoked him on purpose just now, she'd be pretty upset with me.

"We were just…horsing around. Then it got a bit rowdy towards the end there. No cause for concern. Heh heh…"

"Master…"

Uh-oh. I'm in trouble.

Instead of getting lectured, I got a pretty harsh pinch on the check. With an extra tug that hurt a bit more.

"Please don't do anything that would get you into trouble." she said finally letting go of my cheek, allowing me to rub the small pain away with own hand.

"Yeah, yeah…" I returned rubbing the back of my neck.

As soon as I said that, I felt two hands pinching both sides of my cheeks, which, admittedly, hurt a bit more than the last.

"One confirmation of your understanding is enough!" she said stretching them.

And yet I did my best to pretend it wasn't hurting.

"Fiiine." I replied before she finally let go.

"Good. Now then… Please be safe on your travel to the city." She said with a bow.

"Oh yeah, we all choose a topping except you, right? Pepperoni is a given, obviously. Ciel chose the cheese stuffed crust, Leo the chicken breast topping, and myself the pretzel crust. What about you?"

"O-Oh, me..? You don't need to ask. Um… Choose whatever else you think would be best."

"No can do. Already picked what I wanted. Your turn."

"W-Wha-? But-"

"It's fine. Choose anything you'd like. Really it's no problem."

"Well… Pineapple...then..?"

"Pineapple it is. I'll be back in… thirty minutes or less." I said guessing how long it'd take.

I already placed in the call for the order. Now they just have to make it while I'm on my way there, pick it up, and presto, take it home to share with the others. Let's just hope Mr. "I have no emotions" isn't a fan of pizza either.

As soon as I rounded the corner, I saw two rather curious people hiding there. More specifically, Ray Chroma and Gabriel Stryker of RGDS, also our neighbors on this floor along with Ezdeil's team ELA, LMKN, RWBY and JNPR. I stopped for a moment to stare at them with a puzzled glance, while Gabriel awkwardly smiled and waved at me. Ray just...well...he kinda looked at me with a curious, yet deadpan glance. I think.

They were probably about to round the corner before they saw me and Niro "chatting it up" that lead to his million dollar failure of a punch, and decided to wait just in case things went wrong.

Ray and Gabriel made the right decision to hang back a bit.

All I did afterwards was shrug my shoulders, give the two a polite wave, and without saying a word, took off towards the exit. Afterall…what was more important than pizza right now?


Night drive through Vale… Pretty neat looking if you ask me. I've only driven in Vale during the day, and no joke, it still looks pretty neat. But at night…it has a whole new level of allure to it. And Beacon… Wow… That ancient castle feel and modernized architecture that's implemented into the overall structures is just...impressive. I mean, there's a lot of other things to say about the school I currently attend, but that's pretty much the only word I can find currently to say about it.

Though, there was something on my mind now for the past minute. I was feeling tremors in the ground. At first, I was thinking Edgelord Supreme was down somewhere in the forest blowing off steam, but I'm pretty sure I'd be seeing and feeling a lot more than just tremors. So what could it be?

I passed through the small gateway on the cliffside and soon enough approached the entrance guard aptly named Steve. Was he here all the time?

"Back so soon?" He asked with his gruff voice.

Steve looked to be in his forties, had short, brown, messy hair, and faint stubble. His clothing consisted of a black turtleneck, blue jeans, combat boots from what I could see in the booth, and a grey bulletvest. He also wore a black cap.

"Yeah." I replied grabbing the two pizza boxes in the passenger seat, "Went to grab pizza for the munchkins since they wanted pizza tonight."

"That so? Cafeteria food not good enough for you?"

"Uh… No, that's not it. See, our friend usually cooks for us, even though we tell her it isn't necessary. So we wanted to give her break for once and decided to grab pizza."

"Right… Well, head inside and go back to your dorm room quickquick as possible."

"What? Why?" I asked with a hint of confusion in my tone.

Was there something going on?

"You didn't get the memo?"

"No…"

"A Drakian Hydra showed up. Some kid from a team went to go kill it as part of initiation test last I heard. From the tremors though, I can tell it isn't go so smoothly."

"Which team if you didn't mind me asking?"

"Huh? Do I look like an info booth to you?"

"Uh, no… Just curious is all."

"Someone from team ELA or whatever."

Edgelord Ezdeil's team… Does that mean they found a fourth team member?

"Head inside and go back to your dorm. Students might or might not get called out later to finish that thing off if the student can't finish it off entirely, so best be ready." Said Steve as he quickly punched in a code and opened the doorway to the campus for me.

"Right. Thanks Steve. Have a goodnight."

He only waved me off as I shifted the gears and slightly stepped on the gas pedal. I was speeding up a bit considering a fact there's a freaking hydra somewhere on campus. And a student is trying to kill it. More importantly, we might be called on to kill it off.

I'm going to be honest, I think that Edgey McCree and his partner are the only two who'd be able to kill it. And from what I heard, their third teammate that they have now is a three tailed kitsune. But she's been in recovery since initiation, so unfortunately, I can't accurately make assumptions as to what she's capable of for the moment. So that leaves me with one question now.

Who's their new fourth, and what can they do?

The garage door for the reserved garage space I had opened up quickly as I approached, allowing me to quickly turn the wheel and park inside. As soon as I shut off the engine, I got out quickly but soon skidded to a halt when I realized I forgot tonight's dinner, then turned around, grabbed the pizza boxes with one hand, and sprinted off towards our dorm, passing by some students who were still out and about at this time. I had to hurry back.

After all, I had a feeling tonight was going to be fun.


"So...you say there's a hydra or whatsit out and about near the forest?" asked Ciel as she was typing up her homework from her top bunk across from my own.

"Yup." I replied sitting down and putting the pizza at the center desk across me.

"And it's being used as a means of initiation for a student we know nothing off?" asked Leo, also working on his homework.

"That is correct." I said opening the top box of pizza and grabbing a slice, moving it over towards Inuba who also grabbed a slice.

"Isn't that a bit much for a new student?" Asked Inuba before she took a bite.

"Maybe… But we don't know anything about this new student. More importantly, they're being initiated for the open spot on ELA."

"Ezdouche's team?" said my little sister lifting her head up for a moment, "Well, they gotta be strong then if that's the case."

"But a hydra-like creature as an initiation test? I'm afraid I have to agree with Ms. Kitsukami in the case that that may be much." Said Leonard.

"Which is why we have to be ready if they call on the other students to go take care it." I said finishing my third slice.

"Yeahhhhhhh… You and Foxy can go ahead and take care of it if it comes to that." Said Ciel, trying to outpace Leo's typing speed.

"Too much work for you?" I asked with a coy smile.

"Nah, I got homework to do."

"My dearest and very cute little sister is refusing to go out and slay a giant monster…because she want's to do homework instead?" I questioned.

"Flattery will get you nowhere big brother. But yeah, that's the case."

"Heh… Well, I'm glad you and Leo are taking your studies seriously. Even if it's just a competition between you two."

"War more or less. But yes, competition." Leo said.

Yup. These two are going to be at each other's throats for a while concerning grades.

"Well, it looks like it's just you and me for today then partner. That's if we get called that is."

"Just the two of us…" she whispered silently.

"Yep. And we may get to show off our excellent teamwork tonight."

"Y-Yes… Teamwork…"

Ciel said something about gymnastics and I think twister, but I couldn't hear anything more since Leo bumped her off her bed. That, and I saw my partners face turn red for a few seconds? Was it something embarrassing? Maybe she's not good at twister? I mean, I know she's agile and...flexible, so she'd be an excellent gymnast. Maybe-

Never mind. Things to kill.

Before I could go however, we all got a notification on our HoloScrolls, which Ciel and Leo ignored while Inuba and I looked at the message. It was a mass notification to all the students to move out and take care of the hydra.

Damn… Should've moved faster… Ah well, doesn't mean we won't get there first.

"They're singing our song! Off we go! And don't misbahve!" I shouted back as Inuba and I ran out our door and moved down the hallway, watching other doors open.

Too bad, we're getting there first!

"Doing okay there partner?" I said turning my head to the side to see Inuba running atmy side.

"Perfectly fine! Although… it has been sometime since I've had to run so much…"

"Sorry… Should we slow down?" I asked apologetically.

"Oh! We don't need to! I'm… well… I'm pretty excited myself for this…"

"Really?"

"Y-Yes! I mean…it has been a long while since we fought something…gargantuan… And since it's a Grimm, it'll be a new experience for the both of us."

"Fair point. But we should at least try to kill this quickly. We don't want anyone else getting hurt." I added.

"Agreed."


Five minutes of running later, we made it near the cliffside overlooking the Emerald Forest and quickly spotted our target for the night. This thing was definitely a hydra…

It had nine serpant-like heads covered in bone-like armor and a massive four legged black body that towered 22 stories high. Its skin gleamed in the light, dripping with water it exuded naturally as it swept its way across the forest below. All of its eyes streaked in a solid red hue, draining the life around it as it took the atmosphere of Beacon's grounds and staunched it in a stifling blanket of tension. Four legs roamed forward as its elongated, jagged tail split the ground and slithered behind it. Its body was draconic in its entirety, its heads moreso than any other part of its anatomy.

"Think it's searching for more prey?" I asked Inuba.

"Potentially. Was the rest of team ELA present during their new team member's initiation?" She asked.

"I don't know. Maybe…"

"Master, look!"

I followed Inuba's finger and took a closer look at the Drakian Hydra to see parts of its tough hide cracked and some of it charred. The most noticeable feature however was the human-head sized gaping hole in its main body.

Did someone try to weaken this thing? Who could-?

"Ezdouche…" I muttered to myself.

"Pardon?" Asked Inuba.

"Uh… I was thinking that Ezdeil was the one who put the hole it near where it's heart would be. See it?"

"I do… But why weaken it? Was it perhaps a bit much for the student to fight single handedly without some form of support?"

"Could be the case. How many newbies do you know that can handle this thing besides the two of us and the munchkins?"

"Other than us? Mr. Ezdeil most likely…"

"Mr. ?" I asked with a questioning tone.

I then remembered it's just something Inuba does; acting very formal towards everyone and calling them mr., ms., or mrs. . It's not like she likes the guy.

Does she..?

I heard that massive behemoth let out a monstrous roar with its numerous heads as they focused upon us on the ground floor.

"Hit the deck!" I said grabbing Inuba and leaping off towards the side near some bushes, avoiding a large, pressurized jet stream of boiling hot water that tore up the earth where we previously.

The scent of heated water filled the air alongside the streams of steam from the focused blast that tore through the earth.

"That was close…" I said looking behind me to see the Grimm move along, ever so intent on searching for us.

I then felt something soft and squishy in my hand that didn't feel like the ground.

Wait, I know what th-

I looked down to see my hand where it should not be at the moment and moved it from where it was real quick, raising said hand up in the air.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that, it was an accident and-!"

"I-It's fine… You just pushed me out of the way is all… A-Accidents happen…"

"Oh? Are we interrupting?"

That new voice, along with the sound of numerous footsteps, made my head turn in that direction to see four out of eight people I recognized out of the group.

Bailey simply stood and stared with her usual stoic gaze, which is what I'm assuming since she always wears the Tactical Blindfold and I can't see her eyes. Kaliel and Nori just gave each other and Inuba and myself awkward smiles. And Musashi...well…I think she was smiling?

Then there was the newcomers. Technically. I knew of team RWBY but never had the chance to meet any of them personally. Until now that is. The blonde bomber, which I assumed to be Yang Xiao Long given her rep around school already, gave me a rather devious smirk along with her partner, Blake Belladonna, only she was more reserved with her grin. The real life princess Weiss Schnee was at a loss for words, and pretty much ready to lecture us I think. And their short but brave leader Ruby was equally at a loss for words, only she was trying to cover her eyes.

Seriously, what's wrong with these peo-?

I'm still on top of Inuba.

Oh my…

I quickly got back up on my feet and hurriedly helped up my partner, who seemed to be in a daze still.

"Giant monster out and about and you guys were gonna get it on? You've got guts, I'll tell ya that." Said Yang with her grin growing even wider as she stepped forward a bit.

All I heard from my partner was the silentest of red faced squeals.

"It's not like that, and I pushed us out of the way so we wouldn't get turned into meaty pancakes. We fell and that's that. You gonna stand there and keep imagining some weird fling fantasy or are you gonna help us kill that thing?" I said dusting myself off.

"Have we met before?" Asked Xiao Long.

Yes but it's still too soon to see your blonde-

God, Ezdeil still had me on edge. Calm down.

"That's DICL's leader, Dante." said Blake.

At least she knows what's what. Wait, did I just see her her bow-?

Nah, couldn't have been…

"You're the one who survived that hoodlum Ezdeil?" Asked the ice queen.

What, was surviving the depressing princess' punch that big of a deal?

Seriously, I am way too aggressive right now because of him. Stop that me.

"Is it that big of a deal?"

"Concerning his reputation already, it's a miracle if anything."

Miracle, huh?

"Right then. So let's see… There's ten of us as a group now minus the other students." I said turning my head to see the hydra focusing on other students moving around about the forest, "Quite honestly, I think if we strategize a plan quickly enough, we can take it down in no time. Is there anyone else out here that we can make use of?" I asked.

"RGDS and JNPR are making sure to evacuate students that were caught out here and such, so they're pretty much out." Said Nori.

"But as it seems, no one has been strong enough to finish the creature off." Added Bailey as she crossed her arms. "Where is Simply Leonard and your sister?" She asked me.

"Oh, those two?" I started as I rubbed the back of my neck, "Yeah, they're doing homework right now."

Most of them looked jaw dropped.

"They're uh...competing against each other. And my sister Ciel is a bit of a hothead and very competitive. Especially against my brother Leo. But we'll have to make due without them for now. So, what exactly do we know about this beasty?"

"Tough exterior hide that's armor-like and extremely resistant to fire." Said Blake nodding her head in the Drakian's direction, "Gunfire isn't effective in the slightest. Unless, you want to make it angry that is."

"It'll be good for distractions at least." Said Ruby.

"Right… But my question is if… No, it couldn't possibly work… Could it..?"

"What would?" Asked Inuba.

"Remember Hercules and his battle with the Hydra?" I said referring to the old myths of my old world.

"I see!"

"See what?" Asked Yang.

"Analysis: Beacon Academy Student Dante wishes to separate its heads one by one." Spoke a new voice that sounded like a male, only mechanical-like and monotonous.

From behind Bailey, we all saw something fly up near her left shoulder and float in the air. It was some sort of machine with a black metal colored body and white line highlights that pulsated every three or so seconds. The main shape of its body was like that of flat hexagon, only the rear portion was elongated by at least a foot into a fine spear-like point, giving it a total length of about 19 inches.

On its front facing point, metal covered its entire top, forming an upwards and backwards slant in a diagonal formation before slanting back down towards the elongated rear point. It was there we saw more white, pulsating lines forming alongside the inner edges of its body. There was another v-shaped white line further inwards, which I assumed to be its "eyes" and how it could see.

On its underside near the sides with points where two robotic arms, each with three, flat finger-like appendages, two on one side, one on the other. It's circular "palms" seemed to have closed off gaps. What for though?

"And what exactly might you be?" I asked our mechanical newcomer.

"I am Support Unit SOL 004, assigned to Bailey Lianna to provide different means of support on and off the battlefield." It replied to my question.

"You didn't have this gizmo with you during initiation. New toy?"

"He was sent to me after initiation. My mother wasn't able to finish him until after I arrived and sent SOL to me immediately after."

"Your mother is an scientist of sorts?" I asked.

"Something of the sort."

"Introductions can be held later. Now, you suggest cutting off that creature's heads?" Asked Musashi stepping forward.

"Yes and no. We aren't simply going to cut off its head and be done with it. If the myths I know about correlate with this creature, it'll grow those heads of it back after we cut them off."

"Then why cut off its heads in the first place?" Asked Weiss.

"Like I said, we aren't going to just cut its heads off. After we cut one off, immediately after, my partner Inuba will close in and use her flames to sear the neck wounds closed, that way it can't grow them back."

"But it's resistant to fire, right?" Said Yang.

"It's outer body is. But that doesn't mean it's the same for its flesh on the inside. Besides, my partners flames are pretty powerful, so it'll get the job done. Right?" I asked turning my head towards Inuba.

"Right." She replied with a nod.

Before we could continue further, we heard some sort of girlish scream that made us look around quickly in surprise.

"Was that a girl?" I asked, eyes still searching.

"No, I think that was Jaune." Said Ruby, who soon pointed up at said Arc in the sky "Wait, there he is!"

We all watched him fly away towards the cliffside, each of us potentially wondering if he was going to survive.

"Analysis: Given Beacon Academy Student Jaune Arc's trajectory, he will more than likely survive his flight and escape with moderate damage to his person."

"Thanks for the heads up SOL…" I replied while watching Jaune fly past…

Who was that on the cliffside? I see a beanie… Is that Ray Chroma from RDGS?

He was just standing there on the cliffside, completely frozen while Jaune flew past him. I focused my vision and saw him…trembling. Was he afraid of this thing?

From the corner of my eye, I saw the Drakian Hydra fire off a few more jets of boiling water in different directions of the forest to get rid of the smaller students trying to stop it. And is it did, I saw Ray flinch with each blast.

Wait…he wasn't afraid of that thing specifically… Is he afraid of water?

We all focused our attention to an actual screaming girl that tripped and fell to floor hard while retreating from the Hydra. It didn't grant her its fulls attention, and so only momentarily whipped one of its heads at her to fire off a bullet-like blast of water instead of stream.

Unfortunately, none of us were close enough to get to her, and even if I sent out one of my Aura Swords in her direction to teleport to, I still wouldn't make it.

Basically? She was done for.

She actually would have been if Ray didn't land down in front of her.

Let's see what you're made of Chroma.

Ray lifted up his right foot slightly before strongly stomping on the ground, creating large jagged shards of HardLight that rose up from the ground and trailed towards the creature Grimm, cutting through the blast of boiling water and crashing into the Grimm's main body, forcing it backwards a few meters.

This gave the girl he was protecting ample time to run away with a flock of students that came from the side clearings of the forest to move towards the entryway that would take them back to Beacon.

Great. Looks like he's pissed it off…

"Alright, split off and quickly surround this thing. We're gonna take one head at a time. I'll be moving around where you guys are while keeping this things main focus on me. You guys will take off its heads."

They all nodded and acknowledged my suggestion and moved onwards quickly to take up their positions, Nori and Kaliel being the closest to Inuba and myself.

"Right then… We're taking the first head, so-"

"Hey!"

A short red haired girl, whom I only recognized as Scarlet Rubine from RGDS, and surprisingly their leader, approached us with her weapon that looked like a double bladed bardiche with a repeating cannon.

"Scarlet, right?" I asked.

"Y-yeah."

"Alright, you're helping us take the first head. Got a way to draw its attention towards us?"

She only nodded and let out a slight grin and raised up her weapon, taking aim before firing a powerful shot from her mounted gun that made a rather explosive impact with one of the Hydra's outer heads, its gaze drawing to us.

We saw it's head jolt back slightly before rushing at us high speed with its jaws wide open, prompting us to leap away from its gargantuan mouth as it dug into the earth slightly. I took the chance to rush back in and plunged my sword downwards into its neck near its head, and grabbed my handle with both hands. I kept its head down to ground as much as possible, and tried keeping it in place, but with its strength, it was slowly dragging me back towards its main body with each quick tug.

"Now would be a good time for the slashy slashy!" I shouted.

Scarlet snapped to attention and ran towards the head I held onto and leapt up into the air before immediately plunging down and and slashing through its neck in one clean swoop.

Inuba immediately followed in after Scarlet's clean cut and flicked her hand towards the stump I still held down, her brilliant white flames emerging a second after and blanketing its headless neck. The blast, like I predicted, was enough to sear its flesh completely shut. With that, the long neck went limp as was now useless to the creature.

"Nice work!" I said removing my sword from the lifeless neck, "Go back up your teammate there with evacuating everyone and we'll take care of the rest." I said pointing in Ray's direction

She only gave me a quick nod before heading off towards her partner, who was crouched with his hands resting on the ground to make a large portion of violet HardLight that acted like a barrier for those escaping.

Without wasting time, Inuba and I quickly moved on towards Nori and Kaliel, ready and set to take their head.

"Got anything to cut it with?" I asked the almost monk-like Nori.

"Ready for this?" He said with a smile.

He raised up the right arm that his beads were wrapped around, ten of those beads separating from the link around his arm and floated in the air above his head in an arranged circle, the ten beads enlarging into baseball sized orbs that glowed with red Aura in the center of the formed circle.

Nori quickly reached inside the Aura with his right hand, the Aura a portal of sorts, and quickly reared his hand back. From the small portal of Aura, he pulled out a massive double edged sword larger than himself, Nori being 6'5 and the sword being seven ft. tall, and was almost as wide as the wielder, which meant the ultra greatsword could be used as a shield against projectiles and other types of attacks. The massive sword had no crossguard and was thicker than one foot long handle. A single large bolt held the blade and hilt together.

When Nori finished pulling his sword out of his portal, he planted the blade point in the ground and raised up his right arm, allowing the orbs to shrink back down to marble-sized beads and reconnect to the rest of the link on his arm.

"Dude…" I said with some form of shock, "That's your weapon?"

"Yup." He said easily slinging the massive sword on his shoulder.

"Nice."

"I know."

We fist bumped each other before Nori asked the almighty question of the night, "So, how are we chopping off this head?" He asked pointing to the one closest to us.

"Well, seeing as you have the massive sword, you're going to be chopper for this one. In fact…"

I looked around quickly and spotted a decently sized formation of rock that formed a miniature cliff and already hatched a good plan for this head.

"You're going to be using that. Kaliel and I will draw its head in as close as possible, then you creep up on it and pounce the thing. You can jump with that thing, right?"

Not to be rude or anything, but Nori didn't exactly look musclely enough to even swing that thing since he was a bit scrawny, even if he was slightly toned.

"It's all good man. This sword isn't so heavy for me as it is for everyone else."

"Good. Set up on the cliff and we'll work on getting that head closer."

I turned to Kaliel, who had just fixed her azure blue glasses, to see her holding a black grain wooden staff that was 5'2, two inches shorter than herself, and looked as though different strands of the wood had been twisted together to form it. At the tip of the staff, entwined within the strands, was a clear, diamond shaped gem. It only took me a few more seconds to realize her profession.

"You're a Mage?" I asked.

"Wha-?! Oh, y-yes!" She replied rather nervously.

"What's your specialty or focus?"

"Crystal magic…" she replied in a hushed tone.

"Crystal magic? Nice."

If the lands of Lordran and Drangleic taught me anything, it was that crystal magic was a serious pain in the ass to deal with. Let's see what she can do with it.

"You can shoot projectiles I assume?"

She nodded, and without speaking another word, she slowly waved her staff over her head to form four large orbs of azure blue Aura that floated in a half arc circle above her.

"Alright, we're going to be making it angry and drawing it closer to us. Most importantly, you cast your magic while constantly moving, otherwise this thing will likely catch up to, got it?"

"G-Got it!"

Kaliel twirled her staff once and thrusted in the direction of the Drakian, her orbs of Aura quickly taking on a crystalline-like shape in the form of massive spear points that shot off with blinding speed towards the head closest to us, piercing into its skin to create deep enough gashes and grab its attention, prompting her to start running as I ran a wider distance between us.

She wasn't casting those magic spears of her as much, but she didn't need to all too much since I was also sending a bunch of my Aura Swords its way to pass its attention back and forth between us, keeping most of its attention on me since I was less at risk.

I looked back and saw Nori crouching low to avoid being seen by the head snaking through the forest floor shooting short blasts of its high pressure boiling water at Kaliel and myself. When it got close enough, I gave Nori a thumbs up as he returned one right back before leaping off the small cliff, sword still slung over his shoulder. As he quickly fell, Nori grabbed his massive sword with both hands and brought it down on the neck of the hydra, cleaving through its hide in one slash as he landed safely on the forest floor.

"Your turn!" He shouted behind him towards Inuba as she dashed in from behind.

Nori lowered his sword to the ground so that Inuba could plant her feet onto the flat side, then spun around once as he roared and swung his blade, launching my kitsune partner forward at high speeds as she twirled once in the air and flicked her hand once more at the fresh stump, searing the second neck.

When Inuba landed back on the ground safely, she regrouped with the three of us to discuss our next plan of attack.

"Who's next to you in terms of the rotation we're going in?"

"Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee I think." Said Nori, slinging his sword over his shoulder.

"Alright, you guys be safe moving around this thing, but at least try to keep it occupied and distracted on us, that way it won't move towards Chroma who's trying to keep the evacuees safe."

"Got it." Said Nori as he gave me a thumbs up, then nodded at Kaliel to follow him.

We sprinted as fast as we could, following the Scroll signals of the Schnee heiress and reaper in red until we eventually found them using the tree line as cover.

"How's it going?"

"Not as well as I'd like…" said Weiss while keeping her gaze focused on the Hydra.

"First time fighting a monster of this size?"

"Something of the sort." She replied finally shifting her gaze to me, "What plan of attack might you have?"

"Well, what can you do?"

"Glyph based magic of different variations using dust."

"That'll work nicely. What about your leader?"

"She has a speed Semblance that amplifies her moving speed."

"Is that right? She'll be useful for this then. Where is she actually?"

"Present!"

She said dropping down from the trees between myself and Inuba, an eager expression across the red reapers face.

"How fast can you go?"

"Like...really fast."

I could hear Weiss facepalm at the simplicity of her leaders answer.

"Good enough for me."

"What, really?!" asked Weiss.

"Oh yeah! I actually spotted something earlier!"

She waved her hand for me to follow her over and halted just a few feet before the clearing, raising up her scythe weapon and looking through its scope to find whatever it is she was looking for.

"Where is it..? Come on..! Aha! Found it!"

She motioned me in to move closer to her, and I did as she moved her head out of the way for me to see through her scope. Not that I needed it, but hey, appearances and all.

"The left side of its chest. See it?"

That's the gape Ezdeil made.

"What about it?"

"Maybe instead of cutting off all the heads, we can try to go for its heart. Then again, lesser heads means lesser trouble when trying to take out its heart. So we can try for both."

I've never had to fight a Hydra-like monster before. I only know what I know front the myths with Hercules and other records of mythology I found in Greece and The Plane of Angels. Never did they say anything about striking its heart. Usually I'd think it would be useless since this thing can regrow its heads. But it's a Grimm, so there's bound to be differences. Maybe it's heart will kill it instead of us needing to physically crush it.

"So...here's what I was thinking. You guys can keep it distracted while I shoot that exposed spot on its chest. And if that doesn't work, I'll use my baby to finish it off!"

She call her weapon her baby… She's...an interesting individual.

"Don't do anything too risky. Back off as soon as you think there's danger."

"But..!"

"No buts." I said poking her in the forehead, "We don't need you getting hurt out there so soon. Just do what you can and with little risk to yourself, alright?"

"F-Fine…" she said a little red in the face before softly slapping the sides of her cheeks to refocus herself.

"I'm assuming you have projectile magic?" I asked.

She only gave me a proud huff as she raised up her rapier-esque weapon, its tip glowing an ice blue color, and then flicked its point towards the Drakian, sending forth six large bolt-like streams of icy blue energy that flickered and danced in the air, making impact with the creatures hide and leaving numerous dents in its jaw.

We definitely had the next heads attention.

Before I could tell her to, I saw Ruby had already zoomed off, cautiously moving between the trees as to not draw attention to herself.

Good.

Weiss and I nodded towards one another and took to Ruby's strategy of moving in between the trees, only now, we had two heads focused on us instead of one. Weiss used her glyphs to avoid her heads advances to crush her and its use of its high pressure water. Apparently she had glyphs that accelerated her in different directions, as well as barrier glyphs to block damage.

Me? I just had my own speed, strength and Semblance. Speaking of which…

I looked behind me and saw my head ready itself to fire off another shot of its deadly water. I had a technique in mind, but I wanted to save it for the best possible moment. So instead, I quickly slashed at a tree near me and completely severed it from its stump, then grabbed on to it quickly and tossed it in the direction of the head aiming for me.

It shot out a short burst shot of its boiling water, and when it made contact with the tree, it nearly shattered the large mass of wood in its entirety, but thankfully not all of it since I was now riding on the larger mass that didn't shatter. I quickly hopped off the the flying hunk of wood and reached the height of the head that stared straight at me, prompting me to quickly summon an Aura Sword and straight toss it into the creatures eyes, forcing a bellowing roar of pain from it.

Since my Aura made weapon was still stuck in it, I could use my next move, Embedded Shift. My body vanished in a quick streak of forward moving white and black and Aura, and instantly reappeared directly where my Aura Sword was embedded in its eye. I moved to stab it again, but it seemingly caught on to my plan and rocked it's head up, launching me high above it into the sky.

When I reoriented myself in the air, I saw its maw wide open and ready to fire off another shot of its deadly water. But no water came.

Down below, a massive bolt of white flame quickly flew from the forest and pierced through the bottom of the creature's jaw and through the top of its head, rocking its head backwards and exposing its throat to me.

Thank you for the opening.

I brought my arms in to quicken my descent, and when close enough, brought my sword to my side and slashed outwards, cutting through its neck entirely in one swing. As I moved past the neck, I landed on the creatures massive scaly body, then immediately jumped off in the direction of my partner, where she had her hand extended outward towards the freshly made stump and shot out another bolt of her white flame, searing it completely.

Looking towards Weiss to see where she had progressed, we saw that her Hydra head had numerous frost covered gashes making a circular formation on its neck, all in a near perfect alignment. It became clear to me soon enough what the young heiress had planned. We watched her shoot out more streams of icy blue energy, six like she had done originally with her first volley, and flick her rapier in fluid motions like a musician, controlling each of the six streams as to avoid contact with everything else.

The streams moved about the hydra's neck until they formed a circle-like formation, and then, Weiss ended her symphony with a downward flick, making the bolts pierce through the gashes she worked on deepening and move through numerous directions of its neck, effectively separating the head from the body.

With that, Inuba quickly aimed her palm at the stump and shot another blast of her white fire at the neck to seal it up.

Now there were only five out of the nine heads left.

But where was Ruby?

Some thrashing and gunfire in the distance drew both mine and Inuba's eyes towards the reaper in red, whom we saw dashing around the short blasts and streams of high pressure water that tore into the earth with each attack. Her fire was constantly focused on the gap, each of her shots getting nearer and nearer to the gap.

It was honestly impressive how calm and accurate she was under pressure from something colossal compared to her. The trees fell around her, the earth splintered and cracked from the beasts attacks, but she kept pressing forward nonetheless. As she got closer, her shots were more on point and began entering the gap made by the ruler of depressing and edginess, but as to what effect they had was something we could not determine at the moment.

Bullet after bullet enetered, and yet there was no difference, only that the remaining Hydra heads began noticing her, as now two out of the remaining five began focusing on Ruby with great intensity, each head interchanging their attacks between shot burst and constant streams. And yet she avoided them all.

Ruby had a straight shot towards the gap, and leapt up into the air, using both the force of her Semblance and the momentum of her gun quickly and constantly firing, to propel her forward at intense and blinding speed. When she got close enough, I was pretty sure see saw her target, it's heart, raised up her weapon while flying towards it and swung her scythe deep into the gap.

Nice, she-!

It was still moving. And so to did Ruby Rose see it continuing to move around, only now it was angrily roaring and moving its body about to try and shake off the little reaper from its body. I couldn't see what it was Ruby saw, but I could she was surprised before she kicked off the beast.

Unfortunately, her ammo clip was empty, so she could not propel herself away midair like she could normally. But I soon took a closer look and saw something else. Her scythe blade was slightly warped and melted, making it unusable any further in this fight. That was the least of her problems however. Unable to dodge or attack effectively, I saw a decently sized piece of debris half her size fly into her from the Hydra's next attack. She used her weapon to minimize the damage, but from the pained expression I saw on her face, it didn't negate all of it.

When the debris hit her, she was sent flying even further. It was time to move.

I tossed an Aura sword in the direction of her trajectory and appeared behind Ruby in a stream of my white and black Aura, and let her collide into me while I wrapped my arm around her waist to keep her with me. My feet finally found the ground and I skidded backwards a considerable distance until I finally halted, exhaling momentarily before moving into the clearing to avoid the Drakian Hyrda's gaze.

I stopped behind a large tree and checked on the little reaper that I had caught, seeing her grip weaken on her weapon to the point it slipped out of her hand. I quickly plunged my own longsword into the ground and caught her weapon as I knelt down, gently setting it against the tree as I checked on her.

She was still breathing and conscious, but fairly weak at this moment. I wasn't a medical expert, but I did have basic knowledge for most things. If anything, I'd have to refer to Inuba, since she has proficient medical experience. Normally, she would use her magic, Cleansing Flames, to heal injuries of numerous varieties.

Even so, she was encouraged to study how to heal wounds normal without usage of magic. She's studied a lot of areas from kinesiology, to virology for diseases, to surgery, emergency aid treatment and many others. As far as I know, she's still studying various fields in order to increase her knowledge.

Speaking of which, Inuba and Weiss ran over to us where I lay Ruby down, my partner kneeling besides me to check on the young reaper.

"How bad is she?"

"Not too bad… I think…" I replied to Inuba while we both checked over Ruby, "Debris hit her, but her Aura couldn't handle the rest of damage."

I moved my hand to Ruby's right and she winced immediately when I touched it. I looked closer at her wrist and found the problem.

"Dislocated wrist…" I touched her sides where she took most of the impact, but the wincing wasn't as bad, "And some bruising from what I could tell. Ruby?"

Her head turned slightly towards me, and the two of us noticed she was having a hard time focusing on either of us, and seemingly struggling with keeping conscious.

"How many fingers am I holding up currently?" Asked Inuba raising up two fingers.

It took her a few moments but she finally answered.

"Um…four..? Ugh… I think I'm gonna be sick…" she replied rather weakly.

"Dizziness, nausea, and a delayed response. It would seem she's suffering from a concussion as well. Overall, there doesn't seem to be anything else wrong for the moment." Said Inuba.

"Right…"

I picked up Ruby's weapon, and after a few moments of examining it, saw Blake and Yang emerge from the clearing, Yang very concerned with the well being of her younger sister.

"What happened to her?! What's wrong?!"

"Nothing all too serious. A dislocated wrist and a minor concussion is the only serious problems we could find for the moment. Please take her to the infirmary now, and if there is no one to treat her due to the influx of other students, I'll personally treat her myself when we're finished here."

We all heard the ear piercing roar of the hydra as it stomped at the ground in a separate section of the forest and used its heads to fire off more boiling blasts of water

"Go now!" said my partner as she motioned the three to evacuate with their leader.

I handed Blake Ruby's scythe and let the members of RWBY pass me as they head for the exit to join the others.

"Who's left with us now?" I asked.

"Ms. Lianna and ms. Ryūjinhonō as I recall."

And we still have five more heads to go. But now that I think of it, Ruby may have had a point in going for the core. But what stopped her? Why didn't it die when she pierced it with her scythe?

"Alright, here's what we're doing. Bailey, Musashi and the two of us will work to take away one more head. Afterwards, we focus on evacuating the remaining students and then take that thing out by hitting its core."

"Are you...going to use it..?" Asked Inuba.

I told myself earlier that I was saving up a technique to use on this thing. But truthfully, there was also another trick I had up my sleeve. Unfortunately, I couldn't use either really until I knew everyone was safe.

"I might have to when we get to the final stretch of the fight. Let's go."

Within three minutes times, we found Musashi and Bailey while tracking their Scroll signals.

"Alright you two, we're taking one last head to bring it down to four. Then, we're taking the fight straight to it."

"What do you mean?" Asked Bailey

"Analysis: Beacon Academy student Dante intends to strike at the Drakian Hydra's core after severing another head to make the approach safer."

"What SOL said." I replied pointing my thumb at the floating Support Unit.

"So what will the four of us be doing?" Asked Bailey.

"Well, Inuba is gonna be there for after we lob the head off. As for the head chopping, you and I will be handling that part. If you're able to sneak up on both me and my brother, then I don't need to question your abilities with that sword of yours." I said pointing to her katana.

"I know how to fight well enough on my own without anyone telling me how to."

"Like I said, I won't question your ability, I know you're good enough as is. So, we'll be cutting the head off the one closest to us. And Musashi-"

I looked all around us, unable to find our highly aggressive dragon Faunus ally.

"Where the heck did she go?"

"Hypothesis: Given Beacon Academy Student Musashi's aggressive combat style, she has likely gone out to face the enemy."

"She what?!" I silently shouted.

"Hahaha! Is this all you can do you worthless reptile?!" Sounded a voice in the distance.

"Correction: Beacon Academy Student Musashi is engaged in combat with the enemy." Noted SOL.

"Yeah, I noticed. Wait, she might be perfect as a distraction. How durable is she?"

"I wasn't able to find much about her combat abilities, but I know for a fact there's been reports of places Musashi has been where she directly took both bladed weapons and gunfire directly without any scratches." Said Bailey.

"As in weapon to skin contact?" I asked a bit dumbfounded.

"Yes."

Holy crap…

No wonder she likes picking fights with strong people. She has tough skin. Literally. It must be a characteristic of her dragon Faunus heritage. That or it's a part of her Semblance, which I still don't know anything about.

"Alright… Let's move in to chop a head off when it focuses on Musashi."

"Understood."

With that, Bailey and I moved up silently and leapt up into the tallest tree we could find that was closest to the hydra and Musashi. As for the dragon Faunus herself...well...she was just taunting the thing. How fearless is she?

"Come at me with everything you have beast!" She said pointing up at the creature with one hand on her hip.

"Is she always this bold and aggressive?"

"Always." Replied Bailey.

"Oh good."

One of the five remains heads focused on Musashi and opened its maw wide before shooting a large stream of high pressure, boiling hot water. And what did our dragon Faunus do?

She simply chuckled as she crossed her arms, and then stomped on the floor with her right foot. As she did so, a huge chunk of the earth rose up in front of her from the force of her stomp, acting as a decent shield against the stream of water that crashed into it.

The stream stopped moments later, and Musashi still stood as she did, arms crossed and smiling confidently at the massive creature before her. And the hydra, seemingly frustrated with her still standing as if nothing happened, thrusted it's one head forward, maw wide and open to devour the dragon Faunus.

All Musashi did was step off to the side to avoid its massive head, and landed a powerful side kick directly to its jaw, creating a small shockwave from the impact. When out of its daze, the hydra head looked back to Musashi, only to watch as she planted her fist directly underneath its mouth and sent its head reeling backwards with extreme force.

This was the opening we needed.

Without saying a word to one another, Bailey and I leapt out of the tree high into sky, our dash taking us directly to the now exposed neck. But as we approached, we began losing momentum; it was still far enough away. Instead of taking a chance for both of us trying to make it, I grabbed hold of Bailey's left hand, spun her around once and threw her towards the neck.

With the momentum I gave her from my throw, Bailey rocketed towards the hydra head with tremendous speed and spun once as she cleaved straight through its neck in a clean sweep, moving directly past it. It didn't need there however. I saw my partner approaching me in the air from behind, grabbed hold of her hand and gave her a boost as well, allowing her to fly high up towards the stump spin around once, and flick her hand at the neck-stump, shooting forth a jet of white flame that now seared our fifth neck.


Both Inuba and Bailey landed on the creatures body, then hopped off to join me on the ground as we took cover in the forest. Musashi however decided to stand her ground and mock the creature further. Until I forcibly dragged her back into the forest with us.

"Unhand me! I have to go kill that creature!"

"No, the two of us are going to kill that thing." I said waving to Inuba and myself, "Now that we lessened the heads, we have a chance to go for its core and finish it off for good."

"Like hell I'll agree to that!" Said Musashi with her voice raised slightly.

"I have to agree with Musashi. Even if there's only four heads now, that Drakian Hydra is still going to be tough to kill with just two people alone." Added Bailey.

"You guys still haven't seen what just the two of us can do exactly. See, we needed everyone to clear out in the first place so we could do what we do best. Which is killing things like that. Problem is, even with the amount of control we have on our powers, they're still highly destructive. Which is why we needed everyone out. With about no one here, we can cut loose a bit."

"Are you sure about this?" Asked Bailey.

"We're sure. We'd be more comfortable knowing the two of you are helping with evacuating and protecting the rest of the students. Especially with your strength ms. Ryūjinhonō. So please, will you retreat for now to help everyone else?" Pleaded my partner.

Musashi seemingly had a hard time trying to back down from the argument, but then smiled softly before chuckling.

"You have guts fox, I'll give you that. Fine then. We'll give you the spotlight for now. What?!"

We looked in the direction Musashi did and noticed that the hydra was beginning to move towards the direction of the people under evacuation, its heads focused on Ray Chroma specifically since he was the largest target with his HardLight shields.

And it did exactly that. It assaulted the shield wall Ray had set up, firing shots of its high pressure water at his shielding, some of them missing and some of them dead on with his shielding. The first few hits held up nicely, but with the constant duress, it was starting to put cracks in the violet HardLight wall.

"Back me up when you can!"

"Wait!" I heard my partner call from behind me.

But I was already off.

The hydra was picking up its pace since it seemed it was really ticked off it lost five heads. And what better to take its frustration out on than a nice big target to crush?

I kept up pace, my legs moving quickly to try and outrun the behemoth moving next to me. Eventually, I did manage to run ahead of it and summoned an Aura sword, lunging forward into a roll as I tossed the damn thing with all my might.

It flew forward a considerable distance and plunged itself into the ground about fifteen meters away from Ray and the group that were still trying to flee, but with the constant ranged attacks, it made it impossible for team RWBY, RGDS, Nori and Kaliel to escape. So I had to make my stand.

I reappeared in a stream of my white and black Aura where my Aura Sword lay and hit the ground mid-roll, rolling onto my feet into a low crouch. I stood back up and moved my sword to the side, soon taking a slow stride forward towards the creature approaching us.

Let's see what else you can do.

My slow stride turned into a quick paced run, sword lowered to my side as I went into a full on sprint towards the hydra, which took note of me and let out a loud roar with its heads flailing about wildly and angrily.

When it was getting within range, I skidded to a sudden halt, firmly planted my feet into the ground, and then swung my blade at the colossal foot trying to step on me. I pushed against it and it pushed back, but it was about to learn that this human sized person wasn't so feeble as to get squashed.

I let out a loud roar and tensed up the muscles in my arms before pushing the gigantic foot away. It tried to stomp on me once more, and I too swung my sword at its foot yet again, only this time, when I forced it back, I made the hydra skid backwards onto its feet a few meters away from me to the point its large tumbled to the ground, shaking the earth as it did.

Then, it did something unexpected. All four of its heads got close together and shot out streams of high pressure water, the streams suddenly combing together, due to their closeness, and significantly added more force to its attack.

I couldn't move out of the way since the stream would hit Ray and the others. I only had one option now. Block.

The water made strong impact with me as I plunged my sword into the ground and let both it and my body take the burnt of the powerful attack. It was difficult to breath with all the water, and very annoying to push back against this strong of a force. If I had to describe it...it was like being rapidly dragged down to the depths of the ocean, only, its was seemingly never ending.

That, or being doused by a hundred fire hoses.

All that mattered was that it was focused on my completely as it slowly forced me down to the ground since it's heads managed to rear up high enough to be blasting me from above and into the ground.

A few seconds later, the intense rush of water stopped and I lay on the ground, not moving. Was it because I was in pain? No. Was it because I was scared? Definitely no.

I was pissed now. And wanted to kill the damn thing even quicker now.

"Damn it!" I shouted as I slammed my left hand into the ground, cracking the earth underneath palm.

I heard the surprise gasping of those behind as I stood back up slowly, most, if not all of them, expecting me to have died from such and attack.

I don't drop dead so easily.

"I've had enough of your crap!" I shouted at the creature, feeling a force overtake my eyes.

I quickly looked down to confirm what was present, seeing my reflection in the settling puddle of water at my feet. The whites of my eyes, my sclerae, were now pitch black, and my bright sky blue irises now a glowing white. My pupils remained the same. So, what did this mean exactly?

My Shadow Eyes were present.

Without wasting anymore time, I stepped forward with my right foot whilst pointing my blade at the Drakian Hydra, now fully stood up and seemingly waiting for me to make my move.

That would be a mistake.

My white and black Aura had now turned pitch black as it surrounded me in numerous, violent torrents, whipping about me like fire. And then, when I swiped my sword to the side and stepped forward again with my left foot, those streams of black Aura all converged onto my person and consumed me entirely.

I felt the power flow through me and strengthen me, my senses now much sharper and far more focused than previously. It was done.

When the black Aura subsided slowly, my body was entirely encased in twisted and slightly jagged segments of black armor, all the way from my feet to my neck, where certain gaps in the armor, or second skin, glowed white. My entire head was encased in a sort of black helmet-like mask, with slanted eyeholes that showed my Shadow Eyes, two long horns on the sides of my head that stood straight, slightly curving inwards before curving outwards slightly as well. A white, jagged zigzag line formed where my mouth would be.

I had assumed my the form of my Shadow Skin, a second skin-like ability that covers my entire body and significantly boosts all of my parameters, hence why I felt my focus more sharper and clear. It's appearance was like that of a menacing black armored demon, like it was intended to be.

I noticed a difference in my sword now. The colors had reversed entirely. Where the main body and different areas were once white, were now pitch black in color, the different highlights and edges now a pure white color.

I never got to test this new form out. Now was the time for it.

I let out a hollow, echoing roar that sounded slightly distorted as it bellowed through the area for all, even the hydra to hear. And with that, I leaned forward, took a step or two, and kicked off the ground, cracking the earth under my feet as I did

I propelled myself forward at intense and blinding speed, my form gliding over the ground as I traveled across the forest floor, covering the large gap between the Drakian Hydra and myself within a matter of a few seconds. When I was at its feet, I quickly planted my feet into the earth and kicked off it once more, launching myself up into the air with blinding speed.

The hydra reacted accordingly, and spastically shot out streams of its deadly water at will in an attempt to stop me. As I continued flying in the air from the momentum I gave myself from the kick off on the ground, I became a blur of black in between each stream, disappearing and reappearing instantly between the streams, ever so higher and closer to the last four heads.

I immediately pushed past everything and now was completely above the colossal monster, it now having to look up to me in the sky to see me. Without hesitation, I raised up my sword, and with another bellowing, distorted roar, I slammed down upon the heads. But the hydra was not finished. Before my strike could connect, its four remaining heads closed in with one another and shot another combined stream of high pressure, boiling hot water.

My longsword and it's stream connected, colliding against one another as I refused to be pushed back from my place in the air, and the hydra refusing to be pushed back. I continued pushing forward as the combined streams now became dozens of new streams from making contact of my blade. I wasn't pushing any further, and it was only making me angrier.

Thankfully, my partner came to the rescue.

Soon enough, I saw nine large torrents of brilliant white flame emerge from behind the Drakian Hydra, each torrent of flame as long as one neck, and wrapped tightly around all four remaining necks, ironically now making it one head. Even so, it still continued shooting its water as I looked behind it, seeing my partner tug her katana, where the white torrents of flame emerged, back as hard as she could, only succeeding slightly.

Then, I saw Musashi and Bailey run up to her, and placed their hands wherever they could on Inuba's katana to help her pull pack the hydras tangled necks. With one mighty pull from the combined effort of the three girls, they succeeding in completely pulling back the hydra's heads and pulled back even further to completely but the massive creature on its back, completely exposing its chest for me.

Now we end this.

Without a second to spare, I backflipped in the air once with my armored legs pulled in slightly, then concentrated my now black and white Aura to my fight and kicked off, allowing me to propel forward at lighting fast speed back down to the ground where the hydra lay, unable to rear its heads up to attack me since Inuba, Bailey and Musashi still kept its heads back with Inuba's flame torrents.

As I fell, my eyes finally saw why Ruby had initially failed with her deathblow attack. It's core, or it's heart, was encased in a tough exterior shell that exuded a large source of heat, which is why Ruby's bullets could not damage it and why her weapon became unusable after striking at its core.

My sword wouldn't fail.

A few feet away from its chest now, I spread out my arms and legs and reared back my right arm that held my longsword before letting out another short roar and stabbing my sword directly in the gap in its chest, my longsword immediately piercing through the shell and its core with enough force that it sent out a massive shockwave and completely shattered the earth beneath the hydra from the immense force of my strike.

But it wasn't over. Not until after this.

Inuba already knew what I was up to and moved back with Bailey and Musashi, so that they could avoid the potential blast zone.

Now was the time to use it.

I quickly placed my entire hand over the crossguard of my longsword and spoke the words of my deadliest technique.

"Devouring Light!"

Immediately when I spoke those two words, black and white Aura instantly flowed from my sword into a massive, violent torrent of Aura that instantaneously melted through and dug into the hydra's body. The massive torrent of destructive, super-densified Aura grew to larger proportions, taking on a jagged, thin cone-shape as it already passed through the colossal Grimm and tore into the earth, making the ground tremble and quake with great intensity that it made it very difficult for those in the area to stand.

After a few seconds, the violent torrent of Aura had died down, the quaking soon stopping shortly after. All that was left of the now dead hydra was a heaping, smoldering pile of black flesh and white plated bone that slowly seeped into the deep chasm my technique, Devouring Light, had created.

My armored feet soon touched the ground, letting out a hollow, echoing thud as I stood back up straight and watched the massive body slowly dissolve and fade away into nothingness.

Thinking there was no more pending threats, I raised up my clawed, armored left hand and let the tips of my fingers touch the metallic facemask that covered my entire head. When I quickly dragged my fingers down and behind my back, the menacing, imposing form I took on had immediately dissolved into wisps of black Aura and faded into the moonlit night sky, reverting me back to my normal, human-like form.

Giving a final glance at the dissolving mass of what used to be a colosal Drakian Hydra, I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, my eyes drifting to my longsword soon after to see it had reverted to its normal colors of white being the main body with black highlights instead of the opposite. It was...a strange effect to observe.

Maybe it symbolized my change of nature? I didn't quite know. Nor did I really care at the moment. That fight wasn't exactly exhausting for me, but it was really annoying to deal with.

I heard Inuba run up to me and ask in a hushed tone, "Master, is everything well?"

"Yeah, all good here."

"Thank goodness."

Unexpectedly, I soon found my longtime partners arms wrapped around my body in a tight embrace while burying her head and...well...large "objects" into my chest. Almost as if she had just realized what she had done, her hug only lasted for about five seconds before she pulled away quickly, red faced and embarrassed.

Was hugging me that embarrassing for her?

Looking away from Inuba, I turned my attention back towards the cliffside, seeing that Ray Chroma had long since dropped his barrier. Oddly enough, RWBY, RGDS, Nori and Kaliel still had not evacuated and remained where they were, their eyes glued on me. Which meant...that they saw me and all of what I just did. And there was no doubt in my mind Bailey and Musashi had seen as well.

"Great…" I said with a sigh, "I'm gonna need to come up with an explanation for what they all just saw."

"You make it seem as though they might react negatively to your...alternate form." Said Inuba looking at everyone else alongside me.

"If you saw me in that form for the first time ever, how exactly would you react? Eager to walk up and shake my hand? Or terrified after seeing something so...dark and demonic looking?"

"I'd hug you like...l-like I did just now for saving my life. Appearances do not entirely summarize the makings of a person. One could have an imposing form like yours, but could still be the kindest type of person there is."

"One, we both unfortunately know not too many people have that same way of thinking. And two...well...I don't think there's anyone else as kind as caring as you out there."

"W-W-W-What?!" I heard my partner squeak as she slapped her hands on the sides of her reddened face.

I...wanted to move forward...but found myself unable to. My feet felt heavy...like they didn't want to move forward towards everyone else. Was I-?

"It'll be alright, Master." Said Inuba stepping up to my side, "I'll be there with you."

I could only smile at my partner's kind words as she gave me enough courage to move forward. Albeit a slow pace.

Bailey and Musashi rounded around the last dissolving remains of the Drakian Hydra, following behind us as we walked back towards our fellow students. I was still unsure of what to say, what they would say, and how I would respond to them. But I felt more at ease knowing Inuba would be there to help me explain to the others what they just saw.


Hey everyone, sorry for the lateness of this chapter. I've been really sick for the past three days, and that alone made it hard to do anything at all really except rest. I'm still a bit sick now, but to a lesser extent after three days, so I was able to work on editing this chapter. That aside, for those of you who read Veil of the Aether, or those of you from VotA coming here to see what's up, VotA is on a very short break for the time being since my partner in writing the collab, Xera, is on vacation. We've already mapped out everything we need and how we're going to write the next chapter, but writing it together makes it much more easier, especially for cases of character dialogue, actions, mannerisms, etc. More than likely, we'll be back with VotA next Saturday or Sunday, so be prepped for it.

Really all I had to say there, so with that...

I highly recommend you all go check out the freaking amazing collab Xera Stark and I are currently working on concerning his story XSRA's Flame. His story overall is absolutely fantastic and is a must read, so I suggest you read from the very start. But, if you're just interested in the awesome collab our two minds put together have created, then mozy on down to chapter 53 of his story for the start. I've said it once and will say it again, you won't want to miss out on this story, and especially this exciting story arc we've created.

Not only that, but check out his other awesome and highly entertaining story Rogue Huntsmen as I mentioned above. It's just pure awesomeness bundled into one story. Trust me, you'll love it. And hey! Go check out HydraFLow's story Lost in Binary! It's equally as awesome and entertaining, definitely worth spending the time reading and enjoying.

Questions? Ask them anytime. I will try to answer without spoiling.

Please remember to review, follow and favorite this story if you really enjoyed it and want to continue seeing more of it. And hey, even tell others about this story! Remember that your support is what helps make this story grow even larger and what helps improve it. With that, I bid you all an excellent week/weekend!

Bye-bye now!