Of Rabbits and Dragon Masks

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This is stupid…

I let out a sigh as I walked out of the parking garage where I parked the Cadillac Ciel, which we took the time to name. Yes, name. Her name is now officially Primarius. A distinguished name for a distinguished and elegant car. I mean, we were going to go places with her. So we had to give her name.

I twirled the ring loop holding the small key-remote around my finger a few times before tossing it up in the air and letting the loop fall on my pinky finger as I caught it, twirling it around a bit longer before pocketing it in my jeans.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling, I stretched my arms before lowering them, where I then took a quick glance of the street before me before walking across.

I can't die, but getting hit by a car still sucks. A bus is even worse.

Now let's see…

I brought my HoloScroll display as I walked on the sidewalk, easily remembering the route to the store in Vale I was heading for, but checking the grocery list once more to be certain.

One soda case of pineapple special spice for Ciel, one soda case of grapefruit, two soda cases, one for me and one for Inuba, of cherry limeade, and a three pack box of 1.5 liter milk cartons. We have a decently sized fridge in the corner of our room, but we still shouldn't overfill it.

Then again, Ciel and I eat like absolute monsters. Monsters in the sense we can eat a lot. Leo can too, but he doesn't eat as much as we do.

I was getting close to the entrance of the store, but for a while now, I couldn't help but feel like I was being followed by someone. Who'd want to follow me around?

Oh right… I just remembered… There's been quite a few girls trying for my attention lately. Most of their attempts have been rather nice. Some a bit creepy, and others...well...a tad bit disturbing… And this has been the first few days…

Thankfully Ciel chases them away… Though I'm pretty sure more than once Inuba herself was about ready to chase them away herself. I guess Ciel likes the job more though.

It didn't take me long to find everything on our list, especially since the soda cases and milk were close to each other. Once I paid the clerk, I was off once more in the streets of Vale during the night, it's bright lights and buildings shining brilliantly as people walked by, enshrouded by the glamour and beauty of the streets.

Peace is always nice. But unfortunately, others don't agree so much with the idea of peace. That's why people like us need to work hard to keep the peace. Still...these days, it's getting harder and harder to do so.

Ah, it'll be fine. We'll make it.

...

My stupidity sense is tingling.

Not too far away, I could hear some mindless rabble of idiots in an alleyway. My curiosity gets the best of me at times, hence why I often get into trouble now and then.

Oh well, can't be helped. Let's see what's going on.

I moved a bit quicker than usual in case there was trouble going on, but still remained behind the cover of the wall, peeking my head slightly to look in.

"Come on, it'll be fun. If you come with us, you'll definitely be guaranteed a good time."

"Will I now?" Asked a feminine voice coyly.

Oh, so it's one of these types of situations.

"And what kind of fun can I expect from guys like you?" Spoke the voice again.

She seems calm… Oddly so… There's like…five guys in that alleyway. Either she's calm because she's trying to call their bullshit, or is expecting someone to come running if she needs to scream, or maybe…

One the guys slammed his hand against the wall where the girl was supposed to be, but given there was another guy blocking my view of her, I couldn't see what she looked like.

"The kind of fun that can last all day and night...if you're lucky enough that is…"

Someone's awfully confident…

"Oh? So you think you can handle me? Or did you bring along the other four to compensate?"

Damn. She's a snappy one… I mean really, she just doesn't care.

"You'll find out soon enough." Said the man chuckling along with his pals as he placed a hand under what I guessed was her chin.

Uh-oh, bad touch. Time to step in.

The only noise they heard was my footsteps as I approached them, all of their eyes turning towards me.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Just a passerby is all. I don't think you should be doing that though, since I'm pretty sure she doesn't want to hang out with the rest of you."

"Oh yeah? And how do you know that?"

"For instance, her tone of voice. She's annoyed she got stopped and pulled away by trashy manwhores like you guys."

"What did you say?!"

"The second is that she doesn't care about a single one of you in anyway. To her, you're all just trash too."

"Cut this guy so he knows who he's dealing with."

Their clothes are almost the same. Black suits and red ties. Only, one of them wore a white suit and black tie, which meant he had to be their leader. That and white suit was the one trying to lean in to our still unknown potential victim.

More importantly, one of them was walking up to me quickly. With the way he positioned his arm, he was moving for a stab.

That made this much easier.

I calmly set aside my bags of groceries and stood up straight, allowing the man to come closer until he went for a stab at my chest.

All I did was raise up my hand and catch his knife between my index finger and thumb, grasping it tightly as the man stood there in awe. Then, with a little application of force, I snapped the blade easily and dropped it to the floor like a pin. Quickly grabbing his hand that held the handle of his broken blade.

I squeezed hard enough to make him let go of the handle with a strong yelp, allowing me to catch it before I let go of his arm, spun around and delivered a powerful side kick to his face, blowing him away completely as he flew overhead of his allies and out into the street on the opposite end of the alleyway.

Terrified by what they saw, they all turned to look in my direction once again, as finally the one blocking my view allowed me to see who exactly was their target.

She was about 5'4, six inches shorter than me, and had a slender figure between petite and endowed, though a bit more lithe and slender. Though, I could tell she had some curves given the clothes she was wearing.

Speaking of which, all she wore was a pair of form fitting black nylon-spandex compression shorts with a 1 inch inseam, showing off her rather lovely legs. And looking from the side, well...let's just say it put nice emphasis on her figure. In addition, she wore a dark blue sleeveless, thin strap shirt that had a bit of a longer split rear tail and a thin fabric hood that currently was down, and white multi strap, open sandal-shoes with low heels, the straps rising above her ankles slightly. She also had a small white purse of sorts still hanging on her shoulder.

As for more on her features, she had fair colored white skin, and most noticeably, ice blue irises and chin length, ice blue hair, her bangs on the sides of her head almost dangling to her shoulders. The back of her hair was short, just covering the nape of her neck. Looking at her hair, it was neat, but had a slight messiness to it, almost like Inuba's.

Speaking of being almost like Inuba, there was another noticeable feature to her that drew my attention, and it was the two ice blue rabbit ears atop her head. She was a Faunus…

Usually, situations like these, it's to bully another Faunus or cause them harm. But these guys are looking to take "Faunus lover" to a new level.

Our eyes soon found each other, and her sharp gaze she presented for others softened, as if they relaxed when they saw mine. Then...she smiled at me…

"You little bastard! Who the hell do you think you are?!"

There's four of them left. Should be easy unless-

"Do you know who you're messing with?!"

He pulls out a gun. Great.

Option A, take the gunfire and spook the hell out of them. Option B, simply kick their ass and horrify them completely.

I'm liking Option B since it doesn't involve removing bullets from my body later. Hopefully.

One step forward was all it took for the man to take aim and fire at me, but before he pulled the trigger, I predicted his trajectory and moved my body to the side, quickly tossing the broken blade handle into the stomach of the man with the gun, sending him spiraling towards the dumpster behind him as his lower back hit it and flipped him backwards into the dumpster.

That looked like it hurt.

The other two were smart enough to run, but white suit stayed where he was and whipped out a gun of his own. Only he didn't point it at me.

Crap.

He brought in the unnamed rabbit Faunus girl and pointed it at her head instead.

"Listen…"

"No you listen, punk!" He said cutting me off, "I don't know who you are or where the hell you came from, but you better get the hell out of here, or I'll shoot her!"

"And after all the trouble you went through to grab her? I don't think so. Besides...what makes you think I'd let you do that? Or better yet...that I can't get to you beforehand?"

He seemed to be trembling a bit. Then again, the look I gave him was one of those "You are so dead" looks. I'm very good at those when I need be.

Alright, this idiot might pull the trigger on accident because I've got him scared. I'll cover the side of her head with a small barrier, and use an Aura sword to-

Did she just yawn?

He took note of that too.

"Alright. We're done here."

Before I could say anything, she forced her head back into white suit's jaw and forced him off her. She then grabbed his arm, slung him up into the air while still holding onto him before slamming him back down into the ground, making cracks in the ground.

Damn she's strong…

"You may want to look away for a bit." She told me with a smile.

"Um, why?"

She wasn't going to actually kill him, was she?

"Well…" she said grabbing the man's legs and spreading them apart a bit, "You're a guy, so this might be uncomfortable for you to watch."

As soon as I saw her raise up her leg, I immediately turned around and winced silently as I heard the strong stomping noises behind me along with the agonizing cries of white suit.

The stomping continued for about twenty seconds.

"There, all done."

I slowly turned around and found the unknown girl walking towards me with a satisfied smile on her face. Looking behind her, I could see white suit was out cold.

He was an utter douche, but I seriously hope she didn't crush his grapes to the point where he died from extreme pain.

"He's not dead. Though, when he wakes up, I'm pretty sure he'd be wishing he was."

"I think anyone would wish they were dead after that. I mean really, you messed him up."

"Aw, thank you." She replied with a simple sweetness to her tone as she skipped over to me, "So...who art thou, my brave, shining knight in armor?"

"Like I said, just a passerby. No thanks required." I said picking up my groceries to leave.

"Aw? Going so soon?" She said as her rabbit ears rather cutely folded against her head while giving me puppy dog eyes.

"I've got siblings with a voracious appetite for their respective sodas. Knowing one of them, she'll be bugging some poor random around campus."

"Ah… Now I see why you got some moves. You go to Beacon, don't you?"

"Who knows?"

"Mmmm… You're no fun."

"I'm plenty of fun. I just shouldn't talk to strangers about personal details."

"Why? Afraid I'm gonna stalk you? Steal your clothes to sniff them and add them to a personal collection shrine?"

Either she's like that or she's messing with me right now.

"I'm totally kidding. I'm not into that kind of stuff. If anything…" she said as she linked her arm around mine while pressing herself against me, "I prefer a more...direct approach."

Direct, huh..?

"Come on. You give me your name, and I'll give you mine."

I don't think there's much harm behind it. But after that little show in the alleyway, she's got me slightly intimidated with her advanced pain techniques.

"I'm Dante."

"Dante? Just plain and simple? No last name or anything?"

"None." I replied evenly as we continued walking down the street, allowing my new companion to guide me about.

"That's cool. I guess. But still, I have to ask, is the reason you don't have a last name because you're an illegitimate child of the Schnee family?"

I almost laughed at that. But a small chuckle sufficed.

"I get that a lot. In fact, I'm thinking Weiss Schnee herself has been working up the courage to ask me a few questions."

"Oh? She's going to Beacon too? Nice."

"I gave you some details. What about you?"

"Interested in me are you?"

Well, when you're out and about and reverse the tables on your potential rapists by stamping out their bosses future generations, yeah, I get a little interested. Definitely not because you're cute or anything.

Maybe...

"Hey, you said you'd tell me about yourself a little." I replied.

"That I did. Alright tough guy, I'll drop only my name for you. Anything else happens after the second date."

What is she even-? Wait, did she say second date?!

"Elisia Fey is my name. As for anything else about me-"

"Second date…" I muttered.

"Ehhh~? Were you expecting a second date?" She asked pressing herself against me further, still sporting her coy and fox-like smile.

Not particularly. I was probably going to think about it if you asked. It'd be rude to turn you down otherwise.

Especially if she offered.

"Not really."

Taking a glance at her, she almost seemed saddened with my response.

"So, where are we going?" I asked as I continued allowing Elisia to lead me.

"To the airship docks, if you don't mind."

"You must live a good distance away if you need to get an airship dock."

"I might. Why? Interested in coming home with me?"

"I would if I didn't have to go back to Beacon."

"Oh~? What's this? Are you trying to hit on me? Heh, that almost made my heart skip a beat, but now that I think about it, that won't be happening so soon."

This girl…

"What's wrong?" She asked me.

"I'm just getting tired of your fox-like act."

"What? Oh please, I'm just being myself."

Playing around with people is being yourself?

"Besides, you're acting pretty foxy yourself, Dante."

In what way? Being secretive a bit about who I am in front of a newly acquainted person? Either way, I was going to sing your tune.

"What? Oh please, I'm just being myself." I replied exactly as she did to me not too long ago, only a bit more monotonous.

She pouted at my response. What did she expect?

Elisia only sighed next as she loosened her grip on me slightly.

"So, you're a student at Beacon, huh… How have you liked it so far?"

"It's pretty great so far. Probably most exciting thing yet was the Drakian Hydra we handled about two days ago."

"Whoa, you took part in that?"

Ah… I probably shouldn't say I killed the thing.

"Yeah… Just lobbed off a few heads with the help of some friends then took it down right after. Wasn't easy in the slightest with all that high pressure boiling water it was shooting at us."

"I can imagine… So, did you kill it?"

"Well, I helped with-"

"I'm asking if you finished it off."

"Why is that so important to you?"

"Because I can tell you're pretty strong."

"Just like that?" I asked questioning her methods of determining my strength.

"Just like that. It's why I asked if you pretty much killed the Hydra. Seriously though, why not try to talk about it more and be proud of yourself? I mean, killing a Drakian Hydra isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world to do." She stated as her gaze drifted towards the streets ahead of us.

"I'm not one who enjoys bragging unless for the sake of a joke."

"Oh? Super handsome, strong, humble... I think I'm starting to warm up to you."

"Is that right?" I asked her, shooting her a quizzical glance.

"Come on. Pretty boy like you doesn't get girls asking for your number or a date any other day?"

Well… In high school, yeah, but this isn't high school.

Even so, there's no question that there's been a few girls following me about, asking for my help, or other things at Beacon. That and...well...a lot of the girls there at the academy are actually pretty cute…

"Not really." I replied.

"Eh~? I think you're lying about that one." She said with her now infamous smile, "Wait, are you-?"

"No, that's not it." I quickly replied, realizing what she was about to ask, "I'm just not that focused on girls for the moment."

"Hmmm~ You should probably hurry though. The longer you wait, the higher the chances of the right one slipping away from you."

The right one huh..?

Is there such a person for someone like me..?

"Alright, pretty sensitive topic, so I'll just drop it."

"You're pretty considerate." I complimented.

"I know, right?"

We seem to be getting along with each other really well.

"Who might that be?"

I looked to Elisia quickly before following her gaze to see someone standing ahead of us.

All I could see was a man standing before us a short distance away, sporting a tattered black cloak that covered his entire being. From his feet, I saw he was wearing silvery colored zori sandals along with black tabi socks that rose above his ankles quite a bit. His cloak had long, wide cuff sleeves that hid his hands.

From what else I saw, he did have his black hood up, but the entirety of his head was covered by a small, white mask-helmet made of what looked like bone with some red markings and details. But what drew my attention the most was the shape of the helmet.

It resembled that of a Grimm-like dragon. The horns remained on the upper parts of the sides of the mask and were slightly slicked back in a diagonal angle. The eyeholes of the mask were slanted and pitch black inside, no visible glow or anything coming from within.

"Cosplayer friend of yours?" Asked Elisia as she let go of me.

"None that I know of." I said moving my bags over to her, "Mind holding these for a bit?"

"Sure..?" She replied taking my bags.

"Thanks."

My steps forward were slow and steady for the purpose of preparing for any attack when he moved. But instead of full on charging the quote on quote "Dragon Guy", I stopped just a few feet away from him and waited in case he had anything to say for himself. But silence was all that was had.


(A/N Imagine "Dragon Guy" with the voice of Doug Erholtz, who voiced Gin Ichimaru from Bleach and Hazama/Terumi from BlazBlue.)

"So, what's your game?" I asked as I stood patiently, seeing if he was going to move at anytime.

"Game?" He replied, his voice slightly higher pitched than mine, "Well, I do suppose my reasons for being here can be similar to that of a game really."

"Is that right?"

"If anything, I'd like to measure your strength for the purposes of knowing. And entertainment on the side."

Entertainment?

"You seem like an interesting fellow. So before I move on elsewhere for the day, I'd at least like the opportunity of a battle." He told me.

I have a feeling even if I said no that he'd chase me down. Only, this isn't a case like with Musashi. This guy...was much more serious...and ominous. The feeling I was getting from his presence alone was something that made me alert and wary of him.

I wasn't getting home tonight without crossing swords with this guy.

"If anything, I'd like to go home tonight. But I get the feeling you're not gonna let me off that easily."

"Nope." He simply replied.

I only sighed as I lowered my hand entirely and opened up my palm, white and black Aura forming in my hands before taking on the form of my longsword, it's white blade shining under the glow of the street lights.

Then, the Dragon Masked man reached within the confines of his cloak, slowly drawing out his tool of destruction. It was a weapon like mine, a longsword. Only, compared to the elegance of my sword, his took on a more sinister appearance.

The entirety of his longsword was colored black and looked like a weapon made from bone. The blade itself was smoothed and refined compared to the rest of the design of the weapon. The handle showed off that more sinister aspect, the cross branches resembling crimson red muscle fibers coiled together, where at the center where they met was encased in black bone like plating in the shape of a diamond.

There were also two prongs on the ends of branches facing upwards towards the sky, resembling curved, sharp teeth. The majority of the handle looked similar to the branches in which it resembled crimson, coiled together muscle fibers. There where two sections of the handle encased in black material, most likely for gripping the weapon. The pommel had a similar curved sharp tooth design to the prongs on the ends of the branches.

What the hell was this weapon? More importantly, who the heck is this guy?

I waited in silent anticipation, constantly squeezing and relaxing my grip on my sword as I kept my eyes trained and focused on my soon to be opponent.

The few people near us began to clear out as fast as they could, and using the reflection off the window of a car, I could see Elisia remaining where she was, only moving off to the side to give us room to fight.

She was intent on staying and watching. Which begged the question as to whether or not she knew this Dragon Guy. Then again, she was just as surprised as I was, so I don't think that's the case.

Everyone that could leave had gone as the Dragon Masked man and I had the entire street block to ourselves, the night wind breezing through the area briefly as a few leaves drifted around us.

I only smirked at the idea of his "go" signal. It was something I've seen many a time before now.

The stranger made the the first move as soon as the last of the leaves flew past us, and I darted forward to meet him head on.

Instead of clashing with him head on, I moved past his downwards cut and swung down on him with great force, only to find my sword blocked by his once he twirled it around into backhand style.

We remained still for a short while until the stranger pushed me back and we began striking at one another. He and I moved in roundabouts with each swing, only clashing for mere moments before moving in to strike at each other again.

Once more we clashed, the sharpened edges of our blades tearing at one another as sparks flew from the zone of contact. Yet again I was pushed back with great force whilst sliding on my heels to a stop. As I stopped, I grasped my sword with both hands and repositioned myself back into a stance.

"My my, you're pretty good. Probably one of the best I've seen in a long while."

"You go around picking fights with everyone?" I asked keeping my stance.

"Not really. But I can't help but want to test one's abilities if they look strong. I travel quite a lot, so it's really the only source of entertainment I get."

"Sorry pal, but I'm not interested in play dates."

"Now now, don't be such a spoilsport. You should be having too."

But I'm not.

"Oh well. I guess it can't be helped."

My eyes widened when I heard the Dragon Masked man directly behind me and turned my head around to see him swinging at my neck from the side.

The scorch of his swing was so strong that when it crashed into me, the sheer force shattered the front of the store next to me as brick and mortar flew out into the street with a massive dust cloud that obscured my form.

He thinks he got me. But he was wrong.

This guy was strong. And if anything, I think this is an emergency situation.

It was time to use it.

The dust cleared and I heard the stranger slightly gasp in surprise when he saw I blocked his strike, but that wasn't all that had happened.

I had donned my Shadow Skin.

My now black sclerae, glowing white iris eyes stared back at the stranger as my own sword was raised to the side, blocking his own but still forcing my own blade into my now armored hide.

"What's wrong..?" I called out in a hollow, echoing voice, "Didn't think I could stop your blade?"

The Dragon Man pulled back quickly, but I wasn't going to let him escape so easily. Since he was trying to dodge backwards, that left him wide open for me. So I lashed out my sword from below in an upwards slash, unleashing a wave of black Aura outlined in white that crashed into the stranger.

My Aura Wave attack, Devouring Light, tore through the street while taking the man with it, crashing into an empty store a few meters ahead and creating a decently sized explosion.

He shouldn't be getting up from that. In fact, I think it completely destroyed-

"Wow… That was pretty scary."

Are you serious?!

"I better deal with you while I'm still able to." I heard him call out as the dust settled, seeing that I only slightly damaged his right arm that held his sword and burnt away a part of his cloak's sleeve to reveal a burnt, pale hand,"This might get troublesome otherwise."

I tried ignoring his words, attempting to understand what exactly was going on.

Technically, it's impossible to simply block a Devouring Light while I'm Shadow Skinned and take little damage, especially since Devouring Light used in tandem with Shadow Skin seriously juices up the attack more than it does normally without it.

Damn… I keep forgetting I'm not as strong as I used to be when I had my old powers. Of course my abilities are going to weaker than they are usually since they're new powers and abilities…

But to think they're this weak…

No, it's not entirely because my powers are too weak. It may just be that he's too strong. That...and maybe because he isn't human or Faunus…

Are there other beings besides humanity and Faunus on Remnant?

"I'm quite surprised that you withstood my strike, there's been only a few who could actually do that. I guess I'll have to pick up the pace a bit if I'm going to beat you."

Without another word, I found myself under rapid assault from the stranger as he struck at me relentlessly, forcing me on the defensive as he constantly made me quickly step back. He struck and struck and struck at me as I lost ground continuously, even with my Shadow Skin still on.

"That's an impressive sword you have there! I feel as though my could break at any moment if I keep striking it against yours!"

Glass, trees, anything caught around us as we moved up and down the block was instantly torn to shreds by our strikes, splinters and shards moving around or past us slowly enough that one would think them snowflakes.

One wouldn't think to guess we were moving so quickly that time almost slowed down around us.

I had to end this soon…

Finally managing a strike in between my constant state of defense, I swung hard enough to send the Dragon Masked man far back enough to give me space, only to dodge another stab of his followed by a horizontal slash.

Avoiding the slash, I backflipped onto a lamppost nearby, only for the Dragon Man to cut through it like butter, leaving a heated slash in the metal as the post fell. He wasted no time by kicking the post I still crouched on, sending both me and it high into the sky.

Letting go, I kicked off the post with enough strength to make it a deadly spear that would have pierced my opponent had he not moved, so instead, my makeshift spear embedded itself into the concrete sidewalk below.

I was now at a disadvantage, something my opponent made abundantly clear as he swung at me sideways and sent me soaring despite blocking his attack.

I was insensitive to pain, so I only felt slight tingles across my entire body as I crashed through a building. When I was finished being sent through the structure, I flipped once in the air to reorient myself to the ground, my feet touching the ground as I skidded backwards on my heels, both my armored claws and sword digging into the ground of the new street to slow myself down to a halt.

This was getting out of hand… All I wanted was soda and milk. On the plus side, I met and talked with a girl. Downside is that I'm being attacked by this bastard…

I looked around quickly and noticed it was a bit brighter outside, then saw rays of sunlight beginning to touch over the city.

It must have been around 5 am if it's getting light outside. And I left Beacon at 4.

Wait, that presence…

I turned my head in the direction of the eerie and overwhelming presence I felt behind me, seeing the last person I expected to see tonight.

Niro fucking Ezdeil.

I was staring at him and he was tearing right back at me. But I am Shadow Skinned, so he shouldn't recognize me.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He asked lowly.

Crap…

"U-Um… You must have me confused for someone else…" I replied.

"Assuming that level of senseless ignorance of others can get you killed, Dante…"

Damn it, he knows it's me!

I heard the crunching of glass and turned my head to the front, watching the Dragon Masked man emerged from the gap in the building he forced me through, stopping just a few feet away from myself and Niro.

"You two on a date?" Asked Niro, glancing between us.

"Honestly man, I just went out to buy milk and soda when this guy came out of nowhere..."

Which is basically the truth of the matter.

"Hello there!" said the stranger rather cheerfully as he waved to Niro.

With that, I heard the crunching of Niro's boots as he began walking, "You two have fun. I hear ferry rides are quite romantic at these early hours of the morning."

That jerk..!

"W-Wait, you're just leaving?!" I said attempted to get his attention, maybe have him grow a heart so that he might help me.

"Not my problem."

Ciel was right. He's a real douche.

"Thanks a lot you jerk!"

"Well, well…" said the stranger as he looked back to me, "He's certainly a strange fellow."

"I'm not the one cosplaying a dead lizard in the middle of Vale." Said Niro as his voice carried over to us while walking away from us.

All I heard the Dragon Masked man do was laugh heartily at the insult.

Great, there goes my chance of ending this quickly…

"Alright then. We're done for now."

What now?

"Y-You can't be serious!" I said standing back up, "You attack me out of the blue and just go when you feel like it?!"

"I've had my fill for the day is all." He said sheathing his sword back within his cloak, "So I'm retiring from the fight."

Despite him turning around and walking away, I still kept my eyes trained on him, just in case his walking away was a feint in preparation for a sneak attack. But...I couldn't help but feel maybe he was saying at it was.

The fight was done for now.

"You're strong. There's no question about it. But you've got a ways to go still."

He was right. I knew he was. Unlike now, I'm not as arrogant or ignorant as I used to be. I'm weaker than what I was previously. But until now, I don't think I ever truly recognized realized the reality of it. Being weak.

If I'm going to take on whatever the hell is on this World, I'm going to need to get stronger. Keeping practicing, keep training, keep learning new abilities and tricks. I'll need to do all these and more. And luckily...I'm going to an Academy just to do that.

"Don't expect this to be the end." He said stopping momentarily, "You've piqued my interest, my curiosity. That's something rarely anyone can do. Because of that, I'll be seeing more of you, and you'll be seeing more of me. Bye bye now." The stranger said with a wave before turning a corner.

With him out of sight, I finally relaxed my guard and let my weapon dematerialize before quickly walking into an alleyway nearby. My Shadow Skin quickly turned into black Aura and dissolved from my person, small wisps of black emerging from my body as my armored form quickly vanished.

"Hell of a Friday morning walk…" I breathed out as I looked back from where I came.

"I'll say."

My head jolted towards the voice of Elisia as I saw her standing in front of me, an eyebrow raised in unison with that sly smile of hers as she raised up my grocery bags I handed her earlier.

"You saw everything, didn't you?" I asked simply.

"Yup."

I only let out a sigh as I walked towards her and took back my bags, following her out of the alleyway.

"That cosplayer was totally kicking your ass."

"You wish." I told her as she giggled at my response.


Once Elisia and I cleared out of the area, we were on approach to the airship docks once again the same way we were before; her clinging to me tightly.

"Any particular reason for this arrangement?" I asked her.

"My maiden-esque hear was set aflutter earlier with such a fighting taking place not too far from me! My legs would give out if I let go of my brave hero!"

Part of me thinks she's just messing with me for the sake of a joke.

The other part…

"Yeah yeah…"

"What, don't believe me?" She asked with her sly smile.

"Don't know. You're too tricky to simply read on a first encounter."

"Hmmm… Are you subtly trying to say we should meet up again?"

"That's not-"

"Monday at 3pm. Be at the airdocks and we'll see where we go from there."

Is she forcefully setting up a date?

I snapped out of my thought as I realized we reached the airdocks, the two of us staring at the ships beginning to dock for the early morning transport.

"What makes you think I'll show?" I asked her.

"Because…" she said placing her index finger on my lips as she leaned in close, "I can tell you're the kind of guy who would never stand up a girl."

We've only just me and she now knows more about me than I do her. Brilliant.

"So..." she said letting me go and skipping a few feet forward, "I'll see you then. And maybe if lucky enough, before then."

Hahaha… Lucky enough she says… For who exactly?

"Sure, I guess."

She only giggled to my response before walking up to me once more. What else could she possibly-?

Moving quickly to my side, I felt her place her lips against my cheek to give me a decently long kiss before she drew back, smiling at me before giving me a wave goodbye and heading inside one the ships.

I moved my hand and touched the cheek she kissed, letting it sit there for a few moments before I let out a sigh.

"Honestly… That girl…"

I watched the ship take off, moving quickly towards the other parts of Vale with the morning rays of sunlight following at the back of the ship.

Still… She was pretty interesting. Now that I think about it, she could have easily taken care of those guys in the alley by herself without a problem. Maybe she let me handle them to see what I was made of? I don't know anymore with her…

Anyway, I have to get back. Ciel and Leo are going to be up, Inuba may be up by the time I get back, and…

I just had a sudden realization.

My car was parked all the way opposite of where I was currently…

Damn it...


Boy oh boy! New characters! Both of which are important to the story. So you'll be seeing a lot of them in the future. As for the Dragon Masked man, I always imagined him having the voice of the sly and amazing Gin Ichimaru. It just fits perfectly in my opinion. I only wanted to say that, 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!