Of Murders and Ghosts
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"Seriously, is he okay?" Ciel asked.
I'm fine.
"I'm sure it's nothing. Then again…"
You're worrying over nothing Inuba.
"Maybe exhaustion is starting to hit him?" Leo pondered.
I'm not tired either, thanks.
"He… Looks to be in good health… Mentally and physically I mean."
Again, thank you for your evaluation Inuba, still not needed.
Honestly, this is all because I said I was getting bored of homework.
"Guys, I'm fine, alright?"
"No way, we need to check you out to make sure you're actually our brother."
"Indeed. This sudden change of attitude is worrying…"
"What are you..?"
"If you're actually our brother, you'd remember that you told the two of us if there was anything 'out of left field' weird happening with you, potentially assume it's not you. If that makes sense…"
Okay, looks like the imposter protocol I tried setting in place didn't exactly work too well… Need to work on it.
"Look, when you guys have done as much homework as I have, you just...get bored of it after a while. It's like if you drink nothing but apple juice for extensive periods time, you just don't feel like drinking it at all for a long while."
"Mmmm… He's got a point you know…" Ciel said.
I did my fair share of homework in high school back in Primordial. Homework here may be way way way easier and less time consuming, but it still gets boring after a while.
What else to do then? I could do some training with Devouring Light… It does need improvement in a lot of areas since it's technically a new technique, but of the same variation. That, and maybe figure out some new tricks with my Shadow Skin…
But there was also something else on my mind too.
That guy in forest that died during initiation.
I did some extensive digging as best I could at first, but things were really weird. They say the cause of death was from the extensive wounds he suffered from the Grimm...but something just doesn't add up. This guy, Kitsuki's partner to be, was supposed to be a professional of sorts. Not as good as Pyrrha Nikos, whom I've seen a lot of on television, but still pretty damn good.
So how did he get killed by a simple pack of low tier Grimm?
...
An idea came to mind.
If I could check the autopsy report, I could maybe find any irregularities that might point me in the direction of a clue, or something of the sort. If not, then I'd have to explore the area in the forest where he died.
"I'm gonna step out for a bit."
"What?! But the Grimm Hunter World Beta is gonna be released in a few hours!" Ciel explained to me.
"I'll be back before then."
"Would you like me to accompany you?" Inuba asked standing from her seat on the bed.
"Nah, where I'm going is gonna be pretty boring. Just sit tight for now."
"As you wish then…" she said, her fox ears drooping a bit.
Hrmmm… Maybe she wants to go out a bit more? I don't blame her, there's a few things I'd like to see here and there, and we haven't exactly been doing much besides school work and hanging out back in our dorm.
"Tell you what, how about we go see a movie or something tomorrow since it's Friday?"
Her fox ears immediately shot up, "Really?! I-I mean, are you certain? I don't wish to disturb you or-"
"Ah, it's alright. We don't go outside much anyway. An outing for all of us, sound good?"
"Movie? Sweet? Ice cream? Just as sweet if we can go." Ciel mentioned.
"Sure. Back in a bit then."
I left the room with my usual attire of grey jeans and black shoes with white soles, but instead of wearing the zip up hoodie, I left it behind and simply wore my black long sleeved shirt.
"The totally perfect Dante sick of homework?! I'm shocked!"
Oh damn… It's her…
I turned to confront my fears, seeing Elisia Fey leaning against a wall near my team's room.
Her...attire was different. A light blue sleeveless blouse and a pair of blue jean short shorts.
She has a thing for those, doesn't she?
"And you're here for..?"
"Mmmm, see the dorms and stuff. Talk to some of the students. Hang out with you to annoy you endlessly."
That last bit I figured out for myself…
"You're gonna have to take a pass on annoying me today. I've got stuff to do today."
She gave me a mock gasp, "The entirely perfect Dante has something to do for once?!"
"Is annoying people all you're good for?"
"Nope. But it can be a specialty of mine when I want." She said winking at me, "Take me with."
"Look, this isn't the kind of thing where I can just randomly take someone. Which is why I'm going alone right now." I said walking away, the rabbit eared girl following behind.
"Come one, just tell me what you're up to. Maybe I can help in some way?"
…
She could be useful in someway… I think…
"If you're gonna help, then you should know what I'm up to."
"Something naughty?"
"As if." I said as she giggled at me, "I'm looking into Maroon Alister's death."
"Hotshot from Vacuo?"
Is that how people are going to reference him..?
"Killed by Grimm right? What's to look into?" She asked me as we left the dormitory.
"That's the thing. He's supposed to be good, at least good enough not to be taken down by a simple pack."
"When you put it that way, it does sound a bit suspicious…"
"The current theories I'm working with is that someone targeted him, or they were targeting his partner, Kitsuki."
"Aw, the cute and tiny fox?"
Was that genuine concern I heard?
"The way I see it, if you're trying to target someone, during initiation would be the best time since there'd be a dash of controlled chaos all about, which means eyes are on the field, but at different times in different areas."
"Right… You know, they brought this up in the teacher's meeting some time ago when professor Gladian and I went. Perks of being a TA." She answered for me before I asked, "Gladian thought something was weird about it too, especially when we heard what we did."
"What did you hear?"
"Apparently the cameras were down in that area. Total blackout a few seconds before they got attacked. And the weird part was that it was only in that area too."
Only one area to suffer a blackout? That's definitely not normal, and not a simple coincidence.
"Well, good thing is at least you, Professor Gladian and Ozpin are on the same page."
"The headmaster thinks the same too?"
"Well, yeah. BUt if you ask me, the two of them are bit screwy. Especially Professor Gladian with how long I've worked with him."
Right…
We eventually made it to the steps leading down to the single space garage they reserved for me, and behind me, I saw Elisia looking on in awe.
"Hey… Did you bring me down here to make out with me or something?"
"Y-You wish…" I replied quickening my pace to the garage door, opening up to reveal the beautiful masterpiece of machinery inside.
"Woah! Is that your car?!"
"Yup." I said as she eagerly moved about the car, glancing at it from different angles all around.
"This must have cost a fortune!"
It would have if I did actually buy it…
Thank you again Ross, you vampiric bastard.
"Did you steal it?"
"Of course I didn't steal it! It was a gift from a friend!"
"A friend gave you this car? No way. You totally stole it."
"I didn't steal it!" I strongly affirmed.
"I'm totally messing with you. Relax." She said patting me on the back.
She'll literally give me stress headaches that are painful. Regardless of my insensitivity to pain. I can feel it.
"Just get in."
"So we're checking the body first?" Elisia asked as we entered the building.
One bit of info I could snag from my search was the morgue Maroon was taken to, which was where we were at the moment.
"My partner is really skilled in the medical field, so she was able to take the time to help me learn how to spot any irregularities in a person's body, living or dead."
"Foxy's a medic? That's actually pretty cool. And fitting. She give you some 'special loving' when she's healing you?"
"D-Don't even joke about that…"
"Well~?"
"It's not like that…"
"Huh… Coulda fooled me…"
Ignoring her comment, I walked up to the front desk and grabbed the attention of the person sitting behind it.
"Hi, we're here to look over a recent autopsy done on a Maroon Alister."
"Oh, I'm sorry sir, but that case has been classified from the view of the general public."
"I'm one of the teachers at Beacon." Elisia spoke as she brought her Scroll to show her credentials, "Some of us wanted to look over the case again due to some recent information that surfaced."
"Although your credentials check out ms. Fey, I'm sorry to say that at this time we have already returned mr. Alister's body to his family."
Great…
"Thankfully however, we managed to perform a whole BioScan of his body and were able to recreate it to the condition it was in when his body arrived to us. If that would suffice, then you're more than welcome to proceed to room 5."
"That'll work perfectly. Thanks."
Wow… She's actually useful.
Combat wise, I wouldn't doubt her in the slightest. She was able to keep up with me.
At least, fighting casually she was. But I have a feeling she's more skilled than what she showed. Afterall, I didn't show her everything either.
Elisia actually managed to save me some time.
"See? I'm pretty useful when I mean to be."
"I guess you are." I said offering her a half compliment regarded of her pouting.
A minute or so of walking down the dimly lit corridor, Elisia and I stepped inside the room we were told to find, finding equipment neatly organized and the like. What we wanted to take a look at was the console in front of us.
Using her Scroll, Elisia placed it into the slot so that it could read her credentials, and logged her in, immediately taking her to the file concerning Maroon Alister.
"Alright, let's 'open' him up."
She stared blankly at me for a moment, "That was a terrible joke."
"I'm not good at jokes." I said quickly typing away at the monitor, soon bringing up an entire holographic display of Maroon's mapped out body from head to toe.
It took on his proportions without taking his guise, the body a holographic blue color. Veins were colored white, and any other organs took on a purple color. What I liked about this machine is that it highlighted the damaged areas in red, even the smallest injuries such as scratches.
Deep bite marks, numerous gashes and claw marks… Damn, even bitten on the shoulder and slightly up on his neck. That had to be excruciating…
I wouldn't know myself... How painful that would be I mean.
"Man… He got messed up pretty badly… So, what are we looking for exactly?"
"Anything irregular. Doesn't matter what." I answered looking through the scans as quickly as my eyes could let me, "Especially anything that's 'magic'-like."
"Huh… Didn't take you as a believer. You know, in magic and the supernatural and stuff."
"Trust me, with the things I've seen, I'm more than just a believer..."
Did I ever mention that I met Cthulhu once? We played a weird chess game. It was like chess, but with different rules. There were four globes with checkered patterns, and the games pieces were linked to the person's organs.
Safe to say, I cheated just a little bit.
Other than that, I was feeling frustrated as more time passed by. I should have found something by now, anything. Instead, there was nothing. No traces of residual foreign Aura, nothing intrusive to his nervous system, nothing. It just...looked normal…
"There's literally nothing. Just the stuff the Grimm did to him…"
I brought my thumb to my lips and tapped repeatedly on the console, making sure I saw everything I possibly could. But it wasn't a deception to my eyes.
"Whoever planned this did so in a way that makes it impossible to trace back to them by normal means. Meaning this was so meticulously planned that not even a scrap of usable information can be pulled from an autopsy. It's almost 'me' levels of ludicrous when it comes to planning something out and planning ahead against potential threats and outliers."
In all honesty, I'm impressed someone went this far to cover their tracks. It was...exciting to see someone else who could possibly plan dozens, if not hundreds of steps ahead of everyone else.
Regardless, there's always some sort of trail or pattern to follow, regardless of how well someone covered their tracks.
I'll find you. It's just a matter of time.
"At the teachers meeting, did they mention anything else that was noteworthy? Anything at all?"
"Why? No luck with the autopsy?"
"None. Whoever did this was near perfect with their execution. In both sense of the term. Anyway, was there anything else one of the teachers mentioned? Something weird, or..?"
Elisia brought a hand to her chin, strutting about the room as she thought hard.
So this is what she looks like when she's thinking… Now I know.
"The only thing I can think of is a survivor Beowolf."
"Survivor?"
"Yeah, it had charred fur and skin, like it was burned or something. Oddly enough, there were no signs of fire in the entire area, save for after that chick with the black hat 'embered' the forest."
Time and place doesn't fit with Anoel. She was a ways away from Maroon and Kitsuki. That, and if she did use her fire, the effects would be more apparent with the area… Same for her sister Arex…
"Did anyone track the Beowolf?"
"No, it just scampered off into the forest. I mean, no one would think to go after a gangly Beowolf. Unless, you know, for revenge or something."
Right… Normally you wouldn't chase after a Beowolf for a reason like that unless you're a family member or whatever. You wouldn't think to kill it unless it crossed your path at a later time. If this Beowolf was there, even attacked Maroon...finding it and killing it would tell me everything I'd want and possibly more.
After all, it's blood would speak to me where words couldn't be had.
"This whole autopsy thing was a bust. What now?"
"We find the Beowolf." I said shutting down the terminal, "And then we catch it and figure out what it knows."
"What," she scoffed, "gonna interrogate it?" Elisia asked smiling.
"Something like that."
"Seriously?" She asked following me out of the room, "You do realize Grimm don't speak, right?"
"Even though he might not speak to me, his blood will."
"Woah… That just got creepy…"
"You'll see what I mean. Come one. We've got a hunt to conduct."
"So, what did you mean exactly by 'his blood will'? Cause, that was pretty…"
"Creepy, I know." I answered Elisia as we wandered the Emerald Forest together, eyes constantly scanning for Grimm or anything out of the ordinary, "But it's sort of an ability I unintentionally picked up. Just kinda...passed on to me."
"And now you're a blood whisperer?" Elisia asked mockingly with her light blue rabbit ears perking up.
I flicked her right rabbit ear, where she jumped a little.
"Stupid questions get you flicked. And no, that's not what I meant when I said 'talk'. The ability I gained ages ago allows me to see memories from inanimate objects and from the blood of a person, creature, or being."
"Huh… That actually sounds cool now that I think about it."
How I got the ability wasn't…
"And what about you personally? You seem like a kind of 'jack of all trades' guy."
"Well, I do try to learn as much as I can whenever I can." I answered honestly, "Even the smaller things no one will ideally pick up. Unlike what most people think, I just know a lot of things, not everything in the whole wide universe."
Thinking about it, besides being a warrior, I guess I'm also a sort of lore keeper to a degree with all the information I possess…
"Where'd you learn to fight?"
"Various people mostly." I told her, "I pick apart different peoples styles whenever I see them and sort of add an altered, personalized version for myself if I can. That goes for enemies and allies alike. But, I learned most of what I know from one person really."
Tenma Kitsukami… A legend amongst the Apparition World, home-realm of all yōkai. A warrior so fearsome and powerful that some even say he has the potential to be the new "Dakini(Demon Fox God)".
And, he's also Inuba's father. Occasionally, he tries to get me into a punchout match with him.
I don't enjoy those matches.
"He's someone who's been gone for sometime."
"Dead?" Elisia asked rather quickly.
"No, he just...up and vanished. Last I heard, he left to go on some secret mission, and didn't intend to return until it was finished."
"You sure he isn't dead?"
I scoffed at the thought of Tenma dying, a person who is seemingly as unkillable as I am, "As much as I hate to admit it, nothing can kill that old man. Not even me."
"Oh? Something you can't kill? I'm shocked."
Trust me, half of the things I killed would probably destroy a World or two.
I'm just inherently good at killing threatening beings.
"Whatever…" I answered as we made a sudden stop.
I looked around, carefully examining my position and finding the place of interest.
The place where Maroon Alister met his untimely demise.
"What're we looking for this time?" Elisia asked me as she slowly rotated herself around to search the area.
"Anything out of the ordinary."
"Thank you king of vagueness."
"Stuff that doesn't belong, like random burns. Actually, check the cameras in your area first, see if there's any damage or signs of tampering."
"Well, I can tell you now there's some scorch marks around the areas of the cameras. What's weird though is that they look like they're coming from the front of the cameras in the direction they're facing…"
They're coming outwards from the faces of the cameras? That's definitely odd… But what does that mean exactly?
"They don't look like explosive markings or anything. Some of the burns are like thin, jagged strands if anything, some of them moving in weird directions. So I think it's safe to rule out any explosives being used." Elisia confirmed.
Was it even fire that did something like this? Reports say the Beowolf that escaped the combat zone had scorch marks on its body, and there's scorch marks around here in the area. But no scorch marks at all on Maroon's body? Even Kitsuki for that matter?
Something tells me it'd be easier to ask Kitsuki directly what happened here. But I having a feeling she'd either lie or shy away from the problem. Most likely shy away since she doesn't seem the type to lie about this sort of thing. Then again, she might not know anything. And if I tried searching her memories directly, I might not find anything. Either way, doing that directly is too invasive, so I can't go with that method.
So that leaves me with trying to figure out things using clues here in this area. And from that Beowolf if we can get our hands on it.
I heard the snapping of twigs not soon after, turning in Elisia's direction to see a charred Beowolf just about ready to pounce her.
Though, I should have known better than to be concerned.
My rabbit Faunus companion smiled as she lightly tapped the forest floor with her foot a single time, making stalagmites of ice immediately jut out of the ground and pierce the Beowolf as if it had fallen into a pit of spears.
As if she knew I needed it alive, she made sure her spikes of ice only piercing its arms and legs to trap it in place. That still didn't save it from the various other cuts from the formations of ice.
Now I needed to act quickly before it disappeared.
Running up to Elisia and our entrapped prey, I quickly placed my hand on its bloodied and charred head, despite it weakly snapping at my hand. With a firm grip now in place, I let my mind wander in.
I'd never used this on a Grimm before, so the experience was...new.
It's entire mind was cluttered and chaotic, like a really big tangle of wires that spanned an entire room, or even bigger.
Did something like this even have memories?
…
Wait, I see something.
Wandering closer, I could see images, specifically what I wanted to see. An image like that of a foggy projector screen was how I saw through the eyes of this Beowolf as it stalked Kitsuki and her partner through the forest. I could hear one of them speaking to the other, Maroon from what it appeared, while this Beowolf kept its distance, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
And it's time soon came.
A flash of light came from several directions at once, each bolt impacting Kitsuki and Maroon within an instant, freezing the duo in place.
How could Light freeze people?
…
Wait...that wasn't light…
It was lightning.
I quickly forced a "rewind" with a mental sway of my hand and watched the bolts strike again, only this time more slowly. Their jagged edges, the way they moved, it was undoubtedly clear now that it was lightning, which is why they suddenly froze in place.
They were paralyzed by a massive shock to their system.
Maroon, however afflicted he was, managed to move little by little as Beowolves swarmed the area. He managed to fend of a few at a time, until one of them caught his leg in their maw. Even so, he continued to fight, despite more of them sinking their jaws into various locations around his body.
The Beowolf whose eyes I was seeing through moved to pounce, but another flash of lightning near it emerged and struck Maroon once more, permanently freezing him up as the Beowolves set upon him to end his life once and for all. The Beowolf I saw through was unfortunate enough to be caught in the emission zone of the lighting, where the cameras sat still, pointing in Maroon's direction.
Heavily damaged and burned by the lightning, the creature decided to retreat, but not before I caught a glimpse of something else.
Kitsuki was startled, but startled in a sense as if she recognized what this was…
The image blurred and faded away like clouds of sand in the wind, everything turning pitch black before my vision was restored to its normal state.
I felt an emptiness in my hand, looking down to see the Beowolf Elisa trapped disappear into nothingness.
"So handsome, find anything useful through your 'soul searching'? Get it?"
That was a bad joke. Worse than my own.
…
Wait, was that the point? Was she making fun of me through making a bad joke about me making bad jokes?
I've underestimated this little rabbit…
"I found out it wasn't just Grimm that killed Maroon Alister and almost Kitsuki Aeolus." I said slowly spinning around, waving my hand in the direction of the numerous cameras, "Those definitely aren't anything fire related. Those scorch marks were made by lightning that came from the cameras themselves."
"Wait, they came from the cameras?"
"That's right. Going with my first guess that someone intentionally did this was correct."
But what's troubling about what I saw is that Kitsuki might know something. She may have just been confused, but…
I still can't just go up to her and ask.
"Alright, let's you and I head back. We recompile our evidence so far, disband for the day and-"
I felt a soft finger being pressed against my lips, a cool breeze passing me by as Elisia stared at me with her usual, coy smile. With her finger still on my lips, I turned my head slightly and shifted my eyes to the side, seeing a few dozen Beowolves pierced upon numerous stalagmites of jagged ice, their bodies slowly fading away as my gaze turned back to Elisa.
"Oh my… It looks like I just saved your life, doesn't it?"
Not really. I was about to turn around and deal with them myself. But I guess she can entertain herself with the thought.
"Looks like you did. Thanks."
"Thanks is all I get?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well…" she said as her finger slowly drifted from my lips down to the center of my chest, "I think I deserve more than just 'thanks' as my reward, don't I?"
What more does she want?
…
"Alright. I've got just the thing."
"This wasn't the kind of reward I wanted…" Elisia said staring down in her lap.
"Hey, we don't always get to pick and choose."
We were currently on an airship heading back to Beacon after we went back into Vale for her "reward".
What was it?
Shakes from a shop downtown called "Great Shakes". Simple name, but extraordinary shakes. I got a vanilla Smoreo cookie shake. Elisia got a vanilla and blueberry and blackberry swirl shake, which she was currently working on having eaten only a fourth of it.
I practically just finished mine.
"You should be happy. That's one of their best selling along with the one I got."
She simply gave me a pout before angrily forcing a few spoonfuls of her shake in her mouth.
"Seeing as you're my technical witness, you're now a crucial part of uncovering the culprit. Which also means you might be in danger in the future."
"Yeah yeah, I can take care of myself."
"I know you can. But this person we're up against is smart and meticulous. They went to such great lengths to cover up their tracks that to anyone else, this would've been a complete dead end."
"Except for you, of course." Elisia pointed out.
"Except for me."
I was never going to be wary of the potential risk this mystery would put me in. After all, I can't die, so it doesn't really matter. But for others involved…
"And~?"
She catches onto my points too quickly.
"And, this means that the closer we get, the more at risk you are if this certain someone figures out we're onto them."
"Why only me? Aren't you at risk too? Or are you going to put me at the front?"
"Nothing like that." I seriously responded, "When it comes to me, there's significantly less risk involved."
"Oh? Why's that?"
"I'm just...very difficult to kill is all…"
She let out an amused hum, digging her spoon deep into her shake, "This guy, your partner's father… He must've really taught you a lot if you're able to say that."
"Well, sort of, but not really. See, I sparred with him a lot, which allowed me to learn a lot in return. But in reality, all old man Tenma did was teach me the basics beforehand. The rest came with time the more I fought."
"Sounds rough…"
You haven't the slightest idea… Then again, maybe you do to an extent…
"Things...weren't so simple and carefree in my life so far. Not always anyway. It's why whenever I was fighting, I made sure to end things as quickly as possible. That way there was more time for the simpler, more peaceable things."
"You like peace?"
"I certainly prefer it over fighting constantly…"
She gave me a light hum as she ate another scoop, "Strong guy like you can do just about anything. Why settle for simple things?"
"Just personal preference. I'm not looking to be a leader or a ruler or anything like that. I just want to be me, and live out my life the way I'd like to."
"Mmmm… A respectable goal I guess."
"Oh yeah? And what about you?"
"Not telling."
She's really insistent on keeping information about herself outside of other people's knowledge. Maybe she doesn't trust me fully yet?
…
A sudden chill ran down my spine. And it wasn't because Elisia dropped the temperature. Everyone was affected.
The inside of the airship darkened, as if a dark presence had made itself known. The air seemed to be shrouded in a black and dark green fog, shrouding everyone's view.
A dark mass coalesced in the center walkway, just a short distance away from where I sat as Elisia and I sprang up from our seats, ready to fight whatever was to emerge.
The blackened mass began to grow into a tall shape, the mass becoming a cloth-like, black tattered robe. Near the feet, I could see rusted, bone-white segmented armor with red markings that took on a sinister visage, the entirety of the figure's arms donning a similar armor pattern up to his shoulders, his gauntleted fingertips like jagged, claws.
A hood covered the figure's whole head, but it wore a sort of jagged, twisted faceplate of rusted boneplate, that looked like a vertical diamond formation of various spikes bunched together, red markings splayed across the mask in various directions.
It raised its armored hand and pointed to me, "You."
It's voice was hollow and dark, echoing slightly amongst the darkened air of the airship. The hollow echo in its voice almost reminded me of my own voice when I sued Shadow Skin.
"You are the one who slew my kin. Return his ring before I take your life."
"Ring..? What ri-?"
Wait… I remember now…
That Wraith I killed in the catacombs of that village… When I killed him, the ring he was wearing was all that was left behind. I took it back with me and meant to study it, but I never got the chance to.
"Hey, what the hell is that thing?" Elisia whispered to me.
"A Wraith. A physical spirit of vengeance, or death in this instance. Almost impossible to kill given that a Wraith's physical body is tethered to a physical object. But this one seems...different."
"Different how?"
"His body is less transparent, and looks to be more tangible than the one I killed some time ago."
"So that means we can actually kill this one without having to destroy whatever it's tethered to."
"Of course, but it doesn't look like it'll be an easy task…"
"Chickening out already, handsome?"
"Not even. I'm just saying that so you at least are cautious. I know you're a great fighter, that much I won't question given you were able to keep up with me. Just be careful is all."
"Caution will not save you." The Wraith spoke in it's chilling voice, "You and the she-Faunus' life are mine to take."
I summoned my longsword to my hand, it's white metal giving off small glint of light in the darkened air, the black trim and edges surrounding the handle also shining ever so slightly. I held on tightly to the black leather imprinted gripping, making sure I wouldn't have a loose grip in the event this Wraith had a stronger swing than I knew of currently.
The Wraith raised its sword up in the air, and with a streak of vicious black and dark green Aura, it flashed across the gap in an instant and swung down on me. I raised up my sword to block, its strike forcing me back a few inches, but not enough like it had possibly intended. When I broke our short clash, I swung at its face, only for the Wraith to flash out of my sword's reach and aparate behind Elisia.
It went for a stab, but Elisia quickly leaned to the left to avoid the stab, forming a small ice dagger to shank him in the shoulder to drop his sword. But she too missed when it flashed away, noticing her attempt to strike it.
The fight continued with a constant flow of the Wraith flashing about us, striking at us individually in rapid paces as it forced Elisia and I back to back, the two of our eyes looking about us rapidly to counter the Wraith's rusted longsword, wherever it shot out at us from the dark.
"This isn't going so well!" My rabbit Faunus companion stated as she blocked an overhead strike and struck outwards to force it back.
She wasn't wrong, we're practically in its domain since it had time to set up this fog, or whatever it is.
Elisia slammed her hand on the ground as a dome of ice surrounded us in an instant, blocking out the Wraith. It was focused solely on us, and the rest of the passengers in our cab had already evacuated to the next room, leaving only us and it.
Even inside the dome, the Wraith's sword pierced through different sections at a time, attempting to skewer us as best it could, but the two of us avoided its stabs with each other's help.
It gave pause to its stabbing shortly, an eerie silence befalling us until we heard sickening scratching noises on the outside of Elisia's ice dome, it's likely attempt to scare us into thinking we had trapped ourselves inside as it dragged its wicked blade across our shield.
"We need to get this thing outside." I whispered.
"Yeah, I figured that much out for myself. But that thing keeps getting out of our reach before we can hit it."
"Can't you do a targeted area freeze or something like that?" I asked.
"Normally I could. But whatever it did to the air prevented me from freezing the molecules around it, so that's a no go."
"How are you making ice then?"
"I'm drawing a bit from my Aura, but it's not something I can do forever. What about you? You've got your magical Aura Swords or whatever right? Can't you make dozens of them at a time and control his movements?"
"I can now that I know there's no one else besides us in here."
"Awww, look at you the proper gentleman. Waiting for everyone else to leave so that we can die first." Elisia exclaimed.
"Well I can't just fling my swords around like a lunatic and hit innocent people! What do you take me for?!"
"Someone who's not a pus-!"
Before she could finish, a hand forced itself through the ice and grabbed hold of Elisia's neck, soon dragging her out of the dome as her body crashed through it. As the physical spirit pulled her out, it also tossed her away from the dome.
Her body collided with a window, and just as easily broke through the glass as I saw her disappear from my line of sight.
I immediately stood up and bolted for the open window despite the Wraith that was about to bear down on me. Wasting no time with him, I lashed outwards and unleashed a small wave of my white and black Aura, forcing back the physical spirit as I dove out the window head first.
My eyes scanned the air around me, quickly searching for the rabbit eared Elisia and soon finding her a few hundred away from me. I would have tossed my sword further down below, but there was a chance that I might have hit her. That, and the Wraith didn't abandon me as its target so easily.
I spun myself around in the air and clashed with the spirit, our swords colliding together in a cascade of sparks as it let out a ghastly, high pitched screech that would fill the hearts of men with intense fear.
I wasn't most men.
Even though it's horrid screaming wasn't working it's effect in the slightest, I still needed to do something about it quickly before I could make for Elisia.
But how?
…
What..?
…
A low tuned whine that echoed through my head, as if it were calling to me…
...
It...sounds like a voice… But whose?
…
What?
"Banish…" said the voice clearly now.
Banish…
…
If I can't kill this thing right now, then banish it! Send it away!
I broke my clash with the Wraith as we swung at each other a few more times, the spirit circling around me in the air from various directions as it struck. But when it closed in for what it had thought was going to be a kill, I blocked its blade and kept it locked in place with mine so it couldn't pull away.
Without giving the Wraith time to flee, my left arm quickly became enshrouded in black Aura, forming the twisted, segmented armor of my Shadow Skin as my hand grasped the spirit's faceplate mask. My white and black Aura coursed through my armored palms and fingers and into the body of the Wraith, causing it to let out a bellowing, high pitched screech of pain as its body exploded into a cloud of black and green Aura, soon fading out of sight.
One of my problems now gone, I had another to worry about, and that was catching Elisia. But since I nanced about with that Wraith, I lost precious time. I'm not going to be able to throw my Sword far enough or quickly enough with the appropriate force. That, and making sure I don't hit her.
…
Magic voice inside my head, not sure if that's good or bad yet, please tell me there's a way to get to her quick enough or something.
…
Please..?
As if my plea was answered, the rest of my body was engulfed in black Aura, forming the rest of my twisted, segmented armor of my Shadow Skin. Only now, something was different.
Remember that coat Karenina gave to me? It too formed on my body, but it was changed. For starters, the entire coat was now black instead of white, and sported white trim instead of black. The coat was now also sleeveless, merged into the small shoulder armor of my Shadow Skin, and the ends of my white trimmed split coattails that reached my ankles were tattered.
Strangely enough, when I looked back, the split coattails where shaped almost like…
The coattails suddenly stiffened out, as if they had came to life, and expanded greatly, taking on the shape of draconic wings, demonic wings rather.
Great, I have wings!
…
How the fuck do I use these?
I growled to myself as I spiraled about in the air with my new wings formed out of my coattails that rested near my lower back. They weren't moving at all.
These wings are completely useless! Grrrr, it was so much easier to fly around using magic!
Alright alright, calm down. Think. You had a few friends who have had wings.
As much as I hate the thought of it, that dumb crow Tengu Ayame was actually useful for once. I asked her one time how she made her wings move, and she told me they worked like an extended pair of muscles.
Okay… Think of them as extra muscles…
It took a bit of concentration, but I got the wings moving just a bit. It was hard to focus on trying to make myself fly when there was only a few thousand feet left to go.
I didn't need much, just a quick speed boost and the rest I can handle on my own. I managed to shift my wings upwards slowly as I oriented myself to the ground head first. Then, with one deft flap of my new wings, my body shot forward with intense speed, quickly closing in on Elisia as I caught her within my hands before she hit the waters of the lake below.
With a deft, ninety degree curve I sifted over the waters before flapping my wings once more to give us a big boost to our height as we traveled through the air with great speed, moving past the cliffside road towards my allotted garage. Spanning my wings outwards, I made us come to a slow stop in front of my garage, my feet touching the ground until I took a few steps forward to completely halt myself.
Elisia was safe and sound, and perfectly calm too despite being thrown out of a window thousands of feet to her doom.
Her eyes moved from the ground and up to me, glancing at my transformed, demonic visage, her ice blue eyes meeting my black sclerae and glowing white irises.
"Huh…"
"What?" I asked with my hollow, echoing voice.
"I figured you were carrying around a secret or something. But this? Got to say, wasn't expecting this."
I only gave a small hum of agreeance before asking, "Are you okay to walk?"
"Well… Not really to be honest… I may look calm, but falling from that high up really made me weak in the legs. So...thanks for saving me. Again."
"Again? Oh right… The alleyway… You pretty much saved yourself there."
"The effort still counts, handsome. And, not that I have a problem with it, but are you going to change back soon?"
"Yeah."
"Awww…"
"What?"
"Nothing…"
"Well, I'll carry you I guess until we get to the courtyard."
"No way. You're going to have to carry me to the infirmary."
I rolled my eyes and let out a sigh.
"What? You should be grateful you get to carry a beautiful maiden like me."
"Yeah yeah."
I went to move forward, but it seems that her talking was to distract me since only now I could feel her hand reaching below my waist to touch something that shouldn't be touched in public.
Safe to say I quickly moved her hand back into her lap as my Shadow Skin faded away from my body, like blackened ash in the wind. She gave me another unsatisfied pout as her rabbit ears folded against her head in disappointment.
What was she expecting?!
"You're no fun sometimes…"
"If you call jaffling my jimmies in public 'fun', then I seriously think you need to be re-educated on the definition of fun."
"Oh?" She asked as her ice blue rabbit ears perked up again, "Care to teach me a lesson mr. Dante?"
"Not in the sense you're thinking. That'd be inappropriate and illicit behavior between a school faculty member and a student. Thinking like that could get you in trouble."
"Do I look like the person who'd care about the trouble that would involve?" She asked with a coy smile.
"Nope. If you like, I could sing a song to you about "fun" that I learned from a yellow sponge on television once."
"I...think I'll take a rain check on that." She replied.
Me too. Although I sing that song to annoy people, I don't exactly like it either. Nor am I proud of the fact I've completely memorized that song.
I'm very ashamed of myself.
"So, do your siblings and partner know about you..? You know…"
"They know." I said with a chuckle.
She giggled slightly as she nestled herself in my arms to make herself more comfortable, "And here you were playing yourself off as someone who isn't that strong."
"Who said anything about that?"
"I mean… If you go far enough to hide the fact you killed a Drakian Hydra, you obviously don't want people to know you're that strong. But, you kinda blew that out of the water with Ezdeil."
"You heard about that?"
"Of course I did. We had a teacher meeting where at the end we were informed to immediately break you two up if got into a fight with each other."
"Do they not think that highly of us?" I asked with concern in my tone.
"Naw, it's not that. They just don't want the two of you blowing up the school is all."
"Oh. When you put it that way…"
"Jeez, negative much?"
"What else is someone supposed to think when they get told they're specifically to 'look out for these two'? I mean, I get it, safety of the school and all, but…"
"I get it, I guess. People get a little intimidated by really powerful people. It happens; it's within people's natures. So don't get too worked up about it, handsome." She said booping me on the nose with her finger.
"Yeah, whatever…" I said as we finally made it to the courtyard.
"Same time Tuesday?" She asked with her usual coy smile.
"I'll call you if things are blowing up."
Knowing my luck, it was going to happen on that exact day now.
It seems Dante and Elisia are getting along with each other just nicely... Not only that, but they've also uncovered a pretty important clue to a current mystery in Xera Stark's story Rogue Huntsmen, which this story is also a part of through the perspective of my characters.
Make sense?
Besides our devil and little rabbit growing closer to one another, what of that voice Dante heard? I wonder what that was...
(Insert Dark Souls 1 Siegmyer "Hmmmmmm")
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. I've said it once and will say it again, you won't want to miss out on this story.
Not only that, but check out his other awesome and highly entertaining story Rogue Huntsmen. 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!
