Not That Original
A/n: How this story will work: The OC will get items from a wheel that I will spin… yes, all abilities, choices, and such are randomized through the wheel. So sometimes OC might get things like "Human Human fruit" and others he might get something like: "Spiral Energy". From there, the OC will pick whatever is most advantageous for him at that specific moment. Items chosen will be removed from the wheel. I don't have "tier" wheels, since that brings the whole debate of what makes a skill "mid" or "top" tier. ==============================================PrologueToday was a weird day for Addison.
He woke up very suddenly on a wooden chair in a basement full of talismans. His hands were free, but he could feel a weight on them. It was a small room with a very tall ceiling. There was only one door, it was wooden, and Addison found it too small for normal people - it was roughly half his height. Floating above his head were several candles that lit the entire room. It was dark, but not impossible to see.
"Done dreaming?" the man in front of him had no face. The first impression he gave was that it was a face mask, but Addison could tell it wasn't, the lack of wrinkles or movement when the man spoke tipped him off. He suspected one would be surprised, but he didn't particularly feel anything. Blinking, confused, he stared at the faceless man. Addison pulled his leg toward the chair and wrapped both arms around it. The man tapped his temple with his index finger twice, "You are a weird one. You have something wrong here don't you?"
"What do you want?" Addison couldn't quite figure out the man's intentions. The man trapped him in this confined space. For what? What could he possibly gain from someone like him? Addison wasn't some super genius, or important person, or rich. Keeping him there had no advantages.
"Addison Asher, you have been chosen to become my vessel of chaos!" The man spread his arms energetically. Addison stayed emotionless.
"Are you done?" Addison put his feet down from the chair and stood up. He turned around and walked to the door. As he walked toward it he stubbed his tow on the corner of the chair, he looked down and sighed before continuing his path. He crouched and grabbed the knob. The man turned his faceless head toward him. The man had no eyes, but Addison felt himself being watched. He turned the knob and heard a clicking sound. Pulling it, he saw nothing but a brick wall.
There was no escape from the small room, there was no exit or entrance. At least, none that he could see. Het turned his attention upward, he saw no exits up there either.
"Can I continue?" The voice was awfully chipper and energetic. "Addison Asher, you've been chosen to become -"
"You've already said this part." Addison walked back to the center of the room and sat down on the chair, this time hugging both his legs.
"It's impressive, you really don't care. I know that's why I chose you, but still, seeing it in first person like this is quite something." The faceless man, put a hand on his chin, then waved both his arms in the air, "But who cares about depressing things?! Today we talk about excitement! Love! Passion!" He spun three times, jumped twice, and then clapped his hands once.
A puff of smoke exploded from nothing. Addison stared at what came from it. A huge wheel with bright led lights and several colors, a roulette full of names.
"As a vassal of chaos, it is my duty to inform you that I will be sending you somewhere of my choice! By somewhere I mean another universe! You have no say in the matter, sucks to be you. Don't worry though, I will gift you with some awesome abilities! Any questions?!"
"No." Addison didn't care. He kept hugging his knees. The faceless man was going to send him to another universe? Why should he care?
"I expected as much from you! After all, you've got nothing to leave behind! It's why I chose you after all." The faceless man spun in place and then spread his arms. "Anywho! This is a wheel created by me! It's got recorded all of the fictional works you've read or watched!" He pointed at one of the many slots. Addison couldn't see any letters, instead, there were icons. "This one is from all the flash comics you've read," he stepped to the other side and energetically touched another, "this one is from Avatar the last airbender!" he crouched and touched one of the slots below, "I even put things I hate because you've watched them, like Evangelion! God damn it Asuka..." He cleared his non-existent throat and then moved to the other side again. "In any case! I'll spin this, and you'll get three choices!"
"I thought I didn't get a say in anything." Addison's tired eyes managed to barely raise an eyebrow.
"Sheesh, it's like your face isn't used to making human expressions… But to answer the question! I present you with three super ultimate mega generous options, and you! Yes, you! Get to choose between the three! There are three of those, so you get to choose three times! Before it comes up because I know it will! I choose your world, there is no wheel for that!"
The entity closed in and put his face right in front of Addison's. "What?" Addison leaned to the side and looked at the wheel, then returned himself to the place he was in before.
"I will be completely frank Addison Asher. When I saw your successful future for the first time, the first thought I got was: man I want to break that emotionless brat. I tried, I really, really tried. I conceptually changed the past." The entity put his hands on Addison's shoulder.
"Ok." Addison leaned back, letting his back rest against the back of his chair. The man let go and walked back and forth in the room nervously.
"Your parents beating you? That was me. Your broken leg during the class trip? Me. Your dead dog, your cheating girlfriend, the fact you stub your toe in every room, the fact you've always stepped on legos if there were any on the ground, the middle school bullying, your fake murder charges. Every misery, every tiny inconvenience, I tried everything, Mr. Asher. Over and over, I kept creating timeline after timeline, but no matter what I did, that emotionless face never changed." The faceless man leaned on the wall, exhausted.
"So I gave up. You win Mr. Asher." He threw his arms up as if he was done, "As a reward, I will let you go to the fictional worlds you've read or you've seen." The faceless man stomped his foot and crossed his arms, straightening his back. "But you see, I'm petty, so I'll force you to cause chaos! I'll give you quests, and you will have to comply. That way I will inconvenience you, and you will get to go wherever you want! What do you think?!"
Addison didn't particularly care, and he voiced that. The faceless man went to his knees and slammed the ground with his fist.
"Whatever! The more I stay here, the crazier I'll become!" He went to his feet instantly. He put his hand on the wheel. "Turning off omniscience and spinning wheel!" He spun it, putting his back on it, the wheel spun so fast the colors blended in black "C'mon, give us One Piece. If you are wondering why –"
"I am not." Addison interrupted. The man went to the nearest wall and banged his head three times.
"Anyway!" He stepped back and looked at the wheel, it kept spinning, and it looked like it would continue doing so for a while. The man turned around, showing his face to Addison, and then stopped the wheel with his bare hands. "What did we get?" he turned to the wheel, "Jujutsu Kaisen! Congratulations… I guess…" He broke the wheel off and tossed it to the other side of the room. Addison turned his head and watched it shatter into hundreds of pieces. One of the pieces slid and hit his foot, he looked down and saw, right next to the Jujutsu Kaisen emblem was the Straw Hat jolly roger.
The walls of the room were intact, then again if the person in front of Addison could supposedly create timelines, and was omniscient, nothing was stopping him from being omnipotent. Thus, creating a room that couldn't be destroyed or damaged shouldn't be impossible.
"Whatever! Let's get to the options! The options you get are pooled and completely random!" He clapped three times, jumped twice, and spun once. Several flash cards appeared in front of him. They floated in the air and traveled around the room with no resistance. "Pick whichever piece of paper you want! Here it comes, here it comes! The first choice: Innate Technique! Here are the options!" Three pieces of paper floated in front of Addison, there was nothing written in them. "Choices reveal!" Ink made itself visible slowly dying letters into the floating pieces of paper "Ignore the bad calligraphy please!" the calligraphy looked perfect to Addison, it looked like it was made by a machine.
[Projection Sorcery] - [Construction] - [Mimicry]
Addison didn't care for any of them. He could accept a god existed, he didn't really care if he did. If he was going to choose an ability from the three of the three, he would pick the best one.
Projection sorcery splits one second into twenty-four frames. The user goes through those frames and as such he glitches around the battlefield. If two people were running toward a hill, one was an Olympic sprinter and the other was a projection sorcerer, the latter would win. But at the same time, you have to pre-determine all actions going through the frames, and you can't change those pre-determined movements.
Construction creates matter utilizing a vast amount of cursed energy. That's all it does, its user, Mai Zen'in can only create one bullet per day, and doing so makes her nose bleed from the physical stress it puts on her body. It was risky, too risky. Addison didn't know how much cursed energy he had, or was born with.
Mimicry was a powerful technique. In the manga, it's unknown what the conditions for learning something are, supposedly it's understanding the ability and consuming D.N.A from whoever has that ability. The problem is that one cannot copy too many abilities because the brain can't handle so many complex abilities at once. Yuta Okkotsu uses Rika, the queen of curses as a hard drive that houses all the cursed techniques he copies, that way his brain suffers no problems as he copies more and more techniques. Furthermore, if the D.N.A condition is a reality, then Okkotsu has another advantage, and that's that Rika can consume the enemy without Okkotsu having to.
Of the three, Addison could only choose Mimicry, though he didn't have Rika to help him, it was possible to just copy one ability, forget it, and then be done with it. Depending on the following choices, he could get something to help him, like his own version of Rika. He grabbed the piece of paper and watched it burst into purple flames.
The flames flew and struck Addison's forehead. His head felt warm and heavy as information on how to use the ability seeped into his mind. Just as he thought, the conditions were: a basic understanding of the abilities copied, and D.N.A from whoever it belongs to.
"Mimicry? Ugh, aren't you going to risk it even a little?" The faceless man crossed his arms, he sounded discontent. "Whatever! To the next choice! The second choice: Miscellaneous!"
Three more pieces of paper appeared behind a cloud of smoke and floated in front of Addison.
[Curtain] - [Shikigami Summoning] - [Heavenly Restriction]
Heavenly Restriction. There were two kinds, one that gave boundless cursed energy in exchange for one's physical body, and another that does the opposite takes way cursed energy for incredible physical prowess. There was no moderation with this trait, only absolutes. It was easy to erase it off the list.
Shikigami Summoning seemed like a no-brainer between the three options, but in the end, it all depended on how the summoning worked. It was explained too well in jujutsu kaizen. Megumi's – his were from the ten shadows technique – were gained by exorcising the shinigami and then summoning them, if that was the case, then it could end up killing Addison in the long run.
Curtain seemed like the worst ability of the three. One needed a high level to be able to make it useful. It is a barrier technique that separates an area using a black force field that is cannot be seen by non-sorcerers. They can be programmed if you have a high enough level, allowing a person to keep one person out. Ultimately they are only as powerful and good as you are.
Addison's only real choice was Curtain. Shikigami Summoning seemed like a trick question in an exam and Heavenly Restriction would force him to give up his previously gotten innate technique. He grabbed the piece of paper. It burst into purple flames again and went into his head. The knowledge on how to utilize curtains was received.
The faceless man huffed "Curtains? Really? Why not Shikigami Summoning?"
"Because –"
"I know why," he huffed, "whatever. Let's finish with the third and last round!" He became excited again. "The worst part of this whole game! The third choice: the item!" He clapped and the last set of three papers flew toward him.
[Inverted Spear of Heaven] - [Split Soul Katana] - [H.D.D Ring]
The middle item was out the moment the paper floated in front of Addison's head. The Split Soul Katana's ability was self-explanatory, however, to utilize it one had to be able to observe the soul of others, and none of the abilities he gained previously gave him such capabilities. In other words, it was a pretty sword that was useless to him.
The inverted spear of heaven seemed like an awesome choice at first glance. But it ultimately nullified cursed techniques. Addison didn't know which world he would be sent to, it was unsafe to think that it would work on anything other than cursed techniques.
That only left one last item. The H.D.D Ring. That wasn't an item he ever heard of in Jujutsu Kaisen, the only ring that held any value was Okkotsu's which allowed him completely manifest Rika. It could be a dupe item, but no other abilities prior had been fake or useless, they all had their uses, but they were too much of a risk. H.D.D was an acronym for Hard Disk Drive.
He picked it. The paper burst into flames and in its place, a silver ring fell on the chair. The flames shot to his head, and like the two times before, he gained knowledge on the item. Just as he thought, it was a Hard Drive for skills he mimicked in the form of a ring. By putting it on he could store techniques and forget them, the ring would keep the techniques stored. Addison grabbed it and inspected it. The candles blew themselves out with a strong breeze.
"Tch. I was hoping you wouldn't notice that." The faceless man clapped twice and a small card poofed into existing. He handed the card to Addison, "That's your Vassal ID. Look at it."
Addison looked at the card, it looked like a student ID. It was split into two halves. On the top half, there was his name and his age to the left. On the right of the upper half, there was his name, and below it a circle saying GRADE 4. On the bottom half, there were stats.
Body: Grade 4
Mind: Grade 4
Curse: Grade 3
"I will only explain this once. So listen." Addison's attention shifted to the faceless man, "Your power pretty much only ranks up via quests. I'll give you quests, its reward might be a rank up in stats, might be an item or a skill… could also be trash. You might get higher stats if you work hard, but you might as well give up on that because to do that you'd have to almost die.
The body stat is overall physical prowess, how fast you are, how strong you are, and how durable you are. Mind is how you comprehend the supernatural. In your case, it affects how many abilities you can copy at once without the ring, and how many of those abilities you can use at once. Curse is a stat that is your magic stat. It's how much cursed energy you have, how potent it is, and in your abilities, it is how powerful your curtains are and to what degree can you replicate things you copy.
The card I've given you cannot be lost, it will always be near you or inside your pocket. It will tell show a hologram of your quests if you ask it to. You can also store items in there, basically, I was generous enough to give you an inventory space. Granted, you can only store things I've given to you in it, which means no stealing important things from other universes through it! Naughty naughty! Additionally, I've also added a small basic mini-map for your convenience! Aren't I the greatest?!"
Addison messed around with the ring, he put it on. It perfectly fit his ring finger, he closed and opened his hands. He put his index and middle finger up – the prana mudra, a Buddhist hand sign – he felt some form of energy swell from his stomach, he could feel he was in the process of something. "Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure." The feeling died and dispersed. The same happened with his energy, it died down.
"Did you just try to…" He stopped himself and pressed his hand against his face, "This place stops any powers other than mine from working. But whatever! Let's talk powers. You might have noticed that you can feel cursed energy. I'll tell you now, you were born with a lot of reserves. Good luck using it though, as you know proper usage of cursed energy requires negative emotions!"
Addison was aware, but the faceless man seemed wrong about his control over cursed energy. He felt quite powerful despite not feeling anything particularly negative. Still, sitting on his chair, he thought about where he might go.
As if he could read his mind, the faceless man stomped his foot, "The world you will be sent to is RWBY! Good luck, bye-bye!" The candles lit themselves once again, this time they were purple. Addison blinked and he found himself somewhere else.
Blue skies, green hills, and a dark forest below, he wasn't quite sure where he found himself. At the edge of a cliff, he was standing on a metallic platform. Addison guessed he was already in RWBY, if the man could gift powers and abilities from fiction there wasn't a reason why he couldn't send him to said fiction worlds, especially when he was most likely omnipotent.
To his right was a fidgety blond boy with blue eyes. He was wearing jeans and a hoodie under light armor.
In front of him, there were two people. The man was a silver-haired man with hazel eyes. He was wearing a more formal outfit consisting of a black suit on a dark green vest with golden buttons, under which he was wearing a green turtle neck. The silver – grey really – haired man had small black spectacles resting on his face and he walked back and forth with a cane in his hands. He was holding a mug.
The woman next to him was a bespectacled woman with wavy blond hair tied in a bun. There was a bang falling to the side of her face. She was wearing a dress with a lot of different textures. The top was white with a keyhole on the chest the middle part was black and looked like a vest that extended into a professional mini-skirt, but on her back and attached to the top there was a cape that was black on the outside, and vibrant purple on the inside.
Addison couldn't understand why they wore such complex outfits. They were probably sweating in them. He looked at his outfit. He wasn't much better, a loose white school uniform jacket. It didn't have a zipper or anything, instead, it was fastened using a golden button with a black spiral pattern on it. It was a jacket that was worn like a kimono, the jacket's sleeves stopped at his forearm. Addison noticed his flexible and comfortable blue jeans tucked into white sneakers.
loose white uniform jacket with sleeves that stop at his forearms. He also wears slender blue jeans that tuck into white sneakers that match his jacket.
The woman stared at him with narrowed eyes. He looked away from her and kept his focus on the cliff below. Addison looked to his left, there were platforms like the ones he was standing on, but they were all empty. He heard a clicking noise and was immediately shot into the sky.
It was hard to keep his eyes open as he flew up.
[Quest Quest Quest!]
He heard the faceless man's voice inside his head.
[It's your good friend! Me! Your quest is to survive the following fall, as for the reward… hmmm. Good question! No clue! We'll get to it when we get to it! Low rank definitely!]
He was falling without a strategy. From that distance, it was clear he wasn't going to survive. The wind whipped on his face violently and made his eyes sting. He held his left hand with his ring, thumb, and pinky curled while his index and middle fingers were extended. Calculating the distance in which to use his skill and where exactly he wanted to fall in it was crucial. Addison planned to open a domain and use its spherical shape to slide down, using its friction to slow down his fall. He could control the shape so that it slowly became wider so that he didn't just fall.
Imagining the shape.
Concentrating on the location
Channeling his Cursed Energy. It was generated from his stomach and traveled outward, covering his whole body.
His mind concentrated on the technique.
"Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure." He felt the cursed energy flow out of his body. Below him, a dark liquid formed, dripping slowly downward to create a semi-sphere. Addison was going to have a rough landing, he was already falling at dangerously high velocities. Rolling the moment he fell, he spread the shock. He turned and flipped, hitting the edge of the sphere with his back as he slid, using the rubber of his snickers to increase friction and slow down his descent.
His knees touched the ground before anything else, and he rolled once again, getting his white jacket dirty with dirt and grass.
[Using the curtain as a bad-quality slide to slow down your fall? I hate to say it, but pretty brilliant. You should now go toward the relics, they're in the small ruins, check your map if you're lost. This isn't a quest, more of a suggestion. Anywho as a man of his word, here is your reward! Chose wisely!]
[Dagger] - [Whip] - [Katana]
The choice was obvious. Dagger was far too close range. Addison didn't know how to use a whip, and would most likely hit himself… Katana was the only real option in these three.
Something shook inside his pants, he reached inside and saw his Vassal ID glowing. A hologram was projected from the card. There were several empty squares with the exception being the one at the top left, which had a katana. He reached toward it and pressed it. A secondary hologram screen appeared with a short description of the item. It had its name, time got, age, and effects. This was just a regular katana. He pressed it again and the screen disappeared.
Addison reached for the sword and tapped it twice, this time quickly. The hologram stopped. A yellow swirl of light appeared from the card, a portal leading to nothing opened. The hilt of the katana slowly floated up from the card. Addison grasped it and pulled it out. It came with a sheathe.
[You now have a weapon! Aren't I super generous?!]
Addison ignored him, his comments didn't contribute much to his current situation. His current issue was his lack of direction. He had no clue where to go.
He grabbed the card and flipped it around. The back changed into a holographic map. The holographic screens were all faded pink and the cursor indicated he was orange. Since it was a hologram, Addison could zoom in and see the volume, and his surroundings. He zoomed out and noticed there were no other dots, he guessed only he could be seen. That made sense, otherwise it would have been too powerful.
On the map, he could see ruins if he went deeper into the forest.
Addison didn't pay much attention when watching RWBY. He was there mostly because of the fights, the plot didn't interest him at all. Then again, nothing interested him much either way.
Traveling through the deep forest, he noticed that he could feel where things were. It was like a second sight or another hearing. He wasn't trying to sense anything, but it was still there. He could tell things were closing in on him. There were a lot of them.
[Before I forget. The Grim are attracted to negative emotions. Seeing as you passively release cursed energy which is… well, you read Jujutsu Kaizen.]
[Assigning primary quest now! Get to the ruins and grab a relic! Reward… hmmm, I have 0 clue. Let me roll for it! Ok! Choices have been rolled! You'll know if you get there! ]
Addison kept his instincts close, and his katana closer. Gripping it with both hands he slowly marched to the ruins on the other side of the forest.
Birds flapped their wings and flew away as a loud screeching scream shot through the sky, disappearing as it flew further away from Addison. He ignored the scream and continued walking to his goal.
It was a thick forest, and the trees, and bushes decreased visibility. He kept going forward, but the weird presence surrounding him slowly closed in. He had a general sense of where they were, but it was not exact. It was like a blurry disoriented sight, he couldn't discern where they would come at him from, just that they were closing in. Knowing that he could be pounced in any second, he clenched his katana and sped forward through the forest. He quickly unsheathed it and put the scabbard away inside his inventory.
He walked forward with his katana pointing forward. The rustling of the bushes behind him turned his attention back. From the greenery, a beast walked out. A bone-white skull-like mask poked out its blackened fur. It had bright, bloodshot orange eyes, and fangs that came from its mask. It looked mangled, full of bone spikes protruding from its body, almost like it'd been stabbed with bone weapons and it hadn't removed them.
The beast lowered itself. Addison took a step back, calculating the distance of its following pounce, never having seen it pounce before, he didn't know how much power that beast had, so he couldn't be sure, but a few steps should have been enough.
Just as expected, the mangled wolf pounced, it was fast, much faster than what Addison expected. He jumped to the side and tried to side-step it, but ultimately the grim's paw touched the ground, and before Addison could realize it jumped with its sharp claws ready to rip him in half.
Addison pulled his arm and aligned its edge with the demon wolf's paw. Addison was sure the forepaws hit the blade, so he was left wondering why its paw was not cut in half. He made sure to cover his blade with cursed energy too.
The animal's strength tossed him back a few meters. Addison's hand shook from the clash, it tingled and felt numb. He didn't have many options. He took his left hand off the katana and brought it forward in a prana mudra hand sign.
"Emerge from the darkness-"
[AH! Stop stop stop! Assigning secondary, mandatory quest~~ kill the grim… Since you're clearly having a hard time, I'll make the reward, hmmm, let's make it a roll, could be trash or could be good!]
Addison stopped himself and jumped back, barely dodging another claw attack from the monster. Its hide was tough enough to block his sword's sharp edge when adding cursed energy on top of it. Was it because they were both made of negative energy? Both cursed energy and the grim, was there some kind of repulsion happening? The katana also sustained no damage.
Addison looked at the Grim and grasped his blade with both hands. The monster pounced again and this time, Addison tried cutting its paw without using his cursed energy to strengthen his sword.
The sound of shattering iron made Addison's eyes narrow as he was sent back with a cut on his forearm. His jacket had splattered blood from the attack.
[OOF that Had to hurt! Who would have thought that taking cursed energy away would make the sword shatter?]
It made sense, even if there was a repulsion created by both negative energies, in the end, all removing the cursed energy do was take away what was strengthening his fragile sword. He looked at the hilt which had a small piece of the sword still there. Addison jumped back and looked at his wounded arm. It was bleeding quite heavily. He reached for his button and took his jacket off. Beneath he was wearing a black shirt.
He couldn't kill it by stabbing it anymore, he didn't have a lot of options. He lowered himself and got ready to attack. Making the prana mudra once again he voiced the curtain's chant.
"Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure" The grim pounced and was hit by a black barrier, stopping its advance. Curtains were weak from the outside, but they were still resistant to physical attacks. Still, Addison could see the black substance tremble as the demonic wolf struck it from the outside.
Addison tried walking around the edge of the curtain. The wolf didn't move with him, which meant it couldn't distinguish whatever was inside from what was outside. He could feel signatures closing into where he was. Grabbing his broken Katana hilt and his jacket, Addison had a plan. A very risky plan.
He studied the grim's attacks, sitting down and waiting while keeping the barrier up. His study wasn't exact at all, but he could tell the grim struck the barrier every second or so. After that was done, Addison got up and rushed to the edge of the barrier, he jumped where the grim was and released the barrier the second he heard a hit from the grim. The barrier released itself.
The grim was caught mid-attack, still, it was fast enough to glance at him. Addison hopped on its back and immediately felt the pain of getting stabbed in the back of the thigh by its bony spikes.
He grabbed his jacket and wrapped it around the monster's neck while tightening his grip. He struggled on top of the beast as it weaved and jumped, trying to shake Addison off, but with some efficiency, Addison managed to tie an Arbor Knot using his jacket's sleeves. When he was thrown off the grim's back, he could see the monster struggling with the cloth.
Addison dashed toward it and used his broken katana, this time with cursed energy, and swung down with all his strength at its paw, keeping the grim from cutting the jacket with its sharp claws.
The beast turned and took a step back, its movements were becoming sluggish and with a clear opening and little risk, Addison took a step forward and stabbed it in the eye using his broken katana. The beast roared falling on its back, finally dying and dissipating into black mist.
Addison himself felt sluggish. His thighs weren't completely pierced through, but they were still stabbed, and it hurt a lot.
[How the hell did you even pull that shit off? Holy… Whatever. Any items you get will be added to your inventory, any non-inherited techniques will be given and any innate or inherited techniques will be added to your mimicry hard drive… Spinning the wheel!]
[... Bullshit!]
[Dismantle + Cleave] - [Comission Curtains] - [Inverted Spear of Heaven]
Addison looked at the three pieces of paper floating in front of him. The first two options were extremely valid, and supposing that the special powers the hunters in RWBY used could be canceled with Inverted Spear of Heaven, it could be an extremely useful tool. Commission curtains could be useful as well, but ultimately at that moment, Addison didn't need any of the three. He would have been better off with Reverse Cursed Technique. Regardless, he chose the ability that would help him the most.
He picked Dismantle and Cleave paper and watched it burst into purple flames before going inside his head. His head felt heavier and more full, it hurt having so much information. Instantly, he took the ring from his pocket and put it on, instantly, he transferred Sukuna's innate technique into the ring's storage. While the ring was on, he could still use the technique, so he made sure to keep it on.
Addison grabbed his jacket and tore its sleeves. He wrapped it around his leg and tightened the knot, applying pressure to the stab wounds. They weren't deep, but still, Addison didn't want to die because he was bleeding out. He did the same for his arm.
[God damn it, I was really hoping you'd die. Whatever. The next hoard of Grim coming up! I'm not making the next one a quest, so do whatever you feel like.]
Addison kept walking toward the ruins. He had a broken Katana and very little stamina. He couldn't create a curtain either because he didn't know if it would affect the others in the forest. Making a large curtain would just trap him with the grim until he could get to the edge, and the presences were already closing in.
He was in no state to run either. The information on how cleave and dismantle worked was in his mind, cleave was definitely the most powerful of the abilities, but in return, it had a higher base cursed energy cost. He trudged toward the ruins, if that is where the relics were, then it was bound to have other people there, which meant he could rest while they took it easy.
The growls he heard immediately thwarted any plans he had of reaching the ruins without fighting. He turned and grabbed his broken katana. They pounced out of the trees and bushes in a group. Three of them lowered themselves to pounce. This time they didn't have spikes all over their bodies, instead, they only had black fur and a bone-white mask. They were smaller as well.
Addison took a step back and pointed his katana forward. "Dismantle."
Cursed energy sharpened and then shot out blades at incredible speeds. The blades themselves weren't made of cursed energy, it was something else, an effect the cursed energy had on the environment. Addison could see the blades rushing toward the enemy, but the enemy couldn't. They touched the enemy and slashed down.
The first wolf was cut on the shoulder. It recoiled back in temporary pain and then fell on all fours like nothing had happened. The attack hadn't gone through completely. His curse stat was still far too low to replicate Sukuna, that had to be the answer. If Dismantle didn't do the job, then there was only one other option.
Addison ran to the side, using cursed energy to enhance his speed, he dodged the enemy's attacks as efficiently as he could. This enemy was much slower than the previous and he could dodge, if only just barely. He got out with some scratches but nothing completely serious.
He pointed his katana at the already damaged demon wolf, "Cleave" the cursed energy made a different blade, it appeared in front of the wolf and swirled around it as if the very wind was examining it before it cut through. This time the grim was cleanly cut in two, his cursed energy reserve didn't seem to have taken that much of a hit, however, the cleave did take longer than expected to work. Addison didn't expect it to be instant, but the swirling that happened later.
"Cleave" The swirling blade was taking its sweet time cutting the second wolf. It pounced before it was done and the wolf attacked Addison, breaking his concentration. The blade dissipated, turning into nothing and Addison was forced to use his broken katana to defend the attack, once again he was sent back. He quickly brought his fingers up and chanted to form a small curtain to keep the grim out. He clicked his tongue and sat down in the middle.
[If you cry for me I'll give you a roll, no, I'll give you ten!]
Addison had never cried in his life, not even as a baby. At that moment, he tried straining his eyes, he tried keeping them open to force tears to form. Nothing worked, he couldn't. He sighed and gave up shortly after.
[THOUGHT SO]
He could feel the two grim hitting the walls of his curtain. He stayed inside, felt their presence, and pinpointed their location. Raising two fingers with his other hand, he activated the technique.
"Cleave" the blade swirled around the first grim and Addison heard it cut it in half. He pointed his fingers at the other Grim and once again used Cleave. The blade swirled and cut down, upon the sound of flesh being cut, Addison released the curtain and saw black mist poof, making the dead bodies disappear.
Addison was starting to feel dizzy, it wasn't his overuse of cursed energy. Rather, it was the lack of blood. He looked down, his legs were bleeding, and the sleeves of his jacket were holding on to dear life, but even then there was still some blood.
He took his sheathe out of the inventory and used it as a crutch. If he could get to the relics, he could get another roll.
[Yeah! Keep going! You are almost there!]
He looked at the back of his ID card, he was indeed close. Just a bit further there was the clearing with the ruins behind it. A few steps in front of him he could see the end of the forest. He took a step forward and saw the stone slabs.
People were waiting around and chatting in the small clearing. A black-haired girl with a black bow on top of her head was the first to notice him. She looked at him wide-eyed and screamed out something. Addison didn't particularly care.
"Oh my lord, are you alright?!" an energetic ginger zipped toward him and stared at him. She looked worried.
"You should ask Professor Ozpin to leave. You are in no condition to keep going. How the hell did you even get hurt like this?!" A girl with white hair styled in a ponytail yelled. She didn't sound as worried as she did embarrassed.
The other few stared at him as he walked to the ruins. He trudged, using his sheathe as a crutch, and finally reached the relic room. In the middle, one sole pawn was left. He went out and grabbed it before collapsing against the pillar.
[Tch. Here are your options!]
[Auspicious Beasts Summon] - [Simple Domain] - [Contractual Re-Creation]
[Were you expecting Reversed Cursed Technique? Isn't that a shame?]
The three pieces of paper became known to him. All three options were interesting. Addison began deconstructing the three abilities in his mind.
Contractual Re-creation allows those with it to burn a contract paper to gain or re-create the subject of the contract. If it is an object, like a kitchen knife, he can give it simple orders to follow, if it is a service, he gains the effect of that service.
Simple domain has a sword martial arts dedicated to its usage, and Addison was sure that said martial arts didn't come with the technique. Without that martial arts, it was just a glorified domain expansion counter. In RWBY he wasn't going to be seeing a lot of those, so it was easy to dismiss.
Auspicious Beasts Summon has four forms, the last is unknown, the second was barely shown and the third was not shown at all, its ability was mentioned and that's it. The only form that was known was the first. Despite that, from the little it's been used, it's easy to see how versatile the ability actually is.
It was a hard choice between Auspicious Beasts Summon and Contractual Re-Creation. Addison breathed heavily, trying to stay as still as possible. He already had a hard-hitting and damage-dealing technique, so having another one like Auspicious beasts wasn't needed. Then again there were abilities in Auspicious beast summoning that could be useful, like increased mobility, or making the opponent drowsy. But ultimately, what sold Addison on Contractual Re-Creation was the fact he could utilize tickets to replenish stamina. Possibly, he could also heal his body using it as well.
He picked up the paper and watched it go into flames. The others stared at him, still worried. That either meant the papers were only visible to him – something he wouldn't doubt – or that they didn't care enough to ask. He stored the technique in his ring. He could instantly tell that in his current state, he couldn't replicate both techniques at once.
"Do any of you have spa receipts?" Addison looked at their reactions. A blond girl with lilac eyes stared him down like he had just escaped an asylum.
"You don't need a spa. You need a hospital." The blond girl crossed her arms, closed in, and reached out to Addison. "C'mon, let's get out of here."
A red-haired woman and a blond boy finally arrived. The girl was wearing roman battle armor changed to fit a woman's body. The blond boy was the same as the one from earlier. This scene was different. If he recalled correctly, they arrived one after the other. Then again, it was entirely possible that grim stopped fighting them and came to him instead.
"We have to get out of here! There's a crap ton of grim coming this way!" the red-haired girl voiced. Addison could feel several presences moving toward them. They were far, but slowly coming nearer.
"All we need is to bring these back, right?" Addison leaned on the blond girl, Yin, if he recalled. Yin looked at him and nodded. That made things simpler, if these were the only people here, that meant he could safely use his curtain to limit the number of grim there.
Once again he put his hand on a prana mudra and focused on the conditions of the curtain. He couldn't do anything fancy, but something generic like no grim allowed entry should be possible.
"What are you planning?" The red-haired girl asked. Addison didn't answer. He stopped and thought about it, what exactly was the plan? If he created a curtain around the entire forest, all grim would still be inside, there would be no point. Could his curtain even sustain damage from powerful grim? It could barely handle those wolf monsters.
He relaxed his arm and brought it down. "Nothing."
[Ping Ping Ping! Quest time! The primary quest changed to getting the hell out of there. Reward… hmm, you already got some pretty cool shit, so something garbage. Non-Sorcery related!]
"How will we get back if there are so many grim coming after us?" This time it was a black-haired girl with silver eyes. Sapphire? What was her name? Addison couldn't remember.
"Maybe we could hide out, they'll eventually stop pursuing." The blond boy voiced. Should he tell them he was acting as a grim magnet? Addison wondered, debating with himself. No, that didn't benefit him at all. If anything, they were likely to just leave him behind if he told them. At the same time, if they knew he was a magnet for grim, they could strategize around it. All others might leave him there to die, but the main character won't, she was naive and young. He didn't have certainty, but if he didn't say anything they could get overrun with no strategy, if he did tell them, it was likely they would leave him behind.
"We can't hide." Addison made his decision. The group of eight turned their attention to him. "I'm a grim magnet, if we hide, they will find us."
They stopped for several seconds, it was clear they didn't want to voice it, but some of the more rational people there were considering leaving him behind. It made sense to Addison, after all, it was the most rational decision.
"It's looking tough for us," Yin said with a sigh. "We'll just have to run. Think you can do that… uh…"
"Addison."
"Nice to meet you! My name is Yang. Let's get you to the infirmary." Addison had her name wrong, it was Yang. She was awfully cheery for someone about to die. Addison couldn't understand why she looked so happy. He tried thinking about what he felt at the moment.
Peering at death's door, Addison felt… nothing. Yang grabbed Addison – in a very impressive feat of strength – and put him on her back, carrying him out of the forest. Addison's fingertips felt numb, his head was dizzy and his vision was beginning to blur.
"What exactly makes you a grim magnet?" Pyra, if he recalled, the red-haired girl with green eyes stared at him while running next to Yang.
"My…" Addison forgot, what the name of their power system was, "my ability passively releases negative energy from my body. Grim are naturally attracted to it."
"Sheesh, what an inconvenient semblance," Yang voiced. Semblances, that's what they were called. She kept running.
"My semblance could hide you until we get there," It was the boy from before. He was wearing a green stereotypical-looking Chinese outfit. He had a magenta streak on his long black hair. His voice was very calm and quiet. Yang nodded and handed Addison to the boy.
Addison felt something cover him as if there was a thin layer around his body. Addison saw his body had been greyed out. The flow of his own cursed energy was disrupted and contained. It was working.
"Stay with us Addison! We'll get you to the infirmary in no time!" the energetic ginger said, raising her war hammer.
"The grim are approaching, we should get going," Addison informed them. They looked at him for an explanation, "I can sense grim because of my semblance." he came up with the most rational excuse for the moment. They bought it and started running through the forest.
"That's perfect actually," the white-haired girl said, "you can make yourself useful to help us avoid grim."
[Ah man! Wouldn't it suck if you were to get a quest that forced you to kill some grim?]
[Side-quest initiated! Kill Nevermore! Reward? Well, seeing as you're pretty banged up… let's make it random! And yes! You have to kill the grim yourself!]
Addison nodded. He couldn't remember what a nevermore was, but he did remember it was an important enough grim to get a name, which means it was fought by the main cast. He narrowed down the options by remembering the enemies fought in the forest of the initiation. It was either the bird or the scorpion.
"C'mon Weiss, no need to be so harsh." The protagonist was at the very front of the group, running through the forest. She slowed down and kept her pace with the boy giving Addison a piggyback, "You alright there?"
"Your friend is right. I wouldn't mind if you left me. Logically it increases your chances of getting out of here." Addison told them.
"It's not about that." It was a different voice. Addison felt his body become limper and limper. He could barely keep his arms wrapped around the Chinese-themed boy. The person who spoke had long black hair and hazel eyes. It was the cat girl, Noir. "If we left you behind you would probably die. It's a huntsman's job to save as many people as they can."
"Yeah!" The blond boy reiterated.
Addison couldn't relate. If he were in their position, he would have dropped himself and run away.
Regardless, he guided them through the paths without Grim. There were two huge signatures in front of him. He would find out which was the nevermore the moment they found them.
As if it had been called, a large bird with black feathers descended and flapped its large wings. Its feathers detached themselves and impaled the ground.
"NEVERMORE!" Yang yelled, jumping away.
Perfect, Addison thought. The conditions weren't the best, but finding his target now rather than later was rather advantageous. He didn't know if he would still be conscious in a few minutes.
"Thanks for the warning!" The white-haired girl yelled jumping away from a feather. They had said her name earlier, but Addison wasn't paying attention. He kept quiet, "why didn't you tell us about it?! I thought that was your semblance's whole thing?"
"Semblances weaken when one gets close to death," The Chinese-themed boy, True Ray explained. "They awaken to prevent one's soul from disappearing and in dire situations, but the closer one is to death, the weaker they become. We have to hurry."
Addison agreed they had to hurry. He was breathing heavily. He tapped Ray's shoulder. "Put me down." Ray stopped for a second, "we need everyone to fight it." Ray put him down carefully. Addison got up and took a second to recompose himself. If he moved too much he was afraid he would bleed out.
If he managed to kill the nevermore, he had a chance of getting reverse cursed technique, the ability that halts wounds from worsening – which would stop his bleeding – or potentially idle transfiguration, which would help him keep the shape of his soul, and thus reshape his body to "heal" itself.
"I'll take care of it!" Sapphire dashed forward without regard for her own life. Addison had to get there before her, if he didn't, she would kill the giant bird before he could and he would lose his chance at a good roll. He dashed forward, pouring cursed energy into his limbs to make sure he didn't fall down with his weak legs.
His near-death stage must have strengthened his cursed energy because he felt more powerful than previously. He was keeping with Sapphire, if only barely. She wasn't using her semblance or anything, but she was agile even without it.
He wasn't sure he could make Cleave strike before Sapphire got there, so there was only one way to make sure it did, "This technique's name is cleave. It is a slashing attack that adjusts itself depending on the target's toughness and cursed energy level to cut them down in one fell swoop." He felt a sudden increase in power rush through him.
Addison saw Sapphire prepare her scythe for an attack. Addison grabbed her cape before she could launch herself up. He threw her back. If she killed the bird he wouldn't get a reward.
"WATCH OUT!" Yang's voice was far too late. Addison saw one of the bird's feathers stab through his stomach. Time seemed to slow down. The bird feather stabbing through him hurt.
If he could kill it, if he could use cleave, then there was a chance, a minuscule chance he gained reverse cursed technique and could survive. Pointing his index and middle finger up toward the nevermore he initiated the cursed technique. "Cleave"
Just as he expected, revealing his hand made the blade swirl around the nevermore faster. It Slashed it into three pieces and made it disappear.
[YOU DIED!]
The echoing laughter coming from the faceless man was the last thing Addison heard before he blacked out.