Jäger Chapter Three: Hunters and Hunted

With a loud shout, a Nevermore's head explodes as the tungsten cored, .577/450 caliber bullet smashes directly into the center of its right eye. Jake zooms right by the evaporating corpse. With a small savage grin on his face, the teen boy uses one hand to push the long lever underneath the stock and just behind the trigger guard. The brass cartridge is ejected from the breech, tumbling behind him. The Jäger's other hand tightly gripping the gun barrel, he grabs a second anti-Grimm round from his belt and places it into the breech of the rifle before pulling the lever up, finishing the loading process of his unique rifle.

Somewhere behind him are the rest of the new crop of teen boys and girls for the Beacon Academy, including his unofficial semi-partner, Ruby Rose. But he doesn't really focus on that. No, the lad prefers to simply the freedom of flight, though some high-pitch girlish scream indicates at least one other person isn't having fun. But again, the Jäger doesn't focus on that issue any further.Instead, Jake now decides to begin his landing descent. He spies a clearing just ahead and below him. However, he also notices the large Ursa and two Beowolves that are standing in the same area. How unfortunate….

For the trio of Grimm, that is.

A savage grin appears on the Jäger's face as he begins his terminal descent. 'This is where the fun begins,' He thinks as he aims the sword bayonet attached to his rifle's muzzle towards the Ursa. The large, bear-like black creature rears up and looks at the speeding teen. A half-second goes by before it realizes that the thing it is seeing isn't slowing down. But by then, it is too late.

With a sickening thud, the sharp metal blade pierces the throat of the creature of Grimm, killing it instantly. The body stumbles backwards slightly before falling onto its back with a mighty crash. The sinewy body of the bear starts to dissolve. With a grunt, Jake yanks the bayonet clear out of the dead foe. He then jumps off of the body onto the ground, a Beowolf on either side.

At first the two wolf-like creatures stare at the rapidly-disappearing remains of their brethren. Then their demonic eyes narrow at the tall teen that was responsible. Low growls build in their throats as they raise their hackles, ready to attack. Jake merely grins, readying his rifle. Hs saber rattles slightly from its position on the right side of his hip, the sheath attached to his belt. "You two sure are big. And very, very ugly! So, who's first?" Jake asks, not expecting to receive a coherent answer of any form from either of the Grimm.

The Beowolf on the right reacts first, charging forward. Its compatriot on the left also starts its own charge a half-second later. The Jäger once more merely smiles before aiming his loaded rifle at the right Beowolf. He makes sure that the iron sight at the end of the barrel is lined up with the white head of the otherwise-solid black demon. He takes a quick, deep breath, finger on the trigger. Jake lets out a half-breath before gently squeezing the trigger of his self-built firearm.

Inside the gun breech a hellish scene plays out. A small piece of metal moves forward and connects with the center of the bottom of the loaded bullet. The black powder is ignited by the striking of the primer. Gas is quickly built up and propels the tungsten-cored bullet the only direction it can move: Forward. The grooved rifling inside the steel barrel causes the speeding bullet to start to spin as it leaves the barrel, a cloud of smoke leaving the barrel after the deadly piece of metal.

The bullet smashes into the Grimm. The thick bone does nothing to stop the round. The anti-Grimm bullet goes straight through the brain cavity, causing horrific (and fatal) wounds. The Beowolf continues to charge forward due solely to the sheer momentum it had built up. Then the lifeless body stumbles. The slain Grimm then slides through the grass and dirt before coming to a stop just a few inches from Jake's boots. The body twitches slightly before ceasing all movement.

The (still very much reluctant) student doesn't have the chance to enjoy his third Grimm kill of the day, however. While most normal creatures would break off their attack after seeing one or more of their compatriots being slain, Grimm are far from most creatures. Their sheer power and lethality is matched only by their (sometimes suicidal) stupidity. Or, at least anything other than the massive elephant-like Goliath that lurk just outside of Vale's defenses.

Jake knows that he has no time to reload his rifle before the second Beowolf charging him is within striking range. The seventeen-year old fighter merely rests his gun on the dissolving corpse nearby and turns to face the last of the trio. With a disturbingly calm expression on his face, he faces the oncoming demon. His right hand grabs the metal sheathe of his saber, lifting the protective cover up at an angle so that the flat of the blade is facing the ground. Then the hand stops, holding the sheathed saber still. Meanwhile, his left hand firmly grips the leather-wrapped hilt of the blade, but doesn't draw it. Instead, the boy does something unexpected. He waits.

A second later the Beowolf leaps into the air, claws outstretched and canine fangs bared, ready to rip open Jake's throat. The demon prepares to experience the delicious feeling of warm blood on its maw as it pictures standing over its dying prey, the high of taking in his terror. But it never comes. Nor will the wolf-like creature of Grimm be able to experience those sensations again.

For the briefest second, the vulnerable underbelly of the Beowolf is exposed to the young intruder. But that short amount of time is more than enough for the experienced teen. In a blur of motion, Jake crouches down before striking like a coiled viper. A shrill ringing of metal echoes throughout the forests as he deftly unsheathes his saber with a flourish.

Instead of simply pulling it out, however, he once more does the unexpected. Using the energy placed behind the withdrawal of his blade, the Jäger continues the swing directly at the Beowolf that is now in the process of jumping over his head instead of on him. A small amount of blood lands on his wrist as the razor-sharp edge slices clean through the fur and skin.

With a howl of pain, the Beowolf skids to a stop a couple of feet away from the boy, turning around with a growl. Jake maintains his calm expression as he faces the Grimm. For a millisecond man and demon engage in a staring contest. Then the monster collapses to the ground, like a marionette whose strings have been severed. For the next minute, the only sounds that can be heard in the clearing is Jake's breathing as he sheathes his saber, having wiped the blade on the grass to clean the blood from the polished blade.

The body of the Ursa has completely evaporated. The first Beowolf is nearly dissolved as well. As the third dead Grimm begins to dissolve into shadowy essence, Jake picks up his precious rifle from the nearly-gone corpse he had placed it on. He operates the lever that lowers the block to eject the spent brass shell. He then inserts another anti-Grimm round. While he is glad to get the chance to use more than one or two such rounds in a single day, he also knows that he is carrying seventy-five percent of his entire tungsten-core supply.

"Ozpin is definitely going to be paying for the next load of tungsten," He mutters gruffly, irritated at the thought of having yet another conversation with the coffee-addict. A small part of him really hopes that the Hunter will turn out to actually be a villain, so that Jake has a legitimate reason to kill the annoying prick. But the rest of him, his much more sensible side, reins it in. 'Better get moving,' He chides himself. Don't want to end up being partnered with someone who would slow him down, and complicate his already-disrupted plans.

Already the captured vigilante hears the sounds of battle as the other teen boys and girls traverse the area. Voices of both excitement and dismay as each student makes eye contact with their partner also fill the air. Jake raises an eyebrow when he hears a series of shotgun blasts go off overhead. A blonde-haired blur gives him a hint of an indication of the identity of the source of the noise. He shakes his head slightly as Yang quickly disappears from sight. 'Make her highly dangerous and extremely unpredictable,' Jake internally grumbles.

A new sound causes his just-lowered eyebrow to arch upwards even higher than the last time. Maybe his hearing is still recovering from the barrage of gunfire and shouting, but the Jäger could have sworn that he heard a girl shout the word 'sorry' to someone else. Hearing no other words or voices to confirm or deny this, Jake simply shrugs his shoulders and starts to move. As suddenly as he had appeared, the former drifter leaves the clearing.

For the next thirty minutes or so the Jäger wanders aimlessly through the woods. Every now and then he catches a fleeting glimpse of his fellow 'classmates'. More often than not, however, Jake sees Grimm of all kinds. Nevermore, Ursa, and Beowolf, all wander through the ancient forest either in pairs or in solitude. For a brief second, the teen saw another boy, a rather silent teen named Lie Ren, take down one of the twin-headed King Taijitu.

Thanks to his unique stealth semblance, though, Jake remains unseen from students of Grimm. Just the way he likes it. While his personal hunting ground for criminals was in the four kingdoms that made up Remnant, Jake always preferred the forest ever since he was a small boy and came across that old, hidden cabin. He finds it somewhat funny how an important even that had occurred such a (relatively speaking) short time ago now feels like a lifetime…

"What do you have there, my little Jäger?"

A sharp, acidic smell brings both his train of thoughts and his body to a complete halt. He quietly sniffs the air again.

Fire

A second later, a huge, billowing plume of black smoke rising from the area directly in his path confirms the thought. 'Who the hell was the nit-wit who used fire in the middle of a big-ass forest?!'

The snapping sounds drawing closer to the Jäger elicits a sigh from the increasingly miffed hunter. As he backs away, at first slowly but rapidly increasing his pace, Jake has one thought in his head as he raises the rifle at the white mask of a Beowolf leading the rest of its pack of eighteen or so other Beowolves away from the conflagration behind them.

"Fuck this shit."

Later…

Ruby Rose, Blake Belladonna, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long, Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie all take a break to look at the semi-frozen giant Death Stalker that the heiress had stopped from killing her scythe-wielding partner. The giant Nevermore that had brought Ruby and Weiss to the once-empty ruins has broken off for a second run at the clearing. All the two-member teams have picked up a relic, large chess pieces that look like some sort of stamp press. Just as they are about to leave, however, a loud gunshot causes them to look at the edge of the forest.

It takes them a second to realize what they are seeing. Once their brains fully register the scene before them, the eight students watch silently. They all stare, slightly slack jawed, at the lone cloaked figure running. The seven 17-year olds and the fifteen-year old can see that he is reloading his single-shot rifle. Right behind him are six savage Beowolves, eager for the kill, their blood riled up by the chase that had seen the rest of their pack being wiped out.

Ruby blinks her eyes several times. "Um, is that….?"

Jaune nods his head, still in a shocked stupor. "It looks like it."

The figure being chased is Jake, who is currently a very pissed-off Jäger. "Oh, that is it! You're going to hell RIGHT NOW YOU UGLY MOTHERFUCKERS!" He shouts. He picks up his speed, quickly gaining some distance. Jake then skids to a halt, turning around while doing so. As a result, he merely has to pull the trigger of his rifle as he had already lined up the iron sights with the leading wolf-like Grimm. He pulls the trigger, creating another loud bang of gunfire.

The group continues their role as silent spectators as the mask and head of the targeted Beowolf erupts like a gory volcano, the round passing clean through. Jake quickly works the lever, ejecting a steaming brass shell and loading in a fresh anti-Grimm bullet. The breech has barely been sealed when the Jäger pulls the metal trigger again. Another loud bang echoes as a second Beowolf collapses to the ground, the round entering through the center of the chest and continuing three-quarters of the way down the demon's body before finally stopping. The third Grimm leaps over the body, but the last two Beowolves trip over the body that has only just started to dissolve.

Jake doesn't have time to reload a third round, however, as the leap the Beowolf took brings the demon just a few feet away from him. Jake doesn't panic, however. He braces his body, one foot taking a step back, the other crouching forward. His left hand grips the area between the stock and the trigger, while his right tightens its hold on the wood underneath the metal barrel. With a shout, the teen charges at the now-startled Grimm. The sun glints off of the sword bayonet still attached to the gun.

With a mighty thrust, the blade buries itself deep into the throat of the now-doomed Beowolf. With a savage tug, the blade is pulled out as Jake deftly reveres his grip on his precious rifle. With another mightily thrust, the solid wooden butt of the gun smashes into the top of the demon's head, sending it straight to the ground. Once again reversing his weapon, the Jäger impales the area where the skull and spine meets of the dying Grimm, finishing it off.

By now the last two Beowolves have gotten back on their paws and now also a few feet away. Jake quickly unlocks and removes the bayonet with his right hand. He pulls the arm back a bit as he waits for the right moment. When said moment presents itself, the hunter throws the short sword-oversized knife at the right Grimm. The high-pitched yelp of pain quickly ends as only one Grimm now remains, dead-set on avenging its fallen pack.

Once more Jake repeats his earlier strike that he had dealt to another Beowolf only an hour or so earlier. This time, however, the Beowolf doesn't die immediately. It lies a yard away from its killer, whimpering pathetically in agonizing pain. Jake calming approaches the sixth wolf-like demon, his saber at the ready. With a single flick of the wrist, he severs the blood vessels (along with nearly the entire neck) of the Beowolf, silencing it forever.

Even the ancient Death Stalker stops its efforts to break the ice trapping its lethal, glowing stinger as the boy calmly walks over to the body of the fifth Grimm. He yanks out the bayonet and wipes the gore off using what hasn't yet dissolved of the fur. He then calmly reattaches the deadly blade to the barrel, locking it firmly into place. He walks by the still-stunned group, loading in a new anti-Grimm round into his rifle while doing so.

"Well? What are you doing there standing with your mouths open? Unless you want to be target practice for those ancient Grimm, I suggest we head back to the cliff!" He says gruffly, cautiously eyeing the once-more struggling scorpion-like Grimm. He internally winces when he hears the sound of ice cracking. Then a shadow passes by overhead as the ancient Nevermore returns. Thankfully, the group recovers, even if they eye the reluctant student with both wonder and some admiration. Most of the later comes from Ruby. But she focuses on the present.

"Come on, guys! Let's move!"

Jake brings up the rear of the group, keeping an eye on the nearly-free Death Stalker. "This is going to be fun," He mutters to himself in his distinct gruff manner. "Let's hope that these kids are up to the task, because I sure as hell am not packing enough fire power to kill both of those bastards!"

And done! Next chapter will the nine students of Beacon face off against the two ancient Grimm. Will they come out unscathed? Find out in the next chapter! Also, thanks to all my followers and those who have added Jäger to their favorites! Until next time!