Sorry for the late update. As I said in my last author's note, I have work and stuff I'm doing now. That, and I have other stories as I'm sure by now most of you know, so not all of my time is spent updating this story in particular. That being said, I hope this chapter will be worth the wait.
Now, with that being said, let's get into my response to the Reviews/Comments!
[Response to reviews/comments]
(Qoutev) TACO SENSEI: Jolyne practically one-shot her. Aura also fluctuates in strength, and it depends on how much a person has. So for Jolyne to be able to one-shot Raven's Aura is quite a large feat, so yeah, to say she did a number on Raven is an understatement. And, yeah, it would be very… interesting wouldn't it…? Hehe…. Hehe….
(Guest) Reader 451: I can't say much in regards to Jamol, namely because we'll be exploring more about him in a few chapters. That, and I want to keep most of my cards regarding him close to my chest. There is a lot of stuff I want to do with Jamol, but I can't do it just yet because there is still a lot of setup. Like, I mean a lot of setup I have to do. To put things into perspective, we're not even 1% into the reverse. When I said that this will be a long story, I mean it.
And yeah, Bros before hoes, even if your bro is now a hoe.
As for how Raven did that… basically, she was able to recover a small amount of Aura, use her semblance, then dip. It was why the portal closed almost immediately. She had just enough Aura to create it. Also, I don't plan to kill Raven… yet. And yeah, Raven's gonna throw a spanner into the works for poor ol' Jolyne.
Kolt999: As I said to Reader 451, I'm not gonna go too deep into Jamol's psyche right now. I'll save that for a solo arc I have planned for him. Also, his starting world… I've kind of decided to make a potential series out of this, focusing on all of the Multiversal Gamers and what their journeys were. But that's still a MASSIVE maybe. I might just show that off in this story instead. I haven't really made up my mind. Especially considering the kind of character Jamol is, I don't know if I want to do that.
And yeah, Raven got fucking folded by Jolyne. That's not to say that Jolyne didn't get her ass handed to her either. They both put up a fight, it was just that Jolyne had the ability to one-tap her, and it just so happened to be in the most cathartic way imaginable. Well, I can actually think of a few more ways where it would've been cathartic, but I digress.
Jolyne's army of bandits is going to come up later, mainly because this chapter doesn't put focus on Jolyne. Though I'm sure you probably know what's going to happen with them. As for Blake's interaction with Jolyne… yeah, that'll be fun.
While that section with Qrow was short, I'm hoping it paints a good picture of what this variant of Qrow is like going forward. But then again, I haven't really strayed much from OG Qrow, so for now I'll keep my mouth shut.
Watts giving Remnant Twitter is the funniest shit ever, and you bet your ass that is exactly what happened.
Have a good day, Kolt!
MissValteria: Why, thank you so much!
Ultrahi: I don't know if you've read up to this point, but you had some questions, and I'm willing to answer them. The first thing: The Nerfs.
The Nerfs are to add tension and make this more of a story and less of a one-sided beatdown. While it artificially raises the takes, it's also to give the characters of the original universe a chance to shine, unless, of course, I want them to be washed for story-based reasons.
As for why some characters "grow" faster than Jolyne, I.E. our Protagonist, it isn't them growing, more such that they are just "there already" and had been "there already" before Jolyne even showed up.
I hope that answers your Questions!
Now, onto the chapter!
[Makaria Plutos and Jasper Quartz belong to Shine375. Zain Hotaru belongs to Sunky Addict!]
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[Ozpin]
Let it be known that Ozpin never expected to see Raven ever again. She had sworn herself to a life in the shadows, and, if he remembered how their last meeting went, Raven specifically stated that if she saw him ever again, she'd kill him. And while it was certainly possible that she had a chance to kill him, that didn't mean she could 100% of the time.
In fact, Raven, if he ignored Summer, was the strongest member of the former team that was STRQ. That being said, Ozpin was still leaps and bounds stronger than Raven and was on equal footing with Summer. But then again, that was nearly over a decade ago. Times have changed, and there was no doubt that Raven had gotten stronger. Just not stronger than he was. After all, he still had to train for the chance that he had to fight someone.
Just because he was The Headmaster of Beacon Academy, did not mean that he wasn't a Hunter. While he hadn't done much hunting these days, he knew he could still take out hordes of Grimm with practiced ease if the time ever came.
That being said, the irony of Raven standing before him, weaponless and defenceless, did not illude him. Qrow flanked her right, Glynda flanked her left, and in the rear were Fire Dust-equipped, automatic rifle-armed Atlas-supplied security drones. If Raven did want to attack, she'd have to go through the four of them to attack him, and even that would probably end in failure.
Ozpin was cautious if nothing else. Just because Raven lacked a weapon did not mean she was weak. She was the leader of the strongest group of Bandits in Remnant. So much so that even the militarized White Fang were scared of them. The Branwen Tribe was still, and would probably continue to be, the deadliest group of people outside of Salem's council.
And because of that, Ozpin could not spare even the slightest expense when it came to making sure that Raven could not make a single move that even so much as hinted at her planning to attack.
"Raven. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Opzin asked, fingers steepled and posture relaxed. Raven stared at him, hatred in her eyes, along with reluctance. He didn't blame her for hating him, after all, he had all but forced the Corvid Transformation on herself and Qrow—fitting for what their names were, might he add—and he had exposed them in seconds for what their reasoning was for originally coming to Beacon.
Oh, and he did drag them into this war against Salem. Not that he wanted to, mind you, but they had discovered and learned too much to not keep them in the loop. It was a mistake he regretted making, but one that he made nonetheless. And, one he would make again and again if he had to.
"Something has happened, Ozpin. Something that I don't think anyone, not even The Witch, had expected to happen… excluding him, something else has happened. Something that could be equally devastating," Raven said as Ozpin raised an eyebrow.
Something no one was expecting? Excluding him. Well, no one could've prepared for him. He showed up out of the blue one day. But another unexpected variable? Once was already bad enough, and if it was something on the same level as him. Well… that would just cause more problems than it would solve.
"I don't think I quite understand, Raven. Can you please elaborate?" Ozpin asked as Raven narrowed her eyes. She looked… anxious. Which was concerning. The Raven Branwen that Ozpin knew was a woman of resolve and of nerves of steel. She never wavered, ever, and in combat, she was a force to reckon with. When off the field of duty, she was still just as scary if not moreso, mainly because of her stubbornness and lack of a sense of morality.
When it came to getting the job done, one could always trust Raven to do so. Even if her methods were barbaric at times. There was a reason why she was known as The Black Death amongst certain circles of Hunters and Huntresses.
But the Raven before him was… scared. Oh, sure, Raven had her moments of showing fear. It was more common than she liked, and Ozpin knew that, but there was something different about it this time. Something that caused Raven to come to Ozpin, something that she would never do unless pushed into a corner.
And then, she spoke.
"One word, Ozpin. Dragon."
Ozpin narrowed his eyes. Dragon? What did she mean by—oh. A small smirk came to his features, his narrowed eyes dispersing for a more casual expression. "So… the legends were true. And allow me to make a guess, you ran into this person, didn't you?"
Raven's eyebrows furrowed, a thinking expression on her face. Ah, so he was spot on. The Dragon Faunus was born, meaning that things could be looking up for them. The Dragon Faunus was said to be beyond superhuman, physically strong enough to punch away buildings, rally entire groups together with just a single roar, and lead allies into battle with only so much as a point in the direction where they needed to go.
Not only did it fix the White Fang problem, assuming The Dragon Faunus wasn't a part of the White Fang, but they could also finally help jump-start true equality between humans and faunus. Brothers knew he's tried that for the better half of a decade, and each time it got squashed down by those other politicians.
One of these days, he'd get through to them. Even if it meant risking him showing up.
But that was beside the point. There was also the fact that if he could get The Dragon Faunus to help with his cause, then maybe they could finally make an opening so that humanity and Faunuskind could survive a little longer against the forces of The Wicked Witch. He didn't care if the opening was small, or if it wasn't open for long. All he cared about was making some progress.
They had been stuck in a medieval-like era for far too long. Sure, they had modern technology, but it wasn't going to be enough. Humanity and Faunuskind were still spread thin, and divided, and some were even warring with one another.
That could not be allowed to continue. So hopefully, The Dragon Faunus could help put an end to that. Hell, if he was really lucky, they might even be able to make him do something to help, rather than to hurt. It might be wishful thinking, but that was all they had at the moment. It needed to become reality.
"I did. I encountered The Dragon Faunus," Raven paused, clenching her jaw. There was a flare of disappointment in her eyes, but it fizzled away, replaced by shame as she continued. "And she defeated me in a single blow, on top of completely eviscerating over 95% of The Branwen Tribe."
When those words left Raven's mouth, Ozpin was shocked. He knew The Dragon Faunus to be strong, but that was a little bit ridiculous. He wasn't the only one to react, as for a split second, Ozpin saw Qrow's eyes widen to the size of saucers, before he coughed into his hand, calmed down, and sighed. This prompted Raven to continue.
"Not only that, but she was able to use magic. And it wasn't just a small amount, it was enough to nearly level the entire encampment I had sent up, which Qrow would know is comparable to at least a small town. On top of that, according to someone who survived the first massacre, she came riding in on a Beowulf."
If Ozpin's eyes could widen even further than they already were, they would. Because, the moment those words left Raven's mouth, Ozpin felt whatever hope he had built up in his chest plummet. Qrow looked like he was about to go mad, and Glynda didn't fair much better. And Ozpin couldn't blame them. What Raven just said was a massive blow to whatever it was that Ozpin had been hoping for. But, even so, he couldn't start losing his cool now, and neither could Qrow or Glynda.
Raising his hand, he was able to slightly calm the other two down, but the worriedness and fear didn't leave the room. He could feel it. He had lived long enough to know what fear smelt like. However, it was better than them being panicked. And it was in that Ozpin was able to think.
"A Beowulf? But… how? That doesn't make sense. Unless… this Dragon Faunus is working with Salem…." His thoughts broke for a split second. The idea of The Dragon Faunus working with Salem was more than enough for him to start shouting in frustration. And if that were all, he would've. But, there was something that caught his attention that made the idea almost seem a little too farfetched.
"But then that begs the question: why would Salem want Raven's Branwen Tribe eradicated? Salem doesn't do anything without a reason. Unless, of course, something else is at play here that I have yet to learn. Either way, I can't go about making assumptions. All that will do is cause panic. And the last thing we need right now is for people to panic…." Ozpin thought as he closed his eyes.
Beowulf's didn't allow anyone to ride them, for very obvious reasons. That, and he was pretty sure that even if one of Salem's agents tried, they would fail miserably. Beowulf's, and The Grimm as a whole, had only one mission and that was to kill all life on Remnant. That was the whim and the will of their collective mind, puppetted by Salem. Thus, why would they let themselves be treated as a means of transport by the very things that they were trying to eradicate?
Therefore, it didn't make sense. And because it didn't make sense, it was what allowed Ozpin to believe that there was something else at play here. And that something that could very well be the reason why The Dragon Faunus was seen riding a Beowulf.
Ozpin sighed. He could already feel another headache come on, and that wasn't what he had hoped would come from this situation.
"Hold on! What do you mean by that?" Glynda spoke up, shock in her tone of voice as Raven scoffed.
"I mean exactly what I said. This Dragon Faunus came riding in on a Beowulf to attack a southern raiding party I had set up to take over a village. The Beowulf was completely subservient to her. What was even stranger was that according to this survivor, she created it herself. She didn't explain how, but she did," Raven said as Qrow's jaw straightened.
"Hey, Raven. What did this Dragon Faunus look like?" Qrow asked as Raven glanced over to her brother. Ozpin kept a cool head. There could always be an explanation for this. The constant use of the "she" pronoun meant this Dragon Faunus was a woman.
He knew where Salem was, and that was in her castle in the badlands. So it couldn't be her using a disguise, which she has been known to do to manipulate others.
Salem rarely ever came out of her castle, not unless it was to do something beyond important. So he could rule that out until further evidence was provided. Even still, the fact that this Dragon Faunus could create Grimm was more than enough to make Ozpin panic ever so slightly.
How? How was that possible?
Unless….
"A Grimmoire… That's the only way I can see someone who isn't Salem being able to create and control Grimm. But Salem destroyed them all. Unless she missed one, and this Dragon Faunus was able to get her hands on it. That… could always be a possibility…." Ozpin thought, rubbing his chin.
He couldn't let these thoughts travel into the idea that there was another Salem afoot. If that were the case, then that could make things even worse. So, he was looking on the optimistic side.
He glanced back at Raven, who looked like she was debating on whether or not to speak about what this Dragon Faunus looked like. So, to hopefully get her to speak up, Opzin cleared his throat. "I would also like to know what our mysterious Dragon Faunus looks like. Raven, if you may?"
Raven clicked her tongue, making a "tch" sound, before closing her eyes. "Let's see… she had half black and half pink hair. One green eye, an eyepatch with a red thunderbolt design on it, a white and black cloak, pale skin, grey baggy pants, and black army-grade boots. She also had a strange, fleshy scythe on her back that she used to kill people. Anyone who got near her to attack her, she would cut down. It was almost like a sixth sense. The moment she got any idea that someone or something was going to attack her, she'd use her scythe to bisect them with trained ease," Raven explained as Ozpin frowned.
A Sycthe. A strange weapon of choice, but in the right hands, dangerously effective. Qrow had a similar weapon, Harbinger, and while it could turn into several kinds of weapons, it could also turn into a Scythe and a War Scythe.
Summer also used dual sickles that turned into sub-machine guns that primarily used a mix of Hard Light dust rounds and Fire Dust rounds.
"A common trend for powerful people. Scythes… Interesting…." Ozpin thought as he nodded. "And what of her name? Do you know it?" Ozpin asked as Raven shook her head.
"I was not given the opportunity to learn it. All I can give you is a description of her appearance, and that she can use magic, somehow create and summon Beowulf's, and was able to effectively destroy The Branwen Tribe. Aside from what I just told you, that is all I know," Raven explained as Qrow crossed his arms.
"So what now, you just gonna teleport to Vernal and leave?" Qrow said, his tone dripping with sarcasm. Raven glanced over to Qrow, her eyes narrowed.
"Vernal is dead."
Qrow froze, before clearing his throat. "I see… uh, then what about the rest of the tribe?"
Raven's eyes narrowed, as if dumbfounded. "Did you not hear what I just said, brother? The Branwen Tribe is gone. She destroyed them all, and anyone that survived is most likely following her now." There was a sense of resentment in her voice, as both her hands clenched into fists, shaking with rage. "Everything I… We ever worked for is gone. Our family, friends, all of it. Gone. In the blink of an eye. Nothing remains. Nothing meaningful, anyway…. The only thing I have left is… what's left…."
Qrow frowned, putting one of his hands into his pockets, before looking at Raven. "Well… you could always crash in my apartment. I already know Yang and Tai are going to be all over your ass tomorrow. Since you have nowhere else to run to… you might as well confront it tomorrow morning when everyone's had some rest."
Raven looked like she was about to object, but relented almost as quickly as she was about to strike the idea down. "Fine. I don't see why not. You're right… besides, I think it's about time I try to do something regarding my offspring…." And with that little thing cleared up, Ozpin took a sip out of his now empty cup of hot chocolate, drawing everyone's attention.
"Well then, if that concludes this meeting, then I would like you all, except Glynda, to vacate my office." Without another word being said, the two Branwen siblings were escorted out of his office, as Glynda watched Raven with a keen eye. When they left, Ozpin let out a tired sigh. "That was… a lot."
"You seem stressed, Ozpin…" Glynda said, her tone filled with concern. Oh, how he wished he could be sarcastic right about now. However, he knew Glynda wouldn't appreciate it, so he kept to what he normally acted like.
He may or may not have wanted to pull his hair out right now. Just like how he may or may not have wanted to scream into a paper bag for about an hour. Seriously, how could all of this just happen out of nowhere? What did he mean? Well…
The Dragon Faunus was born.
The Dragon Faunus. Was. Born.
He had seen one or two in the past during his many lives as other people. And they were devastatingly powerful. To the point where they could match his strength. At least, in his opinion, anyway. That wasn't even mentioning how, unlike normal faunus, they could actually shift into real Dragons.
It depended on what kind of Dragon they harboured traits from, but from the description that was being given of what their tail looked like, he had to assume this was some sort of Lightning Dragon.
That… was terrifying.
This was not to mention that Dragon Faunus had the innate ability to wield magic. It was why he wasn't shocked to hear it. And, pulling more information from the legend, It was said that every 150 years The Dragon Faunus would be born. And, for it was worth, the legend wasn't wrong. Every 150 years, a Dragon Faunus was supposed to be born. However, as of late, they were due for their next Dragon Faunus for the last 200 some-odd years.
He was worried that because of him showing up that The Dragon Faunus would not be born again. But, now, his fear was alleviated.
The only thing that concerned him was that they had could summon The Grimm. He was hoping it was because of a Grimmoire, otherwise… the world might truly be doomed. With him, Salem, and this new Dragon Faunus with Grimm summoning abilities… it might just be a sign that The Brother Gods were finally done with human and faunus kind, and once and for all and were planning to—
"OZPIN!"
The greying man was snapped out of his thoughts, culminating in him blinking several times, and him muttering a confused "Huh?"
Glynda sighed. "You were lost in thought. I was asking if you needed something?"
Ozpin sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Oh, he was going to need something tonight. Something strong. "Brandy. I need Brandy. Today has been a total mess, and I want to forget."
"Ozpin, I—"
"Glynda," Ozpin interrupted, his voice stern. "I rarely ever drink. Today, after what I just heard, I think it's well deserved."
With an annoyed sigh, Glynda relented. "Very well. I shall get you something to drink." And with that, she went to the elevator to get what it was that Ozpin requested.
Even if it was unbecoming of a man with his power, Ozpin knew that if he didn't do something, he was going to break something. And so, he resorted to the same thing that Qrow did every day.
He was going to get drunk.
[?]
New things. If he were to be honest, new stuff was always fun. And while he would say it would've been better if this wasn't just sprung on him like it was, then maybe he'd have a chance to actually, well, you know, gauge his current situation
Although, to be fair, as of late, not many things were giving him that chance. He had only been at this thing for a month or two, count'em, two, and things were already looking to be a chore for him.
He was so used to being, well… an adult that he kinda forgot what it was like to be a kid. For starters—he was small. Really, really small. Like, 3'11, at best. And while that wasn't a bad thing considering one of his traits, it was still annoying. Being treated like a kid despite not being one, if it wasn't obvious enough, was the annoying part.
Childish Body really was a little on the annoying side sometimes. Oh, sure, it provided enhanced dodging, but it still had its downsides. Like the aforementioned being treated like a kid.
"Oh well! It makes taking on the Grimm a hell of a lot easier!" Zain Hotaru thought as he plopped a grape into his mouth. It was a wild grape, so it was a little on the bitter side, but even so, he was a bit peckish. He had virtually no money to his name, like, the most money he had right now was around 5 Lien, and that was because he had wasted his last Quests amount of Lien, around 25, on a comic book or two.
Zain sighed, cracking his neck from side to side as he brushed aside his shoulder-length white hair. His grey eyes scanned the mess that was in front of him. He had been in the middle of the Anima Wilderness for the most part, and it wasn't exactly how he wanted to spend his night. That being said, it would've been a hell of a lot more palatable than stumbling across… this.
For a bit of context, Zain had just started his journey as a Gamer. Like, just started. And so far, he hadn't had the best of luck in regards to… pretty much anything.
See, when he died about a month or so ago, Ma'at, the Goddess that had given his power, told him that the world he was in was a place where a lot of other Gamers requested to go. And, according to Ma'at, around 20 other gamers were here, and that already caused him to tense with nervousness. However, luckily for him, they mostly stuck around Vacuo or Vale, and not Mistral and Continent of Anima.
So, rather than doing the funny thing and going to Vale to interact with the main cast of RWBY, Zain went ahead and did the other thing, that being Starting in Anima, closer to Mistral rather than further away. However, the moment he arrived, he immediately noticed that something was wrong.
Very, very wrong.
The first thing that he noticed was that a lot of the settlements in Anima were seemingly abandoned, and those that remained with even a hint of a population locked their doors, covered their windows or hid in fear of him. During his first few days when he killed Grimm to level up—by the way, he was level 33, and he felt very proud of himself for it—it took some gesturing and some humming and hawing in order to get someone to talk to him.
And what he learned about the world, or at least, this version of Remnant, it was… well, it wasn't at all what he thought it to be. He knew that the world of Remnant was screwed up, it was basically a post-apocalypse wasteland with humanity being lower on the food chain compared to The Grimm.
However, from what he gathered, life wasn't all too bad till the end of Volume 3, when Beacon fell. He was able to gauge that Beacon was still standing, mainly because communication with the continent of Sanus was still a thing. So he was still in Volume 1 to 2 territory. What threw him off was human slavery. Faunus slavery was still a thing, that much was to be expected, but humans?
That… didn't sound right.
Well, of course, it wasn't right but… human slaves weren't a thing in the world of Remnant. So, he attempted to do some more digging.
Upon asking more about it, the man who he was talking to refused to answer. Although, Zain was able to surmise that the man had been affected by it by way of seeing a family picture behind them when they spoke, showing a small child maybe three or so years old, and a woman in her late 30s.
With that in mind, Zain continued to explore as much as he could, and around about two months into his journey, he got a Quest detailing him to save a bunch of slaves from The Branwen Tribe. That… didn't bode well. He wasn't big on the Branwen Tribe even in the show, and from what he saw of them briefly in Volume 4, he knew they weren't exactly good people.
He never took them for Slavers, though.
However, upon getting there, he was greeted by a literal torrent of fire and liquid rock burning the buildings, charred and half-melted corpses lining the floor, and a massive crater in the center of the camp, along with what appeared to be gallows just a few inches away from one of the edges of the crater.
"What the hell…." Zain muttered, walking past a few of the bodies. They all looked to be wearing typical clothing that the bandits would've worn. Meaning someone had beat him to the punch. As a result, the quest had cancelled and he had gotten a few Lien for his troubles in heading to the location of the quest.
"Who would do this…? I mean, they're bandits, but… still. This is a bit excessive…." Zain thought as he glanced over to a horribly burned person. And much to his horror, the person was still alive, gasping for breath and coughing up blood. Without thinking, Zain rushed over to the man and knelt in front of him. "H-Hey! Can you hear me?"
"K… K… muh…." The person grunted, groaning in pain as his body twitched and spasmed, convulsing and spewing with blood pooling around his burned charred body. Zain fished around for something, anything in his inventory to heal the poor guy, but all he had were gacha tokens, and even then, he didn't know if they'd give anything useful.
"What did you say?" Zain asked as the man stared at him, his eyes wide in pain. Half of his face burned away to nothing but the muscle and protruding fragments of bone. His right arm was melting—literally melting—and his legs were… they were burned beyond recognition. The only reason why Zain was able to know that they were legs was that he could vaguely make out a foot on one of the burned, horribly charred pieces of meat and bone.
"K… Ki… Muh…." The man grunted again, this time with more effort as he coughed up more blood. Zain was about to ask again, until the man spoke for a third time, and this time, his plea was clear. "Ki… kil... muh… kill me… ple…ase…."
Zain felt his heart crack. He tried to think of something, anything to save this man. Even if he was a bandit, no one deserved to die like this. But even he could see that there was nothing on hand that he could use to soothe the burns, or even heal the man. And he wasn't about to crack open all three of his gacha tokens just for a small chance of a healing item.
In other words: there was nothing he could do. And seeing as he wasn't going to let this man suffer for any longer than he already had, there was only one real thing that he could do. And it pained him just thinking about it.
But, it was the man's choice to make. Not his. If the man wanted to die, then Zain would at least grant him that.
Zain nodded, taking a sword from his inventory. The sword in question was one he got from a gacha token. It was of Epic Rarity called The Bloodstained Long Sword. It was a red-bladed sword with a cobalt hilt, that looked as if it was coated in blood. In reality, it wasn't. It was simply made out of a red, foreign metal that had the same colour as blood. That and the sword could be sharpened using coagulated blood.
He was worried that the blade would be picky about the blood that was used to sharpen it. But, after questioning his system about it, it said that any blood would do. So, animals counted. Which meant Grimm counted. And since Grimm did in fact bleed, even if it was a black substance and not actual red blood, it still counted.
Small tangent aside, Zain levelled the sword's edge to the man's neck. "If you want to die, then I'll do as you ask. I hope you have a safe journey to the afterlife, wherever it is you will go."
Closing his eyes, rearing back both of his arms in an arc-like fashion, Zain swung the sword toward the man's neck, his blade hitting its target, severing the man's head off of his shoulders, signified by the soft thud on the ground that was caused by the head falling to the ashen floor.
The white-haired boy couldn't tell if the pain in the dead man's eyes was from him killing him, or from the pain he had already been suffering from his immense burns. Either way, the task was done, and there was nothing more that could be done to soothe what appeared to be the only real survivor of the attack—no, massacre—that had been done to this encampment of The Branwen Tribe.
His heart wavered for a second, his hand wrapped tightly around the hilt of his sword. He hated seeing people like that. Even if they were considered "bad" they didn't deserve that kind of pain. They should've been brought to justice. Not killed or maimed to that extent. That's just causing suffering. There's no justification for it.
He wouldn't wish that kind of pain on even his enemies. Hell, the idea of killing people made his stomach flip. He always wanted to be a hero. He admired people like Batman when he was living a normal life in his hometown, and similarly, he admired people like Ruby from, well, RWBY. The kinds of heroes that never killed, because killing was wrong.
Do unto others as you wish to be done unto you. That was his motto growing up, and even in this world he would keep that rule in place. He wouldn't shed a single droplet of blood unless necessary.
If one were to describe Zain Hotaru in a few words, Lawful Good and Morally Pure would be those words. Which was fitting because no matter what he did, he always did what was right, and justified under the law. Perhaps that was the reason why Ma'at chose him to be her warrior. And if that was the case, he'd live up to those expectations.
"Don't worry, stranger. Your death won't be in vain…." Zain muttered as he put his blade back into his inventory. He was going to find out who did this. Even if he wasn't the biggest fan of the Branwen Tribe, that didn't mean any of them deserved this. At the very least they should have been rounded up and taken to the Mistralian Hunters Association to be tried and judged in a court of law.
Zain was going to make sure that this person, whoever this person was, paid for their crimes. The person who killed all these people. They would be tried and judged. He would make it so.
For the sake of that man that was unjustly tortured, and for the sake of the dead that fell here to defend what was their own, he'd make sure that person who did this paid for their crimes. For he was nothing if not fair.
Looking over to the giant hole in the wall, Zain narrowed his eyes and began his trek to find the person who needed to be brought to justice.
[Kokichi]
He was bored. Super, super, super bored! For the past day and some change, he had been imprisoned in what appeared to be a super fancy prison cell made out of a holographic machine. He had played nice for a while, and even been courteous enough to answer questions asked of him by a man named General James Ironwood, but he was slowly starting to get bored.
And if there was one thing that everyone with a properly functioning brain knew, it was that if Kokichi Ouma got bored, hell would soon follow as he tried to find something to do.
That, and that Winter bitch was starting to get on his nerves. Always giving him the side eye and narrowed-eyed glances with frowns. It's not like he had done anything, aside from maybe flashing her the middle finger every now and again. Seriously, she was a stuck-up, no-good, "mah authority" kind of lady.
It wasn't just his opinion, either. It was Chiaki's. It was Masaru's. And hell, it was even Gundham's. No one out of his current group of four liked Specialist Schnee and for good reason.
To put it simply, from what Kokichi observed, she was a boot licker. Or, at the very least, was someone who clung to authority and power. The way she moved with self-absorbed purpose and power was not lost on him. It reminded him of his adopted father Munakata. But unlike Munakata, she was working with the military, which probably made her ego even larger than Munakata's.
Then again, it was just his observation of the situation. And he typically liked to connect people to other people just so that he could get a reference for what he was dealing with. He didn't know Specialist Schnee on a personal level and, quite frankly, didn't want to.
What he wanted, was to get out. And, by extension, get everyone else out.
Yawning, Kokichi cracked his neck from side to side. "Well, aside from my aching bladder, I don't really have a reason to do this other than why not. So…. Let's get this shit show on the road, shall we?" Kokichi thought as he smirked.
Snapping his fingers, he flexed Probability, his one and only real spell, causing the holographic cell to shut down, and, at the same time, causing the alarms to fail and the security cameras to loop. Normally, that wouldn't typically happen, but because of how his spell worked, coincidences came a hell of a lot more easily in reality than they normally would.
For as much as he didn't like to admit it, Probability probably could've saved him more times than it didn't if he had just used it properly. And seeing as he never really liked to use it unless push came to shove, he made himself look weak as a result.
But seeing as push had come to shove, it was his time to shove back. And shove back hard.
But first, he needed to get some fresh air. After all, personal needs came before everything else. He looked over to everyone else, who was looking at him with wide eyes, as he smirked. "Don't you guys worry. I'll be back in just a moment, yeah?" Kokichi said, knowing full well none of them could hear him, as he put his hands in his pockets.
After everything fell in his favour, Kokichi decided to take a bit of a walk. This was his first time not being corralled to go into certain places, so he had the freedom to go wherever he damn well pleased. Besides it wasn't like he was going to be caught, because no one could touch him. Not unless he allowed it, anyway.
And so, Kokichi went north from the holding area and began his jaunt down the halls of this supposed prison building. He passed by a bunch of closed-off rooms, peering into some of the windows and seeing what could only be understood as top-secret control areas for military overseers to access drones and the like. It was all boring looking, so he wasn't going to mess with it.
And thus, he continued to walk.
Now, you might be asking, how the hell was Kokichi not spotted or caught in any way, shape, or form? The camera's were on him, and yet no one made a move or sounded an alarm. By rights, he should be hunted down. But, you see, there was a reason for it.
The only reason why he hadn't been spotted yet was that he simply didn't allow it. See, the way his Probability worked was that small things, such as stealth, fritzing out technology, and all that other small stuff didn't cause him any mental stress or any sort of bodily harm. It was when he started tapping into the bigger things like causing windstorms, manipulating the weather via causality, and tampering with life and death things that his body started to get hit.
For example, right now, he wasn't even tired. But say if someone was shooting at him with a weapon, and he had to switch on his Probability, afterward, he'd wind up catching the flu depending on how long the guards were firing at him, or if any of the bullets were going to kill him.
For a simpler example: if he needed to attack someone using a gale-force wind, or something like cracking the earth open to making his enemies fall into a deep dark pit, then it would make his nose bleed and cause him a migraine. It sucked, yes, but it was better than being unable to do anything. The effects didn't stack, so it wasn't as if he could get more and more nose bleeds or headaches.
In an absolute worst-case scenario: if someone was going to die, and if he manipulated the probability of that person dying and switch it to them surviving, he would die in their place. He had limits, and messing with fate was an absolute limit.
Thankfully, he had never had to do that. But he knew that if he had to, and if it was someone he was close to or someone from D.I.C.E., then he would do anything to save their lives. Even if it meant that he died.
Depressing tangent aside, Kokichi continued to come across bland planning room after bland planning room, barrack after barracks, rightly positioned guards blocking other exits to hallways with their backs facing him, and a bunch of other military-based things. You know, because it was a military base.
And that was boring. Super, duper, catastrophically boring.
"Seriously, what is there to do around here? Like, what do these idiots do for fun? I mean, that isn't not out in the open. Because if I'm caught I'm gonna get in big, big trouble. Well… if I get caught. Hehehe…. Suckers."
Eventually, he found what appeared to be a library about 20 some-odd minutes away from the holding area, which was where he, Gundham, Chiaki, and that little boy Masaru had been placed and monitored for some reason or another.
Honestly, he had no idea why they were being held there and treated like prisoners. All they did was come near the big flying city. Was that such a crime? They simply didn't want to freeze to death. Then again, he had no idea what the goings-on of the world was at the moment. For all he knew, it was a heinous crime to even be near the city and not be a civilian.
By the way, in his personal opinion, if that was the case, that was really fucking dumb.
Stepping into the massive-looking library and sneaking past what appeared to be robotic guards by simply crouching—yes, his Probability let him do that and it was shameless—he was able to gain access to the library at full.
And what he found bored him to death.
All of the books seemed to be super long novels about nonsense such as romance and soulmates and theoretical physics and all that boring crap. He really thought he had found something worth his time. But, as reality often turned out to be, it was disappointing.
When he got to the fifth aisle, he finally found a section of books that he might have been interested in.
And what would that stuff be, you might be asking?
Graphic Novels! Manga—or this world's equivalent to Manga—Comic books! Stories about boys who woke up in fantastical worlds, stories about different species of people trying to win a war against another species, stories about air captains wanting to be kings and queens of the air, you name it, it was there! He was in a nerd's heaven! So, he did what every reasonable teenager his age would do…. Snag a bunch of it and run as if his life depended on it!
Or at least, that was the plan.
Just as he was able to snag a few issues of something called Sky King, he heard the familiar voice of that Winter woman at the front of the library. The moment he did, he felt his face drop with nothing but sheer annoyance.
"One of the prisoners seemed to have escaped. Prisoner K-19891. Find him, and re-arrest him for questioning. He couldn't have gone far," the cold, annoyed-sounding voice of the snow queen said to the two guards, making Kokichi sigh.
"Well… Shit, I guess I got to abandon the book haul and scram!" Kokichi thought as he did what he did best—flee! In front of him were several aisles of books, most of which were compact and hard to run through. From his left, he could hear heavy robotic footfalls, and to his right, he could hear hastened steps that clacked like heels.
In front of him was a no-go, because he could already see what appeared to be a laser sight being pointed down there, so even if he did run down that particular path, he'd be gunned down or be shocked via a taser.
"Left, or right? Left, or right? Which one to choose… robots or a pissed-off specialist… hmm… I'll take my chances with the robots, thank you very much!"
So, with that in mind, Kokichi ducked left and made a break for it. Snagging a heavy-looking book from the shelf that he passed, he made a sharp turn and was greeted by two robots holding what appeared to be futuristic black rifles with a glowing blue substance in a see-through magazine. Both of them aimed their weapons at him and started talking in a creepy robotic tone of voice.
"Halt. You are under ar—" Kokchi didn't give the one on the left a chance to finish speaking, as he smashed that one in the head as hard as he could with the book, amping the hit using his Probability and knocking the robot's head clean off of its shoulders, while at the same time taking the weapon in its hand, and firing at the other robot point blank. What resulted was an icy-looking bullet firing straight through the robot's head, freezing the floor behind it, as it fell on its ass and smashed to separate pieces.
The next thing Kokichi knew, he was being attacked by an astral projection of a strange-looking dog with spikes protruding from its everything. Kokichi blasted it with the new weapon he now had, hitting it in the dome with one clean shot and making disappear. Afterward, he narrowly avoided a thrust with what appeared to be a rapier, ducking just in time. Thankfully, his reflexes were pretty good, allowing him to dodge a flurry of thrusts with slight ease without even needing to use Probability.
When he saw the face of his attacker, he smirked. "Sup, Ice Queen~!" Kokichi taunted, avoiding another second sword appearing out of nowhere, most likely from the strange glyph above Winter. Kokichi fired a pot shot at the white-haired woman, hitting her square in the knee. However, a strange shield formed around her, which seemed to absorb a majority of the shot, though still staggering her enough to make him turn tail and run out of the cramped area.
Once he exited the Library and ran down the hallway, Probability activated on its own this time, allowing him to dodge a few more gunshots coming from down the hall behind him. This time, however, the shots were purple and sparking with electricity. "Stun rounds…" Kokichi thought as he ducked behind a wall and wiped at his nose, blood trickling down and into his mouth.
"Damn… not good. Gotta work a little bit more on my reflexes huh?" Kokichi thought as he piqued around the corner, aiming his weapon down the hallway and firing a few burst shots, hitting the two charging guards at the end of the hallway, these ones being people rather than robots. He hit one in the head and in the chest twice, the shots plinking off that strange shield stuff but knocking the man on his ass, to which he didn't get up afterward. Then, he shot at the other guy, hitting him in the legs, feet, and shoulders. Unlike the last guy, however, he seemingly didn't have a shield, causing blood to splash against the walls and floor, and for him to drop his weapon and fall flat on his face.
Kokichi grimaced. He was banking on that guy having a similar shield just like the last two people that he had shot at had. But it appeared that not everyone had that ability, which seemed kind of strange. "So is it some kind of spell that these guys can use? Or is it something else…? Ah, whatever. Don't know, don't care." As Kokichi thought that, he thought back to his original idea of breaking everyone out, and realized that he had created the perfect situation for it to happen.
"Now… onto the original plan. Since everyone is now alerted or, perhaps a few more people are aware that I broke out, this gives me the perfect shot at getting everyone out. All I gotta do is black out his part of the building. Although, I'll do that once I get to the holding area, that way none of the other guys get caught off guard. I know that once I black out this part of the building I'll most likely be weakened, so I'm gonna need to rely on everyone else for a bit. Hopefully, they can keep up the slack…."
The purple-haired teen didn't typically like to rely on others, but for this, it was inevitable. So, he'd have to make do. And with a plan in mind, he smirked. "Oh yeah, it's all coming together!"
Kokichi sprung up from behind the wall just in time to avoid a giant spikey-looking bear ghost-thingie, and a lunge from Ice Queen, who stoically glared at him with a scowl. "Stand down, prisoner, last chance," Winter spat as Kokichi scoffed.
"Over my dead body!" And with that, he snapped his fingers, and the small electronic phone-like device attached to her pants blew up, the shield stuff coming up, absorbing most of the explosion, but sending her into the wall he had been hiding behind nonetheless.
At the same time, now that she was dazed, the bear thing charged at Kokichi. The purple-haired teen simply fired a few ice-bullet things at its face, then when it got too close for comfort, he whacked the thing with the butt of the gun, amping the blow with his Probability to make it a hard enough blow to crack its head open, making the damned thing die in one clean shot.
Just as the now angry Specialist was starting to get up, Kokichi ran as if his life depended on it. It didn't take him that long to get to the holding area, where the alarms were blaring and everyone was looking at him from behind the cells. Once he was there, Kokichi flared his Probability and enacted his plan. The moment he did, the whole wing of the building they were being held in experienced a blackout, coating the whole area in pitch-black darkness.
And as soon as that happened, the cells went down. Kokichi watched as Chiaki's hand lit up with flame, creating a small light, her expression that of a smirk mixed with confidence. "Gotta say, Kokichi that was smart… I think."
"However," Gundham spoke up, crossing his arms. "Perhaps let us know what it is you plan to do with your cursed powers before you do it," Gundham said, his tone sagely and strangely parental as Kokichi rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever. Now, let's get the hell out of here, shall we? You know, preferably before that annoying boot licker shows up?" Kokichi quipped as, right on cue, Specialist Winter Schnee stared them all down, a light produced by one of her strange glyphs being the source of light she choose to use. The tip of her rapier was pointed at all of them, as the group of four stared down Winter with equal fierceness in their eyes.
"All of you will stand down. Or by Atlas law, you will be treated as terrorists. To which the punishment, is death," Specialist Schnee spat, glaring them down as Chiaki grew a manic look in her eye. When that happened, fire and lightning began to channel through both of her respective arms, earning a raised eyebrow from the specialist. "So, you wish to die, is that it? Then I have no choice but to—"
"Oi, Mrs. Freeze," Chiaki spoke up, her right arm flaring up with fire as the woman narrowed her eyes toward the former Ultimate Gamer turned Ultimate Despair. "You wanna know what doesn't mix all too well?" Chiaki continued, as lightning flowed from her other hand. At this point, the white-haired woman's eyes widened.
"Stop! You'll—"
"FIRE AND LIGHTNING!" Chiaki roared as she fired both of her fire and lightning spells at the exact same time.
Kokichi knew why Specialist Schnee was freaking out, warning Chiaki not to do what it was that she just did. That was because it was highly dangerous, and he knew exactly why it was dangerous. And oh boy, was he glad he paid slight attention to the science classes he was forced to take during his time with the Future Foundation.
You see, lightning caused all the oxygen around it to converge into one area, namely because of the pressure and force that lightning exuded when it struck. And since fire needed oxygen, it would be attracted to the lightning, which was why whenever lightning struck, the place that lightning hit would be scorched or worse, set on fire.
Now, if one were to already add fire to that equation, then the outcome would go from bad to worse. Because then that fire would become attracted to the insane amount of oxygen and pressure in the immediate area that the lightning was about to strike, all within a fraction of a second. And if enough of it gathered around where lightning would strike, it would cause an explosion powerful enough that could make a small room like the one they were currently in erupt in flames.
And if that happened, then everyone here would be seriously hurt, and Kokichi couldn't let that happen. Well, at least to his allies, anyway. He couldn't give less of a shit about what would happen to The Specialist. However, there was just one problem.
He had already stretched his ability to its reasonable limit without causing himself great bodily harm. However, because of Chiaki's recklessness, he was going to need to tap into the more dangerous part of his Probability.
Reality Warping. The very thing that could cause something extremely bad to happen to him, the worst of it being him dying. But, if it meant that his allies would survive, then he'd do it. Besides, Gundham was an honorary member of D.I.C.E., and if nothing else, he'd be glad that if he died here, he defended Gundham from Chiaki's stupidity.
Using his Probability, Kokichi warped the reality around them, making it so that Chiaki, Gundham, Masaru, and himself wouldn't be harmed by the attack, as the gamer girl blasted Winter. Upon impact, an explosion filled the room and the hallway behind Winter, filling the area with smoke and debris. For a split second, the woman's shield appeared and absorbed some of the attack. But then it shattered, the full force of the two combined spells hit her square in the chest.
Kokichi didn't see the result of the attack, as he slowly began to pass out from overuse of his Probability. However, he did catch Chiaki picking him up. He had no idea where they were going, but Kokichi put his faith in them.
And just like that, Kokichi passed out.
-To Be Continued-