Chapter 5: A Cold Frontier
–Velvet Scarlatina: Coco's mad at you, thought I'd give you a warning.
–Coco Adel: You were at Beacon? And you didn't even stop to say hi?!
Sabito Urokodaki – VS: Yeah I found that out, thanks for the warning…
–Velvet Scarlatina: No problem, what would you do without me? : )
–Coco Adel: Don't you dare ignore me, I know you're texting Vel right now!
–Sabito Urokodaki – CA: I wanted to, but you were on a mission.
–Coco Adel: We got back the next day! And we haven't seen you in MONTHS!
–Sabito Urokodaki – CA: I got another mission the same night, I only had an hour or two at Beacon. Plus you guys know what I do, I barely get time off.
–Coco Adel: No excuses!
–Sabito Urokodaki – CA: How then, oh gracious huntress, may I make it up to you?
–Coco Adel: As soon as you get back to Vale you're going on a shopping trip with me!
–Sabito Urokodaki – VS: How bad are Coco's shopping trips?
Velvet Scarlatina: Bad…
–Coco Adel: You're already in hot water buster! Don't go making it worse!
–Sabito Urokodaki – VS: Any chance I can convince you to come with us?
–Velvet Scarlatina: … … … What are you offering?
–Sabito Urokodaki – VS: I'm in Atlas, if I go to the city I'll get you a souvenir of your choice.
–Coco Adel: : (
–Velvet Scarlatina: Coco's giving me a look. Make it 3 and you got a deal.
– Sabito Urokodaki – VS: You drive a hard bargain, Scarlatina. Consider it done.
–Coco Adel: You're so dead when you get back here…
–Sabito Urokodaki – CA: If I
Before he finished the message his fox mask snapped to the left. The bushes at the edge of the clearing rustled. He didn't move an inch, straining his hearing as much as he could. All he heard was the crackle of his small fire and the wind blowing through trees. The bushes rustled again and as slowly as he dared his hand found the hilt of his katana.
–Coco Adel: Sabito?
The bushes rustled again and a small rabbit emerged, long ears flicking some snow off before it darted away.
–Sabito Urokodaki – CA: Just a rabbit. Wanted to make sure it wasn't a Grimm… I'm turning in for the night so I'll see you guys… sometime. You still need to introduce me to the rest of your team as well.
–Coco Adel: Ok… Stay safe out there, you owe me a shopping trip! Also Vel says goodbye.
–Sabito Urokodaki – CA: Bye.
Sabito had been tracking this Aberrant for a week now.
The only time he saw the Grimm was on his third day, and that was only because he was on a cliff overlooking a vast forest. All he knew about it was that it had spines and that it was hunched over. Any other time and he would've written it off as a beowolf, but this thing had nine eyes. Also… It looked back at Sabito when he was watching it. The thing knew exactly where he was, it didn't matter that he was miles away and on a cliff. It had stared at him for a solid minute before darting off Oum knows where. Since then he had been on its tail, finding evidence of its resting spots, hunting patterns, attack locations, and tracks whenever possible. No matter how many clues he found though he was always at least two steps behind. Even more concerning though was the evidence of tools. In one of the resting spots he found sharpened pieces of stone and jagged shavings of wood, indicative of rudimentary spear crafting. That was all he found though, as it looked like the monster had left in a hurry.
Uncanny situational awareness. Rudimentary tool crafting. Strategic planning of campsites and resting locations. This Aberrant was intelligent. That made it incredibly dangerous, and all the more difficult to track. Because somehow… it knew. On the fifth day of Sabito's trek into the Atlesian Tundra he found evidence of another campsite. This time when he investigated though his foot caught a tripwire. Years of living with Urokodaki kicked in and he narrowly avoided being speared by a sharpened log. Usually he wouldn't fall for something like that, but usually he didn't expect such tactics from a Grimm.
The Aberrant knew it was being tracked, so it set up a trap to kill its hunter.
That's where it led him to now, the seventh day, and an abandoned Schnee Dust Company mine. The attack looked like it had been somewhat recent, maybe by a day or so. Smoke still curled towards the sky and there were bodies covered by the snow. Too many for a proper funeral, but he was curious as to why nobody had come to investigate this place. After a short while he found his answer, because on the top of the main complex a massive sharpened log was embedded in the CTC Communication Tower. And there was something else too; many of the bodies sported clean cuts as if they had been struck by a blade. It would be easy to write that off as an attack by the White Fang, but something wasn't… right about that… Other than the SDC guards there was no evidence of the attacker using any kind of firearm. The pockmarks in the concrete faced towards the forest, not the mine. They were from the defenders. Also, many of the buildings sported massive grooves in the walls as if they had been struck by a heavy blade or claw. But that didn't make sense either, since there were only groupings of one. Not claws then. And he hadn't even added the wrecked Comms Tower to that analysis. There was too much just off about this attack to write it off as being the White Fang. And as he made his way to the storerooms he noticed something else. Just about every security camera had been ripped from the walls. The Aberrant was covering its tracks, leaving as little evidence of its existence behind as possible. Maybe the storerooms would hold more answers.
He hesitated as he reached for the door handle, the trap from before still fresh in his mind. Very gently he nudged the door open, and sure enough there was a wire resting centimeters away from the door. What it was hooked up to he had no idea, but he didn't want to find out. Circling the building he found a decent sized window. That was good enough for him, and after finding a decent sized rock he shattered the window, climbing through the new entrance. Inside of the storeroom looked like a warzone. Destroyed crates and boxes were everywhere, claw marks were all over the walls, there were hundreds of bullet casings… But there weren't any bodies… What the hell was going on here? Once again after looking around he found nothing, no tangible evidence of the Aberrant, no functioning security cameras, just the remnants of the battle. This wasn't getting him anywhere…
With the way it was looking this Aberrant was much more dangerous than he originally anticipated. Sabito was honestly tempted to call it in and get someone more qualified, but without him tracking it the bastard would go up in smoke. Before being contacted four different settlements had been attacked, and since he began tracking the only evidence of an attack was this mine. He had to keep up the pressure, or else the attacks would begin again. The only problem was reliably tracking it. This whole time there hadn't been a pattern to its movements, it was one random location to the next random location. Sabito walked to the loading area and hit the switch to open the massive door. It shuddered for a moment but slowly began to slide away, letting in a snowy breeze. Walking outside he noticed that the sun was getting closer and closer to the horizon, casting the surrounding area in an orange-gold glow.
Sabito's danger instincts kicked in and he leapt away from the loading gate, hearing a massive 'thud' from behind him. Risking a glance he saw a sharpened log embedded right where he had been standing. He heard a whistling noise and ducked, watching a greatsword cut a few strands of his peach colored hair. He grabbed the hilt of his katana but a sudden impact to his side sent him flying away with a grunt. Twisting in the air he landed on his back, flipping to his feet after sliding for a second. He grasped the hilt of his katana and got into a ready stance, finally getting a look at the Aberrant he had spent a week hunting.
The Aberrant stood about ten feet tall, hunched over at the shoulder. Its body looked leathery with white bone-like plates covering its joints and its back. Spines followed a trail down its back and onto its whip-like tail, ending in a massive and thin serrated blade. On its back it had a ratty backpack filled with more sharpened trunks and who-knew what else. Its elongated head had nine bloody red eyes, and its jaw looked like a horrible cross between a creep and a beowolf with two long fangs descending from its upper jaw. Most worryingly, however, was the massive greatsword clutched in its right hand. And from what he gathered from his brief encounter with the Aberrant, it definitely knew how to use it. Those nine eyes focused on him without even a hint of rage. It was studying him, and that's when it all came together. The locations he had been traveling to hadn't been random, they were all meant to test him. He evaded the traps, successfully tracked the Aberrant, and all of it led here. The entire time the Aberrant had been shadowing him, watching his progress, observing him, and now it led him to a place where nobody would find him. SDC mines were a dime a dozen, and they popped up just as often as they were abandoned.
This Aberrant was beyond intelligent, it had been playing him since their eyes met a week ago! Sabito grabbed his scroll before remembering the destroyed CCT tower. It even knew that he would call for help… No distress signals then… He found himself recalling another conversation he had a few days ago.
–WS: Have you had any luck so far?
Sabito Urokodaki – WS: Not yet, but I'm getting worried.
–WS: Worried?
–Sabito Urokodaki – WS: This Aberrant is smarter than the ones I've killed in the past, a lot smarter.
–WS: I find the idea of an intelligent Grimm hard to believe.
–Sabito Urokodaki –WS: Well, Ancient Grimm exist, don't they?
–WS: We'd know if it was an Ancient Grimm, none are in your search area. Haven't been in decades.
–Sabito Urokodaki –WS: They're also called Aberrants for a reason, they're weird.
–WS: So what are you going to do if you do run into it?
–Sabito Urokodaki –WS: Kill it.
–WS: …
–Sabito Urokodaki – WS: If I need help I'll send out a distress signal…
–WS: I'm supposed to be helping you track this thing down.
–Sabito Urokodaki – WS: I tend to work better alone, besides, if we split up we can cover more ground than if we stick together.
–WS: You're the Hunter and I was ordered to follow your lead, but I don't like leaving you alone out there.
–Sabito Urokodaki – WS: I'll be fine.
"Sorry, looks like I'm not sending that signal after all… Well, you bastard, here I am!" In a swift motion he drew his katana and leapt forwards.
"Water Breathing, Eighth Form: Waterfall Basin!"
Sabito descended upon the Aberrant like a waterfall, creating a massive plume of watery snow.
Clang!
His katana met the greatsword, and his eyes went wide. The Aberrant held his blade in two hands, knees bent to absorb the impact. With a shove Sabito was sent backwards and the next second the Grimm was upon him. Sabito ducked under a horizontal swing before lunging forwards, but the Grimm slid to the side and batted his katana away before sending a diagonal slash at him. Sabito twirled around the attack, watching as the greatsword cut a deep groove into the frozen dirt, shaking the ground. His katana wouldn't stand up to a direct strike like that, his blade would shatter into a million pieces. Finishing his twirl he brought his katana into a horizontal slash.
"Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash!"
The Aberrant leaned back but it wasn't fast enough, screeching as a bloody groove was cut into its chest and left arm. It didn't back away though, if anything it looked pissed off. With a deafening roar the Grimm released a multitude of relentless slashes, putting Sabito squarely on the defensive. He ducked, twirled, leapt, and dodged as many attacks as he could, but he saw his Aura flare a pale blue after a couple of near misses. Sabito leapt away and onto a nearby rooftop, having to dodge almost immediately as the Aberrant threw a sharpened log at him. He ran along the roof, jumping to another one as another log caved in the roof he had just vacated. The Grimm threw another one the moment Sabito stopped. This wouldn't end, and staying at range would only tire him out if he had to keep dodging! So instead of dodging again he leapt towards the Aberrant.
"Water Breathing, Second Form: Water Wheel!"
A wheel of water followed his blade, splitting the log in half. When Sabito landed he brought his sword to the side, bending low in preparations for a charge.
"Water Breathing, Ninth Form—"
The Aberrant reached into its bag and pulled out a belt-fed machine gun, aiming it at him with one hand.
"—Eleventh Form: Glass Lake Reflection!"
The world became muted as it turned into a massive pond. A single drop of water fell and disturbed it, sending a ripple out from his location. Everything became silent, including the gunfire. His katana became a blur around him as he cut apart and deflected as many bullets as he could. Even still he felt more than a few impact his Aura, making his concentration stutter. His arms were burning, but eventually the Aberrant ran out of ammo, growling and tossing the gun aside. With an angered roar the Grimm charged at him. Sabito returned the favor, holding his sword to the side as he ran. As they got close he dropped to his knees, sliding under the Aberrant's swing. Rolling to his knees he crouched and leapt straight up.
"Fourth Form: Striking Tide!"
He dragged his blade across the Grimm's chest, exiting at the monster's shoulder before coming back down behind it, dragging his sword across its armored back. He landed in a crouch before twisting around.
"First Form—"
Sabito heard the crack of a whip and he found himself flying through a building, crushing two walls before finally rolling to a stop. Right… The Tail… Rolling to his front he stood up, wincing at the throbbing in his side. Those were definitely cracked ribs. He blinked the snow out of his eyes before he realized that something was missing. And when he brought a hand to his face and met skin and scar tissue instead of carved wood he confirmed it; his mask was gone. After searching around he found it, and promptly froze. Laying in the snow a few feet away from him were the shattered remains of his warding mask. One of the eyes stared at him mournfully, the largest part amongst the several pieces scattered and buried in the snow. His most precious possession, one of the first things that Urokodaki had given him, and it was broken. There wasn't any fixing that thing, Urokodaki would need to make a new one for him. He barely noticed the Aberrant crawling through the building he had been knocked through, and he only spared it a look when it let out a horrible roar. He gripped his katana so hard that his knuckles turned white and his Aura flared.
"Alright, you piece of shit." He was done playing around. He had been taking this fight seriously but he hadn't been putting all of his effort into it. There was something that he had been holding back these past years, and he was going to finally dip into it. Urokodaki had instilled focus and discipline into him, refined him into a swordsman, a Hunter. So far Urokodaki's teachings had seen him through every fight he'd been in, but there was something else that he wasn't using. Something that he had been suppressing. Raven had taught him that his rage and brutality was a source of raw power. Relentlessness that would overpower any opponent regardless of the damage taken. Recently he had toyed around with an idea of somehow combining the two. Discipline and Rage, conflicting ideals that shouldn't be able to work together. Like always though, he found a way. Now seemed like the perfect time to test it out, because honestly? He was MORE than a little pissed off!
"Water Breathing. Twelfth Form!"
The Aberrant charged him, and at the last second Sabito launched himself into the air. The Aberrant caught himself, spinning around and looking into the air. Sabito twirled, sword held horizontally in one hand, moon glinting off of the blue-hued blade. He stayed suspended before water gathered all around him. It flowed around his blade like a current and his arms were surrounded by ethereal watery wings that resembled a crane or a heron. But most curiously, his eyes were glowing a deep purple.
"Waterfowl Dance!"
Sabito descended in a watery blur and a multitude of cuts appeared all across the Aberrant while water and ethereal feathers followed his blade like a winding river. More than seven different 'currents' were in the air before he landed. Before the Aberrant could swing his sword Sabito pivoted and leapt from one foot into another series of slashes, and another, and another, whittling the Grimm down, slicing joints and tendons. Landing, he launched himself straight into the air before coming down like a waterfowl, disappearing into a blur and hundreds of watery slashes. Finally he leapt away, landing in a crouch before swinging his sword to rid it of the blood. The Grimm looked at his back shakily, reaching for its sword. Without looking back Sabito sheathed his sword, and with the final click a hundred different 'currents' appeared all around the Aberrant with the sound of a roaring river. His delayed attack cut the Aberrant up into bloody chunks that began vaporizing as they fell to the ground.
"Discipline and Rage. A relentless attack utilizing graceful and precise movements." He said to himself. Raven was a monster, but even he realized that disregarding everything she taught him would be a complete waste. He took a calming breath and winced, his body suddenly incredibly sore and tired. Maybe he should've practiced that one a bit more before using it in the field…
The roaring of a Bullhead met his ears and the air rushed by him as the aircraft touched down. He heard footsteps descend the ramp and he turned around with a tired look. "Took ya long enough, I was starting to think you up and left me."
"Well if you decided to answer your Scroll then I would've been here sooner." Came the authoritative and more than a little annoyed response. "You look terrible…"
"Thanks, Winter." He said sarcastically. She was correct though. His white haori was frayed and torn and the rest of his clothes weren't much better. There was a gash cut straight to his skin where the Aberrant's tail hit him and it was already turning purple and a sickly yellow. Oh, and his fox mask, his most precious item, was gone and destroyed.
The White haired Specialist frowned, though not without concern in her icy blue eyes. "That's Specialist Schnee to you." The woman was wearing a white long-sleeved coat with slits exposing her shoulders and upper arms. She had a blue waistcoat underneath and a pair of white trousers and gray thigh-high boots. She gave him a once over before furrowing her brow in concern. "Are you alright," she asked, softer than before.
"Battered and bruised, Aura's probably about to break, and I've definitely gotten a few cracked ribs, but I'm alive." He winced again and started towards the Bullhead. "How'd you know where to go?"
The Specialist fell in line with him, arms folded behind her back. "Your signal fell off of the map three days ago, soon after our last conversation. Coincidentally, one of my father's Dust Mines stopped reporting at around the same time. We decided to give both you and the mine a day or so to check in, but neither of you did. I left to come here soon after that."
"The Aberrant slaughtered everyone here, I never got to check the actual mine but I doubt it'd be so careless. It destroyed the CCT tower so I wouldn't be able to call for help." Sabito ducked under the hatch and all but fell into one of the seats. Winter sat gracefully across from him.
"It destroyed the CCT tower?" She asked with worry in her voice.
"That and much more… It set up a trip-wire at one of its campsites and another one at the storage building. It made improvised spears that it loved throwing at me, and it used a looted greatsword and even a belt-fed machine gun… It was beyond intelligent, It didn't feel like I was fighting a Grimm." Sabito crossed his arms over his chest and frowned. "The last couple of Aberrants I've fought have all been getting smarter. Nothing like this one, but…"
"Are you saying that they're evolving?"
"I'm not saying anything yet. Right now I'm hoping that this was an isolated case. I'd inform your General about this, it's not something that can be ignored."
Winter frowned, "you can tell him everything in the debriefing."
"Do I have to be a part of that?" Sabito groaned, blinking the weariness out of his eyes.
Winter sent him a disapproving look. "This isn't Vale. In Atlas, even Hunters are a part of the military hierarchy. Even if you aren't native to Atlas this was still an Atlesian operation, you're expected to follow the proper protocols…"
"Fine! Fine… I'll go to the damn debrief…" He found it difficult to keep his eyes open. A week in the wilderness coupled with the fight and using his new breathing technique had left him exhausted.
Before he faded though Winter gently backhanded the side of his head. "It is uncouth for one as young as you to be using such language."
Sabito glared at her, rubbing his head. "Blame the parenting…" He mumbled. Bandits didn't exactly have clean mouths, and even now he had yet to fully get rid of their bad influence. "Not my fault… Bandits don't have good manners…"
Winter waited for a minute before she heard Sabito's breathing even out. Her face softened from its usual stern expression. "You're just like my sister… Both of you work far too hard for your own good." She'd let him have his rest. The flight back to Atlas Proper was a couple of hours, which would do the boy a world of good. He'd need the rest for the debrief anyways.
"Sa~bi~to~" The boy in question froze in equal amounts of shock and fear as Coco's voice rang out with deceptive sweetness. He thought that he'd have more time to prepare but somehow he'd been ambushed right out of Vale's International Terminal. He looked around and sure enough, Coco and Velvet were walking towards him dressed in their casual clothes. Well, Velvet wore a brown turtleneck and jeans, Coco wore a whole ensemble of things that he couldn't even identify. The only things he recognized were her leather jacket, leggings, and her signature aviators. Velvet waved, giving him a guilty smile. Coco also smiled at him, but the area around her just felt cold, like all of the warmth had been sucked away.
"Hi Coco, Velvet. What… brings you here?" He tried, looking around for an avenue of escape.
"Hello Foxy~" She sang, sending chills across his whole body. Suddenly the Aberrant he had killed didn't seem so daunting as it did before. "I think you know exactly why I'm here~" Sabito saw an opening and started a brisk jog but Coco intercepted him after the first step, locking his head under her arm. She bonked him more than a few times as she complained to him. "Nope! No getting away Foxy~ First you stop at Beacon without saying hi! Then you ignored me while I complained about it! And then you go silent for a week without a single text?!" Sabito looked to Velvet for salvation but she just held her hands up in a 'this is your problem, not mine' manner. Coco gave him an extra hard smack on the head, "what gives, huh?"
"I was hunting an Aberrant," he mumbled into her side. "It destroyed the local CCT tower."
"Hmmmm… Fine, you're off the hook for that one, but you're still in for it!~" Coco let him go and shoved him back a few steps. She looked him up and down. Sabito managed to change into some spare clothes but the haori he had on for the whole week was the only one he managed to pack. As such it was still torn and frayed, and judging by the look of pure concentration on Coco's face she was plotting something to fix that… "Yeah, I think I know where we're going~"
Sabito looked at Velvet with a dead expression. "Be honest, what am I in for?"
Velvet returned the look, but with more amusement than him. "Absolute hell, but due to your souvenirs I guess I'm tagging along." She sighed before giving him a pat on the shoulder. "Irked as she is, we're both glad you're back, Sabito." That managed to get a genuine smile out of him but it was wiped from his face by a brief 'ahem' from Coco.
"Do you really want to ignore me right now?~" She asked in that same sickeningly sweet voice as before. Sabito stood up straight and shook his head with wide eyes. "Good Fox~" And with that they were off to the streets of Vale.
"By the way, what happened to your mask?" Velvet asked.
Sabito winced as a pang went through his heart. "It got destroyed in the fight, shattered into splinters."
"I'm sorry, I know that mask was really important to you…"
"It's… fine, really. The mask was mainly to hide my identity from…" He paused, suddenly nervous.
"You don't have to tell us," Velvet reassured.
"But now that you slipped we're gonna be super curious~"
"Coco…" Velvet admonished.
"I have a sister," Sabito blurted out, taking a sudden breath and holding it. These two were his friends. They had saved his life and he trusted them, something that he couldn't say about many people. "I… had a rough upbringing, and she didn't. She doesn't know that I'm alive, and when I was younger my master took me to see her and my… real family. He gave me the option to join them, but I decided to stay with him… Basically my life story there… But anyways, the mask was just a disguise but it kinda stuck. It was my first real gift from my master…"
"It was still important to you, I get it," Coco said, turning down a street. "We won't say anything by the way, it's an executive team leader decision… thingy…"
"Very eloquent, Coco," Velvet teased.
"Anyways!" Coco ignored her, "here's our first stop– ah ah ah~ you're not getting away from this~" Sabito sighed as she grabbed him by the arm and brought him into a store, resigning himself to his fate. Dressing room after dressing room, store after store, it all just blurred into one maelstrom of an… experience. He had been pushed into a changing room so many times his head was spinning. He didn't even remember any of the outfits, he had just been given one and then shut down by Coco. Sometimes she would salvage an article of clothing or two, putting it into the growing mountain of bags, but all in all it was a blur.
All except for one. Sabito stumbled out of a changing room wearing a black sweater with deep green and golden yellow accents, matching cargo pants, and a waist-length gray coat with cloud patterns and ocean blue lining. He also had gray combat boots, but those weren't too different from what he normally had. Both Velvet and Coco stared at him in shock.
"Wow," was all Velvet said.
"Yeah, we'll take it. Now come on! We've got one last place to go!~" And before Sabito could even question where specifically they were going he had already been whisked away. The last shop though surprised him. It looked like they had walked right into a temple straight out of Mistral. Haori, Kimonos, fans, basically anything from Mistral was lining the walls and the stands. Coco patted him on the shoulder. "Have a look around, I gotta go talk to the owner for a sec."
Velvet shrugged when he looked at her, "I'll follow you," she said simply.
He took his time looking around before finding something that struck a chord in him. Hidden between two unremarkable kimonos was a haori. It was almost completely white, but around the ends of the sleeves it had inlaid waves that ran up the arms before petering out around the elbows. The same went for the bottom where it was curved following a wave instead of straight and normal. The back was covered by a tidal wave that faded into the bottom all done in traditional Mistrilian art. Feeling the texture he was surprised to find it reinforced and of very good quality. He made his decision then and there. He slipped it on after removing his former tattered haori. It was longer and fell to his knees but it was light enough that adjusting wouldn't be a problem. He was getting this, no question.
He turned to look at Velvet who was trying on a simple but pretty brown kimono. She looked up at him. "Wow, that really suits you!"
"Thanks, I'm definitely getting this. You look good in that, by the way."
Velvet's rabbit ears perked up, "thanks! It's surprisingly comfortable."
A moment later Coco came back to them. "Hey guys— wow! You two look great! See, it all ended well~ These trips aren't that bad are they?~" The two of them gave nervous chuckles, declining to comment. After ringing up their purchases the three friends left the store to continue on their forced shopping spree. Despite it all Sabito had a small smile on his face
Maybe… Just maybe… This wasn't so bad, as long as he was with friends.
And done!
It was a spur of the moment thing, but I thought back on a comment and yeah… Sabito would've definitely ended up as a Hashira if he had survived. So at the end I decided that if most of the other known Hashira have cool themed cloaks, then I'd design one for Sabito in this story!
The intelligent Aberrant was an idea that I've been toying around with and it's given me more ideas~ Our time with it may have been short, but oh boy that theme will not disappear~ We also got to see a bit of interaction with Winter, which was also a spur of the moment thing. I figured that logically if a Hunter was sent to Atlas they wouldn't just be cut loose and sent to do their own thing, so because of the severity of the situation they would be placed somewhat under the military. I still need to catch up on the later seasons of RWBY, so I didn't feel comfortable writing the Ace Ops or the Happy Huntresses (I know they're not military but still) so I decided to play it safe and go with Winter. We also get to see some of that protective older sister side of things!
And I'm going to address it directly instead of beating around the bush. Yes, Malenia will forever torment gamers and readers alike. I feel like I personified the move enough to have it not be a straight rip-off with the crane wings and the water flowing, but I couldn't really think of a good name. "Dance of the Crane" was an option, but I just liked the original better. If you guys read this part and have a better idea let me know, if I like it I'll retcon the name and change it.
Velvet and Coco's relationship with Sabito is probably my favorite thing to write in this story so far, and we haven't even gotten to team RWBY yet… This bond will only continue to grow and the scenes will always be fun to write. They're good enough friends that our tormented boy is finally opening up to them!~
And now for something that I'm changing with all of my stories. Usually I always answered comments every 5th chapter, but on Absolute Radiance that ended up being 34 comments. So I'm going to answer every new comment every chapter I write going forward!
Saitama1155: Please, please don't give me any more ideas for FanFictions… I've already got Danmachi, 86–Eighty Six, another Demon Slayer crossover, and another MHA crossover lined up… Thanks for the comment though! XD
Jaxsondahuman: I'm glad you're enjoying this! Sabito is the MC for the entire story, and honestly he was my favorite character for a long time.
Lorhob09: I'm glad you enjoy it!
Yukiiiiieeee: Yeah I agree, and that's why I designed a Haori for him!~
ShadowWarriorOmega: I'm glad you're enjoying this!
Kabuto S. Inferno: Your comments are always fun to read~ So in order I guess! I never actually considered the fight between Tanjiro and the Hand Demon, so that was completely a coincidence. In fact I was kinda picturing Uzui's fight with Gyutaro more than anything. I hope that Makomo's presence was explained, sad as it was. Shinobu and Urokodaki are not the only characters from Demon Slayer in this world, though telling would be spoilers~ Blake will not be learning Water Breathing as it isn't particularly suited for her, though she will be learning TCB. Maybe I'll give RWBY Breathing Techniques, Ruby especially since I'm toying with a kind of sequel after I finish writing this, but that's a maybe and I won't talk about it yet. And I won't spoil anything too much for down the line and the big reveal, but she will definitely have a role to play when it does happen. Pay attention to some things, as I like writing callbacks into my stories even if not many have happened yet~ All in all thanks for the reviews, you and everyone else are the fuel that keeps these stories going!
Gwynx: Well I'm not going anywhere!~
FullHD4K: I believe that balance and flow are two of the most important things in Writing in general. If you want a romcom then check out Mariana, The Abyssal Hero! As that's gonna get into the romance swing soon XD It may be treason, but I haven't actually seen or read Vinland Saga so I'll have to go and do that to see what you're talking about!
GloGang214: It truly is a mystery, lol.
NightmareKnight1: Learn Patience! XD It won't be for awhile, but I already have the entire scene and buildup pre-planned out. Also… You're familiar, didn't I just respond to a comment of yours?~ I like that I'm 3 for 3 with you for my current stories XD
Anyways, thank you for reading everyone! Again, you guys keep these stories going!
Next Story in the Rotation: Mariana, the Abyssal Hero!
I'll see you all soon!~