Beta'd by Ainz Ool Gown, Priapus, and Old Man of the Mountain

– Qrow –

There were a lot of things going around in his mind right now. The attack was one thing, but what occurred quickly afterward had him frozen for a while. He wasn't the best at it, but anyone with a semblance of training could've sensed the overwhelming magical power down there. And it didn't come from the Grimm nor Reid's wolf, but his niece.

Ruby was somehow capable of using magic.

Not like he was just imagining it either. There was a giant explosion of light deep underwater that even pushed him back when he tried to dive in and save her. He saw the orb of light unleashed by Ruby. It happened right in front of him. Qrow couldn't deny it even if he tried.

How and why? Last he checked, none of the maidens were dead, and even then, whatever that was, it definitely wasn't maiden magic. He's never seen a maiden using Light itself to fight Grimm- according to Ozpin, it wasn't even possible for them.

…But it was possible for Reid, as his magic was fundamentally different but similar enough that he could sense it and recognize that it was magic. That was the only reasonable conclusion. The kid had something to do with it, like always, and was able to somehow give Ruby magic, as if the Golems and Potions weren't insane enough.

But before he reported that back to Ozpin, he wanted to know how the kid did it. There isn't any hiding it anymore if that's what he was doing. He wanted to know the reasoning behind it, because why the fuck would he put a bigger target on Ruby's back like that? A silver-eyed warrior that could use some otherworldly magic? Salem would wipe out the kingdom just to get her hands on her.

Though, he was gonna need to worry about the situation at hand.

Once rescued, the giant Grimm retreated and disappeared, so they quickly took Ruby inside and nursed her back to health. Her Aura wasn't broken, but she had swallowed way too much seawater, and Aura could only do so much against that. Potions, however, were very effective.

Ruby woke up shortly after, saying her throat felt dry and her body sore. She took it very well, remaining calm even after that horrible experience, and when asked what she saw down there, she explained it to the best of her ability.

Qrow himself didn't really see anything other than a giant eel-looking Grimm, which was enough red flags as it is since regular Grimm usually don't get that big, but as Ruby said what she saw, it all but confirmed it for him. The tentacles around its jaw were its whiskers and the weird eyes were its sonar sensors- it was a fucking Titan, an active one too.

One of the three - known - aquatic Titans, Anantashesha. Also known as the most active and aggressive out of all the other Titans, even more so than Fenrir. This one, in particular, showed certain patterns similar to Fenrir's, but where that evolved Beowulf was incredibly sadistic, prolonging the suffering of its victims for no reason, this Titan relished in the hunt.

It would go as far as to kill other Grimm, and even tried attacking one of its fellow Titans around a century ago. After an incident that almost led to its death, it began stalking only specific parts of the world, avoiding the other aquatic Titans at all costs.

One of those parts is the sea separating the Dark Continent and Sanus, which admittedly isn't very far from Reid's estate. You'd think they overlooked such a thing, but no, Titans, no matter how active or aggressive, won't ever get close to heavily populated cities or towns. Hell, they actively avoided them.

They only do that whenever they sense strong enough negative emotions, and last he checked, there were no cataclysmic events happening anywhere in Vale. So why did it even approach the mansion, which is part of the main city? What attracted it to this place?

As those questions swirled in his mind, Qrow was startled by a bark from Gwyn, who stood beside him in front of the door to Ruby's room. He looked to the side and spotted Reid, who walked towards them with an oddly calm look on his face.

Qrow was about to greet Reid, but the words got stuck in his throat as he felt the ominous pressure that froze him completely. It didn't take a genius to understand that he was pissed beyond belief, even if his expression claimed otherwise. It's in his eyes- the slitted pupils can tell a whole lot more about his emotions than his face could.

Qrow had noticed these changes in Reid occasionally but hadn't quite known the reason behind them. Was the kid a Faunus? Some Faunus do have similar features, and Reid had never actually claimed to be a human.

The Titan Slayer stopped and scratched his familiar's chin with a small smile. "I knew I could count on you. Good job, Gwyn."

Gwyn's tail swished as he panted happily. Qrow had to remind himself that this was a magical beast and that his size shouldn't mean anything, but seeing this giant wolf act like a puppy was amusing, to say the least.

"I know you have a lot of questions." Reid suddenly said, glancing at Qrow. "But it can wait until I deal with this issue."

"How did you-"

"Gwyn told me everything that happened," Reid explained. "We share a spiritual link. He can contact me at any time and speak to me telepathically. I knew you were under attack the moment it happened."

"Right…" Qrow frowned. "I don't mind waiting, but I'll tell you right now, whatever you did to

Ruby, I'm not happy with it."

Qrow noticed the twitch in the Titan Slayer's face, a twinge of annoyance passing by, but was surprised to see how quickly he calmed himself. The kid had issues before- his excessive pride wasn't exactly hidden, so seeing how he doesn't let it get to him as easily was…

Is it wrong to feel proud of him?

Reid walked past Qrow and opened the room, the latter following after, standing by the doorway. He inspected the room, spotting Titania standing on opposite sides of the room, and Ruby on the bed holding her puppy, with her father sitting next to her.

All four turned to look at him, and Ruby's face lit up as she saw Reid, who smiled back. Everyone could see the relief in the kid's eyes, but not a lot could see the overwhelming rage in them, as if the pressure around him wasn't enough.

Tai noticed it too and acted first, nodding at Reid and gesturing to Titania to follow him. The nervous maid likely felt the presence but didn't know where it came from and what it was, so she quickly obeyed and left the room.

"We're gonna wait for you outside," Tai said, winking with a grin. "Don't take too long~"

The kid nodded silently, prompting Tai and the maid to leave the mansion. Reid stared at Qrow for a few moments, and the older man quickly understood what he wanted and sighed, scratching the back of his head.

"I'll be at the beach," Qrow said. "I have some info on the Grimm. You might wanna hear it before you go swinging at it."

"I'll keep it in mind."

Qrow kept his gaze for a few more seconds before closing the door on them, following after Tai and Titania.

Something always had to go wrong…

– Reid –

I had a feeling that something similar would happen. Not to this degree or this soon, but I knew some random Grimm would try to attack me and my estate at some point, as if the spy/assassin asshole wasn't enough.

I knew it and was even in the process of making sure it wouldn't happen. The Stardust I got from Fenrir? I was gonna use its power to form a magical barrier around the estate so no Grimm could even come close without disintegrating into particles. I didn't overlook something like this, I didn't ignore it, and I certainly didn't think it was a non-issue.

I was fucking working on it.

So you can imagine how this pisses me the fuck off.

I wanted to go there and wipe the fucking floor with that eel bastard or whatever it was the moment I got here, but I know anger right now isn't gonna help me in any way. I had to stay calm and think, which was the hardest thing I've done this month.

Because a part of my brain is also screaming at me to slaughter that son of a bitch. The conflict inside my mind isn't doing me any favors, but at least I got to see my girl alive and well. Hearing that she actually drove it back by herself did wonders to my current emotions.

But even that opened up its own can of worms, because now Qrow is aware of Ruby's magic, meaning Oz might hear about it soon enough. I look away for one minute and already shit hits the fan as if the stress I'm dealing with isn't enough.

"How are you feeling?" I ask Ruby, crouching in front of her. "Must've been terrifying."

"Eh, not that bad. I mean, getting pulled into the deep is still pretty scary, no arguments there." She shrugs casually. "The tree Titan was honestly a lot worse, though."

"Yeah, I can imagine."

"Says the Leviathan," Ruby says with a cheeky grin. "Don't worry though, I showed it what I'm made of. I scared it away by myself."

I'm admittedly a bit surprised to see Ruby super casual about what happened, and it's not like she's just saying it to stop me from worrying. She pretty much means what she says, feeling nothing other than pride in herself.

She did scare it away from what Gwyn told me. Ruby has a fuckton of mana, so using all of it in a single attack made of light magic was bound to hurt any Grimm a lot. I wouldn't actually be surprised if she could kill a Titan with that much power.

It was a testament to her vast potential as a mage and a fighter.

I ruffle her hair with a smile. "That's my girl, you're already tough enough to handle the big ones. Give it a few months and I'll even take you Titan hunting with me."

Unexpectedly, Ruby frowns a little at that, making me raise a brow in confusion.

"What?"

"You're mad, aren't you?"

I almost flinch at her acute sense of empathy, quite honestly not expecting her to assume something like that so accurately at all.

"What- no, I'm not-"

"Your eyes, Reid." She says, making me pause and frown in realization.

"...yeah, I'm angry," I say after a moment.

"I-I'm sorry." She responds quickly, fidgeting nervously. "I just wanted to impress you when you came back…"

"Not at you, Ruby. It's not even your fault, to begin with." I assure her with a hug. "Nobody could've expected this. I'm just happy to see you okay."

"Ugh, I know, I just, dunno, feel like I did something wrong." Ruby groans. "Maybe I attracted it cuz I was scared? Or maybe my magic had something to do with it. You said Grimm are also attracted to magic at some point, so maybe that's it."

I pause for a moment and frown. Yeah, a strong enough magical presence can attract Grimm, especially the more intelligent ones, whereas the dumber Grimm are more likely to go after negative emotions. Yeah, alright. I think I know what brought it here.

I did bring most of my equipment and magical tools here after all, including the Stardust, but I thought the case I made for it was good enough to stop its spread and significantly weaken its strong presence. This particular Grimm Titan likely had better senses than most of its inferior counterparts.

Another thing to fix for later.

"Regardless, it's just bad luck," I say, standing up. "I'll go take care of it now."

"Oh okay- wait, take care of it?" Ruby jumps out of the bed, looking at me incredulously. "What do you mean- it's a Titan!"

"And I'm a Titan Slayer. It's literally my job." I say with a raised brow. "You saw me beat the hell out of one already."

"Yeah, but it also beat the hell out of you, too."

"Semantics."

"Look, maybe you should get some help?" Ruby rubs her neck. "Like Gwyn or-"

"Ruby, it's an aquatic Titan." I cut her off and say simply. "I'm a Leviathan."

"Oh." She blinks in realization. "Oh right. You're gonna be fine, then?"

"That's what I've been saying." I chuckle. "You just wait for me here. I'll go make history again and be back before dinner."

"Good luck! Kick its ass for me, okay?"

I feel almost responsible for Ruby's rapidly worsening language, but it's honestly way too funny to stop now. Hearing her say 'fuck' in that high-pitched voice of hers will be hilarious, but nowhere near as funny as Yang's shocked face when she hears it.

I give Ruby a thumbs up and head towards the beach, spotting only Qrow and Kiryu there. The former notices me and looks at me in suspicion, which while understandable, still makes me kinda annoyed. But now's not the time to get pissy about this.

"What am I gonna be fighting here?" I ask simply. "Is it actually a Titan?"

"More than likely, assuming what Ruby said was true." Qrow answers. "Anantashesha. An aggressive type of Grimm that will kill and devour anything it encounters, from all kinds of aquatic life to even its own kin."

"What can it do?"

"Has whiskers around its lower jaw that drain the strength of stronger and bigger targets, when usually, its speed makes hunting smaller fry trivial. It's also blind, but it has excellent sonar sensors."

Alright, nothing too bad so far…

"And I don't know about this-" Qrow continues. "But there's a rumor that it can go invisible, although, not confirmed."

"Anything else?"

"Nope. That's all I and everyone else knows."

…Wait, what? That's it? The shtick is invisibility? Really? I mean, to anyone else, that's pretty fucking scary, but I have Observation and Sharingan. Shit, its draining power seems more threatening in comparison. This is gonna be easy as hell.

No, no don't get arrogant. It gotta have some last resort trick kind of deal. Fenrir had that lightning mode and Skov'les broke its own shell for a boost in power. I have to be sharp. Being a Leviathan is cool and all, but I'm not used to fighting underwater, which is pretty fucking embarrassing in hindsight.

"Right…"

I take out my artificer goggles and put them on, immediately spotting the black spot of infestation in the distant waters of the ocean. I reflexively scowl as I see it swimming about real close to my estate, quickly putting the goggles back in the inventory.

I take off my top and roll back the rims of my pants, injecting myself with a few buffs as I walk straight towards it. Qrow quickly puts a hand on my shoulder, looking at me in bewilderment and shock.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?"

I blink and frown at him, a little confused. "To kill it?"

"On your own?" He narrows his eyes.

"...Yes."

"Yeah, no." He scoffs. "I know how tough you are, kid, but fighting an aquatic Grimm in its own territory is suicide. I already called Oz for backup-"

"Qrow." I cut him off with one word.

I try to reign the bubbling rage in as much as I can, but my patience is being tested at the worst possible moment right now, so even hiding the anger isn't possible. I couldn't stop the scowl from creeping up to my face.

"I told you I will handle it."

He flinches at that and lets go of me, looking at me in surprise.

"When the backup gets here, tell them to standby," I order.

With that said, I venture into the deep, activating the Sharingan and swimming directly towards the third Titan I'll be killing this year.

– Anantashesha –

If there was one thing it learned in this lengthy life, it's that cautiousness is a most useful tool, one not quite a lot of its younger brethren bothered to comprehend and learn, making them mere food for it.

However, no matter how cautious it was, it could never ignore and leave the intense magic it felt. Such a thing was a beacon of power, akin to the magic crystals, and if it was a lesser Grimm, it would've left and kept its distance from it.

But it couldn't, because no matter how powerful that thing was, it felt exactly like the magic crystals. The same magic crystals it has been feasting on for decades now, the ones that the humans used for their pesky weapons.

Lesser Grimm would usually avoid these crystals, as their inherent light energy was poisonous to even the most powerful of Grimm. However, one day, a few of those 'hunters' entered its territory, ended up being prey for it, and dropped a peculiar powder made of those crystals.

The presence of light was so weak, but it was still magic, and so it realized that crushing these crystals made them safe to devour, restoring and increasing its own magic that it lost during battles with other Grimm or hunts. And so it spent the last century crushing these crystals into powder and eating it. Some exploded on it, others did not react as violently, but it knew that the stronger the crystal, the more magic it'd restore after consumption.

So it had to investigate that shining pillar of pure magic.

It didn't do anything quite reckless, of course. Attracting humanity's attention when close to land wasn't the smartest decision, because it knew it would suffer dire consequences. Humans in large numbers were a terrifying threat.

So it had merely observed. Days, weeks, it didn't matter how long this process took. That intense power was mesmerizing, it couldn't leave, no matter how dangerously close it got.

It didn't take long for something else to catch its attention. At first, it thought it was a strangely-shaped crystal but quickly realized that whatever it was, it was alive, and it had magic. A whole lot of it.

And this… human was getting closer and closer to it. It had a perfect opportunity to strike. Drag it away and feast on it when it was safe and far away from land. This human didn't give off the same intense feeling as that pillar of power, but it was different.

No inherent light or darkness in her magic. Just pure energy.

And it wanted it.

The otherworldly energy regressed its mind, prompting it to attack before thinking of the consequences. Attacking one human means other humans will come along and avenge their kin, bringing armies alongside them.

But that wasn't what happened. It could still feel the intense agony from the explosion of light. That had been a sign that it needed to get away, especially after failing to capture and devour the human.

So it simply made its escape and decided to try its luck another time, perhaps when they forgot about it after a few years. In the meantime, it'd heal its wounds and restore some of its magic, then it could strike again later when they least expected it, this time prepared and ready to quickly kill the human girl before she can do that again.

As it widened the distance between it and the shores, it paused as it took notice of a rapidly approaching noise. It stopped its advance towards the deep, turning towards the possible incoming threat, expecting a Grimm or an animal.

It couldn't quite comprehend and analyze the threat before it smashed into its face, breaking several shells of armor from the sheer force of the strike. The Titan didn't know what hit it, but couldn't even retaliate as the enemy disappeared almost instantaneously.

Suddenly, two of its whiskers were ripped out, an intense pain of heat burning off a few others before they vanished once again. It screeched, remaining whiskers violently lashing out as it began to panic. This was another magical creature like the human girl, with less magic, but far more refined and terrifying.

It tried to escape, but the entity reappeared right in front of it and grabbed one of its razor-sharp teeth, forcing its maw to stay open from their sheer strength. It tried to bite- it used all of its strength to do so, but it couldn't move.

They growled deeply, speaking in the human tongue.

"You're not going anywhere."

In a swift movement, the human - male from the sound of it - ripped off its teeth effortlessly and unleashed a burst of that accursed light in its mouth. The Titan Grimm screeched violently, pushing the human off as it swam away to gain a distance.

But that didn't work either, for the human instantly caught up with it. Nor could it counterattack in its panicked state. This human- this thing kept zooming around everywhere, he was too fast for it to keep up.

It didn't make sense. This was its territory– its domain. How was it possible for a human to outpace and outmaneuver it in the water? Much less while filled with the blinding rage he could feel radiating off them. Anger made humans dumb, it made them predictable and easy to hunt. This overwhelming rage he was feeling should be rejuvenating the Titan while making him fall.

The anger was confusingly combined with deep and primal fear in a way that didn't make sense until it realized that the fear wasn't coming from the human, but from itself.?

Light magic made contact with its sides, jaw, and head. It wiggled and shook off the pain as the fear began shifting to anger and frustration. Its constant failure to land even a single hit slowly regressed its mind back to a feral state until it finally had enough.

It would kill this human no matter what, and if that meant consuming all the mana it currently had, then so be it. No matter, it could always restore it by eating the crystals or other Grimm.

As long as it taught him a lesson, it'd be satisfied.

– Reid –

So it can go invisible? Neat, funny how it's still a non-issue. Literally, the dumbest power to use against someone who has an evolved Observation Haki and a fucking Sharingan. Not to mention the speed difference between us. I can swim circles around it and it wouldn't notice until I hit it in the face.

I don't want to jinx this, because I know it has a trick hidden under its sleeve, but holy shit this is easy. I don't know if I was overestimating it, or underestimating myself, but in hindsight, it's probably the latter.

It's not weak by any means- its stats are much higher than Fenrir's for example, but with how many buffs and just the sheer advantage I'm having over it underwater, it kinda doesn't stand a chance at the moment.

Name: Anantashesha

Title: The Hunter

Age: 842

Race: Grimm

Level: 228

HP: 424,033/640,00

MP: 153,552/225,000

AP: 0

STR: 1984

VIT: 1255

DEX: 2152

INT: 343

WIS: 301

CHA: 0

LUK: 50

This isn't a weak Titan. Hell, statwise, this is currently the strongest one yet, only rivaled by Skov'les when it absorbed the power of its shell. By all means, this is a genuinely terrifying threat, assuming its aggressiveness and whatnot wasn't a lie.

Unfortunately for it, though, I exist. The worst possible opponent for any kind of aquatic entity.

Honestly, the only thing I'm kinda struggling with right now is keeping my Sharingan active the whole fight. It takes a lot of MP to maintain so I have to constantly restore my mana via potions. Why am I keeping it activated when I know for sure I don't really need it? Because this is a perfect opportunity to finish the upgrade quest and get my Mangekyo.

So it's better if I just finish it off as fast as I can. A mere second of it deactivating means I fail the quest, and then I'd have to find another Titan to do this all over again, which is a best-case scenario. As much as I want to make it suffer for what it did, this wouldn't really help in the long run.

The faster I get rid of it, the better.

I stop my attack the moment it goes invisible for the sole purpose of giving it false hope and confidence, waiting for the moment to strike back to surprise it and make it panic even more. It takes its time, circling around me for a few minutes before it charges at me silently.

I simply turn around and slice off its whiskers with two light blades protruding from my arms, digging my claws into its forehead before dragging it down deeper and deeper into the ocean. As it tries to get me off of it, I scowl and expand my light magic to the edges of my claws, damaging it significantly.

I keep an eye on my MP, noticing how low it is. I let go and kick it away, quickly taking out a syringe to stab myself with from my inventory. Right before I inject myself, it tries to charge at me, but I'm way too fast for it and easily dodge, at the cost of the syringe shattering from the pressure.

I growl in annoyance and take out another one, only for the same thing to happen. Having enough of this, I simply swim to the surface in less than a second, inject myself with two syringes, then head back down before it even tries to come after me.

I use the momentum alongside Goldbrand to cut the eel in half, almost killing it in the process. From 350k HP to 20k in one clean slash. I'm almost disappointed at how easy it was.

Then, right before my eyes, the eel screeches loudly and just… regrows its body from its front half, even as its back half sinks, disintegrating, into the depths. It goes from 20k to full HP, alongside an increase in stats, but a significant decrease in its MP. Ah, there it is, 'phase 2' of this Titan.

This wasn't the only thing that happened, though, as its 'whiskers' are no longer exclusive to its jaws now. Hundreds of these whiskers – or tentacles now – shoot towards me from all around its body, which would be threatening if they weren't so easy to cut through.

However, admittedly, there were too many of them, so I think I'm gonna use the full extent of my Leviathan heritage now and show it who's really trapped in here with who, because last I checked, I can 'command the seas'.

I clench both my hands and narrow my eyes in focus, and all the tentacles coming for me all freeze completely, the ocean itself keeping them in place. I smirk as hundreds, possibly thousands of these tentacles twist in unnatural ways before exploding into black mist.

However, this didn't even make the Titan flinch as it continued its charge at me, surprising me with its newfound speed a little. I manage to stop it from swallowing me whole by grabbing its upper jaw and pushing back but had to put my sword back in my inventory and use both hands to do that, and with its boosted power, I can actually feel myself struggling to stop it from shutting its jaws on me.

To make matters worse, it's regenerating its tentacles. That's the other shtick– rapid regeneration.

A pain in my ass.

I grimace as I feel its mouth closing down on me, knowing that if I try to use to much magic, I'll run out and my Sharingan will deactivate on its own, thus failing the quest, and using too little won't help at all.

So instead, I physically push back against its bite while controlling the oceanwater to crush it, which thankfully doesn't cost MP. It works in damaging the thing and keeping its strength-draining tentacles at bay, but it's not enough. It's regenerating its HP faster than I can damage it, and I can't spare the hands or focus to go for an MP potion.

It screeches in anger as we go deeper. So deep that I can't even see the surface anymore in fact. I start getting desperate as I see my MP extremely low. Seconds and I'll fail the objective if I don't do something right now.

Damn it.

Goddamn it!

I can feel the primal fury I've been trying to contain bubbling within me, my instincts getting so much harder to control the deeper we go. I unconsciously grit my teeth, and my ice-cold blood starts boiling. Slowly, I can feel my strength increasing as my rage starts to fuel me.

"You think you can attack my property–" I growl deeply, my voice taking on a bestial tone as I feel my hands and feet begin to change into something more reptilian. "Hurt my Ruby, act like you own the ocean, then get away with it?"

The Titan abruptly freezes, as my increased power turns the sea against it fully, which gives me a great chance to fully restore my MP once more. I can see its body twisting and breaking down from the strong pressure. I grin viciously at that, and instead of being dragged down, I drag it down until I hit the seafloor in a second, smashing its head against it before dragging it through multiple pillars of stone.

It can't move an inch from the amplified pressure, struggling to even let out a screech of pain. It can't retaliate anymore, not when we're this deep and its own territory is literally turning on it. There is literally nothing it can do to save itself.

It's utterly fucked.

My grin widens.

And it knows that.

"I'll make you regret you ever crawled out of the hole you came from, pest," I say as I hold it in place with my monstrous-looking arm while taking out Goldbrand with my other one. "You should've never made your presence known to a Leviathan."

I can't sense the emotions of Grimm.

But I think anyone can tell what it's feeling right now.

– Ruby –

"Hun, you should go back inside." Her dad said, holding her hand tightly as she and everyone else on the beach observed the ocean. "I know you're worried about him, but you haven't recovered yet."

"Pfft, I'm not worried at all," Ruby smirked, letting go of his hand as she stood next to the giant wolf. "Why would I be worried? Reid will kick its butt no problem!"

"Ruby–" Tai started, but was cut off.

"Dad, it'll be fine." She waved off his concerns. "I'm okay. My Aura's fully restored and everything."

Her father wasn't convinced, but he knew he wouldn't win this argument, and instead stood right next to her.

"Why do you sound so sure? That he's gonna be fine I mean." Her new friend, Titania, wasn't convinced. "I know he killed two Titans and all, but you know that aquatic Grimm are the most dangerous, right?"

Ruby's smirk merely widened at that. "Yep."

Titania frowned. "You're too optimistic."

"Nope."

The maid scoffed at Ruby's knowing look, opting to stay silent this time.

Ah, she loved this feeling far more than she thought she would. Knowing something everyone else didn't. It made her feel smug and cool and mysterious. Even her dad and uncle were surprised at her confidence in her boyfriend's capability.

To them, she probably looked delusional or something from how much salt water she swallowed, but no, they were the fools, not her. They didn't know what Reid was and why fighting him underwater was suicide. That Titan is toast!

Of course, she wasn't the only one so casual about this. Gwyn simply looked at the sea with his tail wagging. He wasn't worried either, and it surprised everyone else even more. Oho, their faces would be priceless when Reid came back.

Uncle Qrow looked at her weirdly, though. He also was worried, but it felt more like he was worried about her, not about Reid. Ruby didn't know what was that about but didn't question it. He probably thought she was tired and shouldn't be here. That worrywart. Ruby was a lot stronger than before, but he didn't know that. Maybe she should show him what she's made of soon before he went on another mission.

The scary-looking man, who was silent the whole time, suddenly walks forward, surprising all of them. Qrow quickly grabs his arm and stops him.

"No."

"He could be in trouble." Mr. Kazuma responded. "He's been there for too long."

"You're not going there on your own. That's suicide." Qrow narrowed his eyes as tension rose. "We'll wait for backup and go together."

"Your backup is taking their sweet time." He said with a deep frown. "Someone needs to go now, and if nobody's gonna move, then it's my responsibility as his bodyguard."

Qrow tightened his grip, then gestured towards the skies with his head. Everyone witnessing the small dispute looked above and saw a dozen bullheads approaching the estate. Mr. Kazuma relaxed and nodded, however, Ruby began to panic.

"W-wait! Why'd you– That's not–" She struggled to form a comprehensible sentence. "T-this isn't a good idea."

Qrow looked at her with confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Auu…" She didn't know what to say. "I-I just think that Reid doesn't need backup. He can handle this himself!"

She really didn't want to sound like a sociopath to them, but she also didn't want to reveal Reid's heritage.

"Ruby–"

"L-listen, I know Reid more than anyone else here. Except for Gwyn." She added that last part under her breath. "I know how tough he is. He can handle it!"

Sending people to help him fight an aquatic battle was nothing short of risky in her opinion. It wouldn't help him at all– It'd do the opposite in fact, since Reid would need to protect these people on top of fighting that Titan. It's the same thing with the forest Grimm. If she and Yang weren't there, he might've had a smoother time against it.

She needed to stop them before they sent people to their deaths, but she couldn't just tell them everything. That'd be betraying Reid's trust, and she would never ever do something like that.

What do I do? She thought as her uncle, father, and everyone else that wasn't Gwyn looked at her in concern.

"Ruby, I know you have faith in him, but he's not invincible," Tai said. "Sometimes even strong people need help."

"I-I know that–"

One of the bullheads muted her reasoning as it landed near them as the rest went ahead, with the headmaster of Beacon himself inside it. He looked at the group and called out for them to get on with him. Qrow, her dad, and the scary-looking man all walked toward it.

Ruby got in front of them, waving her arms around.

"Wait!"

"Ruby, that's enough!" Qrow raised his voice, making her flinch. "Move aside!"

"No, you don't get it!"

"Miss Rose, please move aside-" Ozpin started, but then stopped as put his hand over his ear, his eyes widening. "Everyone prepare for battle! Something big is approaching quickly!"

Everyone turned to the ocean and gripped their weapons tightly. Even Ruby felt worried at that. What did he mean by big? W-was Reid okay? Suddenly, Gwyn let out a loud howl that made them all freeze, and Ruby was the first to understand what it meant when she saw the giant wolf panting happily.

And in the next second, a giant black object flew up from the ocean, landing on the sand pretty close to everyone. The group was in utter shock and disbelief as they stared directly at the disintegrating head of the Titan, not noticing Reid walking past it.

Everyone witnessing this was in awe. This time, Reid had an actual audience of other people, not the usual two or three. Soon, the news would spread that the Titan Slayer managed to end his third Titan, on his own, underwater.

If that didn't cause ripples across the world, as if the previous two achievements didn't, she didn't know what would.

Reid, who wasn't even bleeding or showing any sign of caring about the current watchers, stood right in front of her and smirked.

"Told you I'd be back before dinner."

Her boyfriend was the best.

I wanted to make the fight longer and more epic, but I realized the tension from it would feel artificial, and I'd be disingenuous to Reid's growth if I had him struggle against an aquatic Titan after so many boosts in strength.

Writing a curbstomp, however, might feel more rewarding I think.

Discord Server link: (Discord . gg / Rjjzt8erYK) no spaces. It's a relatively new server, but I might post exclusive content there. No, I'm not bribing you to join.

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