I blame life. And all the other crap I've had to do for the past week. At least this gets out today, so that's good. First chapter back, and its gonna be sweet. Enjoy
Chapter 23: The Next Step
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Raum sat in the collapsible chair, leaning back into it as far a as possible while keeping his eyes closed.
He was resting.
The Dark Entity had slaughtered thousands in his day during times of war. And each time he would never break a sweat. He never tired and was always able to continue his onslaught of mayhem. But now?
The young two year old wolf Faunus girl he virtually adopted has him running ragged. The amount of attention he had to pay to her was great. Especially since his "parenting knowledge" was mediocre at best.
At least the books helped.
Even though he wasn't sleeping, he kept his eyes closed and his ears open and focused on Irene as she played around their campsite.
What did intrigue him the most after spending so much time with Irene was with how children found entertainment in some of the simplest things around them.
For instance, when the young girl played with an empty plastic water bottle. She found gnawed on it for some time before tossing and kicking it about. And this in total lasted for about thirty minutes until the poor thing wore herself out.
Speaking of children, Raum wondered how much longer the others would be. It's been a week at most. And his previous mortal enemy, Dante, said they would handle whatever situation was going on quickly.
Two weeks was not "quickly". Quickly meant a few hours at best.
Wind rushed past Raum's makeshift campsite, leaves riding along the breeze as they scattered about everywhere. The Dark Entity opened his eyes and slowly rose up from his chair to see a white and black rift open up near the floor.
And out from it stepped those he were waiting for. Ciel, Leonard, the cloaked girl, Inuba and Dante.
"Took your damn time. Quickly means a few hours, a day at best. You were gone for a week." Said Raum getting up to greet them.
"Yeah, well the situation was fairly complicated. So it took a bit longer than usual until we were done." Said Dante.
Ciel and Inuba immediately went to embrace the little wolf Faunus girl Irene while Leo simply found a chair to sit in and leaned back in it. The cloaked girl remained where was next to Dante while the young immortal continued his conversation with Raum.
"How complicated we talking?" Asked Raum.
"Gem of the Ancients complicated." Spoke the cloaked girl.
Raum almost looked shocked as he crossed his arms.
"You're not kidding are you?"
"Nope. But we took care of it, so there's nothing to worry about from now on. Especially since that was the last of three." Stated Dante.
"Last one, huh… That's good. Really good. But you do realize that even though those Gems are gone, there are other beings out there that can make faux Gems, right? Not as strong as the originals, but still damn powerful enough depending on how many souls compose a faux gem."
"Not a problem. Anyway, how were things with you and Irene here?" Said Dante looking around the campsite.
"All good. Just made camp outside the town that way and went in now and then to take on a Hunt Request or whatever else the villagers could think of. That and...well…"
"What?" Asked Dante shooting Raum a quizzical glance.
"N-Nothing. Don't worry about it."
"Okay…"
Raum was acting strangely at that last bit. But for reasons known to Raum and only Raum, they were good reasons.
Dante looked quickly at his partner and sister playing with the young girl, something he couldn't help but smile at.
That was until something in the distance caught his eye. Something that was certainly not there before now. And it wasn't just one. There were four.
"Raum?"
"What's up?"
"What the hell are those?" Dante asked as he pointed out to the four structure he now saw.
Said structures were four very large black towers, each considerably distance from one another. Dante found a boulder to jump on and looked out into the distance, trying to determine how far away those towers were.
The reason he could see the four towers in the first place was because of how tall and large they were. But upon further inspection, the young immortal determined the towers vastly separated from each other, potentially fifteen hundred to two thousand miles apart from each other in a diamond-like formation.
Three of the towers would require back tracking, while the other one was only a few hundred miles in the direction they were heading in originally.
"They showed up a day after you guys left." Stated Raum, as he and everyone else began looking in the direction of the individual towers, "I didn't get the chance to explore or get a look at them. Mainly because I was waiting here for the rest of you. That and it'd be better if all of us were back before checking them out."
"Have they done anything unusual?" Asked Dante.
"Other than cause a massive earthquake when they rose up? No. At night, the towers glow like a red tint or something, but that's about it. Nothing out of the usual."
"And you've never seen towers like these before?" Asked the cloaked girl.
"No… Truth be told, we weren't much for towers back in the day. The only one who was into towers was Obanii. And he used that to add to his power if he wasn't under moonlight to boost him up."
"Then we have no idea as to whether or not these towers mean harm…" said Inuba.
"Well, what do you want to do big brother?" Asked Ciel as she carried over Irene on her shoulders.
Dante only let out a sigh as he looked about once more. There were five of them. The cloaked girl was excluded since she was handling matters of her own. And Dante himself hadn't fully recovered yet. Still, he had an idea as to what the five of them would be doing. It was just a matter of seeing if they were going to agree with his idea.
"Alright. Here's what I have in my mind. We don't know what these towers are, what they're meant for or what they'll be doing. So what will happen is that we'll split up for now. One person per tower. You guys will go and see what the towers are about. If they're not exactly good, which is more than likely the case, then bring those towers down to the ground."
"You say that as though you're not going yourself…" stated Inuba.
"Because I'm not." Said Dante, drawing the attention of everyone around him, save for Leo who sat in his chair with a book over his face, "The four of you will be going."
"So what's up with you then? What are you going to do?" Asked Ciel.
"I'm going to move on ahead towards Mistral for the time being, see if I can link up with Ruby and the others along the way, which will be more than likely given our breaks in between. Either they're ahead of us by now, or they're about to catch up. Either way, I'll be more than fine."
"Master, are you sure?" Asked Inuba
"I'm sure. As is, I'm a bit of liability. So if there's some nasty surprise waiting for us at the towers, not sure if I can deal with it by myself. So it's best if you, Ciel, Leo and Raum take the towers. Each of you are really strong on your own, so you'll be able to take on whatever's at the towers by yourselves. No matter what happens, we'll be seeing each other in Mistral, no matter what." said Dante as he leapt down from the boulder.
"So… Who's going where?" Asked Raum loooking amongst them.
"Inuba, you're the fastest moving out of all of us, so you'll take the tower farthest back. Plus, if there's any emergencies, you can easily link up with the others to help them out."
"Understood." Replied the kitsune.
"Ciel and Leo, you're taking the towers off to the sides." Said the young immortal as he pointed in their directions.
"Raum, since your tower is in the general direction of where I'm headed, you'll be sticking with me for a while longer."
"Sure thing." Said the Dark Entity as he moved, waving his hands about to move the objects around camp to pack them up.
"Ciel, can you grab those emergency gear packs we made for everyone?"
"You got it broski." Said the younger sibling with a salute as she opened up a circular rift of black and white Aura and stepped in.
"Leo!" Dante called out, "Got the basic gist of what's going on?!"
"Towers… Splititng up… Destroying towers if there are hostiles…" he tiredly replied.
"He's got it."
"Master…"
Dante quickly snapped his attention to Inuba, who stood close in front of him.
"What is it?" Asked the young immortal.
"I'm...not so sure about us separating for such a task. If anything, we should maybe go in at least groups of two and-"
"Sorry, but we just can't do that." He said as he made Inuba tense up slightly, "It'd take too much time. Besides, I know you guys can handle it yourselves."
"I'm not so much concerned about the others. I know they will fare well. It's…" she paused for a moment to consider her words, turning her head away before staring back at Dante, "It's you I'm more worried about."
Her words made him jump slightly.
"You still haven't recovered fully from your previous battle. And your right arm is still in recovery on top of that. We've made excellent progress healing it, but it still has a ways to go. To much stress and it-"
"I know." He said pulling her in for a hug with his left arm, "It'll be alright. I'll be careful. So don't you worry for a second. Okay?"
Inuba hesitated for a moment, but she then slowly wrapped her arms around him and returned the gesture.
Only she didn't want to let go.
Eventually she had to as she took a pack from the returned Ciel, who gave one to Dante and Raum before tossing the last bag at Leo, who let out a small help of surprise when the bag made contact with his body and knocked both him and the chair over.
"Nap times over. Let's go Leo."
"That wasn't necessary!" Said the younger sibling as he stood up.
"Yeah yeah, tell it to the judge or whatever."
All six had reconvened with on another in a circle while Raum picked up Irene and placed her atop his shoulders, her usual place of rest and means of travel.
"I'll make time to find anything I can on the towers. And if I do, I'll relay that information to you all as quickly as possible. Until then, you're on your own from here on out everyone." Said the cloaked girl as she looked between them all.
"Like big brother said, we totally got this. Right?" Said Ciel as she placed her hand at the center of them all.
"Agreed. We'll make sure to get the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible." Said Leonard as he placed his hand in the center along with the cloaked girl and Raum.
"And we'll all meet each other again. Safe and sound." Said Inuba as she and Dante were the last to place their hands in the circle.
"Do your best out there everyone. I'm counting on you."
They all nodded to each other before breaking the circle and moving off towards their respective destinations. The cloaked girl vanished immediately in a small flash of light, Raum and Dante moved off towards the direction of the next town over, and Ciel, Inuba and Leonard moved back onto the road, heading for their respective towers.
They were parting ways again, but it wouldn't be for all too long. Inuba knew that fact and understood. But she never really enjoyed being away from him for long. The kitusne had her task to attend to. She would see him again soon enough.
Inuba couldn't help but turn her head slightly as she walked to give her Master a longing glance before moving onward.
"I never got to meet those ankle biter friends of yours. The ones from Vale."
"Good thing you didn't at the time. I probably would have killed you if you tried hurting them." Dante stated to Raum.
"As if. You had your ass handed to me on that train." Replied the Dark Entity shooting the young immortal a challenging glare and a toothy grin.
"Wanna bet on that chuckle brother..?" Said Dante glaring back menacingly.
"Don't get so full of yourself you little brat... I'm not looking to bully little kids. Especially if they can't fight back!"
"What was that?!"
Before their conversation got even more heated, the young immortal felt a fluffy tail whip in his face, while Raum felt two small hands smack his cheeks, reddening them slightly. Both looked up at the little wolf Faunus glaring at the two, giving them a slow and low toned "Hmph…", as if in her own cute, but menacing way, she was telling them to "stop fighting".
And so they did. They backed away from one another before moving their eyes forward again and continuing the path.
"Whatever man… Say what you like, its nonsense anyway…"
"Tch… Whatever…"
Irene only let out a satisfied giggle before nuzzling her face back into the slightly spikey, but fluffy hair of her adoptive "father", closing her eyes before yawning to take a nap once again.
"So, what else did you do while were gone? Other than make yourself useful and work that is." Asked Dante.
"That's all I did."
"Horsehock, you did more than that. Tell me." Asked Dante.
"I-It's none of your damn business, alright?! So lay off already…"
Whatever else he was up to that he refused to talk about had him flustered. It seemed as though he'd be downright embarrassed if someone found out.
The immortal soon thought if he found it, he could hold it over Raum's head for a lifetime…
But he wasn't so dastardly. Some days at least.
"Fine, keep to yourself then." Said Dante as both of them stopped at the fork in the road.
"Alright, looks like we go separate ways for now." Stated Raum as he started down the road that lead him towards the tower he was heading for.
"Looks like it."
"Don't do something stupid like getting yourself killed. Got it, brat?"
"Yeah, whatever. Just go do your thing and be safe." Dante simply replied before heading off.
The village he was heading to wasn't all that far away. If he was lucky, he'd be meeting up with Ruby, Nora, Jaune and Ren along the way, or better yet, at the village ahead. If he asked and heard they were never there, he'd wait there a while until they would pass through. Logically speaking, there isn't any towns tracking back along the way besides the one Raum stayed outside of and the one Dante himself was heading to.
One way or another, they were going to pass through the town up ahead if they haven't already. It was only a matter of time.
"Anything else I should be aware of while I'm out there? Any larger Grimm like DeathStalkers or NeverMores?" asked Dante.
"None that our scouts were aware of, no." Replied the older gentlemen.
Within three hours, Dante had managed to reach the village he intended to stop at. After resting for a bit, he decided that since he was going to bide his time there, he may as well do work for the village, such as Hunt Requests or other tasks in need of taking care of. And that's when he was made aware of the Grimm attacking their village and scouts.
A Geist.
The young immortal never had the pleasure of running into one before, but he did learn about them in professor Port's class, and studied them further in whatever texts Geist could be found in. They possessed a particular ability Dante was never fond of really.
Possession. Not of people, but of inanimate objects and inorganic matter. Meaning almost anything could be its weapon, from the trees, to stones and rocks, and whatever else it could take possession of. But there was a weakness professor Port taught them to take advantage of, despite his usual ramblings of his youth, grandfather, and cabbages.
When hearing of the problem with the Geist, Dante went on to visit the village mayor to hear more of the specifics, hence the conversation taking place at the present.
"I know this maybe asking for much, but-"
"Not a problem at all." Said the immortal before the mayor finished, "I'll track it down and eliminate it first. We can discuss rewards and the like later after the jobs done."
Dante immediately stood up and raised his left hand to shake hands with the elder.
"Will you be alright however? I noticed your right arm is injured." The mayor pointed out.
"Ah, it'll be fine. Truth be told, I can use my right arm if need be, but I've been told to lay off from using it as much as possible unless absolutely necessary. Hopefully it won't come to that."
"Still, wouldn't you rather have some others come to assist you?"
"No need. Should be fine on my own." Replied Dante, soon having a thought come to mind, "Ah, wait. If four youngsters about my age walk through, would you mind sending them my way if I'm still out?"
"Of course."
"Thanks. Oh, and before I leave, is their an open kitchen I can use? I'd like to make some food just in case."
"Ah, yes, as soon as you leave this building, it'll be a shop on the corner of the street. You can also buy food in there as well if need be."
"Thank you very much for your hospitality. I'll be off as soon as I finish up."
"And thank you for taking up our request mr. Dante."
"I'll be off then."
Dante gave the mayor a short bow before he left his office and out the building into the busy streets of the village. Before he moved on, he took in a deep breath and stretched his left arm high up into the air. When he lowered it, he shook his head slightly and breathed out before moving on.
When finding the shop described to him, he bought the necessary materials he needed inside and went to work. It took him about thirty minutes until he was finished. Happy with the results, he stuff said food into a large brown bag and placed it inside his black leather pack, which was the same emergency packs for when his siblings or partner needed to separate for some time.
Once leaving the front entrance of the village, Dante remained on the road for a few minutes until he cut straight into the forest. He wasn't going to take his pack with him, in case it would be damaged, so he summoned forth an Aura Sword and tossed it into a tree, vanishing towards it in a streak of white and black Aura and appearing in its place. As soon as he set the pack down, he summoned an Aura Dagger and placed it between the handle loop to keep it place.
With that all finished, the young immortal leapt down and continued his venture deep into the forest. In thanks to the vast amount of forestry and the tallness of the trees, they provided a vast amount of shade and blocked most of the rays of sunlight. It wasn't much of a decrease of visibility, but still enough to make things slightly tougher to see coming at you.
…
Rumbling in the distance. Trees cracking apart and splintering against the collision of stone.
It had already found him.
Thundering footsteps quickly approached from behind, the young immortal turning around and seeing a massive stone column arm moving to smear him into the floor. Before it could, Dante stepped back and leapt into the tree branches above, taking a glance at his attacker.
Massive boulders formed its main body, the rest were large columns of stone levetating near the main body to form its arms and legs. Red glowing marks were spread across the body and limbs, and what from Dante noticed, which is what he was looking for, was a path of darkness near the top of the main body. And in that patch was the mask-like bone plate that was a Grimm mask, routine with typical red markings and a single, red, cyclpoptic eye at the center.
Dante gripped the trunk tightly as the Geist tore through the lower half in a single swing, the giant tree collapsing towards the Grimm possessed stone. It was then it made another swing at the falling Dante when he got close enough, but the immortal simply leapt up after the stone arm smashed through the branches, then landed on the top of its arm.
The young immortal knew he wouldn't reach the mask, the weakness of the creature, in time. And so he unsheathed his white longsword with black markings and detailing and raised it front of his body to guard the attack of the other stone arm. While he did block the initial attack with superficial damage, the force was still too much to simply absorb on such short time, therefore the "punch" sent him rocketing through the forest.
Dante managed to miss a few trees before finally crashing through one completely, making him spiral out of control. Despite how fast he was spinning, Dante managed to find the ground and plunged his sword in the ground, instantly allowing him to reorient himself to the floor and land as intended.
This forest zone is going to get in my way. Not only that, if I go a bit wild, I might start burning down the forest. And that won't be good at all.
Just as one problem emerged, he immediately found a solution soon after. A vast clearing down below, absent of trees that spanned for a few miles.
Perfect…
Dante looked back and saw the Geist heading straight for him, signaling for him to start his run towards the clearing below. He wasn't going to attack for now, instead move to the clearing as fast as he could. The Geist followed behind him quickly, swing its massive arms at the immortal to knock him off balance or to simply squash him into paste.
But he was too fast to simply be caught by such attacks.
When nearing the edge of the cliff, Dante quickly squatted and kicked off the ground as far and wide as his legs sent him. Whilst in the air, the teen, still holding his sword in his left hand, brought in his left arm, summoning ten or so white and black Aura Swords that hovered on his sides before he shot his hand towards the Geist leaping after him.
The Swords of Aura shot out one after another like bullets from an automatic gun, sticking into the closest arm and body of the Geist before setting off small explosions seconds after contact. Front the smoke cloud, the Grimm burst through the smoke, revealing the numerous dents from the dozens of exploding Aura Swords.
Not too much damage…
Dante's eyes widened momentarily as he leaned his body back to avoid a deadly swing to his body, eyeing a spot on the ground to land before the next swing could hit him. The immortal then straight tossed his longsword into a nearby boulder, teleporting to it immediately in a streak of white and black Aura whilst the Geist crashed into the ground, causing the forest floor to quiver and quake for a few moments.
The young immortal removed his sword from the stone with his left hand, his entirely bandaged right arm and hand still kept in its black sling. With a few twirls, he stepped off the boulder and onto the floor, holding his weapon normally.
"Alright…" said the immortal as he lashed his sword out to the side and slowly approached the rising Geist, "No need to hold back now…"
Dante dashed forwards quickly, his sword strike splitting through the stone arm meaning him harm. Once he landed on the main body, he kicked off it while avoiding the remaining arm all the way back to a nearby tree, then kicked off it to propel himself right back at the creature.
Avoiding a backhanded swing, Dante spiraled under the arm and swung low and cut through the left leg, passing through it as it collapsed to its last leg and arm. Dante swung out his left arm, summoning a circular formation of hovering Aura Swords, blade points surrounding the Geist's remaining arm, and when he clenched his fist, the swords moved back slightly before rushing in all at once, severing the arm whilst leaving a blistering white scorch-path that was once its arm.
It has no means of attack or defense left! Time to finish it off before it can make a grab for other rocks or trees to regenerate its lost limbs!
Dante made a short dash to the downed creature before leaping up into the air and turning his blade downwards as it pierced the eye of the Geist's mask dead center. The mask shattered instantly, and the oath of darkness from the main body dissolved from the rock, the entirety of its body made from stone collapsing now that there was no ghostly force holding it together.
The immortal waited a while longer just in case, but the stone made no movements at all.
The Geist had been Hunted.
Letting out a sigh of relief, the teen removed his sword from the lifeless rock and twirled it twice before placing it back into the white and black sheath invisibly attached to the left side of his shoulder in a diagonal slant.
He then brushed the dust off his white coat with black edges and trim, and even dusted off the split tails of the coat that reached his ankles. Afterwards, he readjusted the black lapels of his coat and ran his thumb over the six black metal buttons, two per the three rows.
Looking around, he waited to see if there was anything else coming after him. But instead of hearing growling, he heard more rumbling.
Was their another Geist somewhere in the forest? Was it on its way to him?
But then he heard something else.
Gunfire. Lots of it. One pattern of shots sounded like a high impact bolt action weapon, the other rapid fire, and the other explosive…
Could it be..?
Before Dante could continue that thought, he heard more rumbling, only this one was closer to him. Turning around, he saw another massive, stone bodied Geist emerge from the clearing swinging its massive arm, one that the immortal took the full brunt of as he was sent flying into the rock wall of the cliff he leapt off of earlier.
The teen let out a silent, uncomfortable groan as he removed himself from the imprinted image of his body in the wall, stumbling forward onto the floor with a grunt.
"Damn… You clocked me pretty good there…" he stated dusting off his coat once again, "But it'll be the last time…"
Dante removed his right arm from his sling, drawing his sword with his left before tossing it into his right hand.
All I need is a few seconds... It won't do much harm if it's just for a few seconds...
The immortal stepped forward with his right foot whilst turning his body slightly, raising up his blade and pointing towards the stone Geist, silent whispers and moans coming forth from it as it waited for Dante to make his move.
That would be a mistake.
Pitch black Aura surrounded Dante in numerous, violent torrents, whipping about like whirlwinds of flame. When he swiped his sword to the side and stepped forward again with his left foot, those streams of black Aura all converged onto Dante's person and consumed him entirely.
He could feel the power flowing through his body, strengthening and sharpening his senses.
When the black Aura subsided slowly, the immortal's body was entirely encased in twisted and slightly jagged segments of black armor all the way from his feet to his neck, where certain gaps in the armor, or second skin, glowed white. His entire head was encased in a sort of black helmet-like mask with slanted eyeholes that showed his Shadow Eyes, where the white sclerae of his eyes turned pitch black and his light sky blue irises and glowing white. Two black long horns on the sides of his head stood straight and pointed towards the sky, slightly curving inwards before curving outwards slightly as well. A white, jagged zigzag line formed where his mouth would be.
Dante had assumed my the form of his Shadow Skin, a second skin-like ability that covered his entire body and significantly boosted all of his parameters. It's appearance was like that of a menacing black armored demon...exactly as it was intended to be.
"Now then…" spoke Dante, his voice now hollow and echoing, "let's go!"
The immortal dashed forwards with blinding speed, far too fast for the Geist to track or react to. All it could do was look down at the young immortal before he slammed his sword into its chest with crushing force, lifting both him and the great stone bodied Geist into the air with considerable height. But it didn't end there.
Violent torrents of black Aura outlined in white flowed from Dante's blade in obscene amounts, cloaking the entire blade as both Dante and the Geist propelled upwards into the sky with great speed and force, leaving behind massive trails of black and white Aura in the afternoon sky as they continued ascending without a foreseeable halt.
"It's over! Devouring..!"
The Geist feebly raised up one of its stone arms, possibly to attempt to smash the transformed Dante back into the earth. But it was far too late.
"Light!"
Unleashing a full powered swing, Dante let loose a colossally violent, beam-like torrent of black and white Aura that quickly spread out into a cone shaped formation, completely consuming the entire stone body of the Geist. The black and white Aura darkened the skies above slightly for the few moments it flowed, until the Aura itself slowly began to dissipate until it was completely gone.
There wasn't a single trace of the Geist, nor stone, from the shocking blast of Aura.
While still Shadow Skinnned, Dante turned his head back to see he had flown up a considerable distance into the sky, most likely almost a thousand feet.
He definitely got stronger after the events in Xera's Reality.
Letting out an exhausted sigh, Dante's Shadow Skin quickly turned into black Aura and just as quickly dispersed from his body in wisps of black Aura, reverting him to his normal form as he continued falling in the sky, the wind rushing past him.
But he wasn't concerned in the slightest. A simple Aura Sword stuck in the ground somewhere and all he would have to do afterwards is teleport to it and it would have been as if he were never falling.
"Right… Let's see, where can I-?"
He heard a voice. It wasn't something inside his head, it was definetly a normal voice.
"...EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"Eeeee? What the hell is that..?" Questioned the immortal.
Dante turned his head to the right and saw something flying towards him.
"What is that..?"
Said something apparently had a voice and was screaming at him.
"DANTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
Apparently it knew his name too.
When the immortal focused his vision, he could tell that it was now a person. And they were heading straight for him.
As the person got closer, Dante could see something very familiar trailing behind them as the person flew up towards him on full approach.
Rose petals.
"You can't be serious…"
It could only have been her. There was no question about it. But it wasn't her identity that he was most concerned about. He was more worried with what was going to happen in the next few seconds.
Like a person that was shot out of a high speed canon and was still completely and bodily intact, Ruby Rose shot upwards and forwards through the air with intense speed, leaving behind a furious trail of rose red petals from activation of her Semblance to propel her as fast as she was moving.
All while crying immense tears of joy along with a mixture of incoherent but overjoyed babbling.
Her face said it all. She had greatly and truly missed him for the vast amount of time they were apart. Her happiness and joy was clearly shown as she made her high speed approach.
As for the immortal...pure terror was written across his while he let out a rather girlish squeal when seeing the reaper in red approach. He too had dearly and sincerely missed his small and immensely adorable lover. But what then was his reason for fear of her approach? The answer to such a question was simple.
She was going to crash into him midair. And when she did, they both would be falling from great heights.
Ruby was one who enjoyed "surprise love tackles". And Dante always welcomed them lovingly, even when not expecting it. The problem was that she almost always used her Semblance. Like now for instance. And with no ground to keep himself from being propelled, this was going to more than likely cause them both to fall. And it wasn't the immortal's own life he was most concerned with, but with Ruby's.
When she came into clear view of Dante's vision, without having to squint, he saw the little reaper outstretch her arms wide as she flew towards him like a missile, ready to TAKE him with all her loving might and tears.
Dante quickly sheathed his sword and panickedly waved his hands "No no, wait! Ruby, stop! Stop stop st- HUERGHHH!"
Dante was no more than a safe and comfortable airbag for the young Ruby Rose, who crashed head first into Dante's stomach, ending his feeble squealing and quite literally knocking the wind out of him as both he and Ruby Rose made their descent to the forest floor.
"I-I can't believe you're here! I've...missed you so much..!" she said in a muffled voice with her head buried in his chest once she grabbed hold of him properly.
The immortal only managed a choked gasp of air, his eyes quite literally rolled into the back of his head.
But it was only after a few more seconds of the reapers joyful bawling that Dante's eyelids closed and reopened, his eyes struggling to reorient themselves for a moment. When he was able to see well enough, Dante lowered his head to the source of warmth and sobbing.
He was about to say something too, but the rushing of wind told him they were still falling, and looking back, he saw that they were almost about ready to be turned into paste.
Dante let out a sharp breath as he held Ruby in his arms bridal carry position, much to her surprise, while he spun himself around so that his feet were oriented towards the ground. Black Aura had covered the entirety of his legs and waist, forming his Shadow Skin for only said legs and waist.
Ruby let out a small, terrified squeal as she burned her face back into Dante's chest, apparently resigned to her fate of turning into paste. But it wasn't going to end there.
There was a reason Dante Shadow Skinned his legs and waist. It was not only going to exponentially reduce the shock from landing, but completely guarantee Ruby's safety.
Only, he wasn't so sure how the forest floor would fair.
Black armored feet soon crashed into the earthy floor of the forest below, shattering it from the immense force of the fall. Large chunks of earthy debris jumped into the air from point of impact, unleashing a thundering avalanche-like sound through the forest as a massive dust cloud obscured the area where Dante and Ruby had fallen.
The cloud of debris dispersed within a matter of seconds, and Ruby, once realizing she was completely intact and not paste, opened her eyes and looked around. The whole ground within fifteen meters around them had been completely splintered and shattered. Even a few trees had been uprooted from their immediate area.
"Woah…"
And once the little reaper realized that she was in a certain someone's arms, her head jolted upwards before slowly creaking to the side to look up at her lover's face, where currently he had a frustrated look upon his face, keeping his eyes closed.
"I-It's really great to see you again!" she said meekly, "I'm sorry about the sudden AA love tackle but I saw your really cool Aura Wave attack and I knew it was you so I rushed over as fast as I could and when I saw it was you I got way too over excited and thought I can catch you and stuff but that didn't work out so well and so...now...we're here… Ehehehehe…"
He still didn't give her a reply, only a glare.
"Um...I'm sorry..?" she squeaked.
Dante moved his left hand up and pressed his middle finger and thumb together to form a loop, moving it in front of Ruby Rose's forehead before flicking it. The reaper let out a small "Eep!" due to the flick feeling as though a stretched rubber-band had hit her.
"You little fool!" He said in a raised voice, "Do you have any idea what would have happened if I didn't recover from that headbutt of love of yours?! You would have turned into red jello! I literally got the wind knocked out of me! And I know you're excited and all, but still, you should-!"
Dante stopped his lecture when he looked down on the whimpering Ruby about ready to cry again, only this time it wasn't going to be tears of joy.
He only let out a deep sigh before he leaned his head in a gave Ruby a kiss on the cheek.
"Sorry… Just wasn't expecting a love tackle of that magnitude out of nowhere. Usually I'd be fine with it, but even for you, that was a bit crazy. I'm only slightly mad because I was more concerned about you if we didn't stick the landing."
"I know…" she said pouting slightly, most likely still upset because of the flick to the forehead.
"Sorry about the flick." He said giving her another smooch in the cheek, "Will you forgive me with that?"
"No…" she said crossing her arms while still being held in Dante's.
It was clear she was feeling a bit selfish, which was alright. It's partly what made her adorable and cute as a whole. But he had a plan to crack her toughened exterior.
"Alright then, how about this?"
Ruby turned her head to see what he would do to make it up to her, only to find her lips taken by the young immortals own lips as he leaned in. She left out a silent yelp of surprise as her eyes widened for a moment or two before softening from the intense rush of pleasure from the kiss, letting out a silent, pleasurable, muffled moan.
It had been far too long.
When Dante slowly drew away, he used his lips to pull on tip of Ruby's tongue a bit until he entirely moved his head away to add more of a special "effect" to the kiss. And it worked extraordinarily well given that she looked dazed with her tongue lulling out slightly and was breathing heavily. For her, moving was completely out of the question given that she felt like she was melting at the moment.
"There. Is that better?" asked Dante.
All Ruby did was giggle back at him in her red faced, dazed state, something that brought a smile to his face.
It had certainly been too long since he last saw her…
But he himself soon realized how over-the-top that kiss was, causing his face to redden slightly. For but a few moments, he had let certain urges take care over.
What Dante had told Xera Stark before wasn't a lie… The immortal did indeed have an extremely heightened libido. It's one of the reasons why he was a nervous wreck against "aggressive" or "assertive" women who literally wanted "a piece of him". And why he was extremely careful around the cute and gentle types.
But the kiss he just gave Ruby now…
He shook his head rapidly and let out an exhale of breath to calm himself, looking back to Ruby to see she was still a bit of mess at the moment, caught up in whatever fantasy was rolling in her mind at the moment.
"Actually, where did you come from Ruby? And was there anyone else with you?"
"Eheh...Hehehehehe…"
"Still burnt out… Though that is my fault…"
She couldn't have possibly been alone. Not out here. So where were Ren, Nora and Jaune?
"Oh! My! Gosh! No way!"
Apparently behind me.
Dante quickly turned himself around and saw exactly who he expected to see behind him. Ren and Nora emerged from a clearing of the forest, Nora being the one to eagerly wave at the immortal while Ren greeted Dante with a relieved smile. Jaune followed from behind, only...something was strange about him… He was smiling at the immortal, but-
"Where have you been all this time?!" Nora said giving the immortal a bone crushing hug, "Did you go to see the worlds biggest pancake?! Or maybe-?!"
"Nora, I don't think he simply took a vacation. Remember that night at Beacon?"
It took her a few moments, but a proverbial light bulb went off in Nora's mind.
"Oh yeah! What did happen after all that?"
"Well…" started Dante as he shifted Ruby to hold in his left arm, "this for starters." He said showing them his entirely bandaged right arm, earning glances of surprise from the three.
It wasn't going to be easy to explain, but he may as well during their return trip back to the village.
"So that's why you look like you have the right arm of a mummy?" Ruby asked.
It took them about an hour so, but the five had managed to leave the forest and where on the dirt road headed for the village. At this point in time, Ruby had snapped out of her daze and was walking alongside Dante instead of being carried by him.
"Pretty much… Again, I'm sorry about not telling you what was going on with me that night. I was...scared. And I didn't want to involve anyone with the potential mess that might have come out of it. You can ask them how that went." said Dante pointing towards Ren, Nora, and Jaune.
"Fighting a possessed Dante is definitely something I'm not adding to my list of favorite activities." Spoke Ren.
"I know right?! He was all super tough and scary demon man and everything!" Said Nora excitedly, "Please don't do that again though."
Dante laughed at her plea, "Don't worry, something like that isn't going to happen again. It's done and over. Now I just have to deal with this." He said nodding to his right arm in the sling.
"So, what have you been doing all this time?" Asked Ruby.
"Traveling like you guys. I got a tip from a friend of mine that pointed me out towards Mistral. So my partner and I have been on the road. We were way ahead of you for the time, but we took a little side stop to take care of a problem. So, now, here we are."
"Wait, partner?" Asked Ruby.
"Ms. Inuba Kitsukami, if I recall." Stated Ren.
"Oh yeah! Foxy lady with the fox ears and the tail! I remember her!" Said Nora.
"Oh, I remember her too! You introduced her to all of us during the tournament. But wait, if she's been traveling with you, where is she now?" Asked Ruby.
"Her, my brother and sister and new friend are actually en route to those towers that popped up."
They all stopped walking, each of them frozen in place, which was something that Dante noticed.
"What?"
"Y-Y-You…" started Nora.
"You have siblings?!" Finished Ruby, "When did this happen?!"
"I met them along the road. Turns out they've been here on Remnant this entire time. When my Aura levels spiked that night at Beacon, they were able to track it and found me along the way."
"And you say they're at the towers?" Jaune finally piped up after saying nothing for a long while.
"Yeah. They just popped up from nowhere and we didn't take notice until recently. So I sent the rest of them off to the towers to investigate, one per each tower."
"And if the towers are bad?" Asked Ruby.
"Then they bring them down. End of story. So, I take it the mayor of the village sent you after me?" Asked Dante.
"He did mention another Huntsmen had been dispatched to take care of the Geist and that he said to tell us to follow behind him. A precaution you set up in case of emergency I presume?" Asked Ren.
"Pretty much."
Before they knew it, the five of them had reached the village entrance, where they were greeted by the mayor, who extended his hand. Ruby was the one who shook it.
"We truly can't thank you enough."
"Just doing our job, sir." Replied Ruby.
For a moment, Dante wondered if he should mention the fact he killed two Geists while Ruby and the others slayed another. But he decided to keep to himself.
"That Geist had been plaguing our village for weeks. We were beginning to wonder if we'd have to relocate."
"Well, we are on our way to Mistral. You could always come along with us if you don't feel safe."
The mayor gave Ruby an amused laugh. And for good reason too. They were already rooted deeply here. That, and it has sentimental value. There was no way they'd leave willingly unless under drastic circumstances.
"I take it you're not from these parts. Anima is a large continent. I'm afraid our people would never survive the long trek to Mistral. It may be safer in the Kingdoms, but we prefer our way of life. I just wish we could pay you more."
For Dante, money was never much of importance to him. It was just a means to an end. Mentioning the other two Geist would definitely warrant a much higher reward. But the immortal knew villages outside of the kingdoms didn't have all too much. Hence why not mentioning it was fine.
"Our previous arrangement is more than sufficient." Stated Ren.
Whatever arrangement it was.
Ruby and the others, along with Dante, all bowed respectfully to the mayor before they took off. The immortal just simply followed after wherever they were heading to in town.
"Where are we going?"
"To the blacksmith shop. In case you didn't understand the part where I mentioned 'arrangement', we decided our reward would be some basic supplies and an upgrade to Jaune's weapon and armor." Answered Ren.
"Oh! Upgrades! Moving up in the world, aren't we Jaune?" Said Dante as he nudged Jaune.
But it was strange. Jaune was trying to avoid eye contact with Dante the entire time. Why was that?
"Y-Yeah…"
Whatever it was about Jaune had to be saved for later.
He had a present to give.
"Before I forget…" Dante extended his left hand out, and within a brief flash of white and black Aura, his black leather pack appeared in his hand.
"Woah! What was that?!" Asked Ruby.
"I picked up a lot of tricks while I was away. This one I call Embedded Shift. I place an Aura Weapon like this," he said conjuring up an Aura Sword for everyone to see, to which Nora and Ruby looked at in awe, "in whatever location I want, and I can teleport to that location. Place this on a small object, and I can bring it to me."
"That's so cool!"
"I know." Said the immortal as he dug in his bag, "Here, this is for you." He said handing Ruby the brown paper bag.
"Woah! No way! It's been forever!" Squealed Ruby with excitement as she pulled out a smaller plastic bag of cookies.
When Nora looked inside the bag, she too squealed in excitement when she found the bag of pancakes inside.
"I wanted to make something for young guys too, but I don't think I ever got what your favorite treats are." Dante apologized to Ren and Jaune.
"No worries! Renny and Jaune can have a pancake or two from me!" Said Nora.
That fixed that problem.
"Thank you so much! You're the best boyfriend ever!"
Ruby's reward for Dante was her trademark and very powerful hug of love, and kiss on the cheek, something the young immortal seemed embarrassed about slightly, but mentally squealed with joy.
Soon, the group had entered the blacksmith's shop together, standing in the back corner while Jaune stepped forward.
"Uh, excuse me! I'm the uh, guy from earlier?"
"Ah! It's you! I'll be out in a second!" A voice called out from the back room.
A few seconds passed until a burly man with horns emerged from the back room, holding an amazing set of white armor with gold trimming until he placed it down on the counter in front of Jaune.
"There you go, son. It's going to be heavier than what you're used to, but you'll thank me the next time you go up against a set of claws."
"Wow… That, uh... I don't know what to say…"
Thank you maybe?
"Don't gotta say anything! Just put it on! I'll go get the rest."
The Faunus blacksmith turned and went back inside the storeroom in the back to retrieve whatever else he had to give to Jaune.
Though, instead of putting on his glorious set of new armor, Jaune simple stood where he was.
"So...what are you waiting for?" Asked Nora.
"Oh, uh, right!"
Jaune then began to immediately take off his old chestplate, "Guess I was going to grow out of it eventually…"
"A sign of progress." Ren stated rather proudly.
Once he removed his armor, the second Jaune turned around, Ruby gasped, then covered her mouth in a feeble attempt not to giggle. Even Dante curled and bit his lips to hide his amusement.
"What?" Jaune asked.
"What is that?!"
Dante finally found out his long awaited answer as to what was under Jaune's armor, more specifically, what was depicted on his hoodie. And he finally found out what it was.
An emblem with a cute bunny head was on Jaune's chest.
"What, my hoodie? I've always had this."
"It's got a cute little bunny rabbit!" Said Ruby snortling before laughing.
Dante covered his mouth with his hand and let out chortles himself, trying to contain himself.
"It's Pumpkin Pete! You know, from the cereal?!"
"What did you do?! Send in a box top for a prize?!" Ruby asked hysterically as both she and Dante were nearly bent over and unable to contain their laughter.
"Yeah! Fifty!"
That last statement alone was enough to break the couple entirely, as any restraint they had was lifted and they laughed together. Only, Ruby was the one to fall over, Dante simply placing his left hand on his knee to prop himself.
"Well, I suppose we don't have to grow out of everything." Ren said with a smile.
When they hewrd the storeroom door open, Ruby and Dante ceased their laughter as the immortal helped her off the ground from her laughing fit.
"Can't have a Huntsman without his weapon."
The blacksmith returned from the back with Jaune's weapon in hand. Dante couldn't help but whistle at how marvelous it looked now, complete with white metal and gold trim, just like his new armor.
"Made all the modifications you asked for." Said the smith as Jaune's sheath expanded into shield form.
"That was some fine metal you brought me. Accents the white nicely. Where'd you get it from?"
Dante's eyes took a more careful examination of Jaune's upgraded weapon, finally noticing the design near the bottom of the shield resembled the circlet Pyrrha used to wear.
He could never forget hearing about her death...
"From a friend…" Jaune softly replied as he stared at the shield.
"So…" started Dante as he, Ruby, Nora and Ren waited outside the shop, "I never got to apologize for the...senseless, ignorant nonsense I spewed the night that all happened. Even though I was suffering and in pain, it still-"
"It's alright. We immediately moved past it once we figured out something was wrong with you at the time. Your neckline was visible, so I was able to see it." Said Ren standing next to Dante while Ruby and Nora were having a conversation of their own.
"Right…"
"I'm...assuming you know about Pyrrha by now?"
"Heard about it as soon as I woke up, Ren…" Dante replied softly as he stared off into the distance, "The worst part about it is that I never got to apologize to her. And now…"
"It's alright. With everything going on at the time, it was just...one big mess. She...actually saw your transformation as well and asked me about what was happening. I was just as clueless, but we were more than certain it had something to do with your irritated state. She even told us not to think anything about it, that something was affecting you somehow."
"And..?"
"Easily forgiven. You're not one who would just say things like that then leave. Something was definitely irregular that we didn't know about. And rather than make assumptions and hate you for something not entirely your fault, we just moved past it. Although…"
"Jaune wasn't so forgiving. It's why he's been avoiding me." Said Dante.
"Yes…"
Dante could only sigh at the predicament before him. That night, he was a real jerk to everyone. Jaune included. And they were really close friends too…
"I'll figure out how to make it up to him. For sure."
The four of them soon focused their attention on the shop door opening with Jaune stepping, all dressed and ready in his new set of armor as he unsheathed his sword pulls and expanded the sheath to shield mode.
"He cleans up alright, don't you think?" Asked the blacksmith as he glanced at Jaune, crossing his arms.
"He certainly does."
"I still think a grenade launcher would've really brought the look together." Nora added to Ren's statement.
"Nothing's gonna stop Team RNJR now!" Ruby proudly stated.
The new team name was certainly interesting…
"Team JNRR!"
"Still not a color." Affirmed Ren.
"It doesn't matter what we're called. As long as we're together." Said Jaune.
Correct he was in the eyes of the young immortal. He was never really one for team names or being a leader himself. So long as they had each other and were a team, it's all that ever mattered. A name or label wasn't going to change that.
"You kids sure you won't stick around? You've been real good to this town." Asked the blacksmith.
"Sorry, but no can do on that request." Said Dante.
"We've got another mission." added Ruby.
"Make it to Haven Academy, no matter what."
"We've heard the next village over has a working Airship." Stated Ren.
"Mmm… No way to know for sure. Scroll signals were weak enough out here back when Beacon Tower was still up. Haven't heard from Shion Village in a while…"
"Only one way to find out… Alright guys, let's bounce."
With a wave, Dante, Ruby, Ren, Nora and Jaune turned to leave, heading through the village entrance one more to continue their journey on the road.
"Food?"
"Check!"
"Water?"
"Check!"
"How about ammo?"
"Locked and loaded! Thank you, Schnee Dust Company!"
It seemed as though Jaune's and Nora's supply check was going smoothly.
"Got the map?"
"Ren's got it."
"No, I don't. You have it." He stated.
"Wait, what?"
"Guys, please tell me you're joking."
"Uh... Heheheheheh…"
"Guys! Guys?!"
"It's alright. Even if she lost it, I still have the one on my HoloScroll. Plus, it's in 3D."
"Right. Thanks, I guess."
It still seemed things were awkward between them. The immortal knew it would take time, but he would repair things between himself and Jaune.
He looked over to Ruby quickly and noticed she seemed a bit...glum.
"Hey, you alright?" Dante said leaning in towards her.
"Yeah… It just...been a while since I saw everyone. Weiss… Blake… Yang…"
She was homesick a bit. And missing her old teammates as well.
"But...I am really really happy you're here! I mean...it's been months… And you just popped up out of the blue! Like a huge bonus!"
"Talk about lucky, huh?" Said Dante bumping his hip into hers playfully, moving her slightly sideways to which she returned a hip bump of her own.
"Hehehe, lucky me." She said smiling at him warmly.
She glanced at him back and forth, her cheeks slightly flushed until she worked up her courage to do what she intended.
Shortly after, Dante found Ruby's hand interlocked with his, her fingers interlocking with his as she held on tightly. And the young immortal returned the gesture eagerly, tightly grasping hers as they continued down the long road with their friends.
"Whatever comes our way...I'll be there with you guys. And I'll protect you. No matter what."
Ruby's face reddened at his statement, but it brought a smile to her lips as she leaned in closer to him.
"I know." She giggling a bit.
Dante had missed moments like these. He was glad to see Ruby, Ren, Nora and Jaune again, Ruby in particular. And he would keep true to his promise.
Whatever came their way...he would fight to protect them with everything he had.
That was the promise he made to himself.
(Omake: The Catch, Alternate version, by Xera Stark)
The sky fell from around them as they sunk into its deep, blue depths from 1000 impossible meters in the air.
Not even God's pogo stick reaches that kind of height.
He didn't need to compensate like that. Everyone knows he's a prick already.
But the clouds fell away as a rectangular object lay flatly between the two teens, narrowed eyes of focus staring out at each other as Ruby leaned boredly into the comfort of her own hand.
"Bishop to f4," she yawned, moving the chess piece into position.
"Knew you'd do that," Dante replied, moving to take her bishop.
"Predictable," Ruby replied easily, swiping his knight with the knobby head of her silver pawn.
"After all this time, you can still read my moves huh?" Dante asked, a smirk growing after Ruby nodded in return, "Well, I thought 7 steps ahead by now. I knew exactly what you'd do."
He casually moved his queen forward, breaching the split ranks Ruby just opened when she took his sacrificed knight.
Again, Ruby.
That's the only time Dante will ever split you.
"Check ma-"
Ruby took his queen with her own knight.
"W-wha?!"
"7 steps ahead, right?" Ruby asked, giving her own cheeky smile, "I thought 8 steps ahead!"
"Y-you… you sunk my battleship. I give. You win."
Stop playing coy. Everyone knows you let her.
"Oh, right," Dante realized, glancing around them, "How long have we been falling now?"
"Long enough to have a drawn out conversation," Ruby replied in boredom.
"Ah… right. Forgot about that."
And then the ground high fived the two of them to oblivion.
(Weapons Illustrated 9)
"Welcome back everybody..!" started Ruby.
"To another episode of..!"
"Huntsmen and Huntresses Illustrated Weapons Guide!" said the couple in unison.
"Today we're back with our ninth episode this week and today...we're going to be talking about Dante's little brother's weapons! So..! Um... What was his weapons name..?"
"Nuntius, Ruby."
"Right! That word! What, uh, what does it mean?"
"Messenger. But what is Nuntius Ruby?"
"Ha! That's easy! Nuntius is a pair of powerful twin handcannon revolvers! The really cool part is that ammo cylinders are practically built in and don't need to be removed to reload. The only time Leo will ever remove an ammo cylinder is to change bullet types. Because..!" said Ruby pointing dramatically to Dante.
"Leo's ammo supply is basically infinite. The reason I say this is because when Leo reloads, he doesn't empty the ammo cylinders and instead twirls them around his fingers twice to reload them using cloning/exact duplication magic. Hence the 'basically' part I mentioned earlier when I said infinite ammo."
"But..!"
"But..." started Dante, "The cloning magic is reliant on his total remaining Aura. So basically, when Leo run's out of usable Aura, he's out of ammo. So Ruby, what so special about the ammo cylinders?"
"I'm glad you asked oh lovable boyfriend! Leo uses three ammo types overall for the gun form of his weapon. The first type are Calcified Steel bullets, which are a resource found in the Dark World. These types of bullets are more effective against people or holy things. Kinda like lingering curse effect bullets. The second are...Empyreon Steel bullets?"
"Close, Empyrean Steel." corrected Dante.
"Right! Empyrean Steel bullets are a resource found in The Plane of Angels, or Heaven. So vice versa, they work really well against Dark things. Like Grimm for instance. The last ammo type is an alloy made from Calcified Steel and Empyrean Steel, which are basically like super bullets for really really tough enemies or large ones. All in all, Leo gets 12 shots per handcannon for a total of 24 shots."
"Leo's next weapon form transforms his handcannons into two twin, pistol grip vertical double barrel shotguns." started Dante, "In this form, there are three shell types just like the bullets. And instead of twirling them twice, Leo only has to twirl them once to reload. What's special about the shell shots is that Leo can control their spread, making them have a wider spread formation or a tight formation, which makes them really deadly and nasty to deal with. In this form, Leo has 12 shots total, 6 shots per gun until reload. So Ruby, what's the final form of Leo's weapon?"
"That's easy! The final form are dual longswords with segmented sections, turning them basically into sword whips that can extend to 5 meters! And, since Leo wears cuffs on each wrist with chains attached to each end of the weapon, he can extend his total melee range to 10 meters! Isn't that awesome?!"
"Awesome and deadly. Final question Ruby. You get this, and you might get a reward."
"R-R-R-Reward?! Ah! Um... Okay..."
"There's an extra effect to Leo's twin handcannon form he practically uses all the time. What is that extra effect..."
"Um... Uh... Oh yeah! I know this! He uses his Semblance in conjunction with his shots to surround his bullets in super dense beams of his Aura for maximum stopping power and bullet penetration!"
"Bingo bango, we have a winner."
"Yes! I win!" shouted Ruby as she raised her arms int the air, "Wait, what do I win?"
"I'll leave that up to you to decide." said Dante as he leaned in rather closely to Ruby, making her face go red as she began muttering to herself, "Right then. That's all for this week in Weapons Illustrated. Next week is Semblance Encyclopedia, so stay tuned. And with that, we wish you all a good week. Bye bye now!" said Dante before he lifted Ruby up and carried her off stage.
I haven't much to say here except, wow, what a reunion! Dante has regrouped with RNJR and joined them on their venture to Haven Academy! But...their trek won't be so simple. Things will be...different. And those towers... I wonder what those could be? Hmmm...
Overall, I have been dying to do this arc for a long long long time now. And now that it's here, my plans can be enacted. Expect twists and turns and mysteries and questions all around ladies and gentleman. And take care to pay special attention to certain details along the way. Some might have more of a special meaning than you realize...
So with that...
I highly recommend you all go check out the freaking amazing collab Xera Stark and I are currently working on concerning his story XSRA's Flame. His story overall is absolutely fantastic and is a must read, so I suggest you read from the very start. But, if you're just interested in the awesome collab our two minds put together have created, then mozy on down to chapter 53 of his story for the start. I've said it once and will say it again, you won't want to miss out on this story, and especially this exciting story arc we've created.
Not only that, but check out his other awesome and highly entertaining story Rogue Huntsmen as I mentioned above. It's just pure awesomeness bundled into one story. Trust me, you'll love it. And hey! Go check out HydraFLow's story Lost in Binary! It's equally as awesome and entertaining, definitely worth spending the time reading and enjoying.
Questions? Ask them anytime. I will try to answer without spoiling.
Please remember to review, follow and favorite this story if you really enjoyed it and want to continue seeing more of it. And hey, even tell others about this story! Remember that your support is what helps make this story grow even larger and what helps improve it. With that, I bid you all an excellent week/weekend!
Bye-bye now!