Chapter 40: Shadow and Flame
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"Tch… That little punk… 'Oh, look at me how I rounded up this army of Grimm!'. He forgets to mention it was my sorry ass that rounded them all up…" Spoke a woman as she overlooked the battlefield Dante fought in, and was currently retreating from.
"You know him, always wanting to puff out his chest at great accomplishments."
The woman turned, and found the dragon masked man behind her.
"Well look who slithered out of hiding. Where've you been all this time?"
"Oh, you know me, out and about really." Aizûr said as he walked forward and stood next to the woman.
"That 'kid' of yours you set your eye on… He's a real freak, you know that?"
"Hmmm… Freak isn't what I would call him. Unique if anything."
"I guess…" the woman said shrugging, "You know, all that aside, I think he'd be great for my little game. Don't you?"
Aizûr chuckled to himself, "Perhaps. But now isn't the time for games."
"Stingy lizard… You just want to watch him in action yourself, don't you?"
"Perhaps. He is quite interesting, you know?" Aizûr stayed turning his masked face to the woman.
"Yeah I guess…" the woman said with a sigh, "So what now?"
"Hard to say really. So far, both he and his friends have taken care of the deserters. Most of them anyway."
"Ah right. That young punk who thinks he's all that just cause he's got some mild fire. I think the humans are dealing with him right now."
"That they are."
"And? How's that going?"
"Not all too good. But it's to be expected given it's him." Aizûr stated.
"What about the fox that was with the kid?"
"I've mislead her and put enough obstacles in her way to keep her occupied. For now anyway. Though, given she senses danger on approach to her 'Master', she's tearing through anything in her path. It's actually fairly endearing to see."
"Yeah, like you're one to talk about emotions…" the woman scoffed.
"Now now, you should know better than that. I'm simply… more reserved by comparison."
"If you say so." The woman said shrugging, "By the way, that meddler you told me about? Guess who asked our little deserters for a favor?"
Aizûr let out a sigh, the gaze behind his mask looking up towards the sky.
"So it was her after all…"
"What are we going to do about her?"
"Nothing. For now."
"What, you serious?!" The woman asked as Aizûr began to walk away, "Hey, this isn't a joke ya damn reptile! This is serious! She's planning some serious shit! Don't you think we should do something 'bout it?!"
"We could. But as far as we've been told as to taking any sort of action, we're on standby until The Calling. Until then, we're free to do as we please so long as we don't openly expose our identities." Aizûr spoke, pausing to glance over his shoulder at the woman.
"Yeah, but..! Damn it!" The woman held a hand on her hat and ran in front of Aizûr to stop him, "Shouldn't we do something about it?! What about Erêntîel?! Calîgâr?! Hell, bring Eradûm for the ride just to make it easier!"
"We're uncertain of Calîgâr's location at the moment. Erêntîel has decided to stay out of any and all of our affairs unless she's specifically called upon for The Calling. And given it's her we're talking about, I and everyone else have decided to respect her wishes. Eradûm won't so much as lift a finger if it means helping humanity or The Faunus."
"Then..!" The woman bit her lip, understanding how unrealistic it'd be for just the two of them to go.
"Besides, this isn't our trial to complete. It's his."
The woman turned around, watching Dante finally disappear into the clearing as he let out a heavy sigh.
"I seriously think you puff up the kid way too much…"
"Heh… Perhaps. But if you watch him long enough, you'll see in him exactly what I see. And you may just well be surprised."
Jaune flew back into the group as Ren and Nora helped stop his tumble, allowing the knight to quickly get back up and raise his shield up to defend them all from the deadly bolts of fire.
"That shield of yours is annoyingly resilient, mongrel. I must applaud you."
Jaune winced slightly to shake off the painful reverberations through his arm. He may have successfully blocked the attack, but it's power was still great for such a small attack.
Their overall efforts haven't gone so splendidly either. He brushed off almost every attack with ease, and even his seemingly smaller attacks would likely perform an incredible amount of damage if his bolts of flame were anything to go off of.
And his speed… It practically matched Ruby's Semblance on a natural level.
Worst of all, he hadn't suffered a single scratch…
"As pointless as it is for you mongrels to attack me, I must admit that you're at least allowing me to alleviate some of my boredom."
"What're we going to do?!" Nora whispered.
"We're going to need much more force if we're going to even want to lay a scratch on him." Ren stated.
More force…
…
I guess now's a better time than any…
At Beacon before it fell, Dante had crafted special bullets for Ruby's use that were of the same material as his sword. But he didn't make all too many magazines of the special bullets, given that he didn't have enough resources to make more. The reaper had never used them, as Dante explained to her once that they should only be used for the toughest of enemies, and even then, they were to be used sparingly.
"If I can disappear for a bit, I think I can lay a few shots into him if you guys can keep him distracted." Ruby stated.
"Then we'll do just that." Jaune said looking back at Ren and Nora, "You two ready?"
"You bet!"
Ruby was the first to move forward, and slashed at the man with Crescent Rose, an attack he easily stopped with his bare hand. He went to backhand her across the face, but she already blurred out of sight, leaving Jaune the one to take her place in attacking.
He made a few good and quick swipes, but the man was still moving too fast to be hit by them. In fact, he seemed bored by Jaune. In an effort to swat Jaune away, he moved to brush his knuckles against the Knight's face, but found them knocking against Jaune's shield.
It may not have sent the teen flying like he wanted, but at the very least he moved the irritating "thing" away from him. Ren and Nora were the next two to move in and begin their assault, darting and weaving around each other to combine their attacks into a constant onslaught of strikes.
The man only had to block them, not giving much effort into dodging save for when the two teens seemingly were about to damage his suit. When he had the chance, the man grabbed hold of both their wrists, splint hem around and powerfully tossed them into the wall behind Jaune as he worked on shaking off the violent and painful vibrations from the shock he absorbed with his shield.
"Come now mongrels, is that the best you have to offer me? I go out of my way to meet you here on the field to see how you would fair against me, and this is all you have to offer me?"
The man stopped in front of them, realizing now they were only three.
A sudden change in the wind caught his attention as he moved his hand behind him and blocked the sniper bullet that was about to hit his head with his palm.
Another shot rang out from opposite of him, and this time instead of blocking it, he caught the bullet between his fingers and threw it off to the side as if it were a ball of paper.
"So that's where you were… Clever."
This time the man paid attention and heard the actual shot, and turned his head towards the oncoming bullet, smiling arrogantly as he watched it come closer. He only chuckled at the attempt, and raised his hand up to block the small chunk of metal that was supposed to kill him.
But he was surprised when he felt a small twinge of pain flood his senses, slowly watching the white and black bullet actually penetrate his hand. Had he not moved his head to the side, the bullet would have gone through it as well.
The man growled as he shook off his hand, "You dare injure me, you lowly human?!"
He extended his hand as the tips of his fingers glowed red hot, and shot out bolts of orange flame in a fan towards a clearing nearby, and set off a chain reaction of explosions that decimated anything in their path.
Ruby had already cleared out, zooming in with her Semblance and swiping her scythe at the man's neck.
While she wasn't shocked that her scythe didn't even cut into him, she still visibly winced before backflipping away, and making use of her Semblance to avoid a cone shaped blast of flame.
The reaper appeared in front of her three friends, and took deep breaths to rest herself as much as she could. For all she knew, the stranger wouldn't give them anymore breathing room.
Then, all of them looked to the man as he showed them his hand, flesh growing back into the gap left by Ruby's bullet, although it grew back at slow pace.
Even though a White Nail Bullet actually hurt him…
Ruby narrowed her eyes in frustration, and the man took note of her distraught, laughing to himself.
"What? Did you really think your feeble bullets could do any real damage to me? I admit, you managed to injure me, if only for a brief moment." The man said lowering his hand with a twisted smile, "Which begs the question… How many more of those special bullets do you have exactly? Not too many I would imagine."
She only had five left…
Ruby had hoped the man would have continued being arrogant and let the bullet make contact to trick him into thinking it wouldn't harm him. It worked at first, but the plan fell apart quick when the man reacted fast enough to save himself.
The only way she would even hope to stop him with a White Nail bullet was to catch him totally off guard. But how would they go about that when their opponent moved and reacted quicker than them, and had durable skin that couldn't be cut or shot through by conventional weapons?
"I applaud you, mongrels. You've done well to survive this long against me." The stranger raised up his hand as fire flowed freely, and gathered in the air above him, "As a reward, I'll allow you to die now in a semi-quick manner by turning you all into ash."
A large sphere of flame had formed, its glow vibrant and powerful as RNJR could now feel an intense heat spread out from the area the man stood. It's glow bright enough that everything around them seemed to darken.
As the stranger reared back his arm, he laughed maniacally as he shot his orb of flame forward at them.
Ruby grimaced at the oncoming projectile, sliding a foot back to prepare herself. If she was lucky, that strange power from before was going to activate, and she'd be able to cut through the ball of flame.
If not…
Her body glided forward with her Semblance, feet almost off the ground as she surged forward, feeling the power welling up inside her and moving its way through all corners of her body. Wisps of black encircled her legs as Crescent Rose slowly began to take on its alternate form.
But before it could fully activate, a white and black longsword came down from the heavens with frightening speed, piercing through the sphere of flame and reducing it to mere sparks before Ruby.
And then… he appeared.
Dante suddenly stood in front of Ruby, grabbing the handle of his longsword Anvil and drawing it from the earth as he glared at the draconic man in front of him.
"You bastard..! Who the hell are-?!"
The immortal raised up a hand, then moved it in front of his own face as he pressed his index finger in front of his lips, shushing the stranger, much to his anger.
"You guys okay?" Dante asked, glancing back slightly.
Nora let out a sharp exhale, "He's been kicking our butts for a few minutes, but… We're okay!"
"That so?" The immortal questioned as he looked back to the draconic man.
The man in question scoffed as he stood straight up, crossing his arms as his burning orange eyes glared back at the immortal, seemingly flaring up with a short burst of flame.
"So you're the child they spoke of? This is it?" The man said, "What a disappointment. You don't look to be much, if anything at all. And here I was expecting… well, more."
Dante simply stood were he was, plunging his sword into the ground and resting his arm on the pommel. He had Shadow Skinned his right thumb, and used the pointed claw of his armored finger to dig out the dirt underneath his nail as he waited.
"Listen and listen well mongrels! I am Daelîks!" The man announced, "And you are nothing before me but dirt on the ground!"
The immortal rolled his eyes and head as he continued cleaning the dirt from underneath his fingers.
"I give you the honor of dying by my hand and you reject me?! You fools! None may dismiss a dragon! None!"
The immortal finished with his nails, raising them up in front of his face as he examined his work.
It was then he remembered he should try out those spa techniques he learned when he once went to a resort for three days.
Maybe Ruby and Inuba would appreciate a manicure and pedicure…
"You should be kissing the very earth I walk on wherever I tread!"
Dante let out an annoyed sigh as he scratched the back of his head, looking back at the man, as Ruby and the others shared concerned glances with one another.
"Bow down before me and surrender your lives, you worthless-!"
The immortal's hand found itself completely clasping Daelîk's mouth shut, much to the so called dragon's surprise as his eyes lit up in shock while watching Dante rear back his head before forcefully slamming it forward.
"FUCK OFF!" Were the only words the teen spoke as his forehead made contact with the dragon man's face, launching him with incredible force into a rock wall nearby as it collapsed on top of him.
The ground trembled for a few moments, but settled down shortly after as Dante sighed and shook off his hand. He looked back, and saw the shocked faces of Ruby and the others as they stood there in awe.
"What?" The immortal questioned as he took up his sword again, "He talked too much."
A spire of orange flame shot up from the rocks were the man had been buried underneath, drawing everyone's attention as the rocks began turning into glowing, molten slag.
"Well he's going to be a joy to handle…" Dante said taking a few steps forward.
A hand shot out to stop him, and he turned to see Ruby was the one who held him back with a serious and determined gaze.
"What's wr-?"
"You can't!" She said loud enough for him to hear her over the roaring flames.
"Can't what?" Dante asked with a confused glance.
"I'm not letting you do this by yourself!" Ruby said, glancing back to Jaune, Nora and Ren, "We're not letting you do this by yourself!"
Dante's eyes lit up slightly at her words, before he glanced over to the others, who shared equally determined glances about them.
The immortal chuckled to himself as he pulled Ruby towards him into a hug, surprising her for a brief moment before she relaxed herself and reciprocated the gesture, wrapping her arms around him tightly and burying her face into him.
"Who said anything about me doing all the work, you lazy bums?" He spoke as he poked Ruby in the forehead, getting a small and cute squeak out of her, "I was actually going to ask you all if you got enough of a breather so we can cook this oversized gecko."
"Who said anything about us being lazy?" Jaune asked as he took the chance to stand up with Ren and Nora, and walk over to Dante and Ruby.
"Don't think I need to tell you all to be careful with this one." The immortal stated as he sling his sword on his shoulder.
"No worries! We'll break his legs all the same!"
The teen laughed at that as the five of them began to move forward, watching the flames die down and seeing Daelîk step out, his suit torn and filthy, and his expression filled with rage.
"You filthy mongrel! You dare touch me with your disgusting hands?!"
Dante didn't give him the pleasure of a response, and instead surged forward with Ruby at his side as they met the stranger first.
Daelîk raised up his hands and caught their sword and scythe in his palm as he was forced back onto his heels, skidding in the dirt as Dante and Ruby kept pushing him. Their initial strike didn't scratch him at all, but by now, their blades began cutting into his hands and drew blood.
He forced them away, but barely saw Jaune and Ren zooming in to deliver deft slashes to the man's body, passing by him as they did. They only left shallows cuts, but they were enough to forcefully spin him around before he felt a crushing force smash into his lower back, completely knocking the wind out of him.
Daelîk could only then watch as Dante's blade came down and left a deep cut across his body, and as he ducked down, Ruby leapt over the immortal and dug the soles of both her boots into the draconic man's face to send him flying into the dirt.
The man angrily roared as he picked himself up off the ground and spun around, lashing out with a wave of flame that crashed into Jaune's shield and dispersed immediately. With that, Jaune's blade moved in front of him as he thrusted it into the man, actually managing to pierce his flesh.
Daelîk stood still with his head bowed lowed, and Jaune kept a cautious glance as went to draw his sword and found it not budging an inch. The man had grabbed hold of the white blade as his other hand glowed bright orange and came down upon the knight. Jaune had successfully blocked the attack, but was quickly being overpowered, the man's flaming hand reaching ever closer to his face.
A hand grabbed the back of the man's neck as he was pulled away from Jaune, spun around and stabbed in the stomach by Dante's sword. The immortal moved himself and the dragon away from Jaune as he kept firm hold of his throat. The man's hand sank deep into the flesh of the immortal's hand that had a firm grasp around his neck, but he didn't so much as flinch.
Dante only pushed his blade deeper into the man's stomach and held him in place despite his struggling.
Without having to say a word, Ruby had already quickly ran up behind the man, fired off Crescent Rose to give her swing more momentum and pierced her scythe blade into the man's back. While it didn't go in too deep, it still went in deep enough.
"You're through, you oversized lizard." Dante spoke to the man.
A silent and weakened chuckle escaped the man's lips as his head lifted up to met Dante's gaze.
"Am I..?"
Burning orange eyes and black slit pupils flared up with flame, and Dante's eyes went wide. He spun the man around, quickly grabbed hold of Ruby and tossed her away as the man's body brimmed with flame.
A radial blast of hellfire burst forth from the man's body, consuming both him and Dante while blasting away the others.
The immortal emerged from the flames, tumbling and rolling in the dirt as the fires went out, showing his charred skin that quickly began to heal up. Looking behind him, he saw RNJR had survived the blast, but also saw their Aura shimmer around their bodies in crackles before flickering out.
Try as they did, they couldn't stand anymore. The blast had been too much for them to handle.
"Damn it…" Dante said shaking his head as he stumbled up.
The teen turned around, and from the billowing smoke, saw Daelîk walk out of the flame, his cut up body slowly healing its wounds as he removed his coat and tossed aside.
"You filthy, disgusting, worthless trash!"
He blurred out of sight and delivered a powerful round kick to Dante's face to send him flying back towards the others. The teen rolled a bit, but was on his feet once again shortly after.
"How dare you raise your lowly hands against me! Do you have any idea who I am?!"
"You're an asshole! That's what!" Dante shouted back as he stood up straight and exhaled, "And I'm going to kick your ass."
"You? Fight me? With what power?" The man laughed, "Not even your little mongrel humans benefited you in any way. Why any of them made a fuss over you, I will never know for the life of me."
"So… You think I can't kill you… is that it?" Dante replied as he started stretching himself out, "Sorry pal, but you couldn't be any more wrong than you are now."
"What?"
"Truth is… I haven't fully adjusted yet… so I was still working out some kinks…"
"Kinks?" Daelîk asked asked with a scoff.
"That's right." Dante said as he cracked his neck by moving it side to side, "But know I've fully adjusted."
In that moment, when the two met each other's gazes, the man saw the teen's eyes change; the whites of his eyes turned pitch black, and his irises a glowing white color.
Despite how mighty Daelîk presented himself, it would have been a lie to say he didn't feel a single ounce of fear when he saw the immortal staring back at him with those eyes.
Even so, the dragon took strides forward towards the teen, as Dante did the same, both stopping just mere inches away from the other and furiously staring at the other, Daelîk towering over Dante as the the veins near his face seemed to pop almost.
"Don't get so full of yourself, you worthless trash..! I don't care what that good for nothing Aizûr or anyone else says! You and your little mongrels are nothing but worms to me! You're-!"
Dante's fist quickly found itself buried deep into Daelîk's stomach and blew him away into the stone wall once again with a thunderous, echoing crack.
"You seriously talk too fucking much… I'm actually annoyed for once."
Dante's entire right arm had been covered in the twisted, segmented armor of his Shadow Skin, his blackened armored knuckles brimming with smoke before it all vanished a moment later. The immortal stared at his hand briefly and clenched it.
I've got far more control over it than I did before… I didn't even need to put much effort into conjuring it… That… and it formed quicker than it ever has…
The immortal let out an exhale as he lowered his hand and glanced back at the wall he sent the man into.
It actually might have been a good idea to unlock the Door after all…
The smoke had cleared, and Daelîk removed his embedded form from the stone wall, touching the ground with his feet as he stood up straight, touching his stomach as he did.
"You're the first group of human mongrels I've ever faced to actually be able to injure me… And you're the only one to ever be able to do this much damage to me…"
Dante stood where he was, rolling his eyes as he looked at his longsword briefly before smashing his fists together. Within an instant, the sword broke itself down to mere fragments and spread out to cover his arms up to his elbows and his legs up to his knees.
The white and black greaves and gauntlets bore a similar design to his Shadow Skinned arms and legs with the design of the segmented armor, only now, they each bore three vertical black lines from his backhands and spread out more when they reached his forearms, eventually wrapping around the edges near his elbows.
It was more or less the same for the greaves; the three black lines began from the top of his feet near his toes and traveled up towards his knees, spreading out the further they traveled as they too wrapped around the edges.
It's been a while since I used these… Let's get the rust out of my system and see if I still got it…
Dante slid a foot back and raised up his hands to take a stance, readying himself for Daelîk's next assault.
"Prepare yourself… human! I'll break you into hundreds of pieces!"
The man surged forward, orange Aura cloaking his entire body like a brilliant flame as he lead with his right hand and shot it forward with such intensity, the air shuddered from the mighty blow. Dante raised up his left arm to block the powerful punch as the ground tore apart around him.
The man laughed loudly before he slowly started up with one or two punches before breaking out into a rapid series of blindingly quick punches. Dante moved his arms just as quickly as his opponent's, matching each powerful and lightning fast punch with equal power and speed as flashes of his black and white Aura burned brightly, If but for a brief moment, with each attack.
Daelîk stopped his onslaught of brutal punches, and for a moment, his form seemingly split into three total images before becoming one again and striking Dante with a thunderous punch. Even if he defended against it, the immortal was sent flying backwards, but he never lost his bearings. Instead, he backflipped in the air once and let his feet touch the ground, skidding back on them as the man continued his attack.
The teen's opponent kicked at him, but he used his armored legs to take the blow, this time launching him high up into the air. Their battle took them into the sky for a brief moment as both brutally assaulted the other with their fists, their bodies darting about in the air until they started coming close to the ground.
It was then that they both kicked the other away, forcefully pushing them back and making their bodies crash through the old and colossal trees that stood rooted in their paths. Even then they gave no pause, and immediately lunged for the other through the smoke as theirs fists tore through the air.
Their knuckles collided together, sending out a powerful shockwave and effectively stopping each other in place. Dante didn't end the exchange there, and immediately used his free hand to make it pointed and plunged it into the upper arm of the man, the white, clawed, armored fingertips tearing through the flesh in an instant with another flash of his Aura.
The man surprisingly didn't let out a shout of pain, and instead winced as he watched Dante flip around the arm he tore off, holding it at the base of the injury. Then, he swung it at the man's face, using the hand of Daelîk's own severed arm to slap him across the face and send him flying on the back of his heels.
The draconic man let out a silent growl as blood spurted from the stump that used to be his right arm, and he turned to glare at Dante.
"Even though I decided to take you a little more seriously… To think a mongrel like you could injure me this much… I'd be impressed if I wasn't so furious right now…"
"That so?" Dante replied simply as he tossed Daelîk's ripped off arm away into a river stream that lead to the lake behind them.
The man scoffed at his remark before he stood up straight, the blood leaking from his arm coming to a halt.
This told the immortal one of two things. One, he had superb control over his body to constrict his own muscles and blood vessels together to stop the bleeding. Or two, he had an ability to heal.
"Answer me this mongrel…" Daelîk began, "The way you move, the way you endure my blows as if they mean nothing… You're not like the other worthless mongrels groveling in the dirt behind you. In fact, you're nothing like them at all."
"Don't know what you're trying to imply…"
"You know full well what I mean… You aren't a human like the rest of them. Nor are you a Faunus. And you're certainly not one of us, otherwise I'd have smelled you out. What manner of non-human are you then?"
Dante stared at the ground a brief moment, his mind going over the different answers he had given over the years. More importantly, he was preoccupied with counting the droplets of blood on the floor, just in case they proved to be acidic or explosive.
"Don't really know the answer myself. Never bothered to really know either. Sure, it'd be nice to know one day, if that'll ever happen, but I don't care about it all too much. All I know is that I exist, and that I can kill pretty much anything and anyone if I set my mind to it. Other than that, anything else is extra."
The immortal raised up his hands once again to take a stance, and the man laughed to himself.
"A freak of nature then… No matter… You'll die all the same along with your little friends."
The man let out a stiffled groan as the stump on his arm quivered briefly before unleashing a mass of inky black tendrils. What looked like white boned began to grow with the tendrils as they continuously expanded and coiled together to form a hand. When the deed was done, the inky blackness dripped away like viscous sludge to reveal a new hand.
"I was right then… You can heal." Dante commented, "The fact that I and everyone else cut you up and crushed you to a considerable extent should have crippled and slowed you down a great deal. But I'm guessing you seared up the cuts and stabs with your flames to give them time to heal, and healed your fractures shortly after."
"Correct. Do you now finally realize just how pointless this fight is? This will only end in one way." Daelîk stated with an arrogant smile as he flexed his new arm around.
"Is that it?" Dante asked.
"What..?" The man said said as he glared at Dante.
"I'm asking you if that's it. So? Is that the only special thing you can do besides creating sparks?" Dante asked with a scoff, "You're wasting my time…"
"You… You damn bastard!"
Daelîk left behind any reservations he had and charged Dante immediately, punching at the teen with such speed that his arms were like blurs. The immortal remained as he was, calm and collected, and did as did before, matching the intensity of his foe with equal speed and force. Daelîk didn't know if this was the teen's own way of mocking him, but it infuriated him all the same that a simple boy was able to do this much against him.
He was supposed to be the one winning!
Their fight moved from being a simple exchange of punches to darting around the field in stream of their Aura. For the others, all they could see was streams of white and black violently clashing with jets of furious orange flames as they moved about the field. Ruby however, could see it all. And she was hoping that like usual, Dante would win.
The devil and the dragon came to another thunderous and deadly exchange of blows, forcing each other back with each blow but immediately returning to attack the other once again without pause. Daelîk won the exchange this time, and delivered a powerful round kick to Dante's side to send him crashing through a line of trees. The dragon did not let up and gave chase, letting his blazing fist lead the way as he buried it deep into the teen's stomach.
The immortal was sent flying yet again, his body crashing through one, two, three trees until his back made harsh contact with the stone cliffside behind the spires of wood and leaves. Daelîk left a literal blazing trail behind him as he sprinted towards Dante, eventually leaping up towards the immortal and letting both his feet lead the way as he propelled forward like a tank shell.
As soon as his feet came into close proximity of one of the large, falling trees, the air around his body was so hot that on approach, the center of the large tree began to melt under the intense heat of his approaching body. His initial expectation was that he was going to turn Dante's body into molten slag, but he knew better than that now.
Instead, Daelîk's now bare feet crashed into Dante's armored forearms as smoke and ash blanketed the crash site. From the smoke, Dante ran up the immense cliffside with his attacker following behind him, leaving a molten trail of stone as he chased down the immortal.
Eventually, the chase ended with the two kicking off the cliffside and meeting each other in the air, exchanging another series of devastating punches and kicks as flashes of white and black threatened to consume the bursts of orange flame. Eventually, they pushed each other away once again to put distance between as both their feet touched the rocky floor beneath them, with Dante's back facing the massive lake behind him.
"Heh heh… Hahahahaha! Yes! It's been forever since I've been able to fight this furiously! You may be an irritating opponent, but my blood boils excitedly with each passing second having found a worthy opponent! Now..! Begone mongrel!"
The dragon's body was lit aflame with a large burst of fire as it expanded outwards, scorching the stones he stood upon. Daelîk reared back his right hand as it became consumed in flame, his eyes wide open and his smile long and wide as he bared his sharp fangs.
"MEGA..! FLARE!"
The released his arm and shot it forward with all his might, and with it, followed a great and enormous, cone shaped sea of flame that instantly traveled forward and consumed Dante within the blink of an eye.
Ruby, watching from the distance, let out a gasp of surprise. She willed herself forward, but her weakened and exhausted legs would not carry her any longer.
But her worry soon vanished when she watched a powerful and violent torrent of white and black Aura tear through the flames from the inside, and completely tore them asunder as both began to dissipate.
Dante for the most part remained unharmed. Parts of his white and black coat had been burnt and torn away, the sleeves no longer present and the tails almost entirely burned away and still smoldering with smoke. The winds were strong enough that they blew the coat off of Dante's body, revealing the sleeveless, black shirt he wore underneath, and his bare, toned upper arms.
The silver zipper that was unzipped until the center of his chest had slightly been melted, but certainly charred black. One of the black lapels of his collar was still smoking a fair a bit. His white hair had traces of black soot and ash in it, where as some strands still glowed a bright orange at the tips before they burned out.
Even after all that… He was still alright…
Ruby let out a breath of relief as she relaxed her tensed up body, shutting her eyes briefly before opening them once again to see she wasn't dreaming.
And she was joyous indeed to see Dante still standing exactly as he was.
As for the immortal, he lowered his arms from the defensive stance he took, and his eyes quickly set to work scanning the area for his opponent. Raging fires had littered various areas of the shores around him, with only a few bushes and trees burning from the intense fires that touched them.
Before Dante could think any further, he felt an immense force crash itself against the back of his skull, moving his body forward a few yards, but the immortal's feet remained ever firmly rooted to the ground as they left deep streaks in the earth, his body leaning over sideways in the direction it had been forced to.
The sheer power of Daelîk's strike had sent out a shockwave powerful enough to extinguish his own flames that littered shore, and even cleared away the billowing smoke that blanketed the area.
"Do you see now how pointless it is?! You can fight all you like, you can struggle all you will to save yourself and your little mongrels, but it will never be enough! You can never stand against me, a dragon! You-!"
"Shut up already."
Dante's voice reached the man. But it felt… different. The teen did not shout, no, but his voice… his voice seemed so loud and so powerful with that one sentence that Daelîk could not help but remain where he was, silent as a mouse before a larger presence,
"Talk talk talk talk talk… That's all idiots like you have ever done over the years when you think you've got the upper hand." Dante said as he shook his head in annoyance, "You done yet?"
Daelîk didn't understand what it was that he felt next, but when he met Dante's gaze once again, his blood ran colder than it ever had in all his years of living. That cold, unimpressed look of indifference on the teen's face chilled him to his very bones, so much so that flames that broiled within him felt as cold as ice.
Anger, soon took over yet again, those raging fires within blazing furiously once more as he pushed his power through his body.
He wasn't about to let a child speak to him that way, much less have the upper hand in this fight.
"YOU DAMN BRAT!" The dragon yelled as flames began to coat his entire body, slowly transforming it, "HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME IN A SUCH AN ARROGANT TONE! I'LL BURN YOUR DAMN SOUL!"
Winds rushed past Dante as he watched Daelîk's body change. The flames retracted from his opponent's body, revealing his body to be covered from neck to toe in black scales. Small protrusions of bone plated his chest, feet, and hands, but in regards to his appendages, the hands formed sharp, long claws while his toes formed together into three large digits with one large digit on each of his heels. Each digit had bone-like, razor sharp, curved, talons that dug deep into earth.
A long, black, scaly tail had grown from his tailbone, and whipped about slightly, revealing the segments of white that armored the topside of his tail. From his back grew large, powerful, black draconic wings, the tips of them sharpened with white bone and the webbing crimson red like blood.
His head was covered in white bone resembling the skull of a Grimm-like dragon, and had numerous long horns jutting out from the sides and coiled together, some of the horns sticking out like thorns. The red markings on the mask glowed with a vibrant red color, and the glowing red eyes from the eye sockets burned furiously.
"Tch… This is going to be a problem…" Dante commented silently to himself as his greaves and gauntlets dissolved and formed together to remake his longsword, now held in his right hand.
He turned his head away from his opponent to look behind him, and spotted Ruby and the others watching him earnestly from distance.
It was that moment when Ruby's eyes met Dante that he could feel her worry for him. In truth, even with Ruby knowing Dante would find a way to beat him, she was worried. She always worried.
A part of her always wanted to tell him to run so he can be saved. But she knew better than to think he would ever run and leave her behind. She knew he'd never leave anyone behind.
The immortal's eyes trailed to the ground as he looked away from them, a heavy sigh escaping his lips.
[Boku no Hero Academia - You Say Run (Season 1 + 2)]
Despite me opening the Door again, I still don't have all too much Aura left in me. I'm nearly spent as it is, and he hasn't been making it easier. That… and they can't fight anymore for now. Even so… I'm not going to call it quits here and cut my losses. I will beat him, no matter what. Because…
The immortal's grip on his weapon tightened as he lifted his head, his black sclerae and glowing white irises now present and glowing brightly as he glared back at the man.
I promised I would keep them safe, no matter the cost! And I will keep that promise..! By any means necessary!
(0:22)
Dante glided forward over the ground with frightening speed as his white and black Aura blazed around him, his Shadow Eyes burning furious holes into his opponent as he too charged forward at the teen. Sword clashed against bone-like claws in rapid and intense bouts, sparks flying around both dragon and devil as they furiously swung at one another without pause or rest.
They went at each other like inhuman madman, tearing the earth asunder and raising the waters of the lake they stood in with each mighty strike. Their furious battle came to a brief pause as they back away from each other, Daelîk swiping his claws at Dante and unleashing streaks of menacing flame that screeched violently with their approach.
The immortal in turn swung his sword, unleashing a massive, violent, arcing torrent of white and black Aura that shrieked and howled with an unheard, unholy ferocity as they met the flames head on.
Draconic fire and twisted, devilish Aura made contact with the other in an explosive, powerful burst, each threatening to devour the other as they forcefully fought the other, if only for brief moments before both had destroyed themselves in brilliant explosions of power.
From the billowing smoke and intense gusts of winds, Dante and Daelîk's emerged, the immortal running along the water's surface with Aura coating his feet, and Daelîk using his great wings to fly over them.
The dragon swiped his deadly claws at the teen as they made a pass for one another, but Dante ducked under the attack and dragged his longsword as forcefully as he could against the surface of the scales covering Daelîk's side.
When they passed one another, a good amount of distance had been put between them, but the two warriors immediately spun around and rushed for each other yet again, as claws and blade collided with each other yet again, creating yet another brilliant gout of sparks.
Daelîk managed to win their clash this time, and brutally assaulted Dante with untold ferocity, punching and kicking him with all the force his body allowed him until he landed a solid blow to the teen's face to send him flying.
The dragon had suffered enough at the boy's hands. He was as good as dead now.
So it made no difference if he killed the others now.
Daelîk clapped his palms together as raging fire emerged from between them, and as he pulled his hands apart, a deadly lance of flame formed in front of him as he took hold of it, reared it back, and threw it as quickly as he could at Ruby, making sure to hit her first before it killed the others behind her.
The flaming lance bolted over the lake as Ruby felt the rush of heat quickly approaching her.
But the lance never managed to make it even remotely close to her. Dante had split the thing in two with a swing of his sword, the bolts spreading out and flying into the distant sky.
Ruby couldn't see his face, but she felt the immortal's silent rage from the intense pressure his Aura exuded as he strode forward towards the dragon.
Daelîk let out an angry growl as another lance quickly formed in his hands and was just as quickly tossed at the immortal.
(2:04)
Dante swung his sword, and like with the last lance, cut it out of existence. It was what seemed to be little effort on the teen's part that drove the dragon up the wall as he furiously unleashed lance after lance at Dante without pause, all while the immortal slowly walked forward and sliced everyone of them apart.
Only one of the lances proved too much as it forced back Dante's arm, allowing the other lances to crash around the immortal in explosive bursts.
From the smoke soon emerged nine long white, black tipped fox tails, each of the tips of the nine tails holding one sheathed katana, each of similar design, save for one. From the smoke emerged the rest of Dante, his entire form bathed in white with glowing white, black tipped fox ears resting atop his head as black and white Aura blazed brilliantly around his body.
His glowing white face remained featureless for the most part, save for the black zigzag across where his mouth was, and the red sclerae, black iris, white slit pupil fox eyes that furiously stared back at the dragon. In his hand was no longer a longsword, but a jet black katana that had a glowing white guard and handle, the blade crackling with black and white flame as Dante have pause to his approach.
Dakini no Ikari (Wrath of Great Goddess Dakini) was on approach to claim the dragons life.
The dragon, unnerved as he was still shot a lance forward, but Dante effortlessly moved his body out of its path and began running straight at the man.
(2:22)
Daelîk used his powerful wings to push himself backwards and into the air before they folded against his form, flames violently surging from his wings as he readied himself to unleash his devastating attack.
"NOVA..! FLARE!"
Hundreds of trailing bolts of flame emerged the moment the dragon spanned his wings with explosive force, the bolts soaring through the air furiously like guided missiles as they tried to shred and obliterate the transformed Dante.
But the immortal kept up his sprint, his glowing white body blurring in and out of sight along with his magnificent nine tails, easily avoiding the explosive bolts as the blurs became quicker and quicker. The bolts eventually constrained their spread ahead of where Dante ran, raising the earth in front of the teen, and still he ran up the raised chunk of earth and leapt off it.
As soon as his feet touched the ground, the bolts closed in with deadly precision from various angles, and seemingly destroyed Dante on the spot. But from the smoke and ash, the teen surged forward, now wielding two katanas as he rapidly swung them around his person with frightening speed, cutting apart any flaming bolt that dared come near him out of existence entirely as he continued running, unhindered by the dragons efforts.
(2:45)
Dante had gotten close enough to Daelîk where he leapt high above him and swung his blades down upon the dragon with inhuman strength, the dragon crossing his plated forearms together to stop the blades. But they wouldn't hold, for the immortal's blades already began to cut through the bone white armor, and very shortly, the black scales underneath.
The man let out a desperate shout as flames gathered at his arms, and when he swung them outwards, launched Dante away from him in an explosive sea of flame that crashed at the very top of the immense and seemingly endless cliffside. The whole area trembled and quaked as the top of the cliffside had been shattered entirely, large chunks of debris now loose and falling towards the lake the dragon flew over.
(2:51)
Yet again the immortal proved his indomitable resilience as he leapt out from the smoke and onto the nearest chunk of debris, allowing him to look down and prey upon the foolish dragon below.
Sparing no time, Daelîk began yet another volley of flaming lances in the hopes it would kill Dante, but the immortal was too quick. He kept leaping from one falling chunk of debris to the next, avoiding the flaming lances that both nearly pierced him in the air and through the rocks he kept leaping off, getting ever closer to the dragon.
Dante finally landed in a low squat on one of the first chunks of the cliffside to touch the water, and immediately leapt off towards the side as soon as a lance came his way.
Daelîk fearfully spun himself around and unleashed a fresh wave of flaming bolts, fewer this time than the last, but larger by comparison as they sought out the immortal from different angles.
The teen gracefully flew through the air above the lake's surface in a slow arc around the edges of the cliffside, weaving in between each bolt to avoid them as they clumsy collided with each other to set off a chain reaction of explosions. The dragon, fearful as he was, did not rest. He angrily roared and shot out his hands in a rapid, unrelenting pace as lance after flaming lance angrily screeched forward, hoping to blast the immortal out of the sky.
All to no avail.
The dragon shielded himself with his arms from an oncoming, furious torrent of black and white Aura, letting it crash against his body painfully as he took the full brunt of the attack. When he opened his eyes, Dante was no longer at the far end of the lake, but had instantly closed the gap between them, katana extended outwards from his body as the sharp edge of the black screeched forward towards the dragon's body in a seemingly menacing howl.
But he could now no longer do anything after leaving himself clumsily exposed.
(3:36)
With a loud, unearthly, distorted roar, Dante smashed the sharp edge of his katana into Daelîk's body as a violent torrent of black and white Aura burst forth from the blade. All the dragon could do was cry out in fear as Dante swung both his and his opponent's body around, and followed through with his swing to unleashing a colossal, devastating arcing wave of his Aura that carried both the dragon and his maddening screams away from.
The blast of Aura quickly traveled across the lake, parting the waves as it moved towards the cliffside before finally making impact with the stone. At first, the sheer, raw power of the Aura wave tore through the cliffside and took to the skies until it finally imploded, and unleashed a wave of devastation like no other as black and white Aura consumed the entire area, enveloping all within the immediate area.
(End Song)
The violently earthquakes seemed endless at this point for how long they continued, but Ruby felt them slowly die down until they ceased entirely. It was then she decided to open her eyes, but once she did… She didn't quite understand what she was seeing.
Everything around her was nothing but a mixed void of white and black. In that void, it seemed like all was silent now in the world, almost as if sound had never existed in the first place. Despite the strange setting she now found herself in, she couldn't help but… feel everything around her. And the feeling of the void of white and black was so painfully familiar. It took her a few moments, but it hit her soon after what this void was.
It was Dante's. All of it. This void was his Aura filling the space of reality. It was all so disorienting. Ruby couldn't tell if she felt like she was wading through something like smoke, or something like water, but she could very clearly see how her hands "waded" through the ocean of Aura that did her no harm. She didn't exactly know why, but… it made her smile, laugh even as she bore witness to something so incredible.
Her smile soon vanished when she realized something. The Aura… It wasn't like she expected it to be. She always thought of Dante's Aura being warm in some regard, but this… it had no feeling to it.
It was all cold, almost… lifeless…
Before she could continue her thoughts, she noticed the ocean of Aura begin to drag itself upwards into the sky, slowly pulling itself apart like streams of static as sound had begun to return as part of Ruby's senses.
And with the return of the idea of sound that had seemingly departed from this world, the void had soon faded out of existence. Ruby glanced over herself, seeing she remained totally unhurt, save for the injuries she sustained from the fights before now.
Hearing the surprised gasps of Jaune, Ren and Nora, her head immediately spun around to see them safe and sound. They were all in rough condition like, but safe and alive all the same.
"Everyone… Everyone else saw and felt that… right?" Jaune asked taking deep breaths to calm himself.
"What… What was that?!" Nora asked.
"It… It almost felt like…"
Ren almost spoke his mind, but for once, he was totally taken aback, still trying to make sense of what had just transpired.
The three, managing to recover in some way from their shock, quickly focused their attention ahead of them, causing Ruby to look back in the direction her body faced to see what they were all staring at.
In the distance, they could all see Dante, still in his Dakini form, but hunched over, and letting out hollowed, echoing breathes of exhaustion as he slowly reverted to his normal form.
His longsword Anvil appeared in his hand once again, its tip dipping into the lake's surface as Dante took his time to recover.
Shimmers on the surface of the water, however, drew his attention ahead of him.
Amid the cracking stone and falling debris from the utterly shattered cliffside, Daelîk weakly stood on his feet as his sections of his body struggled immensely to regenerate. His body was heavily damaged and cut apart, and certain sections of his person were almost too gruesome to stare at.
All the same, he still drew breath, much to the immortal's displeasure as he clutched his right arm, now flaring up with intense pain.
"Still alive after all that… Damn lizard refuses to die…" the immortal commented to himself as he stood up and let out a heavy exhale.
He couldn't see Daelîk's face, but he knew exactly what he was feeling at the moment. It was something he knew too well, and recognized far too often in most of his enemies over the years.
Utter fear and total bewilderment.
But that sense of fear, changed as soon as both had met each other's gaze. Daelîk's eyes that went wide with pure shock and terror narrowed angrily in Dante's direction. And like a rabid animal, he used his broken wings to surge forward as quickly as he could and swipe at Dante.
The immortal let out a pained grunt as he avoided the pitiful swipe and stepped back a few paces, keeping his eyes locked onto his still living opponent as he slowly looked back at Dante.
Then teen knew what was slowing the dragon down, and it wasn't until moments later he realized it himself. His once proud wings were now broken and in ruin.
Dead weight in a sense.
He shuddered for a few brief moments before the man raised up both his hands behind his back, and quickly tore off one of his wings right out of its socket with a loud, pained roar.
It didn't take him long to do the same with his other wing.
Dante couldn't help but grimace at the sight of his foe literally tearing himself apart just to stay in the fight, not because he found the act disgusting, but because for a brief moment… he imagined just how excruciatingly painful it must have been to perform such an act.
Now free from his burden, Daelîk rushed Dante again, quicker than his last feeble attempt and began rapidly striking Dante with a series of flaming punches, desperate in his attempt to absolutely murder the teen.
A deft and heavy punch to his chest from Dante seemingly stopped his heart beating for a few moments as he vomited blood and was sent skidding on his heels, flailing his arms around to stop him from moving any further back. He was hunched over, blood pouring from his mouth as his breathes grew heavy and uncontrolled.
"YOU DAMN BASTARD! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO INJURE ME YOU LOWLY CUR?! I'LL BURN YOUR BONES TO ASH YOU-!"
It all happened in a rapid blur.
Dante's sword hand moved at near invisible speeds, slashing at Daelîk's body from numerous directions and angles all seemingly within an instant as he spoke the words "Issen Renjin (Flash Sword Dance)."
At that moment, dozens upon dozens of cuts appeared all over the dragon's body as pieces of him flew away in small chunks. All that remained of him was very little of his torso, right arm, and half his head.
Despite this, flame still gathered in that single remaining hand and began forming into a lance.
That hand had immediately been erased, and soon enough, the head belonging to the being that used what small ounces of life it had left to try and take revenge on Dante.
The chunks fell at Dante's feet, and sank beneath the surface of lake, disappearing into the depths below.
And yet, in spite of the burning pain in his arm, he waited. One moment. Two moments. A full minute.
Nothing.
Dante let out a sigh of relief now that he knew his opponent was truly dead this time.
It was over.
Ruby was the first to move, stumbling over herself briefly before she activated her Semblance and rushed forward, leaving a trail of petals in her wake.
Dante had already stepped out of the lake and onto land, dragging his sword behind him through the dirt the further away he got from the shore.
It was the strangest of things. He had a slight smile about him concerning the situation. For once in his entire life, his body had felt so weak that Dante's own sword seemingly felt too heavy for him to normally carry
And he even made the damn weapon as light as possible.
The immortal heard a sudden shift in the wind, quickly looking up with a surprised hum as he saw the reaper in red bolting for him. He raised up a hand and tried to speak, but Ruby had already delivered her love tackle and took them both to the ground.
With Dante on the ground, and Ruby sitting atop him, a long, loving hug soon turned into a quick pat down and inspection, with the girl looking over Dante from every corner she could from her position, even going as far as lifting his shirt over the immortal's head to ensure he wasn't in any dire straits.
"I'm fine! Thank you!" Dante said in a muffled voice through his shirt.
Ruby pulled his shirt back down, allowing the teen to take a breath of relaxation before it was halted once more as soon as he felt both of Ruby's soft hands on his cheeks, smushing them together ever so slightly as she stared deep into his eyes.
He only just stared back at her calmly.
Dante then let out a sigh and pressed his forehead against Ruby's, surprising her briefly as she went rigid.
"I told you, I'm fine. See?" The teen said gazing into her silver eyes.
He moved his face in closer, with Ruby doing the same, albeit slowly. And just when it seemed they were about to kiss…
A smug giggle from Nora off to the side stopped them from moving closer, as both of them gave the hammer wielding girl an irritated glance before moving their faces away from each other.
"You okay Dante? That guy seriously unloaded into you…" Jaune stated as he approached with Ren.
The immortal gave the blond a light chuckle, "Been a while since I had to go all out on a guy like him. He put up a damn difficult fight…"
"That technique you spoke about earlier before, the one you mentioned that you weren't certain would work quite yet… Was that the ocean of your Aura we witnessed?" Ren asked.
"That it was. You guys know firsthand just how destructive my Aura is, especially when it hits people. Thing is, I never built in a safety measure to stop it from hurting allies that would have gotten caught up in the blast if they were near me. So while I was on my adventure with partner and siblings, I worked on it for a long time and used it here successfully." Dante said stretching his neck, "So, what'd you guys think?"
"It was… certainly a new experience…" Ren commented.
"Totally! It was like we were in an ocean, but not really in one! It was the weirdest thing ever!" Nora commented eagerly.
"I thought we were goners for a second…" Jaune said.
"What? You guys don't think I'm crazy enough to set off one of my Aura Wave attacks at full blast with you guys in the area?" Dante asked, looking among them, "Right?"
They all exchanged nervous glances between each other, and Dante let out another sigh.
"Guess I can be unreliable once in a while…"
"It's nothing like that! Just… well… You said it yourself, you know?" Jaune said, giving the immortal a shrug, "At least you've got a safety built in now so we won't get hurt or anything."
"Yeah…" the immortal said slumping down a bit to relax himself.
Rest… He wanted to actually rest… His body felt so weak, like it had become one huge immovable weight.
Dante was actually just about ready to ask Nora if she could just drag him back with a rope tied around his feet.
"You're not thinking of leaving so soon, are you?"
All five of the teens stiffened at the sound of the new voice, and quickly turned their heads towards the source of the new voice.
A man stood a good distance away from them, standing just at the edge of the shore where the water couldn't touch his feet. He wore a black form-fitting coat, where the tight sleeves covered his entire hands like gloves, the long tail coats split into two and fluttering in the breeze that passed through. The man wore equally form-fitting black pants with dark grey knee high boots that sported thin armor plating of bone.
On the sides of his hips he had two hook-like closable notches, and contained in them where bladed whips coiled together within their respective "holsters". Each of the individual bladed segments of the whips had jagged, serrated edges, and were colored pitch black. The flexible cords that ran through the bladed segments were blood red, and resembled muscle fibers that were coiled together into single strands.
The man himself had pale skin, a stark contrast to his messy, chin length, blood red hair. His eyes were a golden color with black slit pupils, and on his face, he sported a pair of black, rectangular rimmed glasses that looked to be crafted from bone.
"We can't have that now can we? Afterall…" The man spoke as he pushed up his glasses, which gave off a small shine from the evening sun that was about ready to set, "There is still more data to collect from all of you."
Dante narrowed his eyes in frustration as he let out a silent growl.
Another one of them…
He had his doubts that this one was anywhere near as strong as the last. Regardless, he was one of them, and that alone made him dangerous.
By now, the immortal was completely spent. Using Dakini no Ikari's passive ability, which allowed him to absorb all types of energy and convert it into Aura, did restore some of his Aura Reserves, but not nearly enough to fight effectively.
The immortal saw himself as more of a detriment at this point if anything, and that infuriated him a great deal despite the calm expression he had on his face.
"It's a shame really… Daelîk was one of our strongest despite how young he was. But a suppose some dragons are just agonizingly more arrogant than the rest." The man said shaking his head, "But his defeat at your hands wasn't so much of a surprise." He said looking straight at Dante.
"And why's that?"
"Well, because it's you, obviously!" The man said answering Dante's question in such a condescending manner, "The most dangerous man Remnant has ever seen since the time of the Warrior King of Vale… It's not exactly shocking to see how destructive and competent you are combat wise. But regardless, there is still so much to learn about you!"
That wasn't something Dante was going to allow to happen.
"Daelîk made a very interesting comment earlier. So please, answer me truthfully… Are you really a human?"
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. Truthfully, I don't much care to answer your damn questions. So can you screw off? I don't feel like killing a fourth one of you bastards today…"
"Four of us in one sitting? Now that's impressive. But… I can't help but wonder…" the man said as he brought a hand under his chin, wearing his ever devious smile, "Are you still able to fight? Or are you just putting on a brave face to try and scare me off?"
Damn him… He knows I have basically nothing left right now..!
"Why don't we find out?"
The man snapped his fingers, and at his side, a large circular mass of black opened up on the ground, spilling out an inky black substance. A massive, armored hand shout out from the mass along with another arm, the creature quickly pulling itself out of the inky depths to reveal itself.
It looked like one of the Minotaur Grimm Dante slew earlier, but it was changed. It was slightly larger than the last and definitely had much more muscle. But what was more intimidating was the fact it's entire body was heavily plated in bone white armor from head to toe.
So there are alpha variants of the Minotaur Grimm… This is bad…
Dante's eyes moved from Ruby to Jaune, Ren and Nora, noting their bruises, cuts, and exhausted bodies that just barely seemed to move about.
We're not in any condition to fight this thing… Not unless..!
The immortal's teeth were gritted together so tightly that one would imagine he'd be able to chew through a steel bar.
If he had enough juice to activate Dakini no Ikari and tank a few blows… He could..!
"I don't suppose you or your little friends have any last words?" The man asked.
Fuck off. That's all I have to say to you.
The man raised up his hand, and the Alpha Minotaur took slow strides forward with its imposing form, the ground shaking ever so slightly under each step of its colossal form.
Dante's body tensed up as he was ready to move…
But his eyes widened.
He felt something. Actually felt it. The immortal's Aura Sensing had always been terrible and limited to a short range. The only exception is when there was an overwhelming presence in the vicinity strong enough to give off such a powerful "ping". And this presence… It was indeed overwhelmingly powerful, so much so it sent a brief shiver down Dante's spine.
But this presence…
…
It was one he recognized..! And judging how vibrantly and furiously the flow of Aura was, the person possessing this overwhelming Aura Signature was very irritated.
As soon as it was within a decent enough range, everyone could feel the air tremor and quake violently from the intense pressure of the Aura Signature. It was enough to scare everyone out of their mind, even the new arrival who kept that smile on his arrogant face.
Everyone looked to Dante with well merited concern, but when they saw him smiling with that huge grin on his face, they were utterly confused.
"What..?! What is this?!"
"Your death." The immortal replied simply as the tremors continued.
"What are you talking about? What does this mean?!"
"It means… you're now absolutely screwed!" Dante said with a heavy bite in his tone, making sure the stranger caught it as the tremors finally came to a halt.
The man let out a low growl as he looked to the Grimm under his command, "Don't just stand there you imbecile! Kill them already!"
The Alpha Minotaur outstretched its arms as it let out an ear piercing roar, then began charging at the groups of exhausted teens.
Jaune moved in front with Ren and Nora, extending his shield as the Grimm sprinted closer and closer.
But it wouldn't get anywhere near them.
A tremendous blast of white flame descended from the heavens, crashing into the Alpha Minotaur and easily blowing it away as it flew backwards towards the man.
The stranger sidestepped the huge hulking creature, allowing it to fly past him as he watched the body move past him in shock. His eyes focused back to front, spotting someone new that now stood in front of the group of teens.
It took them a brief moment, but RNJR had relaxed themselves as soon as they observed who stood before them.
Dante had a wide grin on his face, standing up on his feet with help from Ruby, who used her body to help support his.
"Took your time! I was beginning to think you weren't going to show!" The immortal stated to the person in front of him.
"My apologies for arriving late…" she spoke in return, her flaming white Aura dying down as her fox ears fluttered a brief moment, "Inuba Kitsukami, now present and ready to fight, Master!"
Skyla's Reckoning 7
«»
"Cold?" Skyla asked, lightly clasping her hands around Irene's ankles. The small girl's skin felt a little chilled, but a "hmph" of denial came from the faunus on the brunette's shoulders.
"She's definitely cold," Ciel's voice spoke out, bringing a confirming nod to Skyla's head.
Irene tried to deny it again but jumped when Skyla huffed a buzzing heat into the air. The snow of the tall mountaintop sizzled and shined, bursting in a glaze of heat. A gale of who knows how much hot wind swept into the air and cracked the ground, but Skyla's gem-like gaze just turned up to cast a stare to Irene.
"Better?" she asked.
Irene just huddled up a little on her shoulders and rested her hands down in her brown hair, giving her a pouty look.
Skyla giggled at that. "Don't give me that look. I was cold too."
"You know, you're smoother than you let on," Ciel said.
Sky glanced back down to spot out a slender boot stepping forward and in front of her, Ciel dipping down into her path to lean up and playfully grin at her. "It's almost like your mind's set on others all the time."
"Really?" Skyla slowed in her hiking, but stepped around Ciel when the blocking girl lightheartedly didn't move out of her way. "I don't know… I'm pretty selfish. I mean, we're going up to the peak of this mountain because of me."
"Don't think of it like that. I wanted to come," Ciel countered, her voice growing closer just before Skyla cast a side glance to the white-haired girl jumping in line with her. "Musashi wanted to handle dinner this time, so I figured this would be a good way to pass the time too."
Skyla's eyes stayed on Ciel for a few long seconds as they walked, giving her a pensive look. But a pointed "hmph" drew her out of her thoughts. Mostly, anyway.
"So…" Ciel continued, breaking that silence as she leaned into Skyla's personal space to poke at her. "Why are we going to the top of this mountain?"
Irene poked back, but Skyla finally shook her head to clear it out and look up the path ahead of them. It wasn't that far now.
"I wanted to cross an item off my bucket list," the girl explained, looking up to Irene as she said it. Irene's curious gaze turned down to meet hers and wonder why she was looking up at her, flicking her ears with her growing curiosity.
Skyla reached up and played with them as soon as she saw them flutter.
"Not even a little hint?" Ciel asked.
The brunette gave her a cheeky smile and shook her head. "Nope."
"Fine. But you'll tell me when we reach the top, right?" Ciel asked with a sigh, tilting her head to stare Skyla's way. Only for the girl to cheekily smile at her and turn her attention back to Irene. "Riiight?"
"You really want to know that much, huh?" Skyla wondered aloud.
"Of course I do!" Ciel exclaimed, throwing her hands down out of habit as she stared at Skyla in their mountainous ascent.
"Not telling!" Skyla replied just as loudly, and instead of keeping the conversation going, the girl took a tighter hold of Irene's cutely bobbing feet and took off up the steep slope.
Ciel followed, and they were at the peak in a few moments.
"Skyla! Don't make me try to guess!" Ciel's voice echoed out from the mountaintop, Skyla sliding to a stop just at a rocky ridge overlooking a glimmering valley. The girl thought it was weird, but with the lake down in the basin of flowing autumn-shaken trees, she figured it was a pretty enough sight to do what she wanted.
"Here we are…" Skyla murmured, ignoring the harsh steps skidding to a stop just behind her. The air seemed to descend into a quiet, eastward breeze over the mountains as the brunette cast a smile back at Ciel. "Still curious?"
Ciel breathed in a huff of air to calm down, moving up to Skyla's side to give her an annoyed but curious look. "Yes."
"Well, it's pretty stupid, but…" Skyla reached up and plucked Irene off her shoulders, turning her around to dangle her cute little gently kicking legs toward the ground. Irene's face gave her the most confused look yet as Skyla stared at her intently. "It's something I've been wanting to do."
With Irene's ears perked in an attentive state, Skyla gave the girl an apologetic, but not so apologetic, look. Then stole a kiss from her adorable cheek.
Irene's ears immediately stood on end in a startle and stared at Skyla in a stupor as the brunette leaned back.
"There! I've always wanted to kiss a cute girl at the top of the world," Skyla mused with a content tone, smiling dumbly. Sure, it wasn't exactly following the rules… but she was okay with it. She figured this was better than nothing.
Irene huffed in an embarrassed "hmph" and crossed her arms, her dangling legs tightening up with her bunching tail.
Skyla just laughed at the cute sight. "Don't play the victim card with me! You're too cute for that!"
"So this was what this was all about…" Ciel spoke out with a drawn-out sigh, catching Skyla's attention. The immortal girl leaned over again and brought Skyla into a confused blink, Ciel giving the brunette a strange… adoring look.
What was that look for?
"You know what, I don't think it was stupid. Know why?" Ciel asked, her hands clasping behind her back as she leaned toward Skyla with a closing step between them.
Skyla just stared confusedly at the approach and reflexively took a shuffled step away, but Ciel just smiled at that.
"Because I get to cross something off my bucket list too." Without clearing up any of the brunette's growing confusion, Ciel's smile grew before stunning Skyla with a quick kiss to her cheek. "There. Now I kissed a cute girl at the top of the world."
Skyla felt cheated… And Irene's relentless giggling wasn't helping! Skyla shot the wolf girl an embarrassed glare and tried to shut her up, but it only made the faunus' eyes sparkle with amusement.
"Knew this idea… was stupid…" Skyla murmured to herself, turning her gaze to Ciel. "You're so unfair, you know that?"
"I know," Ciel remarked cheekily, leaning away with a cunningly sweet and sinister smile. "Now come on, I think Musashi should be done soon. Dinner's gonna get cold."
"Yeah…"
It was just a stupid idea.
Semblance Encyclopedia 17
«»
Ciel and Leo cautiously looked out into the stands, making sure a certain someone wasn't in the crowd. And when they were absolutely certain, they gave each other a nod.
"Y-Yo! So we're back again!" Ciel stated nervously.
"Y-Yes! It would seem we are! Quite a show brother out on, yes?" Leo said just as nervously.
"Totally! Now that Foxy's on scene, she's gonna kick all sorts of ass! But, we've got more important things to do! Like today's segment!"
"Yes… As you can already possibly imagine, this week's segment will be on… The Dragon Masked man known as Aizûr…" Leo said with baited breath, "But given that we know almost nothing about his Semblance, this will be rather… difficult to cover."
"It would seem to be a good thing I'm here then."
Both of the siblings jumped at the sound of Aizûr's voice when they heard him directly behind them, and leapt back towards the edge of the stage.
"H-How the hell did you get in here?!" Ciel asked pointing a finger.
"How you ask? I just walked through the front door like everyone else." He answered simply.
"But we closed off the area to prevent you from entering! And even sealed the doors as well after making sure you weren't present!" Leo affirmed.
"Isn't that against one of your human fire codes or something?"
Leo went rigid for a moment, letting out a silent groan.
"He's actually right…"
"That still doesn't explain how you got in here!" Ciel pointed out.
"But I just told you didn't I? I simply walked in." He said with a shrug.
Both siblings were stunned at the simplicity of his answers. And how calmly he was answering them.
It was no longer a wonder why their older brother was always so outstandingly annoyed whenever he came face to face with Aizûr.
"Now then, I believe you're doing a segment on me today?" The dragon masked man asked, leaning in towards the projector screen with interest.
"It would seem that way…. But as we pointed out, we have next to nothing on your Semblance."
"Semblance? Oh! Those funny abilities Huntsmen and Huntresses use!"
"He's only now just realizing this?" Ciel asked silently.
"Considering you're here, you can tell us yourself now. Have we ever seen you use it?" Leo asked.
Aizûr raised a hand to his chin, humming as he thought about his answer.
"Sort of."
The siblings stood in silence.
"Sort of?" Asked Ciel.
"Mhm. Sort of."
"Dude, what the fu-"
"Then you've partially demonstrated it?" Leo asked interrupting Ciel, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose.
"In a manner of speaking."
The siblings let out another sigh.
"Now now, don't be so angry with me. Blame the author for wanting to keep my abilities as hidden as possible."
"What?"
"Oh nothing." Aizûr said with a shrug to Ciel's question, "But I suppose I'll give you some insight at the very least. It involves me touching things."
"Touching things?" Leo asked.
"Yes."
"And what happens to these things when you touch them?" Leo asked, trying to contain his frustration.
"Something magical!" Aizûr said raising his hands in the air and spreading them out as small crackles of blue electricity came to life between his hands briefly.
…
"I genuinely want to kill him." Ciel said.
"The feeling is mutual…" Leo whispered back.
"Now now, no need to be upset. Let's sit down and have some tea instead and something good to eat."
"You can have tea or whatever afterwards dude! We're running a segment!" Ciel stated a little more frustrated than her usual self.
Aizûr let out a happy chuckle, satisfied with his teasing quota for the day, "If you must know, it involves turning inorganic or non-living matter into dust."
"Magic crystal elements Dust or achoo dust?" Ciel asked.
"Normal dust I'm afraid. It's very useful for when I wish to slip into cover or throw something at my enemies. For example, if I throw an object I touched at someone after activating the primary phase of my Semblance, the second I activate the secondary stage, it'll instantly turn into dust while retaining its kinetic momentum. When I deactivate my Semblance…"
"The object will become solid once again and crash into your target…" Leo finished.
"Quite so." Aizûr stated with a simple nod.
"So there anything else special about your Semblance? Seems pretty simple and basic…"
"If only you knew of the other ways it could be used my dear…"
"Then share with us some more insight." Leo stated.
"What? And spoil everything so soon?"
"Ugh…" both of the siblings sounded out.
"Well, at least he gave us something… right?" Ciel shrugged.
"Yes… I suppose so…" Leo said clearing his throat, "I suppose that for now we will have to conclude this week's Semblance Encyclopedia on our… very interesting subject."
Aizûr simply waved at the audience from where he stood, now suddenly holding a porcelain cup of tea with a few strands of steam rising up.
"Yeah… So, see you next week everyone! Bye!"
"Bye bye!" Aizûr waved with Ciel, much to her annoyance.
Volume 6 is here! Woo! I loved the first episode! Won't say anything though, you'll have to see for yourself. I'm pressed for time, so I can't say anything clever this time, only to look forward to next time. With that...
I highly recommend you all go check out the freaking amazing story XSRA's Flame written by Xera Stark. His story overall is absolutely fantastic and is a must read, so I suggest you seriously read it. You won't want to miss out on this story.
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 pretty much immediately. And hey! Go check out HydraFLow's story Lost in Binary! It's equally as awesome and entertaining, and more than 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!