Chapter 5: Strife in Remnant, Jaundice, and Secrets
Outside of a small village, there was a small farm with a lone farmer doing his usual work with his crops. The farmer's name was Albert, a thirty-year-old man with brown hair, a brown goatee, and a small scar on his left cheek. The farmer wore a chestnut tunic with grey boots and grey gloves. In his hands was a hoe which he rested on his left shoulder.
"Oh, boy, that was very tiring, but despite that this month's crops are way good than the last month I harvest," he said wiping sweat from his forehead. He then looked at his watch to see it was 6 P.M,
"Oh, what do we have here, it's almost nighttime, better turn on the electric fences so that the Grimm can stay away from my farm," he said to himself. He headed to his house and turned on the electrical fences that were around the outskirt of the small farm. As the farmer turned on the fences, the lights that were located on top of each fence began to glow green indicating it was turned on.
"There we go," he smiled at his fences. It wasn't good like the walls at the village behind his home, but it was good enough on keeping out small Grimm such as boarbatusk and a couple of beowolfs, but other than that his defenses would be useless. Luckily, he can fight those things with his signature-powered-dust shotgun located on his back. He wasn't that good like those so-called huntsmans but good enough for him to survive outside the walls of the village.
"Now, time for me to cook some dinner and hit the—" then a roar was heard from the distance. He turned around to see a lone beowolf, located just outside his electric fence. Its narrowed red eyes looked at him showing, his canine teeth. Then suddenly it let out howls to the farmer. The farmer prepared himself for what was about to come, he drew his shotgun from his shoulder and waited for any of its pact to come.
It continued its howls for minutes, then beowolf finally stopped. It then went inside the dark forest disappearing from his sight. The farmer went to put his shotgun back behind his back and let out a breath of relief.
"I'll be darn, for a second there I thought it was trying to call its pack of friends to attack me," he said and wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. Just as he was about to went back inside his house and eat dinner, a serious of footsteps were heard. He immediately looked back and widened his eyes to see an army… not a pack full of Grimm with a different kind of variation.
A peculiar one standout from the pack of the creatures of darkness. It's unlike he had ever seen before, a beowolf with spikes that adorned its body, its large figure standout upon others even the alphas were considered to be one of its commanders, its bony mask looked intimidating with the edges curved to the front looking like a spiky-bony flower. Its eyes were four, one pair at the top and the other were on its bottom. But what makes him nervous was the appendages it is possessed, long large strong arms with bony spikes at its appendages and another pair at the bottom of it with equal strength such as the ones on its top.
Either way, he never in his life seen a beowolf like that and he was 100% positive that he was toast.
"Oh my god, I need to warn the chief about this," just as he was about to take out his scroll, the beowolfs, the pawn ones, came running in all fours. The pawns attacked the electrical fences that surrounded his home, but it was not used as they were electrocuted to a crisp. Albert was relieved when he saw that his defenses were working wonderous with the smaller beowolfs. It continued like this for some time with every beowolf trying to take down his defenses but ending up dead after touching the fence.
Albert already warned the chief and the chief replied that he would immediately send in guards to help him, but despite the good news, he was having a bad feeling. Why do you all ask? Because the larger one was only watching behind his alphas. He didn't know if he was dreaming or just tired from all the work he did for today, but that large beowolf or the omega beowolf, he called it, was watching, calculating his defenses.
'Strange Grimm… it's just standing there watching…" then he realized something. He went inside his home to check the power of his electric fences. Surprised painted on his features and quickly changed into dread as the power of the fences began to decrease, fast.
"Darn, if this keeps ups, they would be breaking the fences in no time," he said. Then he went back out to see the beowolfs almost destroying his defenses. He gripped his shotgun, he knew that he can't fight all of them, but hell he will not be getting down without a fight!
"Come at me you bastards!" he shouted. He then sprinted to his tower which was located behind the fence. Once he made it to the tower, he pulled a lever that open a part of the fence allowing him to aim his weapon at the creatures. He then aimed his shotgun at the approaching Grimm.
"Eat this!" he yelled, he shot out dust bullets at the approaching Grimm. Some were dead by his shot and some managed to evade his projectile. One of them tried to pounce his way to the part of the fence that was open for him to shoot, but he quickly put the creature of darkness down. He then shot two other beowolfs that were behind the other two that were quickly disintegrated by his fence.
Despite being on the upper hand, he knew he couldn't keep this long because the power fueling his electric fences was beginning to decrease. He hoped that the guards from the village managed to get here in time to save him.
'If I don't get out from this alive… well I'll be soon joining you, Lea,' he thought of his dead wife. He was then overthrown by a large claw hand that easily tore his electric fence with him being on its way. He fell from the tower and onto the ground near his crops. Good thing that aura protected him but being old and not a Huntsmen, he painfully grunted.
He looked in front of him to see the large omega beowolf snarling at him. its pawns were behind him awaiting new commands and its alphas were beside it. He shakily aimed his shotgun at its face and let out a shell of his firearm at its forehead. To his surprise, it was only left with a scratch on its bony mask.
"Heh… do your worst, monsters…" he said to them. The large Grimm then prepared a swipe at the old man when out of nowhere the Grimm's clawed hands were obliterated by shots upon shots of bullets. The omega cried out in pain at the loss of one of its limbs. Then another series of bullets shot at some of the alphas leaving them dead.
"What…" he asked himself. He then heard a screeching of a horse at his right. He looked in the direction to see someone on top of an armored horse which he could see bits of white on one of its openings. The person that's on top of its saddle was a fully masked man with equally fully armored and a purple cape, only his hair was shown which was dark grey. He has yellow eyes which were narrowing at the dark beast in front of him.
"Hey! you big furball, pick on someone your own size!" he yelled. The omega growled and let out an ear-piercing shout at the horseman, Strife.
"That's the spirits!" he said, then the dual firearm horseman headed straight to the omega with his stead, Mayhem. The horseman shot bullets upon bullets to the beowolfs that were quickly taken down decreasing the omega's pawns. Albert knew he needed to head back to his house to treat his wounds, but his body refused to listen, and he was very curious about how the fight will end up.
'Lilith is going to be so dead after I find her in this world,' Strife thought as he shot another dark wolf that he had never ever seen before. When he and Lilith went inside the portal, it began to turn red and he lost consciousness when he was inside the swirling red wormhole. Then after that, he woke up inside a forest with no Lilith in sight. He was pissed off of course, but then he heard the sounds of a shotgun fired. Being so curious, he decided to check it out.
And it brings him now, with saving an old man and killing these black werewolves-things that he had never ever seen before.
'Compared to the things I have fought, these things are lower than a low graded demon,' he combined his two revolvers into one and let out a single blast shot at the center of the pack. The results were devastating that took out a majority of Grimm, leaving only a handful of the pawns and two alphas. The omega began to growl more and to Albert's surprise, it released fireballs from its mouth.
Strife with his enhanced reflexes leaped from his stead and evaded the incoming fireball. The stead disappeared to the ground and left the horseman in the air. He then spun his body and simultaneously fired his revolvers at the beowolfs. The beowolfs were decreasing with each fire that the horseman let out from his firearms. Then the gunslinger landed on the ground with multiple Grimm died from his bullets. Seeing its kind getting slaughtered, the omega let out a roar at the huntsmen.
"Yeah! Come on at me, you big furball!" Strife said. Then the omega run with only its three remaining limbs as the other one was rested on its back to prevent further pain. Strife shot bullets at its thick mask, stunning the larger Grimm. Then as it was distracted, he leaped from the ground and climbed at its back, and slashed with his dual sabers. Then he landed with a roll at the back of its back.
The omega shrieked in pain at the new wound on its back. Then with a speed that Strife didn't know about, the Grimm swiped with its large and sharp claws at him. Strife was blown away and crashed at a tree on the right. Albert gasped at the scene, he wanted to help but something tells him that he would only be a hinder to the new huntsmen (if it was a huntsman). The omega still didn't satisfy and ordered its remaining two alphas to check on the guy. The other two complied and went to check the guy that crashed into the tree.
The omega turned towards the old man that was already on the steps toward his house. After watching the guy that saved him from his end blown away by the swipe from that large Grimm, he quickly got up and quickly head to his house, but when he was about to ascend the steps, a big fireball halted him from going any further. The house exploded and Albert was thrown away by the blast. He landed at the same place where the omega looked at him menacingly.
Albert coughed because of the blast and looked to see that he was blown away and on the bottom of the large beowolf. Albert sighed and closed his eyes as he waited for his end. He waited and waited but… it never came. Albert slowly open his eyes and was greeted by a gruesome sight. In front of him was the remaining body of the omega, the top half of its body was blown into bits only left with its bottom. The body slowly fell to the side and Albert was next greeted by a weird-looking creature.
A huge black horned goblin with a scorpion tail for a ponytail and a mini-gun as its left hand. The tail was glowing purple and its light got dimmer and dimmer. Then to his shock, the creature disappeared in an explosion of pink energy and after that was replaced by the same person that saved him. He then approached him slowly. Albert being anxious drew his shotgun at the man or thing, he doesn't really know what it is after seeing that creature.
"Wow-wow easy there, fella, I'm not going to hurt you, here," the man said as he drew his hand out to the old man. Albert hesitated at first, but he took the hand, and with the mysterious person's help, he was brought to a nearby chair. The man put some space between him and waited for him to take a breath.
"You're alright?" he asked, his yellow eyes looking at him.
"Yes-yes I'm fine, thank you for saving me," Albert replied.
"Ah good, well before I go, you must not tell anybody about this," the man said to him. Albert widened his eyes at the statement, normally huntsmen wanted to be known by the society because it would surely benefit them but hearing this man that he doesn't want to mention was a surprise for him.
"May I ask, why?"
"None of your business," he said. Then he walked away from him.
"Wait! Who are you?" Albert asked. The man turned his head sideways and spoke.
"Strife," he said, then a horse suddenly emerged from the ground, and then he mounted the mysterious horse and rode out from his destroyed farm.
'Strange, it's like that rumor from months ago of the Grim Reaper Huntsmen…' he thought as he watched the mysterious savior ride and went inside the forest, disappearing from his line of sight.
"Damn, that was risky, I should have killed the old man," he said to himself as he rode with mayhem and traversed the lush green forest. Now that he was in the world where Shaun was, his first priority was to locate his nephew were about.
'But… to do that is to find civilization and in with them, try to find information about this world. Oh, and lucky me that I could turn my good looks into what of a human,' he thought to himself. As he traversed between forest and terrains, he could see white smoke.
'And finally, a civilization,' he thought. He rode to that direction passing forests, a small river, and another forest. Finally, after minutes of riding his stead, he arrived not far off from a small village. He then changed his appearance into a human known as Jones inside the forest.
"Now, time for information digging," he said to himself as he walked with a backpack on his back to the village.
Beacon Academy, Glynda's Class
It has been three weeks since Shaun had been enrolled in this academy for young huntsmen and huntresses and he has to say, it's quite interesting, to say the least. First, Weiss finally apologized to her young captain, according to how their interactions that he observed with them tomorrow after the day prior. Second, he finally knew how to make a tie with the help of Blake, who graciously offered herself to teach him when he was asking about Weiss's whereabouts. Third, he told his secrets to the two professors and they also showed him what lies beneath the headmaster's academy on that day.
Three weeks ago, Ozpin's office
"So… You're a half Nephilim?" The headmaster asked the boy in front of him. After the professors showed him the person beneath the school, who was inside what they called a cryopod, a pod that could slow down a living being's metabolism or in this case someone's death so they could live a little longer. Ozpin explained that the girl inside was named Amber and she was the fallen maiden. Shaun was confused about the word 'fall maiden', which the headmaster explained that it was a name given to people who possessed magic, which Remnant didn't possess.
Then Ozpin told him about the story of the five maidens. Shaun was surprised that the stories he had read were real. Then Ozpin further explains why Amber was in this state, it was because one of her followers, Salem, somehow drained the maiden's powers from her soul, leaving her with only half of her power. Ozpin also told him about Salem, she was the one responsible for the Grimm's existence and how she wanted the world to be full of darkness and fear of her.
Shaun widened his eyes from his explanations and asked if he could tell where this so-called Salem was. Ozpin upon hearing that was shocked and asked him why he wanted to know. Shaun answered him so that he could eliminate the threat. Ozpin shook his head and told him that it was impossible. Shaun asked him why it was impossible for him to eliminate Salem, but Ozpin refused to give him any answers and instead asked him if he could tell him his secrets now after they head back to his office. This prompted the half Nephilim in a questioning look upon returning back to the headmaster's office.
When they finally head back to the office, Shaun began to explain his secrets, his powers, his origins, and most importantly how did he get here.
"Yes, it is a race of union between an angel and a demon, although I am only half Nephilim and the other half is human," he replied. Ozpin hummed from his seat and his headmistress, Glynda Goodwitch, narrowed her eyes at him as if she didn't believe him.
"How do we know that you are this so-called half Nephilim?" She asked, Shaun then demonstrated himself by impaling himself with a pencil through his heart. The headmaster and headmistress began to panic at the sudden action, but their panic soon faded when Shaun pulled the pencil out of his chest and the wound was instantly closed.
"Nephilim isn't that easy to kill, even when they were impaled to certain vital organs, but they could still feel the pain from the impalement," Shaun explains, wiping the blood from the pencil with his scarf and then putting it on a nearby table beside him. Glynda was still wide eye after the explanation while Ozpin seemed oddly interested in it and he asked him another question.
"When we first bring you here, you brought up your father, is he a Nephilim?"
"Yes, he is, he is one of the remaining four Nephilim, The Horsemen, that's alive…. Until 6 years ago," he said displaying a mild sadness. Ozpin observed the teen in front of him and instantly understand that his father was not alive anymore and something happened to him that led to his end. But he decided he didn't want to ask about that.
"He is one of the four? What are The Four Horsemen?"
"They are a group of enforcers that were created by The Charred Council. Their only mission is to keep the balance," he said. Ozpin narrowed his eyes in confusion.
"Balance?"
"Yes, the balance between the two main realms, Hell and Heaven,"
"And this balance also includes getting rid of you?" the headmistress asked, bringing the topic of why the half Nephilim, Shaun, was being hunted by the council.
"Indeed, my father, Death, explained to me that my existence is considered to be dangerous for the charred council and could shake the balance between Hell and Heaven. When I asked my father why he told me that he also didn't know because the definition of balance for the charred council is ambiguous to him," he explained. The two solely teachers were perplexed by his explanation and sympathized with his situation.
"Shaun, I'm sorry for what you have gone through, it must be hard living in a world full of demons and draughts all over," Glynda said her voice dripping with sadness.
"It's fine, what happened to mother… was tragic, but I learn to move on. But sometimes I remembered that day when she was killed in my dreams… I was… 9 years old at the time when it happened," he said letting out a bitter smile. Ozpin displayed sadness to the teen in front of him, he has been through hell since he was a child, and to top it off living in a world where humans are on brink of extinction and the world had already been destroyed because of the apocalypse. Ozpin also praises the teen for how strong-willed he is, despite facing the darkness at an early age and moving on passed the pain.
"You are a strong and wise man, Mr. Hopkins, who has already faced the harsh reality of the world than any huntsmen and huntresses, and for that, I am greatly certain you will bring peace to this land," Ozpin praised the teen in front of him. Shaun looked up at the man and let out a chuckle.
"Thank you, headmaster," he replied.
"Now… how about you tell me about your father, Death, wasn't it?"
"Sure thing, he was the leader of the four horsemen and the most powerful among the four, he had many names, the Executioner, the Kinslayer… Death," he said.
Present
After he told them about his patrols with his uncle, he got out of his office. To be honest, he's not sure if telling everything to the headmaster of Beacon is a good idea and he still got this feeling that the headmaster still hiding something from him, but despite that, the old man didn't have any malicious intentions against him and be pretty sure that when Ozpin promised that he keep his secret save with him was sincere.
'Ah, what the hell,' he thought. Now, however, he was sitting at the spectator seat and watching a duel between Cardin Winchester against Jaune Arc.
He sighed as the blond teen was being beaten easily by a burnt-orange-haired teen. It looked like Jaune didn't even know how to fight. Of all the students that he observed in this academy, Jaune was the lowest in fighting. It made him wonder if Jaune had any training before coming here.
"Uh, vomit boy is really being toyed by Cardin, ouch," Yang said seeing how Jaune was easily being overpowered by Cardin.
"Indeed, his fighting style is too open, and his form is weak," Weiss voiced his opinion.
"Come on, Jaune! You can beat him!" Ruby cheered her blond friend from her seat. At the arena, Cardin was looking very smug and arrogant with his weapon, the executioner, a black mace with a fire dust crystal at the center with four kept in place, that he rested on his left shoulder.
"What's the matter, Arc? Feeling tired?!" he said in a mocking tone. Jaune still panting with a mighty shout tried to attack him, but Carding seeing the weak swing easily stepped aside letting Jaune pass him.
Then Cardin swing his mace at the blond the blond teen managed to shield himself by the blow. But the sheer power behind the swing was too great and made Jaune throw away. He landed on the arena floor hard. Still not giving up he attacked again his opponent again with dual downward slashes, but Cardin blocked the attack with his mace. While Jaune was struggling to overpower the big teenager, Cardin easily held him with his mace.
"This is the part where you lose," Cardin said, slowly overpowering Jaune.
"Over my dead—" he was about to finish his sentence but Cardin suddenly kicked Jaune in the guts. Winded and clutching his gut in agony, he didn't have any time to react when Cardin prepare his final attack with his weapon, but suddenly Glynda Goodwitch stopped the duel which made the leader of the team CRDL annoyed.
"Students as you can see, Mr. Arc's aura has dropped into the red. In a tournament-style duel, this will indicate that Jaune's is no longer fit for battle and the official can call off the match," the head mistress announced at her students.
"Mr. Arc, it has been weeks now, please try to refer to your scroll during combat. Checking your aura gauge will help you to decide if it's appropriate to attack or if it is better to move into a defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a beowolf, now would we?" she said looking at Jaune's sitting form.
"Speak for yourself," the big teenager, Cardin Winchester said, as he went off from the stage leaving the teacher and a saddened Jaune on the stage.
"Remember everyone, the Vytal Festival is a few months away it won't be long until students from other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing. Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale," Glynda announced.
'Vytal Festival, huh? Since I never had experience with this kind of thing, maybe I should just go with the flow,' he thought. Shaun in the corner of his eyes saw the concerned expression of Pyrrha Nikos. She was expressing those concerns towards her team leader it seems.
"Shaun, come one," Blake said beside him. Shaun shook his head to get away from his thoughts. When he dived into his thoughts too long, he would always forget his surroundings, which was a problem he needs to fix.
"Right, thanks, Blake," he replied.
Beacon Cafeteria
"So… there we were in the middle of the night,"
"It was day," Ren interjected his partner's story.
"We were surrounded by Ursas," she continued with her story despite Ren's corrections.
"They were beowolfs,"
"Dozens of them!" Nora slammed her hands on the table for dramatics.
"Two of them," Ren interjected again.
"And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien and sell Ursa skin rugs," she said.
"She has been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now," Ren sighed at her friend's exaggerating story.
Shaun chuckled at the duo's antics. Nora's story sure was exaggerated, but it was very funny. Although it was a dream, of course.
"Jaune… are you ok?" Pyrrha voiced his concerns to her leader. Everyone went to stop what they have been doing and focus on the blonde knight.
"Oh! Yeah, I-I'm fine, why?" he said. Shaun furrowed his eyes from beside Blake's left.
"It's just that… you seemed… a little not ok," Ruby commented.
"Uh guys, I'm fine seriously, look," he laughed nervously. Shaun could tell he was lying and had a feeling why his friend was conflicted. But Shaun was interrupted from his thoughts by the sound of laughter coming from behind him. Shaun looked at his back and see a despicable sight. Team CRDL was harassing a student and not just any student, but a Faunus one.
Shaun knew the discrimination that the Faunus were dealing with. Just because of their heritage, the entire humans on this planet hated them. To think that they lived in a world where the two species were in a war with a common enemy…
One of those humans that can't accept the Faunus and discriminate against them for what they were was none other than Cardin Winchester. For the first week he had been here, this jerk and his lackeys were bullying people, especially the Faunus, showing their superiority and how they could do whatever they want. Shaun balled his fists as Cardin picked the girl's rabbit ears with his dirty hands which made the girl squirm in pain.
"We'll break his legs!" Nora said which stopped his thoughts.
'That sounds like a great idea…' he thought. Although strapping him on Despair and dragging the son of a bitch on the ground while rocks damaged him constantly was better than Nora's idea.
"Guys please, he's not only a jerk to me, but to everyone," the blonde knight reasons with them. The group then turned to the Faunus girl who was being bullied by team CRDL.
"Ow-ow that hurts!" she said crying while Cardin and his lackeys were having fun bullying the Faunus girl.
"I told you they were real!" Cardin said at his team and in return, they laughed with their leader. While they were excited about bullying the girl and the two teams were looking at the scene with disgust, Shaun quietly walked behind him and tapped the bully's shoulder.
"What!" the bully said annoyed being disturbed with his fun. Cardin looked behind him to see Shaun Hopkins with a scowl on his face.
"Let the girl go," Shaun said his red eyes narrowing at the teenager. Cardin knew who the person in front of him, the infamous Grim Reaper Huntsmen, who singlehandedly kill an entire army of Grimm and killed two ancient ones by himself. Now, a normal person would probably hear Shaun's command, but Cardin being the rock-headed human decided to put his place in this school.
"And what will you do, huh?! Do you know who I am?" he said gripping at the girl's ears which made the girl cry out in pain. Shaun then in a flash grabbed the bully's arm and tightened it, which let go of Cardin's grip on the girl's ears. Shaun motioned for the girl to get behind him, and the girl nodded.
"I know who you are, you and your so-called 'teammates' are just people whose only intentions are being arrogant, despicable, and most importantly bullying people whenever you want," he said in a calm tone while maintaining his strong grip at the teenager's arm. The bully was not only trapped by the half Nephilim's grip, but he was in pain as well.
"Hey! Let go of him!" a male teenager with a mohawk said. He then prepared to help his leader, but before he could even do that shadow tendrils wrapped around his body keeping the teammate in place. Not only him who was trapped by Shaun's shadow tendrils, but even his other teammates were also in the same situation as him. Cardin looking at all his immobilized teammates glared at the half Nephilim which in return Shaun only narrowed his eyes further.
"You dare do this to us… I don't care who you are, but you dare—" he then felt pain on his arm as Shaun adds pressure to his hold. To be honest cracking this son of a bitch's arm was very tempting for Shaun.
"Shut up, you should be ashamed of yourselves for the act you did to the girl," Shaun said. Cardin gritted his teeth and he was about to retort when Shaun continued to shut him up.
"Especially harassing students because of their heritage, what kind of huntsmen would do that," he said with a tone of disappointment. Cardin scoffed at the half Nephilim's comments.
"Pfft, they are just animals, and besides… they don't deserve help anyway—" Cardin let out a shout of pain again for his arm was being crushed by Shaun's grip once more.
"Animals? Oh, Winchester, how my patients are being tested by the sheer stupidity and hate coming out of your dirty mouth," Shaun said, then the shadow tendrils that were wrapped around the bully's body began to raise him up in the air. Then with a motion of his hands, Shaun slammed the boy at the table. Cardin was now scared by the half Nephilim. He looked into his piercing red eyes and could only see disappointment and… anger.
"P-please! Stop!" he whimpered.
"Stop? No, you need to know something before I stop," Shaun's voice at the end suddenly distorted making the bully terrified.
"They are not animals, Winchester, animals don't think, animals don't speak, and especially they don't act savagely. Now, the girl that you harassed didn't have any kind of traits that I just told you, but strangely though, the animal I only see… is only you, Winchester," he said. Then he approached the bully's trapped form on top of the table and went to his eye level. Cardin for his part was terrified because he just briefly saw a large figure covered in a black cloak with black wings and a hood with red glowing eyes looking at him menacingly.
"Let me tell you one thing, what I have seen in you in the last couple of weeks being here, is just a boy who only desired is to only show their superiority and only harassing others when YOU should try to help them, and what disappoints me more is you discriminate a fellow huntsman, just because they are a Faunus…" Shaun shook his head. At the beginning of the confrontation, everyone in the Cafeteria was in silence listening and watching the scene. There wasn't any single person who did anything except watch the half Nephilim lecturing the bully.
Then suddenly, Shaun willed his shadows to make the bullies stand up in front of him, and then he let them out of his bindings. The bullies were confused by Shaun's action, but before Cardin could do anything, Shaun opened his mouth.
"Look around you, does anyone here harassing anyone, as the four of you did? No, they are not. They are here to eliminate the Grimm, to make peace on this world, but you four only doing was try to bully others, harassing Faunus students and doing whatever the hell you want," he said. The people around the Cafeteria began to look at the four. Their faces were morphed with disappointment and anger, the latter mostly coming from the Faunus. Right now, team CRDL were being humiliated by Shaun Hopkins.
"If you ever try to do what you did with the girl behind me again, or anyone else for that matter. I will personally kick you out of this academy because neither the four of you deserved to be called huntsmen," he finally said. There were so many emotions running inside the leader of CRDL's head and one of them is rage. But before he could do anything, the mohawk teenager called out to him.
"Cardin, we need to go," he said, his tone full of anxiety. Cardin wanted to retort but the looks that everyone was giving managed for him to comply. The four of them then ran in the direction of the exit.
'You'll pay for humiliating me, Hopkins!' Cardin thought. Once they were gone, Shaun wasn't expecting a round of applause coming from around him. Many students and Faunus alike gave him cheers for the action that he did for the team. But, Shaun's only concern was the girl behind him. The girl was still shocked at what just happened, but it seems that she was finally calmed down a bit.
Shaun decided to strike up a conversation with her.
"Are you alright?" he asked her concerned.
"Y-yeah I'm fine," she replied. Shaun then turned his eyes to her ears. Her rabbit ears seemed to be only red because of the pressure that Cardin gave on two of them.
"Are your ears hurt?" he asked her.
"A-a little, don't worry about it," she said.
"Alright then, let me know if those guys bothered you again, Miss?" he asked her name.
"Velvet. Velvet Scarlatina," she said offering a shake of the hand which he shook back.
"Well then, Velvet, I'll see you around," he said giving her a smile. The rabbit Faunus blushed at seeing the smile and nodded rapidly.
"Tha-thank you for the help!" she said and soon after she went to the exit of the Cafeteria.
Shaun lifted an eyebrow at the sudden change of behavior. Once that was done, Shaun returned to his friend's table. When he sat beside Blake, everyone at the table have their own reactions to the scene before.
"That. Was. AWESOME!" Ruby said spreading her arms upwards with a big smile on her face.
"Yeah man, remind me not to make you mad after this though, but the way you humiliated him, really got me yang up," Yang punned at the end which stifle a groan out from the group.
"While their action upon that Faunus girl was considered to be unethical… your action has surprised me greatly because I didn't think that you would consider humiliation to finish the situation," Weiss commented.
"They deserve it, Weiss. Personally, I don't like seeing people being treated poorly just because of how they look or their heritage, and I meant what I said that Cardin and his team didn't deserve to be here if they continue their action in this academy," he said while drinking his now cold milk.
"You did a good job, Shaun, they deserve it," Blake said beside him and smiled at the half Nephilim. Shaun felt something inside his heart, a good feeling whenever he saw her smile. Unknown to them Yang saw this interaction and let out a knowing smirk.
'Oh… so that is how it is…' she thought.
"But, why didn't you break their legs…" Nora pointed out which Shaun chuckled.
"It will be too easy… Am I right?" he said which made the group laugh at his joke. Jaune looked at the half Nephilim with astonishment. The way he handled the situation against Cardin and the confidence that he had was beginning to make Jaune wonder.
'How can I be like that?' he thought.
Beacon, Oobleck's class
Professor Oobleck's class was quite entertaining in half Nephilim's opinion. Seeing the professor or doctor zipping through the room while giving lectures to his students and while also holding his mug of steaming coffee and not spilling it up, the doctor or professor possessed incredible speed. But it seems that some of the students didn't even listen, such as Cardin who casually put his feet on top of the table, and Jaune who was snoring.
He asked himself if the professor noticed the blonde teen.
"-yes-yes, prior to the Faunus rights revolution more popularly known as The Faunus War, humankind was quite-quite adamant about centralizing the Faunus population in Menagerie," the green-messy-haired professor said to his students. Then he drank a sip of his coffee and immediately he zipped through the room at surprising speed.
"Now! while this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events. Why the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day," he then drank his mug the second time.
'That coffee sure is an energy booster… might want to try it out,' Shaun thought as he put his head on his right arm on the table, lazily looking at the zipping professor. He glanced to his left to see Blake trying hard to track the zipping professor. Her bright yellow eyes, her beautiful eyelashes, and her curious expression whenever she wanted to know something. He didn't know, but he just liked those things about her.
"Eh… Shaun?" he was snapped out of his mind when the subject of his thoughts addressed him.
"Are you alright? You've been looking at me for a while," she said concerned. Shaun coughed to get rid of these strange feelings he has been having.
"My apologies, I was… distracted with something," he said now looking at the professor who luckily didn't catch him doing anything. Unknowingly, Yang Xiao Long has been observing the two of them and she was grinning with smugness.
"Caught you red-handed, Shauny," she muttered.
"Now, how many among you have been subjugated or discriminated against because of your Faunus heritage?" the professor suddenly asked to the Faunus students in his class. Some hesitantly raised their hand and some of them immediately raised them. One of the hesitantly raised their hands was Velvet, who Shaun rescued from Cardin.
"Dreadful! Simply dreadful. Remember students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence!" he said then chugged another coffee into his mouth.
"I mean just look at what happened to the White Fang. Now, which of you scholars could tell me what many theorists believe to be the turning point in the third year of the war?" he asked everyone in the room. Then a hand was raised suddenly from among the students.
"Yes?"
"The Battle of Fort Castle," Weiss answered.
"Correct! Now, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagoon's forces?" he asked again. Shaun realized from the corner of his left eye that Cardin threw a paper ball at the blonde knight's head, resulting in the blonde woke up.
"Hey!" Jaune said and looked from behind. Then suddenly Professor Oobleck zipped in front of the blonde.
"Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to this class! Excellent- excellent! What is the answer?" the doctor asked him. Jaune was figuring out what the professor asked the class since he was asleep at that time. The blonde knight then turned to his partner, Pyrrha motioned with her hands in a circular way, and Shaun deciding to help willed his shadows in a similar way, shaping his shadows into two circular tubes in front of his eyes.
Jaune then got the idea and answered the question.
"Umm… Binoculars," he said in confidence. The class then erupted into laughter with Cardin the loudest. Shaun's face palmed and sighed.
'I swear the guy needs to pay attention to the class more…' he thought.
"Very funny, Mr. Arc. Cardin, perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject?" the green-haired doctor asked the bully.
"Well… I knew it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier," the bully answered nonchalantly.
"Huh… to think that you still feel this way even after I just gave you a teaching just hours ago…" Shaun suddenly said looking at the bully with piercing eyes. The bully then met him head-on with his own glare.
"It's the truth! Faunus were animals that only purpose was only to do our dirty work and that is why they are called disposable animals!" he said laughing at the end. Impaling Cardin on the spot with his shadows was really tempting for him to do.
But he decided not to and besides someone was about to do it for him
"You're not the most open-minded individual, are you Cardin?" Pyrrha asked him.
"What? You got a problem?"
"No, I have the answer. It's night vision, many Faunus are known to have nearly perfect sight in the dark," Pyrrha answered which made Cardin grumble in anger.
"And also, General Lagoon was inexperience and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep, his massive army was out to match, and thus, the general was captured," Blake added.
"Perhaps if the general was not a rock-headed son of a bitch and pay attention to class, he wouldn't be remembered as a failure," Shaun added also. Cardin was angered and when he stood up from his seat because of the comment, he was reminded by the professor.
"Mr. Winchester, please take your seat," The professor said to the teenager. Jaune chuckled at the scene.
"You and Mr. Arc could both see me after class for additional reading," the professor told Jaune upon seeing him chuckling at the scene. Jaune slumped because of that and the class continue.
Night Time, Somewhere in Beacon
Shaun was dangling his legs on the ledge seeing the stars as usual. It had become a habit for him upon entering this academy, after class was done for the day, he consumed his dinner, then he went to Beacon Academy's rooftops. But tonight, he brought hot chocolate from the Cafeteria. This is his first time trying this hot beverage, he got the idea when Ruby made it when she had dinner with the team.
And oh boy, it was delicious.
'Ah… this drink is very delicious. Perhaps I had another one after this,' he thought drinking the beverage and stargazing at the night sky.
Then suddenly, the sound of a door being opened was heard from behind him. Shaun using his Death's sense soon recognized the individual.
"Hey, Blake," he greeted, his face eyes not leaving the sky. Blake was surprised when he said her name. She wondered how he did that.
"Hey, Shaun," she greeted back. Then she walked over to him and sat beside him.
"I am surprised you are here, is this will be our usual thing, meeting up on the roof?" he asked her with a smirk. Blake rolled her eyes as she gave him her own smirk.
"Maybe? But actually… I came here to find you, and knowing you for weeks, you'll probably be up here on the roof stargazing," she explained. Shaun hummed at the answer and looked at the stars again.
"So… what's going on?" he simply asked, still looking at the stars.
"What you did… at the Cafeteria in the afternoon… that was amazing and at the same… it shocked me," She said also looking at the night sky.
"Why is that?"
"It just that not many humans didn't show their sympathy like you did. Sure, some of them showed their concerns, but they didn't do like what you did to Cardin. So… it was kind of a surprise to me to see you defend that girl like that and as a Faunus myself… I am grateful for that," she said showing a small smile. Shaun looking at her from the corner of his left eye show a small smile at the girl.
"What Cardin did… and the rest of those people did to your kind… is not acceptable to me. I saw what they did to the Faunus back when I was on my travels towards here. Most of them were being sold to merchants and some of them were being used as slaves to do their dirty work. I have to free them of course from those despicable people, but… one of the people that I saved died because of starvation…" he said reminiscing at the time.
It was half of the month when he traveled from the village that he saved from that Titan-like Grimm. When he was hunting for food inside the woods, he stumbled into a Mining Cave. The Mining Cave was large with carts that were full of dust crystals. But he didn't mind at the time, what was despicable was that they were people with animal traits, and they were treated poorly by the humans.
At that time, Shaun didn't know what people were since they possessed these traits on their physique, but what he knew was what he saw at that Mine was considered inhuman. The humans used whips to force their workers into working. Whether they were sick, starving, or even old, they were still forced to work until they die. When one of them accidentally dropped the crystals, they were beaten. He was angered at that, but he kept his hands at bay as he watched from the tree lines of the thick forest. Those satisfied smiles whenever they were done beating up the Faunus workers.
Those scenes… remind him of Earth where humans in his world were forced to work by the demon lords, enslaved, and forced labor.
And sure well… he would not let that happen again in here.
And so, at night, he quietly freed the laborers out from their Hell hole while the humans were asleep in their nearby warehouse. If one of the humans spotted them, Shaun quickly made them unconscious and at the same time wrapped them in shadows until it was morning. But… one old man, a Faunus with bull's horns, was dying at the time. The family of the old man cried at his passing. Shaun offered them to help bury him and they nodded. Once he was done burying the old man, he said his goodbyes to them and hoped that they managed to find a town to hide from those people.
Blake looked shocked at the half-Nephilim beside her. The guy who saved her was showing his concerns so much towards her kind. She could see his eyes turned into anger at the topic of her kind being mistreated and could see his hands balled into fists. It was new to her seeing a human show so many concerns for her kind. Blake unconsciously scooted closer towards the half-Nephilim until their shoulders were touching.
"Then what happened?" she asked him. Shaun who was preoccupied with his thoughts turned towards the Faunus beside him.
"I left the people that enslaved those poor Faunus people alone. Despite what they have done… it wasn't right to kill them. At first, the decision to kill them was fresh to me, but then I think about their loved ones, what happens to them if I kill those people? What if I killed a father? A brother? Or their sons? So, I decided to free them quietly at night," he told her. Blake after hearing this smile, a very wide one in fact. So wide, Shaun began to feel something on his face. Heat?
"You're… so kind-hearted, you know that? I wish… there were more people like you in this world," she said putting her arm on his left shoulder. Shaun was… frozen, he didn't know how to feel at the sudden contact. So, he did what he did cough.
"Umm… thank you," he said letting out a smile. Blake who saw his smile the second time blushed and then scooted away a bit, but still close because their thighs were still touching.
"Ye-yeah," she said. Shaun then chuckled at her embarrassment which made her pout and playfully punched him on his shoulder.
"Har-har, funny," she said in a sly manner as she rolled her eyes. Shaun smirked as he drank his hot chocolate. The two of them then went to other conversations. Hobbies, what interesting kinds of stuff they have found, and more. For Blake, conversing with Shaun felt comfortable, she didn't know but it felt like… Adam… but she dismissed the thought since Shaun clearly didn't have any kind of similarities with him. He was kind-hearted, wise, and… handsome.
Blake for the third time blushed because of her thoughts. Shaun showed concern for her and asked if she was okay, but Blake then said she was fine which made him satisfied. They continue like this for minutes and then Blake decided to end it for tonight. She said goodbye to him and he replied back, he said that he still wanted to be here stargazing at the sky. Blake then nodded and walk back to her dorm. She wasn't aware of his lingering gaze from her back. He stopped when Blake closed the door leading to the roof.
Once Blake arrived at her dorm and opened the door, she was greeted by none other than Yang, her partner.
"So… how's your date with our resident mysterious-edgy-handsome huntsmen?" she asked with a smug on her face. Blake just let out a tired sigh.
"It is not a date… I just want to thank him that's all…" she said. Yang still grinning didn't believe her at all.
"Really…?" she said in a teasing tone. Blake groaned and pursue the bathroom and took a bath, leaving a laughing Yang on the floor. Good thing that the rest of the team was asleep, or Blake would be in a bigger problem.
Somewhere in Remnant
Simon was livid. Finally! After 5 long weeks of not receiving any jobs as a huntsman and on a verge of paying a debt, he finally got a job. He was glad that someone hired him to do this and they offered him a good amount of Lien when the job he did was completed. It was a very simple job, eliminate Grimm that threatens a nearby village near Mistral. But sadly, he didn't do it alone. He would be accompanied by three more huntsmen from different kingdoms.
Then again, he was also from a different kingdom himself.
Now it brings up him now, flying inside bullhead with three of his supposed teammates.
"Yo, Simon my man, you ready to kick some Grimm butt?" his temporary teammate asked. Simon looked at him. His name was Alex, a 31-year-old man with dark skin, black eyes, and a bald head. He wore a green leather jacket and brown pants with red boots. His weapon was a sword-shotgun dust weapon which was strapped on his back.
"Mmh, yeah sure," he replied casually. He heard a snort coming from beside him. His name was John, a 40-year-old man with white skin, green eyes, and blonde hair. He wore a blue jacket and brown pants with black boots. His weapon was a sniper rifle and a simple dust-infused scimitar strapped on his back.
"Hey, where is your fire, kid, you should be pumped up. If we finish this job with maximum complacency, they will reward us a ton of lien," he said looking at the bottom of the bullhead through the glass window.
'But I want that money for myself you old-hag of shit,' he thought looking at the old man with piercing eyes and then looking at the glass window beside him. For god's sake, he was 29, why did he need to be called a kid and why did they need to bring more huntsmen for this job? He can do this shit all by himself.
"Leave him be, John, our youngest of this temporary team is very disappointed because of this outcome," the fourth member told him. Her name was Sasha, a 34-year-old-women with white skin, red hair, and amber eyes. She was also a Faunus because of the cheetah ears that she got on top of her head. She wore a brown jacket and green pants with yellow boots. Her weapon was a dual pistol located beside her waist and a small knife on the back of her waist.
"Tch, selfish fucker, you think that you can take all the Lien you want, huh?" Alex said laughing at the end. Simon just grumbled and sulk into his seat.
"I can do this all on myself thank you very much," he told the three who in response just rolled their eyes.
"ETA to the location in 5 minutes," the pilot informed them.
"By the way, if you said that you can do this all on your own, then why did they need three more huntsmen?" Alex asked Sasha, but John decided to tell him.
"The client, a mayor of the village, said that they had been sightings of the weird creature, unlike any Grimm they have ever seen. And he said that one of his local town folks were beginning to disappear night after night," he informed them. Yeah, Simon knew too well about the information, but still, he could do this mission on his own.
"Wow, that is new," Alex commented.
"You sure it wasn't a type of semblance?" Sasha asked the oldest huntsmen inside the aerial vehicle.
"I don't know, whatever it is, reports said that a strange green glow was sighted between nights and some weird sounds coming from the forest. The guards in the village were too scared to go in there,"
"So, they hired us to investigate what was inside the forest and eliminate the threat?" Simon asked John nodded.
Then suddenly the vehicle inside began to shake itself, resulting in the occupants inside being startled by the sudden disturbance. Simon, who was behind the wall that separated the pilot and the hangar, turned behind him.
"Hey! What's going on in there?!" he asked.
"We are under attack!" he only said, then to everyone's horror, a massive spike was impaled into the hanger and unfortunately, Alex received the end of its tip. The guy was dead by… a large spear with a skull engraved on it. Then the spear was out of its chest and the body was thrown away into open. This result was the wall of the hangar was torn open and from outside they could see something horrifying that Remnant's locals had never ever seen before.
It was a large creature unlike they have ever seen before, its large teeth and horns were menacing, and its bat-like wings were large and menacing. Its two grey arms were powerful and to top it all off it has a flaming sword in its right hand. The two green eyes were in a piercing gaze at them. Simon didn't want to stand there terrified and use his weapon, a dust-powered rifle. He shot bullets at the creature. The creature shield itself with its arms from the bullets. It roared at Simon and then to their horror, its mouth began to leak out flames. It let out a torrent of fire, but the fire didn't burn Simon because he was shielded by a dome made of a light-blue aura. Beside him, Sasha uses her semblance to protect themselves from the unidentified creature.
John quickly used his scimitar to deliver a slash to the creature. The creature roared in pain, but sadly the scimitar lodged itself on its skin. John was surprised when he struggled to pull his weapon out, but he was too late when the creature sliced at his head. Good thing that his aura protected him, but to his horror his aura was flickering, indicating that it was in the low. The creature was about to slash him again when Sasha helped his teammate use her infused-dust knife to slash at its abdomen.
Blood leaked out of it as the creature roared from the pain. The creature then pushed the two off it and went outside of the bullhead, disappearing through the green forest below. The three other people however were shocked at what they had just seen.
"Ok… What the fuck is that?!" Simon said shouting and pointing at the now-gone creature.
"As a huntsman for 18 years, I have never seen a creature like that before, and I am positive, it was not a Grimm," he simply said.
"Indeed, whatever it is… it is still out there…" Sasha said, looking through her scroll to check her aura gauge.
"Wait… don't tell me we need to kill that… thing!" Simon said.
"Yeah, we need to and possibly report to the mayor. Alright, I think our best plan is to go back to the mayor about our findings, then we try to formulate a plan to eliminate that thing that we just saw," he said to them which they nodded.
"Hey pilot, we are going back," he said. But there was no answer.
"Hey! Did you hear me?! I said turn us back, please?!" he banged the wall behind him.
"I think that is not an option," The pilot replied from the intercom, but his sound was mixed with a feminine voice. Then suddenly the room they were in was burst with green gas and everyone immediately went unconscious upon inhaling it.
He didn't know how long he was unconscious.
All he knew when he inhaled that green smoke, he and the others soon fall unconscious. Soon after, he woke up, still in dizziness. He tried to move his limbs, but something was keeping him in place. Simon slowly opened his eyes he was surprised that he was strapped with weird green chains that bind his feet and arms. He also felt… tired for some reason.
"Ah… you've awoken, human," someone said. His eyes looked at the sound of the person. He can't see clearly since his eyes were droopy because of this exhaustion. And to top it all off it was so dark around him, the only source of light was the green-glowing chains that strapped him right now.
"Who… are you?" he asked. What he knew from the voice, it was a woman at least, if he was correct.
He heard a chuckle and then the sound of footsteps coming towards him. The green light that shone was enough for him to see who the woman was… or it could be called such. She had green eyes and horns on top of her head, wore a black dress that revealed her chest, and had bat wings on her back. Simon was scared and terrified, he then tried to break free, he used his aura to enhance his strength, but then he was hit by a huge amount of tiredness.
"Ah-ah, you can't escape from here, the chains that you are strapped in were imbued with magical suction. It sucked your so-called aura or life force until you are drained dry," she explained.
"Wha-what do you want?" he asked her.
"To conquer this new world and made an army of demons from your human flesh!" She said spreading her arms in the air and at the same time the room he was in lit up. The room is revealed to be a huge cave with a hole in the middle the cave. Simon also saw his other two teammates… or what's left of them. The once oldest huntsmen and women Faunus were replaced with the same monster as he encountered, the latter with bigger cheetah ears with horns on the back of it. They were still strapped on their respective chains except their chains didn't glow like him.
"Yo-you… what are you?" he asked.
"I am the demon queen… Lilith," she said. His final image was a green flashed in front of him before he died and slowly was replaced by a demon created by Lilith.
AN
Hey guys,
It's been a very-very-very long time, huh?
Sorry for not uploading for months, I was so busy with finding a college and exams.
Hopefully, in the future, I will be able to upload faster.
Anyway, thank you for following this story, I am grateful for you guys and I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.