In front of a house on the island of Patch just off the coast of the kingdom of vale. It was a peaceful scene. The birds were chirping. The wind was blowing and it was quiet in general. That was of course until a gunshot rang out before a loud battle cry. The gunshot came from a girl dressed in black and red who had used her highly customisable high impact sniper scythe to launch herself in the air for an aerial attack. The attack was blocked by another person. Dressed in a black coat and wielding two swords. Both of which where one handed longswords. One was black and had a circular handguard with spikes while the other was blue but more resembled a regular longsword. He raised these swords and crossed them to block. This was one of his most useful defensive skills. He had named it cross block. He then used the swords to knock the girl back a few feet before going on the offence himself. This time was different however. This time the blades began to glow. He placed his left sword behind his head and held the right out in front of him. He then launched himself forward slashing with the left sword. The girl raised her scythe to block the first hit. The guy didn't stop however quickly slashing again with the right swords attack connecting and hitting her chest but as expected that area of her chest began to glow before the attack could hit stopping it from dealing any real damage. However the attacks didn't stop there as the black swordsman's next hit connected. The red reaper managed to raise her scythe to block the fourth and fifth slashes that where alternating from both his swords but the sixth,Seventh and eighth slashes all connected. The girl was sent flying from the combo attack but managed to flip an restand herself. Red lines crackled over her body. She glared at him, silver eyes burning. She repositioned herself. She placed the head of the scythe behind the sniper part of her weapon and prepared to launch herself forward. The swordsman responded in kind. Leaning his body slightly forward while moving his arms behind him. The two then charged at each other. As they got closer they both began to attack with their weapons. The girl swung her scythe from above while the boy stabbed upwards with his right sword. The attacks were about to connect before a voice stopped the two
"Hey that's enough, You two know to stop when one of your auras hit the red!" A voice called
The two combatants stopped their attacks inches away from connecting with each other. The scythe inches from the boys neck and the sword around the same distance from the girls head. The two stopped their attack and took their weapons away from each others heads before the girl looked at the who had interrupted and groaned. "Dad , come on i almost had him" She complained
"Your aura being in the red and his just barely above yellow is not what I'd call even ." A blonde girl laughed. "What do you think dude?" She asked the boy
The boy chuckled before sheathing the swords into the two holders on his back. He stood up straight and looked at the girl in front of him before looking at the girl on the sidelines. "I dunno Yang that one was pretty close." He replied honestly. "Ruby's definitely getting better. Heck soon she'll be so good i won't be able to keep up"
"Aw thanks. It's nice to know that at least you believe in me Kirito" Ruby smiled
The black haired boy named Kirito smiled back. He was around Fifteen. The same age as Yang. He wore a flowing black coat. The shoulders of said coat where a grey colour. He had a few belts across said coat that where coloured blue . The whole coat had a similar blue outline. He wore a pair of black fingerless gloves and a pair of black boots. The fact he enjoyed wearing black so much had lead to yang jokingly nicknaming him the black swordsman.
"But what was that skill you just used?. I've never seen it before" Ruby asked. An excited smile on her face
"I call it crimson splash. It's an eight hit skill that's designed for high speed. I made it specifically to counter you actually. I figured if I was gonna beat you then i needed to be able to out pace your scythe" Kirito explained
"Your semblance is definitely strange for sure letting you use those sword skills of your's but its so awesome at the same time" The guy standing next to Yang told him. The man was Taiyang. Ruby and Yang's Dad. He had become a sort of mentor to Kirito just as he had to Yang when teaching them. He had also helped Kirito come up with the designs for his swords.
"I don't know about awesome. The fact that i have to charge up before using it and i'm also left open after using one. It's gonna be a real problem on the battlefield" Kirito pointed out
"You have a point. If someone knows how you fight it'll make you predictable too" Tai mused
"But you have to have noticed that the more you use a skill the less time it takes to charge up and recover from. Heck earlier in a duel you flowed from one skill into another" Ruby pointed out
"She's right and those were the first two skills you came up with" Tai realised
"So maybe your skills work like video game skills and get better the more you use them" Yang suggested
"Maybe.. I hadn't thought of that yet" Kirito said thoughtfully
"So that means we've gotta fight each other again right?. You know to level up your new Crimson splash?" Ruby asked excitedly
"Calm down. Maybe once you're less exhausted and your auras back-up" Kirito chuckled while ruffling the younger girls hair
"But i wanna fight now!" Ruby pouted. A disappointed look on her face
"Relax rubes how about i spar with you after dinner" Yang suggested
"Ok. I haven't sparred against you in so long" Ruby cheered
"That's true" Yang chuckled " Maybe you'll actually make me use my semblance this time"
"I don't know Yang even i haven't reached that point" Kirito chuckled
"Yeah well i can kick your butt so who knows" Ruby taunted
"Didn't you just lose to him?" Yang Deadpanned
"Three times in a row actually" Ruby muttered upset
"Hey don't worry little red. You'll beat me someday. Who knows maybe your semblance will be so cool it makes mine look pathetic" Kirito told her
"You think so?" Ruby asked
"Sure i do. Like i said your improving quickly. Your gonna go far kid" The black swordsman replied
"Anyways i better go and get dinner started. You wanna help me kiddo?" Tai asked the Red Reaper
"Okay" Ruby agreed before running into the house
"You need us to do anything to help out Tai?" Kirito asked
"I think me and Ruby have got this. You and Yang should stay out here and get some more training done. After all Beacon is only two years away" Tai told them before walking into the house
Kirito watched the man as he left. The swordsman owed him a great deal . One day he woke up in a was lost and couldn't remember anything. Being the lost kid he was he ended up nearly getting killed by a creature of grimm that he now knew to be an ursa. Luckily Ruby and Yangs uncle Qrow had found him just before the thing killed him. He then took him back to Tai's house and Tai took him in. He had been living with the family ever since. Ruby and Yang had been confused at first but eventually he befriended the two of them and things just became normal. Not to say that was easy though, At Least with Ruby. It took a long time for her to even talk to him and he still wasn't sure that she had fully warmed up to him. His experience with Qrow had been what had inspired him to become a huntsma. He even chose to become a swordsman from him seeing Qrow use his weapon in it's sword form. He was dragged out of his thoughts by Yang dropping a training dummy down in front of him.
"You ready to break another one of these" Yang chuckled lightly punching the dummy
"I don't want Tai to kill us. How long did the last one hold up for before we broke it again" Kirito smirked
"About five hours and what's this we stuff about. You were the one who let out your first four hit skill on it. That skill absolutely destroyed the thing" Yang shot back
"Right , Right" Kirito responded while scratching his cheek
"Anyways you ready to try and level up those skills of yours?" Yang asked
"You think Ruby was right about how my skills are getting better the more I use them?" Kirito questioned
"She could be. We won't know until we try, Right?" The blonde brawler responded nonchalantly
"I guess you're right. Alright here's the plan. I want you to time how long it takes from me getting into stance to the skill actually coming out. We'll do it once each day and see if there's a noticeable improvement" Kirito told her
"Got it" Yang Nodded taking the stop watch from around her neck and preparing to start the timer
Kirito then got into his stance leaning forward slightly and having both his swords angled downwards behind him. The swords skill then began to charge up indicated by his swords glowing. Not even a second later he dashed forward and slashed his right sword upwards to the left before quickly raising his sword in his left hand above his head and slashing down to the left. The dummy thankfully withstood the hits but the impact completely knocked it over. Kirito looked towards Yang who was just looking at the stop watch like she couldn't believe it.
"That was Double Circular right?" She asked. The swordsman nodded in response "Dude your not gonna believe this. That skill took a fourth of a second to start. It used to take at least three seconds."
"No way!.Your serious?" The swordsman asked
"Looks like Ruby was right. your skills do get better the more you use them" The brawler confirmed
"Good to know. I told you she was special. She figured something out from one fight that I didn't realize in having my semblance for a whole year." Kirito chuckled
"Of course she's special. Have you seen how good she is with that scythe of hers. Give her a few years and she could mop the floor with the both of us." Yang agreed
"I know. The only reason i could keep up is because of my reaction time. If it wasn't as good as it is I wouldn't of been able to block half the hits I did during that fight. I dread to think what'll happen if her semblance turns out to be something that makes her go even faster" Kirito mused
"Qrow definitely taught her well." Yang nodded
"Qrow huh." Kirito said to himself
"You still want a rematch" Yang chuckled
One year ago…..
Kirito didn't think that winning the first year tournament would be that difficult. At Least he hadn't after the first few rounds. He had blazed through them. Not even the overconfident Cardin Winchester had been able to slow him down. Kirito had broken down his aura with just two attacks. That had been in the semi-finals and all his hard work had led up to his match against Yang. Yang had been his training partner for years before going to signal and now they were at the end of the first year and they were facing off. Kirito was obviously prepared for a challenge. The fight had begun fifteen minutes ago and the two had only been able to chip away at each others aura since the beginning of the fight. Kirito hadn't been able to land any solid hits through Yang's defence whereas Yang hadn't been able to hit him due to him dodging all her hits. Kirito stared at his opponent and waited for her to make a move. Both of their aura's where in the Yellow and one more hit on either of them would surely drop it into the red. Both combatants where frozen on opposite end of the arena. Each waiting for the other to make a move. Even the audience was dead tension throughout the entire fight had been so thick not even a knife could cut through it. Eventually however Yang smirked and used her Gauntlets to launch herself at Kirito hoping to end it with one final blow. This however had been the opening Kirito had been waiting for. As Yang drew closer Kirito dashed to the side causing her to miss her punch. Kirito quickly followed up with a downward slash from his right sword. Yang had turned around to block but that's when kirito pulled down a trigger under the handguard of his right sword causing a wave of ice to launch from the sword and freeze her in place. Kirito then followed up with a slash from his left sword pulling the trigger on it as well igniting the blade in flames. The hit connected shattering the ice that Yang was trapped in and sent her flying towards the wall and in turn breaking her aura.
"Stop!. Yangs aura has been broken so that means the winner of this years first year tournament is Kirito!" Taiyang announced
The audience erupted in cheers as the fight winner was declared. Kirito let out a few deep breaths while taking in the fact that the fight was over. He then remembered the girl he had just beaten and walked over to her. He held out a hand to help her up which the girl gladly took,
"That was one hell of a fight" She told him
"No kidding that could've gone either way at the end there" Kirito agreed
"I think it could've gone either way during the whole fight"She observed "You named that new skill you used at the end there?" Yang asked
"Yeah i call it double circular. It's the fastest skill I had" He admitted while rubbing the back of his neck
"Congratulations to both of you. It was a great fight" Taiyang congratulated walking over
"Thanks Tai" Kirito nodded
"Well Kirito you won. So you get to pick a member of staff to spar against." The elder Xiao long reminded Kirito Who's your pick?" Tai asked
Kirito didn't even need to think about his answer. His eyes darted around the room looking for his opponent and then he found him. The figure stood in a corner. A flask containing some form of alcoholic drink in his hand. His red eyes looking directly at Kirito. He caught Kirito's gaze before chuckling and taking a sip from his flask.
"I wanna fight Professor Branwen" Kirito announced confidently
This caused the members of the audience to whisper excitedly to themselves. Professor Branwen or as he was known to many others, Qrow Branwen , was the combat teacher at signal. Not many knew how good he actually was but they knew one thing and that was that his lessons where brutal. So seeing someone actually challenge the guy might as well have been a death sentence to them. But not to Kirito. Kirito had wanted this fight ever since Qrow had saved him in the woods. Qrow finished taking a drink from his flask before responding.
"Your on kid, But don't think i'll go easy on you." The Professor Responded
"Don't worry old guy. I'll try not to hurt you too bad" Kirito shot back
"Ha. Your good at before fight trash talk kid i'll give you that. Meet me back here in half an hour" Qrow told him
Kirito just nodded as he watched the Professor walk away. He then sighed before turning and facing Yang who was looking at him like he was crazy. Tai was also giving him the same expression. Come to think of it, everyone in the room kinda was
"What?" The swordsman asked concerned
"Are you kidding. You're gonna fight uncle Qrow." Yang said with wide eyes "You haven't even recovered from our fight yet"
"I'll be fine. What's the worst that can happen " Kirito chuckled
"Kid. I am sorry for what's about to happen to you" Tai told him with a knowing smile on his face
"Im screwed aren't I?" Kirito asked. Tai being Qrow's old teammate meant he knew how the old man fought best of all. So if he thought Kirito was in trouble then it came from a good source
"In every sense of the word" Yang laughed
"Well if I die it was nice knowing you all" Kirito chuckled. A nervous smile on the swordsman's face
Kirito stood in the center of the arena. It had been around twenty-nine minutes since Qrow had gone to prepare. His eyes closed tuning out all sounds from around him. His thoughts focused on one goal defeating qrow "Alright from how i've seen Qrow fight before there are two ways i can begin." He thought to himself, "If he starts on the offence then I should easily be able to cut him off with Cross Block and catch him off guard but if he doesn't and he goes on the defense then i should start with double circular to close the gap and then try and transition into another skill. Either way if i predict his moves wrong just once it might as well be over right there and with someone as skillful as Qrow predicting his moves is gonna be difficult but it's my only chance"
He was snapped from his thoughts from the door in front of him opening. He could hear footsteps from within and eyed the door intently. Eventually Qrow casually walked out of the door doing his normal drunken walk. Kirito wouldn't be deceived though. He knew it was an act to get his guard down... or at least it could have been, it was hard to tell with Qrow sometimes.
"You sure you want to do this Kid. You can still back out if you want to" Qrow offered. A confident smirk present as he reached for his weapon
"No chance Old man, I've been waiting for this for a long time and i'm not gonna back down now" Kirito shot back with a smirk of his own.
"Alright then your funeral. Such a shame since i helped you avoid it the first time " Qrow chuckled.
Qrow then drew the sword that was placed on his lower back from it's hilt. The gray blade was an intimidating sight. Even for Kirito. The black swordsman responded by reaching for his twin blades that where on his back and drawing them. "Time to Choose, It's now or never".
Qrow simply stood in a neutral stance. His sword in his right hand angled towards the ground. Kirito breathed heavily before. He got into a stance. He leant forward and angled his arms downwards his swords angled behind his back. Both combatants stared each other in the eyes trying to figure out what the other was planning.
"Alright. Standard rules. Stop when one of your Aura's hit the red. Is that clear?" Taiyang asked to which both combatants nodded "Ok then. Begin!" He declared
As soon as he was given the all clear Kirito Launched himself forward. He raised his right sword and slashed upwards to the left. Qrow had predicted this move however and raised his sword to blocked the first slash "Dammit!" Kirito thought to himself before quickly raising his left sword above his head and slashing down to complete double circular which Qrow blocked easily. Qrow took full advantage of the small delay after Kirito used his skills and slashed at Kirito. One slash was all it took to launch Kirito across the arena and into a wall. Kirito groaned in pain as he stood back up. He quickly gazed at the monitor and noted that his aura had dropped into the yellow from just one attack. He didn't have time to properly process the information before Qrow was already on top of him. Kirito jumped left to avoid Qrows stab before quickly raising his swords to block a down slash from Qrow. However Qrow's eyes widened as he saw Kirito's swords glowing. Kirito smirked before using Qrow's momentum against him and launching him back to the middle of the arena. Cross Block was a useful skill with one of it's best points being he didn't have to get into a stance before using it. Kirito charged forward his swords glowing once again he spun himself around and slashed at Qrow with his right sword. Qrow blocked one again however this attack was a lot stronger than Kirito's previous one and knocked his sword out of the way before slashing sideways again with his left sword. The hit connected successfully causing Qrow to be knocked back. This skill was another one of Kirito's two hit skills. He called this one End Revolver. Kirito quickly glanced at the monitor again and noticed that it barely did anything to Qrow's aura. "Dammit at this rate there's only one skill i have that can do enough damage to win this, but i've never tested it against another person before. But it's the only move i've got" The Black Swordsman thought to himself. He quickly got into the stance for another skill. This one took longer than his others to charge up however. Qrow rushed in prepared to get a free hit on the swordsman. His attack was about to connect when Kirito unleashed the skill. It started with one downward slash from the right sword. Qrow slashed upwards meeting the first slash of the skill. Kirito then slashed down quickly with his left sword, Qrow had learned from the last skill however and jumped back to avoid the second slash. "Gotcha" Kirito thought to himself and launched himself towards Qrow. Qrow had thought the skill was over after the second hit and was caught off guard when the skill continued for a third downward strike which managed to connect followed by a fourth slash of the same kind. Qrow jumped back to give himself some distance from the Black Swordsman. He stared at Kirito for a second before chuckling
"Well kid. You got me there. A four parter?. That's gotta be a first" The teacher chuckled
"It was my best shot and yeah it's new. I broke one of Tais practice dummies the first time I used it though. I call it Countless Spike" Kirito explained
"Not bad kid but it's time we end this!" Qrow declared a serious look suddenly appearing on his face before charging
Kirito and Qrow charged at each other. Qrow was moving a lot faster than he was before. It caught Kirito off guard. Kirito pulled the trigger of his right sword and slashed before he made contact with Qrow. The wave of ice that emerged from the blade froze one of Qrow's feet causing the huntsman to Almost trip. Kirito then jumped in the air and pulled the trigger of his left sword igniting the sword before he slashed with it. The wave of fire hit Qrow causing a large dust cloud to be kicked up around the Huntsman. However the Huntsman wasn't out of the fight yet. Kirito hadn't even landed from his jump when Qrow burst out from the dust cloud and slashed The Black Swordsman in the chest. The resulting impact sent Kirito flying into the wall. Creating a Kirito shaped dent in the wall. The boy slid down to the ground and groaned in pain. He glanced up and saw his Aura was in the red.
"Stop!. Kirito's aura has hit the Red which means Professor Branwen takes the match" Tai announced
Kirito just sat there and soaked in the information. He had lost. Sure winning was next to impossible but Kirito had seriously thought that he could do it. He was snapped out of his thoughts by a shadow falling over him. He looked up and he saw Qrow outstretching his hand. Kirito took the hand and Qrow pulled him up. "That was a good match kid. I definitely underestimated you" The older huntsman told him
"How did you recover from that ice attack so fast?. I thought that would have stunned you for way longer?" Kirito Questioned
"Simple, when you launched the fire attacked i moved so it hit the ice and let me get free. Sure I still took the hit but it let me get the win" Qrow explained
"Great, looks like I've still got a long way to go" Kirito sighed
"Don't worry about it kid. Maybe if you win the second year tournament you'll get another shot. Until then maybe think about getting more the one charge for the dust features on your swords" Qrow advised walking away as he did so
"Food smells great Dad" Yang complimented as She and Kirito walked into the house "What's for dinner?"
The House was pretty spacious for what looked like a cabin on the outside and it was emphasised by the size of the kitchen. The fact that the room had enough space to cook and for the dining table showed this off best.
"The famous Xiao-long curry of course" Tai explained not looking up from what he was doing
"Great im starved" Yang groaned with an exhausted look on her face
"Well why don't you two go and ditch your combat gear and wash up and i'll call you two when dinners ready? " Tai suggested "How did training go by the way. Any idea if Rubes' theory is correct?"
"It looks like it. Double circular comes out way quicker than it did back at the end of our first year at signal." Kirito explained
"That's great. It's another way for you to hone your skills." Tai observed
"You ok if i take the shower first Kirito?" Yang asked the swordsman
"No worries, i wanna check something out online anyways" Kirito told her
Kirito sat quietly in his room scrolling through the internet. Tai had been kind enough to give him the spare room of the house. He had taken off his coat,The item in question was now hanging on the back of the door and was now just wearing a plain black shirt and a pair of black jeans. The family dog, Zwei , was asleep on the bed behind him. Snoring quietly. Kirito took a sip of his coffee as he scrolled through articles. He did this alot. Read articles about new weapon parts , New training equipment or awards being given to various huntsmen. If he was going to be the best Kirito had figured he had to know as much as possible. He stopped scrolling when he noticed an article that related to Patch. It was talking about how Grimm activity had apparently increased by thirty percent in the last week on the island with no known cause. Tai had actually briefly mentioned this to him earlier and how he had to leave on a mission tomorrow. Kirito red the article and observed that increased seismic activity had attracted the grimm. It was a dumb theory in Kirito's mind. The only thing that was confirmed to attract the Grimm where negative emotions. He was about to click off when there was a knock at the door.
"It's open!" He called
The door opened and Yang walked in. She wore her typical bed wear and was holding a plate of food "Figured you'd want some food since you forgot to come down earlier" She told him placing the plate and cup on his desk
"Thanks. Sorry i guess i got distracted" The black swordsman let out and embarrassed chuckle
"What was distracting you enough to ignore food, Especially dad's cooking?" The older girl asked
"This actually. Check it out. The amount of grimm activity on the island has increased a lot in the last week" Kirito told her
"Why has that got you interested. Grimm rates fluctuate all the time?" Yang asked confused
"You know how Tai is leaving on a mission tomorrow and he said it's related to a lot of Grimm. I'm pretty sure this is what he's dealing with, but what's really bothering me is the cause they blame it on. Increased seismic activity?. Something about that seems off. Grimm don't usually worry about earthquakes. I think something biggers going on" Kirito told her
"I think you're overthinking it. Whatever it is i'm sure the huntsmen have got it covered" Yang told him
"Maybe" Was the swordsman's only reply "Anyways thanks for the food. I'm gonna eat then head to bed." Kirito explained
"Got it and don't stay up to late. I want to get some early morning training in tommorow" The brawler told him
"yes ma'am" Kirito saluted
Tai had gotten the three younger residents of the house up early the next day, He was leaving earlier so he wanted to give them one of his famous briefing's that he regularly gave before he left
"Alright. I'm heading out. Are you guys sure your gonna be ok?" Tai asked. Tai wasn't usually overprotective and even when he was, he was usually more worried about something getting broken
"Dad we'll be fine." Ruby told the elder Xiao long
"Alright, Alright" The man chuckled. Smiling at his youngest daughter "Oh and Kirito's in charge" He added quickly
"You got it boss" Kirito mock saluted with a smile on his face
"What, why him?" Yang asked confused
"Because he's the least likely to break a window out of you three" Tai pointed out
"But he broke the training dummy" Ruby argued
"You and Yang broke the tv" He countered. The two girls immediately stopped arguing after that and Tai chuckled to himself. "Alright i'll see you all later"
"Later tai" Kirito waved
"Stay safe" The elder Xiao Long looked around the house one more time making sure everything was in order before exiting the house,closing the door behind him.
"Hey Kirito do you think i can fight you again today?" Ruby asked the swordsman hopefully
"Sure kid, I got something i wanna try out today so I'm more than willing to take you on. As long as you're prepared to lose that is" Kirito agreed
"No way you're going down this time" Ruby countered before running outside
The Huntsman and Huntresses in training stood outside the house preparing for training, The process was normal at this point. They had done it regularly for a few years at this point. Although Ruby had only joined them recently. Kirito and Ruby where stood on opposite ends of the houses garden getting ready to fight each other
"Alright you guys know the rules already right?" Yang asked
"Ugh, Yang of course we know them, You've only explained them a hundred times" Ruby groaned
"Alright Rubes down. Yang chuckled
"Before we start fighting i actually wanna change things up a bit this time" Kirito told them
"What do you mean?" Yang asked
"Now that we know that my skills get better the more I use them. I want to try and integrate them into my fighting style more. So in this fight. I'm only allowed to attack with skills. Got it?. If I use any attack that isn't a skill or i use my swords dust features outside of a skill, I lose" Kirito told them
"Ok sure, I'll keep an eye out for that. Anyways are you guys ready?" Yang asked. The Swordsman and the Reaper quickly walked to opposing sides of the area. Kirito unsheathed both of his swords from his back while Ruby unfolded Crescent rose. Both combatants had a focused look on their faces as they tried to figure out what the other would do. "Allright go for it!" Yang yelled
Kirito immediately launched forward both his swords glowing he closed the gap between the two fighters. Ruby quickly slashed in an arc with crescent rose. Kirito was forced to cancel his skill by the defensive attack and had to block the the hit. The scythe hit hard against the his sword knocking him back a few feet. Ruby kept up the offensive and slashed downwards with her scythe. Kirito crossed his swords quickly triggering cross block and used it to block the attack, He then quickly pushed the Red Reaper back and triggered another skill. He quickly slashed down with his right sword before slashing across with his left. The first hit connected but Ruby quickly jumped back to avoid the second. Kirito smirked at this however and quickly pulled the trigger under his sword launching an ice attack at Ruby. Her eyes widened as the attack connected freezing her feet to the ground. "It's now or never" The swordsman thought to himself. He quickly got into stance and his swords began to glow indicating that the skill was charging. Ruby eyes went wide as she desperately tried to free herself from the ice. It wasn't long however until Kirito launched himself forward. His left sword raised to attack. Ruby reacted by firing at Kirito with Crescent Rose. His aura protected him from any real damage but the shot caught his leg causing the swordsman to trip over. He quickly stood up and re-positioned himself The two stood silent trying to figure out the others next move.
Before anything could continue a loud screech echoed through the tree's. The two immediately stopped their fight and looked in the direction of the screech. The huntsman and huntresses looked at each other with worried looks on their faces. "Um guys, What was that?" Ruby asked
"Nothing good i'll tell you that" Yang stated changing ember celica into their gauntlett forms ready for a fight
"There's only a couple of Grimm that could make a screech that loud" Kirito mused
"I don't get it. We've never had a Grimm that large on the island before, only Ursa's and Beowolves" Yang told him "Neither of those make that kind of noise
Tree's began to topple in the distance and the grimm was now heading their way. The ground began to shake under their feet as it approached. The vibrations grew more and more intense as the creature neared. "Ruby get behind me!" Yang yelled. The red huntress tried to move but the ice around her feet prevented her from doing so. Instead she stood her ground , planting the tip of crescent rose into the ground and aiming her sniper at whatever was coming through the tree's. Only a second later a giant creature burst into the garden. It was a scorpion like was pitch black and had white bonelike plates with blood red marking's all over its body. It had two large pincers each larger than an average huntsman and ten blood red eyes. It's most prominent feature however was the bright yellow stinger on its tail. It was a creature of grimm known as a Deathstalker.
"What the hell is a Deathstalker doing here?" Kirito Questioned before raising both his swords
"No idea but we have to hold it off until Ruby can get herself free and get away" Yang explained. Her tone a long way from her normal cheerful tone. Not that it was strange. It was unlikely anyone would be cheerful during a Deathstalker attack. "You ready Kirito?" Yang asked the boy
Kirito didn't have time to respond before the Deathstalker noticed them and then let out a roar. It began to move towards them it's red eyes glowing. Yang punched forward twice with ember celica shooting shotgun shells at it and Ruby fired a shot from crescent rose at the grim. The shots didn't even phase the creature bouncing off the plates on its body. Yang and Kirito where shocked at how powerful the creature was. Yang's gauntlets where often enough to take out beowolves in one or two hits but they barely phased this thing and Ruby's sniper shot's spoke for themselves on how powerful they where. Kirito snapped out of it first and launched himself forward a sword skill already charged. He slashed down the first hit connecting with the creatures bonelike armour. The creature however wasn't harmed by the attack and simply batted Kirito to the side with it's large pincer. The boy was sent flying and smashed into one of the walls of the house. The impact completely shattering his aura
"Kirito!" Ruby cried concerned for her friend. Yang looked at her defeated friend before turning to the creature. She closed her eyes and kept them that way for a few seconds before opening them. Her eyes changing from their normal lilac colour to a bright red. Furious at the creature she thrust her gauntlets behind her and fired using the power to throw herself through the air at the creature. She reached the creature and punched it's back using the force from her launch and another shotgun shell from Ember Celica. The hit cracked the creature's plating causing it to roar in pain. It took a few steps back before looking at Yang. Quick as a flash it used one of it's pincers to pick her up and it started to squeeze. Yang tried to break free punching the pincer multiple times to no avail. Her aura was about to break under the pressure until a bullet tore through the creatures pincer severing it completely. The creature let out a screech of agony as it's pincer and Yang fell to the ground.
It looked at where the bullet had come from and saw Ruby with Crescent Rose still aimed at it. The creature roared and began to move towards the huntress-in-training. Ruby tried to move but her feet where still frozen from Kirito's earlier ice attack. Yang yelled for her sister to move but with the ice around her feet she just couldn't. The creature was right in front of her in no time at all. Ruby looked up at the terrifying creature in fear. The creature roared before raising it's stinger going in for the kill. Ruby flinched and braced for impact. She heard the creature shriek and the sound of footsteps running. She then heard the stinger make impact but it didn't hit her. She opened her silver eyes before having her scared look be replaced with one of horror. The stinger had been stopped by Kirito but it had gone straight into his chest. The boy fell to the ground. The last things He saw were Ruby's worried face and a crow flying out of the tree behind the Grimm.
Until everything instantly went black
Kazuto woke up with a start. His hand instantly went to his chest, The boy didn't know why but it was like he did it out of some sort of panic. He was breathing heavily and his eyes were wide. He looked around and took in his surroundings. He was still in Rath's lab. Then. For some reason that not even he could explain. A tear fell from his right eye. He couldn't explain it but it felt like he had just, or rather almost lost something very important to him.