"Sorry kid, that just wasn't gonna happen," They were both back at the bar now, after Percy had finished picking his co-workers off the street. Percy ignored his wound — scratch, really — and ordered a drink. The bartender looked confused, likely as to why he was drinking with the mysterious man who he had just fought, but Percy wasn't too worried, he wouldn't actually do anything.
"Don't get me wrong, you're strong. Way stronger than anyone your age has the right to be, to be honest, but I'm a veteran huntsman. It's my fault for not taking you seriously at first, but if I did I would've laid you out flat."
"Huntsman?"
Qrow looked at him like he just said the sky was orange. "Seriously? You don't know what a huntsman is? Kids these days…" it prompted him to take a heavy chug from his drink, and Percy shrugged helplessly.
"I was raised in a small village just west of here. Never really saw the outside world until a couple weeks ago."
Qrow frowned. "That explains why you don't have aura, but what it doesn't explain is how goddamn good you are. You trained by your old man or something?"
Percy shook his head, deciding to tell the truth. Whether he intentionally didn't mention a few things or not was nobody's business but his.
"I've only talked to my dad a few times. He's strong, one of the strongest people I know, but he didn't train me. I had a mentor train me from the age of twelve, though."
Qrow sighed, downing the rest of his drink and signaling for another from the bartender, who was still giving him some weird looks.
"He must have been some former huntsman or something. Still, since you were twelve? That's pretty metal. It's not too unusual to go to prep schools at that age, but it sounds like you've been constantly put to the grinder since then."
Percy nodded. It was more or less true.
"Yeah, killed my first grimm at twelve, before I got training. Since then I've been training or fighting them pretty much non-stop."
Qrow whistled. "Tough, kid. Sounds like you had your hands full. So, how'd you go from pseudo huntsman to criminal?"
Percy let out a wistful sigh at that. "Not exactly by choice. I don't know if you've noticed, but things aren't exactly going well here. I arrived at the city a couple weeks ago. I was recommended to the boss, did a job, and was offered a place. I didn't have many other options." he admitted.
Qrow hid his scowl behind his drink. "That's fucked. Just a little, though. Your boss doesn't realize you can fight, does he? Aura or not, you're the kind of guy thugs like him would kill for. Pay someone to unlock your aura, point you at a rival family, and they're gone. Don't get me wrong, you're not at my level yet, but give it a year and some actual, proper training, and you'd be unstoppable."
Percy's eyes lit up. "Would you? Train me, I mean. I don't even know what aura is, and there's a reason I haven't made a showcase of my skills. I don't want to be used for destruction like that. I'd rather stay under the radar. I haven't met anyone not in my family that could beat me in… Ever."
Qrow scoffed. "Sorry. I like you kid, but I don't have time for that. I'm on a mission, I don't have time to train mini thugs."
Percy wet his lips. "What's your mission? You said it yourself, I'm strong. I can help you."
Qrow was about to shoot down the offer when he paused for a moment. "The Branwen tribe. I'm looking for it. A bunch of bandits that roam the countryside looking for villages to raid. Find out where they are, and I can spend the time you saved me training you."
Percy nodded. "Done. I'll see what I can do. At the very least I have a foot in the door, I'll try and get you that location. Stay here for tonight, I'll talk to the boss when he gets back. Tomorrow morning say, nine, meet me down here. I work the night but I have tomorrow morning off."
Qrow shrugged. "I needed a place to stay anyway and this place is as good as any. Just a warning though, if you don't have my answer tomorrow, I'm gone. I can't afford to sit around."
Percy nodded. "I'll have it tomorrow."
He was bluffing, but he hoped Aspro would know. He had connections… right?
They spent most of the rest of the night drinking, until Aspro walked through late that night, the same fat lady from weeks ago trailing after him, looking just slightly pissed.
Percy waited a few minutes before excusing himself. Walking over to the back door, he walked into the room. The two crime lords seemed to be in a staring contest, and there were only a few guards. Two for Aspro and one for the fat lady.
Aspro's eyes gained a glint when he saw Percy walk through the door.
"Ah, Percy, excellent timing. Please show Lil' Miss Malachite here to a room. One of the VIP suites on the third floor."
Percy nodded, feeling as though he was being thrown to the wolves.
"Sure. You mind staying around for a minute? I need some information tonight." he told him.
Aspro frowned. "I'll be preoccupied. Find your information somewhere else." he dismissed.
Percy sighed. It looked like he would need to find another way to get the information. But he needed this information tonight. He had never met a mortal who could do anything like Qrow could. He knew he had every natural advantage, and Qrow had still put him on his back. If he could learn from someone like that, it would set him forward leaps and bounds. He didn't want to waste the opportunity
"Right this way, ma'am." Percy directed the fat lady. Lil' Miss Malachite, Aspro had called her. That seemed like one of those stereotypical villain names that was made to sound non-threatening, so that when they handed the hero their ass it was even more embarrassing.
He led her up a couple sets of stairs in silence. He could tell that she was hardly pleased at the prospect, but she remained silent, her one guard trailing behind her.
Seconds later they were on the third floor, and Percy picked out two rooms. Using the master key that all of Aspro's henchmen had on them, Percy unlocked two rooms. The keys for the tenants would be on the inside.
"Here are your rooms, is there anything else I can help you with?"
"The second room won't be necessary. I'll be standing guard." her own henchman stepped forward.
Shrugging, Percy locked the second door again. To each their own.
"Anything else?" he asked.
"Yes, actually," Malachite smiled slightly. "You said you're looking for information, hm? I'm an information broker, I may be able to provide."
Percy raised an eyebrow. "How much?"
"How loyal are you to Aspro?" she asked instead.
Percy's eyes narrowed. He wasn't sure he liked where this was going. Then again, he wasn't sure he hated it either.
"He pays the bills." He answered cautiously.
Apparently, that was the right answer, because she gave a small grin, showing teeth.
"Well then, how about a little exchange. I'll pay you five thousand lien for your scroll number," she pulled some money out of a pocket on her dress, and Percy's eyes widened. He wasn't exactly hurting for lien, but he wasn't naive enough to think he would never need it, either. "And I'll give you your information for a little favor. Just one request, when I call. But I will call."
So she was bribing him to take down Aspro when she wanted to. He thought back to Bruce's warning… Yeah, he was in.
Reaching his hand over, he took the lien, handing her his scroll. She seemed pleased by this, and her eyes lit up.
"Well then, I hope we can do business in the future," she paused for a moment, as if deliberating whether or not to say something. "You know, Aspro has been harassing some of my agents passing through the area recently. That control over the gate has him in a good position, but there are always ways to remove problems. What I want is another boss in charge of the area, one who won't harass my agents. But I don't want to make any of the other families in Windpath stronger either, they're getting big for their boots as it is. So, if Aspro were to be replaced, I would need it to be by someone I'm on good terms with, but someone that can defend the territory. Now, I heard about someone who fought one on one with a legendary huntsman without an aura. Someone like that would certainly be strong enough, don't you think?"
Percy's eyes widened, and his mouth felt dry. Was she… suggesting what he thought she was suggesting.
"Yeah… I guess they would..." he said.
"If you ever meet that young man, tell him that there might be a job opening for him very, very soon. All he needs to do is seize the opportunity."
Percy nodded, having zero illusion that she didn't know she was talking to him. "Will do," he answered sarcastically.
"Now, what is this information I can help you with?"
"The location of the Branwen tribe." he said, remembering the name that Qrow had told him.
Lil' Miss Malachite laughed a big, ugly laugh.
"I don't believe it. Aspro was always an idiot, but he sealed his own doom by neglecting an employee over something as simple as that. He deserves to go down, never doubt that kid," she shook her head. "Jonathan, do me a favor and tell our friend what he wants to hear." she said, heading into her room.
Jonathan grunted. "Branwen tribe, right? That should be simple enough, let me make a call."
He pulled out his scroll and called someone, asking for the location of the tribe. He ended the call seconds later.
"Pull out the map on your scroll."
Percy did.
"They'll be quite a bit southwest of Kuchinashi at the moment, here." he marked the spot on Percy's map.
Percy nodded, putting away his scroll. He couldn't conceal his grin. "Thanks. Have a good night." He waved, walking away from the man and feeling like he'd made a deal with the devil.
Making his way back down the stairs, he passed through Aspro's room to see the man was already gone, likely bedding another girl he had paid, or who was trying to get into his good graces.
Peeking his head out the door leading to the bar, he was disappointed to see Qrow was gone, and had likely turned in for the night.
Shrugging, he turned back to go to his own bed. It's not like Qrow would want to act on the information tonight anyways, he would deal with him in the morning.
Nine hours later he was sitting in the tavern restaurant eating breakfast. It was an hour before he and Qrow agreed to meet, but he was hungry and didn't see the point in waiting. Apparently Qrow thought the same because minutes later he sat in front of Percy with some eggs and toast.
Percy shared a nod with the huntsman as he sat down.
"So, got what I need?" Qrow asked.
Percy nodded again, swallowing some slightly burnt toast — damn Mavro and his cooking — and pulling out his scroll. Navigating to the map, he pulled it up and showed it to Qrow.
Qrow whistled. "Damn kid, I didn't expect you to get something like this that quickly. You're just a grunt, right?"
Percy shrugged. "I owe some dangerous people a favor, but it'll be worth it."
Qrow just shook his head. "I regret asking you, to be honest. I need to leave today to get to them. Right after breakfast, actually. They're a lot closer than I thought they would be, and I can't afford to waste this opportunity. As soon as I'm done with my business there I'll come right back though. You mind?" he asked, gesturing to Percy's scroll.
Shrugging, he pulled up the coordinates of the tribe and handed it to Qrow, who put it into his own.
"How long will you train me for?" Percy asked, taking back his scroll once Qrow was done with it.
He got a shrug in return. "A couple weeks is probably the most I can spare. I'm a busy man, but I owe you a week at the least. Plus, you're interesting, which gets you the other week."
Percy snickered. "I've heard that more than once," he said.
Qrow grinned diminutively. "I'll bet you have. I would unlock your aura now, but that'll take some juice and I'll need all of it where I'm going. When I get back, prepare to be worked to the bone. See if you can take some time off 'work' too, I'm not gonna waste my time training you around your shift."
Percy nodded. "I've only been working for him for a couple weeks so I doubt I can get two off, but I'll try and make it so all my guard duty is late at night so it won't interfere. Nobody wants the night shift so it shouldn't be too hard," he said.
Qrow grunted, setting his fork down. "Good enough. Give me three days tops and I'll be back."
Percy raised an eyebrow. "You're gonna get to the tribe and back in three days? You planning to teleport, or just speedwalk?"
Qrow looked unimpressed. "You know what a bullhead is, right?"
Percy's silence was telling.
"Fuckin' a, kid. If I had the time I'd tutor you, but there's no way I'm wasting my time with a lost cause like that."
Percy laughed. "Also not the first time I've heard that."
Qrow rolled his eyes and stood up. "Yeah, well whatever. See you in a few days kid." he said, tossing a few lien on the table to pay for his meal with a generous tip.
Percy watched Qrow walk out of the diner. It would be… interesting, being the student instead of the teacher again after so many years of teaching others how to fight. He was still astounded that a mortal could beat him in one on one combat, without a gun nonetheless. He knew whatever shield he had — Aura, he'd called it — had played a large part, but even so for a mortal in this world to not only match him blade to blade but win?
Even without Percy using his powers, even with the element of surprise, even with Aura, he knew he could learn something from the man.
Shrugging, Percy made to stand up when he noticed someone else was now sitting in Qrow's chair and nearly jumped out of his own seat.
Sitting across from him at the table was God, now picking at Qrow's remaining breakfast.
"Fuck, dude, you've really gotta stop appearing out of nowhere." Percy scolded him, the fact he was scolding an infinitely powerful being not slipping past him.
"But it's funny." said Oum, shoving a fork full of eggs into his mouth. Percy swore he could see a hidden smile on the man's smug face as he shoved a load of eggs into his mouth.
Percy shook his head, settling back into his seat.
"So, what's up." Was Percy's amazing conversation starter.
Oum shrugged and yawned. "Tired." was his curt response.
"You can get tired?" Percy asked.
"Yeah," Oum decided not to elaborate.
Percy shook his head, he'd never get a straight answer out of the guy.
"Hey, can you get me a coffee?" asked Oum.
"Can you not get one? Or… summon one, or something?" Percy asked.
Oum shrugged again. "Summoning one feels like cheating, and they can't see me. They just see you sitting alone in silence."
Percy shrugged, ignoring that it probably made him seem like a weirdo to be sitting at the table alone for so long, not even eating.
Calling over a barmaid — tavernmaid? — he got a coffee for the deity, watching in fascination as he downed the entire thing in several large gulps.
"Alright…" Percy trailed off. The eccentric God appeared when he wanted, and it seemed like he was perfectly fine to sit in silence, so Percy remained quiet for several seconds.
"Hey Oum... what's Aura?" Percy's curiosity eventually gnawed at him, deciding that if he had an infinite encyclopedia about everything here sitting across from him that he may as well ask some of the questions he had.
Oum paused at that. "Call me Monty. And Aura is the manifestation of the soul. It acts as a defense against damage your body would take, like a shield, and heals any injuries that get past it."
Percy hummed. "I wasn't born in this universe, so do I even have an aura?" he asked, ignoring that God apparently had a first name. It wouldn't be the first time. Phoebus Apollo, Phoebe Artemis, Pallas Athena. It wasn't that weird, he guessed, just a first time for a capital 'G' God, not that he had ever met one before.
Monty considered that for a moment. "I think so. I can sense the root of your being, which is essentially a soul. It means you should have a semblance, too."
Percy raised an eyebrow. "Semblance?"
"A magical power that each person has. It's tied to their soul, and doesn't appear until after someone's aura is unlocked." he explained.
Percy nodded. "In the universe I come from, I'm the son of a god. I have some abilities from that, would that be like a semblance?"
Monty stared at him for a moment. "You know what, I'm not even surprised. It might explain why your soul is that stupidly bright. But if that's the case, well… I'm not sure. A semblance is directly tied to your soul, and if you're a god-"
"Half god." Percy corrected.
"If you're half god, then your powers are connected to the very essence of your being. I wouldn't be too surprised if your abilities work in a similar way to a semblance, meaning you wouldn't have another."
Percy shrugged. "Gotta be honest, I'm fine with that. I don't need more power, my current amount has caused more than enough trouble thank you very much."
Monty smiled. "Fair enough."
Percy leaned back and thought about what he had just learned for a few minutes. No matter which way he looked at it, there was one conclusion he came to; He couldn't wait to start training with Qrow.
They sat there in silence for a long time. Percy noticed that no matter how much Monty ate there always seemed to be more eggs on the plate, and he never seemed to get full.
Checking his scroll, he noticed it was getting close to ten — they had been sitting there in silence for more than an hour now. It didn't help that Percy really would have felt awkward making up some excuse to leave the God eating at the table, when he knew for a fact Monty could tell he just went back to his room to read up on news or something.
Sue him, he needed to do hours of homework a day to make sure that what was common knowledge for everyone else wouldn't catch him off guard.
Things like 'hey, hear about that white fang protest the other day?' were commonplace for smalltalk, and asking 'what the hell is a white fang?' would not be the most normal response.
"I've gotta go, my shift starts in a few minutes." Percy excused himself, standing up. He didn't even want to think about how weird he looked sitting at his table in silence, not eating for more than an hour.
Monty nodded. "See ya later." he waved, seeming perfectly content to keep eating his eggs.
Percy rolled his eyes before slipping on his cliche sunglasses, heading back to his usual area for another boring day guarding the boss.
Percy walked in and wordlessly took his place in a corner of the room, nodding at another goon who switched out with him, his shift over. Percy frowned when he noticed that he was the only guard in the room. Normally there were several, but the only other guard he had seen today was the guy who he'd relieved.
Aspro was sitting on the couch, scroll in hand, flicking through some things and at other times typing things in, likely texting people. It was incredibly boring being the lackey to a mob boss that had so little to do. He honestly wondered how Aspro survived doing nothing for so long, but Percy wasn't much better considering he had no friends in this world, and no hobbies. He wasn't much in the place to judge.
"Hey kid. Take a seat." Percy was shaken out of his thoughts by Aspro, who seemed to notice him in the corner.
Cautiously, Percy approached the couch and sat down opposite Aspro, who was lighting a cigar.
"Staff is a little light today. A meeting I was in yesterday went bad. Most of my detail didn't make it out." he revealed, the very epitome of calm, while Percy froze.
"Which means I need a new enforcer. I could choose the most senior of my guys, most loyal, whatever. But to be honest, I'm surrounded by idiots for the most part. You're the only one who's single handedly gotten me results so far, so I decided to give you a test run. You're in charge of my detail, as well as new recruitment, and keeping operations safe and well… operating. I'll send all the information you need to your scroll. Don't fuck this up."
Percy blinked. That was… Unexpected. That would make a lot of things easier, to be honest. He wasn't a fan of the added responsibility, but it wouldn't be harder than when he was supposed to be a boss himself. This way he also had some very limited influence on what the gang did. He could limit harm to any civilians and generally make the place more civilized.
That also meant Bruce was dead, though. Despite his best efforts, he had become a bit attached to the man. He wasn't a good person, but Percy would miss him all the same. After all, if Brunnis was a bad person, then wasn't Percy too?
"Now have a drink." Aspro ordered, gesturing to the bourbon sitting on the table. Shrugging, Percy poured himself a drink, sitting back and relaxing while 'guarding' his boss.
HR
Three days later and Percy was anxiously awaiting Qrow's arrival. He had been busy the last few days so that he wouldn't be pressed when Qrow showed up. He had hired half a dozen new guards, guarded a drug shipment, and worked out new schedules for the new guards. Aspro seemed to be more or less impressed, or at least content, with his performance as he had yet to say anything.
Overall, things were slightly less boring but still much slower than he was used to. Recruiting new people or running jobs gave him some small amount of agency, but basically nothing was going on. No cops would try to raid them, no other gangs were in conflict with them, as attacking the gang in charge of the gate would quickly draw the ire of the other major gangs. In short, Percy was again a glorified piece of furniture. He was there to look nice, but not really do anything.
He had asked about the meeting getting crashed the other day, eager to have something to do, but had been told to ignore it; that retaliation would only be an escalation. Percy honestly felt the tactic was kind of cowardly, but kept his mouth shut. He would get his turn in the driver's seat eventually, if 'Lil Miss Malachite was to be believed.
But that wasn't what he cared about now. Now he cared about seeing Qrow so he could train. He knew the likelihood of training immediately after Qrow got back was unlikely, but Qrow was an interesting guy anyway. Even if he just had a drink with Qrow tonight it would honestly be the highlight of the day. He was bored, and had nothing other than work.
Qrow broke that monotony. Percy had a certain camaraderie with him that he'd only ever had with people he'd fought against. Oum — Monty, whatever — broke the monotony too, but the deity was hard to talk to. He could hardly start up a conversation with him all that easily. Any discussions were muted and awkward, and most of their time so far had been in an awkward silence.
That's why a smile came across Percy's face when a stool pulled out beside him, and Qrow sat down at his side, ordering some variation of vodka that Percy didn't want to bother figuring out.
"Hey kid." Qrow grunted a minute later, grabbing the drink and taking a long chug.
"Hey. How was your trip?" he asked, genuinely curious.
Qrow scowled. "Don't ask. Bandit tribes aren't fun to try and deal with, least of all the Branwen tribe."
Percy shrugged. "Can't say I have much experience there, to be honest."
Qrow laughed at that. "Pray you never have to, kid. And we'll start training tomorrow, I've had a long trip."
Percy blinked. "Didn't you say you were going by bullhead? It's like an hour from where they were to here."
Qrow gave him a long stare.
"Hey kid?"
"Yeah?"
"Shut up."
Percy laughed at the huntsman's response. "Alright man, whatever. Tomorrow then. What time?"
Qrow shrugged. "I would train you like a proper huntsman and take you out into the woods to train every day at five in the morning until you can't walk, and then drill you on the strengths and weaknesses of grimm," he began, making Percy pale. "But I'm way too attached to my booze, and there's no way I'm doing that for you. The hangovers alone would kill me. I owe you time, but I don't owe you that much. I don't owe anyone enough to get me to go through that shit. So we'll be training at around noon every day. Any earlier is too early to get up without a reason."
Percy laughed a little. Percy couldn't tell if he was more of an old man or a moody teenager.
"So meet me here at noon, we'll go outside the walls and train for a few hours until I've put you into the ground enough times to be satisfied, and then head back here so you can pay for my drinks while I laugh at you dragging yourself to your night shift."
Percy rolled his eyes at the dramatic explanation.
"Actually, I mostly don't have a shift unless I want to anymore. I'm the boss' number two now after a meeting went wrong a few days ago. Same day you were here, actually," he explained.
Qrow raised an eyebrow. "You're telling me you've been a grunt for one of the major gangs of Windpath for just over two weeks, and now you're the new number two?"
Percy nodded.
Qrow chugged the rest of his drink. "What the fuck is wrong with this planet," he groaned into the bar.
"There, there, we can't all be good at our jobs," Percy teased, patting Qrow on the shoulder.
"You have that stupid smirk on your face, don't you?" Qrow groaned.
Percy smiled to himself. "You'll never know."
Sitting up, Qrow shook his head. "I'd love to keep drinking, but we need somewhere private to unlock your aura." he said.
Percy's eyes lit up. He had been fascinated with the concept of aura since Monty had explained it to him the day Qrow left, but had found very little about it on his scroll. He didn't know why, but it seemed there was little to no public knowledge available about it. Why that was, Percy wasn't sure, but he was excited to receive it nonetheless.
"I'll get you a room for the night. We can do it there." Percy offered, standing up and leading Qrow upstairs to a room.
Unlocking a door on the second floor where the rooms were a bit nicer, he walked in with Qrow in tow.
"So… how does this work?" Percy asked, looking around the room which was, lo and behold, exactly like every other room on the floor.
Qrow winced. "Sit on the bed, this might feel a little weird. And this is gonna sound bad, to be honest, but you're gonna have to deal with it."
Curious, Percy sat down on the bed. Qrow joined him and rested a hand on his shoulder, before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "Close your eyes, and concentrate." he ordered.
"Concentrate on what?" Percy asked, before Qrow opened his eyes enough to glare at him. "Okay got it, concentrating," Percy said, closing his eyes and… sitting there.
"It is luck through which we gain opportunity. Through this, we rise above legends or fall beneath dirt. Unending in misfortune and damned by chance, I release your soul, and by my power, try thee." Qrow chanted, before promptly falling back onto the bed.
Concerned, Percy looked back, ignoring the feeling of his soul washing over him.
Qrow was taking deep, gasping breaths and gripping his stomach, rolling around on the bed.
"Qrow!"
Percy was on him in a second. He checked him over for injuries, but whatever happened was pretty clearly related to unlocking his aura.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." Qrow pushed him off, sitting up, though he still took deep breaths. "What the fuck, kid. How do you have so much aura?"
"I'm… special?"
Qrow leaned back into bed and put his hand over his eyes.
"Just get outta here and let me sleep. Don't forget tomorrow."
Nodding, Percy stood up, marveling at his aura as he walked out of the room.
He had a lot to learn, and for once in his life he was eager to do so.
"Alright," Qrow said, sticking the end of his scythe down in the grass. Percy didn't comment on the change in weapon, assuming it was one of those fancy mecha-shift things. "Show me your opening stance before we begin. I'll see if there's anything I can correct right off the bat."
They were about a mile outside Windpath, just a bit out of view of it. They had found a clearing where, in Qrow's words, 'I can beat you into the ground without anything getting in the way'.
Percy fell into a stance he wasn't too experienced with, but had developed when he realized he would likely have to fight a scythe wielding Kronos.
Qrow inspected him. "You slash way more than you stab, I'd expect you to place your sword upright. Why don't you?" he asked.
"You use a scythe. Holding my blade parallel to the ground makes it a lot harder to get a grip of my weapon, and allows me to block the point with my blade a lot easier. If I block perpendicular to the ground, you'll just slide past my blade and stab me in the side." he explained.
The original form had been something Chiron had suggested to him when he was telling Percy about Kronos' style. It wasn't a technique he got to use in real combat for more than a few minutes considering he had managed to convince Kronos to use a sword instead of his scythe, but he still had it, even if he was probably a bit rusty.
Qrow lifted an eyebrow. "You've fought someone with a scythe before." it wasn't a question, but Percy nodded anyway.
"Not every day I get to fight someone who's used to fighting a scythe wielder. Alright, this will be interesting. Before we start though, I've gotta go over the basics of aura," he began. "Aura is mostly instinctual. There's a world of difference between someone with aura and someone without. Not only with how much damage you can take, but how you fight in general, and how strong you can get. Someone with aura can take a lot more punishment in a day than someone without, and because of that can grow their muscles a lot faster, and keep going for a lot longer, meaning you can build muscle memory a lot faster. Aura can protect you from damage. The amount of damage depends on how much aura you have, which you have a ton of. Honestly, I've never seen anyone that has that much. You could probably take on an Atlas warship for a few minutes, and those things are armed to the teeth.
"Eventually you'll discover your semblance, which is a power that is unique to each person. Multiple people can have the same semblance, or very similar semblances, but what that is depends on the person. Aura can be trained over time, but again is mostly instinctual. Think of it like tensing your muscles whenever you flinch. You can train it to appear where and when you want it, but at the beginning it should be enough to stop anything from breaking your skin or your bones, assuming you see it coming." he explained.
"You got that, right? Because I swear to Oum if you didn't, I'm shoving this scythe so far up your ass you'll have a fucking beak."
Percy nodded quickly. He had to keep himself from going wide eyed when Oum was mentioned, though. Oum, it seemed, was a religious figure. It was certainly possible up until this point that nobody had any idea he existed except for Percy.
"Good, now let's fight," he said, suddenly lunging at Percy with his scythe.
Blocking quickly, Percy fell back under the assault.
Percy noticed, with some confusion, that Qrow was only striking so that the edge of his blade would meet Percy's body. He fought nothing like Kronos, much more cautiously.
It wasn't until he had no choice but to catch Qrow's scythe in a block that he realized why.
Kronos was so much stronger than Qrow. The titan's hits felt like a tank was firing into his arm, while Qrow's were much more manageable. If anything, he was stronger than Qrow was, just by virtue of being a demigod.
"T.O." Qrow called, pulling back.
Percy raised an eyebrow. "Time out? Really? Can you do that in huntsman spars?" Percy asked.
Qrow rolled his eyes. "Not usually, but we're just starting out here. I need to be able to tell you if I notice a flaw in your style instead of waiting until the end of a potentially long fight to do so."
Percy shrugged. "Fair enough, what's up."
"A few things. First, you're fighting as if I'm way stronger than you, which I'm not. If anything, you're stronger than me. I don't know how, considering you're barely more than half my age and unlocked aura yesterday, but you are. You win strength battles, so don't be afraid to attack when I can block and block my attacks in turn. You lose a lot of energy parrying or dodging like that, and could be putting a lot more pressure on me by just going at it instead of holding back," he said.
Percy frowned. "Yeah, I noticed the same. The people I'm used to fighting are a lot stronger than me. Blocking usually means I end up as paste on the floor. It's a habit I'll try to break."
Qrow shook his head. "I do not want to meet the people you usually fight. The second thing is that you have aura now. I'm gonna be completely honest with you. You're stronger than me, have a much larger aura, you're fast enough that I can't dance around you, and big enough that I can't throw you around. If you just go full on aggression, there's not much I can do to stop you. It's not a good tactic because it uses more aura and energy than necessary, but it's a starting point for us to work on. This time, I want you to just throw yourself at me." Qrow told him.
Shrugging, Percy put himself back into a ready position.
"Begin!" Qrow called, and Percy was on top of him a moment later.
Swinging in a downwards arc, Qrow's scythe came up to meet him but shook under the pressure. Percy held it for a second before deciding that Qrow's defense wouldn't completely collapse and pulled back, swinging again with all the strength he had.
This time he knocked Qrow's scythe aside, scoring a glancing blow on his torso even as he pulled back. Percy took notice of the scythe coming at him from his right side and dodged back, creating space between the two.
Qrow shook his head and Percy paused. "Don't worry about my counter attacks. You have enough aura to tank a hit, and with how long range all three of my weapons are," — three?! — "as soon as you get in close you win, especially considering you're stronger than me. So tank a hit or two, and get in my guard," he told him.
Nodding, Percy charged at his new teacher again.
It began similarly. Percy swung downward into Qrow's scythe and it shook with his exertion. Percy pulled back and swung again, and again, and again, like he was in a wild rage, until Qrow's guard completely shattered, and he was on the huntsman.
A scythe came up again in between the two, but Percy ignored it. Normally it would have cut his arms off, but Percy fought his instincts and let his biceps tank the hit.
Riptide came down on top of Qrow's shoulder with the force of a truck. If he didn't have aura, he'd have been split in half.
As it was, he crumpled to the ground, crying out in pain. "Alright, alright, fight's over," he called.
Backing up, Percy let Qrow collect himself.
"Alright, I'm satisfied, but I'm tired of getting beat up and you're not gonna learn anything from winning, so I'm gonna take this next fight seriously."
Percy rolled his eyes and fell into a fighting stance, assuming the huntsman was attempting to hang onto his pride.
He was quickly dissuaded from that line of thought when Qrow was on top of him.
Percy was on the back foot for a moment as the huntsman stuck at him quicker than any opponent he had ever fought had before. That included Hyperion, who was apparently capable of going as fast as light. Percy suspected that wasn't entirely true considering Percy was still alive, but still, Qrow was fast.
Then he remembered Qrow's words and threw himself at his opponent. Qrow's scythe hit him half a dozen times and he kept backing up, but Percy kept following, ignoring the pain. It was almost like having the curse of the Styx again.
Percy's eyes widened, and he backed off of his confused opponent. It was like having Achilles' curse again, but this one had a limit. Apparently that limit was incredibly high though. So he decided to employ his tactics from when he had the curse, essentially turning him into a teenager with a god complex. Maybe that was what he needed here.
Before Qrow could ask what he was doing Percy was on him again, ignoring any attack he could send. Percy had zero concern for anything that wasn't taking Qrow's head off of his shoulders, and Qrow seemed to realize this.
He had no choice but to stop trying to counter attack and start dodging and blocking with everything he had.
Qrow was fast enough to dodge almost every one of his strikes, but not quite all of them.
For every hit he scored on Qrow, Qrow scored three in turn, even if he was kept on the backfoot too much to do any real damage. It was like playing wack-a-mole but with Qrow moving faster than most eyes would be able to track, and the wack-a-mole hit back every now and then. Still, it didn't matter because they just bounced off of his skin like he still had the curse. Each hit Percy landed made Qrow falter, opening him up to more attacks and snowballing until Percy just started wailing on the guy.
"Alright, stop!" Qrow called.
Grunting, Qrow straightened himself when Percy pulled back, muttering about how stupid his aura was.
"Alright, we're gonna work on some things, but if you're good enough to beat me, even in a spar, I'm really not sure what could pose a threat a couple years from now. First, I want to check what your aura is at," he said. "Hand me your scroll real quick."
Shrugging, Percy did as he was told before handing it over to Qrow. When he handed it back, Percy's name was on the scroll with a bar below it like a health bar in a video game. Percy raised an eyebrow. Seriously, health bars? Some god was fucking with him now. Oh yeah, Erebus was. He had forgotten about that part.
Qrow shook his head. "The fact that your aura is still at sixty percent is upsetting and amazing at the same time. Don't get too cocky though, there will be a day that the odds are so against you that your aura breaks and then you'll be fucked."
Percy shrugged. "I've been fighting most of my life without an aura, that shouldn't be too hard."
"Alright kid, now's the fun part," A small grin spread across Qrow's face. Percy wasn't a fan of that look. "You're strong but you can always get stronger. The amount of hits you took was way more than you needed to. Which means I get to run you through a wringer."
"How the FUCK are you still going!?"
Percy was on his twenty-somethingth mile, and Qrow seemed upset at the fact. He had been running the entire time, or at least a mortal's definition of running.
Percy would have loved to say that he was barely winded at this point, but honestly he had been sweaty for the last three miles and was beginning to take labored breaths. He could still go on for quite a while if pushed, but he was really getting tired of running.
It was also incredibly boring. He had ADHD, so running without music or a friend to talk to was like torture.
'Oh, I wonder what's gonna happen now? Oh yeah, I'm gonna pass this exact same tree for the hundred and twentieth time. Interesting.'
Percy was going stir crazy at ten miles an hour and it just seemed to piss Qrow off.
"Alright fuck this. Start sprinting. Go as fast as you can until you collapse." Qrow ordered the next time he passed by.
Sighing in relief, Percy was only too happy to get this over with.
Cranking his speed up to pass world records — at least on earth, where they didn't have aura — he sprinted full tilt around the clearing for a solid ten minutes before his legs gave out and he collapsed onto the grass, panting.
"God damn kid." Qrow walked over to where he was panting on the ground. "That was downright impressive."
Percy didn't respond, too busy hacking his lungs out.
"Water." was all he got out, hoping the man would get the hint and grab him some water.
Qrow rolled his eyes. "Yeah whatever." but in a few seconds he was back with a bottle of water, handing it to Percy.
Taking the water bottle he took a chug before pouring the rest over himself, instantly feeling rejuvenated. He was still tired, but he could function.
Groaning, Percy stood up, breathing less labored.
Qrow sighed. "You know, it makes it a lot less fun to torture you like this if you just get back up when it's over."
Percy let out a tired smirk. "I'll try my best to collapse permanently next time," he promised.
Qrow walked back to where they had sparred earlier, and where Qrow had spent the last hour and a half browsing his scroll while Percy ran.
"Get over here, we're gonna do some forms and then weights training. You seem to have more than a passing knowledge of the basics, but if we're gonna adapt your style we need to start over from the ground up. Your current knowledge will serve you well, but in order to be the best you can be you need to build an entirely different style around your newfound invincibility in a one on one fight," Qrow said.
"How often does that actually happen? One on one fights, I mean," Percy asked.
Qrow shrugged. "Depends who you are. It's most of what I get into. If you're working as an assassin or a scout or something it'll probably be the same. Most huntsmen won't even fight other people outside of practice or tournaments, just Grimm. Others, like the few huntsmen trained that work for the police or villages, will likely be fighting a lot of people at once if they fight people at all," he said. "I can teach you to deal with a ton of weak targets, but that comes later. We have two weeks, I hardly need to teach you everything today."
Percy nodded, accepting the reasoning.
"Alright. To start off I want you to absolutely go wild on this tree. Attack it like you would a stationary opponent." Qrow told him.
Percy winced at attacking a random tree. He was too used to nature spirits inhabiting things. It left a bad taste in his mouth to just wail on a tree like that.
Qrow noticed. "Oh right, you Mistrilans and your whole nature thing. Can you attack a rock, or do we need to do this on empty air?"
Percy shook his head. "No, I can attack a tree. It's just a bit uncomfortable, but I'll live."
Qrow nodded. "Good to hear… By the way, where is your sword? I haven't seen it's hilt anywhere, even if it is mechashift."
Wincing, Percy pulled Riptide out of his pocket.
Qrow blinked. "Wait. Are you serious? Your three foot long Mistralan sword collapses into a fountain pen?
An abashed Percy pulled the cap off, watching as Riptide transformed into its true form.
"Wait, that didn't even look like mechashift. That was way too quick. How does that even work?"
Percy shrugged. "It's a family heirloom, I have no idea how it works."
It was essentially the truth, even if he did know it was magic. It's not like he knew how the magic worked.
"Interesting…" Qrow stroked his stubble, before seemingly shaking himself out of it. "Whatever, get into position and get wailing!"
Percy fell into a practiced form, before starting to wail on the defenseless piece of wood, taking Qrow's myriad criticisms to heart as he continued to slash at the innocent tree.
This was going to be a long two weeks…
