Hello everyone!! Sorry to make you wait but I had a lot come up, trips, work, birthdays but i'm still writing! i hope you peeps enjoy this chapter, maybe 20k plus character chapters will become the norm. let me know if they're too long or if it feels like it drags on. reviews are always welcome and if you do write something critquing or with an idea you may get a dm with a response. with all that out of the way I do not own RWBY or Bloodborne and they belong to their own respective studios.
Bold for emphasis
Italics for thoughts
Wrath of the powderkeg.
As her body and consciousness found its way back to remnant. On the way however she felt something change, she didn't realize until she manifested in front of the lantern she had used to leave.
She was wearing the charred hunter garb and gloves. It featured a dark, damp, and torn cloak as well as charred leather underneath. The gloves were mismatched with a large cuff on her right arm finely decorated in small brass and gold chains. The other was a bejeweled silver gauntlet that extended all the way to her fingers in an almost claw like manner. It was that as well as her usual top hat and white neck gaiter.. lastly a brass brace around her right leg around two belts with one above and one below the right knee.
It was what she wore during the great burning of Old Yharnam. It was also the last hunt any Powderkeg would carry out before the church slandered them as the workshop heretics.
Gritting her teeth at the memories flowing back she gripped the gilded gauntlet around the handle and trigger of the gatling gun.
The thing stirred to life with its whirring and clinking and the familiar sound comforted her but it also steeled her nerves. She turned around and saw the town, it looked like she hadn't been gone long.
Her steps were heavy as she made her way to the town hall when she felt something off. She heard a mass of rustling as well as distant howls.
She didn't have much time so she was quick to make her way over to the town hall. There was someone out front who looked at her with astonishment. It was Qrow looking at her like she had grown a second head.
"I see you've changed… What even is all that? You look like a traveling trader out of a video game"
Alaine didn't understand those last two words but yes she is carrying a lot on her person as well as the fact that she was wearing a different style of attire than the old hunters uniform she wore before. She had the Whirligig Saw, Gatling gun, Hunter's pistol poking from her coat, and to Qrow a brass watering can for some reason? As well as a bag on her overflowing with molotovs and a case filled to the brim with bullets made of quick silver.
"I'll need every weapon, don't worry, it won't slow me down. I'll even be dropping a good amount of weight. Are the townspeople inside?"
Qrow looked like he didn't know what to say to her and that amused the heavily armed Hunter. She'll just have to show him. Deciding to just move on he nodded but asked the question as to why? She answered while she frowned.
"I am going to be asking for their forgiveness. Their homes are about to be lost and all I can do is stall them"
The Hunter made a lie of omission. She was apologizing for more than just that. Alaine felt that spark of anger and frustration burn in her chest as she said that, it was like admitting defeat in the face of adversity. She had fought Gods before, but to battle without the thought of losing something is purely too optimistic.
On the other hand, she would create a line and hold it with flame, gunpowder, and iron. Falling meant she wouldn't be able to truly complete her objective in this world. How could she if all it took was a meager hoard of bloodless abominations to hold her down.
There wasn't a powderkeg that didn't relish in cataclysmic chaos, it was where they shined most and what they specialized in wielding. Acting more as a collective purging the body of Yharnam from the disease of beasts.
She would have to see if it would work and if help would arrive
"I have traps to lay, get absolutely everyone to this building. Make a perimeter and slaughter any and all grimm that approach… and… I need to know, do you have a plan to get these people out alive?"
She gritted her teeth at the last part.. silently asking for one more item from the dream. It was small enough to fit in her pant pocket yet she had a feeling that it would be important in the time to come.
"Yeah, I gave old Oz a call and he's sending enough bullheads our way and a couple of huntsmen as an escort. Not enough but we have to play the hand we've been dealt."
The Hunter nodded stoically and made her way up the steps of the town hall, stepping inside the townhall to find the residents of the town sprawled across the place. not tightly but enough to say it was a tad crowded.
Every man and woman old enough was armed in some manner, either a war pick, a Huntsman's combination weapon, pistols with some kind of cylinder, strange scatterguns and more weapons she couldn't recognize or begin to figure out how they worked.
She cleared her throat as loud as she could, only gaining a few gazes and looks from the side. She bowed her head and spoke loudly with sincerity.
"I'm sorry you have to leave your homes, I'm sorry for those that couldn't be saved, and I'm sorry for the carnage that is about to happen."
Her apology was met with confusion and solemn silence for those who understood the sentiment. It wasn't like everyone was here either, only those near the door and in ear shot came and saw the oddly dressed Huntress.
But it meant something to Alaine, and as she turned around to walk out the door and begin her work when a familiar girl holding a box full of the crystals she saw in the mine. Dust crystals. Seeing them Alaine couldn't help but want some for what's too come. What was her name again? Ah.
"Charlotte... could I have some of those crystals you're carrying?"
The girl just held the box out to Alaine, to which the Hunter set her mace down to grab two fire crystals, two cloudy blue crystals, a brown crystal and a green crystal while not looking into the crystals themselves. She stashed them inside her bag that held all of her ammunition, next to her molotovs strapped along her belts.
She was out of room now to put things. Well, that means she's at least well armed. She picked her mace up and shot that young girl a look.
"Thank you. Now please stay inside, or if you have to go outside make it quick. Things are about to get… loud."
Alaine looks around, tilting her head a little before she sighs and turns to one of the militiamen.
"Is there a way onto the roof?"
After being shown the way by some awed onlookers and a trip up a creaky ladder with a mace in her mouth she was on the roof. She gazed around at the urban environment around her, it was not quite Yharnam but these were homes, markets, and whatever that iron building is. It looked like a workshop from her perspective but it seems that she's behind in this world.
That's alright.
She'll just have to adapt and put her experience in murder to good use. Right now she was scouting the town out, looking for good places to put her trip wires when she saw something approaching through the air. She sighed and put up her neck gaiter and adjusted her top hat to not block her vision.
It was at that moment that Qrow climbed up out of the open hatch she had also come through and brushed off his vest.
"Whatcha see?"
"Flying abominations"
They were flying out from the forest and mountains were taking to the air. Grimm, known as nevermore but unknown to Alaine soared into the skies and toward the town. Their wings spanned nine meters wide and half that from beak to tail. Their bone masks highlighted their pitch black bodies against the pink sky. They were coming from all directions, she took a last look behind her.
"Watch my blind spot, tell me how many flying bastards there are."
She waited for him to turn around and he drew his blade but then she heard a number of whirls and clicks. Hairs stood on their end and she got goosebumps as she watched Qrow's weapon transform from a greatsword. The blade became segmented and then curved itself to make a crescent edge, the handle extender outward and then the hinge bent forward and locked in place to make a intimidating scythe. She felt a smile spread across her hidden face, although she nearly giggled with glee at the sight. Now wasn't the time to get distracted though.
The Hunter looked outward towards the flying grimm as she stabbed her thigh with an extractor and brought out a number of blood bullets from it in order to bring out the maximum amount she could carry. She could only scratch the surface of blood manipulation but it was enough for her to open the gatling gun up and pour in the blood bullets to add to the rest.
The gatling gun had to have its trigger pulled over and over, and it was a heavy one. Part of the strength requirements for wielding it and the whirligig saw was being able to pull that trigger again and again. The barrels spun to life and only half a second later the leading nevermore was swiftly torn to shreds
The bullets ripped through the grimm unlike the ones fired from her pistol due to the blood gem inside the gatling gun imbueing the blood within the alloy with more power, fueled by killing intent and a lust for blood.
The stream of bullets cut from one nevermore to the next, sometimes severing a wing, finding their ways into the eye sockets of their bone masks, or just sending them to disappear after they had taken enough.
Memorizing the timing for each full size quicksilver bullet being split into four smaller ones which were reshaped with her rudimentary blood magic and fired became instinct for her. She counted five and sneakily jabbed her thigh and inserted more and resumed her carnage.
They tried to evade the barrage of bullets if only to try to kill whatever was sending the hail of bullets their way. However in the sky there was no cover, and as tough as their hides were to normal gunfire, whatever was tearing through their wings and bones yore away tar like flesh and shattered hardened bone alike.
What looked like an intimidating murder of nevermore was reduced to clouds of black ash. The cost was two out of her ten vials for blood bullets. Short work.
She spun herself around and gunned down a few more straggling nevermore before she took her finger off the trigger. The barrels of the gatling gun spun to a stop, and heated air and some smoke rose from each of them.
"Good work, but there is much more where that came from."
Alaine nodded and turned around to face Qrow while slowly walking towards the edge of the town hall's roof.
"Good thing I have plenty more to give the bastards aye?"
With a small smirk she stepped off the roof and fell onto the stone floor, she got a pop out of her ankle but thankfully she was able to just keep walking and even go into a jog.
Qrow walked over to the edge himself with a serious look on his face before he shouted out to her.
"Don't die! It'd be a pain to explain to Ozpin!"
He let out a chuckle and that was the last she saw of Qrow before Alaine rolled her eyes and turned around and ran through the streets. She went into a run, for the edge of town, it wouldn't take too long but now time was of the essence. The Grimm are coming.
With the mace handle in her mouth she ran to what looked like a corner store. She reached into her bag and stabbed the molotov housing into the stone before pulling down a lever on the side of the molotov housing. It holds a pinch of black powder and a number of matches, when the tripwire is pulled the striking surface is pulled along the matches which light the black powder and shatter the inserted molotov and spreads glass shards and blazing alcohol around with rather devastating effects. The lever was a safety measure, locking it all together that way no accidents happen in storage or placing.
She stabbed the other end of the tripwire to make a six foot in length tripwire trap extending from the store's corner. With no one to hit except for the grimm, it would be perfect for what she is about to do. She began to set the occasional tripwire trap in an alleyway or on the edge of town, she was slowly making her way through the town. She had set six traps so far, extending from the mountain facing side of the town around in a semicircle, she had five traps left which she used to reinforce and extend that semi circle into a crescent with some back tracking.
With shaking hands she kept running, she went to place her last trap, the tenth to complete her rather basic but soon very destructive defense. It all took time however, and she was quickly sprinting with the trap in hand. She smirked with building anticipation as she turned and went between the buildings.
She knelt down and put the gatling gun down briefly to set the last trap. While she's knelt down her hair stand on end.
A maw and two claws appear out from the corner and lunge at her, she didn't have time to do anything other than raise the inert tripwire trap. Claws clamped onto her shoulders but the rabid beowolf's mouth was clamped shut from being pushed up with taut metal wires. The wires dug into its face but didn't feel an ounce of fear, it's rage and blood lust more than any pain it felt.
Even unarmed Alaine wasn't defenseless. She kicked the thing over and quickly got on top of the creature getting back on all fours. She straddled the beast stamping it into the concrete. It rose it's head up, snapping behind it while scratching at the stones. She wrapped her left arm around the neck of the thing and then grabbed the other end of the tripwire. The savage thing kept jostling around but Alaine was keeping it wrestled to the floor.
When she got the wire she pulled her hand and extended the spool of wire, she now was pulled back with her knee on the things back. Getting more and more control with each second that passed, although I hadn't even been a minute yet. She rose to a standing position by shifting which leg was on the back of the beowolf's neck. She kept there, about to saw through the thing until she craned her neck at the sound of claws scratching against the concrete.
So she instead thought "damn if that trap breaks" and raised her foot, which the beowulf met with upward force while she ripped the cord to the side and tore it's head off. She closed her eyes instinctively not to get blood in them but quickly opened them and turned to the beowulf, although this one seemed… older.
"Ah, another one of you…"
Both new but also giving her a sense of familiarity, the beastial growls and more primal mask. If normal Beowolves reminded her of the half transformed beast patients of the scourge then the Alpha Beowolfs remind her of the wretched scourge beasts with smoke coming off their hide and bone armor. It hung its jaw open for a deep growl while rapidly approaching
She slammed herself into the opposite side of the alley to narrowly dodge a swipe at her before binding its arm, she quickly leg to however as its bone spikes dug into shoulder and side. It was only rubbing but with how pointed they were it wouldn't take much jostling to begin stabbing. She pulled out her last molotov and slid it into the housing before she slid to the side of a clawed jab meant to stab her through the face. She was slammed up against the wall as it threw its arm outwards.
She felt the air squeezed from her lungs as it squeezed down on her chest, it slowed down its movements and held her there threatening her with the bone spikes just further down its forearm, it leaned in with its jaws open to begin to bite and tear.
Beneath her mask was a creepy grin going from ear to ear as she raised her free left hand, the metal gauntlet screeched against the bone spikes before slamming into the side of the beowolfs face. It staggered to the other side of the alley and snarled at her only to have a bottle broken against its head. It swiped out but only caught air as Alaine took the mace out of her mouth and brought it across the things head. It was flung to the side down the alley with a cracked mask. One of the spikes on its head was broken off from that.
It filled Alaine with joy to see this forsaken thing in pain. With a giggle she realized her left hand is free. She was done getting tangled up with these things. This one wouldn't even have the glory of dying to her workshop's masterpiece.
She reached behind and with a wicked grin drove the head of the mace into the saw housing of the whirligig saw. It created the screeching grind of a saw against metal, sparks flew out and lit up the darkening alley with bright flickers of light. She brought the masterpiece of slaughter behind her and pulled the heavy trigger, sparks flung from the saws and screeching filled the surrounding area. The Alpha beowolf lurched back only to begin to howl in pain and anger as just one spark lit the soaked grimm up like a pyre of blue flame
The beast whirled its arms around from side to side as the fire spread to the rest of its body, it was already engulfed thanks to the potent alcohol of Yharnam, but the absurd amount of arcane running through Alaine made the flames more intense and rather unnatural in nature.
It was no longer a threat, it may have howled and flailed around but it was only a few seconds more before it fell back against one of the walls of the alley, now breaking through it and falling onto its back. The fire began to spread from the body to the structure. She picked up her gatling gun and rested it on her shoulder with a grunt.
She felt at home, yet she felt so alive. The blood lust and hate was powerful yet the Grimm hadn't picked up on her negative emotions over the many people's sorrow and fear in the town hall.
The burning had begun, now all it needs is some help. She turned away from the hole now billowing with smoke and left the alley. She looked in the air and saw that three other traps had been sprung normally but that wasn't all of them. This one wasn't a complete waste but it would need help, so she went to where the front lines were gonna be. She may have placed her traps here but they themselves weren't going to be their first line of defense.
She rested the whirligig saw head on the floor, holding the handle with her right hand as she put down her gun and reached into her coat and brought out a severed beastial hand sized claw… inhaled… hunched over… and let out a horrible beastial mix between a howl and a battle cry. It was so loud it shattered the closest windows and was heard throughout the entire town.
The intent behind it was heavy. And while it caused more fear from the people inside the town hall the intent in the beastial cry was that of murderous hatred and anger. It was a challenge so full of negative emotion that the Grimm just couldn't ignore.
Alaine's eyes were bloodshot as she rose from her hunch and walked along her crescent line of traps. She heard howls, growls, claws, pig grunts and skittering. She then heard pops close and far of the traps going off. More smoke, more fire, more howls and sounds of grimm. She walked past a new creature, a giant scorpion making high pitched screeching, slamming it's claws into the buildings around and spreading more fire as it moved in a panic.
She set her gun down and she raised the whirligig saw overhead.. pulling the heavy trigger again and again as the massive scorpion grimm barreled towards her. As its tail dove for her Alaine slammed the scorpion underneath the whirling saws. Simultaneously crushing and grinding its mask down, shattering the rest and tearing apart its insides with deafening screeches of the saws while also blocking the scorpion's tail with the massive saw housing.
She had a toothy grin and within her own head she noticed it, music. Horrible, awful, and terrific music from a violin being played with a knife. It was lovely music. Perfect and terrible, a symphony of the battle at hand.
The Hunter, barely resembling her normal self, pulled her weapon free from the disappearing corpse. Leaving only arcane flames behind to spread further.
She went from street to street, battling the beasts of Grimm and giving no quarter to the things. A number of them came through the growing blaze only to crumble to the floor as they're consumed by the flames and crumble to ash.
It was starting to turn dark, Onyx was lit up with the blue hue of moonlight and arcane flames, they spread across the crescent, creating a wall of fire that the monsters threw themselves into with no heed for self preservation. It's not like Grimm watch their feet from what she's seen so far. She paced further from the growing blaze, slowly heading back towards the town hall. It was when she got to the edge of the crescent that she noticed something different.
The Grimm were getting louder, howls, growls, and clicks, scratching against concrete as they ran and skittered. Alaine placed the saw housing on her back and disconnected it from the mace using the secondary trigger. She brought out the flame sprayer and painted another building in arcane fire.. using three bullets to spread it.
It was then when she grabbed the severed beast hand and held it to her throat, once again hunching over and letting out that putrid and horrifying cry that even sent the flames blazing back. A wall shook and crumbled, spreading flame while there was a pause in the Grimm's movements and sounds. They began again, turning around and heading towards a lone Hunter with hate at the being that challenged them so defiantly.
It was then that the Hunter popped the top of the flame sprayer open and held the mace of the whirligig saw under her arm as took one of the glacial blue crystals and looked into it. Strange. With that curiosity out of the way she dropped it in the flame sprayer along with a few quicksilver bullets. Time to test a theory of hers, one she wanted to test the moment she got a look at one of these crystals.
By that time several different grimm were running right at her, claws, maws, and tusks rushing her down. Before they could however, a frigid frost encases the group of Boarbatusk, Beowolves and even an Ursa. The problem was that they weren't dead, they were just stopped dead in their tracks and covered in ice.
She popped open the flame sprayer and took out the crystal quarter of it gone, how ravenous. Still it would be useful for something… larger. She put the crystal in her coat and pulled out a red crystal and looked into that one. Her smile waned and turned into a frown as she looked into the natural crystal, her eyes full of hate as she put it into the flame sprayer.
She would need to investigate that. For now however she aimed the flame sprayer and a long cone of fire scorched through the ice and burned the grim inside to ash before the ice even melted all the way. The flame was red again, a deep and smokey red but the cone of flame was longer than the normal flame sprayer. There was more firepower behind the jet of flame compared to how it sprayed out normally and while certainly affected by her innate arcane it wasn't burning a bright blue as it had its own innate nature.
The entire street in front of her was covered in scattered flames, sputtering with life but also looking more like the aftermath than the start of a fire. It would burn itself out. She walked past the melting ice, making ripples in the water with each step.
More stray grimm came, which she quickly broke with the mace. Cracking skulls until she came across another scorpion grimm and an older bear grimm. More armor and claws, as well as more intelligence, they were moving towards the town hall but when she approached for the first time the grimm actually looked back at her and noticed her presence. It might have to due to the overwhelming amount of bloodlust and malice being returned to them instead of directed to humans.
And so she took a vial, feeling rejuvenated, before taking an extractor, feeling drained again before injecting another vial. That was never really pleasant but it was necessary. She glanced around to make sure no one was around just as a precaution before she called upon the little ones once more. An engraved cannon rose from the ground on top of a bed of pale small arms. She held the grip and eased their burden.. thanking them with a smile before she turned to the approaching grimm, the long barrel receded and a clang the quicksilver and blood ball was loaded from the muzzle and pulled to the rear to be fired.
The messengers clapped in applause as a cannon's barrel jutted forward to its full length once more and a massive shot rang out, booming across the entire town over the sounds of gunfire. At the massive cost of eight quicksilver bullets and a blood vial. A colossal amount of ash exploded into the air as the Ursa Major's upper quarter was just gone, bits of bone and gooey tar splattered the deathstalker and the road and buildings around them. The main body fell back and turned into ash and all of it began to float away.
The death stalker was knocked to the ground from the blast and had to get back up. Alaine used the moment to set the cannon to the ground and rushed the abomination. It swung with it's massive left claw at her which she grabbed the saw housing off her harness by the handling bar and swung it sideways. The two blows collided and a wail of chitters could be heard as its swing didn't have much power because its body was unsteady from being knocked to the floor.
The problem was that the tail did not have such a hindrance and struck at her much more freely. Alaine pushed herself down to avoid the stinger but the claw came next trying to pinch and restrain her likely so it could feed her to those grotesque mandibles. Alain rushed forward underneath the creature. Her weapon got stuck under its abdomen and legs, biting into the creature but not through. She was forced to leave it before the scorpion slammed itself down onto the ground and let out a shrill scream out of rage and pain.
She was behind it but that wasn't any safer as the tail struck right next to her and into the tar road. That was closer than she liked to admit, she went to slam it with her mace but struck air. She dashed to the side out of fear of retaliation but instead the grimm skittered around, dragging her blessed weapon along the concrete which made her grit her teeth in anger.
"How dare it!''
She growled out and pulled out the flame sprayer, quickly replacing the dust crystal inside with the glacial cystal as well as two more quicksilver bullets while avoiding another blind strike from the deathstalker's tail, she noticed it was dripping with venom.
She excited the blood inside the bullets to melt and then used her arcane to infuse the quicksilver with the dust. She closed the lid and found herself face to face with its giant visage with her beloved dragging along, embedded in the left side of just past its bone armor. Smoke emanated from the wound but it showed no sign of slowing the beast down outside of having to drag her beloved weapon against the concrete.
The Hunter saw something she could exploit in the split second the grimm raised it's claw to crush her under it. She jumped back and as it slammed and broke the concrete she sprayed the ground and the claw particularly freezing it before she turned it towards the stinger as it reared back to spear her through. How very useful this thing called dust is. It was about to grab her with the third claw but caught nothing but air as she leaped on top of the frozen claw and slid between it and the beasts main body.
The Hunter slammed the mace into the whirligig saw housing and the weapon screeched to life, cutting bone armor and tar flesh alike but not cutting through yet it sawed through more and more as Alaine pulled the trigger again and again to keep the blades spinning. Mandibles clicked and screeching could be heard as the grimm struggled to turn and tear the Hunter apart. It tried to reach in between with its other claw but that wouldn't work either. Finally it raged against the ice, it broke it but as it was ready to crush the Hunter it's arm fell to the side and pitch black smoke billowed from its exposed red inside.
The beast was free and skittered back to reapproach but so was the Hunter's weapon which chased after the beast. The saws were spinning, the metal was screaming, carving through the concrete as it pulled low and brought high. The death stalker guarded with it's only claw but this time it wasn't enough, the saw dug into its claw… breaking like a massive mace and cutting through whatever was left and mangling the pincher into a stub before slamming into the deathstalker's mandibles.
The thing screeches of rage and pain harmonized with the screaming of the whirligig saw as it tore deeper and deeper into the deathstalker's face smoke, sparks, and tar sputtered out, even splattering the Hunter in it until it was just the whirligig saw screaming. The Grimm fell to the ground and disappeared into ash. The Hunter just lifted the whirligig saw to the air and quickly inspected it for damage.. nothing but a few scratches on the outside. She'll have to check the insides later, she's sure it's fine.
She looked up and saw the broken moon, she hadn't noticed the night. Probably from how long she had been under such a sky. With a tsk she moved on and wandered the dark streets like a Hunter looking for prey to slaughter. When she did find Grimm, she showed no mercy to them, by saw, or mace she killed them, saving ammo as it would just be a waste on fodder abominations. From an outside perspective she looked invincible, from her own it demanded perfection. For ever side step, every attack, and every thought and plan demanded absolutely certainty in her ability.
Thank you for reading, you'l be getting more. honestly the hardest part of writing this was visualizing and deciding exactly what would happen with how vast the idea of a invading hoard of a mining town and the many approaches that could be taken. this was what I decided on based on the character. My writing is getting better in my eyes as well as the way I write characters has gotten better. I hope you peeps enjoyed it and i'll see you next time!