Welcome back to The Fallen and boy oh boy am I happy how this chapter turned out. Originally I had planned on making another chapter with different characters reacting to the events that unfolded in Chapter Two specifically the Scarlentina's and it would be the starting point of this chapter but I decided to push that down the road a bit so it won't be in this one. Also, I decided to dip my hand back into describing combat which I don't think I'm as good as I'd like to be at it but I still tried so I'd like some feedback on that.
Another thing that contributed to this being a little later than usual is that I wrote a One-Shot called (Shameless Plug)The Shattered Familiar (Shameless Plug) so if you like this story why don't you go check that out it won't take that long. Anyway I've kept you enough so I hope you enjoy!
-OtherwiseR00K
Shirou leaned against the cold railing, looking down at the water illuminated by the shattered moon above him. The last few days had been a ride that Shirou wished he could've gotten off much sooner but thankfully the end of it was coming anytime now.
The librarian, who he now knew as Juniper Arc, managed to strong-arm him into this. She wasn't very strong physically nor was she in any position to truly make him do something with her pregnancy having been ongoing for at least six months.
So how did she manage it?
Shirou figured it out a few days later as he was traveling with her family through the Vale wilderness by watching the way she interacted with her family. The bubbly nature, the overexcitment, and the general inhaling of food.
She reminded him of Taiga.
Far too much for his liking.
Shirou remembered all the times that Taiga was like that as he was growing up. The memories were somewhat foggy but her smile and exaggerated nature shone through the fog as if it were a beacon. A beacon that brought a sorrowful feeling to him.
Shirou had made the steel recede after he'd gotten away from the Arcs on the ship so he could simply reminisce. This is what he'd wanted but since arriving in Remnant he'd had to push it off and get moving.
Now that he was alone and simply waiting he could try to grieve-
BANG!
And Taiga Fujimura fell to the floor with a bullet in her head, the gun held by your han-
-but did he deserve to? He'd killed her after all. Did he have any right to? She was simply trying to help her son who he had no idea existed until she admitted it in front of him. Did he have any right to?
Did he?
He killed her.
Murdered her.
Put her down like she was nothing but an enemy.
Murdered her.
Took her chance to save her son.
Murdered her.
Did he have any right to-
Shirou heard footsteps and let the steel push the memories away. The blank mask reformed over his face, hiding the anguish that occupied it a moment before. Shirou turned around to see the patriarch of the Arc family walking up, a man named Nicholas Arc with his sword Crocea Mors on his hip.
Shirou had seen the sword sitting on the mantel in the Arc household and was intrigued by its history and the fact its name is the same as Julius Ceaser's sword. He was surprised by the coincidence but otherwise left it alone.
The sword itself had a storied history, not as long as some of the others in his inner world, but that didn't take away from its legacy. The sword was made decades before the great war, a conflict raged over the right to express oneself. The sword's original owner was a hero of the war and was just as responsible for Vale's victory as the King of Vale had been and relatively recently passed down to Nicholas who had wielded it with a sense of resentment toward it.
Nicholas had problems with his ancestry and wanted to break the cycle of his family being huntsmen and huntresses and so has done his best to get the idea out of his family's head. It worked for his daughters but apparently, his son was different.
Shirou had seen the boy several times, watching Shirou with a look of awe.
Shirou didn't know why the boy looked at him like that, he'd done nothing to earn it and wasn't worth the look the boy gave him.
"I know I already said this but I still have to apologize for Juniper dragging you with us," Nicholas began. He'd said something similar the first day as well.
"Hmph, it's not so bad. I was heading to Mistral anyway, though you should try to discourage your wife from doing similar. From what I've gathered it's a common occurrence," Shirou replied.
"I've tried but that's one of the things I love about her, she tries to see the best in everyone. Even though I would rather her not but I think she knows that and I trust her to see through people most times."
"And what of the other times?"
Nicholas loses his friendly demeanor and looks at him not as Nicholas Arc the husband the loving husband and father but as Nicholas the veteran huntsmen, "The wool can be pulled over even the best person's eyes. Especially someone as good as her."
Shirou just chuckles bitterly, "What gave it away?"
"Your eyes. They're the eyes of a killer and I don't want someone like you near my family."
"Little too late for that."
"I'm aware, which is why you'll be gone the moment we get to Hoana Lu."
"That was the plan anyway."
"Good," with his piece said Nicholas marched away from him.
With Nicholas gone the steel receded from his mind and Shirou looked back over the water thinking back over the conversation without the steel's interference. Shirou couldn't blame the man for his belief.
He was a killer after all.
-Hoana Lu-
Shirou looked at the dock town as the ship came into the custom watergate the town had connected to the large metal walls surrounding the town. Hoana Lu was smaller than Ansel, about the size of a rural town out in the country.
The buildings vaguely resembled traditional Chinese designs that seemed mixed with Japanese in an odd display of culture. Shirou was curious about the similarities between Earth and Remnant but decided not to question it.
The only building breaking away from the mold was a three-story building in the center of town. It was an ugly thing, at least compared to the buildings around it, large metal reinforcements lined the building with watchpoints on the roof. He was sure it was some kind of command post.
Shirou stood near the extending ramp, lowering itself to the dock a few feet below the ship's deck. He'd avoided the Arcs throughout the night and most of the day so as to disappear from their lives as Nicholas had told him to. Shirou would've done it anyway but Nicholas only confirmed his direction.
The ramp fully extended and he began his first steps on Anima.
"Hold it!"
And was stopped by a voice he wished to avoid.
Shirou turned around to see the Arcs all walking toward him, Juniper leading the pack and waving at him with a smile. Nicholas was directly behind her and didn't even try to hide his displeasure.
"Where're you going?" Juniper asked as she got closer.
"Leaving," Shirou said.
"No you're not," Juniper said, "You're a guest on this trip and as such you will be treated as such."
Shirou only glanced at Nicholas, which Juniper seemed to notice if the betrayed look she gave her husband said anything, "Really Nick? You threatened our guest?"
Nicholas didn't say anything. Shirou assumed that Nicholas knew better than to fight with someone like Juniper, Taiga was simil-
Shirou purged the thought from his head before he could finish it.
"There is no reason for me to stay," Shirou tried, "I'm in Anima I can make my way to Mistral from here-"
"Nope."
"I don-"
"Nope!"
Shirou tried. He did. But if his comparison to Taiga held any grounds, he knew Juniper wouldn't stop trying and he didn't want to hurt her. If he had left without her knowing, he'd be gone, but he'd been caught.
He looked at Nicholas who looked back with an icy look.
Shirou decided at the very least he could get something out of this.
"Fine."
"Yay!" Juniper cheered, "Now follow us dear we're heading straight to the hotel."
Juniper walked past Shirou followed by Nicholas, who once again shot him an icy glare, which he shot a small smirk back. He couldn't help it and didn't know why but seeing Nicholas' face gave him a hint of sadistic amusement.
That amusement dried up and fell off as the oldest Arc girl walked past with the young boy in her arms though. The boy still looked at him the same, though muted. It confused him to no end, why would he give Shirou a look reserved for heroes?
He was no hero.
Shirou watched as the pack passed him and he stood watching for a moment before eventually following them.
-Later that day several miles from Hoana Lu-
A twelve-year-old Adam Taurus grumbled as the truck bucked over the dirt road having gone over a large bump. He hated the bumps and considering he was sitting in the back of the truck on watch for Grimm he was in the worst spot for it. Aura was great and all but you could still feel pain through it.
The truck he was in was the last of a three-truck convoy heading through Anima to Mistral. The first truck was filled with volunteers from Menagerie as well as a huntress. The second truck held the actual White Fang members and the Belladonna family. The third truck, which he was on, was just equipment they may need and Adam was here to keep an eye out for hostiles.
The whole convoy was heading to Mistral for a rally, Ghira had hopes that this could help their image as well as help Menagerie on the world stage.
Adam had his doubts though.
Now don't get him wrong, Adam respected Ghira. Ghira was there for him when he first came to Menagerie, practically opening his own doors for the young bull faunus. Adam would never admit it but he saw Ghira as a father figure but he still had doubts about the way things were going.
Ghira had been doing this for nearly a decade before Adam had shown up a few years back and nearly nothing had changed. Adam believed that they needed to push more forcefully, an opinion shared by a fellow White Fang member, Sienna Khan.
Sienna was a tiger faunus and a few years older than Adam. Sienna and Adam had talked on more than one occasion, and both agreed on the idea that the White Fang needed to push harder than these talks with humans had done. They've even gone to Ghira with their opinion and while Ghira respected it he felt it would only increase tensions.
Adam knew Ghira was no coward. A trip to Mantel a year back had cemented the image of Ghira in his mind. Ghira wasn't afraid of violence but he was afraid of his family getting caught up in violence. Adam knew that Ghira would not risk his family's safety as it already hung in the balance with what he did alone. Add violence on top of that? His family would be hunted down.
Adam couldn't blame Ghira for wanting to protect his family.
He absentmindedly caressed the blindfold over his eyes. Adam would've done anything to protect his own if they-
"RUN ADAM!"
-Adam shook his head. He wouldn't go down that lane of memories, not when he was on guard duty. He was distracting himself enough just by thinking about his doubts with Ghira, he couldn't afford the distraction those memories cursed themselves with.
Bump
That wasn't the normal bumping of the truck. Adam turned his head and looked at the crates all lined on the truck bed, some large, some small, all carrying equipment for the rally, but some were large enough to hide in.
Bump
Adam snapped from his sitting position and placed a hand on Blush's handle, ready to cut down whatever stowed away on the truck. The crate opened and soon two black cat ears were visible as two hands grabbed the side of the crate and heaved the body attached to them up.
Adam let his hand holding the hilt of Blush relax when he realized who this was.
A five-year-old Blake Belladonna tumbled forward from the crate landing in a sprawl before scrambling up and staring at him. Two amber eyes met the black blindfold covering Adam's eyes.
Blake Belladonna was the daughter of Ghira and Kali Belladonna, the princess of the White Fang in a sense. Adam had met Blake after a training session with Sienna, apparently, she was watching the whole fight and was enamored by it.
Blake had then proceeded to bother Adam at whatever chance she got. She'd followed him around Menagerie like a little duckling following their mother, that's what Kali said at least. Adam didn't know why this kid followed him but this was a recurrent situation.
"What are you doing here, Blake?" Adam asked, having relaxed from his original combat-ready stance.
"What are you doing here?" she instead asked.
"Keeping watch."
"What for?"
"For-" Adam shook his head, "Doesn't matter right now. Why are you here? More importantly, how did you get away from Kali?"
"I'm very sneaky."
Adam sighed, "I'm aware of that yeah. Do they at least know where you are?"
Blake shrugged, not seeing a problem.
Adam pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. Of course, a five-year-old wouldn't see the issue with sneaking away from their parents. He'd have to notify them quickly.
"Why do you always wear that?" Blake asked.
"Wear what?"
"The blindfold. Are you ugly under there or something?" Blake asked with all the tact of a five-year-old.
Adam flinched slightly at the words but knew it wasn't anything but genuine curiosity on the young girl's part. It still brought up things he'd rather not-
"PLEASE NO!" Adam screamed as he was held down and the searing piece of metal got closer to his eye-
-go down again.
"It's to cover a burn," Adam said.
"Oh," Blake said, as if that was all it was. Which to Blake was all it was, Adam would prefer it stayed that way.
-Hoana Lu-
Shirou stood in the middle of the room provided to him by the Arcs, a hotel room across the hall from the Arc's own room. The room had only a single bed, a small wooden desk, a framed picture of what he assumed was Mistral, and a lamp sitting on a nightstand directly beside the singular bed.
It turned out that the large building in the middle of Hoana Lu was the hotel but it also doubled as a relief center for a possible Grimm attack. The whole building could be sealed off from any breaches and the blast doors over the normal front door were very thick.
Shirou unslung the case from his back and placed it on the bed. He lifted the locks on it and opened it, grabbing the cultist journal wanting to see if the journal makes any mention of places in Anima. He'd be heading to Mistral so he may as well deal with anything on his way.
Once more he read through the pages, ignoring a large amount of religious jargon, searching specifically for anything related to Anima to find any strongholds, settlements, and worship sites on the road to Mistral.
Unfortunately, he didn't find anything new, he did see a mention of Hoana Lu. It was mentioned as relatively close to a place of worship for the cultists. Shirou had his destination, though it seemed he'd expended most of the information from the journal. He'd keep it to compare things but he'd need something else so he can keep on the cult.
Shirou planned on heading out early in the morning, so he could get out of the Arcs' hair and become just a small footnote in their history to be forgotten.
Shirou placed the journal back into the case and closed it. He grabbed the case from the bed and leaned it up against the nightstand before moving toward the desk and taking out his pistol, placing it on the desk and then taking off the shroud and then the coat. He placed them all on the desk before picking the pistol up again.
Shirou walked over to the wall on the far right of the door and leaned up against it. He slid down and rested his hand on the ground still holding the gun, he looked toward the door watching it for a moment, and then leaned his head back and closed his eyes.
That night Shirou dreamed of blood and steel.
Shirou walked through Hoana Lu under the dawn sky, the sun just beginning to peak over the horizon. He'd gotten up early enough to leave with the Arcs being none the wiser though he had a feeling Nicholas knew. He wasn't sure why but his instincts told him that the Arc patriarch was aware of his departure.
Not that Shirou cared and he doubted Nicholas would shed tears over him leaving.
Shirou turned around and looked at the hotel/Grimm shelter before turning back to the road and continuing on his way. He had a job to do and there was nothing left for him here.
Shirou rounded a corner and the wall gate wound itself into his view. It was opening, surprisingly, he thought he'd have to scale the wall as he did before but he guessed it would be easier this time. He traced the same nameless Noble Phantasm he used back at the Vale hospital and continued walking.
The reason the gate was open was due to a small convoy of trucks coming in. Large transport trucks, an emblem on the side was of an artistic rendition of an animal with blue and white colors. He recognized it from the books he read back in Ansel.
The White Fang.
A Faunus Activist group founded and led by Ghira Belladonna. The organization has existed for close to a decade and in that time has made some pretty hefty strides, at least in comparison to where it began. Racism toward the faunus was still prevalent in Remnant and Mistral was the second worst offender.
It made sense that the organization would be in Anima, they were probably heading for Mistral. Same as him but he was going the long way around.
Shirou watched as he walked, watched the trucks slow to a halt and faunus get out of the trucks. A large man with a full beard and purple outfit got out of the middle truck and turned around to help a woman with cat ears pierced by gold get out of the truck. Both turned toward the last truck and began walking with stern looks on their faces.
From the final truck emerged a young teen with red hair, horns, and a black blindfold. He was carrying a young girl with cat ears which seemed to flatten as she noticed the two other faunus approaching. It seemed those two were the girl's parents and they were none too pleased with her.
Shirou stopped watching as he passed them and headed toward the gate. Shirou slipped through the gate as it began to close with no one noticing him leave.
Shirou had been walking for nearly two hours. The docktown was long from his view, he could be jogging but he decided to walk so he could come up with a strategy to deal with the cult. He needed to be surgical, cut out the cancer, and leave no traces but he could leave some so he could find more pockets.
Shirou knew there was a small settlement a few miles further, most likely a few hours down the road he was walking on. Once he got closer he'd walk off the main road and continue forward off the beaten path before coming to a-
Shirou stopped walking.
Something had changed once he had begun planning.
He hadn't noticed it.
He turned his head looking around at the horde of Grimm that passed him by.
How had he not noticed them?
Everything with hostile intent emitted some kind of presence to him, his Eye of the Mind was a practiced thing and it always gave him a hint of an attack.
Why hadn't it?
The Grimm simply passed him by, as if he weren't even there. He'd read up on these things, monsters that killed humans and faunus alike with savage ferocity.
Did they not consider him a human? Or was it something else?
But what?
Shirou looked at the horde, the sea of black and white passing him by as if he were nothing but a fixture in that spot. A discarded piece of steel-
Wait.
Shirou forced the steel in his mind to recede.
Several Grimm heads snapped his way.
He allowed the steel to return.
Several Grimm heads looked around and then followed the horde.
Shirou stared at the Grimm, the connection having been made but his mind took a moment to fully realize what had just happened. The Grimm ignored him when the steel was present. His emotions were suppressed by the steel, this was something he'd known for a long time. The Grimm were attracted to negative emotions, they couldn't sense him.
That was useful.
If he could ignore the Grimm and focus on the cult, then traveling across Remnant would be much easier than how it was described-
Wait. The Grimm. Where were they going?
Shirou looked back at the horde, watching as they made their way back down the dirt road he came from. Back toward Hoana Lu, the town with only walls and no turrets on the wall.
The town with the Arcs still in it…
Shirou traced Kanshou and pulled out his pistol before reinforcing his body and sprinting after the horde.
-Hoana Lu Thirty Minutes later-
Nicholas blocked a Creep's ram, pushed it back, and then sliced it in half before turning on his heel and slashing Crocea Mors through a Beowolf's face and then finishing it off with a stab to its chest. Another Beowolf ran in to replace the one killed and attempted to slash at the veteran huntsmen. Nicholas brought his shield to bear and blocked the hit before bashing his shield forward forcing the Beowolf to stumble back. Nicholas then cleaved Crocea Morse through the Grimm's neck, separating its head from its shoulders and disappearing into black ash.
Nicholas looked back, "Go on! Get to the shelter!" he yelled at the people he'd just protected. All of them listened and sprinted for the open doors of the Grimm shelter being guarded by other huntsmen.
Nicholas turned back toward the horde of Grimm that poured into the town little more than an hour before. There had been no warning, no alarms, only the sound of a Beowolf's howl and a Berginel's roar and suddenly some poor woman was ripped in half.
Why hadn't the Grimm alarm gone off? Nicholas knew it should have gone off when more than twenty Grimm got within a mile of the wall, the sensors should've detected them. All settlements supported by the kingdoms had them. It was a mutual agreement between the Kingdoms at the Vytal treaty signed after the great war.
Nicholas blocked another swipe from a Beowolf and immediately introduced it to the business end of Crocea Mors. He ducked under a Creep, which had jumped at him as he slashed the Beowolf, and smacked it with his shield. It fell to the dirt but before it could get up Nicholas stomped on its head, crushing its skull.
Another Creep attempted to avenge its brethren but Nicholas slashed Crocea Mors and the Creep was split in two. Nicholas looked over the horde briefly to check on the few other huntsmen fighting back the Grimm.
One of them slammed a hammer into a Berginel, another shot her dual SMGs into a crowd of the Grimm, and the last one cleaved an Ursai in two with their axe. They were doing pretty good but Nicholas could tell that wouldn't be the case soon.
The Grimm were still coming. Flooding through the open gates which should've been closed. If they could close them they could at least hold them off but even a veteran like Nicholas could probably be overwhelmed before he got to the controls. So instead they stuck back toward the Grimm shelter and killed any Grimm that got too close.
Another Creep rushed forward to try and ram Nicholas but got bashed back by a shield for its troubles. The Creep flew back and Nicholas followed to finish it off-
Bang!
-but someone else got to it first.
A shotgun blast tore through the Creep's jaw as a black and red blur sped past it and into the fray. The blur sped forward swinging their sword in an underhanded arc through a Beowolf before speeding to another, only a shadow showing their speed.
Eventually, the shadow stopped after decapitating another Beowolf. The shadow turned into a young faunus with his sword sheathed but in a battle stance ready to unleash it upon the Grimm. Nicholas was mildly impressed at the display. Wasn't the best and certainly a bit too much in unneeded movements but it did its job. The young faunus looked back at him for a moment before scoffing and continuing his fight.
Several gunshots made Nicholas turn to see the White Fang entering the fight as well. Most were obviously not trained huntsmen or huntresses but didn't need to be as of now. They just needed to fire into the horde and they'd hit something.
Among them were a few huntsmen-trained individuals, Nicholas assumed the boy was one of these, another being a tiger focus who was using a dust chain whip that had detachable dust blades on the end. Nicholas watched as the tiger faunus danced her way across the battlefield leaving dead Grimm in her wake.
Nicholas looked over at the Fang and an idea popped into his mind. The White Fang was obviously trained to a degree and the shelter needed more people to man the guns and just fire from the windows.
"Hey!" Nicholas made his choice to get the Fang's attention, "We need people defending the shelter! If we get pushed back we need the people inside safe!"
Most of the White Fang seemed to understand as they immediately looked at the shelter with a few already moving toward it. Others, however, "We don't listen to humans!"
Nicholas didn't even bother disguising his annoyed groan. Now was not the time for this! They needed people on those guns!
"I don't care! Survival is the most important thing right now! If nobody gets on those guns we-" Nicholas stopped for a moment as a Beowolf got closer to him and he used Crocea Mors to deal with it, "-we'll all die!"
Before another faunus could argue against Nicholas' words another larger faunus strode up, "ENOUGH!" the man roared, "Listen to the huntsmen! We don't have time for petty arguments right now!"
"Thank you! Now please, there are gun posts on the third floor and turrets on the roof!" Most of the faunus ran for the building while a few hesitated, even glaring at the large faunus before heading to the shelter. That may cause problems but at least they were listening.
Nicholas turned from the White Fang and looked back at the huntsmen and to his dismay he could tell they were being pushed back. Nicholas glanced further to see the young faunus from earlier slashing his way through the horde. That was very bad. From far away most wouldn't be able to tell but Nicholas could see the signs very well.
The boy was growing tired.
Nicholas needed to get to the boy and pull him out of there but he wouldn't reach him in time. Someone quickly needed to get to him and he simply wasn't fast enough.
Nicholas turned to look at the tiger faunus, "You with the chain whip!"
The woman's ears quirked up slightly but she continued to fight. She could hear him.
"That boy needs help, he's getting exhausted!"
The woman slashed her chain up, quickly glanced over at him, then twirled around as a Beowolf swiped at her and looked in the direction he was pointing. She brought the chain down wrapping it around the Beowolf's throat and used it to throw herself toward the boy.
Nicholas rushes forward toward the disoriented Beowolf and thrusts Crocea Mors into its chest, sinking it to the hilt before picking the corpse up and throwing it at a group of approaching Creeps. One rolled under the corpse but was intercepted by Nicholas' iron-plated boot and was quickly dealt with.
A roar sounded out from the horde and Nicholas turned to see a Berginel charging at him. The veteran huntsmen stood his ground but readied Crocea Mors and collapsed his shield back into its sheath state. The Berginel raised its large arms in an attempt to crush him but Nicholas stepped back as the fists came down and then stepped on the large fists and stabbed Crocea Mors directly through the Beriginel's mouth killing it.
A moment later two bodies crashed into the disapting corpse, causing the two to fall through it. It turned out to be the woman with tiger ears and the faunus boy, the woman having grabbed the boy and brought him back to the front lines.
"Adam," the woman began as they got up, "is your semblance charged?"
The boy, Adam, grunted as his aura pulsed.
"Okay, remember, channel it into your blade and let it slice across the Grimm. Do not let it out otherwise."
Adam grunted again and stood in front of both Nicholas and her, shifting his stance.
"What's he doing?" Nicholas asked the woman.
The woman merely glanced at him, "Using his semblance. It's very destructive so it should help."
Nicholas looked back at Adam, still in the stance but his aura flashed again as the boy grabbed the hilt of the sword. A moment later the world turned black and then exploded into red. A single slash and a wave of red sped through the horde cutting them in half as the wave passed in its destructive wake.
And in a moment it was over. The red disappeared and Adam nearly fell over if it weren't for the woman grabbing him before he hit the ground, "You did good, Adam."
"Thanks…Sienna…" Adam passed out in Sienna's arms. She grunted, hefting the younger faunus into a fireman's carry, and turned to the Grimm shelter.
Nicholas looked out at the devastation and couldn't help the whistle of appreciation coming from his mouth. He looked over at the departing faunus, "Hey, miss, the kid did good." he said.
Sienna looked back, her face neutral but she did nod a ghost of a smile gracing her lips before her ears rose, her face turned to a frustrated frown, and she looked up zeroing in on something above him. Nicholas turned and cursed as the sound of a Nevermore's screech sounded and the image of a flock approached.
"Shit!" Nicholas was already moving toward the shelter behind Sienna who was moving before he turned back around. It was about to get very bad very quickly with that amount of Nevermore flying towards them.
Glancing around, it seemed the other huntsmen got the same idea as they were all running for the shelter. Good thing too as he could already hear the whistling and if he understood faunus features enough Sienna did as well.
The whistling of razor-sharp feathers speeding toward them.
Nicholas instinctively turned, deploying his shield and crouching down to shield most of his body behind the sturdy metal. A moment later it hit him. Several loud pelts hit the shield nearly pushing him back but he held steady. A long few seconds later the pelts stopped and Nicholas looked up.
The Nevermore had turned around and was going to make another pass.
Nicholas stood and restarted his run for the shelter but he noticed one of the huntsmen nailed to the ground by a large amount of feathers with blood pooling under him. The poor bastard was pelted enough that his aura broke and with the amount of Nevermore above it wasn't surprising, just saddening.
Nicholas pushed the emotion down with practiced ease and continued his sprint for the doors. White Fang members came out just as Nicholas made it to the doors, squeezing past them he said, "Get back inside we need to seal the doors. There are too many and by the time we kill those Nevermore they'll have taken the ground we carved from them and then some."
The Fang members listen to him and retreat back into the building just before the blast door slams down sealing the front door from the Grimm.
Nicholas looked toward the door operator, "Will that hold?" he asked.
"I-it should but it was never meant for a horde!" the man said back as he watched the doors and listened to the sounds of the Grimm already pounding at the door.
As if to make the man's statement a prelude to something worse the building shook for a moment and then a large crash reverberated through the building. Nicholas is already moving toward the stairs to fight off whatever has just breached the building. Within a minute he'd made it to the third floor.
Bursting through the stairwell door into the hall it was obvious what had happened. A large hole through the wall took a chunk of the roof with it and some of the floor. The culprit being fairly obvious by the large Nevermore latched on to the building looking directly at him from the hole.
Nicholas took no time to run toward the Nevermore, drawing Crocea Mors as he went. The Nevermore screeched at him, nearly bursting his eardrums with the pitch but he continued his run. Nicholas leaped, roaring as brought Crocea Mors down into the Nevermore's head, piercing its mask and going halfway to the hilt. All actions from the creature ceased and Nicholas tore the ancient sword from its head and jumped off before it began its descent to the street, hopefully crushing a few Grimm with its corpse before fading.
Nicholas huffed, his body feeling the exhaustion creeping in. He turned back toward the hole to get a look at the horde and couldn't help the feeling of frustration welling up. The damn Grimm were still numerous but he could see an end to them.
It'd just take a lot of firepower and he had a feeling the slowly dwindling roar of the turrets above him meant they were running low.
Nicholas' hands clenched hard around Crocea Mors' handle. His mind wandered to the what-ifs. The possibilities. He was a veteran huntsman and knew that it was a bad idea to do so but it was twofold, he'd attract Grimm to him specifically and keep his family out of the eyes of so many hungry eyes.
Well, if this was an end he'd make his family get past it-
BANG!
A shot rang out, somehow piercing through the cacophony of noises already ruling the town, and then the Nevermore flock exploded in a brilliant ball of blue.
-Shirou Emiya-
Emiya pulled back the bolt allowing the used round to fly out and racked it forward sending the next round into the chamber. The bullets he used were special, runes carved into them making them capable of much more than just piercing. The fiery blue explosion in the sky eating away at the Nevermore flock even with just a single bullet fired was evidence of that.
Of course, no ordinary weapon could fire these things and that's where the rifle came in. An old Remington 700 model from the early days of their existence customized to be capable of firing these Magecraft-enhanced bullets.
Emiya snapped the rifle toward the crowd of Grimm who seemed to notice his presence as a threat even if not his emotions as he discovered while carving his way here through the crowd of Grimm for the last half-hour.
Another shot from the rifle, another blue explosion, another group killed, another round spent.
The surviving Grimm surged toward his position, Beowolves began scaling the building and the few surviving Nevermore flew at him as well.
They were too close.
Emiya lowered the rifle and slung it over his shoulder, securely strapping it to his back before taking out his pistol in his right hand and summoning Bakuya in his left. He walked backward while pointing his pistol forward, already taking shots at the Nevermore. The smaller one's wings are clipped by the rounds and fall from the sky.
Soon a large hand with a bone white set of claws grabbed the edge of the roof and pulled itself up revealing a Beowolf just as other similarly clawed hands grabbed the edge. Emiya looked at them and waited for them to charge him, which it did very quickly.
It got closer, and closer, it raised its claws in an attack and then Emiya moved. Bakuya slashed through the Beowolf with ease, a hot knife through butter as the saying goes. The sword glided through the Beowolf from chest to hip as Emiya moved beneath it and went toward its brethren.
Emiya fired a shot at another Beowolf's head hitting it square in the head but not shattering the mask so he dashed toward it and finished it with a swipe to its throat separating the head from its body. Before the body even hit the roof Emiya was already targeting another.
Fire, slash, fire, slash, a repeating pattern of death whirled on the roof as Emiya fought the Grimm attacking him. A whirl of death spun around the roof as the Grimm continued climbing the building giving Emiya victims to attack.
Eventually, he ran out of ammo in his pistol magazine so he stowed it in his coat and summoned Kanshou to his now free right hand. The married swords were together again and they were unleashed upon the Grimm. Emiya cut and cleaved with more ferocity than before, throwing one sword and letting it saw through the air before returning to him in an arc killing the Grimm further from him.
Eventually, the Grimm numbers fell and Emiya noticed shots coming from the shelter. Time flew by as Emiya continued cleaning up Hoana Lu of the Grimm, all of it being a blur of black, white, and death.
Soon Emiya was standing in the square across from the shelter with nothing but black ash surrounding him. He watched as the ash drifted up forming a cloud that disappeared into the afternoon sky. Emiya turns his head looking at the shelter to see a small crowd of people standing at the entrance.
Most were happy and relieved to survive but a few watched him. Nicholas Arc was among them. He was looking at Shirou with an unreadable expression, one that was hiding the thoughts that toiled in the man's mind. Shirou found that he didn't care what the man thought and simply adjusted the strap to his rifle and began walking off.
He did need to grab his gun case before he left and then he'd be heading off toward his original goal. He had a feeling they had something to do with this.
-Nicholas Arc-
Around him, people celebrated happy to be alive after this whole ordeal but he was not one of them. The Arc Patriarch watched as the man walked away without a word or sign of celebration. His feelings about that man haven't changed, not really. Even after seeing him come back and help finish off the Grimm.
Don't get him wrong in thinking he wasn't grateful but he still remembered those golden eyes and how detached they were. Only killers and psychopaths had those eyes and Nicholas refused to have someone like that near his family. No matter how much Juniper threatened him with the cold and lonely couch.
He could bear it.
Speaking of Juniper he needed to check on his family; they were probably worried about him. Nicholas turned, looked at the man still walking away, and walked toward the shelter to see his family.
Nicholas stopped at the entrance though, a realization coming to him. He hadn't learned the man's name. He didn't think Juniper was even able to pry it out as he was with her every time she went close to that man. Maybe it was better that way. Perhaps his family would forget about the man in due time, he hoped. He couldn't stand the look of awe Jaune had been giving that man who had no right to it.
With that Nicholas went down into the basement of the shelter to reunite with his family and Hoana Lu began picking up the pieces. Soon this incident would reach other ears and spread as all stories do and just as with all stories, some pieces would be embellished.
Specifically, a sword-wielding Huntsmen wearing black saving a settlement from the Grimm.
Update: I got a few reviews telling me the chapter ended too abruptly so I went back and added a POV with Nicholas (Thank you WitnessofFate) to end the chapter on and introduce something I was planning to introduce in the next chapter.
Did it end too abruptly? Maybe but what did you think? Please review as I do take criticism into account. Anyway, Emiya has arrived on Amina, we've finally seen Adam Taurus, and Emiya has begun his crusade in earnest. I can't wait to show you all the chaos I'm cooking up though it will be from other perspectives again and I'm wondering if I should pull a very dangerous move with the POVs. Alright, so I hope I got some of the combat down especially with Nicholas as I wanted to show he was a more experienced fighter and very good at what he does. I also showed my take on Adam who is much younger here so he isn't the badass we know he'll one day be also just saying it here I'm not doing the Adam & Blake relationship as a romantic one as Adam is older her nearly a decade older so it'd just be odd.
We also see what Shirou's been lugging around this whole time and it was his Sniper Rifle which after seeing in the Manga I knew I had to use it, though I didn't where to use it at first. I also added a bit of my own take to it as it's a Remington 700 in this and is customized to be able to fire special bullets that Shirou got custom from a Magus he knew. I have said before that though this is an EMIYA Alter Lilly that doesn't mean I won't be taking some creative liberties.
Also, I'd like a little feedback on how conflicted this Emiya is as well as my depiction of the Mind of Steel and how Shirou tries to limit if that makes sense.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and please leave a review.