You never really think about how many people are too many people until you are stuck in an elevator with all of them. We were not a particularly large group but the small elevator Qrow was leading us through was clearly designed to hold a smaller group. So we all had to awkwardly stand too close to each other as we went down.
It was not much of an issue with Ashley as she was glued to my side in most cases anyway but the others were uncomfortably close. I could feel Pyrrha's breath going down my neck and I could have sworn Argo was elbowing me in the stomach on purpose. Andrew had an embarrassed look on his face as he was squished between Qrow and Argo. Qrow on the other hand was not displaying any signs of discomfort.
The fucking guy was just staring at me, not that he had stopped staring at me since I met him. Although I would rate his current stare as less creepy as he was no longer looking at me like he wanted to kidnap me. Now his gaze was just dissecting as if trying to figure out what made me tick and how he could get his hands on it.
I was trying my best to ignore him as he was one of Ozpin's pawns and I could only assume whatever was going on with him had something to do with the body snatcher. I was not doing a very good job at ignoring him but the current situation was not helping. Since we were all clustered together in this thing the idle chatter that might have distracted me was gone. I guess no one was feeling particularly chatty with the awkward mood that was building in this fucking elevator.
"Hey did you invite Pyrrha to the party?" I questioned Ashley who was squished next to me. If no one else was going to break this mood then I had to be the one to make the first move. I could only hope that the elevator would speed up so we could get out of here.
"Party?" Qrow questioned interrupting Ashley who was about to respond to me. The way he asked that implied he had no idea what that word meant in this context and he wanted to pry. I shot him a dry look which he returned with an insufferable grin that had me wanting to punch him.
Qrow may have been our escort in our time here but there was no hiding what his real intention are here. Ozpin sent him here to monitor us and to report any information he managed to pry out of us. I could understand the need for it as Ozpin was now faced with several individuals that he had no info on. Ozpin had been playing his game for the longest time and he was determined to win if only to end his wretched life.
So when presented with the opportunity that our appearance was he needed to know more about us. Qrow crude question was just another way to pry into our heads. It was not exactly subtle but subtly can be played in different avenues. It would only be considered normal to question things when faced with our group so his rudeness could be excused.
"Kind of forgot about goodie two shoes." Ashley let out sheepishly as she shot another glare at Qrow. The guy did not even flinch at her dark look but I imagine he was used to facing his own death. Ashley was not exactly happy with the guy as he had been eying me up in a rather strange way.
"Ohhh what did she do to deserve a name like that?" Argo asked with a light smile on her face clearly joking around. I could not really see how Pyrrha reacted to that but I could feel her let out a sigh on my back.
" Probably nothing Ashley would call a burglar a goodie two shoes if they only took a quarter of someone's stuff." Andrew let out with his own dry tone as he shot his sister and amused look. Ashley rolled her eyes at him but did not deny what he was saying.
"If that is her criteria for being a goodie two shoes then I guess I exceeded her expectations." Pyrrha let out with an amused tone of her own. Pyrrha was not as straight laced as Ashley was implying but she was not someone that far away from that comment either. She was a person who would lay down their lives for the greater good after all.
I hated that concept because of Dumbledore's incessant use of it but it fit Pyrrha to a tee.
"You kids get off topic a lot." Qrow let out roughly as he interrupted the conversation we were having. Although I could not blame him as we really do wind up going on the strangest tangent. Not that it was any of his business, we were under no obligation to answer his questions.
Ashley clearly agreed with me as she shot Qrow another glare.
"Ah, Ashley received a power that turns her life into a video game. So she is capable of inviting people into a party to share that ability." Pyrrha explained when it was clear no one else was going to pipe in. I let out a sigh as I should have expected that as she had no reason to hide that from Qrow. This was a person who dedicated his life to fighting the good fight as far as she was concerned and it was not like we asked her to hide this either.
I let out a sigh but accepted it for what it was. I was hostile to Qrow for his connection to Ozpin but that was not really fair to the two of them either. Ozpin really was trying his best to save this world from damnation and has been doing a pretty good job at it for the most part as humanity still lived on. I only felt off about him because he reminded me so much of Dumbledore but that was irrational and I should recess my thoughts on him.
"See that is why I call her Good Two Shoes." Ashley let out with a roll of her eyes as she looked over at Pyrrha. Andrew looked between his Sister and Pyrrha with a stunned look on his face but he kept quiet. Argo's amused looked cracked for a moment but she gathered her bearings quick. I could not tell how Pyrrha was reacting but I could only assume she was embarrassed at the comment considering how she usually reacted.
The problem was Qrow as he shot Ashley a look. The guy was clearly interested in what she could offer and he was not even remotely interested in hiding said interest. Which I got for the most part as the ability was truly something special.
Before we had to face that particular issue the elevator opened up and we finally received some space from the fucking elevator. We hustled out of the small elevator quickly as most of us were not comfortable being that squished. As Pyrrha left the elevator I assumed my assessment was right as she had a light blush on her face and she was looking at Ashley with an apologetic look on her face.
"Any chance I can get me some of that video game power?" Qrow asked as he led us down a hallway. He asked in a disinterested tone as if it did not matter if we denied his request but god knows if that was how he really felt. The blush on Pyrrha's face increased as she played her part in that request but she did not seem to be torn up about it. She even shot Ashley a pleading look which had me sighing.
Qrow was someone who fought and killed for what he knew to be right and to deny him something like this because I disliked the vibe his boss had going on was pointless. Although it was not really my call to make.
Ashley rolled her eyes at the question and Pyrrha look but she remained silent as she looked over at me. The look between us spoke volumes as she clearly wanted to know my input on this situation. Given her own nature, she was unlikely to help for the sake of helping but if I wanted to help she was willing to do the same.
I wanted to shrug and leave it to her but I gave her a slow nod instead. There was a flash of surprise in her eyes as she saw that but she just shrugged it off and faced Pyrrha.
"Fine but only because Goodie Two Shoes says your world sucks and you can use all the help you can get." Ashley let out making it clear she was only doing this because of Pyrrha. Pyrrha shot her a bright and thankful look and the look in Qrows eyes sharpened as he was greeted with the party invite.
"As someone living on this dump you have my thanks." Qrow let out dryly as he continued to guide us but he clearly had other things on his mind.
" Having to fight just so your world does not collapse under you is difficult enough I'm glad that we are able to help." I let out as I wrapped one of my arms around Ashley and drew her closer. I did feel bad for the people trapped in this world and I should let go of the needless aggression I was feeling for the protectors of this place.
"Being trapped in Sword Art Online for so long was bad enough I could not imagine your whole world being like that." Argo let out with a shudder as she decided to join in the conversation again.
"How was that? Ashley explained a little about the mission she went on but she was pretty spotty in details. Most of it was nonsense about her and Prince getting together." Andrew asked with interest and concern on his face. The guy really did care about his Sister even if I sometimes felt like he cared about her too much. For example when he was talking about Ashley sharing details about our relationship he had a bitter look on his face but he was able to recover.
Argo stopped walking for a moment as she looked over at Andrew for a moment. Her pausing caused all of us to pause as well as we were not willing to walk without her. She was looking between Andrew and Ashley with her eyes widening as she realized something.
"Oh, you're her brother!" Argo shouted out and Andrew only gave her a confused look as he thought it was rather clear that was who he was. Qrow seemed irritated that we were stopping for this nonsense but he was willing to let it go as he started to drink out his flask. Pyrrha paused as well as she remembered something as well her face going redder as she looked between Ashley and her brother.
"I'm sorry that your sister got stolen away by an NTR protagonist but at least she did not have to move to Alabama and become a brother fucker." Argo let out with a smile that screamed she was entirely too happy with herself. Qrow choked on the alcohol he was drinking from his flask and Andrew looked utterly confused. Pyrrha looked even more embarrassed and she refused to look at the siblings.
"Alright laugh it up you smug bitch. My Username was only likely to fuck not definitely" Ashley let out darkly with a threat clear in her tone but Argo only shot her a smug grin. I felt my own lips twitch in amusement as Ashley should be familiar with a smile like that as it was the look she wore constantly on her own face. Qrow was looking at his flask as if he was questioning what he put in the thing and Andrew looked like his whole world was crumbling around him.
The guy was pale and slightly green from the thought running through his head. Hell, he was shaking as if this revelation was something that disturbed him deeply. I was tempted to look through his memories as his current reaction was not something I expected from him. The guy was clearly possessive of his sister and his emotions were not exactly stable so something like this should have been expected in his eyes but maybe I was reading him wrong. Maybe his rational mind knew how wrong their previous relationship was and he was not willing to address his own feelings on the topic.
Whatever the case his current reaction was enough to relax my hostility to the guy. Ashley did not seem that concerned about his reaction but she was only likely to fuck him in the first place because it was another method to tie Andrew down for his affection. She no longer needed that and she as also more confident in his genuine care for her.
"I'm just going to ignore this for my own sanity." Qrow let out as he too gained a green tint to his cheeks and a disturbed glassy look in his eyes. I could only assume that the sibling fucking topic reminded him of his own sister and he wanted that connection to not appear before him.
The guy had enough issues with Sisters already he did not need the thought of them fucking inside of his head. The long drink he took from his flask was a good enough indicator that he wanted to forget all of this.
If Raven ever found out that Qrow had that thought running through his head for even a moment the guy would end up with several knives in his back and his genitals removed…Huh, the comparison between the two siblings' relationship had some common ground.
"I'm a crazy bitch, there is no need for any explanations after that." Ashley let out with a smug grin as she puffed out her chest. Argo started laughing and Andrew was still out of it but he looked like he was at least absently amused by her comment. Pyrrha remained flustered and Qrow made a conscience decision to not look over at Ashley.
Although he looked like he was drawing more similarities with his own sister with Ashley and it was not helping the nausea he was experiencing.
"Alright, don't worry about it too much big guy." I let out as I patted Andrew on the back to get him back to reality. He gave me a blank look and I could only shrug at him. The guy let out a sigh but he looked like was at least here instead of a different dimension.
Qrow started walking away from this situation he either thought we would follow and ignore our situation or he no longer cared if we followed him. Seeing that all of us started to follow him so he was right in a way.
"Um, Ashley would it be too much to ask for you to invite more people to the Party?" Pyrrha asked hesitantly clearly uncomfortable with asking this but it needed to be asked. Ashley gave her a flat look as she already compromised by giving Qrow an invite and here Pyrrha was asking for more from her. I got why she was asking as every person with enhanced strength in her world meant more lives would be saved in the big picture. If she had to annoy one girl to accomplish that Pyrrha was more than willing to do so even if it was embarrassing.
"Look I get it, but I got a limited amount of people I can have in the party at the same time so that's just not an option." Ashley let out flatly as she resumed walking away leaving Pyrrha dejected at the situation. The situation was a surprise to me as I did not expect that the party had a limit but I guess that made sense.
I suppose Ashley could be lying but that was not really her style. She was more than fine with shutting Pyrrha down because that was what she wanted; there was no reason to fool the innocent girl. So I was more inclined to trust her current statement.
Qrow clearly heard what Ashley just said as he paused his walking for a moment and I was sure he was making a note of that in his mind but he got back into the swing quickly.
"If you need the space I am more than fine with going back to my nice comfortable bed." Andrew let out flatly as he gave his sister a dull look. He had not recovered from the revelation but the guy was not going to miss the opportunity to get the hell out of here. I could respect that.
"You are going to kill monsters and you are going to like it," Ashley announced with a glare on her face. Andrew let out a sigh and just continued to walk with us with a bitter look on his face. I got that he was a regular human that did not want to fight the Grimm but if he did so he would get super powers so I don't get why he was so against it.
Pyrrha looked confused about the situation between them but she did not try to argue on Andrew's position. She was able to understand Ashley enough that she would not get her to budge on this and the rules had already became clear to her.
"Face it Oni-chan you are stuck here just like me." Argo let out with a shitting eating smile on her face. It was moments like this that remind me that her and Ashley are good friends. The question was Argo always like this or did she become like this after hanging out with Ashley?
"Oh joy." Andrew let out flatly as he gave Argo the dullest look he was capable of. Argo just started to laugh at the poor guy but he looked like he was used to receiving such treatment as he did not even flinch.
"It won't be that bad all the heavy lifting will be left to Ashley and I," I explained to the distraught boy, he rolled his eyes at me and I was reminded why we did not get along. Pyrrha and Qrow would also be pulling their own weight but I did not know if that was for certain.
"Hey I'm not here to be dead weight either!'" Argo shouted out as she gave me an offended look. I raised an eyebrow at her as she was just in a hospital bed and her feelings about fighting were pretty clear earlier. She let out a huff as I did not believe her motivation but I was not really giving her enough credit.
She was here to improve after all and it only took a minor amount of prodding. That was more than Izumi could say and the guy was in the Chat Group longer than Argo.
"I got a Devil Fruit and now that I am not stuck in bed I can finally use it. I can't wait to unleash that bad boy." Arog explained with a grin on her face and childlike innocence in her eyes. I got the feeling she was the kind of person who lined up in the street to get the chance to be a beta player for a new game. She was a nerd through and through and there was no denying that most otakus would love the chance to get something like a Devil Fruit.
Hell, I had a large amount of power on my side already and I would not mind having a Devil Fruit either.
"See that's the spirit I was looking for," Ashley announced as she got near Argo and slung an arm around her. Argo rolled her own eyes at her and pushed Ashley away but the much stronger girl did not budge an inch. Argo gave her a flat look that was only returned with a smug smile.
"Devil Fruit?" Qrow questioned with a look that clearly said he was tense. He was looking at Argo with a wary look on his face, I would say he was overreacting but a lot of things were being dumped on his lap. I could not really blame him for being cautious of a person with a power with a name like Devil Fruit.
"It is a Fruit that gives the user various abilities from elemental control to messing with rules in an abstract manner like there is a fruit that allows the user to multiply anything and there is a fruit that lets someone turn into gum," I explained calmly as I might as well give the guy a bone. I did leave out the very crippling weakness of the Fruits as he had no reason to know that.
He looked between Argo and me with a look that said he was trying to figure out if I was serious. Argo just gave him a smug smile which really told him how serious I was with my description.
"I'm not going to have a good day, I can already tell," Qrow whispered as he turned around and continued leading us in a more dejected mood. Argo laughed at the scene but Qrow did his best to ignore her as well.
"I never got around to asking but which fruit did you get?" I asked with a curious look on my face. There were a lot of possibilities as to what she got and if we were going to fight beside each other it would be good to know these things in advance. If she had something terrible like the transparency fruit than her being near the front line would have to be in question. God, if she got something like the silence silence fruit I would pity her as it would be like she did not even have a fruit.
That might be a bit insulting but that fruit did not do anything really impressive in the Anime but maybe that was the fault of the user and not the fruit. Supposedly there were no bad fruits only poor users as the mochi mochi fruit was proved. I just had difficulty thinking of a route for the silence silence fruit.
"Maybe I should keep that a secret." Argo let out with a teasing smile on her face. I rolled my eyes at her as there was no reason to keep something like this back. However, that was not something Argo would accept as she wanted to troll me at least for a little while.
"I share my super awesome ability with you and you don't even tell me your power. I see how it is." Ashley let out as she poked Argo in the side. Her tone was bitter but the look in her eyes told everyone she was kidding around.
Argo looked like she wanted to say something but instead of doing that, she turned to Qrow with a smile on her face. Her fingers started to twitch and it was only my enhanced vision that let me see what was going on. Nearly invisible strings emerged from her fingers and swam through the air wrapping themself on Qrow's limbs.
I will give the guy credit because as soon as the strings connected with him he tensed up and was clearly preparing to do something but the strings released Qrow after a dejected look emerged on Argo's face. Qrow turned around again with a flat look on his face as his eyes demanded an explanation.
I was confused as well as Argo had Qrow exactly where she wanted him but she did not do what she was planning on doing. I recognized the power as the String String Fruit and it was likely that Argo was trying to copy Doflamingo and puppet around the poor bastard.
"Why did you give up on your technique.?" I asked with curiosity as I wanted to see what she would have done with the smug prick as a small amount of humiliation would make me feel better about helping him.
"Can you not use strange techniques on me." Qrow let out with an annoyed look on his face as he was clearly not pleased with being messed with even if it failed. Argo stuck her tongue at him and that caused Qrow to clench his jaw but he did not say anything else.
"I thought with the Fruit I would be able to do everything Doffy could but I'm not strong enough to puppet people," Argo explained sourly as she looked at her fingers with a bitter look. Qrow heard her explanation about puppeteering the poor guy and he became tense again but he started walking away again at a faster pace.
He was acting like he would be able to get away from us when he reached the place he was leading us but that would be wrong. He was supposed to be near us the entire trip as the role Ozpin had him playing was escort. I did get him slightly as a teenage girl just tried to puppet him around like he was a toy and that was not something that should slide.
"Pft that is why you eat your Wheaties bitch." Ashley mocked from the side as she leered at her friend. Argo stuck her tongue out at Ashley who returned the favor by doing the same. The response was childish and really petty but those words described Ashley far too well.
"I'm going to make you dance one of these days." Argo threatened with a glint in her eyes that told me she was serious. Ashley clearly thought her threat was pointless as she just rolled her eyes at her.
"I should be able to help you gain some strength but it is going to have to wait until this trip is over. Can you use the strings in any other way for now?" I questioned as the fruit was pretty good and if Argo could develop it properly I could see her as a real menace on the battlefield.
'The Strings are pretty sharp when I want them to be so I should be able to attack a little bit." Argo explained sheepishly as she continued to play around with the string pooling out of her fingers. I figured this was the first time she was able to play around with her new power as she was too weak previous to even use them.
"That should work out but make sure to stay back near Andrew and attack from the distance." I let out as I patted the smaller girl's head. Argo gave me an annoyed look at being treated like a child but she did not say anything else.
Argo and Andrew were are most vulnerable party members so all the battels should be left to us heavy hitters. However if Argo gained some level-ups she might be able to use the Fruit like she wanted to.
It honestly depended on how good her stat output was from said level-ups.
"I'll make sure the two of them are safe wherever they end up." Pyrrha volunteered with a serious look on her face. I did not expect her to volunteer like that but I guess it fit her character. She was the type of person who would care deeply about her companions.
Ashley was going to be in the thick of it considering her battle lust so I assumed it was going to be up to me to make sure they were protected. I was still going to keep an eye on them as my Magic made protecting people a bit easier than most methods but it was nice having Pyrrha beside them to make sure their safety was not the major thing on my mind.
Honestly, I thought Pyrrha was in a similar boat to Ashley in regards to battle lust as she clearly enjoyed fighting but that was my mistake. Pyrrha did not fight for the sake of fighting she enjoyed a good fight, not any random brawl she could get her hands on.
I guess a good way for Ashley and her to bond would be for the two of them to spar. Ashley would like fighting period and Pyrrha would appreciate the skill Ashley had behind her blows. The two years of tempering her Demi-God nature really fed into Ashley's skill with a spear.
As I was contemplating that it seemed like we finally reached our destination. It was a large hangar with several bullheads of various sizes.
I did not really think about the method of travel we would use when we got here but seeing those planes completed the picture for me.
Qrow did not even pause for a moment before he ended up in one of the Bullheads with a dull look on his face. He did not even wait for us to sit down before he strapped himself in and started drinking.
I gave the guy a flat look but by this point, Qrow was ignoring all of us. Or it looked like he was ignoring us I had no idea which one was true but I think it was the first one.
The pilot looked over at Qrow and just went straight to the cockpit. He did not even bother asking him what he wanted so I could only assume he was told where we were heading from Ozpin or someone else.
All of us started to sit down as the door closed around us. The plane hummed to life and the rumble of the engine spread through the hull as it started to fly to our first destination.
Now it's time to kill some Grimm.
--------------
The journey was pretty silent all things considered. There was some chatter but not enough to really distract me. Qrow was drinking and was doing his best to remain unnoticed. Ashley was all hyped with the thought of a fight so she kept her snark back. Andrew was still slightly dazed from the recent revelation and Argo was feeding off the energy in the room so she was pretty quiet her self. That left Pyrrha and myself, Pyrrha could not start a conversation to save her life so she was just looking around nervously and I had nothing I wanted to say right now.
So I had some peace to my own thoughts which was not something I really enjoyed. The complicated situation with Rias was bugging me and I was too far in to turn around now but being in a relationship with Ashley and Rias was not something I ever thought about. I devoted too much of myself to those I loved so I never thought a situation like this would come about. Even if it was a fantasy that every teenage boy would have in his life at one point.
Then there was the can of worms that was my feelings for Narcissa. That little nugget of truth was buried so far in my psyche that I never thought it would have seen the light of day. Objectively I knew she was gorgeous, I had on more than one occasion said she was capable of charming anyone she got her hands on and if she really wanted to she could have charmed me as well. Turns out she did not really have to try to win my affection as she already had it even if I did not acknowledge it until it was shoved into my face.
I called Rias easy but honestly, I was pretty easy myself. If a person showed genuine care for me and was willing to stay by my side I would find myself drifting towards their presence. I should have learned that truth from my relationship with Lily but I never really thought about how that would work out in my life.
I felt an intense mix of sour emotions in my chest that had me confused for a moment. I was used to feelings like that but those feelings did not feel like my own which could only mean they were from Fortuna. Usually, her emotions were directed towards me so I was able to separate them from myself but that mix of emotions was not aimed at me, she was just feeling bitter and upset about something. Given my current thought process, she was annoyed with me ruminating on my feelings about my relationship.
Now she felt like a child sulking because they got caught and for the life of me I could not figure out why. Then I was hit with exasperation and I think I started to get the hint by this point. I looked out of the window with a dazed expression as another thought hit me.
I had to be wrong, but the more I thought about it the more that thought made perfect sense. Fortuna had always been clear about her affection for me, her deep devoted love that I once equated to the feelings I felt for Lily. So the notion that she loved me in a romantic sense should have been clear from the get go and judging from the embarrassment I was feeling from her I hit the head on the nail.
The problem with that was I treated her like my daughter. She was my greatest creation and something I loved deeply but I never thought about Fortuna in that manner. The sadness and the sulking I was feeling from her had me grimace in guilt as Fortuna was someone who would always have my back and I never wanted to hurt her because she was that precious to me.
I bit my lip and thought over my interaction with her. I kind of put her in the back seat for most of her life and that was pretty callous of me but it was so difficult to make that connection with her even if our relationship was so close that it literally could not get closer. It was a problem with how I saw her, for me Fortuna would always be that potion that I brewed desperately in a haze. That shinning gold liquid that changed my life but that was not who she truly was.
She had evolved from that potion into a being of her own and I never really connected the dots there. Even when she reached out to me with my Aura I did not treat her as anything more than a potion. The intense sadness I felt from her had my heart skip a beat and I felt guiltier. Fortuna wanted so much more from me and I never really thought about her own feelings.
Even when I was spiraling and tried latching onto Ashley I did not reach out to the person I should have been confident in not betraying me. I knew she loved me as I could feel that deep affection from my core and I had ignored it until this point and that was not really fair to her but I was still having issues picturing who Fortuna would be as a person.
The mix of emotions I was getting from her had cooled from the bitter sadness to a sour mood as she did not have a solution to my thoughts either. I let out an internal sigh as I was already in a potential polyamorous relationship so why not add one more even if said person was a pool of energy that resided in my very soul.
The joy that showered me in that moment was too intense for me to even think about anything else. I could only feel the loud happiness that she was feeling at this moment. I'm sure if anyone else was paying attention to me they would question me why I had such a dazed look on my face but everyone was too distracted with their own worlds.
Eventually, she was able to get a handle on herself but I was still left with a feeling of an excited ball of energy in my chest. I looked over at Ashley who was still vibrating in place jazzed up to fight again. This one is going to be complicated, Ashley was aware of what Fortuna was but I was sure she was also treating her as an abstract thing and not a threat to her love life. Ashley accepted Rias into our relationship but that was only because Rias had grown on her.
Fortuna would be a different case but once that crack in the relationship was established it was only a matter of time before things changed again. It was not like it was going to be a problem for a long while, Fortuna was stuck inside of my soul and while that is incredibly intimate it was not something that would look threatening to Ashley. Hopefully, by the time this becomes a real issue, I can get Ashley into a better place. Maybe Rias' attitude about Harems will rub off on Ashley? God, who was I kidding?
The Bullhead shuddered as it landed startling me from my absurd thoughts. Qrow took a long deep drag from his Flask and stood up with a grimace on his face.
"Time to get going kiddies," Qrow spoke out with an annoyed expression on his face. He then opened up the hull door and we were greeted with the sight of a small village that clearly had better days. There were buildings that were basically ruble by this point and there were splotches of black on the ground that I could only assume was blood stains. There was smoke billowing off of some of the torn down houses. This place was silent in a way that was disturbing as humans clearly lived here at one point but not a peep was going on in this village.
Qrow was examining the surroundings with a disinterested look on his face but I was sure he had seen this scene countless times before. Pyrrha also had a grim look on her face but I could tell she was distressed by the sight before her as she clutched onto her spear with inhuman strength. The siblings were not that affected by what was going on as they had the same blaze attitude that they always had but Ashley looked bummed that she did not get to the good stuff right away. Argo was probably the only person that displayed her emotions on her face as she looked over the scene with a sad expression.
When I came here I expected that we would arrive in a village that was intact but that was clearly not the case. I guess it made sense as how would Ozpin know that the Grimm had been harassing the populace if there was not an incident. I would not mourn for these lives but it was still a tragedy that this happened in the first place. A grim reminder of what this world really was.
"We're a bit late to be helpful." I let out darkly as I looked over at Qrow who only shurged at my comment.
"You wanted urgent kid, this is it. There is another settlement about twenty klicks from here. If we don't take care of this pack another family will be torn apart." Qroe explained as bitterly as he looked over at the remains with a gaze looking for something.
Before further comments could be made a flash of black pounced from the remains of one of the buildings. The creature that was traveling through the air was furry and coated in bone like plates. Its jaws opened in a snarl as it tried to take a bite out of Argo.
Ashley swung out her spear straight down its opened maw as she made the Grimm into a make shift kabab. The beast was clearly uncomfortable with its current position but it was not dead as it tried to swipe at Ashley but it was having a difficult time of that as it had a spear down its throat. With a twist of her spear, Ashley swung the Grimm into the ground hard enough to crack the pavement under our feet. The things stopped moving after that and slowly started to smoke as they lay there.
"Game face on kids," Qrow innocent with a grin on his face as he swung his blade bisecting the mass of black that was charging at him. Andrew paled at the sudden violence that was happening and Argo was still recovering from her near mauling but the rest of us blurred into action.
The once quiet village started to fill out with more and more wolf like creatures but it was not that concerning considering how easily we were handling them so far.
Ashley was being the blur of death that she preferred to be. Her spear swung out and hit the various Grimm that she encountered. Although she seemed displeased with how things were going as the spear she was using was not doing a good job at hurting them. She was not able to slice and dice as she preferred and had to rely on blunt force trauma to do any damage to the Grimm but that was what you got as a level one Legendary Hero.
Qrow was more slow and controlled in his assault but he was killing the Grim around us far quicker than Ashley was. He was stumbling around in a way that displayed vulnerability but with every strike of his blade that falsehood was destroyed. He knew exactly what would bring the most attacks to him and how to take advantage of that. It reminded me of how Emiya would fight if the guy was a drunk hobo who could turn into a bird for some reason.
Pyrrha was sticking back to protect the less combat-ready side of our team but she was shooting the Grimm with pracited movements. With every fire of her rife, a wolf would find it self meeting its god all over again.
I was also sticking near Argo and Andrew but I had Magic on my side so I did not have to worry about them too much. With a snap of my fingers, I was able to produce a ring of flame that would consume anything that was hostile to the people already in the ring. I may not have known the spell that Grindewald used but I could rip it off pretty well. The sudden ring of fire did not calm down Andrew's mood but I was sure he would appreciate the protection as the fight went on.
I then took out my Sacred Gear and got into the thick of it as well. I needed the practice with this blade after all. The bone plating on this thing might protect them from most things but they could not stop something like Star Blaster Star Burster.
As I always did I found myself in a rhythm as I found myself in the right place at the right time to do the most damage I was capable off. Sometimes a Grimm would find it self being hit by various objects around us that had no business being near them. For example, a giant bell fell on one of them after a series of accidents led to the tower that was holding the thing to collapse.
Oddly enough the bad luck that the Grimm were facing had a bitter look emerge on Qrows face. He was also looking around at us trying to gauge something. There was a hint of confusion on his face as another Grimm faced nonsense as the wind blew a trash bag over its head blinding the thing and leading it to fall into a well. He was looking over at the Grimm as if he was trying to gauge something again but the confusion on his face made things clear he had no idea how that happened.
Ashley seemed fed up with using her spear for attacks as she started to just punch things into oblivion. A particularly large Werewolf found it sef losing its head as she swung her fist through it's head with enough force to rip the thing off. Her kicks dealing similar amount of damage as she punted on the the things into the sky.
As the fight went on Argo gathered enough courage to actually try something as strings started to emerge from the ring of fire. She was not able to slice cleanly through any of the Grimm she was facing but she left lashes on the ones she fought and with enough of those the creature found itself joining its brethren in the after life.
"How many are we going to have to take care of?" I questioned Qrow as I snapped my fingers to bring some more numbers on our side with some golems. The guy shrugged at me as he bisected three of the Grimm charging at him.
"You shut your whore mouth this great!" Ashley shouted out as she used her Spear to vault over a pile of dead Grimm. On the other side of that vault she dropped in on another poor Grimm and gave it the people's elbow. It was such a stupid move to make but the bright smile on her face as she landed on the ground told me she did not care for that.
"I was not saying this was too much I just wanted to know how many more we had," I explained as I conjured bubbles around several Grimm having them float in the air harmlessly. The confused look on their faces was amusing especially since they struggled to get out of bubbles of all things.
"Don't got that answer for you kid, we could be done in five minutes or this could take days. It depends on how much negativity the villages felt as they were eaten alive." Qrow answered dryly as he stumbled through the crowd of Grimm surrounding him. I was not too concerned about him as he had Aura to protect him but even this close to the Grimm they were having a really hard time landing any blows on the guy. Which really told you how mobish they were as it looked like Qrow was not even trying for the most part. Hell, Ashley was able to pull of some dumb moves right now so she was also not taking this fight seriously.
I will say I was not looking forward to fighting these guys for days but this is what we signed up for. I tried to find them using various spells but I could not quite get it right. These creatures were Divine Construst so I was not able to examine them using my eyes and I did not have any time to get a read on them using the regular methods. So I was stuck just killing them mindlessly like the rest of my crew.
Although I did have an idea after remembering what these things were. I expanded the radius of the ring of fire so I had more ground to cover then I placed a beacon of negativity using the emotional magic I gained from Fawes. I let out a smug smile as the Grimm started to charge at the ring of fire in a frenzied rush. The monsters burst into flames and incinerated themselves as soon as they came into contact with the flames. Sure with every kill I felt my Mana go down but I was no longer unprepared for running out of mana. I idly sipped on my bottle of water watching as the Grimm started killing themselves.
Then an loud roar echoed through the village that had the air vibrating from the force. As the trees started to fall and the ground started to shake from whatever was coming I figured I may have made a mistake emitting such strong negativity as it would draw not only the Grimm here but all the Grimm remotely close to here.
----------
The rumbling in the air had already convinced me of my mistake. Hell, the trees crashing at the rate they were had me questioning everything I knew about Grimm by this point. But the really telling thing was how Qrow reacted to the situation around us.
The calm disinterested manner he was displaying before had faded quickly. There was a seriousness about him that I would never expect from someone like him and beyond that he had this sort of grimness I was familiar with. The type of Grimmness I saw in the Players as they charged towards the boss of a floor never knowing if this was the fight that was going to claim their lives.
I canceled my spell but by this point it was pointless. The creature was coming here and there was no stopping it from appearing. I could only count on the fact that the Beawolfs that were charging the flames appeared to be taken care of for the most part.
"For fucks sake of course today was going to be one of those days, what did I expect with luck like mine.' Qrow cursed out but he chose to mumble the last part. Beyond that, he gripped his Sword and faced the coming charge of whatever was coming to greet us.
"Ooooh are we getting a boss battle, these scrubs have been a pretty shitty opening." Ashley let out with a blood thirsty smile on her face as she shifted her spear from the basic form she was using to one of the other forms she had unlocked.
"Not the time Ashley, whatever that fucking thing is it's dangerous." Andrew spat out as she shivered from the aura this thing was emanating, I wanted to say he was overreacting as what could really stop us here but I was the one that put us in needless danger. I was also feeling a little nervous about whatever was coming here.
"Hate to agree with the pretty boy over there but this is something kiddies like you should not have to face." Qrow let out with a tired look on his face. I felt like we were being underestimated but honestly, what did this guy know about us other than what we have shown him?
"What is it Sir? Not even a death stalker would do something like this." Pyrrha asked as she looked over at the collapsing trees with a determined look. She was clearly concerned about what I accidentally summoned but her limited knowledge was not enough to let her guess what was coming. All she had to go off of was the loud rumbling roar from the creature and the ground shaking from its movements.
"If we are lucky a Goliath." Qrow spat out with a bitter look on his face. The startled gasp that left Pyrrha's mouth was not helping my mood. I had no idea what a Goliath was but judging from its name and the fact that Pyrrha of all people was concerned about it the thing had to be a major problem.
"Not really feeling the confidence here," Argo muttered out as she was looking at the grim faces of Qrow and Pyrrha. That was a sentiment I could get behind as their outlook was not helping my confidence.
"Yall are overreacting we got this handled," Ashley announced with a bright smile on her face that hid the blood thirsty intent behind that smile. Andrew did not seem convinced of that and the shaking in the ground was getting worse so I don't think she increased Argo's spirit either. Qrow was a lost cause as he considered anything coming out of Ashley's mouth as needless pride and Pyrrha was leaning on the more experienced Hunter's outlook.
"You are not getting the danger you are in. We don't hunt Golitahs, we take potshots at them from our nice safe walls with cannons the size of buildings and we don't kill those fucks." Qrow spat out as he was looking over at the distance. I blinked at his comment as that was not something I expected from this world. From what I could recall from this world the dragon Grimm that took care of Vale was not anything to write home about but the way he was describing this thing had me question things.
Pyrrha only nodded Grimly as she clearly knew how threatening these Goliaths were. Argo paled as she also looked over at the distance and Andrew looked like he wanted nothing more than to escape. The warning did nothing for Ashley but I was certainly concerned about a being that could tank fire from cannons the size of buildings.
As I looked over at the distance I found my mouth drying as I realized why these things could tank fire from artillery. I had thought that the tree's falling over was because the creature was making its way over here from the other side of the forest. I had assumed the shaking from the ground was from the thing's weight and I was right in a way but I was also horribly wrong.
The crashing and the shaking were not from the Golithas charge but from the thing emerging from the earth. Apparently this fucker was slumbering underneath the forest before us and the beacon of negativity managed to wake it from its slumber. Now you might be asking why I was so worried about some beast that was slumbering underneath some dirt. Well as I looked up at the thing in front of me I realized the term Golitha did not really do this monster justice, a better name would be Behemoth and I knew what that name implied.
This thing would have no problems showing up in a Godzilla movie as its height towered over the forest like a god ascending from the depths of the underworld. I could not really get a read on its height but I have seen sky scrapers and this thing certainly could fight those in height. As we stood underneath this towering beast I could appreciate the feelings ants had when facing us.
The beast was coated in bone plating not an inch of this thing had the characteristic black fur that the Grimm had shown so far. It also had long tusks that would be able to impale any pesky dragons that dared to come near this things mouth. The masked face hid four eyes the size of small houses that glowed a crimson red.
The behemoth was looking around as if questioning where its tasty morsel went and it did not look happy that said food was missing.
"Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck." Andrew muttered over and over again as she looked over at the towering beast in front of us. I could not really blame the guy as I was also panicking from the sheer size of the thing and I had more experience facing creatures the size of buildings.
"Oh wow, he is certainly a big boy." Ashley let out idly as she looked over at the beast. The blood lust in her eyes had faded in the face of this thing but she did not seem like she had given up on fighting this thing.
"Brother's damnit! Of course, I could not get a fucking Goliath it had to be a Megoliath of all things! It's not even a standard one either! FUCK!" Qrow shouted out as he looked over at his sword as if questioning if it could actually handle the task before him. I did also notice that while he was really upset about what was happening he had no intention of running from this thing. He did take something out of his pocket and flicked it open, before I could see what it was he interacted with it and put it back into his pocket.
"Can't we just leave?" Argo questioned as she looked over at the thing with dread on her face. I was guessing that the sight of a monster of this size was giving her flashbacks and she was not liking that. I did feel a weight drop from my chest as she was right we could leave this place whenever we wished, it was only one click away from escaping. I was still not happy about putting everyone in this situation because I could not be bothered to think but at least we had an out.
I will give myself some credit something like this should not have happened even with my beacon. It was only bad luck that had us landing in an area with a slumbering titan. Which should be impossible considering who I had on my side but Fortuna seemed equally perplexed at this turn of events. That did not mean that my move was not stupid it very much was but it should not have led to something like this on a regular day.
"We get in that Bullhead and this thing will swat us out of the sky like an annoying fly bugging it." Qrow spat out as he looked over at the pilot who was also sizing up the beast before us with a grim look on his face. That was not what Argo meant but I could understand why Qrow would think that was her choice considering how he would normally react to something like this.
"Besides I'm not taking my eyes off of this thing until my distress signal reaches the right people. You kids should retreat on foot." Qrow let out grimly as he looked over at the beast.
I looked over at the guy. While he had reminded me too much of the people that tormented me I could not deny that this man was someone who fought desperately for humanity. He would lay down his life if it meant another young soul would see the light of day tomorrow. I felt the hostility that I was feeling dissipate as I finally got a good read on him. He was a cocky arrogant prick but he was also someone that deserved respect for the life he chose to live.
"And miss something like this no dice." Ashley let out as if the idea of retreating by ourselves insulted her very core. I felt my lips twitch despite the feelings I had about what was going on. Qrow looked back at Ashley with a disbelieving face but I could also read a certain amount of appreciation in those eyes.
"For fucks sake this is not a game Ashley!" Andrew snarled out as he looked between his sister and the beast that was quickly losing patience as the nice meal it was expecting had ran out of him. The titan was stomping the ground and letting out angry huffs. Those stomps had the earth shaking around us and the buildings that had stood the assault of the Grimm before started to collapse around us.
"The experience I'm getting from killing monsters would beg to differ. Besides the loot from something like this is bound to be epic." Ashley let out in amusement but she did look like she had some reservations about what was to come.
"Argo, can you take Andrew to hide in your world? I'll send you the points." I questioned as I continued to monitor the beast before us. I was going to stick around here to fight this thing as long as I could as this was a problem that I produced but that did not mean the more squishy members of our squad needed to stick around. Ashley wanted to test her mettle and I needed to be here to ensure she did not lose her life, Pyrrha was in a similar boat to Qrow as she was not willing to leave this beast wandering around to trample civilians underneath its giant tree trunks it called legs.
"I'm not leaving with out my sister!" Andrew snarled out at me with a glare that screamed he would stab me if I disagreed with this. I gave him a flat look but I did raise my evaluation on the guy again. Ashley looked happy about the situation although she rolled her eyes at her brother for his comment.
"I want to at least try to fight this thing but you really should go back with Argo, something like this is a bit much for you right now Andy." Ashley let out with a soft smile on her face. Andrew looked like he wanted to argue about this but before he could get into it I pipped in.
"I know this is not ideal, I'm sure you would want your sister to head back with you but you know her. Once she gets something in her mind nothing is going to stop her from seeing it through. I promise if things get bad I'll drag her back to Argo world no matter what she wants." I let out to Andrew who did not look like he was going to accept my words either but I never thought he would. Considering his feelings in the moment the words I spewed out might as well be garbage to his ears.
"The last thing I want is her getting hurt Andrew, I would fight Hades himself if it meant she would return with her life intact and if anything were to actually happen to her I would be the first one to slip a dagger in my heart," I announced relentlessly not giving the boy a chance to reply in his irritated mood. My comment was probably a bit much but I was pretty serious about most of it. If she died on my watch I would hate myself and while I might want to slip that dagger in my heart I would probably spend all of my energy and power into finding a way to bring her back.
I don't know if he was able to see something in my eyes or if the reality of Ashley's stubbornness hit him in this moment but he deflated and looked like he wanted to punch something. He looked up at his Sister with his eyes glinting.
"Just come back….." Andrew quietly said as he walked over to Argo who was quietly looking over the situation. She was relieved that she did not have to face the beast before us but again that was not something I could blame her for. Ashley did not say anything but she did nod at her brother with that soft smile on her face.
The two weaker members of our group disappeared in a flash of light and I felt slightly better about what was going to happen next. Pyrrha seemed thankful that we were sticking around but she could not bring herself to say anything in this situation. Qrow looked over at the disappearing people with a look that said he forgot how we came here.
"Look, I appreciate you sticking around but fighting this thing is a different story. I was just planning on delaying the thing to the best of my ability." Qrow explained as he looked over at the towering beast. I could understand his position as fighting something like that was not something people thought. It was a daunting task and even with all of my abilities, I was questioning if I could take it on. Pyrrha nodded along with Qrows words and I expected that.
Before we could rebuttal the Titan seemed to have enough as it locked onto as the only source of emotions in the area. If it was not going to get the full course meal it was promised it was going to take all the emotions it could harvest out of us as we screamed to our death.
The giant thing could react faster than I expected as it swung its massive head towards us. The giant tusks hit the ground and tore it apart like a trowel as it scraped along heading towards us.
Qrow blurred into motion using the momentum from the gun in his sword to escape from this area. The loud bang and the motion from the guy were the only signs of his presence beforehand. Pyrrha also tried to leave but I could see she was not going to get out of here in time. So instead she turned around for a brief moment and a ghostly figure appeared behind her, the thing was entirely blue and wielded two rapiers. Atop its head laid a silver crown and its figure reminded me of an ice skater.
The thing raised both swords and pointed at the Titan and it glowed briefly but it did not seem to be that affected by that. Whatever she was trying it was not going to work.
Ashley seeing that had her eyes glowing as she looked over at the behemoth. This time I knew what the effect was supposed to be as Ashley increased the gravity around the beast to the best of her abilities. Due to its size and overwhelming strength the beast was not too troubled by her attack but it did slow it down. It was enough that Ashley was able to blur toward Pyrrha and carry her away from the attack.
I flashed towards them and ran along with Ashley to ensure I could teleport both of them if needed but Ashley was already faster than me so I struggled to keep up with her as she blurred forward. It looked like I was not needed as we all managed to get out of the way as the earth behind us rained down from the force of the attack. The ground beneath our feet cracking and shattering from the force of everything.
I knew Ashley wanted to take a crack at this thing but as she was currently she was already doing the best thing she was capable of. The Gravity of the beast minimizing its movements was helpful but it was clearly taking a toll on her. As I was thinking that over the beast touched the ring of fire I had set up in the village.
I felt all of my Mana empty out in a moment as I felt the breath knock out of me. For a split second, the beast was aflame as it went up in bright magical flames. The thing let out a loud roar of pain but the moment passed. My Mana could not keep up the spell on something of this size and there was something else about this thing. It had some sort of magical resistance.
My limbs felt weak from the lack of Mana but I was able to let out a curse as this thing was ridiculous. I knew that the first humans of this world had magic but I did not understand what that would mean when the Grimm were designed to kill humans like that. This thing was a beast that was able to tank magic like nothing else.
Its resistance was not perfect as my spell did do some damage but it would take way more Mana to kill this thing and I was not capable of producing that. I had to take another long drag from my bottomless bottle of water to even refill my current Mana pool. Again the things you can buy when faced with a multiverse store are impressive.
I sent out a barrage of the Power Of Destruction but the stikes might as well be mosquito bites with the damage they were dealing. Sure they erased whatever they came in contact with but the mana in those strikes ran out after a split second of contact. So those blasts just shaved off a couple of centimeters of bone platting.
I had to be a bit more creative if I wanted to hurt his thing. To distract it I spawned another negative beacon right below it to distract the creature. Sure enough, it distracted the thing as it honed in on its feet but I was not willing to feed it for too long so I dispelled it after it shifted its attention.
As it was looking over for the source of negative emotions again I started to build up a giant golem to at least hold it back. The earth rumbled more and more of it was converted into the steel I needed to form the giant golem. The beast did not even notice and I see why as my giant was not any where near it's size at least not yet.
I drank more and more water to continuously produce Mana so I could increase the size of my creation over and over again. When the knight I had summoned reached a third of this things size it finally noticed my creation. It let out a loud huff of annoyance and it once more swung its tusk at my creation. I gritted my teeth and enchanted my creation to absorb kinetic energy inside of it. The giant tusk hit my creation and I once more felt my Mana drain but I was able to keep the spell up with my bottle.
Losing and gaining Mana over and over again was making me feel sick. It was a swing from death's door to feeling too much energy. I hated that I was putting myself through this but this was my problem.
The Titan seemed confused about my Knight being able to stop the strike that it used. I was sure this thing was not used to anything still standing after it hit it. It seemed outraged that it failed so it started to charge my creation and the ground started to shake and I was sure that the village that Qrow mentioned from before was feeling the vibrations so you can imagine how it felt being that close to this thing.
Once more the strike did nothing as my Knight stood tall stopping the charging beast in its track. The drain from that one was enough to have me spitting out blood but I recovered quickly after that. Ashley let out a curse at seeing that and she looked like she wanted nothing more than to cut the beast before us into pieces. The spear in her hand glowed and shifted to the form she had unlocked when she fed it her own blood.
As if sensing her anger the Spear glowed a brilliant gold and the skies above us shifted from a clear day to stormy in an instant. The rain poured down on all of us and the water coming out felt different from any other water I had felt before. I wanted nothing more than to consume it but something told me that if I did I would end up hurting Ashley so I held myself back even if the water was so goddamn tempting.
The water was secondary as the stormy skies started to rain down thunderbolts on the giant creature. It let out pained roars as it was stuck but it seemed to think all of this was the problem of my knight as it did its best to destroy it.
I gritted my teeth and felt more blood pooling in my mouth but I just needed a little more time. The Knight was almost at the height I needed him to be. Strike after Strike bolt after bolt my knight grew and I spewed out another mouthful of blood but I had stalled enough time.
My knight was the size of the Titan. It gripped its large sword and I finally had an outlet for all the kinetic energy I had been storing from the behemoth's attacks. My knight's sword glowed as it swung with all the force the monster was inflicting upon my creation. The wind stirred into a gale from the force produced by the strike all of us were sent on a journey as the wind picked us up and sent us flying back.
But the sight of the Titan before me almost bisected brought a bloody smile to my face. How does it feel tasting your own medicine bitch!?
----
As I flew through the air it became increasingly clear that I did not really think through my actions well enough in the previous fight. Sure everything ended up with our foe dead and my companions being mostly safe but I had other options. Building a giant golem with a cool sword to do some sort of kaiju fight was as unga bunga as it came and a waste of my magical abilities.
I could have teleported the beast into space, with a Gate the innate magical resistance the creature had would not have drained me of too much Mana. Sure making a Gate large enough to transport the beast would cost a pretty penny but it would have been cheaper than my current solution. Or maybe that was not the best idea either, could I teleport that thing far enough that it would not end up falling down like a hammer of god of the poor inhabitants of this world? Probably but knowing myself I would have just booted him close enough that he would find himself falling towards the planet like the big oaf that he was. Well, there was another idea off of the list but it was at least an attempt at something more logical but I did not exactly have a large amount of time to go over my options.
I was flying through the air at break neck speeds from the sheer force behind the Giants final blow. I was also feeling incredibly weak from the massive amount of Mana I had spent so I was not in the best state either. I had my endless bottle but being flung like this kind of knocked the wind out of me and holding onto a bottle like that became rather difficult when the world blurred around me.
I was not that worried about being hurt despite my current state as my potions ensured I had a certain amount of durability and I did not think this would tip that scale. On the other hand, I was not exactly looking forward to hitting the trees around me at my current speed as it was going to hurt even if it did not do a lot of damage.
I should have been thinking about a solution to my current predicament but I could barely move a finger in my current state so I kind of just gave up on that. Lamenting about my stupid choices had become a bit of a pass time for me and seeing a chance to regret my moves I had to jump on it. It was only my good luck that gave me this amount of air time as I miraculously avoided all the trees in my immediate area. Maybe I did not even need to think up a solution Fortuna clearly had my back so I should just close my eyes and wait for what ever soft landing she was arranging for me.
Again I felt exasperation coming from her but I felt no denial about my thoughts. She clearly was working on some sort of solution as the tones of pride pumping off of her were clear as day. Before I could think about it further the speed I was feeling snapped away as someone grabbed onto me.
I thought it was Fortuna pulling through for me once more but the sour feeling I was getting from her told me that opinion was wrong. It took only a moment to figure things out.
The familiar feeling of the arm that gripped me told me the identity of my savior before her words rang out. On the other hand, I found myself squished together with Pyrrha as Ashley was carrying her and she did not drop her to save me. So I found myself in the interesting experience of my girlfriend's small wingspan mushing all of our bodies together. That type of thing would usually be pleasant but there was a couple of things off about our current predicament.
One I felt like throwing up from the speed I was going at and the pathetic amount of Mana in my body. Two I was already having issues with my current relationship status I did not need to add more fuel to the fire. And finally, Pyrrha's outfit consisted of mostly metal plates, sure there was not a lot of it but my face was currently squished firmly by the cold metal plate protecting her chest.
"Why the long face, there are probably millions of people that would pay for your current predicament kid?" Qrow's dry voice questioned out before Ashley could make a comment of her own. Ashley paused from whatever she was going to say to get a good look at me and my current situation. She then started to laugh at my sour look and the embarrassed look on Pyrrha's face. I looked away from my giggling girlfriend to give the old geezer a dry look. Qrow gave me an amused look in return the blaze manner was back as the situation no longer looked so dire but I could see Qrow was not as collected as he appeared.
He tried to lighten the mood with his own comment but he had a hint of caution in his stance as he stood a good distance away from me. I let out a small huff but did not comment on his current state. After seeing that I was capable of handling that beast his reevaluation of my threat level made a certain amount of sense. If a kaiju popped up in front of me and the kid I thought was too cocky for his own good managed to slice the thing in half I too would be worried about what his next move was going to be.
Objectively I would agree with him. I was an idiot who did not think about his actions nearly enough. Why in God's name did I think making a beacon of negative energy was a good idea? I could have just fought the fuckers normally or I could have expanded my circle of fire slowly instead of baiting them to charge me.
Before I could make any comment Ashley dropped the two of us from her arms. Pyrrha landed gracefully as she was not in the same state I was but her face was a bright red as she was embarrassed about our previous contact. I on the other hand landed face first into the ground beneath us. A dull thud and my face made contact with the dirt, I got a mouthful of dirt as I had my mouth open to make a comment before Ashley dropped me.
I did not have the energy to turn around to look at Ashley but I was pretty certain she had a shit-eating grin on her face. She absolutely dropped me like this on purpose, The little shit, when I get my hands on her ass she is going to regret this transgression. Fucking brat.
"Really feeling the love Ash." I mumbled out as I tried to gather enough strength to stand up or move enough to bring out some water from my inventory. Or flip off Ashley as she continued to giggle behind my back.
"Hey, you looked like you swallowed a lemon. You clearly did not want a ticket on the Ashley Express any longer." Ashley's amused voice rang out behind me and I rolled my eyes at the comment. She could have put Pyrrha down and continued holding onto me if that was the case. Or she could have not dropped me face first.
"Girl makes a good point kid, you sure you swing for the right team? Like I said millions of people would pay to have their face squished in Pyrrha's breast plate but you look like a sulking cat." Qrows's mocking voice rang out as it was accompanied by the sound of gulping so I could only assume he was drinking from his flask.
"Sir!?" Pyrrha shouted out. I was feeling really tired of not being able to see the people I was currently chatting with. The silence that hung in the air told me that Qrow was accepting the reprimand for his dumb comment but that was just a guess. They could be in a life or death brawl for all I know.
"Ha Ha." I mumbled out as I managed to twitch one of my fingers, seeing the very slow progress I let out a sigh. This was not going to work out so it was time to try something else.
"Anyone got some water? My limbs feel like jelly and I would like to move sometime this century." I questioned dryly I did not want to spend a couple of hours waiting to recover when some water would save me so much trouble.
"I dunno are you going to say pretty please?" Ashley questioned with a teasing lilt that I was familar with. I let out a another sigh, I was sure she would eventually end up giving me some water but she was certainly going to milk this.
"Fucking bite me," I mumbled out as I was not enjoying my current state.
"Naughty naughty, now is not the time to engage in bedroom games Prince." Ashley let out in that teasing tone. She was not going to give up on this and that became increasingly clear.
"Pyrrha you strike me as someone who knows the importance of carrying water in a survival situation surly you have some to offer up." I let out pleadingly as I was not going to play Ashley's game when she was not my only target.
"Don't you dare." Ashley let out as I heard shuffling behind me. I let out another sigh as Pyrrha probably started on helping but Ashley did not want her little game to end just yet. Her threat was not really all that threatening in her tone but it did stop the shuffling I heard behind me.
"Sorry Prince but Ashley drives a hard bargain." Pyrrha let out with an apologetic tone. She clearly felt bad about not helping but she also had a good enough read on Ashley that she knew Ashley was just playing around here. Maybe she felt like it was not her place to interfere in this little game even if it would have been helpful.
"Shush, now you are going to have to say pretty please with a cherry on top." Ashley let out with that same teasing tone.
"What about you Qrow? I know you have a flask just a little liquid and I'll be good as new." I questioned I knew but at this point, it was a doomed endeavor but I had to at least try. I was not going to let the brat win without putting up a token effort.
"Nice try kid but your girl has the kind of eyes that scream crazy, I'm not getting involved." Qrow let out dryly and I let out a sigh. There goes the last shot I had, curse my girlfriend's unhinged energy. Or maybe curse Qrow for having the good sense to not get involved with crazy.
If only I had the same state of mind. Who am I kidding I have been going over the list of fictional crushes I had from my previous life and it became increasingly clear Ashley was not a one off case. Harley, Junko, Yumeko, Esdeath, fucking Toga if crazy bitch was a category of girl it was certainly a category that I felt attracted to. I could not even blame Snape for his disturbing need for affection I was always attracted to those individuals it was only the sudden need for affection that had me taking a step towards her.
Although I will say I was not unhappy with my current situation. Despite her craziness and the games she likes to play Ashley was something I really needed. If I had the chance to do over all of this again I would try my best to win her over again.
I managed to gather the energy to tilt my head back enough to look at her as I surrendered. She had a pout on her face from my attempts at getting out of her little game. Her eyes glistened and shined in a way that had me entrapped for a moment before the look on her face had me laughing.
"Fine you win, can I have some water pretty please? With a cherry on top." I let out dryly as I looked over at her as her expression lit up. The pout gone, replaced with a brilliant smile as her eyes narrowed into that familiar teasing gaze.
For a moment I thought she was going to continue teasing me but she stepped forward with the endless bottle that I dropped and shifted me about so she could maneuver the bottle into my mouth without drowning me. As she was doing that I wondered when she had the time to get the bottle. Did she manage to get it as she caught me
? Or did one of her spears help her get it while she was messing around with me?
The empty sickly feeling that was hovering over me faded as the endless amount of water started to convert into pure Mana again. God Slayer Magic was not something I wanted but having it is really a blessing. The damage I could do to the divine was well worth the Gacha toke I spent and the endless amount of Mana I could gain from water was just a cherry on top. I really had to count my blessings when I received the skill.
With the sick feeling gone I was able to move again. So I shifted and grabbed onto the bottle so I could drink from it myself. Ashley seemed disappointed now that she no longer could nurse me with the bottle. As she moved to give me some space I grabbed onto her hand with my other arm and looked up at her.
"Thanks, Ash I really needed this." I thanked her with a bright smile on my face as I held onto her hand just a bit tighter to show her that. The teasing glint in her eyes faded as she was bombarded with my genuine care for her. I knew Ashley was a teasing machine but showing her genuine care always managed to stump her. Her increasing blush and the slight panic in her eyes was a dead give a way in this case.
Was I using my care to fuck with her absolutely but she started this. Damn brat wanted to mess with me let's see how she reacts as I bombard her with affection.
I stood up and got into her space and just stared at her pink eyes. The intensity of emotions that I was throwing at her had her taking a step back and the blush on her face growing even larger. She was the one that usually invaded my personal space without a care in the world so she was not exactly prepared for such a proactive approach.
When she took that step back she seemed to realize what was going on as a look flashed across her face. She then wore a determined look as she took a step towards me. She was still slightly dazed but she was not willing to lose in this case. So there we stood with the two of us close enough that our breath could be felt on each other. Neither wanting to give in to the other.
"Do you think they forget we were here?" Qrow questioned from the side lines. I was so caught up in my little game with Ashley that I ignored our surroundings but Qrow and Pyrrha were very much still here. The notion of their existence killed the mood that was building between me and Ashley so we both took a step back from the situation.
Neither of us showed a hint of embarrassment from the display of affection that we were showcasing. It was kind of hard to be embarrassed about such a minor thing. Ashley kind of killed my embarrassment at public affection as it was something she needed.
Qrow was giving us a dry look and Pyrrha was embarrassed about intruding on the situation. Which was pointless, it was not like she walked in on us fucking in our bedroom. We were flirting rather blatantly in front of her so there was no need for her current emotions.
"Sorry!" Pyrrha shouted out, Ashley and I looked at each other for a moment and then we both looked back at Pyrrha flatly. Ashley shared my opinion that Pyrrha was over reacting.
"Why are you apologizing kid? They are the ones making kissy faces at each other. If they wanted privacy they should have gotten a room instead of assaulting my eyeballs with their non sense." Qrow let out dryly as he continued to drink from his flask. I was beginning to wonder which one of us had a bottomless flask.
I rolled my eyes at Qrow, even if I agreed with his sentiment his words were still pretty insulting. The small grin on his face told me enough about his thoughts.
Before I found myself going on another tangent I sent out a message so the other members of our party did not freak out.
[Overdramatic Fool: Not dead, big ass Kaiju is currently split in half. I'm sure Andrew is pacing around like a hound so make sure he knows his sister is safe. Hell, she might be disappointed that the battle ended quickly.]
[Grade A Bottom:....Kaiju? I thought you guys were just going to kill some minor monsters. Where did a Kaiju come from?]
[NTR Victim: Can confirm not dead, also really disappointed I did not get to cut apart the big dumb thing.]
[Khajit Has Information If You Have Coin: That's great, I was worried but after seeing that thing I had every right to be. Andrew will be happy to hear about his Sisters current condition.]
[Grade A Bottom: So you guys are not going to explain the Kaiju thing. I would like to live in a world where random Kaijus don't pop up so an explanation would be great.]
I rolled my eyes at Izumi's messages. If he wanted to be in the loop then he should have come along to level up instead of hiding away. I was not going to waste my time explaining the situation to him. Although it was not going to stay a secret as Pyrrha knew what was going on and she was too kind to keep something like this to herself when Izumi was clearly worried about what was going on.
I could already see Pyrrha was looking over at the Chat records so it was only a matter of time.
Now that I had some time to relax I took a look over at the status screen provided by the Legendary Spear. The horde of Grimm we faced was able to get our level up to ten but that big ass Kaiju managed to shoot our levels up to thirty five. It was not just me either, due to our party status everyone was thirty five with Ashley coming up on top at forty from some sort of experience boost.
I did feel like I was stronger than before but I had attributed that to me draining and filling up my Mana Core over and over again. That sort of exercise certainly strained my core to expand and the water I was drinking also slowly expanded it but the strength I was feeling must have come from the level ups.
Ashley and Pyrrha have not noticed the change yet, but I was sure they would figure out things quickly. It was not exactly a secret.
"Did you get any good loot, Ash?" I questioned as she was supposed to get loot from the enemies she killed and that thing certainly qualified as a boss. Or it better qualify if it did not I did not know what would.
Ashley was startled form my question but she was able to get a handle on the situation quickly. The bright grin on her face as she looked over her loot was a good indicator for my question. Granted she might be happy about loot in general but potahto potato.
"Got a decent spear but I can't use it at my current level." Ashley let out with a mild amount of disappointment but she still seemed pretty excited about the spear in question.
"Leveling up is just a matter of time, the world has plenty of Grimm to offer up to the mantle of XP." I let out dryly. Qrow snorted at my statement but he knew I was right so he did not offer up any comment. Pyrrha seemed depressed with the state of the world around her but that was to be expected.
The world of RWBY may not be a total death world but it certainly came close. I had to thank my lucky stars that I got punted into the world of Harry Potter as most of the issues were fairly bland in comparison to the constant death that took place here. Sure we had Dark Lords and a fractured society but I could fuck off to America and avoid the cluster fuck that was Britain.
"Go wild kid brother know that we need the help." Qrow let out as he stared vacantly at the valley of destruction left from our battle with the Kaiju. His comment seemed to damper Pyrrha's spirits even further and it left an awkward mood in the air so I decided to retreat for now.
"Noted but Andrew would probably feel a lot better if Ashley was actually in front of him so we should head out for now. We can go on a killing spree later." I announced confusing Ashley and Pyrrha as the conversation was not leading in this direction but we really did have to call it a day now. Qrow narrowed his gaze and I was sure he had other thoughts in his head about us but I was not going to go into it with him right now.
We did not spend that long here but I was fine with retreating today after the fucking giant lumbering beast was slain. Ashley seemed disappointed in the notion that we would be leaving right now but she was following my lead so she did not put up any resistance.
It may be a waste of points to leave so early but half of our group had already booked it for safety and I was not up for more monster hunting right now. We may have handled the situation fairly easily but I was still worried about it happening at all. Fortuna usually made sure things would not end up badly for me but we still found ourselves in a poor situation. Granted it was not an unbeatable position as I proved but it was still annoying.
I gave Qrow a suspicious look his whole gig was bad luck right? So him being here might have played a part in all of this or maybe my idea was dumb enough that even Fortuna's bullshit abilities were not enough to save the situation. Maybe giant Grimm are slumbering all over the place and a sufficient amount of negative energy would have awakened a beast no matter where we ended up at.
Whatever the case may be it was not something I needed to worry about right now.