Chapter glossary:
Claymore = Monster Hunter Medieval Style Longsword/Medieval Greatsword.
Greatsword = Monster Hunter Great Sword.
Longsword = Monster Hunter odachi style Longsword.
"Uncle Jack, What happened?" I asked.
"Schnee Dust Company's branch hired people to ambush and kill your dad. He's just afraid you both will get assassinated. So he distracts the pursuers for me to fetch you two," he explained.
"Then why are we not sneaking out?" I asked.
"That's to prevent enemies from attacking Vacuo and bring a horde of Grimm here. Also, it'll be a distraction for you. Your dad told me that you meet him at the rocky mountain where you trained this morning. Little miss, you don't need to be scared I'm sure that your father is ok, he's really strong." Uncle Jack said.
Although uncle Jack did not lie. I know he's hiding something from us somehow.
Neo grab my wrist, not wanting to separate.
"Neo, we won't leave you," her grip loosens.
"Trust me, ok?" I said to comfort her.
Her grip suddenly tighten. It hurts my wrist a bit. Neo notices it, and she let go. She stares and nods, holding back her tears. I smiled then pat her.
Right outside the city of Vacuo's gate, we temporarily parted ways as I climbed the rock pillar where I did my leap of fate. I noticed multiple blurs following the vehicle of Uncle Jack. I hope they are ok.
At the top of the rock pillar, I'm warming up to makes my body's not tense. Suddenly I felt the urge to dodge, so I did. I felt air got cut where my head was supposed to be. I tense up a bit, but my mind is clear, then the guy's silhouette glowed green with a dark blue outer glow.
I got out of my stance. "Dad, is everything ok now?"
"Nice reflexes, but you need to be more aware of your surroundings, kiddo," dad steps out of the dark.
"So what now?" I asked another question instead.
"You lack both mental and physical stamina to keep your Vision activated. So instead of keeping it activate. Just activate it in a split second like a pulse. Don't rely on it too much, or you will DIE," dad stares at me. I kept it in my heart.
"That's the main reason that we train our bodies and gain full control over them. Also, it maximizes the effectiveness of our Semblance," he stops once again.
"Our Semblance, just like the Schnee, it's hereditary. Our family and theirs were somewhat related. Long-distance relatives, as you may call it. That's why our surname has 'Yuki' in it, meaning snow, just like the Schnee. Our Semblance is called 'Control'. It mostly helps us control our Aura and body. We automatically activate it when we activate our Aura. It's not a strong Semblance. It doesn't increase our speed, attack, or durability until our ancestors learned that we can control other people's Aura. That gave birth to our old profession, Assassins," dad stares at me and took a deep breath.
"These are the creeds passed down from our ancestors. One, stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent. Two, Hide in plain sight. Lastly, never compromise the Brotherhood. We work in the dark to serve the light." Dad halted then continued, "Although, Yukihara is no longer an assassin. I hope you remember our creed and let it guide you as it guides me," I nodded.
The way of an assassin won't help anybody, I only told you our origin, so if ever you stumble about our past, remember, it's the wrong path, but also a good learning experience. I know you have plenty of questions, and I want to answer everything, but not now. I wish you live your life to the fullest instead of seeking answers, but if you choose to seek answers, look for teachers and friends, hone yourself, both in strength and knowledge. Then enroll in Beacon academy so you may learn the truth depending on your performance. No worries, you will always have Neo and two others at your side. One of them isn't used to having someone cared for her," dad does some stretches.
I heard something. So I used my Vision in pulse. It's like sonar. Let's call it Heart Pulse.
Multiple people, climbing up the rocky mountain. There are around 15 people, including those who stayed on the ground.
"They're finally here. How many did you felt kiddo?" Dad asked as he put wind and gravity dust to his Chokutō.
"Around 15," I placed my hand to my tanto, Ready to unsheath it at any moment.
"Well, you're close. There're 17, and 2 are snipers. Also, you won't fight. Just watch me on how to use our Semblance." Dad went behind me. My dad's arm shook. Suddenly a giant wind current cut the side of the rocky mountain smooth.
A thug got toppled by the falling boulder, save by his Aura but fainted.
"Kiddo, you stay there and try to stay hidden. Make sure you're not visible down there," Dad quietly said through an earpiece he gave me earlier.
One thug got up already, but he did not attack. It looks like he's waiting for his teammate. He's wielding a twin sword and did not even try to hide his face.
"Kiddo, go meditate, then activate your Vision," dad calmly uttered as he evades the thug's attacks.
Dad suddenly rushes towards the thug. Dad shifted to the left to dodge the thug's right-hand diagonal slash.
The thug anticipated that, so he's in a good stance to stab dad with his left sword.
Dad stabs his hilt on the thug's armpit, then shifts it so that the blade will hit the thug's head.
The thug decided to bear the slash to deliver a vicious stab.
Dad's slash connects first, interrupting the thug's stab. He then kicks the thug to give himself some distance.
Dad told me to duck. He then followed by a wide round wind slash. Hitting the first thug and fling him over the edge. Some of the thugs climbing got hit, but only one lose his foothold and fall.
Seven of them finally reached the top. Others stay on the ground due to the small surface up here. They are no ordinary thugs, as they coordinate backed one another.
Dad, now surrounded by these thugs, rush towards one side and did a wind slash. Hitting three thugs, but only tumble two. One wields dual blades, and the other wields a sword and pistol. He quickly followed with a stab on the ground, creating an upward current lifting the two into the air.
The remaining thug raises his long sword for a horizontal slash.
Dad avoids it by going under the slash and followed by a stab to the guy's right abdomen. The guy and dad switched places. With a sidestep, the guy's back is open to dad.
Dad did multiple wind slashes towards all three thugs as he keeps his distance, especially from the long sword guy.
The two who got lifted tried to stabilize themselves the whole time. Before the two thugs could, they got hit by the wind slash. Hitting the rock that got erected with dad's lifting air move, isolate the three from the other four thugs.
He barely clashes blades with others and instead shifts his body slightly or sidesteps. He uses the two thugs to cover his blind spots. He kept his distance from a long sword thug. He kept hitting the arm of the dual blade thug. While juggling the other until the thug's Aura broke.
As the fight goes on, dad already knocked three thugs in under a minute. He switches grips depends on his distance and enemy speed. He used reverse grip mostly for defense while maneuvering in close distance to deliver an attack and switch to normal grip for offense and creating distance.
Every time the other four thugs tried to peek. A wind slash greeted their face before they could see what happened inside.
Another two thugs have been knocked down. Other thugs instantly filled up their formation gap, and dad got hit multiple times already. I also entered my fighting stance multiple times, but dad was able to knock them off, one way or another. I'm also dodging stray projectiles that come on my way.
*Woosh*
Bright light filled my Vision. Instinctively, I stood up. A shadow blocked my sight, so I sidestep and parried it on instinct. It turns out to be a giant boulder. My arms ache, especially my right arm, and it pushes me back to the edge of the platform even if I did not take the boulder's whole force.
Ohh NO!!!
I tried to move, but I can only lean forward enough to save my life. My back got grazed by a bullet with fire dust, probably, because my whole back is burning right after. I activated my eagle vision again before I hit the ground.
I see dad killed all eight thugs with a slash in a split of a second. He then jumped down then kill the remaining thugs in a fluid motion and with great precision. All died with a cut or a stab on their neck. No blood nor tracks were left behind by dad. It all happened before the eight thugs hit the ground, and the first thug he killed still has a smirk on his face. So this was the strength of an ex-assassin. Then how strong were our ancestors.
"I told you to always be aware of your surroundings, and why didn't you ACTIVATE YOUR AURA?!" Dad angrily yelled as he places some meds on my back.
"You have not taught me how to activate my Aura yet!" I yelled as loud I can to suppress the pain from my back.
"Huh?" Dumbfounded, dad activates my Aura and teaches me how to use it.
The Aura feels like fire, water, air, and earth combined. It's flowing like water but weightless like air, and you can mold like clay. It took me a few seconds to notice and use it to heal my back wound. Dad also teaches me how to boost my strength by cloaking my body with Aura.
A few hours later.
We run towards Luminance City harbor.
"With all that speech. I thought I will leave you there. Turns out your coming with me to the harbor," I said, annoyed that I thought something bad will happen.
"Hey, I also thought that will be our last talk. I want to look cool, at least. Maybe I'm wrong, and I hope I'm wrong, but if luck is not on our side. I'll stay just in case," dad said seriously.
We reach the harbor in awkward silence. Until...
*Neo's extremely happy noises*
Neo hugged dad for a bit, then jumped toward me while shouting noises in a different pitch. Surprised by her. I fell on my butt, but I didn't care. I hugged Neo back and berated myself and to be more aware of my surroundings. Until I heard dad murmured that he did not notice Neo this time. See, my sister's talented. I'm proud of her.
Uncle Jack walks closer with two children. One is a girl with medium-brown skin and dark-red eyes. Short light, mint-green hair with straight bangs. She has two one-handed scythes. She has a cold and indifferent personality, but I can see in her eyes that she's annoyed at the other kid, who's trying to talk to her. Her eyes suddenly filled with respect when she looks at dad.
The other is a rather tall boy with a wide-body frame. Brown hair with orange highlights and sharp eyebrows. He looks exactly like uncle Jack. He has a shield and sword. He has a strong and bright presence like the guy in my dream.
"Captain, everything is ready," Uncle Jack said.
"Good, let's set sail then," Dad said. He walks towards Angel.
Uncle Jack wave at me then followed dad. Uncle Jack look-alike walks closer.
"Hello, I'm Aiden Stone. Sora, right?" He raised his hand with a smile on his face. The girl with green hair was once again annoyed at Aiden.
"Yeah, I'm Sora Yukihira," I said.
Aiden put his arm around me. "Then, we're brothers now, since dad and uncle Joichiro are blood brothers." Aiden has a huge grin while the green-haired girl was shocked, I think when he heard dad and Jack was blood brothers.
"Your surname was Stone, right?" I asked Aiden. He nodded.
"Then your father's full name was, Jack Stone right?" I asked.
He nodded. Neo's already laughing, and the green-haired girl also gets the joke. Ohhh, just imagining a huge bulky guy play that game was funny. Aiden just stands there.
"Hey, kiddos! Continue your talk inside." We heard dad yell from Angel.
At Angel, tension is building up. Although Angel is moving at top speed, we are not sailing on the straight line. We encounter storms twice more than our trip from Mistral to Vacuo. We also kept on going close to the unexplored land or islands. Due to these dangerous stunts, dad and uncle started to argue a lot. After a months-long argument, dad and uncle Jack finally told us the plan.
Neo's crying right after that because Dad said we'll split up at the foggy Islands near the center of Sanus Continent. Mika, Emerald Sustrai, the green-haired girl, Aiden, Neo, and I will take a Yacht and sail near the coastline. In normal circumstances. It's more dangerous to sail on the foggy island even with warships of Atlas, and now, we five are going to sail there with a Yacht with no mounted weapon. I did not complain dad's plan. I don't know what's happening, but staying will hinder dad. For the first time, I can see the panic in his eyes.
We were able to convince Neo. Mostly with my help and Emerald's. Aiden smiled from behind while looking at Emerald. Now that's a nice ship, I can feel it.
We're heading towards a village called Woolshope. Roughly fifty thousand km southwest of Vale. To meet an old friend of my dad from school. Even Mika, Dad's secretary, doesn't know him. Since we own a port there because one of our major fabric suppliers lives there.
It's already midnight. Others are asleep except for Mika who's behind the helm.
"Sir Yukihira, you may rest. I will wake you all up when something happens," Yuna said.
"I know, Mika. I'll just meditate outside," I went on the roof of the boat.
I almost died that day. I need to get stronger. Ever since we got to Angel, I ask dad to train me more. For now, due to the yacht's small area, I only did some stationary workouts. For most of my time, I did meditation thought to me by my dad. One of the two things he taught me about Aura. The other is how to activate my Aura shield and how to keep it active until it breaks. As for my Semblance, he just told me to remember his fight from before and elaborate no longer.
My knowledge about Aura is purely through my observation of my Vision. First, I notice that there are two glows I saw on animals and humans. The inner glow emitted by the body and the outer glow surrounding the body. The inner glow emitted by the body is more of a detector, whether the person means good, harm, or nothing at all. The outer glow surrounding the body is Aura, and its color varies to person. The dimmer it goes, the closer it is to breaking. Aure can be transferred to something you touch. Although, I am unable to transfer Aura to something without physical contact nor letting it linger even for a second. I theorize that it's possible due to the boulder hitting me and the bullet grazing me have an Aura in them, but that could be the thug's Semblance or Dust as dust also glows on my Vision. So, I'm not sure.
So with this knowledge, I analyze dad's fight again. Our Semblance makes us able to control other's Aura by turning it into ours. Aura is unique to the person and can't be used by others. But by infecting their Aura with our own, we can seize it for ourselves or partially be ours to control. I don't know how to do it yet, but I do know that it needs great control over one's Aura.
To train, I'll activate my Heart Pulse at five seconds intervals. While trying to spell 'Plus Ultra' with my Aura. I've been training for hours already, and I can only repeat it three times at most. I noticed that Emerald wake up. Then check on Neo, she covered her with the blanket. She washed her face then went out of the cabin.
"HMMM." She stretched her arms upward.
"Yawn...Good morning Em," I greeted. After I finish writing my fourth 'Plus Ultra'.
"Ahh!" She looks at me, surprised. It's quite cute, to be honest.
"Shhh. You might wake up Neo." I said with my eyes closed.
"Sorry, sir. Good morning sir Sora," She said politely.
"Just call me Sora," I replied, "I know you respect my father, so please call me Sora," I said before she could say anything.
"Ok Sir...Ok, Sora."
She did some exercises in the cockpit. It's most likely taught by uncle Jack.
"That's admirable for you to do exercises this early in the morning." I tried to talk to her as I'm bored with training.
"It's not that too early Sir, it's already 8:30 am. the sun's already up," She said in a cold tone.
"What's with that tone? Didn't you just wake up? Besides, 8:30 is still early... Wait, what?" I opened my eyes then got blinded for a split second. I saw the sun up in the blue skies. It's morning already. I thought I only train for 4 hours at most. I did not notice because, in my Vision, it looks like it's still dark. I wonder why? I use my Vision again, everything was a bit dim, but I think it's brighter than when I started. Maybe, not sure, I can't remember.
Emerald's eyes glow, then hammered her fist to her palm. She chuckled but tried her best to hold it in, though her shoulders are shaking. After a few seconds finally able to calm herself like nothing even happened.
"I have been awake for two hours... Sir Sora," Although she still adds prefix, her tone is way warmer now. I also realize she's sweating a lot already.
"Sir Sora, here's some hot milk. We'll reach Woolshope for another day. So you should take some rest." Mika said.
I drank the milk, then give it back to her. "Thanks, Mika. I'll gladly follow your advice." Now that I stood up, I felt sleepy.
Two days later.
We encountered some Grimm that's why it took us a day longer than expected. The Grimms are not as dangerous as Mika. With her Semblance called inventory. She stores nonliving things anywhere within a five-meter radius around her. Anything she places inside will remain in a frozen state. She has a kilometer squared of storage. So she can fire back any projectiles fired at her. She can also directly place bullets inside the magazine like 'No reload' cheat in video games. Her weapons are one long sword, one katana, a grappling gauntlet, and a flying drone for a long-range weapon. Dad hires Mika, not for her fighting capabilities, her managerial skills, nor even for her looks, but rather to be his portable refrigerator for his beer or a no spoil hot food storage for mom's homemade bento. It turns out mom cooked me bento too, but dad ate it. That greedy old man. MY BENTO!
Ahem... Right now, we are at Woolshope plaza waiting for dad's friend. He did not give us any description of what his friend look's like. He said his friend will look for us. We just need to stay at the plaza. If ever we want to found him fast, he said that I have everything we need. The only thing he gave before we separate, are five throwing knives and another tanto. How can I found someone with this? Should I show it off and check for others' reactions? Before my thoughts could wonder any further...
BANG-BANG-BANG, a bell ring. A bell ringing?
"EVERYONE, PLEASE EVACUATE TO THE PLAZA CALMLY AND ORDERLY!" The speaker keeps on repeating the message.
Surprisingly the citizens are evacuated calmly. Only some children are panicking.
Hundreds of light-armored soldiers with a compound bow and heavy-armored soldiers with lance and shield in a neat formation, but they're all nervous.
Mika went closer to the soldier's leader. She showed something to them then they all saluted. I went closer to listen to what they're talking about. Bandits appear on their borders, attempting to raid Woolshope Village. The village's best protectors are out of the Village.
Those people are called bronze warriors, and their leaders are called silver warriors. Above them are gold warriors or gold hunters. Their gold warriors and gold hunters are currently not here. They went as reinforcement to their gold hunters that hunt a large pack of Grimm heading here. Those Grimm turn into a horde if not handled quickly.
A silver warrior usually can deal with 3 normal bandits each. But some of these bandits just outside their border have custom-made weapons, and all of them can use their Aura properly. Even if the silver warriors have better skills and teamwork, a silver rank lancer and archer team can only deal with five bandits. Gold warriors or hunters have their custom-made weapons, and they can use their Semblance properly. The main reason all gold soldiers bravely leave Woolshope to lower ranks is that the bandits lost badly just yesterday. They need at least three days to recover, and the Grimm horde was on the other side of the village, so they leave in secret. That's why the town's people aren't scared. Somehow the bandits learn about this situation and attack now after waiting for thirty minutes. The one who informed the bandits are not within the warriors/hunters group because they will be back in thirty minutes. If they know about it, they would have attacked fifteen minutes earlier. That's what I heard from Mika's deduction.
Mika can deal with five normal pro-huntsmen or huntresses simultaneously within ten minutes according to dad, but there are around a thousand bandits according to the warrior, but we're only... roughly four hundred of us.
"I can help with fighting," Aiden said.
TO BE CONTINUED.