With each swing, 3 grimm died, and I moved forward through the horde. Occasionally, punching a few, killing them instantly.
However, I began to notice an odd irregularity.
'ozpin unlocked my aura, he told me that it would protect me if I focused. I practiced with it briefly but it doesn't seem to do that. Let's see... I can feel my aura, at least I believe that's what I'm feeling.' I attempted to focus my aura onto my halberd... and it glowed bright white.
I swung the halberd towards the incoming group of... ursa's? I think that's right.
It cleaved through the 8 attackers with no resistance.
'very interesting. Is my aura different? Maybe it's due to my heritage... a likely guess.' I subdued my negative emotions and cleared out the last few. Then, I continued on my way.
'truly... what is this place? This world is far different from my own. Its like one of those fantasy novels I read.' I held my halberd against my shoulder and cracked my neck. 'Better'.
I had reached what seemed to be a cliff and saw some ruins below it.
'those must be the ruins ozpin spoke of.'
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Back at beacon cliff, ozpin and glynda watched the students progress through a scroll. But the man known as hans günsche had him confused.
'He wasn't lying about knowing nothing, that much I'm sure of. But, that halberd was a regular one... and I now sense magic from it. Is he aware?' Glynda seemed to notice how deep in though ozpin was as she placed a hand on his shoulder. He jolted slightly but recomposed himself.
"sorry glynda, I was deep in thought. What an anomaly..." His assistant was confused at his statement.
"what do you mean sir?" Ozpin stared at the scroll and watched as hans approached the ruins
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'chess pieces? Odd choice.' I smelt the heavy smell of deodorant and turned to see yang with the black haired girl from yesterday close behind. However, the strange bow in the shape of cat ears confused me. 'She smells like a cat.'
"hey hans! Seems that you weren't the first one here." I nodded and looked around the forest, I heard rustling coming from nearby and held my halberd at the ready.
A ginger haired woman came out and was riding an ursa which promptly collapsed to the ground. A black haired boy with a pink stripe fell off of it and had an exhausted look on his face.
"nora... please don't ever do that again." The ginger hopped down towards him with a smile on his face.
"aw come on renny poo! You're no fun!" Nora looked down to her exhausted companion. "Now get up! We still have initiation to complete!" She propped up the boy as screams of terror were heard from above.
I looked up to see a big shadowy bird.
'is that... Ruby and weiss?' I pointed up at the two and yang looked up in shock.
"is your sister riding a nevermore?" I watched as the weapon obsessed girl leapt from the nevermore. The black cat monotonously pointing it out.
'I'd worry but she wouldn't jump without a plan... actually, she would.' She soared down from the nevermore and straight into yang, knocking her back to the floor. Though, weiss soon came flying down. 'Seems I'll have to catch her.' I planted my halberd into the ground and braced my legs.
'with my new strength, I'm not sure how far I can jump. But, if I use my aura, I should be able to do it.' I pumped my aura into my legs and leapt into the air. The wind hit my face and it blew my coat before I caught weiss. She yelled in suprise as we landed with a thud.
"th-thank you..." The girl was blushing and clearly nervous, mainly because my coat had flown open which allowed her to see my exposed chest.
I didn't say anything but I put her down and buttoned up my coat. She brushed herself down as more screaming was heard and a large scorpion grimm appeared chasing jaune with pyrrha close behind. Scorpions. I wonder how lethal its poison is.
I quickly went back and grabbed my halberd. After that, I contemplated what to do.
'If it's a scorpion type of grimm, then I should cut off the stinger.'
Before I could do anything, Ruby rushed towards the scorpion grimm and let out a courageous yell as the grimm attempted to strike its stinger at the small girl.
'No!' I forced my aura into my legs and launched myself right at the grimm. I gripped my halberd tight and swung, severing the tail. Then, I looked at Ruby.
"reckless!" That feels... off to speak loudly after such a long time. Last time was...
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Ruby looked down, saddened by the comment. Weiss looked in shock.
'he's fast... very fast. There's no way I could keep up with him, even with my glyphs. Though, it's to be expected from beacons security guard.' The heiress approached the two before saying.
"that was very reckless! If it wasn't for Mr günsche, you'd be dead!" The girl was further saddened by her rude comment and upon seeing the young girls reaction, seemed to regret what she said a bit.
The nevermores scream caught their attention again as it flew through the air. However, hans sight had noticed something lurking through the forest.
Acting quickly, he threw Ruby out of the way by her collar just as he blocked a sword strike with his halberd. He looked at the strange humanoid while struggling to push it back.
'ozpin told me the grimm took the form of animals so why... is there a humanoid grimm?' The werewolf struggled against its strength as the sword pushed against the halberd. The blade started to scrape down the halberd until it eventually was too low, taking advantage of the situation, hans swung the bottom part of his weapon into the creatures chin.
It growled and jumped back allowing hans to get a good look at the grimm.
It had white bone armor that jutted outward on its knees and elbows, a bone helmet with a Y shaped slit where its eyes could be seen, a chest plate made of bones and a white cape that billowed in the wind. In its hands was a massive double-sided greatsword.
The white haired man turned to the children.
"go!" His throat began to dry as he focused on the grimm. 'This is why I don't like to speak.' He mentally commented to himself.
The humanoid grimm closed the distance and knocked the halberd out of his hands in a single strike.
'not good. Seems the halberd won't be greatly useful against humanoid opponents of a similar level. Too slow.' The irregularity attempted a second strike, only to cut through Mist. Hans reformed behind the creature and kicked it in the back of its helmet causing it to stumble forward. 'Not even a crack.'
This time, hans was on the offensive and charged at the beast. He went for a punch that was instantly blocked by its sword that didn't even dent from the force.
The bone knight retaliated appropriately by swinging the sword right into the old werewolves sternum, knocking him back 20 feet and landing on his back. He barely stood to his feet and his breathing was heavy.
The now injured man dropped his coat to the ground and observed his light wound that was gone as soon as it appeared.
'right, I can't do it how I usually do things. Let's see, it's stronger than me and around the same speed, but it's vision is limited. That sword is durable. I'll have to try something.' Hans stared at his shadow... and stepped into it.
The knight looked in shock at his dissapearing act, before being hit into the back of its knee and falling to it. Then, it felt nothing as hans had fired a Bullet straight through its helmet.
'that, was a risky move. It seems I can move through shadows like I suspected.' He held his head in pain as a single word rang through his head repeatedly.
"entstehen" as he said this, the creature seemed to be consumed by its own shadow before being released with a new appearance.
The bone knight was no longer as it now wore far more medieval looking armor with a feather rising from the top of its new metal helmet. The knight kneeled before its lord, awaiting a new name.
"kommandant... thats... your... name..." The man was fairly tired from that fight and fell to his knees but as he was about to faceplant, he was caught by the newly named kommandant.
However, he was unusually pale.
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The teachers had arrived at the scene alongside the students about half an hour after the battle had taken place to find hans günsche asleep and being carried bridal style by a knight similar in size to hans himself.
Immediately, the teachers had gotten ready to fight the hulking knight upon seeing hans in its hands and his halberd on the floor next to them.
The knight clad in armor raised its hand in a stop motion which confused the people, especially ozpin.
"Mr günsche! Are you okay?" Ruby yelled to the unconscious man.
"you better not be dead, you dolt! I still need to repay you!"
The old soldiers eyes flickered open and his one and only subordinate helped him stand up properly.
'is it even a grimm anymore? They wouldn't bow or follow anyone other than Salem, and she wouldn't be so blatant with her deceit.' The wizard was confused at this... spell?
"hans! Are you okay?" Yang yelled with concern for the man who saved her sister. He looked up and saw all the teachers, Ruby, yang, Blake and weiss all there.
"yes..." kommandant walked away and picked up his tattered coat that had a slash mark on it which he then handed to his lord.
Hans took it without a second thought and put it on, however, his muscles were not well hidden due to the slash and even his hundemarke or dog tags could be seen.
"Mr günsche, if you don't mind me asking, what happened with the humanoid grimm?" He simply pointed to the knight. "That, is the humanoid grimm? Is that what you are trying to say?" He nodded. "I see."
"can you prove that it's safe to be around?" Hans pulled out his notepad and pen.
"ok, Ruby? Would you like to ride on kommandants shoulders?" Her eyes lit up and immediately, she sped over to the knight. It gently picked her up and placed her onto his shoulders. Made sense, lina like riding on his shoulders.
"I'm so tall! You look so small now yang!" The once concerned blonde was now clearly relieved at the knight's gentle action.
"I take it that is proof enough, Ms schnee?" Ozpin asked for confirmation.
"yes it is, professor."
"does anyone know how to sew?" The 7ft1 tall man asked with his notepad.
"I do. I take it you want me to repair your coat?" He nodded. "Would it not be better to just get a new coat?"
"it holds sentimental value." Her eyes soften and she had a look of sympathy towards the man.
"very well. But, I do not consider my debt repaid. Worry not Mr günsche, I'll find a way to repay you fairly." She had a small smile on her face.
'she's being oddly nice to him... I didn't expect this from a schnee.'
"no way! The cruel weiss schnee just smiled! What have you done with her, impostor!" Weiss scowled at Ruby.
"I'm not that rude, you dolt! I can smile too! I'm not just some machine..." there was a look of misery in her eyes at the comment and Ruby clearly regretted her comment.
'she looks troubled. Maybe a bad home life.' He walked up to the girl and wrote something on his notepad. "It doesn't matter what people believe you to be. What matters is what you make yourself to be, weiss." Her eyes widened but she smiled at him again.
"thank you Mr... no, hans. Thank you."
Ruby watched the scene with joy and a feeling she couldn't identify.
'Why do I feel so jealous at her being close to him?'
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The heart of a young girl is a fragile thing.