(Ltn) Dies Irae
(Eng) Day of Wrath
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Sumire Village
Kingdom of Vale
World of Remnant
As Hikaru followed Dell outside the Town Hall, he saw that people were leaving quickly and in a well-organized fashion.
Hikaru made some observations about the situation after seeing their belongings packed and some of the flying machines land on the level grassy plains.
A mass flight of birds flew past them making them more uncomfortable for the problem ahead.
"This is really bad." Dell remarked. "C'mon, boy. Follow me to the ridge." Dell said to the Demon Slayer as he unfurled his weapon, a rifle-spear named, "Unbroken", behind his back.
There are twenty-eight more huntsmen and huntresses waiting for Dell as they approach the edge. As they saw their leader, they readied themselves, and a few of them nodded, signaling that they were prepared to hold off the Grimm.
"I see that beneath those toughened expressions on your faces are expressions of fear, hesitation, and worry." Dell got right into his speech. "I am aware of my own fear. However, we have to get rid of those ideas because the Grimm will become more powerful against you because of them."
Hearing that, a few straightened up. Dell went on, "Now is the time! It is up to us to save the village! It is something we must do. We are going to do this! Huntsmen of Sumire, are you with me?"
Few people cheered. Yet Dell raised his voice even further. "I say again, HUNTSMEN OF SUMIRE, ARE YOU WITH ME?!"
"YEAHH!" All of them roared in response.
"For our village! Defeat the Grimms!"
"Defeat the Grimms!"
Exactly as they said that, the ground trembled. All of the defenders stopped their cheering as they turned around.
"I see something through the treeline." Hikaru pointed out as Dell squints his eyes.
The trees rattled as some of the tall ones fell. A giant Megoliath raised its tusks and destroyed any small bushes and trees that are blocking its way. Above them were a flock of Ravages, couple of Teryx, and a dozen of Razorwing circled the lone Megoliath.
Behind the Megoliath are the combined horde of Ursas, buzzing Lancers, Death Stalkers, and a single Centinel marched their way behind the Megoliath's way.
Hikaru snarled at the enemy's strength while Dell's face grimaced.
"Dell, is that all of them?" Hikaru asks through the silence. Dell did not answer and stared at the Grimm horde.
"Might be. Or they are just the spearhead of the main horde."
"Then we must act. Hit them now before they could reach this ridge." Hikaru stated, Dell's face went back to reality as he nodded at the boy.
"Stopping their advance would work." Dell muttered, then he turned and face some of the huntsmen. "Cole, Topaz, you are the fastest amongst us, find us an exit point if we got overrun by the Grimm."
Cole and Topaz nodded, jumping down as Dell turns next to the other hunstmen near him. "Piña, Quartz, lead some of the men down there and divert the Megoliath away from its original route by my signal. We will strike first the flying Grimms and then the others. Understood?"
Piña and Quartz nodded as they used their weapons to sprang up, jumping down to the forest right after.
Dell finally glanced at Hikaru. "As for you, kid..." He smiled. "I know you have those fancy moves of yours." Hikaru was shocked to hear that from Dell, wondering how did he knew his secret. "It is up for you to use it or not. But tonight is the right time."
(A/N: The visual effects of Breathing Styles in this world is real unlike in the KNY-verse)
Dell used his spear and vaulted down to the forest, leaving Hikaru left wondering alone.
__
Minutes have passed as they all took their positions. The broken moon was their only hope, lightening the night sky. Hikaru, Dell and some of the huntsmen hid above the branches, waiting for the signal. Next to him was a leopard Faunus, using her ears to listen for any noises. Hikaru wasn't bothered by this and used his enhanced hearing as well, thanks to his Total Breathing Concentration.
"Iris, hear anything?" Hikaru asks the leopard. She growls and shakes her head.
"Nothing. Not even a single shot from Cole and Topaz's team just yet."
"I thought Dell gave the signal for them to attack first?" Hikaru wondered what's wrong.
"That's the problem. They haven't." Iris implied.
"GAAAAAHHHHH!!"
A bloodcurling scream interrupted their conversation as Hikaru hears Iris cursing under her breath. She stands up and looked at Hikaru with a worried expression. "This is bad..."
"What, what is it?"
"That scream... It's from Topaz." Iris revealed.
"God..." Hikaru muttered.
"We have to go, now!" Iris ordered as she jumped away from the branch. Hikaru trailed behind her as they reached Dell after a minute.
"Iris? We've heard the scream." Dell stated, gritting his teeth. "It seems that Topaz and Cole's location are compromised."
"What we gonna do?" Iris asks, some hunstmen started to mutter within themselves.
A screech cut them off and all of a sudden, Hikaru's senses flared, his eyes widening at the incoming threat.
"Everyone, duck!" He yelled as a Grimm Lancer dove toward them, and a stinger from it pierced one of the unaware huntress through the neck, immediately killing her.
"Scatter! Now!" Dell yelled as the others did what they need to do. The huntsmen started to dodge and defend themselves for the meantime.
Hikaru sommersaults up front and dodged some of the Grimm Lancer's flying stingers. Unsheating his Nichirin Sword, he parried an incoming Razorwing's claw and twisted his body before delivering his own slice at its leg, causing it to shriek in pain.
Taking a soft landing, Hikaru sees more Razorwing diving and aiming for the two huntsmen that are fighting a lone Death Stalker, unaware of the danger behind them.
Hikaru took his right feet backwards and bended his knee. In a stance, Hikaru breathes deep and uttered his words.
"Be exalted, O God, above the Heavens, and let Your glory be over all the earth. Give victory with Your right hand, and answer me, so that those whom You love may be rescued."
Hikaru's legs started to incorporate yellow lightning as he took another breathe.
" Through You, we push back our enemies; through Your Name, we trample our foes. I put no trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory; but You give us victory over our enemies, You put our adversaries to shame."
Wind swirls beneath his feet, lightning crackled and dances around his sword as he clenched it tightly.
"Thunder Breathing: First Form..."
And as he opens his eyes, he disappeared in a bolt of lightning. "Thunderclap and Flash!"
In a single second, a bolt of lightning strafed through the flock or Razorwing, cutting them in halves as the two hunstmen gaped at the scene of Hikaru's attack.
As he noticed more Razorwings, they turned their attention at the Demon Slayer and charged ahead. Hikaru sees this and tightened his body, crouching in mid-air as he took another deep breath.
"Thunderclap and Flash..."
The wind around him spun wildly as the trees in the vicinity slightly bended away.
And as the thunder roars, Hikaru leaned and dashed.
"Sixfold!"
With Hikaru using Thunderclap and Flash in six consecutive times. His path of destruction swerved in six points, eradicating the Razorwings into crisp.
Landing in a spin, Hikaru skids to stop his advance and turned to check the two huntsmen.
"Are you okay?" He asked. The two stunned huntsmen had their jaws hanging on what he did to the Razorwings. Seeing that they're still frozen shut, Hikaru sighed. "Uhh... Alright? Good talk, see you around."
He left them and leaped to the other direction, hoping to help the others and to end the Grimm assault for good.
Four hours had passed and it felt like eternity for Dell and his tired group of huntsmen. Iris and some seriously wounded had retreated from the fight. Inch by inch, the Grimms are pushing them back towards the ridge. Still, the reinforcements from the other villages didn't helped that much as they were still overpowered by the Grimms.
Dell had one of his eyes closed due to an Ursa nearly clawing it. Cole and Topaz were already dead since the beginning of the attack, Piña was feasted by a group of Ravagers, gnashing her insides. Quartz is currently leading the second line of defence while Hikaru...
The young boy he had met since then...
Words from the other huntsman that he saved earlier told Dell about his lightning-speed 'semblance', his acts of heroism and expertise on killing stood a chance against Grimms. Whether that is a Ravager, a Lancer, or an Ursa. All perished to his sword.
Dell smiled at the words, already knowing Hikaru's secret of trekking outside of the village during the night as he trains his swordsmanship and his attacks that made Dell curious.
Yet he doesn't want himself to made the first move to speak about it. He wishes Hikaru to tell the truth, however, staring at the young boy's eyes speaks a different story.
A story of pure, agonizing pain and sadness...
Dell hoped for Hikaru to open this up in the future, but it seems that won't do much either.
"Dell!" His aide, Jade the Mantis Faunus, yelled. "We've been cut off!" She shouted as she used her boomerang blade to slice an arm of an Ursa.
"Where's the Megoliath?! Surely it didn't made its pass yet?!" He inquired.
"Not yet." Jade replied, dodging a Lancer's stinger as she twirl mid-air. "But the Ravagers and Lancers are the biggest pain in our asses right now!"
"Just don't let them get through the ridge! Tighten your defences people!" He ordered as they retreated further to the entry of the pass.
Fighting for another thirty-five minutes, Dell's remaining huntsmen group of ten fortified themselves at the very opening. Dead Grimms dropped under their feet as he soon noticed Hikaru's absence.
"Jade, do you see Hikaru?" He asked the Faunus.
"No! Haven't seen him yet after our retreat!"
Dell's heart sank at the news. The news of the poor boy he considered as his own son was now missing and absent in the defence. With this, he was caught off-guard when a Centinel managed to slip past through them and punctured his chest, completely piercing his Aura.
"Gahk-!"
With a spat of blood, Dell braces and grits his teeth as he twirled his spear and changed it into gun mode, he aims the gun behind and pulled the trigger, hitting the Centinel right through its face. It retreated its tip and shrieked as it dug itself back to the soil.
"Dell!" Jade yelled but when she was about to approach the old man, another Grimm jumped and swung its tail at an unaware Jade, sending her crashing through the rocky cliff. As she was stuck there, a group of Ravagers flew to her and clawed her continually, biting her face as her Aura depletes into zero, killing her at the process.
Struggling to stand up, Dell's vision went blurry as he scanned the battlefield around him. One by one, the huntsmen he'd rallied before are either dead or falling to the might of the Grimm horde. He finally took his time to stand up, holding his spear as a crutch and steadied himself.
As he lifted his head, his face shifted in horror as the terrifying Grimm stared at him, cold red eyes waiting for him to say something. The thin bodied Grimm who rides on a horse, picked up its lance from its back and waited.
The Nuckelavee waits.
"C-Come... and get me..." He snarled, rage building inside of him as the Grimm's eyes glowed in murder. "Creatures of Grimms!"
The Nuckelavee screeched in response as it raised its weapon, aiming to pierce Dell from top to bottom. But as it was about to strike its lance down, a single bolt of lightning passed through him and the Grimm, causing it to stop its attack.
Then, Dell heard a familiar voice uttering a word.
"Eightfold..."
"To Godspeed!"
The lone bolt of lighting became a giant spear of thunder as it blitzed through the Nuckelavee's horse and through it. The Grimms that were unlucky enough to be at the back of the Grimm were sliced and turned into crisps.
"H-Hikaru...?" Dell's hopes lit up as the thunder continues to roar around, decimating Grimms in his path.
A storm approached, and it was Hikaru.
Dell watches as Hikaru stopped mid-air and numerous flying Grimms surrounded him and starts their advance.
However, as Dell was about to warn Hikaru, the former Hashira prepared his stance, aiming to turn around for a spin.
"Water Breathing: Second Form - Vertical Water Wheel!
The water from Hikaru's sword spun like a saw and the poor Grimms who decided to charge were sliced vertically in half. The rest hesitated and were stunned for a bit. Hikaru took this opportunity to strike and changed his stance in a new one, his blade raised high in a downward slash.
"Light Breathing: Ninth Form - Negating Light!"
A single downward slash created eight curved slashes as it traveled around Hikaru, creating a negative light of slashes as it chased the retreating Grimms up in the air, killing them instantly.
Hikaru then spotted a mortally wounded Dell and his face went horrid.
"DELL!" He cried out as he rushed back to the huntsman and carried him away from the still stunned Nuckelavee.
"K-Kid... You don't have... to carry me..." Dell weakly said as he can feel his consciousness diminishly fading. Sensing this, Hikaru lands on one part of a cliff and observed Dell's wounded condition.
"I-I can fix you! P-Please hold on! I-If I could carry you back to Sumire village, then-!"
Dell raised his bloodied hand, weakened and catching his breath, he gave Hikaru his most tearful smile and ruffled Hikaru's golden-black hair. "I know the truth, H-Hikaru... It is nice to know that there we are not alone in this world after all." Dell revealed.
Hikaru was taken aback by this and has his gaped expression. "Y-You... knew?"
Dell weakly chuckled as he coughed a small amount of blood. "You're... sneaking out of the village every midnight. K-Kid... I am a former huntsman, you know? Don't... Don't doubt my abilities, and the ways... your sword..."
Hikaru's tears starts to fall as he let his emotion out for the first time since he got here. "I... I am sorry that I lied to you... I am very... s-sorry."
"You don't have to. Me and Elia had already treated you as our own. She was unable to have a child before... But then, you came."
Hikaru shook his head as tears flooded his eyes. Refusing to accept this reality. For once, he shed his tears when his parents died, second is when Rengoku was killed during the Mugen Train mission, in which he arrived late at the scene.
Third is...
"No, no, no, please... I don't want to lose you, too..." He said as he held Dell's old hands tightly. "For almost nine months, I learned everything in this new world since I woke up. Teaching me your language, the technology, all of it! Why?!" Hikaru cried out in pain and sadness.
"S-Sorry, kid..." Dell's consciousness from his eyes are already fading. "It's all up to you now, I know you can... do... it, son..."
And with that, Dell Obsidian died from his wounds.
For the second time, Hikaru felt emptiness...
Death turned to silence.
Silence turned to sadness.
Sadness turned to Grief.
And gried turned to rage.
Rage became wrath.
And lo, thy Grimms will face the Wrath of God.
Clenching his teeth so tightly with his bloodshot eyes, Hikaru snapped his head towards the approaching Megoliath, murderous eyes drilling at the Grimm Mammoth, he hissed and steam came out from his mouth.
"Light Breathing: Eight Form - God's Wrath..."
A distorting vacuum-like sound shattered the Megoliath's skull. It was a tiny, cocentrated beam of light pierced the Grimm in a second.
Leaving no chance for the heretics. Hikaru breathed once more deeply and prepared his leap, blade on a stance as he uttered,
"Light Breathing: Third Form - Shooting Stars of Never-Ending Trail!"
Three straight strikes, creating a luminar triangle was unleashed towards the Grimms and decimated the little ones while the Nuckelavee had enough and starts its retreat.
"I won't let you get away, demon."
As he jumped up high, it created cracks in its aftermath. Up high, the veins in his forehead bulges and he felt his legs already getting weaker, so he decided to finish this in three consecutive Breathing Techniques.
Rapidly breathing, his heart pumped more blood as he had adrenaline surging through his veins. Raising sword high like a bat, he uttered,
"Water Breathing: Tenth Form - Constant Flux!"
Move more... More!
Cut through the heretic!
They will pay!
Striking continously while evading the retreating Nuckelavee's extended arms, Hikaru uttered another form,
"Flame Breathing: Fifth Form - Flame Tiger!"
He dashed forth towards the Nuckelavee's legs and the flames from his sword sliced the front in pieces, however, Hikaru wasn't finished yet.
He moved again above the Nuckelavee's face, and he was an inch away from the stunned expression of the Grimm. He hissed as flame and lightning coursed through his body, slightly making burnt holes in his haori.
"Thunder Breathing: Flaming Thunder God!"
And in a split second, the Nuckelavee's tough body was destroyed as Hikaru drilled a hole through the Grimm, a figure of a flaming thunder dragon followed behind his thrust.
The Grimm, shrieked in pain as it slowly disappeared in pieces. With his last remaining strength, Hikaru's legs felt numb. He limped and turned aroundz only to see nobody, except the corpse of the Nuckelavee hanging tall, slowly disintegrating as a flaming hole can be seen on its body.
"Gahk-!"
He puked a large amount of blood as he crashed on the burnt grass, coughing desperately to lessen the blood that is drowning his lungs. Gasping for air, he couldn't collect air from his mouth and tried on his nose, it helped a little as Hikaru crawled away from the mess he made.
"Need... to.... get... away..." He said to himself repeatedly until he felt a foot on his hand. Slowly lifting his head with his blurred eyesight, Hikaru passed out.
__
Qrow Branwen noticed a roar of thunder from the distance as he and Vale's huntsmen arrived at the village of Sumire. The town was already empty when Glynda Goodwitch, Headmaster Ozpin's right hand at Beacon Academy shows up.
"What was that? Thunder in this clear sky?" Glynda wondered. "Something's wrong and you know what to do, Qrow."
Obviously, Qrow rolled his eyes and took a swig on his flask. "Yeah, yeah. I know..."
He then morphed in his bird form and flew towards the area.
But as he arrived there, he was in shock to see nobody. Grimms were nonexistent, burnt trees and ruptured ground painted the scene as Qrow scanned the area. He then pulled his scroll out and called Ozpin.
"Hey, Oz. I'm in the outskirts of the pass. You seeing this?" He said as he took a video of the area.
A holograpic image of Professor Ozpin appeared on hid left and his face went sour. "Grimm?"
Qrow shook his head, "Not likely. I do not know a certain specie of Grimm that can do this kind of damage..."
"Investigate around the area, Qrow. I am sure something or someone did this as Glynda reported no sign of Grimm activites as well on the other areas around there."
"No what-?" Qrow wondered. "Alright, I'll do it."
He went further into the undamaged part of the forest as he heard moaning somewhere. Qrow stopped and pulled his weapon, only to hear the same moan again. Snapping his head on that direction, Qrow walked until he finally spotted a young man wearing an odd clothing, crawling on the ground as he used his hands to move forward.
Raising his scroll to his ear, Qrow stared at the child in shock as the child stared at him in response before passing out.
"Oz, I think we found our culprit."