How could that boy have abandoned him like this? Don't he know he's only trying to save him
Lie Ren lamented inside his mind as he landed on the ground, his agility prevent him from getting hurt from the fall
It doesn't matter. If the boy really came to the village, there's a chance that he would be killed by that demon now. What he really need to do right now is to escape out of here, find somewhere with people populating it before she hunted him down
The demons may be strong, but they all have the same weaknesses, that is why human have been able to drive them away up until now
He shook his head
Picking up a nearby tree branch to navigate in the dark, Ren started to walk in the darkness of the night
And that is when it suddenly struck him
There is not the sound of a single animal in range. Even the rustling of leaves beneath his foot also seems to be muted by the defeaning silence around him. The howl of the wolves are not there, the hooting of the owl is also absent, the critter is nowhere to be sen
The forest...is too quiet
No. No. NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo-
"Oh frightful little boy, where could you possibly be going in this time of the day?" A voice whispered in his ears
Like a bucket of ice water being poured on him, Ren felt as though every nerves in his body are numbed in fear
"Where is your Mommy?"
"Where is your Daddy?"
He started shaking
"Oh frightful little boy. Inside this forest, there lurks many monsters, do you know?"
The clouds parted, allowing for the silvery moonlight to pass through the rift between them. It hit the ground, shining in and showing a glimpse of the speaker. Under the night sky, the tip of an umbrella being opened could be seen
A pair of mismatched eyes stared back at him. Stared back into his very soul and devour everything inside it
“One such as myself, for example"
Like a sheet of glass, everything inside him shattered. Pieces of his mind fell to the ground, and into the deepest abyss of despair
Dammit! How the hell did she find him out this fast?!
Ren's eyes widened in realization
That's right, his fear. Similar to Grimm, demons could sense human by their negative emotions. As long as one keep their calm, a demon wouldn't be able to notice their presence outside their line of sight
Lie Ren activated his ability and dashed away. A pink cloak of Aura surrounded his body. He could feel the woman's eyes trailing after him in the darkness, a smirk on her pretty face
"Who would have thought someone as small as you would possess a bloodline limit of all things" She drawled "It's no wonder why you managed to escape, little Lie Ren. Is that what your father called you?"
It takes all his will not to snarl in anger. The demon is simply baiting him, there's no need to fall for it
"Your family got killed. Your entire village got killed. It is only sensible for a child like you to run away" The demon tilted it's head "Or perhaps, you felt guilty about it? Have you wished it was you who died instead of them?"
Ignore it. Ignore it. Ignore it. Ignore it
"After all, you were the one who sneaked out after the dark to play outside, despite your parent's insistence. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been able to sneak past the village's barrier unnoticed"
Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!
"If it's not for you, everybody would have been alive. You would still be living happily with your father and mother without a care for the outside world. Yet, your curiosity got them killed. A tragic fate for a child, don't you think?"
Rage and regret boiled up inside him as tears fell from his eyes
His Semblance flickered off in a subconscious response to his outburst, and at that moment Ren knew he had messed up his only chances of survival here.
He had fallen right through her trap by letting his emotions have the best of him
WOOOSH
"Found you" And the next moment, she was was in front of him, her umbrella slightly pointing forward, it's sharp blade glinting in the moonlight, aiming for the space between them
That's it. He was going to die here, alone in this forest, without even having the time to utter his last words, to even wait for the year's harvest, to watch the summer festival with his parents. There's too many things he can do, so many lives he can save, if only he haven't been that stupid...
Mom. Dad. I’m sorry
He closed his eyes, accepting the inevitability of his fate
It was at this moment, a voice suddenly sounded out. As divine as the heaven itself, yet carry in it an unspeakable might of salvation
"[Breath of the Moon. First form. Crescent Slash]"
And everything around him exploded in a violent gale of pure power
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Neopolitan, or "Twelve", simply stared impassively at the blade heading toward her with inhumane speed
'Tch'
Her illusions shattered as it sliced her from the side in an elegant horizontal sweep, while her real self already skidded back a few meters backward, having sensed the strong presence and prepared for it in advance
Before the dust from the explosion could properly dispersed, a figure already dashed out from it, the tip of their knife aiming straight at her heart.
An overhead strike. How predictable. She swung her parasol forward to block it
However, as soon as their weapon made contact, the human released their grip on the weapon and spun around, causing her to tumble forward and left her back vulnerable to his attacks. Another knife appeared in his hand as he lunged at her
She twisted around, using her illusion as a decoy to launch a kick at him. The human managed to catch it with his hand, but she simply kicked him with her other foot, sending him flying backward and hit a nearby tree
But instead of losing his footing and crash against the it, he uncurled up another blade in his sleeve and stab it into the tree trunks, using the momentum of the strike to rotate himself along the wooden surface and launched back at her
"HASAGI!" His blade glinted in the moonlight as a violent gale gathered around the tip "SORYE GE TON!"
Twelve spun her parasol around and deflected the attack, sparks of fire light up the space between them as she did so
It was at that brief moment that the demon can see the face of it's attacker
A boy, younger than 15, with his face set in a determined expression as he held a kitchen knife in his arm
His eyes widened as he saw her, as though seeing someone who he knew a long time ago
"You are-"
Before he could finish, her illusion shattered and the real her appeared behind him. In one single move, Twelve swiftly decapitate him with the blade of her parasol
Or at least that's what she thought happened. The human had quickly ducked down the moment she disappeared and narrowly avoided her strike in time, thus saving himself. But in return, she has also forced him into a fetal position on the ground
Most sword techniques involve one to have leverage over or on the same height level as their opponent in order to execute their technique in a fast and precise way. When one was forced to attack or defend from below, their combat prowess was significantly decreased
One strike of her blade and it would have ended. This is the end
'I have the high ground now' She raised her parasol above her head with a smile on her face
Except...things didn't go as well as Twelve had planned
"Breath of Dragon. Second Form-" A small burst of flame lit up under his heel, and the boy propelled himself upward at breakneck speed "Coiling Dragon Kick!"
SNAP
The force of the kick was so strong that her neck was bent to an unnatural degree just from the backlash of dodging it. Had Neopolitan been any other regular demon, her head would have flew off her shoulder right now
'So he's not just a normal Kenjutsu practitioner....that explains why he's using knives instead of a normal sword' The demon adjusted it's broken neck 'Looks like I'll have to start getting serious then'
She opened her umbrella
[Blood Demon Art: Shatter]
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'Huh, she survived?'
I narrowed my eyes
'Yare yare daze, this is harder than I thought...'
I must admit, seeing a Neo that can endure against such an attack right off the bat seems to be so unreal. Not only can she talk, but she seems older as well, more mature may I add.
Many question popped in my head
If she's here, where is Roman?
Why is she a demon?
Now that she look like a proper woman, is she legal?
The more I think about it, the more curious I felt. Just what exactly had changed from Canon to guarantee this Japanese-like culture? And the existence of the Demon, it felt way too random to be true. Is it all a part of Salem's plan for her ultimate goal?
"...Looks like I'll have to start getting serious then" In response to her statement, I got into a fighting stance
"Blood Demon Art: Shatter"
"!"
At that instant, my vision changed.
What the fuck is this?
Everything around me broke apart like a shattered mirror .Cracks appeared on the space around me, and there are pieces that definitely look like it wasn't supposed to be there at all
Now, everything around me seems like a painting of Picasso: Chaotic, senseless and confusing. I couldn't even see something 2 meters in front of me without it getting horribly distorted for fuck's sake
Well shit, the original RWBY did not mention this ability of hers. Blood demon art? Is this Kimetsu no Yaiba now?
Still, If I can't see anything, then there's only one thing I can do...
A light breeze shifted beside me, signifying the presence of the demon closing in. From my point of view, it just looks like some pieces of glass disappeared from my view, a few missing fragments. Nothing more and nothing less
I swung my blade horizontally
"[Breath of the Moon. Second Style. Moon Spirit Hurricane]"
The air around me shifted, rotated and spun around me in a protective vortex of wind. A silver hurricane blew out, making everything in a 2m radius around me to either flew back or spun around me like a makeshift protective shield
I could hear the demon's snarl and smiled. Clearly, she has not been expecting this AoE skill
Compared to Summer's execution of this technique, which could easily cover a radius of over 5 meters without even having to draw her blade, my skills are not that impressive. And note that it took me 3 days to learn this technique, a long time all in itself, while she did it in 2
Anyway, [Moon Spirit Hurricane] has no set duration, it is a skill that I can maintain as long as I have the stamina to swing my sword. 10, that's the number of seconds I can keep going on like this
Which also means that as soon as this end, I'll die. There's no way to put it differently
Neo's on an entire different level compared to me. Judging from what the demon just said, she wasn't even serious with me up until now
There's no way I can combat her with my eyesight like this right now, unless I can find a different mean of detecting her
'If only Summer would just speed up her training and teach me that Sage Mode already....'
Sennin Modo, or the [Completed Breathing Technique] as the woman has said it when we started training, involves the combining of one's breath with the natural energy around them to further enhance their ability. In short, instead of just pumping more airs into your lung, you're pumping in natural power, thus making it not just several times more powerful compare to the normal breathing techniques, but also several times more difficult to learn as well
Your strength will be enough to rip open small mountains with your bare hand
Your agility will be enough to walk in the rain without even getting hit by a single drop
Your senses will be enough to hear the flap of a butterfly's wing more than fifty paces away
If one managed to learn it, they will always be stronger than a normal human since learning this technique will change the structure of your body, enough for it to reach a new height of efficiency rivaling the most trained of assassins and the most skilled of swordsman...or at least that's what she said
'But I can't learn it yet' My grip on the knife tightened 'It would bad for me to force myself to learn new technique in a rushed manner. Doing so would only damage my basic knowledge and skill foundation in the future'
You can't just rush things. (Y/n)'s not the type to rush things. But time is running out with his life on the line
'Ah damn it, oh well. It's now or never. I just gotta improvise is all'
He raised his sword, grasping the hilt with both his hands
"Breath of Self-taught. One sword style" (Y/n) grinned "First Form-"
He swung it down
"Territory of the Blind"
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->Insert Neo(?) picture in black<-