บท 21: After Break
POV Lenore Nivens
While Death and the others were starting their new term at Beacon Academy, Lenore, the head of the Vale branch of the Bloody Fang, was looking over the information on their new recruits. They had lost fifty members four weeks and a day prior, so they had to up recruitment to replace the members that were now in the Vale Prison.
She was not thrilled at all with the theft of the Dust at the Vale docks going that poorly, but at least her people were alive, even if they were in prison at the moment, there was hope of one day getting them released or rescued later. Roman Torchwick had died, however. He was insufferable, and she couldn't stand the fool, but he was still her current partner's son, so she wasn't thrilled about it at all. It wasn't her place to seek to avenge him, though. No human was worthy of such effort in her mind.
She had plenty on her plate taking care of the Bloody Fang while maintaining anonymity. Not even her family was aware that she was part of that organization, let alone the regional leader of it, and she needed to keep it that way. Frankly, she did not trust her family to know the truth about her, since the delusional fools thought that humans could change. Lenore saw that as nothing but a pathetic delusion that they had, Everything she did, she did for the glory and honor of the faunus race!
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POV Death Rose
Upon arriving back at his room after trading locations with a body double. Death went to take a quick but thorough shower before heading to his first class in the second half of the semester. After stepping out of his room, he saw Neon in her Atlas School uniform, which suppressed her funkiness vibe by a tiny bit, though with her bright and infectious smile and her unique hairstyle, it could not be suppressed completely. "Good morning Neon." he greeted you
"Good morning Death." Neon insisted "I thought I'd walk you to class, if you don't mind?"
"Why would I object." Death chuckled, seeming genuinely amused "Plus it is a good opportunity to introduce you to my girlfriends. It seems like you are possibly considering pursuing a relationship with me, so if you do decide to do that you'll have to get to know them, right?"
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POV Neon Katt
Neon thought that Death did not seem like he was teasing, and that he really had multiple girlfriends "So you have multiple girlfriends and they all know each other?" Neon asked with curiosity.
"Mostly they know each other." Death agreed "I had two girls declare they wanted a relationship with me just last night, so they haven't met the others yet." Death started walking to class while she walking alongside him.
"Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Velvet are the names of my current girlfriends and they do all consider themselves to be sisters and are close to each other as well as to me" Death insisted.
"Jeez, seven girlfriends, sure seems ambitious of you." Neon giggled.
"Well, I can technically be at twelve places at once thanks to being able to make and control eleven avatars like additional limbs. I can also trade places with any of these avatars." Death boasted to Neon "By the way, I am the original, not that it matters much, since I directly control each body and see and hear and feel all that they experience."
Neon was shocked by that declaration "How can anyone handle controlling that many bodies simultaneously?" she asked
"That's a reasonable question." Death chuckled "I can only perfectly control five at a time. More then that and I do receive too much information and my reaction speed suffers and it becomes harder to control the bodies. It feels like wading through syrup which grows thicker the more avatars I have out. You could say that five is my soft limit, while eleven is my hard limit."
"Even five clones is a lot." Neon insisted and giggled as she glanced his way as they walked "I guess it does explain how you could handle so many girlfriends though."
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POV Aiden Torchwick
Furious...That was the word that best described Aiden's overall emotions for the past four weeks since his son died. He was definitely not father of the year material, and frankly he could barely tolerate the brat, but he was loyal and useful for his queen's missions.
Lenore Nivens was, for the moment, disposable when it came to their cause, since she only aligned herself with them for the moment and could not truly be counted on for the long term. Roman and Anastasia, however, were the two he knew that he could count on in the coming months and years, so it was natural that he'd be furious about the death of a useful and dependable tool.
At least he still had Anastasia. She was not really what one would all 'beautiful', but she could fight well, and after successfully assassinating that woman, she had only grown stronger now that she was the Summer maiden.
They had, of course, tracked down the fall maiden, Amber Quince, and were eager to assassinate her as well to have Anastasia inherit the powers of a second maiden, but she had not left Vale at all since learning of the death of her fellow Maiden, and there were people secretly watching over her, so they'd had no success with obtaining her power to date.
Their plans in Vale rather depended upon them killing the fall maiden and letting Anastasia receive her powers, but what could they do if they had no opportunity? If they failed to kill her before the Vytal Festival Tournament then their plans might end up being pushed back eight years when the tournament would be back in Vale again. He certainly did not want to be the one to tell his queen about such a delay!
Unknowingly, this was another result of the butterfly effect brought on by Death and his siblings. Cinder would have completely ignored her first chance at the summer maiden, having the foresight to understand that killing her might cause the fall Maiden to become harder to reach, while Anastasia was not as gifted as Cinder, so Aiden felt she needed a power up to be truly useful in Vale, as well as to make her more appreciative towards him, hence he did not pass up on the chance he got at the Summer Maiden.
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POV Ruby Rose
Classes had finally started again, and she was up early with her teammates and had made her way to the class. Their first class of the day was combat with Miss Goodwitch. When they entered there were many more students present that had not been around last semester, with these being the exchange students from Mistral, Atlas, and Vacuo.
Even so, she just sat with her teammates, leaving introductions for later, if they happened at all. Fury, War, and Strife were already present, but Death hadn't arrived yet. She could only watch the door and wait for him to arrive.
About ten minutes later, two minutes before class was supposed to start, Death entered alongside a cute cat-faunus girl with an orange-furred tail. The girl appeared to be wearing a uniform from Atlas Academy.
"Looks like Death may have another fan" Ruby giggled, causing her teammates to all look in Death's direction.
Ruby knew that when it came to this emotional and romance stuff she was not an expert, but even so her intuition was telling her that this girl would be one of their sisters.
She was the kind of girl that had always wanted a huge family, so she wouldn't get upset over more sisters. She was confident that more sisters would not stop Death from spoiling her and treating her like a princess.
She still got to wake up to find food delivered to her room for her teammates and herself, like usual. This had become a daily occurrence for Team RWBY, even when he did not spend the night, they would awaken to find breakfast waiting for each of them like clockwork.
Having body doubles/avatars worked out for Death, as they allowed him to pamper his girlfriends just enough.
When it came to training over break, it was brutal, but they'd all accepted that it was for their own good since they were trying to be huntresses. Some might overthink things, and decide he was using a carrot and stick training method, but Ruby did not doubt that he loved her. A huge smile spread across her face as Death and the girl approached "Good morning." she greeted him happily.
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POV Death Rose
Seeing Ruby's usual happy mood was infectious, and brought a smile to Death's face as well "Good morning Ruby." he then glanced at Neon "Neon, this is Team RWBY. The adorkable one is Ruby Rose, her teams leader., the graceful and elegant one is Weiss Schnee, the naughty in a good way one with the cute kitty ears is Blake Belladonna, and the blond beauty is Yang Xiao Long." he indicated each as he introduced them "Girls, this is Neon Katt. I met her seven years ago on a job with Uncle Qrow, and surprisingly she remembered me and asked me to show her around Vale last night."
He noticed that Blake in particular seemed to be examining the faunus girl, but he proceeded to look around for Team CFVY to introduce her to Velvet, only to find them absent. He deduced that they had probably gotten their first mission of the semester and had left already or were getting ready to leave, so he'd have to introduce Neon to Velvet later.
"I hope that you can all get along." he said while turning his attention back towards Team RWBY.
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POV Neon Katt
"It's a pleasure to meet you" the girl who'd been introduced as Weiss Schnee greeted her first. Neon, having come from Mantle and being a student of Atlas Academy, was well aware of who the Schnee Family was, and understood that Weiss was the younger sister of the current Head of the Schnee Dust Company, Winter Schnee.
She was also a faunus so she was aware of Ghira Belladonna, head of the White Fang, and recalled that he had a wife named Kali and a daughter named Blake.
She had been a bit surprised to hear that Death had multiple girlfriends, but had not expected that two of them were so important. Winter, she recalled, was engaged to be married to another woman, so it was likely that one of Weiss's children would eventually inherit the reins of leadership of the Schnee Dust Company after Winter.
As for Blake, she was close to royalty. Even though Ghira was hardly ever in Menagerie due to his work with the White Fang, he still had a house there and was recognized as it's Governor.
She had no idea who Ruby and Yang were, but she recognized that it was a big deal that Blake and Weiss were both his girlfriends.
"I'm happy to meet you as well." Neon responded to Weiss.
"Class should be starting soon, so you and Death should join your teams for now" Yang suggested to her, smiling "We can talk more after classes today."
Neon nodded and then looked at Death "Thanks again for showing me that club last night." she told him before jogging over to Team FNKI's seats
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POV Death Rose
Once Neon left, Death looked at Team RWBY "She seemed like she might be interested in me yesterday, even after I told her about all of you, so decided to have her meet you all, let her fully understand our situation and decide if she really wants to pursue things." he explained to them.
"Understood lady killer" Yang answered smugly, while Blake, Ruby and Weiss nodded, confirming that they understood the situation.
Death smiled at them before heading over to take his seat.
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When Glynda Goodwitch arrived, they spent fifteen minutes introducing everyone to each other, included in the newcomers were Team SSSN, Team NDGO, Team BRNZ, Team ABRN, Team FNKI and thirteen more teams that hadn't been shown in the show, so the classroom was close to full for the first time Death had ever seen it. In addition to eleven upperclassmen teams from Beacon (that included CFVY) Miss Goodwitch announced that twenty-four of the other exchange Teams had already accepted early term jobs and left to their various assignments, so they'd meet everyone else as the term progressed.
Death counted that there were a total of forty-four teams from the other three schools. Though it was not covered in the show that he had seen, Death knew that Beacon would be allowed twenty teams in the tournament since they were hosting the Vytal Festival this time around, while Atlas was allowed sixteen since they'd be hosting next in two years. Meanwhile, Haven and Shade should have fourteen teams each.
With a little math in his head Death was able to verify that all forty-four visiting teams appeared to be accounted for. Penny was not in the classroom, so apparently her team accepted a job, probably at General Ironwoods insistence to prevent her from interacting with people during this period of semi-orientation.
By the time that orientation had finally ended, the two hour long class was more then a third over, but they got to spend the next hour and fifteen minutes challenging each other to fights. Notably, Neon challenged Blake early on, with Blake coming out on top, though it was a tough fight, and they seemed to come to respect each other.
After that fight, a few students challenged Pyrrha and got demolished, but Death, his Teammates and Team RWBY were basically left alone until a cute young lady with green hair and green eyes volunteered for the final fight. She wore a Haven Academy uniform and carried with her a hoverboard.
Death immediately recognized her as Reese Chloris of Team ABRN, but he hadn't met her before, so he was rather surprised when he saw her point at him.
"I want to fight him." Reese declawed while pointing at Death.
After a few moments of shock, Death got up and walked down to the battlefield "Is there a specific reason why you chose me?" Death asked.
Reese grinned and nodded "I saw you at the Mistral Regional Tournament a couple years ago, and you really impressed me. I want to see how I stack up against you. I'll probably lose quickly, but it's worth it to test your skills"
"Another one." Death heard Weiss mutter under her breath, then he heard her chuckle in amusement. He had only heard her because his hearing as a Nephilim was a bit superior to a normal humans hearing, and he was keeping an ear peeled for his girlfriends' reactions to this new girl approaching him. He also heard Ruby snicker at what Weiss had said.
Death did not want to kill Reese, so he couldn't use his normal weapons, which would slice through aura effortlessly, so instead he made THAT weapon appear in his hands. It was a replica off his Harvester, but without being a possessed weapon. It was a 'mundane' weapon that he could pull out when he didn't want to accidentally kill someone.
He and Ruby had made this together early in the year, so he was pretty proud of it. Even if it wasn't also a gun, the quality of the metal and the workmanship were top tier, so it would not be damaged easily, and it felt just like the Harvester in his hands, so it didn't impede his fighting style.
"Yikes, nice weapon. How'd you pull it out of nowhere like that?" Reese Chloris said as she carefully examined the scythe with admiration.
"This is a replica of one of my main combat weapons, but I use this one for sparring." Death admitted to Reese with a nod "This is called 'Second Harvest', while the original is called 'Harvester'. My 'Harvester' has properties that shred through aura, so it it unsuitable for a friendly spar. I don't want to actually seriously hurt such a beautiful young woman, after all. Over-reliance of that wont help me to get stronger, either, so 'Second Harvest' is more useful to help me grow as well."
Reese accepted that he wasn't going to tell her where the scythe came from and got into a combat position "Alright, I'll give it my all!" she blurted enthusiastically.
"Regarding where my weapons came from, maybe I'll tell you later." Death also prepared for the battle as well. "But that's more of a third date discussion."
Reese blushed a bit.
"Begin!" Glynda Goodwitch could tell that even without speaking it directly, Death had accepted the challenge, so she let the fight begin.
Reese kicked off with her hoverboard and relied upon her high mobility and ranged attacks to try to bombard Death without him reaching her. He was fast, but not fast enough to keep up with her on her hoverboard, but he was really tanky with his regenerative ability that refused to allow his aura to fall into the red.
Reese could not deal damage fast enough, and Death could not get close enough to harm her, so the battle ended with Glynda Goodwitch declaring it a draw due to class ending. The students from Beacon were used to this kind of performance from Death, but many of the exchange students were fairly stunned by it, since they had never encountered anyone whose aura regenerated as fast as Death's did.
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POV Reese Chloris
Even though the match was declared a draw, it felt like a loss to Reese. Even though she hadn't been struck even once, her aura had fallen by around five percent over the course of the five minutes that the duel had went on, merely as a result of her exerting her efforts. Considering that Death's aura was still full, it appeared that he could have fought her indefinitely until she had exhausted her own aura. He did not have to lay a finger on her, he just had to wait for her to exhaust herself.
Reese did not mind losing, though. She smiled at Death and offered him her hand "You held back against me." she noted.
"You remember my teleporting slash?" Death chuckled, seemingly in amusement "Yes, I could have caught up with you if I used that, but, again, I wouldn't learn anything from just relying upon that, and neither would you. Placing such limitations on myself are useful to help myself grow stronger. Likewise, it can help those I spar with to get stronger too." he accepted her hand and smiled at her.
Reese nodded in understanding "You're right. I very much doubt that I could have dodged that, but in the future I'd like to try to get to the point where I can." she said while they shook hands, and then stepped back from each other.
"What do I need to do to make you fight me seriously in the future?" Reese asked him with curiosity.
"Well, your speed is overly reliant on your hoverboard, it makes your movement much too predictable. You will need to train to be fast individually as well." Death advised her seriously "You can join in with training with me, my teammates, and a couple other teams if you want too. But the training is pretty intense."
Reese nodded in understanding "I accept then. Thanks for the duel."
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