Chương 85: Interactions and spar.
Quick news that I feel some might want to know: Neo was introduced in the last chapter of (P)(A)(T).
That said, if anyone wants to support me, or just read 3/7 extra chapters, that's possible on my (P)(A)(T). If not, I still appreciate you reading my stories, thank you very much.
Well, as always, good night and happy reading!
(P)(A)(T)/CalleumArtori
[...]---[...]
POV: Ozpin
"You can't be seriously considering believing this, Ozpin!" I not only was but hoped it to be true.
It was unbelievable, of course, even for someone like me who had lived a lot, seen a lot... Maybe it was the hope of having an extra ally against "her," someone powerful, or a confirmation of a childhood dream I remember having, one of the few memories I still recall from those times...
A bittersweet memory of her and me sitting side by side, looking at the stars... Better times, before everything...
I always wondered if there was life elsewhere, beyond the sibling gods, of course.
Foolishness, but still, I hoped it was true... Devas was almost a confirmation of that fact.
"As unlikely as it may be, it's still a possibility, Glynda," I replied, glancing briefly at Glynda and then shifting my gaze to James and Miss Winter, who were in the corner of my office.
Miss Winter was the most surprised among us, after all, she didn't even know about magic. James should have explained things to her before we watched the video, but I guess I can't blame him for being impatient here.
It was relatively easy to find which video Devas had talked about, after all, it was the only one really available to be played; all the others and any other function of this "cell phone" were blocked.
The video itself wasn't very long, about thirty minutes, and it was basically Devas explaining his situation, with some evidence, information he found useful.
The most amusing part for me was a statement he made near the beginning: "If you're watching this shit, congrats! I probably found you cool and trustworthy enough to tell you my situation... Or I just got lazy to explain everything and threw you the compilation I asked Jarvis to make."
I wish I could say that the people in the room, including myself, fell into the first category, but given the short time I had interacted with Devas, I would bet my chips that the reason why this device was in my hands had something to do with the second option.
Especially since the explanation didn't really involve much of his powers and abilities, something that Devas would probably say himself if he trusted the person watching the video, in this case, the four of us.
"Something unlikely is magic being real," Glynda retorted. "Something unlikely is me having a weekend without some student detention to supervise, but this?!" She pointed to the cellphone. "This isn't unlikely, Ozpin, it's impossible! Devas is not an alien!"
"He has magic." A lot of magic, something practically impossible in the current era.
"You have magic," Glynda affirmed. Fair, but still... Devas had shown other people with magic besides him in that place called "Terraria."
Was it possible that it's some kind of realm in a hidden dimension somewhere in Remnant? Yes, but I like to think that I would have found such a place over the years, if not me, "her," after all, "she" has always been better at magical arts than I am.
"I don't remember seeing beastikins in Remnant," I replied. Faunus didn't have as many animal characteristics like fur all over the body and snouts.
"Genetic mutation, a subspecies of faunus that lived isolated for hundreds of years," Glynda replied. Because I felt that she was being stubborn just because Devas had called her a dominatrix?
"And the Slimes?" I don't think a mutation can occur for that to happen. "He also showed another world beyond where he was, didn't he?" Some parts of the video were "adventures" he had in two other worlds...
A zombie virus was possible, who would've thought... Did some of the Atlesian scientists not have plans against such a catastrophe? It seems I have to give them credit.
Glynda hesitated, raising her finger and slightly opening her mouth before closing it and opening it again, not sure what to say.
I took a sip of coffee as I waited for her to think, but the voice that answered me was not feminine.
"CGI," James spoke. "With the advancement of technology, creating realistic images is not something impossible, much more likely than an alien jumping from planet to planet with an audience watching." He asserted.
"You only say that because you want to try scanning the phone." James didn't deny it.
He had asked me to hand over the phone for him to plug in a hacker program that his IT team had made; I obviously refused.
If what Devas claims in the video is true, the chances of any technology Atlas might have to hack this phone were meager, not to say nil.
Besides, I was sure that Devas would know if James tried to hack the phone, breaking any minimal trust that might have arisen between us in the short meeting we had, something I wanted to avoid, not worth the risk.
But I wanted to know why James walked around with a USB drive containing a hacker program in his pocket. Paranoia, perhaps, well, excess preparedness never hurt.
"Mr. Ozpin, are you sure we should trust him?..." Miss Winter asked.
Whenever she spoke, it was in a polite tone, but I could sense a certain extra respect in her voice... Many who learned about my curse and the time I lived ended up acting like that.
"Just Ozpin is fine, Winter," I said, dropping the "miss" whenever I addressed her. I had experience with people like her; if I wanted her to act less formally, I would need to act that way too.
Even when I was the "King of Vale," I never got used to formalities; for me, even after my curse, I still was and always will be just a man.
"Ozpin, then..." Miss Winter spoke hesitantly. "Devas, are you sure we can trust him?" She repeated the question.
There was that too... Just because I was the oldest didn't mean I had all the answers; I was as lost as everyone in this situation. Well, a little less, actually.
I took a sip of coffee before responding, ignoring the looks the other three were giving me.
"First of all, ignoring whether he's an alien or not..." Glynda coughed, a sound very much like: Because he's not. "... He's still someone who has something rare in his body, something we can't ignore." It wasn't a matter of believing or not in Devas; he had magic, that was a fact.
"He also didn't show hostility until now," James stated. "As strange as he acted when asking about how to send me something by mail, even when my troops attacked him mistakenly, he still only defended himself." He seemed grateful for that.
Glynda, Qrow, and James were the people who knew more than anyone else besides me about what magic was capable of; a Maiden could decimate an army if she knew how to use her powers...
In a way, it was good that no one else could sense Devas' mana except for me; I don't think letting them know that he, at least in raw energy, was stronger than a Maiden would be good.
"Let's talk to him again... Devas. Things are calmer now, and we have more information about each other," I asserted.
This was the best scenario for now, just talking. The first meeting we had was right after the invasion, everyone's nerves were on edge, especially with the little misunderstanding that Devas' mask aura created.
"You had called Qrow, hadn't you?" Glynda asked rhetorically. "Send a message and tell him to talk to Devas that we want to speak with him again."
"I did call Qrow," I answered her question, even though I knew it was rhetorical. "And I had already informed him to bring Devas to my office." After the rather amusing reaction Qrow had, I informed him that if possible, I would like to talk to Devas again.
"They're on their way then?" Glynda asked.
"Not exactly," I replied, raising my scroll with the message that Devas sent using Qrow's scroll and began to read the message.
"Ozpin, I'll be straightforward; your elevator is complete crap; going up the first time took ten minutes, going down another ten, I almost threw myself out the window; it would be faster. So, if you or someone else wants to talk to me, you'll need to come down; I'm not getting in that thing a third time, even if you paid me!"
The exclamation point at the end made the message even more amusing to me.
I cleared my throat, standing up and ignoring Glynda's gaze trying to pierce my neck.
"Well, shall we?" I looked at the clock on the wall and started walking. "Let's see what our fellow from outside the world thinks of our humble planet."
I had to hold back from laughing when I heard Glynda mutter, "He's not an alien!"
Knowing Qrow and Team RWBY as I did, I think I have a clue where they might have this...
[...]
POV: Devas Asura.
"So... You're an alien?" Qrow asked with a curious look.
"Actually, to me, you guys are the aliens," I shrugged. "But yes, to Remnant, I am an alien." To all worlds, actually... Thinking about it, that's kind of sad.
"I see..." He replied.
"You don't believe this, do you?" I asked.
"Not at all." He didn't hesitate in his response. "But my boss told me to keep an eye on you, so here I am." His look was as if he were already used to it.
"Fair enough." I shrugged again. "Your job seems kinda taxing." I commented.
"Nah, you get used to it." It was his turn to shrug.
"True." I had gotten used to the stream, hadn't I?
"That's kinda creepy..." Yang commented, turning to look at me and Qrow.
"What's creepy?" I asked without stopping my steps. After the call Qrow had received, the girls had practically started dragging me somewhere, with Yang leading the way ahead.
"Both of you." Yang replied. "You and my uncle getting along like this, I didn't think that would happen, at least not so quickly." She seemed confused.
I turned to Qrow, who was already looking at me, and stopped my steps, making everyone else stop too. I stared at him for about two seconds before asking.
"Do you want to have a barbecue later?" He didn't hesitate to answer.
"I'll bring the drinks."
"I'll bring the meats then." I had taken some money from him in poker, so it was fair.
We stared at each other for about three seconds after that before we started laughing. The looks on the three girls' faces were too much for me to stay serious.
"Ugh! Men..." Blake sighed while Weiss shook her head. Yang remained silent, looking at me as if I had said I was an alien... Wait!
Qrow took the opportunity to put his arm around my shoulder in a friendly way. I noticed that he was a little shorter than me.
"You girls have to understand something, friendship between men is something simpler." I waved in agreement.
Obviously, Qrow and I weren't friends, but as long as we weren't really enemies, there was no reason not to get along.
"You know, I have a question." I said after we started walking again. "Should I worry about my safety or something?" I asked, looking at the four around me, or more specifically, their weapons.
Qrow had a sword on his back, Weiss the rapier at her waist, Blake her katana, and Yang her gauntlets, which were in the form of bracelets.
In theory, I was the only unarmed one here...
In fact, in theory, I was also following four people whom I knew "personally" for less than a day, three of them I only knew from the "internet"...
"Uh? So, this was what Grandpa meant when he said not to follow strangers?" I muttered, making Qrow laugh.
Blake seemed amused by my comment, while Weiss sighed but couldn't hide the small smile on her lips.
As for Yang... Well.
"Don't worry, I promise I'll be gentle~." She sang in an ambiguous way.
The double entendre was strong here, but from the way Qrow looked at me, almost pityingly, something told me that Yang was talking about fighting and not "fighting."
Well, I need to test my Aura anyway...
"Shall we go to an arena then?" I asked, looking at some of the students in the hallways. Funny how this place, even being an academy to create warriors, still had that "school" atmosphere.
I also noticed that they were looking at me with not-so-subtle glances... Strange.
"Bingo!" Yang laughed. "Even though it's been a few hours since the invasion, Vale must still be on alert, so let's take advantage of the time and go do some warm-up." She stopped in front of a door and inserted her Scroll into the lock.
The room behind the door looked like a large stage, where the center was circular, resembling an arena, and around it, there were several bleachers. On the ceiling, next to the "stage," there were also two large panels.
We weren't the only ones here either, as there were some other students in the room, both in the bleachers and on the "stage," and what seemed to be a teacher overseeing everything, a guy in red clothing, hair, and a large white mustache...
Was this guy Santa Claus by any chance?
I noticed in passing that many of the students had turned to see when we entered, with several, if not all, eyes focused on me, looks of recognition...
"Okay, this is weird," I commented. I was used to being watched, damn, I was "The Streamer," but no one here should know me.
"Your entrance in the viral battle went viral on the CCT, didn't you know?" Blake asked, turning the scroll she had been holding for some time to show me a video.
Basically, it was a bad recording, probably taken by one of those scrolls from afar, showing me arriving at the battle and some parts of my fight against Tyrian and the Grimm snake...
"That explains a lot," I commented, looking around. It seems that Remnant is more similar to Earth than I thought.
"They're calling you Deer Huntsman, well, at least those who believe you're a Huntsman," Yang laughed. "Others are saying you're a White Fang member who died and turned into a Grimm, some that you're a Grimm that turned against the others." My grimace must have been noticeable, as Yang laughed even more.
"Will these weird nicknames haunt me forever?" I muttered, glancing at the (CHAT), where Stark had started flooding "DH" and some deer emotes.
"Are you streaming?" Weiss asked, probably noticing my gaze.
"When am I not?" I raised an eyebrow. Couldn't she see the stream? The answer was yes.
Weiss turned her phone to me, showing that the stream wasn't being broadcast, with a warning saying: Stream hidden by "The Streamer."
"What the hell?" I hadn't hidden anything. I quickly pulled out my phone to figure out what it was, and basically, it was one of the stream settings.
The setting was: Whenever I ended up in a world where there were any of my viewers, I could hide the stream so viewers from that world couldn't see it, or let them watch normally.
The default setting was to hide the stream, so the RWBY girls weren't able to watch. I couldn't even blame the stream this time for the lack of warning, as there was a warning "PING," next to the mission "PING," which I still needed to check.
This warning "PING" probably appeared while I was running with Ruby, as it was likely the time when the other three tried to watch the stream.
I quickly changed the setting, allowing the RWBY team girls to watch me. This setting was good, something to remember, but not necessary at the moment.
The moment I deactivated the setting, I could see the change in the (CHAT).
[(MOD)RedHuntressLive]: Devas started streaming? AND YOU GUYS ARE IN PROFESSOR GOODWITCH'S CLASSROOM?! WAIT FOR ME, I'M ALREADY ON MY WAY! (Little Red Riding Hood emote running to the shower).
[(MOD)GeniusBillionairePlayboy]: Welcome back, Ruby! And the rest of the girls too!... Do me a favor, beat up DH (DS) a bit for me, thanks in advance. (Iron Man emote watching TV lying on the couch).
[(MOD)JackMom]: I'm glad you're okay, girls, we got quite a scare when the emergency mission popped up. (Relieved goldfish emote).
[YellowHuntressLive]: Nah, a Grimm invasion and a random psycho won't be enough to stop Team RWBY, we've endured worse, don't worry. (Yellow bear with boxing gloves in front of a deer emote).
[WiseWizardGleam]: I'm glad you're okay, girls. You were right when you compared Grimm to hallucinations; they really look alike, remind me a lot of Dementors too... (Old wizard scratching his chin emote).
[AdvocateOfGenderEquality]: WHY DIDN'T I END UP IN A FANTASY WORLD LIKE THIS?! THEY HAVE INTERNET!!!!! (Generic guy crying on the floor emote).
[BlakeHuntressLive]: Don't rush, Ruby, we're not going anywhere, don't worry. (Lazy waving black cat emote).
[TheGreatGoddessAqua]: Disgusting creatures, just looking at those Grimm gives me chills all over my body! (Chibi Aqua punching a Grimm with a purifying fist emote).
It's incredible how the (CHAT) had become more lively, well, more than it already was, when Team RWBY appeared.
A bit too excited even, as many were cheering for the girls to beat me up... Jarvis even started a bet.
-//-
[Devas wins the fight against Yang: 81%]
[Devas loses the fight against Yang: 19%]
-//-
At least the votes were in my favor, something that seemed to irritate Yang, whose eyes were glowing red... Was that part of her Semblance by any chance? Or was it something everyone with Aura has?
"It seems like the (CHAT) has its favorites..." Yang commented with a deceptively calm tone.
"What can you do." I shrugged, "I'm the streamer, after all." It was funny how Qrow seemed confused by the whole situation, being the only one who didn't know about the stream.
"Shall we prove them wrong then?" She asked and, without waiting for my answer, turned around, heading towards the arena, where the fight that had just ended was taking place.
"You two aren't coming?" I asked Weiss and Blake, who had sat down in the bleachers.
At the same time, I handed the end of the chain that tied Tyrian to Qrow, who waved, pulled the body to the nearest chair, and sat down to watch the fight.
"Yang won at rock, paper, scissors." Blake explained.
Again with this shit?
"The winner was going to face me one-on-one first?" I asked, already knowing the answer, which was confirmed when Weiss nodded yes.
I shook my head amused. I thought they would want to face me as a team, but it seems not.
I waved to the three of them and walked to the arena, where Yang was talking, or rather, threatening some guys.
"I don't care, Cardin, leave, or I'll make you and your team leave." She stared at this Cardin guy with red eyes.
The guy put up a strong front for a few seconds before grunting and waving to the other three guys, who followed him as he left the arena.
"Cardin... Wasn't he the guy who bullied Jaune?" I asked, remembering that Ruby had mentioned something like that in the (CHAT).
It was a surprise to find out the guy's last name, Arc, Jaune Arc... If he was some kind of version of this world's French Saint, I was disappointed, well, not entirely.
I had seen on the Minimap that he stepped in front of Ruby, trying to defend her from an attack, or at least I thought it was him, since I just pulled all four green dots, which were Team RWBY, and the other four yellow ones away before seeing the scene.
"He is, the guy loves attention." She didn't seem to like the guy much. "Most students train in private rooms; those who come here are only two types." Yang began to explain, moving her arms to stretch.
"Either they want to fight other students to train, not caring about the audience, or they want the audience to show off." She explained. "Cardin is the latter, his whole team is."
"I see..." I spoke calmly, looking at the "Santa Claus" who was approaching.
"Good morning, Miss Yang." He greeted her, before turning to me. "Deer Huntsman, Ozpin said you might show up, good job protecting civilians in the invasion!" He said cheerfully.
"Thank you?..." I guess? The guy seemed cheerful. "I'm Devas, by the way." I introduced myself.
"Peter Port, nice to meet you, Devas. Keep it up; you remind me of myself when I was younger. You have a bright future, kid." He chuckled, causing his enormous mustache to tremble.
"Can I have your scroll to connect it to the panel?" he asked.
"Why?" I asked back, still a bit confused by the guy. He looked like he came out of a cartoon.
"To check the percentage of your Aura, what else, kid?" he laughed, explaining.
They had a way to quantify a soul?!... Well, at least part of it.
The way Rin seemed to be having a stroke in the (CHAT) was funny, especially when I remembered that in FATE there were even more ridiculous things like the Tri-Hermes and any other crap that belonged to Atlas Institute.
"He lost his scroll in the fight this morning," Yang made up an excuse before I could speak. "Let's fight anyway; he knows the amount of Aura he has, don't worry." Yang winked at me, as if to say: You owe me one... Couldn't she feel that I had already unlocked my Aura?
Peter hesitated for a moment before looking at me and then nodding.
"Well, Ozpin said to treat him as a guest, the great man is never wrong, so I'll trust you." He waved, bidding farewell. "I'll supervise the fight, give it your all, and I'll intervene if needed. No one will get hurt, don't worry." He laughed as he walked away.
I looked at the man's back as he walked away before asking, "Is he real?" The guy was too caricatured to be...
"One hundred percent, you need to see one of his classes; the stories he tells are the best cure for insomnia that ever existed." Yang laughed, stretching again while asking me in a lower voice.
"Your Aura, do you want me to unlock it later?" She asked, confirming that she couldn't feel my Aura for some reason.
"I think you're too late for that." I waved, making my Aura move along my arm, pulsating in a grayish color close to my muscles, enveloping them tightly.
Yang widened her eyes slightly before clicking her tongue.
"Tsk. Looks like Ruby was faster." She murmured. Was that jealousy in her voice?...
I couldn't ask, as Yang shook her head, finishing her warm-up and spoke again.
"Ready to find out what Team RWBY is capable of?" She asked, her bracelets transforming into yellow gauntlets quickly.
"Team RWBY?" I raised an eyebrow and looked at her body before asking. "Are you going to fight like that?" She was in business attire, and I was sure she couldn't equip herself as quickly as I could.
"Yes, what's wrong?" She looked at her own body confused. "Something's off?"
"No armor or any protection?" I knew that Aura was something the people in this world trusted, but fighting without any protection was foolish.
Even though Aura was excellent protection, it could still be broken; having armor, even if light, is something that could save you in combat.
Yang nodded to herself, as if she had understood something, before starting to explain.
"My clothes may look casual, but they're made for Huntresses." She pointed to herself and pulled the fabric of her shirt. "The fabric is specifically created for combat, resistant to cuts and impacts, don't worry."
Well, that's a relief; even if it wasn't entirely focused on protection, it still provided it, just more focused on comfort.
"And you, not going to equip yourself?" She asked me, looking at my clothes. Black T-shirt, sports pants, and simple sneakers.
Simple and practical, the way I liked it.
"No, I'm good." I denied. "I want to see how much my Aura can take." I said in a lower tone, to which Yang nodded understandingly and then moved.
There was no countdown; Peter didn't say anything; there was no warning. One moment Yang was standing still, and then she kicked the ground beneath her, creating a small crater just below her heel, and flew in my direction.
She was fast compared to the other students I had seen fight before, Cardin and the other three; she should have about half the speed of Deerclops, maybe a bit more...
"BAAM!" I stopped the punch coming towards my face with the open palm of my hand.
... Which was too slow for me.
I realized at the moment of impact that Yang's punch was much stronger than the one she had tried to hit me with before; even her posture was different, focused on using all her muscles to increase the power of the blow.
My Aura, like Yang's, rippled with the impact; even before the ripples stopped, she moved her left arm to give me a hook.
I looked at the punch slowly coming towards my chin and moved my head to the side. As much as I wanted to test how much my Aura could withstand, taking a punch to the face was something I'd like to avoid.
I doubted it would really hurt me seriously, but it was good to be cautious.
I could see that even before Yang's second punch missed, she had raised her right leg to kick my shin while throwing another jab with her right hand in my direction.
I didn't let her complete either of the two moves, punching her between the breasts. I wasn't using Sun Breathing; since the battle began, I had held my breath.
Breathing without Sun Breathing was almost horrendous for my body; not breathing was more acceptable at this point.
I also wasn't using mana or any other type of energy to reinforce myself; in fact, I was actively suppressing them to test only Aura; still, the punch was strong.
Yang reacted quickly, pulling back her left arm to defend herself while at the same time changing the trajectory of the jab towards my forearm.
The blows collided almost simultaneously; Yang slid back with the force of my punch, her Aura rippling fiercely with the impact before it stopped, anchoring her heels to the ground.
She was good, even holding back, I had still put substantial force behind that punch, and yet she barely retreated twenty meters, not looking injured at all; Aura was damn useful, wasn't it?...
"Good hit," I praised, moving my right arm in a circular motion.
Even though her punch hit my Aura, I had felt the impact of the blow; it was strong, not to mention that she had fired a shot with the gauntlet.
This thing wasn't just a gauntlet; it was a damn shotgun! Luckily, I hadn't taken that blow to the chin; even if I wouldn't faint or get seriously injured, it would hurt like hell.
Yang didn't respond, choosing to attack me again, her eyes glowing a vivid red, while her hair moved like flames.
I raised my guard with both hands in front of my face and lowered my stance, preparing myself.
I wasn't good at unarmed combat; even though I took boxing classes, that was years ago; my current specialty was fighting with halberds, spears, something akin to European swords.
So, besides testing my Aura, I would take advantage of this spar to train my hand-to-hand combat, and there was no better person for that than Yang, after all, she was a pure hand-to-hand combatant...
"BANG!" I raised my guard, letting the bullets collide with my forearms, my Aura pulsating for a moment.
... Or almost that, damn gauntlets with shotguns...
I had to restrain myself from pulling the bullets into my inventory; my instincts almost taking over my body.
When Yang approached again to punch me, I didn't defend this time but punched her back.
Our blows collided, creating a small shockwave, gray against yellow... Yang slid back a few meters, I didn't, something that seemed to irritate Yang, who jumped at me again.
Funny... This was one of the few, if not the only fight I had that didn't involve life-or-death battles... In a way, it was fun.
I let a slight smile appear on my face and waited for her attack, moving my hand in a motion that basically said: Bring it on.
Team RWBY, huh?... How many are there, including you?.
Something must have appeared in my eyes because Yang growled and accelerated even more.
[...]---[...]
A calmer start to the arc after the invasion, but it will pick up pace; the next chapter is focused on combat and more interactions.
Devas is deliberately holding back; I made that explicit, but I'll emphasize it here.
Well, it's very late; I took a while to release this chapter due to a stomachache, I'm still a bit unwell, but getting better.
Good night, everyone, and happy reading!
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