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Optimistic Game Chapter 56
🕑 Added 2023-12-13 23:58:18 +0000 UTCEdited by: Priapus, Marethyu, Immortal Spank
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Alright, this isn’t working the way I initially intended. They’re not that powerful, which is why I told Gwyn and Blake to help the others in the first place. I’m faster and stronger, and my magic is devastating, while theirs barely does anything to me. Unfortunately, they still have the home-field advantage, and I can’t put my own advantages to good use because of how cramped it is in here, so I’m not able to get a hold of them long enough for a finishing blow because they keep fucking healing.
…Huh, so that’s what it feels like.
I punch and obliterate the Lacerator’s insides using Emission, but the tough bastard tanks it and tries to bite my hand. I let it taste my haki-infused fist, lifting it with one arm before smashing it against its approaching brother.
I growl in frustration as the dipshit twins dig into the ground before my fire blast hits them, coming out of the other side with most of their HP restored. This is fucking cheating. Boss monsters should only heal once, and that’s it. This would be a terrible design if it were a game.
Unfortunately, it’s not.
Anyway, my best bet would be to get them out of the mine for a bit, though that’s going to be a little tricky. I’m better than them in every way, but I’m pretty sure they know that, too, so they won’t be dumb enough to fall for my bluff.
I need bait. I don't know what would work.
A high-pitched screech echoes through the mines as I look through my inventory. I grunt in pain at the loud noise, enhanced senses rearing their ugly heads, and in the next second, I feel a massive power erupt from where Weiss went.
What the fuck was that?
The twins make a similar-sounding noise, albeit not as loud, and then they start to change. They grow larger, their armor thickens, and their magic even increases. I keep their status pages open the whole time, and while they didn’t really become that much more powerful, it’s still troublesome.
Like other Titans, they have a second phase, but it only activated after whatever that was. So all these bugs, including those two, are parts of the Titan? And the actual main body is where Weiss ended up.
You’ve got to be kidding me. Something always has to go wrong. Like it’s fucking predetermined.
Go, Gwyn. Keep Weiss safe.
I feel his concern and his obedience as he speeds off to wherever Weiss is. I need to get to her too, but I can’t with these two fuckers in the way, especially after their power-up. Think, Reid. I can still kill them instantly if I get them out of here, but what will make them follow me? The twins circle me slowly, trying to find an opening. They’re still cautious and won’t follow unless I have a bait.
I see an item that makes me pause slightly, prompting one of the twins to leap at me. It ould be very dangerous, but I have no other options, and this might just work. Whatever happens, I can’t let them even touch it, or it might blow up half the continent.
And even I wouldn’t survive that. I think.
I cover my entire body with Haki before evading the attack, using my fire magic to propel myself to the entrance. The twins don’t immediately follow, thinking I’m trying to flee, and then I pull out a stardust crystal the size of my head.
This puts them in a trance in an instant, making me grin. It’s working.
“You want it?” I wave the crystal. “Come and take it, then.”
The need to take and consume the crystal overpowers their instincts to protect whatever was screaming back there. Both dreadnoughts dig into the ground, but I see them coming a mile away as they rush toward me from under the floor. I backstep with a chuckle, continuing to wave the stardust in their faces to taunt them.
It works wonders, as they charge after me much faster than before. However, I’m still way fucking faster than them, especially with all my speed-based perks working at full power. Well, most of them.
Chaos Conversion, my dearest.
In seconds, I feel the sunlight hitting my face as I exit the cave, with the twin dipshits in tow. Just as they step foot outside, I send the crystal back to my inventory, making them freeze in confusion.
“Oh?” I wave my hand around in an attempt to mock them. “Where did the delicious crystal go?”
Retaining some of their intelligence, it looks as if they just realized what I had planned. They quickly try to dig in, but I use the bladed whips of my gauntlets to catch one leg of each, wrapping around them just enough to damage them but not snap them off.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
I cause an explosion of flames beneath my feet, dragging the dreadnoughts far above the clouds. With the twins above ground, a situation I’m sure they’re unfamiliar with, they flail about uselessly, making a vicious grin split my face.
I throw them upwards as hard as I can, restore my MP to full and increase my magic damage with some potions, and then use ALL of it in a single fire spell. A massive ball of flames forms in an instant, and before they can do anything to protect themselves from it, I just throw it at them.
The mini sun detonates as soon as it hits one of them, launching me back down and causing an explosion so big that it knocks the clouds away and turns the sky dark blue. I even have to shield my eyes in case I go blind from that.
Jesus.
Alright, a bit overboard on my part. I probably could’ve tried condensing this to be less flashy. Honestly, that should be the case for all my spells. I gotta learn how to make more compact spells. It would’ve probably saved me a lot of trouble inside the mine.
Too bad it’s really tough to do. You’d think, with how high leveled I am in fire magic, it would be a piece of cake, but I don’t think those are related. I should ask Sheekh about that when I see him again, or something. I’ve never seen anything about it in the magic notes I have.
Only five levels from killing those two… whatever. I did what had to be done.
I get up as the sky returns to light blue, grimacing at the smoke left behind. A lot of people back in the city and nearby villages will be worried and scared by that. I need to finish this quickly and deliver the good news.
Thank God I had Golems stationed there in case of Grimm raids.
Still pressed for time, I run back to the mine as fast as possible. At least I can still sense that Weiss is fine.
Thank God for that.
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– Weiss –
This had just gotten much more difficult than it had any right to be. She truly regretted her actions, like showing Adam even the smallest amount of trust and not incapacitating him when she had the chance.
He was fodder, all things considered, and if Weiss really tried, she could kill him in one minute, tops. But having to deal with a Grimm this powerful at the same time made it damn near impossible to land a single hit.
Because, for some fucking reason, this giant bug was targeting her exclusively. It practically ignored Adam and had decided, no, it wanted to kill her specifically. What? Was it also a victim of her family’s inhuman business tactics? Gods…
Of course, the bastard took full advantage of that, attacking her blindspots while she was too busy evading the Titan Grimm, which she knew could kill her in one hit—two if she was lucky.
She needed to distance herself and summon an Arma Gigas or two. It wouldn’t last very long, but hopefully, it would give her enough time to get rid of Adam. Then, she’d continue distracting and avoiding the Titan until reinforcements arrived.
Weiss quickly formed a Glyph that barely managed to block the Titan’s lunge, then twirled around and parried Adam’s swing. She used a little of her mana to make a few crude ice spikes, lodging them into the Titan’s sides as she kicked the bloodthirsty White Fang agent in the chest, pushing him off her.
Redirecting her attention to the Titan, she cast several Glyphs imbued with multiple elements, from fire to lightning to water, then used them with her magic to bombard the Grimm. The thick armor around the beast was extremely tough, however, and it barely did any damage.
Fortunately, that slowed it down just enough for Weiss to evade its second lunge, leaping to the side and using a glyph that propelled her to the other side of the chasm. As she tried to summon something, Adam was already hot on her tail, shooting at her with his rifle.
Weiss scowled in annoyance, then concentrated on her magic, casting a wall of ice before her as she returned to summoning. One Arma Gigas was all she could get before the massive Grimm leaped from one side to the other, crushing the wall instantly.
Her summon barely managed to block the hit with its massive sword, and it quickly got overwhelmed by the Titan, struggling to block as it got torn apart. However, Weiss had no time to worry about that as Adam released the energy stored in his sword, forcing her to block it.
It pushed her several feet backward, and she hit the back of the Arma Gigas, who was too busy holding back the Titan. The beast crushed the head of her summon, putting Weiss in a predicament. Between Adam and the Titan, Weiss braced herself for the worst. That was until the cavalry arrived.
A familiar black ribbon wrapped around Adam’s blade, pulling it away from him and throwing it to the other side. At the same time, the massive wolf from earlier rammed into the Titan with his head, sending it tumbling backward, screeching.
“What the–?” Adam blinks in shock before turning around. “Blake?!
“Blake?!” Weiss parroted. “What the hell are you doing here?!”
“No time to explain!” She responded. “Come on, let’s get–!”
As she said that, the Titan released a massive fireball at the wolf, who could fortunately dodge it. Unfortunately, that meant the fireball headed straight for Blake, and while she also thankfully dodged it, this caused the tunnel they came from to collapse, trapping them with the Titan.
“Damn it!” Blake cursed.
“Blake, are you okay?” Weiss asked, pointing her rapier at Adam’s back.
“Why the hell do you care, Schnee?” Adam snarled, not moving an inch.
“She’s my teammate, you…” Weiss barely stopped herself from saying ‘animal’.
“Teammate? Blake’s your…” He repeated, sounding shocked. However, he suddenly started laughing. “Oh, this is precious! To think you’re that much of an unrepentant coward, Blake! Joining the other side? Seriously?!”
“Now’s not the time for this!” Her teammate said, looking a little panicky.
“What?” Weiss narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean by 'other side’?”
“Weiss, don’t listen to him,” Blake told her. “Focus on the Dreadnought. I promise I’ll explain everything afterward.”
“I thought you still believed in our cause. I thought you left only because you thought our methods were too violent, and I would’ve been okay with that, too; I certainly don’t hate your father for doing it.” He continued with a pained tone. “Instead, you ended up as a pet of the SDC. Turns out you were right; you are a coward.”
Weiss felt too many emotions as she pieced things together, from shock to betrayal, confusion to resentment and sorrow. Blake, her teammate and friend, was a White Fang member. What did that mean for her? For her team? Is this what Reid knew? Why didn’t he say anything?
There were too many questions in her head, and she started to feel sick. However, she knew this wasn’t the time or place to express her emotions, not with the giant bug in the room, so she held back for now. They needed to get out of here or try to kill the Titan alone.
Blake blinked in surprise as Weiss, having none of Adam’s shit, hit him in the head with the pommel of her rapier, easily breaking his low aura and knocking him out before encasing him in a small but thick prison of ice. Blake looked at Weiss with a guilt-stricken expression, and she looked back at her with a furious one.
“Weiss, I–”
“Not another word.” She cut Blake off through gritted teeth, making the Faunus flinch. “Dreadnought first.”
Weiss didn’t wait for a response as she turned around and summoned as many Arma Gigas as possible, restoring her aura with a potion afterward. Summoning more than one would’ve been incredibly taxing had she not trained under Reid.
Five armored giants charged at the beast, assisting what she assumed was Gwyn. While much smaller than the Titan, the wolf kept up relatively well. He was more nimble, and his strength was nothing to scoff at. It was very impressive to hit a Grimm of that size and crack its armor when nothing Weiss did had made a dent.
And while one Arma Gigas did not do much against the beast, five were enough to overwhelm it at least a little. The Dreadnought struggled as it thrashed wildly, trying to get the giants off it as Gwyn attempted to tear it to shreds. He was successful in damaging its thick exoskeleton, but it wasn’t enough as the Grimm began blasting everything with fire.
Weiss and Blake, knowing their weapons wouldn’t be very effective in this situation, looked around for something they could use—some kind of weakness they could exploit. Unfortunately, as the Titan let out a loud screech, dozens, if not hundreds, of smaller bugs began protruding from every surface. It was calling for reinforcements. But now they knew who the mastermind was. Its minions were of no concern; they needed to focus on the actual Titan here.
“Weiss–”
“Quiet, I’m thinking.” She shut her teammate off before calming herself with a deep breath.
Using highly destructive force was out of the question. The chasm wasn’t exactly roomy enough for that, especially underground. And unlike Reid, Weiss wasn’t confident she could survive or avoid a cave-in.
They also lacked the physical power to damage the beast in any meaningful way. Weiss’s rapier required weak points in its armor she could actually exploit, and Blake’s blade was most effective against unarmored foes. Gods, if only Yang were here. Her absurd strength and focus on blunt force would be instrumental against this type of enemy.
Though it had to have some kind of weakness, its exoskeleton wasn’t impenetrable; Gwyn already proved it wasn’t, but was it truly fully covered? There had to be a spot or two where there wasn’t a layer of defense, or at least the armor wasn’t as thick.
“I have an idea.”
“What is it?” Blake questioned, shooting the approaching Grimm.
“We could try to flip it over.” Weiss offered. “Notice how its body is built; it wouldn’t be able to support itself very well, which might give us an advantage.”
“Weiss, if flipping it over was enough to kill it–”
“Not kill it, disorientate it—at least for a few seconds,” Weiss corrected, casting ice spikes to kill a few bugs. “Besides, there’s a chance its lower area isn’t as protected.”
“Would your summons and the wolf be enough?” Blake questioned.
“If it is a weakness? I doubt it.” The SDC heiress shook her head. “It’s a Titan. Even if it doesn’t look like it, it’s intelligent and will try its hardest to remain on its legs. This will not be easy.”
“So we’ll need to catch it off guard while it's busy with them,” Blake concluded, then nodded. “Alright, I’ve got your back. Ready when you are.”
Weiss nodded back and began circling the Titan alongside Blake, piecing together how exactly she would do this. She also kept an eye out for her surroundings, mostly how the cave was structured. The chasm was mostly flat, so there wasn’t a perfect place to do this, but they still had to. It was their only option.
She didn’t know when the reinforcements would arrive. She wasn’t even sure if Reid was alright, even though she had faith in him. They couldn’t just stand there and do nothing. They were huntresses, for god’s sake.
All I need are some glyphs and enough physical force to push it. She thought to herself. I have everything I need.
Executing would be the hardest part. If this failed, they were screwed.
Weiss suddenly changed her trajectory and charged directly at the beast, putting her plan into motion. As she got closer, more and more bugs leaped at her in an attempt to stop whatever she was trying to do; however, Blake was there to take care of them by getting in front, slashing and shooting at them as the team leader put all her focus into this plan of hers.
Weiss silently formed several glyphs underneath the Titan, one under each of its back legs. As the beast was too busy with the wolf and her summons, she mentally ordered the latter to put all their strength into pushing.
“Blake, your ribbon!” Weiss ordered.
“On it!” Her teammate rushed behind the Titan, understanding her plan.
Blake wrapped her combat ribbon around the beast’s head, pulling with all her strength, which slightly constricted its movement. Gwyn, seemingly understanding what they were doing, rammed his head against it to push it further.
They were making progress, but this wasn’t so easy. The Titan was resisting decently, its legs still firm on the ground, as it incinerated one of the Arma Gigas with a fireball. Weiss gritted her teeth in frustration, using a significant portion of her aura to summon another armored giant and instructing it to help Blake instead.
It did as told, pulling the ribbon with her, and while this helped, the bastard killed two more as if it understood what they were trying to do. Suddenly, the wolf howled loudly, and a powerful gust of wind pushed it just enough for Weiss to activate her trap.
Weiss didn’t waste even a second as she imbued the glyphs underneath the Titan with water dust, making it slip and fall on its back. She smirked as it thrashed around, trying to get back up on its legs but failing.
The unfortunate part was that its lower part was just as armored, so this could’ve been a waste of time if not for the fact that the armor covering its thorax suddenly split open, revealing its real weak point. Probably. It looked soft in comparison to the rest of the body.
It wasn't what she expected. Although she didn’t know what caused this reaction, she wouldn’t complain. This was more than good enough.
“There!” Weiss shouted, pointing at said weak point.
Once the wolf began its attack, every bug in the area swarmed him as he tore through the monster's thorax with fangs and claws. Weiss assisted him by ordering her summons to keep them off Gwyn as she did the same, creating a thick ice wall around him and ignoring the slight headache from using too much of her magic.
The Dreadnought’s armor began shedding, breaking apart to reveal its flesh, which glowed orange. Weiss did not know what the beast was planning, but perhaps instinctively, she knew this was very dangerous.
“GET BACK!”
This was all she could say before the Titan caused a powerful explosion that destroyed her Aura and knocked her out.
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– Blake –
She bit down a scream as her brain caught up with what just happened, holding her broken arm in agony as her blurry vision got somewhat clearer and the painful ringing in her ears subsided. A part of her face was burnt, she was blind in her right eye, and everything was excruciating.
Blake calmed herself by taking a deep breath, trying her hardest to ignore the pain as she slowly got back up. She was in terrible shape, but had she not reacted and made an ice clone to tank some of the damage in time, she would’ve probably been dead.
Her legs trembled as much as the cave started collapsing, but she managed. As rocks and stones fell, she looked around for Weiss, seeing Reid’s wolf unconscious and severely injured. It was a miracle he wasn’t blown to bits after taking an explosion of that scale point-blank.
Adam seemed the least damaged, as he was protected by the barrier Weiss made around him while he was out cold. He still was, of course. But at least he was very far away from everything that happened.
But then Blake saw Weiss, and her heart almost stopped. She was unsure if what she was seeing was just a nightmare, a bad dream she would wake up from soon enough, but she knew that the sight of her team leader’s broken and scorched body was going to haunt her for years.
Her fear for her friend easily overpowered the indescribable pain she was in, and she rushed to Weiss’ side after picking up her weapon. She fell to her knees next to her body, seconds away from breaking down in hysterics, as she checked for a pulse.
Nothing.
“No…” Blake muttered quietly before panicking. “No, no, no, no, please don’t do this! This can’t be happening!”
In desperation, Blake started chest compression, trying whatever she could in her state to save her friend and team leader. The tears flowed freely as she did, wondering what she could’ve done better.
“Please wake up.” She whispered. “Don’t do this to me, Weiss. Not like this.”
Blake couldn’t let her die like this, not before she apologized. Not before she corrected her mistakes.
“I’m sorry for not telling you.” She said as she continued chest compression on Weiss. “I’m a terrible friend. I’m sorry. Please don’t leave me.”
Blake flinched as a boulder fell next to them, then froze in terror when she turned around and saw the Titan directly behind her, still standing without its armor. To her surprise, the beast didn’t immediately kill her; it was content with just smacking her to the side with its leg.
Everything slowed to a halt as her heartbeat quickened when she saw it attempting to eat Weiss specifically. A twister of emotions swirled in her mind, from fear to sorrow to guilt—it was all going too fast for her to comprehend. And as she was in the process of accepting her fate—that there was nothing she could do—something within Blake snapped.
She might think that she deserved to die for her sins. That death would be how she could possibly repent, but her team leader did not deserve this fate. Weiss didn’t need to die in the process, not while she was trying to fix problems her father caused.
Weiss was innocent. This was not how she deserved to go.
This was Blake’s chance to atone, to prove that she could change and be better than the terminal coward she used to be. Even if this meant meeting certain death, then she’d die doing the right thing for once in her life. Blake would never run away again.
She was sure everyone was on their way here; she knew Reid would be here to save Weiss, and all Blake had to do was hold off the Titan until he arrived. She could not let her friend down like this!
Her grip over her sword tightened heavily, almost to the point of hurting herself, and Blake let out a scream of frustration and determination as she forced herself back on her legs, charging at the beast who was mere inches away from biting down on Weiss’ head.
Blake slid under the beast and stabbed its jaw with her blade, using all her strength to pull it away from Weiss using the ribbon. Though, she knew full well that she wasn't close to strong enough to keep it away from her team leader for even a second. She was terribly injured, weakened, and down an arm.
But she had no other option.
Blake gritted her teeth as the monster began pulling her, using every drop of strength to keep it in place. It kept dragging her to it as if only mildly annoyed by her interference and nothing more. She let out a desperate roar as she saw the Titan lower its head to consume her friend.
But then, miraculously, Blake felt far less resistance from the beast as she managed to pull it back. Her amber eyes widened once she saw that her whole arm had turned a dark metallic color, not unlike what Reid used to demonstrate to them in training.
But this was no time for celebration, and so she continued pulling the massive Dreadnought away. The beast looked more annoyed than hurt as it redirected its attention to the Faunus, who was looking around for something she could use, knowing this newfound power wouldn't last forever.
It released an explosive fireball from its mouth, which she barely dodged while keeping her hold on the Titan. Blake would NOT let it get any closer to Weiss than that, not while she was still breathing.
She noticed the collapsing ceiling directly above Weiss, making her grimace. But with her renewed resolve, she knew what needed to be done. Just a few more seconds—she could hear something approaching from the blocked tunnel she came from, and she knew it was Reid.
“I’ll never run away again.” She growled, slowly pulling it away further and further. “No matter what.”
As the Titan resisted, Blake had just enough time to attach the ribbon to a giant boulder before she rushed back to her friend’s side, using her own body as a shield to protect Weiss from falling rocks.
The Titan roared and turned to where she and Weiss were, struggling to move with the heavy weight of the boulder, keeping it in place. Her combat ribbon was more than durable enough to withstand its weight, but unfortunately, that did not stop it completely as it charged at them wildly, dragging the boulder with it. Blake closed her eyes, determined to defend her team leader until she stopped breathing, even if it meant suffering a gruesome end.
Thankfully, and to her surprise, it wasn’t Reid who saved them, but his wolf. Burned and heavily injured, Gwyn rammed into the beast so hard that he sent it to the other side of the room just before it turned her into a bloody paste.
Had he been a fraction of a second late, then they’d surely have died.
In the next second, her only hope came bursting through the blocked tunnel, and Reid’s eyes widened as he saw her, Gwyn, and Weiss in their states. He did not waste a second as he took out three healing syringes, one for each.
The effects were instant. The burns and pain disappeared as if they were never there in the first place. Blake checked and almost cried from happiness as she felt Weiss retaining her pulse again, breathing normally like she was just taking a nap.
“On Gwyn, now!” Reid said, helping her up to sit on his wolf’s back before jumping on as well, the unconscious Weiss in his arms.
“But– Adam!”
“No time!” He said. “Run, Gwyn! As fast as you can!”
The wolf barked and sprinted as they held onto dear life. Reid’s pet was much faster than Blake had anticipated, and she nearly fell off, but they were outside the mines in mere seconds, the tunnel collapsing in the next instant.
The rest of the squad was there waiting for them, sighing in relief once they made it out.
Blake couldn’t believe it.
They were actually alive. They made it out of there.
“Christ, that was close.” Reid sighed. “You okay, Blake?”
Blake didn’t respond verbally. Instead, she embraced Reid as hard as he possibly could, tears that were once out of guilt and fear now out of relief and joy. Her mentor hugged her back as she quietly sobbed in his chest, gently running a hand through her hair.
“You’ve done great, Blake.” He praised. “Good job.”
This left her feeling very calm, even more so than when he comforted her yesterday. This was too close for comfort, and she now fully understood why Titans were as dangerous as they were.
She was glad because, even if Weiss would never forgive her, she was still alive. That’s what mattered most to Blake.
She pulled away from the embrace, smiling back at Reid, who wiped her tears for her.
And at least she still had him.
“What of Adam?” Sienna suddenly asked, and their silence was enough of an answer. “I see…”
“I’m sorry,” Reid said, looking at the High Leader.
“No, don’t be. He knew what he was getting himself into.” Sienna said. “We’ll give him a proper burial once we retrieve his body.”
“...Sorry about the mine, too.” He responded.
“It’s fine.” She sighed. “Let’s move. I’m sure everyone is anxious–”
Her words were cut short as the ground began rumbling, and out of the collapsed mine, the Titan came out, looking the worse for wear. All of them drew their weapons, but before anyone made a move, Reid extended an arm and released a stream of fire so powerful it turned the Titan into ashes in seconds.
“Now, let’s go.”
She knew she should’ve been amazed, but honestly, Blake was too tired to even think about it.
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– Angelica –
How was this possible?
It had lived for centuries, almost a millennium, yet it had never seen a human capable of keeping up with it this well. It was mind-boggling—was this really a human? Was it some kind of Grimm in the shape of one?
It knew humans were far too tenacious and determined to stay alive and fight to the very end, but even they needed armies in the thousands to stand a chance against it or its equals. What they lacked in strength, they made up for in numbers.
Yet, no matter how many times it knocked this one down, she kept getting back up. It couldn’t even sense a whiff of fear from her, as if she truly believed she could defeat it. No matter what it did—no matter how many times it slashed, smashed, or stabbed her—she simply refused to give up.
It slammed into the human and crashed against a marble pillar, stomping on her head several times as the powerful tornado it created tried but failed to pierce this shield around her. The Titan knew it needed to destroy this barrier before it could tear her apart.
But the human kept going. She released a beam of light directly at its head, prompting it to move and evade the devastating magic quickly. However, this made her go on the offensive, mercilessly swinging her massive scythe around and casting as many spells as possible.
Burns and open wounds formed with every successful hit, damaging the beast and reducing its magical reserves even further. It was getting weaker and weaker as it spent more of its power into the cyclone, doing as much as it could to break this pesky light barrier.
The human also knew what it was trying to do, locking it in an onslaught of strikes, from magic to scythe to even fists. It couldn’t escape from her this time, as she had learned how it fought scarily quickly.
How was she still going? She was bleeding all over—her aura was destroyed! And yet, not only was she awake, she was forcing it to do everything it could just to survive. This was no human—not even those so-called ‘heroes’ of the past, those that slayed other Titans, were this persistent.
No human should be this powerful. Just what the hell was it fighting?
The Titan covered itself with its wings, giving it half a second of respite before a searing-hot light beam broke through and tore its insides apart, damaging it heavily. It screamed in pain and anger before it spread its wings and released razor-sharp feathers at the human.
She managed to dodge the attack, but unbeknownst to her, the Titan controlled its cyclone to redirect the feathers to follow her, catching her by surprise. Not expecting this, the human couldn’t evade as the barrier barely protected her from some of the feathers.
Unfortunately for her, said barrier couldn’t withstand anymore and shattered, making some of the other feathers dig into the human’s flesh and drawing blood. As did the cyclone, as it began cutting her body several times in a second.
The human bit down a gasp, but instead of trying to escape, she propelled herself into the Titan, stabbing its shoulder with the pointy end of the scythe and dragging it out of the tornado. They weren’t anywhere near the floating islands anymore, so they plummeted to the ground on empty green plains.
The Titan recovered first mid-air, tearing the scythe off it. It kicked the human in the arm and broke it, as indicated by the sickening ‘crack’ it made. The human cried out in pain before she hit the ground as the Titan glared at her, keeping its distance by floating above.
To its shock, the human simply got back up, trembling heavily as she struggled to hold her scythe with her left arm in this pitiful state, her right one limp. The Titan hissed threateningly, then cried in rage as it made more and more wind blades.
The human created a small shield before her, but it quickly shattered upon being hit by the beast’s superior magic. She tried to defend herself weakly using the scythe, but even a scythe as big as that couldn’t protect her entirely.
The Titan, not threatened by the human as much anymore, landed and slowly injured the human, ensuring it didn’t hit her vitals with its magic. This was beyond its earlier hunger—it was angry. This human dared to damage it so much and weaken it to a state where it couldn’t even hunt as gracefully anymore.
Even with this girl's vast amount of magic, it wouldn’t be enough to restore the Grimm’s magic to its usual amount. It would need to slumber for at least two hundred years. This was unacceptable.
It needed to make her suffer, to taste her fear before consuming her.
More and more blades tore through the girl—cuts that were shallow enough not to kill, but enough to hurt her immensely. The Titan even kicked her in the stomach, forcing her to kneel before kicking her in the face, making her drop her weapon and sending her tumbling backward.
And even then, she stood back up.
“Do your worst.” She quivered and panted, eyes closed for whatever reason. “I’m not scared of you.”
Understanding her word, the Titan screeched at her face, releasing more wind blades that nearly took her legs off, but even with this massive wound, she managed to keep her balance, resisting a scream of pain.
Cuts upon cuts, it continued torturing the human, wanting to hear her scream. To hear her beg like how humans usually did. Yet, it only became more frustrated as the girl resisted, not even letting out a grunt of discomfort, much less pain.
And then, eventually, to its shock, the human sidestepped and evaded its magic.
Thinking it was a fluke, the Titan brushed it off as nothing, only to be proven wrong as the human just kept… dodging. It didn’t understand how this was possible—its magic was invisible! No human, not even those with animal parts, could see or hear the wind.
Panicking, the Titan decided to end the battle, only for the human to charge forward at it. She grabbed the scythe, dodged its killing blow, and used the recoil of her gun to launch herself at it, slamming into it and then into the ground.
Several light blades appeared right above them, falling and stabbing each of its limbs, pinning it to the earth. It tried its hardest to get away, but then the human stomped on its chest, aimed the rifle directly at its head, and pulled the trigger.
And as it stared at the human's shimmering, determined silver eyes, for the first and last time in its life, right before everything turned black…
Angelica felt fear.
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– Ruby –
She stared at the disintegrating and headless corpse of the Titan beneath her foot, almost in disbelief at what she had just achieved.
She’d done it.
Ruby had killed a Titan.
She took a few steps back and fell to her knees, panting heavily. She was so exhausted she couldn’t even celebrate that she had survived this—no, not just survived, but won. She had proven herself—proven Reid right.
She was a Titan Slayer. Ruby Rose had just become a hero.
A small laugh escaped her as she caught her breath. Reid was going to be so shocked once she told him she killed a Titan. Probably more so once he learns that she did it after figuring out how to do Observation Haki.
Ruby knew that after her magic barrier broke, her chances of surviving plummeted to near zero. She couldn’t fight it when she was so utterly beaten, so she had to adapt. She went through all the memories she had of training with Reid, and while it was a long shot, using Haki was her best option.
‘It bloomed in the face of adversity’ is what he said when he explained it to her and her friends.
And he was right.
Slowly, Ruby carried herself using Crescent Rose. But this wasn’t over yet. She needed medical attention ASAP. She was bleeding heavily, and had it not been for Reid’s conditioning to this type of situation, she would’ve been dead by now. She couldn’t afford to pass out. If she did, she was sure she’d never wake up again. Ruby had to find help before she lost too much blood.
And so, Ruby Rose took a deep breath before moving away from the Titan’s corpse, realizing she didn’t know where the hell she was, making her realize that Reid was right about another thing. Maybe she should’ve taken her geography class seriously…
Ruby sighed and shook her head. She couldn’t wait for him to go all ‘I told you so’ on her.
Assuming she lived long enough.
Comments
Mujahid Alkhthlan
If I were to do that, then I'd need to make a tier for every other combination, which would make the page ugly to look at. Maybe I'll do a poll for all paid members to see if there's interest a hybrid-lite tier, where you only get chapters and none of the other benefits
fireball77
Can you buy leviathan and dragon at the same time? I'm not interested in your DxD fic so I only want to purchase those two
Toru Jack
Nice
