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Optimistic Game Chapter 54
🕑 Added 2023-12-13 23:53:22 +0000 UTCEdited by: Priapus, Marethyu, Old man of the mountain, Immortal Spank.
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“We’re here,” Sienna says, stopping before the mine entrance.
I look around the area, seeing just how fucked it is. An entire section of the jungle is burnt to a crisp, with trees-turned-charcoal, scorch marks on every surface, and several destroyed buildings. It's likely the outpost where they kept some of the equipment.
So this Dreadnought followed them outside for extra measure? Damn, dude must’ve been fucking nettled if it went that far. Older Grimm usually don’t care to chase after you unless you’ve seriously pissed them off, and to do that, you need to have damaged them severely.
Seeing how it managed to wipe out several hunters with ease, it must’ve woken up very cranky from its metamorphosis stage. I’m surprised it didn’t burn the entire damned jungle down. Whatever it is, it’s no joke.
I’m a bit worried, honestly. I can probably handle it on my own, so I’m not sure if it was wise to bring more people with us, especially fucking Adam, who's been trying to glare a hole into the back of Weiss’ skull. I used Conquerers to ‘subtly’ warn him that doing anything will get him killed, but this motherfucker is persistent.
Mind you, Weiss feels highly uncomfortable in his presence but hasn’t said anything about it. I’m this close to kicking him out of the squad.
Unfortunately, he’s one of the very few capable warriors in Menagerie at the moment, and I couldn’t say ‘no’ to Sienna bringing other people because, at that point, she wouldn’t be grateful, just humiliated.
It’d be less me saying ‘Let me help you’ and more ‘Let me fix all your problems, you incompetent fucks’. I could be very wrong, but I know I wouldn’t want that happening to me. There’s help, then there’s that.
So the ‘hunting team’ consists of me, Weiss, Kiryu, Gwyn, Sienna, Adam, and a few other White Fang members I don’t recognize. There’s that chameleon girl, Ilia, I think? I don’t remember much about her, to be honest, and while she’s also not a fan of Weiss, she doesn’t share anywhere near the same hatred Adam has.
I handed all of them—yes even Adam—some potions they might need during the battle. I’d rather nobody dies, to be honest, not when I’m involved in this.
…Yes, even Adam. Unless he does something to Weiss, because then the gloves are off. Though I’m confident in her ability to beat him senseless without my help.
I left the golems back in the city because they’re not suited to handle this kind of threat, unfortunately. I’d need something like Indra, who is chilling in Vale and keeping an eye out around the mansion. I need someone as powerful as him around when I’m not there.
As for Blake, well, I’m not sure where she is right now. After I left, I wasn’t able to sense her very well because her negativity wasn’t as prominent anymore. I had Gwyn patrol around her for a little while, but once the sun rose, I told him to come back and leave her alone, seeing that she was probably safe enough by now.
The last I felt of her, I sensed resolve and determination rather than anxiety and fear. This is good. I know she will do the right thing, but reassurance is always welcome. God, seeing her cry like that broke my heart, and I’m so glad she’s feeling better.
“Alright, everyone ready?” I ask my current team, getting in front of Sienna and taking the lead from her. “This might get difficult depending on what we find in there. Even with me around, you need to be careful.”
My magic sensing, shit as ever, can’t pick up on anything inside. Well, nothing hostile, at least. I can feel the flowing mana from Dust deeper inside, and as I lead the team through, we stop before a massive pit, lit up by colorful crystals all around.
My eyes go as wide as saucers as I see what’s down there.
Dozens of black entities patrol the area. Arachnid-type Grimm in all sorts of shapes. Some are big with thick armor, others are small with spikes protruding from their legs. Huh, never seen this specific Grimm anywhere before, not even in the Grimm Bestiary.
They all have different builds, but it’s not hard to tell that they come from the same… family. I think that’s the word. The point is that they share enough similarities that they can all be lumped together under one name. None of them have eyes, for example. They’re blind, so that must mean they have a sensitive sense of hearing or smell.
The nerd in me finds this interesting—a new Grimm species.
Ah, that’s the word. Species. God, I’m stupid.
But that’s not what shocked me. No, it’s the fact that there’s a goddamn Legendary Tier dungeon at the bottom of the pit. Holy shit, finally. Something beyond common and uncommon tier.
I can sense Gwyn’s spike of excitement, and I cannot blame him. Oh, we’re going to have a field day after we’re done with this. Fighting around it is going to be a bit challenging because of its powerful aura, but I can handle it.
One thing at a time, though. Pest control first, losing a limb or two to whatever horrors are in there later.
“So this is what we’re dealing with, huh?” I hear Kiryu say to himself.
“Was it always like this?” I mutter to Sienna, trying to contain my excitement. Finally, a legendary dungeon…
“No, the mines were void of any of these Grimm.” She answers with an equally quiet tone. “The occasional Blind Worm, Antlion, or Centinel attacks do happen, but never this severe.”
“Perhaps this Dreadnought summoned them?” Weiss offers. “Grimm leading and ruling weaker variants does happen every once in a while.”
True, but more often than not, Primal-class Grimm or lower do this. Titans usually don’t bother, so this is a good sign.
“We have the element of surprise,” I say. “The Dreadnought is nowhere to be seen unless it’s smaller than I imagine it to be, so we’ll wipe out as many as possible before it catches wind of us. All of you drink the multi-colored potion and jump in on my signal.”
The plan was clear, and while I’d love to go wild here, I need to be careful and hold back a little. I don’t want to accidentally collapse the entire mine on us because, as confident as I am in myself, I don’t think I’d be able to get everyone out of here alive.
I’d probably live, but that can’t be said about everyone else.
I use a considerable amount of my magic and condense it into a small ball of light. This should be enough to destroy a lot of them while stunning the stronger-looking ones. Should give us a massive advantage.
However, before I let the spell fall on them, I see a vision, prompting me to push Weiss out of the way as a bug from the ceiling shoots out a stinger with a very annoying screech. It hits me in the shoulder, and while it doesn’t hurt, it suddenly pulls me to it with unreasonable strength.
I narrow my eyes in annoyance and explode the ball of light into its face, instantly turning it to ashes. Observation didn’t feel like helping this time, and the bastard was so quiet that even my hearing didn’t help. Not too tough, though. Unfortunately, that alerts every other bug down there, all of them screeching and screaming in unison.
“Attack!” To assure my squad, I keep calm and order them while falling toward the massive army of Grimm, taking out a stat-increase pot and downing it before hitting the ground.
I charge up my magic into my fist, a swirling inferno enveloping it as I land a powerful punch on one of them, casting an explosion of azure blue flames and incinerating all bugs close enough. If I had gone full power, I would’ve wiped out about half, but the environment here isn’t very suitable for my usual ‘balls to the walls’ fighting style.
Still, I’m a little excited. Finally, actual test dummies to see how good these gauntlets are. They’re Ruby-made, so my expectations are high. The Dreadnought isn’t here yet, but there are enough enemies here to act as a warm-up before the main course.
And this dungeon’s presence is REALLY oppressive. Good god, this is going to get fucking annoying.
Kiryu lands next to me, stomping on one that tried to sneak attack me. I felt it approaching obviously; however, I saw no need to move out of the way. I can feel his discomfort, but that doesn’t deter him from standing his ground.
“So–” I get in a stance, tiny flames powerful enough to vaporize a goliath dancing around me. “First impressions?”
“Disgusted.” He snorts. “Are they all like this?”
“Well, you did see the Eel fucker. Or what was left of it anyway.”
“Heh, fair enough.”
Several elemental blasts of fire, ice, and lightning bombard the Grimm around us, courtesy of Weiss’ expert use of Dust and her Semblance. She, alongside Sienna, lands on the other side of the mine, dealing with their group of enemies. Right, now, to make enough noise to attract the big guy.
They aren’t particularly powerful, but we’re not a regular group. Again, I alone would’ve probably been enough to take care of it if Sienna was okay with letting me do everything for her and possibly losing the mine. To be fair, the Dreadnought isn’t here yet.
I can feel Gwyn’s enthusiasm, almost demanding to be let out so he can go to town on these bugs, but I calm him down. Not now, you’re a surprise attack in case the Dreadnought tries to pull a fast one. Relax.
Plus, randomly materializing will make people ask funny questions, and we don’t want that. Only Kiryu and Weiss know about you. You’re allowed to join amid the chaos, not before it. And remember, we’re going through every dungeon you found in Menagerie.
A heavily armored bug tries to ram me with its massive tusks, but I’m more than fast enough to effortlessly evade its attack, responding by grabbing said tusks, snapping them off, and stabbing it with them. It’s not enough to kill it, so I just punch it really hard as a follow-up, and that’s enough to splatter it across the walls.
I dodged a few acid projectiles from some of the bugs hiding in the ceiling and walls, pointing a finger at them and killing them with light bullets one by one. I look at Weiss to see how she’s doing, watching her quickly wipe out swaths of bugs without using any of her personal magic, only dust.
Sienna, Adam, and the other White Fang members don’t have it as easy, though, slowly getting overwhelmed by the hundreds and hundreds of bugs swarming them, and I don’t blame them. Kill one, and four take its place.
Right, a lesson for the future. Find a way to use more power while decreasing your destructive potential. Not every fight is going to be in an open field.
There are a lot of fucking Grimm. Jesus.
Still, with the risk in mind, I use a little more power, casting waves of flames that take out dozens of bugs in an instant. I may or may not intentionally prank Sienna as the flames approach her, prompting her to try to defend herself only for the spell to wash over her without doing any damage.
Sienna looked confused momentarily before glaring at me, not one bit amused by what I had just pulled.
I don’t know who this fire god responsible for my starter perk is, but thank you for the blessing. My current experiences with gods haven’t been all good, but you’re pretty cool. I hope we can meet someday.
Assuming he actually exists, knows that I exist, and the perk’s flavor text does mean something instead of being there just to look nice.
A vision hits me right after, making me drop my smile as I see the massive bug approach Sienna rapidly. I act quickly, charging toward and past her as the bastard digs out of the wall in an attempt to eat her.
The only thing it gets instead is a bomb made of pure light.
To my surprise, it reacts fast enough and releases a fireball from its mouth, sending the light bomb back at me. I duck right before being hit, grabbing Sienna by the collar and backing off. Alright, any Grimm that can do that is an actual threat.
The stats don’t lie.
Name: Lacerator
Title: Younger Twin
Age: 351
Race: Grimm
Level: 178
HP: 258,000
MP: 15,000
AP: 0
STR: 1245
VIT: 955
DEX: 1112
INT: 240
WIS: 225
CHA: 0
LUK: 10
It’s around Fenrir in strength, but it barely has any mana in comparison. Not really Titan Class material then, perhaps on the cusp of achieving that title, but it’s definitely high-end Primal Class. Give it one more decade and it’s most likely evolving.
…No, more accurately, it's that Fenrir was never a Titan-class Grimm in strength. He is one because of how active he used to be in decimating defenseless villages and slaughtering lower-ranked hunters. Thinking about it, Fenrir wasn’t anywhere near as strong as the other Titans I killed.
Either that, or I’m just being arrogant. But this isn’t the time or place to ponder such things.
What’s more concerning is that it’s the younger twin. There are two of them? That’s not good. Depending on the age range between them, we could still be dealing with a Titan. A Titan that has a massive fucking army too.
Well, shit.
“That was close,” Sienna says, keeping her eyes on the Dreadnought. “Thanks.”
“There are two of them,” I respond.
“What? How do you know that?” She looks at me in surprise.
“Call it a gut feeling, but I don’t believe that this is what we’re supposed to be getting rid of,” I answer. “There has to be something more than this.”
I don’t know if that was enough to make her believe me, but from her perspective, I’m the expert. After all, I’ve killed three Titans while they’ve never even seen one. I could’ve stayed quiet and pretended not to know, but sharing whatever information I have in a situation like this is vital.
“Keep the smaller bugs off me!” I loudly order the squad. “I’ll deal with it personally!”
“Yes sir!”
Hearing that, I charge forward, kicking the Lacerator in the face. Surprisingly, even with the considerable amount of power I put behind that attack, it’s able to tank it relatively well. Observe doesn’t tell much about how strong the target’s armor is, unfortunately.
The big bastard screams, trying to stab me with the spikes in its legs before indiscriminately releasing more and more fireballs at me. It couldn’t even care less about killing its own soldiers, as it wipes a lot of them out. The fireballs cause big explosions as they hit the walls, making me clench my jaw.
I land another kick on its head as it tries to shoot more fireballs, forcefully closing its maw before it causes the entire fucking mine to collapse on us. I don’t know if it’s doing this intentionally, but I can’t let it be as destructive as it wants.
I cast a spear made of light, aiming to stab it in the head, but then it quickly burrowed into the ground and disappeared in less than half a second, surprising me with its speed. I’m about to follow it in the hole it made, but then it appears on the other side of the battlefield, right next to Kiryu.
Thankfully, Kiryu reacts before it pounces on him, twirling around and delivering a devastating Tiger Drop, sending it back inside the tunnel. I rush it before it tries to run away, following up with a fist engulfed in light magic, shattering large portions of its carapace.
Not giving it a second to retaliate, I grab it by the leg and drag it out, smashing it against a few of its minions on the ground a few times. The merciless beatdown I give it angers the nearby bugs as all of them charge at me, but I am not worried. I simply form an aura of flame that burns them to a crisp while I continue to beat the ever-loving shit out of the bug.
The Lacerator doesn’t take too kindly to this as its body suddenly heats up, hurting me a little bit, though not enough to make me let go. But then it smashes the ground with one of its legs, releasing flames from beneath that hit me directly.
Again, it doesn’t do much damage. Please, fighting me with fire is like trying to drown a fish. It’s a death sentence, which is ironic considering I’m a damned sea monster, but I digress.
…Wait, is that why my Semblance is steam?
The bastard tries to bite my hand off, seeing that nothing it's doing is working, and I let it, snorting as I unleash a powerful explosion of light inside its mouth. Questions for later. Still need to kill it first.
I notice that this Grimm is kind of tanky. So far, it’s pretty much survived everything I did to it. It's injured for sure, but to be still alive after all that is impressive, even if I am holding back.
In the middle of the fight, I get another vision, making my eyes widen as I turn to Ilia.
“Move out of the way!” I scream at her, letting go of the Lacerator to run toward her.
The elder twin finally makes its appearance as it emerges out of the wall in the exact same way the Lacerator did, lunging at the girl with its jaw wide open. I’m not fast enough to get there, especially when the bastard bit down on my hand again to keep me in place.
But thankfully, Gwyn responds to my command quickly enough, materializing and charging at the other big Grimm and Ilia. The elder twin, which Observe tells me is called “Arbalest”, who thankfully has around the same stats as the Lacerator, isn’t fast enough to avoid being rammed in the head by my familiar, forcing it back into the hole it came from.
Illia looks at Gwyn in shock, not knowing where the hell he came from.
“T-thank you…” She says quietly.
Gwyn merely snorts, making me sigh. Great job buddy.
I glare at the Lacerator, releasing a powerful stream of blue flames and forcing it to let go of my hand. I raise my leg and smash my foot into its head, causing the ground beneath it to crack. As I prepare the finishing blow, I sense the Arbalest trying to attack me from underneath, making me switch targets and cast a strong beam of light at where it’s coming from.
Only for it to suddenly change course and drag its sibling into the ground with it, saving its life. I click my tongue in annoyance. And here I thought Grimm only knew how to break things.
Instead of dispelling the light beam, I add fire to it and release the magical energy into the tunnel they burrowed in, hopefully turning them to ash with it. I can hear both of them screech together, but it wasn’t out of pain. Or at least, I don’t think it was.
The two siblings come out from the ceiling, and to my absolute disbelief, the Lacerator, which was on the brink of death, was back to eighty percent HP, with the shattered armor back in pristine condition.
“It can fucking heal?!” I growl.
As I’m wondering what the hell they’re doing up there —while trying to snipe them with light spells—the two assholes start shooting fireballs everywhere, explicitly targeting the highly volatile Dust crystals.
The hundreds of smaller bugs are still focusing on me, but they’re all kept at bay by my squad, so I charge about half of my magic into a single spell in an attempt to stop them from destroying the mine before throwing the huge and blinding ball of light at them.
I’m able to get a direct hit, damaging them significantly, but this doesn’t stop them from blasting fire everywhere. The entire cave shakes as explosions of all flavors of elements wreck the entire place.
One more vision gets me to cast a massive shield of light over all of us as the mine finally crumbles. The weight of maybe hundreds of tonnes nearly breaks the shield instantly, but I recast it over and over, gritting my teeth as I look for another solution to save everyone else.
My magic is waning fast. I need to get them out of here.
“In the tunnels!” I roar. “NOW!”
All of them listen, jumping into either tunnels made by the miners or the beasts we’re facing. Just in time, the shield I made breaks, draining me entirely out of mana. The mine finally collapses on me, confining me beneath its weight.
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– Weiss –
Her heart dropped as the mine caved in with Reid still on the other side, almost reflexively trying to dig him out of there by herself. However, Weiss paused and calmed herself, remembering that this was Reid Astera. Something of this scale was nothing to him.
Plus, trying to dig him out could cause the place to get even more unstable. She trusted him completely. He’d be able to get out of there without a scratch easily. What was safer was going through this tunnel and finding another way out.
She shook her head and exhaled. Right, well, it’d be wise of Weiss to start focusing on herself first. The two Dreadnoughts were still there somewhere, so she had to keep her guard up until they were done with this… mission. Was this considered a mission?
Weiss had never been on an actual mission before. She’d always known that she was probably the least experienced in her team because her father wouldn’t let her face Grimm. The only battle she’d ever had was against the possessed Arma Gigas, but that was about it really.
No wonder her aura reserves used to be so low…
“I suppose there’s only one path left. Are you–” Weiss froze as she made eye contact with Adam, pausing for a few seconds before continuing with a lower tone. “...Alright…?”
Adam said nothing, but Weiss could tell he glared at her behind his mask. He’d been doing that since they came across, and she found it increasingly uncomfortable and VERY annoying.
She knew of Adam, but who didn’t really? He was the face of the bloodthirsty part of the White Fang. He was responsible for a lot of unnecessary deaths, as well as the severe escalation between her family and his faction.
She hated his guts nearly as much as he hated hers. He’d unknowingly caused her a lot of problems, but unlike him, she knew that acting so unpleasant and antagonistic on a dangerous mission like this was highly idiotic.
Weiss made sure not to even say a word to him at all. She didn’t know how he’d react and wasn’t looking forward to finding that out. Better to let sleeping dogs lie and all that. It would certainly be far easier.
But now she was stuck with him. It was almost like fate itself wanted to play a joke on her as if she hadn’t suffered enough. That was fine, though. Weiss was confident in herself, especially after the hellish training Reid put her through and her newfound magical abilities.
Still, Weiss wouldn’t be the one starting the fight if there ever was one. Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to it.
“What are you gawking at?” He asked in cold fury, nodding his head toward the tunnel. “Lead the way, Schnee.”
Weiss narrowed her eyes. Did he think she was stupid?
“After you.” She said, her grip on Myrtenaster tightening.
Adam said nothing for a moment, then grunted and walked forward. Weiss cautiously followed after him, keeping an eye out for any funny movements. Again, she wouldn’t start a fight, and while she was probably far stronger than him, a surprise attack could still do much damage, possibly killing her if she was careless enough. She wouldn’t let that happen.
The tunnel could have been more interesting for a while, becoming tighter on some corners and wider on others. Weiss was keeping count of how long it's been, and after around five minutes of silent walking, they stopped at a very peculiar sight.
As well as a very terrifying one.
It was a large open space, big enough to fit perhaps hundreds of people. Dozens of vibrant and colorful dust crystals sprouting off the rocky walls lighting up the entire place. A large pond in the middle, surrounded by blue-tinted grass, and a dark-colored cocoon hanging from the ceiling right above it.
It was gigantic, three times the size of a large truck. Weiss immediately knew what it was due to the earlier explanation given to them by Sienna. Those two big bugs weren’t the Dreadnoughts. It was this.
“Gods…” Weiss gazed at the cocoon as it convulsed, almost like a beating heart. “What kind of monster is that?”
It was definitely a Titan, that was for sure.
Weiss wasn’t sure what to do. Should she try to attack it? Would that just… instantly kill it or piss it off even further? Because while Weiss was confident in herself, she didn’t know if she was capable of killing that thing. But she couldn’t just stand there and do nothing.
At the same time, blindly throwing dust at it wasn’t smart. She had to consider the many possibilities of how this battle might turn out and find a perfect plan that would help her defeat that thing.
First, if she were to wake it up, then there was a big possibility that it would call for assistance from the smaller Grimm, assuming this Dreadnought was some sort of a ‘Queen’ to them, and as they were now, they’d get overwhelmed rather quickly.
One minute before the potion effects subside… She thought to herself with a frown, then glanced at the small pouch strapped to her hip containing her remaining potions. …three healing potions, three aura potions…
…and one free-semblance potion. Yes, she could do with those odds, especially seeing that she’d gotten the hang of summoning. Why fight an army alone when she could make her own on the fly?
Weiss took her gaze off the cocoon and took the potion she needed to start summoning–
Only to catch the fire bullet coming her way from the corners of her eyes, prompting her to jump out of the way just in time. Unfortunately, the bullet still managed to graze the potion off her hand, shattering the vial and spilling the contents onto the ground.
Weiss gazed at the spilled liquid with a shocked expression before snarling at Adam, who had a smug grin on his face as he pointed his rifle at her.
“You moron…!” She growled. “Are you out of your mind?! Do you have any idea what you’ve done?!”
His bloodthirsty grin only widened as he twirled his sword.
Weiss felt her blood boil, but as difficult as it was, she tried to calm herself regardless. For a moment—a tiny moment—she genuinely thought that there would be no quarrels between her and Adam. That they’d be able to set their differences aside for now and find a way to get out of there alive.
Weiss brandished her rapier and pointed it at him with a furious glare.
She should’ve known better.
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– Ruby –
This has been worrying Ruby ever since it happened. The fact that so many aerial-type Grimm had been just… flying past them was odd. Sure, there were one or two that tried to attack them, but those were dealt with easily.
Ruby would see them coming a mile away and simply blow their heads up with her baby. She was the only one here with a sniper rifle, so long-distance battle was kind of her thing. The few that made it past Crescent Rose’s armor-piercing bullets were killed by her classmates and professor.
Still, they would’ve been overwhelmed if every single Grimm had attacked them. They were just flying away, even more frantically than last night, and last night, this weird event had stopped after a few minutes, so they didn’t think it was something that bad.
Either there were massive amounts of negativity wherever they were going…
Or something was scaring them off.
But what could it be? It wasn’t like there was a predator that targeted Grimm specifically. Not to the point of terrifying them like this. Grimm typically didn’t feel ‘fear,’ and the older, wiser Grimm avoided cities out of self-preservation.
Okay, self-preservation. That was why these weaker Grimm were fleeing, but from what?
Regardless, the professor made the right call by ordering them to leave. Something was wrong, and Ruby had a horrible feeling about this. She’d never seen something like this before, and none of her books had anything about it.
She observed the flocks of harpies in the distance while following her classmates. It wasn’t like they were all flying in the same direction, now that she thought about it. It was more… spread out than you’d expect, so it couldn’t be negativity that was attracting them. They had to be fleeing from something.
Ruby paused and blinked, feeling something… change in the air. Almost like magic was forced into it, and it was getting stronger. Rapidly.
She gasped and turned around as she finally felt the concentrated darkness approaching at a pace she could barely react to. Ruby wasn’t quick enough to transform Crescent Rose into its Scythe form, but she was able to block the incoming attack by casting a thick shield of light.
The force still sent her flying backward, smashing into a couple of trees before she was able to land on her feet. Whatever was attacking her was already in the middle of another attack, swiping a talon in an attempt to slit her throat.
Ruby ducked and twirled Crescent Rose, transforming it and swiping the massive scythe at the beast, prompting it to jump back. Ruby’s blood ran cold as she recognized the nine-foot harpy that was glaring at her with an almost primal hunger in its eyes.
She shuddered and took a step backward, the terror gripping her heart tightly in the presence of the Titan-class Grimm in front of her.
“Ms. Rose!” The professor came running alongside the other students. “Are you–”
“STAY AWAY!” She screamed at him, keeping her eyes on the Harpy Queen. “It’s Angelica! Call for reinforcements!”
The Titan vanished from sight, and Ruby suddenly felt a sharp pain in her back. She gritted her teeth, her backpack falling as her aura barely managed to stop the slash from being lethal. Ruby twirled and pulled the trigger, shooting a gravity bullet as the recoil made some distance between her and the Harpy Queen.
“Go, professor!” She insisted. “Take everyone with you to safety. I’ll hold it off!”
“What?! You’re out of your mind, young lady–”
“Professor, I’m Reid Astera’s pupil!” Ruby shut him up. “I’ve been trained for situations like this! GO!”
Ruby didn’t see the man flinching at her tone, nor did she notice the ground beneath her suddenly cracking.
“Ms. Rose…” Her professor hesitated for a moment, but then reluctantly relented, believing her. “Alright.”
As soon as the professor left with the students, Ruby sighed in relief. In the next instant, as if her outfit responded to her need, it transformed into its revealing combat form. Ruby felt rather embarrassed and was very glad that it waited until everyone was out of sight. Still, her power increased dramatically, making her slightly more confident.
She could do this. She’d gone through hell just for this moment, and she was not going to let Reid down. He’d said it himself, Ruby could take on Titans now, and she was going to prove it to him. Besides, this was her mess to clean up, wasn’t it? Same situation with that Eel– it had sensed her magic and wanted to consume her.
After all, it didn’t even bother going after her class.
“I’m not afraid of you,” Ruby said quietly, her grip on Crescent Rose tightening.
For some reason, the earlier fear and concern she had were being replaced by confidence and excitement. She was going to kill it and make Reid proud. Make her mom proud. This was her moment. Ruby was going to become a Titan Slayer and a Hero.
She smirked, silver eyes glimmering with conviction.
So, in the words of her amazing if corny boyfriend…
“Bring it on, asshole!”
Ruby Rose was going to make history.
Comments
Toru Jack
Now I feel the need to play another round of DRG. Oh and go Ruby!
Toru Jack
Rock and Stone brotha!
StickersOfThePast
Rock and stone yeaaah!
