Sorry for the Delay! But the periodicals have been killer!

BTW timeskip happens 'round halfway of this chapter to the start of Volume 2

Time for reviews! Here we go!

Vortiivask Jaeger: I believe in build-up, as in I plan to get the fuck killed in a time just right for him. You know, like when he's about to do something pretty fucked up to a certain brawler ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Justaquestion12: Made it a bit obvious huh? Well she ain't goin to be the only one! Plot twist! Not telling who's gonna be the second one though, I'll leave that for you guys to guess!

Ddragon21: Nah, he's just a little unhinged and pretty OK with murder. He's of the mind that the ends-justify-the-means. And yes he WILL struggle, but that will be spoiling a bit much.

Anyhow time to get this party started!

"The night brims with defiled scum,

And is permeated by their rotten stench.

Just think, now you're all set to hunt and kill to your heart's content!"

Chapter 2: Culture Shock

He had left soon after day break, leaving the crumbling base to the elements. He didn't bother checking for anything to salvage, aside from him, ever thing else had been destroyed by the blast.

No matter, he had other ways.

He knelt down and shut his eyes. Casting his mind out, he called to the dark of the cosmos, fishing for a certain response.

It didn't take long.

When next he opened them there before him were a group of grotesque creatures, 4 in total. Pale, sickly things, with a detestable likeness to malformed infants.

The Messengers, a Hunters faithful friend and servant.

His eyes softened. To most, they were a sickening sight, but to him they were a welcome thing, a fragment of what was good from the Dream. An old friend to be greeted.

"Long time no see little Ones" he greeted them.

The Messengers happily clapped in response.

"Sorry to be a bother to you again, but I require your assistance once more"

They gave him a questioning look, as best as their deformed faces could make.

"Yes, a new Hunt has begun, and I need all the power of the Dream I can muster. What's left of it anyway…"

Nodding in response, they slunk back into the fetid pool of cosmic slur from where they came, returning moments later bearing all sorts of trinkets and tools; Molotovs, Quicksilver bullets, and more, all essentials a hunter needs for battle.

He cared little for the price; he had Blood Echo's to burn.

Preparations complete and weapons at the ready, with his Hunters gear repaired and cleaned, he choose to follow the sun along its horizon. He had no real destination in mind, just leave and hopefully bumble into the next fight.

It felt oddly comforting, not knowing where to go; it reminded him of his early days during the hunt, the confusing maze that was Yharnam, and all else surrounding it. An absurd thought, but nonetheless it reminded him of slightly better days, when all he had to do was kill a few beasts.

It was certainly better than knowing the dark truth of the cosmos, better than being the pawn of beings so far above humanity that they were practically gods. Yes simpler days, easier days.

Though the wood from which he found himself in was infinitely better than those from before; they were lush, green with full healthy boughs that rose skyward, with slow winding rivers and streams, and cool fresh air filled his lungs with every breeze.

Still, experience called for caution. He kept his weapons in hand.

Though several days of travel brought with it scarcely any sign of the things, with only one real skirmish 3 nights before really accounting for anything. What had happened to the bloodless things from before? He was certain there had been hundreds the previous night. Had the last battle spooked them? Maybe the ones he'd slain were all there were in that area.

At many time in his life, Hunter had made the mistake of thinking he was in the clear, only for everything to go wrong, very, VERY fast.

Perhaps fate hated him so, but he was no longer under its sway, though then again that could be the reason. Perhaps his actions had caused some Great One out in the vastness of existence to curse him, if one did; he intended to kill it slowly and painfully. Whatever the reason things always went wrong at the worst of times. Especially when he questioned his luck.

He smelled them before he saw them, hollow and musky, their baleful howl and roars breaking the forests silence. Then the scream came, with a scent of fear and panic.

"Ava!"

"Oh bother" he sighed.

"Run!"

Figures dashed out of the woods, two children far to young be out and about at such a place; a girl clearly just reaching adulthood, a broken blade in one hand, the other clasping her companions, a girl even younger, barely over 14.

"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" she berated herself

"I can't believe I actually did this! I just graduated Signal, I wanted to be a hero like my brother Jaune, I had the skill to fight, and good weapon to boot; shotgun sword, simple and easy, just shoot n' stab"

She stumbled, feet crashing into something hard, pain flaring up both.

"Jane!"

"To think I even managed to drag Ava into this!" the poor girl had wanted to join her awesome huntress sister fight some grimm, she couldn't refuse such a request, not from her. She was still in training but she was doing great, her own weapons, a pair of chain-claws serving her well.

But she failed, she misjudged their numbers, she misjudged his skill, and now here she was, aura depleted, weapon broken, now way to defend herself or her sister

She pushed herself, ignoring the blinding pain in her legs, they must've been sprained she realized

"Can't stop now! Gotta save her! It's my fault were in this mess, I can't let it end like this! I gotta save my sister!"

"I'm fine Ava, were almost there! Just a bit more!" her hand found the younger girls and they bolted.

"There!" a break in the woods, she felt her spirits rise. They would make it!

That's what she wanted to believe, truth is hardly ever so kind.

Strong hands found her legs, and fell again, sprawled over the forest floor.

Pain washed over her, barely able to move her own form. A greater force held her, its rancid breath on her neck.

"S-sis!" a terrified scream shattered her thoughts

"Ava!" she was surrounded, three Beowulf's pawed closer, snarling and roaring.

"I can't let it end like this! I can't let her die because of me!" she felt like she was on fire, every fiber of her being strained to free herself.

Whether by some miracle, or of luck, one last burst of aura knocked the Beowulf of her.

No real plan or strategy behind her actions, she rushed the grimm closest to her sister, a fist connecting to its midnight hide.

"Oh crap…" with a howl, she felt her bones shatter as the grimm backhanded her into a tree.

"This was it" her hands dug into the dirt "I'm going to die here" she could barely even move, fear froze her and the monsters crowding certainly didn't help "I'm sorry mom, dad, big brother Jaune I failed I-"

She shut her eyes, praying for a quick death. The beast screeched and charged claws ready to rend them to nothing.

A sickening crunch and gurgled cries overtook her ears.

"What a pain" a voice, sounding quite young and rather annoyed. Still shaken, she managed to open her eyes and saw him.

The Death in the flesh, his hand held the crushed remains of what used to be a grimm's skull. He looked different from what he was described as.

A feathered tricorn hat and leather mask obscured his face, leaving his silver hair the only thing the huntress-in-training could see.

He wore thick leather trench coat, torn and faded from age and countless battles, thick enough to protect against a hit, beneath he wore a simple black vest. Oddly, a small white ribbon lay tied on his right forearm, completely out of place amongst his intimidating garb.

His pants and gloves matched his ensemble his boots bearing finely embroidered designs decorating it.

Oddly enough, he seemed to be wearing two gloves, one over the other, the first layer being made of the same material as his cloak, bearing the similar embroidery as his boots. The second layers were less impressive consisting of dingy, dirty white gloves.

But most eye catching of all were his weapons.

She may not have been much of weapons man, but the girl new a good weapon when she saw one. The stranger's weapons weren't one of them. They were some of the most exquisite pair she'd seen.

His sword seemed to be a finely crafted katana-saber hybrid; it was both beautiful and loathsome at the same time. Beautiful for its flowing design and masterfully crafted edge. And loathsome for the very same reasons, the blades flowing form giving it the disgusting semblance to flowing blood, its dull rust color completing the look.

The other was a gun. A finely crafted firearm, a single shot flintlock. It was bronze in color, with a long brass barrel, intricately designed with painstaking detail.

"Well, how 'bout we get this started already" he dropped the corpse "30 of you fucks? You should've brought more" a threatening air surrounded him as he readied his sword.

"The Hunts just begun!"

Cue: BBCP OST - Nightmare Fiction II

With a flourish, he lashed out with his blade, cutting down the three which had threatened the girl's sister. 27 to go.

With a flash, gleaming silver knives flew out, catching an oncoming group square in their face the corpses collapsing unto the ground as he spun back. 23 left.

Five more came from behind. The girl tried to warn him, but her worry was unfounded. With a flash of light he brought his sword down on them, 4 of the beasts reaped in half. The final one he snatched up by the neck. 19.

With a grunt of effort, he threw the beast at a group of its companions 10 strong the sheer force killing the one he tossed as well as the one it impacted, the blast knocking the others away! 17 left, to easy.

3 were sent flying with a vicious high kick from the Hunter, a gaping hole in the first's torso. With a bark, his pistol finished the other two, their bodies exploding into chunks.

"Huh this is getting quite dull" he muttered to the remaining pack, the corpses of their kin already disintegrating. In another flash of light he landed in the midst of them. Faster than the eye could see, he tore at them with speed and savagery unmatched, cold fury emanating from him.

He backed away from the killing grounds, lazily avoiding a swipe from the Alpha.

"You're a big'n aren't ya?" he continued weaving through its clumsy attacks in an almost comical fashion as the alpha Beowulf futility attempted to land a hit on him.

Bored of its pathetic excuse for an assault, he landed a right hook to its side, knocking the wind out of it. With the beast on its knees, the Hunter calmly almost gracefully strode up to it. In brief flash, he relived the beast of its head and its life.

The young Arc looked on in awe as the Hunter continued the one sided onslaught, ripping and tearing into the grimm with ice cold fury.

The remaining ones got the message and began retreating, tails between their legs.

"Rude, you're leaving so soon?" he leveled his pistol fired again, and again, and again till all that remained were black flecks slowly dissolving into nothingness.

To kill one Beowulf? Unimpressive, but to kill a pack of 30 in one minuet without a scratch? "Fucking Godlike!" the girl thought!

"Wait, Ava!" with the shock of the event nearly out of her system, the huntress ran to her sisters side.

"Thank the Brothers you're alright! I'm so, so, SO sorry!" tears stained her face as she drew her into a hug

"I-I-I'm fine sis pl-please just let go it hurts…"

She turned to face their mysterious savior.

The older girl stood agape while the younger one looked on with a mixture of awe and fear.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" Jane screeched.

"Sister! Language, what would mom and dad think…"

"I find your reaction… odd, all I did was finish the fight"

Typical, he just saved these girls and now they were screaming at him, well one of the at least.

The older girl was flabbergasted "A-F-WHAT? Y-you just butchered an army of grimm! In like a minute! And that's your only reaction!"

The Hunter shrugged "Been through worse"

"I-I-I you know what, I just give up now"

"That was pretty cool mister…" Ava noted.

"What part of that was cold?" the Hunter replied perplexed.

"Um you know cool? As in that was pretty awesome despite how impossible it was!"

"Never heard the expression in my life"

"O-oh so you grew up in one of those outlying villages then?"

"…Sort of…" he was lying. He was certain telling them the truth was a one way ticket to an Asylum.

"So wait, where'd ya learn to fight like that?" Jane asked, wondering what sort of training he went through obtain such strength.

"An old warrior, he taught me the basics, adversity taught me the rest" his eyes wandered ahead, remembering back to his early days.

"Wow! He must've been an amazing huntsman!" the younger girl exclaimed.

"Huntsman?" he was unfamiliar with the term. Granted he hadn't been in this world long, the term Huntsman must've been their equivalent to Hunters.

"WAIT!" the older one ordered "Don't tell me you've never heard of a huntsman before, you know heroes of Remnant, virtuous warriors and all that fighting the Grimm?"

…

"You're joking right?" he asked voice full of disbelief.

"What do you mean by that?"

"There are no such things as heroes. Such things only exist in fairytales; the few that did exist never had happy endings"

"Take that back!" the girl snarled voice suddenly full of anger "Huntsmen and Huntresses risk their lives protecting the Kingdoms! Don't just go discounting them like that!"

"I am merely stating the truth; the idea in of itself is preposterous, those who think themselves heroes are bound to die"

He stared her down.

"Your earlier actions themselves are proof of that"

"That still doesn't mean you can insult them like that! My whole families been Huntsmen since the War!" the girl threw a pathetic punch at his chest "so don't go tramplin' on my goal!"

It surprised the Hunter that she still had that much energy in her.

"Very well, I still hold to my beliefs though, such idealistic things are… foreign to me"

Still the girl had a look of anger on her face. With a sigh she calmed herself.

"I suppose you don't even know what Dust is don't ya?"

"Of course I know, I am no fool, but what importance does dirt have anyhow?"

Everything went silent for a moment before the older Arc slapped herself.

"This… this is going to be a long walk isn't it?"

The children, Jane and Ava Arc as they were called, had given him a very, very abridged explanation of this world, Remnant. They had talked of the two races that inhabited the world humans and another referred to as faunus; beings with the forms of men but the traits of animals, according to them they weren't naturally so aggressive and that due to mistreatment by humans some had turned quite hostile to put it bluntly. The ones that chose the warpath were referred to as the White Fang. The same ones he'd so happened to have fought the other night, though he felt the need to keep said information from them.

They also spoke of the grimm, the dark beasts that plagued both races since the dawn of time. Soulless, twisted perversions of nature that crave nothing but to destroy all life. None are quite clear on their origin though generally the most accepted origin being that they were created by a so called black god of destruction as a means to spite his brother.

"Maybe I should pay the fuck a visit sometime" the Hunter despised such vindictive deities or any divinity in general.

They explained to him the role of the Huntsmen and Huntress, civilizations guardians against the grimm who existed to defend the four major kingdoms; Vacuo, Atlas, Mistral, and Vale, where they were currently at.

"To think this world is in such a state where children must fight, still such things are a necessity I suppose"

What truly caught the Hunters attention Dust, Aura, and Semblances. Dust being a sort of archaic energy taking the form of crystals that harbored the immense power of the elements. Aura was another beast entirely, supposedly the soul of a being given form, or as he so eloquently put it that 'that weird glowing shit over people', capable of defending one against most mortal blows, enhancing one's own physical prowess, as well as even increasing ones natural recovery abilities. Though probably the most interesting of all were semblances, incredible powers which existed as an extension of ones aura wholly unique for each individual granting incredible a boon on the battlefield, ranging from energy projection to increased speed and the list went on.

"If only I had those abilities during my Hunt, would've made a lot of that shit much more bearable"

They had put it out in a way that all that remained of civilization were shut away in walled kingdoms and small outlying settlements constantly under siege from the grimm, but the town before him gave him a completely different opinion.

The Hunter saw it before the girls could, the tall spires of chimneys rising from the sea of green, a low stone wall surrounding it the town was close.

"And here we are! The town of Salus!" Jane declared proudly, sure it wasn't her home, but it was where she and her sister stayed while classes were around. Way closer to Signal than her real home. To them it was a welcoming sight after the whole debacle in the forest.

To the Hunter however it was… jarring.

Even before the Hunt he was never comfortable around others. Not that he particularly hated people; he just never really understood how to be around others. The Hunt did little to help his deposition

Now? Now he was surrounded by strangers and they were… happy.

"How?" a question he asked himself since they arrived "how can they be so calm so… blissful? The way those girls described this world, they made it out to be almost as bad as mine"

They barely even regarded him, with only a few cursory glances here and there. Back in Yharnam he rarely even meet with someone without locking up the moment they saw him.

"Well, our inn is just 'round the corner there!" Jane pointed of to a low stone building.

She turned to face him "well then now that we're here I don't suppose you'd be so kind to explain to the rest of our sister why we look like we just crawled out of a scrap heaps?"

"You face the consequences of your actions girl; I've no say in it…" he answered brusquely, pushing past her.

"Well, guess I tried…" Jane was dreading; she just knew the rest of her siblings would chew her out for today, then her parents then Jaune. It wasn't going to be pleasant.

"So this is goodbye then?" Ava didn't really know how to reply to the man in front of her; sure he was rude, blunt and used a lot of bad words, but he still saved them.

"Spose' so… better this way in the end…" he was already a ways of from them before the younger girl realized something.

"H-hey! We never got your name!"

But he'd long since vanished past the sea of strangers.

It had been sometime since he left Salus, striking out again to the wilds, though not before stopping by the local library. A rough outline of this world wasn't going to serve him well, not after discovering the complexities of it all.

After a few mishaps involving the arcane technology they called 'computers' he was soon digging through eras worth of information… in about an hour. Being a fast reader has its benefits, and having inhuman insight certainly didn't hurt, unless it involved Frenzy, but that was another matter entirely.

His austerely plan was starting to take shape, it would take decades, possibly centuries, but it would be done. He would see this world unshackled from the grip of the beasts, both those of shadows and in the flesh of men.

He'd be noticed sooner or later, but for now he'd do as Hunters were meant to do; to fight in the shadows.

"Well now Gehrman, looks like I've got my work cut out for me"

2 months later...

"*SIGH* This is not going to be an easy day now is it?" a silver hair man groaned to himself.

Said man was currently seated in a sealed room, its expansive glass windows giving an impressive view of the city below. Massive cogs clicked away in monotony as he leaned back.

Prof .Ozpin was not having a good day. First he was informed that the staff coffee machine was out denying him his favored beverage, and now?

He stared long and hard at the reports glowing on the tables screen.

"2 months. 2 months and it still hasn't stopped" a map displayed itself onscreen, projecting the entirety of Vales landmass, on its surface various areas were marked of and connected in a crude path, all the while side monitors streamed out various news reports, internet videos, articles, even military documents all pertaining to a string of incidents currently upturning the kingdoms relative peace.

It had started suddenly; once it did events spiraled out of control. Whole strongholds of White Fang, utterly annihilated, scores of grimm decimated to the last monster.

Earliest reports date back 2 months prior, starting with scattered reports of massive grimm hoards massing of in the south, enough to cause real concern. Ozpin was quite close to calling for the Atlas military, when something far… stranger occurred and most definitely more worrying.

Said grimm were almost immediately wiped out. Details were unclear, the only real piece of evidence being scattered reports coming from forward scouts and freelance huntsmen, accordingly a single man had done the deed. Information was deemed unrealistic, even by Ozpin himself, though he still held a lingering doubt.

Then more grimm started appearing, and again the cycle repeated itself time and time again for a whole month. All of them in separate, unrelated locales, the one thing in common? The same reports of their mystery man, ever increasing in amount and detail, far too numerous to be held as mere rumor any longer.

Even then only so much could be strained from said accounts, with varying details and descriptions of what Ozpin assumed to be the same individual, each assigning the person with wildly differing weapons, with one account even stating, and Ozpin was quoting here, that the man wielded a 'badass pizza-cutter' with an even wilder reports professing that a wheel was the warriors weapon, coupled with what the scout ascribed to being an old fashion ships cannon… made portable.

The only thing held constant were his odd articles of clothing, appearing as one huntsman recorded 'blacker than any grimm, black as midnight' and the persons actions. They never made themselves known, neither on the battlefield nor had they been seen entering any towns or cities. All reports purporting to them had been sketchy at best, with almost all of them being fleeting glimpses of the warrior leaving the battlefields, rare few actually caught them in action. And those that did gave the most worrying of the reports.

Grimm were crushed, battered and ripped apart, broken like children's playthings, with one huntsman, a veteran of the craft stating that in all his years he had never seen such brutality, not even from the grimm. Indeed, it seemed that the monsters were actively avoiding combat with the warrior, as insane as the very idea was.

And that was only the beginning. Sure, Ozpin admitted, such events were worrying, but they were in the end rather beneficial, grimm attacks had dropped to an all-time low, the worst attack this month had been a runaway ursa running amok in a remote town, though no real damage was done.

That was until the first base was found, or rather what remained of it. Most likely due to the buzz the aforementioned events were generating, and the general panic of the grimm hoards, few had noticed it until after the panic died down. Along with the grimm, the infamous White Fang were unusually quiet.

It was the accidental discovery of a looping SOS recovered from a hidden Fang bandwidth that set off the horrid discovery; a transmission, far to damaged to be made any real sense of; it was initially branded of as a by-product of the massing grimm, an unfortunate case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

That was until an Atlas investigation team was deployed to search the base, hoping to at least recover some of the stolen inventory the Fang had gathered. What they found was far worse, in all his life Ozpin had never seen and probably would never see such carnage in reality scenes from nightmares made manifest.

He had to stop after the first image, what man, if indeed the culprit was anything remotely human would kill another man with the spine of his comrade?

The poor men who made the discovery had been mercifully given the help they needed. And so did the others who found the remains of the other strongholds.

It soon became clear that whoever their mystery huntsman was they were dangerous, possibly even surpassing Her.

Though, what trully sent chills down the headmaster's spine was how all to similar said events were to an ancient legend, one predating even the tale of the Maidens. If such events were even remotely related to that anceint epic, it would spell doom, not only for Vale, but for the entirety of Remnant itself.

In the end, Ozpin was left with a single, suicidal option.

He could only pray to the Brothers James' plan would succeed.

And that's a wrap!

Finally, finally I finished this chapter!

Again sorry for the delay, but school has been fucking murder.

That and I've been working on another project. I'll probably add a teaser to my new fanfic in the next chapter, you know if the next one comes out by next week.

Anyways, this has been N3Ber1us signing out!

update: added a little bit of info to explian what happens next chapter

8/30/2017