Chapter 12

The curtain of water closed in, each single spike willing to pierce and tear Kojiro into a bloody pulp. Raising his sword, Kojiro stepped to the left, effectively escaping the spikes on the right, and began to attack the water in kind.

Each attack met the closest spike, severing the sharp tip and rendering it to be nothing but a harmless splash against him. He was pierced several times in the arm and his sides, and the wave of water that came in behind him lost its spiked shape but still slapped Kojiro to the ground.

The water pooled around him and his sword. The puddle around him slowly turned red as his blood leaked out of the various wounds on his body. Pushing on the ground, his muscles faltered, and he dropped to the floor again, making a splash.

The dull slap of wet fabric on water echoed in the basement.

Kojiro made another attempt with his right arm. His legs brought him up into a kneeling position, and he pushed his body upwards while his injured left arm retrieved his katana.

Against all odds, Kojiro stood up.

Thankfully, his legs weren't injured. His back was in tough shape, and every move of his left arm pulled something in his side that made his whole body ache, but he could still move. Breathing in and out, the pain became nothing but a dull pang at the back of his mind.

The next attack came, and Kojiro sidestepped it. Unlike many other opponents, there was no motion or movement to read. Everything leading up to the attacks of water was happening in Chrysos's head.

Even so, Kojiro had to try.

Kojiro stepped forward. The pillar that he had just dodged twisted itself to attack him again. Kojiro began sprinting forward now.

One step.

His sword caught Chrysos's spear by its decorations, flinging it to the side.

Two steps.

A sudden spike of water, aimed between his eyes, was dodged by footwork that made Kojiro spin in place.

Three steps.

Kojiro recovered from his twirl, preparing to attack Chrysos, only to realize that the ground he had tried to walk into was covered in spikes of water. He had to retract his footstep, sending him into another spin. His blade swung once more, gathering centrifugal momentum and zipped for Chrysos's neck.

A stalwart spear blocked the attack, but Kojiro took a fourth step forward, onto a dry patch of ground right next to Chrysos's bucket, and Kojiro's sword followed.

What greeted Kojiro, however, was a kick to the stomach. He hit the ground, wounds suddenly flaring back into his consciousness. He rolled once or twice, katana breaking in contact with the floor, before coming to rest at Mason's crumpled form.

The katana's broken tip bounced once on the ground and sank into Mason's leg, who gave a strangled gasp in response to the pain.

…

An explosion rocked the tunnels.

"W-what was that?" A worker said, dropping a pickaxe.

"None of us were given explosives to dig this train tunnel out. It's too dangerous." The site manager said, reaching for his helmet.

In the distance, heavy footsteps were heard. Miners and workers began crowding their work area's exit, some of them casting fearful glances at pairs of red eyes that began glowing in the distance.

"It's the grimm!"

"Run!"

An ursa charged forward, a man's corpse in his mouth. Instead of the worker's uniform of a helmet, however, the body wore a bloodied trench coat. A forearm was missing, and all that was left of that arm was a blackened stump.

On the face was a crazed, triumphant smile.

The Monarchs had made their move.

…

Miners began to run back out into the city's plaza, which was still under construction.

"Grimm! Grimm in the tunnels!"

"Everybody, stay calm!" A huntsman student said, wearing colorful clothing and a rather impractical hat. Despite the silly clothing, the authority of a huntsman made everybody calm down a notch.

Miners, evacuate in a calm and orderly fashion! Spread the message within the tunnels that we are coming!"

She waved a hand at the crowd of first and second years.

"Students, with me!"

As the fourth year ran into the tunnels, the miners gave them a wide berth, hugging the walls, and on occasion, each other, to make space for their saviours. But as each student ran past a terrified expression and beady, desperate eyes, they realized that something was amiss.

After running for about ten minutes, the group of students finally crowded in one dig site. The half-laid tracks and dim industrial lighting all lead to an ominous, black gap in the tunnels.

In the crowd of students, team STRQ struggled to the front, but were blocked by the many that wished to be on the front lines.

"Halt!" the fourth year said, holding her hand back at the rest of the group. "Approach the entrance slowly. If we stampede, we may injure each other before the battle has even begun."

As one, the students began to step towards the dark gap. However, as the fourth year finally reached the entrance, glaive in hand, a faunus student screamed.

Out of the darkness, a snake slithered. Its dark body and red eyes standing out amidst the light grey flooring that the workers had been creating a foundation for.

The ceiling began to crumble as one head poked through the cracking dirt.

As the first head went for the fourth year, several other heads emerged. Some were larger, some were smaller. Some were accompanied with the scrabbling of claws, or brute strength and a roar.

The horde of red lights sent the students back into the previous room as the ceiling lights flickered, before plunging the room into a darkness only pierced by glowing red.

…

As waters rose once more, twirling around Chrysos in a dramatic manner, a stray wave slightly tinted with blood splashed Verdant across the face. He shook himself awake, hoisting himself up to a sitting position. His aura flared for a moment, before he looked at Mason in the corner, Kojiro collapsed before him.

An idea took root in his head. He motioned towards a tiny, crackling green on his arms, and then pointed to Kojiro.

Mason nodded, and placed a hand on Kojiro's shoulder, preparing to chant.

"Wait!" Verdant shouted, his voice cracking as his damaged body struggled to catch up with the commands his mind gave it.

"Do you really think this is the end?" Verdant said, eyes now glowing green. He was using his semblance.

It is in sacrifice that we gain immortality.

"What did you just say, small fry?" Chrysos turned, his water curtain falling as his blue eyes turned to look at Verdant's glowing green.

"Do you really think that we would come here without backup? Such an idiotic plan, I tell you."

"Cease your babbling!"

Through this, we become a bastion of humanity, standing before all.

"Even if you strike us down, he will defeat you." Verdant said, smiling.

"After you've seen my ability, and what you can do, you still claim that somebody, anybody, can defeat me?"

Infinite in willpower and strengthened even through death…

"Yes." Verdant said."And he'll be coming very, very soon."

"Who is this… person you speak of?" Chrysos roared. A water tentacle wrapped around Verdant's throat, dragging him closer to him.

I release your soul…

Then, Chyrsos noticed the aura glowing in Verdant's eyes.

"A trick! A distraction!"

And by my shoulder, protect-

Verdant was thrown at a wall again, and just as Mason finished the chant, a wave of water was swept at the two.

…

"W-what is that light?" Kojiro mumbled.

Something fight in front of him was glowing orange. It glowed warmly, yet not uncomfortably, soaking into Kojiro's injuries and wrapping around his muscles.

"Are you sure you want to take this step forward?"

Kojiro turned. A blurry figure sat behind him, legs crossed and arms caressing what looked like his old odachi.

"You wanted to pursue swordsmanship. To take it to the limits that a human could take. To resurrect the images in your mind. But with this gift, even if you will have gained power, you will have lost sight of your goal."

Kojiro stepped back. The glow began growing colder, and the warmth retreated from his limbs. Still, a part of him reached for the light desperately. It felt young and desperate, its vaguely orange head of hair trying to claw its way out of the dark, swirling mass that was Kojiro's wraith-like soul.

"Is it truly worth it?" the sitting figure said, a hand reaching up and rubbing the handle of the sword.

Despite his hesitation, Kojiro found that his foot took a step forward.

"Even… if it won't truly be the same."

The exhilaration of cutting a swallow sank like iron in water, shacking his feet.

"Even if… it means betraying what I set out to do…"

The feeling of sore muscles and days of training wrapped around his arms, restraining a hand that had began to reach for the brightness.

"Some things are still worth more than that."

Memories began to surge out of the darkened spirit. Good memories of tea ceremonies at Chaldea, sandwiches at the temple, a gate at the back of his truck, an overabundance of ice cream, and the indistinct faces of people that had been important to him in various lifetimes.

In every single other universe, Kojiro had been killed on his path to achieve the ultimate sword.

Why should this be any different?

The restraints around him shattered. The young boy that had been held back by his soul now ran forward, into the orange light.

That's right.

Sasaki Kojiro was not Sasaki Kojiro.

Leaving behind his doubt and hesitation, Kojiro followed the example of the soul that he had displaced, and stepped into the glowing warmth.

The sitting figure behind him faded into golden particles, a disappointed sigh echoing in Kojiro's ears.

Still, he did not regret his decision.

"Everybody you knew… would want you to live."

…

The water spears splashed harmlessly against a barrier of orange that temporarily made Chrysos turn his head away.

Picking up his sword, his body stitching itself back together slowly, he took a look at the color swirling on his palms, and sighed.

"I hate this color."

Chrysos merely gritted his teeth and attacked.

Kojiro raised his shortened katana and sliced through the water, making the mass drench him once more. Kojiro channeled his aura and jumped forward, only to realize that some water was holding his foot down.

"Do you think that just because you've got aura, you can defeat-"

Kojiro broke free of the hold without struggling much, Katana poised at a swing. Chrysos had to deflect the attack with his spear, but the escape still shook him.

"What? But how-"

Then, he noticed it.

The formerly purple robes were now positively painted with red. Indeed, Kojiro had avoided Chrysos's semblance in the most implausible way possible. If he were fighting any other opponent, they wouldn't bleed until they were defeated. However…

The thought of somebody fighting Chrysos without aura didn't even cross his mind.

"You can't control water if it's too impure, correct? That's why you didn't call more water from the pipes."

"I won't need to resort to cheap tricks to defeat you!" Chrysos roared. The water not contaminated with blood rose, before twisting and reorganizing into an array of spikes.

"Your clothes may be protected, but your face and arms aren't."

Kojiro jumped to the left, only for a force within him to aid his movement and extrapolate it to an extreme degree. His already impressive natural strength, obtained through years of training, allowed his jump to carry him to the opposite wall of the room. The water crushed the brick that Kojiro had been standing in front of.

"Wha-" Chrysos shouted, turning his spear to face Kojiro, who attacked once again. A strike was aimed at Chyrsos's face, with which Chrysos responded instead with an attack to Kojiro's gut.

The spear pierced through Kojiro, whose aura didn't react in time to shield him from the blow. However, water reached up to grab Kojiro's katana, wrapping itself around the grip, and wrenching it out of his hands.

"You really think that just because you've unlocked your aura, that you're a match for me?"

Kojiro looked at the spear stabbed through his stomach. His orange aura sizzled at the area, desperately trying to keep him alive. But it soon, would cease to work.

As long as Chrysos had his semblance, he would be nearly impossible to defeat. But then again, his semblance had to have limitations…

It couldn't control his blood, so it must have other flaws. Chrysos seemed to lose his telekinetic hold when the water wasn't connected to the main body of water, so… perhaps…

Kojiro saw it as Chrysos continued to monologue and twist the spear in his gut. A thin strand that connected him to the rest of the water, spanning across the dry spot that he stood in.

He pushed himself forward. He had to stop it, and hold Chrysos in place.

"What are you-"

"Neo!" Kojiro shouted hoarsely, the words making his insides burn as he stepped on the strand and abruptly hooked Chrysos into a shoddy chokehold.

…

Neo had initially felt confident in this fight. Even if Kojiro had said that he couldn't beat that weird dude Chrysos in a fight individually, she didn't exactly believe that.

Kojiro was wrong about a lot of things. About good ice cream flavors, what to do with his life, and more importantly, his own self worth.

Now, however, Neo was trembling on top of the crate. Verdant and Mason, two decently tough people, had been defeated in about a minute. Kojiro was, surprisingly the last one standing, and even he was bloody and bruised.

Then, Chrysos really began to use his semblance, and Neo was glad that she was in a corner.

Countless spikes and countless constructs poured out at Kojiro, and even Neo wasn't sure that Kojiro could get out of this one.

And he didn't.

Kojiro, for the first time in her life, lay down on the floor, bleeding out slowly.

She screamed. No noise came out of her mouth other than a strangled wheeze. She held her bat in both hands, preparing to strike.

Then, Kojiro got back up. She breathed a sigh of relief and reapplied her illusion, still standing on the shattered crate. Still, he didn't look that good, and after a couple of attacks, he was downed again.

At that point, Neo wasn't sure what she could do anymore. Even if she did attack, she wouldn't be able to get through Chrysos's semblance.

So she resolved to wait. Hopefully, now that Verdant was awake, somebody could do… something.

But she never wanted to be useless like this. To let the people, or well, person she cared about get hurt. Ever again.

…

From the last, relatively unmarred corner, Neo jumped, a baseball bat in her hands.

Chrysos kicked Kojiro free of his spear, before he turned and got hit straight in the face with Neo's baseball bat. His blue aura flared, and in the moment of disorientation, threw his spear at Neo.

Kojiro, his aura sputtering out as he healed, grabbed his broken katana, raised the short blade above his head, and brought it down on Chrysos's neck.

A last desperate hand was reaching for the water as Neo's bat hit Chrysos's ribs. His blue aura flared and the water that had wrapped around his arm melted back into a puddle. With a look of disbelief on Chrysos's face, Kojiro stabbed him through the neck.

…

The battle for the tunnels raged on for almost a day.

The team of huntsmen students were woefully unprepared for the attack. Many hadn't brought enough ammo, not that they could use it anyways.

The tunnels were dark, and the faunus showed their mettle after the ceiling lamps flickered and left.

There were calls for help made, and teammate tearfully abandoned teammate to go seek more experienced huntsmen.

However, the reinforcements that did come could not enter the collapsed tunnels and narrow passageways, and go past the layers of students that defended Vale's center.

It was a grizzly affair. Students could only watch as their fellows fought bravely, using brute strength and semblances to hold back one or two strong grimm, before they ran out of aura and either attempted to retreat or… perished at the mouthes of the monster.

It was some time before a student had the idea of collapsing the tunnels. The idea was passed upwards slowly, from student to student, until it reached the ones near the front. A consensus was made, and soon, everybody was to start running out of the tunnels as whoever was left at the front blew the enclosure up.

Mere earth or ice dust could not patch the hole, either. The grimm were tenatious beings, and would only truly stop if a solid wall of earth was before them.

In the end there were many casualties amongst the youngsters of this huntsman generation. Many in Vale opted to find safer careers, after either being disfigured or losing limbs.

Luckily, team STRQ wasn't near the front.

The team sat in their dormitory, a scroll playing the news on the table.

"Vale has also seen another major conflict, but this time, in the downtown area. Steve, if you can give us the report…"

"Oh, of course. There has been a gang war near the river so expansive that an entire residential district had been decimated. Interestingly, recent famous criminal and escape artist Sasaki Kojiro was spotted leaving the area associated with the Monarchs in a heavily injured state. The Monarchs, as you may remember, are a terrorist group that is suspected to have caused the Mt. Glenn tunnel bombing that caused today's catastrophe-"

"What the fu-"