"Go on." I said.
"Don't blame me if some part of it breaks." Cinder warned, as she adjusted her grip. Uncovered blade pressed into the ground of one of the many training rooms we've made use of over the past few days, Cinder held the handle of my sword with both hands, unable to pick it up for more than a few seconds, and even then she struggled to stay balanced in those brief periods. She'd been stubborn about it like she was with anything that had to do with failing or looking weak, but eventually accepted the fact it wasn't something she could manage.
It started with the handle, spreading out across the guard then blade, the entire weapon taking on a glow. Some of that glow extended to the ground, the temperature jumping, Cinder gritting her own teeth, trying to suppress all signs of pain. But I picked up on the wince.
It'd only just begun to incorporate it into my training, but our uses of her semblances were like night and day.
The glow was nearly immediate, the heating instant and wild in nature. Different parts of the blade ran hotter than others, all failing to reach the intense heights I could manage. Cinder, for the most part, only really knew how to activate and deactivate her semblance. Finer control was something she was only beginning to try under my direction and that was still coming along.
She was still burning herself just to use her semblance, her aura the only thing keeping the hot handle from leaving behind dark wounds.
"That's enough." I said. Her grip loosened, aura retreating back into her and the glow fading away. I retook my sword as Cinder stepped back. "Think you can do the same to your swords?"
Cinder reached for her waist pulling out both blades. Her aura surged only to settle down, refusing to spread out across either blade, her jaw tightening as she stared down at the pair of weapons.
Worn and damaged as they were, they'd been with her for a long time.
"Seriously, use your words." I said. "I'm not trying to test you or anything. I just want to know if you think they can handle your semblance for more than short bursts."
Cinder ripped her gaze away from them, lowering the blades to her sides. "They'll break." She begrudgingly admitted.
"Thought so, your semblance is too strong for most weapons not built with it in mind." Using my telekinesis, I began rewrapping the nearby bandages around my blade while raising a brow. "What do you think about getting yourself a new weapon?"
That hesitation of hers remained, the grip on her swords tightening further. Yeah, it wasn't just a matter of time with those weapons. If I remember correctly, they were gifts from her former teacher and, despite how things might've ended there, there had to be sentimental value there.
"I'm not saying you need to throw those away or anything, but you should look into getting something that can actually handle what you're capable of. Your semblance will turn into a liability if ends with your weapons breaking." I explained.
Stubborn as she was, especially when it came to be told to do something, Cinder was still sensible. After a few hours, maybe a day, she'd come around to the facts and go along with the suggestion.
Cinder nodded. No argument or snide comment. She agreed just like that.
Huh. Maybe she'd been considering it herself, those weapons likely having been repaired on more than one occasion by now.
I'd planned on taking a look around myself first but if she was already willing to go along with the idea, we might as well handle it right now.
XOXO
Cinder held and twirled a pair of swords with curved blades that were newly made, the metal free of all but the smallest imperfections that stood out like sore thumbs to me. Dissatisfied with some part of it, she returned them to the rack, moving on to examine the next that caught her interest while I trailed behind her, occasionally pointing out any made of metal with a high heat tolerance but ultimately leaving the choice in her hands.
It was her weapon and the lien was coming out of her pocket after all.
Making a weapon with her semblance in mind would've been ideal but I was no master smith, my own weapon still incomplete. I could guess at it but there was no way I'd be able to recreate the dual swords she'd been able to reshape with her semblance nor was she far enough along with her control to truly make use of something like that anyways.
Which was how we ended up in a sizable weapon shop not too far from our apartment building. There were some mass produced weapons with simple transformations between a close up and ranged form, the most expensive bearing some built in mechanism to use dust crystals, but those were definitely off the table for Cinder as she was now. Unless built with it in mind, the indiscriminate spread of her semblance through anything she used it on would wreak havoc on those functions. Best case scenario, the weapon fell apart after the first few exposures to it. Worst case scenario, she ends up at the center of an explosion.
Whether or not she knew that, Cinder proved to be the type to stick with what she knew, all that and more ignored for any pair of twin swords she could find. Transforming weapons might be off the table, but it'd be better if she didn't ignore all the options around them.
"Know how to use anything at a distance?" I asked while she pulled another pair of swords off a rack.
She took her eyes off the weapons for a moment, another scan of the weapon racks taken before returning to her testing. "I know a bit about using a bow."
For someone in the city? An obscure weapon to pick up, firearms generally considered the superior choice. For people scraping the bottom of the barrel or surviving beyond the safety of kingdom walls, which might count as tautology, a simple weapon like that had its uses. There was no need to maintain a supply of dust and ammunition could always be made in a pinch.
While she continued checking out swords, I looked over a few of the bows they had on display.
If she really only had a little training, then using something like them wasn't worth it. Between the weapon itself and carrying the arrows, she'd be adding more weight to her load when speed was one of their best tools against Grimm. Not a great trade off for something she might not be able to use effectively.
After a quick comparison between the few they had, I settled on a simple one made of dark metal with a retractable scope running along it.
Lucky for her, it was a common weapon used back in the tribe where dust and ammunition were always at a premium. Adding this to what I was already teaching wouldn't be much trouble.
While I headed up to the front register, Cinder, a pair of swords with curves to their dark blades, joined me. They were nothing special, just new swords made of one of the better materials I pointed out to her, but they shouldn't be as prone to damage from her semblance.
"Do you sell glass?" I questioned the clerk as they rang up our orders separately, a complimentary quiver of metal arrows provided with mine.
"Looking for raw materials?" The cashier asked. "We do keep some tempered glass in stock."
"What about normal glass?"
"I don't believe we sell that. If you aren't looking to make a trip to any of the other districts, it could be worth it to check with the jeweler a few stores down. I've heard they make some extra lien reselling any raw materials that don't meet their way too high standards. I wouldn't recommend any of their jewelry unless you've got lien to burn but you should be able to get a good deal on that at least."
"Thanks." Nodding to them and making a note to come back later, Cinder and I left the store, our new weapons, stored in a set of complimentary cases, in hand.
Compared to the entire part of the city that was a dedicated marketplace, this small street of stores wasn't quite so busy, streets full of activity, but no one packed together and liable to bump into another due to a single lapse in attention or misstep. Far preferable if you asked me. I never had a problem with people or groups but being stuck among so many could be its own kind of hell.
I turned the moment we left the store, Cinder following. She wasn't saying much but the look she'd given me was doing the talking for her. She kept quiet right up until we we're in the jewelry store that cashier pointed me towards, the place far less busy with less than a handful of customers taking their time looking through the glassed cases lined up throughout the carpeted place. With one already talking to the only employee on the other side of some of the displayed jewelry, I busied myself browsing too.
"What do you want with glass?" Cinder finally decided to ask, eyeing some of the rings and necklaces in front of us but losing interest quickly.
"The better question is what you'll want with it." I said. "Could be a good tool for you to keep on hand. Its cheap and easy to carry around. Crush it, heat it up, then toss it. That's the idea anyways. It's bound to be better than throwing around whatever loose junk you manage to get your hands on." And until I was sure she could reliably use a bow, it'll give her a constant ranged option so long as she had aura.
"…That sounds like a good idea." Cinder decided after a moment of thought.
Would you look at that? Something positive coming out of her mouth. I'd held my tongue on the smart remarks fighting to be shot off, only humming in agreement. For anyone else something as simple as that wouldn't be worth any consideration but one joke about her being remotely nice and this girl could take three steps back out of sheer annoyance or embarrassment.
Kids could be sensitive about the oddest things.
Checking in on the cashier, who was in the middle of showing off a ring to another customer, I looked back down and-
I snapped my attention back over to the man.
He was holding a golden ring decorated by a trio of crimson gems, a smile spread across his face as he explained the craftsmanship to the new customer I hadn't noticed come in. Long brown locks that flowed down to her back, bright green eyes that sparkled, and a fancy dress that while modest still brought some attention to her curves.
For all intents and purposes, a drop dead gorgeous woman.
But there was so much about her that was just…wrong. Her chest didn't move, no signs of breaths being taken. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. Yep, her blinks were robotic at best, done according to an exact timing. On top of all that, the way her hair and dress moved made no sense. Its as if their flutters were exaggerations meant to draw attention.
Most confusing of all, I didn't see anything from her.
All people produced aura, unlocked or not. The same went for animals. The only thing my Sharingan couldn't pick up energy from were Grimm themselves.
I blinked, narrowing my eyes.
Light green trails of aura had spread all throughout out the shop, each one heading towards the customers and employee, Cinder and I included among them. I followed one of those twisting trails up to my hand, the thing having seeped into my own aura and quietly made its way up towards my head.
Someone was using their semblance and their aura, insidiously covert, had no trouble infiltrating not just the body but the aura of others. With an intense focus on my aura, not quite forming any kind of shield, I severed the subtle connections that foreign energy had made and forced it away in the process.
A girl with long green hair, dressed in a worn crop top and patchy pants, suddenly appeared at the center of the web of aura, stepping in beside the cashier. She carefully reached for and freed the ring from his grasp all without him noticing, the man still talking happily with the conjured up woman before him.
The apparent thief took a look around.
A pair of eyes, a brighter shade of red than my own, met mine, and I tilted my head, her cautious gaze widening when she realized I was staring directly at her.
Well, I'll be damned.
The illusion flickered before completely melting away, the cashier's smile turning to pure shock then panic. Yells of thief filled the store, the girl ripping her eyes from my shaded ones and making a dash for the door.
I followed after her.
Emerald was another who I'd intended on killing, her semblance a fundamentally dangerous tool. She wasn't exactly someone I could just let slip away.
XOXO
Powerstone Goal = 400
(A/N: A wild Emerald has appeared!
Anyways, someone brought up a concept involving RWBY i had no clue about in the previous chapter as well as story stuff so I got curious and looked it up. The group, characters, and semblances they were referencing came from a book. I'm going to go ahead and say that you should completely disregard all extra RWBY material in relation to this story. I love the early show and some later volumes but I never cared for or liked most of their extra content from comics to crossovers so I won't often make use of any of that unless I actually think its cool. Just a little warning so were all on the same page. That includes important lore implications too. If it was important they should've included in the main show. That's just my opinion.
The only current exception involves aura and Grimm. I noticed some people comment about it in the early chapters and just figured it was something I didn't remember but the show never says Grimm are attracted to aura, only negative emotions. That's information from an extra book. I don't mind the concept so instead of ignoring it I'm going to combine it with the in show reason. Those with aura, especially those early on in their training, release amplified emotions, including negative ones, so when they're panicking they tend to attract more Grimm. That's how it'll work in this story at least.
If you got a problem when any of that, go ahead and do us both a favor and stop reading. I don't want to be the one wasting your time.
And time to stop running my math.
The link for those who want to read ahead:
patreon .com/ thirdratewriter
See you all around!