Bounty Hunters of Vale

Chapter 3: Vale's Forest

If their master were here, he would be sent back to train his reflexes again. He didn't want to go back to that place he thinks of hell from his perspective.

'Thank god she isn't here. If she were, I would have already run away. I wonder how long I can run away from her this time?'

"Anyways, we should be close to where Ozpin told us to be."

"You seem not to like him nor Glynda at all."

Skadi stops on her track and looks at Lyle with a dead-eyed expression.

"What? Do you trust them?"

"Well... n-no, I don't. But we don't know their objective yet, so we can't be too sure if they're our enemies or not. And uhm..."

Seeing how she had scared him, Skadi let out a sigh and held her emotions back. Now it was not the right time to discuss this. They have a mission to do and are surrounded by Grimms-

"Wait... Now that I think about it, we haven't encountered any Grimms for a while now."

"Now that you've mentioned it, it's true. Grimm is creatures of darkness and would go after the people with negative feelings, but so far, none of them has shown up yet despite us radiating it."

Seeing the strange situation, they're in, both Skadi and Lyle took out their weapons and continued walking cautiously, watching for any suspicious movements.

Then they saw something flying towards them and they quickly got ready to act.

*Boom!*

As the dust cleared out, what they saw amazed them as they saw a dead body of an Ursa before it disappeared into thin air, leaving nothing behind except for the crater that it created.

"What the-"

"Hahahahahahaha!" A mad-like laugh echoes through the forest as the two bounty hunters heard it clearly. They widened their eyes as they recognized the voice as someone they knew and hadn't heard from many months ago.

Without wasting time, they both ran to the source of the voice and saw the surrounding around them destroyed with cracks on the ground.

*Fuss*

A sharp sound echoes around the air as they turn around and dodged the incoming attack from what seems like a nun wielding a chainsaw and a pole combined. Her aura leaks of madness as she doesn't seem to recognize the two people that she has just attacked.

"It's really her! Specter!" Dodging another incoming attack from Specter, Lyle used everything he could to dodge the sharp rotating blades that almost hit him several times.

Skadi came forward with her sword and went to parry Specter, giving him some time to breathe before seeing Skadi getting pushed back. He was surprised by this scene as he knew Skadi was the strongest physical between the two.

'Was it because of our last battle?'

Seeing how wild and fierce she was during her rampage on the surrounding Grimms during that time must have taken a toll on her body.

'It's all my fault.'

Realizing this, he immediately focused on the current situation and how he could use it to their advantage. Specter was in a dangerous situation and could risk be detained if not handled properly.

Forming a plan inside his head, he took out one of the knives and threw it to where the Skadi and Specter clashed.

"Skadi, disengage and fall back for now! I have a plan!" He yelled at the top of his lungs as the female orca Faunus didn't question his plan and fell back, but not before giving Specter a good punch in the face.

*Crack*

A cracking sound came from where Skadi hit Specter's face. She stumbled back and before she could do anything, a heavy pressure was pushing her down. Surrounding her were spectral knives that emit powerful gravitational forces that pull her down to the ground.

All of them were linked to a chain of a single individual, who was having a hard time breathing due to excessive use of his aura to produce so many spectral forms of his knife to hold Specter down.

His eyes were glowing, and with a tired expression, he yelled out one last time with what energy he had left.

"Skadi! Knock her out when I release the gravity! You only get one shot at this or else you're also going to get put down too!"

Skadi nodded with determination as she put all her strength into her legs as the ground beneath her cracks. Her hair swayed with the wind as her hat hides her facial expression.

"Now!"

In a span of a few seconds, time seems to have slowed down.

One second...

When Lyle gave her the signal and released his aura on the black dust crystal, Skadi was already halfway through. All her six senses that have been trained and modified since childhood brought up her full potential, allowing her to see, hear, smell, and feel everything clearly.

Two seconds...

Reaching to where Specter was laying on, Skadi brought up the back of her sword and swung it downward.

Three seconds...

Specter, who has turned her head around, saw Skadi bringing the back of her weapon towards her neck. As she was about to dodge it, something stopped her from moving. It was none other than the original dagger that Lyle planted in front of her when she was busy fighting Skadi.

She could feel the small amount of gravitational force that stopped her from moving for a moment.

And...

It was that single moment that Skadi needed to bring her weapon down and successfully knock Specter out of her consciousness.

Four seconds...

Five seconds...

Six seconds...

...

Gasping for air, Lyle fell on his butt as he quickly took a water bottle and chug it down in one go. Skadi was breathing heavily, too, though not as tired as him and still had some energy left to fight.

"Ha... Ha... Ha... It's done..." Lyle tiredly said. He was ready to end this day and go to sleep.

Skadi went and dragged Specter's unconscious body and gently leaned it toward a tree. She sat next to Lyle as they looked at each other before turning their attention to Specter.

"...Why is she here?" Lyle was the one who first asked the question both of them have been thinking about.

"Master wouldn't let her go on her own for the outside world and her own safety. So, what changed?" He continued; he couldn't think of a reason as to why another member of Abyssal Hunter was here.

***

"It seems like they had already dealt with it," Ozpin said while watching the whole battle with a scroll that was connected to a CCTV camera.

"Yes, but... the boy, who she has scared away... What should we do about it?" Glynda asked, unsure as to what they should do in a situation like this.

"Well, I think it's fine to let the three be in a group together instead of four. I doubt that poor buy would want to be in the same room as her."