Akashic

"Do a superhero landing do a superhero landing" Ashe crossed her fingers as she floated behind the still plummeting Arthur.

Even if she begged harder than she already had, Arthur would never try a superhero landing, yes he may be much stronger than before, his aura may work on healing and defending him… sometimes, but he wasn't stupid enough to do one now, instead he invoked cross, transforming it into it's α form and stabbing his four claws into the cliff face leaving five long gouges in it.

This went on for a few second before Arthur's legs buckled as he landed on the ground, with enough force that it sent a shiver up his spine which he quickly shook off, otherwise he was unharmed by the move.

"Eh, good enough" Ashe shrugged, "So, which way first, to the north?" she asked.

"Sure, lets get deeper into the forest, I also want to talk to Byakko, she said she'd be waiting for me in here, I'm sure we'll run into her eventually, or she'll find me" he mumbled, looking up when he heard a bell like yawn above him of the Siren who was lazily swimming after him.

"Right, you, are you ever going to dissipate? I'd expect Winter's semblance to have disappeared already" he asked the siren, not really expecting an answer, yet somehow he got one in the form of the siren wrapping its arms around his head and forcing its lips upon his.

Arthur's eyes shot open at the sudden feeling, but soon turning confused as the siren then almost instantly dissipated into the wind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Contract formed

Curatrix

Name: ???

Titles: [Curatrix] [Evolved Grimm]

Race: Grimm – Siren

Age: 1 Day

Skills: Sirens Song (Can cause various effects depending on sung song)

Abilities: Illusionary form (Sirens are capable of altering what people see of them, this can even include invisibility when outside of combat)

.

Unique circ.u.mstance detected

Contracted being summoned by another

.

Contract formed

Pars

Winter Schnee

Subject: Unnamed {Grimm – Siren}

Contract Altered

Title: [Pars]

Granted to unnamed {Grimm – Siren}

____________________________________________________

Hidden Challenge complete

A Sirens Kiss: Be granted the kiss of a siren

Reward: {Songstress of the deeps ocarina}

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"…"

"Wow, now you're going for the badguys, you certainly don't differentiate between who get's your loving" Ashe began to chuckle, "By the way, when are you going to find a way to summon me? There's only so much an Ashe can do with limited funding and a bunch of reruns, I'd really like to get some fresh air for once"

____________________________________________________

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Contract formed

Pars

Arthur Fielder

Subject: Unnamed {Grimm – Siren}

Due to hosts want to keep knowledge about the internal working of the tome secret.

Silentum Contract invoked, do not resist

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"… what is this" Winter muttered as she read through the glowing golden page that had just appeared in front of her, a needle soon appeared from the page and launched towards Winter, who quickly pulled out her rapier and deflected the needle and jumped away from the page, her rapier poised and ready to attack once again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Resistance detected

Resistance is futile

Accept your fate

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The writing on the page had changed, becoming strangely threatinging for a floating golden a4 piece of paper, becoming even more threatening when five needles began to shoot out of the page, each moving in a single line, luckily not curving or following Winter as she dodged and deflected them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Resistance still detected

Cease Resistance

Accept your fa…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before the mysteriously threatening evil floating golden page could finish it's writing Winter had charged forward, cutting it diagonally from the top right to the bottom left. The page soon disappearing seconds later as it 'popped' and ceased to exist.

Leaving Winter standing silently in the luckily empty combat hall, staring at where the page once was, "The general should hear… about… this…" her words began to trail off as numerous golden lights appeared and surrounded her.

____________________________________________________

"You okay there? You've been madly cackling to yourself for the last twenty minutes" Arthur glanced to where Ashe was next to him, trying his best to ignore the insane cackling of her as he aimed his cannon at the horde of Beowolve charging him.

"I am perfectly fine" Ashe coughed and hit her c.h.e.s.t to clear her throat, "I was just playing a game… yes… a game" she cackled once again her eyes trailing to another screen she had open showing the final moments of her 'game' where she finally 'impaled' her 'enemy' and collected their blood.

"I don't even want to know" he sighed firing one last shot at the incoming Ursa major, killing it.

"Truly such a strange Manspawn you are… Arthur…" the familiar feminine voice of Byakko resounded through the now Grimm corpse filled clearing.

"I was wondering when you'd show up" Arthur laughed as he looked to Byakko, a frown on his face when he saw half her face still heavily disfigured from the acid of the Ōmukade, "You still look hurt…"

"Yes… what did you expect?... I have been shut from the waters, the beasts around here do not hold enough to even allow me to regain my frost…" she grumbled and walked towards the dissipating corpse of the Ursa major, her mouth opening wide as she bit into the side of it, completely halting its disintegration, it's body soon disappearing into smoke that was inhaled by Byakko.

"Barely even enough for my eye…" she growled as the molten mask that covered her missing eye began to writhe and open up a hole revealing a dimly glowing red orb. "It will work… for now…" she turned to Arthur, her nose pointing into the air as she began to smell the air, "You smell of… fish… and… that silver eyed girl…", a twitch appeared in Arthur's right eye at the mentioning that he smelt like Ruby.

"I remember my first mate… he didn't live long…" she sighed and moved to flat, grass covered part of the clearing where she lay down, "Come, let us speak… you have questions I presume?"

"Yeah, I do" Arthur sat on the ground next to Byakko, who was much, much larger than he himself, "First I guess, what are you? You're a grimm, that I can see, but you have 'sentience' you're not blood hungry like all the other ones"

Byakko snorted, her body bouncing when she did, "That's because I am a grimm that has lived much, much longer than most ever do… we grimm only begin to form our sentience between five hundred and one thousand years… I… am 735, one of the very few to ever pass 500 and the only of my species to last past 600" she said

"As for why I am not trying to… eat you… that is because I have no need to, you… are like me… therefore you are not something for me to kill" she gruffed, "But others I would be more than happy to kill…"

Arthur seemed unfazed by her blatant admission that she'd kill others apart from Arthur, "when we were fighting that centipede, you said it was corrupted and lost sight of 'your' the grimms purpose, what did you mean?"

"Yes, I suppose I did… we grimm, we have existed longer than man… we came to be long before the brothers arrived… we wandered this world… our bodies untouchable and nonexistant for there was nothing for us to touch… but oneday… two brothers arrived… they brought life to this world…"

"And we grimm… we were born together with that life… our bodies gained the form of our waters… we were still untouchable to the beings that resided on the world above as we had buried ourselves under the earth, watching as the world was brought to the state it is now… yet one day… the brother of darkness grew tired of his brothers 'life' and such he 'created' us in the form we are today, from our waters he formed the first grimm and gave them the task of destruction… whatever his brother built we were tasked to destroy…"

"Yet we grimm were no fools… we saw value to 'life'… and so we decided not to destroy… but to balance… the brothers were not the first to arrive on this world… those before had done the exact same… one grew life from his palm… whilst the other jealous at his inability to create, destroyed everything… turning all creation into us"

"And from thenst on we have devoted ourselves to ensure this world shall live… in balance… that is our purpose…" Arthur was left speechless by Byakko's story, his mind racking against itself as it came to understand.

"But… many years ago… the brothers left… abandoning this world, the brother of darkness infuriated by the usurpers actions destroyed all her brethren, leaving the world unbalanced for centuries… eventually… man returned to this world… shattered and broken… their kingdoms nothing but dust under their feet, yet like all man, they grew, they joined together and rebuilt…"

"And so we did… we saw man grow… we let them return the balance to what it once was… but man is greedy and fickle… always wanting more… and that is where we came in… we attacked their cities… forced them to build walls… we attacked villages… they taught themselves to fight against us… forever in a loop of balance, when they grew warriors, we raised ourselves… we became more diverse… to challenge and test the new warriors, if they became strong… as did we… if they became weak… so too did we"

"This, this is, wow" Arthur was thoroughly amazed, "But… I'm guessing what you meant by 'corrupted' is Salem, or the 'Usurper' as you called her, she took control of the grimm and broke the balance, only wanting stronger grimm, not balance"

"Yes, Salem… she fell into our waters… bathed in the essence of our being and came out unscathed due to her curse… she became a mixture of grimm and human… her humanity caused her to become greedy… whilst our essence soon came under her grasp… now… we are nothing but her pets… puppets for her means…" her voice became sad as she let out a sigh.

"And you broke free from her 'strings'? that's why you can't heal yourself properly, you've lost access to the waters she now controls" he asked.

"Yes… that comes from my mother… Salem although she may control us… we have our means of resisting her control, grimm like me… those birthed by mothers and not the waters… we are stronger than most as our bodies are real… not that formed from the waters… we still return to the waters when we die… but we are also the only grimm capable of gaining sentience as our minds are unclouded by the usurpers control… I am the second generation in my line born from a mother… as such her control was near non-existent during my early days… but once I had come to learn of the truth I sealed my mind from her… locking myself away from the waters in the process… becoming weaker…" Byakko went silent, her eyes turning sharp as she began to sniff the air

"Go… I can smell your mate… she is atop the cliff along with another… a Schnee… an older one…" Byakko stood up and began to walk into the forest, "Stay alive Arthur… you may be the balance that this world needs…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Quest created:

Balanced, as all things should be

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

********************************************************************

Alternate Chapter names: [Byakko's story] [Weirdest Weather]

____________________________________________________

Discord: discord.gg/dXvg8F3

Paypal: paypal.me/Lasarusofthelibrary

P,atreon: p,atreon.com/Lasarus