The Games We Play

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

Horde

Back again, I thought as I donned my disguise. It was a simple matter now, both because I'd improved my disguise skill so much last time and because of the physical alterations of Heir of the White Tiger. I swept my finger across my status screen once we were somewhere appropriately out of the way and just like I began to change.

It was a bit odd to think about, but I hadn't really had many chances to take in the differences last time, having been busy and all—first with Penny, then with flying the White Whale, and then with the passengers on board. After that, I'd taken off the title and put it aside for two months, resuming my normal life. For all that I'd undergone something so major as to change my species, it hadn't been something I'd had many chances to take notice of.

Now, though…

Before I began applying my make up, I looked at myself, taking the alterations in. Without my mask to hide my face or my cloak shielding my body, I could see the differences clear as day as the change took hold. My hair whitened—which was useful, I supposed, since it meant I could skip the dyes—and it seemed to lengthen just a tad. Without my gauntlets in the way, I could see my claws growing in, almost delicate looking growths that belied their deadliness. My teeth shifted position in my mouth which was an unusual experience to say the least, and several grew further, sharper. The difference in my eyes wasn't as extreme as I might have expected, remaining blue though they lightened a fair number of shades and changed shape a bit.

And of course, there was the tail. A new appendage, a length of black and white just suddenly growing out of me, and it…

It looked kind of silly. Well, maybe I was a bit biased against it; it felt weird, having a fifth limb, especially one I could control so easily. It wasn't like the tail of a tiger should have been, meant to aid in balance and such more than anything else—I could move it, use it as dexterously as the prehensile tail of a monkey if not more so. It felt a lot like a third arm, just…growing out of my back. It was strange.

I wondered why I could use it that way so easily. Was it a Faunus thing? I'd never met a tailed Faunus before—I got the feeling such traits were pretty rare—but maybe it was normal for their tails to be prehensile. I mean, most animals couldn't use their tails that way, but most Faunus could see in the dark, regardless of the animal they appeared related to. Maybe this was something like that? Or maybe it was me, a result of my high Dexterity rating manifesting. Or maybe it was a status effect thing, a result of the White Tiger's Star that changed me into a Faunus and made my features more closely resemble those of Bai Hu; another form of natural weaponry like my claws and fangs. Who knows?

There were other changes, of course, minor shifts in my appearance that were more subtle—around the nose, the eyes, maybe even a bit around the jaw, the mouth. A small shift in tone, maybe a slightly different set of my shoulders…small things, really, but it was surprising how quickly they added up. Looking at myself in the mirror, I felt abruptly odd.

"I knew you had a tail last time," Adam said, standing behind me as I looked at myself. "Tiger, I guess? Did you…?"

I shrugged a shoulder, not looking away even as I wrapped the limb around my waist. Later, maybe I'd get used to it, but for now I felt more comfortable using it as a makeshift belt—I had to leave the ones I usually wore behind for this, after all. I withdrew several items from my Inventory, did some touching up and minor changes. I could leave out a few things, now that I could rely on being an actual Faunus to help my disguise go through, but I still put my hair in order, combing it into a different style before making some minor adjustments to other things.

"Title," I said at last, storing the items. My Disguise skill was high enough to reduce the time needed to a miniscule fraction of what it should have been. That done, I withdrew Dreary Midnight and Lenore, watching as the world came into even sharper focus with another pair of eyes. This, on top of my Clairvoyance, was…

"Ah," Adam said. "That's…three titles for the Bai Hu's stuff?"

"Four," I corrected as I shrugged into the cloak. "I got two in a row up in Atlas. I'll probably get at least one more when I master the thing."

"How far are you from that?"

"Six levels. I need to raise Wisdom, still, but everything else is ready," I said as I rose, fully Jian Bing once more. "Speaking of which…"

"Follow me," Adam said, turning to walk away. The moment he was sure I was following, he began to pick up speed and before long we were both running through the forests around Mistral. The darkness didn't bother either of us, nor did the terrain, and though I got the feeling that our destination was a ways out, this level of exertion wasn't enough to even make us breath heavily.

Even so, given my luck, I stayed on guard, many senses at the ready. With Lenore on, my sight was almost impossible sharp and I made sure I was ready to react the moment my senses detected danger or bloodlust. I couldn't say I minded having Adam at my back, either—I mean, if nothing else he was probably such a repressed ball of negativity that he'd draw Grimm for miles.

I felt my lips twitch upwards at the thought before Adam interrupted it.

"I saw your fight," Adam said after several minutes of running in silence.

"Against Pyrrha?" I asked, absently wondering information about what had happened in Atlas had spread. I hadn't seen any actual footage of the fight on the little TV I watched, but I kept myself busy. Well, obviously things were vague enough for people to try and impersonate the guy I was pretending to be. Given how much had been out of the way, how much had been seen at distance, and how much must have sounded plainly ludicrous, it probably wouldn't have been too hard—some planted speakers, a microphone, some smoke and mirrors…it really depended on who knew the specifics of what, but the general idea might have been easy to get across…

Adam grunted, which I took to be a yes as I refocused on him.

"What did you think?" I asked, smiling a little. "On a scale of one to ten?"

He raised one finger and I rolled my eyes without letting the smile fade.

"You've gotten stronger." He continued. "We didn't get a chance to catch up, but before the mission…well, I guess you must have gone through a lot."

"Getting whisked away on a magical Ziz ride will do that," I nearly shrugged before pausing, looking at my friend's back. After a moment, I nodded though I knew he couldn't see it. "A lot has changed. A lot had to change. Stuff happened and I had to face it alone. But I managed—I fought, I won, I came back. It's fine."

Adam hummed a noncommittal note. I thought that was the end of it when he didn't say anything. I hadn't really considered it until now, but I guess I still didn't know how much Blake and Adam knew—about Atlas, I mean. We'd gotten separated in pretty insane circumstances and when I returned we'd only got to chat for a little bit before separating again. I never did tell them what happened and I think they might have avoided the topic intentionally. He didn't know about what Ziz had done to the White Whale, how I'd gotten it up and running, probably not even about Penny. The only sources of information they'd have had would have been some White Fang members that would have had no idea what was going on, a few awed civilians that might have glimpsed the fight, and maybe a few stolen reports. All told, not a lot to go on.

And then I waltz back in and go crazy in an arena, fighting the regional champ to a standstill. Might have been enough to make someone wonder exactly what happened to me.

Or maybe this was something else. If the White Fang really was interested in Mistral and did have some relation to the families, then what did that display mean for them? Had my grandmother been showing me off as a warning? A reminder? An advertisement? Something else?

I knew as well as anyone the power of perception—had exploited it viciously whenever I could, letting people see me as dangerous, powerful, all-knowing, mysterious, and whatever else. Even so, I found myself abruptly wondering how I looked in the eyes of the people closest to me. What had Adam and Blake thought when a monster rose from a burning sphere to assault my enemies? What about my mother and grandmother? It was only a matter of time before my sister's saw, maybe even some of the folks back home who'd known me once, back when I was nothing. What would they think of me now?

Food for thought.

"Oh, are you done whining about it?" Adam said at last, breaking the growing silence with an evasion. "I was just saying you'd gotten stronger; I didn't expect you to get emotional about it. I guess not that much has changed."

I snorted but allowed it.

"Yeah, I'm stronger now," I said, going along with it with my own twist. "Everything from the mission and then two month's training with mom…I spent a lot of points and got a few skills. Not too bad, if I do say so myself. I mean, I don't like to brag or anything, but damn I'm awesome. Like, if you'd been there…man, it was amazing. And just think, a thousand years from now maybe they'll remember you as that one guy I knew from that thing."

I'm pretty sure Adam rolled his eyes at that and I took that as a victory.

"So," I continued after a pause. "Any idea what we're gonna do first?"

Adam was silent for a moment at that and then shook his head as he began laughing quietly under his breath.

"Should I take that as a yes?" I wondered, eying him as we suddenly came to a halt. He tilted his head back and took a deep breath before letting it out slowly.

"I was just thinking…" He mused, surprising me with an honest smile. "It's a little stupid, but since it's here anyway…want to try this again? For old times' sake?"

I looked past him and immediately saw what he was referring to. He'd stopped us quite a ways away, far enough off to avoid notice for now even if we hadn't been hidden by the trees. From here, it probably couldn't see us.

Too bad. I could see it even if it should have been little more than a speck in the distance.

I snorted once and then it turned into a chuckle of my own; I could still see the half-smile on Adam's face as well, looking a little worried and a lot excited.

"I didn't take you for the sentimental type," I mused, glancing at him with a raised eyebrow. "You sure?"

"I'm sure," He said. "If it's like this I can just imagine I'm stabbing you in the face."

"We did that before, as I recall." I noted.

"Yeah—but this might actually be fun."

"Fun," I said, nodding at the word. "Fun. Yeah…maybe just a bit."

"You come a long way, you said," He remained. "You up for this?"

"Oh," I smiled. "Absolutely."

In the distance, the Giant Nevermore soared high above the forest, black wings on dark air.

Two and a half months ago, when I was first attacked by a Giant Nevermore, it had been the most terrifying experience of my life. I'd kept calm thanks to the Gamer's Mind and won with some quick thinking, my skills, Adam's help, and, I could admit it, a lot of luck. I'd burnt my power on Bai Hu's techniques, spending it freely to try and overcome what I found myself facing, but even literally hundreds of blows had barely managed to do a thing until I'd put myself at risk and jumped down it's throat. In fairness to myself, it had only been my second time really fighting, and I'd been massively under leveled. Even so, I'd managed to scrape out a win despite the odds, using its own weaknesses against it; if not for that, I would probably have died.

That was then.

This is now.

"Levant," I said, lips turning up into a fierce, anticipating smile. The dematerialized Elemental appeared before me, bright smile on her face as my power gathered. I hadn't had her with me last time, but now she was here, wielding power over the very air itself. Better yet, equipment bonuses combined with months of training to make her stronger then she'd ever been.

Without another word, I ran, skills activating to hasten my approach. I rushed towards my target, all but flying through the woods; with my Air Aura, Haste, and the White Tiger's Tread all activated, even Adam had to push himself to keep up—and I was just getting started.

"We got a plan?" He grunted, a step behind me.

"Bring it down, tear it apart," I said promptly.

"It as the benefit of simplicity," Adam acknowledged with a sigh. "Do you want to bring it down or should I?"

I glanced over my shoulder and smiled at him, relying on my enhanced peripheral vision to avoid obstacles.

"I never did get a chance to show it to you, did I?" I asked. "The White Tiger's Five Hundred Years."

I activated the skill as I spoke the words and left my friend quickly behind. Power surged through me along with pain, the world coming into a vicious sort of clarity. I could feel the effect on my HP and MP both, as the technique devoured an enormous amount of power to hasten me ever onwards. I knew logically that if not for the Gamer's Body, each use of the skill would result in horrible consequences to my body, but for me…for me it was simply a major initial cost followed by a steady payment over time. Even so, I couldn't deny that the effect was exhausting, despite all the training I'd done with it.

Which made it no less awesome to experience. As the switch flipped, the world around me changed, almost slowing down as if halting to let me pass. With Lenore and my Clairvoyance boosting my ability to perceive and process even further, it was difficult to describe how the world changed. I felt power in my limbs, giving me this amazing speed even as it seemed to wait for a target to rip to shreds. With every step, with every moment, I felt the power I had drawn out of the history books and it felt amazing. My normal self, even with all the training I'd done, felt feeble and clumsy in comparison.

I couldn't deny I missed this, a little bit. Being disguised, becoming someone else. Like this, it didn't matter what I did—I didn't have to pay heed to any limits. I was the guy who could do anything, after all; the mysterious and amazing supervillain genius fighter. That was a complete lie, granted, but people thought it was true so it didn't matter what I could explain, what I could do.

Sometimes lies could be as powerful as truths, after all. Other times, maybe even more powerful.

So I ran. I spotted other creatures of Grimm as I did so, rushing by Beowolves and Ursa with their noses down as they tracked something. I remained focused on my target, but nonetheless reached out as I passed them by, grabbing a Beowolf in one hand and an Ursa in the other and letting whiplash do the rest. I dropped the corpses after several paces and kept moving as snarls and howls erupted behind me and the creatures gave chase.

As I moved further into the woods, the Grimms' numbers increased, until there seemed to be several in sight at all times, just a step away no matter how far I went. I slaughtered whichever ones happened to be in easy reach, ending them without distinction as I went by just to get their attention, to make them follow me. For them to be here in such numbers, and in so many different species, the White Fang's base must have been nearby, drawing them in. If so, it was better that I drew their attention, wasn't it?

Beyond that, though, I paid them little mind as I kept my eyes on the prize and came to a halt when I deemed myself close enough. I didn't have to look to know that Levant was beside me again the moment I stopped, forming from the air that touched on everything—just as I didn't need to say a word for her to know what I wanted. Giggling joyously, she cast a hand up at the air, sending invisible currents shifting above us. I didn't have a handy Bullhead this time around, but I didn't need one, either.

I already had everything I needed for this. It hadn't been the crash that had brought down the Giant Nevermore the first time, after all, but my Aura, used in such a way that it countered the most basic principles of flight. And now…now I had something even better. Levant moved her hands like she was shaping something or playing an instrument, power gathering like a storm as she did—and in seconds, the air struck out at the creature that flew upon it.

It was a quiet thing—for that first instant, at least. There was nothing visible to the process, nothing that draw attention. No lights, not even any real sound, just a shift in invisible air, above and below a set of wings. And yet the Nevermore, a might expression of the creatures of Grimm, fell from the sky with an ear-piercing shriek, as surely as if a massive blade and cleaved away both its wings. It flapped them desperately, trying to fly again, but to no avail.

But as it fell, I rose. I launched myself high into the air, a great Lunging leap assisted further by more of Levant's power until I almost flew, and at the apex of my climb I met the beast with a smile. Matching eyes met from matching masks, and I felt its attention upon me.

It didn't matter. This creature, a monster that had once seemed so frightening, was…nothing to me now. I'd seen what Penny could do and Pyrrha—even glimpsed the power of my mother, in small part. I'd received a, heh, grim reminder of how horrifying this world could be when I saw Ziz, a being that could have erased me on accident, had I been a bit more unlucky. This thing, a giant bird with two forms of attack that I could easily deny it…it was strictly little league, compared to that.

And though once its power might have been intimidating…that was a long, long time ago. But I still wanted a rematch.

So I grasped its beak in one hand, flashed it a smile, and pulled myself into its open mouth. Its shriek muffled and died as I slide into its gullet and stopped my descent towards its stomach with a grasping claw.

Then, with my free hand, I punched through the wall of its esophagus. That was one of the many things about me that was different now—over two hundred points distributed among all my stats. Only about forty of those had gone into Strength, granted, but that still meant that my rating in the stat had more than doubled since that fight. And that was just the base stat, before any bonuses came into play.

And there were a lot of bonuses.

I felt the Nevermore begin to struggle around me, trying to escape from a threat it had no way to avoid. I tore my hand free and then went wild within the beast, my claws raking, ripping, shredding the vulnerable flesh within it as I tore myself free from its throat and then out of its body altogether. I climbed out of it after slitting its throat from within, grasping ahold of wet, staining feathers as the Nevermore tumbled through the air in its death throes. I gave it a glance over, just to be sure, and then left it to die, leaping away from its falling, fighting body.

I came down hard on the back of an Ursa, things snapping beneath my feet as it was crushed. I stepped off of it in almost the same instant, a kick to the head putting an end to its feeble struggles, and placed my hand on the head of the Ursa beside it as the creature turned towards me at last. I pushed it down with main strength, until its chin touched the ground—and kept pushing until things broke, liquids welling between my fingers. I shook them clean as I righted myself and walked past a Beowolf, taking its head with me as I did, and absently looked around for the next target.

A whisper tickled my ears, carried on the wind by Levant, and I turned my focus in that direction. A Boarbatusk charged me as I did, but I grasped it by a tusk and hauled it up so my other hand could tear through its soft belly and pulverize whatever counted as a heart inside it. Jumping up to a tree branch, I pulled the wings off a flock of Nevermore as I passed, tossing the remains aside as I moved through the trees, before coming down at the edge of by far the largest crowd of Grimm I'd ever seen—so large in fact, that it hid what they were gathered around.

Not that I couldn't guess, I supposed.

I Lunged into it without hesitation, cleaving my way through the horde with successive bounds that took me further and further in. I scythed down half a pack of Beowolves, beheaded another pair of Ursa, flicked arching blades towards the flying Nevermore, and kept going until I reached the center. A group of four guards stood by what a quick Observation revealed to be a hidden passage, trying to hold back the assault with guns and doing pretty well, all things considered. Still, the Grimm were advancing and their sheer number countered the guard's efforts. I saw one with an open scroll, who another Observation confirmed to be panicking, while the others were firing wildly into the advancing crowd.

Fear breeding fear. What had once probably been under control now anything but as the guards own emotions worked against them, drawing more monsters. In all likelihood, one had gotten scared first and then the rising wave of Grimm had sparked the feeling in another until it snowballed. It wasn't an uncommon problem for town and village guardsmen, or so I'd head, but it was a problem. They were probably calling for help right now, but…

I came up beside a Beowolf charging one of the guards, backhanding its side hard enough to crush its ribcage. Four steps took me into the path of a rushing Boarbatusk who I kicked in the face hard enough to lift fully off the ground and then punched in the chest hard enough that bits of it spewed from around the wound. Stepping away to put the guardsmen all roughly behind me, I planted my feet and flicked my wrist once, twice, ten times, and then a hundred and more. Each strike took shape as a Far Strike, a quick expression of razor sharp power that severed heads, limbs, leaving the monsters dead or broken in their wake. They fell in waves as I worked, dropping where they'd stood until they stretched out in an arc around us as the last of them went down.

Only then did I stop, letting Bai Hu's penultimate technique run its course and then finally fade. In the distance, I heard the Giant Nevermore crash to earth, struggles ending as it finally died.

Your level has increased by one! Your level has increased by one!

I took a deep breath and exhaled as I felt my health and power get restored by the increase in level. I shook my fingers again to shake loose what now clung to them, but then decided it was pointless. My skin, my hair, my cloak—my entire body had been stained by the things I'd killed and I dripped with it. Behind me, I could feel the shift in the guardsmen, mixed relief and terror taking hold as they waited in silence, refusing to speak lest they draw my attention. I was quiet for a minute myself, waiting, until…

"Adam," I said, Levant carrying the words strangely as they rippled outwards, not loud but carrying unnaturally despite that. My friend came into sight a few seconds later, absently cleaning his sword. "You're late."

The words were almost teasing, but the tone was completely serious, focus.

Adam looked around and then at me, staring hard at me. He'd already put his mask back on, so I couldn't see it but…I could guess what his expression was probably like.

At last, he nodded to acknowledge the words.

"You move fast," He admitted, but there was a weight to the word that I didn't miss. From someone else, it might not have meant anything, but from Adam…there was amazement in the word—and sadness and something else.

I nodded once in return, getting it, and turned around to look at the guardsmen as Adam came to my side. Again, I was silent, expectant. They stared at me, fear giving slowly away to awe as the reality of the situation sank in.

"This is—" Adam began to say as the silence stretched on, but I cut him off for the sake of appearances.

"They know who I am," I said without emotion, as if it were a simple statement of fact. "Or they ought to."

The guards stiffened suddenly at my words, looking at me again.

"Sir!" They said, scrambling into a salute.

I gave them an acknowledging glance and then stepped into the White Fang base, unquestioned.

"Showoff," I heard Adam mutter as we left the guard's behind, voice quite enough that I wouldn't have heard but for Levant.

"Hey, I'm always fighting people fifteen or twenty or whatever levels above me who are stronger then they look," I answered in the same way, my Air Elemental making sure only he could hear them. "Let me enjoy this while I can."

It was like revisiting the old levels of a game, remembering how hard things had been, how easy they were now—it was fun, cathartic even. But…after you're done…the game continues. I didn't need any magical senses to tell me I was walking into something very delicate and dangerous.

But they helped.