Gehrman was dead. That, Moon Demon, was dead. I had slaughtered everything in my way for what? Glory? Bloodlust? A false sense of heroics? It didn't matter. Either way the past would be the past. I thought Gehrman had gone insane, like many Hunters before him had, and needed to be put down when he asked to kill me. I immediately refused the offer, but he was ready for something like that to happen. It was so vivid, my long and drawn out battle with The First Hunter.

After defeating him I thought it would be over, but I was sorely mistaken Something came down from the moon, I was drawn in and wanted it to let it have me, but that feeling immediately disappeared as soon as it embraced me. Something happened and my thoughts and free will suddenly came back. I pushed back the beast and it snarled at me. I knew it wanted a fight, and I would happily oblige. The battle was somehow harder than Gehrman, the nightmare was fierce, but I bested it, like every beast before it.

I knew something was wrong the moment that the nightmare fell, though. My body felt like it was falling apart, my bones felt like they were breaking, my brain felt as if it were going to explode. But I resisted. I screamed out as loud as I could, and attempted to fight whatever was happening to my body. It felt like years before I noticed that I wasn't in pain anymore, not trying to fight whatever tried to take over my body, but even after all of that I looked… different.

I was taller for one. My normal 6' frame had shot up at least 7 inches. I wasn't surprised when my Hunter gear didn't properly fit me anymore, but I could just get another set from the bath messengers. I looked at my reflection in the Blade of Mercy and pulled my scarf down to see if my face had changed at all. I was surprised to see that my short beard had gone from a dirty blond to a jet black. My eyes stayed the same, though, the right eye blue and the left green. Nobody knew why they were like that, and I was often called a freak and beaten up by others for it when I was younger.

I continued looking at my face and saw no other differences besides the new hair color and a slightly paler skin tone.

"What has happened to me?" I quietly asked myself as I started to walk out of the field and toward the doll. I saw something the the corner of my eye, though, and looked to my right. I saw the scythe that Gehrman had tried to kill me with. I walked up to it and picked it up. It was… surprisingly lightweight for how large it was. I knew it was some sort of trick weapon just by looking at it, so I looked over it to see if there was anything to detach. It took some time but I finally saw that I could take the blade off of the scythe, and it looked like some sort of longsword. I folded up the handle and put it on my back.

"Alright, I need to leave this godforsaken place now. I can no longer stand it." I said as I started to walk out of the field again. Nothing stopped me that time and I returned to the path. I saw the Doll looking at me with a blank expression on her face, like usual.

"Hello, good Hunter. I see you are well" She said with the same monotone voice that she always used.

"Hello, Doll" I responded curtly "And yes, I am fine, though I had to kill Gehrman and some sort of nightmare."

"I see. You did seem… troubled when you walked out of the grove. May I ask why you have grown so tall?"

"Well, I changed after I killed that nightmare. My hair darkened and I grew much taller. I don't know how, but I do feel much stronger."

"What did the beast look like, if I may ask?"

"It was indescribable. A mess of legs and tentacles. It tried to grab me and I was strangely allured to it, but I resisted and killed it."

"I see… It seems that you fought a Great One, good Hunter" The Doll giggled a bit and sighed. "And yet you did not transform into one. Interesting. Did anything happen to you after you had slain the beast?"

"Well a surging pain erupted across most of my body and I felt like I was changing into something new, it felt as if my bones were breaking and rearranging themselves, my skin melting off. I don't know how long I fought it, but the pain eventually subsided and my body changed."

"Most interesting, other things may have changed inside of you, Hunter. Things unimaginable. You may have become partly Great One."

I was shocked. Was I now some sort of God? I just thought that my looks changed, but it seemed that wasn't the case. I smiled a little bit at this thought, though. I knew I wasn't a full-fledged Great One, only partly.

"What does this mean? For me, at least?" I asked the Doll, genuinely curious.

"I don't really know, dear Hunter, but there is no doubt that you are immensely more powerful now than you were." I was surprised at that statement. I was already immensely powerful before, being able to take on the most vicious of foes.

"Thank you for the information, Doll, but I must go back to Yharnam and think on this while slaughtering beasts. I do need to train with this new scythe, after all."

"Then farewell, good Hunter."

I swiftly turned around and started walking toward the tombstone to Yharnam and traveled to the Cathedral Ward to test out my new weapon on some weak prey.

…..

A week had passed since my "Ascension" as I liked to call it. The moment I started fighting I could see the new power that I possessed. Blood soaked my Hunter gear at all times, with me never needing to go back to the dream for anything. Beasts came at me in droves that I was unaccustomed to, however, and I had to adapt accordingly. A horde killed me once on my first day, when I was still unaccustomed to my new power. The looming red moon in the sky made everything seem much more atmospheric for my slaughter, too, and I appreciated it for the first time since the veil was broken.

I didn't know why the beasts suddenly started appearing in larger numbers, but I just assumed that they were attracted to my power. I was already masterful with the scythe, or Burial Blade, as I soon found out it was called. The slaughter did start to get tedious after awhile, though, so I decided to finally head back to the Dream so I could let Doll power me up some more with the countless blood echoes I had accumulated. I fished out a bold hunter's mark from my pocket and focused on it and awoke inside of the Dream.

"Strange" I mutter "I usually awake next to one of the lamps" I look around and saw that everything was normal. I walked up to Doll and ask about powering up. She obliged and focused the echoes into my soul.

"What will it be this time, Hunter?" She asks.

"That scythe tires me out after a few swings, so I could use a boost to my endurance" I responded.

"Very well." I feel the power coursing through me and suddenly felt like I could sprint laps around the whole of Yharnam.

"Thank you, Doll."

"No problem, good Hunter. It's my job here, after all." She responded with the closest thing she could make to a smile.

I started walking away when the Doll called for me again. I turned around to face her and tilted my head to the right, silently asking her 'what?'

"A new tombstone appeared on the path today. I don't know where it leads, but it definitely leads somewhere, I can tell by the amount of messengers crowding around it's base. I would suggest that you check it out and see where it leads."

"Alright, it could lead to a previously closed off part of Yharnam that we haven't been able to get to." I doubted what I had said, but there was still the possibility.

"And Hunter, the new set of armor you asked the messengers to craft for you is ready." I smiled as she said this. I could finally get out of the undersized and torn gear that I had been wearing for the past week.

I walked up to the bath messengers and asked for my new gear. They happily obliged and gave it to me. It had the same look as my Yahar'gul set, but with some small differences. Most notably that the metal faceplate was removed in favor of a scarf, like the one on my standard Hunter set. I wanted to look like a demon, to terrify any enemy. I happily undressed right there and put the new gear on. It fit perfectly on my slim yet tall form.

"Alright Doll, it would seem that I am ready to head out. Wish me luck, wherever I go." I said with a tone of excitement in my voice. I could almost taste the blood that would soon soak my new cloak.

I walked up to the tombstone and gently brushed my fingers across it, willing myself to teleport to the one place listed on the tombstone; Emerald Forest.

…..

I woke up slowly, taking a second to remember where I was. After a minute or two I slowly pushed myself up and opened my eyes. I was surrounded by green. On the ground, in the trees, everywhere. I hadn't seen that much since I had arrived in Yharnam. The thing that stood out the most though, was the fact that it was daytime. I hadn't seen the sun in what felt like years, the closest I got was gazing upon the Blood Moon.

"Amazing" I whispered under my breath. The sun was almost a forgotten memory by this point. I was drawn out of my stupor when I noticed glowing red eyes appear in the bushes around me. I smirked a bit under my scarf and pulled out my Burial Blade, immediately putting it into scythe mode, and prepared to fight the beasts. I could sense many of them surrounding me, trying to turn me into their next meal. There were at least 20 of them, if not more.

The moment I saw one of them charge at me was when I made my move. I waited until the beast was almost upon me and dodged its charge, swiping down with my scythe as I did so. It was almost immediately cut in two, and dissolved a few seconds later. The rest seemed to hesitate for a moment before charging out as a mass. I dodged one and decapitated it, swinging my scythe back around me and into the back of a second beast.

"This is almost fair." I said, with mirth in my voice.

…..

Elsewhere, a middle aged man sitting at his desk observed this strange man fight a very large pack of Grimm from a hidden camera in the Emerald Forest. It intrigued him, seeing how this man appeared out of nowhere, just suddenly fading in accompanied by a bright flash of light.

"Interesting… I may have to send a team of Huntsman out to find this man, see what he wants." He said with a calm voice and continued watching the carnage with a keen interest.

…..

The slaughter was done. At least 20 lay dead in the clearing, dissolving into nothing after a few seconds, with several others fleeing for their lives. It all took less than 3 minutes.

"Strange, beasts of the Scourge don't usually flee from me, but I'm in a new area, anything is possible." I said. Strange, I didn't feel the bloodlust that I usually feel right after a battle, probably because all of the blood that the beasts spilt dissolved after a few seconds. I looked around again, trying to find a direction to go. I could see no clear path, so I decided to just head in a random direction until I found something of interest.

I walked for several hours and was slightly dismayed at not finding anything. How far had I gone? I was not used to being in such an open space, traveling through Yharnam for such a long time. I decided to make camp in some random tree in the forest when night fell. It seemed tall and sturdy enough to hide me from any other beasts that may wander by. An easy way I could go into the Hunter's Dream, as I found out, was to go to sleep. I wouldn't be able to buy anything there, but that wasn't what I needed to do, anyways. I carved a small arrow into the tree to point out what direction I had been going in, and slowly started climbing the tree.

I quickly drifted off to sleep after I sat with a branch in between my legs to hold me up while I slept. I opened my eyes and found myself in the usual spot where I would wake up in the Dream. I walked toward the Doll and spoke up.

"Hello there, Doll" I said with a small smile on my face, "Could you power me up a bit while I'm sleeping?"

"No problem, good Hunter" she responded, "What is it you need?"

"I need my reflexes and general dexterity boosted. My acrobatics were off during that fight."

She didn't respond, just kneeled down, closed her eyes, and channeled the power of the blood echoes into my soul, making me feel instantly more powerful.

"Thank you, but I must wake soon. It is almost morning, wherever I am."

"Then wake up peacefully, Hunter, and may you find respite in the waking world."

I woke up quickly with the morning sun shining in my eyes. I slowly opened them and saw the sunrise in the distance. It was one of the sights that I missed from my previous life, or whatever I could remember of it, anyways. I quickly climbed down the tree and started walking in that same path as last night by following the arrow I left in the tree. It took another few hours to find anything, but when I did I was pleasantly surprised. I saw some sort of old amphitheater with small pedestals inside of it.

"Well at least something used to live in this area. I was getting worried that I was just wasting my time here, looking for some sort of civilization in vain." I muttered to myself. I decided to rest here for the time being, if only so I could train and test out my new levels of dexterity.

I walked up to a random tree at the edge of the clearing and sound at it with my scythe to test the trees durability. To none of my surprise, however, the scythe chopped through the wood like it would through flesh. It was really not its fault, though, as the scythe could chop through almost anything with a clean cut. I probably would never find out how the blade was forged to give it this level of cutting power and durability.

Since I couldn't really do anything with relation to hitting wood with my scythe I decided to to the next best thing, practice my combat dodges, acrobatics, and speed while holding my scythe in its full form. I got a good two hours of practice in before I heard something in the distance. It sounded like talking.

I was surprised that others would be near me when not three hours before I was losing hope that anything that wasn't a beast lived in the area. I quickly climbed up a large tree and tried to get above whoever was walking through the forest. I could make out at least three different voices, two male, one female, and was within viewing distance of them.

They were dressed in some sort of white combat suit with a strange symbol of a red beast head and three claw marks behind it on their backs. They also wore masks over their eyes, probably trying to hide themselves from someone or something. This already put me on edge, but their conversation below me made my blood boil.

"C'mon, we're too close to Beacon, we need to get farther out into the forest before we can contact base." One of them, the female, said to the others. "We can't be found and captured."

"I know!" One of the men yelled in a loud whisper. "If were found carrying even one of these stolen dust bombs we would be thrown in prison from life!" I glared down at them from the top of the trees, but kept quiet, to see if they would say anything else.

"I know we're planning on detonating these somewhere in one of the cities, so why do we have to leave the area? Why not just do it instantly? The other man said, looking at the female that apparently led them.

"Because the police will be on alert for some time, and so will the civilians. Once the heat dies down we can take our revenge."

At this point I knew they deserved death, voluntarily killing civilians was on par with the beasts and the mad hunters. I silently dropped down behind them, and slowly crept up to them. None of them noticed me, as they were to busy discussing their plans. Suddenly one of the men turned around and saw me.

"What are you doing there!" He yelled at me, pointing his rifle at me. The other two immediately turned around at the commotion and pointed their rifles at me, too. I kept my head down and my weapon sheathed.

"I said what are you doing! If you don't talk I will kill you!" He yelled at me. I grinned a bit under my scarf and looked up.

"I haven't tasted blood in days. Thank you for supplementing me in my time of need." I pulled out my scythe and angled it toward them. "Now prepare to die." And then the massacre started. With amazing speed I swiftly bisected one at the hip. Strange, I felt some kind of resistance for a second before I cut through him.

The other two looked at their fallen comrade in horror, the remaining male almost vomiting at the sight of his former teammates body cut in two. I quickly got behind the female while she was distracted. They looked back up and saw that I was gone. I smirked, and stabbed the female in the back with the blade, piercing her heart and killing her almost instantly. The remaining male looked ready to piss himself, and I laughed an evil laugh.

He immediately dropped his rifle and attempted to run away from me, but I was to fast. He barely got 3 feet before two knifes imbedded themselves in his back. He was surprisingly still alive. He looked like he was about to have a heart attack while looking at my imposing figure stalk toward him, scythe pointing down at the ground.

"Mercy! Please! I have a wife and two kids! They won't be able to survive without me!" He was practically begging at this point. I looked down at him and said one word that shattered his hopes.

"No." I put my scythe away, picked him up by the collar of his shirt, reared my right hand back, and violently shoved my hand through his chest, tearing out his heart and crushing it in my fist. I dropped the body to the ground and walked away, back to the old amphitheater in the woods.

"Pathetic." I told myself. "Those excuses for human beings were not worth the blood in their veins. I almost feel disgusted to be coated in such weak blood." I growled out.

…..

"Oh my…" The middle aged man said in a hushed tone. He didn't think that the mysterious man would kill those White Fang members in such a brutal fashion. He expected him to knock them all out and take them to the Vale PD, not murder them. He pressed down on the intercom button on his desk to talk to his assistant downstairs.

"Glynda, could you please bring me Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck? I also need you to come up with them. This is very important, I don't care if the if the Professor and Doctor have to cut their classes short. I need them now."

"Ummm… Okay Ozpin. What has you so on edge?" Glynda replied almost instantly. It was very unlike Headmaster Ozpin to act nervous at all. It was only the first day of classes.

"I'll explain when everyone else is here, just hurry, please." Ozpin responded.

"Got it, they'll be up in 10 minutes."

…..