Tales of Roses and Snow (RWBY x Tales of Berseria crossover

Chapter 3: Escape & Sacrifice

When the trio entered another hallway, they heard the sound of clashing blades nearby. Velvet gestured her companions to be cautious as they advanced closer. Suddenly the body of an exorcist soldier flew past them, as if knocked backwards by a powerful force. When the exorcist crashed on the ground, they were already unconscious.

Velvet, Ruby and Seres checked to see what was going on. To their surprise, they found not only the unmoving bodies of exorcist guards but also daemons and prisoners. Whoever had done this was not on the side of the prison guards or the prisoners. Then they saw him.

The assailant had his back facing the group but they could tell it was a man with mid-length, spiky black hair tied into a ponytail. His outfit comprised of woven robes, pile-lilac samurai pants and black leg warmers. Draped over his woven robes was a dark purple robe tied around his waist. He also had what appeared to be a chest-plate guard for his torso and a plated shoulder-guard.

"More?" The man said without turning around. He could sense Velvet's group. When he received no answer, he turned around and the party saw that although his hair covered the right-side of his face, his right eye was glowing bright red. There were even visible markings on the right side of his face.

Seres took a cautious step back, "This man... he's a daemon! Get ready!"

Sensing an impending fight, the man took out his weapons – a pair of dual blades. Velvet also revealed her weapon, the blade coming out of the gauntlet. Ruby took out an oddly shaped thing that had a cross similar to the cross around her neck at the end with a red metal bat shape on top with roses and thorns around the upper part, a long metal rod came out of the bottom and making it look like a simple staff out of metal.

"Let's go!" Velvet cried.

Even though he was outnumbered, the man did not stay on the defensive and charged towards Velvet and Ruby. Velvet engaged first, thrusting her blade forward but the man blocked the attack with his right blade and unleashing a counter-attack with his left. Velvet could dodge the attack but Ruby had her covered, appearing by her side and Ruby hit the man's forearm, forcing the attack to miss. The man had a little trouble keeping up with Ruby's speed and the switch between the girls. Seres never joined the fight as she planned to support the two with artes from afar. The short exchange with the man only lasted less than ten seconds but that short exchange was intense enough.

"...He's strong." Velvet commented.

"Agreed, his style is unpredictable and he managed to block my fast attacks." Ruby agreed. "He's really skilled."

The man also shared the same thought. Even though it was a short skirmish, he could tell that Velvet and Ruby were individually skilled opponents. He thought they would be pushovers like the exorcist guards and daemons, but he was wrong. Now he was fighting them two versus one. He was heavily disadvantaged.

The man then noticed his blades condition were weary. "Chips in the blade already? Brittle, these exorcist knives. I've got to reclaim Stormhowl."

Velvet picked up on that, "Stormhowl? That sword we found?" The instant the man heard Velvet say that, his whole aura changed. His immediately dropped his guard and tossed the exorcist daggers away, running straight towards Velvet.

"You found it?!" The man asked excitedly, grabbing Velvet by the shoulders. His whole character changed that Velvet, Ruby and Seres didn't know how to react. "Where? Do you have it? Please, tell me!"

"... in the storage room... Down below." Velvet answered.

"Down below? You have my thanks!" The man gave a quick bow of appreciation and ran off, leaving Velvet and her companions utterly confused at the change of development.