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“Hold the line!”
“Kill the Grimm!”
“Plug that gap and keep firing!”
“Kill the bandits! Kill those who brought those monsters here!”
“Kill the ones who killed me! Who killed my family and loved ones!”
“Kill them, Jaune! Kill, and keep killing no matter what–”
Are you alright, Jaune?
He woke up with a start, finding himself ying on the cliff, where he waited for that older huntsman to signal. He did not think he dozed off, but his mind must have wandered…
Jaune took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down, only to grit his teeth as he clenched the rocks under his hands tight enough to crush them to dust. Krystal’s question sounded so far away, and the Arc was tired after the night of battle. Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally…
He was exhausted.
“So much death… and I felt every st one.” Jaune didn’t bother replying mentally or even whispering, as he stood up with a groan and gred at the mountain ahead. “The dragoons, the townsfolk, the militia… linking my aura with the dead and the dying feels like utter crap. Their st thoughts… their st emotions. Do you know what that feels like, Krystal?”
I do not.
“Of course you wouldn’t.”
Jaune used Search to scan the cave system inside and clicked his tongue when he couldn’t find Qrow; The man never said what the signal was, and he didn't get the chance to memorize his avian form to use Pathfinder. A distant part of his mind wanted to question the huntsman about his magic and that transformation ability, but Jaune was far too gone to care about that now.
His attention was grabbed by a room with a massive amount of negativity in it, those must be the hostages. Every fiber in his being screamed to charge right in and rescue them, yet his very soul demanded he would take the fight to the bandits first and wipe them from Remnant, for he swore it!
Jumping down the cliff, the aspiring huntsman withdrew his sword and gun as he made his way towards the cave entrance.
“Every one of those who died had one st thought on their minds that they sent to me, whether intentionally or not. I’m sure you know it, Krystal. You know everything about me.”
I would not say everything, but I do know enough to hazard a guess, but I am incapable of processing feelings and emotions.
“Vengeance.” The blonde knight marched towards the cave, “The st vestiges of their souls even now call for me to find those bandits and tear them limb from limb.”
Are you sure this is the path you wish to follow, Jaune?
Jaune paused before the entrance, his seething emotions made it difficult to think things through, yet he still recognized that Krystal’s tone was… off. “Yeah. You are not going to convince me otherwise?”
I am your guide. Whether you want to be an angel or a demon, I shall be by your side.
Something told Jaune there was more to this than Krsytal was alluding, but he did not care. The simple assurance that the living being in his mind wouldn't judge him was more than enough, and the time for contemption was gone. There was no redemption for the scum; for too long they've run free without consequence, thinking themselves above any kind of judgment.
It was time for retribution.
Using Search, Jaune already knew where his quarries were, their tar-stained souls, steeped with malice, were like a dark stain on a white sheet. A bandit appeared in front of him as he entered the cave system, the man was drinking booze from a bottle, and the moment he saw him, he was already dead. The body of the bandit was cut cleanly from the left shoulder diagonally to his right hip, and as the man fell into two halves, Jaune continued his stride.
His first human kill… and he felt absolutely nothing.
A second bandit appeared, and then a third and a fourth. Jaune simply killed them all.
The more bandits appeared, the more he decorated the macabre tunnels red. With gun and sword, he methodically delivered death. Many tried to resist with gunfire, but it was futile against his movements and armor. His dragoon armor proved its merit, especially with his churning aura augmenting it. With the futility of their weapons, the fools took to wailing on him with various melee weapons.
Yet, it was to no avail. His skill at arms was enough to beat back thugs who had never fought anyone aside from defenseless vilgers.
Some pleaded for mercy, only for him to feel more rage at the sheer gall to beg for mercy when they provided none. He might not have known exactly what crimes they had committed, yet his Aura Sense did not lie, and using Observe on any of them made him feel disgust and even more rage at what the ability told him. A few managed to run deeper into the mountain, yet he ignored them, for they would surely bring him more sinners to purge.
With every death, every punch, every slice of his bde, something primal inside him was awakening, and Jaune’s breathing got heavier by the minute. The stench of blood and shit permeated the air, but he was already numb to it from the earlier battles. The death throes of the bandits, the way their flesh parted for his bde, and their bones and tendons severed as he sliced with Crocea Mors, gave him a sense of righteousness.
It was not enough.
Entering an intersection, he found a dozen of the bandits waiting for him, hiding behind crates and other obstacles while they aimed their guns at him. For an instant, crity returned to Jaune’s increasingly reddening vision as he noticed one of the guns to be a machine gun, and he swiftly jumped away once its user started spraying at him with a scream.
The rest of the bandits opened fire, and Jaune quickly boosted his PER and AGL, noticing his aura reserves had dwindled to a fifth of their total.
Yet, it was worth it as he could almost predict the paths of the bullets, dodging most of them and deflecting what he could not with his bde. A few still hit him in his armor, for the sudden boost of his stats would always take time for him to adjust, or at least until he trained to get used to it. Still, the steel chest piece with sewn Kevr underneath was enough to stop most of them, even if it hurt like a bitch, and he mented his ck of shield.
The pain brought both crity and rage to his mind, and the more he felt it, the more payback he promised to return.
Soon, the sound of gunfire abated, and the bandits stared at him in horror as they continued to dry fire their guns. Their fear and terror was like a tonic for Jaune as his lips twisted into a malicious grin as he advanced at them. Using Observe was always handy for the intimidation factor, for as his gaze fell on one of them, the bandit flinched heavily as he dropped the clip he was trying to reload. His aura, even locked and pathetically weak, did not lie, and the way it stagnated like sludge reminded him of sewage water.
“S-Stay away from me!” The bandit fell on the ground as Jaune stood over him. Somewhere in the back of his mind, the aspiring huntsman knew it was incredibly foolish of him to stand in the open like this and allow his foes a chance to reload their weapons and attack him.
Yet, reason had all but fled from his mind, and as he Stored his weapons away, he knelt and grabbed the bandit by the throat, lifting him with one hand and gred deeply into his terrified eyes.
“How many innocents have you murdered?”
“A-As if I would remember that! They were weak, and I was strong, so I do whatever the fuck I want!”
The bandit gasped as he realized what he just blurted. Jaune would have found it strange, and perhaps wondered if it was due to his aura or Observe or any of the other abilities he had, that caused the man to speak without thought. Instead, his vision reddened even further, the dark whisperings in his mind urging him to seek retribution and judge those sinners for their crimes were louder than ever.
He gripped the bandit’s neck harder, causing him to choke and his eyes to bulge. The man tried desperately to free himself, but Jaune’s grip was harder than steel, so the bandit tried to plunge his thumb into his eye…only for it to audibly break as it rebounded off his aura.
Jaune grinned as he watched the eyes of the bandit widen in terror and disbelief before grabbing his face with his other hand and pulled.
As the bandit’s neck was squashed into pulp and Jaune ripped his head from his body, he threw it at one of his friends, and idly wondered how his stats really worked. His STR of 82 was only twenty-two points higher than a healthy and athletic male, yet it must be more nuanced than a simple percentage increase. Those thoughts were the only thing that stopped him from descending on the rest of the bandits in a blind rage, whose fight or flight instincts went haywire. One of them ran away, his front covered in the blood of the bloody head of his friend. The rest charged him in a frenzy, guns abandoned and using whatever weapons they could find.
Not bothering to pull out his weapons, Jaune charged right at them, punching through the torso of one of them and lifting him before continuing on to grab the neck of the next bandit. All while the first one hanged limply from over his elbow. Jaune clenched his bloody fist before pulling, tearing away the second bandit’s throat, and throwing it at the terrified eyes of a third bandit. Then, he withdrew his arm from the first bandit’s torso, and body smmed him into the third bandit, killing him with the sound of breaking bones.
Two more bandits, both of them women, sshed at him with machetes, only to bounce off his aura. Jaune could feel it dwindling, for even a thousand ant bites could eventually bring down an elephant. Yet, he did not care, for even if he had no aura, he would kill them all, even if he had to crawl on the ground and bite their throats out.
Grabbing both bandits by the face with each hand, Jaune dragged them closer and smashed their heads together in a grotesque kiss, their auras shattering, then their skulls once he smashed them again.
A handful had grabbed their guns again, but Jaune was faster as he pulled out his revolver and fanned the hammer at them before they could even aim.
There was only one remaining, and he took a step back as Jaune approached him, mumbling incoherently and praying to some deity. As if any self-respecting god would save such filth. With one st step, the bandit screamed before turning tail and running - only to trip on the head of the first bandit Jaune had killed. The man barely had time to blubber at the terrified face of his compatriot before Jaune’s Strega boot came crashing down with a stomp, turning the decapitated head into pulp.
The man’s eyes were so wide, Jaune nearly chuckled. He relished in the fear and terror on his face, even as the bandit forgot to breathe and choked on air, as he twitched horribly making his bones groan in protest. Then, he stopped… and colpsed face down.
Jaune tilted his head in confusion, his boot a foot over the scum’s head, ready to squash it. Using Observe, he snorted.
The fool shook so much from fear, he ruptured his spine and his heart gave out. Pathetic. He looked around, finding bloody and eviscerated corpses everywhere.
Taking a deep breath, inhaling the stench of blood and death, the primal feeling in his soul burned brighter. It was as if his blood were on fire, and the voices of the dead urged him to find more to kill in increasingly imaginative ways. He chose a random tunnel and walked deeper into the cave system, gritting his teeth in frustration at the ck of enemies.
After a few minutes with no enemies around, his growing bloodlust started to slightly cool, allowing him to Search around him, trying to find a new heading, looking for more bandits to kill.
He paused when he found three souls passing by the intersection he was in earlier and continuing down another tunnel. One of them was familiar, and Jaune instantly focused on the nexus of fear and hatred that he felt flying over the town, yet there was something new. It was better now, as if the child had gotten a chance to feel hope.
Another of them felt simir in age to the Grimm Bait, but its soul was completely bnk, as if it was broken, and remembering Fie’s words, he feared for the worst. The st one had a grayish tint to it, that slowly shone brighter as she led the two children away from the sughter. A reformed bandit, perhaps? Was that even possible? Or maybe a different party that sneaked in to save those kids? Whatever it was, they had just exited the tunnel into a chamber of some kind, where Jaune felt a massive amalgamation of those tar like souls through the walls.
Realizing those must be the rest of the bandits, a savage grin bloomed on his face at the prospect of his enemies gathered in one location. The grin turned into a frown, however, as Jaune realized the three innocent souls were now surrounded by the dark mass. Pathfinder told him it would take too long for him to backtrack through that tunnel and by then, it would be too te for him to help.
Brandishing Crocea Mors, the Arc scion walked deeper into the tunnel until he found a spot where the souls became more defined to his Aura Sense, and channeled the rest of his aura into his bde. It took nearly half a minute to drain his remaining aura, all two thousand points, and his sword shone brighter than the afternoon sun, the sheer heat emanating from it would have instantly melted any normal steel, but not the Yellow Death.
Once his aura was in the single digits, he swung his sword with a grunt, and the walls blew apart as the bde of light traveled a hundred feet through solid rock before blowing out of the other side, cleaving through anything in its path.
Activating Second Wind, Jaune stumbled slightly as within seconds, his aura climbed from a measly four, back to ten thousand!
Breathing deeply, he made his way through the new tunnel, the dust obscuring much of the way, but his eyes adjusted to the bright light once he found himself in a massive cavern with bullheads everywhere. Yet, the tar-like souls of the thousand bandits ahead of him grabbed his attention, and his blood screamed giddily for the carnage to come.
“… your idea of sneaking in, Jaune?” Qrow’s voice echoed from where he was standing protectively in front of the three earlier figures he saw. Jaune clicked his tongue at having missed the man in his rush to get into the coming melee.
“This pce is a maze. You didn’t bother giving a signal, so I made my own way in.”
“Who’s this now, another fool in way over his head?”
His attention was grabbed by an absolute unit of a woman, and instantly, every fiber of his being screamed that this creature was more evil than anyone else he had ever met. If the rest of the bandits had tar like souls, then hers was a dark abyss that swallowed all around her, and using Observe, he realized he was close to the mark.
Profile:
Name: ?
Css: Gluttonous Berserker
Age: 46
Height: 8’2”
Build: Muscur/Obese
Race: Faunus (Boar)
Stats:
Aura Points: 3413/2771
Aura Control: 71%
Strength (STR): 116
Vitality (VIT): 113
Dexterity (DEX): 64
Agility (AGL): 65
Perception (PER): 61
Intelligence (INT): 76
Sembnce: GLUTTONY: ?-?-?
Status Effects:
Satiated: Increased Aura, STR and VIT for an hour.
Her stats were worryingly high, and her massive size probably hid more strength than the numbers suggested; That meant that she was even stronger than what Observe showed. A cursory look at the rest of the bandits, he could tell she was most likely the bandit leader, for all the rest did not come close to having a fraction of her power. Jaune’s blood boiled at the thought of all the tragedies of the region being traced back to this beast and her army of pathetic weaklings, and his soul sang for him to tear them apart, piece by piece, if needed.
“Hey, isn’t that the knight fucker who protected the town?”
The grating voice caught his attention, and Jaune instantly recognized the pink haired man and the white haired woman beside him. He had never seen them before, but he memorized their aura when they flew over Celdic. He scoffed as he Observed them; they were not worth mentioning, certainly better than the rest of the bandits, but nowhere near as strong as Sara or even Fie, aura or stat wise. His gaze fell back on the big woman, pns on how to dismantle her and that big halberd thing she wielded ran through his mind.
“Jaune, I will take Ravena on, the big woman.” Qrow’s smokey voice broke him from his musings, and Jaune frowned. “Ilia here will protect the kids, so I need you to take on the rest while covering for her.”
His eyes found the young woman hiding behind Qrow, her back to a bullhead, and on her back was a boy with the most expressive eyes he had ever seen… and they screamed murder and hatred, yet were tempered by fear and terror. There was also a tiny blot of white as he held onto the tanned woman tightly; Hope.
Behind them, was a wheelchair with a young girl in a deplorable state, and the more Jaune inspected them, the harder he gritted his teeth in fury and his gaze fell on the bandit army that had not stood idly while they talked. Ranks were formed, groups were made, and they had edged closer to his newfound allies. His gaze found Qrow, and the older man nodded to him, his Aura Link that he tried to attach to him finally connecting, and he could feel the confidence and surety coming from the man, and Jaune nodded back.
“Attack you fucks! Kill them already.”
The grating screech from the pink head was the signal everyone waited for. Jaune charged into the crowd, Qrow turned his weapon into a shotgun and bsted the surrounding bandits before tossing a fshbang in their midst. He then turned into a crow, and flew towards the bandit boss, allowing Ilia to finish off the stunned bandits.
The battle was on.
.
.
.
Ilia jumped away from a retaliatory swing by one of the bandits. Qrow's shotgun bst was expected, but his fshbang was not and if he hadn't warned her at the st second, she too would have been stunned.
The White Fang operative would not let such an opportunity go and swiftly finished off nearly a dozen of the surrounding bandits, emptying the revolver of her Lightning Lash into their heads and stabbing the rest.
Unfortunately, there were still a hundred more to go, and Ilia was constrained by the boy on her back and the comatose girl near the Bullhead.
“Hurry up and fix those guns!”
Realizing that she was a sitting duck if she allowed the bandits to use their guns, Ilia quickly grabbed a submachine gun from one of the fallen bandits, praying it would not be jammed, and sprayed at a nearby group that were trying to unjam their guns. The staccato of gunfire sounded for a few seconds and the bandits were riddled with bullet holes, and Ilia wondered if a god of fortune was watching over her.
Once the gun was empty, she bashed it at a daring bandit that tried to attack from behind, before throwing the ruined gun at another bandit’s head, knocking him out. The fast-paced action had allowed her to down nearly two dozen bandits, but she was already feeling tired, and carrying a kid on her back did not help.
“On your left!”
Jasper's warning had her instinctively jump backwards as the rge bald pig-faunus from earlier smashed a fil where Ilia had been a second ago. She stared warily at the cracked ground where the spiked metal head nded and knew her aura would not have withstood such an attack.
“Stay still, you fucking lizard!”
The rge man swung his fil at her, but while he had strength in spades, he was far too slow and telegraphed every attack. Still, Ilia would not be able to keep this up for long, as her breathing got even heavier and sweat poured down her forehead. She needed only to wait until the fat man would eventually overextend, and she would stab him in the neck, hopefully piercing through his aura.
Readying her Lightning Lash, Ilia carefully reloaded the revolver as she dodged the fil. She was wary of using its whip form for she did not have a lot of Lightning Dust, but if ever was the time to go all out, now would be it. Finally, the bandit overextended, and Ilia was about to activate her whip when Jasper yelled in her ear.
“They’re going after Tuni!”
The distraction nearly cost her, for the pigman was not as off-bance as she thought, and Ilia jumped away at the st second from a backhanded strike. Turning towards Petunia, her eyes widened when she realized the swine man was smarter than he looked and had dragged her away from her charge.
Three bandits were almost at the girl, and Ilia dashed as fast as she could but the bandits already held Petunia, one of them pcing a knife to her neck.
“Don’t fucking move, or the cripple gets it.”
Ilia knew she could not stop. Taking people hostage was an old and tried trick of the White Fang, and it never went well in a combat situation. Yet, with Jasper tightening his grip on her shoulders, she was unsure what to do.
Suddenly, a shadow fell over her, and Ilia quickly turned to find the fil inches from her face. She barely managed to bring her weapon to block, yet she was still sent flying from the force of it, and her aura flickered as it went dangerously low. Just before she hit the ground, she flipped to a handstand, but the extra weight of Jasper caused her to stumble and they both fell into a heap, the flimsy cloth holding them tearing at the seams. Her bandolier was also torn, and what little Dust and ammo she had, cttered all over the pce.
“Finally…got you…you damn lizard.” The pigman panted as she shakily stood up. Her limbs felt heavy, and her breathing was heavier. Gncing around, she was surrounded by nearly twenty of the bandits. She wondered what happened to the rest as she recalled there being a lot more. Hearing the screams of pain and war cries in the distance, she figured Qrow’s friend dragged them into his fight.
Ilia looked for Jasper, finding the boy struggling to get on his feet as he gred murderously at the bandits as they converged around Petunia’s helpless form. Biting her lips in frustration, Ilia cursed; she had failed, and she did not need to imagine what the bandits would do now.
“I’ll give you one chance, girl.” The pigman lumbered towards the rest of his men and pced his fil near the comatose girl. “Throw away your weapons and surrender, and we might keep you alive as a toy for the boys. We won’t harm the brat, we might still need him. The girl on the other hand…well, she’s already fucked up as it is, might as well have her join you as our fuck toy, gihihihi.”
Dammit! What should she do? There were three bandits around the girl, and the rest of them slowly surrounded her. Ilia needed a distraction, preferably before they finished their encirclement. The sound of battle and carnage seemed so far away, yet Ilia did not think any savior would come at the st moment. She gritted her teeth; there was no other way around it. Jasper was near her, and she could still grab him and run, leaving Petunia behi–
A sudden aura spike from the downed Jasper interrupted her thoughts as the boy dragged himself to his knees and gred viciously at the pigman.
“Leave Petunia Alone!!!”
One moment, the bandits in front were leering at them, and the next, their eyes rolled to the back of their heads as three of them colpsed. The pigman stumbled backwards with sweat pouring down his face and his mouth agape, the same with a few others. Ilia had no idea what happened, but she would not waste such an opportunity. Within a blink of an eye, she surged forward, extended her weapon and activated the Lighting Dust Crystal, turning it into a long yellow-hot whip that shrieked ominously, and swung with all her strength.
She cursed as only the tip would reach from so far away.
Yet that was enough.
Two of the bandits had their throats slit, falling away from Petunia and the smell of burned flesh permeated the air, yet the pigman’s squeal of pain had her click her tongue. His aura must have saved him, yet he held his arm as the whip had cut deep into the bone before he managed to wrench it away and the coward ran off to bundle up with the rest of the scum. Before she could swing again, the remaining bandits attacked her, and she had to fight for her life.
An axe strike was dodged, and she retaliated with a kick, but had to retreat from a mace. She was slowly being overrun, her aura was dangerously low, and she was already having trouble staying on her feet. A machete wielding psycho squealed in ecstasy behind a mask as he sshed at her, while she was off guard. Ilia panicked but barely managed to dodge by contorting her waist sideways, yet it still grazed her enough to shatter her aura, and she could feel heat from her side.
Not giving her a chance to recover, another bandit struck her left arm with a club yet she managed to jump with the blow, so instead of her arm breaking, it only fractured. With the st vestiges of her strength, she twirled in midair, her whip shining brightly as it shed out at her foes, yet they were ready for her as half of them simply ducked.
The other half were not as lucky, as the whip coiled around their bodies, sending millions of volts worth of electricity into their bodies and burning through their flesh. Their screams of agony grated on her ears, except for the masked psycho who was short enough to instantly lose his head. Ilia barely had the strength left to pull her Lash towards her, cutting through limbs, torsos, rib cages, and lungs until blissful silence as her whip returned to her and their bodies fell into a burning heap.
The remaining bandits were shocked by the grotesque way their compatriots died. Normally, Ilia would shy away from using such cruel methods against foes without aura, but she was in a bind and holding back would be a deadly mistake.
She could barely stand on her feet, her left arm was useless, sending her jolts of pain, and she was quickly losing blood. Jasper had managed to stand and used the lull in the fight to support her as they made their way to Petunia, yet she could tell he was also near colpsing. Days of torture had made his body weak, and whatever he did earlier had dropped his aura to nearly nothing. His slitted eyes were glowing with power and when they settled on her, she instinctively gulped in wariness, yet when he looked at the bandits, they froze… almost like rats in front of a snake.
“Are you… alright, Jasper?”
“… tired. My eyes are burning, but Petunia…” The mumbled words were barely coherent, and the boy did his best to keep his eyes open, but once they reached the girl, his aura shattered, and he closed his eyes in exhaustion. Now, she was the one holding him, and with what she assumed to be his sembnce losing its powers, the bandits had regained their bearing and Ilia was out of options.
“G-Get ‘em! T-They’re powerless now, quickly before the bitch pulls out another trick.”
The pigman had somehow got his wound treated with bandages and brandished his fil angrily. There were only ten bandits left, yet Ilia could barely lift her arm. She couldn’t remember when was the st time her aura broke, and the White Fang Operative vowed if she ever survived this, she would up her training to include aura depletion resistance.
As the bandits advanced, she had to let go of Jasper and brandished her Lightning Lash threateningly, causing them to stare at the electric whip warily. The whip had enough Dust in it to remain active for half an hour at its lowest setting, but the bandits did not need to know that. At this point, it was Ilia's only method of defending herself, for she had lost the rest of her ammo and supplies earlier.
For a long time, they stood in a stalemate. The sound of fighting and screaming in the distance was getting dimmer, but the bandits had eyes only for her. The only reason they did not advance on her was due to their ck of guns and thanks to her weapon; the risk of a slow and agonizing death would give anyone pause, especially when they had no aura. Even with the pigman's cajoling, the bandits ignored him, content to gre at her lustily and throw impotent abuse.
Unfortunately, time was not on Ilia's side, and while she had managed to stop her bleeding somewhat, she had still lost enough blood to make her dizzy. Eventually, the lightning in her whip faltered and the crystal powering it dimmed, causing her to groan in despair and the bandits to holler.
Before they could advance, a rge shadow covered them, blotting out the sunlight coming from the massive opening in the mountain behind the bandits. Ilia stared in shock as a truck fell down from above as if thrown by a giant, and watched it crush three of the bandits, including the pigman. The rest jumped and turned around to find where the truck came from, before freezing in sheer terror at the suffocating aura that washed over them.
Ilia could understand, for even though the burning blue gaze was not aimed at her, she could not help but gulp as she watched the armored man from earlier slowly walk to them. The man's aura tasted of malice and madness. The amount of blood and gore that stuck to him was a morbid sight, combined with the heavy breathing and vicious scowl, he gave the feeling of a beast instead of a man. Not a single spot in his body was clean, even his formerly blonde hair was blood-red, and his footsteps were heavy and lethargic. It was then that Ilia noticed the complete silence around them.
It couldn’t be… did he kill the rest of the bandits? She revised her thoughts; this was no beast.
This was a Demon.
“I-I d-d-didn’t sign up for this. We were supposed to only target weak vilgers!”
One of the bandits turned tail and ran, only for a thundering boom to echo and his head was blown to pieces. Her savior, Jaune, she thought was his name, did not waste time as he pointed his revolver at the rest of the bandits and within seconds, they were all dead. It was… anticlimactic if she had to admit. Could she have finished this fight if she had a better gun? Ilia was far more used to fighting aura users, and this fight had taught her never to underestimate regur people.
The chameleon-faunus jerked when the demo– no, when Jaune approached her, and she couldn’t help but take a step back, causing him to frown.
“You’re hurt,” his baritone voice had a rasping quality to it, as though he had not talked in a while. “I can help.”
The armored man had much less aura than before, but still slightly more than Qrow’s maximum, and far stronger than her. Knowing she couldn’t truly refuse him even if she was at full power, she allowed him to pce his bloody hand on her shoulder, and suddenly, she felt an instant rush as her aura reserves filled out back to the maximum. Ilia couldn’t stop herself from letting out a slight moan of relief as her aura mended her wounds and her fractured arm. By the time she opened her eyes, and Ilia didn’t even remember when she closed them, Jaune was already doing the same to Jasper, the boy’s aura mending his wounds, but he remained unconscious.
“What was that?”
“My Sembnce. I can refill people’s aura and help heal them. It doesn’t work for those whose aura is locked, however.” Their new ally’s formerly scowling face had gradually softened as he spoke, his burning eyes were bloodshot and had a sad and somber quality to it as they settled on Petunia, causing Ilia to slowly let her guard down.
Jaune lifted the young boy over his shoulder and motioned for her to push Petunia’s wheelchair. “We need to get moving. Qrow looked ready to finish his fight, and I need to disable whatever is blocking communications.”
“It’s a round, bck device with a ft bottom.” The White Fang Operative found herself easily telling him what she knew, it was already too te for her to return to her group and the sooner she could ingratiate herself to Qrow Branwen and his ally the better. “Shiro, the pink-haired loudmouth, had it on his pne when he…”
“When he used this kid as Grimm Bait and led the Grimm to attack the town.” Jaune’s tone was cold as he finished for her, yet he looked straight ahead as they walked through the ominously deserted hangar and soon, the first corpse came into sight. “Those two had not been in the fighting, preferring to throw bodies at me or take potshots from distance. Not like it helped.”
It was then they left the small clearing between bullheads where she had her battle and into the rge hangar, and Ilia froze at the sight before her.
Carnage, utter bloody carnage as corpses in the hundreds were strewn everywhere. Most had sword wounds, a few had gunshot wounds, yet many looked to have been torn to pieces or beaten to a pulp. The sheer amount of death and the smell of blood and decay would have had her puking if she hadn’t already done so earlier.
“Did you… did you kill them all?” Ilia gnced at her ally, finding his impassive face like a block of granite as he stared ahead. “There must have been hundreds, if not a thousand!”
“... Lost count after three hundred.” A shiver crawled up Ilia’s back at the dead tone of the man. “It’s nothing compared to the death and misery they caused in Celdic. Quite a few of them still managed to escape.” Ilia grimaced at the reminder of her role in the affair. “The cowards were too used to fighting defenceless vilgers, and hardly any of them had aura. We will need to catch them if we are to rid their infestation from these nds.”
The cold tone and murderous intentions did not surprise her, yet the amount of corpses was simply staggering! It had barely been an hour since the battle began, and Ilia thought taking out a few dozen by herself was an achievement. The idea of all that killing being wrong never entered her mind. She knew better than anyone else how terrible those scum were, and Qrow’s words echoed in her ears.
It’s no use trying to appeal to the morality of monsters.
Jaune walked on, adjusting Jasper on his shoulder, and Ilia thought the boy looked healthier as she followed him. They found Qrow and Ravena duking it out near the Grimm cages. It was a strange scene as Qrow did not seem at all to be struggling, even taking a swig from a fsk as the massive woman panted like an exhausted boar.
Her massive halberd/chainsaw was missing its serrated chains, and only the axe-head remained. Every time she tried to strike the Huntsman, something wrong would happen and her attack would fail. Even as they watched, the bandit queen tried to fire at Qrow only for her weapon to misfire and cause her to stumble backwards near the Grimm cages.
“What…the fuck!” Her enraged tone would have been scary an hour ago, but looking at her now, Ilia could only describe her as pathetic. She had a massive amount of aura earlier, even more than Qrow, yet judging by the way the fight went, the so-called bandit queen had never had to fight a skilled combatant before. Her aura reserves were down to a third yet Qrow was still topped off.
It did not matter the fancy tools you had, unless you learn to utilize them well, you would always be defeated by a more experienced and skilled fighter.
Qrow looked utterly bored with the fight, but turned to them once they came into view. “Yo, kiddos. I haven’t heard any screams of agony in a while. Are you done?”
“Yes. We need to secure the rest of the hostages.”
“Don’t worry about them, I have the only key to their cells.” The huntsman bounced a keychain full of keys in his hand before pocketing it with a frown. “So, how many did you have to kill?”
A pause, as Jaune gazed at the huntsmen but remained silent. Qrow sighed loudly, and Ilia realized that the veteran huntsmen had not realized the extent of the carnage their bloody ally had made. Looking around, the combat zone between Qrow and the bandit queen was a bit isoted, yet she could still see the random corpse nearby.
“Y-You! This i-is impossible.” They turned to the massive woman, who leaned on the Grimm cage, eyeing the monsters within as they growled in anger. “My army… how did you do this?”
Jaune looked strangely at the woman, as if she asked the dumbest question in the world. “With my hands.”
The way the formerly fearsome bandit queen gawked at the nonchant reply had Ilia snort. It was so much easier to feel brave when you had a demon in human flesh as an ally. Before they could do anything else, the sound of a Bullhead taking off grabbed their attention, and Jaune frowned as he gred at the familiar aircraft.
“It’s Shiro’s Bullhead! He has that device onboard.”
Ilia had barely spoke before Jaune’s face turned into a vicious snarl. He dropped Jasper in her hands, somehow produced a sword out of nothing, and dashed after the departing bullhead, the sword shining so brightly that she had to avert her eyes. The sound of creaking hinges and Grimm yelping had her and Qrow turn to the bandit queen and freeze at the strange sight.
“I recognize defeat when it’s staring at me. Fighting you was the biggest misfortune I suffered, Qrow Branwen.” Ravena Boering had the two adolescent Boarbatusk Grimm in her hands as they squealed in outrage yet the woman was powerful enough to maintain a solid grip on them. “I rarely consume Grimm, for the backsh is immense, but if I will die anyway, then I’m bringing you with me!”
“Guess I should not have pyed with my food for so long… nor use this as a training opportunity.” Qrow clicked his tongue and brandished his weapon as the boar-faunus strangled the Grimm with her dustbin-lid sized hands before bringing them to her maw. The Grimm were slurped down her throat as if they were liquid, and Ilia couldn’t help but stare in morbid fascination.
The woman’s teak skin got even darker as she grunted in pain, her beady eyes glowed red, her short hair turned bone-white, her tusks grew rger and a Grimm mask formed over the bridge of her nose before growling menacingly at them. She was more beast than human, and Ilia wondered if she would fight like one as well.
Qrow charged at the human turned Grimm, going all out in his attacks, holding nothing back. Ravena was much stronger than earlier, faster too, yet she lost all reason and all her attacks were savage wails that the veteran huntsman easily dodged or deflected and countered with precise and deadly strikes. Qrow used glyphs of all kinds liberally to bounce around from spot to spot at very high speeds, all the while cutting the monster bit by bit.
Ilia barely recognized a propulsion glyph and a gravity glyph, yet the huntsman must have used a dozen different kinds in less than a minute!
Strangely, the Grimm-woman seemed to keep tripping over any kind of debris lying around, as if she really was cursed with misfortune. Ilia watched the fight in awe as the older man utterly dismantled the savage woman, and it enforced her mindset that skill trumped all else.
Finally, as the Grimm-woman tripped one st time and over-extended, Qrow turned his greatsword into a scythe and sshed at its head, decapitating it. Except, it did not dissipate like Grimm, but bled filthy bck blood.
Qrow Branwen frowned as he nudged the separated Grimm head with his scythe yet nothing happened. Shrugging, he grabbed it by the hair and walked back to her, his lips turning into a grin.
“Looks like I just got the first-ever Grimm trophy.”
Before she could reply, an explosion of light appeared outside the cavern, and they turned as the distant Bullhead exploded as an utterly massive aura attack cleaved through it… and into the distant mountain top, cleaving through it once more like a hot knife through butter.
They stared in utter shock as the mountain’s summit slowly slid from the rest of its base and fell onto another mountain that held it like a gigantic umbrel. An enormous dust cloud began to form, blotting out the sun. Ilia was in so much shock that she dropped to her knees, holding Jasper’s sleeping form tightly. She could only imagine one man who could have done that, for even the attack was the same as the one he used during his entrance.
Speaking of the demon, he walked towards them, his aura nearly nonexistent, and stared at his scroll as he tried to call someone.
“Jaune? Have you solved our bandit problem?”
“Yes. How’s the situation on your end, Fie?”
“We’re fine. Another, smaller, Grimm horde attacked, but we managed to hold on until your sisters arrived with a cruiser and a couple of fighters. Bombed them all to smithereens. It was awesome. Your sister had this floating doll that shot ser beams from its eye and rockets from its chest… It was cool. Sara is with them right now, but I lost a prisoner in the confusion.”
“Prisoner?” Jaune stopped in front of them, holding a hand to Qrow when the man tried to speak. “Another bandit?”
“No, it was a White Fang Operative. A scaredy-cat that ran away from the group but warned us of an impending attack that she managed to dey.” Ilia’s heart dropped to her stomach, that could only be Bke. “She helped us in the fighting, but was spooked when Hyperion arrived and ran away. Even though I promised to protect her…”
Whoever the speaker was sounded young, and Ilia noticed the sad tone had a hint of betrayal in it. What did Bke do now?
“Don’t worry about it. I will send you our coordinates. We have hostages that need tending to, and some of the bandits might have managed to escape.”
“Will do. Hyperion will be there shortly. Your sisters are anxious to speak to you.”
“… We shall meet soon, then.”
Jaune hung up the scroll and dropped his arms to his sides, his shoulders slumping and his face - falling. It coincided with the mention of his sisters and for the first time since she had seen him an hour ago, the demon looked reluctant, even distraught, as he inspected himself as if only now noticing all the blood and gore on him.
Looking around, Jaune seemed to finally register the obscene amount of bloody corpses in the hangar, as his breathing turned heavy. Suddenly, the man’s cold eyes softened greatly as he colpsed to the ground and recklessly tore away at his bloody armor. His lips quivered, and tears were forming in his eyes. It was then that Ilia realized an important truth.
This demon… was just a kid. An insanely powerful kid who was about to have a mental breakdown. Yet, she could not bring herself to comfort him, for she had just witnessed the sheer brutality of his methods.
Qrow didn’t hesitate to crouch next to the boy who was probably her age or maybe even younger, just as he descended into uncontrolble sobs and grabbed the old huntsman into a shuddering hug. Qrow reciprocated, not minding the blood as he patted the boy’s head - the act caused shame to swell in Ilia’s heart for some reason.
“It’s alright now, kid. You did well.” The veteran huntsman’s eyes settled on the death and destruction around them. “You did well.”
T*A*M*S
Hundreds of miles away,
A red-haired masked man stood in front of his tent as he watched a group of faunus emptying the loot of the detached train and carrying them to a bullhead. They only had three of the aircraft, and they were reserved for supply runs, not at all suited for combat situations. It had taken them many hours to scavenge the crates and containers of anything useful to take back to their hideout.
So far, their raid had been fruitful, as they found stores of Dust, weapons, and ammo that would be useful for their cause. Not so much food or medicine, which was what they had hoped to plunder from Celdic, as their food stores had dwindled dangerously, especially with their current situation. They had set up camp a few miles away from the rail tracks, and over a hundred hardened Aura-fighters were busy securing the perimeter.
The bull-faunus turned to the newcomer, Yuma, as he approached with a few other faunus. He did not trust him, yet he had proven resourceful so far, and clearly not loyal to Khan’s way of seeing things.
“What now, Taurus? With Beldonna’s stunt, will we still follow your pn and attack Celdic? There is no doubt they would be prepared for us now, and I am sure you understand those bandits are not to be trusted.”
Adam’s frown was hidden by his mask; he did not like how Yuma had managed to ingratiate himself into the group and started politicking. Asking him such a question in the open, reminding everyone that it was his pn to attack the train and use it to hop on to the town. It would have been a brilliant pn if not for the unexpected betrayal.
Damn you, Bke!
First, she rebuffed him for Amito and then called into question his methods? Well, he had solved the first problem, and he had hoped the second one would solve itself in time. Bke would have been his woman one way or another and with that, his position as leader of a new tribe of faunus would be solidified. Never would he have guessed she would betray him like that, not when they were so close to glory and victory.
Noticing that the silence had stretched, Adam wondered how to reply. In the end, it didn’t matter what he said, for his strength was immense and his commitment to the cause was unquestionable. The White Fang would follow him, even if their symbolic figurehead had turned her cloak, Adam still had enough influence to keep the group going.
Still, he should do something about Yuma to make sure he stayed on his side but also learn his pce. The bat-faunus’ subtle threat of telling everyone the truth about Ilia Amito, that she wasn't a traitor but simply a personal target of his, shall not be ignored.
Before he could reply, however, a commotion came from the edge of camp.
“Freeze! How did you make it here?”
They turned and Adam scowled at the sight of a familiar figure in red materializing in front of him, her two tagalongs standing behind her. The human woman with a burning gaze and raven locks seemed different compared to when he st met her.
“You again? I thought I made my stance clear.”
“Oh, but things have changed, my dear Mr Taurus. I heard your little group has faced a setback recently.”
“You heard wrong. We have everything under control here.”
“Is that why I saw some of your men foraging for nuts and squirrels? Shouldn't you be reveling in the blood and wine of Celdic by now?”
Adam gritted his teeth as the scar under his mask itched and he rested his hand on his sword. The brazen woman must be insane if she thought she could waltz into his camp and act so high and mighty. “Begone, woman. Or else I shall kill you where you stand.”
A snap of her fingers, and suddenly, a rge fireball floated on her palm, and Adam gawked. That was no Dust. He did not see her use any, and the dust weaving of her dress did not so much as fre. One of his men instinctively drew his gun, only for the fireball to spit a molten bullet at it, melting the weapon to sg, causing the faunus to hastily drop it. Adam wasn't a sensor, but he could tell when aura was used… and that fire had no aura at all!
“Now that I have your attention, would you listen to my proposal? As a sign of goodwill, I can point you towards a nearby town that is rich and stocked with food and supplies yet miraculously avoided the Grimm so far. I hear their vender is to die for.”
“Oh? That would be a good start, but what is your end goal? We are no mere thugs or bandits but warriors with an honorable cause.”
Adam would grudgingly admit that Cinder Fall was beautiful and strong enough that he found himself desiring her despite being a filthy human. He could feel heat spreading to his loins, as his frustration with Bke caused him to forget about his erstwhile partner. The woman in red grinned wickedly, one of her amber eyes erupting into fmes.
“Why, the destruction of Vale, of course!”
9k words, and the next chapter will be even more as we finish up with this really long prologue.
Jaune’s descent into near madness was a side effect of having Arcus Links with dying people. He barely knew those people, yet their final thoughts and emotions affected him nevertheless.
I wanted to include a Celdic segment, but realized it won’t add anything to the plot. To summarize; Bke and Fie teamed up, they held back a smaller horde with the rest of the defenders, some people died, others were wounded, and then Hyperion arrived guns bzing.
Bke rolled on morale at the sight of the Hyperion fleet. She failed, and ran away.
White Cat 2, Bck Cat 1?
Jasper awakened his sembnce. I never said the d will die, on the contrary, his story had just begun.
Qrow is a badass, but I did not have a real chance to write him as such or this chapter would have been incredibly bloated. Suffice to say, he greatly enjoyed the boost from Jaune but once it was gone, he still retained the feeling of how to control his Sembnce. His fight with Ravena was just him training his ability to extreme levels.
The bandits' fate would always have been a sughter, whether by an army or Huntsmen teams, they would have been killed to the st man, for prisons would not make sense in Remnant. The difference is one man killing so many, instead of many killing many, if that makes sense. Jaune’s actions finally caught up to him, and the idea of his family seeing him like that gave him a meltdown.
Finally, Cinder and Adam team up. Adam is a delusional psycho; he fancies himself a tribal leader, and his lust for Bke is unhealthy. I understand RT are limited with what they could air, but Adam will be uncensored here.
