Key:
"The"- Human/ Similar Being Speaking
"Courier's"- Supernatural Being Speaking
[Game]- Relating to Game Ability/ Game Equipped Items Or Weapons
Large, blotchy clouds of black smoke filled the air above the burning city as small rays of sunlight poured through the cracks in the clouds, all whilst the sounds of panic, pain and death filled the city, which was accompanied by animalistic roars from black creatures that flooded the streets.
A lone child cried as he ran from the chaos. He had been separated from his family once the Grimm had entered the city. His blond hair reflected the golden sun as it broke through the gaps between the large plumes of smoke. Fear was shown in his deep, ocean blue eyes as a large creature of darkness was in front of him. The beady, red eyes of the creature settled on his cowering form.
It was a large, black bipedal wolf covered in large bone plates which writhed over its body as it made its way towards him, the bloodthirsty eyes of the wolf focused on the child, just as it sprinted towards him, to the horror of the panicking child. The sound of a high-pitched scream left the golden-haired child's mouth before the feeling of the creature's body did, only for it to start falling apart into a black, dusty material that began to fly with the wind. Teary eyes looked around the damaged area as the child looked for his saviour.
It was a large, round creature that had saved him. It's entire body was covered in fluffy, dark brown fur that had various clicking mandibles covering the front of its torso with large, moth-like wings draped over its shoulders like a cloak. The large bulbous eyes shifted from a deep red to a bright yellow as the creature looked at the child, with the various lenses of the eyes looking directly at the small boy.
With scratchy tapping, the creature shuffled forwards with its pointed feet, the sound echoed through the lifeless district with each step. The child fell backwards before he tried to use his cut and bloody hands to drag himself away from the creature that began to move faster towards him. It made loud, clinking noises from what was seemingly it mouth as it scurried over to him far faster than the child could match.
The wings spread outwards from its back, before beginning to jostle and shake, which caused dust to fall off of the wing's surface. The shedding dust falling caused even more fear to weal up inside of the boy as even more tears started to stream down his face. The last thing the child saw before loosing consciousness was the bulging eyes that turned into a dark purple colour.
In the small town of Flatwoods in West Virginia, a man was sleeping at his table in a room on the second floor of a moderately sized white coloured house. The young man was in a blissful sleep, which was somewhat evident from the small pool of saliva forming under his mouth. He only stirred slightly in his rest as shouting came from downstairs, along with the sound of what sounded to be heavy furniture moving. In the next second, three things happened. The first was what could only be called a battle cry that rumbled through the town, the second was a loud bang which caused the house to shake, that was followed by the sound of cracking, third and finally, the sleeping man fell back off of his soft swivel chair and hit the ground, hard, causing him to release a pain filled shout that woke the rest of the neighbourhood.
"FUCKING WHY?"
Grunting as he pushed himself up at a fast speed, his messy blond hair flailed about slightly, before finally settling into the normal, matted style that it usually was. A loud pop came from his back once he was standing, just before he picked up his trusty leather chair and set it back in its proper place. An exasperated sigh left his mouth as he looked down next to where he fell, before speaking in an equally annoyed tone as he pulled up his pair of glasses, only the lenses were shattered.
"Oh, come on! I just got these glasses! This is so much bull… I'll just have to see Susan… again this week. For the fifth time."
After he had turned back to the computer on the desk, he saved any of his work that he did before shutting it down with the annoying electrical hum from the machine still reverberating in the air before the hum slowly lessened into nothingness. Another sigh exited his mouth as he looked to his left. Floating in the air next to him was a glowing blue, digital box, one that he had long since become used to over his life. A single message was in the box, which he read, and then became annoyed at.
[You are feeling well rested.]
"Really? I can't help but think that's a little bit of a lie sue to the, y'know, whole breaking my glasses, falling to the ground and having my sleep being interrupted by… oh god dammit!"
He ran out to the door of his room like he was trying to escape hell itself once he realised what had happened, with the only other thing of any interest was that the digital box disappeared from existence without making a single noise, or if it did the noise was covered by door slamming loudly in a hurry. The walls seemed to shake slightly through the house as he ran down the hallway and past three other doors, each red, hot pink and magenta respectively, before leaping over the banister at the end of the hallway .
A heavy thud came from where he landed, before he turned around and entered the room behind him. In the rightest corner he could see was where both a small table and a set of two, light blue sofas. Normally, they were in neat and fine pattern, however, both of the sofas were stacked atop each other with the table that normally sat in front of the moderately sized television had been moved to the centre of the room and was broken in two, as well as had a small girl just laying in-between the two completely separated pieces of wood, the small girl spoke sheepishly as she looked at Jaune, who simply had a dead-pan face.
"H-hey Jaune… uh… it's not what you think! You're hallucinating… y-yeah that's right! Just your imagination, like last time."
The girl, who was called Ruby, was only thirteen-years old. She had dark, almost black, red hair at the roots that was far brighter at the tips. Her face was rather soft with somewhat large eyes, making her look adorable, almost like a puppy, at least in Jaune's opinion. She wore was rather standard clothing, except that it was almost always black and red which was topped with a large, ruby red cloak that was wrapped comfortably on her shoulders. The most standout feature wasn't just her hair, but also the deep, shining silver eyes on her face that almost always seemed to radiate hope.
Out of all the people in his household, she was the one that he knew the longest. They had both met entirely by chance in the east, specifically on the edge of Washington D.C when they were both very young. He could remember that they were both completely alone back then, but now he had a family that he would trade for nothing else in the world, even if Jaune sometimes needed to get away from them for his sanity. Another voice came from the kitchen as a person walked out of the house's kitchen.
"Heya Rubes, Do you think it woke him up? Renny says that I can't have his pancakes until Jaune lets me. "
It was another girl that was about fifteen. She had just above shoulder length hair that was bright ginger and had small freckles on her face. Her aqua coloured eyes were filled with joy and energy, as she began to jump up and down on the spot giddily which caused the nearly blinding pink pyjamas that was covered in sloths to crumple and expand, before she launched herself at Jaune's neck and held on to it tightly as she spoke in a borderline pleading tone.
"Please, Please, PLEASE! Can I have your pancakes?"
The same dead-pan look was on his face as he simply replied un-emotionally.
"No."
Even still, the girl remained confident, pressing onwards in her endeavour to receive the soft, fluffy meal known as pancakes.
"Aw, c'mon! You don't even eat them… I think? In fact, now I think about it, have you ever eaten, at least, around us?"
A small smirk tugged at his lips as he crouched down and next to effortlessly picked up the small girl that was still laying in between the broken halves of the table dusting. He dusted down her cape and shoulders before he spoke, the others already knew about [The Game] since he revealed it to them years ago.
"Yes, I eat, even with [The Game] essentially making it useless, unless it grants me a benefit. Personally, I think that I enjoy food more due to it since, y'know, the whole no having to worry about what I eat thing. Unless it's poisonous, in which case, I'd rather live thanks."
A pout began to form on the gingers face, before it was quashed as the final member of the household came out of the kitchen, and spoke in a near emotionless voice, one that made everybody else in the home calm.
This time, it was actually a he, which to Jaune was a life saver. In that moment, he wore a purple apron above his simple green clothes. The other man looked at the girl with his pink coloured irises and a soft smile on his face. His hair went just beyond his chin, and strangely, had a streak of magenta going down the left side of his face. From what they knew, he was sixteen, and seemed to be of Asian descent.
"Nora, he said no, and you've already had enough for today."
"But, Renny!"
"Nora, no."
A grin grew on Jaune's face as he began to put the sofas back to normal, with an actual amount of effort to do so. Truly, he thought that they were all meant to be together, for the simple reason being that they could technically be called freaks of nature.
Ruby was often ostracised because of her appearance, because no people are born with natural pure red hair and silver eyes. Not only this, but she seemed to naturally be faster and lighter weight than almost everyone else he had met, to the point of being able to cover the entire town in a minute or two. Nora, despite her appearance, was far stronger than literally anybody he had ever seen, especially considering that she tore a thick sheet of steel in half without even batting an eye once, she was also, strangely, immune to electricity, which they found out on accident when a high voltage wire broke ages ago.
Ren, however, was far subtler. He was impossibly agile and flexible to the point of being able to almost bend out of the way of bullets, which they found out when there was a bank robbery in Grafton. Not only that, but Jaune could swear they Ren could blend into the environment if he stood still for a while without making any noise. He was also seemed to have stunted emotions and just radiated calmness, unless you made him mad, in which he would be the scariest thing that any of them had seen before. Jaune himself had what could be seen as the most potential and the greatest ability of them all, as well as being the strangest ability of them all.
[The Game] was strange . From what Jaune could tell, different actions would grant him [Experience Points] which accumulate to make a [Level], or as [The Game] displayed it [LV] to then put into different things and would help him. It also granted him a bunch of different abilities and benefits, in fact, it was also one of the reasons that he and the others had come together, due to it offering a [Quest].
"Jaune, are you nearly finished with programming it?"
The blond was brought from his musing by the sound of Ren speaking to him, just as the hammer in his hand hit the nail into the wooden board that he was going to fix the broken table, at least for a while until they got a replacement. A small hum came from the blond as he finished biting into the soft pancake that was drenched in syrup, the flavour of both combined into a paradise as he actually at around them.
"Yeah, just a few more bits to do and then you guys get your very own Pip-Boy 4000, well, a prototype anyway. I don't really think that there's much of an upgrade anyway, just a more efficient battery, it being more compact and a hacking tool for computers. "
The curious voice of Ruby spoke to him clearly, even with the television on full blast, which was due a courtesy of Nora who was finishing the rest of Jaune's pancakes, despite how much Ren kept telling Nora to stop.
"Hey, um, do you think the nukes would actually happen? I mean, it has gotten worst right? You know, the war."
Kicking his feet up and placing them on the wooden table, a familiar smile yet again grew on his face as he looked at the small girl.
"Nah, that's like saying I'm from another dimension. Either way, I got us places in that big vault up on the hill if it does get that bad. By the way, I'm keeping your comic allowance because, surprisingly, I need to pay for the table that you broke, same with Nora's allowance, though honestly it think that's for the best, considering that she tried to buy a sloth last time and I already know that she would try it again."
"WHAT!? NO!"
What could only be called an evil chuckle left Jaune's lips as he entered the kitchen and began to clean all the dishes in hot, soapy water. He knew that nukes would come eventually, and he would rather know that his friends and family were safe and felt safe until that moment came.
No matter what would happen, he would stay by their side and help them out no matter what.
"… Even if it's the third time they broke that goddamned table."
As he began to place the final plate on a drying rack, time seemed to freeze as a message appeared next to him with a sharp ping echoing in the area.
[Quest Gained: Run, Boy, Run.
Objective(s): Get To The Vault.
Reward: 3000 EXP, Random Item, ?
Failure: Death of Friends, No EXP]
The moment time started again, he heard the bomb sirens and panic on the outside of the home as he threw himself into the room with the others. The fear and panic in his voice broke the others from their petrified states.
"We need to go right goddamned now!"
In less than a minute, all of them was ready as they headed outside and were met with absolute carnage, especially compared to the normal sleepy state of the town. Many different military personnel and vehicles were scattered throughout the small town. Small, artillery shell shaped robots dropped out of the sky, each emblazoned by a red star. All of Jaune's friends were in the Corvega that he owned before he himself entered the car and started to drive whilst he tried to block out the heart retching cries of Ruby, who ended up seeing some blood splatter against her window.
One of the machines was pelted out of the way of the car, causing the metal shell being to be demolished from the strike. Gunfire could be heard ringing out in the small settlement as they drove through the chaos, before meeting the main road to the Vault, which was only littered in abandoned cars that were damaged heavily or filled with dead occupants. The engine cut off as another of the machines fell onto the car's front, making flames rise from the white hood.
Each of the riders rushed out of the car as fast as they possibly could, only for another of the robots to come down from the sky again, which quickly tried to attack the silver eyed girl, only to be sent recoiling back as the sound of a single shot echoed through the area, and the sound of two bullets hitting metal reverberated in the air. The small girl was grabbed as all four of the humans left the explosion radius of car, which burned the nuclear shadows of the robots into the ground, whilst also temporarily blinding the quartet. Jaune spoke with a dead seriousness that seemed out of character for him.
"The fastest way up to the Vault is that massive hill. Ren, I'm trusting you to guard them, so, here, just in case."
Jaune's outstretched hand had a 10mm submachine gun with two fully loaded magazines that was handed to Ren, which he took graciously. The mostly silent boy looked at Jaune questionably before letting out what could only be called a sad whimper of a question.
"Where are you going Jaune? We should stick together to make sure that we're all fine."
With a small heft, a single, lever-action rifle appeared in his hands. Even beneath the sky that was covered in a deep smog, the black finish on the metal gleamed brilliantly as small rays of light covered it, whilst the chromatic silver cut through the darkness around them. The weapon was cocked as he stood still with a large grin on his face.
"I can't leave now, and I'd rather make sure that you guys make it out alive. Go now, I promise I'll meet you later!"
The others looked at him with tears in their eyes as they ran up the hill and up towards the Vault as Jaune waved them goodbye. Jaune turned forwards with the grin gone and was replaced with a large scowl etched into his face. The angered voice of the blond was directed to himself to reassure himself.
"Okay then, let's get to this, I'd rather not let them worry for too long."
It was true that he couldn't leave the area. A wall of flashing, translucent red lights had surrounded the patch of road he was on in a circular blockade which removed any chance of his escape. He was in a [Boss Arena], at least, according to [The Manual] that came with [The Game], that and the previous [Field Bosses] he had gone against before. Through the green iron sights of Jaune's [Take Me Home, DAM: 43, DPS: 82, Special Effect: Take Them To The Side Of The Country Roads- Never Ending, Two Shot.], he could see the rising chaos in Flatwoods, before looking away as he noticed something.
Three shadows came down from above as they widened as they got closer to the ground, thanks to the work of gravity. With a soft thud, three Chinese soldiers landed, before drawing the assault rifles off of their backs. All of them began to fire at Jaune as they shouted in Chinese insults at him about how his ideology was disgusting, which he really didn't give a damn about what they were saying. Flashes from the Chinese-made weapons lit the blackening world as they continued to fire onto their sole adversary, and in response the lone man fired in retaliation. He weaved in between the bullets carefully that were heading at him, and luckily only took a few rounds to the shoulder and torso.
A bullet grazed his cheek as he ran towards the three with his gun's barrel aimed towards the three, before he pulled the trigger whilst the weapon was pressed against the chin of one of the invaders, causing brain-matter and blood to scatter through the air and over the ground, as well as the grey uniform of the dead man. Even more blood and chunks of flesh was separated from the body as more bullets riddled his body, with Jaune using the lifeless body as a shield to protect himself. He drew a knife from the dead man's side, before he threw the body at the other two, stunning them.
In a second, he closed the distance between them, before plunging the knife into one of the men's head, before ripping it out with a small spirt of blood alongside it. Just as the Chinese man dropped, he grabbed [Take Me Home] and pulled the trigger, causing the round to fire into the last soldier's leg and separating the limb violently. The helpless soldier tried to crawl away, only for the heel of Jaunes shoe to fall upon his head, causing the skull to shatter and the liquified bran to seep onto the ground. A casing came from the side of his gun once he cocked the weapon once again, although it was mostly due to being nervous.
Jaune looked to the sky as another shadow began to descend, and despite the actual thing it belonged to. Jaune snickered before speaking to himself with humour lining his words.
"That's just stupid, you look like a turtle villain from a tv show!"
Falling from the soot covered sky was the actual boss, who was dressed in what appeared to be a mix between a Chimera Tank and some form of piloted robot. The back was actually covered in a domelike structure with a dull silver sheen and what seemed to be four different hatches at the sides. Two Large cannons of the same materials emerged from its back from the top two hatches and were held on by the usage of a pair of sturdy mechanical arms before resting on the shoulders, while the rest seemed to resemble a heavily modified set of T-51b power armour, with the helmet that was cylindrical and looked like a more modern version of the Chinese Han dynasty helmet, except the front had a plat of glass covering the front that was edged off by more of the dull silver metal.
It stood about the height of two men and was imposing to the blond. In truth, it was actually a person in a large mechanical suit of armour, if the face from behind the T-shaped plate of glass was any form of evidence. [The Game] froze time as he landed on the ground, causing the small particles of dust, dirt and concrete freeze mid take-off.
[Objective(s) updated:
Survive Until The Timer Runs Out: 5:00m
(Optional Objective: Defeat The Boss)- Reward: ?
(Optional Objective: Defeat The Boss In Less Than 4 minutes)- Reward: ?]
Just before dismissing the message, he looked above the man's head, as to see who he actually was. The moment he saw the person's name, his face changed to that of one both fear and intrigue. Many knew who the person in front of him was infamous for being the leader of the military in China, and was often merciless, and would defend his own honour to the very death.
[Chairman Cheng: LV 32]
Not even a second later, time started once again as a constant clock appeared in the corner of Jaune's vision. To Jaune's surprise, the man spoke to him in a heavily accented, gruff voice filled with disgust.
"Surprising, I expected you to run or to start shooting at me the moment I landed, a rare sight to see an American with a small amount of honour."
Jaune could just shrug as he put the gun on his back. In a slightly entertained voice, the blond spoke to his enemy without a care in the world.
"That would be rude to not act like it and, for somebody as important as you, that would be completely unacceptable, especially because I want answers."
"That is… surprising, especially coming from an American dog."
Jaune rolled his eyes at the typical response that he had expected from the man before continuing with what he was going to ask.
"Yeah, yeah. Yeah, whatever. Why the hell do you think that just dropping some damned bombs would solve the fucking shitshow you call a rivalry with America?"
Cheng seemed confused by what he was asking but hid his confusion well beneath an emotionless mask.
"What are you on about? This is not about a simple rivalry over resources and renown; this is to end a deceitful and disgusting ideal that has infected your country's mind. This is to save them from the foolishness of the capitalist lies that had been sown beneath its surface."
Jaune clenched and unclenched his fists as the timer went down to four minutes, just as anger began to grow inside of him, as well as disgust, at what Cheng had said. He may not have known many of the other people of America, but he did know that Cheng's reasoning for destroying the country, and possibly the world, was braindead. In an irritated and mocking tone, Jaune aggressively retorted.
"Were you dropped on your head as a kid? 'Oh, I know what'll save people from their own stupidity and being an individual, FUCKING KILLING THEM ALL!' you should be ashamed of yourself you prick! In fact, I think that there's only one way that you can regain both yours and China's honour for such an act."
That gained Cheng's attention more than any if the other words that he had said to him earlier. The older man's voice still seemed flat but had a slight inclination to anger and insult in his voice.
"If I have truly lost my own honour and my country's honour, than how do you propose that I regain it, pathetic dog?"
Jaune had him where he wanted him. He knew that in a fight with both of them as they were, Cheng would absolutely slaughter him.
"Fight me one on one with no guns, no armour. just you and me fighting in close combat."
Hissing filled the air as the pressurised shell of armour opened and let Cheng exit the chassis to fight. From the side of the suit's hip, he withdrew an average sized blade with a moderate curve throughout the length of the masterfully blade. In a proper grip, the blade was held at the ready as the sharp steel edge reflected the darkening sky's light impeccably. The sword wielding man charged as he prepared to slash upwards diagonally in a fatal blow, only for the flawless edge to miss its target once Jaune dodged to the left and struck out with a simple and plain [Kitchen Knife- 10 DAM, 30 DPS]and driving it into the man's upper arm, making the military leader grit his teeth in pain.
Just as Jaune was about to rip the blade from the man's arm, a strong strike from Cheng's sword's golden hilt slammed into the blonde's jaw with enough force to shatter it, causing a loud crack to sound through the arena, and a few teeth and blood to fly from the injured area. A group of pixels covered his bloodied mouth, and once they disappeared any physical trace that any harm had happened was gone. Of course, he still received damage to his [Health Points], but his regeneration rate starting to fill it back to where it was before, albeit slowly.
Blood splattered onto the ground as the knife was ripped from Cheng's shoulder quickly with a loud grunt from the man. Within a second, as the military leader watched the makeshift weapon fall to the ground, Jaune charged at Cheng at full force and tackled him to the ground, removing the air from his lungs. Spittle flew from Cheng's mouth the moment he hit the ground violently, before a cracked tooth flew from his mouth along with some blood, once the full force of Jaune's fist drove into his face. Another hit followed that caused another of his teeth to fly, and then another which caused Cheng's cheek bone to create a snap as it broke, and a third followed which caused the military man's nose to crumple, and a final to the man's eye, which caused the war leader's eye to swell in a large, purple and blue bruise.
The assault only stopped once Jaune reared back with blood began to drip down his face. He was thrown of the war monger's body as he held onto his left eye, just as he saw the status of [Blinded- left] in the corner of his right eye. In Cheng's hand was a small, double edged dagger that was similar to his sword. Blood dripped down one of its edges as Cheng pushed himself up.
Jaune pushed himself up and backed away from the man just as the timer hit two minutes. The black haired Asian walked over to his sword as he spoke in a sickeningly enthusiastic tone.
"Whilst this has been interesting, I say that we should end this scum. What is it that people say… was it 'you made your bed, now lie in it'? I believe that this is one of those moments!"
Black ash began to litter the ground around them as the ground rumbled again, just as the sword in Cheng's bloody hand was about to strike through Jaune's chest with the flat sided tip. The blond barely moved in time in a sloppily motion to the side to evade it, only to feel a burning pain as blood began to coat the blackened ground as the Arc's severed right arm flopped to the ground. The teenager fell to the ground screaming and exhausted as his skin began to lose colour and his body shake as The Game was unable to nullify the amount of shock his body was going through. Just as the man's blade loomed over the blonde's chest, the still remaining, blood-slick hand managed to grab onto the same, dull knife as before.
Cheng missed his strike just as the blunt knife's point went through the upper joint of the Chairman's knee, and was swiftly twisted, causing the joint to make a pop as it was dislocated and made Cheng fall to the ground, before Jaune ripped the blade out violently, cutting some of the tendons in the joint. With gritted teeth and seething rage, he slammed the blade into Cheng's skull up to the handle, before pulling the eleven-inch knife from the skull, and repeating it over and over, leaving the man's grey matter and bone to scatter the ground as if it was a macabre garden of flesh and bone. Black ash drifted over the area as he continued to drive the blade into the bloody mess of a skull.
With his clothes a mixture of sanguine and lightless black, he collapsed backwards as the falling ash continued to fall around him to form an ever-growing blanket of death, just as the noise from the town grew quieter, and harder to focus on. Even with the amount of drying blood that covered the side of his face and blond hair, he smiled sadly with tears falling down his face with his breaths becoming heavier and more laboured by the second.
A small chuckle left his lips as his darkening vision looked at the body that lay opposite to him, just as another quake ran through the ground, and a large pillar of fire grew on the horizon. It didn't matter to him, not at all. He spoke to himself as what little life he was holding onto began to leave his body.
"heh… it feels more… lonely than I expected. Ha… sorry guy's… might take longer… to see you again… than… I… thought…"
His heavy eye closed, as a wave of heat blew over him just as the life began to leave him. He never noticed that the same creature from so long ago reappeared, before smothering him in its wings.
The sound of rumbling thunder forced him to wake to a pitch-black world of nothingness. The ground was a lifeless, black mass that seemed to be covered in black grains that were once living. A radiant green glow flowed underneath the ground in wild untamed rapids, before bursting through the surface in unrelenting geysers of molten energy and waves of merciless light. Up above, the sky was a never-ending sea of black which not a single light cold be seen, except for the racing, green electricity that ran through the clouded sky that struck out at the ground untamed.
Sharp winds that harshly cut at his skin whipped at him violently, enough so to create painful lashes on the exposed skin of his hand and face. He spoke to himself in wonder and confusion as the whipping air lapped at his hands and body.
"Where the hell am I? Is this hell? I expected fire, brimstone, maybe the occasional lawyer and definitely that suspicious guy from behind the motel."
A raging voice rang through the hellscape, seemingly causing the winds to strengthen to a sharper edge as needle-like drops of rain pricked at his skin relentlessly, just as a large wall of wind rose from the ground in a barrier that could not be seen through.
"Enter the storm's eye and we will truly meet. Face this trial with your true strength and power, never kneel and never give. Prove you are not a pathetic waste of existence, not only to me, but to yourself as well "
Jaune began to push through the barrier with all of his strength and hells planted in the ground, but the wall forced him back with great resistant leaving thick lines of dust at where his shoes were forced to drag along the ground. Once again, he began to push through the storm with his only arm raised to cover his face whilst the rain pelted him without breaking even once. After each attempt he had made he went farther into the clouded tempest, only to eventually be thrown back. Despite the amount of agony, he was in, he was glad that he was actually getting somewhere in the dark world he had found himself in. One final hearty push was all he needed to break through the cascading wall before him.
Black dust was launched into the air as Jaune's weary body fell flat onto the ground, making the dust coat his face and hair. His face turned upwards as the same voice from before could be heard before him.
"Impressive, at least, for what you are. You persevered through the pain and managed to reach my sanctum in only twenty tries. Now kneel before me or become like the disgusting filth around you."
Jaune's body moved to a kneeling position without any of his intervention. Even with the ash caked locks that fell over his eye, he could see the thing that had spoken to him. It moved as the black stone throne it sat on began to crack before finally disappearing once it stood to its full height.
The thing was about a head and shoulders taller than Jaune's full height, making him seem even more imposing when combined with the other aspects of his appearance. The body was a mass of a deep black that seemed to absorb all the light around him, except for the deep, electric green that ran through the body. The green energy seemed to match that of that in the surrounds.
Every inch of it seemed to be covered in rippling muscles that gave the impression that he could easily kill someone by grabbing their head gently. The nails of the fingers were like silver claws and appeared sharp enough to render flesh from the bone easily with no effort of all. Once it began to move forwards with its two toed feet, the ground shook violently as each step left a deep, cracked crater. Sparks seemed to fly from the spike-tipped heel with each step.
As he moved closer, Jaune could see the long, wildly flowing black hair that trailed behind him with the same green lighting throughout the mane, making it slightly resemble a raging storm. By the side of his face was a pair of long, waving sideburns that seemed to be connected to him by the usage of metallic clip. Other than the extremely baggy clothing that covered his lower half, that was the final resemblance of anything that could resemble being human.
The most apparent feature was his face. The angles of its face was sharp to the point of being able to cut. Decorating his face was a row of sharp, pointed teeth that would be welcome on any form of carnivore. Two sharp points rose from its head on adjacent sides, giving them the appearance of ears. Atop his shoulders were motifs of foxes that resembled his face, glowing green eyes and all. What got Jaune's attention wasn't those features, but that which came from its lower back
"Is that a goddamned tail?"
A resonating sigh left the large creatures mouth, the almost mechanical voice once again left its unmoving mouth.
"Humans, the ever-annoying pests that you are. At least you are not cowering away like so many others would."
Jaune let a question leave his mouth, which caused the thing before him let out another sigh.
"So, are we in Hell? I mean, if it is, can I get room ser-"
He was cut off from speaking as the creature started to shout ferociously at him.
"STOP WITH YOUR INCESSANT BABBLING! You are here for a very important reason human, do not make me angrier than I already am!"
"Well, shoot get on with it. I mean, it looks like I have a lotta spare time on my hands at the moment, as you can probably see."
"You are to be the one that shall inherit my power, my strength and my ruthlessness! There is no refusing what I offer, or I will grind you to naught but dust. In fact, rejoice, as what I offer will allow you to see those that you love yet again."
"Well, why didn't you say so, lets got on with it!"
A large, ink black sword appeared behind the large creature as he spoke. As the creature spoke, it developed farther and farther into a larger image. The sword was soon joined by eight magatama which was each conjoined to some other shapes, such as with the second highest pair having spikes pointed outwards from their backs.
"I am Takehaya Susanoo, I am power, I am valour and I am strength. I am the one who will sever all evil, and I am to be Jaune Arc."
Jaune automatically responded to the pledge, as if he knew what was going to happen the entire time. Just like with Susanoo, his emblem appeared behind him, which was composed of two large, white arcs with one large one of the outside and a slightly smaller one on the inside.
"I am Jaune Arc, I am duality, I am mercy and I am cruelty . I am the one that will act where others will not, and I am to be Takehaya Susanoo."
The two spoke at once, with both of their voices overlapping each other, which ended with a bright white flash that took over the entire plain they were on.
"We are judgment, and we are the ones who will decide our own actions and choices!"
Once the light was over, everything around them had changed. The once damaged and lifeless ground had turned a luscious green and was covered in various colours from numerous different flowers and trees. The sky was a pale blue and was littered in calming white clouds that gently drifted the endless blue, with their only companions being various different birds that drifted through the uncorrupted sky. The feeling of the soft, cooling breeze tickled Jaune's skin as he looked towards the changed Susanoo.
Whilst most of its features were the same, there was a few exceptions. Where the body was a once hunched, aggressive stance, it had turned into a more relaxed and prepared form. In place of the jade coloured energy was a pale blue energy that seemed to smoothly flow through the body. It raised its hand towards it face, before Susanoo looked at it whilst blue lightning danced around on the palm.
It spoke, but rather than the hate-filled and borderline murderous voice that it used to have. It was still mechanised, but it had become more reserved and softer.
"So, the raging storm has passed and given way to the calm. We have work to do, so, shall we begin?"
Jaune woke up a second later, before he began to cough violently and disturbing the dust that covered the ragged blanket on him. Throughout the entire coughing fit he looked around the room to find where he was, only to find himself back in his own room however, there was more than just the smell of rot that made it seem different. The walls had aged into a dark grey, murky mess, with the wooden boards being exposed. He could see the black and green rot growing on the wall where some of the paint had flaked and fallen off, only for his sight to be overtaken by a text box from [The Game].
[Quest: Run, Boy, Run- Complete
Rewards:
3000 EXP
Relic Of Power - Sword Of God(Susanoo)
Spell Book- Thunderstruck
Optional Objective Reward:
Reward (Optional 1)- 1500 EXP, Ray of The Eastern Sun
Reward (Optional 2)- 2000 EXP, 300 Caps, Rising East Power Armour]
With the roll of his eyes, he spoke as the box was dismissed from existence.
"Thanks, guess that it was completely worth dying over that quest, but hey, at least the others should be alright."
He was pissed. For some reason, he had expected that the moment he woke up that the others would be with him, but at least he was in his home, even if it was rotting and abandoned. The blanket that was covering him was thrown off his body towards the broken remains of the door, before making it shatter in a cloud of splinters, dust and ripped fabric. Jaune spoke aloud to quickly access his [Status Menu], rather than navigate the [Console].
"[Status]."
Another box appeared in front of him with his own [Stats] as he began to adjust what he wanted. He had gone from [Level 7] to [Level 11] and just a small bit of [EXP] towards the next [Level]. He began to put the [Stat Points] into what he wanted
Name: Jaune Arc Level: 11 Title: Pre-War Man- 25% effectiveness of pre-war items
HP: 370(+750) AP: 86(+100) MP:525 (+850) Carry weight:250
Strength(STR):10- 20 Melee: 30- 40 (+40)
Perception(PER):8 - 10 (-5) Lockpick:40- 100 Energy weapons:20(+20) Explosives:20(+20)
Endurance(END):11- 12 (+30) Unarmed:46- 50(+40) Survival:46- 50
Charisma(CHR):5- 10 Barter:20 Speech:60
Intelligence(INT):20- 30 (+100) Medicine:40 (+100) Repair:40- 50 (+100) Science:40 (+100)
Agility(AGL):7 - 10 Guns:20(+20) Sneak:20
Luck(LUK):5 - 10 Percentage chance bonus- 2%- 4%
SPECIAL Points: 36- 0 Skill Points: 80- 12
Traits:
Relic Of Knowledge- (?): +30 to INT, +100 to INT skills, The Game.
Arc Bloodline: +20 to Melee, +20 to Unarmed
Relic Of Power - Sword Of God(Susanoo): +20 to combat skills, +100 AP,+30 END, Agelessness, weather manipulations, Drive- God of Military Arts
Perks:
Swift Learner (Rank 3)- +30% EXP
Too Drunk To Die (Rank Max)- +5 to damage threshold whilst under alcohol
Perk Points: 1
It was only when he was putting his [Skill Points] that he noticed his missing arm was back, mainly because he was using it. Whilst he was glad, he had an arm, he felt concern due to the fact it looked nothing like his old limb. The skin was a pasty white that covered the entire limb, except for the tips, which were a deep black, whilst the nails were a deep silver with a razor sharp at the edge. It looked like Susanoo's arm, matching the amount of muscle as it had, however it was strangely covered in a large stream of blue energy that trailed down his forearm, only to stop at the back of his hand, and forming a sword with two arcs that had eight magatama on the outside arc.
He looked towards his other arm, only to find that it was also the same as the other one. Which lead him to think that there was even more changes, and so, after noticing the mirror that was in the corner of the room, he prepared to move.
He launched from the bed and towards the mirror to see is his suspicions was correct, only to fall once he stood up on his feet. The sound of his body hitting the floor shook through the house's remains before Jaune pushed himself quickly upwards to stand , only to find himself to be far taller than before. In a few seconds, he had managed to stand properly without trouble and walk without tripping over himself, although he did have to duck due to the ceiling's height.
Despite his hunched form, he could tell that the man in the mirror was himself, even if most of his features had changed. Even after disregarding his new height, very little remained of his past-self's looks, other than some small features. He was had gained lots of muscle, enough to almost match Susanoo's own muscles, however they seemed leaner rather than bulky. His skin had turned the same pasty colour as his arms, causing him to look as if his skin was synthetic, which was not helped by the luminescent blue lights that spread from his neck up to his lower cheeks.
His facial features appeared to be sharper that before and seemed to have less fat on them, whilst his white canine teeth became sharp enough to gouge flesh easily with a lacklustre bite. Whilst his hair had stayed the same in both length and messy style, the colour had changed. Whilst the top of his head was still a golden blonde, the sides had turned into a mixture dark grey with small flecks of white and concealed glowing blue mixed into it. The strangest thing about him was his remaining eye. The sclera had turned a void black, whilst the iris had turned a very light blue to the point of almost looking like it was white or silver. The pupil of his eye had also changed into a deep blue.
He couldn't help but speak to himself as he looked into the single eye on his face.
"Jesus Christ. What the actual fuck? Wait, oh, you can't be serious!"
He could barely see it in the mirror, but there was some form of motion from behind him. Jaune moved his head so he could get a better sight of what he saw, and it was indeed what he thought it was. A tail was moving without a care in the world. The white limb seemed to be coated in either fur or hair, he couldn't tell, but it was fluffy. A crack sounded out beneath Jaune and was soon followed up on by the wooden boards finally giving out, making the tall, seventeen-year-old-looking man to fall straight through.
Pain spread through his back once he landed, mostly due to landing onto of the table he was repairing when the bombs fell. With a groan, Jaune pushed his large body to a seating position before stopping his head just under the second floor. Out from under a broken stair crawled a large, brown cockroach that quickly scuttled towards Jaune, possibly to try and eat him or, in the least, nibble at his ankles. Green and brown soon showered the walls and floor once Jaune slammed his foot into the creature with a disgusting splat, whilst he was sure that one of the creatures legs was moving.
A sound of disgust tore itself from the tall man's throat, without him noticing that his iris had turned into an electrical green.
"Fucking disgusting!"
The remains flopped against a wall once Jaune kicked it off of his dirtied shoe, which also caused a wet, sloppy noise that was near sickening. From what he could tell, the entirety of what was the kitchen was ruined due to the sheer amount of collapsed debris. Boards creaked as he made his way over to the door of the house, only to find it was unable to be opened. He jangled with the handle to the door to open it, however the hunk of wood refused to budge.
Deciding to think about what to do, Jaune sat down with his back against the wall, before remembering his reward for completing his last [Quest]. Opening his [Inventory], he rummaged around until he found the spell book. It spawned in his hand with a flash of blue light that covered the surroundings and revealed a deep blue book once the light disappeared. The cover was leather bound and was decorated with what appeared to be a cloud with a bolt with lightning coming from the bottom. A message appeared before him yet again.
[Spell: Thunderstruck
Category: Destruction
Effect: Allows The User To Chanel Lightning Into Their Palm Before Releasing It In a Small Burst.
Effected By Skills: Energy Weapons, Destruction(Locked)
Learning This Spell Will Destroy It's Book.
Do You Want To Learn Thunderstruck?
YES/NO ]
A small chime rang in his head once he pressed the [YES] button, whilst the book in his hand glowed a bright yellow and shattered into multiple, glowing shards that was absorbed by Jaune's body. Almost on instinct, violent sparks of blue lighting covered Jaune's right arm, causing his [MP] fall with every second while the lighting became denser and more erratic. The palm of the white hand rested against the wooden door, before flinching backwards as the blast was released and practically caused the door to disintegrate. Another box appeared, however, this time it contained two different messages.
[Skill Unlocked: Destruction (Magic)
Skill Uses: Lowering Destruction Spell Cost, Increase Destruction Spell Damage, Increase Destruction Magic Effectiveness.]
[Quest Gained: Destroyer
Objective(s)- Learn Over 25 Destruction Spells (1/25)
Rewards: Ability To Cast Master Level Destruction Spells, 1 Random Master Destruction Spell Book.]
In all honesty, he wasn't really surprised at gaining a [Quest], truth be told, he had expected to get one the moment he saw the book. Taking a step out into the world, the eight-foot tall man quickly covered his eyes, nose and mouth. The obvious reason to why he covered his eyes was due to the bright light that was on the outside of the building which came through the massive hole in the porch roof. After blinking for a few seconds, he realised why he had covered both his mouth and nose.
Laying in front of him was a decaying dead body. Judging from the gun and the bloodstain that covered the wall behind them they had committed suicide. It was eerily silent from the lack of chirping birds and blowing winds that had seemed to have died down. He started to walk down the paved path from his house and into the town proper only to, yet again, run into more dead bodies. Unlike the last one though, it seemed as if they had been killed due to the sheer amount of bullet holes that decorated their cold, dead skin and the slashes across their bodies. After releasing a breathe he didn't know he was holding, he decided to do the one thing he could do for them.
He wandered through the town searching for more and more dead bodies, which he did eventually find. After finding each body, he lifted them over his shoulders securely before moving them over to a plot of land near the river side at the edge of the dead settlement. Only when the sky had turned a deep red from the setting orange sun was, he was sure that he had found each and every one of the bodies. Through the usage of his [Inventory], he managed to remove everything from their bodies except for their clothing to give them some dignity.
Once again he returned to the town to look for a place to stay, with the thankful realisation that one of the places he had been to earlier was a church that acted as a medical bay for the injured that a group called 'The Responders' had set up before what seemed to be their end. Even with his feet and legs dangling off of the edge, he still found that the medical cot he was laying on was far more comfortable than that of the cold floor or his ruined bed.
In the morning he would have to go rummaging through either the nearby Vault Tech Greenery or the bombed out remains of a shop to look for what he needed to let them have a proper burial. Despite how long he had slept before finally waking up, he still felt tired both physically and mentally. With a hefty yawn, his head hit the cushioned surface under him, and he swiftly fell asleep into a dreamless rest.
At daybreak Jaune's body was well rested and ready to go. Once again, he opened his [Inventory], however, this time he removed his new sword [Ray Of The Eastern Sun, DAM: 40, DPS:120, Special Effect: 2x Damage Against American Born Enemies, 2x Damage Against American Made Enemies]. Jaune did find that both the weapon and the effect it had was good, better than most of his other weaponry was well, but it just didn't sit well with him, even though he still put it on his hip, ready for use.
Ignoring the fact that the weapon at his side had almost killed him once, he went into the town and, more specifically, headed towards what was the small commercial area. The whole place seemed frightening just due to the fact that there was nobody around at all, making it seem like a ghost town from a movie he watched once. A broken bit of concreate bounced against the main body of pavement as it skidded along due to Jaune kicking it on accident once he arrived outside of a store that was designed to sell housewares.
Glass cracked as he made his way into the building carefully as to not disturb anything, if there was anything in the building. A loud racket came from the shop as Jaune started to look through the inventory of the storefront for a shovel, unaware that something was crawling down the wooden steps that lead to what was once an apartment. The moment that Jaune had found he thing he was looking for, he heard the dry wheezing of the thing that was behind him, just as it pounced to attack him.
Shelves fell over in a clattering mess as it rushed into them before the exquisite edge of Jaune's sword was drawn to cut it down. It turned its whole body and swung its blotchy hand in a ferocious swipe at the tall man, who had no choice but to block the blow with the edge of the sword. What he didn't expect was the hand coming straight off of the wrist, with a surprising amount of dark red blood spraying from the disembodied hand. With a swift slash to the near melted -looking neck, the decrepit head came flying off of the body with next to no effort, before the body flopped to the ground with a small thud.
Jaune's panicked breathing began to return to normal as he looked away from the dead body. He spoke in a quieted voice as he left the store as he ignored the seeping blood.
"What the hell was that?"
After shrugging off what he would consider nightmare-fuel, he began to get to work near the riverbank on what he originally intended. The day passed by quickly as he continued to dig the graves of the dead un-interrupted. By the time he finished digging the sun had set and the small, shining stars were brightly lighting the near blinding black of night. As gently as he could, he lifted each body into their own designated six-foot deep hole and covered them up with the freshly dug dirt as carefully as he could. The sweat that began to decorate his brow was wiped away as he dragged his muddy hands across the skin.
All around him was the trees of the forest and each one could be used as much as he wanted because of a lack of things to stop him. Not only that, he also had a town, one that could be looted for whatever he needed and could very much be used as a place to live, just like it used to. The wood, whilst flammable, could form a somewhat good defence for the place, and it did have a rather ideal location. He let out a sigh before deciding to sit down and watching the river flow by, the small radiated creak glistening under the moonlight.
"This is utter shit…"
The sound of a thunder, and then a tree falling filled the air as small black birds flew from the other nearby trees and away over the sky. A deep breath left Jaune's lips as he pulled his arm back from the wood, before he walked over to the fallen tree and deposied it whole into his [Inventory] all at once. A scowl covered his face for once, even though he was technically making progress in his project and his [Destruction Skill] to [LV 10].
"Just a few more and then I can finally get on with something else"
Throughout the entire time that he had been knocking down trees he had been repeating the same words as if they were a mantra that was keeping him from doing something stupid. He hated it, sure, but it was necessary to form at least the most necessary form of defence he could around the town.
[Thunderstruck] hit another tree as the base of it shattered apart the entire way, leaving burns which could easily be removed. Jaune, again, complained to himself as he put the tree into his [Inventory].
"Why couldn't there be other people? I could have worked as a goddamned courier and it would be so much better than this bullshit!"
He walked back to town steadily ash eh kept thing to himself. It was going to be near hellish to ensure that every single part of the perimeter is secure and well defended. Either way, to him, it would be worth it for the simple fact that if anything at all was going to come knocking, he would at least have some way to slow it down and keep himself from being killed in the night.
Flatwoods would turn into a place for the weary, he would make sure of it. Whilst, he didn't check if the Vault had been opened, he would improve upon the settlement as long as necessary to make it habitable once again, for the sake of his friends.
Just as he was about to enter the town again, he found himself back to where he had fought Chairman Cheng. Cheng's suit of armour was still there, however the majority had seemingly been destroyed and ruined over time. The overgrown corpse of the Chairman was still viewable, alongside his tattered grey and red clothing. Jaune spat on the mashed skull before walking away, his voice being the sole noise around the area.
"Have fun burning in hell, you son-of-a-bitch."
His footsteps echoed as he continued to walk to the town of Flatwoods. He had work to do, and nothing would stop him.