The Ultimate Being arrives at Remnant
Chapter 4
Enter the trickster
"There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to accept what is true" – Soren Kierkegaard.
Blake Belladonna had always considered herself as someone who was very mature for her age. She had seen the suffering of her Faunus brethren and even at the tender age of nine she had bowed that she would do anything in her power to change the way the world of Remnant saw Faunus.
That's why she joined the White Fang, to change the world.
"And boy did we change it" she said to herself as she walked the busy streets of Vale.
Her heart felt heavy at the memory of the White Fang, how much had they changed, how much Adam had changed and how much had they changed her.
Thanks to their radical views they had made Remnant a ticking bomb, humans tried to justify their hate of Faunus by calling them all terrorist and monsters.
Faunus who hated humans could now join the White Fang and hurt anyone who disagreed with them.
This bubbling hatred was reaching a breaking point and last night could have been the start of a new war between Faunus and Humans.
The TRIOR had been ready to set that bomb off.
But that THING appeared out of nowhere and slaughtered them, adding more blood to the battleground.
What would have looked like one sided massacre had been changed into a graveyard of both Faunus and Humans alike.
The news said it was an unknown species of Grimm, because no human nor Faunus could have been so monstrous and strong to cause the wounds found in the destroyed corpses in the village.
But Blake knew it was no Grimm it had been the THING Ozpin had been talking to.
She had followed them into Ozpin's office making sure to keep her presence cloaked and she managed to hear most of their conversation.
Kars had killed most of the members of the TRIOR, something not even the White Fang at their current firepower would attempt.
But the way he had said had left her a little bit unsettled.
There was no boasting, no sadness or regret, he had said as if someone had asked him if he had stepped on an ant.
And from what she had seen and felt he truly believed that they were just insects in his way. The insane power that emanated from him made her senses scream danger.
And now Ozpin had allowed him to stay on the school.
She let out a sigh, things were getting more and more complicated by the minute.
Blake felt a small pang of guilt because she had left without telling her friends, after all they had been worried about her.
But right now all she wanted was to buy a new book and forget about everything that had happened recently.
No White Fang, no TRIOR and no Kars.
She smiled as she saw the sign of her favorite bookstore, but just as she was about to enter it her acute sense of hearing picked up a cry for help coming from a nearby building.
Blake stopped mid step and narrowed her eyes, a crime being committed in the middle of the day? No one would be so brave, not with so much security patrolling Vale after the Faunus Village massacre. But as she looked around the block she noticed something, very few people where in this area and not one hunter or police where in sight.
Something was fishy, she decided it would best to approach the building and see for herself, she would not turn her back on someone that needed help.
As she followed the sound her nose caught the familiar sent of blood.
Soon enough she arrived at the source, two hulking guards stood over a young Faunus, who could not have been older than fifteen.
One of the guards punched him in the face "listen here you sub-human scum, you're going to tell me all I want to know and you might live, alright?"
The poor boy nodded, satisfied the guard continued "We know you're a snitch for the White Fang, so I want you to tell me all about the thing that killed the TRIOR got it?"
The Faunus blinked in confusion "What..." he was silenced by a massive blow to the gut that left him gasping for air.
"DON'T YOU DARE PLAY DUMB WITH ME; YOU FAUNUS BASTARDS HAVE A SECRET WEAPON!" the thug yelled.
"Whatever it was that you beasts deployed wiped out more than half of our forces and I want to know what it was and how to kill it, or else…" the other one said as he pointed with his sword to the boy's head.
"I don't know anything I swear the White Fang never tells me anything I just give them info and they pay me that's all!" the boy said panic clear in his voice.
"I don't believe you" the brute said as he prepared to slice him in half "Luckily for me you're not the only snitch in town"
Blake was about to jump for her hiding place when she heard some clear their throat.
Both thugs turned around to see a tall young man with brown hair and a smile on his lips, they glared at him "Beat it if you don't want to get hurt kid, this does not concern you"
The teen stared at them his expression turning serious "Does not concern me? From my point of view as a citizen is my duty to report any type of crime against some whether he is Faunus or human and you my friend" he said as he pointed at the thug "You're hurting my friend"
The Faunus boy shook his head "Jojo get out of here this guys are not the people you want to mess with!"
Joseph Joestar didn't respond instead he focused on analyzing the situation. They were armed to the teeth, the one in the left with a weird chainsaw sword and the one in the right with some gauntlets, judging by the bizarre tubes that surrounded the base of the gauntlet, Joseph assumed that they could light the opponent on fire.
Oh and a cute girl is watching from behind the trashcan, Joseph added to his mental notes, he took a deep breath and with that he was ready.
"I gave you a chance boy" the thug said as he tried to cut Joseph in half, the young Joestar sidestepped the swing and brought down his hand on the thug hitting him in the shoulder.
"Overdrive!" he yelled as Hamon energy filled his opponent with energy knocking him out cold, he fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes, but interestingly his aura cushioned the blow.
"Your next line is going to be 'That's impossible' to you"-"That's impossible! ...WHAT?!"
Joseph took advantage of the distraction and kicked thug number two in the groin making him let out a not so manly scream.
He recovered quickly and set his gauntlets on fire "You're going to pay for that you Fu..."
"Watch your language there is a lady here!" Joseph interjected.
"HEY!" the Faunus boy said indignantly but Blake on the other hand gasped, she had trained herself to be stealthy as possible, her entire presence was cloaked, how the hell did he sense her?
Thug number two ignored him, thinking he was just trying to distract him again and started to take swings at the young man who expertly avoided them. After one of the flames nearly burned his hair off, Joseph decided it was time for his finisher.
"Now you asked for it, get ready for a real weapon!"
He took out his clacker volley and smiled.
The reaction from all the people present was one of disappointment, Joseph noted this and frowned, he would show them just how much his little metal balls could do.
Without a warning he threw them at the thug purposely making them miss their mark.
Blake shook her, was he stupid or suicidal.
"I can't believe you took out my friend being so pathetic" the member of the TRIOR said as he prepared to burn Joseph alive.
Joseph only raised a finger "Behind you"
"You really think I'm going to…" he was cut off by The Clacker Volley Boomerang hitting him the back of the head, Hamon filled his entire being and Joseph punched him repeatedly in the face.
Blake was confused why did the thug stay in place, it was as if something was holding him, Joseph smiled and with a bit more Hamon he made both of his gauntlets explode.
He fell to the ground and twitched a little, he would not get back up for a very long time.
Joseph smiled at his handiwork "Aura transmits Hamon as fine as water" he picked his clacker off the ground and patted the Faunus boy on the shoulder "You okay there buddy?"
The Faunus boy sat there petrified, too confused at what had transpired in this short amount of time.
"What was that?" he said as he looked at Jojo for an answer, the trickster simply waved his hand "A little bit of this and little bit of that, but you don't need to worry about that, you should run by the way the cops will be here any second now"
The Faunus boy nodded and got up with the help of his friend "Thanks Jojo I'll make it up to you somehow" he said before he ran away.
"You should stop hiding you know, I know you're there" Joseph called out, both hands behind his head as he stretched (posed).
Blake frowned and decided to confront him about what just happened, she took some steps the only sound in the alleyway being her shoes clicking softly against the ground.
"You took out two member of the TRIOR" she stated making the Joestar smile.
"And without draining their aura" he said smugly.
Blake shook her head "That's impossible"
Joseph walked up to one of the guys and kicked him, the Aura immediately blocked the blow.
"You see an Aura is an extension of your soul it protects you lot from any kind of physical attack, I bypassed it" Joseph said.
"Bypassed…but how?" Blake didn't believe him, he was holding back information, but he looked like the type of guy that spoke a lot, so she would let him talk a little bit more.
"A little secret of mine" Joseph said as he waved his hand around, sparkling with hamon.
Blake blinked, her mind must be playing tricks with her she could have sworn the energy that emanated from his hand took the form of a vine with thorns.
"But as much as I would like to stay here and chat with such a pretty girl like you I got to go somewhere else" he said as he turned around and waved his hand "See you around"
Blake frowned "Wait...why did you help the boy?"
"He's my friend duh" Joseph said as if was the most obvious thing in the world.
"You know that those where members of the TRIOR right, they must have paid the police and hunters to stay clear from this area so they could have a chat with your "friend", doesn't it bothers you that this can happen? That your friend might live his entire days in fear?" she asked at the retreating Joseph.
He stopped and scratched his head "I guess… but what can I do about it, I'm no hunter and I have no interest in becoming one"
"You have your powers you could start with that" Blake said.
Joseph snorted "Yeah that makes a big difference and just because you have power doesn't mean you should use it, if something threatens my family and friend sure I'll use it but if it doesn't affects me…I don't care, see ya later Cat-Lady" and with that he walked away.
Blake sighed in disappointment, such potential and it all goes to waste.
Then something clicked on her mind… how did he know she was a Faunus!?
She ran in the direction he had gone to only to find the deserted street, she looked around one more time before she went back towards the book store.
"What a Bizarre man" she said to herself.
Beacon Academy was a massive building that could be seen from miles away, a building of such size obviously had a room for almost every occasion and the rooms where massive to boot.
But if you asked any professor what the best room was they would say that it was the library for the sheer amount of information it held, Ozpin was quite proud of possessing the largest collection of books and documents in all of Remnant.
Right now it was deserted but that was to be expected after all it was very late, no student would dare to walk into a creepy library at night but deep within the library a faint light could be seen.
A small lamp illuminated a desk which contained many history, biology and folklore books.
One of the books was discarded into a pile that was on the ground and was quickly replaced by a new one.
Kars had spent his time reading Remnant history, the many wars and struggles that Remnant had to face in its history, to him all of this nonsense about war and discrimination where stupid.
The strongest one should rule and the others should do as he says, if you stood above all it was for a reason, why should you bend your will to someone who is weaker than you?
But now he had a good understanding of the world he was in, he had learned about the hunters and their struggles against the creatures of Grimm.
His respect for this faculty had gone up a little, very little but something was something.
He was currently reading about the legend of the maidens and the powers they held, to him it sounded like some made up tale for kids.
But when the book mentioned the powers of fire and wind something inside Kars felt a little upset, he didn't know the reason why but it lingered for a good while.
He growled in frustration and brought a hand to his forehead.
If only he had more visions like the ones he had on the aircraft maybe that could clear more things for him, that had been a memory he was sure of it, that had been HIS mother. But that was the only thing he knew for sure, where she was or if she was alive was a mystery to Kars.
He stopped his reading when he heard the sound of some footsteps, judging by the noise it was someone rather large.
Professor Port stared at the man before him, he was dressed in a black t-shirt and some jeans and boots, surely this wasn't the man Ozpin had been talking about.
"Can I help you?" Kars asked not bothering to look up from his book.
Port cleared his throat "As matter of fact you can, I believe you're Mr. Kars, right?"
Kars nodded
"Well you see me and my students from Second year are about to embark on a small exploration mission in a Grimm infested area, I was going to be accompanied by another teacher, Glynda to be precise, but she cancelled saying she had more pressing matters to attend to here at Beacon like that crazy robot man that attacked the school, reminds me of this one time I was at a bar in Atlas those rotten pieces…"
Seeing that the man was getting sidetracked Kars decided to snap him out of it before he continued further "I suppose you wish that I accompany you?"
Port stopped his tale and nodded happily "Why yes I do, we'll leave at six AM, we meet up at the Great Hall… the place where the robot man attacked, try to not be late" and with that the professor was gone.
Kars stared for a while before he closed the book, he wasn't sleepy at all and he didn't find the idea of going back to his room and stare into nothingness appealing so he decided to take a walk, his brain needed a break after reading more than twenty books.
He walked out of the library and moved around Beacon without a destination in mind, his mind processing all the information he had been accumulating, to a human it would have been impossible to memorize every single page of a book in a couple of hours let alone twenty but for the ultimate being it had been easy task, thought he had been surprised that his brain could get strained.
He walked for a good while until he reached a small garden that overlooked the city, he immediately liked the place.
It was far away from every one and he quite liked the plants here.
Kars grabbed a rose feeling a small sensation of pain, as the thorns digged into his skin, small drops of blood falling to the ground bellow.
He retracted his hand and watched the wound close with amusement, in a couple of seconds he was good as new, Kars looked around and noticed that this garden was mostly made out of roses.
Red roses to be precise.
Kars heard something on the other end of the garden and decided to investigate, he walked past the flowers petals moving softly with the wind.
He reached a small clearing with a monument in the middle.
Next to it a small girl kneeled weeping softly.
"Mother…"
Kars knew that voice, it was the small girl that had been sent to fetch him, not knowing what to do in this situation he decided that it would be best to go away without her noticing.
"Yang is that you?" the girl said as she wiped her turning around.
Ruby was surprised to see Kars standing there with an uncomfortable expression on his face.
"I'm sorry I bothered you, I hear a noise and decided to investigate what it was" Kars said more annoyed at being found out that sorry.
"No no no it's completely fine, I usually come here when no one is around… but I don't cry this was just a special occasion and yeah…" Ruby finished lamely looking at the ground embarrassed to be found out crying.
Kars let out the first chuckle since his awakening and shook his head "I'm sure of it child"
Ruby didn't know if he was insulting her or just being condescending but at least there was no awkward silence between them.
"Why did you come here? Came here to rest your bones after the hard battle against the SUPER COOL cyborg that tried to kill you" she said in excitement.
Kars shook his head "The battle was hardly something to waste time on, I have been studying in the library trying to make some of my memories return to me, I guess I got tired and decided to go for a walk"
Ruby giggled "You get tired of studying but not when you fight?"
Kars shrugged his shoulders.
"The mind is a tricky thing, the muscles on the other hand are far easier to deal with" he said, flexing a little.
Ruby blushed and looked down, but when she looked down Kars words made her remember of what had happened tonight.
"Yes… you're right" she said sadly as she looked at the pedestal that she had been kneeling next to.
Kars raised an eyebrow, she changed moods fast, this rapid change of behavior sparked Kars curiosity and he decided he wanted to know what made this normally so happy child be in this sour mood.
"Is something wrong child?" he asked softly.
Kars had read a psychology book and he had learned that one of the ways for someone to open up to you is to ask them what was wrong in a gentle tone (something that the Kars that had died when Joseph ejected him into space would have LAUGHED at).
Ruby looked at her feet "I had a nightmare" she stated.
Kars would have snorted if he didn't have so much self-control, to cry over a dream how pathetic.
"It was about my Mother, I dreamed of her death" she said sadly.
Oh.
That was different.
"So I guess I came to this garden to clear my thoughts and… feel like I still remember her"
Kars looked at her in confusion.
"Oh right you don't know, hehe sorry should have mentioned it, this garden was dedicated to my mother, Summer Rose after her death… I like to come here from time to time because I feel like I'm forgetting her… and that makes me feel terrible! It's like she is fading away from my life and my memories! I just remember her cloak!" she broke into sobs.
Kars stared, not knowing what to do, he approached the girl and grabbed her shoulder making her stare at him.
"I'm not good with words child but… I know what you feel, my entire life has been wiped out, I cannot recall anything from my past life. My family, my people gone…I only remember my mother and even that is a foggy memory, but I do remember that she cared about me and the thing about memories is that no matter what you can't change the way you felt, the images might be all foggy but the smile that brings to your lips will not change" Kars said.
Ruby smiled at him "Thank you"
Kars half smiled before he turned around "Not a problem, I will be going now, have a good night Ruby"
When Kars faded from Ruby's view she looked back at the small pedestal with her mother's name.
She smiled and walked back to her dorm, Summer Rose might not be here anymore but she had loved her and Yang and that right now was all that mattered.
Ruby arrived back at the dorm the same time as Blake, who raised an eyebrow at her team leader being out so late.
"I went looking for cookies!" Ruby lied a big grin on her face.
Blake snorted and smiled "Of course you would"
Ruby pointed at her bag "don't tell that reason you came back so late was because of the book, Yang, Weiss and I were worried when you simply disappeared" Ruby pouted to get her point across.
Blake's ears went down "Sorry"
Ruby shook her head and gave her friend a hug "No problem, it only matters that you're fine now"
Blake patted Ruby on the head "Yes, I'm all better now you can unhand me"
Ruby obeyed and her eyes widened "Oh by the way you won't believe what happened today after you left, a killer cyborg tried to kill Kars right here at the school, but because he's so cool he managed to defeat him, man his Aura must be absurdly strong!" Ruby she said happily not noticing the frown that formed on her face.
"Yeah… his Aura must be strong, I also met someone interesting today" Blake said as she opened the door to their dorm.
"I doubt he was as cool as Kars, I talked to him and he's very nice…and strong" a small blush formed on her face.
Blake brought a hand to her chin "He might have been... and maybe as strong as Kars"
A/N: And cut, sorry for the long wait, college has been very rough this semester but I think I'll be able to post more chapters soon.
Special cookie for the person who figures out how Joseph managed to take out both thugs without draining their Aura. I think I left enough clues for you guys to figure out.
Not so much action in this chapter sorry, setting things up for future chapters.
And to all the people who commented, Kars will remain single!(And fabulous) for now at least.
Honestly this takes a huge burden of my back because I don't have to focus on romance which I feel would slow down the story at the point we're at.
Will there be any romance in the future? Who knows honestly, maybe if I feel like it's necessary or if you guys want it.
But then is then and now is now, so until then arrives I think we won't have to worry about that for a while.
Anyways thank you all for reading and leaving reviews on the last chapters. I'll see you on the next update.
Au-revoir!