Quick AN: 'The x hours before...' refer to the beginning of the previous chapter.
Chapter 9: Skin: Conclusion
2 hours before…
Jaune was flipping through his journal when the not Ipad he had recently acquired beeped at him.
He closed the journal and put it back in his ruck sack and unlocked the not Ipad.
'One message.' He opened the message and smiled mirthlessly as he read the contents. He then slung the rack sack over his back and left the library.
It was time.
He crept out silently, hoping not to wake the slumbering librarian and began to walk towards the 2nd year dorms. It didn't take him long to reach the door to Shirley's room. He sniffed the air.
'Rot and decay. Hah, I really should've noticed.'
He had first noticed it the first time it had entered the room. It wasn't stupid though. The smell had been covered up with other scents, but the truth was that anyone familiar with the scent of rot and decay should have been able to detect the traces of it in the perfume the thing had chosen to wear to cover up its natural scent.
It sucked to admit, but he had really screwed the pooch on that one. In his defense, the smell had been god awful and no one in their right mind would have been able just breathe it in and analyze the scents.
'But enough of that, we all make mistakes and we can all drink ourselves to a drunken stupor when we're not in the middle of a hunt.'
It was hard to see in the dark, but he was a fairly capable tracker and skillfully made his across the halls, following both the scent and the faint footsteps on the floor.
He soon made his way into the courtyard. He smiled. The moonlight increased his visibility. He saw a figure moving in front of him and immediately rolled in to the statue of his ancestor and hid behind it.
He strained his ears and heard the figure shuffling forward and he snuck a look at it.
It was definitely his quarry.
Jaune had an inkling as to what was going to happen, but the truth was, nothing could have prepared him for what he saw.
The figure, which so resembled Sakura, reached for its face and began to pull.
And slowly, the face began to come off.
Jaune couldn't look away. Not even as the monster managed to pull away the skin of the face completely and he could see one empty eyehole staring into the night sky.
As if it were a suit, the monster began to peel away at the skin on its torso.
Jaune looked away.
He waited for what seemed to be an eternity until the thing finally grunted and the sound of something hitting ground was heard.
He sneaked a peek again.
'Man, if people start joking about me being a voyeur again, I swear to god I'm going to…'
Jaune stopped and stared. The…thing. The thing standing over shed skin was hideous. It was skinny. It was horribly skinny, almost emaciated. He could see bones sticking out and its…skin was sunken, gray, wrinkled and yet waxy. Like molten wax. And even away from it as he was, even though it wasn't looking at him, he could see the red glow of its eyes.
The pungent scent of rotting meat hit his nostrils and he recoiled.
'Good heavens, the thing looks almost as bad as it smells.'
The Boo Hag raised the skin and placed in the carefully in some bushes. Then the figure turned around and began to move back, towards the academy, but more importantly, where he was hidden.
He saw it approaching him, with a slow, measured gait.
Unfortunately for him, he got a much better look at its face. Its eyes were sunken but they were also huge, bigger than any normal human's eyes, and its long nose was crooked.
His mind, stunned by its appearance, immediately jumped into a conclusion.
'Damn, she fugly.'
Jaune crept to the other side of the statue and waited for it to pass. It did, without looking back.
He was reminded of Scooby Doo for some reason.
Jaune was now looking at the hag walking back towards the academy. Seeing her from the back did not improve her appearance.
He waited until he was sure it(she?) would not be able to see him and he walked towards the bushes, where the hag had left her skin.
He left the not Ipad right next to it and clicked send on the message that he had prepared beforehand.
He just hoped they would do their part while he did his.
Then he ran after the hag.
8 hours ago…
"A boo hag?" Shirley asked. Ako seemed similarly confused.
Jaune nodded. "A boo hag."
"I can't say I've ever heard of that." Ako told him.
He wasn't surprised.
"A boo hag is a...well, a boo hag is a monster." Jaune began to explain.
"A monster?" Shirley questioned.
"What are you getting at, Arc?" Ako demanded.
"A boo hag is a monster that approaches sleeping people and drains their spiritus vitae, or life force." He continued.
Ako gave him a skeptical look. "Are you saying that's what's causing all of this?"
Shirley's eyes widened at that and then she began to glare at him.
Jaune sighed. He hated noobs and explaining to noobs was simply put, annoying.
"A boo hag doesn't usually kill their target. They leave them alive, so that they can keep draining away their life force." He soldiered on.
The 2 were glaring at him now.
"But when they do kill their target, they tend to take their skin so that they can disguise themselves."
"So what, this boo hag thing kills Sakura and takes her skin, is that it?" Shirley demanded.
Jaune sighed again. "Yes, that's exactly it."
Ako rolled her eyes. "Jaune, that's a nice explanation and all, but monsters like that aren't real."
Jaune snorted. "Gods, I wish I could agree with you."
Then he reached into his ruck sack and pulled out his journal.
"But the truth is: we're not alone."
He winced at that. That sounded way too sci-fi ish for him.
Ako snorted.
He turned to look at Shirley. "Tell me if this sounds familiar: the hag is clever; she will take the skin of those who resist it and use it to blend in, thereby gaining access to more people to feed on," he began to read. "A hag's presence can be confirmed by the smell of rotting meat and a sudden increase in temperature."
Shirley stopped and stared. "Well, yes, but monsters…Monsters aren't real."
Jaune narrowed his eyes. "Are you going to tell me that none of you noticed the smell?"
Ako frowned thoughtfully.
"She's been wearing a lot of perfume lately." Shirley replied, desperately trying to defend her friend.
"But it still smells bad, doesn't it?" Jaune asked her. "When you breathe it in, can't you smell something…wrong?"
"There was a strong smell when they brought her in, but I wasn't paying attention to that…" Ako began hesitantly.
"No..No…You're wrong." Shirley seemed to telling that to herself more than to them.
"And haven't you noticed that it suddenly becomes hot whenever she comes in? She's not even that hot, so how would explain that?" Jaune questioned.
He had to resist the urge to slap himself in the face. His bad habit of making bad jokes in inappropriate times was going to get him killed one day.
Ako snorted. "Maybe we're both bisexuals with low standards."
Ah, snark. It brightened the mood, it pissed of your enemies and it also served as a coping mechanism. What wasn't there to love about it?
Jaune snorted too. "Well, in that case, I'd like to invite both of you out to dinner."
Shirley glared at them. "How can you joke about something like this?"
Jaune sighed. She just didn't get it. "Sorry, sorry. Anyways, you yourself told me that she doesn't act like herself anymore. That she seems like a different person."
Shirley looked away. "That's true, but…" then she glowered at him. "In that case, why hasn't she attacked me?" she demanded.
"The color blue represents strong protection in Gullah culture. Hags are repelled by it," He read out loud. "Your mattress is blue. It probably repelled her and she went off, searching for easier targets." He concluded.
Ako's eyes widened. "The door here is blue!"
Jaune nodded, satisfied. "Exactly. Which is why they're recovering. The hag can't get to them anymore."
Shirley shook her head. "It's not…"
Jaune frowned at her. "Look, just hear me out, okay? If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. But if I'm right, we can stop all of this! We can stop the one that hurt your friends!"
Shirley lowered head and closer her eyes.
Jaune wanted to tear away at his hair in frustration.
Then, she raised her gaze and looked directly into his eyes. "Do you thing this boo hag really did all of this?" she asked in a steely tone.
Jaune met that gaze unflinchingly. "Yes."
Shirley nodded. "Fine. I'll go along with anything you ask this time. But if you're wrong, I'm going to hurt you."
Jaune smiled and nodded. "Fair enough."
1 hour ago…
Jaune crept after the hag. He had a rough idea where it was going to go. She led him into a building that he hadn't gone to yet.
His suspicions were confirmed when they reached the janitorial rooms, the only ones without Scroll security locks. Jaune stopped in the hallway and peeked around the corner, where the rooms were. The hag abruptly stopped when she reached the first door.
The door had been painted blue.
Jaune smirked.
The hag hissed and walked towards the second room and stopped. It was also painted blue. The hag growled and began to look around suspiciously. Jaune just barely managed to duck back.
He heard the shuffling footsteps and another hiss.
Jaune would have burst out laughing if he were alone.
Everything was going according to plan.
7 hours ago…
"So what's the plan?" Ako asked him.
Jaune looked at his journal. "There are ways to repel the hag." He replied.
"Such as?"
Jaune looked at her. "I don't suppose any of you have a broom? I mean one of those old fashioned brooms that you see in Harry Potter movies."
Ako and Shirley looked at him incredulously.
"What? It's one of the simplest and yet most effective ways of stopping her!" Jaune protested.
Shirley was still staring at him but Ako frowned and shook her head. "Beacon only uses electronic brooms."
Jaune frowned. "What? Why? Why would you stop using brooms?" he demanded.
"Part of a new program set by-" Ako began.
"Okay, stop. I don't care about that. All I have to know is that the staff here hates good 'ole fashioned brooms." Jaune declared indignantly.
"So no brooms at all?" he asked.
Ako shook her head.
Jaune frowned. "Damn."
"Are there any other ways?" Shirley asked him.
Jaune nodded. "Yes. Like I said, the color blue repels them."
Ako's frown widened. "Right, so what, we paint every door blue? There are hundreds of doors here!"
'Well, a bunch of students did it.'
Jaune began to think about the hag's previous victims. "Not exactly…"
"What do you mean?" Ako demanded.
"Most of the doors here require a scroll, right?" he questioned.
They both nodded and their eyes widened in recognition.
"Has…she recently acquired scrolls that don't belong to any of you?" he asked Shirley.
"No." Shirley shook her head. "Not that I know."
"Well, that just leaves the doors that don't require Scrolls." Jaune concluded.
"There are a couple. The janitorial ones, the storage ones, a few offices and the chef rooms and some others." Ako told him.
"Well, I'm gonna guess that people don't sleep in storage rooms and the offices should be mostly safe." Jaune guessed.
"Right. So we go paint doors?" Ako asked him.
"Not…exactly." Jaune denied. "That will just stop her tonight. We need to find a way to kill her before she can hurt more people."
Jaune tried to smile encouragingly. "It is a start though."
30 minutes ago…
Jaune knew that Ako would be working on the doors right now. He just hoped she would be able to finish before the hag found her.
The hag finished examining all the doors and hissed in what he guessed was frustration. Then she turned around and began to walk towards the exit. Jaune barely had time to duck to avoid her line of sight and hurriedly walked out of the building.
He hid on some bushes by the entrance.
The hag came out shortly afterwards and began to walk towards the building where the cooks and cafeteria helpers slept in. Jaune followed after her.
Again, most of the doors were blue and the hag growled. She came out and began to move towards the courtyard. Jaune followed after her.
'Where the heck is Pukeahontas leading me now?' he wondered.
It wasn't until he saw the statue that he realized that the hag was headed towards her skin. He couldn't allow that. Not yet.
He grimaced but pulled out 'Ole Trusty.
"Hey, pretty!" he called out.
The hag turned around and hissed at him.
"Yeah, yeah, not impressed." He said as he pulled the trigger. The hag was blasted away. She hit a tree and began to shriek in agony.
Jaune smiled grimly. 'Rocksalt bullets. Work like a charm.'
The hag got up and glared at with hatred burning in those burning red eyes of hers. Jaune was pleased to see burn marks where the bullets had hit her.
"A hunter?" it demanded in a thick, guttural voice.
"You know other type of people that would run after someone as pretty as you?"
It hissed and bared its claws at him.
Jaune cocked the gun back and aimed at it again.
Then the hag leapt at him and Jaune pulled the trigger again, fully expecting to see her fly off again. Except impossibly, somehow, the thing twisted in mid-air and narrowly avoided the bullets.
Jaune's eyes widened and he raised his gun to block her incoming claw.
Jaune grunted when the full force of her overhead slash smashed into his gun.
He gasped sharply when he felt the claws scratch away at his face even though he had managed to avoid being sliced in half for now. He reached for his belt with his free hand and barely managed to pull out his knife and deflect the hag's other clawed hand.
He jumped back to put some distance between them.
The hag was grinning at him, a ghoulish smile that made him shiver. Then he felt the blood trickling down his forehead and into his left eye, obscuring his vision.
He frowned. That could be a problem.
He lowered the knife hand into a more defensive position and aimed at it again with his shot gun.
The things raised her now bloodied claw and charged at him.
Jaune aimed at fired twice this time while running back. The wide spread grazed the hag even though she managed to avoid most them. She screamed but still managed to turn around and leap behind a tree.
Jaune immediately sheathed his knife and began to reload, even while running, trying to maintain distance.
They were at a stale mate. That suited him just fine.
He heard scuttling behind him and fired back, without stopping or turning around. He heard a scream. He jumped behind a particularly large tree and began to reload.
He had just finished reloading when he heard a loud cry and looked up. The hag was falling on him from the top of the tree. Fast. He didn't have enough time to fire so he twisted away but still felt the claw brush against him, cutting his leg.
He thanked Aura for that. That cut would have been far deeper without it.
He fired twice in rapid succession and ran back as fast as he could.
Then the thing appeared from his left, how the hell had it even moved there so quickly?, and slashed his gun away.
'Ole Trusty flew in a wide arc and fell next to an oak tree.
Jaune twisted and managed to narrowly avoid having his face carved up and forced as much Aura as he could into his arms to block the follow up strike. He successfully deflected the blow and twisted out the way and countered with a kick.
He was somewhat satisfied to see that his arms hadn't been cut up at all. That Aura thing really was a gift of the gods.
The hag grunted but he knew that he had merely caused it small discomfort. Hags had very few weaknesses and a kick to the groin wasn't one of them. Which was just unfair, really.
He used the kick as a way to throw himself back and give him some time to regroup. He wiped the blood away from his eye, clearing his vision for now. He knew that the blood would come back, face wounds had a nasty tendency to bleed a lot, but he could use every advantage right now.
The hag was on him right as he wiped the blood away. Jaune immediately moved his arm up to intercept her thrust. He saw the other claw coming at him and used the Aura on his hand to grab her clawed hand and throw it back.
It hurt like a bitch. His hand was cut and bleeding.
He now had a brief window of opportunity. He headbutted the hag and jumped back, widening the distance between them. The hag was now grimacing.
Jaune smirked. The truth was that the hag should and could have torn into him with ease before. But he wasn't as stupid as many of his acquaintances would want to believe. His school jacket, now torn, revealed the blue shirt underneath.
'Stupid school rules, not letting me wear what I want.'
Didn't they understand that lives were at stake? That people's lives depended on him wearing whatever he wanted? ...Okay, admittedly, that sounded ridiculous, but still.
He could tell the Hag was realizing that now. Although not as powerful as it would have been on a wall or any other stationary object, the blue shit dampened the hag's incredible, super human strength and speed.
That wasn't to say that she couldn't skewer him if he made a mistake. The shirt just gave him a better fighting chance.
The hag howled before charging at him, far faster than anything she'd done until now. Jaune's eyes widened in surprise. He brought up the knife with both his hand to block the incoming assault.
It hit him like a steam roller and he was sent flying into a tree. He coughed up some blood but pushed himself off the floor. In the last second, he had used his Aura to improve his defenses, reducing the amount of damage done.
Unfortunately, using that much Aura had almost depleted his reserves. This suited him just fine. He had spent most of his life fighting without it anyways.
He looked up and saw the hag closing in, fast. Again. She really wanted to slice him up.
He barely had time to raise his knife to deflect an attack and just barely managed to sidestep the other claw.
In that instant, he saw a small opening.
His knife hand lunged and he stabbed it through the heart. He then kicked it away, but the sound of ripping fabric told him she had managed to hit him somewhere. He looked down at his pants and saw that the hag had managed to cut his legs.
His remaining Aura made sure that most of the cuts were superficial, but some of the cuts were somewhat deep, and would impair movement.
His knife was now stuck in the hag's chest. It did not seem to be doing any damage at all.
He wasn't surprised. That attack, like almost everything he'd been doing so far, had only been meant to give him some time.
He reached into his belt and pulled out 2 bags which he threw at the hag.
The hag sliced them instinctively and salt exploded out the bags. The hag shrieked and began to slash around wildly.
Jaune began to run towards his shotgun. He ran towards the oak tree where he had last seen his gun. He was about to pick it up when the hag jumped after him, grabbed his by the back of his jacket and threw him into a tree.
Jaune groaned as he got up.
The hag was glaring at him. On the plus side, he could see burn mark all around its body and knew that he had managed to hurt it. Badly.
He reached into his jacket and pulled out his Taurus.
"C'mon, pretty! Let's dance!" he snarled at it.
The hag obliged and jumped after him. Jaune began to think of the way the hag had avoided so many of his bullets, the way it twisted even mid-air.
He would have to be careful. He no longer had the wide spread of the shot gun.
He aimed and pulled the trigger three times, as quickly as he could, aiming where he thought the hag might dodge into, hoping that one of them would hit her.
He was hoping this would work. This was a relatively recent addition to his arsenal. Jaune had begun to experiment with hollowing out his bullets with a small drill and pouring salt in them. He wasn't sure how well it would work. Not with the smaller amount of salt compared to his shotgun.
Heck, it was a miracle that those bullets could even be fired.
The thing flinched in agony when after dodging 2 of his bullets, the third one embedded itself into its arm, right as she was about to bring her arm down in an overhead slash that would have sliced him into two. He had managed to correctly guess her flight pattern.
The thing fell from the air and grasped its arm and shrieked.
Jaune smiled coldly in satisfaction. It had worked. He aimed for center mass and began to fire. Dazed, in agony, and so close to him after its jump, it couldn't dodge.
He began to fire at it, and the hag began to retreat, screaming as she did so.
Jaune fired one last bullet and the hag fell over.
He was panting hard and his vision was blurry. The blood on his face was back. He ignored it and put a new clip in and approached the fallen hag.
"Jaune?" a voice called out.
Jaune cursed when he saw Shirley coming towards him.
"What are you doing here?!" he demanded. Couldn't she see he was a little busy here?
"Are you okay?" she asked him, concerned.
Normally, he would've appreciated the concern. But the truth was that he also hated that question.
His ribs were cracked, his legs were all sliced up, and a lot of his Aura had been depleted, his hand was badly cut. No, he was not freaking okay.
"Stay away!" He yelled. To his dismay, she began to run towards him.
"No!" he tried to warn her. She was too close to the boo hag! Jaune raised his gun but the hag was faster.
In an instant, the hag was up and it sliced into Shirley.
Jaune tried to aim but couldn't fire with Shirley standing so close to the hag. For one small instant, the 2 were and a standstill. Then the hag pushed Shirley towards him and leapt off into the distance.
Jaune fired at the running hag. It wasn't until his clip was empty that he ran towards the bleeding girl.
'Damn it, damn it, damn it!'
He reached into his ruck sack for gauze. Fortunately, her Aura had protected her from most of the blow and it was likely that she would survive.
That didn't mean she wasn't bleeding badly from her stomach.
"Oh gods, it hurts…Ah! It hurts!" she was gasping for air.
"You're going to be okay." he began to whisper soothingly as he began to wrap her wounds.
"Oh, gods, I'm so sorry!" she was hysterical now.
"Sorry for what?" he demanded as he continued his bloody work.
"I should've listened! I should've…"
"We'll discuss blame later, for now we have to get you patched up." He reassured her. The truth was the he wasn't even particularly mad. He knew that the hag would die today, one way or the other.
He finished wrapping the gauze around her. "Can you call Ako?"
She was probably still painting doors somewhere.
Shirley was still gasping but managed to reach for her not ipad. "I think so."
"Good. Stay alive and I'll see you later!" he got up and ran towards the location the hag had run off to.
"Good luck!" he heard Shirley call out.
Jaune ran towards the skin. Something told him that's where ugly was headed for. He saw the familiar looking bushes where the hag had hidden her skin and pulled out his gun.
Then he heard a loud shriek.
Approximately 7 hours ago…
"So how do we get rid of it?" Shirley asked him.
"I'm not sure we can." He answered somberly.
"Then what are we supposed to do against it?" Ako demanded.
Jaune handed her the journal and pointed at a paragraph near the bottom.
"Hags are highly vulnerable to sunlight," she began to read. "Which is the reason they need a skin. Finding their skin and making sure they can't get to it seems to kill them most of the time."
"So we need to find her skin?" Shirley asked.
"Yeah," Jaune replied before turning to look at Ako. "Keep reading."
"Unfortunately, that doesn't mean they can't simply take another skin or hide somewhere dark," Ako resumed reading. "Salt and pepper the skin. When the hag puts it back on it will put her in a world of hurt. This is probably the best way to make sure it dies."
"So we pour salt and pepper all over the skin? Will that stop it?" Ako asked him.
"Not exactly. Note that what kills them is the sunlight. The salt and peppered skin just makes sure they're in pain which buys us more time." Jaune replied.
"So what's the plan?" Shirley and Ako were now looking at him.
This was new. He hadn't expected them to help. Looking at their eyes, he could tell that nothing he said would keep them from participating. Better to know what they were gonna do than let them go off on their own.
Jaune began to do something he did really well: he improvised.
"You said she leaves early before," Jaune told the 2nd year student who nodded at his reaffirmation. "Try to keep "her" with you for as long as you can. The more we can delay, the better."
Shirley seemed nervous but she nodded.
"Send me a message once she leaves you and I'll track her down." Jaune continued.
Jaune began to think of what to do next.
"So you're going to find where she hides the skin?" Ako asked him.
Jaune nodded. "That's the plan."
"Let me salt and pepper them." Shirley spoke up.
"What? No, it's too dange-" Jaune began.
"I know it's dangerous. But if what you say it's true, then that thing killed my friend and almost killed my team mates!" Shirley interrupted angrily. "I'm not just going to sit back and watch that thing hurt more people!"
Jaune looked at her directly into the eyes. Then he sighed. Women were terrifying when they really wanted something.
"It could be very helpful, you know?" Jaune looked at Ako incredulously. "This would let you keep an eye over the hag and make sure it doesn't drain anyone else." She finished.
Jaune began to think about it. "Fine. But how do I tell you where it is?" he asked them.
Shirley looked at him. "I can give you one of the Scrolls my team mates used. Every Scroll can track down their team mates' Scrolls."
Interesting. Also slightly creepy.
"Gotcha. I'll leave the Scroll where it hides the skin and tail the thing, make sure it doesn't hurt anything one else," Jaune began to plan out the specific parts of their little plan. "I might also have to fight it, buy more time for the sun to rise."
"I can fight too." Ako volunteered.
"No. I don't know where exactly the hag will hit next. I need you to ward the rooms that the hag might be able to get into." He told her.
"And how am I supposed to do that?" she demanded angrily.
"Well, like we said, you can paint the doors blue," Jaune pointed at the journal. "I'll leave this in your care tonight. It has more information so read up on the page I marked. It's one of my most valuable possessions so please take good care of it."
Ako looked at the journal and nodded thoughtfully. "Fine."
Jaune looked at his accomplices. "So y'all ready?"
They nodded.
Present time…
Jaune watched as the hag, now wearing Sakura's skin, began to scream and claw away at the skin.
It flailed around wildly before setting its gaze on him. "You!" she hissed.
"Me." Jaune replied. The he fired at her.
The hag shrieked incomprehensibly and fell into the ground. She was still shrieking when Jaune approached her still flailing form and fired down at it.
The thing was still screaming incomprehensibly when Jaune began to reload.
Then the hag began to rip off its skin.
Jaune looked down at her, morbidly curious, but not particularly worried. The hag ripped of its skin and struggled to get up. It glared up at him.
He smiled coldly down at it. Then he shot her some more. The hag shrieked again. Honestly, he wasn't even sure if he needed to keep firing at her after all the damage that had been done to it.
This was payback.
'And it's rather fun...' A dark part of his mind whispered. He ignored it.
"I will tear off your skin for this!" she screeched.
Jaune smiled patiently. "I bet you'd love to."
"I will kill all your friends!"
Jaune looked down at his watch. "Neato. Are you going to keep all our skins in your wardrobe?"
The hag managed to get up into its knees and its glare intensified. "I will make you beg for death while I rip off your skin!"
Jaune smiled at it. "Sounds kinky. Should we set up a safe word?"
The hag was visibly still struggling to get up. "You mock me? You will pay for this!" And failing miserably to look threatening.
Jaune's watch began to beep. His smile widened.
"I don't think so," his smile turned vicious. "You see, it just so happens that the birds are singing, the skies are lighting up and the sun is..."
The way the hag's hateful glare suddenly turned fearful made him feel warm inside. He stepped to a side, letting the sun's rays hit the hag.
"..you know, rising."
The hag's shrieks began anew as smoke started to come out of it.
"Morning sunshine!" Jaune crowed at it.
The hag flailed around wildly before it began to disintegrate. Its arm fell of and turned into dust before its legs also decided to jump ship.
With one final cry, the hag turned completely into dust.
Jaune looked at the dust that was already being blown into different directions by the wind. Then he took a deep breath and fell into his knees as the adrenaline wore off. He looked up towards, the rising sun and smiled.
'Case closed, monster dead, another satisfied customer! Cha-ching!'
He thought to himself before falling over, face first, as his eyes closed and he felt a familiar darkness overtaking him.
AN: Here's the confrontation. As usual, I suck at action scenes. Ah, well. I just hope I didn't mess up this chapter too much; it's the longest chapter I've written so far. Here's hoping it wasn't too confusing to follow. Anyways, the monster's dead, the case is closed and it is now time for Jaune to move on to other things…maybe. Probably.
The 2 OC's roles will start to die out now. I might use one or the other every now and then but their roles will be far smaller now.
The description I got for the boo hag, for any one that's curious, is simply from searching for boo hag in google. I also got some ideas from the witch in Left 4 Dead.
And now, to address individual reviews!
AnInterestedThirdParty: After being told a few times that Jaune is reminiscent of Harry Dresden,I have acquired Storm Front although I haven't gotten too far yet.
Necrofantasia: Jaune cannot beat everyone. He can beat some and put up a good fight against others, but he would be hard pressed to beat some of the students even with Aura. The only way he'd be able to defeat some of the stronger students would be if he fought them on his own terms and went all out. Which he would never do because he runs the risk of outright killing them if he does (sniping them from afar, setting up claymores, or other explosive traps and the like) and even then, if someone like Pyrrha knew, she could just use her semblance to repel everything. You're right about him needing to be more confident though. He can definitely put up a good fight if pressed. As for Ozpin wanting him…Well, he has his reasons.
Blitzxs: Man, I just hope I didn't mess up too badly. As for Crocea Mors, it will appear in around 1-2 chapters.
AndreiN00B: Glad you're enjoying the story so far. Crocea Mors will be appearing really soon so I'll try to explain more about it then.
Well, R&R and thank you for reading thus far.