Boss Mode
"Did someone say my name?"
Everyone had frozen at the sudden appearance of the voice on the other side of the door, stunned by the impeccable timing, but if anyone was the most concerned it was certainly Blake. This person hadn't triggered any warning or notification in her Gamer system; if that wasn't enough, the sense of foreboding under the superficially light-hearted question alone was certainly enough to put on her edge.
But that name... Blake recognized it, putting the name to the face even before the nonchalant teen strode into the dorm as if it were is own living area. Mercury Black, the one who'd challenged Pyrrha and forfeited after just a few moves.
However, even in her dangerously groggy state at the time, the ravenette could tell that the Haven transfer's actions in that match weren't motivated by the sheer incumbency of a finicky disposition.
"Um, excuse us?" Ruby stated first with a surprisingly testy tone as she glanced pointedly at the encroachment of space the seventh teen had incurred in an all-girl dorm, to which the grey-haired visitor backed out of the room with hands raised overhead like a man held at gunpoint and a smug smirk plastered on his face.
"Of course, of course," he replied with a coolness that easily rivaled that of Neptune's while dropping his hands and crossing his arms before continuing just outside the door, "Just dropping by to express my deepest gratitude for finding my favorite pin earlier... but it looks like I'm already the topic of conversation."
Blake narrowed her eyes at him, immediately distrusting his subtly fake emphasis on being sincere - which gave away the fact that it was precisely insincere, in her eyes - as well as his overly-familiar approach to students at a school he should supposedly know nothing about.
If her leader was reaching the same conclusion, the catgirl certainly had to give her due credit since it definitely seemed to be the case when the crimsonette quipped with slightly narrowed eyes at the visitor, "Right. I think I got that when I gave it to you earlier."
"Ah ah, think back real hard and you'll realize I clearly didn't," Mercury corrected with a raised finger and cheshire grin, but seemingly sensing the growing tension in the room, he then seamlessly changed the subject with frankly impressive finesse raising a hand to chin in exaggerated thought, "Say... I'll have to admit that it wasn't the only reason I chose to come by this afternoon... I wanted to ask - where exactly did you find it? As you know, I'd been looking for it all over the place..."
The ravenette was definitely sizing him up now just as the other five occupants of the room surely were too, but if the visitor himself noticed it then he was doing an excellent job of hiding it as he kept the same confident smile and expectant gaze set on the crimsonette.
But being her specialty to challenge a show of male bravado at the drop of a pin, it was Yang who decided to go straight to the point and simply slam the mousetrap on the mouse to see if that'd work, "Funny thing you mention that, Johnny Black-"
"Mercury-"
"Whatever," she continued airily despite his correction, content with having thrown him off-guard enough to strike with a confident smirk, "We actually found that little accessory inside an underground tunnel leading to a place called Mountain Glenn! Ever... heard of it?~"
With her Observe skill, Blake noticed the slightest faltering of Mercury's countenance before he quickly corrected it with a shrug and overly bemused frown.
"Can't imagine anyone who hasn't. If I recall correctlyyy, it was one of Vale's biggest failures in its attempt to expand its city borders back in the day..."
'Hmm,' was all the catgirl thought to herself with a slowly deepening scowl. This guy wasn't just some kid trying to play cool in front of the ladies - his expression, his words, every single mannerism was way too obvious... as if purposely played out to guide the conversation where he wanted it to go. Up against someone like Yang, this had now become like a game of cards where the two opposing players were engaged in a heated high-stakes betting round to see who'd tip their hand first.
"Ya know, you really don't strike me as the 'history-buff' kind of student," Yang retorted with an amused quirked brow and hands on her hips, "'Specially for a guy who's now got some pretty solid evidence placing him at an active crimescene at the time of the Vale Breach a week ago~"
Taking the teasing accusation like a champ, Mercury only seemed to raise a pensive brow as well before snapping his fingers in feigned realization, "Ah! That's right! You guys were part of the response team that held the Grimm back at the pavilion that day!"
Merely glaring at him as if she were about to call him out on his out-of-place statement, Yang's rebuttal died in her mouth as he added with an innocent sigh, "Me and my team were called to the affected area as well - feel free to check the official logs, it's all there."
Letting out a short huff in frustration, Yang stayed silent for a moment as it seemed the conversation had reached an impasse... that is, until Ruby rejoined the conversation with hands on her hips and beginning much like her sister had, "Funny thing you mention that, considering we didn't find the pin at the mouth of the tunnel. We found it almost a mile in further, inside Mountain Glenn itself."
At that, Mercury's first sign of alteration that everyone could see in the room happened - a studious gaze meant to resize the crimsonette hidden under a growing grin. As it turned out, the young leader had tipped the blonde's cards for her.
"Waiiit," he began slowly, as if catching on to some well-played joke, "Don't tell me it was your team that uncovered the whole threat in the first place?"
"You better believe it, buddy," Yang shot back as she moved to stand beside her sister with arms crossed challengingly, Mercury then breaking eye-contact to look to the side and scoff in amusement.
"Well how bout that. Must've been quite a ride through those tunnels having to deal with that billy-jacked bomb train and all!"
The most genuine emotion he'd shown all this time, a few of the students in RWBY's dorm cocked their heads trying to decide if the underlying emotion was wonderment or some poorly hidden form of irritation - either way, he was beginning to look less and less like a viable suspect in their previous suspicions and more like some random jerkwad transfer student out to mess with some locals. But Blake however, she wasn't confused in the least.
Mercury had just made a vital mistake.
"Now that's something I find interesting," the catgirl stated flatly, paying no mind to the attention she drew from everyone else in the room as she glared at the student with mock-surprise, "The news did report a bomb involved in the breach... but nowhere did anyone ever mention its delivery by train."
And slowly, nearly comically so, every gaze in the room drifted back to the affronted teen just outside its door, his once-confident smirk melting down into a pronounced scowl.
As the present members of the Beacon student body inched their dominant hands towards their weapons, the motions were paused as the grey-haired transfer suddenly let out a chortle that was certainly incongruous given the circumstances.
"Hah! You got me there!" Mercury began, amicably pointing at Blake in a mock-chiding gesture before turning a gaze on the crimsonette that only seemed to grow sharper and more ominous by the second, "But to be fair, I came here 'cuz I was onto you lot from the start... I just like to make small talk - you know, get to know the people whose brains I'm about to splatter across the walls."
"..."
Maybe it was the way he had so casually voiced his ill intentions, or the graphic nature of the threat itself, but in the second of hesitation it caused the six teens in the room, Mercury made his move.
Hitting all six students with what looked like black throwing picks in a single motion, a series of clicks were heard from what were apparently greaves on his ankles just before slamming his foot into the floorboards just inside the dorm room's threshold.
BOOM!
And just like that, RWBY's dorm was utterly destroyed, the six teens launched out the side of the building as the resulting shockwave from Mercury's blast warped the floor itself and catapulted everything inside the room through the air. Smirking at his deed as he watched his victims land in heaps a few floors below, the grey-haired teen engaged his other ankle-greave and launched himself in the air towards them with effortless flips and twists around the falling debris surrounding him.
PING!
'Oh no,' was all Blake thought as she read the following window once she landed.
[Negative Status Effect(s) active!]
Dark Aura Flesh Bud (highest)
"Uuugh, now that was uncalled for," Yang grumbled from the floor outside the damaged dorm building as she slowly made her way to a standing position a few feet from her partner.
The catgirl, on the other hand, had managed to land on her feet in a deep crouch but could only watch as one of their bunks hurdled towards Jaune and Pyrrha's recovering forms from behind them too quickly for her to react. But before she could even warn them, the Mistrali took the words from her mouth.
"Jaune, look out!"
And brandishing her trusty shield, the redheaded champion twisted around the startled knight, squaring her shoulder behind the mighty bronze wall and slamming the metal into the falling bunk which caused it to shatter into hundreds of wooden pieces with a powerful smash. However, in the second that the two partners traded grateful grins, Jaune was now the one spurred into action as he saw more danger approaching the green-eyed fighter from behind.
"Pyr, look out!"
POW!
Ren, Yang, Ruby and most of all Pyrrha could only gape as Jaune mimicked the Mistrali's motion - twisting around her and squaring his shoulder - before slamming his fist into a giant slab of marble hurdling towards them which had once been a section of the dorm building's wall, shattering it into hundreds of dusty pieces.
Blake could only smirk as she stood after watching the role-reversal among team JNPR due to their leader's enhanced strength, 'Well if anything, Pyrrha really needed a reality update after Mountain Glenn anyway...'
"Jaune... were you even engaging your Aura?" Ren stated incredulously as the remaining students approached the blonde knight, the last of the debris falling harmlessly around the group as Jaune looked down at his hands in search of a reply.
"Umm..."
"Oh joy, everyone's still alive!"
Scowls now adorning their faces, the six students turned to see Mercury approaching the group with hands in pockets and ever-present smirk before Ruby sprung into action reaching for Crescent Rose and disappearing in a flurry of rose petals.
"Why you-!"
ffft-PAHT!
Yet in the blink of an eye, she found herself on her back a few feet from the visitor groaning in pain, the smug teen himself with his arm straight out having performed a flawless clothes-line on the crimsonette.
"I gotta admit, that was pretty fast... I mean, I still saw it coming from a mile away, but still... not bad!"
Her benevolent persona finally reaching its limit at the sight of her downed friend, Pyrrha engaged Miló with a low growl before dashing at the cocky antagonist. Already upon him with shield and spear, the champion thrust and slashed with her formidable combos... only to realize in frustration that none of her attacks were connecting with the teen who dodged them all with both hands behind his back.
"What, The Invincible Girl can't get her internal magnets to work if she can't touch me?" Mercury taunted with a smirk, the Mistrali's eyes widening for a split-second before refocusing on him with intensified aggression in an attempt to activate her Semblance, "I take that as a yes... but too bad you're only gonna hold out for a few more seconds."
Having already begun to advance on the battling duo, the four remaining students came to a halt when they heard the finality in his voice. And sure enough, to their greatest chagrin, the mighty contender suddenly seized up as if being electrocuted by some unknown force before falling on the ground and groaning in pain much like Ruby was still doing.
Quickly glancing between the two fighters, Yang shot her red-eyed gaze at the teen as she yelled, "What did you do to them!?"
"Why don't you c'mere and find out, doll face?" the grey-haired merc taunted as he held out a hand at her as a beckoning to fight, an invitation she didn't waste a second to accept along with Ren.
And once more, Mercury found himself engaged in combat but now with a fighter at each side. However, now focusing on blocking Ren's flowing strikes, he only seemed concerned with diverting the blonde bomber's attacks with one arm in her growing frustration.
"Yang Xiao Long," the merc droned as he ducked under a flaming right hook while spinning to the side on a leg to dodge an aura-enhanced kick from the jade fighter, "the first Beacon student with a Berserker-class Semblance in nearly two generations... meh, not really tough to handle once you figure it out."
At that, Jaune and Blake, who had gone to check on Pyrrha and Ruby respectively, traded an unsure glance as the buxom boxer herself came to a harrowing realization. Mercury was ensuring that not a single hit landed on her that could activate her semblance, choosing to whittle away at Ren's otherwise solid defense with well-placed greave-kicks whenever he could push Yang back with feints. Tumbling around another high feint, Yang spun around the merc and placed herself beside Ren to get his attention.
"Yang, maybe not the most strategic formation," the stoic eked out between labored breaths to maintain correct breathing as he finally switched to StormFlower to push the visitor back with a hail of bullets.
"I know!" she shouted in her heated reply as she took out Ember Celica's projectile function and fired several whistling rounds at their opponent as well, "And I know this is gonna sound weird, but I need you to hit me! Like, really hard!"
Sparing an incredulous sideways glance at the determined blonde despite his usual calm demeanor, the dual-wielder could only retort, "W-What!?"
"I said hit me!"
Sighing out a brief silent prayer for forgiveness, Ren breathed in once more before promptly sending her skidding back several feet with a pink Semblance-powered aura pulse sent out from his fist to her torso. Finally recovering as his firearms ran out of ammo and Mercury began closing the space between them, she flashed him a quick thumbs up before racing to meet their opponent head on with renewed fire in her form, "Thanks!"
However, she never even made it halfway.
Suddenly seizing up, hands going up to her throat as the fire around her was snuffed out of existence, she fell in writhing pain much like the two fighters before her. As Mercury reached her laid out form, her body feeling a terrible burning sensation choking her from within as she groaned in pain, she caught a glance of the jade fighter behind her only to see that he wasn't faring any better.
"Wow, you guys are kinda dumb, you know that?" Mercury began airily as he stood with self-satisfied triumph over the downed blonde, "How your team even beat out Torchwick is honestly beyond me..."
"Jaune, we need to do something, now," Blake hissed at the blonde as they each pulled the first two downed students around the side of a boulder away from the fight, the latter returning a nod before they emerged from behind the boulder only to feel their stomachs sink at the sight.
"Seriously guys! With six of you, I actually thought this might be difficult!" Mercury now called out across the area outside the building with their other two teammates down for the count, "But I guess it's fair, considering that none of you had ever figured out that my Semblance lets me short out your Auras with the flesh bud I've implanted in each of your bodies! It's literally like 'Mercury' poisoning, get it!?"
"..."
"Ack, you guys are no fun."
Jaune growled in reply, his anger quickly rising as he looked over his injured friends and the surrounding destruction before directing himself to the bewildered ravenette in a hurried aside, "Hasn't anyone seen what's happening yet? Why aren't we getting any help!?"
At that, Blake's eyes widened in realization, mentally facepalming for not having noticed the eerily silent ambience and deserted environment sooner as she quickly looked around, "Of course... We're in another illusion barrier!"
"Oh?" Mercury quipped with earnest surprise, stepping over Yang's agonized form as he began leisurely approaching his last two opponents, "I gotta say, didn't expect anyone here to know about my little party trick. Comes with the heritage, you know."
Not bothering to deign his self-praise with a response, Blake merely whispered askance to the slightly confused Jaune who unsheathed his weapon beside her as they slowly walked toward the merc, "Buy me some time, I'm in range to observe him."
With only a quiet grunt in acknowledgment, the knight scowled at the grey-haired transfer before shouting, "What are you talking about!?"
Mercury paused, raising a hand to his chin in thought and finally nodding to himself as if reaching a decision before replying, "Ah well, you're dead anyways. Like I said, it's something I'm born with - an ability to make a neat little battle stage out of the world around us without having to worry about any of those mean old Professors you got crawling all over the place coming in and crashing the party - and by sticking you lot with the flesh buds my semblance creates, I can bring you all in here with me. To die, of course. After rubbing your loss in your faces."
By the time he finished his monologue, Blake had already uttered her skill command.
Mercury Black LV39
Rank: B (Att: B | Def: C | Sem: S)
HP: 29700 MP: 1500
A powerful mercenary contracted by the Red Queen herself.
Though seemingly care-free and joval, displays a sense of seriousness and levelheadedness in combat. Is very observant, making full use of his strategic mind when facing any number of opponents with a very acrobatic and agile fighting style that relies on quickly overpowering his opponent using complex kicks that imply a near-mastery of martial arts.
Wields a set of greaves that have a firing mechanism built into them. Can also form illusion barriers at will to neutralize opponents freely thanks to the natural power supplied to him by his birth realm. Can use Semblance to implant energy-siphoning flesh buds in his victims, causing Grimm to disintegrate on contact and Humans/Faunus to experience symptoms of severe Aura depletion once they activate their Semblances. Sensitive to Mana-saturated metal.
Has no qualms about killing.
"I really hope you've figured out a way to take him down," Jaune muttered as the pair had already halved the space between them and Mercury, to which Blake replied in kind.
"It won't be easy... his stats show up as if he were some sort of boss. Be wary of his kicks since they're like Yang's gauntlet punches but on his ankles, and you'll only get one shot to defeat him - hit him with Crocea Mors at full energy."
"Only one shot?"
"Yes," the ravenette replied as she readied herself to equip Gambol Shroud, "Don't use your aura until you have a clean target - he's embedded us all with flesh buds created by his semblance, pieces of his materialized aura which will cause our auras to atrophy once we... activate our..."
Suddenly realizing what she was saying, and what she had just done, Blake turned to give an increasingly concerned Jaune a wide-eyed panicked glance before feeling the effects take over her like a flaming vice.
PING!
[Negative Status Effect(s) active!]
MP Drain (high)
Stunned (intermediate)
"Blake? ...Blake!"
The knight caught the catgirl as she fell at his side, setting the writing girl down against the side of another large piece of debris as she managed a glimpse at herself and caught sight of a black pea-sized entry wound on her midriff from which a dark substance now pulsed and spread out underneath her skin in a small vein-like network.
"Huh, she didn't even take a single swing at me before keeling over. Kinduva buzzkill if you ask me - I was looking forward to taking her out."
Gritting his teeth at the irreverent remark from the student who had now closed the space between them to only a few dozen feet, Jaune clenched his fist around the hilt of Crocea Mors as he gently wiped a lock of hair that had fallen in front of Blake's face back behind her ear as softly as he could with his other hand.
"I don't know why you're doing this," Jaune began as he stood up slowly to face the aggressor, his ruffled blonde hair falling in front of his face and obscuring his eyes as the knight kept his gaze low to control himself, "I don't even know how you're doing this... but you're going to regret what you've done here."
"Am I?" Mercury replied with an easy grin before lifting his fists at the blonde in a mock-boxing stance, "Heh, then let's see what you got. Come at me, bro!"
Huffing once in anger, Jaune leapt at Mercury while unsheathing his sword in a single motion with a battle cry, swinging down the blade with all his weight... and missing entirely as the smug contender merely sidestepped out of Crocea Mors' range.
"You kidding, right? You think a sword will help you in close combat?" Mercury quipped flatly as he dodged and ducked under a few more swings of the blade before deadpanning at the knight when the blonde swung wide and regripped his sword, panting heavily as he now glared at the merc with malicious intent, "Oh wait. Don't tell me you actually have one of those tacky gun-blades... jeez those stupid things are overused these days! Even my partner's got 'em! People, how 'bout some originality!"
"YAH!"
But with unexpected speed, Jaune swung his sword upward at the grey-haired fighter, nearly catching him off-guard and forcing him to tumble backwards to escape strike range. Taking advantage of the second respite, the knight expanded his sheath and charged the miffed teen.
"Oho, now you've got a shield, oh dear~" he continued taunting as he glared at the blonde approaching him, "You know, the part where you thought you'd beat me was kinda funny at first, but now it's getting annoying."
With a grunt of pain from her location, Blake was barely able to turn her head from her current position to see the mercenary engage Jaune with far more ferocity, focusing a barrage of kicks on his shield while dodging enraged slashes before using his upturned shield like a small platform to land a spinning kick that knocked his sword right out of his hand and into a nearby marble boulder.
Followed by a hard kick to disarm his shield before landing a final roundhouse kick to the head that put Jaune to the floor.
'Must... do something,' the ravenette begged her unresponsive body as she slightly lurched sideways in another spasm of pure pain, letting her hand drop on her thigh as she managed to eke out, "S-Sta...tus... Win...dow."
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'There's not enough time... And using just one Vecchian Aura Recovery would take most of my remaining mana, meaning that I'd still be unable to help...'
Her mind racing between possible options as her entire field of vision seemed to pulse red at the edges, Blake noticed how what looked like her MP bar kept ticking lower and lower with every passing second before slowly turning up in worry to see what had become of the knight.
Circling him with a wide malicious grin like a shark around a wounded seal, Mercury came in to kick Jaune on the side which rolled him over on his back, "Hey man, still alive?"
But catching the visitor off-guard, Jaune's eyes snapped open, the knight grabbing hold of both ankles so hard that it shorted out his greaves before flipping the merc on his back with an angered yell. Flipping himself up to a standing position with a well-executed pop-up, Jaune turned to swing a fist downward at Mercury who barely managed to dodge the blow that created a small crater in the floor underneath.
Snapping his head up to glare at the grey-haired student, the knight replied, "It's gonna take way more than that to kill me... especially with what you've done to my friends."
Mercury merely stared at Jaune for a moment as he straightened up before letting out a small shrug.
"Okay."
And just like that, the grey-haired fighter closed the space between them in an instant with a high kick aimed at his head... only to have his leg painfully countered by a block from Jaune's forearm before the knight sent him back reeling towards a sizable heap of debris several yards away with an unexpectedly powerful blow to the abdomen.
CRASH!
Hitting the pile of wood and stone so hard that it granted a barely-conscious Ruby and Pyrrha, who were now nursing noticeable black vein-like patches on their hand and upper arm respectively, a full view of the fight going on in front of them, Mercury slowly made his way back to a standing position, cradling his side before his dark-grey aura patched up the rest of the damage.
"Jaune Arc," he now stated as if having discovered new-found respect for the name, "Been a looong time since someone put me to the ground in a duel, much less twice. And here I'd heard rumors that you were just some small fry with big dreams! Ah well, I guess all that means is that I've finally found someone worth killing on this side of Remnant."
"Not a chance!"
And just like that, Jaune charged in to resume his onslaught, swinging and slamming wherever he could to get at the merc. Ruby and Pyrrha watched in growing stupefaction despite their weakened states how Jaune managed to destroy massive piles of rubble even when he missed his mark, entire sections of what used to be dorm walls exploding and wood splinters flying everywhere in his enraged emotion.
But Blake noticed those massive blows getting progressively weaker, her pained brows softening in realization as she figured out that Mercury had merely taken the defensive and let himself get cornered against one of the few remaining boulders while dodging every blow, waiting for Jaune to tire himself out.
And finally releasing a single kick to redirect a flailing left hook, the merc grinned as he discerned that his chance had come. Skillfully dodging a straight jab meant for his head, Mercury nimbly performed a short wall jump and hooked both legs around Jaune's neck, performing a perfect headscissor takedown and launching the knight head-first into the ground several feet away.
Struggling to stand, Jaune barely got on both feet before Mercury recovered and was on him again, fierce kick after spinning kick landing on all sides of the knight as if he were a punching bag due to the relentless speed before the merc jumped and launched the blonde all the way by Pyrrha and Ruby with a powerful drop kick that was unexpectedly augmented by a powerful bang.
"Hah, look at that!" Mercury proudly exclaimed as he stood and looked down to check his greaves, "I guess they were just jammed, that's all!"
Pyrrha felt a single tear falling at the sight of her partner slowly rolling onto all fours between the two girls and coughing blood on the floor as she did her best to fight through the pain to speak, "J-Jaune..."
He could only heave out two words before collapsing as Mercury briskly walked over, "I'm, sorry..."
"Hm, I guess you did turn out to be tougher to take out than I thought," the merc mused, crossing his arms in thought over the three teens before snapping his fingers with an idea, "Got it! Tell you what, you really did surprise me in the end, Arc... so since I'm in a good mood today, I'll go ahead and save you for last!"
Turning his his head between the two immobilized girls beside the knight, his eyes settled first on the Mistrali with disapproval, "Mm, nah. You ended up being too easy to take down. For a champion and all, you really get too reckless when emotions are involved... meh, killing you first would be a waste."
Taking a few steps around the downed knight, he then gazed at the teary-eyed crimsonette who simply coughed haggardly since she was currently incapable of unleashing the furious deluge of screams she wanted so badly to lash him with, "You, however... I'd normally probably start with you, but today I'll have to make an exception and save you for second. I just recalled the surprising heritage of a certain teammate of yours which makes her that much more interesting..."
And beginning to make his way over to the small clearing from the debris, Mercury shot a now increasingly angered Blake a fake warm smile as even Yang and Ren on another side of the small clearing managed to catch a glimpse of the interaction.
"Y'know... Belladonna, isn't it? Y'know, there really aren't Faunus where I come from," he began softly, as if telling her a deep secret amongst friends which only managed to make her scowl deeper at his nonchalance, "No idea why, but it's just the way it is. And I gotta admit... I never really cared for them. You know, the ears? The claws?"
He made small pantomimes of each characteristic as he listed them before shaking his head at her, "Nah, never really did it for me. But boy, the first time I wasted one of you people? Oh man, that was gold - who was it... some ex-Fang puma Faunus with his own book stop? Tukson's Book Trade or something - I dunno, I think it was the way he went splat... Wait, you know him? You look like you did~"
Tears welling in her own eyes, Blake glared daggers at the merc and also did her best to cough out a response despite the searing pain in her body, a small smirk growing on his lips as he narrowed his eyes in realization.
"Hm, I'd say you two might've known each other very well... business contacts, maybe?" he continued with a malicious grin before standing over her and re-engaging his ankle-greave above her head, "Well if it's any consolation, you're both going to be reunited very, very soo-"
BONNNNNG!
"-AGH!"
His hand quickly going to his head after the large shield ricocheted right off of it, Mercury felt the blood trickling until the aura he'd left inactive reactivated to close the wound.
"I already told you, twinkle toes. You're not gonna touch a single one of my friends. Especially her."
The merc scowled as he leveled a steely glare at the knight who half-stood and half-supported himself on some stray debris across the clearing, his eyes rekindled with ill-intent, "You should've stayed down, Arc... nobody calls me Twinkle Toes and gets away with it!"
PING!
[You've detected a strong bloodlust.]
'Jaune, don't!' Blake mentally shouted through her haze of pain as she saw the merc make good on his threat, sprinting across the clearing before the knight could put up a decent block and scissor kicking him into one of her team's other bunks lying near the clearing.
CRASH!
But crawling out of what now looked like a pile of mulch with a mattress on top, Jaune stumbled to a decent enough position, bruised and battered, before scoffing at the irate mercenary. Scoffing!
Blake grit her teeth against the pain of trying to face the brawl, knowing full well that if she were even capable of observing the blue-eyed blonde at the moment that he'd have a sizable chunk of his HP missing.
'Why would he do this? Doesn't he know that facing an enemy in his current state is suicide?'
She blinked hard to blot out the tears she didn't even realize were coming when he managed to block all but the last of Mercury's flurry of attacks, the final kick at Jaune's knee bending the limb out at an unsightly angle before the merc followed through with a reverse kick with the opposite leg that sent the knight tumbling into a nearby block of marble.
But seeing the block of stone Jaune had been smashed into, Blake was surprised when Jaune weakly dropped on all fours and unexpectedly met her gaze with his own, a semblance of determination under his injured features... but she knew the meaning of his silent admission the moment she saw it.
He had a plan.
Despite harrowing odds, despite his torn body, Jaune was struggling to win for those he cared about. He had accepted the pain, embraced it, for the most worthy of causes, and he had channelled it into a final strategy to save them all. The catgirl knew this... instead of using his Aura to heal himself and escape alone, he was saving his energy for a shot at the merc to annul the crippling he'd inflicted on everyone. So the ravenette would stop at nothing to help him do just that.
Willing herself to utter the Status Window command a second time, Blake watched the double-digit MP count drop into single digits as Mercury reloaded his greaves and began walking towards the knight...
10...
9...
8...
'Wait, that's it!' she realized, trying with all her strength now to struggle against the status effect on her and glance down at her hand laid out over her thigh to turn it upward.
"Ssspin-ning..." she eked out, the sizzling atrophy of her natural energy tugging at her jaw and hand with the effort.
"Ma-na..."
shuuuuuuuuu...
7...
"I guess it's lights out, Arc," Mercury finally declared over the downed knight as he raised his steel-tipped boot over his head. However, he raised a brow when he suddenly heard a chuckle escape the blonde leader's lips, "What, wanna go out laughing or something?"
"Not quite."
"AR-ROW!"
sssssssshhhhHAK!
Blake's final word preceding a sudden flash of light, Mercury could only cry out in pain as the bolt of mana passed right through his calf, "GAAAGH!"
No sooner did the light pierce the merc's limb when Jaune hopped up to get his good leg underneath him before reaching back to pull his sword from the stone behind him and regrip it to thrust forward.
"YAHHH!"
Shing-SQUISSSH!
Five weakened pairs of eyes watching the pair near the center of the clearing in utter stupefaction, Mercury slowly let his gaze drift downwards with hitched, labored breaths until resting his sights on the sword that had passed right through his natural aura barrier and straight into his abdomen.
"I could kill you right now," Jaune began slowly, blood running down his face and matting his hair as he glared at the grey-haired antagonist with an unexpectedly intimidating gaze, "But that's not why we're here. I may want to be a Hunter, but as an Arc, I'm not just here to rid Remnant of darkness... I'm here to cleanse it of those who only want to stop the light."
"You... were supposed... to be a weakling!" Mercury grunted against the blade through his body before Jaune merely cracked a small smile.
"Well I guess that just makes me Most Improved then, doesn't it," Jaune remarked before lighting himself and his sword in a golden-white glow...
"HAMON PULSAVERIT!"
FFFWHOOOOOSH
A blinding flash taking over the entire area, Ruby was the first to feel the searing pain dissipate from its source in her hand before jumping up and immediately racing towards the knight.
"Bwah- OOF!"
The blonde leader in question nearly fell back as the his hooded peer nearly tackled him in a grateful embrace, "Jaune! Thankyouthankyouthankyou! I can't believe you did that for us!"
And loosening her vice-like grip on him to look down at his injury, her face paled at the sight, "Y-Your leg!"
"It needs to be reset in order for your Aura to heal it more quickly, Jaune," Pyrrha now added softly as she walked towards the pair, favoring her upper arm before glancing pointedly at the slightly mangled limb to which Jaune simply faced the crimsonette.
"Um, Ruby. I appreciate you worrying about me and all... but I think you're gonna end up breaking my arm too if you keep squeezing it like that."
Chuckling nervously, the young leader in question disengaged her protective and strangely Yang-like hold on his arm with a blush as she scratched the back of her head, "Oh, uh... yeah. Thanks though, for saving us and all. That was really cool!"
He cracked a goofy grin at her, glad to get cool points in anyone's book really, before turning his attention to his partner with a warm smile and lamely offering up his leg, "Your call, I just hope it doesn't-"
crack
"...huuuuurt," Jaune finished between clenched teeth as Pyrrha quickly made the readjustment with a dull pop before he could back out of the obviously painful idea.
"There, all better," the Mistrali began, grinning warmly with pride at her partner as his white aura quickly got to work on the rest. But she knew very well that it wasn't just pride welling up within her... and now was as good a chance as any to drop another hint about what she felt about him, so she steeled her resolve and called his attention, "Jaune, I-"
"He's still breathing."
The three teens quickly turned to face the fourth, his magenta lock of hair falling in front of his face as he knelt over the laid out form of the wounded grey-haired assassin before Yang walked up to the group cracking her knuckles, "Oho, I can take care of that real quick-"
"No!" Jaune shouted, hand held out at the group which caused them to stop and look at him, even Yang, "No. He will not die, not like this. And we have way too many unanswered questions left to ask to waste a perfect chance like this."
"Alright then, let's pick him up," Ruby stated dryly as she and Ren noticed Mercury regaining consciousness, to which the stoic lifted the teen up to kneel on both knees towards the group as he fastened pink Aura-cuffs onto his wrists from behind.
"You can do that kind of thing with Aura?" Yang asked idly from beside Ren, a brow raised in curiosity.
"With enough training, yes," he began simply, his gaze fixed on the ground before sighing, "If Nora were here, she'd probably go into a very fantastical explanation of the matter... being that it isn't the case, I suppose I'll just leave it at that. Frankly, I'm glad she didn't get caught up in this..."
Staring at the silent jade fighter as he stood, ensuring to keep a hold on Mercury's restraints from behind, the remaining students kept silent as the unusual degree of emotion towards the bubbly hammer maiden from the usually stoic student lingered between them all. Ren truly did care for her... and his tone only conveyed how close they'd all come to losing everything.
The moment passed, and Jaune lightly limped over to stand in front of Mercury before breaking the silence.
"Who are you working with? And what were you aiming to gain by helping the White Fang at Mountain Glenn?"
The teen scoffed before spitting som blood to the side, "Helping those animals? Looks like you've got it all twisted, buddy. Why don't you ask Torchwick?"
Ignoring the fake student, Pyrrha merely came up behind Jaune to quickly whisper, "He's still bleeding. His aura should've healed him by now..."
"I know," the knight whispered in reply without breaking eye contact with Mercury before directing himself to the merc at an audible volume once more with crossed arms, "Look. We don't have time to get the runaround, but if we get to ask him someday, trust me... we will. But you couldn't have infiltrated Beacon so easily, even with the likes of Roman and the Fang at your back. Who else were you working with?"
"Hah, I ain't tellin' you guys nuthin," the mercenary replied with a rueful scowl.
"Suit yourself," Jaune continued casually before continuing, "But you know, my little party trick has a neat little side effect you don't know about. It's funny... the more I use my Semblance, the more I seem to be learning from it..."
The four teens standing watched the blonde leader with increasingly quizzical expressions before he finally dropped the bomb on the mercenary, "That last little line I pulled on you? It purged your Aura, Mercury. It could be relocked... it could've been eliminated all-together for all I care... but all I know for sure is that if you ever want to use it again, you're gonna have to give us some answers."
Ren and Pyrrha merely smirked at their leader who they no longer doubted was becoming a Hunter in spirit as well as body; Ruby and Yang were now gaping at the intricacy of the plan the blonde had whisked into existence while getting his butt handed to him by the grey-haired teen.
Mercury, however... wasn't so pleased. Yet despite the rekindled fire in the back of his eyes, the merc replied slowly with a very mixed expression, "You know what? ...Alright, I'll bite. But I won't tell you, I'll tell your buddy here."
Nodding at Ren, Jaune gave the silent command to proceed... at least, he would've said so out loud had it not been for the slew of windows that came through the party notification system in front of him.
PING PING PING!
[Negative Status Effect(s) dispelled!]
[Field Boss defeated!]
[You have gained 650000 XP.]
PING PING PING PING PING!
[The Knight's level has risen by 1.]
[The Knight's level has risen by 1.]
[The Knight's level has risen by 1.]
[The Knight's level has risen by 1.]
[The Knight's level has risen by 1.]
DING!
[For leveling up five times at once, Boss Mode achievement has been unlocked!]
[Boss Mode]
-Ultimate protagonist flag
-Increased attack priority within parties
-Brag to your friends about it!
'Huh, I guess even Blake's Gamer system isn't immune to the occasional stroke of fluff every now and then,' the knight thought to himself as the windows began closing out, 'At least it mean's Blake's abilities are still working...'
"That's right, dude," Mercury continued, bringing the knight back into the moment as Ren inched towards him, "Just another step closer so I don't gotta twist my neck around like this... perfect-"
TWAK!
And just like that, Mercury sprung to his feet, knocking the jade fighter back with a disorienting headbutt to his chin before anyone else could react.
But before he could turn to run away, the merc suddenly froze, everyone hearing a dull crunch from behind him before he fell back on his knees to reveal the catgirl standing behind him with a hand's fingertips bunched together at waist level like a solid wedge. Running to pick up her teammate whose aura was currently healing a broken nose, Pyrrha looked up at an emotionless Blake in disbelief as Yang poked Mercury repeatedly, the merc now unable to do anything but let out the occasionally haggard breath and turn his eyes as far as they could to try and see who had snuck up on him from behind.
"Blake... how'd you do that?" the blonde brawler now asked in a concerned tone after nodding at her younger sister to confirm that Mercury had been effectively paralyzed.
"Nerve cluster between the kidneys right next to the spine," the ravenette began matter-of-factly before putting her hand down, "One of the few weaknesses common between all humans and Faunus. Sure, someone with an aura can heal it quickly enough to ward off any lasting damage, but for someone without an active aura..."
The students quickly caught on to the rest as the catgirl raised an indicative brow at the merc.
"You mean he might stay like this forever?" Ruby now asked incredulously, "He can't even talk..."
Casting only a sideways glance at the paralyzed teen, Blake figured that it had probably been better that way in the end. Knowing about her Faunus heritage was one thing... but coming very close to figuring out her previous affiliation with a terrorist organization was something else entirely.
But judging by the way the teens looked at her, it was almost as if she had killed him right then and there. Yet she hadn't thought twice about her action when she had gotten up to her feet and halted Mercury's escape, even if it meant crippling him for life... Oum knew how many times she had used that nerve attack before. But that was in another time, in another life, surely her ease in doing this wasn't spurred by the calculating mentality of a young woman who'd once nearly come to think of collateral damage as a means to an end.
But if Gamer's Mind was beginning to make it this easy to make that kind of decision...
'Would it mean that something like killing might come as natural to me someday too?'
"Of course not," Jaune now cut into the conversation, and the catgirl's musing as well, "She can still heal him with one of her Semblance's skills. I'm sure that's what she was planning after keeping him from escaping... right Blake?"
Staring blankly at the knight for a moment as if processing the words, the ravenette nodded despite the fact that healing him had never crossed her mind, "Right... but then again, we don't need him to talk. We already have a good idea of who he's working with... the other two Haven students he associates with. Though I think it's safe to say they're likely not students, either. Besides, we can't afford him leaving the illusion barrier."
"Illusion what?" the crimsonette echoed meekly.
"Yeah, he mentioned something like that, but didn't bring it up until after you identified it yourself," Jaune added as the remaining students refocused on the amber-eyed subject of his statement.
Blake sighed before organizing her thoughts enough to reply, "It's a skill I became aware of until only quite recently. To put it simply, it's the ability to create a sort of spatial marble that encloses a certain area in its own bubble of reality where anything you do can't affect the real world."
"Like some sort of reality marble?" Yang asked quizzically, to which the catgirl nodded.
"Precisely. Apparently there are several who can use that ability that I know of."
"Alright then," Ruby stated, satisfied with the definition, "I think we'll just have to go out to practice hunting with you more to figure out how that works! I'd ask why anyone would need that kind of ability, but I'm pretty sure I can see why by just looking around this place right now..."
Pyrrha did so, surveying the considerable amount of destruction surrounding the group and fully agreeing with the crimsonette before adding, "Yes, definitely a plus for a covert operation. Though I'm sure this sort of ability must have its limits."
"I'm sure it does," Ren now remarked before turning his attention to the catgirl, "But I think the question we should be asking is - How do we get out?"
The students turned again to glance at Blake as she nodded in agreement and replied, looking up and pursing her lips to the side as if recalling a previous event, "Well if I'm not mistaken, these spatial constructs collapse soon after their creator vacates it, and any others who've entered can exit by walking out of its boundaries. I say we start walking until we breach its perimeter."
"What about him?" Yang noted, pointing her chin in a small gesture at the paralyzed merc.
"I say leave him," Blake continued flatly, surprising a few in the group by her candidness, "That way there's no chance he can escape. We can always come back once we've apprehended his accomplices."
The Mistrali seemed like she was about to interject, but was surprised when her motion forward to get the catgirl's attention was stopped by an outstretched hand from the knight.
"Alright. We can't afford to let him escape and warn anyone else of our plan... and this illusion barrier is likely the best place we can leave him in the meantime. Blake, can you find a way back into these things after we've left?"
A shrug from the ravenette, prompting a nonplussed deadpan from the blue-eyed blond.
"Yes... I've done it before."
Jaune merely raised a brow in question before shaking his head, "Fine. Ruby? Mind finding us an exit point?"
Turning to face her fellow team leader, the crimsonette cracked a wide smile and thumbs up before disappearing in a flurry of rose petals.
ffft!
The students watched the red streak darting to and fro around the area surrounding them, and just when it seemed their eyes, heads and necks couldn't handle the constant jerking movements to keep up with her anymore, everyone let out a small simultaneous gasp as she suddenly disappeared near the school fountain.
"Looks like that's our exit point," Jaune stated grimly, to which his famed partner nodded in reply.
"Lead the way."
And leaving the paralyzed merc behind after setting him against one of the few remaining intact sections of RWBY's dorm walls, the one with Yang's Achieve Men poster now hanging a few inches over his head, the five remaining teens walked towards the fountain...
...until like having walked out of a soundproof room, they reemerged into the calmer hum of the real Beacon gardens.
To see the young redhead currently being scolded by her teammate.
"Do you have any idea how long I've been trying to reach you all!? Nearly three minutes! People can die in the span of three minutes, Ruby! DIE! How many times to I have to remind you that-"
"*gaaaaasp!* RENNY BEAR!"
Their moment of silent stupefaction shattered as the stoic among them was promptly talked by a VERY worried-but-now-happily-bubbly-again Nora, the remaining four students couldn't help letting out a small string of chuckles, Blake and Pyrrha each having to put a hand up to their mouth to mask their mirth while Yang and Jaune threw any semblance of politeness to the wind in their moment of relief.
Everything around them was still as it always was.
Despite her previous conflicting thoughts about her lack of internal conflict when it came to crippling someone, even Blake had to admit that this sense of normalcy was very welcome. Letting out a small sigh in satisfaction that they'd all made it out alright, her attention was brought to her side when she was nudged by a certain knight as the remainder of the group tried prying the hammer maiden off her partner.
That... was definitely interesting."
"I know," the ravenette mumbled shortly, her gaze softened by the concern underlying his stern expression, "And I'm sorry I couldn't tell you about what happened sooner."
The knight merely reached out to rest is hand on her arm, smiling warmly at her before looking up at her newly-exposed feline traits, "Don't be. We all made it out alright, and besides, you and I had more pressing things to talk about at the time..."
It made her feel silly inside, but Blake blushed as his gaze lingered on her cat ears, letting her head drop a bit - and unwittingly giving him a better view of them as she did - before asking, "Do they... look alright? I mean, it's been a while since I've gone out in public like this. On purpose, at least."
Grinning at the inexplicably endearing young woman in front of him, Jaune couldn't help feeling something strange at the question. It... it wasn't like the feeling of acknowledgment he'd get when his sisters would ask him how they looked, of the feeling of satisfaction from just having the right answer for someone when they needed it. No, it was a matter of opinion... and he'd never heard Blake ask for anyone else's opinion, well, ever.
Needless to say, it sent the tiniest flicker of warmth through him, though he wasn't quite sure why he reacted that way.
But as soon as he opened his mouth, ready to deliver an answer which would surely beat out any lame pick-up line or half thought-out compliment he'd ever given anyone else, his scroll rang.
"Well, this train of events is certainly becoming much more common than I'd ever expected..."
Blake and Jaune turned their heads at Pyrrha's unusual remark to see the Mistrali looking over Ruby's shoulder along with their remaining group as well, Yang's face being the first to light up at her golden opportunity.
"I know, right? We're seriously getting no brak-"
"Yang! Don't even!" Ruby shot back before she could finish, a single finger up in the air to stop the nefarious blonde as she pouted in annoyance.
"Ah well, it's a repeat pun anyway..."
Ren, however, merely furrowed his brows at the small screen in thought before stating, "This has to be ranked for third-year teams. Maybe even fourth-years."
"But it's got our names on it, so that means it's ours!~" Nora countered gleefully, pointing emphatically at the spot in question on Ruby's scroll.
"Yes, but a research facility in the badlands?" Pyrrha mused aloud, face set in a pensive expression, "That hardly seems efficient."
By her side, Weiss only seemed to glare at the screen before finally adding, "And what on Remnant is the IMF!?"
At that, Jaune and Blake traded blank stares before the knight pulled out his scroll to read the contents of the most recent message. It only took a few seconds before the knight turned to face the silent ravenette standing shoulder to shoulder with him reading the message as well.
"I think we might've found our next targets."
FROM: Beacon Admin
TO: Ruby Rose (RWBY); Jaune Arc (JNPR)
SUBJECT: Briefing
Greetings.
It has come to our attention that a small research facility located outside Fall Forest in the badlands between Vale and Vacuo has been compromised. Early this afternoon at 1300 hours, several emergency beacons were triggered and Beacon notified accordingly to pick out an initiative team, henceforth codenamed IMF, to investigate the incident.
Your teams have been preliminarily selected due to your familiarity with this increasingly common anomaly and its relation to the Breach event.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, will be to arrive by Bullhead and investigate the facility for any indicators as to the identity of the culprits. You will also be tasked with the recovery and protection of any exposed research and with the rescue of any remaining scientists at the complex. Two more teams will be assigned to accompany you as well for faster execution and safety in numbers.
The facility is codenamed "Lambent."
Jaune's successive scroll tap to navigate to the confirmation screen was practically synchronized with Blake's following notification.
PING!
[Quest Alert]
Details outlined in Jaune's scroll above.
Completion award: Exp 5000000.
One step closer to discovering the identity of The Red Queen.
Completion failure: Mission failure on permanent record.
Likely death.
Accept? YES - NO
...tap
A/N: So there. We now expand the plot to new characters, new bosses, and new horizons! Of course, there will be plenty of Knightshade development on the way. And by development, I mean a VERY bumpy road ;)
In other news, TGG is now #20 in RWBY's all-time most followed list... I'm pretty sure I smacked myself once I saw that. Three months, ten chapters, and here we are. Just saying, this story wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you guys! ^.^
Now that that's been said, I'd like to bring up a few things about reviews in general. I've gotten to know about the amazing diversity of languages here in FFNet and I know that English may not be the first language of many of you dear readers. But even then, I'd still love to hear from you! I mentioned in previous chapters that I spoke six languages, and they are: English (duh), Spanish, French, Korean, Portuguese and Italian. So please feel free to leave a review in the language most comfortable to you, and I'll be sure to get back to you in your native language if I can :D Your language not on that list? That's okay! You can stick with either English or your own language, but it has come to my attention that a few people are more comfortable leaving a review in their native language and I'd love for everyone to have that liberty too!
And finally, I'm loving the pointers I've been getting from you guys, either pointing out typos or fixing small plot inconsistencies. But for the record, Jaune knew Blake was a Faunus since the beginning of Season 2 in the show. In TGG, he's just tip-toeing around the subject before they finally confront it together. Just sayin. I'm looking at you, VFR6 ;) But if you have a story question or plot/grammar concern, please, let me know via Private Message (PM) because I get back to those much faster than reviews, and questions don't count as reviews - which means they don't belong on a review page :P
Anyways, you know how it goes - remember to Fave, Follow and Review to show your support, and hang tight for the next chapter kicking off a new arc in The Gamer Girl! So take care,
And Happy Reading!
P.S. For those who figured out which anime Jaune and Mercury's last bout was loosely based on, Pulsaverit is indeed Latin for Overdrive ;)
P.P.S. Big thanks to a certain Super Saiyan for letting me borrow name rights for a certain place of interest. This should be fun :)