And here I am with the next chapter, everyone. So far my job has been relatively good, about what I'd been expecting it to be. I can only hope that things will continue to go smoothly for the foreseeable future, though given that at any time my supervisor can call me away to go do something else, that remains murky at best. Well, at least until I can figure out what is to be done next in my life, I can just money needed to pay for gas and such.
On a bit of a side note, has anyone read Mahou Shoujo of the End? If not, you might want to give it a read; in spite of its over the top gore and fanservice, it actually has a rather interesting plot that is also very dark, almost on par with Berserk if only because of all the bad things that result from virtually everything in the story.
Now onto the chapter!
P.S. For those curious: regarding Jaune's armor, it's mainly based on the armor of Souya Yuunagi from a manga called Stealth Symphony, only somewhat altered. The arms and their intricate spikes/design was also inspired by the armor that Basara Toujou from Shinmai Maou no Testament wears. And then Balmung's design was heavily inspired by Fate Apocrypha's version of Balmung.
Chapter 33
It's been roughly a week since team JNPR has returned from Burgundy. During this past week, quite a bit has happened following their safe return to Beacon, namely a lot of questions being asked about what had occurred in Burgundy and just how Jaune of all people had turned out to be a magus.
Honestly, even now, the boy in question was still feeling a little stupefied by the fact he's a magus. But ultimately, it's done wonders for him in short order.
For one thing, the day following the battle with Surma, Jaune had awakened to the sight of his concerned friends while the villagers had been busy cleaning up the mess that had been made of their homes. And when they in turn had discovered he'd awakened at the time, the villagers had been absolutely excited, throwing the blond a wondrous celebration out of gratitude for his efforts in defending them and for the awe inspiring scene his battle with Surma had been. He'd been more than a little embarrassed by all the praise, which had then blossomed quickly into downright nervousness and befuddlement when Lili's older sister, the same one who'd brazenly flirted with Ren when they'd first arrived, had done the same with him not long into the festivities, something that had earned a steely glare from Pyrrha that the blond couldn't fathom the reason for.
Then the next two days after that had been spent with team JNPR aiding the villagers in their reconstruction efforts before they finally had to leave, Lili and Aksel and the other children having bid Jaune a teary goodbye… but not before promising that they wouldn't be so scared anymore. Even now, it still brought a smile to Jaune's face to know that the kids would now desire to help and protect others as they grow up. He was expecting great things of them now.
And then when he and his friends had returned, more than a few people did a double take upon seeing Jaune again. For his awakening as a magus seems to have had somewhat permanent effects on his appearance.
A good portion of his mana having been siphoned off thanks to Surma's All Dead ability had allowed his body enough of a reprieve to fully get his power under control, but even now effects showed. His blond hair was just a tad bit lighter in color than it was before and sported a more wild, almost untamable look compared to the messy yet wavy hair he'd had before. His right iris was no longer a deep blue but now a sky blue in appearance, almost pulsing with energy with virtually every breath he now took.
But what really caught people by surprise when he'd returned was simply the sort of aura he gave off. Before the mission, whenever people would pass him by, he'd project an almost laughably weak presence, little more than a civilian. A friendly, if somewhat awkward yet sociable presence, but a weak one nonetheless.
But not anymore.
When people passed by him now, it would take them an honest effort to keep from flinching back from him, his presence feeling so much greater now, to the point of nearly stifling them. Combined with the blond now walking more upright, more confidently wherever he went and it was enough to nearly convince the rest of the student body that Jaune was a different person when he really wasn't.
Incidentally, his now great presence and marginally altered looks had begun to attract a number of girls to him, ranging from fellow first years to even some fourth years, a turn of events that marked a slight yet noticeable shift in Pyrrha's mood whenever another girl could be seen shyly looking at her team leader, much to said team leader's confusion. Did the other girls do something to tick Pyrrha off? This was a question Jaune had actually asked his fellow teammates, a question that had only forced sighs out of Ren and Nora upon hearing their dense team leader's words.
That all aside, team RWBY had been more than a little shocked when they had met up with team JNPR again, having not at all ever anticipated Jaune's awakening nor his new look. But they'd been happy for him regardless now that he was no longer suffering from the crippling lack of self-esteem he'd been suffering from before, something that had made Jaune look a little embarrassed and upset over. Looks like his teammates hadn't been the only ones to notice his internal conflict from before.
But amazingly, it'd been the ancient magi that had been most surprised by his awakening, if only because – to the shock of teams JNPR and RWBY – that they'd known Jaune had always had the potential, but never had come across an OOPart to actually serve as a catalyst.
But as great as their surprise had been, that certainly hadn't stopped the three once known as team magi long ago from upping Jaune's training now that he was stronger.
A fact that was now being demonstrated when Miki deflected a swing from him with Svafrlami.
"Gah!" Jaune cried out in surprise, having not been expecting Miki to do so that hard.
Right now, he was engaging in a spar with said woman, further honing his swordsmanship and overall combat prowess within Ai Space, which had been graciously set up by Naruto as of mere moments ago.
And within the span of those few short minutes, Miki was clearly proving herself to be too much for Jaune to actually handle.
Recovering from his momentary lack of balance, Jaune closed in yet again and swung Balmung at Miki's calves, hoping to impede her movements. But before his blade could even make contact with the hem of her dress, Miki seemed to literally slide back, the lower part of her dress fluttering gracefully in the process before she then spun and lashed out with Svafrlami.
Jaune ducked under the swing before rising back up. Only to have to block the surprise second strike when Miki had used the momentum to spin around and deliver a second blow, this one aiming for Jaune's left side.
The blond could only grunt as Svafrlami clashed with the flat side of Balmung, the sheer force of the blow being enough to send him flying more than ten yards into the air and at least a few miles through the forest where the initiation had taken place.
Ultimately crashing through a tree and into the ground, Jaune tried valiantly to roll to a stop and get back up, but it was a while before he came to a full stop.
As he managed to do so, a bead of sweat appeared just a bit below his hairline and rolled down slowly. It was one thing to know intellectually that Miki was powerful. But to experience it firsthand was an entirely different matter, especially when she was taking this spar much more seriously than she would've done otherwise. Even with the Armor of Fafnir equipped, the blows she'd landed on him thus far hurt much more than any of the attacks Surma had struck him with. And what's more, most of the strikes landed had been dealt with only one handed swings. He could only shudder at imaging how greater the damage would be if Miki bothered to swing Svafrlami with both hands. In terms of sheer brute strength alone, Miki made Surma look like weak by comparison even when 9/10ths of the damage was negated.
But Jaune was never one to give up.
Standing, he awaited Miki's next move, taking up a defensive stance. For minutes on end, the blond waited patiently, his senses sharp as he struggled to see or hear or otherwise detect anything that would spell danger for him.
For this spar, he'd been instructed to treat this like an actual combat situation and so far he was doing just that, having gone for what would normally be incapacitating and killing blows, yet to no avail. Miki had simply parried, blocked, or otherwise dodged every attack he's performed thus far.
Speaking of which…
Jaune's eyes narrowed as Miki finally came into view, his eyesight heightened from his awakening zooming in on her from almost a mile away. Miki walked at a leisurely pace, as if she was strolling through a park in spite of wielding Svafrlami in her left hand. She hardly had anything about her right now that would indicate an attack.
But Jaune knew better.
Having been taught sword techniques by her for a while now and now sparring with her, he'd been quick to notice things. For as calm and leisurely her stance now was, every single one of her muscles were poised, ready to make lightning fast movements at the drop of a hat. He knew that in the time it took for his mind to even process a thought or two, Miki could've already gone from walking slowly to suddenly swinging her magical weapon at his neck.
Truly, Miki Uzumaki-Namikaze was the epitome of swordsmanship and grace. Every single move she made thus far in this spar was done with absolutely no wasted movement and terrifying precision, traits that had been ruthlessly honed throughout the centuries she's lived alongside her fellow ancient magi.
Jaune refrained from gulping. The more he thought on this, the more worried he became. That was unacceptable. He now had the power to at least defend himself from threats that would be capable of disposing of run of the mill magi. He shouldn't let himself get so worked up.
That was when Miki finally moved, dashing straight at Jaune across the open plain.
And this was something that almost made Jaune sigh slightly in relief.
In terms of brute strength, Miki was virtually unmatched. Even though she's claimed that the Holy Knight Heracles seemed on par with her in this respect, if one had asked the man for his opinion, the Holy Knight would say she is wrong; Miki's strength was even a notch or so above his own, the difference being just small enough for the modest magus to say otherwise. Only her husband, deemed the 'ultimate magus' and 'God slaying wolf' was her superior in this regard, but even then to compare anyone to Naruto in any form was dumb given the circumstances behind his incredible power.
But in terms of sheer speed, Miki was found wanting even after all these years. Of all the ancient magi, she was perhaps the slowest, with even the usually stationary Takehiko having an advantage in this department. While she was certainly much faster than anyone in the current era could ever even dream of being, being capable of matching a lightning bolt, she still left much to be desired in this field.
Even Jaune had a speed advantage over her, having shown himself capable of at least keeping up with Surma, who had proven itself to be incredibly fast and agile.
This was something Jaune wasted no time in taking advantage of.
Rushing forward as well now, Jaune carefully watched Miki's arms, looking to see when she'd be about to swing. It wasn't until they were little more than ten yards away that Miki's left arm began to rise, Svafrlami at the ready.
And that was when Jaune made his move. With a war cry, Jaune swung Balmung at Svafrlami, hoping to smack the magical weapon right out of her hand.
But then to his surprise, Miki reacted. Whirling in a counterclockwise position, Miki's sword arm deftly avoided Jaune's strike and before the blond even knew, the brunette had reached out with her free right hand and grabbed him by the back of his head.
That was when Miki slammed him face-first into the ground. And what a slam it was; the entire area quaked violently and the cliffs off in the distance began to break apart from the force.
Miki had once again shown her physical superiority as she and Jaune now stood in the middle of a crater that was at least forty feet deep and with a diameter of nearly a hundred feet.
To his credit and also as testament to the Armor of Fafnir and his own natural resiliency, Jaune wasted no time in trying to get back up, but found himself unable to even budge Miki's arm at all, her right arm alone proving to be unmovable for his two hands, even when she'd flipped him over so that he now faced the sky.
"Remember that battles between two kenjutsu users won't always remain that way," Miki said firmly yet with an angelic smile, still keeping the boy pinned with just the one arm.
Jaune weakly chuckled. "Noted," he replied before suddenly grabbing her head and pulling it close. Taken off guard by the maneuver, Miki only barely managed to pull back before he could knee her in the side of her temple.
Once again, Miki seemed to just slide back with envious grace, the mark of a true master. Her brown hair flowed slightly in the wind as she did so, marring her stern expression a bit as Jaune got back up. Yet she was smiling inwardly.
While she'd been just as surprised as everyone else to see Jaune return as a magus, she was genuinely happy for him. It didn't take a genius to see that what had happened in Burgundy had really helped him progress from his previous mindset. And the results had certainly shown; his movements, while still far from perfect, were still much quicker and more precise than before, a sign of his boosted confidence.
But while she was happy to see him improve so much, he still had a lot to learn. It was clear to her that he was trying to overwhelm her with speed. Not exactly a bad tactic per say; she was more than aware of her lack of movement speed when compared to her husband and friends. But her attack speed and reflexes overall were still great enough to tag and block attacks from opponents much faster than her.
This was something that Jaune didn't seem to be fully catching onto just yet.
And what's more, she was more than just simply strong…
With a bit of a smirk, somewhat out of character from her usually modest and humble personality, Miki awaited Jaune's next move…
From the cliffs far away, Naruto used Da Capo Zero to restore the cliffs to one piece again, the one he and the others were standing on having nearly fallen apart on them.
"Wow…" Pyrrha muttered from somewhere down the line.
Aside from Naruto and Hanako, the other ancient magi along with teams RWBY and JNPR and even Ozpin and Glynda were here to observe the spar between Jaune and Miki. And so far, all of them were quite impressed.
"Go, Jaune!" Ruby exclaimed happily, jumping up and down for joy as she'd been watching.
"Mr. Arc has certainly progressed a lot since he first arrived here," Ozpin commented almost blandly, enjoying his coffee as always.
"Indeed… though his technique still could use some work," Glynda added, the normally strict looking blond sporting a bit of a small smile, evidently proud in seeing just how far one of her students had come.
From beside Glynda stood none other than Masami, the woman having managed to sneak out of work to come see this spar when Naruto had mention it to her a day or so ago. The ever so beautiful woman laughed lightly as she watched Jaune clearly contemplating his next move while Miki looked so very calm, even docile in comparison. "My oh my. The boy certainly has talent. To be expected, really, but even then…" She eyed Jaune with a somewhat unnaturally focused gaze. "He's made far more improvement than I'd been expecting…" The tone in which she spoke was enough to draw attention from Pyrrha, who now looked to the much older woman a little worried.
Yuko, having finally managed to take a paid vacation, could only nod in agreement with Masami, seemingly ignoring the somewhat lustful undertone of hers. "Hard to believe that he's the same young man I saw back when we had that meeting…" She then looked sheepish, rubbing her left elbow. "Though to be fair, it has been a long time since I've been here…"
Daisuke, standing near her, simply patted her shoulder. "Couldn't be helped though. Right, Yuko-chan… being a 'newbie' teacher must be hard." He smiled a bit. But like everyone else, his eyes were focused on the battle far away. "Still, you got a good point. He really your kid, Nami-yan?"
Naruto could only chuckle from where he stood. "Mhm…"
"To be expected, really," Ryuichi then commented. By his side, Mari simply hummed in agreement.
"Master and Miki are very proud!" Hanako said happily, turning to face Daisuke and everyone else as she said that.
At those words, Blake, ever the perceptive one, quirked an eyebrow. She had been watching the spar in silence alongside fellow usually silent friend Ren, but she couldn't help but dwell now on what was said. "'Your kid?' Don't you mean student?"
Ren nodded as well. "That's right. Jaune is your student after all. One of many students…"
At that, Hanako looked to Blake and Ren, her expression one of confusion. "Eh, you mean you guys can't tell?" she then asked.
"Can't tell what?" Weiss now spoke up.
"Remember how Miki told you about her and Master's descendants? How they're still alive even today?" Hanako began. Seeing teams RWBY and JNPR nod their heads, she smiled brightly and pointed to Jaune. "He's one of their descendants!"
All was quiet between the two teams for a moment. But then what Hanako just said was fully processed and they reacted as expected.
"WHAT!"
Naruto, finding himself the new focus of their collective gaze, scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "…Would've thought the shade of our hair and skin complexion would've given it away…" He closed his eyes for a moment before looking back down to where Jaune and Miki were still facing one another, his sheepish expression replaced with a much more focused one. "Close your mouths before something flies in and focus," he began in a firm yet not unkind voice. "They're about to continue."
Stupefied by what they'd just been told, teams RWBY and JNPR complied. They could only wonder what other surprises were in store for them…
With Jaune and Miki again, the two still faced one another, neither bothering to move an inch from where they stood. The former was still trying to figure out what his next move should be while the latter seemed content to just wait.
"…Alright then," Jaune suddenly whispered to himself. "Guess there's no other way around it."
With a grunt of exertion, he began to channel a good deal of mana into Balmung, making the blade pulse wildly as he reared the sword back.
In the short time they've been sparring, Miki has shown herself to be far out of his league with just simple physical strikes. And recalling the woman telling him to treat this as a serious fight, he now decided that perhaps his only option was to use Balmung to its fullest.
During this past week, the blond has come to learn quite a bit about his new predicament and how it ultimately differed from the ancient magi. For one thing, since he didn't awaken via an OOPart, he didn't have the benefit of the 'knowledge download' that magi had upon awakening. This made him oblivious to the origins of magi unlike others that have come into contact with and awakened through an OOPart's influence. For another thing, it's turned out that another function of an OOPart was to help the awakening magus properly regulate their newfound power so that they aren't harmed, which certainly explained his painful experience during his own awakening in Burgundy.
But most importantly, having awakened without an OOPart involved left him almost completely in the dark regarding his own magical weapon, save for what could be described as the bare minimum. He knew that the Armor of Fafnir negated a lot of the damage, but he hadn't known exactly how much until he tested the difference by letting himself get wailed on by Naruto during a training session just a few days ago, first without his armor and then with it on to personally feel the difference.
He also hadn't been fully aware of what Balmung could do either until just the other day as well. All he'd really known at the time of his awakening was that it was fully capable of killing Surma, but it hadn't been until Miki and Takehiko, both of whom use concept magic, talked with him after examining his magical weapon to determine its capabilities.
The way Balmung really worked was by altering concepts upon contact when activated. With it, he could change the very concept of something or someone from 'undamaged' to 'damaged' or vice versa. And this was merely the tip of the iceberg, he'd been told, but it'd be up to him to figure out for himself how else it could be used. And that hadn't even been taking into consideration the sheer amount of mana unleashed with a swing, Jaune had also been informed, which could only add to the damage he could potentially cause to targets.
And now here Jaune was, about to put said knowledge to use.
With Balmung, he'd use it to alter the very concept of Miki's well-being so that she'd be 'damaged.' And should that somehow fail, the mana unleashed from the swing ought to do the trick anyway.
This in mind, Jaune readied Balmung as it fully charged up. He was somewhat wary of the fact that even now, Miki remained unmoving, but he didn't let that fact hold him back.
So without any further time spent, Jaune swung his magical weapon. "Balmung!"
And there it now was, a crescent wave of sky blue mana traveling vertically towards Miki at four times the speed of lightning itself. So brilliant a sight it was that the target was somewhat mesmerized by it, having never seen such a pure quality to mana before aside from her husband.
But as quickly as the awe had set in, it left Miki and now the brunette's eyes hardened.
She took up a stance that had become so very familiar to her, shifting her feet back and turning her body to the left as she readied Svafrlami. For the briefest of microseconds, her entire body flashed with mana, her usually brown hair turning a brilliant white for an instant.
And then, she swung. "Tyrfing!"
Long, long ago, using Tyrfing would've been a foolhardy thing to do. Back when she'd first awakened, she'd only be able to use it three times before the strain destroyed her own magical weapon. But following the end of Ragnarok all those centuries ago, Miki had trained long and hard to figure out a way to overcome the strain.
And she'd succeeded.
It turned out that she was overexerting herself every time she used Tyrfing, using up so much mana every time that she herself was overloading her magical weapon. So to this end, she'd forced herself to better control the amount of mana she used, trying to regulate and fine tune her control so that the strain placed on Svafrlami would be reduced. It had been a most frustrating training process, one that would've ended in complete failure long ago if Naruto's Da Capo Zero hadn't shown itself capable of reverting the strain to nothing every time she messed up.
But ultimately… she'd managed to achieve her goal. Now whenever she used Tyrfing, there was no longer any strain at all, meaning she was free to use said ability until she herself no longer had the mana to pull it off.
And all these centuries of training showed as she swung her blade.
A light so breathtakingly beautiful was unleashed as she swung Svafrlami, blinding everyone with its brilliance as it traveled at an even greater speed than Balmung's attack.
The two waves of mana met and immediately clashed with one another, doing so with such jaw dropping force that the very ground tore itself apart in the process, the cliffs breaking into pieces with every passing second.
The clash seemed to last for minutes in Jaune's eyes, but the reality was far different; indeed, the clash had only last half of a nanosecond and the victor was painfully obvious.
For while Balmung was certainly a powerful magical weapon with an equally powerful ability to manipulate concepts to its wielder's desire, that was ultimately all it was capable of. Miki's Svafrlami on the other hand focused solely on the outright 'severing' of concepts and therefore was superior to Balmung, not simply in 'concept cutting,' but in sheer destructive power as well, a fact that would've still been true even if Jaune had been facing off against Miki from the time of Ragnarok and a fact that will remain forever more.
In fewer words, Svafrlami was one magical weapon that Balmung will always be weak against.
Jaune could only let out a slight whimper of the pain to come as Miki's Tyrfing effortlessly canceled out Balmung before the wave of mana quickly traveled towards him before he could even take a step.
Tyrfing struck him hard and even with the Armor of Fafnir, it took all he had to keep himself from briefly falling unconscious as he was blasted back.
And as he went flying back, he couldn't help but smile almost deliriously. It was clear that he still had a long way to go before he could reach the ancient magi's level of power.
But even then, as a magus himself now, he looked forward to the challenge ahead.
This was the last thought he had before finally landing, the spar now coming to an end.
Elsewhere, Vidar actually grumbled as he awaited his Holy Knights within the main quad area of their base.
Already there were Kalma, Morgan, Lugh, and Indra. Heracles would still be busy working with the White Fang on something to gain their trust again, but it was now expected to have them serving as extra manpower in due time, according to a recent message from the first seat that the captain had received as of four days ago.
So now, he and the Holy Knights already gathered were simply waiting for Cinder and Mercury to return. And Vidar was most eager to hear from his young apprentice, almost praying for some good news.
When Kalma had returned only days ago and had informed him and the others of the events that had taken place in Burgundy, Vidar had nearly lost his temper. The ancient magi having forced them to relocate was one thing. The death of Apophis had been another thing. But now the very descendant of Fenrir himself awakening as a magus? That had almost been a breaking point. Given how powerful Fenrir and his wife Brynhildr are, it was to be expected that any of their descendants with innate magical abilities would have a great deal of power and potential themselves. And hearing what Kalma told him of the battle between Surma and Jaune, it was clear that this fact held true, much to his chagrin.
"At least we have a descendant of his on our side…" Surtur said to Vidar.
Vidar allowed himself a grunt in response. As much as Surtur had been grating his nerves recently, that was certainly true.
Although Morgan – Celine Arc – had been born without any latent magical abilities like her brother, that hadn't made her any less powerful or talented in her own. Why, Vidar could almost remember it as if it were yesterday when he'd first begun to look into Celine's history, seeing what she's accomplished with her life up until when they'd actually met. He was more than certain that if she'd gone on to live a life unaware of magi, she'd go on to do great things. And as Holy Knight, she was one of his most powerful followers, in some ways even more powerful than even Heracles depending on circumstances.
Yes, she'd make for an excellent counterbalance against her brother, but alas it was clear as day to all that she was quite torn up about what Kalma has told them all about Burgundy. Vidar could no longer be sure if she'd be as willing as before to battle against the ancient magi with her brother now involved for good.
But alas that was a matter he'd have to discuss with her later after Cinder returns, which should be quite soon if her message earlier today was completely accurate.
Little did he know, his Holy Knights were subtly observing him and almost nervously so. They'd never seen him so worked up before.
"Has he ever been this angry before?" Indra whispered to Morgan, who sat nearby. The seventh seat couldn't help but feel almost unnerved by Vidar's clearly angry posture. Even though the captain still wore his usual mask, Indra was honestly surprised that the mask hadn't been immediately destroyed just from the sheer amount of anger that the captain was literally radiating.
Morgan shook her head softly. "No… this is a first," she replied in just as quiet a voice. She herself wasn't looking particularly happy. To have witnessed Jaune's awakening through her Relic was one thing, but to then personally hear Kalma's report on the matter had been something else, like some strange kind of vertigo in a way, confirming that this was indeed real. As a result, it had left her in a marginally dour mood.
This was something that Indra also picked up on, sparing the third seat an uneasy glance. Upon seeing the sullen expression on Morgan's face, the seventh seat opted to avoid making any comment and instead looked over at Kalma.
If Vidar looked angry and Morgan looked sullen, then Kalma looked like she was depressed and on the verge of having a breakdown. Incidentally, Indra knew why this was so. Having checked in on her as soon as she'd returned a few days ago, he'd been quick to gently coax the girl into telling him what was clearly bothering her so much.
Needless to say, he'd been more than a little surprised to learn of the friendship his 'little sister figure' had struck up with Jaune of all people in such a short time frame. And right after she'd made a verbal report before the captain and the rest of them, Indra had immediately figured out why she'd been looking so much gloomier than usual. Clearly Morgan's brother had made quite the impact on Kalma if she was this broken up over the fact that he was now one of their genuine enemies. That he'd nearly killed Surma and that Surma had nearly killed him too prior to his awakening most likely hadn't helped her one bit.
Surmising it might not be the best idea to approach Kalma just yet, Indra decided to look to his fellow male Holy Knight to see what he was doing. And as he did so, Indra honestly wasn't too surprised to see Lugh stoically alternating his gaze between the three upset individuals. If he too was feeling troubled then Indra couldn't tell at all, Lugh's expression giving nothing away.
"Knock Knock…" a familiar voice drawled out.
As if answering Indra' then unspoken prayer to end the silence, Mercury all but waltzed right into the quad area with Cinder following close behind him. It was pretty obvious by how childish the young man was acting that he'd been more than a little bored on their mission.
Cinder in turn simply looked happy to be back. "We've returned, master."
Vidar nodded and now stood. "Good. And…?" He motioned for her to make her report.
With a bit of a sigh, Cinder began. "As far as the machinations of Ironwood's little prison are concerned, they're merely troublesome, but nothing that can be truly dangerous to any of us. However… whatever the ancient magi did to serve as extra security to keep those three in might be a little too much to deal with at the drop of a hat."
She then proceeded to spend the next hour telling them all of absolutely everything she and Mercury had extensively studied during their time in Atlas. Everything from the patrol routes in and around the prison to every security measure and protocol that James Ironwood had put in place to the exact mechanics she'd been able to gleam from the measures the ancient magi had taken to keep Roman, Neo, and Adam confined.
"So as far as the prison itself goes, the security measures in place are as we'd expect, but the ancient magi's actions…" Vidar muttered.
From what Cinder just told them all, it seems that the ancient magi have sealed the collective cell of Roman, Neo, and Adam within a space separate from this world yet was still visible, if only to keep any of the guards passing by it from freaking out at seeing an 'empty' space. Furthermore, this separate space was being protected by a powerful barrier that seemed to contain the energies of a few of the magi.
No doubt it was Fenrir who'd erected the barrier in question and the energies it was made up of would indicate that some of his fellow magi had placed some of their mana into it. So chances are if someone or something tried to destroy the barrier, those very same energies would be unleashed, most likely in the form of magical attacks that the ancient magi had contributed to the barrier use. And as for the separate space, it wouldn't surprise Vidar at all if perhaps Loki had also lent some power to it to further ensure things. That ancient magus in particular had always had a thing for creating new dimensions and the like after all.
"…I take it you remember all of the details concerning patrol routes? Camera positions? So on?" Vidar asked his apprentice, wanting to reconfirm.
Cinder chuckled and she closed her eyes. When she opened them up again a moment later, they'd changed. The sclera had become red and now three tomoes surrounded the pupils. "With the eyes of my ancestors, there's nothing I can forget with them active."
Cinder had been chosen to be Vidar's apprentice for more than just her natural abilities and later talent as a Holy Knight; just as Morgan and her brother were descended from Fenrir and Brynhildr, Cinder was descended from none other than Sasuke Uchiha, someone said to have been a friend of Fenrir's long since deceased sister.
Vidar almost allowed himself a chuckle, his bad mood now gone. "Very well then. Draw up a map of the facility and let me know when it's done."
"Of course. Just who do you plan to send?" Cinder then replied, motioning to her fellow Holy Knights. She made a point to ignore Mercury, who simply sat at a nearby table, looking bored.
"I'll go myself," Vidar said, much to the surprise of everyone. "My experiments have come a long way and by sometime next week, I believe it'll finally be ready. As such, I think I can finally afford to personally attend to things…"
He opened and closed both hands as he spoke, as if to grasp something that wasn't there just yet. The action was nearly enough to make the Holy Knights feel a tad bit excited. The captain mainly focused on his experiments and leading them from afar up until now.
Cinder smiled genuinely as she deactivated her Sharingan. "As you wish." She then bowed and excused herself, off to get a start on the map.
"And what about the rest of us?" Lugh then asked, speaking up for the first time today.
Vidar looked to the fifth seat as he stood. "For now, simply continue to further hone your skills. Just be ready to move… because once I break our three little helpers out and personally debrief them, we'll finally be engaging the ancient magi in full."
At that, everyone's eyes went wide. "You mean to say…" Morgan began. "That we'll no longer be simply waiting around for more opportunities to take them out one by one?"
Mercury now made himself known. "Sounds kind of like a bad move if you ask me." He grimaced as he remembered hearing about the death of Emerald. He may not have been particularly close with the thief, but it still had shocked him quite a bit when he'd heard she'd been killed by one of the ancient magi. From what he was told, two ancient magi had worked together for all of just a second to do her in. If they could so casually kill a pseudo-magi with just the minor efforts of two individuals, then he couldn't even fathom how bad things could be trying to fight more than two ancient magi.
"Maybe so, but now… things will be different," Vidar replied. He slowly began to pace around the room. "In the span of just one night, the ancient magi had certainly forced us to retreat. We may not have been fighting at our fullest – not using Robotics Space, the boosters, etc. – but neither were they. However, while the ancient magi's little students may be pseudo-magi now and Fenrir's descendant has awakened, things could still swing in our favor."
"Oh yeah? How so?" Mercury barked out, earning him a bit of a glare from Indra, a worried look from Kalma, and a calm yet questioning gaze from Lugh. Only Morgan remained focused on Vidar, though she did flinch a bit at the mention of her brother.
"My efforts after all this time have finally paid off," Vidar replied, resulting in the grey haired man quirking an eyebrow in response. "My experiments, which have spanned many years of research prior to actual experimentation, have finally yielded most favorable results that will grant me a great boost in power… potentially enough to even challenge Fenrir himself."
"Will it really?" Kalma asked, almost in disbelief as she looked back to her captain. Like the others, she'd been aware of Vidar's research and experiments, but never would've anticipated it to have such a possible result.
"It could…" Vidar trailed off. "Admittedly, mixing Dust with biju chakra on both a chemical and even conceptual level via magic had been an arduous task, one almost impossible. But I've finally gotten the mixture down. I simply have to refine it a bit more before it's fully ready for injection for myself."
There it was, his research now revealed.
For ages, he'd spent a great deal of that time pondering how best to fight Fenrir. And at the end of his contemplation, he'd come to a very simple conclusion: it was impossible to fight him at all. At least, when trying to dwell on fighting him as a 'normal' magus. To that end, Vidar had invested several years into enhancing himself even further with biotechnology, ultimately leaving himself physically unchanged, yet with his power increased considerably.
But even then, it wouldn't have been enough. He'd never been much of a fighter, at least not innately, and so while the power boost would've been enough for him to fell most individuals, going against Fenrir on even remotely even footing was still a pipe dream.
That had been when he'd started to look into other ways to increase his personal power. In such a quest, he'd come to stumble across unique objects of considerable power – the Relics that the Holy Knights now have. He'd studied them in detail long ago and found it impossible to 'link' himself to any of them – for some reason he could never truly discern, they were incompatible with natural born magi – but had discovered that these Relics could be bonded to other people, born without any innate magical abilities. This is what sparked his desire to create his own 'Holy Knights' in the first place, having done his best to alter people in such ways that the Relics could be bonded to them while also making said people in pseudo-magi.
Incidentally, it had been around the time of the fourth Shinobi War that he'd found another means of increasing his own might for the sake of advancing the world – the Gedo Mazo statue that the culprits of the war had used to their advantage. Following the end of the war, Vidar had gone to great lengths to obtain the Gedo Mazo out from under the noses of everyone. It hadn't been a very hard task to accomplish for virtually everyone had assumed the statue to be rendered completely inert following the defeat of its summoner and therefore useless.
Then obtaining the statue, Vidar had been most pleased to discover it'd had traces of chakra from all nine of the biju, thanks to its summoner having very nearly succeeded in extracting all of the biju from their hosts. While the amount of chakra found within it had been all but microscopic in comparison to the bijus themselves, it'd been enough for Vidar to extract it and isolate it in a sort of makeshift container for further study.
But even then, that had only been the beginning. Having been around even long before the Fourth Shinobi War came about, the captain had been more than aware of the sort of nasty effects biju chakra can have on people that weren't jinchuriki. And while there'd never been a case of a magus trying to take in a biju's chakra to boost their own power, Vidar had been too uncertain about the risk at the time to follow through on it. So to that end, he'd dedicated a great many years to meticulously studying the chakra he'd obtained and run simple tests to see if it'd be compatible with magi. To his disappointment at the time, it'd turned out that the chakra, made from all nine of the biju no less, would have just as a big a horrific effect on magi as it would on any other non-jinchurikis.
Not daring to risk anything, he'd spent centuries testing all out kinds of different things to determine if it'd not only be possible to make the biju chakra harmless to magi when infused but even more potent.
And when the shinobi age ended and the era of Remnant began, he'd been rewarded with his patience: Dust. When the substance had first been discovered, he'd wasted no time in obtaining some to personally examine. And he'd been most pleased indeed upon discerning each and every little property Dust could have.
Many people today assumed Dust to merely be a type of crystal or powder that could violently generate fire or ice or lightning when used, discharging incredible amounts of energy in the process. But it also turned out to have the unique property of being able to absorb, store, and later 'mold to' other forms of energies.
Vidar had wasted no time in testing this out with meager amounts of the biju chakra in his possession. Results had been mixed. On the one hand, Dust could indeed store the chakra and to an extent even purify it, rendering less harmful to living beings. On the other hand, biju chakra was simply too intense an energy source for some Dust crystals to withstand for long, ultimately imploding.
So to this end, Vidar had invested in finding out to perfectly mix the two things via both science and magic. It'd been a most trying thing to do during the years; whether Dust came in crystal or powder form had some degree of effect upon the results as did purity levels of the Dust and how much of the biju chakra – which he'd since then learned to use only bits of while the main source regenerated itself – was forced into it.
But now… now, after so many years, he's finally succeeded in mixing the two perfectly. Having wasted no time in turning the mixture into a sort of liquid form, all that could be done now was to triple and quadruple check things and maybe even see if anything more can be done to increase its potency.
But that was something Vidar wasn't worried about too much now; he was simply content to know that this mixture was no harmless to magi.
The only downside was that this mixture was harmless only to magi now. So many years of specifically tuning things to his use, it hadn't been until recently that he'd realized he'd neglected to see if it'd be possible to somewhat adjust it so that it could be used on his Holy Knights too.
Alas, the time to dwell on this had long since passed. Now that the ancient magi were much more active and had gained powerful new allies in the form of those Beacon kids, Vidar couldn't afford to waste any more time dragging things out.
"Only yourself, huh?"
Vidar was snapped out of his thoughts when Mercury spoke again. The man in question grimaced. "So then what about the rest of us? Cause we sure could use a 'wonder-drug' to help us out against these guys."
Then Morgan spoke up in defense of Vidar. "No need to get so upset," she said to Mercury. "We Holy Knights knew from the beginning that it'd be like this. And that's perfectly fine. Out of everyone in this room, the captain is the only one of us who could potentially match Fenrir anyways, if only in terms of combat experience. While our own abilities are quite powerful, the fact that Apophis was killed not by Fenrir, but rather by Thor, shows that I and Heracles might not even be enough to match the man anyway."
Morgan then took a moment to take a breath and fold her arms under her breasts. "That aside, to call the mixture a 'wonder-drug' is wrong; unlike drugs which eventually wear of, this mixture will permanently boost the captain's abilities. And thanks to the fact that it was made through a combination of both technology and magic, there is a reasonable chance it could endure even Fenrir's Da Capo Zero ability." She paused. "Technically, anyway…"
Vidar nodded in thanks to the third seat. "True enough. Fenrir's Da Capo Zero is truly an end-all ability. There is no way whatsoever for anything to endure it. But I've had some help in making a few 'countermeasures.' That all said, did Morgan sufficiently answer your question?"
All eyes turned to Mercury, who simply grumbled then fell silent.
"But even then…" Indra now spoke. "Will it really be enough to fight Fenrir?"
"Perhaps. Perhaps not. But in the case of the latter, I do have at least one other 'back-up,'" Vidar replied.
"You mean me," Surtur then whispered.
"Of course…" Vidar replied internally.
To the Holy Knights (and Mercury), Vidar said, "Now… is that it?" When no one else spoke, Vidar motioned with his hand towards the nearest door. "Then that is all for now. Just remember to continue preparing yourselves however you can. Dismissed."
Slowly, the Holy Knights gathered filed out in silence leaving Vidar behind all by himself.
At least, in a physical sense.
"I know you're still there, Surtur," Vidar drawled out, now speaking aloud.
"Well, I got to hand it to you; you really pulled it off," the man in question muttered back. "Very impressive. But we both know that even then it most likely won't be enough to win this."
"Of course… but that's why I'll be relying on you now," Vidar replied. "I know that our comradery had had its ups and downs since long ago… but from now on, we're going to need to rely on each other to pull this off for the sake of our goal."
"Your goal," Surtur replied immediately. "You know me; I'm perfectly fine with just burning shit to ashes every now and then."
Vidar sighed, but not necessarily out of annoyance. "You haven't changed at all since the Fimbulvinter War, you know that?"
"I'd like to think that I've settled down quite a bit. Which is to be expected really since, you know, I kind of 'died' for a while…" Surtur grumbled out.
Vidar snorted. "Maybe so."
What Surtur just said was not mere hyperbole. For a time, he really did die, physically at least, at the end of the Fimbulvinter War. It was only thanks to one of his magical abilities that he still remained alive in a sense and was still around even today in a sort of inert spiritual form.
Vidar now turned to leave the room, but not before pausing for a moment as he reached the door. "Regardless of whether or not you support my goal though, we're going need to work together if we're to stand a chance against Fenrir. Can we agree on that much at least?"
Surtur sighed. "You know my answer to that already, you uptight shithead. We're in it until the end, as was agreed upon when you chose to keep my soul around within you. Now beat to it; you still got things to do, prick."
Vidar chuckled at Surtur's words as he now left the room.
His comrade was right; there still was much to prepare before the final battle could truly begin.
A battle that he intended to win no matter what the cost was.
As always, just what do you think, everyone? Please let me know! A handful of bombshells dropped in this chapter alone, but plenty more still remain in waiting so look forward to it.
Until next time, everyone. Take care!