Disclaimer, I do not own RWBY or any of the franchises referenced in this work
Chapter 25: Standoff
Inspiration: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Stardust Crusaders
"Welcome back, the next viewing is ready. Once again, I will be having Jaune Arc step out of the theatre. There isn't much for you either General Ironwood, Specialist Schnee, you're free to step out as well." Blank said.
"Very well then. I would very much appreciate a closer look at some of the weapons, they would go a long way to improving our efforts to fight against the Grimm." Ironwood said and rose to his feet.
"I shall step out as well, until later Weiss." Winter gave her sister a nod before dusting herself off and waiting for them to be transported away.
"Huh, okay then. Bye guys." Jaune waved goodbye to his friends as he got to his feet. After giving Pyrrha and Yang a kiss each, there was a flash of light and they were gone.
"So, what's on this time?" Qrow asked.
"The continuation of a world some of you have seen before, specifically, the one with Stands." Blank said.
"Yes! It's about time!" Yang cheered, eager to see more of the bizarre world of Stands and the completely fearless Jaune.
"Stands? Why do I get the feeling that word doesn't mean what I think it does in this context?" Emerald asked.
"Stands are superpowers, similar to semblances but quite distinct at the same time." Blank answered.
"Yeah… just no more soul stealing please." Roman said before falling silent as the screen came to life.
"There he is, get closer to them, even closer. If I'm not close enough, I can't use The World." Tyrian reclined in his seat as his car started to catch up with the truck in front. The corrupt senator he'd pressed into service on pain of death continued laughing and babbling nonsensically as he floored the accelerator.
"Even in another world, he's still as repulsive as ever." Cinder snorted and turned up her nose at the scorpion faunus.
"He's getting closer… it's that car behind us, Tyrian is in there." Ozpin said, glancing at the blood splattered car gaining on them in the rear-view mirror.
Pyrrha nodded and immediately summoned Hierophant Green and sent it to attack. The emerald Stand shot towards Tyrian's vehicle and immediately moved to attack once it had visual confirmation of the monster's presence.
"Take this Tyrian, Emerald Splash!" Pyrrha roared and had her stand fire a barrage of emeralds at Tyrian, aiming to perforate him for an instant finish.
"Hmmph." Unperturbed by the sudden attack, Tyrian's easily picked out the incoming emeralds with his enhanced senses and flicked his finger once, sending an emerald bullet flying towards the others. It kicked off a chain of ricochets, deflecting the entire barrage and sending the emeralds through the door instead, leaving Tyrian completely unharmed without him having to dodge once.
"Woah… that… was that the power of Tyrian's stand?" Roman asked.
"No. That's just his own ability." Blank said.
"That's insane, and that's without aura?" Roman shook his head in complete disbelief over Tyrian's display of power.
"That's because he's not human." Blank followed up.
"Yes, we noticed the scorpion tail. He's clearly a faunus." Mercury rolled his eyes at the obvious.
"Not anymore. He's a vampire now." Blank said.
"He's a what?" Cinder stared at Blank, not believing her ears.
"A vampire. In search of power and immortality, he threw away his old faunus self to become a vampire. That and he stole this universe's Ozma's body."
Ozpin started choking on his drink as his coffee went down the wrong pipe. "He… ack… stole what!?"
"Yep. Ozma is the grandfather of this universe's Ozpin, he sacrificed himself to kill Tyrian in the past, but it didn't stick. Tyrian came back eventually after taking over Ozma's corpse by attaching his head to Ozma's body to rebuild himself stronger than before."
"That's disgusting." Cinder summed up the thoughts of the audience with those two words.
"W-what!? He didn't even have to move from his seat! And he still managed to evade the attack!?" Pyrrha sputtered in surprise as Tyrian no-selled her attack completely.
"Kuh! How about this!" Pyrrha fired off another Emerald Splash, this time, a more concentrated burst of emeralds to avoid Tyrian's ricochet trick.
Once more it didn't work. Tyrian merely smirked and flicked all his fingers outwards, knocking away the entire barrage and sending it through the roof of the car.
"No way, even when I concentrated the attack, he still managed to block it!?" Pyrrha cursed as Hierophant Green failed again, that anger and frustration transformed into shock when a humanoid in gold armour appeared inches away from her stand out of nowhere.
"What!? When did he release his Stand? How did I not notice!?" Pyrrha hastily brought Hierophant Green's arms up to block The World's punch. The force of the blow sent her Stand rocketing backwards, crashing through several lampposts and flying back towards Ozpin's truck.
"Hmm… she was still a bit too far away, it went flying out of The World's range." Tyrian scowled at being unable to finish of Pyrrha with that hit. Wiping away the scowl as he instructed the senator to continue driving, he smirked as Ozpin's truck drew nearer and nearer, he'd waited over a century for his revenge at the bottom of the ocean, he could wait a few more minutes.
"…Is he truly immortal? A century at the bottom of the ocean?" Taiyang asked.
"He is ageless and very hard to kill, but fortunately, not a true immortal." Blank said.
"Good, so they don't have to deal with another Salem then." Ozpin said.
"That is… debatable. He fills the same role in this world since the Salem of this world never went evil thanks to Tyrian contributing to both Ozma and her own deaths. He doesn't have your world's Salem's total immortality but he has other abilities that make him a far more terrifying opponent." Blank replied.
"Tyrian… killed Salem? That is all kinds of wrong." Cinder murmured, unable to reconcile the fanatic who worshipped Salem as a goddess and a Tyrian that actually killed a version of Salem.
"Heh, hard to kill just means he's in for a bigger ass kicking." Yang said, punching a fist into her palm in anticipation of the inevitable beatdown.
"Correct." Blank affirmed.
"Be careful Pyrrha, you got too close to him." Ozpin chided as Pyrrha started breathing hard from the damage Tyrian inflicted.
"I'm sorry. I couldn't help it." Pyrrha said as blood started flowing from several wounds that opened up on her.
"When did Pyrrha get injured?" Nora stared at the screen in concern.
"…I'm guessing whatever damage a Stand takes is transferred to its user?" Ren asked.
"Indeed. Stands give their users incredible abilities, but they also present a major weakness at the same time." Blank said.
"Oh. That's not good." Ruby said quietly.
"Did you see it? The World?" Ozpin asked.
"Yes, I attacked from around ten metres away. If I'd been any closer, I'd have been done for. It's obvious his Stand has some kind of secret to it, I didn't even see him deploy. But I've managed to figure out two things, one, it can't attack over distance like Hierophant Green or Hermit Purple. It's a close-range power type like Star Platinum with a range of about ten metres." Pyrrha said as she struggled to regain her breath from the beating her Stand took.
"Second, it attacked with its fists, that means it doesn't have a range attack like bullets or anything. If we can get within ten metres of Tyrian without him noticing, we might have a chance of beating him."
"Woah, to figure out all that from a single exchange? Guess P-money is P-money no matter what world it is." Yang said with a shrug.
"We'll have to investigate carefully, there's no such thing as being too cautious when it comes to him." Ozpin said before looking back to the rear-view mirror. Tyrian's car had abruptly crashed for no reason and there was no sign of pursuit.
"That's… odd… his car is stopped."
Pyrrha looked back as well to try and get a better look at what the rear-view mirror couldn't show. Her eyes widened as a shadow fell over them and she spotted the corpse of the senator flying straight towards them. "Look out! Something's flying right at us!"
Her warning came too late, the body crashed through the hood and impeded Ozpin's driving, sending the truck careening into a nearby building and exploding into flames.
Tyrian grinned as he approached the destroyed vehicle, the senator was so much more effective as a bullet than as a driver, he should have done it from the start. But hindsight is 20-20, the immortal vampire ripped off the door of the battered truck and stared into it, finding only the useless corpse inside, his prey had escaped at the last moment evidently. Looking up to the roofs, he noticed Pyrrha and Ozpin being winched up by their stands.
"Hmmph." Prey was always more interesting when they tried to run.
"That's… he just murdered his own driver?" Weiss was no stranger to being accused of coldly disregarding those who worked for her family but this was on a different level entirely.
"He sees himself as the one individual fit to stand at the top of the world. All other humans and faunus in it are nothing more than tools to serve his will, to him, being a tool is the highest honour anyone can ever achieve." Blank said.
"He clearly has the power to back it up." Cinder said, unhappy with having to concede the insane scorpion had any kind of point, but the Tyrian on screen was clearly beyond anything her own could do.
"Tch, of course you wouldn't see anything wrong with that. Newsflash bitch, keep treating everyone like tools and you'll find that we tend to fail when you need us the most." Roman sneered at Cinder while Neo again pantomimed running a knife across her throat.
Ozpin was about to continue their escape when he noticed Pyrrha had stopped. "What are you doing? We need to get moving before he catches up to us."
"I've got a plan to reveal what Tyrian's stand truly is." Pyrrha breathed in deeply and got to work with Hierophant Green, setting up a kill box that would hopefully put the monster down or failing that force him to reveal his secrets.
As she set up the nigh invisible wires to form a barrier, Pyrrha stared at her stand, the ever-present loyal shadow that never left her side since she was a child. For years, she never could form any kind of meaningful relationships with others since no one could see Hierophant Green.
Then she met them, Jaune, Ozpin, Weiss, Yatsuhashi… the past couple of weeks were the best in her life. Despite the danger lurking at every turn, she wouldn't trade it in for anything. They'd given her empty isolated existence meaning and now it was her turn to repay that kindness by helping to bring down Tyrian once and for all.
"I'm… not surviving this am I?" Pyrrha asked.
"This version of you, no." Blank said.
Pyrrha sighed before shaking the negativity off, she was starting to see a trend and it was a little morbid that she was getting more and more sued to seeing worlds where she didn't make it. The invincible girl took it in stride and offered Nora and Ren a small smile when she noticed their worried looks.
"Ho? Only Nikos and Ozpin… they must have split up for a pincer then. So Jaune and Weiss must be coming to ambush me from behind." Tyrian grinned, if they were planning a pincer attack that meant that he wouldn't have to hunt them down one at a time like rats after all.
He was jolted out of his thoughts as soon as he landed on a roof, there was a slight almost imperceptible pressure on his foot before landing. The next thing he knew, an Emerald Splash was shooting right for his face out of nowhere.
"Hmmph!" Unconcerned, the vampire deflected the emeralds with his arms and leapt into the air. Once again, there was a slight pressure as he moved, this time at the back of his shoulder. Another volley of emeralds fired his way and he again deflected them all.
"Nikos's Hierophant. Hmmph!" Tyrian grumbled as he continued to dodge mid-air and deflect the emeralds that constantly fired at him without any set pattern or tell.
"Hierophant's barrier… it's… this is…" Tyrian's eyes widened as he kicked away a volley of emeralds. The threads were too thin, completely invisible even to his vampire senses, but when he used The World to amplify his senses, he could see the threads clear as day. They formed a wire cage surrounding him in all directions, restricting his movements by ensuring he would be met with emeralds no matter which way he moved.
"So you see it, that's right, it's Hierophant's barrier that activates as soon as its touched. It surrounds you in all direction for twenty metres, you're not escaping this." Pyrrha said.
"Take this Tyrian, a twenty metre Emerald Splash!" Pyrrha roared and manually fired off emeralds from every thread, all aimed towards Tyrian in an omnidirectional attack.
"How foolish. Now you will know The World's true power is indeed the power to reign over this world! THE WORLD!" Tyrian yelled as he activated his Stand.
Pyrrha's eyes focused on her target, trying to use both her sight and Hierophant Green's senses to pinpoint Tyrian's actions, to figure out the secret of his stand. Right as the emeralds hit their target, Tyrian vanished and Pyrrha's world exploded in a white flash of pain.
The entire barrier had been ripped apart instantaneously and a massive force sent her rocketing backwards. Crashing into a water tower several blocks away hard enough to rupture the thing, Pyrrha coughed as her vision started fading, the fist sized hole in her chest a fatal wound.
"What was that? That wasn't super speed." Ruby said, staring at the screen with wide eyes.
"He just disappeared, how? There was nowhere for him to dodge." Roman chimed in.
"That is the power of his stand." Blank said.
"W-what was that? Did he get me?" Pyrrha stared at the vampire in the distance, too weak to even move her fingers now. She turned to stare at the nearby clocktower, wondering if her parents were currently asleep and mentally apologising to them for everything she put them through and her one final failure.
'I can sense the movements of anyone who touches Hierophant's barrier but he ripped apart the entire thing at the same time… how? Why wasn't it done strand by strand?' Pyrrha's thoughts shifted away from her parents as he tried to figure out the puzzle before her.
'There wasn't even a millisecond of delay between strand, all of it cut at the same time. How could he have hit them all at the same time? The World is a close range stand it's impossible for it to cut them all at the same… time… time… no.' Pyrrha's attention returned to the clocktower as she figured out the terrifying ability of The World at last.
'What an absurd ability. Have to… get the truth… to Ozpin, otherwise… everyone's going to be defeated.' Pyrrha looked towards Ozpin, the old man facing off against Tyrian and keeping him distracted.
Mustering the last of her strength, Pyrrha coughed once before firing off one last attack with her stand, destroying one of the clockfaces. "That's… my last Emerald Splash… it's all… I can do now… Ozpin… please… understand the message…"
Pyrrha's eyes closed as the light in them faded forever.
"I don't get it, what kind of a message is that supposed to be?" Emerald asked.
"Hmm… I see… that's a troublesome ability alright." Ozpin murmured.
"You know what The World's power is Oz?" Qrow asked.
"I have a hunch. We'll see if it's correct." Ozpin replied.
"Pyrrha… no… Tyrian!" Ozpin fired off a purple tendril with his Stand and wrapped it around Tyrian before channelling his Hamon through it, trying to fry the vampire with the power of the sun.
The scorpion simply laughed and tore his way free with The World before the sun's energy could reach him. "Hahahah! Your stand is the weakest of them all Ozpin, you're next!"
"Kuh!" Seeing the disadvantage, Ozpin switched strategies and began retreating from Tyrian, using Hermit Purple to pull himself from roof to roof while Tyrian flew after him in pursuit.
'Why shoot the clock face? What kind of message were you trying to get across? Did you figure it out? The secret of Tyrian's Stand?' Ozpin glanced back at his pursuer momentarily before returning his attention to the buildings in front.
'She shot the clock face, destroyed the clock's hands… why? Why stop the clock? Stop… the… clock? No… impossible, such a thing… could it be?' Ozpin shook his head before halting his flight to face Tyrian.
"The World's power is to stop time!?"
"As I thought." Ozpin sipped from his mug as his counterpart came to the same conclusion he did.
"He can stop time for everything but himself, that's how he was able to rip apart the barrier instantly."
"If he can stop time, then why didn't he just use it during the car chase?" Blake asked.
"There's probably a maximum range where he can affect things or a limit to how long he can pause time." Ozpin said.
"But still, how's anyone supposed to fight that? It's unfair!" Yang protested.
"Coincidence of the highest order and genetics." Blank answered to the confusion of his audience.
Several minutes ago.
"THE WORLD!" The world flickered into negative colours for a brief instant as Tyrian activated his Stand. All around him, the emerald bullets bearing down on him had frozen mid air and not a single sound could be heard in the world of stopped time.
Using his Stand to clear the way forwards, Tyrian swept aside the emeralds in his path and sliced apart the threads blocking his way. Ending up at the still form of Pyrrha Nikos, he smirked and looked down upon the doomed woman. "This is The World. But since time has stopped for you, you can neither see nor feel him."
The World raised an armoured fist as Tyrian's mad grin widened. "Die here Nikos."
The fist punched forwards and went straight through Pyrrha's form instantly, dealing a fatal blow without anyone capable of even seeing it let alone interfering.
"You don't even realise you've been killed. There's no way for you to even know what has happened." Tyrian stared at the non-responsive face of his latest kill before turning away. One down, three to go.
"Time has started to move again."
Pyrrha's fatally wounded form went flying into the water tower.
"Ice cold." Mercury shrugged, on the one hand he could appreciate the cold efficiency, on the other, something about Tyrian just rubbed him the wrong way.
"Grrr… Jaune-Jaune's gonna kick his ass right?" Nora asked.
"Indeed. In a very satisfying manner too." Blank confirmed.
Ozpin blinked in surprise when Tyrian suddenly vanished from sight. The next instant, he felt the menacing presence right behind him.
Spinning around, he was met with the sight of one of The World's fists bearing down on his face. But Tyrian pulled the punch, not allowing it to land. Ozpin bit back a curse before leaping away to put some distance between them.
"Heh, what's wrong? Not going to hit me Tyrian? Weren't you going to take my blood?" Ozpin taunted, trying to get Tyrian to try again.
The vampire hung back, unamused with the old man's antics. "You've suffused your body with Hamon to guard yourself, Hermit Purple, infused with Hamon… it's like a high voltage wire wrapped around your body isn't it? You're quite the schemer, cunning old geezer."
"Tch, I could say the same about you." Ozpin growled as his plan to bait Tyrian into a suicide attack failed. If The World had landed the punch, the Hamon stored inside Hermit Purple would have activated immediately and hurt if not kill the vampire.
"You realised I was using Hamon and made sure not to touch me, how attentive of you. But I've figured you out, you can stop time with The World can't you? But you can only do it for a short period… about three to four seconds, otherwise you'd have finished us off inside the mansion."
But contrary to what Ozpin might have expected, Tyrian barely reacted, an unimpressed expression on his face. "So, you figured out The World have you? Hah. I'll give you some praise for that, but so what?"
"It was Pyrrha who figured it out, I won't let her death be in vain." Ozpin swore.
"And I'm asking you, so what?" Tyrian's mad grin had returned.
"What good does understanding my Stand's power do for you? What can your Hamon possibly do now? I don't have to touch you to attack you!" Tyrian laughed as he had his Stand destroy a section of the roof they were on, sending a wave of rubble flying towards Ozpin hard enough to bat aside the incoming infused tendrils and throw Ozpin off the roof.
"Talk about overpowered, but what's the Hamon thing anyways?" Mercury asked.
"Another form of supernatural power in this universe, it's an energy similar to that of the sun and therefore an antithesis to a vampire." Blank answered.
"If only they could get it to actually hit." Taiyang grumbled.
As Ozpin fell to the street below, he managed to use Hermit Purple to slow his fall by grappling onto a balcony railing, preventing him from shattering his bones on contact with the earth. Several bloody coughs wracked his frame as Tyrian's attack still did quite a fair bit of damage despite his attempts to mitigate it.
Ignoring the drunk heckling of several café patrons nearby, Ozpin struggled back to his feet and was about to continue running until he could come up with a plan to beat Tyrian when he saw Jaune approaching from the street ahead.
"Old man." Jaune had clearly noticed his grandfather's state and was rushing over to help. In Ozpin's opinion, that was the worst possible outcome, Jaune still didn't know about Tyrian's Stand, if he tried to fight now, he'd lose.
"Jaune! Stay back, don't come anywhere near me now!" Ozpin yelled out, halting Jaune in his tracks.
"It's time! The World is a Stand that can stop tim-"
The world rippled negative for a moment and time was frozen again. Tyrian landed on the ground and began walking towards Ozpin. "In the beginning, I could only stop time for a brief moment, but as my neck wound healed, I could stop it for two seconds, then three seconds, and now the limit is five seconds. Eventually, I'll be able to stop time for a minute, ten minutes, an hour… then as long as I want."
Tyrian raised his hand and brought it down in a chop, aiming to decapitate Ozpin before time resumed. He paused when he remembered Ozpin was still infused with Hamon, frozen time or not, it would still damage him if he came into contact.
"Oh that's right, you were using Hamon to protect yourself weren't you? A hundred years ago, that gave me quite a bit of trouble, but Hamon is nothing before the power of The World." Tyrian stepped back and whipped out a knife.
"Mudamudamudamudamudamuda MUDA!" Hurling the knife with all of his strength at Ozpin's throat, Tyrian cackled manically as time for the knife slowed to a crawl before stopping just shy of piercing Ozpin's throat.
"Ozpin, grandson of Ozma… you are now dead. One second left… zero." Tyrian lifted a finger before lowering it as time resumed.
Ozpin gasped as the knife that wasn't there before embedded itself in his throat, blood spurted from the wound as the old man collapsed instantly.
"Yeesh, that's rough." Roman muttered.
"Oh, so I'm dead too." Ozpin shrugged and continued drinking from his mug.
"At least I didn't get my soul stolen this time."
"Is… that really much better headmaster?" Pyrrha raised an eyebrow at Ozpin's nonchalance.
"Your status is… strange even by the standards of this universe. Right now you're dying and you'll be dead soon, but not all the way dead." Blank said.
"So… there are levels of dead now?" Goodwitch asked.
"Sort of, don't think about it too hard." Blank replied.
"Gramps!" Jaune started moving forwards again as he saw Ozpin go down from an attack that came out of nowhere.
"S-stay back… run away… Jaune… don't… go… near… hi…" Ozpin gurgled out before falling silent, slipping away into unconsciousness.
"hahahhahahehaha! I've already taken care of Nikos too, I don't see Schnee around so she must be hiding somewhere waiting for a chance. But it doesn't matter, you're next Jaune Arc." Tyrian pointed at Jaune and grinned as Jaune's glare intensified to murderous levels.
"Bastard…" Jaune growled out and clenched his fists tightly before walking forwards. Heading right for Tyrian.
"What!? What is he doing!? His grandfather said to run away, not head for the vampire!" Weiss all but screamed out.
"So the boy either has a death wish or is foolishly overconfident. I suppose it doesn't really matter." Cinder said with a small shrug.
"Yeah! Go get em fearless leader! And hey wait a minute, is it just me or does he look bulkier than the last time we saw him." Nora halted her cheering to stare at Jaune's appearance suspiciously.
"Oh? You're approaching me?" Tyrian held his arms out welcoming the challenge.
"Instead of running away, you're coming right to me? Even though your grandfather Ozpin told you the secret of The World, like an exam student scrambling to finish the problems on an exam until the last moments before the chime?"
"I can't beat the shit out of you without getting closer." Jaune shot back, unwavering in his advance.
"Oh ho! Then come as close as you like." Tyrian grinned and began walking forwards as well, the distance between them shrinking rapidly.
"The balls on the both of them, unreal." Qrow muttered as the tension raised with every step, he was sweating just looking at them while both Jaune and Tyrian were perfectly calm.
"Language aside, Mr Arc is doing remarkably well under pressure." Goodwitch commented.
"So this is it, the big showdown." Ruby leaned forwards and rapidly shoveled popcorn into her mouth.
"Uh huh, uh huh, just lemme write this down first." Yang was scribbling more notes into her notebook on proper trash talking.
"Commence the ass kicking!" Nora cheered as the tension reached a fever pitch.
Right when it looked like both of them were about to bump into one another, their Stands materialised and traded a single hit. Star Platinum threw out a punch while The World lashed out with a kick.
The ground shattered from the exchange of blows and Jaune took a step back as The World connected with its kick. His pants ripped below the knee and the skin was raw, matching the damage Star Platinum took as the Stands disengaged.
"Too slow, too slow, The World is the ultimate Stand, even without his ability to stop time, his speed and power far exceed that of your Star Platinum." Tyrian mocked, his grin oozing arrogance after drawing first blood.
"So, it's the same type of Stand as Star Platinum then, not much range but immense power and precise movements." Jaune muttered.
"I wanted to try a little test to find out just how much more powerful The World is compared to your Stand. Though it appears a test was hardly necessary." Tyrian said.
"Test? Is that what you call that light tap that wasn't enough to hurt? Well, I guess you did rip my two thousand lien pants though." Jaune shrugged off the damage and glared at Tyrian.
"Why are you Arcs so stubborn about admitting defeat? Hmmph, I suppose I'll rise to your silly provocation and test you a bit more." Tyrian grinned and threw The World at Jaune again.
The golden armoured Stand launched a flurry of punches that Star Platinum blocked. It dodged away when Jaune responded with a barrage of kicks. Clashing with their fists again, The World was put on the backfoot as Star Platinum switched to slower but heavier and more precise blows.
It dodged the first punch, but the second scored a line across its cheek. A corresponding cut appeared on Tyrian's face, leaking a little blood. The vampire noted the cut with some annoyance before directing The World to match Star Platinum's techniques.
The two Stands continued trading punches until their fists met in a stalemate, neither budging an inch despite continuing to try and overpower the other.
"Ha! So much for being more powerful." Ruby cheered as Jaune matched Tyrian's Stand, taking the vampire down a peg.
"Yes, but there's still the problem with his ability to stop time." Summer said, bursting Ruby's bubble instantly.
"That is a hack ability." Taiyang groused.
"It is, but there are actually stronger Stands in that world." Blank said.
"Bullshit, how do you get more broken than being able to freeze time itself?" Qrow said.
"The ability to turn back the clock, erase time itself, affect the entire universe at the same time. Yeah, in the grand scheme of things, The World isn't actually all that powerful, it just happens to be an outside context problem no one's dealt with before." Blank said.
"…And again, I'm glad those Stands don't exist in Remnant." Roman said quietly
"Ho? Shall we compare the speed of our attack rushes?" Tyrian asked as he raised a hand to wipe away the blood on his cheek. When it lowered, the cut had already sealed up and healed completely, leaving only flawless skin behind.
"Mudamudamudamudamudamudamudamudamudamuda!"
"Oraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraora!"
As the two Stands continued exchanging punches, the air itself began to quake from the rapid fire blows, creating a howling gale around the two combatants and slowly raising them into the air.
Tyrian smirked as soon as he caught an opening in Star Platinum's barrage. Feinting to one side, The World managed to slip a fist past Star Platinum's guard and land a solid punch to its face. Jaune coughed up some blood as a corresponding wound appeared on his cheek.
"hahahah, as I thought, The World's power and precision is greater. I've seen enough, time to end you." Tyrian mocked Jaune as their Stands continued fighting.
"You Arcs are a pain, I've long ago decided to never show mercy to one of your accursed bloodline and kill you all quickly. And the best way to finish you is with The World's true power. THE WORLD! Time has come to a stop."
Silence gripped the world once more as time halted for everyone except Tyrian. "With this, the Arc bloodline will finally come to an end. My archenemies who dared stand in the way of my destiny… farewell."
Tyrian's coup de grace was interrupted when he saw Jaune's finger twitch momentarily. His eyes widened further when it twitched again. Caught off guard, Tyrian immediately put some distance between the two of them. "Wha… what the hell!? He just moved! I-impossible, but his finger moved!"
"Okay… was not expecting that." Emerald admitted.
"How can he move? Time itself is frozen." Mercury asked but got no response as Blank elected to remain silent.
Tyrian paled upon recalling Jaune's earlier words, about their stands being the same type. "No… it's can't be… they're… the same!? The World and Star Platinum are the same type of stand?"
Tyrian hung back as he continued to observe Jaune, the Arc's steely glare boring holes into him as he hung in the air. "Can he see me? Or is he moving subconsciously? Tch, time's up."
Time resumed and Star Platinum's fists found air as Tyrian and The World had already shifted positions. Jaune turned to face the vampire, waiting for him to make the next move.
"Could you see me?" Tyrian asked.
"I asked if you could see me Jaune Arc!" Tyrian roared when Jaune refused to reply.
"Who knows? I don't know what you're talking about Tyrian." Jaune shrugged back, pissing Tyrian off further. Before the vampire could start attacking again, Jaune had already shot off into the air, carried by Star Platinum as he lured Tyrian to where Weiss was preparing an ambush.
"Kuh! It doesn't matter if you can see me or not, if you can move in the world of stopped time, then let me see it!" Tyrian growled as he chased down the runaway Arc.
'It's been six months since I gained this ability. I had one of my subordinates shoot me with a shotgun to test The World's ability, then for a split second it looked like everything had stopped. At first I thought it was an illusion, trained fighters and those who are in accidents feel each moment as if it were several seconds or minutes. I thought it was something like that, but, The World was able to step around the pellets that hung suspended in the stopped time… and it could grab the pellets.' Tyrian grinned as he recalled that first moment his destiny became reality.
"I Tyrian Callows have truly surpassed all forms of life and all Stands! Now I can stop time for five seconds, those intervals are growing longer and longer, Jaune! I shall see just how powerful you truly are! THE WORLD!" Tyrian activated his Stand and froze time again, freezing Jaune in place.
As the vampire approached, Jaune's hand twitched again. Tyrian breathed out slowly before extending his left arm towards Jaune. As he did so, Jaune twitched again. "Ha. Hahahhah. hAHHahahehaHhEAHAHH! HAHHEHAHEAHH!"
Tyrian burst out into mad laughter as he drew his arm back. Lifting his left arm up, Tyrian continued laughing as he peeled off the magnet attached to his hand. Reaching out again, the magnet shuddered before attaching to an identical one concealed in Jaune's sleeve.
"You placed a magnet on me… when we were testing our Stands earlier? Looks like a magnet taken from a wallet or some planner. Heh, you completely fooled me, I'll give you that. Can't take your eyes off an Arc indeed. BUT! The fact that you had to use such a trick means you can't move in the world of stopped time after all! All you succeeded in doing was add a few seconds to your life! This time you die JAUNE ARC!" Tyrian swooped in with The World, ready to deal the final blow.
"Cheap tricks only get you so far I guess." Cinder shrugged.
"That can't be right. That magnet isn't powerful enough to affect his hand at that kind of range." Pyrrha narrowed her eyes at the screen, as a user of polarity herself, she knew what a magnet could and couldn't do and she was convinced Tyrian had made a mistake somewhere.
"It's a trick of some sort…" Pyrrha mused as the gears in her mind continued to turn, bringing her to the only logical conclusion she could think of and she smiled.
"Heh, a double bluff, how very Jaune."
As Tyrian closed to striking range, Jaune's hand moved again. Tyrian had already committed to the attack and had no way to disengage now, the vampire could only stare as Star Platinum manifested and punched a hole clean through The World's chest.
"He… really can move! Only for an instant but he moved!" Tyrian gasped out as his internal organs were pulverised by the strike.
"The magnets weren't there to trick me into thinking he could move, they were there to trick me into thinking he couldn't! Arrghgh! Of all things, this descendent of the Arcs managed to invade my world of stopped time!?" Tyrian cursed as his time stop ceased and the momentum of the blow caught up with him, sending him crashing into a shop, busting through the window and losing a leg in the process.
Jaune himself landed on a sign board, grabbing hold of the edge and hanging from it. "I could move, only for a moment. just… a moment. Only enough to get one punch in."
Letting go of the signboard and returning to street level. He was greeted with the sight of Tyrian casually strolling out of the destroyed shop without a care in the world, the wounds inflicted by Star Platinum already healing.
"Looks like I have to destroy your skull otherwise it'll be like nothing ever happened. You've already regained your energy." Jaune glared as Tyrian tossed his latest victim aside. The desiccated corpse of the shopkeeper drained dry of blood, the last drops of it just dripping from Tyrian's fingers.
"Oh boy, another joker that heals by absorbing blood. You know, I liked it better when it was just the kid doing it even if everything else was disgusting in that world." Roman complained.
"Ho." Tyrian vanished from his position before reappearing on a lamppost nearby. Jaune's eyes already following him to his new location.
"Your eyes did follow me in the world of stopped time. So you truly can see my movements Jaune."
"So it seems." Jaune agreed and turned in full to face the vampire.
"Nikos really did you a favour, by figuring out The World's secret, you were able to figure out you could move in the world of stopped time and invade my world." Tyrian vanished again and Jaune spun around to meet his new location on top of a building.
"That makes me think, just how long can you move within my world of stopped time? Two seconds? Three? Or perhaps you can move five seconds just like me and you're just pretending you can't. Hahahhaha… how about it?"
'This… isn't good, I could move longer if I had more practice, but right now, a moment is all I can manage.' Jaune thought, keeping a poker face on as Tyrian continued to monologue.
"But… I think a moment is all you can manage for now. Since you've invaded my world though, I won't underestimate you and get close again. Especially not when I still have the overwhelming advantage. And so I've decided on just how to kill you, an instant of movement won't save you from this." Tyrian grinned and pulled out two handfuls of knives.
"Shit." Jaune took a step back as Tyrian brandished his way of making up for The World's lack of ranged attacks.
"Oh, you've gone pale. Have you realised you're about to die in a far more horrific manner than that geezer Ozpin?" Tyrian asked.
'Bastard, how the hell does he come up with stuff like this!? This… might be a bit dangerous.' Jaune allowed none of his worry to show as he continued glaring in silence. Then without warning, Jaune used Star Platinum to give himself a power jump into the air to put distance between them.
"There's no escape! THE WORLD!" Tyrian chuckled as time froze before Jaune could escape his range. Rising into the air himself, Tyrian began chucking knives towards Jaune with The World, each knife speeding towards the Arc before becoming frozen in place, waiting for time to resume before they continued on their path.
"At this range… I wonder if even Star Platinum is enough to stop all these knives when time resumes." Tyrian chuckled and added even more knives to the barrage, just to make sure.
"Damn, that's… a lot of knives. And he can see it happening? That's messed up." Qrow muttered.
"His Stand is fast, but is it fast enough?" Goodwitch asked Blank.
"No it isn't. But fortunately, he thought ahead." Blank replied.
Midway through the time stop, Star Platinum manifested and punched away several of the closest knives before freezing in place too.
"Hahahahah! Two seconds to go, I guess that proves it, you really can only move for a single moment. Too bad." Tyrian sat on a chimney as the countdown hit zero and time resumed.
Jaune continued deflecting the knives as best he could with Star Platinum but there were simply too many of them coming at him from all angles to knock them all down. Several of them broke through his guard and embedded themselves in his chest, arms and legs.
"It's over, but, I'll add one more just to be sure." Tyrian casually threw one more knife with The World, the projectile ricocheting off Star Platinum to pierce Jaune's hat and draw blood.
"Hahhahha… headshot. To be honest, I'm glad I could defeat you so quickly Jaune Arc, to think you'd be able to invade my world. If I'd left you alone any longer, you might have become a problem, but in the end, only I Tyrian Callows should have power over time." Tyrian watched Jaune crash into the street below, sending several civilian bystanders running away screaming.
Jaune lay on the ground, managing to supress a groan of pain. Summoning Star Platinum at the last minute managed to keep the fall from being fatal but crashing still hurt. Not to mention all the knives stuck in him.
"God damnit, throwing all those knives at me… now my clothes are full of holes. Good thing I stuffed some magazines and books inside my clothes just in case he tried throwing anything." Jaune stared at the bunched-up books under his shirt that had blunted the attack, leaving him with nothing more than flesh wounds aside from the knives in his limbs.
"I knew it! I knew Jaune-Jaune was looking bulkier than normal." Nora crowed happily as Jaune's foresight came in clutch again.
"So what now? Play dead and hope he goes away?" Weiss asked.
"Probably play dead and sucker punch the bastard as soon as he comes to check. He did it before and if it ain't broke…" Yang offered.
"But damnit I wasn't expecting him to throw so many knives." Jaune adjusted his hat, dislodging the knife stuck in it and shifting it into a more comfortable position where it wasn't digging into his forehead that much anymore.
'Playing dead and waiting for a chance to strike is the best chance I have right now, have to find a way to destroy his head completely or he won't die.' Jaune froze in place as Tyrian landed nearby, sweat beaded on his forehead as he hoped Tyrian wouldn't notice he was still alive.
"I'd better play it safe, these Arcs have proven themselves pretty damned lucky over the years. He might be playing dead to trick me again." Tyrian mused to himself as he held back from approaching, the magnet fake out still fresh in his mind.
"I must end him without a doubt… by chopping his head off with this." Tyrian uprooted a street sign and waved it around as a makeshift axe.
"Goodbye Jaune Arc." Leaping into the air and bringing the street sign down for an overhead smash, that was the moment Weiss made her move.
Leaping off the roof she was hiding on, her Stand Silver Chariot manifested behind her with rapier in hand. "Go to hell Tyrian!"
Silver Chariot's surprise attack landed, piercing all the way through Tyrian's head and destroying part of his brain.
"I… I got him!?" Weiss blinked in surprise as her counterpart landed what she thought was a fatal wound.
"Go Weiss-cream!" Yang cheered her on.
"Not exactly." Blank replied.
"What do you mean not exactly!? That sword is all the way through his skull, there's no surviving that!" Mercury protested.
"He is a vampire, unfortunately, the wound is just too small to be immediately fatal and Tyrian can recover from it." Blank said.
"That… is bullshit." Cinder said.
Reality rippled into negative colours for a moment before time froze. Weiss's follow up slash to completely destroy Tyrian's brain was halted by the time stop and the scorpion simply walked forwards, allowing the rapier to slide cleanly out of the puncture wound.
"The World, time has stopped. As I thought, you were hiding around somewhere waiting to attack me from behind Schnee." Tyrian reached up to rub the already healing head wound before ramming a fist into Weiss's side.
"Time moves again." The time stop came to an end and Weiss went flying into a wall from Tyrian's counter attack. She coughed in pain as she felt several of her ribs shatter instantly from a hit that she never even saw coming.
"Too bad Schnee, just another moment and with just a bit more force, you could have torn apart my brain with that rapier. How very unfortunate." Tyrian grinned as Weiss struggled to rise again.
"B-bastard! T-this is impossible!" She coughed again before falling unconscious from the pain in her side.
"Hhahahahah… you cannot assassinate Tyrian Callows. And now all four are accounted for, with you gone, this little band of yours will be finished." Tyrian grinned and started advancing with the street sign still in hand.
'Damnit, at this rate, Weiss is going to get killed too. I wanted to play dead as long as possible until I could get a chance to land a blow to his head, have to draw him away but if he suspects me, he'll never enter Star Platinum's attack range, he'll just throw his knives again and eventually one will get me. Have to keep him in the dark… as long as he doesn't realise I'm alive, my chance will come.' Jaune wracked his brains for a way to save Weiss without simply delaying the inevitable.
'Tch, talk about irony, I was trying so hard to move in his world of stopped time and now I have to do my best to stay still when time is moving. Gah, here goes…' Jaune settled on a simple plan in the end, deciding to play off of Tyrian's vampire senses and paranoia.
Jaune's fingers scratched the brick sidewalk, his nails clawing along the pavement. The sound it produced was imperceptible, impossible for a normal human to hear, but to a vampire like Tyrian who had The World for a Stand, it was louder than a gunshot.
"What!?" Tyrian tossed away the sign and leapt away from the comatose Weiss. Taking up position on some rubble nearby, Tyrian glared at the prone body of Jaune Arc.
"You… you're alive… or you're coming around, aren't you?" Tyrian's musings were interrupted by the sound of guns cocking. Turning back, he noticed two human policemen shakily pointing their pistols at him.
"D-don't move! We're the police and we have guns pointed at you! Put your arms up slowly." One of them shouted out.
Tyrian ignored them for several seconds before deciding to use them to test Jaune's survival. The World activated and he reappeared behind the officers, one of them he murdered immediately with a backhand hard enough to snap the man's neck, the other, he jabbed his fingers into the man's throat, using him as a meat puppet.
"Alright, perfect timing actually. There's something I'd like you to shoot with that gun of yours. Shoot that man lying on the ground over there." Tyrian manhandled his puppet into place as the pistol slowly aimed towards Jaune.
"His leg, his torso, wherever you want. Just, shoot him." Tyrian instructed, the officer gurgled as his body was forced to respond against his will.
"Come on, be sure not to miss."
"What a bastard. He's doing this just for fun." Qrow sneered, the needless cruelty filling his mouth with a nasty taste.
"Hmm, he always was one for theatrics. Some things never change." Cinder said.
"Jaune has a plan for this right?" Ren asked.
"He's making it up as he goes along, there really isn't anyone who can plan for something like this." Blank replied.
The pistol fired as the cop couldn't resist the compulsion any further. The bullet lodged inside Jaune's coat and the body failed to react at all. There wasn't any visible blood but that could have just been his clothes absorbing the initial amount.
"Hmmm? Maybe I was just imagining that sound?" Tyrian asked himself before ripping his fingers free from the drained policeman. The bloodless corpse fell to the ground with a thud as Tyrian shrugged.
Unbeknownst to the vampire however, the bullet had not penetrated the coat at all. Star Platinum had caught the bullet before it could impact and reveal the ruse. Jaune glared at the psychopathic vampire and his newest victims. 'You fucking son a bitch, what a sick thing to do. Nothing I can do for those cops now, but at least his attention is on me and not Weiss. He's suspicious as fuck and he'll make damned sure I'm dead, guh… just come closer so I can knock your head off.'
"The sound of his breathing… I don't hear it." Tyrian listened for Jaune's breathing but could find nothing, the Arc having held his breath as soon as Tyrian turned one ear closer to him.
"He's not breathing, then… what about his heartbeat?" Tyrian got on his knees and pressed an ear to the ground, trying to pick out the vibrations in the dirt that indicated Jaune was still alive.
'Oh fuck me, are you serious!?' Jaune swore in his mind before directing Star Platinum to grab hold of his own heart and manually still his heartbeat.
'Fuck, this is ridiculous! If I blackout here I really will die. It won't be funny if I die because I used my own Stand to stop my heart.'
"He… he stopped his own heart with his Stand!? That's…" Weiss trailed off, unable to find a word to accurate sum up the insanity she was witnessing.
"Totally hardcore! No way that dumb scorpion won't buy it this time." Nora said.
"A very risky gamble, if Tyrian continues listening, either Mr Arc will have to break his cover or he'll actually die from having his heart stop for too long." Ozpin murmured.
"Outside of truly desperate situations, I will ask that none of you try this in combat. The potential for such gambits to backfire on you is immense, and I will not tolerate such actions in my class either." Goodwitch stated, normally she wouldn't have to say something like that out loud but with these two teams, there was no such thing as too careful.
"Hmm, no heartbeat. He's definitely dead. That sound must have been my imagination, but, just to be sure, I'll lop off his head just so I can rest easy." Tyrian said and picked up his abandoned street sign again.
As Tyrian approached, Star Platinum's fist started pumping rapidly, kickstarting the still heart and revitalising Jaune. When the stop sign came down, Star Platinum emerged in full and smashed the sign, denting it and keeping it from decapitating Jaune.
"WHAT!?" Tyrian yelped as a massive fist was suddenly in his face.
"Time sto-" He never got to finish when Star Platinum landed the punch, caving in part of his skull and severely damaging the brain inside. The World's time stop was rendered useless at such close range, the instant of movement afforded to Jaune more than enough for the punch to land.
"I went through hell there thanks to you. But even if you stop time, I'm still going to blow your head off Tyrian!" Jaune roared as he got back to his feet.
Tyrian screamed in anger and pain as he was punched across the alleyway, crashing into the dirt and digging a long furrow in the pavement before finally coming to a stop near the road.
"Hell yes! Punch his face in fearless leader!" Nora cheered.
"I will admit… that was… satisfying to see." Cinder reluctantly admitted, Tyrian getting beat up was always a plus in her books.
"It gets better." Blank said.
"Finally, finally I was able to bash his head in." Jaune staggered towards Tyrian as he started to recover from his near-death experience.
"But still, Tyrian is a monster who managed to survive at the bottom of the ocean for over a hundred years, I don't believe he's dead just yet. It's too soon to relax."
True to Jaune's words, as the dust cleared up, Tyrian was already sitting up, his head wound still leaking copious amounts of blood but he was most definitely still alive.
"Aaaahhh… kill you… I'll kill you…" Tyrian growled out as he tried standing up. He gasped when he fell over instead, his legs refusing to respond to his mental commands.
"Wh-what is this!? M-my legs! I… can't move… my legs! Aarrhhghg I have a… headache and nausea… how can this be!? Me, Tyrian Callows feeling sick!? My head wound… is that why I can't stand!?"
"It's still absurd, that should have… would have killed anyone else, and all it did was make him dizzy? What does it take to kill this guy?" Taiyang asked.
Jaune ripped a gas tank free from a parked car and approached Tyrian. Ripping the cap off, Jaune dumped its contents all over Tyrian, soaking him in the dust infused liquid before discarding the empty tank.
"I've covered you in the fuel, this way even if you run, Star Platinum can track your stench. I feel bad kicking a guy when he's down-no actually, I don't feel bad about this at all. My friends and a lot of innocent bystanders are dead because of you." Jaune pulled out a lighter and the flickering flame at the end gave no illusions about just what he was planning.
But Tyrian just started laughing, unconcerned with Jaune intending to burn him alive. "Nyehahehahhehahehah! Ahhehahhaehah! The WORLD!"
He held out his hands as time froze again, right as a taxi drove by them. His legs hadn't recovered but his head injury had healed enough for him to use his Stand again and he still retained control over his arms.
Crawling along the ground towards the Taxi, Tyrian laughed as he latched onto the Taxi's back, his escape route secure. Jaune growled and tried following but his moment of free movement simply wasn't enough to catch Tyrian.
"If I can get to that place, time, time has started to move again." Tyrian deactivated The World, allowing the taxi to speed off and carry him with it.
"Bastard, you're not getting away that easily." Jaune had already divested himself of most of the knives Tyrian stuck in him, ripping the last one free, he handed it off to Star Platinum and returned the favour from earlier.
The Stand's aim was true as always, the knife soared through the air like a bullet and punctured the one of the taxi's tire, sending the vehicle skidding and dislodging Tyrian.
"Ahahrhharhh! That place… that place… just a bit more… if I can just get there…" Tyrian slowly crawled towards a manhole, attempting to escape into it. As he pulled the cover open, he gasped when Jaune's face met him inside.
"Sorry, this place is taken, you're not escaping this way." Jaune had seen Tyrian making for the manhole and after everything the vampire put him through, decided messing with Tyrian in exchange was only fair.
Entering through another manhole and popping up to block of Tyrian's escape was child's play with Star Platinum. The shocked look on Tyrian's face was just the icing on the cake.
Tyrian grit his teeth and repositioned himself as Jaune rose out of the manhole. He could still salvage things, the Arc didn't appear to realise just where they were yet. Now to get him to play along. "The World! Stop ti-"
Just as expected, Jaune didn't give him the chance to use his Stand, launching a barrage of blows that wrecked Tyrian's body completely in the blink of an eye. The vampire was sent flying with multiple sections of his body completely obliterated, but despite all that, he was still smiling.
"Ahahahahah! You fell for it Jaune Arc! This is my escape route! You have lost this battle of wits against me Tyrian Callows! Hahahahaha doesn't this street look familiar!?" Tyrian laughed as Star Platinum powered flight sent him straight to his destination.
"I don't get it, what's so special about the street?" Ruby tilted her head quizzically, unable to solve the puzzle.
"Hmm, I do believe that's the street where my other self was murdered." Ozpin said.
"How does that help him?" Blake asked.
"Hmm… earlier there was mention about him stealing my blood… I assume he's going back for it now?" Ozpin replied.
"Again, it is really creepy how you can talk so calmly about something like that." Qrow muttered.
"This street… no it can't be." Jaune's eyes widened as he recognised the café in the background.
"That's right. It was my escape route to take the blood of Ozpin." A fully healed Tyrian rose to his feet as he ripped his fingers free from Ozpin, having drained enough blood to not only erase the damage taken but give him a power boost.
"You son of a bitch." Jaune growled out as Tyrian laughed maniacally.
"As I thought, Ozpin's blood suits me well. It suits this body perfectly, what a filial grandson, supporting his grandfather stolen body so well even after all this time. Hahahaha my power is recovering even faster than before. It suits me, it suits me ahahahaha!" Tyrian cackled as he started clawing at his own face and chest with his nails, tearing long bloody furrows into his flesh and allowing blood to run free.
The self-inflicted wounds healed up even faster than before as Tyrian turned back to face Jaune. "This body belonged to Ozma a hundred years ago, taking Ozpin's blood gave me even more power… and the one who allowed me to make it this far? You. Jaune Arc. You Arcs are truly the best tools to achieving my goals."
"Oh come on! That's bullshit! He was already beat!" Yang roared in frustration.
"In trying to stop him, he just made Tyrian more powerful. Ironic." Cinder shrugged, she wasn't all that invested in the fight since she detested both parties.
"This isn't looking good. How is Jaune going to win now?" Pyrrha asked.
"In this world, the arcs are a funny bloodline, in fact it's downright bizarre how simple logic doesn't apply to the things they do. Tyrian got a boost from Ozpin's blood, but, he isn't the only one." Blank said.
"I… don't get it." Weiss said.
"I won't go into details, but suffice to say Stands work in weird ways, Jaune and Ozpin of that world got theirs after Tyrian gained his, because Tyrian's body is still Ozma's, that magic if you will, transferred down the bloodline. It is still in effect." Blank replied.
Before Jaune could do anything rash, he had a vision of Ozpin's ghost leaving his body. "No matter what Tyrian does, you mustn't lose your cool Jaune. Don't worry about me, things happened because they had to happen."
"Gramps… soul?" Jaune stared at the ghostly apparition in disbelief.
"Pyrrha solved the secret of Tyrian's Stand, I got her message to you, if we had all fought him at once, he would have wiped us all out. You've become able to move while time is stopped now, you should have two or three seconds of movement. Use that time wisely. No matter how he provokes you, don't get angry, if you lose your cool and make the first move, you'll only put yourself in a bad situation."
Ozpin's ghost turned away with a small smile and started to fade away. "Jaune, this trip was really something else huh? Really, these last fifty days really were fun."
"What… was I seeing things?" Jaune wondered.
"Oi! Where do you think you're looking!?" Tyrian roared at Jaune to get him to refocus his attention on him. Laughing madly as he formed a wedge with his fingers and rammed it into Ozpin's chest, the vampire started draining the body of all its remaining blood until all that was left was a shrivelled husk.
"B-BASTARD!" Jaune charged at Tyrian immediately, unable to retain his calm after that.
"Gramps said to not lose my cool no matter what, but that's impossible! No one could stay calm after that!"
"It's the final round Jaune Arc!" Tyrian grinned and started sprinting towards Jaune as well, meeting the charge head on.
"The World! Stop time! WRYYYYYYY!" Tyrian froze time as both of them leapt into the air. Revelling in his newfound power, he neglected to attack immediately in favour of simply counting down the seconds.
"One second, two seconds have passed, three… four seconds…"
At the four and a half second mark, Star Platinum manifested and the two Stands began exchanging blows again. Jaune's pure rage gave Star Platinum a boost to its strength and allowed it to smash through The World's fist.
Tyrian grunted in pain as his hand was mangled instantly and Jaune followed up with another barrage of blows with his remaining one second of movement. But the pain passed and Tyrian allowed himself to float backwards slowly while Jaune froze in place again.
"Six seconds have passed, seven seconds have passed!" Tyrian yelled as his injured hand fixed itself completely.
"Not yet, I can still feel the power, I can still keep this up! But you Jaune, you can't move anymore can you, you gambled on the two seconds before time started to move again but you miscalculated. Hahahah! What a magnificent feeling, I feel like I could burst out into song." Tyrian cackled as his Stand continued to display its increased power.
"Singing from that lunatic? I would appreciate if my ears aren't blistered by such a monstrosity." Weiss hissed out.
"Really? That's what you're focused on?" Yang raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, I sing, I have standards you know." Weiss said.
"Are we just gonna ignore Jaune being in trouble?" Ruby stared at her bickering sister and partner in mild disbelief.
"He'll find a way to win. He's already one upped that vampire a few times. One more time should do the trick." Yang shrugged in response.
"Eight seconds gone. A hundred years ago, I gained immortality, but I didn't feel as wonderful then as I do now. Arc blood suits me well, it truly is the ultimate high!" Tyrian cackled as he dug a finger into his head, drilling a hole into his own skull and brain just because he could, the wound sealing up nigh instantaneously without any adverse effect on him.
'Damnit, you were right gramps, getting angry did get me in trouble. But, not yet, I have plenty more rage to throw at him!' Jaune's body began to vibrate minutely as he struggled against the time stop, trying to force his body to move on sheer force of will alone.
"I've stopped time for nine seconds, but it looks like nine is currently my limit. So here we go." Right before the time stop finished, Tyrian threw The World at Jaune again, launching a rapid fire barrage of blows into the frozen Arc, breaking more than a few bones with them.
"Ahhahrgh!" Jaune went flying across the night sky from the attack.
"This is the limit of your rage Jaune! Now to show you the true power of my Stand!" Tyrian dashed off in pursuit, easily catching up to his target. This time, The World utilized a barrage of lightning fast kicks to attack, forcing Jaune to block with Star Platinum and grunt in pain as the force of each kick was transmitted to his arms.
"Muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda! MUDA!" Breaking through Jaune's defences, The World landed the last of its kicks and sent the Arc crashing through a building and shooting straight for the street far below.
Jaune summoned Star Platinum again at the last minute to break his fall. Somehow surviving all the punishment dealt to him, Jaune coughed and struggled to rise as pain wracked his body.
"And now, for the final time stop you'll ever see. With my nine seconds of frozen time, I shall end this once and for all! THE WORLD!" Tyrian roared.
"Tch." Jaune remained where he was as he waited for Tyrian to reappear. But the vampire had disappeared and the seconds ticked down without him reappearing. Until he showed up again, he wouldn't waste his limited window by moving early.
And while Tyrian was missing, he might as well focus on his stand. Something about Star Platinum had changed, in his raged filled state he'd attributed his Stand's increase in power to his mindset but now that he was calmer, he could tell something was different. But whatever the case, the only thing he absolutely had to do, was ram Star Platinum's fists into Tyrian over and over and over again in his window of movement and destroy the son of a bitch for good.
At the seven second mark, Tyrian made his move. A shadow fell over Jaune as Tyrian descended from above. "ROADO ROLLER DA!"
Jaune's eyes shot wide open and summoned Star Platinum to defend himself while Tyrian did his level best to smash him into paste with the road roller he'd picked up from somewhere. Trapped between the asphalt and the falling vehicle, Jaune had no choice but to have Star Platinum continuously punch away at the road roller in the hopes of keeping it off him until time resumed and he could fight as per normal.
"TOO LATE! There's no escape now! Muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda!" Tyrian began pounding on the road roller with The World as well, adding more crushing force to the improvised weapon as Star Platinum began to lose ground.
"Eight seconds! Ahahaha! I'll smash you flat!" Tyrian punched one final time and the road roller impacted into the ground below with a resounding crash.
"Nine seconds. At last, Star Platinum has been defeated by The World."
"Okay… how the heck is he supposed to survive that?" Emerald asked, wincing a little at the visible blood spatter around the road roller.
"Not too difficult actually." Blank replied.
"The heck? He just got squashed like a bug by a freaking road roller! How is that not too difficult to survive!?" Mercury protested.
"Thing about road rollers is it's meant to flatten roads. It doesn't do too well at crushing things when say, there's already a depression in the ground from a crash, a depression that got dug in deeper by two stands battling." Blank said.
"You're kidding. So basically, Tyrian fucked up by trying too hard?" Qrow muttered in disbelief before sighing and slotting more lien into the swear jar jingling in front of him.
"In effect."
"Hahhahaha… hahahah…. HAHAHAHAHAH! This proves that no one can surpass Tyrian Callows! Puny humans, I shall rule over all! Ahhahahahah! Now I should find Jaune's body and drain his blood too… if there's anything left that is. Hahahahah-eh?" Tyrian's glee was replaced by confusion and a little bit of panic as he felt his movements slow to a crawl and finally halt completely.
"Wh-what? My body's movements a-are slowing down? No, this isn't a slowdown, it's… ahgrgh, can't… move! Im-impossible! I can't move at all!"
"Tyrian. It's been eleven seconds. I guess that's your limit right now." Jaune's voice penetrated into Tyrian's skull as the Arc landed behind him, glowing with raw power.
"I see, so they really are the same type of Stands all the way through." Ozpin smiled as he sipped from his mug.
"Huh?" Qrow looked to his boss for an explanation.
"It would appear Mr Arc is also capable of stopping time, and now he's giving Tyrian a taste of his own medicine." Ozpin replied.
'W-what!?' Tyrian screamed inside his own mind, his mouth unable to vocalise those words.
"I stopped time at the nine second mark, that's what let me escape. Yare yare daze." Jaune adjusted his hat and dusted off some loose rubble on it, freezing time at the nine second mark had halted the rubble from crushing him and allowed him to dig his way out from under the road roller without Tyrian noticing.
"Now, it won't even take a second to finish you off!"
"J-Jaune! I-impossible! You stopped time!? Right at the end of my nine seconds of movement!?" Tyrian asked, having regained control over his mouth but nothing else.
"How does it feel Tyrian?" Jaune asked mockingly as he approached from behind the vampire, not allowing Tyrian to see him to mess with the scorpion's paranoia.
"Having someone approach from behind while you can't move a muscle. If I had to describe it, it's like a guy who can hold his breath underwater for a minute finally coming up for air at the last second." Grabbing hold of Tyrian's shoulder, Jaune began squeezing, crushing the flesh beneath his fingers to inflict pain on the sadist.
"When suddenly he feels someone grab him, and he's dragged back down into the water. Does that sound right?" Jaune asked before leaning back.
"But for you, I feel no pity at all. ORA!" Jaune lashed out with a Stand enhanced kick, shattering Tyrian's legs at the knees and almost tearing the limbs off from the force of the blow alone.
"Time has started to move again." Jaune intoned as Star Platinum's time stop came to an end. Tyrian went skidding across the gravel, bouncing several times as his shattered legs flayed around helplessly.
"I don't feel even the slightest bit of compassion for you. Not even an ounce of pity. But just finishing you off by beating you to death now would leave a bad taste in my mouth. How many seconds will it take your legs to recover? Three seconds? Four? The instant you've healed, I'll throw Star Platinum at you, so bring it on." Jaune challenged his fallen foe.
"Foolish, why waste time gloating when you can just finish him off. That's just asking for trouble." Cinder rolled her eyes and made her thoughts.
"Hehehehe… more than you know. But, most people have problems practicing what they preach." Blank said.
"If I were a gunslinger in a western, I'd say 'Draw. Let's see which of us is the fastest gun in the west.'" Jaune stood at the ready, waiting for Tyrian to get back up.
The vampire just started laughing as his wounds knit back together. 'Only human in the end Jaune Arc, I am beyond such miserable concepts like honour. Only one thing matters, to conquer and rule all, that alone is enough for satisfaction.'
Tyrian rose shakily as he felt his leg wound heal to the point he needed. "Winning is all there is! How I achieve victory doesn't matter!"
Twisting his leg and forcing blood to spurt from the wound, Tyrian grinned as his aim was true. The blood splatter landed right on Jaune's face, blinding him temporarily, giving him the opening he desired.
"Ew. Just ew." Nora grimaced at the disgusting sight, her expression shared by most of the students.
"Oh, that is messed up. It's just plain disgusting." Roman blanched at the sight and pushed Neo away when the short stack decided to use her semblance to give everyone in the theatre an instant replay in slow motion.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I prefer my world's Tyrian to this nutjob. At least he isn't so… disgusting." Cinder said.
"I've won! Die!" Tyrian summoned The World while Jaune was blinded and kicked at Jaune's head.
But once more, he miscalculated. Jaune had been blinded, but Star Platinum could still see and transmit the visual to him. Cocking his arm back, Jaune punched forwards, guided by Star Platinum. "ORA!"
Star Platinum's fist met The World's shin and both Stands were locked in a stalemate once again. Then Star Platinum's fist cracked, causing blood to burst from the corresponding wound on Jaune.
"Tch." Jaune grunted as Tyrian smirked at him. That smirk was wiped away when another crack appeared, this time on The World's shin, a crack far larger than the one on Star Platinum.
"W-what!? WHAT!?" Tyrian roared as the cracks continued spreading until they covered all of The World, his Stand was falling apart and taking the vampire with it.
"NO! THIS CANNOT BE! I AM TYRIAN CALLOWS! I AM… TYRIAN!" The World crumbled completely and Tyrian's body exploded into pieces. Energy began leaking from the vampire in the form of a ghostly white flame and Jaune exhaled a sigh of relief. It was done, Tyrian wasn't coming back from this, his body was technically still alive but with The World completely destroyed and nearly all of Tyrian's head missing, the vampire was brain dead and no longer a threat.
"Now I just have to wait for the sun to rise and you'll be ashes in the wind. The reason you lost Tyrian? Simple, you really pissed me off."
And with that, the screen went dark and the lights came on.
"That's that, did you enjoy the viewing?" Blank asked.
"Yup! Except that vampire's last move, it was gross." Nora said.
"I'm curious, so what happens to my counterpart now? Am I… all the way dead now?" Ozpin asked, not quite believing the words coming out of his mouth.
"No, you get resuscitated after Jaune has your stolen blood transfused back into your body and jumpstarts your heart with Star Platinum. He made it in time to pull you back from the grave and with both Hamon and a Stand, you go on to make a full recovery." Blank answered.
"But I'm still dead." Pyrrha said.
"Unfortunately yes."
"…Can't win them all I guess." Pyrrha shrugged and offered her team a wan smile again when they looked at her with some worry.
"Relax, I'm not intending to die on you all any time soon." She reassured them.
"Good, you'd better not. If I have to find some kind of dimension jumping coffee to break into the afterlife and pull you back, I will." Nora threatened, Ren was going to chide her for it before deciding otherwise. Nora would probably take it as a challenge and do something about it.
"In any case, feel free to refresh yourselves while I get the next world ready." Blank said as his guests filed out.
Author's notes: Hope you enjoyed the chapter, the next two or three chapters will be revisiting some universes I've already shown. Until next time, stay safe. Ninja edit, added a reaction for the most memed scene since I missed it on the first run.
Cast list:
Jaune Arc as Jotaro Kujo
Ozpin as Joseph Joestar
Ozma as Jonathan Joestar
Tyrian Callows as Dio Brando
Pyrrha Nikos as Kakyoin Noriyaki
Weiss Schnee as Polnareff