As I promised, I jumped straight into working on this next chapter. And just as was the case for the past two chapters, you can expect this one to be a little on the long side; by far one of the longest chapters I've ever written.
In addition to this, I have 2 other things to say: 1. I've now gotten myself a job. As such, although it is a seasonal job and as such doesn't require me to work too many hours, there will be a rotating schedule and as a result, I can't say how this will impact my updating times. As it is though, it's nice to just have a source of income. And 2: I've lowered the price of my story "Fading Darkness, Rising Light" by 2 bucks, making it $7.99 now. Once again, it is available o n.
Now with no more for me to really say, I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 32
All across the world, everyone felt it. Some sort of a strange presence making itself known for the first time. To the people at large, the civilians and hunters, this presence only barely registered on their senses, which were not tuned to it and as such, they dismissed the odd sensation.
But to the Holy Knights and ancient magi, it was something much more noticeable. No matter how far away all of them were, each and every member of the group felt it. They all paused momentarily in what they were doing, trying to figure out just what was going on, this sensation too much of an oddity right now for them to get a good grasp on it.
However, if there was one thing that could be agreed upon about this new presence, it'd be this: it was powerful.
And back in Burgundy, the people there had a front row seat to this new feeling, a wave of sky blue mana making itself known now and washing over them all like a tsunami. For all of one second, the villagers and the NPR of team JNPR found their senses completely overwhelmed, so much so that it had taken them a few seconds to realize that Surma had roared, not in anger or triumph or anything similar, but in pain.
With slack jawed expressions, they all watched Surma take several steps back, its head tilted down to look at something it hadn't been sporting a second ago.
Upon its chest was a deep gash, easily a few inches deep and spanning almost two feet in sheer length. Blood so dark that it was almost black seeped out of the wound and onto the ground.
Surma could only stare at its wound with something akin to muted horror, having never before been dealt such a wound. Although it could heal quickly just like its master and her pseudo-magi comrades, the fact remained that until now it's never taken such damage before. It was enough to shock the beast tremendously.
And then the light before it began to die down, revealing the inflictor of its new wound, prompting Surma to look to the attacker.
And just like everyone else there, the sentient Relic found itself all but stupefied by what it saw.
The light dying down, Jaune was revealed, once more standing tall and proud. But he was so fundamentally changed from all the times before. For one thing, all of his wounds had been completely healed, the only indication that he'd ever been injured being the blood that still remained on the side of his face, trailing just a bit past his left eye. Furthermore, the boy's usually messy looking blond hair had become much more wild looking, a little bit spiky in some parts, likely due to the mana he'd unleashed having messed with his hair style somehow.
What really stood out physically though, was the armor he now wore. The armor was pitch black in color and slim in design, fitting Jaune's body perfectly. Silver plates of the strongest steel covered his knees and elbows as well, offering those areas an equal amount of protection as well. And in the middle of the armor's chest plate was the image of a dragon's face, which seemed to glare ominously at whatever stood in front of Jaune, its eye areas glowing sky blue. The armor that completely covered his arms seemed a little thicker than the rest and sported an intricate design that resulted in a few spikes being formed along the forearms and shoulders. Not even Jaune's hands seemed to be spared this treatment, with the gauntlets that fully covered them having a certain sharpness to the fingers that gave the boy a somewhat feral appearance.
In his right hand was a greatsword with a glowing blue jewel embedded within the sword's midnight black hilt, which was easily large enough to be wielded by a person with hand's almost twice as big as Jaune's own. The blade itself, a dazzling silver in color, was almost five feet in length, which when combined with the length of the hilt, nearly made it almost comically long, falling only five inches short of Jaune's own height. Yet the boy seemed unperturbed by the length and weight of the blade and held it firmly with just the one hand with ease.
These two things together made up his magical weapon. The armor – the Armor of Fafnir, and the sword – Balmung. The sight of these two things – the armor and the sword – was enough to enrapture everyone, even Surma.
Jaune then took a bold step forward, the simple movement breaking the trance-like state everyone had fallen into upon examining his magical weapon.
Surma in turn found itself taking a step back as Jaune look upon him. And the blond boy's gaze nearly froze Surma in place. Before, his eyes had been a dark shade of blue. But now, they've changed, taking on a sky blue hue due to the oversaturation of mana that had resulted from his own awakening.
But as quickly it had frozen in fear, Surma went on the move. It growled in anger as it did so. It had been scared of the boy. A feeling that it now compelled itself to never feel again.
Now enraged, Surma roared in challenge as it took several steps forward, closing the distance between it and Jaune instantly. Then with lightning speed, it lashed out with a fierce punch that struck Jaune right in his chest. It did this with approximately half of its full strength, which was more than enough to kill the entire population of Burgundy through the air pressure generated from the strike alone.
However…
What should've been a certain death blow to the villagers failed. The shockwave instead seemed to just be absorbed almost entirely by Jaune, resulting in the villagers only being blown back violently, but otherwise left alive and relatively unharmed.
But what really unnerved Surma and shocked the villagers and Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren as they all now got back on their feet… was the fact that Jaune seemed completely unaffected by the punch.
Surma's eyes widened and it let out a sound that could be interpreted as a sign of disbelief. It reeled back its fist quickly, as if something would happen to it if it had remained pressed up against Jaune even a second longer.
Then for the first time since his awakening, Jaune spoke. "With my body, I protect…" His voice was little more than a whisper, but the unnatural silence that had fallen over the area allowed for everyone to hear, the sheer power that all but bled out of his voice sending shivers down their spines. He began to raise his sword. "And with my blade… I kill!"
"Balmung!" Crying out the name of his greatsword, Jaune swung and in turn activating its sole magical ability.
Much like Miki's Svafrlami, Balmung was a conceptual magical weapon that was capable of cutting through concepts. But unlike Svafrlami, which could only cut through concepts, Balmung was capable of rewriting concepts as it cut through them. With its ability active, Balmung was a magical weapon capable of many things. Cut an injured person with it, Jaune could rewrite things so that their injuries would be healed. Stab a random Grimm with it with the ability active and Jaune could rewrite things so that it was hurting all over. With enough time, practice, and ingenuity, these were but two things that Jaune could be capable of with Balmung.
But Jaune didn't know that about his magical weapon yet nor would he have cared. All that mattered to him right now was killing this thing where it stood. And Balmung reflected that desire of his in its attack: the complete destruction of all it struck.
A crescent wave of sky blue mana was unleashed with the horizontal swing, shooting outwards towards Surma and the forest behind it at a speed that not even lightning could match up to. The wave was as wide as it was fast, spanning nearly a dozen feet in width as it shot forward.
It was only thanks to its immense speed that Surma was able to dodge it at all, jumping as high and as fast as it could just as Jaune had swung Balmung. From up in the air, Surma turned so that its eyes could follow the missed attack, just in time to see it cut through the forest like it was nothing, entire trees simply being eradicated the instant the wave of mana made contact.
The wave continued on for three miles before it finally dissipated, leaving in its wake a large trail of devastation, dozens of trees now little more than finely cut stumps in spite of their massive size. Not even the grass that the crescent wave had traveled over seems to have been fully spared, having been crushed flat from the sheer force, though still intact.
As it now fell from the sky, Surma could only look at the destruction Balmung had wrought and it was enough to make it shiver. The power behind it in and of itself wouldn't have been enough to kill it, but that attack just now had more to it than just power alone. No, the sensation that had struck Surma right as Jaune had launched it hinted at something far more dangerous. It was lucky to have dodged.
But a battle cry took it by surprise and even as it continued to descend from its straight leap, Surma could only gape as it looked down to see Jaune quickly approaching it.
It should have been impossible, but here it was happening. Jaune had enough strength to leap up right after Surma.
So shocked by this, Surma left itself wide open as Jaune promptly slammed right into it, his sword embedding itself into its stomach. Surma let out a pained gasp from the sheer force of it all. For Jaune had slammed right into it like a meteor given human form. It wasn't until they both went careening off into the forest from the tackle that the pain of Jaune's stab finally registered within its mind and it promptly began to react.
In midfall, Surma roared and began its vicious attack, slamming its massive fists in Jaune's back with all of its strength, which was only a step or two below that of its master's mighty comrade, Heracles. But, to its continual amazement, Jaune remained unfazed by it all, which only prompted it to keep on attacking even as they both finally hit the ground with tremendous force, enough for Jaune to finally off of Surma and crash into a nearby tree hard enough to make it fall too.
But Jaune wasn't fazed by this either. With his confidence having been boosted by the feeling of power now coursing through him, the blond teen turned his sudden crash into a roll and all but leapt at Surma, who had also gotten up as well.
Meeting midway, the two clashed for real this time, Jaune's sword against Surma's claws. Steel met said claws with such ferocity and strength that the trees around them buckled and cracked apart from the force. Even the battlers were blown back from one another, Jaune sent spiraling back into the ground.
Surma, however, had actually accounted for the strength of the clash and had only stumbled back a bit. Regaining its balance quickly, it charged on all fours and proceeded to smash a muscled shoulder into Jaune's gut once he was in range.
Staying on the move, Surma then grabbed a hold of the blond and kept on running forward as fast as it could. Through one tree after another, it smashed Jaune through them relentlessly before finally coming to a small hill just outside the forest, at which point Surma jumped and slammed Jaune into the hill, turning it into a massive crater.
The beast remained on top of Jaune, trying to keep him pinned, for the boy still tried to fight back, kicking and punching and swinging Balmung, which he had managed to hold onto in spite of the tree-smashing. At this point, Surma's snake tail decided to get in on the action, rearing back and then trying to take a bit out of Jaune's face. The blond moved his head to the left just in the nick of time, however, and so the snake head smashed harmlessly into the ground.
Grabbing hold of the snake tail suddenly, Jaune then maneuvered Balmung into place… and sliced the snake head cleanly off.
Howling now in pain, Surma stood up and seemed to almost writhe in place. It never would've imagined such a thing happening.
If only it had known what was about to come next, it might've snapped out of it and dodged.
Getting up, Jaune raised Balmung with both hands as he got behind Surma and swung down on the tail's base, fully severing it from Surma. Then with a yell, Jaune unleashed a veritable torrent of swings upon the tail, cutting it into little more than fleshly ribbons as he utilized the very same sword techniques that Miki had been teaching him.
Roaring now, Surma pushed through the pain and whirled in place, kicking Jaune as hard as it could in the side. Rewarded with a satisfying 'omph!' Surma followed it up with a fierce backhand that sent Jaune skidding across the ground.
But even as he skidded for a hundred meters, the ground breaking under him from the force, the blond teen remained undamaged, a fact that enraged Surma all the more.
Little did it know, this was due to Jaune's Armor of Fafnir. No matter what sort of attack he was hit with, be it a physical blow or a magical one, all damage will be reduced by exactly 9/10ths, meaning Jaune would only receive 1/10th of the full damage. Not even conceptual magic could bypass the armor's ability, meaning Jaune would only receive a small fraction of the effect.
Combined with the blond teen's already inhuman resiliency and stamina being boosted further by his awakening and now he was a force to be truly reckoned with.
A force that Surma would quickly come to realize couldn't be stopped so easily.
Planting Balmung in the ground, Jaune was able to quickly bring himself to a halt and he climbed back to his feet in short order. Doing so, he looked at Surma and smirked in challenge, all but daring the sentient Relic to try again. This was something he'd never imagine himself doing earlier today, but things have changed.
He'd be lying if he said he was aware of what was going on, what he was doing. But all that mattered to him now though was that he now had the power to fight this thing, to keep his friends and Burgundy safe. And he'd be damned if he didn't put this newfound power of his to good use.
Taking up a defensive stance with Balmung, Jaune awaited Surma's charge. And as the beast indeed came charging, roaring at him, Jaune then stepped forward to meet the beast halfway.
With a mighty roar of his own, Jaune went on the attack yet again.
From afar, Kalma watched through the mental link as her Relic and Jaune continued to do battle. The sixth seat's expression was so very slack right now, all but the perfect definition of slack jawed shock.
"Just how can this be?" she thought aloud, her mind trying to process just what had happened thus far.
Impossible as it was to believe it, Jaune had awakened as a magus and was now proving his true worth by matching Surma blow for blow, something that could easily be felt even from all the way where she was at, the ground trembling with every clash that Jaune and Surma engaged in. Even from here, she could see the fight escalating as both combatants stayed on the move, trees being felled and the ground cracking apart all over the place.
Feeling lightheaded from this turn of events, it took all Kalma now had to keep herself from falling over.
To think that the very same adorkable boy she had spent time with the past few days had such immense power deep within him. It just defied reasoning! And from the feel of it, it seemed as if his mana levels were still rising!
"Just what is going on?!" Kalma thought aloud as she tried to stay focused on the battle.
Gulping now, the sixth seat ultimately decided to wait things out for now. Surma still didn't seem intent on retreating, so calling him back still wasn't going to work. Better to just let them fight and observe what else Jaune can now do.
After all, the more that is to be known about the enemy, the better for her comrades.
No matter how sick it made her to feel by labelling Jaune the 'enemy.'
However, she wasn't the only one observing the battle right now; from far away, within the walls of the Holy Knight's new base, Morgan watched over Jaune's battle with Surma through her Book of Spells.
Having sensed the veritable explosion of mana, she had had an unsettling feeling hit her, having all but forced her to pull out her Relic and check up on Jaune…
…And what she was now seeing left her breathless.
"Oh… Jaune," she eventually whispered from within her room, her right hand running down the projected image of her younger brother just as he dodged a bite from Surma. "Just… just how did you awaken?!"
Ever since she joined up with Vidar and became the Holy Knight known now as Morgan, the blonde had become quite privy to a number of facts concerning magi and how they in turn come to be. Vidar had long ago explained all there is to know about magi, about the mythology that they seemed to originate from or are at least heavily influenced by. He had told her about the usual sort of abilities that magi can possess and how much these magical abilities can vary.
But most importantly, he taught her about how magi need to awaken. First, a person with innate magical abilities needs to come into contact and merge with a special kind of stone called an OOPart, which to this day still remain a mystery even to Vidar in their origins. After that, the people that have merged with the OOParts must undergo an intense trauma or go through a situation that would ensure them to experience a strong will, which would then trigger their innate magical abilities to awaken. That is how magi are truly 'born.'
This was an undisputable fact, Morgan had been told, something that has always been and will always be.
So it was with that in mind that Morgan – no, Celine right now – could only stare numbly in shock as Jaune and Surma continued to exchange blows all across the forest.
Jaune had never come into contact with an OOPart.
Following her initial discussion with Vidar so many years ago about magi, Celine had been shown a way to discern who had innate magical abilities and who didn't. She'd even been shown a special way via using her Relic to determine if any people with magical abilities locked away within them had come into contact with an OOPart. So imagine her surprise when she had decided to put this new knowledge at the time to good use and find out that her only brother had such potential within him.
At the time, back when he was only a young boy still, Celine had been stupefied by this discovery, but she had recovered admirably enough and had made it a point to subtly ensure that her dear brother never would come into contact of an OOPart. It had been a most arduous task, to be sure, since OOParts remained unknown in number and location, but time and time again she had checked to make sure Jaune remained unable to ever unlock his potential as a magus.
She had done this with nothing but love and concern in mind. She knew that should he ever become a magus, he'd no doubt put his new abilities to use and perhaps draw unwanted attention. God only knew the sort of people that would kill – or do worse – to get their hands on a magus and do whatever it takes to see how magic works… even it'd mean hurting Jaune in such a scenario.
But now… now it seems as if she's failed in this long performed task of hers, though not for lack of trying.
Against all reason – hell, against the very laws of reality itself for all Celine knew – Jaune had managed to awaken as a magus.
Celine's grip on her Relic tightened, her eyes still watching the battle waging on, but her mind was now elsewhere.
Just how had this happened? Had Jaune's will to help his friends and those villagers, his will to become a hero, been so strong that he overcame a fundamental law of existence? It was the only thing that made sense since there was literally nothing else in this world that could possibly have helped him awaken his magical abilities. Perhaps if he'd been exposed to whatever it was that had turned his friends into pseudo-magi it'd all make sense, but having scanned him from afar again and again, Celine knew that such a thing never happened.
"Jaune…" Celine whispered his names with such concern that one would've been fooled if through emotion alone Celine was able to suddenly undo his awakening or at least end the battle.
But alas, all she could do right now was watch on as her brother kept on fighting. She could only cringe whenever Surma landed a powerful blow on her brother, such as right now when the beast struck Jaune hard in the kidneys before smacking him in the back of his head. Then she could only watch in amazement as the team leader simply shrugged off the hits like nothing and returned the blows with interest.
Truly, as much as it worried her to see him as a magus, Celine had to admit that Jaune was proving himself to be incredibly powerful as he now forced Surma onto the defensive with a torrent of slashes aiming for its joints.
But whatever sense of wonder she was feeling washed away and was replaced with almost overwhelming anxiety as she noticed something very odd.
Jaune's mana reserves were still growing.
Even all the way from here, Celina could literally feel the amount of mana Jaune now has growing with every passing second, the mana further empowering him. And through her Book of Spells, she could see the results as well, with Jaune slowly becoming stronger and tougher and faster.
However.
Celine nearly let out a harsh sob as Jaune suddenly fell to his knees, Balmung being held slackly in his hands as he puked up blood. Some of his veins glowed a bit now as well and thanks to the quality of the images her Book of Spells provides, the blonde could see mana literally bursting forth from the veins in some places, pulsing out of him with such violent intensity that Surma, who had moved in to attack, actually leapt back in surprise, calling off its attack for the time being.
Jaune's own power, now let loose in its entirety, was slowly yet surely killing him.
Celine didn't know exactly why, but if she had to guess, she'd have to say it was because of his awakening without an OOPart. Since there was no such object to serve as the catalyst for the process, Jaune's body was being forced to deal with the entirety of his magical abilities too suddenly and too quickly. He simply turned out to have so much power within him and was drawing on it now so much that he wasn't giving his body the time it needed to properly adapt and regulate all of the power he now had coursing through him. So although his continual pushing of his limits right here and now were serving to make him stronger with each second that ticked by, it was putting himself in great danger.
Simply put, sooner or later something was going to give. Either his body would be able to adapt to his newfound power or it'll overwhelm him and he'll explode, if the mana bursting forth from his body was anything to go by.
As that thought crossed her mind, it took Celine all she had to keep herself from breaking down. Running her hand once again down the image of Jaune her Relic provided her with, she prayed for his safety.
Back with Jaune, the blond was finding himself having a hard time standing. One second, he'd been fighting Surma on more or less even footing, trading blows with the beast with equal speed and intensity. But now here he now was on his knees, his vision blurring and his body feeling like someone had replaced his blood with lava.
Looking at the blood he'd just puked out, Jaune's facial expression morphed into one of detached disbelief, as if the very sight before his eyes simply was a trick brought on by his temporary blurriness. But only a second or so passed before it really hit him.
Ironically, his own power seemed to be killing him. Oh, he was no fool to what was going on. He may not be smartest guy to ever walk the earth, but he wasn't dumb either. During the past few minutes of battle, even as Surma savagely tried to kill him, he'd managed to finally connect the dots one at a time.
Somehow, someway, he was a magus. Not a pseudo one like his friends, but an actual honest to God magus. Go figure.
And furthermore, it seemed like the colossal power he'd turned out to possess was simply too much for him to currently withstand. Hence why he thought it ironic.
Moaning, Jaune tried to stand, but didn't even manage to get fully up off one knee before Surma finally decided to attack again, ramming headfirst into his chest and smashing him through at least ten of those humongous trees.
With a gurgle, Jaune raised Balmung and smashed the end of the hilt into the back of Surma's head, hard enough to make a popping sound that made Surma reconsider things. So pulling back, Surma opted to kick Jaune instead, knocking him back even further.
In all honesty though, the kick hurt very little compared to what his own body was currently putting him through. Feeling his veins all but about ready to explode, Jaune had to make an effort to keep from puking blood yet again.
Right away he knew that he had to rest up, had to give his own body enough time to get used to his new capabilities.
"But no chance of that…" he muttered as he now stood up, the pain growing worse as he forced his aching body to take up a defensive stance. He couldn't afford to rest now, not when this thing was still more than eager to come at him. Not when there was a chance that his friends and the villagers were still in danger.
To hell with the pain, to hell with the damage his own body was inflicting on itself, this thing had to be killed.
Little did he know, Surma was lost deep in thought too.
The beast could only look upon Jaune now with genuine fear. Although their battle had only last a handful of minutes thus far, its emotional state had gone through various things, more specifically five 'stages' of emotion. Surprise at when Jaune had started to keep pace with it. Annoyance when it found itself unable to put Jaune down quickly. Anger when the boy kept on getting back up and continued fighting. Disbelief upon realizing just how little damage it was dealing to Jaune. And then its current emotion, fear, upon realizing something for the first time: the boy had the potential to kill it.
What Jaune lacked in refined technique, he more than made up for in sheer power, resiliency and drive. His blows had rattled it more than a little with every clash, the boy slowly yet surely gaining the upper hand as he kept on shrugging off otherwise serious and/or fatal hits with little difficulty before simply continuing on.
Surma could only growl as it watched Jaune stand up now, the boy undoubtedly in great pain yet continued to rise nonetheless. Surma watched as another vein in Jaune's temple seemed to just explode, mana flooding out intensely like a geyser, earning a full body twitch from the blond while Surma could only flinch.
At the rate this was going, Jaune may very well die from his own power, a fact that Surma recognized immediately but wasn't really comforted by. It doubted the boy was going to let something like this slow him down much, so the beast couldn't afford to count on using this to its advantage.
Surma let out what could've passed for a sigh now as it tried to rein in its emotions. It was time for it to change things up a bit. But first… it'd need to get Jaune back to the village.
So without any sign of warning, Surma pounced upon Jaune just as the teen fully stood, slashing with its claws across Jaune's face with such frightening speed and precision that although the damage inflicted was miniscule, it was enough to still make Jaune flinch away.
Exploiting this involuntary reaction, Surma used his delayed movements well by almost casually kicking Jaune upwards with tremendous strength.
Through the air, Jaune went sailing like a humanoid soccer ball, the blond screaming a bit from the surprise. Upon landing, he unceremoniously bounced like a ball would due to the force, cratering the ground with every 'bounce' he made.
His mind and body whirred now, Jaune trying to think on the fly as he moved. He couldn't afford to let his guard down no matter what!
But his mind came to a halt upon realizing just where he'd just landed.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha cried out, having now recovered enough to stand as of just a minute ago. The same could be said for Nora and Ren as well, the two longtime friends standing by the redhead's side.
Jaune couldn't believe it; Surma had punt kicked him all the way back to Burgundy. But before he could verbally express his disbelief or say anything to his friends, Surma came after him.
Having crossed the distance between them only a second after having kicked Jaune, Surma had carefully calculated where Jaune would land. And as it quickly closed the distance, it couldn't help but feel a little disappointed in itself; its calculations were off just a bit. It had intended to kick Jaune into or near the middle of the crowd of villagers undoubtedly still in the center of Burgundy. There, amongst the people he so desperately wished to protect, there'd be no way Jaune could fight at full force, at least not without killing the villagers as a mere side effect of his swings. It'd have rendered Jaune all but helpless, something Surma had been hoping to use to its benefit.
Alas, it hadn't turned out all that bad; the blond teen's friends were close by and judging by the frightened cries of the villagers, it seems it may have missed its original target by only ten yards or so, a few houses blocking the way.
Something that was rectified as Surma blitzed Jaune.
Faster than the teen or his friends could react, Surma lashed out with a well-aimed punch to Jaune's right hand, which held Balmung. Jaune's one-handed grip having been relatively slack after his crash, the blond could only watch with eyes of shock as his magical weapon went flying out of his hands and through the nearest house.
On the other side of said house were the villagers, all huddled together tightly. The remaining Grimm still just outside of their village were still watching them and none of the villagers wished to test their collective luck by moving around.
But it was with a virtual multitude of near heart attacks that they all moved away from the house just as Balmung had been knocked through it, the large blade just barely missing a particularly tall man's head.
The blade landing close by Aksel and Lili, the two looked to it with shock and worry, recognizing it as Jaune's. But they hardly had time to process anything else when all members of team JNPR were knocked through the house as well, destroying it in the process.
Barreling through, Surma roared to ward off the villagers, making them go screaming back so that it had some room to maneuver. Smacking aside Ren into Pyrrha, Surma focused once more on Jaune, who'd landed near Aksel and Lili, the two children trying to drag Balmung out of the way as Jaune had nearly landed on it.
Surma's eyes narrowed. It couldn't let Jaune get the sword back. So it made for the children.
Jaune saw this and immediately went on the move, instinct driving his still hurting body into action before he could even think to actually do anything. He tried to get in front of the children, serve as a body shield for them… only for it to have been for nothing.
Surma had anticipated this. Its move towards the children had been nothing more than a feint. Changing directions in mid-charge with unfair speed, Surma gripped Jaune tightly by his messy hair and proceeded to raise him over its head before smashing him back-first into the ground, making an earthquake in the process. But it wasn't done yet and it did the same thing again before lifting him up for a third time and started to spin him high above its head. Then with a roar of triumph, it threw Jaune off to north.
Thrown with such incredibly strength and momentum that it blew multiple people away along with nearly a few houses, Jaune went careening off into the distance, smashing through dozens of the massive trees surrounding Burgundy before he was no longer even visible to the sight of anyone.
"Y-You-!" Pyrrha actually yelled as she readied Milo and Akouo. Switching Milo to its gun form, she wasted zero time in peppering Surma with one shot after another. Its back turned to her, its stump of a tail was exposed and that was the main target of Pyrrha's barrage.
Screaming in pain as its slowly regenerating tail was assaulted, Surma swirled around, ready to strike back – only for Nora to get up in its face and smash Magnhild into its open mouth.
"Hope you're hungry!" Nora exclaimed as she put her finger on Magnhild's trigger. Then she started pulling said trigger as fast as she could, firing one explosive round after another into Surma's mouth and all but down its throat. Enhanced by both her mana and her semblance, the damage proved great enough for Surma to nearly black out.
But 'nearly' wasn't good enough.
Spreading its arms out, Surma promptly smashed them inwards, its massive hands smacking both sides of Nora's head with such force that as its hands pulled away, blood spewed out of her ears, the eardrums having almost ruptured.
Grabbing the now limp girl, Surma threw her at Pyrrha, who promptly stopped firing and caught the girl. That was when Ren made his move. "Everyone, back!" he yelled at the villagers before coming at Surma from behind. Spotting a still open yet healing gash under Surma's left arm, the raven haired teen ducked under a sudden backhand from the beast and proceeded to jab the blade end of one of his guns into the wound.
Surma howled with pain, the blade of Stormflower piercing deep within its wound, almost puncturing its stomach. But it was clear Ren wasn't done just yet; raising his other gun, he opened fire into the wound, using the blade to further cut into the exposed tissue.
A few mana enhanced bullets managed to quickly pierce fully through the muscle and bone and bury themselves within Surma's body, its stomach now fully punctured in the process. The pain was enough for the sentient Relic to collapse to a knee, its vision swimming.
Not being ones to ignore an opportunity, Pyrrha and a now recovered Nora joined the fray.
Almost literally dogpiling the beast, the three members of team JNPR ravaged Surma with one attack after another. Ren pulled out the blade and instead went on to try and blind Surma, shooting and slashing away at the eyes, something that Surma tried to avoid by swerving its head, though with little success as the blades and bullets still cut into the skin around its eyes and nose. Nora circled around the beast and leapt on the back of its neck, wrapping her legs tightly around it before she switched Magnhild to its gun form and started firing explosive rounds into the back of its head, any damage done to herself be damned.
Using her semblance to control Akouo, Pyrrha let the shield loose and it circled the beast at lightning speed before it smashed itself into the back of Surma's other knee. Buckling, but not fully faltering, Pyrrha sought to change that by switching Milo into its sword form and began to hack away at the back of the knee.
Managing to find a soft spot, Pyrrha's precise swings quickly brought Surma down, forcing the beast to nearly fall completely over. Forced to use its arms to keep itself from fully falling over, Surma was unable to fight back at all as the three teens kept on the pressure.
Because of the near-fall having almost thrown her off, Nora opted to switch positions and targets. So standing on its back carefully, it switched Magnhild into its hammer form and starting smashing it into the base of Surma's lower back, aiming to smash the base of its spinal column. Ren kept on attacking the beast's face while Pyrrha now went to work on its right arm, hacking away at the elbow joint with the intent on collapsing it.
Through it all, Surma's vision almost completely blacked out, its mind all but blank. Never would it have imagined a day where it'd ever be this pressed by mere teens, pseudo-magi or not. It seems like the wounds Jaune had managed to inflict upon it earlier had proven more serious than it'd originally thought if these three could bring it this low.
Surma growled now, its vision returning. Its mind began to work again as that last fading thought had bolstered its mental strength.
Would it truly allow itself to fall here of all places? To these three overgrown brats of all people? Like hell it would. Its master still needed it.
With that thought now in mind, Surma slowly began to call forth the strength to try and stand. Even as Ren kept on shooting and Nora kept on hammering and Pyrrha kept on slashing, the beast slowly forced itself up even as every attack tried to keep it down.
Then just as it managed to force itself onto at least one knee, Surma howled purposefully. And as it did so, it activated its sole ability.
Through the mental link, Kalma looked on in fright as Surma did so, almost unwilling to believe what Surma had just done.
From her spot still atop the cliff, she watched with her own two eyes as Surma's ability immediately took effect. The very ground beneath it turned an onyx color and all but literally withered away. The trees closest to Burgundy all caught fire or split apart bit by bit until nothing of them remained. The very buildings all around Surma slowly began to break apart, one piece of wood or stone at a time.
Kalma could only cup her mouth in horror.
Amongst all of the Holy Knights, it could be debated that she and Surma as her Relic were the most unique. They didn't have any 'traditional' sort of magic ability available to them nor did they command concept magic either. No, aside from Robotics Space and the 'Boosters,' there was little that Kalma and Surma had to truly distinguish themselves save for just one thing.
Surma's one and only ability: All Dead.
It was a very simple ability, but an extremely deadly one; once activated, Surma is able to suck the life out of everything around him and the life drawn into him boosts his physical abilities and speeds up his regeneration and will continue to boost him until the ability is deactivated. Nothing is exempt from this ability, not even inorganic and nonliving things. It's why the trees burst into flames or split apart into nothing. It's why the ground turned to fading onyx. It's why even the buildings around Surma had begun to lose even molecular cohesion.
In order for Surma to live and grow, all that there is around him must die. Hence the name of the ability: All Dead.
Kalma watched as the Grimm just outside of the village all withered away into ashes nigh-instantly, which prompted her to sigh a bit in relief as the villagers remained untouched for the moment. But she knew that the villagers currently being 'spared' wasn't something done out of the goodness of Surma's heart; Grimm would provide more of a boost to his abilities than would the life force of mere civilians, no matter how many there were.
But alas, it was clear that All Dead was already working on the civilians a bit. Having all been standing, the villagers were now on the ground, their skin becoming paler by the second and their expressions growing more fatigued.
The sight was enough to make Kalma try to command Surma to just retreat, to leave the villagers alone. Provided Surma leaves now or is stopped, the villagers could recover their life force so long as they don't die beforehand, but as before, Surma wasn't responding to her orders.
So once again, it was with a heavy heart that Kalma watched on, praying for the end to come soon.
Meanwhile, back in Burgundy, the three members of team JNPR found themselves in the deadliest predicament yet.
Now standing tall, Surma appeared to be surrounded by a dark and evil aura, nearly enveloping it completely as it towered over the three of them. It grinned maliciously and let out a howl of triumph as its wounds began to heal virtually immediately. Even its snake tail fully reformed in short order.
All the while, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren were on their knees, their bodies growing weak and their minds slowly shutting down. "Guh, what's going on…?" the sole boy of the trio muttered. He tried to raise one of his weapons, but found himself severely lacking the strength needed to do even that much.
"W-What a cheater!" Nora yelled, succeeding only in taxing herself as she nearly fell completely onto the ground, Magnhild serving as a crutch for her to remain upright on her knees.
Pyrrha said nothing, merely trying to stand up and fight. But like her friends and the villagers behind her, she felt so very weak now and seemed to be feeling weaker by the second.
She didn't know how this was happening, but she certainly knew who was responsible for such a thing: the beast so gloatingly leering at the three of them.
Weakly turning, the redhead looked back at the villagers and saw them fairing hardly any better than she and Nora and Ren were, each and every person looking to be on the verge of passing out.
And that wasn't all either. All around them, everything seemed to be just – for lack of a better word – dying. The ground's very color and texture was rapidly degrading as was the very solidity of the buildings around them as well as the trees, the structures – manmade and otherwise – were crumbling apart like dried clay under assault from a violent storm.
"S-Some type of poison, maybe…" Pyrrha ultimately managed to utter, this being the only thing coming to mind. Because, honestly, she had no idea just what else it could be.
Then, Surma finally began to move.
Taking one step forward, it reveled in the way all three of its would-be slayers flinched. It had made it a point to focus a majority of All Dead's focus on them right after it had sucked those Grimm dry and it certainly proved to be the right decision; in a matter of mere minutes, it had already robbed the three pseudo-magi of a good portion of their mana, rendering them so much weaker now than they were before. Given just several more minutes of this, the pseudo-magi would undoubtedly be dead, their very corpses withering away as All Dead would continue to exert itself upon them.
But Surma would be lying to itself if it would only be satisfied with just that. No, these three pests had brought it down quite a bit. Yes, that may have been mainly due to the damage it'd suffered from Jaune's hands, but that had still been an insult it would not tolerate at all.
So with that in mind, Surma further exerted All Dead upon its three foes, its dark aura spreading towards the trio.
However.
Much to the surprise of all, Surma's malevolent and deadly aura was actually blown back, like dust almost.
And what surprised everyone even more had been the cause of it.
Now beginning to walk past the villagers, Jaune made his presence known. And as he did so, everyone looked upon him in shock and even awe.
For the boy no longer quite seemed like he had moments ago. Earlier, he had been literally leaking mana slowly out of his body, mainly through only a handful of veins, the mana having been spurting out like blood at irregular intervals.
But now… that had changed.
As he walked forward, the very air around him was saturated with his sky blue mana, acting as a sort of shield for the villagers and his friends against Surma's deadly ability. Almost every vein he had was visible, glowing just as brightly as his eyes were, the veritable typhoon of mana pouring out from him causing his already wild hair to flay about in the powerful wind.
Jaune grunted, bringing attention to the fact that he was very much in pain. Clearly his slow trek back from wherever he'd been flung to had been taken a bit of a toll on him. And yet, he still remained standing, refusing to let the pain show on his face.
He pointed a finger at Surma, making the beast almost retreat a step at the look in his eyes. "You're not going to hurt them anymore. I won't let that happen anymore!"
Surma growled in response, angry but not enough to charge immediately. It nearly broke out into a bit of a sweat upon seeing just how much mana Jaune was outputting. It was simply ridiculous; Jaune's mana reserves were so overwhelming that right now it was blanketing the entire area around him, protecting it unintentionally from All Dead.
But to that same token, all of this mana was being taken in by Surma thanks to its ability, boosting its abilities even more with each second that ticked by. It almost allowed itself an internal smirk. Jaune's strength would only serve to make its strength that much greater.
Issuing a roar of challenge, Surma now finally made its move, lunging at Jaune at full speed, which now proved to be noticeably greater than even before. But to its astonishment, Jaune's own speed and power had apparently increased as well since he'd been thrown back, a result from his mana overflowing like this.
With a mighty cry that sounded close to that of a beast, Jaune took one step forward before striking Surma right in its jaw with a fierce uppercut. So great was the blow's power and speed that Surma was knocked roughly one and a half miles up into the air, traveling back towards the forest at a speed that broke the sound barrier a dozen times over. The people closest to Jaune were actually knocked onto their butts and into each other merely from the backlash of the strike.
"Jaune…?" Lili then called out, all but whispering the teen's name. No longer affected by Surma's All Dead ability and surrounded now by Jaune's mana, the girl's energy seemed to be restored completely within seconds and now she looked to him with awe in her eyes.
"A-Are you…?" Aksel now muttered, so stunned by what had just happened to keep from stuttering a bit.
Jaune slowly turned to face the two children, a soft smile on his face. He looked down to see the two children and a few other people all but cradling Balmung in their grasp, the sword's weight apparently so great that it took this many people to hold it without trouble. "Don't worry," he then said as he reached for the blade, relishing in the feel of it in his hands again as soon as he gently pulled it from their collective grasp. "I won't let that thing hurt you guys ever again."
Almost as if on cue, Surma came out from the forest, having landed and wasting no time in coming back. The beast's eyes had a wild quality to them now, signifying its rage at the turn of events yet again. Saliva frothed out from the side of its mouth, making it look like some overgrown rabid animal. And in a sense, it was just that.
But Jaune turned to face the beast without fear anymore and he shot off to meet the beast halfway, Balmung glowing brightly in his hands.
"You're not going anywhere anymore!" Jaune yelled as he swung Balmung at Surma's leg, forcing the beast to jump over the blade and him. But Jaune simply grabbed hold of its snake tail and yanked hard, causing the beast to go crashing into the ground in front of him. "You're not running away from me!"
Taking up the stance that Miki had taught him, the blond leader wasted no time in unleashing every single attack he could think of. Every single different kind of strike that Miki had taught him flowed out from the blond, all of them aimed at Surma with the sole intention of killing it.
But Surma didn't simply goggle and let itself be struck. Having recovered immediately from the pullback, it ferociously matched each and every one of Jaune's attacks with one of its own, in the form of claws and teeth as it tried to force its way past Balmung to get to its wielder.
One blow after another was launched and one blow after another ultimately clashed, neither blade nor claws managing to overpower the other. Surma and Jaune were both dead even right now, the two not budging back or forward even an inch.
Mana poured forth from Jaune, his power still running wild. And Surma took all of that power in, its abilities growing in virtually perfect sync with Jaune's own growth. Surma's All Dead was simply incapable of boosting its power beyond the rate that Jaune's was growing at.
As one blow after another clashed, Surma began to feel differently now, if only a little. To think that it could go from merely respecting the boy's courage back at Beacon to be so terrified of him right now. The stark contrast between then and now was enough to nearly be amusing to the sentient Relic, even as it let loose with everything it had.
Jaune could only look upon the beast before him and marvel at how much things have changed. During their first encounter, it had feared this thing. When it had beaten him so thoroughly at the end of its assault upon Beacon, he had thought of the beast in almost horrified awe, viewing it as some kind of incarnation of all things insurmountable. But now, with power great enough to match it, Jaune couldn't help but feel differently about Surma. It was powerful, it was certainly still a terrifying creature to look at, but no longer did it seem like this unbeatable thing. No longer did it seem untouchable or invincible or unstoppable.
Yes, the beast could be touched. It could be wounded, even severely. But most importantly, it could be stopped.
And for the sake of his friends and Burgundy, that is exactly what Jaune planned on doing.
As if it wasn't already impossible enough, Jaune's attacks became even more aggressive and precise, his skills all but evolving before everyone's eyes as his movements became much more fluid and precise. Taking exactly half a step forward, leaning his body forward as well, Jaune now found himself pushing the creature back as he stepped within genuine range of its body.
Surma's mind filled with a panic for the briefest of nanoseconds. Jaune was trying to slip close to it in order to prevent it from properly attacking him. It couldn't let that happen.
So in response, Surma took a half step back.
Jaune matched its movements on point, taking yet another step forward. His tactician side, hidden usually behind a wall of insecurity and doubt, was now showing as his mind worked at lightspeed to figure out how best to bring this beast down.
And only one thing was coming to mind. The very same magical attack he'd first used upon awakening. It was the only move he had available to him that was capable of actually killing Surma. But he couldn't launch it from too far away; Surma would only dodge it, even if only barely. If he was to kill this thing, he'd have to ensure the beast had no way of avoiding it.
So, Jaune took another step forward, swinging Balmung in time to deflect a slash of the claws aiming for his shoulder before directing the blade upwards, aiming for Surma's throat. He was rewarded with just a slight nick of its jugular, the beast having tilted its head back just enough to avoid having its throat sliced open.
But in tilting its head back, Surma ended up directing its eyes upwards a bit as well. Enough for Jaune to step on its toes. Hard. Hard enough to make the ground rumble, in fact.
Surma actually let out a gasp of both comical surprise and pain, having not anticipated such a child-like move. But before it could act on this, Jaune kneed it in its stomach, making it lower its head.
That was when Jaune took a step back, raising Balmung. Its blade lit up brightly with sky blue mana, nearly blinding the awestruck villagers from well behind him.
Surma's eyes widened. It recognized this. It was similar to what Jaune had first done when they'd 'fought.' Choosing the precise moment to strike. Jaune had matched its movements perfectly in order to be able to bring it down like this. And now Jaune was looking to finish the job.
Like hell Surma would let that happen. Jaune had managed to land a good blow on it during their first encounter by way of surprise, but it wasn't about to let that happen again.
Although Jaune had only used this magical attack only the one time earlier, Surma had committed it to memory. The move takes a few seconds to fully charge.
Something that Surma now took advantage of.
Deprived of its oxygen from Jaune's knee, Surma still rose up from its fallen position and lashed out at the blond, almost too quickly to be seen. But Jaune saw the attack coming nonetheless and could only grit his teeth in preparation for it, praying it wouldn't knock him back.
And that was yet another thing about his magical attack; he had to be remaining in position in order to use it. Moving around simply wasn't possible for him. A fact that Surma clearly was capitalizing on.
But to Jaune's and Surma's bewilderment, the latter's attack was stopped.
Having rushed forward in time to intercept it, Pyrrha had used Akouo to deflect the blow aside. She then followed this up with a slash from Milo, forcing the shocked Surma to nearly stagger back.
She wasn't the only one to defend Jaune though.
Just as Surma prepared to jump back, Ren opened fire into the air directly above the beast with Stormflower, forcing the sentient Relic to remain on the ground.
Jaune's blade still at the ready and glowing brighter than ever, Surma inwardly growled. The blond teen's attack was nearly ready.
It attempted to run to either side, intending to just at least put some distance between it and Jaune's position – only for Nora to now cut in by way of blasting said areas with rounds from Magnhild, blowing up enough of the ground around Surma to nearly make the beast lose its footing.
And in turn, leave it wide open.
"Now, Jaune!" all three of them yelled in unison.
And with his attack now fully charged, Jaune obeyed. "Balmung!" Crying out the name of his sword, he unleashed his attack.
And for a moment, the entire world went white.
…
A few minutes pass before the light truly began to dissipate and as it did so, everyone could only gasp at the level of destruction Jaune's attack had wrought.
Every tree for miles on end had been utterly wiped from existence as were several mountains off in the far distance. Even the clouds above appear to have been part, letting in the first rays of sunlight that the villagers of Burgundy have ever seen. Not even the ground itself had been fully spared, having been wiped so smooth that it felt like glass to the touch.
And standing where the attack had originated was Jaune, the boy's aura of mana having shrunk drastically in size so that it now only slightly coated his body. But even that slowly began to fade, indicating that the boy had now perhaps reached his limit.
Slowly, Jaune turned around, a grim expression upon his face. "…It got away," he said tiredly.
Indeed, just as his attack had been about to strike Surma down, the beast suddenly disappeared, as if teleported away. This was something that Jaune had just barely been able to see before his attack had decimated the area before him.
Under other circumstances, such an outcome would've frustrated him to no end. To have such a dangerous enemy slip out from under him like that simply would've been an intolerable thing. But amazingly, he wasn't angry at all about this. He didn't know if this was because of how tired and hurt he was feeling, but the blond couldn't bring himself to feel upset over this sudden retreat from the beast.
Because all that really mattered to him was that he'd been able to keep it from killing his friends and the villagers.
"At least… they're all safe…" Those were the last words Jaune thought before he finally passed out, unable to remain conscious anymore.
From afar, Kalma had begun to walk away, her entire body shaking as she did so.
For she could only be in complete awe of Jaune's attack just now. She wasn't sure just what exactly the attack could do, but she did know one thing about it: it had packed enough power to potentially kill Surma.
If Surma hadn't felt so very much like running away right then and there, then Kalma wouldn't have been able to finally recall him back within her, his All Dead ability deactivating as she did so. That Surma felt so scared of the attack even with All Dead boosting his abilities was yet another testament to Jaune's power.
For he'd actually managed to scare the Relic into wanting to genuinely retreat.
But it was on this note that Kalma had to pause in her walking, placing a hand upon her heart as if in pain. For she now knew that Jaune would be fighting on the front lines from now on against her comrades. Which meant there may very well come a day where she and Surma would have to deal with him directly.
And while she couldn't fathom how such a confrontation would go, she certainly wasn't looking forward to how he'd react to her. Having formed a small yet significant friendship with him, it would hurt her greatly to see how he'd react to her being a Holy Knight.
"Just what to do?" she thought aloud, her hand quivering in its place upon her chest.
It was a long time before she finally found the strength to keep on walking away with her back turned to Burgundy.
And when she did so, she did it with a heavy heart.
She definitely wasn't looking forward to what the future had in store for them all.
Done! 21 pages! Wow, hands down the longest chapter so far for this fic and only a page or two shorter than the Naruto/Reiko fight from my previous fic. I knew that this chapter would be a lengthy one, but I hadn't quite anticipated the page count to be over 20. Not that I'm complaining.
Well, as stated above, I now have a job and while the number of hours I'll be working will be definitely less than full time, I still can't say when the next chapter will be up due to it. But it's my hope to have the next chapter up by roughly mid to late September.
Until then, everyone! Take care!