Jaune of Arc was The twentieth ruler of GrandTerre. He was not even a teenager when such a great and heavy responsibility was thrust upon him, with an almost unbeatable enemy knocking on his door.
Jaune was once a simple orphan boy with no family name of his own and dreams too big for his own good. He lived within an old, rickety orphanage helping the caretaker to the best of his ability with the younger children.
The boy saw the woman as the closest thing to a mother he would ever truly have.
Jaune was a short boy and was incredibly skinny with a pale complexion, his hair was as bright as the morning sun and his eyes were a sparkling blue that glowed with unimaginable purpose.
His purpose, his dream… his wonderful, naive dream was to become a hero.
The boy dreamt of helping the people of his land and making a true name for himself and his caretaker; Alexandra Merry who had long, luscious raven, black hair and beautiful grey almost silver eyes that always seemed to encourage him on his righteous path.
He loved that woman with all his heart and he knew she loved him as well. Alexandra loved all the children under her care like she had birthed them herself but she especially loved Jaune.
Having decided on his path; Jaune at the ripe old age of eight began training... well as much as an eight year old could train with a doting mother figure always making sure he wasn't pushing himself too hard.
But that didn't truly matter to the blonde haired boy.
He had plenty of time in his mind. He wouldn't meet maturity for another eight years...so it was okay to take his time and not worry the woman with his exuberance.
Jaune knew in his heart he was going to be a knight of the people! He was going to be a hero Alexandra could truly be proud of! He gave the woman his word after all and Jaune never went back on his word, just like Alexandra taught him. What kind of hero broke their word anyway.
So for a whole year Jaune trained with all... with most of his might.
He did push-ups, sit-ups and squats and practiced swinging his wooden sword while sweet Alexandra cheered him on with the other children, praising his 'talent' with the wooden blade.
Jaune knew he didn't have alot of grace and with no true teacher he was just doing what felt right to him but he was neither the less thankful for how kind the woman he came to love as a mother was.
Jaune liked to think he made a lot of progress at the end of that year... but he knew that telling himself that would be lying, sure he was slightly stronger and faster but he held no true skill.
Wallowing in his own self pity Jaune almost missed the quake of the earth but the boy soon felt it with the rest of town.
He saw the ground beneath his feet break apart as monsters of only the unholiest of lands crawled out from beneath him.
Their skin was like a lizards, incredibly snake-like and they looked burned from the hottest flame imaginable, their nails were long and black with eyes that were sickly yellow surrounded by a pitch blackness.
They looked like humans but were the size of toddlers, their horns bigger than they're heads.
They were vicious in ways he could never imagine… and he could do absolutely nothing as one of the tiny little red fucker's ripped his chest open with his four deadly sharp claws and tossed him away like trash knocking him unconscious.
Once the blonde boy came back to the land of the living he saw what surely must have been hell.
Everything was on fire, buildings were torn down and bodies laid scatter ripped apart with barely any recognition.
as Jaune limped to his home he saw what those… Beasts had done to the once tall building.
He saw what they did to the other children.
He saw what they did… to… to Alexandra.
Her body and what they did to it was a sight he could never forget, an image that was burned into his very soul that would haunt him for the rest of his life.
As he looked around holding himself together he saw there were no survivors, that… that the red devils for whatever reason had... left him alive and mostly untouched.
Maybe it was just a cruel twist of fate.
Maybe the demons just didn't realize he was still alive when he had should have died from such a wound… or maybe they were trying to torture him, to hurt him just for the hell of it as he bleed in front of the corpses of his love ones.
In all the years to come he never did find his answers.
Jaune tried to figure out a way to fix the deep wounds on his chest and he knew if he didn't… he would probably die so he but his knowledge of sowing to the test and tried to stitch his wounds closed knowing no other way but the most painful from the books he read but he wasn't sure he had the nerve or will to perform such an act upon himself.
After two hours of slowly bleeding out as he tried to stitch his wounds closed with his hands shaking all the while… he knew he definitely had the nerve and will as he was laying on death's doorstep.
Jaune lit up the fireplace and began heating up the iron poker until it was burning with an angry red that matched the skin of the demon that had done this to him. He shakily brought it above his first slash wound, "AGHHHH!!" The boy screamed in agony as spit dribbled from his mouth and tears leaked from his face and his vision blur for a few moments at the complete and mind numbing agony he was feeling.
He looked at his first slash wound and saw it partly burned closed… so Jaune did it again and again...and again until his four slash wounds were completely burned closed and his stomach contents were spilt on the ground.
By the end of it all Jaune had passed out, laying in his own sick trembling from the pain he had put himself through so he wouldn't die from blood loss.
By the time the nine year old boy had woken up he couldn't twitch a muscle without screaming in pain so he had just laid there until his agony eventually faded away.
It took about a week as his body slowly withered away from hunger but Jaune was finally able to stand up and walk with the greatest of strains.
Jaune wondered what he was supposed to do now.Was he just supposed to leave his home, leave his loved ones now as they rot and wither away into nothing.
Jaune couldn't do that… he wouldn't do that and so doing the only thing that made sense in his own mind he began to dig graves for all those that perished in the orphanage.
Once he had finished he thought about leaving and going to the next village over having truly honored their memories… but he couldn't.
He may not have known most of these villagers but they were all part of the same community and he wouldn't just leave their bodies to decompose or be eaten by vultures, so he dug graves for the two hundred and thirty villagers that were slaughtered.
After about two months he buried all the dead with great satisfaction and… with nothing holding him back he grabbed a bag of clothing and food he pillaged from the surrounding houses and started his journey to the next village.
He walked for two weeks taking frequent rests but eventually he reached the next settlement. Jaune couldn't wait to talk to someone after all this time but the only thing the blonde boy found was bodies ripped apart and clear signs of 'things' being done to some of them that sickened the poor child.
Jaune knew he should just keep walking and let the bodies rot. He had wasted enough time and energy burying so many bodies already and he was under no obligation like last time but they deserved more respect than this.
So Jaune did what he felt was right once more and buried the mutilated bodies of the young and old; all three hundred and fifty of them. At least his arms were getting incredibly muscular… so plus.
Jaune just wished he didn't cry so much… it wasn't like he knew any of these people.
After finishing he began walking once more once again refilling his food supply from the surrounding buildings hoping he would find something or someone, wishing for the emptiness in his chest to leave him be.
Several months later after stopping at six more villages and burying their bodies he finally reached some civilization in the form of the Kingdom.
It took Jaune a few moments.but he eventually gained access to the large city-like kingdom with no idea what to do next.
Everything looked amazing, there were so many different kinds of people! It was probably more than all the bodies he buried put together, Jaune felt an incredible need to talk to someone, anyone really..but he hadn't used his voice in such a long time, he was kinda afraid he had lost it.
Honestly he just didn't want to be alone.
But that was exactly what he was at the moment; had no family, no friends and no connections, he was just 'alone' in this incredibly large utopian like Kingdom.
But his luck soon changed when he heard of the news from the surrounding citizens that the army had reduced the joining age from sixteen to thirteen which got the young blonde boy thinking. He had a slight growth spurt on his journey here and with all the digging and walking he had done, with the 'borrowed' food from the massacred towns the boy looked fit and healthy and 'older', old enough to join the army even.
So that's what Jaune did! He went straight to the nearest recruiter and joined the greatest army in the world.
Jaune would look back on that moment many times in his life and wonder if that was the best or worst of his life.
In the end it was a bit of both.
Jaune immediately began his training with a group of nineteen people; it was a mixture of men in their mid thirties and teenagers, proper teenagers, as young as thirteen.
The training they put them through was pure and utter hell, they pushed they're bodies as far as they could go and then they pushed them even farther.
Their instructor gave them no inch and beat them into the ground if they tried to take one.
For three months Jaune and his group trained trying to become soldiers, Knights in shining armor and he liked to think they succeeded.
It's just that regular old soldiers and regular old knights weren't enough anymore.
On they're first battlefield, on they're first real mission which was to wipe out a small group of three demons terrorizing a nearby village fate had spat in his face and kicked him in the crotch.
Once they got there, they saw bodies laying on the ground and… and one… of the Demonic little monsters 'desecrating' a body of a dead man.
Jaune didn't hestaint like his group did who all came from the capital and had no idea what these monsters could do, already knowing of the kinda evil these demons could commit had quickly taken off it's head.
Not even a second after the other two red devil's revealed themselves and began slaughtering his group and injuring him in the process but he managed to barely take out the other two coving himself in their blood.
At the end of it all as his now small team left Jaune decided to stay behind despite how much they begged him to come, he wasn't going to leave the bodies like this. Especially that man, the dead deserve more respect than that, these people who 'ever' they were before 'this' deserved more respect than 'that' and so he stayed behind and buried the small town of sixty and walked back to the Capitol after a few days of non-stop digging.
When he came back he heard five members of what was left of his team killed themselves leaving only him and four others and after their next mission… only him.
The boy mourned and cursed and cried but he knew he had to pull himself together and when he was stationed to a new team of twenty, he truly didn't want anything to do with them.
He already had a wonderful team, it also didn't help that they looked down on him for 'abandoning his team like a coward.'
When Jaune mind registered what was said to him by one of his new teammates he beat them into the ground for saying something… so… hurtful.. .so untrue. He loved his team, they were like family.
Jaune knew he may have gone overboard but he truly did loved them and how dare a complete fucking stranger say he would abandon them like a coward, he deserved much worse thar what he got.
But despite his more than reasonable explanation he was of course reprimanded for his actions and got stall cleaning duty for a month.He didn't care all that much, it was more than worth it.
It wasn't long after they were assigned on a mission to kill a group of five demons and from what he heard, eavesdropped, from his leader this was going to be their first mission, their first time facing these monstrosities.
Jaune knew what was about to happen… and he wasn't going to let it happen, not again… never again.
Even if they didn't like him he was going to protect them and they were all going home.
History seemed to like to repeat itself for him though, as they stopped in horror, seeming one of the demons 'desecrate' a body of a little girl.
Jaune rage exploded and like last time didn't hesitate and soon opened the monster's back spilling his blood over the ground and himself.
He grabbed the red devil by the horn forcing it to stay still and his shield covered its vision and he removed it's head from its body.
As he heard the screeching of four other blood red demons running towards him Jaune prepared his sword and shield and began fighting, killing another one before the other three gained up on him and shattered his arm and broke several of his ribs.
Jaune, feeling blood dripping from his mouth and unable to feel his arm thought he was a goner, He thought this would be his final moment but to his immense surprise it wasn't.
His new team saved him and slayed the other three demons.
There were many cuts, scrapes and bruises but everybody was fine, his new team was alive.
He wanted to go to the Capitol with them and rest but like all the other times he had his morals and he was going to stick to them, otherwise what kind of person would he be.
He told them as much but unlike last time they helped him and in that moment Jaune knew he had found bonds that he was going to protect and cherish for as long as breath entered his lungs.
And he did for around a year.
In that one year when he turned from ten to eleven he had gained unbelievable strength, speed and stamina more than a normal ten year old could ever even hope to gain even with the intense and hellish training he put himself through.
He and the rest of the kingdom realized it was because of the Demons, for some inexplicable reason whenever someone killed a Demon they gain a tiny portion of their might.
At first it didn't make a difference; you became a tiny bit stronger and faster, a smidge more durable but the more you killed the stronger you got and It wasn't just him, it was his teammates too.
It was the entire army of Grandterre and most likely the rest of the world that was getting stronger from their victories of the red monstrosities.
The demon's numbers were dropping to double digits and it felt like nothing could bring them down... until the ground shook as it did once before when he turned nine and not even a moment later a crack opened up, letting loose Devils taller than its predecessor, taller than the average human.
They had the same reptilian skin but instead of the burning red, the new Demons skin looked as if they spent an eternity in a frozen winterland.
The new monstrosities were destroying large chunks of the kingdom and surrounding villages, killing and maiming everything in their way, the blue devils were ten times stronger than the red ones and twenty times more ferocious.
There was truly no chance for even the best soldier to defeat even one blue devil on their own but they had to fight-- or they would just die like cattle.
His team; one of the best in the kingdom were tasked to take out a three man group of the blue devils attacking the outside walls.
It was a hard fought battle leaving almost his entire team decimated, which only left him and two other alive and two of the blue devil's died but it was soon only him left as those two brave knights distracted the last one, leaving the blonde child an opening to throw his sword straight at the blue devil's heart piercing it.
He had saved the day at the cost of everything he loved and after countless casualties of soldiers/knights and civilians alike with some serious property damage they were able to slay all their enemies that threatened them.
It was soon after that, Jaune went solo but so did a lot of people-- He traveled all over Grandterre gaining a name for himself, a title of sorts.
Jaune of Arc; A knight so powerful that he would decapitate a blue devil with an Arc of wind ten feet away.
Jaune could truly say the next year was a productive one.
Mission after mission, the enemy's army is bigger and badder than ever; red devils numbers larger than when they first appear and blue devils stronger in almost every conceivable way imaginable.
But like the knight he always dreamed he could be, he slaughtered them all and bathed in their blood while saving villages and guiding them to the Kingdoms.
And once they got there, they spread his deed for all those who could hear and the people rejoiced his name, praising it and his deeds calling him something besides Jaune of Arc; They called him 'The Sword of Humanity.'
But after once more turning their enemies numbers into almost nothing but corpses, they're army stronger than ever, Demonkind seemed to show a hidden card up their sleeve which was more like a giant fucking sledge hammer they hid behind their back.
A forty foot green skinned devil with four arms and a sword in two with an entire legion of blue and red devils ready at his beck and call.
It's strength literally came off him in waves, It was truly a frightening sight to behold.
And it could actually speak, the glee in its voice as it spoke of the fear it could smell off them after destroying half of the enormous city and leaving them only three thousand strong,Jaune was truly afraid, not of the monster but of that fact that by some miracle they could defeat him… it wouldn't matter, that this cycle would never stop.
What would happen if they did win, if they once again wiped out the Demons into almost nothing once more, would another Demon even stronger than this one come and destroy all they're hope of a better tomorrow once more.
The green devil asked them to submit and gave them twelve hours to decide if they should keep fighting and die like dogs or… if to lay down and hope… pray for a quick death.
For a moment, for a second he wanted that, wanted to just give up and… 'rest'.
But then for the first time in what felt like forever Alexandra's face came into his mind and the promise to be a hero she could always be proud of resonated in his heart once more and he was soon 'disgusted' with himself and how far he could've fallen… and how far he did fall in that one moment of weakness.
So he screamed in defiance of they're supposed fate, screamed in fury of his and they're cowardness, He spoke to his fellow soldiers and King and asked them all to raise up with him and die with honor like they're comrades had in this bloody war, for if they didn't how could they ever look them in the eye in the after life.
He told them even if they may die in this battle they would die with pride! That even in the darkest of hours they stood together as one people against humanity's greatest threat.
In their eleventh hour with every single soldier and almost every capable civilian; man, woman and teenager banded together and fought with everything they had.
They fought with every weapon and every trick they could muscle in... and two days later with only a thousand strong left having laid waste to the green devil's army and gaining incredibly strength from their death's Jaune managed to leap high within the air and pierce the green devil's eye breaking his sword in the process but in that one instant, hope blossomed in his and every person he stood on that battlefield's chest... until he was punched with an incredible force through the air.
As his body impacted the ground he could feel almost every bone in his body was broken and his organs reputered; He was dying.
Jaune knew he was, he could feel the blood spill from his mouth and the air in his lungs struggle to leave and come back in.
Jaune didn't know what to do? Was he truly going to leave his comrades to their death? Was he really that weak?
No… no he was going to stand up and fight for his people!
Jaune didn't care about broken bones or… or ruptured organs!
He tried getting up, tried standing on his own two feet but he just didn't have the strength or will.
It was because he was human wasn't it? Sure he could kill thousands of red and blue devil's but at the end of the day his body was human and it could only take so much damage before it failed.
...so maybe he needed to be more than just human.
More than just a boy.
More than just a soldier or a knight.
Maybe… just maybe to defeat a monster...you needed to become the bigger one.
Jaune could feel his bones snap back together, and could feel his strength returning.
He could also feel agony tear through his head from two points in his forehead.
As Jaune stood up he looked at his hands that turned reptilian white like freshly fallen snow and how his nails were dyed black and were incredibly sharp.
He reached for his head and felt two hard protrusions that were wide and long... which Jaune knew were horns.
The blonde boy could feel eyes on him, could feel they're afraid of him and they could all hear the green devil laugh in wickedness.
The monster explained how he reached a power singularity where his human body couldn't become any more powerful than it already was so it changed into something that could.
...of course he had to want it for it to happen, had to want to become something more than just human for the singularity to take effect.
but Jaune didn't care, he knew it didn't matter what he looked like, all that mattered was on the inside; at his soul… he was still human and he said as much.
And after saying his peace he then blitzed the green devil with his newly enhanced speed and they began fighting in earnest with him only several notches weaker in power, it was truly a good thing he had an army with him.
In the end the king and half the army sacrificed themselves, his sire handing the Great sword to Jaune, crowning him the new ruler of the land and giving the boy an earnest opportunity to slash the monster's head off, adding a portion of his strength to Jaune's own.
And so, at twelve years old Jaune became the Twentieth King of his land. Not that anybody realized how young he was, he truly did look like his supposed age in his file which was fifteen years of age.
With his new form many people became afraid of him but eventually they're fear died down realizing how hard he had fought for them since he joined the army.
Later on Jaune found out the other four Kingdoms of the world were attacked in the exact same way there was… leaving only two thousand survivors in total, who were begging for asylum-- that Jaune granted with hardly a second thought.
They were the last of humanity and Jaune would be damned before they perished.
For two years Jaune rebuilt his beloved Kingdom, trained the civilians; men and women alike into worthy Knights.
He also went out and slaughtered Demons across the world reducing their numbers to almost nothing with the help of his Knights and by the looks of things humanity truly seemed to prosper once more.
But Jaune learned his lesson; He knew a new threat would be coming soon, stronger than he could probably imagine, strong enough to truly wipe humanity off the face of the world.
That day came a year later on his fifteenth birthday.
No demon had been sighted for six months and Jaune transformation had been completed, leaving the entirety of his skin as white as paper, his bright blue eyes becoming an ugly yellow with his sclera becoming raven black.
His horns became so large that they began curving to the back of his head.
As The blonde King talked to one of his advisers, he could feel an unspeakable presence enter his planet's domain preparing itself. Jaune, once feeling it's terrible might, had immediately known none of his soldiers could stand with him when he fought the Devil. They would be nothing more than a distraction for him... and they deserved they're rest anyhow.
He told his most trusted adviser; Caroline, an incredibly beautiful small saturated, white haired woman with bright baby blue eyes who had helped him run this country and knew in his heart could rule in his absence and in his death. Jaune wouldn't doubt it if she could rule the kingdom even better than he could.
So he crowned her the new ruler leaving the sword he and all his predecessors wielded to her.
Before he left to fight this and most likely final battle, he donned a new type of armor that his greatest blacksmith and best friend-- a young man with raven colored hair and deep red eyes named Hadrian who crafted it with a new type of metal found deep within the ground; stronger and lighter than steel and had a golden sheen to it.
Hadrian had also crafted a Greatsword even stronger than his old one made of the same metals as his armor.
He then left to face his foe; it's skin was as black as an abyss and was three hundred and fifty feet tall with six arms each wielding a ginormous sword, the beast also had four legs and eyes.
It's horns curved and twisted in a way that resembled a crown and just like the green Devils-- it spoke.
It called itself The emperor of Demonkind, the one that ruled them all and commanded them with absolute obedience.
it's goal; to create an entity that would rise above the rest of humanity and be strong enough to properly face him in battle.
Jaune didn't care much for his reasons… don't get him wrong, he was pissed off that all the suffering he and his people went through was because it was basically boring but this was the final stretch he wasn't going to go berserk and doom the rest of humanity.
They soon began fighting, Jaune only slightly,extremely, weaker than the Demon Emperor.
With extreme concentration the blonde dodged the six swords that were constantly trying to cut him into tiny pieces but with his Arcs of intense and sharp air Jaune was able to take half of the Black Devil's arms but as he expected he didn't remain injureless.
Jaune had lost his dominant arm leaving him to fight with his less dominant left hand, he had also lost his right eye which significantly brought down his combat ability.
In the end he managed to slay his enemy but in the process had lost both his legs.
As the teen laid in his own blood he began closing his eyes ready for the afterlife but when he opened them for what felt like a single second later, he realized that somehow, someway he was back in his Castle's medical room covered head to stump in bandages.
Turns out Caroline completely ignored him and set off to fight with the entire army by her side only to arrive too late.
After several weeks of recovery the new Queen decided with him alive and somewhat well had without hesitation given up her power and bestowed it back to him but Jaune knew he was in no state to lead, in no state to protect his people.
But he also knew his people only wanted him and they would never accept a new ruler with him still alive-- So all he had to do was die and give them no choice but to accept Caroline as their Queen.
He had commanded an audience with his kingdom as a final farewell, told them how much he was proud of each and every one of them and shed a few tears and asked for forgiveness for what he was about to do.
Turns out the power boost from the Demon Emperor had gifted him wings and with them he could somewhat freely move around once more.
He moved so fast that barely anyone could see him as he took Caroline's soft yet calloused hand and forced it around the king's sword and quickly pierced it within his heart.
He could feel her shaking and saw tears in her incredibly beautiful blue eyes but despite her betrayed expression he knew this was the best course of action.
With him as crippled as he was he could never lead his people properly and despite the Demon Emperor's death, the attacks from the lower level Devil's renewed with much fury and unlike before he could not stop the invasion, his massive power just going to waste, so truly was the best course of action.
Caroline was as smart as him, could see things better than he could, he knew she would make an excellent ruler-- it was the reason he crowned her in the first place! All she really needed was the power to defend the Last of Humanity.
He could give her that power.
Jaune let the power flow out of him and into her; He could feel his horns turn to dust, his teeth unsharpen with his nails, Jaune could also feel a numbness travel through his body.
Jaune found out that he could literally drain a Demon's power out of them if he prolonged the kill six months into his reign, all he was doing was putting that new skill to the test… just in reverse.
As Jaune slowly turned human he could feel his newly acquired wings wither away into nothing and eventually he no long had the strength to keep his advisers hand in its place.
In his final moments he tried to comfort her, he wasn't sure if he did a good enough job at it.
Jaune could feel his soul drift in a void of some kind.
he could see nothing.
hear nothing.
smell nothing.
taste nothing.
All he could do was feel...and even that was numbed.
He didn't know how long he was drifting, but eventually something changed and one by one his senses returned.
Jaune could see a light that he was being pushed too and once he was consumed by it and saw himself being held up by a giant man that wore a light blue smock with a face mask.
The newly reincarnated baby couldn't believe his very eyes… he had been reborn.
"What's his name?" The giant covered man asked.
"...Jaune...Jaune Arc." a feminine voice answered, causing a start in the baby who stated quietly at the doctor who was starting to feel incredibly unnerved at the young Arc's gaze.
...well fuck wasn't that a coincidence.