Project Remnant

by Aworldnotsosimple00

"The world of Remnant?" Jaune said holding the case in his hand. He looked up at Sun who grinned and gestured for him to keep reading. He rolled his eyes and looked back down at the case. "The world of Remnant is a sandbox-oriented massively multiplayer online role-playing game." He looked back at Sun. "Why do I get he feeling you want me to play this with you?"

8. Chapter 8

Project Remnant

I do not own RWBY

~ 0 ~

"Thoughts"

"Speech"

'words with implied meaning.'

Regular text

Menu info/ abilities, skills, combos

Enemy and ally info/ abilities, skills combos

"Disembodied voice/ Messages."

"Disembodied thoughts /Memories."

~ Ch 8 ~

~ Manga powers and Star showers ~

"Damn it. They got Sarah! Tanks to the front and shields up, healers to the back, and cover the NPCs. If they die, we lose the caravan and goods. Vanguard side with a tank and someone for god's sake get Sarah up!" All the players in the group moved instantly and formed their ranks with practiced ease. Just as they finished several, more daggers came flying out of the treeline and struck the shields of the three tanks upfront as well as a couple of the forward melee classes.

"Damn it. These daggers are doing insane damage!"

"Fuck yeah, it did 1,000 dmg through my shield and my bulwark skill!"

"Shit, they killed Kenny!"

"You bastards!"

"Mages fire into the treeline. Try to flush them out or light the forest up so we can at least see them! And someone, get Kenny up!"

An arcane and chaos mage in the back, fired off several low powered AOE fire spells into the treeline, the dried Autumn leaves of the trees bursting into flames that ignited the surrounding flora and shrubbery as well. There, just behind the fire, was a woman of average height with black hair, wearing a gray and black dress with purple accents tied down by a long purple sash, all covered by a dark black cloak. The cloak wrapped around her and gave off a hazy aura effect that made it hard to keep track of her as she rushed side to side along the now burning treeline as she threw dagger after dagger.

"Damn it! She's using a master's shroud. I can't lock on, or get a bead on her!"

"We cant see her stats either!"

"What level is she?!"

"Hold the line! We can outlast her! Throwing daggers are a bad weapon to use. Like a bow or crossbow, they're limited to 99 in a stack, and you can only hold two different kinds in your inventory at once! We can just rotate healing, then we. Argh!"

Something struck the man in the back, sending him crashing into the wagon next to him. A few people whirled around to see their team leader get taken out, the closest one being a Chaos mage. She looked around and then got low to check him. "What? How did she hit him from the back? Wait, that's not a Uhg..."

"Captain! Lana!"

"Chris!"

"Bossman! Chaos mage!" One of the vanguard classes near the front called out while glancing from the bodies of his downed friends to the treeline, seeing a few more daggers aimed at several of his companions a few meters away. "How did she? Everyone group up! We have to protect the healers and NPCs! Somebody get Lana and the captain up!"

Just as the young man finished shouting out his orders, he caught the glint of something rushing towards him, and his eyes widened. He raised his sword to block, but he knew he wasn't going to be fast enough, but just when the boy thought he was done for a figure landed in front of him and deflected the dagger. Ghostly Obscura, Vicious Defense. He stumbled back and fell on his butt, looking up at the back of the woman standing there. She had long raven black hair that billowed in the server's autumn breeze, and pale skin that was just visible through certain parts in her gear. In her hands were a dagger, and a short sword. The sleek, angular design looked similar to the new mecha shift gear he'd seen advertised in the patch notes. He blinked, and his eyes widened when he saw her turn to look at him over her shoulder with a pair of bright glowing amber eyes. He'd never seen someone with eyes like that before. They had to have been edited with the character creator. "Are you alright?"

The boy blinked a few times and nodded just as eight more daggers came flying at them. "Watch out!"

A dome of writhing black smoke appeared over the caravan. The daggers that passed through it were glowing bright red while the newcomer's weapons became enveloped in a dark purple light. Without a wasted motion, she brought her blades up and deflected all eight of them, sending them flying back out of the dome in random directions. One of the boy's companions slid next to him and shook him while handing him his dropped sword. "Oscar! Are you okay? Who is she? Someone, you know?" The boy shook his head in stunned awe.

Oscar barely saw the daggers, yet this girl used a couple of skills and deflected all of them without moving her feet. His companion patted his shoulder with a grin, and the stunned boy grinned back. "In that order. Fine, no clue and nope, but I'm glad she showed up."

~ 0 ~

Jaune watched, eyes wide as Blake jumped from her horse and dived through the air towards the person furthest from the center of the caravan who'd been shouting orders after the big guy had been taken out. He saw her draw her blades as a dagger went flying for the kid, and he bit his lip in anticipation of what would happen. Would she make it? Would she be able to block even if she did? Would she get hit instead? Was her new gear enough to mitigate the damage? Despite having crystal armor himself, he'd almost died against someone around the level of their target. He blinked, and that was it. He'd missed it. The only indicator he had that Blake had made it in time was seeing the boy fall on his butt as a knife landed in front of his horse, making it come to a sudden stop, and throw him off.

He tumbled off his horse and staggered to his feet, feeling a dull ache from the fall. His horse didn't even stay. It just bolted off, leaving him. It was quickly followed by Blake's as a notification popped up in front of his face.

"Battle has been initiated while riding a temporary noncombat mount. Mount has fled and will not return.
Horse whistle broke."

"Damn it. I hope Blake doesn't get mad about that." He rolled his shoulder and reached for the hilt of his new sword when another dagger came flying his way. His eyes widened, and he felt his body move. He leaned back and twisted ever so slightly as he threw out his left arm. A slight burning sensation around his right flank flared, and he let his arm buckle folding in on himself, allowing gravity to pull him and roll down the steep hill a couple of meters. A loud crash resounded where he'd just been. Jaune pushed himself up onto his elbows and looked up with wide eyes.
"Jaune! Get over here now! We have a big problem!"

Jaune gulped and scrambled to his feet while looking into the violet-blue eyes of his new assailant. "Dew?"

~ 0 ~

A dome of writhing, black smoke appeared over the caravan. The daggers that had been aimed at Blake passed through it, now glowing bright red while her blades became enveloped in a dark purple light. She felt her body tense as her skill took effect. Her arms moved flawlessly in short flicks deflecting all eight of the daggers in…four different directions. Her eyes widened, eyes darting in the four directions the knifes had flown as her body tensed. "Jaune, Get over here now! We have a big problem!"

The skill she'd just used, Vicious defense, was a skill used for fending off multiple people or thrown and shot attacks, so long as they were physical. It stopped the user from counter-attacking, but it deflected every strike back at all targets within range with 25% of the original damage, but only if your power was comparable. You couldn't, for example, use it against a boss or mobs. It was strictly a PVP skill. Now the fact that the daggers had gone in different directions was an undeniable indicator that there were several people in the same party that were within the range of the one who'd thrown them. This was bad. Really really bad. One person had looked tough, and then doable what with the new gear, but 4? "Jaune, where are you? I said!"

"ARGH!"

"Jaune!"

~ 0 ~

Dew grit her teeth and scowled at the blond idiot who'd fallen off his mount. She'd positioned herself behind him after hearing the skill the girl activated. She could have sworn she'd had him after he fell while dodging. His head had been right there, and yet somehow, he'd avoided her strike as well. "Damn it. I knew I should have gone for an undodgeable skill."
She pulled her spear out of the ground and calmed herself down, her expression becoming placid as her eyes met the guy's in front of her.

"Dew?"

She paused. "What did the guy just say? Did he. Does he know me? I haven't met anyone from IRL, besides the girls from the cheer squad. Do I know someone who looks like him? Blond hair blue eyes…" He reached up, and she tensed. Fixing him with a stern expression as she locked on.

Target:
Crocea Morse
Player level -
HP -

"What the?" She saw him reach up behind his head, and she readied to lunge when he gave a nervous laugh while rubbing the back of his head. Dew felt her shoulders sag, letting the blade of her spear hit the dirt as her jaw dropped in disbelief. "No way. Jaune?" Her mouth closed, and a big grin spread across her features as she jumped at him, hugging him tightly.

~ 0 ~

Jaune's eye's widened when Dew jumped at him, and he tried to get back, but he hadn't expected this, and the most he managed to do was turn around and take a step just before Dew glomped him, her arms wrapping tightly around his neck. "ARGH! Dew. Dew, stop. I can't breathe," He strangled out as Dew's grin grew.

"Oh my god, Jaune. I didn't know you played 'The World of Remnant.' It's been forever since I saw you do anything besides study. I mean, you hardly ever eat with us anymore either. You usually only show up when you're paying." Dew calmed down and got off Jaune. She patted his cheek with her spear while looking him up and down with an appraising look. "You know, you look good when you dress up. Wouldn't think it with all the dull clothes you wear to class."

Jaune rubbed his throat and swatted her spear away, not exactly feeling safe with it near his face. "Yeah, well, I don't usually buy my clothes. The ones I wear to class are typically gifts from my mom. Dress nice at school but try not to impress until you graduate. Something about earning a new look instead of just buying it." Dew made a noncommittal humming noise and opened her mouth to respond when she jumped back and slashed with her spear.

Jaune's eyes widened, and he reached for his sword. How could he have let his guard down like that? She was attacking him at the start, which meant she was either their mark or in the same group. Just as he drew his sword, Blake came dashing around him in a flurry of cherry blossoms, blades glowing blue. She slid out in front of him and slashed both weapons at Dew in opposite vertical directions. Blake grunted as their weapons clashed, letting out a shower of sparks.

~ 0 ~

Blake's eyes widened when she saw Jaune get jumped by some blonde girl. She was tall with mostly green clothes, namely a dress and thigh-high boots that had leafy designs. She had long blond hair and pointed ears. She also wielded a spear that she was pointing at Jaune's face now. Blake's cat ears flattened against her head, and she dashed towards them.

Silent Assailant, Hypnotic Whirlwind, Blake's body spun mid-stride, and she threw herself into a somersault using the blades to tear into to ground, launching herself forwards as a squall erupted behind her. The skill ended a couple of meters behind Jaune. The after-effects of the Ghostly Obscura and the added effect of Silent Assailant made her and her skill near undetectable. This was the perfect opportunity to deal some lethal damage. The girl's weapon indicated she was most likely a relentless class like herself, but if she wasn't going all out on Jaune, then she probably had a mage subclass that she focused on, meaning she was a hard hitter but wouldn't have much defense. The fact they were a PKer and an elf said that they probably focused on broad area magic skills as well. An easy match up for her. This would be quick so long as she wasn't packing full gear, or was some outrageously high level compared to their mark.

Blake's heel dug into the ground, and she met the eyes of the girl in front of Jaune. Her eyes narrowed as the other girl's widened. Dew jumped back as Blake pivoted and swung her body around Jaune's, pressing against his to get around him just in time as her skill activated. Death Blossom. There was a flurry of cherry blossoms around her as her blades began to hum and glow a deep blue.

"Undodgeable!"

Dew jumped back and slashed at Blake as her blades came around, clashing with the other girl's weapon. It wasn't an actual block. Dodging and blocking were a high DEX, high AGIL, traits that most magic users didn't invest in. Instead, she'd attacked with a light attack in hopes of interrupting the skill, but Blake. She'd invested in DEX and AGIL for this specific reason. Due to not interrupting the attack, they would trade. Since it was a dodge attack, the damage would be decided by DEX.

If your DEX were more than 50% greater than your opponent, you would deflect all damage and deal 70% of the original damage. If your DEX were the same or within 25% of each other, you'd both receive 25% damage. If your DEX were 50% lower, you'd get insta parried, leaving you open for a counter or a heavy skill. Unless, of course, your Agility was high enough, or you had an ability that stopped you from getting staggered.

"Clash! Breakthrough!"

Dew Grit her teeth. She wasn't some fancy assassin or a warrior. She'd played it safe and built a heavy assault character that had lots of AOE and Heavy Hit skills. She'd put in the minimum DEX and AGIL to hit monsters of her level but had poured everything else into evasion, and Intelligence to increase her ability to move around in a fight, and hit like a fucking train with her magic skills. In a siege, she was invaluable, and in group PVP, she was devastating. However, there's no such thing as a win all in Remnant. Against a tank with magic defense or a pure mage class with high agility, she was in a bad spot, but an assassin. An assassin who matched or beat her in AGIL and focused on DEX was her Achilles heel. She would be dead in moments if she got stuck in high damage combo or chained by a launch due to the simple fact she had no combo breakers or skill and ability cancelers.

Dew's eye's widened, and she screamed as her weapon went flying. A Broken Movement in Pain: Link: Dauntless Lunch. Blake spun around and bent over to the point her chest was touching her thighs as her left leg shot straight up accompanied by a torrent of water, kicking Dew right in the chin, launching her into the air. She followed up by completing her spin and crouched on the ground in front of a wide-eyed Jaune before springing off the road into a backflip, rising to meet Dew as a light gray barrier appeared around her.

"Launch!"
"Hyper Armor!"

Blake's short sword and dagger glowed a dark poisonous pink, Dauntless Launch: Link: Mercy Stroke. Faster than Dew could track Blake slashed across her chest in an x, transitioning into a spin where she cut both blades across Dew's side from left to right. Blake then slashed the short sword back across from right to left, and a thin white barrier appeared around Dew, shattering.

"Armor Break!"

(Bold - Mercy Stroke: Link)
(Bold - Vorpal Evanescence) Blake kicked Dew back down to the ground, using her as a jump pad to stay in the air. Mercy Stroke: Link: Vorpal Evanescence. She put her dagger in her right hand with her short sword as several silver lights formed behind her. Blake seemed to float in the air for a second, glaring down at Dew while throwing her hand out, the silver rays piercing the ground around Dew. The air around Dew lit up and shattered as if made of a thin crystal, and she screamed, but her voice was suddenly cut off.

"Shear! Silence! Disable! Critical hit!"

Blake landed on top of Dew, who was in no position to defend herself, and she ground her teeth as she raised her dagger, covered in a sickly violet light. Vorpal Evanescence: Link: Soul eater. As the blade came down, Jaune yelled out to her. "Blake to your sides!" Her eyes widened as she glanced to her left, seeing a girl with deep scarlet hair lunge at her with a kris. To her right, a girl with purple hair, wielding a sword. This was not good. She couldn't stop her skill now. It was a combo finisher, and there was no way for her to cancel it after initiated or combo into anything else.

There was also no way these girls had just gotten here with Jaune now warning her. They'd waited for the opportunity to strike. Her Hyper armor would stop her from getting interrupted for the first hit, but she'd still take full damage. "Damn it! A free hit without knocking me out of the attack. Then they'll stun-lock me with normal attacks until it reaches combo status. That's four hits. I don't know if I can take that even with high-level gear. Shit!"

Visceral Metronome

~ 0 ~

Blake squeezed her eyes shut and braced as much as she could for the impact as she felt her arm swing down to stab the girl she'd already comboed. Odds were it wouldn't finish her, but it would make her useless in the fight, and near impossible for a non-support mage to get rid of the debuffs. She felt the wind rush up on either side of her. Heard the crunch of gravel as her dagger swung down, stabbing the silently screaming girl under her and then. "Blake!"

"Son of a bitch!"

"Bastard!"

Blake's eyes shot open to see the flash of a crimson blade fly around her left flank and clash against the incoming kris with a purplish glow. Jaune slid up beside her just a fraction of a second after his blade. He grabbed her shoulder and rolled over her back, connecting with the blow from the girl with the purple hair. He overpowered her, and she stumbled back.

"Visceral Counter-strike!"

"Bleed! Drain! Poison!

The two girls who had tried attacking shouted out for their party member when she clutched at her chest after Blake ripped her dagger out. Blake took the second to stare down at Dew and targeted her.

Target - Dew
Player Level - 173
HP - 1344/17000
Armor Break, Shear, Silence, Disable, Bleed, Drain, Poison

Blake couldn't help the grin from spreading across her face. One combo and nearly out. High-level play and some serious gear really did come down to skill, and not giving your opponent a chance. A few more hits, and this would have been a walk in the park for a mark. Or it would have been, if not for. "Dew!" She glanced up just in time to see the girl with red hair thrusting her knife right at her face. Fast. Too fast. Wolfs Fang. This girl was on her level in terms of SPD. A skill meant she was dead to rights.

She brought her hands up to block. It was the fastest function in the game outside of counter-strikes, some people, like her, even used it to cancel-chain-combos. Despite blocking, she knew she wasn't a knight or any kind of high resilience or defense class. Against another Assassin, blocking could only do so much, and so much meant very little against critical multipliers. After all, what good was a class made for one-shotting and single comboing if blocking would let you survive? As such, attack-canceling skills and shut-down abilities were coveted in higher-level gameplay, but the requirements lay in DEX as well as RESL. No player who knew what they were doing would spec into a stat not meant for their class unless min-maxing, or waiting till endgame. It was then they could finalize their build. So what if you died or got wrecked along the way. As the saying went. GET GUD.

Blake watched as if in slow motion as the kris came closer and closer to her head for what was, without a doubt, going to be a major-critical or a double-major-critical. Her blades were rising and would meet the other girl's in the middle, but games were funny in how even if you did block, mechanics had a way to screw you, Chip, or breakthrough damage. Hell, even completely subverting the attack. In The World of Remnant, everything was decided by skill, traits, and stats.

Something she'd picked up on recently thanks to Jaune was how perfectly outfitted weapons and armor could be a significant boost to stats. Her new weapons and the extra bits she'd seen added to the armor while going over it on their way here showed her one thing she'd noticed but never thought of much till now. Level, as well as your based stats, were more than that. They were percentages for multipliers. It was even more apparent with the crystal gear she had on now.

Of course, just about every game used a multiplier on gear for percentage-based increases and what not but Remnant. Remnant focused on resource management, equipment, and stat bonuses in a way she'd never seen before. After getting her Crystal gear and seeing the % bonuses to her stats. The way her abilities scaled up with her. She had to say. "Jaune, you're such a cheater."

The blond brought his shield up and clashed his sword down on the blocked blade of the blue-haired girl he was facing. She kicked at him, but he dropped his arm with the shield to prevent that as well Counter, but she pulled back into a fencers stance sword glowing.

Jaune's eyes narrowed as a golden, red-tinged glow enveloped him, Knock-back, and he shoved her down onto the ground before looking over his shoulder at Blake with a look of disbelief. "Really, Blake? Now?" His eye's widened when he saw the other girl's kris meet with Blake's blades right in front of her face. Shadow Stitch.

Clash! Breakthrough!

Blake's weapons tor from her hands, followed by her head snapping back along with a smattering of blood that flew in an arc above her. She was lifted off the ground from the force of the hit. Before she could do anything, the redhead rushed forward, sliding across the ground in a tall, elegant poise. Monarch's wrath. The other girl stabbed Blake several times across the chest before grabbing her breastplate and slamming Blake's head down onto it.

"Double-major-critical! Knock out!"

Blake fell to her knees, her hands limply hanging at her sides as the redhead performed a pirouette and threw an ax kick to the back of Blake's head, slamming her into the ground. Jaune watched in wide-eyed horror at his friend getting beaten down like that. He tried shouting out to Blake, but the girl he'd been fighting kicked at the back of his knees.

Side-kick, Jaune dodged to the side and slid in a semi-circle behind the girl letting out an angry yell as she flipped to her feet. He thrust his leg out at her, aiming for the small of her back while she was still completing her flip to get on her feet.

Jaune's eyes widened as the girl's hand exploded in brilliant white light, and she went arcing over his head. Slap Shot. His kick missed, and he ground his teeth whirling around to meet her knee. His head snapped to the side, and he tasted rust.

Jaune lashed out at the girl catching her gut as she touched down and forcing her back. Dancing Rhapsody. He pressed his advantage with an overhead swing that she tried blocking.

"Breakthrough! Stagger!"

The girl looked at him with wide eyes as her sword glanced away, leaving her open. He stepped up to her, delivering his second and third slash in the combo. Blood spattered across the girl's clothes as she gripped her face and stomach. She shouted, calling him a little shit. She pointed her sword and pulled a trigger. Jaune's eyes widened as her sword folded down into a crossbow, and he grunted as several twangs filled the air. He felt that now familiar, burning sensation around his gut, but he couldn't look. He had to keep going, letting up meant death. It looked like it for Blake.

She pulled the trigger on her weapon again, and it shifted back into a sword. She flipped it into a reverse grip as she came rushing at Jaune with her arm outstretched. Her weapon, hanging behind her arm likely to do increased damage. She pushed her advantage and moved into a combo. Death Stroke: Link: Full Lariat

Jaune braced himself. He did it just a moment ago, and he could do it again. He held his sword in both hands and glared at her as she closed the distance in less than a second, but he never braced. Just as she was on him, he moved.

Jaune's knees bent, and his head would have met the girl's arm save for his sword. Visceral Metronome. He pushed the blade to her armpit and spun around, placing his left foot right next to her right one. He pulled his sword back and jumped back as she continued a couple of meters past him. "Yes!"

"Deflect!"

VM/1

"Congrats. But this isn't over you annoying punk!" Full Lariat: Link: Flash of steel. Her legs became enveloped in the same white light as before, and the ground exploded, sending her shooting right at him. Her blade was extended, and she had a confidant grin on her face. "You got lucky before Mr. knight, but now you die."

Jaune just stood there until she was less than a meter away. His arm rose, his hand coming to rest by his ear, sword covering his side. Just as she reached him, he spun gracefully out of the way and rushed in behind her to stop any more lunge attacks. "What? You little shit, how? Knights can't move that fast." She saw him move in behind her and swung her leg out at him, but he jumped over it. She grinned and continued her combo.

Flash of Steel: Combo Link: Endless Flurry: Link: Blade Storm. She went with the momentum of her kick and swung her sword around in a wide arc. The flash of steel coming for him made him grin, and the girl frowned with a glare. "What's so funny!"

Jaune twisted in mid-air, going upside down while bringing his blade to meet her's. Their swords met, and instead of blocking or clashing, he rolled over her sword using his as a divider to avoid damage while throwing her's off the mark. Visceral Metronome. She huffed as her sword was weighed down and cut into the dirt road, but that didn't stop her attack. She twisted her body and swung her hips for full momentum and slashed her sword back up at Jaune Who just stood up straight.

He swung his sword in a pinwheel and caught her sword, angling it back at the ground while distancing himself from her with a small hop. Visceral Metronome/3. "I can do this all day. My stats and traits are obviously higher than yours, where it counts."

The Bluenette shouted in rage at him and tore her sword through the ground at him as she stepped to him. "Shut up!" Her sword came swinging at Jaune's face, and she grinned when he didn't move. She Initiated a block just after she pulled the trigger on her sword. "Gotcha."

"Hyper Cancel! Combo break! Feint!"

The girl's eyes widened as Jaunes sword, and his left hand shone with a brilliant purple light. Visceral Counter-Strike. He moved so fast she couldn't keep track. Was it an auto counter she couldn't do anything about? When had he...All the attacks he deflected without followups flashed through her mind. "What the hell is a knight with skills like yours doing around?"

In less than a second, Jaune dropped low, dodging the bolts that shot from the bow-gun while placing his left hand on her gut. There was an explosion of energy, and she was lifted off her feet. She coughed up a mouthful of blood and spat as Jaune spun around, smacking her back with the flat of his sword, slamming her into the ground. When she bounced back up, he kicked her against a tree a couple of meters away. "I'm not a knight." He pulled his sword back and readied his attack. Promise Reprisal. His body became coated in the gray aura of hyper armor, and he lunged at her. She was still recovering from the wall splat and couldn't do anything. His sword plunged into her gut and then back out quickly. The stab wall splatted her again, and she looked up at him with wide eyes. What met her was the cross guard of his sword, and she was knocked to the ground.

Diminuendo Dive. He thrust his sword into her gut again and twisted the blade. She cried out as he gripped the handle with both hands jumping with her in tow, dragging her up the tree. He wrenched the sword out and spun around Stabbing down at her heart, sending her crashing to the forest floor below.

"Critical strike! Armor Break!"

Jaune grinned. He could do this. She had done next to nothing to him, and he had her on the ropes Just one more skill. Coda. "This is gonna end this or come real close." The girl looked up at Jaune with scared eyes and scrambled to run. She got one step and moved into a dodge.

"Guard Break!"

Her heart went cold when she felt her body freeze. She looked over her shoulder, seeing Jaune right behind her with his left foot holding hers and his right hand on her shoulder. The look in his eyes was...Confident. "Are you some kind of battle junkie?"

Jaune looked down with a weak smirk as he stabbed his sword into her back, through her heart, and out the front. "No. I'm just competitive, and you hurt my friend."

"Major Double Critical!"

Jaune let out a breath as he pushed the girl off his sword. She wasn't dead yet, but the critical would stun her long enough for his animation to end and. "Nebula!" He looked to his right. Down the road where the caravan had been attacked was another person. His eyes widened when he saw the multitude of daggers come flying at him.

~ 0 ~

Jaune crashed to the ground with a groan. The bluenette, Nebula, had kicked his face after he'd gotten out of the stun-lock from the throwing knives. He gripped his sword tightly and made to get up, but a boot hit his gut, sending him sprawling back, knocking the wind out of him. He opened his eyes with a groan and came face to face with Blake, but her bangs were in the way. He couldn't see her expression. He tried to say something, but a boot came flying at his face, and he rolled over, gripping his face in pain. "God damn i." He was cut off by a weight falling on his back, knocking the air from him again.

He winced, feeling a hot burning sensation near his right hand. He glanced, seeing his hand pinned to the ground with his sword, by Nebula's own. He ground his teeth and took in a sharp breath. It still hurt. With pain-filled eyes, he looked back at Blake just in time to see the redhead step over Blake. "This is for Dew, you bitch." With that, her heel started glowing a deep crimson, and she slammed it down into the side of Blake's head. There was a loud crack, and Blood splattered Jaune's face, as all the color drained from Blake's Avatar.

The pain in Jaune's hand surged, and he felt the weight on his back shift. "Wow. Octavia. That was pretty clean. I mean this little shit, notwithstanding she dropped like a fly."

"Blake…" Jaune trailed off quietly as he watched her avatar become a monochrome palate. He blinked, and in her place, he saw Ruby. He felt a pit open in his gut. This was so similar to back then. "Why?"

"Haha. Damn Octavia. That was a finish if I ever saw one." The crunch of dirt met his ears. The third girl joined the other two above him. "Honestly, I can't believe she got Dew so good." Jaune coughed as a boot hit his side, making him wanna curl up. "This little snot actually dodged her without glancing at her. He even almost had Nebula. I mean, did you see? What level is he? Did he use a hack or something?"

"No, Gwen. I don't think he's a hacker. I mean, he did get knocked and pinned by Nebula after you stun locked him. She didn't even use a skill or ability." Octavia looked at Nebula with folded arms. "Though I did look at his target info, and it's weird."

Nebula shook her head and shrugged to the both of them. "Weird? In what way?" She asked in a wary tone. I mean, he went from zero to one hundred in no time and deflected our attacks. And I mean deflected. It stopped our momentum and restarted my combo counter. You?" She asked while looking at Octavia. The redhead returned a frown and a nod. Nebula felt Jaune shift, and she pulled her blade out, stabbing it into his wrist. "Stop squirming."

Gwen sighed and rubbed her eyes. Nebula was pretty cool for the most part, but she took the fact this was a game to far and abused the whole PVP oriented thing and did stuff like this from time to time. "Please stop. This is a game, not some BDSM simulator." Nebula flushed and let go of her sword but left it in Jaune's wrist. "So. What about him was so weird?" Gwen asked.

Nebula looked to Octavia as well with an expectant look. "Well, I mean. I can't see his level or anything but his name," She said while waving dismissively at Jaune.

Octavia glanced at the guy under her. "You know. That makes me wonder. This was the only scheduled group traveling between Vale and Cliffside this evening. And high-level players don't go to Cliffside. Like. For anything." She looked down at Blake and Jaune. "What are they doing here?"

The other two girls looked down at Jaune with suspicious expressions. Nebula nudged his head, drawing a quiet growl. "You know the longer I look at him, the more familiar he gets. Hey, squirt. Do we know you?" He just kept his mouth shut. Nebula rolled her eyes and sighed. "Men. Think they're so tough."

"Hey. Octavia. Nebula." The two looked at Gwen. "Where is Dew?"

Octavia, as well as Nebula, looked to Gwen like she was stupid then pointed behind themselves. "Where?" They all looked over only to see empty dirt.

Octavia rushed over and looked down at the ground with wide eyes. "What! She was just here. There's no way she moved. She was suffering from disable and a bunch of other stuff."

Nebula got up off of Jaune and looked around, confused. "I could have sworn she was just there." She paused, her eyes going wide. "Octavia!" The redhead looked at her party leader and nodded with a scowl.

Gwen walked over to the two and looked between the two while she rubbed the back of her head. "What?"

Suddenly a wave of energy barreled into the three of them, sending Octavia and Gwen sprawling. Nebula grit her teeth and covered her eyes from the dirt picked up by the wave and narrowed her eyes, trying to make out what it was. "No." The other two gathered themselves and looked up at what caused everything.

~ 0 ~

The pain in Jaune's hand surged, and he felt the weight on his back shift. "Blake…" He trailed off quietly as he watched her avatar become a monochrome palate. He blinked, and in her place, he saw Ruby. He felt a pit open in his gut. This was so similar to back then. "Why is this happening? It was supposed to be a single mark. Why are there four of them?" The crunch of dirt met his ears, and the fourth joined the other two above him. There was no way out with three against him. Whatever. None of that mattered, Blake. She was his focus right now. He just had to… *Cough* Jaune let out a hack as a boot crashed into his side, making him wanna curl up. "Fuck." Kicking someone who's down. Fuck the fact it was a game! This hurt. And Blake. Had she felt what they did to her? Was she in pain? "Damn it, why?"

"I just have to get to Blake. I need to make sure she's alright." He shifted and stretched out his right hand with the blade still stabbed into it. It tugged but wouldn't move much further. Then without warning, the sword was removed, and he dragged his hand towards Blake's face. Just before he could touch her, the sword plunged down into his wrist, pinning him once more. He cursed under his breath and tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword. They'd hurt Blake. They'd hurt him. He needed, he needed power.

Nebula nudged his head, making him growl quietly. "You know the longer I look at him, the more familiar he gets. Hey, squirt. Do we know you?" Jaune just kept his mouth shut. "Men. Thin… …eir… …o… …gh…"

Everything started to fade and get distorted. Soft muted darkness encroach on the edges of Jaune's vision and the pain in his body disappeared. It was strange. He couldn't accurately describe how he was feeling right now, and that included mentally. He really didn't. If he had to pick something though it would be confused. Blake had just died. But this was a game, so she wasn't really dead. Would she be mad like Ruby had? Was he okay himself? He'd never actually died in the game before. He'd made an emergency log-out back then to check on Ruby. Is that why he couldn't feel his body anymore? Was everything going dark because he'd died, and the game was force booting him for the six-hour timer? What was going on?

~ 0 ~

~ (Lost World - by Myuu) ~

Jaune didn't know how much time passed or what was going on; the only thing he noticed was that he suddenly felt cold and wet. Music permeated through the hazy cloud of darkness that was his mind. It sounded like an old piano. It was accompanied by the quiet crash of water and the gentle rustle of the wind. As if he were on a beach. He felt the same weightless feeling come over him as when he'd been taken into the Ether. He didn't want to open his eyes if that were the case. The question was, how was he gonna get out of here. Last time he hadn't been able to log out or bring up his HUD until the fight started.

He gripped his hands, feeling no dirt or sand like he'd expected and instead was met with a smooth wet surface. He slowly, tiredly, opened his eyes. It was a struggle to do even that. Granted, he felt weightless, but that was apparently not connected to his ability to move right now. He felt light as air, but he was moving as if underwater, and his eyelids felt almost like they'd been taped shut. Regardless, he struggled and forced them open with far more effort than should have been needed. What met his gaze looked to be a dimly glowing platform with a thin layer of water washing over it. The crashing sound was coming from the dark edge of the platform where the water lapped up around the edges with the gentle waves.

He winced, feeling far stiffer than he should have. With great effort, he pushed himself up off his chest and to his knees. He looked around, seeing nothing but a perfectly round platform surrounded by water. "Where… am I?" Jaune rubbed his eyes and looked back around, taking note of the vast expanse of darkness surrounding him. It was black as pitch. He couldn't see more than a few meters past the edge of the. He looked down. Whatever it was, he was standing on.

"So much to do… So little time…

Jaune looked up around into the darkness that seemed to swirl and grasp at the light beneath him. "What?"

"The end is inevitable…"

"He couldn't think straight. Was this some other kind of random event related to the pendant? And the end? "What's that supposed to mean?" He called out. Not like he expected an answer to be honest.

"Don't be afraid… Now stand up… Can you do it?"

He ground his teeth and pushed off the ground, using his knee as support as he struggled to his feet. "A lot easier said than done."

"Very good... You desire power… Give it form… It will give you strength…"

Jaune heaved a deep sigh and nearly fell over. He stumbled and fell forward, slipping. His hands and knees splashed into the shallow water, sending small waves in every direction. He gripped at the smooth surface and chuckled mirthlessly. "Just my luck to end up in some weird place again. He crawled forward until he was at the center of the glowing platform. Looking up around into the darkness, he felt dizzy and confused. With a huff, he slumped back onto his feet and grasped up at the dark sky above him. "You said to give it form! But I have no idea what the hell that means!" His hand dropped, and he looked down at the platform under him with a melancholy smile. "Not like it matters. It's just scripted."

"Is that what you think… Rude… Ungrateful… Childish… Expects too much… Human… No… Unblessed… So that is your strength…Power given form… Meaning through strife…"

Jaune squeezed his hands tightly and fell forward onto his arms yelling. "Just give me something already so I can get out of here! I want to make sure Blake is alright. Make sure she doesn't…. I need to protect her. Better than I did, Ruby," He trailed off.

"So The power of the Guardian interests you? Kindness to aid friends… a defense to repel all… Is this the power you seek?"

Was it? What good had being a tank done him? He'd done well, but then that woman had happened. He needed strength to fight not to defend. He shook his head. "No. I need to fight."

"Strength to fight… So the power of the warrior interests you? Invincible courage… A weapon of terrible destruction… Is this the power you seek?"

A weapon? That sounded nice, but then again. Was it? What could he do with a sword? Granted, with his improved stats and the focus on mobility, he'd be devastating with the right weapon or skills. Enough to tear down anyone who threatened him. But again. Would that work in every situation? He licked his lips and took a calming breath. "No. I need something more absolute. Something I can be sure of."

"I see… Absolute… So then the power of the mystic interests you? Unmatched wisdom and fortitude… A catalyst of unimaginable possibilities… Is this the power you seek?"

"Magic?" Jaune laughed softly in frustration. Was this some elaborately dramatic stat boost or something, or a free skill? Magic wouldn't do anything for him. His character's intelligence was to low. Not only that, but he had no magic-based skills to begin with in the event he got a weapon. "No. None of those work for me." He looked down into the dimly glowing surface of the platform he was on. He just now noticed it, but he was standing on some glass roof. Below him lay a flooded room. An art viewing platform of sorts with extravagant furniture strewn everywhere. All submerged in water. "What is…"

"So… The Guardian… The Warrior… The Mystic… These powers hold no sway over you… Tell me about yourself, so I may grant you the power you desire."

Jaune just fell back onto his butt at this point. What in the hell was going on? Why was he still here? He needed to get back to check on Blake. Telling Blake about the six-hour respawn timer, and apologize for not being able to keep the promise about going to the event was his priority. "Hey, I don't have time for this. Just give me the sword so I can go." He went ignored and frowned. He tried to pull up his HUD to see the time, but as he'd expected, in the Ether, it didn't pop up. With a groan, he fell back and splashed into the shallow water. "Fine then. Ask me your stupid questions."

"What are you afraid of most?"

Jaune quirked a brow. Talk about a loaded question. There were lots of things he was afraid of. So many things that he couldn't even keep track of them as they flitted through his mind. But the one thing that stuck was the faces of everyone he knew… Slowly fading from his memory. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "My friends. I'm afraid of losing my friends."

"Hmm, Is losing your friends really so scary?"

Jaune looked up into the darkness and shrugged. I don't know. But it terrifies me that one day they just won't be there.

"What do you want from life?"

Again. Another loaded question. There were plenty of things Jaune wanted from life. Some trivial. Others were impossible. Most of them selfish. Like wanting him, Yang and Ruby to go back to the way they were. Like wanting to spend more time with his friends. To do everything he could and share it with the people closest to him. To have a story to tell… "I want a fulfilling life, one I can look back on and be proud of while telling my friends all about it."

"You want to be admired… You want to be proud of yourself… Respectable."

He just folded his hands behind his head and sighed. Yeah, well, I guess. I never really thought of it like that. I was a little harsher and called it being selfish.

"What's most important to you?"

That made Jaune pause. Not in the same way that countless things popped up, but more so how nothing did. He could have said, friends. After all, that's what he was afraid of losing most, but. When he thought about it, there was a strange stirring in the back of his mind saying forgetting certain things was for the best. It made him pause. He felt a coldness settle over his heart, and he gripped his breastplate. "Alone, Just me, myself and I. When everyone is gone, I'll be alone." His near-perfect grades. He was always trying to stand out compared to his sisters, learning fast, getting things done right. Jumping through hoops to come out smelling like roses. He sat up and looked up into the darkness above him. "Being number one."

"Is being, number one, such a big deal? Well then…"

Jaune stood up. Far easier this time, and he patted himself down a bit to get some water off. "Does that mean I can go now?"

"So… The Guardian… The Warrior… The Mystic… These powers hold no sway over you… Losing all of your friends frightens you the most… You want to be admired… You want to be proud of yourself… Being number one is the most important thing to you… I understand now…"

Jaune felt something touch the center of his back, and he whirled around only to find nothing there.

"So, this is how things are."

"What?" Jaune yelped, looking around for what touched him. There was nothing as far as he could see. He looked down, and the only ripples in the water were from himself.

"Don't worry."

He felt the feeling around his shoulder this time. He tried to spin around again, but something caught his feet, and he tripped. When his hand hit the platform, it sunk right through. He looked at the glowing surface in wide-eyed terror and pulled his hand back. "What? What the hell is going on?"

"And don't be afraid."

Jaune felt a weight settle on his shoulders and something press against his back. Whatever was with him was holding him. No, it was dragging him down. He gripped at the weight around his shoulders and neck, feeling a slim pair of arms. He struggled and pulled at them but to no avail. The glowing light beneath him growing brighter and more piercing with every passing moment.

"This is not the end… Don't forget…"

Jaune thrashed around frantically and fell over, feeling himself sink ever lower into the glowing platform. Why did it scare him so much? It was like the time in the Ether, only a mirror opposite. Open space instead of a hall. A glowing platform instead of black depths. His eyes widened as he saw the edge of the platform. He struggled and grasped for it. Whatever lay in the water had to be better than where this platform would take him. He wasn't ready to fight another one of those things. The first time had been a fluke.

"You now hold the mightiest weapon of all…"

By the time he reached the edge, he was almost completely submerged in the light. His arms were falling below the surface and being pulled back out as he clawed his way to the edge. His legs felt as though he were wading through thick mud. He came to the end of the light, and with everything he had, he threw himself over. His face broke through the water's surface, and he felt it rush up his nose as he fell head over heels as if through nothing. The hands around his shoulder lifted off of him as one last thing was spoken to him.

"And don't be afraid…"

Jaune felt himself get righted by gravity or something. He coughed, and the bubbles that left his mouth floated down into his face and kept going. Or was it up? He squinted his eyes as he fell lower and lower into the sea. Around him, he could just make out the looming shadows of long-submerged structures as well as equipment, items, weapons, and furniture floating around him. He looked above to see a shining silvery light. He reached out to it feeling his lungs burn. As he drew closer, he made out a small obstruction just in front of him. It touched his outstretched hand. He gripped it tightly as the light from the depths became all-consuming.

~ (Song End) ~

Item Obtained - Broken Silver Ring
Unique skill
Skill - Salvation

Item Obtained - Broken Pendant (Left)
Unique ability
Ability - Master of secrets: Ars Arcanum, Ragnarok

Item Obtained - Broken Pendant (Right)
Unique Ability
Ability - Aerial Combat

Item Obtained - Ring of Promise
Unique Skill
Skill - Lucky Strike
Unique Abilities
Ability - Luck+, Lucky Hit, Lucky Block, Lucky dodge

Secret Quest Complete: To reject all you know
Reward: Unique Ability
Ability Obtained - Apocalypse

~ 0 ~

Nebula threw her hands to her side and reached for her sword. Her eyes widened when she didn't take hold of it. Her gaze lowered to the dirt road where she saw it standing in the ground still stabbed into the blond guy's arm. Octavia and Gwen Stood up and readied their weapons. "How the hell is she alive?" Octavia shrugged and shook her head. Silver Fang. Bringing her kris up, she ran her other hand along its side, covering it in a white glow.

Blake narrowed her eyes at the three of them before sparing a glance at Jaune. She grimaced with a pained expression and kicked the sword from his arm. He groaned and rolled over, reaching for his neck as if he was choking. She took note that he was soaked, and the dirt around him was a dirty puddle of muddy water. "What did they do to you, Jaune?"

Gwen lifted her hands. Gamblers cut V3 with five daggers in each hand. Her hands started glowing a dark green. "Look behind her." Blake looked up at the girl's call. She followed the gaze of The other two girls looking down behind Blake, where a very dead, Dew, lay. Exactly where Blake's avatar had been just a minute ago.

Blake smirked at the other three girls. It was a smirk full of forced bravado, but now that they were all out in the open, one was near dead, one was out, and the last was a ranged fighter. This would be doable. With the crystal-infused gear she had, her dominant traits had been boosted into the 300 point threshold. With that, she'd gained three new abilities. She didn't have any attack-canceling or shut-down abilities, but two out of the three new ones she'd gotten from the trait boost could make up for that. "You hurt my friend. I'll get you back for that."

Nebula sneered. "Yeah? He said the same thing for you. Now!" Gwen threw her knives at Blake while Octavia launched across the road.

Blake braced and brought up her short sword and dagger, Ghostly Obscura. The same black smoky barrier that formed before sprang to life again, obscuring Jaune and Blake from view. The knives flew through, and the same thing as before happened. Vicious Defense. The blades were all deflected towards the remaining three party members; only Nebula was positioned behind Octavia, who jumped. The knifes aiming for Octavia stayed on their trajectory due to Nebula, allowing Octavia to soar through the air unabated and into Blake's barrier. The redhead pulled her kris back, glaring viciously at Blake. Her dagger shone brightly, blinding Blake.

Octavia grinned and let the skill take over, forcing her down to the ground faster where she lunged at the assassin. The Kris made contact, but instead of blood, a dark mist rained down from the wound. Octavia's eyes widened, and she tried to spin around only for the thing behind her to explode and send her flying. Her cheek came into contact with the steel covered heel of Blake's boot.

~ 0 ~

Blake smiled inwardly as the girl passed through her barrier. She moved as soon as she saw the girl's foot come through. The barrier marked people, mobs, and objects that came through it. Made blocking and attacking easier. It also allowed those on the other side to see what was going on. The moment of crossing, however, blinded your avatar for a fraction of a second. And that was all she needed to set up her kill.

Shadow Stitch, was the first ability she'd used. It made the user switch places with an opponent or monster that was inflicted with the blind or silence status effects so long as it was 6 pm to 6 am on the server, or you were in a location where the sun couldn't reach. On top of that, you switched appearances for a total of sixty seconds. Honestly, in PVP, if you could hit a healer or mage in the back lines with a blind ability or something, you could get an assassin with the ability to switch places with them. After that, everyone would jump the 'assassin.' All the while, the actual assassin could take out one or more of the enemy players depending on skills and player talent. All in all, at least two maybe three out of four down in a 4v4 guaranteeing a win or causing major chaos in a guild war.

The second ability she'd gotten was Angel's Shadow. It allowed her to leave a copy of herself that could do simple actions such as attack without abilities or skills, block, or for instance, right now. Take a hit. If it took damage, it died and exploded into a black mist, that when close to an enemy, would knock them off balance. Sadly, the user would take half of the damage the clone received. The saving grace was that it made the user invisible for three seconds, which for an assassin was a boon.

Angel's Shadow. Blake felt a cold refreshing feeling wash over her as she slid backward half a meter. Her eyes were staring directly at the back of her own head, and she instantly rolled to the side as the other girl came soaring through her barrier. As the redhead touched down, Blake jumped, somersaulting into the air behind her. Octavia Pulled her dagger back, and a blinding light shone from it, making Blake's double, shield its face, but with Octavia's body blocking most of the light, Blake wasn't affected. She waited for the girl to fall into her trap. The girl's kris found its mark in the belly of the double, one of the spots where armor wasn't located. It bit deep. Blake felt the light burning of taking a hit, and the invasive feeling of being stabbed as her clone bled a dark mist.

Octavia knew something was wrong. Blake could see it in her posture before her clone had started bleeding. But it was too late. The clone exploded, and Octavia went sailing back towards her.

"Knockback!"

Octavia didn't even see Blake spin as she touched the ground and bent over as her left leg shot straight up, followed by a torrent of water. Dauntless Lunch. The heel of Blake's boot hit Octavia right on the cheek, sending her tumbling back through the air as the torrent of water rose, catching her and launching her high.

"Launch!"

The redhead saw Blake crouch and readied herself using her trump card. Mighty Block, Cruel punishment.

Instead of jumping to meet Octavia, as she had with Dew, Blake initiated a block to cancel out of her skill just as her hyper armor started forming.

"Hyper Armor! Feint! Skill Cancel!"

Blake had caught on to what the redhead had been building towards. Initially, due to the girl's speed, Blake figured the girl was an assassin like herself, but after catching the girl off guard and landing the Dauntless Launch, it was clear this girl hadn't invested in EVAD or DEX at all. So she couldn't be a thief or rogue class, which always had high stats there even when not focused. Not only that but none of her own attacks had done much damage. Being an assassin even without a direct hit with a weapon, Blake was a hard hitter. Now add that with the fact the girl used a knife despite apparently not having the class for it, she was even able to use weapon skills. Everything had clicked in Blake's head in an instant.

The girl's main class was something that let her use different weapons that didn't strictly go with her class. Mages, Archers, and Blade Masters were the only ones so far who could do that. Archers could use short swords and knives. Mages could use a glaive, Dagger or tarot cards which doubled as magic throwing knives that lasted for as long as your MP did. Blade masters could use any kind of bladed weapon even if they were magic or an exotic so long as it wasn't a massive/ two-handed type. To top off her thoughts, a Blade master had high resilience due to being focused on versatility and survivability as a solo player from the start. No hard grinding or iffy moments but useless in guild wars. Add that with the massive hits despite Blade master being a high resilience class meant the second class was a powerhouse.

The only powerhouse classes that weren't level locked passed LVL 200 were Edge Punisher, and it's extension Dark Enforcer or Warrior of light, and it's extension Dragon Slayer. Now between those two, Edge Punisher would explain the massive damage and no shield as well as the Exotic type dagger. The Kris.

Edge Punishers could use any Exotic weapon and any two-handed weapons while the Blade master could wield any bladed weapon, including Exotics, so long as they were wieldable with one hand. There were no Exotic swords as far as she knew, and the girl had a kris, meaning she was a Blade Master, Edge Punisher. Or as the community had lovingly called them with contempt back when the game came out. Punish Masters.
They were devastating in 1v1 and useful in 1v2-4. Their counter abilities, high resilience, and DEF, coupled with their tendency to deal critical after critical with their skills. One misstep, and they'd punish you to overkill. It made them a constant source of problems when it came to balancing. The saving grace to fighting them was their low SP and AP making them useless in guild wars.

To bad for Octavia, Blake had been playing since month 2, and she'd found a workaround to that temporary meta. She'd built the rest of her class off of the workaround because, to be honest, it was effective. She'd spent most of her experience points in getting skills and abilities that she could use to knock people down, stun them between combos or inflict debilitating status effects.

Blake glared at Octavia with a smirk and pulled the trigger on the short-sword. There was a click, and Blake slammed the dagger into the slot on the bottom of the sword. She pulled the trigger on the knife, and the blade shot up into the sword pulling the rest back down. There was another click, and the grooves near the swords handle extended out, revealing the while glowing bits as it finished shifting into a long sword. Blake swung the sword in reverse grip, holding it behind her as she thrust out her left hand. There was a fierce glow in her eyes as she met the shocked expression on Octavia's face. Vorpal Evanescence "Gotcha."

Blake Knew that as a rule, the people who made the Punish Master meta builds back then had all made the mistake of not specing anything into magic-defense because they thought it was strict swordplay and such game. No high-level mages with serious combat prowess at the time altered the way people played the game at the beginning. As such, this girl going right into a physical counter skill either spoke volumes about her attention to Blake's last combo or her lack of defense in anything else. But seriously. What noob threw out a guard skill layered with a critical counter skill before the attacker initiates their attack?

Blake dug the tips of her boots into the ground and braced her left arm as several silver lights formed behind her. They launched forward but stopped when they came level with Blake's outstretched hand. "RAGH~!" Ghostly Obscura Faded as Black let out a roar, her skill building up. The bolts of light increasing as Octavia fell to the ground. As soon as the redhead's eyes came level with her own, she released the skill, and almost two dozen bolts of light struck the space around Octavia, causing ripples in the air. Twisted Hours.

"Warp!"

Octavia came to a halt in midair. She felt the world slow down for her, and she heard the sound of glass cracking. Octavia glanced around, seeing the world itself shattering, ever so slowly. She could see Gwen and Nebula Behind Blake with wide-eyed expressions. Both were reaching out to her. They were moving so slow she could barely tell, but what she did note was how Blake was moving faster than them by a reasonable amount. She was still slowed, but it was fast enough to swing her sword back around into a proper grip. Then her now longsword began to glow a dark Black Making her eyes widen as time began to speed up.

"12, 13, 14, Now!" Black Launched forward as time went back to normal. Twisted hours Itself wasn't much of an ability, but it was one all assassins got when they unlock the class. It completely froze mobs and NPCs, but when it came to other players, it varied based on their AGIL, similar to how blocking and parrying worked with DEX. The little trick Blake had found out about the skill was that it slowed physical objects or stopped them but not time itself, after all, how would a 1:1 time-scale game incorporate time magic. The little bonus to the skill was that you could activate it and let ten seconds pass by while the fight was at a standstill. This enabled the ability to waste other people's skills that were set on timers.

Mighty Block and Cruel punishment were skills that were on a 15-second timer and a 25-second cooldown. They could stay up for just those 15 seconds. The purpose of this was to speed up combat, so people didn't just turtle up in PVP. Blake's earlier feint and block cancel had baited Octavia to activate her skills just as she was launched into the air. That gave Blake's followup Vorpal Evanescence, time to charge up for the added debilitating effects it could inflict while still wasting the other girl's active skill timer. Then she'd used Twisted Hours To add on as much time as possible. She hadn't even needed the whole ten seconds, but she had used what she needed to set up for her latest ability. The last thing she had to thank Jaune for. Time continued to move the way it should for everyone in the vicinity, and everything happened in an instant.

"Octavia!" Nebula Shouted as Gwen threw a dagger at Blake's back that crackled with light blue energy. The raven-haired assassin ignored it as it crashed into her, shattering with her hyper armor. Octavia tried to initiate another skill to counter or interrupt, but from being launched, only so many options were available, and no more of her skills or abilities could start from midair. Sadly that didn't matter because the air around the redhead shattered and exploded, sending her flying in Blake's direction, with no way to defend.

"Shear! Silence! Disable! Critical hit! Stop! Blind! Tear!"

Octavia couldn't move at all even if she wanted to now, and to make things worse; she couldn't see or speak. Her SP, and AP, were gone, and she'd taken damage equal to the missing percent of them, which was near 100%. Blake bent her knees and twirled her knew weapon Gambol Shroud in a full ark before lifting it till the blade rested against her cheek. Zantetsuken. The black energy emanating from it highlighted specific areas on Octavia's body. "This is it for you. Your friends are next."

Blake took one step forward and swung her sword down at Octavia as she flew towards her, defenseless. There was a flash of crimson light, and then Blake disappeared. Octavia's body flew at the feet of Gwen and Nebula; only her colors were monochrome, and she wasn't in one piece. The two girls looked up in horror as Blake reappeared in a flurry of glowing pink cherry blossoms. She flicked her sword out, and the blood on it spattered to the ground. She turned around and looked dead into the eyes of Nebula and Gwen with her amber ones, now full of fire. The dark night. The fire from the caravan down the road. Along with her long wild hair blowing in the wind gave her the appearance of a monster.

~ 0 ~

The other two girls whimpered and drew their weapons up. Blake narrowed her eyes at the two of them and chuckled. Two down, two to go. I really should thank Jaune for the new gear.

Dimension Door. With that, Blake disappeared again in a flurry of cherry blossoms. Gwen looked at her party leader and frowned as she drew her cloak around her tightly and faded from view with the rustle of grass. Nebula looked around from side to side with wide eyes, brandishing her sword. "Where are you, you, you bitch!" She stumbled backward and grabbed for Gwen. She gripped her friend tightly and pulled herself up. "Did you see her? She can't move too far with teleport skills watch our backs." Death

She was cut off as a familiar burning, and invasive sensation spread through her back into her chest. She looked down to see a thin black blade sticking out of her chest. "What?" She fell to her knees, dropping her sword. She reached up and gripped the blade with both of her hands. "How?"

Nebula felt the person behind her lean down next to her and move closer to her ear. She could hear the smirked in the other girl's tone and shivered. "I'm an assassin. Killing people is what I do." Nebula's eyes went wide as she felt the blade twist and get wrenched out as a foot was placed on her shoulder, kicking her off. She fell forward into the dirt with a thud as the color faded from her.

Blake put her sword between her forearm and bicep, adding pressure as she drew it across to clean the blood off. With a sigh, she swung her blade out narrowed her eyes at the knife about a meter from her face and then to the scarred face of the girl whose neck her sword was pressed against. "And then there was one."

Gwen dropped her knife and backed up a couple of steps. Blake made no move to follow and just looked on with a curious expression. Gwen took her lack of action as being out of SP, AP both or just on some restriction after using an instant kill skill. She took two more steps back and then whirled around into a run. She kept looking over her shoulder at Blake until she ran into something solid.

She bounced back and rubbed her butt with a wince looking up at what she'd run into. Her eyes met with the blond guy from earlier. Her eyes widened when she targeted him and saw nothing but his name. Crocea Mors. It clicked. He was the NPC on the front of the game. The community voted main character and face of Remnant. He sighed and lifted his blade, now glowing a brilliant silver color. She held her hands up, waving frantically. "No! No, no, no, wait, please. We can talk!"

Jaune gripped his sword in both hands and closed his eyes. He was starting to feel tired. It had been a long day, and he still had that promise to keep with Blake. He opened his eyes and looked up at her. She was watching him with a calm expression. What was she waiting for? Did she want him to finish her? Could he? She didn't seem to be armed. Did she have a lot of health left? Did it matter? He looked down at the girl and let his sword drop. She smiled up at him as he crouched down. "Oh, thank you. I don't know what I was going to do. I can't just die like this with my friends out too. It would suck if we all lost our gear. I mean, they don't even do this stuff. I messed up my character and…"

"You have ten seconds to run." Jaune stood back up and watched her expression change.

"...and, Wait, what?"

"Nine."

Gwen didn't need to be told twice. She scrambled to her feet and dashed off into the forest. Blake walked over to Jaune with a scowl on her face. She couldn't believe he'd just let her go like that. That black-haired girl was the one they had to kill for the mark! She lifted her hand to slap Jaune across the face when he gripped his head and let out a yelp of pain. "Jaune!" Blake rushed to see what was wrong, but he held out a hand and told her to stand back. She looked up at him, worried when he looked back at her through the cracks in his fingers.

His eyes were a glowing crimson, and they were growing brighter. His right hand was on his knee, supporting himself, and his breathing was labored. Blake had never seen people react quite like that to anything in the game. Apocalypse. She could see some weird halo looking thing appear above his head, and then he let out a yell as a few red beads of light shimmered in the air in front of him. Suddenly his head snapped back, and the forest exploded into a maelstrom. There were consecutive explosions, and the earth rolled as trees and boulders were sent flying high into the air.

Blake turned to take everything in with wide-eyed disbelief. She'd heard of level 300 players with skills strong enough to level entire guild castles, but she'd never seen one herself, or proof that they even existed. While Blake looked at the forest, she had to admit that they just might be real. She could hear the screech of grim as they died, and she saw the EXP counter pop up over Jaune's head, all the while red crosses made of glowing crimson sprouted out of the ground. Then there was another scream, one that was entirely human; a silvery green cross popped up in the middle of all the red ones to accompany the cry.

Blake put a hand on her hip and smiled, impressed. "And they were never heard from again."

This was something Blake would remember forever. It was a game, sure. But to see that kind of power through your own eyes. To see what it did. Was awe-inspiring. "Jaune what did you just…" *Thump* "…Jaune?" She looked to her side to see Jaune collapsed on the floor. "Jaune!"

~ 0 ~

Blake sighed while she looked out at the dark empty fields outside of Vale. The steady repetitive rock of the wagon she was in wasn't doing much to help her to stay focused. She took a deep breath and looked down at Jaune. He was laying down along the empty bench she sat on with his head resting on her lap. She brushed some of his hair from his face and shook her head. She just couldn't believe he'd done that. It was terrifying but awesome at the same time. He really was one of a kind. Level 75 and he had something even the top ten guilds coveted. She frowned to herself. Was that why someone was after him?

It didn't matter right now. After Jaune had passed out, the caravan had offered them a ride back to Vale and set them up in a carriage as a favor for helping them. Once she'd gotten them situated, she'd logged out to check on Jaune in his room. His ID's health monitor said he was fine, just asleep, so he was probably just tired from the day. He had been out since they logged off earlier, and he'd done most, well all of the moving for her. She smiled down at him and gently caressed his cheek. "Thank you, Jaune. You're one hell of a friend." She closed her eyes and pulled her legs up a bit and hugged him.

"Mmmm. Blake?" She Blinked and let her legs slide back down, looking down at Jaune with an unreadable expression. He was looking up at her through groggy eyes and then covered his mouth to yawn.

When he finished, he rubbed his eyes while grinning up at her. She smirked back down at him with a raised eyebrow. "What? Something on my face."

He shook his head and then paused, having just realized where he was lying. Instead of bringing attention to their situation, he decided to enjoy it while it lasted and just smiled up at her. He lifted his hand, giving her a number one hand gesture. "We did it." Blake smiled back at him and nodded with a small twitch of her feline ears. "And you were amazing."

Granted, she'd taken out three almost entirely on her own, but she wasn't a jerk. If Jaune hadn't saved her at the beginning, then she'd have been dead before taking out one of them. Not only that, but he'd stayed alive and beaten one into a state where her Death skill would work. Hell, he even took one out in the craziest way she'd ever seen someone do it. The girl was pretty much harmless at the end, but he had literally destroyed part of an entire forest and the grimm inside in an instant. She saw why he let her run at first. Not to mention that from what she did see, she'd never seen someone fight like him, Knight, and Adept Rogue was an interesting class combination. Blake's smile became a catty smirk, and she took hold of Jaune's hand, pulling up another finger while raising her own signaling number one. "Yeah, and you're something else."

Jaune smacked his lips and rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Whatever."

He reached up to rub his head, but Blake grabbed his wrist and moved to hover right over him. "And where do you think your grabbing Sir. Dork knight?" Jaune looked at her curiously and quirked an eyebrow. His gaze trailed from her face to where the back of his head met her belly and just a bit higher. He flushed and sat up quickly. Blake gave a throaty chuckle and brought her feet up on the seat, folding her knees against her chest. "Pervert." He spluttered and looked at her with a look of disbelief. "Do I need to buy a lock for my door?"

Jaune closed his mouth and folded his arms as he threw himself against the back of the seat. "There's already a lock. I had one in the closet and put it on while you were in the bathroom setting up your stuff."

Blake blinked in surprise, looking over at him. She'd just meant it to tease him. But. "Really? You installed a lock for me?"

He eyed her from the corner of his eye and put on airs. "Should I uninstall it?"

Blake leaned back and looked up at the dark sky. She took a deep breath and shrugged. "I trust you."

Jaune blinked a couple of times while looking at Blake. "You trust me? What does that mean?"

His response drew a laugh from Blake, and she fell to the side, leaning against him while holding her gut. "You know, Jaune, dense as lead doesn't even begin to describe it.

He was about to ask her what that meant, too, when the sky suddenly lit up a bit. He and Blake both looked up to see all the stars in the night sky start to fall one by one in brilliant showers of colored light. Jaune reached a hand out to the sky and held his hand over a particular purple colored one. He clasped his hand in perfect synchronization with it as it exploded into a shower of amethyst.

He looked down to his side at Blake, who was looking up at the falling starlight. He could see the purple light reflected in her irises, and he had to admit, purple really did suit her. She smiled up at the sky but slowly and distractedly turned to look at him, catching him staring. She smirked again. "What?"

He just leaned back and threw his arms across the back of the seat while smiling back at her, a lazy tilt to his head. "I think I have a new favorite hobby." He just enjoyed the confused expression on her face and the colorful showers of starlight as they carried on to town in the back of their carriage.

~ 0 ~

Authors Notes

Alright. Sorry about the wait. I stayed up till 3 in the morning, waiting for my friend to send this and passed out on the keyboard. Turns out she did too. So anyway it's done and it's posted. Let me know what you think about the fight scenes and let me know what you want to see more and less of.

Regarding Jaune's new ability, I will be adding those into the author's notes of ch 10 when he himself goes over what he found and obtained.

~ 0 ~