It's time (sorry about the delay), time for what you all know is about to happen.
If one was to describe the situation Jaune found himself staring at, the easiest word was chaos.
The Vytal Festival was almost done, and the bitch made her move.
The fight between the Invincible Girl Pyrrha Nikos and the Pirde of Atlas Academy Penny Polendina had started well enough.
Penny opening with a storm of flowing blades which Pyrrha was forced to block and parry.
The fight continued with neither gaining much of an edge over the other before Jaune saw something from his place at the festival grounds.
The fear in Pyrrha's eyes.
Normally one would think that it was natural to feel fear when facing such devastating weapons in an enclosed arena but this wasn't right.
Her eyes were darting far too much, shifting at such a pace that it seemed at though she was faced with a flexible wall of attacks.
Then she did it.
In one swift move the wires of Penny's blades warped all around; some falling to the ground, others sliced through whatever they hit.
Like Penny's arm.
The image of mechanics and wiring located at the girl's stump rather than the flesh and blood of a normal person was a definite shock to all.
Jaune himself was more amazed than shocked, to think that Atlas had found a way to make an artificial person, but he shelved those thoughts for now.
There were much bigger things to worry about.
The screens flashed red, the symbol of a black queen taking up there centre as a speech began.
Jaune zoned this out as he turned to the arena, then to the tower of Beacon. He knew what was about to happen and he was as prepared as he could.
When the grimm began swarming in the sky, amassing around the Vytal stadium like an army of locusts, attracted by the permiating fear of the civilians.
Jaune walked to a secluded section of the grounds, non chalant to panicked people and approaching grimm.
He unzipped his bag and pulled out his new sword, which he had dubbed Drachenzunge, Pars Lunea, and his cape.
He rushed back out as the grimm began to run amok around the fair grounds.
They were not the pressing issue.
The real issue was the small fleet of White Fang Bullheads that were dropping troops throughout Vale and Beacon.
Jaune had a plan, well, had one.
Until the FUCKING MOUNTAIN BURST OPEN AND A GRIMM DRAGON ERUPTED OUT OF IT!!!
It wasn't there before, not when the mountain form, now when Vale was created.
This beast was hidden, for a long time, and now was its time to feast.
Jaune knew that the dragon was a distraction, but he knew that it was too dangerous to be left alone.
So, against all better judgement he send a message too Neo and Roman then let his magic flare.
Black flames glowed from his being as he pocketed his phone and ran out to the Emerald Forest.
He took the odd glance back as he bore witness to the Mass of Grimm, both at the grounds and out from beyond Vale, follow after him.
He was taking the grimm out of the solution, but, he was going to have to trust the rest too everyone else.
Neo sat in comfort as she messed around in the arena's security office, the guards having left with the civilians, before her scroll chimed.
As she pulled it out she was greeted with a message from Jaune.
'I'm taking the grimm out of the equation, push the plan forward without me'.
She looked at it confused for a second before glancing over to one of the nearby monitors.
She understood why as she saw a massive grimm dragon flying towards Vale.
She just sighed before standing up and walking out of the office. Making sure that her blade was sharp and her parosal ready as she walked on her mary way.
Roman watched as his scroll flashed the message while the grimm rushed to the Emeral Forest.
He knew Jaune was behind that regardless of what the message told him.
He chuckled before pushing several buttons on the control panel in front of him, smirking at his hard work.
The Bitch needed a virus to take control of the knights, she got one, what she did 't know about was his one surprise.
His chuckling turned to cackling as the screen changed from a black queen with a red background too a White Bishop piece with a golden background.
He then disconnected the given scroll from the panel and prepared to take his leave.
He was still a huntsman after all, a criminal one, but a huntsman regardless.
Adam was not having a good time.
He watched with disdain as his Faunus Bretheren unloaded from stolen Bullheads and let chaos loose.
He let his grip tighten on his sword as he rushed out from his hiding place and let loose against these terrorists.
A quick slash through the chest of the nearest one and they fell. The others barely had time to register before Adam became a whirlwind of fury, slicing his way through the lot of them.
As he stood amongst the group of downed faunus and their empty bullhead he knew what he had to do, the small fleet of White Fang Bullheads had the mass of their forces going for Beacon.
He broke into the cockpit and started the engine.
He'll follow The Wanderer's words, he'll keep his promise to Blake.
He's just going too have to crack several eggs to make an omelette.
Jaune let the grimm swarm, it was the best he could do, it was all he could do.
He let his magic flare as though it were a star of darkness, he let the memories of what makes him hate humanity flow within him.
All this anger, all this despair, all his dark memories sealed away within a mental vault just hit him as like a tornado of darkness.
His eyes constantly shifted from one side to another; the grimm were a horde of uncountable numbers drawn too negativity, he was a boiling cauldron full of years worth.
He sliced through any grimm foolish enough to get close to him, yet it was never enough, he had already fired off the last of his rounds for Pars Lunea.
He was surrounded on all sides by a sea of darkness.
He was surrounded by his own past.
He could just kill them all.
Why should he take such risks?
Why did he do all this?
Why make himself a player in the games of the other two immortals for all these thousands of years?
What was his purpose in all this? He had nothing to gain. He had nothing to to lose.
Why does he stick his neck out for every person he even felt back for?
Why must he watch as everyone he cares for die?
Why? Why? WHY!!!
He just watched as the dragon landed in front of him, its glare issuing him a challenge to him.
Oh how this beast is about to be gutted like the littlest worm it was too him.
He lifted Drachenzunge against the beast, and roared a challenge.
It was time to let it all go.
Oscar felt as though everything went to hell.
It all started so calm, so simple, yang acted weirdly at the end of her fight with Mercury but it didn't seem to bad.
Then came Pyrrha's fight with Penny, it started as just a normal fight, then in one moment it all went south.
Penny was an android, an incredibly advanced android at that, and she was posing as a student.
Pyrrha, and everyone else, was shocked when Penny's arm was severed cleanly from her shoulder, her inner mechanics exposed for the world too see.
Then the announcement sounded, sewing chaos and disorder amongst the people at the festival.
The Grimm began amassing and ships with the mark of the White Fang swarmed the sky.
Yet the grimm pulled back, into the Emerald forest, even the ones thrown out by the White Fang just rushed towards the forest.
There was still the Fang to deal with but the professors and upper year student were pushing them back.
The one thing he was unsure of was just why?
Why do something like this?
Why do it at such a massive event?
What do they gain?
Oh course he can't just sit around and ask them this, they'll kill him on the spot.
That and he's currently occupied with one of the two looted Paladin class mechs that are tearing through the Beacon grounds.
He was forced to constantly dodge out of the way of the machine's rapid strikes.
Each shot easily shattered the ground beneath it.
He just had to let his aura do the work an maybe he'll make it out alive.
Neo had finally tracked one of the three, Mercury if she had bothered to remember her name, and had him cornered.
At first he looked at her in confusion, a shout of "what the hell" leaving his mouth before Neo struck.
Mercury barely dodged out of the way as she followed up with a vertical slash over his chest.
Mercury was pushed against a wall as Neo kept stabbing.
He tried to make a breakout by kicking her abdomen, resulting in Neo's blade taking off his right kneecap.
She followed through by slamming him right into the wall and stabbing his left elbow.
He headbutted her in desperation, only to have her punch him in the jaw.
A gunshot flew past her head, forcing her to distance her from Mercury.
Emerald was there, the smoking barrel of one of her revolvers pointed right at here.
Anger was present on Emerald's face as she fired again.
Neo dodged as the fight grew interesting.
Adam landed the bullhead far away from the school grounds and ran out too the main facility.
The few grimm that hadn't rushed into the Emerald Forest barely presented much of a challenge as he cut down any who got in his way.
His attention was taking by a loud blast echoing out from the school grounds, the cafeteria was in flames.
He rushed there as fast as he could, he saw two people in the centre of the blaze.
Once he got closer he was shocked to find that it was Blake, with a deep laceration on her lower abdomen, held at blade by a figure dressed in black.
Without thinking Adam rushed forward, blade drawn, a battle cry leaving his throat as he ran with all his fury.
Another student rushed as well, their hair shining like a small sun.
The echo as his blade and her fist embedded themselves in the man the only sound that escaped the deafening crackle of the flames.
The man seemed to contort as he dropped Blake and jumped back, seemingly nonchalant too the injuries he just endured.
Adam put himself between the two girls and held his blade towards the man.
He glanced back to see the other student helping Blake to her feet before turning back to face the man.
The man who now had a sadistic smile and the eyes of a grimm.
Yang was not having a good day.
While Ruby and Weiss were up in the stadium watching the fights, she was with Blake at the festival grounds.
When the footage cut and the announcement sounded it became chaos.
Blake had ran back too the school to help as White Fang began pulling in.
She stayed at the grounds to help evacuate the people as the Grimm began swarming.
Then they stopped, she had the chance to help Blake as the older students took over the evactuation effort.
She ran too Beacon as fast as she could, killing any grimm that got in her way.
When she reached Beacon she found the cafeteria in flames, someone about to kill Blake, and another guy running from the other side.
When they struck the man with her fist and the guy's blade, the man twisted and shuddered before jumping back.
The guy put himself between the man and the two of them.
The man, if one could call him that now, showed his true colors with a sadistic grimm smile.
"Get Blake out of here, I'll hold him off" the guy said.
Yang wanted to argue, she should have argued, but as she looked down at Blake; her body was covered in cuts and bruises while one of her arms was bent at an odd angle.
She couldn't afford to argue, not with Blake's condition, so she hefted the girl onto her shoulder and left.
Though not before asking a good question; "What's your name?".
The guy looked back at her for a second before answering; "Adam, when Blake wakes up tell her Adam's here, she'll know".
Yang just nodded and ran out of the burning building with her injured teammate.
She heard a shriek as she turned back to see the Grimm Man jump into the air in an attempt too block their escape.
Three shots echoed as Adam's sheath turned into a gun and shot the man out of the air.
"Your fight is with me" he shouted as Yang escaped.
She would have to thank him later, for now she had to get Blake to the medics.
Jaune was in the air, Drachenzunge stabbed clean through the dragon's leg, while the beast dragged him through the sky.
The beast was going too drop him, or pile drive him, the plan was good for the beast.
Jaune kept a blank stare, the black fire of his magic had been greatly diminished, he had to kill the beast soon or else it would just keep spawning more of them.
So as the beast began diving Jaune let his calm return, sealing his darkness back within the mental vault it had flooded out from, and allowed his pure white aura to surge throughout his body.
He could already feel the kinetic force of the air pushing against him.
The whistling of a the wind as he neared the ground was all he could hear before he hit it.
For the next few seconds he was in more pain than he had felt in a long time, his torso was flattened, many of his bones were powderized, and his spine shattered.
Blood leaked out of his mouth as he felt both his aura and his immortality go into overdrive to repair the damages.
He didn't let this stop him, his blade hand was still intact after all and bones weren't needed to use aura, he pushed all the force that just tore his body apart into that blade.
The dragon's roar of victory turned into a screech of pain as the force pulsed up its leg, into its lower body, and stopped just short of its neck.
Nothing happened for a split second.
Then the dragon's neck separated itself from the rest of its body, many other pieces following after it.
Jaune just laid there, amidst the decaying grimm and broken forest clearing, doing nothing else as his body slowly put itself back together.
The odd crack made itself known as his bones repaired and realigned, his muscles mending themselves, and his body made more blood than what was bleeding out.
Jaune pulled himself up, the shots of pain all throughout his body not bothering him in the slightest, and he stood up.
His legs were uneasy and his arms had a slight droop but he would probably be back in peak condition by the time he made it too Beacon.
His body cracked and bled with every step yet he didn't stop as he walked through the forest towards Beacon.
Cinder was angry, scratch that, she was PISSED!
She watched as her plan, carefully laid out and ready for tonight, was battered and broken by several things she didn't account for.
The immortal was interfering; her mistress warned her but did she listen, no, she thought she could bring him too her side.
She was paying for it, but she was going to pay them back tenfold.
She watched as her grimm pulled back, the army her plans brought being pulled like a fish on a lure towards were the immortal was.
The virus she implanted, counteracted by an anti virus Roman had cooked up behind her back.
The White Fang were taking the bulk of the attention but soon they will have to either fall back or perish.
She couldn't call on her subordinates, someone had their attention.
All she could do now was slink into the underground facility were they held the fall maiden and take what she was promised.
Yet even this was stopped by Ozpin, he alone stood between her and the fall maiden, his most likely candidate not present for a possible exchange.
Her interest had to be pushed aside as she held her bow and let loose an arrow.
Emerald fired once more, ducking and dodging every attack Neo threw at her.
She had no idea why Neo had betrayed them, she wouldn't get an answer of course but she wanted to know.
Neo just used her semblance to shatter and reappear too Emerald's left.
Neo's blade nearly stabbed through her arm if she didn't dodge.
Neo just smiled at her as she shattered again and a shout of pain was heard behind her.
Emerald turned to find Neo stabbing Mercury multiple times in the chest.
She rushed forward, guns blazing, only to have Neo push Mercury out as a human shield.
Emerald only had a moment of horrid realization before each shot pierced Mercury's torso.
She didn't have time to reflect before Neo appeared in front of her and brought her blade right into Emerald's chest.
She slumped down on the ground, helpless as both she and Mercury lay bleeding on the ground.
Neo smiled and for the first time spoke to them.
"Hell. To. Pay." She emphasized each pause before smiling and walking away.
Emerald just watched as she dropped a small device, faint beeping being the only noise in the room.
She just looked over too Mercury, he had already bled out from his wounds, the shots from her tipped bullets doing more harm than benefit in this situation.
She dragged herself towards the exit, past the beeping device, not caring as her blood trailed out all over the floor.
A foot stopped her; she looked up to find Roman, a sly smile on his face as he shook his head in disappointment and picked her up.
"I told him you were special, he didn't want to hear me out" Roman calmly explained as he kicked away her guns.
"So I'll just cut you a deal, I save you from this but you owe me something that will be very hard to pay back" he looked down at her then at the device.
"There's only enough time for you to say yes or no, so make your choice now" he finished while staring down at her.
Emerald just glanced at the device before nodding.
Roman chuckled as he picked her up and walked out of the room.
The last thing she heard before losing consciousness was the room exploding behind them.
Adam stood in front of a monster, a beast that was once human, and he fought.
He fought with all his fury, all his power, it was what he could do for what it did too Blake.
This wasn't enough though.
Every strike was parried.
Every thrust sidestepped.
It ran away from gunfire and returned twice as furious.
Each time it struck the very ground around it shattered.
Each attack it made was carried by a horrid shriek and a sadistic smile.
Adam was forced to bite back every bit of fear that washed over his being while the two tangoed in the burning husk of the Beacon Cafeteria.
Yet he was not one to give up, not one to falter in the face of those who would tear down any form of order.
He pushed himself, not willing to die even as his body became cut and bruised.
He braced himself as the beast threw itself at him like a car from hell.
Yet it never came as a quiet whistle was heard, pulling both their attention.
Adam could barely hold his shock as that same girl from before rushed in and punched the beast right into the blaze.
She ran up to him and hefted him onto her shoulder.
"What the hell are doing?" he strained out as his injuries finally caught up too him.
"Paying you back, you helped save Blake, I help save you" She said while the dragging him out of there.
The cries of the beast as it was consumed by flames was somewhat pleasant as the two walked away from the ruins and into the safe zone were she had left Blake.
Adam just smiled as the girl let him down onto one of the unoccupied medical beds, one near Blake.
"I didn't mention this before, but, my name is Yang" the girl, Yang, said.
"Thank you, Yang, for watching over Blake" Adam said before the medics got to work treating him.
Jaune trudged through the Beacon grounds.
His body had finally put itself back together while he approached the main goal that the bitch had.
He was just several hundred feet away from his goal when his walk was interrupted.
A hulking mass of metal barreled towards him, the insignia of the White Fang painted on its pauldron armor, it just pissed him off.
The machine was stopped in its tracks as Jaune's hand reached out channeled his aura into it.
The resounding crunch of metal as the point of contact caved in around his fist.
Drachenzunge glowed with aura as he brought it down upon the machine.
It could barely throw another attack as it was blown into several pieces, several streaks of crimson flowing out as the machine was destroyed.
Jaune just turned back too the tower and calmly continued walking towards where the bitch was most likely to be.
"Wait for me" A voice stopped Jaune for a moment as he turned to it.
Cinder was pushing herself, even with half the power of the Fall Maiden she was struggling against the power Ozpin held.
Sword struck cane and fire blasted against barriers of magic.
Both held their own, Ozpin refusing to let a single attack get even remotely close to the Fall Maiden.
This left one point open, he would rather defend the girl than go on the offensive if necessary.
So she capitalized on this, one arrow notched then fired, two, three, then a fourth; each charged with the power of the fall maiden.
The moment each arrow hit their target an explosion was let loose.
The first struck the ground near the man's feet.
The second broke the wall parallel to the fall maiden's capsule.
The third struck the ceiling, sending a great rain of rubble down below.
The fourth, well the fourth struck right where she wanted, right in the neck of fall maiden.
She watched with glee as the life drained from the maiden's eyes and the dread etched onto the old man's face.
This stopped as the elevator dinged, new challengers were here; who ever was in her way stood little hope as she was now unstoppable.
She turned to look at them and was shocked to find the Vice Headmaster, the Girl the group was planning on making the next Fall Maiden, and worst of all The Immortal.
Jaune was a bit annoyed to say the least, he was hoping to keep as many people away from the fight that was about to happen as he could, but he just couldn't.
Pyrrha Nikos herself and Glynda Goodwitch insisted on joining him.
Glynda he could understand, she was a seasoned huntress who could take on a small army with her semblance alone.
But, Pyrrha, why did she insist?
Why should she decide to get herself involved in such a dark web of secrets.
What had the secret council told her to make her think she had to do this?
He bit back any question, they could be answered later.
Now he stood with the two as the elevator dropped down level by level.
As the elevator dinged and the door opened their expressions spoke for themselves.
In front of them they saw Amber with an arrow in her neck and glassy eyes, The headmaster with dread the only expression he could make, and the bitch herself looking like she now stood on top of the world.
Taking a quick glance he saw Pyrrha, shock and sadness written all over her as she took in the sight of Amber's corpse, Glynda had great anger and shame as she took in the scene.
Jaune let his face settle into a scrowl as he drew Drachenzunge and rushed towards the bitch.
The final battle of the night would be fought here, no glory for either side, just a grudge match of mind and body.
So that's this month's chapter done. Hope you enjoyed, hope you didn't find the rapidly switching POVs annoying.Have a good day and see you next month.