Hi everyone. Happy two year anniversary for The Immortal Wanderer. I just want to thank all the readers who have enjoyed the story, without you guys this story would probably have met the same fate as many of my other stories. So thank you all and I hope you continue to enjoy my works. Best of luck to you all in this New year with the same old problems.
Luci looked out to the Immortal just standing there, still and unguarded. If he could just move his body then he could strike, maybe even put him out of commission for some time, yet his body would not listen.
Pain was all that he could feel, his face was more a splattered mess than anything recognizable, and his body was mangled. All he could do was move his single eye about while his body tried to reform.
He could reform from death, but even this blessing had its limits.
As darkness threatened to wipe him out he could see, see all the others who had been given this gift before. An uncountable wave of men and women with bodies mangled and torn by the blessing of grimmification.
They all starred down upon him, their limbs reaching out and grasping upon him as the darkness bloomed. 'So this is how I die? my body melting while my soul is torn and beaten by others like me' he thought as he glanced back to the Immortal.
Seering rage was all that had driven him to this- not reason, not belief, not money- just rage. So he let his rage take charge, his soul lashing against the grasping arms of the lost and his half-dead body scraping itself against the ground.
Then he saw it.
A Beowolve, torn in half yet still living.
He turned his eye to the Immortal and turned back to the Grimm. He smiled in his mind as his body snapped and broke itself for the perpose he now saw.
He was Wrath Incarnate.
He was not a Pawn.
He was not a Victim.
He was the One who struck when he felt it so.
He let his jagged mass slam into the Grimm, uncaring as it thrashed against him. The two melted together, the Beowolve wimpering as its mass was used to repair Luci.
He lay still for a short time, cautious of if the Immortal would make a move, before sitting up. Even with all the noises he made the Immortal had yet to move, why?
Luci looked at his repaired limbs, their physic more like the Beowolve he absorbed rather than the previously human-like shape of the limbs. He smiled as he pulled himself up and calmly walked behind the Immortal, making sure to punctuate each step as he did so, and waved at him.
"Well, you look like shit" he said calmly while pulling his back.
A yelp interrupted him before he let his fist fly.
Turning back he saw another Beowolve, intact this time, and just chuckled. He turned away from the Immortal and approached the Grimm. "Hey buddy, come here, I got a gift for ya" he said to the Grimm.
The Beowolve seemed to hesitate before Luci lunged at the Grimm and wrapped his arms around the beast's neck. It shook for a second before panicking, Luci pulling the beast in deeper with every second. The Grimm was melting into him, its mass being used to repair and strengthen the man.
Luci felt a shot a excitement spike his body, feeling as though he had just taken capious amounts of narcotics, and his chuckling turned into full blown laughter.
He cackled like a madman for a full minute as his body became more bestial. Cracking his neck and flexing his arms before turning back to the Immortal.
The sound of an approaching Bullhead warned him that he was limited in time. He made a quick decision as he peered back, finding the Bullhead was back a minute away, and lunged for the Immortal.
The echo of bone piercing flesh was euphoric to him, enjoyment from the sight of the Immortal's chest impaled by his now clawed hand let a true smile on his face. He twisted his claw and pulled his arm back. Part of the Immortal's chest caved in as Luci pulled his hand away.
The Bullhead was now closer, its guns roaring to life and letting rounds fly near his feet. Pavement turned to shrapnel as Luci pulled back.
He held the his bloody arm up, acting as though it was a personal trophy, and rushed away into the ruins of Vale as the Bullhead landed.
Glynda watched as the strange grimm fled, its antics grotesque and foul. Seeming to take morbid joy in its actions against Jaune.
She turned to Jaune, his eyes blank as though a corpse yet his body was still warm. Feint outlines of what she assumed to be aura were spread throughout his body, repairing the major damages he had sustained.
The crew were pulling out a stretcher and prepared to lower him into it, looking to Glynda for assistance. "Never had someone stay standing after such a beating, even with something holding them up" one of them muttered while Glynda used her semblance to lower Jaune into the stretcher.
The others strapped him into it the moment she was finished and carried him to the Bullhead. Glynda made sure to pick up his weapons and torn clothing before she joined them.
"Every day the world gets stranger" she muttered, looking back in the direction the strange grimm had fled, and let the doors shut.
Luci starred from a gap in the ruins, a light scowl on his face for being interrupted but small satisfaction in how much damage he did to the Immortal.
He turned to a small Nevermore, the whispers of the Grimm's queen being recited like prayer from the small beast. He considered what he could before stretching out his hand grabbing the small creature.
It struggled for a time as its body melted into his hand.
He smiled, uncaring of the sudden spike in pain from the Grimm's queen shouting out against his action. 'So what, I'm not one of your toys' he thought, knowing that she could hear him.
The pain continued before he decided to silence it by driving his finger through his skull. 'Try to counter that, you ungrateful bitch' he thought, not caring as to rather she had heard it or not.
He heard growling and the whispers returned in greater number. Turning back he found that numerous Grimm had moved out of hiding spots simply to convey what ever the queen wanted to say.
"Now that's just petty" Luci muttered to himself before his hand shot out like a bullet and piercing a wall on the other side of the street. The Grimm turned to it for a second before looking back and growling at him.
Their anger was cut short as hundreds of thin spines shot out from his extended arm and impaled them in great numbers. He let out a mad laugh as any Grimm that had been impaled began to writhe while his arm pulled back, dragging them with it.
This mad laughter became more violent as the ensnared Grimm were absorbed into his being.
The other Grimm fled, their queen without a doubt screaming at them for such incompetence if they could understand what she was saying. He let out a breath as the last of the surrounding Grimm had been absorbed.
It was time for him to have some fun.
Jaune awoke with a great pain in his chest, his arms pushing out of his bed with enough force to bend the metal frame. He took quick glances around to find that the room was empty short of a night table to his side.
He relaxed for a second as his sudden motion burned his arms and cracked his bones. He lay back down and let his eyes wander around the room.
'Its far to quant to be something from the queen, probably just a field hospital' he thought. He then let out a slow breath that made his lungs ache.
"Cheap gods, make me near unkillable but don't do a damn thing about the pain" he muttered.
His pained peace was then interrupted by the lone door opening and Oz walking in with a pair of steaming coffee mugs.
"Oz, ever impeccable aren't you" Jaune said before letting his arm grab one of the mugs. Both ignored the cracking of bones as Jaune reached out and took a sip from the mug.
"I came here to talk, you've cleared at least half of the Vale territory so far and I can say that we can handle the rest" Oz began. Jaune gave him a look to continue, not having it in him to back talk or argue.
"So with your current condition and our progress there is one thing I have to ask of you" Oz put down his mug as he spoke. "Take a day to recover" was all he said.
Jaune gave him an annoyed look before raising his arm, the rigor mortis cracking of his bones being the sign that he may have died while in bed. Oz just used this to push his point farther as though he was twisting a knife.
Another exhale let his mouth before Jaune spoke; "Alright, I'll rest for a day, but you better have as many fit for duty teams out there as you can get while I'm resting". Oz nodded at this request as he stood up and left with his mug.
Jaune downed the rest of his coffee and lay to rest. His last action before blacking out to bend the damaged parts of the bed frame back in place.
Salem watched from her Palace, great anger stewed on her face as her connection was cut wih Luci. She stood up for from her throne and strode out of the throne room.
She past her servants with a mask of uncaring and grievance. She gave the Bishop no mind as he proclaimed vengeance against the 'traitor'. She left the Knight to his work for the plan in Atlas. She walked past her Rook as he prepared too journey to Minstral.
She let none of their voices encroach into her thoughts before opening the reinforced doors to the training grounds. She let the doors slam close behind her and breathed out the last of her calm.
He teeth clenched as dark magic surged out of her; Her veins sprouting razor tendrils, and while her hair flowed wildly like a den of snakes. The echo of her natural weapons scrapping against the tough stone and metal of the room.
She broke out in a mad sprint to a wall and clenched her rapidly serrating fist. The impact was near instantaneous as her fist struck and the wall crumbled. She looked out to the surrounding Grimmlands before continuing her rampage within the training room.
By now her blood had formed a blade over her left arm and was slashing with reckless abandon.
She was just too angry to put it into words.
Her latest weapon had gone AWOL.
Her chosen Maiden and her team were killed off.
And worst of all The damned man known as Jaune Arc was still standing.
She know that the man was going to be coming soon. The one man armys going to go on a warpath that will only stop once he's reached her.
She stopped for a second, then the second turned into a minute, then ten minutes.
She took in her surroundings as clarity returned to her.
The training room was a mess; all the walls were either demolished or close to breaking, the floor and ceiling were ripped apart, and any equipment that may have been within the room was naught but scrap. The only thing that was untouched by her rampage was the doors themselves, seeming to be the only things keeping the room itself from collapsing.
Salem let out a breath as the aberrations slunk back into her body. She dusted off her torn dress and walked back to the doors.
She walked out of the room with a calm air around while the room collapsed the moment she closed the door.
She strode back to her throne room, uncaring of the concerned looks her Rook and Knight gave her. She gave a dismissive wave to either when they tried to deviate. Yet the Bishop returned, his face decorated with crazed determination, as he spouted about wanting to aid his queen in her troubles.
She gave the man a single look before beckoning him closer. He followed like a pup wanting nothing but love. This was lost as Salem drove her nails into his head and dragged him to the throne room.
"IF YOU WANT TO AID ME THEN GO OUT THERE AND DON'T RETURN UNTIL YOU HAVE THE IMMORTAL'S HEAD!!!" She screamed as she flung him back into the door she just came through.
The mad man rolled on the floor for a moment before letting himself up. He muttered soft words and bowed to Salem before walking out.
Salem let out a sigh as she looked back at the hand she held Tyrion with. The nails had turned to thin needles with many openings. "I know he won't betray me, such a foolish man" she said to herself.
She then slouched back into her throne and sighed. She knew that she had just sent her Bishop after the Immortal, and that he wasn't comming back. Her anger clouded her mind and the image of Jaune's decapitated head set on his shelf were just tantalizing.
She laughed to herself, she was truly going mad after so long. Yet the cause of this madness was not her curse, not her drive for power, just a man who hated her with a blazing hatred.
She continued to laugh as the castle grew empty and the grimm returned to it.
In the end it was all pointless, nothing more than a game of cat and mouse, one attacking the other. Ozma may be acting with a direct cause but there is little he could truly do in the face of the grimm; yet Jaune was an ace in the deck of humanity's cards.
The last time he had decided to attack her directly he had gone on a one man rampage through the Grimmlands, requiring the creation of the Apathy to stop him.
That was it, she just had to surround the castle with as many Apathy as she could create.
No, that would be just madness, the Apathy can't work with any other as her desperation left her to create them in a rush so not even she could control them.
Wait...
She let a smile fall on her face as she knew just what she could do.
Yeah, I honestly didn't expect to have this fic go one for two years or so, but I just have to say thank you to everyone who has enjoyed this story. This little dumpster fire of mine has been burning well. Have a good month all of you