Here we go.


Beta: College Fool

Cover Art: Dishwasher1910

Book 9: Chapter 20


Salem stood and pointed her hand toward me.

"Kill him!"

The first Grimm to come close died, cut in twain by a sword that left behind a trail of black, crackling energy. There was so little resistance that I stepped through with the swing, pivoted and slashed horizontally, cutting three more down in a single swing. There was no time to stop and marvel at that thanks to the legions more that came crashing down.

She didn't want to come close. The sword, her magic or just the fact I could use the `Seal` Rune to cancel her attacks out had her sending her forces at me from a distance. Salem watched, hands clenched at her sides and summoning more and more Grimm from the surrounding buildings. Many were on fire, but plenty came out unscathed, turning away from Beacon and the battle there to pour down onto me.

I backpedalled, cutting any Grimm that tried to encircle me down and giving ground where I had to. I was already exhausted from my near-death experience earlier that every swing was agony. My eyes glowed, pushing me through it. The more Grimm she sent at me, the less she kept around herself. I just had to buy Ruby and Blake their opportunity.

I need her distracted. Grimacing, I shouldered my way through an attack, taking claws to my upper arm and back. Changing my momentum suddenly and lashing into the Grimm, I started to cut my way forward, sacrificing defence for overwhelming offence.

"Salem!" I roared. "I'll cut you down myself!"

"You shall do no such thing. One man, no matter how aggravating, cannot hope to kill a God. More!" She pointed her hand at me. "Slay him. Throw yourselves at him. Drown him in an ocean of your bodies."

The deluge increased. I stepped up onto a Beowolf's back and stabbed an Ursa in the face, jumped onto and rode its body down into another. Wrenching the sword out, I used the momentum to spin and tear through two Canis, a Gekkan and a Boarbatusk. The moment the blade passed, four Canis leapt at me, open mouths snarling. One caught my hand and lit up like a bonfire as I Stoked the Forge. Another was batted aside with the flaming carcass. The other two hit my chest and forced me back, jaws snapping at my face.

Too many! There were far too many! Even through the haze of Resilience, I felt a spike of something. Not fear, but a slow and creeping dread, the onset of realisation. I couldn't fight back this horde and she had more and more coming. I was already climbing on top of dying Grimm, being pushed back and killing them so quickly that their bodies were forming small mounds before they even had the time to dissolve into nothingness.

Ripping one Canis off my face, I swung blindly with my other hand, knowing I'd cut through enemies regardless of whether I saw them or not. Claws scratched down the back of my armour, still whole thankfully and protecting me. There was another Grimm entangled around my legs, trying its hardest to claw my knees to shreds and failing, but managing to be an obstacle all the same.

"Do you think this is all the Grimm I have?" Salem asked, voice carrying as she boomed with laughter. "Even if you were to slay every Grimm in the city, I would simply leave and summon more. They are endless. In fact…"

Salem raised her hands toward the sky. The clouds over Beacon roiled and bubbled, swirling inward until the sun was cut off and replaced with thick grey clouds. The Grimm around me backed away and I took a moment to catch my breath, spinning with Crocea Mors out, blood dripping from my body, most of it not my own.

A deep howl sounded from the city behind us. I turned, making sure to keep one on Salem. The howl was met with many more – roars, chitters and screeches.

"Impossible." I whispered. "They were all dead. All the Grimm followed her into Beacon…"

"What shortage of negativity is there in a siege? You may have cut my army to size with this little trick." She gestured to the burning buildings. "But I will simply replenish it. How can you hope to-?" Salem cut off suddenly to wave her arm in the air. A blast of wind exploded from it, deflecting a hail of arrows and sending them thudding down around us, several into burning buildings.

They'd hadn't come from Beacon.

A horn blared from the city, matched by a second and then a third. Battle cries echoed as steel clashed and Grimm roared. It was Salem's turn to whisper, "Impossible. I slew everything that moved within the walls."

She had. I knew that. For a second I thought it might be everyone from Beacon using portals to get behind us, but I could see the dragon still fighting up there. And then I heard it, voices among the crazed roars and screams, the words within the battle cries.

"Ansel! Ansel!"

"Mistral for Vale! Mistral for Remnant!"

They'd come. I laughed out loud, arms sagging. Those bastards actually came. Late for sure, so late I wanted to slap them when I was done kissing them. A second battle was being waged within the ruins of the city and suddenly it was Salem who was trapped, surrounded and cut off with but a fraction of the Grimm she'd started with, locked in the burning Guild Village.

"Knaves. How dare they? No matter. I am eternal and my Grimm are the same. Even should you claim victory here, I'll simply summon a far greater horde and return. And next time, I shall attack both Kingdoms at once."

No. We couldn't let her escape. Even if it bought Vale another ten years, that was all it would buy. Throwing caution to the wind, I leapt forward, dashing past surprised Grimm that reached out and clawed my arms and legs as I went. Crocea Mors came up, point aimed toward her stomach. With her attention away, I leapt, switching to Swordmaster in the air and using my lunge skill to close the distance.

"Hm?" Salem turned at the last second. Despite how close I was, she sounded more bored than concerned. There were but inches between us being closed fast but she moved faster, slipping to the side so the deadly infused blade went by. Her hand closed on mine, lifted me up and hurled me away. "I think not."

My back impacted a burning building and I smashed through with a splinter and crack of wood. The smog instantly assaulted my nostrils. Coughing and ignoring the fire that licked up my body, I jumped out, landing hard on the stone below and shaking the ashes away.

Salem was making her way toward the East, in the opposite direction from the forces of Mistral and Ansel and also Beacon, to the eastern wall where she could then escape into the wilderness and away, likely back to the Mirage Isles to make it her bastion.

We could assault it. If I let her go now, we'll all live and get another chance to fight her. It was tempting; more tempting than I dared admit. I'd get to live. I'd have weeks or months with my friends and family, all of which I might throw away if I attacked her now. I gritted my teeth and pushed on.

"Salem! We're not done here!"

"You're right. We're not." She turned with a sigh. "Left alive, you'll only prove a bother down the line. Very well, Jaune. I shall end your miserable existence before I depart."

She couldn't use portals.

I didn't know where the realisation came from, but it was obvious thinking back. Portals were our way of travelling because we couldn't do so otherwise, but for a creature that was literally interplanar and was summoned by others, she would never have need of such an ability. It also explained why she had to go through our walls and not just over them. Salem had no escape other than to walk or ride out of Vale.

There wasn't much more time to think as a black beam rushed in toward me. I got Crocea Mors up in time.

Agony.

I slammed back into and through a wall, smoking and choking for air. Why? Why hadn't it blocked the attack? Crocea Mors was still glowing, but she'd done nothing to protect me. I groaned and pushed up on one arm, looking out the wall as Salem prepared another blast with my name on it.

Rune. Seal. Container. I slapped my free hand down onto the blade, over the Rune, and pointed it up at the oncoming attack.

"Purify!"

I felt it deep inside me. A subtle tug and a release – a miasma of black oozing out Crocea Mors and forming a fine mist mere seconds before the beam struck. Purify Object, which removed Demonic Taint from an object, had pushed her previous spell from the `Seal` Rune. The fresh attack struck but this time buckled and warped around Crocea Mors again. I was able to wrench and push it to the side, deflecting it as I had the first.

A third was oncoming.

"Purify!"

The Seal was emptied. Purified. I stood and lunged into the third blast, absorbing it in a matter of seconds and dashing through.

"Purify!"

A fourth, I swung into, cutting it down.

"Purify!"

It was the same as what I'd done in Vacuo. I hadn't destroyed Salem's attack as I first thought; I'd purified the illusion spell contained within the `Seal` Rune on my amulet, making it empty. Salem's attack had been absorbed into the amulet, saving me. It must also have been why she was so insistent on destroying the amulet after that – because she knew she couldn't leave that kind of power in our hands.

"Purify!"

The distance was closed. Salem scowled, pushing one foot back as I brought Crocea Mors down on her neck, aiming to cut her from shoulder blade to groin. The sword swept down, glinting with murderous intent.

A hand caught my wrists, stopping it. Her other stabbed out, wrapping around my throat, fingers digging into skin. With but her bare hands, she halted my attack and drew me close, red eyes burning into mine.

"Even if you invalidate my spells, do recall that I exist by your rules now. My Level is far beyond yours, as is my Strength, Dexterity and Agility." Her hand squeezed my neck so tight my vision became dark at the edges. "I don't need my magic to end your pathetic life."

A hoarse noise bubbled past my lips.

"Laughter, Jaune? And what, pray tell, is so amusing?"

Salem had caught me; beaten me. But it had taken her both hands to do it.

Ruby appeared in the air behind her in a flicker of red, silver eyes burning bright as her scythe swung back. Her red cloak wrapped about her like a mist, making her look every part the Reaper she was.

Salem's eyes peered into mine, so close I could see my own reflection – and within that, the reflection of Ruby. Salem froze, shock registering on her face. Her body turned, foot sliding back and hand releasing my throat.

Too late. With nary a sound, Ruby's scythe tore down on Salem's neck.

"NO!"

Salem managed to get a hand up between them through sheer speed. Even then, it wasn't enough to match Ruby's and the spell she tried to cast meant nothing. The blade cut down into her hand, sparking briefly against her glove. A `Seal` Rune flared. Salem had those all over her outfit and the spell within the scythe was torn out of it and nullified.

That didn't stop the Ironwood scythe.

It tore through her hand. Three fingers flew up, blood spraying as Salem screamed at the top of her lungs. It wasn't a clean cut – not through the wrist – but instead a split down the centre of the hand that left Salem with her thumb and index finger but cut the rest clean off.

"Arghhhhhhh!"

The impact created a loud boom that sent Ruby flying away.

As feared, the scythe shattered, exploding into shards that rained down on Salem, dotting her skin with blood and causing her to let go of me.

Blake was there in an instant, hauling me away by my arms. "Time to leave."

"No." I didn't fight her but spoke urgently. "She's going to escape and raise another army. We have to kill her here."

Already, I could see the dragon above wheeling into the air, abandoning its assault on Beacon and no doubt coming to rescue its mistress. If she rode that thing away, we were doomed.

"Ruby's scythe broke."

"But it worked. I can make another! I just need more Ironwood."

There was plenty of it around since the Archmage's last effort had been to create a literal tree of it atop the cliffs of Beacon. Its roots dug deep under and through the city, which meant they also had to pass under the Guild Village. Under where we were at that very moment.

"I need you to buy me time. Ruby, too. Keep her from escaping."

"Very well." Blake rolled me to the side and onto my knees. Salem was still standing, albeit clutching her wounded arm with shock. It must have been the first time she'd ever been hurt in her existence. Blake drew her daggers. "I'll try and keep her busy but work quickly."

"Stay safe," I begged.

"Hmph. You're the last person with the right to tell someone else that." With a final smirk, Blake flickered away, darting in and hurling a dagger at Salem's distracted back. It impacted and stuck into her, making Salem rear up. The damage wasn't there, however. She dragged it out, spun and cast a ball of black light at Blake.

When it was absorbed into Blake's dagger, Salem roared with fury.

Ironwood. I needed Ironwood. Stumbling to my feet, I clutched Crocea Mors close and watched as the Grimm that had been hounding us swept away to deal with Mistral and Ansel, trying to secure Salem's escape. That gave me the opening I needed, though the lack of any silver in the immediate vicinity was a problem.

The cliff. It had to be there. If the tree was atop it then the roots would be thickest at its base. Ignoring the battle between Salem, Blake and Ruby, I made my way toward the staircase, though for once didn't take it. Instead, I felt about the rocky base, closing my eyes and concentrating. The rock was warm to the touch, though that wasn't unnatural with all the fire burning around it.

Pressing my hands against it, I Stoked the Forge.

Something stirred within the rock. Reached out. I felt the faintest touch of metal and then sensed it reaching out for me much like it had when I interacted with Penny. Rock cracked and split as a tiny silver branch sprouted from the surface and coiled about my right hand lovingly. A thicker branch sprouted around my left wrist. I smiled at it. "There you are…"

"JAUNE! LOOK OUT!"

Ruby's scream came with all the warning in the world and it didn't matter. With both my arms being locked in by the Ironwood, I could only look back over one shoulder as Salem battled Blake aside with her bloody stump of a hand and aimed her free one at my back.

"No more, Arc. No more!"

I was already pushing fire into the Ironwood to try and form a shield behind me – ready to etch `Seal` into it – but it was slow. Too slow. Black light coalesced in her hand. It shot out with a horrific blast. There was no chance of escaping it.

Boots cracked down behind me. Green light exploded over me.

The sound of the attack striking the dome was like water on a glass bowl. It shot above and around, penetrating the cliff and tearing out great chunks of rock. The man behind me grunted and slid back, his body touching mine as the force of the attack threatened to overwhelm him.

A purple chain snapped out and around Salem's wrist, dragging her off target. The beam cut through the rock above and to the left, sliding away from us. The dome fell, as did his saviour's hands, smoking badly as the Spellburn ate away at his skin.

"Ozpin!?"

"Mr Arc." The headmaster smiled faintly back at me. He looked exhausted. "Our apologies for being late but we had a small dragon problem to deal with."

Until Salem drew it back to aid her escape, essentially freeing Beacon to join the assault. I sagged against the rock, laughing hoarsely. At least until a white light settled over me like the coolest rainwater, washing over my wounds and body with a tingling that was somehow more blissful than the best sex. I drew in a sharp breath and found it so much easier. My chest no longer ached.

Tsune stepped off the final step of the staircase, staff raised high. An aura of light spanned out from her, healing the wounds of Heroes who came pouring down with weapons drawn.

"Students deal with the dragon!" Ozpin commanded. "Heroes, Salem is yours. Do not let her escape!" As the Heroes surged forward to match Grimm Salem summoned back from the other battle, Ozpin whispered to him, "We still will not win unless you can repeat your prior success, Mr Arc. Spare no effort in this."

"I know. Buy me time."

"With my life." Ozpin dashed into the fray.

Miss Goodwitch was dragged off the steps by her chains, unable to match Salem's raw Strength and spun around like a yoyo. She crashed into a building and the chains spluttered and died, a mere creation of her magic and thus unable to exist without control. Twisting, Salem summoned a spear of black light in her good hand and stabbed it through the stomach of an approaching Hero. Without even removing him from the shaft, she raised it up and hurled it at the charging mass, piercing two more down.

Spells rained toward her only to be deflected with a black shield. Her counterattack scoured across the cliff above me, cutting through the staircase itself, either to hit the Mages casting on her or cut off our reinforcements. Even if she forced them to use the other, it'd take them five minutes more to reach the fight. Assuming they didn't just risk the jump down. Many were, while Archers and Spellcasters rained attacks from up high.

Ruby appeared at my side. "Scythe," she whispered.

"I'm working on it." The Ironwood in my hands was slowly moulding into a long pole-shape, but it was taking time. The material was there but it had to dig through so much rock to reach me. "Stay," I said before she could run off. "If you die, we're in trouble."

"The others are there. I see Yang and Weiss fighting the dragon."

I could see them too. The Dragon was crashing its way through buildings to try and reach its master, mostly ignoring those that attacked it. Yang's blonde hair was easily spotted as she leapt from a rooftop and landed on what would have counted as the beast's thigh. She held on for dear life and went summarily ignored.

Weiss, meanwhile, was trying to impede its path by freezing its joints but the thing was just too big and what ice she created splintered and shattered with each mighty stride. I thought I saw Pyrrha as well, but the dragon didn't care. It snapped at those who literally put themselves before its face but otherwise continued toward Salem, bowling through buildings and Guild Houses without care. The fire burning all around did little to stop it.

We were all of us there and Salem was injured, yet she was still holding on. Still winning.

It wasn't convincing and she was surrounded on all sides, but it meant so little – just like with Raven. She was moving so quickly that she could flicker between attacks and tear people's hearts out with her bare hand. Armour crumpled under her Strength and magic was batted aside, absorbed or just easily avoided while she went on the assault.

Ozpin reared up before her and began chanting. Green light flickered and burned like flames surrounding her, hurtling down one after another while he also formed shields of green light not to defend himself but to block off and corral her movement. His assault bathed the streets in emerald light. Salem stood unharmed in the centre, the `Seal` Runes on her clothing burning green. Shit, I hadn't warned him about that.

With a negligent flick of her hand she sent an attack screeching his way. Ozpin brought up a shield before him and it held, but his footing didn't. With the shield still in front of him he was sent hurling back and crashing through several buildings.

He didn't come return. He'd blocked her attack but been unable to defend his back.

"Jaune. Hurry!"

"I'm doing my best. It takes time!"

The scythe was taking form, but it was more an incohesive shape than a weapon. The blade was blobby and not at all sharp, while the haft was gnarled. I worked on smoothing that out, etching away down it until it was thin. The balance and weight weren't there but it wouldn't matter if it was just going to break on a single attack. I turned my attention to the blade, using my Engraving to tear huge chunks off it, less sharpening it as I normally would and more hewing the metal into a pointed shape.

The dragon had reached Salem. It turned and began attacking in earnest, preventing anyone from approaching her from one side and buying her space. She used it to great effect to tear into the Heroes, tearing them down with a barrage of magic while the dragon blocked all the arrows, spells and other ranged attacks from Beacon with its bulk and wings.

The scythe stood ready. With a final touch, I Engraved the `Seal` Rune onto it.

"Do-"

Ruby had already snatched it and blurred away.

"Fine. Guess I'll make another." It wasn't going to be easy for her to get in with so many people fighting and there was no telling if it'd work in one blow. I started to draw out more Ironwood, looking back over my shoulder as I did.

Ruby was a blur of red hurtling toward the front lines. She dodged in and out of fighters that couldn't react fast enough to get out her way, picking her way toward the centre and Salem. She shot by Ren, dashed into an attack from Salem and cut it down, severing the spell before it could hit the others.

Salem, seeing the danger, turned to face her and summoned a weapon of her own.

They clashed. Salem's weapon caught Ruby's.

The scythe shattered.

"Shit."

Ruby flashed away and out of range before Salem could cut her down. The black sword she'd made slashed down where she'd been, cutting through stone. Ruby knew better than to be hit when we could repeat over and over. I already had the shape of the haft formed in my hands. The Ironwood branches were wrapping around me more and more, entangling my arms and legs like it was caressing me.

"Jaune!"

"I know," I yelled. "Try not to block her spell next time. You as good as announced your presence."

She'd done it to protect people of course. Ruby bit her lip but nodded, accepting with proof that it wouldn't work. She was faster than Salem, but not that much faster. If she didn't attack by surprise, Salem was going to have time to react and parry her attack. And with how hard Ruby was swinging her weapon, it was going to shatter on impact.

Salem knew who the real threat here was, and it wasn't the Heroes she batted away by the dozens. Glynda and Ozpin were back and fighting but still so helpless. Tsune had been singled out quickly and knocked out the fight. Dead or unconscious somewhere before her healing could become an issue. The Guild were still going at the dragon, cutting into it with wild attacks and scaling its back. It reared up and crashed down, crushing people under its claws. I could just make out Yang on its back, trying to rip one of its wings off.

"Jaune!" Ruby said insistently.

"I'm working as fast I can!" I Engraved the Rune. "Go!"

Ruby took it and darted off. I drew more Ironwood out and got to work again.

This had to work. It had to. All it would take was one moment of inattention from Salem, a single instance where she looked the other way and Ruby came in for her head. We could win this. It would end here. Vale would be saved.

Salem blocked an attack from Taiyang and ducked under a whistling chain from Glynda. Picking up the Brawler, she used him as a club to bat Pyrrha aside. Snapping both his arms at the shoulder, she hurled his body at Glynda, knocking her down. Ozpin rose up but was blasted back by black light. He smashed through Port and several other Heroes.

Ruby leapt at her from behind.

Salem turned, growled and cast two spells – one for Ruby's scythe to absorb and the second delayed and ready to kill her.

Blake fell between them, taking and absorbing the first. She hit the stone and rolled away, letting Ruby land and dash forward, slashing through the second spell and closing the distance. With no time to react, Salem kicked back.

Her right foot was left behind, severed at the ankle.

"Rarghhh! Die!" A beam of black cut through Ruby or would have if she hadn't blurred away already. "You insignificant fly!" Salem roared. "Face me, coward!" She stumbled on her bad leg. A wave of her hand had black tendrils sprouting from her foot, not healing her but balancing her on what looked like a bed of roots.

"Got her," Ruby gasped, appearing at my side. "Next."

"Here."

I handed her the new one.

"Kill the Blacksmith!" Salem screeched, finally realising the danger. "Kill him! Kill him now!"

The dragon roared and moved, abandoning its master and lumbering toward the cliff, scattering Heroes left and right. Its maw opened, thankfully not spewing fire but instead revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth.

Ruby took a defensive stance before me.

"No! Get Salem! Finish her!"

"But-"

I couldn't move my hands because of the Ironwood but I could manage a solid kick on Ruby's backside. "Go!"

"R-Right. I'm on it!"

The dragon was closer and the Heroes couldn't stop it. I saw Yang hanging on its snout and readying herself to attack its eye, but short of pulling out its brain herself she wasn't going to be able to save me. And Ozpin was out for the count.

"Shield," I hissed, pouring heat into the Ironwood. "Give me a shield. Come on."

The forging was slow, but the Ironwood vines continued to creep their way around me. Giving up on the shield entirely, I fed them – adding more and more heat until the silvery fibres were curling all over my body, forming a ball of metal with myself at the centre.

Seal. I threw the Seal Rune onto it, more in case Salem chanced an attack than because I thought it would do anything. Adding more material to the shell around me, I kept up the heat, watching as vines criss-crossed over and over, intertwining like a solid wall of branches. In the back of my head, suffocation became an issue but that paled in comparison to the dragon.

I lost sight of it as the final hole closed. Closing my eyes, I braced for impact.

The walls clamped in suddenly. The loud clang of the dragon hitting was nothing compared to the sharp point that ripped in close to my head, metal vines buckling under a bony claw. The shell held, but only just, and only against the initial charge. The claw tipped down and started to drag, carving through the metal as it scraped away. Light flooded in, along with hot and fetid air.

Stoke the Forge. Stoke the Forge. I poured more fire into the furnace that was the Ironwood and was rewarded by the vines fighting against the dragon. Not intentionally, but rather trying to wrap more and more around me and naturally wrapping around the dragon's claws since those were in the way.

A new hole opened behind me. A gargantuan eye was visible there for a second, then replaced with the inside of its mouth. I screamed as it bit down, shaking my shell and digging teeth through the roof. It was trying to eat me. If it couldn't crush through the shell, it was going to swallow me whole.

More fire. More fire. I burned the Ironwood until it was hot, and flesh and gums sizzled all around me. The roots dug all the way back through the cliff and to the great tree itself, making it difficult for the dragon to wrench me free.

Distantly, I heard Yang's voice and an explosion, followed by a rush of hot air as the dragon roared at and around me. My head spun, ears almost rupturing from the sheer volume. I sagged until I was held up only by the Ironwood, and even then I kept pumping heat into it, even as my hands started to chafe from all the sharp metal brushing up and around it.

The shell cracked further and squeezed down, cutting off the space I had. Terrifying indents like teeth marks were becoming visible in the ceiling. Metal clinked and grated, and rock broke around me as the shell was pulled free, still connected by roots but now torn from the cliff face itself. I was like a seed trapped in an acorn being smashed by a huge bird. It was working, too. If nothing else, I couldn't focus on replenishing Ruby's weapons while this was going on.

But I could make more.

Focusing, I pushed my attention to the outer shell where the teeth were coming in. I Engraved the metal there, cutting and cutting until it was being pushed upward. Concentrating, I let the heat flow into it as the forging process began. I didn't need hands. I could forge with my mind.

So long as I had the metal and the fire, I was the forge.

I forged a sword.

It was Crocea Mors. Expected given how many times I'd made it that it was the design that came to mind. It was without a hilt or cross guard, just the blade itself, but it sprouted out from the shell and up into the dragon's mouth, cutting through its gums. The pressure retracted instantly as the monster roared. The wound would never be deep enough to kill it, but it hadn't expected it.

The shell clanged down onto the ground, shaking me so hard I snapped loose of the vines holding me in and fell. The hole that had been torn and widened by its claw was before me and I crawled toward it, squeezing through and out before the dragon could think to stamp down on and crush the ball into a pancake with myself in the middle.

It screeched and flailed its head left and right, blood spraying from it. I'd overestimated the impact I had for the blood wasn't from the mouth but its right eye, which was ruined beyond all measure. Yang fell from it, hurtling through the air and smashing through the roof of a burning building. I didn't have the strength or time to worry about her as the dragon focused back on me again, determined to follow its instructions and kill the Blacksmith.

On a crazy idea I switched my Class. It didn't stop its approach.

Switching back again, I slapped a hand on the thick Ironwood roots that had been exposed as my shell was pulled free. The cliff was a ruin now, caved inward and exposing a network of silver roots that spread down into the ground. All the material I could ever need. No time, though. That was an issue. Without thought or even a word, I sent everything I had pouring into it and just let go.

Make me something. Anything.

The dragon crashed into me and the cliff, bursting through rock and driving me deep into it, suffocating me under its mass.

Metal pulsed and shifted.

A sound like a nail being driven into rock ground out. The beast roared and thrashed, pushing me deeper and deeper and crushing me. My eyes closed against it, a silent scream escaping me as I kept pushing more and more heat into the Ironwood.

"Anything!" I screamed. "Make me anything!"

Blood washed over me. Drenched me. I gasped and waited for white light and Cinder's disappointed face, only to feel naught but pain and a sudden rush.

The dragon buckled. More red washed down over my body, pouring out from a giant hole set in the creature's chest, through which a huge metallic spike had been driven. It wasn't pretty, nor was it a sword. At best, it was a nail. A huge fucking nail.

Something hot burned inside me. There was a rush, a gasp and then that tingling sensation of gaining a level; of being pushed over the edge and into something new. Level Seventy-five. Information crashed into my mind, words, meanings and something more. A Skill. I'd gained a new Skill, shaped and determined by the Path I walked. For the first time I knew what that Skill did even without using it. I knew, because I'd seen it before.

Ironwood Creation.

My eyes burned blue.

The mountainside exploded.


I think I've correctly kept track of the levels here. Jaune reached Level 73 after his stint making Ironwood weapons, then hit Level 74 when he made the Ironwood gate to stop Salem's attack from blowing it open, and finally Level 75 here with all the weapons he made. Also, before Penny's death he mentioned earning Exp "almost enough to reach a new level" which meant he really didn't need much more to tip him over. Sharing Exp with so many others for the dragon did it.

And of course, he's been spending most of those levels interacting and playing with Ironwood, to a point only one man before him had. Hm. It sounds dirty when I put it like that.


/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Jaune Arc

Level 75

Blacksmith

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Str: 282 (A)

Con: 223 (B)

Dex: 84 (C, formerly D)

Agi: 139 (B, formerly C)

Int: 105 (C)

Wis: 196 (B)

Cha: 40 (D)

Res: 345 (A)

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Passive Skill

-Fire from the Forge-

Immunity to heat, flames and associated damage caused from his forging process.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Known Active Skills

-Stoke the Forge-

Generate intense heat in the hand for a short period of time, capable of super-heating metal to forging temperatures without the use of a forge.

-Quench-

Rapidly cool metal-based material to achieve a hardening effect during the forging process. Quench can only be used in metallurgy, as opposed to Stoke the Forge, which can generate heat in the hand irrespective of what it is then used on.

-Runesmithing-

The ability to etch Runes onto weapons, the effect of which is determined by the Rune itself. Limited to a single Rune per weapon.

-Engraving-

Engrave intricate patterns into metal-based material without the use of tools. Speed of technique determined by complexity and size of design.

- Purify Object –

Remove Curses from Cursed Objects, Weapons or Equipment. Imbue items to resist and repel Demonic Taint, and effects associated with it.

- Runesight –

Activated Skill that grants the ability to identify and understand Runes.

- Ironwood Creation –

Ability to create and shape Ironwood.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/


Been a long while since I did one of these, mostly because the levelling happened without impact to the story (was waiting for this point and this Skill) so it never felt worth it to have people be forced to read through stats.

Turns out some people like that so I apologise to those who missed it. I tend to assume what people prefer based on my own preferences, and one thing I always hated about gamer stories is the constant deluge of numbers.


Next Chapter: 11th November

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur