Chapter 10

Limits

Team JNPR attacked all at once; Ren went for Lupin's legs while Nora went for a hammer drop from above, Jaune and Pyrrha slashed their swords at shoulder level simultaneously. Meanwhile, Ruby was busy blocking attacks from the single Abomagrimm that wasn't constantly ice beaming Zander.

Lupin vanished, it appeared as if he had teleported, but in reality, he was so fast that none of the hunters present could track his movements.

Team JNPR registered that their attacks had missed and turned around to see Lupin yawning sarcastically.

"Slow, I expected a lot better," The Mega Lucario taunted.

Ren and Nora fired rounds from their SMGs and grenade launcher, respectively, but they vanished a few inches from Lupins's fur.

Lupin smirked and said, "I must say I took a shine to the way people in this world use aura as a passive forcefield and decided to use it myself" before unleashing a shockwave that knocked the entirety of Team JNPR on their backs. Ren and Nora were up first, but the shadow collective's general had no desire to fight them further.

Lupin fired a massive aura sphere that split into two smaller ones; they hit Nora and Ren dead in the chest, launching them through a massive metal shipping container. The duo's aura broke as they passed out, completely incapacitated with a single attack each.

Jaune's face was filled with rage as he charged towards Lupin, swinging Crocea Mors as hard as he could; unfortunately, Lupin caught the blade with his bear paw. Jaune had been improving significantly, and he wasn't that weak. Lupin was just that strong.

Lupin's blood-red eyes flashed a golden yellow as he sensed Jaune's aura, causing a curious look to form on his face.

"Fascinating…." Lupin mused before his paw glowed, a spike of energy blasting out, snapping Jaune's sword in half and denting his chest armor as the force palm sent him flying, the remains of his family sword clattering to the ground as he was knocked out to the ground right beside the still unconscious Ren and Nora.

"JAUNE!" Pyrrha shrieked in fear, Crocea Mors was the most durable blade she had ever seen and was over 70 years old, but Lupin had broken it, just like that. However, all of her teammates were merely unconscious. Even though he was clearly capable of piercing Jaune's chest armor, Lupin had stopped his attack from killing Jaune.

"They have a lot of potential….I see why you value them," Lupin observed, with no sarcasm or contempt in his voice.

Pyrrha's eyes glowed as she charged at Lupin with Miló and Akoúo̱ in hand, both burning with flames as she clashed the back of Lupin's arm.

Lupin's face was slightly strained as he said, "Flames, excellent choice."

Pyrrha poured more power into the flames, only for Lupin to deliver a force palm to her gut, blowing her back and breaking the deadlock.

"I respect you will; despite being one of the best in the world, you took on more power because you believed it was for the good of all, an admirable quality," Lupin complimented.

Pyrrha scowled and said, "admire this!" before firing a massive stream of fire at Lupin; however, it curved around him, and when the smoke cleared, a blue barrier of energy was between them.

The Fall Maiden fired again with everything she had, but the result was the same. As she fell to her knees and passed in exhaustion, Lupin noticed his shield was tinted the slightest bit orange after the attack.

As the Shadow Collective's general reabsorbed the energy of the shield, his paw flashed with orange light for a few seconds before vanishing, causing his eyes to squint as Lupin examined his small taste of the Fall Maiden's power. He hadn't drained any from Pyrrha, but the attack allowed him to analyze it for just a moment.

"Noted," Lupin whispered under his breath as Pyrrha didn't notice the color change.

A high-caliber sniper round hit Lupin from behind, but once again, his aura completely stopped the projectile.

Ruby Rose had finished off two of the Abomagrimm, but two were still holding Zander in place, and she needed to help her friends.

Lupin smiled as Pyrrha fell to the ground unconscious, saying, "Ah, Ruby Rose, your the one I've been looking forward to meeting."

"I won't let you hurt her!" Ruby stated defiantly.

Lupin shook his head and replied, "your friends will be fine; I have no interest in the Fall Maiden's power; after all, the Relic of Choice is somehow not under Beacon."

"Relic, what are you talking about?" Ruby demanded.

"Oh right, you don't know yet; unlike the Maiden, however, you are very interesting to me," Lupin revealed.

Ruby gave a confused look and said, "wait...me?"

The Mega Lucario couldn't help but laugh as he said, "You don't have the slightest clue, do you? No idea of what you are in possession of!"

Ruby gave an even more confused look and said, "what are you talking about?:

Lupin pointed to his own eyes and said, "your eyes, they hold the rarest power in existence, and you don't even know it!"

"Who cares! I'm taking you down!" Ruby said as confidently as she could before rushing with Crescent Rose. Lupin deflected the attacks with the spikes on the back of his paw before grabbing the handle of Ruby's scythe and force palming her in the chest, blowing her back and shattering her aura instantly.

Lupin folded Crescent Rose into its inactive form and said, "an impressive weapon, to say the least," before tossing it back to Ruby.

Just then, Pyrrha managed to stand back up and summoned more fire around Milo, saying, "I'm not done yet!"

Lupin gave a nonchalant expression and said, "wanting for a swordfight huh, you see I've achieved powers no other member of my species has been able to, and while some…"

On cue, four ghostly blue duplicates appeared around Lupin and slashed the ground with their paw spikes, causing ruts in the concrete as all five Lupins said, "have become second nature to me..."

As the four duplicates dissipated, Lupin finished with "others are difficult to precisely control, which is why I made something to channel them."

In a blue flash, a sheathed sword appeared in Lupin's right paw; it had a blue sheath and a white wrapped handle; Lupin used one of his three fingers to push up on the handle guard up, revealing the slighted view of the gleaming silver blade.

Pyrrha gripped Milo tighter, but an explosion of green energy blinded everyone; when it cleared, Zander was free of the ice, as the attack had vaporized the remaining Grimm, but the Latios was struggling to stay afloat, clearly weakened from the ice.

Just then, the massive dimensional hole in the distance vanished; Faba had finished shipping the dust.

Zander's eyes glowed as the metal collar on his neck revealed a gemstone in the center, causing Lupin's eyes to show genuine fear.

"It appears I've overstayed my welcome; I hope for a rematch with you all!" Lupin conceded as his sword vanished in another blue flash. With his weapon back in his pocket dimension, Lupin summoned a dimensional hole beneath him and vanished.

Zander immediately passed out and fell to the ground; Lupin had fallen for his bluff, as he was in no condition to fight, let alone use his mega stone after that ice bombardment.

This left Ruby and Pyrrha alone to call Glynda and Qrow, and there was going to be a lengthy meeting after this...

Author's note- Thus ends Volume 4

1. I know this was a little one-sided, but after I hid him under a robe for 9 chapters I needed Lupin to live up to the hype...and foreshadow some tricks he has for later.

2. Taking a hiatus, planning on starting the new story I mentioned on April 5th

3. Leave a review, I want to know what everyone who followed this story thinks so far...