Alright. I did say I might see you next week a few days ago. It's now next week. I kinda rushed this 'cause I'm gonna be stupid busy for the rest of this week, so I needed to get this off my table quickly. Again, no proofreader. The bastard I had to proofread my shit for me won't do it 'cause he's a lazy cunt and likes to laugh at my mistakes.
That... and this is over seven thousand words long. Apparently, he'll only proofread chapters under five thousand. So, until then, I've done it myself. Cutting down on the word count made the process alot less mind-numbing. So here you go. There are still gonna be mistakes, though not as much as the last chapter... maybe.
Vale calmed.
The events of last night did more than just disturb the inhabitants of Beacon, it had sent the entire Kingdom of Vale into chaos... Ok, that was a bit of an over-exaggeration. But, still, the people were sent into disarray. The usual monotony of everyday civilian life came to a grinding halt as news spread through every door and window like a wildfire.
The Grimm Pools were gone.
A grand celebration erupted throughout every district and home. A long-sought dream, one that stretched entire generations, had finally been achieved.
For so long, the Grimm Pools of Vale had terrorized its Kingdom ever since the discovery of dust. Many years ago, Vale was just a small settlement inhabited by just a small pocket of people. Though, every now and then, it would be attacked by scores of Grimm. The Grimm were known to attack this small village every day in hopes to exterminate its inhabitants, but instead of giving in to the beasts, the villagers fought back.
Dust.
Dust was the equalizer that allowed Man to fight toe to toe with Beowolves. The power to command fire and lightning to smite the snarling darkness that threatened to consume them was an undoubtable boon. Most could not handle the bite of the stones, many perished in their attempts. But, those who could manifest the power of their own souls and project it beyond their bodies bared the strength to command the elements.
The Hunters
Their hunters, the people who fed, clothed and protected them, would venture out into the wilderness to hunt down the monsters which scraped at their primitive wooden walls. These hunters would find these monsters and kill them to protect their homes. Over time, this simple village would grow and its people multiplied, and so did the monsters of which still had a taste for their blood.
As generations flew by, the village grew and expanded. What was less than a hundred people became a thousand, the simple wooden barriers meant to defend them evolved into stone, and their hunters grew in skill and numbers. Traditions, Tales, and Tombs were built in their name. Weapons, of which were the of most ornate, were constructed with the intent of being granted to them in gratitude and respect.
These hunters would go on to become heroes and legends. They were not just people, they were symbols. Symbols of defiance and the human spirit. Every hunter would undergo a trial by fire where they would be tested if their souls burned bright enough to challenge the darkness. They called it "Aura". The power of the soul. A necessary attribute to utilize Dust.
The process, unfortunately, normally resulted in one's death. Yet, those who survive become invaluable. They were almost treated like the very gods they worshipped. As Grimm evolved and changed so did these hunters. No longer did they hunt normal animals. No longer did they wield crude tools. No longer were they held by the same standards of the common man.
No longer were they just hunters.
They were Huntsmen.
Warriors of the Light, Slayers of the Dark.
Defenders of Humanity and Bane of Grimm.
Champions of Vale.
The Grimm Pools have always been a problem for Vale, their ancestors have endured waves after waves of these beasts since the beginning of history. And, they, their descendants, still continue to do the same. Until now.
Since the Grimm Pools were gone.
Huntsmen and professionals of civilian fields were sent out by the Bullheads to investigate The Beam from last night. During their search, they found ruined landscapes and a massive abundance of Aura Residue in the mud. This trail of destruction led them to the Grimm Pools. The Huntsmen were ready to defend and evacuate the scientists and pilots, but no Grimm came. So, they inched closer to Pools.
And, when they arrived... Many, if not all, were left speechless.
The Grimm Pools were gone.
There, in the Deadlands, craters and depressions littered the lifeless ground, but they held none of the demonic soup which spawned its agents of death. Every single one of them were empty. Not a single drop of tar was found. The North Vale Grimm Pools have officially gone extinct, never to produce any more of its malevolent nightmares again.
This was a miracle. There have been attempts throughout history to destroy the Pools, but those attempts often resulted in the near annihilation of the Kingdom.
But now...
The Grimm Pools were gone.
When the news arrived, people rejoiced in the millions. The streets were filled with joy, cheer, and tears. Those who worshipped their respective gods proceeded with their rituals in profusely thanking the divine, those who had lost friends and families due to the Grimm roared in retribution, and those who were once pressed down cynics were filled with a rare but growing hope.
Countless new opportunities have been gifted to them... and some felt as if a new era had arrived.
Now that The Grimm Pools were gone.
Most believed that The Beam was responsible for the annihilation of The Pools. They hypothesised, theorized, and conceptualized the cause of The Beam. Some believed it was the will of the divine, some believed it was a weapon of untold power, some even believed it was an army of Legendary Huntsmen who were responsible. Others had more insane and outlandish ideas for what could have possibly caused The Beam, but none really knew the answer.
What could have possibly destroyed the single greatest threat to The Kingdom's entire existence?
Inside a warm room where the golden rays illuminated and the smell of alcohol permeated, a boy was sound asleep in his bed...
"Ooooh... Uuuuugh... Nnnnnnnyeh... Oh... Ow, my head."
Until he wasn't.
A pale hand met a well-placed icy towel on his forehead, the condensation dripping down onto his shortened blonde hair. Crusty, dark eyelids opened up to reveal a pair of heavily bloodshot blue eyes. Those same eyes moved around in their sockets, attempting to shake off the stinging blurriness that burdened them. The hand patted the towel and slipped it down over his eyes.
"Oh yeah... That's much better."
He lied there for a bit, not daring to think under the assumption that his brain would pop if he did.
He didn't want to move, a dull pain danced across every nerve in his body. It wasn't a stinging pain, but it was unpleasant enough to be well aware of. His body drank in the warmth and comfort his current situation provided. The three pillows that hugged his head were as soft as clouds and the blanket covering him kept him cosy. Leaving the bed would most likely just make his aching head and body escalate to be worse.
Unfortunately, he would not be able to indulge in such comforts.
A wave of nausea washed over him and his stomach churned. Pressure built up in the depth of his oesophagus and his mouth was starting to produce large amounts of saliva. He knew what this meant, he's experienced this countless times before. Out of frustration and reluctance, the boy ripped off the cooling comfort of the towel and the benevolent embrace of his blankets.
He virtually shot off the mattress and zoomed over to the bathroom.
Jaune was now awake.
He busted through one of the thick wooden doors of his dorm and entered the tile-comprised space of his destination. There, his overworked eyes rested on the item that would grant him salvation.
The toilet.
With the pressure moving up his throat now, Jaune had no time to spare and crash on his knees upon the pink, fuzzy rug before it. He gripped the sides with practised precision, angled his head down... and let loose.
"Huuurrkkghhkghkghk! Huu-argghukgkhkgh! *cough* cough* HUURK!"
The vomit not only came flooding out of his mouth but also out both his nostrils. Tears slid down his eyes from the acrid substance exploding out of his throat and nasal cavity. He kept his head down and angled his open mouth to the bottom of the bowl, not caring about the horrific sounds he was producing. His focus was purely on getting whatever was causing this right out of his system.
With a final cough and spit, he grabbed the roll of toilet paper to his left and rounded up some layers. He blew his nose to expel whatever was left in his nose and wiped his mouth before throwing it down the rubbish bin right underneath the toilet paper. He took some more to wipe the tears off his face.
He breathed a sigh of relief, thankful it was now over. He stood up, inhaled a deep breath and groggily opened his eyes once more. He took a bit of time to process what had just happened and inched his hand over to the handle to flush whatever just came out of his guts... and stopped.
His eyes fell upon the contents of the bowl. This wouldn't have fazed him if it was just normal vomit, his motion sickness made him quite familiar with what puke looked like. No, the contents of the bowl were not normal at all. Of course, there was the everyday bile and acid, but mixed in those gastral concoctions were three things that made Jaune strain his golden brows.
There, mixed within the toilet water, was a combination of alcohol, stomach acid, whatever the hell he ate yesterday, and two things he didn't recognize. There was also one that he did but knew shouldn't be there. Combined in his usual bodily expulsion, were specs of strange glowing substances that contrasted his heave like stars upon a chunky brown canvas.
Some were white, some were gold. But, there was one more thing, his vomit was a bit more reddish than normal, a metallic tang made itself known on his tongue.
Blood. He had just vomited blood.
He began to breathe heavily, then stopped himself there. Jaune reminded himself that whatever had caused that blood was most likely fixed by his Aura now. In his words, it was no biggie.
A hand slapped onto a sweating forehead.
"What the heck happened last night...? And, what's up with all this glowing stuff?"
He shook his head to clear himself of those thoughts and pulled down the lever his hand had been resting on this entire time, sending the sparkling oral waste to wherever Beacon's plumbing connected to.
|\|
Pyrrha walked down to Beacon's armoury. It was where students of all years came to either resupply on dust, ammo, and equipment, or acquire repairs, upgrades, and new weapons. The armoury would always be crawling with students, but due to a quarter of the student body being in the infirmary, thanks to Professor Port, and it being the weekends, it wasn't as crowded as it normally would be.
She didn't need to do anything complicated or time-consuming, she just needed to get some more ammo and dust, while also finding one of the old smiths who worked down here. You see, despite students normally making and designing their own weapons to the most of their creativity, not many know or even have the time to thoroughly maintain their own weapons. That's why Beacon's Armoury had smiths.
These old metal workers were among the best engineers and millwrights of their generation, most of them being veterans of their craft and pushing their fifties. If you wanted something fixed or improved, it would normally be best to go over to one of the smiths for advice and/or service. There was one... small... problem...
The smiths absolutely despised Mecha-shift weapons.
These smiths were veterans of their craft and to see their craft being bastardized by the hands of children for the sake of form over function, utterly enraged them.
Most, if not all, of the smiths were rather grumpy old men and women. They utterly hated the way their skills were being utilized, but they genuinely can't argue against the pay. Working in Beacon tripled and sometimes even quadrupled their annual salary. Although they almost always cringed at the logistic nightmares the students call "weapons", they honestly can't speak ill of their creativity.
Still, depending on how complicated and how ridiculous your weapon is, you're going to have to cough up some extra Lien to get them to even think about touching it.
Ruby has been banned from the armoury. Crescent Rose was, in their words, "an abomination of engineering and an insult to metallurgy."
This is why she was here. To ask one of the smiths to clean up the Greatsword while she tended to Jaune until he was better. Besides, it was just a regular, normal, big sword, it won't be pricy at all.
The armoury was comprised of one big circular room roughly fifty metres wide and a hundred high. The walls were stacked with weapons, all of which either belonged to students and were just being stored, or belonged to the smiths in case of an emergency. You can easily tell which belonged to either of the two. There were stone platforms that circled around so people could reach the weapons, each platform being just about ten metres above each other and supported by thick stone pillars.
A "chandelier", made out of golden vines and illuminated by bulbs of hard-light dust, hung from the middle of the ceiling and reached all the way down to the very bottom and touched the ground.
There were stairs that lead up to each one. Each floor belonged to a certain smith who specialized in certain weapons and ammunition. The Smith on the third floor specialized in explosives while the one on the seventh specialized in robotics. There was a third-year who would make robotic laser-guided sentry guns... and a fourth-year had a small squad of robots to fight for him... He was infamous for replacing his own team when they were too busy to do missions with him.
Alright, away from those two smiths. Pyrrha had her eye on the fifth platform. The smith on the fifth platform specialized in bladed weapons, so it was a no brainer on where she should go. Taking the stairs wasn't necessary, Pyrrha was a huntress. If anything, those stairs weren't for the students but for the smiths to actually get to their stations.
So, she just... jumped from platform to platform. It was only ten metres from each floor, most students can easily cover fifteen with a single bound.
It didn't take her long, it didn't even take her ten seconds to get to where she needed to go. Her pristine heels jabbed the stone floor beneath as she landed, making a pair of light clicks to announce their presence. A series of smaller clicks echoed throughout the nearly empty room while she approached the heavy metal doors to the smith's station. She took out her student ID, slid it across the identification scanner, and walked on in as the doors slid apart.
The fifth smith was in.
There placing his equipment in their appropriate places, ensuring his forge was nice and tidy, stood a man slightly shorter than her leader but far stockier by a long shot. Sweat slid down his dark skin as he stroked his dark brown beard in thought before sharpening his horns with a heavy file. Yes, horns. He was a Faunus. He was, effectively, the only Faunus smith in the armoury.
"Uhmm... Excuse me."
The smith jumped from Pyrrha's sudden greetings and shot around to meet her with wide hazel eyes. This also startled Pyrrha who had instinctively crouched down into a fighting stance. They both stared at each other and calmed down, embarrassed at their respective displays.
"OH! Ms. Nikos! I didn't hear you come in, I was filing my horns and it seemed the grating against my ears masked your entry. Apologies." He finished his sentence with a small bow, a cultural custom from Eastern Mistral.
"Oh, no! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you, please you don't need to apologize."
"Oh, well. How about this? We both say sorry for startling each other, and we both accept our simultaneous apologies."
"Whaaat?" Pyrrha chuckled at the man's shenanigan but accepted the offer either way.
"Well, I thought it would be a good way to get this whole situation off the table considering we're both infamously apologetic."
"Hmmm... good point."
"Alright. So, we both say speak our apologies at the same time, and then we both accept each other's apologies in the same way. Hm?"
"Ok. OK." She chuckled slightly. "We'll do at the count of three. One. Two. Three"
And then, they both managed to stick with the plan. Pyrrha was well known around Beacon for not just being the Invincible Girl, but she also had a serious habit of saying sorry. Her own team tracked the number of times she says "sorry" per day, and under some mathematics, she clocked in at around five to eight sorries per day. Similar can be said for the fifth smith, he too had a similar habit. Except, instead of "sorry", it was "apologies".
They both had a laugh from the whole situation and moved on to business.
"I'm sorry, but I'm here for something weapon-related." Her laughter died down just enough to allow her to weave words.
"Oh, sure thing! Besides, I don't have many customers right now, I've had quite of bit of time to kill. So, tell me! What would you have me do?"
She displayed the rust ridden Greatsword to the smith, holding it flat against her hands for him to see one side of the blade in detail. Specifically, the side where the cyan gem resided. Aside from the oxidizing blade and the rotting wooden handle, the smith had stars in his eyes. What laid before him was a rare, rare sight. It was a normal sword. It was big but undoubtedly "normal". There were no cogs and segments as far as the eye can see, and oh boy did his eyes see.
"I wonder if you can clean this for me. You see I don't have a lot of time to waste, and I need to get back up to my dorm to-"
"YES!" The smith exclaimed in joy. "YES! I would love to! Where did you get this!?"
Stroking his beard, he eyed the sword keenly, making sure his eyes swept every inch of the weapon.
"Well... I didn't get it. My team leader, Jaune, did. He found it somewhere and just... picked it up, I guess."
"Oh! Then let me tell you, young lady. Your team leader has fine tastes!"
That was the bias talking. Everyone in Beacon knew that the smiths had a love for the simple and purely functional. They had a motto of which every student in the entire Academy has heard at least ten times. The more complicated it is, the more prone it is to failure. Aside from the obvious fact that they had Aura, which typically made things two or three times more durable. The smiths would always encourage simplifying the weapons of every student that came to them.
Obviously, none of her schoolmates ever listened... Including her... And, Jaune doesn't even know where the armoury even is.
"Wow... It's quite thin for such a long blade. Can I carry it?"
"Hmmm. Y-Yes, but... I'd recommend being very careful. The edges are insanely sharp." Her eyes squeezed with anxiety as she slowly and lightly handed the blade over the smith, his own eyes widening at the weight of the weapon. More appropriately, its lack of weight.
"Oh my goodness! It's lighter than I thought."
"Funny you mention that. My teammates were going on about the same thing. Nora started swinging it around with one hand before Ren got it off of her."
"Well... Quite a unique sword... I've never handled anything this light for its size... Anyway! I can get these clean and repair this quite quickly. It's going to take me a good hour or two, but by the time you get it back, you can use it as a mirror to brush your teeth! HAHA!"
"Oh, thankyou! Jaune will really appreciate this."
"No worries, Ms. Nikos. I can ensure you that he'll receive it in its best condition."
"Oh thankyou, I need to get back to my team leader now. He's had a rough night..."
"Well, don't let me stop you! Have a nice day, Ms. Nikos!"
He turned around and took the blade over to his forge while Pyrrha walked away. When she passed the door, she just remembered something important and turned back around to the smith.
"Wait! What about payment? How much Lien do you need?"
"Oh, no! I'm doing this for free!"
And then the doors closed.
Pyrrha took a moment to think about what just happened and shrugged it off. She vaulted over the rails and fell down to the second platform to talk to the second smith for ammunition, later the third for those explosives, and then the first for Dust.
|\|
"Hello, beautiful..." The smith's hazel eyes practically violated the poor blade. He nodded his head a few times in approval and his smile reached his eyes. "Let's tidy you up, gorgeous."
He placed the blade on a clean towel above one of the many workshop tables in his quarters. He admired the simplicity of the weapon, there was beauty to be found in its uncomplicated design. The way its untouched patches, free of rust, shined into his eyes like the grace of moonlight, made him giddy at the thought of polishing such seemingly fine metal. He was about to go on to disassemble the weapons with his tools, but...
He couldn't move.
His eyes locked on the glowing cyan gem which fitted snugly in the crossguard. His own hands painfully gripped the weapon without his consent as if they had suddenly acquired their own free will. His body wouldn't move and he couldn't keep his eyes off the gem... He was starting to panic. His mind devolved into a storm of chaos, but his body simply stood still... Frozen
Pressure.
There was pressure in his head not too dissimilar to a skull-splitting headache. He didn't know what was happening. He didn't know what to do. His hands gripped the sword so tight that the edges bit into them, causing his extremities to bleed profusely. The smith could only watch in horror as the gem burned and as the sword gladly bathed in his own blood.
Pain.
Suddenly, a shock of pain sent his nerves hay-wire. It started from his hands and reached its way into his head. He couldn't scream. He couldn't cry. He couldn't even make a small twitch. His body was not reacting the way it should, but his mind was well aware of the danger that was occurring. The blade emanated a dull white light that pierced into his veins and set them alight, the streaks of light crawling their way from his arms and to his head.
Fear.
What was happening? How was this happening? Why was this happening? The sword... There was something wrong with the sword. There was something horribly wrong with it. His body would not move to his will, his nerves and veins were set alight, and an overwhelming pressure made itself comfortable in his brain. It was all too much for the poor Faunus to handle. His mind could take no more of this torture.
So, he passed out...
Except, his body still stood like a statue. Even when the edges of the blade dug their way into the bones of his hands, and his mind was out of commission, he stood still...
Until he didn't.
His head spontaneously craned upwards, cracking the disks of bones in his neck. A grimace appeared on his face as his teeth grinded against each other. He took a sharp breath, filling as much of his lungs as possible before expelling everything out in one big snarl. His eyes opened. Where once soft hazel eyes resided were now replaced by something else.
His peepers were still the same as before, but there was one small additional detail.
Two cyan glows, barely visible, radiated out of his pupils.
"Oh... Whew! Storing some of that nerd's aura for later was definitely a smart move. Alright! Alright! Alright!" The Faunas removed his hands from the bite of the weapon. But, before they could bleed any further, the wounds almost immediately vanished, leaving nothing but drying blood. "Wow! This place is fucking awesome! Bugger, there's tools and shit everywhere. Ohohoho! Oh, yesssss."
An unfamiliar grin came upon the man's face while he looked down at the sword. The glowing in his veins slowly dulled until they were completely snuffed out. He looked around to see items of repair and tools of restoration. This was the perfected opportunity for the sword to fix itself up and maybe make some small cosmetic improvements.
He looked back down at the blade with aggressive enthusiasm, picked out the needed tools, and began the restoration process.
"Alright! Let's get to fuckin' work."
|\|
Pyrrha carried special cases of ammo and Dust. One container held the necessary ammunition that Ren and Nora chewed through relatively quickly, while the other held dust in its different forms either as crystals, liquids, or... well... dust. The Dust was for things in general. Weaponry, maintenance, and even domestic appliances all required some form of Dust.
Thankfully, she was able to retrieve everything without issue and all she needed to do now was to just wait for the smith to finish with Jaune's Greatsword.
She went and climbed the stairs back up to her team's dorm.
Today wasn't too much of an issue so far. So, she decided to get back to Jaune as fast as possible.
She walked to the door to their dorm, the clicking of her heels being muffled by the pink carpet at the entrance. By the second week after Initiation, Ren decided to make the dorm as homey as he can. Not anyone complained, his touches of the space were lovely. Sh rattled the doorknob slightly and twisted to open the way. She delicately swung the door open, since she damaged it last night when she and the others went out looking for their leader.
She came to face with the harrowing sight of her leader crawling his way out of the bathroom.
"Jaune!?" She nearly dropped the cases. "Wha-!? Huh!? Why are you-!? What are you doing out of bed?"
"To puke..."
She carefully placed the cases down and rushed to his side. She craned her arm around him to bring him back up. Slowly and steadily, she managed to bring her partner back to his realm of rest. He virtually melted into the mattress, his body rejoiced at the return to comfort. He sighed with relief and slowly closed his eyes. Pyrrha found the towel she placed on him last night was on the floor, so she pick it up made her way to the dorm's living room.
"Just- Just wait here, ok?" Her soft voice managed to reach him. "I'm going to get you another towel. Ren made you some medicine and Nora got some painkillers for you."
"K..."
She disappeared into the doorframe to his left, leaving him to groan and moan from the results of his life choices.
She entered the living room and walked over to the Kitchen. She opened up the fridge to find what she was looking for, taking out a jug of cold water and the remedies Ren concocted. She swiped Nora's pills of Huntsmen Grade painkillers off the counter. She took a chopping board and used it as a tray to carry everything over to her bed-ridden leader.
"Hey, Jaune! I'm back. Here, this'll make you feel better." Her cheery display only received another groan from him.
"But, I don't wanna get up..."
"C'mon, Jaune. You need to get up for a bit. You won't feel any better if you don't." She placed the chopping board on the foot of his bed and walked over to his head.
"Maybe later..."
"Just cooperate with me, ok? I can't give you the remedies while you're lying down. C'mon, up you go!" She grabbed Jaune by the armpit to bring him up.
"Uuuuuh..."
Although many would be disgusted and unwilling to go anywhere near someone who smelled like alcohol, tree sap, and vomit, Pyrrha didn't mind at all. In fact, she actually enjoyed being so close to him despite Jaune smelling like a village drunk. Everyone knew that Pyrrha had a crush on him, everyone also knew that Pyrrha was absolutely fucking dehydrated for her leader, but nobody could really wrap their head around why.
Why would the most successful and powerful girl in the Academy be head over heels over some toothpick lookin'-ass nobody who was denser than a boulder?
Aside from Pyrrha herself, no one knew the answer. But, that was a question for another time.
With a smile, she brought him up in a seated position and brought up one of the whiskey shots of brews that Ren had ready before he left. Jaune did cooperate, but it was more like he was too tired to put up any resistance. When he was done downing the multiple odd-tasting liquids, Pyrrha placed one of the painkillers into his mouth and had him wash it down with ice-cold water.
"There you go. Great job, Jaune."
"Auugh..."
Finally, she placed the towel back on his forehead... which he promptly placed over his eyes instead.
Pyrrha placed her hand over to his bare chess, igniting her Aura to feel the possible damage. What she felt horrified her.
Jaune's bones were all fractured, but slowly healing. His muscles were torn to shreds, feeling like strings of old ropes. His organs were heavily damaged, but thankfully none were ruptured. It seems the stunt he pulled last night did a real number on him. She couldn't believe the amount of damage his body had sustained due to his own overstressed efforts.
"Oh, no..." Jaune wasn't just a bit beaten up, he was blatantly broken.
His aura was strained and couldn't fix his body as fast as it should, so Pyrrha came up with an idea. Aura transfer. Just a small charge of her aura should give his own the right kick to make it attain some better progress. Her hand, which was hovering over his skin, came flat against his flesh and pushed against the bony structure of his rib cage. All it would take is a small spark.
She wasn't prepared for what would happen next.
As soon as her hand lit up with its red glow, an explosion of white assaulted her. The intensity of light damaged her corneas and burned at her hand. Instinctively, she shot back away from the bed to recover from the sudden illumination. She sent aura to her optics to fix any damage and down to her burning hand, and what she saw astounded her.
Her veins... were glowing.
It wasn't her colour, though. They were shocks of the purest white. They gradually dulled after a second to reveal red instead. Pyrrha grabbed her hand finding that the burning pain dancing across her palm and finger slowly become soothing. Something had changed... She felt... different. Her eyes sparkled emerald green and her hair sheened a royal red. Red cracks scattered across her flesh similar to Jaune last night.
She felt powerful. So overwhelmingly powerful.
Her semblance, polarity, was acting up. She could "see" everything. Her magnetic semblance allowed her to feel every inch of magnetic material around her. She could feel the pipes in walls, the bolts and screws embedded in every piece of furniture, and even the flow of the iron her own blood and that of Jaune's. Pyrrha had always practised her semblance thoroughly but never has she ever attained such fine control over it. Her aura weaved around the room like tendrils, feeling, searching.
She could even feel specks of iron fluttering in the air.
She felt her muscles tense and snap at her will. Everything felt so much lighter, standing on her own two feet felt like she was hovering just slightly above the ground. Her lungs have never felt so clear and the cloudiness of her tired mind was washed away by an ocean of lucidity. She could see better, smell better, hear better... Everything about her was just... better.
She felt incredible. She felt unstoppable. She felt Invincible. She grinned at the sheer power flowing throughout her body.
But, it passed as soon as it came.
Abruptly shot down from her high, Pyrrha collapsed on the floor.
"What was that!?" She took a sharp breath, her heart beating so fast she could barely feel it. "What... I... wow..."
She got back up to see her leader fast asleep in his seated posture, the towel had slipped off his face. Shocks of white cracked across his body again, his eyes beamed through his eyelids, and his hair appeared like golden fire. But, that too slowly dimmed after some time, and the glowing ceased, giving way to Jaune's peaceful state.
Pyrrha's state was anything but peaceful. Having the exhaustion literally burned out of her kept her eyes nice and wide, while her heart still threatened to escape her chest.
She slowly wobbled back up. Her heels clacked against the floorboards as she slowly approached Jaune again. She looked at his face, then back down at his chest, then back at his face, then again back to his chest. She was wary, but oh so curious.
She hovered her hand over him again to feel the damage and... nothing.
"What?" She whispered thinking this was a mistake. "Where is everything?"
She probed his body again, eyes closed and her full concentration on the process. The injuries... were gone! She stepped back in awestricken surprise. In a literal flash, Jaune's injuries just... disappeared. The torn muscles were all neatly connected together again, she couldn't feel a single crack on his bones, and his organs were working as well as they should.
This was impossible! It was impossible for Aura to just erase such internal injuries with just a click of a finger... Yet, that's exactly what just happened.
Pinching the bridge of her nose before she got an aneurism from overthinking the logistics of Jaune's Aura. She carefully, and tenderly brought him back down to lie flat on his back so he can rest further. She placed his head on the pillows, brought up the blankets to keep him warm and adjust the towel where it covered his eyes and a bit of his forehead.
She walked backwards out of the room, holding her breath. She opened the door behind her and quietly closed it shut.
Outside, she took deep breaths to calm herself. Hands were wide open as confused emerald eyes watched in wonder and fear. Pyrrha has done and accomplished a great many things throughout her childhood and teen years. She had grown and adapted to a great many obstacles. She had been educated to fight ever since she could speak, and trained to conquer ever since she could walk.
There were moments of triumph in which she felt like her title implied.
But never... never has she ever felt such God-like power.
Pyrrha was a superstitious girl who placed her faith in destiny and fate, she believed in the divine and incalculable. No normal Aura could possibly do things Jaune's did. No Huntsman had ever singlehandedly sent a Grimm Pool into extinction. No Huntsman had ever survived such terrible damage to their bodies without their Aura shattering shortly. No Huntsman had ever held such blinding power that could split the skies and banish storms.
Yet... Jaune did all these things...
Pyrrha thought about the events of last night, properly processing them this time. She thought about how so many impossible things happened that night and how all were caused by Jaune. Breaking through Huntsmen-proof windows, somehow getting past the Great Wall of Vale, annihilating multiple "Huntsman Killers" in the span of a single hour, fighting seemingly endless hoards of for the rest of the night without rest... and extinguishing a Grimm Pool...
A small chuckle escaped her lips, then another, then another, and then those chuckles exploded into full-blown laughter.
No one would hear her, the walls were thick and soundproof, mainly because a bunch of teenagers messing around with superpowers can cause quite the commotion.
She laughed at the impossibility of last night, she laughed at how slaying Grimm that caused so many deaths could look like child's play, she laughed about how Jaune, who held the record of Beacon's worst-performing student, had done more that night than any official Huntsmen had ever done in their entire lifetimes. She laughed at how Destiny dabbled in mysterious ways.
She decided that she would go to the Kingdom to meet up with Ren and Nora, there wasn't much she had to do here. Jaune was completely fine now. The smith will bring the sword over to him, he knew where the dorm was.
|\|
"What the fuck was that bastard's dorm number again!?"
The "Faunus smith" wandered the halls of the Academy with building frustration. Newly cleaned Greatsword in hand, no longer covered in his own blood, and pissed as all fuck, the smith was stuck in a massive maze of bullshit. He uncharacteristically cursed and swore his way through spaces avoiding the sights of cameras and shutting up whenever he was near a hidden microphone.
The sword was not a happy camper. First, it needed to get to its wielder quick before all the Aura it stored ran out and lose control of the smith. It's fabricated and implanted fake memories in the smith's brain so that when he was free, he'd not suspect a single thing.
"FOR FUCKS SAKE! This is place is huge..." He scratched his ass while he waddled his way around the school. "Who the hell designs a bloody school for like less than fifty fucking kids to be this bloody massive!? This place is a literal CASTLE! WHO BUILDS A FUCKING CASTLE FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN!?"
If anyone saw that Faunus smith acting the way he was, they would be pardoned to believe that he had been either replaced by a look-alike or straight up possessed.
The latter was what was in fact happing.
The cyan gem on the crossguard glimmered with rage. It has been wandering this piece of shit school for around fifteen minutes. Extracting memories out of the man it was possessing was a pain due to requiring alot of care, alot of aura, and alot of pain. The sword had none of those three things. It needed to find the yellow one as fast as it can before it runs out of juice.
Besides, implanting fake memories and extracting accurate ones were two different beasts. One obviously took less effort than the other.
Stomping his massive feet against up another flight of stairs, he came up to another dorm and knocked against its doors.
A large boy, far larger than the smith was, towered above and casted a shadow onto the older man. "What do you want?"
"The smith" took a deep breath and summoned up his most convincing performance.
"Hello! Apologies for disturbing you, but I'm looking for a certain dorm. I can't remember what the number was, I am an old man after all." He laughed as light-heartedly as he can. "You see, I'm looking for the dorm of one Jaune Arc. Do you think you can help me find-"
"I don't talk to your kind."
The boy slammed the door in his face and left the sword lethally irritated. But... he could hear slight muffling when he placed his ear to the door. Before he knew it, the door swung open to reveal a different boy, but nearly as tall as the one before.
"I am so, so sorry about that! Cardin's got his issues, please forgive us! He didn't mean to say-
"YES, I DID! FILTHY FAUNUS!"
"Cardin! Please! Can you cut down on your racism for just one day!? ONE! DAY!" The boy's blue hair and pleading eyes angled down to meet the visitor. "Again, I am so sorry about Cardin. He's got issues. Is there anything you need? I'd be happy to help."
"...Well, I was looking for a dorm belonging to a student called "Jaune Arc". I need to drop this sword off to him."
Sky looked at the weapon with confusion and curiosity. Since when did that loser get a new sword?
Either way, he had an opinion to change. The smith in front of him was the Bladesmith. Almost every single student came to him when it came to the bladed portions of their weapon, including his. So, making sure the smith had a decent opinion of you was priority numero uno if you want to even use his forge. If he didn't like you, you had to cough up some serious Lien.
"I know just where it is! Here, I'll bring over there myself. Again, I am so sorry about Cardin. He's a jerk ya'know." The L of team CRDL attempted to laugh away any apparent tension. "It's just nearby. Follow me."
It was literally just three doors away. That entire escort thing was pointless, but at least he got to where he wanted to be. He said his thanks and the boy awkwardly marched on back to his dorm. The smith shook his head and turned the handle to get inside the room.
Bingo.
There, in all of his nonexistent glory, lied his wielder. He laid in a throne of triple-stacked blankets and pillows, guarded by legions of plushies. He also smelled terrible.
The smith made his way over to the corner of the room where the sword used to stand and placed it down to stand on its tip. It was a fitting place. The sunlight illuminated its newly polished form while the gem could see the entire room. There were four beds. The one at the very right end was the one on which its wielder rested. With his job done and his usefulness exhausted. The sword sent the smith out to drone back to his workshop to stew in those fake memories.
Things were going handsomely.
It was back to its wielder.
Said wielder had actually survived.
And, the wielder was asleep.
The gem burned brightly as webs of the remaining stored Aura it had leeched off of Jaune the previous night slowly me their way to his resting body. It halted just above him... and tapped him in the forehead,
Everything lined up almost too perfectly, all it needed to do now was to make itself known. It was time to officially introduce itself.
Vale readied her ships.
Today was a glorious day for the entire continent. With the North Grimm Pools gone, mobilization in large numbers was finally possible.
Throughout the centuries, the kingdom attempted to expand on multiple occasions, challenging the Grimm's dominance over the continent. Most failed immediately, some did succeed initially, but all ended with the Kingdom of Vale sent back into her little corner at the upper northwest portion of the landmass. Grimm Pools could be found throughout Vale, though none had given them as much trouble The Northern Grimm Pool.
The Pool of The North, or the Apex of Vale as many called it, was among the most violent, most virile, and most vicious out of them all. There were attempts to relocate the Kingdom and move its people, but whenever such large mobilizations occurred, the pools would manufacture hoards of Grimm... by the millions. Inciting the Pool's wrath whenever such ambitions came to fruition was simply not the most... safe way of keeping the Kingdom alive.
But, that didn't matter now.
The Grimm Pools were gone.
During the fall of multiple expansions, settlements, villages, small towns, and even entire fortresses were left to fend for themselves out in Vale's Frontiers. Families and friends were torn apart, important relics of the past were lost, and entire areas abundant with resources had to be abandoned. Projects and progress came to a grinding halt with the loss of every expansion.
Throughout this millennium Vale has been held back, unable to truly prove her glorious greatness. But, today, the shackles which burdened have been broken. Burned and melted apart by The Pillar of Vale.
That's what people were calling it now. The beam from last night had an official name, agreed upon by the majority of the population, and politicians attempting to ride the turning social climate for personal gain.
The Pillar of Vale
Has quite a nice ring to it, does it not?
Either way, today was the day that Vale pushed back the darkness once again. And, this time, she will retrieve all she had lost.
...
Though, not all celebrated this fateful day.
A woman's wrath burned and charred.
Lein Lost: 0 Lien Acquired: 0 Total Lien: 0
Dust Lost: 0 Dust Acquired: 0 Total Dust: 0
Ammo Lost: 0 Ammo Acquired: 0 Total Ammo: 0
Equipment Lost: 0 Equipment Acquired: 0 Total Equipment: 0
Grimm Exterminated: 0 Machines Neutralized: 0 Living Hostiles Captured: 0
Aura Lost: N/A Aura Acquired: N/A Total Aura: N/A
Injuries sustained: 1. Full Body Fracturing 2. Full Body Muscle Tears 3. Full Body Organ Damage.
Injuries recovered: 1. Full Body Fracturing 2. Full Body Muscle Tears 3. Full Body Organ Damage.
Total Injuries: None
War Crime Count: 0
Additional Notes: None
Performance: F-