Before reading this chapter. I done edited the incantation in the fifth chapter to something else entirely. I think it more closely resembles the style I was going for.
Also, tell me how I did with that. I cannot write poetry for the life of me, so there may be some additional changes down the line because I am trying to mimic three hundred year old poems.
Busted my ass to get this chapter out. Took a two day break to rest my brain, but I finished it in about threeish days.
Onto this chapter, though. The name Jaune gets called by the other vampire is not Le-on hart, but should be pronounced Lay-own heart.
Don't ask why. That's what I wanted.
So, I got nothing else really. If you have any questions, save them for after you read. I'm going to put some stuff in the lower AN to explain some of what goes on. To the uninitiated, it may seem kind of confusing.
"What..." Jaune muttered in confusion.
Why's he calling me that? I've never heard that name before...
A shiver ran down his spine at the mere mention of the moniker. It was something wholly foreign to Jaune, but to this other vampire, it seemed like he was meeting an old friend. This familiarity left an unsettling impression on the boy, despite what he had already noticed oozing from every pore of the stranger's body. Even his demeanour, straddling the point between madness and something else unfathomable to the human psyche rested for just this moment. However, this crazed look in his eyes never changed; only staring at the boy like he was a piece of meat.
No, it was a glare of absolute and pure disgust. As if he saw Jaune as some lower lifeform akin to an insect or rodent. Something to be destroyed like the pest he was.
"Is that not your name, boy," the stranger asked, smile retracting. His tone calm, but holding back his anger behind a thin veil. When he didn't get an immediate response, the man cracked his knuckles and took a step towards Jaune. The pace slow and without rush, only deliberate. His patience already worn thin. The man's sneer creeping back across his lips.
The gravity of the man's aura intensified as he grew closer to Jaune. Seemingly like a constant pressure always bearing down on the blonde without end. A heavy weight pressing against every inch of his skin, feeling as though it was about to suffocate him. This unbearable sensation not yielding in the slightest as Jaune tried to still himself.
He attempted to take a step back to put some distance between the two. However, the man followed in pace. His aura only growing stronger.
It began to tear at something deep inside of Jaune. Something buried within his core that it just wanted to rip out of his body. This otherworldly oppression seeping into Jaune like a ghostly miasma. This pulse reverberated within him like a high-intensity shockwave. The air within his lungs even vibrating simultaneously.
It grew more powerful until the point Jaune felt as though he would be thrown away from the man like a piece of garbage in the wind. The boy's entire body succumbing to weight behind the stranger's aura. No pain shooting through his body, only a weakness growing with every second Jaune spent in his sight.
Fuck... What the hell is this?!
The boy's heart began racing a million miles a second. Adrenaline coursing through his veins at an unprecedented rate. His fight or flight instincts starting to kick in. The sensation of panic beginning to take hold as a consequence.
Shit...
Jaune feared for his life now. He had never even considered the danger of going to the source of the aura. This guy was stronger than any of the other vampires he encountered. On an entirely different level than them. They shouldn't have even been in the same league.
The strength this single man possessed was akin to that of an army. Hundreds. No. Thousands could not stand to oppose him even if they threw every weapon in their possession at him. He was a monster from the firery pits of hell that crawled out to prey upon the night.
Fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck... Do something!
"HEY, I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT," Jaune shouted at the top of his lungs nearly stumbling over a piece of rubbish. He held his hands out, gesturing to give it some extra emphasis. "I-I DON'T KNOW WHO'S LEONHART!"
It was something. Maybe this guy would figure out that Jaune wasn't some threat to him? It was possible the boy could talk him down from outright killing him. He could show the man the circumstances behind his predicament. Jaune only needed a few minutes with him to learn more about being a vampire.
It did get the man to stop in his tracks. The stranger's sneer disappearing almost instantaneously, falling back to a flat line. His eyes even showing a slight bit of surprise at Jaune's ignorance. The man's entire body relaxing as he stood straight up. However, another smile crept across his lips, stretching from ear to ear.
"Heheheheheheheh... hahahaHahaHa... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAH... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHH," the man cried out, going from a light snicker to a burst of insane laughter that caused Jaune to nearly fall on his ass out of shock. His entire upper body leaned back at his waist, beginning to laugh into the air like a complete madman. Both of his hands came up to his chest, gripping the rags he wore in some subconscious motion.
"OH, HE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW HIS NAME," the man spat out in between laughs, trying to control himself as he fell back forward, hunching over at the waist. Both arms wrapping around his stomach, obviously feeling some ache from such powerful laughter. Even in his eyes, several tears crept out, showing how hilarious this situation was to him. "WHAT A RIOT!"
The man's laugh echoed deep within Jaune's body, shaking every fibre of his being. Insanity found in the most bottomless darkest pits of the mind where none dared to tread. This maddening expression on his face was one of a person having lost all sense of his prior self. He was no more beast than man. They were all one and the same.
Fucking move... We need to get out of here!
Jaune tried to transform into the shadow mist, but he couldn't. No matter how much he tried, there was no way he could pull it off even if he begged. It was the man's aura again. It sapped his strength when compared to Weiss', which caused him pain. A potent poison that corrupted his soul.
It rendered him paralysed. Not even his diaphragm could expand any longer. This poison had crept into every muscle in his body and shut them down. Jaune was now a haphazardly stacked pile of cardboard boxes to pushed over had this man chosen.
Fuck...
Jaune had felt it. He knew about this. Why hadn't he fled as soon as this sensation became present?
A few seconds later, the man was finally able to stuff his laughter back down his throat. He wiped the tears out of his eyes and composed himself, gliding a hand over his rags to flatten out the wrinkles. A few errant laughs escaped, but only as a ghost of their predecessor.
"So, this is Leonhardt," the man scoffed to himself, approaching Jaune once again. His aura no longer flaring for some reason. It allowed Jaune to get a breath of air once more. However, his body had yet to come around and move, still feeling the after-effects of the paralysis. "Some little baby bird who hasn't even learned how to use his wings? What kind of joke is this?!"
He suddenly turned his head to the side as if someone was standing there next to him. The man's expression becoming disgusted or more aptly dissatisfied with the phantom's reply. His jaw clenching hard enough to leave an impression in steel as to not shout back at the ghost. The man's body language projecting the sensation of anger towards it.
Jaune took the opportunity to retreat from the situation. He needed to get as far away from the vampire as possible. The range of the aura was a few hundred feet at best. All Jaune had to do was clear it and phase into a mist.
Taking that first step, however, was an arduous one. He tried to take one step back to find his legs were heavier than blocks of steel. Using all of his strength to move one of them left his bones creaking from under the immense pressure. Any harder and Jaune's femur would have snapped like a twig.
"It doesn't matter," he continued, nearly yelling at the phantom. The man turned towards Jaune, focusing all of his attention on the boy. His aura once again bearing down on him, causing Jaune to nearly crumble under it. "You know what... I'll go easy on you. Hell, I can do this with one hand behind my back..." He cracked his knuckles once again on both hands. His smile reappearing once again. "If I'm this much a sportsman and you still don't satisfy, I'll have no choice but to kill you outright..."
"SO, LET'S GO YOU BRAT!"
Without warning, the man shot forward faster than Jaune could see. His entire body turning into a blur of white streaks as it rocketed towards him. All the boy could ever hope to make out was the oncoming shape of his fist. This superhuman speed backed by the momentum of an oncoming freight train all heading towards his gut. There wasn't even enough time for Jaune to raise his arms in defence.
FUCK!
The moment the fist impacted with the Jaune's stomach, a loud crack rang out. The air between the two objects exploding outwards into an almost visible ring. The hoodie covering his torso shredded into a fine mess of thread, having been obliterated by the sheer force behind the punch. Jaune's body nearly folded itself over the man's fist as the limb's inertia caused them to remain in place as the rest of his body became thrust backwards.
"Hachk," Jaune cried out in pain, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
Something burst within his lower abdomen at that moment. The force rippling through his body had torn some organ to pieces, possibly ripping it in half with no effort. Maybe his spleen or a kidney? Jaune was sure if the punch had been any harder, it would have gone straight through him. Even worse, he may have been torn in half by the blow alone.
The pain from the strike to his gut was enough to cause the boy to pass out for several seconds. His awareness of the situation vanishing almost entirely. This searing pain emanating from within his torso dwarfed the sensation of Weiss' aura entirely. As if he was being skinned alive with a fillet knife.
Following through with his brutal uppercut, the man carried Jaune until the point the force from his fist sent the boy flying. He was launched into the air with little no effort on his part. A mere flick of his wrist would have done as the same.
Jaune felt himself leave the ground, and suddenly the man appear to be growing farther and farther away. His hair obscuring his vision as all of it blew in the opposite direction of his flight. He had no warning for how quickly he would be thrown, seeing all of this happen in a fraction of a second. Before Jaune knew it, he hit something. And he smashed into something hard.
A flat surface made from a material that should not have yielded to the boy, shattered under the momentum behind Jaune. The brick and steel crumbling in the wake of his arrival. The first wall being smashed inwards without even slowing Jaune down. A massive cloud of dust kicking up and obscuring his vision even further. He tumbled from the impact, hitting the ceiling of that floor like a freight train, blasting a man-sized hole through the drywall and wooden planks.
For the next several floors of the building, Jaune rocketed through them without pause. Even smashing into a steel i-beam did nothing to stop him, bending the pole until it snapped like a twig. Those occupying the building were not spared from the destruction following Jaune. Their screams and cries echoing out above the cacophony created by the collapsing structure.
The boy flew until there was no building left in his way, erupting from under the roof and opening a hole for the starlight to pour in through. Jaune was barely able to make out the apartments collapsing as he compromised its structural integrity. The entire building beginning to crumble from the top down. More and more dust was thrown up into the air blocking out the form of the structure entirely.
As Jaune continued sailing through the air, he felt his flight coming to an end. The momentum carrying him began to slow, stopping at the height of his arc. His entire body now feeling gravity force him back to earth and accelerating his fall. The stars were no longer as close as they used to be, suddenly a fleeting form in his view.
The lights from a city street began to shine in Jaune's peripheral vision, indicating he was close to impact. A streetlamp racing by the boy prompted him to tense his body up in preparation for his landing. Then the moment of truth came as Jaune smashed into an object unfortunate enough to be in his way.
The car's roof crumbling inwards broke Jaune's fall but nearly flattened the automobile. Its alarm blaring out into the night sky, filling the boy's ears entirely. Pieces of broken glass and car parts became littered all over the street. Even the undercarriage of the vehicle was blown out, burying itself into the asphalt below.
Jaune could only lay there as his body took the time to recuperate. There was no pain. Not a single drop left in his body. He felt nothing. Not even the desire to fight back. His emotions escaping his grasp entirely. A void, entering his body where they used to reside and taking their place.
Was he killed by this blow? This single attack erasing his mind and body from existence. Then why was he still here? Was he now a ghost forced to wander this plane in limbo?
Come on... Get up...
Jaune tried to push himself off the vehicle but found his strength to be lacking. His arms and legs were now gelatin. Every bone in his body now some paste no longer capable of supporting itself. Blood oozing out of dozens of wounds where some of his bones had even broken through the skin. The most prominent being a metal rod sticking out of his gut.
Can't move... Fuck me. I can't die here...
He looked back up to the night sky to see another object approaching the boy. It was the figure of a man. Jaune focused his eyes on this incoming missile, finding it to be his quarry. One of his fists cocked back, ready to bring it down on the boy as he still lay there. His insane laughter and expression of extasy undeniable.
As the man got within a few feet of him, Jaune's body seemed to move without the will of its pilot. Almost as if by pure instinct. No way could this have been his doing. The boy throwing himself from the vehicle in a single leap, touching down twenty feet away. Jaune's legs holding him up despite their injuries.
No, their injuries did nothing to hamper their ability to support themselves. Jaune could not make the conscious effort to push himself up because he did not think he was in danger. A simple glance to his wounds and the boy found them beginning to heal once again. He grabbed the bar in his stomach and wrenched it out of him, pulling away from his body. The bar now clean and free from blood.
In that same moment, the stranger slammed his fist down on top of the car where Jaune used to be, utterly annihilating the vehicle with ease. It exploded into hundreds upon thousands of pieces. The asphalt and concrete around the impact cracked and turned into dust. A shockwave pushed Jaune back a foot due to the sheer intensity of the collision. Every window within a mile was shattered as the shockwave carried on throughout the town.
Jaune brought a hand up to shield his eyes from any debris and the intensity of the flames. Their blistering heat cooking the upper layers of his skin slightly, only alleviated by Jaune's lack of pain.
Continuing to stare at the fire, Jaune could make out the form of a human waltzing out. The man still keeping his pace deliberate and slow. As if he was in no rush for this battle, savouring every moment of conflict. Jaune feeling a set of crazed eyes and a predatory grin focusing on only him.
"It looks like your reflexes are rather sharp as well," the stranger declared from within the flames. His voice overtaking the roar of the fire. A ghostly feel to his speech, unnatural to put it simply. Something else allowing him to speak over such a raucous without exerting himself. Magic possibly? "I am impressed... I am glad I was fortunate enough to have found you. Wouldn't you say the same, Herr Leonhardt?"
Fuck... T-This guy's insane!
Jaune took a step backwards, nearly falling to the ground. All of his senses blaring every known alarm conceivable to his mind. A cold sweat running across his body. Heart threatening to beat out of his chest. Every limb shaking in fear, expressing how terrified Jaune was at this moment. He was standing in front of a real monster.
"Fuck," Jaune gasped, turning around and attempting to run. His legs carrying him as fast as possible away from the scene. He only needed to shift into his mist and hope to lose this guy. There was no way he could win here.
A single glance back and Jaune couldn't see the man standing in the fire anymore. He was nowhere to be found, having vanished into nothing.
"If you are not going to fight back, I will just have to kill you," a voice growled from behind him.
Jaune slid to a stop, finding the man to have appeared a foot or two in front of him. An unamused frown on his lips. Jaune let out a frightened yelp, almost falling over once again. The stranger rolled his eyes, acting as though he had seen this before. The expression of fear seemingly no longer entertaining to this beast.
Jaune was just about to take a step back and run in the other direction when the stranger cocked back his left hand. Before Jaune could react, it sprung forth, delivering a brutal backhand to his left cheek. The force behind it was merely a half-hearted blow from the stranger, but to Jaune, it was a freight train smacking him right in the face. A loud clack emanating from their point of contact.
The blow threw Jaune off his feet, tossing him nearly twenty feet to the right. His body slamming into the asphalt several times, rolling across the surface with no attempt to stop himself. He was simply a ragdoll, going where ever the momentum took his body. Both his arms becoming torn to pieces by the rough surface of the road, ripping the upper layers of his skin away and exposing the muscle beneath.
He was only stopped by slamming into another vehicle. A parked sedan taking the full brunt of the impact. It's driver door getting caved in by Jaune's right shoulder, shattering the window above as well. The entire vehicle nearly tipping over from the transfer of energy.
Falling back down to his side, Jaune coughed up some more blood, spitting it out onto the ground without a care. His mouth was full of the gore from a busted open cheek inside the cavity. The boy couldn't even feel half of his face anyway. His body had taken care of the pain and ridding him the feeling.
A glance down at the pool of blood beneath him caused a growl to rise from within his throat. Jaune's entire body becoming hot with rage. A blistering heat that would scorch the earth and turn it into a plane of hellfire and brimstone. His desire to protect everything he had from assholes like this vampire taking precedence over any fear he may have had.
I'm not going to die here...
FUCK THAT!
"What's wrong," the stranger asked, leaning down to meet the boy face-to-face. When he didn't get a response, a smile stretched across his lips. "No words for me?" He cocked his head to the side. "How do you American's say it? Cat got your tongue?"
That tease prompted Jaune to fly into a rage. Throwing himself to his feet, the boy charged at the stranger with a scream. His body pushing itself beyond whatever limits it had to clear the distance between the two. In a fraction of a second, Jaune was on the stranger, cocking back his right arm for a brutal haymaker.
The stranger stood to meet the boy, not reacting in any way to this attack. Only a smile on his face, finally getting the action he so very much craved. Jaune's fist flew at the man's face, aiming for just under his left eye. A wide-open shot left for the boy.
"Rrraaarrghh," Jaune screamed as he made a move to drive his fist home. His anger poured into every ounce of his swing, summoning whatever strength he had available. An ocean's worth of fury to draw upon. His entire being put into that single blow.
The moment the two made contact, a shockwave rang out from under Jaune's fist. This explosion kicked up dust and dirt within a twenty-foot radius even going so far as to cause the asphalt below the two men to shake violently. However, the bones in Jaune's hand could not withstand the pressure being put on them. From his knuckles to the rest of his forearm, every bone within the arm shattered like glass. A single sharpened chunk of bone exploded from underneath the muscle, breaking out at around the halfway point on his arm. Blood spilt out from all of the wounds once again, staining the ground with a brilliant crimson shower.
Jaune let out a scream as the nerves in his arm signalled to the brain that everything had broken. It felt like he had punched a solid block of granite with the force of a truck behind the blow. This pain being greater than everything he had ever experienced before this moment. His healing factor had not yet kicked in, taking several more moments before it could even begin doing its work.
A quick glance to the man found that he had not even moved an inch. No mark finding a place on his pearlescent skin. Not even his hair had a single strand disturbed. His smile growing even wider since Jaune had last checked. He had finally found some fight in the boy and took every moment to savour it. A part of that elated expression had to be from the fact he baited the boy into throwing everything he had at him.
What the fuck?! I didn't even scratch him!
Jaune's eye widened the moment he found the man to be perfectly fine. The boy leapt backwards nearly forty feet to put some extra distance between the two once again. His arm quickly mending itself and snapping the bones back into place. The pain still there. However, the boy quelled his rage and took to this problem with a clear and open mind now. His punch hadn't even done any damage, leaving Jaune to search for a weakness.
"HAHAHAHAHhaha," the man let out a short laugh, brushing off the dust on his clothes. "You've got some spunk in you, Leon... I will give you that! But did you really think I would be killed like a lesser vampire?!"
The man bolted towards Jaune without warning once again. His left hand leading the attack with a haymaker similar to the one Jaune threw. Like his first attack, the stranger moved with inhuman speed, even surpassing anything he had shown Jaune before. The man was beginning to let loose, breaking down any limits he set himself.
Shit...
Jaune clenched his right hand, finding that his healing factor had finished the job. His fingers had their dexterity back at least.
Okay Jaune, we have no idea how to fight this guy! Hitting him is like punching a block of stone...
As the stranger threw the punch, Jaune shifted his weight to the right, ducking under the fist. He barely made it past the attack, feeling it nearly tear his cheek off. The air displaced by the fist powerful enough to ruffle the boy's hair. Even the sound of it felt like a handgun going off next to his head.
Holy crap! I actually dodged that one!
Jaune didn't know where his own speed was coming from. He could see every moved this guy was making too. Everything felt like it was slowing down for him. Or that his reaction to the man's attacks was getting better.
Probably some vampire stuff! Not saying no to it!
Need to dodge his attacks then?
The boy pushed off from his half-crouch below the man's armpit and leapt a few dozen feet away. Jaune's entire body feeling like a feather to him. He touched down gracefully, sliding to a complete stop and turning to face his opponent.
The man had followed through with his punch, catching himself at the last second having realised there was nothing there. He paused, standing back up and planting himself on his feet. The stranger's body language indicating he was confused.
"Indeed... This battle is becoming rather exciting," the stranger said to himself. Jaune wasn't sure who he was talking to as the man had yet to turn around a face him. "However, I also see you are no longer interested in running..." The man whipped around, staring directly into Jaune's eyes with a snarl on your lips. "SO, SHOW ME YOUR FULL POWER, LEONHARDT!"
In that instant, he vanished completely. Not as in fading away like he crumbled to dust, but literally disappearing in the blink of an eye. A cloud of dust and dirt kicked up in the place where he once stood. This prompted Jaune to immediately go on the defensive.
Where the fuck is he?
A shuffle came from behind Jaune. His right ear perked up, and the boy reacted just in time. He twisted his body enough to allow for a glancing blow from the stranger to connect with his shoulder. The left deltoid taking a majority of the damage, tearing out a chunk from the muscle.
Jaune winced as a searing pain shot through his entire body. That left arm now coated in blood as the vessels below the skin were roughly sheered. Its warm ichor running down to his fingertips. The limb rendered limp as the muscles were too damaged to bear its weight.
Shaking his head, trying to rid himself of the pain, Jaune dashed to the left in an attempt to avoid the stranger's next attack. The boy could feel him shifting to make a follow-up.
Need to bust out Crocea Mors!
Can't keep this up forever...
However, despite Jaune's efforts, he was far too late. A shin slammed into his solar plexus, abruptly stopping the boy in his tracks. At the same moment, Jaune could feel his legs and pelvis crack and nearly shatter in that instant. Every ounce of blood in his body flew outwards from that point. The liquid forcing itself into every capillary within his outer limbs.
It was such a force, the asphalt crumbled from the shockwave released in the epicentre. More dust becoming kicked up and obscuring Jaune's vision. More and more windows or any remaining glass merely crumbled from the vibrations they were subjected to.
Jaune couldn't even tell if he was feeling any pain. His entire body shutting down and letting itself go with the blow. There was no point in trying to wrestle out of that.
The stranger's kick lifted Jaune off his feet and directed him upwards at an angle. Again the fleeting image of the street filled the boy's vision. The sight of the stranger bearing an amused grin appeared moments later, watching his foe's flight.
Before Jaune could even begin his descent, he smashed into an object just behind him. A piece hanging in the middle of the street caught the boy in his upper back, causing him to tumble forwards and to the ground. His vision blackening, continuously drifting in and out with his consciousness. The approaching asphalt only just appearing to the boy.
Jaune slammed into the ground, landing on his stomach. The fall nearly knocking him unconscious completely, however, breaking more bones than he had already. Each of his arms snapping like twigs, exposing the bone within his right. The boy's face bore a large cut above the left brow. This laceration coating a majority of his mug with sticky gore. His upper back broken with a significant amount of vertebrae crushed.
A street lamp collapsing next to him brought Jaune out of his daze long enough for him to realise what had happened. He tried to move, only finding there was no feeling in his legs. His entire lower body not responding to anything. The panic began to set in immediately, forcing Jaune's heart rate to skyrocket and his lungs to attempt sucking in air.
However, his diaphragm refused to expand, nor would it contract. Every moment passing left the boy with less oxygen and more carbon dioxide beginning to build up in his blood. The body's response was to start a series of metabolic pathways leading to the emanation of sheer terror from the boy. His throat contracting and his mouth jerking open only to get nothing in return.
C-Come on...
Please...
Tears began pouring out from beneath Jaune's eyelids. His emotions finally beginning to well up and break the dam they had been hidden behind. The boy who was scared of what he became showing for the briefest of moments. His fear of death and the idea he would not see another day. Everything he had gone through, breaking him down into a sniffling child.
The sound of a footstep drew Jaune's gaze up to the man. His expression one of disgust with what he saw beneath him. Kneeling down, the stranger grabbed hold of Jaune's throat and lifted him into the air. His fingers digging tightly into Jaune's oesophagus.
"P-Please," Jaune croaked through the fluid building up in his throat.
"QUIET," the stranger barked in reply, gripping Jaune's throat more tightly and threatening to crush it.
"You disgust me," he began. "To think you were counted among our number sickens me!" The man clamped his hands down on Jaune's throat once more, shaking the boy as he did so. "For that reason, I have no choice but to kill you, and then wipe this town off the map!"
The stranger cocked his arm back as far as he could manage. Every finger in his hand rearranged themselves to make a rough point. Their destination clear. His intent was solely to dispose of Jaune like a piece of trash.
He thrust his arm forward, plunging it deep into Jaune's chest. His left flank erupted in a geyser of blood as his heart had been pierced. The pain shooting through what little part of Jaune's body that could still feel anything. The terror now fully set in, causing Jaune to silently cry to himself.
No...
Jaune's consciousness faded in and out. The stranger held the boy there, observing his last moment with a straight face. His unsatisfied expression making it seem like this battle was more of a chore. He must have only remained here to make sure the job was done.
"Leon..."
What?
Jaune could hear a voice coming from somewhere. A ghostly whisper from a wandering phantom. This spirit speaking into his right ear at a frequency only Jaune could listen to. Its voice reverberating, yet, allowing for their tone to be dissected.
It was the voice of a young woman. Her tone was sultry, bordering on sweet. As if she were whispering to her lover. Her voice that of angel's. Sounding so innocent, yet, full of passion. The most beautiful thing Jaune had ever heard. Nothing could compare.
It brought a faint chill up Jaune's spine. His hand began to throb uncontrollably. A gentle burn starting manifest within his palm. Pain surging throughout his body all at once.
"Leon..."
A hand grazed Jaune's own. The phantom's dainty fingers intermingled with the boy's. Her palm pressing tightly against the vampire's.
Their touch bringing with it a storm of emotions Jaune could never even hope to put into words. An electrifying sensation that flowed through the boy's very soul. Such that, he cried once again, ignoring the pain that bore down on him from this fight alone. Anything compared to this rapture meant nothing.
My shackles crumbled before me.
Their chains decaying with a phantom's touch.
I watched as the figure fled into the shadows.
A sensation left in its wake most astounding.
Something nary experienced by mortals in life.
Their touch, their scent, their kiss.
It all came to me in memory.
A dream most wonderous, most decadent to the soul.
Suddenly, the world seemed to reform from this profane darkness surrounding me.
At that moment, I lost this feeling.
This rapture leaving a scar upon my heart.
I then promised myself to seek out this sensation,
So that I may once again feel their grace.
To behold their beauty once again.
To protect that destiny to which I am seeking,
I promised that none would stand to oppose me.
Their wills would wither and rot into dust.
The strings of fate would even be cleaved in twain.
This most unholy of benedictions would be given form.
Crocea Mors. Most blessed.
Arise and do your master's bidding.
Crocea Mors manifested from within Jaune's right hand. The arm still weak and broken from the fall. He ignored it all for the sake of his desire. Gripping the blade with every ounce of his strength, he swung upwards from his flank, allowing the weight of the sword to do its work.
The tip of the blade sliced straight through the man's elbow. A geyser of blood spilt out from within. The severed arm dropping Jaune to the asphalt below. The boy landing on his side, still unable to use his legs to hold his own weight. Crocea Mors vanishing the second Jaune was free, crawling back into his right hand.
Without the man's hand around his throat, Jaune was able to breathe in only slightly. His shallow breaths bringing some precious little oxygen his body so craved. It was enough to stave off him passing out completely.
However, Jaune didn't know what was going on with his healing factor. It was working fine only a few minutes ago. Now it was taking forever to heal a few broken bones. This left him vulnerable despite inflicting a single wound on the other vampire.
He looked around for said vampire. A pair of feet standing in front of his prone body told Jaune the man was still up. Only a trickle of blood was moving, though. The stranger just stood there.
"HaHahahahaha," the man laughed lightly. His voice sounded like he had been told a joke. "I see you have unlocked a familiar... This was not a waste of time, after all." He turned around and began walking away. "We shall meet again, Leonhardt... I leave my blood as a parting gift!"
He vanished only seconds later.
...
Jaune wasn't sure how long he had been laying here. His body slowly put itself back together once he had some of that guy's blood. It wasn't enough, though. Every inch of his body felt sore beyond all belief. The first few times he tried to push himself up, Jaune fell back down onto his face.
Okay, Jaune... You can do it...
He rolled back over and used his hands to push himself off the ground. Jaune stumbled but throwing his right leg out gave him some stability. From there, he gracefully lifted himself up and onto his legs. Like a newborn giraffe.
Up on his feet now, Jaune took a look around. The city block had been devastated by the brawl. Sounds of sirens roared from all directions, telling the boy he was short on time. Jaune couldn't even search through the debris to see if there was anybody still alive. Fleeing the scene was his only option.
We can think about this later Jaune... Let's just get back home...
He shifted into his mist form and quickly fled the scene. It only took a few minutes to reach his house, but Jaune was feeling the exhaustion starting to pile on. He only just made it through his window and closed it behind him before passing out right in the middle of his room.
First of all. Deus ex Ghostima. Add one sin.
But seriously, it's just Jaune's magic having a greater influence on him. These familiars Jaune is going to encounter will have a lot going on with them. Their manifestations are due to his desires. They are basically an extention of what Jaune is right now, and what he is going to be.
You may need to look at some stuff related to Dies Irae (The VN) for it to make sense. I'll try to explain it as best as I possibly can.
There is a lot of metaphysical shit this stuff entails.