Moroes
(P.S. Don't tell anyone I know this, but did you know that you can, theoretically of course, make your plants grow fruit? Hypothetically, of course.)
He's spent a few nights mulling over what this little hint could possibly mean. And on the big day of liberation, he's taking some time to try and finally finish the puzzle here.
Because on the surface, it's a nice little fact that yes, I could make plants grow fruit they normally couldn't. It took a not so insignificant amount of mana, but yes, it was possible.
But if that was the case, why put in 'theoretically' and 'hypothetically'? It's obviously hinting towards something more, but what?
Taking a sip of a drink he's beginning to take a liken to, he ponders about it more from different angles.
Perhaps it's not about the fruits themselves? Instead, maybe the destination wasn't about the fruit, but something in the direction of growing something off of the plants to use?
I've already tried to recreate my quirk by attacking plants to myself, but it drained too much mana to be used effectively, much to my dismay.
I took another look at the casing of the drink I was drinking, mostly out of boredom.
Great Energy Boost In The Afternoon!
Ah, capitalism and its false advertisements. What a wonderful…
…Hm.
Taking the potted plant I took from my apartment a few days ago and had been using it for experiments out of my inventory, I used ICLAL in an attempt to make the fruit grown by the plant restore mana. Using my ability a bit to make the fruit accelerate its growing process, I took the produce and observed it.
[Mana-Fruit - When fully eaten, restores 500 mana. Taking smaller bites restores mana based on how much of the fruit is eaten.
I hope you don't get tired of eating this.]
…I suppose I'll have to give my thanks to Huitzli if I ever meet him.
This essentially solves all of my mana issues, although…
I took a bite out of the moderately sized fruit.
It tasted awful. It would've been better if it had no flavor.
…I need to figure out how to make these taste better.
However, I've essentially solved Huitzli's riddle, and I must now focus on other things for now.
I've been waiting a while for this. Shooting a message to a few of my followers, I told them all to start protesting for aura rights close to the gates of Mantle.
I stood up, took a quick look at myself to make sure I didn't look like a fool, created more of the mana-fruits now to let my mana regenerate for later, and got ready for the big day.
Either the people win and I build a fortress on Solitas to fight against my enemies, or I go into exile in shame and likely try to finish my 'match' against the other player.
Whatever the outcome, I am sure Destro's spirit will guide me to victory.
Detective Detective
The protests of Moroes' Aura Liberation Army crowded the ears of many of the citizens in Mantle. Apparently, for no reason whatsoever, Moroes decided that now was the most ideal time to stage whatever he was doing here.
None of his fellow officers know why now was the most ideal time, considering a good amount of his informants indicated that Moroes' numbers weren't anywhere near high, maybe just a hundred at most, or influential enough to be able to sway the public as it was right now.
A lot of his co-workers thought that this was a last ditch effort in order to try and gain some influence before the huntsmen came back from their expedition and probably arrest them all, but personally…
He nearly cried in relief when Moroes finally snapped and got all of his followers to stage a massive protest close to the gates of Mantle. He spent a full week trying to get dirt on this guy, and came up with literally nothing! As far as he knew, Moroes was a ghost that suddenly appeared in Atlas one day and decided that he was going to stay.
Still, a job was a job, and his job was to get dirt to arrest Moroes for treason or whatever, and now that he's done something stupid, he wasn't needed anymore.
So that's why he's hanging around the crowd lifting Moroes up while he does his fancy little speeches.
"Aura is a human right!" Moroes cried out, emphasizing his words with his hand gestures which were a far cry from the usual atlesian politician's hands, which were usually sitting still most of the time, "Do not let yourselves be oppressed by Atlas! Rise and break your own chains!"
A few people got caught up in all of these speeches, and a good portion of them went to join the group and got their aura unlocked immediately. Of course, almost none of the crowd here has any actual military training, so they weren't too strong to not be put down by police.
…Said police who were currently too conflicted on hurting their own civilians, even if the head of the movement was a faunus.
But still, listening to Moroes speak…
"Together, we can unite and finally defeat the grimm who have been plaguing your ancestors for thousands of years!"
This guy is speaking a bunch of baloney, but he says it in a way that's convincing… Maybe he'll go up to them and get aura as well. It might be nice…
The gate of Mantle suddenly shook with great force, creating a massive thud noise which caused the crowd to stop speaking for a moment.
And then it happened again.
Oh. shit.
Panicking, he looked over to Moroes to see what mister 'unite against grimm' bird would do, he saw…
…Is that some kind of weird smiling?
"Our time is now! We must make a stand and fight!" Moroes shouted, raising his fist to the sky.
The crowd around him roared, and they all started to charge over to the gate, which was beginning to show signs of being cracked and broken.
Looking at the crowd with no actual huntsmen weapons, mostly just kitchen knives, some basic blunt objects, and many just their own hands, charging fearlessly towards what was probably certain doom…
Yeah, this isn't a bad way to die.
He charges in with them.
Moroes
All is going as planned so far, my followers and a few others are being affected by my influence and inspire spells, and are completely ready to fight whatever's outside the wall.
And it couldn't come a moment sooner.
With a large crash, the gate falls down and breaks, revealing a massive grimm behind it that looked like a battering ram. It starts to roll back in order to let the grimm around it pour into the city, with the ALA immediately beginning the counterattack.
Now, as much as I would like to begin to attack the grimm indiscriminately, it would be catastrophic if my army began to fall like flies while I dealt with the big threats, so for now, I'm on healing duty. However, I did throw down one of my AoE spells at the gate to try and weaken any of the grimm coming in so that my comrades could have an easier time.
However, I do have faith in my comrades that they'll be able to defeat the grimm with time.
The grimm were of various sizes, and my army seemed to have enough sense of creating basic tactics to kill them. Many smaller grimm got swarmed by people and held in place for people to stab it to death. Some who were bigger and had tougher skin were being avoided and were being shot by the local police which had basic guns that were strong enough to eventually pierce through the grimm.
Casting a restoration on one of the brave soldiers who was tanking damage from 3 seperate grimm with his aura and casting a mass restoration on the small group to the left who was holding down one of the smaller grimm to let others kill it.
One of my comrades shouted that they killed a grimm and the army cheered and continued to fight, all shouting things like "For the Aura Liberation Army!" or "Stand United!"
Despite the chaotic battle with its endless fighting and shouting, I myself was entirely calm, content with healing people from a distance and letting the grimm break itself on my army.
This must be what it felt like to all of the top ten heroes fighting off against low level villains.
Completely calm and in control.
I took a moment to look up at the city of Atlas. There wasn't any activity up there. What were they doing? Could they not see Mantle being attacked?
Someone tapped my shoulder.
"Moroes!" one of my soldiers shouted close to my ear.
I briefly take the moment to correct him and ask what was going on, "Call me Reincarnate. But what do you need to tell me?"
The soldier, who seemed very young, had a look of fear on his face, "The people in the police got a message from the few huntsmen who were coming back! There's a massive grimm coming this way, they tried to engage it but got completely stomped!"
…Ah.
Yes, that seems like it would be a problem.
Healing another group of people, I told him, "If it ends up here, I will deal with it myself. Until then, keep fighting!"
The soldier nodded, the look of fear still on his face, but now more subdued at my confidence, "Yes sir!"
And so the battle went, the grimms number getting depressingly low, and after a few more minutes of fighting, the battle was over.
My mana had barely gone below half during the battle due to my mana-fruits and my healing mastery modifier making healing cheap.
The Aura Liberation Army cheered estatically at their victory, some of them were even showing off their new semblances they unlocked during the fighting. Many who weren't part of the ALA had joined the battle and were now asking to have their auras unlocked, and all had their wishes granted.
Yes. This was freedom.
…But the quest was still at 79/80.
The ground shook. It seemed as if that giant grimm from early finally made its appearance.
It's appearance, however, was very lackluster. It was essentially a big humanoid grimm with nothing special to it other than looking human.
Many of my soldiers took a subconscious step back at the sheer size of the grim, not seeing a chance for victory. For me however…
That wasn't a lot of health for a 'titan grimm'.
I started walking towards the grimm, noting that the giant was being attacked by huntsmen, and not really being affected.
My army saw me moving towards the titan, and all started to hope for my victory against the grimm.
In response, I simply took out my potted plant again, surprising many who haven't seen me done it before.
And used the rest of my mana to simply tie up the legs of the titan grimm with the use of ICLAL.
As the titan grimm fell over and caused a massive wave of snow to burst around it, I took a moment to mentally thank that the ability was this effective.
The titan grimm roared and tried to break the wood that trapped his legs, but the wood had gone into the ground and entrenched itself in it. The wood would not break.
Eating another mana-fruit to regain my mana, I simply charged up an attack for a minute, and fired it at the grimm, killing it instantly.
Contract: (Not So) Sudden Invasion! [Huitzli] Completed.
Rewards: 40,000 Exp.
You have leveled up from level 43 to level 44. [Exp: 22,424/56,715]
Dex: 53 to 54
Int: 124 to 126
Wis: 184 to 187 [Mp: 4,675]
You have gained 4 stat points.
Vit: 73 to 77 [Hp: 1,520]
The people around me cheered. Some were more enthusiastic than others, as many were left dumbfounded by my casual manipulation of plants.
Eventually, many of them were chanting my name.
I turned around to face them, creating a small platform to stand on so they could all see me and prepared to use a lot of mana to use influence.
"Please listen to me, my fellow citizens!" I shouted out, people immediately quieting to listen to me, "I am Reincarnate, Grand Commander of the Aura Liberation Army! We stand for the liberation of all aura, as it is an undeniable human right! Your oppressors have brainwashed you all into believing that it is not!
Together, we must unite against them and stand for humanity! Against our oppressors, against the government, against the grimm! We must unite and begin our revolution before we are all drowned out!
If you do not fight today, your family, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, children! They will all forever be in chains!
We must fight!"
The Aura Liberation Army cheered.
Ironwood
"How." Ironwood spat bitterly to the person giving the report of what happened in Mantle.
Everything had been fine just a day ago. His men were struggling to find anything to arrest Moroes for, but that was fine. It would've been hard to completely shut down someone as recognizable as Moroes, so giving them a few weeks to find something would've been fine if he didn't do something drastic.
Which was the problem.
He did something drastic.
Somehow, in an entire week, Moroes managed to get everyone that was previously part of the crime scene back a few years ago onto his side, and in the same week, he suddenly launched a protest that was somehow lined up with the grimm attacking-
Wait.
The grimm attacking Mantle… When the protest was going on?
It's… Far too coincidental. But if Moroes was acting with Her, then it might make sense how all of the aura inside Mantle hadn't attracted many grimm here and they arrived just in time for the protest…
It might also explain how Moroes appeared out of nowhere. Perhaps She found him in a lone village and somehow manipulated him to be Her pawn?
Ozpin needs to hear about this.
He looked back to the person who was busy explaining his report to him while he was off in his own head.
"Leave," Ironwood said, "I have a call to make."
Who is Reincarnate and the Aura Liberation Army?
.
The situation in Mantle!
.
Is Moroes really a faunus?
.
Faunus movement leader goes big in Atlas! Proof of changing times?!
.
Should aura be a human right?
Ozpin
He hung up the scroll.
"Well," Ozpin drawled out, looking at the two people who were in the room with him, "Would any of you be interested in a trip to Atlas?"
The woman, Mythandra, grinned, "Hey, Sicias. Speedrun?"
Sicias rolled his eyes, "A week? Must be a terrible speedrun. But sure, we should go and see if we can take him out."
Ozpin nodded, "Very well, I'll arrange a ship for you two then. And is there anyone you want to take with you?"
"No."
"Team Rwby!"
"Mythandra no-"
"C'mon! If we get the main characters on our side, we'll be surrounded by plot armor!"
"...Maybe."
AN:
Had to write all of this in 1 day because I needed to do other things. And tbh I cannot write anything serious to save my life.
Which is probably the reason why this chapter is way shorter and probably of lower quality than all of the other chapters. The start of the decline? Idk maybe lol.
Also, I had plans to have one of Sicias' modifiers have a bunch of isekai'd characters come in, but then during this chapter, I realized that was stupid.
So I removed that section from chapter 5.
Also, I'm writing Moroes really boringly. Big yikes for me.
Well, as the saying goes, "The next chapter will make or break AoT- I mean, ALG!"
[Gonna try to get my obsession with time lessened so that crazy things like a revolution happening in a week doesn't happen again lol. But I think it works okay here.]