Jaune and Blake slowly back up to get around the other side of the massive rock that they were peaking around. Hoping that the Draco they had discovered would not notice them. When they were on the other side, they started to whisper, "What's the plan?" Blake asked him.
He sighed, "As much as I don't want to do this, we may have to take this thing on here and now." He looked to the corner of the rock, "It has definitely started feeding on people for Aura, we have no way of knowing just how far along its evolution it is. And trying to bring backup may just work out for it in the long run since it would have more people to feed on."
Blake thought for a bit before nodding, "Right. Bringing in people with Aura and no experience in fighting these Grimm will just be serving them on a silver platter." She grimaced slightly before continuing, "So how are we going to do this?"
He pointed up towards the top of the rock they were hiding behind. "You get to the top of this and wait for the right moment to go for the neck. I'll be able to keep it distracted and hold it off with Void. We should be able to deal with this as quickly as possible."
Blake nodded before leaning forward and giving him a brief kiss. She pulled back and looked into his eyes with a nervous look in her own, "Please, be careful."
He gave her a reassuring grin, "I will, Kitten."
With that, she nodded and began the process of quietly scaling the side of the rock. He took a deep breath to center himself before he stood and began to walk around the rock. His hand was ready to draw his APS in an instant and he was already thinking of what element to tap into, preparing Void as a last resort. Once he was around the rock, he slowly started to walk around the ring that these several rock outcroppings created. His eyes remained on the curled up Draco as he made sure to keep the max distance from it.
His plan was to get to the complete opposite side of the Grimm, that way Blake would have more openings to go for its weak spot. He only got about halfway there when the Draco moved its head enough to look in his general area before opening its glowing red eyes, "So, you decided to make yourself known then?" It asked in a deep and distorted voice.
Jaune froze and his hand went to his weapon, "You knew I was there?"
It nodded its head while keeping its head on its crossed legs, like a twisted dog. "It is easy to notice you. You are the Marked, after all."
"Marked?" he asked as she kept slowly moving to his desired location, hand never leaving his sword. "What are you talking about?"
"Relax." It said easily, still watching as it raised its head but stayed lying down. It seemed entirely too relaxed in his opinion. "We will fight but I see no need to rush into it. You have questions and so do I. So, why not take the time to sate our curiosities?"
That caught him off guard but he didn't drop his guard. His eyes went to the rock Blake was on and saw she was crouched as low as possible on it. The Sun being behind her also made it more difficult to see her. His eyes moved back to the Grimm, "Excuse me if I don't trust anything that you are saying."
It then gave a rumbling chuckle, "Quite alright. We are on opposite sides of Light and Darkness. And I do not trust you either. You have killed many, what was the term you used?" It asked itself. "Drakes, I believe. And even one of us Dracos. Although the rest of us never acknowledged that pretender." The last part being filled with hatred.
Jaune had finally managed to get to the opposite side of Blake. The Draco now perfectly situated between them. "Wait, pretender? What do you mean? It seemed like a Draco all the same."
The Grimm nodded, "It was but not truly. While the other eight of us fought tooth and nail to become what we are now, the one you killed did not. It was simply a Geist that took advantage of its situation. It waited for a Drake to begin its final steps of its evolution and possessed the Grimm as it did. It's Essence slowly started to take over and overwrite the previous Drake and through sheer luck, managed to succeed. Taking the boons that the original Drake cultivated." It huffed in anger. "It was a disgrace."
Jaune notice that Blake was beginning to stand on her rock, reaching back for Gambol Shroud. But that was when the Draco's tail whipped out the spear tip ripped into the rock, sending debris flying. "Blake!" he shouted in fear but she landed next to him easily enough, leaving a Shadow at the last second.
"As I was saying…" The Draco continued as its tail retreated and wrapped around itself once again. It hadn't even looked in her direction when attacking. "Most of us considered it a disgrace and if any of us would've gotten the chance, we would've ended it. But you beat us to it. So, I thank you for getting rid of the Parasite."
"Parasite?" Blake asked. She stood there with Gambol Shroud being removed from her back, still sheathed though.
"We each go under a title based on out abilities." The Draco supplied. "We referred to it as the Parasite because that was exactly how it acted. It never argued against it either."
"And you?" Jaune asked, drawing his sword from his belt. "What do you go by?"
Again, the Draco didn't even flinch as he drew his weapon. But considering how quickly it had attacked Blake, it didn't really need to be worried. "I've been calling myself the Black Mercy."
"Black Mercy?" Blake asked, confused by the name. It just nodded to answer her.
"Why are you even having this conversation with us?" Jaune asked, feeling more and more on edge as this kept going on.
"First because I am more patient than the rest of my kind. I know how to wait for the most opportune moments. And mostly, I wanted to know more about you, The Marked." It answered as it slowly started to sit up and onto it's back legs. Sand fell from its body as it did so, kicking up a bit of dust.
"The Marked?" it was Blake's turn to ask that question this time.
"You were possessed by the Parasite but managed to fight it off." The Black Mercy answered as its eyes stayed on Jaune. "Because of that, you still hold a piece of its Essence within you. You are loosely connected to the rest of us Draco and you can feel our presence as much as we can feel you and one another. And with your large Aura reserves, you are what all of us crave to find. And devour." It then gave another deep and resonating chuckle. "You could very well be the key to push any of us into our final stage."
Jaune was shocked to hear that but at the same time, it did explain why he felt that tension in his neck when they were traveling into this desert and why it was still there and more intense than ever. That piece of the Draco that was still inside of him was resonating with the presence of others of its kind. The thought of even a fragment of that Creature of Darkness still being within him would've normally made him infuriated or possibly dread. But for now, he needed to focus on this fight. To kill this Draco.
He moved his blade to be diagonally in front of his body while his eyes shifted to red, tapping into his fire Semblance. As he did that, Blake unsheathed Gambol Shroud and holding the sheath in her left hand, getting into her usual combat stance. "Well I know one thing; I will not be your catalyst." He said, voiced steeled with determination.
"We'll see." Was all the Draco, Blake Mercy, said as it stood up on all of its legs. And in that instance, its massive tail whipped out from its left towards the two, as fast as a striking snake. Jaune dropped onto all fours as the tail just managed to sail over him. The spear like tip of the tail started to cut into the rocky outcropping directly behind him as the tail slammed right into the right side of Blake. In that instance, her Shadow vanished before the real her landed on the top of the tail and started to run down its length towards the Draco.
Black Mercy seemed unaffected by this situation and simply whipped its tail upwards, sending the Faunus flipping uncontrollably up into the air. She managed to reorientate herself at the peak of the throw, nearly a hundred feet into the air. As gravity took hold of her once again, she looked down to see that the Draco's massive maw was open and quickly charging with a red energy.
Seeing what it was going for, Jaune pulled himself back onto his knees and threw his left hand forward, a wave of intense fire erupted towards the Grimm. The flames washed over the Creature of Darkness but it seemed to do very little to it. He saw the red eyes and the glowing mass of energy glow through the flames as it turned to him.
His eyes widened before he threw himself to the side. He cut off the flames and the massive orb of energy just missed him before it slammed into the base of the rock outcropping that was behind him. It exploded, throwing sand and rocks around as the massive stone started to tip before it started to fall to the sands.
Jaune immediately got an idea from that. His eyes shifted to brown as his earth Semblance came forth. He dropped his blade and threw both his arm towards the stone. He clenched his fists and felt his Semblance take hold before throwing his arms towards the Draco with a shout of exertion. The mass of rock obeyed his command and started to fall towards the Grimm. Too bad it was already charging another energy blast for the Swordsman but it quickly aimed for the massive stone flying towards it. The blast managed to turn the structure to dust and pebbles, that did nothing to it.
The dust and sand that was kicked up had the helpful benefit of blocking the Draco's vision from its secondary target still up in the air. Blake used this opportunity to continue her dive towards her target, gaining more and more speed. As she was nearing, she performed a front flip and brought both her blades down from above her head for maximum damage.
Too bad that instead of its neck she was aiming for, her blades bit into its massive tail that it raised to intercept her. It just looked up at her with its equivalent of a grin, "Nice try." It then slammed her into the ground with a swing of its tail. She screamed in pain as the full force of the tail drove her into the sands below them. Its tail kept her pinned as it loomed over her. "Perhaps an appetizer before the main course." It said as its jaws began to open.
Instinct took over for Jaune in that moment. Before he realized what he was about to do, his arm pulled back before it swung upwards in a sweeping motion. As soon as he did that, a wave of sand rocketed towards the Draco. It turned just in time for it to slam into its side and toppling it over, freeing Blake from its weight.
Slightly covered in sand, Blake got to her feet and raced over to his side to regroup, "I didn't know you could do that." She said as she got to him.
Jaune picked up his APS as he answered, "I didn't either." He told her truthfully. "I usually focus on stone so I haven't experimented on sand too much."
"Any plans?" she asked as she kept an eye on the Draco that was starting to stand up again.
"That tail is too quick for us to deal with by normal means." He started as he was thinking this all through. "Maybe if we divide its attention by attacking it together, we can keep it off balance enough to go for the weak spot. But that'll be twice as dangerous for us."
She nodded, "But its all we can do for now." She then shifted her katana to its pistol form.
Jaune sighed, "As long as we both agree." His eyes then shifted to yellow and electricity started to race along his body. "I'm what he wants so I'll keep his attention on me." With that he raced off towards Black Mercy.
It saw the lightning clad form coming towards it and raised it tail before plunging it forward to impale him. Even with his speed heightened, Jaune barely managed to sidestep the attack. He nearly tripped because of the sands shifting under his feet but just managed to stay up. He then had to race away as the tail went for a second stab. 'Well that puts that tail's speed into perspective.' He thought to himself as he started to circle the beast.
It swung its tail around its body in the other direction, hopping to catch him but Jaune managed to leap over it. While in the air her threw his left arm out and released a large arc of lightning from it and the side of his body. It gave a brief roar before shaking its head then the rest of its body. It looked down at the racing form around it, "Annoying." It growled before charging another blast in it jaws.
Bullets started to collide with the side of its mask and neck but they were doing fairly little to it. Its eye shifted to see that Blake was running while firing to get a better angle. Black Mercy whipped its tail towards her but she left a Shadow to take her place as she continued to run and gun. By that point, the blast was ready and it fired towards the Faunus. She quickly threw her weapon to hook into one of the numerous massive rock and pulled herself away from the blast radius. "Nuisance."
With that brief distraction, Jaune placed his sword back on his belt before racing up the stone outcropping. Only stopping when he got to the top. His eyes quickly shifted to brown and he pulled his fist back before slamming it onto the top of it. Cracks cascaded down the entire structure and as it started to collapsed, he jumped backwards and off it. As he was falling, he threw both his fists forward and send the entire self-made rockslide on top of the Draco. Burying it as he roared in shock. When his feet settled into the sand, he raised his hands to the pile of stone. Clenching his fingers slightly, he started to lower them.
His arms started to shake from the strain of trying to condense all the stones together and hopefully crush the Draco inside. A sound strategy, if not for the tail that erupted out of the sand to his left. The spear-like tip caught his side and sliced a good eight inch long gash across his ribs. And that's when the burning started. Like molten metal being poured directly into the wound. He screamed and reflexively his hands went to grasp his side, stopping his attempt on crushing the Grimm.
With a roar, the pile of stones was sent flying as Black Mercy freed itself from its would be tomb. It look down at Jaune as he was still in agony over the burning feeling in his side. It grinned as its tail started to rise from the sand. "Impressive. I can see how you were able to kill the Parasite now. But it's over now."
It opened its crocodile like jaws, ready to devour its prey. Jaune glared up to it with clenched teeth and burning red eyes, "Back off!" he shouted in a mix of pain and anger. And with those words, a large stream of fire erupted from his mouth. As the flames washed over its face and inside its mouth, the Draco pulled back in pain. That gave Jaune enough time to pull his hands from his wound and release two more streams, one from each. The intense heat was starting to turn the sand underneath the Creature of Darkness to glass but he didn't stop. Jaune was hellbent on burning it to cinders but another wave of burning agony erupted from his side, causing him to fall to a knee and stop his fiery assault.
The Draco whipped its tail to quickly extinguish the flames that were on it. Its body and armor was covered in scorch marks but other than that, it seemed relatively fine. It just stared down at Jaune in confusion, "How is that possible? You shouldn't be able to move."
It was interrupted when a blade sunk into the underside of its neck. It gave a slight roar of pain as Blake pulled on the ribbon attached to Gambol Shroud, tossing herself to be in front of the Grimm before retrieving her weapon with another pull. With it back in hand, she fired her entire clip of ice Dust bullets at its face. She aimed mostly for where the eyes were, creating a thick layer of ice over them and temporarily blinding the Draco.
She then landed gracefully on the sand before running to Jaune, "Are you okay?!" she asked in a mild panic.
He nodded, "Yeah." He said with a rough voice. He pulled his shaking hands away from the wound that was already closing from his aura. "I think it uses some sort of poison. Only thing I can think that would give this sort of burning feeling."
That made her give him a more alarmed look, "Are you going to be okay?"
He nodded and concentrated. His eyes turned purple-black and a black outline covered his body briefly. He gave a sigh of relief. "I will be. Just used Void to deal with the poison." He stood back up and his eyes reverted to their usual color. "I'm running out of options though. I can't use water out here and it just shook off my fire and lightning. That leaves only earth and wind."
"And you're not using Void." She told him with a near commanding tone.
"I don't plan on it." He agreed with her, knowing just why she wouldn't want him to use it. "I'm still not entirely sure on what it will do to me if I use it for extended periods of time. Especially since my Semblance was reverted thanks to you all." He turned back to the Black Mercy as he thought, 'That's not counting on what Void has already done to my body…'
Blake started to walk forward, "You need to catch your breath. I'll take the lead for now."
Jaune nodded as his eyes shifted to brown once again, "I'll give you support." He kicked the sand below him with the inner part of his right foot, using that to send another sand wave towards the Draco. As it passed by her, she took off in a full sprint behind it.
Black Mercy finally managed to shatter the ice blocking its vision as the sand wave slammed into its chest, pushing it back onto its hind legs. Seeing the opportunity, Blake lunged forward and with both blades in hand, slashed across its unarmored stomach a dozen times. She then had to use her Semblance to avoid the tail that would've impaled her through the neck.
It slammed back onto the ground as it looked around with a growl. A condensed air blast struck it in the chest and it turned to see Jaune, punching the air repeatedly to keep sending air blasts. With its sights set on the Marked, it jumped to the side and on top of the outcroppings. Digging its claws into it to keep it in place as it looked down at its prey.
Jaune quickly drew his APS and swung his blade, sending out and air slash towards the Draco. But him drawing the sword took a second too long because the Draco managed to jump to a neighboring rock just as the blade carved deep into the one it had just occupied. Before he could send another, it had already lunged from the stone to try and pounce on him. Jaune quickly used his Semblance to launched himself backwards and just being missed by the massive Grimm. As he was sliding back, he took hold of his blade with both hands and condensed more air before launching a much larger air slash.
It bit into the Grimm's armored chest and made a definite scar across it. That did nothing to deter it from charging up another energy blast. That was when Blake made her move and leapt towards the neck of the Grimm. But that's when it turned around with the blast fully charged and ready to fire. Before Jaune tried to do anything but the tail slammed into his chest sending him crashing into the stone behind him, taking a good chunk of his aura and leaving him winded. More so than usual thanks to his wind Semblance.
Seeing the blast coming at her, Blake did the only thing she thought would possibly save her. She pulled her arms back before sending an aura slash toward the blast. The two attacks collided causing the Draco's blast to explode. The blast caused severe cracking to spread across the Grimm's mask and it roared in pain. Blake was send flying backwards from the shockwave. She impacted the ground, losing her sheathe/cleaver, before skipping across it like a stone on water. She didn't stop until she hit the pile of rocks left behind from Jaune trying to crush the Grimm previously. All that left her aura just above red and she was having trouble getting up.
Black Mercy shook its head, some fragments of its mask coming lose and flying off. Its eyes narrowed at the cat Faunus before turning around to seeing the Marked winded on the ground. It stared at him for a few seconds before turning back around to the Faunus, beginning to walk towards her.
Jaune looked up just in time to see it raising its tail to run Blake through, who was still disoriented from her tumble. He didn't think. He just acted on instinct. His eyes shifted to yellow as he pulled on his lightning Semblance. He then took off at his top speed, pushing it as hard as possible in desperation to get to her in time. The tail was already moving forward and he knew he wasn't going to make it. He couldn't get her away in time. But there was one thing he could do.
Blake couldn't even blink before the tip of the tail was about to run her through. That was until Jaune appeared in front of her and the spear point stabbing into the right side of his stomach with a scream. Blood scattered onto the sand in front of him as he screamed in agony. Blake blinked before, "Jaune!" she shouted in a blood curdling scream.
Black Mercy just grinned again, "Finally got you."
"Did you?" Jaune said as he grabbed the base of the stinger with his right hand. Not taking any chances, he raised his sword and created an air blade around it, bringing it down. The blades, both air and metal, easily severed the stinger and the Draco pulled its tail back with a roar of pain.
Jaune pulled the stinger from him, spilling more blood in the process but giving his aura the chance to heal his wound properly. He threw the stinger to the ground before it turned into smoke. He looked over his shoulder to Blake and after seeing her worried expression, tried to give her a calming smile. But that was when he realized something strange. Last time he got stabbed by the stinger, he felt this excruciating burning sensation. That was missing now.
In fact, he couldn't even feel the pain from his stomach. It was just numb. And that numbness was starting to spread quickly. Before he could call upon Void once again, his vision began to swim and Blake's voice as sounding like he was underwater. His legs shook before the gave way and he collapsed to the side. He barely registered Blake yelling for him. He didn't even feel himself hit the sand before his world went black.
A?N- Here it is! It felt great to get the first half of this fight done and I have more planned for the latter half. And yes, the name of this Draco is a reference that may give you some insight on what may be coming. I wonder how many of you will get it.
On another note, for those that don't know I have a poll on my profile to see what story I will write next. It will be closing relatively soon, so go over and cast your votes.
With that said, I hoped you all enjoyed and I'll see you all in the next update!