Chapter 4 is finished.
Reviews:
X3runner - Tai is alive. He never died in RWBY so I don't wan't to make him ghost here.
Eternal Rain Spirit - First, thanks. Second about Chocolove not being able to be a shaman... not quite, I will explain it in the note after the chapter because it is somewhat relevant in the chapter itself.
Gamerlover and Ninjafang - Thank you.
There existed many legends and fairy tales across Remnant.
Some of them talked about two brother gods, one of light and one of darkness, who created both grimm and humanity.
Others depicted four maidens responsible for passing of the seasons in the world.
Most of them were known by almost everyone and believed by almost no one because such is the nature of legends but there were a couple exceptions that only a select few were aware of.
One of them was a legend about two comets Ragoh and Keito.
The legend stated that every five hundred years a great calamity would befall on Remnant and the two comets at the both sides of the world would herald it. The tale wasn't all bleak though as it also stated that these two comets would precede the arrival of a savior who would not only save the world from calamity but also would bring it into a new age.
Of course even among those who knew about this legend only a few were aware of the true meaning behind it.
The meaning which was the beginning of the Shaman King Tournament.
Every five hundred years with the flight of Ragoh and Keito, shamans all around the world would enter the tournament with the prize of becoming a new god by merging with the great spirit.
And as fate would have it, right now five hundred years have passed since the previous Shaman King Tournament.
Two radiant comets flew through the skies of Remnant. They soared at the opposite sides of the world in such a way that at least one of them could be seen from any place in the world.
Countless people witnessed flying comets. Most of them either gawked in amazement at the beautiful sight or tried to record it to study that extraordinary meteorological phenomenon but there some to whom the comets meant the start of the most important event in their lives.
The destiny of all shamans changed right with them witnessing the comets, whether they knew it or not.
In Vale dozens of shamans saw the passing of comets.
A young white haired shaman who believed every spiritually aware person should be a shaman saw them during his training with the spirit of his grandfather.
A Beacon student who recently started learning about the spirit world couldn't contain his awe when he watched the falling star with his closest friend and his father from their room at Beacon.
An ex gang leader stopped his evening walk with his ghost jaguar friend through the Vale to watch the herald of Shaman Fight in amazement.
And a certain blond shaman smiled with excitement as he saw one of the comets from the bench he was sleeping on that night.
Countless other shamans who either arrived at vale due to the tournament or lived there got serious and prepared themselves to give their all in the purpose of achieving their dreams through the Shaman King Tournament as well.
In every other major kingdom aside from Atlas hundreds of shamans saw the signs of the beginning of the Shaman King Tournament.
But most importantly all of the minor and major tribes across Remnant witnessed the signal for them to begin the selection for the Shaman Fight.
...
The next day...
...
Despite the extraordinary event that happened the previous evening, the current day in Vale was rather ordinary.
The sun was shining, students were learning, people were working and Jaune was taking a stroll with Summer to pass the time.
"Jaune, is it really all right to just walk around without any goal in mind? Shouldn't we look for a way to enter the Shaman Fights?" Summer asked, concerned about their chances at getting into the tournament.
It was a logical concern. They didn't know whether there were any particular requirements or test sites to enter the tournament or not so they could unknowingly not even qualify to take part in the tournament because of their lack of knowledge.
"Didn't we already do it though?" He responded with a question before explaining what he meant. "We spent the entire previous week looking for anything related to the Shaman King Tournament and found nothing. I'm pretty sure we've searched through the entire Vale so the only thing we can do now is wait."
From Summer's reaction he could tell she knew that he was right about it.
She was still anxious though, probably because of how different this situation was compared to any of the jobs she had while being a huntress.
"Still, shouldn't we at least train or do some last preparation before the tournament? It would be useful to be at our best during the first round of the tournament." Summer suggested feeling amiss at doing nothing to prepare for such an important event.
"It's because I want us to be at our best that I don't want us to strain ourselves too hard right now." He answered with a smile on his face.
"What do you mean by that?" Summer asked for clarification.
"Simple, we only know that the two comets would herald the Shaman Fight but we do not know how long we have to wait for the Shaman Fight after they crossed the skies. The Shaman King Tournament could start at the end of the week just as well as right now." He explained knowing that Summer would get his point.
"I guess you are right. It still doesn't feel right to do nothing though." Summer agreed reluctantly.
In response to Summer's answer he simply smiled before returning to their walk. He knew how Summer felt as he felt similarly but he knew that unlike spirits if he were to train too hard before the Shaman Fight he could end up too tired to fight.
They've continued their walk across the Vale while having some casual conversation completely unaware that a black haired masked woman was watching them from afar with a small group of different birds' spirits.
She was sitting on the roof of one of the buildings and was intensely watching the pair of shaman and spirit. Although she seemed to be more focused on the spirit than on the shaman.
"Are these nitwits really the people you've chosen as your candidates boss?" One of the birds asked the woman, clearly not showing any respect towards the people they were observing.
"Yes, they are the people I chose. Do you have a problem with that?" The woman answered with a scoff. She seemed angry at the disrespect shown by one of her ghosts.
"N-No boss, I'm sure they will destroy others' candidates and become the next shaman king." The bird answered with a clear fear in his voice.
"Good, then go and inform them of the selections." Masked woman commanded.
"Huh?! Why me?!" The bird asked, surprised and outraged.
"What's with that reaction? You sounded quite confident in them just a second ago. Go now." The woman said rudely before forcefully turning her ghost into the spirit ball form and throwing him towards the pair they were observing.
Seeing the poor ghost being thrown at the other shaman and his guardian spirit against his will, the masked woman and all of her other spirits exploded with laughter.
Meanwhile Jaune and Summer stopped their walk because they heard a loud cry for help rapidly approaching them from the side. They stopped and turned towards the noise to see a small ghost in a spirit ball form flying in their direction.
After noticing a spirit flying towards them Jaune rubbed one of his eyes in confusion before outstretching his hand to catch the flying ghost.
The ghost despite being intangible still stopped flying at his hand allowing him to catch it.
"Are you alright?" He asked despite knowing that logically there was nothing that could physically harm a ghost. He still was confused about the situation though.
Curiously he didn't get any answer as the spirit he asked the question was too busy slowly flying out of his hand and mumbling something under its nose. He thought he heard some complaints about some unreasonable bandit woman from the ghost but he wasn't sure.
The ghost continued to float upwards in it's spirit ball form until it was at his head's height before turning back to it's normal form.
Normal form of that spirit wasn't that of a human or a faunus like he and Summer had expected after hearing it's cry for help instead the form that ghost took was a bird. He wasn't sure what type of a bird it was but it looked rather similar to a falcon.
"Thanks kid, I owe you one. I swear my boss is a slave driver." The bird answered with a surprisingly deep voice, at least compared to how high pitched his cry for help was.
"Y-You're welcome." He answered, uncertain how to react in a situation like this.
The bird responded by grunting and shaking its head.
"You two!" The bird said with anger born from tiredness while pointing it's talons at them.
"Y-Yes?" He and Summer asked, not knowing what the bird wanted from them.
The bird narrowed it's eyes and after a second of looking at them in an uncomfortable silence it looked as if it was trying to smirk. At least it seemed to be what this bird was trying to do because the bird's beak wasn't really as expressive as a human's face.
"You were looking for a way to enter the Shaman Fight right?" The bird asked a rhetorical question before continuing without waiting for their reactions. "Then good for you because I'm here to inform you that you can participate in the selections!"
The bird sounded like a salesman who just offered someone a deal that they knew would be accepted.
The moment Summer heard the bird talk about the Shaman King Tournament her eyes filled with excitement.
"Where are the selections? When are they? What will they look like? Is it going to be a simple fight between two shamans or will other aspects of being a shaman be tested?" Summer rapidly asked many questions trying to get as much information as she could.
"You really want that info Summer don't you?" Jaune asked with a small laugh, ignoring the spirit of a bird who was about to try to answer Summer's questions.
After Summer heard his question she immediately turned her head towards him and frowned before answering.
"Of course! Information is the second most important thing for any huntress or huntsman on a mission, without it I wouldn't have survived half of the missions I went on." Summer said, teaching him an important lesson she learned during her life.
"Wait, if information is the second most important thing for any huntress then what is the most important thing?" He asked, curious about what Summer could consider to be the most important for her.
"Weapons of course! How could any huntress defeat the grimm without their weapons?" Summer answered with the confidence of a person who knew that they couldn't be wrong.
He was about to answer and argue otherwise but a bird angry at being ignored beat him to it.
"Stop ignoring me you nitwits!" The falcon-like bird screamed with irritation.
"We are sorry." They apologized while smiling a little. It wasn't their fault for having so much energy after hearing about the Shaman Fight for the first time after looking for anything related to it for the past few weeks.
The bird grumbled something quietly before reluctantly accepting their apology.
"Listen carefully because I'm not going to repeat that. The selections will happen at midnight in the Vale South River Park near the agricultural district. You will be tested alone and I cannot tell you anything more about the tests themselves. Got it?" The bird said clearly to not be forced to repeat himself.
In response to the information both he and Summer simply nodded with a serious expression on their faces. They knew it was their only chance at entering the Shaman King Tournament so they were determined to give their all at the selections.
After the bird said what he had to say and saw both of them nodding in response, he turned around and flew through one of the buildings to make sure that he wouldn't be tracked by them. He then head towards the masked woman who send him to their candidates to tell her of the done job.
"It looks like the Shaman Fight has finally begun. Are you ready Summer?" Jaune asked Summer with a smile, after he saw the bird fly away.
"Of course I'm ready! Now let's go!" Summer answered excitedly, not really being aware that there was still more than twelve hours until midnight.
...
At midnight...
...
Vale South River Park wasn't a crowded place, especially during evenings. It was rare for there to be more than a dozen people visiting it throughout the entire day let alone at night. Jaune was certain he met more ghosts than actual people here.
The park was also quite spacious. It wasn't anything close to the forests and the fields he and Summer visited on their journey before arriving at Vale but it was still big enough to be able to have a fight in.
These things were what made it a perfect place to host the Shaman Fight selections.
He would have marveled at its beauty as well if he wasn't forced to stay in it for the last three hours because They got here way too early. Even the most beautiful scenery could get stale after looking at it for multiple hours.
"How long do we have to wait for that stupid examiner?!" Summer seemed to be as tired of waiting as he was.
Seeing that even his excited partner was getting annoyed from the waiting he sighed before leaning on his wooden staff.
"Calm down Summer. It's our fault for arriving here so early." He said with a yawn while balancing himself on his staff.
His attempt at calming Summer down failed miserably because just as he said that she turned towards him, pointed her finger at him and started calling him out on his hypocrisy.
"Don't you Calm down Summer me. You are just as done with waiting for them as I am, don't try to hide it." Summer was right of course but he was too tired to vocalize his displeasure.
He laughed a little as a reply before changing the subject.
"So what do you think the selections will look like?" He said with a smile.
"Ehh, probably a simple one on one fight. It might be something more crazy though." Summer said with a shrug.
"What exactly do you mean by something more crazy?" He asked Summer with a little unease.
"I don't know, maybe they will throw us into the river with the objective of finding some ancient artifact at the end of it while fighting the grimm along the way." Summer suggested before adding quietly. "It actually wouldn't be so different from the Beacon initiation now that I think about it."
It was certainly a way to find out if a person was capable or not but he didn't think that it would accurately test one's skills as a shaman. He was about to comment on Summer's suggestion but someone beat him to it.
"Ha! Good to know that my old team leader still has such a rich imagination even after dying." A female lough could be heard from one of the trees behind them.
They turned around the moment they heard the voice.
At first they didn't see anyone in the place they heard the voice from but after a short moment a black haired masked woman jumped down from one of the higher branches on the tree.
Soon after she landed a group of bird spirits flew out of the woods to arrive next to her. Among them there was the falcon who informed them of the selections. He seemed to be as annoyed with his boss as he was with them.
After all the spirits aligned themselves next to her, the masked woman carefully took off her mask to reveal her face. Her eyes were red and her facial features could have only been described as the ones belonging to a warrior. She had a confident smile on her face and she seemed to be looking down on them.
"Hello Summer. Long time no see." The woman said with a smirk.
Jaune was about to ask her who she was but he stopped himself after seeing the expression Summer had after the woman unmasked herself.
Summer's eyes were wide, her lips were opening and closing as if she wanted to say something but couldn't and her entire body was shaking. He didn't know whether She was shaking from anger or disbelief but he could tell that she looked as if she just saw a ghost.
"R-Raven?" Summer asked in disbelief.
"Surprised to see me?" Raven answered with a confident smirk.
"You are a shaman?" Summer asked again, still not believing what was happening.
"There was that one time Me and Qrow did tell you about our heritage but I guess-""And you never even visited me for a talk!?" Whatever Raven was about to say was cut short as Summer exploded with anger after realizing that one of her closest friends completely ignored her after her death.
"Huh?" His and Raven's reactions were exactly the same but most likely for completely different reasons. Raven was surprised because Summer reacted in a way she didn't expect at all and he was surprised because he had absolutely no idea how did Summer knew Raven and who they were for each other.
Looking how startled Raven was and the way she moved her hands while trying to calm Summer down he guessed that she was about to start explaining herself but he decided to stop her and ask his own question instead.
"Okay stop! Who is she and how do you two know each other?" He asked a little forcefully while pointing his finger at Raven.
Summer in response stopped herself from shouting at Raven. She then turned her head towards him and lightly sighed before explaining who Raven was.
"Jaune, this is Raven. She is an ex-team member of mine, the strongest fighter I know and a coward of a mother." Summer said with a little resentment in her voice.
"Oi! Who are you calling a coward?!" Raven asked with anger in her voice immediately after she heard what Summer called her.
Hearing that Jaune sighed because he already knew that another quarrel between these two was about to begin. He was beginning to think the true reason why Raven called them here wasn't to test them but to have a fight with Summer.
"You of course! Only a coward would abandon her own daughter without any explanation!" Summer shouted at Raven after hearing what she said.
Abandon her own daughter? Wait, wasn't she the woman Summer's older daughter was looking for? Jaune thought to himself in the background. He wasn't brave enough to butt into the personal fight between Summer and Raven.
"I am one of the people responsible for the organization of the current Shaman King Tournament! Excuse me for thinking that choosing the next God was a bit more important than my daughter!" Raven shouted back, trying to explain herself.
"I'm starting to think that I'm an unnecessary addition here." Jaune said quietly to himself knowing that he would be ignored. Surprisingly out the corner of his eye he could see Raven's bird spirits looking at him with pity and understanding. They were currently being as ignored as he was.
"Maybe it wouldn't have mattered which one was more important if you weren't a coward unable to find a balance between your responsibilities and your family!" Summer angrily replied.
After hearing that, a quick look between Jaune and Raven's spirits was enough for them to decide that those two's fight went on for long enough.
"Stop!" He and the birds shouted, tired of the bickering between Summer and Raven.
Their shout must have been enough for both of them to realize that their fight derailed them from their purpose of being here because right after they heard their shout both Summer and Raven stopped their dispute and looked quite embarrassed at their actions.
After a short and awkward moment for them to calm down, Raven coughed to regain their attention.
"Moving on." Raven said, trying to ignore their fight before continuing. "I've summoned you here to test whether or not you qualify to enter the Shaman Fight."
After hearing that Jaune grinned and spun his wooden staff before taking a stance to get ready for a fight.
"Alright! What are the rules?" He asked excitedly while preparing himself for a fight.
Seeing him getting ready for a challenge Raven smirked while looking pleased with his attitude.
"The rules are simple, you just have to hit me once within the next fifteen minutes to qualify. I suggest you go all out because you probably won't survive otherwise." Raven said with a smirk before saying loudly. "Let the Shaman Fight selections begin!"
Immediately after they've heard Raven saying that Summer turned into her spirit ball form to allow them to perform the spirit integrity.
"Ready Summer?" He asked while grabbing Summer and she quickly nodded after hearing the question.
Seeing that Summer was ready he swiftly brought her right next to his heart before pushing her into his body to allow her to guide his body during the fight.
While they might not have practiced a lot before the selections, they still had a lot of experience in performing spirit integration from their many adventures before and after coming to Vale so the process itself was nearly instantaneous. Though for some reason during the process of him merging with Summer he caught a glimpse of Raven looking at them with a slight disappointment.
He shook his head to get rid of unnecessary thoughts before he and Summer charged at Raven to probe her into action.
He was putting his full trust in Summer in this fight as she had the most experience with fighting against Raven. He really hoped that this experience would be enough though.
They've stopped their dash right in front of Raven to launch their first attack.
That was a fast and simple strike. Almost everyone would be able to either parry or dodge it but it was alright as it was just a feint meant to force Raven into taking action. Summer knew they wouldn't stand a chance in a direct exchange and he agreed with her.
Seeing them attacking her directly, Raven scowled before reaching for her sword to do a quick upward slash by drawing her sword.
After they've saw Raven grabbing her sword, they immediately jumped to the side to not only dodge it but to also get a clear angle allowing them to attack her.
Just before landing he saw that Raven's attack launched an ice projectile forward.
Her weapon is made out of multiple elemental blades that she can shift between to do different attacks so watch out. Summer warned him right after they saw that.
He quickly nodded to let summer know he understood before dashing at Raven with his wooden staff extended towards her face to get a clear hit.
Seeing that Raven stood in place without turning around even though he was charging at her from the side, he started grinning thinking that they would be able to pass the test so quickly.
Unfortunately just as they were about to strike her a hard and cold object collided with them from the side launching them into a nearby tree.
"What was that?" He said while grabbing his ribs to dull the pain after getting up from the tree they've just crashed into.
While he didn't get any direct answer to his question, after he looked up at Raven again he saw that there was a bird made entirely out of ice flying around her.
He wasn't an expert about birds but he was quite sure the bird currently flying around her was supposed to be of the same species as one of her bird spirits. That one looked similar to a hawk.
Is this one of her different attacks you just spoke of Summer? He asked in his mind while raising his guard for safety.
N-No I don't know what it is. I've never seen her use it before. Summer answered confused.
Their short conversation must have been noticed by Raven because after a short moment of silence she scoffed and sheathed her sword again.
"Why are you just standing there? Is a single hit too much for you two to continue fighting?" Raven mocked them after seeing that they didn't attack again.
After hearing her mock them he grunted before dashing at her again.
This charge wasn't as straightforward as their previous one because the ice hawk flying around Raven tried to stop them in the middle of their dash by flying into them.
Fortunately dodging it wasn't a big issue as they simply jumped over it by using his wooden staff as a pole in a pole vaulting similarly to how they've used it during their fight against Whitley.
What wasn't fortunate though was the fact that after jumping over the ice hawk they were in the air with no ability to dodge or change the direction they were going in.
Of course Raven would be a fool to not take advantage of a situation like that and both he and Summer knew it so the moment they left the ground they raised their guard hoping to parry her strike and hit her with their counterattack.
After she saw them jumping over her ice hawk Raven predictably launched an attack of her own.
This strike wasn't that much different from her previous one. The only difference he noticed between them was the amount of commitment put in Raven's first slash was way bigger than this one. It looked almost as if she didn't care about the fight and only fought out of obligations.
Seeing Raven's lackadaisical slash, neither he or Summer relaxed even a little. They were already caught off guard by Raven's simple attack before.
When they got close enough to reach her with their wooden staff, they extended it trying to intercept Raven's strike in the middle to parry it.
Unfortunately they didn't manage to do that as a strong wind began blowing from Raven's attack pushing them backwards.
After landing on the ground Jaune tried to take a short breath and compose himself, unluckily for him though another bird, this time made entirely out of wind, was charging at him.
He rolled to the side at the last second, somehow dodging the unknown attack that he barely saw coming.
She really enjoys using those birds, doesn't she? He asked Summer while getting up from his dodge roll.
After he got up he saw that now there were two birds flying around Raven. A wind falcon was added to the ice hawk who was flying around her earlier.
And I still do not know what they are. Summer answered with a sigh, after a few seconds of thinking.
He was about to ask another question but he was forced to concentrate on a fight for a while instead as the two birds decided to attack him from the sides.
A simple dodge was enough to avoid the birds' attack but it wasn't the reason for his higher concentration on the fight. The real reason was the realization that Raven wasn't going to be as passive as she was until now.
Is there any chance that this is her semblance? He asked between dodges, guessing that since Raven was a huntress on Summer's team she should have a semblance.
It can't be. Her semblance allows her to teleport to people she bonded with. Summer answered while wondering how to overcome this challenge.
After a few minutes of dodging attacks from Raven's birds they decided to make some distance between them and Raven by rushing to the other side of the park.
Seeing that they now were far enough from Raven to lower their guard a little, Jaune and Summer decided to take a breath to calm down a little.
She really isn't going easy on us, isn't she? Jaune asked in his mind while exhaling the breath he just took. Raven truly was the most skillful fighter he has ever met.
Hmm? Oh no. She's definitely going easy on us. Of course Summer couldn't let him fight one of her teammates under a wrong assumption like that so she kindly corrected him.
"What?" He asked out loud not caring whether Raven would hear them or not.
Don't get me wrong, we would defeat any huntsman in training and even put up a fight against an ordinary huntsman but... well, this is Raven. Summer said, acting as if it was enough to explain the situation.
He really wanted to ask her to elaborate but decided it wasn't the correct time to do that.
"You don't know how disappointed I am in you two." A tired voice of Raven could be heard slowly moving closer to them from afar.
Not long after they heard her, Raven emerged from the small forest they left her in.
She was looking at them with irritation and a bit of disappointment. The two elemental birds who were following her seemed to be shaking their heads in discontent as well.
"Can you stop trying to get Summer to pass this test for you?" Raven asked tiredly before continuing with a sigh. "If I wanted to know if Summer was a spirit worthy of the Shaman King I wouldn't have been doing this test at all."
Getting Summer to pass the test for him? He didn't know what she was talking about. Wasn't he everything he could to pass it on his own?
When Raven saw his confused look after asking her question she once again sighed in disappointment before reaching for her sword.
"Fine if you aren't going to use your Over Soul for a test then I will make you use it to save your life." Raven said with a clear anger in her voice.
The moment she said that Summer broke from their spirit integration to try to plead for his safety.
Unfortunately Raven ignored her pleading and started doing many quick slashes with her sword while changing the element of her blade before every slash. With each slash another elemental bird appeared from the attack.
Every single one out of these birds resembled one of the bird spirits who were with Raven before the fight.
After seeing three of them being the same species Jaune realized that they were somehow connected but he wasn't sure how. He knew it wasn't her semblance as Summer confirmed that Raven's semblance was different. He also knew that it couldn't be spirit union because Raven had her aura unlocked disproving this hypothesis.
He frowned trying to guess how she was doing it. He looked at her more carefully searching for any hints that would help him understand her strange ability.
"This is neither semblance nor spirit integration! She's using her spirits with the help of her sword!" He shouted in realization after a few seconds of looking at what Raven was doing.
"Are you certain about that?" Summer asked him while being startled from his unexpected shout.
"Yes, and I think, I've got an idea how to do it as well." He nodded before once again jumping away from Raven to get time to try to perform the Over Soul with Summer.
"Really?" Summer quickly said after arriving next to him.
She was acting frantic, which was understandable considering that every second Raven was becoming a bigger and bigger threat to them.
He gritted his teeth with uncertainty before answering her with his own question.
"Do you trust me Summer?" He asked before expanding on what he meant. "Just know that if my idea is wrong then you might end up stuck in a walking stick for the next couple of years."
"Stuck in a stick?" His question must have really confused Summer based on her raised eyebrows and what she was mumbling.
"Never mind. Yes, I trust you Jaune." Summer said after a quick shake of her head.
Knowing that Summer trusted him and was willing to try his idea he grinned before asking her to turn into her spirit ball form.
He held her in one of his hands and he held his wooden staff in the other one.
He then straightened both of his arms in such a way that Summer and the wooden staff were right next to each other.
"Summer! Over Soul to the wooden staff!" He shouted while merging Summer with his wooden staff hoping that it would work.
The wind started blowing around him being pushed and pulled by the strands of his furyoku trying to form Over Soul for the first time.
The process of creating Over Soul wasn't anything like the process of Spirit Union he always used with Summer.
Where one was quick and barely noticeable the other was slow and attention grabbing. Where spirit integrity was brisk and easy the Over Soul was as mentally tiring as physically possible
These two were as different as they could possibly be while being so similar that they could be called variations of each other at the same time.
After a few long and tiring seconds of truly using his furyoku for the first time, his Over Soul finally formed.
In the hand he was previously holding a simple wooden staff now he was holding a spiritual halberd instead. It's blade was of a pure silver color and it's long handle was dark red, the color was almost black even as it resembled Summer's hair. A white fabric that was looking similar to a cape enveloped the entire weapon with the hood of it covering the back of the halberd's head.
At the same time Jaune managed to perform his Over Soul with Summer, rose petals started to slowly fall from the sky around them.
After seeing that he somehow performed the Over Soul he grinned a little before grasping his Over Soul with both of his hands to spin it a little to get a feel for it.
He twirled his new weapon a little and looked at the petals falling from the sky to admire his new Over Soul before turning towards Raven with a proud grin.
"Am I still getting Summer to pass this test for me?" He asked with confidence while ignoring the fact that Raven now had over a dozen of her elemental birds floating around her.
"Maybe you aren't as terrible as I thought you were but don't get cocky, kid. You still have to hit me once to pass and there aren't even five minutes left for you." Raven said with a smirk before raising her hand as if to give orders to someone.
After the birds flying around Raven saw her signal they intermediately flew behind her and prepared themselves for a coordinated attack.
The moment he saw the birds flying behind Raven, Jaune charged at her with his halberd ready to strike.
When Raven saw him charging at her she smirked with satisfaction and confidence before commanding all of her spirits to attack him with a simple wave of her hand.
"Let's see how are you going to deal with this attack!" Raven shouted with a grin as more than a dozen of different elemental birds were soaring at him with speeds that would put dust bullets to shame.
The scene of Raven's final attack before him certainly was intimidating and if the objective of the test didn't require him to get close to Raven to hit her, he most likely would have used all of his strength to try to dodge it.
Unfortunately for him he didn't have the time to be dodging Raven's attacks without getting closer to her so he charged right into it instead.
Even though all of these birds came from the same direction, they still somehow were able to attack him from many different angles.
One was charging at him directly from the front.
Three were flying at him from the sides. Two were on the left and one was on the right.
Another three were rushing at him from the above trying to stop him from jumping over the rest of the birds currently flying at him.
Behind them there were more of them flying a bit slower to get him if he were to get past their first wave.
Seeing that there were no ways to avoid them he decided to use his halberd to break the bird right in front of him. He quickly swung his weapon right through the one bird who was charging at him from the front moving right past it and making all of the birds who were attacking him from the sides and from above to barely miss him.
Just after he passed through the bird he destroyed with his Over Soul he caught a glimpse of the bird regenerating from any damage he did to it almost instantly after, making trying to get rid of them almost pointless.
He quickly turned his head back towards the rest of the birds who were before him hoping to find a way to get through them similarly to how he just did.
The situation he saw before him couldn't be any worse. Not only there was no safe path forward but also behind him all the birds who missed him started to turn back surrounding him completely.
The moment he saw that he immediately stopped in place startled at the position he found himself in.
Of course Raven wasn't going to waste such an opportunity so she instantaneously commanded her spirits to end him.
"Sorry kid but this is the end!" Raven shouted with a smile before closing her hand into a fist to command her ghosts to finish him.
At first when he saw all of the birds closing in on him he started to panic but then after a short second he almost instinctively decided to cover himself with his Over Soul's cloak.
He didn't know why he did that but it felt as if something inside him was certain he would be fine after doing that.
Right after he did that all of Raven's spirit flew into him with all of their force creating a huge explosion of furyoku and various different elements. Its power could be felt through the entire park and more than a few trees and boulders from the park were launched into the air from the force of that explosion.
When Raven saw the devastating effects of her attack she reacted with a small sigh while looking at the dust cloud the explosion created.
"It was a good fight but you still faile-" Raven was about to say in a somber tone but she stopped herself when she saw countless rose petals suddenly gathering around a single rose petal right before her face.
From this swarm of rose petals appeared a familiar looking blonde shaman in the middle of an attack.
"What?!" Raven shouted in surprise just as a handle of the spiritual halberd hit her head.
Jaune did it, he passed.
It took a single second for him to touch the ground from his attack and it took another one to realize what he had just done.
"Yes!" A loud cheerful shout could be heard through the entire Vale South River Park.
It could wake some people up and make many people angry but he didn't care as he was too happy from entering the Shaman King Tournament.
This short interruption in his concentration was enough for his Over Soul to fade away so Summer appeared next to him with a grin similar to his own.
They quickly started celebrating while completely ignoring everything around them. Raven might have been saying something in the background but he was too busy laughing with Summer to notice.
"Shut up!" Raven's shout startled them, grabbing their attention.
"If you two are done with acting like idiots who completed their first huntsmen mission then catch this." Raven said rudely before throwing him an old looking item.
He wanted to say he caught it without any issue but that wasn't the case as he almost dropped the item while catching it.
"Be careful. This item is an ancient communication device called the oracle bell. It was made by the Great Spirit so be thankful." Raven said with loftiness.
"It's a scroll." He answered with a deadpan expression completely shattering the grandiose image of it that Raven made.
"As I was saying, this is a communication device made by the Great Spirit so it might have some similarities to our scrolls." Raven said with a cough to hide her embarrassment. He was pretty sure he heard Summer giggle a little after she said that.
"On top of that it looks like it's an old model." He said while inspecting it closer.
"I did say it's ancient." Raven tried to defend herself once again.
"I'm pretty sure that if I were to give it to the police they would be able to find it's original owner." He said while ignoring Raven's weak attempts at protecting her honor.
It looked like this time Raven had enough as she instantaneously slashed her sword stopping just before his neck right after he said that.
"Nitpick one more thing about that scroll and the only way you are joining the Shaman Fight is as a guardian ghost, understood?" She threatened with her sword touching his neck.
In response he slowly nodded, being too afraid to say anything.
"Good." Raven said before continuing. "There is a special application on the scroll you've just got which we will be using to give you information on the next rounds of the tournament so make sure to not lose it."
Hearing that he immediately hid the scroll in one of his inside pockets to make sure he wouldn't lose it. He probably would have to buy himself a safe bag for it. He didn't feel safe having such an important item without any protection.
"Understood, although I have one question." He said after putting the scroll away.
"What is it?" Raven said, sounding a bit irritated.
"How much time is there until the selections will end?" He asked, hoping for there to be as much time as possible.
"Two weeks." Raven answered shortly before asking a question of her own. "What do you need that knowledge for?"
After she said that, Summer turned her head towards him as well. She probably was wondering what he wanted to do too.
"Simple, there is a friend of mine who I want to join the Shaman Fight as well and I would like you to test him after two weeks as well." Judging from Summer's reaction she most likely knew who he was talking about.
"You want more competition? It's fine by me. After two weeks I will send one of my underlings to you to test that friend of yours." Raven said with a laugh before saying goodbye and leaving with her spirits.
After Raven left them alone, he and Summer stood there looking at the destruction left from their fight with thoughtful expressions on their faces.
A short while has passed before they decided to leave the park.
"Was the friend about whom you were talking about Ren? Now that we know people with aura can use Over Soul, he will be able to become a shaman." Summer asked him to satisfy her curiosity as they were leaving.
When Jaune heard Summer's question he smiled and looked at the starry sky before answering.
"Yes, I will make sure Ren will be able to join the Shaman King Tournament."
Here it is.
I still need to work on my action scenes but I guess practice makes perfect right?
Anyway, aura and shamans and how I want this to work. Basically only people without their aura awaken can use Spirit Integration/Spirit Union/Hyoi-Gattai (However you call it.) but everyone is capable of using OverSoul no matter whether they have aura or not. Though I want to make OverSouls of those with aura unlocked be either weaker or more cumbersome to use.
Maybe those with aura won't be able to communicate with their spirits while they are in their OverSoul and are only able to command them?
I will think of something.
Thank you for reading and until next time.