Chapter 10 is here!
Sorry that it's a little later than usually but I had quite a busy weaks lately with the university starting for me and all of that.
I don't know if you noticed but I finally got a temporary cover for the story. It's supposed to be Summer's spirit ball form if you didn't realize. I know it isn't the preatiest as my drawing skill are even worse than writing skill and i did it in pain but it's something. :)
Reviews:
X3runner,megakdre100, But it was me Dio - I know. My explanation for what happened back there was that Lyserg only ran out of it after Jaune has already given up as it only happened while he was trying to retract his wire to help Jaune get down. At first I thought that it was easy to see but than after rereading the chapter I realized that it's not as you guys are reading it, not observing it through the eyes of my imagination. Sorry about that. I will try to write more clearly from now on.
Xealchim - I don't know how to respond to that, you basically answered yourself... Ehh, glad you read the chapter, thanks :).
Obsidian Nova Arc - I have an idea about Jaune using a different item for an Over Soul later down the line but to make ar least a chapter or maybe even an entire Arc(Get it? It's a pun.) about him getting it not finding it in panic. Honestly I didn't think too much on how Ren would attend bigger fight in face of beacon. Most likely will make some basic excuse I'm not sure yet. As for Yang and Raven, I already have a plan for it and you will just have to wait.
Guest - Thanks. Your words really made my day. It's a great feeling to know that someone look forward to my story.
trying to be oh so original, NinjaFang1331, Gamelover41592 - Thank you.
(Huh. It was a bit more reviews than usually.)
Many different thoughts were going through Jaune's head as he was taking a walk through the Vale and surprisingly only a few of them were related to the battle against Lyserg he lost yesterday.
Instead the thing he was entirely focused on at the moment was the message on his Oracle Bell that was related to his next fight. He didn't worry too much about the location and the time of the fight as he still had a few days until it would happen but the part that stated his opponent was an entirely different case.
"THIRD FIGHT: JAUNE ARC VS WHITLEY SCHNEE"
It was the message he got a few hours after his defeat in a fight against the green dowser. At least he assumed that he got it a few hours after the fight as the first time he noticed it was this morning so as far as he knew the message could have been sent to him just before he woke up.
If he were to be honest, he wasn't quite sure if he should be confident in his chances at defeating Whitley or not. He technically has fought against him once already but that fight ended after one clean strike from him so it didn't really give him any ideas on the strength of his next opponent.
The only things he really knew about Whitley to prepare for was that his opponent for sure would have managed to obtain his Over Soul to take part in the tournament and the full names of his opponent and their guardian spirit.
"At least it's good to know that he actually entered the tournament. He might be a bit too obsessed with stuff like shaman's duty but I'm sure he isn't a bad guy." He murmured to himself while stretching the pain away from Summer's training.
"Don't be too happy because of that as we might be the reason he drops out of the tournament if he has lost once already." Summer reminded him with a serious tone.
It was a good point. No matter how much he didn't consider Whitley to be a bad person, he still would have to prioritize himself over his foe during the fight.
Being kind to his enemies is good and all but he still wanted to get as high as he could in the tournament to meet and befriend the biggest number of different shamans from across the world.
He quickly went back to being lost in his thoughts as he started contemplating on how to deal with his next shaman fight. In fact, he was so captivated by his thoughts that he didn't even register Summer warning him of something from the side.
"Ugh!" He reacted in pain after slamming right into a cold, heavy and metallic object that was right before him and falling down on the ground.
After he hit the ground and snapped out of his momentary confusion he realized that he must have collided with some lamp or maybe a car parked partially on the sidewalk but when he looked up to see what was the thing he walked into became quite surprised because of the object before him.
In front of him stood a steel container looking similarly to a human or more precisely to a middle aged woman that was being carried by a blond haired man who was wearing glasses and almost entirely white clothes. Right next to that man stood another guy wearing similar clothes but he had black hair and the beard instead.
Are these two people... escorting an ancient torture device? What is wrong with them? He thought to himself after realizing what the item carried by the blond man was and after a quick look at Summer he knew she was just as confused as he was.
"Ah, I apologize, it looks like we've collided with you. I hope everything is alright." A kind and calm female voice came out of the torture device in front of him.
"EH! The torture device just talked!" He and Summer recoiled in surprise after hearing that voice.
Their reaction might have been a bit rude towards the person inside the torture device but it wasn't their fault. How often people normally hear an ancient torture device apologizing to them.
"It isn't some random empty torture chamber you two buffoons, it's the Iron Maiden Jeanne, the true leader of the X-Laws!" Blond man before them said with his voice being filled with irritation and after seeing that their faces remained as confused as they were before his anger seemed to only grow.
"Calm down, Marco. Not everyone knows about our righteous cause and our beautiful Jeanne." The black haired man said while placing his hand on the arm of his friend.
The information they just got from that little exchange might have meant something for other contestants in the Shaman King Tournament as the people before them already made a name for themselves in the tournament but they only caught one obvious part of their conversation that was the most important to them.
"You can see her/me?!" Both of them said loudly in surprise while pointing at Summer.
Their question seemed to offend the blond man carrying the iron maiden as he looked like he was about to scold or insult them. Thankfully a quiet and lighthearted giggle escaped the Iron Maiden stopping the blond man from complaining before she said in a calm manner.
"Of course we can see you miss huntress. All three of us are the contestants in the Shaman King Tournament after all."
"What?" He and Summer reacted in surprise after hearing what the Iron Maiden said. It was their first time meeting another participant in the tournament without actually having to fight them after all.
His surprise and bewilderment was short lasting though as he quickly remembered that he was still laying on the ground because of their previous collision making him immediately focus on standing up, talking to someone while laying on the ground was not only uncomfortable but also rude and embarrassing.
"It appears that we will be opponents in the future since I'm taking part in the tournament as well." He said while standing up to try and save some face before extending his hand to the bizarre trio before them in a greeting.
"My name is Jaune Arc and this beautiful yet terrifying huntress next to me is my guardian spirit Summer Rose." He introduced them with an awkward laugh.
"Who are you calling terrifying?" Summer quickly asked in annoyance at his small jab at her.
Based on how they looked, it appeared that the men escorting the Iron Maiden were already quite annoyed with them and didn't even want to exchange their greeting. It was especially the case for the blond man carrying the the torture device as he looked ready to go away and leave them alone on the street compared to the other man who simply looked tired of their questions.
Fortunately for them it seemed that their leader was the Iron Maiden herself and based on the small gushing sound she just made she was delighted to meet them and have this conversation.
"Our names match." The girl inside the torture device said in a calm and happy voice which made him think that she was smiling with the purest smile possible at the moment. "I am the Iron Maiden Jeanne but you may simply call me Jeanne and these two friends of mine who are currently helping me move around are Marco and Luchist. I hope we will get along."
Marco grumbled something under his breath while a tired sigh escaped Luchist before both of them greeted him and Summer as well. They really didn't have that high opinion of them.
"Please forgive them. They aren't bad people but sometimes they are just so focused on our goal that they tend to forget about the importance of being kind to strangers." Jeanne said in an apologetic tone before giving them an offer. "Would you mind joining us on our walk?"
"Miss Jeanne!" Marco said in protest and it was clear he didn't want to waste his time on them.
"Quiet Marco. Remember that it's Miss Iron Maiden who is the leader of X-Laws and not any of us." Luchist reminded in a strict and collected manner.
"Of course we wouldn't mind. It's always nice to take a walk with other people." Jaune said before walking up to the Iron Maiden with Summer and continuing their walk with the strangers they just met.
They traveled eastwards or at least that's the direction they walked towards at the beginning as they didn't really have any particular goal in their walk at the moment so changing directions to simply travel to interesting looking places in Vale was quite a common occurrence for them.
Weather was nice and neither of them had to hurry anywhere at the moment so they took they time with the walk and just like that dozens of minutes passed by, quickly accumulating into almost an hour.
Jaune had to say that this outing was rather enjoyable as their group comfortably passed through a few alleys and streets while having some small talk in the meantime. There was one question on his mind during the entire walk that made him wonder who actually were their traveling companions though.
"May I ask what exactly is this X-Laws organization you are a part of?" He asked for the peace of his mind after they had finished one of the lighter topics they had and Summer nodded along with him as she was also curious about who they were.
His question earned him and Summer a few befuddled stares from their traveling companions. They acted as if the information about the X-Laws should be common knowledge in the shamanic community and he was the one who was outlier here.
While being looked upon like that wasn't a new feeling for him as he was already used to it from ordinary people who learned that he was a shaman, It still felt weird being the abnormal person in the group.
Especially since the group he was a part of now was almost entirely made out of shamans with the only exception to that being Summer who was his guardian spirit.
It also made him wonder a bit where the guardian spirits of Jeanne, Marco and Luchist were as he never actually saw them. Were they keeping them in some sort of relics capable of storing souls in them?
"Of course you can." A kind voice escaped the Iron Maiden as she realized that their cause wasn't as well known as she and her dear comrades thought it was. "Marco, would you mind explaining X-Laws purpose to our new friends?"
Marco didn't seem too eager to actually explain it to them but after some quiet grumbles under his nose and a rather loud and tired sigh he began his speech.
"The sole purpose of X-Laws is to eradicate all evil and suffering. We are the ones who will kill Hao and make our Jeanne the Shaman King for she is a just and kind ruler who would lead the world to greatness. At the moment we have six members including the three of us who are here but we are currently recruiting others to help us achieve our goal."
While the explanation wasn't long or detailed, it still told him the basics he wanted to know and he didn't really want to ask Marco for more since he seemed quite annoyed at him for some reason.
Based on the information he got the X-Laws appeared to be a good willed organization that wants to win the Shaman King Tournament for the betterment of everyone.
He should still get some opinions on them from people who aren't a part of X-Laws though as they might simply be some delusional cult which wouldn't mind killing everyone on their path to power.
He still had one more question from the explanation though.
"Who is Hao?" He asked while tilting his head slightly to the side after remembering that name being mentioned.
Uncomfortable silence was the immediate reaction to his question as right after he asked that Marco and Luchist gritted their teeth and looked to the side as if to hide something. He couldn't see Jeanne's reaction but based on the fact that she was completely silent at this moment as well he guessed it wasn't too different from her escorts.
It seemed that this Hao person did something really horrible to them as just the question about that person's identity made them furious.
After a few tense seconds the silence that was present among them was finally broken by Iron Maiden Jeanne woefully sighing before answering his question in a rather pained and conflicted voice.
"Hao is..." She started only to stop herself for a second to think on her answer before continuing with a stern voice. "He is a really terrible person who did many bad things to countless people in the past and you shouldn't trust him under any condition."
Iron Maiden's explanation didn't really tell him much about Hao. The only thing he could truly say about him was the fact that he apparently was a really bad person which he already kinda knew from the context earlier in the conversation.
He could ask for Jeanne to elaborate but in the end he decided against it.
It was clear that this topic was a really sore point for his new colleagues and he didn't want to have such a difficult conversation with the people he just met. From the looks Marco and Luchist had at the moment he assumed that they had already suffered because of that Hao person enough in their lives.
"So... How are you guys doing in the Tournament?" Summer, after also realizing that they were currently leading the conversation towards a painful topic, decided to somewhat ungracefully change it into one that hopefully would be more positive.
Marco smiled a little after hearing that question as he noticed what the spirit of a dead huntress was trying to do at the moment. Despite the fact that Marco was still very annoyed at them he could still appreciate their consideration.
"You may not know it since you apparently have never heard of us but at the moment every member of the X-Laws has already won two of the fights required to enter the next round and the only reason we are even coming to our third fights is to eliminate the competition." The blond haired X-Laws member said while pointing at himself with a proud grin.
"Really? That's so impressive! I personally lost my second fight so I still have one more fight left to win if I want to enter the next round. You all must be incredibly strong." He praised his new friends while scratching the back of his head with a wry smile on his face.
His praises appeared to be working well because soon after he said that, the tense and depressing mood that was present in their group started to noticeably lessen.
The proud smirk on Marco's face grew even more after he heard that their new annoying traveling companions were in a worse situation than the X-Laws were at the moment.
Feeling the glee arising in him at the prospect of the ignorant shaman before him realizing the strength of his organization, the blond X-Law decided to brag about his organization a bit more.
"That's not all! Our leader is countless times stronger than all of the X-Laws members combined. She is so strong in fact that at the moment she is considered to be one of the favorites to win the tournament with her Furyoku being higher than three hundred thousand and continuously raising!"
When Marco said his praises to his leader he expected Jaune to see the sheer power and impact the Iron Maiden had and begin to look up to their leader in adoration. He certainly didn't expect the young blond shaman to become completely silent and look at all three of them with a muddled stare.
Meanwhile, when Marco and Luchist started being slightly confused at the silence from their new companions, Jaune was going through a mental crisis born from stumbling upon a person so much greater than him that he wouldn't even compare to them after the entire life of training.
It was one thing to hear from someone that there might exist people capable of besting hundreds of him and it was another to meet them in person. Especially since Jeanne didn't react in any way to Marco's claims as if she considered them to be an obvious truth.
He wanted to laugh at the pure difference between his and Jeanne's Furyoku levels.
As far as he was aware his Furyoku at the moment should be a bit more than four hundred units. That wasn't two percent of the amount the person before him had, Jeanne might be spending that much Furyoku on every single one of her attacks and she would still most likely be able to fight for hours.
"Are you alright?" Iron Maiden Jeanne asked him with a clear concern being present in her voice.
"Y-Yes, I'm just a little overwhelmed after hearing how much power you have." He answered with a weak voice and a stutter.
Another uncomfortable silence happened in their conversation, only this time it wasn't born from an insensitive or a crass question but his weakness and an understanding about his strength instead.
He couldn't see Jeanne's face because she was hidden inside her iron maiden but he could imagine that this situation must have been incredibly awkward for her. She just met them and was probably merely trying to be nice yet only one of her friend's words was enough to leave him, an almost complete stranger, in such a sorry state.
"I have a fight later tonight and, if you wouldn't mind, you could come with Marco and Luchist as a spectator to watch it. Maybe after seeing how the people at the pinnacle of the tournament fight, you would improve as well?" Jeanne offered him in a slightly apologetic voice after realizing what might have been the issue with him at the moment.
Normally Marco would have been opposed to bringing random people they barely knew to observe and learn from their fights but after remembering that his bragging was the reason Iron Maiden Jeanne even offered such a thing he decided to stay silent.
"Thank you but you don't have to." He answered with a shake of his hand to dismiss the worry after getting out of his muddled state.
"I insist." Unfortunately it wouldn't be his choice to decline as the Iron Maiden tried to convince him in a kind and gentle voice while Marco looked ready to attack him if he were to refuse Jeanne's request.
After a quick look at Summer to see what she was thinking about it and noticing that she didn't mind spectating a fight between stronger shamans he chose to willingly accept the offer.
...
Couple of hours later...
...
The clock on his Oracle Bell finally turned to midnight. It has been dark for a few hours already and there weren't any artificial lights around them to lighten the area they were currently in.
Jaune together with his guardian spirit and the X-Laws were currently in the northernmost part of Vale where the Forever Fall forest was situated.
The Forever Fall forest was a huge forest of red leafed trees. It was most well known for having one of the most important railways in the entire kingdom of Vale and being so enormous it reached the north shore of the kingdom. Apparently the trees here produced an incredibly tasty red sap as well.
Their group of shamans wasn't here for any one of these things though.
They were here because it was the place Iron Maiden Jeanne would have her next shaman fight against some poor shaman who was her opponent. Even the place they were currently waiting at wasn't close to any of the most important landmarks of the forest as the directions given by the Iron Maiden's Oracle Bell suggested that the fight would take place somewhere in between a bunch of smaller mountains, although Jeanne apparently wasn't sure about that.
On a different note, knowledge that they weren't the only people who were being confused at the Oracle Bells' directions greatly improved Summer's mood.
They of course didn't go here directly after he accepted Jeanne's offer as they continued their casual walk through the city and only chose to fly a bullhead towards the fight's location after it was starting to get dark.
Using a public method of transportation while traveling together with a person inside of a torture device who was being pushed around by someone else wasn't Jaune's the most comfortable trip. He still felt embarrassment from all the stares that were directed at them during the flight.
How could Marco and Luchist not be affected by that at all?
Wait, was their strong mental fortitude the reason they were such powerful shamans or maybe it was the other way around and they got their mental strength after becoming strong shamans?
He would have to ask them after the fight.
"Stop daydreaming!" Marco scolded him with a light chop to the head after noticing that he wasn't really paying attention to anything.
"Then what am I supposed to do? We've been here for almost two hours already and Jeanne's opponent is still nowhere in sight." He complained while spreading his arms to point at the trees around them to reinforce his point.
In response he only heard Marco grumble something to himself as his fellow blond shaman also knew that he was right.
There still technically was about half an hour before the fight and the only reason they were here already was because Marco and Luchist insisted on coming earlier to make sure that Jeanne's opponent wouldn't set any annoying traps for her.
He remembered asking them if they were going to set up any traps to help Jeanne but the only answer he got was an offended Marco saying that their leader wouldn't need to resort to using such dirty tactics herself.
A calm silence once again spread through the Forever Fall forest. It wasn't the nervous silence he was used to whenever he was about to have a shaman fight because he wondered whether he would be able to succeed or not.
There weren't any quiet and fast finger taps on his skin he did when awaiting his opponent, there wasn't any cold sweet on any of them either. Everyone acted as if they had no doubt that Jeanne would win her fight without any issues.
The weirdest thing about that scene for him was that it was actually most likely true.
"So... I've been wondering. Where are your guys' guardian spirits?" Summer broke the boring silence with a question she had on her mind for a few hours before elaborating on it. "All this time I haven't seen a single other spirit around us beside me. Are they hidden somewhere?"
Now that she mentioned it he also began to wonder who and where were the spirits of the X-Laws. He was aware that there existed small totems that could work like portable graves and that they were rather common in Mistral but neither Marco nor Luchist looked Mistralian and he couldn't see any totem-like items on them anyway.
Marco smirked a little in pride after hearing Summer's question. The blond man then reached under his cloak to grab some item he had hidden in there.
"You see, all of the X-Laws are owners of these incredible shamanic artifacts that not only allow us to store our guardian spirits in them but also can be used as an Over Soul medium. We call them our Swords." Marco said with pride while showing them an item he got from under his cloak.
The object in Marco's hand looked old, almost ancient even. It was made out of white steel that was shaped similarly to a letter 'L'. Based on the hole on one of its ends it seemed to be partially hollow inside as well.
The object looked both delicate and deadly as if it could be used as a deadly yet beautiful weapon.
"It's a gun." He and Summer said at the same time with a deadpan expression on their faces.
In response to their brief and straightforward reaction, Marco discretely coughed into his fist in embarrassment while Luchist and Jeanne laughed lightly at their exchange.
"I know that our armory might look like normal weapons but they are still impressive shamanic artifacts with spirits of angels residing within them." Marco said with embarrassment clearly present in his voice while looking to the side to avoid direct eye contact.
First the Oracle Bells were just ordinary scrolls and now the artifacts of X-Laws turned out to be normal guns. Are all of the shamanic artifacts nowadays just everyday items with some additional functions? Summer thought to herself in disappointment while closely observing the object in Marco's hand.
When she and Jaune entered the secret tournament with the winning price of becoming a god, she thought that thing she would see would be way more mysterious and otherworldly. Up until now the only truly supernatural things they have seen were Over Souls.
Maybe it was actually marvelous and simply her expectations were set way too high. It wasn't her fault though, after becoming a spirit and being introduced to the world of shamans astonishing things became commonplace for her.
"It's still impressive for such powerful spirits to inhabit such ordinary items." Jaune said with a fake astonishment, trying to save some of Marco's face.
Unfortunately his tries didn't really work as Marco grumbled something under his breath in shame while turning his head in the other direction. Though thanks to that he was able to notice something moving through the trees.
"Whoever you are, you better stop sneaking around and show yourself to us head on!" Marco shouted while pointing at the place he saw the movement to quickly move the attention away from him.
After the blond man said that, the rest of the group quickly turned towards the place he was pointing only to not see anything unusual. Silence quickly engulfed the forest as everyone in the group except Jeanne and Marco tried to stop themselves from bursting out in laughter.
Thankfully for Marco the bushes where he was pointing at soon started to rustle as a brown haired middle aged man lazily came out from behind them. If one were to look more carefully then they could have seen that the man also had folded bat wings on his back making him a bat faunus.
"Alright, alright. I'm coming, you don't have to shout." The bat faunus said while scratching the back of his head with a yawn before opening one of his eyes and introducing himself. "I'm Yuma, a member of the White Fang and a shaman. Based on the fact that you are waiting here at this hour I assume that one of you must be my opponent."
Yuma then proceeded to slowly observe each of them and upon landing his eyes on Marco who was standing right next to Jeanne he stopped for a little longer.
"I guess you are Iron Maiden Jeanne then. I must say it's a weird name for a man but I guess it somewhat fits if you always carry that giant piece of metal around." Yuma said while pointing at Marco.
In response Marco and Luchist lightly sighed and shrugged their arms. It most likely wasn't the first time such a situation happened. It was to be expected since most people wouldn't think that someone was actually trapped inside the iron maiden Marco was carrying, more likely assuming it to be an Over Soul medium.
"I apologize but the person you are pointing at is Marco. He is only helping me travel and I will be your opponent." Jeanne said from her torture device and startling the bat faunus a little by doing so.
"Woah! Did not expect you to be able to talk." Yuma quipped before yawning and waving his hand in a motion asking his opponent to come. "If I will have to fight only against you then you better leave the spectators alone and come here so that we can get our fight out of the way as fast as possible."
Jeanne reacted to her opponent's rude behavior by simply making a quiet affirmative humming sound before being pushed forward to the arena of her fight by Marco.
Jaune and Summer weren't looking at their friends as they were focusing on the Iron Maiden and the fight that was about to happen but if they were to look at Marco and Luchist they would have seen looks of pity on their faces.
"It appears that both of the combatants are already ready!" A loud voice echoed through the forest catching everybody's attention.
A masked man wearing light tribal clothing landed on one of the branches. It wasn't anybody's first shaman fight so everyone here already knew that the person standing on a tree was the judge of this fight.
The judge then looked at the Iron Maiden's group for a few seconds and if he wasn't wearing a mask covering his entire face they could have seen him narrowing his eyes at them in thought.
"It also appears that this time we have quite a few spectators here!" The judge said loudly before turning his head towards the combatants and adding with a small sight. "As long as they aren't going to intervene in the fight then I don't mind."
After hearing the masked man say that Jaune sighed a little in relief.
It was the first time he was present during the shaman fight without being one of the combatants. He knew that the spectators were allowed because Nora was spectating his fight against Ren but he wasn't sure if other competitors in the tournament were allowed to observe the fights of other shamans.
Marco smirked a little at his lack of knowledge but he didn't mind it. It was better to miss some occasions to watch interesting fights than to get eliminated out of the tournament because of breaking a rule you weren't aware of.
Seeing that the spectators were already far away from the combatants and that he didn't have to ask them to move away, the judge decided to sit down on a tree branch in a comfortable position to watch the fight and wait for the countdown to start.
"Aren't you going to leave that torture device?" Yuma asked while raising one of his eyebrows and moving to the side.
Right after the bat faunus asked that, the countdown for the fight started on the Oracle Bells.
"3"
"Don't worry I won't have to." Jeanne answered in a lighthearted and gentle voice.
He imagined that if she wasn't currently hidden behind the thick steel of the Iron Maiden then he would have been able to see Jeanne kindly smiling at her opponent. It would have surely been a beautiful sight to see, he didn't have the occasion to see how Jeanne looked like but he was certain that she must be incredibly pretty.
Unfortunately Yuma didn't see Jeanne's actions as kindness and instead from the content of her statement thought that she was mocking him.
"2"
"I wouldn't be so sure about that. Maybe you will have to escape that thick iron cage of yours when you want to run away from me." The bat faunus threatened in irritation while stretching his arms before snapping his fingers to signal something.
Right after the sound came from the snap a two spirits of old faunus appeared from behind the trees around them. The two spirits then flew right towards Yuma and he used them to merge with two daggers in his hands forming his Over Souls.
When the X-Laws saw Jeanne's opponent forming his Over Soul with the spirits that flew out of the forest they didn't think too much about it but the moment Jaune saw it a realization came to him.
He's been spying on us! When he pointed at Marco back then he must have only been keeping up appearances so that we wouldn't realize too early. He thought to himself after watching the man create his Over Soul.
He quickly glanced to the side to see if Marco and Luchist were worried about it but after seeing them looking indifferent to the issue he tried to calm down a little.
"1"
While his Oracle Bell wasn't showing him the countdown for fights of others, he still could tell that the fight was about to start based on the stance Yuma was taking. The bat faunus leaned and tensed, ready to strike Jeanne the moment the message starting the fight appeared.
Seeing that the fight was about to begin, he comfortably sat down and focused his entire attention on the two fighters. It's not everyday one got a chance to see how one of the top dogs of the tournament fought and he didn't want to miss it.
If he were to reach later rounds of the tournament, there existed a high possibility that one day against Jeanne as well.
Unfortunately for him, despite paying attention to the Iron Maiden Jeanne since before the fight started he didn't notice her forming her Over Soul. Was she using her Over Soul the entire time he has seen her?
It would be incredibly tiring and a waste of furyoku. Ordinary shamans would either pass out from exhaustion or break their Over Soul from the lack of furyoku after at most a few hours.
Then again, ordinary shamans wouldn't have three hundred thousand furyoku units to spare.
"START"
The battle started with Yuma boosting himself forward with one of the daggers he used as Over Souls and flying at Jeanne with his Over Soul already in the middle of a strike while using his bat wings to stay in the air.
Only to immediately end as Jeanne quietly said something to herself before countless chains manifested from the air grabbing the bat faunus to hold him in place while a huge guillotine cut him in half from top to bottom.
The judge said something about Jeanne winning the first round of the tournament and some congratulations were likely shown on the Oracle Bell Jeanne was using but he didn't pay attention to any of that as he was too focused on what just happened before him.
The fight ended in less than three seconds. One second was wasted for Yuma to start his charge and another one was used for Jeanne to say something. The killing blow Jeanne used didn't even last a second.
No, calling it a fight might actually be an overstatement as it would suggest that the parties involved in it would have been at least somewhat comparable in strength.
It was an execution.
Could he do anything to survive a fight against Jeanne if he was her opponent instead of Yuma?
He didn't think so. Actually, it was quite possible that he would have lost against Yuma as the dead faunus was not only more experienced in fighting than him but also used two different Over Souls at the same time. Not to mention that they were spied on by the bat faunus before giving him additional knowledge about them.
Yet despite all of that, that man still died without even being able to see his opponent's guardian spirit. He didn't even know what he was fighting against. That was actually quite a morbid thought after thinking about it.
He glanced to the side to see Marco with Luchist being smug about their leader being so strong and Summer somehow looking as pale as he did despite being a ghost.
He once again looked forward at the aftermath of the execution to see the Iron Maiden standing there still in her torture device and Marco going to her from the corner of his sight to help her move.
Seeing how casual they acted after seeing Jeanne killing her opponent in a matter of seconds a single thought entered his mind as he gritted his teeth and clenched his fist in fear and determination.
I need to get stronger.
The end.
I was thinking about rewriting first chapter and synopsis, maybe even changing the tittle. Basically rewriting the entire begginning of the story.
I know it's a weird thing to do after only tenth chapter but as some of you might already know from how often I mention it in the foreword I am not satysfied with the first chapter. It mostly because it was the first thing I ever written. I want to change the tittle and the synopsis mostly because I wrote it after wasting the entire day to write the first chapter and was incredibly tired back then.
I would change the tittle to "Shaman Fight of Remnant" and synopsis to basically say Shaman King in the world of RWBY with Jaune as the MC but with a bit more flavor text and better descripton because at the moment that's what this story is.
What do you think of that should I change it? Maybe only tittle and synopsis or only the first chapter?
Anyway chapter ends.
See Ya Later!