The Force shall set me free
Chapter 3
Jaune found himself lost for words when he landed on the ground.
To his immense surprise instead of the sure dead caused by his head exploding into a million pieces against the floor, he had found himself stuck in a tree thanks to a mysterious weapon.
After he managed to get himself free, Jaune wondered around waiting to see what this woods had in store for him.
Thanks to the force he could feel a malevolent presence getting near him.
The presence was hollow, with no other emotion other than hunger.
He had felt that before, in the forest when his sister was about to be attacked.
Jaune felt one of them get near him.
He could almost picture him, its snout dripping drool at the idea of devouring the young man before him.
As if by instinct he closed his eyes and tried to calm himself, the Force echoing around him and the presence that was nearing became clearer.
It was Beowulf, a small one at that.
He could feel it getting closer by the second.
The Grimm was now almost on him.
With a quick movement he took out his weapon.
The weapon that his ancestors had used for generations, it gave him some sort of hope.
That maybe he wouldn't disappoint those close to him despite of what all the other people said.
But as he felt the presence get closer to him, the whispers in his mind started to engulf him.
"Jaune that weapon will not do"
Jaune gritted his teeth.
"I do not know how to use…"
"You learn from pain and fear, if you do not struggle you do not grow, work with the weapon of the Sith"
Jaune shook his head.
"But…"
A sharp pain on his chest stopped him, his lungs where being crushed, he couldn't breathe.
"Boy" the voice of Nihilus echoed in his head.
Jaune struggled to remain standing.
"Fight" was the only thing it said before the pain in his lungs disappeared.
Jaune closed his eyes and put his sword back in place, terrified of the monster inside of him.
Fear made his hand tremble as he reached for the unknown weapon.
He could hear the creature closing in, feel its hunger.
Jaune opened his eyes and came face to face with a Beowulf.
Its snout dripping drool as it started to circle him.
Just like in his vision he realized astonished.
Jaune gulped as his eyes followed the beast, he did not know how to use the weapon, he only knew how to activate it, but he knew he had to, he refused to die here.
His pride would not allow it.
Jaune activated the sith weapon.
A light saber.
Red like blood.
The grimm jumped back confused at the weapon before him, but it didn't take long for him to smell the fear in the boy, its instincts overwhelmed the creature and he attacked.
So the Beowulf jumped and attacked Jaune.
Without any experience with the weapon, Jaune brought down the weapon clumsily on the beast at the same time that the Beowulf clawed at his side.
Jaune gasped as his side was torn and blood spilled out of him, but to his immense surprise the Beowulf howled as he was sliced in half, both halves of the creature falling next to Jaune.
Jaune looked down at his defeated foe and then back at his weapon.
Powerful was the first word that came to mind, dangerous was the other one.
He turned it off and looked down at himself.
Blood dripped from the wound and his armor had been torn, but it mattered little right now, he had to keep going.
Just as he was about to move from the place Jaune felt another presence behind him, this was the one of a human, a kind and gentle one.
Jaune turned around and saw the red haired girl from before.
'From the cereal!' he thought with a happy smile.
"Hello, that was impressive! Your weapon is very unique" she said as she sheathed her weapon.
'Oh, so it was hers!" Jaune thought.
Jaune rubbed the back of his head and smiled.
"You really think so? Thanks, by the way my name is Jaune, I think I didn't say it this morning, thanks for saving me"
"Do now worry Jaune, Weiss said my name already but I want to present myself properly, hello I am Pyrrha" She said as she extended her arm which Jaune quickly shook.
"By the way have you encountered anyone besides myself?" she asked.
"Not really unless we are counting the Beowulf"
A small tinkle appeared on her eyes.
"Well I guess that makes us partners then"
Nihilus watched the encounter with disinterest as the boy spoke with the woman in the middle of the woods, something about Aura.
The boy's form was off, was the first thought that came to mind.
He hesitated and got hurt.
A minor scratch that was certain, but he got hit by a pathetic creature that in the right circumstances wouldn't even have gotten close to hurt him.
"Pathetic" he muttered under his breath.
"So you saw the boy's little skirmish" Ragnos said as he materialized
"Of course I did" Nihilus replied annoyed.
"He should have been able to handle that without fault and yet he failed to do even that simple thing" he said to which Ragnos simply nodded.
"Yes, I also was disappointed in the boy but it was to be expected it was his first time with the weapon"
"Excusing him does not make him less of a failure Ragnos"
"Forcing him to act one way does not help either, your little stunt could have caused the student his life"
Nihilus snorted.
"Things have changed since your time Ragnos, a master commands and the apprentice obeys, with time he will resent the Master and he will stray from his path, then the master will confront him and only if he finds him worthy we will be ready to ascend to teach others in his way, if the master does not die in the process of course"
"Did your master teach you this way?"
"No, this is my belief, the Witch that trained was… unorthodox in her view of the Force"
"Did any of your apprentices turned out to be worthy?" Ragnos asked with a smirk.
"She failed, succumbed to the lies of a Monster" was the only answer the Lord of Hunger gave him, Ragnos wondered what he meant by monster but decided it was not the time to question the Lord of Hunger.
"Then we will be using my way of teaching, punishment at failure, he got hurt by you and the beast, which to me is enough punishment"
Nihilus remained silent for a moment before an idea came to his mind.
"This creatures they are attracted to souls, right?"
"From what I have gathered from my apprentice's mind, yes"
Nihilus nodded "I shall punish the boy as well but I will also be blessing him"
Ragnos nodded "I can tell what you want to do, I agree with this"
Nihilus smiled under the mask.
"Amplifying the strength of his soul could be permanent"
"So he would always be hunted by these creatures"
"Never able to rest"
"Never able to be at peace until he is strong enough"
"And when he is strong enough…"
"He will know that peace is a lie"
"There is only passion"
"Through Passion I gain Strength"
"Through Strength I gain Power"
"Through Power I gain Victory"
"Through Victory my chains are Broken"
"The Force shall free me"
The Sith code was said and the dark side of the force started to act.
Stretching Jaune's already large Aura to double its size.
"Fragile, it might shatter" Ragnos said calmly.
"It won't, I will fill the cracks with my own soul" Nihilus replied calmly.
"Your soul? Forgive but I don't believe that would be for the best, there might be some… undesired circumstances for both you and the Boy"
"My soul will heal, HE on the other hand will have to live with this and the consequences it carries"
Ragnos grunted in acknowledgement, still displeased with the idea knowing that things would become complicated… but it would be far better than the Soul shattering.
Nihilus ripped bits and pieces of his essence and placed it into Jaune, the once glowing gold soul, appeared cracked and the broken bits covered in black.
"The Sith are born from pain, so will he"
Jaune held his chest as he tried to stabilize himself.
Something felt different.
Ever since Pyrrha had activated his aura he had felt… off.
It was like an Ursa Major was crushing his chest.
Speaking of Grimm, to his surprise they had managed to defeat the giant scorpion while Ruby and the others killed the giant Nevermore.
He had been surprised by the ferocity displayed by the beast that they had to face.
It had been dead set on killing him.
At first he thought it might have been just his paranoia but when it ignored the attack of others and charged directly at him, Jaune knew there was something different.
Jaune was still tense, he could feel them.
Getting closer and closer, the Grimm where getting closer to them.
"Why would they…"
"This is your fault Jaune"
Jaune turned around surprised and saw Nihilus standing there in the open.
With a yelp he fell backwards.
"Are you all right Jaune?" Pyrrha called out standing right next to Jaune.
An illusion then.
"Y... Yeah I was just… I slipped…" he said hopping she would buy it.
She didn't, but nodded anyways, a small frown forming on her lips.
"If you say so"
Jaune turned to look at the woods.
"My fault?"
"The reason that they are coming here, your soul is attracting them or your aura as you call it"
"But how…"
"Look at them" Nihilus said as he pointed back at his classmates and more importantly Pyrrha, his partner and dare he say, friend.
"They are in danger because of you"
"…" Jaune said nothing as he tried to rationalize the information.
"They are attracted… to my soul"
"Yes"
Jaune breathed, there weren't many Grimm he could take them.
He didn't want anyone to get hurt, so he would just do this quickly.
No one would even notice.
Jaune turned around, all of them were busy congratulating Ruby or talking.
Jaune ran.
The faster he got to the woods, the faster he would kill them without anyone noticing.
Things didn't go his way.
The Grimm sprinted out of the woods and met him halfway.
He heard screams behind him.
Concerned filled Jaune.
He wouldn't let them get hurt.
All this time he had just being issuing orders from behind the front lines, the others doing most of the work.
He reached for his lightsaber and prepared himself.
Jaune heard a whisper from Ragnos coming from deep within his soul.
Rage.
Anger was the key, Jaune focused on the beasts ahead, he hated them, they had taken so much from the people of Remnant, so many had died.
Jaune screamed as he felt an explosion of energy go off inside of him.
He reached with the force and crushed the head of the first Grimm that got close to him.
Jaune brought down his lightsaber on the victims, no form or rhyme to his movements but now they were fueled by rage.
Blood flew everywhere and with the force he started to clear a path.
He felt as if everything was happening in slow motion.
His movements became more fluid, flesh and bone being cut like butter.
Jaune didn't stop until the last one was dead at his feet.
He had done it.
Jaune fell to his knees gasping for air, anger started to dissipate and pain enveloped his body.
"Good, good" Nihilus said as he materialized next to him, Jaune shivered as he looked at the figure.
He was inspecting the disappearing corpses.
"This beast will make good training for you, fight them every time you have the chance boy"
"Is the job of a huntsman to do so, for the rest of his life"
"So you plan on doing this until you die?"
Jaune nodded, the pain in his limbs refusing to diminish.
"Then we will have to work with your idea of accomplishment in life, but for now enjoy the glory of a battle won, learn from the lesson of today, I will see you once I deem that you are ready for my next lesson"
As Nihilus disappeared, Jaune heard footsteps from behind him.
"We didn't see them, we are so sorry!"
"What were you thinking going on your own!?"
"Are you all right Jaune?"
As the people next to him helped him up, Jaune was met with the frowning face of Glynda Goodwich and what was worse Director Ozpin, who looked at him curiously.
"Mr. Arc would you mind if I talk to you for a moment?"
A/N: Rushed? Yes and I am deeply sorry for it, I am just so excited for next chapter and the training with both Sith Lords that it was hard to me to find a way to write this chapter without spoiling the next one or the ones to come.
I would like to thank you all for the support and comments that I got for this story I really appreciate it.
Now onto questions that I have gotten about the story:
1. Jaune's lightsaber: the process of building its pretty simple if you are knowledgeable enough and Kyber crystals and dust are more or less the same, now the process of making it "bleed" comes from the new Disney canon, more specifically Darth Vader's new comic run (very good in my opinion), this story is taking inspiration from both legends and the new canon.
2. Romance: I have no idea, I think it's not important at the moment in the story but it will surely come into place some time later in the story.
3. The rest of the universe: As implied in the first chapter, there is a big universe out there and the Sith from old have been trapped in the abandoned temple in Remnant for a long time, what has happened to the galaxy while they were gone?
Thank you so much for reading and reviewing, see you next update!