CHAPTER 2: The Black Swordsman


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It was Morning and it was Jade and Weiss's day off from their business. Which also meant it was training day for Jade.

Ever since they had moved to their new home, Weiss had told Jade that she needed to be trained how to fight with a weapon. A weapon of her picking and making, it needed both a close range and long-range weapon put into one. Jade however was still thinking really hard about what her weapon was going to be. She wanted it to represent herself and she wanted to represent a certain emotion she had felt like expressing through her weapon.

But what weapon would do the trick?

That's when she figured it out. She knew what her weapon would be. She had designed it, and she had already talked to a local Blacksmith about the weapon itself. She needed it forged and put together and the black smithed agreed, however, he did not ask her for money, but instead asked her to deliver letters to a mailbox on the far side of town. She didn't know why he wanted her to do that instead of having her pay, but she was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Thankfully, he had notified her over a scroll call that he would be dropping off the finished product today. She had thanked him gleefully and waited for him to arrive. As she waited, Weiss had told her that it was time to proactive a bit with her Aura Manipulation. Jade had her sunglasses off due to them being in the safety of their home. Jade's silver eyes now were visible for all to see.

Right now, both of them were out on their front lawn and began practicing Aura Manipulation.

"Jade, I'm going to ask you again, What is Aura?" Weiss asked

"The physical representation of one's soul that can act as a shield to a Huntsman and Huntress" Jade replied

Weiss nodded, "Now, what can one do with Aura besides have it being a shield?" Weiss asked

Jade hummed as she tried to remember her Aunts exact words on what Aura could do besides be a Sheild, "Um... The abilities and strengths differ from person to person and are dependent on a number of factors, such as experience, training, and innate skill. It is used mostly for protection from harm but some people develop an active power which is called a Semblance" Jade answered

Weiss smiled, "Good girl," Weiss told her "Now, I want you to coat your Aura around you," Weiss said

Jade nodded and she began focusing on the feeling of her Aura. She focused on bringing it out around her and her Aura eventually did coat her body, Her Aura was a light green color.

"Good job Jade," Weiss said

Suddenly, they both stopped when they heard a car approaching their house. They looked down the dirt road and saw a large black military jeep. Weiss was on guard, she didn't want to run because if they weren't here for her then she didn't want to look suspicious, but if they figured out who she was and stayed, Jade would be in trouble.

"Jade, put your glasses on, now," Weiss said

Jade quickly did as Weiss told her and put her shades on, and Jade stood close to her Aunt. The Jeep came closer before it stopped a mere few feet away from their front gates. The Jeep turned off and three Soldiers came out of the Jeep and looked at Weiss. However, one of them had a different Uniform than the other two. Their uniform was more, formal in a sense. Weiss could only guess that this man was have been a captain or worse, he was a general. The Man has a calm and cool demeanor, his hair was black and his skin was pale, his eyes were a sharp orange. They walked to the gate at stopped at it.

"Good morning, Miss," Said the Man

"Good morning to you as well" Weiss replied

"I'm General Akaviri of Queen Salem's Army" The Man introduced himself "May I know who you two are?"

"I'm Weiss Primrose and this is my niece, Jade," Weiss said

"It's very nice to meet you, Ms. Primrose, I've come to ask personally if you have seen anyone strange lately?" The General asked

"Out here? No Sir" Weiss replied, Weiss then put on a mock expression of slight fright, "Is there someone out here we should be concerned about?"

The General nodded, "Reports of the Black Swordsman have been confirmed and a small platoon of my troops have been discovered not too far from here"

"Oh My!" Weiss said, still faking her fright

"Yes, if you notice him, please run far away or contact us," The General told her "He's a dangerous man and a wanted criminal by Queen Salem's decree"

Weiss nodded, "Of course, but I do hope he doesn't show up here," Weiss said

General Akaviri nodded, "As Do I Ms. Primrose," The General said "Please do be careful and again, let us know if you see anything"

Weiss nodded and the General gave her a wave goodbye and he and his two other soldiers got into the jeep, and they had turned it around and drove off back onto the dirt road. Once the Jeep was far enough, Weiss looked to Jade and gave her a slight nudge, which caused Jade to look up at her.

"Jade, go wait in the house for the Blacksmith, I got something I need to do"

"What? Aunt Weiss what-?"

"Just go wait in the house Jade," Weiss told her once again, "And whatever you do, if those soldiers come back don't go outside, if they try to break into the house, Hide" She said

Jade did as she was told and Weiss followed her back into the house. Weiss headed up to her room and went into her closet. on the floor of the closet, sat a silver case. A Case she had not touched in years, the last time she had somewhat used it was three months ago...

She kneeled down and unlocked the case and opened it up. There, still in good condition was a few vials of dust and most importantly, Her rapier. Myrtenaster.

'I never thought I'd use it again... hopefully, I haven't lost my touch' Weiss said to herself.

She grabbed Myrtenaster by the handle and opened up the dust storage and loaded the vials into the cartridges. and then closed them up. She then walked out of her room and saw Jade sitting on the couch watching the TV. Weiss looked at her for a moment and then quickly left the house and then left the yard and entered the woods.

'now, if I was a wanted Huntsmen, where would I hide in this forest?' Weiss asked herself.

As Weiss was doing this, the General's car kept driving down the street, he opened the back seat window and sniffed the air, and a certain smell had caught his attention. He looked to the Soldier that was driving

"Stop" The General ordered

The Soldier nodded and the Jeep stop and one of the soldiers looked back to the General, "Is something, wrong sir?" They asked

"I'll be getting out of the car, drive back to the base and wait there for the warlord that The Queen had sent to help us, If I do not return, lead them back to this location" The General said

The two soldiers nodded and the General got out from the back of the car and then drove off. The General took a large intake of the air and then smiled. He had caught the scent of the Black Swordsman. He then slowly began to transform into something that wasn't human anymore...


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Jaune Arc stood there in a pool of blood, not his own, but the blood of fellow, Huntsmen, Huntresses, Soldiers, and people who had all sworn to fight against Salem. His Shield was broken, parts of his armor and clothes were badly dented or torn off. Scars littered his body as he fought against Grimm. He had just finished killing an Ursa Major. After its body fell to the ground, it began to fade away. Jaune looked around and saw a few small battles around him, but what was worse was that he had seen the bodies of people he had called allies and friends.

Mercury's torn and eaten corpse lied against a small sand hill, Gwen's decapitated head rested itself a few feet from her body, Flynt, Scarlet, and Nebula's bodies were strung up like puppets due to a group of Seers, Marrow's body was completely burned to a crisp due to a Sulfur Fish.

"Jaune!"

Jaune turned around at the call of his name and saw Ren who had one of his hands missing and also had a very injured Nora on his back, May Marigold, Octavia was carrying Ilia who looked really injured and she seemed to be bleeding from her ears and her entire head dripped with blood, Neptune was there but one of his eyes was missing and his shirt and jacket were completely gone, showing off his scared chest and back that were almost covered in bloody claw marks.

"Jaune we need to leave! Most everyone is dead and no one's heard from team RWBY!" Ren told him

Jaune looked around once more and saw the carnage that surrounded him and his friends. He looked back at Ren and nodded, he knew that the odds were against them and this time he wasn't sure if they could beat the odds this time.

"We head back to the City! You see any survivors you tell them the same!" Jaune said

As they begin to run a bright light appeared in the giant Floating Castle that was Salem's base. Both Grimm and Man stopped fighting as they turned to the source and looked at the castle, and then suddenly, a pillar began to form in the sky.

"Is that Ruby's Silver eyes?" Neptune asked

"No, not at all, I don't think her eyes can form a pillar of light," Ren said

Suddenly, the Pillar of light began to expand before it emitted shockwaves of light that began to spread out from the epicenter and it began to push everything back. As the Shockwave of light spread and finally reach Jaune and the others, everything went white...

His eye's shot open and he looked around the cave he was currently in, but there was no Grimm in his line of sight. Jaune sighed in relief and his body became at ease.

It had been 10 years since that day, and he was thankful that he had been saved by three people that day, Qrow, Robyn, and despite everything, her. But... everything had changed, Qrow and Robyn trained him to be better now that Salem was most likely looking for them, and these changes were both good and bad. Now he was the one being hunted by Salem's new order, and he had come a long way from the person he once was. Time had truly taken its toll on Jaune, He had lost almost everything since he had survived that day and since he had taken up the mantle of "The Black Swordsman". Yes, Jaune Arc, the once-proud Leader of Team JNPR was the wanted Criminal known as The Black Swordsman. He had taken the name ever since Qrow's injury which had forced him to retire with Robyn in the far south of Vacuo's kingdom.

Jaune's hair now looked like how it once did In his days at Beacon and traveling with Ruby in Mistral, he was a bit taller, His gold and white armor was gone, now replaced by a set of black and white clothing and armor and boots, which were all covered by a long black cloak, The Red Sash to Remember Pyrrha by had been long gone since he had returned from that strange land with team RWBY and Neo. He had gained a few scars on his body from his many fights with Salem's new "Inner Circle".

He Did not know what happened to most people that day, but for a few years, he had searched everywhere for his friends, but found either graves or nothing at all.

Now, he was on a mission, a mission that he would complete in order to defeat Salem despite the now slim odds.

His mission had led him to this town along the border of Vale and Vacuo. He had already killed a few soldiers the night before in order to draw out their General, knowing very well what he truly was.

Now, he was currently in a cave resting and waiting till the night, where he had hoped that the General would find him. However, He heard his stomach growl and his throat was also dry. he decided to walk out of the cave and find some food and maybe a river nearby.

He walked out of the Cave and began walking in the opposite direction of where the down was. He walked a good amount away from the cave. As he continued to walk, he then heard a loud roar and a few trees breaking, Jaune quickly turned to his left but was hit and thrown back into a few trees before landing back in the dirt.

Jaune looked in the direction of whatever hit him and saw the very person he had been expecting. General Akaviri stood across from Jaune, however, his appearance was vastly different, his lower half where his legs should be was now that of a white king taijitu, while his face was cover in scales and his eyes resembled that of Salem's and he had red veins around his eyes, waist, and neck. his arms now resembled two pointed bone spikes, similar to that of a Taijitu's fangs.

"SSSooo the black ssswordss man... we finally meet!" Akaviri stated, "you will pay dearly for killing my men!"

Jaune looked at Akaviri and smiled, though it wasn't like the awkward or goofy smile he once had, the smile he now wore was similar to that of Tyrian Callows, a smile of pure psychotic joy when fighting. "How the hell did you find me?" Jaune asked

"I followed your scent!" The General Said, "I had got a whiff of another individual at the sight where my men were killed after I was driving back from a nearby house to warn them of you, I had smelled your scent and so I followed it here!"

The General then tried to stab at Jaune, but Jaune quickly threw up his cloak and managed to completely dodge the attack, and unsheathed his sword, which was a combination of some new metal as well as the sword he had gained while in that other world.

Jaune called this sword Crocea Mors MK2. The edges of the blade were black thanks to the new blade he had received in the other world while the center of the sword was made from the metal of the original Crocea Mors, the guard of the sword was white but had two golden crescent moons in the center, the handle was black and the pummel was white as well, however, he no longer had his original shield losing it in the battle 10-years-ago.

With great speed, Jaune quickly moved to the side of the General and was about to go for a stab, but the General's tail hit him away, but Jaune managed to grab ahold of a nearby branch and stop himself from being thrown farther, he then twirled around the branch before letting go when spinning back around and managed to kick the general in the face, Jaune now landed behind him and he quickly turned around and stabbed his sword deep in the Generals tail, causing him to scream in pain. Jaune smiled wickedly and dragged his sword down the tail cutting it open.

The General now screamed in agony, but quickly turned around and slashed at Jaune, landing a hit and sending Jaune to the ground hard. Jaune was about to get up but the now cut in half tail of the General slammed down against Jaune, but his aura took the most of the impact.

"You foolissh Human! Look what you did to my preciousss tail!" The General cried

The General then lifted his tail up and off of Jaune and tried to stab Jaune with his spiked hands but the Aura protected Jaune, which only angered the General more. The General tried to do it again, hoping to break his aura, but Jaune quickly got up as the General missed and stabbed right into the ground, Jaune then used this opportunity to cut the General's hand off before he quickly charged at the General, jumping up and then stabbing him right in the right side of his chest.

The General screamed in agony and Jaune twisted the blade with a psychotic smile and then pulled it out, causing the General to fall forward and begin to transform back into his human form. his tail now transformed back into his legs, which were both split down the middle, his claw now reverted back to just a stump, and he had a gaping hole in the right side of his chest.

Jaune looked down at the General and smiled, "Salem's lackeys are really getting weaker and weaker" Jaune stated

The General growled, "Don't you dare badmouth the Queen! She is responsible for my gift!" The General spat

"Your gift huh?" Jaune asked. Jaune then slammed his foot right atop the Generals head and forced his head right into the ground, "You people make me sick to my stomach, thinking that what Salem bestowed upon you is a gift"

"If you think your gonna get out of this alive! You won't! Once the Queen learns of my death she'll get someone to avenge me!" The General cried

"And I'm counting on that, the more I kill her loyal Apostles the more she becomes weak," Jaune said with a toothy grin "now I just got to wait on the next one of you bastards to show up"

Suddenly, the general began to smile, "Hehe... heheheheh... heheheHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Jaune looked at the General in confusion, "what the fuck's so funny?" Jaune asked

"As soon as the rumors of your arrival in the town were heard, I knew they were true, so I told the Queen and she said that she is sending one of her warlords here!"

Jaune's eyes widened a little bit, he had heard about the Warlords of Salem before, they were the strongest Human/Grimm Hybrids Salem had created and were the worst of the worst. For her to be sending one of them here was huge, because it meant that she did consider "The Black Swordsman" a threat.

"They'll come for you! and they'll rip you to pieces! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The General laughed

Jaune was sick of his laughter and to end the General's laughter, Jaune drove his sword right into the general's nape and then twisted the blade, killing him and ending the laughing. Jaune then wiped off the blood from his blade and sheathed it back into his side. He turned to get his cloak only to see someone land right in front of him, his fighting instincts kicked in but then died back down when he had realized that it was the last person he had expected to land right in front of him.

While he couldn't tell who she was at first when her face, despite the burns he knew who it was. She got up and looked at him with her eyes also wide in shock.

"W-Weiss?" he asked

"Jaune?" She asked back


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Meanwhile, on the far side of the world, within the Grimmlands, Salem, the Queen of all Remnant sat with some members of her new court. None of them were the old Court she once had, but they were cunning, smart, and veil people of all of Remnant.

Her Advisor was a woman called Cassandra Brandenburg. A Middle-aged Woman with long brown hair, dark pink eyes, and fair skin. She wore what seemed to be a dress similar to that of Salem, though it was in the color of blue with purple trim around her sleeves and neck. She also wore a pair of elegant shoes.

Next was her Commander of her armies and one of her Warlords, though no one knew his real name, or what he looked like, as he wore a mask that resembled a full Grimm mask that some White-Fang used to wear the face resembled that of an Imp. Queen Salem referred to him as "Commander Lotus". Commander Lotus had pure black hair, his eyes, which were seen through his mask resembled Salem's, and he wore Black and Red Mistrailan combat robes, he had two large pistols with long fang-like blades at the bottom of their barrels.

Next was Mary Blud, the person who controlled Atlas for Salem. She had black braided hair, purple eyes, and brown skin. She wore a white and red Business suit with a pair of black heeled boots.

Next, there was her 2nd Warlord, a female with pale skin, her face was covered by a Grimm mask similar to that of an Ursa's head. She wore a fur cloak that covered her simple red workout Bra, a pair of long white leggings, and a simple pair of black Atlast military boots. On her wrist were black fur gauntlets, she didn't appear to have a weapon on her. No one knew her real name Either but she was gifted with the code name of "Mama Bear".

Salem looked over to Cassandra, "Cassandra, where are the others?" Salem asked

"They are currently dealing with a few things my Queen, Ms. Tril is overseeing the damage that some Terrorists have cause and is trying to clear everyone's mind, as for Mr. Sparrow, he is currently dealing with things in Vacuo as well, apparently, he's getting reports that something other then Grimm is causing damage with the western port cities, and it seems and Ms. Malachite is also trying to get another local Terrorist Group under control," Cassandra said

"And what of My other 3 warlords?" Salem asked

"Kingstalker hasn't reported in and we assume it's on purpose, Ms. Nevermore is in Atlas looking for the Relic, and you sent Beowulf to go and finish off the known thorn in our side... The Black Swordsman" Cassandra finished

Hearing this Commander Lotus looked over to Salem "Why... didn't... send me?" he asked

Salem looked a little surprised, "So you're finally able to speak again after all these years" She said "I didn't send you because I felt that Beowulf needed a job before she killed another of my servants" Salem told him

"Under... stood" Commander Lotus replied

"Anyway, I want to discuss something else," She said "Has anyone found Cinder Fall? or Raven Branwen? Or Winter Schnee?" Salem asked

"We've gotten reports that Winter Schnee has been seen with the terrorist group known as the Black Snow" Mary said "She has proven difficult to capture even for Ms. Nevermore"

"As For Cinder Fall, we haven't seen her at all, the same for Raven Branwen," Cassandra said

Salem nodded, "That is all"

Her court nodded and left the room. Salem sat alone in her courtroom and closed her eyes. She had the oddest dreams as of late. In those dreams, a young woman with a flowing green cape approached her and smiled at her. The Woman would take care of her and sit next to her while lying on the bed.

"It's ok to go... everything's alright mother, hush now and rest..."

With those words flowing in her mind, Salem couldn't help but feel a warmth in her chest she hadn't felt for what seemed like an eternity...