Distortion

It had been a few weeks since Pyrrha became an 'interim member' of Knightingale. Jaune had filled Pyrrha in on what Negative aura was and what he had figured out about it so far. She was shocked to say the least. But it made sense. Most of Remnant knew of Aura and it has been known for hundreds of generations. So, the sudden discovery of a darker counterpart was groundbreaking. But she was up to the challenge.

They had started her training with how to stop the pull on her Negative aura by the Positive aura around her. For that, they had her train against training bots while Onyx, Aaeron and Gil were in close proximity. They were siphoning her Negative aura as she fought. It made her learn quickly, otherwise she'd be knocked out even quicker in her training.

Luckily for her, since she already had notable control over her Positive aura, some of that knowledge transferred over to her Negative. Unlike Jaune, who had very little Negative aura when he started his training, Pyrrha had at least a fifth of her Negative aura when starting. Was still a longshot from what she was used to but it was better than nothing.

After her first week of this training, her Negative aura was already strengthening and she was keeping more of her reserves. She was getting closer to having a quarter of her reserves. Around that time, Jaune and Raven both agreed that they really didn't need three people to watch her train. With that decided they decided to send Onyx back into the field. Aaeron still didn't fully trust Pyrrha's intention and even if Gil didn't say it, he still needed some time to recuperate from being out in the field for so long.

Jaune asked Onyx to look into Valter Moonstone for him as well as keeping an ear out for Ren and Nora. He knew they were still in Anima and with the discovery that Pyrrha unlocking Negative aura, it could give them a small chance of recruiting them into Knightingale. Plus, since he had once been their confidant, it wouldn't be too hard to push them into a situation that would unlock their Negative aura.

After another week or so of her training, Pyrrha's reserves had increased further. It seemed unnecessary for Aaeron to hang around after that. Jaune asked him to go back into the field with Raven. Begrudgingly, he agreed. Mostly because it was more of a favor from Jaune than anything else.

This past week though, Gil started to spar with the Mistral champion to add some variety to her training. It was also giving her practice when fighting someone with Positive aura and keeping her Negative under control. They were hard fights for her. She was having trouble constantly using her Polarity with her reserves weakened as they were. They were now somewhere between a third and half but closer to a third. That along with Gil being a seasoned fighter made it that the Invincible Girl was quickly becoming the 'Vincible' Girl. Although, these fight were helping to accelerate her progress by leaps and bounds.

Jaune was also noticing the effects of Negative aura on her emotions. He was shocked to find that it didn't affect her as much as himself. When he was learning, it made his more negative emotions more common and after mastering it, it made him more apathetic than he was before. Pyrrha though, she had more outburst of frustration and anger but nothing too outrageous. He did notice that like himself, it did help her do things she normally wouldn't have been comfortable with before.

A certain instance came to his mind. He had just used the communal showers in the training rooms. As he was coming out, Pyrrha was walking in with only a towel around her body. Instead of blushing and leaving in a panic, she just looked him over and walked over to him with a glint in her eyes. She didn't have a chance to do anything since Raven walked out of the same shower as him at that moment. A heated glare and competitive glare later, Pyrrha huffed and went into the showers. Jaune knew what that was about and was not ready or happy to be the referee for that catfight.

Back to the present, it was after one of her fights with Gil that Jaune walked over to her sitting on the ground and out of breath. She looked up to see him holding out a water bottle and a towel for her. "These might help." He said with a small grin.

She smiled at him and took both, "Thank you." She then started to towel off some of the sweat that accumulated on her body and took a few sips of the bottle. "Is this what you had to do to gain control of your Negative aura?"

He just shook his head as he sat across from her. "No. I had to fight everyday to keep even a percentage of my Negative aura in me. Took me months to just get my reserves up to where they needed to be. You're improving faster because you already had a grasp on your Positive aura and have someone teaching you on how to use this new power. I had neither. But all that harsh training allowed me to improve more than anything else." He chuckled to himself. "Once you get up to fifty percent or so, you'll start feeling your aura pull on Positive aura. That'll help your reserves increase quicker and I'll be able to teach you on how to control it that aspect more thoroughly."

Pyrrha seemed excited by that prospect. But that made sense. She had trained most of her life and had plateaued in her progress. Now, she had a whole new realm of possibilities to help her improve. She took a few more sips from her water before a thoughtful expression came to her face. "Jaune? Do you think I'll be able to steal Semblances as well?"

Jaune raised an eyebrow at that, not expecting the question. He thought about it for a bit before he shook his head, "I don't think so. Your Negative aura isn't as potent as my own and I believe that is the main factor that allows for that particular ability. It needs to be powerful enough to overwhelm the soul itself to even have a chance to steal a Semblance. Besides, your own fighting style is already developed and focuses more on your own Semblance. Adding more to the mix may just hinder you than anything else."

Pyrrha just absorbed all that and nodded. They sat in a silence for a while as she drank her water. Then she broke the silence. "What's it feel like, stealing someone's Semblance?"

Jaune tensed slightly at that before sighing, "It's not a feeling I particularly like. When my aura sinks into someone's soul, I guess you could think of it like biting into meat. Except, you can feel the pain the person feels. It's dulled but still there. Kinda like how you see a predator attack its prey. And ripping it out of them is condemning that person to forever being broken. Honestly, it'd be less cruel to just stick my hand in their chest and ripping out their heart." He answered in a heavy tone.

Pyrrha looked disturbed by what she heard but that was normal after hearing all that. "I honestly don't take any joy in doing it but sometimes it needs to happen. Like killing someone. I don't take any joy in killing someone but I'm conditioned to it, so it doesn't bother me. Only time I feel any kind of satisfaction in the act is when I feel like the person deserves it."

He stood up with that and looked down at Pyrrha who was looking at him with a little shock still in her eyes. "Remember, Pyrrha: The weak die. The strong live. If you really want to be in Knightingale, you must except that truth and be prepared to do things that'll make others see you as a monster." With that said, he turned around and walked out of the training room.

Pyrrha watched him leave and just digested what he said. Until a voice snapped her out of that, "He can be a real ray of sunshine, can't he?" She jumped slightly and turned to see Gil walking back over to her. "So, what are you thinking about after that?"

She looked at the older Faunus before turning back to the door Jaune just walked out of. "He's definitely not the person I used to know." She said quietly.

Gil just scoffed, "Let me tell you something, Nikos, no one really changes in this world." She looked over to him again. "Trust me, people don't change. They just become more of who they really are as time goes on." He looked at the same door. "I don't know how he was when at Beacon but the man I've always known is someone who I respect more than almost anyone." He looked back at her, "You know why?"

She shook her head slightly, "Because he has the strongest soul and will I've ever seen. No matter what happens to him, he'll keep moving forward. No matter how hard he'll hit the ground, he'll stand back up. But above all, he'll do whatever he needs to, to protect the people he cares for. But I have a feeling you already knew that." He smirked at her.

She looked down with a small blush and he laughed. "He's rough around the edges but you get used to it. You'll see, he's Jaune still. He just lost his naivety and sees the world better than anyone else. Well, besides Raven." He held his hand out to her, "Now, ready to get back to it?" he said with a smile.

Pyrrha looked at the hand before smiling. She had been a bit nervous around the larger Faunus but after talking to him a bit and being around him, she found he was an alright kind of guy. He was similar to father-like figure. She chugged the last of her water and took his hand. He pulled her to her feet with no issue. They then separated and prepared their weapons.

Meanwhile, Jaune was back with his computer. He was going through everything he could find about the Special Militia that Valter Moonstone was once a part of. If the group was the same one that he thought it was, then there may be more to this Valter character than he originally thought.

Using most of the information they stole from Haven, along with some helpful supportive info from Shade and Atlas, he was able to figure out what missions they were mostly known for and that allowed him to find a specific mission that Militia was a part of. And after confirming that, his fist clenched and his Negative aura was flaring around him dangerously. It was a mission that involved the Branwen tribe and the loss of something very important.

It had been six months since Jaune had left Beacon. He had improved in leaps and bounds. Raven kept training him in bladed combat and controlling his aura. While sparring with Gil kept pushing all his physical and mental aspects more and more. He still trained with several different members of the tribe to keep his unarmed combat up to snuff and improve it in any way he could. Along with still training in firing Souffrance Eternelle and perfecting his skill in quick drawing. His swordsmanship, marksmanship and hand-to-hand would now allow him to fight evenly with any second-year, possibly third-year, of the Huntsmen Academies. With his devastating Semblance being mastered and finding more uses for it every day, also made him someone you did not want to be on the wrong side of.

He had also gained almost perfect control over his Negative aura. His reserves had finally gotten up to full and he had stopped it from being absorbed by Positive aura completely. In fact, he had completely reversed the phenomenon and could now siphon off any and all Positive aura round him. He still couldn't completely stop it from siphoning aura but now the amount it stole constantly was very little but he still wanted to make it completely under his control. He also knew that no one would ever be able to fight against his Negative aura siphoning their own. Simply put: he had to fight every day to have his Negative aura and that had made it stronger than anyone had seen. Meanwhile, not many people had to train their Positive aura from being drain on a frequent basis. In short, he made his Negative aura a nigh unstoppable force.

Raven was proud of his improvement. Gil was proud of his improvement. He was starting to be looked up to like the Senior members by the new bloods and the Senior members were recognizing his strength. He should've felt proud and had a sense of accomplishment. But he wasn't and he didn't. All he felt now was rage.

He was in his usual clearing near the camp. He was allowing his negative emotions to run freely, along with releasing spurts of his Negative aura. That was drawing more and more Grimm for him to fight. But that was exactly what he wanted. As the Grimm came, they were either cleaved through with his broadsword or shot fatally with Souffrance Eternelle. Some would get by both and he'd just blow them away with Distortion, either through a kick or punch. Rarer still, he'd actually get hit by the Beowolves blindsiding him but he'd just shrug it off and deal with the Grimm as his wound would heal.

He had been out there close to an hour, fighting nonstop. His body was shaking from exhaustion but he didn't care. He just kept pushing. Kept killing Grimm. It was better than standing still. That was when he'd remember and when he'd start to feel the pain of reality.

Earlier in the day, the Tribe caught wind of a convoy of Dust and weapons being sent from Mistral to one of its bases in the wild. The Senior members saw it as an opportunity too good to pass up. But the convoy would be a high valued target, so they would need to be prepared. They elected for one of the mask holders to lead the mission, taking two dozen of their tribesmen to attack it. The one to lead the mission was Jasper Nihaya, the holder of the Sphinx mask.

He was a tanned, middle-aged man with his dark hair styled into three dreadlocks that went down to the middle of his back. He wore boots, with black pants and a sleeveless red shirt. He wore black pauldrons and bandages from halfway up his forearm down to his wrists, followed by black gloves. He had dark green eyes and a scar that ran from his left temple down the entire side of his face down to his neck. Along with the symbol of the Branwen tribe tattooed on his left bicep. His weapon was a khopesh that doubled as a chain-blade.

Jasper had found Jaune as he was doing his morning exercises and asked him to come along as a Lieutenant of sorts. Jaune agreed immediately and went to grab his coat and weapons. He met back up with Jasper and the rest of their marauding party and left the camp.

An hour or so later, they got into their ambush position and waited for the convoy. The road the convoy was taking, was going straight through a forest. At the thickest point, the party divided in two and each hid on both sides of the road. Jasper would command one while Jaune did the same with the other.

After the better part of an hour, the convoy had finally arrived. Jasper and Jaune exchanged quick glances from their positions in the tree branches. With a nod, both gave a signal. The two dozen bandits attacked the convoy and with the element of surprise, was able to take down a good portion of the soldiers guarding it. Nothing good lasts though. Because with that, ten members of a specialized militia employed by Mistral came out of one of the cars and started to fight back.

Jaune could tell that they needed a hand and with a quick glance to Jasper for confirmation, jumped into the fray with his broadsword. Jaune was able to take care of three of them before the rest of the raiding party rallied and started to support him. They were winning until they were down to the last one.

Jaune stopped. This one just felt different. More dangerous. He wasn't as tall as himself, maybe five-foot-seven and was wearing the same black and yellow attire as the rest of the militia. He had a bandana that covered his face from the nose down. He had wavy aquamarine hair tied into a wolf tail and his eyes were a golden yellow similar to a snake's. He then drew two identical daggers from his belt and got into a stance. The blades were black with purple accents and purple handles.

Jaune hesitated for a second and two members of his party ran to engage him. Jaune was shocked by how effortlessly he dealt with them. He parried their attacks as if he was dealing with children. He then slashed their throats with enough force to break through their auras easily.

Jaune shook himself of his shock and drew his revolver and prepared his blade. The militia charged him but was stopped when Jasper, with his mask still on, intercepted him. As their blades locked, Jasper gave him the order to retreat as he dealt with him. Jaune tried to argue with him but Jasper told him to take the rest of their tribesmen and retreat back to the camp. When he was done with the fight, they'd gather back up and recover the goods. He bit his lip painfully before he gave the command and escorted his tribesmen away from the fight.

Jaune led them back to the camp, he immediately ran to Raven's tent and quickly told her about what happened. She stood up and grabbed her weapon. She exited her tent and quickly shifted into her raven form before flying off, leaving Jaune there.

For what felt like hours, Jaune just paced around the camp. He needed to know what had happened. Raven flew back to the camp around that time and she had a somber expression on her face. She told everyone at the camp that Jasper had been killed in battle along with his mask going missing. The bandits were sadden, grieving or just enraged by what they heard. Jaune wasn't any of that. It was as if the world just fell out from him and he could feel nothing. Soon that nothingness gave way to rage and he quickly exited the camp. With the only one that noticed were a pair of red eyes.

Jaune had just slayed the last of the Grimm. He doubled over and was breathing raggedly. After a few seconds, he shook his head and stood back up with his eyes narrowed in determination. He was about to release more Negative aura when a voice stopped him, "You need to stop."

He turned to see that Raven standing only a few feet away from him. He was so lost in his fighting, he didn't even notice her approach or sensed her aura. He looked away from her. "I need to keep fighting."

He felt her hand on his shoulder, "This won't change anything."

He wanted to lash out but he knew it would do nothing for him. Especially since it was Raven. He clenched his teeth, "You're right. What would've made a difference is if I stood beside Jasper."

Raven shook her head, "Jasper was one of our strongest fighters. As much as you have improved, you most likely would've died as well."

He pulled away from her and threw his weapons down with a scream. "At least I would've known I did something! I'm supposed to be stronger but it turns out, I'm just as weak as I was at Beacon! And if that's the case, I should be dead!"

He was stopped when he was pulled around and was slapped across the face. He was shocked for a few seconds before he turned back to her. Her eyes were boring into his own. But, instead of just anger, there was something else in them. "You are not weak, you hear me? You are stronger than most people in the tribe and I don't just mean physical strength. Yes, losing Jasper and the Sphinx mask is a big hit. But, losing you would be a bigger one." And to his further shock, she pulled him into a hug and he went rigid. "The tribe needs you, Jaune. Gil needs you. And I need you. So don't you dare think about dying anytime soon."

Jaune was just stunned. He returned the hug and buried his face into her shoulder. His hands clenched the back of her robe tightly as he shook. In a shaky voice he swore one thing, "I'll get the mask back. No matter what."

Jaune was pulled form his memories and rage when his scroll went off. He took a deep breath to try to calm himself before he picked it up. He saw it was Onyx and accepted the call, "Hey, Onyx. What did you find?"

"How do you know I have anything?" he asked and Jaune could just imagine him smirking on the other end.

Jaune rolled his eyes and grinned, "Because you wouldn't call me if you didn't. And you're just that good at your job."

He heard him chuckle on the other end. "Thanks for the compliment. Anyways, I've compiled a list of attacks from the 'Beast' over the last few months and after comparing the time between each attack and their locations, I think I narrowed down where his base of operations could be. And that would be the failed settlement of Oniyuri."

Jaune's eyes went wide before a smirk came across his face. "That is indeed something. How close are you to it?"

"That's the thing. I'm already here." He said. "There are definitely signs of someone camping here. But its abandoned right now. He should be coming back at some point though."

Jaune stood from his chair, "I'll grab my gear and open a portal to you. We'll lay an ambush for him and take care of this problem here and-" He was cut off when he heard the sound of explosions and gun fire in the distance. "Onyx, what the hell was that?" Jaune asked in concern.

"Damn it." Onyx cursed. "They met up sooner than I expected."

"Onyx." Jaune said with a no nonsense tone.

"Ren and Nora were on a course to this very settlement. That's why I wanted to check it out first. Sounds like Moonstone ran into them first." Onyx said.

Jaune's eyes widened, "I'll be there as soon as I can. Get ready to move, asap." With that, he ended the call and made his way out of the room at a brisk pace. "You won't get away this time, you son of a bitch."

Jaune got to the locker room and threw open his locker. He quickly put on his armor and threw his coat on. He then made sure his guns were loaded and strapped his sword to his back. He pulled out his mask before slamming it closed. He walked out of the locker room with a purpose in his step. As he walked into the training room, that drew the attention of Gil and Pyrrha. They both knew it was serious. "What is it?" Gil asked.

"Onyx tracked down the target I asked him to. I'm about to meet up with him and take down the bastard. Probably save Ren and Nora from him, as well."

Pyrrha gasped at hearing her teammates being in danger, "Jaune, let me come with you. I can help." She practically begged.

Jaune shook his head, "Not gonna happen. Not until you have better control over your Negative aura. You'll just be liability." She looked down sadly and he sighed, "Besides…" he donned his mask and spoke in a cold tone, "This is personal."

He quickly drew Tourmentage Tordu and slashed the air in front of him, forming a black portal. He sheathed his blade and stepped through before either of them could ask more. He walked out on the other side to standing on top of the tallest building in the middle of Oniyuri. He looked to his right to see Onyx stand up from a crouch with his mask on as well. Without being asked, he pointed to the left to show several trees knocked over and smoke coming from them, about half a mile away.

"Let's get the lead out." Jaune said before he channeled his aura into his legs and jumped form the building, sending shingles flying. Onyx was a second behind him and both broke through the canopy of the trees before they jumped from tree to tree to quickly move through the forest. Under his mask, Jaune's eyes were narrowed in determination.

Ren quickly jumped back before the dagger could cut into his chest. He fired rapidly from his weapons as he was moving back. The man in front of them just parried the bullets and any others just bounced harmlessly from his armor.

Ren skidded to a stop and his left hand quickly gripped his right shoulder in pain. Somehow, his attacker managed to not only get past his defenses but was strong enough to bypass his aura with out shattering it completely. He looked at it to be a shallow cut that went through his clothing. His aura was healing it but not as quickly as it could. On top of that, it was burning painfully. Perhaps he had something coating his weapons?

Ren quickly turned back to his attacker. He was wearing an attire similar to the knights of old. It's main color was purple and had red outlines on it to form the pattern of a snake. With it, he also wore a green cape that was shredded towards the end. He had gauntlets that were clawed and his boots' tips were pointed. He had no helmet, so they could see his face clearly. His hair was long and wavy, possessing an aquamarine color to it. His skin was a pale peach and his eyes were golden-yellow, like a snake's. His weapons were a pair of identical black and purple daggers. He also had a sadistic grin on his face.

With a scream, Nora tried to attack him from behind with Magnhild. He easily ducked under the swing from her warhammer. He then tossed his right dagger into the air and grabbed the shaft of her weapon. He then threw her one-handedly by her weapon towards Ren, who caught her and sent him on his rear. As they were sitting up, they saw him catch his dagger and transform both. The top third of the blades folded backwards and revealed gun barrels as the rest of the blade snapped toward, turning the two daggers into revolvers. He then fired a series of fire Dust bullets over their heads and light the trees behind them ablaze, cutting off their retreat.

They slowly stood back up and he shifted his weapons back into their dagger forms. "Is that really all you have? Come on, I expect my prey to be more amusing than this. Pride and Envy are just aching for some real action."

He then flew forward with a leap, shattering the ground as he did. He locked his daggers with the blades on StormFlower. Before Ren could counter, he twisted his body and delivered a kick to his ribs using the point of his boot. He tumbled across the ground and slammed into a tree from the attack. The whole tree shook from the impact and Ren groaned in pain.

Nora tried to hit him in the back of his head with Magnhild but he just flipped over her and managed to fire two shots at her from above her. As he landed in a crouch, he ran both his blades across her lower back, leaving two wounds that bypassed her aura. She screamed as her aura tried to heal it and just felt a burning sensation erupt across her back. He then punched her in the spine and send her to land directly across the clearing from Ren.

He slowly started to stalk towards her and she couldn't find the strength to stand. He was about to charge her, when a black light clone blocked his path with a sword. The man had a confused expression before it exploded and sent him flying backwards.

Nora was stunned and turned to see a figure in black land to her left. She looked up to the Grimm masked face. "You're lucky I showed up on time." Jaune spoke to her. "But that is your one, Nora." He then started to walk forward, towards her attacker.

"Onyx, the fire!" he commanded. And with those words, three blue tipped arrows flew towards the trees in the center of the blaze. They hit the tree and released a large amount of water from the Dust heads and quickly extinguished the flames. Nora and Ren both looked to see Onyx in the tree branches above with his bow at the ready.

Jaune stopped about ten feet away from the man as he was standing up, "Valter Moonstone."

He locked eyes with the masked Jaune and smirked sadistically. "That is my name. But who are you?"

"Someone here to kill you and get back something you stole." Jaune spoke with an edge to his voice.

Valter tilted his head slightly before realization crossed his face. "Oh, I thought that mask looked similar." He reached behind him and under his cloak before revealing the Sphinx mask of the Branwen tribe. "I decided to keep it as a souvenir from one of my toughest fights to date." He placed it back on the back of his belt as he heard Jaune growl, "Since you have a similar one, hopefully you'll be as good as he was. And then I can add yours to my collection."

Jaune's response was to draw his flamberge and his black aura shifted to the surface, looking like a fire burning around him. "I swore six months ago, that I would get that mask back. No matter what the cost. I usually wouldn't take pleasure in this but I'm going to enjoy killing you." He then shifted into his battle stance.

Valter chuckled and dropped into his own stance. His own aura, his a black-red, was acting similar to Jaune's now. "I can't wait to see you try."

A/N- Well, its finally here. Sorry for the long wait. Three months was longer than I anticipated. For those who were wondering, what the hell is taking so long? Truth is, I burnt myself out. Big time. Writing this, along with The Void Swordsman and DVYL May Cry, was quickly turning into a chore for me to do. I hated that it got to that point. I love writing and to have it turn into something I'd rather just avoid was terrible for me to feel. The break I took to write other things has refreshed me and now I'm ready to write this story with reborn passion. I hope you'll all understand and I thank you all for being patient with me. And I hope to see you all in the next update!

Also, Jauneforever was the usual Beta for this chapter and is a god damned legend. Do me a favor and check him out!