Hey there, everyone. Hope all of you are continuing to hold up okay. As for me, doing the same as always. My workplace has been re-opening some locations over the past few weeks or so, meaning I will very likely be recalled, though when that day will come is still up in the air. Though I've probably mentioned it before, I'm looking forward to it, if only to see in person how my coworkers have been holding up all this time. Now I just wonder if the same will be done about my volunteer duty soon… doubt it though, probably won't be back up and running for another month or so depending on how the COVID cases fluctuate.
Now, onto more cheery things, almost done with my novel! Just needs another chapter to bring things to a close and then I need to find a public domain image to use to make a cover and it'll be ready to be uploaded and made available for purchase. Should hopefully have all this done by the end of this month and I have to say, a part of me is very giddy while another part of me is quite worried since I've only had about maybe 10 total sales. Alas, such is the nature of the business market, plus I am still very much an amateur writer – still have a long way to go in improving. In any case, I always welcome the challenge and it's my hope that once I get around to writing the third/final book of the series that it'll catch just a bit more attention.
Other than that, I've also been quite eager to work on this fic too now that we're steadily getting closer to the climax of it all, though it's not quite that close just yet. Still have a bit more groundwork to lay out before things really come to a close there and this entire 'arc,' if it could be called that is part of said groundwork. So, with that said, hope you all look forward to how things will turn out.
Now then, onto the chapter.
P.S. To any of you who stay up to date with Masada Takashi's Avesta web novel, how eager are you guys to see him finally release official profiles for the rest of the Demon Kings/Archdemons? I know I am, so much so that it hurts.
P.P.S. For some additional fic info, see ending AN.
Chapter 46
The footage and reports about the recent string of wanton murders spread like a wildfire throughout the entirety of Vale. There was soon not a single person who used media that didn't know of what was happening within the kingdom.
Shock gave way to horror and from horror came anger. Negativity swiftly began to increase to all new heights.
This was it, many people felt, this was the last straw. Too much has happened recently for them to bear it any longer.
The council was swiftly contacted and numerous people irately demanded from them to get to the bottom of this. Many more took to the internet and began voicing their fury online, turning to not just the council but also the police and Beacon academy and the Atlas fleet to use as outlets for their negativity.
Only a matter of several or so minutes must have passed since the news reported on this hidden string of murders and chaos, but to everyone involved, it felt so much longer.
And as Watts simply finished his drink and took to a little merry stroll through Vale, he had himself a nice little laugh.
The time for Salem's approach was drawing nearer more quickly than ever before.
Within the sewers, Jaune traveled at a brisk pace. He used no source of light to guide his way, instead relying solely on what knowledge he had on how sewer systems tended to be constructed and his own night vision. He hadn't been lying earlier when he'd told the others of his night vision – all that time spent traveling from one village or town to another on the frontier really helped to refine said vision since the nights were always so very dark even with moon light.
His eyes only marginally straining, he looked around as he reached a section of the sewer where it diverged into multiple paths. He debated internally whether or not he should travel down any of them or simply turn back. On the one hand, he'd been requested to try staying close to sewer entrances so if anything happened, he can quickly make his way back to topside. On the other hand, abiding by that request could possibly result in him not being able to catch their unknown killer if said person really was traveling down here right now.
"…" Making a little sound, Jaune made up his mind.
He chose the leftmost path to go down, a path that would take him to another sewer entrance/exit in another ten or so minutes of travel, assuming nothing happened to make him rush for said exit.
His scroll suddenly beeped, getting him to blink out of mild surprise, only for him to then grumble to himself in slight embarrassment. He'd forgotten to turn off the notifications for the news.
Pulling out his scroll, Jaune readied himself to disable notifications, only to immediately pause as he saw what the newest bit of media was focusing on.
He winced. Looks like word about their target had gotten out. How that could've happened, he didn't know exactly since everyone in the know had been all too eager to keep things under wraps. Of course, that only means someone under Salem's thumb must be responsible for this leak to the media, no doubt to stir up negativity. It was likely the same person who'd caused the most recent fiasco, where all the cars and drones had gone nuts.
"But maybe this was inevitable," he murmured as he disabled his notifications and put his scroll away. Sooner or later, word would've gotten out if this killer managed to claim even a few more victims further into Vale.
In any case, this just meant there was that much more incentive to catching and stopping this enigma very damn soon – the public would no doubt be calling for the person to be brought to justice and it was up to him and his friends to deliver.
With this in mind, he decided to forgo simply walking no matter how brisk his pace had been. Instead, he broke out into a genuine sprint. There may be a chance he could end up passing a clue as to which direction the killer had gone in, but if he didn't hurry then who knows what would happen. For all he knew though, the killer could somehow be travelling topside, in which case he could only pray his friends and Winter Schnee would find the target swiftly.
And so, off into the sewers Jaune ran, travelling deeper and deeper inwards – only for him to suddenly slow his pace just as quickly as he'd begun it.
Just now, it'd been slight… but he could've sworn he heard footsteps, very light ones.
"…" He had to come to a genuine stop now and focused his hearing as best he could. In the sewers, sight would only get him so far no matter how good his night vision is and trying to smell the killer out would be impossible due to the overwhelming stench that naturally comes with being in the sewers of a kingdom. Thus, hearing was the way to go.
And… there! There were some footsteps again, no, more like something skittering along the walls. It seemed to be coming from somewhere up ahead, another junction where the sewers split off into multiple paths again.
Jaune rushed after the sound of the now fading steps as quickly as he could, though his speed was contrasted by the sheer lightness of his own steps. If not for the light splattering of sewage water with every step he made, he'd be as close to soundless as could be right now.
He reached the junction in no time flat and immediately looked down the path where he'd heard the source of the steps come from. There no longer seemed to be any sound coming from there beyond the regular dripping of water drops from up top and the occasional torrent of water from nearby pipes. Other than that, there was nothing more to be heard.
And that only set Jaune more on edge than anything.
Those steps hadn't been particularly quick so unless the one making those sounds had exceptionally long and swift strides, there was no way they could cover enough ground to be out of sight…
…Which meant his target must be close.
Slowly, Jaune drew one of his blades, one equipped with gravity Dust. The sewers here were just wide enough for him to maneuver with his swords somewhat, but he'd still have to be careful lest he get his blade caught on something. Which is why he choose the one with gravity Dust – if he could just get one good slash on his target, that'll be enough to hopefully slow them down, which would count for a lot down here.
Weapon drawn, Jaune quickly made his way down the path that his target likely went in…
…Unaware that just as he was hunting the killer, the killer was hunting him too now.
It took considerable effort on Tyrian's part to repress his signature mad cackling. After having slipped into the sewers, he'd made natural use of his long strides and animalistic movements to cover great distances with far less movement than would be necessary for many others.
With mad glee in his eyes, he'd moved briskly north, intent on popping up deeper into Vale's commercial areas with the purpose of maybe killing a dozen or so people this time before pulling yet another vanishing act for the undoubtedly panicking authorities of this pathetic kingdom.
However, at some point during his traversal, he became acutely aware that he wasn't alone in this particular section of the sewers.
As a Faunus, he naturally possessed night vision that was as close to perfect as could be… but as a natural born killer and true hunter who has refined his talents over his lifetime, his other senses were just as exceptional.
Including his hearing, of course. And he'd certainly not let that other set of footsteps go unnoticed.
Many people would believe the sewers to be home to numerous homeless dregs and to some extent they would be right, but nowhere near to the same extent as they would be foolish enough to believe. And no homeless fool would have footsteps this light and purposeful. That meant he had someone well trained on his tail.
And after finding a tight corner of the junction to curl up in, he'd waited just out of sight as his stalker came into sight.
It took him by surprise, to be honest, to see that said stalker was none other than the one Hazel and Watts – primarily the former, however – had spoken of:
Jaune Arc, whose picture had been provided to him by Watts not long before they'd headed out.
To say he was surprised by the boy's appearance would be just a bit of an understatement, but not an unpleasant surprise. After all, after being quickly briefed by both of his allies prior to heading out on all that's happened on their end, he knew well now what the blond was capable of.
That this blond teen was capable of battling it out against Hazel of all people… Tyrian couldn't help but be genuinely impressed. But of course, compared to his goddess, what difference did this boy really make in the long run?
Now, despite said dismissal of the boy – rather hard not to dismiss anyone when comparing them to her grace – Tyrian knew better than to let himself be too confident here. Anyone who can fight Hazel to a stalemate, especially after the man had clearly gotten so much stronger than he already was, was not someone he had a particularly high chance of beating. Tyrian estimated himself to have perhaps a thirty percent chance at most at beating this Jaune child in a direct confrontation.
However… a direct confrontation is only a fool's errand.
And though Hazel had also made it clear to him that he'd be the one to kill this insipid teen, well… the man hadn't said he couldn't soften him up a little.
Besides, it was clear this teen was looking for him – why else would he be down here of all places? Very likely on that foolish Ozpin's orders too.
Sneering darkly, Tyrian stepped out of hiding and slowly stalked after Jaune Arc, switching his blades from their resting state to their unsheathed state. His tail slowly uncoiled as well, ready to stab the teen should it come to it.
His would-be follower was no more than fifteen or so meters ahead of him now, deep within that sewer path. Good, Tyrian thought, march ever closer to your death. The boy, for all his strength and skill, had foolishly come down here without any source of light… and now he was about to reach the darkest part of the path, where absolute darkness reigned and where Tyrian would be striking at.
It took only a few seconds longer before Jaune reached that particular part of the path-.
-And that was when Tyrian finally pounced.
In an instant, he launched himself in almost a perfectly straight line towards his young target, intent on cutting deeply into his unguarded back.
Which should've happened… only that it didn't.
When he'd leapt, he'd made just a bit of noise – an audible swishing sound due to his blades literally cutting through the air at high speeds. That had been all that was needed to alert his young foe of his presence and in a speed that almost took him by surprise, the teen moved, twisting at the speed of lightning and swiping his drawn sword at him.
Tyrian curled into a ball in midair and then lashed out with both legs, which slammed against the teen's shoulder. The scorpion Faunus lurched somewhat, feeling as if he were a child trying to budge a boulder twenty times his size, a comparison that only highlighted just how strong the teen was. Made sense given again that he could fight Hazel to a stalemate.
Nonetheless, he'd sort of expected this and ended up kicking off the teen, sending himself flying back several yards and just narrowly avoiding the boy's sword swing. Upon landing in a crouch, Tyrian narrowed his eyes , his night vision allowing him to see that the blade swung had gravity Dust filled in it. Truly, a good thing he'd been able to dodge it.
Alas, as immensely powerful as the teen clearly was, he appeared to rely solely on his blades and natural physical prowess, meaning he didn't have to fear any long-range attacks. Well, technically, he did need to be wary considering Hazel had also told him of the teen being able to channel his aura and fire off energy slashes, but here in the not so spacious sewers, Tyrian doubted the boy would resort to that sort of thing.
And sure enough, the boy seemed to realize that for he instead charged right at him, putting on a burst of speed so great that it was audible, a sound that was only further amplified due to the tightness of this sewer path.
Nonetheless, Tyrian proved to be just a bit faster and was more than ready for this, leaping back towards the junction.
Or so he would have the boy believe.
Just as it looked like he was about head out into the open, Tyrian opened fire with his weapons' gun functions, engulfing the teen in a hail of bullets that was impossible to dodge due to the narrowness of the path still. The teen had to resort to using his blade to cut down the bullets instead. This gave Tyrian enough of an opening to jump up and twist about so that he now hung onto the ceiling, his fingers and the tips of his boots just barely able to dig into the metal.
He proceeded to immediately skitter almost like a bug across the ceiling of the path, overtaking Jaune who'd just cut down the last bullet and tried to reach up for him – only to be made to back off when Tyrian lashed out suddenly with his tail, his stinger just barely missing the left side of his target's face.
Of course, Tyrian had to retract his tail posthaste when Jaune made to cut it off and only avoided that terrible fate by centimeters at best, but he succeeded and leapt down and then threw himself at Jaune who was still in mid-attack, Tyrian's sudden shoulder tackle proving just enough to knock him off balance.
Tyrian capitalized on this by swinging his blades at Jaune's torso, only for the killer to be genuinely surprised and impressed when Jaune batted his short attacks aside with an open palm. It wasn't that he was that damn tough – though that was part of it – but rather, Tyrian could just barely make out Jaune using his open palm to slam against the flat sides of his blades each time, demonstrating remarkable speed, precision and timing.
That said, Jaune was just as quick to retaliate, thrusting his blade forward with enough strength and speed that would've skewered him if he didn't pivot as much as he could to the side. Even then, the teen's blade stabbed through a part of his coat, much to Tyrian's silent consternation. He liked this brown coat of his.
Jaune immediately regained his balance completely and then just turned the blade so that its sharp side faced Tyrian's torso and he swung in that direction. How he could go from just barely completing a thrust to a sudden swing without even fully performing the swinging motion was something beyond Tyrian and spoke that much more of Jaune's strength and skill, but nonetheless it still proved to not be enough as Tyrian literally leapt out his coat and over the blade before striking out with his tail.
He threw a feint, making it seem like he was aiming for Jaune's torso only to then switch to his true target – Jaune's right ankle. And though the blond didn't fall for his feint, the sheer speed of Tyrian's tail proved to be just great enough to wrap itself around said ankle before his young foe could fully back away.
He'd ended up grabbing the teen just as he'd been about to leap and so Tyrian quite literally made Jaune tumble backwards, which he promptly took advantage of by demonstrating his tail's strength now, tossing the boy out into the open junction.
Alas, like a cat, the blond landed gracefully on his feet – and as the teen quickly stood, his very eyes seemed to glow a magnificent gold.
Tyrian shuddered, sensing danger. On pure instinct, he jumped from out of the sewer path and towards the ceiling, just in time to see Jaune suddenly draw another one of his swords, also filled with Dust along its edge, and perform an slash that resulted in a wave of pure frost to appear and travel down the path they'd just been in at immense speeds.
Tyrian felt a bead of sweat form. If this teen managed to land a Dust attack with either that sword or the gravity Dust one, he'd definitely be slowed down for a while, more than long enough for the teen to take advantage of.
Right, best to keep his distance then. To this end, Tyrian latched onto the nearest wall, unmindful of the water that seemed to constantly run down it and the rest of the junction.
He opened fire upon Jaune just as the teen seemed to start approaching, the bullets forcing the teen to dodge to his left. Said teen then sheathed the ice Dust blade and pulled out a different one this time.
The next thing Tyrian knew, Jaune clearly channeled some aura into the blade itself and it pushed the Dust along its edge out, activating it – and as it activated, the teen stabbed the lightning Dust coated blade into the wet wall.
In an instant, Tyrian let out a strangled cry and practically convulsed as the entirety of the junction barring its relatively dry center ended up electrified.
Though this lasted but a second or two at most, it felt so much longer to Tyrian, who only barely saw him swing the gravity Dust blade in his general direction.
And as the teen swung that particular blade, a veritable vortex was unleashed, said vortex a pitch black in color, emulating the color of gravity Dust itself. Said vortex was effectively a damn tear in space itself it seemed like, a miniature black hole with an incredible gravitational pull that sucked in most of the electrified water off the wall in addition to a lot of the sewer along the bottom-.
-This included Tyrian himself, who was unceremoniously dragged off the wall with ridiculous ease and towards the vortex. It was only due to adrenaline at this point that he was able to shake off the effects of the lightning Dust and wrap his tail around a nearby pipe that was about twice as thick as one of his arms.
Through great effort, he managed to outlast the vortex, after which he promptly threw himself back at the wall just as the teen withdrew his lightning Dust empowered blade from it.
Jaune looked ready to jump right at him, intending to go in close and overwhelm him, but Tyrian was able to make the first move, kicking off the wall and landing just a few feet in front of the teen.
Upon landing, Tyrian instantly tried to stab Jaune in the foot with his stinger, only for Jaune to simply raise his foot to avoid it and stomp down. Tyrian barely managed to retract his blade in time to avoid having it crushed, but the stomp ended up rattling the entire junction, throwing him off balance somewhat.
That was all it took for Jaune to yet again act upon, covering what little distance there was between them to deliver a downwards strike.
Grunting in equal parts exertion and worry now, Tyrian managed to catch the blade with both of his own – only to end up forced to knee instantly anyways, hissing in pain.
It wasn't simply the sheer power behind the swing that forced him down either; the blade he just blocked was the one with gravity Dust in it. Jaune had just activated it upon impact and thus increased the personal gravity of his blades by at least tens of times. His hands and forearms visible buckled under the strain of this greater weight. In and of itself though, such a weight was nothing to huntsmen level combatants, but with Jaune also trying to pin him down with his own strength, well, that certainly made things much more strenuous.
Truly, he was in a bad position now. One could say that perhaps he'd bitten off more than he could chew. Alas, even if he hadn't attacked Jaune first, it would've only been a matter of time until Jaune had found him anyways, it felt like.
That all said…
"…Hah!" Tyrian couldn't help but let out a sudden bark before devolving into a quick fit of laughter.
Truly, what an absurd situation this was. Existences such as his goddess and Hazel… before having ever met them, he'd thought of such power as being something that could never be achieved in any way, shape or form. But ever since the privilege of meeting her grace and seeing for himself the abnormal power Hazel possessed, Tyrian's views on things had changed just a bit. Perhaps such an absurd level of power could be reached after all, though only by an absolute select few.
And never in his life would he have imagined a mere teen to not only have that kind of potential but to already reach such a level too.
Really now, how absurd. It was why he couldn't help but laugh right now.
And it would seem his sudden shift in mood was throwing the silent teen off a bit, though not enough to make the blond stay his hand. With another blade drawn, the teen swung it towards his side, clearly intent on incapacitating him here and now…
…But like hell Tyrian would allow himself to fall so easily.
With a great deal of effort, he managed to maneuver the blade he was holding back to the side and quickly placed his hands above Jaune's hand before just letting the drastically enhanced gravity of his weapons to do the work for him. The teen lurched forth a little, having not quite seen such a maneuver coming and it thus prevented his attack. Tyrian was all too quick to use this opportunity to practically jump back up and deliver the strongest kick he could muster to Jaune's briefly exposed side. And thanks to how unstable the teen's balance now was, Tyrian's kick proved to be just enough to launch the teen off the ground and into the wall.
Tyrian didn't bother waiting to see this happen, however. The very instant he'd successfully landed the kick, he immediately turned around and bolted for the nearest path. Running at his top speed proved to be just a tad bit more straining than usual due to the enhanced gravity placed upon his weapons, but the effect would fade soon enough. For now, he just needed to focus on getting away.
Continuing to fight it out against a Hazel-level foe like that down here would've just been needlessly risky even for a self-admitted lunatic such as himself. Though his skills were certainly suitable to confined spaces like that, against someone whose speed and skill were that great, it became far too much for him to deal with. No, if he were to engage again in battle against Jaune Arc, it would need to be somewhere more open. Of course, the same applied to the teen as well, but Tyrian was confident he could still manage if it ever came to that again.
Not that he intended to battle the teen again, though. As much fun as that'd be, he did have a job to do after all. And besides, he was Hazel's prey in the end. A pity he couldn't really do anything to soften the teen up, but that's just how things go sometimes, he had to admit.
As the enhanced gravity wore off, Tyrian bolted ever deeper into the sewers, readying himself to head topside soon.
As brief of a beating he'd just taken, he was still more than energized to carry out the will of his goddess. May she see him to victory and may he pave the path forward to her.
Allowing himself just another brief but loud cackle, Tyrian continued ever onwards.
"Damn…!" Jaune muttered to himself as he got up. He wasted no time getting up after that surprise kick, but by the time he did so, his foe had already taken off to who knows where.
Though he would nonetheless continue to search down here in the sewers, he knew it wouldn't be long at all for that man to head up, meaning it'd be up to his friends to continue the search.
As he sheathed his blades and gave chase, no matter how futile said chase may be, he tapped on the earpiece which had thankfully remained in place throughout the entire scuffle.
"This is Jaune, reporting in. Anyone hear me?" he said upon activating the earpiece. Unfortunately, all he got was nothing but static as a response. He grimaced. Honestly, he'd expected as much given how deep underground he was, which is why he hadn't bothered trying to call them for backup, plus that man had certainly not been a foe he could take so lightly, hence why things had ended up the way they have.
Undeterred, however, he charged in the direction the killer had gone in, knowing that an exit to the sewers would be coming up soon. His faith was rewarded not even a minute later as he spotted a ladder that goes straight up and as he tapped his earpiece, he could literally feel the thick static go away.
"This is Jaune, anyone hear me?" he tested out.
"Specialist Schnee here, Arc. What is it?" Weiss' sister immediately replied, her voice sounding tired but alert.
Must be due to the recent news, Jaune immediately realized. Alas, while it certainly meant they had to get this done ASAP, there wasn't really much more they could do at this point other than what they're already doing.
"Just encountered our target," he spoke as he stayed by the ladder to keep the reception strong. "Fought him briefly and may have worn him down a bit but can't be sure. Target managed to escape and was last spotted headed north. May be heading topside any second now so be on the lookout. Target is a scorpion Faunus, fights with blades mounted on his wrists. Guns are equipped to wrists as well."
A sound he couldn't quite identify was made by Winter Schnee, who then actually responded to him a second later. "Copy that. Sounds like Tyrian Callows, a rather infamous serial killer. We'll begin a sweep right now. Team RWBY, if you can hear us, link up with the rest of us three blocks up north. We'll be doing a sweep and won't be stopping for anything. Respond."
"T-This is Ruby Rose! I copy! I mean, we all copy!" Ruby's voice could be heard swiftly responding with just a bit of a stutter.
The girl sounded distracted by something, likely the same news he'd gotten on his scroll just some odd moments ago, which he couldn't blame her for.
"Copy. Start moving out," Winter replied before then speaking to him again. "Arc, on the off chance the target stays within the sewers, just continue your sweep down there. I know your comms will go in and out of range often down there but do your best to report back to us every five minutes or so. If you encounter the target again, call for backup as soon as you can."
"Copy that," Jaune replied. "That said, I do believe he will go topside – I feel that just as we're now on a much briefer deadline of sorts, so is he. This carnage of his… he wants to cause as much as he can as quickly as he can."
"Noted. Continue your sweep anyways, we can't afford to take any chances."
"Copy. Moving out now." Jaune ceased operating the earpiece and resumed his advance deeper into the sewers.
He was tempted to draw one or two of his blades but opted against it this time. If he gets ambushed again within one of these passages, he'd be much better off fighting barehanded rather than relying on his blades. If he can track this Tyrian down and at least fight him in another junction though, using his swords will be a definite possibility, though he'd still need to be mindful of his surroundings.
As he continued his swift trek, he silently went over his options.
Each of his blades contained a different type of Dust – fire, water, ice, wind, lightning, gravity and hard-light. Due to how limited his usage of Dust is thanks to the issue of how his aura directly interacts with Dust, using them in the same ways and to the same degrees as his friends was pretty much impossible. At best, he could simply use the Dust to enhance his offensive capabilities, albeit to a significant degree. Of course, his control is good enough to be able to fine tune just ow much Dust gets used and how, but down here in the sewers, he'd have to be very careful; depending on which blade he had to use and how much aura he expended with each usage, he could very well risk collapsing the streets above.
This placed quite a handicap on him for the time being, but that was nothing new. He'd merely have to get creative, which wasn't a problem. Still, this was all something to be especially aware of since, after that brief scuffle, he had quite a feel for that man's prowess.
Though nowhere near the level of sheer of power and skill that Hazel possesses, this Tyrian was easily more than strong and skilled enough to combat the greatest huntsmen to walk Remnant today and have good odds at coming out on top, especially since a brief look into that man's eyes had been all it took to tell that he was severely lacking in conventional morals, morals that may otherwise make others hesitate depending on circumstances. Not only that, but Tyrian's weapons and apparent skills were clearly better suited to this cramped environment than his own. If it wasn't for his strength being so much greater, than Jaune knew for an absolute fact that Tyrian would've utterly dominated most others down here.
That wasn't even getting into what else the man could do too, like what his semblance might be. And given he was a scorpion Faunus, his stinger was very likely venomous.
All in all, this was not someone that would go down easily.
"And more than that…" Jaune murmured to himself. "He doesn't seem like someone who'd stick down here after a fight like that…"
Tyrian was clearly crazed, those eyes of his containing a bloodlust that Jaune has seldom seen in his short life so far. But as great as that man's bloodlust is, there'd also been no mistaking the inherent cunning the killer possessed, which bordered on bestial.
He may not perhaps be the greatest warrior to ever walk the land, but there was not a doubt that Tyrian was a true hunter, a predator that has long since refined his talents and knows how to truly stalk and wear down his prey in order to deliver a single fatal strike.
And there was not a single predator that Jaune could recall encountering that'd hang around in the same area as another predator, not when there were clearly other and better options on how to do things.
"…" Thinking for a second longer, Jaune made a sudden turn, traveling down a path that he was just about to pass up on his left.
In no time flat, he reached a ladder that would take him topside, whereupon he quickly began to climb and contacted the others as he did so. "This is Jaune again. Heading back up. Nothing suggests our target is staying in the sewers anymore."
"What? Arc, no, stay down there just in case!" Winter replied.
"Sorry, specialist, but that is one order I can't follow," he replied as he reached street level, swiftly putting the manhole cover back into place. "I have to strongly reiterate how our killer is thinking right this moment – he's not going to be staying down there now of all times. Even if he is, it won't be long anyways until he comes back up to continue his spree. Better for all of us to focus up here and converge on him as soon as any one of us spots him. It's just a matter of time."
"…Fine. Your team and RWBY have already just linked up and we're already spreading out. Regroup with your team and cover the northwest side. If he shows, you stop him with everything you have or at the very least hold him at bay until we can come to provide backup."
"Copy."
With nothing else needing to be said, Jaune immediately burst into a serious sprint, shooting out of the alley he was in and heading onto the open sidewalks. People shrieked in surprise at his sudden appearance and he bellowed out a quick but no less sheepish apology. Nonetheless, he kept on moving without slowing down.
If anything, he just sped up.
With tensions already so high, more and more Grimm must surely be gathering into a horde right now… and if nothing was done about this today, then later tonight or tomorrow, well…
He tried not to dwell on that possibility.
But even so, it started to haunt him.
His pace picked up even more and soon enough, he was reaching his destination in the veritable blink of an eye.
Watts hummed, this time in slight discontentment.
Thanks again to his technopathy, taking hold of virtually whatever he wanted without anything to impede him allowed him a very personal insight into the current situation.
Currently, he was just walking down the street, pretending to be window shopping. All the while, he casually made all the cameras that would've otherwise spotted him turn away at the last possible moment or loop their current feed in order to ensure he remained hidden from Ozpin's and Ironwood's wandering eyes, which no doubt watched everything going on in Vale right this very instant.
As he continued on with his little charade, he'd been able to hack into Atlas' comms, which naturally includes those ridiculous little earpieces many Atlas specialists and Atlas associates used out in the field. Naturally, this meant he was able to listen in on the words spoken between Winter Schnee and those two first year teams, their voices practically rattling around inside his very mind due to how his technopathy works.
Thus, he got to hear loud and clear what their new little strategy was. Not for the first time, he actually found himself rather surprised by Jaune Arc's insight into this situation, or rather, the teen's insight into how Tyrian typically operates.
Indeed, it'd only be a matter of moments until his bloodthirsty ally makes a grand reappearance and continues his slaughter for as long as he can manage… and when that happens, he imagined it wouldn't be long at all until the teens and Atlas specialist hunting him will catch up, at which point a battle would definitely ensue.
Against that many opponents, even Tyrian would fall, especially with Jaune Arc there. But that said, Tyrian likely knew his chances of coming out on top in a fight like that and would likely use his venom on himself at that point to try going out in a blaze of bloody glory… and Watts imagined too that it would be very bloody if it came to that.
By all rights, though, he should call Tyrian, let him know to perhaps change directions. Alas, he wouldn't. In the end, it wouldn't change the fact that Tyrian has already killed more than a few measly civilians so at this point it didn't matter if the scorpion Faunus' spree was halted. Tyrian knew this too, of course, not that the man would let himself be stopped from having his fun so easily.
But even if he wanted to, contacting Tyrian simply wasn't possible right now. With his new abilities, Watts no longer had a need for a scroll and his rings served more of an ornamental purpose now, so contacting Tyrian the old fashioned way wasn't an option and his technopathy sadly had a range limit and Tyrian was currently out of that range. Though he supposed he could perhaps form a cellular chain, linking himself from one nearby phone to another further away and so on until his range was theoretically great enough to reach Tyrian, that level of concentration and time required to do so would render it moot since by then Tyrian would be topside and engaged in either slaughter or battle.
Oh well, it is what it is. Though it would be quite nice if Tyrian could manage to kill another two dozen civilians or so before potentially being stopped, to say nothing of the possibility of Tyrian slaying some of Ozpin's and James' new pawns, it wasn't as if that would be necessary. The negativity being generated by Tyrian's actions so far and him spilling the beans about it to the news had been more than enough to suit their purposes.
Ah, and there they begin to go – the Atlas fleet.
Overhead, Watts spotted some of the ships under James' command begin to head out. With all that was now going on, looks like the brash general was once again resorting to his usual over the top displays of force. He was likely sending those ships out to see if a Grimm horde could be located.
Of course, Hazel had already gone and taken down all the huntsmen and ships sent out his way so far, something James and Ozpin must surely be aware of, but now they truly had no choice but to just send more people to their deaths in the hopes of stopping Salem's growing forces.
In other words, what James was now doing was simply engaging once again in borderline suicidal behavior. It was enough to make Watts chuckle as he finally moved away from the shops in favor of observing how many ships were leaving Vale's airspace.
"All you're doing is just crippling yourself more and more, James…" Watts muttered, taking care to speak as quietly as possible lest some nearby idiot overhear him. The more ships James unwittingly sent to their destruction, the fewer would remain to help stave off Vale's inevitable demise.
Which was just fine by him, obviously.
But with that all being said… it was time for him to truly begin his own part.
Tyrian had already done well to signal Vale's impending doom. Now it was time for him to make his grand reappearance among the living in his former homeland's eyes.
With a bold stride, Watts made his way further into Vale, to where the nearest bullheads dock was at.
As he prepared what he was about to do next, he idly wondered just how nice the view will be from aboard James' flagship.
He'll be finding out for himself in just a half hour or so.
What was now happening out in Vale was as close to the worst possible scenario Ozpin could imagine. Somehow, word of the killer's spree had reached the media who then went on to shotgun the grisly details everywhere they could. Now people were up in arms over this and it was all that could be done to keep the peace.
That riots haven't broken out was something of a small mercy but it was far from enough, Ozpin realized. As things now stood, negativity was higher than ever before and a Grimm horde was definitely forming somewhere out there, assuming it hadn't been doing so before.
In just these past several minutes, he's already been in contact with the council and a few other contacts of his, trying to figure out a way to appease the public and put some kind of dent into the negativity… alas, there are times where hope simply can't be found and this may very well be one of those times. Just about the only good thing that can be accomplished would be the speedy capture of the perpetrator.
But even then, Ozpin knew such a thing wouldn't help all that much. What would matter to the public was the simple fact that this had even happened in the first place and that the authorities had tried to keep it covered up.
Though it was common knowledge that negativity drew the Grimm, humans weren't simple beings that could simply suppress or switch emotions so easily. They all loved and hated, embraced friendship and shunned others, displayed unmatched bravery and fell victim to unfathomable fear all too easily. Rational thought, for all its worth, couldn't simply suppress such intense emotions all the time. Indeed, it was precisely because they're human, because they're all living, thinking, feeling individuals that the Grimm are such a constant threat.
But as bad as things have gotten before in the distant past, things had never been this bad. Perhaps that could be chalked up to people just being more on guard and accepting of life's harshness back then, whereas now the modern times have allowed people to grow too soft… no, Ozpin can't afford to think like that. Peace, no matter the era and no matter how tenuous said peace really was, had always had a price in the end. Complacency was one such price.
Not everyone was born a warrior. Not everyone had what it takes to become harsh enough to survive in this world or some may perhaps adapt too much to said harshness at the expense of kindness. Such was the very nature of individuality.
Thus, for all his current worries and frustrations, Ozpin couldn't fault the civilians one bit for how they were reacting. It is simply the way of things, just how life goes.
That said, this truly was a bad situation. Vale was now on the cusp of annihilation, he could feel it in the depths of his very soul. All of Salem's efforts in this era have been building up to this moment and it now felt to him more than ever that Salem may very well 'win' this time around.
And if Vale did indeed fall despite his own efforts…
Ozpin tried not to dwell on it much, the ramifications too much for even him to bear at this moment. If he had time to worry over things like this, then he had time to try and do something about it still. This is not the first time he and his forces have seemingly been courting defeat so intimately only to turn things around at the last possible instance.
Within the confines of his office, Ozpin paced for just a moment, his mind working a trillion miles a second as he thought up and discarded various things, strategies and tactics that have been tried in the past but that simply weren't applicable this time around.
Eventually, he closed his eyes and then sighed. Nothing of note simply refused to come to mind. There were some ideas, sure, but they would require more manpower than what he had available and it wasn't as if James could just dedicate the entirety of his forces to this either, not when the general would have his own plans and duties to carry out.
…But perhaps…
Ozpin pulled out his scroll and immediately called up Qrow.
If manpower was an issue, then perhaps firepower would suffice instead.
"Oz? What's going on?" Qrow asked as soon as he answered.
"A lot, I'm afraid," the ancient wizard replied. "I'll give you the details shortly… but first, a change of plans. I need you to contact Raven and head south of Vale – a Grimm horde is no doubt forming as we speak. Huntsmen and Atlas forces had already been sent out to check, but none have returned… we need others much more suited to the task."
"In this case," Qrow began, picking up on what he was getting at. "You want me and my sis to go find this horde and smoke them out of existence… or rather, you want Raven to strut out there and show us what she can really do as the Spring Maiden."
"And for you to defend her if need be. Horde or not, there's no way the Grimm would be able to take down that many huntsmen and Atlas ships on their own, not without direction being provided to them… or someone helping them out," Ozpin stated as he gripped his scroll tightly.
Hazel. Given what he now knows about that man, he was likely commanding the Grimm out there, to say nothing of the likelihood he was also doing his best to protect the growing horde.
Hazel's power, much like Mr. Arc's, was truly abnormal, even before more recent events… the 'average' huntsman simply wouldn't compare to him and Atlas ships would be shot down long before they could lock on and unleash all their firepower on him.
In which case, they'd just have to try and match Hazel's one man army status with a one woman army of their own – the Spring Maiden, Raven who was a formidable warrior even without factoring in said magical power. And who better to provide assistance than the one who can equal her prowess, in this case, Qrow?
Jaune Arc may be abnormally powerful and he may be a key player in this war against Salem, but that didn't mean he was the only one they could rely on.
"…Alright. I'll call her up and get her to pick me up right now," Qrow replied. "We'll let you know how things go if anything really crazy ends up happening."
"My thanks, Qrow… and be careful," Ozpin said before hanging up.
As he did so, he sighed a second time, this time feeling just a bit better than before but still uncertain about things. As much as he wished to send some additional help along with the Branwen siblings, such as Glynda or Peter or Bart, he simply couldn't afford to.
On the one hand, sending them would increase their chances at defeating Hazel and the horde, but not without risking their lives. And while that was just a natural part of being a huntsman, every loss of life out there deprived Vale that much more of precious manpower to mount a defense should another wave of Grimm come soon after.
It was a sad but delicate balance to maintain, knowing when to send out people to deal with a problem and when to keep them back in order to defend the kingdom. It was a balance that became ever harder to maintain throughout the centuries thanks to changes in technology and other circumstances.
Suddenly, his scroll beeped, drawing him out of his thoughts. Adrenaline levels spiked as he instantly noticed said beep was in response to an alert coming from Amber's chamber.
As he quickly silenced said alert and looked into the details of why it went off – it could literally be due to any changes in her condition, such was the level of precaution he'd taken – he read over the computer generated report that accompanied said alert.
He damn near dropped his scroll not even a full two seconds later, his shock just that much…
…Only for that shock to then give way to cautious hope.
Amber was beginning to wake up.
So, just to point something out, Tyrian, for all his battle prowess in this fic, is simply not on the same level as the likes of Hazel and Jaune. But that doesn't mean he'll be a cakewalk for either one to overcome, hypothetically speaking, of course. Though Hazel and Jaune are much more powerful physically than Tyrian and certainly faster than their builds and skillsets would normally suggest, Tyrian is still noticeably faster and certainly much more agile, plus he's not lacking in physical strength either.
To further expand on that too, the environment they'd briefly fought in wasn't a good one for Jaune. Due to how small the sewers kind of are plus his own absurd level of power and how dangerous his Dust usage can be, he couldn't really afford to push his limits like he normally does whereas Tyrian had a bit more leeway due to his usual fighting style and the like. But don't worry, Jaune will be showing what he can now do with Dust soon enough.
That said, let's just briefly talk about powerscaling, to those of you that may be concerned about it. Let me just say that powerscaling is just an inevitable thing to have in any story that involves combat of any kind. Doesn't matter if it's a live action film, a TV show, animated films, cartoons, anime, literature or whatever; it regularly features combat, powerscaling is going to be a thing.
But keep in mind that powerscaling isn't something that's always easy to ascertain. In some cases like the Dragon Ball franchise and most shounen stuff in general, powerscaling tends to be very straightforward/linear, very clear cut in most cases.
And RWBY, being very animesque and shounen – characters getting stronger via training or better gear or new abilities or whatever – naturally has its own powerscaling… but unlike the likes of typical shounen, it's not so linear. See, the thing about RWBY is that, for all its anime traits, it does have some sense of realism to it, however minor said realism may be. Certainly, some characters are significantly stronger than others, but not to the point where the weaker character has no chance whatsoever. Or maybe the weaker character possesses some skill or trait that is a good counter against the objectively stronger character or whatever. Maybe the weaker character is just faster than the stronger one or is much more skilled than the opponent or whatever.
Kind of like real life, in a way – you can't expect a couch potato to suddenly trade blows evenly with a UFC fighter, but if the UFC fighter is already injured or tired or is maybe distracted by something and the couch potato has a gun or a knife or is just able to get a lucky shove on the UFC guy and pushes him into traffic, then things could obviously change. In that respect, RWBY is like that, with fight compatibility and circumstances being very real things to consider.
TLDR: if it seemed to any of you guys that Jaune should've curbstomped Tyrian effortlessly, that just wasn't going to happen for precisely the reasons listed at the start of this ending AN. Hope it makes sense.
And sorry if it seems like I just went on a rant or something – this is just stuff I've always wanted to make clear for a long time and some recent threads about screwy RWBY powerscaling that I've come across left me feeling a little irked.
Anyways, up next, things really will begin to pick up so do look forward to that.
Until next time, everyone. Stay safe.