Hey there, everyone! Just as promised, here's the next chapter earlier than usual. Hope I can keep this new pace up, heh.
Expect shorter ANs too as a result of these faster updates, provided nothing of any real note happens on my end in the meantime too.
Onto the chapter!
Chapter 48
Jaune took point and because he was leading the charge, he was thus the first one to notice some blast doors start to suddenly come down. At the same time this started happening, turrets sprang out of the walls and took aim.
"Pyrrha, the guns!" he called out as he unsheathed a sword, the one that held fire Dust. Charging aura into the blade but keeping it from pushing against the Dust just yet, Jaune slowed only slightly in his charge to take better aim. An instant later, just as Pyrrha used her semblance to crush the turrets and force them back into their previous wall slots, Jaune unleashed his own move.
A wave of flames so intense that they threatened to burn even himself was promptly unleashed, travelling in a vertical arc upwards due to his swing having been aimed up to start with. The result was the arc of flames instantly melting through the blast doors as well as an entire portion of the ship. Just like that, he'd veritably ruined this hallway, well, more so than it already was from the crash just now.
Sheathing his blade, he picked his pace back up – only for the ship to literally groan as it forced itself against the other ship as much as possible, throwing him and his friends off balance somewhat.
"Looks like the hijacker doesn't want us getting to them that easily…" he mumbled, the person responsible for this obviously aware that they were aboard. Why else would the blast doors come down at such a time, to say nothing of the turrets?
"And it would seem they've full control of the ship's functions… or at least what remains of its original functions," Pyrrha noted as she regained her balance, having used her weapon to steady herself right before the shaking subsided.
It certainly seemed that way, but ultimately, this meant nothing – just now, thanks to his attack, he'd effectively ruined all the blast doors this hallways must surely contain, so there shouldn't be any more surprises of this sort any time soon. All that would remain would be the hidden turrets.
And as if reading his mind, Pyrrha neared him. "Leave any of the other defenses to me – my semblance should be more than enough to take care of them. Just focus on clearing us a path if any more obstacles like the blast doors appear," she said confidently.
Despite the circumstances, Jaune smiled a little, his partner's confidence and faith in him doing wonders. "You can count on that." But he wasn't just about to acknowledge only one of his friends and not the other two. "Nora, back me up just in case. Ren, any turrets Pyrrha possibly can't deal with, shoot them down."
Nora smirked viciously. "You got it, fearless leader!"
Ren nodded. "Let's get a move on, then."
That taken care of, the four of them resumed their advance.
Sure enough, as they traveled deeper into this hallway and came upon a split path, more turrets made themselves known. Pyrrha swept out both her arms and practically made them freeze in place. However, more turrets that hadn't been activated before now appeared behind them, the slight whirring sound that accompanied their appearance filling Jaune's ears. But he didn't worry a single bit on that front, for Ren, who was watching their rear, immediately pivoted and opened fire on the turrets there.
As the turrets were being dealt with, Jaune mentally went over the basic layout of the ship and used that knowledge to pick the path that would lead them to their intended destination more quickly. No sooner than when he made his choice, a blast door started to slam down.
Due to how close he was to said closing blast door, he opted to forego using his blades in favor of his bare hands, or rather just one bare hand. Using his right hand, he reached up and slammed his open palm against the very bottom of the blast door with incredible force, his strength more than sufficient in stopping it dead cold. Not only that, but he outright caved in the blast door even as it slowly retracted back into the ceiling.
Alas, this was but one blast door out of many, with more blast doors beginning to slam down haphazardly up ahead. Undeterred, he unsheathed the very same blade from before and repeated his attack, the resulting flames melting through them all like nothing.
As they immediately headed down their chosen path, the entirety of JNPR remained completely alert, more so than ever before, just in case these were but a few of the ships' remaining surprises.
To their surprise, however, as soon as they made it past the blast doors Jaune had just annihilated, nothing else of note seemed to happen. Either those had been the only things still functional aboard this section of the crashing ship or their target simply opted to stop with these actions in light of how pointless it was.
Either way, Jaune wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, but that didn't mean he was going to be taking things easy. With all the things now going on, if anything, now more than ever was the time for him to go full throttle. Not even his eventual rematch with Hazel – which would happen, he could feel it – was making him as anxious as he was feeling right now.
Reaching for his blades and gripping two of them, his grip tightened dangerously.
Whoever this person is, for them to have this kind of power over the ships and their systems… he knew not what to expect of their combat capabilities, but in a way, they were even more dangerous than Hazel is… and that didn't bode well at all.
For even if they could thwart this new crisis, if the person responsible was able to get away, there was no telling just what else they might be capable of in the future.
But of course, that was one thing, he would never allow to come to pass either.
No, as much as killing still pained him even after all this time, this was a person who had to be dealt with permanently lest they only continue their own brand of terror.
And come hell or high water, he will do just that.
Watts huffed as he monitored Jaune Arc and his team through the still functioning cameras.
On the one hand, seeing how easily and efficiently the four were dealing with the blast doors and turrets was honestly rather impressive, admirable even. On the other hand, it certainly made his grand thoughts of putting them through trials and tribulations completely anti-climatic.
Ah, well, it was his fault for letting himself get carried away like that.
In any case, seeing how poorly he was doing in slowing them down, Watts could only cease his actions and now merely wait for them to reach his location. It wasn't as if he had the luxury of moving away from this console just yet. His technopathy, for all the power it afforded him, had its limits. It was only thanks to using this ship's systems as an extension that he was able to go beyond the current limitations of his technopathy, which is what had allowed him to tamper with the comms system the way he has so far. And it was thanks to this that he was able to reach out to and force the other ships to head forth on collision courses above Vale, though the technicians aboard those ships were still doing a good job in trying to regain control from him, not that it would do them any good.
Alas, while the systems of this ship and the other ones were providing him with a considerable boost, this also meant he had to remain in direct contact with the main console here until he could ensure it was too late for the crews aboard the other ships to alter course. If he lifted his hands off the console, his control over the ships would wane substantially, though not completely now that he's established a connection with them. But he'd still have to remain close to the console to ensure that connection remains stable. Get too far away and the connection will be lost.
And he was absolutely certain that at the very least he will have to remove his hands once Jaune Arc and the other teens arrive here… but that wasn't too big a concern for him. After all, he still had his virtual space.
Watts allowed himself a chuckle.
In a conventional battle, he'd very highly doubt his odds of triumphing over Jaune Arc. Though his physical abilities have improved greatly thanks to the Eternal Motor's energy, Jaune Arc's capabilities were still at a level only Hazel could rival and potentially outdo. That wasn't even getting into actual skill either.
But the battle about to come wasn't going to be a conventional one. His virtual space, which still had plenty of room to grow, would give him an edge that no one else, not Jaune Arc, not even Hazel and perhaps not even Salem herself, could hope to match in a similar way.
"Ah… And it would seem the prelude to my victory over James is just about to begin," he said to himself as the cameras just outside the command center fed him a live feed of team JNPR approaching.
Sure enough, the doors to this area was blown right off their hinges thanks to that grenade launcher using girl.
In strolled Jaune Arc, flanked by his teammates, the four of them swiftly surveying the entire area before locking their gazes onto his back.
As that happened, Watts allowed himself yet another little chuckle as excitement began to bubble up from within.
Looks like the overture to his little play of chaos was over. Time for the next part.
Jaune's eyes narrowed as they locked onto the back of the sole occupant in the room. The complete lack of bodies had not gone unnoticed by him and it was making the hairs on the back of his neck stand at attention.
No way this man had somehow forced the entire crew to abandon the ship. If that had happened, then downed comms system or not, others would've noticed that. So that meant the crew had been disposed of another way, killed… but how? In what way could they be unjustly slain that would leave not even a single trace of them left?
He withdrew the blades he'd been clasping onto – the gravity Dust blade and the ice Dust blade. He had no idea how agile this man may be, but regardless, it'd do him and his friends some good to seal off his movements as soon as possible, hence his choice of blades for his opening move.
"Well, well, I have to say, you four certainly mean business," the man said, his deep voice contrasting with how lanky his frame is. As the man turned his head slightly, enough for Jaune to notice his well-groomed facial features and cold green eyes, he smirked. "Color me impressed, Mr. Arc."
Upon hearing his surname, Jaune's posture shifted slightly. "So…" the teen began slowly. "I take it you're one of Hazel's accomplices." He didn't even bother wording it as a question, for the answer seemed woefully obvious to him and his friends, all of whom spread out a little and took up their usual combat stances. They were ready to move in a veritable heartbeat. The only reason why none of them have just jumped the guy yet was because they knew not how he was controlling the ships just yet. For all they knew, any sudden moves on their part could just worsen things.
"That I am. This may sound strange to you, but it's quite the honor to meet you in person, circumstances aside," the man said, his hands upon the main console and remaining perfectly still. "You see, my ally is one of a kind in terms of power… or so I thought until I learned of your existence. And when I observed your second battle with Hazel from my safe little part of Vale, I couldn't help but be in awe… the data provided by your battle had done wonders for me, you see. In a way, you and Hazel both have helped me achieve one of my greatest desires. For that, how can I not consider this meeting between us an honor?"
"Then perhaps out of that honor, you'd be willing to stop what you're doing?" Jaune's question was a rhetorical one and they all knew it. No one associated with Hazel and thus with Salem would be so easily swayed into surrendering, especially not a person who was in the middle of causing a disaster that would make everything that's come before look like nothing in comparison.
The man let out a loud bark of laughter, practically doubling over in place. He turned his head to better look Jaune in the eyes… and this time, the man's eyes were glowing. "Oh, I'd much prefer a different course of action instead…"
Alarm bells went off in Jaune's mind and the teen immediately reacted. "Move!" he yelled to his friends just as he prepared to defend against what was coming – but not quickly enough.
In an instant, nearly the entirety of the room gained a green-ish tint to it as something – aura – suddenly engulfed them all. That man's aura.
And right before Jaune's very eyes, space itself exploded without even the slightest bit of warning. He'd barely gotten his blades up in time to shield his face, but it still knocked him well off his feet and towards the nearest wall, blasting him several meters with all the force of truckload of grenades.
"…!" As he got blasted back, he could vaguely hear Ren nearby make a little sound of surprise as the R of JNPR leapt out of the way just in time to avoid the portion of the floor he'd been standing on suddenly rose. Had he not moved in time, he'd have been launched head-first into the ceiling.
Alas, this ultimately achieved nothing, for a wave of flames suddenly manifested out of thin air and washed over Ren. The R of JNPR cried out in shock and pain and went rolling along the floor as he put out what flames had remained upon his body.
"Ren!" Nora cried out in horror only for that horror to turn to rage and the girl immediately switched Magnhild into its hammer form and charged at the man.
Only for a wall that hadn't been there before to manifest itself and impede her way. It was so sudden in its appearance that she ended up slamming into awkwardly and couldn't do anything as the wall promptly and unceremoniously slid along the floor into it sandwiched her with immense force against the actual wall.
Back on his feet now, Jaune assessed his friends' states and it was only the fact they were alive that kept him from losing his cool, though only barely.
So far, Pyrrha was the only one to remain unharmed, if only due to the redhead using her impressive, hard-earned, battles instincts and agility to leap over some barely visible rock formation that would've otherwise crashed into her knees. This was immediately followed up by the redhead opening fire on the man, whose back had yet to even shift this whole time. But even then…
"What?!" Pyrrha cried out when her bullets suddenly diverted in their paths, circling around the man before correcting their course and continuing onwards, harmlessly striking the farthest wall.
The man laughed, still not even shifting his posture. "To think even you would be so terribly taken aback… how very satisfying."
Reality itself seemed to shift and a sphere of water formed around Pyrrha. His partner gasped from the surprise, which proved to be a mistake as whatever air she had in her lungs was lost and now she was drowning within that sphere, unable to do anything. Not even when she tried to use her semblance to yank herself out of the water sphere did anything change.
Immediately, Jaune sheathed one of his blades and withdrew his fire Dust one for the third time. He unleashed yet another wave of flames, which proved hot enough to instantly evaporate the water sphere even though his target was the man.
"…!" And this time, the man seemed alarmed – and promptly moved to his left to avoid being struck even though the flames had lessened noticeably by the time they'd even reached him.
The man then grimaced, one of his hands now off the main console and was now fully looking at Jaune. "Ah… I should've seen that coming."
No longer in the mood to chat, Jaune didn't bother retorting. Instead, he just moved.
He pounced like a gazelle at the man, moving at a speed that did seem to take the man aback and proceeded to swing his other blade, the one with gravity Dust in it. He swung at the spot just before the man's body, his aura empowered swing activating the Dust and creating a literal vacuum, much like how he'd done earlier in the sewers, only this time it was noticeably much more powerful.
The man was very nearly sucked within the void in an instant, only for reality itself to seemingly shift and the vortex was isolated, thereby cutting off its effects. It'd still had the effect of getting the man fully away from the console, however, which was all that mattered to Jaune, especially since he immediately noticed how the ship slowed considerably in its suicidal course of action.
And that wasn't all he was noticing either…
By now, both Ren and Nora were back on their feet and ready for some payback. A quick and subtle hand signal on his part was all it took to direct their actions. In unison, the two life-long friends made their move, the former fired off several quick shots to grab the man's attention before rushing in. And just as the man focused on Ren, Nora had circled around behind him and with Magnhild in its more compact form, fired two grenades at his back.
Alas, the man sensed this coming for reality shifted again and the grenades exploded well before hitting their mark. Jaune saw what had happened – the way the very material making up the grenades had contorted and compacted in on itself, setting off the detonation mechanic early. Clever. However, it wasn't quite enough, for the explosions still proved big and strong enough to make the man stagger a little, giving Ren ample time to get in close and start swinging Stormflower in a flurry of elegant and precise strikes.
Jaune glanced to Pyrrha, who was now back up and also itching for some action and nodded to her, getting a nod. The two of them now started to advance while the man was forced to dodge Ren's attacks, even at times using his very hands to bat aside some of the blows that would've otherwise landed.
Pyrrha charged in now, transforming her weapon into its javelin form and hurling it with perfect accuracy at where the man's head was going to be in next. While that happened, Jaune put away one of his blades and drew out his lightning Dust one, charging it.
As that happened, Nora switched Magnhild back to its hammer form and waited. No sooner than when Jaune saw her get into position did Pyrrha's attack meet its mark – or so it seemed. At the very last possible instant, the man managed to exploit an opening in Ren's offensive and land a wild punch that was strong enough to clearly knock all the air right out of the teen and blast him back towards a wall, cratering it. Just as he did that, he also looked towards Pyrrha's javelin and his eyes glowed that brilliant green again and a small explosion occurred that clearly ignored physics, shooting outwards and blasting the incoming weapon back at the redhead.
Undeterred, however, Pyrrha just used her semblance to make her own weapon circle around her and shift it into its xiphos form just as Pyrrha swung an open hand at their foe. Her weapon flew into her open grip just before fully unleashing her swing and so it took the man off guard, forcing him to sidestep and quickly pedal to his right. But before he could get even more than a few feet away, Pyrrha's semblance went into action again and tore the flooring up, causing him to nearly fall onto his ass.
And just like that, she was upon him, continuing the offensive from where Ren had left off. Ideally, Pyrrha would've been aiding Ren in pressuring the man while Jaune and Nora prepared their biggest possible strikes to land simultaneously, but with Ren just barely pulling himself out of the wall, that was a no go. Even so, Pyrrha showed why she was so highly praised by showcasing even greater ability than ever before, all that time spent training paying off wonders.
Unfortunately…
Jaune grimaced. Just as he'd finished charging up his strike as much as possible, that man decided to showcase what else he could do with that odd ability of his by way of suddenly disappearing from where he was. This wasn't some sudden burst of speed or whatnot – this man just straight up relocated himself to the opposite side of the room. Some type of teleportation? Was that even possible?
Jaune knew not, but what he did know was this was bad. Sure enough, with none of them being near the man now, the man swiftly regained that previously cocky expression of his, though with a tint of irritation now too. This irritation manifested by the entire room beginning to shake immensely – and only this room.
So great was the vibrational anomaly that it immediately sent Pyrrha and Nora sprawling to the floor, their auras flashing wildly as they struggled to protect their users and failing as whatever damage they were taking was too much for aura to prevent. Ren, who'd just barely gotten up, went stumbling back into the wall, nearly unconscious.
But Jaune was getting it the worst. For some reason, the very spot he was in was suffering much more extremely from this anomaly than the rest of the room, indicating a level of control the man had over this ability of his that far outstripped that of anything Jaune could recall seeing before. Nonetheless, he remained standing, still charging up his attack.
However, just because he was able to still stand strong didn't mean he wasn't suffering any damage. If anything, he was taking it badly as the vibrations seemed to literally seep within his very body, rupturing organs and fracturing his bones.
Wincing as he felt his eardrums pop and his skull begin to crack, he unleashed his attack. The arc of lightning shot forth at a speed just above that of natural lightning, a speed that proved to be just a bit too much for the man to handle. Though he could clearly perceive the attack, judging by how his eyes widened after firing, he lacked the actual speed to outstrip it, though he tried nonetheless.
The man was able to relocate himself again, but not before the lightning clipped him. Reappearing near the console and placing a hand on it again, more to steady himself than anything, the man let out a haggard breath as the lightning had ended up scorching his entire right side.
Good, Jaune thought, that should hopefully slow him down a bit. But it was still far from enough; the ship and presumably the other ships too, may have slowed considerably, but their suicidal courses were still ongoing.
"…" Immediately, he swapped out one blade for his hard-light dust blade while swapping out the other one for the blade containing wind Dust. He needs speedy attacks here.
Immediately, he charged at his top speed and beyond, his power growing as always even as his injuries were aggravated from his sudden movements. Thankfully, the vibrations had ceased upon the man being injured so that meant his own aura should be healing him up soon enough.
Due to how little distance there was between them, Jaune was right up in the man's face pretty much instantly. Concentrating aura into his blades, he prepared to unleash the respective effects he'd discovered he could use with these Dust types – wind Dust to vastly increase cutting efficiency and hard-light Dust that, when gently 'nudged' by his aura, could be fired out as a concentrated beam of bluish light that actually traveled at the speed of light.
There was absolutely no way this man could do anything about these respective attacks, not when he was this up close – or so Jaune had hoped. True, the man's physical capabilities were abnormal, but nowhere near to the same degree as his own or Hazel's. Same thing went for actual combat skill, it seemed. However, his other abilities were a different story entirely.
And the man indicated this once more by teleporting him instead. One instant, Jaune had been about to land his respective attacks on his foe, and the very next instant, he was in midair, directly facing the floor – and so, when his attacks which were far too late for him to stop, were unleashed, he ended up cutting through a solid portion of the ship instead.
In fact, he quite literally ended up cutting all the way down to the very bottom of the ship and pierced its hull entirely, causing a crazy amount of turbulence as the wind from outside rushed in violently. Were it not for him stabbing one of his blades into the side as he fell into the massive hole he'd made, he would have likely gone falling out of the ship.
Jaune honestly couldn't believe it. He'd thought he could land two hard strikes on the man, but ultimately to no avail.
Just about the only good thing to come out of this failure is that he now knew for sure what the man's ability is… and it was honestly a scary thing, but one with a few apparent weaknesses.
"…!" Jaune let out a sound of pure shock.
Before, the greenish tint generated by the man had only encompassed most of the room they'd been in, but now it suddenly seemed to expand and the blond found himself once more enveloped by it as the greenish tint reached down a solid floor or two now.
Instantly, Jaune started to pull himself, prepared to even throw himself back up even if it cost him a blade if that's what it would take – but just before he could do so, that man opted to give him just one more little surprise.
As the very metal all around him suddenly contorted and slammed against him, effectively sealing the hole with himself as the new core, Jaune could only flail about hopelessly. A certain level of genuine fear overtook him, but not out of regard for himself-.
-His friends. They were still trapped up there with that man.
Watts let out a quiet sigh of pure relief. That had actually been pretty close. He'd seen the way Jaune Arc's eyes had gleamed – the blond had been figuring out how his virtual space worked.
The very thought actually got Watts to shudder a little. Though the blond may not have figured out exactly what his virtual space is, he'd been piecing together what it allowed Watts to do – that is, it allowed Watts to generate and alter phenomena damn near as he pleased. From morphing parts of the floor into something else entirely like a simple wall made out of stone normally found in some valley to spontaneously generating flames or lighting or ice or even making the very fabric of space itself explode. He could even perform something akin to teleportation by shifting his very form from one set of coordinates to another set instantly.
On that note, that's exactly what he'd done to get the blond out of his hair just now and not an instant too soon. Had those attacks landed… Watts tried not to dwell on that.
But what he could dwell on…
He shifted his attention to Jaune Arc's teammates, who were just barely getting back up. Those vibrations he'd created not even a minute ago had really done a number on them. As is it is, he could just leave them be… he really should as a matter of fact.
After all, as quick as this battle had been, he'd gotten what he wanted – to test his mettle against Jaune Arc and further expand upon his abilities, both of which he'd accomplished. Naturally, he was never going to be able to match the teen in direct combat, but after dodging and weaving through the other male's attacks, Watts could now affirm that his physical prowess exceeded his pre-operation self's capabilities by at least a factor of ten. And just now, prior to him effectively sealing Jaune Arc away, his virtual space's size had grown considerably.
Alas, the takeover of this particular ship and especially this fight just now had taught him there were indeed some limitations to what he can do with his virtual space. For one thing, while he may be able to freely generate and alter phenomena as he pleased, he couldn't do the same when it came to lifeforms, which is to say, other people. Well, not easily at any rate. He supposed this was due to how terribly complex bodies can be, what with the structure of bones and muscle tissue and skin in addition to the organs and nervous system. He could affect such things, but with nowhere near the same level of speed and efficiency that he could do so with other things due to all the moving around that occurs naturally, be it the person themselves rushing about or even the flow of blood within their veins.
Which brought about the second noticeable limitation. That is, his own computational abilities. Because everything now appeared to him in the form of ones and zeros, he had to first calculate how to change something before being able to enact said changes. With human bodies, there were just too many variables to account for at any one time – did he just want to affect a person's skin, make it combustible, or did he also want to make some changes to their bones or organs as well? Such thoughts plagued him during his calculations, which is partly why there is such a slow down when it came to directly affecting people's bodies, though so long as they weren't moving around much, it was perfectly doable.
But this ties into the third limitation – the changes he can enact were limited by coordinates. He can't just make a wave of explosions appear with just a single whimsical thought or cause a miniature volcano to appear and erupt or whatever. He had to first think of which spots he wished to enact changes in, confirm the coordinates of said spots and then begin his calculations. In practice, this wasn't too bad for he was used to thinking on the fly to such extents but targeting living beings when they were moving about only made the already tough task of directly affecting them that much tougher. Thankfully, the crew aboard this ship had been more than easy enough for him to subdue and test out how far he can take his abilities.
To think he could outright disintegrate people by literally breaking them down to individual atoms… truly an impressive feat. A pity he had to blow off their limbs or otherwise inflict enough damage to keep them immobilized for him to test out what he could do directly to them in the first place. But perhaps in time, this is a weakness he could overcome. In any case, this had proved most handy in cleaning up the resulting… messes.
But that aside, there was still one final limitation he possessed, one that he just learned during the very brief exchanges he'd had with Jaune Arc. While Dust was far from a natural phenomenon, the effects they produced such as fire, wind, water, ice and so on were natural phenomena and thus he could alter those things as he pleased… but not the aura involved in those attacks. Normally, most people don't use enough aura in their Dust attacks for their aura to stand out, but Jaune Arc was an obvious exception, which is why only now he'd noticed this particular limit of his. Since aura wasn't a phenomenon found out in nature but was rather something produced directly by people's and animal's souls, it was therefore something he couldn't affect in the slightest.
Could that change, however? Could he one day push his limits to such a degree that not even people's very souls would be off limits to the power of his virtual space? Watts honestly couldn't even fathom such a thing. Nonetheless, he would strive for such an absurd goal, if only to see how far he can get.
Limitations aside, however, his true limitation was that of his imagination. He'd have to get much more creative if he wished to use his virtual space to its fullest potential.
A groan interrupted his thoughts and he snapped his head in the direction of that sound in time to see the redheaded teen begin to fully get back on her feet. He put a stop to that with the generation of a simple explosion, earning quite a lovely cry out of the girl as she went sailing back and slammed hard into the floor.
As an added precaution, he made the nearest wall and spot upon the floor that the three teens were closest to suddenly spring up and engulf them partially, trapping them, not unlike how he'd trapped Jaune Arc just a minute ago.
But the difference between trapping them just now and trapping the blond teen, however, is that in the latter's case, it was far from a guarantee. Oh, if anything, Watts was certain the teen would be breaking free of his unconventional restraints momentarily. In which case, Watts must act fast.
Immediately, he placed his hands upon the console and fully focused back on his original task.
Whatever headway the technicians aboard the other ships had made during his little brawl just now was swiftly undone and whatever course corrections they'd made were altered so that the ships would eventually crash once again over Vale. However, the time spent fighting Jaune Arc and his friends, despite how brief it'd been, had been enough to strip his control over the ships' speed, so now there wouldn't be any collisions going on for at least another twenty minutes or so. A pity, but at least said collisions would be inevitable so long as he can ensure it'll be too late for any last-minute changes to save them.
Watts leaned over the console, doing his best to ensure the courses he plotted out remained as such, more so when the technicians nonetheless tried to combat his machinations. To his consternation, it would seem the control he'd lost just a moment ago had been enough to embolden the other ships' crews significantly – they must practically punching in the keys on their keyboards at Mach speeds right now, trying to launch a more effective counterattack.
The former Atlas scientist did his best to suppress a grimace. This was actually proving to be quite the challenge. It wasn't so much the sheer number of alterations he was trying to fight off that was now straining him, but rather it was just the persistence behind such efforts. They just weren't slowing down in the slightest.
In this respect, they might as well be the non-physical version of Jaune Arc, what with how stubborn they were in continuing to defeat him. No matter, this was still perfectly doable for him, it'd just take that much more effort from him.
Unfortunately, it wasn't simply effort that was required of him, but also time – time that he now realized he didn't have.
Though restrained, Jaune Arc's teammates were beginning to fully come around and he could already hear them struggle against the metal restraints he'd made. The redhead in particular was struggling particularly hard, the man detecting magnetism at work which was yet another thing he had to focus on suppressing. It was only the fact that they wouldn't be breaking free of their current restraints that kept him calm. Of course, even if they did manage to break out, it wasn't as if dealing with them would be difficult for him. The only reason he hadn't just killed them yet is because keeping the ships on course took precedence. True, if they do break free, they would certainly do their best to disrupt his concentration, but that was a risk he'd have to take since by the time they attempt that, it should be too late for them to make a difference.
"…Ah!"
Alas, priorities have a way of suddenly rearranging themselves. And reality itself certainly seemed to have its way of making such facts obvious.
One moment, he'd just been focusing on the console and on keeping the redhead's polarity usage suppressed, but then in the very next moment, something cracked.
That is, his virtual space cracked.
He couldn't actually see the crack, but he'd heard it and hell, he'd even felt it down to his very core. Due to virtual space being essentially a projection of his aura that was coming directly from his soul, the sensation now coursing through him was far from pleasant. Indeed, it felt almost as if someone had just directly grabbed an organ and was giving it a hard squeeze.
It took all he had to remain upright, using the console itself to keep his balance as steady as possible. His control over the ships' flight paths was now beginning to wane and that took a whole new level of effort to keep his control in place.
But then, his virtual space began to crack just a bit more and caused a whole new level of unpleasantness to rip right through him. And this time, he could see where the cracking was coming from.
From the very same spot he'd effectively trapped Jaune Arc in.
"H-How…?" he muttered, unaware of just how loud his unfinished question was nor of how much disbelief tinged his tone.
However, he knew how this was happening… or at least had an idea.
The thing about semblances is that, for as often as people espouse semblances being unique reflections of their own souls and whatnot, there were plenty of them out there that effectively did the same thing. What really mattered is how each semblance worked. For example, semblances that grant its users super speed. In one case, this might be done by converting them into a bolt of lightning and in another case, greater speed is achieved by being able to outright ignore friction. Maybe another semblance out there lets the user achieve faster speeds via extremely personalized control over air or through a glyph or some other method. In any case, the end result is always the same – super speed, if only to varying degrees.
It was because of things like this, however, that sometimes it was especially hard to figure out what exactly a semblance is supposed to do from an overall perspective… and this was especially true in the case of Jaune Arc.
Watts didn't have the slightest clue what the blond teen's semblance is nor what exactly it's meant to do, but from the footage of his battle against Hazel in Vale and from his own up close observations moments ago, the mustachioed man had come to a conclusion over how it's meant to achieve its grand purpose:
Aura amplification.
Yes, Jaune Arc's semblance, seemingly passive in nature from what he could discern, went about its intended task by allowing the teen to constantly amp his own aura. The more aura one had, the more often they could use their semblances and the hits they could endure before their aura is extinguished and they suffer genuine harm, at least outside of circumstances where their aura can only mitigate some of the incoming damage. However, this was how it should be for most people – normal people.
And Jaune Arc wasn't normal. No, rather than use his aura to provide himself with a full body 'shield' like everyone else does, the boy keeps all that power internalized. The result is all that power instead ends up being used to heal any injuries he endures and more than that, strengthen his body so that it won't happen again. This is in addition to him being able to channel aura into his blades the way he's demonstrated being able to do multiple times now.
But more than that… all these boosts provided to him by his aura amplification seem to be permanent. And all the while, with every new obstacle barring his way, his aura just amps up even more, to the point where even his own body was at risk of being broken down… only to be healed and strengthened more in order to better handle the 'pressure.'
As all this information flitted across Watts' mind, the man couldn't help but shudder terribly as his virtual space slowly started to crack more and more in addition to the very ship itself being shaken and not by him this time but rather by the overwhelming build up of a power greater than anything ever seen before.
"I've… terribly underestimated his potential…!" Watts said, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face while his eyes glowed a brilliant green. Despite how many things he was focusing on already, he tried to nonetheless repair his cracking virtual space and add more layers to the spot where Jaune Arc was still trapped. He had to keep that boy contained for as long as possible.
He tried just about everything he could think of in his current state of mild panic. He shifted the boy's location to somewhere just a bit lower in the ship and tightened all the metal around him so that he couldn't move his limbs freely. He flooded the lower floors with as much water as possible, hoping to outright drown the teen if need be and Hazel's vendetta be damned if the blond ended up dying here. He even generated bursts of electricity to electrocute the water and metal and flash fry the blond if need be…
…And yet, despite this, he could just tell…
"It's not working…!" He wheezed out as his virtual space once again showed signs of cracking.
Long ago, it was theorized that those with greater amounts of aura tended to develop overall stronger constitutions, meaning they didn't get sick as often as those with lower aura levels and could even tolerate certain other things like temperature extremes better than most. However, when a study had been performed, there'd been very little correlation between large amounts of aura and stronger constitutions and thus this only ever remained a faulty theory at best with only a handful of cases where both factors were present keeping the theory from being outright dismissed as a hastily rushed hypothesis.
But through his virtual space, Watts could see all and hear all… and even feel all. And as he watched the effects his actions were having upon Jaune Arc and seeing just how little it seemed to be slowing the teen down at this moment, he wondered if perhaps that theory wasn't just a theory.
Could it be…? Due to how exactly Jaune's internalized aura amplification works, could the constant damage and regeneration his body undergoes with each amp being strengthening it to such impossible levels?!
Whether this was the case or not, Watts didn't know – but what he did know was that in the very instant the thought even crossed his mind, Jaune Arc's aura amped to whole new levels and the boy, demonstrating far greater power than before, now erupted from where he'd been trapped with the force of an actual eruption.
Through the multiple levels to this ship, he rose with a single mighty leap, his very movement cracking Watts' virtual space more severely than ever before in a show of power that outright transcended physical laws.
So great was this new pain that Watts let out a true cry of agony and he went leaping back from the console, all thoughts of remaining in control lost in the pain-induced haze that came over him.
The last thing he could consciously acknowledge seeing was the sight of Jaune Arc making his triumphant return to this level of the ship, his eyes glowing a brilliant – no, an ominous – gold.
And the teen wasn't looking particularly merciful.
Qrow did his best to keep from gulping, which actually proved pretty easy since he was currently in his crow form. Perched atop the branch of a thick tree, he looked outwards to the plains nearby… and it was there that the reason for his fraying nerves lied.
Grimm. More Grimm than he'd ever seen before in one place mingling together, waiting to go on the march.
When Oz had told him of the situation and sent him out here, he'd been expecting a forming horde but this… this just about surpassed every other horde ever recorded by a landslide. There had to be at least a million out there, maybe more.
For the most part, said horde was comprised of the 'basic' types of Grimm native to these lands – Beowulves, Ursas, Nevermores, those kinds. But there were more than just a few Alpha Beowulves, Deathstalkers, Griffons, and even a handful of Goliaths out there too. Of course, not like a horde this size would be easy to deal with even if it'd been made up only of the basic Beowulves and Ursas, but the numbers he was seeing here regarding the older and stronger types was only making it that much harder for the veteran huntsman to keep his wits about him.
A little caw came from beside him – his oh so lovely (and yes, all sarcasm intended) sister in her own raven form, perched alongside him and observing the horde's movements too. Even in bird form, Raven managed to still make her bitchiness known by way of an eyeroll, or at least as close to an eyeroll as her current form allowed, as if she was ashamed of his reaction.
Were they in their original human forms, he'd be firing back a couple of witty barbs but since he was a crow, the best he could do was manage an odd huffing sound as if to say she was handling this any better than he was.
He'll consider Raven turning her beak away a minor victory, if only because it meant he was right.
But really, let's be honest here – who could possibly look upon a horde this size and not be unnerved by the sight? Not even Raven, for all her power as both a seasoned huntress and a Maiden, would dare to write off a Grimm horde as being something insignificant.
What really made this sight all the more worrying to observe, however, was the sheer amount of debris that was just barely visible from this distance, strewn about the area.
Numerous bullheads and other sorts of aircrafts… despite the Grimm having not advanced all that much, they certainly haven't been so inactive as to let themselves be observed by others.
That some of the downed ships clearly suffered damage not caused by Grimm also indicated that Hazel Rainart – who Oz had made known to him was likely leading the growing horde – was around and had been doing his nefarious part in keeping the horde as much of a secret as possible.
Unable to bear the sight any longer, Qrow hopped off the branch and flew deeper into the forest as to avoid being seen by any Grimm. Raven followed after him and in unison, the Branwen siblings returned to their human forms.
"Alright, Rav," Qrow began, calling his sister by a shortened version of her name. "You're always boasting of how bad a bitch you are. Want to try wiping out the horde for us? I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines if that'll get you motivated."
Raven huffed. "Even I'm not so battle-hungry as to jump into that. I can't believe I let you talk me into this absurd recon job. Wasn't it enough for Ozpin to send out so many other huntsmen that clearly haven't returned? That alone should've been an indicator as to how bad things have gotten."
At that, Qrow had to grimace because he honestly agreed with her but wasn't about to grant the bandit leader that little victory.
Not long ago at all, Ozpin had called him up and informed him of the situation, the horde included. With preventing the Relic of Knowledge from falling into Salem's hands being a bust, the ancient wizard had decided it'd now be best for Qrow, who'd been on his way back to Vale, to circle around along with Raven and scope out just how big of a horde was gathering more or less outside Vale's walls.
It'd been a hell of time, dragging his tired and drunken ass all the way out here on such short notice and at such high speeds too, but it'd had to be done. Despite all the huntsmen and ships going 'missing,' it was important to see just how big a horde they were going to deal with in order to make better preparations, but still, it felt redundant if you ask him.
His mood hadn't exactly been uplifted by Raven's bitching the whole time here and the very sight of the horde wasn't doing him any favors either.
Oh well, not like sitting on his ass and getting plastered like usual would've accomplished anything good. Still, he was going to need one strong drink once he made it back to Vale, if only to help keep his jitters under control.
Because the very air around these parts… it felt off, like, really off. And not just because of all the Grimm still gathering around either.
"Look, how about this, then?" Qrow decided to say. "We go out there, kill as many Grimm as we can handle and then book it once the rest decide to give chase? We try leading them away from Vale's general direction for as long as we can before shifting back into our bird forms and we shake them off and you use your semblance to take us back to Oz."
Such a plan won't result in that big of a dent in the Grimm horde, but however many they can kill off, the better. And if they can lead at least a few hundred or even a thousand Grimm on a wild goose chase, then all the better. It won't stop the horde from eventually marching towards Vale, but it'd delay it a little longer for Oz and the always antsy James to maybe shore up some better defensive measures.
Of course, the problem with this plan is that it would require Raven to be willing to play ball.
And the way his sister folded her arms over her chest said it all. "If you really think that'll make a difference in the long run, then you've let alcohol rot your brain far too much. Even if we – meaning me, as the Spring Maiden – can kill off several hundred or so Grimm and lead just as many more away, that won't stop Grimm from joining the horde from the opposite end of the area. And if this Hazel really is like Salem, some kind of Grimm ruler, then I'm sure he'll just issue an order to keep them in line."
Qrow sighed. She had a point, sadly enough. "Well, then what do you want to do, eh? We could just up and leave, sure… but then the horde for sure will get even larger before marching on Vale and we're not gonna stand a damn chance. And before you say you'll just retreat back to the tribe in Mistral, you know Salem's just gonna pull the same damn shit over there eventually and there's no way you and the rest of the tribe will survive that. Face it, sis, you might be able to live just a little longer than those of us in Vale, but not really by that much. We either at least try something now and maybe, just maybe make some kind of difference or we do nothing and definitely make no difference at all."
Raven stared at him. He stared right on back. For just half a minute, the very forest around them and the horde not so far away might as well not exist to the Branwen twins. Such was the intensity of their little stare down.
Finally, Raven sighed, admitting defeat or at least coming as close to admitting defeat as she ever would.
"If we're really going to do this, then I'd say we try to locate this Hazel guy instead. If he really is so important a figure to the Grimm now, then maybe if we target him and get the Grimm to shift their priorities, it could change things up a little," she said as she turned her back to him.
"We could," Qrow said neutrally, not wanting to say or do anything to get Raven to reconsider her decision. He could understand his sister's selfish but ultimately pragmatic approach to doing things, he really could… but Raven could be pragmatic to the point of outright cowardice. He considered himself a pragmatist and a realist too, but sometimes one had to buckle down and prepare for some truly idealistic bullshit if they really wanted to achieve something. Not that he was planning to do some heroic self-sacrifice or anything, but at the end of the day he was the type of guy to go down swinging.
"Then let's get a move on," Raven said as she lightly jumped into the air and shifted into her raven form an instant later.
Qrow immediately followed suit and together, they took off.
Neither one both discussing just where exactly to go looking for the person in question amongst that ridiculous number of Grimm. For there was hardly any real need to.
From what little Qrow had learned of Hazel from Oz and thus what info he'd passed onto Raven, Hazel wasn't the sort of man to let others fight for him.
Thus, there was really only one place the man could possibly be – at the front of the horde.
Hazel stood at the very front of the entire Grimm horde, his massive frame deathly still as he was lost deep in his thoughts.
For the past several days or so, as the horde behind him had really started to form up, numerous ships and huntsmen had been sent out to these parts – forces that Ozpin had no doubt clearly sent after noticing something amiss. Hazel had been all too quick to respond to these unwanted recon units, having dealt with them with all proper levels of force…
…Or so he tried to make himself believe.
However, as his changes continued and the sensitivity to negativity grew, he found himself becoming quite snappish as of late, his own emotions feeling as if they were just one minor push from just overwhelming him. And whenever a new ship or batch of huntsmen had been sent out here and he'd detected him, he'd been all too quick to lose his cool and respond with more force than was really necessary.
As a result, quite literally nothing remained of those foolish enough to come here on foot and as for the ships, well, whenever he didn't simply have the Nevermores and Griffons tear them apart, he'd been quick to just blast them to complete smithereens with his own growing magical powers.
The man grimaced and held his head for just a moment. For the past ten or so minutes, the negativity he could pick up from Vale had spiked tremendously and it threatened to overwhelm him more so than anything else from before.
He's long since considered himself a misanthrope, his many years of battle and being exposed to the worst elements of humanity having worn away at his very soul. His sister's untimely and easily preventable death had only worsened things that much more.
And now that he was able to actually feel just how much darkness humanity had bottled up inside, well…
"Is it even worth it…?" he murmured to himself as he subconsciously reached for some Dust crystals. As he pulled out a few and held them absentmindedly in his massive hands, he asked aloud a question he'd been pondering for a long time now. "Is it even worth being human?"
To him, it's long since felt like being human was to subject oneself to a lifetime of trials and tribulations, a lifetime of pain. Such was life, that's just how it is… but the very fact that the potential for positive change was there and yet humanity as a whole never seemed to even consider taking it… it infuriated him to an unbelievable degree.
No, more than that, it just flat out enraged him.
For so many years, he'd dedicated himself to saving and helping others, to defeating any threat to entire populations. He'd done quite a good job at that if he said so himself, but in the end, had his efforts really accomplished anything? No, it felt like he hasn't. No matter how many people had genuinely expressed gratitude to him – at first, anyways – it'd only been a matter of time until they did the very same thing that invited trouble to them in the first place. And later, when he'd begun encountering people out to manipulate him for their own ends, all he could see was people not only intentionally inviting ruin upon themselves, but people that seemed outright eager to do so.
And it wasn't as if he'd been the only fool out there enslaved to their desire of being a hero – all throughout history, there'd been countless individuals who'd gone around saving others and had been lauded as heroes as a direct result… but all for what? No matter how many people out there had let themselves be ruled by some pathetic desire to be 'heroes,' humanity had yet to truly change. Certainly, people as a whole were more tolerant nowadays of differences between them as opposed to how horribly racist and xenophobic they'd been in the past, but that was really it. Even after all these centuries, people still indulged in the same self-destructive and hateful things that the people of old have. And yes, people may say change is slow to enact… but it's been far too long. Far, far too long.
Yes, Hazel thought, humanity was just a lost cause. In which case, was it really something he could bring himself to continue associating with any longer?
"…" He made a sound, unidentifiable to even himself.
The now perpetual wave of negativity kept on grinding away at his sanity and very sense of self… and as tough a man as he is, he was just so very tired of it all. Even he had his limits and quite frankly, he was reaching those limits right about now.
Yes, he was… he was tired of humanity. Tired of being human.
At that particular thought, he held the Dust crystals tightly. At first, he'd feared the changes his body and soul have been going through recently… but now? Perhaps, there was a reason for him to go through these changes in the first place. Perhaps he was being shown another and better way of living.
"…!"
He came to a decision.
And so, as he closed his eyes, he raised the Dust crystals high – and proceeded to stab them directly into his forearms. A quiet roar escaped his throat as the crystals were immediately absorbed in their entirety by his body, the changes within him allowing the absorption of the crystals at a speed far surpassing what he'd been capable of before.
Magic now coursed through him at greater levels than ever before, further speeding up his changes and enacting new ones… but it still wasn't enough.
Even as he was hunching off, Hazel reached for the remainder of the Dust crystals he had on his person and quickly jammed them into his skin with all the strength he could muster. Like the other ones, they were taken into his body quickly and their energies were swiftly absorbed and began to circulate within him.
An split second later, these magical energies, energies left behind by the God of Darkness himself, began to coalesce within his very soul, dyeing it anew. From there, these changes spilled forth and began to alter his very form himself – and not gently at that.
A sensation of power so great that it threatened to tear asunder his very existence engulfed Hazel completely – and as it now overflowed, the changes that had been started not so long ago now came to an end.
Hazel let out a roar so loud that it seemed to shake the very heavens themselves.
It was no longer a roar that could be produced by a human, but rather something that belonged to an entirely new type of being, one just born.
And this 'newborn' had but one desire in mind – the desire to destroy.
Yeah, so just to summarize some stuff, Watts' weaknesses regarding his virtual space have now been unveiled – but that's not all. There are still plenty more weaknesses or flaws that can be exploited, but that will be saved for another time. That said, for the limitations he does have, his virtual space is still pretty damn broken – and if given time to further develop, he'll only get more broken until he's eventually at a level comparable to Amenokurato from the Silverio series, who is the character who provided me the idea for Watts' virtual space in the first place.
As for Jaune, his semblance isn't simply aura amplification, but said amplification is a major part of it and is primarily how it functions. So yeah, his semblance here is sort of just an altered version of his canon semblance. Bet you didn't see that coming, eh? Ha ha.
On an aside, him being able to crack Watts' virtual space is more or less a reference to how Christopher Valzelide/Keraunos was able to do something similar to Amenokurato's virtual space in Silverio Trinity Beyond the Horizon. And was accomplished through the same means too, which will be elaborated on later as Jaune's semblance finally gets a proper spotlight on it. Look forward to it.
And finally, Hazel. I like to think I've done a decent job portraying how misanthropic the man has become because of his life circumstances, so hopefully his desire to go through with jabbing the remaining Dust crystals he had on hand isn't coming out of the blue for you guys. Additionally, as stated within his section, the constant negativity washing over him hadn't exactly done wonders for his mental state either, which was a contributing factor to his decision. Again, hope it makes sense.
On an aside, hope my little explanation of how semblances generally operate (i.e. the super speed example given in Watts' section) makes sense. If not, well, I'll figure out a better way to clarify it in future chapters if need be.
As always, thanks for reading, everyone.
Until next time. Stay safe!