Hey there, everyone. Hope you've all been well since the last chapter. And if not, hope things will improve for you soon. As always, be well out there!
Just wanted to say too that I'm glad the last chapter was a good one for you guys. Again, it'd been my fear that the fight between Jaune and Hazel had grown too stale for the finale of it to be entertaining, but it's good to know I was wrong.
Whelp, not going to say too much more here then. Let's get right onto the chapter!
P.S. to RoyalTwinFangs, I actually hadn't considered doing a Kagutsuchi based fic next… probably because if I did, whatever plot I come up with wouldn't be very long, lol. After all, we're talking about the most grossly OP Slave of Light here!
Chapter 57
All throughout Vale, Grimm continued to swarm in droves. Goliaths have managed to smash through more of the southern wall, crippling the kingdom's defenses and killing numerous Atlas soldiers and huntsmen and police officers in the process. More Grimm wasted no time rushing in to take advantage of this bigger opening. For every Nevermore and Griffon shot down, more would arrive to take their place. Additionally, to the shock of everyone, winged Beringels were now starting to fly about Vale's airspace somewhere in the west.
And of course, there was the Wyvern, the great Grimm's size and deafening roars certainly not going unnoticed.
Though none knew it, the death of the monster formerly known as Hazel Rainart had done very little to actually cripple the Grimm horde. Certainly, they were no longer receiving additional orders and tactics to execute, but by now their sheer numbers and instincts were more than enough to make up for this loss.
Buildings were collapsing left and right, if not outright flattened as either entire swarms of Beowulves, Ursas, Boarbatusks and Creepers clawed and slammed right through the structures in search of prey. Deathstalkers were all too quick to follow along, their massive and armored frames acting as natural wrecking balls upon anything that was in their paths, to say nothing of their claws and stingers.
By all rights, this was it – the end of the kingdom. By now, many of people had tired, left with no choice but to expand whatever strength they'd possessed just to try and keep up with the ever-growing onslaught from the forces of darkness. Just like that, brave huntsmen and huntresses, who had otherwise been veterans who could slay entire packs of Grimm in their sleep, were brought low and felled for good, their strength and skill and group tactics little more than minor inconveniences to the beasts.
Morale was low and dropping more and more by the second, which only served as unintended beacons to numerous Grimm. Naturally, said Grimm wasted no time capitalizing on this to pinpoint new prey and swarm in to kill them.
This was it – the end of Vale.
…Or so it seemed at first.
A shift suddenly began. Given just how chaotic the battle was, there was just no way for any one person to figure out just when exactly it had begun, but at some point things just slowly started getting… better.
It was very subtle at first. Many who'd been on the verge of complete and absolute despair slowly regained their fighting spirit, their will to struggle on to live rekindling anew.
Then, if only by a bit at first, everyone slowly found their strength returning. Wild and thus sloppy movements, brought about by the extreme physical and emotional fatigue the people were undergoing, started to regain their previous sharpness. People still died during this interim, but even then, others still found it in themselves to avoid just one more time, deliver just one more counterattack.
Fatigue slowly gave way in its entirety. Clarity returned to the minds of many as morale itself steadily increased.
Today was not to be Vale's end. They could feel it in their very souls.
Fight on, fight on, fight on until the very end and beyond even that… it was that sort of feeling they were getting right now.
Upon that general realization being made, the shift became much more noticeable, drastic even.
Less and less people were being killed off now as their strength not only fully returned but was being increased to whole new heights altogether.
This was by no means some permanent effect nor would it not have consequences afterwards – everyone fighting could just tell that. As what looked like golden particles seemed to coalesce around their very forms, they found their aura being restored rapidly and boosted beyond all prior limits, their bodies gradually growing stronger, just slowly enough for many of them to adjust to the increases with minimal difficulty… which only made them all very briefly wonder just how terribly sore their bodies were going to be after this is all over. After all, just by swinging around their weapons and moving now, it was easy for everyone to tell just how much their own bodies now groaned with every increasingly sharpened movement.
But more than just a simple body and aura strengthening…
"…!" Nora let out a truly impressive war cry as lightning spontaneously sparked all around her, boosting her already surging power to new limits. Despite there being no outside source of lightning, it would seem her semblance had triggered anyways.
The girl, empowered beyond her normal limits, swung her hammer horizontally – and let loose a shockwave so powerful that it effortlessly killed several Deathstalkers nearby in a literal instant.
She was not the only one experiencing such a random thing either – all throughout the kingdom, everyone's semblances were shifting as well to accommodate the newfound power.
One veteran huntsman who could generate grenade level explosions from a distance of a dozen meters away with a finger snap was now able to create numerous explosions powerful enough to level buildings with just the tightening of a fist. More than that, his explosions occurred well past his normal range, devastating several Goliaths that were more than a kilometer away.
A huntress whose semblance allowed here to create up to four copies of a single weapon such as a short sword – dozens in the case of bullets – now found herself able to make a seemingly limitless number of bullet copies for her subweapon – a gatling gun. Without even having to pause to reload anymore, she opened fire with reckless abandon upon a swarm of Nevermore that sought to attack her position atop a high rise.
Meanwhile, Ruby Rose, who'd normally only possessed 'mere' enhanced speed and some degree of flight control, was practically doing short range teleports, dispersing into rose petals only to then reform elsewhere just a meter or so away. By no means a great distance – but enough to easily keep the Grimm after her on their toes whilst she peppered away at them with Crescent Rose.
Weiss Schnee's glyphs suddenly became much more effective, a simple speed glyph boosting her own speed by a factor of ten as opposed to its usual factor of two. Alas, due to how sudden this effectiveness was occurring, she proved unable to so easily stop in time and she ended up smacking right into a humongous Boarbatusk. However, just as it looked like it may just be able to trample her, two things suddenly occurred. Firstly, a black glyph was created, the suction power of it enhanced to the point where the Boarbatusk was immediately pulled into – and through – the street and into the sewers below. Meanwhile, just as another wave of Ursas now approached here, a new glyph, one that she's only ever really seen her sister effectively use, now appeared beside her. The combination of her increasing power and her now steel-like resolve was allowing her to do what she hadn't been able to do before – summon. A copy of the knight she'd faced in order to earn the right to attend Beacon swiftly manifested and lunged at the Ursas with its greatsword in hand, cleaving through them like a knife through butter.
Blake Belladonna was spontaneously developing clones now, fully solid as opposed to the almost shadowy wisps that they normally were like. One such clone was blitzed by a Beowulf… only to not disperse after taking the hit. Rather, the clone recovered via a roll and then leapt at the Beowulf, slicing through it with just a single swing from its blade.
Yang's semblance, which normally only ever activated upon her actively feeding it her aura or after taking damage, activated of its own accord. Combined with the continual enhancement now going on, the next haymaker she threw instantly caused the rushing Alpha Beowulf to disperse into nothingness and the minor shockwave to blow back a nearby Deathstalker as if it weighed no more than a small toy. When the blonde, now grinning cheekily, opted to fire some shots from Ember Celica, the resulting supercharged buck shots functioned almost like bombs rather than mere gunfire, destroying a building that a wave of Creepers had been funneling through.
Then there was Ren, whose semblance was suddenly being enhanced way past the point of imagination. Whereas before, touch was required and was really only effective against Grimm, he suddenly found his semblance effectively functioning as a barrier spanning an entire city block, the familiar shades of grey filling his vision. Immediately, the Grimm that had been charging through the area looked terribly confused, their previous line of sight with him and the civilians he'd been leading now broken, even though he and said civilians were no more than several yards away from three Alpha Beowulves.
"Just what the hell…?" mumbled an understandably confused Cardin from nearby as the Grimm now exited this area as if there was nothing more to see or do.
It was taking a lot of effort on his part to keep this new barrier maintained, but even then, Ren was quick to adapt. Sudden power surge or not, the basics of his self-imposed training always applied.
The R of JNPR couldn't help but smile now, feeling that everything was okay now.
And finally, Pyrrha.
Still partnered up with Nora here, she watched for just a moment as the auburn-haired girl wasted no time charging forward. Magnild was being put to good use by way of smashing down upon the Deathstalkers as if this was one very dark and dire version of whack-a-mole.
But as fast and powerful as Nora is now, she wasn't omnipotent obviously. Naturally, there were only so many Grimm she can slay at any one time.
Point in case, more than a dozen Creepers now crashed through a huge pile of rubble nearby and headed right for their particular spot.
With Nora preoccupied as well as the other students who were still nearby, Pyrrha was the one to take action.
"Jaune…" she whispered with just the hint of a smile on her face. She could tell just by the feel of power welling up within her that this was his doing.
This, more than anything, reassured her. So much so that she was able to casually pick a scrap of metal that had once been a part of a car… and proceeded to just casually hold it in her hand for a split second as she supercharged its natural magnetic properties with her semblance. She casually used her newly enhanced semblance to casually condense the metal into a thin new form, now more akin to a finely shaped screw than the twisted hunk it was just a split second ago.
The redhead loaded the metal down the front of her weapon's barrel… while also loading in a lightning Dust round through the proper opening of her weapon. Manipulating the Dust via its metallic shell, she was able to 'agitate' the lighting Dust within it.
She took aim… and then fired.
With a weapon meant more to be a moderately powerful rifle, she ended up effectively firing a shot that even an actual railgun would be unable to unleash.
It blew through the wave of Creepers like they weren't even there. She hadn't even been aiming at them and yet the sheer power of the shot was such that the recoil alone dissipated their forms.
The shot had been aimed towards the sky and it swiftly blew through every air-based Grimm unfortunate enough to get in its way. If left alone, it may very well blow past the planet's atmosphere and out into the darkness of space.
But rather than allow that to happen, Pyrrha's magnetic hold on the shot remained strong and she now guided it like a missile towards the rest of the horde that was still outside of Vale. Even from this distance, she could see and hear the explosion as what must surely be dozens of Grimm being annihilated just like that.
Nora, crushing the head of an enormous Ursa that had blindly rushed at her, turned to her and grinned. "I act as the guard while you keep shooting like that?"
Pyrrha nodded. With just a simple thought, any and all otherwise useless bits of metal now began to gather around her as ammunition to be used.
As she prepared the next shot, Nora spoke again. "Heh, looks like our fearless leader is just bursting with surprises, eh?"
Pyrrha let out a little laugh. "Seems that way… better live up to his new expectations then. You ready?"
Nora swapped Magnhild into its grenade launcher form just as some Boarbatusks, Alpha Beowulves, and several Creepers appeared within their sights.
The overly maniacal grin on the girl's face was answer enough for Pyrrha.
"W-Whoa…"
Amber wasn't one prone to just pausing in mid battle to gape at something, but this was an exception. After all, not every day that the entirety of Vale was steadily being flooded with golden particles.
No, not particles, she realized – aura. And she could guess who was responsible for that too.
Even from this distance, she could feel its effects. The exhaustion that had been plaguing her felt like a lie and it was all she could do to keep from just flying up as high as she could just to see how far she could push herself now.
"…"
With but a glance and a simple wave of her right hand, her will was enacted. Her aura was now mixing, if only temporarily, with her magic, supercharging it to new levels. She'd intended to call down yet another lightning strike, but what happened in response to her will was no mere lightning bolt. No, it was more akin to pure energy just being unleashed in a literal instant, its speed far surpassing lightning and blowing away the entire area she'd initially been clearing out.
Where there had once been hundreds of Grimm just now, only a mere handful remained and even then, that was just those on the very fringe of the attack range.
"…Heh."
Well damn, she thought, we definitely have a shot at ending this now.
"Hey, bandit bitch," the young woman called out to her fellow Maiden who was also levitating nearby. When no response came immediately, the Fall Maiden turned to see the older woman looking at her own hands in complete disbelief as she too underwent this same phenomenon.
"Still think he's all talk?" Amber asked cheekily.
That got Raven's attention. And whereas before the woman might've just scoffed or at least look a little nonplussed, this time around the bandit leader sported an expression of genuine amazement.
"We… this…" Raven tried to say something, but she was seemingly at a loss for words.
Even so, Amber understood. "Yeah, trust me, I know…" She smiled just a bit, her mood far much better now.
But her lifted spirits were dampened just ever so slightly as the roar of the Wyvern Grimm caught her attention. Much like any other Grimm, it seemed to pay the going-ons of humanity no mind at all, continuing to fly around Vale's airspace without issue. Not even as the Atlas fleet fired upon it did the Wyvern seem phased. Powerful as everyone was seemingly becoming, that particular Grimm was on a whole other level due to its size and age alone.
But… that may not be the case for them. Yes, as they are right now, either one of them can kill it without issue.
"Okay, let's talk about this new craziness later," Amber began. "First, lets-!"
She didn't to finish before she just barely made out something leap towards the Wyvern from the ground. The Wyvern itself seemed to notice and turned to see what it was – only for a burst of power to be unleashed. The Wyvern got only a brief howl out before its entire form started to dissipate.
"-Oh." Amber could only look sheepish now, not that she was going to complain about what had just happened. "Never mind, looks like Jaune beat us to the punch."
"…Then in that case…" Raven finally spoke properly. She followed up her words by pointing off into the distance.
Now so very close to Vale was another Grimm horde, led by an absolutely massive whale-based Grimm. It was easily as big as the Wyvern – no, even bigger! And someone was atop it too…
"Salem…" Amber muttered, immediately knowing who it was despite having never even seen the woman before.
And to think it was Raven here who'd pointed her out. Looks like this new boost was doing wonders for the normally cowardly woman's confidence. Good for her, Amber supposed.
Amber held out a hand and from the very air itself, she pulled out whatever vapor was there until it coalesced into a new staff made out of ice. Despite its brittle looking frame, she could tell as she gave it a test twirl that it can withstand the newfound power she wielded.
"Then let's get to it while we still can," Amber stated. "I may have never met the woman before… but considering that Cinder bitch was acting on her orders, I'm itching for a little payback for what was done to me. Ready?"
Figuring that Jaune would remain in Vale for now until the combat there has calmed down some more, Amber figured now was as good a time as any for her and her fellow Maiden to head out and tackle Salem herself head on. If nothing else, they can get a head start on thinning out that horde the ruler of Grimm had with her.
Raven's answer to her admittedly pointless question was to draw her blade. The blade itself, constructed out of fire Dust, now lit itself aflame. Seemingly burning as a sign of Raven's rekindled fighting spirit, the intensity of the flames was such that the very air itself was beginning to drastically warm up for many meters on end.
Amber smirked.
Once again, looks like she and the bandit leader were in agreement on something. Funny, that.
Without another word, they flew towards their new target.
"My word…!" Bart called out in understandable shock. After all, it wasn't every day his speed was pretty much doubling and tripling. The good man had already been a speedy individual too and so this boost was quite noticeable.
And somehow, Bart's surprise got a chuckle out of Ozpin. "Indeed."
Even all the way out here, the golden particles extended this far out and seeped into them all without any delay. Ozpin himself was no exception, his own marginally dwindling stamina reserves now bursting, it felt like.
An incoming Beringel swooped in with a massive punch. Ozpin, not even looking at it but rather at his own open left hand, used his cane wielded in the other hand to masterfully deflect the blow before swatting it into the wall itself where several Atlas soldiers nearby promptly unloaded into it immediately.
"I… see…" His many years of experience was allowing the ancient wizard to instantly see what exactly was happening. A quick glance over to the Atlas soldiers and then off into Vale merely confirmed his thoughts.
Aura was the extension of the soul but was also a form of energy. And just like most forms of energy, it can supplemented. This is exactly what was happening now, this golden aura mixing with everyone's own in order to boost it. And due to the relation between aura and soul, this golden aura could seep into the very core of their being and uplift them. This was why morale had been so quick to improve even before everyone's prowess was actually boosted – it was a form of emphatic manipulation, albeit in a form not quite seen before and certainly in a far more positive way than any other method Ozpin could recall ever encountering.
And when he said everyone, he meant literally everyone – not simply the huntsmen who were undergoing this strengthening, but also the Atlas soldiers and even the civilians that could be seen being evacuated to safety just a bit further into the kingdom.
This truly obscene level of aura, an immense level of power outdone only by the Brother Gods, was being diffused across the entirety of Vale and just a bit beyond. Had this much power been concentrated into a more select group of individuals, there'd be no doubt in Ozpin's mind that the resulting power surge would literally overwhelm those affected. But because it was being shared with everyone, the effect, although still clearly potent, was much more gradual in build up which allowed them all to adjust to their rising power.
However…
Nearby, an Atlas soldier jumped just a bit too far to avoid a divebomb from a Griffon, nearly falling off the wall in the process. But he righted himself at the last minute and then charged in and cracked the Grimm's skull with a loud swing of his rifle, the butt of the weapon breaking in the process. There was no mistaking the groaning of the man's very bones either, though the soldier merely gritted his teeth through the pain and pushed on.
"Everyone!" he called out as a small pack of flying Beringels closed in on him. With this body's semblance, he manipulated his own inward time, allowing him to blitz the pack in just a nanosecond before returning to his previous position. "We may be receiving power, but don't let it overwhelm you! Control yourselves as much as possible!"
Though gradual, the power was still just a bit overwhelming. As of now, it wasn't much of a problem, but to any who'd let themselves get just a bit too carried away, it'd be all too easy to end up fracturing their own bones and tearing their own muscles apart with sloppy movements. Not an issue for the civilians most likely since they'll be more focused on getting to safety, but to those actually fighting, it may eventually happen. Such was the result of having all this aura surging through the very cores of their souls and throughout their entire physical bodies.
But even without going overboard, the headmaster of Beacon could feel it – the groaning of his bones, the tensing of his muscles and his body's various internal functions being enhanced to levels that while beneficial would ultimately be quite painful once the inevitable recoil kicks in.
Everyone was going to be in quite a bit of pain whenever this effect does wear off… but better to be sore and alive than dead.
Everyone there heeded his warning, with many nodding in response.
"Bart, get a radio and pass on what I just said to everyone else who can be reached," Ozpin then said to the man as the two speedsters pretty much got side by side in order to start cutting through the large flock of Nevermores racing this way, albeit only after said flock was thinned out considerably thanks to a wave of warped space courtesy of Glynda. "While I don't doubt we can all fight through the pain thanks to this enhancement, it's best to not get too carried away. Power isn't everything."
Bart swung his weapon, cutting at the air just above Ozpin and slaying a child-sized Nevermore that had been aiming for Ozpin's head. In return, the headmaster pivoted and thrusted his cane right past Bart's cheek and stabbed right through a Beringel's skull just as it had landed and thrown itself right at him from behind.
"Of course. And on another note…" Bart let loose a spew of flames from his weapon, also enhanced by this aura, and went on to roast the remainder of the flock. "…Over there."
Ozpin looked in the direction Bart gestured to, just in time to see lightning and fiery ice rain down with such force that it was as if the heavens themselves were falling… and all this was falling right upon the rest of the horde out there, where Salem was at.
It would seem Amber and Raven were now engaging Salem herself in battle.
"…" Ozpin thought things over for just a split second before coming to a decision. Nodding, he patted Bart's shoulder. "Best of luck then."
"Likewise." Bart then took off, rushing off to find the nearest radio that there was. In this process, he pretty much catapulted over a Beringel with enough force to shatter a small portion of the wall and send it falling. There were Atlas soldiers off in the distance too, clearly holding their own much better now, but still in need of some assistance that the history professor seemed eager to provide.
"Do you think this can actually end in our favor for once?" spoke Glynda as she almost casually walked up to him. Thanks to this enhancement, her semblance had been empowered to the point where even the fabric of space itself wasn't safe from her telekinesis anymore. With simple yet masterful waves of her riding crop, she was practically cutting into space, crushing entire flocks of Nevermores, Griffons and those flying Beringels while any that survived were left with no choice but to try and circle around the affected areas, only to be met with raging gunfire from the other Atlas soldiers and huntsmen there.
"My always cautious side says not to be too hasty in making such an assumption," Ozpin began, but he was sporting just a small, hopeful smile. "However… the youth in me from so long ago thinks we finally have this."
True, even with this power boost, the odds were still rather stacked against them – the Grimm, while thinned out, were still plentiful in numbers and their side have suffered casualties up until this point. The fact that this sudden boon could potentially have a severe backlash on them all afterwards was merely adding to this. And this still wasn't getting into the simple fact that Salem was a true immortal.
But even then…
Glynda huffed, but there was actually a gleam in her eyes. Normally, the blonde was always so stern, so wreaked with anxiety despite her otherwise professional demeanor. But now, partly thanks to this golden aura's emphatic effects and partly the reversal in the situation, the woman's worries looked considerably lightened. In her eyes, Ozpin could see a bit of the vibrant young woman she'd been back during her student days.
"How odd. To think a day would come where you and I are truly in agreement on something," she commented. Her eyes softened just a tad bit before sharpening ever more than ever before. "I will open forth as much of a straightforward path as I can for you. Peter is still down below, having his fun with the Goliaths, so that shall also lighten your brief journey a fair bit… now go, Ozpin."
Ozpin adjusted his grip on his cane and took a deep breath. He took just an instant to assess his own condition and tried to regulate his own growing aura reserves. All those lifetimes of battle had helped hone his aura control to levels many could only ever dream of attaining. Through this, he was able to mitigate the damage the golden aura was having on his body. Not that fighting with such injuries was anything new to him or anything, but it always helped to be as fresh as could be when going into battle.
Now ready, he inclined his head towards his deputy headmistress in thanks.
In response, Glynda took action. Performing an elaborate twirl, Glynda thrust her riding crop outwards. The medium of her semblance kicked said semblance into overdrive and the very space in front of them rippled. Some Grimm that had been flying about in the way were instantly cut down.
And then Ozpin, unaffected by such a rather gruesome sight, charged forth – right across the rippling space, which Glynda had effectively turned into a platform of sorts.
It didn't extend all the way towards the horde Salem was leading – that was still too far off in the distance – but it did carry him across the battlefield below by a solid few kilometers. Upon seeing the end of the rippling space, Ozpin channeled his strength into his lower body… and then leapt.
Off to the chaotic battlefield where Salem awaited him.
Lightning and fiery hail peppered the entire area for miles on end. The sky roared deafeningly and the ground below was swiftly covered in flames and ice.
The Grimm that accompanied her – the Nevermores and Beringels and the Griffons – were annihilated without so much as a single shred of mercy shown. The ground troops were likewise decimated without care.
This horde was being swiftly thrown into complete disarray. Though the Grimm knew no fear, even they knew better now than to just keep waltzing forward into imminent death. But try as they might, none were able to get through this area.
None save the massive whale Grimm, which endured these attacks with little more than increasingly loud bellows of annoyance and pain.
And of course… there was Salem herself, undeterred by what was coming.
To think the situation would play out like this. It just boggled the ancient woman's mind. It didn't feel so long ago at all that Vale had been fighting an admirable but ultimately futile battle against the forces of the transformed Hazel and all of the Grimm.
But then… at some point, she'd felt a massive disconnect in the bond she shared with all the Grimm and Hazel himself – against all the odds, the latter had been slain and she'd vividly felt the transformed man's death through this connection.
It had actually disconcerted her – she'd sensed all too well what the man had ultimately become and had genuinely thought him – it – to be her trump card in this battle. But now, her trump card had actually been defeated.
She honestly hadn't thought such a thing possible.
And then just when it seemed like there'd be no more surprises, there'd been that veritable wave of golden aura painting over the entire kingdom. Through her prophetic sight, she'd been able to ascertain what effects that aura was having upon everyone.
And it had genuinely left her baffled.
Without exception, everyone was being strengthened, not simply in body but in spirit too. If only temporarily, they were all becoming… something. Something else, though she knew not what that 'something' really was.
Why, even the civilians hadn't been unaffected by this oddity. In fact, they seemed to be the ones most affected somehow.
Now, it's not as if the civilians themselves were suddenly fighting back against her forces or anything, no, nothing like that. They still very much opted to hide or run for cover elsewhere. However, it was now becoming common fact that attacks that would've reduced them to bloody paste now only left large gashes on their bodies. Blows that would annihilate all their bones merely broke one or two… only for these injuries to slowly but clearly begin to heal.
So baffled by such a 'sight' that she'd actually stopped focusing on her goal for the moment, Salem had endeavored to find out why. And once again, her prophetic sight had provided answers.
Aura was an extension of the soul, this was just a common fact but one that none ever really seemed to truly dwell on properly. True, in the case of many people, aura was ultimately locked away which would raise the question of this current absurdity… until one realizes that locked away or not, the aura was still there.
After all, so long as one has a soul, aura will always exist. It's just that those whose auras are locked away will naturally lack the capabilities for it that aura users have. But on the flip side, that meant a person's aura was being essentially compressed within their very souls, channeled inwards rather than outwards, one could say.
Because it was channeled inwards and now being enhanced vastly, the aura of all those civilians, while still locked, could ultimately only do one thing – merely reinforce them however possible. In this case, strengthened defenses and healing.
Really now… how ridiculously absurd, Salem thought.
Alas, her thoughts on the matter were interrupted as her two attackers, who've shown up just a few minutes ago, made their next move.
They'd initially focused on her forces, hence the wide-spread storm of lightning, fire and ice. She'd have attacked them herself, but they'd been wise to remain as far away as possible, well out of her physical sight and the few times she could've attacked them, her mount had to make some turns which kept her from aiming properly. Evidently, these two – obviously Maidens – were also benefitting from the current phenomenon.
But now, here they were, flying no more than a few hundred meters away and within her field of sight.
She recognized them – the Fall Maiden that Cinder had gone after and Raven Branwen, the surprising new Spring Maiden that Tyrian had made contact with.
And they looked quite eager to rumble.
The Fall Maiden – Amber, if she remembered correctly – raised her hands and the ice-sculpted staff she wielded was soon covered in a layer of frost and pure magical power that made it seem like it'd grown more than thirty times its original size. As for Raven, her blade soon become coated in so much lightning that it was as if she was trying to contain an entire lightning storm within it.
The Maidens took aim… and then fired.
"Hmph."
Salem thrust out a hand and through just this physical gesture and a bit of her will, she negated their attacks with a simple barrier that formed around herself and her mount.
That said, the attacks struck her barrier with quite an impressive deal of strength, causing such a loud booming sound that her eardrums threatened to burst, not that such paltry damage would remain for long.
That said, feeble or not, Salem couldn't help but feel a little impressed. By the standards of this long spanning age of aura and Dust, the Maidens were complete and utter powerhouses, rivalled only by the most absolute advanced weaponry and the abnormal ones like Hazel and Jaune Arc. However, when compared to the first humanity she belonged to, the age of the Brother Gods and magic, the four Maidens were average at best.
Ozma had been a truly mighty warrior back then, easily one of the strongest people alive during that era. But when that great strength is divided into four individuals, well, the results honestly spoke for themselves. Ozma may have been a powerful warrior but he had been far from truly invincible. He may have earned a reputation back then for being unbeatable and always pulling out a victory against incredible odds, but he'd had to work hard to accomplish such feats and she'd been at his side during many of those adventures to provide support. Thus, the power of the Maidens was pretty much nothing in comparison to the true greats back then, to say nothing of just how pathetically limited their magical abilities were.
However, it would seem the abnormal boost that golden aura was providing had easily tripled their strength. Most impressive… but still, to her who could fight alongside Ozma at his peak, it just wasn't enough.
She may not be a warrior like her former husband had been and he may ultimately have been noticeably more powerful than her, but to these pitiful young women, she might as well be unbeatable.
Just as the two Maidens began to fly to new attack positions, Salem countered.
In an instant, she formed stationary barriers around them… but not before completely sucking out the air in those spaces.
The result was Amber and Raven now being trapped within self-contained vacuums – absolutely no air at all and even space itself within those barriers being affected. They immediately began to gasp and choke, paling rapidly.
For them this may very well be the end, Salem thought. After all, they were restricted to the most basic of elemental magic. While admittedly powerful by the standards of this era, their magic still operated by certain absolute rules.
For example, fire needs oxygen to burn… and there was none now. Same thing goes for all the other elements really, needing nature itself with which to manifest from. Thus, within those veritable voids, the Maidens were helpless.
Just like that, their pathetic resistance had been crushed.
Or so the ancient witch had assumed.
Pure magical power was unleashed in perfect unison from the Maidens, great enough to destroy the barriers and allow them to take in a deep breath.
Salem huffed in mild amusement. As ridiculous as this sudden turn of events was, she nonetheless had to give it to humanity – they were always a tenacious lot.
Amused or not, however, the Grimm's ruler simply pressed her attack. Manipulating the molecules in the air, she gave rise to a sudden spear of ice that was aimed right at Raven's midsection. The bandit leader proved to be a quick one though and superheated the air just before the ice spear could skewer her. The ice swiftly melted, but Salem simply flicked her hand and the water suddenly looped around in midair and slammed into Raven's side just as it had condensed into a ball the size of the woman's head.
At the same time this happened, Amber regained her breath fully and now attacked. Specifically, the woman flew right at her at impressive speeds, bolstered by shooting flames out from her feet. The Fall Maiden must figure that if she can get in close enough, she could gain the upper hand.
Not necessarily a wrong idea, per say – even after all these centuries, Salem will admit to being a very poor unarmed combatant, the sad result of focusing more on her overarching plans rather than fully branching out. It didn't help either that due to the nature of the curse the Brother Gods placed on her, her regeneration functioned less like actual regeneration and more like simply undoing whatever damage she had suffered. She supposed an apt comparison would be like rewinding a video or something along those lines, thus trying to build up useful muscle was completely pointless for her.
But that didn't mean she was helpless up close, not by a long shot.
With a simple command, the massive mount she rode started to fly upwards, its enormous mouth opening wide. The intent was to let the foolish Maiden fly right into her doom.
Said woman practically squeaked in terror at how fast the whale Grimm had moved and hastily flipped around in midair and put out a secondary burst of flames to further amp her speed. Though only barely, the Fall Maiden was able to avoid becoming a measly snack for her mount and opted to retaliate once again from a distance, this time in the form of several spikes manifesting from the ground below and shooting up at the Grimm's underbelly.
Sensing this shift in nature, Salem thrust a hand downwards and worked her will and magic over the spikes, slowing their formation significantly before then making them abruptly bend away – only for her to then be greeted by Raven getting right up in her face.
"-I see," Salem mumbled just as Raven swung her blade, unleashing a wave of hyper condensed water that cut the ruler of Grimm cleanly in two.
Her prophetic sight once again kicked in – the bandit leader had allowed herself to be struck by that ball of water and used the momentum from it to launch herself just out of Salem's periphery before circling around to attack. Rather clever.
Even as her upper body now seemed to fly back – the expected result of flying at such intense speeds this high off the ground – Salem responded in kind, lashing out with a hand at the Spring Maiden. Said woman obviously saw the strike coming and raised her blade to deflect the admittedly pitiful physical blow…
…Only for Salem to generate a pure force that caught the woman completely off guard and blew her back. This gave Salem's body enough time to reconnect just a split second later and she then pointed two fingers at her.
If she stuck to using the elements here, then even with the power advantage, it'd just be a needless slog. Best to continue using the other abilities true magic granted her.
Amber was incoming and charging up two spears of lightning and molten rock. Time to interrupt that.
Upon pointing at Raven, Salem promptly teleported the woman right into Amber's path, causing the two to collide quite painfully and send them careening towards the ground in a tangle of limbs. They passed right by the side of her mount and at her silent request, it flew a little to the right, its thick body slamming against the two with immense force.
Salem chuckled. Honestly, the teleportation had been somewhat risky – it was only meant to travel short distance, usually within her line of sight and it required precise control lest she only end up travelling halfway or otherwise overshoot her intended spot, but the many years spent practicing had fine-tuned her control greatly.
Alas, this was far from the end of the Maidens.
Suddenly, the two went from being a tangled mess to breaking apart and blasting directly upwards. Their very forms were coated in a veritable hail of lightning that thinned out the closer they got to her and her mount.
"…!" Salem tried to dispel the lightning, but found out she couldn't, at least not instantly; the Fall and Spring Maidens were combining their power and condensing the lightning as much as they could. And they were travelling very fast here.
Her red eyes glowing now as she concentrated, she proceeded to really start getting serious here.
With a great deal of effort, she shifted space itself, affecting the very concept of distance. Conceptual manipulation was by no means her specialty – plenty of others far back then had been much more capable of such an incredible feat – but it was still something she could do if she really put her mind to it. In this case, she inverted their direction and the two now suddenly were heading right for the ground.
Even from this high up, she could almost literally hear the litany of curses the Maidens were yelling out in shock and watched as they split off from each other to then try circling back up. Amber prepared yet another staff. Raven sheathed her blade and seemed to be switching out the current blade for a new one. They were intending to strike in unison.
Immediately, Salem affected the very air itself, warping the molecules until they were changed into jagged bits of hail that then rained down upon the Maidens with the speed of the most advanced missiles.
Raven unleashed a swing made of flames, amped by the fire Dust her new blade was comprised of. This reduced all the deadly hail into steam in an instant and that was when it was all blown upwards with a wide-spread blast of wind from Amber.
Salem hissed as the incredibly hot steam flowed around her mount and concentrated around her. Pain was an old friend of hers, to the point where she rarely if ever reacted to injuries anymore. That said, it's been a very long time since she was ever boiled alive like this.
With a wave of both arms, she dispersed the steam and glared back down-.
-Only for the Maidens to no longer be there.
Her mount then howled and writhed about it was clearly being attacked now. So violent was its movements that Salem ended up being thrown from the top of it despite having planted herself literally within its pitch-black flesh.
Growling, Salem used her magic to levitate and as she balanced herself out, she saw what had happened. The Maidens had once again concentrated their power to form a singular blade of both fire and ice, the contradictory elements working in harmony thanks to the outright reality-defying power of magic, weakened as it may be within the Maidens. This blade was easily a few dozen meters in length and perhaps ten meters in width and it had cut right into the softest spot of her whale Grimm's underbelly.
They were holding this elemental blade together and were flying towards the Grimm's tail, cutting open its belly in the process. Annoyed by this, Salem teleported herself into their path and slammed an open palm against the elemental blade just as it had been about to annihilate her.
Having channeled her own magic into this physical action, she caused the carefully regulated flow of power within it to overflow, disturbing the elements. The result was an explosion of truly epic proportions.
Her whole world went momentarily deaf and she was left blinded as well, her proximity to said explosion burning out her eyes and rupturing her ear drums in addition to charring the entire front of her body. She paid this no mind even as she went sailing through the air and not even a second later, the damage was becoming undone.
But before her eyes even fully restored themselves, she observed the Maidens. Her prophetic sight was once again being quite active, possibly as the result of her genuinely needing it so much now of all times. Through this other way of 'seeing,' she 'saw' the heavily injured Maidens begin their fall towards the ground far below. It seemed they were down for good this time, whatever boons that golden aura was providing them not quite being enough to allow them to shrug off something like that so easily.
Good, Salem thought, but not quite enough.
She looked to her mount. Sadly, the damage had already been done and the explosion just now, having managed to slip in through the wound the blade had given it, had only worsened things even more. It was dying. A sad state of affairs, but not one to be broken up about – ultimately, the whale Grimm's main advantage had been its size and the strength that naturally came with such immense proportions.
However, dying or not, her mount can serve one last purpose.
Grunting as she concentrated to the fullest, the ancient witch proceeded to manipulate space itself. As she worked her will over the concept of space, she shifted the Grimm's path in addition to somewhat shortening the distance between it and Vale.
Seeing as her Wyvern had failed to accomplish much other than decimate some of Atlas' ships, then at least her whale Grimm can outright flatten a good portion of Vale with its sheer size and weight. The shockwave from the impending impact alone would very likely devastate the entirety of the kingdom.
Then, at the very moment-.
"Gah!" Salem cried out in genuine surprise as the air directly above her hardened into a solid form and crashed down on her. It struck the very back of her neck, breaking it along with the back of her skull. More than that, it broke her concentration and thus her intended actions were halted.
With a yell of genuine anger now, she broke through the air with a burst of magical energy, but by then she'd already been much lower to the ground now.
Low enough for the Maidens, whom she'd thought were down and out, to rise up as one and attack her.
"Eat this you monster!" Amber cried out before stabbing her right through the leg with an electrified spear comprised of water.
The resulting shock was enough to keep her off-guard long enough for Raven to now get above her and glare at her. The bandit leader then unleashed several sword swings utilizing fire Dust once again but this time amped by wind that the Maiden power provided to fan the flaming waves.
In an instant, Salem's form was rendered into multiple pieces, each one completely on fire now. And now those pieces were falling towards the ground even more.
And one of those pieces was still skewered on Amber's crafted spear. The Fall Maiden then spoke. "Freeze!"
Said piece was then frozen solid and that burst of pure frost extended to the other pieces, extinguishing the flames as they froze all the way through.
The pieces impacted against the ground some odd seconds later, shattering into ice particles. Amber then threw her spear and it shattered along with the final piece of her.
By all rights, such extreme measures would be complete and utter overkill if this were done to literally anyone else.
But to Salem, this was nothing more than an inconvenience and a rather embarrassing way to be downed, to be perfectly honest.
Despite being nothing more than shattered ice, Salem could still her work magic, both figuratively and literally. With just some concentration, gravity itself was manipulated on a localized scale, reversing suddenly. The result was Amber and Raven being flung upwards against their will, the two women letting out brief sounds of surprise in the process. This also had the effect of lifting all the impossibly small fragments of Salem off the ground and they swiftly gathered together again.
As her body quickly reformed and her atoms thawed out, Salem made her next move.
Immediately, she restored gravity to its normal state – and then just as quickly increased it, making it a hundred times greater than normal.
The effect was instantaneous.
The very area she was in, a rather open plain but one with plenty of trees and other shrubbery around, was immediately flattened, said trees breaking apart and falling to the smoothing out ground with blinding speed.
And of course, the Maidens came crashing down hard. As they fell, Salem manipulated space to flip around their forms. And the result of this…
Raven howled as she landed on her right arm at an angle. Due to the increased gravity, the momentum of her fall had bene more than enough to crush said arm, to say nothing of the fracturing of her other bones.
Amber was the worse off though, the very back of her neck hitting the ground. Even though she'd generated a barrier of pure magical energy at the last possible instant to cushion her fall, there was no mistaking the sound of a breaking neck.
Sadly, it was by no means an indication she would die, but judging by the young woman's resulting gasps, it was clear she was in a great deal of pain. And the way her body was now twitching too… gravity aside, there was a possibility she'd be paralyzed now.
All in all, quite a satisfactory action on her part even if her own bones creaked greatly under the vastly strengthened gravity.
Returning the gravity to normal now, Salem looked away from the Maidens to observe her dying mount. She grimaced; due to the changes to its path that she made, it would still strike Vale but wouldn't quite make it into the heart of the kingdom as she'd intended. At best, it'd smash through a solid portion of the western wall and crush whatever district was there. She could try to alter its course further, but it wouldn't improve things by much sadly.
Oh well, it'll still accomplish something of note. In any case, the Grimm horde Hazel had been leading was still mostly intact so far and while the empowered forces within Vale were slowly gaining ground, it would still be up to a lot of good fortune for them to bring about a genuine shift in the power dynamics here.
Yes, for all intents and purposes, she's won. Even if Ozma and his own forces still remain, they'll have no choice but to retreat once more of their own forces are slain. And even if they try to escape with the Relic of Choice, well, it's not as if there's really anywhere they can go so quickly. And it's not as if them escaping to any of the other kingdoms would do much more than delay the inevitable.
But any additional thoughts on that matter can wait for later. Firstly…
"You've been surprisingly stubborn," Salem commented to a twitching Amber and a struggling to stand Raven. Just before the latter could fully get back up, Salem let loose a blast of pure force that targeted the woman's other arm, causing it to fall limp in addition to knocking her back. "For that, I'll give you my respect… but your pitiful resistance ends here."
Already she could see that golden aura, still enhancing both Maidens, hard at work enhancing their healing capabilities as their own aura clearly kicked into overdrive now, forgoing offensive and defensive enhancements in favor of pure healing. She could literally see the bandit leader's ruined arm trying to repair itself somehow.
If given enough time, could such an injury be fully healed? Salem knew not but she wasn't about to just sit around and watch. She had things to do and while killing these two would only cause the Maiden powers to go to others out there, it would at least deprive Ozma of his two strongest troops for the time being.
Salem prepared to crush both women with a powerful explosive wave of magical energy, which built up within her quickly.
Alas, not quickly enough.
Just before she could unleash this power, something – someone – slammed right into her at impossible speeds. She quite literally didn't see it coming.
But whatever had hit her had broken her concentration and that was what mattered, the build of energy ceasing. More than that, whatever just struck her struck again two more times in the span of a microsecond.
Bones were broken, some of her organs shook about and ruptured and she was sent flying across the ground before landing unceremoniously some odd meters away from where she'd just been standing.
Hissing as she tried to stand, she managed to retain just enough of that lost energy and let it loose, generating an explosive wave that only had a diameter of a yard or two. But it was enough to get her attacker to back off and come into view just three yards away.
Even before she'd successfully halted their attack just now, she'd known who it was.
"Ozma," she growled.
Ozma, her former husband and greatest enemy, growled back in response. "Salem." He stood tall and proud and carried about him an air of danger. Even though his current body was obviously much different from his original one, the very presence about him was exactly like back then when they'd gone on perilous adventures together, back when they'd faced foes that were both immensely deadly and despicable.
But this time around, such an overbearing presence was coming down unto her.
"…" Ozma raised his cane and pointed right at her.
"…" Salem stood up to her full height and began to channel magical power through her entire body.
Both of them were ready to rumble.
And just an instant later, an instant that seemed to bear the weight of eternity itself for them both, they attacked.
Yeah, so up next is Salem vs. Ozpin. Hope it'll live up to whatever hype the ending of this chapter was able to generate.
Also, what did you think of Salem in action so far? I did my best to keep her strong without being ridiculously so like Hazel was. Of course, she's yet to fully demonstrate the very peak of her powers, but will be letting loose very soon.
That said, just want to clarify something – in terms of pure power, she's inferior to Ozma in his prime (though not by much), who in turn is inferior to Hazel by the time of his death and by extension Jaune, who killed Hazel in the last chapter. However, Salem is obviously still very powerful and has a number of abilities afforded to her by magic that makes her just as deadly as Hazel ever was if not even more so. Again, you'll see what I mean soon enough.
And what'd you think of Jaune's effect upon everyone? Basically, it's what his canon semblance does just amped up, heh. Hope it makes sense for things to be like this.
Oh, and speaking of Jaune, he'll be making his reappearance soon too, rest assured of that.
Until next time, everyone. Take care.