Hi there, everyone! As always, thank you so much for your reviews – glad that you've been enjoying the recent chapter! And of course, I hope you've all been continuing to do well.
And man, here we are at chapter 59 of all things… damn, only now did I realize that. With the exception of my previous fic, it seems like my fics have generally been getting longer and longer every time in both overall word count and number of chapters. On the one hand, it's rather pleasant to know I can write such long stories, but on the other hand, I sure hope I don't end up one day writing nearly a 100 chapter long fic, ha ha.
Here's to hoping I can maintain the expectations you have for me in these final chapters of the fic!
P.S. The final F/SN Heaven's Feel is finally coming out here in the states! Just got myself a ticket recently, so I'm all set to go! Now to just tough out these next few weeks to see it, ugh…
Chapter 59
Everything blurred by Jaune as he travelled through the air, such was the result of his mighty leap. His mind was clear as he soon landed, the young man focusing solely on what lied ahead.
To think that so much could occur within such a (relatively) short amount of time… calm as he felt, not even he couldn't help but boggle somewhat at how things have changed.
From the beginning of his final battle against Hazel to now… it truly defied expectations. Not only had he become much stronger, but he'd finally found the 'answer' he'd been seeking all this time and thanks to such an event, he'd been able to help properly turn the tides against the Grimm. Of course, his own personal efforts on the southern front after slaying the Wyvern had helped out too.
And now… it was finally here – the final encounter to decide it all, or so he liked to hope.
He hadn't quite been able to fully clear the distance between him and his desired destination with his leap just now, but he'd made it pretty damn far nonetheless. In any case, he was definitely close enough now to finally see those that were out here.
Off somewhere to the northwest, he could make out the forms of Raven and Amber. Both Maidens seemed currently down and out, but he could feel through his aura that they were recovering. In due time, they'd be ready to fight again.
Meanwhile, directly ahead to the west, he could see two figures upon an utterly decimated battlefield. The downed but still conscious form of the headmaster could just barely be made out from among all that chaotic fallout…
…And then, there was the other person there – a woman with deathly white skin and sick pulsing veins. Dressed all in black and carrying about herself a dark miasma-like presence, there was no doubt in Jaune's mind that the woman must be Salem.
In other words, the true enemy behind this shadow war.
"…" He made a sound as he walked forward almost casually. But then, through sheer concentrated willpower, he lightly swung one of his blades at the space in front of him, severing it. The result was that upon stepping forward into the severed space, he ended up immediately travelling the remainder of the distance.
Yes, once again, he'd cut through the very concept of space itself. It still required a great deal of effort to achieve, but even such an absurd feat was well within his power now. And he had a feeling he was going to need it to make do here.
Now no more than just a few meters away from Salem, the blond could better observe her. She seemed rather surprised by his sudden appearance but then the ruler of the Grimm schooled her features into a neutral expression.
"…"
"…"
The two of them could only stand there in complete silence, no need for any talk just yet as they sized each other up.
In terms of pure power, Jaune knew he had her beat, but even so, he didn't dare to let down his guard. He could tell just by the look in her eyes that she was plenty dangerous in her own right. If Hazel had been an absolute monster – figuratively speaking – in both physical might and martial prowess, then Salem struck him as the type to excel in both cunning and ingenuity. Combined with the magical power she surely possessed and her command over the Grimm, there was not a single doubt in his mind that Salem was even more dangerous than Hazel ever was.
"So," she suddenly began, turning to give him her full attention. "You're Jaune Arc… I have to say, I didn't really expect to be meeting you now of all times."
Jaune shot the headmaster a brief look. The man, clearly hurting but still alive and with the fires of determination in his eyes, just smiled slightly and nodded microscopically, a gesture that Jaune returned.
He will not be fighting Salem alone, it seems. But first, he needs to buy just a bit of time.
Right then, he supposed it now was the time for talk.
"Honestly, I'm surprised you're surprised by this," he replied in a calm enough tone. "After all, you and your forces came here for the express purpose of crushing Vale, so surely at some point you should've expected to bump into some resistance along your path. After all, not even your Grimm hordes can fully stomp out humanity's resistance."
The woman scoffed lightly, but there was actually a bit of a smile there. She was clearly amused by this… but also perplexed, even a little anxious. Why was that? Did she know something he didn't?
"Perhaps," she said plainly. "In any case, I suppose you're Ozma's final trump card? Given what I've heard of you and the fact you've managed to defeat even Hazel would suggest as much."
"I wouldn't label myself a trump card. Personally, I'd just like to think of me as being just an excellent support for the others." To capitalize on this point, more golden aura slowly surged out of him and headed back towards Vale to further strengthen the others there… but he also made sure to sneakily send some more aura the headmaster's way to hasten his recovery even if only by a second or two at the most. He did the same for the downed Maidens as well.
Now with that done… Ozma? She clearly meant the headmaster by that name, but Ozma? Was it an old name or a title? No matter, just stay focused on the matter at hand first. Mysteries can wait until later.
"Noted." Salem's reply was quite dry in tone. Then, she slowly took a step forward. And if only slightly, Jaune could detect the slightest build up of magical power, indicating that she was readying her first move.
He opted to do the same, some of his seemingly endless aura concentrating itself within his blades, sharpening them beyond all possibility. He didn't ready himself to attack just yet. No, he had to buy just a few more seconds if possible, if only for the others.
"Tell me," he began as he too took a step forward. "Is it too late for us to reconsider things here? We've crushed your forces almost completely now… but not without loss. And I get the feeling a battle between the two of us won't quite go anywhere. Would you care to maybe settle upon a ceasefire?"
While he had no idea as to how the clearly brewing battle between them would go, he had no intention of stopping until victory was achieved. However, if there was even the slightest possible chance a reprieve can be earned here and spare the kingdom and surrounding lands some additional damage, then he had to at least try to talk her down first.
Alas…
"I've been battling Ozma for centuries," the woman retorted, her eyes narrowing. The build up of magical power was increasing. "I've long since tired of waiting things out for a 'better opportunity.' The impact of your involvement in this entire battle may have been unexpected, but it's nowhere near enough to dissuade me, child. Now… ready yourself – I'll be crushing you first before the rest of Vale falls."
The build up of magical power finally reached its peak – and was promptly unleashed.
At the exact same time, Jaune made his own move as well.
All around him, space began to rapidly distort inwards. Whatever Salem was doing, her intent to literally crush him was crystal clear. However, he was quicker on the draw and with a swing of the blade in his left hand, he cut through the warping space before it could impact against him and promptly leapt forward.
The very instant he was free of that immediate danger, he brought forth the blade in his other hand. A split second before he even began to do that, Salem was already beginning to react to his action – except that too had been something he'd anticipated.
And so, in mid-swing, he released the aura within the blade.
Said release did absolutely no harm to Salem at all. Indeed, it had no adverse effect upon their surroundings, not even in the slightest. That's because this wasn't an attack, no, it was simply him releasing the aura as a makeshift flashbang.
A blinding golden light filled the very space between him and her, the sheen of his blade swinging through the air being amplified as well in the process. It ended up blinding both of them as well as bursting his eardrums in the process even though he'd somewhat turned away from his own move.
However, he'd been ready for such a thing to start with and so even though he was temporarily blinded and deaf, he didn't slow down at all and rushed at Salem. The woman, for her part, had definitely not been prepared for this maneuver and so she was completely caught off guard as he closed the distance between them with just several lightning fast steps.
Spinning at the last possible instant, Jaune swung both blades in unison and cut through Salem's slender form like a knife through butter, rendering her into four cleanly sliced pieces. But he wasn't about to stop there, no. Instead, he opted to do unto her what he'd done to Hazel.
Which is to say, he cut her up over and over again.
His entire form blurred as he carried out his assault. From four pieces, Salem was cut into a dozen more, then a hundred more and then a hundred more than even that.
From chunks of flesh and bone down to nothing more than blood. Then from that into individual molecules and then down into even atoms.
From when he launched the first cut until now, it'd been no more than just a split second, if that. Such was the speed and silent ferocity of his attack. It was almost anti-climatic, really… except it wasn't.
"…!" Jaune started to leap back as magical power swelled within the very space Salem had just occupied, but even with his speed, he was just a bit too slow and the ensuing explosion caused him to skid back more than several yards.
No sooner than when he was blown back, Salem's form actually began to restore itself, much to his own amazement. But amazed or not, he wasn't about to just stand back and gape like some idiot.
Concentrating his power into his blades, he immediately swung them in an x-shaped motion, releasing an attack that would surely annihilate the portion of Salem that was already reforming.
However, just before impact, not one or just two, but a dozen barriers appeared out of nothing around Salem's reforming body. His attack managed to break through nearly half of these barriers before exploding on contact with the sixth one, which was destroyed in the process.
Jaune charged as fast as he could, hoping to ram his way through the remaining barriers as quickly as possible – only to have to change up his route as the ground directly ahead of him suddenly shifted and a sinkhole was immediately formed.
And said sinkhole was growing rapidly.
Left with no choice but to lightly jump, Jaune managed to get clear of the sinkhole – only for a pillar of hard rock to sprout up from the ground and slam into his stomach with the force of a runaway train. By now, he's taken and shrugged off some harder hits from the monster Hazel had become, but nonetheless it had hurt and unfortunately, it'd caught him just before he'd fully landed. Thus, he got knocked back.
This gave Salem the last bit of time needed to regenerate in full and she did not look happy in the slightest to see him still so close by.
She raised a hand and it seemed like the very heavens themselves sought to obey her will with such a simple gesture.
Immediately, lightning and shards of ice rained down from above and upon his location with shocking precision. Two thick shards of ice impacted against him, somewhat impaling him in the process but a quick pulse of his own aura was enough to shatter them. Jaune then immediately reacted to this assault and sliced through several bolts of lightning that had just been about to fry him.
The ground shifted beneath his feet, rumbling so violently that it was less a rumble and more like the planet itself was roaring at him. It was beginning to open directly beneath him, but he simply stepped forward to avoid falling and started to run right at Salem, continuing to cut through lightning and ice as he did so.
"-!" Salem made a sound of surprise, perhaps even worry as he quickly neared and she made another gesture with her hand. Flames then burst into existence and formed a literal fire tornado around her that traveled right up into the sky. So intense was the heat it could likely roast a person to death just from being this close to it.
But not Jaune.
Oh sure, it was hot as hell, but he simply charged forth and cut right through the tornado with such force that just the single swing was enough to disperse the entirety of it, leaving Salem exposed.
She made yet another sound of shock and clearly prepared to make her next move – but he didn't let her.
Rather than cut her up again, he took a different course of action.
Letting the momentum of his swing carry him into a spin, Jaune delivered a powerful roundhouse kick that caught Salem directly against her rising arm. He felt bone break upon impact and knew he'd landed a good hit on her, especially when it sent her slamming into the ground and bouncing up like some kind of bouncy ball.
Given that she'd still been able to attack even while little more than atoms, he'd figured perhaps it'd be best to ensure he didn't completely destroy her form for the time being. At least this way, there was a chance of properly counterattacking her and hopefully doing so could end up breaking her concentration enough to keep her from attacking, something that would be hard to do if she was just nothing but atoms.
That said, even in mid-bounce, Salem was a persistent attacker. She suddenly seemed to take control of gravity itself, forcing herself to stop in mid-motion and now levitate upwards, presumably with the intention of getting up high enough to avoid his attacks. At the exact same time she did this, hail formed from the air itself and started to blanket the area with wild abandon.
Jaune cut through what hail he could whilst observing Salem rise higher and higher. Just when it looked like the woman thought herself to be safe, he suddenly went into action. Forgoing his hasty defense in favor of offense yet again, he immediately channeled aura into his blades and swung them both, unleashing waves of aura that cut through the air towards their immortal target.
Salem's eyes could just be vaguely seen widening a bit before putting up a barrier to defend herself – but in doing so, she made the mistake of remaining stationary.
Good, Jaune thought, time to try this out.
With his power having grown immensely since realizing his answer, the blond teen has also come to realize that there was still so much more he could do now. Just about the sole limitations he had on himself anymore was creativity and determination.
Time to make the most of it then.
As soon as Salem blocked his attacks and ended up being blinded by the following explosions, Jaune let go of his right sword and reached out his now free hand towards Salem. It was as if he was trying to grab her-.
-And that's exactly what he did. Through nothing more than just sheer willpower, the laws of reality were promptly cowed and the very concept of perception was shattered. Just as kids liked to pretend they could pick up or crush things off in the far distance by pretending their fingers were much bigger due to their perception, Jaune did effectively that very same thing. The main difference was that he was quite literal in his actions.
Grabbing Salem out of the smoke, he tugged the stunned woman right to him, his grip on her so tight that her bones creaked and fractured just from that alone. And just as perception and the associated laws of reality started to reassert themselves again, he delivered a mighty punch directly to her jaw that dislodged it entirely and then followed this up with a sword swing that promptly severed Salem's left arm.
"…" Jaune's gaze flickered to the now severed limb as it sailed through the air before then punting Salem several feet back. His gaze followed the woman's arm just a little longer, long enough to confirm that it wasn't trying to reattach itself or anything of the sort. Interesting. Before, Salem had regenerated her entire form in just seconds at most, so he'd been expecting a severed limb or two to restore themselves in an instant. That it had yet to do so meant there was some sort of limitation there.
This thought occurred to him in just a microsecond, such was the speed at which he processed things now and during this interval, he was still in motion. His punt just now may have given the woman some breathing room, but that didn't mean he was just going to let her regain her senses.
He rushed towards her, both blades in hand once more. Aura pulsed through them as he readied to attack-.
-Only for his form to spontaneously flicker and the next thing he knew, he ended up being outright teleported somewhere to the woman's right.
Immediately, he pivoted and attempted to attack but just as he did so, an explosion of pure magical energy was generated right in front of his face. In terms of sheer power, it was less than Hazel's level of might by the time of his death by a noticeable margin. However, this power was incredibly condensed, so much so that even though the level of power was clearly inferior, the effect it had upon him was significantly greater.
It practically burnt the skin right off his face and caused him to stumble and just long enough for the ground to then suck him down more than twenty meters in the span of a split second.
As he was dragged underneath by the very earth itself, the blond wasted no time preparing to free himself – only for the earth itself to start growing incredibly heavy, preventing him from immediately escaping with the level of strength he'd attempted to use.
And what's more was the fact he could feel some unknown force trying to tug away at his blades, which he naturally resisted with all he had.
Eventually, his descent started to slow but not quickly enough for his tastes – there was just no telling what else Salem may have in store right now.
That said… he felt oddly calm about such a thought.
After all, he thought with just a small smile, I'm not alone here.
Salem gasped and coughed. Her very form shuddered and heaved. Thanks to her curse, exhaustion had long since become an alien concept to her, but the same couldn't be said for mild panic attacks.
From the very second she'd laid eyes on Jaune Arc, she'd been able to sense something truly amiss about the young man. He was definitely not an ordinary person, not in any sense of the word at all… it honestly brought to mind the warning the spirit of the Relic of Knowledge had given her back then.
Their scuffle so far had only further empathized such a point too.
While not quite as fast as Ozma now is thanks to that damnable semblance of his and the boost he was receiving, Jaune Arc was still significantly faster than most others by a fair margin and was certainly much, much stronger and tougher. The few attacks she'd been able to land on him thus far had done nothing more than inconvenience him at best, not truly hurt him per say.
What's more, in just this very short while, he'd demonstrated both frightening ruthlessness that shouldn't come from one so young in addition to great cunning – simply by observing her regenerate her form once and then sever an arm, he'd already clearly been able to piece together how her regeneration worked.
Speaking of which…
She eyed her severed arm and hastily blew it up via spontaneous combustion. With her limb destroyed, it now regrew upon her form and despite all this time she's spent alive, she couldn't help but delicately move her fingers about to make sure they were there. Such was the impact the teen had had on her in this ridiculously short of a time. She'd truly underestimated him.
"I must deal with him first then…" she mumbled to herself in a distracted tone. She may have bought herself a moment's reprieve at best with her manipulation of the earth and telekinesis, but she now didn't doubt for even an instant that it wouldn't stop him.
Alas…
"Perhaps you should focus elsewhere first."
"-!"
…She'd made yet another horrible tactical mistake – losing track of the battlefield.
She and Jaune Arc hadn't been the only ones here, after all.
The ruler of the Grimm made yet another mistake by whirling around first before beginning to take proper action. Thus, by the time she could even start to gather her magical power, Ozma was upon her and already making use of his enhanced semblance again.
Her movements slowed just a microsecond before the initial attack, which came in the form of a chop to her throat that caused her to awkwardly lurch before an impossibly fast low kick connected with the side of her right knee, breaking it in two thanks to the sheer momentum behind the move. This kick had come from behind her, Ozma having moved just that quickly and as she started to crumble forward, her former husband snaked his arms around her and placed her in a chokehold of all things.
"…!" She tried letting out a sound as her airway was cut off but found herself unable to do much more than just the smallest of gasps.
But rather than worry over this, she simply grew angry.
Being choked out was hardly something for one such as her to worry over. It was just barely a speed bump, really. But more than that, just what was Ozma thinking? With them so close like this…
She began to gather magical energy. If Ozma was so willing to latch onto her like this, then it's only obvious that she simply use this moment to properly attack-.
But again, that was where she went wrong. Ironically, it was because she was right – this was the most obvious thing to do.
Just as she began to warp space around them, Ozma suddenly let go of her and delivered an elbow strike to the back of her skull, causing her to stagger forward whilst practically seeing stars. She quickly began to recover, but before she could even begin to right her balance, a torrent of blows was unleashed upon her with ridiculous speeds and fury.
Her stomach, her sides, her legs and arms, her face… everything. Literally every part of her was being struck multiple times over in the span of just microseconds. Every time she tried to gather magical power to respond, an attack would come her way that'd end up disturbing her concentration.
Just like that, she was being stun-locked and quite anti-climatically so, in her jumbled opinion.
No!
Stunned or not, she refused to just let herself be Ozma's punching bag. Moreover, she was on a time crunch here – it'd only be a matter of time until Jaune Arc broke free from his confinement. Fighting just one of them was difficult enough, but both of them at once? She'd much rather that didn't happen at all.
Through sheer force of will, she continued to gather magical energy. Whenever a blow to her head happened that should have disrupted her concentration occurred, she simply did her best to power through it. She will not be stopped anymore.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she was able to gather enough power to manifest it in the form of lightning sparking right off her ruined body. So great was the discharge that even though she could sense Ozma move away, she could also clearly make out the hiss of pain as lightning fried him partially.
She wasted absolutely no time at all in following up. The earth shifted before her and did a wave that expanded half a kilometer on end, the woman no longer bothering to be precise with her attacks anymore. All that mattered to her was making some distance between her and her foes.
This wave didn't do much of anything to Ozma, who she could now spot jumping lightly over the shifting earth, but it did get him to further back away involuntarily and she used the opportunity to teleport herself tens of meters away.
As soon as she did so, her red eyes began to glow most ominously as she began to utilize the entirety of her magical might. Space itself shuddered all around her as her magical power went awry and the resulting spatial ripples were such that they tore up everything they touched.
Meanwhile, up above, the still present storm began to grow in scale, twisters now forming all throughout the area that followed no set path. Lightning fired down relentlessly and the chunks of earth now being torn up by the twisters and lightning strikes were being converted into molten rock and flung about without any specific target in mind.
Just like that, Salem had transformed this ruined battlefield into a veritable death trap.
Well, a death trap for most people. And sadly for her, her former love was not most people.
Even as the veritable apocalypse was being unleashed by her will, she could see Ozma remaining stalwart through it all. If anything, she could practically sense the man only growing more determined and this showed through his actions as he wasted no time rushing and leaping through the obstacles that now lied between them, with the spatial ripples being subverted by him simply by circling around to where the effect was weakest.
However, that weak point was very much intentional on her part.
Now weaponless, Ozma had no choice but to rely on unarmed combat to get by and while certainly extremely formidable in that regard especially with his semblance, that meant his options were ultimately very limited. If he was to fight her, he had to get in very close and now that there was enough distance between them for her to slow his charge, she could freely decide how close he will ultimately get to her and choose which routes were relatively safe for him to take.
She may be no warrior per say, but even she's learned the value of controlling the battlefield to her tastes. A pity it took this long to do so, but better late than never.
In any case, now was her chance to take out Ozma as quickly as she can.
Sure enough, her husband began to home in on her, clearly picking out the most optimal route and following it through the waves of attacks her (seemingly) out of control magical power was dishing out in her stead. Hail was now being thrown into the mix too, pelting the area around Ozma and forcing him to slow down a bit more lest he rush right into truly unavoidable danger. She then swept her hand grandiosely, a wave of magical energy erupting from the ground before her and travelling directly towards him, forcing the man to swerve to his right to avoid the attack.
It would seem the slow down effect of his enhanced semblance was based on distance because it'd been rather weak just seconds ago but now that he was closing in, the ancient witch can feel her physical movements slow down considerably again. But mattered little now – so long as she could keep him from coming at her at his full speed, she'll-!
Just as Ozma began to get within point-blank range – well, point-blank for her, that is – he suddenly stopped and then leapt back as far as he could go. He'd done so just as she'd started to collapse the space where he would've been had he stayed true to his path and so doing, had avoided being reduced to literally nothing.
But while he may have avoided her killing move, he was only leaping right back out into inevitable danger, so why-?
Salem's prophetic vision kicked in and just a whole millisecond before it actually happened, she witnessed the violent elemental forces she'd been unleashing suddenly part away to form a safe retreating path for Ozma. And then just half a millisecond after this path was created, Ozma then jumped straight up to avoid the absolutely massive lightning spear coming directly at her now.
"-!"
Salem, utterly stupefied, just barely managed to raise a hand in time to slam her palm into the very tip of the lightning spear, her will working overtime in trying to negate the power of this deafening attack.
As she focused now entirely on negating the attack, she glared at the new arrivals.
Or rather, she should say the returning combatants – right there, working alongside one another to hold and power this lightning spear were none other than the Fall and Spring Maidens.
They matched her glare with their own. And they then backed that glare up with a battle cry that rang within the very depths of Salem's eardrums as they cranked up the power even more.
The lightning spear powered up even more, to the point where its form started to grow unstable now as the two Maidens were channeling too much power much too quickly into it. And as Salem's will furthered honed itself into negating it, the instability swiftly grew-.
-And the next thing any of them knew, the lightning spear exploded and all that they could see in the soundless explosion was nothing but white.
Amber groaned as she finally came to. It'd been about half a minute since the lightning spear she and Raven had combined their power to form had exploded in their faces. That she felt to be in one piece still was nothing short of amazing, to be perfectly honest. But then, considering she and her fellow Maiden had managed to recover from the damage Salem had inflicted on them earlier, maybe she shouldn't be so surprised by all this.
Anyways, she was getting distracted here and that was a big no-no.
As quickly as she could, she got up and scanned the area in a mad bid to locate Salem. Alas, the Grimm ruler was seemingly nowhere around.
"…" Amber let out a sound of pure worry, only barely registering Raven getting up along with the sounds of Ozpin now approaching after having been blasted back a bit too by the explosion just now.
By pure dumb luck, she and Raven had managed to direct the explosion in Salem's general direction at the last possible instant, but the complete lack of an injured Salem was disturbing her immensely.
"…Where did she go?" Raven asked as she now stood up, her wounds gradually healing thanks to the aura fueling her.
"Don't know…" Amber muttered in response.
However, they both got an actual answer just a split second later as Ozpin shouted out to them. "Dodge!"
"-!" Both Maidens obliged immediately, using their power to practically fly backwards in time to avoid the collapse of space in the spot they'd been in. Then, as soon as space compressed in on itself, it suddenly expanded outwards immensely, the warping of said space briefly creating an optical illusion that really screwed with Amber's sense of visual perception.
Because of this, she wasn't quite prepared for the following collision as the expanding space slammed into her and Raven as if it were a physical object and sent them tumbling.
But the new danger had only reignited her resolve to win this and so she remained perfectly alert even in mid-movement. Forcing herself to a stop, Amber looked up in time to see a regenerating Salem levitating in the sky, the very forces of nature answering her call as space rippled all around her.
The ancient witch was glaring right at her and Raven… it really wasn't a pretty sight at all. The way Salem's eyes practically bulged out, the pulsing of her sick purple/black veins quickening and her very mouth sporting something of a Glasgow grin due to the lightning spear explosion curled into an unbelievably vicious snarl that promised pain.
Oh yeah, Salem was now well and truly pissed.
And yet, Amber didn't feel even the slightest bit afraid.
Before all this recent stuff, when she'd first taken up the power of the Fall Maiden and had begun her journey throughout the land, she'd been terrified of the pressure associated with the power of magic. The knowledge that people out there would be gunning for her without end should they learn of the legend of the four Maidens being true, the subsequent need for borderline complete isolation, to say nothing of everything she'd learned about Salem back then too… yes, she'd been well and truly afraid of things going wrong. Her inexperience at the time hadn't helped either.
But now? After all the crap she's endured along her path along with recent events had done much to swiftly temper her soul. Combined with the effects Jaune's boost seemed to be having on her emotions, the young woman no longer felt afraid of Salem at all.
This old bitch really thought she could just go around causing tragedies left and right for some grand purpose? Fuck that. Time to bring Salem down!
At that exact moment, Salem lashed out with her hands and tornados formed nearby and headed right for her and Raven.
And in the following moment, Amber and Raven lashed out in turn too, throwing out their hands and working their magic in effectively canceling out the twisters headed their way. Immediately thereafter, they both took to the skies, blasting off towards Salem's current spot at top speed.
Amber flexed her willpower and took brief control of the storm above. Where just moments ago there'd been hail and lightning and fire, there was now just pure rainfall, albeit a rainfall that seemed to be coming down at several times the normal speed. Just went to show how much more powerful her power seemed to be thanks to Jaune. Anyways, as the rain fell, she swiftly gathered a portion of the falling water and formed spears all around Salem that stabbed into her from behind.
Salem let out a small gasp before suddenly disappearing from sight – clearly, she'd teleported, the damn evil bitch.
Raven was the first to spot her as the woman spun around in the air and redirected a lightning bolt that suddenly flew her way. The bolt travelled back the way it came, where Salem now was at but the woman merely flicked her wrist and the lightning dispersed.
"Go high, I'll go low!" Raven then called out as Salem clearly began to prepare her next attack, the clouds above shifting in response to her will.
"Got it!" Amber replied before shooting flames out of her feet to act as boosters. She did so in just the nick of time too as space had started to warp where she'd been.
Looks like that whole spatial thing Salem has going on can only be used after confirming coordinates or something, Amber silently reasoned, otherwise the woman would've been spamming that damned teleportation of hers a hell of a lot more. In which case, all that can be done is to just keep moving to keep Salem from getting a concrete lock on.
In that case…
Channeling her power, lightning began to gather all around her – and then it began to enter her very body.
Amber groaned at the odd sensation but pressed onwards as she kept on flying higher. If speed is what was needed, then she'd need a bit more of a boost there. But there was only so much of a boost Jaune's aura can provide by the second, so here she was, trying to pull off this crazy feat.
Steadily, her body began to acclimate to the power and in turn began to show some signs of lightning itself. In this case, she'd effectively added the speed of the average lightning bolt to her already impressive base speed.
She couldn't help but let out a little whoop as she shot upwards much faster than before, now reaching the thick clouds that were more like miasma now than actual clouds. Thankfully, it was harmless. More than that, it provided her just a bit of cover, though the sparks coming off her body now may possibly give her away.
In which case, time to act.
Commanding the wind, Amber started to pull off yet another feat she would've previously considered impossible and started to actually blow a portion of a cloud directly downwards upon Salem's location. She then physically reached out to it as she flew and started to push against it, effectively turning it into a lethal mass that would crush to death anyone caught underneath.
Alas, Salem was not just anyone.
Amber had no choice but to shift to the side as the cloud suddenly parted due to a blast of pure magical energy being fired right at her. It nearly grazed her due to the sheer suddenness of it, but Amber took it in stride and merely flipped around before then kicking at a much smaller section of said cloud. Her kick caused the part she struck to break off and fall right towards Salem's spot in the form of a thin and brutally fast spear.
Salem flew to the south a little, just enough to avoid the spear but in so doing left herself open to Raven, whom Amber could just barely make out due to the distance.
Salem had been so concentrated on Amber's grandiose actions up until now that Raven had been able to actually transform into her bird form for just a split second to get in close without being detected. And now that she was back in her human form, she wasted no time attacking.
Amber got more than a little bit of satisfaction from watching Raven deck Salem across the face with a rock covered fist before then running the woman through with a sharp blade of ice that then formed in her other hand.
Raven then broke off as Salem let out a howl so loud that even from up here, Amber could practically feel it, to say nothing of the burst of pure energy that accompanied it. However, the ice blade Raven had created was still stuck within Salem's gut and now the ice began to spread all over Salem's body.
Amber now let herself fall towards the woman just as the burst of energy started to subside, hoping to take advantage here while Salem now seemed distracted by being frozen from the inside out.
Unfortunately, Salem willed the freezing to come undone and then turned her attention on her in the last possible instant. Fortunately, Amber was able to resume flying and bolt towards the east just as Salem tried to enclose her within a barrier. Even better, Raven was able to get in close again and ram right into the woman before then creating an explosion of flames that blasted the ruler of the Grimm towards the ground-.
-And right into the attack range of Ozpin, who'd been left out this past half minute or so.
The man wasted no time leaping up and delivering a powerful kick that caught Salem in her side, sending her pretty much rocketing towards some spot just half a kilometer away.
The very instant Salem struck the earth, Amber flew through the air and spun a few times to gain even more momentum before then landing feet-first on Salem herself. To be more specific, she made sure to land as hard as she could on Salem's defenseless face.
Her 'landing' was so powerful that the ground beneath Salem cratered, easily several yards deep and about twice as wide – all in all, quite a big crater… too big.
Alarm bells went off in her mind an instant after landing this attack and Amber tried to take off – but wasn't fast enough as the ground around them erupted, rock shards blasting upwards at all manner of angles.
Salem's own body got shredded by this conventionally suicidal maneuver. Amber was just barely able to focus her growing aura on defense in addition to conjuring a small barrier around her in time to avoid a similar fate, but even so, some of those rock shards managed to pierce her body, specifically her legs, arms and one long piece of rock managed to even stab her side.
An organ must have been pierced or something because she immediately felt blood rise up her throat and spurt out of her mouth. Even so, she managed to stay alert and tried to keep herself from being blown away by this sudden barrage.
Alas, Salem could still attack even while reduced to pretty much nothing and so right after the rock barrage stopped, the earth shifted and slammed over her, crushing her barrier and nearly smearing her in the process.
Pain was all Amber knew for just a split second before the earth shifted again and she was essentially spat out like trash. She hit the ground hard and she grew disoriented as a result. All she was aware of in the following few milliseconds was Raven and Ozpin coming onto the scene, the latter reaching a reforming Salem first thanks to his speed. He managed to speed past the spatial fluctuations Salem unleashed in an attempt to keep him at bay and he thrust a blurring palm at what bits of Salem's body he could touch. He must have loaded aura into his palms because the parts of Salem he struck exploded a split second afterwards.
As for Raven…
"You alright?" the woman asked as she flew close to her.
Amber grimaced. "Under some different circumstances, I'd be pretty much dead right now. But I should be okay – just need a minute here."
"You've half a minute," Raven practically commanded. "Come on, little girl, show me you can keep up."
"Why you…" Amber started to growl out despite the blood in her mouth only to trail off as Raven flew off to join Ozpin as he peppered Salem's still regrowing body with his attacks. As soon as Raven even neared the battle, the arm Salem just reformed suddenly waved at the bandit leader and gravity itself seemingly increased for Raven nearly fell to the now uneven and jagged ground at top speed.
"…" Amber tried to move, but to little avail. Though the amplified aura was healing her even without her conscious effort, it would be a moment before she could afford to move around again.
Damn it all, she thought, this is just ridiculous.
Salem clearly struggled to deal with just one of them. Two of them, she could sort of deal with so long as she can keep one relatively at bay, but once she's healed and rejoins the battle, Amber really couldn't see the ancient witch being able to effectively battle all three of them at all.
However…
The ground erupted beneath Ozpin's feet and though he was able to jump back in time, the insanely thick ash cloud that followed it shifted in his direction and forced itself into his eyes, nose and mouth. The man started to cough and wheeze like crazy even as he tried to retreat, only barely avoiding some blades of wind that would've cut his limbs right off if he'd been even a microsecond slower. Then a burst of lightning occurred that fried Ozpin in addition to sending him flying away.
At the same time that happened, Raven was able to power through the increased gravity and launch an attack at a now fully reformed Salem in the form of a blade made out of earth. But Salem merely swatted it aside with an open hand and as her blow shattered the earthly blade, space itself bent to redirect the debris and launch it back at Raven, who was promptly pelted by it. The bandit leader managed to tough it out, but ended up getting a nasty cut just above her right eye, the ensuing blood flow partly blinding her enough for Salem to point at her unguarded side and create an explosion that pretty much gave Raven third degree burns all over the right side of her body.
Amber internally groaned.
Amplified aura or not, they were still at a horrible disadvantage here. While able to heal much more quickly than ever before, their regeneration simply didn't hold a candle to Salem's, which was much quicker and definitely more potent in ability since she could reform her own body. Furthermore, while the amplified aura allowed them to keep on fighting well past their limits, the effects of fatigue were still there, albeit heavily muted. Salem, however, just flat out never tired.
This was a battle of attrition and so long as none of them can land some sort of decisive blow, it'd only be a matter of time until Salem takes them down first.
Much as it pained her to admit this even if only in her thoughts, this may very well be a battle that can't be won.
Then, at that very moment-.
Just as Raven was knocked to the side, the entire area seemed to rumble. Judging by the look on Salem's face, it didn't seem to be her doing at all.
Which could only mean one thing…
Even as the ground burst open just several meters away and sent chunks of earth flying everywhere, Amber could only smirk like a loon as the fourth member of their little super attack force made his grand reappearance.
And boy oh boy, did Jaune look good like that.
The young man stepped out of the ground with blades in hand and righteous fury in his eyes. Golden aura literally poured off him and just by him being this close, Amber could feel her wounds begin to heal that much more quickly, the overpowering levels of aura stabilizing too.
"…" Jaune let out what sounded like a growl, which practically echoed throughout the area. So intense was the level of emotion contained within said sound that Amber got to witness the lovely sight of Salem almost seeming to freeze up.
The blond then took a single step forward – and the next thing any of them knew, an explosion of golden light was released which was then accompanied by a shriek from Salem.
One would normally be hard-pressed to consider shrieks of shock and pain to be fun things to listen to… but in this special case, Amber found it positively uplifting.
Her wound now almost healed, she began to move, a smile on her face.
Though there was no particular reason for it, she felt now that the battle would be coming to an end soon enough – and she for one, intended to see things through to that point.
It'd taken him a little longer than he'd have liked to fully break free from underground, mainly due to how hard the very earth had been tugging him in literally all possible directions. However, after powering up a bit more, shaking off its grip had been pretty straightforward.
And now… here he was, back up on the surface.
The very instant he'd burst out of the ground, he'd taken in the situation – the state Amber was once again in, the hits the headmaster had been landing on Salem as well as Raven's rush… and how Salem herself had repelled them.
He had complete faith in his three allies here. They weren't down and out just yet, not by a long shot. However, not even his now unshakeable faith in humanity could blind him to what was going on.
Salem simply was at no true risk of tiring, much less dying. This was a battle of attrition and one they'd been losing against her for quite some time now.
Time to change that.
The very first thing he did was let loose the massive well of aura he'd been compressing within himself, the aura going off like a bomb, albeit one that he controlled. In addition to pretty much blinding everyone around him, it also had the effect of blasting back Salem.
But Jaune wasn't about to let her go flying off, not after learning firsthand earlier what Salem could get up to if allowed some distance.
Girding himself, he swung a blade and severed space. Thus when he took a single step in that following instant, he was literally upon an in-motion Salem. Once near, he immediately sliced at her legs and managed to sever just one off as Salem had managed to try and fly away at the last possible instant.
Undeterred by this, Jaune simply grabbed her other leg with a hand and pulled hard. The result was Salem being dragged back with tremendous force and she went slamming into the ground. One swift kick to her ribs knocked her into the air again, however-.
-Only to be met by the headmaster, who swooped in and delivered a brutal downwards palm strike that surely ruptured an organ. The strike clearly contained aura too, for a miniature explosion went off in the ruler of Grimms' body, a small chunk of her gut now gone.
The headmaster delivered several more strikes in the form of insanely fast jabs that even Jaune struggled to fully see, but even then the blond was able to follow what the headmaster was about to do and moved in alongside the man. Now side by side, the two men delivered powerful blows to Salem's body that damn near split her in half and sent her skidding across the ground.
The woman let out a pained gasp that Jaune just barely heard, but it was clear to him that this gasp was partially a cover – already he could feel a build up of power.
Like hell he was about to let that happen.
Immediately, he drew out his sword and cut at the space before him. Once again, he broke space and his swing which should have had absolutely no chance of hitting Salem ended up cutting her left arm off at just below the elbow. This took the woman by surprise just long enough for Raven to rejoin the fray and the bandit leader wasted absolutely no time attacking.
Said attack came in the form of the ground springing into motion, several thin but sharp spikes suddenly jutting up and impaling Salem all over her broken body before then proceeding to suck her back into the ground.
It would seem the bandit leader intended to try and bury Salem as far down as she could, much like what Salem had tried to do to him just minutes ago. Rather fitting in a way.
But Salem, broken as she was, wasn't about to go down quietly. Magical power exploded from the woman, power great enough to make him and the headmaster skid back a few feet. Said power was then directed towards the earth, the woman intending to fight Raven's control over the shifting ground.
And just for a split second, it looked like Salem's sudden burst of extreme resistance was going to work – until Amber chose that moment to join the fray too.
The woman was now back up and at it and while clearly not fully healed just yet, she was raring to go for a third round. Said Fall Maiden stormed onto the scene by way of stabbing right through Salem's unguarded skull with a nail made out of thick ice. This surprise attack startled Salem just enough for Raven to reinforce her control over the earth and Jaune could practically feel Amber add in her power to back her up.
But even so, Salem still struggled, bolts of lightning firing upwards in an attempt to blast the Maidens away. Meanwhile, the earth's shifting was slowing ever so slightly.
Some lightning was fired their way too, but the headmaster swiftly moved out of the way to avoid being struck.
As for Jaune himself? Just as one neared him, he cut it in half – and then through sheer force of will, he got one half of the bolt to be absorbed and contained within his blade.
Given this battle over the elements and the very laws of nature, it seems only fitting he does his best to join in too. That he no longer had any working Dust to do so was irrelevant to him by this point, such was his growth in power.
But just half of a lightning bolt wouldn't do – he needed to go a little further.
So… why not try something a little different?
"…!"
For so long, he's done his best to hone not simply his strength, but also his control. Even the slightest error in controlling his power could potentially mean others being harmed due to crossfire. Thus, he'd done what he could to ensure he had damn near absolute dominion over his own bodily functions, especially since in the past, his control over his own aura had been pretty much nonexistent.
This training of his from long ago combined with his ever-spontaneous bouts of ingenuity thus gave birth to yet another absurdity in this moment-.
-By sheer force of will, he tapped into the bioelectricity found within his own body, his own cells and nerves, and channeled that into his blade, amplifying the lightning he'd already contained within it.
He then sliced in Salem's direction and a bolt of gold and blue was unleashed without any warning.
His attack funneled right into Salem and clearly began to fry her from the inside out. In the span of just a few precious milliseconds, the struggle Salem had been putting up ceased as her organs cooked and her bones cracked and melted together. Only a microsecond after that, her deathly white skin began to blacken and peel as well, to say nothing of the effect his attack just had on her eyes…
But such a grisly sight lasted only an instant before the combined might of both Raven and Amber saw the woman buried and burrowing ever deeper.
The further down they seemed to be burying Salem, the more of an effect this had on their surroundings – little by little, the massive storm that had been produced by the power of Salem and the Maidens now started to disperse and an almost eerie calm began to settle in.
After a few more seconds, Raven and Amber ceased what they were doing and collapsed onto the ground, clearly out of breath from the mental exertion such a feat had demanded.
"…Quite the timing there, Mr. Arc," the headmaster said as he approached from nearby. "To say nothing of the surprises you've had in store for us this whole time."
Despite the circumstances, Jaune smiled a little. "I do my best to impress." His smile then vanished as he looked Vale's way.
So focused on this battle, it'd been only now that he had the time to see how things were playing out back there.
From the looks of it, the airborne Grimm seemed to be fully down with only some relatively few stragglers remaining. The sounds of battle could still be heard even from here, meaning the Grimm were still active within the kingdom, but compared to before, it was practically quiet. Whether or not that was a good thing was unknown… but Jaune had faith the others were holding out okay now.
Could he dare even say it…?
"Looks like the hordes may have been dealt with," he spoke quietly as the Maidens got up now.
"It would seem so," the headmaster agreed. Though he didn't smile, the relieved air about him was undeniable.
"You sure know how to make an entrance, don't you?" Amber called out tiredly as she now approached him, Raven trailing slowly behind her. "Not that I'm complaining though. Seriously, good timing there."
Jaune nodded to her. "You're welcome… however." His expression was rather grim. "You know that things aren't over just yet."
Amber sighed. "Yeah…"
"…"
Amber made for herself a spear of earth and fire, the latter not hurting her due to it being of her own creation. As for the silent Raven, she clasped her hands together for an instant and when she spread them apart, a blade of ice and amped with lightning formed.
Jaune himself quickly rotated his wrists and shoulders to make sure they were still in working order.
Though the hordes may seem to be dealt with now, there was still obviously one matter left for them to deal with – Salem.
And speaking of her… the ground was slowly starting to shake now.
"…"
By all rights, Salem had lost. Her forces had been decimated and Hazel, who was apparently her trump card, was also dead. Salem was for all intents and purposes by herself now and outnumbered. Anyone else ought to just rethink the situation and retreat.
Alas, that didn't seem to be the case for the woman… and even if she did consider such a thing, it wasn't as if Jaune or the others had any intention of letting her just leave – this conflict between Salem and humanity had gone on long enough. Letting her go so easily would only bring ruin to the kingdoms later down the line, when none of them were in so advantageous a position.
"Mr. Arc," the headmaster called out. "I'm sorry to impose on you, but I'm without a weapon. May I…?"
Jaune nodded. He had only three blades remaining, the two he currently held in his hands and one other that had remained on his person this whole time. He wasted no time drawing out this last blade and giving to the older man, who nodded in gratitude and gave the sword a quick test swing.
At the very instant the headmaster finished doing just that, the rumbling intensified. The ground began to shift and the four of them had no choice but to leap back as far as they could go.
The dispersing storm now began to restore itself and with it came the forces of nature once more. The earth itself seemed to howl in fury and before their very eyes, a huge chunk of the ground shifted from a solid state to something much more fluid.
And there within the now ever shifting earth was none other than a determined Salem, who eyed them all heatedly. Her body now restored itself, the limbs that had been severed just a minute ago having been destroyed when the earth had shifted just now.
The earth continued to shift for miles on end now, the ancient witch's reach no longer seeming to know any bounds from the looks of it.
Jaune tried to interrupt whatever was going on by shooting a wave of aura with his blade but the attack was stopped by magically reinforced earth and wind, which reached out to stop his attack before it even got halfway to Salem. Similar attacks from both Amber and Raven had likewise been stopped as space itself shuddered and tore their blasts of lightning and hail apart.
And all the while, Salem's eyes glowed ominously, so much so that Jaune could clearly make out the odd gleam to them even from this distance.
…Something had just changed about her, he realized.
"…" He made a sound, steeling himself. He had the feeling that whatever change she'd undergone just now wasn't one for the better.
But no matter what sort of effect this may have had on Salem, one thing he was absolutely certain of was this-.
-One way or another, this battle ends today.
Alrighty, so what do you think guys? Again, I tried to ensure Salem got her time to shine even while clearly at a disadvantage… and you can certainly expect her to get a bit more spotlight too in the next chapter.
Anyways, what did you think of Jaune utilizing his own bioelectricity like that? Crazy? Cool? Both? Because there's more where that came from, ha ha.
That said, on a more serious note, don't expect this battle and for that matter this fic to last much longer – again, while writing out knock-down drag out fights for multiple chapters would be fun to do, at some point it starts to get stale unless the writer is damn good at it… and that's not me, not yet. So, yeah, this final round or whatever you wish to call it won't be lasting much longer. Then after that will be just a quick aftermath thing and that'd be just about it for this fic.
With this now officially said, I hope you all will stick with me until the very end – because it's near and coming soon!
Until next time, everyone. Stay safe!