Hey there, everyone! Sorry for the slight delay in getting this chapter out – been surprisingly busy at work these past few weeks and it's especially picked up this past week or two. In and of itself, not a bad thing, but the work had been quite disorganized and said disorganization only ended up putting even more of a strain on not just me but my coworkers too. I'm sure many of you know how stuff like that goes in jobs.
Additionally, either due to my building fatigue or something else, I ended up getting a minor case of writer's block, which had only been adding to the frustrations I'd been experiencing lately. But now things seem to have stabilized, so that's been a load off my back.
Now then, onto the chapter! Hard to believe we're at 60 chapters now! Please enjoy!
P.S. I also became aware of the odd glitch on the site where new chapters either took forever to be viewable or just flatout couldn't be viewed at all outside of the site app. Yet another reason why it took some time for this chapter to be posted – to avoid that fate until it was addressed, which it was as of a few days ago. Nothing against the site app or anything, but I just like my content being viewable on both the app and the main site itself, you know?
P.P.S Doom Eternal's Ancient Gods part 1 DLC seriously kicked my ass! And to think I played the DLC on Hurt Me Plenty! Can only imagine how tough it must have been for those who played it on Nightmare or even Ultra Nightmare! And I'm hyped as hell for part 2!
Chapter 60
As she'd been buried deep within the earth by the Maidens and Ozma and one Jaune Arc, Salem's emotions had come to a head.
Entire centuries, literal lifetimes, worth of ever-increasing frustrations had finally reached their peak within her. Mixing together with the shock she'd been constantly experiencing throughout the entirety of today in addition to just a slight bit of fear over possibly failing in her self-imposed duties, the ancient witch had been a veritable ball of negativity. Rather ironic considering her position as ruler over the Grimm, but that's just how things go.
In any case… the woman has well and truly had enough. For lack of a better way to put it, she'd effectively snapped.
What was to be a protracted victory march had instead become a genuine battle and then that had become a slowly one-sided slaughter as the forces of humanity within Vale, empowered by Jaune Arc, now managed to effectively pick off the remaining Grimm that had converged on the kingdom.
And she really, really was fed up with how things had turned out.
This turning point for her had ultimately caused her own power to well up to its very limit and beyond. In this world where magic and souls were power, emotions can serve as extremely useful supplements to such spiritual abilities and now she was well and truly tapping into reserves even she didn't know she fully had.
And now, with all the earth shifting around her as if it were alive, it was high time to put this power to good use.
But not against her four current foes – no, after the brief scuffle she'd just had with all of them at once, the ruler of the Grimm knew all well now that trying to take them on again would only be futile. Thus, splitting them up would first take priority.
But before that can be done…
Ozma and Jaune Arc were the first to move, rushing towards her with blades drawn. The former was naturally the first to take the lead, owing to his naturally insane speed, amped by both the boost the latter was providing and his own altered semblance. However, as the man swiftly closed in, Salem let loose a powerful wave of magic out that caused space itself to ripple and invert, forcing Ozma to back off hastily.
That was when the latter, the young and absurdly powerful man, took action. Jaune Arc charged up his blades with an immense amount of aura and swung them at the spatial distortion. Against all logic, he actually cut through it as if it were a physical thing. However, by now, Salem liked to think she'd become able to anticipate such absurdities. It helped too that her prophetic visions were still in effect to some extent. Thus, having foreseen this attack, she was already responding to it before the spatial distortion was fully extinguished.
Just as the wave of aura that was unleashed from the blond teen's blades in mid-attack was halfway towards her, she managed to pinpoint the coordinates the attack was about to occupy – and then, with a great deal of effort, she managed to teleport the attack right back at the blond. His own aura wave manifested right in front of his face and exploded with a ridiculous amount of force, more than enough to blow back Ozma who'd been nearby and give the Maidens reason to also back off just as they'd been about to attack too.
With this lapse in their offensive now made, Salem let out a cry that fully carried all of her rage as she followed up with this attack.
With a vicious wave of her hand, the world shifted and reality itself seemed to be thrown into complete chaos. All the elements practically erupted in the space between her and them and as space distorted yet again, the combination of ice and water and fire and wind and more was practically scattered about the area, as if she'd just fired some massive shotgun.
Salem didn't bother aiming particularly well. Whether or not this mad and chaotic attack managed to actually do her foes any additional harm was honestly irrelevant; all she'd desired was just getting them off her back for a brief moment and in this, she succeeded.
And with this lapse in what was to be the final battle made, Salem whirled about and faced her true target, which she'd forgotten about in the rush of all this violence:
Vale.
Yes, the kingdom had always been her true target. Getting some much needed revenge on Ozma had certainly been an objective of hers, but bringing Vale down and finding the Relic of Choice had always been the primary and absolute objective of this plan.
Of course, searching for the Relic would still have to wait… but she would be more than happy to level the kingdom herself until then.
Besides, Ozma and those other three needed to pay for their gall in trying to stall the inevitable.
Her eyes glowed ever more ominously as she manifested a twister into existence that started to suck up all the earth that had surrounded her and now began its fast trek towards the kingdom's western front.
As the twister swiftly approached and started to send the debris offered up to it flying everywhere, Salem teleported herself within the very eye of this storm and began to gather her energy.
Time for the opening act of the finale.
To say that the entirety of today and yesterday had been absolutely nuts would be a complete understatement, especially with all the oddities that had happened very recently.
The inexplicable manifestation of golden aura had been but another incredible oddity, to say nothing of the absolute chaos that had been pretty much going on right outside of Vale.
But James Ironwood, for all his inherent paranoia and worries, remained steadfast throughout it all. His semblance, Mettle, may be the very definition of simplistic, but its ability to let him hyper-focus on any tasks at hand certainly paid off in the long run, strengthening his will and honing his mind to razor sharp levels when needed. The odd boost this golden aura was providing him also did wonders too, allowing him to process information much faster than ever before and even allow him to formulate new orders to issue in record time.
He could feel it – it was as if the very neurons in his brain were firing at faster and faster speeds, certain other chemicals in the brain either working at max capacity and beyond while certain other ones seemed to feel blunted. In the case of the latter, it felt as if whatever worries and paranoia he'd been having leading up to this invasion had simply vanished… no, perhaps more like his very ability to feel fear and the like had outright been turned off somehow.
In and of itself, a rather scary thing but he couldn't bring himself to feel much of anything for it.
Perhaps later on, should he survive to the end of this day, he'll be appropriately unnerved by all that's going on, but for now he welcomed this change with open arms.
It was especially useful, after all, what with the literal twister heading right for Vale.
The very instant it'd even formed and started heading this way, he'd already been issuing orders at rapid fire.
"Order all forces along the western front to fall back and spread out! Get any of our own forces out there to gather any remaining civilians still in the area and find cover! Put out a call to our remaining ships and tell them to break off from their current engagements and open fire on that twister! Tell them to aim for the center of it, if possible!"
These were but a few of the numerous orders he was immediately relaying, his mind taking this all in at ridiculous speeds.
It became obvious what was going on – Salem herself was knocking on Vale's door and she sure as hell wasn't being gentle about it. To be expected given just who she is.
In all honesty, James didn't doubt how effective whatever forces remained would be against her, but this was something he paid very little mind to. After all, ever since he'd first been brought into the fold all those years ago, he'd known the chances of taking out Salem in a direct confrontation would be all but impossible. This golden aura may be empowering him and all the others here in Vale, but that didn't make them invincible, not by a long shot and this empowerment sadly didn't extend to their equipment either.
However, it wasn't in his nature to just go down without a fight no matter how stacked the odds were. He wouldn't have been able to rise to the rank of general if he'd been so weak-willed. And whatever damage he and his forces can do against Salem to slow her down, the better – it didn't take his new hyper-focus to know that she'd been stalled for quite some time due to Ozpin and certain others working together out there.
His crew wasted no time following through on issuing his orders and soon enough, everything started to fall into place.
With or without his orders, the people atop the western wall would've retreated regardless, which is what they were currently doing – except for Glynda, from what he could tell. It looks like the woman was using her strengthened semblance to halt the flying debris and hurl back as best as she could for the moment.
Meanwhile, some of the monitors aboard his flagship showed what the ground forces were up to. On these screens, numerous soldiers and huntsmen, all of whom were looking bloodied and battered but still very much alert and ready, were rushing around, either looking for cover from the incoming blow or rounding up any civilians that may have been stuck on the frontlines up until now.
His fleet had taken some pretty heavy losses up until now due to the absolutely overwhelming number of airborne Grimm that had been assaulting them from all angles. Not even his flagship had remained unscathed. However, as the battle had waged on, the pilots' senses only seemed to hone that much more as they put their all into flying and gunning as best as they could. The golden aura had only further helped by heightening their senses and reflexes sharply, allowing them to really push themselves and subsequently their ships to the limits. Now with many of the Nevermores and Griffons taken out, the remaining ships wasted no time breaking off from whatever engagements they were still in and heading right for the twister.
With impeccable aim, these brave pilots fired what little ammo they had left into the very heart of the twister. They didn't bother firing any of their missiles on the likely chance the twister would just suck the missiles up and send them flying back into Vale, but the regular rounds they were firing seemed to be just fast enough to avoid being redirected by it and so they managed to strike the very heart of the storm with incredible accuracy.
In response to this, James could literally see the raging storm fluctuate even without the need for any of the monitors here. He pumped his cybernetic fist in triumph. Again, this may not mean much in the short term, but any and all lapses in concentration they can cause in Salem, the better.
Alas, these were lapses they were talking about.
Sure enough, the twister neared the western wall and tore through it with very little difficulty. Thankfully, Glynda and the others had evacuated the wall and the general area, but as the twister began to dissipate, it still managed to tear up a solid portion of the surrounding area. Buildings and entire sections of streets and highways were ripped apart into numerous pieces and flung about wildly – and there was no mistaking even from this distance the sight of some people getting caught up in this chaos either, those who'd been just too slow in trying to escape the area.
James could only mourn in silence at this loss of life, but his will remained more steadfast than ever before.
Having issued an additional order for all ships to fall back several hundred meters to avoid being caught up in the final throes of the twister, the general then dealt out another order.
"Look out for incoming attacks! Take additional evasive actions now! Take us up!"
Though on a far grander scale than anything else he's ever seen or read about before, James knew when someone was just launching out a feeler before dishing out the true attack. Salem here was no different in that respect.
He was proven right a split second later. Before the twister fully dissipated, Salem's form became visible to him via a monitor and her very form pulsed with power. Space itself suddenly distorted in several locations, one of which happened to be the very spot his flagship had just been occupying. These spatial distortions also appeared along the general flight paths of the remaining fleet and it was only thanks to his order and the ever improving reflexes of the pilots that most of these ships survived-.
-Alas, not without some cost.
Though most of the ships managed to avoid these large scale distortions, there were easily five ships that didn't make it out in time and James and his crew could only watch as they were twisted apart into literal nothingness on screen. Some of the other ships, despite having avoided destruction, ended up being clipped and losing sections of their hull. By no means was this damage too severe, but if these surviving ships were pushed too hard, the consequences would be harsh.
Not even his flagship was unscathed. It'd gained some altitude just before that distortion had struck, a solid portion of its bottom hull now completely gone.
"Sir, we've lost some of our supplies," called out one of his crew. "However, beyond some structural damage to the areas in that location, we're still capable of flight."
He nodded. "Monitor the damage just in case it somehow worsens. Have any crew near those areas evacuate up to the higher levels now and make sure our fire systems are still functional."
He doubted any fires or electrical failures there would occur, but always best to be safe than sorry. The crewman immediately acknowledged the order and carried it out, issuing an alert in the areas near the damaged section for any surviving crew to get a move on.
As that happened, James surveyed the situation and grimaced as those distortions now began to travel. Downwards.
And they were growing too…
"All ground forces, be advised – the enemy is attacking from above! Try to get as many civilians underground as quickly as possible! Any and all forces who may be capable of slowing down those distortions, take action immediately!" James called out as he quickly neared a console and spoke into the radio there. After issuing that order, he broke off and made a quick call to Glynda with his scroll, knowing she didn't have a radio and there was no guarantee someone was near her with one on hand. "Glynda, anything you can do to stop those distortions?"
The woman's voice was amazingly calm despite the situation and her reply was immediate. "Only one way to find out. Watch yourself, James – she's preparing her next move."
"Noted." James replied before ending the call.
Sure enough, the massive storm overhead started to shift in this direction and lightning and hail followed with it. And more than that, a heavy rumbling was making itself known on the ground – earthquakes.
Attacks from both above and below, and of such a scale too… truly, Salem wasn't one to be underestimated at all.
But then, humanity wasn't to be underestimated either.
Even as the airspace quickly grew deadly, James wasted no time at all ordering his forces to open fire on Salem at the first chance they had to do so. And his pilots sure did take that chance in short order too.
The first of his remaining ships did a barrel roll in mid-flight to avoid some thin but powerful whisps of flames that rained from the sky before firing several missiles in Salem's general direction. Said missiles got within approximately a hundred meters of Salem's current spot before the woman lashed out with a wave of energy that wiped out the encroaching weapons.
However, this only resulted in her being left preoccupied and thus when another ship that had managed to circle around joined the fray, the two missiles it then fired struck Salem head on. Her form was enveloped in an instant by two powerful explosions and for just a split second, the storms and quakes and spatial distortions seemed to lighten up, just enough for the general's flagship to put some more distance between the undoubtedly reforming Salem and them.
And sure enough, when Salem reformed and burst out of the smoke, she started to fly right towards the flagship. Clearly, she intended on bringing it down from up close.
Like hell that was going to happen without anything being done on his part.
"Open fire!" he bellowed and his forces went into action. The brief lull in the ongoing storm had allowed them all to regroup and now circle around the entire airspace here rather haphazardly before finally going on the offensive in full.
It first started with one ship bravely albeit recklessly trying to ram Salem head on. Alas, the woman spotted it coming and outright teleported out of its flight path and reappeared in the same exact spot right after it had passed. She then could be seen thrusting out a hand in the ship's direction and a ball of lava was blasted right at it, engulfing it entirely.
The ship and its pilot was thus lost, but this minor distraction allowed some of the other remaining ships to open fire. Of the several that went on the attack, most of them settled for using their main guns to try and overwhelm her via a literal hailstorm of bullets from a few different directions. Of course, these hailstorm of bullets were brief due to the ships staying on the move in addition to wanting to avoid friendly fire, but they did their job in forcing the woman to focus just for a moment on defense and James watched as Salem erected a barrier that quickly expanded outwards in order to drive off the ships.
Undeterred, however, the remaining ships launched their remaining missiles at the barrier. Sadly but expectedly, the missiles did nothing to the barrier, but the resulting explosions did generate enough smoke to at least block Salem's view of them, which gave them some more time to shift into better positions.
However, what little fortune this afforded the general and his fleet was swiftly undone as Salem dispersed the smoke with ease and started to fire out bolts of lightning from her very hands. The bolts seemed to be fired almost randomly at first but then they switched directions in mid-motion and now trailed the nearest ships.
The ships Atlas had taken great time and effort in developing were fast. Of that, there was absolutely no doubt. The kingdom of Atlas was known to have the strongest military for a reason and that was all due to their devotion to new technological developments. Thus, their pride in their weapons and equipment was very high, especially in James' case for he's personally worked with and overseen said developments and couldn't be prouder of the achievements those under his command have earned.
But for all his pride, he was still a realist and thus he knew his ships had no chance at outstripping lightning of all things. More so when the ships visibly slowed and began to lose altitude. His own flagship was no exception either and as his ship started to sink ever closer to one of the distortions below, he could only serve as a witness to the destruction of most of his ships as the bolts struck them.
The explosions somehow managed to ring in his ears despite everything else going on and practically reverberated inside his own mind. Were this him from considerably earlier, he'd be struck with nearly paralyzing horror. But as of now, all he could do try to reassess what options were left whilst also mourning the increasing number of casualties.
That was when Salem now turned her attention to him and the relative few ships still around – only for her to be interrupted just as she'd even looked their way.
To those not in the know, such as his crew here, it must have looked as if Salem's own storm had suddenly turned against her. But James knew better.
The Maidens, Amber and Raven, were on the scene now and their arrival was heralded by an incredibly fierce wind that blasted Salem right into a flurry of lightning coated ice lances that had just spontaneously formed from the very hail that had been raining this whole time.
Meanwhile, down below, just out of the corners of the monitors, the distortions Salem had created a mere moment ago suddenly disappeared. It was as if they'd been suddenly cut apart.
The only person James could even think of in that moment was someone he'd honestly never thought would've ever possessed such power. But now more than ever, he was glad to have whatever doubts he'd once possessed to be proven completely wrong.
Looks like Jaune Arc really was to be their ace in the hole… but ace or not, that didn't mean now was any time to just hang back and let them take care of the rest.
"Draw back for now!" James called out. "And do a damage report! I want to know exactly what capabilities we all still have available to us!"
"And afterwards, sir?" asked one of the crewmembers as they got to it.
James looked that crewmember dead in the eyes. "We rejoin the fight."
The sudden reversal of his own attack had certainly surprised Jaune and he'd ended up paying the price for it due to being knocked back alongside the headmaster for a moment or so, but now was the time to make up for it.
To this end, he'd sped here towards Vale as quickly as he could. While the headmaster, being significantly faster thanks to his clearly boosted semblance, had gone on ahead to possibly get anyone stuck out here to relative safety, the blond had opted to deal with the source of this new threat directly.
With his aura infused into his blades, he'd swung them at the spatial distortions in the air and had cut them all up as quickly as he could. The literally reality-shattering effects of his might proved enough to destroy these attacks outright and thus stop the effects they'd been having… unfortunately, the damage had already been done.
"…"
Death and destruction were but natural facets of life, all part of an unbreakable cycle. Even back when he'd been at his most naïve, he'd always been able to at least realize this much. Alas, there was always something – someone – out there that sought to disrupt that cycle in often negative ways, worsening things far more than was ever natural.
To put things far more succinctly, ever since the Grimm hordes had reached Vale, a lot of damage had been done and a lot of people had died. Civilians, police officers, soldiers, huntsmen… though Jaune had obviously never met everyone personally or whatever, the deaths of hundreds if not thousands weighed heavily on him. Salem's attacks just now had likely only added to that death toll that much more. After all, it wasn't as if any of the kingdoms were exactly built to defend themselves against something as ridiculous as spatial distortions.
And of course, the level of collateral damage was just nuts – entire streets, highways, and outright sections of the kingdom just levelled or even flat out gone thanks to the relentless stampede of Grimm this whole time, to say nothing of the immense levels of destruction the attacks of Hazel and Salem and others had caused too.
There will be much more mourning to be done and much in need of rebuilding.
And Jaune fully intended to make sure there was still a kingdom left to do just that.
With the spatial distortions now dealt with, all that mattered now were two things – Salem and the ongoing storm.
Currently, Amber and Raven could be seen clashing with the ancient witch high above. The forms of the three women flitted about at high speeds and in all manner of directions. It was like some insanely high level of tag that was being played right now, Salem clearly trying to open up some distance so that she may attack without issue, something that the two Maidens were clearly doing their best to prevent. Lightning and fire and ice and earth erupted with reckless abandon, taking on the forms of weapons such as swords and lances or otherwise just manifesting as shapeless masses to be flung at Salem as quickly as possible.
The women have learned their lessons well, staying on Salem's trail while maintaining a very high level of speed in addition to sporadic movements. While this meant they weren't always in an ideal position to attack, it did prevent Salem from getting a lock on them even though the Grimms' ruler could clearly predict some of their movements to an extent.
So, with Salem currently being kept occupied, that left only one thing.
"The storm," Jaune muttered as he leapt onto the top of a nearby ruined building in order to gain some height.
While Salem has made it plain as day that she could manifest the elements and more from pretty much wherever, she seemed to heavily rely on the storm she'd generated to handle most of the heavy lifting. Getting rid of it would certainly make their immediate environment a little less hostile, what with all the lightning and fire and hail. Hell, he was being peppered with hail right this instant, just to prove how much of a threat the storm alone is.
Well, no more of that.
"…!" He concentrated hard, letting out a grunt as he generated and gathered a truly ridiculous amount of aura into a single blade, specifically the one in his right hand. The blade lit up, quickly glowing a brilliant gold. With the aura gathered, he took up a proper stance… and then swung with all the power he had.
Though looking upwards, he'd ended up slashing almost directly straight ahead, executing a perfectly vertical slash that seemed intended to strike the spot directly in front of him… except it wasn't.
In the very instant he swung, his aura was unleashed and broke through the very concept of space on a truly massive scale. This allowed the brute strength he'd put into his attack to reach the stormy clouds above in a literal instant – and promptly dispersed them just as quickly.
Just like that, where that had once been a thick, dark and ominous storm, there was now not a single cloud in the sky for at least a hundred miles in all directions. Though the sky had long since been darkening due to how much time has past as the afternoon reached its apex, there was a very stark contrast between the almost pitch-black 'sky' that the storm had been providing and the noticeably brighter evening sky. It was almost enough to make even Jaune do a double take at the sheer difference.
As amazing as this feat was, however, Jaune once again paid very little heed to the wonders he could now accomplish. As always, he focused primarily on the goal at hand.
Now with the storm dealt with, it was time to once again focus on Salem.
He didn't have to search for very long in order to find her again, for it would seem she'd been the first to find him thanks to presumably spotting where his swing had originated from. He guessed this to be the case because the very instant he even spotted her, there was already a beam of death-inducing frost coming his way at lightning speeds.
Rather than dodge it, he instinctively went on to do something else… something equally absurd as was now the case with him and his feats, not that he knew such a thing.
He exhaled sharply as he readied his blades. Golden aura pulsed off his form briefly as his sharpening focus took effect – not upon his surroundings but rather himself, his very core. There were exercises out there where it allowed people who were skilled enough at it to actively take in heat to keep themselves warm. He did said exercise here and now… only to a far more ludicrous level.
Heat was pulled directly from his surroundings and into him, causing the area to rapidly cool down as he absorbed most of it. His very insides churned and burned from the heat now inside him, practically cooking himself from the inside out. His skin cooked and his muscles felt like they were literally on fire.
This agony, however, lasted for but a split second as he then forced all that heat to expel itself through his arm and into his blade as he swung it. All that heat, condensed and concentrated even further within him, was unleashed into the world and at the very moment of release, it proved to be more than enough to instantly evaporate the ice lance at the last possible second.
Literal flames had manifested by now, the teen performing yet another impossible feat in the form of grinding his blade against the air itself to superheat his sword to the point of catching fire. Combined with the unleashed heat, a wave of concentrated fire was blasted right in Salem's direction.
The woman, clearly shocked, teleported away just before impact and Jaune was quick to notice her reappearing some odd tens of meters further away… but not quite unscathed as he can just barely make out the sight of her regrowing half of her body. Looks like his absurd attack had managed to incinerate a portion of her form.
Must have been quite painful, he silently reasoned considering the current lapse in Salem's actions, a lapse that the woman paid for as Amber managed to land a direct hit in that moment in the form of a swing of her staff. Said strike caught Salem across the side of her skull at a downwards angle. The blow proved powerful enough to send Salem rocketing downwards, right to Vale.
"…!"
Jaune jumped off the ruined building and as soon as he landed, he blasted off. Though he was swiftly discovering new attack options here, he was still at a disadvantage considering Salem's ability to fly and teleport. The headmaster was similarly disadvantaged, if not more so. Thus, while risky in its own right, having Salem close enough to the ground for him and the headmaster to capitalize on would be quite a boon.
But will this be enough? Considering just how many hits he and the others have landed on Salem so far, that the woman was still alive and kicking spoke volumes of how resilient she is.
Was she immortal, in the truest sense of the word? A genuinely eternal, undying entity?
Jaune let out an uncharacteristic tsk. If Salem really was immortal in the genuine sense of the word, then that'd mean killing her really was impossible.
And as he's only now realizing, he's more than capable of achieving impossible things…
For the sake of everyone, it would be up to him to do what he can here. Because if he can't, then they'd all pay the price for this failure.
His speed continued to increase in response to both his desire and the stakes here, the blond speeding through the ruined section of Vale with an increasing pace. Even as he blurred through the areas, passing by others that were still in the area, he found his resolve strengthened even more.
He will achieve the impossible here or he shall die trying.
His speed continued to increase as he ran deeper and deepr into the kingdom.
Even when in the midst of rescue, Ozpin never stopped paying attention to what was going on. It was only common sense for anyone who'd call themselves a warrior to be aware of their surroundings at all times. Thanks to his lifetimes of experience, he was able to take that basic skill and refine to all new heights.
Thus, even without having to look up most of the time and even with his back turned to the general direction of the battle, the ancient wizard was more than aware of what was going on. And there certainly had been no way for anyone to miss how the storm had suddenly been dispersed. To say nothing of the intense wave of heat and flames that had followed no more than a second later.
"There…" he said softly as he gently placed the injured child in his arms in the open arms of his mother, who cried tears of joy in response. "You're safe now. And you will continue to be safe so long as you stay within here."
'Here' referring to the shelter he'd just ran to. He'd been going about, gathering up as many injured civilians and combatants as he could and rushing them here at top speed whilst also dealing with the remaining Grimm that dared to bar his path. This child, a boy no older than six who looked at him now with widened eyes of awe, had been split off from his mother moments ago during the chaos that had accompanied Salem's distortions. It was only thanks to dumb luck the boy had survived in one piece and that Ozpin had been able to get to him in time after first rescuing the mother.
The mother thanked him profusely and Ozpin did his best to quickly wave it all off without appearing too rude. Chaotic as the situation may be, it wouldn't do to cause civilians any undue stress, even though Mr. Arc's aura was doing wonders at keeping people calm enough.
And on that note…
"…" Ozpin watched with mild amazement as the injuries the mother and child had suffered up until now steadily began to heal themselves. It was one thing to merely form conjecture about this happening, it was another to see it up close.
Many have died so far in this dreadful attack, so the sight of these two and the other civilians he could spot within the shelter already healing on their own did wonders for his ancient soul.
It further strengthened his resolve and with that done, he wasted not another microsecond before taking off.
With all the civilians in the area seen to, he could now fully focus on the battle again. At this thought, he withdrew the blade he'd borrowed from his young blond ally and held it firmly, already aching to do battle again.
And just in the nick of time, he could spot Salem being tag-teamed by Amber and Raven. The battle between his former wife and the Maidens had lowered considerably and now the three women were significantly closer to the ground, close enough for him to take advantage of the ruined structures around here.
Unfortunately…
Raven formed a huge lightning blade and sliced at a downwards angle. Salem dispersed the part of the lightning blade that would've struck her and only that part. The result was the Spring Maiden's attack missing its target while the very tip of the blade ended up digging into and through several city blocks. It was a damn good thing that particular area had been abandoned for the most part, but as entire sections of whatever remaining buildings were left ended up being disintegrated, Ozpin became all too keenly aware of the risks a battle closer to the ground posed to the surroundings.
It'd been one thing when their fight had been out there in the open plains and forests, but here within Vale, their attacks missing and causing additional collateral damage and deaths was a genuine concern.
This appeared to be something the Maidens were now aware of because whatever follow up attack Amber had clearly intended to do ended up being halted – and this was naturally a mistake as Salem generated an explosion near the unguarded woman's side, blowing her away like dust in the wind.
Raven tried to attack again, but the sheer power of the explosion had been enough to force her to focus on guarding instead lest she get blown away too and Salem took advantage of that by teleporting an almost stationary Raven approximately a hundred meters away – right into the center of a new spatial distortion that Salem had just created.
Ozpin knew not if Raven would survive that so he now chose this moment to join the attack. Utilizing his empowered semblance to the fullest again, he dashed up the side of a tall building that was still standing and kicked off it as he reached the top. He launched himself with incredible accuracy right towards Salem, whose movements were once again being slowed due to their proximity.
With blade in hand, he pierced his former wife's back before she could even begin to counterattack and together they went flying towards the ground. Hard.
Ozpin braced for impact and used Salem as a landing pad as they struck the ruined street. They hit the asphalt with such force that the entire area shook in response and a huge crater formed. The two of them bounced off the ground and hit it again and again. After the fourth time or so, Ozpin pivoted at the apex of the next bounce and swung the blade.
This had the effect of cleaving Salem cleanly in two in addition to effectively chucking her away from him. However, he made sure not to throw her too far away lest he give her an opening to exploit. His semblance may be much more powerful now, but it wasn't unbeatable.
An angered Salem thrust a hand out at him and a barrier started to form around him. Additionally, the air itself began to condense, indicating that she was about to initiate an explosion with him at the very epicenter of it.
Using his magic, he created a platform that he then kicked off of just before the explosion went off, avoiding harm. Once again, he flung himself at Salem.
Unfortunately, this time she was ready for him, had even predicted the angle from which he'd approach and the speed of his leap. She put this knowledge to good use by forming a blade comprised of space itself. To his own naked eyes, it was as if reality itself seemed to bend inwards into a point and directly at him.
And sadly, despite his own speed, he wasn't quite fast enough to flip over it. The impromptu spatial blade stabbed right his left calf, nearly severing it thanks to his own momentum now working against him. It was only thanks to him swinging his blade at it and shattering the spatial blade that he was able to prevent such a thing from happening.
Alas, this left him open to more attacks and Salem was more than eager to make him pay for his haste.
The explosion that had gone off in the spot he'd previously occupied turned out to be much bigger and stronger than he'd expected, for it practically slammed into his back like a tidal wave, blasting him towards the ground. The ground in turn rose up and several small spikes rapidly formed from the shifting earth.
He managed to get his arms up in time to guard, but it did no good – the spikes stabbed right through his arms and into his torso.
Pain was far from a new experience to the man, but the sheer suddenness of this reversal and the way these spikes twisted about like little drills inside his flesh got quite the sharp cry out of him.
Immediately, he tried to back off somehow – but as soon as he even started to wriggle around, a large hammer formed from molten earth slammed into the very back of his head. His skull cracked open partially and his hair and skin sizzled and were partly lit aflame. It was only thanks to the boost provided by Mr. Arc's aura that he was still alive, or else he'd likely be reincarnating elsewhere in the next few minutes.
That might just happen anyways, now that he was clearly at his former wife's mercy.
And 'mercy' was far too kind a word for whatever Salem had in mind.
The earth beneath them shifted some more and wrapped around his wounded form while the spikes were still embedded in him. A veritable coffin began to form around him from the earth and more spikes were created that promptly stabbed him in the back.
Now trapped in an iron maiden constructed from the ground itself, Ozpin could only gasp as he found himself no longer able to move. Moreover, the spikes were growing larger and digging into him even more.
So great was his pain and predicament that he had no choice but to deactivate his semblance in favor of focusing on a combination of strength and resiliency enhancement with his aura. He even tried to create some small barriers between the iron maiden and himself, but to no avail for more and more bits of earth were added to it to thicken it further. Additionally, space itself was constricting itself all around him, immobilizing him further. The Maidens were still nowhere in sight and Mr. Arc had yet to arrive again either.
To say he was in a very dire situation would really be putting it lightly. But even so, he wasn't about to give up any time soon. Thus, he continued to struggle with all he had, certain that if he tried just hard enough, he'll figure out something or at least will get some backup.
And as always, it would seem his resistance didn't amuse Salem too much.
"This time you're done for good, Ozma. So cease your struggling – it's now beyond pointless and pathetic," the woman snarled out as she off-handedly destroyed the half of her body that had been severed a split second ago. As her body now regenerated, she continued. "Now, before I do kill off your current body… tell me. Just where is the Relic of Choice? Telling me at least that much would spare some of my time and save just a few of these fools in Vale."
Ozpin snorted, an action that only caused some blood to spill from his mouth as the spikes dug in some more. "Spare me the lies, Salem – one way or the other, you'd still level the entire kingdom no matter what the outcome would be in your favor." He narrowed his eyes, glaring at her. "And as I've said many times before – what you desire is the height of foolishness. Your end goal will bring nothing of value at all. All your plans, all your scheming and actions this whole time… it will all be for nothing. You will have achieved nothing."
That struck a nerve in her for she formed a blade out of the elements into her hands and ran it all the way through his gut.
He gasped and heaved and Ozpin knew in that instant that even with Mr. Arc's boost, there were still limits to how much his aura could heal him… and he may very well have found that limit just now. If he didn't receive actual medical attention soon, his current life will end for good and he'll be forced to reincarnate again.
"As if you're not in the same predicament," Salem spat out as she withdrew the blade before dismissing it. Her eyes glowed with even more hate than ever before. "…I'll admit this much – you do have a point there. I'm not blind to what may await the world should I fail… but at least one way or another, there will finally be a true end to all this. Better that than this loathsome cycle."
"Perhaps…" Ozpin wheezed out, his voice now rather weak. But his gaze remained strong. Current injuries aside, the blade Salem had just stabbed him with had also made a significant hole in the iron maiden too, just big enough for some wiggle room. He slowly renewed his struggles. If he could time this just right…
"Even I must admit you've a point – there's only so much we all can deal with," he continued, now hoping to keep Salem's attention. "Nothing can go on forever. Life itself is very likely not exempt from that. But Salem, you seem to fail to realize something here."
"And what's that?"
"This cycle you speak of… it's due to the foolish actions of the Brother Gods, yes, but also due to you and me. This war of ours, the effects it's had across the eras… that is on us." Ozpin smiled bitterly as he spoke. There was so, so much that he and Salem could've focused on back then. They could've addressed the inequality between humans and Faunus all the way back then. They could've tried to tend to the needs of the poor, address slavery and poverty and all the other problems that just naturally crop up. By no means would they have been able to solve all those things, but at least they would've been able to say they've tried and done the best they could do.
But instead, none of that happened. Instead, they'd focused on themselves and their little family at first… and then, after they'd disagreed and fought for the first time, it'd all gone to hell. The war between them had begun on that fateful day and ever since then, they've pretty much turned the entire world into their little chess board. Oh, he may have done what he could to keep the peace in Remnant wherever he went and set up base but dealing with Salem and her actions had always been his top priority from then until now.
Yes, hindsight truly was the worst. Alas, there was no changing the past. But at the very least, they can look back and acknowledge their mistakes in earnest.
"I won't deny that we've been dealt unfair punishments. Nor will I try to naively say that everything would've worked out okay if we'd stayed together and tackled the world's problems… but conflict in all its forms are just a natural part of life… and that's what we've been missing this whole time, Salem – life. We could've done so much… yet here we are instead."
Salem was quiet for a solid second or two, clearly digesting his words. And just for an instant, Ozpin swore he saw within her eyes the woman he'd first met and fallen in love with all that time ago… but only for an instant.
The sweet young woman who'd been locked up in that tower was gone now… and only the ruthless leader of the Grimm remained.
Salem's eyes narrowed and glowed even more. Her sickening veins pulsed horribly. And when she spoke, it was in a bitter tone that he hadn't heard since they'd first spoken of their daughters' deaths.
"Maybe so," she admitted darkly. She then plunged her right hand into the hole the blade from a moment ago had made. Her fingers dug into his flesh and deep within harshly and with unforgiving force. "But it's long since time a new natural order is established… one that your current incarnation and Vale will serve as the foundation of."
She plunged her hand deeper within, getting a groan out of the man. Yes, there was no doubt about it now – he was dying.
But he wasn't about to go quietly.
In her anger just now, the hold she had over him had weakened somewhat. The opening she was using too wasn't helping her own case. And so, with a burst of strength in that exact instant, Ozpin broke free of his little prison, sending chunks of debris everywhere. Said debris ended up pelting Salem a little, just enough to make her stumble but not remove her hand just yet. However, a vicious kick from him and a brief swing of the sword he still held took care of that.
Having cut the woman across her torso in mid-stumble, Ozpin leapt away as fast as he could, activating his semblance once more to use the enhanced speed to his advantage.
Alas, he wasn't able to utilize the time-slowing effect it now had on his surroundings. That'd require additional aura that he now intended to dedicate entirely towards defenses and healing. Case in point, he then swung the blade several times in rapid succession, unleashing aura with each swing very much like how Mr. Arc could do so.
Though considerably weaker than the blond in question, these aura waves were still very powerful and succeeded in blowing Salem away even further – and just in time for said blond to once again arrive at a most convenient time.
The young man came barreling onto the scene and slammed into Salem's side with all the force of a bullet train going at massively hypersonic speeds. It was a wonder Salem's body wasn't completely obliterated on impact alone.
However, the sudden ramming attack certainly broke a lot of Salem's bones and sent her skidding along the ground. This didn't last for more than a split second before Ozpin then witnessed Mr. Arc swing at the open air – and the next thing the ancient wizard knew, Salem was practically in front of Mr. Arc again, the latter brusquely stomping down on Salem's shocked face.
But wonders didn't cease there. Before Ozpin's own eyes, when the teen followed up with a swing of the blade in his right hand, the blade itself seemed to grind against the very air, sparks flying everywhere and superheating the blade through the friction alone. Thus, when the sword cut into and through Salem's neck, it was like a literally hot knife slicing through smooth butter.
But shocked as he was, Ozpin wasn't about to just stay on the sidelines a second longer. His current state aside, this was no time to be going fully on the defensive.
Hastily, he closed in and started carving up Salem's body before flicking each individual piece away and as far as he could manage. Mr. Arc, seeing what he was doing, followed suit.
Unfortunately, Salem wasn't going to just let them have their way. The space around them erupted with just enough power to throw Mr. Arc off balance and harm Ozpin himself more than he already was. The all-encompassing explosion also had the effect of destroying most of Salem's body… and then the spots that the other parts had been flung in started to explode as well, Salem's prophetic vision likely allowing her to ascertain where her body parts had ended up.
Ozpin swore as Salem's form began to recover before his very eyes and the woman caused the entire street to rock like a violent wave that forced him to retreat.
But Mr. Arc certainly didn't retreat. Instead, the blond his ground and stomped the ground incredibly hard, hard enough to cancel out the rumbling before his very form crackled with lightning from out of nowhere and he thrust his sword out to shoot out a bunch of lightning that Salem had to dedicate herself to deflecting.
The teen had to stay still during this maneuver, however, and that allowed Salem just enough time to teleport him dozens of meters away and facing the wrong direction at that too.
Ozpin lunged at Salem and activated the time-slowing effect of his empowered semblance. In doing so, he had to cease focusing on healing and he felt the consequences of that as his slowly healing wounds only worsened themselves again from the strain of his physical actions. And sadly, this proved to be a miscalculation on his part for even with his own amped speed, he was still too slow to reach Salem before she was able to teleport herself so high up into the air that she was little more than a speck from his point of view.
A storm was already beginning to brew again too as Salem rose ever higher…
…Only to be interrupted by Amber and Raven who had practically been waiting for her. And they weren't alone either – their rejoining of the fight was first heralded by some missiles from some of the remaining Atlas ships.
"…James?!" Ozpin couldn't help but cry out as he clearly recognized James' flagship slowly gaining some altitude despite the damage it had sustained thus far. The ancient wizard actually gaped at the sight and unconsciously reached out as if to try stopping all this – only to groan as pain enveloped him, his wounds still too severe.
He started to stumble and then fall. He prepared himself for the inevitable impact – only to be spared that as his young student had closed the distance between his initial spot and here to catch him.
"My thanks, Mr. Arc," Ozpin said thankfully, albeit with a bit of a shaky voice. Despite Mr. Arc's aura keeping him from feeling truly exhausted, he was still feeling a certain fatigue of sorts now. Has he perhaps found the limit to how much of a boost the student's aura can provide? Or was this just due to the wounds he'd sustained? Ozpin honestly couldn't say.
In any case, his current state certainly seemed to alarm the blond teen. "Headmaster, your wounds…!" Mr. Arc sounded surprised and concerned.
Ozpin couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "Seems I've found the limit."
"…Should I take you to one of the shelters? Get you some treatment?"
Ozpin thought for all of a split second before shaking his head. "No, it'd be a waste of their efforts." He put a hand to one of the wounds and grimaced as soon as his hand even lightly touched it. "I've already lost too much blood and taken too much damage. Your aura is keeping me going but that's about it."
"…"
Slowly, Ozpin regained the strength to stand on his own and glanced up at the sky where the battle raged on. Salem had seemed to gotten quite the feel for how the Maidens fight and while the remainder of the Atlas fleet was proving to be quite the boon for their side, Salem was also already figuring out ways to keep them at bay.
The sight of them all coming together was truly a touching experience… but it was also too little too late. No, even from the very start, had they all been fresh and with the entirety of the fleet around, it still wouldn't have been enough. Salem was just too powerful, too versatile and her curse meant she could just outlast them all no matter what.
Not unless something was done about the curse, that is…
Ozpin looked to the young man beside him, who was observing the battle as well. Mr. Arc was clearly awaiting a good opportunity to step in lest he cause any unwanted friendly fire.
"…Mr. Arc," Ozpin began. "I don't believe if I've ever truly explained to you why Salem has managed to live as long as she has."
The teen looked to him, confused. "What do you…?"
"You and others have assumed her to be immortal, immortal in the sense that she's long lived and can clearly recover from things no one would be able to recover from," he began. "But there's still more. I'm sorry – there's been just a bit I've been leaving out still this entire time."
Normally, the curses Salem and he had been inflicted were things he'd never really discuss unless absolutely necessary, more so in the case of Salem's curse since learning she was truly unkillable often led to despair in those who fought alongside him… but now was the time to finally make this known and to the one person who may never be rattled by such news.
So, in as concise a manner as possible what with the battle going on above them, Ozpin explained to the teen the curses he and Salem had.
As expected, the teen stood there and listened in silence. And when Ozpin finished his explanation in the span of just a few minutes, the teen simply got right down to business.
"So, in accordance with the Relic of Knowledge, there's absolutely nothing that can kill her?" the blond asked all too patiently. If he was even remotely shocked by this, he was a master at hiding it.
"Yes, that is so. In all honesty, I'd imagined that only the gods themselves were the only ones who could kill her… and I'm sure you can understand why trying to have them around to do that isn't favorable."
Though his explanation on the Brother Gods themselves had been extremely brief, he'd made sure to get across one very important point – the Brother Gods, for all their supposed benevolence, were not beings who operated by human morality in the slightest. They had their own way of doing things that defied human logic and that meant trying to appeal to them the same way one would appeal to a fellow human simply won't work.
Put in short, the Brother Gods were narrow-minded, petty, and their goals simply will not align with that of humanity's. In other words, they were unreliable.
"Why tell me this now of all times?" Mr. Arc then asked, not in anger and condemnation, but again just confusion. As much as the teen had grown ever since the start of the school year, there were still some things that never quite changed in some respects. "If she's truly unkillable, then what should we do?"
"Is it not obvious?" Ozpin replied with just a bit of amusement, but also self-loathing. It always pained him to have to rely on others in times like this. Though he long learned the value of having friends and allies to work with, foisting things onto others outright sickened him. It was yet another reason why he'd been so weary these past dozen or so lifetimes.
But even so…
"It's because you'll be the one to finally kill her."
Something he's learned about Jinn is that the spirit of the Relic of Knowledge never lies. She will answer the questions asked of her exactly as needed.
But on the flip side of things, she had a habit of never saying more than needed. Another way of putting it is that she relied too much on exact wording and wording can always be open to interpretation.
When he'd asked her all those lifetimes ago how to kill Salem, she'd told him 'you can't' and that was it. And that's the thing – that simple answer could be interpreted differently. It could either mean that Salem truly was unkillable at that time at least or he himself can't kill Salem in which case something or someone else might be able to do so. And again, it could be case of her not being killable at that point in time.
Alas, this was something he'd only really mulled over back then before sadly giving up on it, to the point of almost outright forgetting ever having had such thoughts.
But now though… after seeing just how rapidly and drastically Mr. Arc's power grew, witnessing the clearly absurd, reality-breaking feats the teen seemingly performed without even being fully aware he was breaking all logic was enough to allow Ozpin to truly hope once again.
Only now did he recognize just what it was Mr. Arc had done earlier with the lightning – that had been bioelectricity from within himself. The superheating of his blade? Done by literally grinding it against the air itself. Him suddenly making Salem appear before him to stomp on? He'd cut the concept of space itself.
These were all things that Ozpin believed could be possible with magic, except the blond had no magical power to begin with. These were simply impossible things he was pulling off through sheer force of body and spirit.
In which case… if he could perform all that… then can he dare to believe the young man can cut through curses itself?
A longshot, yes, but with this battle of attrition now clearly wearing them all down, it was the only thing left that the ancient wizard can think of.
All these thoughts sadly went unsaid, but somehow through their held gazes alone, it seemed as if the teen understood what the man was thinking of anyways, for Mr. Arc's eyes narrowed sharply in thought and concentration.
And then a second later, the blond nodded and shifted his blades. "To accomplish something like that…" he began as he readied himself. "I'd need to concentrate all my power to the very limit. And I'd need Salem to be still, if possible. Don't want to run the risk of missing, after all."
Ozpin nodded slowly as he focused back on the battle above, a battle that he nor Mr. Arc could currently interfere with. An idea on how to keep Salem in place long enough was already brewing in his mind. "Worry not about that, Mr. Arc…" he murmured.
Ozpin shifted the blade in his hands around, readying himself for the right moment to get involved again… as well as steeling himself for what was to come.
He'd long since wondered if there'd ever be a way to be free of his own curse too if Salem was ever beaten… looks like tonight would be that night.
And somehow, the thought of a genuine death again both scared him and brought about an all-consuming sense of relief. Despite his injuries, he was suddenly feeling so terribly light.
"…I'll make sure things go off just fine."
Welp, ladies and gents, I believe I can say the end of this fic is finally in sight now! Again, not going to say exactly how many chapters are left but if I had to ballpark it, I'd say about 2 or 3 more chapters.
Man… now that I've gone and written that, it honestly feels surreal in a way. Once again, it just almost feels weird to me that my fic is ending, heh. Alas, no story lasts forever and I'm not into the habit of dragging things out too long, so… yeah.
Just hang in there, everyone – the ride is almost over! Hope you will stick with me until the very end!
P.S. Hope you guys like what I did with Ironwood's semblance. While Boring But Practical, I'd opted to spice it up a little.
Until next time, everyone. Be safe!