Jaune's heart thumped in his ear.
Penny lay motionless, dead. Her circuits continued to spark with electricity but like the glow of her eyes that quickly faded away becoming fainter until there was nothing.
He looked at Vasily who lowered his smoking rifle with a satisfied smirk on his face. That damn smirk of his, Jaune was going to wipe it off his face. He stood up and made ready to charge but Penelope moved running like towards him and knocking him down with a single strike of her single fist.
It clanged against his shield and sent him tripping to the ground. He growled in frustration, more at his own weakness than at her. She stood above him, Corcea Mors still stuck in her back making her all the more unsettling to look at.
Jaune held his shield up ready for her floating blades to come down on him and slice him to ribbons, or for another quick shot from Vasily to paint the streets with his brains. He was out of aura, weaponless and weak.
Penelope instead reached around her back twisting in an unusual manner, she grabbed the hilt of Crocea Mors and slid the steel blade free from her back. She inspected his ancestral blade with a critical eye before approaching him clutching his sword in her only hand.
Vasily chuckled as he approached slinging his double rifle over his shoulder. "This has turned out even better than I could have planned," he said, amused with himself. He held his hand out to Penelope motioning for her to hand him Crocea Mors.
Killed with his own sword, Jaune certainly hadn't seen that coming.
Penelope took a step forward, instead of handing the blade to her master she instead raised it at Jaune. The fell and Jaune raised his shield, he blocked the blow feedibly. Even with his shield the strike felt like his arm was smashed with a baseball bat.
Jaune stumbled onto his feet and withdrew as best he could stepping away.
"What are you doing!?" Vasily hissed.
"Killing Arc," Penelope answered him with a cold mechanical tone, she raised the sword once more to attack Jaune.
"Arc is mine!" Vasily said dangerously.
"I am your weapon, what does it matter?" She protested, "I will kill him however you wish, quick and efficient or slow and painfully."
"That's not the point!" Vasily said, "Arc is not for you to kill!"
Penelope stopped and looked at him quizzically, "and how will you kill him?" She asked him, "with your rifle? Your revolver? Penny's sword? I am a weapon same as them, but superior."
"A weapon obeys their master!" Vasily snarled, "and I am telling you to stand down and let me finish him however I please."
Penelope lashed out swinging the blade and striking him. Vasily's aura flared as it defended him from the strike but the sheer force of the blow knocked him down the street.
Vasily glared at her dangerously, "why did you do that Penelope?" He said cold and evenly towards her.
"You are not fit to wield me as a weapon!" Penny said accusatorial, "I am a tool that you do not wield effectively," she motioned around her, "look around you at all the destruction I have wrought! I could have killed Arc back in the hotel room alone if you had let me, but now you want me to watch as you kill him at your own leisure? I see now how Arc bested a fool like you!"
Vasily narrowed his eyes at the android and laughed at her fishing in his pocket. "I destroyed your sister Penelope, stand down now or I will destroy you too!"
Penelope threw Crocea Mors right at him in response. The blade sailed through the air right for him but Vasily dodged to the side. The blade struck the side of a building, the tip sinking into the brick and staying stuck vibrating. Penelope charged him, her swords flashing ready to strike Vasily dicing him into pieces.
Vasily drew out his scroll, the screen flashed to life and his thumb dancing across the holographic screen. His thumb pressed on a control as her floating blades reached him.
The blades suddenly stopped in midair and fell away, they clattered on the asphalt harmlessly. Penelope stumbled and dropped as if all strength had left her legs had suddenly left her. She fell motionlessness to the street still as a statue. The light in her eyes was gone, it didn't fade away slowly like the glow in Penny's eye had, it just died instantly, in a blink they were dark. Vasily had just shut her down, with a flick of a button he ended her, he just turned her off, like a simple machine.
Jaune had expected him to draw a weapon of some kind, he had been prepared to see a fight. He hadn't expected to see him flip a switch and end her. After all the pain and destruction Penelope had left in her wake watching Vasily defeat her with the push of a button was sobering.
Vasily looked over the lifeless android and sighed, "foolish machine, you think I would use a weapon I couldn't control?" He chuckled and drew his revolver from his holster with an amused chuckle, "I suppose that's another one for the scrap pile, eh Mr. Arc?"
He leveled his revolver where Jaune had been. He wasn't there. Vasily frowned looking at the empty space where Jaune had been.
"Mr Arc?" Vasilly called looking around the ruined street past the two android bodies trying to see where the blonde knight had run off to. "Mr Arc!" He called almost as if he was tying to find a friend, it chilled Jaune as he kept out of sight.
"I apologize for that rude interruption," he called out, his voice echoed through the dark destroyed streets, "I really should have bothered to have some proper manners programed into her," he explained, "certainly more obedience to say the least, this is why I prefer simpler machines that listen to simple commands."
He spotted a set of footprints left behind in the dusty debris that coated the street and filled the air. He traced the trail with the barrel of his revolver trying to follow them despite the low light and haze of debris.
"You cannot hide from me Mr. Arc!" He called out to the quiet street. "You only delay the inevitable, do not debase yourself thinking you can hide and escape from me, not after all this. You deserve a warrior's death Mr. Arc and I will give you one, I won't leave you humiliated and half dead as you left me."
The debris was settling, the smouldering fires still burning from the collapsed building spread thicker smoke and ash into the haze, it stung his eyes and reduced visibility. The dust and ash blanketing the streets were also muffling footfalls making it hard to hear him moving around.
Vasily scanned every inch of the darkness holding his revolver at the ready checking every nook and corner for the blonde knight. His gunbarrel drifted over the side of a brick building, he stopped seeing a narrow hole in the brick.
Crocea Mors was missing, he looked down to see Jaune's footprints in the ash next to it and went down an alley. He was armed now.
Vasily turned the corner and peered down the alley squinting to see through the haze, he followed the footprints watching them turn behind a dumpster. Vasily suppressed a chuckle, was he really trying to hide behind a dumpster again?
Vasily squeezed the trigger firing a round, it punched through the steel like nothing. He squeezed off the other five shots spreading them out around the surface in the hope to hit the knight on the other side.
He had expected to scare Arc out of his cover. To have him come running like last time and charge him. Nothing happened, perhaps he was cowering, or perhaps Vasily had killed him with those random shots.
He stepped forward to check, he popped the cylinder on his revolver and spilled the spent casing onto the ash coated ground. He reached for a moon clip to reload when he heard the sound of creaking hinges right behind him.
Vasily spun watching as the side door of the brick building burst open and Jaune came charging out, shield raised and sword held high. Jaune roared as he took his first swing, Vasily dropped the moon clip as he retreated from Jaune's flurry of attacks, he swung swiftly and wildly at him pushing him for every bit of advantage his trick had earned him.
Vasily scrambled to avoid his relentless assault, Crocea Mors struck his revolver knocking it from his grasp. A thrust connected and Vasily's aura shimmered absorbing the blow, Vasily reached for Penny's sword drawing it to deflect the next blow.
Their blades sparked as they connected. Jaune didn't let up, he swung again and again, each blow connected. Jaune roared, and growled and cursed with each strike.
Vasily laughed, a weak, dull, half hearted laugh. "There's no need to be angry Mr. Arc!" he said, stumbling back to regain his footing as he took a fencer's stance.
"Motherfucker!" Jaune replied with a snarl swinging furiously at him. Vasily parried Corcea Mors, deflecting it away, the blade was now a chipped jagged mess instead of the fine razor it had once been.
"There is no need for vulgarities Mr. Arc," he said trying to maintain his composure as he deflected Jaune's savage cuts and thrusts. Hardly a coherent thought passed through Jaune's head that didn't involve killing him, but as Jaune watched him dodge and deflect his strikes he couldn't help but grin, Vasily was a shitty swordfighter.
His blade was short and ineffective against Crocea Mors and his shield, Penny's blades weren't made for fencing and right now it showed. His attacks and riposts were simple and predictable. It was nothing like fighting him with knives, he might be an experienced swordfighter but his choice of weapon was shit and he was nothing compared to Pyrrha.
"You can always have a new one made," Vasily taunted, trying to put him off balance, "a better one!"
Vasily leapt back and reached into his jacket drawing a four barreled howdah pistol and leveling it at Jaune who charged right at him.
The pistol cracked firing all four shots and all four barrels flashed. The round shattered harmlessly against Jaune's shield, as he kept his momentum, he didn't slow at all closing the distance to his target.
Vasily raised his jagged blade, Jaune thrust his blade right at him, Vasily swept his blade to parry but Jaune pulled back his attack and swept Crocea Mors into a mighty cut. It connected with the sword, the fragile sword of Floating Array shattered and Jaune saw the look of fear cross Vasily's face.
Jaune kept up the assault, he swung his blade, it connected with Vasily's shoulder, his aura shimmered as it absorbed the strike. Vasily retreated, dropping the broken hilt and empty pistol and grabbing for the handle of his whip on his belt.
It unfurled burning with fire dust channeled through the throng. Vasily swung it and Jaune dodged as it cut a burning gash in the building. The assassin flung the flaming whip once more and Jaune blocked it with his shield leaving a scar on the white and gold surface, another strike Jaune raised his sword to defend. The tendrils wrapped around the blade and Vasily smirked, yanking the whip to pull the blade from his hands.
Jaune pulled back as it turned into a tug of war. He twisted his blade letting the burning whip entangle his sword further. The hilt heated searing Jaune's hand but he only gripped it tighter inching closer as he let the whip envelop Crocea Mors.
He finally let go. He let Vasily wrench his sword away from him and charged. Jaune tackled him, smashing his body into his and knocking him to the ground. Jaune straddled him, Vasily tried punching him but Jaune deflected the feeble strike with his shield and grabbed his wrist pinning his arm as he brought his shield down upon Vasily's face.
The edge of Jaune's shield fell like an axe blow. Vasily's aura flared blue light as it struck protecting him. Jaune raised it again and brought it down, smashing the edge against his aura, he repeated the process again and again and again hammering against his aura like a savage.
His shield dropped again, Jaune pushed all his weight into the blow and roared with fury. Vasily's aura glowed as it shielded him only to finally shatter. Jaunge bared his teeth in triumph as he raised the shield again and brought it down, he was ready to decapitate Vasily with his shield, to crush his skull open and paint the alley with his blood and brains.
A series of sharp clicks snapped in Jaune's ear followed by an electric buzz. His side convulsed in pain and his muscles spasmed. Vasily dodged his head to the side as the edge of Jaune's shield clanged against the hard ground missing him. Vasily brought his leg up kneeing Jaune right in the groin throwing him off.
Jaune fought through the pain as Vasily thrust a cattle prod at him. Jaune dodged the thrust letting it strike the wall behind him, he grabbed the rod and twisted it in Vasily's grip. The hunter wrestled him for his weapon, Jaune smashed the edge of his shield against Vasily's wrist. Something snapped with the strike and Vasily surrendered his weapon in a grunt of pain.
Jaune swung the cattle prod at him by the wrong end using it more as a club than a shocking implement. Vasily rolled away dodging a series of swings, he swept up the broken hilt of Penny's sword and wielded it like a knife holding it up defensively.
Jaune charged and swung at him. Vasily dodged his first swing stepping around Jaune with grace slashing with his makeshift knife and slicing shoulder open. Jaune hissed in pain and retaliated with swing, he ducked the attack and came up sending a slash that cut over Jaune's belly.
Jaune swept his shield to the side grazing him in the mouth. Vasily retreated with a bloody mouth. Jaune swung with his makeshift club pursuing him, only for the assassin to spit a mouthful of blood into face. Jaune blinked the red away to find Vasily charging, Jaune chucked the cattle prod at him making him duck away from the twirling weapon.
Jaune rolled across the ground grabbing Crocea Mors where it lay untangling it from the whip. The hilt was still scolding hot to the touch but he drowned the pain in fury gripping it tighter. He swung at Vasily who dodged with a spin trying to get around his shield. Jaune evaded the blade but failed the spot the second as he produced one of his bowie knives with the second. It gave a slash to his side but Jaune knocked the blade out of his weak hand.
Their fighting devolved into destrate swings and thrusts guided by fury. The only sounds left in the alley were the sounds of steel against steel and grunts and growls. They fought like savage animals focused only on the kill. Jaune kept pushing Vasily back, knives were little match against a sword and shield so he mostly dodged back.
Vasily spotted an opening in Jaune's defense and lunged with Penny's broken blade. The blade stabbed through Jaune's clothes and into his left shoulder. Jaune smacked him in the face with the pommel of Crocea Mors, he heard a wet crunch and his nose began gushing blood. Jaune shot his knee up striking him in the chest.
With his opponent off balance Jaune attacked, slashing at him earning several shallow cuts along his arms and torso. He pulled back to deliver a thrust through his chest when a sudden bright light from above dazzled him. He lost sight of the assassin for an instant, but it was all Vasily needed.
Jaune had been expecting the assassin to attack him in his moment of blindness so Jaune raised his shield to defend himself on instinct. It hadn't quite been the right move. Jaune blinked seeing spots and hearing the clattering of running. He saw Vasily running down the alley away from him retreating.
"NO!" Jaune roared sprinting after him. Above him police bullheads circled around shining down spotlights to survey the damage and carnage below, white beams cutting through the smoke and debris.
Jaune followed after his prey, he wouldn't escape him, not after this.
Vasily reached the end of the alley before him and turned back with a smug smirk on his lips. Jaune didn't relent in his pursuit. Vasily pulled his hand from his jacket and tossed a cylinder before disappearing from sight. The cylinder exploded in a white flash, Jaune was blinded a second time, his ears rang and an intense feeling of dizziness overtook him.
He forced himself to move forward on wobbly legs as the image of the empty alley burned into his retinas faded. He exited and looked at the empty street. The low flying bullheads kicked up more dust and debris into the air obscuring everything. He ran down the helplessly searching for him, for his prey to kill him.
"VASILY!" Jaune roared letting his voice echo over the rumbling VTOL engines of the bullheads. "GET BACK HERE! I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO KILL ME!"
Headlights from armored vans filled the streets, Jaune ignored him as he ran down the empty sidewalk screaming for him. He didn't care that he was bloody or empty on aura, he couldn't let him get away, not after everything he had just done, not after Penny or the other lives that had been destroyed tonight.
"Jaune!?" A soft familiar voice called out for him.
He stopped and turned to meet a pair of silver eyes. Ruby looked at him with a frightened expression on her face staring at him.
"Ruby," he said dumbly, spotting Weiss standing next to her staring at him as well. She stepped forward towards him, "Thank the gods you're safe," she said, pulling him into a hug with one arm as her other held Crescent Rose. "Where's Penny?"
Jaune averted his eyes from Weiss, from Ruby as everything came crashing down on him. Penny was dead, and he had let her killer escape, for all this death and destruction he hadn't even been able to stop the person responsible.
"Jaune!" Weiss said firmly stepping forward with a concerned look on her face. "Where is Penny? We cannot reach her, was she with you?"
Jaune felt nauseous, he felt her like he was going to be sick as everything flashed in his mind.
"Jaune?" Ruby asked, stepping away from him and gazing into his eyes.
Ruby was Penny's best friend, Ruby was one of his best friends as well. And right now looking at her he felt a flooding sense of guilt and shame coursing through him.
"I couldn't protect her," he croaked feeling his strength failing him.
I'm sure some of you thought that this was going to be the final fight. But I'm afraid I have one last confrontation left for Jaune and Vasily. This fic has over a hundred thousand views now, it's amazing how much it has grown over time and how much it has endured through 2020. I hope you all enjoyed this week's chapter, as usual please review and leave me with your thoughts and comments. And as always I would like to thank MidKnightMoonglow99, Firefly25, MajorBrony95 and DrknssRules1 for all their help for this fic and the next one.